Chapter 159

Valkyrie's POV

"Hey," Valkyrie smiled softly. Nadia smiled up at her from the sofa at Kenspeckle's hospital. "You doing okay?"

Her girlfriend didn't answer, just stood slowly and wrapped her arms around Valkyrie. She held her back. Valkyrie had just gotten to Kenspeckle's. "I missed you."

"I know, I was really worried about you," Valkyrie whispered into Nadia's hair. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."

"It's okay," Nadia nodded into Valkyrie neck. "It's not your fault. How do you feel?"

"I'll be fine," she smiled, pulling back. She was aching all over and wanted nothing more than to go home to Gordon's and sleep. "Laila took it really well. When we got back to the house in America she had a bottle and nappy change, I switched her clothes and she slept. I took a bath with a healing stone and it really helped."

"I'm glad. You still have to get checked though," Nadia smiled, some stress leaving the edges of her eyes. "I don't want you packing up on me now."

"Packing up on you?" Valkyrie grinned. "Who have you been spending time with?"

"I don't know," she whispered, closing her eyes and leaning against her again. "I'm tired, okay? I want to go to bed."

"Lie down then. I'll be back later and we'll talk."

"Is Laila okay?"

"I already gave her to Tanith, and Fletcher's good too. Kenspeckle will be pretty mad when he realises he teleported to get me though," Valkyrie smiled sadly. Fletcher had been in more than a bit of pain and heartbreak, Valkyrie felt really bad for him. "Go on, lie back down. I'll see you in a few hours and it'll be a new day. I promise."

.*****.

The morning after Valkyrie got to Ireland – a good seven or eight hours after everyone else because of how bad Fletcher's wounds had been – was a whole lot better. The familiar smell of the hospital, the noise of the doctor's bickering with Civet and Stentor, the light breathing and talking of her family. She realised quickly that Nadia had procured a bottle of baby blue nail varnish and was painting Valkyrie's toenails. She smiled, laughed softly, and sat up.

"Morning, baby," Nadia smiled tiredly.

"Good morning. Did you sleep at all last night?" She asked.

"I slept loads, I just feel like shit anyway," she shrugged with a smile. "I didn't have any bad dreams though."

"Good." Dexter had already phoned her last night and in their long chat while he waited for his surgery for the bullets he had acquired, he had told her that Nadia had to sit in a room watching her get tortured, then her escape to Ireland via Fletcher and had no idea what had been happening for hours. It must have been really hard for her. "Do you know if we've had word from any of the Sanctuaries yet?"

"Irish have called. Elder Deuce and Grand Mage Meritorious were really concerned and said they'd back you guys up no matter what. They said since me and 'the baby' were involved and the fact the American's have already started looking for a spy gives them enough grounds to ask for you to stay here again. But they also said that America probably won't like that, and then Dexter and Solomon got into a pretty heated debate about doing what was right for our country and family in both politics and tactically. I didn't understand much of it, but I don't think they made a decision," Nadia relayed. "I get the feeling they're going to wait until everyone's better and then ask you what you want to do."

Valkyrie sighed. "We need to go back. We need to keep the peace. And anyway, we don't know where the Spiders are in our own country but there's a good chance there's some in America and we should try and cut that off now, rather than when they come over to Ireland halfway through a battle and annihilate us."

Nadia smiled. "We can go back if you want to."

"But to a different house. And no one from any Sanctuary will know where we are. And I want to go on holiday with you there for a week to celebrate your birthday."

"It's only a few weeks away now," Nadia grinned. "Then I'll be eighteen."

"Yep. Any idea of what you want to do? Or anything you want?"

"Val, you gave me a Dragon Diamond, I think you've outdone yourself already!" Nadia giggled very quietly so no one would hear her. She was still painting Valkyrie's feet. "And a week's holiday will be another great gift. I'd rather spend time with you than have presents."

"Younger me didn't get that memo," Valkyrie grinned back.

"Younger me didn't either, but we've grown up."

"A little bit."

"Just a tad," Nadia said, and then winked at her. Valkyrie's grin widened.

"Are you awake over there?" Ghastly's voice called.

"Yes, I'm awake," she said, and not a second later the curtain was ripped away – it had only been at the side, meaning the end of the bed was open for anyone to see and just gave Valkyrie privacy from whoever was lying next to her. The certain swung before hitting the wall.

It only took a moment for all her family to start crowding her. She had kisses and hugs and handshakes for fun, and lots of kind words. Solomon took a long time holding her and apologised for not being there. She told him to not be silly and he smiled and sat on the chair on the other side of the bed. Lastly, Tanith wrapped her in a neck-breaking, one-armed hug.

"I love you," she said simply, the other arm holding Laila close.

"Love you too, Tan," Valkyrie replied, and stroked Laila's little head when Tanith pulled back enough. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Tanith sighed. "Just very bruised. And one fractured rib."

"Not too bad then," Valkyrie joked. "What about you lot?"

There was a quick report on how everyone was healing, as well as updated on how bad the damage had been, which wasn't as extensive as anyone initially thought considering they had been held hostage, two of them badly tortured, three of them kidnapped and bullets had been shot in everyone's direction. In fact, it seemed that Fletcher was the worst of them all as he was not used to this kind of situation. He had gone for surgery first and been given his own room away from the Dead Men to 'keep him out of trouble' although that hadn't actually helped. Apparently Kenspeckle had tried to scold him but he passed out from pain after a few minutes so it hadn't done a lot of good.

"We need to do something for him," Valkyrie decided as Nadia put the varnish away and told her not to move her feet. "He's not had a good few days."

"I don't know what," Dexter said, rubbing the back of his head. "But we've actually got to decide if we're going to America again before thinking about Fletcher. They're not fussing about being here yet, but if no one mentions an actual plan soon, they might try to make one for us."

