A/N: I don't own Jack, Valkyrie, Skulduggery or Billy-Ray. Note: If you read this story the first time, yes, I'm making a few changes here and there.
Jack was holding me in his arms, trying to get me to believe his apology when I felt something shift inside me. I felt the outside world fade away as I concentrated on the baby. It had been fine until now, growing without complaint, being as normal as any baby until now. Now it needed me to make a choice and it was calling my attention to it somehow, pleading for life, for the support it needed and I knew what I had to do.
I didn't stop to think that it was odd that I felt this happening that I could communicate with the baby somehow. All women claimed it happened. Of course most women didn't claim that the baby made them shift species to accommodate it either. But Jack had been right about one thing, he wasn't human and if the baby was to survive I had to give up my humanity.
It didn't hurt but I felt distinctly odd as the change took place. I felt my nails grow longer and my body adapting in small ways. Jack was an Adept but he wasn't human, but then none of the family was. As my vision cleared I realized we were in the living room and from the way mum was staring at me I knew it had happened to her too with Jack's father. "So it happened, Val. I wondered when it would. But we still love you all the same and you and Jack can get the same history such as it is together. He was never told. He didn't know." She said and I nodded.
"What history? What's wrong with, Valkyrie?" Jack asked and I stroked his hair softly. Dad watched me and nodded.
"When I saw him as clean as a cat I knew you were the one. Jack, Valkyrie, we are not what you'd call fully human. The truth is we don't know what we are." Jack looked bewildered as dad continued and I didn't blame him. "There's mostly been males born into our kind and havin' a girl like you sister was exceedingly rare. We get females when we choose our mates and they make a choice to have our children. Then they change, become like us. Only they tend to be a lot nicer to look at." He said smiling at mum and she blushed.
Mum smiled. "All we know is that the menfolk always go about lookin' a sight until they find their true mate. From that point on, clean as a cat, they are. When we saw Jack we knew you were the right one." Jack blushed mightily and I nuzzled him. I remembered dimly telling him the night in the cabin where his bath was and I knew he'd chosen me, even then.
Our Uncle spoke next. "I'm the freak of the family, Jack. I never grew the nails, never got the leaping abilities. But my beloved wife, she would have had a son, much like you-" He broke off and I went to him.
"Uncle, its all right. She clearly wasn't the one for you. Jack didn't pick me at first. I'm sure you'll find her. She'll love you just as much as I love Jack and mum loves dad and Sarah loves Skulduggery." He nodded and squeezed my hand.
I accompanied Jack back upstairs wondering if I looked all that different. As far as I could tell in the mirror I looked fine. But I was no longer human and I could never change back. I sighed and Jack whined, coming over to nuzzle me in silent entreaty. "You ain't- You ain't regrettin' your decision are you, poppet?" He asked fearfully and I turned to him, taking him in my arms. I realized then that Jack was scared of ending up like his uncle, mateless and childless. I stroked his handsome face tenderly and he whined again, clearly frightened. He couldn't fight his way out of this, he had to trust me and I knew that, by and large, Jack did not trust people.
"Jack, it's all right." I said, kissing him softly and walking him backwards towards the bed. But he still had that wild-eyed lost look on his face and he whimpered as I pushed him down gently, not breaking the kiss, and crawling in after him. I gave myself over to stroking his hair and holding his head gently.
I felt the love I had for him intensify and I was working at getting Jack out of his clothes when I heard a thump on the roof and remembered our leftovers were up there. "Hold on a sec, I'll be right back." I said but Jack insisted on going up himself.
I waited for him to come down and heard nothing. That made me uneasy and I edged towards the window. I knew better than to call to Jack. If he'd met with trouble I'd have heard scuffling, unless of course he couldn't move. Although it frightened me I realized I had to try out my new body now and not later. I eased out the window and tensed my muscles, waiting to spring, trying to judge if there was anything up there waiting for me.
I leapt up smoothly, finding the leftovers where we left them. There was no blood, no sign of a struggle, it was as if Jack had just vanished.
This time I went straight to our family. Skulduggery and I scoured for clues and magic but found nothing. We tracked down Black Annis but she was too busy sparking with Scrannel to have abducted Jack. Back in the car Skulduggery looked at me. "You have that 'I married the wrong man' look on your face again. Are you regretting this, Valkyrie? You could change back at any time, it would destroy the child of course, but- I hate seeing you unhappy."
"You knew all this time and didn't tell me, didn't you?" I asked and he nodded.
"Yes, Sarah told me. He wouldn't have just run away. He loves you, Valkyrie."
