Hi, sorry it's been such a long time, I've had so much on my mind lately, but you probably don't want to hear my excuses. This is the last chapter and I hope you like it since it's taken me so long to write! I don't want this to sound like a speech but thank you very much to everyone who's reviewed this story: Aryelweb, phoenixmaster5, Mulch Diggums, madisonavenue, Dim Aldebaran, Stiggy, waffles to you, xXxBillieJoeIsGodXxX (heehee Rachel), Firefly-class, LunarSquirrel, Trouble Kelp, sergeantstan, Furubafan92, and sderai. It means a lot to know that people read my fics and like them too.
Also thank you to Bethany, Jessica, Vicki, and Sophie. I never realised how good my friends were until I really needed them, and I hope that this comes across in this chapter for Holly. Thanks Sophie for thinking up the last bit as well and stuff them haha!
Please review and tell me what you think, and once again I'm sorry for not updating sooner. I hope to be back soon with a new fic (I'm not sure what yet though!) Have a nice day ;)
Holly ran from the room, wincing with every step as she hurried into her bedroom and opened the closet.
"Hello? Trouble, you still there?" Foaly said as Trouble gazed after Holly open mouthed.
"Yeah, it's just that Holly has chosen a rather random time to check for closet monsters." There was silence on the line as Foaly ignored that last comment and moved onto what was really pressing him.
"It's just that, well…" Trouble realised that maybe sometimes the centaur did manage to pick up on others emotions. "I'm not sure Julius is going to hang on much longer and if Holly wants to say goodbye to him…" Foaly trailed off but Trouble got the message.
"Holly?" he called. "Do you want to go to the hospital?" he threw the phone on the floor where it rested amongst the tissues.
"What do you think suits me better? Green or black?" What? Trouble went to check if Holly's brain had somehow been removed from her head by the fall, and was astounded to find her standing in front of the mirror with a dress in each hand.
"What under the earth are you doing?" he demanded. Holly's eyes filled with tears.
"Well," she sniffed. "I just thought that the last time Julius sees me I should look nice for once in my life." Trouble understood, he wanted to say that the commander probably thought she looked stunning whatever she wore, but he didn't and pointed at the green dress instead. "And, Trouble? Do you know how to apply mascara?"
"I'm sure that Commander Root will be pleased with just the dress, you don't need to put on makeup." Trouble glanced at his watch as he knew that Root couldn't cling to life by a thread just so that Holly's makeup could get its first airing.
"But if I look nice, I've got to look nice properly," replied Holly.
"Fine." Trouble picked up a bottle of nail polish. "But as far as everyone at Police Plaza is concerned I've never even been near your makeup bag, alright?"
When a sprite who was leaning on the drinks machine wolf-whistled, Foaly looked up expecting to see a stunningly beautiful fairy enter the hospital waiting room –but coming face to face with Holly instead- That's not to say she wasn't stunningly beautiful, but Foaly was confused as to why Holly had gotten all dressed up for what was to effectively be a pre-death funeral.
"Don't ask," whispered Trouble as Foaly led the way to wherever Commander Root was and Holly tottered behind in her stilettos. The centaur stopped outside a room with the blinds closed; Trouble wandered why this was but he didn't really want to know especially if the reason was gruesome.
"Are you going in then?" Foaly said in a hushed voice like he was in a church. Holly looked as if she wanted to turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as her heels would carry her but before she could move the door to Commander Root's room swung open and two important looking doctors emerged pushing a trolley with a body covered by a sheet on it.
"Oh my Frond!" Yelped Trouble.
"Oh, my Julius!" Holly cried.
"You told me he was in critical but stable condition!" Foaly complained violently. The doctor looked at Foaly as if he was a particularly annoying bug on the floor.
"And he is," he replied crossly. "So critical in fact, that he needs to have facial reconstruction surgery to stop the lose of blood. That's why our patient here has a sheet over his face –we don't want him to scare everyone now do we?" the doctor sniffed snootily and then they pushed the trolley away down the corridor and out of sight.
Holly covered her face with her hands and Trouble put a comforting arm round her shoulders which she shrugged off.
"I'm ok. I'll be fine," she told him.
"Yeah," Foaly tried to make a joke. "Don't cover your face Holly, at least you've still got one!"
