Disclaimer: I still don't own these characters, except Willow. Too bad, so sad.

Author's Note: Hey, everybody. I know it's been awhile, but I'm sorry. I'm trying to make these good chapters. I'm not sure how it'll work yet, but I think I finally decided Willow's eventual plan, so that's a big hurdle I jumped over. This chapter is nice and long, 3000 words, since, knowing me, it could be a while before I update again.

Replies:

Trouble Kelp—Wow! Thanks! I'm having a little trouble with this fic (pardon the pun) but I think it should move along better now and when this is done I've got the sketchings of another sequel in mind, one focused a little more on Artemis and Alyssa since this one was mostly Holly and Trouble. Thanks so much for the compliment.

Elf771—Thanks! I love giving Holly witty comebacks (well, as witty as I can come up with anyway). Thanks, I worried about Holly being too much of a brat, but I was hoping I had her down right. Ah, mellon, you speak Quenyan? I don't know if I spelled that right or if I had the right Middle Earth elf language there. I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, but I'm not quite up to the challenge of ficcing Tolkien's masterpieces.

Sam—Foaly usually comes through for us all in the end, right:-) Or maybe not…There's the suspense! Hehe.

Dawn—I'm sorry it's taken so long to update! I've been having trouble with this story and major brainwaves on my other ones. I'm hoping to update this one more frequently though. I think Trouble will be opening his eyes soon, so don't worry. I think that being a typical guy (at least most of the ones I know) no matter how much he loves her he'd still be a little slow on the uptake about that sort of thing.

Paul—Really? I thought I left it kind of open-ended, considering I only decided halfway through this chapter what was going to happen to Willow. Let's just wait and see if what you think is going to happen is right. ;-)

Refloc—Thanks! Sorry this chapter has taken awhile.

Slime frog—Thanks! Indeed 'great' is a lovely word. Ah, but in such a chauvinistic world do women really have rights? Aren't women still treated differently? Sorry, excuse the feminist in me, tends to pop out every once in a while. I think Root is in a tough spot with this. As it is the Council isn't particularly thrilled with Root, no matter how much work he's put in. He keeps backing Holly up and they blame Holly for the Hamburg incident, the troll at the Italian restaurant, getting kidnapped and losing the ransom, and then (in my stories) losing the ambassador's son and whatever else I've written that I can't quite remember at too in the morning. Hehe. Wow, I ranted a lot. Thanks for reviewing, I love reviews that actually say something like this one did.

Sweetdeath04—You'll see, you'll see. :evil laughter: Yup, the first thing 8 out of 10 people say when they hear my name (they laugh when they say this), "Erin O', you aren't Irish are you?" or "Erin O', that's such a good Irish name!" I don't mind that they say that stuff, it just gets so old. Thanks for reviewing!

Holly Rox—Thanks. I'm glad you thought so. Sorry it's taken so long to update.

Augurey Song—Thanks!

Ahava—hehe. Glad you liked the update! I'm happy because I'm updating again!

Chapter 15: Long Talk

Holly opened the door. "Trouble! I'm home!" She looked around and didn't see him anywhere in the living room. She kept walking. "Trouble?"

Trouble came out of the bedroom. "Ssh. I just put Willow to sleep. You'll wake her." He looked so happy.

"Trouble, honey, you really should sit down. I've got something to tell you," Holly said, lowering herself to the couch.

Trouble jumped over the back of the sofa and sat down next to her. He finally got a good look at her. "Your eyes are all red. What's wrong? It's almost like you've been…but, no, you wouldn't…have…have you been crying?" he asked incredulously.

Holly nodded. "I've got something to tell you. You're not going to like it at all. I'm not really pleased either. But…I don't even know where to start."

"Start at the beginning," he said, putting an arm around her.

She put her head on his shoulder. It'd been a while since they'd sat together like this. Not since before Willow came into the picture. "I'm…I'm not going to be working for the LEP anymore."

"I'd never make you do anything you don't want to, and I make enough for both of us, but why? I thought you loved your job," he said, sounding confused.

"I do. Trouble, I love my job. Playing babysitter for a possible orphan isn't my job. I can't do this and more importantly I won't. I want my life back, even if that means I have to get a new job."

