"And one more thing, Captain," Artemis said before Holly could disconnect their call. It had been a busy week in Haven and in Ireland. They'd been unable to make time to do anything more than video calls, which hardly felt like enough. Artemis realized it was a problem, how used to Holly's company he'd become. A year ago, he'd have been happy with a call once a month, and now he was dissatisfied with one practically every night. Holly tilted her head, quirked up an eyebrow, prompting him to go on and say what he'd wanted to. He absently straightened his tie, then forced his fingers away from this nervous tick. "I'd like to invite you out for a date."

"No, absolutely not. Why would I go on a date with you?" But her straight face fell apart almost as soon as she'd finished speaking. "Yes, of course. When?"

"At your earliest convenience."

"I could do…let's see," she bit her lip in concentration, clearly running through her schedule. "Saturday. Does that work for you?"

"Perfectly. Let's meet at Fowl Manor at five, shall we?"

"Sure. Anything else you need to tell me? I'm ready to fall into bed and sleep for about ten years," and as if to prove as much, she yawned hugely. Artemis felt one building in the back of his jaw, seeing hers, but he fought it off.

"Just this: wear something casual and comfortable."

"Oh?"

"I'll see you Saturday, Holly." And he cut the connection with a small smile.

Artemis was waiting for Holly in the garden. She always flew over it when approaching Fowl Manor and he was sure she'd notice him standing in it and touch down here instead of continuing to his room as she usually did. It was 5 on the dot when Artemis smiled and, turning, said:

"Evening, Holly."

"How'd you know?" She phased into the visible spectrum. She flew in close, her beating wings carelessly disrupting his hair. She peered closely into his eyes. "New tech you want to tell me about?" He laughed.

"Nothing of the sort. Foaly's almost illuminated the shimmer of shielding with his latest gadget. But it's still there."

"I was behind you."

"That you were. I can feel it, if you must know."

"Feel it? Feel what?"

"You. Your magic. Your presence. I'm unsure if it's connected with our bond, or with my death and subsequent revival, or if I'm subconsciously picking up on signs of your presence but can't identify how exactly I'm doing so, and therefore have just subscribed my superior observational skills to a feeling."

"You smug bastard," she finally tapped to the ground and her wings molded to her jacket. "But you look almost normal today, Artemis. What on earth are we doing for our date?"

"You'll see. Now, if you'll follow me," he led her to the front of the manor, where a black Jeep sat, ready for them.

"Alright, that does it," Holly said, stopping to gawk at the vehicle. "First jeans and now a Jeep? I'm not well versed in human automobiles, but even I know Artemis Fowl II should be driving a Rolls Royce or something. Not a Jeep. Who are you and what have you done with my husband?"

"Not that it isn't fun being called pretentious so subtly, but we've got somewhere to be. Get in the car, if you wouldn't mind."

"Okay, okay, I'm getting in."

The drive was at once familiar and foreign. He'd only properly driven it once before, had only been driven down it once before that. But it stood out in his mind in crystalline detail. Everything about that day did, so it was no surprise. Holly, to her credit, didn't make any comment if she recognized where they were going. He parked the car and rounded it to open the door for Holly. She snorted, rolled her eyes, but took his hand and let him help her down. He didn't let go of her hand, once her feet were on the ground. And she didn't make an attempt to drop his, either.

"Artemis, are you taking me where I think you are?" She asked, but it was obvious, at this point, that he was. They broke through the last of the brush and came to a great oak tree, a blanket spread under it adorned with food.

"Our tree," he said simply and Holly looked from the tree to him with amazement.

"You made me a picnic? Under our tree?"

"Yes, I thought that was clear. Would you like to sit or stand here gaping some more?"

"You hate being outside."

"I'm not overly fond of it," Artemis admitted as they both found spots on the blanket to settle down on. "But I don't hate it nearly so much as I once did."

"You did all this yourself?" She asked, rummaging through the food, grabbing a slice of the relatively intact fruit tart right away. Artemis thought about criticizing her for eating dessert first, but—rather wisely—decided against it.