It wasn't funny. Holly turned her back on him and began to pick the nail polish off her nails worriedly; Trouble winced with every speck that fell to the shiny floor as he remembered how he had painstakingly applied it only an hour before. They walked arm in arm back to the waiting room where Foaly bought them some rather unpleasant tea from the vending machine, Holly didn't drink it, she hated tea and would much rather have had a nettle smoothie, so she swirled it around the polystyrene cup as the hours ticked by slowly. A goblin behind them was having a very interesting conversation on his phone.
"Yes, that's what I heard too. It was completely blown up, haha! I'd have liked to see those police faces when they brought the dead bodies out." The goblin cackled victoriously.
It was much later when Holly finally plucked up the courage to ask at the reception desk if the Commander had come out of theatre yet.
"I…I was just wondering, if-"
"If your boyfriend has come out of theatre yet?" smiled the receptionist knowingly.
"What! No!"
"Well what do you want then?" she replied.
"No! I mean, yes! He's not my boyfriend, but has he come out of theatre yet?" Holly explained.
The receptionist nodded and suddenly Holly understood. It seemed that Foaly had managed to tell the whole waiting room about Holly's problems when he had been waiting for her to arrive. As the receptionist pointed up the stairs Holly followed her gesture with blushing cheeks. She looked back at Trouble and Foaly who were dozing sleepily and set her mind to the fact that her final farewell to the commander was something she was going to have to do all by herself. Holly climbed the stairs like she was walking to her fate; she was going to be so embarrassed if he was awake when she told him what she was going to, and if he wasn't and his face was all mangled and burnt she couldn't run away and not confront him, otherwise she'd regret it for the rest of her life. Holly swallowed, and entered the room.
It was dark inside, all of the blinds were drawn and the lights were dimmed. The machines all around the bed on which Julius was lying stiffly made menacing beeping sounds though Holly knew that they were only helping the commander. Maybe it was a good thing that she couldn't see Root's face; because if his face had been disfigured by the blast at Police Plaza Holly wasn't sure if she would forgive herself, and for another thing not seeing his eyes made her more confident and she started on what she was going to say.
"It's Holly here Commander, I'm not sure if you can hear me. I don't know what your condition is –Foaly didn't tell me. I don't know if that was because he didn't know or because he didn't want to upset me- but I have to tell you something." Holly paused, Julius hadn't moved. She pulled up a chair and sat down. "I'm so grateful for what you did for me back there in the Plaza Commander. Thank you so much," her voice trembled a little as she remembered watching Police Plaza burn to the ground with Root still inside. "You didn't need to do that for me, after all, I'm just a lowly captain who doesn't always get it right or obey the rules. If you died Julius, it would be so awful; please hang in there -everyone at Police Plaza needs you, we can't manage without you you know- I know I sound ungrateful and maybe I am after all they've done for me, but Trouble and Foaly's friendship is nothing compared to how I value yours." She struggled, trying to form the right words but not managing. Tears poured down her cheeks and they fell harder when Root lay lifelessly on the bed, not getting up and ordering Holly to pull herself together like she wanted him to. "Ohhh," Holly wailed. Tears dripped everywhere, on the floor, on her dress and even on the bed. She couldn't say it. She'd got this far and yet she couldn't bring herself to voice five small words that seemed so easy in her head but were devilishly hard to say out loud. Never before had her mood been so black and the world around her seemed very grey.
The giant tears continued falling as if they would never stop, Holly knew she had no other choice. Foaly and Trouble had been so considerate and kind taking her here, and if she didn't admit her true feelings then she wouldn't just have let herself down, but she'd have let them down too. Those feelings tore her insides apart every aching moment and if embarrassing herself forever was the consequence of stopping her pain then so be it.
"Julius," Holly stopped. "I think I love you." And that was it. No fanfare of trumpets, embaressment, or even a reply. Commander Root still lay on the bed not moving a muscle. "Sleep tight sir. I'll never forget you."
When morning came Trouble found Holly asleep, clinging to Julius' body like a limpet. He gently led her away, she came obediently as if she didn't want to fight anymore –but Trouble knew that she would be ok- Her face was strangely at peace just as Commander Root now was. As they walked away from hospital Foaly hoped that Julius was watching over them (although it was kind of an invasion of privacy), and if he wasn't, there was one place he would always be, and that was in Holly's heart.