THAT'S MY WIFE

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.

This chapter has been beta'd by dowlingnana and her work is making the story flow more smoothly.

Charlie didn't say anything for a bit before he asked, "Are you sure this is what you really, truly want to do?"

"Yes, Daddy, it is. It is part of the lessons I've learnt while doing this last story. I'll explain more once I get home. In the meantime could you be looking at places for me, but, not say anything to any of the Cullen group if, or, rather, when they do contact you."

"Consider everything handled from this end and, Bella, I'm glad you're coming home." He told his daughter quietly.

CHAPTER 21: AN EYE OPENER AWAITS.

Charlie Swan stood for a few minutes still holding the phone receiving in his hand as he seemed to be lost in deep thought. But, it wasn't long before he realized that he hadn't hung up the phone after the call from Bella had ended. He was fully aware of the problems that had existed between his daughter and her ex-husband as he had made it his business to learn all that he could as he wanted to understand the cause in the first place and to try to understand why Bella was still trying to get Edward to acknowledge the problems and to want to work through their problems due to the love the he still professed to have for her.

He also knew that for her to be making such a major move as she had just told him that she was doing, something out of the ordinary had to have happened to bring her to making the decisions she had discussed briefly with him. However, she was coming home and he wasn't going to let his little girl down since she asked him for help. The news that she was going to be settling close to him would have made him giddy if his disposition leaned towards that type of display of emotions. Instead, he smiled, hung up the phone, all sleep forgotten despite the lateness of the hour and moved to start a pot of coffee.

While the coffee was brewing Charlie made his way back up the stairs to get dressed; he had a lot of work to do. He wasn't going to get his baby just any old thing and to find just the right place that he believed she would be happy with was going to take some ground work.

To say he was very curious as to why Bella was giving up her love of reporting and why she was turning her back on the Cullen family, especially, Edward, once again he acknowledged that something big and out of the ordinary had happened that brought her to this point and decisions. He knew that not much could make Bella give up doing the type of reporting that she was well known to do. He was damn proud of the job his little girl did and the way she maintained her integrity and the honesty of the facts of her story was what had made her work worth the recognition she received from the public and her peers.

Charlie finished dressing and wandered back down to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee since it had finished making. Another question that did pop into his mind was, when would he be hearing from the Cullen's? For he had no doubts whatsoever that he would be hearing from them, but, the 'how long until the call came' and the 'who would be the first to call', had him curious as well.

What was confirmed to him at the moment was that no one of her ex in laws had a clue as to what Bella had decided and was doing. If they did know then the phone would have started ringing constantly in an effort to find her or get more facts as to why she was doing what she was doing.

The final thing that Charlie was puzzled over was about how long Bella had been considering the moves she was making in giving up her present job and residence to move back here and to take up a different type of writing. He was hoping her decisions weren't spur of the moment choices made out of anger or despair. He was glad she was coming home to be closer to him, but, he wanted it to be done for all of the right reasons that wouldn't come back to haunt her later with nothing, but regret.

But, he realized that all of his questions weren't going to be answered at this moment and they would have to wait until Bella was sitting in front of him, ready to talk and confide in him. The moment would come as it always did; he and his little girl had that special bond of being able to talk with one another with complete openness and honesty. But, in the meantime he had work to do other than being Police Chief of Forks Washington, so, he pulled the newspaper from the day before in front of him and opened it to the reality page.

Charlie wasn't too sure if Bella wanted to buy or rent, but, in his opinion it would be better to buy. To buy would give her an investment for her money that could return its value both now and at a future date. Now, she wouldn't be paying rent or be getting locked into a long term lease that she might need to break at a future date. And, in the future property always increased in value, not decrease. Add to that ownership of a home that would give her some privacy, but, in the future if she did move then she would be able to rent out the property to receive income from the property as well. So, with making that decision Charlie concentrated on housing in the area that sat on a large parcel of land that was up for sale at a reasonable price.

He had no idea of Bella's finances, but, she did say that she had done well with the money she received for her stories and had made some wise investments which had her in pretty good shape to be able to support herself while she was writing her book. So, with that information Charlie felt that she would be able to afford a place that was in good shape and immediately livable.

So, while Charlie was busy making a list of properties for his inspection, Bella was getting ready to meet with Josef to compare their notes and see what might be needed to finish the story before they left to return to New York to complete the story in final form and turn it in.

She would then go home to Forks and Charlie while Josef decided what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn't sure if he wanted to continue by being a cameraman for another writer, freelance for himself or retire and enjoy his life since he had been well paid for his work and had made wise investments to cover this period of his life when he felt he had reached these crossroads and that he had achieved his goals in his professional life.

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The group that had gone to Africa were nearing home after a long flight and their bodies were complaining about the abuse it had been put through both physically and emotionally. All were very much aware of the stress that was waiting to greet them at home as well concerning the situation of losing Bella and not being able to have further information about her.

