Artemis switched the movie off and wandered into his own room. He opened the door to see two little boys staring at him intently.

"Hello simple-toon."


Chapter Seven


"Holy Frond," Artemis finally spluttered, staring at his younger brothers in disbelief. Beckett, (or at least that's who Artemis thought it was) stood up and confronted his brother.

"The pony downstairs said that we could come up here and tell you while he rang the com-and-a. He said that you would tell us from the beginning," said the twin that must have actually been Myles judging by the way the child was talking.

"Did Mum and Dad see them?" Artemis asked. Beckett answered this time.

"Yes they saw the pony and the short hairy thing that didn't smell very nice," he said, wrinkling up his nose as he spoke. Artemis laughed.

"Yes Mulch smells rather- interesting," he said.

"They are talking to each-other now," said Myles. Artemis sighed. He had a lot of explaining to do. He took each twin by the hand and knocked on Holly's door.

"Come in," said Holly's voice from within. Artemis opened the door to see Holly sitting at the desk in her room, reading a book.

"Holly, we have a situation. Foaly and Mulch are talking to my parents and the twins came and told me. You need to come down and meet them, especially my Mother who wanted to meet the elf that has saved her family so many times," Artemis said. Holly blushed. She knew that Artemis had had to tell Angeline about the people. She had had a hard time with Internal Affairs and the Council.

The twins let go of Artemis's hands and went to hold Holly's.

"You can be our new Aunty Holly," Beckett said. Artemis rolled his eyes and led the way back to the lounge, where he assumed the party would be. When he walked in, he saw a very excited Angeline, a completely bewildered Artemis I, Mulch, (who was enjoying Artemis I's discomfort immensely) and a very nervous Foaly. They all looked up as the four entered the room. The twins immediately jumped onto the couch beside their mother. Artemis and Holly made their way to the spare couch, sitting down comfortably. Artemis then noticed Butler standing silently behind Foaly, his face expressionless. Artemis assumed that Juliet had gone to bed. Angeline had got up and ran to hug her eldest son.

"Hello Arty!" she exclaimed. "We decided to come home early as your Father's prosthetic leg was giving him problems." Artemis nodded. Angeline then noticed Holly. Holly got up and politely shook her boyfriend's mother's hand.

"Pleased to meet you Angeline, I'm Holly," she said. Angeline accepted her hand, then engulfed her in a hug.

"Thank you so much for everything Holly, you have saved nearly every member of my family at least once, except the twins," she said. Holly smiled.

"It's alright, I was just doing my job," she said. Angeline shook her head.

"No you weren't, most of the times it was your own choice," she said. "Arty told me about you saving him at Rathdown Park," she said. Holly wondered how much Artemis had told Angeline, she glanced at Artemis, whose expression clearly said that he hadn't. Foaly then got up to talk to Artemis.

"Look, Artemis. The commander had to be told about everything." Foaly even used Trouble's rank, he must have been very worried. "He's not very happy, but at least he is a good enough mood to not wipe them," he said. Artemis nodded.

"Thank the commander for me," he said, then turned back to his family, "Let's sit down and I will explain everything from the beginning.

"It all started when I was twelve and got hold of The Book, which is like a fairy bible and has all their laws in it most of which rhyme. I borrowed it off a drunk sprite in Vietnam and managed to capture every page on camera. Then when I came back here I translated the book out of Gnommish, the fairy language and into English. I found out a lot about fairies in the book; I found that they live underground in a place called the Lower Elements. I also found that the magic which they have is not the type of magic which you would expect. The magic has to be renewed every so often when you have run out. With this magic a fairy can heal, shield, mesmerise and speak every language above and below ground. This applies to all creatures who follow the rules in the Book, if you don't you could lose your magic forever (an exception is warlocks but I will come to them later).

"Butler and I managed to capture a fairy, Captain Holly Short. Holly is in fact an elf and a leprechaun too, but that is a job. Holly works for the fairy police force the LEP in the reconnaissance unit. She is the first female captain in LEPrecon and at the time she was under Julius Root," he paused for a moment swallowing his emotions, Artemis Senior noticed the pause and interrupted him.

"What do mean by 'was'?" he asked. Holly gave Artemis a sad but sympathetic smile.

"We'll come to that later," said Artemis decidedly, having regained his composure, "Now, as I was saying…" and Artemis continued talking, about battles with trolls, the Arctic rescue and Koboi labs, the Cube and the mind wipe, Root's death, Holly being framed and the Eleven Wonders Exhibition, Minerva, Demons and Hybras, Silky Sifaka Lemurs, time travel and lastly- the final capture of the past Opal Koboi who was mind wiped and sent back into the past. The story took ages and the twins had to put to bed after being told about only the first two adventures. When Artemis finally finished and explained why the fairies were in their house, leaving out the fact that he and Holly were together, Artemis senior spoke again.

"So what you are trying to tell me is that you have been involved with fairies for something like six years and you didn't tell your father?" he asked. Artemis II smiled.

