Happy (belated) birthday Onion butt :)

Warning: NSFW

Chapter 171

Christmas Eve crept up on them before they expected it, which was embarrassing because it was a very important date, and as a collective, they realised that none of them had gotten a single present for the others – including Valkyrie for Nadia, which got her a ribbing. Although it was the day before Christmas, they chose to all go out first thing in the morning to shop. To make it easier, though, they only needed to buy one present per person as between them they'd still have a nice pile, plus it was easier to eventually take home.

"Should we all split up then?" Valkyrie asked from her seat next to Nadia in the car. Fletcher was on her other side being grumpy because they hadn't let him teleport them. They were in California so it wasn't snowy or really all that cold, meaning there were a lot of tourists and people all around where they were going, and it would be just as quick to drive as to teleport and then walk the few miles in. He still didn't like it and was sulking. To be fair, his moods had been swinging back and forth between doing alright and absolutely miserable, so this wasn't that unusual. Myra's betrayal and impending Sanctuary decisions for her future weighed on his mind a lot.

"It would make sense," Tanith nodded. She was in the back of the car with Laila in her car seat between herself and Ghastly. Dexter drove and there were two front passenger seats for Saracen and Erskine. Anton and Solomon were taking a taxi in since there wasn't enough space, and the two of them much preferred the quiet.

"Does anyone have present requests?" Dexter asked, looking back. "'Cause if I get the wrong thing and you hate it there's no time to take it back."

"It'll be fine, Dex," Valkyrie said. "Honestly, I think we should all stick to getting very, very small gifts and do something nice when we get to the new house. I wasn't the one that decided we need to declutter and go through every single item we own, but since that's happening let's just make it easier on ourselves."

Nadia made a huffing sound besides her. "Well, it makes sense to go through our things before it goes back into the house. You don't need to be so moody about it."

"I'm not moody, I'm just dreading it," she corrected, knowing she was annoying Nadia further. Last minute present buying was apparently stressful for Nadia. "I don't want to think about that right now. Do you have any special requests?"

Nadia gave her a small glare but then thought about it. "I don't mind. No jewellery, I have way too much of that. No clothes either. There was a book series I liked the look of."

"Dibs!" Dexter practically screamed.

Laila woke up and started crying. "Dexter, you dick!" Tanith shouted to the front.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

Laila cried for a solid twenty minutes but at least they had arrived at the giant shopping centre by then. It looked more like an airport. Tanith breastfed the baby while the rest of the stretched, and then Solomon and Anton joined them. Valkyrie rounded everyone to give them the rundown – anyone who didn't care about surprises were welcome to make requests, but except for that everyone had a budget and had to only get one small item per recipient. Dexter got the name of the books Nadia liked and a few other requests were taken and written down. Valkyrie had no requests and wasn't given any either, so she needed to work out something nice for ten people! But even as she took Nadia's hand and they gave each other a small kiss on the walk to the building, her heart throbbed painfully. She really missed Skulduggery. He should be with them and it hurt that he wasn't.

"Oh, look at this!" Nadia immediately said, pulling her off to the first home décor shop they went passed.

"Oh God," Valkyrie muttered, before smiling prettily and following along.

Nadia pointed out everything she liked and wanted, and Valkyrie followed nicely like she was meant to. A full two hours went by before she had got it out of her system which was longer than Valkyrie thought it would take. They left the home area of the multi-story and got a milkshake each before going to a jewellery shop.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Nadia asked with a frown as she sucked on her straw.

"Maybe," she smiled, looking at the children's section. "I just want something as a keepsake, not to wear right now. But I can't decide between a necklace or a bracelet. Fuck, this is giving me flashbacks to buying your ring. That was a nightmare."

"How many places did you go to?"

"Err, four? Not many really, but it was stressful. I found it in a vintage shop right before we gave up. I'm glad we went there though, none of the new shops sell rings like yours," Valkyrie said absently as she looked over the selection. "Aww, that's nice."

"The locket? I think you're meant to put some of her hair in there to keep."

