Scream Me a Dream

“Ville!” Aida squealed, running down the rest of the steps and hugging his legs.

“Hey.” Ville chuckled, leaning down to hug her back. “I’m guessing you missed me.”

“I haven’t seen you in forever! I did miss you!” Aida said, looking up to look at him.

Ville nodded, “Nearly a week, I have to say I missed your little face too.”

Aida grinned up at him, before looking around. “Where’s Soya?”

“She’s back at the tower, she wasn’t feeling too good and took a nap; I didn’t want to wake her up, so we have to be quiet when we get back home.” He told her. “But she’s missing you too; I think I should tell you, you’re forbidden from ever sleeping at a friend’s house ever again.”

Aida giggled. “Deal.”

“Are you ready?” Ville grinned.

Aida nodded, climbing into the cab, Ville following after her, closing the door and telling the driver his address before turning to the eight year old. “Do you have homework?” he asked.

“Yep.”

“Anymore prompts?”

Aida laughed. “No. Not ‘till next week.”

Ville nodded. “Tomorrow, do you have a piano lesson with Burton?”

Aida shook her head. “Not ‘till Friday.”

Ville looked at her. “How do you remember your schedule?”

Aida shrugged. “Lots of practice, why?” she asked curiously.

Ville chuckled. “How about you and I go do something tomorrow, after you get out of school?”

“Like what? Are we getting candy?!” She asked with wide eyes.

“We can if you want.” Ville laughed.

“Are we going to the zoo?!”

“Not tomorrow.” Ville shook his head. “But Soya and I can take you another day.”

“Then what are we going to do tomorrow?” Aida asked.

“I want to do something for Soya, and I need your help.”

“What are you going to do for Soya?”

“It’s a secret that I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Ville promised, knowing that any child probably couldn’t keep a secret for more than twenty four hours. “But I do need your help.”

“Why can’t we do it today?”

“Because Soya and I actually have to talk to you about something today, and then we’re having dinner guests.”

“Who?”

“Regan and Emmy, they’re students that Soya teaches in New York.”

Aida frowned. “I think I’ve met them.” She shrugged. “What are we having for dinner?”

“I don’t know. What do you want?”

“Pizza!” She giggled. “And ice cream!”

Ville shook his head amused. “You are definitely a child aren’t you?”

“What else would I be?” Aida asked her eyes wide in question.

Ville shook his head. “Never-mind.” He chuckled.

XxxxxxX

Soya opened her eyes, burying her face deeper into the pillow with a groan before sitting up in bed.

“Oh thank God it’s gone.” She muttered, thankful that the pain between her temples had subsided. Rubbing her face, she turned to look at the clock, wondering what time it was as the curtains were drawn leaving the room in darkness. She rolled her eyes when she saw the time was covered by a piece of paper, leaning over, she turned on the lamp that sat on the night stand, reading Ville’s writing on the paper, telling her he was downstairs with her sister.

Pushing the paper up, she shook her head when it read 4:15 pm, meaning Ville had left and come back with her sister. Getting out of bed, she made her way out of the room, padding her way downstairs only to stop when she heard a soft murmur from downstairs. Sitting on the steps, she listened to Ville’s voice as he explained basic math to her sister.

She leaned her head slightly, catching a glimpse of them sitting on the floor of the living room. The TV was on mute in the background while they talked quietly over the paper that sat on the table in front of them. Smiling lightly, she rested her cheek on her knee. Any doubt she had about marrying Ville flew out the window as she watched them; she bit her lip as she felt a small smile start to form.

“Are you going sit there and watch us all night or are you going to come down and help?” Ville called, turning his head and tilting it to look at her. “Division is kicking my ass down here.”

Soya laughed as she stood up and walked down the rest of the steps, kissing her sister’s forehead when Aida looked up at her.

“How was school, sweetheart?” Soya asked settling on the floor on the other side of Aida.

“It was good.” Aida said. “I don’t like math, though.”

“I know you don’t. Looks like you and Ville got most of it done, though.”

“Aida knows what she’s doing; I don’t know why she wants my help.” Ville said, smiling at the girl.

“I like the company.” Aida grinned, putting her math homework back in her folder as Soya reached for Aida’s homework schedule, reading the assignments that were due the next day.

