Hello!

If you made it this far it means you liked the prologue, so that's good. I wanted to mention that I KNOW it is not permanently cold in Denver...it's a gorgeous city, and I love visiting there. I say some not-so-nice things about Denver in this chapter, but just keep in mind that Bella lives in Miami and hates winter. (also keep in mind that I'm from Canada, so I have heard all kinds of weather misconceptions about northern climates).

Also, I am not a fan of the Colorado Avalanche (but good for them for their upcoming draft pick). I picked Colorado for the simple reason that it was a team that I don't love/hate. I wanted to pick a team that I didn't have strong emotions for. In case anyone cares... I am a huge Calgary Flames fan!

Enjoy!

Chapter 1 –

Bella looked at her watch for the fourth time in as many minutes. She was sitting in the back seat of a cab in which the driver was playing some sort of rap music that was not in English. She was getting chills from the air conditioner on high blast, and the traffic jam in front of them was going to make her late.

"I have a plane to catch. It takes off in an hour and a half. I should be at the airport by now," she rambled at the driver, knowing full well they were pretty much stuck.

"What you want me do? Fly over car accident?" he asked in a deep accent Bella couldn't quite place—possibly some kind of Eastern European.

"I know, I'm just really worried about missing this flight. I've got a new job in a new city that I'm really not familiar with. I write for a magazine, you see, and they've just started this new section about sports wives. I know nothing about sports so..."

"I find side-street," he cut her off.

Bella was pretty sure he just wanted to cut her rambling short.

"Ok, thank you," Bella replied and sat back against the seat. She looked to her left and her right, she had two suitcases in the trunk and a duffel bag and carry-on sitting next to her in the car. She decided it was pretty sad that she was able to pack her life into four bags...Well, three, the carry-on didn't really count, she only had spare underwear and a toothbrush in there; just in case all the rest of her luggage got lost.

The cab driver turned down an alley and found its way onto a smaller street that was busier than it usually would be, but at least it was moving.

It still took another half hour to get to the airport. Bella paid the cab driver and gave him a good tip for getting her there. They'd probably still be in traffic if they had stayed on the main road. She loaded her bags onto a trolley and walked inside the terminal; deciding to speed up the process, she went straight to a staff member.

"Hi, where do I check in for United Airline Flight 265 to Denver?" she asked a sweet looking old man whose name was apparently Albert.

"United? That'll be over in concourse J; you're in concourse D right now. It's mostly American Airlines flights going out of here," he replied sweetly.

Bella blinked and bit her lip to prevent screaming—she was pretty sure it was a bad idea to make a big scene at the airport. "How do I get to concourse J's check in?" He pointed and she was gone. She couldn't believe she was running, her, Bella Swan, running to catch a flight to Denver of all places.

After running for what seemed like forever, and almost hitting an old lady and a group of teens on a high school trip, Bella made it to the check in, where there was a huge line for a later flight.

"Excuse me?" She called to a staff member; she was completely out of breath. "Whe...Where can I check in for 265 to Denver?"

"Denver? You're cutting it pretty close for that flight Miss."

She nodded her agreement; couldn't he tell that she knew that from the running across the airport?

"I know, there was traffic and my cab dropped me off wrong. Please please please tell me the flight is not closed," Bella begged. This trip was becoming her own personal hell, and she was beginning to think that these were signs that she should not be going to Denver. Angela wouldn't buy it; Bella knew that.

But if the flight was closed... "Nope, not closed yet, let me see your confirmation and get you on board."

No such luck. The check in was quick and another airport employee accompanied her to security where she was rushed to the front of the extremely long line. She received some pretty harsh looks from the crowd who had probably been waiting forever.

After a quick trip through security—where she realized that packing spare underwear might be smart, but only if you packed it in the bottom of the bag, not at the top where the whole room would see it when your bag was searched—she made it to the gate as they were calling final boarding.

"Looks like you just made it Miss...Swan." The friendly airline employee smiled as she tore the ticket. Bella thanked her and walked down the hallway that took her to the plane.

