Finally this thing let me download the document, it was being mean to me yesterday -runs and cries- but hey, it worked! Anyways... Thanks so much to all of you that reviewed! You rock!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Artemis Fowl books or characters or anything else from those books... if I did, either the books wouldn't be that good, and/or a lot of things would've happened differently, and I wouldn't be needing to bring Root back to life for this. Actually, I wouldn't be able to write any of this at all, it would have already happened, or something... Bleh, all this thinking over a disclaimer is confusing me and making my head hurt...
A/N: Thoughts are in italics
"Captain!" A voice said from somewhere above Holly. She was slowly regaining consciousness, but she didn't want to open her eyes yet. Warm arms surrounded her. Such nice strong and comforting arms, too. "D'Arvit, pony! Why didn't you tell me that she was alive? You didn't have to be all mysterious!" the voice continued
"You know me, I like having fun" came a reply: Foaly
"Well your fun might mean calling in a medical warlock!" Holly groaned at the thought of spending the night being examined. Maybe she had made the wrong choice after all.
"No" Holly whispered weakly "I'll be fine"
"Hol- Captain! Are you all right?"
Holly covered her face with her hand; her brief meet with oblivion had given her a headache. She slowly opened her eyes.
"It's not captain anymore, C-Commander," she said. Holly looked disbelievingly up into Root's red face, and began to blush. "You're alive!"
"So are you! I should have never believed Koboi's lies" Root said, mostly to himself
"What lies?" Holly asked
But her question went unheard as Root registered what she had said
"What do you mean it's not captain anymore? Is it Major then?"
Holly shook her head
"That idiot didn't demote you did he?" Root began to swell with anger
"No, I quit before I could be fired"
"You... WHAT?"
"Sool held her under investigation for your 'murder', and threatened to examine every move she made" Foaly quickly explained
"And so I quit and started a PI with Mulch" Holly finished
Root's face became a darker shade of red
"With that CONVICT?"
"You have to admit, he has great connections"
Root snorted at that. Root and Holly realized at the same time that Root was holding her. Both turned an even darker shade of red. Root quickly put her down in the extra chair that he had recently vacated. Luckily, Foaly was too busy gloating about how his wonderful invention had found the commander to notice or comment on this.
"Holly! I bet you can't guess how I found Julius!" Foaly stopped as he saw the look Holly was giving him and caught her meaning, "Never mind, I'll just tell you. A phone call to the Fowl Manor was flagged with key words, so I sent Trouble up to investigate. And look who he found waiting for him! And my key-word phone tap was doubted!" Foaly scoffed. Holly looked back at Root.
"But... But how did you survive the explosion?" Holly asked quietly
Root explained to them about Koboi's fire-shield, the suit, and the acorn in the capsule. Foaly was about to give himself a medal after hearing how important his inventions had turned out to be. The centaur was almost dancing in happiness.
"Commander, now that you've seen how much I'm needed around here, I deserve a raise in budgets."
"You know pony-boy, if your 'wonderful' gadgets had been able to get Holly and I out of the chute before Koboi could start her plan, I wouldn't have needed those other inventions!" Root growled angrily
Foaly gave him a hurt look and looked like he was about to say something, but Root cut him off before he could start.
"Never mind pony, I don't feel like arguing right now. I just want to go home and rest." Root said irritated. He looked back at Holly, who had returned to her normal coloring "We should probably still take you to the infirmary, just to make sure that you're all right."
Holly crossed her arms defiantly "No. If anyone tries to force me, they'll end up needing the visit. I hate medics, they're overly cautious" even if anyone could get me there, I might hurt the medic
Foaly sighed, and Root rolled his eyes. Neither pushed the subject.
"Julius, there might be a problem with the going home part…" Foaly turned to Root, "Sool sold it along with most of your possessions"
"First, don't call me Julius civilian, not as long as you work for me. Second, he WHAT?" Root exploded
"He didn't get to your locker yet. The locks are too sophisticated, and I've been, conveniently, too busy to get to it." Foaly continued.
Root cursed Sool angrily. Holly completely agreed with that sentiment. That jerk, Root hadn't even been 'dead' for a week!
"What am I supposed to do then? Sleep here?" Root hissed, clenching his hands as if they itched to wring an invisible neck.