“You have everything ready for your show and tell?”

Aida shrugged. “I don’t know what I want to show yet.” she turned to Ville. “You have a lot of cool stuff.”

“Thanks.” Ville chuckled.

“Can I take something from here?”

Ville shrugged. “Don’t see why not, just let me know what you take.”

Soya frowned. “Don’t your show and tells have a theme? I remember Mrs. Rahkamo, she liked having themes.”

Aida shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You had this teacher?” Ville asked Soya.

“Mmm, I did.” Soya nodded. “She’s been there forever.”

“She’s old.” Aida grinned.

“Good to know.” Ville chuckled.

“Can I look in your room?”

Ville blinked. “Sure, uh…just not under the bed.”

Both Aida and Soya stared at him in confusion, “Why not under the bed?” Soya asked.

Ville rolled his eyes, and looked at Aida. “Start humming.” He said, smiling when she did as she was told, and putting his hands over Aida’s ears and grinning at Soya. “I child proofed the tower.”

“And?” Soya asked confused.

“All the porn I had on my shelves is under my bed.”

Soya covered her mouth as she started to laugh. “Ville, that’s the hiding place of a sixteen year old boy!”

“It was the only place I could think to put it.”

“Under your bed, where Aida is sleeping?”

“She’s sleeping at the end of the bed.” He looked at Aida who had stopped humming. “Keep humming sweetheart.” Aida sighed, but started humming again.

“She’s sleeping near the end of your bed, where she can see underneath it.”

Ville frowned. “So, should I find a better hiding place?”

“Please!” Soya laughed, as Ville uncovered Aida’s ears.

“You can stop humming now.” Ville sighed. “Still no looking under the bed, everything else is fine.”

“Okay.” Aida grinned, starting to leave the living room only for Soya to grab her arm, to stop her from leaving.

“Before you go start looking, Ville and I need to talk to you really quick.”

“About what?” Aida asked, hopping onto the couch.

Soya looked at Ville who shrugged and turned to Aida. “Well,” he started. “Some friends invited us to go out of town this weekend.”

“Okay…” Aida said slowly looking between them.

Soya chewed on her lip. “We were thinking of going, we’d be gone a week.”

“So I would have to miss school for a week?” Aida asked.

“Actually.” Ville said slowly, looking at his girlfriend before continuing as he turned back to Aida. “We were thinking that you could spend the week at my parents’ house. My äiti is really excited to have you.”

“So…I would stay with mummi and pappa?” Aida asked.

“Yes, we would only be gone for a week though, Aida.” Soya assured.

Aida shrugged. “Okay, can I go look around now?”

“Sure.” Ville nodded, watching as Aida hopped off the couch and rushed up the stairs. “Great, I’ll book the tickets.” He said looking at Soya.

“We’re not going Ville.” Soya sighed, “She’s not okay with it.”

“She said she was, though.” Ville said slowly.

Soya shrugged. “She’s like me, she keeps things in.”

“Yes, she is.” Ville agreed. “But in this aspect, I think she’s being like herself. I think she’s fine.”

“Why do you want to go to Berlin so badly Ville? You act as if we’ll never get a chance to go to Germany again.”

Ville sighed, resting his elbow on the coffee table and his chin on his palm. “Is it selfish to say I really want to get you away from our group of friends for a week?”

Soya blinked. “We’re going with friends.”

“For the night, then spending the rest of the time in Spain, have you ever been to Spain with Rosalind?”

Soya nodded. “A couple of times, sure.”

“When she’s home she very rarely has time to stick her nose in anyone’s business but her own.”

“So…you want to take me away from my obviously emotionally unstable sister to have me for yourself.”

“Your sister isn’t emotionally unstable Soya.” Ville sighed. “You’re seeing things you want to see because you don’t want to leave her alone. You feel guilty for leaving her.”

“Just…” Soya sighed. “Let me go talk to her before you start giving the airline your credit card information, all right?” She said, standing up and leaving the living room, hearing Ville’s sigh behind her.

She started up the steps going into the bedroom only to frown when she didn’t see her sister poking around Ville’s room. Turning when she heard the soft strum of a guitar, she went across the hall where she saw Aida reaching for one of Ville’s guitars. Soya cleared her throat causing Aida to retract her arm quickly and look up at Soya.

