Grace Branning arrives in Walford after her Dad, Jack Branning, left France suddenly to return to Walford. No doubt as she arrives in Walford she'll be thrust into the drama and disappointments of the local residents. But will it all be worth it to...
Grace giggled hysterically at Lauren's story about Louie and the grapes. "I can't believe he did that." She laughed, "I can't wait to experience it all with my little girl. I hope her and Louie are friends when they grow up." Grace thought aloud wishfully.
"Course they will be!" Lauren agreed. "They'll be cousins after all."
"You know the strangest thing about having a baby? Is that I have little brothers and a sister who are still kids. JJ and Aria will spend their lives growing up together." Grace revealed. "But you must know that, right? Oscar can only be, what, nine?" She guessed. "I haven't seen him in so long, where's Tanya living these days?"
"Manchester. She opened a salon up there. Look, what happened with Abi...I had no idea. If I'd know what was happening with Lee all this time, then I would've told you or at least stopped her." Lauren tried to apologise, even though she wasn't at all in the wrong.
"You really don't have to, Lauren. Besides, I wasn't exactly paying Lee the attention he deserved. After what happened with Johnny, I just kinda felt so guilty that I didn't feel like I deserved to even look at him." Grace sighed, "I should've told him from the off, but once we found out about the baby it was too late. It doesn't matter anyway. Our marriage is over and the best thing is I don't even have to raise my kid with him. I get to raise Aria with one of my best friends instead."
"With your ex-husband as her uncle." Lauren chuckled, pushing Grace a little as the sat down in the cafe. Louie had fallen asleep in his buggy.
"Yeah, alright." Grace rolled her eyes, but couldn't help a grin spreading on her face.
"Don't even give it a second thought, Grace. You're only twenty and you and Johnny will be amazing parents to baby Aria. Look, when Peter wanted nothing more to do with me and Louie, I ended up falling in love with Steven, Peter did the best thing for all of us. I love Steven more then I've ever loved anyone. And I can't deny that, I know that's it going to be the same for you. You'll meet someone who captures your whole heart and you'll never look back." Lauren inspired Grace, offering her advice. "And Stevens a great daddy to Louie, he loves him like a real father should."
"Oh god." Grace nodded over to who Marie was serving. "Look who just trotted in."
"Slag." Lauren snarled at Whitney as she turned to face them.
Whitney decided to man up and go over to talk to them. "I'm so sorry about everything that's happened, Grace. When I was with Lee, we were engaged and I thought I'd finally got my happy ever after, my fairytale ending but then you came along, and everything was messed up. I was angry at you, and when Lee was scrounging around in a club after cheap sex, I took my chance to get back at you. It was wrong of me and shallow...so I'm sorry." Whitney apologised.
Lauren shrugged at Grace, two options: take the apology or throw it back in Whitney's face. "You know what? I'm seven months pregnant, I could do with one less argument. Come join." She pointed for Whitney to pull up a chair.
"Actually...with the three of us together, we could so take down Lee." Lauren suggested.
Whitney tried to hide her laughter. "To be fair, he's already had his comeuppance." Whitney started to tell the story. "Well, Lee's got chlamydia. I've already started treatment for mine but he doesn't know yet. Abi had it and gave it to him, then I got it from Lee."
Lauren and Grace couldn't help themselves, bursting into giggles, causing chaos in the cafe. "Oh god, that's brilliant." Lauren was in tears of laughter.
"Shit, gotta pick up Amy and Richard from kids club." Grace realised.
"Hang on, I'll join you." Lauren offered, downing her coffee in one. "You going back home? Walk with us." She told Whitney as they got up to leave.
"Oh my gosh, who is that?" Grace was wide-eyed, gobsmacked even.
"Where?" Lauren asked.
"Sat next to Martin. On the fruit and veg stall." Grace nodded over to the guy.
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"He's fit." Whitney agreed.
"Oh, that's Mark Junior." Lauren told the two fawning girls. "He's from California, he lives their with his Mum, Michelle who is a very old friend of Ian and Sharon's. He's currently living with us at the Beale's house." She revealed the ins and outs of Mark Juniors reason for being here.
"He totally just checked one of us out." Whitney said excitedly.
"Is she pregnant?" Mark asked Martin as the three girls walked past them. They all heard him.
"Yeah, she's due soon I think." Martin replied.
"So she's with someone then?"
"No. They split, he's not the baby's father either. Except that's not the reason they split, it was because he cheated on her with the girl on the left, with black hair, and the girl on the rights sister. And the father of the baby is her ex-husbands gay brother." Martin explained the complicated situation to his nephew.
"My life is not public gossip." Grace shot back at Martin as they walked past. "And don't bring Aria into it when she's not even born yet."
"That the baby's name?" Mark asked.
"Aria Lexi. Yeah." Grace confirmed.
"Mark, you can't hit on a pregnant woman, don't even try it." Lauren chuckled. "Haven't you got Grant business to attend to anyway? Have you even met Courtney yet?"
Mark Junior shook his head. "Nah, just been here really. Martin's calling it 'sightseeing.'" He mimicked Martin's excited voice. "But when the babs born, get a babysitter and we'll go for a drink." Mark winked at Grace.
"Think I'd choose a guy over my baby girl?" Grace rolled her eyes at him.
"Fine. Dinner tomorrow night. Beale's. Seven. Don't give me an answer, but I'll wait for an hour. If you don't show, then I won't bother you until Aria's at least six months old." Mark crossed his arms, he always had likes a challenge. Grace shook her head, a small grin on her face as she walked off.
"How do you do it?" Whitney asked, confused. "Get all the guys even when you're pregnant?"
Grace shrugged. "I don't know. I've always been like that. However, I used to choose my boyfriends wisely. The last one went tits up. I don't know if I want to even go on a date."
"You should. Mark's a nice guy and he's fairly good looking. He could be you're Steven Beale." Lauren pointed out.
