"Please?"

Major Holly Short of the LEP and Section 8 nearly dropped her communicator. Clearly, she had misheard something.

"Excuse me," she replied, blinking ferociously. There was no way the great genius Artemis Fowl II was begging, right?

She heard him sigh. "Please, Holly. I want you to come to the manor for Christmas."

Alright, so she wasn't hearing things. Good to know. However, he wasn't getting away so easily.

"Why?" Holly asked, thinking fast. Truthfully, it would be wonderful to spend the holiday above ground. As much as she hated the cold, the snowy air in Ireland would be crisp and clean and wonderful for flying. She also missed Artemis like crazy. She hadn't liked adjusting to seeing him every few months after being with him every morning while he was in Haven for treatment for Atlantis Complex. Not that she would be admitting this to anyone...

Artemis sighed again. He knew she would be difficult.

"Mother is having a grand New Years' Ball, for one. I am required to attend, seeing as it's being held here. She has made it very clear that I am not allowed to hide in my study for any part of the event. If I must be surrounded by prancing, drunk idiots, I would like to have someone there that I can at least have an intelligent conversation with."

Holly couldn't deny the smile that crossed her face at the smoothness of his speech. The obsession with 5's was the last part of the Complex to go. She still felt relieved when his speech wasn't slanted and harsh. However, she also noticed that he had made her sound like some sort of easy out, which she didn't like.

"Arty, I'm not going to come all the way to Ireland just to save you from some drunk debutants."

Artemis resisted rolling his eyes like a common teenager. Barely. "Holly, the Ball is only one night. I want you to stay for the entire holiday." She would try to make him sound like he was just using her for a distraction. Albeit, a distraction he didn't mind having...

"And what will I be doing the rest of the time? Hiding from your brothers?" They had discovered that her brothers quite liked playing tricks on the little fairy. Ever since the entire family had been allowed to know of the existence of The People (against the Council's wishes, of course), Myles and Beckett had spent many hours devising plans to make Holly jump in surprise which had the interesting effect of causing her to shimmer out of the visible light spectrum. After months of seeing Holly flicker in and out of sight from shock, they had yet to become bored with their game, much to Holly's annoyance.

Artemis chuckled slightly. He had been doing that a lot more since being admitted into Haven's best psych ward. Smiling and laughing came more naturally to him after spending 7 months in the presence of Holly, Mulch and Foaly.

"I'm sure they will get bored with their little game, eventually."

Holly scowled, thinking of the last time she had been victim to one of their pranks. It had involved a rigged door and a bucket of purple-dyed water. Apparently the boys had figured out that the water would still be dripping from her head even if she wasn't visible.

"Somehow I doubt that," she said, trying not to glare a hole in the table beside the communicator.

"I will talk to them. They like you too much to chance upsetting you." Artemis hoped his little brothers would not be the fall to his winter plans. He would be highly annoyed if Holly would get out of coming to see him just because his brothers liked to be childish.

Holly considered for a moment. He was right. Myles and Beckett loved to see her, even if they weren't trying to scare her out of her skin. She was the best hide-and-seek partner they had ever encountered, and she told the best stories. Being LEP and having battled trolls, manic pixies, goblins and demons had its perks. She could hide in plain sight, and the boys never tired of hearing of her adventures with their older brother.

She let out the breath she had been holding. "Alright, so I won't be hiding from them the entire time. What WILL I be doing?"

Artemis let a small smile breach his lips. "Anything you want to do. Your wish will be my command. Consider it my version of the 12 Days of Christmas."

"The what?" came her reply.
. He scowled. Of course she did not get the reference. It was a human song, after all.

"Historically, some cultures used to give a present to their loved ones every day for the 12 days following Christmas, to celebrate the birth of Christ and the journey of the Maji to the new king. Of course, that is all religious babble, but the idea was made into a well known Christmas song, "The 12 Days of Christmas," which is where most people know the idea from."

Silence.

'Alright,' thought Artemis, 'let us try this again.'

"Have you ever heard of the song about a partridge in a pear tree?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." came the hesitant response.

"It's like that. The idea is to give one present a day for 12 days. In this case, it can be whatever you want. We can go to France or Italy, if you like. Juliet would love to take you shopping, or to a spa."

Holly considered this. 12 days of whatever she wanted from a boy who had (or could get) everything. Not to mention, it was high time for a vacation.

"Hmm. I still think you're up to something," she said.

Now Artemis allowed himself a full grin. He was up to something, as usual. Not that he would be telling her that.

"Will you come? I've already spoken with Foaly and he talked to the Commander. They are willing to grant you a visa and allow you access to the runes that No1 made."

While Artemis was recovering in Haven, No1 had decided to come up with a way to make it easier for Butler and Juliet to stay in Haven without causing a riot. After some research and a little assistance from Foaly and Quan, he managed to create removable runes that would make the wearer look like an elf. Basically, the physical appearance would shift into what was shaped like a fairy, but all of the individualistic features (hair, skin color, eyes) would all stay the same. Butler had been tall, buff, and bald, but the pointy ears and substantial size decrease had worked marvelously. No1 had then decided to make runes that would do the same thing to fairies, but to appear human. They would still have all their magic and general appearance, but they would grow taller and lose outstandingly "non-human" qualities (like pointy ears or wings). Holly had tested the runes and had to admit, she didn't mind the results. She was still shorter than Artemis when she was shaped like a human, but it was nice not to have to strain her neck to see him.

"You little sneak. You have this all planned out, don't you?" Holly was mildy impressed, but trying to sound offended. It didn't work.

"And what if I do? You deserve a vacation, Major." 'D'arvit' Holly thought. He's dead right. As always.

"I'll think about it. Right now, I have to run. I'm on my lunch break and should probably get back."

He knew that was the best he was going to get right now, but Artemis was confident his plan would work. They always did.

"Alright, Holly. We will continue this conversation later."

Holly could hear that annoying confidence in his voice. She wanted to go, but she didn't have to walk right into his hands...

"Okay, Arty. Try to be good. Bye!" She smiled, knowing that "being good" was probably no where on his agenda.

"Goodbye, Holly," Artemis said, severing the connection on the communicator.

Little did Holly know, she was quite right about him being up to no good...