"I had made a promise not to, besides it would have been too dangerous, you may have told humans." he then turned serious. "And you've got to promise right now that you wont tell anybody because otherwise we will have to wipe you," he said firmly. Artemis Senior looked taken aback by his son's sudden harshness.

"Of course I won't tell anybody," he said. Then turned to the fairies in the room. "Now, we haven't properly met, you must be Foaly," he said, shaking the centaur's hand, "Mulch, and Holly." He shook each hand in turn. Angeline had enjoyed hearing the story again and was talking to Holly about fairy life. Foaly and the two Artemis's were having a conversation about fairy technology. Mulch found his way to the kitchen and Butler stayed where he was.

Artemis and Holly soon found themselves next to each again, having a huge group 'discussion' about time travel. Artemis brought up the dangers of time travel, talking about the paradox that occurred and accelerated aging, or de-aging in Holly's case. Unfortunately for both of them, Angeline decided to bring up the point that Holly must have been around the same age as Artemis, (both blushed furiously) then Foaly who was having fun embarrassing them, decided to mention that Holly hadn't gone back to her previous age. Both Angeline and Artemis senior raised their eyebrows as the victims blushed again. But Foaly wasn't finished there. No. He was really enjoying himself, so he continued.

"So, I guess you are wondering what we have been doing here?" he asked, and he didn't wait for a reply, "Well on the first day we decorated the house, as you can see. Then we awoke the next morning to find Artemis and Holly missing, we found them later in one of the guest bedrooms curled up next to each other on the couch." He paused for a second for the information to sink in, and then carried on. "They assured us that they hadn't done anything and then we had a snowball fight which proved to be interesting." He stopped to wink at Holly and Artemis who were both shaking their heads madly at him. Foaly felt sorry for them, even though he was enjoying himself, he knew that he should stop and let them continue at their own pace. They were after all Artemis's parents not his. Angeline and Artemis senior looked at him expectantly to continue, but he gestured at Holly and Artemis II, letting them take over. They gave him an appreciative look then looked at each other, unsure how to continue. Artemis thought it over and winked reassuringly at Holly.

"Well, we will back track to the Gorilla cage at Rathdown Park," he said. Artemis senior and Angeline looked at each other both, wondering why they had to go back so far.

"As I previously told you I was injured, nearly mortally so. Holly managed to mesmerise the gorilla and heal me. As I awoke from my unconscious nightmare I said: 'Holly you saved me again,' and she replied 'of course I saved you, I couldn't do without you' and kissed me." Artemis tried to make it sound like it was no big deal, but found his cheeks grow hot.

"As you know," he continued. "I had lied and made it up to her, but Holly said 'we are from different worlds Artemis, we will always have doubts about one another. Let's carry on and leave the past in the past where it should be.' And we did until she came here. We kissed again while decorating and again that night that we slept in the guest room. The others had seen us over the cameras while we were decorating and we thought that we broke it to them during the snow fight. When you came we were watching a movie, Harry Potter six to be precise, but that doesn't matter, what does is that I will need your permission to continue. As my parents you will have some say in my decision, but also as I am now fifteen I think I can…" Artemis had to stop as he was engulfed in a suffocating hug from his mother.

"Of course you can, I have been waiting for the day that you would find someone like Holly, at first I had my money on Minerva but that was before I heard about Holly. They way you talk about her is different to the way that you talk about Minerva," she said, finally letting her son go and moving onto his girl friend. Artemis senior was stuck to his seat. He couldn't move a muscle. Artemis Fowl II, his son Arty, had finally grown up relationship wise. All these years Artemis senior had been worrying that his son wasn't seeing enough girls, and here was one, right in front of him, perfect. He finally stood up, receiving an approving glance from Butler. The group watched him as he approached, their faces ever so slightly worried. But Artemis senior's broke into a grin and he ruffled his son's hair.

"I am absolutely astounded, very happy mind you, but still surprised. I had started to worry that you didn't have any friends Arty, but you have many, hidden from me, I am so proud," he said, hugging his son. Artemis smiled warmly at Holly, she was accepted, completely.

"Now, I don't want to hear any stories about you two misbehaving," said Angeline, winking at her husband.

"Mum!" said Artemis, "you know I've changed." He purposely misinterpreted the question. Luckily for both he and Holly, nobody corrected him.

"Well I'm glad that's over," he told Holly, as they walked up to bed.

"Me too, Arty, me too," she answered and kissed him goodnight. Angeline who was also going to bed, saw them and smiled. Her Arty had finally grown up!


What do you think? I'll update soonish, but i am currently working on about four other fics. Try as i might, i can't seem to stop writing. Well see you next time, PLEASE REVIEW!!! I don't care if you don't like it, just tell me why!!! Then i can change it.

Resistance against reviewing is useless.

-Captain Short (If you can guess where that came from, i'll update quicker!!!