Scream Me a Dream

Saturday December 25, 2010
7:45am

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Aida screamed as she ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed straddling Soya’s back, shaking her. “Wake-whoa…that is cool.” Aida whispered as she stared at the eyes that were on Soya’s shoulder blades.

Ville groaned as he pulled the comforter further up his body, “Aida, we’ve talked about this.” He started his voice gravely with sleep as he opened his eyes as to see the grinning little girl. “What have we told you about coming into the bedroom without knocking?”

“Not too.” Aida muttered, “But it’s Christmas!”

“Doesn’t matter.” Soya mumbled her face still buried in the pillow. “Go out and try coming in again, this time knocking.”

“Fine…why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Aida asked as she climbed off her sister.

“Because my tattoo was bothering me.” Soya muttered, turning her head to look at her little sister. “Out.”

Aida sighed, leaving the room and shutting the door, Ville got out of bed and pulled on a pair of boxers quickly while he threw Soya a shirt off the ground, Aida’s little knock echoing around the room within those few seconds.

Soya groaned as she sat up, pulling on the shirt. “You can come in Aida.”

The door opened again, Aida walking in this time, though she was still grinning. “Can we go to Mummi and Pappa’s now? Santa didn’t bring my presents here.”

Ville sat on the bed and nodded slowly. “We asked Santa to reroute all your presents to my parent’s house, what with us spending Christmas over there. We’ll go in just a minute; I want to give you a present first though, before Santa’s gifts upstage mine.”

Soya frowned as she slid up the bed, leaning up against the headboard, she could have sworn she and Ville had loaded up all the presents and left them at his parents’ house, but sure enough, Ville bent down and scrounged under the bed, bringing out two wrapped boxes, handing one to Aida who squealed in excitement and placing the other in Soya’s lap.

“What is it?” Soya asked, her sister already ripping into the paper, not bothering to get it all the way off before ripping into the red box that was wrapped, pulling out the clothes and slippers that were in it.

Aida squealed when she unfolded the pajamas. “Soya! Soya! Look! It has Jack on them!”

“I see that.” Soya laughed, looking at the black pajamas that had Jack Skellington’s face scattered all over with pink arm cuffs on the long sleeved shirt and matching cuffs on the legs of the pants.

“Did you see the slippers?” Ville asked, motioning to the white slippers that were on the bed.

Aida giggled as she placed the slippers on her sock clad feet. “It’s like he’s eating my foot!” she laughed.

Soya laughed as she looked at the slippers in the form of Jack’s head, his mouth being the opening of the slipper for the feet, so it did indeed look like Jack was eating Aida’s foot.

“Thank you Ville!” Aida giggled, crawling over Soya to hug him.

“You’re very welcome.” Ville said, kissing her temple. “Why don’t you go change into these pajamas so Mummi and Pappa can see them?”

“Okay!” Aida said excitedly grabbing the pajamas off the bed before scurrying out of the room.

“I’m guessing that’s just the start of her Nightmare Before Christmas gifts?” Soya asked, looking over at Ville amused.

“It is my job as her future brother-in-law to educate her.”

Soya laughed as she tapped the present that still lay on her lap. “So what’s this?”

Ville laughed pushing the present closer to her. “Open it and don’t shake it Soya, just open it.”

Soya rolled her eyes as she started undoing the wrapping paper. “Now is this a Christmas present or a birthday present.”

Ville hit his forehead. “God, Soya I completely forget that today was your birthday too!”

Soya shook her head, an amused smile forming on her lips. “You’re a jerk.” She muttered pulling the

“How old are you now?” Ville asked with narrowed eyes. “38? 39?”

“Seriously, you’re a jerk.” Soya laughed pushing at her shoulder. “And it’s 29 in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I haven’t.” Ville leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “Happy Birthday Soya.”

“Thank you.” She whispered against his lips.

“And I did get you a birthday present, but it’s at my parent’s house, along with your Christmas gifts.”

“So this is a…” Soya prompted, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Christmas gift.” Ville chuckled as she reached the box. “You talked the other week about wanting to start traditions, and one of them was wearing matching pajamas on Christmas.”

“I think I said I wanted us to wear footsie pajamas.”

“Yes, but I really don’t think that’s going to happen.” Ville chuckled. “But I did us one better.”

“Better then footies pajamas, I doubt that!” Soya laughed as she opened the box, only to grin when she saw Jack Skellington’s face staring back at her on the black and white long sleeved shirt, with Jack’s head on the center with pink detail in the eyes and mouth. The black pants matched the shirt, blank in print, Jack’s head scattered all over the pants while pink thin vertical lines went down the legs.

“So what do you think? I’m thinking we can do a different movie each year.”

Soya laughed. “I love them.”

“There’s more, look under your side of the bed.”

Soya narrowed her eyes, only to lean down, feeling the box underneath her fingers that she was positive was not there last night when she’d gone to bed. Pulling it out, she saw that it wasn’t wrapped, just a simple green box with a bow on top of it. Pulling the lid open, she grinned when she saw the grey boots that sat on top of the red and green Christmas tissue paper.

