Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

Chapter 102

"Can I borrow the car?" Valkyrie asked Wolf quietly.

He was sat on the edge of his bed delicately because Weasel and Snake had fallen asleep in it. He sighed quietly, grabbed his keys and came out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. "What do you need the car for?" He asked.

She walked with him down the stairs. "Nadia said I could visit her. She's going to pull me through the window."

Wolf snorted and grinned. "She isn't strong enough."

"I am not fat."

"She's still not strong enough."

"How dare you. For your insult, I require the car keys," she said.

He pulled the keys for Gordon's old car that the Idiots commandeered most days and handed them over. "It's your car anyway. We need to get you a real licence."

"I just need to take the test," she shrugged. "You and Tanith taught me to drive everything. I can even drive a van with no back window, so I think I'm good enough to pass."

"I'm not disagreeing, just saying it would be more legal like that," he smiled.

"Legal smegal," she grinned, opening the garage door.

"Hey," he said suddenly and she turned back to him. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She shrugged. "As alright as I can be."

"I mean to see Nadia," he said softly. "I know you're older now and you can make your own decisions, but I'm your brother. I just want to make sure you're not going to rush into something."

She bit her lip. "I'm not going to, like, jump right on her as soon as I get there if that's what you're thinking."

He breathed a laugh. "I didn't think that. It's just that some people, after a traumatic experience like yours, go out and have sex to feel better. Which is fine for some people, but you're my sister. I'd rather bundle you up with hot chocolate than let you do things on impulse."

She hugged him tightly. "Thank you for thinking about me. But be real. Even without me feeling bad, I haven't seen Nadia more than once since we got back together, and she's stressed as hell at home, and she hasn't eaten properly since the Ball. What do you think this bag is full of?"

"A change of clothes?"

"No. It has leftovers, biscuits and snacks. I'm getting fast food on my way to hers too," she said. "I was worried for a while that she wasn't eating because she was getting an eating disorder, and I had no idea how to even talk to her about it, but she said she's really is hungry and wants to eat, so she'll be fine. Right?"

He hugged her tighter. "I hope so. Nadia's a good girl. With you helping her, I bet she'll get better in no time."

"I hope so," she smiled and pulled away. "I'll see you later, or tomorrow."

"Depends if I get my bed back," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"You can sleep in my room," she laughed. He waved her away as she drove Gordon's old car out the garage.

After a quick trip to McDonald's and a rearrangement of bags, she drove over to Nadia's house and parked a whole street away by some different houses that she hadn't parked at before and snuck around to the very back of Nadia's house. She expected her father, if not both her parents, had gotten some new security in the last few months so she was careful about where she hid. She figured the house nearer to Nadia's room was best in terms of being hidden but was harder to get to. She braved the bushes and called Nadia's phone. Once she got the all clear, she ran across the garden and sucked in a breath when Nadia suddenly and very quickly pulled her up to the window.

She grinned as soon as her fingers caught a hold of the sill. "Hey baby," she whispered as she crawled in. Nadia shut it behind her and was then in her arms, hugging her as much as her little muscles could. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you worse," Nadia said quietly into her collar bone. She wished the moment lasted longer, but Nadia pulled away. "Did you bring food?"

"Yeah, go sit on the bed," Valkyrie told her and opened up the bag. "Ta-da!"

Nadia smiled. "A Happy Meal?"

"Look inside."

She opened up the cardboard and giggled. "You filled it with chicken nuggets."

"I bought the big box of nuggets they do and asked for a Happy Meal box. The lady thought it was so funny she did it," Valkyrie smiled. "There are chips at the bottom, and I got a few other things."

Valkyrie tipped the bag upside down on the bed. Dozens of treats, snacks and packets of all sorts of food fell out. "Oh my God Valkyrie," Nadia laughed quietly. "You never change."

She grinned. "I try. And I know not all of these can be eaten alone, but I thought I'd get some of this packet soup and noodles and stuff that's super quick to make. Then at least it's easy, you know? And more filling than a couple of biscuits even if you don't want to make a full meal."

"Thank you," Nadia said, a smile on her pretty lips. Valkyrie's heart jumped in her chest and she was grateful to be back with her again. "I really appreciate your help."

