All normal disclaimers apply.
***See the bottom A/N for the nick-name list to date.***
Chapter: Seven – Edward freaks out
EPOV
I look the plans over, trying to work out the bug. I get frustrated and I grab the latest error report, roll it up in a ball and throw it at my door just as it happens to open. I look at Jessica who is sobbing at the doorway.
"Jessica, what's wrong?" I say still a little confused.
I look her up and down seeing her skirt is covered in ice cream. Damn it. "Cullen, Cassie, get in here now," I yell making Jessica cry even more.
"They're not here," Jessica sobs again.
"What do you mean? Better yet, where are they?"
"Edward," I hear Jasper yell, as he barges into the office, knocking a still crying Jessica to the floor.
"Where are my kids, Jessica?" I say harshly.
"They're missing, Felix is on it."
"Somebody tell me what the hell happened?"
I move to my computer pulling up the GPS that I have them wear. "Why are my kids showing up at home?"
"They're not there, Edward we tried ..."
I move quickly to Jessica needing to get the answers right away.
"Jessica, what the hell happened to my kids, who took them?" I swear if the Blacks have anything to do with this, I will torture every single one of them until the end of time.
"They were bad, so I told them I was bringing them here to you, because they threw ice cream around the café. They were right beside me, and then when I looked around, they were running away."
I start pulling my hair as I feel like I'm coming undone. "What about their bracelets. Why don't they have them on? I told you they don't ever leave the house without them!"
Jessica looks to the floor. "Cassie threw a fit this morning, because you left early. She said I put it on all wrong and ripped it off. The clasp broke, so Cullen took his off. I told them to put them back on, but they didn't and then they demanded that I take them out or they'd lie to get you to fire me. I'm sorry. I should've called you this morning."
Still feeling very angry, I move away from Jessica. "Jasper, find someone to take her home, make sure they stay with her." Jasper nods pulling Jessica out of my office.
If what Jessica just said is true, my kids will be in some serious trouble with me. This is so far and beyond the normal behavior of Cullen and Cassie. I know I can't rule it out, since I behaved real badly and lied about my nanny when I was younger. I just need them to be okay – safe. Something is going on and they will be talking to me, once I find them. "Oh, God we have to find them!"
The hour ticks by and now it's been two hours from when Jessica arrived at my office. The whole family, apart from my dad, is here with me. I have called just about everyone I know, seeing if they have heard anything.
"Dad, any sign yet?" I ask trying to hold myself together. My father stayed at St. Luke's and left explicit directions with his friends at Mercy, in case they were brought there. If anything does happen, he can authorize treatment until I can get there.
I look to Rose as her cell rings, she tells whoever it is that she's busy, but I watch her face pale. "She's got the kids, something about Cassie having a broken arm. I grab the cell calling the number back, to get some strange girl who acts like she knows me. I feel like a weight has been lifted when I hear Cullen's voice. I let out a sob when I hang up the cell.
"Call, Dad, tell him they're at the Emergency entrance of St. Luke's," I say running out of the building and heading to my babies. The whole way to the hospital, I'm unable to sit still. Whoever this little girl is that has my kids—she's in big fucking trouble—she just may be the first female I'll kill.
"Cassie Platt," I say to the nurse at the desk. I know my tone was way too harsh, when she takes a step back. She gives me a room number and I listen to her call security as I move toward the room.
I run to the room as fast as I can. "Hey, Bones, that's hurting her. I thought you said you were being gentle?"
I stop when I hear a voice I know, but also I can hear that my kids are now laughing.
"I swear to God, Bones, what part of ouch don't you get. You hurt her, she pinches me." I look in the door and there is Bella sitting on the backside of the bed. I look to see both Cassie and Cullen sitting on the bed just in front of Bella. Cassie's getting her arm wiped down by my Dad.
"Don't you do that to me again," I say rushing in and hugging both of them and getting my Dad in the process which makes the kids giggle again.
"Hi," I say to Bella and then look to my Dad.
"Where's the girl that brought them in?" I ask and I feel everyone looking at me.
"That was me, Stark, I told you and Topspin on the phone—"
I tilt my head at her. "Topspin?" It's not really a question I should be stopping to ask, but I have no idea who the hell she's talking about.
"Yeah, Topspin, you know the tall blond Barbie that transformed into Ms. Mechanic and changed your tires—what… almost two weeks ago?"
"Rose? Wait ... you had my kids?" I say getting upset again.
"No, Stark, follow along. I found your kids. I got off early, because I worked through my lunch hour. After work, I went to the park to read and have a snack. I was going to relax and do some reading. When I heard some little voice calling for help. That's when I saw Cullen, so I went to him. Then I saw this one was up a tree. I'm sorry, I swear I tried to catch her—well all of her."
I catch the guilty look on Bella's face, which if this was a made up story, it just wouldn't be there.
"You should have seen her, Dad, she came out of nowhere," Cullen says smiling at Bella.
"Did someone in here order a cast?" I turn seeing the nurse coming in with a casting cart.
"Bella, can I talk to you?" I say nodding to the side.
"Yeah," she says.
She frowns at me but follows. Once we get in the hallway I turn to her. "Look, thanks for bringing them here, but my family is here waiting to come in. I have your number, so I'll call you."
Bella looks around, but nods at me. She walks back in the room and grabs her bag. "Okay, you two, I have to go to work. No more climbing trees." They hug her, Cullen with both arms, and Cassie with one as they look at her sadly.
"Bye," she calls out.
I wave my hand at her and she walks out the door. "So, Princess, what color are you getting?"
"Pink," my Dad, Cassie and Cullen all say together.
The night drags on and I'm sad to see Cullen go home with Mom, but Dad wanted Cassie to stay the night.
