Wednesday February 19th, 2031.
'Right, are you sure you are okay to have the boys?' Tracey rolls her eyes at her son.
'Stop stressing.' Tracey tells them. 'I've looked after them before, you have to focus on Melie.' She tells him, 'It's a big day tomorrow. The boys and I will have a laugh.' She turns her head around, catching Noah's eye. 'We'll have some fun, won't we?' The boy smiles, before chasing his brother up the stairs. 'Now you need to go- it is a big day for Amelia tomorrow.' He smiles, twisting the keys around in his hand. 'And it will be getting dark soon.' She points out.
'See you Sunday.' He calls, hugging his mum. 'Bye boys be good for grandma.'
'Send my love to my lovely daughter-in-law and my beautiful granddaughter.' He nods, opening the car door.
'I will do.' He looks in his mirror, driving down the road. He can see his mum hugging his sons. He trusts his mum, but it will be weird not having the boys around, the house will be far too quiet. The drive home is long. At times, the M4 seems unending, it's a straight drive, the only thing keeping him awake is the tunes he's playing.
When he gets home, he calls out for his wife and daughter, no answer. He goes and checks upstairs, it might be Amelia's bedtime, but it is far too early for Dianne to be in bed. He has no avail in the bedrooms. Instead, he finds them in the living room, both asleep under a blanket. The fake fire is on, and the TV is on low. He stares at the pair of them, wondering how on earth he got so lucky. Dianne starts to stir, making eye contact with her husband.
He watches as she gently untangles herself from her daughter. Joe edges nearer, picking Amelia up like she used too, and carrying her to bed. He can see that Dianne had already got her ready for bed, and they must have fallen asleep watching telly. Dianne follows, tucking her daughter into bed and kissing her forehead.
'You are an amazing mum.' Joe whispers. 'I know you doubt it sometimes, but you are amazing, and I wish I was half as good as you.' She blushes, adverting her gaze, clearly embarrassed. 'I know it's hard, but you are doing great.'
'Thank you.' She breathes, her eyes glistening with tears, she pulls him in close, craving the warmth of his body. 'I love you so much, and I'm sorry I've been a bitch.' He shakes his head.
'Don't apologise.'
The alarm wakes the pair of them up far too early, Dianne getting in the shower before Joe even leaves the bed. They know they have to be up early, something that neither of them want to-do. It is the kids half term, the last thing they want is having to wake up at 6:30 to make their way up to London.
Dianne is the one to wake the little girl up. It never fails to amaze him how gentle she is with the kids, he also knows how much the small child's comment hurt his wife. That was a turning point, he knew then he had to really make an effort with helping out. He knew that she was starting to come to terms with what was happening to Amelia, this was a step in the right direction. He had done some googling, in the attempt to find something out about the condition. He also wanted to see if there was some sort of support group that they could go too, to meet other people who were facing the same thing. To try and find something that didn't make them feel so alone, so powerless, no one he knew had the condition, he was surprised to find that it was the fourth most common neurological condition in the UK, 1 in every 103 people had it. To him, it just seemed like a shocking statistic. His daughter was now one of those statistics, the ones that medical students will learn about. To everyone, she is a number, she's a number on a page. To them this isn't a big thing, when they read statistics she will just be a number. To him, this is his whole world. His life has been ripped apart, and it makes him slightly angry. He just doesn't know why.
YOU ARE READING
I bleed when I fall down
FanfictionWatch as Joe and Dianne's worlds come crashing down.
