A/N: Hey guys, I'm back.

My apologies for the long wait for updates.

Writers'. Block. Sucks.

Alsoooo. Ru-Dragon likes this story. *holycrapholycrap* I love her writings. If you don't know who she is and/or haven't read her works, go get familiarized with it. Like now. It rocks.

This chapter is dedicated to her. I hope it meets your standards!

Alsoooooo. Italics = flashback.

Come and Rest Your Bones with Me.

Artemis, thankfully, informed Butler that they would be leaving later then originally planned because they were going to sleep in the next morning, stating the long hours of being pelted by snowballs had likely overexerted him. Butler was tempted to reply that his excuse was useless because Artemis could run 5 miles without a single break now. But, aware of the situation, Butler just smiled and nodded.

Grumbling about the midmorning light flooding the bed, Artemis began to roll away when he remembered that if he was not careful, he could smash a certain elf who was somewhere in this bed with him.

His pulse sped and his lungs emptied suddenly as he realized that his arm was around that elf, and she seemed to be unhappy about the appearance of this bright light as well.

Instead of waking up, she opted to just turn into the person she was so very close to. Artemis tried not to laugh as she snuggled into his chest. She was going to kill him later when he made fun of her for being so…well, he knew she would despise, cute.

He smiled, recalling the events of the past evening, grateful and amazed that they hadn't been a dream.

Artemis had met her gaze squarely. A small smile played on his lips. He honestly had not meant to ask that question, but once he had, there had been nothing he wanted more than to hear the answer.

"Arty…I…" she stammered, eyes pleading for something, he did not know what. She didn't either.

"Yes?" he replied, stepping closer to her. He was close enough to smell her perfume, even with the wind so strong.

She looked up at him, unsure. When she noticed that he had the same wanting expression on his face, she suddenly smiled.

"Artemis Fowl does not usually ask questions he doesn't already have the answers to."

He had outright grinned at that, not the vampiric grin that most people saw. No, this was a look of excitement and mischief.

"In that case…" he said, grin getting bigger.

He took a step towards her, taking her lightly by the hands and pulling her to face him. He then lifted his right hand to her chin, slowly running his fingers from her jaw to her ear and back. When he reached her jaw again, dropped his mismatched fingers under her jaw and lifted her face closer.

Holly blamed the human anatomy. There was no way her stomach could drop so far down when she looked like an elf. And more importantly, there was no way her heart could have stopped beating. 'Right?' she asked herself, a small gasp leaving her lips.

"…I'll take that as a yes."

His lips gently met hers. A handful of miniscule sparks passed between them and they both smiled and paused.

"What have we here?" he whispered when they paused for air.

Holly began to chuckle, watching the tiny sparks still play around his lips and, shockingly, both of his eyes.

His kisses were surprisingly good. Holly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hands relaxing in his hair. His left hand snaked around her waist, pulling her as close as he could manage.

Holly was literally seeing stars. Her magic sensed what she was feeling and decided to play a show of sparks and light behind her closed eyes.

"Hmm. My magic likes it when you do that," Holly said, smiling.

"So it seems," Artemis said, running his fingers along her cheek bone. "But the question is, do you?"

She felt him smile against her cheek, knowing the answer was redundant.

"If I didn't like it, you'd be in a heap and Butler would be wondering why your face was bloody."

They both smiled at this, lips meeting once again.

Artemis decided that having to face the morning sunlight to lie next to Holly was not too bad of a tradeoff.

When Holly finally awoke, she did so very unwillingly. Keeping her eyes closed, she burrowed further into the blankets. She was warm, comfortable and had been in the middle of quite a wonderful dream…

'My pillow is moving,' she realized, opening her eyes.

Artemis was looking at her, smile on his face. He hated to wake her, but they really did need to head to the air port. He did not want to be too late getting back to Ireland.

He leaned in to kiss her head, both of them still happily surprised at how easy it was for them to show and receive affection. They had spent the rest of the night talking and playing card games, shyly touching, kissing and smiling at each other. It was a short time before they were interacting as if this was perfectly normal.

"My dear, it is time to wake up. I am deeply sorry to have interrupted your slumber." A coy twinkle danced in his eyes, making Holly grumble.

"No. Not allowed. No talking like some old romantic maniac like Orion ever again, got it?" She tried to look stern, really she did. However, her eyes were still half closed, her hair was rumpled and Artemis was clearly making fun of her. In spite of herself, she smiled.

He sighed, leaning in slightly.

"Holly, I have to ask your opinion on something."

Her eyebrows cocked. "Arty, it is who-knows-what-time in the morning and I'm barely awake. What in Frond's name do you need to know?"

"Well, my grumpy elf," he began, almost purring, as he put his lips up to her ear, "I was simply going to ask if you think it is acceptable to want to kiss you right now, because that's all I've been thinking about for the past two hours."

'Drat,' she thought, 'it wasn't just the stupid Mud Woman shape. My stomach really can drop that far and my heart really can stop.'

He met her eyes, anticipation dancing in his eyes.

"That is acceptable, yes." She tried not to stumble as he made his way closer to her lips.

'Well, this is going to be interesting,' Butler thought, backing out of the room as silently as he had entered. 'I'll just yell that breakfast is ready in a few minutes. No need to interrupt just yet.'

I know it's super short, but I had a really hard time deciding exactly what to do and how to do it.

Oh yeah, I don't own anything. :)

Next update will be sooner.

I promise I will deal with the whole elf-mudman thing and the whole darn situation. You just gotta wait for it. (If you haven't caught on by now, I'm a massive shipper. If you somehow thought this would end any other way, well….nope.)

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who reviews! I love you guys! It's the reason I finally sat down and made myself drudge out this chapter.

Loves,

BlueQueenBee