25- Probably not the best time to attack.

When Valkyrie woke up it was 10.30. She didn't like getting up- especially if skulduggery was lying with his arms around her. She turned to him, and grinned when she saw he was awake. He grinned back

'Good morning' he said

'Hey- how long have you been awake?'

'About an hour- not long'

'And hour? That's long! Why didn't you go down stairs?'

Skulduggery shrugged

'I wanted to wait for you- did you sleep well?'

Valkyrie giggled

'I got three hours sleep and we spent the rest of that time mocking scapegrace and Angus' she grinned

'Do you not feel sorry for scapegrace sometimes?' skulduggery asked

They looked at each other.

'Nah' they said in unison and laughed

There was a knock on the door

'Come on you two!' Valkyries mother called 'it's a lovely day!' you two can walk down to the pier! Wrap up warm!'

'K mum!' Valkyrie called

Skulduggery got out of bed and opened the curtains

'Oh wow!' he laughed

'What? What is it?' Valkyrie squealed jumping out of bed and running to the window beside him. She looked out and grinned.

'I love snow!' skulduggery grinned

Valkyrie rolled her eyes

'I can imagine what Tanith is doing now' she giggled

They both imagined Tanith rolling around in the snow and giggling like a four year old.

Then skulduggery's phone rang.

Valkyrie answered it

'Hello?' Valkyrie asked

'It's snowing Val!' Tanith squealed

Valkyrie laughed

'Yeah I know- me and skul are looking out the window'

'It's so deep!' Tanith squealed 'Olivia loves it!'

Valkyrie put it on loudspeaker

'Hey Tanith!' skulduggery called

'Hey skulduggery! Oh my god it's snowing! Olivia loves it! When will you and Valkyrie be home?!' Tanith squealed

Skulduggery laughed

'Tonight- is ghastly there?' he asked putting his arms around Valkyrie

'Yeah he's!-'taniths yelped and ghastly laughed- he'd probably thrown a snowball at her.

'Hello? Skul?' ghastly said

'Hey ghastly- I was wondering…. Did you stay at taniths last night?' skulduggery asked and winked at Valkyrie who giggled

Ghastly hesitated

'No…..' he said eventually, dragging out the word

'Nice try ghastly' skulduggery laughed 'keep Olivia warm or I'll have to kill you'

'Sounds fair' ghastly laughed 'we'll see you tomorrow skul'

'Yeah! Tanith called 'then we can have a proper magic Christmas!

'That was a really bad joke Tanith!' Fletcher called from the background

'Oh god, is Fletcher there?' Valkyrie asked

'Yeah- he just turned up this morning'

'Oh hell- we'll talk to you later Tanith- bye Fletcher!' Valkyrie yelled and then hung up.

A split second later the phone rang again. Valkyrie answered it.

'Bye gorgeous' Fletcher said in a flirty voice and then hung up.

Skulduggery fell about laughing.

'Shut up, skulduggery- or I'll shackle you to Fletcher'

'Shutting up' skulduggery grinned and then pulled on a shirt and a pair of trousers.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and pulled on a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

Skulduggery put on a coat and then they both bounded down the stairs.

Valkyries parents and auntie and uncle were sitting in the kitchen. Her four cousins weren't there.

'Where's everyone got to?' Valkyrie asked

Her auntie rolled her eyes and pointed to the window over looking the front garden.

'Being four year olds' she said

Skulduggery and Valkyrie both looked out to see her cousins (two of them older than Valkyrie and the other who was 17) throwing snowballs at each other and acting like they were two.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie laughed

'I think we're pretty good at acting like four year olds as well aren't we steph?' skulduggery asked grinning at her.

Valkyrie nodded

'I think we should show them how it's done don't you?'

'Of course, shall we?'

'Certainly' Valkyrie giggled, curtsying and then skulduggery grabbed her hand and they bounded outside giggling.

Valkyries parents and auntie and uncle all rolled their eyes and laughed.

Valkyrie yelped as her cousin, rowan, threw a snowball at her.

'Your gonna pay for that' Valkyrie giggled and picked up a clump of snow as flakes started to fall from the sky.

The snow was very deep and it was freezing but Valkyrie loved it.

She yelped as another snowball hit her. Skulduggery fell to his knees laughing as Valkyries big cousin Megan stuffed snow down skulduggery's back. The snowball fight went on for a good hour and a half until Valkyrie started shivering and sneezing. They all went inside and Valkyrie and skulduggery got changed out of their cold clothes.

'You know what I think?' valkyrie asked putting her hand in skulduggery's as they went downstairs.

'What do you think?' skulduggery smiled

'I think we should go down to the pier'

'That sounds good' skulduggery grinned and then whispered in her ear 'I'll teach you how to walk on water'

Valkyrie laughed because he would.

They walked down to the pier hand in hand laughing at all the things they had said about scapegrace the night before.

Then skulduggery stopped and put his arms around her waist and she put her arms around his neck and skulduggery pressed his lips to hers.

All of a sudden the ground burst open and Billy-ray sanguine burst through and stood there watching them kiss for a moment before he cleared his throat loudly.

'Hey hey hey ya'll can stop kissin' for the moment please! This probably wasn't the best time to attack.' Sanguine shouted.

Valkyrie broke away from skulduggery and they were both about to attack when someone hit skulduggery on the back of the head and sanguine lunged at Valkyrie and hit her in the back. Skulduggery and Valkyrie both fell to the ground unconscious.

'That's that sorted' sanguine muttered brushing of his coat

'Are you sure this'll work?' Angus asked

'Of course it will- now who's that guy? Where's the skeleton?'

'Uh- that is the skeleton- he must've turned back into a human again because he's called skulduggery'

'Wow!' sanguine laughed 'the teacher and the student love each other?! This is rich! I mean there's only like 300 years difference between there ages!' sanguine laughed and then he grabbed skulduggery and Valkyrie by the wrists and began to sink into the ground.

'You know where to meet me?' sanguine asked

Angus nodded

'See you in five' Angus said and then sanguine and the detectives where gone

When Valkyrie woke up her back was aching- apart from that she was ok-well, apart from the fact she and skulduggery were tied to chairs facing Billy ray sanguine who was smirking at them both. Skulduggery was taunting him.

'Oh look! Cain's awake!' sanguine smiled

Skulduggery looked round and smiled at Valkyrie and then leaned in far enough to whisper something in Valkyries ear

Valkyrie smiled and nodded and then turned to sanguine.

'i'm not Cain anymore' she smirked and managed to move her hand enough to show sanguine the ring on her left index finger- skulduggery showed him the ring on his hand.

Sanguine looked at the rings and then laughed

'The teacher and the student?!' he laughed 'married?! To each other?!' that's rich!'

Valkyrie scowled and then smirked

'At least we're actually married- who would want anyone with no eyes?'

Skulduggery laughed

'Your gonna regret that pleasant' sanguine scowled and then hit Valkyrie across the face. She groaned. This was gonna be a long day. She slipped her hand into skulduggery's and sighed as sanguine started to threaten her and skulduggery started mocking him.

Yep, this is gonna be a really long day she thought and then giggled at sanguines face when skulduggery called him a yank.