Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

Chapter 121

They split apart in the parlour just to sit. Nadia was kept tight to Valkyrie's side and got a seat next to her, Tanith on Valkyrie's other side and Dexter next to Tanith on the largest sofa. The others pulled the other big one closer and they sat there, pressed into each other's side. Nadia tried hard to stop her tears, but she was so shocked by Valkyrie's sudden return it was practically impossible. It was only Valkyrie holding on to her so protectively that got her smiling up to her instead of acting like an idiot.

"We've really missed you," a teary Tanith said.

"I don't know where I've been," Valkyrie said back, exasperation and confusion in her voice. "I only have these, like, flashes of memory. What happened?"

"Do you remember the Sanctuary? The people that came in, and you sent everyone to the safe room?" Dexter asked.

"Yeah, I – I went off to go out the front to see… and there were two people outside," she said slowly, her face screwed up in thought. "I – I remember Skulduggery and Craven were there and they looked at me. I hit the alarm signal and I think it electrocuted me."

"There was someone else in the building according to Skulduggery," Anton revealed to her.

"He broke the wards," Erskine said excitedly. "Kenspeckle said you'd had some type of shock."

"The building was blown up," Nadia continued quietly. Valkyrie looked down at her. "A part of the staircase hit your head. Anton was the one to run through the fire and pull you to safety."

She smiled at Anton. "Thank you."

Anton waved it away. "They put Skulduggery in a Gaol. Everyone believed he did it."

"We visited him after three days," Dexter said. "It didn't go well."

"What do you mean?" Valkyrie asked.

Dexter just shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We told Meritorious and Pa – oh. Val, Elder Crow was killed in the blast."

"What? She's dead?" Valkyrie asked, dismayed. Nadia squeezed her hand.

"Unfortunately. She was a good Elder," Dexter said, and there was a moment of silence for her before they had to continue. "We told Meritorious and Corrival, and they released Skulduggery, believing he was forced and couldn't be blamed."

Valkyrie looked over Tanith's and her brother's faces and after a moment, nodded. "Okay. Then what?"

"Skulduggery came to us to get Solomon back," Saracen said incredibly seriously.

"Did you?"

"Yes," Dexter said shortly. "But Skulduggery convinced Fletcher to do it, putting him at risk. No one has seen Skulduggery since then."

"How long ago?" Valkyrie asked as Nadia looked at Saracen across the room. He avoided her eyes and she was left with a sick, empty feeling. She had to keep her pain a secret from Valkyrie now? How could she even begin doing that?

"Eleven days ago. Solomon will be released from the hospital soon," Erskine said. "Do you really remember nothing?"

"No, I have flashes," she said. "I remember Nadia's voice, but I can't remember what she said."

Nadia smiled up at her and Valkyrie kissed her forehead, making her feel like the most important thing in Valkyrie's life. It was an incredible feeling.

"I kind of remember a few other things. I remember that medicine and I remember getting kind of annoyed at all the constant questions, and, I guess, strawberries? I don't know. Where's Ghastly?"

There was another silence. "We broke up," Tanith told her. "He disappeared for thirteen days and then he turned up and told me I should be glad to see him. So I told him we were over and that was that."

"Oh no," Valkyrie whispered and released Nadia to hug her sister tightly before settling her arm back around Nadia. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine Val," Tanith smiled. "I'm a big girl. Anyway, I have a wonderful family here."

"Exactly," Valkyrie grinned. "How long is it now?"

"Seven months and a week, so seven weeks to go. They said I might birth a little early from all the stress that's happened."

"How early?"

"Only a week or so, nothing too dangerous, just a little concerning in terms of blood pressure. They're not sure though. I told them to stop telling me, it'll happen when it does, I guess, and I'm taking all the medication they tell me to," Tanith told her. "Nothing we can do but wait."

"I'm even more excited now," Valkyrie smiled, before looking back over the room and letting it slip. "So what's happening everywhere else?"

"We're trying to find a new Sanctuary," Dexter said. "A new Elder is needed too, and Meritorious made an announcement that the Spider's want war with the Magic community but that the Sanctuary won't give them anything they want. Sanctuaries all over the world are bickering and trying to push their way into the country to 'help' but they've been kept back so far."

"What about general crime?"

"Hey, you're not getting back involved in that for at least another week, miss," Dexter grinned. "You've had a brain injury up until twenty minutes ago and you're already trying to jump back into it."

"I'm just asking," Valkyrie smirked.

"There's been a rise," Anton helped. "A lot of mages are trying to leave the country via the hotel, but an equal amount are coming in. The Sanctuary has asked me to stop the hotel coming to Ireland so frequently to help stem the number of criminals coming in."

"Did you?" Valkyrie asked curiously.

"I have removed one visit a month, but I will not stop the free flow of people travelling," Anton stated. "No Sanctuary can control the Midnight Hotel. But the Spider's are asking for war."

Valkyrie took a deep breath. "So let me recite. I've been in a coma cross memory loss state for two and a half weeks? Craven and someone else forced Skulduggery to blow up the Sanctuary, Skul was found innocent, and then he immediately got Fletcher to go straight into Spider territory, and since then he's been AWOL. Tanith and Panda broke up, the baby isn't far from coming, and just now Nadia's parents came to get her. What's going on with that?"

"Nadia said she'd stay with you to help you recover," Tanith supplied, stopping Nadia from talking. "She's been with you since we got her on day three of you being in a coma."

"You stayed with me?" Valkyrie asked her.

Nadia nodded, smiling.

