Note: I know nothing about brains and brain injuries. This is fanfiction and I made it up based on what I figured would sound about right in a magic world

Chapter 118

One day awake

The first day was the hardest. Valkyrie's family stayed at the hospital, sleeping there uncomfortably, at least in Tanith's case, and waiting for Valkyrie brain to essentially 're-wire' itself. 'Re-wiring' was the best way Nadia knew to describe it, but Civet used big, medical words when he spoke to the Dead Men or his husband or Doctor Kenspeckle.

'Re-wiring' was easier. Valkyrie relearnt within an hour how to control her facial expressions and had a quick memory jog when she poked herself in the eye and remembered that it hurt and not to do it.

Kenspeckle had made up and had given to Civet, who gave it to Valkyrie, a lumpy, disgusting mixture that was standard to use on coma or memory loss patients. It was slow acting, they said, and had been used for centuries. Throughout the day and that night, Valkyrie took gulps of it to speed up her recovery.

Her first fit of anger had been the worst. Nadia had been taking a break on her bed, her own rather than snuggled up with her girlfriend, staring at the ceiling and unable to sleep, and Dexter had been reading to Valkyrie. She'd been captivated at first, staring with her mouth open and drooling, seemingly happy to listen, but when Dexter closed the book at the end of the chapter, she had begun screaming and hitting.

Nadia had hated it and ran to the waiting room while Valkyrie's brothers restrained her. Civet had run it and helped, telling them to keep calm and giving Valkyrie a mild sedative that made her sleepy and passive. It had shaken Nadia massively to see the anger on Valkyrie's pretty face, but she had known there was a chance of it happening. Valkyrie was like a small child at that point, and just like a child, she demonstrated her emotions more so than her voice. It just had scared her.

The second day was far, far better, though much, much harder. Valkyrie, during her sleep, had worked out how to eat with her hands, albeit messily, and how to grin, and how to point and demand basic things. In a toddler, it would be cute, but in an almost full-grown woman with the physique of a six-foot-plus lightweight bodybuilder, it was incredibly difficult. And that was before the cringing when Valkyrie had a temper tantrum and screamed her lungs out that she couldn't have a syringe or dirty bowl or be hugged all day.

The hugging part was cute. Her brothers spent the whole day sitting on the floor with an arm around her, cushions all over the floor to make sure Valkyrie was safe. Unfortunately, she hadn't worked out her own strength yet and Nadia couldn't hug Valkyrie because of it. She'd had her hair pulled and it hurt too much to try again. She couldn't blame Valkyrie – she reminded herself of that when she'd cried – because Valkyrie was currently not herself. But she wished more every hour for the moment Valkyrie would be whole again.

.*****.

Three days awake

Nadia was in the waiting room taking a breather when she heard footsteps coming up the stairwell. She put on a smile because that was polite, but it fell away when she saw who it was.

"Nadia," Ghastly said, taking his hat off. He looked miserable and had black bags under his eyes.

"Have you been in a fight?" She asked instead of a greeting. She was not a friend of his right now.

He coughed uncomfortably. "Nothing major," he said lowly. "I was going to see how Valkyrie's doing."

"Valkyrie needs a positive environment to aid her recovery," Nadia told him, crossing her arms. "I don't think it will be very good for her for you to bring back tempers."

"Bring back – what do you mean?" He frowned. "I haven't done anything unless you mean to be angry with Skulduggery. Is Skulduggery in there?"

"No, he hasn't even tried coming here," she told him, conceding that Ghastly had put the effort in. "But your own temper proves my point."

"I haven't done anything Nadia," he said irritably, but obviously trying to remain as calm as he could. "I want to see my sister, I don't see why that would be a problem."

Nadia had suspected, along with the other, that he might not realise his mistake but Nadia hadn't wanted to be the only to break it to him. "Can I at least get Tanith so you can speak to her before coming in?"

He sighed but after a moment where Nadia thought he was going to push past her, he nodded. "Alright."

Nadia nodded and went back into the ward and looked around. Tanith was sitting on a cushion holding Valkyrie's hand while Saracen read her a book. It was one of Gordon's, a gory one that Valkyrie had hidden in her room and read as a child so they were using that to jog her up to an older age or perhaps a few more memories. She wasn't entirely sure those things were helping Valkyrie, but it made her family happy so Nadia didn't say anything and neither did Civet. Quietly, she tapped on Tanith's shoulder.

Tanith extracted herself from Valkyrie, who was getting better with the independence compared to yesterday and followed her into the waiting room.

"Ghastly's in the lobby," Nadia whispered.