"That would be nice. I mean, it's more of a Tanith thing, but I bet Laila would like it too. She could switch out the hair for a picture if she wanted to wear it later," Valkyrie said, nodding. They paid for it before moving on. The whole 'budget' thing didn't apply to her goddaughter.

Going around, Valkyrie and Nadia found all their presents and bumped into a few of their family members as they went but kept their bags hidden from each other. Erskine got a build-a-bear voucher he could use later and apparently in any country which was useful, Dexter and Saracen had a joint gift of a nice bottle of brandy, Solomon got a nice fountain pen, Ghastly got a pincushion that looked like a tomato. Anton was harder to choose, but Valkyrie got him some very nice cufflinks, and Fletcher got a satchel from both Valkyrie and Nadia since that was expensive and it was hard to buy for him. Nadia got Laila a first Christmas bauble after texting Tanith that it was alright to get for her, as well as her own assortment of other gifts for the other, which included something for Tanith. So in the end, Nadia still needed to buy for Valkyrie, and Valkyrie had both Tanith and Nadia left.

This massive place also had two present wrapping sections which were great because they didn't have any wrapping paper at home nor time to do it. The one they went to was packed with mostly men and there were a few tables for wrapping. They waited in line and then had to pay the fee to hand wrap or have someone else wrap. They both chose to hand wrap and got in after half an hour or so.

After their timed wrapping and labelling experience, the two had a very late lunch and decided to split up to buy each other presents.

Two bags in tow, Valkyrie headed straight for some Victoria's Secrets look alike. She had to show her ID to get in which made her nervous.

This place looked more like a sex shop than a lingerie shop. Trying to not look like a kid, Valkyrie awkwardly went around the side and hid from the employees so she could look at the things without an audience. Maybe she should just buy this online and get Nadia something else for Christmas? Then again, the clothing area was nice and didn't make her feel as, well, threatened. She just wanted something a little different and exciting, something for fun. Not any of the toys, they were more than intimidating and she could honestly say she didn't know what half of them were, where they were meant to go, or if they should even really look like that. She could definitely imagine Nadia in some of the clothes though, she thought Nadia would like a few of the outfits.

"Valkyrie."

Valkyrie practically screamed when she jumped and turned on the person who said her name. Tanith was smirking and had her arms crossed.

"Where's Laila?" Was the first stupid thing that came out of her mouth.

Tanith kept smirking. "With her father. What are you doing in here?"

Valkyrie spluttered and stuttered. "What are you doing in here?" She hissed accusingly.

Tanith snorted. "Oh, calm down. It could be worse, you could have run into Dexter, or worse, Anton."

"Please don't do this to me," Valkyrie breathed, closing her mind against the images of Anton and sex. It was just wrong on so many levels.

"Are you trying to find something for Nadia then? Or just for you?" Tanith grinned, getting close and looking at what was in front of Valkyrie. It was a bunch of bra's. "Well, that's not exciting."

"Please don't do this," she said again.

"Come on."

"Oh god you're doing it," Valkyrie sagged, wishing she was smaller and better at hiding. Stupid recent growth spurt! What type of woman was over six foot anyways? She didn't deserve this.

"What are you looking for then?" Tanith asked, trying to keep quiet. Valkyrie appreciated that as much as she hated Tanith right now. "You have to have some idea. Clothes or toys?"

If Valkyrie could get any redder she'd be on fire. "I don't know," she mumbled to the floor.

"If you don't talk to me I'm going to buy what I like, put it in a gift bag and make you give it to Nadia without knowing what's in it. Do you want that?" Tanith threated with a small smile. Valkyrie shook her head. "Well, then, talk to me."

"I really don't know," Valkyrie insisted. "I was just looking to see."

"Hmm," was all Tanith said before dragging her around the clothes. "Well, if you want clothes then you should get something that flatters Nadia. Always buy your own bra's and underwear, and only buy lingerie if you're absolutely sure they will like it. Okay?"

Valkyrie nodded her understanding.

"Good. Nadia is quite short," Tanith said absently, looking at some of the clothes. It was all sheer and in mostly black, red or white. Some of it was long, some with bras built in, and some with lots of straps rather than material.

"She's your height," Valkyrie said. "But much narrower."

