Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

Chapter 90

They got back and did indeed talk about it, but Valkyrie only asked for the family who she would appreciate advice from. Luckily, the full family was home. She had Tanith, of course, Anton, Dexter and Skulduggery.

Now, usually Crow wouldn't be involved in advice giving since he was prone to insulting her, but she wanted a perspective from the law this time.

They gathered in Valkyrie's room because that's where she was stressing when Tanith brought them to her.

"Calm down, Cub," Wolf said immediately, a warm smile on his face. "Sit down with us and talk."

She crawled onto the bed and sat against the headboard with Wolf, his arm around her waist comfortably. Bear opted for a chair at the side of the bed, Crow sat on the edge at the end and Tanith plonked herself cross-legged in the middle with a packet of crisps. On the way home she'd shouted she was too full and felt sick, but it seemed to have faded now.

Valkyrie told them what happened. She tried not to talk about how astonished she was to see her and how amazing she looked, but Wolf asked a few questions about it and she ended up blushing and agreeing that yes, she was blown away. They then spoke about the health side of Nadia and they were all equally worried. Her family loved Nadia because she loved her. They didn't want her suffering, especially as they feared it was down to stress.

When they started talking about Mr Vinay, they got more serious. "I just don't understand why he isn't letting me near her if he asked me to do it, even if he wasn't completely on board. He came alone the first time. If he really hates me that much, surely he wouldn't come at all."

"I find it strange how he's gone from that lovely man before to the one he is now," Tanith mused.

"There is a chance he was controlling before, but that his family was cooperative with what he wanted," Wolf said thoughtfully.

Valkyrie shrugged. "Nadia never mentioned it. She always spoke about how her dad was on her side a lot and that her mum was always trying to force her into things. I mean, even when they were saying how she'd lost weight and the school wanted to send her home Mrs Keena was saying how amazing the place was and that she wanted her to stay there."

"People change," Crow said. "Or perhaps Dexter is right and it is only now he is exerting his power over the family. It may be after spending time with his mother, who you said is head of the family and enjoys family traditions very much, he has decided to be more like her."

Valkyrie nodded. "I suppose that would make sense. But it doesn't help Nadia."

"No, it does not," Crow agreed.

"Why don't you go visit her again?" Wolf said.

"She may not welcome an intrusion," Bear interjected.

"Bear might be right. I remember her saying the rooms at the school are shared and at home they were being more vigilant over her, at least last summer. Maybe it's changed since she came home this time, but I personally don't want to get caught, plus I don't think it'll make her life easier," Valkyrie told them. "I can still send a letter, but I doubt Mr Vinay will let her have it, and I expect they'll be checking on her phone."

"You need to see her outside the house," Wolf said, grinning very much like Snake would, the most secretly cunning of them all. "Nadia's parents love parties, right? So we need to hold a Ball."

"It'll need to be really damn good one to get them to come," Valkyrie fretted.

"The Requiem Ball is being held this year," Crow said. "Usually Corrival holds it at his house, but the location is still always left until the last moment to reduce the chance of attack, and I doubt they'd not come just because of us. If we get the guest list as inviting as possible, I expect we could convince them to come."

"And hold it here?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes. We'll need to make a few changes to the house, but that's for Anton and Erskine to do," Crow said. "We can have more control over who comes if we hold it here."

Valkyrie nodded. "It's worth a shot. How long do we have?"

"If we talk to Corrival, we can get it done."

"Could you do that now?" Valkyrie asked excitedly.

"I can tell Corrival when he gets here," Bear nodded. She hadn't told them about the nickname for him yet, she'd been so busy. She would do it soon. She needed everyone calling him Pa, after all. Yes, forcing her idea of a perfect family on them was wrong and slightly creepy, yes she was still going to do it.

"So we've worked out a way for me to maybe see her, but now what?" Valkyrie said.

"Kidnap her?" Tanith suggested.

"Well, I was kind of thinking about that, yeah," Valkyrie laughed. "I'm just wondering though, if she decides she wants to stay here, at any time, is she legally allowed to? Can Mr Vinay force us to send her home? She's not a legal adult until mid-December."

