Next Chapter! All the credit for this fic goes to Artysprincess12 of the Artemis Fowl Confidential forums!

xxXX..Chapter Two..XXxx Telescoping Pasts

Outside Purdue Manor

Butler grabbed Artemis's stuit case, and threw it over his shoulder to bring into the house. Aeriel took it from him though. "I'll take this one, you get your own."

Butler grunted. Aeriel looked doubtful for a moment. "You are going to be staying here for a month. You brought two suitcases? Is that…enough?"

"Artemis expects we will be working a lot. He has a bag of computer equipment and such with him now. He said just one for him and one for me would be enough."

"Looks like I'm going to be washing a lot of laundry," Aeriel said, laughing a little. Butler winked at her. "I'll help." No sooner had the words left his mouth than he regretted them. Aeriel raised her eyebrows slightly and let her head twitch gently to the side. She thought he was flirting with him, and he knew it.

She cleared her throat, and took the suitcase into the house. Inside his head, Butler kicked himself, and then followed her with his suitcase and carry-on.

The kitchen

Leah was talking Artemis's ears off in the kitchen. "You are simply going to adore Ari's cooking." She pronounced "Ari" like "airy" instead of "are-ee". So, Miss Bidikov allowed Leah to call her by a nickname. Funnt, because Butler wouldn't even let Artemis call him by his first name. Well, some bodyguards were trained differently than Butler was, although Artemis wan't doubting Aeriel's skills. She had a gun strapped to her at all times, so she apparently had some sense.

"She's making barbeque shrimp tonight. Don't worry, though, it's not really "barbeque". It's just shrimp with some kind of sauce and baked. It's delicious. You'll love it." She stopped, realizing Artemis was staring into space and not even listening to her. She tempted him. "I'll try to get her to make a chocolate trifle for dessert. It's got almonds!"

"Butler's allergic," Artemis lied. He didn't know why. Habit, he supposed. A bad habit. "Awww, too bad. She can make it without almonds, though, so don't worry. He can enjoy it, too." "Can I ask you some questions?" Artemis asked suddenly. For once, Leah stopped talking. She looked doubtful. "Sure," she murmured. "Go ahead." "When did Miss Bidikov start gaurding you?"

Leah laughed. "For as long as I can remember. I belive my mother even said something about Ari being my mother's midwife, so I guess… forever. She's been guarding me forever."

"And, where did she get her training?" "What, do be a midwife?" Artemis pursed his lips. "No, bodyguard training."

"Oh! That. I don't know really. I think it's a family buisness. All I know is she spends hours in her little "practice house", she calls it, out in the woods. It's just a little cottage out there, and she goes and… practices, I suppose."

Silence. Awkward silence. Leah picked at her white blond hair, plaiting it into a little braid framing her face. At least she doesn't suck on her hair like that girl Mother kept trying to… His thoughts trailed off, not wanting to think about the several times his mother had played matchmaker with the local millionairesses.

He wanted to ask her more questions, preferabbly why it was her fault she wore glasses. But, he stood and said "I think Butler is back with the bags. I should probably go and unpack." "Do you even know where they are?"

"Yes," he lied again. This would give him a chance to… explore a little. Leah nodded, and opened the fridge. Artemis turned to leave, but Leah stopped him. "Do you want a pop or something?"

"A pop? Oh, a soda. Eh, no thank you." He said. Leah shrugged, and opened a Cherry Coke.

Aeriel was showing Butler around the manor. It made him kind of homesick, but when she showed him her room, he instantly felt better. Because, it was almost exactly like his. Table off to the side covered in various security equipment and firearms, in different stages of repair and cleaning. Computer on a desk, across from the foot of the bed, with no screen saver. A small (well, his bed was bit bigger.) twin bed, covered with a blue, heavy blanket. No so much decoration on the walls, but the wall beside the computer was covered in blueprints, and a picture in crayon of a little girl with yellow hair holding what seemed to be a very big telescope.

"That's Leah's," said Aeriel, studying the picture. "She drew it for me Christmas 1994, when she was three. She wanted a telescope so badly, I can remember." She pulled down a blueprint from the wall. "I built her one, using these blueprints. She loved it more than the puppy her parents got for her that year."

There were two bedside tables on either side of the bed. One had a lamp and an alarm clock; the other had a stack of helicopter manuals, and, to Butler's surprise, a huge hardback copy of Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Aeriel didn't seem like the kind of person to be reading that kind of book. There was a book case to the right of the computer desk, and Butler saw that, besides more manuals and boring things like that, there were a lot of sci-fi books.

"You're a science fiction fan?" asked Butler, picking up a copy of a Piers Anthony book. "Yeah," answered Aeriel, sitting in the swivel chair. "It's funny to think that some of the ideas in those books Leah has already thought up."

"Leah must be a very smart girl, like Artemis." "Oh, yeah," bragged Aeriel. "She's been working on this current project since she was six." "What is it?"

Aeriel smiled. "Oh, I can't tell you yet. But, I guess I should mention we've had some… accidents…testing it. " She rolled up the one of the legs on her jeans to reveal a sprawling scar. "Like this."

Butler winced. He could show her what had happened with the C-Cube, but he would have to take off his shirt, and then…

"You're blushing," stated Aeriel. She quickly rolled down her pants leg, thinking that was the reason. "I'm not," Butler said. Aeriel laughed again. "Yes, you are. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-…" "Oh, no it's not that I just… I…"

A very awkward silence. Aeriel broke the silence. "I should probably show you to your room. And, Artemis to his. You should unpack before dinner. I hope you like sea food."

He didn't mention he wasn't too fond of sea food since the whole En Fin incident.

Much better. I think.-