To Have And To Hold

14 - Persistent Prompting

On Saturday afternoon they made the drive down to his parents' house. Lauren spent about a third of the time talking to Joey, and the rest of the time talking to Diane, but he didn't mind. Just listening to how Lauren spoke to their daughter brought a smile to his face. He knew how happy it made Lauren, too, and Lauren's happiness was one of the most important things in the world to him.

His mom must have seen their car pulling up, because she was waiting at the door when they got out of the vehicle, beaming.

"Hey mom," Joey said, hugging her in greeting as she welcomed the pair of them with open arms. She released Joey and instantly wrapped her arms around Lauren. Joey suspected his mom was happier to see Lauren than she was to see him, but he could live with that. He smiled at the two of them in a daze for a few moments before a quiet bark told him that Diane was impatient to get out of the car.

"Hi Diane!" Denise said as Joey brought her carrier in. Joey caught Lauren's eye, seeing her grinning, and his heart warmed.

"I was just in the middle of dinner," she told them as they followed her through to the kitchen, Lauren navigating the house as if she'd grown up there herself. 

"Can we help?" Lauren asked.

"If you're offering," Denise laughed.

Lauren set to work chopping vegetables while Joey set the table. His dad joined them a little while later, and the four stood around in the kitchen chatting like they'd always been a family.

"So tell us more about this audition," Bob said encouragingly to Lauren as they sat down to eat. Lauren glanced at Joey, who could only beam proudly. "Well, I got the callback, so I must have been doing something right," she said, earning a laugh. The conversation continued in the vein of their acting careers for a while before it turned to their foster dogs, a conversation Lauren was clearly more excited about, and Joey sat back smiling on as she gushed about their various children. As her ramble came to an end, she started stacking plates to take out to the dishwasher.

"Let me do that Lauren," Denise said, starting to rise from her chair.

"It's okay, I got it," Lauren replied.

Joey grabbed the last of the things she couldn't carry, missing the smile his parents exchanged behind his back as he went through to the kitchen to held her load the dishwasher. He kissed her forehead when they were done, before they joined his parents in the lounge, Lauren's feet tucked up underneath her as she sat beside Joey on the couch.

"Are you guys all set to go away next week?" Bob asked.

"Yeah," Joey said, as Lauren nodded.

"Thank you for agreeing to look after Diane for a few days," she said.

"It's no problem at all, we've missed our granddaughter," Denise replied, beaming down at Diane who was sat comfortably in her lap. Lauren waved her fingers at Diane, an adoring smile on her face. Joey wrapped his arm around her with an instinctive grin, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Lauren grinned back up at him, the two of them momentarily oblivious to the world.

"I'll be back in a sec," she muttered, pushing herself up off the couch and going upstairs. Denise watched her go, waiting until her footsteps faded away, and then leaned forward conspiratorially. 

"So when are you going to ask that girl to marry you?" 

Joey sighed. He should have known that all this domesticity was bound to provoke another inquisition about his marriage plans. He could only be thankful that his mom had at least waited until Lauren was out of the room, because it wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest if she'd started dropping hints in front of her.

"I don't know," he mumbled vaguely. Part of him wanted to confide in his parents about everything, hoping that they'd have some advice, but he suspected they'd push him towards proposing regardless.

"You're made for each other!" she pressed. "I can see how happy she makes you, you're both completely in love. She's already a part of our family..."

"I just want her to be happy, okay?" Joey cut her off wearily, letting his head drop into his hands.

"How do you know it won't make her happy?"

"Leave the poor boy alone," Bob interrupted, holding up a hand to his wife. "He'll propose when he's ready."

Denise narrowed her eyes slightly but sat back again. Joey managed to gave his dad a grateful smile, then closed his eyes, trying to relieve the tension in his head. He knew he was more than ready, but he wasn't about to go against his instincts with Lauren just because his mom was trying to force his hand. 

He felt the cushion sink beside him, and opened his eyes to see that Lauren was back, smiling at him although her brow was furrowed. Joey reached over and took her hand, squeezing it to reassure her, and she seemed satisfied that he was okay because she turned her attention back to the conversation, managing to effortlessly make his parents laugh again.

"Is everything okay JoJo?" she whispered when they were in bed that night, propping herself up on her elbow to look at him properly.

"Course it is. Why?" he asked, confused.

She shrugged. "You've just seemed a bit weird lately."

His eyes immediately softened, touched that she'd noticed, but not wanting her to worry about him. 

"Everything's fine," he said, pulling her into a hug and stroking her back. And with Lauren in his arms, everything was.

A/N If these babes haven't killed you yet, I'm happy to tell you the next few chapters are still complete and utter fluff! If you're dying from the amount of cuteness as much as I was when writing this, then the good news is there'll be some tension soon!! Also, I can't believe it's been a week since Meredith and Joey both said #richpez and I still haven't stopped thinking about it