I've gone and done something crazy and started another story. So without further ado:
"I want to get roaring drunk and you can't stop me," she slurred, sluggishly twisting to hug the bottle to herself.
Skulduggery laughed, a mixture between exasperation and amusement, and reached out for it again. "Val..." he started.
"Nope." She giggled and tottered slightly on the barstool.
"As a responsible adult, I can't let you do this," he tried again, trying to keep a straight face.
Another laugh bubbled up from deep inside her and she swayed in towards him. "You're not...a responsible adult," she hiccuped.
"And you're not either."
"Skulduggery…"
"And it's late..."
"Skulduggery..."
"And -"
"Skulduggery! Get yourself a drink and toast to us. We have closed the deal and we are on the way to becoming heroes. We've bagged him and we are becoming the modern face of crime fighting." Her foot tangled in the rungs of the stool as she tried to stand up and she crashed face-first into his chest. "Wh-wachu doin'," she mumbled into his suit, "why you grabbing me?"
Skulduggery had to laugh. "Ok, you've had enough. We're going home." Placing a few notes on the countertop, he wrapped his arm more tightly around her and guided her to the door. He gripped the heavy handle with his free hand and a gust of icy wind confronted the pair. As they stepped through, the freezing air shot up his cuffs and froze his throat and the inside of his nose. He'd had the full-body facade for just over two months and there were things about having a fully functional body that he just couldn't get used to, and the cold of the Irish winter was one.
Still firmly locked together, they passed by the warm, steamy windows of the pub, radiating light into the inky night. As they exited the last pool of light and reached the edge of the building, they broke apart and sprinted across the gravelly parking lot and into the woods beyond, staying low and moving at top speed. The woods loomed up, blacker than the already obscured night, and the pair leapt the ditch and were swallowed up by the sharp lines of the watchful pines. The sound of their footsteps was muted by the bed of moss and needles the forest had lain, as if for their purpose solely.
The hill reached a crest and they burst into a slightly more open area. Skulduggery slowed to a stop, phone in hand and dialing already. Valkyrie prowled, keeping watch, her breath making slight puffs in the subzero air. Both of their dark clothes blended in perfectly with the dense woods surrounding them so that as she moved, she appeared to flicker in and out of being between the fingers of moonlight penetrating the intense shadow.
"Start the car. Start driving back to the house - fast, like usual. Be careful."