So, I had fun writing this one...

I know. I'm a horrible person.

But I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review! ;)

(Set after resurrection/midnight)

I fumbled with my keys to turn the car off. The song on the radio stopped, and I was reminded of the throbbing in my head with the silence.

Slowly, I leaned over to open the door. My right arm hung limp on one side, and bruises spread across my torso. They both cried out in pain as I reached with my left arm.

I stopped and lay still. Catching a glimpse in the mirror, I saw two black eyes and a broken nose. Blood coated my face and shirt.

Gritting my teeth, I tried again to open my door. I managed to bear the pain, and stumble out. Red hot pain seared through my left ankle. I wondered how I managed to drive. My ears were ringing, and I had a headache. It was probably one of the worst headaches I'd ever had. The light from the sun was overwhelming, and I blinked multicolored spots away.

My bags would have to wait in the car. I was in no condition to carry them. I walked up to my front porch. That was when I noticed the car in my garage.

Fuck.

I couldn't explain this to him. Not now, not ever. Why I hadn't fought back. Why I let them hurt me, with their fists and words. And their crowbar. Why I only drew the line at magic.

If I couldn't explain it to him, I couldn't explain it to anybody. He was the only person who could possibly even begin to understand.

I was pretty sure I had medical supplies in the bathroom next to my bedroom. Probably from the last time this happened. But he'd never seen me like this, I'd made sure. Maybe I could avoid him.

I chuckled dryly as I unlocked my front door. Hiding from my best friend in my own house given to me by my uncle. What fun.

I noticed my knuckles were bloody, and my hand was shaking. A pain in my side distracted me, and my left hand brushed down to it. It came away with blood.

Holy shit.

That's a lot of blood.

Oh god, there was no hiding this. I couldn't waltz into my house like this and breeze away with an "I'm fine".

No, he would want to know who did this. He'd make them pay. For their sakes, I had to hide this.

I pushed open my door, leaving a bloody handprint. That would be hard to clean. My head began to hurt more, and I nearly fell.

"Valkyrie?" His velvet voice called. Normal, easy going. Relaxed, curious about my day. Not suspicious at all.

I didn't respond, only limped faster to the stairs leading to my bedroom.

"Valkyrie?" He asked again. I heard his footsteps echo down the hallway.

No no no no no-

"I was wondering if-What the hell happened?" The shock in his voice was evident.

I'd reached the top of the stairs and kept walking to my room. Tears stung my eyes. I was ready to sit down and cry. I couldn't do this now. No way.

"I can't talk now," I mumbled. My words were slurred. I was dizzy. I was ready to collapse.

"Val, what happened?" He repeated. "Who did this?"

He was walking towards the stairs, following me.

"It's nothing, Skulduggery. I just can't talk now," I repeated.

"No, it's not nothing! What happened? Where are you hurt?" He was jogging up the stairs now, but I'd reached my bedroom.

Stepping in, I shut and locked the door. I sunk to my knees up against it. Pain flooded through me, and my breathing quickened.

I heard him try to open the doorknob.

"Valkyrie! Open the door!"

"I'm taking care of... It. I can't talk now."

"Exactly, you physically can't. Open the door so I can help you."

"No, I-I'm fine."

The blood on my hands was mingled in sweat. I forced my self to stand, leaning against the door. Shuffling over to the bathroom, I pulled open my first aid cabinet.

Muttering "Gauze, gauze, gauze," I rifled through various bottles of pain meds. I set those aside for later. I would definitely need those.

At this point, my breaths came in short, shallow bursts.

"Valkyrie?" He was banging on the door again. "What the hell is happening?"

First was the knife wound. I sprinkled some antiseptic/healing powder in it and gingerly wrapped it over with the gauze. Already it was starting to numb. I started chewing my pain leaves, and I sat on the edge of the tub to look at my ankle.

It was twisted at the wrong angle, and I knew I'd have to soak it in my rocks to heal it.

It took me a moment to realize the banging had stopped. I heard a low, soft velvet voice.

"Who did it, Val?"

"I-" coughing, I turned the water on. "It doesn't matter."

"The hell it does! You could've died!"

I didn't contradict him.

"At least let me see the wound on your side. That could've damaged something important."

"I'm sure it's fine."

He was silent.

"Who did it?" He repeated.

"I don't know."

"Oh come on, you're a better detective than that. I bet you know the age range, height, and gender of your attackers. I bet you know some pretty good physical descriptions too. That's plenty to find the culprits."

Now I was silent.

I gritted my teeth as I stood up. Hobbling over to the bucket, I submerged my ankle and foot into the blue water.

"I didn't see much," he continued. "But I saw at least one black eye, probably your nose too? But definitely the eye, the ankle, and your side. Any other injury you want to share?"

Bad idea, I thought.

"Two black eyes, my nose is broken." I looked at my foot and ankle again. The swelling had started to go down, and it felt numb. My side felt better as well.

