Thank you for reading. The final chapter will go up two days from now, on Thursday.

I want to thank Katydid2363 for all her help. A wonderful woman with a nice rack! (Just checking to see if she reads the A/N)

I'm going to reply to every review once I've posted the last chapter.

Have a good week!


Stolen HeART: The Rookie

Planning

Bella...

With the basics now covered and a shift in change we settled into a new routine. Four months in and we were all aware of our roles and what we needed to do. The auction had been brought forward due to the frenzied press and the infamous Caius and his playboy ways.

James and Edward were working closely together, planning routes and practicing for every eventuality. I spent time building up a fake portfolio that mirrored my internet image. Alice had been meticulous about my image and with the press of a button the list of websites that were linked to my bogus background was endless. The last year and a half away from this world had been miraculously filled with fake information and photo shop pictures. I was slowly making small leaps into this world for real, appearing at grand events and opera galas, always on my own and always looking my best.

Though Edward was slowly accepting this part of the job, he still found it difficult to watch me openly get ready for an evening out as Maria Swan. He would question every detail from the stockings and garters I would wear to the low cut dresses that Alice had picked out. The only plus side to this usually stressful few hours before the event was his urge to claim me at every opportunity, often taking me as I showered or pushing me against the front door as I readied myself to leave. He would incite how sexy I looked as we franticly fucked with minutes to spare before the car would arrive, though at times I sensed that it was more about his jealously and the need to leave a lasting impression rather than the fact that I looked hot!

Summer had been and gone. We celebrated birthdays and holidays as a family. Our small family unit had expanded and on special occasions we would head back to Esme Island when we needed a break or when the urge to see Charlie became too great. With only two weeks to go until the heist we all began to take what little time we had together very seriously.

"You okay?" I looked over at Edward who was arranging the dining table for our next meeting. My thoughts had been elsewhere before he had spoken and though I had initially come in here to organise and set up the room I found myself distracted by the view of our snowy garden.

"Hmm...I'm fine, just thinking." I reassured him with a smile before I pulled myself together. I made my way back to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee and to plate up the pastries and croissants. The familiarity of all our meetings stayed the same, we would gorge on sweet pastries for the first few hours then I'd head for the kitchen to prepare us all lunch.

"Okay!" Alice spoke a bit louder to get us to order. Though things had changed for all of us in our personal life our professional life had not. Alice still dished out the research folders and individual responsibilities. I still sat at the top of the table demanding a level of understanding. I questioned everything that I had concerns with and hashed out any niggles that I felt unnecessary. The only one missing from our regular team was Jasper. With very little background knowledge in the diamond world, it was decided that he would sit this one out. With a huge sigh of relief from Carlisle and Esme, Jasper had decided to stay at home on the island and look after the kids.

"Bella?" I looked up from my scribbled memos and took in the faces around me. The change though different also felt familiar and for the first time in a long time I began to feel the first stirring of excitement. As a team we had grown, we had new challenges this time round and with that brought a feeling of adventure.

"Em, let's start with you. The status on the London side, an update please?" I flicked open the file in front of me and scanned through the notes that Emmett had submitted.

"Right, we leave here on Saturday bound for London. Rose starts at the auction house on Monday. That first week will be about setting up communication levels between Alice and me." I glanced over at Alice who nodded in agreement before returning my attention back to Emmett.

"The intercom and communication system that we need to communicate with each other will be in place by Thursday of that week. The phone system, the alarm panel and whatever else is governed by a computer will be live and ready for Alice."

"Alice, how long will it take you to hack into their system?" I asked.

"There's an hour difference between here and London so the moment Emmett gives me the nod I'll start intercepting firewalls and encrypted codes. By the early hours of Friday morning I'll be settled into their frame work, ready to pounce." She smiled and I gestured for Emmett to continue.

"Friday Alice will administer the first wave of faulty alarm hoaxes to the main grid of their security panel this will run intermittently into Saturday."

"Alice will intercept the emergency call out to the security company that is responsible and I will arrive later in the evening to rectify the problem."I watched as he ticked of his notes as he went.

"Good, good." I added a few comments to the page in front of me before returning my attention back to Emmett "Once you're in you'll set all the planned bugs, audio and visual, right?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Um..." I looked over at Rose who was now sitting forward and waiting to speak, her pencil rolled back and forth franticly between her fingers and at that moment she reminded me of Jasper.

"Yes Rose?"

"Emmett mentioned that he may need some help in placing all the bugs. I was wondering if I should step in and help." I watched her closely as she looked around the room for any sign of support before I turned back to Emmett. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his head down avoiding my questioning stare.

