"Hey, Stace?" Katya came up to me with Neil following closely behind. "Neil and I was thinking, do you want to come to ours for dinner?"

"Yeah, and we've got a little something to edit."

"Dinner would be nice, but won't it be too soon for the edit? I thought it would be better to do it after the final." It was the day before the big day after all. "There might be some more footage we'll get tomorrow."

"That's true, but when would we send it over to them? They're going away pretty soon after the final and this edit is probably going to take a while to make. I think it's best to let them enjoy tomorrow and film stuff on instagram. Just for them."

"What do you say, Stace? Dinner tonight?"

"Alright. You've convinced me. Straight after this?" I asked, looking over at Neil who'd gone suspiciously quiet.

"Go home first and get a few bits. You'll need your devices that have Joanne related clips on them."

"Shall I bring any food or drink?"

"Nah. Just yourself. Ranj is joining us as well, by the way. He's bringing stuff."

The stir fry we all chipped in to make was absolutely delicious. So within half an hour of being there, Ranj, Neil and I sat down to brainstorm the video.

"Music or no music?" I asked.

"Not sure..." Neil said, looking thoughtful. "There are some videos we definitely want the audio on, like the one where he's singing to her and playing the guitar. Let me find it..." About a minute later, he showed the video he was talking about.

"What about the pictures though?" Ranj asked, gesturing to a few of them.

"Yeah, definitely music with that," Neil said.

"What tune though? Have you got any songs in mind?" I asked.

"Oh! I have one," Ranj said. "How's This Year's Love?"

"Yes! That one is really special to them. The looks they were giving each other during that Viennese waltz," Neil said and Ranj nodded.

I started laughing remembering something that happened after their camera blocking last week. "Do you remember Joe playing that on his guitar and Lady Di butchering it with her singing?" I laughed saying that.

"I swear she does that on purpose. Have you heard her singing a song properly? She's got such a beautiful singing voice."

"Perhaps give that a miss then in favour of using that. Have you got that clip?" Ranj asked me.

"I have. Let me find it."

In the meantime Neil had another idea for a song. "I heard in an interview Joe did that he wanted to dance to the Moulin Rouge version of Your Song as the first dance at his wedding. How about using that during the pictures?" We all considered Neil's words.

"Won't it be a bit choppy if we use the same song but mixed up with the audio?" We thought about Ranj's words and said 'Mmm' in agreement.

"Found it. I've got an idea, by the way," I said. I told them my idea and both Ranj and Neil smiled and nodded in approval.

"I know how to order it."

"Chronological order."

"Well, yeah. I was thinking more along the lines of the order that each clip would go in each section." We set to work putting my thoughts on paper.

"You know, I think we'll have to do an intro," Neil mumbled.

"Yeah! We have to introduce ourselves first. So you're Captain Stacey, you're Co-Captain Neil and I'm the medic on board."

"Dr. Ranj," I said the same time Neil said, "Medic Ranj." We turned to him as if to ask his opinion.

"Medic Ranj sounds good."

"Agreed. Then we'll just state our purpose and go straight into it?"

The two of them agreed and we all put it from paper to screen. Along the way, there were a lot of laughs and mucking about. But it wasn't much later when we high fived each other after watching through the final product.

I smiled to myself and thought, I can't wait for them to see it.

~—~

I linked up my laptop to my projector screen after loading the file from the USB pen Neil and Stacey gave me. Turning round, I heard Dianne come into the kitchen and she poured herself a glass of sparkling water.

"Why don't you bring the entire bottle and a glass instead?"

"Oh yeah. Good idea."

"SHUT THE FRIDGE DOOR!" She laughed at me. Honestly, she laughed! After doing that, she curled up beside me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. I affectionately rolled my eyes at her.

"Ready?" I nodded and pressed play.

Neil, Stacey and Dr. Ranj came on screen and Dianne and I both laughed at the sight before us. Neil and Ranj were on either side of Stacey and she was holding up an origami ship with the writing "HMS Joanne" on it.

"Hello Joe and Dianne, or as we like to call you...

"Joanne," the three of them said at the same time.

"I'm Captain Stacey."

"I'm Co-Captain Neil."

"And I'm Medic Ranj."

"We've seen just how cute you two are and honestly, I can't deal with it."

Neil continued, "So now we are dealing with it, by compiling all these moments from the last thirteen weeks of your lives into this one video."

"There will be moments of laughter and of tears. So grab some snacks, drinks and a box tissues," Ranj said. "You'll definitely need them."

"And enjoy the fruits of our labour."

"BOO!"/

Dianne and I both jumped when we heard me scare her and I laughed more when Dianne choked on her sparkling water. I paused the video.

"You idiot. I'm still paying for you scaring me like that!"

"It's all part of my charm." I kissed her cheek and pressed play again. That was in the Star Bar and then Dianne tried getting me back. She was never going to get me, though, because that was too obvious a time to attempt it.

"I bet it was Neil who recorded that," Dianne said.

"Yeah, it was. I saw him do it."

Next 'Take On Me' started playing whilst there were screenshots of our training together. There were so many laughs in those clips because there were instagram stories of us mucking about.