"It's alright. I love you," she reminded her and when Nadia went in for a kiss, Valkyrie pecked her back.

They sat and ate together, sharing a burger, the chips and barely eating all the nuggets before getting into the chocolate biscuits.

"Will you tell me what happened?" Nadia asked her. She was sitting with her back against the headboard and had the little Happy Meal toy sat next to her.

Valkyrie finished her bite, put down the biscuit and wiped her hands. "You mean yesterday?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it. It makes me feel all weird just thinking about it."

"Maybe if you just tell me the basic idea?" Nadia said hopefully. "I can see how upset you are Val. Even after being away from each other for months I can see it. Talk to me."

"If you really want to know," Valkyrie said, rubbing her face in her hands. She told her about the case to start, telling her about the Shunters and warming up to the dead body, then onto Raven being gone at which point they held hands, then she told her about going on the search with Wolf and how they had argued and Crow had been a dick, and her eyes filled with tears when she said how she couldn't talk to her that night. She cried when she said about the fish mongers and ended up blubbering and telling her about the fight and how naked the man had been and how uncomfortable she'd been and how disgusting his body had felt touching and being near her own. Then she sucked in some breaths and told her about the magic and that she'd killed the man before rushing and saying she escaped and Crow hadn't acted at all like he cared.

They were silent and thought to themselves for a long time. Valkyrie stared at the purple bedsheet. After minutes of this, Nadia squeezed her hand and sighed. "You did the right thing."

She looked up and realised Nadia had silent tears on her cheeks. "What do you mean?"

"You killed him. That was the right thing. Someone like that doesn't deserve to live. And I'm sorry Skulduggery isn't talking to you," she said.

Valkyrie nodded slowly, biting her lip and feeling heavy but not altogether guilty. "I didn't mean to do it."

"Well, it doesn't even matter then," Nadia said, putting on a fake smile and sitting up. "It was an accident. No one can fault you for magic going out of whack, right?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"I don't think so." They smiled at each other for a few moments before the front slipped away and they felt sad again.

"Will you tell me why you weren't eating much at school?" Valkyrie asked softly.

She sighed. "I was eating, just a little less than I normally would."

"Why not the normal amount?"

Her shoulders sagged. "I just wasn't hungry. I guess when I'm stressed or upset I just don't. But I tried to eat something at every meal, or, I did at school anyway. I've lost more weight since I came back here."

"Because you're staying away from your parents," Valkyrie concluded.

"Yeah. If they aren't fighting, they're telling me to do things. To eat, talk to the other parent, tell them why this or that happened, asking me to study more. They don't care about making it better, they just expect it to happen. No questions asked. You know?"

"Yeah. Crow can get like that sometimes," Valkyrie nodded. "But I've never been in the middle."

"I'm not in the middle. I'm on the side-lines," Nadia said quietly. "I want this to be better. They're the ones not shutting up long enough to listen."

"And they haven't decided anything on your school?"

"No. Daadii said they shouldn't send me to India, I think I told you that. But she never said they can't. She doesn't really like to play dictator, but she does expect what she wants to happen too, you know? But she's one of those silent 'I told you so' people where you know they think you're making a mistake. Dad just used to be kind of like that, but he always humoured me or Mum even if he knew something wouldn't work. This is just him being mean," Nadia explained. "I just want him to stop being over protective."

"You think it's over protectiveness? He's being downright horrid!"

"I know, but that's what he thinks it is," Nadia said darkly. "I get that he thinks you'll hurt me and this school is meant to be amazing, so I can see why him and Mum like it, but if I'm not even getting good grades, why keep me there? I want to stay here and see you on the weekends like before all this."

Nadia reached over and Valkyrie pulled her so they were side by side comfortably on the bed. "It's okay. Look, even if they do send you back there in September, you only have to be there until your birthday, right? That's less than three months, and I can visit you, send letters, talk on the phone. We can make it work, and when your eighteen you can choose to transfer school yourself, or drop out, or whatever you want. Okay?"

Nadia nodded. "I know. But Mum loves the school and won't be happy, and Dad will hate it if he's still trying to force me into doing every little thing he wants."

"You might have to do things they don't want sometimes," Valkyrie said, perhaps a little sulkier than she meant to.

Nadia smiled. "I know, don't worry. If they send me, I will leave when I can, it's just the point of them doing what I want. You know?"