"Emmett?" He tried to act surprised by Rose's offering, but he was never a good liar.

"Are you concerned about your role? Because if you need any support we can bring someone in," I asked flatly ignoring Rose.

"No, no I'm fine...I think Rose may have gotten her wires crossed," he muttered sheepishly.

"But you said that..." She looked from Emmett to me and then to the rest of the team. Her face blushed with embarrassment before looking back at Emmett. "Em you said that..." She glared at Emmett who looked everywhere but at her. She was clearly disappointed in Emmett's decision and I briefly wondered how she was coping with this change. She had such fire and passion when she was caring for my father and it was obvious how much she had loved her job. She had sacrificed just as much if not more to be a part of Emmett's life and the world that he lived in.

I turned to look at the rest of the group. Edward was wide eyed with shock at the way I had just handled Rose. James, who had heard it all before, was drawing doodles on the corner of the page, bored at the slow pace we were going. It was Alice that took me by surprised, her huge smug smile plastered across her face. I raised a brow with curiosity only then realising that it was relief that she was displaying, relief that this time around it wasn't her in the firing line.

"Edward?" I shifted in my seat to focus on Edward. He shuffled forward and nervously glanced at James before he looked at his notes.

"Alice and James have signed off on my training. I've got the drop down to nine seconds." He stalled slightly before looking up at me.

"Okay, go on." I showed no sign of personnel emotion, no pleasing smile or pleasant wink that I was happy that Edward had finally mastered the drop. I chose instead to reach for the pot of coffee.

"James and I are in the process of memorising the layout of the air con tunnels along with timing our movements."

"And when will that be completed?" I asked.

"Um...maybe tomorrow."Edward sounded unsure and I narrowed my eyes to challenge him. He turned to James for verification.

"Maybe? What does that mean?" I questioned. I looked from Edward to James who was sitting back in his seat. Edward looked over his shoulder at James.

"Tomorrow," James coolly replied as he leaned forward so he could see me.

"For sure?" I queried.

"For sure," James replied. We kept our eyes locked in a battle of wills and a few moments later James relaxed back against his chair.

"Alice?" I nodded over towards her. She seemed amused by the drama down on this end of the table. She stood up and with the remote in her hand flicked on the plasma screen.

"Okay, once Emmett has access to the building he will plant the following bugs, visual and audio, in these areas." I put on my glasses and watched the monitor change. The blueprints that I had been studying had now been digitally altered to incorporate the placing of the bugs. Small arrows directed the flow and the triangles represented the security guards that would be located at strategic points.

Alice pressed the switch again and the blueprints for the air con tunnels came forward. "Edward and James will go through this air vent here. Emmett would've swept these main corridors leading to this air vent when he first arrived disguised as the alarm engineer."

I took off my glasses and without thinking nibbled on the arm. "Emmett?" I said as I turned away from the screen to look at him. "What time are the bar staff arriving?" I asked.

"They're scheduled to be there for 2:00 pm. The first few hours I'll be setting up the bar and then the organisers will arrive at four. I'll be able to disappear then and start the last and final sweep to make sure there have been no last minute changes to the security team. I know the layout pretty well so an hour max is all I need." I nodded and returned back to the screen.

"We'll all be open to communication via ear piece, correct?" I confirmed.

"Yeah. Well, that is until we hit the switch change over." Alice reminded me.

"We'll come back to that." I waved it aside before turning my attention to Rose.

"Rose arrives for her shift." I confirmed. I smiled over at Rose and she responded with a relaxed grin.

"She'll be liaising with security and Caius. She'll be our eyes and ears if anything changes. Once Emmett returns after the sweep, Rose will pick the security pass from Caius. He has the only pass that allows access everywhere, level five." Rose had trained hard to learn how to pick a pocket. When she wasn't being coaxed by Emmett, she trained in her spare time often using us as guinea pigs much to Edward's annoyance.

"Rose will make her way over to the bar with the security pass where Emmett will clone it. She'll return the original back to Caius's pocket, leaving the clone with Emmett ready for you Bella." I nodded with satisfaction before making my way to where Alice stood.

When I reached Alice, she handed me the remote and I changed the screen with it.

"The changeover will allow Alice a window of thirty seconds. In that time we can access the holding room without being detected." I changed the image once again to the holding room that held the diamond.

"This room is rigged with eighty-two lasers. They are all set three inches apart from each and arranged from wall to wall. They're criss-cross in design and leave no room for manoeuvring. The moment Alice gives me the five minute window I'm to excuse myself from the party and make my way to this corridor." I pointed out the side corridor that runs parallel with the kitchen and utility rooms.

