Okay, update as promised! More A/H on the way, 'cus I'm just that much of an obsessive about this pairing. I tried to keep them in character, not sure how well I managed it. Let me know?
Disclaimer: If I owned it, A/H would have happened around book 4. Therefore, not mine. Oh, except for the stuff that is - OC!!!
Skullduck: She's trying to be witty.
Me: *rolls eyes* You can't stay out of the disclaimer, can you?
Skullduck: *smirks* Nope. It wouldn't be the same if I didn't pop up.
Me: No, it would be quieter and saner.
Skullduck: 'Saner' isn't a word.
Me: *pulls out dictionary* Just let them read it already.

Artemis watched Holly from the corner of his eye. She stared after the Retrieval shuttle until it faded from sight. Was she wishing she was on board? That she didn't have to stay here? He wasn't sure. He didn't know how to read her any more. Her reaction to Foaly's 'boyfriend' joke had been so vehement, was it anger at herself for kissing him, or anger at Foaly for bringing it up? Or something else entirely?

Artemis shook the questions from his head as Holly turned to face him. They wouldn't help anything just now, but he would have to ask Butler for his opinion later. The manservant had been talking to Holly; Artemis had seen the two of them together. Maybe he knew what was going on in her head.

"We're stuck here for the next few hours" Holly said. Butler nodded.

"Should I reset the traps again?"

Holly shrugged.

"You can if you want to, but I think I may have broken one of them. Sorry about that."

She gestured over to the one that the silver device had been attached to. The same one that had gone off by itself the day before. That must have been when Opal attached the blocker, Artemis thought. It hadn't kicked in until later – maybe she'd remote activated it once she was out of sight. But if that was the case, then why not burst in on them straight away? Why wait ten hours? She knew where they were, and they'd all been asleep for most of the night. Holly had passed out – she would have seen that if she'd been in the area, and the distraction in the shuttle may not have worked. The same thing had happened at the fort, when Holly's gun had gone missing. If Opal had been the one who'd taken the Neutrino and set the signal blocker, then she'd have known about Holly's fainting fits, but she hadn't. She'd asked what was going on. Why hadn't he seen it earlier?

"Opal wasn't alone" he said, startling the other two, who'd been discussing whether or not it was worth resetting all the traps. They stared at him. He told them what he'd just figured out. Holly's eyes went wide.

"D'Arvit" she muttered, then ran back into the shuttle. She pulled her communicator from her belt and called Foaly. He answered on the second ring.

"Holly. Why does my locator say that you're still in Calcini?"

"Because I am. Opal wasn't working alone" she said rapidly, avoiding any questions about the shape the shuttle was in. Foaly frowned.

"She rarely does" he pointed out, tapping away at his keyboard. "Firstly there was Cudgeon, then those idiot Brill brothers..."

"Yes, alright. The point is, Opal's accomplice is still out here somewhere, and we don't know who they are."

"Male" Foaly profiled, taking into account her past helpers. "Probably not quite the full shilling. They'd have to be mad to work with Opal."

Holly agreed with him there.

"Where should we look for them? The fort?"

Foaly shrugged.

"Even money they won't be there. They might have been watching your little scuffle with Opal, then legged it when she lost. They might be at the fort, but alternately they could be halfway across the Atlantic."

"Great" Holly muttered, pulling a helmet out of the same cupboard the microscope had been stashed in. She put it on and shut the communicator. Foaly transferred his feed to her helmet, opening up a small window on the visor.

"You can be there in a few minutes if you fly, Holls. I presume you're going to the fort."

"You presume correct" she said, turning around and almost walking into Artemis.

"Will you please make a noise when you walk?" she asked him, raising the visor. Artemis raised one eyebrow, ignoring her question.

"You are returning to the fort?" he asked. She nodded.

"Well, don't be long" he said, voice cool. "The Retrieval team will be back soon to pick us up."

"Pick you up?" came a worried voice in Holly's ear. "Why do you need picking up? What state is the shuttle in?"

Holly glared at the boy in front of her.

"Thanks for that, Arty."

