"Skulduggery?"
"Yes dear?"
"I know you want to ask me something."
"...What?" Skulduggery's voice went embarrassingly high when he was lying "You know what I mean Skul!"
"Hfff! Fine, ok so since I was cursed with being a skeleton again we obviously cant reproduce even though I do have a full body façade in case something goes wrong, so I was thinking that we could maybe adopt."
"You want to adopt?"
"Yeah! Brooklyn and Romeo are up for it too!"
"...Ok, lets go to the orphanage in Roarhaven!" She said and smiled at her husband "Really?"
"Really, lets go!" and before she got up Skulduggery wrapped his bony arms around her waist "I love you, you know?" he said and started to nibble on her earlobe "Yeah! I know you do! Now come on!" she jumped off the couch and bounded up the stairs to get changed while Skulduggery walked into the kitchen where Brooklyn and Romeo are "Kids guess what?" he asked excitedly and the twins looked at him "What?" they said in unison "Were going to the orphanage!"
"YES!" Brooklyn shouted and ran outside while Romeo just laughed at her. The twins were 21 now but they still acted as immature as always, Brooklyn had long black hair that tumbled down just past her waist and had sparkling blue crystal eyes, she was muscular and fit. Romeo had black shaggy hair and the same eyes and Brooklyn but he wasn't as muscular as his sister since he didn't fight much unlike her who would fight a cereal box if it didn't give her a toy.
Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Brooklyn and Romeo entered the orphanage and the first thing they saw was a fire ball hurtling past them originating from a small child with an evil grin on his face "He looks like a squirrel doesn't he?" Skulduggery whispered to Brooklyn who stifled a giggle and Valkyrie slapped her husbands arm while Brooklyn had to clamp a hand over to mouth to stop her from laughing "Oh Hello!" a voice said from behind them so the whirled around and saw a lady stood smiling at them "Hello! Were here to adopt a child." Valkyrie said and the woman nodded and walk in "Follow me!" he said and the gang followed her.
They were sat in an office looking at the woman who was speaking about the responsibilities about adopting a child but they weren't really paying attention "So would you like to meet the children?" she asked and Skulduggery nodded so the lady pressed a button on the speaker and talked into it "Can everybody meet in the garden please? We have guests!" she released te button and stood up "Alright so lets go meet them!" they all got up and made there way to the garden where the children were pouring out the door forming a line outside. Once all the children were out the lady began to count them all "...Where's Aelin?" she asked and looked around "We don't know!" one of the kids said "Ok, ill go get her!" the lady said but Skulduggery stopped her "Its quite alright! Ill go find her, I want to explore anyway!" he walked of into the house looking around as he did so. He was about to walk into the living room when something hit him making him fall to the floor, and there was a gasp from behind him so he turned and looked at the girl "IM leithscéal mar sin, ní raibh mé chiallaíonn a dhéanamh air! Le do thoil logh dom Tá mé chomh-leithscéal!" she said in Gaelic "Ceart go leor é! Did not tú chiallaíonn sé, ar a im breá ceart go leor!" Skulduggery replied and stood up "I really am sorry!" she said. The girl had dark ginger hair put up in a plat an freckles all over her face with dark brown eyes. She was wearing a dark green sweater that looked way too big for her with black leggings "Its alright! Really I'm not hurt! Are you Aelin?" Skulduggery asked and the girl looked confused "Yes, how do you know my name?"j
"Were waiting for you outside."
"Why?"
"Because were here to adopt."
"Were?"
"Me Skulduggery Pleasant my wife Valkyrie Pleasant and my two children Brooklyn and Romeo Pleasant!"
"Your the skeleton detective!"
"How'd you guess?" he asked and tilted his head to show he was smiling and Aelin smiled back "Well it was nice meeting you Mr Pleasant! Goodbye!" she said and was about to walk off when Skulduggery stopped her "Where are you going?"
"Back to my room. Its obvious I'm not going to get picked so theres no point really."
"What makes you think we wont pick you?" a voice came from the door so Aelin turned and saw Valkyrie, Brooklyn and Romeo stood looking at her "Haven't you seen the kids out there? There magic and happy and jumpy and pretty! All the opposite of what I am! I'm depressed, I have serious anxiety and I have dyslexia! I don't even know if I can do magic! You might as well pick a child who can think properly and learn!" Aelin was close to tears now she could feel them gather up inside her waiting to spill "I belong here, where I don't have to worry about socializing." she said and walked through the door but a hand stopped her so she turned around and looked at Brooklyn who was looking sympathetically at her "Your not the only one with dyslexia." she said softly and Aelins banks burst and she collapsed to the floor sobs racking her body so Brooklyn bent down and hugged her "Its ok!"
"Why do you all care?"
"What do you mean?"
"No one has ever cared about me! You don't even know me and yet you still care!" Skulduggery walked towards her and pulled her up from the ground "What do you mean no one has ever cared?" he asked softly and Aelin sniffled before pulling her sweater down a bit to reveal symbols etched into her collar bone so she tapped them and the skin on her right arm and her left leg melted away to reveal bone. On her face almost half of her skin disappeared so you could see a bit of her jaw and one eye socket "Oh my god." Valkyrie breathed but Skulduggery, Brooklyn and Romeo remained unresponsive "I was born like this and because my parents thought I was ugly they beat me and whipped me because they thought I was a monster!" Aelin said and started to cry eachother but something unexpected happened, Skulduggery pulled her into a hug and she hesitantly hugged him back "I'm sorry." he said gently and she hugged him closer and harder "You don't have to be afraid anymore. We will look after you." he said and Aelin pulled back a bit and looked into his eye sockets "What do you mean?" she asked and Skulduggery turned back to his family and they all nodded "Aelin, will you let us adopt you?" he asked and with the lips that were on her half bone head she smiled and nodded enthusiastically before pulling Skulduggery back into the hug "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes ,yes! YES!" she shouted and they all laughed "Thank you." she then whispered and Brooklyn ran up to her and hugged her "YES! three girls against two boys!" she cheered and Romeo sagged "Damn!" he said and Skulduggery laughed "Its ok son! We will conquer the house!" he shouted and Valkyrie gave him a glare that could kill "Well that is, if its ok with your mother." he said and looked at his feet "Sorry honey." he apologised and the girls cheered in defeat "Daddd! Were never going to win if your scared of mom!" Romeo wined and Skulduggery's head snapped up "I am not scared of her!" he argued and Valkyrie just stared at him making his posture falter "Maybe a little." he agreed and Valkyrie nodded "That's it! I am done being a boy!" Romeo said and Brooklyn laughed "Romeo you stopped being a boy a long time ago." she said and Aelin laughed "I like this family!" she decided and they all laughed.
I thought this was a cute idea so I just went along with it!
