Philly Ink

(Lauren's POV)

I had spent the whole morning with Ville passed out next to me. Three weeks had flown by thanks to LC keeping my mind occupied. That and we had begun a competition to see who could set up the most bogus client to test Missy, our newest member of the team, in her shop manager abilities. Jimmy had been working on Bloodhound Gang stuff, which mean he wasn't always around. Music was his life though, so I couldn't really blame him. Missy had been going really good keeping the books and everything in order. Plus it gave her a break from dealing with my brother 24-7.

“So, I'm going on lunch at one today.” Abbey smiled from her station. “Thinking about grabbing sandwiches and-”

The producer started tapping his foot. “Are we going to get ANY useful footage today?”

Rolling my eyes, I apologized Abbey's client. “Yeah, this guy is just a douchebag.” Abbey added in before looking back over. “Maybe I'll pick up some Mc Donalds.”

“You should grab stuff from the cafe down the street, we make some really good chicken salad sandwiches.” her client, a rather young girl about her twenties, suggested. “If you want I can have them here for you in about a half hour.”

A Miller being offered free food. It created a very happy Miller.

As the two began talking about the Cafe's menu, I looked over my station to make sure I had everything ready to go. “Do you want Lisa to bring some stuff back for you and Ville?” Missy's voice caught my attention. “Lauren?”

Texting Ville to ask what he wanted, I looked up to Missy. “Um... yeah.”

“This is a waste of mine and TLC's time!!” the only guy in the room exclaimed loudly. Maybe he felt the estrogen of the room over powering him since even his film crew that day had even been all chicks. “You girls can't stick to your characters! I gave you simple instructions and you can't even give me that!”

Least his buttons were pushed. Abbey had gone from the look of a happy-about to get food Miller look, to the angry about to kill someone look. “What is wrong with the way we a-”

“YOU KEEP HAVING YOUR MAN OF THE DAY IN HERE DIVERTING THE DRAMA!” he interrupted a Miller and basically insinuated she was a whore. “You are suppose to be the single bitch of the group not the tied down, cheerful-”

“I have yet to met a cheerful Miller.” I couldn't help but cut him off. He was distracting Abbey from her client. It was completely unprofessional and completely keeping us from our lunch. “I've told you before not to interrupt the business of this shop.” he gulped slightly “It is not our fault you did no research on us before you came out here.” Abbey was busy securing our lunch delivery though tattooing, so the producer was going to have to deal with some Margera anger. “You obviously have no IDEA how stupid it is to piss off a Miller but you called one out anyways.” Getting out of my chair caused Missy to run into the lobby to call Jesse and Bam. Could hear her telling them there was going to be a fight in the shop. “Then you criticizes my friends' lives.” Missy stood in the other room pleading for Bam to speed to the shop. “Then you come in here and tell me how things run on an 'Ink' show.” I had already crossed the room and was in the young kids face. “I have been on LA Ink longer than you have even been thinking of working for this company. I have been tattooing since you were Elementary school. You produce for ten years like I have tattooed, then you can open your mouth.” Abbey now flanked me, arms crossed. Guess she had finished her trail of flowers on Lisa's thigh. “I know how a 'Ink' show runs, and you are sucking at it.”

Taking a step forward, the kid looked nervous doing so. Had to give him some credit though. Most people would have run in that situation. “Says the girl who couldn't deliver her character.”

Did he really want to see me being 'Bam-like'? Obviously he hadn't seen a pissed off Bam. Or a pissed off Jesse. Yes we were a calm easy-going family, until pushed to our limits. Then it was worse than a easily pissed off Miller. “I KNOW you are not referring to being like Bam, running around in corsets and shit.” It was his last chance to rephrase his words. Not that it would help him at all.

Running from us, only caused a chase. Poor Missy followed behind shouting for us not to kill him or we would get arrested.

---

It had been five years since that day. So much had changed then that it was crazy.

I typed the words onto the screen and paused. I only had a little more to write and the book would be done. Abbey and I had decided to write a book about our time with TLC since so many people had been applying to have the next 'Ink' show. Our goal was to make sure the story about our experience got out so those show hopefuls knew what they were getting into. We were calling it Philly Ink and it was going to be released soon. With it getting late, I attempted to shut down the computer when a e-mail popped up on the screen.

Normally, I would have ignored it since I received e-mails from clients all the time. But seeing my slightly older brother's screen name, I rolled my eyes and opened the message.

Laur, you are still coming home tomorrow right?

Why he couldn't text me that question was beyond me, but Bam never made sense. Writing a quick reply with our travel details in it, I managed to log out before he could write again. Walking across the hall from my office to my living room of the tower house, I watched as a tired two year old fought to stay awake. “äiti” she called out to me with those strong Valo vocal chords that had graced this house for the past 24 months. The Margera eyes stared up at me in a pleading matter. ”Can I sleep now?”

My little Vasilisa Katia Valo climbed into my arms. “Soon my vauva. But just think tomorrow you will get to see your cousins!”

Excitement filled her as if a switch had turned off her tiredness. “We get to have a sleepover at grandme's!” her dark brown hair bounced as it's natural waviness came out of her hair tie. “Isä!”

My tired husband put down his bag from the latest HIM tour just in time as Vas jumped at him. “Yes my little light?” It only invited the girl to chew off his ear in a mix of English-Finnish sentences. Had been trying to teach her to stick with one language per conversation, but it never really worked when she was this overly excited. “What happens when she does this at your parent's house?”

“We probably get a phone call telling us to translate.” began thinking about writing out a list of Vas's favorite Finnish sayings with their meanings. Would give me something to do on the plane ride we had to take in a couple hours. “Least she will be passed out on the plane. Going to suck getting her to sleep when we get there though.”

“It will be day time!” the two year old had wiggled from Ville's grip. “We are taking the big ride at night silly!”

Vas was too much. “But it will be dinner time when we get there. It's morning there right now.” her face was priceless. Spinning around to Ville for help, the poor child only received a nod. “Go bring your bag out so we can leave soon.”

“So everything is good to go?” Joining me on the couch, I looked into Ville's bloodshot eyes. Guess I was going to be the only one awake on the plane. “We are all packed?”

Nodding, I took a tip from my glass of water. “Yup, Bam has already been harassing me. Guess he is calling this huge family meeting because him and Missy broke up again, or he bought a new Lamborghini.” the two had broken up for a couple years ago and finally got back together a month or two prior. If I still lived in America I would have probably slapped him after everything he did while he was separated.

“Wouldn't be surprised if it's something that minor.” Curling up on his lap, I watched the two year old attempting to tug her little suitcase, all of toys, down the hall.