It takes two

Chapter twenty four

"Angel, can you hold my hand please?" Emelia nodded to Joe, taking his hand as they stood at the edge of the pavement by the zebra crossing that Friday morning. "We don't want any accidents."

He held Emelia's hand in one hand, his case in the other. Dianne was stood next to him, both of their suitcases in her hands. The cars, which had previously been whizzing by, eventually came to a halt, the green man popping up.

"Look left and right angel, make sure you say thank you." Dianne always had impressioned the importance of manners on her daughter, something that the Buswells were very passionate about. She remembered the time Andrew had spoke with his mouth full at a restaurant, he got into big trouble.

"Yes mama. Thank you mister driver! Thank you mister driver!" she exclaimed with a high pitched voice, swinging Joe's arm a bit, not that he minded of course.

He turned to Dianne quickly before mouthing, "so cute."

She pouted. "I know." Once they reached the other side of the pavement, Dianne high fives Emelia, grinning. "That was very good manners. Well done Angel."

"Thank you. I feel like princess, waving to all the people!" Dianne and Joe both exchanged that same pout for a brief second.

"You are, we have Cinderella and Ariel!"

Emelia giggled, the three stopping for a brief moment. Dianne went over to Joe, placing her bag down beside them.

"And you mister, you're like our very own Handsome Prince Charming." She pecked his lips, feeling him kiss back and give a kiss which funnily enough, only ever existed in fairytales.

They only broke apart because he felt Emelia tugging on his arm which wasn't around Dianne. He turned his attention to her, seeing her grin up him.

"Joe?"

"Emelia?" He copied her tone of voice, seeing her grin wider.

"Can you carry me please? I'm tired."

///

"Stace? If you keep on wandering around searching for Greggs, you won't be able to salsa!"

Kevin and Stacey were the first ones to arrive at Liverpool Street Station, and the first thing Stacey had done was go on a Greggs scavenger hunt.

She laughed, gripping onto the handle of the suitcase to support herself. "I'm sorry, but Greggs is life King Kev, and I'm hungry."

He rolled his eyes, searching for everyone else. "You're always hungry."

"Touché King Kev." She too looked around, moving to stand beside him. "Touché." After a few moments they spotted Lauren and AJ coming towards them, certainly energetic. They eventually reached Stacey and Kevin, the four greeting each other with warm hugs.

"By the way guys, have either of you spotted a Greggs?" Lauren and AJ both chuckled, shaking their heads. "What? It's really good alright, you can't blame me."

Around five minutes later, they noticed a mop of red hair, all of them waving to catch their attention. None of them knew that Emelia was coming, until the three of them came closer and they all noticed the small child on Joe's hip.

"Oh they've brought Em!" Kevin and AJ chorused, their respective partners having a rough idea of who Em was but clearly not a close relationship, not yet anyway.

"Em is Di's little one, right?" Lauren double checked, Stacey too nodding in agreement. The boys both nodded. "Aw that's so lovely, so I take it she's called Emma or..."