"From there I can access the holding room. It'll take four minutes and twenty seconds to reach. Ten seconds later Alice will have full control of the security system."

"Who's covering your back?" I had barely finished the last sentence when Edward jumped in. His face was full of concern and his words sounded serious. No trace of his earlier nerves, now he was focused and taking it all in.

"Emmett and Rose will cause a distraction if I have trouble getting to the holding room and Alice will direct me if there's a diversion." He leaned forward and propped his elbow up on the table, the corner of his mouth and chin nestled in the palm of his hand. He watched me closely as I scanned the rest of the team. My throat was suddenly dry as I tried to ignore the feeling of awkwardness at Edward scrutinizing my every word.

"Once I'm in the room the lasers will be turned off, leaving Edward and James to enter from the air vent above. I'll be next to the plinth waiting for Edward to descend so we can carry out the swap."

I pulled up another screen which displayed the design of the plinth. "The diamond will be displayed on this." I enlarged the screen and moved nearer to the image

"What are the risks?" Edward mumbled against his palm.

"There's only one risk." I spoke with less confidence now and straight away Edward picked up on it.

"What does that mean?" he demanded. It suddenly felt like we were the only two people in the room. I knew the moment I told him the challenge we would face he'd lose his temper.

"The plinth is set by a timer. It's not linked to the security system that Alice will be able to control. We have one attempt to swap the original with the fake. Once the original has been removed we have six seconds to do the exchange. If for any reason the manoeuvre isn't exact or we run out of time, the timer will activate the censors in the room...the lasers will automatically switch back on."

"What?" I bit down on my lip and held my breath.

"This is on me?" Edward looked at me with astonishment

"The timing's down to me?" He jerked back in his seat as he pushed it away from the table with the back of his legs.

"The timings down to all three of us, Edward," I reminded him.

"No it isn't and you know it," he said firmly. "Why didn't you tell me before now? Why did you wait until now?" He moved away from the table, one hand against his chest the other combing through his hair. He looked confused almost panicked with the realisation of his responsibilities.

"You didn't need to be under any unnecessary stress." I walked over to where he paced and stood in his path. I took his hand that lay across his chest and held it against my own.

"Edward, I have every faith in you. Between the three of us we'll do it," I softly said.

"But-"

"We'll do this," I repeated quietly. "I know we will." My body closed the gap between us and he sighed in defeat.

"Trust me," I whispered.


Edward...

Once the meeting was over and we settled down to lunch, Bella put together a platter of antipasti, salad and some rolls she had baked the night before. My appetite was off tilt. The last part of the meeting had taken my full attention and I wasn't up to eating or socialising now that I knew what I was up against. As I picked up a bread roll, I made a mental note to myself to return to the warehouse tomorrow before Bella woke and practice some more.

James, Emmett and I retreated to the conservatory swiping the beers from the fridge and taking them with us. Alice and Bella went back to the dining room to concentrate on Bella's meeting with Caius and Rosalie jumped at the chance of looking after Charlotte. She had taken her to the park across the street.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Emmett mentioned. The three of us were sitting in the conservatory, the French doors wide open allowing the cool air to swirl around us. James sat and relaxed in the soft leather armchair. His cigarette teetered on the edge of the ashtray while he loosely held his beer that rested on his knee.

"Well that's French beer for ya," James replied as he lifted the bottle to his lips.

"No, not the beer, this." He waved his bottle between the three of us indicating some sort of pact. I stole a glance at James who rolled his eyes.

"What are you talking about Em?" I asked, taking a swig of beer to stop myself from laughing.

"Be careful how you answer that? You know too much thinking gives you heartburn!" James jokingly warned.

"Ha ha, very funny. I was actually thinking that the three of us all have one thing in common."

"Oh yeah, what's that then?"

"Well, Edward wishes that I was you, James. And you, James, wish you were Edward. That's weird right, this whole Bella connection?" I looked over at James who was now moving uncomfortably in his seat. A tight embarrassed smile appeared on James' face when he caught my glance. I was stunned into silence, my mouth slightly open, completely astonished by Emmett's mentality. He sat laid back in his chair, relaxed and oblivious to the can of worms he had just opened. And this was the guy who was our surveillance expert!

"Right," James said slowly as he lifted his beer to his lips. "That's not helping much, Em," accused James.

"I'm just saying…"

"Yeah well, don't," I chimed in.

"If things had been different..."

"What part of this are you not getting?" I asked impatiently. He shrugged his shoulders and muttered something under his breath before I turned back to the view of our garden.

