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: Hi, all. I'm so sorry I haven't updated for rather a long time, and I have a good reason, but you probably don't need to hear about it. So, umm thanks to all who reviewed, replies as usual. And do not worry; there should not be such a wait for the next chapter, no more than a week. Besides, exams are over. Anyway, on with the chapter.

Chapter Seventeen

Julius didn't know what to say.

He just had to let her fight.

'Fine, but be careful.'

This last statement of Julius' nearly threw Holly. Of all the things she had been expecting him to say that certainly hadn't been one of them. She nearly echoed the statement. She didn't want Julius to get hurt. She had realised only that morning how much she cared about him. She knew, however, that he would never, could never, care about her in that way. She was his officer; this was an assignment, nothing more. She was stupid to think that her Commander could have feelings for her outside the care he had for as an officer.

They both stood there for a second, savouring the feeling of the kisses, feeling the love that had radiated between them once more, though neither knew that the other loved them. In that second a blast flew towards Julius. Holly saw this and threw herself into him, knocking him from the blast's path. It narrowly missed them both, well, almost missed them. Holly's hair was singed. Not that she cared.

'Thank you,' said a breathless Julius.

'No problem,' replied Holly as she helped him to his feet.

The Retrieval team had finished with almost all the offenders in the room while Holly and Julius had been debating whether Holly would fight or not, but there was still a good hundred left. Mere stress relief. .There had been no injuries of any LEP officers. This assignment was a good one, the mission was going well. Trouble stood curiously watching the conversation going on between Holly and Julius. Both were shooting offenders over their shoulders but didn't seem to be paying much attention. They were both staring at each other, with looks in their eyes that suggested they loved each other. "That couldn't possibly be the case" thought Trouble desperately. He didn't know if he wanted his sister to be in love with anyone. Over the short period of time he had known Holly as his sister he had become fiercely protective of her, and he definitely did not want anything happening to Holly. Her being in love with the Commander worried him… if the Commander hurt her… he clenched his fists

Then again, maybe he was just imagining it, and he wanted Holly to be in love with someone, so he could demonstrate how much he cared about her… Trouble decided to get away from the train of thought he was going along at that point in time, he would probably drive himself crazy. Not a good thing in the middle of a mission. Besides, Holly was so fiercely independent and would NOT approve of him being protective of her.

Trouble's heart rate quickened as he watched Holly push Julius out of the way of a shot he hadn't noticed. He decided to head over there. They were certain to need backup the way they were acting.

A collective gasp went around the room, even though the officers were supposed to be working on incapacitating the offenders, not watching their senior offices converse. The "guy who they had met yesterday" had jumped onto Holly's back while she was helping Julius stand up.

Julius couldn't contain himself; he felt something constrict in his chest and he yelled 'HOLLY!' before he realised what he was doing. Although it was not much use made him feel better. Trouble was now running towards his sister.

Holly was by now attempting to fight the guy off, naturally. She would have managed it too, if she hadn't been wearing the dress. It put her ever so slightly off balance and the guy managed to knock her to the ground.

Julius was panicking, something he never normally did. He knew he should have been more forceful about getting Holly out of the room due to the fact she was wearing a dress.

As though in slow motion Julius and Trouble watched as Holly lost her balance ever so slightly when her leg couldn't move as far as it could in her LEP uniform. The guy took advantage of this to knock her to the ground. A resounding metallic "clunk" reverberated around the room as Holly's head hit the corner of a heavy metal crate. She passed out instantly.

All conscious members of the room let out an audible gasp. All conscious members of the room consisted of the LEP, the offenders were now all unconscious, the "guy who they had met yesterday" now being in a deep sleep as Julius and Trouble had both hit him in the back with a high setting charge as soon as he had knocked Holly over. So he might loose a few brain cells, alright, heaps of brain cells, so what? He would spend the rest of his life in Howler's Peak anyway.

Trouble couldn't contain his anger anymore. He exploded at Julius.

'HOW COULD YOU LET HER STAY HERE WHEN SHE WAS AT AN OBVIOUS DISADVANTAGE? IN A DRESS!' Something in the back of his mind reminded him that he shouldn't be yelling at his superior officer, but he ignored it.

'Trouble, believe me, I tried to get her to leave. She wouldn't. Can we just concentrate on her now?'

Trouble just nodded. In his anger he had nearly forgotten about his sister.

'Holly!' said Julius as he stepped towards her. He unceremoniously threw the unconscious form of the guy off of her. She was lying there, totally unconscious. She would have a concussion from this, and a concussion was one of those things that couldn't be healed by magic.

Her own blue sparks were already playing about the cut on the back of her head, which disappeared in a few seconds.

Julius laid her head on his knees gently. Holly stirred, but did not wake up; a smile seemed to play on her lips. Commander Root looked like he was holding in a grin as well. He turned to Trouble.

'Get Police vehicles for the perps. Take them to jail to await trial. Get me a LEP ambulance for Holly. We should get her to the Police hospital ASAP. She obviously has a concussion. I'll stay with her.'

Trouble nodded, 'Yes sir,' and left to do his tasks.

Julius sat there holding Holly. He wasn't sure how long he was sitting there. All he knew was that the entire time was filled with worry for her. Technically, he should have been doing what he had told Trouble to do, but that was what he was in command for, so he could tell other people to do his work.

A/N: rereading this, it seems a little rushed. Sorry if it is. Please review.

Review Replies:

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Bonnie Mizuhara (x5): Thanks for reviewing. Would anyone want to be the one Commander Root is yelling at? Thanks again. Yes, how could people guess that… I'm updating. Thanks for reviewing 5 times.