“You can finally get rid of those ratty Ugg’s you wear everywhere.”

“Those were a birthday present from Josef!”

“Five years ago!” Ville laughed. “I got you new boots, and they’re snow friendly and look it has this sock thing for warmth.”

Soya rolled her eyes as she looked at her new boots. It did in fact have a knit wool sock lining inside for extra warmth. “What is it with you wanting to get me all snow friendly? I was born and raised here for the first sixteen years of my life Ville, and I’ve lived in New York for the last thirteen. I know how to dress for the snow.”

Ville chuckled, “Wouldn’t have fallen had you known.” He teased, kissing her forehead.

Soya rolled her eyes. “I’ll wear them, because I really do love them and my old Uggs are starting to get holes on the bottoms of them.”

“So are we going to go!?” Aida asked, coming into the bedroom in her new pajamas and slippers.

Ville nodded. “We are in just a minute; I swear your presents aren’t going anywhere.”

“Ville and I are just going to change, do you mind starting the coffee pot downstairs?” Soya asked.

Aida sighed, but gave an ‘okay’ before trudging downstairs. Soya turned back to Ville as he pulled a bag from under the bed, pulling out his own set of pajamas. His pants were much like Soya’s in that Jack’s face was scattered all over them, only they were black and silver plaid. While his shirt was black with Jack and Sally’s silhouette standing on top of their hill while Zero, Lock, Shock and Barrel were at the bottom.

Ville got off the bed and shut the door, knowing Aida would entertain herself downstairs, but if she did wonder back up she’d have to knock.

“I think we need to start locking the door.” Ville said as he pulled on the pajama pants. “Otherwise she’s not going to be just walking in after we have sex, but while we have sex and that’s one conversation I don’t think I’m ready to have….especially with a little girl.”

Soya snorted as she watched him dress, changing her shirts and standing up only to put on the pants. “You were the one that woke me up at two in the morning.”

“Merry Christmas.” Ville teased sitting on the bed next to Soya as they slipped on their shoes, Soya with her new boots while Ville pulled on his Converse. “And I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” Soya laughed as she stood up from the bed and started undoing the braid in her hair. “I’m just saying that if you don’t want to have that conversation with Aida, then you should probably stop seducing me while she’s here.”

Ville snorted. “I don’t think what I did last night to get you to have sex with me is considered ‘seducing’, I think it’s more ‘taking advantage’ then anything else.”

“It worked didn’t it?” Soya laughed as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. “I’m just going to brush my teeth real quick, and then we’ll get going.”

“I’ll get the coffee ready.” Ville said as they parted ways, Ville going downstairs, smiling at Aida who was sitting on the couch watching the Christmas cartoons on TV.

“Almost?” she asked impatiently.

“Nearly there, I promise you, the presents aren’t going anywhere.” Ville teased.

“I know that!” Aida said, jumping off the couch and following him into the kitchen. “I’m just excited about this Christmas and I want it to start!”

Ville chuckled as he pulled two thermoses out of the cabinet. “What’s so special about this Christmas?” He asked as he filled the thermos with coffee.

“Well Soya is here this year, and I get to spend it with mummi and pappa and Setä Jesse and you. It’s going to be a fun Christmas! And I want it to start!”

Ville grinned as he put the thermoses on the breakfast counter and walked over to her. “Let’s start getting you into the car then Soya’s nearly ready anyway.” He said picking the keys up and grabbing Aida’s sweater. Picking her up, as she still only had her slippers on her feet he trudged to the car, unlocking the door and placing her in the back seat. “Stay in here, I’ll grab Soya and we’ll start going.”

“Is Setä Jesse going to be there?” Aida asked before Ville shut the door.

“He should be, I’ll call and make sure he’s up and on his way all right?”

“All right.” Aida nodded.

“Stay in here Aida, I don’t need you freezing before you see your presents.” Her giggle reached his ears as he closed the car door and made his way back to the house just as Soya came down the stairs her long hair pulled into a messy bun.

“Coffee?”

“On the counter.” Ville said grabbing her sweater. “Ready?”

“I am.” Soya nodded, pouring creamer into her coffee before pulling on her sweater. “Aida’s already in the car I’m assuming.”

“Impatiently, but yes.” Ville nodded grabbing his phone from the counter so he could call his brother on the way to his parents.

“Then let’s go.” Soya laughed, motioning him to move out the door, handing him his thermos as he gave her the car keys, allowing her to lock the door behind them and make their way to the car.

As promised, once Soya started making her way towards his parent’s house, he called his brother, only to find out that Jesse was already at the house and they were all waiting for them, much to Soya’s amusement. He hung up the phone and looked through the mirror at a bouncing Aida who stared out the window of the car wide eyed.

He had to admit, he was pretty excited about this particular Christmas as well. If he wasn’t on the road, he usually did spend holidays with his parents or his friends, this one though, it had been a while since he’d been this happy and this excited to celebrate the holiday.

It helped that Soya was so into the holiday; she’d been disappointed when he’d convinced her not to decorate, especially when he’d told her that she couldn’t put lights all around the tower. He’d promised her that the year to come they’d go all out, with the lights and the tree and she’d seemed very pleased about it.