The heavy weight of silence disguised the big white elephant in the room as I took the time to reflect on how Bella and I had met. There were times even now when we were all seated around our dining room table discussing strategies and plans that I would wonder if this was how it was when it was me they were conning. If I wasn't part of this heist who would be responsible for the drop? Who'd lower themselves into a room full of lasers and swap over a diamond that was just about to be auctioned off? Would it be James and Bella working together or just Bella on her own?

"Hey dreamer, another beer?" I pulled back from my thoughts and turned to look at James.

"Um, yeah. Sure why not?" I sounded a bit distant and he tapped my knee to reassure me before standing up. I looked over at the empty chair that Emmett had been sitting on and I frowned to myself wondering if I had upset him.

"Hey, take no notice of Em. His mind is...well, not programmed like ours." He sat back down and faced me. The sun cast a stream of light in his direction and he squinted from the glare. "If she didn't think you could do it she would've taken you out."

"Really?" I asked unsure of his statement.

"Hell, yeah!" He sat back in his seat and lit a cigarette. "Bitch Bella, that's what we call her." I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What? You thought we were all 'love the one your with' kinda team?" he asked jokingly. I laughed out loud as I took the last swig from the bottle and he chuckled along with me.

"This conversation is for lower management only." He pointed between the two of us and leaned in towards me. I shook my head still slightly laughing. "She's unaware of this nickname, so no pillow talk please?" he said in a low toned voice.

I held up my hands in defeat and relaxed back in the chair. "I promise. I swear this conversation will go no further," I replied.

"She's taken us all out at some point." I sat up straight, eager to listen to James' confession. We both looked up as Emmett entered the room carrying the rest of the beer and without a word he handed us each a bottle.

"I was just telling Edward about Bitch Bella," James said over his shoulder to Emmett

"Phew! Fuck me; she can be nasty in those meetings. Remember when we were doing over the Taylors?" He leaned in to join me and James, who was nodding slowly as the tale slowly came back to him. "Twenty mill worth of sapphire diamonds we were stealing to order and they were sitting in some rusty old safe." He lowered his voice and checked his surroundings before carrying on. "We were ten minutes from breaking in and Bella throws a wobbly."

"Why?" My voice was now just as low as Emmett's.

"Because," James interrupted. "Emmett had the wrong gloves on."

"What!" I yelled and they both instinctively waved their hands warning me to keep my voice down. "Are you serious?" They both nodded yes to my question.

"Pulled the plug," Emmett said as he imitated his neck being slit with his finger. "There and then." He clipped off the bottle top and took a long swig before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "She took my bullocks off that night, fuck she was mad."

"Christ," I said in disbelief.

"She's taken us all off a job at some point or another. That mini tantrum back at the table with her and Rose, that's nothing. Jasper shits himself when he as to attend these meetings," James chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett added. "Don't piss her off man," he warned. I bit the inside of my mouth as I looked on.

"Yeah. Yeah I hear you," I said cautiously.

"Hey, there are my boys." We shot forward and all looked up at Bella who stood in the doorway.

Her smile faded and her brow creased. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," we all said in unison.

"Hmm...You all look guilty." She walked behind our chairs and each one of us stiffened as she passed our shoulders before stopping at mine. Her hands draped across my shoulders before sliding down the front of my chest.

"You look the guiltiest," she whispered against my neck before nibbling on my ear. I closed my eyes and clenched the bottle I held. I could hear the sniggers and then the sound of sudden departing footsteps.

"I...I have nothing to be guilty about," I remarked. Her hands travelled further down the front of my shirt hovering over my nipples before continuing. I exhaled a deep breath hoping it would calm my nerves.

"Really! No tales outside of school being told?" The tip of her tongue skimmed against the rim of my ear and I shifted in my seat as my skin shivered with desire.

"No mentions of Bitch Bella?" My body stiffened under her touch and I swallowed hard. She giggled before pulling her hands away as she moved to stand in front of me and smiled. I took her hand and pulled her towards me. Her warm body instantly brought mine to life and she shifted in my lap before leaning against my chest.

"Lottie's back. I was going to fix her something to eat before taking a bath."

"Where's everyone else?" I asked as I twirled a strand of her hair between my fingers.

"Well, being the cowards that they are, Emmett and James have fled along with a bewildered Rose and Alice has just gone to her room to phone to Jasper."

"Charlotte?"

She's still in the stroller playing with the balloon that Rose bought her. Alice said she'd get her ready for bed after I fed her." I pulled her in close and the side of her breast pushed against my chest. I sighed feeling relaxed and calm now that she was in my arms.

