I'm really sorry about this late update. We have graduation this Sunday and I've been trying to get everything in before our last day. And Softball...I'm just really sorry. Please enjoy this and let me know of any mistakes and/or changes that would help make this better. The next chapter is all written, it just needs to be typed out.


The next morning was chaotic. People were bustling about the hotel and grounds, primping and priming for the upcoming wedding. Valkyrie had a hard time getting around without the fear of being run down. It gave her butterflies that all these people were working so hard for her expense, for her big day. It also gave her butterflies at the thought of her getting married. She wandered about the mansion, looking for someone familiar, making sure to stay out of people's way. It wasn't long until she bumped into Mr. Bacon in the foyer.

"Oh hello there Ms. Ca-Edgerly!" he fumbled. Skulduggery must have told him the deal with the names.

"Hello Mr. Bacon," Valkyrie greeted, "Thank you so much for all of this." Mr. Bacon smiled.

"No problem at all my dear! After all, you and your partner saved my business and I am ever thankful for it." Valkyrie smiled this time.

"Well we're glad that we could help you Mr. Bacon. I could honestly say we wouldn't be doing all this today if it wasn't for that."

"Well I'm glad I helped push you two along. I must say, you two make quite the pair. He sure is lucky to have such a beautiful young woman at his at his side."

"Aren't I just?"

Valkyrie blushed deep red as Skulduggery wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, your lucky you have me to put up with you," Valkyrie muttered. Mr. Bacon chuckled. Skulduggery smiled.

"Your right I am," he said softly. He kissed her cheek again then headed toward the dining room. "If you two will excuse me, I have some supervising to skip out on elsewhere." He left swiftly. Valkyrie turned back to Mr. Bacon.

"I should probably follow him to make sure he's not slacking off somewhere." She waved goodbye, then headed out the same way Skulduggery did.

She walked out onto the porch and looked out over the lawn, taking in a deep breath of fresh morning air. She looked out to the old apple orchard, the tops of the trees barely visible. She then caught something moving out of the corner of her eye.

She looked out at the property line and saw someone standing there, leaning against a tree. Valkyrie squinted to try and see the person better, but as soon as she focused on them, they disappeared behind a tree. She blinked her eyes in disbelief.

'Who was that?' she thought, 'It kind of looked like-'

"There's the blushing bride to be!"

Before Valkyrie could turn around to see who interrupted her thoughts, a strong pair of arms wrapped around her tightly, nearly squeezing the breath out of her. When they finally let her go, she turned around to see the tousled blond haired, sword fighter in all her leather glory.

"Tanith!" Valkyrie yelled, hugging her friend tightly, "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Same here Val! I've missed my little sis." Valkyrie let go of Tanith and saw Ghastly and Fletcher standing behind her. She hugged both of them, and then turned back to her best friend.

"So when did you guys arrive?" she asked.

"A couple minutes ago," Tanith answered, "We wanted to see you first before we did anything."

"We knew you missed me," Fletcher said, smugly. Valkyrie punched his arm in response.

"Tanith couldn't wait to show you the dresses," Ghastly said.

"Oh yeah! Tanith exclaimed as she remembered.

"Wait. The dresses? You mean…"

"Skulduggery asked me if I could do make wedding dress, and the bridesmaid dresses for that matter."

"So you're the one he had taking care of my dress?" Ghastly nodded.

"I do hope you like it," he said nervously. Valkyrie smiled.

"I know I will love it Ghastly." Tanith started jumping up and down.

"Come on Val! We need to see it!" she exclaimed.

"Alright! Oh! Did Skulduggery tell you about the name thing?" Tanith nodded.

"Yes he sis…Stephanie." Fletcher bit back a laugh. Valkyrie punched him again.

"You're going to leave a bruise!" he whined, rubbing his arm.

"You're lucky," Ghastly said, "She hasn't gone for your hair yet." Fletcher put his hands up to protect his hair. Valkyrie just rolled her eyes.

"Let's go Val!" Tanith urged, grabbing her hand. Valkyrie waved goodbye as Tanith dragged her back inside. She stopped at the front door and picked up two dress bags, then dragged Valkyrie upstairs to her room.

Tanith hung one dress up on the bathroom door and laid the other across the bed.

