Previously:

"Just how long have i been out?" Artemis asked Legolas.

"About three weeks."

Chapter Five: Stockholm Syndrome

When Artemis awoke again, he couldn't help but notice something heavy on his leg. He looked down to see that it was wrapped firmly in a black fibre glass cast.

"How did that happen?" he asked Legolas who was still present. "I can't remember hurting myself at all." Legolas shrugged.

"We dropped you when we were carrying you from the limo," he said. Artemis raised his eyebrow, and then remembered something.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. "If I was out for three weeks then what happened to Miley?"

"She and her family and friends went back to Malibu. They wanted to thank you personally, so maybe you should go and visit them." Artemis nodded, cradling his head in his hands.

"My family," he said, looking up again. "What have you told them?"

"Your mother already knows about the people, so Captain Short explained everything to her and I think she came up with something else to tell the rest of your family. Now, if you are OK now, I think there is someone who want to see you." He left the room for a few minutes, leaving Artemis to his thoughts.

The assassin used a bio bomb, he thought. Which means that they are a fairy or hired by one. But who in their right mind would want to murder a teenage pop sensation?"

"Artemis, are you alright?" Artemis turned to see Holly standing in the doorway, followed by Legolas. He nodded his throat catching. Holly looked so tired and stressed. She mustn't have slept properly for all the time he was out.

"I'm fine," he said finally. "Though my leg seems to have been broken." Holly smiled slightly, looking at the leg.

"Yes, Legolas was quite worried about that. He offered to look after you for the entire time, he did a fantastic job it seems," she said. "You aren't sore at all are you?" Artemis shook his head.

"No I'm not. But couldn't my leg have been healed?" he asked. Holly nodded.

"It was, but it is unwise to heal broken bones then not secure them, otherwise the healing is pointless. Though, the healing would have helped, you can take that off in a couple of days." Artemis was relieved; if there was more action involved with this assassin then it would be a pain to have his leg in a cast. Holly then looked at him with a look that Artemis had never seen on her face before, admiration.

"Miley told me everything," she said. "I don't know how you managed to run and then drive like you did." Artemis thought for a moment.

"When a friend is in mortal danger, humans can sometimes develop super-human strength," he said. "I suppose that happened to me." Holly nodded then smirked slightly.

"Did you like my ramp?" she asked. Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Your ramp?" he asked. Holly nodded.

"Yeah, Foaly has invented a little device called a portable ramp. It's as the name says, a ramp that can be carried round in your pocket, but it's only a couple of centimetres square until you enlarge it by pressing a button, then you can change the angle. You can ask Foaly about it later. But for now, you need some rest, Butler has been contacted, I'll be dropping you back home some time in the next few days, depending on how you're going."

Artemis nodded, lying back down again. The most likely scenario was that Holly had gone and talked to Robby Ray and Miley before they left for Malibu so they were all up to scratch with what was going on. Robby Ray was probably very worried for his daughter's life so wouldn't allow her to be Hannah until they had disposed of the assassin.

Holly sat on a chair beside the platform, hugging her knees to her chest. As she watched Artemis sleep, she could only wonder what was going to happen next. An assassin was on the loose, a dangerous one with fairy technology- one that had tried to kill Artemis, though not directly. Though Holly wouldn't tell him, Artemis had done an amazing job with the limo driving thing. She didn't know that he could drive like that; actually, she didn't know that he could drive at all. When they had been on their various adventures, the driver had always been either Butler or herself but now he was seventeen, he had probably got his drivers licence and had been driving for a few years. Actually, knowing him, he could probably drive when he was five or something considering that he could pilot a plane when he was nine.

Holly watched his breathing even out, his chest rising and falling. Artemis had definitely grown since their adventure back in time. He looked pretty much like the boy who had defended her at the trial minus the long hair- he even had a goatee growing because he hadn't shaved in a few weeks. The thought of Artemis with a goatee made her chuckle; she would tease him for years.

She then thought back to the year before when she had retrieved him from his school so he could be present at one of the meetings concerning Opal.

