Yay! A few of you got it! The names Victor, Victoria and Emily are from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Which is a really good movie.

I spent all weekend studying for a quiz (and then I totally blanked out and failed it… but that's not the point), so I couldn't update. But I am now.

I had an inspiration rush and planned out a lot. This chapter was fuuun.

Summary: Right after Holly gets a job in the LEP, she cuts her hair. Each auburn lock falling through the floor makes her think about choices, and especially their consequences. What will happen after?

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl. Eoin Colfer does.

Haircut

Chapter Twelve

Commander Root sat down and rubbed his temples with his knuckles. A love affair? People could be so stupid sometimes.

"Alright, go call his wife. See if she's noticed anything unusual. If she has, we can set this theory in stone and start preparing for tomorrow's trip."

"Yessir." Holly swiftly left the room, eager to get out of there. She pushed her way through the crowds of people chatting and loitering, until she heard someone call her name.

"Holly!"

Trouble ran up to her, dodging people and trying to catch her attention. "Holly, hold up!"

She waited patiently, trying not to get run over by the (rather smelly) Recon officers.

"Have you been to the lounge yet?" He started leading her towards the place in question; as it was the nearest empty place they could talk in.

"No, I haven't. Why?"

He grinned, and Holly noticed he was about three inches taller then her. "The crunchball team members are posted."

She jumped. "Really? Well? What happened? Who made it?" The questions jumped out of her before she could even think.

"D'you really think I'd be this happy if you didn't made it?"

Resisting the urge to squeal, Holly tried calming down. "And? What position?"

"Second dunker."

Calming down didn't work—she started to hyperventilate. "But that's one of the best positions on the team!"

"Yup. Second only to first dunker—who's that big guy. Y'know, the one that's… big?"

The big guy who's big, Holly thought wryly, Trouble's got his own way of putting things. It sounded like the Hulk, as she had dubbed him at the tryouts.

Lost in thoughts, Holly almost walked into the lounge as Trouble opened the door for her, until she realized that he had stopped short.

She followed his eyes, and froze also.

The only people in the lounge were Lili Frond and Vein, arms wrapped around each other so tightly you could barely tell who was who. They didn't even acknowledge Holly and Trouble's presences.

But what startled Holly most was the uniform Lili was wearing. It was the standard Traffic uniform. As if that didn't surprise her enough, the uniform wasn't even that standard.

It was dyed pink.

So Lili had joined the LEP. She's taken her feminist standards to an all new level, thought Holly. She doesn't possibly think she could get anywhere acting like such a… bimbo, does she?

And along with this feeling of shock was a slight hurt of betrayal. She couldn't help but feel rather upset that Lili would go this far—and become her competition, even though Holly knew she had directly brought this on herself.

Trouble reacted first, and quickly slammed the door shut. They stood there like that for a few moments, Trouble faintly blushing and Holly lost in thought, when he spoke up.

"I don't have anything to do today, what do you have?"

This snapped her out of the clouds. "I have to make a house call to the wife of the guy I'm replacing."

"Oh. Mind if I tag along? You can use the phone in my office."

"Sure, that'll work."

They walked in silence once more, this time to Trouble's office.

"Looked like he was eating her face, didn't it?" she commented matter-of-factly.

He snorted, and then started laughing. "I guess it did."

And like that, the ice was broken.

"What's your real name?" she asked suddenly. "Trouble can't have been it forever."

He fidgeted. "I don't really like it."

"What could it be, Larva?" Holly chuckled slightly, thinking of Trouble's younger brother, Grub.

"No, that's my mother's name."

"Larva? Really?"

"Yeah."

Silence, for a few seconds.

"Are you serious?"

"Nope." Holly made a 'phew' motion, and Trouble laughed again.

He graciously held the door open for her, and she curiously looked around his relatively new office.

Everything was… neat. That was the only way to put it. Things were organized, stacked up in little piles in noticeable places, you name it. Holly knew that if this was her room, she wouldn't be able to find anything.

"It's… trim." Was all she had to say.

"Isn't it?" He looked proud of himself for keeping it this orderly. It was certainly more then any other Recon officer was able to do.

She nodded and picked up the phone, dialing in the phone number. Trouble sat down in his swivel chair and watched her curiously.

A pretty-voiced woman answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Er, hi, this is Holly Short, an associate of your husband, Victor Shrub. This is Emily Shrub, right?" Trouble quietly pressed the speaker phone button so he could listen in.

"Yes, this is she. You wanted to speak to me about Victor?"

"Yeah, um, have you noticed anything strange before he disappeared?"

"Actually," she seemed a little hesitant, "I have. He seemed to be going out drinking more with Mr. Calendula. Sometimes he'd stay out all night."

Holly wasn't sure how to put this. "Are you sure it was Mr. Calendula he was out with?"

Her voice suddenly went cold. "What are you implying?"

Taken aback, Holly searched for words to say. "Er, nothing, I meant nothing." Trouble started mouthing words at her and she obediently followed his directions.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen Mrs. Calendula out lately, have you?" They had to make sure that Victoria was actually missing.

"The Calendulas are more of Victor's friends, not mine. Now if you excuse me, I have things to do." She hung up.

Shocked and insulted, Holly sighed briefly before digging out the Calendula number. Trouble watched her silently, seeming to be arguing with himself in his head. What about, Holly couldn't guess.

The phone rang a few times, and Holly watched him warily, wondering what he was thinking about. So she was a little lost in thought when the current resident answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Um, er, well, is this Marcus Calendula?"

"Yes, it is."

"Uh, this is an associate of your friend, Victor Calendula, and for confidential reasons we'd like to know… is your wife there?"

"Victoria? No. She's on a vacation, I think. Something around that."

"All right, that's all I needed to know. Thanks."

Hanging up the phone, she turned to look at Trouble. "Well, I guess I'd better go report to Root then."

He gave a small smile. "Yeah, he hates it when you're late."

Feeling rather awkward, they exchanged their goodbyes and Holly walked out the door.

"Holly, wait!" He called her back.

She turned around and looked at him questioningly.

"My name… it's Phillip."

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE

Whoo, that was fun. Yay, it's written! Hope you all like! Before you all kill me about the name, I thought it was appropriate for him. I don't know why. Well, elf names are supposed to be rather natury, right? Phillip means "lover of horses", so that's… natury, I guess.