A/N: I don't own Spirngheeled Jack, Skulduggery or Valkyrie. Val is in her 20's here and the story is in her POV. For those keeping track, I listened to 'Sway' by Dean Martin while writing. Spoilers, kind of.

It never failed. Any time I got a holiday, some free time, the bad guys always found me. I was supposed to be starting a blissful two weeks free of any work, any partner, any responsibilities, and this had to happen. I'd been reading late that first night in my cabin when I heard the faraway sound of a van's tyres squealing for purchase on the rutted dirt roads not far from the cabin. I'd immediately shut out the light and went to the window, seeing nothing in the moonlit night.

I heard the engine rev distantly, the a roar that faded away. Either someone had been dropped off and was sneaking up on the cabin, or something or someone had been dumped off in a hurry and left to die. Most likely the latter. Still, I sighed as I drew my gun.

Skulduggery had insisted I carry it on holiday, reminding me that magic could never be exposed and I'd most likely meet mortals from the city on holiday, and so on and so forth until I'd told him to shut up and accepted the gun. I knew the real reason was he was worried about me. We'd been given opposing holidays, some official telling us that the separation time would do us some good.

So I knew I was on my own as I stalked out into the night and padded down an animal track. The path twisted through the undergrowth, but I knew it would come out on the clearing where it sounded like the van had stopped. I got there and my heart sank. There was a body crumpled at the far end of the clearing, lying still as death.

I knew it could be a trap, but I also knew I couldn't leave an innocent person to die, either. I holstered my gun, hoping that whomever it was wasn't playing possum to get me over there and sprinted across the clearing. I came up to the body and my blood ran cold. Springheeled Jack lay before me, barely breathing, battered and bruised from head to foot.

A million memories flooded over me. When we had fought certainly, but the first night I had met him, mistaking him for Skulduggery that night on the beach. I remembered how strong and agile he was, how we'd fought Dusk together. How Jack had saved my life. I realized I was staring and blinked. "Hello, Jack. Typical of you to show up here."

He twisted his ugly features into a snarl. "Typical of you to be here, innit? Well go ahead then, arrest old Jack, then. But I'm special, me, and you should be protectin' me."

"I am here to protect you, Jack. You saved my life once and I always repay my debts, even to you. Can you stand?" I kept my voice cold. A wounded Jack was like a wounded animal, he'd kill me with a swipe of his hardened nails if he could.

He tried to rise, cursed, and fell back down panting. He tried again, then whined in pain. He glared at me as if his being hurt was somehow my fault. "This is just typical. You know who did this to me? My friends, at least I thought they were my friends, now look at me."

I sighed. "You need to pick better friends, Jack. Come on, put your arm around my shoulder, we'll have to walk back to my cabin." He listened but it was no use, he was simply to heavy for me to lift, and he couldn't stand on his own. I put my hand on his chest, drawing my shadows around us, and shadow-walked him into the second bedroom in the cabin. I managed to get him into the bed, and he treated me to a leer as I did so.

"I sleep with a gun, Jack." I said, then left him there.

By the next morning Jack looked worse. But I had no way to get him to a doctor who wouldn't ask questions or talk too much. I gave him a leaf to chew on for the pain, then soaked a healing rock in a small basin of warm water and used a small hand towel to run across his rather ugly face, neck and hands. The man was hideous, but I figured it wasn't his fault as I washed his face repeatedly until the cuts and bruising were gone. I did his neck and hands as well, then stepped back.

"You're on your own for the rest. Here's how it is, Jack. You're a guest here as long as you behave yourself. Your a free man, any time you want to go, you can walk out the door and I won't stop you. Though I would advise you not to leave until you're well enough to fight."

He managed to sit up shakily, but had to stop, panting with effort. He looked up at me from under the brim of his top hat, his small eyes blazing like lamps and I smiled. He had a lot of fight in him, I'd give him that. "Why are you helpin' me, you're a copper, ain't ya?" He fell to panting again, hanging his mishappen head. His long-fingered hands flexed like he wanted to swipe at me, but he made no effort to move.

"I like you, Jack. Well, not when you're trying to kill me, then I hate you. But I do like you. Now if you'll excuse me I have a holiday to get back to. I'm feeling lazy so I'll go out for take away for breakfast. I'll bring you something back, I won't let you starve. Your attached bath is behind you, by the way. Be good and don't open the door for strangers." Jack growled in response and I left him to it.

