Hey guys! Told you I'd have this done this year. ;)
Holly woke up the next morning peacefully for the first time since she arrived at Fowl Manor. It was late in the morning, at last that's how Holly felt, but when she looked over at the sleek clock on the bedside table, it read that it was two in the afternoon.
Made sense, Holly thought as she stretched her sore legs slowly and slightly. She could feel the dull tight ache in her muscles, reminding her of how late she was up with him the night before. She shivered at the memory of his hands on her.
It was a great night. Artemis had surprised her in multiple ways, and they had all been good. Holly p ursed her lips, sighing and curling up her aching legs under the incredibly soft, warm sheets she was wrapped up in.
The movement made Holly aware of the body pressed against her. She rolled over, sighing and smiling lightly as she looked over his sleeping face. He looked peaceful, for once. His eyes were closed and his legs were pursed slightly in his sleep.
Holly pushed her body against his a bit more for the heat radiating off of him. It was so warm and inviting being next to him right then. Like his smile over the past few days. She ran a hand through his soft locks, a bit unruly from the night before. Artemis hummed lightly in his sleep, causing Holly's smile to grow a little and she leaned up to kiss him.
Artemis' eyes fluttered as he woke up by the feel of Holly's lips softly pressed against his. He let out a soft sound of appreciation while pulling her closer. "Mm.." He pulled away after a moment, kissing down her cheek slowly. "I could get used to this."
Holly laughed gently. Her hand was still running through his hair and down the back of their neck. "Artemis…" She murmured, closing her eyes. "As much as I don't want this to stop, we have to talk about last night."
He paused and sighed against the column on her neck. "Right." He sat up, pulling the sheets around him. "It was a mistake."
"Was it?" Holly asked, shrugging and looking down at her hands. "It didn't feel like one."
Artemis shook his head. "Yes, Holly. It was. A stupid, illogical mistake." He looked at her and sighed again. "It just makes the situation we have between us with this wedding ten times harder to go through with."
Holly nodded, but Artemis kept going on. "I mean...What happens after tomorrow? We just start dating after we obviously break up in front of my family? Or what if you get mess up again and we can't back out?"
"Well, it's a lot of pressure, Artemis!" Holly replied defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. "A lot of pressure you have been putting on me."
"What are you trying to say?" He frowned, looking at her.
A burst of anger went throughout Holly. This dense mudman… She thought. Holly frowned back, cocking her head at him. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't lied to your parents in the first place! You practically forced us together."
Artemis raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a look of disbelief. "I gave you the option to say no to me, Holly-"
"Yeah, after you practically begged me to do this for you!" Holly defended herself.
"Besides!" Artemis got up, putting on his silk bedroom pants and glaring at her. His blood was obviously boiling at this point in their fight. "This wouldn't have happened if you had just kept your distance from me."
"If I had kept my distance from you?" Holly spat, frowning at him. "You were a part of last night too!"
"Yes, but I tried to stop." Artemis pointed out, his foot tapping impatiently as he fought the urge to pace. Blood was rushing through his veins, and his skin felt hot to the touch. "You are the one that threw yourself at me!"
Holly gasped, her eyes wide. "I didn't throw myself at you." She glared at him, and Artemis really felt endangered in that moment.
"Oh, sure." Artemis rolled his eyes, unable to stop that urge. He bent down to pick up his shredded shirt from the night before and tossed it at her on the bed. He cocked his head back, not saying anything to prove his point further.
In an act to contain her rage, Holly balled up the shirt and threw it directly at him. The shirt hit his chest and Artemis took a half step back from the impact. She got up, wrapping the sheets around her body. "Gods, I wonder what your mother would think if she saw you speaking like this."
Artemis gave her a burning look. "You leave that out of this." He practically growled.
Holly raised an eyebrow, biting the inside of her cheek and shaking her head in disbelief. She didn't even know what she was saying anymore, just letting it flow out of her and letting her emotions get the best of her. "No. You care about what your family thinks of you so much, do you think they'll like you talking to a woman like this?"
Hurt, Artemis ran a hand through his hair. Enraged, he frowned at her. "Like you would know anything about family." He spat. "It's been so long, I'm surprised you even know what it's like to try to make them proud."
That stopped Holly dead in her tracks. She looked at Artemis, shocked and hurt. She her mouth to speak, but all she could get out was a whimper before she spun around and rushed to the bathroom.
As soon as she started, Artemis immediately regretted what he said. His anger flushed out of him quickly as he saw the hurt in Holly's eyes. He followed behind her. "Holly, I'm sor-" He tried to apologize, but was cut off when Holly slammed the bathroom door in his face.
He sighed, resting his forehead against the cool, white door. "I'm sorry, Holly. I didn't mean...I didn't mean to say that." He closed his eyes, leaning his head back in frustration.
