Chapter 20

Mr Vinay stuck his head out the window. "We're going to be late," he reminded his wife.

Mrs Keena nodded and got in the car and with a wink to Nadia from her father, they were gone. Valkyrie turned back to Nadia and pulled her into a hug. "I missed you."

She grinned and kissed her lips lightly. "I missed you too."

"I expect my reward at some point too," Valkyrie warned her, leading her into the building. "I was promised."

Nadia smirked at her. "I haven't forgotten. You're like a needy child sometimes."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "No," she said. "I just want you too much."

Nadia went a pretty shade of pink and then they were in the golf centre, the dining room turned into an open hall with some tables and chairs, a buffet, DJ and dancefloor. There was more than a hundred Edgley's with their various surnames, for the ones that had married anyway, as well as their partners, children, a few friends of the family. Valkyrie took a deep breath, holding Nadia's hand tightly and braced as some drunk man came up to them enthusiastically.

"Stephanie!" He said loudly. "I haven't seen you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper! You've grown so much."

"Yeah, nine years will do that," she said, looking around for a grandparent.

"You must remember me, though," he said, nodding. "Remember, I would swing you around when you were little."

Valkyrie nodded. "Of course I do. Sorry, Nana wants to…"

She pulled Nadia passed him and she greeted her Nan, then Pap, then some other relatives and Valkyrie thought at least six hours must have passed when she got through to the other side and through the whole thing, no one mentioned Nadia. She pulled her in and put an arm over her shoulder.

"I think that's enough relatives," she sighed in relieve. Nadia smiled at her. "Food?"

"God yes," she said, yanking Valkyrie to the food. They picked up plates and took little sausages and finger sandwiches for themselves and Valkyrie found the crisps and dip too though Nadia did get a few carrot sticks to look good.

"I hope you're not going to make me eat those," she said, eyeing up the carrots.

"Of course not," Nadia said, then stuck one in Valkyrie's unsuspecting mouth.

"Bitch," Valkyrie said under her breath and she ate it. Nadia laughed loudly and then went to a side room to eat.

Carefully, Valkyrie got a box out her bag and Gordon faded into existence. "Valkyrie! Oh, and Nadia, it's so good to see you again."

"You too," Valkyrie said. "We're at the reunion."

"Ah yes," he said, peering through the door. "They're so drunk."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and ate her food, watching as Nadia stole her crisps. "Excuse me, you chose carrot."

"I changed my mind."

She took her plate away. "No way."

"You won't get your reward."

Valkyrie thought about it. She sighed and pushed her plate forwards.

"I better not witness anything," Gordon muttered, glancing back on them. "I should tell Dexter and Skulduggery what you're up to."

"You can if you want," Valkyrie said, munching away, and pulling Nadia closer. She hadn't seen her in a long time!

"Yeah, if you tell people you're in existence," Nadia smirked.

Gordon turned back to them with a smile. "Aww, so grown up," he said, half sarcastic as Nadia's joke and half serious as he looked at Valkyrie.

"God's sake, not you too," Valkyrie said. They had almost finished eating already. "No one has mentioned Nadia yet."

Gordon smiled softly at her. "Don't worry, no one will take it badly. Maybe some comments about phases, but it sort of runs in the family. Well, I know they don't think homosexuality, or anything like that, is inheritable, but if there was a case study our family would be pretty towards it being at least mildly inheritable."

Nadia looked at him, thinking. "Do you think it is?"

Gordon shrugged. "Some things just don't matter," he said wisely. "As long as you aren't hurting people who cares if it's inheritable? We have a lot of transgender family members actually. You know Great-Aunt Gladys?"

"The one married to Phil or Edmund?"

"Phil. She was born an Edmund, funnily enough," he said matter-of-fact, a contemplative looks on his face. "She always had quite feminine features too, come to think of it, and this is before they let people have hormones and such. At any rate, this family out of all families just doesn't get much of a chance of caring. We are related to so many people that are 'wrong' it just wouldn't work out. I guess the older generations wanted a peaceful family more than to look like perfect Christians, or whatever we were."

Valkyrie nodded. "They were a good lot. Had a few too many babies though."

"Maybe they were making up for all the babies the homosexual and trans relatives couldn't have," Nadia suggested.

