Love Lights Fires; Chapter Two
"Where there is great love, there are always miracles." – Willa Cather
Edward Cullen,
September 11, 2001. 8:00 A.M.
I sighed and looked at the stack of papers on my desk.
My first day back at the office, and I have a carload of papers to file and what-not. I groaned louder and practically slammed my cup of coffee on my desk. I threw off my messenger bag from around my shoulder onto my black swivel chair.
I opened up my bag and began to take out my office supplies – like pens, pencils, paper, and stuff like that – but stopped short when I saw a bright pink piece of paper sticking out from underneath my Blackberry.
I lifted it up and instantly smiled when I noticed the handwriting.
Mon Edward,
I hope you have an absolute wonderful time back in the office. Say 'hi' to Betty for me. I miss her grandchildren. Eva and I love you very much.
I will see you – mon amour – when you get home for dinner.
Vous aimer du fond de mon Coeur,
Bella
I smiled; I loved when she gave sweet innocent notes for work. They always some how brighten up my day.
I walked around my desk and inspected it. If those damn janitors cracked another picture frame, I'm going to be firing someone.
The first picture was of Bella, Rose, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and I all on the first weekend that Bella moved to Manhattan. Bella fit right into our group and we all went to dinner and a movie that night. We went to Red Robin and then saw Pearl Harbor. It was…interesting, to say the least. After that day, Bella has become attached by the hip to one of us. And I'm happy about that.
The next picture was on our high school prom. Bella looked amazing in her dark blue floor length dress. It had rhinestones and other girly crap attached to her bust area. It flowed out down past her waist. We all rode in a black stretch limo after eating out at Olive Garden.
The third picture was on our wedding day. It was the second best day of my life. Bella looked absolutely beautiful in her floor length white brides dress. It took all I could not to bolt down the isle, scoop her up in my arms, and hide her in Puerto Rico. The ceremony was amazing. Emmett was my best man, and Jasper, Jacob, and my cousin Andrew were my groomsmen. Rose was Bella's Maid of Honor and Alice, Angela and Jessica were all her bridesmaids. The reception was wonderful. Her parents didn't fully speak English, so my parents often took Bella away from me as a translator. Even Bella didn't have amazing English, but that was what made her even more attractive.
The last picture was taken on the day Eva born. Bella was lying on the hospital bed with Eva in her arms, smiling brightly at the camera. I was leaning over the edge of the bed with one hand on Eva and I was lightly kissing Bella's temple. I remember that day like it was yesterday. That was the best day of my life. It felt as if my life was complete. I had everything I ever wanted.
Below that picture in the frame was a birth announcement that Alice had made when she was born. It read:
Eva Katherine Cullen
March 14, 2001
Seven pounds nine ounces
Twenty and a half inches
Amazing daughter of Edward and Bella Cullen
I smiled at the memory of that day. It will never leave my mind.
I settled everything down on my desk and picked up the phone.
I pushed in the numbers I needed and waited for someone to pick up.
I looked at my watch. 8:10 A.M. Good, they should be up.
"Hello?" the soothing voice of my mother finally answered the phone.
"Hey, Mom."
"Oh, Edward! How are you, hon?"
"I'm as good as I could get when I'm back at work." I groaned.
"Oh, that's right! I forgot you were going back. How's the office so far? Did Jasper finally get transferred to your floor?" she asked excitedly.
I laughed at her eagerness, "Yes, actually. Right when we got into the building, Mr. Grantham stopped him and told him to pack up and move to floor 79. That's a big deal Mom! I'm on the 79th floor and you know what my position is!" I yelled in excitement.
I heard her chuckle on the other end, "Tell him I'm extremely happy for him."
"Will do."
"So, I think I'm going to head over to your apartment today and see Bella and Eva. I miss them very much."
"I'm sorry we haven't been over much. I'm just trying to spend time with my new family, you know?" I said guiltily.
"Don't beat yourself up Edward. I know how the thrill is to have a new family. It's amazing." She sighed, obliviously remembering life before we grew.
"Thanks, Mom."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you! I talked to Renee last night. She said Charlie and her were going on a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago to visit her sister. They invited you and Bella and of course Eva."
"Yes, I know that."
