Okay, this isn't really an update, you've read this chapter before. This is chapter fourteen, not thirteen. So, go back and read chapter thirteen! Because that one is new!

Sorry, guys. Really.

Yay! ilex-ferox!

Chapter Fourteen: Breakthrough

Minerva frowns, scrolling through her notes once more. Reaching the end, her expression clears and she smiles.

'Oh dear, Artemis,' she speaks to herself, 'I do believe I've beaten you to the end of the rainbow.'

Like Artemis and Foaly, she has long since discovered the serum's ability to re-assemble itself after being broken down. Intrigued, she'd separated the magic-enhanced mutagen from the human DNA and mixed it with dog's blood, then fed it into a sample of Holly's blood from the handkerchief she'd lent her. Amazed, she watched through the microscope as the DNA shifted, the genes' usual expressions blocked as the RNA confused the dog's makeup with what it was supposed to be relaying to the DNA for copying purposes. The transformation was incredibly rapid; in the space of a few minutes, Minerva had been sitting with a Petri dish of golden retriever genes. If that was the case, theoretically she could reverse the process by doing exactly the same thing using elf blood.

The only problem: where is she going to get elf blood?

Minerva isn't overly worried about this, the solution will come to her; it always does.

Holly knocks on Juliet's door, wearing a smock and a disgruntled expression.

'Come in, Holly.'

Pushing the door open, Holly enters the darkened room, arms akimbo. 'Juliet, I can't reach the back of my hair. I need your help. Good morning, Arthur. By the way, it's eleven; you might want to hurry if you're going to your lecture.'

A muffled expletive is heard, and the shock of red hair just visible behind Juliet's shoulder moves as a hand appears, waving hello. Holly chuckles.

'Wait,' Juliet squints at Holly, 'what are you trying to do?'

'Cut my hair.'

'Ohh. Why didn't you say so in the first place? Gimme one minute, I'll be right out.'

'Thanks, Juliet. I'll be in the bathroom.'

'Right. Now where the hell did I put my trousers?' Juliet peers into the shadows.

'Good luck.' Laughing, Holly exits the perpetual mess that is Juliet's room.

Five minutes later, Juliet joins Holly in the bathroom, where the red-head is snipping at her fringe. 'It's just the back,' Holly explains. 'I can't quite reach.'

'Mmm,' Juliet eyes Holly's hair critically. 'Well, I refuse to cut it back to that awful buzz cut -talk about prison camp - so, if that's what you want, you're on your own, girl.'

'No, I just want to trim it a bit. I'm not used to being able to tuck hair behind my ears. It's weirding me out,' Holly scrunches up her nose.

'Oh yeah, national crisis alright,' Juliet takes the scissors from Holly's hand. 'You trust me?'

Holly shudders, 'I hate that question.'

'Well?'

The other woman sighs. 'Yes. Do what you want. But nothing crazy, okay?'

'Would I do that to you?'

Holly's flat look in the mirror is answer enough.

Absently, Holly runs a hand along the back of her head, making the hair stand on end. She loves the feeling of a new haircut. Humming along to the radio, she flips the pancake she's cooking into the air, deftly catching it in the pan.

'Well done,' Butler comments from the table. 'Pancakes, huh? You're really expanding your culinary repertoire.'

'I know, eh?' Holly grins, bending back to look at him through the space between the counter and the cabinets. 'Juliet's even taught me to make a proper pasta sauce. I'm well on my way to becoming a five star chef.'

Artemis snorts his disbelief.

'You don't have to eat them,' Holly waves the spatula at him.

'When did you have your hair cut?' he changes the subject.

'Friday. It was a joint effort.'

'Juliet did the back?' Butler guesses.

'Mm hmm. Artemis, get the plates, will you? These are just about done. It's harder to cut the back when you're not just buzzing it,' she turns back to Butler, who is watching in amazement as Artemis does indeed 'get the plates'.

'I hope these pancakes are worth all this manual labour,' Artemis comments as he lays out the crockery.

'You won't even know what hit you. I may be a novice, but I make a mean blueberry pancake. Plus, there's real maple syrup.'

'You really went all out,' Butler ruffles her new 'do as she brings a tottering plate of pancakes to the table.

'It's the fall equinox,' Holly shrugs. 'This is an important holiday under the ground; I wanted to celebrate.'

'Do we need to say a prayer or something?' Butler seats himself.

