Scream Me a Dream

Saturday December 18, 2010
6:30pm

“You look excited.” Kat laughed as she ducked into the cab, grinning even wider when she saw the pink roses sitting between them. “Those are beautiful, are they for the wifey?”

Ville laughed as he shook his head. “For Aida, Soya had me pick them up for her.”

“And the wifey prefers…”

“Tulips.” Ville chuckled. “Soya prefers tulips.”

Kat laughed. “That’s a good thing you know, is Soya still at the school?”

“Yeah, she’s been there all day, after you and I had breakfast I went over to help a bit, Soya and I went out to lunch with Aida, but for the most part she’s been running around making sure everyone’s costumes are fitting. How was your lunch with Bam?”

Kat raised an eyebrow at her friend before nodding. “It was great; I haven’t seen Bam in a while. He’s here doing some stuff for Jussi.”

“Is he going to their gig tonight?”

“No, he’s staying in town tonight, I invited him to come and hang out with us later tonight, if that’s all right?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Ville asked looking over at Kat.

“Well when I mentioned he was in town over breakfast you kinda stiffened up, and Bam admits that you guys had a fight a couple of months ago. You guys haven’t talked since then; he didn’t even know you and Soya were engaged.”

“A lot of people don’t.” Ville pointed out.

“Yeah, but your best of friends knows, I would think that once you had shared it with the band, Bam would be a close second.”

Ville shrugged. “Bam has made it very clear that he’s not fond of Soya, so why am I going to share good news with him when all it’s going to do is receive negativity.” Ville rolled his eyes at himself. “Trust me, telling Linde was hard enough with the lecture he gave both of us…”

“Bam didn’t seem to hate the idea that you guys were engaged, more surprised than anything else. I really think you guys should talk.”

“Now you sound like Soya.” Ville sighed. “If he wants to come and hang out later tonight that’s fine, I’m not angry, just tired.”

“Tired?”

“He’s been like this since meeting Soya back in May. He’s been hot and cold about her, he either likes her or he doesn’t, I just wish he’d decide.”

“When I talked to him earlier, he seemed to be fine with her.”

Ville shrugged. “He hasn’t shown that he’s fine with her.”

“I’ll call him, you guys need to make up, I don’t like seeing either you or Bam so unsure of yourselves.”

“He does realize that Soya will be with us tonight too right?”

“Yes,” Kat laughed as the cab stopped in front of the school. “He does.”

Ville shrugged as he grabbed the flowers. “Like I said, I’m fine with it.”

“All right.” Kat laughed quietly, watching as Ville paid the driver, before directing her up the steps of the school. “So is it just us that are coming to support Aida?”

Ville shook his head. “A few others are coming too.”

“Any of the guys?”

“Burton said he’d come, as Aida asked him to.” Ville chuckled. “Mostly because she has a crush on him, I think Linde and Toni said they’d try to make it, but I’m not sure if they were able to since Olivia also has something going on at her school.” He explained as he led her towards the auditorium and opening the doors allowing the sounds of loud chatter to consume them as Ville started looking for their group.

He found them sitting in the back rows, close to the aisle. He greeted his parents who had also come to support Aida in her theater debut.

“Kat! It’s good to see you!” Anita greeted as she kissed Ville’s cheek, leaning forward to do the same to Kat.

“Good to see you too Anita!” Kat smiled as Ville let her into the aisle first, as Anita, Kari and Jesse scooted down in the row, leaving room for Kat and Ville, Ville sitting at the end of the row. “Jesse, I didn’t know you would be here.” Kat said smiling at Ville’s younger brother.

“Aida caught me when she was staying with my parents and told me all about how she got the lead in the play and I needed to be here.” Jesse admitted. “It’s hard to say ‘no’ to her, ask Ville, it’s how he ended up with five of her friends sleeping in his tower.”

“Really?” Kat laughed, looking at Ville.

“The girl is a good manipulator.” Ville shrugged, before looking behind him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Hey! You made it!”

“Are you kidding?” Burton asked with a raised eyebrow, taking one of the free seats behind Ville. “I was afraid Aida would kill me if I didn’t show up. I come baring gifts as well.” Burton said holding up the flowers, before noticing Kat. “Hey! When did you get into town?” He asked, leaning forward to kiss her cheek, greeting Ville’s parents and brother as well.

“Early this morning.” Kat said as Ville stood up, opening his arms to accept a young woman into them. Kat smiled as she watched Ville hugged the woman, who Kat was pretty sure was Soya, Kat’s assumption was made correct when Ville leaned down to kiss her softly, before Soya turned and grinned at them.

“Aida’s going to be so excited to know you all made it!” Soya said, holding on to Ville’s hand as she hugged Burton. “Especially you.” She teased him, before waving hello to Anita and Kari and sticking her tongue out at Jesse.

Burton groaned “Now I’m not sure whether I want to give her to flowers or not.”

Soya laughed. “It’ll be fine, it’s a healthy crush Burton, don’t think too much of it.” She assured, before turning to Kat. “Now you must be Kat.”

“I am.” Kat said standing and shaking Soya’s outstretched hand with a grin.

“I have to say Aida is very excited to meet the cat Ville got her.” Soya teased, grinning up at Ville, before turning back to Kat. “I’ve tried to explain to her all day that we haven’t gotten her an actual cat, but that it’s a parson. She’s convinced though we’ve gotten her a kitten. So expect utter disappointment when she sees you.”

“Noted.” Kat laughed.

“I’m sorry I can’t sit out here with you guys, apparently I’m now in charge of costume changes as well as keeping track of what clothes belong to which student.” she shook her head as she turned to Ville. “You haven’t seen Niina or Nathan have you? They said they’d be able to come tonight.”

“I think they just walked in.” Ville said pointing towards the door, causing Soya to turn and rush over to them, hugging Nathan and Niina before leading them towards the rest of the group.

“So mamma wasn’t able to come?” Soya asked as Burton stood allowing Nathan and Niina to get into their seats.

“She’s…” Nathan hesitated looking at Niina.

Soya shook her head. “It’s fine Nathan, I’m just surprised that she could make every single one of my dance recitals but couldn’t come to Aida’s play, I should probably get back there.”

“Aren’t you cold Soya?” Niina asked, as she looked at Soya’s blue tank top.

Soya looked down at herself, she was wearing her blue tank top with a black owl perched on a branch, dark blue jeans and a pair of worn black fold over combat boots that she’d worn for the sole purpose to prove to Ville that she did own weather friendly shoes, she just chose not to wear them.

“Not right now, I’ve been running around back there all day and we have the heater running, but don’t worry so much Niina, I have a sweater in the back.” She turned and leaned up to give Ville a kiss on his cheek. “You got the flowers?”

“I did.” Ville nodded.

“Good, I’ll see you guys later, enjoy!” she said, accepting Ville’s soft kiss before rushing down the aisle, Ville took his seat again, before turning to Nathan and Niina.

“It’s good to see you both.”

“Always a pleasure to see you Mr. Valo.” Nathan said with a smile and a nod.

“Who’s your friend Ville?” Niina asked having met Ville’s family before Soya had gotten sent to the states, and having met Burton having dropped Aida off in Sipoo a couple times after her piano lessons. Kat turned at Niina’s question, smiling at the older woman.

“This is my friend Kat, from Los Angeles, Kat, this is Niina and Nathan, they’re…” Ville frowned as he tried to explain just what Niina and Nathan were to Soya, they weren’t employees to Soya but they were much more than just family friends.

