The news leaked to Haven within the week. Captain Holly Short and Artemis Fowl II's union was being contested by the council. Related news leaked at home on a similar timeframe.

"Arty!" Angeline called, breathless as she rushed into the sitting room. Artemis looked up, rather alarmed at the abruptness of her entrance and urgency in her voice. But she looked far from upset. She looked…delighted. Artemis scooped Beckett off his lap and set the little boy down by his twin. They had been learning about Anne Bonny, but pirates could wait until later.

"Mother?" Artemis stood to meet her.

"I've just been on the phone with Caballine—,"

"I'd prefer if you would ask before using my office," Artemis couldn't help but interject. Angeline didn't even scold him for the rude interruption.

"—we were talking about wedding plans, and she was just telling me how excited she is to be planning Holly's wedding, especially now that it's real." Damn Foaly and his big mouth. "Artemis, is it real? Are you getting married?"

"It's more complicated than that," Artemis sighed, casting around for an appropriate explanation.

"Wait!" Myles screeched the word with such insistence and conviction that everyone froze. Artemis and his mother turned fast to see what was wrong, but Myles just had his hand out in the universal signal for stop. "Wait, okay?" And, slowly, he backed out of the room, still holding out his hand to signify they should stay put, as one might do to a dog they were training. When he reached the hallway, he turned heel and ran, scampering away and leaving his brothers and his mother staring after him, nonplussed. Nobody spoke until Myles dashed back in, dragging a baffled Juliet behind him.

"What is it, Myles?" Juliet asked, glancing around the room for a clue as to why she was here.

"Mum says Artemis is getting married to Holly for real," Myles said seriously, and Artemis suddenly knew what this was about. "You said you liked watching real-life drama and this seems really dramatic so I paused them to come and get you." Myles looked very pleased with himself, and Beckett looked slightly peeved that Myles had had this idea instead of him. Angeline gave a startled giggle.

"Is he being serious?" Juliet asked Artemis, not the least bit ashamed to be prying. Or that a five-year-old had fetched her specifically so that she could pry. In fact, Artemis watched as she ruffled Myles' dark hair and whispered something to him that Artemis could easily read as 'good job, little man.'

"I suppose the fewer times I have to explain, the better." Butler and his father were out for the day—his father at work and Butler on a well deserved day off. But he could tell them later. Or, more likely, Angeline and Juliet would make phone calls shortly after this and both men would be up to date by the time they got home.

"Is that a yes?" Angeline asked eagerly.

"Not exactly. Holly and I have decided against severing our bond, which means that we will stay married and will continue with the wedding as planned," it was well known in Haven that they were planning a wedding, they couldn't very well cancel it.

"But the plan was to cancel it," Juliet pointed out.

"Then we will go on with the wedding despite our earlier plan."

"My little boy, getting married!" Angeline seemed bursting with joy, and she smiled radiantly at Artemis before gathering him into her arms.

"Mother, please," Artemis tried to escape her. He didn't want to give her the wrong impression. "It's more complicated than you're imaging. We only decided to keep the bond because of the potential consequences of it being broken."

"Consequences?" Angeline asked sharply, holding Artemis steady at arm's length. She knew to be wary of the consequences of magic.

"It's old magic, our marriage bond. And it's settled deep in our souls after years of close friendship and repeated shared trauma. And little is known about the bond. Nothing particularly concrete, at least in the way of severing one. But Foaly and No. 1 think that there's a possibility of death, among other unsavory things, if the bond were to be broken," especially by the council, though Artemis decided against getting into the court details just now.

"Death?" Angeline repeated, face paling.

"Which is why we're not going to risk it," Artemis explained. Juliet whistled, long and low.

"The fairies gonna let you get away with that? After how aggressively progressive you guys have been about your interspecies love?" She asked. Again, she and Butler were the only ones among Artemis's human friends who had insight into the workings of fairy affairs.

"No, they won't. But we won't give them a choice. We're staying married, one way or another."

Artemis had correctly predicted the travel of news through Juliet and Angeline to Butler and Artemis Senior. Neither had said much on the topic that evening, but Artemis suspected that something on it would be said eventually. After all, it was a large thing. To be married. To stay married. And he was having a wedding. An arguably real one.

He'd actually get to see whatever wedding dress Holly had ended up with. The thought made his heart flutter, even as it filled him with guilt. Holly didn't want to marry him. Wouldn't want to wear that dress—assuming she hadn't talked Angeline into letting her wear a pantsuit—not for him. But…she would look lovely. And he'd get see her walk down the aisle. Towards him.

"What're you smiling about?" Holly asked, and Artemis jolted back into the present. He looked up from the napkin orders he'd been filling out and when he met Holly's eyes he couldn't help the sudden flush that overtook him. Because his mind had, very unhelpfully, provided a picture of what generally came at the end of the aisle right when he looked to Holly's face. A face which now grinned broadly at the color on his own.

"I was just…" Artemis gestured lamely at his forms, "Trying to decide between creme, blush, or eggshell for the napkins."

"Well, we have to go with blush now, don't you think?"

"Hilarious, Holly."

"I know I am."

"It's got an undertone of soft pink—,"

"A little more subdued than your face?"

"Holly, I'm serious. Don't you want to know what color they actually are before you decide?"

"No. I'm the bride and I say I want blushing napkins to match my blushing groom."

"You're impossible." But he sighed and marked down blush on the order form.

