17 Nights

It was the first week of July, Marc and Ava were now making their way to Thunder Bay. They had spent all of June with her parents in a small town just outside of Uppsala. It was the family's summer home, or rather mansion. It was the home her mother grew up in and her where her grandparents currently lived.

Ava's family was nothing short of eccentric, minus her father of course. Her grandfather, Marten, walked around with a rifle strapped to his back and a glass of scotch in his hand. Marc had gotten used to hearing gun shots so early in the morning. Marten loved to shoot clay pigeons and go to the lake near the house and shoot birds. Marc had become accustomed to seeing their dog Muffy walk around the compound with a dead bird in her mouth.

Runa, Ava's grandmother, and Jo would often go to Uppsala to shop and come home with more shopping bags than Marc could count. They acted as if it was normal for them to come home with so many shopping bags full of shoes, clothes and handbags. Marc had asked about it one night and Ava just shrugged her shoulders saying that most of them, as of now, were actually for the baby.

Marc spent most of his time with Marten and Ron. They had been teaching him how to shoot clay pigeons and riding around the compound with their car and motorcycle collection. It was unbelievable the type of lifestyle the Hall-Jenkins family lead. It was extravagant at most, but he noticed they didn't do a lot together as a family.

He remembered growing up that he and his family would have game nights, family picnics and trips to the carnival. Hell they still did that even now. The Hall-Jenkins only had breakfast and dinner together. The women would be shopping or in one room designing and the men would be outside in the lake. Eve he had Ava hardly spent time together, apart from breakfast, dinner and that small window of a chance when they are about to go to bed.

"Alright, bye love." Ava shut off her phone and leaned on Marc's shoulder as she watched the scenery pass by.

"Who was that?" he asked, sitting in the back seat of the car.

"That was Paullina and Mimi."

Marc groaned. "The trust fund brigade."

Ava lightly punched Marc's arm. "Hey, I'm part of that trust fund brigade and they are my most loyal and trusted friends and the godmothers to your baby," Ava pointed out with a smirk on her face.

"Our baby is going to be spoiled then."

"Either way, she's going to be a spoiled little girl."

Shrugging, Marc nodded, agreeing with his girlfriend. She was going to be the only girl in born into the Staal family; she was for sure going to be spoiled by his mother, not to mention Tanya and his aunts. There was also Ava's family who spoiled their children regardless of gender, and she was going to be the daughter of Ron and Josephine Jenkins's granddaughter.

"I agree, your mom is going to spoil her rotton," Henry chimed in from the driver's seat. He had been the one to pick them up since Linda couldn't come with the arrival of Jordan and Frankie.

The car slowed down, Ava's eyes instantly landed on the rather large house from the left of her. She couldn't believe that this was the house Marc grew up in. It was nice and cozy, by its appearance alone, you could tell that it was decorated personally. Unlike Ava's homes, which were decorated by the best home designers, the house in front of her had mismatched gnomes, hardly a theme and over decorated with flowers, but it was beautiful.

The car went to a full stop in front of the driveway. Ava noticed that there were two black Escalades parked in front. Ava looked curiously at her boyfriend, who just shrugged, exiting the car to help a very pregnant Ava out. Ava, even a six months, was heavily pregnant. At first it scared her since it wasn't normal to be as big as she was, but the doctors reassured her that it was because the baby was big and that pretty much everything she ate went to the baby.

From the back, Ava looked like she only gained a few pounds. Her arms and legs were still skinny, but when you saw her up front you'd be shocked to know that she was pregnant. Her mother reassured her that she was like that as well when she was pregnant with Ava.

"God, it's like trying to get a whale out of the car," Ava muttered, making Marc chuckle, earning him a swat on the stomach. "Hey, only I can make fun of myself."

"You're beautiful," he whispered in her ear before leaving her to collect their luggage from the back of the car.

As Ava walked to the front of the car, she saw Linda happily walking out of the house excitedly. Behind her were Jordan, Jared and Eric, followed by Frankie, who she knew and pretty blonde woman holding a blonde little boy she wasn't familiar with. As soon as she saw Frankie, Ava had a sudden feeling of protectiveness towards Marc, but didn't let it show.

"Ava!" Linda greeted her and immediately hugged her. "How have you been doing honey?" she asked and broke the hug to take a good look at Ava.

"I'm good, the baby is good," she replied and stroked her stomach lovingly.

Linda noticed Eric and Tanya by her side and introduced them. "Right, this is Eric, my oldest, and his wife Tanya and their son Parker."

"Hi," she greeted them, shaking their hands and smiling brightly at Parker. "You have a gorgeous son, how old is he?"

"He's nine months now," Tanya answered proudly.

"You've met Frankie and Jordan," Linda said and Ava nodded.

"Its nice meeting you guys again," she said politely.

Marc walked up to them, kissing his mom and Tanya. "It's nice to see you again Frankie. Hey mom, are we staying in my room?"

Nodding, Linda smiled and led Ava to the house. "We'll let you guys take a rest and freshen up before a house tour," Linda suggested.

Smiling gratefully, Ava wanted nothing more than to take a shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes. She followed Marc to his room, and instantly laughed when she saw his room. There by is bed was a poster of her and another actor in a movie she had done when she was sixteen.

"And here I thought it was Jordan that had a crush on me," she teased, approaching Marc and sat down on his lap as he sat on the couch.

"What? It was a good movie," he tried to make an excuse.

"In which I play a child prostitute and I was hardly clothed decently. I pretty much walked around in short dresses."

"Well, you looked hot in it. Everyone was in love with you in that movie. I'm pretty sure you became every teenage boy's wet dream."

"God, I looked so young," she said, getting up and inspecting the rest of his room. "You were accomplished," she commented looking at his various trophies and medals. "Well, I'm going to take a shower and then eat. Baby girl Staal is starving again. Sound familiar?" she joked, taking some clothes from her luggage and kissed Marc on the lips.