I’ve decided to re-edit and reform this story, chapter by chapter

I’ve decided to re-edit and reform this story, chapter by chapter. Since it got such positive response the first time, I won’t change (too) much of the plot. But I’ll definitely be cleaning up those punctuation, spelling and style errors. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, Trouble Kelp, or any of the other amazing characters used in this work of fiction. They all belong to Eoin Colfer.

"Arena?" Trouble walked into the titanium operations booth, similar to Foaly's, as the pneumatic door closed behind him. This booth looked slightly more lived-in. Pull down screen covers hid 12 of the 14 screens in the room. Arena was sitting cross legged on the blue swivel chair, working. Arena had no job title. Informally, she was known as Foaly’s slave. Anything he didn’t feel like doing, she had to do. Although she did work as important as Foaly but was still under funded in many ways. The interns in the ocean of cubicles down the hall had better chairs, coffee cups and pens that weren't used and half empty of ink. Instead of turning her chair around, Arena tilted back with the flexibility of a gymnast over the low back of her chair.

"Hey Trouble. Being a good boy?" she teased as she sat back up.
"Always." Arena scoffed.
"What do you want?" As he was preparing to take a sip of coffee she casually swiped the cup and took a sip.
"Hey!"
"Did you come in here for money, advice or to escape someone?" Those were the three most common reasons for coming into her office. The two latter items stemmed from the fact that she was too cynical to care about much. Secrets wouldn't spread beyond conversation with her, and she wouldn't rat-out a refugee in her booth.
"A little from each column. I need five bucks for the coffee pool, advice and Root's trying to make me teach a training session at the academy." Arena's ears perked up at this and she immediately grabbed the radio off the table next to her. One of the best officers was safe for the moment; she had to cover for the other one now.
"Paging Captain Short, Captain Short do you read me?"
"Roger," Holly replied a moment later.
"Where are you?"
"Headed down the south hall. Why?"
"Root's recruiting instructors for the academy’s weekend training camp. Stay the hell away from his office. I’ll ask Foaly to keep him busy while you get out of the south wing."
"Roger." Arena sent a quick email to Foaly and then covered up her screen. Turning her chair to face Trouble, she said, "Okay now that that's taken care of, what need do you have for my infinite wisdom?" She and Trouble shared a laugh. Arena may be smart, and give kick-ass advice, but 'infinite' was just arrogant.

"It's about Holly." Arena looked intrigued.
"Finally," she smiled.
"What do you mean finally?" he immediately became defensive. He’d come for some simple advice, not to have his personal motives dissected. It frightened him that he had been so transparent. Who else knew?
"You've had a crush on her for years. Ever since you helped on her initiation assignment."
"No I haven't!"
"Liar," she grinned. "She impressed you on that mission, and your liking for her has become, let's say, deeper over the years,” Arena giggled. She loved it that she could make even the renowned Captain turn red.
“Has not. And I don’t like her that way; it’s unprofessional."
"Lying again? Come on Trouble, everyone knows."
"Everyone?"
"Yep. Ever wonder why I bring in homemade cookies on Fridays? It’s a weeks pay not to rag on either of you about it."
"You pay people not to mention it?" He was starting to feel rather foolish.
"I'm kind," she said, stretching her legs and putting her hands behind her head. Arena was a human, and the small booth was somewhat uncomfortable, even though she wasn't yet twenty and a very petite woman.
"But I’ll stop if you want," she added hastily.
"Does she know?"
"No." Trouble gave a relieved sigh. "But..."
"There's a but?" he asked warily. What other gruesome facts were forthcoming?
"She likes you too." He very nearly felt pleasantly surprised.
"She said that?"
"A woman hath many secrets," Arena said, shaking her head ominously. She wasn't going to flat out say it.
"So you're sure she likes me?"
"Not that she'd admit it, but yes, she does."
"How do you know?"
"See previous response to that question, and have a look at this." Arena opened a screen again, hit a few keys on her rainbow colored keyboard and a small window opened. Arena maximized it, and Trouble realized what he was looking at. It was a text frame of Holly's hard drive. Arena and Foaly were the only ones with access to such things.
"Let me just call up the files..." she said to herself in a half whisper.
"Should we be looking at this?" Trouble asked nervously. Arena cast him a cynical glance and went back to work.
”Not professional enough for you?” He had wanted confirmation, and once she brought up the information he went belly-up on her. Was this really one of the finest the academy had to offer?
"Here, look. She's saved every single email you've ever sent her. She hasn't done that for anybody else. And look here." Arena pulled up another file and a small picture of Trouble appeared. He could see Holly had pulled it from video footage from the cameras all over Police Plaza.
"That's her screen saver," Arena informed him. "Plus she keeps a diary."
"On her computer?"
"No, at her apartment."
"Did she show it to you or something?"
"No, remember last year when she was stuck in jail off that flyboy incident? She coasted 200 metres or something?"
"Yep, 200 metres. She got fined 75 ingots for that ride.”
"Yeah, well, Root chipped on 10, Foaly another 5, I gave 12 and I went to her apartment to get the rest of her bail money."
"And you went through her things?"
"She keeps her bank pin in the diary," Arena replied. "I had to go in there."
"You didn't have to read her private things," Trouble indicted.
"Temptation got the best of me, but I didn't read much."
"My ass."
"Okay, so it was 10 pages." Trouble gave her a glaring look.
"Fifteen." He continued to glare at her.
"Okay, more than twenty! Happy now?"
"No, I think you're nosey."
"And I think I won't be bringing in cookies tomorrow," she replied. "Face it Trouble, I’m in a position to help you here. Don't be insulting me and expect favors."

