A/N: I don't own Ghastly, Valkyrie, Erskine, Skulduggery or Anton. Chapter is from Ghastly's POV. Thanks go out to Blufox03 for the review.
Ghastly loved surprising Valkyrie and the look of surprise on her face when the walked to the corner market for lunch was priceless. Being mages they were greeted warmly and easily allowed into the back into a charming enclosed courtyard, safe from the prying eyes of mortals. Ghastly escorted Valkyrie to a table in the warm sunshine, and gently pushed her chair in, leaning down to kiss her chastely on the cheek.
She didn't seem to mind that he did it in public at all. In fact she stroked his face tenderly in response, smiling gently at him. Ghastly rewarded her with a smile as he seated himself. They took their menus as the waiter appeared and Ghastly ordered their hot drinks, Valkyrie arching an eyebrow when he ordered her coffee. "You don't get much of it at home. I realize I make tea automatically."
"I don't mind, actually. You make much better tea than anyone else I know." She said, and he laughed softly. They debated over what to order and settled on the chicken salad sandwiches that came on flaky croissants the café baked themselves and bowls of their homemade soup. Valkyrie smiled at Ghastly after the waiter left with their order. "This place is wonderful, Ghastly. Thanks for bringing me, I mean that." She said and sipped at her coffee.
"You're more than welcome, Valkyrie. So you must be excited with Skulduggery coming home. I want the two of you to get out together, especially if he is planning on retiring. He'll need you to help him adjust." Valkyrie's gaze softened and she looked at him fondly. "What?" He asked, smiling tentatively.
"You really care about your friends. I've always loved that about you. You're putting him first, that so sweet of you. It will get me out of the house so you can work on my dress at least." She teased gently. "But you're holding my sewing machine hostage, Mr. Bespoke." She said and he laughed.
"Not hostage. It's in my shop so we can work together. The dress won't take too long, even with all my other orders. And that is all we have to do. We'll let your brothers and Erskine handle all the other details, Erskine is insisting he will pay for everything. So I figure we'll let him in lieu of a gift."
"Wow. He didn't say anything to me, but then he wouldn't. We've never talked about what we want. Do you want something big?" She asked and he waited to answer as their soup and sandwiches were set before them.
"Honestly? I'd like to elope, but it would break Skulduggery's heart to not give you away. Besides, our brothers need this, you know they do, Val. Let them enjoy themselves. It is only one day and you've escaped the horrors of dress shopping at least." He smiled and she chuckled. Lunch was excellent and as they walked back to the shop Ghastly looped a sheltering arm around Valkyrie. She cuddled into his side and he smiled down at her.
"Come into the shop then, for tea. My gorgeous fiancée got me a new kettle and I love looking for excuses to use it." He teased her with a grin and she smiled up at him impishly as if she had something wicked in mind. But as the soothing sound of the kettle filled the shop she was content to sit on the couch with him, wrapped in the fleece blanket he'd made for the two of them. Customers were ordering those as well and he had a surprise for Valkyrie as he cradled her into his chest. "You won't believe this, I know you won't, but two of your purses sold. I've taken the liberty of putting tags in the first ones for you so people know it is your work."
He fished into his pocket and came out with the small fabric tag he'd designed for her. It had the initials VC stitched in an interlocking design, and Valkyrie smiled shyly at him and cuddled in closer as she examined it. "Thank you. Odd question, but does the tag change after we're married?" She sounded hopeful and he looked at her in surprise.
"If you want it to, it can. But with Taken names, you don't have to." He said honestly. He hadn't even dared to hope she'd want to share his last name. "But you know, Cain is a truly lovely last name-" She silenced him with the sweetest kiss imaginable. Then pulled back to gaze at him lovingly. "Well, if you're sure-" He said and she drew him into a second kiss, much sweeter than the first.
Ghastly sighed, and adjusted the blanket around them as she cuddled in closer. The kettle went off and he groaned, but she was up before him and soon handing him a mug of tea. He smiled his thanks and held the blanket up for her to snuggle back into his side. At his gesture the radio came on to play softly in the background and he was content just to be with her. "I love you." He said softly and she grinned at him.
"I love you too, you know I do. Oh, snagged us a treat in the store." She said, and fished into one of the hidden pockets on her top and managed to come up with a small bag of homemade cookies. Ghastly grinned and accepted one. "I've got to admit, I'm more used to fast food, but this is nice." She said and he laughed softly.
"It is, isn't it? Sometimes fast food isn't bad, but I've noticed most of it looks cold and soggy by the time people sit down. I've never seen the appeal in that."
"You've got a good point. I guess we get used to it, but the homemade bread and soup we had for lunch was fantastic and these are lovely. Of course you're a much better cook. I'd love to see what you can do with Vegemite some day."
"With what?" He asked and she looked at him and laughed, clearly delighted to have something new to teach him.
"Vegemite, it's a spread from Australia. You'll love it. It's good on anything."
"And you eat it because?"
"It was in a Men at Work Song, trust me, it's awesome. Oh, I could make Vegemite sandwiches tonight, with eggs and cheese and everything. You'll love it, trust me. I brought my jars back with me." The bell to the shop rang and Valkyrie got up with a sigh, and Ghastly did as well. When nobody entered he motioned her to stay behind him. and walked cautiously towards the door.
He walked into the hall, saw they'd been left a gift and groaned. Valkyrie made a cooing sound and bent down over the wicker basket and picked a tiny kitten out. The orange striped tabby looked at her and gave a mighty wail that made Ghastly wince, and she automatically cuddled it into her. "I know we can't keep you little guy, but you sure are cute." She said, smiling gently at the tiny bundle that was now purring loud enough to wake the dead.
