Hey guys, it's been ages since ive written anything. It's been so long that I decided to start again, so as sad as it made me I had to delete my old stories to start afresh.

I used to have a story which started pretty much the same, but I have re-written it to help get past my current craving for some Valkyrie and Skulduggery romance/angst.

I do plan to continue on with this story, so please read and review, as it really does encourage me :)

Valkyrie sighed in frustration and she once again adjusted her hair, picking at the one strand which would not stay in the right place. She had spent the last ten minutes trying to tame the annoying strand but of course it just didn't want to work. With a few angry mumbles under her breathe she located a tube of hair gel from the cupboard and squeezed a small amount onto her fingers, using it to move the piece into its rightful place. She smiled at the mirror happily and turned around, satisfied.

She wandered into her room and closed the door, turning to lock to save herself the embarrassment of having a certain someone walk in while she was getting changed. Today was her 18th birthday, and against all of her protests, Tanith had decided that she had to have a huge birthday party at Gordon's house, which was now of course her house. She unbuttoned her shirt, which she had put on for convenience, and took off her bra, followed by her jeans and underwear.

Although the door was locked and the curtains were closed she still felt somehow exposed, standing naked in her old room, with Skulduggery waiting for her downstairs. She quickly pulled on her new, lacy black underwear and bra, and then carefully stepped into the dress Tanith was making her wear tonight. It was black and tight, hugging her body nicely. A few years ago she might have had a problem with that, but now she was almost as fit as Tanith, and was quite happy with her body, although her chest was nowhere near as big as her best friends.

The dress came only to mid-thigh, and she did her best to pull it lower. She sat on the bed and pulled on her tight leather boots, that came to just below her knee's, and after one last look in the mirror she unlocked her door and walked down the hall to the stairs. Skulduggery was waiting at the bottom, his back to her. She felt her cheeks heat up a little at the sight of him, and prayed that the blush on her cheeks would help to hide it. She walked casually downstairs, her shoulders slightly hunched as she reached the skeleton detective.

Skulduggery turned around and took a moment to look her over, well at least that's what she thought he was doing, it was hard to tell because he had no eyes, but the slight tilt of his head made it seem like it. After a moment he put his gloved hands on her shoulder and pushed them up straight, so she was no longer hunching. He tilted his head to the side, and though she wasn't sure, she thought he was smiling. "You look wonderful." He said, a hint of something in that velvet voice of his, she thought it was pride, but there was no way to be sure.

She smiled, embarrassed, and tried to let her shoulders fall again, but he quickly corrected them before stepping back. "Stand up straight, or Tanith will think you don't want to be there." He said before heading towards the door, his steps smooth and fluid, like they always were. She followed him, a frown on her face as they stepped out of the door and she locked it with the key her mother had given her. "But I don't want to be there." She said, giving him a look as they made their way over to the Bentley.

"Neither do I particularly, but I am such an amazing person that I am attending anyway, giving everyone the chance to appreciate my pure genious for a night." She rolled her eyes as he opened the door for her and carefully lowered herself in. Her dress rode up a little and she quickly hurried to fix it, keeping her eyes away from him as he closed the door and came around to the other side of the car.

"I know what your trying to say, I should be a good friend and at least try to have some fun for Tanith."

"That's not what I said at all actually, but it's good that you got some kind of message from my words, even if it was the wrong one." She chuckled and hit him on the arm. Although she usualy acted like she hated it when he spoke like that she really didn't, and today just seemed like the right kind of day to just let him have his fun.

"So what took you so long to get dressed?" He asked, turning his head to glance at her. "It took a lot longer than usual."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, this dress is tight Skulduggery, and it wasn't exactly the easiest thing to get on, and Tanith pretty much left an instruction manual on how to dress! She even chose my underwear, I have no idea how she even knows what once I own, but somehow she knew." She quickly shut her mouth when she realised she was talking about her underwear to skulduggery and looked out the window.

He cleared his throat (Not that he needed to) and kept his eyes forward. "Well, I can see how that must have been a challenge for you, not having to pick your own clothes. I pity you and the great tragedies you go through every day." She snorted, very unattractive, and shook her head.

They soon arrived at the party, and when she opened the door to get out of the car she could hear the music coming from inside her new home, loud and sharp. She had no idea what was playing, but she knew Tanith must have picked it. "Are you ready?" She asked.