"Yes. I wanted to do something for you. Truly do something, since we both know I have enough money to buy you anything, and enough skilled servants to make you anything, but…" he shrugged. Actually shrugged. What was wrong with him? But, suddenly, under Holly's gaze, he felt rather sheepish about this whole stunt.

"I love it," she smiled, a little like she didn't believe this. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, you haven't seen the worst of my creations." She laughed at that, and Artemis's nerves were washed away by the sound. "I'm afraid I'm still an abysmal chef," he held up his hands to show her all the little cuts and burns he'd accumulated for his efforts.

"I assume Butler was the poor soul forced to try and cram some cooking skills into you?" She asked, taking one of his hands gingerly in hers and turning it over to examine the damage.

"A sound, and correct, assumption."

"Thank you." She glanced up at him through her eyelashes, and her voice was soft and full of genuine emotion. As though she felt this simple picnic was something bigger than it was. Artemis flushed, but only slightly. "For doing all this for me." And she bent back over his hand, brought it up to her lips and gently brushed a kiss against the worst of his burns. He felt a shock run through him even before the blue sparks of magic danced across his skin, healing every burn and nick he'd acquired.

"Holly," he'd said her name in surprise, in wonder, almost without realizing it. It took another second for his brain to start working. "Don't waste your magic on me," he said, thoughts of her lips on her skin all collected and locked away. They were small injuries that would heal quickly and easily, there was no reason for her to heal him.

"I have never," Holly said firmly, taking up Artemis's other hand, "wasted magic on you." And she did it again, rendering Artemis speechless. "Every drop I've used for you has gone to good use."

What was there to say to that? A thank you didn't seem like it would do the job. And Artemis knew, if he tried, he'd stumble over words. So he just squeezed her hands in his and let the silence stretch on, until the moment had passed. But he knew Holly understood. How much that meant to him.

The silence bled into easy, meaningless conversation that Artemis would have claimed he hated until he'd started spending enough time with Holly to have such idle conversations that were, essentially, about nothing. He loved every moment. And the food, while not suburb, was edible and Holly ate it with minimal complaint and teasing. The tree remained untouched by human or fairy life, save for them, and the sun filtering down through the leaves faded until the moon shone above them. It was time, by all means, to end the date and go home. But neither of them made any move to get up. In fact, Holly fell back onto the blanket to stare up at the sky through the heavily adorned branches of their trees.

"I liked this," Holly said, pulling at Artemis's arm until he gave in and allowed himself to lay beside her. Artemis turned his head to smile at her.

"As did I," he said. Neither of them mentioned that the night was basically pointless, as the charade of dating was for the benefit of the Haven council, and there was no way this particular date would reach their ears. There was no reason for doing this. But Holly had not objected, had not commented on it at all. She turned then, to look at him too and her smile was worth anything Artemis could possibly give to receive it.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, touching a finger lightly between his brows as if smoothing out a crease.

"A lot of things. Nothing, too." It was an insufficient answer, and Artemis finally settled on telling her the biggest thought. "I was thinking of the last night we were both here, under this tree."

"You better not be about to apologize again," she warned.

"No, I'm not. I should apologize, but that wasn't what I was thinking. I was actually marveling at how lucky I was, that night, to find you under this tree instead of any other fairy."

"Really?"

"As guilty as I am for kidnapping you, I'm equally as grateful for it. After all, I got you out of it. I got this." Whatever this was. "And, when you think about it, it was a wonderful coincidence that allowed us to meet and for our fates to become entangled. A million tiny factors created that circumstance. And, while I certainly would have found a way to capture a fairy had you not show up when you did…well, it might have been anyone, mightn't it?"

"I guess so. You could have been stuck with Grub as your partner in crime."

"So you can see why I'm feeling so lucky."

"Yes. I see it perfectly. How lucky we were."

It was late when they finally drove home. It felt somehow intimate, climbing out of a car in the middle of the night with Holly helping him to unload the remnants of their picnic. It felt like something any married couple on the surface would do. It felt real.

