Skulduggery sat on the sofa sulking while Valkyrie was in the kitchen making food for the dead men, the monster Hunters, tanith and herself. "Cheer up! Today's your birthday" Valkyrie called to him. He groaned "I'm old!" He whined. "Hey be lucky you've lived this long ok?" She asked walking into the room and sat down next to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you have the tendency to run into problems that could get you killed"
"No I don't. The problem's come to me"
"Sure..."
"You don't believe me?"
"Nope. The years that I've known you, you've always dived headfirst into danger. It's how you roll"
"How I roll?"
"Yes" Valkyrie said. Then there was the door bell so Valkyrie sprung up and skipped to the door. When she opened the door there stood Dexter and Saracen. "Hey guys!" Chirped Valkyrie as she stood to the side to let them in. "Where's the birthday boy?" Asked Dexter smirking. "He's sulking in the sitting room" Valkyrie chuckled. Dexter jumped up and down and then ran into the next room. "Skully baby!" Dexter said and jumped onto the skeletons lap and skulduggery groaned. "Get off you fat oaf!" He said and pushed Dexter to the floor. "I am not fat!"
"Well then why are you so bloody heavy?"
"It's called muscle"
"And fat"
"You aren't getting your birthday present now!"
"Ok"
"Wait! What! You aren't going to put up a fight?"
"Nope"
"Fine! You can have your present"
"Works every time" skulduggery mumbled and Dexter frowned "what was that?" He asked. Skulduggery shrugged and moved his body so now he was lying on his back on the sofa. He put his hands over his face and huffed.
Saracen and Valkyrie were sniggering in the doorway "how do you put up with him everyday?" Asked Saracen. Valkyrie shrugged "I have no idea" she said and giggled. Skulduggery looked over to them "stop talking about me!" He snapped. Saracen burst out laughing and went and jumped onto skulduggery. "We love you mr pleasant!" He sung. "Uh-huh" skulduggery said and just lay there not bothering to push of the full grown smirking man.
When everyone had arrived they either sat on the floor or on the sofa. "Open your presents skulduggery. Now! Now! NOW!" Shrieked tanith. "Fine!" Grumbled skulduggery as he picked up the first gift. Ghastly smiled as it was the gift he had brought. "I want you to try it! Go" ghastly pointed to the bathroom and skulduggery tilted his head but went into the bathroom.
After a few minutes he walked out wearing a navy blue tux. Valkyrie clapped her hands and ran over to him. "It looks so good on you!" She cried and clapped her hands again. "I have a feeling you helped pick this out?" He asked and Valkyrie grinned. "She picked the one that would go with her dress" ghastly said. Skulduggery tilted his head "what dress?" Asked skulduggery. "The dress I'm wearing when we go to the Christmas dance" Valkyrie said and skulduggery nodded and looked down at her. She gave him a peck on the teeth and went and sat back down. Tanith grinned at the kissed and Valkyrie laughed and rolled her eyes.
Skulduggery picked up the last present which was a box but it was light. Valkyrie smirk "I'm guessing this is from you?" Skulduggery asked and Valkyrie nodded. He opened the box and looked in awe at the hat inside the box. It was a navy blue fedora with a black bow on the left side. Valkyrie smiled as he tried it on and tilted it the way he did with all of his hat's. "This is amazing" he said and put a hand on her head. Valkyrie smiled "I designed it myself!" She chirped and ghastly chuckled.
Skulduggery received:
A tuxedo for ghastly.
A revolver polish from tanith.
A signed copy of their new book from the monster Hunters.
A pink tie from Dexter.
A new pair of pea green gloves from Saracen.
A book on fossils from ravel
A book of old man jokes from anton
Last of all a fedora from Valkyrie.
"Oh. My. God! Do you guys remember Teresa flubbahorn?" Asked ravel suddenly. All the dead men except Valkyrie and skulduggery jumped up with excitement and then smirked. "Oh god" skulduggery muttered knowing his friends, they would tell the story. "Who?" Asked Valkyrie. "Skulduggery's second lover!" Dexter cried dramatically and put his hands to his heart. "At least she loved him. I don't think he was very fond of her" ghastly said and burst out laughing. "Damn! That sounds like an interesting story" tanith said mischievously. Saracen nodded "you guy's wanna hear it?" He asked. The girls nodded excitedly and they all gathered around Saracen. Everyone except skulduggery who was sat with his back to them and had his arms and legs crossed.
