A/N: I own nothing.
The editor ate my punctuation. Ch 2 should be fixed. Please let me know if this problem continues.
Also, the page breaks may or may not appear. I tried to put plenty of lines between the places where they should be, just in case.
Partridge in a Pear Tree
The first thing Holly noticed when she woke up was how much she didn't want to get out of bed. The warm softness of the high thread-count pillows, sheets and duvet were calling her back to dreamland. As she blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes, she vaguely remembered dreaming about flying over the Irish countryside. She smiled, remembering the almost real feeling of the wind on her cheeks.
The next thing she noticed was that she was not in the guest room. Her police training kicked in instantly as she bolted up, quickly assessing the situation. She was in Artemis's room. She quickly thought about how she could have gotten there. Last night they had sat up talking, she must have fallen asleep. She wasn't sure how she ended up in his bed, and would not be thrilled if she discovered they had slept in the same bed without her knowing.
As she was attempting to rack her brain for a memory of how she managed to get into the king-sized bed, Artemis exited the bathroom, obviously fresh out of the shower.
Holly couldn't help but stare. His raven hair was still damp, hanging lightly in his face as he walked towards her. Well, maybe walk wasn't the right word. She took in a sharp breath as she realized he was putting more movement into his hips and shoulders than she'd ever seen. He was almost sauntering. The cocky smile that crossed his face as their eyes met did nothing to clear her head. 'It's too early for this,' she decided, promptly burying herself back in the covers.
"Good morning, sunshine, and Merry Christmas," he said, sitting on the bed. "Before you start accusing me of being improper, I slept in the guest quarters last night. I only came in to take a shower. I thought I would allow you to sleep in. You passed out on the couch while we were talking last night."
'This makes sense,' she thought, deciding to uncover her head. She smiled at him. "Thank you. And Merry Christmas to you too," Holly said, trying not to notice that his shirt wasn't completely buttoned up yet. She was failing miserably.
He followed her eyes and blushed, hurriedly doing up the remaining buttons on his dress shirt.
Once finished properly dressing himself, he cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the sleepy elf.
"Would you like to go down to breakfast now? Or do you need to shower first? Or, if you would rather, I can have Butler bring you breakfast in bed. This is your vacation, after all."
"Mmmm," came the response. She had curled up into the blankets again. They had stayed up late catching up and she really did not want to leave this bed, especially when he was so close that she could smell the shampoo he had used. She shook her head again, burying her face into the pillow. 'Bad fairy!' she thought, trying to hide a smile. She had given up denying her attraction to the Mud Boy...ahem, Mud Man, years ago. This didn't mean she'd outright admit it to him, of course, but she wasn't going get out of this bed until she had to. His being so close was an added bonus.
Artemis grinned, guessing her thoughts. He tipped his head to one side, giving in to a moment of wanting to just look at her. There was no anger, excitement or fear on her face; the only clear emotion was contentment. He was happy that she was so comfortable here, in his bed. His hand flew to the bridge of his nose in attempt to hide the redness that was creeping into his face. He knew he should not be thinking things like that, but he could not help it. She looked stunning with the early morning light gently caressing her dark, pointy features. He knew the moment would not last, but it was nice to just watch her for a time with no immediate emergencies to be seen to.
As if on cue, Butler entered, carrying a tray of fruit and breakfast pastries with coffee and fruit juice.
Holly sat up as Butler approached the bed, not saying a word about the small fairy sleeping in his charge's bed. Holly suspected that Artemis had already told him about the previous night's happenings.
"Merry Christmas! Breakfast in bed for all," the tall Eurasian said, smiling at them. "Your parents refused to deal with the twins this early. The two little monsters woke them up about half an hour ago and are now terrorizing Juliet downstairs. Mrs. Fowl declared that if they were going to have so much energy, no one else really needed to put forth any, so they decided to have breakfast in their quarters. I thought you two might have the same thoughts after staying up so late." His expression only changed when he spoke about the twins, but Holly noted a slight twinkle in his eye when he joked about their evening.
"That would be wonderful, thank you," Holly said, as Artemis moved towards the headboard to make room for the large tray.
Butler set down the food, smiling warmly at both of them. "Just come downstairs when you are finished. I don't think Myles and Beckett will be able to resist the presents much longer."
Holly shook her head with a smile. No doubt the boys had been driving everyone insane all morning. She was honestly surprised they didn't just rip into the presents anyway, family present or not.
As Butler left, Artemis handed Holly a plate with fruit and poured her a glass of juice. He repeated the gesture for himself, but took coffee instead of the juice. Holly had to suppress another smile as she thought, 'He is always so chivalrous. He opened the doors for me last night, and then he slept in the guest room so I wouldn't be disturbed.' She didn't know why he was so gentle with her, why he seemed to want to take care of her, but somehow she didn't mind. She knew she should; she had always been independent and like that about herself. Somehow, though, Artemis' kindness didn't bother her in the least.
They ate in comfortable silence, sitting with their backs to the headboard of Artemis' large bed. When she was finished, Holly placed her plate and cup back on the tray with a content sigh. She highly considered curling back into the covers and not coming out for a few days. She was more relaxed than she had been in months.
Artemis watched her, aware of their closeness and the lack of stiffness in the silence. He wanted to say something, but did not want to break the mood Holly was so obviously enjoying.
After a few minutes of simply sitting on the bed together, Artemis finally started to get up. Holly's arm twitched to stop him, but she knew they needed to go downstairs.
