Disclaimer: I do not own anything owned by Eoin Colfer or anything to do with the Artemis Fowl books or anything like that. I only own what I own/made up/created/ thought of. Got it?

WARNING: any part of this story from this point forwards (and probably some before it) may contain OOCness. I'm sorry, but I couldn't make it work any other way.

A/N: Long story, but I'm sorry I'm a day late with the chapter, now on with the chapter.

Chapter Sixteen

Holly and Julius soon decided that they should get going. They had somewhere to be at 10PM after all. Even if they weren't there for the reasons the person who had told them to be there thought they would be there for.

As they walked out the door Julius picked up the bag of fake coins.

'It's a lot of money Tanya. You are sure you want to do this?'

'Of course I am Jake. I love you.'

This little conversation had been orchestrated. They didn't want to seem like they were too keen to part with the money.

Julius' heart fluttered; even if it had only been acting Holly had said she loved him.

Holly was amazed at how right it felt to have finally admitted that she was in love with him. Even if she wasn't admitting it really, and was admitting it as the make believe person Tanya to the make believe person Jake.

It was only a half hour walk to where they had met the guy the previous day. They got some very funny looks as they walked through the streets in their wedding attire. The apartment was situated in the opposite direction from the building that Police Plaza was, to alleviate more suspicions.

They arrived at 9.59PM, one minute earlier than they were meant to be there. They knew that the LEP now had two fully armed retrieval squads led by Trouble Kelp following them. Keeping a discreet distance, of course. The squads had been following them since they had left the apartment that morning. Holly and Julius themselves weren't armed as they would most likely be submitted to a weapons check and it was impossible to conceal big murderous weapons.

At exactly 10PM the guy they had met yesterday entered the room. Followed by many shimmers and a few other guys that they had not met yesterday.

He didn't bother with niceties.

'These are some of my associates. They are going to help transport you to the surface. Where's the gold?'

Julius stepped forward and gave it to him. The guy counted it and observed it, obviously checking to make sure it wasn't counterfeit.

'Is it all good?' grunted one of the men behind him.

'Yes. Search them.'

Without warning Holly and Julius were submitted to a search for weapons. It was a very thorough search. Holly made all the right indignant noises when the men began to pay extra attention to her breasts. Julius was going to say something to them but they finally stopped. They ran scanners up and down Holly and Julius.

'No weapons or bugs,' they reported.

'Good. Take them to the shuttle.'

Very oddly Holly chose that exact moment to say loudly, 'Gee, I really like bananas.'

All occupants of the room looked at her strangely, slightly worried for her sanity. Every occupant of the room except Julius, that is, who was already spinning to catch the two guns that were sailing across the room towards him, courtesy of Trouble. He caught them deftly and chucked one to Holly.

"Bananas" had of course been the codeword that the tracking devices were designed to pick up on. When Holly said bananas the LEP operatives standing silently outside the door had burst inside, guns raised. Trouble himself had thrown two weapons to Commander Root. One was for Holly.

'You are under arrest for offering illegal passage to the surface and risking the exposure of Haven,' said Commander Root. He didn't get any further because it was at that moment that a fire fight began.

The figures from below the cam foil had materialised and started firing at the LEP Retrieval teams.

Julius turned to Holly. 'Holly, get down and get out now.'

At Police Plaza he had briefed her that if a fire fight developed she was to get out of the room as quickly as possible because she would be at a great disadvantage while wearing the dress. She had protested greatly at this order. She did not see why she should miss out on a fire fight. Julius had managed to persuade her that she should listen to his orders on this matter. Little did he know that she had no plans to do anything of the sort.

Julius knew deep down that she wouldn't accept this order, that she would disobey it, but he had to give it to her. He wasn't really sure why he cared, she was just another of his officers, all he would have to do would be to discipline her for her actions at a later date. Besides, technically they needed all the officers they could get in this fight. The numbers in the LEP had gone down since Holly had been kidnapped, it had hit home to some of the younger fairies just how dangerous a job at the LEP was. Yet somehow he knew that punishing Holly would not be the solution. He cared too much about her. He couldn't accept that she might possibly get hurt because of a disadvantage she was at. He cared so much for her. He knew she was just an officer but couldn't stop himself being in love with her, couldn't stop himself treating her like a porcelain doll.

He was now scared out of his wits. Something that didn't happen very often. He had realised only this morning just how deeply he was in love with Holly. And now here she was in the middle of the fight, armed, and in a dress, which meant she would insist on fighting at a great disadvantage.

'Holly, please…' he began to say. She interrupted him. She was already shooting over her shoulder. More of them just seemed to come.

'No Commander. I'm on this mission. I don't run. I'm going to finish this fight.'

Julius didn't know what to say.

A/N: The end of another chapter. Getting very near the end now. I'm going to miss publishing this. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviews, and please review.

Review Replies:

wackywildcrazy : haha, thanks. Thanks for reviewing.

sergeantstan: Thanks for reviewing.

potter-Dork: Thanks for reviewing, it does begin to happen fast over the end, for some odd reason. Look at it this way: less annoyingly dragged out cliffies.

LadySara05: thanks. I'm honoured. This isn't the end yet, but there isn't much more. I estimate two more chapters after this. Possibly an epilogue… Thanks for reviewing.

refloc: oh, I didn't say A/H wasn't always going to exist. It appears to be inevitable. Hmm, I await whatever you are up to publishing. Thanks for reviewing.