Dominique needed to part with her daughter and it was probably the hardest thing she could do. She knew that even with how patient Dekker had been in her getting back to the shop, he had to be a businessman above all things. She had to put on her big girl panties, put the sleeping blonde down in her crib and back away slowly. It broke her heart a little bit with every time she backed away from her daughter and kept the door cracked open a little bit so Noelle and Marceau would be able to hear her when she woke up. Niqui knew that Seb was a little hesitant with having his sister and best friend babysitting their daughter, but she needed to get back to the shop and the couple needed a place to make out during the summer.

After thanking the tangled up couple for the babysitting, she slid on her heels and walked out the door. Dominique felt so strange being out in the world without her daughter. Ever since she was born Niqui had spend almost every moment with her. The only time when they parted was when Seb stole her away so Niqui would be able to sleep in a little bit. Now that she was going back to the shop, they were going to have to work out someone to care for Renee while they were both working. She wanted to make sure that her skills were staying up to par, and that she didn't lose her chances at Hell on Heels.

Niqui smiled when the shop came into view and realized how much she really did miss everyone who worked there. They accepted her in as a family, even when she admitted to being pregnant. She honestly expected them to ask her to find another shop. For her to be tossed on her butt, but they gave her all of the chances in the world.

She laughed when she pushed the door open and heard her bossman singing to the old song. It was the same song that she heard her Grandma Molly singing around the kitchen while baking pies at The Burrow.
"You're showing your age, Boss Man." She teased, knowing that he was only a little bit older than her nineteen.
"Or are you just serenading me to return to you?"

Dominique laughed and crossed over the counter to give her boss a hug. She had been accepted into this family so quickly, she didn't know if she would have been able to survive without them. She had her husband and her extended family, but Dekker and the others were just wonderful. They appriciated her talent, and they wanted to see her happy and successful. She had been one of the first in her family to take on a primarily muggle job. She was the black sheep of the Weasleys for a lot of reasons. She was a werewolf, she got married at seventeen before she graduated, and was slowly covering herself in tattoos.

As far as she knew her family still loved her, but around the shop they never questioned any of it. She wrapped her arms around her boss and took in that familiar and strange scent again. There was something always a little off about how Dekker smelled, she could never put her finger on it, but knew it was something.

When she first found out that she was able to work in the shop, she couldn't believe it. She had never thought that her hobby of drawing in her sketch book, or the eventual tattooing of herself and her friends would turn into a career like this. Since she got an actual talent and some knowledge on it, she contacted all of the friends who she maimed in the process of her learning.

Telling Dekker and the others about the baby had been one of the most terrifying experiences in her life. She finally had the job she always wanted, and would have to take time away from her machine for her daughter. She wanted to give Renee the best possible life, and knew that being there during such a critical time was important. Seb was able to take more time off from the team and their parents were practically beating down their door for more time with the little blonde girl, so she figured it was a good time to go back to the tattoo shop.

When they hugged, Niqui took in his scent. There was something so cold about Dekker's skin, which was so different from his warm and kind nature. He took her into his shop, dedicated time with her and seemed to really believe in Dominique's abilities to shine in his shop.
"I love it, thank you Boss Man." Even after the time away from the shop, it still felt like she was walking into her home for the first time.

"Baby food, three AM feedings and a very beautiful little girl. I'll bring her in one day to show off." She laughed when he mentioned trading in her machines for a vacuum and an apron. While they easily could swing it with Seb's profession, it wasn't something that she wanted. She wanted to be able to expand her career. She wanted to become someone who Renee could be proud of to call her mother.
"Not quite yet. Still excited to be that football mom with a neck tattoo." She motioned towards the right side of her neck with the large compass tattoo that Dekker gave her. She came into the shop for a tattoo and ended up spending hours with a bandage over her neck and discussed tattooing with the shop owner. When she came in to get an embarrassing carving on her leg covered, she managed to get an job with Dekker and the others for after graduation.

She hated that Dekker saw what her exboyfriend carved into her leg, as if she needed her future employer to see 'Property of A. Yaxley' on her upper thigh. Even with that, Dekker still treated her like a respectable woman and a valued member of his shop.
"How have things been around here?"

The second she stepped into the shop, she felt like she was at home. The staff welcomed her and she knew that she would be safe with all of them. They would watch out for her and more than that, they were a family for her daughter to grow up with. All of them successful and honest people. She wanted Renee to know all sorts of people, tattooed and virgin skinned. The people who might be looked down on for stupid reasons. Hell Seb had Dominique's name tattooed on his chest, and Niqui was slowly covering herself with ink.

