Huge thank you to everyone who reviewed - and a box of cookies for Nexlei, who guessed correctly. A few people thought it was Foaly - which would work, I suppose, but not the way I'm headed. Sorry!

I thought Arty and Holly might be a little OOC last chap, but so far no one said anything, so maybe I wrote it better than I thought. Oh, and Angeline and Artemis senior may be a little OOC in this chapter, but I can't get all of them spot on.

Anyway, this is based about a month after TTP (guess I should have said that earlier), and Arty has told his mother everything about his adventures with the fairies. Well, I say everything…

Disclaimer: I'm not male, Irish or in my thirties, so I don't own anything you see here, character-wise.

Btw, If anyone has a better idea for either story or chapter names, let me know?

Awkward Introductions

Artemis stopped dead, staring in disbelief at the figure in the doorway.

"M...mother." he stammered. Holly froze underneath him. Uh-oh. This was bad.

"Arty."

She breezed into the room, halting slightly when she saw who he was on the bed with.

At least they're both fully clothed.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Girlfriend? Was that what Holly was?

Holly waited for Artemis to move, then got impatient of him leaning over her and pushed him aside. The fall to the floor jerked him out of his reverie.

"Hi, Mrs Fowl. I'm…"

"Holly, yes? Artemis has told me all about you!"

Angeline hugged the fairy hard as she vaulted off the bed, and Holly shot Artemis a glare through the gap in his mothers arms. Told Angeline all about her, had he?

Artemis hauled himself up from the floor just in time to catch the tail end of Holly's gaze. He winced and looked away.

Angeline released Holly, and held her at arms length, looking her up and down. She smiled, and the effect was dazzling. Her whole face lit up.

"Arty was right. You are pretty."

Holly shot Artemis another look, but this was one of shock. He thought she was pretty? Artemis avoided eye contact with the elf, instead attempting to shoo his mother out of the room. He hoped his face wasn't as heated as it felt.

"Mother, you should really leave. Won't father get suspicious? We can't let him know about Holly, can we?"

Angeline ripped her gaze away from Holly, and nodded.

"You're right, as usual. I'll stall him for a few minutes, but then I want a chance to talk to your charming young friend."

She left, shutting the door behind her. Artemis risked a glance at Holly, who was trying to decide whether to shout at him or hug him. She compromised, sitting on the end of the bed and glaring at him.

"Explain, Artemis. Now."

Angeline almost skipped down the stairs, happy that she'd finally met Arty's new love interest. Well, ok, only love interest.

Holly looked almost exactly as he'd described her, only with longer hair. She thought of the way her son had looked when talking about the captain, and refrained from grinning. She'd known how he felt about the captain long before he himself had.

Artemis Fowl was kneeling on the floor, attempting to hold Beckett off him with one hand while holding Myles closer with the other.

"I wanna go kitchen! My jar of mould is in there!" moaned Myles.

"And then Juliet did this…" Beckett commented, attempting the wrestling hold on his father and making him overbalance. The three went down in a heap. Artemis looked at his wife beseechingly. She giggled and helped haul him and the twins to their feet.

"Myles, your jar is upstairs, I moved it before we left. Beckett, stop doing that, you'll break something."

Both twins stopped moving. Beckett released his hold on his father's leg, pouting.

"If you go into the kitchen, I'm sure Butler can find you something sweet to eat. Go on, boys, run along."

The three year olds took off into the kitchen in pursuit of chocolate, leaving Artemis Fowl feeling as though he'd been run over by a steamroller.

"Thank you, Angie."

She kissed his cheek, and pushed him gently in the direction of the kitchen.

"It's not over yet, Timmy. Go and grab those two and take them out into the garden, I'll grab some food and we can have a picnic by the pond."

"But what about the bags?"

"Butler can take care of them."

"Ok, Angie. I'll just go and fetch Arty…"

"No! I already went to check on him, and he's, err, asleep. You know him, works too much. I've tried to tell him to relax, have some fun…"

Artemis frowned at her. She was babbling.

"What's going on? What are you hiding?"

"Nothing, Timmy! But we shouldn't disturb Arty, lets leave him to it."

"It? What's going on, has he got a girl here?"

Angeline blushed, answering her husbands question unintentionally. He grinned.

"Alright, lets leave him to it. It's about time he started acting like an eighteen year old."

He slung an arm around his wife's shoulders and led her off towards the kitchen, laughing gently at the thought of his son with a member of the opposite sex. Did the poor girl know what she was letting herself in for?

