Our journey is continuing with Edward, Bella and Garrett. I do have a blog for this story. It's a continuation of the Renovations blog. A link for the blog is on my profile. On the blog, there will be picture teasers, teasers and pervy picture teasers. This story is going to be quite steamy and it's pre-written. It will be updated on Wednesdays and Saturdays with teasers on Sundays and Thursdays.

Also, thank you to Christina Downs for her help with planning out the story and wielding her red pen (cursor). You rock, girlie! Mwah!

Chapter Twelve

"Bella?" Edward called. "Your Blackberry is going crazy."

"Text or phone call?" Bella asked, tossing her hair up into a messy ponytail as she came up from the laundry room.

"Phone call. Marcus Volturi?" Edward replied, taking her phone off the charger. He was making the three of them some turkey tetrazzini. It was Sunday night and they were all dreading going back to work.

"Oh, he's my boss," Bella frowned, snuggling next to Garrett, who was trying to snag a few tastes of Edward's meal. She picked up the phone. "Marcus? What's up?"

"Bella, I'm sorry to bother you at home," Marcus said. "Aro asked me to call you. He has a dear friend in New York, Carmen D'Amato, and her husband, Eleazar, who are in need of an adoption attorney. They are fostering a young man, but the birth parents are … they're awful. They won't let him go. Alec has been living with them for over a year now and he wants desperately to be a part of the family."

"Aro has another adoption attorney in New York. Felix is amazing," Bella replied.

"He's good, but he's not you," Marcus explained. "Aro needs you to fly out to New York to take care of this custody dispute and adoption proceeding. You have what it takes to make Carmen, Eleazar and Alec a family."

"When?" Bella frowned.

"Aro wanted you to fly out tonight, but I told him that you had things that you need to take care of. I know you have four or five adoptions on your plate, in addition to custody amendment. I told him the earliest I could let you go is in a week. Felix can take over your cases after that," Marcus explained, his voice pitifully apologetic. "My brother wasn't pleased, but he agreed to the terms."

"How long will I be in New York, Marcus?" Bella asked, sitting down dejectedly on the stool next to Garrett.

"As long as it takes to settle everything with the D'Amatos," Marcus said. "You'll be staying in the corporate apartments in New York, on our dime. We'll ship whatever you need."

"Okay, okay," Bella sighed, pinching her nose. "What will happen here? What if you get new cases for me?"

"We'll handle it. Aro really wants you to take care of his friends," Marcus explained. "I'll let you get back to your holiday and I'll see you tomorrow. I'll have more information for you then." He hung up and Bella put her phone on the granite countertop.

"When do you go?" Edward asked, his voice sad and small.

"I leave at the end of the week," she explained. "I'm going to New York for the foreseeable future until this adoption custody thing is handled." She pouted, her heart empty at the prospect of leaving Edward and Garrett.

"We've got a week to spend with each other. And we're both gainfully employed. It's not like we can't fly out to see you," Garrett said, cupping her heart-shaped face.

"You'd come and visit me?" Bella asked, her heart leaping to her throat.

"I've never been to New York," Garrett chuckled. "Maybe we can celebrate the New Year at Time's Square?"

"We'll talk on the phone, Skype, email," Edward offered, taking Bella's tiny hand in his. "We can come out to spend Christmas with you. Enjoy the holidays with you."

"What about your families?" she asked, feeling guilty about taking them away from their friends, families, especially on the holidays. They both waved it off. "We'll discuss it as we get closer. Tonight, can we just make love and pretend like I'm not leaving?"

"Let's enjoy our dinner first, love," Edward chided. "Then, we will spend the night making love to you and showing you how much we will miss you." And they did. It made leaving in the morning difficult since they spent most of their evening making love in front of the Christmas tree and moving, finally, to Bella's bedroom. They managed to fall asleep, in a tangled mess of bare limbs and sated bodies, around two in the morning. When Bella's alarm went off at six, she moaned, not wanting to leave the warmth and safety of her boyfriends' arms. However, she had a shit ton of work to get finished before she would depart for New York City.

The work began, in earnest, as soon as she arrived at her Seattle office. Marcus summoned her after she got her messages from her assistant and paralegal, Quil. In her meeting with Marcus, he explained more details about Aro's request and why he wanted her. Alec, Carmen and Eleazar's foster son, had been sexually abused by a man, who looked a lot like Felix. As soon as Felix walked into the room, Alec had soiled himself and worked himself into a fit, having to be hospitalized for almost two weeks. It was Carmen who suggested that a woman handle adoption since Alec was not wary of women. Alec's birth mother did harm the boy, per se, but she didn't protect him either from his disgusting sperm donor.

