To my dear, loyal regulars:

Extremely sorry for the insanely long wait... for those who are still here, these are my excuses: Moved to another country; have been editing grammar and details in older chapters (don't hold me to that); gave the chapters titles; finished all the covers with our favorite artist Prem (can hold me to that); have been working on part #2 and #3, to iron out the ending of this part. I also adjusted Diamond's age for various reasons.

And that ending, believe it or not, is actually happening, soon. Even though I have written a lot of it already; unfortunately, I seem to be particularly writer's-blocked for the scene that's supposed to come next.

But I wanted to let you know that, yes, I am alive, yes, I'm still writing and, no, this story isn't discontinued.

Therefore, I present to you: One of my "throwaway chapters". They are pieces I've written, which I liked but couldn't find a good spot for, in the chronology of its part. So, on a good note, I suppose; this is a treat for you all, as this chapter would've otherwise never seen the light of day. Enjoy!

10 Years Prior

It was one of these work days, during which Diamond Irie was only waiting for the thick finger of the clock to point at number five. It was currently just millimeters away from the finish line. Her bag was already sitting, mostly packed, on her desk; ready to be whisked away into the evening.

There had been a good number of these days in recent months. Maybe, it was because nothing here would be as interesting as today's evening plans, Diamond thought. Or maybe, it was because about a decade had passed, since her job had been fun.

The Sanctuary job was fine. It was something to do. A way to come face-to-face with people. It paid the bills. She was good at it. And that was about it.

Diamond was sitting in the office of the Defense Department of the British Sanctuary. Every wall was a shelf, or was covered by a filing cabinet. Despite its official-sounding title, it was a small office space that barely fit ten workers, at a time. Most of their colleagues were either on patrolling duty, guard duty, or off-site and doing more exciting things.

Only Diamond was stuck here. With paperwork. And with Brunthilda Wisp.

The office administrator was an extraordinarily tall woman with a nasal voice, and no other noteworthy traits. Her brown eyes, brown hair, and brown eyeshadow were as unremarkable, as her cheap white blouse and black pencil skirt.

Diamond didn't necessarily mind the administrator, personally. In fact, she was usually polite and in a good mood. However, spending the past week with a background track of her intermittent gossiping; Diamond had soon begun to yearn for the times, when she had constantly been surrounded by more interesting people.

It didn't help with working off the pile of paperwork on her desk, that Diamond kept getting distracted from it. By her own nostalgic thoughts or by Brunthilda's chattering. But mostly, by whoever came in through the door.

The office was seperated from a foyer by a mirror wall. On the office side, it allowed the security team to watch the lobby. On the lobby side, it simply looked like a black, glassen wall.

There was an usually empty line of waiting chairs set up, along the blank walls of the foyer. A secure door lead into the office, beside the glass wall. Beside it, a counter poked out, above which was a service window. The window was made of clear plexi glass, which had slits to allow sound to travel through, and a hatch to safely exchange documents or small items.

Diamond looked down to focus on her paperwork. It was the file of a man she had extracted from Scotland, a couple of months ago. It had piled up after a long string of jobs, and reiterating the gone-by events was a tedious and mind-numbing task.

"Good afternoon," a wonderful voice said. "I'm here for a file?"

The sound of it immediately made Diamond look up in interest. It was dark and smooth, and seemed to seep through the service window, and reach directly into her gut. she also detected a soft Irish accent that played well into the precise articulation.

"Oh, hello," Brunthilda said in surprise, to whoever the voice belonged to.

Diamond leaned sideways, so that she could peek through the mirrored safety-glass, at the counter in the foyer. To her own surprise, she found a skeleton standing there.

It took a second or two, for her brain to click with the realization that this was Skulduggery Pleasant.

Curiosly, Diamond mustered him. He couldn't see her through the mirrored glass so, she could take her time with it.

Pleasant was wearing a black two piece suit with a white shirt and black tie. It seemed to give him more shape than he should have had and, Diamond presumed, she was looking at Ghastly Bespoke's brilliant work.

The stories held true, as a black hat was decorating his bare skull. It had a white hat band and was cocked at a slight angle, as if he was up for mischief.

His jaw moved as he spoke. "It should have been put aside in my name."

In the first moments, Diamond's brain told her, something was wrong about this picture. But she tried to blank the feeling out and listen to his voice.

She was disappointed, when Brunthilda's nasal voice spoke next. "Um, sure, yeah. Lemme check."

She came into view, as she stepped from the window, back into the office. As the administrator returned, her eyes locked with Diamond's. She gave her an exasperated look. Diamond smiled a question mark.

Brunthilda turned to look at some files, which had been layed out on a nearby table and inside plastic filing stations. Each of them were marked by a post-it note, which assigned them to a name.

Diamond looked back through the tinted window, at Pleasant. To her stun, he was looking directly at her.

Her heart skipped a beat, but she took a deep breath. She soon realized; he was looking at a black-tinted reflection of himself. Somehow, she could have sworn, he knew that the glass was see-through on her side. She wondered if he could tell that someone was watching him.