“I’m pretty sure Ville didn’t give you permission to come up to this room.” Soya teased lightly.

“What does Ville use this room for?” Aida asked, hopping onto the couch as she looked around the make shift studio Ville had created for himself.

Soya smiled lightly, going to sit next to her sister, pulling her knees up to her chest. “You know how isi had his office for his work back home?” At Aida’s nod, Soya continued. “Well this is Ville’s office.”

“Oh.”

Soya ran her hand over Aida’s hair, before speaking again. “You’re not okay with us leaving.”

Aida shrugged. “Sure I am.”

“No, you’re not.” Soya said with a shake of her head.

Aida chewed on the inside of her cheek, pulling her legs up so she could sit cross legged on the couch. “If I say I’m not you won’t go.”

Soya frowned before smoothing her features and smiling lightly, resting her cheek on the couch as she stared at her sister. “I forget how perceptive you are sometimes, Aida. No, if you’re not okay, Ville and I won’t go, but I’d rather you didn’t lie and tell me you were okay when you’re not.”

Aida shrugged. “You don’t have to take care of me though, Soya; Mamma just left me here because she doesn’t want me around.”

Soya’s breath caught in her throat before running her fingers down her sister’s cheek. “It’s true.” She said carefully. “I don’t have to take care of you, Aida, but I want to. I don’t want you to think that you’re just something I can move around and ship off somewhere when I feel like doing something. Germany will still be there next month, or next year if Ville and I don’t go this weekend. I’m not mamma, Aida, I’m not going to dump you somewhere when I don’t want you around.”

“Oh.” Aida muttered quietly.

“Do you want to know why I won’t do that?”

“Why?”

“Because I always want you around, kultaseni.” Soya laughed softly, flicking her finger on the tip of Aida’s nose causing her to laugh.

“Then why do you want to go to…”

“Berlin?” Soya asked.

Aida nodded. “Yeah, why do you want to go to Berlin?”

“Ville and I really haven’t had much alone time,” Soya admitted, not knowing any other way to explain it to her sister.

“And you can’t have alone time, with me around.”

Soya laughed. “It’s hard to, sure, but we love having you, Aida, don’t think we don’t.”

“But you still want to go…” Aida trailed off.

Soya sighed softly, looking at her sister, trying to find a way to tell her that, yes, she did want to go, but not at the expanse at Aida being sad. “I kind of do, but I don’t want you to be sad about it.”

Aida picked at a stray string on her sock, looking at her fingers instead of her sister. “I want you to go, because then you’ll be sad if you don’t. But I don’t want you to go because then I’ll be sad if you do. And Ville said I was forbidden from sleeping over at anyone’s house anymore.”

Soya frowned, before getting off the couch, and going to the door way. “Ville!” She called.

“Yeah!”

“Come here a minute!” She said, before going back to the couch, resuming her original position.

“Yeah?” Ville asked, standing at the doorway looking at them both.

“Did you tell Aida she was forbidden from sleeping over at people’s houses?”

Ville nodded slowly. “Sure, but I missed that face; you would have said it too!” Ville defended as he watched both of them stare at him.

Soya sighed, looking at Aida. “You’re allowed to sleep over at people’s house Aida.” She said softly, feeling Ville come further into the room and sit on the floor beneath them.

“You’re not okay with us going are you?” Ville asked looking at the eight year old and noticing her eyes were downcast, not meeting either of theirs while her fingers trailed over the worn leather of his couch. He watched her shrug softly before he looked at Soya, only to meet her ‘told you so gaze’ “What do you want us to do to make it okay?” he asked.

“Don’t leave?” Aida asked, looking at him with a soft smile.

Soya laughed lightly. “What can we do to make us leaving okay Aida?”

“I don’t know.”

“I thought you got along with my parents.” Ville said. “My mum is really excited to have you over there, Aida; she’s always wanted a little girl and instead she got two boys. She’ll spoil the shit out of you.”

“Ville!” Soya groaned, hitting his arm softly.

“Sorry.” He muttered with a wince.

“I do like them.” Aida said quickly. “I just…”

“You don’t want us to go.” Soya finished.

Aida nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“How about if we promise to call you every night before you go to bed?” Ville suggested.

“That’s okay.” Aida said slowly.

