A/N: I don't own Valkyrie or Skulduggery, but Calamity, Sam, Tanas and Leap are all my OCs and precious babies. The happy tears just won't stop falling. June 26, 2015 will always be remembered as the day the US Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in all fifty states. As a pansexual this is huge for me. It doesn't erase all the hate and challenges we still face, but it is a huge step forward.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery had taken the two detectives on loan from one of the American Sanctuaries out to dinner in a Dublin pub frequented by Americans, something the pair seemed to delight in. Valkyrie liked them. They had been from a Sanctuary that opposed the American attacks on the Irish Sanctuary and had even fought on both American and Irish soil to stop the attacks. Valkyrie smiled at them, there was an American news station playing, CNN, and she reckoned it made them feel at home. "Just like in America, yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah." Calamity Cat said. She was a green-eyed, fiery redhead from Pennsylvania and she tended to dress in all black cowgirl outfits since her heroine Calamity Jane, had been a cowgirl too. She was also the only tunneling adept Valkyrie was aware of other than Billy-Ray. Thankfully they'd been able to convince her to leave her gunbelt in her room at the Sanctuary. Right now, however, she seemed to only have eyes for the TV.

Her partner, Sam Sanders, a Kentucky man and a Southern gentleman of the first order, who looked a heck of a lot like Cornel Sanders and was dressed in a white linen suit and fedora was watching the news too, intent and still like a bird dog. The rest of the pub had gone still as well and the barman, no fool, turned up the sound on the TV. Valkyrie and Skulduggery looked around, not surprised at the stillness because the pub was where a lot of Americans gathered, but they did not expect what happened next.

An excited announcer told the viewing audience that the US Supreme Court had just legalized gay marriage in all fifty states and the pub exploded into celebration. There was shouting and cheering, complete strangers hugging one another and the two detectives in the booth with them were no different. Calamity screeched in joy and she and Sam hugged one another, both crying happy tears.

Calamity was shaking and still crying when they parted. "Sorry, it's just- You don't know what it's been like. What we lived through. To see this..." She trailed off, still shaking and Sam rubbed her back soothingly.

Skulduggery smiled in sympathy at the pair. "We only recently had gay marriage legalized in Ireland as well, so we understand better than you think."

"That we do." A voice said. Tanas and Leap had entered the pub, now finally able to be married and they were already fast friends with the Americans. They hugged the pair to them tightly.

"I could never tell my parents. They were... They didn't understand." Calamity managed and Leap crooned to her soothingly as he held her.

"It's OK, sweetie, I could never tell mine either, or my family." He smiled sadly at her as they parted and Valkyrie felt sick. She wondered how people could hate their own flesh and blood for simply being what they were. She knew they hadn't chosen to be gay, and even if they had, it was still no reason for the detectives to face such hatred and to have lived in the shadows for so long.

"Hey, we should be celebrating, right? She asked, and Sam agreed as they all made room for their friends at the table. They ordered a pitcher of soft drinks and coffee for the table, and were delighted when the barman refused payment.

He gave the detectives a wink as he brought it over himself and Valkyrie was as excited as everyone else as most of the people in the bar started to sing along when one man with a rich tenor started to sing God Bless the USA.

Nice to know that the country I would die to protect finally loves me at long last. We still have a long way to go. There is still so much hatred to overcome and so many rights to fight for, but this is a huge step towards equality and acceptance.