They stared at each other for another moment, or rather; she stared at him. Then, Pleasant turned his skull back to the front, as Brunthilda appeared in the service window with the requested file.

She handed it to him through the slot.

Pleasant accepted it and held it up.

"Thank you," he nodded gallantly and walked off with a casual swagger, out through the door to the next hallway.

"kinda spooky, no?" Brunthilda asked.

Diamond ripped her attention from the empty door frame behind the safety glass. She blinked at her. "Pardon?"

"Pleasant, I mean? Just wouldn't expect him to show up here."

Diamond frowned at her logic. "You wouldn't expect to see Skulduggery Pleasant in an European Sanctuary?"

Brunthilda rolled her eyes playfully. "Sure, but... You know what I mean..."

Diamond raised her brows expectantly.

Now, she looked to be at a loss. "You're honestly telling me, the skeleton thing doesn't creep you out, even a little?"

"I mean... yeah, it's a bit of an adjustment, at first. Otherwise..." Diamond shrugged. "He had a nice voice."

Brunthilda made a thoughtful but unseasy face. "I guess so..."

"And I thought, the hat was sort of cute..."

"Cute?" Brunthilda echoed in renewed disbelief. She snorted abstrusely, then mustered Diamond with a curious look. "You know, Irie, you're kinda odd."

"Thanks...?"

"At first, I thought, you were just lame? As in, boring? But now, I realize, you're just really weird."

Diamond gave her a rare faked smile, "I appreciate your candor, Brunthilda."

"Anytime," she beamed and begun to rummage around in some boxes with files. "And I guess, you get to cheat, hey? Aren't you friends with Dexter Vex?"

"She is," Dexter Vex said.

Brunthilda stood up straight with a snap and blinked at him with wide eyes. She seemed as if she couldn't believe them. "Um, hello?"

"Hello, there," he replied.

Dexter was standing by the service window but on the far side, where one could just about peek into the office space. He had one forearm resting on the counter and one hand stemmed onto his hip. His gaze was expressionless but pinned incessantly onto the administrator. Diamond wondered, how many of her words he had overheard.

When she had nothing more interesting to say, Dexter's eyes moved on from Brunthilda, over to Diamond. She was watching him with an amused simper, which he gladly returned.

"Ready to go, my dear?" Dexter called, so that his voice carried clearly through the window, into the office.

"So ready," Diamond breathed in relief, grabbed her bag, and rushed to the door to meet him in the foyer. "Bye, Brunthilda."

"Bye..." She murmured, still frozen in her reaction of surprise, embarrassment, and disbelief.

Once by his side, Diamond hooked in her right elbow with his left one. They finally left the Security Department.

"It's good to see you, love," she smiled, when they were out of earshot.

"It's been too long, as always," Dexter smiled back.

She looked him up and down, scanning for injuries. Now that she had a better sight on him, she noticed that he was holding his right arm protectively. "Are you hurt?"

"Pfft." Dexter waved with his injured arm. His face contorted in pain and annoyance, as he appeared to immediately regret doing so. "Just a bruise," he croaked.

"Uh-huh," Diamond smiled. "I'll check it out, after dinner?"

He sighed admittedly. "Yes, please."

"We could go eat burritos; you'd only need one hand for that."

Dexter gave her a half-taunting, half-agreeable look. "Har, har."

"You don't like burritos?" She asked with feigned astonishment. "What's wrong with burritos?"

He gave her a benevolent smile. "Fine, burrito it is." When that decision had been made, Dexter mustered her body, which was perfectly unharmed, as usual. "And how are you?"

"Fine..." Diamond lamely replied. "Work, annoying coworkers, you know... the usual."

He nodded agreeably. "Looked like it."

"How about you?" Diamond was curious to know. "Anything interesting happen at work?"

"Probably..." Dexter murmured, as his head had already moved on to the next topic. "Hey, here's a fun coincidence; I just ran into the one and only Skulduggery Pleasant."

Diamond stifled a smile. "Did you, now?"

"Yep, just now, in the hallway." His head tipped her way with a new thought. "Have I introduced you two?"

She shook her head. "You haven't."

"Why haven't I?" Dexter tried to remember.

"We decided unanimously," Diamond reminded him.

"Oh, right..." he dragged, as the memory came back to him. "Good gracious, that was decades ago... Have I really known you for that long?"

"Hah, don't remind me," Diamond sighed in agreement.

"You're what, seventy, now?"

"Seventy-eight."

Dexter shook his head in disbelief. "You were nine years old, just yesterday, I could swear."

She threw him a bemused look. "Don't exaggerate, we didn't even talk yet, when I was nine."

He insistently pointed at her. "Once."

Diamond playfully rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, a lot has happened in Ireland, since then," Dexter rewound the conversation. "Must I even mention? The change ever since Valkyrie Cain's been around?"

She nodded. "You have."

"So, if you change your mind..." Dexter offered with a meaningful side-glance. "The Skeleton Detective is a good resource to have."

Diamond thought about it, for a moment. Then, she found, the idea didn't entirely escape her. After all, a lot had changed for her too, in the past ten years.

"You know what, love?" She said casually. "I might get back to you on that."