AN: I own nothing but the hangover I've been suffering from. Back to ch. 1, the song in that chapter is something that my Grammies sings. Ch. 2 the song is You Are My Sunshine. Thanks to everyone for the reviews. This chapter is extra long, just for 00chely00!
I was dreaming about Edward again. It had been two months since the dreams of Edward had started. Two months since I saw him last, even though we talked on the phone nearly every day. We would talk on the phone for hours when he would call after Abby was in bed. Two more months of the creepy feeling I would get occasionally.
I woke with a start when I heard the shrill ringing of the telephone. It took me several rings to get out of bed, and several more before I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I mumbled groggily. Dial tone. They must have hung up since it took me so long to get to the phone. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was barely six in the morning. I decided to stay up since Abby would wake soon.
I headed down to the kitchen to get some coffee brewing. I had barely made it into the dining room when the phone began ringing again. This time I got to the phone much sooner.
"Hello?" I asked a little more awake. I was met with silence for several moments before I heard the definitive intake of breath, followed by a loud exhale.
"Hello?" I asked again, a little peeved that this person would call and not say anything. The response from the other end was an evil cackling. The laughing continued for several long moments before stopping abruptly.
"You and the little bastard baby better watch out." Said a disguised voice before I heard the distinguished click, and then dial tone. I sunk down to the floor with tears gathering in my eyes. My breath was coming in small, shallow pants and the tears starting rolling down my cheeks.
It took several minutes for me to calm myself down enough to think rationally. The first thing I did was run upstairs and check on Abby, then I made sure that the alarm was set and called my dad while checking the doors and windows.
"Daddy," I sobbed as I told him about the sinister phone call. He said he would make some quick calls and be right over. It was only about ten minutes before I heard a car pull into the driveway. I peeked out the curtains and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was dad's cruiser.
I disarmed the alarm and opened the door. He rushed in and rearmed the alarm as I poured him a cup of coffee. He thanked me after taking a sip, and sat down at the table.
"We traced the call back to a pay phone. We can't find any businesses around the area of the pay phone that have camera's pointing in the direction of the phone. The phone that was used is only about five miles from here." Dad said somberly.
I sighed and was about to speak when the phone rang again. I looked up at dad with wide teary eyes. He nodded at me to answer it, and he followed me over to the phone.
"Hello?" I asked wearily.
"Bella? What's wrong?" Edward's voice was clearly panicked. I was overcome with relief that it wasn't the voice, and my tears started falling rapidly. Dad took the phone from me and started talking into it.
"Who is this?" He demanded. He looked up at me after hearing the response.
"Why are you calling at this hour of the morning?" He was clearly using his 'Chief Swan' routine. His brow furrowed momentarily before he looked up at me.
"Do you know an Edward Cullen?" He asked with one eyebrow raised. I nodded.
"Do you think he would have called and harassed you?" He asked, seriously.
"Of course not, he's Abby's pediatrician and my… friend." I said. He studied me closely before placing the phone in my outstretched hand. I thanked him quickly and brought the phone up to my ear.
"Bella, what's going on? Who's harassing you? Are you okay? Is Abby okay?" He asked, barely taking a breath in between questions.
"Edward, calm down." I said.
"Are you and Abby okay?" He asked after taking several deep breaths.
"Yes. I'm a little shaken up, but we are both fine." I answered.
"Did I hear correctly? You got a harassing phone call?" He asked. The panic in his voice had returned. I tried to tell Edward about the phone call, but the tears started again just as Abby woke. I handed the phone to dad and asked him to tell Edward what was going on.
"You're sure about this?" Dad asked me.
"Please." I said as I nodded and pointed upstairs, letting him know I was going to go get Abby. He reluctantly took the phone and I went upstairs. When I came back down, carrying Abby, dad was sitting at the table with a prepared bottle in his hand. The phone was sitting on the table.
He stood and handed me the bottle when he saw me.
"Edward said he was going to call back in a few minutes." He said.
"Okay…" I said, sensing that he wanted to say something else.
"How well do you know this Edward?" He asked.
"Dad, I KNOW it's not Edward. Edward would never do something like this. I may not know very much about him, but I do know that he wouldn't put Abby and I through something like this." I said honestly.
"How?" Dad questioned. My response was cut off by the phone ringing again. I picked it up expecting Edward to be on the other end.
"Hello?" I asked.
"You think your cop daddy can protect you bitch?" The voice asked, laughing menacingly. Charlie knew instantly that it was 'the caller' and he sidled up next to me to hear what was being said.
"We're coming for you, and there's nothing you can do to stop us." Abby must have sensed my fear, she spit out her bottle and started crying in my arms.
"See the baby knows she should be afraid. Don't worry, we'll make it painful." There was a quick burst of the evil laughter and then the line went dead. My cell phone was ringing upstairs, and dad was on his cell phone.
I slunk into one of the kitchen chairs and hugged Abby to me tightly, whispering in her ear. When she had finally calmed down, I gave her back her bottle and she ate hungrily.
I watched her closely as she ate. I loved looking at her. Her little button nose, her bright blue eyes, and her puffy little cheeks. She stared back at me as she sucked down her bottle. I would do anything to keep her safe, and I suddenly knew exactly how Jess felt when she left. I would die for Abby.
"We are going to put a tap on your phone." Dad said, bringing me out of my musing. I nodded numbly.