Holly looks at him, eyebrows raised, 'Prayer? I'm a modern fairy, Butler. It's eat what you can before Foaly does, where I come from.'

The giant man laughs, reaching for a pancake. 'Works for me.'

'I take it we'll be graced by Foaly's presence this morning?'Artemis nods to the laptop sitting precariously at the end of the overcrowded table.

'Right as usual, Arty. Any minute now. Tea?'

'Please,' Artemis holds out his cup. 'Where is Juliet?'

'She and Arthur went out for brunch at Odessa.'

Butler liberally dresses his pancakes in stewed fruit and cashew cream. 'I'm going to need to meet this Arthur person soon. I keep hearing about him, but she never brings him over. And how many months has it been?'

'Since June sometime. Maybe even May, actually,' Holly tucks one foot up onto the chair, her other leg swinging back and forth. 'He's really sweet. She's probably just worried he'll faint at the sight of you.'

Butler rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to speak when the laptop screen flickers to life.

'Happy Equinox!!' Mulch, Foaly, Vinyáya, N°1 and Trouble vie for screen space, grinning and waving.

Holly beams. 'Same to you!'

'Heeeey, nice grub.' Mulch peers at the stack of pancakes, 'You make that, Big Man?'

'No, Holly did.'

'Wow, and you guys are eating it? I thought the Mud Boy was supposed to be smart?' the dwarf cackles.

'I didn't realise you'd become so domesticated since moving above ground,' Vinyáya smirks. 'Nice hair by the way.'

'Thanks. You like it? Juliet did it. And don't worry – meals like this are hardly a regular occurrence.'

'Obviously,' Mulch snorts, 'or you three wouldn't still be around to tell the tale.'

'My cooking is not that bad!' Holly protests, smiling.

'That's true, Mulch,' Trouble turns to the ex-convict. 'After all, something that doesn't exist can't be bad, can it?'

'Hey!' Holly exclaims through her laughter.

Mulch guffaws, 'I stand corrected.'

Vinyáya snickers. 'Do you remember that time in the Academy when she lived for a month on fruit juice and rice because she couldn't afford take-aways or protein bars?'

'Yes,' Trouble crows, 'she swore she'd never eat rice again!'

'Look, there's only so much you can do with rice and soy sauce before it loses its charm, alright?' Holly defends herself. 'Besides, now I can make rice better than a Japanese grandmother.'

Mulch shakes his head. 'It's a good thing you went into law enforcement, Holly, because you'd have failed at housewifery.'

'She just has to marry rich and she's good to go,' Vinyáya adds, cackling. Artemis' lips twitch.

'O ye of little faith,' Holly crosses her arms. 'These pancakes are delicious.'

Five heads swivel to look at Butler and Artemis across the table.

'Fabulous, just wonderful-'

'Truly beyond compare. A masterpiece-' Butler and Artemis hurry to reach for seconds.

Underground, the Ops Booth erupts into laughter.

'Next time I visit, you'll have to make me some,' Mulch waggles his hairy eyebrows.

'After the way you've just been slagging off my cooking? I don't think so!'

'Well, how else am I ever going to know if they're any good?'

Holly laughs, shaking her head. 'Fine, fine.'

There comes a knock at the Ops Booth door.

'Oh, that's Doodah,' Mulch turns, talking from off screen. 'I've gotta hit the road, we're going for dinner.'

'Dinner?' Holly raises an eyebrow. 'Didn't your mother ever teach you not to date your co-workers?'

'Sure, but she never said anything about co-owners.' Mulch winks, pushing his way back into sight. 'I'll be up soon, okay?'

Trouble clears his throat.

Mulch rolls his eyes. 'I mean, I'll be by next decade when I manage to get a legal visa. Yeah. Right. See you, Holly. Butler, Mud Boy.'

'Have fun!' Holly calls after him.

'I always do!' comes the faint, disembodied reply.

'Wait,' Vinyáya pops a mint into her mouth, 'when did Diggums get together with Day?'

'A month? Two?' Trouble turns to Foaly for confirmation.

'Don't look at me. The less I have to do with that reeking midget, the happier I am,' Foaly responds. 'Two and half next Saturday.'

'You knew?' Vinyáya points an accusatory finger at Trouble.

'Even I knew,' N°1 pipes up.

Vinyáya crosses her arms, blowing out her fringe. 'Why does no one tell me these things?'