"He can cause a stirrup and tell everyone that we stole her, but once they interview her and find she's with us willingly they won't do much because she's almost an adult. If anything, our laws are laxer than the mortal ones on when a child is legally called an adult, even if most mages consider people children until we're at minimum over fifty. Once a physic can assess they're old enough to make a rational decision, they have the power essentially."

"That's good," Valkyrie nodded. "And it also might explain why he's trying to keep her away from me. If we invite some of his family from around the world as well, he'll probably feel quite comfortable knowing there's eyes on Nadia all the time."

"Agreed," Crow said. "If we work as a family to cause as much distraction as possible, it should be free sailing. Invite mostly business people, bring in the man that runs your family business in trust since he hasn't been seen at public functions in years, we can dance with the family and if it looks like Mr Vinay is about to pounce on you, we can call for a toast."

"What if we hold a dinner too?" Wolf suggested.

"Dinner," Tanith grinned.

Laughing a little, Crow said, "There hasn't been a Requiem Dinner and Ball before, but I see no reason why not. We can extend the party by a few hours like that also."

"I like it," Valkyrie grinned.

"Good," Wolf said, kissing her forehead. "Because I'm out of ideas."

.*****.

The Ball was scheduled for barely three weeks from then and they were just able to ram themselves in there as hosts and convince Corrival it was okay to break the trend and have a Dinner also. Crow was looking forward to it and had told them over dinner that he had asked Raven to be his formal date and they had all cheered him.

Valkyrie had informed them of Raven's code name at the same time, much to their amusement, and then told them they were all to call Corrival Pa from now on. They were reluctant at first because they were manly men and manly men didn't give in to calling their former Sargent Pa immediately, but once they heard Valkyrie say it a few times and said Pa was very happy to be included in their family, his real name was no longer uttered, at least in private.

She didn't expect them to ever really say it in front of others, but that was okay. It was still very nice.

Valkyrie got to help Pa and Snake with the guest list with a little help from the others. They found out who Mr Vinay was doing business with and who he might want to do business with, they cut out one of the original guests that he absolutely hated and they added in all of Mrs Keena's closest friends who they heard from social circles she hadn't seen in a while. They also included families with respectable teenage children they might want Nadia mingling with.

They then made the food as appetising as possible while Bear had an emergency kitchen revamp to fit the cooks and other staff needed for the dinner.

Gordon got in on the rest of the cleaning and other revamping. He had the floors polished and a whole room got new flooring entirely, the chandeliers were changed one night so Valkyrie woke up to a bit of a surprise, and the bathrooms were essentially refitted with the most modern, pretty appliances. She couldn't complain about that, they were gorgeous grey stone sinks and counters, the taps were like small waterfalls and the floor was a dark tile, and the toilet had heating built into it. Her home turned into a fancy hotel downstairs and she loved each change. The only thing she asked for was some new pictures on the wall.

Tanith helped her with that request. She had met someone at her maternity hospital that did photography and agreed to do the pictures as long as she could bring her baby since she had no one to leave them with.

It worked out perfectly because the young photographer had strapped the baby to her front – they were all smiling and loving on the child so their pictures were perfect. They had a massive canvas sent to them that went in the living room, otherwise known as the parlour, and several others printed to put around the downstairs. They were really nice, and Valkyrie and Tanith cooed over the baby when the men had a formal photo with Pa. That one looked serious and stern but also had father sons vibes so the girls had deemed it acceptable. The sisters had some cute photos done of them as well, but they were less formal and more sitting in a tree.

By the time it was one day before the Ball, they had the whole place set up and perfect, and as an added bonus, Tanith didn't faint in all that time.

Waiting on the RSVPs was difficult, but they also weren't required. She had no idea if Mr Vinay, Mrs Keena or especially Nadia would be coming, but they did get a lovely little note and a massive bouquet of flowers from the rest of Mr Vinay's extended family as a whole that did agree to come. Either he was not as he wasn't on that note, or he just didn't want to give them flowers and was coming. Valkyrie put the flowers in a vase in the parlour so everyone would see them when they came in. Bear said it would make it look as if it was their favourite gift, which formally people would give when going to a formal dinner and event. They hadn't received any other presents as this wasn't a private party, but that wasn't the point.

Of course, the day before was when she and Tanith decided to talk about outfits and realised they didn't have one.

