Greetings Earthlings
I know this is extremely late, but time went too fast and I was whisked away on Christmas day to a planet with no internet. Also my laptop has been playing up and wouldnt let me use document manager without having a hissy fit. So this is my belated Christmas present to you. Enjoy!
WARNING: Mild OOCness found in two of the characters. If you want to enjoy the chapter, I would suggest that you overlook it.
Chapter 10: The Fight
'Amore' didn't look as glamorous as it did at the beginning of the evening. The lights were dim; the wax from the candles had dripped all over the tables and in some places, on the floor. Many couples were leaving and the few that remained were doing slow dances around the dance floor.
Butler followed his charge and the captain back to the Bentley. Holly was in a very bad mood and Artemis was sulking. Even if Butler wasn't trained to be observant, he would have realised that Artemis must have caused the fight.
Instead of sharing the backseat, Artemis sat in the front, while Holly sat in the back, staring stubbornly out the window. Artemis followed her lead, leaving the atmosphere very awkward for the rest of the ride back to Fowl Manor.
As soon as they arrived, Holly rushed straight up to her bedroom while Artemis stood staring at her in shock. Butler came up behind him and placed his giant hands on Artemis's shoulders.
"What happened?" he asked in the gentlest voice the bodyguard could muster.
"I don't want to talk about it," said Artemis, frowning slightly. He then shrugged Butler's hands off his shoulders and walked with purpose up the stairs. At first Butler assumed that he was going to talk to Holly, but was proven wrong when he heard the infamous noise of Artemis's laptop alarm. Obviously Artemis had been so stressed that he had misspelt his password 'Holly' which was probably a reason on its own. Butler moved to the Security Booth to make sure that neither was trying to kill themselves or each other.
He turned on the spare computer and brought up the two bedrooms. Artemis, his face pained was typing furiously on his laptop. Holly, on the other hand was lying face down on her bed. It took Butler a few moments to realise that she was crying.
This was not good. He sighed and walked up to Artemis's room, if he got Artemis to go and talk to Holly, it would hopefully solve their argument.
On his way up, Butler found it more difficult than usual to climb the stairs. He was getting old, he should really retire and live in some nice seaside town where he could fish and read for the rest of his life.
Once he reached Artemis's door he paused, preparing himself. Was it the right thing to do? Was it something that they should sort out alone? What would Madame Ko do? Butler shuddered and knocked on the door.
Inside the room, Artemis had opened up his newest romance book that he was writing under the pseudonym 'Violet Tsiblou'. He hadn't written it for years. There really wasn't any point, what with the fact that before they were only little joys to get him some easy money. This time, he wrote more seriously, and because of his mood, made the two characters have a fight and break up. As he got into the more tense parts of the argument, Artemis couldn't help but let the furious tears roll down his cheeks. He loved Holly and to tell the truth, he wasn't really sure what he had done wrong.
When he heard a knock on the door, he thought it was Holly so ignored it. Then he heard a gruff voice on the other side.
"Artemis."
Artemis sighed, wiped the tears off his cheeks and opened the door. Butler stood at the door for a couple seconds to have a good look at his charge.
Artemis's eyes were red and swollen and his cheeks, although being dried still had the shiny quality found when tears have streamed down them. Artemis turned and started walking back to his desk. Butler acted quickly and grabbed his shoulder, leading him to the bed. Artemis tried to resist but as Butler was a trained killer, there really wasn't any point. As soon as Artemis was seated on the bed, Butler knelt in front of him.
"What happened?" he finally asked. Artemis looked down at his knees, a strained look visible on his face.
"I don't want to talk about it," he repeated. Butler rested a hand on his shoulder, using the other to turn Artemis's face upwards.
"Well it's not going to go away until you do," said Butler sternly, in a sort of gentle way. Artemis frowned.
"The problem, Butler, is that I am not entirely sure what I did wrong." Butler's lips twitched. It was probably the fact that he had never been in any situation such as this that he couldn't help but find it amusing. He quickly straightened his face as Artemis gave him a withered look. "As you are clearly enjoying yourself, Butler, why don't you go and cheer Holly up or something," said Artemis, having apparently recovered his cold composure. He lay down on the bed, closing his eyes and gently rubbing his temples.
"You must have some idea what started the argument," said Butler logically. Artemis's brow creased in thought, his eyes still closed.
"Well, we had danced for about an hour and a half and I was getting tired," he took a shaky breath. "Holly insisted that we danced another one. So I did, hoping that it was the last. But she continued to smile at me and explain what dance style we would do. I tried to tell her again, but she is very stubborn when she wants to be, and she got upset. I then tried to talk her into sitting down, but she used her full force of anger on me, telling me that I was selfish and didn't think of anyone but myself. I tried to tell her that all I wanted was a break but she continued yelling at me, she stormed off in your direction and I followed. And that's pretty much it." He opened his eyes to look at Butler's expression. Butler looked amused.
"Women," he said, rolling his eyes. Artemis looked at him quizzically.
"So, I didn't do anything wrong?" he asked cautiously. Butler shook his head.
"With my experience with Juliet, women want to have things when they want them which, in most cases is straight away. They don't want to wait. As soon as you break this law, she forgets what she wanted and just yells at the guy until she loses her voice, and then she storms away." Artemis raised a delicate eyebrow.
"And how does one get back into her good books?" he asked. Butler shrugged.