'We just didn't think you'd be interested,' Trouble shrugs.

'You always seem so above trivial office gossip,' Foaly adds as the two of them dodge her swats, snickering into their sleeves.

Butler watches Artemis watch Holly, who has forgotten about her food, resting her chin in her palm, watching her friends and smiling. He shakes his head fondly.

Meanwhile, below ground, Trouble's communicator has gone off. He sighs. 'Duty calls. As always. I've got to run. Take care of yourself, Holly. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer.'

'It's always good to see you, Trubs. Don't let Grub get away with anything too ridiculous.' She leans forward, touching her fingertips to the screen. He reaches up, placing his hand beneath hers.

'See you,' he smiles, and leaves.

'How's he doing as Commander?' Holly asks when the door clicks shut. 'It isn't getting him down?'

'He's doing wonderfully,' Vinyáya answers. 'As gung-ho as ever.'

'Except when it comes to paperwork,' Foaly grins.

'But is anyone ever gung-ho about paperwork?' puts in N°1, around an enormous yawn.

'True.'

Vinyáya looks at N°1, shaking her head. 'I promised Qwan I'd get you back at a decent hour, N°1. We're going home.'

'What? But we've only just started! What's the point of being nearly omnipotent if you can't stay up past your bedtime?'

'Well, when you're entirely omnipotent then you can stay out as long as you want.'

N°1 pouts. 'Fine. You're just lucky I like you, or you'd be an iguana right now.'

Vinyáya laughs. 'If you turned me into an iguana, I'd bite your toes off.'

'No transfiguration or bodily harm inside the Ops Booth or I'll have you both vaporised where you stand,' Foaly wags a finger.

'Wouldn't that count as bodily harm?' N°1 points out.

'Sure, but this is my office, I can break all the rules I want.'

Vinyáya rolls her eyes and waves up at the screen. 'Good night everyone, Happy Equinox.'

'Good night, Wing Commander, 'night N°1,' Holly waves her fork.

''Night Holly! Or good morning, I suppose, for you three. Have a good day! Bye Artemis and Butler!' N°1 waves energetically. 'You know, I'm really not tired,' he turns to Vinyáya.

'Sure you're not,' comes her voice from off screen.

'No, really, I – ' the sound of a yawn can be made out as their voices fade. '- I'm not tired...'

Foaly shakes his head, watching them leave. 'You know, that little guy's kinda grown on me. I mean, he's a bit wordy, but he's alright.'

'He's certainly very enthusiastic,' Artemis agrees.

'Tell me about it.'

Holly takes her first bite since the call came through. She chews thoughtfully for a minute, then asks, 'What about N°1, Foaly? Couldn't he synthesise some kind of cure?'

'We've thought of that already,' Artemis says, not looking at her. 'But it didn't work out.'

'Oh?' Holly puts her fork down.

'We don't know what it is we need him to synthesise, you see. With JayJay's brain fluid, we had an example for him to work from. With this, we know what we want, but not what that is physically.' Foaly explains. 'That said, he could make you look like an elf again, no problem, but not actually be one. You know what I mean?'

Holly picks up her fork again. 'Yeah, I know what you mean,' she gives him a half smile.

'Those pancakes look delicious,' Foaly unsubtly changes the subject. 'I have to say I'm impressed. I've never seen you make anything more complicated than a nettle smoothie.'

'What can I say?' Holly shrugs, 'A girl's got to adapt.'

Juliet's mobile phone rings unexpectedly. 'Hello?' she flips it open, rising from where she's been crouching beside Holly. 'Hey, honey... oh sorry, no, we're downstairs in the parking lot... yeah, we're working on Holly's new bike... sure you can. Okay, see you in a bit.'

Holly looks up from where she is wiring a solar battery into the hole where her shiny new red motorbike once had an enormous engine. 'Arthur?' she guesses.

'Uh huh, he's coming down.'

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a familiar crop of carrot-red hair can be seen bobbing towards them over the roofs of the parked cars.

'Oh wow, when did you get this?' Arthur runs a hand along the body of the motorbike.

'Yesterday,' Holly grins up at him.

'What are you guys doing to it?'

'Replacing the engine with a specially designed solar battery,' Juliet shrugs, as though this were an everyday occurrence.

Arthur blinks. 'Solar battery?'