"Edward," Jasper calls out.
I look to the door seeing him standing there. I look back at Cassie who's asleep, so I wave him in.
"I tapped into several businesses' surveillance videos around the park area and caught when Bella met the kids on tape. You need to see this," he says handing me a tablet. I watch the events unfold just like Bella said. Now, I understand that guilty look. It was because she felt she didn't move fast enough or guarded her better as they hit the ground.
"Fuck, shit," I pull my hair, "I was really kind of rude to her, too."
"Flowers, they are the answer to everything."
I look at Jasper and he shrugs. "I like her. She kept her head in the game. She took care of Cassie. Several times she looked about for anyone that might be there for the kids. She even called you twice, got your voicemail and called Rose. All while getting Cassie here and as soon as she could. She just got herself the Jasper seal of approval."
I roll my eyes at him and he takes back the video and heads for the door.
"Jasper," I say in a loud whisper
"Yeah, Boss?" he says with a half-smile.
"What kind of flowers?"
Jasper just smirks more and walks out ... asshole.
Chapter: Seven – Bella, the hospital and memories of Charlie
BPOV
I walk out of the room, sad about leaving them. It was clear Stark wanted private time with his kids. He was still pretty strung out. I walk down the hallway seeing all of Edward's family sitting there chatting and waiting. I already knew his father, Bones, works at this hospital and that's the reason I brought Cassie here in the first place.
I'm thankful for the fact I'm able to get out without them seeing me—truth be told, I think they were all clearly worried. As soon as I get out of the doors, I let out the breath I've been holding ever since I walked through those doors.
It has been nine years since the last time I went through them. I walk to my truck l and just sit there thinking about the last time I was here.
I was twelve. Dad had been working on some big case and he had left me with Miss Honey and Guido. I loved staying over with them, but hated that my dad had to be gone again. I missed him so much when he was gone and often found myself bored. I was bored a lot when he was around, too, but at least when he was around, I had someone that could keep up with my mental thoughts. He came back after being gone a week, but his return was rather odd. He was in a hurry and it was the middle of the night. Both Miss Honey and Guido tried to get him to talk and tell them what happened. They knew he needed help, but he refused to ask for it, instead he picked me up carrying me to the car.
We stayed in this little cabin, way off the beaten path. He was always looking around, like he was expecting someone to jump out at him. It had been weeks since we'd been out of the house. We finally went out for the first time and we were having fun. We were playing hide and seek, and I watched him coming my way. Suddenly, his body jerked strangely and he started to fall to the ground, but again his body jerked. As he hit the ground his eyes fell on mine and I just sat there looking at him. When I could breathe—think—I ran to him begging him to get up. I cried the whole way to his car. He was up, but leaning on me heavily. It took me so long to get him into the car, but I knew how to drive. All he said was that I needed to hide—hide from everyone—and never tell anyone, but Hawk, Guido and Miss Honey who I was. I sat alone in the waiting area. When it was clear they weren't telling me anything, I went to look for my dad. It only took me a few minutes to hack into the hospital's computers to get the information I needed. At that age, I shouldn't know what the morgue was, or what was held there—but I did and that's where I saw him. I must've been there with his dead body for quite a while, before I left to go call Miss Honey and Guido. When I made my way back upstairs, I saw the doctor with the police and other people in the emergency room, and I heard them, they were looking for me. I ran, and I haven't stopped since.
I wipe away my tears and start my truck. I head home knowing I need to take a shower, and get ready for my shift at Twilight Moon tonight.
I arrive at work smiling at the doormen and give them a little wink before walking in. "Hey, Skipper, you're late," the boss man says.
"Spike, thirty seconds can't really be construed as being late. It's still the time I'm supposed to arrive."
"A second past your start time is late."
I roll my eyes and put by purse away. I walk to the bar collecting my notepad and cashbox tray.
"What tables am I on tonight?" I ask looking at Spike.
"Are you sure you don't want to go on stage? You would make a killing on tips alone."
I look at him with my hand on my hips and both eyebrows raised high. "We talked about this, Spike! I serve the clients their drinks and keep my clothes firmly on. You're lucky I wear this shitty piece of cloth you call a uniform.
Spike chuckles at me. "You really have a bite to you, Skipper, but you need to be careful. I may bite you back one of these days," Spike says with a snap of his teeth.
I roll my eyes at him and he blows me a kiss.
"Even number tables on the lower floor are yours, now get to work, Skipper, I've got stuff to do."
I chuckle as he puts on his iPod and Billy Idol's, White Wedding starts to blast throughout the club.
A/N: Well a lot of you guessed right Tony Stark aka: Anthony Edward Stark was the obvious choice for our Bella to give our Edward Anthony Masen as a nick-name. Good thinking you all! Below is a list of nick-names that have been used so far. We will not repeat the whole list each time, but we'll note new nicknames each chapter, when they are used. You just may not know who is who right away. Bella has a nick-name for everyone, but the kids. Also someone asked about Bella and if the info Jasper found was true or not. We know for certain she is really 20 almost 21, because she said she told Edward her real age. However keep in mind our little Bella is quite good with computers ...
Edward - Stark - Iron Man
Cassie - Princess - Her daddy calls her that
Cullen - Little Buddy - His daddy calls him that
Rose - Topspin - Transformers
James - Spike - Buffy the vampire slayer
Carlisle - Bones - The doctor on original Star Trek
?*?*?*? - Guido - Cars (from the movie)
?*?*?*? - Miss Honey - Teacher in Matilda
Bella - Dolce Raggaza - Sweet Girl (nick name given to her by Miss Honey and Guido - ironically only a couple other people call her this).
Bella - Skipper - Barbie's little sister - James given nick-name
