Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, songs, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I fucking hated the lot of them. I fucking hated myself for wanting to be one of them. But that was behind me. I could only make the most of the time allotted me. I didn't have a plan, only an opportunity, and I was going to use it.

I stood there in my mother's meager apartment, and put on my father's only remaining tuxedo. My eyes glared back at me, reflected through the remnants of broken mirror glass. I felt like a fraud. Dirty money paid for this tux, I was sure of it. It smelled awful—like mothballs. Hell, the whole place smelled that way. I'd have to be sure to freshen up when I got to my destination or the fuckers would chuck me out as if I was a well-dressed homeless man.

Which I was.

Three short years ago, I was a student at Julliard, riding a partial scholarship with the remainder funded by my parents, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen. I was a prodigy, my classmates used to tell me – a well-funded one at that. I knew I was lucky to be there and I'd like to say I never took it for granted, but like any kid with rich parents, I did. I was incredibly fortunate that they allowed me to be whoever I wanted rather than allowing society to dictate who I became. So I focused my energies on becoming a foul-mouthed, classically-trained musician with a penchant for the blues.

My parents lived in a modest and roomy apartment off Central Park West. Modest and roomy meaning expensive as hell. They paid for my room and board in a small apartment close to campus that I shared with my girlfriend Tanya. They took care of each other and me.

My mom, Esme, didn't have to work – she wasn't some Real Housewives type, either – she volunteered. She loved to throw fundraisers and did all the decorating herself. She loved her life. My dad, Carlisle? Well, he was a mad scientist of sorts. He was incredibly talented in his job as a brilliant pharmacology engineer who specialized in contagious outbreaks. He said he wanted to prevent the next Spanish Influenza. He said he wanted to ensure healthy futures for kids.

So he went to work for Black Swan Pharmaceuticals. They had a lot of money to throw around for research. They paid dad a lot of money to just to stuff him away for eighteen hours every day and keep him traveling thirty weeks out of every year. He loved it and mom loved him for loving it. It didn't hurt that his passion afforded us a lifestyle where we didn't have to worry about money.

Then late summer rolled around. School was about to start, and with school came the rumors of 'the next big influenza' strain.

Dad was working on 'the next big influenza' vaccine and the head honchos at Black Swan wanted to get their shots out first. Dad came home everyday enthusiastic about the progress he was making, but swore up and down to me and mom that it wasn't ready yet. He told us that the strain he had been working with didn't match what was predicted to be the next outbreak.

Black Swan shipped him overseas for "training" and replicated the unfinished stuff he had in the lab while he was gone. Those fuckers did exactly what dad told them not to do, and before they could finalize FDA approval, they started human trials with those unmatched strains.

"Dr. Carlisle Cullen" was written all over those lab papers and his chicken scratch was signed on every dotted line. Gone were his official memos telling everyone, including the head honchos themselves, William Black and Charles Swan, that using the existing flu vaccine as it was would be like unleashing an invisible monster that would infect more than it cured.

But those fuckers over at Black Swan knew just how to cover their own asses, and they did it well. They trashed dad's reputation as an uncontrollable rogue and made him out to be a loony. Said it was his idea to test the vaccine without FDA approval and came up with some forged shit as evidence.

After dad's criminal trial for negligence, Black Swan sued him in civil court for all sorts of shit, like defamation of the fucking company's "character." So, not only was dad going to have to go to prison, he was also going to have to pay the fucking company whose fucking actions sent him to prison.

He got twenty-five years in some federal prison on the west coast.

Pretty fucked up, huh? And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, they did.

We had to sell everything to pay the settlement to Black Swan. Mom didn't want anything to do with them or that lifestyle anymore anyway and preferred living in squalor. Nobody believed her or dad that he was set up. Nobody but me.

I was promptly asked to leave Julliard because of who my father was. Isn't that a kick in the ass? It was my father's name that got me accepted in the first place. Tanya was a student there too and left me right after I was expelled for some horseshit reason. Privileged bitch. So much for "through thick and thin" bullshit.

My mom tried to be strong, but she's suffered a lot. Right after dad got sent to prison, she got sick. The doctors told us she needed a new kidney, but I knew she was heartsick, and it was just presenting through everything else. She was in a hospital we couldn't afford, hooked up to machines that filtered her blood for her, just waiting for death – her's or a suitable donor's.

