Under the Mistletoe

They were in the Bentley, on their way to finish up a case. There would probably be a lot of punching involved, and if this were any other week, Valkyrie wouldn't mind. Fighting was to be expected. It was part of their job. It was part of what she signed up for.

She sighed, watching the snow fall outside. Christmas Eve was tomorrow….

Valkyrie turned in her seat, deciding to watch Skulduggery as he drove instead. He was wearing his dark blue suit today, she noted. One of her favorites.

Skulduggery glanced at her. "You're staring."

"I'm bored."

"Ah." He nodded. "You're nervous."

"What? No, I literally just said I was bored. Like five seconds ago. Didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you," Skulduggery assured her, a smile in his voice. "I just noticed it's something you say when you're nervous."

"Since when?"

"I don't know. You're the one that does it, not me."

"Well, I'm fine." She turned in her seat again, this time deciding to look straight ahead. "This isn't gonna take too long, right?"

"If all goes well, we'll be out of there in 30 minutes."

"Good."

"Are you sure you're all right?" He sounded concerned.

"I just…" She thought about lying, but decided against it. She didn't like lying to Skulduggery, and the fact was, in his own way, he usually managed to make her feel better about whatever she was worried about. She looked down at her lap. "I don't know. It's almost Christmas and we're marching right into a situation where we could die and…"

Skulduggery was silent, waiting for her to continue.

She let out a shaky breath. "Darquesse's voice is getting louder and I just want to be the one that's home for Christmas, you know? Not the reflection. Not… not Darquesse. Me."

Skulduggery's voice was gentle. "I won't let anything happen to you, Valkyrie."

She turned back to the window again before answering. "I know."

Valkyrie woke up on the wet ground. She stared up at the sky for a few seconds, feeling dizzy as she watched the snowflakes fall, though they felt good as they landed on her hot face. She shivered, and groaned as she sat up, watching Skulduggery walking towards her. His nice suit was torn in a few places, but it was still in one piece. He looked good, too. As he usually did.

"How long have I been out?" She asked. Skulduggery reached out a hand and pulled her to her feet.

"About ten minutes."

"Oh. You didn't think to move me or anything? The snow is wet, you know. So's my hair. Also, my face is cold."

"I thought you looked comfortable where you were."

"Wow. Thanks."

"No problem."

Valkyrie cleared her throat and looked around. "So the case is over? We're done? We can go home?"

"It appears so, yes. Are you ready to go?"

Suddenly, it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The stress of the last few days—and all her bad feelings with it—was gone, and it was like she could breath again. She looked at Skulduggery and grinned. "Not yet," she said, and then fell back onto the ground.

Skulduggery had looked like he was about to catch her as she fell, but then he heard her giggle. He stepped back, confused, but watched as she moved her arms back and forth in the snow. "What…what is that you're doing?"

"I'm making a snow angel, Skulduggery."

"Ah." A pause. "I thought you might be having a seizure."

She laughed and then her limbs finally came to a halt. "Okay, I'm done. It's cold down here." She stuck out her hand. "Help me up again."

Skulduggery did as she asked, and Valkyrie turned to admire her work.

She grinned. "Nice. I haven't done that in years. What do you think?"

"It looks like you just rolled around in the snow," he replied, brushing some of the snow off her back. "But I'm glad you seem to be feeling better."

Valkyrie pulled her tangled wet hair into a low ponytail. "I am feeling better. Let's go do something fun."

Skulduggery tilted his head. "Like what?"

"Skulduggery, what do you think of this tree?"

"It looks like all the other trees, but smaller."

"I like it."

"Well then, we should get it."

"Good."

They got it. It was small and drooping a little towards the bottom, but it was a Christmas tree and it was standing proudly in the corner of Skulduggery's main living room. They'd only gotten a star to put on top, and some garland to decorate it with, deciding to spend more time and money decorating the rest of the house. Well, that's what Valkyrie decided anyway. Skulduggery pretended like he wasn't enjoying himself, but Valkyrie knew his complaints weren't really complaints at all.

Once they finished, Valkyrie and Skulduggery stood back to admire their work.

Skulduggery nodded. "I must admit, Valkyrie, it looks wonderful."

She beamed. "I know."

"I wanted to put up the green lights."

"Yeah, but the blue ones look cool, see?"

"Yes, but it's my house. And I bought them."

"Well, too bad. I already put them up and very, very gently plugged them in. It was a lot of hard work. Don't take that away from me."

Skulduggery was sitting on one end of the sofa with his arms crossed and Valkyrie was sitting on the other, leaning forward towards the fireplace, and warming her hands by the fire.

She rolled her eyes at Skulduggery's crossed arms, carefully using the air to push another log into the small fire. "Don't sulk, Skulduggery. It's not good for your bones."

"That doesn't quite make sense."

"Now you know how I feel," she said, and laughed at her own joke. She snuggled back into her end of and took a sip of the spiked eggnog Vex had given her the day before. She felt warm and safe, the complete opposite of how she was feeling earlier. She suspected it had something to do with the alcohol in her system, but the relieved feeling she got at the end of a long case did wonders as well.

She rested her head against the cushion and looked at partner. "Lights aside, this is nice."

Skulduggery sat back as well. "It is."

"But I neeeeeeeeeeed more eggnog."

"No, no, actually I don't think you do."

Valkyrie tugged and tugged at the refrigerator handle, but no matter how hard she pulled, she could not get it open. It might have had something to do with the six foot four skeleton leaning against it, but she was sure something was wrong with her.

Finally, she gave up and sank to the floor, panting. "I think my muscles are on vacation," she mumbled, pitifully. Then she started to giggle.

Skulduggery laughed quietly as he helped her up for the third time today. "You are quite amusing, Valkyrie Cain."

That made her laugh even more. "Oh my god, I know. I'm so funny. I'm the best." She stopped in the middle of her giggle fit to add, "I think I'm drunk."

"Drunk sounds like a harsh word for your current state," Skulduggery said, leading her toward to the doorway. "Tipsy sounds better."

"Yeah," she said, then giggled again. "Yeah, I'm tipsy." She stumbled into him and Skulduggery caught her, gripping her arms to keep her steady.

She smiled lazily up at him, and then seemed to notice something above his head.

"Hey, look," she said. "Mistletoe."

Before Skulduggery could reply or even look up to see the mistletoe in question, Valkyrie was on her tiptoes, clutching the lapels of his suit, with her lips were pressed to his teeth. Skulduggery froze.

An awkward moment passed before Valkyrie felt herself sobering up, face red, as she tried to pull out of Skulduggery's grasp.

"Ohhhh my god," she whispered, barely noticing as Skulduggery moved a hand to his collarbone, turning on his façade. "Oh my god, that was so stupid, I'm sor—"

And then he was kissing her and she was wrapping her arms around his neck, he was wrapping his own around her waist and she was kissing him back.

When they finally broke apart, Valkyrie was breathing heavily but grinning. "Well, then," she said. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Pleasant."

With his façade still on, somehow looking flushed, he grinned. "Merry Christmas, Ms. Cain."

"Valkyrie?"

"Yes?"

"We didn't get any mistletoe when we were out."

"Yeah, we did."

"No, I'm fairly certain—"

"Shhh, shut up, let's just say we did."