Hold Me

Chapter 6: Servant for a Week or Two

Chix Verbil: Hiya all you Mud People::looks around confidentially: (In a whisper) And a special welcome to all you single ladies out there too. :winkwinknudgenudge: I'm here to introduce the story even though I don't come in until next chapter at the Annual LEP Talent Show...Oops! Wasn't supposed to tell you that...:laughs nervously: Anyways, the authoress wants me to tell you, she is very sorry that she hasn't been updating much lately and that she doesn't own Artemis Fowl or any of the other characters. Now, a word from her sponsors-err, I mean reviewers...err, wait, no that would be replies to her reviewers, oh what the heck just get on with it...:walks off mumbling:

Meliara of Asistar: Yeah, here's my update. And if you haven't noticed, I've retyped chapter five, it's very different now. You might want to read that before you read this chapter.

Neko Mew Midorikawa :Thanks! Yes, I agree, this is a very cute couple!

AgiVega: Again, Thank you! I'll definitely put romantic antics in the next chapter, but I can't really put them in this chapter. Sorry about that! Oh, and I've seen your work on deviant art, even before you reviewed this fic! Its really good, do you mind if I contribute a picture?

Akuweaselgirl:I know it's kind of odd but please bear with me. I'm trying my best. Anyways, here's your update.

Kelaal: Yes, I know that. Thanks, but sometimes I kind of prefer to swear...

KageRyu101: Yes, they kissed::face lights up in glee: Now, why can't Eoin Colfer make them do that in his books?

grossed out person: I was thinking , I'd better hurry up and finish this before my half hour time limit on the computer is up. What were you thinking?

James: Yes, here's my new chappie. As a small blurb, I'll tell you, she'll react a little differently than expected, especially because I rewrote the chapter...

DETERMINEDPerfectionist: Yes, a very good thing...Don't worry, I'll write more!

Daye the lover of all romances: Haha, when I first read your name I thought it was Dave the lover of all romances...hehe whatever. Ummm...now that you think of it, he really can't. That's why I rewrote chapter five. Thanks for the advice, I tried to follow it in my new Redwall story...

Kayla Holsten: I'm glad you like the story, I know it's moving fast, but I'm sort of an impatient person...

Maiden Genisis: Yes, I know that, it's fixed now.

La-dee-da22: Of course it wouldn't just happen like that. I'm just impatient.

Gogglus Piscus ) :Wow...:eyes grow huge: What a long review! Thank you for all your suggestions, that was wonderful constructive criticism... As for the enclosing verbs part, I did, I honestly did! I put them in asterisks, but every time I retyped them in, always removed them inevitably...I now put them in double colons. See::points: Ummm...I've never heard of a horse laugh...As to the grammar and spelling? I'm trying my best, I really am, I'm only 11 years old... I must of missed the cenataur/centaur part when going over in spell check... So I need a beta reader? Ok then, how about you, since you seemed to catch everything that went wrong...But honestly, thanks for all your suggestions!

Chix Verbil: And that's all of the reviewers! At least, I hope it is. Reny apologizes if she missed anyone. Oh yeah, and she wants everybody to know that she has rewritten chapter five. She wants to know if the replacement is better or if the original was better. Vote for chapter 5a or chapter 5b in your reviews please! And now, on with the story!

It was the second week of service to Foaly, and Holly and Artemis were undoubtedly bored, mad, and frustrated. Bored, was obvious. Mad, actually only Holly was mad. Artemis was taking it in stride. Then again, he really didn't have anything to be mad about. He wasn't the one who had been tricked by someone who he thought was his friend. And frustrated, at everything. And Holly was especially frustrated at the fact that Foaly had assigned her to clean his house and the Ops Booth every other day. Artemis had to do Foaly's housework on the other days. On the days that they didn't have to clean house they were helping Foaly run errands, delivering messages to the council, etcetera, etcetera. Needless to say, they couldn't wait until it was over. Especially Holly. When this was over, she had Artemis to be her servant.

Holly looked forward to the end of each day more than she had ever before, not even in the first days of being in the LEP, not even when Root put her on probation, not even when Chix Verbil had followed her around for a week. The end of the day was when she could finally stop cleaning house, when she could finally stop running around, when she could finally sink into the mud bath she now dumped herself into daily-or should I say nightly. Today was no different, except for one thing.

Haven's purified mud was now unavailable.

There was a leak in one of the cleaning systems that could not be fixed until two days later. And for these two days, anybody who crossed a certain very grumpy Holly Short would wish they hadn't. Even Artemis stopped trying to convince her it wasn't his fault. At least one good thing came out of all of this. They made up.

On the second day without any mud bath, Holly's cranky meter was at a dangerously high level. "Why should I be the one cleaning his house? It's below grunt work! He should hire house keepers or something. Stupid centaurs who can't even clean up after themselves! And if he had to assign me this, he could've at least not assign Artemis to clean too! Every time I come back after the other day, half the stuff I cleaned is moved, gone, or suddenly back again after being thrown away!" she muttered to herself as she scrubbed the countertop, sticky with remains of slug chips and takeout maybe a century old all over it. Just then, Artemis rang the doorbell. He had a message to deliver from Foaly. Actually, the message was really just a superficial detail in trying to get Holly and Artemis to make up. He had bugged his house for this opportunity and sat back in the Ops Booth right now, munching slug chips and sipping a nettle smoothie.

Holly went to answer the door. When she saw Artemis, she growled, "What do you want?"

Artemis replied coolly, "I have a message from Foaly. He says you're to come to the Ops Booth right now."

Holly blew it and yelled, "Why the hell should I? I'm already stuck cleaning his house which probably was never cleaned from the day he moved in! I'm sick and tired of being his housekeeper! And now I have to work alongside you? This is all your fault!"

Artemis was shocked. "My fault? MY fault? How is it my fault? You were the one who was complaining about the situation so badly that I was forced to subdue you in some way or another!"

Holly poked a finger at Artemis's chest and growled, "It is your fault because you were the one who kissed me, you were the one who offered me the wine, and YOU were the one who didn't use the obvious solution, which would be to knock me out!"

Artemis had had enough. He was tired of being mad with Holly. He decided to just accept he blame, as much as he hated to do it. "Fine, it was my fault. There, you happy?"

Holly, surprised, backed away. They stood there facing each other for a few moments, then Holly said, with a glare, "Apology accepted."

Artemis sighed with relief. Now that that was over, maybe she'd come to the Ops Booth. "So are you coming?"

Holly was caught off guard. "Coming where?" Then she remembered. "Oh yeah. The Ops Booth." For the first time in quite a few days, she smiled at Artemis. "Sure."

In the Ops Booth

Foaly smiled hugely. Yes, his plan was working. And nobody had ever suspected that he was playing matchmaker. After all, it was he who had suggested the locked dark room punishment to Vinyaya. He knew they wouldn't be able to stay there for a night without at least kissing once. And by the time the Talent Show was over, they'd be locked in each others arms. But Foaly never knew that something would go wrong. Something that would destroy Haven.

A/N: Haha, another cliffhanger! Not much of one, but still. Like always, review! And don't forget to vote for the different versions of chapter 5!