“We work for Soya’s family.” Niina said sensing Ville’s hesitation. “I use to nanny for Soya, and now I do it for Aida, and Nathan is the Toivonen family driver, but we’ve known Soya since she was baby, we’re much more like family than anything else. Does that help with the introduction Ville?”

Ville chuckled. “Yes, thank you Niina.”

“It’s just easier to say their family friends.” Burton said with a shrug. “Or tell people that Niina is the true goddess of chocolate chip cookies.”

Ville snorted, “You do make a hell of a cookie Niina.”

Kat laughed as the guys teased the older woman, before smiling at Ville as he turned back to her. “So what’d you think of her?”

“She seems sweet; I think I’ll like her.”

“She’s a bit scattered today, you’ll get to talk to her more at dinner.” Ville said, looking up with the lights started to dim, only to turn to Kat with a grin as he watched as one of the teachers stepped out towards the microphone. “I probably should have warned you.”

“About what?” Kat asked.

“The play is going to be in Finnish.” Ville said, just as the teacher began to introduce the play.

“Well thankfully I’ve seen A Christmas Carol more than once.” Kat teased as the curtains opened to reveal the set along with two children. Kat pinpointed Aida immediately, dressed in a little suit sitting behind a desk, looking at papers in front of her. She could tell by the way the group she sat with was sitting, they were extremely proud of the little girl on the stage. So she sat back and watched, and though she couldn’t understand a lot of the Finnish, she definitely caught on as to why the group was so proud.

XxxxxxX

Kat watched as Ville’s family and friends congratulated Aida in her performance once Aida and Soya made their way outside. She was interested in Soya, and how she stayed close to Ville’s side without being overbearing, but still held conversations with his family and friends. She laughed as her sister flitted from one person to the other easily, while Soya separated from the group to talk to Niina and Nathan.

A good twenty minutes later, Kat was left alone with Ville and Aida, as everyone but Niina and Nathan had left with a final ‘congratulations’ to Aida and a hug and kiss to Soya.

“Aida, I don’t think you’ve met Kat yet.” Ville said, picking Aida up when she gestured him to, settling her on his hip.

“I told Soya you’d gotton me a kitty!” Aida giggled, wrapping her little arms around Ville’s neck.

Ville chuckled. “No, this is my friend Kat.” Ville corrected though he rolled his eyes knowing that Aida knew very well that Kat was a person and not an animal as they’d explained to her the entire week that his friend was coming to visit. “She came all the way from LA to come see you in your play tonight.” He said, winking at Kat who laughed.

“Really?” Aida asked, looking over at her.

“Really.” Kat nodded. “Ville’s told me so much about you! And I love your boots.”

Aida giggled as she looked down at her red Superman rain boots that crunched the snow as she walked. “Thanks, Ville got them for me. You’re drawn on, just like Ville and Soya.”

Kat frowned, only for Ville to chuckle. “She’s talking about your tattoos.”

“Oh!” Kat laughed. “Yes, I’m drawn on.”

“Ville says you’re going to draw on him and Soya while you’re here.”

“I am, I’m hoping to start on Ville’s tonight.” Kat said with a smile. “Are you going to watch?”

“Can I?” Aida asked looking up at Ville.

Ville shrugged. “I don’t see why not, we’ll see what your sister wants to do all right? You both have to get up early tomorrow so you can pick up Rosalind and Impi.”

Aida squealed. “Impi!”

“Wonderful Ville, you’ve gotten Aida riled up for the rest of the night.” Soya teased, walking back to them with Niina and Nathan behind her. “Aida say bye to Nathan and Niina, they have to be getting home now.”

Aida wriggled out of Ville’s grasp, causing him to put her down as she went and hugged Niina. “Thank you for coming Niina.”

“It was a pleasure watching you up on stage Aida, you are quite the actress.” Niina said, kissing the top of the young girls head before shuffling her off to Nathan who hugged her and repeated Niina’s motion of kissing the top of her head.

“Thank you for inviting us rakas ystävä.”(dear one)

“Thank you for coming.” Aida grinned up at him.

Niina turned to Soya as Nathan let Aida go, allowing her to return to Ville. “Are you sure you don’t want me to tell your mother anything?”

Soya shook her head, kissing the older woman’s cheek gently. “Your job isn’t to pass messages along between my mother and I, if she wants to talk to me, fine, I’ll talk to her tomorrow when I drop Aida back off in Sipoo, but I would be honored if you came with us tomorrow to help me try on wedding dresses.”

Niina shook her head with a small chuckle. “I shouldn’t.”

“You should.” Soya grinned. “I’m going with a few of my friends along with Ville’s mother, and I’d really love it if you came Niina, you’ve been much more a mother to me then my own and I need something like that tomorrow.”

“Soya, if you don’t stop with the kind words, you’ll make me cry.” Niina said covering her eyes causing Nathan to wrap his arms around her as Soya kissed her cheek again.

“Is that a ‘yes’?” Soya teased.

“Yes, you horrible girl!” Niina said wiping her eyes.

“Call me in the morning and I’ll make sure she’s at the dress shop.” Nathan said, bidding goodbye to Ville, Kat and Aida before leading Niina towards the car.

“All right, where do you want to go to dinner my wonderful little actress?” Soya teased, grabbing her little sister and hugging her tightly causing Aida to giggle.

“I want to see Ville get drawn on.” Aida said with a grin up at her.

Soya nodded. “That’s fine, but you don’t want to go eat anywhere?”

Aida shook her head. “Can’t we just go home and order something?”

Soya nodded slowly, before looking up at Kat. “Did you want to work on Ville tonight?”

“I would love to; I just need a work space and a kit.”

“I borrowed one.” Ville said turning to Kat. “When you told me this morning that you weren’t able to get your kit through customs I convinced a friend of mine to let us borrow his.”

Soya bit her lip. “I don’t know if there’s much space in the tower,” she looked back at Kat, “What type of space are you looking for?”

Kat turned to Ville. “You said you wanted it on the free space on your ribs right?”

“I did.”

“Then I need a hard surface that Ville can lay on.”

“Would a table be okay?”

Kat nodded slowly. “Should be,”

Ville turned to Soya with a frown. “The table at the tower may not be big enough.”

“But the table at my flat is.” Soya pointed out. “Regan and Emmy already went back to New York for the holidays so it’s empty. We can order food and have dinner there.”

Ville turned to Kat. “Does that sound fine?”

“If you think the table over there will be big enough.” Kat said with a shrug.

“It is; I think it sits eight, so I should be able to lay out on it.” Ville nodded. “The flat then?”

Soya nodded, “Give Kat the address so she can tell Bam. I don’t want him wondering the streets of Helsinki looking for us.” She teased as she picked up Aida’s bag from the sidewalk before leading them to her car. She threw the bag in the trunk with the tattooing kit that Ville had picked up from his friend, along with her laptop bag that she’d taken with her in the morning, hoping she would have had a free moment to do more wedding planning between fitting children. That had been wishful thinking, she thought as she closed the trunk.

“Sit in the front Kat.” Ville said waving at Kat to take the front seat as he ducked into the back.

Kat did as she was prompted, sitting in the passenger seat, buckling her seatbelt as Soya pulled off the curb.

“Are you excited to go dress shopping tomorrow?” Kat asked, looking over at Soya, who smiled warmly back at her.

“Not really.” Soya laughed, Ville chuckling in the back seat. “I’m actually dreading it.”

