A/N: I do not own Artemis Fowl, that is Eoin Colfer's wonderful brain child (But If I did, there would be a book 9, and it would be about how these two hook up ;) ) I also do not own any of the poems that head each chapter. I couldn't find the authors for most of them so to whomever they belong to, the rights are yours.

I had a lot of fun writing this story. Havn't written a fanfic in who knows how long but after re-reading the 8th Artemis Fowl book, my imagination ran rampant and I had to write this, lol. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it (please?) Haha. Sorry if you think characters might seem a little OOC, i tried my best, haha. Enjoy :)

"I actually fell for you before I even realized I did."

Artemis Fowl II stood in front of the tall, arched windows that overlooked his bedroom's balcony. A steady evening storm raged before him, rain pelting the glass with large, splattering drops. He clasped his hands behind his back, his mood pensive as he regarded this seemingly unremarkable phenomenon. It was one of those abrupt summer storms, the kind that seem to come out of nowhere yet are everywhere at this time of the year, so nobody could say they were caught unawares. The soft drumming of the rain mixed with the low rumbles of thunder seemed to create a kind of comforting melody to Artemis. He closed his eyes, savoring the sounds. A poem from Atticus came to mind.

The rain can make us sad. Until we see closely the beauty of a single rain drop. And so to the same with life.

It had almost been two weeks since Artemis Fowl had come back to life, his present body now a fairy-made clone. A miracle, to say the least. Six months prior, his soul had been adrift, neither in this world nor the next. Not a ghost but not dead. Just somewhere inbetween. It had been a strange time, one that he could only remember flickers of. All he could really remember of the experience were certain feelings and emotions. The feeling of temptation, trying in it's earnest to convince him to just let himself go, to be adsorbed into the unearthly particles that called to him. This would then be countered by the strong feeling of determination, the will to stay on this plane, to hold on for his family and friends.

There had been one other strong feeling as well, a potent emotion that had also helped convince his soul to stay tethered. One as potent as determination...

"Artemis?"

He jumped at the sound of his name, breaking him out of his reverie.

Composing himself, he smiled at the sound of her voice.

"Hello, Holly," He said, finally turning to face her.

Captain Holly Short was leaning against his doorway, arms crossed with a small smile on her lips. Instead of her customary green LEP uniform, she was in civilian dress, which consisted of a simple, moss green t shirt and shorts.

Holly had taken time off from her duties as a LEP Recon officer to stay and help him better acclimate himself after coming back to life. During that time, she had relayed all the stories of their adventures together to help jog his memory, for he had woken up without a single one. But now, with the combined efforts of her stories, his family's input and also several journals Artemis himself had kept from before, all his memories were now once again intact.

She regarded his expression for a moment.

"You ok?"

He cleared his throat.

"Yes of course. Just observing the storm," he said, gesturing towards the window."

Holly chuckled.

"Ah, well now, who would Artemis Fowl be if he wasn't observing something? Definitely not himself."

She then made her way across the room to join him.

He regarded her familiar elfin features for a moment, a flash of lightning momentarily lighting up her mismatched eyes. Eyes that he had realized were a thing of beauty to him. One hazel and one blue, the blue being one of his own from his old body, an anomaly that had occurred during their time travel adventure from Hybras. He noticed that her face, though smiling, had a frayed and weary tinge to it. It had been a tumultuous few months for them both.

"There are many things to observe," he said, turning his attentions back to the window. "Take for instance, the rain." He tapped the glass softly with a slim finger. "Tiny droplets of moisture that are made up of liquid condensed from the atmosphere. "

Holly rolled her eyes at him.

"Trust your oversized brain to turn even rain drops into a scientific lecture."

He crinkled his nose at the jab, but remained focused on his thoughts.

"My point is, though a drop of rain is seemingly an unremarkable object, nobody ever really considers the complex science behind it. There are so many variables, so many factors that come into play. It's a miracle, really." He paused for a moment, considering this. His voice suddenly took on a morose tone when he continued. "It's just a reminder of things that I, regardless of my intellect, had also taken for granted."

Holly looked up at him then, surprised. She had never heard him talk this way before, not even during the time when he had his Atlantis Complex.

She took his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Everyone takes things for granted sometimes, Arty."

He nodded, but his eyes still held sorrow.

"I know. It's just something I never considered until the Beserker Incident. I suppose now that I've literally tasted death, all the things that I used to hold in such high regard now seem frivolous. Gold. Power. Money. Intellect. It all now seems so...inconsequential."

Holly gave his hand another squeeze, her heart breaking for her friend. When she had first met him, he had been such a selfish, cold, and heartless individual. To see him now be so greatly affected just by the realization that he took for granted something as trivial as a rain drop was a huge mark on how far he'd come.

