A/N: I don't own Skulduggery, Ghastly, Tanith, or Valkyrie. Please note: There are several spellings for Cú Sídhe. As far as I know the one I chose is still used in Ireland though you see other spellings as well.

I awoke later that night, twisting and thrashing in pain. It felt like every part of me was being cut to pieces by a million razors, and all at once. The pain was so intense I couldn't even scream, but my body still thrashed from side to side against my will. I became aware through my haze of pain the Skulduggery was holding me, talking to me. "Valkyrie! Valkyrie, can you hear me?"

"Yes." I managed to hiss out.

"You're Surging. Just hold on, I know it hurts, but just hold on, listen to my voice, that's it. That's right, relax, I'm here. I'm here now." He moved away briefly and the light came on. I shut my eyes at the sudden brightness and could hear him move away. I heard water running, then felt a cold cloth on my brow. I opened my eyes to look at him.

"I think I frightened ten years off your life, I'm sorry." I managed to rasp.

"Yes, I did get frightened, but just because you're in pain. I never know what to do when you're in pain. I can ignore my own, but I can feel yours, if that makes any sense." I nodded, fighting down the pain the movement brought. The pain was still blindingly intense, but Skulduggery's voice and presence were helping.

"God, Skulduggery. I'm going to be useless to you for days, aren't I? What if the killer attacks?"

"Hush now. Yes, You'll be weak, and certainly no magic for the next several days until you recover, but we've always had a plan in place in the event of you Surging in the middle of a case."

"But the cave, the killer. I need to get into my armour, I need-" I tried to sit up and gave a pitiful yelp as my pain doubled. I fell back, defeated.

"Hush." Skulduggery took the cold cloth and began smoothing it over my sweat-drenched face and neck. I realized my hair was plastered to my head and my football jersey was sticking to me. I must have looked terrible, but if Skulduggery noticed, he didn't let on. He cocked his head slightly at me before continuing. "If worst comes to worst, and I don't believe it will, Lord Vile will go into battle himself, and he'll be all the more dangerous because he'll know you're in danger. I don't have to tell you how much of a rage seeing his family hurt puts him in, do I? I didn't think so. He'll vent all that rage in the cave or the killer. It should be most amusing."

"Lord Vile has some serious anger management issues." I teased.

"You tend to bring out the best in him." Skulduggery teased back. "Now if you think you'll be OK, I have some tea I set aside for your Surge. Don't worry Lovegate had nothing to do with it. In the meantime I'll get you one of the leaves Tanith also supplied me with."

I nodded and he left, and came back shortly. I chewed the leaf, feeling much of my pain and nausea leave me. "You know," I said around the leaf, "I get the feeling these leaves are illegal."

"Mmm. Not among us, and they aren't quite the plant you're thinking of. It's just a soothing sedative, non-addictive. Can you sit up for your tea?"

Skulduggery's touch was tender as he helped me sit up. He smiled at me, and held me gently as I drank the soothing tea. It tasted like he had put honey in it, and various spices. It was good, and calming.

"There. Then the worst is over. You'll feel twinges but nowhere near as bad as you would have felt without the leaf and tea. The pain after all, is hardly necessary to the Surge. At least that is the working theory in my family. I spent two weeks in bed during mine, since we only had what we had. The teas helped some but not like what we have today."

"That must have been terrible. I still choose Elemental you know."

"You- You don't have to choose. Part of Vile's gift to you is that the armour will always work for you. It shouldn't of course with you choosing Elemental, but then he was never fond of rules or not getting his own way."

"I like how he thinks."

"He thought you would."

"What abilities will I have now, how am I different?"

"Your abilities from before will be stronger, you may find you have news ones. You are different because you've come into your full power. You were powerful enough before in battle, I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of you now."

He titled his head at me. "Hungry? I'll bring you something."

"Yes, and I can I get up and get a shower?"

"All right, but be careful. I'm standing outside the door in case you need me." I felt as shaky as a kitten, but he helped me stand and guided me to the bathroom. I managed a quick shower, then belatedly remembered I'd need clothes.

"Skulduggery? Could you throw my clothes in?"

"You want to get dressed?" He sounded surprised.

"I think I'd feel better downstairs, I hate being sick in bed."