“She’s been putting it off.” Ville sing-songed causing Aida to giggle. “Had she not told her best friend in New York that she hadn’t even started looking for her dress, she still would have been looking at dresses online.”

Kat laughed, as she looked at Soya. “I always thought finding the dress was the fun part.”

“That’s what everyone’s been telling me, but I find it stressful, I’ve been trying to convince Ville to just let me design it.”

“She’s brought it up once and by her designing the damn thing she pushes back the wedding date, which I think she’s vying for.”

“I am not!” Soya protested. “Really,” she said looking at Kat briefly with a teasing grin before turning back to the road. “I don’t know what type of dress I want, I’ve been going back and forth with my two best friends on whether I should get something a bit simpler or something more extravagant. Then there’s the question of getting something more traditional or more modern. I’ve been told that when I see the dress I’ll know, so far that has not been true.”

“Because you haven’t looked.” Ville pointed out, causing Soya to narrow her eyes at him through the rearview mirror and Ville to grin back at her.

“Are you guys having a big wedding?” Kat asked, Ville had told her a bit about their wedding plans, mostly the frustration he and Soya were having in planning it on such short notice, but details had been limited.

“We’re looking at a smaller, private ceremony, and a bigger reception.” Soya admitted. “We finally got our guest list down and it’s…”

“Insane, is a good word.” Ville laughed. “I think we’ve got it narrowed down to 550, and that’s only reception.”

“We’ve decided that no more then 50 at the ceremony, but even then, you look at the list of people that you love and that love you back and you ask yourself, how can you not invite every single one of them to your wedding ceremony?”

“But you know people will understand.” Kat pointed out. “Where are you guys having the ceremony?”

Ville snorted. “Another argument between us, Soya wants an outdoor wedding.”

“We both do!” Soya argued. “We just haven’t quite come to an agreement as to where, seeing as the venue I want Ville shot down the minute I suggested.”

“The woman wanted to have it at one of the parks!”

Soya rolled her eyes as she pulled into the neighborhood that her flat was situated in. “Ville is adamant that he wants to keep everything private, he’s afraid that if we get married outdoors in a park, fans will start swarming and there goes the small ceremony.”

“It’s true!” Ville said, winking at Aida who was watching the old argument with amused interest.

“And whose fault is it that they’re famous?” Soya asked, looking at him through the rear view mirror before eyeing the road and parking in front of the apartment complex. “Certainly not mine.”

“She acts like I’m the only one of interest.” Ville laughed. “As if she weren’t a famous ballerina or a famous politician’s daughter and didn’t have her own set of fans who would love to see her get married.”

Soya rolled her eyes as she parked, before turning to Kat. “No, we have not picked where we’re having the wedding.”

Kat chuckled as she got out of the car, once Soya turned the car off, Ville unfolding himself from the backseat and gesturing Aida out as Soya opened the trunk. He kept Aida close to him as he grabbed the kit out of the back, Soya grabbing her laptop bag, opening it and making sure she had everything in it that she needed before closing the trunk and letting Ville lead the way.

“No elevator?” Kat asked as they started walking up the stairs.

“It’s been broken since I moved here.” Soya laughed quietly. “The owner has yet to fix the thing.”

Kat smiled as she followed Soya up, deciding to keep to the topic of the wedding. “So what do you guys have planned for the wedding?”

Soya laughed. “That’s a better question; we’ve narrowed a few things down, like colors, bridal party,”

“Though that’s still in discussion.” Ville admitted, causing Soya to roll her eyes.

“We have our best man and maid of honor down, we just haven’t decided if we want a bigger bridal party, so that’s still being talked about. We have flowers somewhat narrowed down.” Soya sighed. “Really we have the smaller details down, when it comes to the big ones, we’re at standstills.”

“More like Soya’s digging her heels in.” Ville teased as they reached the third floor, Ville pulling the keys from his pocket.

“I’m really not.” Soya said with a grin. “It’s just been frustrating; who knew planning a wedding was so damn hard?”

Kat laughed as Ville opened the door, letting Aida run in first, before Kat followed and Ville and Soya coming in last. The lights flipped on and Kat was surprised by the modern looking apartment, only to turn when Soya squealed.

“That damn fox!” Soya groaned, glaring at the taxidermy fox that still sat by the door.

“Every time.” Ville chuckled, kissing the top of her head, before moving to close the door. “Kat I’ll show you the table, it’s in the dining room.”

“Sure.” Kat nodded, following Ville to the dining room, hearing Soya call for her sister.

“Think it’ll do?” Ville asked, gesturing to the black dining room table.

“Did Soya furnish her apartment?” Kat asked, loving the blue vintage wallpaper that covered the walls and the low chandelier that hung from the ceiling over the black dining room table.

“Linde and Mige did most of the wallpapering and painting of the walls, and Toni, Vedrana and Natali did the furnishings.” Ville explained. “Soya bought the flat having every intention of doing the work herself, but Linde and Mige really wanted to do it for her before she got here, one less thing for her to worry about.”

“It’s really beautiful.” Kat said.

“They cheated.” Soya laughed, leaning against the door jamb to look at both of them. “They called my roommate back in New York and asked him what I would like. Aida wants Chinese, is that okay with both of you?”

“Fine with me.” Ville nodded, looking at Kat who also nodded.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Is Bam coming as well? I want to make sure I order enough food for everyone.”

“Ah, I haven’t texted him yet, but I’m sure he will.” Kat nodded, pulling out her phone to text her friend, asking him if he still wanted to come hang out with them, letting him know they’d gone back to Soya’s apartment.

“Perfect.” Soya said, “Is the table going to be fine?”

Kat looked back at it, noticing that it was definitely long enough for Ville to lie on comfortably. “It is, I just feel bad about having Ville lie on such a pretty table.”

Soya shrugged. “It barley gets used anyway, even when we stayed here we ate in the living room, what better use for it then to get Ville’s tattoo. I’ll go order the food, probably set a movie up for Aida.”

“I think she still has a pair of pajamas here Soya.” Ville said.

Soya nodded, blowing him a quick kiss before leaving again. Kat and Ville started working on clearing the table, as Soya got her sister in a pair of pajamas.

“So what’s going to happen to all this furniture once you guys get married? I mean it won’t fit in your tower will it?”

“No, we tried to figure it all out when Soya first started moving her clothes in, a lot of this furniture won’t fit, as much as we would both love to get the bookcases into the tower, but since Soya owns the flat it’s not like we have to move all this shit out.”

Kat nodded, looking at her phone as it vibrated on the table, she opened the message, seeing Bam’s positive response in coming over. “Bam said he’d come over, but he needs an address to tell the cab driver.”

Ville recited the address to Kat as he put the kit on the table, smiling when Aida skipped into the room in a pair of her Tinkerbell pajamas, climbing up on a chair settling on her knees to watch them.

“Where’s your sister?” Ville asked, hearing Soya’s soft voice in the living room.

“She’s putting on a movie for me and ordering dinner.”

“Are you going to go watch it?”

Aida nodded. “But I wanted to see you get drawn on too.”

“You will, Kat just needs to set up first. It’s a long process kultaseni, you won’t miss anything.”

“So I can go watch the movie?”

“And eat dinner, and I’ll still be here.” Ville assured.

Aida grinned, hopping off the chair and running back towards the living room.

“You’re good with her.” Kat pointed out as she opened the kit that Ville had set on the table, making sure she had everything she needed.

“She’s an adorable kid, I’m glad she took to me.” Ville admitted. “She and Soya are so fucking close; I was worried that if Aida didn’t like me it would put a strain in my relationship with Soya.”

