In the night- dead roses

Valkyrie stuck the key in the lock and opened the door.

The house was dark so she flicked on a small table light as the alarm beeped insistently.

She entered the code and the beeping stopped.

Skulduggery stepped into the house and shut the door behind him

Their relationship, skulduggery noted, had changed a lot over the past five or so years. Once, when Valkyrie was just a little twelve year old, they had been good friends, annoying the hell out of each other and showing off. After a while, they became extremely close, still annoying each other, and still showing off, but starting to show feelings as well, feelings for each other. Now, they were just like twins. Same personality, same humour, same thoughts. But they were madly in love with each other. Although they wouldn't admit it.

Valkyrie fought back a yawn as she shrugged out of her coat.

'You look tired' skulduggery commented, although he sounded strangely nervous for some reason.

He shrugged out of his coat too.

'I'll get a shower and I'll be fine- I can't sleep now anyway- we've got a case to work on don't we?' Valkyrie said, dropping her coat on the floor and kicking of her boots

'Indeed we do' skulduggery agreed, hanging his coat up

'You know, this is the first case we've had in ages' Valkyrie grinned, going up the stairs

' oh I don't know, maybe something to do with everyone knowing we heroically defeated the faceless ones so they're all scared to commit any sort of crime because they're clearly no match for wonderful moi' skulduggery shrugged

'or maybe they found out a certain someone got sucked into a portal with a bunch of faceless ones and is worried if they meet you they might die laughing' valkyrie grinned

'Oh, you're going to pay for that' skulduggery laughed, and chased Valkyrie up the stairs

She screamed, laughing, as skulduggery caught up with her at the top of the stairs

Valkyrie darted into the bathroom, skulduggery on her tail.

She jumped into the shower, still fully clothed, except for her shoes, socks, and coat, and shut the door behind her

'Ha! You can't get me now!' Valkyrie laughed, holding the shower door closed.

Skulduggery cocked his skull to the side playfully.

'Valkyrie, when has a door ever stopped me?' he asked menacingly

'Don't dare blast down that door' she threatened

'Oh, I wont' skulduggery said evilly

And with that, he wrenched open the door, and climbed in

Valkyrie yelped, trying to get out, but her giggling got the better of her, and to top that all off, skulduggery began tickling her

She squealed and skulduggery laughed amused

'Please……stop……..I …..Swear…I'll... kill……you!' Valkyrie gasped between gusts of laughter

Skulduggery continued tickling her, but wrapped one of his arms around her waist to stop her from trying to run for it

'Im not giving you back' he murmured in her ear

Valkyrie squirmed and her hand hit a leaver.

The both yelped as the water started to flow out of the shower

Laughing, they tried to turn the water off, but only made it warm

It felt nice, even though showers are generally more relaxing when you're not standing in you clothes being tickled by a skeleton

Skulduggery stopped tickling her and valkyrie turned round to face him

She had no freaking idea what she was doing but she wanted to.

She stretched up on her tip toes, wrapped her arms around skulduggery neck, and kissed him .

He wrapped his arms around valkyrie waist, a reaction valkyrie wasn't expecting.

She shrugged.

She was in the shower, late at night, fully clothed, kissing a 400 year old skeleton.

Meh.

She loved him.

Somewhere else, Shakra flame was sacrificing a tourist.