She was just getting to the airplane door where she tripped over the uneven floor between the hallway and the airplane and landed with her face about two inches away from the flight attendants shoe. All the while making a nice yelp as she fell so anyone in rows ten or forward could hear her. Her face, she knew, must have turned beet red. The flight attendant helped her up and grabbed her carry-on for her. She was directed to her seat, which she just realized was in the fourth row; apparently Angela had come through on the first class thing. That was good news at least.

She got into her seat and looked out the window one last time at the sun and beauty of Miami. She loved it here—the heat and the beach right around the corner; it was her own personal heaven. Denver on the other hand, it was the mountains; mountains are cold. She knew that this time of year it wasn't too bad because it was late August, but as it got closer to winter, it would get closer and closer to the type of weather she didn't want—which was anything involving snow.

Bella had grown up in the heat. She lived with her mother Renee in Phoenix growing up; her father Charlie lived in Forks Washington, which she visited every summer, but only in the summer when the weather was bearable. He would visit her every Christmas and on spring break. Bella got along very well with both her parents; she was one of those lucky kids whose parents' divorce didn't ruin her relationship with one or the other. She still called them both every weekend, and they both visited her every Christmas. Her mom would bring her husband Phil, and Charlie would bring his long time girlfriend Sue. They always managed to avoid the drama around divorced couples too; it seemed her parents got along much better as friends than they did as a couple.

After high school, Bella went to University of Southern California, majoring in journalism. It had been her first taste of real freedom, and she enjoyed it. So afterward, she decided not to go back to Phoenix, and she moved to San Diego. Soon after arriving, she got the job with the magazine; at first though, she was just doing office jobs, no real writing. This went on for about six months. By the end of those months, she was pretty much ready to look elsewhere when Angela had announced that the owner of the company was selling.

No one quite knew what was going to happen with the magazine, but it turned out the lady who bought it was an extremely rich woman who lived in Florida. The magazine announced that it was moving to Miami Florida, into an office building that the new owner had just finished building. This way they could cut costs and not have to lease the office space.

It turned out that the employee who wrote the self help section was not in a position to move to Miami, she had a husband who worked for a California law firm, and three kids in school. She took a nice severance package and stayed behind. Bella was offered the position, and she took it without question, she had no real ties to San Diego. To her, Miami would be the exact same—minus Shamu of course.

So, she started the new job; self help was not exactly where she wanted to be because first of all, it wasn't writing real articles, and second, Bella did not feel at all qualified to write self help stuff. It was a job, and she would get to write—that's what mattered. There were perks to the new position though, she was given a pile of letters a month, and she only had to write about the ones she chose. The pay was a lot better than the office assistant job.

But that was three years ago. Three years! The pay had increased over time, but it had seemed like no matter how hard she tried, she never had gotten other opportunities. Finally, about three months ago when the new section to the magazine was announced, she went straight to Angela and told her that she would not stay with the magazine if she was stuck in self help for any longer. Bella knew that the new section needed new writers, and she could be one of them. Angela assured her that she was going to get to write in the new section, but that the details had not been worked out just yet.

That news had put Bella on cloud nine. In the weeks that followed it was all she could talk about. Charlie and Renee were probably so sick of hearing it, but it was at least one real article—probably more, in a national magazine. In fact, she was pretty sure they sold it in Canada too, so it was more than a national magazine.

She thought she had taken the news of it being sports with a little dignity...well at least until she got written up for 'verbally attacking' Jessica, but the girl deserved it. She'd called her mom that night and cried on the phone for a few hours about the position, but Renee assured her that it was only ten months and that she had ten guaranteed articles. She reminded Bella that this was a big deal. Bella felt a little better about it after that—talking to her mom usually helped—and the next day, she had a two hour talk with Angela about what they were looking for within the article. Angela was right, it wasn't really a sports article; her job was to show that there were more important things about these women then them being sports wives.

There was one thing though that she still had not done, and that was look at the information Angela had given her. She still had no idea about the women she was writing about. It sat on the tiny table in front of her on the airplane, and she knew it should be opened.