“How’d you two become so close?” Kat asked, wondering what the defining moment for the child was, to love and look up to Ville as she obviously did.

“I had to babysit her one day. Soya had some issues at the dance studio she rebuilt, so she asked me to watch her and I did.” Ville shrugged. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but Aida is a bit of an adult at times, so when you talk to her, its best to treat her like the adult she acts like. I told her out right that I wasn’t stealing Soya from her and I was genuinely interested in getting to know her too. She offered me one of her coloring books and we’ve been on good terms ever since.”

“Ville, you’re on more than good terms with Aida. She adores him.” Soya teased as she walked into the dining room with her laptop bag. “And he adores her, once a week, they take a trip some place, last week, I believe he went to the Finnish Natural History Museum with her because she needed to do some research on a short paragraph she had to write for class and he refused to let her use the internet.”

“Really?” Kat laughed looking over at Ville, as Soya set her laptop bag on the counter.

“He also forgets to mention, that he’s bought her clothes. He bought her her first pair of skinny jean and Converse, and when Aida stated that she wanted a shirt with a Heartagram on it, he got that for her too.”

“I didn’t know you guys made clothes for kids.” Kat stated, looking over at Ville.

“They don’t.” Soya laughed, watching as Ville blushed lightly, before going over and hugging his middle. “Oh Ville, you know I just love teasing. He really does love Aida.”

“I can tell.” Kat chuckled. “Soya, do you have any paper towels?”

“I do.” Soya said letting Ville go to head towards the kitchen.

“Bam says he’s on his way, by the way.” Kat said as she took the ink out of the kit, along with two spray bottles, one with alcohol to prep and the other with green soap to be used in the cleaning process of the tattoo.

Soya came back into the room, holding a roll of paper towels setting them on the table. “I also found some disposable razors under the bathroom sink. I haven’t used them.”

“Perfect.” Kat smiled as Ville took a seat at the table, watching Kat organize herself on the table.

Soya bit her lip before leaving the room again. “I think I may have a small table somewhere, I’ll be back.”

“Did you want me to draw out the tattoo?” Kat asked. “I know you said you wanted a ballerina right?”

“Uh, actually,” Ville started leaning back in his chair and grabbing Soya’s laptop bag from the counter, settling back on the table and grabbing Soya’s sketch pad out. “I asked Soya to draw it for me,”

“I only drew the basic outline for her though.” Soya admitted as she carried in a side table, causing Ville to roll his eyes as he stood up and grabbed it for her. “I could have done it.”

“Mmhmm.” Ville muttered, setting it in front of Kat.

“Thanks Soya.” Kat said starting to set up the tattoo machine.

“Of course.” Soya nodded as she flipped through her sketch pad. “Ville told me how he wanted her to be posed and I did my best in drawing her. I just doodled though.” Soya explained as she found the page and flipped the pad over so Kat could see.

Kat stopped what she was doing to look at the drawing only to blink. “This is a doodle?” Kat asked, picking the pad up.

“Soya tends to be humble about her talents.” Ville said, knowing that the ballerina she had drawn had taken Soya hours to perfect and had an amazing amount of detail.

Kat looked up at Soya, “This is amazing.” She looked back down at the ballerina that Soya had drawn that was mid motion. One of the dancer’s legs was pointed on its tip toe, while the other was drawn up, resting on the middle of the dancers thigh, her arms were outstretched, and even Kat could see the relaxed way the hands were posed, one stretched a little higher than the other. The clothing that Soya had drawn wasn’t traditional ballerina clothing, instead it looked much more like a sheer type wrap that fitted like a second skin but flowed down in movement towards the legs.

“This is much more than an outline.” Kat teased, causing Soya to smile lightly.

“I just drew what Ville told me too.”

“I had it transferred already Kat.” Ville told her. “My friend did it when I went to go pick up the kit. I mean he cleaned it up a bit, but for the most part I told him to keep the detail, knowing you’d be able to do it. The only thing that needs to change is the face.”

Kat nodded, seeing that the face was indeed blank. “Did you want me to draw in Soya?”

“No.” Soya said quickly.

Ville chuckled and shook his head. “No, Soya doesn’t want her face on me, I was wondering if you could just have her hair moving to cover her.”

“I can.” Kat nodded, finding the transfer at the back of the pad, much like Ville had said, the sketch itself had been cleaned up to be easier to tattoo, but the detail itself had been kept. “Once I put it on you I’ll be able to freehand it, if that’s fine.”

“I trust you.” Ville shrugged. “You know that.”

“Soya!” Aida called. “Someone’s at the door!”

“I’ll grab it, it’s probably the food.” Soya said as she left the dining room, walking past the living room where Aida was watching Alice in Wonderland, before opening the door, surprised to see Bam standing there with four bags of food.

“I’m guessing the Chinese food was yours?” Bam asked, lifting the bags up.

“It was.” Soya nodded, opening the door wider for him to step in.

“I intercepted him on the way up, paid for it too.”

“That was nice of you, thank you.” Soya said with a kind smile, still unsure of where she stood with Bam. “Kat and Ville are in the dining room.” She said pointing towards the opening where the two were. “If you want to go in and set the food down, I’m going to go grab some plates.”

Bam nodded, walking past the living room, Aida eyeing him suspiciously before turning to Soya once he’d disappeared. “Kuka hän on?”

“He’s a friend of Ville’s, his name is Bam.” Soya answered, knowing her sister switched to Finnish when she was weary of people. “Come help me in the kitchen Aida.” Soya said pressing pause on the movie. “I think Kat is getting ready to start the tattoo on Ville.”

“Todella?” Aida asked in excitement as she followed Soya into the kitchen. (Really?)

“Really.” Soya nodded, looking through the opening as Ville took off his shirt, Bam sitting in the chair next to Kat silently, watching as Kat put on some latex gloves. Soya opened her cabinets pulling out five plates as Aida grabbed the silverware, following Soya out of the kitchen and towards the dining room. She set the plates on the table as Aida set the silverware next to it and stood next to Ville as Kat carefully shaved the light baby hairs the covered the area where Ville wanted to get the tattoo.

“Mitä hän tekee?” Aida asked, carefully tugging on Ville’s arm. (What’s she doing?)

Ville looked down at her in surprise, as she’d been speaking in English in front of Kat, having been told earlier that Kat didn’t know much Finnish. “She’s getting rid of any hairs that may be around the area I want to get my tattoo on.”

“Miksi?”(Why)

Ville looked up at Soya confused as to Aida’s switch in language, Soya just shrugged as she set the cartons of food on the table for everyone. He looked back down at Aida who was watching Kat carefully. “She uses a special type of needle to get the drawing to stay on me, if any hairs get in the way it could get infected.”

“Oh.”

“Why are you speaking in Finnish pikkuinen?” Ville asked, still looking down at her. Aida eyed Bam briefly before looking back up at Ville, causing him to chuckle. “Are you shy around Bam?”

Bam straightened at his name looking at the little girl he hadn’t noticed. “Where did she come from?”

Soya laughed lightly. “Bam this is my little sister Aida, Aida, this is Ville’s friend Bam.”

“Bam on outo nimi.” Aida said scrunching her nose up at Ville. (Bam is a weird name.)

“Yes, well, maybe to him Aida is a weird name.” Soya said, teasing her sister. “Speak in English Aida, it’s not fair to Kat or Bam that you speak a language they don’t understand.”