"We'll have to go back," she told them, and explained how it was more important to keep the peace for the time being and to try rat out a few of the Spider's allies before staying in Ireland again. "With any hope, all the big shots trying to kill us will follow us to America and Ireland will be safe."

"Unlikely," Ghastly muttered. "Unless you mean more Spider's."

"Yeah, only people working with or for the Spiders," Valkyrie conceded. "But picking people off now might give us an advantage. Think about it, if we hadn't gone there already we wouldn't have found Grievers and have him in custody. I know his basement place can still move around without him but he's the brains behind it, right? Any mishap down there and no one will be able to fix it so we've actually done a massive favour for ourselves, it just needs one last kick in the shins. It won't take much for one Sanctuary or another to take it apart."

"You really like metaphors today," Nadia commented.

"I do, they're fun. And it's true. And we've found out who the spy was close to us without anyone getting properly hurt, which is useful, and Fletcher didn't get kidnapped or killed which was probably Myra's intention."

"That might be right," Anton nodded quietly, his deep voice capturing their attention. "Although there's a lot of variables with the rest of your thoughts, Myra is a massive issue to have sorted, and one none of us saw in our own home."

"I bet she panicked," Dexter said. "The moment we moved to America she and whoever was sending the money had to choose between staying with Fletcher or making an attempt on Dead Men. They tried their luck with the Dead Men and now look where we are."

"What happened to Myra?" Valkyrie asked.

"She was picked up by cops where you left her, and then the cops and all the witnesses were seen by someone to forget everything," Erskine said. He had dark bags under his eyes, a little shake in his hand and a bandaged leg but seemed otherwise fine. His voice was steady and strong. "Myra was taken by sorcerers and is being held in custody until America, Australia and Ireland decide who gets to deal with her."

"So, it'll be a while then," Valkyrie rolled her eyes. Laila let out a cry of happiness and then all grinned and cooed at her.

The transition back to America would be in another two days after Kenspeckle would allow it, and that gave them all time to talk and recuperate. America came back with their thanks and promises soon after news reached them, and they agreed to the terms that missions were sent via text and no one was to have contact with them outside of that. Meritorious and Corrival were grateful and were able to change the contract with Fletcher to give him more time off and limit the places and actions he could do. That being, he could live with the Dead Men or not, and he didn't have to stay in America full time so long as he was doing what he had to for the contract of work. When he woke up, Fletcher appreciated the change and said he'd like to stay with the Dead Men until he worked something else out, which they were all happy to accommodate.

Solomon waited for Valkyrie to be ready to go on a walk before he tried to speak about her Magic Keeping plan again.

"Now it's been some time, how do you feel about it?" He asked her after a while of silence. There was a light layer of snow on the ground and it was just after lunch hour. Not many cars were about.

"I still think it's best. But I think getting some eggs frozen is the best thing to do, just in case the side effects are as powerful as they say."

"I imagine they are," Solomon warned her seriously. "I want to support you if this is what you want, but I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it. Even though I appreciate your opinion," she told him. "I've thought about it a lot since we spoke, and I'm already a lot better at using my magic in combat. I doubt it'll be a few months before I'm ready to have it sealed and then we'll never have to worry about it."

"I understand. I just worry that you're too young to make this decision. I know, you're an adult, or close enough. I know you say you understand. But have you ever thought about having children before this? Have you thought about the risk it may have to other parts of your body if it's going to not only destroy your eggs but also do something so damaging to your uterus that you can't carry children? It could kill you."

"And I'll have to take that risk." She stopped him walking and they stood at tiny flakes of ice started to fall. "I'm okay with not having children by giving birth to them myself. I'm okay with this because I've thought about it. The seal makes it so nothing of mine leaves me, in a way, right? So I can't pass on my magic or genes. But it doesn't matter that the seal does that, because I'll have eggs frozen. Yeah, I might be disappointed I can't be pregnant one day, but I'd rather that than have a maniac suck my magic away and become a super-charged maniac. So, I have children and no maniac by doing this. It's a win-win. There's no reason for the seal to damage anything else, and so long as it only affects what we think it will, or at least does nothing drastically outside of that, then I'm happy with the cost."

Solomon closed his eyes and counted under his breath. "It's not the logic behind it Valkyrie. It's the fear of you changing your mind."

"If we got scared at every big decision, nothing would ever happen. I've made my decision. You just have to hold my hand and let me cry when it hurts, alright? That's all I want."

He let all his breath out after another bit of counting. "As long as you're sure."

"I am."

"Good. Norma tells me the procedure should be excruciating by the way."

"I'd expect no less. Can we get coffee now? I'm actually really cold."

Gettin' them chapters out!

Lord Duck: It may have been less than a month, but it certainly felt like one! We'll be having more breathing room now, this little section was a lot I know, but it was also a nice change to always getting things one in one or two chapters. It was really hard for me to write as fighting, and picking apart secrets isn't really my skill, but I did my best. I'm so glad you like Val and Nadia, I love them so much! I was worried I sort of made them develop in leaps and bounds rather than gradually, but they've been together for almost four years at this point in the story. In reading through the story I kept spending way too much time making sure their plotline was perfect and I'm glad I did. I don't really plan at all actually, which is why I lost where I was. I just wrote one line per chapter to keep on top of it. Each time I finish a chapter, I'll write it onto the plot timeline as well as posting something from now on. Surprisingly, there have only been a few open-ended things, most of them really small silly things. Considering how long the story is, that's pretty good. Don't feel pressured to use the discord, I like getting reviews anyway, plus it bumps the story up. I like that extra .6 I got this time, makes it seem like you have a real scoring system ;)