"Not in the slightest." He replied, reaching into his shirt to tap the marks on his collar bones. Soon his skeletal grin was replaced by a new face, slightly tanned skin, green eyes and brown hair. She shuddered as she looked at him. "That still creeps me out a little." She said.

He looked at her curiously, and with the spell she didn't need to guess, she could see it on his 'face' clear as day. "Do you not like it?" He asked, reaching back up. "I could switch to something different." She shook her head and grabbed his arm.

"No that's not what I mean. I meant, it's weird that it changes everytime, always something different, I mean, just once I'd like to see your real face, the one you had before…" She trailed off and blushed a little, letting go. Skulduggery didn't notice of course, he never did. Some detective he was.

"Anyway it doesn't matter. Let's go." She said opening the front door. The music assaulted her ears as they stepped in the door, and she noticed Skulduggery's gloved hands twitch, and she knew he wanted to reach up and cover his ears. He hated the music Tanith listened to, and she felt a little bad that he would have to listen to it for the whole party, but he didn't complain, just smiled as Tanith came over to meet them.

She had a cup in her hand with something clear in it that looked like water, but judging from the slight sway in her step it wasn't actually water. 'Hey guys!" She said happily, leaning forward to hug Valkyrie. "Happy birthday Val! I left your present in the kitchen." She turned on Skulduggery, a glare on her face. "And I told you to have her here on time!"

He shrugged. "Apparently she was having trouble with the underwear you picked for her. Maybe some more convenient ones next time." Valkyrie felt her jaw drop as skulduggery walked away. Obviously he meant nothing by that, but she still couldn't believe he'd said that. Why would he talk about her underwear? She turned to Tanith, her embarrassment clear on her face.

Valkyrie had never directly told Tanith how she felt about her mentor, but the older girl had figured out, and now her eyes were filled with sympathy. "Still oblivious huh?" she asked as they watched him walk up the stairs, presumably to go talk to Gordon.

"Yep." She said, looking away and back at Tanith. Valkyrie had introduced Tanith to her parents already, but she hadn't introduced Skulduggery. They were around the party somewhere, but there was enough people present that they wouldn't question his being there if they did see him.

Tanith handed her a drink. "Here Val, this will make it go away." She said with grin as Valkyrie sipped at the alcoholic beverage. "At least for tonight, just make sure you stay away from Skulduggery, drunk people tend to blurt there secrets."

Valkyrie chuckled. "Well I definitely wouldn't want to do that." She said before downing the drink in one. Everything after that became a blur of drinks, dancing, music and a lot of falling over.

When Valkyrie woke up her head felt like it was splitting apart, her mouth was drier than an ashtray and she felt like she was going to be sick. "Oh god." She groaned, rolling over under the blankets, her stomach protesting angrily. "Ow my head. What the hell happened last night?" She asked herself, bringing up her hand to rub at her eyes.

"I believe you drunk yourself silly and passed out about half an hour after the party ended." Said a smooth quiet voice across the room. She yelped and then clutched at her head, the noise like daggers piercing her skull. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked over to see skulduggery leaning against the back of the closed bedroom door, his hands in his pockets and his hat on his head, looking perfectly presentable.

She groaned again and rolled over a little more, the blanket slipping down her back, letting the cold air hit her for a second before she realised that she was only in a bra and underwear and quickly pulled the blanket back up to cover herself. "Where are my clothes and how did I get up the stairs to my room?" She asked quietly, her eyes on skulduggery, glad her face was probably pale because of how horrible she felt.

He eyed her for a moment before he decided to speak, his voice free of any real emotion, though not cold or uncaring. "You passed out on the couch and Tanith took your dress off for you before she left."

She stared at him in horror. "She took my dress off and left me on the couch! Oh my god, what if somebody tried to take advantage of me or something?" She didn't really think that would happen, she was just more embarrassed that she had been left in her bra and underwear, and she still had no idea how she got to her room if she'd passed out on the couch.

"I cleared everybody out before that happened." He said simply, shifting his hand from his pocket to take his hat of his head and hang it from the door handle, the place closest to him. "Tanith was the last person to leave. And do you really think I would let somebody take advantage of you Valkyrie? I think you know me better than that." And she did, she knew Skulduggery wouldn't let anything happen to her, and it was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

"And how did I get up here? Did I wake up and walk up? Did Tanith help me up here?" She couldn't really remember much from the night before, and everything she could remember was in weird flashes that hurt her head when she tried to concentrate on them too much.

