Holly Short walked through the underground halls of the LEP. She was in a nasty mood, and she was going to make sure that everyone knew it. She retired to her cubicle when, to her horror, after she had yelled at Trouble, Foaly had pointed out that she sounded exactly like Commander Root. She kept her head low over her computer, working to attempt to distract herself, distract herself from the reason that she was in such fowl mood. Not Artemis Fowl, bad fowl. Well, that wasn't good clarification, considering about all the criminal stunts the Fowl boy had pulled, bad was certainly a word that made sense to discribe him. She sighed and put her head down on the desk, now that she was thinking about the Mud boy, there was no way she could get work done. She got up and headed to the break room to get a cup of coffee. Now, the reason she was upset at the world was her birthday, and no one seemed to remember. No one ever remembered, except maybe Foaly, who would then proceed to make a rude joke about her age. But today, she hadn't even gotten one "Happy birthday", from anyone. Some friends she would have remembered she suddenly thought. She sighed. She hadn't seen mud boy in a long while, since she had gone back to work in the underground. The LEP had put up extensive security systems to make sure that the infamous Fowl boy stayed out. She hadnt even been able to talk to him. Not that she minded of course, he irritated her. She walked into the break room and went over to the coffee, still attempting to the infuriating face of the mud boy out of her head.

"Thinking about Artemis?" Foaly asked as he walked into the room.

"Huh?" Holly asked, looking up "Artemis?"

"You are!" Foaly grinned "You have that "Artemis" look on your face!"

"What look?" She demanded "I don't have a look!"

"Uh huh." said Foaly "Whenever your thinking about the mud boy, you get this dreamy look and you stop paying attention to what your doing!"

"I do not!" Holly protested "I pay attention!"

"Then why," said Foaly, smirking, "are you trying to pour coffee into a bowl?" Holly looked at her hands. The centaur was right. The edges of the shallow bowl she was holding was overflowing with coffee, causing it to spill over and it was now dripping all over the floor.

"D'arvit!" She cursed. Foaly cackled.

"I'll get it, go back to your cubicle, lover girl!" Holly started to protest, but thought better of it and started walking back to her cubicle. She wasnt in the mood to argue with the centaur. She walked back into her cubicle, slammed the door and sat down heavily in her chair. Then, she heard it, a sound from above her. She listened, and there it was again, a small scraping sound. But that was impossible! She was on the top floor! The only thing above her were vents and a solid mile of dirt straight up to the surface. She sighed, wondering if a stupid dwarf had accidentally dug its way into the vents, if that was true, it would be the third time this month. Suddenly she lept up as the cealing panel above her opened. She was shocked as none other then Artemis Fowl lept gracefully and soundlessly from the vents. He looked at her and smirked at the stunned look on her face.

"Hello Holly." he said.

"Artemis...?" Holly squeaked. He looked at her.

"Happy to see me Captain Short?" At that moment, she got her voice back.

"You stupid mud boy! What are you doing here?" She yelled.

"Oh, just thought I'd drop in." he said "I missed the action of breaking into a heavily guarded facility, it's quite exilerating." For a moment, Holly felt (Though she'd never admit it) disappointment. She had been hoping, just for a second, that her friend had come to wish her a happy birthday. She shook off the feeling.

"How did you get in?" She asked, still shocked that he was here. Artemis smiled slightly, tilted his head up, and yelled,

"Mulch!" Holly was flabbergasted for the second time that day when the dwarf dropped from the cealing.

"Hey Holly" he said "By the way, don't go to the left side of the building just yet, I kindof let one rip back there, can't be pleasant." Holly was stunned. She had two LEP wanted fugitives in her office and...she couldn't be happier, but that was short lived.

"You both need to leave!" She exclaimed, "You'll be arrested if your caught!"

"Well," Artemis said "I didn't come here just to say hi."

"Then what did you come for?" she demanded "If your caught you'll be in there until your old and gray!"

"Who's talking about being old?" Artemis smirked "Your what? One hundred and fourty three now?" Holly stared at him.

"You didn't think I would forget did you?" he asked "My memory is quite advanced. Happy birthday Holly." he dug in his pocket and tossed something at her. She caught it and looked at it. It was a badly wrapped gift.

"Ew! Mushy gush stuff!" Mulch groaned, dramatically clutching his stomach. "Im just gonna wait up here." he lept into the vents. Artemis and Holly looked at each other.

"Well" Said Artemis "Are'nt you going to open it." Holly pulled aside the paper and tape mess. Her mouth dropped when she pulled out the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was a golden acorn, attached to a thin chain, also gold. She looked up at the boy in front of her, speechless. Artemis looked at the ground, looking uncomfortable. Despite being a teenage genius and having conversed with adults about child things such as atom molecular bonding, he was not however, experienced with people his own age(Or who looked his age, in Hollys case), Expecially girls. He didn't have any siblings or friends(normal friends that is) and had certainly never had a girlfriend. As he had previously stated, he was a boy genius, he didn't have the time, or the willingness, to date. Artemis had always imagined his future alone, butler would be there, but even he had to die of age eventually, and that would be long before Artemis. He had pictured himself alone, never marrying, never having a family. But recently, he had found his thoughts lingering, not on his work like they should be, but on the LEP captain Holly Short. Not that he would ever, ever admit it, but he had actually lost sleep worrying about what to give her for her birthday. He very much hoped she liked it.

"Holy Warty Goblins..." Holly breathed "Is this gold? It must have cost a fortune!" Artemis shrugged.

"No not for me." he said. Oh. Of course. Artemis was one of the richest teenagers in the world. He probably didn't give a second thought to it.

"What I meant is." He said "Is that it didn't cost much to gold plate an acorn.."

"This is a real acorn? Like when we..." Holly asked. She was thinking. How her and Artemis had met was through an acorn. She was surprised when a pink tone touched the boys cheeks. Artemis Fowl, the Artemis Fowl, was blushing.

"Actually," he said uncomfortably "It's the same acorn." Holly stared at him, and he shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, uh...Thank you. It's very nice." the two stood in awkward silence for a minute. Suddenly the alarm went off.

"That'll be security." Artemis said "Took them long enough, nearly thirty minutes until they noticed that thier systems have been breached. Stupid really, given the amount of people Mulch sent into a gas induced coma. I should go now. Bye Holly, again, Happy birthday." With that, Artemis pulled himself up into the vent, replaced the cealing panel, and was gone, leaving Holly with her thoughts.

Hey guys. I really hoped you liked this. Im going to add a bunch of other one shots to it later.