Joanne Suggwell One shots 2

Her Family

This was written for dogslovers123, I hope you enjoy, sorry it's taken so long xx

Despite being together for nearly 20 years both Joe and Dianne were very much still in love. On a rather typically dull August day they could be found cuddled close on the sofa half watching a film their minds filled with to-do lists and reminders for the coming week. Two of their three children, who were growing up far to quickly, were in their rooms occupying themselves with whatever a 15 and 13 year old did. The littlest, Sadie, was the exception, she had decided to cuddle next to them whilst she watched a video on her tablet, oblivious of the world around her. Thirteen year old, Fleur, was the next oldest and in that point in life where parents are no longer cool and should be avoided at all costs. Finally there was Reuben, standing as the oldest (and tallest) fiercely protective of his younger sisters, especially little Sadie who was 7 years younger than him. They were your typical functionally dysfunctional family and there was a lot of love to go around.

"Mummy." A sniffles broke Dianne from her daydream, at first turning her head to Sadie before realising that it had come from the door.

"Alright flower?" She asked gently, hearing the obvious upset in her voice.

"Can you come with me?" Fleur asked, looking at her bare feet, fumbling her fingers.

"Want me to pause it love?" Joe asked, reaching for the remote, as his wife stood up joints aggressively clicking.

"Nah, come on then sweetheart," Dianne said light hearted, following her daughter up the stairs. She sat down on the bed, as Fleur messed with something on her desk, "what's up?"

"My tummy was hurting so I went to the toilet and there was erm."

"Blood?" She finished, reaching for her daughter's hand.

Fleur nodded and looked up with big brown eyes lined with tears, bottom lip jutted out. Dianne smiled sweetly and pulled her into a big hug, kissing her hair, enjoying the allowed contact. "Its okay, it's normal. Do you remember our conversation?"

"Is it my period?"

Dianne nodded, sitting back down with her on her lap. "Does your belly still hurt?"

She nodded and wiped her tears, laying her head on Dianne's chest. "Right, we'll go over pads and stuff, get you some things together and then we'll get you some medicine, is that alright?"

Dianne lead Fleur into her own ensuite, locking the door behind them. She had spoken about this with Fleur before but she wanted to make sure that she was well aware of everything going on. "Can you remember how to do this?" Dianne held up a pad, sweeping Fleur's dark fringe out of her eyes. She nodded and bit her lip, trying to stop it tremble.

"You stick it in your knickers and this one had wings so that it stays in. Do you want to try?" Dianne asked, having opened it for her, new knickers in her other hand.

"Don't look."

Dianne shook her head and turned around. Collecting bits together for Fleur and Sadie's bathroom. She instantly added several items to a mental shopping list, recalling what her mum had done for her all those years ago.

"Okay?" Dianne asked, when a slight hand tapped her back.

"My tummy," Fleur reminded her, trying to not look at the mountain of stuff in her Mum's hand.

"Ah yes, right, this is your basket of stuff to put in the cupboard out of the way of Sadie." Dianne said, emptying her own basket, tipping Fleur's things in.

"What about your stuff?"

"Ah, doesn't matter, Dad's seen it all! He's good to ask for icecream when you feel a bit shi-bad. Okay come on then, let's get you medicine and chocolate and a cuddle if you want it," she turned the light off and guided her middle child to her bathroom.

"How bad does it hurt?"

"Medium," Fleur shut the door on her new basket, hiding it in her side of the cabinet.

"Bit of calpol then?" Dianne said, opening the medicine cabinet, pushing past all of Saide's medicine to the bottle of liquid magic. Fleur nodded and opened her mouth for the dose, accepting her Mum's welcoming arms once she was finished.

"My little Fleur-Bug is not so little anymore, are you? Not that little 5lb baby who cried all the time and would only settle when Daddy picked her up," she mumbled into her hair, hands rubbing her back softly.

"I love you mum, I'm sorry if I keep ignoring you, it's just hard with friends and everything," she sighed, having missed her Mum's hugs.

"I get it sweetheart as long as you know I'm here with open arms then I don't mind," her mum said back, pulling away to turn the light off.

"Do you want to come and watch a film with me, Sades and Dad? I think Sades might be watching something else but do you want to come down with us chick?" Fleur nodded and walked behind her mum, still wanting her cuddle.

"Everything okay twirls?" Joe asked, he had paused the television and had opened his laptop, presumably to get some work done. The YouTube thing had longs stopped being a thing and the parents usually just shared their family on other social media sites where they felt like things were appropriate for their stage of life. They both missed the concept of YouTube but the website had become a place where neither of them wanted to be anymore.

"Fine, Fleur's going to join us watching the film," Dianne said, making Joe scoot closer to Sadie, who was still in a world of her own, so that Fleur could fit comfortably next to them.

"Cool, I haven't a clue what's going on Little One so you'll have to explain," he said, kissing her temple, rifling Fleur's curly hair.

"I don't either, do you want to pick one instead Fleur?" Dianne asked, passing her the television remotes that were far more futuristic than the one that had confused her all those years ago when she had first been dating Joe.

"Can we watch Pitch Perfect, I know it's really old from like well before you were together but I really liked it when I watched it at Pippa's?"

"Course, you get it up, I'll get some pop corn. Want anything mister?" She looked at Joe, tapping her toe.

"Nah, I'll just sneak some of your popcorn," he beamed, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Petal?"

"Can I have some chocolate?" Fleur replied having already found the film, much faster than either of her parents could.

Dianne nodded and walked to the kitchen, turning to look back at her family, minus Reuben, who were all much more grown up than she let herself realise. Her family who weren't so little and had lives of their own. Her family that started when she fell in love with a floppy haired boy from Wiltshire who made videos in his spare room.

As some of you may know, if you read my other book, I am quite busy at the moment meaning I will likely have slower uploads. Please bare with me and as always thank you for your continuous support, you're all incredible! X