Disclaimer: Twilight and the characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

I only own the plot of this story.

Chapter 3 Chaos

EPOV

I found Bella, Chief, Mom and Dad sitting in the conference room. Bella looked happy holding a box of cupcakes in her lap. She kept opening and shutting the box as if they were going to disappear next time she looked. She definitely looked like a carefree teenager at that exact moment. She smiled at me and offered me the cupcakes when she noticed me staring at her.

"Thanks, but I couldn't take your precious cupcakes," I pinched my waistline and feigned a scowl. Bella giggled and shook her head.

"Boo-Boo-Bear," Emmett yelled and came into the room. Bella squeaked and cowered behind the Chief. Chief laughed and Bella pouted.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. He's my oldest son, Emmett. He's actually the one who remembers you as a baby. He used to call you Boo-Boo-Bear." Mom explained to Bella.

"Hi Boo-Boo-Bear. Good to see you again. You're all grown up now. I feel old," Emmett said and held out his hand for a shake.

Bella chewed on her lips and slowly moved her hand out for a shake. She squeaked again when Emmett squeezed her hand.

"Easy, Son. Bella is quite fragile."

"Oh, sorry. I'm so used to Alice and Rosie. They're like made out of stone."

"Son, do you have the pictures of the employees you can show Bella so that we could get started?"

"He has a list? Ummm I don't know if it helps but I drew a picture of him last night," Bella said and opened her laptop to show us her drawing of the man who she believed worked for Volturi Games.

She was definitely talented. It was really creepy since she modeled the man's head in 3D high polygon. Emmett gasped when he saw the head model.

"Oh my God. I know him. He's a game level designer here," Emmett said and refined the search from his list he created of employees of blond haired male with blue eyes.

"James Bellinger. Fuck! He quit yesterday morning. I'm going to go and secure his station. I have a bad feeling he's not locked out of the system yet because of yesterday's chaos. I bet his key card still works and was at the press conference yesterday. Edward, bump the guy off the system, NOW!" Emmett yelled, jumped out of his seat, and ran out the door.

Dad grabbed the phone and called Aro's secretary. "Jane, could you send Head of HR& Administration to the conference room please? Please tell Aro we know who was involved in this incident involving Phil Dwyer."

I grabbed Emmett's laptop to check James Bellinger's keycard access history and locked him out of the server. The Chief and Bella looked stunned at us moving around like chicken without its head.

"Oh my god. James Bellinger is still in the building?" I yelled.

"Edward, call security and have someone guard this conference room," Dad instructed looking tense. Right after I made the call, Aro came in with Jane and Roger from HR& Administration.

"So, I heard that we now know the culprit. Who was it?"

"James Bellinger. Emmett recognized him from Bella's 3D head model."

"3D head model? You drew a 3D head model from memory? How fascinating. May I see it?" Dad turned Bella's laptop towards Aro.

"Brava! Well done!" Aro jumped and clapped his hands laughing.

I excused myself from the conference room after Emmett called to ask me to join him to see the head of security. He also complained that his key card wasn't working anymore. He wanted to look at the tapes matching the time stamp on James key card. We were shocked with who we saw on the screen. It wasn't James. It was Emmett.

"He switched his card with you?"

"Damn. No wonder my key card isn't working anymore. He couldn't have switched my card with his though. I had this key card on me the whole time."

"How could it be then?"

"I think I have a theory. Let me see your card," Em said and I handed him my key card. Emmett asked one of the guys to run my card and see who it belonged to. I was shocked to find out that my card was registered to someone else.

"I don't get it. What's happening?"

"I think James or someone hacked into the system and changed the owners of the key card. Now we can't trace him just through the key card access. We need to visually search him through the security tapes."

We asked the security team to run the facial recognition software and to notify us as soon as they found James in the tapes and returned to the conference room.

"Has something happened? It took you a while." Aro asked.

"Emmett and I went through the security tapes to see what James was up to, but we found out that he or someone hacked into the system and rearranged the owners of the key cards. We underestimated his intelligence. He was smart to reassign Emmett's card to his because he knew Emmett wouldn't be leaving the office much because of the current situation. We have the security team scanning for James in the security tapes, but it's going to take a while."

