It takes two

Chapter twenty four

"Emelia. She's five, the cutest kid ever." Kevin said, AJ nodding in agreement. Joe, Di and Emelia all reached them, Emelia waving shyly to the two women.

"Guys, this is Emelia, she's my little one, and she's very sassy." Dianne explained. Everyone gave an amused chuckle. "Angel, this is Lauren and Stacey."

The two women waved, Emelia giving a little wave before lightly sucking her thumb. Dianne gave them all a weak smile. "She's a bit shy. She'll loosen up, she'll soon be prancing around." They all laughed a little, Stacey instantly picking up on the extremely strong relationship that Emelia had with Joe, she found it extremely heartwarming.

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Stacey day next to Kevin, Ashley and Giovanni on the train to Blackpool, Joe, Dianne and Emelia on the other side of the aisle. They had all been conversing and occupying themselves, but none of them were oblivious to the atmosphere that surrounded the three of them, one that was the optimy of love and family.

"You know." Ashley put her Coke Zero back on the table in front of her. "I reckon that's going to last, Joe, Di and Emelia." She made sure to keep her voice quiet.

"Oh definitely, it's just so special, you can really see it, and feel it." Kevin tried to explain, before Giovanni stood up and spontaneously broke out into song, presenting his arms as if he was performing a Paso Doble.

"Can you feel, the love tonight..."

The other three laughed in amusement before he sat down, too laughing, Stacey chuckled. "And yes, I think we all can."

A little while later on the train journey Emelia had fallen asleep, cuddled up on Dianne's lap and not waking up for no one. Dianne however was also asleep, burying her head into Joe's shoulder who was just doing some editing, now sat opposite Stacey.

"They're both exhausted bless them, they heavy sleepers?" Stacey sipped on her hot chocolate, sitting back in her seat seeing Joe with his two girls, both sound asleep. She made sure her voice was quiet, not wanting to wake either of them.

He gave an unsure expression, closing down his laptop. "They can be, sometimes Emelia is restless but on the whole they're reasonably deep sleepers."

She nodded. "Oh I get a bit restless sometimes. What about getting Embto bed in the first place, what's that like?" Joe chuckled slightly.

"She's actually quite good...most of the time." Stacey grinned, raising her eyebrows.

"Most of the time." Joe grinned and nodded, seeing Emelia slowly wake up, wiping her eyes. "I think she's heard us." He chuckled. She shook her head, waking herself up a bit.

"Is mama asleep still?"

"Yeah Angel, I think she won't be waking up sometime soon." Dianne just cuddled further into Joe, reinforcing his last statement. Then again, playing with the ends of her hair wasn't exactly making it hard for her to sleep peacefully.

Emelia nodded before saying "Oh. She's a lazy bones." Stacey put her hand over her mouth, trying to not to burst into a fit of laughter. Joe, who was a lot more adapted to her quips, let out a quiet amused chuckle.

"She! Is hilarious!" Stacey whispered, collapsed forward almost, sighing to compose herself. Joe patted his lap, not wanting Emelia fidgeting on Dianne's lap while she slept. Emelia shifted over, plonking herself on his knees.

"Are you excited to see mummy and Joe dance  in Blackpool?" Emelia nodded, beaming from ear to ear. "Do you know what dance they're doing?"

She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I am really excited. And I think they're doing the really fast one, not the jive but the other one." She was right, in a sense.