"No, Tanith left you on the lounge in your underwear; I knew it was too cold so I carried you up to your bed. I had to take your boots off too, they are downstairs." He stared at her for a moment before she dropped her face into her hands, holding back tears. She was wearing the skimpiest underwear she owned. They were almost covered almost none of her behind, and most of the fabric, except for the most important part, was see through, showing her skin underneath. He bra was very much the same.

"This is the worst day of my life." She muttered depressed. "I can't believe I you had to carry me up in my underwear. And this underwear too!" she cried, a few tears leaking out. She quickly turned her head away so he wouldn't see the tears escaping, but nothing escaped Skulduggery, and he walked slowly across the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You have nothing to worry about. I may still be a man, but I'm a gentleman too, the moment I realised you weren't wearing your dress I didn't look." Valkyrie didn't if this was a good thing or a bad thing, did he not look because he didn't find her attractive?

She sniffed and kept her head down. "No need to cry, I know you have a great night, you spent most of it dancing with Tanith, very suggestively I might add." He said, sounding a little embarrassed. He removed his hand from her shoulder and cleared his throat. "Everyone though you two put on a good show. I don't think your father was very impressed, but most of the uh… male… guest were." She glanced at him through her fingers and could tell that he was a little uncomfortable, maybe even a little embarrassed.

"Skulduggery?"

"Yes Valkyrie?"

"I think I'm going to be sick." She said, looking at him, the tears still in her eyes.

"Would you like your trashcan?"

"That would be nice." In one fluid movement he picked up her trashcan and handed it to her, his gloved hand moving quickly to pull her hair out of her face, just in time for her to lean forward and heave, the contests of her stomach coming back up and being emptied into the metal bin. She spat into the can when she was done to get the horrible taste out of her mouth, trying to ignore how embarrassing it was to be doing this in front of skulduggery. The blanket had fallen down to her waist, and her stomach and bra were exposed, but she couldn't bring herself to put the can down and cover herself back over.

"Are you okay?" He asked her after a moment and she nodded, the tears running down her face again, but this time from the pain in her head, not the embarrassment. He took the can from her hands and moved it away from the bed. He came back and laid her down properly, and when she looked her could tell that his eyes were facing away from her chest. She was grateful for that, she was already so ashamed, and right now she was glad for the way he was treating her, even if it hurt her heart a little to know he didn't feel the same way back.

Once she was covered with the blankets again he looked back and handed her the bottle of water off of her drawers. She drunk half of it to clear the taste from her mouth before she settled into the blankets, feeling tired again, despite all the rest she'd had.

"Stay with me?" She asked tiredly, sounding young as she let her eyes fall closed.

"If that's what you want." He said in that velvety voice of his that made her heart speed up in her chest.

"I do." She smiled lightly, thinking of what she could remember about the party the night before. "Tanith looked good." She mumbled. Tanith had been wearing a similar outfit to Valkyrie's, except her dress was tighter and red, with slits up the side, showing even more skin. "Don't you think?"

"Yes, she looked nice." He said slowly.

"Why were you so embarrassed about our dancing?" She asked curiously, although sleep was taking over fast, and her mind was having trouble with her thoughts. She did remember that Tanith and herself had spent half the night grinding against each other to the music, and she knew Tanith had looked particularly good, though she didn't think the same about herself. "I don't see why it would bother you." She mumbled, almost incoherently.

"Gentlemen or not," He said quietly. "I am still a man." His voiced was laced with what sounded like shame, but before she could ask any more questions she was asleep again.

Okay, so I just wanted to make it clear to everybody that the last comment by skulduggery DOES NOT imply that he is in love with her, because, for my story to work, he needs to not be in love with her, and maybe, if you review and make me happy, I may just give you the romance I know you are all craving.

And to explain his comment- Skulduggery may be a skeleton, he may be 400 years old, but deep down, he is still a man, and wether or not he wanted to, he found that he liked seeing the girls dance together, as a man would after 400 years of no sex, but as implied by the shame in his voice, he is upset with himself for it. He has known Valkyrie since she is little, he doesnt know the way she feels, and he feels guilty about the way he felt watching her and Tanith dancing in such a suggestive way.

If you have any questions, review, and send me your questions and I will answer them. The more reviews I get the sonner chapter 2 is up.