"Aro, maybe you should issue a lock down this weekend. Get rid of everyone from the building except for the people we need. I know it will be bad for business, but at this point we could be doing more damage by letting people in and out of the building. We should reassign new key cards to the employees on Monday," Dad suggested. Aro looked confused and said that he needed to consult with Marcus, Caius, and the legal department before he made a decision. He apologized to Charlie that he needed to take care of this issue right now and left with Jane.

"Dad, I'm hungry," Bella whispered to the Chief. Bella probably overestimated how quiet the room was since everyone seemed to have heard her.

"I have some things I need to discuss with Charlie. Edward, please take Bella out to lunch. Take Aro's bodyguards with you for precaution," Dad said to me.

"I'm not sure I want Bella out of my sight," Chief commented.

"Charlie, maybe it will be safer for Bella to be out of the office until we can be sure that James is out of the building. Aro's personal security details are one of the finest in the nation next to the president and the diplomats."

The Chief still didn't seem satisfied with Dad's explanation, but looked like he couldn't say "no," to Bella. He only met her yesterday. I could understand he didn't want to do anything that might harm his newly restored relationship with his daughter.

I took her to my office to pick Jasper up. He was patiently waiting in my office since early this morning. Bella let out a sigh of relief when she saw Jasper. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Duckling. Long day?"

"Not for me. I did nothing except for sit in a conference room." Jasper raised his brow and waited for my explanation.

"I'll update you in the car. What do you want to eat? Oh, by the way we need to bring Aro's personal security detail along with us."

"Is the situation that bad?" I saw fear in Jasper's eyes.

"Just for precaution. No one really knows what's going on. James could be just a punk who wanted to make some quick cash or he could be scheming something huge that could even take Volturi Games down. No one knows what his motives are. So, where should we take Bella?"

"How about we go to Anthony's Bell St. Diner at Pier 66. The weather is nice and the view from the Pier is awesome."

"Perfect."

"How about we stop by an ice cream place before lunch?" Bella batted her eyelashes at me.

"No can do," I said and poked Bella. She growled at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.

On the way to the pier I updated Jasper on what we discovered in the morning. He was worried we had no idea what James was after. He couldn't sell Ugly Duckling to any other game publisher as is. What was James' motive? Was Phil behind all this or was there another mastermind behind all this? We just didn't have enough information at this point to rule anything out. While Jasper and I bounced theories, Bella was singing in the back of the car like nothing was wrong. She jumped out of the car as soon as we pulled into the pier. Her actions took Alec and Felix off guard. They cursed and flew out the car. I had never seen Alec and Felix so flustered. They were always in control. If Aro witnessed what just happened, I was sure they would be demoted.

We went to the restaurant with Felix and Alec flanking Bella. Luckily we got seated outside on the deck, but it probably made Felix and Alec's job more difficult. We had a beautiful view of the waterfront, the skylines, and Mt. Rainier. We ordered some burgers, fries, and salads. It was awkward having Felix and Alec sitting with us, but there were no other options. We had no idea if James had any intention of harming Bella. Bella seemed oblivious to what went on. It didn't seem to bother her having Felix and Alec with us.

"I love Seattle. It's so pretty here. The ocean, the mountain, the clear skies, they're all so beautiful. Is Forks like this too?" Bella asked excitedly.

Jasper and I bust out laughing. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you're in for a disappointment if you expect Forks to be like what you see here."

"Duckling, we can describe Forks using just two words, rain and green. I'm surprised we never discussed weather." Bella tilted her head in confusion.

"Timber and Fishing," I added to the two word definition of Forks.

"Duckling, it rains all the time in Forks. There are beaches, but since it rains so often you rarely see anything like this. Everywhere you look you'll find trees."

"I get the feeling I'm not gonna enjoy my time there. It's only for a few months though. I turn eighteen soon anyway."

"You don't want to live with the Chief?"

