Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 37

"Wolf!" Valkyrie shouted, running out the house and hugging him. "I missed you!"

Wolf squeezed her tightly and kissed her cheek. "I missed you too Cub. I heard there's been some trouble for my baby girl?"

She wrapped her legs around him and he carried her, his two bags, a large gun and himself into the house. He threw down the baggage and sat on the sofa, letting her remain on his lap.

"Crow's just being an idiot," she said, rolling her eyes. A while ago she had come to accept it – now it was mid-November, three weeks since then, and she was bored of studying, so was Tanith, and Fletcher was really, really getting on her nerves because he was bored too. And although she and Crow had shared several short and polite conversations, they had not made up even a little. She explained everything that had happened to Wolf, and he nodded along until she finished and brought her in for a hug.

"You know what we should do?" He asked after a minute. "We should see Nadia."

Valkyrie grinned and shook her head. "I'm not allowed."

"Have you spoken to her at all since you were 'punished'?"

"Yeah," she whispered. "Tanith lets me use her phone before bed."

"And Skulduggery hasn't noticed?" Wolf asked.

She shrugged. "If he has, he's not done anything. I would imagine he knows but he was pretty angry with me, so I sort of thought he would have done something if he knew. Maybe he doesn't want to get in trouble with Tanith."

Wolf thought about it, then shrugged and grinned. "Let's see Nadia."

"Wolf, if I get caught, I might be in even worse trouble," she explained. "I'd rather just do the punishment and then go on cases again. I just want to go back to normal, but I won't let Crow's anger at the situation upset me or make me do anything. If I do, I'll just prove I can't be trusted to take orders."

"Val, I never take orders, I do what I want and I'm still here. Don't worry, I'll say I forced you to go. Now do you want to see a lovely, beautiful girl or not?"

"What's happening?" Fletcher asked, coming into the room with wide, hope-filled eyes. "You're seeing friends? Can I come?"

"Ahh, why not?" Wolf said, not yet knowing that Valkyrie hadn't told him about Nadia – she hadn't wanted Wolf's protective side to show itself at Valkyrie's caution but now he was being too kind. Idiot. "The more the merrier."

They got themselves ready in secret. Only Tanith was at home with them that day so it easy to leave the house with her and Wolf. They took a taxi out to Nadia's house while Valkyrie called her. Soon enough, they were there and got out the car. It drove off.

"Here we are," Wolf said, stretching. "Go knock on the door then."

Valkyrie nodded and walked up to the door, ignoring the excited Fletcher on her heals. She stopped at the front door and then, after a moment to flatten her hair and take a deep breath, she knocked in a proper, loud, confident way. Or that what she hoped was heard on the other side. She was just nervous and excited.

"Why are your hands shaking?" Fletcher asked. "Wait, does your friend have a brother? Do you like him?"

"She doesn't have a brother so no. Please just, like, don't start flirting with me or Nadia, okay?" She asked him, not looking at him. "This is not for you, you are just making friends and that is it. If you do I'm going to punch you into next year and back again."

He shrugged. "Sure, sure. But you know, you have been talking to me more, getting on with me more. I think you're starting to like me, just a teeny-weeny bit."

"I don't think so," she sighed, closing her eyes.

"Alright, maybe you don't like it, or you don't want to admit it, and that's okay, but you do," he said, doing 'the grin' and leaning against a white marble pillar holding up the porch.

Valkyrie grabbed him and forced him away from it. "Stop it!" She growled at him under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear. "Just, shut up, be nice and don't embarrass me in front of Nadia's parents!"

She turned back to the door just as it was opened by Nadia's family butler. He opened it wide and looked down at her with hooded lids. "Miss Cain," he said in a slow, wispy voice. "Please, come in."

Valkyrie did, followed with embarrassing enthusiasm by Fletcher and at a more controlled pace, Tanith and Wolf who were pretending they were making sure no one did anything 'naughty'. Nadia and Valkyrie were just little children after all.

They went to the greeting parlour, as Mrs Keena liked to call it, and standing waiting for them was Nadia and Mrs Keena standing beside each other, and Mr Vinay stood a little further away and smiling kindly at her. Valkyrie held the present she had ordered a week ago - thank god it was as nice as it was in the pictures - out to Nadia.

She came forward at a proper, nice lady pace at first, took the wrapped present with a soft thank you and put in on the table. She then turned back to her, rushed forwards and leapt into Valkyrie's arms.

