Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 136 - Would you like a sweetie, sweetie?

Chapter 136

From three in the morning to ten, Valkyrie stayed with eight day old Laila, Nadia coming in and out of sleep to check on her, so that Tanith could keep healing from her birth as Laila had decided she didn't want to sleep at all. For hours she cried and screamed, and it was only when Valkyrie finally went into the cool, still September air outside at seven in the morning that the baby settled. Unfortunately, Valkyrie hadn't expected that and as a result, had to stay outside in just her shorts and a t-shirt. Laila was wrapped up plus a blanket, as she had been only going to get her phone charger from the car parked out front, but she wasn't going to waste the opportunity to sooth the baby to dreamland. Carefully, she'd gone back inside when Laila was in a deep sleep and put her down in the parlour bassinet.

Dexter had come down with Erskine bickering loudly and Valkyrie had been too slow to stop them. Being tired, she'd angrily told them that they could take over and that Laila needed feeding and stormed up to her and Nadia's room – to fall headfirst into the pillow and pass out.

She woke around two as Nadia stroked her hair.

"Good afternoon," Nadia gently said, kissing her forehead. "You didn't sleep at all last night."

"I did a little," Valkyrie groaned, smelling the coffee. "Before Anton got me."

"Was he looking after Laila?"

"Yeah, but someone started messing about at the Hotel. He texted me last night that it was all good, but Laila didn't want to shut up. Ended up outside for her to sleep."

"Maybe it was too hot for her."

"She had cold feet inside. I only went out for a moment but she got mad when I went back in, so out it was," Valkyrie explained. "She doesn't have frostbite, in case you're worried. Can I have my coffee?"

"Sure. I was thinking," Nadia started when Valkyrie had sat up, "that maybe we could go out today? Since you did a ton of Sanctuary work already, and you did your babysitting and everyone else is here to hold things up."

Valkyrie smiled. "Of course. Where were you thinking?"

Nadia bit her lip. "Okay, I might maybe be being a little nosy, and probably overstepping, but I thought we could go to the village you grew up in? I wanted to see where you grew up."

Valkyrie had to take a deep breath through her nose before she dared even swallow her burning hot coffee. She hadn't expected that at all. "I suppose we can. What made you think about it? And for the record, it's not overstepping to ask me anything, you should know that."

Nadia blushed a little when Valkyrie stroked hair behind her ear. "I know. I was just curious. I've been talking with Gordon a lot while you've been gone about the house and his business and writing and you, a lot about you as a kid actually, and it just made me want to see it myself. He said that right after your father died your mother would take you to nursery on a Wednesday afternoon and he'd meet her and they'd have fish and chips and talk about you and your dad. I thought it would be good to see it myself."

Valkyrie smiled slightly, remembering her mum's face in her mind. She was a very beautiful lady, she remembered, and an amazing mum. "Let's get ready."

The two of them dressed – in the same room but faced away from each other – for the trip excitedly, deciding they would buy food there for lunch, breakfast in Valkyrie's case, and went downstairs to get Valkyrie's things that she'd dumped on the kitchen side at some point and it got left there since. Tanith, Laila, Ghastly, Erskine and Dexter were all in the kitchen when they walked in.

"Hi," Valkyrie said, sensing she interrupted something. Ghastly looked both miserable and desperate, and Tanith looked ready to either cry in frustration or punch something. "How's everyone?"