"I don't want to crowd his style. Who wants to be stuck with a teenager after so many years of freedom? I want to go to college. Maybe I'll apply for colleges here. I could visit Charlie once in a while since Forks isn't too far from here."

I decided not to say anything. She looked excited and happy. I didn't want to ruin her good mood. She was a smart girl. I was sure she would realize how much the Chief loved and missed her over the years. Once she discovers that she might change her mind.

We were gone for over three hours, but they were still in the conference room when we returned. We went to drop in on Emmett, but found him with Rose on his lap, and her tongue down his throat. Bella blushed and giggled. I cleared my throat and Rose jumped off his lap straightening her skirt.

"Boo-Boo-Bear. Back from lunch?" Bella smiled and nodded. "Was the food good?" Bella rubbed her stomach and showed him how full she was by sticking out her stomach. She seemed so different from the person I met yesterday. She had a great sense of humor, she was happy, and she was definitely witty.

"Nice to meet you, Bella. I'm Rosalie. Emmett's better half. I'm glad to see you're feeling better." Rose wrapped Bella in her arms.

"Thank you." Bella blushed from the affection Rosalie had shown her. Rosalie must have really taken a liking to Bella. We rarely saw this side of Rose.

"Any idea when they're going to be done?" I asked Em.

"Dad and Chief dropped by earlier while they took a short break. Dad said there were too much to discuss yet so none of them are going back to Forks tonight. Dwyer's lawyers are in there with them right now."

"Wow, they sure didn't waste any time. We're not gonna cut a deal with them, are we?"

"No one wants to drag this thing out long, but we need to locate James Bellinger. Even Dwyer's lawyers want to find James. I think they're trying to make James the fall guy."

"In their dreams. Dwyer deserves more than forty years in prison for all that he'd done."

"I'm sure we're going to push for the maximum, but it's not going to be easy. He wasn't a crooked guy until recently. He and Bella's Mom were well known for their charity work. He even assisted in coaching the Pee Wee League in their town."

When I glanced at Bella, she no longer held that beautiful smile. She looked like her mind was someplace else. Rosalie noticed the change in Bella's mood and sent death glares at Emmett. Rosalie mouthed a "do something," at Jasper and me.

"Hey, how about giving Bella a tour of the office?" Jasper suggested.

"Sounds good, would you like that?"

"Sure." Bella didn't sound happy at all. It was one of those one word answers women gave you like "fine."

I waved at Em and Rose and took the lift down to start the grand tour of Volturi Games. I needed to get her attention immediately so I took Bella and Jasper to our motion capturing studio first. Luck was on my side and they were currently in session. I felt a sense of relief when I noticed Bella's eyes twinkle again when she saw our team working on the facial capture. We took pride in the facial movements and subtle expressions of the characters in our games. Bella raised her brow and questioned our sanity when she noticed that we had a tiger, elephant, zebra, and chimpanzee in the studio today.

"We like to be realistic in our games. They're all animal actors. They're perfectly safe."

"Haven't you ever seen 'When Good Pets Go Bad'? These animals aren't even pets!" Bella feigned a shiver. Jasper laughed clutching his stomach. Now that Bella's smile was back on her face I took her to the QA floor so that she could see our products being debugged and tested.

Bella actually blended in really well with the QA team since we had a lot of part time high school kids and interns. I immediately regretted taking her to the QA room since the moment Bella stepped into the room the productivity dropped. All the kids' eyes were on Bella and no longer on the screen.

"Is it just me? I feel like I'm in the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World. You know those eyes on the walls that look like a pattern on the wall paper, but they're actually eyes that look like they're following you?" Jasper said and chuckled.

"Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your ghost host." I imitated the voice of Paul Frees. Jasper bellowed and Bella glared at us.

"Shhhh. They're trying to work. Behave!" Her comment made us laugh even harder. We were just scolded by a 17 yr old.

"Sorry Miss Swan. Are you going to spank us?" I waggled my brows at her.

Bella furrowed her brows and stomped off down the aisle. Towards the middle of the aisle one of the bolder geeks stopped and introduced himself. He must not have realized that she wasn't alone.