"Don't worry," Panda said, rolling his eyes. "I finished your dresses last week. I was just waiting for you to remember."

"Thank god," Tanith said, breathing a sigh of relief. She kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

Panda had thought of everything the needed, so they put it in their rooms and went out to a salon to get prettied up.

And tomorrow they would have the big day.

.*****.

Tomorrow came slowly.

They woke up early because Snake was excited and woke them all up. They had a nice breakfast and Valkyrie put Tanith's hair in big rollers and Tanith put Valkyrie's in little ones. They dressed in easy to take off clothes – to get over their hair and makeup later – and they were prepped. The others had nothing to do because they were men and men didn't take much doing up for these things. They had to comb the house for anything that wasn't clean and clean it instead. Gordon was set up downstairs to talk to people as well.

It got to eleven o'clock and they were done. Bored. Nothing to do. It was an awkward situation of being completely ready to do things but it being too early to do any of those things. They went over the plan of how to act to give Valkyrie time with Nadia and convince her to let her visit or even to outright live with Valkyrie, but that was a short talk.

Then there was a knock on the door.

They all looked at each other and shrugged. None of them expecting anyone over. Valkyrie, hair still in rollers, went and answered it. She grinned.

"Hi," she said, giving him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I got an invite from Tanith for the big party tonight," he grinned, his sunny personality shining through. "And she said she has big news!"

"She sure does," Valkyrie smiled and let him in. "She's through here. Do you want tea?"

"I love tea," he said and followed her through into the parlour. "Tanith!"

"Brother!" Tanith squealed and jumped on him. "I'm so glad you made it!"

They hugged tightly and when they pulled apart, they held hands and he looked them over on both sides and sagged. "Aw, I bet Mum and Dad you were engaged. What else could be your big news?"

"Err," Tanith started, turning around and sitting herself safely back on the sofa. "So, you know Ghastly Bespoke?"

"The one you liked, yes," he said, crossing his arms. Panda came into the room then with a tray of teacups and a pot. "What about him?"

"Well, we kind of started dating…"

"And?"

"I'm nineteen weeks pregnant? Which is almost five months?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep sigh as Tanith and the others watched. He spun and stared at Panda, who'd wisely passed the tea tray to Crow. Panda rubbed his hands on his trousers and stepped up to the former assassin.

"You got my sister pregnant," he stated.

"Err, yes," Panda agreed with a small blush. "That err… yes, I did."

"And you're not marrying her?" He asked, a glare sliding over his face and masking any trace of happiness or love.

Panda hesitated. "Not at this moment. We are dating though."

Tanith's brother rushed Panda and Panda flinched as if he were just going to take it when Tanith's brother suddenly decided to hug him instead. He began laughing and held Panda tightly. "This is so exciting! I'm going to be an Uncle!"

Tanith started laughing. "I really thought he'd hit you then."

"Me too," Valkyrie laughed. Panda was so pale it was funny.

"I'm still annoyed you're not getting married though. I have to paint the garage for Dad now. And I had a whole speech to convince you to let me do the speech instead of Dad! But I'm so excited for this now. I think it's going to be a girl," he grinned, slapping Panda on the back.

"No, it's going to be a boy," Valkyrie frowned. How dare he think differently. "Tanith wants a girl too."

"I don't want one," she said with a roll of her eyes, and then it morphed into an evil grin. "This time."

Her brother laughed at the joke but Panda's laugh was more than nervous. "Tea," he said faintly and fell into his chair.

Stuff is happening guys! Enough to make up for my lack of chapters and the mess up a few days ago, but it's all good now, and I am so excited for this ball, you can't even imagine.

Lonelygirl702 - Don't you worry, I have plans for that man, they are far away but definitely exist and they will make us all happy. It was Tanith who got the haircut, sorry I didn't make that clear! Valkyrie still has really long hair. Which is kind of impractical but it's in the books, so there you go.

TheBelowAverageAuthor - I will add Sam to the list, I'm just as unsure on the name as Tanith is honestly, but I am still adding potential names and we'll see what happens, I feel like the baby is super far away too but we're over halfway through the pregnancy it's so exciting!

Thank you both for your reviews, I do love them :)