Valkyrie laughed and twirled her around before setting her down. No kisses allowed in front of her parents, and Valkyrie nearly, nearly did. Nadia, being more confident, kissed Valkyrie lightly on the cheek. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too," Nadia said. She backed away and held her hand out to Tanith and Wolf, who shook it, before moving over to Fletcher. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nadia Robin."

He shook her hand and looked at her with awe, happiness and something that might have been longing. "Fletcher Renn. You have a lovely home."

"I do," she said. She gave Valkyrie a sneaky wink, them having already planned a few things about their own secret future 'home'. "My parents also have a nice home."

Mr Vinay snorted and got glared at by his wife and the stuffy atmosphere began to shrink away. "Come in and sit down, please," he said, putting a hand on his wife's back comfortingly. "Valkyrie, it's lovely to see you again, it's been a long time."

She nodded. "I've been focusing on my training and homeschooling recently. Tanith and Saracen are surprisingly good teachers. How have you been?"

She sat next to Nadia on the love seat, forcing Fletcher to sit between Tanith and Wolf. He stared at Valkyrie and Nadia openly.

"Oh, I've been fine, just closed a business deal with a cousin in Chennai, and I got news of a niece who is now pregnant. She lives over in America," he said. "How have you been? Nadia mentioned you and Skulduggery Pleasant had a falling out?"

She shrugged. "Not so much a falling out than I spoke to an informant, which I can do, and Skulduggery is having a tizzy fit about it. He's not really angry with me than the informant and situation. So, if he wants to be a child, he can and I'll ignore him. He has to work it out himself."

Mrs Keena tilted her head just slightly at Valkyrie. "And what are you doing in the meantime?"

"Focusing on my studies, training, attempting to learn more advanced Irish although the last one isn't going so well," she grinned. "I'm not just sitting around doing nothing if that's what you're asking. I would get too bored."

Nadia nodded and put a hand on Valkyrie's. "Me and Valkyrie were talking about some of her work, and she's actually closer to the level of learning I'm on than that of her age."

Mrs Keena brightened and smiled at Valkyrie. "Oh, that is good news. Peter, could you get us some tea?"

The meeting with Nadia's family was easy and fun after that and Fletcher restrained himself from embarrassing himself or Valkyrie the whole time. At the very end, Valkyrie turned to Mrs Keena and Mr Vinay hopefully, scrunching one hand in her skirt just a little to make it seem like she was very nervous. She was so it wasn't too hard. "Mrs Keena, Mr Vinay, would it be alright if Nadia came with us for a few hours to get something to eat? I may not be able to see her around her birthday and would like to go out with her now."

The parents looked at each other for a moment and Mrs Keena smiled encouragingly at her husband who was already happy to let his girl go with them. "Of course, Valkyrie," he told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just make sure she's back before eight."

Valkyrie grinned and thanked them before taking Nadia's hand and they all left the house, waving at Nadia's parents as they left the security gate at the front of their garden.

"That went well," Valkyrie said, grinning at Nadia.

"I'm sort of surprised."

"Same. Tanith, do you think we could get dinner?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Do you want us to drop you off somewhere?"

"What?" Fletcher asked. He turned to Valkyrie. "Aren't we getting dinner? I thought I was meant to be making friends with your friends?"

Nadia grinned evilly at Valkyrie and Valkyrie new exactly what was going to come. "Sure thing, Fletcher," Nadia said, sickly sweet. "I'm sure it'll be fine for you to all come to dinner for my birthday."

Tanith snorted. "Yeah, we can come too right?"

Valkyrie sighed.

Wolf piped up with: "Come on, surely being with your family and friends it better than anything else. I mean, what else could you want to give Nadia for her birthday?"

Valkyrie looked to the sky but only got a raindrop in her eyes and took the sign as it was before Fletcher got to work that out. "Fine," she said. "But we have to get Pizza Hut."

They all laughed and agreed – Fletcher practically whooped – and they got a taxi there, both girls a little cold. Valkyrie was in a skirt and Nadia had a dress on. Pizza Hut was warm and smelt oh so good though, and as it was only four on a Saturday, it wasn't too packed either. They ordered some large drinks, copious amounts of garlic bread pizza, actual pizzas and a plate of pasta they could all share. Grinning, Valkyrie sat back in her chair, putting an arm around Nadia's shoulders.