Flash back:
The dead men sat around a camp fire chatting and joking around when they heard footsteps from behind them. "Hello?" Asked skulduggery standing up and walking over to where the noise was. "Bryan?" Asked a female voice. Skulduggery cocked his head as a women ran out of the shadows. She gasped and cried out in happiness "Bryan! It's me Teresa!" Cried the woman and ran into skulduggery and took him off his feet. The rest of the dead men jumped up and ran over to see what all the fuss was about. "Skulduggery? What are you doing on the floor with this stranger?" Asked ghastly amused. "She thinks I'm a guy called Bryan!" He groaned under the woman. She frowned down at the skeleton "Bryan? What happened? Why are you a skeleton? Are you dead?" She cried and sobbed into his chest. "Who's Bryan?" Asked Saracen. "He's my fiancee!" She sobbed. "I'm not Bryan! Get off! I'm alive thank you very much" skulduggery said and shoved her off. Teresa sighed in relief and smiled at him "oh thank god you're alive!" Teresa whispered and clasped her hands together. "When are you guys getting married?" Asked ravel cheekily. "We were going to do it before the war started but then we got separated and then never got to have the wedding" Teresa said sadly. Dexter smiled mischievously "we can have it now! Bryan hear has not stopped talking about you. My friend um... Anton here is a priest. Isn't that right Anton?" Anton grinned and nodded. Teresa smiled in awe as Saracen held his hands over his mouth to keep him from laughing.
Skulduggery stood with his ankles and wrists tied and his mouth taped. "Do you Teresa... Um..." Anton started. "Flubbahorn" she said brightly. Saracen and Dexter where rolling on the floor with their mouths covered to stifle the laughter that was trying to escape. "Right. Do you Teresa flubbahorn take here Bryan to be your fabulous new husband?" Asked Anton trying to keep his expression straight but not doing very well at it. "I do!" She cried. Skulduggery tried to break free but ravel and ghastly were holding him in place. "Bryan? Do you take Teresa to be your wife forever and ever and ever?" Anton asked. Skulduggery wanted to shake his head but ghastly was holding it still and then he made the skeleton nod. But then there was running and a man appeared "Teresa! What are you doing? Are you getting married to this imposter?" Asked Bryan. Teresa gasped and ran to Bryan and hugged him "I thought you were dead!" She cried. "My friend here is very sorry and said that you can punch him if you want to" ghastly said. Bryan scowled and walked over and punched skulduggery which made him going sprawled on the floor. The rest of the dead men all fell to the ground laughing as Teresa and Bryan walked away.
End of flashback
Everyone burst out laughing as Saracen finish the story. Skulduggery looked over to his friends and then looked over to Valkyrie who was sat crossed legged on the floor and had her face in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking violently "Valkyrie?" Skulduggery asked, confused. She flung her head back and burst out laughing "you... You! You were about to become Mr flubbahorn!" She cried through laughing.
When everyone has calmed down tanith stood up and looked over at the others proudly. "I have an idea!" She announced. "What is it tan?" Asked Valkyrie. Tanith looked over to her and grinned mischievously "Val why don't you sing a song for us?" Tanith asked raising her eyebrows up and down. "What!" Valkyrie cried looking horrified. "I can't sing" she protested. "Yes you can! You sing in the shower. A lot" tanith said and did the puppy eyes. "It's true. You are always singing in the bathroom. You're pretty good Val" skulduggery said and she turned "how the hell do you know?" She asked. "My bedroom is right next to it remember?" Skulduggery said, crossing his arms. "Please!" Tanith begged and Valkyrie sighed and nodded. Tanith squealed and whispered something in her ear. Valkyrie sighed and nodded. She stood up in front her friends and took a deep breath. Tanith started to play the music and Valkyrie sang:
Please, won't you wait? Won't you stay?
At least until the sun goes down
When you're gone, I lose faith
I lose everything I have found
Heart strings, violins
That's what I hear when you're by my side wooh
Yeah, that's what I hear when you're by my side woohh
But when you're gone the music go-wo-woah-wo-woah-oahs
I lose my rhythm, lose my sow-oh-oh-oh-uh-oh
So hear me out before you say the night is over
I want you to know all that we gotta, gotta carry on
So don't let this be our final song
So don't let this be our final song
So hear me out before you say the night is over
I want you to know all that we gotta, gotta carry on
So don't let this be our final song
Baby when we were young
There was nothing to make believe
And the songs that we sang
They were written for you and me
Melodies on repeat
That's what I hear when you're by my side wooh
Yeah, that's what I hear when you're by my side wooh
Valkyrie stepped back and looked to the floor. Tanith was jumping up and down while clapping her hands. Valkyrie looked over to the stunned men and then quickly turned and blushed. "Oh my god" stated ghastly. "You're amazing!" Cried donegan. The rest of the guys nodded and skulduggery looked at her. "Beautiful" he said and Valkyrie looked startled but then smiled and hugged him. "Who wants to watch a film?" She asked after they parted. Gracious lifted his hand in the air and flung it about "can we watch frozen!" He cried and everyone frowned at him "what?" He asked and stood up "I like that film. It helps sooth me after a hard day's work with monsters... And donegan" he said proudly. Donegan huffed and then tackled gracious to the ground. Valkyrie giggled along with skulduggery and everyone else. "Happy birthday you old bag of bones" Valkyrie said and smirked.