A/N: Hi there, FINALLY I'm back with a longer story, it's been way overdue. I've been writing this particular story since last summer, if it hasn't even been longer than that… I just checked… it has been longer than that… I started writing this particular story in March last year :O Shame on me! :D In my defense I did have a very busy semester at school so I didn't really write anything for half a year :P But alright… I'm here now and that's what matters right? *smiles a hopeful smile* But enough rambling about me ;)

Bella is starting her new job as a journalist in Seattle. During one of her stories she stumbles upon some strange disappearances and deaths. She decides this is her shot to start her career as an investigative reporter and she starts looking into the mystery. Somewhere along the way she meets the Cullens and she suspects they have something to do with the disappearances and deaths. See what happens when she gets too far into the story. Will Edward be able to save her?

I hope you enjoy the story. I cannot guarantee daily updates throughout the entire story because I never know what happens in my life ;) But I will try to do my best to upload every day and I can say with almost 100% certainty that the first 13 chapters will be daily updates. I expect that this story will have 17 chapters in total and I'm pretty sure I can all post them before I'm going away on skivacation with my parents, which will be around the 22nd of January so it'll be completely up by then :P (I hope :P)

That's enough for now, I hope you enjoy my story and I always enjoy reading what you think! :) So if you have time leave a review for me :)

New Job

"And the Pulitzer goes to Isabella Marie Swan for her piece on crime in Seattle." I walked up to the stage confidently and accepted my award with the speech I had prepared and memorized. I dutifully thanked my parents for supporting me in every decision I made, my friends for being there for me when I needed some down time from my stressful job, and my boss for giving me the opportunity to create this story. I elegantly walked off stage again and got ready for the party that would begin right after the ceremony.

I was awoken by my alarm and growled in displeasure. I should have known it was only a dream when I actually managed to go through the entire ceremony without tripping or stumbling or even blushing.

Today would be my first day as a journalist. I came fresh out of college and after I had done an internship at The Seattle Times they had immediately offered me a job there and I was starting there today. I was nervous, even though I knew the people who I was going to work with, being an actual journalist at a big newspaper like that was something different from getting everyone coffee and tagging along on other people's assignments to get a feel of what it was like to be a journalist.

My dream was to one day become world's best known investigative reporter but I knew I was far from being that. I was going to start by probably copying menus or covering stories like who won the pie-eating contest at one of the local elementary schools. The kinds of stories that would take up about a hundred words somewhere in the back of the newspaper. I would have to work my way up to the front page.

I checked my phone and noticed it was already 7.30 and I had to leave in exactly half an hour to be there at 8.15. I needed to get familiarized with my own desk before starting promptly at 8.30. I jumped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom. After taking a quick shower and rushing a brush through my hair - only to find that it was a lost cause - I returned to my room and spent some time in front of my tiny closet, trying to figure out what clothes to wear.

I never paid any attention to what I was wearing and I was happy in jeans and a t-shirt but I couldn't very well appear on my first day in that outfit. So I pulled one of the few skirts I owned out of the closet and decided on a red top to go with it.

7.45 And I still hadn't started my breakfast yet. I ran towards the kitchen, which was attached to the living room in my only slightly too small apartment here in the center of Seattle, and in the process I stubbed my toe on the threshold. I cursed out loud. Why did I have to be such an idiot? Not today! Please! I hopped to the kitchen, not giving myself any time to calm down. I quickly threw some cereal and milk into a bowl and attacked it without even bothering to sit down at the table.

At exactly 8 o'clock I was out the door and on my way to the company that would from now on be considered my second home. Or fourth home maybe, since I still had my mother's house in Phoenix, where she was living with Phil, her husband for quite some years now, and Charlie, my father's, house back in Forks, where I had been spending the last years of High School and all of my college years. This was the first year I was living on my own and I liked the idea of quiet whenever I wanted it to be quiet but it wasn't much different from what I had had with Charlie back home. I just didn't have to turn down my music in the evening because he was sleeping across the hall.