"Go on! Open it up!" Tanith said.

Valkyrie walked over to the bed and slowly unzipped the bag. She gasped as she pulled out an elegant white dress.

"Oh Tanith, it's beautiful," Valkyrie breathed as she examined every aspect of the dress. It was strapless, first off, and it laced up in the back with a white ribbon. Irish trinity knots and vines intertwined throughtout the bodice of the dress, leading down to where the dress flowed out to the train in the back.

"You like it then?" Tanith asked.

"I love it," Valkyrie replied, holding the dress up to herself. Tanith turned to the dress bag hanging on the bathroom door, opened it up, and held it up to herself.

"What do you think of your bridesmaid dresses?" she asked, flaunting about the red, floor length dress. It was also strapless and had a wide white ribbon that wrapped about the stomach and tied into a big bow in the back.

"They are gorgeous," Valkyrie said, smiling brightly, "and they will look even better on you." Tanith smiled and returned the dress to it's bag. Valkyrie continues to stare in awe at her dress.

"So, are you nervous?" Tanith asked, sitting down cross-legged in on of the chairs. Valkyrie just shrugged her shoulders, the blush starting to creep across her cheeks.

"Not really, I don't think. It's just…everything's happening so fast." Tanith nodded.

"I can understand that. It's a lot getting married and keeping such a big secret about your life from your family. And not to mention having a baby on top of it all." Valkyrie groaned and sat down on the bed, her face buried in her hands.

"I just don't know if I can handle this," she muttered. Tanith got up and sat down next to her.

"Val it's going to be alright. We are all here to help you and I know for a fact that you can handle this. You're a strong person Val, and can overcome any obstacle that comes your way. I know this is happening all so fast, but you can do it Valkyrie. You're a great person, an amazing friend, a wonderful daughter, and you're going to be an incredible wife and a loving mother. Cheer up Val, it's supposed to be a happy occasion." Valkyrie sat back up and took in a deep breath. She smiled at her friend.

"Your right Tanith, thank you so much." Tanith smiled and gave her a one-armed hug.

"Don't mention it sis. Hey, perhaps we can go have some fun tonight, just the two of us. We can spend the rest of the day together." Valkyire put a hand on her stomach.

"I'm limited to me fun Tanith, remember?" Tanith winked.

"We can still have fun. Besides, the boys are all going out, so I say we do to." Valkyrie pulled a face.

"They are? Well then I suppose you right, we will have to have fun ourselves." Tanith jumped up in delight.

"That's the spirit!" she exclaimed happily. Valkyrie smiled at her friend's enthusiasm.

A knock soon came from the door. Valkyrie got up and opened the door to see her mother standing there.

"Hey mum," Valkyrie said, stepping aside to allow her mother entry to the room, "Is there something you needed?" Melissa shook her head.

"No I just thought I'd see if you were in here. I have something to give you." Melissa looked at Tanith, who smiled at her, then down at the wedding dress. She gasped.

"Oh dear! Is this your dress?" she asked.

"Yup, Tanith just brought it up for me to see. Do you like it?" Melissa picked up the dress.

"It's beautiful," she said, tracing a finger delicately over the stitched designs, "and it will go perfectly with what I have for you." Valkyrie then noticed the box in her mother's hand.

"What is it mum?" Melissa looked down at the box, then back up at her daughter, smiling with tears in her eyes.

"I wanted to give you something from my wedding that you could have for yours. I assumed you would have wanted your own dress, so I decided on this." She handed Valkyrie the box, wiping away a few stray tears.

Valkyrie turned the box over a couple of times in her hands, feeling its weight. It felt light, as though there was nothing in the box at all. As curiosity began to eat her, she popped the top of the box open and pulled out a long, white wedding veil.

"Oh mum it's beautiful," Valkyrie breathed, her thumb gently rubbing over the headpiece.

"I thought you might like it," Melissa replied, taking the veil and placing it on her daughter's head.

"I love it mum, thank you so much." Melissa smiled and hugged her daughter.

"Oh Stephanie you look gorgeous!" Tanith squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. Valkyrie blushed. Melissa hugged her again.

"You really do," she said, pushing a stray strand of hair behind Valkyrie's ear.