FLASHBACK

Artemis was with the counsellor when Holly arrived. She sat on the open window sill, watching him talk with Dr Po.

"Now that you are sixteen, Artemis," the doctor was saying. "And we have discussed respect and friends, don't you think it's high time you got yourself a girl friend?" To be fair to the boy, he recovered quite quickly.

"A girlfriend, doctor?" Artemis said. "I don't think that would be appropriate." Dr Po leant forward in his seat.

"And why not?"

Artemis relaxed backwards into the chair rest. "For one," he said. "I am sixteen and you have mentioned a number of times before that a young man's decision is often wrong. Do I trust my choice, only to get hurt later? Or do I wait until I am mature enough to make the right one? You have also addressed the subject of taking one step at a time, I have barely got used to the idea of friends, doctor. Do you think it necessary for me to take the next big step?" The doctor looked quite intrigued by the boy's reaction.

"Is there someone?" he asked. Artemis tried not to show anything on his face, but it was rather hard for a boy just confronted about girls.

"No," he obviously lied. Dr Po wrote something down in his notebook and turned back to the genius.

"Does she go to this school?" he asked. Artemis sighed and shook his head.

"It's impossible for us to be together, doctor. So there is no point talking about it," he said dejectedly.

"Why not?" the doctor asked.

"We live in different worlds," the boy replied. He then noticed the heat haze on the window ledge. "Now, doctor," he said. "I have a very important meeting concerning the school's wellbeing I need to get to, I'll see you next week same time?" The doctor nodded and let the boy get to his 'school' meeting with Holly.

END FLASHBACK

Holly had realised at the time what he had meant by 'different worlds' but it was impossible for their friendship to turn into something more. They were different species for the gods' sake! It was just as wrong as Mulch had said. Holly often wished when she was alone that she could be like Miley and have the best of both worlds. She could be human but also fairy, be in love but also have her job. She smiled slightly to herself, resting her cheek in her hand as she watched him sleep. Wouldn't it be nice if she could settle down and live like a normal fairy but still be married to Artemis, if he could live longer so he didn't die when she was still young?

She sat up suddenly, bumping her head on a random piece of hospital equipment behind her. She stood up and ran all the way to Op's booth. Foaly was the only person she knew who would be able to solve the problem, bar Artemis who was the one person she didn't want to tell.

"Foaly!" she yelled, skidding the final metre to stop behind her friend's chair. Foaly spun round to face her.

"Hey Holly," he said. Holly forced a smile and got straight down to business.

"Hypothetically speaking is there a way to lengthen someone's life?" she asked. Foaly raised a shaggy eyebrow.

"What sort of hypothetical situation are we dealing with?" he asked. Holly hesitated.

"Well, what if an officer fell in love with a human and it was impossible to do anything about it because the human would die in less than a century?" Foaly chuckled to himself.

"What would the human be thinking about this?" he asked. Holly winced.

"What if the officer very stupidly broke up with the human before it had even begun and she didn't tell the human her true feelings?"

"So the officer's a she?" Foaly asked.

"This is all hypothetical anyway," Holly reminded him.

"Of course," Foaly said, grinning slightly. "Well we could go and talk to Artemis about this hypothetical situation and he may be able to come up with something," he said. Holly grabbed his arm just as he was getting up.

"No that's a terrible idea," she said. "You go and talk to him and tell me what he says," she said, smiling hopefully. Foaly stared sternly down at his friend.

"Alright," he said. "But remember that he may not feel the same way as you." Holly opened her mouth indignantly.

"I am not in…" But the words withered in her throat as Foaly gave her a knowing glance.

"I'm not an idiot, Holly," he said. "I just never thought it was your style to fall in love with a human, especially not Artemis, the boy who kidnapped you. I believe it's called 'Stockholm Syndrome' to fall for your captor."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Just go and talk to him," she said, making herself comfortable on one of the other seats in the room. Foaly sighed dramatically and trotted to the hospital and after ten minutes of assuring Legolas that he wasn't going to kill the patient, Foaly was allowed into Artemis's room.