"Are you calling me big?" Tanith asked as she turned and looked at the racks – literally – behind her. She moved down the aisle.

"Yep," Valkyrie said, trying desperately to pretend this was normal.

"Thank you. I don't think Nadia would like red," Tanith replied. "Black or white seems more her."

"I think black," Valkyrie nodded.

"Okay, that's something," Tanith nodded encouragingly. "I'm assuming neither of you has anything like this?"

Valkyrie just shook her head. This was worse than The Talk. Valkyrie would much rather have The Talk. She could even contribute how little of what Tanith had told her to do she had actually done, which would probably drive her mad.

"Alright, let's not go too crazy then. You know her cup and hip size, right?"

"I think so," she said uncertainly. "I think it's thirty-two D and her hips are like, a size ten? Her trousers are size ten. But she was complaining some of them are getting tight so I don't know."

"Okay. I think she should have something like a babydoll lingerie. Like this one." The babydoll was a built in bra, or at least an area for breasts sans any padding in some cases, with a sheer material going down to the butt with a separate pair of nickers. There were a few items that would cover the breasts and some that definitely did not. "What do you think? It's not always the sexiest and doesn't show many curves but for a first-time thing it's nice, it's cute, it's still kinda sexy."

"Sure," Valkyrie choked, nodding too quickly, completely unable to think of Nadia. She wanted to see her in it, but associating Nadia to this conversation was too personal and made her embarrassed. It was just – this was her actual sex life they were talking about. Not some hypothetical thing that may or may not happen. Other people would one day walk into this shop and buy the stuff around her and go home and use it. It was incredibly personal and it was a lot to deal with by herself and now her sister was trying to help her. It was just a little much.

"Which is your favourite?" Tanith demanded.

Biting her lip, Valkyrie looked at the rack and tried to decide. The ones with the bows were not her thing and she doubted it was Nadia's. The sheerer ones were what she liked. There was a white number that had a layer of lace going over the top of the breasts, wrapping around the shoulders and around the back sort of like a dress, with thin white straps to keep it up as the lace was loose and meant to hang off the shoulder. The sheer material was synched under the breast and flowed to just above the crotch – currently Tanith's as she held it to herself for size comparison – and had the same lace to partially cover the area, which went all around the hem. There was also a pathetically small piece of string that was meant to be a thong, which she didn't care for at all. "It's okay. Good. I think Nadia would like it more than the others."

"Some of these are a bit cutesy," Tanith commented, before going over the sizes and picking one out. She tested its length on herself to be sure and double-checked the breast size before handing it to Valkyrie. "This should fit her. I know I said not to buy her underwear, but these ones won't fit so just get her some matching one's in a more likely size."

Valkyrie did as she was told and by the time she got back to the till where Tanith was waiting, she had her own bag and a smirk. Even the cashier was trying to hide a smile.

"What are you doing?" Valkyrie asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," Tanith grinned. "Are you ready to pay?"

Not having many choices without having an audience, Valkyrie paid and she and Tanith left together. The moment they were outside Valkyrie instantly felt more comfortable.

"That was fun!" Tanith teased her.

"Yeah, no," Valkyrie grinned. "And you know, you're the only one I haven't got a present for now! So ha."

"Get me something nice," Tanith grinned. "Like lube."

Valkyrie went to hit Tanith, but she'd already skipped away. Trying not to blush anymore, Valkyrie sighed and went to wander before she found a shop that made her giggle to herself. Tanith would get a laugh out of this!

Oof wow, this'll be a fun Christmas. Bet none of you were expecting that chapter!

Also, I GOT ACCEPTED FOR MY MASTER'S DEGREE! That means after the end of this year (3rd year) of uni, I'm getting married, and then I'll be doing a Masters course which is an extra year of uni. If I do really well in that, I can apply for a PhD, which is where I do research to become a Doctor! I'm not sure I'll go that far, but I'm glad I got to tell you on this chapter in particular! :D

Lord Duck: Thank you :)

Demise Rim: I miss writing that holiday, I have another planned so don't worry, although a little different. It'll be good, I swear. I'll keep writing!

Remus Crux: You are singlehandedly getting my views and reviews sky high haha!