"Thanks mum." She took the veil off and laid it over the dress.

"Come on Steph," Tanith said, walking over and putting an arm around Valkyrie's shoulder, "How about we go into town and have us a bit of fun? You're welcome to join us Mrs. Edgerly." Valkyrie panicked for a second.

"No you two go and have fun, you deserve it." Valkyrie breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

"Alright then, come on Steph, let's go!" Tanith linked arms with her and dragged her out the door.

Tanith had pulled Valkyrie all over town, into every store, fudge shop and restaurant. By the end of the day, Tanith had three bags of clothing from five different stores, three boxes of fudge, and a couple of drinks from the Pub and Oyster Bar. Tanith had ended their outing by setting in Marquette Park, watching the hot guys (according to Tanith) playing frizbee as she sipped on a cup of lemonade.

When they returned to the mansion, Valkyrie found to her horror that her family had arrived, including Beryl and Fergus and their awful offspring: Crystal and Carol. Now Valkyrie laid across her bed, exhausted, just wanting to lay there for the rest of her life. The serenity and peacefulness of the room was abruptly interrupted as someone entered the room. She felt someone sit down next to her and brush a couple of strands away from her face.

"Long day?" Valkyrie groaned and opened her eyes to see Skulduggery looking down at her.

"Tanith dragged me around everywhere today," she groaned as she sat up and leaned her head on his shoulder. Skulduggery put an arm around her shoulder, hugging her tight to him.

"Want me to kiss you all better?" he said seductively, leaning over to kiss her neck. She smiled but pushed him away.

"Not today," she said as she situated herself against him again, "How was your time out with the boys?" Skulduggery shrugged.

"It was alright, we went down to the Irish pub. Fletcher is annihilated though, which was pretty funny." Valkyrie snorted.

"Oh I bet it was. I wish I could have seen that. What did you guys do with him?"

"We had to call a taxi and drag him into it. The whole way up here he sang obsensly until he finally passed out. Poor Ghastly had to carry him to his room." Valkyrie laughed.

"Remind me to yell in his ear tomorrow morning." She sighed happily and closed her eyes.

"It's almost here," she said softly, "Only a couple more days." Skulduggery nodded and picked up her hand with her ring on it, turning the metal it around with thumb.

"Are you nervous?" he asked. Valkyrie felt her face go red.

What should she say? Of course she was nervous, her heart beat hard in her chest just thinking about it. But she didn't want him to give him the wrong idea, thinking that she didn't want to marry him. She resulted in shrugging her shoulders and burying her face in his shirt.

"A little bit," she mumbled. Skulduggery smiled as he kissed her forehead.

"It's ok Valkyrie. I would call you a fool if you weren't. I was nervous when I first got married, and I'm still nervous now." Valkyrie smiled.

"You? Nervous?"

"Oh of course, why wouldn't I be?" Skulduggery said, "I'm about to marry a beautiful young woman who I love and care for with all my heart, metaphorically speaking, and who is currently carrying my child. I'm nervous I'm not going to say the right things, do the right things, and that something might happen and I'd lose you. Nervous that I won't be there to protect you just like I wasn't there to protect my family." Valkyrie felt her heart sink.

"Skul that wasn't your fault, you loved and protected them above and beyond her abilities. You cared and did everything you possibly could for them, but… some things just…happen." Skulduggery sighed and shook his head.

"No Valkyrie it didn't just happen. I let it happen; I didn't think they would be dragged in. I never thought they would be used to get at me." He spoke the last part quietly, barely audible.

Valkyrie felt the tears well up in her eyes, threatening to spill as her heart ached. She couldn't possibly imagine the pain and suffering he had lived through, the years of torment and torture. She laced her fingers with his and buried her face in his neck.

"You are not alone in this Skul," she whispered, "We will protect each other and this baby together. We are a team Skul and always will be. You will never have to put all that weight on you, we share it." Skulduggery smiled gently and rested his head on hers.

"Your right Valkyrie," he said, "Thank you." Valkyrie smiled, but her smile soon turned into a frown as she yet again felt the nausea building in her stomach.

"Uh oh," she mumbled as she bolted up and darted into the bathroom. Skulduggery just smiled as he stood up and walked to the bathroom.

"Here we go again."