THAT'S MY WIFE

Disclaimer: The Cullens, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

This chapter has been beta'd by dowlingnana and her work is making the story flow more smoothly.

His secretary had left over an hour ago to head home for the night when Edward wandered back into his office after a shit ass long, boring meeting. He quickly sorted through the messages that had been left on his desk with his mind only half way absorbing what they covered. In fact, none of them had really registered with him, so, he got up and was heading home. He had gotten as far as his car when he came to a dead stop with the words registering that Jasper had called because Alice and Bella were missing.

Quickly going back to his office he reached for the message once more, reread it and then called his secretary. "Why the hell didn't you call me immediately when you had received this message from Mr. Whitlock?" he yelled over the phone at her as soon as she had answered the call.

CHAPTER 2: THINKING OF THE PAST

Bella sat looking out the window seemingly lost in thought to anyone that might be observing her. And, they would be right in their assumption since she was remembering the day the Cullen family, Edward, Jasper Whitlock, Bella and Charlie, her mother, Renee, had refused to come since she believed that Bella was making a very incorrect decision, sat in the same courtroom as the judge banged his gavel down upon a disk of wood to decree the marriage between Edward Anthony Masen Cullen and Isabella Marie Swan Cullen to be over. And he declared that from that day forward Bella would be known as Cullen Swan.

Edward had fought long and hard to stop the divorce, but, failed. Bella had had enough of his dictatorial ways in both her personal and business life. He was overprotective to the point that she felt smothered and he acted as if he was the only one that had any sense meaning he was always right and she was always wrong to the point of being reckless showing no regard for being safe. He always tried to pass over her when assigning the stories that had any sort of risk to them. All in spite of the fact that she had proven that she was able to handle that sort of story time and time again. She had the awards to prove it.

When she had worked for a couple of rival companies she had no problem with being given such a story. In fact, no one believed in the beginning that she was be able to handle the blood and gory in such stories. But, she was able to prove them wrong, hence, her awards and accolades for her stories. Her handling by giving the facts, but, maintaining the human interest point of view, her brought her to the forefront of her profession while making her one of the most sought after reporters.

But, to keep conflict from arising into their romance and marriage Bella switched to the family owned broadcasting company. And, at first Edward was fine with her continuing as she had been doing, until one time she had managed to get caught between a shoot out between assailant and the police. It was a story of a young boy being kidnapped, a ransom demand and then after Bella had gone over all the facts known of the kidnapping she had been able to trace the steps of both boy and kidnapper to where she accidentally stumbled across the hideout. Making the call to the police to inform them she had somehow got caught between the two forces, but, still came out alive with a terrific story that was award winning.

Of course, it didn't help anything that she gone to Africa to do a story with interviews at a refugee camp and it got raided and she was caught in the middle of that and nearly got shot by one of the commandos. But, she had been able to get home safely with another award winning story. That was the turning point when Edward became a total pain in the ass and started assigning her the fluff instead of the meat stories. Things had gotten so bad that he hired security to follow her around and they had orders to interfere any time it seemed she was approaching a dangerous situation.

Even trying to reason with him didn't do any good. After getting frustrated with all of the talking and feeling trapped Bella warned him that she was reaching her breaking point. Edward laughed and said that he was only keeping her safe since she didn't appear to know when to stop, look, or, listen. It was then that she talked with an attorney and then filed for divorce.

When Edward was served the papers he refused to still take her seriously, thinking that she was going to an extreme to try to get her way. But, even, then he refused to give an inch. He maintained his position about what she could and couldn't cover or do at home. Bella moved out, found another place to live and considered changing her employer. But, Charlie and her friend, Alice Cullen, had talked her into staying where she was. To show Edward the errors of his ways by being a constant reminder of what it was costing him every time she did her job, regardless of what it was. And, at the same time to go after the stories she wanted by freelancing. So, that is what she did. She handled the fluffy fluff that Edward kept throwing her way, but, would follow the stories she want on her own free time. Since they were no longer together he couldn't do anything about it.

Before the hearing and after the decree Edward tried talking to her at first to cancel "this nonsense", and then afterwards "to take thing and think about how much they love each other and come home". Bella stood looking at him before turning to walk away without another word.

Over the last three years he has done everything he could to try to get her to reconsider her actions and to see things his way, but, to no avail. In the beginning she listened to her dad's and Alice's advice to let Edward have time to consider his actions and make the necessary adjustments, but, things didn't change. Instead, he got worse and Bella pulled further and further away from him. She very seldom going into work anymore is quite content to work from home instead. That way she doesn't have to run into her ex and listen to his arguments.

She became the reporter that stays in the field and gives her reports over the air. She is the reporter that finds her own stories while still doing the ones that is given to her by the company. Alice Cullen is her friend, but, keeps her well dressed for the time she is filming her segments, being live on the air and then partying with her during their free time.

