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: Umm, hi to anyone who is reading this. I should probably be crawling under a rock, or behind something large about now, because I promised to update, and I didn't. I'm going to keep this note to a minimum, and explain a little at the end of the chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Trouble approached him followed by two medics carrying a stretcher.

'If we can ask you to put her on here sir, we can take her to the ambulance.'

Julius nodded and lifted Holly gently onto the stretcher. Trouble noticed the care with which he did so.

Julius went in the ambulance with Holly. He cared so much for her. How could he let this happen to her?

Holly was rushed into the hospital when they arrived and Julius was left to sit on the horrible plastic waiting chairs to find out her fate. He was joined shortly after by Trouble. The two males sat on the chairs, waiting for a good hour to find out the fate of a female they both cared about for different reasons.

Time seemed to stretch indefinitely, the clock seemed to go forwards, then decide against it, and turn backwards. Hunger seemed to pluck at their stomachs, yet to eat food would have made them throw up. An aching pain seemed to compress their diaphragms, making it so they could hardly breathe. Even the funniest circumstances didn't seem so funny. An orderly loosing control of a food trolled and landing head first in a plate of mashed potato just wasn't funny. Holly was… well, injured.

Finally a medic emerged from one of the rooms.

'She's awake. You can go in and see her.'

The two men stood up instantly and in unison. They entered the room to see Holly lying serenely on a hospital bed, still in her wedding dress, which wasn't exactly white anymore, more like white with red polka-dots.

'We've given her medicine to relieve the symptoms of the concussion, but she's still going to be a bit dizzy and the such for a while, there's nothing we can do about that.'

'Hey Holly,' said Julius, 'how are you?'

'I'll live,' she replied, smiling at Julius, as though she was genuinely happy to see him. As though through general consensus they had decided to stop hiding it. It was pointless anyway, when it was so obvious to everyone.

Trouble was shocked. He had just realised that they had fallen for each other big time. His sister and his Commander. Could this day get any odder?

He swallowed his thoughts and said, 'Hi Holly.'

Holly looked so pleased to see him, but in a different way, 'Hey Trouble.'

There was an awkward silence in the room. Both Julius and Holly had realised that Trouble had realised that they had realised they loved each other, they were all very confused.

'Well,' announced Holly, struggling into a sitting position, 'I'm going home, got to get out of this dress.'

Julius looked as though he wanted to push her back down, to keep her in the safe hospital bed, but he refrained.

She made to stand up but Julius pushed her back onto the bed, he really didn't want her to hurt herself further. He cared about her as his officer, and, although he was still trying to deny it (and failing dismally) as something more. Trouble was surprised that Holly didn't bite the Commander's head off.

'Is she OK to go home?' he called to the medic how just happened to be only duty just outside Holly's room. The medic entered slowly, glancing at the various monitors behind Holly.

'She should be fine, but she must have constant supervision. She can't go home alone.'

'I'm not staying here.'

'Holly, you can come home with me,' offered Julius before he knew what he was saying. Was he offering that Holly could come home with him? Was he declaring his love to the entire room? Even there were only four people present. He was sure Foaly would have cameras and would be taping this for the entire LEP to see.

Holy was surprised. She wanted to go home, to get out of the dress, and the medic said she couldn't go alone. She was angry about that. What she was surprised about was that Julius had said she could go home with him. Not that she wasn't pleased; she had fallen in love with him after all.

'That's settled then,' said the medic as he handed Holly her discharge papers. Neither of them were going to get out of this, Holly was legendary for doing everything that the medics told her not to do, in fact, she was legendary for doing everything that anyone told her not to do. The only person that could control her really was Commander Root, and even he didn't succeed all of the time. However, if he was willing to have a try at stopping Holly from causing herself more damage, and Holly was willing to consent, the medic was going to get them out of there before she caused more problems. The particular medic had been assigned Holly's case because she was the sort that was always trying to get out of hospital before she was discharged, and this particular medic was considered extremely tough and they thought he could handle Holly. No one could, really.

Holly half-grinned, 'It's not like I've got anything to take with me. All I came in with was this dress,' she said, being sure to put a lot of sarcasm into her voice with the last word.

'Sorry we have to walk.'

'It's cool. I needed some night air.'

Julius wasn't sure what made him do it. It just seemed right. Slowly, he snaked his arm around Holly's waist. She didn't stiffen. She just relaxed into his arm. They walked like that in silence. They were actually acting like a real couple. And they were actually themselves. It felt… right.

Holly finally voiced the concern that was residing at the back of both of their minds.

'What happens when the entire LEP finds out?'

'Does it matter? What matters is I love you Holly.'

'I love you too Julius.'

They had by now reached the entrance to Julius' house. Having declared their love they stepped towards each other. They wrapped their arms around each other and passionately kissed. It was their first kiss as Holly and Julius, and it felt right.

When they broke apart Julius got down on one knee.

'Holly Short, will you marry me?'

'Yes!' replied Holly.

THE END!

A/N: that's the end of the story. It's been great fun writing it. For those of you who ask nicely there might be an epilogue. Maybe. Thanks to everyone who I should thank. Au revoir.

See the above? That's what I wrote when I finished writing the chapter. For some reason, having replied to reviews and written the note at the top (and, admittedly, scrolled down the page) I have a couple of things to add.

OK, well, I have some reasons for not updating, but I highly doubt anyone wants to hear (read) them. So I'm just going to apologise, profusely. At least it's highly likely not to happen again, unless I decide to write an epilogue.

One thing I want to do is thank everyone who has reviewed my story, and who has helped boost my review count to the amazing number it is at now. More reviews than I could ever have asked for. I thank everyone. I would have followed my tradition and replied at the end of the chapter, but it would appear that is illegal now, so I sent out review replies to all signed reviews. For anonymous reviews, I would have replied, and will reply for this chapter, if the reviewer feels so inclined as to leave a valid email address.

Now, about this being the end. Yes, it is the end, currently. I'm considering writing an epilogue, but I don't know if it is in the best interests of the story. Anyone who feels like leaving an opinion, please do in a review. Or email me. You can find my email on my user page thingy. I'm not planning on a sequel anytime soon, but who knows, maybe one day.

Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed throughout the duration of this story.