Disclaimer: I am borrowing the names of the artists from Miami Ink for this chapter. Thanks to the people at TLC for making Miami Ink, the show inspired the idea for this chapter.

Alex's POV

I smiled as I walked into the little Tattoo parlour in South Beach, Miami.

A young woman behind the counter looked up and smiled. She was very pretty. With lots of tattoos on her body…but one that I thought was particularly cool was a bunch of stars around her eyes.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm here for an appointment with Ami James."

"He's out having lunch at the moment. Take a seat and I'll let him know you're here when he gets back. What was your name?"

"Alex. Alex Platt."

"Hi Alex, I'm Kat, Kat Von D. Pleased to meet you." She said. She shook my hand

"Kat, that's easy to remember, my best friend's name is Kat."

"Oh cool." She said.

Just then the door to the shop opened and in walked a guy with tattoos all over him, and a shaved head.

"Ami!" Kat said.

"Yeah Kat?"

"Your appointment is here." She said nodding in my direction.

"Oh hello, you must be Alex. I'm Ami James." He said, coming over.

"Hello, nice to meet you." I replied, shaking his hand.

"So what can I do for you today, Alex?" Ami asked me.

"Well I was looking to get a tattoo of this dragon." I said, pulling out a picture of the Welsh flag.

"Uh-huh, where did you want to put it?" he asked me.

"I was hoping to put it in the small of my back." I said to him.

"You want it done in red, like this? With the outline in black? Just like the picture?"

"Yes. Is that all right?" I asked.

"Uh-huh…ok, well, let me take a few minutes to draw it up for you, and then we'll be ready to start. Take a seat, and I'll give you a shout when I'm ready." He said.

I sat down again, and waited. A few minutes later Ami walked over with the stencil he had drawn.

"Let's stick this on your back, and see if you like the placement. If not, we can put it somewhere else." He said, smiling.

"Okay."

After checking it out in the mirror, I agreed that the placement was perfect.

"So then, we're ready to go here?" asked Ami.

"Yup."

"Ok. I'm gonna start with the outline, and then I'll do the shading and colouring. Is this your first tattoo?" He asked.

"Yes." I said.

"You're awful brave. The back can be painful. All right; now I'm just gonna do one little line, to show you how it feels."

Ami started his machine and began tracing the outline of the dragon. It hurt a little, but not as much as I was expecting. I relaxed and let him work.

"OK?" he asked.

"Yup, we're good."

"All right." He said and kept working.

It didn't take long for him to finish.

"Wanna check it out?" he said, handing me a hand held mirror.

I went over to the mirror. When I saw it I was pleased with the way it looked.

"Now it might not look too good, because it's fresh, but after it heals, it'll look a lot better."

"Actually, I love it. Thank you." I said, hugging him.

"No problem, take good care of it. Come back in a few weeks and show us how it looks when it heals. Or send us some pictures." He said.

"Will do. And you'll be seeing me again, if I want to have anything else done."

"Awesome."

I paid Ami, and left the shop, feeling very happy with my new tattoo.

When I got back to my hotel, a few hours later John was waiting for me, a look of worry on his face.

"Where the hell did you disappear to?" he asked.

"Well…" I said, and turned, showing him the bandage, covering my tattoo.

"You didn't!" John exclaimed.

"I did." I said, with a smile.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"Sure. I need to rub some ointment on it anyway, you can help me with that."

John peeled back the bandage carefully.

"Wow!" he said "Did it hurt?"

"Not as much as I thought it would." I said.

"Well I think it's bad ass!" he said, kissing the back of my neck.

I smiled…it had been a great day.