I knew I should have arrested Jack, but over the next several days I grew rather fond of him. Watching him try and walk around stiff-legged was amusing, then he got stronger, and could walk, but not yet leap. I was sitting on the porch the fourth night alone, when he came out and sat wearily in the chair beside me. "This is a nice place, poppet. But you shouldn't have come out here all alone. There are too many people like me in the world."

Poppet? Where did that come from? He was looking at me, and he gave me his nicest smile, which was even more hideous that his usual one, but I smiled back anyhow. I ignored how he flexed his bare feet, digging the nails into the wood of the porch. Jack wanted to be up and away, and I knew he couldn't be happy cooped up there with me.

"That's sweet of you to say, Jack. But maybe I came out here alone to pick up strange men, you just never know." I couldn't believe I was flirting with him, but what the heck? I seriously doubted women were all that nice to him. It wasn't like his ugly went away the longer you knew him.

Jack grinned. "And they don't get stranger that me, poppet. But you're a right proper lady, you are. Old Jack's got no business lookin' at right proper ladies. They usually scream when he does." He shrugged, looked away.

"No offense, Jack, but your killing them at the time might have something to do with that."

He turned and grinned at me sheepishly, then a devilish leer came to his face. "That it would, poppet, that it would."

But the start of the second week Jack was much stronger. He still couldn't leap well or far, but he kept mostly to himself and to the night. I didn't mind since although I liked him well enough over six feet of broad and ugly I didn't need. Well, not ugly, not anymore. That had changed subtly, crept up on me until his mishappen head looked like any other man's, and his small teeth yellow teeth and gruesome smile seemed normal. He had shaggy black hair that stuck out at wild angles, but the man was as clean as a cat, even if he never washed his clothes.

Jack had artistic hands, long and slender, even if they were tipped with hardened nails, and his feet were well-formed, even if they had the same hard nails. He looked less like an animal and more like a man as the days wore on, but I still didn't trust him. He had a way of tracking me with his eyes like a predator, and I knew it would probably be wise to leave him there before he took it into his demented brain to kill me.

Still, when I heard him land heavily on the roof, I knew something was wrong. Jack never made a sound as he leapt. I ran outside into the moonlight and jumped up myself, using the air to propel me. Jack had a vampire pinned under him, holding it down with his feet, one hand around the neck under the jaw.

He swiped with his free hand, catching the creature's jugular and it howled as its life started to drain out, the wound a mortal one. Jack struck again to the other side, working his nails all the way into the skin, down deep, all the way around the neck. Then he grabbed the head and twisted with a savage grunt, and pulled. I gasped as the vampire's head was wrenched free. Jack was clearly back to full strength now, and the look on his face was terrible.

He looked wild, he certainly looked demented, and the insane giggle coming from him as he gazed down at the head in his hands didn't help things a bit. He grinned up at me, his eyes blazing, his grin wicked, and his giggling only got wilder as he rose. He swayed back and forth slightly, rocking on the balls of his feet, ready to spring. "Hello, poppet. Looks like old Jack repaid his debt to you for rescuin' him, doesn't it? Though I will admit, I'd have killed a vampire anyhow. Told you you shouldn't have come out here alone, poppet, didn't I?" His eyes blazed and he crouched down low, his predatory eyes locked on me.

I didn't move for my gun, he was too fast, instead I shrugged. "I thank you for killing the vampire, Jack, but kill me and I promise you Skulduggery will find you and he will kill you."

Jack straightening up, frowning. "I was only teasin', poppet. No need to threaten, I'm a decent man, me. A right proper gent if I've a mind to be. What are you doin', dressed up at this hour?"

I looked down at myself. An old black spring suit jacket over black jeans and a tee was hardly dressed up. "I saw a roadside bar slash diner sort of thing on the way in. Looks like the kind of place a fight might break out. Sounds like a fun place to go to dinner to me."

"Oh. Well, enjoy yourself, then."

"You need an engraved invitation, Jack? Dinner's the least I can do for you, considering." Jack smiled at me, then followed as I leapt off the roof, landing beside me silently. He looked pleased with himself, proud even, and I had to wonder when the last time he'd been invited to dinner was.

Jack was a proper gentleman, making sure the blood was off his hands, getting the car door for me, then the door of the restaurant. We entered and I realized it was a dive for sorcerors, and felt relief flood through me. Jack wasn't even unusual looking in that room and the patrons ignored us. He looked at me after we placed our order. "How much longer have you got on your holiday, love?"