"So what do I do?" Arena picked up an orange off the table and started to peel it.
"What do you mean? Ask her out."
"What, just out of the blue like that?" Arena sighed heavily and rolled her head in frustration.
"Okay, I’ll lay it out step by step for you." She popped a piece of orange in her mouth. "How did you ever get laid in college man?" she asked as she chewed it.
"That's beside the point."
"Hey, I have a report due to Root in ten minutes that I haven't even started yet. You don't think giving you advice on how to get into Holly's pants is beside the point?"
"Hey, I do not just want to get into her pants! I’m not some philandering womanizer!"
"Isn't that beside the point?" she smiled. Trouble sighed and shut his eyes. Arena could tell he was mentally counting to ten slowly.
"I believe you were giving me advice."
"Yes, well, step one, get close to her."
"Meaning?"
"Ask her how her day was, walk with her, show personal interest."
"Then?"
"Invite her out for a drink."
"Does she drink?"
"Does that matter? The invitation is the point of this, Trouble."
"Fine."
"Then, after about twenty minutes, casually drop into the conversation how you really enjoy working with her and that you stare at her every chance you get."
"I do not!"
"Yes you do." Arena did an impersonation of Trouble gawking at Holly.
"Oh, and before I forget, be sure to look above her collar when you're talking." Trouble looked ready to punch her.
"I’m just kidding. I know you're a decent guy. Holly's lucky to have you." The pneumatic doors gave a hiss as they opened and Holly walked in.
"Hey, Root says he wants your report. Don’t get trapped okay?"
"He wouldn’t ask me. I’m a lousy teacher and he knows it. Did you get roped into doing it?"
"Nope, I got away. Foaly paged me just when he was about to ask."
"Alright, just give me one sec." Arena turned back to her screen and patched in an inter-office closed circuit camera communications line with Foaly.
"Hey, did you bother to do that report Root wanted?"
"You mean the one you were supposed to do?"
"Yeah, that one."
"I’ll email it."
"Will two cartons of carrot juice do this time?"
"And an apple."
"Deal."

Arena and Foaly often did each other's work. They did many of the same tasks, but for different sub-departments. Arena managed mostly internal affairs of Police Plaza, the chutes and a few satellites. Human Development was also on her list of duties but Foaly often did her work for her in that area because he was so paranoid about the humans reading his thoughts, hence the foil cap. He found it was best to know your enemy. This was rather ironic, considering the closest thing he had to a co-worker was a human girl. They were so involved in each other's affairs they could finish each other's sentences, and rumors often circulated that they were an item; something they both adamantly denied. Aside from the inter-species thing, Foaly’s personal hygiene took a back seat to work sometimes.

“Will you guys watch the booth for my while I go deliver this?” Arena asked as she collected the stack of papers off the printer tray.
“Sure,” Holly replied without hesitation. Arena gave Trouble a wink as she left, leaving the two elves alone in the sound-proof booth.