Holly nods, stretching the truth a bit, 'I got it from one of Artemis' friends. They're not in production yet.'

'Wow, impressive.'

'I just couldn't justify that much petrol consumption,' Holly shrugs.

'You're really into the whole "reducing your global footprint" thing, aren't you?' Arthur asks rhetorically.

'Something like that,' Holly replies, wiping the back of her hand along her forehead and leaving a streak of grease. 'I'm trying to get it done before tonight - I leave for Nepal at seven. Wish me luck'

'Luck!' Arthur smiles. 'Nepal, huh? Cool! For work?'

'Something like that,' Holly repeats, her head almost entirely invisible inside the motorbike as she fiddles with the battery's casing.

Looking impressed, Arthur turns to the reason he came. 'You still want to go for lunch, Juliet?'

'Always!' She gives him a heart-stopping smile. 'You good on your own, Holly?'

'Of course. I'm nearly done, as it is. Enjoy yourselves!'

'Always!' repeats Arthur, taking Juliet's hand.

Holly watches them walk off and smiles to herself.

Drawing her neutrino, Holly approaches the cave entrance silently. Three days of travelling through the Himalayan foothills, topped off by two hours of near vertical ascent to reach this cave, have not left her in the best of moods. She hopes, for their sakes, that the two sprites inside are feeling co-operative.

Below her, the Nepalese country side rolls away beneath the early morning fog; the village, where she's been staying, utterly invisible. Holly cricks her neck, like she used to do to get her magic flowing. Now it's mostly a relaxation thing.

'Hello, boys,' she says as she enters the cave. It's always good to start things off sounding confident.

Two sprites, busy eyeing pieces of turquoise with jeweller's loupes, jump comically.

'Frond, a human!' Sprite A says to Sprite B.

'Mesmerize her and get her out of here!'

'I don't think so,' Holly has already donned a pair of Artemis' specialty: mirrored sunglasses. The irony doesn't escape her.

'Wait - she's speaking Gnommish,' B realises, mouth agape. When you can speak every language on and under the planet, sometimes it takes a moment to register which one's currently coming out of you're hearing.

'How in Frond's name - '

'LEP,' Holly flashes a badge. 'Now, if you'd be so kind as to put your hands in the air. Unless you want me to use force?'

The sprites are dumbfounded. Then A's brain kicks into gear and he dives for the rear exit. Holly has immobilised him before he's even finished turning. She's pleased with her reaction time; all that training with Butler and Juliet is paying off. Sprite B's eyes widen and, shakily, he raises his hands. 'Okay, okay, I know you humans are all a bit crazy. I won't go anywhere, just please don't shoot.'

Holly rolls her eyes. 'I was crazy long before I was human,' she says, remembering one particular run in with a shuttle terminal official on her way to bring Artemis in for questioning.

Clapping handcuffs, more akin to high-tech cable ties than metal cuffs, onto her perps, she locks them both to the table. 'Now just hold tight while I package this stuff up. The retrieval team'll be here at sundown. So we've got,' she peers out of the entrance, 'another hour? Be good and don't make me hurt you.'

'Yessir,' the conscious sprite gulps.

Holly packs up all the turquoise and pieces of silver work, then sits down on one of the crates, chin in hands.

'Err,' begins Sprite B, his natural chattiness irrepressible, 'since we've got some time to kill, do you mind if I ask, ah, just how you came to be working for the LEP?'

'I've worked for the LEP since I was in my seventies. I went through the Academy like any other cadet. I was the first female Recon captain the LEP ever had.'

'Frond's hang nail!' The sprite's mouth falls open yet again. 'I know you. You're Holly Short! Goblin Rebellion is one of my favourite films!' He squints at her critically. 'You look nothing like yourself.'

Holly laughs. 'You mean Skylar Peat looks nothing like me. I was me first, after all.'

'Err, right.' The sprite frowns over her logic. 'But wait - I thought you retired to Machu Picchu. That's what everyone's saying, at any rate.''

'Just goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you hear,' Holly shakes a finger at him.

'How did you end up human?' he scratches his green scalp with his handcuffed hands.

'Long story,' Holly says, scuffing the dirt floor with the toe of a boot. 'Someone had a grudge to settle.'

'That's a pretty serious grudge! D'Arvit does that suck. Human,' the sprite shudders, grimacing horribly.