"Have they found any of her relatives yet?" he asked, quietly.

"If they had, I wouldn't have quit. If they had I'd be fine now instead of being the mess of an elf sitting here on the couch with you! I feel like a prisoner. I can't be tied to this house all day and night. It's not who I am. I need to be out in the world. I need to be taking out bad guys and making it better out on the streets. Willow is going back to the LEP tomorrow morning and they can find someone else to take care of it. I refuse to be chained to this house with her."

"I can volunteer to take on the assignment," Trouble said, eyes lighting up.

"No. You've done nothing but fuss over her since she arrived. You've hardly spoken to me. I'm not losing you to another woman, even if she's not old enough to walk and talk yet." Her voice was hard. She pushed away from him and looked him in the eyes. "And even more important than that, more important than me, is that you're good at your job. You're Retrieval's number one. You need to be out there. You love your job and you're good at it. You're making a difference out there and you need to keep doing it," she said firmly.

"Holly, I've wanted to start a family for a while now—"

"I told you I'm not ready. After the week I've had this week I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. I don't want kids right now, maybe not ever. Quit insisting on it or I'm never letting you touch me again. You can sleep on the couch for the next fifty years for all I care."

"Holly, this week has given me a chance to see what it feels like to be a father. I like that feeling. I want to be a father," he said, with a pleading look in his eyes.

"We're still really young and I'm not ready. I like my work. It's important to me. My job is my life. I have my job, I have a friend or two, and I have you. Lately I haven't had my job, not really, and I certainly haven't had you. All I've had is my friend or two. Frank was there for me. Foaly was there for me. Where were you? You were playing at being a father. Well we aren't school kids playing house. This is for real. I'm not ready to be a parent and you can't honestly raise Willow on your own. Her family has to be out there somewhere. Maybe they just haven't heard of things because they don't live in the city."

"What if her family's not out there? What if they're all gone?" he insisted.

"Not our problem. The LEP has charge of her and they can keep charge of her for all I care. Root can walk around the office with a baby basket on his back," Holly said sourly.

"Can't we discuss this…?"

"Trouble, I love you," she said fiercely. "I'm not losing you to an infant. I can't. I won't. Willow has just cost me my job. I'm not letting her cost me my husband. She goes back to the LEP tomorrow and becomes their problem. I know you're going in early. I'm filling out my paperwork tonight and bringing her into the Police Plaza in the morning. If I saw any other way to work this out, I'd do it. But I don't." Holly curled herself up on the couch again and put her head on his shoulder, effectively ending the discussion. Exhausted after such a trying day, she fell asleep.

Trouble sat there, arm around her. He ran one hand through her short hair. He really hadn't been paying her enough attention this week. He started to feel guilty. She looked so tired. She hadn't been given much of a choice in any of this. She'd just been forced by Root into watching Willow and he'd grown attached to her. Willow. It wasn't even the child's real name. It was the name he picked for her. He didn't know her real name. But he'd grown so attached to her in such a short space of time. He really had been neglecting Holly this week. He had never meant to. She was right though. He'd been playing at being a father, pretending the family was perfect. He hadn't even realized how unhappy she was. He sat there for a long time, staring at his wife's face, occasionally touching her cheek or stroking her short hair. He always talked about how he wished she'd grow it out, but it wasn't true. If she had long hair like Lili Frond or any of the other girls he knew, she just wouldn't be his Holly.

He heard the Willow whimpering and got up carefully, so as to avoid disturbing Holly. Within a moment he'd quieted Willow and put her back to sleep. He went into the kitchen and made dinner for himself and Holly. He lit candles and dinner smelled delicious. He set the table up and checked in on Willow once more to make sure she wouldn't wake up.

He walked back to the couch softly, putting a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder. "Holly, wake up. Wake up, Holly."

Holly slowly came out of her sleep, stretching her arms. "What smells so good?" she asked, sniffing.

"I made dinner. Just the two of us and a little romantic candlelight."

Holly couldn't help but smile. When he wanted to, Trouble could certainly be romantic.

He led her to the table and pulled out her chair for her. The food looked delicious and tasted better. They talked softly as they ate.