Aida pouted at Soya before looking up at Ville, who shook his head. “Do as your sister says Aida, we’re not going to respond back to you in Finnish, so start talking in English.”

“That’s not fair!” Aida said stomping her foot.

“Aida.” Soya warned. “It’s been a long day, if you’re going to act up, then I’ll take you back home without supper and you’ll miss Ville getting his tattoo.”

Aida sighed, looking up at Ville again; Ville looked back down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you looking at me? I agree with Soya.”

Soya fixed a plate before looking at her sister. “Your choice Aida, take your dinner and go watch the rest of your movie, or I put everything down and go take you back home.”

“Fine.” Aida sighed, going up to Soya as Soya handed her the plate. “Thank you.” She muttered before leaving the room.

“She’s tired.” Ville stated, as Kat finished up shaving him and Soya handed him a plate, before passing one to Bam and Kat.

“I’ll probably let her watch a bit of you getting the tattoo done so her curiosity is satisfied then take her back to the tower.” Soya shrugged as they started helping themselves to their dinner, before Soya settled at the counter, grabbing her laptop bag off the table and setting it up on the counter.

“What time are you picking Rosalind and Impi up?” Ville asked.

“I’m not sure, I know early, the girls and I are getting together for lunch first, and then going to the dress shop, I know I’m picking Anita up around 11. Rosalind said she’d call me around 11 tonight, just to make sure everything was set.”

“Rosalind.” Kat frowned as she sat at the table next to Bam. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“She’s dating Jyrki.” Ville said. “Off and on, he’s probably mentioned her.”

“Or cursed her.” Soya muttered, as she turned her laptop on, only to turn towards the living room when the volume to the TV went up. “Aida! Turn it down! We have neighbors!”

When it didn’t go down, Soya started to get up, only for Ville to beat her to it, already out of the dining room reprimanding Aida.

“He punishes her too?” Kat asked, looking at Soya in surprise.

Soya snorted. “Only just recently he’s been lecturing her, but he doesn’t really punish her. Really he asks her nicely to do something and as she’s wrapped around his finger as much as he is hers, she’ll do it.” Sure enough the volume of the TV went down, and Ville walked back into the dining room, setting the remote next to Soya, before taking his seat again to resume his dinner.

“So this is your apartment Soya?” Bam asked breaking his silence.

“Mmm.” Soya swallowed the piece of eggroll she’d been chewing on and nodded. “It is, but I don’t stay here anymore, I don’t know if you remember Reagan?”

“I do.” Bam nodded.

“Who’s Reagan?” Kat asked looking at Soya.

“He was my ward.” Soya said. “He was staying with me until he finished high school, back in New York,” She turned back to Bam. “Up until, what Ville? A week ago?”

“Week and a half.” Ville nodded.

“He and his girlfriend Emmy were staying here, but they went back to New York for the holidays. So right now it’s empty.”

“Ville said you’re not moving anything over to his tower?” Kat asked, looking at Soya.

Soya shook her head. “Not any of the furniture anyway, I still have clothes, shoes and knick knacks here and there that I need to move over there, but the furniture stays.”

“Haven’t you guys thought of moving into a bigger place once you’re married?” Kat asked.

Before Ville could answer, Soya already responded. “No, I don’t like the idea of uprooting Ville just so we can fit in more furniture.”

Ville tilted his head back to look at her. “And what of the kids Soya, where will they play?”

Soya laughed. “As we’re not having kids for another two years, it’s not something we have to worry about, is it?”

“Two years?” Bam asked, suppressing his surprise at Ville talking about kids so freely.

“I go back to New York next month to start dancing again.” Soya said absently picking at her food. “I have two more tours to do before my contract ends with the company I’m with.”

“Does that mean you’ll retire?” Kat asked.

Soya shrugged. “Ville and I really haven’t talked about it. Depends on where we are in two years I guess.”

“So what happens when Soya goes back to New York Ville? Are you staying here?” Bam asked, wondering if that meant the entire band was uprooting from Finland to New York just so Soya and Ville weren’t apart.

“Nah,” Ville shook his head. “I’m going to New York with Soya for a couple months, while Linde, Mige and Burton are on tour with Daniel Lioneye, once they’re back, I’ll come back and we’ll see what’s what then.” Ville shrugged. “Soya and I decided early on that neither of us would be happy if we just followed each other on tour 24/7. We both have lives outside of our relationship, and jobs we enjoy doing.”

“Ville has to spend most of his year on a bus with four other men; I highly doubt he wants to spend his break on a bus with sweaty irritable dancers.”

“You’d be surprised.” Ville teased, causing Soya to kick the back of his chair with a roll of her eyes.

“Ville’s happy when he’s writing music, and I’m happy dancing.” Soya shrugged, looking over at her phone as it vibrated. “Our lives aren’t going to stop just because we get married. Ah, it’s Rosalind.” Soya said, flipping her phone open, she was about to greet her friend, only to close her mouth and listen to her rant, before rolling her eyes. “Rosalind, it’s winter in Finland, of course it cold, if you don’t have jackets you can just borrow some of mine…no I don’t know what colors I have!” Soya stood with a shake of head. “Yes, I’ll go check now you crazy woman.”

“Ask her what time she gets in!” Ville reminded before Soya left the room with an absent wave of her hand.

“It sounds like for the most part you and Soya have it figured out.” Kat said with a smile.

“For the most part.” Ville chuckled. “She told me a few weeks ago that she wants five to six kids.”

Kat laughed. “And you said?”

“That she was fucking crazy.” Ville laughed. “We settled at three though.”

They quieted as Aida came back into the kitchen, causing them to look at her as she set her plate on the table and looked at Ville.

“Are you full?” Ville asked.

“No, can I please have more eggrolls?”

Ville nodded looking for the box that had the eggrolls, before putting one on Aida’s plate. “Is your movie still playing?”

Aida shook her head. “Can I put on another one?”

“If I give you the remote are you going to be playing with the volume button again?”

“No.”

“Then yes, you can put on another one.” Ville nodded, reaching behind him, grabbing the remote from the counter and handing it to Aida. “If I hear that volume go up, I’m sending your sister after you, and I doubt you’ll be able to go try on dresses tomorrow if she has any say about it.”

“I won’t play with the buttons Ville.” Aida said taking her plate and the remote back into the living room.

“What dresses is she trying on?” Kat asked, watching amused as Aida left the room.

“She’s going to be the flower girl that much we’ve decided on, and Impi, Rosalind’s daughter is going to be our ring bearer.”

“Isn’t the ring bearer traditionally a boy?” Bam asked.

“We don’t know any little boys, and we both wanted our god daughter in the wedding.”

“Rosalind if you want to pack skirts, then pack them, but I don’t want to hear you complaining about the cold. Pack the jeans I know you own, along with your leggings, no flats or sandals.”

“Or heels.” Ville put in, causing Soya to hit the back of his head.

“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow at nine, are you sure you don’t want Jyrki to pick you both up?...All right, all right, yes, I love you too.” Soya laughed before hanging up her phone, turning to Ville. “She gets in at nine, so after she gets in I think we’ll start rounding everyone together. Is everyone finished eating?”

“Soya, you don’t have to clean up after us.” Ville said, grabbing on to her hand as she started picking up the food boxes.

“I know but I also know you and Kat want to start on the tattoo, so I want to clear off the table so you guys can start.” She said, as Ville let go of her hand.

“You also want to get Aida in bed at a reasonable time.”

