I guess that this is as good a time as any to answer a few questions.

ONE: I have no idea where in the Artemis Fowl series this fanfic takes place, and if that confuses people, I am dreadfully sorry. I just began writing, not really thinking about when the events are occuring. Let's just put the timeline at ka-poot and be satisfied.

TWO: Angeline call her husband Timmy at some point in the series; I'm too lazy to look up exactly where. It was a way to differentiate between her son and her husband (calling senior Timmy and junior Arty). Or maybe that was just an insane dream I had...

THREE: Whoever said that fantasy fiction had to be realistic? Seems like an oxymoronic statement to me...

HAVEN

The next day, Holly Short reported for duty a tad earlier that usual, and her coworkers noticed a bit of a bounce in her step.

'Is she on some sort of medication?' or 'did she finally get a boyfriend?' were some of the questions that arose from the captain's strange behavior. Corporal Lilly Frond was particularly worried about the second option; all the men were supposed to fall at her feet, not at the boot-shod feet of the boyish captain.

Fortunately for Frond, neither assumption was the case. Trouble Kelp knew the real answer. Trouble watched Holly closely as the short-haired captain made her way to her cubicle. Holly's lips were puckered like she was trying to whistle, and when she sat at her desk, she swiveled once in her chair before making a complete stop. It was then that Holly noticed Trouble looking at her.

"Hey Trouble," she greeted. "I see you're out of the hospital."

"Yep. Released this morning."

"You should take it easy. You should've gone home," Holly suggested, swaying back and forth in her seat.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

Holly smiled. "Well, can you guess why I'm so happy this morning?"

Trouble didn't smile in return. His face was hard and not amused. "I have a good guess."

"Guess then," Holly replied, smiling all the while.

"I'm guessing that you managed to patch through to the Mud Boy," Trouble said.

"Yes! Turns out it was nothing but a depleted battery! What a relief," she added, wiping her forehead off in mock relief. "I thought it was something worse."

Trouble debated with himself whether to say what he wanted to say, then decided that he might as well go for it. "I don't see how you can be his friend, Holly. Especially after what he did to you."

Holly was caught off guard. "What?"

"Look, Holly…I was on the Retrieval squad when we invaded Fowl Manor. My team and I came out of there with all of our equipment stolen and our pride bruised. That Fowl character you're crazy about," Trouble continued, "He's not stable. He's just a teenage kid who doesn't quite have a grasp on reality. And his bodyguard…Butler," Trouble shuddered. "He's a mountain of a Mud Man who doesn't care about anybody. He only protects that Fowl kid because he gets paid for it. The Fowls are, after all, millionaires. They have the resources."

Holly was flabbergasted for a moment. Then she shook herself alert and looked her friend in the eye. "You've kept that in for a long time, haven't you?"

Trouble leaned on the edge of the cubicle and crossed his arms tightly against his chest. "Since that last time you visited me."

"That long, huh?'

Trouble nodded.

"If you must know one thing, Trouble," Holly began. "It's that Butler is not the person you think he is. He is very kind, very caring---"

Trouble scoffed. "Yeah, especially after he walloped my team. He was a kind, caring soul then, wasn't he?"

Holly gave Trouble a scolding look. "Don't interrupt. Like I was saying, Butler would do anything for Artemis. And not just because he gets paid for it. He took a bullet for that boy, for heaven's sake! Now if that doesn't show dedication, I don't know what does. You've been misled, Trubs. People can change. Artemis and Butler are not the same people who kidnapped me and held me hostage two years ago. They are very different, and if you can't see that, maybe you should try talking to them. I've got them on my speed dial," she added. "I suggest you learn more about them before making ludicrous judgments of character."

It was Trouble's turn to be flabbergasted.

"I think I'll pass," he finally replied.

Holly grinned grimly. "Good."

The two friends were silent for a long while, then Holly lashed out. "You know what, Trouble? You ruined what would have been a very good day."

Trouble smiled, recalling the bounce in Holly's step as she came in. "For that, I am deeply sorry," he answered truthfully.

Two and a half hours later, Holly found herself in the briefing room with Commander Root and Foaly. She was handed a portfolio and a photograph of a female elf. She set the portfolio aside, knowing that everything of importance in the file would be summarized during the briefing by Foaly.

"Who's this?" she asked, pointing at the picture.

"Her name is Mae Oaks," Foaly began. "An elf from Haven that went missing a few weeks ago. We suspect that she may be in eastern Namibia, Africa," he explained. "We found a few of her journals. She was observing the cheetah population."

"Zoologist?" Holly guessed.

Foaly nodded. "One of the only ways a fairy can get a visa to anywhere but Tara is by being a scientist. She works for the university."

"I think that's enough background knowledge for now," Root interjected. "Your job, Captain Short, is to locate Dr. Oaks. She might have simply wandered out of LEP sensor range."

"Yeah," Foaly added. "We have to send a group of techies to repair the sensors in southern Africa every other year. The wild animals keep messing with them. I wouldn't be surprised if she simply followed her cats a little too far."

"That's one possibility," Root said. "But it also may be that she was kidnapped or killed. We don't want to risk waiting for her to come back into LEP parameters. When you find her, she might need help. Fuel up before you leave."

Holly nodded. "Anything else?"

Foaly tossed her a plastic tube.

"What's this?" Holly asked when she'd caught it.

"Sunscreen," Root explained. "It's awfully sunny in Namibia. Don't want you to get burned."

"A sunburn would clash horribly with your hair," Foaly added. "No need to look ugly when you don't have to."