I groaned waking up, my limbs heavy and I took in a deep breath. It was morning, and the artificial light from outside seeped in through the window in my room.

Wait...my room? The last thing I remember was passing out on the couch. How did I get in my — oh. I tried to sit up, but with a long, pale arm around my waist, I couldn't get that far. I rolled over to face Artemis, whose pale blue eyes were open and watching me intently. "Good morning, Miss. Short."

I looked at him for a moment before frowning and pulling away. My mind raced with 10 million thoughts as I sat up, wrapping the covers around my bare body and putting my head in my hands while I groaned. "Oh, Gods what am I doing…"

A sigh came from behind me, along with some movement, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Holly—"

"No." I didn't turn around to face him. I didn't want to. "This is wrong, Artemis. So very wrong in so many ways."

"What's wrong with this?" He stood up, moving around the bed to face me instead. He had on his boxers, and he kneeled down in front of me, eyes staring into mine again while he took one of my hands in his. I tried to pull it away halfheartedly, but Artemis held fast.

"Everything," I insisted harshly, still trying to tug my hand out of his. "You are a criminal, and I was wrong last night to encourage this behavior." Finally, I was able to free my hand and push him to a safe distance away from me. One where his scent and body heat wouldn't compromise my sanity again.

Artemis smirked, and I knew he had something up his sleeve. "Ah, but you see, Miss. Short," he started, and I rolled my eyes. Here comes the BS. I thought. "If I'm not mistaken, once the deal was made and you walked out of my Manor with half of the ransom gold, I was cleared. And, I can't be put on trial for the same crime, according to fairy rules." He waved his hand, "So, technically, I'm not a criminal to The People anymore."

I froze where I sat, looking at the the ground with wide eyes. Was he right? "You snuck into Haven," I reminded him. "You can't be here."

I felt his smirk grow, and I could tell he had me in checkmate. "There's no rule about humans coming to Haven. I'm just the only human that knows about The People."

"Well, the blonde and the big guy know about us," I muttered, trying weakly to get one step ahead of him. "And from what I remember, the big one knew how to shoot very well." I looked up at Artemis, expecting to see his smirk, but his features were darkened.

He sighed, looking away when I frowned. "Look, you won't have to worry about them." He closed his eyes, and I knew something was wrong. "What matters…" He got up, taking a deep breath and folding his arms over his head. "Is that this feels good, Holly." Artemis turned back to me, his expression 10 times better than only a moment before. He smiled, striding back over and leaning down. "Great even. Now, why should we stop?" His nose slid down the side of mine, and I could feel myself cracking. Gods, the impact he had on me.

I took a shaky breath before breaking away from him, standing up and wrapping his oversized shirt around my body. "So, what?" I started to pace lightly across my floor, and Artemis sat on the edge of the bed silently, watching me intently again. "We just keep having meaningless sex? No strings attached?"

Artemis shook his head, shrugging his shoulders a little. "No strings. No emotions. Just physical pleasure. And let me remind you that it is amazing meaningless sex." He looked me up and down while the stupid genius smirked and I crossed my arms over my chest. "The moment you find someone, or if you're content with your life here, I'll be gone."

"I wanted you gone just yesterday, and you didn't leave," I reminded him, a small grin forming on my lips.

He cocked his head, that knowing smirk still plastered right on his face. I swear, if he didn't stop it would stick that way. "You just needed time to realize all I wanted from you was your body."

I chuckled at that, narrowing my eyes at him while I thought. And he just sat there, waiting for me to say something back to him. The thought of how outrageous it was that I was basically harboring my sworn enemy in my house crept into my mind again, but it was squashed when he tilted his head to the other side. His messed-up hair falling in clumps of strands around his head, making his eyes look larger than I knew they were. After a moment's pause, I strode up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing his lips deeply.

Artemis sighed contently, his hands slipping in his unbuttoned shirt I had draped around me and sliding across my bare sides to my back. He held me closer and fell back onto the bed, me still in his arms and kissing him.

"So..." Artemis breathed, pulling away an inch from my lips. He smirked, "I guess this is your way of saying I don't have to get on that shuttle tonight?"

