Joe and Dianne's Strictly Stories

Viennese Waltz: This Year's Love

A/N: This chapter was originally written by xxJoanneLovers, so thank you very much for your help!

The happiest day of the newlyweds' lives was slowly coming to an end. From the wedding reception venue, you could just about see the setting sun glistening onto the crystal-clear water of Western Australia. Only a few hours ago, Joe had been standing at the altar, waiting to catch the first glimpse of his bride-to-be. Now, however, the party was in full swing.

The vows had been spoken, the first dance had been performed, and the cake had been cut, but the couple was yet to spend even a minute alone together. Urgently needing to change that, Joe wandered around in search of his now-wife. Eventually, he found her standing in a corner, watching the goings-on with a gentle smile on her beautiful face. Joe laid a delicate hand on her shoulder, and Dianne beamed at the sight of her husband. They barely needed words to communicate with each other; silently, she let him lead her out of the venue for a little peace and quiet.

---

Hand in hand, the couple wandered down to the beach that they had spent many hours on together. Once they reached the sand, the two spent a moment gazing out onto the ocean in front of them, watching as the waves lapped against each other before crashing onto the sand.

"Wow, never in a million years would I have thought that I'd end up here," Joe breathed, not taking his eyes off the horizon that lay ahead, "I mean, I'm thousands of miles away from where I grew up, looking out onto the ocean with the most gorgeous girl in the world standing next to me, who now happens to be my wife".

"Yeah. It doesn't really feel real, does it?" Dianne replied, and the younger man nodded in agreement as they began to slowly make their way across the beach.

"I don't know if I ever told you this," Joe began, "But before I met you, I was starting to give up on the whole 'happily ever after' idea".

Dianne blinked at him, "Really?"

Joe nodded, "I'd had my heart broken too many times before," he explained, "I'd heard the same story over and over again: time after time I was told that I wasn't mature enough, I made too many jokes, I didn't know when to take things seriously. But then I met you".

Dianne shrugged happily, "I like your jokes", she murmured.

"Exactly; you're not like the others, Dianne," Joe pointed out, "You didn't roll your eyes at me when I cracked a joke, even though it was probably at the wrong time. Instead, you laughed along with me, adding jokes of your own. You've always accepted me for who I was, and who I am".

---

Joe thanked the driver, quickly jumping out of his Uber and heading to where he was supposed to have met Dianne nearly half an hour ago.

"God dammit Joe, what a great first impression you're making! I mean, who is half an hour late on the first day?" he muttered underneath his breath as he walked past studio after studio, not yet reaching the correct one.

Eventually, Joe found the studio he had been searching for, but something was stopping him from simply wandering inside. Maybe it was because he hadn't danced a step in his whole life, and now all of a sudden, he was not only expected to learn dance after dance, but to also perform them on live television each week. Or maybe it was that deep down inside, he knew that this could well and truly change his life. After reassuring himself that everything would be alright about a hundred times, Joe carefully opened the door to reveal his redheaded dance partner finalising a few last bits of choreography for the dance that Joe was about to learn.

"Hey! I'm so sorry I'm late, I just lost track of time," Joe apologised, "But I promise it won't happen again".

Dianne shrugged casually, "Hey, don't worry about it. Better late than never, right?" she replied, and Joe nodded in relief, "And the crew filming our VT haven't shown up yet either, so don't panic".