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.
///
"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.
"Oh Lord, and same. What time did you go to sleep?" She sighed deeply.
"Twelve...I was worried about Emelia. She doesn't sleep away from home really, so it's a big thing for me, as a mum." Joe nodded, imagining how she must have been feeling, not content at all. He hated to see her down, and would do his best by her, always.
"Yeah, I would be really worried. Hey, you could always FaceTime her, or get her a souvenir, I know a shop in the village that does little toys and things, we could pop in there afterwards?" This made her feel ten times better, and the way Joe thought of the little things making her go a little mushy inside.
They pulled away, heading towards the platform amongst the crowds, swarming them at eight am that Monday morning. "She'll love that, something for the memory box." Joe furrowed an eyebrow, not having heard of having a memory box, not knowing anyone who had one as a kid.
"Oh she has this little box with little things. Birth bracelet, birth certificate, her favourite doll, book, things that remind her of important things. This could be the one of Strictly, or the time her mum conquered her fear of heights."
Joe let out a chuckle. "I didn't know you were scared of heights, I used to be at one point, before the whole roof thatching thing." She nodded.
"Is there anything you're scared of now?"
"Rollercoasters, seeing the people I love upset, it sounds cliche but I can get very protective, ask Zoe." Dianne chuckled, imagining Joe I'm protective mode. She made a mental note of the rollercoaster one, the Strictly producers would need that for Halloween week, Sorry Joseph.
"I might just do that, and it's good, shows you care. I get protective too, especially over Emelia, ask Kevin." They got on the train, walking along the centre of the aisle.
"I might just do that."
They had been on the train for around twenty minutes, and the two of them had drifted off into a light slumber. Dianne had fallen asleep first, only ten minutes into the train journey and on his shoulder, head rested in the space between his shoulder and long neck, his scent strong, warm and comforting.
Dianne's phone pinged, waking them both out with a start, her slightly agitated but softening immediately and what had pinged on screen.
"Emelia has just headed into school, she's not too homesick but missed you loads, won't stop talking about you and Strictly. - Judy." Dianne read out, glad that she wasn't homesick or anything else of the sort. She yawned, still half awake. "Sorry it woke you, should really put it on silent." She put it on silent, sighing to herself.
"It's fine, I wasn't sleeping that deeply anyway. So have you ever been? To Wiltshire?" She shook her head. Truth was, she had never been outside of London, apart from tours obviously.
"Never. From what you've said, it's a lot like Bunbury. Quiet, rural?" Joe nodded, quiet being an understatement. A pin drop could be a shout in Wiltshire, said pin probably getting lost in the never fields of grass.
"Yep. Just villages, farms...and more farms." There were around three or four villages in the immediate area, it a small place with a high community spirit. Everyone knew everyone there; a real sense of family, a bit like Strictly.
"Sounds like something out of the olden times." Dianne imagined them all, the peasants and the nobles, all on their horses and wandering around, some knights off to war or something like that.
"It sort of is. Especially Castle Combe, it's like a proper little medival place, castles and cathedrals, lots of land surrounding them."
"Like one big garden." She grinned, her dimple prominent. It was these little things, her dimple, ideas, everything about her, that made her in his eyes so special.
"Yeah, a bit like one big garden."
///
"Uncle Gary! It's been a while!" Joe's Uncle Gary was also there, helping out with the filming by doing a little bit of speaking for the camera, as well as demonstrating some skills to Dianne and the people who would be watching at home. "How have you been?"
The two men embraced, Dianne watching the interaction. It was lovely to see Joe so close to his family, something she was herself.
"I've been great. Look at you, on Strictly Come Dancing, and you've grown so much, god." Joe chuckled slightly, standing next to Dianne who looked slightly shy.
"This is Dianne, my dance partner. She's the one teaching me to dance." Gary shook her hand, taking in the red head.
"G'day Gary."
"Oh would you look at that, Australian. We've all been quite partial to those down under, and I just want to say that you're a miracle worker, teaching him how to move his limbs at the same time." Dianne laughed, Joe rolling his eyes at his uncle.
"Thank you, but he's been amazing. He's picked up the steps really well and is coming along really nicely." Joe smiled over at her, trying not to blush which proved harder than expected.
"All down to you Di. Right, what are we filming first, interviews or the thatching?"
Joe and Dianne climbed down the six steps Dianne had went up, a small task for most people but a big leap for Dianne, Joe proud of her none the less. He knew that it had been a daunting task for her, and was glad he could help her through it a bit.
"I did it! I did it! That was probably the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my entire life." They high fived, the camera crew packing their things away and heading back to the station, going back to London. "Thank you."
"It's all good, and you were amazing. I know that it was hard to do, it was really scary my first time." She nodded, imagining having to be up there hours on end, an almost petrifying thought to have.
"I bet, plus having to do all that work on the roof. Anyway, you going to show us how it's done or what?"
A little while later they were browsing through the little charity shop that was in one of the local villages, having went straight there after filming their VT and before they would head back to London, starting the dance the next day.
The pair wandered around the shop, searching the shelves in hope to find Emelia a little souvenir. There were all sorts of things; mugs, candles, clothes, miniature dolls.
Joe spotted a little music box, one of those wind up dancers. The box had pictures of Wiltshire all over it, all collaged together. He took it down, holding it for a few moments.
"What about this, it's a Wiltshire themed wind up dancer music box thing, what do you think?" Dianne went over, taking an inspection at the contraption. It was perfect.