"Why don't you and Abby stay with your mom and me? I can't stand the thought of you here by yourself." Dad begged. I was going to tell dad that I would think about it when the phone rang again. Dad picked it up quickly.
"Hello? Who is this?" He demanded angrily.
"That's Police Chief Swan." He told the caller roughly. He listened intently for several minutes and his features softened, faintly.
"I'll have to check it out first." He told the caller.
"Here's Bella." He said and then handed the phone to me. He gestured to Abby and asked if I wanted him to burp her. I nodded and he threw a burp rag over his shoulder before taking her out of my arms.
"Hello?" I said into the receiver.
"Bella, I'm so worried about you and Abby." Edward said.
"It's alright Edward, I'm thinking about going and staying with my parents for a while." I told him.
"Bella, I just talked to my parents." He said.
"Okay?" I questioned where he was going with this.
"I want you to stay at my apartment. I mean, my apartment building. Ugh, this isn't coming out right. My parents and I own an apartment complex. We would like you and Abby to move into one of our open apartments. We have security onsite and people cannot get in without going past security. You have to give security the names of anyone that is allowed up." He said.
"My brother, sister and I all live in the building, in separate apartments of course." He sounded so nervous, it was cute.
"My brother owns the security company with our brother-in-law, and I've already talked to them about beefing up security for you. Please Bella, I can't imagine anything happening to either of you." He begs.
"I already talked to your dad; he said he would have to check it out. Do you want to come with him to look at it?" He asks.
"Sure. Did you give my dad the details?" I asked.
"Yes, I gave him the address. He said he would be over around 10am. Does that work for you?" He asked.
"Yeah, we'll see you then." I replied and hung up.
"Dad, I'm going to go with you to check out the apartment." I told him. He nodded in response and continued burping Abby. I went upstairs and grabbed some clothes and a new diaper for Abby, and set them down next to dad.
"Do you mind if I go shower?" I asked.
"Go ahead." He said grabbing Abby's clothes. I showered and dressed quickly, and made sure Abby's diaper bag was full of necessities. I put her in the carrier and we walked out to the car.
"Some guys are going to come over to check out the house later. They're also going to be installing some equipment." Dad informed me after we were in my car. I let dad drive since I didn't know where we were going.
"Dad, I thought we were going to go look at the apartment?" I asked when I noticed we were driving towards my parent's house.
"We are. It's actually not too far from our house. That's the only reason I'm even considering this. Although having security doesn't hurt, we'll have to take a look at them when we get there." He said.
We pulled into the parking lot of a five-story building and headed toward the entrance. When we walked in we were met with a desk with a very large man behind it. He had long black hair, and he was dark skinned.
"Hi, we're here to see Edward Cullen." I told the man.
"Name, please." He said, not even looking at me.
"Bella Swan." I told him. His head shot up at my name.
"Of course. Please, take a seat while I call up to him." He was much more polite after hearing my name. I didn't have long to ponder that because, even though the man was only gone a moment, he had returned with Edward. There was an even larger man behind Edward, with curly black hair and blue eyes.
"Bella, it's so great to see you again. Though I'm sorry it's under such circumstances." Edward said, kissing my cheek lightly. I blushed a deep red, thinking about how differently he kissed me in my dreams.
He then bent down and took a peek at Abby. I was surprised to see her blue eyes open and looking at Edward intently since she had been asleep when we arrived.
"Hi there little miss Abby." He said, and then he leaned into her carrier and kissed her on the cheek as well. He stood and took the diaper bag off my shoulder and placed it on his. He looked pretty adorable with a flowery pink diaper bag on his shoulder. I snickered quietly to myself.
"Bella, Chief Swan, this is my brother Emmett. He's the owner and head of security here." He said gesturing toward the huge blue-eyed man. I offered my hand and he shook it. I was surprised when he didn't crush my hand. He looked so huge that it seemed impossible for him to not hurt me. He must have sensed my surprise because he raised an eyebrow at me.
I shrugged in response and he smiled. I liked Emmett, he seemed like he could be fun.
"Would you guys like a tour?" Edward asked, as he picked up Abby's carrier. I started to protest, but the look he gave me told me I wasn't going to win. Dad and Emmett were deep in a conversation about security, so I left them there to take the tour with Edward.
He led me to the elevators, which had to be operated with a key. He informed me that each resident had an elevator key, as well as each security guard, and his parents. He was sure to show me that it stated on the key that it could not be copied.
We rode the elevator up to the fifth floor and exited the car. The ride up had been quiet, as I had been embarrassed about having dreamt about this gorgeous man, in a not so pure way.
"My sister, Alice, lives on the fourth floor with her husband Jasper. He also owns and runs the security company. Emmett and his wife, Rose, live on the third floor. This floor has two apartments. You would be in one, and I'm in the other. The second floor has several apartments, and the first floor has the laundry room, a gym room, and a pool." Edward explained.
"This door is mine, and this would be yours." He said pointing to the door on the left first, and then the one on the right. He stuck a key in the door and turned the knob. The door swung open and Edward motioned for me to go in.
"AAAAAHHH!" I screamed when I noticed we weren't alone.
AN: For my reviewers… In your review, you can ask me anything about the story… A longer chapter, a scene, a quote… I will pick one and do what was asked! I really appreciate the reviews you guys have been giving me; they mean so much to me!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!