I rolled my eyes, pulling him in and kissing him again without another word. He laughed against my lips, pulling away again. "Is that a yes?" Another eye roll and a longer kiss later, Artemis was panting lightly against my lips and I could feel them move against mine as he laughed breathily. "I'll shut up now." He pulled me back to him this time, and I ran my hands through his hair. Gods, he could be so infuriating sometimes. He was infuriating all the time, but I had to admit, he knew what he was doing.

The alarm on my bedside clock beeped and I pulled away from him. "Mm, I need to get ready." I tried to stand up, but about halfway, Artemis tugged me back down to him. I laughed, pushing against his chest. "I'm taking a shower."

"Alright." Artemis smirked, his soft lips locking with mine. "I'll get the water started." He began to sit up, but I pushed him back down on the bed with one hand to his chest, shaking my head.

"No..." I trailed off, smirking as I kissed his lips softly. "By myself."

Artemis pouted slightly, making me roll my eyes. "Why?"

I sighed. It didn't take long for him to start getting on my nerves. Although, he did look cute pouting like that. "Because if you go with me, we'll end up having sex." I put my finger over his lips when he opened his mouth to protest. "And if we have sex," I continued, smirking. "I'll be late for work." I pushed away from him.

Artemis laid there, looking me up and down as I got up, wrapping his shirt around me again and going to the bathroom.

I stood under the water, my eyes downcast to the floor of the shower and my hand propping myself on the cool tile in front of me.

This was insane. I'm insane. No, I had to remind myself that Artemis was the insane one. I felt the suds from the shampoo and body wash roll down my body and I sighed. But he was right. It was so good.

I shut the water off and grabbed a towel, wondering if Artemis was still on the bed. I scoffed, wringing my hair out. Probably.

However, I was wrong. Artemis wasn't still in the bedroom. I scrunched up my face, wondering where he went before shrugging my shoulders and heading to my closet.

As soon as I opened the door and grabbed my second-to-last clean uniform (Gods, I really needed to do my laundry), Artemis' head popped up from behind the closet door. "Hey, what do you want for breakfast?"

Shock ran through me and I jumped, dropping my uniform. "Artemis!" I hissed, looking at him. He raised an eyebrow back at me, confused.

"What?"

I put my hands on my hips, the towel still wrapped around my body tightly. "Are you trying to get another bat to the face?" A reference to yesterday, and I knew it worked when Artemis winced. "I don't have time for breakfast. Need to get to work."

Artemis frowned at that, "Fine. I'll get a cup of coffee ready." He turned, walking back out of the bedroom.

Making sure the genius left completely this time, closing the door all the way, I let out a deep breath. I didn't even know why I was holding it in, I just was. I shook it out of me, getting dressed and not even looking at Artemis as I grabbed the thermos he set on my kitchen table before walking out the front door.

Upon reaching the LEP building, I stormed down to the Ops Booth first thing. Of course I wasn't as mad at Foaly as I was yesterday, when he freshly blew me off, but I was still just a bit upset. It was time to teach that centaur a valuable lesson one way or another.

Foaly didn't even look up as I walked into the Ops Booth, his nose in a report. He was frowning at it, and only looked up when I was a few feet away from him. "Hey," he managed to say to me before looking back down at the papers. "What's up, Holly?"

I put my hands on my hips. "Foaly, you know I care about you, right?"

He paused for a moment, frowning before he looked up again and put the papers on his desk beside him. Foaly raised an eyebrow at me, "Yeah…" He trailed off, knowing I was up to something.

"And I like that you are hanging out with Cabelline. She's great for you." I ran a hand through my hair while I sighed frustratedly. "But, you dense centaur, don't make plans with her when you have plans with me."

Foaly looked at me, surprised for a moment before he folded his hands in his lap. He swirled around in his chair, still looking up at me before speaking. "Fine. I won't do that anymore," He muttered. "I won't blow you off again."

I smiled. Finally, after months of me trying to get through to him without actually saying it straight out. Apparently, being passive aggressive didn't work with stubborn centaurs. Who knew?

With that, I nodded and turned on my heel. "Talk to you later, Foaly," I said, looking back at him for a second before walking out the Ops Booth door.

Walking down the hall to the stairs on the way to my office, I felt even better than before. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I smiled to myself, the bland walls of the LEP surrounding me started to feel a little bit like home again.