"Dislocated shoulder, I think. And almost definitely a concussion."

"Shit Val. Any part they didn't hurt?"

Again I was quiet.

"Will you at least tell me where it happened?"

"No."

"They can't just go around doing that to you. It's-"

"What?" I snapped. "Unethical? Rude? Kind of like turning into the world's most powerful psychopath and murdering all of their family friends in cold blood?"

"You can still fight back."

"Can I? The ones that fought back were slaughtered the quickest. I don't deserve to fight back anymore."

I squeezed my eyes shut. My stomach got uneasy whenever we fought. I had that clenched up feeling you have when your body needs to cry, but you won't let it. My throat burned a little, and my eyes watered.

"I killed, so, so, so many. Children, soldiers, normal citizens. If the worst I can get is to get beaten up every now and then, then I deserve it. And I'll take it. Willingly."

I heard him press up against the door, his low voice thick with anger.

"This has happened before?"

I cursed my self silently as I put cream on my bruises. Thank God for magical medication. It was probably more than what I deserved, but...

"Answer me. How many times?"

"Only a few."

"How many is a few?"

"This is the fourth time?" It came out as a question.

"Will you let me come in yet? At least help with your shoulder?"

"No. I need to be alone."

"I'm not leaving you alone. You need medical attention, and you can either get it from me or the sanctuary, but I'm not leaving you here."

"Why?"

I looked down at my shoulder and lifted my left arm over to it. I gritted my teeth. I pushed in.

"Fuck!"

Alarm filled his tone, "Val?"

"Ah," I coughed, and rubbed my shoulder. "Fucking shoulder. Shit that hurts." I grabbed more pain meds from my kit and downed them with a little cup of water.

Time for my nose and face.

Other than the nose and eyes, there wasn't much except for a few cuts and scrapes. My lip was split, yes, and there was some bruising, but nothing was broken. Other than my nose, of course.

I rubbed on the foul-smelling oil as gently as I could. It was supposed to help my nose and eyes. A couple of alcohol pads took care of the rest of the blood and cuts on my face. All that was left was my clothes.

My ankle was good enough to take out of the bucket. I toweled it dry, and put more oil on it. Limping back to my bed, I grabbed a set of comfy clothes to change into. My other pair was wrecked. Thankfully it wasn't one of Ghastly's sets.

When I was done, I went over to my side of the bedroom door.

I didn't feel quite ready to see him yet. I would try to talk, but no eye contact.

"Everything taken care of?" He asked as I sat down, leaning against the door for support.

"Yeah," I murmured, brushing the hair out of my eyes. I gazed up at the ceiling. "Earlier, you mentioned something you were wondering about. What was it?"

"We had a case."

"Ah. I'll have to take a rain check, I think."

"It's okay. I'm not going on it now."

"Why? You never back down from a case."

"I have more important things to do."

"Like what?"

He snorted. " I don't know Val, maybe keeping an eye on idiots who keep getting themselves injured?"

I didn't respond. I just picked at the hem of my shirt, thinking about all of my mistakes.

"What was the case on?" I finally asked. I grabbed a brush off of my nightstand and began to brush my hair.

"Just some strange disappearances. We thought it had something to do with werewolves."

"You could still go without me," I whispered guiltily. I felt the tug of the brush and realized that a clump of blood dried in my hair.

"I'll wait until you're back on your feet again. If it gets too bad, they'll send somebody else to do it." I heard him shift on the other side of the door. "Speaking of your feet, how's your ankle?"

Inspecting it, I poked and prodded a couple areas. It could probably be soaked more.

"I think it needs to be soaked more."

"Can you stand on it?"

I pushed off of the floor with my hands and uninjured foot.

"Ah!" I fell back against the door with a thump. My ankle was not ready to stand on yet. I heard a soft chuckle from the other side.

"I'll take that as a no?"

I scowled. "It's not funny."

"It is when you refuse you have it under control. And then you don't. Unlock the door and I can help you with your ankle. I'll check out your concussion too."

I considered for a moment. The damage was already done; he knew. I might at least get help.

"Fine," I muttered as I gritted my teeth.

I heard a faint chuckle from outside the door. "Can you unlock it, then?"

I turned the lock and heard a light click. I leaned against the door frame as Skulduggery opened the door. His dapper suit barely had a crinkle from sitting. He looked slightly bemused, although I knew well enough that he was worried.

I didn't even want to think about what I looked like to him.

He offered me his hand, and I took it. After helping me over to the chair, Skulduggery went into the bathroom. He came out with a pile of medical supplies including medication, gauze, and antiseptic. From my nightstand, he grabbed a glass of water and handed it to me.

"Tylenol," he offered. Gratefully, I swallowed the small pill.

"Have you set your nose?" He asked.

"I tried. Hard to with my arm, though."