I entered the large doors and before I knew it I was in the hallway of The Seattle Times again. I knew I had been here before many times but still, things were different now, I belonged here now, part of the team, rather than some journalist's puppy.

"Bella! So good to see you again! How was your holiday?" Angela asked me sweetly. Angela was one of the reporters of the newspaper, we had gone to high school together but she had finished college a year earlier than I had, mostly because she had done double the courses I had in one year. So she had already been working here for a year and she was doing very well. She covered the scientific part of the newspaper and she was an excellent writer.

"Hi Ang, I'm great, holiday was fine, spent some time with Charlie but other than that nothing really important. What have you been up to so far?"

"Well, Ben and I went on our first holiday after our honeymoon together and it was really nice," she gushed. Ben and Angela had been together since high school and they were the most adorable couple you had ever seen. They had married a year ago, when Angela finished college, and it was nice to hear that married life still suited them fine.

"Sounds wonderful," I replied enthusiastically.

"Oh it was! I really needed a vacation, sometimes work can be very stressful," she said sadly and when she realized that I was on my first day of the exact same job she smiled at me apologetically. "But of course it's worth it," she added quickly. I chuckled.

"Don't worry, I know about the stress, they made that very clear to me during my internship," I joked.

"Good, well I guess we should get started right? Do you want to have lunch together this afternoon so we can properly catch up?"

"Sounds like fun!" I told her enthusiastically before we both said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

"Good morning Bella," Adam, my new boss, greeted me.

"Good morning Adam," I replied politely.

"Can I have everyone's attention for a moment?" Adam announced to the entire room. "Many of you probably already know Bella, she did her internship here last year, but I would still like to introduce her to all of you as the newest addition to our family." I blushed heavily as everyone politely said hello and smiled at me. "Well, you know where everything is, I'll be in my office if you need me. You can start working on your new assignment immediately, you'll be covering the lunch habits of our main high school," Adam turned his attention to me and smiled kindly.

"Sure, alright, thank you," I muttered still ashamed before I made my way to my desk and started researching on my computer.

I would have to eventually start interviewing students in person but I was trying to put that off for as long as possible. I had written many articles and researched everything for those articles myself when I was still in college but this was different, this had to be good, otherwise the consequences wouldn't be just a bad grade but I would get fired and that would mean big trouble. Don't think about that! I told myself firmly.

After an entire morning of hiding behind my 'research' at my desk it was time for lunch and Angela came by to pick me up.

"How is it going so far?" she asked nicely.

"Fine, I have to do a piece on the lunch habits of a high school in the neighborhood, the only thing I have to do right now is find the courage to actually go to the high school and start asking around," I told her honestly.

"I remember my first assignment, I was so scared I actually started crying during my first interview, that was only to the man working at the gas station, trust me, it gets easier with every next assignment, now I can interview people for hours and not feel uncomfortable in the slightest," Angela comforted me.

"Thanks," I told her sincerely.

"Any time, you'll learn to be vicious and pushy in no time," she added jokingly.

"Fabulous," I replied sarcastically before chuckling.

I had a great time hanging out with Angela again; it was nice to hear that she and Ben were doing great. Ben still had one year of college to go but he was doing very well and Angela told me that he would be done on time. I asked her if she had stayed in touch with any of our high school friends and she said that she had run into Mike sometime ago in the supermarket, he was still working at his parents' store to make enough money to travel the world and he and Jessica were together right now but apparently they still had that 'on again off again' thing going for them. Other than that neither of us had stayed in touch with any of our old high school friends, so there was going to be no gossiping about that.

After half an hour of lunch break it was time to head back to the office and gather my courage for the interviews before school was out and I would be too late. I decided to start with the lunch lady; she probably would be the easiest to talk to.

At the end of the day I had talked to the lunch lady, the janitor and the principle and all I needed now was some insights from the children themselves. However, that would have to wait until tomorrow.

All in all my first day hadn't been half bad and I was happy that I was in a place that I was already a bit familiar with and that Angela was there as well to keep me company every now and then.