'S'ok, I'm getting used to it - slowly but surely.' Holly is momentarily taken aback by the strength of the fairy's revulsion. She's forgotten how most of the People regard humans – it's been a long time since she's shared those views.

'Still,' the sprite shakes his head, 'Frond, I am so sorry - really.'

'Thanks,' Holly smiles. 'I don't usually get sympathy from my prisoners.'

'Hey,' B looks at her pityingly, 'this goes beyond cops and robbers. This is about Us and Them.'

'Right,' Holly says. Us and Them. She wishes, not for the first time in her life, that the borders between those two were just a little less rigid.

Her communicator buzzes, distracting them. 'Holly,' she answers brusquely.

'Kelp,' comes Trouble's no-nonsense Commander's Voice. 'We're landing in five. They ready to go?'

'Affirmative, Commander,' Holly replies in her best G.I. Jane voice, lips twitching.

'Good.' The line goes dead.

Holly looks down at the communicator in her palm, shaking her head fondly. Oh, Trouble. 'Your ride'll be here any minute,' she tells her prisoner. The sprite sighs.

'I can't believe you actually bought that monstrosity.'

'What are you talking about? It's beautiful.' Holly pulls her helmet off, patting her new motorbike fondly.

'It's a deathtrap.'

'Oh well then, no worse than hanging around with you,' Holly grins, punching him in the arm.

Artemis rubs his much-abused limb and sighs. 'You're not driving to Myles' recital on that, are you?'

'No, don't worry, I'm coming with you guys.'

'Holly!' Before Artemis has time to reply, Myles himself appears at the front door. 'You came!'

'Well, I said I'd come to one of these, didn't I?' Holly smiles down at the boy. 'Sorry it took me so long.'

'Not at all,' Myles beams.

Angeline and Beckett join them on the front steps. 'Holly, what a pleasant surprise. How have you been?'

'Great!' Holly enthuses. 'Work's been good – I just got back from Kathmandu a couple of days ago, actually. It was nice to be somewhere where I wasn't a head shorter than everyone over ten.'

Angeline laughs. 'You need to come by more often, we miss having someone lively around. Juliet's coming for tea tomorrow, why don't you join us?'

Holly grins, 'Thanks, Angeline. That would be lovely.'

The other woman smiles.

'Well, look who it is! Hello, stranger!' Artemis Senior, followed by Butler, comes down the steps. 'Will you be joining us tonight?'

Holly nods. 'Yes, I promised Myles I'd come to a recital, so here I am.'

'Capital, capital,' the man smiles as Other Butler brings the car round.

Butler is admiring the motorbike. 'This yours, Holly?'

'Yes!' Holly's face lights up. 'I bought it right before my Nepal trip.'

'Oh yes, how was that?'

'Piece of cake,' Holly waves a hand. 'More importantly, look at my beautiful solar battery pack. One hundred percent emission free!'

'Very nice,' Butler runs a hand along the gleaming red metal. 'And if I ever catch Artemis on this, I'll serve you up for dinner. Do you hear me, Holly Short?'

Artemis scoffs, 'As though I'd go anywhere near such a ridiculous contraption.'

'I have two words for you, Butler,' Holly puts her hands on her hips, 'and they are: flying mattress.'

Butler looks chagrined. 'Desperate times,' he says.

Holly grins at him, showing her incisors. 'Let's hope I'm never desperate, then, shall we?'

'Flying mattress?' asks Artemis Senior.

'It's a very long story, I'm afraid,' Artemis ushers Holly into the limo before she can add anything.

'They always are with you,' sighs his father.

The next day, Artemis is waiting for the Bentley outside of the Fitzgerald Building with ill concealed impatience. A stream of boys his age are passing by, heading for the rugby field, shouting and kicking footballs back and forth. Shirts hang out, trouser hems run frayed along the ground, and bulging sports bags swing back and forth from shoulders. Artemis dodges one particularly close call with a rugby ball and checks his watch.

The other boys have spotted something. They cluster on the pavement in excitement, pointing. Artemis rolls his eyes and fiddles with his mobile. Then, suddenly, he hears a familiar purring, growing louder and louder. His face freezes in an expression of disbelief, his reflection staring back at him from the screen of his phone. 'Oh no,' he whispers.

He looks up. A brilliantly red motorbike has pulled up in front of him. The rider slips to the ground and the boys watch ravenously. It doesn't even matter what the face under the helmet's visor looks like because the body below it is undeniably female and to use the most suitable adjective, hot. And, whoever she is, she rides a motorbike for crying out loud.

