THE HER AGENCY

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

"What can I do to convince you and Alice that I'm happy as I am. I don't need a man in my life to make me happy or feel complete."

"Not convinced, but, we'll have to take this up later as I've still got tons to do before leaving in a few days for New York. Alice and I do know what's best for you, even if you don't." Was the parting remark Rosalie made after gathering her things and about to walk out the door.

Bella just looked after her friend while shaking her head from side to side, but, she had a sad smile on her lips that never reached her eyes.

CHAPTER 4: KARMA KICKS BUTT

Time passed quickly, but, Bella hadn't seen Rosalie or Alice since the day she had introduced Alice and Jasper to each other, but, she had spoken to them both upon occasion. Rosalie was staying with business as to what she needed to take care of and getting last minute information from Bella since Bella's agency represented and handled her model bookings. And, Alice's main themes were the showing of her clothing line in New York plus Jasper and all they have been doing which included the things they had been doing in private as they saw each other often. It turns out that Jasper was planning to join Alice in New York just like Rosalie's Emmett gym guy.

The two women kept pressing for Bella to take the time off and join them in New York to which Bella kept telling them that she didn't have the time. Neither woman believed it and didn't hesitate to tell her so. But, Bella would good naturedly tell them to have fun and that if she could she would try. Both Alice and Rosalie had to be satisfied with that answer since they couldn't get her to commit to a definite answer to come and join them.

However, Bella did see them off at the airport where Rosalie had continued to press for Bella to get a ticket and join them, Alice stayed quiet with only giving a smile and a hug to her sister. Alice had a little twinkle in her eye that she wasn't going to share with anyone. She had a secret that no one would believe her even if she did share it. Bella did catch the secret smirk that Alice was trying very hard to hide, but, chose not to saying anything or to ask her about it in anyway. Knowing her sister like she did she knew that Alice wouldn't give anything away until she was ready.

Bella left as soon as she had seen Alice and Rosalie go through the security check heading for their departure gate. She was planning to go back to her office to get some more not so pressing work done and that was where her mind was centered when something solid brought her to an abrupt halt. It was like running into a solid wall that had suddenly been built in her pathway. In fact, she had smacked into it so hard that before she had a chance to catch her balance she was unexpectedly knocked on her butt in the middle of the airport.

Cameras were flashing and catching her accident which was embarrassing enough for Bella considering her current position on the floor without the media recording it to broadcast to the whole world. But, what was puzzling to her was why the media was paying so much attention to her fall? True she was the owner of one of the most successful agencies in this country, but, still her presence some place didn't demand the sort of attention that seemed to be aimed in her direction.

Suddenly coming within her line of vision was a hand that hadn't been there before was reaching out towards her and a voice that was as smooth as velvet was asking, "Are you okay? Please, forgive me for my lack of attention and not watching where I was walking?"

Bella's head jerks up quickly to see who was the owner of such a silky voice and was met with the deepest pair of lush green eyes she had ever encountered. It didn't take a genius to quickly recognize who the person addressing her was: Edward Cullen. She had ran straight into the one and only Edward Cullen, much sought after and beloved actor who was praised by all as one of the most talented male leads any director had ever worked with.

Of course, in the not too distant past rumor had ran the rounds of speculation of how his agent was handling his bookings and failing miserably. Bets were being placed as to how long it would take for him to fire the agent and begin to look for a new one. Bella knew that if he did fire that agent that her agency might be one of the short listed ones that he would more than likely approach. However, it would make no difference to Bella since she refused to represent men in any field. Her husband's attitude and behavior set that decision in almost hard stone.

After hearing some snickering from passersby Bella realized that she hadn't responded one way or another and that her lack of response was causing even more attention to the situation than what was needed or necessary. Looking up once more and reaching for the offered hand, Bella quickly thanked him for the assistance and apologized for her lack of attention as well as she regained an upright position standing on her feet.

"My mind was busily going over some business I needed to get done back at the office and caused my inattention to the coming accident as well."

"How about we both share the responsibility and call it even?" The smooth voice once more drew Bella's attention away from the circumstances.

Bella took a closer look at the man that was standing before her that had made the suggestion while he was still holding her hand. She was very curious about the electric energy that seemed to be flowing from his touch into her hand and up her arm. In fact, she could have sworn that it had flowed straight to her heart, but, she quickly dismissed that as a flight of fantasy. That sort of thing only happened in books, some people's imagination, or in the movies; not to people like her that didn't believe in the nonsense.

