A/N Beta'd by the awesomeness that is my Lady Seif. Thanks to those of you that reviewed, faved and followed, love you guys.
Chapter Three
Bella and I were talking to Seth when I saw an attractive women in her mid to late forties heading towards us. She was dressed in a bright yellow sundress with a yellow silk scarf and a sunhat. She stuck out like a sore thumb, looking ridiculous with everyone else wearing black. I heard Seth groan and Bella sank into my side, I tightened my arm around her, instinctively wanting to protect her.
"So, you can cross the planet for Charlie's funeral, but not for me when I'm on my deathbed." She said.
"If I visited you every time you got a new STD, I'd never get to leave the country." Bella murmured beside me, I almost choked on my beer.
"Oh!" She said fluttering her eyelashes when she finally acknowledged me. "And who's this tall drink of water?" She asked, her voice taking on a deeper more southern tone.
"Mother, Edward, Edward, this is my Mother, Renee." Bella said, she sounded almost despondent.
"Oh, are you dating? Does that mean I might get some grand babies soon? You two will make me some beautiful grand babies." She gushed in a Marilyn Monroe impersonation, leaning in and squeezing my shoulder, Bella physically stiffened beside me.
"You know that will never happen, if you wanted grand babies you shouldn't have had yourself sterilized after I was born." Bella literally seethed at her. I wondered why Bella didn't want kids and I can't deny that I felt a little disappointed.
"Oh, fiddlesticks, you don't know that you can't have any, you've never tried." Her mother said waving her off. I turned to Bella so that I could see her reaction, but she was rolling her eyes. "Can I have a word?" She asked Bella, then she added, "in private."
Bella sighed but started to slowly pull away from me. "Are you okay?" I whispered in her ear.
"Yeah," she sighed again and then kissed my cheek. "But if I'm not back in ten minutes please send the rescue party." She said.
"Ten minutes." I agreed checking my watch, she smiled and followed her mother out of the room.
"No love lost there then." I said to Seth.
"Oh hell no, she's the reason Bella moved to Forks when she was seventeen." He said.
"Oh? Why?" I asked, curious.
"Bella's boyfriend, she found him in bed with her mother." He said shaking his head.
"She stole her own daughters boyfriend? What a bitch?" I said understanding why Bella was so agitated in her mother's presence.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe half the shit she did to Bella." He said, I was angry at her for anything she did to hurt Bella, I checked my watch again and decided to hell with it and went looking for her anyway.
Unfortunately I got stopped a lot as I worked my way around the house looking for Bella. I was talking to Reverend Webber when I spotted her coming down the stairs twenty minutes later. She had changed out of her uniform, her hair in a high ponytail again, she wore bleached low-rise jeans and a black, long sleeved sweater top, fuck me, she was gorgeous. I excused myself and went to her, our eyes meeting as I made my way across the room, a smile brightening her already beautiful face when she saw me. I smiled wider in response to it.
I wrapped my arms around her the moment I reached her, she wrapped her arms around my waist, making me smile more than I already was.
"Everything okay, with your mom?" I asked, wondering where the woman in question was.
"I shoot people for a living, one more person wouldn't hurt, right?" She said, I chuckled at her and kissed the top of her head. I guess I'd not really thought about that but, yeah, I suppose as a Marine Gunny she would actually shoot people for a living. I'd shot someone once, back when I was a rookie, it took me years before I could live with myself because of it.
"So what do you actually do in the Marines, Gunnery Sargent?" I asked. After all, women in the Marines were not allowed to go into conflict, but I knew enough to know that she was a weapons specialist.
"That's classified." She said and tugged me into the kitchen.
"And you are back off to Iraq in a few days?" I asked as she pulled another beer from the fridge for me. She nodded. "But you'll be my girlfriend, right?" I asked because she'd still not officially answered that question.
"Perhaps we should wait until I get back in a few months for that." She said.
"So you might be coming back here? Permanently?" I asked.
"I don't know yet Edward, I still haven't decided." She admitted sadly.
"But you'll include me in your pros and cons list when deciding, right?" I asked.
