A Matter of Perspective

Christmas 5 - Rina

"Dot, you need to go back to sleep," Rina chided her youngest child who was wandering around the house as if she was still in dream land. It was quite early - just after 5am, when Rina always arose to enjoy a peaceful cup of coffee - and though Dianne and Joe had been in Australia for over a week now, she knew the effects of jet lag were long lasting - especially when also suffering from a nasty cold like Dianne currently was.

Rina watched her daughter shake her head stubbornly, her sleepy eyes scanning the rooms for something, "Can't sleep, Mum."

"You look half dead right now," Rina shook her head. "You need more sleep honey. Nobody else is up yet."

"Joe is," Dianne muttered, still craning her neck, now peeking out onto the back deck.

"No he's not," Rina replied, confusion apparent in her voice. Maybe Dianne's fever was back...because she was definitely hallucinating.

Suddenly, Dianne was flinging the back door open, leaving it wide open in her haste. Rina curiously popped her head around the corner, her heart melting at the sight in front of her. Joe was in fact up, and he was seated in the half darkness, his face lit up by the glow of Dianne's laptop. Well, until it became blocked by Dianne's body as she curled up into a ball straight on his lap, his arms wrapping around her quickly.

"Hey, hey," Joe murmured as he stroked his fingers lightly up and down her back. "Why are you up?"

"Why did you leave?" Dianne mumbled, her face buried in his neck.

"I didn't want to wake you up," he replied, kissing her forehead quickly. "Or the rest of the house, really. Your video didn't go up for some reason, I wanted to switch the settings really quick, but you always say I type so loud, so I came out here."

Rina watched as Dianne lifted her head quickly, staring at the computer in front of her, "It didn't go up?"

Joe shook his head, "No, but it's up now. I think the WIFI went out over night which messed it all up."

"Thank you," Dianne whispered, nuzzling her head back into his shoulder. "What would I do without you?"

"I don't know...actually, maybe you'd sleep," he responded in a soft voice, hugging her tightly. "If I come back to bed, will you sleep some more? You still sound awful."

Dianne nodded wordlessly, her face transforming into the unmistakable pout Rina recognized from childhood when she didn't feel good.

"Alright, move your arse then," Joe teased, tapping her hip as he tried to stand. "Dot, come on, I can't carry you."

Rina snorted as she watched a little bit of life come back into her daughter's eyes as she teased her beloved boyfriend. The noise came out louder than anticipated as both Dianne and Joe's heads whirled around toward the door.

"Oh, hi Rina!" Joe chuckled after the initial shock had worn off. "Can you tell your daughter to kindly shove off?"

Rina laughed at the disgruntled expression on her daughter's face. One of the things she and Mark had really grown to love about Joe was his humor - and his ability to call Dianne on her shit...which she'd always had a lot of.

"That's mean, you're not allowed to be mean to me," Dianne pouted, but nevertheless raised herself off of his lap warily, her hand coming to rest on her forehead.

"Hey," Joe whispered, his teasing tone gone in an instant as he wrapped a protective arm around her waist, "Does your head hurt? Come here, let's get you some pain killers and a pillow."

"Will you give me a head massage?" Dianne spoke quietly, her eyes half closed as they walked slowly back inside.

Joe smiled, "Sure."