"Yeah," she smiled, and they kissed again.

"Your breath smells," Nadia whispers.

"So does yours," Valkyrie smiled, and kissed her again. "Does this mean you want to go to school next year?"

"I haven't decided," Nadia shrugged. "I was thinking for a while I might just do it to get out of here, but I don't want to as well."

"Or, you know, there's always my house," Valkyrie said with a half-smile. "Like always."

"I know, Valkyrie," Nadia rolled her eyes. "I'll stay over when Tanith has the baby. I really want to help her."

"I'm glad your excited," Valkyrie smiled. "The guys are too but I don't think they've worked out yet that it's going to scream and cry and be sick and smell."

"All babies are like that."

"I know. But except for me they don't have experience with babies, and Gordon says they only got into the buying bits for me thing when I was about two or three, so the really little baby thing was never on their minds. I think they think Tanith will magickly clean the baby somehow."

Naida hummed. "Somehow I don't think that's been invented."

"I know. Me and Tanith watched some video's on how to change a nappy so we've got that sorted. And how to wash the reusable nappies. We worked out as well that the reusable nappies save you roughly two thousand euro, even more if you used them for more than one child, and they will last years if Tanith vacuum seals them. It's really economical, more so if you buy them second hand since they literally just need a good sanitising. And unless someone else buys the baby clothes, it's best to just get basic cheap onesies because it's all so expensive. Everyone buys you clothes for the baby, so there's no point getting anything other than the cheapest when they're little and just save the money for when they're older and want everything their little friends have."

Nadia shook her head. "It sounds like you and Tanith are the parents. And planning for a few more babies."

"Ghastly's looking forwards to it too," Valkyrie said, a little frown on her face. "But I don't know if he's worked it out either. I think he's assuming he'll keep working? Skulduggery said he was working when his child was little, so I think they're expecting the same here."

"I bet Tanith doesn't like that," Nadia said.

"She wouldn't if I said, but she and Ghastly have been getting on a bit better now he's not pushing her around to relax all the time, and he spends more time without her at work so they're not together so much getting on each other's nerves day and night. I'm hoping, since Tanith says they stay up talking a lot, that they'll kind of talk about baby responsibilities or whatever and kind of work it out. Tanith knows she has me so she isn't panicking, but at the start, before she even told Ghastly, she was really worrying because she doesn't think she can do it alone. If they wait until they have a baby in their arms and Ghastly just tells her he's off to work, there might be a few problems."

"I doubt Ghastly saying he doesn't want to do the gory bits will help him," Nadia said warningly.

"I don't think it's that bad, he's excited to be a dad, I just don't think he knows how much effort it will actually take," Valkyrie reasoned. "I don't know. I feel like my whole life is just this baby and being a detective. I need time off but I can't exactly not turn up to work, and I can hardly get away from the kid."

Nadia nodded and patted her knee. "There there. You've lived through worse."

She snorted. "I know, I'm not complaining. Just saying. I need to spend more time with you, being a teenager and going on dates and stuff."

"You do. I get lonely up here all alone without my warrior princess."

"Please don't say that name in public," Valkyrie asked.

Nadia smirked.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter with the girls, I love them so much. I have sweet things planned for them but there's a shitstorm ahead. Until then, please review and tell me how cute they are because I can't handle this alone!

LonelyGirl702: Your emotions were so strong you couldn't handle the pressure! Thank you for the reminder, my dyslexic ass never notices, same with Adept and Adapt. I'm sorry for forgetting to message you back on the last chapter too, that's twice now, I'm not doing it on purpose, I promise! As for Skulduggery, you will hate him more soon. Spoilers for all (only baby ones), he's going to be repeating a few things from before but with the new adult rating, and others will suffer. I haven't even decided what to do with the basement bar place thing! I have to do something, right? I don't know what. Haven't even thought about it. Maybe I can send Tanith in when she's recovered from having baby, that could be fun. She could just allow all that pent-up energy and frustration out on them all at once after months of pregnancy. Plus she loves her sister, so she'll be mega vengeful. Not a permanent decision, but on the cards for sure! Thank you again for reviewing by the way. PS, the chapter in the future I mentioned has lots of Fletcher for you :)