Gordon snorted. "That and a village. Our family is very good at having children. That said, I really wouldn't be surprised if my great-grandmother, your great-great-grandmother Valkyrie, had so many children for exactly that reason. But, she was a generation behind. She wasn't ever happy with all of her children deciding they were different genders and wanted to live with the same sex as themselves. Luckily, she died young so it didn't affect many of us."

Valkyrie kissed Nadia's forehead and Gordon decided to go back in his stone. Closing the door for the moment, Valkyrie turned back to Nadia.

"So," she said, suddenly nervous but not showing it. "That reward."

Nadia smirked. "Come here."

Valkyrie did and she was pretty sure the older girl knew she was nervous. Still, she came to her and moments later was pushed against the wall roughly by Nadia. Suddenly she was kissed on the lips, hard, and Valkyrie closed her eyes, trying to focus on the feel on Nadia's lips and the feel of her hands on her biceps, the feel of the breasts, her own slightly higher than Nadia's, pressed together. Valkyrie put her hands around Nadia's waist, shamelessly feeling the curve of her rips dipping in and out to her hips and back up.

Nadia moaned slightly, squeezing Valkyrie's arm and Valkyrie grinned, tensing it for her girlfriend who took a moment to rub it over. Getting bored of that, Valkyrie crouched and picked Nadia up completely, blushing and grinning when her legs wrapped around her waist.

"I think I like this," Nadia said, looking into her eyes. It felt as if the music had melted around and it was just the two of them together. It was suddenly not nerve-wracking, or embarrassing or difficult. She knew what intense feeling Tanith had meant when she'd spoken to her. Nadia leaned forwards and kissed her deeply and Valkyrie opened her mouth and they slowly began to experiment using their tongues. She wasn't the best at it though and Valkyrie was certain they didn't have long alone so she moved boldly, kissing down Nadia's jaw to her neck, kissing her ear, her shoulder and back up to her mouth where she was kissed furiously.

Panting, they looked back at each other smiling and, letting her down, it felt as if the world came back into view, but a little bit better.

She giggled into Nadia's hair.

"You're such a kid," she muttered into her neck and they looked to the door as it was opened.

"Oh," Crystal said, staring in surprise.

"Evening," Valkyrie rolled her eyes, kissing Nadia's forehead protectively – if anyone would pick on her for having a girlfriend, regardless of whether or not they were homophobic, it would be the Toxic Twins, simply to annoy her.

They came into the room further, beginning to glare. "Why are you in here?"

"I want to be."

"That's not a good reason," Carol snapped. "Aunt Linda is looking for you. Dad wants to talk to you too."

Valkyrie sighed, putting Gordon's box back in her bag and taking Nadia's hand. "Come on, let's face the family."

"Are you dating?" Crystal asked quickly. Valkyrie looked back at her.

"No, I'm just like taking advantage of younger girls," Nadia snarked back.

They left the room and Valkyrie couldn't stop laughing at her cousins the whole time. They went and found her Aunt Linda, just managing to stop laughing in time to look not happy enough to talk for long.

"Oh, Steph," Aunt Linda said, quite drunk. Her twin ten-year-olds were messing around with some other cousins, her five-year-old twins on iPads in the corner with fizzy drinks. "I've missed you. Tell me, how are you doing?"

"I'm grand," she said. "Having fun."

"You're going to school? Dance, singing, cooking, swimming?"

"Yes," she said trying to get out the hug. "Well, no singing or much swimming anymore but I still do school and dance and can't get away from cooking."

She pulled away sharply. "You're doing the cooking at home? Is that why you're not singing? You tell my Stephanie right now–"

"I decided!" She said loudly before her aunt went off on one. "I chose to stop and to take on more martial arts. I love it."

Aunt Linda thought about it for a moment. "So not cooking?"

"Only when I want to. We all do the cooking, share the chores," she added. "I need to stop them using too many spices."

Nadia snorted. "You won't be enjoying dinner at mine."

Aunt Linda let her go and looked, finally between the two girls. "Steph, who is this young lady?"

"This is my girlfriend, Nadia," she said. "Say hello."

"Hello."

"Hello," Aunt Linda also said.

A horde of relatives descended on the table and Valkyrie pulled Nadia away before baby stories and awkward moments about her dead parents could be brought up. Looking around, she found Beryl and Fergus sitting somewhat sober together and moody at a table. Sighing, she led Nadia over for the final visit.

"Carol said you wanted to see me," she said when she got there, standing behind them. They jumped and turned around.

"Oh, there you are," Beryl said, plastering a smile on. "Look at you, so grown up."