"Hi, I'm Jason. Are you new here?"

"Ummm. Hi. I'm Bella. I'm just visiting."

"Oh, well have a seat. Let me show you what I'm working on," the Jason kid pulled a chair out for Bella, and she sat down beside him.

"Do you play games? What have you played recently?" Jason asked Bella. Good question. I was interested in her answer.

"Monster Hunter Tri and Splinter Cell: Conviction."

"Is she for real? Splinter Cell?" I commented to Jasper. "I thought she was more like a Final Fantasy kinda girl."

"Looks can be deceiving. No one is an open book like Emmett. He's such a GTA kind of guy."

Jasper suggested we move along. He seemed to go into protective brother mode, and no longer liked the Jason kid socializing with Bella. I called Bella's name and she waved goodbye to Jason and got into the lift with us. She was probably going to enjoy the next stop the most. I was taking her to the floor where our 3D design team worked. Contrary to my assumption, Bella scowled when she entered the room, and stared into one of the works the designer was currently drawing.

"Why is he redesigning my duckling?"

"Errr. Good question." I picked up my phone and called Emmett to come down here.

As soon as Emmett entered the room he shouted. "May I have some attention please? I'd like to see a show of hands from the people working on the Ugly Duckling or possibly a project assigned from James Bellinger. Please raise your hands high so that I can see who's working on those projects." I was shocked to see 3 hands in the air.

"What should we do about them?"

"Round them up and take them upstairs. We'll ask them a few questions and then hand them over to the legal team. I don't even know who we can trust anymore."

"Are you guys all working on the Ugly Duckling?" They all nodded. "Did James Bellinger assign you to work on it?"

"Yes," replied one of the youngest looking one while the others nodded.

"When did he assign this to you?"

"Yesterday morning. He told us to redesign the characters and upload it to his ftp site because he was going to be on vacation for a week."

"Have any of you uploaded anything yet?"

"We were supposed to upload yesterday evening, but we got kicked out of the office early because of the incident involving Phil Dwyer, so none of us finished it yet." Thank God someone from this department was smart enough to kick everyone out early.

"Did your team leader kick you guys out?"

"Mr. Aro Volturi's personal assistant came by and told us all to leave." Huh. I was surprised to hear that Jane was the one. I wondered who gave her the instructions to send the guys home

I asked the guys to forward the ftp site access information to Em and me, and any other contact information they received from James. This new revelation had really thrown us off. We had no idea why James had these guys working on Ugly Duckling, and how he was going to benefit from it.

"Bella, can you run me through what you've done with Phil? What I'm getting at here is I want to know exactly what you've provided to Phil. Have you given him any part of the source code? Start from the beginning please. I need this information to figure out what James' motives are." Emmett said to Bella.

"Ummm. Okay. Phil found my game design document for Ugly Duckling. In the document I had the storyline, description of the game environment and setting, description of characters, rough design of the characters, descriptions of the levels in the game, items, missions, puzzles, and user interface. He presented the document to Mr. Volturi and he showed interest. Then Phil told me to make a playable demo. After he sent the demo in to Mr. Volturi, a deal got signed. You'll have to find out what was agreed upon because I don't know. Phil never showed me the contract. Then Phil made me provide him a milestone schedule of what I'd be working on to complete the alpha version. Once I cut the pre-alpha version, Phil told me Volturi Games needed the 3D character models so I sent the data of the characters I drew that were going to be in the alpha version. The ducklings you saw your designers working on were from the models I sent. Yesterday Phil left with the alpha version to present to you guys for the press conference. That's about the gist of it."

"Wow! That sounds like a lot of work. What motivated you to come up with Ugly Duckling?" Em asked Bella.