The mystery rider grabs something from the compartment under the back seat. Another helmet. The boys are beside themselves. She's come for someone.

'You wouldn't dare,' Artemis whispers to himself.

Holly takes off her own helmet and leaves it on the bike. Holding the other in her hand, she moves towards Artemis, followed by a good two dozen appalled stares. The new physics lecturer? Are you kidding me? He's the definition of nerd.

He looks directly at her as she approaches; his face is cold, his mouth perfectly straight, his eyes unblinking. Over my dead body, says his stare.

That can be arranged, replies her smirk.

No. The only physical sign of his point-blank refusal is a faint tightening of his lips.

Oh yes, my dear Master Fowl, she replies in kind.

She stops less than a foot away from him, holding the helmet between them.

I will not, continues his silent refusal.

She grins. 'Aw, come on, Artemis,' she whispers aloud, 'not even to see the look on their faces?'

His stony expression wavers ever so slightly. This is the problem with having friends, he realises. They grow to understand you so well that they don't need to be genii to know exactly how to manipulate you into doing whatever it is they happen to want done.

'Checkmate,' he concedes, sketching a bow.

'You don't need to tell me, I already realise.'

'Butler will have your innards for dinner,' he warns her, taking the helmet. She just laughs.

Gingerly, but thankfully with a surprising lack of clumsiness, he clambers on behind her, sliding the helmet over his carefully groomed hair. The last he sees of his new students, before sliding the visor down, is their horrified expressions at his inexplicable good fortune. Revving the engine with unnecessary vigour, Holly cackles away in front of him as they make the loop back onto Pearse Street.

Artemis is grateful that the solar battery keeps the motor from being any louder than a throaty purr. It doesn't, however, affect the bike's capacity to reach alarming speeds. As soon as they pass through the city and turn onto the M1, Artemis unashamedly clings to Holly as they scream back towards the Manor.

That night, Holly takes her wings and launches herself off the roof of their building. Under a full moon, she flies out over the bay, until she is far enough away for the lights of Dublin to fade. Dipping low over the water she calls softly, wondering if the dolphins will still come to her.

They do. Dorsal fins breaking the water, their backs blotchy with sores, they swim beside her as she skims low enough to feel the spray. Above them, the dark forms of seagulls swoop across the moon, their shadows flickering over the skin of the dolphins.

Up close, the water is calm and dark - blue deepening to black - but every tiny wavelet reflects the light of the moon until the sea stretches before them, twinkling away into eternity.

Holly raises her eyes from the animals below her to look out towards the horizon. The moon lights up the night sky, making the clouds eerie and iridescent. The tang of salt pervades everything. Even the light seems to smell of salt.

Running her hand along the back of her nearest companion, she waves, turning onto her side and peeling away upwards into the sky. She follows the coast for a while, turning inland when she passes Bally Lighthouse. Over Dublin's fringes she flies, until the suburbs sink into pasture land and the pasture land rise into the grounds of Fowl Manor.

As she approaches the house she wonders if Butler's security system is picking her up. Probably, he uses fairy cameras after all.

There's only one light still on in the Manor. Landing silently on the balustrade of his balcony, Holly crouches there for a moment, watching him at his desk, scribbling away furiously. She smiles.

He looks up as she opens the French windows. 'Hello,' he says, seemingly unsurprised by a be-winged red-head stepping into his room at one a.m.

'Hello,' she replies, shedding her wings. 'I was out over the bay and thought I'd drop by.'

'That must have been rather cold,' he remarks, eyeing her cotton shirt.

Holly laughs, tugging her sleeves over her hands. 'A little. I sort of forgot about my jacket.'

'It's not summer anymore,' he admonishes. 'Would you like a sweater?'

'That'd be great. No, don't get up, I can get it.' Briefly, she lays a hand on his shoulder as she crosses to the walk-in closet. 'What are you working on?' she calls from inside.

'The results of your blood analysis,' Artemis replies, after a moment's pause.

She comes out of the closet, pulling a woollen sweater over her head. 'Why?' she asks, when her face reappears.

Artemis frowns. 'Well, with the general idea of finding you a cure.'

Holly chuckles. 'I see.'

