A/n:
Beta'd by loss4words.
Bella
May 2010 Atlanta GA
There was a car waiting to take me to the airport. I still wasn't allowed to drive, even though I could tell when my mind was going to try and jump. It was understandable. I wasn't safe on the road.
My apartment was completely barren, except for the bed. Jacob was going to pick it up after I'd gone. He'd sent me an e-mail asking for it - an impersonal e-mail simply asking that I not give it away. He wanted it, the bed he'd bought for us. It was nice, perhaps a bit feminine for a bachelor. In truth, I didn't care what he did with it.
At Carlisle Cullen's insistence, I hadn't been completely honest with Jacob about where I was going. I'd simply told him that I had a job offer with a security company in Maryland, and that I could get treatment without drugs at a clinic there. It was a half-truth born out of necessity. He would have followed me otherwise, or called my father.
My suspicions were confirmed about SpecInt's true purpose the day after Jake and I fought when I received my employment packet via courier. The courier, who wore a black suit, waited while I filled out a form that looked suspiciously like an application for security clearance. I was certain that he wasn't a courier.
I had to list essentially every person I had ever known or associated with from birth to the present. I was fortunate that the list was easy to compile. I had a long memory, and tended to forge strong friendships. I dared the NSA to find the elusive Edward Cullen, though. Actually, they probably knew exactly where he was. I grumbled to myself as I wrote down the only address I'd ever had for him, and the one for his sister, Alice.
After a quick internet search to find the current information for some of my former coworkers at WUOG, I handed him the two forms he needed, that one and an NDA. Everything else would remain in a folder for me to hand in to HR when I arrived.
I wasn't even sure where I was ultimately going when I got into the car. I had a one way ticket to Dulles, and two suitcases. The rest of my things had been shipped either to an apartment that I was told was "near the office," or my dad's house in Washington. If I didn't stay with SpecInt, I fully intended to move back in with Charlie and work for the newspaper or a small radio station there. No matter what happened, I was leaving this life behind for something else.
I struggled to stay focused during my flight. I was stressed and losing focus left and right. For once, I wished for the medicine that I was only allowing myself to take at night. I wanted to sleep, to ignore the painful process of extracting myself from the comfort of what I knew. I wanted it to be over.
I didn't remember travelling, except for the heartache and the nervous stomach.
The plane touched down and I nearly screamed.
I really had to get a grip on myself, because I was heading straight to the office. HR had my apartment keys since they'd acquired it for me, and I had to turn in the boring folder full of tax forms that sat in my carry-on bag.
I'd expected a car. What I got was a giant former Marine, with a baby face and a high and tight waiting for me in baggage claim. He'd already retrieved my suitcases and waved when I stepped into view. Baby face and lack of hair taken into account, he was still a very attractive man. He wasn't what I would be interested in dating, but he drew quite a bit of attention.
"Isabella Swan?" he asked as soon as I was in earshot.
"Um, yeah, just Bella," I said quietly and extended my hand.
"Well, Just Bella, I'm Emmett McCarty," he smiled and moved my hand, instead hugging me so tightly that I thought for a moment that I would stop breathing. "Welcome to the family."
"Thanks," I said awkwardly when he released me.
"We are gonna have so much fun!" He rubbed his hands together before picking up my luggage and directing me out the door.
I wasn't really sure about Mr. McCarty's assessment that we were going to have fun. He was a bit intimidating to look at and I was nervous. His driving didn't help. What was worse was the fact that he asked me questions the entire trip.
"So, Bella, can I call you Bella?"
He swerved around a bus.
"Um, yeah, that's fine, Mr. McCarty," I squeaked.
"Good! Call me Emmett. What's your workout routine?"
"uh…"
Emmett was rather rapidly approaching the back of a semi.
"You don't have one, do you?"
"No?"
"Oh, that's a shame. How do you feel about running?"
Was he really asking me about running while driving ninety miles per hour on a somewhat congested highway?
"Running?"
"Yeah, running."
"Um, I've only been known to run when chased. I'm kind of clumsy." I closed my eyes as he narrowly missed an SUV with the front bumper.
"Have you considered yoga?"
"No."
"It might be worth a try, could help you with balance and flexibility. It's also good for helping you learn how to focus, which is going to be necessary for you, or so I'm told."
"Oh, okay?"
I nearly had a heart attack when he took his eyes off the road to adjust the stereo. What the hell was he doing?
"Okay? Geez, Bella, you're going to have to do better than that. People are going to be relying on you. You need to bring your 'A' game or go home."
"Alright, you're recommending that I take yoga."
"Nope, I'm going to order you to take yoga, and then we're going to run together. You look like you'll be a natural runner."