"If you really want me to?" She asked tentatively, I lifted her up and sat her on the sideboard, she was solid muscle. Her shoe fell off and I bent down to retrieve it, sliding it back into place I noticed the tattoo on her foot. 'Semper fidelis.' was written in elegant script. 'Always faithful', the Marine corps motto.
"I'll always want you." I muttered kissing her foot.
"Then I'm sure it won't hurt to hook up again tonight." She whispered unsure, making me smile as I put her foot down and pulled her closer as I stood between her legs.
"I'm not sure Seth or more importantly Charlie would approve." I said, not that that would stop me, just the idea that I might get her naked again resonated in my groin.
"Pfft! It's Charlie's fault that I met you yesterday." She pointed out.
"That is so true, in which case." I said sliding my arms around her. "He must want me to do this too." I said before I pressed my lips against hers chastely.
"Not again you two." Leah said smiling at us, "save that for later."
"Not under my roof." Seth said walking into the room.
"That's my roof too, Mister and don't even try trying to be the man of the house, little brother." Bella teased.
"That's okay, Bella will be staying with me tonight." I interrupted and all three of them turned to look at me surprised. My number one rule, never, ever take a chick home, but I wanted Bella in my home and in my bed.
~S~
I'd never been more grateful than I was when I carried Bella into my steam shower. I'd had an extra large shower fitted when I had the bathroom redone, it gave me the room I needed to fuck my woman seven ways to Sunday. It had been an odd decision to make considering that I didn't bring chicks home with me. But I always imagined being so in love that I'd want to be married at some point in my life. I couldn't exactly explain why, but I knew in my gut that Bella was the one I wanted to fill that role. I had never had sex more than twice in one night, maybe when I'd gone to bed with a woman and again when we woke up. So why was it that I just couldn't get enough of Bella? Once in the shower, again as we dried ourselves off, then moving to the bedroom and starting all over again. I couldn't get enough of her, I even woke her up in the night again. So when we left this morning- so that I could drop her off at the beauty salon- she complained about not being able to walk normally. I couldn't get the smile off my face, seriously, I couldn't stop smiling.
I hated the fact that I had to go into work today, Bella was only here until tomorrow evening, she has to fly back to Bethesda tomorrow night and will be back in Baghdad the following day. I hated the idea that she was always in life threatening situations and the fact that it was all classified was even more worrying. I knew that she didn't need protecting, but I wanted, needed to protect her. God willing she'd be back in a few months and maybe take the job as receptionist. I chuckled to myself, I didn't know her that well yet, but I can't for a second imagine that she would be satisfied with a job like that.
I was in my office sorting out paperwork, I'd left Bella at the salon less than a quarter of an hour ago and I already missed her. Waking up beside her and having breakfast together made me ache for that to happen everyday for the rest of my goddamn life. I was brought back from my musings by a knock at my door. When I looked up, a chill ran through me and I groaned in frustration when I saw Tanya walk into my office.
"What do you want?" I said not hiding my annoyance.
"I needed to talk to you." She said walking up to my desk and around to where I sat.
"Stay over the other side of my desk." I said, a clear warning in my voice, she always caused alarm bells to ring in my head, whenever she got too close to me.
"Don't be like that." She said walking behind me and laying her hands on me to massage my shoulders. "Always so tense." She said as I stood up and put several feet between us. "I just wanted to tell you that Bella is all wrong for you, she's a Marine," she said snidely. "She's much too butch for you, you need someone far more feminine to take care of you." She said.
"For goodness sake Tanya, how many times do I have to say that I'm not interested in you? Not in the slightest. It's never going to happen, Bella is my girlfriend and..." I tried to explain.
"Noooo!" She screamed at me, smacking her hands loudly on my desk. "It's supposed to be me, you have to be with me!" She yelled at me. "We're destined..."
"Tanya, this has gone on long enough, you're being irrational." I said, as Seth walked into my office.
"Everything okay?" He asked, eyeing Tanya before looking to me for an answer.
"Get her out of here." I said almost at a loss for words.
