Author's Note: 118 reviews! Wow! I had an awesome vacation, for those who care, and the motivation for this chapter is from it. I got home Sunday, and started Tuesday due to a friend's huge party I went to…

Thanks to Queen Dragon, TRUEHOLLY-lol, Rebel Rose-aw thank you, Hunni Bunni-glad its an exception, nodoubtrox, PrincessBob-its in Italy, and the parent thing is new, AFG-yeah I know about exams-they SUCK lol, AgiVega, Literary Prima Donna- cool name, by the way-very creative, xxx.Pyro Eclipse.xxx and Rock 4ng3l.

Recap

"Yes," Holly answered, famished, but Artemis shook his head. "Juliet and I are going to take a walk," he said, acknowledging Holly.

"See you in a bit, sir."

"We'll be back after sundown," Artemis answered. He grabbed Holly's hand, pulled her out the door, and the two walked off, Artemis leading the way towards the east, away from the northern part of Mantua, towards the coast.

End of Recap

"Artemis," Holly protested. "Where are we going? I'm hungry!"

"You'll see," he replied, "I want to show you something."

They walked in silence towards his destination, and the sun started to set after more than three hours of silence. "Artemis," she said, "we haven't said a word in like, three hours. Will you please tell me where we are going?"

"No, I won't tell you. You shall see."

Holly groaned. Stupid stubborn Mud Boy! "Can you at least give me a hint?"

"Fine," he stated. "What's on the eastern coast of Italy?"

Holly thought. She had never been that good at Mud Men geography. Fairy geography, yes, since to be a police officer you had to always know your surroundings. Mud Men geography she wasn't the best at. She had always used the programmer in her wings to get her there. She knew the continents, the oceans, and the major mountain ranges. Not the minor mountain ranges, not the seas, and not most of the little countries that they never mentioned. She sighed. "I don't know. I'm not the best at geography."

"Pity," Artemis said loftily. "You would have known then. It doesn't matter, though. We'll be there soon. Another half a mile, perhaps. Maybe more."

"And you're not complaining?"

"I would rather walk than be in a swordfight."

Holly nodded. She understood where he was coming from, but didn't necessarily agree.

It started getting breezy, which to Artemis for some unknown reason was suspicious but to Holly was relaxing. She had never spent much time above the surface for fun, save that one field trip, so this was nice. They reached a large hill, to Artemis's discontent. After climbing it, he stopped out of breath. Holly stopped as well, but for a different reason.

Ahead of them was sand, golden in the last of the sun's golden rays, and waves, tidal pools, and seagulls. "Whoa," she breathed at the spectacular site. She ran down, taking off her shoes, and running the hundred yards to the beach. Slowing at the sand, she took off her top dress as well, leaving a petticoat or two, but she didn't care. Artemis watched for a minute or two as Holly frolicked in the tidal pools, chased after seagulls, and jumped into the waves.

"Artemis!" she whined. "Come on!"

He walked, and then jogged down the hill, and sat in the sand. Normally he would have cared if he got his clothes all sandy, but he realized that since this wasn't an Armani and he didn't have to worry about how he looked, he could take the liberty. He chuckled as Holly got knocked over by a large wave, and then walked over as she swam to shore.

"I didn't know fairies could swim," he commented.

"I don't," she admitted, "its instinct. I'm what you Mud Men call doggy paddling, don't you see?" She pulled him into the water, but Artemis dug his feet into the sand to prevent her from getting him wet.

"Let me take some of this superfluous clothing off." He ran back to shore, took off his cape and shoes, and walked back over.

"Come on, Artemis, you're missing all the fun."

"I'm enjoying this, I assure you."

"That's not good enough, Mud Boy, you have to get wet." Holly grabbed his arm, and the weak boy genius was pushed into the water and knocked down by a small wave, to Holly's great amusement.

"That's not funny," he declared at Holly's chortling.

"Of course it is. Here, I'll show you how to move with the waves."

"No." Artemis pouted, getting out of the salty water. "Getting knocked down by a small wave with the force of a tsunami was good enough for me."

"You call that a force of a tsunami?" Holly retorted, pointing to one of the small waves similar to the one that had knocked Artemis out of the water. "Look at this one." Holly waded out to sea, about fifty feet offshore. The waves there were maybe five feet. She ducked under each one, coming up for breath after.