"Thanks," she said.

"And you brought a friend, it's nice to meet you," she said, shaking hands with Nadia.

"How do you do?" Nadia said, adopting a strict, polite attitude. Valkyrie could see the snark radiating from the girl already.

"Oh, I'm fine, how are you dear?" Beryl said, grinning without a smile.

"I'm happy to be here," Nadia said. "As Stephanie's girlfriend, I feel honoured she'd bring me to such an important family event."

Beryl looked blank for a moment before she said "Oh," and her husband took over, his drunkenness taking over.

"She must what to marry you," he muttered, a little dazed from the alcohol.

Valkyrie nodded. "Yes. Going to a family reunion with her means we will marry. Set the date next week."

Nadia snorted, and Beryl glared at Valkyrie.

"Don't be so rude," she said. "I can still petition to have you taken from those men. Really, leaving a young lady with a single man, giving someone you barely know all you have–"

"He's a widower."

"Sorry?"

"Skulduggery Pleasant is a widower. He was married, and he had a baby with her, but they were murdered. That's why he's quiet and he was chosen to adopt me. He is raising me to be independent and invited his friends to live with us, including a woman, so that I wouldn't be alone or bored or treated badly. Not that Skulduggery ever would, but that's why he was picked and why I live with the other guys. They were all soldiers, they fought for your freedom and they still work in Ireland fighting for our lives, and they have never hurt me, they have only and will only ever protect me and help me. They love me. And all you can do, when I'm given my inheritance from my surrogate father, when I'm given his friends as parents to live and survive, is glare and be snotty about it. You need to grow up."

They started at her and after a moment, Beryl burst into tears. Fergus looked at her with wide eyes, then to Valkyrie, and back again a few times, before opening his mouth and closing it. Valkyrie gave up and took Nadia into the entrance hall.

She sighed, and Nadia hugged her. "Was I too mean?"

"No."

She sighed and let herself be held for a few moments before smiling. "Come on. I need to dance with you still."

They grinned, and the rest of the night was spent in each other's arms, dancing and becoming bolder as her relatives became drunker and more annoying. Together, though, it was fun to play around, touching each other, lightly, when they shouldn't but innocently enough it was acceptable to the children. Not that they were thinking of the children…

Getting to the end of the party at around two in the morning, Tanith came into the hall to see the girls rubbing against each other with challenging grins on each other's faces and let them mess around, dancing between the relatives and eyeing each other up.

Eventually, though, Valkyrie let Nadia into a spin and caught sight of Tanith, giving her a wink that made her sister laugh. Bringing Nadia in, she held her by the hips and told her it was time to go. Nadia looked around, saw Tanith standing there, stuck her tongue out and started kissing Valkyrie. Everyone was too drunk or didn't care so they were able to basically make out in the middle of the dance floor – Tanith didn't care and if Valkyrie had, Tanith could easily see the switch in her brain turn off as soon as Nadia's lips connected with her own.

It was sort of funny for Tanith to watch. On one hand, it was her little sister, who she wanted to protect and hold and train and help, but also see her flourish and make mistakes and grow into a woman who did to woman things like sex and make out and have fun and dance. On the other hand, that was her sister and she was still thirteen. She still wasn't ready for big things and Nadia was a year older. Plus looking at the girl kiss was not something she intended to make a habit of. At the end of the day, she just didn't want to see her sister get hurt because she thought she was ready for something she didn't understand, not that she didn't want her sister to do what she wanted. She made a mental note to talk to Valkyrie some more about the subject so even if she did decide to do something like sex so young, she would at least understand what she was getting into.

On the plus side though, no teen pregnancy, which could only look good for their parenting skills.

After a little while, Nadia pulled away – Valkyrie was looking a little wide-eyed and dazed with desire – and they made their way to Tanith. Nadia and Tanith spoke about the party as they all got in the car and it was a nice car ride back to Nadia's parents' house where Valkyrie walked Nadia to the door, kissed her for a little bit and said goodbye before Nadia disappeared inside. Tanith watched Valkyrie stand on the porch for a little bit, twisting her foot around as she thought and then went back to the car into the passenger seat.

It was silent on the way back Valkyrie was happy, just sad to see the girl go. When she was home and had thanked Tanith for the rides, she striped, showered, removed the make up and went to bed. She didn't fall asleep until over an hour later, flushed and naked under the sheets.