Hey guys! Thanks for bothering to take any notice of my inane drabble :)

Full summary, if you're interested:
Three years after the Atlantis Complex, Holly has moved on with life. She's been promoted, is seeing Trouble Kelp, and has completely got over Artemis Fowl. Shame that things are changing, and she just can't get rid of her past...

Disclaimer: I woke up this morning, remembered that Artemis Fowl did not belong to me, and cried.

So without further ado, here is the first chapter of three for "Nothing is Ever Simple"! I hope you like it - Slania x

Nothing Is Ever Simple

Chapter One: Sounded Easy Enough

As she weaved her way through the crowds in LEP headquarters, Holly Short sighed. She thought that she'd get used to the staring, the pointing – after all, she'd already got it, after saving the planet's sorry ass several times over.

But that had been amplified thousandfold, after…just think it already! After… she'd grown over a foot in less than three years.

Holly didn't understand it herself; it had been a full moon when the growing pains had started. By the time the lethargy, hurt and odd mood swings had ceased, two years later, she was 4'6" – almost 40cm, and 1'3" taller than what she'd been for the last thirty or so years.

The medics brushed it off as an effect of the time and dimension travel she'd been through, and life went on. Except that Holly had to deal with being some kind of Mud Maid hybrid.

Just my luck, she thought savagely. At least she'd see N°1 after this meeting with the commander. She hadn't needed the Ritual for years thanks to that guy – every time she saw him, he'd give her a boost.

Holly's lips curved into a smile at the thought of her demon friend as she halted outside Trouble Kelp's door. Knocking sharply and receiving the command to enter, she did so. Trouble's feet were on his desk, and Holly felt a stab of irritation as he grinned at her. "Holly! Still on for Saturday at the Taillte drive in?"

"Of course, Trouble."

His date assured, Trouble dropped his boyfriend act. "Major. You'll be glad to hear this; we're sending you into the field."

"Sir –" Her first assignment as a Major! Holly didn't bother to conceal her grin.

"Make your way to Ops; I'll brief you fully from there."

Holly's excitement was at its peak as she sat in the small chair, fists clenched. She sprang up when Trouble strode majestically into the room, followed by her best friend, Foaly. Although she longed to gloat, this wasn't the time for small talk.

She stood until Kelp turned from the v-board to her. "Sit, Major Short." Oh, the irony, Holly thought bitterly. At least she could still fit in most of the fairly generous Haven buildings.

Trouble continued with the brief and she pushed the height thing out of her mind: "As we all know, while we, the People, watch the humans, we protect ourselves from the humans, we cannot infiltrate the humans. And so we depend on Foaly's technology to keep us all safe.

"But without someone up there, we are taking a constant risk…" Holly saw with blinding clarity where this was going; bracing herself for his final words, Holly met Trouble's eyes. "…So that's why we're sending you. You're tall enough to move without much suspicion, your ears aren't so prominent or pointed anymore and are hidden by your hair-" Holly felt them, alarmed. Trouble was right; they weren't so long or pointed as they were. In fact, they could almost pass as human.

"So I'm to be a spy topside?" Think about it later, Holly. Worrying wouldn't do any good.

"Not permanently; your assignment today is an easy one." Oh, gods…

Kelp was scowling and avoiding Holly's eyes as he continued, "Visit Fowl." She heard Foaly's snicker from the corner, and ignored it with dignity worthy of the great Artemis Fowl. "We haven't checked on him for quite some time, and Foaly tells me that he's received no contact from you, Short."

"That's true, sir."

"So you will take a shuttle this afternoon, and visit him. An old friend. Make sure he's still straight and arrow. Then you will return this evening and present the footage from your camera, and a full report."

"Sir, don't you trust –"

"D'Arvit, Short, of course I don't! In fact, if I had my say, I'd have him and his little cronies mind-wiped today! But it's not just up to me, so we'll make the best of it."

"Equipment, sir?" Holly hid her anger under a well practised professional appearance.

"That's what Foaly's here for. I expect to see you after your return tonight." And on that note, Kelp strode back out of the booth, leaving Holly alone with the all too gleeful centaur.

"Don't say a word, Foaly."

"Do you think Artemis has regained his…boorishness, Major?" Seeing the murder in Holly's mismatched eyes, Foaly dropped the subject. "Ok, so no more, um, moments passionnés then? Right – "

"Give me the guns."

Foaly brightened as he trotted over to his desks, "This is all you're allowed today, Holly. Maybe I should be relieved." He handed her two odd cylindrical black objects.

"Oh, you – Spike bracers? Really? To backhand my preppy enemies when I go to a Gorgoroth concert?"

Foaly harrumphed noisily. "Am I really the only luminary in Haven? Put them on."

Holly did so, feeling a little nonplussed. She didn't notice the slight pop of the fake leather adhering to her skin to coordinate with her LEP jumpsuit.

"Now flick out your wrists and think of guns."

Watching Foaly carefully just to make sure he didn't start to eat his own hooves or anything, Holly did so – and was rewarded by the centimetre long spikes rearranging themselves to form a tiny Neutrino on each wrist. She stared at the perfect firearms stuck to the inside of her arms.

"Where is my applause? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to engineer nanoparticles like that? To then allow them to interpret and respond to brain signals after being linked to your state of the art uniform? Then form a working gun? No. Of course not; I remain unappreciated, a lone beacon of scientific –"

"All right! Give me a chance, ok? How do you fire them?"

Foaly all but swelled with pride as he explained, "Voice or movement activated. State your objective as you do with a helmet gun (they're synced, remember) or, in a squeeze, clench your fist. Less precise, but all I could come up with, under the circumstances." He scowled at the middle distance, as though blaming it for his dreadful working conditions.

"What, like this?" inquired Holly innocently. Foaly leaped in the air – a difficult feat with four legs.