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Edward was the happiest man on earth or in the whole universe when the woman of his dreams, his soul mate, had agreed to give him the time of day, to spend time with him, to allow him a chance to win her love. Then the day came for him to ask for her hand in marriage. He had been nervous as hell at that time, especially as he had made the phone call to Charlie Swan, the Chief of Police, gun toting father of the woman he loved with all of his being, to ask for a time to meeting with him concerning a very important matter.

"What is this matter that you want to discuss, young man?" Charlie had asked him.

"Please, this isn't a matter that I wish to talk about on the phone and I do want it to stay between the two of us for a little while." Edward had explained.

"Very well, do you want to meet at the office or once I get home?"

"If it's all the same, sir, I would like to come by the station to see you." Edward told him trying to keep his nervousness from sounding in his voice.

Charlie chuckled without saying anything other than "Okay, I'll see you when you get here." But, Charlie knew that Edward was nervous and a bit afraid of him for some reason and he did have a pretty good idea of why Edward wanted to see him. Even, though, he was sadden to think the time was coming for his little girl to replace him with another man in her life, he was happy that the man was possibly Edward. The one that loved her as she deserved to be loved and had enough respect for doing things properly by following tradition with respect; at least, this is where his thoughts are going after Edward's phone call.

As Edward arrived at the station he sat in his car for several minutes while raking his hand through his hair, down his face and then as it rested on his neck he would reach behind his head to rest his hand as if trying to loosen the muscles back there before running his fingers towards the side of his neck and then letting his hand fall. During this time his other hand was grabbing the steer wheel. He had no idea that Charlie happened to be standing at the front desk in the police station watching after he saw Edward's car pull in to a parking slot. And, as Charlie watched he couldn't help the mental chuckle that wanted to be released to become a physical sound, but, Charlie managed to keep a straight face. He was reminded of how nervous he had been at a time in the past when he had gone to Renee's father to ask for her hand in marriage. So, seeing how Edward was behaving at the moment he was convinced that the same was about to take place, but, he was the father of a young woman.

Finally, Edward had gotten up the nerve to get out of the car and to go face Charlie so he could know that he had the blessing of Bella's family when he did ask her to marry him. Finally, Edward had gotten up the nerve to get out of the car and to go face Charlie so he could know that he had the blessing of Bella's family when he did ask her to marry him.

Walking into the station Edward looked around as if getting his bearings and then asked the officer at the front desk to let Chief Swan know that he was there and waiting to see the Chief. After a short conversation the officer turned to Edward telling him to going on into the Chief's office as he was expected.

Edward began stumbling over his words as he started to speak as from time to time Charlie would move his hand downwards as if towards the gun that was holstered at his waist only to quickly return his hand on top of his desk as if realizing what he was doing. This action by the Chief only served to increase Edward's nervousness while informing Charlie of his purpose for his visit. Once he had finished and waited for some kind of response from Charlie, Edward noticed the slight shaking in his hands. The time stretched to almost unbearable limits before Charlie spoke.

He stood then walked around his desk towards Edward with his hand resting on the handle of his pistol. Edward stayed seated, but, looked up at Charlie as the Chief stood there looking down at him while his face gave nothing away to Edward to indicate any of Charlie's thoughts. Then Charlie reached out to shake hands with Edward while saying, "Son, I know of no one any better qualified to take care of my little girl as she deserves. I have observed the looks and the tenderness that you displayed towards my Bella and know that you love her very much and would do anything to keep her safe. So, you do have my blessing for asking my daughter to marry you. Now, you are going to have to convince her to take that step as we all know how she feels about that subject." He finished with a slight chuckle and a shake of his head.

Edward did have a hard time getting Bella to agree to marry him while at the same time she was making a name for herself in her chosen profession and winning awards for her reporting. But, some of these stories and how she obtained them gave plenty of worry to him; enough worry that he swore that his hair was going to turn prematurely white before its time.

After they were married time was beautiful and Bella changed from her then current employer over to the Cullen broadcasting company to continue with her reporting. However, she began to push the boundaries of what she would do to get a story. Pushed the limits to the point that Edward tried to intervene only to start having problems with her both at work and at home until the time came that she moved out and he had been served with divorce papers.

Of course, he tried to fight it, but, failed. On more than one occasion he had tried to talk with Bella to get her to withdraw the petition and to understand why he did things the way he did to try to keep her safe. But, she refused to see things his way. Finally, she would work the stories he threw at her, but, would freelance on stories that caused him to cringe every time he saw the film footage or turned on his television to see her doing a live section. But, as far as Edward was concerned his soul mate, the love of his life, his Bella would always remain his wife far beyond the limits of time and space.

A/N: Do you think Bella made the right decisions? Was Edward going a bit too far in trying to keep Bella safe?

Hope you will enjoy the new story. Give me your thoughts and I'll be glad to answer back.