I sat in my chair with a groan, looking at the new paperwork piled in large stacks on my desk. With a roll of my eyes, I grabbed me first paper on the stack to my far left. Well, it wasn't my own paperwork, it was mostly Blaine's. And I know it should have bothered me a bit more, but it was a reminder that Major Evans was not even in Haven for the day. This was going to be the best day ever. Just me and my paperwork.

Wow, never thought I would think that way about paperwork.

Hours went by, and the papers just kept getting higher and higher as more people came in and dropped more off. My eyes had started to hurt many, many papers ago, and my hand cramped immensely. Right when I thought I couldn't grip my pen anymore, the door opened again. I sighed and slumped in my chair. "Stop bringing me this stuff!" I groaned, putting my head in my arms as I rested them on the desk.

I couldn't see it, but Foaly raised an eyebrow at me. He closed the door behind him. "Does that mean you don't want lunch?" he asked.

My head snapped up when I recognized his voice and realized it was him. "Oh," I blurted, setting the pen down. "Thanks, Foal."

The centaur in front of me sighed, plopping down a brown paper bag in front of me. "Don't call me that," he scolded me, scoffing. Foaly sat down uncomfortably in a chair in front of his desk, opening up his own bag.

I smiled slightly, looking down at the bag for a second before opening it. A sandwich and fruit salad were tucked neatly inside of it. "Thanks, Foaly," I sighed, sitting back in my office chair.

Foaly nodded at me, taking a bite of his carrot. "You know I don't mean to butt you out, Short."

I rolled my eyes, taking a big bite of my nettle wrap. "Don't be a girl, centaur," I muttered, pushing the food to the side of my mouth. "I know you didn't, and Cabelline is amazing for you."

He nodded, sitting back and looking straight at me. "So, what happened yesterday? Root told me you were upset and rushed back home." Foaly raised an eyebrow at me, and I could already feel the heat creeping up to my face. I already knew where this was going. "What's up with the total change? You seem...more relaxed."

I shrugged, brushing off the question as best I could. But I wasn't about to look up at him. "It's nothing, Foaly."

"I know that's not true." He folded his arms over his chest.

I pursed my lips, shaking my head. "Nothing, Foaly," I retorted sharply. "Just drop it."

Foaly rolled his eyes, "Whatever," he drawled out. The centaur paused for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking back up at me. "Holly—"

"Foaly!" I exclaimed, exasperated at him. I knew he wouldn't stop anytime soon; he was the nosiest person I knew. But what was I supposed to say?

Hey, Foaly. You know how I've been happier since yesterday? Yeah, that was because I've been harboring Artemis Fowl inside my flat. And that's not all, Foaly. Oh, no. I've been having sex with The Artemis Fowl, and even that isn't everything. It's been the best sex of my life.

I sighed, popping a big, ripe strawberry in my mouth and staring at Foaly. Well, more like glaring silently and angrily while I chewed my food.

After a while, Foaly broke away from out glaring contest and rubbed his eyes, hurting since they were opened for so long. "Fine, I won't bother you… For now." He grabbed his bag, getting up.

"Foaly…" A pit of guilt started to form in the bottom of my stomach. I told him everything, he was my best friend.

Foaly looked back at me, and that pit suddenly disappeared. He was smiling at me. "You'll tell me when you're ready." The centaur shrugged. "Good luck with the paperwork."

I sighed, giving a small smile back to him. "Thanks. The way this is going, I'll have to take it home."

And that I did. After the glorious day of no Blaize, no harassment, and thinking all about last night with Artemis, I still had so much paperwork. My hand felt like it was about to fall off, and when I walked in the door I plopped the gigantic box of papers in my arms on my coffee table.

Artemis came out of the bathroom, dressed in light blue silk pants and a clean white t-shirt. He rubbed a towel through his wet ebony hair and raised an eyebrow at me before I could even sit down on the couch. And when I saw him, I stopped dead in my tracks.

I had accepted that Fowl would be here, but not like this. Never like this. I had never seen Artemis in anything other than his suits. Now here he was, standing in front of me in the most casual outfit I could possibly imagine at the moment. It caught me off guard and I found myself just staring at him. Thankfully, my mouth wasn't wide open.

