Valkyrie let herself into Skulduggery's house - he'd thrown her the keys before going to park the Bentley. She walked straight to the kitchen and put the kettle on, preparing a couple of mugs of tea. It had been a long day at the Sanctuary, dealing with the little fusses and whims of the visitors, and they had both decided that some sort of rest was in order. They hadn't rested properly in weeks.

Skulduggery shouted to Valkyrie as he strode through the front door, slamming it behind him using the displacement of the air. Valkyrie smiled as she took the two mugs of tea into the living room - he had always liked to make an entrance.

"You're going to break this place at this rate," Valkyrie commented, pointing towards the door as she gave him a mug.

"Nonsense," he replied. "I've been slamming doors for years and I've never broken a thing. Well, maybe a couple of things, but nothing major."

"The Bentley?" Valkyrie suggested, sitting down next to him on the sofa.

"Well, yes, I suppose - but that was an accident."

"Of course it was." Valkyrie smirked.

"You're missing my point."

"Which is?"

"That I've never broken anything without meaning to do so."

"Really?" Valkyrie raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"My second point is that I am always right and that you should always listen to and agree with me."

"I'll make a note to do so in the future."

"Good."

Skulduggery reached for the remote and turned the TV on, searching through channels before giving up on finding something interesting to watch and turning it off again.

"Perhaps we could watch a film?" Valkyrie said, putting her mug on the table.

Skulduggery sat in silence for a minute, and Valkyrie nudged him.

"Perhaps we should watch a film," he said.

"That'd be nice," Valkyrie agreed, ignoring the fact that she had just made that very suggestion.

"Good. Glad you agree. Let me go and find something."

He got up, placed his mug on the table in front of him and walked off to find a film. Valkyrie smiled - it had to be his idea.

She suddenly felt quite tired - almost definitely because of her day at work - and proceeded to stretch out on the sofa. Skulduggery wouldn't mind - there was another chair to sit on, with a better view of the TV.

She heard Skulduggery bound down the stairs before he appeared in the doorway, film in hand. He put the DVD in the player and pressed play, before sitting down on the small bit of space between Valkyrie's head and the arm of the chair. As much as she wanted to be, she wasn't quite tall enough to fill the sofa.

"There's another chair over there, you know. You don't have to squish yourself here," Valkyrie commented.

"I know," he replied, not moving.

"If you're going to insist on sitting there, can I at least use your lap as a pillow?"

"I'm not sure how good a pillow it'll be, since I am literally a living skeleton," Skulduggery said, "but of course."

Valkyrie shifted up so that her head was on his lap. It was more comfortable than she had thought it would be.

"Thanks."

The film started but no more than five minutes in, Valkyrie sat up.

"You know what we've forgotten, don't you?" she said. Skulduggery looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Popcorn."

"I haven't got any," Skulduggery said. "Since I can't eat and all that."

"Oh, yeah." Valkyrie thought about this for a minute. "Oh well."

Skulduggery sort of hoped she would rest her head on his lap again, but she moved and instead sat leaning on his shoulder. That was just as good.

"Your shoulder's a better pillow," she commented, closing her eyes. He merely shrugged, moving her head.

"Hey! At least let me sleep in peace," Valkyrie said, but there was a playfulness in her voice.

"Or what?" Skulduggery said, returning her tone.

She snapped her fingers with her left hand and swiftly stole Skulduggery's hat with her right. Before he'd realised, she had walked over to the other side of the room with it, the fireball in her hand hovering over the hat.

"You wouldn't dare," Skulduggery said, and she could almost see him smirking.

"You want to bet?" Valkyrie replied, moving her hand closer to the brim of the hat. That precious little hat.

Skulduggery jumped over the sofa and lunged at Valkyrie, who slid out of the way just as Skulduggery was about to snatch the hat from her grasp. He had been going too fast to stop and smashed into the wall.

"Your hat-" Valkyrie began, but she was cut off by a showering of water from above her head, extinguishing the fireball she had and giving Skulduggery a chance to steal his hat back.

"I think this is mine," he said, placing the hat back upon his head.

"I don't know," Valkyrie replied, drying herself with small fires in her hands. "I definitely think it suits me better."

"Then you'll have to come and get it. Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough," he said, using Tanith's trademark phrase.

"Oh, I am." Valkyrie said, jumping towards him and trying to grab his hat. He ducked and she grabbed air, flying forwards and landing in a heap on the sofa. She splayed open her hand and moved the hat towards her, almost getting it to touch the sofa before Skulduggery realised and snatched it back.

He walked round to the front of the sofa, and Valkyrie sat up, allowing him space to sit down.

"Given up early today, have we?"

"Not at all," Valkyrie replied. She took the hat off his skull and placed it on her head. "You've got to admit, it does look better on me."

"You look beautiful, Valkyrie."

Valkyrie beamed. "It does suit me."

"It does indeed," Skulduggery replied, adjusting the hat's position slightly before allowing his hand to rest on her face. She shivered slightly from the coldness of his bones but did not brush it away.

"You know how I said I'm always right?" Skulduggery said. Valkyrie laughed.

"Well, I guess I was kinda forced into it, but yes."

"Would I be right in thinking," Skulduggery said slowly, "that you enjoy this?"

"This?" Valkyrie asked, winking at him.

"Yes," Skulduggery replied seriously, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, since you're always right," Valkyrie said.

"Good. So you won't mind if I do this?"

Skulduggery didn't give Valkyrie any time to decide or answer. Instead, he leant over, moving his hand into her hair and placing his other arm around her back.

"Of course not," Valkyrie said. "And I doubt you'll mind if I do this…"

She moved in, putting her hands around his neck. Tilting her head, she pressed her lips against the place where his mouth should have been, meeting cold teeth. The cold shocked her slightly, despite the fact she knew how cold his bone was, but she resisted the urge to shiver as she kissed him. At first, she thought about how silly it was - kissing a skeleton who thought about her as a partner in crime, not in romance - and how he wasn't responding, how she'd ruined their friendship in this one little moment but then, just as she was about to pull away, Skulduggery stroked her hair and pulled her closer. A lot closer.

Skulduggery ran his hands through Valkyrie's hair as she held onto his neck. A moment later he stopped, pulling away ever so slightly.

"To answer you," he whispered, "I don't mind at all."

"Good," Valkyrie replied, smiling before pulling him in close again.

A few minutes later, Valkyrie was snuggled against Skulduggery's chest. He had moved so as to make her more comfortable, and she'd taken the opportunity to lie down and rest. Typical tired Valkyrie. Skulduggery smiled as he watched her eyes slowly blink before they eventually closed completely, one of his hands still stroking her hair carefully.

He reached for the TV remote, being careful not to wake the now-sleeping Valkyrie as he did so. Turning off the TV, he put the remote on the floor beside him and carefully moved the air just enough to blow the strands of hair that were falling in front of Valkyrie's face to the sides. She smiled and snuggled closer to Skulduggery, and Skulduggery thought about what had just happened. From partners in crime to partners in romance - though detective work was not being put to the side.

Things were never going to be the same again.