WHY?
Disclaimer: The Cullens, 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.
All of the chapters of this story has been beta'd by the lovely dowlingnana and the chapters with mistakes are being replaced.
Ben and Angela get back to the airport, turn in their rental car and check through security to head for their departure gate to wait for their flight to leave. But, while waiting Angela gets sick and hurries into the ladies room. Ben is anxiously waiting for her to come out, wanting to find out what was wrong.
After she comes out she tells him that she just does not feel up to flying tonight. Ben gets on his phone and calls a nearby hotel for a room for the night and then manages to get their flight switched to the next afternoon. With that done they get their bags and head towards the exit to meet the hotel shuttle service. Just as they are leaving an older man in a hurry accidently bumps into Ben, apologizes and hurries on. Ben looks down and sees that the man had unknowingly dropped his wallet. Looking inside he sees that the man's name is Matthew Locke; he walks over to the information booth, after telling Angela to go ahead to the shuttle, to turn in the wallet and have the man paged since he had just entered the airport. After doing this, Ben goes out to the shuttle and they go to get a good night's sleep.
CHAPTER 10: REGROUPING
He walks quietly into the foyer, heads up the stairs to the second floor turning towards the master bedroom. His footfalls are no louder than a mouse scurrying across the floor. Checking inside the room he sees that the woman and her two children are still in a deep drug induced sleep. 'This is good,' he thinks to himself as he quietly moves forward to cut the ties that bind all three individuals. And, he turns and leaves the same way as he came in, quietly, in a stealth mode. He stops long enough to leave a note with a set of keys on the vanity, and then he's gone.
After he is some distance from the villa, he pulls out his cell phone and makes a call. "It's done," he says.
"Good, no one has caught on as to who you are as yet?"
"No, but, I do need to get back before I am missed. Everyone thinks that I am hot and heavy with some tail and I am definitely going to cover that item in just a few minutes." He smiles as the thought flashes across his mind. Oh, what fun he is planning to have.
"Dem, the woman and kids were okay?"
"Sure, I am going to stay with this motley lot until we can get a hold of Mrs. Cullen. My cover is completely intact. Old mistakes and reputations always give the best edge." He laughs as he hangs up.
By the time everyone met up the next morning and received the news, nothing was out of place. Everybody grumbles a bit, but, packed up and left the sleepy little town to head back to the States. It was indeed by two square one and the stakes are going higher by the moment. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to pick up the bitch's trail.
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She had made it into Jacksonville in the early morning hours, found a motel just off the interstate and collapsed for about five hours. It was now time to get up and start getting things done. She was feeling a little loss with not having the twins with her, but, they were safe. That was the main thing. She had managed to keep ahead of them, but, luck would only take you, so far. The twins were old enough that they could do without her now. And, she had to take their safety in consideration, not her wants or needs.
She pulls into a used car lot, quickly looks around and spots what she wants. The salesman approaches getting ready to make his speech, but, she cuts him off very quickly. "Look, I know what I want, I know how much my car is worth, so, let's do business."
His mouth falls open, but, he quickly pulls himself together and they start talking figures. After about twenty minutes cars are traded, she goes to get the tag for the car using a fake driver license and is on the road again in just under four hours. She started south towards Gainesville, but, once she gets there she heads over to a small place called Old town and stops there for the night.
As she goes to bed her thoughts wander towards her children, husband, and family. She will call Angela tomorrow to check that everything had gone according to plan.
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Matt Locke called Jenkins to let him know that he had missed the Cheneys. The flight had taken off, just as he got there. That he would start a find in the morning when he got to the office. Jenkins relays this information to the Cullens.
"You do need to decide what you are going to do about the children. Are you going to follow Mrs. Cullen's request, or, go a different way? I do however; feel that we need to pay close attention to the fact that she does not want specific agencies notified of the children's return. She has been battling this for all of these months, so, I am confident that she is well informed about this matter on a good many levels."
"I agree. But, the children are not going to be moved tonight." Edward states.
Rosalie nods and accepts that the children are going to remain with her and Emmett for now. Her only concern is for when they wake up, as far as they know everyone is a complete stranger, including their father. But, that is a bridge that can be crossed tomorrow.
"Mr. Cullen, may I hang on to this letter from your wife?" Edward nods an affirmative, so Jenkins puts it back into the envelope. "Well, there is nothing more that I can do here tonight. As I mentioned before I am hoping to hear from Ms Stevens about her friend tomorrow morning. If we can talk with him a lot of pieces, I feel, would fall into place."
Rosalie shows him out, but, the rest of the family remains. They are all quietly talking amongst themselves when she enters the room.
