Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…warning suicide behavior has been mentioned…

Prologue…

My husband Edward and I walked my in-laws to the door. It was late and they had been babysitting our 2-year-old twins for us. Edward and I had just returned home from having a dinner to celebrate his new job at CUNY. He had been out of work for nearly 2 years, having lost his job at Lehman Brothers when the recession hit. I had been briefly unemployed and we were finally enjoying a dual income again. We still had a long way to go before we were comfortable financially but I was feeling relief for the first time in months.

Edward shut our front door and looked me, I mean really looked at me for what seemed like the first time in months. He walked over and kissed me. I recognized the kiss; it was not a perfunctory time that husbands gave their wives but rather a first date type of kiss. The kind a guy gives a woman when he really wants to impress her with his skills.

"How about you go upstairs and check on Melody and Geoff while I get one of those bottles of wine we have from our wedding," he said resting his forehead on mine. We bought an obscene amount of wine for our wedding and would probably be drinking until we hit our golden anniversary.

I nodded thinking about some of the lingerie I had yet to wear from my bridal shower and zoned on a piece I thought would help enhance this occasion. I turned start going upstairs when the phone started ring. Both Edward and I looked at the clock on the microwave. It was nearly 11, too late for anyone to be calling unless it was emergency. Edward frowned, thinking the same thing and picked up the phone. "Hello", he asked tentatively, "Cullen residence".

Fear went through me – my father, my mother, my sister, the possibilities were not good. "Yes, hi Rose, she is right here. Is there anything I could help you with, it's pretty late," he asked her, "Ok."

"Bella, it s Rose. She's its important. She's pretty insistence that she talk to you," he said passing me the phone rolling his eyes.

Rose was a former colleague of my from my previous job with Dr. Jessica Stanley. I could tell that Edward was thinking the same thing as me. Since I had been fired I had been contacted no less then 20 times about "unfinished business" which was Jessica code for lets milk as much free work as possible and I will get you that reference you I promised.

It had gotten to the point that Edward actually yelled at the assigned minion two weeks ago having had enough of the calls during all hours of the day and night. Through this was surprising, usually Lauren was the one that made the calls. And Rose couldn't stand Jessica anymore then me and had given her notice several weeks ago. I guess after Edward scared of the crap out Lauren, Jessica was rotating assistants now, using the ones I was friendly with.

"'l'll make it quick – I promise," I said taking the phone from him and kissing his cheek. I had no intention of staying on the phone longer then a minute, especially with two sound asleep children, a good bottle of wine and lingerie. "Hey Rose – make it quick, both Melody and Geoff are asleep and Edward and I are wide awake. There is the possibility o-".

I didn't get a chance to finish. "Bella, I am so sorry to bother you, its Angela." Rose said.

My heart skipped a beat. Angela Weber was another one of the assistants who worked for Jessica's project. She had become a little off in the last couple of months. We were all worried about her. Angela didn't have a thick skin and working for Jessica you needed one. We all had been keeping tabs on her, begging her to get counseling. She said she had.

"What's the matter Rose," I asked. I mouthed at Edward – Angela. He sat on the stairs next to me. He knew about Angela's problems and was concerned too.

"She had a breakdown," Rose said quietly, "Could you come over, we're at Mount Sinai." She then proceeded to fill me in briefly about what had happened.

"I'll be down as soon as possible," I said, getting up to grab my purse by the door, hoping I had enough for parking if I wasn't lucky enough to grab a spot on the street, "I am assuming you called her parents?" Angela's parents lived in Buffalo.

"Yeah – they are coming down on the first flight – the airport closed down due to rain," Rose answered.

I hung up the phone. "Angela tried to kill herself. I needed get down to the city," I explained to Edward.

He nodded and said, "Call me when you find out what is going on."

We kissed goodbye, the wine forgotten. Our townhouse is on Staten Island, the least known borough in the Manhattan area. To get to Manhattan by car you have 2 options, the first Verrazano Bridge, the second the Goethals. Sinai is on the east side of Manhattan so I hit the Verrazano and then the FDR. Pulling into street I headed for a parking garage that promised to take credit cards. The attendant grabbed my keys and handed me a ticket. Running the couple of blocks to Sinai's ER I found Rose and her boyfriend Emmett in the waiting room. She was in tears and he was trying to comfort her. Seeing me come through the ER doors, she ran and hugged me.