The fact that a simple holiday had Soya so happy and very childlike pleased him. There had always been, and always would be, he figured, an innocence to Soya, but when it came to Christmas, she reverted back to near childlike.

She snooped through every nook and cranny for presents, shook the ones she knew were for her and loved buying and hiding the ones she got for her loved ones. Soya never looked at price tags when it came to presents either, if she knew her loved ones would like it then she would buy it.

Her Christmas spirit rubbed off on people too, especially him. When Soya had first suggested they get some of their Christmas shopping out of the way, he’d bitched about the errand allowing her to pick most of his presents for him but the more they went store to store the more he got into the actual shopping aspect, especially when it came to Aida.

Soya had reprimanded him on the amount of things he’d gotten his future sister-in-law, they had agreed to stick to Aida’s Christmas list agreeing to get everything she had asked for, as Soya could never resist her baby sister, especially when it came to Christmas. They had even split the list up, Soya would get Aida the clothes, Anita, Kari and Jesse would work on getting Aida her candies and toys, while Ville had been in charge of movies.

Needless to say, he hadn’t stuck to the list at all. He’d gotten all the movies Aida had asked for, but he also couldn’t help but want to help the girl when it came to taste of movies. As much as it had pained him to buy Barbie in The Mermaid Tale along with Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses and Barbie in A Christmas Carol he wasn’t going to tell Aida that she couldn’t watch the movies, especially since she loved them so much, so he had decided to help her broaden her horizons.

He’d meant to only get her The Nightmare Before Christmas, as she was wearing down his copy with the many viewings she gave it, but then he’d found the new version of Alice in Wonderland, as he knew that was her favorite Disney movie, he couldn’t help but get her the newer version. It had gone to hell after that, he’d found a bunch of Tim Burton movies that he knew Aida would enjoy which had included, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice.

Soya had laughed at him, swearing she would never leave him to the errand of getting Aida gifts ever again, only to later find out she’d gone a bit over board on Aida’s new clothes as well. The amount of presents they’d gotten for Aida didn’t even come close to what his parents and brother had gotten her. Adding in the puppy, Aida had defiantly been spoiled that year and it was all because Soya had gotten them into the Christmas spirit and no one could say ‘no’ to the eight year old.

“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” Soya asked as she parked in the driveway of the Valo’s house. They both turned when Aida jumped out of the car the minute it was in park and rushed into the house without waiting for them.

“Just how much that girl got spoiled this year.” Ville chuckled as he got out of the car, Soya following as waiting for him to come around the car before taking his hand in hers and locking the car, both of them making their way to the front door together.

Soya laughed, “It’s a process, now that you’ve got spoiling her out of your system, next year will be much easier on your wallet…well both our wallets really.”

Ville chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “Oddly enough, I don’t mind spoiling the girl. It’s nice to see her smile, nice to see her sister smile too.”

Soya laughed as she stopped him just in front of the closed door, tugging him down. “You know you don’t need much to make me smile.”

“No?”

“No,” she laughed quietly, “Just a kiss will do.”

Ville chuckled leaning down and skimming his lips over hers, only to stop from going further when the front door opened, causing them both to turn.

“If you’re both done sucking on each other’s tongues, you’ve got a very impatient eight year old who wants to open her presents.”

Soya laughed rolling her eyes as she walked inside, tugging Ville along. “A Merry Christmas to you too Jesse.” She said kissing her future bother-in-law’s cheek, before taking her jacket off as Ville greeted his brother and closed the door behind him.

“Can I open them now?!” Aida asked, her fingers itching to grab the presents that had her name on them, and there were a lot of them.

“Let Ville and your sister get settled.” Anita laughed, hugging Soya. “Merry Christmas, are you two hungry? There are some warm muffins and coffee in the kitchen.”

“I’m fine for now.” Soya laughed, sitting on the floor next to her sister, Ville sitting behind her on the couch. “Ville?”

“I’m good, I have a feeling if we stall the presents anymore, Aida might just explode.”

“I will!” Aida said turning to Ville.

Soya laughed, as she turned to Anita who accepted a coffee mug from her husband as he settled on the arm rest of the couch next to her. “So how are we doing this? Want me to pass out the presents in an orderly fashion or just let Aida tear into hers and once she’s had her fill we open the leftovers?”

Jesse laughed. “How do you do it with Josef?”

Soya bit her lip before grinning at him. “He usually just lets me tear into mine, but that’s because he wakes up late and I’ve already started opening without him.”

Ville snorted. “Just let Aida open hers.”

“Really?” Aida asked wide eyed looking at her grandparents for conformation.

“Go ahead.” Anita laughed waving at the little girl. “Start opening your presents.”

Aida squealed as she grabbed the present closest to her, Soya leaning against Ville’s leg and looking at Anita with a laugh. “I think I will take that coffee now.” Anita laughed and gestured Kari to get a pot of coffee and mugs all around, knowing the young girl wouldn’t be done unwrapping her presents for a while yet.