Artemis couldn't believe Holly was that good of a swimmer for her first try. "Are you sure they don't have pools in Haven?"

Holly would have answered, but a wave a foot or two larger than what she had been dodging hit her full force, knocking her over. Waves continued to come, so she was swallowing water, which tasted like she was swallowing the contents of a salt shaker with a little bit of water in it. She didn't come up for about a minute, and Artemis got worried. He knew the brain would need oxygen, and fast, but he wasn't the best swimmer, and the waves were getting higher. High tide is coming, he presumed. But, if he was to survive all this and get back to the future, he would have to rescue her. Holly was essential to getting back to 2003.

He struggled against the waves, almost falling in knee deep water about twenty feet from where Holly was thrashing in the waves. He kept going, however, and pulled her up. The first thing Holly did was cough up the sea water, and then breathe in a huge gulp of sea air. She glanced at Artemis, who was helping her up, with an astonished look upon her face. They walked back, Holly still breathing, and Artemis occasionally checking her.

They sat down in the sand, watching the sunset.

"Hey," Holly said after catching her breath, "thanks. I didn't know you had the guts to do that."

"Well, I did. You're welcome."

"Not just that, Mud Boy. For bringing me here too. I've never been to the ocean without having to do a mission, or fly."

"That makes two of us," he muttered.

Holly heard with her extra sensitive fairy senses. "No wonder you couldn't swim. Haven't you been to a pool?"

"And swim in chemicals? No thank you."

"You're so picky. We're lucky if we see a pond in Haven. The only rivers are lava, except for a couple rivers in amusement parks."

"You have amusement parks? With what?"

"Um, rides, food, booths, you know."

"I would if I actually went there."

"At thirteen, you've never been to an amusement park?"

"I would if I wanted to."

"You're missing out by being so standoffish to normal things."

"Like what?"

"What I just mentioned, social events, swimming, friends, stuff like that."

"I have friends," Artemis retorted, "or at least, they're friends to me."

"Names please."

"Well, you, Juliet, and Butler."

Aw. I'm one of his three friends. "I mean, seriously, you cant just like looking at stocks and surfing the web."

"I don't exactly surf. I hack."

"You and Foaly have a lot in common. The stubbornness, the arrogance, the obsession with computers…"

"I'm not obsessed."

"How much time do you spend a day on it?"

"Let's see. Eight hours sleep, normally, two hours eating with family, an hour with other things…leaving about thirteen hours. That's if there's nothing to do, of course."

"Frond, Artemis, don't you have a life? I don't even spend thirteen hours a week on it."

"What's your busy schedule then?"

"Uh, wake up sixish, breakfast, shower…at work at seven fifteen…lunch break at one fifteen, leave at seven forty five, dinner, sometimes I'll go out with friends…if not, then lounge, shower, sleep at um…ten."

"Very busy."

"Yep. Two six hour shifts. Hey, look at that," Holly said, pointing to a bird flying over the water, brown against the low orange sun. "What is that?"

"Pelican. A large, fish eating bird."

Holly rolled her eyes. "How many random facts do you know, anyway?"

"Well, the average brain can hold up to a trillion bits of information over a lifetime, and my brain is far from average, so more than that."

"Of course." By now the sun had set and it was dusk, the stars twinkling on top as the last of the sun's rays plunged beneath the horizon. Holly fell back on the sand, staring at the sky.

"Holly, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Mud Boy?"

"Laying in the sand staring at the sky."

"Good, now I know you can figure out what's happening," she replied sarcastically.

"But why would you want to do that?"

"Why not?"

"Let's see, you get sand all over you, your hair becomes sandy…"

"How spoiled are you?"

"I don't know, Holly, most spoiled people don't think they're spoiled."

"Well you are. Who cares about getting dirty when you can take a shower later?"

"Well, actually, people rarely take showers or baths here."

"Shut up, I don't care!"

"Well, I do!"

"Do you, like, ever shut up?"

"I suppose so," Artemis replied loftily.

"Well do it then!"

"Fine," he groaned, joining Holly in the sand.

"Wow," Holly stated sarcastically, "Artemis, you are such a bloody hypocrite!"