"We need to decide how to deal with the children. Who is going to take them and how that is to be handled for security sake for all?" Carlisle remarks.
"Edward, these are decisions that are rightfully yours to make, but, we are here to help if you want." Esme tells her son.
'Thanks, mom, but, for tonight I think we need to leave things as they are. Tomorrow is a new day and we can all meet in the morning to make all of these decisions."
After a little bit more discussion, everyone decides to head home, that is except for Edward. He is going to spend the night in his children's room. He has missed so much of their growing and now that they are back he wants to be as close as he can to them. It's like if he blinks they will be gone and all of this will have been nothing more than a dream.
Charlie Swan takes Jake with him, but, that young man has not heard the last of what he has to say. Cover up evidence, indeed, that might have helped find his daughter and grandbabies. 'Yep, there are things I am going to be putting into his ear.'
"Young man, wait until I get you alone. We have a long ride back and then, I will be informing Billy about these turn of events as well. You are going to have a rough time. All I can say is you better pray that Renee doesn't take it into her head to come up here after you."
Early the next morning Emmett looks in on his brother. Edward was sitting in a chair facing the beds just watching them sleeping. The dried tracks of tears that had fallen down his face were evident. But, he seemed content. At least, as contented as he can be at the moment.
"Hey, bro, breakfast is ready. Go get something to eat and I'll sit with them for now. They have really grown, haven't they?"
"Yeah, and they are beautiful. It's hard to believe that they are twenty two months old now. Damn, Emmett, they were only six months old when she left with them. They won't know who any of us are. And, even now for their safety we have to put them in hiding again. This just keeps getting harder and harder. When will it end?"
"I don't know, bro, but, I think it is all starting to come to a closure very quickly. Just hang in there a little bit longer."
"Oh, don't worry, I will," he smiles. About that time his stomach growls and he laughs a bitter laugh knowing he needs to get something to eat, but, really not wanting to leave the room.
Rosalie lets him know when he enters the kitchen that everyone will be over in a little over an hour to see what he has decided about the twins. He nods a couple of times, but, makes no sound other than pouring a cup of coffee and getting a plate fixed to eat.
"Edward, when you get through eating, I laid some clothes out for you in the guestroom next to the children. You can shower and change there."
"Thanks, Rose. I appreciate it."
"I have some breakfast ready for Edward and Alexius for when they wake up. I imagine that will be soon." No sooner said than heard.
Rosalie and Edward rush to the room where the children are. Upon entering they see that Emmett is on the floor with them trying to pin him down and laughing. As they hear the door open, however, they jump up and run back to the bed. They watch closely the two that entered.
Very slowly Edward walks towards them and holds out his hand slowly reaching for them. All of a sudden, they launch off of the bed, running to him and calling "Daddy!" All three adults freeze as if stone from the surprise and shock they had just received.
"You know who I am?" Edward asks softly of his children.
They nod and answer, "Daddy."
Edward gathers them to him as tears begin again, but, in thanksgiving. Bella had kept him alive to them. They knew who he was.
"Unc Memhit and Ant Rosleaf," they say pointing to Emmett and Rosalie. Second surprise of the morning.
"Come one, little ones, let's go eat while Daddy gets cleaned up." Rosalie holds out her hand for each of them and they head off to the kitchen. You could hear them giggling for whatever she was telling them as they went. Edward went to take his shower and change clothes. And, Emmett just follows his wife to the kitchen.
Edward had made his decision during the night while watching his children sleep peacefully. He felt the family would go along with what he wanted in this instance.
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Angela was feeling much better when she got up. She and Ben had breakfast, then checked out and headed back to the airport to catch their plane. It was going to be a full day and she still had to find a way to tell Ben that he was going to be a father. But, somehow, right now just didn't seem to be the right moment.
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As Matt got to the office, he saw that the voicemail had several messages. While, he was booting the computer he listened to the messages. The one that got his attention was from Tanya Stevens. She said her friend had agreed to meet with them, but, they would call back with the location later in the morning.
Matt, immediately, got on the phone and called Jenkins to let him know. It was going to be an eventful day, it seemed.
A/N: Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Did you catch the next clue into the mystery? What has Edward decided to do about the twins? Where is Bella heading next? Where will Aro and company catch with her, or, will they? Where will Jenkins meet with Tanya's friend and who is he?
I would like to thank all of you who have read my story so far, as there have been a good number of hits and alerts, even though, I have not received many reviews as yet. I welcome your comments of both good and bad as they show an interest.
I will try to update again next week. Please review the story and let me know what you think and I will answer back.