"What about your side?"

"I put on the anti-septic I have, and fresh gauze. The doctor said it should fix anything internal."

He sighed. "This can't keep happening, Val. You have to learn to forgive yourself."

I looked away. "I don't want to talk about it."

He sighed again, but let it be. Only Skulduggery understood.

Suddenly, he sat up with alarm. "It's bleeding through the bandage and your shirt. How deep was the cut?" He asked.

I shrugged but regretted it instantly as my side lit up. "Not sure, couldn't have been more than a few inches."

"I'm going to have to rewrap the bandage, and maybe check out the wound itself. Can you lift your shirt for me?"

Slowly, I raised up the light pink cotton shirt over the now bloody bandages. This much blood would be hard to get out of the light colored shirt. Damn. How many shirts would I ruin in one day?

I let out a hoarse chuckle. As stupid as it sounded, it amused me.

"Hold still, dammit," Skulduggery muttered.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

He glanced up at me skeptically. All these years and I still couldn't figure out how he could have facial expressions, yet no face.

"What's so funny?" He asked. "Care to share the joke?"

I looked up at the ceiling and focused as he began to poke and prod the wound. I gritted my teeth through the pain.

"I was just thinking that this is the second shirt I've ruined today." Shaking my head I continued. "I've got a gash in my side that's bleeding like crazy and I'm worried about my t-shirt collection."

Skulduggery was silent and continued his work. I continued to stare at the ceiling, wincing in pain, ignoring the small tear running from my eye.

"Jesus Val," he repeated. "I think there might be something in here."

I froze.

"Seriously?"

"I think I see something metal, and it has rust on it. Rust, Valkyrie. Do you know how bad that is?"

I didn't respond. A cut could be healed, but if rust and metal were still stuck in the wound, well, that spelled trouble. Even with magic it would be hard.

He sighed. He knew there was no way I'd go to the hospital. He was lucky I'd let him work on me.

"Pass me the tweezers," he glowered. "I swear Cain. One of these days..."

—

An hour or so later, Skulduggery declared me patched up.

He had just helped me down to sit in the kitchen when my phone rang. He handed it to me while he went to get my bags from the car.

"Hello?"

"Val, are you okay? He told me what happened."

I stiffened. "China? He told you?"

"Yes. I'm a little miffed you wouldn't come to the sanctuary, but at least you stopped being stubborn long enough for him to help."

"What do you want China?"

She chuckled. I clenched my fist as she spoke. "Right to the point as always, eh? I called to see if you would come into the sanctuary, and tell us about your attackers. Skulduggery said this isn't the first time, and I-"

I interrupted her speech, "No."

"Val, dear. Don't you think protecting these, these thugs is a little, ah, counterproductive? I mean, you can't be the only one they've attacked. Wouldn't you hate to have them hurt someone else?"

"They won't."

"And why's that?" Her voice had turned cold. Apparently, this meant a lot to her. I didn't know she still cared.

"Because they told me. They were minding their own business before Darquesse came along. They only did it because I'd hurt them."

"Valkyrie, sweetheart," her voice turned sickly sweet. "You can't just trust the words of some criminals who beat people up on the streets. Please, at least see some sense and help us find them."

"No. They're not just 'some criminals', they're angry, restless people who lost friends and family. Darquesse killed them," I said flatly. "That's on me. They need someone to take it out on, and that someone is me. It's okay, I deserve it."

"Valkyrie Cain, listen to me. It's-"

"Goodbye China." I was already taking the phone away from my ear.

"Valkyrie it's-"

Click.

I shut my phone off. I would be ignoring all phone calls for at least the next twenty-four hours.

Skulduggery walked in just as I got up to grab food.

I glared at him.

"You told China I was hurt?" I hissed. Just what I needed; China constantly pestering me.

"I had to give her a reason why I was bailing on the case," he said guiltily.

I rolled my eyes as I limped over to the cupboard.

"I thought you didn't answer to the sanctuary anymore."

"Only when they give me a direct case, and you know her. If China doesn't get what she wants immediately, she'll keep pestering you. I've postponed this case until Thursday, that way you'll be able to come with me."

I sighed. My snack collection wasn't that great. I lacked anything of nutritional value. All that was in my pantry was a collection of old soup, canned fruit, and pop tarts that were probably stale. My fridge was most likely empty as well.

Setting for toast I hobbled to my toaster. I should at least have bread and butter, maybe jam if I was lucky. My face grimaced as I accidentally bumped my side with my arm.

"What?" I asked. I had noticed Skulduggery's stare.

"Would you like some help?"

I scowled.

He shook his head with a low chuckle.

Thanks for reading! I don't know if I've done this yet, but I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed my chapters so far. You guys have no idea what it means to me! Anyways, if you have any suggestions/ideas for me, or requests, feel free to either comment them or pm me.

Thanks again!