Soya rolled her eyes, knowing what her sister was aiming for at this point. “How about I bring you back some of those candies you like back from Spain.”

“Really?” Aida asked, her eyes lighting up.

Soya nodded. “Really.”

“You can go!” Aida grinned, reaching up to wrap her arms around Soya’s neck.

“Well, good we got that figured out.” Soya laughed, hugging her sister back.

Aida let go and hopped off the couch, starting to leave the room only to turn back. “Will you really call every night?”

Soya nodded. “We will, Aida.”

“Okay.” Aida said softly before giving a nod and leaving the room.

“Told you she wasn’t okay.” Soya said, pushing Ville’s head playfully.

“I’ll give you that she wasn’t okay, but she isn’t emotionally unstable Soya.” Ville conceded, pushing himself up and sliding onto the couch. “She just needs the reassurance that you’re not just going to ditch her somewhere, that you’re going to come back.”

“That we’re going to come back Ville. She’s close to you too, and just like she fears I’m going to leave her, she fears you’re going to leave her.”

“I won’t” Ville said softly.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?” Soya asked, watching her boyfriend.

“Tell you about what?”

“The last part of the conversation you had with Linde, when he lectured you.”

Ville blinked. “What part?”

“The part you left out.” Soya laughed. “The part about Aida.”

“Ah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How do you know about it?” Ville asked with a frown.

Soya laughed. “Because he said the same thing to me when I told him to butt out of our relationship.”

“Did you really?” Ville grinned.

“Well, I told him in a nicer way, but yes. Now, why didn’t you share that with me?” she asked looking at him.

“It was something I wanted to think about on my own.” Ville admitted. “It’s not that I doubt our relationship, or think it’ll go south, but…”

“There’s always that ‘but’.” Soya said. “I’ll tell you what I told Linde, I’m not that cruel, Ville, if things don’t work out with us, why would I take Aida away from you? I see how close both of you are, I wouldn’t hurt Aida like that, and I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”

“I know that.”

“And I would have reassured you of that, had you just told me in the first place.” Soya shook her head amused. “How is it that it’s you who’s keeping things now?”

Ville laughed. “Tables have turned, haven’t they?” he leaned in and kissed her softly. “Can I book those tickets now?”

Soya laughed, shoving him away. “Go, call the airline.” She said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m going to take a very long bath,” she admitted with a soft laugh “Ask Aida what she wants for dinner.”

“Pizza and ice cream.” Ville answered, causing Soya to chuckle.

“Of course she does.” She muttered with a shake of her head as she left the room, leaving Ville to sit in his studio, looking around the room slightly as he wondered how the eight year old had wormed her way into his heart the way she had.

He worried for her, he cared for her, he enjoyed waking up and taking her to school, helping her with her homework and overall, having her as a fixture in his home. He chuckled to himself as he got up from the couch and looked into his bedroom where he saw Aida poking around the drawers, looking for her show and tell item. He had to wonder when he had grown up and accepted wholeheartedly at least half of the responsibility of his girlfriend’s eight year old sister.

Shaking his head, he left the room, as Aida started in on the closet. He would never admit it, especially not to his friends, but maybe it was those ‘daddy genes’ they kept going on about. Amused with himself, he lifted the lid to his laptop, moving his mouse to wake the machine up and opening the browser to the internet so he could start booking his trip with Soya.

“Ville?” he heard ten minutes later.

Ville turned his head slightly from his seat at the counter, where he’d been looking at hotels in Berlin, seeing Aida coming towards him. “Hey, I was wondering when you would surface from the dregs of my closet. Find anything good?”

Aida shrugged. “I don’t know yet, I’m still looking.” She admitted with a grin. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking at hotels.” Ville admitted. “See where Soya and I can stay while we’re in Berlin and Spain.”

“Oh.” Aida hopped onto one of the stools, kneeling on the seat so she could look at his screen. “What do you do, Ville?”

Ville blinked, looking away from the screen to look back at her. “What do you mean?”

“Well…Soya dances right? What do you do?”

“Oh. Well I’m in a band.” Ville said.

“Like Hevisaurus?!” Aida asked, her eyes wide in excitement, causing Ville to laugh as he thought of the power metal band for children that dressed as dinosaurs on stage.