“That too.” Soya laughed. “So help me clear all this off so Aida can watch a bit of the process.”

“Fine.” Ville said, standing with his empty plate and taking Kat and Bam’s as well as Soya gathered the cartons putting them back in the bags, after making sure no one wanted more. The table quickly and effectively cleared as they went to the kitchen.

“Seriously, I don’t know how you can’t not like her.” Kat said quietly, looking over at Bam.

“It’s not that I don’t like her.” Bam said just as quietly. “She’s different now than from when I first met her back in May.”

“Ville told me she used to be really shy.”

“She was.” Bam nodded.

“You can’t tell me she’s not growing on you; she seems to be a perfect match for Ville.” Kat’s statement caused Bam to shrug only for Kat to roll her eyes. “So you’re just going to sit there, uncharacteristically quite and watch?”

“Pretty much.” Bam nodded, smirking at Kat as Ville and Soya came back in.

“Ready?” Kat asked, looking at Ville.

“Ready.” Ville nodded as Soya cleared the rest of the table of its placemats, setting them on the counter as Kat put on gloves, prepping his ribs again, before carefully grabbing the stencil and started moving towards him.

“Her hands need to reach for the Heartagram.” Ville said before Kat was able to lay the stencil on his skin.

Soya rolled her eyes as Kat looked up at Ville with a small smile. “Oddly enough, that’s what I was aiming for, I assumed it’s the reason her arms are stretched up isn’t it?”

“It is.” Ville nodded, as Kat started to place the stencil on back on his ribs, this time making contact and making sure everything was aligned right before removing the transfer smiling at the outline of the ballerina that was now on Ville’s body.

“Go check it out, make sure she’s how you want her.”

Instead of going to the mirror in the bathroom, he turned to Soya. “Is it okay?”

Soya took a look at the outline smiling lightly; it wasn’t a small piece by any means, the dancer’s fingers were reaching for the Heartagram just barley touching it, while her pointed toe aligned with Ville’s belly button, nearly balancing on the leaves that came out on the Heartagram on Ville’s pelvic bone. “I think she’s perfect.” Soya nodded. “But I’d rather you go double check in a mirror, so you don’t get mad at me when you see she’s placed wrong.”

“I trust you.” Ville chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “But I’ll go check.”

“Thank you.” Soya said, watching as Ville left the dining room before getting up from the table and settling at the counter once more.

“What are you working on Soya?” Kat asked.

“This and that.” Soya laughed. “I’m responding to a few e-mails, one of which is a very long distressed e-mail from my assistant back in New York wondering when I’m getting back so I can take over the reins for the studio again. I’m also on the website for the boutique we’re going to tomorrow to see what types of dresses they have.”

“Ville said Aida’s the flower girl.” Kat smiled.

“She is, and she’s excited for it.” Soya grinned, as Ville came back with Aida trailing behind.

“It’s perfect.” Ville said as Kat stood from her chair and let Ville sit back on the table, before he lay back on it.

“Aida, sweetheart.” Soya said, getting her sister’s attention. “Go get one of the pillows from my bed for Ville so his head isn’t lying on the table.”

“The one on the left.” Ville called as Aida ran out of the room.

“You said you had colors picked?” Kat asked as she opened the needle as well as the needle tube and started to assemble the machine.

“Mmm,” Soya nodded. “Blues, purples and gold’s.”

“Who picked them?” Bam asked.

“We both did.” Ville chuckled as Aida came back into the room, handing Ville the pillow. Ville put it under his head, his neck and head feeling better once he had something softer other then wood behind it. “Thanks Aida.”

“You’re welcome.” She turned to Soya. “Can I sit on the table to watch?”

Soya nodded, watching as Aida climbed up on the table, sitting at Ville’s side to watch Kat assemble her machine.

“Why those colors?” Bam asked.

Soya looked at him a bit surprised he was taking an interest. “We’ve been looking at a lot of the color palettes for spring, and they tend to be the colors that work best for the season.”

“And…” Ville prompted.

“And,” Soya laughed. “Toni showed me these antique brooch bouquets that we’re hoping we’ll be able to make, and I fell in love with one that had those colors.”

“I just didn’t want horrible looking colors, lime green, yellows, oranges.” Ville teased as Soya rolled her eyes.

“Though he says the gold was pushing it.”

“What color is my dress going to be?” Aida asked looking over at Soya.

“I’m not sure yet, we’ll see tomorrow when you try on dresses.”

“Is Impi going to try on dresses too?” Aida asked.

“Or suits.” Soya laughed, causing Ville to look up at her.

“Suits?”

“Rosalind told Impi that she would be the ring bearer, and when she started explaining the role and how usually it’s boys who do it, Impi pointed out that boys don’t wear dresses and that she didn’t want to wear one either. So depending on just how adorable the girl looks in a suit, she might get a suit.”

“Amazing.” Ville grinned laying his head back on the pillow.

“All right, I’m set, you ready Ville?”

“Ready when you are.” Ville nodded before turning to Aida. “If you’re going to sit here I need you to sit very still. If you’re going to move off the table, let Kat know so she can stop all right?”

“Okay.” Aida nodded, looking at the machine as it whirred to life.

“You know the drill Ville, at any time you want to take a break, let me know and we’ll stop.” Kat reminded.

“I remember,” he nodded at Kat as she bent down to start working, “Soya, rakkaus, move over here, so I can see what you’re looking at.” Ville said

Soya nodded, unplugging her laptop from its charger and moving to sit at Ville’s head laying her laptop on the table carefully and positioning it so she and Ville could look at the screen.

“Is the ballerina Soya, Ville?” Aida asked, watching Kat work in curious interest.

“It’s supposed to be.” Ville said.

“Why don’t you want your face on her Soya? I mean everyone that knows you two, knows that the ballerina is you, so why not just get your likeness on her as well.” Kat asked, causing Bam to lean in to listen to the answer.

“I have the bad habit of looking at the negative of things,” Soya explained. “So when Ville told me he wanted to get a tattoo of me, I told him that I didn’t want him to, mostly because if we broke up I didn’t want that reminder of me on him, and for him to come to regret or even resent it.” She ran her fingers through his hair, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “So when I told him to get the tattoo on his birthday, my only condition was that my face not be on her, and Ville graciously agreed.”

“Kat says you’re getting one tomorrow?” Bam asked.

“I am, another of Ville’s birthday presents.”

“What are you getting?” Bam asked.

“The eyes of Virginia Clemm, she was Edgar Allen Poe’s wife.”

“It’s said that her death was the inspiration for a lot of his more popular works.” Kat said looking up from the outlining.

“That’s true.” Soya nodded.

“Are you getting them on your shoulders like Ville?” Bam asked.

Soya nodded. “I am.”

“I want one.” Aida said with a frown.

Soya chuckled looking at her sister. “Let’s get you graduated from school first.”

“I don’t want to go to school anymore.” Aida announced, causing Ville and Soya to look at the young girl.

“You don’t?” Soya laughed. “Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to be on Salatut Elämät.” Aida said with all seriousness.

Soya stared at her sister before covering her mouth to keep from laughing, Ville motioning Kat to stop with the outlining so he could laugh as well at the name of the popular Finnish soap opera Salatut Elämät, or Secret Lives.

“It’s not funny!” Aida said with a frown.