Holly was still glaring at Artemis. He'd told her the full story, and was now waiting for the tirade that he knew would accompany this.

"You just told her about us? About the People, about all our adventures?"

"About you saving my life." he interceded, hoping to win some brownie points. It didn't work.

"Which I wouldn't have had to do if you hadn't endangered it in the first place!"

"Holly, I'm hurt. Hardly any of those times was actually my own fault. In the Spiro needle, I grant you, but other than that…"

Holly groaned and massaged her temples.

"Artemis, you do realise that she'd going to have to be mind wiped? We can't let humans know about us!"

"I know about you." he pointed out. She sighed.

"You're different. You've saved our entire population a few times, you're a friend of the People. Your mother, she…" Holly paused for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to end.

"The Council won't let her keep these memories." she finished, aware that she'd left the sentence hanging. What was she supposed to say? Your mother isn't a friend to the people? She's not someone we trust? It may be the truth, but there was no need to say it aloud. Artemis would know what she was thinking anyway, he always did.

Artemis sat down next to Holly and held her hand gently in his. He wasn't particularly comfortable doing it, but he thought it might make her more open to his idea.

"Do you have to tell the Council about this? If they don't know, then it's not an issue, is it?"

His eyes pleaded with her to go along, but she shook her head reluctantly.

"I'm already going to be in enough trouble as it is. I stayed the day aboveground, in a human dwelling. Not allowed, in case you were wondering. Then there's the issue of… us. If Trouble finds out, he'll boot me off the force for sure. If I add this on top, and Trouble finds out some other way…"

Artemis understood what she was saying. If Trouble found out about any of that, she may as well resign right now.

"Please? Couldn't you just plead ignorance?"

"I don't like lying to my bosses, Artemis. I especially don't want to lie to Trouble. We've been close friends for nearly sixty years, he knows when I'm being…less than truthful."

Artemis wondered when she'd lied to him before, and what about.

"Please, Holly? Just but me a little time? She wants to talk to you, to see who the person is who's saved my life so many times, not to mention her own and Fathers."

Holly flushed a little in spite of herself.

"I can't do anything until I get belowground anyway. If I tell Trouble when I get back, assuming that he doesn't fire me, there won't be a team here until tomorrow night, at the earliest. Is that enough time for you?"

She was trying not to think why he wanted the time, or what he planned on doing with it. The less she actually knew, the less she would have to tell Trouble.

"That will do fine. Thank you, Holly."

She nodded again, then sighed and stood.

"Well, if your mother wants to talk to me, she'd probably better do it whilst I'm stuck here."

Artemis eyed Holly as she stretched.

"Aren't you a little…nervous?"

Holy shrugged.

"She seems like a nice person. And she wont remember it anyway, so…" she trailed off and shrugged again.

"Besides, it can't go any worse than the last time I did this."

Artemis examined his fingers as he asked the next question, not at all certain that he wanted to hear the answer. After all, Holly was over eighty.

"Do you do this sort of thing often?"

Holly smiled at him gently.

"Not any more. When I was a teenager, I used to fool around with Trouble quite a lot, but we grew up and decided we were just friends. Aside from him, I've done this once. And that didn't end too well."

Artemis decided not to comment, but he wasn't nearly as sure as Holly that Trouble had gotten over her.

"Define 'not too well'."

"His mother threw me out of the house and told me that if I ever went anywhere near her son again, she'd hex me. This was after she threw a plate at me."

Artemis was staring at her, eyes wide.

"What did you do to get that reaction from her?"

The door opened then, saving Holly from having to answer.

Angeline laughed as her sons tried to catch the Koi carp in the pond. The fish were too agile for the toddlers, but this didn't stop Beckett trying to climb in after them. Artemis grabbed him around the middle and pulled him back, prompting Beckett to splash water at his fathers face. Myles decided that, as he was already wet, he may as well join in the water fight, and chaos ensued. It finished with Angeline standing a good ten metres away from her sopping wet children and husband.

"Go and get out of those wet things." she laughed at them. The tree trooped up to the twins room, and Angeline utilised the moment to sneak back to Holly's room. She opened the door to see her son gazing at the elf in disbelief, and Holly looking embarrassed. She decided not to mention either expression, and extended a hand towards the elfin captain, shutting the door behind her with her other hand.

"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Angeline Fowl, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Holly."

"Likewise." said the elf, shaking the offered hand warmly.

May as well do the thing properly she reasoned.

"Arty has told me lots about you."