Tanith immediately soured and didn't even answer her back before storming into the lobby. She knew she shouldn't, but Nadia couldn't help but stay and listen.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Tanith whispered angrily at Ghastly. She couldn't see them but took glee in imagining how frightened Ghastly must look. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Or a toy?"

"Tanith–"

"Don't you even bother," she spat at him. "Where have you been?"

"At the shop, working," he told her, an irritated bite in his voice.

"So you could have called then? You could have sent a message, asked about Valkyrie, asked about me? Hum?"

Ghastly was quiet.

"Oh, no, I understand, you must have so much pressure going through the same things the rest of us are, except you're ignoring us, not helping to find Skulduggery, not even bothering to ask about Valkyrie. And that's before this. You pushed into me on the way out Ghastly. I had to go to the maternity hospital, and they want to induce me early if the baby keeps getting distressed. You're not helping!"

Ghastly groaned, probably into his hands, and Nadia felt as if her curiosity was satisfied but couldn't quite pull herself away from the wall. "I had no idea–"

"Yeah, I know you didn't, you didn't bloody well call me!" Tanith said angrily.

"If I had known–"

"Then what? 'If I'd known' you'd what? You can't go back Ghastly, I want to know what you're doing now!" Tanith asked him exasperatedly.

"I don't know," he said back quietly, his voice strained. "I didn't want – I didn't think it was like this."

"Like what?" She snapped back dangerously.

"Like this! I didn't think you were this upset with me, I didn't know I'd hurt you! I'm sorry Tanith. I – If I'd known I'd have been here to apologise. But I didn't know. I was trying to work things out."

"I'm not interested in that," she said back. Nadia could hear a growl in the woman's voice. "I want to know what you were expecting this to be."

He spluttered for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"You said you didn't think it was like this. Well, what did you think it would be like after you didn't call your girlfriend who is in the third trimester of a difficult pregnancy for, what, thirteen days?" Ghastly didn't say anything Nadia could hear. "No answer? Tell me Ghastly, I want to know. Be honest, now."

Even Nadia was hoping he wouldn't answer that. He didn't seem to understand the dangers. "I thought you'd be glad to see me!" He snapped. "I thought we were working."

"Glad to see you?" She repeated. Nadia cringed. "It's been thirteen days, what do you think I was doing? Counting the hours? And as for us working, you need to get a grip. You killed us before we had a real chance."

"I – I killed us?" Ghastly asked, some anger, some sorrow in his voice. He needed to begin begging, that much was obvious, but he didn't have a grip on his anger. "I've tried from the start, but every time I try you think I'm taking your independence."

"Telling me what to do all the time is the exact reason this got so bad!" Tanith said, her voice rising. "You have no concept of how much space I need!" There was a moment of very quiet muttering in which Nadia thought Tanith was trying to calm herself. She began again in a quieter voice. "Look, Ghastly, you need to go."

"I still need to see–"

"Don't. See Valkyrie when she's better, it'll only take a few more days. You need to leave," Tanith said. Her tone was final.

It seemed to dawn on Ghastly that he might not be able to save his relationship. "What about us?" He asked, his voice quiet.

"We're done, Ghastly. I'll be in touch," Tanith quietly told him, and she heard her footsteps as she waddled down the hall and straight back into the ward.

Nadia had to stay quiet so she wasn't caught now the two weren't fighting and actually felt bad when she heard Ghastly begin to cry. She didn't feel so good about being able to tell Valkyrie now. Just one more fuck up to add to the list, she supposed, and made her way back to the ward too.

.*****.

Four days awake

Overnight, Valkyrie's brain did miraculous things and pulled itself from its childhood stupor. She was still incapable of what she had before, but Nadia had been there to help wake her up and as soon as she'd opened her eyes, she'd blushed upon seeing Nadia.

It had made her heart jump for joy, and all of Valkyrie's family had gotten a laugh out of it. Then she'd seen her family and laughed back, grinning and calling out their names perfectly as if nothing was wrong at all. Nadia had cried a bit as all her brothers and Tanith had hugged her and told Valkyrie they loved her. They knew not everything was okay yet, but it was a lot better than the day before. As her luck went, Nadia was not on the list of people she remembered yet, but Civet had said it came in stages, so she didn't give up hope.

When Tanith had hugged her, Valkyrie had let go and pointed at Tanith's belly and declared she was fat. Tanith had a thick skin, luckily, and have laughed and told her about the baby and Valkyrie had been fascinated and asked to hold it. Tanith had been patient and acted like Valkyrie was a child as she spoke and told her how to look after the baby because although a massive chunk had returned to Valkyrie, she was still acting a little like a kid. There was no meltdown of tears or anger that day, thank goodness, and she had an amazing perception of where things were around her, and when Civet asked her to read off a sheet, she had stumbled and been slow but had read every line with patience and accuracy. Civet had grinned like a loon.

