"Hey, Holly, we should get jerseys."
She did not answer instead, Holly rolled her eyes. Chix Verbal had been hitting on her all night with no relent. Normally, she would be able to escape to her house and let the bubbles of a Friday night bath, soak away all her troubles. Then she could do a little reading; have a nice non business related conversation with Artemis and sleep in. But no, Commander Trouble Kelp decided that it would be a great idea to have an official day were the LEP could all partake in something athletic and "bond". He called it guys and Holly's night out.
Holly sighed "Why Chix?" please don't be a cheesy pickup line. Dear Lord, don't let it be a cheesy pick up line.
"Cuz we make a good team."
Holly groaned as she and Chicks came to the one mile marker. Stupid Trouble, why couldn't guys' night out include a shake and some fries or normal jogging. Instead he partners me up with this buffoon for a three legged race.
"Holly if you look closely you can see my already hansom gluts get even more toned."
"I think I'll pass this time." Holly choked out while trying not to gag.
Holly looked into the distance and saw the finish line. As her and Chix came closer and closer to the finish line Holly got happier. She could finally go home! In her enthusiasm she stepped to fast with the tied foot. Chicks had no time to recover. Holly's free foot was already in the air when Chicks, was face first into the ground. His unmoving body dragged out her tied foot from underneath her and she fell awkwardly sideways on top of Chicks.
Trouble looked down at his friend. He shook his head. Why couldn't Holly just be tolerant and patient with Chix Verbal. He had matched them together because he knew it would be harder for her, but it would also make her a better officer. He did it for her own good, but tolerance was not in this elf's vocabulary.
"That was quiet a fall. Did it hurt?"
"It was three feet." Holly said angrily
"No, I meant when you feel from heaven." Chix winked.
"Chix, I swear!!--" holly said while lifting up her hands to wrap around Chick's neck.
"Holly get up off of Chix!" Holly removed herself from Chix and loosened her foot out of the tie. "You just earned yourself quality time with your commander tonight."
"D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit!!" In that one fall all her hopes of a relaxing bubble bath were gone.
"Aww, come on. I'm not that bad of company."
"Listen, Commander. Today is the last Friday of the month, in other words my bubble bath day. I don't treat myself to baths a lot, only every other month on a Friday. Do not, make me stay here with you to get a lecture. Can't we save it for later."
"Sorry, that's a negative Short. But, we can get a smoothie to make it more enjoyable."
"Damn you Kelp"
Trouble glared at Holly; his lips formed an evil grin "Excellent job Short. You just earned yourself a grave yard shift with me tomorrow."
"Shit" Muttered Holly.
"Okay everyone go home. You all did a great job." He pointed his finger at Holly. "Holly, clean up. We'll skip the lecture this time."
Water trickled down Holly's toned physic . Her chest inflated with air and released in a long sigh. There was no Friday night bath as was hoped, but at least there was a nice long shower on a quiet Saturday night. Once the shower was finished, baggy, green, checkered PJ bottoms were pulled up and a loose, green, spaghetti strap, tank, top was slid on.
Holly just had gotten into her cozy bed when a loud ring came from the door.
"Who the Hell would come over at twelve o'clock!"
Grumbling as she trudged her way over to the door way, slowly turned the handle and cracked open the door. An equally grumpy face appeared in the door way.
"Your late!"
"What? I'm off work today."
"Your shift started at eleven thirty. Remember?..." Commander Kelp waited for a response; none came. "Let me in Short.
Holly opened the door all the way. She gestured with her hand to come in. The commander stepped through the door way.
"Trouble!" she blurted just now realizing who was at her door. "I'm in my pajama's."
"I can see that." He responded as his skin color got a tad pink,
"Can't I give you some coffee and we'll call it even?"
"No, come on Short we've got work to do."
If glares could kill Trouble would be dead, for Holly shot him the most brutal glare she could muster up. Then she grudgingly walked into her room. Took off the tank and PJ bottoms and fumbled with the LEP uniform.
Things didn't look much brighter for Holly when Trouble and her reacted the LEP plaza. It turned out that the good Commander Kelp had assigned them troll watch above ground. Escaped troll watch was bad but above ground was good. That's was until they got there and Holly realized that it was in the new air tight protective pod that Foaly invented.
"Damn Foaly and his damn inventions."
"You're in a bad mood today."
"What do you expects. I was just about to go to sleep and then you come in."
"I told you that you had grave yard duty when you fell on Chix."
"Yeah, well I forgot and I thought it was a stupid joke…What's a Commander doing working grave yard shifts anyway? Shouldn't you file some papers instead?"
"Filing papers sucks, and it gives me a chance to have some exciting missions. I miss being able to go up to the surface, so if I can take a job on top, even if it's in a crappy air bubble I'll take it."
Holly look down at her feet. She was slightly embarrassed at her angry prying. The booth fell extremely quiet. A long time after that, it was just checking the surrounding and the locators to see if the missing troll was close.
A small beeping noise eked it's way through the heavy silence. Another beep occurred, and another. Neither, Holly or Trouble even glanced at the machine, for it was probably just a large animal or a car. Thump! Thump! The booth shook. Thump!!
Shocked, Trouble fumbled with the communicator. He knew what the thumping was. In the haste the device slip from his hands and crashed on the ground. His partner look at him horrified.
The large beast heard a strange crashing noise. Danger it thought. Then it stepped on a large, smooth rock. Crash.
The next thing trouble knew was the troll was stepping on Foaly's bubble. He pushed his feet against the ground and leap to protect his partner. His body pushed Holly against the far side of the bubble where the troll's foot wasn't on. A high pitched shattering noise reached the LEP officer's ears as they landed on the ground with a thud. Both closed their eyes.
