Crossing the line

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl

Domovoi Butler had many firsts attributed to him. He had been the first to graduate from Madame Ko's Academy at the age of Eighteen. He was one half of the first human duo to kidnap a fairy, certainly the first to shoot one with a tranquiliser. He also claimed the title of being the first human to survive a fight with a Troll.

And now Domovoi Butler had achived another first. He was the first Butler in the history of their service to the Fowl family to actually retire.

Most Butler's, like his own Uncle, were killed in service to the Fowl's and the few that weren't were forced into retirement by injuries that impaired their ability to preform their duty. Like Butler's own father who had been retired from gaurding Artemis' grandfather at the loss of his left eye.

Butler could still remember his mother's mischevious smile and the way the corners of her oriental eyes creased as she explained, her American accent barely hindered by the years she had spent in Ireland, that his eyepatch only made her husband look all the more Roguish and the eaxact pitch of Juliet's shriek of laughter at the comment.

But Domovoi was the first Butler to be retired because of old age. And as such no one knew quite how to go about it.

He certainly didn't want to retire and the Fowl family didn't want to let him go. Somewhere along the line, it would be impossible to pinpoint the exact moment, both Butler and Juliet had crossed the line from Bodygaurds to Family.

So a compromise was reached. Rather than fully retiring to some tropical location Butler would remain on at Fowl Manor in a Semi retired position. He would still preform perimiter checks and man the sucurity booth but all the real action would be handled by Juliet and his cousin Alexander, the newest Butler to take up a position with the Fowls.

Juliet and Butler were admittedly surprised Alexander was following in the Butler family tradition he had been only three (he was his parents great suprise it had to be said they had thought they were well past any more children) when his father went down on the Fowl Star. And after her husbands death his mother had made a point of staying as far away from the Fowl and Butler families as she could. Yet here Alexander was, fresh out of the academy. Juliet was estatic to not be the rookie anymore.

Butler really only had one serious duty to preform these days. And that duty was the reason he was sitting in a car at three o'clock outside the gates of St Geraldine's Preparatory School.

It had taken Artemis and Holly all of about six seconds to decide that boarding school was not the best educational option for their daughter. Their exact conversation went exactly as follows:

"No?"

"No."

Not only was Holly against Boarding School as a principle, they really couldn't risk it. All it would take was for Ariel to get a papercut or roll out of bed and there would be mini blue fireworks. It was bad enough trying to keep her healing abilities under wraps when she was only at school for six hours, Artemis had had to use one of his numerous pseudonyms to forge a doctors certificate excusing his daughter from physical education and every year Holly and Artemis braced themselves for the annual 'Why can't I play netball/tennis/hockey?' tantrum. They didn't even want to think about how difficult keeping their child's Fairy heritage a secret when she was out of their sight for entire terms.

So Day school it was. St Geraldine's was one of the most exclusive schools in the country and offered everything paying parents could possibly want from an educational institution. Low student to teacher ratio's, personalized curriculum's, excellent results and a lot of high profile students. Both the President and Taoiseach had daughters enrolled.

Because of this Butler wasn't the only Bodygaurd waiting for school to be let out. He was however one of the few who remained in his car rather than taking this opportunity to converse with other contemporaries. It really was quite a funny sight; a gaggle of suited buff men standing beside the school's wrought iron gates gossiping like a bunch of school mums.

A shrill electronic bell sounded and the school gates swung open. Girls ranging in ages of five to eleven began to filter out. The buzz of many conversations filled the air, with a few shrieks of laughter rising above the cacophony.

Butler kept a trained eye on the tide of school girls exiting their daily prison and was rewarded as a mop of red curls bobbed up through breaks in the crowd every few seconds. Ariel Fowl slowly but surely picked her way through the throng and spotting Butler made her way over to the car as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. A smile splitting the sides of her face.

Her appearance was as it always was at the end of the school day: Entirely disheveled. Sometimes Butler found it very hard to believe this little girl with her lackadaisical appearance was related to Artemis Fowl. Her school socks which had that very morning been pristine white were now speckled with dirt and one had slipped down her knee to pool at her ankle. The green bow she had begged her grandmother to tie into her hair had come loose and the ribbon tangled in her curls. The toes of her black school shoes were gray where she had scuffed them. Butler knew he had an hour of polishing to look forward too. Her gray skirt was splattered with blue paint that didn't look like it would be coming out any time soon. And finally the cuffs of Ariels school jumper which fell over her finger tips (The jumper was the smallest size the school offered and was still too big for the diminutive girl) were discolored and tatty as she chewed on them when she was bored during class.

This was a habit Artemis had despaired over until Butler had reminded him that when he had been bored at school he had taken to rubbing his thumb in a clockwise direction over the surface of his left Cufflink. The Bodyguard couldn't tell you how many sets of cufflinks he had destroyed due to constantly wearing the left one down.

If the line between Bodyguard and Family was blurred for the rest of the Fowl's it was absolutely obscured for Ariel. Rather than getting in the backseat and telling Butler to take her home like a good little principal she clambered into the front one and threw her arms as far as they could go around him happily babbling about everything that had taken place during the day.