"Bella?" Adam stopped me on my way out.

"Hi Adam," I replied, trying to hide my shock of his suddenness.

"On your way out?" he asked while raising his eyebrows at me questioningly.

Oh no! I was allowed to leave right? Had I done something wrong? I tried to look at my watch without Adam noticing it but I failed.

"Don't worry, you're allowed to leave, I was just wondering because I wanted to walk you out," he told me while chuckling.

"Oh, yeah, I'm on my way home." I blushed seven different shades of red and stared at the floor.

"So, how was your first day? Do you like it so far? I know the piece I gave you wasn't the most interesting thing in the world."

I was very glad that Adam was my boss, he seemed very kind and even during my internship he had shown a real interest in me and he had always been polite and funny. There were some people walking around here that had treated me like I was their butler during my internship, barking order after order at me like they were shooting a machine gun.

"Yes, it was fine, I went to the high school for some interviews and I'm going back there tomorrow to do some more research," I told him shyly.

"That's very good, I noticed you were already diving into it quite quickly, are you getting the hang of it all already?"

"Yes, it's going alright I guess," I answered unsurely.

"Great!" he replied sincerely enthusiastically. "So in what kind of journalism are you most interested Bella?" Adam asked me curiously.

I blushed, if I would tell him that I was very interested in investigative journalism and that I would love to research the crime in Seattle he would probably laugh at me, since I wasn't exactly the kind of girl anyone would envision running after criminals and snooping around trying to uncover some sort of dirty secret. On the other hand, if I didn't tell him, there was no way I was ever going to get there so I might as well be honest with my boss from the beginning.

"Err…" I started while blushing heavily, "I have always wanted to be an investigative reporter," I told him softly.

"Really?" he asked, genuinely surprised but not insultingly so. "I hadn't pictured you as someone who would want to do that; I would have thought you would like to go into science or something. Not that I don't think you would be great at it, I'm sure you would do a good job. It's good to know, then I can keep that in mind for your next assignments, I'll assign you to some investigative reporters we have here every now and then so that you can get the hang of it all."

"That would be great! Thank you!" I replied enthusiastically.

Adam smiled at me again and I noticed that he was quite handsome when he smiled. Of course I had noticed that he was good-looking before but somehow it still came as a surprise to me that he would look this handsome when he smiled. I smiled back blushingly.

As I walked the 15 minute walk back to my apartment, my imagination got the better of me, I saw myself sitting across Adam's desk in a short skirt, the way secretaries would do in those really wrong movies, he smiled at me seductively and I smiled back.

I realized how wrong my thoughts were and shook my head, trying to get them out of there. It worked somewhat. I tried to convince myself that these feelings were just there because Adam had made me feel so welcome today and he had really put me at ease with this whole story and everything, it was nothing more.

The rest of the week I spent on the same story. I had interviewed some of the students about their lunch habits and their thoughts on the menu and what they would change if they could change anything. Luckily none of the students had been mean to me, and I had gotten out of there alive. I didn't once break down and I started to feel a little more confident with myself every day that passed. At the end of the week I had written my very first piece and even though it wasn't about a very relevant or important subject, I still felt proud of myself for being able to write it without any nervous breakdowns or clumsy moments.

"Nice work on your first piece Bella, you've made it an interesting story, I'm very proud of you!" Adam stopped me in the hall on Thursday evening.

"Thank you," I replied shyly while blushing deeply.

"You're welcome, it was very well written, and I'm looking forward to more of your pieces." Adam stared into my eyes and I stared back. After a moment of silence I started feeling very uncomfortable, especially in light of the inappropriate thoughts that had been crossing my mind throughout the entire week. First I had tried to pass it off as just the fact that he had been kind to me and everything but there had been many males that had been nice to me ever since then and I wasn't thinking inappropriate things about them ever.