Half an hour later Aida had unwrapped all the presents she’d had under the tree, boxes, wrapping paper, cut ribbons and bows covered nearly ever surface of the living room and Aida lay in the center of it all staring at her new movies and toys with glee.

Soya could honestly say she’d never seen her sister so excited to open presents or to receive each and every single one as she had that day.

“Can I put one of the movies on?” Aida asked looking at Anita.

“Pick one and we’ll put it on for you.” Anita nodded, “Soya why don’t you start giving out the rest of the gifts?”

“All right.” Soya nodded looking under the tree.

“Not just yours.” Ville teased, “You have to hand them all out.”

“I know.” Soya said with a roll of her eyes, grabbing one and handing it to Jesse. “This one is yours, from Ville.”

And so it started, Soya passed out the presents that lay under the tree, Ville sliding onto the floor next to Soya to hand Soya her presents. As clothing, new CDs and movies were reveled, “thank you’s” and kisses went around. Both she and Ville had received new scarves for the winter, while Ville’s mother had also gotten Ville a new coat, claiming his grey one was starting to wear down with the amount of time he spent it in, though Soya doubted he’d get rid of it.

Jesse had gone the safe route and had gotten her an envelope of gift cards to shops in the mall, saying that was her Christmas gift, when she’d asked for her birthday present, he’d pointed out a box near the tree, it was a book of Finnish poems, he claimed she need to get back to her roots as she was far to Americanized for his tastes. She’d called him a little monster, but kissed his cheek in thanks anyway, she really did love both her presents.

Kari and Anita had urged her to open the big box they’d gotten her, apperenlty the big box she’d admired when she visited the Valo’s had been her birthday gift. She’d burst out laughing when she’d gotten past the wrapping paper, they’d teasingly had gotten her Barbie’s Dream Home, something she had claimed she’d wanted as a child but had never gotten, instead she’d gotten cello lessons. The fact that they remembered she’d wanted one had warmed her heart and made her love the presents even more.

She leaned back against the couch, as she watched the family open the rest of their presents, it was a leisurely pace, they weren’t in any rush to get through the morning as none of them had really made plans other then opening their presents together. She loved that feeling of finally being a part of the family unit, one that actually enjoyed spending holiday’s together, hell any time together. She loved that she was able to give her little sister that sense of family as well, as Aida loved being around people, especially people who were just as passionate as she was.

“Thinking hard over here.” Ville said settling next to her as his family opened the presents they got each other. “What are you thinking about?”

Soya blinked and looked up at him, shaking her head. “Nothing in particular, did you open the gift I got you?”

“Not yet, I saw the box though, wanted to give you this.” He told her handing her an envelope. “This is your Christmas gift, your birthday gift I’ll give you in a minute.”

Soya slipped her finger through the flap of the envelope, looking inside only, pulling out the two lanyards that lay inside, looking at the attached plastic with wide eyes of excitement before looking up at Ville. “Florence and the Machine?”

“She’s playing in New York in June, I know you’ve wanted to go see her live, so I got you the passes.”

Soya blinked. “But you’ll most likely be back here in June…”

“Who says the other pass is for me?” Ville asked with a frown.

“There are two passes…I mean…”

“Soya if you want me to go with you I’ll be more than happy to fly back out to New York to go see the concert, but the other pass is for Josef. He asked for one when I told him what I was getting you.” Ville chuckled.

Soya smiled up at him, leaning up to kiss him softly. “This is great Ville, I love it and I’m sure Josef will love it too.”

Hearing the disappointment in her voice, he chuckled and kissed the top of her head, “I’ll get one for myself as well.”

“Really?” Soya asked with a grin.

Ville nodded. “It’ll be nice to see my wife for a bit, before we have to go our separate ways again.”

Soya laughed, putting the passes back in the envelope and slipping it between the pages of the book Jesse had given her. “I think it would be nice too.” Soya laughed, before leaning forward on her knees and dragging the present she’d gotten Ville and placing it on his lap. “Now open yours.”

Ville chuckled undoing the ribbon before ripping into the paper and getting to the green box beneath. Opening the box, he looked at Soya with a smile. “What did you get me?”

“Look!” She laughed urging him to move the tissue. Ville did as she urged, only to frown when he saw the frame and the aging wrinkled paper that sat inside the frame. His eyes scanned the swirly writing on the paper, only for his breathe to whoosh out of his lips as he looked wide eyed at Soya.

“Is this real?”

“Very much real.” Soya nodded, digging around the paper in the box finding an envelope, “This is the certificate of authenticity. It’s is very much real.”

“What is it Ville?” Kari asked, Soya had been very tight lipped about her present for Ville.

Ville shook his head in amazement before lifting the frame out of the box and handing it to his father. “It’s a letter from Edgar Allen Poe to one of his publishers. Soya how much did that cost you?”

Soya scoffed, “As if I’m actually going to tell you, just enjoy the present, as this is probably as amazing as your presents are going to get.”

Ville kissed the top of her head and hugged her to him tightly. “I love it Soya, it…” he shook his head. “Really it’s amazing, I love it.”

She smiled up at him and kissed the bottom of his chin lightly. “I’m glad; I was worried you wouldn’t like it.”

