A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Anton, Darquesse or Skulduggery.

Anton smiled at me as we took in the cart with the coffee and tea urns and plenty of mugs. "You know, Val, I meant what I said about a bed and breakfast. But I couldn't do it myself. If you were to stay on perhaps we could give it a try. Don't give me an answer now, though. I realize it would mean being separated from your family." He said with a gentle smile, then he was circulating through his guests, making sure himself that Abby got her coco.

I went over to my family and dad cocked his head expectantly. "He asked me to stay on after our vacation and help him start the bed and breakfast." I said faintly and dad nodded.

"It would be a lot of hard work, but good for you, Val. You know I retired and you should too. You've done enough for the world. Give some new detectives a chance to shine." He said and I nodded.

Abby looked excited. "Your own adventure." She said, coming over to sit beside me. "And we can ring each other and write letters. I'll have a big sister off having adventures." She said, sounding excited.

"Yes, you will." I agreed and shifted my gaze to the bookcase. We both giggled and dad looked pleased. I knew most likely every adult knew about the room, maybe Abby did too, but it would be harmless fun.

So later that night we crept back to the common room and I lifted Abby to see the titles she couldn't, silently congratulating Anton on child-proofing the lock. When we heard the click at last she giggled. "I knew it was real." She said excitedly. I nodded and had her follow me.

"If dad changes his mind and takes you on cases-" I explained and she nodded. We walked into a brightly lit room, filled with even more books, a reading table, and a urn of hot water on a rolling cart in one corner. Coffee and coco packets awaited us. I closed the bookshelf door behind us glad Anton had taught me the way back out.

"How will we get out?" Abby asked as I made her coco and she climbed the library ladder to see the higher bookshelves.

"Easier than getting in." I said, keeping an eye on her. "The bust by the door. "We push it back and there's a button." She nodded happily and selected a book. I smiled when I saw it was on the time she'd been alive with mom and dad. I was also impressed it was a book aimed at adult readers.

"You must love to read." I said, getting her settled and she nodded.

"Yep. We didn't have too many books when I lived with mom and dad." She said. I turned, my pursuit for a book forgotten.

"Abby, there are people you can talk to about it, or me. I've died a bunch of times, come to think of it, but I usually chose." I said gently.

"Why did you choose? To be a skeleton, I mean." She asked.

"Because as Darquesse I was always afraid I might hurt people. I fought in two wars as Darquesse. But in the end I helped everyone I could, then went away to protect people. When I'm like that it's hard for me to be gentle, to remember not to hurt people because I can." I said.

"Like Anton's Gist?" She asked, not really surprising me.

"Yes, founding member of the ladies' detective agency, like his Gist." I agreed and she was right. Both Anton and I had to trust ourselves to have self-control. "I ought to see if he has a book in here on Gists." I said, and sure enough I found one. We read for a while, then got sleepy and put our books back, agreeing to return the next night.

I saw Abby to bed, then went back for the urn of hot water to clean up after us, but Anton had beat me to it. "You are guests." He said, amused.

"I know." I agreed. "But you did something really nice for both of us. Cleaning up is the least I can do." I said, stifling a yawn. "Sorry, Anton."

"No need. Go get some sleep, Valkyrie. You've pulled breakfast duty with me tomorrow. With everyone here it will give me a chance to see if a staff of two, meaning us two, could handle things." I agreed and soon enough was fast asleep in my bed.

Anton wasn't kidding. We were up bright and early. I envied Abby getting to sleep in, but Anton was right. If we couldn't work together with our friends there we never could handle guests. Anton handed me coffee and a bagel, then kissed me on the cheek. "Morning, Valkyrie." He said, smiling warmly in a way that made my insides turn to butter.

"Morning, Anton. Thanks for breakfast, I'm starved." I said, giving him an affectionate kiss back. "What are we making for the guests?"

"Continental breakfast for our first try. We still have to juice oranges, make coffee and tea, set out trays of bagels, muffins and croissants, but I blended the blueberry cream cheese myself last night." I blinked at him. I'd thought it would be opening cartons of orange juice at most, but rallied.

