Alice's Birthday Party

Chapter 4 - The Party Part 2

"They make quite a cute couple, don't they?" Derek said whispering to Melissa.

"Who? Beryl and Fergus?"

"What?? No! I'm talking about our Steph and Skulduggery!"

"Oh Derek, they aren't partners like that! They just work together"

"Melissa, I've been working my job for twenty years and I never had a colleague look at me like Stephanie looks at him."

"They just happen to be really good friends too. They spend a lot of time with each other and he was her mentor, of course she admires him"

"I'm not talking about mere admiration. Just look at them now" He pointed at the room where they were going to after he received some phone call about work; they couldn't hear what they were saying yet saw them through the glass of the door. He was saying something, and she started to smile and after a few seconds, she went in to hug him. Not a casual friend hug, it seemed. They were tight, eyes closed, still talking so it seemed. Melissa shook her head.

"He is way too old for her, anyway. We met him a few times recently, he never mentioned anything or did anything that lead us to think they are more than just friends"

"He isn't that old, Melissa. Look at him, he is what, 30? Maybe 35? And Stephanie is already 25! Crazier things have happened. Besides, he seems to be a good person. A fun guy. She could do a lot worse"

Melissa didn't answer, instead she was sorting through her memories. What did he say again upon their first meeting? He would gladly lay down his life for her? Whenever she saw Stephanie, he was either around or she talked a lot about him. It wasn't wrong to assume that he was the centre of her life. The affection between them couldn't be denied, but after all she knew something Derek didn't -- that it was ten years that parted them, but a few hundred and that underneath the façade, Skulduggery was living skeleton. No, no it wasn't possible. Certainly not.

She looked up as they came back into the room, watching every movement of them; the way they behaved with each or merely stood next to each other, everything demonstrated familiarity with every movement the other person usually does. The entire evening, she couldn't think of anything else, she was too busy reanalysing every moment she has seen them together, re-evaluating her opinion. She wasn't sure of anything anymore.

The day was running out, the girls were getting tired and soon Molly and Alex left with their parents. Alice, albeit tired, insisted to stay up and sat down with Skulduggery and Valkyrie, demanding to hear stories of their adventures. Making sure that Beryl and Fergus were out of hearing range, they told them about some of their greatest adventures in a kid friendly version, without the punching and cursing, but with a focus on team work and friendship and the fun they had. Again, Melissa did her best to analyse their body languages and decided finally Derek was right -- her daughter looked at the skeleton with such a loving affection, she couldn't deny that it was a possible that she didn't know all about their relationship.

"Melissa? Are you even listening?" Beryl asked annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I was in thought"

"I was saying how do you tolerate your daughter working with him? He was one of Gordon friends, one of those freaks! You said so yourself!"

"I used to think that, but Stephanie likes him and she likes the job. He... he isn't exactly normal, but he does everything to keep her save and genuinely cares for her, which is more than enough for me to honestly say that he is, in fact, a good person."

Fergus chuckled despicable at the word "person", leaving Derek and Beryl confused. The latter however just changed the subject as quickly as possible to avoid further embarrassment, before finally giving her farewell a few minutes later. It was shortly after they left when Alice had enough of listening and felt energised enough to play music and started dancing. Then suddenly she seemed to remember last time her sister and friend where around and ran to her parents and Derek with glowing eyes.