"Holly, I know my mind's been elsewhere the past few days; I'm sorry. I was too preoccupied with wanting to be the perfect father to even consider whether or not you wanted to be a mother. I was acting like we were playing house and Willow was ours, but she's not, is she?"

"No, she's not."

"Are you sure you want to quit? This job has been your life longer than we've been together."

"I've already made my decision. I don't know what I'll do now, but I can't continue on the way it's been this week. I knew going into this job I wasn't going to be treated like everyone else because I'm a girl; I accepted that. So I worked twice as hard as the other guys on the force and now, while they're out there looking for the goblins who burned down the house, here I am babysitting some infant who belongs at a daycare center. I'm not standing for it. I'm quitting, and then maybe I'll take things to trial."

"Maybe they had another reason to leave Willow with you rather than just footing the bill for a daycare service."

"If they did, they didn't tell me."

Trouble took her hand and squeezed it. "I love you, Holly."

"I love you too but I won't do this anymore. I won't. Plain and simple."

Trouble thought about saying that he understood, but he didn't. He didn't say it because he didn't understand. It was one assignment. He'd had assignments he didn't like but he knew that orders were orders, soldiers were soldiers, and management was management. That's the way it worked anyway.

"You've got an early shift tomorrow, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm supposed to go in at five because Captain Ash is working graveyard tonight and leaving early, so he needs me to cover."

"Then you probably ought to get some sleep. I'm going to fill out this paperwork. I'll be at the Police Plaza with Willow at eight tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Trouble asked. This was a big decision.

Holly nodded, picking up the plates and bringing them to the sink.

"Should I sleep on the couch tonight?" Trouble asked, trying not to sound sulky.

Holly couldn't help but laugh for a moment before becoming somber again. "I've got a lot of paperwork to fill out and the light is better in here. Don't worry about it." When Trouble went to bed and Holly started filling out the resignation papers, she started crying again, wondering bitterly if she were making the right choice. Maybe her pride was just getting in the way and she should stay with the job. No. She kept on with the paperwork.

When Holly left the house for the Police Plaza, Trouble was long gone. She pushed Willow along in the stroller. She had emptied one of the diaper bags and was toting her guns and paperwork in it.

About halfway to the Police Plaza they were accosted by a goblin appearing in front of her.

"Give me that brat and nobody gets hurt," he said, tongue flicking out. Holly saw some sort of injury just below his eye.

Holly discretely moved her hand closer to the diaper bag; this fellow didn't look friendly. "What do you want?"

"Give me that brat. I told the LEP I wanted to her within the week or there'd be trouble." He licked his eyeballs.

"The LEP? I don't know what you're talking about. This is my daughter Willow. If you'll excuse me I have to get to work." She made as if to go around him, but instead did a backspin and kicked him in the lower back and sent him to the ground. She noted an eerie, eye-shaped tattoo on the back of his head.

She heard footsteps behind her and drew her Neutrino out of the diaper bag, pointing it straight behind her. "Don't even think about it," she said, not looking at who the next possible attacker was. She scanned in front of her briefly to see that there was nowhere anyone could be hiding ahead of her to the side of her, and, satisfied, turned around. She held the stroller with one hand and the gun with the other, leveling the gun right between the goblin's eyes. This one was shorter than the first. He had a fireball conjured in each hand.

"Give 'er up and I won't hurt you…much."

By this point, she'd noticed several other goblins gathering behind the one with the fireballs. She formulated the fastest plan she could think of. They didn't know she was a police officer; sure she had a gun pointed at them, but goblins weren't that bright. "Alright. Don't hurt me. I know I'm outnumbered. Let me just get her out of this seat and I'll give her to you."

"Put down da gun, missy."

"O-o-only if you put out your fireballs." She pretended to tremble.

The goblin gave a cocky glance at his friends and extinguished the fireballs.

Still pretending to tremble, Holly bent down and unstrapped Willow from the stroller, pointing her gun at the floor. She shook more, pretending to sob. In her pretend sobs her finger "slipped" and she shot the nearest goblin in the foot.

"Yow!" he screamed.