“Not like this?” he asked accepting the frame back from his brother who had been looking at it. “I don’t know why, I love it, but it kind of puts my present to shame.”

Soya shook her head. “Of course it doesn’t! I love the passes!”

“Not that one.” He laughed, putting the frame back in its box and setting it on the couch behind him, before leaning forward and grabbing Soya’s birthday present. “Your birthday present.”

Soya rolled her eyes taking the present for him and settling on her lap. “I bet I love it.”

“You have to say that, you have to keep your future husband happy by saying that.”

Soya laughed as she undid the bow, “I wasn’t aware that was in the job description, does that mean I have to keep telling you I enjoy your music.”

Ville laughed and nodded. “It does, you have to constantly feed my ego.”

Soya grinned, “You need to give me a list of things I have to do as your wife, I’m sure once I read it, I’ll reconsider.”

“Doubt it.” Ville smirked, looking at his mother with a grin. “I think now would be a good time to show Aida her other present.”

“Other present?” Aida asked looking away from the TV and up at Ville.

Anita chuckled and motioned for the little girl to follow her. “Come on.”

Aida rushed up and followed Anita up the stairs along with Kari and Jesse.

“Go on, open it.” Ville urged.

Soya pouted, “I wanted to see Aida’s reaction.”

“I’m sure you’ll hear it.” Ville chuckled. “Open it Soya.”

Soya did as she was told opening the box and moving the tissue around, only to look up towards the stairs at Aida’s loud scream of excitement.

“I don’t think she liked the puppy.” Soya said looking at Ville with a grin.

“Oh, not at all.” Ville laughed.

Soya looked back down at her lap, running her fingers over the vintage looking brown and red photo album, taking it out and pushing the box away from her she opened it only to widen her eyes as she saw the first few pictures.

“Ville.” She whispered, running her fingers over the protective plastic.

“I asked Niina to get me some of your baby pictures; I have to say you were an adorable baby.”

Soya laughed, as she saw the pictures Niina had given Ville in amazement. “I haven’t seen these pictures in years. You know my mother really never took pictures of me, I think the only ones that are around the house are the professional ones, Niina and Nathan were the ones that took the candids.”

“She told me.”

Soya flipped through the pages only to stop at certain pages and looking through pictures she had yet to see, including some of her and her grandfather before he passed, and her and her father at the beach, near weekly trips that she and her family had taken from the time she was a baby to the time she turned five.

“Oh Ville, Oh!” She laughed, as she flipped the page and saw pictures of baby Ville.

“My mother gave me the idea to combine both our pictures,”

“Oh I love it!” Soya said as she flipped through the rest of the pages, he’d not only put in pictures of their youth, but the pictures from their time together when they’d been younger. Pictures of her, Mige and Linde, pictures of her and Ville in the garage and around Helsinki, pictures she’d known existed but had never actually seen.

The pictures changed when she moved to New York, pictures of her and Josef around New York, a few of her in her school uniform, old pictures of her and Rosalind when Rosalind had being living in New York. As she got older, the scenery changed, pictures of tours she’d been on with Josef, pictures backstage of the theaters she’d performed at, pictures of the friends she’d made during that time, even pictures of her at the hospital when Impi had been born,

The pictures shifted when it reached her last tour with Josef, just a few months ago, only to turn back to pictures of Ville and the band as their own career took off. She’d seen a lot of pictures of them before, but Ville’s own teasing commentary on the pictures meant much more to her than her looking at them on a computer screen. She loved watching him progress through the years, teased him about his ever changing hair styles and asked questions about pictures she’d never seen before.

Before she knew it the pictures had caught up to the present, and while they hadn’t taken many pictures since they’d reconnected, Ville had still managed to find some. A few of them were from her time in Castle Bam with Ville, she had a feeling they were taken by Bam’s crew or Bam himself as a few of them were she and Ville sleeping in the bed they had shared, sitting outside talking with each other and even when they’d gone to Bam’s bar to go see The 69 Eyes.

She was surprised to see pictures of her time so far in Helsinki, she noticed pictures that Toni had taken the day Soya and Natali had gotten together and danced, and what surprised her most were the pictures Isolde had taken of them the day after they’d gotten engaged.

“Technically our engagement pictures.” Ville said with a laugh.

“How did you get these?” Soya asked, amazed at what Isolde had captured on camera. “She hadn’t even sent these to me yet.”

“When I talked to Josef about getting the pictures of you, he contacted Isolde to ask her if she’d gotten to reveling these, she hadn’t but said she would work on it. She gave them to me when we saw her the other day.”

Soya smiled as she touched the pictures lightly, a few were of her dancing around Ville on the couch in her Odette costume, Ville watching her with that small smile of his. The others of them were black and white, Isolde had taken them while she’d been asking them questions, pictures of them on the couch once Soya had changed, along with a few of them on the floor, her sitting between Ville’s legs as she tied her shoes, grinning back at him, and even a few of them kissing.

“I happen to love this one.” Ville said flipping the page, only for Soya to give a small laugh as she saw the close up of both her and Ville’s intertwined hands, her engagement ring glinting.