"Oh, no. You don't want to listen to anything he says…"

Artemis opened his mouth to proclaim (indignantly) that he hadn't lied to his mother, and Holly knew that, when he realised that she was being modest. She didn't want the life-saving to come up in conversation.

"Nonsense." said Angeline. "It's all very good. Thank you, by the way, for taking such good care of my little Arty over these past few years. Thank you for everything you've done for my family."

Artemis flushed and walked to the opposite end of the room. If the conversation was starting with 'my little Arty', he dreaded to think what it would finish like.

Holly smiled self-consciously.

"Don't worry about it."

The two women walked over to the bed and perched on the end, talking about time travel and dimension jumping.

"What's it like to fly?" Angeline asked, somewhat eagerly. She had always wished that she could fly. Holly smiled, mind away in the clouds, soaring over the ocean.

"Its…amazing. There are no limits or restraints. It's an adrenaline-rush and it's calming, all at the same time. There's nothing to compare it to, it's like nothing else in the world."

As Artemis listened to the conversation, his sense of anxiety vanished. How could his mother not like Holly? The two were talking like they'd known each other all their lives.

"So, how long have you actually known Arty? He talks about you like he's known you forever."

"Didn't he tell you how we met?"

Angeline shook her head, and Holly shot the boy a look. He pleaded with his eyes to Holly, begging her not to tell his mother how they'd actually met. He'd changed since then, and he didn't want to see the disappointment in his mother's eyes when (if) she found out about the abduction. Plus, it was a pathetic basis for a relationship.

Holly caught the look, and guessed the meaning behind it. She sighed and turned back around, debating whether to tell the truth, or a variation thereof, also known as a lie.

"It was about…six years ago." she paused, working out the time difference in her head. Yeah, about six years.

"It was midnight, and I was aboveground on police business. We met under an oak tree."

She stopped there, allowing Angeline to form whatever romantic scenario she wished. Boy, did Artemis ever owe her.

Angeline grinned at her son, who smiled back weakly.

'Thank you' he mouthed at Holly. She nodded back.

"Angeline?" came the voice of Artemis Fowl senior, searching the house for his wife. She stood and hugged Holly and then her son.

"I love her!" she whispered. If Holly had been human, she won't have been able to hear the comment, but fairy ears are better than human. She blushed and turned away, pretending not to hear the next comment.

"Keep hold of her, Arty."

With that parting comment, she released her son and set about the task of distracting her husband and youngest children from realising that Artemis was in a bedroom with his non-human girlfriend.

A full minute passed before Artemis dared look at Holly. She was standing at the window, smiling to herself. He walked over to her, looking out at the sunset whilst speaking.

"Well, that seemed to go alright. At least she didn't throw anything at you."

Holly smiled and turned to face him.

"It went well. I like your mother, she's a decent person. So, if you ever make me lie to her again, I'm going to kick your sorry butt."

Artemis grimaced. Holly wasn't joking, and she wouldn't have to try very hard, either. He turned his head to look at her, but she was gazing back out at the red glow the sun was casting on the clouds.

"I'd better head off soon. It's getting dark enough for me to leave, and there's enough cloud cover that it doesn't matter that I can't shield."

Artemis nodded. She had to get back below ground, he knew that. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Holly pulled on her wings and picked up her helmet.

"When will you came back up?" Artemis blurted out. She smiled and moved closer to him.

"When I can. I need to sort a few things out, and I don't suppose Trouble will let me out of Police Plaza for a few months, but I'll come up when I can."

She reached up and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Don't worry, Arty, I won't forget you."

She tugged at the communicator on his hand.

"Keep in touch."

With that, she fired up the wings and flew out of the bedroom window. Artemis watched her until she flew into the clouds, then he lost sight of her. He touched his cheek where she had kissed him, then shook himself and left the room to find his family. Time to do some damage control, before his mother could assume that he and Holly were anything more serious than they actually were. He didn't think he could stand the teasing.

Ok, so the ending is lame. I'm sorry, but if anyone has any better ideas, let me know. There will be some action in this fic, I promise. I'll write some in next chapter. Until then, please review (it makes me write faster), and thanks for reading!

The next chapter may be a while coming, because I have Maths A2 level exams coming up, plus biology coursework. But I will write more soon, I promise!

Also, I know the day passes kind of quickly, and I'm sorry for that. If I say that it's winter, so the daylight only lasts about seven hours (I live in England, and trust me, some days feel like that), does that about cover it? If not, then I'm sorry. But, hey, it doesn't all have to make sense all the time though, right?