"Ummm. It's kind of personal. Mom moved around a lot so I never really had friends growing up. I was a shy, uncoordinated, and plain girl. My Mom was a little off the norm. She dressed me in seventies clothing. Kids pick on you when you dress differently from them. They'd make peace signs at me or call me names like Thrift Store Swan and Ugly Duckling. You know, cuz my name is Swan. Junior High was no different, but I found an outlet. I found computer geeks who accepted me because they couldn't see me. I made friends and that was when I met Jasper. I started writing code after Jasper taught me. It was my escape from reality. Real life sucked, but on the net I was somebody. I started working on Ugly Duckling and planned to actually approach game publishers myself after I graduated from high school." Bella looked sad after she finished. Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulder and whispered something into her ear. Bella smiled and nodded. I wondered what he said to Bella.

Just after Bella finished talking to Emmett, Mom and Rosalie stepped into the room. They waved at us and slumped into one of the chairs at the far end of the table.

"Mom, you look exhausted. Are you guys done in the conference room?" Mom shook her head and sighed.

"We keep getting interrupted. I stepped out to take you guys out to dinner. Phil Dwyer's lawyers left for the day. Charlie is leaving tomorrow for Forks so I'm going back with him. Caius convinced Charlie that they needed Bella's assistance here and he agreed as long as Bella was fine with it. Would it be all right if you stayed a day or two longer and came back to Forks with Edward?"

"Me?"

"Aro is assigning you to oversee the Ugly Duckling project from Forks this summer. You'll be back here in Seattle periodically with Bella to coordinate with the other people on your team, and to update Aro on the progress. We can't trust anyone else right now. After you guys found the designers working for James unknowingly, Caius went to check on the game level designers and found a few more working for James on the project as well. Caius is going to lead a team to investigate everyone involved in development. We have to move quickly. That's why Caius requested Bella's assistance. Bella, would it be all right if you didn't go back to Forks with your Dad tomorrow?"

"I get to keep working on Ugly Duckling?"

"You sure do. That's the first thing Charlie negotiated with my brother. He realized how much you loved your game. He didn't want that taken away from you. For payment he negotiated a deal with my brother for Volturi Games to pay for your college tuition, apartment, and monthly allowance. Now if you decide to go to college here in Seattle, you'll have a spot here at Volturi Games to work part time as well. You can go back to working on your game as soon as you're back in Forks. That's why Edward is going back to Forks with you. "

"I get to go to college!" Bella squealed. "I like it here in Seattle. I don't mind staying here longer. I have a nice bed and you guys feed me such great food. I need to do some laundry though. I'm running out of clean clothes."

"I can help with that." Rosalie smiled. "I'll take her to Pacific Place tomorrow morning."

"Rose, don't forget that she's still seventeen." Mom warned Rosalie.

"I know how to shop, Esme. I'll find her things that are age appropriate and comfortable for her. I'm not Alice. I'll pick out some jeans and T shirts at True Religion, dresses at Express, undies at Victoria's Secret, and some suits at Bebe for her. See, I can accomplish everything at Pacific Place. I won't wear her out and promise to bring her back after lunch."

"Ummm. I really just need to go to a Laundromat. I don't need anything new." Bella said looking worried.

"Is there something wrong, Duckling? You don't want new clothes?" Jasper asked.

"Ummm. I don't think I have enough money to buy all those things," Bella said and chewed on her lips looking down at her feet.

"Oh Bella, you don't have to worry about money. We're going to charge it on my brother's corporate card. It's the least he can do for all that you've done for him. You've saved Aro's face from embarrassment." Mom said and hugged Bella.

"I'm hungry. Let's go grab something, Mom." Emmett whimpered.

"Well, what would you like to eat, Bella?"

"Can we have some Chinese?"

"Of course. What do you suggest, Emmett?"

"How about P.F. Chang's? It's not the real authentic kind of Chinese, but I think Bella might like their food better, and it's close to the hotel."

"All right. I'll meet you guys in the parking lot. I'm going to go and get Carlisle and Charlie. Have Jane secure a table for us." Mom said and left the conference room.

"On it," Emmett said and picked up the phone to call Jane.

A/N

The story started in the beginning of June. Bella is turning 18 in September. Alice is already 18. Jasper is 22, and Edward is 22 turning 23 in June. Emmett and Rosalie are both 25.

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