"Six days, Jack. Though they'd likely be thrilled if I called in for an extension."

"Why's that? They don't appreciate the job you do?"

I shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, but lately I've been getting the cold shoulder. Then they separated Skulduggery and me for separate holidays. Now that things are calm and I'm no longer needed, well, they don't want me there." Jack blinked, but said nothing in reply. He was actually charming through dinner, able to be witty when he wanted to be. He even insisted on paying, telling me in a low voice as the waiter left to get our after dinner coffee that killing the vampire was just for fun.

He was sweet the entire ride back, and even lingered by my side well into the night, though he did disappear for a while to dispose of the vampire's corpse, and I knew enough not to ask where he took it.

The rest of the week seemed to fly by in his company, and I noticed that he was lingering, although he was more than strong enough to leave. He looked at me the last night. "I guess you'll be leavin' in the mornin' then, poppet?" He looked so mournful I couldn't tease him about it.

"No, I called in for a two week extension. I may never go back, to be honest."

Jack grinned broadly. "Do you have the cabin for that long?"

"Alas, no. We'll both have to vacate by tomorrow noon, but I'll drop you off anywhere you want to go, Jack." He looked at me, seemed about to speak, then looked away. "What is it, Jack? I'll drop you anywhere I don't mind a several day trip if need be."

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to London with me, for a few days at least. You saved my life, you did. I could show you the city."

I was charmed. Jack had to be using up all his considerable courage to ask me to go with him. "Then London it is, Jack." He rewarded me with a shy smile that was actually kind of cute.

Jack wasn't called the prince of London for nothing. Once I had a good hotel room, he'd arrive at my window every night, then we'd be off. He knew every part of the massive city, and he certainly knew how to travel in style. He'd have me clamber onto his back and hold on tight as he ran and leapt, my added weight not hampering him in the least. He would sometimes sing to himself as he ran, and I was getting used to the sound of his high, strained voice.

He took me to wherever I wished, or just to places that had the best views of his city. Jack owned the city, the rooftops at least, and with Tanith gone there was no one to stop him. Jack was hardly old, though he'd muttered darkly about her wanting to put him in prison or an old folk's home.

We were sitting on a high roof admiring the lights of the city far below when he put an arm around my shoulder. I smiled at him. "I've never me anyone like you before, Jack, and I mean that in a good way. You are a proper gentleman, and there aren't too many of you left."

He smiled, ducking his head in a way I was starting to find adorable. For as big and strong as he was, for being as unstable and a remorseless killer, he did his best to be gentle with me. I knew very well that when he wasn't with me he was off picking out victims, I knew I should arrest him, but we were friends at the very least now. Well, perhaps more than friends as he dared to pull me closer and I could feel the warmth of his body through his clothing. He still had the same old black suit on, and it still smelled musty and was covered with dust, but I didn't mind that in the least as I looped an arm around his waist.

Jack started slightly, then smiled at me. "Funny, innit, love? When you rescued me a few weeks ago, I'd have killed you if I could. But not now." He added hurriedly.

"I know, Jack, and had you managed to try, I'd have shot you dead for your trouble. But I don't think I'd have the heart to shoot you now. I'll miss you when my time here is up, I truly will."

"Then don't go back. Stay here with me, poppet. It would take me decades to show you the city proper like." He looked at me, his gaze steady and hopeful. I could hear a radio playing in the distance. Dean Martin came on, singing 'Sway', the gods of music apparently all in Jack's favour.

I smiled and nodded my agreement, and he dared to kiss me then. His lips incredibly soft, the usual cracks having somehow disappeared, and I realized he'd been gearing up for the kiss ever since we'd went to dinner the night he slew the vampire. I answered his kiss, responding gently. touching his shaggy black hair hair at long last, hearing a soft sigh, and I didn't know if it came from me or him. He put his other arm around me then, giggling softly, touching his forehead to mine. Then Jack was kissing me again, sweetly, gently, and I could feel my heart melting for him.

I reached my free hand up to caress his face, then we parted, Jack's face soft and gentle once. "Cor, poppet." He ducked his head again, giggling, and I realized he was blushing. But then, so was I. We sat together on the rooftop, gazing up at the stars for hours, listening to the distant radio, and I knew I'd be in London for a very long time indeed.

Awwww. How can people not like them as a couple? I still proudly ship Jack/Valkyrie and will continue to do so, even if I'm my only reader, so there!