Large and small shards pelted the duo and imbedded it's self into their skin. Trouble opened one eye to see what was going on. The troll was in a blind range now. It must has gotten glass in it's foot. He then looked at his dear friend Holly. She was lying very still. Glass coated her body everywhere but her feet, where Trouble's arm was lying. The last little blue spark fizzled out. No more magic.
"Holly." The word softly floated by his face for a while then vanished.
He started to tear up. "Holly" the word hung in the air again. Heal. He though. He could heal her. But the glass would have to be removed first.
The massive beast roared when it saw the tinny elf moving. Danger it thought and started to come lower it's hand.
Seeing the movement, Trouble quickly removed his Neutrino 64 out of it's holster. Turned it up to the highest setting and blasted several times at it's head doing a little bit more than stunning it. It would be out for a long time. The Neutrino slid back into it's holster.
Stooping over Holly, he pressed his hand against her neck. No, pulse. He lifted his hands over to start CPR, but the glass blocked her chest. He knew that healing her would end up doing more bad than good, but if he could just give her enough magic to jump start her heart she might just survive.
Eight blue sparks flowed from Trouble's finger tip to the top of Holly's chest then into it. He gingerly picked up her body and started to sprint in a random direction. All that mattered was keeping Holly alive.
Trouble spotted a town. When he got to the town's edge, he placed Holly's body down in and covered her with the surrounding foliage, then tried to shielded. It didn't work. He too was out of magic.
He quickly walked through the town until he saw a young child playing by herself. She was in front of a house. Trouble dashed to her side.
"Hey! Wanna play."
The little girl looked at him strangly "Ummmmmmmm…Okay" her expression turned into trusting.
"Hey"
"Yeah?"
"Can I use your phone?"
"Okay" The little girl reached into her poket and pulled out a Hannah Montana cell. "Here"
Thanks, trouble rapidly punched in the number to one of Foaly's many oddity human emergency numbers. They were originally set up as a hot line to humans that saw "oddities" (Aka fairy) but Trouble didn't think he would mind if he used it to get help.
DooDoooDOooooo… "Hello you have reached oddity hot line can you tell me what you saw?" Foaly's voice rang.
"Foaly are you there?"
Foaly heard the commanders voice through the speaker. He usually let the machine get the dumb calls but today he was board. He spun in his chair to face his computer. Foaly opened the location feature on his computer, so he could triangulate the call.
"Yeah, I'm here. What's wrong?"
"Send me some warlocks. Holly is seriously hurt. She needs medical help fast."
"Okay I got you location and a med team is on its way. They'll be there in 15 mins. What's going on--"Beeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Trouble hung up. All he had to do now was keep Holly alive till then.
"Thank you, bye"
"bye" the girl replied happily, totally forgetting about playing with him.
Commander Kelp brushed off the foliage on Holly. He bent down to her side and checked his watch. Thirteen more minutes. His hand shook as he placed it on her neck. Her heart was slow and week, but still going.
"Come on Holly, stay with me. Just stay with me." He said in a quiet prayer.
Seven more minuets Trouble counted as he looked at his watch. He looked over at Holly's body. The half healed skin around glass shards made Trouble's heart sink into his stomic. Holly's heart stopped.
"No, no come on Holly. Don't do this. Come on! I'm sorry. I need to tell you I'm sorry!" Trouble tried to summon any magic he had left. Nothing. " Holly!" Tears poured from his eyes. "Only four more minuets you can't hang on for that long?" He said in a sob.
Commander Kelp removed his two fingers from her neck. He knew that her heart wasn't going to miraculously start up, even if he had magic it wouldn't work miracles. He realized that it was stupid of him to think she would some how survive.
"Why, Holly?" His tears fell down upon her chest "I know that after I became commander, I didn't treat you like my friend. You probably hated me. You really are my best friend. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I-I- really wish I could have spent more time with you, because every day I'm with you, is a new best day… I guess I doesn't matter now, but…"
The tears ran down even harder. He placed his head on the sharp glass embedded in her chest.
"I always wanted to tell you, well. I love you Holly."
"I love you too Trouble." The faint words barley reached Trouble's ears.
He jolted up in surprise. Holly's eyes were slightly open. They were glazed over and not quite focused, but still open. Mouth was formed in a weak smirk.
"Holly! You're alive! How is that possible? Your heart stopped! It would mean a miracle were to have happened."
"Magic, I guess exists in more ways than one."
"Warlocks are on there way, you're going to be fine."
Holly closed her eyes and smiled. She truly loved Trouble. Foaly's medical team arrived at exactly fourteen minuets and forty-two seconds. They picked out all the glass in Holly and healed up all her wounds. Then one of them turned to Commander Kelp.
"Sir, you look like you can use a lot of healing also."
"Just let me talk to Foaly."
The warlock handed over the video camera phone to Trouble.
"Hey, Trouble you look like crap!" The centaur jeered.
"That Commander Kelp to you, and I'm fine."
"Sure you are. It looks like you got into a fight with a glass porcupine. I'm surprised the little girl didn't run away when you asked for her phone."
"I'm issuing one mind wipe for the little girl and lets swear the warlocks to secrecy. It wouldn't look good on the LEP if the public knew how badly the commander screwed up."
"Got it, over and out."
After Trouble let the warlocks treat him he made his way over to Holly's cot in the transport shuttle. He brushed her check with his hand then made sure none of the warlocks were looking. Once he affirmed that they were all busy, he leaned in and softly kissed her lips.
Holly opened her eyes and gently kissed back.