I very nearly laughed, but he was swerving onto an on-ramp.
By the time he pulled up to a guard house in front of a small complex of buildings just off the beltway, I felt like I'd permanently lost the ability to speak. At some point he explained that I was to be assigned to the same team he was on, under some guy named Jasper, and that Mr. Cullen, just Carlisle to everyone else, had asked that Emmett take over the physical side of my training.
I tripped my way out of the car, and Emmett tucked me under his arm.
"Welcome home," he announced and led me to the closest of three buildings. "Let's introduce you around before we hit HR with your paperwork, shall we?" He paused to send a text from his phone.
"Sounds good." I was beginning to get more comfortable with Emmett. He was rather exuberant, but I could tell that he was a nice person.
Emmett swung open the door to the building. Carlisle was waiting for us just inside.
"Thanks for the text, Emmett. Welcome, Isabella, I see that you've made it here in one piece," Carlisle greeted us. He glanced briefly at Emmett's arm draped over my shoulder and Emmett released me. "Would you like the tour?"
"Sure," I said, feeling my nerves returning.
Carlisle began with the front desk. A small woman with blonde curly hair sat behind a desk, speaking to someone on the phone through headset. She lifted a finger to Carlisle, silently asking him to wait a moment. When she finished the call she stood and turned toward us.
"Maggie, this is Isabella Swan. Isabella, Maggie is our receptionist and resident lie detector. She screens all of our calls, and occasionally provides assistance in other ways when her services are needed."
Maggie stepped around the desk and hugged me.
"Good to meet you," she said.
"Um, you too," I managed to utter, still completely shocked by the hugging. I didn't expect that. I expected everyone to have a cool demeanor and be smooth like James Bond.
"Whatever you do, don't lie to Maggie," Emmett warned as we stepped away from the lobby. "She will eat you alive."
I felt my eyes go wide with shock.
"I'm not joking, she'll take you down if she suspects any form of deception. Carlisle hired her after we ran into some problems," Emmett whispered.
"Enough, Emmett, we don't want to scare Isabella away, do we?"
That sounded ominous.
"Scare me away?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "What happened?"
"It was just a security breach," Carlisle explained while simultaneously brushing me off.
I looked to Emmett who silently promised to explain everything to me later. We walked down a long hall that looked like it belonged in an average office building. I don't know what I was expecting but a normal hallway in a normal building definitely wasn't it.
"This is building one. You've been assigned to Jasper; Jasper's team is housed here," Carlisle commented dryly. "Building two houses HR and maintenance as well as travel. You share this building with administration, Eleazar Denali's group, and when they're in country, Dmitri Ivanov's group."
"It's highly likely that you'll never meet Ivanov and his crew of miscreants. Carlisle never keeps them in country long; they do a lot of dirty work that no one else will touch," Emmett whispered. I could tell that Carlisle heard him because he scowled over his shoulder.
"This is Denali's section of the building. Each team has their own offices, supply closet, RV rooms, and conference room." The wall to our right ended, revealing a bank of cubicles. I caught a head or two popping up over the edge of the short walls, and then disappearing like the game whack-a-mole. Carlisle stopped at a door to the left and knocked.
"Come in," a man replied.
"Eleazar, do you have a moment to meet Isabella? She's the new trainee on Jasper's team. She might do well for you when she's done, shows lots of promise."
I blushed.
Eleazar stepped out of his office, holding a cell phone in his hand with his finger over the mouthpiece. He had black hair with a slight dusting of grey just beginning to appear at his temples, and flawless olive skin that made him look like he lived on the beach.
"Ah, Isabella! Do you mind if I call you Bella?" he asked as he gave me an awkward one armed hug.
"That's fine," I said as he released me.
"Good, good, I have Carmen on the phone," he apologized to Carlisle, who nodded and signaled us to move along.
"Eleazar's wife, Carmen, is CIA. We've been trying to steal her for years," Emmett said.
"Oh," I said, not really knowing how to react.
"That's not entirely true," Carlisle sighed. "You need to stop spreading rumors, Emmett."
"I'm providing useful information," Emmett defended himself.
"Your color commentary is unnecessary," Carlisle commented. The hallway ended in a set of doors. Carlisle pushed them open and led us into an open stairwell. An elevator stood to our right, while the stairs snaked up one story to the left. He led us to a door next to the elevator. "This is the kitchen, it's shared by the whole building. He opened the door and led us into the room. In contrast to the rest of the building, which was relatively drab, the kitchen was bright. A bank of appliances including two stoves and a giant subzero refrigerator stood on one side of the room.