At 32 I was the oldest in this group. Rose was 2nd oldest at 26 and the rest of my "colleagues" were between the ages of 22-24. Looking around I saw Lauren, Neil, Max and Vanessa. I knew if Lauren was here it was bad. Taking Rose back to the seat, I asked "What happened?"

"Jessica really yelled at Angela today and called her incompetent," Lauren explained, looking down. She looked guilty, "she just took off".

"I see," I said coolly. Lauren was not my favorite person, a fact she knew stemmed from her desire to impress Jessica by spying on her colleagues. "Ok I understand why Angela left but why is she here?"

Rose started to cry harder. " I tried to get her…"

Emmett spoke up finally, "Rose left early to get her and convince her to come out with us. Angela refused. When we got home, we found her lying on the couch. She took a bunch of sleeping pills."

I nodded, hugging Rose closer, "Rose, sweetie, this isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself."

All the sudden Lauren starting wailing, "its my fault, I was complaining to Jessica that Angela never does her work on time."

The entire room looked at her, pushing Rose to Emmett, I went over Lauren. "Lauren stop. You have your faults but making people suicidal isn't one of them." I did not like Lauren and I was furious with her for a number of reasons but I knew this wasn't her fault. I sat with her until she calmed down.

Angela's parents came in an hour later looking exhausted and overwhelmed. We introduced ourselves to them after they spoke with the physicians. They thanked us for coming and insisted we go home. They promised to call if anything changed.

"Mrs. Weber, please let me know if there is anything I can do," I said, hugging her.

"You are Bella, right," Mrs. Weber asked me.

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

"Please call me Maggie," she said, "Angela always talks about you when you come home. She thinks very highly of you."

I smiled thinking of all the times, Rose, Angela and I had grabbed lunched together and vented.

"Bella, do you mind waiting a moment, the doctor is going to be out shortly and I know Angela wouldn't mind you and Rose being here," she said, motioning to Rose to stay.

"Of course," I said sitting back down in the plastic covered chair. I looked at the fabric of the chair. You learn a lot of useless trivia in the administrative side medical field, one bit being all furniture had to be fire retarded. As result almost all the furniture you see in the hospital looked the same. Eat your heart out Alex Trebak, I thought looking at my watch. It was 2:30 in the morning and I had been there for 2 hours now and no Jessica.

It was safe to assume she wouldn't make an appearance until morning. Jessica was all into her beauty sleep. I didn't want to push my luck so I kept willing the doctor to come out. No such luck, the doctor arrived at 6:00 to tell us that Angela was resting comfortably after having her stomach pumped. They were going to transfer to the psych ward until Sunday and she would be discharged. However the doctor was worried about Angela and felt she needed 24 hour care.

The Webers went back to talk to their daughter. Rose and I looked at each other. There was no way that Rose could stay with Angela every minute of the day. "I think she going to have to go home Rose," I said softly.

Rose nodded sadly at the prospect of losing her roommate and best friend. The Webers walked back about 30 minutes later and confirmed what I said. They were going to pack up her daughter over the weekend and take her home Monday. She was almost catatonic.

"Rose, we'll help you with the rent until you find a new roommate," Mr. Weber told her.

"Thanks," she said relieved.

"Girls go home, you can see this evening or tomorrow morning. If you don't mind me saying you look like hell," Maggie told us with her daughter's smirk. We nodded and hugged her.

"Maggie, if you need help let me know, ok" I said.

"Will do dear, now really go home," she said.

Rose, Emmett and I turned to leave. "Do you need a ride," I asked, getting my keys out of my purse.

"No, we're just going to catch a cab, my place is 2 blocks from here," Emmett said.

Looking at the two of them I didn't think Rose would be staying at her place for longer.

"Oh shit," Rose muttered, looked to my right.

"What," I said looking up to see a halo of frizzy bleached blond hair coming our way. Jessica stopped to see us, looking a little apprehensive.

"How is Angela," she asked a timidly. Her voice reminded me of a little girl at that moment. Jessica had a wide variety of voices. Her cutesy voice when she wanted something and wanted to get your good side, her bitch voice when she was pissed or wanted something immediately and one of my personal favorites - I am a benevolent dictator.

"You can speak with her parents, they are down the hall," I said, amazed with how cold my voice sounded. I left and went down to the parking garage. I paid the attendant and got my Easy Pass ready. Due to the lack of traffic I was back on Staten Island 30 minutes later.

