Colder than ice

'Everything will be all right, if you keep me next to you'

Saturday 10th April.

They are chatting when they get into the waiting room. Dianne goes to sit down, this time not because she's ignoring her partner, rather because she's tried. Being pregnant was much harder than when she was in her twenties. Joe joins her, continuing their conversation about Zoe coming up to visit last night.

Zoe had known that they were back together. There wasn't any awkwardness, she knew that Joe wasn't angry at Dianne, and he was the one that was hurting the most from her grief. Zoe had brought her two daughters, Ella was fourteen months older than Maddie, and they usually got on. However, last night there was a fight. Theo, Ella, Maddie and Zoe's younger daughter Ava went into the living room and they had ended up in a and e. Neither would diverge any information as to why they were on the floor, physically fighting. Theo and fourteen-year-old Ava kept tight lipped. The adults thought it was funny, after a trip to a and e. Nothing but a sprained wrist and superficial cuts. No real damage.

'I just can't believe it.' Dianne laughs, not a fake laugh but a real belly laugh. 'What would possess Maddie and Ella?' Joe shakes his head in agreement.

'I know they aren't the best of friends, but them literally rolling around the floor with blood on their faces, it gave me the shock of my life.'

'I wonder what started it?' Dianne muses, 'It must have been bad, because Maddie is one of the most chill people we know.' She looks down at her phone briefly. 'Did you know Maddie is seeing someone?' She asks him, the look on his face suggests otherwise. 'Oops.'

'How long have you known?' Annoyance evident in his voice, as she shakes her head smirking. 'When did she tell you?' She's laughing now. 'Dot, this isn't funny. Our baby girl is seeing someone, I am going to kill him. It's not funny.' She pokes him in the ribs, leaning into him a little.

'She didn't.' Grabbing his hand, she runs her thumb back and forth. 'She had some friends over, and they didn't know I was in.' She confesses. 'And I overheard them talking about it.' She laughs as she watches his face.

'She's fifteen. She shouldn't be seeing anyone, who is this guy I'll neuter him.' Dianne laughs at that image. 'I mean it Dot, don't laugh.' She rolls her eyes.

'This is what our parents must have felt like, we started dating when we were fourteen Joe.'

'But she is my daughter, why hasn't she told me?'

'Maybe she's embarrassed?' She suggests. 'I was humiliated when I started dating you.' She teases, as he pretends to pout.

'I'm not that bad.' His face changes into a smirk.

'I was ready to kill you. That hickey.' He snorts, as the other couples look at them. The pair of them have the decency to look embarrassed and lower their voices. 'That hickey was awful. I had that bloody drama piece too.'

'It was kind of funny.' He teases, 'Anyway do you remember when Ruby came back with one?' She pulls a face, 'Oh god, I don't know who I wanted to kill more.' He muses. 'She was so embarrassed.'

'I used to think my mum totally overreacted when I came back with mine, but suddenly, when it's your own kid, it's not so funny.' He can't disagree, it's different when it's your fifteen-year-old, he had wanted to murder the poor guy. What makes it worse, was the fact that they had started sleeping together when they were younger than that. The worry he must have caused their parents.

'Have you talked to her?' He questions, she can hear the panic in his voice? 'About condoms and stuff, I'm too young to be a grandparent' She rolls her eyes at him, her hands skirting the side of her stomach. His mind wanders back to the conversation he had with his fourteen-year-old son, he wasn't sure who was more embarrassed, Theo or him. He knew that neither of them could look at one another for weeks after that. He wasn't sure if Dot had the chat, because they weren't as awkward as the boys.

'I had that conversation years ago.' They get called to the room, as they walk slowly down to the room, this time it's a stark contrast. Joe can see Dianne's stomach starting to 'pop', he's not sure if that's what it's called but that's what they call it. It reminded him of when she was first pregnant with Ruby, it seemed eerily familiar. Maybe it's because there was such a large age gap between the kids, there was barely five years between Ruby and Maddie, this is triple the amount. By the time it starts school, Maddie would be twenty. Hopefully, she would be in her second year of a degree. Or in a full-time job, she was unsure what she wanted to-do. They would have to go through all of that again, not that he was complaining. And for the first time, they wouldn't be the youngest parents there.

It never fails to fascinate him, how, after everything they had a healthy baby. Despite the odds, the baby was growing and, as far as he was aware, it was healthy. It didn't matter to him if the baby was a boy or girl. Either would be perfect, he wasn't sure if Dianne had a preference. They walk into the room, she holds the door open for him, as he smiles. He sees the therapist twig on that something between them has changed. 'So how was the last week?' They are questioned, as Dianne smiles.

'Things are getting there.' She tells her, 'We are trying now.' The therapist nods, writing something down, the handwriting illegible from the angle that they are currently sitting in. 'Everything has changed.' She goes into more detail, 'I'm feeling better.' He grabs her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth on the back of her hands. They are as soft as they were when they were teenagers, she has the silkiest hands that he's ever felt. 'We are getting back on track, we have a baby on the way.'

'Congratulations.' She pauses. 'You seem happier.'

'We are.' Dianne smiles, 'It's like we've rekindled the love we felt when we were teenagers.'

A/N Thoughts?