"Will you be staying the night?" Artemis asked as they did one last check in the Jeep before he locked it up. Holly hmmed in thought.

"I didn't plan on it. I don't have pajamas."

"When has that ever stopped you?"

"Good point, I'm sure you have something I can borrow."

"Undoubtedly." The Spider-Man pajamas she'd used once before had gone inexplicably missing, but whichever boy had stolen them had kept quiet about it. So when they reached Artemis's room he found a long nightshirt and offered it to her.

"You know," Holly said as she took the shirt from Artemis, "I really should keep an overnight bag up here."

"It was an oversight on your part not to have done so already," he said.

"Shut it, I don't remember you ever saying anything about it, either."

"Maybe not, but the bottom drawer there," he nodded towards his dresser, "has been empty for months, in case you ever decided to make use of it. Not to mention the guest room that is completely at your disposal."

Holly stared at the drawer, then to him, saying, "You never said…"

"No, I didn't want to be presumptuous."

"When will you learn to just be blunt with me?" Holly laughed, turning her back to him. "It's the easiest way to communicate, you know. Actually talking."

Butler's advice darted through his mind at that. Talk to her. But how could he do such a thing? He watched her idly, lost in thought, before realizing what he was seeing. "Holly," he said, completely alarmed. "What are you doing?" Because, really, it rather seemed like she was stripping. Already, she'd stepped out of her pants and, at the moment, she was tugging off her emerald green t-shirt. She laughed.

"I'm getting changed, Mudboy, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're getting undressed," he said, so stunned that it took the movement of her hands to the fastenings of her bodysuit—one that reminded Artemis very much of the only other time he'd seen Holly in such a state of undress—to jolt him back into himself so that he could turn away. Furiously red, he said, "Not that I'm looking, of course. That would be almost as inappropriate as you shedding your clothing in front of me would be."

"Yeah, that would be scandalous, wouldn't it? But I knew you'd turn away. A true gentleman, that's what you are. When you're not being an evil fairy snatcher, but we've moved past that." She was having great fun, Artemis could tell.

"It wouldn't have been hard," he said, "to change in the bathroom. Hardly any movement would be required at all to get there."

"Artemis, I don't know how many times I've said it, but we're married so you can stop worrying about propriety. And besides, you've undressed in our room, down in Haven, before. I never shoo you into the bathroom."

"I do not," Artemis responded hotly. "I only had to change shirts because you spilled your coffee on me."

"You've done it more than that once, you liar. You're constantly changing your shirts because you can't decide which color of off-white goes with your suit. Sometimes, if we're feeling risky, you rotate through some actual colors, too."

"That's different," Artemis insisted.

"Not really." Another small laugh, then, "Alright, you can turn around now. I swear I'm decent."

True to her word, when Artemis turned he found Holly standing in his nightshirt, which draped over her like a nightgown. She grinned an amused and teasing grin. He was aware that the color had not yet drained from his cheeks. And, if he was being honest, seeing her in his shirt wasn't helping matters.

By the time Artemis was changed—something which he did not do in front of Holly—and ready to climb into bed, Holly was already situated in her usual spot on the right side of the bed, every window flung open, and book held in her hands, which she handed off to Artemis the moment he'd slipped under the covers. It was such a route thing, having her sink down into the cushions beside him as he cracked open their book and prepared to read. He wondered if this tradition was something they'd lose when they divorced, or if, on the rare occasion Holly snuck a night to stay with him, they'd continue on with it. A thought struck him and he paused. Holly noticed, kneed his leg lightly to say get on with it. He looked to her and tried applying a sliver of Butler's advice. Talk to her. And Holly's too. Be blunt with me.

"You won't do this with your next husband, will you?"

"What? Make him read old human books to me every night?" A smile danced on her lips a moment, then disappeared, replaced with a pensive tilt of her head. "No. I won't. This is ours. It's not for anyone else."

"I'm glad." And, with that, he started to read.