"Oh man. I can't breathe!" She actually couldn't. "Those instagram stories!" she said in between gasps. I made it worse by rubbing her back on purpose. "Stop!" I gave her head one last affectionate pat before we watched the last part our camera block through for our jive.

"BAM!"

Next came some of our VT in Wiltshire, courtesy of my reaction video. 'Cotton Eye Joe' played during more of the screenshots of our week.

"They've made good use of others' instagram stories and our reaction videos." I smiled at the use of 'our' when referring to the reaction videos. "It's good that they've credited the right people too." I said 'mmm' in agreement.

"When do you think they cottoned on to our feelings for each other?" I internally laughed at my unintended pun. She snorted in derision, picking up on it.

"I don't think it was just yet. I mean, they're using other people's videos so far." She gestured to the screen. "Mostly."

"To be fair though, Captains Stacey and Neil plus Medic Ranj couldn't really take any pictures during the week because none of them were there most of the time. That is, with the exception of Captain Stacey." We used the same studio as Stace and Kev, so they did have some advantage. "Plus the videos are fairly platonic so far." She looked at me in confusion. "Platonic means friendly, not romantic." She nodded in understanding. "I spoke too soon!"

"Yeah... look at our cuddles." There was a long sequence of us cuddling each other. "When do you think you started falling for me?" she asked with 'Breaking Free' playing in the background.

I blushed a little. "Sometime during week three, off camera, though."

Dianne laughed, gesturing to the look in my eyes as the camera went silently from me to Dianne dancing to "Hotter than Hell". "Whoever was filming that got a really good angle."

"We honestly are so cute! Look at us sleeping on the sofa there. How many people do you think recorded that?"

"Not sure." I watched intently as we gave each other heart eyes. "We weren't subtle at all, were we? I did fight my feelings for you though." I paused the video and looked into Dianne's eyes.

"What?"

I mustered up some courage. "When did you start falling for me?" I asked shyly. She cupped my face in one of her hands and gave me a soft, lingering kiss. She stopped before it got any more heated.

"I think it might have been during our first train ride to Wiltshire. When we were sat by the train doors. Practically on each other's laps." I blushed.

"Before me then." She nodded.

"You fought it for a while, didn't you." I nodded. It was only after the waltz that I finally kissed her. "I had to wait three weeks for that, and that is a while."

"Sorry," I said, laughing in embarrassment.

"Go on. Play."

"This is where they suspected we had feelings for each other! Look at how many personal videos they've done."

"Awww. Look at you serenading me. That was before our camera block through for our waltz, wasn't it?"

"Calm before the storm."

"You're really good at singing, you know. Go on, Joe!" After a few pictures of our waltz camera blocking, there was me storming off looking completely dejected. The camera was still on Dianne who looked just as bad as me.

I put my arm around her, willing myself not to cry, although I did choke up. I looked at Dianne's face next to me and saw her crying. I kissed her forehead for a long time and cuddled her until she stopped.

"You looked so sad."

"So did you. But look. It turned out alright. We talked to our Captains and we had a good laugh." I pressed play. "And look. We had a good laugh after that."

"Yeah. Do you remember what we were watching?"

"Not a clue. But it was making us laugh and that's the important thing."

"It was a few days later when we said 'I love you' to each other, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Possibly the best Wednesday lunchtime of my life." I looked fondly at her the same time we looked fondly at each other onscreen with Youngblood playing in the background.

"I never stopped."

"Even when I was acting like a twat?"

"Even then." I could tell we were both thinking of the samba week. Dianne giggled slightly when Dianne said onscreen, "Hello, boyfriend." and then when there was the montage of pictures during the Pride of Britain awards.

"What are you laughing about?"

"You look really hot in glasses." I kissed her briefly on the lips.

"And you look hot all the time." I squeezed her hand after we finished our dress rehearsal for the Paso, knowing what must be coming next.

The camera faced Stacey as she whispered, "I bet our Joanne's samba is going really well, so I'm gonna secretly film it without them kn—" She looked sharply behind her. I caught a flash of red zooming off.

Dianne squeezed my hand again.

/The camera turned to me inside the studio rooted to the spot. You could see the emotion on my face and then the screen went black (probably for dramatic effect) for a few seconds./

I said, "It's OK," the same time Dianne apologised. "Seriously though. Everything turned out OK. I'm alright. We're fine." I combed her hair through my fingers. "You know, I didn't realise she did that."

"No, I don't suppose you did." The samba week ended with me on a TV screen clashing the cymbals.

/The camera turned round to Medic Ranj saying, "I'm so pleased for you two. Captain Stacey had told me you were struggling this week when I asked her how my favourite patients were doing./

"This week was so much fun, wasn't it?"

"It was, except that run through."

"Oh yeah. The week was fun, apart from that."

"We'll see, won't we?"

"I'm gonna make a habit of this from now on," Stace said, walking up to our training room. "Here's hoping it won't be the same as last week. Fingers crossed," she said, showing her crossed fingers. "Isn't that right, King Kev?"

"Definitely." He held up his crossed fingers then Stace switched the camera round.