"Well, she invited your father and I. She said her sister still hasn't met us."
I was actually happy they were coming. It just proves how our family likes each other so much.
"Wasn't she at the wedding?" I asked, confused.
"That was Charlie's sister, Sarah, I believe. Jacqueline couldn't make it out here because her husband's Mom was put into a nursing home and they had to sell her house or something on that line."
"Oh, I see. So, she lives in Chicago?" I asked.
"Yes, they just moved here from France two years ago. They heard great things from Charlie, Renee and Bella apparently. Oh, and I don't think Bella knows about his yet. So, when you see her don't talk to her about it. Renee wanted to."
"Okay." A knock on the door brought me out of my conversation with my mother. I looked towards where the noise came from, and I saw Jasper stick his head in my office.
"Knock, knock." He yelled.
I laughed and put up one finger saying 'one minute'.
"Mom, Jasper's here. I have to go. Plus, it's the first day back to work. I don't want to get fired for talking to my mother for longer than necessary."
She laughed, "Okay, honey. I'll talk to you later. I might be over your house when I get home, who knows?" she muttered.
"Okay, I love you, Mom. Say 'hi' to Dad for me, okay?"
"Sure thing, Hon. Love you." she hung up.
I snapped my phone shut and looked at Jasper.
"What's up, Mr. Assistant Director of Trade?" I asked jokingly.
His eyes lit up like a boy on Christmas. "Oh dude, you have no idea how glad I am that I got this promotion!" he busted. He then walked over to the chair in front of my desk and plopped down. "I'm so glad dumbass Swartz got fired."
I laughed loudly. Dave Swartz was the old ADT. He got fired and went to jail with three charges of robbery and stealing from the government or something like that. He stole thousands of dollars from the U.S. Trade Department and used it to by a house in Beverly Hills and an Aston Martin Vanquish. Psh, low-life.
"What room are you in?" I asked while pouring more sugar in my cup of coffee.
"Two down from yours," he smirked.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah!"
"Great, now I don't even need to take the elevator to talk to you when our wives call about some 'important' stuff."
He guffawed, "Yeah, tell me about it."
"So, what's your first assignment as Assistant Director of Trade?" I smirked. (AN: okay, so I really don't know what jobs they had, so let's just go with the flow.)
"I don't know. Set up something with Germany? Why are you asking me? You're the Director of Trade!" he feigned anger.
I laughed, "I was just joking." I shook my head and looked at my computer screen. It was finally loaded and I needed to start looking over files sent in from China. Apparently, we are in some weird crisis and China's leading companies are starting a monopoly. Not the best thing for American Trade at the moment.
"We have a meeting with the Board of Trade at nine, right?" he asked.
I nodded my head slowly, trying to remember if it was true. "Yeah, we do. We're setting up a profit with Germany and Norway, I guess." I shrugged and checked my e-mail.
"Okay. Well its 8:35 now, I'm going to call Alice really quick and tell her I'm alright. She was flipping out this morning in her dreams. Something about the news and an explosion?" He looked deep in thought. "Well, I'll come here in a minute and we can walk down early, okay?" he suggested.
I nodded, "Yeah, sure." I was too wrapped up in an e-mail I got from Emmett that I didn't even notice he left, and then came back not even five minutes later.
"Do you want to leave now…? Or do you have something to do?"
I looked up at him, startled, "Oh, no we can go." I got up from my chair and grabbed my suit jacked from the back of my chair. "Okay, let's roll."
I walked out of my office and locked the door before we began our journey to the other end of the building.
A couple months ago, there was a robbery inside the building. Someone broke into someone's office on the 55th floor and took all her pictures, any jewelry and money, and her plastic plant. Don't ask my why they took that, they just did. It was probably made of marijuana or something.
Ever since then, I've been locking my door whenever I walked out of that room. There are too many nice memoirs in there to risk them getting stolen.
"Edward, you're back!" I heard a cat-like squeal from behind me and I instantly knew who it was.
I groaned and Jasper snickered. I discreetly flipped him off and turned around to meet a disturbing site. Her face. (AN: Haha, that was harsh Edward!)
"Hello, Irina." I mumbled.