"Impossible and thirsty. Go get me something to drink?" Holly asked, sugar sweet. Artemis thought about it for a moment, decided a walk to the kitchen would be nice, and stood up to. Holly burst into laughter. "Arty, I was joking."

"I thought you might be," Artemis admitted, but he didn't sit back down. "But I also know you'd appreciate a glass of orange juice even if you were."

"I can get my own orange juice," Holly told him, the tips of her ears burning red. "Sit down."

"No, I've already decided to get it for you." But he paused in the doorway. "I think we made the right choice. About the napkins."

"Oh, go get me my damned juice," Holly snapped, but her scowl was half-hearted and they both knew it.

It didn't take long for Artemis to procure a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for Holly. But it took long enough for his father to find his way into the office that had been taken over for wedding preparations and planning. Artemis froze in the hallway just outside the door as he heard his father's voice.

"So the wedding is back on?" He asked, casual and friendly.

"It was never off," Holly said, and Artemis could imagine her shrug. "Or, more accurately, it was never on before now."

"I respect you, Captain Short, but you have to understand my apprehension." Artemis could have groaned out loud. He'd thought they were past this. "Are you sure all this is a good idea? Getting married…I think it might be very difficult for Artemis to continue being with you as he has these past months." And Artemis recognized, by now, the particular brand of concern that snuck into his father's voice. He'd noticed too, then. And he worried, no doubt, for Artemis's delicate heart just like Angeline and Butler did. Artemis had to go in there. Had to stop the conversation before his father said something that would give it away. He could never tell Holly that he loved her, but if, somehow, he could, if he did…it wouldn't be like this. He was poised to rush in and interrupt the conversation when he heard the scrape of chair legs against wood floor. Holly was standing up, and by the sound of that scraping, she was fired up.

"I understand your feelings towards me," Holly said, steely and unflinching. Artemis was sure that she assumed what he had at first: that Artemis Senior still had qualms with her respectability and character. "But I promise you we've got the same goal. You think I want to hijack Artemis's whole life with this bond? You think I'm happy to be stealing his youth like this? I want what's best for Artemis, just like you do. But the alternative to this could be death. And I don't know about you, but I'm not about to risk that. Better to have him bound to me than to have him dead. Or brain dead. Or incapable of emotion. Or any of the other possible repercussions."

"You're right, of course," Artemis Senior said, sounding only slightly shaken—a side effect of imaging having to bury your child. Again. Everyone got like that when Artemis and dead were used in the same sentence, as if even the mention—the thought—of it could bring him back into death's embrace. But they needn't worry. He didn't plan on dying again any time soon.

Artemis swept into the room before either Holly or his father could say anything more on any of the possible subjects—whether Artemis's death, his undying love for Holly, or the small matter of his father worrying Holly was unsavory, the resulting conversation wasn't one Artemis wanted to happen. Both occupants of the room looked to him with a mixture of surprise and guilt, like they'd been caught. And they had been caught. But, for once, Artemis displayed some level of tact and pretended he hadn't heard anything at all.

"Your juice," he said, holding out the tall glass to Holly. She took it gladly.

"Thank you."

"Of course." Their eyes caught and lingered a bit too long. Artemis Senior cleared his throat.

"I'll let you kids get back to your wedding planning, then," and with that, he strode to the door, pausing only once to shoot Artemis a concerned glance.

"Thank you, Father," Artemis said, grateful he was removing himself. Holly sipped her juice, watching the door he'd just left through. She waited until he was well and truly gone before looking to Artemis with a little furrow between her eyebrows.

"Do you think he hates me?" It was a surprise to hear Holly ask him that. Strange that she'd actually care about such things.

"No," Artemis answered honestly. "He's just…"

"Overprotective?"

"Yes."

"We all are, I guess," she sighed. "When it comes to you."

"There's no need for that. In fact, since I've come back from death, don't you think I've proven myself capable of being alright, even against all odds?"

"It doesn't work that way."

Quietly, "I know." Artemis sat down on the couch he'd abandoned earlier and Holly sat down carefully beside him when he gestured to the open seat. "I still have nightmares," he admitted. He'd never spoken of this to anyone. Not even his mother. Not even Butler. "Nightmares about your death, Holly."

"Mine? On Hybras?"

"Yes."

"You saved me within a minute," she said.

"Fifty-eight seconds, actually."

"Artemis, I'm fine. Like you said, it never happened."

"But I remember it. I let it happen." Her eyes, wide and pleading. His, filled with tears. He could still smell Hybras, if he let himself be consumed by that memory. Sometimes, at night, he couldn't help it. Holly grabbed his hand and only as she did so, holding tight enough to hurt, did he realize it had been shaking.

"You saved me. You didn't let me die, you didn't abandon me. You did what you had to and it worked. It never happened, not to me. It was nothing, you shouldn't…"

"But it doesn't work that way," Artemis reminded her. She reached to put her glass down on the coffee table, cluttered with papers she didn't bother moving. Then she shifted on the couch, leaning in close to him and tucking her feet up onto the cushion on her other side as she rested her head against his shoulder. She sighed.

"I know. D'Arvit but do I know too well about those nightmares. They've gotten better since we started sharing a bed. Now, half the time I wake up from one of those dreams, you're there. Just right there. And it helps to know I could reach out and touch you and you'd still be there. Not like in my dreams."

"Yes," Artemis agreed softly. "It helps."