AN- Well, this is the last chapter sob, sorry its taken a while for me to update; we're 'Back to School' so I've been doing homework...already!
It was, as usual, gridlocked outside Police Plaza, so they decided to forgo the bus and to walk to Trouble's flat instead; it was about a 20 minute walk, although they would probably make it in 15.
"What time did you say your Mother is coming over?" Holly asked, subconsciously pulling on the hem of her skirt.
"Well, Grub didn't specifically say, but she usually comes over at about 5," he sighed, and put his arm around her, as Holly had begun to shiver a little.
"Sorry," she apologized, "I guess I forgot how freaking cold Foaly can make it when he wants to!"
They spent the next 10 minutes or so talking about the Foo Fighters concert, who would be the supporting acts and which songs were their favourites; Holly's was 'My Hero'; Trouble's was 'Monkey Wrench'. They were both equally excited about it, especially as Grub had been threatening to take them to a Westlife concert. Eventually, they reached the building where Trouble's apartment was, and, to his enormous relief, there was no sign of his mother's car anywhere.
It was a few of flights of stairs to his floor, and the lifts were broken again.
"I'll race you," challenged Holly, and they both sprinted up the stairs until they reached the 4th level. Trouble won, although Holly said that it was only because he was wearing trousers. They were still a little out of breath as he unlocked the door.
"Trouble!" exclaimed a voice from inside, which appeared to be...
"D'Arvit," he swore under his breath, then proceeded to greet his mother, who hugged him so tightly he found himself, again, short of breath.
"You're panting, Trouble. I do hope you and—" she paused, waiting to be introduced.
"Holly. This is Holly Short, Holly, this is my Mum." They shook hands stiffly, both feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Anyway, I hope that you and Holly weren't getting up to anything...unsavoury on your way here, were you?" finished Mrs Kelp.
Holly blushed, as did Trouble, who decided to explain, "No! The lifts were broken, so we ran up the stairs."
She eyed Holly's skirt suspiciously, causing Holly to blush again; she could probably convince even the late Commander Root that they were related.
"Trouble won," Holly added. "It turns out that running up 4 flights of stairs isn't the best thing to do wearing a skirt." She laughed nervously, and was relieved to find the other two joined her.
Trouble led the two elves through to the living room, where he sat in the armchair, leaving Holly to sit down awkwardly next to his mother. The next half an hour passed with genial conversation, Mrs Kelp having made three cups of tea for them when she arrived: this prompted her to explain about Grub giving her a spare key the week before. She complemented Holly on her appearance, and asked far too many questions, in Trouble's opinion at least, about her time in Hybras, and just
exactly how close she was to Artemis Fowl, or 'That Mud Boy' as Mrs Kelp called him. Holly answered the questions as well as she could, although she didn't really know the specifics herself. Trouble was trying to think of the most subtle way to change the subject-his Mother had begun questioning Holly about past boyfriends and love interests- when the front door clicked open.
"I'm home!" shouted Grub, and Mrs Kelp shot up from where she had been sat to smother her younger son with kisses.
"Sorry about all that," muttered Trouble to Holly.
"Don't worry about it, I've faced trolls before!" she laughed, clearing the room of the tension that had filled it moments before.
Grub entered the room, followed closely by his Mother, and Trouble looked at the clock to see how long Grub had stayed after work when he realised that it was almost 7pm.
"I'd better start cooking dinner," announced Trouble, and Holly, not eager to spend any more time being interrogated in the company of Grub Kelp and his mother, said: "I'll help you as well" and sped out of the room behind him.
Dinner was ready within 20 minutes; Trouble had initially planned to have a couple of candles on the table, but thought that it might give his Mother more ideas. Instead, he slid a Simon and Garfunkel CD in to his CD player, and served the meal to 'The Sound of Silence'. Even with the distraction of food, Mrs Kelp asked more questions than anyone had probably ever been asked, although after a couple of looks from her son, they subsided into casual chatter about life at the LEP, where Grub began a monologue of complaints sprinkled with comments about Lili Frond; Mrs Kelp couldn't have been more ecstatic about this if she tried, it was clear to Holly that in Lydia Kelp's eyes Lili Frond was a far more suitable girlfriend for a Kelp than she was. Ten minutes later, once everyone had finished, Trouble excused himself from the table, instructing the others to stay sat down, prompting Grub to ask Holly about her opinions on the Backstreet Boys, who she had never heard of, which in turn prompted him to launch into an explanation of their greatest hits and albums; he was about to put one of the aforementioned albums on when his elder brother appeared in the doorway.
He was holding what appeared to be a chocolate cake covered in frosting and several candles, and nodded to his mother, who began to sing: "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Holly...," she paused as Trouble set the cake on the table, by this time Grub had joined the singing, "Happy Birthday to you!".
"Trubs made the cake, Holly," Trouble said, as if he had believed such a thing was not possible. His brother blushed, as did Holly.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed, "but why did you go to all this trouble, for me?"
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, so that only she could hear, "because I love you, Holly."
"Well," said Mrs Kelp, "are you going to blow out your candles or is Grub going to do it for you?" There was laughter in her voice, and Holly closed her eyes, took in a breath, and wished.