"Artemis" he corrected, and left the shuttle. Holly watched him go, confused. He was acting very strangely. Foaly's concerned whinnying distracted her from this train of thought, demanding to know what was the matter with his precious shuttle. Holly sighed, closed the visor and pulled on a set of Hummingbirds. She started the wings up whilst still in the shuttle, turned sideways to fly out of hatch, and spiralled into the air, shielding as she went.

"Opal blasted it" she said. Foaly immediately went from concerned to fuming.

"Why that little... I'll get her for this. That's criminal damage, on top of everything else..."

Holly muted him, letting him vent his anger. He could bring up the volume again when he was done. For now, she concentrated on getting to the fort.

Artemis followed Holly into the shuttle, leaving Butler to reset a few of his traps. She was pulling a helmet from one of the cupboards, muttering under her breath. She turned around and stopped dead centimetres from his chest.

"Will you please make a noise when you walk?" she demanded, raising her visor. Artemis ignored her. He had wanted to talk to her about the incident – read kiss – the day before, but it was evident that she was going somewhere, and he really didn't want to talk to her about it with Foaly eavesdropping.

"You are returning to the fort?" he guessed. It was a reasonable assumption to make that the accomplice would be there. She nodded.

"Well, don't be long. The Retrieval team will be back soon to pick us up." he said, voice swiftly reverting to the cold tones of his earlier years. He couldn't hear Foaly, but he knew the centaur must be listening in. Holly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Thanks for that, Arty" she said sarcasm thick in her voice. He frowned.

"Artemis" he corrected, then left the shuttle to find Butler. Why was she using his nickname? Did she like him or not? He turned around as she flew out of the shuttle, pirouetting in mid air before turning on her shield. Holly confused him, something that nothing and nobody had ever managed to do before. He didn't like this feeling of not knowing.

Butler's hand on his shoulder startled him. The manservant spoke softly, assuming the role of a father figure.

"Why does her reaction to Foaly matter so much if nothing did happen between you?"

Artemis sighed and shook his head. Butler knew full well that something had occurred; he just didn't know the exact nature of the event.

"She kissed me" Artemis said, voice quiet. "Twice."

Butler had expected some sort of intimacy, but not a repetition. Not with the awkwardness between the two.

"Twice?" he clarified. Artemis nodded, explaining about the incident in the gorilla cage eight years or just three months ago, depending on your point of view.

"I thought later that it was because of the reverse aging, but after yesterday..."

"She kissed you again?"

Artemis nodded, surprised by the smile on Butler's face.

"I think that she's just as confused as you are, Artemis."

"What if Foaly's right?" the boy asked, sounding for once like the teenager he was. "We are different species, and Trouble would be a better match."

Butler shook his head.

"Holly will do what she wants to do, regardless of what's better for her."

With that, Butler returned to the shuttle and pulled the last of the foil packs out of the cabinet. There were supposed to be enough rations in there to support a full team, consisting of ten fairies, for five days. Their supply had barely lasted two days. It was a good job that they were getting out of here soon.

Artemis joined Butler, thinking about what he'd said. Holly had dived into the Arctic sea for him, she'd allowed herself to be captured by Minerva, and she'd even died for him. Butler was right; Holly wasn't big on the whole self-preservation thing. Not where Artemis was concerned, at least. And he'd repaid her by lying and blackmailing her. What right did he have now to question her? He picked at the fairy food. When she got back, he owed her an apology.

Holly reached the fort within five minutes using the wings. She pulled the Neutrino from her belt before approaching the door. It was swinging open.

"Any handy hints, Foaly?"

"Yeah" he replied, having finished his rant. "Don't go in there unarmed."

Holy levelled her gun at the entrance and proceeded inside slowly. She could hear noises from down the steps. It sounded like someone crying and running. The sounds got louder; the person was coming up the stairs. Holly flattened herself against the tree, out of sight of the door. Moments later, a small elf ran out. Holly grabbed his arm as he ran past her, bringing him squealing to a stop. The elf turned rapidly, an old Koboi wing rig swinging on his arm. Holly ducked to avoid getting whacked in the nose. The elf was sobbing hysterically, talking about trolls. He sank to his knees, crying.