"I know and most of the time I love him too. But then-" I sighed and sat back. "I miss Ireland. Being out in the middle of nowhere with Jack's family-"
"Our family. Jack can't help his looks, Valkyrie. Or how quickly he's aged. If it is any consolation I don't think he has long. You can start over then if you like."
"Don't say that! I love him, all right? I'm just not dealing well with this." I gestured with my hands. Although my nails looked normal they were razor-sharp and long. I was terrified. Was I a monster now too? Would I loose my magic forever and age as quickly as Jack? Annis had said she'd chosen well. Had our falling in love just been a spell on Scrannel's part?
We had no further leads and with no Sanctuary all I could do was go up to bed. I lay there wide awake wondering if Jack hadn't simply run away. Maybe he saw our marriage as a mistake. Maybe he didn't want to be married and just ran away. I went back to the rooftop and collected our leftovers and took them inside to the fridge.
I hated myself for the feeling of relief but if Jack had chosen to run away he'd made the decision for me. I heard a movement behind me and dad stood there. I collapsed in his arms in a flood of tears. "I think I'm going crazy, dad. What's wrong with me?" I asked and he prattled and soothed me. Mum appeared and she too held me, the tears wouldn't stop coming and I was ashamed, yet I was heartbroken too.
"You're pregnant, love. This is normal, it is. You're missin' the man of your dreams. Sure it is confusin' and I know you're wonderin' how you married somethin' so old and ugly." She soothed gently and I pulled back in shock. "Happens to us all, dear. Men like Jack look old until they find their chosen mates, he'll be a handsome young man for you, soon enough. If I know Jack he took off to deal with this."
I nodded and she continued. "We should have told you before you married, but I could see he'd chosen you and he is our son. Our son! Even if we are monsters, we still love our family." She said tears in her eyes and I hugged her tightly.
"First one to call my mum a monster I'm punching in the face. We might be human for all you know, mum. We're just different. I'm just scared I've lost my magic, that I'll age faster. That we'll all be trapped out here until we become little better than-"
"Cannibals?" Dad asked amused. "We ain't human, poppet, and if you're cryin' over anything that would be it. Jack and his uncle are the one's that eat people. Most of our kind don't. But then humans eat humans, don't they?"
I nodded and he hugged me again. "You're his mate now, love. You go and find him. It's in you. I'll see to the leftovers and make us all something nice. Ah, don't look in the woodshed though. Jack stored another kind of leftovers in there. He's nervous it would upset the family."
"I'm nervous he's going to drop over dead from food poisoning. If it doesn't bother anyone else I saw a deep freeze in the basement. Our luck the police will show up, but I don't want Jack ill, either."
"Consider it taken care of then. Off with you. Find the man you love." I kissed them both and was off, running easily through the forest. Luckily my feet were tougher now and it didn't pain me to run barefoot. I was homing in on Jack, not calling out.
I found the tree he'd holed himself in and crawled straight up like in my dreams. Jack was perched in the high branches, huddled in utter misery. I climbed carefully out beside him then tucked myself into his body. Jack gasped but held me to him. "I'm in love with you, Jack. Mum never told you but what I'm going through is normal. And you aren't old. Men like you just look older until you've chosen a mate." He nuzzled into my neck, nipping playfully and I laughed.
"You sure, poppet, you ain't foolin' old Jack?" He asked, his eyes bright with hope.
"I'm sure." I said softly. "I'm also sure that Billy-Ray is being put into our deep freeze by now. I don't mind anything you eat, Jack, but I don't want you dropping dead of food poisoning, OK?" He nodded happily.
"You don't mind them, poppet?"
"The man hated me, Jack. You go ahead and eat all of that nasty creature that you desire." Jack giggled.
"Climb aboard then." He offered and I clambered aboard. Jack waited patiently for me to secure myself then leapt off the branch into empty space. I gasped and we plummeted towards the ground, but Jack adjusted himself, catching onto the trunk much farther down then reaching the ground in a series of leaps.
Then he was loping through the forest, singing to me, as he jumped from tree to tree, most of the leaps horizontal. I knew now to what extent he was a monster, I knew why Black Annis had made the remark she did about eating the baby but I didn't really care. Jack loved me and it didn't matter to me that he'd always be the way he was. We arrived home and he swung me easily forwards and set me tenderly on the ground, mindful of his nails as always. I smiled and kissed him and Jack rewarded me with a grin of utter lunacy. I smiled and followed him insde, happy to be home once more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Worst pairing ever, but I took pity on Jack and had to end the story on a positive note. I'm not quite sure why Landy changed his appearance so much over time, but there you go.