Holly barely heard him except for a faint murmur in the back of her mind. She was too busy fixating on keeping her breathing level to worry about what he was trying to say to her. Her eyes were blurry as they started to tear up and she pawed at them fruitlessly, leaning over the bathroom counter.
Her breath was shaky as she wrapped the blanket around her and shivered. She was suddenly cold, despite her blood boiling inside of her from the anger towards Artemis. She couldn't believe he would say that. Especially since he knew how much that hurt her.
She grabbed a spare set of clothes she had set out the night before on the back of the toilet, putting them on and wiping her eyes. Holly looked back at the door, and debated going back outside and facing Artemis, but she was still too hurt to do that. So, instead, she sat on the rim of the bathtub and put her head in her hands.
Artemis kept apologizing for a while, and time ticked by without Holly coming out. Finally, he sighed and tapped the door with his hands a few times before turning and sliding down the wall next to the bathroom door. He couldn't believe he actually said that to her. Honestly, he hadn't meant to. Artemis didn't know what he was doing. Last night was...intense, to say the least.
Artemis must have stayed on the floor next to the door for maybe an hour. He tried multiple times to apologize, but they turned out to be fruitless as she never answered. His entire body was sore from the hard ground by the time Holly opened the door.
She strode out of the room silently, not looking at Artemis. Holly wore a black sweater and jeans, her hair pinned back behind her ears.
"Holly-" Artemis sighed almost desperately, taking a hold of her arm to stop her from passing him.
But Holly's strength got the best of him. She pulled away from his grip easily and went to her bag at the end of the bed. Holly rummaged through it silently for a moment.
Artemis looked at her helplessly, not sure what to say. It wasn't as though he was an expert on this. Honestly, he was an expert on everything except this.
He expected Holly to lash out at him. To yell, possibly hit him on the arm, or lecture him. But this kind of anger he had never seen from her.
What Artemis didn't expect was for her to turn and throw something at his feet. He looked down, seeing the picture that he had given her the night before at dinner.
"After I find enough courage to leave this insane situation you've put me in, that's it, Fowl. I don't want to hear from you ever again." She told him callously. Holly crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Call Foaly if you need help from the LEP, and he'll assign you to another officer. We. Are. Done."
"Holly, please-" Artemis started, shaking his head as what she was saying sank in slowly.
But before he could say much more, the door to Artemis' room burst open and Juliet came in with a smile a mile long and enough energy to lighten the extremely depressing mood. "Come on!" She grabbed Holly's arm and pulled her to the door. "Angeline wants you two separated until tomorrow!" The blonde pretty much sang, taking Holly out of the room.
Artemis watched her go, looking back down at the picture and running a hand through his hair out of frustration.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
As Juliet took Holly to another room, she was stunned at how many things were going on at once at Fowl Manor.
Chairs and tables were being set in the common room, and Angeline was running around everywhere. She had a clipboard in her hand, giving orders to people left and right.
Juliet led her to a guest room, shutting the door behind them. "All right! Let's get started."
"Juliet…" Holly started, sitting down at the edge of the bed and putting her head in her hands.
"Angeline has a bunch of things she wants you to answer as soon as possible for tomorrow." Juliet cut in, picking up a clipboard that Angeline had left there for them.
"Jules-" Holly tried to get her attention again.
"So, what do you think about flowers? Angeline is thinking white and red roses. They're hard to find since they aren't in season, but it's not imposs-"
"Juliet Butler!" Holly raised her voice, standing up. Finally, she got the blonde's attention. "It doesn't matter."
Juliet sighed, rolling her eyes. "I know. But if I don't have the answers, Angeline is going to kill me."
"Just ...Put whatever." Holly answered with a careless wav of her hand, flopping back down on the bed.
"Fine. Artemis likes red, so I'll put that." Juliet started to write down on the paper.
"I said whatever." Holly sighed forcefully.
That made the bodyguard stop writing. She pursed her lips, looking over Holly and her body language. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit." Juliet dropped the clipboard on the table and leaned against it. She crossed her arms in front of her, giving Holly a look that told her she would get it out of her. "Don't make me ask again."
This time, Holly rolled her eyes, sitting up. "Artemis is a...D'Arvitting jackass, that's what."
"Well, all men are." She scoffed. "What did he do this time?"
Holly shook her head, not wanting to go through it. "He hurt me."
"What, Arty?" Juliet looked at her in disbelief. "Other than computer hacking, Artemis doesn't hurt anyone."
"Don't call him that." Holly glared, her blood still boiling from before. "He's a bastard, who told me I knew nothing about family because I don't have one."
Juliet stood there for a moment, stunned. "Wow…" She trailed off, "That's-"
"Horrible?"
