17 Nights

"Ow, can you stop poking me with that stupid pin," Ava complained as she stood in front of the full body mirror. She could see her mother busily sewing the last pieces of the dress at the back.

As side from the line itself, Ava was the main attraction for Josephine Jenkins' fashion show. It would be the first time mother and daughter was on the cat walk together. Ava was to appear last, when Josephine went out for her standing ovation.

"Oh God," Ava moaned and covered her mouth. She swatted away her mother's hand from he back and ran to the nearest trash can.

"Don't get barf on that dress. You have no idea how expensive that material is!" her mother warned her while she walked over to her sick daughter. "Are you alright?"

Ava nodded and wiped her mouth. "Yeah its just food poisoning. Marc and I went out last dnight; I must have eaten something that must have upset my stomach. You know how delicate it is."

Josephine gave her daughter a weary glance and just waved it off. "Right, well can we continue? I have one week left and I need to get this done. It’s the only dress that isn't done.

Nodding lamely, Ava went back on the small pedestal and looked at herself in the mirror. She bit her lip as she imagined her stomach bigger. Ava didn't know how she was supposed to tell Marc that she might be pregnant.

*

Ava waited around as she watched models getting ready. Everywhere she looked people were panicking, trying to get everything ready for the Josephine Jenkins' fashion show. She spotted her mother directing people and overseeing the few models that were ready to go.

She took a deep breath when the music started and the lights dimmed. The show was about to start and she could see a few models starting to get nervous. She too was nervous. Ava hardly models but she knew what it was like being scared.

You're scared of showing a part of your body you're not supposed to because of the tiny and revealing dress that you're wearing. You're scared of falling because you're wearing tiny eight inch heels on a slippery walkway and possible breaking something.

Ava smiled at her mom wishing that Marc would be here with her, but he had a game he needed to get ready for and by the time his game was done she would be already done her show and attending the mandatory after party.

Her phone vibrating on the vanity table she was sitting in ripped her from her thoughts. A smile graced her beautiful face when she was the caller ID.

"Hey Marc, how are you?" she asked sweetly.

Marc chuckled. "I'm good. Just woke up from my nap and I'm about to head out now," he informed her as he gathered his things.

"Good luck and think of me," she said with a grin.

"Of course. I just wanted to hear from my good luck charm. Good luck yourself and knock them dead."

"Of course," she teased. "Anyways, I have to go. Mom's calling me," she excused herself and said her goodbyes.

She bit her lip, Ava figured tonight was going to be the night that she told Marc she was pregnant. She had been hiding it for the past week now and not telling Marc or her mother was killing her. She knew that getting pregnant so early in their relationship wasn't going to make anyone happy.

But the again she really had no one to blame but her and Marc. They hadn't been very careful whenever they had sex. It was bound to catch up to them; she could only wonder what Marc's reaction would be like.

Her situation wasn't what she wanted. She was excited and happy that she was pregnant, sure, but she wanted the circumstances to be different. She wanted to be in love with the father of her child, she wanted to be married, and she wanted to have met her boyfriend/husband's family.

Not only did she have to deal with Marc's reaction but she had to deal with her parent's reaction. She knew that her mother would be more accepting of it, but the idea of daddy's little girl so much as even having a boyfriend made him cringe. And now she was going to tell him she's pregnant. He was going to have a heart attack and then kill Marc.

"You're up Kitty," Ava heard her mother say.

Ava looked down and saw her mother's outstretched hand. She gave Josephine a small smile and took her hand. Synced with her mother's hand, Ava had a contained smile as she walked down the runway with Josephine.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the instant flashes that went of the moment she stepped onto the runway. Josephine stopped a few inches from the end of the runway to let Ava walk alone to the end.

She stopped at the end and waited for her mother to join her. Both mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled before they bowed. Josephine waved at the crowd and both of them retreated back.

The moment she was out of view from the camera's and spectators, she was immediately attacked by the hair and makeup crew trying to reapply whatever had worn of in that moment of short appearance. Ava eyed the camera crew that zeroed in on her and made their way to her.

She smiled again when she was approached with an average height brunette woman who, among all the models, was dwarfed.

"Hi, I'm Janette from E! Entertainment, I was wondering if I could get a short interview with you."

"Of course," Ava said and shook the woman's hand. They both waited as the makeup crew finished with her and gave her the okay to start filimg.

"So this is the first time both you and your mother have been seen together on the runway, tell me, how did that happen?"

Ava laughed. "It was actually sudden. I was at a Rangers game with my mom and dad, and I asked her about her line, she said that she was almost done and that she was hoping that I would model her final dress. I couldn't say no, I was actually pretty excited," she admitted.

"Speaking of Rangers, I understand that you've been seen with one of their players, Marc Staal, for the past week and have been pretty quiet about it. Care to set the record straight?"

Ava resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Really, her personally life was not something that the media and anyone else needed to know. "Yeah, Marc and I met when I went to one of their practices and we just kind of hit it off. We've been together for awhile now," she told them, keeping things vague.

*

Ava tiredly set her things down messily on the wooden floor of Marc's apartment. She managed to sneak out of the after party fairly quickly telling her mother that she wasn't feeling well. She was excited to just see Marc and spend the rest of her night quietly with him.

"Marc? You there?" she asked, hoping that he would be at her apartment. Marc didn't know that she would be getting out early and said that she would meet him at his apartment the moment she got out.

"Yeah, I'm in my room."

Ava's eyes furrowed. He sounded like he was in a rush. She could hear shuffling in the room as she drew closer. "Are you alright?" she asked the moment she saw his duffle bag on the bed and clothes stuffed messily in it.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just got a call from Gwen and she said that Frankie's in the hospital. She got into a car crash with her brother."

She sat on his bed beside the duffle bag, while nodding. "Is she okay?" she asked, trying to be worried. Ever since she saw Marc with Frankie, she hadn't been too fond of her and Marc admitting that he still had feelings for Frankie didn't help either.

"I dunno, Gwen was crying too much for me to even make out what she was trying to say. Listen, I have to go and see her, she's still my friend."

"I understand, but can't you go tomorrow morning?" she asked sound hopeful. She wanted to tell him tonight that she was pregnant before she left for London to finish the rest of her mother's fashion show and before she chickened out. "I have to tell you something."

"Babe, I can't I'm sorry, but I really need to see her," he told her and zipped up his duffle bag, kissing her forehead. "I'll call you when I land," he informed her in a rushed voice before leaving the room and shutting it.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered weakly but she knew he didn't hear it.