"How about we give you something to eat then, Valkyrie?" Civet had said, and left for a moment, leaving Valkyrie literally bouncing on her bed in excitement which Nadia wished she was allowed to record and came back with a massive bowl of strawberries. "Do you like strawberries, Valkyrie?"

"Yes," Valkyrie grinned sitting still at the end of the bed like a dog.

"And you remember that you have to take off the green bits, yes?"

"Yep," she said, popping the p at the end of the word. Nadia remembered her talking like that when they went on their first date or two, but she'd not done it since. It was cute.

"I was thinking everyone could share them," Civet told her, bringing the strawberries to a large table that had been brought into the room. "I need you to have a bit of that medicine first, and then would you like to eat and talk?"

Valkyrie didn't answer, just glugged down some of the foul looking medicine that was helping her get better rapidly, and went to sit at the table.

Nadia got a seat opposite Valkyrie and smiled at her. Her heart fluttered when she saw Valkyrie blush again. Obviously, there was no romantic attachment so long as Valkyrie was sick with a brain and memory problem, but Nadia loved the girl and seeing her blush was both cute and, to be honest, a little alluring. It made her feel as if Valkyrie remember her love, or at least 'fancied' her with her underdeveloped feelings, and that made her feel wanted. It was very welcome after so long waiting for someone to even smile at her. She was still barely spoken to some days.

"Alright, Valkyrie. I want you to hand out the strawberries to everyone who tells you a good story, and if you remember it, or like it, or think it's funny, you tell the group and can have a strawberry too. Understand?"

"Yes," she said and grabbed a strawberry. "I like your game, so I get one."

Civet laughed, probably overjoyed to see her cheekiness like the rest of them and left them to the game.

"I'll go first," Dexter grinned, bringing Valkyrie attention to him. "I have a story about a time me, Skulduggery and Ghastly visited your Uncle Gordon." Valkyrie nodded, recognising all those names. "We were in his study and there was a noise outside of the room and Gordon went to look, thinking it was you as a little girl. He went searching, and when he was gone, you came into his office where I was and told us that you loved us."

"Aww," Valkyrie said, grinning and grabbing another strawberry. "Then what?"

"Gordon came back and you got in trouble, but I grabbed you and ran away and we lived happily ever after."

"That didn't happen!" She laughed and gave him the strawberry. She didn't say if she knew what did happen, just moved on to look at Saracen. "What's your story?"

"Well, I think my story is about… how much you liked to swim as a little girl. Gordon had loads of pictures of you playing in the sea, sometimes with your friends. Do you remember?"

She got a concentrated look on her face as if she were trying to remember a word or name she'd forgotten. "I remember J.J Pearl. He shattered his knee when we were jumping in the sea. There was a lot of blood."

Saracen hummed, probably wishing he hadn't triggered that memory. The bad ones seemed easier to come back to the surface, but Nadia had heard that humans latched onto bad memories and feelings the easiest. Maybe it was connected? "Just a few years ago you won a swimming competition."

Nadia watched Valkyrie's face, remembering herself the bloody mess that Valkyrie had been in. She doubted it was the worst shape she'd been left in but to do it for being in a relationship with another female had been horrible. It had given Valkyrie nightmares for weeks, it had given her nightmares and fears. As for Valkyrie, her face looked a little sadder and she didn't say anything about Saracen's story, so she probably remembered more of the bad things. Saracen was awful at this game.

"Tanith, what's yours?" Valkyrie asked instead.

"How about the time you met Nadia?" Tanith asked with a tease in her voice. Valkyrie blushed again and glanced at Nadia. "We all went to a party on your thirteenth birthday. You'd been taken away from us by the host and left to be babysat by his son, but he was so boring you'd gone outside. All day your brothers had been saying not to go near boys, but you came back in, hand in hand with Nadia."

"Really?" Valkyrie grinned and giggled cheekily like a kid.

"Yes," Tanith grinned, taking the offered strawberry. "You danced the whole night and then went outside and spoke with each other for hours. Saracen had to drag you inside."

Nadia nodded, thinking back on it fondly herself. "You kept tripping up on the gravel."

Valkyrie just giggled again. No memory quite yet… but she was still adorable.

Two in a day, to make up for my lack of literally anything for two months!

Ps, the future chapter I just wrote included Tanith, a baby and the names and gender of that baby... it's adorable, so make sure you follow the story so you don't even miss one ;) I hope your liking Nadia's PVO by the way, I love Nadia so much. :)