A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Anton or anyone else you might recognize.
For the next two weeks I cooked and lavished attention on the three men in my life. Things got cozy, and Anton and I grew closer. On the day after my marathon of cooking we had to go grocery shopping again, and this time Anton took me. He had to restock those little things guests expect as well, though he drew the line at leaving mints on the pillow.
Anton, of course, had an agenda in mind, pointing out baby carrots, baby this and baby that in produce. "Look, Val, Baby bok choy." He said, fondly, and it finally clicked that he wasn't after stir fry.
I went and looped my arms around his waist. "If you wanted one of your own, all you had to do was ask." I said, and he drew me into a kiss of thanks. I heard a crash and realized an old woman had crashed into our cart on purpose. She glared at us, clearly affronted.
"Filthy animals." She sneered.
"Aisle five. And if you hurry maybe you can find a husband." Anton suggested helpfully and she took off with a shriek of outrage. I burst out laughing and he smiled at me, clearly pleased with himself. For the quiet one of the group, he caused just as much trouble as any other Dead Man.
On the way back, Anton talked excitedly of all the things we'd need. "We might need them sooner than you think." I said and he looked at me in utter adoration.
"You're sure? Oh, Valkyrie. You don't know how much I love you at this moment. Then it's perfect timing that I hired a new employee. Though you'll have to be gentle with him. He hasn't seen his little sister for months. Not that she knows she's his sister, he wouldn't tell her."
"Wait, what?" I asked, confused.
"He adopted her, and as he has a rather loathsome past, he wouldn't tell her. I hired him so he can be as close to her as he likes." It took a minute, but I realized one of the Dead Men would be waiting for us.
And once we were home, and inside I found the brother in question manning the front desk. He gave a high-pitched girlish squeal of delight then hugged me gently. "What, no roughhousing?" I asked.
"I know women, and I know when one of them is pregnant. I get to be an uncle! And bother you all day!"
"Dex, you are such a moron." I said fondly as he drew me into another hug.
"That I am." He said nodding proudly. "I'm not done with adventuring you know, I understand you manage to get into plenty of adventures all on your own." He said, then ruffled my hair playfully and crossed his eyes at me. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was one of the deadliest mages on the planet.
Aww, Val gets a moron for a brother! And a baby on the way? Maybe!