Philly Ink

(Lauren's POV)

Vas had spent the past two hours, from luggage claim, to the parking area, to the time we got into the awaiting purple Dodge Challenger, exclaiming how she was excited to be in America. Then spent the whole ride over to my parents house staring out the window. “Where is Uncle Bam!!!” she huffed. “I don't see him anywhere! You sure we in Pennsylvania?”

“I'm sure we are in Pennsylvania.” staring at me funny for a few seconds, the two year old went back on the hunt for my brother. Ville would have chimed in if he wasn't too busy laughing.

Seeing my parent's house, I heard a blood-curling scream from the back seat. “GRAND-ME'S HOUSE!!”

“You know Grand-Pe lives here too, right?” shaking her head, Vas had managed to climb from her booster seat and climb onto my lap. Phil had been in the driveway, carrying a couple of bags from his SUV. “You want a two year old?”

“HI GRAND-PE!” Vas waved as I placed the car in park. “Mommy let me out!”

Ville carried our luggage, I had the groceries, and Phil took Vas and her toy bag. Once the door to the house opened, I could hear all the kids. An older Ava ran up to me engulfing me in a hug. “You have gotten so big! Just don't grow as tall as your father or else you might get confused for a giraffe.” Jesse stared me down from the other side of the living room. “Hello giraffe.”

Giggling Ava, pointed to Scarlet. “Aunt Lauren, your accent is confusing Scar.”

“Come here sweetie.” kneeling down, and fighting off my Finnish accent, I watched the girl finally come to me and squeeze my neck. The only boy of the new generation of Margera's, London, had stopped playing trucks to see what had been going on. He only had a year on Vas but to two seemed about the same height. Guess he was going to be a little shorter than the rest.

Ape had been making a dessert for all the kids. “Did Vas eat anything yet?”

“She ate on the way here. She'll probably crash soon though. Only slept an hour on the plane.” it had been one hell of a ride. “What is this important meeting all about?”

“No idea.” Phil answered for her “Doubt it's anything big since we don't have to be there.”

Sighing, I placed my head down. Ape responded by placing her coffee in front of me. “I swear if it's something stupid, you might be short a child.”

Bam's driveway was filled with cars. Not wanting to drive, and because I had blocked Jess' mini-van, my brother ended up driving to Bam's with Ville next to him. Kelly and I shared the back seat since either of them would have fit with their massive heights. There was only one complaint Jess had. “Can't believe I have to drive this purple car!”

Abbey sat on the couch, a vacant spot next to her that once probably belonged to Chad. “Thanks for saving me a seat.” I slid into the spot just as Chad had returned with beer. “You brought us beer? How sweet.”

Instead of saying anything, Chad instead sat on the armrest next to Abbey. Course Ville stood behind the couch, tired of sitting after our plane ride. “So since everyone is here...” Bam walked in front of everyone, and literally everyone was in the living room. “I have to make an announcement,” he looked to Missy who only nodded.

“NO!” I said it loudly, not being from a quiet family. “Missy, you are not caring the spawn of Satan!” pointing at Bam, he made a disgusted face. Wasn't sure which part of my assumption had caused the reaction. Shaking her head, Missy tried not to laugh. Bam still had the same look on his face. “So Pennsylvania is still safe?” Nodding this time my poor sister-in-law looked on the verge of loosing her composure. She was already repressing some giggling. “Ok, making sure. Continue with your gay speech.”

Looking to me first Bam waited a few seconds until I motioned for him to continue. “I wanted to tell everyone that Jimmy Pop and Tee are getting married.”

“Oh that's why they took their vacations at the same time.” Abbey spoke softly. “They just started dating like a few months ago though.”

Shrugging I couldn't say much. It was only about a year after we started dating that Ville and I got married in Helsinki. We kept it small and out of the seeking public eye. For some reason, the wedding between a famous musician and a famous tattoo artist was a huge deal. Not only did the Finnish media go ballistic when they heard of our engagement, but the American paparazzi had a field day.

“Wait, they were dating?” more than a few people asked the same question. I only knew they had been crushing on each other. Mean it was obvious back in the days of the shop.

The shop had taken off so well after MTV picked it up. We had enough business to expand the shop both physically and staff wise. All piercings took place in the upstairs apartment, which had been remodeled into part of the shop, along with the offices and break room. We even had to build more stations and hire more artist. When I relocated to permanently live in Helsinki after learning I was preggers with Vas, it was only natural we would open a second location there as well.

Bam's cell phone started ringing and he looked at the screen. “They are officially married.” That was more than enough to drag me out of my memory of opening the second shop. I had never heard of that short of an engagement. But then again, guess it was longer than your typical Vegas wedding.

“We just need one more artist in the Philly shop to cover when we have the book tour. Assuming LC is watching over the Helsinki location right now.” I nodded watching Bam in the corner of my eye. He hadn't started any antics yet and he was about due for one. “I'll put another ad out.”

We always got the most random responses from the ads since all it took was seeing 'The Pins and Needles Connection: Tattoo Artist Needed' for all the insane fans to show their face. “I'll look around the convention this weekend for some talent.” The annual Philadelphia Tattoo convention had become a huge even ever since we over took it in our MTV days. We always got the biggest booths and our choice of seminars to give. Was going to end up giving one about tattooing on the road.

Walking into my parents house at around ten o'clock at night had been completely different than when I had five. There was only the sound of Phil snoring in the living room. Following my brother around the corner into the living room, I spotted all three Margera children and the single Valo passed out on their grandfather's lap. “I've already taken a few pictures.” Ape snuck up behind all of us. “You let them sleep, and I'll make strawberry banana pancakes in the morning.”

Just as when we were children, Jess and I nodded relentlessly at the promise of a home cooked breakfast. Without a single word, the four of us headed upstairs. Stopping halfway, I turned around to see Missy and Bam walk in with overnight bags. “I was told family breakfast in the morning!” Shushing him, I heard little feet running on the tile. “VAS!”

“UNCLE BAM!!! I looked for you the whole way here but didn't see you!” she ran to her uncle's arms. “I'm in America now!” I would have smiled seeing how much the little girl loved her uncle until I remembered Bam visiting a number of weeks prior and talked the two year old into trying the skateboard he bought her. In the same living room Ville fell in love in. “Are you sleeping over too!” It wasn't long into their 'session' that Vas rolled into the coffee table.

“Don't worry love, one day we will get vengeance on his child. Whenever that happens.” Ville whispered into my ear before pulling me up to bed. Laying in the bed together I never would have thought I would be in this position back when I returned here from LA. Back when I was so broken and unhappy. Now I had come full circle and loved it.