“I love it.” She whispered, smiling at the rest of the pictures which were of their small get together at Ville’s tower, pictures of Olivia and Aida which caused Soya to smile. It wasn’t until the last picture that had Soya tearing up, the first “family” picture they had taken, both she and Ville, with Aida grinning between them, covered head to toe in cupcake mush.

“Are you crying?” Ville laughed.

“Oh, I love it Ville! I really do! I can’t believe you could fit so many pictures in here!”

“I had to buy a shit load of pages.” Ville said with a shrug. “I…uh…I left some spaces.”

“I see that.”

“And we can continue adding to the album, get more pages until we can’t fit anymore, I figured, towards these pages it can stop separating, it’s not just going to be pictures of just me or just you. It’s going to start being ‘us’.” Ville smiled at her, “Our wedding pictures can go in there, pictures of our first kid could go in here and when this fills up we just get another.”

Soya blinked at him, but instead of saying anything, she leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him to her tightly, she smiled against her shoulder when she felt him bury his face in her neck and hug her back.

“I love it Ville,” she pulled back and cupped his cheeks. “You worked so hard on this, how long did this take you?”

“A while.” Ville shrugged. “I found some old pictures of me with a guys when I cleaned out the attic and I remembered you’d told me that my mother had pictures of us when you hung out with us. After I asked her about them, she gathered them all up and gave them to me then she told me she’d gotten some of them from Linde, after harassing Linde for the pictures, he told me Mige still had a few and it just snowballed from there.”

“How’d you get the pictures of when I was little?”

“Aida and Niina, Aida found out what I was doing and told me that she’d seen pictures of you when you were little around the house and asked if I wanted them, I guess Niina caught her taking them out of their frames and gave her pictures that she and Nathan had taken. Josef and Rosalind gave me the others; April helped me by sending me the pictures from our time at Bam’s.”

“You are amazing.” She whispered, leaning down to kiss him. “Simply amazing, I…I have no words to express how much I love this present Ville.”

He ran his hands up and down her back, grinning at her. “I may have one more for you.”

“You may?” Soya asked pulling away from him.

Ville shrugged. “It might be upstairs in my old bedroom.”

Soya blinked, before scurrying off Ville, causing him to laugh as she ran up the stairs. Ville, enjoying her childlike moment, got up from the floor and followed her up the stairs. He reached the top of the stairs just as she opened his bedroom door, leaning against the doorway, he grinned when he found her staring at the crate that sat at the foot of his old bed.

“Go on.” Ville laughed lightly pushing her forward.

Soya walked closer to the crate before kneeling down next to it and looking into it, only to snap up and look back at Ville. “There is a puppy in there!” at her words the sleeping puppy she’d seen inside started clawing at the door of the crate whining to get out.

“Is there?” Ville asked with a teasing frown.

“This is not Aida’s puppy!” Soya said still looking at her fiancé, “She’s in Jesse’s old room playing with it! I saw them!”

“No,” Ville grinned, “It is not Aida’s puppy, it’s yours.”

Soya blinked at him, before looking back down at the crate, opening the door. The little pure white puppy she’d been playing with at the pet shop stumbled out, causing Soya to coo at it, before picking her up. Sitting cross legged on the floor she looked back up at Ville with a grin, her grin widening when the pup licked at her face.

“You said we couldn’t get a dog.” She accused.

Ville rolled his eyes before moving forward to sit in front of her. “Yes, well, we didn’t get anything, you got a dog and Aida got a dog. You take care of it, you train it, you travel with it.”

“And what do you do?” Soya laughed.

“I make sure this thing doesn’t end up sleeping on our bed.” Ville laughed, before giving an amused sigh when Soya scrunched up her nose at the puppy. “Just like my parents gave you Barbie’s Dream House because it’s something you wanted as a child, I figured you should have a puppy.” Ville shrugged. “We had them growing up, they wreaked havoc on my allergies, but we had them.”

“So you figured I should too?”

Ville smiled. “You fell in love with it, what was I supposed to do? Just let the pup stay at the store?”

“I figured you would.” Soya laughed. “Oh but I love her!”

Ville chuckled. “I know you do.” He said, running his fingers through the puppy’s fur, smiling lightly when the pup turned and nipped at his fingers. “My only condition is that you train her not the sleep in our bed Soya, she either sleeps in the crate or we find her a dog bed tomorrow, but not with us.”

“Deal!” Soya laughed, reaching over and pulling him closer to her in a hug, she bushed her lips lightly against his before looking back down at the squirming puppy. “Oh! I’m going to love her so much!”

Ville sighed. “I can already feel myself falling second to the puppy.”

“Oh I’m marrying you aren’t I!”

“Only because I gave you a ring.” Ville laughed standing up and holding out a hand to help her stand. “And because I happen to be amazing in bed.”

Soya snorted. “I’m sure there are better.”

“Good thing you’ll never find out then.” Ville grinned kissing her forehead. “Come on, let’s go see Aida’s puppy.”

They left the room, going towards Jesse’s old room, finding everyone scattered, while Aida played on the floor with her new puppy.