Holly wasn't sure what to do with him. He was obviously terrified; she wasn't going to get any sense out of him like this. She knelt by his side, noting the tears in his clothing. They weren't due to troll tusks, that much she was sure of – if they had been, the elf would be dead already due to the venom. They could have been made by claws, she supposed.

There was a growling noise from the open doorway, and the sound of heavy footsteps. The trolls had forced themselves past the bright lights of the main hallway and into the dark of the stairwell. Holly stood and fired several shots into the currently vacant entrance. She heard howling and the trolls stopped; even they weren't stupid enough to run into laser fire. She lunged for the metal door and slammed it shut. The catch caught, and she sealed the door by running a concentrated burst around the edges. The metal melted, effectively welding the door shut. She could hear thumping on the other side, but the metal held.

"Nicely done" commented Foaly, who had been watching the events in silence. Holly ignored him and turned to the young elf who'd run out of the fort. He had stopped crying, and was now staring at her in awe. She raised the visor and wiped sweat from her forehead. It was hot in the helmet.

"You're Holly Short" he said, voice much higher than Holly had anticipated. She nodded warily, and the elf's eyes grew wider.

"You're nothing like she said."

"Like who said?" Holly asked, hoping that this was their accomplice. For once, please, let their lives be easy.

"Ms Koboi" the elf said. Holly sighed in relief. The elf wittered on.

"She said that you were evil and that you were hunting her for no reason but you can't be evil you just saved me you were really brave you know I couldn't have done that it was amazing the way you just..."

Holly put her hand over his mouth to shut him up. He made a few muffled noises, then stopped talking. Holly removed her hand. He grinned sheepishly at her.

"Gee" muttered Foaly "talk about a motor mouth."

"What's your name?" she asked, ignoring the centaur's comments. Foaly would want to run the name she was sure.

"Devlin Bard" came the prompt answer. "My mum says that it's apt 'cus I talk all the time she says I should write stuff down and if I write as well as I talk then I could make a fortune from books and..." He smiled. "Sorry."

Holly could tell that if she spent any amount of time in his company, she was either going to get a headache or end up stunning him with her Neutrino. She could hear Foaly tapping at his keyboard in her ear. He responded almost immediately.

"Devlin Bard" he said, sounding very pleased with himself. "Reported missing three weeks ago by his father. Was I right or what, Holls? Didn't I tell you it would be a runaway?"

Holly cut the link, leaving Foaly to his ego trip. She closed her eyes briefly, then spoke to Devlin again, fully aware that she would probably regret asking.

"What did you do for Opal?"

"She gave me some stuff and told me that it was going to help her get free and then she'd take me with her and we could get live on the surface again without being afraid of the Mud Men..."

Holly glared at Devlin, and he shut up.

"Specifically" she said. Devlin thought about it for a moment.

"She wanted me to rewire the fort so that the light would keep the trolls away from her work areas and she gave me a silver card and said that if anyone came to the fort then I should follow them and put in somewhere by their camp."

"Did you take my gun?"

Devlin frowned, and for the first time he sounded uncertain.

"I found it lying at the bottom of the steps and I picked it up."

That, thought Holly, was probably the shortest sentence he'd ever spoken in his life.

"How did you keep the trolls away whilst you were rewiring the fort?"

"Oh they weren't there then Opal brought them later she had some sort of medallion that kept them controlled it was shaped like an acorn..."

He continued talking, but Holly wasn't listening. The acorn had controlled the trolls, and they had removed it, which was presumably why they'd attacked Devlin just. If it could control trolls, what else could it do? She had thought it was just a bomb – she'd have to get Foaly to look into that. Finally, Devlin stopped talking and just stared at her.

"Ms Short?" he said. Holly snapped out of her reverie. She gestured to the wings slung over his arm.

"Do those work?"

"Of course that's how I followed you before I couldn't see where you went exactly is your camp invisible that's so cool..."

