To Have And To Hold

4 - Breakfast And Brownies

When Joey woke up the next morning the bed was empty. He got up, walking into the living room to see a plate of pancakes on the dining table, a hastily written note beside them. 'Forgot to get more eggs yesterday, be back soon. Love you, L xx'

Joey smiled to himself, sitting down to enjoy the pancakes she'd made for him and thinking about how he didn't deserve her. He wondered if she'd made him breakfast to try and de-stress him before the audition he had today; it was just the kind of thing she'd do.

He heard a car pull up outside, and moments later footsteps approaching, so he set down his knife and fork and jumped up from his chair to open the door. She smiled at him, tiptoeing to kiss his cheek as she passed him, a bag swinging from her elbow. Joey sat down to finish eating while she put the eggs in the fridge. She took a seat opposite him, tapping her fingers on the table.

Joey took no notice of it at first, but as her rhythm sped up he looked up at her, seeing a strained expression on her face. He gently took her hand in his and she met his eyes.

"What's wrong gorgeous?"

She huffed out a breath. "Still thinking about that post I guess."

He smiled sadly at her. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault," she said. She came around to his side of the table, sitting in his lap and wrapping her arms round his neck. He encircled her waist to hold her there, his thumb reassuringly stroking the skin beneath her t-shirt. Or at least, he was trying to be reassuring. Lauren, however, squirmed, trying to pull away from him.

"Joey!"

"What?" he asked, grinning at her.

"That tickles."

"What, this?" he said, doing it again.

"Stop it!" she laughed, half-heartedly pushing his hands away.

He let his hands still and Lauren caught her breath, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. Joey couldn't stop himself surging forward to kiss her. She made a muffled noise of surprise before leaning forward into the kiss, her hands threading into his hair. He kissed her like he had nowhere else to be in the world.

"Shit," he said, pulling back suddenly with a groan. He'd been so preoccupied with trying to cheer Lauren up that he'd lost track of time - although it was worth it to get her to laugh again. Lauren frowned at him.

"I'm gonna be late," he explained.

Her eyes widened and she jumped up off his lap. While he showered at lightning speed she had gotten some clothes out for him, then gone to check he had his bag ready to go. As he was getting dressed she popped into their bedroom to see how he was doing. She shook her head at him, and he tilted his head to the side in confusion. She walked over and re-buttoned his shirt for him, obviously having noticed that he had messed up in his rush. He caught her hand and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it before turning to put on aftershave.

She was waiting by the door for him when he was ready to leave, passing him the car keys as he rushed out.

"Hey." She put a hand on his shoulder, pausing him for a second. "I love you," she said softly, kissing his cheek. She opened the door for him. "You got this."

He touched her elbow with a smile as he left, grateful for her unexplainable ability to take away at least some of his stress. And even if he did badly at this audition, he got to come home to the most loving and supportive partner he could ask for, which made the ordeal a lot easier.

"Lo, I'm home," he called out as he arrived back a little while later.

"In here babe," came her faint reply from the kitchen.

As he set his bag down Diane came running up to him. The sound of her paws pattering on the floor was enough to bring him joy, and he scooped her up with a grin. "Hello bub."

"How'd it go baby?" Lauren asked, turning around as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

"I think I did okay," he said, exhaling deeply and trying to put it to the back of his mind.

"I'm sure you were great," she said, her unwavering faith in him warming Joey's heart.

"We'll just have to wait and see."

"Well I made you brownies while you were gone," she said. She turned to the tray which he guessed was not long out of the oven, and cut a small chunk. She popped it into his mouth, knowing he'd have no protest.

He hummed in appreciation as he chewed. "Thank you. For this morning, too. I don't know how I would have managed without you." He lowered Diane to the floor so that he could take her hands. "What did I do to deserve you?"

She flashed him a grin, shrugging, and he ducked his head to kiss her.

"We've got the whole afternoon free," she said as she pulled away, wrapping her arms around his waist. "What do you wanna do?"

"Well, we were meaning to give Diane a bath at some point..." he mused.

"Joey," she said, staring at him like he was an idiot.

"Wh- oh!" She rolled her eyes as he finally realised what she was getting at, but didn't have a chance to remark before he picked her up. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, her hair falling down around them as she leaned down to kiss him, and any thoughts of his audition were wiped from his mind. Lauren did come through with some good ideas now and then.

A/N Reading back over these chapters has made me realise just how sappy this fic is but I'm totally blaming that on these two being sappy as fuck