A/N: So a very good point was made in a recent review that I want to clarify really quick. I'm not trying to force reviews here. From my end I'm able to see a TON of people reading this fic and I just wanted to entice more people to let me know what they were thinking about it. I've been on the other side of this awesome fanfic world and read hundreds of stories, and there are many writers that encourage reviews with teasers or alternate pov's to those that take the time to do it. Seeing as how I haven't written any outtakes yet for this fic I thought using the other one I'm writing would be a good way to go. I apologize if I came across as a review whore-I said that not the reviewer-. (giggles). Writing these fics is something I love to do. I appreciate every single one of you who take the time to read PRISMS. I know there are probably a hundred other things you could be doing right now... but I'm glad you're here :)

I slip out of the office needing to clear my head for a minute. Bella and Emmett are still behind closed doors and I'm trying not to let it bother me. Coffee sounds good right about now, and thankfully there is a Starbucks directly across the street from SP. I was sitting at my desk about two years ago pissed off about all the construction noise interrupting my reading, until the property management building put up a sign saying Starbucks Coming soon! Talk about a small miracle.

It's barely noon but I feel drained. Today has been down-right exhausting, yet somehow I feel lighter and I know it has everything to do with Bella.

Kate leaving us is a huge blow. With Maria we knew it was going to happen and we've been preparing ourselves for a few months now. Not with Kate though. We've projected manuscripts out to her until the end of the year. She has a full schedule plus a share of Maria's work as well. Ben and Jessica already have more than usual because we were dividing up what would have been Maria's projects had she still been with us till the end of the year. Bella and I will probably have to hire some assistants because we still have to oversee everything else as well as pick up the slack in our Editorial department. I could always promote a copy editor or two but I don't have one at the moment that is quite ready to jump in head first and I sure as shit don't have the time needed to train one right now.

Next Monday we are officially opening up the "slush pile" and then the chaos will really begin. I'm hoping we can catch the thief or thieves quickly so we can get back to normal with nothing else looming over our heads but something tells me its going to get worse before it gets better.

"Hi Edward!" Andrea greets me as I walk through the door. She's been here since the place opened and we've grown pretty close. Andrea has dyed purple hair brown eyes, a nose piercing and looks like she should be the lead singer of some punk rock band instead of a barista. She makes a damn good white chocolate mocha though. Spare the jokes, I know its a girly drink, trust me I get enough shit from Emmett. Alice made me try it once though and I've been hooked ever since. Emmett says my testosterone drops a few levels with every cup but he's full of shit. I have no problem in that department. My dick might as well be named Pavlov because at this point I can hear Bella's name and get a hard on.

"Good afternoon Andrea. How are you?"

"Oh you know living the dream." She says waving her arms around the cafe causing us both to laugh. Andrea is the assistant manager, she opens almost every morning and leaves after the lunch rush. This isn't her only job though she's a computer whiz and repairs computers and laptops out of an office in her parents pawn shop.

I'm in here almost everyday so she knows what I get and is already busy making my coffee. "I also need another one...when you're done with that."

"You need a Venti black for your brother?" I shake my head and smile at the thought of my girl. "Well that smile isn't for your brother...it's for a lady friend isn't it?" She asks wagging her eyebrows. I nod my head chuckling, how does she know that? "ooo...don't tell me, let me guess...um lets see there has been a few new faces around lately but- whoa hold up it's not Ms. Caramel Macchiato is it?" That was exactly what I was going to get Bella. I noticed her caramel creamer in the break room fridge the other day and figured it would be my best bet.

"Who's Ms. Caramel Macchiato?"

"You know, that new sexy legs you all got over there." She says nodding her head towards SP." Oh yea did I mention Andrea plays for the other team? I narrow my eyes at her because there is no way she could know this. "You know brown hair and eyes, blushes like a virgin on prom night over the littlest things." At this point I'm gaping at her like a damn fish.

"Okay that's creepy that you know that." She laughs at me.

"She was in here with some knock out blonde the other day talking about some gorgeous man with crazy bronze sex hair." She says with a pointed look towards my hair. "I swear Edward those two walked in here together and I had to pinch myself. Wore my toy out last night to those two. Hmm hmmm."

"Andrea! Seriously..." I was still trying to process everything but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So wait a minute she was talking about me? Hold on... YOU DID WHAT?! Oh hell no. Stay away from my girl!" I finish pointing at her with the best serious face I could make while laughing.

"I'm not making any promises that girl is fiiiiiine!"

"Are you done with those coffees yet?" I tease. She writes on the cups before handing them to me.

"Yea yea here you go sex hair!" I pay her and she's still giggling as I head out the door. I turn back and give her the signature 'I'm watching you' signal, you know where you make a 'V' with your index and middle finger and point them back and forth between you and your targets eyes. It doesn't phase her one bit. The little pervert blows me a damn kiss.

Back at SP, Bella's office door is still closed so I go to Kate's office and start grabbing files off the mountain size piles on her desk. I'm on my second trip between her office and mine when Emmett comes in and picks some up.

"Hey Em, I thought you were still in a meeting with Bella."

"No she's in there with that guy from the restaurant last night."