"I do not wish to leave, either," he said, once again reading her mind with frightening accuracy, "but I would imagine that my parents are eager to stop the twins from trying to break everything in the manor." His face was soft as he spoke, his eyes gentle. The expression looked so strange on his features, but not unwelcome.
"Okay," she sighed, finally leaving the comfort of the blankets. She still wore the clothes she had changed into when they arrived at the manor late the night before. "I'll go change and meet you downstairs."
He watched her leave the room, trying to refrain himself from curling in bed next to the spot she just vacated. He had gone to the guest room out of respect, but he had greatly wished he could have been next to her as she dreamed.
'Well,' he thought, 'this is only the First Day of Christmas. There are eleven more, and today is not over with yet.'
Needless to say, chaos ensued for the next several hours as the family, Butlers included, exchanged gifts. Most of this chaos, it seemed, came from a new science kit Myles had received from Artemis Junior and the electric guitar Angeline and Artemis Senior had given Beckett. Small explosions of smoke and harsh sounds of what Holly suspected was supposed to be music filled the halls of the manor until well past noon.
After a light lunch, Angeline and Juliet went off to work on plans for the New Years' Ball. The first thing they wanted to do, it seemed, was get Holly ready for the event. According to the Fowl Matriarch, there was to be at least 200 people attending. Holly nearly ran for it when she said this, but Artemis walked over and placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder.
Juliet excitedly announced that they would go to a spa the next day, "To relax before all the hard work actually starts," she confided to Holly. The idea of having anything more to do with the mountains of order forms, flower arrangement ideas and food tastings for the party horrified Holly. She wanted no part in all of this mess. Evidently, however, Artemis had warned his enthusiastic mother that the elf might not be as excited about this event as she was expecting. Again, Artemis saved the day. After two (very long, excruciating, to Holly) hours of going through pictures of dresses, shoes and hair styles as well as flower choices, Holly was allowed to leave the more feminine members of the household to their tasks.
As she finally made it into the guest suites, Holly noticed something on her bed. She had received a small gift from Artemis' parents and a miniature sized set of throwing knives from Juliet and Butler, but Artemis hadn't given her anything earlier in the morning. She was hurt for a moment, but when she looked at him with a silent question, he simply smiled. She relaxed; he had something up his sleeve.
She now turned her attention back to the small box. It was the size of her head, with bright blue wrapping and a large golden bow. Next to the box was a note in Artemis' precise handwriting.
"I could not think of any single gift that would portray how much you mean to me and my family, so I decided to go a different route.
The tale of the 12 Days of Christmas began with religious meaning, but is now a simple Holiday Carol sung all around the world.
Inside this box, you will find your gift for the First Day of Christmas, along with a recording of the song and its lyrics. To answer your question, yes, I am up to something. And no, I will not tell you what it is, only that you will absolutely love it. Please trust that I know you well enough to act as an accurate gauge in this matter.
I will be in my study if you need anything,
Artemis."
She wrinkled her nose. This was not good. He admitted to being up to something.
"D'Arvit" she whispered, thinking that she would probably be seeing Internal Affairs before this vacation was over.
Rolling her eyes, curiosity got the best of her. She grabbed the beautiful box.
Wrapped in tissue paper, she first found a small audio player with tiny speakers. Not quite fairy technology, but pretty nice. She hit 'Play' as she opened the rest of the tissue.
In the back ground, the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" began to play.
On the First Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree...
After rolling out all of the tissue, Holly gasped. In her hand was a miniature wreath. The entire thing felt as if it weighed several pounds and it sparkled with small stones of red, green and blue. She immediately knew these were emeralds, garnets and sapphires. On the very top of the wreath was a tiny figurine. A partridge, she realized, a golden partridge with a glass pear in its mouth.
That wasn t all, she realized. Inside the wreath was a photograph, or so it seemed. In reality it was a screen producing several photographs. One was the late Commander Julius Root. Another was of Holly s mother and father s wedding. Yet another was Holly herself at the academy, the day she broke the best record for shooting range accuracy. They continued, bringing tears of mixed emotions to her eyes.
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It shown and sparkled in the light, never failing to catch the rays and reflecting them back to her. It was clearly designed for beauty and beauty alone. She knew there was probably some deeper meaning to the item, but for a few moments, she simply enjoyed it for what it was: beautiful.
She was touched. This present had taken a lot of thought and digging on Artemis part. Some of those photographs would have been very difficult to get a hold of, even for him.
After the song finished playing, she smiled and placed the tiny present on the table by her bed.
She turned, heading towards the door. 'Now to grill Artemis about his little plans,' she thought, grinning.
Artemis watched his monitors, smiling openly. The look on Holly's face was well worth any verbal or physical opposition she might throw his way.
On one screen, Foaly cleared his throat, annoyed that Artemis was not listening to his lecture.
The LEP techie was nervous, if truth be told (which it wouldn't). This was a BIG plan. Holly had no idea what would be happening for the next fortnight, or the changes it would bring to her life and career.
It was another of Fowl's infamous plans. One that the Council, Commander and in fact, everyone had backed. Everyone, that is, except Holly, who knew nothing about it. That had been a big challenge over the last few months, just keeping her out of the loop.
Artemis' attention quickly snapped back to Foaly as Holly turned towards her suite's exit.
"We need to continue this at a later time. Holly is headed this way." He reached out and severed the connection with Haven, a grin spreading across his face. He was in for a lot of shouting, he knew, but he hoped it would be worth it by the end.