A tremendous wave of emotion washed over her then as she took in the sight of him.

Though he had been alive for almost two weeks now, she still couldn't believe he was here beside her, alive and breathing. It had been the hardest six months of her life, not knowing whether or not she would ever see her best friend alive again. Hard determination was the only thing that had propelled her forward during that time, believing with every fiber of her being that his plan would work.

Because the alternative was just too unbearable to think about.

He has literally become like air to me, she realized.

As Artemis continued to be submerged in his thoughts, Holly took a moment to study him, taking in the cool, calm, and thoughtful deameaner that made Artemis who he was. It was as familiar to her as her own shadow. Always thinking. Always calculating. Always planning.

Always Artemis. The boy genius.

But he's not a boy anymore, she couldn't help but realize lately, against her better judgement. Her eyes were automatically drawn to his chisled, angular face, noticing the little bits of stubble beginning to dot his chin. His raven hair was carefully combed back into it's usual tidy apperance, not one hair out of place. He was techinically a grown man now. He'd even been having to wear his father's suits to compensate for how much he'd grown. Foaly had apparently miscaluated something during when growing the clone so not only did he have a sixth toe but also his body was now a few years older than he was before. And no matter what Foaly had said about a makeover, his new age showed.

Which, in human terms, was now biologically somewhere very close to Holly's own age...

A small blush suddenly began to creep up on her cheeks as she furiously pushed the thought away, locking it deep into a place where other offenders like it had wormed their way into her subconscious over the years. They'd been plaguing her more and more recently and it was getting harder to hold them at bay...

Artemis glanced down at Holly then, just in time to see a strong flicker of emotion cross her face, disappearing just as soon as it came. She then quickly composed herself and turned to face the window.

There it is again, he thought, quickly switching his thoughts to the curiosity at hand. He had recently begun to notice this peculiar expression flash across her face every so often during the past few days. He was good at reading body language, especially when it came to her, but even he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, she was always so quick to hide it.

Though he did have an inkling...

"Holly," he finally asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," She answered quickly, but her eyes gave her away.

"Come now, Holly, there is so something. I can tell." He flashed her one of his customary vampire grins. "I am a genius, after all."

"Nothing worth talking about," she said, waving it away. "Just don't worry about it,"

"Holly, please-"

"I said it's fine, Mud Boy!" She snapped, her mismatched eyes suddenly aflame.

He regarded her sudden mood change thoughtfully before she spoke again, her voice clipped and to the point.

"I think I'm going to go back to my room to pack my things. Tomorrow is my last day here, and I need to get my stuff organized."

She started for the room's double doors when Artemis spoke from behind her, his voice clear but calm.

"We never did have that talk."

Holly froze, confused at his words.

"Huh?"

"While we were chasing that probe to Atlantis. After Orion had said all that romantic rubbish about you. You said you wanted to talk about it...But it never happened. Why is that?"

A bright flash of lightning lit up the dim room then, follwed by a quick loud crack of thunder that cut through the uncomfortable silence like a gunshot.

Holly slowly turned toward him, her eyes narrowed.

"Why are you-"

Artemis remained calm, his expression unreadable.

"It's a simple question."

Holly stood silent for a moment, floored that this had come up.

Finally her voice cut the air.

"There wasn't any time, Artemis! What did you want me to do? There was too much going on, what with Turnball and then we had to fix your Atlantis Complex, which kept on progressing and getting worse, and-"

"But still all the same, it never happened," he pointed out. "Even after everything was settled. You had me alone many times when you visited me in my room during the whole 6 months I spent in Haven while I received my Atlantis Complex treatments. Even during when I would join you on your visits with Nopal, you had a chance. Holly, all I'm hearing are excuses."

Holly's mouth dropped open in shock. Her face flushed with a sudden red fury, small hands balling into fists.

"Watch yourself, Mud Boy." she said dangerously.

Artemis still kept his composure, his blue eyes locked onto her mismatched ones.

"You know it would've happened if you had really wanted it to," he said quietly. "Admit it."

Holly suddenly felt as though someone were squeezing her throat. He knows, she realized, panic rising up quick and suffocating. Somehow, he knows. She opened and closed her mouth, unable to form any words for a moment.

"Holly-"

"Artemis, i don't want to talk about this-"

"Holly-"

"Artemis, please stop-"

"Holly, if you would just tell me the-"

"I WAS FRIGHTENED, OK?!"

Her outburst hung in the air between them.