“No, it’s not.” Soya said quickly calming her sister down, not wanting Aida to think she was laughing at her dreams. “First, Aida, of all shows you could have picked, you picked Salatut Elämät!! Secondly you are not allowed to watch that show! Where in the world are you watching it? Because Ville and I don’t let you watch it.” Soya said, the worst she let her sister watch was The Dudesons and that was because Aida knew that Soya and HP were friends.

“Niina watches it all the time when she’s cleaning the kitchen.” Aida grinned. “She likes yelling at the TV a lot.”

Soya shook her head. “I think it’s wonderful that you want to be an actress sweetheart, but you are not dropping out of school to become one.”

Kat and Bam watched the conversation in amusement as Ville shook his head in equal amusement.

“What if I stop taking Latin and start taking acting classes?” Aida asked. “Or! I could substitute my ballet classes that mamma put me back in for acting!”

“We’ll talk about it.” Soya chuckled, thinking of ways she could bring up the topic with her mother. She knew that Aida really wasn’t fond of either Latin or Ballet. “Why don’t you go watch the rest of your movie and when that’s done we’ll head back to the tower. We have to get up early tomorrow to pick up Impi.”

“All right.” Aida said, leaning down to kiss Ville’s cheek. “You’re drawing is going to look really neat.”

“Thanks.” Ville chuckled watching as she crawled off the table and ran into the living room.

“So what is Salatut Elämät?” Bam asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s a soap opera they play on MTV3 here.” Ville said after motioning for Kat that it was all right to start again. “It’s dealt with every topic under the sun, and still on the air.”

“What kind of topics?” Kat asked, dipping the needle into the ink before returning to the outline, Ville wincing when she hit a sensitive spot on his ribs.

“Everything.” Soya laughed, running her fingers through his hair when she saw his wince, knowing that it was usually a calming gesture for Ville. “Drug abuse, teen pregnancy, animal rights, incest, gambling addictions, it’s why I don’t let Aida watch it.”

“What do you let her watch?” Bam asked, wondering if Soya sheltered her sister.

“I don’t censor much of what she watches, for the most part she picks what she wants to watch, she likes the Disney channel and watches a lot of those shows.”

“Much to my displeasure.” Ville groaned.

“Lots of cartoons,” Soya said thinking about what he sister liked to watch. “I just make sure she watches age appropriate things.”

“With the exception of The Dudesons.” Ville pointed out.

“That is right; I do make an exception for that show. She loves it.” Soya laughed, before shrugging in Bam’s direction. “I don’t know, she watches what every normal eight year old girl watches. Ville just introduced her to the ways of Tim Burton; she’s obsessed with Jack and Sally at the moment.”

“I’ve got her Christmas gift all figured out.” Ville smirked, though Soya kissed his forehead when he winced again.

“Soya?”

Soya turned to the opening, and smiled when she saw her sister rubbing her eyes. “Is the movie over?”

Aida nodded. “It is.”

“Okay, go put your shoes on, while I pack up here and we’ll go home.”

“Stay.” Ville said looking up as Soya pushed her chair back.

“I would,” Soya said, kissing his forehead again. “But Aida and I have to get up early tomorrow, and I don’t have any of her clothes here, I moved it all when I moved into the tower.” She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Vietä aikaa ystäviest kanssa, Ville, tarvitset tämän.” (Spend time with your friends, Ville, you need this.)

“Soya.”

“Kieltäydyn olla syy ystävyytesi kanssa Bam on kireät.” She whispered, her fingers still combing through his hair. (I refuse to be the reason your friendship with Bam is strained.)

“Tämä ei tarkoita että sinun täytyy lähteä.” He whispered back, his face turned to hers. (That doesn’t mean you have to leave.)

Soya laughed, kissing him softly. “Yes it does. I’ll see you tomorrow Ville.”

“I’ll be home tonight.” Ville assured.

“We can stop if you want.” Kat said pulling away and stopping the machine.

“No need.” Soya said standing and packing her laptop and its charger. “I’m heading back to the tower with Aida; we’ve both had a long day so I think we’re going to go rest before we have another long day tomorrow.”

“Are you sure, Soya?” Kat asked. “I mean, if anything I can work on Ville tomorrow while your dress shopping.”

“You won’t be able to.” Soya said with a smile.

“Why not?” Kat asked confused.

“Because I was going to ask if you wanted to join us tomorrow in finding my wedding dress, the more girls there to assure me that I look fine in a white poofy dress, the better.”

“Count me in.” Kat laughed.

“Great, I’ll text you the address.” Soya said, shouldering her laptop bag. “I should go now, Kat I’ll see you tomorrow, Bam.” She said nodding in his direction, before leaning down once more to kiss Ville. “I’ll see you at home.”

Ville nodded, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles. “Rakastan sinua.”

Soya smiled. “Love you too.” She said her fingers tightening before leaving the room.

Ville heard Soya talking to her sister and shuffling her out before hearing the front door close.

“I like her.” Kat smiled, before turning the machine back on and starting back in on the outline.

“I’m glad.” Ville said honestly relived the one of his good friends liked Soya.

“She’s really different from when I met her back in May.” Bam stated, causing Ville to nod.

“It’s been…quite the ride with Soya.” Ville said, pausing to hiss lightly when Kat hit a sensitive spot on his ribs, waving her off as she started to apologize. “She’s always had a strained relationship with her parents, but when she came out here things were starting to get better with her dad, and then in October he passed away and it seemed to be the push she needed to grow as a person.”

“She’s seems strong willed.” Kat said.

“That’s new.” Ville admitted. “She used to be pretty passive, always accommodating to others people, never really putting herself first, which admittedly, for the most part, she still is. She loves doting on people.”

“I saw.” Kat laughed, having noticed the way Soya had acted as hostess, making sure everyone was comfortable before sitting down herself.

Ville started to shrug, only to stop the motion, when he remembered the needle that was currently inking his skin “Really it works for us, I’ve never had someone to take care of me, she worry over me and I let her, but on the flipside, I’ve never had to take care of anyone else, and Soya lets me do that. She fucked her ankle up again yesterday.” Ville said, looking over at Bam. “She went out in these heels; slipped on some ice, she was lucky she didn’t twist it again. I nearly had to chain her to the couch so she could rest the damn thing again.”

“You like taking care of the wifey.” Kat teased, dipping the needle into the ink again, not before wiping the excess ink of Ville’s skin and continuing.

Ville chuckled softly. “I do, when she lets me anyway. Right now I’m really hoping tomorrow turns out to be more of a girl day then Soya stressing over picking the right dress.” He turned to Kat. “If they offer her alcohol, make her drink it. She tends to loosen up with a few drinks.”

Kat snorted. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

“I thought she didn’t drink.” Bam said with a frown.

“Ah, Soya has her weak moments, we went out with Linde and Mige and the girls convinced her to drink and she got fucking wasted, it was pretty damn amusing.”

“Lightweight?” Kat asked.

“No, the girl can handle her alcohol, but she doesn’t drink unless it’s social and even then it takes the girls a lot of pushing and prodding, along with my okay, for her to give in.”

“Did she drink at your birthday party?” Kat asked.

“Not that I remember, I doubt it though. She was too busy making sure everything was going smoothly to really sit down.” Ville looked over at Bam. “She said she called you.”

“She did.” Bam nodded.

“She’s not mad at you.” Ville said. “It takes a lot for Soya to get angry, you telling a restaurant that Soya and I had sex was more embarrassing for her then anything.”

Kat pulled away from Ville to look at Bam. “You told a restaurant they had sex?”

“Once again, I didn’t realize it was such a big deal, I made an observation, he had sex with Soya since the last time I’d seen them, how the fuck was suppose to know it was their first time?”