"Mud Boy," he said, sitting on the seat Holly was occupying earlier. "I don't know if you can hear me, but there is a certain female captain crushing on you and wants me to find out if you like her back." Artemis sighed and rolled over in his sleep.

"Holly," he murmured almost as if he had heard Foaly. The centaur was taken aback; he didn't expect Artemis to like Holly back. Artemis had never been the sort of person to be involved in a romantic relationship, but yet again Foaly had fallen in love and he and Artemis were both similar in some ways. It was surprising what someone will give up for love.

Like me and my tinfoil hats and Trouble and his caffeine addiction, Foaly thought, smiling slightly. Who would have thought that Trouble Kelp would fall for a female captain besides Holly? But sure enough Jessica Underwood had turned up and the commander had gone all woozy and fell in love straight away. On her first day, Trouble called the girl into his office as if to lecture her on recon procedures but instead asked her out, the news spreading all over Haven faster than a pixie running from a troll.

Anyway…Foaly looked at Artemis for a few seconds and deciding he was asleep, left the room to tell Holly.

Holly was more than surprised when Foaly explained what had happened in Artemis's hospital room and had immediately run there, even forgetting to sign out of the office. She found Artemis awake, calmly reading 'The Hobbit'.

"Hey Holly," he said. Holly had an uncertain look on her face.

"Look, Artemis," she said. "We need to talk." Artemis nodded.

"Go ahead," he said as she sat down on the seat beside his bed. An awkward silence followed, neither knowing what to say to the other.

"They say that good things take time. But really great things happen in the blink of an eye. The chances to meet somebody like you were a million to one. I cannot believe it, ooaoh. Your one in a million…" Holly finally found her phone, and put it to her ear.

"Hey this is Holly speaking," she said. Artemis heard an aggravated voice answer.

"I've been ringing your helmet for ten minutes!" the voice yelled. "You didn't sign out! Where are you?" Holly winced.

"Sorry Commander," she said. "Artemis had woken and I needed to check out how he was going." She turned away so Artemis couldn't hear the other voice. After five minutes of yelling at her commander, Holly finally shut her phone and turned to Artemis.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Trouble was just making sure I hadn't fallen off a cliff or something." Artemis smirked very slightly.

"In a hurry were you?" he asked. Holly sighed, looking straight into his eyes.

"Look, Artemis," she said. "Foaly came in here when you were…"

"It's almost time for me to sleep again," interrupted Artemis. "So why don't we go and grab a bite to eat?" Holly nodded, helping him up. She needed to slow down. She still had no idea that he felt the same, he seemed to be always going for the obvious instead of her, and it was starting to get annoying.

Holly lead Artemis to a small diner where they ordered hamburgers and chips which Artemis had started to grow used to after a few years with the twins. Artemis ate his in record time after not eating for three weeks and Holly ate hers at a moderate speed as she hadn't eaten from worry. Finally, when they had both polished off their meals, Holly drove them in a shuttle to a tall building and pulled Artemis into the lift. She pushed the button to the top floor and they waited patiently. The music playing in the building couldn't have been more appropriate.

"Uh oh, there you go again, talking cinematic. Yeah you, your charming got everybody star struck. I know how you always seem to go for the obvious instead of me, but get a ticket and you'll see." The elevator doors opened and Artemis and Holly stepped onto the see through platform. The view around them was amazing, incredible even. The solar panels were fading and the streets of Haven were slowly emptying. Holly looked around. They were the only people on the viewing platform. Good, she thought. More privacy.

They sat down on one of the couches, watching the scenery. That was when Artemis truly listened to the lyrics of the song.

"Yeah, yeah, when you call me, I can hear it in your voice, oh sure, want to see me and tell me all about her." Artemis thought of the times when Holly rang him and he began to talk about Minerva. "Lala, I'll be acting through my tears." Artemis remembered hearing Holly conceal a sob while they were talking, but he hadn't payed much attention. "I'll guess you'll never know that I should win an Oscar for this scene I'm in." Holly had always said she was a good actor; it was not until now that Artemis could see it. Holly then started to sing along.

