"Careful, that's hot" Joe said kindly, pulling the pan of bubbling porridge away from the edge of the counter, where it threatened to tip all over the floor and all over Dianne's precious feet.

Dianne smiled bashfully, a little embarrassed that she hadn't noticed the pan had been so close to the edge. "Thank you. What would I do without you?"

Joe wrapped his arms around her waist, smiling as she naturally let her head rest over his heart. "You'd definitely have accidentally lopped a toe off by now" he said casually.

Dianne looked up and gasped, hitting his arm gently. "That was a rhetorical question, Joseph." She grinned to herself, catching Joe's gaze. He nodded and smiled- a signal that he was proud she had used the correct word.

"Well, I apologise. Anyway, I need to get going. What are you up to today?"

Dianne shrugged. "Breakfast. Coffee. Probably more tour laundry. And I'm going to try and catch mum and dad for a phone call when they get in from work."

Joe kissed the side of her head. "Sounds good. Right, I've got everything I need. I shouldn't be too long- it's just to go over contracts and stuff with my accountant. I'll hopefully be back just after lunch."

As he began to walk towards the door, he heard Dianne running towards him. "You OK?" he asked, turning on his toes far more gracefully than he would have done this time last year. "You forgot something" Dianne said. She smiled and stood up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against his before removing the excess lipstick from his face with her thumb. "Anyway, have a good day. I love you."

"I love you too."

The door closed, and Dianne walked back over to her porridge, carefully pouring it into a bowl and topping it with a generous handful of blueberries. As she began to eat, she scrolled through her phone. It was such a bad habit- social media had become something of an addiction- but she enjoyed seeing what people had tagged her in and catching up with what her friends around the world were up to. After replying to a few messages, she placed her now-empty bowl next to the sink.

The letter had been on her mind all night. She had wanted to tell Joe, but her doubts had held her back. She wasn't sure he'd understand her mindset. She worried that he would advise her to walk away, to not get dragged in to someone else's problems, but she couldn't do that. She could not and would not walk away knowing that someone needed her. This girl had told her she had saved her life; Dianne couldn't help but wonder what she had done. If she could find out, maybe she could use it to help other people.

Sighing, knowing her mind had won her over, she walked back into the spare bedroom and retrieved the letter from underneath the bed. Sitting down cross-legged on the carpet, she opened it and began to read.

"You saved my life. I said those words to you once. Do you remember? I remember."

Dianne turned the letter over, the light coming through the large window illuminating the page to reveal that there was more on the other side. Dianne couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips. This girl- the girl, she supposed- had doodled on the back of the page. It was a line drawing of Dianne, in a pose she had never seen before. It wasn't copied from a picture she had posted. Maybe she just had an incredible imagination. Or maybe she had been lurking around in more places than Dianne had realised.

Turning the paper back over, Dianne continued to scan over the words the girl had written. Reaching the final line, she felt a shiver rush over her entire body.

"I need you to remember me. I need you to save me like you did before."

Dianne folded the letter back up carefully, walking into her wardrobe and stuffing it into the pocket of a coat hanging in the far corner.

She hated that she had hidden it again. Hated that she was being secretive when she and Joe had built up so much trust. But she knew he wouldn't understand.

She had to find this girl.

Had to help her.

But she would have to do it alone.

///

As the taxi travelled through the busy streets of Central London, Joe leaned back in his seat and held his phone to his ear.

His sister answered his call this time, much to his relief.

"Hi. How are you?"

Her greeting wasn't as cheery as usual. Joe sighed. "I'm fine. Just... I wanted to check in on you really. Dianne mentioned that Alfie..." He stopped when he heard Zoe sigh loudly.

"Look," she began, "what he said was shitty and he knows it. I talked to him about it and it ended up in a massive fight, which was why I didn't want to ring you. I... I just want to make sure you know that Dianne wasn't to blame. He was in a bad mood."

Joe ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face. "He shouldn't have taken it out on Di, though. That's not fair."

"I know. I told him that."

Joe didn't like the tone of Zoe's voice. She sounded sad. Empty. "Are... are you two ok?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

Zoe sighed. "Our argument kind of brought up some stuff. We'll be alright."

"Zoe" Joe's voice was sterner now. "I know I'm your little brother and we usually do this the other way around, but you can talk to me. Tell me what's going on. Please. I'm worried about you."

"I know. I... it's hard to explain. I think I'd been burying some stuff for a while and I get the impression Alfie was doing the same. We... we both can see how happy you and Dianne are and I think it's made us think about our relationship. Obviously, things are different with you two; you're older than we were when we got together, you moved in sooner, you met in a different way, but sometimes it's hard not to compare. Everyone else does it. But it's fine. We're us. We're fine. Just as we are." Zoe exhaled deeply, her voice wavering as she spoke. "We're going to be fine, aren't we?"

Joe closed his eyes and leaned against the window of the car as the sound of his sister's sobs emanated through the phone.

"Hey" he said softly, "hey, Zo. Listen to me. You'll be fine. Maybe you just need to talk to him again. Check in with him." He took a deep breath. "You two have been there for me through so much. It's my turn to be there for you. If you need to talk, or you just want someone to be there, call me. I probably won't have the answers, but I'm a good listener."

"You are" Zoe said quietly, "thank you."

"Plus, it's like you've always said. You don't see every aspect of someone else's relationship. You can't compare because you don't know. Like, you might be seeing us all happy and whatever, but I had to swoop in and rescue Dianne's feet this morning before she scalded them with hot porridge. And my fridge door hasn't been closed properly since about February."

Zoe laughed, which was exactly what Joe hoped would happen.

"Listen" he said, "whatever's going on between you and Alfie, you need to talk about it. Put it all out on the table. Don't... bottle things up or hide things. That's what I always tell Dianne. Talking and sharing is the way to build trust. Without that, there's no point. So, tell him how you feel. Tell him what you want. Tell him whatever it is you haven't been telling him."

Joe could tell Zoe was exhausted. "I will" came her reply, "I'll talk to him."

"I'm always here. And, I know I don't say it enough, but you're an amazing sister and I bloody love you."

"I know. I bloody love you too."