"Do you fancy some company in the bath?" I whispered against the top of her head.

"I thought you'd never ask."


Bella...

I rushed from room to room fluffing pillows and rearranging flowers. The aroma of the meal I had simmering in the oven wafted from room to room and I briefly wondered if I should open a window.

Carlisle and Esme had landed just over an hour ago. Edward, along with Charlotte, had gone to meet them. Though I was excited to see them, I was also feeling very emotional. For the next three days Edward and I would entertain and indulge in their company. At some point Carlisle and I would go through the entire plan and then on the last day I'd get Charlotte's bag ready before Carlisle and Esme took her back with them. Just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes. I glanced at the framed photo of Charlie and me and for the first time as a mother and a parent I totally understood the level of pain Charlie endured. I missed him more at this precise moment than I ever had before.

Esme gently laughed as Charlotte deliberately fell face first against her chest and rubbed her nose on her cream blouse. Moments later she was scrambling towards her shoulder having spotted Esme's dangling earrings. The table in the conservatory was littered with empty plates, used cutlery and screwed up unwanted cotton napkins. The casserole dish was empty; the red wine based stew went down well with everyone, although Lottie pulled a face when her curiosity got the better of her. Edward bowed to pressure when she constantly tried to grab his fork. He spooned a small amount of the juice and brought it to her lips. She eagerly took the offering only to find the taste not to her liking. Her head flinched from the sour taste and her cute face turned into one big frown.

Carlisle and Edward mulled over the economy and the changes that were taking place back in the States. Esme had been occupied with Lottie since she had released her from her car seat a few hours ago and I looked on as my family relaxed around me. I covered my mouth as I discreetly yawned, the long day finally catching up with me. Edward glanced over and winked at me and I smiled back.

"Right missy, I'm passing you back to your mother," Esme said as she stretched out her arms that held Charlotte. I stood up to take her and she wriggled in my arms desperate to get back to Esme. I looked over at Esme and frowned.

"She's tired honey. I think we've all had a long day," Esme noted. I gently bounced her on my hip to curb her frustration. Esme was right, she was tired. Her chubby hands rubbed her eyes as she started to whine. I looked over at Edward who was now clearing the table with Carlisle.

"Take her upstairs Babe; I'll be up in a bit." He leaned over and lightly kissed my cheek.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't want to leave all the cleaning up to Edward his day had been just as long as mine.

"Edward, go with her. Carlisle and I can clean up," Esme offered.

"Don't be silly, you've only just got here." I bent down and picked up a spoon handing it to Charlotte. She silenced instantly and I sighed with relief.

"Bella, we're jet lagged, we'll be up for hours. Now both of you go and put that sleepy grandchild of ours to bed and leave the tidying up to us." I was torn between being the good host and settling Charlotte down. I looked over at Edward, and he indicated to come to him. He opened his arms to take Lottie from me and I kissed the top of her head before letting her go.

Now that she was warm and clean and snuggled against my chest she settled against me while we waited for Edward to bring up her bottle. Her legs no longer kicked against the air. Her fingers fiddled with a strand of my hair and her Disney baby-grow was soft to the touch. Though the lighting in our room was dim, her eyes, like her father's glistened. She was focused on my face as I whispered a soft lullaby. I inhaled that wonderful scent that only babies and toddlers seemed to have.

The door opened slightly and Charlotte craned her neck to see the disturbance. I smiled up at Edward who crawled up the bed and sat behind me, shaking the warm bottle. He released the cap and I settled against his chest before taking it.

"I love this part of the day," he said in a low voice against the side of my face.

"The two most important things in my life so close to me," he said as his hands left the front of my thighs. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the side of my cheek.

I felt a hint of sadness rise in my chest at the thought of leaving Charlotte, not having her with us. The tears silently rolled down my cheeks and my chest tightened from the deluge of emotions. Edward shifted behind me. His face moved towards me and the tips of his fingers lightly touched my chin.

"Are you crying?" His voice was full of worry and if my hands had been free I would have wiped away the evidence. I nervously looked from under my lashes.

"Baby…Baby, don't cry." I bit my bottom lip to stem the flow of tears as he pulled me in so tight I could feel the stir of a sigh build in his chest. I looked down at Charlotte. Her eyes were now tightly closed, her small mouth no longer sucked on the empty bottle.

"Stay here, I'll take her," he whispered. Before I could argue he had left our bed and moved against my arms to take her. I felt the warmth of her body disappear into the air and as Edward left our room I brought my knees up to my body, pressed my face against the pillow, and cried.


Thank you for reading...

See you Thursday!