"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..."
"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.
///
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.
"Yeah, the quickstep. I'm doing the salsa, the one with all the wiggly hips!" Emelia grinned, giggling.
"That's cool, I like that one, that one and the really really slow one." She couldn't remember the names, but knew a bit about each dance, like the speeds.
"Ah the Waltz." Karen said, having heard their conversation while walking along. They smiled, seeing her sit down next to them. "I like that one too, I love the cha cha though."
"Oh don't even get me started on the cha cha." Stacey chuckled, putting her head in her hands. Let's just say that the cha cha cha and Stacey Dooley weren't exactly best mates, arch enemies, rather.
///
"Oh my god! That bed looks so bouncy!" Emelia exclaimed, running ahead into Dianne's hotel room, leaping onto the single bed beside the double one. Dianne and Joe had suggested that he come and unpack once the producers were off, avoid any altercations.
She starfished, looking at the ceiling. She was almost sunken into the bed, that's how comfy and poofy it was. "It's so comfy!"
Dianne put their cases down on the double bed, immediately starting to unpack as it meant more time to relax. "I bet it is, I'm just going to unpack our things and then we can chill for a bit."
Emelia nodded, sliding off the bed on her back, off the front and going to sit on the double bed. "Is Joe staying with us?"
"Yeah, but he's coming in a minute. Shouldn't be too long." Emelia nodded before spotting the coffee machine, before Dianne.
"Mama! Mama! It's a coffee machine!" Dianne spun around on her heels, grinning at the appliance. Dianne Buswell certainly loved her coffee, her favourite all time drink and guilty pleasure.
"Thank god for that."
Around ten minutes later they were both unpacked and were just sliding their cases under the beds before they heard a knock at the door, Dianne going to answer it.
As planned, Joe was at the door. They both smiled, him coming in with his case. "Hey love, you guys unpacked?" She nodded, seeing him place down his case on the bed.
"Mama, are you going to steal all of Joe's hoodies again?" Emelia sat on her bed, taking off her headphones. Joe smirked, raising his eyebrows at Dianne who scowled.
"Maybe, depends."
"I can live with that." He shrugged, quickly placing his things at one side of the wardrobe, the other side taken by Dianne and Emelia's things, all three of their sections neatly arranged. "So, what time do we need to be in the tower tomorrow?"
Dianne groaned. "Half eight." Joe gave a sympathetic look, resting his head on her shoulder before pressing a kiss to it. "Way too early."
"I agree, but oh well. It'll just have to be an early night for all of us." He slightly angled this at Emelia, who crossed her arms, seeing both Joe and Dianne give her pointed looks.
"I'm not tired though, I won't be."
"We will be the judge of that, missy." Dianne said, turning around to face Joe, pecking his lips. "Oh Amy asked me to pop in and see her, you okay to watch her for a while."
He pecked her this time, both hands rested on her hips, drawing gentle circles on them with his thumbs. "Course, and tell her I said hi." She nodded, them sharing a third kiss before she headed off to see Amy.
At half seven that night, Emelia was trying to decide who she wanted to read her a bedtime story, she had been going back and forth for five minutes, indecisive as ever.
"Can't you both read then, seeing as I can't decide. I'm a scatter brain today."
Half way through the short story, Emelia had fallen asleep, light snores coming from her as she snuggled into the luxurious bedding. Dianne was about to start the next page when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.
"Love, she's asleep." Joe said softly, pulling the duvet a little more over her.
Dianne smiled, imitating Emelia. "I'm not tired, I won't be." Joe chuckled, the two giving her a goodnight kiss each before heading to bed themselves, also in need of an early night.
Joe slid in first on the left side, followed by Dianne on the right, who was closest to the door that opened up onto a balcony. She tiredly smiled, wrapping an arm over his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm so glad we're all here, together. The three of us, it's really nice." She felt him kiss the top of her head, letting it linger.
"I'm glad too, I don't think I'd rather be anywhere else."
She smiled even wider, also feeling the exact same as him. Here she was, with her daughter and the man she loved, the man that loved both of them with his whole heart.
She felt herself grow extremely sleepy, rolling over to face the window and feel him cuddle her from behind, slipping one of his legs through hers a little, one of his hands gently holding over her bare stomach. She cuddled close to him, feeling her eyes close, no where she'd rather be.
"I love you Joseph."
"I love you too Dotty."