A/N: SM owns all things Twilight.

Thanks to my beautiful beta twilightobsessed522, for her awesome work and who encouraged me to post this.

Please remember that this fiction as you read. Thank you.

Chapter 1

EPOV

"Cullen!"

My head snapped up from the case report I was writing and saw my boss standing in front of my desk, "Sir?"

"Meet me in my office in 5 minutes."

My brows furrowed, "The Senator case, sir?" My eyes scanned the room and noticed my entire team watching the exchange. They were curious too. Of course they were. Senator Aro Volturi had been accused of embezzling money in a Cayman account and we were all itching to bring him down. He was the kind of man that made this country look bad.

I watched our Section Chief, Charles Swan, fiddle with the files in his hands and his eyes scanned from left to right. I sat up a little straighter in my chair knowing that this was serious, as I'd never seen him act this way before.

His eyes met mine and I thought I saw worry flash in his eyes, "Something like that." His hard, cold exterior was back as he pointed his finger at me, "My office. 5 minutes."

I nodded, "Yes sir. I'll be there."

He turned to leave and saw my team watching us curiously and stopped. He looked towards each agent in the room, then continued walking out with these words, "Back to work. Those bastards don't catch themselves."

As he walked around the corner, I looked to my team whose eyes were all curiously watching me waiting for details. Sitting back down, I said, "You heard the man."

Agent Emmett McCarty groaned, "Dude, come on. What did the Chief want? What had him fidgeting like that?" Yeah, they had noticed that too. We weren't FBI Special Agents for nothing. We noticed stuff like that. We were trained to catch stuff like that. Chief Swan was usually cool as a cucumber, never showing his cards so to speak. But something had him spooked or worried that caused his guard to drop. We were all curious.

I looked from one face to another. Agent McCarty, my sidekick and overall best friend even though he acted like 5 year old most of the time, Agent Jasper Whitlock, calculating and precise, raised a curious eyebrow while sipping his coffee silently. Agent Rosalie Hale, our computer genius who always spoke her thoughts, typed away at her keyboard while keeping an eye on me. And then there was Agent Mike Newton, who had been gunning for my supervisory position since the beginning. Lousy attitude and a cocky bastard to boot. We tolerated him, but no one really liked him. He honestly thought he was gods gift to mankind with his Harvard degree.

My hand went through my hair, a nervous habit I had developed while in university and eyed my team. I looked to McCarty who looked as excited as a kid on Christmas and said, "He didn't say."

He clapped his hands together excitedly, "The Senator case? Is it ours?"

I glared at him, "I don't know. Now get back to work!"

Em looked rightfully scolded, but that didn't stop him. He got up from his chair and walked over to my desk, leaned over and whispered not so quietly, "Come on Ed. What the Chief want?"

Closing the file I had open on my computer, I shuffled my files on my desk together and leaned in close to Em's face, "I. Don't. Know. He didn't say. Just wanted me to come to his office." His smile faded and I continued, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to." With that I left my team behind wondering as to what was happening. 'Join the club' I thought to myself.

Knocking on the Chief's office door, I stuck my head into his office, "Chief?"

Chief Swan looked up from whatever he was doing and waved me in, "Come in Edward. And close the door behind you."

'Edward? Did I hear correctly that he called me Edward? Usually it's Cullen or Agent Cullen, but never Edward.'

Closing the door, I took a seat across from the Chief and waited not so patiently for him to continue.

Closing the files on his desk, he put them aside and folded his hands in front of him on the desk and leaned forward, "You know why I called you in here?"

I nodded, "The Senator case, I presume?"

He shook his head no and took something out of his desk drawer and slid it across the table towards me, "Not exactly. I'm sending you on a special assignment."

My brows furrowed as I took the envelope, "I don't quite understand, sir."

The Chief leaned forward again and fixed his hard gaze on me, "The Mayor of Seattle, Marcus Tortuga, was shot this morning and there was a witness. I need you to go and get her. Off record."

I opened the envelope and saw a plane ticket to Seattle inside, leaving tonight on the red eye. My curiosity peaked, "Me? Why? Can't the Seattle office do it?"

He took a deep breath and continued, "This is important Agent Cullen. Yes, the Seattle office could do it, but I don't trust them like I trust you." He leaned back in his chair and asked, "Is it gonna be a problem, Agent?"

I looked between the plane ticket and my boss with a thousand questions running through my mind. Who was this witness that he wanted me specifically to take care of? Why hadn't this witness come forward before? And more importantly, who was this witness to the Chief that had him acting so strangely?

Taking a deep breath, I shook my head, "No problem, sir. Anything else, sir?"

He fiddled with the files on his desk again as he looked between me and the files, "Yes, one more thing. And this is important." I nodded in acknowledgement and curious as all hell.

"The witness is my daughter, Bella. I'm trusting you to take care of her."

Well, fuck me sideways...

XXXXXX

BPOV

A flash of light.

I watched in horror as Mr. Tortuga fell towards the ground.

Blood. So much blood.

My hand flew to my mouth to cover up the scream that was bubbling to the surface rapidly. It couldn't be. I had to be dreaming. In a panic, I ran outside screaming Marcus' name.

"Mr. Tortuga! Mr. Tortuga!"

Falling to my knees in front him, my hands pressed down on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Looking into his eyes, I saw the life slowly fade out of his eyes.