I was so enthralled with the refrigerator that I almost missed the room's sole occupant, a girl sitting in front of a laptop with a Bluetooth earpiece in her ear, typing frantically and cursing under her breath, while eating a burrito. I assumed that she was someone's kid. The girl barely looked eighteen. She was dressed in black skinny jeans, combat boots, and a blue sweater. Her hair was what really struck me, it was auburn – almost bronze - with neon blue tips.
"Isabella Swan, may I present Renesmee Masen," Carlisle introduced us.
"Swan … Swan… Isabella Swan, why does that name sound familiar?" The girl cocked her head to the side and offered me her hand. She stood smoothly before I reached her. She didn't hug me but held onto my hand and stared into my eyes, like I held the answer to some insurmountable problem. "It'll come to me in the middle of the night why your name is familiar. Sorry," she shook her head as if to clear it, "Most people call me Ren. Uncle Carlisle is the only one who insists on my full name."
Uncle Carlisle?
"Oh, you're related?" I asked.
"Yeah…." The girl replied somewhat hesitantly, and released my hand.
"Renesmee is my niece. She's working off her debt to society by using her abilities for good," Carlisle explained.
"Essentially, I got caught allocating a Pentagon server for World of Warcraft. It was totally worth it, best campaign ever." Ren grinned from ear to ear.
"I seriously doubt it would have been worth it if we'd let you rot in jail," Carlisle raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, please, I left the server better than I found it, and if you hadn't picked me up, the NSA would have," she scoffed. "Besides, this is so much better than college."
Carlisle sighed, "Renesmee floats from team to team as needed, but she stays in this office at all times. No field work, ever. She's under my supervision as part of the terms of her parole."
"I don't think it's technically being paroled if you're only in jail for three days, and only because your stubborn uncle wants to teach you a lesson."
"Which you obviously have not learned," Carlisle pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. Damn, he reminded me of Edward.
"Anyway!" Ren said brightly, "My desk, which I never actually get to use, is upstairs next to Uncle Carlisle's assistant. He likes to keep an eye on me."
"Another reason why she prefers not to use her desk." Carlisle smiled indulgently and gave his niece a one-armed hug.
"I love you," Ren said sweetly and stepped out of her uncle's embrace. "I'm terribly sorry but I have to get back to work."
"Of course, are you working for Eleazar today?" Carlisle dropped his voice.
"Um… no… Dmitri needed me to crash building security for Operation Lone Wolf," she said, sitting back down.
"Very good, we'll leave you to it." Carlisle patted her shoulder before leading us back into the hallway. "She really is a good girl, don't let the criminal record fool you," he said as soon as we were out of earshot. "Her mother asked me to look after her."
I nodded.
"Well, through these doors is where Jasper's team calls home." He opened the door on the right and stepped through. We made an immediate left turn into an office. It seemed that nothing at SpecInt was going to be what I expected. The office door was labeled 'Japer Whitlock, Team Leader.' The inside of the office looked like it belonged to a history professor. It carried the smell of old books and the enamel paint used on model planes.
A ruggedly handsome man sat behind a desk at the far end of the room. His wavy blond hair fell into his eyes, which were so blue that I could discern the color from the doorway. He immediately stood up and crossed the room to us.
"Well, hello there," he greeted me.
"Isabella Swan, this is Jasper Whitlock," Carlisle introduced us. His phone started beeping immediately thereafter and he excused himself, "Emmett, can you finish her tour and take her over to HR?"
"No Problem, C-man" Emmett smirked.
"Don't," Carlisle warned him, then patted me on the back. "You're in good hands; let me know if you need anything." Then he was gone. Carlisle exited the room so quickly that it was hard to believe he'd ever been there.
"Isabella –" Jasper started.
"It's just Bella, man." Emmett interrupted him. "She prefers Bella but has been letting Carlisle introduce her around with her full name since she got here."
"It's not that big of a deal…"
"Bella, we're a family here." Emmett wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Actually, a lot of people in the office are related in one way or another," Emmett began to explain. I sensed movement behind me and looked over my shoulder.
The world stopped turning for just a second. I couldn't breathe. Tears welled up in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, because there in the doorway stood the best friend I'd ever had.
Alice Cullen.
Emmett was still talking, but I couldn't hear him. I could feel the bubble of air coming up out of my lungs; it broke out as a sob. In an instant, Alice had extracted me from Emmett and wrapped her little arms around me in a tight hug.
"You were gone. You left," I sobbed.
"I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry," she whispered.
End Note:
Ten points if you can place the reference for the last piece of dialog.
Yes, I left it there. Yes, I know I'm a mean, horrible person. You still love me.
She's in Maryland now. One step closer to the reunion we're waiting for…