Artemis just looked back at me and watched me with an amused smirk on his face. He cocked his head, looking me up and down quickly. "Welcome back, Short," he greeted.

That snapped me back into reality, thank the Gods. "Hey," I replied, blinking slowly as I came out of my trance.

Artemis' smirk grew and he chuckled, rubbing the towel through his hair one last time before throwing it back in the bathroom. I rolled my eyes, plopping down on the couch with a sigh. Turning on the TV mounted to the wall in front of me to whatever channel I was on last, I pulled my coffee table to me and grabbed the first sheet of paper out of the hundreds in the box.

"Mm, what's all this?" Artemis mused, sitting extremely close next to me and he picked up another sheet of paper I needed to sign. As he looked at it, his face scrunched in disgust. "You just got out of work." He flicked the paper back in the box.

I sighed, closing my eyes. "Not everyone can be the top of a worldwide, multi-billion dollar company," I muttered bitterly, signing another page with a quick flick of my wrist. "Some people have to do the hard work."

I didn't look up, but I could tell that Artemis raised a groomed eyebrow at me. I offended him, probably for the dozenth time, but I didn't care. I just kept signing the papers quickly, not even reading them anymore. I just wanted to get done and go to bed to actually sleep.

I expected Artemis to sigh, or sit back and leave me alone, or even just leave and go to another room. But he didn't. It was quiet for a moment before he opened his mouth and spoke. "I'm not the only one who's been keeping track," he said, and I froze. Damn, I was trying to keep that from him.

"You really think I wouldn't keep up with the person that locked me up against my will in their basement?" I smirked and looked up at him, thinking that he would be amused with the quirky banter we usually shared back and forth, but he was frowning. Artemis almost looked...upset. "What?"

Artemis looked into my eyes, and I could tell by the look in his that he was dead serious. I frowned back. It was the same look he gave me the other morning when I asked him about Butler. "How much do you know?" He asked quietly, as if he was afraid of the answer.

Taken aback by that, I leaned away and shook my head, thinking. "I don't know much… Only things that happened at Fowl Enterprise...Years ago. When it first blew up really big."

Relief flooded over his face. Well, it wasn't that much of a change. Artemis Fowl wasn't much of one to show his expressions, but if anyone knew him it was me. Well, me or Butler. Wherever he was. But I couldn't think about that now. I had to finish this paperwork. Well, I had to go to sleep. SOON.

I looked back at my papers, shaking my hand to get rid of the ache before starting to sign them again. But before I could put the pen to the paper, Artemis grabbed my wrist. I gasped, looking up at him and dropping the pen.

My surprise quickly disapparated when Artemis started rubbing circles over my wrist and palm with his thumbs slowly. He massaged the pain out of my hand, and I sighed in relief as the tension was released from my hand. I found myself relaxing back into my couch, closing my eyes. It felt...amazing.

With my eyes still closed, I felt Artemis tip my chin up gently before returning to my own hand and he kissed me softly. I sighed deeply, forgetting about the paperwork and tugging my hand out of his grip to wrap my arms around his neck. I melted into him, reminding myself that it wasn't about right or wrong. It was about what I wanted and how it felt.

He kissed me deeply, and my mind slowly started to fade away from me. But before it could, I leaned away and broke the kiss, looking up at him and putting a hand against his chest. "Mm, I'm too exhausted, Artemis," I told him, shaking my head.

"Shh..." he cut me off, kissing my lips again and wrapping his arms around my back. Lying backward on my couch, he took me with him so that I laid on top of his chest, tilting my head as I kissed him deeper.

I pulled away after feeling him wrap a blanket around the two of us, looking down at him. He looked back up at me with that smirk I hated for so many years. "Isn't this going to hurt you?" I asked, bringing up that he was a human on my fairy-sized couch.

"Don't worry about me." He pushed back a lock of hair behind my ear, and I couldn't help the shudder. "Go to sleep." Artemis kissed me again briefly before resting his head back, his arm behind it.

I sighed, resting my head again against his chest. It was true what I had said before, I was exhausted. My eyelids kept getting heavier, and every time I blinked I found that it was getting harder to open them.

I could practically still see Artemis' smirk from before on his face, and I didn't know whether or not I should have been annoyed by that.

Honestly...it was starting to grow on me.