She didn't know what I was up to and I tried my best to hide it when I went to visit. I wanted to go, just in case. Just in case I got busted and sent up the river, too.

Or in dad's case, out west. But that would be too lucky, to end up in the same facility as him.

My life wasn't based on luck anymore.

It was based on revenge.

So I gave myself permission to get violent if I didn't get answers, even if it meant I got sent to something higher than the minimum security prison dad now lived in.

I found out from my friend Jasper's girlfriend Alice that Black Swan was having some "kings of the world" bullshit celebration at their headquarters downtown. There was supposed to be some big announcement or something and all the bigwigs were supposed to be in attendance. Jasper got me a fake ID from some random guy named J. Jenks that was good enough to get me credentials as a server for the party. That was how hoity toity this event was. I needed credentials to be a fucking server.

I wasn't a James Bond or Jack Bauer so I had no idea how to get the information I needed to clear my dad's name while I was there. I figured if all the right people were at the party, then the offices would be clear and I could get what I needed then. That was as far as my so-called plan went.

I did as much looking into their families as I could beforehand. William Black had a son about the same age as me, Jacob. He looked like a real douche. I hoped to punch him in the nuts before the night was over. Charles Swan had a real prize in his daughter Isabella, who was crowned with the title "Princess" by all of the magazines which regularly featured her doing some stupid new guy every fucking week or something equally as appalling. I'd seen more of her body then I had anyone else's, even Tanya's. I hoped to punch her in her new boobs before the night was over.

I couldn't believe that I had to stoop so low as to fucking serve these people, but it was for one night. Then I could get the authorities what they needed to get my dad out of prison and back with my mom, where he was needed. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. This was what I had to do. I had to make this right, and take down the fuckers behind the worst pharmaceutical company fuck-up in recent history.

xoxox

I had no money for a cab and decided to just ride my bike over. I wanted to air out the mothball stench anyway. On my way over, I couldn't help but remember a joke my dad used to tell my mom. She never got the joke and would tell everyone anyway, not knowing that it shouldn't be discussed in polite company.

The recollection made me laugh so hard I nearly ran into a cab. I loved my mom. I bet she would've loved this party. If it'd been a fundraiser, she would've been there. Not me. They knew I didn't give a shit about social functions for brown-nose sake. It was a good thing the Black Swan asshats never met me, or tonight would be even more impossible than it already was.

I got to the parking garage and locked my bike to whatever was sturdy. I looked over and noticed a Ducati. Good indication of the kind of company I'd be keeping tonight. I wasn't much for motorcycles but wanted to test drive one ever since I saw the movie "Yes Man".

I hit the elevator button and as it lowered to pick me up, I swore I could hear the high pitched sound that only emanated from one Alice Brandon coming from within it's sealed doors. She could get in a lot of trouble for hiring me tonight. Jasper wouldn't give her any details about why I wanted the job; she just knew that she needed to call me Anthony instead of Edward and to give me menial tasks that kept me away from the crowd.

"Ohmygawd, Edward, there you are," she drawled in her slightly over charming southern accent. She was a short powerhouse of a woman with a sharp suit and a barely-there headset on, barking orders at her invisible minions.

"Alice, that's not my fucking name," I seethed. I wasn't even in the place yet and she could've blown everything.

"Don't you dare curse in front of me—or the guests. I am doing this as a huge favor to Jasper and I don't want your lip." She shook her finger at me. Nobody ever shook their finger at me.

"Fine. Where is the party and where am I supposed to be?"

"It's on the forty-second floor on the hospitality deck."

"Okay, what floor are the offices on?"

"I don't know Ed…thony," she huffed and corrected herself. "You'll have to find them on your own, if that's what you're after." She got right up against my chest and narrowed her tiny eyes. "You'd better not get caught or I'll lose my job."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I rolled my eyes. This wasn't starting off very well. She took me by the elbow and marched me into the elevator, pressing the button for the forty-first floor. "I thought it was on the forty-second?" I started.

"The kitchen is on the forty-first floor, I need your help there until some of the other staff arrives." She stopped and inhaled, nose and mouth wrinkled in disgust. "Ohmygawd, what is that smell?"

"Haven't you ever smelled mothballs?"

"Yes!"

