Merry freakin' Christmas, people. And to the person, not mentioning names, who asked if she's pregnant, if you weren't being sarcastic, would you reread chapter....two, I think. That might help your confusion. :) Please, for my Christmas, will you review for me? Please? I know Rowan isn't a good character and I've screwed Artemis up royally, but something must have attracted you to read this! :)

From: Normal (as if)

To: You!!!

Chapter Five

Artemis was surprised how bad he felt as the ambulance pulled out of the driveway. But he didn't think that he felt as bad as Butler did. His body guard was pale, his face pinched.

"She was going to kill me, Butler," Artemis reasoned.

"She warned me not to hit her in the stomach," he replied, sounding regretful. "Should've listened, I guess. What do you think-" he stopped himself, realizing the answer before he finished the question.

Butler had called the ambulance shortly after Miss Smoke promptly passed out after seeing all the blood she had suddenly losing.

Artemis simply stared down the drive a moment, and then turned away. "Prepare a car, Butler; we should follow."

"Of course, Artemis."

At the hospital, Rowan awoke to a sense of loss and pain. Then she remembered her blown cover and the fight afterward. A shaking hand went to her stomach.

"Oh, you're up," a voice came from a corner.

She looked toward it and groaned to see Fowl standing there. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you plan on suing me for the loss of your child?"

She looked at him wearily through one eye. The other one was swollen shut. "What lie did you tell the emergency room?"

"You fell down the stairs."

She laughed. "Classic abuse story, isn't it? And no, I won't sue you. I wasn't going through the pregnancy anyway."

Artemis' smile was cold when he said, "Good, saved you the trouble of an uncomfortable operation then. You're hospital bills are paid for, by the way."

She raised the one eye brow that wasn't swollen. "Any reason why?"

"I wasn't planning on landing you in the hospital, Miss Smoke. I'm not that sadistic. Why were you sent to kill me?" he asked abruptly.

She laughed again. "Dude, I'm hired muscle, they tell me where to point and shoot, and that's about it. I have no clue why they want you dead, they're just paying me a lot of money to make sure you are."

Artemis nodded again, this time absent mindedly. "How much?"

She smiled this time. "An impressive four million. And that's just my cut. Someone really hates you, Fowl."

"Obviously. If I paid you four million, would you allow me to drop off the face of the planet without dying?"

"No."

"How much, then?"

Her grin turned malicious, "Eight."

Artemis whistled lowly. "That's a little out of my price range."

"They'll just send someone else, probably to kill both of us," she stated, and her eyes went to the window.

"I'm sorry," he said abruptly.

She whipped her head around and looked at him confused. "Excuse me?"

"The baby. I'm sorry. I know you said you wanted to get rid of it, but it must be hard to lose a piece of you and your husband-"

"He wasn't my husband," she snapped, anger suddenly flaring in her eyes.

He nodded. "You are a little young."

She scoffed. "Thanks."

"Still, I'm sorry. I didn't even take it into a factor-"

"You had no reason to. And you're right, the constant apologies are annoying. Be quiet," she said. She wanted it to come out harsh, but it sounded like she was pleading, much to her displeasure.

Artemis smiled, leaned back, and crossed his legs. "It seems you and I are a lot alike."

"Hardly. Where's your body guard?"

The man shrugged. "Don't know. He's feeling guilty, so he's probably securing the perimeter. He does that when he's upset."

"I used to too."

"I fuck."

Hearing that vulgar word from a mouth that spoke normally so elegant words had her eye brows almost shooting to her hair line. It was also so out of character from him, her mouth dropped.

He looked surprised at her surprise. "I'm sorry; I thought we were having an…intimate conversation."

"You weren't kidding were you?" she asked.

"No. I don't kid."

She nodded and looked away from him again. He watched her profile and it struck him again how beautiful she was. He had meant what he said and he wasn't going to sugar coat what he did. With the amount of money he had and the fact that he worked out three times a week guaranteed that he always had a woman to satisfy him whenever he wanted. And there was no kind euphemism for his bed play, no making love or anything like that. It was just fucking.

He wondered if it disgusted her that he had told her. Despite her initial reaction, she seemed unphased by it. Interesting.

"I'll leave you to rest then, Miss Smoke. The doctor said he will hold you overnight for observation, but says you should be fine and able to go home tomorrow morning. I'll have Butler pick you up and take you to the airport first thing."

"I have things I need to pick up," she objected as he reached the door.

"Taken care of, Miss Smoke."

"They're just going to send someone else. Someone who's not emotional and won't make the same mistakes I did," she called after him.

"Be more concerned about yourself, Miss Smoke. I will fare just fine," he called back. He was already down the hallway.

She leaned back against the pillows and realized that she hadn't heard from David. Her phone was sitting on the stand beside her and she saw she had four messages from his phone and one text. She reached for her phone and opened her inbox.

They pulled me off; you're on your own. D

She laughed. She knew what it meant when they pulled your partner off the case, she had been pulled one time. It meant that whoever was staying behind was not coming back, at least not breathing or in one piece. They retired her, as well they should. It was only a matter of time until a newly trained assassin caught up with her. And by then, she wouldn't care.