Secretly, she had prayed that Aro was showing his friends favoritism, but after reading the file, she knew she had to take this case. So, she agreed to handle it and Marcus handed her the itinerary for her trip. She was leaving early in the morning on Saturday and there was no return date. Bella sighed, thanking Marcus and went to her own office, working on the crap load of stuff that needed to be completed before she left.

Unfortunately, Bella didn't get home until after ten that night, and each night following. She had zero time to do anything, save to eat and speak briefly with Edward and Garrett before crashing just to repeat the process again the next day. On Friday, she got home around seven, only because Marcus physically carried her out of her office. He chided her about working too hard and told her to relax before she flew out early the following morning. Bella was pissed, but secretly grateful. She still needed to pack.

When she arrived at her home, she was shocked to see Edward and Garrett waiting for her. Essie, bless her heart, had taken all of Bella's dry cleaning earlier in the week to get laundered. They had made her dinner and vowed to help her pack, after she enjoyed a soak in the bathtub. She pouted when they declined her invitation to join her, but Edward traced the dark circles under her eyes and said that she needed rest more than anything. He kissed her softly before Garrett hugged her to his body, his lips finding her ear. Feeling their warmth and finally relaxing against them only proved that she did need to rest and just be.

Once she finished her bath, she dressed in some comfy, warm pajamas. Normally, she'd wear some sort of sexy negligee, but working for such long hours had made her exhausted and quite frankly, a touch sick. Edward and Garrett carried up her luggage from the basement. Together, they packed for their girl. Bella wanted to help, but her body just gave out. She watched sleepily as both men packed her freshly laundered dress clothes, some casual wear and other necessities. "All you need to do is pack your makeup, medications and other daily items," Edward said as he put the suitcase onto the ground. Garrett hung the garment bag in the closet. "We'll miss you, love."

"I'll miss you, too," she sniffled, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to go. I know I have to, but …" She curled up, burying her face into her knees. It was all too much. The case with Alec, Carmen and Eleazar, flying to New York and possibly running into her ex-husband. Unlikely, Isabella. New York City has nearly eight million people living in it. What's the likelihood that you'll run into James? "I'm sorry for turning into a weepy girl. I guess I'm just overtired."

"We're just as lost, too, pretty girl," Garrett said, quickly removing his clothes and crawling into bed with her. "It sucked this week because you were so busy and you were still here. Edward nearly lost it with Mrs. Cope."

"I thought you were done with their renovations?" Bella asked.

"We are, but she wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to her master suite. She spoke to the Banner's and asked if we could work on her master suite renovation before we handled theirs. Mrs. Banner said yes because she wanted to enjoy the holidays before we tore apart her kitchen," Edward grumbled, curling around her and burying his nose into her hair. "Mrs. Cope smugly handed me her tablet, showing me ideas that she had pinned on Pinterest. I told her that I needed to get some air, thrusting the tablet to her and spent ten minutes screaming in my truck. The Copes aren't our only clients."

"Thank goodness we have amazing crews that do the work without us babysitting them," Garrett snickered. "Anyhow, enough of our problems. We'll handle the Copes, the Banners and whomever else later. My pretty girl needs her sleep. Your eyes are at half-mast and you feel warm."

"I'm probably a touch sick," she said, putting her cheek on Garrett's shoulder. "I'll be fine. Tomorrow, I'm traveling and I'm off on Sunday so I can get settled in my corporate apartment. The case begins in earnest on Monday."

"Well, you sleep, love," Edward whispered. "We're taking you to the airport tomorrow morning."

Bella didn't respond. Her body was already deep in slumber, curled up against Garrett with Edward holding her to his strong body. The last thing Edward thought before he fell asleep, listening to Bella's quiet breaths and Garrett's rhythmic snores, was that he loved them both, but his heart belonged to Bella.

How would he survive their long absence?

Would this change their relationship?

Would she still care for them when she returned?

Does she love me? Edward frowned, holding her tighter. Because, I love her. So much.

A/N: Our lovers are going to be separated. Oh no! What do you think will happen? Leave a review with your guess! Hugs!