There was complete silence for a moment, when Holly remembered something.
"I… I have an extra guest room at my apartment. Y-You could stay with me until you find a place of your own." Holly could feel her face heating up again.
Root looked at Holly, trying to keep his face straight. He couldn't believe it. Holly had just offered for him to live at her apartment while he tried to get his place back. Hopefully, it will take a while to sort it all out part of him said. Root mentally slapped himself for thinking like that, she was his officer. She isn't anymore his mind whispered slyly. He forced himself to listen to what Foaly was saying.
"Killing two birds with one stone!" the centaur was saying, "Dear Julius gets a place to stay, and he can make sure that you'll be ok Holly! After the fainting spell and those n…"
"Yes Foaly, exactly." Holly cut him off, glaring and shifting in her seat
"Those what?" Root asked, whatever Foaly was about to say had made Holly very uncomfortable, not to mention angry.
"She's been having…" Foaly started
"Shut up Foaly, it's my business and my business only! If I want to tell someone about it, then I will tell, I've had enough of people sneaking around behind my back and gossiping!" Holly interrupted again with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"It's not gossip." Foaly said looking at Root
"Captain Short! I'm ordering you to tell me what Foaly is talking about." Root snapped
Holly looked from Foaly to Root and back again, giving both of them glares. Root just barely kept himself from shuddering, if looks could kill…
"I'm no longer in the LEP, so you can't order me around!" She yelled finally, "And Foaly, if you tell him, I'll…" she hissed
"You won't do anything, because he won't tell me. You will."
Holly stood up to argue more, but the sudden change of position left her dizzy. She stumbled and caught herself on a nearby table. Root quickly grabbed her arm and slung it over his shoulder to make sure she wouldn't fall.
"But it looks like I should get you home for now." Root said. He practically carried her out of the building in the direction of her apartment building. He had to drag her out of the room.
"D'Arvit! Let go of me! You rude…" Holly was yelling and trying to wrench her arm free as they passed the secretary. The poor guy was looking fearful and at a loss of what to do.
"Let me go Commander! I can walk for myself!" Holly snapped at Root as they reached her door. He resisted laughing; she had leaned on him like he was a crutch the whole way and still was, yet she was still insisting that she could make it on her own. Such determination. At least she had stopped fighting to get away.
"Oh, stop it Cap-Short. You fainted, and now I'm just making sure that you don't hurt yourself." He said to her, trying to keep his temper under control. Here's a chance to be nicer to her, don't mess it up by exploding.
Holly opened her mouth to retort, but Root cut her off. "If you want me to put you down, just open the door already."
She rolled her eyes, but complied. Root kicked the door closed and let go of Holly's arm and gently pushed her down onto the couch. "Is there anything I can get you?" Root asked
"I thought this was my house, and you were my guest." Holly grumbled, trying to get up. Root pushed her back down.
"Can I get you anything?" Root asked again
Holly sighed and folded her arms "A glass of water would be nice. The glasses are in the cabinet to the left of the sink."
Root chuckled to himself as he walked into the kitchen.
"So now that Sool is most likely to be kicked out, would you like to return to the LEP?" He shouted back at her. He walked back into the living room with the water to see Holly looking at the floor with an undecided look on her face.
"I don't think so," she began, "the PI business is successful enough that I'm making slightly more than I did when I was in Recon, and the hours are more flexible."
Root was split in two: come back! half of him wanted to shout at her. The LEP need you! Plus we'd see each other every day! But the other half was shouting, Stay with the PI, you're happy there, and then maybe we can see each other without having to worry about how inappropriate a relationship would be! Root mentally cursed the last three fourths of himself. This is Holly; she'd never feel that way about me.
She looked up at him, and he hoped that she wouldn't be able to see his internal conflict. "If the PI goes under, will I still have the option to come back?"
"Of course you can, Short. You're the best officer the LEP has seen."
"You can call me Holly, Commander. Even though we aren't coworkers anymore, we can still be friends. Right?"
"Yes, H-Holly, we can." Root replied, "And since we're friends… you might as well call me Julius"
-does happy dance- yay! My head stopped hurting! Now, there's a little blue button over there, do you see it? Could you click it for me? Please? Even if you hated it, it would make my boring day happy.