“Fucking Jyrki has a big mouth.” Ville muttered.

“We’ve talk about sex with our partners before; I didn’t realize just how different Soya was.” Bam admitted.

“Now you do?” Ville asked, cursing softly as Kat started up again, his pain tolerance for tattoos was high, due to the amount of tattoos he had, but it didn’t mean that it still didn’t hurt like a bitch when Kat hit certain spots on his ribs.

Bam shrugged. “I’ve never not liked her Ville.”

“Bam’s just jealous and he doesn’t know how to say it.” Kat teased, dipping the needle into the ink again, winking at Bam before turning back to the tattoo, working her way down towards the legs.

“Soya values friendships Bam; she’s not going to stop me from hanging out with you when you’re in town, or when I’m in your neighborhood. I know I haven’t been the greatest of friend since I got back home, even Soya’s pointed out that I’ve been focusing too much of my attention on her and not enough on my friends…but I won’t apologize for that.”

“And you shouldn’t.” Kat said turning to Bam. “Right Bam?”

“No you shouldn’t.” Bam nodded.

“Are you just humoring me and Kat or are you telling the truth?”

“I mean it.” Bam nodded. “I still think she’s too nice, but she’s seems to be good for you and you good for her. She’s changed a lot from that self-conscious girl I met back in May.”

“Is this your way of saying you approve?”

“Depends, tell me what she did for your birthday.” Bam asked with a smirk.

Ville chuckled, “She threw me a party at Tavastia, invited nearly everyone in my phonebook, put my face on a cake. I think Toni and a few others took pictures.”

“What’d she get you?” Kat asked. “She told me about the tattoos and something she was keeping hidden in the closet.”

“She told you about that one?” Ville asked, looking over at Kat.

“Not what it was.” Kat said slowly, looking over at Ville, before looking at a smirking Bam.

“Lingerie.” They both said with a laugh, causing Ville to groan.

“So she gave you permission to get the tattoo.”

“Blessing.” Ville corrected Bam. “Soya doesn’t mind me getting tattoos, technically she didn’t talk me out of getting this one, it was just a matter of getting it when she was more secure with our relationship. It was more her blessing I was looking for, not her permission.” Ville said, wanting to make sure that his friend understood the difference. He didn’t want Bam to think that Soya ruled his life, as Bam was sure to do, especially when it came to things that he’d been doing since before Soya entered his life for the second time.

“So she gave you her blessing for this tattoo, also she’s getting hers tomorrow for you.”

“More for her, but go on.” Ville nodded.

“And she gave you sex.” Bam smirked. “Anything else.”

“Andy McCoy’s guitar.” Ville smirked, causing Bam to sit up.

“Linde gave her the guitar? You’ve been working on him since he got the fucking thing.”

Kat frowned. “She said Linde had helped her with that, did she convince him to give it to you?”

“Not even Soya is that convincing.” Ville laughed. “She asked Linde’s help in getting it, she asked Andy if he’d be willing to part with one of his guitars and he gave it to her.”

“Just like that?” Bam asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’d have to ask her how she did it, because I have no idea.” Ville chuckled. “She just said he was charmed by her and handed it over.”

“So…if Soya’s not mad at me, are you?” Bam asked.

“I’m over it, Soya helps with that.” Ville said, watching Kat as best he could as she started to wind down on the outlining. “I’m just tired of your attitude towards Soya. You weren’t this way when I was with Jonna.”

“No, I wasn’t.” Bam nodded. “But I’ll stop now, like I said I’ve never not liked her, just…”

“Took some time huh?”

“Just don’t drop off the grid anymore.” Bam muttered as Kat turned off her machine, wiping the excess ink off Ville before taking off her gloves.

“All right Valo, the outlines done, up to you, do you want me to finish it tonight or tomorrow?”

“That’s all you Kat.” Ville said, sitting up carefully, happy for the reprieve. “I know you want to work on Soya’s tomorrow, and hers you may not be able to finish tomorrow night. How much longer do you think for this?”

Kat stood, stretching out her back as she’d been hunched over, estimating how long the shading would take. “Maybe another hour? Hour in a half?”

“If you’re up for finishing her tonight, then so am I.”

“Prefect, got anything to drink?”

Vile nodded. “I think there are still some waters in the fridge.” Ville said as Kat left the dining room to grab the bottles.

“If I stop being such an asshole to your fiancé will you at least call more so I know you’re alive?” Bam asked.

Ville laughed. “If you stop being an asshole in general I’ll call you every fucking day.”

Bam laughed. “Once a week will do.”

Ville smirked, as much as he wanted things to be fine between him and Bam, he really hoped Bam was sincere when he said he’d be nicer to Soya. He remembered how hurt she was when Linde had acted out when they’d announced their engagement. While she’d shrugged off Bam’s attitude now, he wondered how long she could shrug it off before it started hurting her.

XxxxxxX

“Are you sure its fine if I stay?” Bam asked as Ville unlocked the tower door two hours later.

“I don’t see why not.” Ville said as he motioned Bam in. “Just easier this way, once Soya and Aida are off for the day, you and I can hang out without having to meet somewhere.” He stomped his shoes from of snow before kicking them off by the door.

Bam raised an eyebrow causing Ville to grin wearily. “Soya doesn’t like it when the snow is tracked through the house. She’s lectured both Aida and myself about it. It’s a long winded one, so if you don’t want to hear it, I suggest you take your shoes off.”

Bam did as he was told, taking off his jacket and hanging it up with Ville’s on the coat rack. “So let’s see that guitar.”

“I’ll go grab it, that and some blankets for the couch.” Ville said heading upstairs, he went into the bedroom where he and Soya stored the extra blankets and pillows only to be stop and grin when he saw Aida curled up next to Soya on the bed, Soya’s laptop sitting open precariously close to the edge. He closed the computer, setting it on the ground, before extracting Aida carefully from Soya and picking her up.

“Ville?” Aida murmured.

“Go back to sleep, I’m just putting you in your bed.”

“I wanted to sleep with Soya tonight.”

“Funny, so did I.” Ville teased, going across the hall and setting Aida carefully down on her bed, covering her up and placing one of her stuffed animals in her arms. “Night.”

“Night.”Aida murmured falling back asleep as if she’d never been moved. He grabbed the guitar Soya got him for his birthday before going back to the room to grab Bam blankets and pillows, smiling slightly when he saw Soya curled up on his side of the bed, the blankets tugged around her.

Going back downstairs, he handed Bam the blankets and pillows before setting the guitar on table in front of them.

“That is one nice fucking guitar.” Bam said picking it up.

“Yes, it is.” Ville nodded as he leaned back on the couch, turning the TV on, keeping the volume low. He stayed downstairs with Bam for another hour, catching up on the months that they hadn’t talked, before heading up to bed, bidding goodnight to Bam.

He carefully took off his shirt, dropping it on the bedroom ground, before removing his jeans and socks. He thought about moving Soya to her side of the bed, before deciding he didn’t want to wake her up and settling on her side. The minute he got situated in bed, he realized that he was laying on his own pillow and that Soya had laid down on his side on purpose. She curled up to his side, her hand resting on his opposite side, just above his heart and his fresh tattoo. Had they lain as they usually did, she would have been curled up to his fresh tattoo agitating it.

“You are so smart kultaseni.” He murmured, closing his eyes to sleep.

“I know.” She whispered, kissing his chest causing him to chuckle softly before drifting off to sleep.