“Ah, if only we were as cool as Hevisaurus.” Ville said with a chuckled. “No…I um…here, I’ll show you.” He minimized the screen he was looking at and did the one thing he never did, searched for the band online. Finding a picture to show Aida and turning the screen towards her. “That’s us.”

“That’s Burton!”Aida giggled.

“It is.” Ville nodded. “I think the only one you haven’t met is Gas.”

“But what do you do?” Aida asked again.

“Well, I write out songs and then when we’re ready to record, we go into a studio and I go sing those songs while the rest of the guys record the actual music, and then once it’s all done, it gets put on CD’s and sent out so our fans can buy them. And like your sister, we travel and perform for the fans all over.” He explained, simplifying the process for her.

“Do you like it?”

“I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t like it.” Ville told her. “Actually, I kinda love it.”

Aida giggled. “What’s your band called?”

“HIM.”

Aida wrinkled her nose at him. “HIM? That’s a weird name!” she giggled.

“It is, isn’t it?” he laughed. “The letters H-I-M mean something, but we shortened the name after a while.” he told her.

“What does it mean?”

Ville grinned. “Why are you so interested?”

Aida shrugged. “I want to know what you do. Soya said that the room upstairs is like your office.”

Ville wrinkled his nose at the word ‘office’. “I guess, if you really want to call it that.”

“And I just wanted to know what you do up there; it doesn’t look like isi’s office back in Sipoo.”

“I don’t really work from a desk like your dad, Aida. I don’t have a set amount of hours I have to go to work and come back home. I write when I have ideas and those tend to come and go at all hours.”

Aida frowned at him. “Like you when smashed the tape?”

“A lot like when I smashed the tape.” Ville nodded with a laugh. “You know the thing I made on the floor, the design.”

Aida nodded. “You have it on you!”

“Right, we’re using that for the cover of the CD we have coming out.”

“Can you draw it for me?”

“Draw what? The design?”

Aida nodded, pulling one of his notebooks closer to him. Ville picked up the pen from the counter, flipping to a fresh page and drawing the Heartagram for her, showing it to her.

“Soya also has it on her.” Aida pointed out.

“She does.” Ville nodded. “A lot of our fans have it; my friend Bam, he has it on him too. But, want to know a secret?”

“Sure!”

“Soya’s means to most to me.” He said, causing Aida to giggle.

“What are you giggling about?”

They both turned to see Soya coming down the steps; she was wearing a pair of jeans, her grey Uggs back on her feet, and a plain black t-shirt while she pulled her long hair away from her face, pulling it into a bun.

“Aida’s interested in knowing what I do.” Ville said as Soya leaned in to give him a kiss, her arms coming to rest loosely on his shoulders.

“Really?” Soya asked, raising her eyebrow when she saw the band on Ville’s computer screen. “Did you look yourself up?”

Ville laughed. “I was showing Aida the band.”

“That’s a promotional picture though, Ville.” Soya said, leaning over him to type into the search engine. “That doesn’t show Aida anything. Here, here’s a picture of the guys performing.” She said turning the screen to show Aida a picture of the guys performing at Sonisphere in August.

“Neat.” Aida said, looking at the picture. “That’s you!” she giggled pointing out Ville.

“Scary how easily you found that, love.” Ville teased as Soya straightened.

Soya laughed, turning her head to look back at him. “That’s only because I knew what I was looking for. Regan and Emmy will be here soon, they just texted me that they’re on their way. Want me to order the pizzas?”

Ville nodded and allowed her to leave his side as she went around the counter to get the phone

“So what does HIM mean?” Aida asked, pushing the computer away from her and closer to Ville.

Ville chuckled, closing the browser and opening the one he had open before. “His Infernal Majesty.” He answered, as he resumed his searches for hotels.

“I like HIM better.”

Ville laughed. “Good to know.”

“Can you write it for me?” Aida asked, pushing the pad and pen next to him again.

Ville nodded, absently picking up the pen and writing it out for her. He watched as she ripped the page out grinning at him. “Thank you.” She said.

“You’re welcome.” Ville said, watching as she headed up the stairs again, he turned to Soya who was also watching her sister in amusement. “And your sister thinks I’m the weird one?” he asked, causing Soya to snort with laughter as she put in the order for their pizzas.