"Very well. But your passing up the chance to hear me sing 'Soft Kitty' I'll have you know." He said through the door.

"But I'm not sick." I replied, amused.

The door opened slightly and he handed my clothes in.

"Injured and drugged is a kind of sick."

I paused in dressing. "Skulduggery, have you been watching TV?" I asked, amused.

"No, but I do have Internet access on my mobile. You looked very much like Penny a few minutes ago."

"You do realize," I finished dressing and opened the door. "that makes you my Sheldon, right?"

Skulduggery made a tsking sound. "It makes me no such thing. Well, come along then. Slowly, that's it. Are you sure you're up to stairs? No, hold still." Before I could protest he lifted me into his arms and carried me down the steps.

I nuzzled into him, enjoying the smell of his clothing and the slightest scent of bone. We got downstairs and he set me down gently at the kitchen table, helping me to sit. Skulduggery kissed me chastely on the forehead, ruffling my hair slightly. It was still damp, so his manipulated the water out, again leaving it fuller and softer than usual.

"I need to get you to do that more often."

"Mmm, you'll pick the skill up over time."

"But it is nicer when you do it." He smiled, pleased.

Once he was sure I could handle coffee and toast Skulduggery led me into the living room, making sure I took more coffee with me. "Now I know you're still hungry, famished even. The next several days you'll be eating more than usual. So let me order some take away for you."

"Skulduggery, it is the middle of the night."

"Yes, and the Chinese you enjoy so much delivers all night." He smiled, flicked on the TV for me, then took out his mobile, walking away. I vaguely heard him talking, but the TV was soothing, and I was soon watching a show on Colt Peacemakers rather attentively. Skulduggery came and sat beside me, wrapping an arm around me and bundling me into him.

He gestured, and the folded blanket from the far end of the sofa came and wrapped around us. I sipped my coffee, and snuggled in deeper. "Skulduggery?"

"Mmm?"

"If I tell you something, something good, you promise not to get annoyed?"

'I fail to see how something good would annoy me, but yes, I promise."

"There was a book I glanced through in the library we found, on living skeletons."

"Ah, then I'm not a rarity, then?"

"No, I still think you are, but there's magic in it that would enable you to do things if you wanted to, I think."

"Such as?"

"Well I didn't get a good look at it, but there was magic to allow you to eat. As far as I can tell the magic in the book involves me be willing to help you, but that's a given." I felt him shift slightly and turned from the TV to face him.

"Are you serious? This isn't a joke of some kind, is it, Valkyrie?"

"No, not unless the book itself is a joke, but it sounded serious."

"You'd do that for me? Help me eat again?"

"Of course I would."

"I wonder where the food goes." He mused.

"The book said it is just gone, I think. You'd be hungry though, but not for any biological reasons."

"Mmm. I'd appreciate that very much if it could work. Our grocery bill would double, but I'd love to be able to eat with you. Though I will be content to just watch you eat if it doesn't work or you change your mind. The book sounds, well, suspiciously like love magic, to be honest. I'd have thought you had enough of that."

"Lovegate never practiced love magic, she practiced, well, hate magic isn't a word-"

"It is now, but you're right. She specialized in curses, disguised as love magic. You know, I'll be terribly spoiled if you go through with this, even more so than now. Also, if I recall correctly, I can put away my own weight in food. I never liked to eat alone, either."

"Sounds fine by me. I've noticed some men are like that. It must be your hunter-gatherer instincts kicking in."

"I think it is. We killed the vicious box of take away and want to share the repast, proving what mighty hunters and good providers we are."

I laughed softly, and finished my coffee. "Did you ever go hunting?"

"Of course. When I was alive it was a much more vital skill than now. I was rather fond of rabbits and wild boars, the occasional fallow deer, and fishing for salmon. I'd like to do that again some day, if you have no womanly objections to me shooting the small and furry among us."

"You can still hunt the deer, but I think animal conservationists would frown on boar hunting. Though if there are enough out there to hunt now they are an invasive species, so feel free to blast away for the good of Ireland."

He laughed. "I will at that. Ah, food's here, no don't move." I waited as he paid, then returned with several cardboard boxes, each brimming with take away containers.

"Skullduggery!" I said, highly amused.

"I told you you would be hungry. Just stay there I'll bring you something."

"I can eat in the kitchen."

