A/N: I couldn't find any reference in the books so far to Valkyrie actually ever getting around to telling Fletcher the truth about Darquesse, so the fic operates on the assumption that he (or his conscious mind, anyway) doesn't know. Also, the separate scenes in this are snapshots covering a span of several years.

As always, many thanks to refya for beta-reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, settings, the Skulduggery Pleasant universe or anything else that is recognisable from the books. I make no money from this.

Getting over it

Fletcher Renn appeared by a small copse of trees, about half way between Valkyrie's home and the pier.

It was the morning after Christmas, and he wasn't sure if he would be welcome, yet. Val had sounded odd the evening before, when she'd called him to postpone their planned meeting. Almost as if there was something weighing heavily on her mind. Come to think of it, she'd been distant at times for months, now.

Fletcher hoped she wasn't having second thoughts about their relationship. Surely not, though – she'd said something about wanting him to meet her parents later this evening, and for him to take her out for some dancing.

He didn't want to wait until evening. He wanted to see her now. He wanted to make sure she was okay, and the evening was still so many hours away… He'd thought about giving her a call first, but her line had been busy. So he just decided to teleport over, except that he didn't know if he should just appear in her room, or whether she'd even be in at all.

Better safe than sorry, he'd thought, in a fit of unusual foresight.

He was about to turn and walk to the house, when his eyes were drawn towards the pier – to the familiar black car that was parked there, and the even more familiar figures standing next to it.

So Val was up and awake, after all.

And she hadn't called him to let him know she'd be free to meet him, now.

Fletcher sighed. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but Valkyrie's agitation was clear even from this distance. Were they arguing?

The skeleton – that damn skeleton, always him – was pulling her into his embrace, and she – his Valkyrie! His girlfriend, damn it! – let him, weaving her arms around him, hugging him back, resting her forehead against his chest.

Fletcher swallowed. He knew Val's relationship with Skulduggery was different than with him, but he couldn't help the flash of anger at seeing this… this unexpected display of affection. Would he ever come first for her?

"So, about this holiday I was talking about…" Fletcher attempted to tickle Val, who responded with a light punch to his stomach. "Remember? I said you needed a holiday, and you agreed?"

"Did I?" Valkyrie looked at him. "I remember you said something, but…"

"Yeah. I think it's a good idea, don't you?" Fletcher grinned. "We could go to Australia again. Or somewhere else. Anywhere you want to."

Valkyrie smiled at him. "I'd love to."

Her phone rang.

"Hang on, it's Skulduggery," she said, flipping the phone open. "Just a moment… Yes, it's me. What did you say? Sanguine? Are you sure?" She listened intently for a moment. "Yeah… No, of course I'm not busy. I'll be ready in ten minutes."

She gave Fletcher a look of apology. "I'm sorry. Skulduggery said Sanguine's been seen somewhere around here and, well…"

Fletcher sighed. "I understand. We can take that holiday another time. Sure you don't just want to pop over to the beach for five minutes, at least?"

"I'd rather be ready when Skulduggery gets here. Another time." She gave him a quick kiss, her hand already reaching for the jacket she'd thrown aside earlier.

Fletcher was bored. He'd already checked his hair in the mirror about a dozen times in the last half an hour. It looked amazing, as usual. Which was great, but which also meant that he didn't need to spend time on fixing it.

He checked the time. Still another couple of hours until Val would be done with tonight's training. He had no idea how she could spend so much time on something so boring, but then, she did need to be fit. Not that Fletcher didn't appreciate it – quite the contrary. Those arms and thighs of hers and that toned stomach…

His decision made, he took one quick last look at himself in the mirror and then concentrated on the old abandoned warehouse where the training was usually held. A moment later, he was there. Val never minded if he came by to watch; the main reason he usually didn't, apart from it being too dull at times, was that she'd sometimes try to convince him to join in. Fletcher shuddered. No – he much preferred teleporting in and out of danger to beating people up, and especially to getting beaten up.

Neither of the people in the warehouse noticed his arrival, so he sat himself down on a bench by the wall. Val had discarded her jacket, which was bunched up on the bench, next to Skulduggery's neatly folded coat and jacket. He'd rolled up his sleeves and loosened the upper buttons on his shirt. Fletcher grimaced. Even though he'd been hanging around with the Skeleton Detective for a few years now, and the skull had long since stopped bothering him, seeing any other part of him was still just… wrong. How did Valkyrie never seem to notice this?