I opened my mouth to deliver the punch line, but Alice glared at me too sharply. I shut my mouth instead. Alice did not smile. Not even a little. She looked at me in a way that was part glare, part revulsion, and part sympathy. "I can't have you going in there smelling like that. If I had any activated charcoal, you'd be at least smellable." What the fuck did charcoal have to do with anything? "I'll try to find another jacket for you to wear, or I'll have to give you a really unpleasant job."

"Alice, this isn't a real job, remember? I don't want you to know what I'm doing, but I don't have time to play games..."

The elevator door dinged our arrival but she slapped the DOOR STOP button. "Listen up, Cullen, if someone asks you what you're doing here, what are you going to tell them? Huh?" I didn't know what to say. I had no idea. "That's right. You need a job or you'll get chucked. Hell, I'll be the one chucking you. I need your help in the kitchen for a moment, and then I'll give you something menial to do. If someone asks, you'll have something to say." I hated conceding to her, but I had to.

"Okay, makes sense." She released the button and led me down a short hallway to the gleaming stainless steel kitchen. As soon as the door opened, we were greeted by an even higher pitched squealing sound, only it was accompanied by a nasal sound that rivaled Lily Tomlin's Ernestine.

"You can't serve that shit to my family!" She was right up in the chef's face. It was none other than Princess Isabella Swan and my fists instinctively balled. It was going to take every ounce of my being not to clock one of them tonight and I didn't even care that it might be her.

Alice dug her nails into my wrist and seethed between her teeth, "Don't look at her." What? "If you want to be here, don't you dare look at her. Any help that's caught looking will be fired."

What. The. Fuck. I wasn't the fucking help. My face was red and my knuckles were white as I looked down. I was glad I didn't get a good look at her. I was glad my mother and father had no idea I was here. I remembered that I was here to get my dad out and it was the only reason I didn't make a run for it.

Alice herded me towards a table where there were stacks of cloth napkins that needed those stupid rings put on them. "You can't be serious, Alice…" I started.

"Shut it. I know you need information of some sort and the prep staff like to talk. If you're quiet, you might also overhear something that Princess has to say."

"Did you just call me Princess?" A lithe, unmistakable voice materialized behind us.

Isabella Swan stood right behind me. The hate I felt for her and her family radiated out of me and just about set me on fucking fire. Good thing I wasn't wiping down stemware or something because my hands would've been filled with glass and utterly useless on a piano.

Alice turned to face her, apparently immune to the help rule. "No, not at all. Anthony was just telling me about his dog, erm, Princess." I was seething. I had no fucking dog. Hell, I had no fucking home.

"I have a dog named Princess, too. Odd. A guy with a Princess dog. What kind is yours?" I didn't turn around. Of course she would be the self-centered type that would have a dog named Princess, her very nickname. I didn't want to break the rules, or break anything else for that matter, and I just might break something if I turned to face her.

"Excuse me? I asked you a question." The venom made a swift return, and effectively coated her voice. She started to jab my shoulder with her fingers.

Alice saw the hatred in my eyes, and stepped on my foot as I turned to speak directly to Her Highness. I caught myself just in time and Alice instead offered, "Umm, Princess just died and Anthony's really upset about it. You understand, right?"

"Oh. I'm so sorry." She patted the shoulder she had just poked. A bubble of inappropriate laughter burst out of my mouth, which barely passed as a sob. Good thing I wasn't looking at her. Good thing she wasn't looking at me. Of all the things this bitch should be apologizing for, it was for the death of an imaginary dog? "Umm. Elise? What… is… that… smell?"

I couldn't reign myself in any longer. "Have you ever smelled mothballs?" Alice's heel came down on the instep of my foot and I nearly knocked her off her feet.

"Umm, I don't know what he just said, but you have to do something about that. No way in hell is the help going to be around my family, smelling like that. He smells like… ass."

I stepped out of Alice's reach, turned my face away, and managed to whisper: "Not ass… moth's balls."

"What did you say?" she demanded, inches from the back of my head.

"I smell like mothballs. Do you know what they smell like?" Fuck, I'd crossed the line but I couldn't seem to stop myself.

She hesitated, shifting from revulsion to confusion. "Mothballs? Of course I know what mothballs smell like," she snapped at me.

"How'd you get your nose between their tiny little legs?" My already quiet voice trailed off at the knowledge that I just fucked up big and that I would be asked to leave. I was so glad she couldn't see my face as I had already gnawed off half my lip.