"Fruit too, right?" I asked, eyeing the bags of fruit on the counter.

"Right. And some small bowls of cereal." He agreed, then tore into his own bagel, topped with some of the blueberry cream cheese. Anton explained it was just more economical to buy plain cream cheese in bigger tubs and make what he needed the night before. "Trust me, Val, there's nothing like feeding people to make you happy, or drive you crazy. Our friends will be good about it, but other guests? They'll want all sorts of things with their breakfast."

"But you'd have to charge double or triple." I countered, already annoyed with our future guests and he chuckled.

"Exactly. So we do what we can and we remember guests are a lot like spoiled children. It isn't their fault, Val. Everyone wants to be pampered once in a while." I raised my eyebrows to that. I couldn't imagine Anton ever wanting to be pampered, but just helped him clean up after our quick breakfast and snagged another cup of coffee.

It wasn't too hard to get breakfast out, and Anton assured me it got easier as you got used to it. Really, other than putting things in baskets and making the orange juice I didn't have much to do until the plates came back as our friends took off. And once those were done Anton dismissed me.

"We'll try breakfast like this for a start." Anton said. "I usually do put something out here and there, so we'll see what we can do within our budget. Maybe some fruit salads and something summery on the side." He suggested, then looked at me, smiling faintly. Anton drew me into a lingering kiss I was happy to return then pulled back to smile at me. "Go on then, your family awaits." He said softly and I nodded.

Mom and dad were getting ready to go explore more shops with Abby and I was glad to join them, even if I was a little sleepy. Dad smiled sympathetically and suggested we stop in a sweet shop that sold coffee. We did, and he made sure I got some fudge to take back as well and a few other goodies. "Wouldn't hurt to share with your fellah." He murmured as we sat down, watching as Mom and Abby ordered.

"I agree. He works so hard to keep that hotel going. I don't mean he struggles, but he's always busy. I'm glad a B & B only serves breakfast. Still, I'm wondering if it is possible to do it every day." I said and dad shrugged.

"You have to cook anyways. And you might find that guests are content with a continental breakfast. It isn't like his usual guests are on vacation." He said and I nodded. The Midnight Hotel after all was a place of asylum the Sanctuary was not invited to interfere with. But Anton felt his guests deserved the best, and I hoped we'd be able to give it to them.

I enjoyed the time with my family, and I was sure Anton had known I would. We ended up lingering in the sweet shop for strawberry shakes as well, and I was content to wander the stores with my family after. I thought of Anton as we shopped, about him saying everyone liked to be pampered once in a while, and made sure to go back to the sweet shop for a shake for him.

I had no idea what fruit he liked, I realized. But he'd enjoyed the blueberries in the cream cheese he'd made and they did make a blueberry shake so I hoped he'd like it.

When I found him in his office and put it on his desk after stowing my other goodies in my room he smiled his thanks. "I don't often get out to treat myself." He murmured. "Thank you, Valkyrie. It was thoughtful of you. By the way, our guests will be fending for themselves so I'll take you out to dinner. How about something casual on the beach?" He offered and I nodded happily, not missing that he'd said our guests.

"So, I'm hired?" I asked and he smiled gently at me, then rose to hold me close.

"You most certainly are. Provided you remember you no longer work for the Sanctuary and don't inform them of our guests or their activities." He said and I saw the hesitation in his face. I cuddled into him.

"You know I won't." I said. But his hesitation hadn't been over trusting me, as he stepped back and looked at me his Gist started to emerge. I'd never seen it happen outside of a battle, so it was eerie to see it emerge without Anton struggling. His eyes were closed though, and I knew I was on my own as the Gist locked its black eyes onto me and flashed me a grin filled with razor-sharp teeth.

Run, Val, run! I mean, stay, Val, stay. Oh, dear. Is he going to be a friendly Gist or will Valkyrie be torn to ribbons? Stay tuned to find out.