Nadia turned to her, looked her up and down in the chair and glared at her. "You've grown."

Valkyrie nodded. "I think I'm having a growth spurt. My mum was five eight so it's sort of to be expected."

"It's offensive."

"How?"

"Because I'm small. I was this height when I was eleven and I haven't moved since. Why do you get to keep growing?" She whined, looking at Valkyrie with big eyes. Valkyrie heart jumped, and she had to stay very, very still to not just kiss her girlfriend and end up on the floor or table with her. Okay, maybe she wasn't that bad, but she felt such an intense pull to do it that it hurt to restrain herself.

"Well, fuck you, that's why," she said instead.

Nadia laughed, and, being completely anti-social to the other three with them, they waited for their food, sitting increasingly closer to each other and talking about some things that were happening at Nadia's school.

"Here we go," the waitress said, coming over to them. She set down some food and Valkyrie reluctantly pulled herself away from Nadia's side. More was piled on the table until it was full of pizza's, garlic bread, plates and wonderful smells.

Valkyrie breathed deeply and said "Yummy!" Nadia snorted and started giggling, trying to muffle the sound. "Oh, and what is so funny about pizza Nadia? What is it?"

She ended up laughing out loud but never admitted what was going on in her head. Instead, they all got food while she laughed and when she finally finished, switched her clear plate with Valkyrie's one and Valkyrie had to just sigh and get more food, knowing she would be teased for it later. Love affected her mind obviously.

"You two are awfully close," Fletcher observed after a few slices. "Like, really, really close. How long have you known each other?"

Wolf almost said something, but Tanith elbowed him harshly and he shut up. "A year and a month, ish," Nadia said. "And of course we are, we speak for hours every day."

He frowned at them. "But you don't have a phone."

"I borrow Tanith's," she said, rolling her eyes. "But don't tell Crow or you can consider my home too dangerous for occupation."

He rolled his eyes. "I won't say anything. But what could you possibly talk about for hours every day?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "We find stuff. We're not brain dead you know."

They finished their meal and ended it with getting ice cream. Valkyrie snuck a kiss at the ice cream station without anyone noticing – well, except a three-year-old who laughed and jumped up and down watching them, so they kissed again, and he started rolling around laughing, finding it great for whatever reason. His parents just smiled at him and only seeing them waving, sticking their tongues out and grinning at him.

"He's a cute one," Valkyrie said when they sat back down.

"Who?" Fletcher asked immediately.

"A baby," Nadia said, looking over at him. He was eating dinner now. "Aww, I just want to steal him and love him forever. Valkyrie, I want a baby."

"No."

"But it's my birthday."

"Ask your parents."

She tutted. "Some use you are."

"Nadia, if you wanted a baby," Valkyrie said, staring her in the eye. "You should have told me to go away."

She nodded. "This is true. In my defence, I didn't know any better."

Fletcher was looking at them with a very confused look as if he was confused why he didn't understand more of what they were talking about. God forbid he didn't know everything about Valkyrie and Nadia. it was almost as if he was missing the most relevant information.

Valkyrie paid for their meal and they left with smiles, Wolf taking Fletcher by the shoulder and pushing him ahead of the girls, Tanith winking at them and running to catch up. Looking around, Valkyrie grabbed Nadia's hand and rushed into an alleyway.

"Happy birthday," she said quickly and captured Nadia's lips in her own.

It was a short, soft kiss but it lit Valkyrie up from the inside. She didn't know where the intense feeling was suddenly coming from, but she loved it and soon she was pressing the shorter girl against the wall, holding her hips tightly and kissing her roughly.

They only had a few moments together but they both loved them. "I want summer back," Nadia panted. "I want to kiss you every night and every morning. I want to make dinner with you and make you get me glasses of water whenever I ask, and I want to get you coffee in the morning. I want to have a life with you right now."

"We do have a life together," Valkyrie said softly, sadly. "It's just away from each other right now. I'll find an excuse to see you over Christmas. I'll sneak through your window if I have to, cuddle you all night."

Nadia giggled, pecking her lips. "I didn't realise you were a cuddlier."

"Neither did I," she grinned. "You do weird things to me. Come on through. Fletcher's not stupid enough to think we got lost."

Nadia sighed but they brushed themselves off and ran down the street to the other three. Fletcher was frowning hard and Valkyrie knew she'd be interrogated by him and Wolf later.