Half-straightening into a crouch, she fired two more shots at him and three shots at two of the other goblins. Then she started to run, diaper bag still in hand. She kept up the sprint until the Police Plaza came into view. She risked a glance back. Seeing the Police Plaza in sight, the goblins had turned back. After all, they certainly didn't want to find themselves sitting in cells for the next five decades.

Out of breath she went straight to Root's office, only to find that he wasn't there. She grabbed the nearest worker (the first one to pass in the hallway) and demanded, "Where's Root?"

"Hey, Holly. Come to your senses and want a piece of me?" Chix Verbil asked, a cocky grin on his face. "Sorry, I don't touch married chicks. Too many angry husbands to deal with."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Where's Root, Private?"

"He's in the Ops Booth with the horse."

She let go of him and marched off in the opposite direction. "Thank you." She buzzed in on the intercom. "Commander, Foaly, it's Captain Short." Out of habit she went back to her maiden name.

"If you're here for your resignation, leave the papers, child, and weapons at the front desk," Root said.

"This is more important than that, sir. I request permission to enter immediately."

"Permission granted," Root grunted.

The door to the Ops Booth opened immediately.

"What's the report, Captain?" Root asked, standing up as he noted the look on Holly's face.

"The infant and I were attacked this morning our way here by a group of goblins, sir."

"How many were there?"

"No less than half a dozen, sir?" Holly was too distracted to notice that for once, she was holding Willow and Willow wasn't crying.

"Any distinguishing features on any of the goblins?"

"At least one of them had an eye shaped tattoo on the back of his head."

"They attacked you. Did they say what they were after, Captain?" Root asked, sitting down onto one of the chairs.

For the first time since entering the room, Holly looked down at Willow. She looked back up at Root and Foaly. "They wanted the child. They didn't know who I was, but they recognized her."

"I was afraid of this."

Holly looked sharply at her Commanding officer. "Sir?"

"The reason the child was stayed in your care and was not transferred to a daycare center after things calmed down here is because we received a demand from the arsonists who set fire to the house. They wanted the child abandoned in a public place where they could take her and kill her. We have reason to believe they have her mother as a captive."

"Why can't we agree to do it and ambush them there?" Holly asked.

"The gang is larger than we anticipated," Root said, growling almost.

"It's not my fault," Foaly said in a singsong voice. He looked over towards Holly, hiding his smug grin from Root with a hairy hand. "I brought this group up a month ago when the first goblin got nabbed for something bad enough to earn him a couple of years in Howler's Peak."

"Well, we're dealing with the situation now. Looks like we're going to have to implement Plan F," Root said.

"Plan F?"

"Your plan, Captain. Plan Fowl. Foaly, get one of your techies on the job immediately. We need to know when the next flare will come. Holly has to get the infant to E1 as soon as possible. Make sure it's a strong one since she'll be carrying the added weight of the infant; nothing risky."

"Right, boss," Foaly said, serious for once. He went to work at one of his computers, paging a techie and telling him to get his butt to work on finding the right magma flare predictions.

"Holly, get out an email to Fowl telling him to clear out any Mud People in the house other than Butler and Juliet. We don't want anyone to know you're there. Tell he's got six hours to have the place cleared out and he'd better keep it cleared as long as possible."

Holly turned to one of the computers and opened her special email system that linked her with Fowl and his computer. "Yessir."

"You may be there for a while. Is there anything else you'll need?"

"A blackout suit, a spare set of clothing, a LEP helmet, a set of wings, baby formula, and diapers."

Foaly looked at her, arching an eyebrow. "If you need diapers, then what's in the bag now?"

"Guns," she said, grinning.

Foaly shook his head. Only the Holly Short he knew would carry guns in a diaper bag.

Fowl,

That favor I asked about? I need it now. In 6 hours I'll be on the surface and I need you to clear out anybody who doesn't know about us before then. I'll be arriving shortly.

Captain Holly Short-Kelp

Holly hit the send button and started to raid the both for things she'd need on the trip. Root left the room to start filling out authorizations for her visit and pick an officer to accompany her or join her if necessary. Foaly bounced back and forward between chewing out his techie for being slow with the predictions and telling Holly to stop messing with his nicely organized system.