Holly clapped her hands over her mouth, stunned at what had just come out. She tried to keep whatever control she had left as her small frame started to shake with tremors as the panic continued to build, her eyes filling with tears. The past few months had taken such a huge toll on her nerves, her emotions raw and wrung out like a used rag. Being a soldier, Holly had gone through rigorous training on how to keep even the strongest of feelings from interfering with her work. Though her being a female elf made her slip up on that sometimes, she was still able to control herself in most situations. However, at this moment, she felt all that training whirl itself right out the window.

A dam inside of her suddenly burst and before she could stop herself, it all came gushing out like a wild river.

"FINE! You wanna know why?!" She shouted, her eyes taking on a wild appearance. "Because part of me was scared that these feelings I had for you were real, OK?! Because if they were, I knew they were wrong, on so many levels, and I was confused, I didn't know what to think, after w-we went back in time I started to realize the feelings I had for you were real after I kissed you, and I just hid them away from myself and disregarded it after we came back, but then when Orion blurted it out in front of Foaly i-it reminded me of those feelings all over again and it made me angry and confused especially because I realized that you were starting to feel something for m-me too, I knew things were getting out of hand and we needed to talk but I actually couldn't bring myself up to it, and then wh-when you drugged me to go confront Opal, I realized that I-I really couldn't do without you, the last six months were like hell for me, not knowing for certain if-if your plan would really work, whether I would ever see you again, and, d'arvit, I just-I just-"

Suddenly her legs buckled beneath her and she collapsed to the floor, sobs wracking her small frame. Shame and embarrassment washed over her instantly as she continued to lose her mind in front of him, right there on the floor. She felt so vulnerable and helpless as the onslaught of emotions that had been carefully locked away for so long continued to explode out of her like a volcano. She felt crazy. She felt sick. And it was all because of a Mud Boy. A human, for Frond's sake! She cradled her head and cried and cried, hardly able to breathe-

Suddenly she felt a pair of warm, gentle arms scoop her up off the floor and cradle her against his chest. She quickly covered her tear-soaked face with her hands, not wanting Artemis to look at her.

He considered her silently in his arms for a few moments before walking over to his bed and gently laying her down on top of the soft down comforter. He then sat down beside her and finally spoke.

"Holly, look at me."

She shook her head, hands still covering her face.

"No!"

He sighed.

"Holly, please take your hands away."

She continued to shake her head.

He gently grabbed her wrists then, slowly pulling them away from her face.

She stubbornly turned her head away then, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He sighed again, and cupped his hands around her tear- soaked cheeks, gently forcing her to face him.

"Holly please, for the love of Frond, just look at me!"

She finally gave into him then, her tear-filled mismatched eyes locking onto his deep blue ones. Those eyes captivated her as if in a trance. She couldn't look away now even if she tried.

He smiled down at her then, his thumbs methodically rubbing away the steady stream of tears that trailed down her cheeks.

"Before I left to go face Opal, the last thing I did was kiss your forehead and tell you to give that to Foaly from me." He leaned down then and softly brushed his lips against her forehead. "A crucial part of my plan, of course. But, even so..."

She stared up at him, confusion etched onto her tear-stained face.

"...what I had really wanted to do...What I wished I could've done... was give to you the one that would have only been meant," he started to lean in close again, his breath tickling her lips, "...just for you."

And before she could react, he closed the gap between their lips with his own.

She should have resisted. She should have stopped him. It would have been the right thing to do, as this was wrong, all so wrong...

But then suddenly her head felt powerless as it finally gave in to what her heart had been trying to tell her all along.

She was in love with him.

And at that moment she gave in to a sudden realization.

Not only could she not do without him...

She would not be able to do without him.

Holly felt him suddenly begin to pull away then, perhaps unsure of her reaction since her lips had not yet responded to his. She reached up then, grabbed his face with both hands, and pulled him back down to her, crushing his lips to hers. Blue sparks suddenly ignited at the contact, tendrils of magic spreading out and surrounding them both in a corona of blue light.

Despite the magic starting to create some sort of drunken haze in his mind, Artemis pulled back slightly, instantly recognizing the phenomenon from another time.

"This reaction, I remember it from during our journey to the past, when you kissed me after healing me from that gorilla attack."

Holly rolled her eyes at him.

Typical Artemis Fowl, she thought. Doesn't that hamster wheel in his head ever take a break?

"Relax, Mud Boy. It just means that I like you. A lot."

"But when you got to that part in your story, you said the only reason you had kissed me was because you were just 'happy and flushed with magic-'"

"I lied. Sort of. Now shut up, Artemis."

And she pulled him back down again.

He made a little sound of surprise but happily followed her lead, his lips breaking out into a satisfied smile against her own as their pace quickened. Holly's arms traveled upwards to embrace his neck then, pulling him all the more closer, a smile of her own forming. And for the next few minutes, neither one of them could think of a single coherent thought as the magic continued to surround them, submerging them both in blue, sparkling lights.