Instead of addressing me, she spoke only to Alice, "I don't want to see him for the rest of the night. Since he smells like ass anyway, maybe he should be the men's restroom attendant. The shit food you're allowing the chef to serve is going to make everyone sick anyway, so he'll have plenty to do tonight." She huffed and stomped away.

"Fuuuck," I groaned. Dreams of my father's release slid down the drain once and for all.

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you? Do you want to abort this little stupid plan of yours? Do you want me to lose my job?" Alice was pissed, but not half as much as I was. "She's going to have an eye on you all night. I'm surprised she let you stay."

I turned to Alice then, and saw that she was more upset than I was. Still, it was me that was going to have to stand in that fucking restroom and pass out hand towels and mints and cologne.

"Al, I'm sorry."

She calculated as I apologized. "I'm going to see if I can find you a different jacket, maybe get you out of the bathroom so you can find what you're looking for. I'll ask around about the office level for you." Jasper must've told her about my connection with this place and people after all.

xoxox

Alice and I took the stairs up to the forty-second floor. I finally knew what Jasper saw in her now, beyond her rigidly organized exterior. She was cute as hell and nice. Although she didn't know me from the next guy, she was loyal to me and my cause. I never had a sister, but I wanted her to be mine now.

She told me about my duties as a restroom attendant and tried to make me feel better by saying that I might get some information as attendants weren't highly regarded but were considered trustworthy. I had to smile, be polite, offer compliments. Alice told me that the board of governors and higher ups might use this restroom too, even Swan and Black.

So I stood there waiting for people to come in and take a dump or whatever they needed to do. I smelled some of the cologne and ate some of the mints while I waited. I looked filthy, and felt filthy, but standing in a fucking john waiting to offer someone a hand towel made me want to gag. I couldn't believe I ever wanted to be one of the socialite fucks that attended shit functions like this.

From the bathroom I could hear someone doing the scales and tuning the very same baby grand we passed on the way here. I didn't even have to know his name to know who was playing. I never even learned his last name when we attended Julliard together. People just knew him as James. If he saw me, my cover would be blown.

Fuck. Why did this have to fall apart before I found out anything? What did I ever do to make the universe hate me so much? The only thing that could have made this night any worse would be to find out that Tanya was James' date for the evening.

Two old farts walked into the restroom then and stopped chatting as soon as they saw me. One eyed me warily and asked where some dude named Paul was. I smiled as politely as I could manage and said he had the night off. They shrugged and seemed to accept what I was saying.

They both looked under the stalls before proceeding to stand in front of the urinals. They seemed satisfied enough that I was too stupid to know what they were talking about. Little did they know…

"Depending on what's announced tonight, I might be resigning my position. I know it's been almost two years since the Cullen disaster, but the company still hasn't rebounded sufficiently enough for my liking."

"Shh… I don't think that's something we should be discussing in front of him," said the other and then looked toward me. I had my chin down and a vacant expression on my face.

"Oh, because of him? He's just the bathroom attendant. Paul doesn't care if we talk around him."

"Paul's different. He's used to keeping his mouth shut. I don't know this new guy and I don't trust him." He stopped and let his eyes search the room. "Say the wrong thing around anyone here and you're sent to prison for twenty-five years." The inference to my father's fate almost did me in. I wanted to shake the fuck out of him and tell him just how much he really didn't know. But, not wanting to make the night any worse, I gritted my teeth and kept my mouth shut.

They approached the sink and I gave them each a comb and hand towel and they both gave me a tip. I didn't feel too badly about taking it. I hadn't eaten anything substantial in days.

As they left, Alice rushed in and ran to me. "Need… you… to play…" She struggled, out of breath from running.

"What?" I wasn't sure if I heard her correctly through her gasps.

"The piano. Jasper said you are good at playing the piano. I'm sorry."

"Alice, Princess told me I look like shit and smell like ass. She's sure to see me. And there is no way in hell I can get anything accomplished if I'm playing the piano. What happened to James?"

"He cut his hand and had to leave." Karmic retribution? "I need you to play until a replacement can arrive, and then on his breaks. I will make it work. There is an employee gym on the forty-first floor. Go take a shower, and I'll get you something else to wear."

Just then, another old fogey walks in, shocked to see Alice standing there in the men's room. She pulled my arm as he spoke to me, "Attendant?"

"No. Pianist." I shrugged as we made to leave.