I turned back to Tanya just in time to see her pull my gun from the top draw of my desk. Fuck! I hadn't locked it as I wasn't planning on leaving the room without it.
"What the hell?" I said leaping towards her as she undid the holster and started to pull my gun out. Seth and I had leaped at the same time, but it was too late, she had my gun cocked and pointing at Seth.
"Now, you and I are going outside and we are going to talk about us." She informed me, what the fuck was wrong with her? It's like she forgot to take her meds or something.
"I'll do whatever you want, just put the gun down Tanya." I coaxed.
"No," she said after a moments thought, "not until we've talked."
"Then please just take the gun off Seth, he has nothing to do with this." I said softly, she thought about it for a moment then she slowly turned the gun to point at me.
"Okay, Eddie, lets go and talk." She said, but it was probably best to stay away from a public area, I had more chance of getting the gun off her in the tight confines of my office.
"Maybe we should stay here, alone, let Seth leave and we can talk." I said, Seth looked at me like I'd gone mad and shook his head, almost violently.
"I don't think so, lets go, Eddie." She said indicating with the gun for me to walk ahead of her. "You too Seth." She said, damn it, I was hoping at least one of us could take the rear. Out in reception, she instructed that everyone stayed inside and I'd be safe, then we walked out into the parking lot.
I looked around almost frantically for idea's as scenarios ran through my brain. Each more ludicrous that the next, most of which could get me shot. The moment we had a vehicle between us and the station, Seth and Liam my other officer came out fully armed. Tanya panicked and used me as her shield from them, Liam was trying to find a clear shot of her, but Tanya held me closer, he couldn't hit her without hitting me.
"We can't stay like this, Tanya, you have to stop this before someone gets hurt." I tried to reason.
"Tanya, release acting chief Cullen or I will be forced to take action." Liam told her.
"Stay back or I'll... I will shoot him." Tanya said, her voice high pitched, she was out of options, this was not going to end well for either of us. Typical, I finally meet the woman I believe could be my soulmate and I get taken out by someone who mistakenly thinks I'm hers. "I said stay back." Tanya yelled almost hysterically when Liam and Seth tried to move opposite ways so that one of them could get a clean shot off if necessary.
"Look Tanya, just give me the gun and stop this, do you really think holding me at gunpoint will change my mind about you? I don't have those kinds of feelings for you, I'm sorry but I don't." I tried to reason.
"If I can't have you, no one can." She whispered, then fired a shot that grazed my waist, then hit Seth's leg, as he was closing in on us. I smacked her arm away from myself instantly but she fired again.
I heard another shot, or it could have been a late echo I guess, everyone already dropping to the floor to take cover, who the hell fired that time? I turned to see Tanya lying on the floor beside me, a bullet wound in the side of her head, her eyes glazed with a blank stare and blood and brain matter coating the parking lot. I looked around, looking for the second shooter, both Seth and Liam doing the same, once they saw that the immediate threat was gone.
"Where the hell did that shot come from?" I asked them.
"From the angle, I'd say from somewhere over there." Seth said, pointing in the direction of the row of stores in the high street. But that shot was a good eight hundred meters away and through tree's no less, it was an impossible shot.
"Who the hell could make that shot?" I asked, pulling off my shirt and trying to stop the bleeding of the wound in my side.
"Only one person I know." Seth mumbled, as he pulled up his pants leg, it looked like he'd only been grazed too, fortunately.
"Yeah, but Charlie isn't here and his rifle is in lock-up." I pointed out.
"I wasn't talking about Charlie." Seth practically whispered as Liam came out of the station with a screen to hide the body from public view, saying he'd called the ME, ambulance, forensics and Port Angeles PD. At least one of us was getting this in hand, then again he was the only one of us that wasn't injured.
"Bella?" I whispered, he just gave me a minute nod of his head. "Lets go take a look." I said, telling Liam to secure the scene and wait for the Medical Examiner, it would be a good few hours before forensics arrived.
"You can't go anywhere until you've been checked out by the paramedics, you have both been shot for christ sake." Liam objected, fortunately we could hear the ambulance on it's way.
