Avery's Note: It's fairly obvious that I've take several liberties with this creation of mine. Hopefully, they won't get too out of hand, but I can't guarantee anything. If you have any suggestions, they would be most appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Summary: Butler is an enigma. Butler's past is even more secretive than the man himself. When a young woman shows up claiming to be his illegitimate daughter, his world is turned upside down and inside out. Must he now choose between having the family he always wanted or his young master, Artemis?

The story thus so far: Butler finally tells Artemis about his past. He agrees to act as her father for one week. Avery must now outsmart Artemis to claim the family member she always wanted.

Just Tell Me You Love Me

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Chapter 3: Done and Over in One Week

"Father?" sputtered Artemis, choking on his saliva. He turned his head away from the table and coughed roughly a few times to clear his throat. "You're a father?"

Butler nodded slowly, as if he was ashamed of the fact. "Not only is evidence unquestionable, but I believe it sincerely as well."

"Did you even know about Avery?"

"The thought may have crossed my mind once or twice over the course of the years. However, I never truly knew I had a daughter, let alone it be Avery Lefleur."

Artemis' thoughts trailed off as he connected the pieces of Butler's past together along with the pieces of Butler's present. He nibbled absentmindedly on his thumb. The entire picture of the situation was clearing, but there still was something obscure about it all.

"How old are you?" Artemis asked Avery.

"Seventeen."

"But if you were conceived on the night Butler and your mother split…"

Butler cleared his throat. Artemis looked at his manservant, not sure of what crucial segment he was missing. Avery kept her face expressionless, internally enjoying the out of character responses of Artemis Fowl. If the meeting continued along the hypothetical path she expected, than it wouldn't be much longer until she got what she wanted.

"Avery wasn't born until almost short of twenty years later."

Artemis looked incredulously at his manservant. "What do you mean by that?"

"Artemis, you are not the first child of the Fowls. You're mother's first child was a daughter she had miscarried. Not wanting to abandon your father at a time he needed me most, I officially took my position. The following sixteen years I spent working with him.

"During those years, I searched for Delilah whenever I had the chance. It was near impossible for she had been banished from the family and had taken up another name. And then, at the end of a decade's inquiry of her whereabouts, I finally found her.

"I begged your father to let me meet up with her. Thankfully, Artemis I is a great man and granted me leave for one year." A small smile crept to Butler's lips as he recalled the excitement of reuniting with Delilah. "For twelve full months, I was just a man in love."

There was a silence for everyone was engaged in their private thoughts. Butler took another solid look at Avery. The young woman was very similar to her mother in appearance and demeanor. If they had encountered each other to a short moment randomly on the street, Butler would have easily mistaken Avery for Delilah. Artemis pondered the mysterious Butler, a man he had felt, up until recently, he knew very well. He also was eager to establish further relations with Avery. He liked her. Avery was gloating over how successful her operation was.

"Are you going to come back with me, Father?" Avery asked, breaking the reverie.

Butler shook his head. "No."

It was as if a whip cracked the silence and reverberated off the large glass windows of the café. The simple negative word was like a backhanded slap in the face to Avery. All color faded from her cheeks, giving her a deathly pale hue. Her eyes cast themselves downwards and one could see the evident grief in her face.

With a practiced fluid motion, Avery snapped a hand carved, ivory fan open. Butler noticed that Avery had learned the art behind using a fan to display emotion. He also noticed it was the same one that had once belonged to Delilah. Despite years of use, the tool was still in the pristine condition as the day Butler picked it up.

Avery covered her entire face from the bridge of the nose down with her mother's fan. Only her black opal eyes were visible. "Why not, Father? I have spent these past years restoring the Lefleur family. I can give you anything you desire. You will never have to work beneath another man, Father."

Artemis was not too sure about the reasoning behind Avery's statement concerning the Lefleurs. They had always been a family of prominent international criminals. And as far as he was aware, it was currently headed by a woman referred to as "Janelle."

"I will research it further, when I get home," Artemis told himself silently. "It is becoming quite an unusual and interesting case. I don't think I've enjoyed myself this much since my last adventure with Holly." With that section of thought organized away, Artemis returned his attention to the father and daughter.

"My allegiance lies only with the Fowls."

"But not with your family, Father?" Avery asked.

Butler frowned at the girl hiding behind the fan. "Avery, you are my daughter biologically. But you a no more a real daughter to me than the maître d of this restaurant is my brother."

"Do you really feel that way?" whispered Avery. Her heart sank through her feet as she struggled to fight off tears. She had always longed for her father, to have a picturesque family like those of the cinema. Avery's once brilliant dream was being shattered to infinite pieces.

Butler nodded his head.

Avery tried her best to refrain from yelling at her father. She tried her best to understand his perspective of the situation. She also tried her best to keep her voice even and refrain from crying.

"Mother killed herself, Butler." Avery couldn't gather the courage to lower then fan and look Butler in the face. "She cried while pressing the muzzle of you SIG Sauer to her temple." With her free hand, Avery reached beneath the folds of her dress and pulled a gun from its holster on her thigh. She placed it on the table.

Butler picked it up and turned the weapon in his hands. For several years he believed that he had lost it and mentally beat himself up for such a careless move. It happened that she had asked for it and he had been more than willing to leave it behind. Butler had forgotten the event for he was in such a rush to meet the demands of his employer.

"I was only five, Butler. She said that her life had run its course. She told me I was old enough to take care of myself and take charge of the Lefleur name. You should have seen the expression written about her face." Avery paused. She could no longer hold back the stream of tears.

"She didn't have anything left to live for. Unlike the first time, she knew you weren't coming back."

Butler lifted the gun and placed the muzzle against his temple. His finger was in the trigger, waiting for the neurological signal to pull back. Butler closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt all the emotions Delilah would have felt before killing herself. He experienced all the sadness, all the pain, all the turmoil, and all the hopelessness.

"One week," Butler stated, his attention still focused on the vortex of emotions swimming in his mind. "I will be your father for one week."

Avery nodded from behind her fan.

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To be continued…