“Soya! Look! I’ve got a puppy!” Aida exclaimed, only to stand when she saw the white fur in Soya’s hands. “You got one too!”

“I did.” Soya laughed, putting the puppy down so she could go over and play with the other pup. Where Soya’s puppy was pure white, Aida’s puppy was white with two patches of black fur, one on the tip of his ear, while the other was at the tip of his tail.

“Tell Ville and Soya what you’ve decided to name the pup Aida.” Jesse prompted from his position on the bed.

“I was getting to that seta Jesse!” Aida giggled. “Wanna hear?”

“Of course.” Ville nodded, grinning back at the young girl.

“Sir Hubert Lancelot Valo!”

“Valo?” Soya asked with a laugh as the same time Ville raised an eyebrow and said. “Hubert?”

“I think the name has character.” Kari said with a laugh.

Ville shook his head in amusement. “At least it’s original, I’ll give her that.”

“What are you going to name yours Soya?” Aida asked sitting down next to her sister, watching and Hubert and the other puppy played with each other.

“I’m not sure yet.” Soya said with a shrug. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Do you think we can stop by and show the puppy to Impi?” Aida asked.

Soya kissed the top of her sister head. “I think tomorrow might be a bit better sweetheart, give Impi some time with her daddy.”

Aida shrugged. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Soya smiled, looking back at Ville who was talking to his brother, he looked over at her and winked, before looking back to his brother. Smiling she looked back at the playing pups, before hers stopped and came running back to her, licking her fingers playful, definitely the most perfect Christmas she’d ever had, she thought, rubbing her fingers over her pup’s head.

XxxxxxX

“Can Hubert sleep with me?” Aida asked sleepily as Ville carried her up the stairs of the tower to her room.

Ville nodded. “Yes, he can, but when he wakes up in the morning, you need to take him out right away all right?”

“All right.” Aida yawned as Ville lay her down on her air mattress bed, Soya right behind him, allowing Hubert to jump from her arms and into Aida’s bed, underneath the covers. Hubert curled up at Aida’s side just as Aida fell asleep, Soya covering her sister up before she and Ville left the room.

“Good day?” Ville asked as they walked down the stairs.

“Amazing.” Soya nodded as she sat down on the couch, smiling when her puppy looked up from her open crate and ran over to the couch, Soya picked her up, settling the puppy next to her lap as Ville came out of the kithchen with two cups of tea. “Thank you.” She said accepting the mug as he sat next to her. “Do you think she’ll be fine down here?” Soya asked, looking down at the sleeping puppy.

Ville nodded. “I think she will, she’s still young and if your train her to sleep down here now the training will stick.”

Soya nodded, “But-“

“Not in the room.”

“You said not in the bed.”

“Once she starts sleeping in the room, she’ll end up sleeping in the bed.” Ville laughed. “Not in the room Soya.”

Soya sighed, but nodded, taking a sip of her tea. She knew he had a logical reason behind it, as he still didn’t know if his allergies would break out with the dogs, he didn’t want the risk agitating them by having the dog sleep on the bed. Even though the breed of dog he’d gotten for both her and her sister were meant to be hypo-allergenic, it didn’t mean that they were completely allergy proof.

Setting her tea down on the coffee table she leaned into him, and kissed his shoulder. “Fine, she sleeps down here.”

“Thank you, now have you decided what you’re going to name her?”

“I’m thinking Austen Brontë Valo.”

Ville laughed. “Austen, of course after Jane Austen,” Ville nodded, knowing Jane Austen was one of Soya’s favorite authors. “And Brontë, after the Brontë sisters right?”

“Right!” Soya laughed. “Cute?”

“Very, I like it.” Ville chuckled, looking over at the sleeping dog next to Soya. “Fits her well.” He chuckled into his mug. “Hubert and Austen, you Toivonen sisters have fun naming your pets, that’s for sure.” He muttered before taking a drink of his tea.

“It’s Sir Hubert, Ville.” Soya teased, causing him to laugh.

“Right, of course, Sir Hubert.” He shook his head, “So when do you drop off Aida?”

“I told my Niina I’d drop her back off on Tuesday.”

Ville nodded slowly. “Have you already talked to her about us leaving?”

“I have, and she understands,” Soya smiled lightly at him. “It helps that I told her we would call her every day.”

Ville nodded, “If its fine with you, Niina and Nathan, I could also take her when I get back from New York.”

“Of course it’s fine with me!” Soya said looking up at him. “And Aida would most definitely love that Ville, you should tell her that.”

Ville nodded. “I will.”

“Good.” She settled back onto the couch, resting against Ville’s side as his arm came around her shoulders, both of them enjoying the quite of the last of the Christmas evening.

Christmas had definitely been one of the most relaxing days Soya had had in a while. They’d spent nearly all day with Ville’s parents lounging around in their pajamas. Aida had watched her movies in the living room, while the boys talked and Anita and Soya cooked for an early dinner. Soya had received calls throughout the day for her friends, wishing her a happy birthday along with a Merry Christmas to the family.