She practically stumbled over to me and began to stoke her hand up and down my arm, "Edward, the office was so…dull without you here." She pouted and attempted to look sexy, I'm guessing.
I took her hand and pulled it away from me, "Yes, well, sorry I can't stay longer and…chat…but I have to get to a meeting with Germany." I said through clenched teeth.
"You have time for me, don't you, baby?" she smiled.
"No. I. Do. Not. I have time for my wife and my daughter." I growled.
She smirked, "What they don't know won't hurt them," she winked.
I scoffed and gently pushed her away. "Please move or I will get you fired."
She held up her hands in defense, "Hey, hey, hey. I was just wanted to talk." She said, beginning to walk backwards. "Call me when you want to dump that brunette, French bimbo of yours."
I growled and glared at her. How dare she call my Bella a bimbo? She obliviously doesn't know what she looks like.
Jasper put a hand on my shoulder, either to stop my trembling anger, or to hold him up because he was laughing so hard, "Man, you should have seen that from a third person point of view. It was hilarious!"
I glared at him and that shut him up. I started walking right past him.
"Hey! Wait up!" he called. Soon, he was walking a steady pace right next to me.
"I just don't get it. She's not even supposed to be by my office, yet she like, stalks me. Betty's my secretary, not Irina!" I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Just let it blow over. If you keep turning her down, she's bound to give up someday."
I laughed humorlessly, "You've been saying that for the past year and a half, maybe? How long have I been here?" I stopped walking in front of the conference room and started counting in my head how long I've been here. "Yeah, year and a half!"
Jasper raised an eyebrow at me, "It took you that long to realize you've been here for eighteen months?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm getting old, okay?!"
"Yeah, twenty seven! Call the paramedics! Who knows when you'll croak?" he said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes and pushed him into the room, "Just get in there."
We were laughing when we got in there. I checked my watch. 8:45. Great, we're fifteen minutes early.
"Good morning men!" Mr. Lennox yelled when he walked in the door. He set down his briefcase and coffee and walked over to Jasper. "Congratulations again, Jasper. Job well done!" he clapped a hand on his back.
Mr. Lennox was one of the nicest men I know. He's in his late forties, he's from Germany and he runs this whole trading thing in the United States (AN: seriously guys, I'm sorry if all this job stuff is wrong)
He's like a mentor to me. I've known him since I started this job, and he's the one that recommended me to the 'big guys' to make me Director of Trade.
I owed him my life for that.
Well, maybe that's a little too overdramatic.
Anyway, back to important matters. No wonder he's here so early. He's happy we're signing a deal with his homeland.
"Thanks, Edgar!" Jasper smiled hugely.
"No problemo. So, when does this shindig start up?" he cracked his knuckles and leaned back in his chair.
I laughed and sat down in the seat across from him – Jasper next to me. "It starts at nine, but we felt like we needed to get her earlier-" I was cut off by a loud crashing noise.
It sounded like it was right outside the building. Maybe even outside the room.
"Welches im Namen von Gott war das?" Edgar yelled and bolted straight up in his chair.
Jasper was busy cleaning up the coffee he spilt from being startled, and I got up to walk to the door to see what happened.
Once I opened the door, people were scrambling around, screaming like they were on fire.
Betty, my secretary, ran up to me as fast as she could with her fifty year old legs.
"Betty, what happened?"
"Mr. Cullen, sir…you need…" she said breathlessly. She leaned over - so her hands were on her knees – and tried to regulate her breathing.
I rubbed her back soothingly. "Betty, please. What happened?" I tried again.
"Sir, you need to look out the window! Something has happened!" she shrieked and took into the meeting room after she gained enough energy.
I ran in right after her and followed her to the window.
"Holy crap!" I yelled after I reached it.
All I saw floating around the air were papers, bricks and ash. I couldn't even see what was beyond that, it was so thick. The only other thing I saw behind the ash was large, red and yellow flames shooting out of the North Tower.
"Betty, what happened?" I asked for the third time. Only this time, I knew what happened…I just didn't. If that makes any sense?
"Uh…uhm," she stuttered, too shaken up to complete a sentence. I might need to smack her to get it out.
"Betty!" I yelled and ran away from the window. Edgar and Jasper were both looking out with shocked expressions.