"Which one Hulk or Cowboy?"

"Hulk." That's just wonderful.

"What's he doing here?"

"I don't know go ask her yourself. She told me to send you in when you got back. Apparently she wants you to meet him."

"Oh okay."

"Go on I got this." He says reaching for the files in my arms.

"Thanks man. I've got to get something from my office anyway."

He grabs another stack and follows me to my office.

"So you talked to her?" He's got that big goofy grin and he's waggling his eyebrows. I'm waiting for him to bust out with 'Bow chick-a-wow wow' at any moment.

"Yes, it went...well." I say not being able to hold back a smile.

He laughs at me. "Yea I noticed."

"Hey I've been meaning to ask why don't we see if mom and dad can come up here for Sunday dinner? I have to go through all this and come up with a game plan or I don't know how I'm going to make my deadlines."

"Sounds good I'll call mom and see what she says."

"Thanks bro." I grab the coffees from my desk and head to Bella's office, knocking on the door before entering.

"Hi." She says with a blinding smile from her desk.

"Hi beautiful." Damn she's gorgeous...and for a moment I forget there is someone else in the room.

"So the cat's out of the bag huh?" Hulk jokes as he gets up from the couch. I hand Bella her coffee, she accepts it with a shocked look on her face. You better get used to sweetie. I wink at her and she blushes. I love that. "I'm Jake nice to meet you...officially." He greets and I shake his outstretched hand.

"Hello Jake, I'm Edward."

"So! Now that you two have met, lets get down to business." Bella stands and points to one of the whiteboards on the far wall where someone has hung what looks like blueprints to the building. "Edward Jake here runs his own security business. It's kind of a big thing for me so I'm updating our systems." She says fidgeting a bit at the last part.

"Great so what do you have in mind?" Jake begins to point out all the entry points and emergency doors. In a nutshell he's going to come in this weekend and set up a whole new system with different codes for every employee. He's also installing cameras all over the place. When he gets finished with all his tech talk, him and Bella both look to me to see what I think. Even though half of what he said sounded like another language the gist of it all is great and honestly a newer security system is just what SP needs.

"Seth will be coming in tomorrow to handle all the system changes. He's using a new program for all the tracking and files and a new encryption software that I'm convinced will be able to weed out your thief in no time."

"Good. As always Jake I'm impressed. I appreciate this. Thank you." She takes a drink of her coffee.

"No thanks needed Bells." She smiles at him and he begins to pack up his things. "Well I'm going to head out I have to go check on all this equipment."

"This is great Jake. You do good work." I shake his hand again.

"Thank you. Take care of our girl here." My girl.

"Will do."

"I'll see you around I'm sure." I nod and he goes and hugs Bella. "I'll see you tonight Bells."

"Okay Bye Jake." Thankfully he shuts the door behind him.

"Tonight?" I ask.

"Him and Seth are staying with Rosalie and I until they finish here." I guess she see's something on my face because she keeps going. "Jake and I grew up together our dad's are best friends."

"Oh okay." Does Jake know they are just friends? He didn't seem mad or jealous at all seeing her and I together. Have they always been just friends?

"I grew up with his boyfriend Seth as well." My head snaps up and she giggles. Hulk is gay. Well I'm liking him a whole lot more now that I know he's not after my girl.

"Laugh it up Swan." I quip with a smirk of my own.

"So Seth will be here tomorrow. He'll have the new system up by Saturday and I'll get an email out to everyone on how to log in. Manuscripts from the slush-pile will be entered in the system before going out and will essentially be tracked throughout the entire process. Although we're the only ones who know that."

"What do you mean?"

"If you were to pull an entry from the slush-pile how long would it take for you to read through it and determine its potential?"

"Depends if it was the only thing I was working on...four days. Two to read through it, and one day each to develop possible changes in plots and characters. That of course is only to decide if it's even worth sending up to the copy-editors for a second look. If I'm working full time around it, more like 7 days."

"That's about what I got...this program will flag any accounts that have been out over 10 days. If someone is holding it for longer than 10 days without even filling out a preliminary report than something isn't right. It will narrow our possible suspects down quite a bit. Like I said they'll be oblivious to the fact that the manuscript is being tracked from the day it leaves the vault."

Makes sense. Once again I'm amazed at her efficiency.

"You're doing great Bella. This will all be figured out in no time."

"I hope so." She looks sad again.

"Hey come here." I take her hand and pull her to the windows. I sit with my back against the wall and pull her down between my legs. She snuggles up to me with her back to my chest. Her hair smells like strawberries and I take a moment breathing her in. Mine.

"Did you just smell me?" She giggles.

"Yes I did, you smell delicious." I kiss her cheek. She sighs so content it sounds like a purr. She sips her coffee and we both stare out the window pensively, enjoying this moment of calm. A few minutes later she breaks the silence.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Why does my cup say Ms. sexy legs?" Fucking Andrea that little shit! I look at my cup and sure enough mine says 'Mr. sex hair' I show Bella my cup and she gasps then breaks into giggles.

"Yea about that...stay away from Andrea." I tell her which only makes her laugh harder. Music to my ears.

There you have it...until next time. Let me know what you think. Reviews make me :)