His hand grasped mine that was pressing down on his wound and my eyes flew to his face. With tears in my eyes, he sputtered, "My book. Office..." Blood spit out of his mouth as he coughed.

My eyes flew to his security guard and saw him talking to 911 on the phone while pacing back and forth. Pressing down harder on his wound, I said, "Help is on its way. Save your strength. Please."

Smiling weakly, his hand squeezed mine softly and his eyes slid shut, exhaling one last time.

Screaming, I sat up in my bed, covered in sweat and tears running down my face. Gasping for breath and my heart hammering in my chest, I knew that my nightmare was very much still reality. My boss, Mayor Marcus Tortuga, had been murdered yesterday afternoon. In front of my eyes. As the emergency crew had arrived along with the entire calvary, I had managed to call my dad without anyone being the wiser. Explaining the whole situation to my dad, the FBI agent, went over better then I thought. He was worried and told me to stay inside the rest of the day and that he was sending someone he trusted to come get me. He would be bringing me to D.C while the investigation went on. His concern was that whoever had done the deed could find out that there was a witness, namely me, and that they would come back for me. Shaking in my boots, I promised him that I'd be careful and stay inside until his appointed agent would come get me.

I had worked for Mr. Tortuga for 3 years and we had become friends. He was like a father figure since my dad was in Washington D.C and I was in Washington, the state. An entire country was between us and I had welcomed the father figure Mr. Tortuga had been to me. After graduating from U of W, it had been a challenge to find work. For the first few years, I had a menial job consisting of putting numbers into a computer for a small advertising firm. I had basically no contact with my coworkers. But thank god for roommates. My roommate and best friend at the time, Angela Weber, had heard from her boyfriend, Ben Cheney, an employer of Mr. Tortuga, that Tortuga was looking for a personal assistant. Without much begging, Ben had talked to Marcus and had secured me an interview. I had told Ben that he should inform Marcus of my disability and if he didn't like it, I didn't want an interview. A few days later, coming home after an exhausting day of trying to find work, Ben and Angela had greeted me excitedly at the door and told me that Mr. Tortuga was anxious to meet me. The rest, one could say, was history. The work was challenging and tiring most days, but I loved it. Currently, I had been working with Marcus to prepare him for the election to Congress. He was single, always claimed that he didn't have time for a relationship, that his work was his marriage. He had a great mind and knew what this city needed. Of course someone didn't think so.

On shaky legs, I went to take a shower. A look to my alarm clock told me that it was 6 am and dad's special agent person would be here around 8 am. Last night on the phone, he had given me the name of the agent that was coming. I was supposed to look for an Agent Cullen. I wondered what he would look like. As I showered, questions like that ran through my head.

Once dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt, I went into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. Not that I was hungry, but I knew I needed to eat something. Toast and orange juice would do. As I walked through the hall towards my kitchen, I saw the lights in my living room flicker, indicating to me that there was someone at the door. Looking at the clock on my stove, I noticed it was 7.38 and wondered who could be at the door this time.

My heart beat hastily in my chest as I took deliberate steps towards my door. Looking through the peephole, I saw a man standing there with auburn hair, looking like he had run his hand through it a million times. He looked down the hall both ways. A black t-shirt, blue faded jeans and a black leather jacket. From what I could tell through the peephole, he was a good looking man.

Taking a deep breath, I asked, "Who is it?"

Mystery man's head snapped towards my door and I saw him say something, but couldn't quite make it out.

"Can you show me an ID, please?"

The man's brows furrowed, but he reached into his back pocket and lifted his FBI badge towards the peephole. Satisfied, I unlocked my three locks on the door and opened it, stepping aside to let him in.

Agent Cullen stepped forward into my apartment, looking at me from head to toe, then asked, "Miss Swan?"

I nodded and he stepped in further into my apartment.

Closing the door and locking it behind him, I turned to him. His back was turned to me, but it looked like he was speaking.

"I'm sorry. What was that?"

He turned and looked at me with a furrow between his brows, "You know how long I've been standing there?" I shook my head no, keeping my eyes on him.

"About 5 minutes. Didn't you hear the doorbell?"

Wringing my hands together, I surmised that he didn't know, "No I did not. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Running his long fingers through his hair, he asked, "Why not? This isn't a big place." He gestured to my apartment.

Fidgeting under his piercing green eyes, I said, "I was in the shower."

He looked at me for a little while, his fingers gripping at his hair and blinking slowly. We stood there staring at each other for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been more then a few seconds. My hand twitched at my side to soothe out the wrinkle forming between his eyes and running my fingers through his hair in soothing motions. What was happening to me? I never reacted to a male like this before. Sure, he was good looking with his auburn hair and sexy green eyes, framed with long dark lashes. He looked to be a few years older than me, but the way his t-shirt was hugging his torso, I could tell he worked out. Well defined muscles were hidden under his shirt.

Not wanting to get caught staring at him like this, my face flushed slightly, and I snapped my eyes back to his face and caught him saying, "Un-fucking-believable!"

My brows furrowed, wondering if he said it out loud, "What is?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, "You heard that?"

I felt the heat rise in my cheeks and I looked down to my fidgeting hands for a brief second before I looked back at him, "Not exactly."

Agent Cullen's head cocked to the side as he was assessing me, "What do you mean 'not exactly'?"

Crossing my arms over my chest in a defensive manner, I said, "I saw you say it."

Even more surprised, he asked, "What?"

"I'm deaf, Agent."

A/N: If you like please review. Thanks for reading. :):)