Holly left him to it, started up her own wings and took off. Devlin yelped and copied her. She hovered just above the tree line, waiting for him, then took off back towards the shuttle when he'd caught up with her. Usually, she wouldn't give a suspect so much freedom, but Devlin was too innocent to cause her any harm. If he'd wanted to hurt her, he could have done so when she'd fainted. He may talk her to death, but he wouldn't willingly cause her physical harm. He was still talking as they flew, but thankfully they were moving too fast for Holly to make most of it out. She called over to him when he paused for breath.

"How did you know how to rewire the fort?"

"My dad's an engineer he was working on the fort at Tara replacing some of the fuse wires and I wondered off 'cus it was boring and Opal found me and gave me the wings and brought me to Italy that was about a month ago I think I'm not sure."

He finally ran out of breath just as they landed at the campsite. Butler heard them approach and looked out the open hatch. Devlin squeaked and hid behind Holly. She rolled her eyes and moved to the side, leaving him exposed.

"Dom, this is Devlin. Devlin, this is Butler, and this" she pointed as Artemis made an appearance in the doorway "is Artemis Fowl."

Devlin's eyes went very wide again. He'd seen the two humans earlier, but he hadn't known who they were. Butler looked enormous and absolutely terrifying close up.

"Wow I've heard the stories about you three did you really go to the Arctic and to America and then travel into the past and rescue the demons and..."

Holly rolled her eyes and climbed into the shuttle, pulling off the helmet and helping herself to one of the ration packs. Artemis sat beside her, eyeing Devlin as he clambered inside and started praising everything from the decor to the food.

"Is this normal?" he asked in undertones. Holly shook her head.

"Gods, I hope not. He's been like this the whole way here, and if he keeps up I'll end up strangling him."

Devlin eventually ran out of things to say about the shuttle and returned to wittering on about Holly and Artemis's supposed adventures. Butler grew tired of this very quickly, especially as most of what the elf said was untrue. He cracked his knuckles loudly. Devlin blanched and shut up, seemingly concentrating very hard on his ration pack. There was blissful silence for several minutes, then Artemis asked why Devlin was there. That set him off again, talking about Opal and the things she'd told him.

"...but I don't think they're true anymore, 'cus you've all been so nice to me..."

Holly stood and left the shuttle. She'd heard this spiel before. Artemis frowned.

"If you knew about what happened in the Arctic, then why did you trust Opal?"

Devlin frowned, as though he hadn't thought about it like that before.

"She was very convincing the way she spoke and she was really pretty and acted nice to me and..."

Artemis regretted asking. He too left the shuttle. Devlin made to follow, but Butler put one hung hand on his shoulder and told him to stay put. Devlin sat and silence once again reigned.

Artemis followed Holly a short way into the forest surrounding them. He could still see the shuttle through the trees, and heard exactly the moment when Devlin stopped talking.

"I wish I could do that" Holly said. He turned his attention to her.

"What?"

"Shut him up."

Artemis smiled and moved closer to her. She looked at him.

"Are you alright? You were acting odd earlier."

He recalled his cold tone as she'd left the shuttle.

"Yes, err, I'm fine."

Had he actually said 'err'? Holly tilted her head to one side.

"Ok, now I know something's wrong. What is it?"

Artemis took a breath. This was his chance.

"I wanted to talk to you about..."

"About?"

"About what happened yesterday" he finished. Why could he not just say it properly? Holly mouthed 'oh' and looked at the floor.

"Yes, that. I'm sorry, Artemis, I..."

"Don't be" he interrupted. She looked up. He was closer than she'd thought.

"What?"

"Don't be sorry" he said. He had to say it now. He looked into her eyes, and the words flew out of his head. "I, um, I..."

He was stuttering. He, Artemis Fowl. He never stuttered. He was never nervous enough to stutter. Holly just watched him. Eventually, he gave up trying to speak. Instead, he leaned in, closed the gap between them, and kissed her.

So, was it okay? Did you like Devlin? Was he as annoying as I was attempting to write him?
Skullduck: She wasnt you to review.
Me: Well, yes. Please. Oh, and Skullduck, 'saner' is a word. So there. *sticks out tongue and shows dictionary*
Skullduck: *rolls eyes* You see what I have to work with?

Next update will be Monday. See you then!

Love Liris and Skullduck
xxx