Ghastly didn't hate cats, a cat on the hearth was a cozy thing. But a shedding creature with claws in a fabric room would be a disaster. He scooped the tiny thing up firmly then gasped. Valkyrie either hadn't noticed, or hadn't cared, but the poor creature had mangled front paws as if someone had declawed him at home, leaving only stumps where well-formed toes should have been. They had healed over, but he knew the tiny bit of fur would be crippled the rest of his life and his heart softened.
Not even asking Valkyrie, he flipped the sign on the door to closed and told her to grab her jacket. "He needs to see a vet, Valkyrie. He might have serious nerve damage at the least. And don't worry, he's ours, we'll tell customers cat fur is good luck." She smiled in relief and soon they had located a vet who shook his head sadly.
"He'll live, he was neutered at home as well. I'm thinking whoever did this to him meant well, and was trying to satisfy a cat hater. Then the poor thing likely had an accident and had to go." He murmured watching the kitten totter around. "My suggestion is that you keep him and love him. There's no way to repair what's been done, his body's done the healing it can. But he'll make a loving cat, you can see that." The kitten had made a determined beeline for Valkyrie who picked him up and cuddled him adoringly.
They thanked the vet, paid for the exam and promised to bring the kitten back when his next shots would be due. He'd gotten a few his tiny kitten system needed and the vet recommended food and other things as well. "Never accept a free cat." The vet said grinning and smiled as they left. Ghastly of course knew this was their first baby and stopped at a shop for all the other things they'd need.
"What do you want to name him?" He asked as they settled back in at home and he set the kitten down to explore the shop, where the kitten tottered over to his new bed by the fireplace and went to sleep. Valkyrie shrugged.
"Why don't we wait a while and see what his personality is like? But it should be something to show how very brave he is, I think. To go through that pain, and still be so loving. The poor little baby." She looked at him and bit her lip. "You know, the vet was right, he could have accidents-"
"And he'll need cleaned up after, I know that. I didn't ask, but are you OK with that? I don't mind, maybe it's personal on my part-" He fingered his scars, "But you know people judge animals on how they look."
"And he looks perfect to me, and no, I don't mind. Someone obviously trusted you to love him, Ghastly. They know you have a good heart." And so it was decided that the little kitten would be the shop cat, though he was free to roam wherever he wished to go. Ghastly was relieved. Even though he and Valkyrie would enjoy working together, the kitten would give her a companion to be with any time he needed to shoo her away. He was seriously tempted to just make a curtain of some sort he could place between himself and the rest of the shop, but it wouldn't take too long to finish the dress. A few weeks and they would be together again all day long.
The day passed quickly, Valkyrie handling customers and keeping an eye on the kitten. Towards closing time the bell rang and a tall man in a suit like a funeral director would wear stepped into the shop. He smiled gently at Valkyrie, then stooped to pick up the kitten who had ran to him. Anton Shudder made a soft sound at the sight of the mangled paws, and stroked the tiny kitten tenderly. "And what is your name, little one?" He asked, as the kitten purred and cuddled into his hand.
""He hasn't got one yet, he's only arrived today. Someone did that to him in an attempt to keep him. Can you imagine?" Ghastly asked. He couldn't mention the poor cat being neutered at home. True, it had been done on farms for centuries and it certainly kept an exploding feline population under control, but as a man he winced in sympathy.
"That's utterly barbaric and half the reason I can't stand most people. You three, however, I like. Name him after Skulduggery, he'll be thrilled." He said with a grin as he handed the kitten back and Valkyrie laughed. "I'll be in town the next several hours and wanted to see how you're doing myself. " He said and he gathered Valkyrie and the kitten into a hug.
"We're fine, can you stay for dinner? I'm making Vegemite sandwiches." Valkyrie offered and Anton actually perked up at the news and nodded.
"If it's alright with both of you, of course." He said, looking at Ghastly and Ghastly nodded. He would have never admitted it, but he was a little leery of eating something he'd never heard of and now he vaguely recalled hearing it was an acquired taste.
But as Valkyrie cooked both Anton and the kitten looked excited. The kitten got the tiniest bit, so small that Ghastly couldn't see it and seemed to adore it. "Enough for you, little man." Valkyrie said, putting the kitten in Ghastly's arms. "I'm making mine with a fried egg, mayo, pickles, cheese and of course the Vegemite all on toast. What do you boys want?"
The men agreed that was fine and Anton smiled when Valkyrie served them. "Thank you, Valkyrie, I'm usually so far out in the wilds when I'm in Australia that there's no time to go get groceries. I haven't had Vegemite in forever, so thank you." He took one bite and seemed to be transported to nirvana so Ghastly ate as well and found out he actually liked it.
"I didn't know they made beef spread there, it's really good." He said and the other two grinned at him. "What?" He asked and Valkyrie titled her head to the jar she'd put on the table. He picked it up and blinked. Yeast extract? He'd just eaten something vegetarian? But it had been surprisingly good and he looked forward to letting Valkyrie cook again. She returned his smile then looked at Anton.
"I buy it by the case, you're welcome to take some with you." Their friend's face lit up and soon he was on his way, jar in hand. Valkyrie grinned at Ghastly. "If you think that is good, wait until I feed you Nutella."
Vegemite and Nutella are both very awesome foods. Vegemite tastes meaty like beef or bacon depending on who you ask, and Nutella is chocolate hazelnut spread.