"If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy, and I'd be the best friend that you'd fall in love with. In the end we'd be laughing, watching the sunset fade to black, watch the names, play that happy song." Artemis stared out the window, thinking. "Wish I could tell you there's a twist some kind of hero in disguise and we're together It's for real now playing. Wish I could tell you there's a kiss like something more than in my mind. I see it could be amazing! If we were a movie…If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy, and I'd be the best friend that you'd fall in love with. In the end we'd be laughing, watching the sunset fade to black, watch the names, play that happy song." Artemis listened to it continue, something suddenly making sense in his mind.

He suddenly felt power build up inside him like a burning inferno, powering his courage to make him to do something he hadn't done before in his life. He leant over and kissed Holly, surprising both of them.

"What…what was that for?" Holly asked, completely taken off guard, she wasn't expecting the first move from him. Artemis smiled.

"If we were a movie, Holly," he started. "I'd be the right guy, and you'd be the best friend that I'd fall in love with." Holly saw what he meant, and in a sudden feeling of ecstasy, started laughing. "And in the end we'd be laughing," continued Artemis. "Watching the artificial sunset fade to black, not exactly showing the names, but there is definitely a happy song playing." Holly controlled her laughter and listened to the next song, it was 'The Best of Both Worlds'. The People had started loving Hannah Montana's music lately so everywhere you went; you heard a Hannah Montana song. She smiled and made the biggest decision she had ever made in her life.

"Maybe I can have the best of both worlds," she finally said, then turned her head so her lips met Artemis's. Let's just say, they were a very happy couple after that.

OOO

"What is taking her so long?" asked Trouble, pacing the Operation's Booth. Foaly was getting dizzy from watching him.

"I don't know Trubs," he answered. "Maybe something came up or she went to get dinner or something." Trouble glared at Foaly.

"Foaly, I may be one of your friends, but that does not mean that you can call me that nickname, at work I am 'Commander' or 'Kelp'." Foaly faced the wall so Trouble couldn't see him roll his eyes.

"Yes Commander," he answered, then grinned from ear to ear as he saw Holly and Artemis on one of the security cameras. "They're coming now, Commander," he said. Trouble leant over to see.

"Good, I will need to…" he paused and zoomed in. "They're holding hands!" he exclaimed. "Foaly did you know about this?" Foaly cleared his throat.

"Well, Holly was hoping…"

Trouble smiled slightly. "And she didn't think to tell her commander?"

Foaly shook his head. "No, she was afraid you'd fire her."

Trouble chuckled. "I'm not going to fire her," he said. "I'm happy for her."

Foaly was surprised. "You are?" he asked.

Trouble nodded. "We've been friends a long time, how can I not be happy for her in this situation?"

"Well you better tell her, because she's just about to walk through the door and she looks really nervous." Trouble rearranged his face to look kind of threatening for the corporals in the hallway as the door opened.

"Captain Short!" he exclaimed. "Where have you been, you've…" the doors closed. "We've been so worried," he continued. Holly raised her eyebrows.

"Well…" she started. "It was getting late so Arty…mis Artemis and I went to get a bite to eat and we lost track of the time." Trouble smiled at her name slip.

"I see," he said. "You may go now." Holly saluted and headed to the doors. "Oh and Holly," Trouble said. Holly turned around to look at him. "Congratulations." Holly opened her mouth to object but closed it again, glaring at Foaly.

"Thank you, Commander," she said, grabbing Artemis's hand. "C'mon Mud Boy, we need to get you back to the hospital before you pass out again." Trouble smiled as the captain left the room with her boyfriend.

"I need to give her more surface leave," he said to himself. Foaly snickered.

"Just don't give her any over nights," he said. Trouble rolled his eyes, striding towards the doors.

"Foaly, do me a favour and don't mention this to the corporals. I have a scary image to keep." And with that, the commander left the room, a secretive smile on his face. Foaly's face on the other hand split into a huge grin.

"Now to tell PPTV," he said. "First fairy-human hybrid coming up."