It appeared to be hand-to-hand combat practice, from what Fletcher could tell. He found himself wishing it was Tanith and not Skulduggery that Val was sparring with. He'd sat in on quite a few training sessions Val had had with Tanith. All that wrestling in sleeveless, skin-tight tops and leather… Fletcher's eyes glazed over at the fond memories.

A loud crash brought his thoughts back to the present.

Val and Skulduggery were a tangle of bones and limbs on the dusty floor. Val laughed until she was nearly choking. "I'm sorry," she wheezed out, "I didn't actually expect you to lose your balance."

"Neither did I," Skulduggery said, his gloved fingers tenderly moving over his jaw bone. "That was quite a punch you threw."

He cocked his head. "As much as I don't mind us taking this short break on the floor, Fletcher over there is glaring daggers at us."

Valkyrie craned her head, trying to look over her shoulder. She turned beet red. "Uh, hi, Fletch. I didn't see you arrive."

"So I noticed." Fletcher felt quite uncomfortable. "Are you planning to get up from there any time soon?"

Val looked down, apparently only now noticing she was sprawled all over her sparring partner. "Ah. Right."

"Whenever you're ready," the skeleton said.

Once Val had managed to get up, she walked over to Fletcher. At least she had the decency to look embarrassed, Fletcher thought, feeling the familiar surge of jealousy flare again. 'It's nothing to be jealous over,' his reasonable side tried to remind him. 'They're friends and partners. It's you she spends her evenings with, not that bag of bones. I'd like to see her kiss him the way she kisses me.'

She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Bored at home, were you?"

Fletcher shrugged, tearing his eyes off her chest. "I was hoping I might convince you to leave soon. Maybe we could get something to eat and go see a film or something?"

Val smiled. "Sorry, can't do. We're only half way through tonight's practice. You're welcome to stay and watch, but I think the rest of the session might be rather boring to look at."

"I think we've done enough physical training for today," Skulduggery chimed in. "I was thinking of doing an hour or two of air manipulation now. Valkyrie really needs to improve her defences against a skilled Elemental."

Fletcher groaned. He knew this was important for Val, but this air manipulation practice… Useful stuff, he supposed, for someone who often got into fights, but she was right – very boring to look at.

It didn't help that in spite of what she'd said about him being welcome to stay, he had the distinct feeling of intruding.

"See you tomorrow then," he said, flashing a brittle grin and teleporting away. Alone.

Fletcher's tongue flicked at Val's earlobe, while his hands caressed her sides. Her own hands were tangled in his hair, and she was making curious little noises. Appreciative noises, Fletcher would have decided if he'd had enough of a conscious mind to think about such matters.

He was just about to manoeuvre himself into position when a shrill ringing pierced his brain.

"Fuck!"

Val muttered to herself and answered the phone. "This had better be important."

She listened for few moments. "Right. Yeah, I'll be there. Wait–" She looked at Fletcher. "Yes, Fletcher's here, but– No, I don't think I can just ask him to take me. You sort of, you know, interrupted us. He's not very happy with us right now. I think it might be better if you came and picked me up."

She put the phone down.

"I don't need to ask who that was, do I?" Fletcher didn't bother to hide the hurt in his voice. "What is it now? Let me guess, there's a lone zombie on a rampage and he cannot take him down on his own."

"Fletcher…"

"It's been the third time this week, Val! Third time! Every time I think that we finally have a few moments to ourselves, he finds some reason to call and you just…"

"He's my partner, Fletcher. We work together."

"And I'm your boyfriend!" He rose and started pulling on his trousers, having trouble getting them on in his anger. "You know, when I first met you, I thought it was funny, the way you'd follow him around like a puppy. But you were, what, fourteen then? That was four years ago! Isn't it time for you to let go of him and start living your own life?"

Valkyrie stared at him, pulling the bed sheets around her body.

"This is my life," she said at last. "You're my boyfriend, yes – I'd think this was clear enough, from everything we've been doing lately – but Skulduggery's my partner and my best friend. It may have looked to you as if I just followed him around, but this is my work, and my life, and you knew it when we started this, this thing we have here."

"So you're just letting him order you around whenever he feels like it."

"He never orders me around."

Fletcher laughed. "Yeah, sure. He just tells you to jump and you jump."

"If he tells me to jump and I jump, it's because I want to, not because he tells me to."