Edward was feeding the twins when I walked threw door. "How is Angela," he asked concerned.

"Not good," I signed lift Geoff out of his seat., "her parents are taking her back to Buffalo on Monday."

"Go lie, down, your mom is coming to help me with twins in a little bit," he told me taking the baby from me.

Grateful, I went to the couch knowing the kids won't let me leave the room until my mother came. My mom came over 20 minutes later and I went to lie down. I stayed down until 2:00. Feeling disoriented I walked down to find my husband reading the paper.

"I am really sorry about last night," I said.

"Don't be, excessive devotion and kindness is one of the reasons why I married you", he said pulling me down next to him. "Listen, I should have asked you but your mom is going to take Geoff and Melody for an overnight. Angela's mother called earlier and said she was going to take you up on your offer to pack and I thought I would help you."

"That's the reason why I married you, selfishness and a mind reader," I said snuggling in his chest.

"Also Jessica left a message when I was packing the twins up," Edward told me, "She wants you to call her back. I think you should just ignore it."

I nodded agreeing with him. The phone rang again at the moment. Signing, I leaned over to pick it up. The caller ID read unknown, thinking it might be a telemarketer I ignored it. It rang again a minute with the same unknown person. Really annoyed, I picked it up ready to tell the caller off.

"Yes," I said seething, frowning at Edward.

"Bella," I heard Jessica, she had to be calling from her cell. I was impressed, I didn't realize she had the technical knowledge to know how to block her number. She used to have me do that crap for her.

"Yes Jessica," I said rolling my eyes at my husband.

"Oh good, I caught you. Listen I need a favor from you," she asked me.

"And what might that be," I asked.

"Angela's parents are really angry at me." She started explaining.

"Okay…" I said wondering what this had to do with me. I couldn't really blame them. Jessica could infuriate the Pope when she really tried.

"So, I need you not to talk to them. I will make sure you get your letter of recommendation tomorrow." She told me.

Ah, I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together in my head. I guessed Mr. and Mrs. Weber probably knew about her project more then Angela let on and that Jessica probably said something stupid. They probably told her they were going to sue her and she should probably not talk to them.

"1st of all Jessica, I don't think this discussion is appropriate. You should probably be consulting a lawyer instead of trying to bribe me. Secondary, I have a new job and I don't need anything from you period." I told her about to say goodbye, the call leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"That's right with Columbia University Hospital working in their healthcare IT project," Jessica said, her she-devil persona making an appearance. "I would hate to call my friends there…" she let the sentence trail off.

I sat there for a moment just staring at Edward. I could not believe the arrogance of this woman. My new boss knew all about Jessica. In fact I had gotten the job referral from my processor in Jessica's office. Every nasty thing she ever said, every belittling thing she made me do floated around in my head like a montage from Alice in Wonderland. Edward, who had heard every word of the conversation said, "Hang up Bella."

"You know what Jessica, go fuck yourself," I said, hitting the off button my phone my head starting to pound. The phone almost immediately rang again. Edward took it this time, I could heard the screaming on the other end, mainly "How dare you…"

"First of all I heard everything you just said if you think you are going to cause any trouble for my wife," Edward told her coldly, "Secondly I think she told you to fuck yourself so do not call back here again. Lose this number permanently because I am filing charges next time and I am sure you will have fun time explaining that on your next grant proposal." With that Edward hung up the phone. It became very quiet.

"I can't believe I just did that," I said shaking my head.

"Don't worry about it. There is nothing you can do about any of this Bella. You just did her a big favor. She could be hung for this in court." Edward wasn't kidding around. Having worked in the medical environment for over 10 years I was familiar with the ins and outs of malpractice. Edward liked to tease me that I should go back and get a law degree instead of an IT certification.

We left shortly after and went to Angela's apartment. Her mother confirmed what I guessed they were going to sue Jessica. "Its not the money, believe me we don't want it," Maggie said, "I don't want her to ever be in the position to hurt anyone again like she did with my daughter."

Edward nodded, "I get it, you should have seen the number she did on Bella," he said.

"Edward," I exclaimed, putting down my tape gun, this was nearly as bad as what Jessica did.

"Bella, it's the truth, you worked for that bitch for 9 months and you came home with a headache almost every single night," he reminded me.

