note: I just went on a trip to New Mexico. That should explain a bit.


Valkyrie gazed out of the car windshield, watching the New Mexico landscape blur by. The highway was silent, even at five o'clock in the afternoon, with a seemingly endless desolation of tarmac, grassland, and the occasional far-off mountain, colored in hues of indigo and blue. Above it all presided an infinite periwinkle expanse of cloudless sky. Her wrist rested on the steering wheel as she flicked through radio stations, but this far into nowhere, there was nothing to hear but static. Valkyrie smiled. She liked it that way.

A row of telephone poles like crosses was set off by the lowering sun. Rolling down the window, she breathed in the pure, cold scent of the rushing air, almost laughing aloud at the freedom she was feeling.

As the sky began to fade to a light pink, Valkyrie took a moment to reach behind her seat to pull out a Killers tape - old technology, almost as comforting as the music itself. She inserted it into the machine and hummed along to 'A Dustland Fairytale,' drumming her fingers on the dashboard.

A few hours later, Valkyrie pulled into a gas station, refilled her old Mustang, and pulled the ziplock bag full of dollar bills from the glove compartment.

Peeling off a handful, Valkyrie tucked her hair up into a knitted hat, pulled on her sunglasses, locked the car, and went inside to pay.

An overly friendly attendant greeted her as she walked in, and Valkyrie smiled in reply. She snatched a handful of power bars and bottles of water off the shelves, and finally a basic Motorola mobile phone. As she headed for the till, Valkyrie mentally rehearsed in her best American accent what she was going to say.

"Hi ma'am, is that everything for you today?"
"Yep, thanks." She cringed at the poor accent. That was going to require some practicing.

As she left, Valkyrie peeled the packaging from the phone and threw it in the trash.

Back inside the car, she opened up a message on the phone, to send to a number she knew off by heart:

I love you all and I miss you. Tell the others. Be back when I can. Please don't try to find me.

She pulled out of the gas station, removing the shades and shaking her hair free from the hat. On the passenger seat beside her, the phone began to ring. Valkyrie looked at it sadly, and hesitated for only a moment before grabbing it and dropping it from the car window.

Skulduggery didn't understand; and if she had her way, he wouldn't.

So she had been lonely. So she'd missed the companionship that Fletcher had brought - not him, but just someone who cared, who would hold her and listen to her and make her feel loved. So she had made a mistake.

She could just picture him, gloating: I got Valkyrie Cain pregnant.

Her hand drifted briefly to her stomach.

Of course Fletcher had taken the opportunity, being the creature he was. He had found her, vulnerable and tired after long hours spent on a case with Skulduggery ignoring her, due to some petty argument. He'd offered her a shoulder to cry on, and later, the next morning, she had woken up in a penthouse with Fletch to the harsh ringing of her phone and a sinking feeling. And Skulduggery had picked her up from where Fletcher had left her at Gordon's, clueless about what had happened, and she hadn't gone to the pharmacy to pick up a pill. And then it was too late, and the doctors at the clinic were telling her that an abortion would be too dangerous for Valkyrie. And so here she was, pregnant, and knowing that Skulduggery would never stay with her if he knew what she had done, and that none of her other friends would understand. When she told Fletcher, he laughed and did that cocky smile of his. He wouldn't help her.

Gordon was the last person she told. God, that had been so hard.

She had broken down in tears, shamed and small, and her uncle had listened in silence. But eventually he had been supportive, giving her money and helping her arrange a ticket to fly overseas.

She hadn't said goodbye to anyone. Valkyrie had left her phone on her bed at home and the reflection with her parents and little sister.

The last thing she had done was leave Fletcher bloody and beat up in his apartment with a threat to return if he breathed a word to anyone.
Valkyrie returned to the present heavily as the tape ended. She replaced it with a Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro mixtape and grabbed a granola bar, glancing at the road map.

Skulduggery was resourceful, she gave him that. When Valkyrie first arrived, in New York, he'd tracked her via her passport. She'd barely avoided him, receiving a message from the motel clerk saying that a Mr. Pleasant had stopped by.

That had been four months ago.

Now she traveled more cautiously, under different names, paying with cash and trying to avoid attention.

Suddenly, her stomach lurched, like it had been doing constantly throughout her this pregnancy. She pulled to the side of the road and flung open the door of the rental Nissan, and threw up. As she recovered slowly, the stars above twinkled and shone, and the grass of the expanses of prairie waved in the breeze. It was beautiful, but Valkyrie could only shiver with her head in her hands.

She got back in the car, pulled farther onto the shoulder, and leaned the seat back. She would spend the night here, she decided.

