It takes two

Chapter nine

The jive had came and gone, and Dianne was heading off to meet Joe at Liverpool Street station the next morning, ready to head to Wiltshire for their VT for that week. The strictly producers had the idea to send them to Wiltshire to film Joe doing his old job, roof thatching which was the theme of their Charleston, one of the dances Joe had been looking the least forward to.

"Be good for Judy won't you?" Emelia nodded. Dianne had to be up very early the next morning, too early to take Emelia to school, so thought it was best she just stayed over with a friend. "Now, I'm going to miss you so much angel, but if you ever need me just ask Judy to give me a call please." She nodded again, sat on her mums hip at ten that evening, an inch away from sleep.

"Okay, I will. Mama, can you take a picture, I want to see you and Joe on the roof, and on the pretty farms." Judy opened the door, Dianne kissing Emelia on the head before passing her over, sad to leave her.

"Sure, I'm sure we can make that happen. Okay, I love you loads and will see you tomorrow baby."

"Love you too mama, I'm really tired now. Can I go to sleep?" Judy nodded, saying goodbye to the red head before closing the door, Dianne feeling somehow powerless, being so far away from Emelia the following day, it even scared her a little.

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"For goodness sake, I was going to try and scare you! God damn it."

Joe had been scanning the station in hope to scare the red head, only to spot her and see her waving, much to his disappointment. She was now stood opposite him, just having exchanged pleasantries and pulled away from one of their hugs, that had become more like embraces as the days went by.

"You're going to have to try harder than that Joseph. Right, have you got the tickets?" He gave a panicked expression, patting all of his pockets in turn. Dianne's face was priceless.

"Joe? Don't tell me you haven't got them!" She ran a hand down her face, panic plastered all over her presence. The last thing she needed was him to lose their tickets. They had things to do. They had roofs to thatch. They had a dance to be getting on with.

He couldn't help but smirk, pulling them out and holding them in a pinch between his pointer finger and thumb, crossing one foot in front of the other. Dianne didn't know how to feel; annoyed by his prank or weak at the knees by his expression.

"Scared you now didn't I? One nil to Joe." He celebrated, earning a few gentle slaps on the arm from Dianne, annoyed at both at him and herself for also letting him affect her in such ways at that point. They had the whole day, just the two of them, away from everything, how was she meant to cope?

"Don't! Do! That! Again! You really scared me, you did." She sulked afterwards, forlorn. She appeared dampened in spirit, stressed and betrayed. He let go of his smile, giving her a hug in attempt to comfort her, now feeling incredibly guilty at what he did, internally cursing himself. "I was terrified."

"Oh I'm sorry Di, genuinely." She smiled underneath him, glad to have given him a taste of his own medicine, which wasn't the most pleasant of tastes that morning. "I shouldn't have."

"You're the sweetest person, you know that." He scowled at thin air, not bothering to let go though, the moment too nice to end.

"For goodness sake."

She giggled afterwards, leaning her head against his chest. It just felt right. He rested his chin on her head. She didn't know if it was her just being tired, but this cuddle was too good to end, a pleasant moment to start what would be great day in the West Country.

"Shall we go now? The sooner we get on that train, the sooner I can have a nap, I'm bloody exhausted." Dianne said, not having gone to sleep until midnight, too worried about Emelia being somewhere other than her own bed, and so far away from her.