Ladies and gentlemen! Mud men and Fairies!

Let me present my newest fanfic!

Some parts of this story takes place more than a hundred years after The Eternaty Code, and some of it is right after Artemis got his memories back..

Hope you like it! I don't own anything, except for Lieutenant Colonel Hazel, who is briefly metioned..

By the way... I'm a little in doubt about the rating of this story... If someone have a suggestion for the rating, please write it in your review!

Read, enjoy and review!

Oh, by the way. For those of you, who wanted the love story in this chapter to be a little bigger: I've re-wrote it, so that it's much better, much longer, and makes much more sence.. Hope you like.. ;)

Chapter 1 –Sleepless

Holly Short's apartment –Haven City –Year 2106

Commander Holly Short couldn't sleep. So much had happened in the last time, she actually hadn't realized it all yet. A week ago, Root had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and had become a member of The Council, after the death of one of the oldest members; Lieutenant Colonel Hazel had been suffering from an unknown disease for a long time, and had passed away before the doctors had found a cure.

When Root had called her into his office today, there were packing cases everywhere, and the office was almost empty, except for the desk, the chair and the computer. Holly had smiled to him, when she entered. She would miss him… after all. "Hello Major Short," he had said.

"Good morning sir. And once again: Congratulations."

"Thank you. You know, that the council let me to decide, who is going to be the new commander, right?"

"Yes, I know."

"Well. Congratulations Short. It's gonna be you."

Now, when Holly was lying in her bed and thought about it, she realized that she'd probably had a very strange look on her face, when he told it.

"What? Me? You've… You've got be kidding me, sir!"

"I'm not kidding you. I'm never kidding, I haven't laughed in the last 300 years! You're going to be the new commander."

"But… but… Why me? What about Major Kelp? He's a much better officer than I am! And what will The Council say?"

"They won't say anything at all, because it was my assignment to decide who it's going to be. And I chose you and not Trouble, because I think you'll be the best for the job. You're a good leader Holly."

"Thank you sir, but… but…"

"But what?"

"I… I can't! I really don't think that I can do it!"

"Of course you can. Relax, it's not as bad, as it looks."

After a while, when Holly had given up protesting, all the officers had had a party in the canteen: A combined goodbye-party for Root and welcome-party for Holly. Everyone had looked satisfied. She was lucky. It would have been a disaster, if they'd all hated Root's decision.

Now Holly lay there in her bed, and didn't feel tired at all. She looked at her watch. It was late, very late. There was only six hours, until she should be at work. Five until she was going to get out of bed. With her new grade followed earlier meeting-times. She should have been sleeping a long time ago. She was going to be rested for the ceremony the next day, where her promotion became official. She would get a brand new uniform and the rank-sign with the golden acorns, which showed her new position. But she just couldn't fall asleep at all.

Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106

When Holly came to work the next day, she was really tired. She had only slept four hours that night, but she was there right in time anyway; it was, after all, a very important day.

Lieutenant Colonel Root was waiting for her, outside her new office. She smiled weakly.

"Good morning Commander," Root said.

"Good morning sir." Holly yawned, and nodded at him.

He didn't comment on the yawn, or the bags under her eyes, and she was glad that he didn't.

The rest of the day passed without any accidents. The ceremony was going just fine, even though some of the Council members sent her some very offended looks now and then.

Root left in the middle of the afternoon, and left the responsibility of everything to the new commander. Holly had no idea, what she was going to do. Luckily, Foaly helped her, the bad thing about that was just, that he had already started to annoy her, with his sarcastic comments. He obviously thought, that because she had got Roots job, she should also have his daily ration of teasing.

Somewhere in Haven City – Year 2106

After a couple of weeks, everything was going just fine for Holly. All the officers were good at helping her if she was in doubt about anything, especially Major Trouble Kelp, who had been one of her best friends for year, and who was now the second in command at the LEPrecon.

It was after work, and Trouble had asked her over to his place to have pizza. He wanted to celebrate her promotion, but they hadn't had time to do it before, because she had had so much work to do.

They had decided to take a walk around the city before they'd go to his place, and now they was walking down a dim street underneath the soft, orange light cast from the streetlamps. The guys at the weather control department had made tonight a mild summer evening, disturbed only by a refreshing breeze. Holly loved those evening, and she was happy to be outside. I almost felt like being above ground.

Holly was glad that she'd taken this evening off. The two of them almost hadn't had a chance to talk since her promotion.

"So," Trouble said. "Are you settling down in you new post at work?"

She smiled at him. "I'm starting to. I must admit that I was quite worried at the beginning. When Root told me that he had chosen me, I just panicked. Actually, I told him to pick you instead." She laughed.

So did he. "Good Frond, I'm glad he didn't take your advice!" he said, and nudged her gently on the shoulder.

"Really?" Holly said. "I thought you would love to be offered the job. And you're just so perfect for it! I mean, you're such a great leader of LEPretrieval one and a good officer who always obeys orders, and arrives at work in good time. I mean, I've cost the corps and especially Root so much trouble…"

"Still," Trouble broke in. "You're good at keeping your head in difficult situations, and yeah, maybe obeying orders isn't exactly your forte, but you have a good intuition. And as Commander, you're the one who makes the decisions in critical situations, and you're good at that.
I didn't want to be Commander anyway. I was so scared that he'd pick me."

Holly shook her head. "You're crazy." They both laughed and walked on.