Staying casual though, she looked at Fletcher. "Could you teleport us to Nadia's door?"

"Sure," he shrugged and took their hands – obviously trying to force them to hold his hand – and they were suddenly in front of the mini-mansion.

Nadia swayed slightly, going pale. "Oh, that wasn't nice."

Valkyrie knocked on the door and took Nadia's hand as she breathed through it. It took a moment, but when the door was opened by Peter the butler, she looked a lot better and gave her a sneaky kiss on the lips while Fletcher was waving at Mrs Keena and Mr Vinay inside.

She went into the house quickly and the butler shut the door in their faces, as expected, and she turned to Fletcher.

"Thank you," she said, trying to sound it. "For not being annoying."

He shrugged. "I do try. Let's go home."

Fletcher teleported them into the house.

She frowned at him. "What about the others?"

"They can get a cab. I need to talk to you Val, I need to know what's going on."

"What do you mean?"

"You and Nadia," he said, touching his hair nervously. "What are you?"

"Me and Nadia have nothing to do with you," she said. "What are you even asking me?"

"I'm asking if I even have a hope of convincing you to go out with me!" He shouted before sighing and falling back on the sofa. Valkyrie sat on the one opposite.

"Fletcher, I keep telling you no. I keep telling you to stop. I have constantly told you the same answer. And I've also continuously told you we won't be getting together. You need to get that in your head. It doesn't matter about Nadia–"

"So you're dating her?"

"I didn't–"

"You're not," he said, more certainly. "Okay."

"Fletcher, you need to listen to me. I have made my decision. There is nothing you can do or say to convince me. I don't need to give you a person or reason why I won't accept you, I just don't want to."

"What sort of reason is that?" He asked grumpily.

"It's my decision, and you have to accept it. I'm trying to be nice Fletcher, but this is my house and I'm getting tired of listening to your more and more extreme attempts to get me to go out with you. Please just stop."

"Alright, alright," he said, sitting up. "How about, you give me one date, one date, and regardless of how well it goes, I'll never mention anything about this ever again to you."

"No."

"Valkyrie, how can you even know you don't want to date me if we haven't been on a date?" He asked despondently.

"Fletcher, have you ever seen a raw piece of chicken?"

He stared at her. "Yeah, sure."

"Have you ever looked at a raw piece of chicken and thought you wanted to eat it?"

"No."

"Even though you are allowed and no one told you not to?"

"No, raw meat looks gross."

"Exactly. I haven't been told not to date you, I just don't want to because when I see you, I know I don't want to. It's not you, just the same as it isn't the chicken's fault you don't want to eat it raw. It's just how it is. So you need to stop trying to make me do something I don't want to. Okay?"

Valkyrie left him there and went to the other room to call Tanith on with house phone, explained what happened and sat back. Half an hour later, the front door slammed open and Tanith and Wolf came storming through, finding herself and Fletcher watching television silently in the living room. Before Fletcher had even turned to greet them, Dexter was on top of him.

"How dare you teleport away with her!?" He shouted in Fletcher's face. "How are you try and take away my sister?!"

Fletcher made a grunt, moan type sound, his eyes bulging from the pressure of Wolf's hands around his neck.

"You listen to me, boy," he growled in Fletcher's face. "Don't you ever try and take my sister away from me again or I'll rip your kidneys out. Do you understand me?"

Fletcher's face went purple. Valkyrie stood and put a hand on Wolf's shoulder and he sighed and got off Fletcher. By an inch.

Fletcher sucked in lungful's of air and got his breathing back in order right in time for Tanith to lean over him from behind the sofa. He went pale pretty.

"Don't worry Fletcher," she said, smiling. He smiled back timidly. "It's not as if everyone that loves Valkyrie are highly trained death machines or anything."

He went pale again.

"Don't ever take her away like that," she said. "Next time I'll kill you without asking questions first."

She took Valkyrie's hand and they left the room, and Wolf and Fletcher, and went to the 'girl' room. "Tanith?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"What part of that was you asking questions anyway?"

It's the summer holidays for me now! I want to be writing a lot more and uploading a lot more! If anyone has questions or want to comment on anything, you can PM me or leave it in a review and I will answer everything as best I can without spoiling too much! I love interacting with readers so don't hesitate :) Have a nice day!