Her mind turned to the baby: only now, five months in, was she starting to really show. Her damn tight trousers would barely button at the top now, and her jacket was beginning to stretch tightly across her midriff. Tomorrow she would stop at a Walmart or some other ridiculous shop that they had in this country and pick up some new, loose clothing.

The other thing that hung heavy on her mind was what people thought. It seemed so pointless and silly to worry, but the truth was, she wasn't married, or even in a relationship at all, and she was only twenty. Valkyrie closed her eyes.

But she had a ring at least. Her eyes opened up again and she reached to her neck to where she wore it on a chain. It was a slim, delicate, beautiful silver band inlaid with an aquamarine pattern of tiny vine flowers. Skulduggery had gotten it for her last birthday. She'd had to remind him to get her a gift, and laughingly suggested jewelry. Valkyrie had honestly expected him to show up with something plastic from the joke shop, but as he had laid the green velvet box in her hands, she had felt her heart speed. As she opened it, cradling it between her palms, he had said something gruff about how the color suited her eyes. Valkyrie had been speechless, and Skulduggery had begun to walk away when she chased him down and tackled him in a hug. As he finally released her, he'd taken her hand in his own and slid the ring onto her left ring finger. Like they were married. For a moment, she had thought that Skulduggery might kiss her. But it didn't happen, and once she'd left, it had hurt too much to look at.

Now, she slid it back onto the finger. Deep inside of her, something shifted.

The baby.

The reason she left. The reason she was on this seemingly never-ending, meandering roadtrip to Montana, to be born somewhere fresh and beautiful. The one who she would leave with an adoption agency there.

Valkyrie drifted off to sleep, hand resting on her belly, feeling the movement of her baby and trying to picture what he or she might look like.


The next day, as promised, she stopped at a Walmart, buying a few pairs of sweatpants and leggings, and in a moment of longing, a cream peasant blouse embroidered in the very color that Skulduggery had liked on her. To the pile, she added another cheap cell phone. At the till, the old lady serving her saw the ring and asked her when the little one was due.

Valkyrie changed in the store bathrooms, and headed back to the road.

Thinking of you she texted as she walked, unable to push down the longing she was feeling.

As she was driving down a small road through a town, she saw a sign for an obstetrician and before she could change her mind, she pulled off the street into the far end of the parking lot and was stepping out. She breathed in deeply to calm her nerves, then pulled open the tinted door.

Inside, a gentle blue greeted her calmly, and the smell of baby powder. She made her way to the desk and was greeted by the secretary.

"Hi there, I'm Jo. Can I help you?" Her shoulder-length blonde hair bobbed happily.
Valkyrie smiled and tried on the American accent. "I was wondering if your clinic accepts any new patients?"
Jo nodded emphatically. "Of course, we'll just need a few details from you, and then we can actually get you in - I'm assuming you're here for an ultrasound, right?"
She nodded and was passed a basic form asking for her full name, age, and phone number. She used the number from the Walmart phone she realized she still had, ignoring the missed calls.
Jo looked over the form quickly, nodding to herself, then stepped out of the secretary office and donned a white coat. "I'll take care of this one for you," she beamed. "So, let me guess, Stephanie...five months?"
Valkyrie paused, taking a moment to realize where the nurse had gotten her name from, then replied affirmatively. She smiled slightly as the petite woman chattered cheerfully about pregnancy, the weather, and fired friendly questions at Valkyrie. Once in a backroom, Jo led her to a bed and massaged gel onto Valkyrie's stomach.

"So, what other doctors have you been to?"
She squirmed uncomfortably.
Jo looked up from where she fiddled with the ultrasound machinery. "None?"
Valkyrie shook her head.
Jo's expression softened. "Was this an unexpected pregnancy?"
She nodded silently.
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry," said Jo tenderly, laying her hand over Valkyrie's. "I hope that everything will work out for you.
Valkyrie sniffled through sudden tears. "Sorry, my hormones are all screwy."
The other woman laughed. "Oh, definitely."

She finished preparing the equipment and gently pressed the probe to Valkyrie stomach. Her heart sped up in anticipation and she twisted the ring around her finger as the grainy footage began to become clear and a shape came into focus.

"There she is," murmured Jo.

Valkyrie stared, mesmerized, at the tiny baby - her baby - on the screen. The little girl's legs curled beneath her as she faced directly outwards, perfectly developed fingers curled into delicate fists. Her small features were tucked in towards her chest, but a little snub noise and tightly shut eyelids were just visible.

Valkyrie breathed in, fingers to her lips, eyes once again brimming with tears. I love you, she mouthed.

