Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl and I'm not making any money at this.

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since the last update. The next chapter (not this one, 10) is really short but I'm going to post it tomorrow. Hope you like this!

Replies:

Holly Rox--Sorry about your internet. Thanks. I love Holly and Trouble as a couple. I'm not going to break them up.

Jubily-Lollypops--Thanks. The next chapter (which I'm posting tomorrow!) is going to have some Alyssa/Artemis stuff in it. And the next story I do after this one is going to be pretty much all Alyssa and Artemis. He's going to have to figure out what to get her for her birthday.

orangUtang 100--Thanks. I think Holly'll get a little better.

Sam—Thanks. I was thinking about the first time I ever babysat a 1 year old when I wrote this.

Demon sloth—Thanks.

Mad Sam—Thanks. Sorry about the short chapters.

Angel of Harusame—Thanks. I live to amuse people.

Sweetdeath04—Thanks

Maiden Genisis—Thanks. Sorry it's been so long since the update.

Slime frog—Thanks. Hehe, haven't seen you around much in a while. : - ) Hope you like this chapter! Holly's working on it.

Chapter 8: On Her Own

Eventually, Willow had cried all she cared to cry (at least for the time being) and rewarded herself (and Holly) with a nap.

Holly just sat there. She didn't dare move for fear of waking the stupid brat and sending her on another crying tantrum.

Holly just sat there for about an hour. Then she sneezed, she really couldn't help it, and Willow woke up and started crying again.

"What do you want?" groaned Holly. She took a sniff of air. It smelled like a diaper change was needed. She stood up and placed the baby on the couch. "Please don't fall off," she begged. She went to go get the diapers.

Holly found them and read the package. The instructions made it sound easy enough. Holly got a blanket, wipes, and powder out of the bag and set Willow down.

The "easy to follow" directions had not reckoned on a kicking, screaming, squirming baby who not only did not want her old diaper taken off, but also didn't want the new one put on.

When Willow was cleaned off (but still unwilling to get the new diaper put on), Holly glared at her. "Fine! Run around naked for all I care."

Willow however, was too young to run around. So she rolled side to side on the blanket.

Holly washed her hands thoroughly and got herself a snack to eat before trying to wrestle Willow's fresh diaper on. Eventually, she was successful, but of course by then, Willow wanted her lunch.

"I'm not feeding you. If I feed you, you'll need your diaper changed and then we have to go through all this again." But Willow sounded so pitiful that Holly had to get her some baby formula and heat it up and try to feed it to her.

She didn't do too bad making the formula, it only took two tries. Trying to actually feed the formula to Willow was a whole new story. A story that actually had a happy ending.

Holly sat down in the chair and held Willow like Trouble had showed her. So far so good. It was rather tricky but she managed to reach over and get the bottle without moving Willow at all.

She stuck the bottle in Willow's mouth and Willow started sucking on it. In a matter of minutes, the bottle was empty and Willow had a content smile on her face. Holly had finally done something right.

Unfortunately the happy ending was not going to last long. Willow started fussing again and Holly couldn't remember why Willow would fuss after a bottle.

Still holding Willow with one arm, Holly made a call to the Police Plaza. She called Foaly's line so that he could connect her to Trouble.

"Foaly?"

"What is it, Holly? How's motherhood treating you?" He could hear Willow fussing in the background and knew Holly was obviously having problems.

"Don't even joke about it," she said tersely.

"What's the matter?"

"You mean besides the fact that I'm holding a baby instead of a gun?"

"Get on with it. Some of us have important work."

"Don't get your tail in a knot. It's not my fault I'm stuck home. You've got our wonderful boss to thank for that," she said sarcastically. "I need to know why Willow is fussing after I gave her her bottle."

"How long ago was that?"

"How long? She's fussing now. Can't you hear her?"

"Yes I can hear her. How long ago did you give her the bottle?"

"She finished the bottle about ten minutes ago, I guess."

"She needs to be burped. Put her over your shoulder and pat her on the back 'til she burps. Then she should be fine."

"Thanks, Foaly. How'd you get to know so much about kids?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Contrary to popular belief, Holly, I don't live in my Ops Booth. I do actually join the rest of the world once in a while. I've got to go, some weird firewalls are coming up."

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to access Koboi's old computers. I want to figure out if she had anything worthwhile in the works before she was arrested. I'll talk to you later." He hung up.

Holly followed his advice and Willow let out a satisfied burp. Unfortuantely, she also spit up a bit and Holly had to go back to her room and change her shirt, muttering to herself about how she never wanted kids and was planning on killing Beetroot the next time she saw him.

She came back out in a fresh shirt and saw Willow with her foot in her mouth.

Holly stared at her. "How do you do that? I don't think I'm that flexible. I know I'm not. And I don't think my foot would fit in my mouth even if I could get it there."

Willow seemed content to roll from side to side and giggle. Holly soon got very bored of watching her. She spread out a blanket for her on the ground with a barrier of pillows around the edges so Willow couldn't go far. She found some things that looked as though they'd be safe for Willow to play with and decided to workout for a while and got out her weights and things from her room.

Around lunchtime she stopped and gave Willow a changing and a feeding. The changing wasn't any easier than it had been earlier. She found a collapsible stroller in one of the bags of baby things that Trouble had bought and set it up. She strapped Willow in.

"Come on, rugrat, I'm hungry. I'll grab something from the deli and we can go see Frank."

Holly pushed the stroller out the door and locked it behind her.

She had no idea that the phone rang only seconds after she left the driveway. She had no clue that Trouble would be worried sick about her for hours.

Instead, she was on her way to go get a sandwich and talk to an old friend.

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW! It will be Alyssa and Artemis. :-)