Even though she had continually listened to all of Alice's detailed description of her knight in shining armor, Bella never truly believed he existed. However, when she met Jasper she knew that he was the closest thing to what Alice wanted and decided to introduce the two. What happened after that between them came as a surprise, a delightful one, to Bella, but, for herself there was no one that came close to her standards.

In the beginning she had thought that maybe James might be that person, but, that turned out to be a farce. He was using her strictly as a front to carry on his affairs behind closed doors and expected her to be honorable to her vows while accepting his behavior. And, the few times she protested against his actions he gave her bruises in areas that wouldn't show and forced himself upon her sexually as punishment he said. Alice and Rosalie were the only two who knew about James and she had wanted it to stay that way.

If Charlie had known he would have gone to prison for murder, but, James couldn't afford for his parents to find out, either. His parents were embedded Hollywood and the news of their only son's activities would have greatly tarnished the family reputation. Fortunately, or, unfortunately, his parents were killed in a skiing accident, so, he had inherited their entire fortune, and, they never knew how sick their son was. But, karma has a way of catching up to a person and James was no exception, cancer ravished his body in less than a year.

He had continued with his activities for two years after the loss of his parents before he went in for a checkup and found out that he had lung cancer. In the beginning James continued with his drugs, women, men and his total private lifestyle, but, it didn't take long before his condition began to curtail his actions and bring everything to a standstill.

Anytime James had had an interview he always talked about how new talent was overlooked or mishandled and declared that he wanted to do something about it. That his parents would be happy in heaven to know that he was taking steps to help a talented newcomer, but, somehow, he never followed through with it. It was after his death and the way that Bella knew Rosalie was being handled and watching her sister struggling to get a foothold that got Bella to opening The Her Agency. But, Bella didn't stop with just modeling or designers or actors, she took on new talent in all areas of life to help them for good jobs that would showcase their talents for a quick, but, solid rise to their goals. Everyone believed that Bella created the agency as a way of honoring her husband's memory and she never refuted it. Her belief was to let people believe as they wanted while she and a select hand few knew the truth.

To have the truth come out now, or, even in the early days after his funeral wouldn't have served a purpose. It would only have opened the door to bring greater attention to her personal life and her marriage to James than what she desired. So, Bella let people believe as they chose and it helped to bring the agency greater renown rather than people being curious and maybe, damaging her business's and her reputation.

All of these thoughts had quickly ran through her head drawing her attention momentarily away from the person standing before her that was still holding her hand while the electric current continued to flow. But, what drew her attention back to the present was the frown that was forming upon the face of one Edward Cullen. It wasn't a frown of disapproval, but, more like one of puzzlement the same as Bella had. That was when Bella realized that he must be feeling the same current as she.

"That's fine with me, Mr. Cullen, if we share responsibility. It seems we both might have been lost in our own world of thoughts." She responded to his suggestion with a smile and a firm removal of her hand from his. That action only helped to deepen the frown on his face, but, Bella didn't care. She wanted to get away from all of the attention and the flashing of cameras that was still going on around them. The limelight was for her clients, not for her, personally.

"May I have your name and offer you some dinner sometime in the future to make up for my inattention?" Edward asked. But, Bella just shook her head no, smiled and thanked him once more for the assistance then walked away without giving him a backward glance.

Needless to say that wasn't the sort of reaction that Edward was used to receiving when asking a lovely lady out to dinner. Normally, the woman would be excited to answer yes just to be seen with him. But, this woman had issued a quietly unspoken rejection and walked away without even introducing herself. He had no idea how to find her again and he was indeed very interested in finding her again. The strange current that flowed between them and then the unusual way she had handled herself had peaked his interest in discovering more about her. As he was quite sure that she knew who he was, but, why wouldn't she want him to know her identity? Now, that was a puzzle that he was determined to solve once he had cleared some of his scheduled appointments and returned from New York after joining Emmett for moral support to meet his new woman.

A/N: Edward and Bella met in a strange way and Edward got shot down. He's not too sure how to react to that. But will he follow through with his thought of discovering who Bella is and what will he do then? More to the point, what will Bella do?

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