Once we were patched up, Seth and I walked up the sidewalk towards the stores. Fortunately neither of us were badly hurt, still hurt like a mother fucker though. "She never told you what she does?" Seth asked, I shook my head. "Her main job is as a sniper, but unofficially, she's like some kind of Marine assassin." He whispered. "She's basically trained like the Black widow."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, wanting him to shut the hell up, this was a homicide and I would have to interrogate the woman I was sure I was falling in love with, as a suspect. Either way I wanted to do this before someone from Port Angeles arrived so that I could make sure she had an alibi before they took over the case.
"Because I trust you with my sister's life, I know we will collaborate her alibi and move on with the investigation of who it was that saved both our asses from the deranged one." He said, he had a point, but the law was the law, just how far would I go to protect her?
I suppose I should feel some amount of guilt that I didn't feel bad that my stalker and ex workmate had just been shot dead in front of me. But I didn't feel anything at all, well that's not entirely true... I felt kind of sick that I had to go and interrogate Bella when all I really want to do is kiss the hell out of her. Not to mention the pain I was in, graze or not, that fucking hurt like hell with every step that I took.
"The clearest shot looks like it came from here, maybe upon the roof." Seth said when we stood outside the beauty salon. I sighed somewhat relieved that I could see Bella again but sick to my stomach about questioning her as we went inside.
"Could I have a word?" I asked when I saw Jessica painting Bella's nails, my body almost sighing in relief when I set eyes on Bella.
"Sure, what's up?" Jess asked, smiling up at me.
"Have you seen anything suspicious in the last hour?" I asked, not taking my eyes off Bella.
"No, I've been giving Bella a manicure since she walked in." Jess informed me, "why? What's wrong?"
"I'm investigating a shooting." I said.
"Oh!" Jess exclaimed. "Is that what those bangs were, I thought they were a car backfiring."
"No, someone shot Tanya Denali when she was holding me at gunpoint, after she had shot both Seth and myself." I said watching Bella's face.
"What the hell? Are you both okay?" Bella asked worriedly, Jess asking the same thing.
"Seth and I are fine, just a scratch, like I said, someone shot her, it was an incredible shot that only a professional could pull off." I said, still not taking my eyes off Bella.
"Someone put a professional hit out on Tanya?" Jess asked, I rolled my eyes at her. I wondered for the thousandth time, what did I ever see in that woman?
"Definitely looks like the right place for the shot on the roof, but no casings or any evidence up there, so I could be wrong." Seth said coming up behind me. "The entire area looks clean."
"So you came straight to me?" Bella asked raising her eyebrow at me.
"Just investigating." I said then finally I turned to Jess, "have you been with Bella the whole time?" I asked, please for the love of all that is holy, please say yes.
"I left her for like five minutes to answer the phone, but that's all." Jess said.
"So let me get this straight." Bella said, her face straight and I couldn't read it. "You suspect that in a five minute window that I predicted your predicament, ran to the precinct to get a gun from lock-up. Then ran back here, got on the roof and fired a so-called impossible shot, then ran back to lock-up with the gun. Then ran back here again, all in just five minutes? All that without being seen or chipping or scuffing my perfect nails?" Bella asked, holding her fingers up to show her perfectly painted nails.
"She never left and I would have been pissed if she'd scuffed my work." Jess added.
"Alibi checks out, excellent." I said unable to stop from grinning at her, there was no way she could have done it. I leaned in to kiss her but she pulled away from me quickly. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"You have to ask?" She countered annoyed.
"I'm sorry okay, I had to ask, it's my job." I pointed out.
"My nails, you nearly touched my nails before they are dry." She complained. I laughed, taking her face in my hands and kissing her hard on the lips. Seriously, where would she have put a rifle? She only had a small purse on her, but still, she would no longer be a person of interest and both Seth and I were relieved about that.
A/N Thanks so much for the positive feedback, it means the world to me, I dearly hope that you continue to enjoy this story. Thanks for reading!
Mysty xxx