"Artemis." Juliet corrected. She raised an eyebrow back at Holly, mimicking the looking she was giving. "The same, calculating, idiot genius he's always been. He doesn't know the line until he crosses it. Besides...He loves you. And you love him."
Holly shook her head, "You know we aren't really-"
She immediately shut up once the doorknob clicked and the door to their ight opened. Angeline popped her head in, her teeth illuminated by the red lipstick she was wearing. "Hi, ladies! Is everything going well in here?"
"Great." Holly lied through her own teeth, getting up and grabbing the clipboard Juliet had dropped on the desk. "Just finishing up these last few questions." She smiled at the woman, and Juliet could see that the smile was not spreading to her eyes.
Thankfully, Angeline was too busy to notice, a ring on her phone distracting her momentarily. But before she left, she looked back at Holly. "Oh, Holly! I've been meaning to ask. Is there anyone you would like to invite tomorrow? Of course, Fowl Manor will be open to them."
Holly shook her head, "That's extremely kind, Mrs. Fowl, but there's no one." She smiled again, and this time Angeline sighed.
"By this time tomorrow, Holly. You'll have us." She reminded the younger woman. "And stop calling me that. It's Angeline…" She trailed off, smiling. "Or mom." Angeline shrugged, closing the door and leaving her with that.
Holly gasped slightly at her words, looking down. She could feel the hot tears threatening her eyes. "We aren't really getting married." She whispered, swiping at her eyes fruitlessly.
Juliet frowned, going over to her and wrapping her arms around her. "If you didn't love him, you wouldn't have done any of this for him, Holly. And if he didn't love you, you wouldn't have been the first thought in his head when he was thinking about a girlfriend. Just think about that."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Artemis was looking in the mirror, buttoning the buttons on his white button-downs. His stomach was clenched, and he didn't know what he was feeling. Possibly somewhere between embarrassed and guilty for what he said to Holly. He wished that he could take it back.
"Artemis.." He heard his name being called very faintly as he looked at himself in the mirror. His black pressed pants and white shirt tucked in it, he wondered if Holly would like this look. After all, it wasn't too formal. She had always like that, and his hair messy instead of combed back.
"Artemis," He heard his name being called louder, and he turned to the sound, facing his father and Butler behind him.
"Yes?" He answered, buttoning the cuffs on his sleeves. The burning pain of Holly leaving before was still there, but it wasn't as though he could show it in front of his father.
"I just wanted to let you know." Artemis Sr. told him, leaning against his bed with his arms crossed in front of him as he looked over his son. "If you think that this is moving too fast, you can always call off the wedding and not go through with it. To save it for a later date. This is, after all, a lot of pressure thrust upon you and Holly"
Artemis shook his head, putting on a black suit coat on over the white dress shirt. "It's no pressure when it comes to Holly. Besides," He forced out a believable chuckle. "Mother would kill me at this point, with how much she's been running around to arrange this."
Ironically, that was when his father's phone rang. He didn't even have to look at it to know who it was. "Ah. Speak of the devil." He smiled, getting up. "I better see what Angeline wants." He walked over to Artemis, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, son." He told him before leaving.
"May I be blunt with you, sir?" Butler asked after Artemis Sr. left.
Artemis turned to face him, giving him a strange look. "Or course, Butler. Always."
"I believe you." The bodyguard told him.
"...Believe me?" Artemis frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I've never seen you more happy than you've been with Holly." Butler shrugged. "In fact, this is the happiest I've seen both of you."
"Well, granted we're usually trying to stop the world from coming to an end." Artemis pointed out. "Not exactly happy occasions."
"Still, I've never seen you like this." Butler argued. "And the talks we've had since Holly got here...I know how you feel about Holly. Perhaps it's a possibility that you love her."
Artemis shook his head. "No...That's impossible, Butler. Holly is just a friend."
"Then what happened to what you told me outside the other day? Or the glances you two are always stealing at each other. The moments you enjoy spending with her." Butler began pointing out. "Or-"
Artemis sighed, "Alright. Perhaps..Just maybe...You're right and I've developed some kind of love towards Holly. But all of that doesn't matter now." Artemis bit his lip, running a hand through his hair. "Holly hates me now."
"Artemis. I don't know what's going on right now." Butler started, "But I do know that if you love her, you need to try. Or else you will regret this all when it's too late."
Artemis nodded, thinking for a moment. "Try…" Suddenly, Artemis looked up at Butler and nodded, crossing the room and going to his desk. He grabbed a small white card and started to write on it. "I need you...To give this to Holly right before the ceremony tomorrow." He folded it and handed it to Butler.
"What is this?" Butler asked. Now he was confused.
"You'll see." He said, looking up at Butler with a certain glint in his eyes.
Last chapter coming up Midnight December 25th.
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