Vicky Ellas had bought her new Pomeranian puppy to school to show everyone and do you think if she asked Uncle Beckett nicely he'd let her take Selkie? Selkie would be better Vicky's puppy because Selkie knew how to fetch and speak and even roll over and she was trying to teach her how to play dead but it wasn't going so well. At break time Michelle Tadbolt and her friends had made fun of her again saying her parents should have called her Thumbelina instead of Ariel. Why were they always so mean Butler? She had never done anything to them! And then in music she got to sing a solo because Mrs Bell said she was the only one who could hold the notes and everyone was jealous.

"Slow down Ariel!" Butler said good naturedly finding it very hard to keep up with the six year olds rapid summary of her day.

"But I didn't even tell you the best part yet!"

"You can tell me just speak slowly remember what your father always tells you"

"Slow down and annunciate" Ariel recited. Butler nodded.

"We started a new project in Art Class. Everyone has to paint a picture of their grandparents Miss Derry says it's so we can put them in the hall when they come for grandparents day!"

"That sounds like fun" Ariel nodded enthusiastically.

"It was but I finished early..."

That didn't surprise Butler. Ariel may not of inherited her father's intellect to the point of making her anything other than above average but she did have his artistic and musical capabilities. She may not have been quite up to forging Rembrandt yet but she could certainly put art teachers through their paces.

"...so I painted you!" At this point Ariel slid back across into the passenger seat and began digging through her school bag eventually liberating a rolled up piece of poster paper.

"Miss Derry wanted to hang it up in the Art room so she put it in her desk but I stole it when she went to stop Danielle crying because Sajani got paint in her hair" She explained

"Danielle said she did it on purpose but she didn't! But Sajani got in trouble anyway" Ariel said handing the roll of paper over to Butler.

"Anyway do you like it? It's not very good I don't think because I didn't have a lot of time to do it and Vicky bumped my Elbow when I was painting your shoulder so that parts bad and I couldn't make the right colour for your eyes"

Butler was only half listening to Ariel the rest of him was captivated by the portrait she had painted of him.

The colouring was poor but Ariel had done what she could. Only so much quality could be achieved with cheap poster paint. But the portrait itself was incredible. Butler could almost have believed he was looking into a brightly coloured mirror. Everything sparked with life and Butler couldn't escape the feeling the only thing anchoring the portrait to the paper was the paint. Artemis' artworks though perfect and precise had never had this quality.

"You do like it don't you Butler? I know it's not very good but I tried really hard and..." Ariel's voice was slightly watery and her shoulders slumped.

"It's wonderful Ariel. Absolutely beuatiful!"

The young girl instantly brightened.

"You really think so? Really, really?"

"Really, really"

And then the young redhead flung herself from the passenger seat and was once again hugging the semi retired bodyguard as much as she could.

"Can we get Ice-cream" She asked peering up at Butler with large navy blue eyes.

"I won't spoil my appetite I promise! I'll eat everything at dinner even if it's Eggplant! Pleeeaaase Butler"

The large man sighed.

"Our secret?" He asked Ariel nodded enthusiastically.

"Our secret, promise!"

"Alright put your seat belt on"

As he pulled away from St Geraldine's Butler realized that he could in fact pin point the exact moment he had crossed the line between bodyguard and family member. It had happened approximately six years ago.

STORY NOTES

Butlers parents: Butler and Juliet are described as being Eurasian and in the Eternity code Juliet is revealed to be an American citizen by birth. So in order to make this work I have made their mother Chinese American. I have an entire backstory for her (though no name you'd think I'd come up with that first) and how she met Butler and Juliet's father. I may write a story for it someday If anyone would be interested.

The Major: Butlers Uncle known as the Major served as Artemis Fowl Senior's Bodygaurd but died when the Fowl Star sank. I am certain he must have had a wife and children so I have arranged for his youngest son Alexander (don't even bring up the subject of timelines I DID NOT think this one through) to be the latest Butler to serve the Fowl Family. Despite his mother's protests.

Prep school: Americans in the audiance may not quite understand this as prep school in the U.S is an institution to prepare one for college whereas in the U.K and Ireland it is a fee paying instution used to prepare students for private secondary schools.

President: I was quite shocked to learn that Ireland has a President. I felt for sure they would have a Prime Minister; which they do. The Republic of Ireland has a President which apparently acts in the role of a sovereign and a Prime Minister which is apparently called the 'Taoiseach'. I don't pretend to understand the politics of any country but my own...mainly because I barely understand that...Seriously stop bitching at eachother and run the county it's not going to run itself!

Selkie: for those of you who haven't read chapter two of 'Slightly Spirited Away' Selkie is Beckett's Border Collie.

Anyway that's all for now feel free to tell me what you thought I accept critism just please be constructive and polite. I apolgouise for my poor spelling and punctuation and hope you enjoyed this short.

Thanks for tuning in

Ari out!