It was strange that I had never had this feeling when I had been an intern here and I couldn't think of a reason why I would have them now. I would have loved to talk to someone about it but the truth was that I didn't have many friends with whom I could discuss something like this. Then I remembered that Angela had always had great advice in high school, she really listened whenever I would have a problem and she would actually try to help come up with a solution rather than just be looking for some new gossip like Jessica.

I decided to talk to Angela about it during lunch the next day.

"Ang, can I tell you something and you'll promise not to laugh?" I started cautiously.

"Sure, you can tell me anything, I won't laugh or judge," she said sweetly. I instantly felt more comfortable and relaxed.

"Well, it's about Adam," I started reluctantly.

"What about him?" Angela wasn't prying; she was genuinely interested in what I had to say.

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain but ever since the first day I have been working here, I've been thinking about him, and noticing things about him and everything and it's making it really uncomfortable to be around him. I don't understand because I had never really had these thoughts or feelings about him when I was an intern here so I don't understand where it is coming from now. I mean he isn't ugly or anything and I had noticed that of course but I don't understand why this is happening now," I rushed out the words.

Angela just stared at me with a thoughtful look on her face, I could see that she didn't even have to try to hide her laughter or anything, she was only concerned for me and I let out a sigh in relief. "Oh, I see," she started and I braced myself for her saying that I was crazy and a fool. "That's totally natural," she continued and my eyes popped out of their sockets and my mouth felt like it had dropped to the floor. Angela noticed my expression and started giggling. "What I mean is that it is understandable, first of all because he is indeed good-looking, but mostly just because he is your real boss now so it's exciting to have those ideas about him because it is considered a taboo to fall in love with your boss, that combined with the fact that this was your first week and you were just looking for some comfort and reassurance makes it completely understandable that you would feel some sort of attraction towards Adam even though you are not truly in love with him. I'm sure it'll pass soon enough, there's really nothing to worry about," Angela reassured me and I let out another sigh in relief.

I had forgotten that Angela had done some psychology courses on the side during her college career and how good she actually was in this.

"Thank God!" I told her happily, "Thank you Angela, that really helped me, I was feeling like such a fool! You know, it's a shame that you didn't become a psychologist, you would have been able to help so many people!" I told her enthusiastically.

I could feel that already, now that we had had this talk, I was starting to feel less embarrassing things for Adam and I was relieved to say the least.

On Saturday morning my phone started ringing and the caller ID said that it was Charlie.

"Hi dad!" I answered the phone enthusiastically.

"Oh, hi Bells," he replied, a little taken aback by my enthusiasm, "How's your new job? I read your piece in the paper today," he said eagerly.

Charlie had subscribed to The Seattle Times immediately the moment he knew I was going to be a journalist there and I was touched by his support.

"I'm really happy with my job, the people are nice and I'm happy to work in an environment I'm already a bit familiar with."

"Yeah, I can understand, well I just called to let you know that I read and enjoyed your piece, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing now," Charlie said a little uncomfortably. He had never been very good with feelings so this was already quite a leap for him.

"Thank you dad! I'll talk to you again soon alright?" I said softly.

"Sure Bells, good luck!"

We hung up the phone and the moment I put my phone down it started ringing again.

"Hi mom," I said, after I had read 'Renée' on the caller ID.

"Hi honey," she said sweetly, "How is everything? How's the job? Do you like your new apartment? Tell me everything!" she gushed.

I gave her a short recap of the events of my life lately, I told her how much I enjoyed living in Seattle so far and how much I liked working for the newspaper. My mother had also read my first article and she told me proudly that she had cut it out of the paper and that she was planning on making a scrapbook with all my future articles in there with it. I couldn't help but laugh at my mother's obvious enthusiasm.

I spent the rest of my weekend relaxing and mostly thinking about my future. I felt very blessed with how everything had turned out, I had a job that I loved doing, I had a nice apartment and I was building a life for myself, I was sure I was going to be very happy here in Seattle.

A/N: Well, that was it for the first chapter. I'll be back tomorrow with the second one :) Hope you enjoyed it and let me know your thoughts! :)

Xxx

Thari