While they’d had an early dinner, the Valo’s had surprised her with a birthday cake, evening making her blow out the 29 candles they’d placed on it. She’d felt especially loved that day, not just by her fiancé but by his family. It was like the final pieces of the puzzle she called life was finally sliding into place. While some of the pictures was still fuzzy, for the most part she knew where she belonged and she knew where she wanted to be, and because of that, she felt content and certain for the first time in her 29 years.

“Not to bring a dark cloud over what was a very good day…” Ville stared, only for Soya to groan against him.

“Then don’t…”

Ville laughed. “Have you given any thought to having lunch with your mother?”

“I have not…should I have?”

Ville shrugged. “I just figure we might as well do this sooner rather than later, just get it over with.”

Soya sighed, rubbing her face with her hand before sitting up and moving so she was facing him, she looked behind her when she heard Austen move, only to see the dog moving away from her legs, to the corner of the couch where she would be undoubtedly left to sleep in peace.

Turning back to Ville she sighed. “Do you want to have dinner with my mother?”

“Do I want to? Fuck no.” Ville said with a scoff. “Should we, probably.” He sighed, leaning forward to set his mug down on the coffee table next to hers. “Whether you like it or not Soya, she’s unfortunately a part of your life, you’re still an ex-politicians daughter, you’re still in the media, and you still go to those fancy events of yours.”

“Rarely.”

“Yes, rarely, but it’s not going to get any better by marrying me Soya. You’re still going to run into her at those events. It’s better if you learn to deal with her, then avoid her the rest of your life. Helsinki is not that big of a place Soya.”

Soya stared at him. “I thought you didn’t want me to have contact with her.”

“No,” Ville said slowly. “While I dislike your mother…”

“You’ve called her a ‘bitch’ Ville, I’m pretty sure the word you’re looking for is ‘hate’ not ‘dislike’.”

“Fine, while I hate your mother, I’ve never told you to break all contact with her, I’ve just wanted you to stand up for yourself around her instead of taking the shit she feeds you, which you’ve learned to do, and amazingly well at that.” Ville ran his fingers down her cheek, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“So you think we should go have lunch with her?”

Ville nodded slowly. “I don’t like it anymore then you do, but what’s the point of pushing it back? We’ll eventually have to do it so we might as well just get it over with now; the longer we wait the worse it’ll be.”

Soya sighed, knowing that Ville was right. If they waited any longer in meeting with her mother, her mother would just build everything up and it would in fact make everything ten times worse. “Do I really have too?” Soya groaned, leaning against his chest.

“Look, neither of us is looking forward to it, but...” Ville gave an exaggerated sigh. “If you go through with this…I guess we can try new things in the bedroom.”

Soya burst out laughing, pulling away from him. “Oh because that is such a hardship for you.” She shook her head still laughing as she got off the couch, picking Austen up.

“It is!” Ville grinned, as Soya locked Austen in her crate and covered it up with a blanket so Austen couldn’t see out of it and see them gone from the living room.

“If sex is your reward for us having a meal with my mother, then it better be damn good sex.” Soya teased as Ville turned off the lights, making sure the door was locked before following her up the stairs.

“Not just good sex, Soya, I’m talking about amazing sex.” Ville chuckled wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck lightly.

Soya sighed, placing her hands over his and squeezing slightly. “I’ll set up lunch with my mother. Soon, before we leave.”

Ville nodded as they went into their bedroom, Soya sitting on the edge of the bed and taking off the thick socks she had on her feet before turning down the bed and getting in.

“It’ll be fine Soya.” Ville assured getting into bed with her; bring her down to rest on his chest, her fingers ghosting his still healing tattoo.

“I know it will.” Soya smiled. “I figured we’ll do something good to get us in a good mood before we meet my mother, then decompress with sex after.”

Ville snorted, kissing the top of her head. “Sounds perfect.”

“Thought you’d like that.” Soya whispered, kissing the middle of his chest. “Can we push the dark cloud away now?”

“We can.” Ville nodded.

Soya smiled against his chest. “Next year I want to decorate for Christmas.”

“I can already see the plans forming in your head.” Ville teased.

“How can you not want to decorate the tower Ville?” Soy asked with a grin as she sat up next to him. “We could run lights all around the tower! Put a large tree in the living room, lord knows the ceiling is high enough to get the biggest one any tree lot may have.”

Ville groaned. “I can just see the tower becoming a green and red hell.”

Soya laughed. “You’ll let me, because you love me and because it’s one month out of the ear, after that you can have you dark gloomy tower back.”

Ville turned and flipped her onto her back, leaning down to kiss her, feeling her arms wrap around his neck and groaning when her body pressed closer to his. “You like my tower gloomy and dark.”

“That I do.” She stroked his cheek, before leaning up to kiss him. “Thank you for a perfect Christmas.”

Ville smiled, “Perfect birthday too?”

Soya nodded. “Yes, thank you for a perfect birthday too.”

He whispered a ‘you’re welcome’, before settling down and resting on her chest, feeling his eyes close when Soya started running her fingers through his hair. His fingers found their way under her shirt and stroked her ribs falling asleep with a small smile on his face. Christmas had most definitely been perfect, he thought, mostly because Soya and her sister had been a part of it, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.