"Nonsense. Here, pepper beef, and I took the liberty of ordering you sodas. You need the sugar." He handed over the box of food and a Coke. I dug in, and he was right, I was famished. I think it was a family-sized portion, but I inhaled it quickly. Skulduggery looked pleased. "You take after me. I finished off a whole hare on my own my first meal after my Surge. Pleased my older brother to no end since he liked hunting with me. Him getting to bring back game was even better. Cooked it himself too, wouldn't even hear of letting my mother near it." Skulduggery smiled gently at the memory.

"He sounds like a fine brother. You sound like you tried and eat him out of house and home."

Skulduggery preened. "A good appetite is becoming on a man, or a beautiful young partner going through her Surge. I've never approved of women who eat like birds. Then they languish around all day."

"You have very strong opinions on a lot of things."

"That I do, and I'm always right too."

Later that afternoon I drowsed on the couch, wrapped in a blanket after Skulduggery had insisted I eat again. I was bored, but far too sleepy to do much about it. He'd also insisted on another leaf and cup of tea when he could see my pain had increased. He looked down at me as he held my head in his lap in amusement. "You are absolutely helpless right now, and quiet too. I like it."

I managed a small growl in reply and he laughed. "Aww, is the warm kitty sleepy?" Then he sang "Soft Kitty' and I fell into a deep sleep. I awoke several hours later, Skulduggery still holding me.

"You kept watch?"

"Of course, you're very vulnerable to magical attack right now. Ghastly knows you'd refuse to be kept in the Sanctuary, so he's trusting me to keep an eye on you, and I called on an old friend to help. Meet Cú Sídhe." I realized I heard a soft panting and turned my head. For a moment my heart stopped, but only for a moment, for even though the massive white hound across from me had glowing red eyes, he also smiled at me in canine greeting.

He came over and softly pressed his muzzle into my hand, then licked my face in reassurance. The Cú Sídhe whined in pleasure as I sat up and scratched behind his red-lined ears. I stroked his shaggy coat, fussing over him, and making sure to tell him what a fine hound he was. "What a gentleman of a hound you are, good Sir." I praised, him, sure to be overly generous. The Cú Sídhe was known to bring death and misfortune just by being sighted, and had a well-earned reputation for tearing people into shreds for rude behavior.

"He likes you. I rescued this particular Cú Sídhe centuries ago. It was a test I think, but he's been a loyal friend ever since. He's as intelligent as you or I am, so feel free to talk to him while I see about your supper."

"Do you want anything, Sir?" I asked my new guardian. He wagged his tail happily in response. Skulduggery nodded, getting up. The Cú Sídhe licked his hand in affection and he scratched the hound behind the ears.

"You don't need to be quite so formal. Valkyrie. Cú Sídhe is as fine a name as any, and he seems to like it. Stay by her side, please, Cú Sídhe." The Faerie hound promptly got on the couch with me, laying his head in my lap. He looked up with his glowing red eyes beseechingly. I smiled and petted his head, eliciting a soft sigh of canine pleasure.

Skulduggery returned with two boxes, and I let Cú Sídhe have his pick. He chose the beef with brocoli, and ate surprisingly daintily, his tail wagging in pleasure. He looked up every so often and I swear I heard him say thanks. "You've made a friend for life now, Valkyrie. You showed him a kindness by sharing your food with him. No offense meant, but I'm pleasantly surprised. You weren't raised around animals, were you?"

"My grandmother lived with Irish Wolfhounds. They aren't the same as Cú Sídhe of course, but she said to always feed any animals you lived with first. She also fed strange animals insisting they were Sìth. In some cases, I guess she was right." Cú Sídhe looked up, wagging his tail happily. He left his meal to come over and lick my face in appreciation. I gave him a piece of the sesame chicken I was eating, and he carried it back to his own box gently, then ate it. He looked up, smiling in gratitude.

"Just never thank him or any of the aes sídhe for anything, ever. They don't like it any more than I do."

"I sometimes swear you are half aes sídhe yourself, Skulduggery."

"I never said I wasn't." I looked up from my nearly finished dinner and he grinned at me. "I'm kidding. I think I do quite well, being human."

"You do at that."