About an hour into the flight, she finally opened the file. Inside there were three pictures of three different couples. The first couple was the oldest. She skimmed through the information and got the important stuff out of it:

Esme and Carlisle Cullen

Carlisle Cullen is the head coach for the Colorado Avalanche. He has been with the NHL for twenty years, with the Avalanche for eight years, and the head coach for two years. He and his wife Esme have been married for twenty-seven years, and they have two children, a boy and a girl. Emmett, (Who's twenty-six, and plays defence on the Avalanche) and Alice, who is twenty-four. Also, the couple raised Carlisle's brother's son Edward, (Who is twenty-five, a center for the Avalanche, and team captain) since he was four and his parents were killed by a drunk driver.

The family was originally from Chicago, but moved around a lot because of Carlisle's job. Esme Cullen works as the agent for the entire family, as well as for a couple other Avalanche players. Esme never had any formal training to become an agent, but apparently got good at it from being around the sport with her husband, as well as from taking on that role when the boys were getting noticed in the minor leagues. Esme also took on tons of team charity projects with her daughter and future daughter-in-law Rosalie.

Bella thought this was a good angle. Esme seemed like a wonderful woman who did a lot for her family, and she could tell that writing about her would be interesting.

She flipped to the next page and found it to be Esme and Carlisle's daughter. The man pictured with her was the goalie of the Avalanche.

Alice Cullen and Jasper Whitlock

Alice Cullen was the only daughter of Esme and Carlisle Cullen. She works as a wedding planner—one of the most sought out ones in Denver. In fact she has done weddings for the last three Avalanche players to get married, as well as for the owner of the Avalanche's daughter Lauren Mallory, (now Lauren Crowley). Her latest endeavour is that of her own brother Emmett's wedding to Rosalie Hale. Alice is in a relationship with Avalanche goalie Jasper Whitlock, (Born and raised in Philadelphia). The two met when he was traded to the team (From the Dallas Stars) two years ago (One of her father's first moves as head coach). They have been dating officially for a year and a half. Jasper is one of the other players that Esme represents. Alice, and future sister-in-law, Rosalie, have been best friends since they were ten when Carlisle worked for the New York Rangers.

So maybe there was a lot more to these women than just hockey wives. Alice Cullen sounded like someone the magazine would have interviewed for any given issue.

The next woman on the list was the fiancé of Emmett Cullen.

Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen

Rosalie Hale met the Cullen family at age ten when Carlisle Cullen worked for the New York Rangers. She and Emmett Cullen are high school sweethearts and now engaged to be married. Rosalie works as an interior designer and has designed the homes and apartments for all the Cullen's as well as Jasper Whitlock. Emmett is a defensive player for the Avalanche. At age twenty, Emmett came up from the minors at the same time as his cousin Edward Cullen. Emmett is rated as one of the top defensive players in the league and is on the ice at any time that his cousin is on—as a protection for the smaller forward. The two have planned the wedding for Christmas Eve of this year. It is being planned by Emmett's sister Alice.

The wedding was on Christmas Eve? That meant that there was no way Bella would be able to get away at Christmas. Angela would kill her if she missed the wedding; it would be a major part of the article she'd be writing for the January edition. She'd figure that out closer to December.

She went through the information a few more times and found that there was very little written about the cousin, Edward. Bella knew the articles were about the women, but surely he, as a member of the family and the team, would be at least somewhat important to know more about; apparently she'd be figuring that one out in Colorado.

"Sorry to bother you, Miss, I've been looking a bit at your papers there." It was the flight attendant in which Bella face-planted into her shoe earlier. "Are you an Avalanche fan?"

"No—I'm a journalist. I work for a women's magazine based out of Miami. I'm doing a series of articles on the women behind sports figures, and my topic is the women surrounding the Cullen Family. Are you from Denver?"

"Yeah—born and raised. That team is a big part of that city, and the Cullen's have made it even more popular in recent years. The Cullen boys have just about won us the cup twice, and now with their father as coach, I think the chances of winning are even better."

"But Carlisle Cullen has been the coach for two years." Bella pointed out; they'd had two seasons to win it already.

"That's true, but these last two seasons the team has been plagued by injuries. In fact, last season Emmet got hurt in a game, and went to the locker room. On Edward's next shift he was hit into the boards and ended up being out for three weeks," she replied defensively. "As long as the team doesn't get too beat up they've got a great chance at winning the cup."

"I hope they do." Bella replied happily.

