When two paths cross

Thirty-Two

"Bye Andrew! Bye Bren, I'll speak to you both soon." Dianne said as she hung up the FaceTime call. She was sat on Joes bed cuddled up with him as they FaceTimed members of her family and a few friends for her birthday.
"Who's left?" Joe asked.
"Briar, Megs and Nan." Dianne said, she was glad Joe had suggested to FaceTime everyone as it was helping her a lot. "Maybe my cousins, I dunno."

A few hours had passed and it was round 8pm. They had FaceTimed everyone, just finishing up with her nan and uncle Joe.
"Bye Nan, love and miss you loads." Dianne said as she squeezed Joes hand, trying not to cry.
"I love you too Dotty, I'm glad you've had a good birthday. Bye my darling." She said and then hung up.
"Oh dot." Joe cooed as she started crying.
"I miss them so much." She cried.
"I know you do, but your doing them proud." Joe reassured her yet she carried on crying.
"Hey you two mum said- oh wait." Zoe said as she walked into Joes room. "Di, are you okay hun?"
"Missing home." Joe said, "Australia home." He clarified.
"Bless you." Zoe said walking over to the bed, "come here darling." She said, Dianne moved off Joe and gave Zoe a hug, calming down slightly.
"No crying Dot on her birthday." Joe laughed. "Should we call Megs back and get her to interrogate me again." Making Dianne sit up and laugh.
"What?" Zoe asked confused.
"Dianne's friend Megs, we were on FaceTime before and she kept asking me loads of questions. Now Zo, why did you come in, what did mum want?" He asked as he handed Dianne her glasses as she started rubbing her eyes, a giveaway that she needed them on.
"Oh she just wanted to know if you two are coming down to watch the film or staying up here? We were gonna put pitch perfect on." Zoe asked them.
"Dot? Up to you." Joe said.
"Let's go and watch it, although I can't promise that I won't fall asleep on you." She laughed as she stood up.

"Here's the birthday girl." Tracey said as they walked into the living room.
"I didn't say before I was too bothered about FaceTiming everyone but thank you so much for my present, thanks for inviting me." Dianne said as she sat down next to Joe.
"You're very welcome, we couldn't think of anyone better to come." Tracey said, it was true.

She thought of Dianne as another daughter, she was perfect for Joe and Tracey was very fond of her, always had been. She liked how Dianne hadn't changed at all since they met apart from becoming more comfortable in the Suggs house. She felt lucky almost that Dianne had chosen Joe, and had chosen his family. She could have just stayed with Joe but Dianne always spoke to his family, she had formed close bonds with them. Tracey knew that people like Dianne were rare, and she hoped her son would never let her go.

"Your deep in thought there mum." Zoe laughed.
"Oh yeah, don't you lot worry. Just thinking how lucky we all are." Tracey said as she turned on the film.

"Is she asleep?" Joe asked his mum once the film finished, Dianne was lying with her head on his lap and she hadn't moved for around 30 minutes.
"Yeah fast asleep, sucking her thumb and everything." Tracey laughed. "You might wanna take her glasses off so they don't either break or dig in." She suggested, Joe nodded and slowly moved her head as he took her glasses off.
"Oh mum, I don't know if she'll want me to say but I think you should know incase, but she's epileptic, I only found out yesterday." Joe said as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"Yeah, Rinas told me. Ages ago." Tracey said.
"Oh right, well she only told me yesterday." Joe told his mum.
"Yeah it's because she's embarrassed about it. That's what Rina told me, that Dianne probably wouldn't want you knowing, that's why I never mentioned it to you." Tracey told her son, she had been told when she bumped into Rina in a shop once.
"Oh right, well I don't think of her differently now I know." Joe told his mum.
"I'm glad, if anything it makes you think more highly of her. With how much she goes through." Tracey said, Joe nodded.
"I'm gonna take her up to bed. We need to leave around 9 tomorrow morning to get to London, get her to dance and me to my meeting." Joe said.
"Yeah, we'll get breakfast on the way. I've told Rina we'll bring her back aswell so we can stay in London till she's finished dance." Tracey said, Joe nodded and got up, picking Dianne up aswell.
"Joe." She mumbled.
"It's fine, go back to sleep, I'm taking you to bed." He said softly, a part of his voice that Tracey didn't even know existed. She looked at how her son carefully carried his girlfriend upstairs, she couldn't be prouder of him.