Avery's Note: N/A

Summary: Butler is an enigma. Butler's past is even more secretive than the man himself. When a young woman shows up claiming to be his illegitimate daughter, his world is turned upside down and inside out. Must he now choose between having the family he always wanted or his young master, Artemis?

The story thus so far: Having reached the point of no return, Avery and Holly have to reconsider their strategies. Holly decides to tell Artemis about how Butler betrayed Artemis years ago in favor of Avery, hoping it will get Artemis to see how evil the young Lefleur is.

Just Tell Me You Love Me

Chapter 9: D6: Laying Out the Truth

Artemis' fingers twitched. The restraint he had been exercising actually made his muscles sore.

Since yesterday afternoon, Artemis had to work at preventing himself from looking at the incriminating evidence against Butler that Holly had presented to him. Even though some part of him knew that Butler played a direct role in Avery winning that time, Artemis did not want to entertain the idea that Butler had actually betrayed him.

However, now, almost fourteen hours later, Artemis felt a strange compulsion to look though the evidence.

The young man rolled over onto his side and reached over to grope at his nightstand, feeling for his cellular telephone. Aretmis' fingers graced the smooth plastic of the frame, but it was just out of grasping reach. Stretching his fingers a little further, Artemis knocked the telephone to the ground.

There was a loud thud that echoed around the silent manor. Grumbling, the tired young man leaned out of bed and groped for his telephone at the foot of his nightstand.

"I'm only doing this so I can learn how to cover my tracks better," Artemis justified to himself as he powered up the device.

Artemis' eyes flew across the words, the images, and the links. As he absorbed every piece of information and with each passing moment, he could not fight the growing unease in his stomach. There now was no way for him to deny Butler's betrayal.

"Surprised?" a gentle, feminine voice asked from the darkness. Avery emerged from the dark corner of his room, a soft smile on her lips.

Artemis was speechless. He merely stared at the beautiful young woman.

Avery sat down at the foot Artemis' bed, the smile still on her lips. The light emitted by his telephone illuminated the angelic contours of her face and reflected back out of her dark opal eyes. As much as Artemis was repulsed by Butler's betrayal on her behalf, he was physically attracted to the young woman.

"Please allow me to lay out the truth for you," Avery continued, moving a little closer to Artemis. She placed a hand on his knee. "

"I am Janelle. Similar to you, I inherited my family's legacy when I was very young." She paused. "Also similar to you, I had a missing father and a mother that was essentially destroyed by depression." She paused again. "But unlike you, I no longer have a mother and am still fighting to get my father back."

Avery moved closer to Artemis; she placed her hand next to his hip, her arm reaching across his body. Artemis' heart started to beat a fraction more quickly.

"Remember when you issued the order to have Janelle dispatched? Butler did not know my mother had already committed suicide. Can you his imagine what his expression was when he saw my aunt, almost a repeat image of my mother? Can you imagine what thoughts must be churning in his mind? How was he going to balance his love for my mother and his loyalties to you?"

Artemis' breath caught as Avery moved her hand to trace up along Artemis' arm and across his chest. As devious she appeared before him now, Artemis could not fight the physical attraction. The gentleness of her touch and softness of her fingertips; it was the ultimate paradox.

"Butler could have easily determined it was not my mother. However, he convinced himself that it was Delilah. He wanted me to win. How do you think I was always one step ahead of you? How do you think I was able to circumvent your encrypted messages so readily?

"So make it easy and let him come home with me. My father betrayed you once for me; he will do it again." Avery was now right up against Artemis. He could feel her warmth breath on his neck. "You cannot win against me."

It felt as if Aretmis' stomach had dropped out from under him. A black void was coming up around him, swallowing him whole. Her words, "You cannot win against me," echoed in his mind. He knew that it was true. Artemis could not ask a father to dispose of his own daughter, nor could he overcome his attraction to the young woman. He mentally berated himself for finding her overconfident, powerful personality enticing.

Leaning in, she placed her lips right next to Artemis' ear and whispered, "You of all people should understand." Avery was so close to him that he could hear her smile. "Understand the drive for a little girl to find her father and bring him home."

Avery pulled back and smiled at Artemis once again. "My father is going to leave with me. If you truly cared about your manservant," Avery spat out the last word, "then give him your approval to let him go."

As Avery left silently from Aretmis' room, the young man laid back on his bed. He felt emotionally exhausted in a way he had never felt before. Shuddering at the realization of how much influence Avery could push over him, Artemis wrapped his arms around himself.

Despite how calculating the young woman might seem, Artemis did relate to the drive to get a father back. He himself had gone through several extremes to bring his father home, including risking Butler's and Holly's lives. There was a level of raw emotion behind all the frozen words.

Unable to sleep, Artemis stared emptily at the wooden paneling of his ceiling. He had made up his mind to discuss with Butler first thing in the morning the conversation he had with Avery, but making that decision only made him more uneasy. Closing his eyes and performing a few breathing exercises to calm him anxiety, Artemis patiently waited for Butler.

When the manservant to the young Fowl arrived promptly in the morning to awake his mater, Artemis was already sitting upright in bed, staring at him.

"Artemis?"

"You helped Janelle win."

Butler did not advert his gaze from Artemis' anguished eyes. "Artemis, try to understand. Maybe you cannot understand right away, but find it in yourself to wait to understand in the future."

The young man chuckled. He had spent all of last night and that morning trying to understand. "I am trying, Butler. But I cannot." The scene with Avery played over in his mind; Artemis should have been able to relate on a lower level. He suffered the overwhelming rationality to reject Avery, yet the inability to fight the feelings that had spawned over the past few days.

"Am I dismissed?" Butler asked, stating each world separately, as if it was painful to speak those three words.

There was a brief moment of consideration on Artemis' part. However, the brief moment felt stretched to the span of years to Butler.

"You must make a choice. If you choose to stay here, I need you to abandon all other obligations. This includes your ties to Avery. However, if you choose to go with her, I give you my approval."

"Avery…"

Artermis' heart skipped a beat when Butler said her name aloud. Artemis had hoped that Butler would at least take some time to come to a decision, not announce it right away. Did he miscalculate and was now going to lose his closest companion?

"I'm sorry," Butler added. "I am a Fowl."

There was high-pitched squeak from behind Butler. The man could not turn and look at his daughter, who was standing in the doorway.

Artemis, however, did look at her. Her normally bright eyes were a dead black shade. Whatever inspiration she used to hold there had escaped, as if punctured with a knife. For the first time, Artemis also experienced the sensation of defeat with his victory. It broke his heart as well to see someone who used to be so beautiful look so down trodden.

To be continued…