Disclaimer: I STILL don't own Artemis Fowl

Replies:

Kelsey—Yes, yes, poor Holly with no maternal instinct. While that may be the most obvious thing to happen, it's actually nothing near where what I've thought of. Can you leave the really long lines of "HAHAHA…" out? Laughing is good, but it kind made the other reviews look weird with a line that stretched out across the screen.

CaptainRoseShort—Thanks.

Holly Rox—Thanks. Hehe. I try to mostly review back for people who review for me. I would have reviewed your sooner but I've been really busy.

SpikeTV58—Yeah. But since when has Holly ever been known to be the most feminine of people? After all, Trouble had a little brother.

Slime Frog—Thanks!

Sweetdeath04—Thanks

The Toaster—Yeah, I was soooooo glad when the review system and Author Alerts started working again. Thanks

Princess Arwen Evenstar 77—Thanks

K-Man—Yeah, sorry it took me so long to get the first chapter up.

LazyCat—Thanks

Lopez—hehe, I made him try a kind of gothic style in my last story. He didn't stick with it, but the girls he was shopping with were very insistent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3: Distractions

            "Trouble, are you joking?" she asked faintly.

            "Yeah, sure. A joke," he said dully, though it didn't sound as though he'd been joking. He looked down at the child. "I can't remember her name."

            Holly looked at him. He looked right with a child in his arms. She couldn't explain it. Trouble Kelp was probably one of the last men she'd ever think to see acting so fatherly over someone. Well, last other than Root, or Foaly, or Chix. But hadn't Root proved opposite too? And Foaly had looked like he knew what he was doing when Holly had shoved the baby into his arms. So was she the only one in whole stinking Police Plaza that didn't know how to handle kids? Oh gods, she was sure even Mulch could have handled things better than she had. Probably. And that thought was perhaps the most pathetic at all.

            "We can't just call her the baby. Why don't we call her Willow?" asked Trouble.

            "Isn't that your grandmother's name?"

            "Yeah."

            "Okay then."

            He laid her gently into the baby cradle/basket/basinet thing and covered her with blankets. He put a little hat on her head.

            "What's that for?" asked Holly.

            "To keep her head warm. A lot of heat escapes from the head, so we've got to keep her head and her ears covered."

            "Oh. I'll make dinner."

            Trouble was watching Willow and hardly seemed to hear her; he just gave a slight nod.

            Irritated, Holly got up and went into the kitchen. She made a good hot meal not because she was feeling any particular good will to her husband; she only did it to distract herself. He was besotted over the infant! He'd be brokenhearted when it came time for it to leave. How long would that be again? She'd call Root as soon as she was done with dinner. The quicker she got Trouble away from this Marsh baby, the better. Holly was not ready to completely change her life and introduce another person to it; her own baby or somebody else's.

            "Do you want to listen to the radio?" she asked.

            "Not really."

            "Do you want to watch some television?"

            "No thanks."

            "I'm going to call Root."

            "That's fine." He started humming a lullaby to Willow and didn't even appear to notice when Holly stormed out of the room and slammed the bedroom door behind her.

            She dialed Foaly in the Ops Room first and his face appeared on the screen. He looked at her for a moment. "Holly, where's the baby?" he asked, a little anxiously.

            "I don't even get a hello?" She was an only child and not used to having to split attention like this. She was by no means ever spoiled with attention, but she was used to having it if she wanted it.

            "Fine. Hello, Holly. Where's the baby?"

            "Why don't you ask her new mommy?" she said sourly.

            "And who would that be?" Foaly asked exasperatedly.

            "Trouble," she said dully.

            "As in your husband? Trouble as in Trouble Kelp? Are you sure?"

            "Yes," she said sulkily, plopping down into her chair.

            "Then why are you glum? This means you don't have to watch her. You get what you want."

            "So I can come back to the Police Plaza?"

            "Er, no. You've got to stick to your assignment. As it is, some of the other officers think that old Beetroot favors you and Trouble."

            She snorted. "Favors? He gives me a tougher time than anybody!"

            "I dunno, didn't you just go on a 4 day jaunt to the surface last month? Do you know how long it's been since I've done anything remotely like that?"

            "Yeah, well, it's not my fault that all the computers in Haven will blow up without you. Besides, I was gathering info on Fowl."

            "And you're still continuing correspondence with him because…?"

            "Because he's not quite a monster. With the right influences in his life, the People will never have to fear blackmail from him again. Between me and some of the forces that are in his life now, I think we could manage."

            "A mind-wipe could solve the problem better and faster," Foaly pointed out, munching on a carrot.

            She shrugged.

            Foaly rolled his eyes. "And you think he's got some other positive influences in his life now?"

            "Yeah. Alyssa for one. I think she's big part of his change. Foaly, do you realize this is probably the first time he's cared about anybody other than himself? Really cared?"

            "Yeah, so? He's got a girlfriend. All it took for him to stop being a criminal genius was to have his hormones catch up to him. He's a teenager. That is exactly why I don't date; I have too good a brain to let it go to waste in a dance club."

            "You don't date because you can't get a girlfriend that tolerates you and your eccentric habits for more than a week. Besides, you can't dance and everybody knows it. You've got 4 left hooves."

            Foaly pouted.

            "Knock it off, horse, you know it's true. And I think Alyssa's a good influence on him. She won't take his attitude and he genuinely cares about her and she makes him happy. Almost normal even. Other than that, his mother was never a terrible person and his dad is going legitimate on his businesses. Butler is a man of honor, even if his life's work is to protect Artemis by incapacitating anyone who attempts to harm him. Juliet is a Butler too, she's learned the same honor codes as her brother.."

            "I guess you're right."

            "How's the case going?"

            "It could be better, it could be worse."

            "Did they find any relatives of the baby's?"

            "Not yet. You know the dad was killed in this attack; we haven't been able to track down her mother yet."

            "Any known motive for the attack?"

            "There was a note. Something about paying for landing somebody's brother in jail, but the thing was so sloppy most of it couldn't be deciphered."

            "Great," she muttered.

            "I've got to get back to work."

            "I wish I could."

            "If you don't want to hang out with Trouble and the kid, do some weightlifting or something that'll keep your mind away."

            "You're right. I'll talk to you later, Foaly."

            "Alright, Holly." The screen went blank and she stared moodily at it for a few moments. Now what? It wasn't as though she kept close friends; certainly no one she could just call up.

            Maybe Foaly had a point. She could use a workout. And it would help keep her mind off things. She found her weights under a pile of clothes and proceeded to lift weights, run, do pushups, do sit-ups, and everything else she could think of. This kept her occupied for about an hour and a half.

            She went out to the living room. Trouble was playing peek-a-boo with Willow. The baby just sat there and gurgled at him. Holly rolled her eyes. "Trouble, I'm going out for a haircut."

            "That's fine. Have a good time."

            Holly stared at him. Whenever she told Trouble she was getting a haircut he always unfailing replied, "Don't cut it, it looks so nice when you let it grow out a bit." But today he hadn't said it. He hadn't even looked up at her. Feeling rather dejected, she left the house and started for the barbershop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Holly! She's all alone. Well, maybe walking to the barbershop will clear her head. But I don't think so. I might insert and Artemis and Alyssa chapter somewhere in here, but I don't know. I'll have to see how it all works. Review.