"It depends what she likes, for example, Juliet likes chocolate so I got her a few bags of pineapple lumps which are her favourite and are really expensive as they have to be shipped from New Zealand," he added to himself. Artemis thought for a moment.
"Well Holly likes pizza," he said. Butler patted him on the shoulder.
"Well, if you want her in a good mood on Christmas, maybe you could stoop low enough to buy pizza for lunch." He gave him a slightly amused smile then walked out of the room, leaving Artemis to his thoughts. Artemis sighed deeply and lay back down again on his bed, falling asleep almost immediately.
Holly, in her room, was exhausted. The events of the night were catching up to her and she was starting to regret yelling at Artemis. He had only wanted a break. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt but nothing would make her go to his room and apologise, it was part of her stubborn nature. But the feeling of longing grew more and more and the thought that she had wrecked their relationship was overpowering. So she ended up face down on her bed crying. Not particularly her style, but she was upset.
When she heard a subtle knock on the door, she decided to ignore it. She did not want to face Artemis at the moment, no way. The door opened anyway.
"Go away, I'm not in the mood to talk," she said, not daring to look up.
"What if it isn't Artemis?" asked a deep burly voice. Holly rolled over onto her back to face Butler.
"Then I may be able to make an exception," she said. Butler sat down on the end of the bed. The Eurasian then noticed that Holly's mascara was streaked down from her eyes and that her usual coffee complexion was a sickly-sparkly-greenish tinge, an unfortunate consequence of the eye shadow.
"You want to get back with him, don't you?" he asked, cutting straight to the chase as usual. Holly rolled back over.
"Yes," she sobbed into her pillow. Butler sighed and patted her on the leg.
"Well, why don't you go and talk to him?" he asked, turning Holly around to face him again. She looked at the wall.
"Because I can't," she said.
"Why not?"
"It just doesn't work that way." Butler sighed and took a different angle.
"Have you seen the state that he is in?" he asked. Holly shook her head.
"No…"
"Did you hear his laptop alarm go off?" he asked. Holly shook her head, confused. "Well it was him typing his password in wrong, that's how distressed he is, he NEVER gets his password wrong. He then started writing his cheesy romance novel again," he said, eyeing Holly sternly to see her reaction, not getting the desired one, he continued. "He wrote about the characters having a major argument, causing a break up." Butler then came to the bit where it meant the most. "While he was typing it, he couldn't stop his emotions, so he was crying at the same time." Holly sat up sharply, knowing that Artemis only cried when he was extremely upset or happy.
"What!" she exclaimed. Butler smiled as she completely forgot her own problems and ran to Artemis's bedroom. Butler followed closely behind, grinning happily. If this continued, Artemis would be forgiven by Christmas day, which was less than a minute away. Holly threw open the door and stood in the doorway, looking at her sleeping boyfriend. She smiled and the feeling of regret and annoyance at everything that had gone wrong in that evening was whipped away. She moved slowly to the bed and sat down next to Artemis's head.
"I forgive you," she whispered. Artemis stirred slightly in his sleep as if he had heard, murmuring one word.
"Holly." Holly smiled and looked at the clock. 12:00 exactly.
'Merry Christmas," she whispered, lying down beside him and falling asleep instantly.
Butler stood in the doorway, watching the two, his 'doting grandfather' expression on his face again. Artemis was forgiven, and hopefully they wouldn't have to have pizza for Christmas.
Artemis, though looking calm and stoic, was actually kind and sensitive on the inside and had only showed that side of him to two people, Holly and Butler. That was what proved to the bodyguard that what Artemis and Holly were feeling for each other was not the usual girlfriend boyfriend stunt. It was love. And despite all that Butler had learnt from others, he still believed that love actually was found in everyone, even if they were the ugliest, most stupid people in the world. Butler shuddered, remembering something that Foaly had said about goblins. "They may be ugly, and you may think that only mothers could love them, but you should see the rate that they reproduce!"
Butler shuddered again, trying to focus his mind on something else. Luckily the scene before him did so.
Artemis had wrapped his arm around the sleeping elf, moaning her name again. Butler smiled. This was perfect scene. Then his smile turned upside-down. He better not let the others see this. He closed the door quietly and headed for his own bedroom.
Love Actually, he thought once he was in bed. I love that movie. And the last thought that crossed his mind before he began to dream was: lobsters.
Ok, for those poor deprived children who have not seen Love Actually, It is the best romantic comedy ever made. When Butler thought 'Lobsters' it would be because one of the best parts of the movie was a child going up to her mum announcing that the parts for their Nativity Play at school had been announced.
Her mum (Emma Thompson) asks; 'Oh, so who are you'.
'I'm the lobster' her daughter replies.
'The lobster?" asks the mum, just to make sure she had heard right.
'The first lobster," corrects her daughter.
'There was more than one lobster present at the birth of baby Jesus?' asks the mum.
And then the daughter replies; 'Duh.'
It is one of the funniest scenes in the whole movie, which is saying something. You have to see it to actually get it, but wait 'til you are over 12 at least, it's rated M and is not for children.
And on a completely unrelated topic, Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas!
I hope to update soon, I give you all the right to pester me if this isn't updated by next week.
Live long and prosper!
-Captain Short *murmers something that sounds suspiciously like 'beam me up Scotty' and disapears in a blue flash of light*