The flight attendant smiled.

"Actually I was wondering if you could help, I have a lot of info on everyone in the family except the cousin, Edward, is there anything I should know before I go in there?"

"I don't know for sure, but I've heard rumours; sounds like he is exactly what you'd expect of the team superstar—lots of different women. Apparently, he is pretty stuck up and doesn't talk to the press that much," she replied.

"Really? Bella was interested now. Not that she'd ever be able to write on the antics of the superstar.

"But the city still loves him regardless. He shows up for the games and plays his heart out. He sure lives up to the superstar status on the ice, though. When he's out there it is hard to take your eyes off him." She gave another flight attendant smile (they always looked so happy). "But I should probably get back to serving refreshments. Good luck with your articles. It's a great story—they are one interesting family."

Already Bella felt a little bit better about the project. She knew she wasn't dealing with brainless sports wives who looked good on the arms of their husbands but did shit all—although the three were beautiful. She was dealing with beautiful women that would be great in photos as well as great for an interview, and those two things rarely went well together.

For the rest of the flight, Bella got out a novel and read about half of it. When they landed in Denver, she quickly grabbed her carry-on from the overhead compartment and was in the airport quickly.

Now she just had to wait for her bags. Her two suitcases were some of the first luggage to come off the flight, but her duffel was not coming. She waited and waited as the same three or four suitcases went by again and again. Finally, when she was about to give up and report it as lost, a small bag came down the belt. It was her cosmetics bag. But wait, that should have been inside her duffel, which could only mean...

She looked up again, and sure enough, the next thing to come by was a sweater she loved from University.

"Oh fuck!" Bella swore, then noticed the disapproving look she got from a mother standing with a little boy to the left of her.

Bella's items were coming down one by one. She tried to think about what she packed in the duffel. Some jeans, those came out soon, a bath robe, she got that, one of her coats, she got that soon after. She tried to think if there was anything else; she was pretty sure there wasn't. Except...no, she put that in her red suitcase. No, it hadn't fit in that suitcase. Bella was beginning to regret bringing it at all. It had been a gag gift after all, but it had come in handy...

Bella ran to the very bottom of the belt hoping that when it came down she'd see it first and maybe hide it from everyone else.

"Miss Swan? Bella Swan?" A sweet sounding voice asked behind her.

Bella turned around and saw the woman from the picture, Esme Cullen, smiling back at her.

"Hi, I'm Esme Cullen."

"Hi, Bella Swan," she said nervously and looked back at the belt.

"Oh gosh! This looks like a mess—did your bag break?" Esme looked at her clothes piled on top.

Bella just nodded.

As she did, she saw the empty duffel fall from the belt. She snatched it up quickly and looked to see what was left inside—nothing.

"Crap," Bella swore again. The nearby woman looked disapprovingly at her again.

"Are you still missing something?" Esme was nicely putting all the stuff back inside the duffel as best as possible. Apparently, the zipper burst, but the bag was still mostly intact.

"Uh, well I don't know." Bella replied, but already she knew her face was getting redder by the second. Maybe she'd be lucky and it had fallen off the side somewhere in luggage limbo, and no one would find it...

Bella Swan was not that lucky...

"Mommy what's this?" The little boy asked his already-unhappy-with-Bella mother.

Bella looked over and in his hand was her missing item, a purple vibrator. There was no denying it. No one else's luggage had fallen apart, and everyone knew that it belonged to her. Since everyone except the little boy was old enough to know what it was, the room went silent.

"DROP THAT!" The mother screamed. It was on the floor in a second. The look Bella was getting from angry mother was...well...let's just say if looks could kill.

Bella decided that since there was no denying it was hers, she might as well get it off the floor of the airport. She picked it up and stuffed it into her carry-on. She didn't even want to know how tomato-like she looked in that moment.

She turned back to Esme who simply put the duffel over her shoulder and smiled. "Time to go?" Esme asked; she was trying to be nice.

Bella nodded, too embarrassed to speak. So much for becoming a professional writer. She could already hear the phone-call between Mrs. Cullen and Angela that was bound to happen. She'd probably be completely out of a job for this one.

What do you think? Embarrassing! Right? Please review!