She sits down cross-legged on his bed and begins toying with the embroidered bed spread. 'You know, Artemis, you don't need to lie to me. I know you don't want to find a cure.' She pauses, licking her lips. 'Actually, Artemis, you don't need to lie to me at all – about anything.' Eyes fixed on the threads below her. 'I can handle the truth.'

She looks up at him then. 'I've seen you do your worst, after all. Next time you're doing something less than moral, don't bother pretending. It's... it's not worth it. You are what you are. I can deal with that. And if I can't, well, that's my problem. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't, at least, try to be a little more decent; only that... I know there's a limit to how much a person can change.' She snorts softly. 'Or should I say: to how much they want to change? Anyway, the point is: I can take the truth, whatever it is.'

Artemis blinks, digesting this. 'What if it's another situation like my mother's illness? What if I need you to do something I don't think you'll do?' he asks at last.

Holly laughs. 'You should have a little more faith in the people who love you, Artemis. When have I ever not done what you needed me to do? Even back when I didn't much care for you, I respected you enough to do what I was told.'

He swallows. 'This is very... good of you.' He frowns at the inadequacy of the word.

'Well, one of us has to be, or this'll never work.'

'There's always the option of it not working,' but his throat dries on the words.

Holly just looks at him. 'And this from the boy who was so desperate for me to stay only last spring. I told you that you would change your mind.'

'I haven't changed my mind. I'm giving you a choice.'

'How good of you,' comes the dry response.

'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.'

Holly eyes him speculatively, leaning back to rest her weight on her arms. 'And if I decided that this wasn't going to work, if I told you I was leaving, now, before it's even really begun, would you let me?'

Artemis opens his mouth to lie, but pauses. 'No,' he says at last.

She smiles wryly. 'I didn't think so. But see? Honesty isn't so bad, is it?'

He shakes his head, rising to join her on the bed. Cross-legged, they sit side by side in silence for a moment.

'I guess,' Holly speaks first, 'that it's a good thing this is going to work out then, isn't it? Otherwise I shudder to think what you'd have come up with to make me stay.'

He chuckles. 'I doubt that it would have been very pleasant.'

Holly rocks her shoulder against his. 'You should come by for dinner on Friday. I want to make my world-famous spaghetti and tomato sauce but Juliet's going away with Arthur, so I'll have no one to show it off to.'

He gives a brief laugh. 'I'd like that.'

'Of course you would, I make excellent spaghetti, don't listen to Mulch.' She punches him gently and rises to go. 'But I should probably get back. It's late, even for us.'

Artemis looks at her without speaking.

Holly contemplates his silent face for a moment before resting a hand on each of his knees and kissing him. 'Good night, Artemis,' she smiles against his cheek.

He grabs her before she can move away. One hand curling around her neck, the other in her hair, he doesn't bother speaking. She gets the point anyway. She pulls herself back onto the bed, and they fall backwards, softly thumping into the duvet as they land. Holly's conscience makes a feeble effort to remind her that he's a criminal and barely more than a child but, for once, she doesn't pay it the slightest bit of attention. Her conscience doesn't really mind.

Revelling in their new-found freedom, Artemis' hands wander; hair, skin, jean, wool, cotton beneath the wool and skin below that. He fights to keep his fingers from shaking as they trace the lines of her ribs.

When they finally remember to breathe, Holly swallows, moving back until their noses touch. 'I should go home,' she whispers, her voice hoarse.

'That is patently the most terrible idea you have ever had - and I have seen you at your most stupid,' he tells her.

She snorts with laughter, letting her head fall beside his on the duvet. 'Ah, Artemis,' she chuckles into the feathers. Turning her head slightly to look at him, she smiles with the sudden knowledge that she will never have enough of this being beside her.

She runs a thumb under his blue eye, 'Come for dinner.'

He nods and his hands tighten on her skin as he feels her shift, rolling off him. Unfortunately, in the physical arena at least, Artemis hasn't got a hope in hell.

He sighs, the picture of dejection.

Holly's lips twitch as she sits up. 'I'm going home now. I'll see you on Friday.' Quickly, so as not to be caught, she swoops down, kisses him once more and slips off the bed.

Artemis huffs quietly and pushes himself back onto his feet. 'At least let me help you with the wings,' he says, crossing to where she stands by the French windows, strapping herself in.

And, as it always does, helping the one you love get out of the door means delaying them for at least another twenty minutes.