"Who cares? Look at that!" Artemis beckoned to a falling star.

"It's pretty."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, weren't we supposed to be back by sundown?"

"I forgot."

"So shouldn't we go now?"

"I wouldn't know my way in the dark, and I doubt you would either."

"You're so confident in other people."

Artemis nodded, although it was hard to see in the dark.

They both watched the falling stars in silence for what seemed like a couple minutes but actually was a couple hours. Holly stared up at the sky watching all the white streaks in the sky, lasting brief seconds. Soon she heard light breathing, and turned to see Artemis looking entirely peaceful. His eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open, and rolled on his side facing Holly. He looks so, so normal. Wish he actually was. Then she stopped. Then he wouldn't be the Artemis she had come to like, to appreciate, to even enjoy his company.

The red head watched him breathe slowly for several minutes then kissed his cool lips. "Good night, Artemis."

Artemis woke up at the sunrise, and turned to face the ocean. Holly was facing the other direction, sleeping quietly and on her side facing Artemis. "Morning, Holly," he whispered. Artemis stood up, and walked off towards the waves, running his feet through the cool surf of the Mediterranean Sea. After walking maybe a quarter mile south, he turned around, tired and hungry and cold from sleeping on the sand without any sort of cover.

"Holly?" he said, shaking her, "wake up."

She rolled over, groaning. "Artemis…it's…so…early."

"Yes, and we have to get back. Aren't you hungry at all, Holly?"

"Food?" she said, squinting her eyes.

"Yes, food."

"Mush…rooms?"

"Maybe, but we have to get back first."

"Back…home?"

"No, back to the hut."

"Hut?"

"Where we were talking, Holly. And the horse, remember?"

"Holly?"

"Yes, that's your name."

"No, Mud Boy," she said, opening her eyes and yawning, "the horse's name."

"That's weird," he commented.

"Yep."

"Now get up. The sooner you get up, the sooner you can eat."

"Fine." Holly sat up. "Hey, look at that."

"It's the sun."

"No, it's a flaming orange ball coming to hit the earth. I meant that," she said, pointing at three jumping shapes in the ocean.

"Oh."

"What are those? Dolphins?"

"Maybe. Or porpoises. Shall we go, then?"

"Wait a second. I want to see."

Artemis sighed. "All right. Three minutes."

"Until they leave."

"Aren't you hungry at all?"

"I can live."

"Lucky you," he groaned.

Soon the animals left, and Artemis and Holly went on their way. Artemis remembered quite well where to go, since there had even been some of their footprints in the mud. Holly's actually. "Man, Holly, you have small feet."

"Do not!"

"Maybe not in the fairy world, but here you do. Look at this." Artemis put his footprint next to Holly's, his maybe four or five inches(which is about fifteen centimeters for you metric people) longer than her tiny footprint.

"Who cares, Mud Boy?"

"You do, apparently, but let's get going." Artemis walked off, Holly running easily to catch up with him.

"You know, you do run really slow for someone with big feet."

"Maybe its my lack of caring about my muscular structure."

"What Root would say to you if he heard that…"

"What would he say?" Artemis asked, helping Holly over a large log.

"You don't have to do that, I can do it myself."

"A gentleman would."

Holly snorted. "Yeah, that's you," she replied sarcastically. "Root would say you were a disgrace to the fairy race, if you were a fairy, and would evict you on some random charge unless you joined a gym."

"Funny, then why is Foaly working there?"

"His invention skills, I guess. He's too priceless for Root to kick him out. But if he heard that, I would never live it down."

"I bet."

The two talked about random things like the weather and fairy customs and the environment, until, finally, they crossed the last hill and stared at the village.

"Almost there, right?" Holly asked, rubbing her stomach. "I'm starving."

"I think so. Look, see, that's Holly," he replied, pointing to a red horse next to the one he had ridden with Balthasar.

Holly ran down to the cottage, bursting through the door, and grabbing a piece of bread to shove in her mouth. "Artemis," she yelled, "Let's eat!" She watched as Artemis walked through the door, very pale, and was about to hand him a piece of bread, but he collapsed in the doorway.

Author's Note: Please review! I might not update for a while, I'm starting school on Monday and I still need to do lots.

Please review!