"Thank you," she said, and Nadia could see so much love and gratitude in her eyes that she had to look away. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, right now, it's to sleep," Tanith said, pulling herself up. "This has been a hard day."

"You can say that again," Dexter said and everyone else stood. After a flurry of hugs going to Valkyrie, they all split off to different parts of the house and left Valkyrie with Nadia. They looked at each other, alone in the room, and it didn't take a moment for Valkyrie's lips to connect with her own.

.*****.

Valkyrie's POV

Valkyrie's foggy head cleared when Nadia wrapped her hands in her hair, drawing her closer. Barely a moment went by before she had her tongue in Nadia's mouth, dancing and playing with her girlfriend until they had to pull away for breath.

"I love you," Valkyrie whispered.

"I love you too," Nadia repeated, her big, brown eyes filled with conflict, love and something desperate. It was almost amusing, in a mean way, that Nadia thought she could hide how bad she felt from Valkyrie. It was clear as day that her girlfriend had so much to say, and she'd caught the look Weasel had given Nadia. Or rather, seen Weasel look away from Nadia when Fletcher had been mentioned. Whatever that meant, Valkyrie didn't know, except that her family was hiding details from her about her girlfriend and Fletcher. Knowing she'd just woken up from essentially a wakeful coma was scary, Valkyrie could admit that, but she also felt refreshed and healthy. She didn't really feel so much of the stress, of the tension, as before. There was worry, concern. But not stress. She hadn't felt like that in years!

"Talk to me," Valkyrie asked her, stroking Nadia's cheek gently. Nadia looked incredibly stressed. Had she been difficult to look after? She felt bad that Nadia had had to do that because her own family was divided. "You're unhappy."

Nadia smiled up at her. "I'm fine, now I have you back."

Valkyrie had to smile back. "But you're also unhappy. Tell me about your parents first."

"Oh," Nadia said as if that little visit had already left her mind. "They're moving to India. They want me to move with them."

"Oh," Valkyrie repeated, her heart falling. "Are you thinking of going?"

She gave her a strange look. "Baby, I just screamed for you to save me from being taken away, doesn't that answer the question for you?"

"Ahh yeah," Valkyrie remembered. She was just… in a weird headspace. "I didn't forget about it. I remembered your mum slapping you."

"Yeah, she did," Nadia said quietly, leaning into Valkyrie. "I swore at her and she got really mad."

"She shouldn't hit you."

"You hit people all the time," Nadia pointed out.

"I don't hit you," Valkyrie said, placing a kiss on Nadia's lips. "I love you too much."

Nadia smiled against her lips. "I love you too."

"Does this mean that you're going to stay with me?" Valkyrie asked hopefully.

Nadia rolled her eyes. "Yes, Val. I'm not leaving. Not after how close I've been to losing you."

Valkyrie grinned and picked Nadia up. Laughing, Nadia wrapped her legs around Valkyrie's waist and giggled all the way up the stairs. Valkyrie didn't know where Nadia had been sleeping, but for the moment, she took her girlfriend to her bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her, hopping onto the bed and falling forward so she'd lay over Nadia. "Will you tell me something else?" Valkyrie asked, softly kissing Nadia's neck.

"Mmm," she moaned.

"What really happened when Raven was rescued?"

Nadia immediately went physically tense and pushed Valkyrie back. There was nearly no strength to her demand, but Valkyrie sat up anyway. "I – I don't know what you mean," she said pathetically.

"Nadia," Valkyrie started, "you know I' not that stupid. Come on. It's upsetting you."

For a moment, they sat across from each other on the bed, Nadia wringing her hands, and then the waterworks started. Surprised, because Nadia rarely cried in front of Valkyrie, she held the girl and rocked her soothingly even as her own insides practically boiled with rage.

Nadia told her all about how her time with Valkyrie's own family, about how kind Tanith had been at the start, Panda being mad at Tanith, going to see Skulduggery, the strange things Panda said that worried Valkyrie on a different level, Tanith being sick, her whole family ignoring Nadia. Then came the parts about Fletcher and his kindness, Skulduggery telling her lies, how terrified she'd been in the Spider's den, the pride of how well she'd managed even though she was scared, Fletcher rescuing her, being so scared of her families reaction, only for her family to come to the hospital and Fletcher take the blame so she wouldn't be held responsible for being used when it was so obvious that Nadia wasn't to blame for being manipulated. Then was her own recovery, and how she'd been lonely and her family had barely come to speak to her, and the times they acted like she wasn't there when she was and how she had sunk into herself so it wouldn't hurt so much.

The whole thing took almost an hour to tell, and by the end, Nadia was lying sleepily on Valkyrie's breast while silent tears fell into Valkyrie's hair as she lay on her pillow and cried that her family and girlfriend had struggled without her. She was barely able to think about blame. She just felt utterly awful, so much that she couldn't even begin to think of how horrid it must have been for Nadia.

"It's okay now," she whispered, holding Nadia tightly. "I'll sort out everything. I promise."

"No," Nadia whispered back sleepily. "I just want to love you."

"You already love me."

"I know," she smiled, closing her eyes.

"I love you too. Promise," Valkyrie said quietly, stroking Nadia's hair.

You know Valkyrie is going to take charge! Ooh just reading this I am ready for the next chapter of her getting mad with everyone, lets not even begin to pretend we're not all waiting for it!

Nadia is the most loyal of girlfriends. Now Valkyrie can make it all good for her again! Honestly, if someone was as kind to me as Nadia is to Valkyrie, I'd treat them like royalty forever after :D