Suddenly Holly felt a big, cold rain drop hit her nose. Then one more, and yet another one. She looked up into the sprinklers situated in the high ceiling of the cave.
It was as she feared. The sprinklers slowly started to fire enormous amounts of water towards them.

"Oh no!" She said.

"Run!" Trouble laughed, and stretched out his jacket over their heads as they ran towards his apartment a few blocks away. The jacket didn't give much protection, though, and when they were finally walking up the staircase to Trouble's apartment, they were both soaked.

Holly laughed. "Oh Frond, I hate when they do that! Look at my clothes!"

"Don't worry I'll lend you some dry ones." He put the key into the keyhole and let her in.

Trouble Kelp's apartment –Haven City –Year 2106

Trouble went to his bedroom to get some clean clothes. He returned a few minutes later, wearing a grey track suit with the words "Lower Elements Police Academy, Private Kelp" printed on the chest, and gave her a similar one and a pair of socks.

"Here you go, Commander. Feel free to use the bathroom to change."

She laughed. "Thank you, Major Kelp," she said with an air of importance. They both laughed.

She took the clothes from Trouble and went to the bathroom.

"Oh my," she muttered when she saw her drenched face in the bathroom mirror. She looked like a drowned rat.
"There're some towels in the left closet next to the sink!" Trouble called from the living room.

She undressed and took a soft, white towel in the closet.

"What would you like on your pizza!?" Trouble called.

"Just some mixed vegetables," she called back. She could hear that he was calling the pizzeria.

The track suit was about three sizes too big, but it was warm and soft and smelled of soap powder and of Trouble. Even though the clothes were old, the fabric was still very soft and it didn't look shabby or worn. She had a couple of those track suits herself, and she knew that it was almost impossible to wear them out.

Holly finished drying her hair with the towel and re-entered the living room, where Trouble was sitting on the couch. His hair, that was a little shorter than her own was, was still dripping a little. She took a fresh towel from the bathroom and gave it to him as she sat down next to him on the couch.

They talked about work for a while, and it didn't take long before the pizzas arrived.

"So," Trouble said and swallowed a big mouthful of pizza. "It's been a while. Are you seeing anyone?"

She sent him an annoyed look. He always asked her that question, even though she hadn't had a serious boyfriend for half a century. He, on the other hand, always had a girlfriend. Not that she didn't understand the girls who went out with him, he was very good looking with his tousled, dark brown hair and his almond-shaped, chestnut eyes that somehow seemed to glow when he looked at you.

She sighed. "No, I'm not seeing anyone, Mr. Womanizer, but you probably have. What's her name this time?"

He scowled. "Don't be so cocky, young lady. No, as a matter of fact, I'm not seeing anyone!"

"Oh," Holly said with a feigned surprised expression. "Because you've grown up, or because there simply weren't any girls left in Haven that you haven't been with yet?"

He threw a pillow after her, and she had only just time to duck and save her pizza from falling off her plate.

"Okay, okay!" she laughed. "I'm sorry!"

He smirked and took another bite of his pizza.

"No," he said thoughtfully when he'd swallowed it. "I just want something a little more serious now, I guess. I'm getting older, you know." He winked.

"Oooh, yeah, how could I forget?" Holly laughed. "Your 200th birthday is approaching. Poor, old Troub."

He almost threw another pillow after her, but she threatened to throw the pizza on the floor, and he put the pillow back where he found it.

They finished their meal and put down the plates. Holly smiled. "So," she said. "You're looking for something a little more serious, huh? Any idea, who this dream girl of yours, is then?"

She looked at him, and her smile faded. He was looking at her in a very strange way.

"Trouble," she said and touched his hand. "Is everything all right?"

"What?" He said and came to himself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I just drifted off. I guess it's part of getting old." He laughed.

She hesitated, but was finally convinced that he was all right, and laughed too. She looked at his handsome face. She liked it when he laughed. Her hazel eyes met his chestnut ones, and Holly felt a rush of blood in her ears. She bit her lip.

"Holly," he said, and took her hand. "I just want you to know, that you're my very best friend. You've always been there for me, and I don't know what I would do without you."

Trouble slowly leaned forward – towards her. He looked like he wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but then he made a decision and kissed her on the mouth.

It all happened so fast, and Holly didn't even get to react before their lips met. First she was surprised, and tried half hearted to push him away, but she actually liked it, so after a short while, she buried her hand in his thick, soft hair, closed her eyes and kissed him back.

Grub entered his brother's apartment. He had promised to drop by, with the book about underground snails that he'd borrowed.

The door wasn't locked. Trouble was probably at home.

As Grub walked inside he noticed that there was very quiet. Maybe a little too quiet. Wasn't Trouble at home anyway? Then he'd forgotten to lock the door. 'I'm so gonna tell mom,' Grub thought.

Grub walked into the living room, and got the shock of his life. There was his big brother sitting on the sofa, kissing Commander Short!

Grub dropped the book.

They heard a bump, stopped kissing and turned around. Grub was standing in the door, looking completely astounded. The cause of the bump was a book that he had dropped on the floor.

Holly and Trouble both blushed. The same did poor Grub.

"I…I'm sorry," he screeched. "I was just going to… No forget about it. I'm sorry. See you." He fled from the apartment as fast as he could.

Holly and Trouble laughed. Holly laid her head on his shoulder, and he buried his face in her short, auburn hair. "Tomorrow, every single LEP officer will know about this, you know," Trouble muttered into her hair.

"I don't care about the officers," Holly said. "I'm more concerned about when Foaly finds out."

"Yeah, you're right."

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