A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Ghastly, Tanith, Erskine or Dex. Thanks go out to MajesticalButterfly for the follow, and to mysteryHuntress for the review.


Valkyrie sighed in contentment when they at last stepped off the dance floor to join Ghastly and Tanith at their table. Tanith was draped across her chair, head tilted back and her eyes closed, and didn't bother opening her eyes when her friends sat. "I wish we didn't have to move." She groaned.

"So don't." Valkyrie said with a shrug and Tanith opened her eyes to look at her.

"Val, we have to go home."

"Why? There's plenty of room here and even Skulduggery looks sleepy." She replied, and he did. He looked ready to drop, and Valkyrie didn't have the heart to make him drive. "We can all crash here for the night."

"You sure?" Ghastly asked and Valkyrie nodded.

"I'm too tired to move myself." She said with a yawn as the friends watched couples start to drift out as the party ended. Skulduggery didn't even try to rally, he just trailed Valkyrie up to Gordon's old bedroom and dropped into a chair, slipping into meditation almost instantly.

Valkyrie smiled at the sight, and went into the attached bathroom to change. She came out dressed in a jersey and sweat pants, then hung up her dress and put away her shoes before crawling into bed. She thought Skulduggery was watching her, but he had to be asleep. She got into bed and flicked off the light. "Goodnight." His velvety voice floated to her in the darkness.

"Goodnight." Valkyrie said. "Did you enjoy the ball?"

"I did. Of course, I had the most beautiful woman in the room to dance with."

"And I had the most handsome man."

"Naturally." He agreed and Valkyrie laughed. She drifted off to sleep soon after, happy he was with her and that their date had gone so well.


Valkyrie woke from a lovely dream abut the ball to find Skulduggery already up and fussing over his rumpled tuxedo in the mirror. She shook her head and went past him into the bathroom, snagging jeans, a tee and trainers on her way, glad she'd stashed more intimate items in the bathroom. Before she wouldn't have cared, but Skulduggery admitting he loved her had changed things. She dressed quickly, then came back out to find him watching her. Skulduggery tilted his head. "You're beautiful in the morning."

"Um, thank you." She said, not really used to him being nice. "And you look great." She offered and could see his smile in response.

"Tanith and Ghastly left via taxi this morning and thank you for your hospitality. Come on, then, I'll take you out to breakfast. What a pair we'll make." He teased, leading the way out to the Bentley.

Valkyrie found herself smiling again and decided she quite liked it. Skulduggery glanced at her as he drove. "You really do look beautiful in the morning. I half expected to wake up home and alone."

"Never. Until the end, remember?"

"Until the end." He agreed.


That was so cute I'm blushing.