"There was an explosion…" she whispered.
My mouth dropped open, "Are we being evacuated-"
My question was cut short by a loud muffling coming on the intercom system.
"Attention workers; we will need all of you to use the stairs and evacuate this building in an orderly fashion. This is not a drill. I repeat; you will need to evacuate this building using the stairs. This is not a drill." Then some weird buzzing noise came on.
"Men, lets go!" Edgar shouted and pulled on Jasper's arm.
I grabbed Betty's hand – not letting her go; she's like a grandmother to me – and pulled her out of the room behind Jasper and Edgar.
People were running around and screaming like crazy. No one knew what was going on, but we knew it was something bad to have all of this happen.
"Where do we go?" Jasper yelled over everyone else's voices.
"Get to the emergency stairs! We can't take the elevator just incase something happens." I yelled back.
He nodded and bolted for the emergency exit.
We were the only ones in this stair case, so it was extremely dark and quite.
"Someone have a light?" I asked in a rushed voice.
Edgar reached into his pocket and took out a lighter, "This is all I have."
I nodded, "It will have to do."
"I don't know if I can walk down all these. This is seventy-nine flights of stairs!" Betty complained.
I crouched down in front of her and held out my arms, "Get on."
"What?" she asked incredulously.
"Get on. I'm not leaving you here, Betty." She just looked at me like I was crazy. I sighed, "I've carried Emmett down a hill while hiking before. If I can carry him, I can carry you. Please Betty, get on." I pleaded.
She finally gave in and jumped on my back, "I'm getting too old to jump!" she wheezed.
I laughed and started walking down the stairs with Jasper and Edgar next to me.
After fifteen minutes I stopped for a breather.
"What…floor are we…on." I managed to get out between breaths. It felt like we've been walking for days.
Jasper peaked into the door that went out into the current floor.
"Um…floor seventy one." He groaned.
"Seriously, it took us this long just to get down eight stories?!" I asked rhetorically.
"Okay…just seventy one more stories." Edgar gasped out. He looked like he was in pain.
"Are you alright, Edgar?"
"Yeah, I just forgot my inhaler."
"You have asthma?!" Jasper yelled.
"No, no. It's just, sometimes I get back coughs. I don't think it'll be happening soon, but yeah." He sighed.
"Okay!" Betty perked and slapped my back, "Lets get out of this hell hole and find out what happened."
We laughed weakly and began walking again.
A minute after we began walking again, my cell phone blared.
"Cause you are the brightest star. I'm in love with who you are. And you are the brightest star. I'm lost without your love."
Bella.
"Hello?" I asked in a raspy voice.
"Ed-Edward," I heard her cry through the phone.
"Oh Bella, Bella are you okay? Tell me you're okay?" I had no idea what was going on outside of this building, but it couldn't be good.
"No I'm not. I need you here. Please tell me you're getting out of there."
I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair, "Bella, they're evacuating us right now. We can't take the elevators, so it's going to take awhile to get down. Do you know what happened? They won't tell us."
"I seriously don't know. The girls and I were watching TV when we heard a loud boom. I thought it was a gun shot, you know, normal New York stuff, but we walked outside onto the balcony and saw one of the towers had smoke and flames coming out of it! Oh Edward, I didn't know if i-it was your tower or not!"
Oh shit. "Oh my god, okay Bella. I'm fine. I can't talk, we're in the back stairwell, and I'm loosing reception. I love you and tell Eva I'll be home-"
I never got to finish my sentence because there was a loud explosion from above us. I dropped the phone as rocks and steel came flying down on our heads.
I heard Betty screaming, but I couldn't see her.
I couldn't see Jasper. Or Edgar.
I couldn't see anything.
The last thing I remember was a sharp pain in my head as I clutched onto the locket with my Eva's picture in it on my key chain.
Then I fell into a sea of black. Drifting. Drifting. Until I couldn't hear my surroundings anymore.
Eh, so, was the ending bad or what? Again, sorry if I didn't get those jobs right. I seriously searched and searched, but I couldn't find anything. Tell me if this was good. Next chapter is going to be in Emmett's POV; you know, 'cause he's a firefighter (:
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