I stayed quiet remembering my head pounding on the couch. Edward was right, for the 9 months I worked for Jessica I had a migraine every day. I could barely function at home except on Saturday. Every night I had an experience at the office that would follow me home, me the person who once got attacked by a drunk in the ER and then laughed about it with my friends over a beer. Saturdays were better because I didn't see or heard from Jessica at all except for the occasional email. Sunday nights, while preparing for Monday morning brought the familiar pounding of another migraine. I should have brought stock in Advil. The only silver lining to Edward being out of work was that he cared for the twins and the house. I was completely useless the rest of the time.

"Maggie, if you go after her, go hard, she is a Grade-A bitch. She will not hesitate to make Angela look like a simpleton," I told her and the reiterated the call I received.

"Don't worry honey, I can make a Nazi cry," Maggie said, patting my hand.

We all laughed, "Good," I said, because that is what she is a raving Nazi."

Six months later…

I got out at the subway station by the Lipstick building on 59th. The Lipstick building is also known as the Revlon Building by one of MSK's out patient pavilions. It looks like a tube of lipstick made out of red brick. It was where the deposition was taking place for the lawsuit Angela and her parents were pursuing. I walked in and checked in with the security guard. I then went to the attorneys' office suite and checked in with the receptionist. She informed me that I was the first one there and asked me if I would like anything. I had skipped breakfast that morning to make sure I caught the ferry on time. Edward and I were definitely doing better financially but we could only afford the one car while we paying off our debt. Since he was going to have the kids I was metroing up to the city. "Do you have any tea," I asked.

"Yes," she said starting to get up.

"No that's fine, if you tell me were its is I can get myself," I told the receptionist. Having done it enough for years I hated making others do it.

She looked at me gratefully but told me it wasn't in a common area. I nodded and took seat and grabbed my book from my purse. She came back in a few minutes with the tea and I just lost myself in my book until the others started to arrive.

By this point most of my former colleagues had moved on. Jessica had a completely new staff from the time I worked with her. Angela's parents had been busy in the preceding pulling this together. She had gotten better and the lawsuit was helping her get closure from this. She was back in school to get a degree in law. She was interested helping employees who had been harassed like we had. It was the best therapy for her, she had written in her emails. We all caught up with each other chatting about the new things in our life. When Jessica walked in.

It was almost comical. We all at one side of the room and she sat on the opposite end, looking away from us. Jessica knew we had all been called to testify against her, including Lauren who had quit shortly after Angela's suicide attempt. I thought back to late September when I got a call from her to see if my department was hiring. "I couldn't take it anymore Bella," Lauren said quietly, "After Angela got…sick, she called us all in to discuss about her defense. Then she kept making cracks about it. How Angela was always screwing up on something – why should suicide be any different."

The last months look like they hit Jessica pretty hard. Her normally immaculately colored blond hair had a definite streak of brown tainting the roots. She looked like she hadn't slept in a long time and put on about 15 pounds since I saw her last. I knew through the grapevine that a lot was riding on this case for her professionally.

The Webers were suing just enough to get make a ding on the malpractice insurance. They wanted enough make Jessica uninsurable. If she lost this there was good chance she would never be able to work as a research manager again. She would probably lose her grant if she lost. She had not been popular with the administration before this happened and her enemies were almost hoping that she would lose, almost.

We shortly moved into the deposition room. By some twist of fate I had been called first after Angela gave her deposition. The lawyers explained to me that this was not an actual court proceeding but I should consider myself under oath. I nodded to repeated after the court officer, placing my hand on the Bible. Afterwards I stole a glance at Jessica who was glaring at me. I knew why the Webers had me on the list first.

I had a filed a complaint after my termination for harassment. Jessica's administrative assistants were the revolving joke of the human resources department. My processor had lasted 6 months and was currently in California. The one before her lasted a year and was in Florida. There were more then enough witnesses to Jessica's abuse that Angela would never have to testify unless she wanted too. The Webers' bottom line was that they wanted Jessica fired and not able to take a supervisory role ever again. They could care less about the money. If the good people at MSK had realized that they could have avoided a lawsuit.

After being sworn in, the Weber's attorney started questioning me. "Ms Cullen, how do you know the defendant?"

"I was hired by her in September 2008 to work as her grants manager", I answered remember the August date I interviewed with her.

AN: So this is a little different then my last story, not as cloak and dagger. I got influenced to write this story based off some of my friends' experiences during the recession. Next update will be on Friday or Monday. I'm going to try and keep up with the posting schedule I maintained with A Long Journey.