Disclaimer I don't own anything.

A/N This is my first new chapter in almost six months! Do not fear, for is should be making these chapters at a much faster rate now (maybe once every three months!! Just kidding!). I hope that you enjoy this new chapter. Please review, even if you didn't like it that much, I would still like to hear what you have to say.

The Memories of Holly Short: Chapter Three

They drove and drove through a maze of streets and alleyways until they pulled to a stop outside of an apartment building. It was broken down and dilapidated and seemed as if the city should destroy it only to make the city look better. The inside wasn't much better either. The stairs leading up to Holly's apartment were rickety and old. There was obscene graffiti written by malignant individuals all over the squalid walls. Finally they managed to make their ways to Holly's door. It was one of the few things that were clean in the whole building. Root stuck in a key and opened the door slowly.

If Artemis weren't the person he is his mouth would have dropped.

Artemis was absolutely amazed at Holly's apartment. It was one place that he would not expect someone like Holly to be living in. He pictured Holly in an apartment that was similar to the one in Miss Congeniality (no that he had ever seen such a ridiculous movie), somewhat lack luster, without much furniture and with a large punching bag and weights in the middle of the apartment. What he found shocked him however. It was nothing like what he had expected from Holly.

The apartment that he was looking at now was, well, classy. It was one of those rooms that you saw in fancy Southern American homes. Something that you would expect someone like Scarlet O'Hara to be living in, not someone like Holly, a real Tomboy in its truest form. The room was elegant and it had antique wood furniture that looked like it came right out of a southern debutante's home. It was splendid. Suddenly, Artemis didn't think it would be all that bad to be living in Holly's apartment for a while.

The room was an off-white color, more like eggshell in Artemis's opinion. In the center of the room, there was a small cream-colored couch with matching chairs. Both were elegant and looked like you would get yelled at for sitting in them because you may wrinkle the fabric. There was a small coffee table in front of the couch and in between the chairs. On the window a fine burgundy colored drapes were hung in a manner so that some of the light would enter the room in a way that accentuated the color of the walls. The wall-to-wall rug was also a burgundy color, throwing in a play of a wonderful décor of the room. Along a few of the side tables that were next to the couch, pictures were in small silver frames. Whoever shelled out the cash for such a room was very well off from Artemis' judgment, and when is Artemis wrong?

In the frames, pictures of Holly with random people could be found. She was in one where it looked like she would be about 16 in human years with a handsome gentleman who had the same color hair and eyes as Holly. Artemis could only assume that this was Holly's father as of the man appeared to be about twenty or thirty years older than Holly in that picture. Holly, in this picture, was dressed in a beautiful red dress, like one you would see the celebrities walking the red carpet wear. He looked magnificent. She looked like a celebrity, someone who should be admired for her beauty. Artemis didn't understand why Holly would choose to look like someone who didn't care about the clothing she wears, when clearly, at one time, she did care.

In some of the other picture frames there were pictures of her with others but in most of these she was wearing regular clothing, jeans and a t-shirt. However, in one of the pictures, besides the one with her supposed father in it, she was wearing what appeared to be a leather corset with tight, tight black pants on. She looked like a dominatrix or something to that affect. He would have to ask her about that when she was more up to talking.

Up until this time, Artemis was gawking at the furnishings and pictures in the room while Commander Root looked at him like he belonged in a Looney bin. He was still holding Holly, and instead of putting her down like a normal person would do, he just stood there as if he had forgotten what it was like to not have a person weighing his arms down and that what he was doing was completely normal and natural.

"Fowl?" Root questioned. Artemis finally snapped out of his trance and he looked at the Commander. Root motioned for Artemis to lay the slumbering captain down on the couch. He obeyed, although he was slightly worried that when she awoke, she would be none too happy about him allowing her to bleed all over the cream colored couch. Artemis knew that if it were his mother, she would have a fit that was the size of World War III. Personally, he didn't really want to be there when she awoke, however, he was dying to ask her about those pictures.

"Alright, Fowl. Short should be waking up in a few minutes and if she doesn't shake her until she wakes up. At the time she is awake, she can give you instructions as to where you'll be sleeping and whatnot. I'm going to leave your bags here and you can move them to where Short wants you to move them. I'm gonna go now but if there is anything you need, don't come crying to me cuz I don't wanna here any of your whining. But if there is a real emergency, Foaly will already know because he has this whole place wired. So don't try anything you wouldn't want anyone to know about. And don't touch anything; Short doesn't like anyone touching her things. And don't go outside or open the windows or get in the plain view of any of the citizens. We don't need the whole city knowing you're here. Do you understand the rules?"

"Yes, Commander Root." Artemis managed through gritted teeth. He was highly upset that he couldn't really do anything until Holly awoke, but he would manage. He always did. He would normally just wake the officer up if he wanted something but he knew that she really did need her rest and that he shouldn't disturb her, or else he would have an angry Captain with a gun on his hands. Not that she could really move to get him all that much.

"Good. So just follow the rules and do as the Captain says. If I find out that you don't do what she needs you to do you will be in serious trouble."

"What are you going to do if I do break a rule? Wipe my mind?" Artemis said with his signature smirk.

"No, Fowl, next time, we'll kill you. Then you won't be able to come back."

Artemis paled slightly (if that was possible. He was already so pale it didn't look like he had seen the sun in years.) but nodded in understanding. He knew that the Commander meant every word of what he said and he valued his life very much and would try to keep it, even if it meant following the preposterous rules the Commander had laid down for him.

With those final words, the Commander left Holly's apartment without another word and slammed the door shut. Artemis sat down in one of the chairs, intending on waiting for Holly to awake. He didn't have to wait very long for this to happen though, because the Commander's slamming of the door had easily awoken the sleeping captain. Apparently, she was a very light sleeper.

Holly's eyes fluttered open as she strained to take in what was around her. What she found shocked her. She did not expect to be in her apartment with the notorious Artemis Fowl standing over her, looking at her expectantly.

A/N So did you like it? Review and tell me about it!