"I just don't get you." Fletcher shook his head. "Anyway, I'm out of here. You'd better get dressed by the time he gets here, unless you want him to find you like this."

The words had barely left his mouth when he swallowed, a cold knot of dread gathering in his stomach. "It's not… You don't want that, do you?" he asked carefully.

"No!" Valkyrie flushed. "I told you – he's my partner and best friend. That's it. I mean, the very idea is just… It's Skulduggery, for God's sake."

"And if he was a man, not a skeleton?"

"He is a man."

"Don't try and change the topic, Val."

She threw the sheets off and put on her clothes. "Stop being so ridiculous."

Fletcher took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Could you just ask him to give you some time off? It's the middle of the night – can't we even have that much?"

Val sighed. "You're right. I'll ask him. I know this isn't easy for you. I'm sorry."

"For the last time, Fletcher, we're NOT excluding you!" Valkyrie closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I've told you before – it's a two person job. And it may involve us having to punch someone. You'd just get—"

"I'd just get in the way. Yeah, I get it." Fletcher resisted the urge to kick something. "You're perfectly happy to involve me whenever you need to be teleported away from danger or taken somewhere urgently. But anything else and… you don't even tell me things!"

"And what would you want me to tell you?" Val's voice softened. "Most of what we do is just routine work, you know that. There's nothing particularly interesting about most of the cases. We've always involved you when there's something big going on!"

"That's just it, though." Fletcher scowled. "Why are you wasting your time on all this routine work? I hear things too, you know – I know that the sensitives are still getting visions of Darquesse. Why aren't you looking for her? Don't tell me your awesome partner hasn't managed to figure it out yet, that the two of you don't know how to find her."

Valkyrie stiffened. "We'll deal with Darquesse when that time comes. In the meantime, we have plenty of other stuff to keep us busy."

Fletcher shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah. So I've noticed. You're busy all the bloody time these days."

"We've been over this before. What do you want me to tell you? That I'll just tell Skulduggery to bugger off when there's work to do because my boyfriend gets bored on his own?"

"It's not just work though, is it? It's work, and it's training, and it's spending time in the library, and half time when I look for you, you're just lazing around in his house doing nothing."

"I like to spend time with my friends sometimes."

Fletcher couldn't keep his temper under control any longer. "That's it! Look, Val, I've put up with this crap for years now, but I've had it. It's either me or him! Which is it, Val? Are you going to choose him or are you finally going to put me first?"

"You want me to choose?" Valkyrie sounded incredulous.

"Yeah. It's a simple question. Are you with me or will you pick him?"

Val opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"Fletcher," she said at last.

"Choose, damn it!"

"If you insist." Her eyes were glistening now. "I'm sorry, Fletcher."

Fletcher felt the world swim in front of his eyes. He hadn't… This was not supposed to be her answer.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but if you make me choose…" Val just stood there. Fletcher wished she'd come to him, but she didn't step any closer. "I'm sorry. I really am. I care for you, and you're funny, and adorable, and I've enjoyed this thing we've had, but you shouldn't have forced me to do this. Skulduggery is… You have no idea."

"You never tell me anything important, so yeah, I obviously have no idea."

"I'm sorry." She shrugged, not even bothering to deny it.

"Does he know?"

"Know what?"

"That you're besotted with him? Does he feel the same way?" The idea of the two of them together, laughing about him behind his back, suddenly popped into his head and he reeled from the mental blow. "Does he?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We're just friends. He'd never—"

Fletcher spun around, turning his back to her. He blinked back the tears, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing them. "Right. I'll just… I'll just go, then. "

"You're not planning to leave, are you?"

"Is there a reason for me to stick around?"

"We could use your help sometimes. And you're still my friend."

Fletcher clenched his fists. Friend, sure. More like a convenient taxi. Although he didn't want to admit to her that there wasn't really anywhere else for him to go. And that he'd got used to the adrenaline bursts coming from the occasional life-or-death situations his current life dealt him with, even if most of it was spent being bored and on his own.

"I'll think about it. Right now, I just… I need to get away."

Even as he appeared from nowhere at a beach in Australia, he knew that he wouldn't stay away from Ireland for long. Damn that girl, and damn that skeleton for taking her away from him.

But he'd get over it. He was Fletcher Renn, the most awesome and best-looking teleporter in the world, and he'd get over it.

The End.