As Jo shut off the machine, again with a smile at Valkyrie's wonderment, cleaned off her stomach, and led her to the front office, Valkyrie moved dazedly, in a haze of awe. Only once again in the baby-powder-waiting-room did she shake herself awake. "Gosh, sorry, I'm a little out of out, aren't I," she laughed with Jo. "I need to go out to the car to grab my money."

The nurse agreed and returned to her desk to process the charge as Valkyrie stepped outside and began to walk to her car.

Her mind was focused completely on the baby as she reached the edge of the lot, bordering on the edge of the buildings.

What name could possibly describe something so perfect, so beautiful? she wondered as she wriggled across the front seat to draw out the ziplock of bills from the glove compartment. Somehow, her...her daughter seemed like a Teya. Maybe it was a rare name, but the ring of the name somehow felt right. Valkyrie incautiously pulled out the whole bag of cash into her lap, perching with one leg on the seat and one out her open car door.

Something moved in the grey gloominess of the alleyway, between the greasy air conditioning units and the clogged ventilation fans and discarded construction materials.

Valkyrie hummed a tune and dug through the bag, completely unaware of her surroundings. Around her, cicadas buzzed in the receding daylight and the deserted parking lot. She found the bill she was searching for and began to straighten up when a rough hand covered her mouth and an arm closed around her waist.

Valkyrie tried to scream but the man wrenched her backwards beyond the buildings. She tried to fight, to get her legs under her. Her attacker threw her against the wall, rough stucco lacerating her cheek, and she glimpsed a ragged raincoat, beanie, and fingerless gloves as she rolled over a pile of cement chunks and metal bars. He descended on her with a kick to the head that she barely deflected, and Valkyrie was curling up, panicking, wishing she'd kept her protective clothing, when the man gave a grunt and fell away, head snapping backwards. His body disappeared into a mass of wide PVC pipes.

Slowly, Valkyrie uncurled from her protective position and looked up.
"Valkyrie?"
That voice. Oh god, that voice.
"Skulduggery?"

He was here. Facade deactivated, the face she had dreamed of, had longed for, looked back at her.

Joy - exultant, overwhelming - overtook her. She flew to her feet and they were in each other's arms, he whispering her name endlessly in her ear, she rejoicing in his smell, in the fine texture of his suit, in the realness of his presence, in the tightness of their embrace.

He drew back suddenly, as if he'd felt something. Skulduggery's hands slid from resting against her back to her stomach.

"Valkyrie?"

Again, her name, but this time so different. The color rose in her cheeks, and her body began folding in on itself, turning away.

"Wait." He caught her face in his hands. "Is this why you left?" She could hear the shock in his voice.

Valkyrie shut her eyes tightly, shivering. "I never wanted this, I couldn't - I - it was a stupid, stupid mistake...I'm so sorry...I would never have left...I didn't want this to ruin what we had - I could never -" she sobbed.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then another and another across where her tears ran. "No, Valkyrie, no."

"I love you," she broke out, shaking uncontrollably.

He froze. "Do you mean that?"

She nodded, eyes still closed, face cradled in Skulduggery's palms, tears sliding between her eyelashes.

He moved so quickly she barely even knew what was happening until his teeth were on her lips, desperately kissing her, and she was kissing him back, gripping her to him more tightly than she'd ever felt him do before, and her head was spinning. He pulled back and she clung to him but he knelt down before her, whipped off his hat, and took both of her hands.

"I love you, Valkyrie Cain. I don't care whose child it is, or about our difference in age, or that I'm a skeleton and you're not. Those don't change anything. I love you, and if you'll take me...Valkyrie Cain, will you marry me?"

Her mouth opened in shock, and wordlessly, unable to speak, she nodded emphatically, grinning insanely and trying to breathe and say yes and kiss Skulduggery again and take in everything all at the same time.

And then a movement caught her eye but it was too late and the man who had attacked her was swinging a pipe and she was pushing Skulduggery down and out of the way and the swing missed his head and carried on.
The PVC collided with Valkyrie's midriff and she folded across the bar.

Skulduggery charged after the man, who shouted in terror at the skeleton and leapt into Valkyrie's rental car, tearing the keys from the glove box, and screamed away.

A sunburst of pain exploded in her head as the pipe clattered to the ground before her. She opened her mouth to cry out in agony but a gush of blood drowned it out as she curled over, feeling the redness drip from her numb lips and a thrashing begin inside of her.

A scent of burnt rubber and the iron-like smell of her own blood that she slumped in flooded her nostrils as Skulduggery sprinted towards her.

He reached for her.

Oh, Skulduggery.

Oh, Teya.


One shot! I think. Unless you guys want more...

Sorry, I do believe that I lack the ability to write happy fluff. Unicorns. Harps. Etc, etc.