"She's a beautiful little thing." Not that she was bragging or anything. Niqui couldn't help but blush a little bit when he mentioned that Renee would be every bit as beautiful as her.
"Always the charmer, Boss Man."

She knew that he was just that way, and that it wasn't anything serious. Honestly, she was ready to shove Chevelle and Dekker into a closet together so they would just get it out over and done with.
"Considering I am English, I would say that it's football and not the American sport." She knew that Chevelle and Dekker were both Americans, so it was always funny hearing them refer to things differently than how she knew them.

When she got her neck done, she had been at a horrible point in her life, she needed the direction and it helped. A compass on the side of her neck, and she knew that a tattoo with perfectly straight lines on such a sensitive area she would have to go to one of the best shops. Hell on Heels was new, but already had amazing reviews. Plus the name spoke to her. She explained that she understood what she was doing, that she would be fine with the career she wanted. At the time, it was just to be an artist. Sell her paintings to the highest bidder and travel the world with her husband and daughter for beautiful inspiration. When Brie mentioned being a tattoo artist, it was all she could think about.

River got her a tattoo machine, all of her friends let her practice with them, she even tattooed her wrist with 'Misfits' for the friends who helped her become the artist who Dekker would be proud to hire in his shop. Her property scar was covered, her husband's name on her instead. It was a better life. She could remember when her psychotic exboyfriend showed up at the shop. Stefan demanded that she tattoo him, it had been one of her first months and she had been terrifed to turn away a paying customer. Terrified what Stefan would have done to her if she made him leave.

"I've got to make a dinner for everyone to thank them." She fished her cellphone out of her purse and sat down next to Dekker. She unlocked the screen and pressed the button for her photos. There were over fifty pictures of just Renee, the little girl smiling at the screen.
"Renee Isabella Rousseau." She smiled, leaning her head onto Dekker's shoulder, scrolling through some of the other pictures of her daughter.
"She's either smiling or howling, there is nothing in between." The howling part was a joke with Seb, since Renee was possibly a werewolf already.

The shop was small, but the art was legendary. She never thought that she would be able to have something to beautiful and perfect in her life, all from being a bad kid and breaking free from Hogwarts for the weekends. She would explore the area on weekends, stopping anyone with awe worthy art on their bodies to ask where they had gotten it. All of the said the very same place. Hell on Heels. They gushed about Dekker and how all of his appointments were after dark. It added to the allure and she wanted to know all about the man who no one had seen in the day light.

When she first heard about the daylight thing, her mind instantly went to all of her Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons on vampires. She thought about the old muggle movies about Dracula and the long fangs that would reach his chin and the 'i vant to suck your bwoud!' fake movie magic. Dekker was a sweet man, with a rich laugh and incredible strength. Not exactly the hanging from a rafter as a bat type. Then again, she was a petite five foot one girl and once a month she turned into a large white wolf. People could surprise you.

"Glad to see you hadn't forgotten about me while I was gone. I kept wanting to bring her in, but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea." Children in a tattoo shop was never something that people liked seeing. It had been hard enough to keep her appointments when she was visibly pregnant. Some of her clients thought that just because there was a child in her stomach that she wouldn't be able to tattoo them. Some of them even claimed that she would have a mood swing and change up the whole back piece on them. If she didn't want to turn their fire breathing dragon into a unicorn because of the baby, she did because of the comments.

Dekker and Chevelle helped her keep an even head. Showing her the life that she wanted and encouraging her not to flip out on stupid people. The Weasley temper was strong in her, which might not mean anything to her muggle coworkers, but anyone who had been near her Grandma Molly would know exactly what that meant.

"You're in England, we say football here." She teased, knowing that she would always be the minority in the shop. Chevelle and Dekker called things by strange terms that she had never known before. They did have their perks, they introduced her to a home made macaroni and cheese that didn't com from a can. If America had one thing over England, it was that. She laughed when he seemed impressed by her offer to make something for them to eat. In all of her bliss over being back in the shop, over being back with Dekker and talking about her daughter, she completely forgot that in the time of her maternity leave she still couldn't cook.

"Less of a whole dinner, more of asking my Grandma Molly to make something that I can reheat... better yet that Seb could reheat." They had lost too many premade Molly dinners when Niqui was supposed to be in charge of warming it in the oven. There were times when she would get so caught up in making a piece perfect that she would leave it in the oven for far too long, or she would just forget to even put it in the oven in the first place.
"She's a bugger, but I like her. I guess I'll keep her."

She tucked her phone back and looked at her boss, curious what he was going to have her do on her first day back,
"So what's on the agenda, Boss Man?"