I held my breath, looking unsure at Dianne. "This is it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I think so. That was the only time we were caught though, wasn't it?" I nodded, not that Dianne saw it anyway.

On seeing us snogging on the floor, they both started laughing.

"Oi, lovebirds! Interrupting something, are we?"

See, the reason we were on the floor was because we wanted to give our aching calves a rest. Naturally, though, it hadn't taken us long to start making out. When Stacey and Kevin came in, we obviously tried separating from each other's laps. Instead, our knees knocked against the other's.

I was blushing big time, knowing there was no point pretending we weren't snogging. Dianne was very optimistic in thinking she could cover us up.

"Ow, that really hurt. Oh hi, Kev, Stace. What did you say?" To be fair, Dianne's lie would have been convincing had she not looked thoroughly snogged.

"You're such a convincing liar. Pity our appearance gave us away."

"Yeah, and we were on camera snogging."

"Oh well. It was only the Captain of our ship who caught us. Could have been worse. Could have been paparazzi."

"Oh no. Can you imagine?" We both fell about laughing.

The last few things of quickstep week was Neil's instagram story of us eating at the chippie, then our dress rehearsal of doom followed by Ranj showing the end of our actual dance and my "YES!" at the end. It was also nice that he included the scores.

"Oh. He had to include me crying, didn't he?"

"It's sweet. I'll never get tired of saying to you that was such a genuine moment right there." She squeezed my hand and brought it up to her lips.

"Awww. We're disgusting, aren't we?"

"You're the one serenading me." She laughed at me.

"What am I singing?

"Rainbow connection!" we said at the same time. "You like serenading me, don't you?"

"I do. It makes me feel like I'm in a period drama. Showing my girl how much she means to me."

"You know, this is probably the reason why Stacey, Neil and Ranj made this video." She turned her attention back to the video. Oh no, I remember what this is.

I was hiding underneath the table again and was filming from beneath it. Neil was there too recording me too. Dianne came in then looked at Neil's phone, winked to it and scared the living daylights out of me.

"I can't believe you got me like that."

"Neither can I." She didn't look upset about it though. "I got you gooooood."

"I love this. It's really cleverly done. How they've used each of the songs of the week and different pranks plus cute stuff."

"Yeah, and I love how it's not just the cute stuff, but there are sad bits too. You can really see what we've gone through and have come out stronger. It's our unofficial Strictly journey."

"Our behind the scenes Strictly journey."

"Yes! That's what this is."

"Look who's here!" Stacey said to her phone. "It's only Joanne. So you've decided to come and watch our American smooth, haven't you?" She gave me then the camera a suggestive look. "No repetition of two weeks ago going on now."

"Or last week, thank God." That was when I spent most of the Monday throwing up. "Here's hoping this week won't be like a repeat of last week."

"Sorry. I'll turn this off. Bye, Joanne," Stacey said to her camera and to us.

"Bye, Sis!" I said the same time Dianne said, "Bye, Stace!"

We watched the different pictures of me doting on Dianne in the Star Bar. It was the Friday where Dianne still wasn't feeling great. She'd done all her routines and I was (hopefully) helping her relax.

"Was I helping?"

"You were. You helped me a great deal." She squeezed my hand again. "I felt spoilt rotten." I gazed fondly at her.

"I'm glad." Dianne looked at me as if to say, Stop it. You're embarrassing me.

"You got right into playing your guitar, haven't you?"

"It's a nice way of entertaining people. I feel like there should be like a fire in the middle, I'm playing the guitar and everyone is singing along and toasting marshmallows. Too late for that now though."

"I think, no matter what anyone else thought of it, these dances were my favourites."

"Yeah, and I loved the Viennese waltz. It really suits us."

"And what did we choose to do in the dance off? The Argentine tango." We both chuckled at that.

We turned back to the screen and saw it was the Strictly semifinals results show. Ranj was quietly saying, "Joe and Dianne, Joe and Dianne. Joanne, Joanne, Joanne." whilst Tess was gonna announce who the first finalists were.

We smiled at each other, knowing what was coming next.

"I can't believe it," I kept saying into Dianne's shoulder when Tess said our name. "I can't believe it."

"I bet he's gonna keep filming. I bet Stace told him to keep filming us in the results show." We were holding hands most of that time after all. "See, I told you."

The camera cut back to Captains Stacey and Neil and Medic Ranj.

"We can believe it, and we love how far you've come," Stacey said.

"We love our HMS Joanne," Neil said. "But I've got to tell you, Joe, your dancing has gone from strength to strength."

"We don't know what the outcome is, since we're filming this on the Friday," Ranj said. "But know that the three of us, yes, even Captain Stacey, are rooting for you to win."

"Most of all, enjoy it, babes. It's no good winning if you're miserable about it. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Enjoy the last of this compilation."

They made a slideshow of all the screenshots in our official dances. The music they put behind it was "Your Song", Moulin Rouge version. I began to choke up, knowing the significance of the song. I felt Dianne slightly shaking and saw a teary smile on her face.

"I love you so much," she said to me.

"I love you too. You mean so much to me."

😄