Cú Sídhe had curled up with me on the couch as I slept again, something Skulduggery assured me was an adorable sight. Cú Sídhe got down happily when I awoke, and we were both ravenous. Skulduggery brought more boxes out and refused any apologies on my part. "You need to eat now, I told you you'd be hungry. I didn't mention the sleeping part because I know you hate being out of commission. The good news is that your pain should be gone for good, but you will still be ravenous and sleepy for about two weeks." He saw my expression and continued. "Don't worry. We have six days until the cave or killer arises. By then you'll be more than ready to face him, and even if you aren't, well, we know what a good mood that will put Vile in. Plus," he continued, " Cú Sídhe has agreed to stay here until you are at full strength again. He'll stay doubly now that you've done him a kindness."

We were both finished so Skulduggery collected the boxes, smiling as Cú Sídhe came over to me again, rearing up to put his massive front paws delicately on my shoulders, and licking my face with soft growls of appreciation. I rubbed his massive chest and neck, enjoying his rumbling growls of pleasure. "You know, Cú Sídhe, we both have to watch over Skulduggery too." I said once Skulduggery left the room. He craned his head down to look at me, and I could tell he understood and agreed.

When we went to bed that night Cú Sídhe positioned himself at the foot of the bed, sitting in an alert position. "Don't you need to sleep?" I asked him. He looked back, making a gentle snorting sound, and I knew he meant 'no'. I smiled in reply, and he grinned at me, flashing his long canines in delight.

"Does Ghastly know he's here?" I asked Skulduggery.

"Lord no. And don't tell him either. He'd have a heart attack if he knew."

Cú Sídhe gave an annoyed grunt in reply. "He just means Ghastly would be in awe of you, Cú Sídhe. You're such a fine and fierce hound, after all." I said soothingly. He looked back at me, grinning broadly in delight. When I turned out the light a short time later I could see his bright red eyes flash as he looked back at us every so often.

Next morning I had to walk around Skulduggery as he sat on the floor stroking Cú Sídhe's pure white coat. The Faerie hound's head was in his lap, and he was gazing up at Skulduggery with a look of utter devotion. I shook my head, hoping neither one was getting too strongly attached. Cú Sídhe would have to return to his Mound sooner or later, no doubt, and it wasn't among the nature of any Faerie to linger for long in the mortal world.

I dressed and went out to find the two still sitting together. I decided not to bother them, but headed downstairs, realizing with a start that they had arisen silently and were flanking me. We reached the kitchen and Cú Sídhe herded me into my chair while Skulduggery got my coffee ready. I stroked the massive head on my lap and scratched behind his ears. "You know, Cú Sídhe, I feel a it strange doing this, considering you're wiser than I am, and understand every word I say." He gave a deep grunt in reply and shoved his head into my hand so I'd continue scratching.

Skulduggery turned, amused. "I told him that once and he held me down until I petted his muzzle. He would be nicer to you."

"Then you don't mind and aren't offended?" I asked Cú Sídhe. He grunted a happy response and looked up at me with his glowing red eyes. He let me see, for just a moment the vast intelligence that lurked behind them, then blinked them in ecstatic pleasure as I found the perfect spot behind his ear to scratch. I knew then that he would not even leave my side in the battle against the cave or killer, and that he wanted to stay far longer than when I was better. I realized with a start that I could hear these thoughts coming from him. Not words, but intent.

"Are you- You won't sicken and die outside your Mound for so long, will you?" He shook his massive head no. "You realize both Vile and I are Necromancers. You usually guard the dead."

"He knows you would never willingly harm the dead. You respect me, after all. Vile is getting a free pass both on my and your account, mostly yours. Cú Sídhe has bonded to both of us. But the rules are that as the woman of the house you must grant him permission to stay. I agree with him, that he should stay, but it is entirely up to you."

I turned to Cú Sídhe. "You just want babies to guard in the future, don't you?" I teased. He swelled his chest out with pleasure, and I could feel his joy at my acceptance. Had he been human he'd have hugged me, but he settled for putting one paw in my hand. We shook in agreement and now Cú Sídhe had a new home.

Please note: I'm well aware using Cú Sídhe as a proper name is odd, but you never ask the Good Folk for a name if you're smart. Not that a Cú Sídhe could answer, but still. Also Gaelic is literally my fourth language. I can't speak it and only know about ten words, so have some compassion please.