"Is that burning? Caballine's going to kill us, Short!" Foaly lamented his bald patch on his rump, as Holly preened.

She was in a considerably better mood as she boarded the Recon shuttle. Hey, a free trip to the surface; just to see the Mud Boy? Sounds easy enough…

Holly wasn't wasting a single breath of surface air as she landed on Fowl Manor's neatly kept driveway, her silent Hummingbird new model wings sliding into her suit back. She couldn't help but look with distaste at the thick black bracers on her wrists; surely disguise was a little obsolete when she was visiting Fowl?

Holly unshielded; she quickly found the small library window on the ground floor that had been almost a guaranteed point of entry for friendly fairies. It was open; although no fairy had visited Artemis for three years, since the Turnball affair.

Holly didn't know how she felt about that.

The library was empty. Well it's not like he's going to be waiting for you, you spastic .Maybe she should have called ahead? However, she was still debating whether to search the manor when a familiar figure strolled between the bookshelves.

"Butler!" Holly smiled, relieved. If Butler's here, Artemis won't be far.

"I thought it was you on the cameras," Butler's grin faltered when he saw Holly, "you've grown."

Holly's relief was short-lived. "I'd noticed."

"Oh." Butler had sensed Holly's curtness. "Artemis will be down soon." He handed her a bottle and glass of cold spring water from the mini fridge as he continued, "He's just finishing his workout."

Holly almost sprayed the bodyguard with her drink as she absorbed the seemingly innocuous phrase. "Artemis' workout?"

Butler smiled as he explained: "After Artemis came back from Haven, recovered from Atlantis, he decided that life would be easier for several people, including himself, if he grew to an 'acceptable level of physical competence'. So I've been helping him out with that almost every day."

Holly was about to ask another question – something along the lines of 'is there video footage of his first attempt' – when Artemis himself hurried in.

Her first thought was this isn't the Mud Boy; Artemis was now eighteen years old, and he was almost completely over the fact that this was divisible by three and not five.

But was Artemis wearing tracksuit bottoms? And a football shirt?

"I still do not see why I am wearing this ridiculous shirt, Butler. My name is not A. Cole, and I certainly do not reside in Chelsea – Holly?" Although Artemis was as pale as ever, his oil-black hair was damp from sweat and flopped into his eyes; they were the mirror image of Holly's own. He had not grown much in three years; he was still shorter than average. He quickly pushed his hair back as Holly continued to examine him.

She tried not to look appreciative as she noticed three years of Butler's tutelage (or no doubt torture to the teenager) had done its work. Although Artemis was still slim and slightly underweight, he was no longer the skinny, washed out youth she had last seen three years ago. He looked more…wiry. Holly suddenly realised she was staring at Artemis' now deeper chest, and blushed. She stood quickly. "Artemis. Long time no see."

"Please, allow me to change; I'm in no state to entertain guests." Artemis walked, slightly faster than necessary, out of the room. Holly, staring at the spot that he'd vacated, didn't notice Butler's penetrating gaze, and soon his face settled into its normal smooth appearance in time for her question: "How's Juliet?"

"Oh, she's fine. She's taken a break from the wrestling, actually – she's got a place at the 2012 Olympics in London."

Holly searched for more conversation; the encounter with Artemis had for some reason left her feeling a little winded, wrong-footed: "And the twins? Mr and Mrs Fowl?"

"Skiing in the Alps. It's the twins' fist time. How are things in Haven, Captain?" Butler's keen eyes had noticed the acorn cluster on her emerald jumpsuit. "Had a promotion?"

She smiled, feeling more relaxed. "It's Major now, Butler. I'll forgive you, though."

"What a relief…"

Artemis' mind was a whirl of thoughts as he jogged to his suite. Holly – here! He hadn't seen the elf since he'd been hospitalised with the Complex; he clicked his fingers twenty times. In fact their last conversation had been about a certain gung-ho officer with an unusual name…why did he feel irritated at the thought? Ignoring this, he stripped and jumped into his en suite shower. He still felt an academic's satisfaction at the new appearance of his body from the experiment with Butler, even if it had been painful and humiliating at times. Still, he'd almost forgotten about Juliet's hysterics when he had attempted his Chil-Jang pattern for the first time.

Artemis' main irritation now was with his height. 5'7"! Shorter than average; 7 was the total of death – no, four – and three. 7 also was like anger in Chinese; another number that they hated. Added with 5, it was 12, a product of three and four. It doesn't matter, he thought confidently. Holly is what matters…

After waiting for about 15 minutes, Holly was relieved when Artemis returned – at least until she remembered that, well, this was Artemis Fowl .He smiled slightly as he sat opposite her, dressed now in a black Armani sweater and trousers.

Butler suddenly stood. "I'll be on the track if you need me. Nice to see you again, Holly." And with that he was gone, leaving her alone with Artemis.

Holly asked the first question that came into her head: "He's letting you out of his sight?"

Eyebrows arched, the young man replied, "Of course. You are with me, Major –" he inclined his head at the badge on her chest; Holly blushed, "And he has become a little more confident in my own unarmed combat skills after stringent training. Besides, we do have the most sophisticated security systems in Europe, you know."

This would have been an excellent reply, had the window behind Holly's head not smashed to admit four dangerous looking assailants.

2 more chapters to the story; do you want to read it? What do you think? Please, just take 30 seconds to review :')

PS. Written in actual "British" English - just so I'm not confusing anyone.

PPS The Chil-Jang pattern is taekwondo, usually performed by red tags for red belt. If you want to know what it looks like, just search on Youtube, it'll be there.

Thanks to my brother, who was very enthusiastic about the spike bracers, and to Indica, whose new album inspired me to pick up my metaphorical pen again. I love you guys!

Slania