Three members of the group pitied Edward as they were all aware of the threat given by both of his parents that was awaiting him once he got home. What all would be involved concerning that threat was yet to be known. But, one person in the group held no sympathy for Edward at all. In her opinion he deserved everything and more, much, much more, than what her parents were probably planning to dish out. And, if they didn't give him hell forever and a day Alice was sure she could make it her mission to do exactly that. He deserved no less and a hell of a lot more, but, all of the things more she wanted to do were illegal and would end his misery too soon to make her happy.

And, this was the way Alice had spent the entire trip returning home by planning what she could do and the things that didn't satisfy her need to make her brother's life a living hell. Some thoughts brought an evil smile to her face while others brought a frown, but, throughout the whole process she had a devilish twinkle in her eyes. Jasper knew that she was plotting and he allowed it in the hopes that it would help to keep her occupied until they got home and he had a chance to talk with her privately.

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Carlisle was waiting at the airport to meet Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett. He had brought the SUV so there would be plenty of room for them and the luggage. He was aware that all of them had traveled light, except for maybe Alice, but he was sure that Bella would have kept Alice down to just the essentials since it was an assignment. This was why he felt the SUV was enough.

He was glad that his wife had chosen to remain at home. She was still so damn upset and mad at their son that she was likely to start in on him as soon as he had stepped a toe off of the plane. The whereabouts, in her current frame of mind, didn't matter to her; that was how determined she was to give Edward a piece of her mind.

Exactly what they were going to do concerning his lack of attention to what had been happening under his very nose concerning the activities of his personal assistant had yet to be decided. Carlisle thought that that could be decided once they viewed Edward's reaction and acceptance of the facts they had uncovered, well, Esme had uncovered, without allowing or uttering any further excuses for one Maria Stephenson.

However, Carlisle was brought out of his thoughts as the flight he had been waiting for was announced as landing. He quickly sent a text to let them know that he was waiting for everyone at the baggage claim area.

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As Josef was making his way to meet with Bella after receiving her letter which gave him the instructions of what he needed to do while at the same time informing him of her future intentions, he made the decision to take certain action that he had never considered before.

Maria Stephenson was a cousin from his mother's side and he never really associated with her, but, had come across others that had including some friends. As he heard more and more about her actions with others he started compiling a sort of file and in this file he had obtained proof of her dealings. How she had betrayed her boss's trust by under minding some of his business deals and manipulating others, but, the underlying goal was for her own benefits. So, sold her services in this respect to the highest bidder each time.

Even when he was aware of Maria's interference into her boss's marriage, Josef stayed out of it as he was sure that sooner or later Bella would get through to the dumbass she had married. Josef swore privately that Edward Cullen was as thick in the head as to be that slow or blinded to see what Maria was doing. He had to been a total nut job to choose Maria and defend her over Bella.

So, a phone call was placed and a favor was asked then he met with Bella and they began the business of completing the story. They made sure that all information that was required from their stay in Africa had been gotten. Once that was confirmed they made the reservations to return to New York to finish the story and turn it in, to receive their payment for doing the story. That will be the time when the two part, going separate ways and having an extreme change of life choices.

So, as everyone was finishing up and then flying home the favor was being taken care of.

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Five individuals walk off the plane and make their way to the baggage area to meet with Carlisle and to retrieve their luggage. Carlisle would be hard pressed to define in actual wording the appearance of the five he saw walking towards him. Words like wary, defeated, loss, stress and for one in particular had an air of evilness surrounding her with the same sort of glint being seen in her glance as she looked over to one other male individual.

Carlisle had a few things to say to his son, but, he knew the airport wasn't the place to do it, so, he held his tongue until he had gotten everyone home. Then it would be him and his wife giving a what for to one dense head child.

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Esme was busily pacing the room, then moving into the kitchen to try to find something to get her mind off of the coming incident. She was so upset with her son that she was having a hard time finding the right utterances to describe how she was feeling towards his stupidity.

It was while she was in the kitchen that the doorbell sounded. She made her way to answer the door while wondering why Carlisle or the others would be ringing the doorbell since no one else was expected.

As she answered the door she was surprised to find that no one was in sight, but, as she went to close the door she did catch sight of a package that had been left. It was unusual for a delivery service to just drop off a package without waiting for a confirming signature as proof of delivery.

She bent to pick it up and looked to see who had sent it and to see who it was for. That was when she saw the only name on the package was that of Edward Cullen, a dumbshit, was the way it was addressed. Esme had to chuckle at that as she was in full agreement with the description of her son at the moment. Taking the package into the house, closing the door, Esme deposited the package on the coffee table in front of the sofa as she continued moving back towards the kitchen.

As she entered the door from one directions the others came through from the garage. Edward saw his mother and moved forwards to give her a hug, but, as he bent down to gather her close she popped him in the head.

"Damn, Mom that hurt."

"Good, maybe, I can only hope, it knock some screws in that head of yours back into place." Esme told her son. It was then that she turned to gather Alice into her arms while offering quiet words of comfort and reassurance. "Everyone go on through to the living room while I get the coffee and things together." She told them and with an indication of what her present mood was with the way she had greeted Edward, no one dared to do otherwise.

Suddenly she heard a question coming from her husband in referencing the package he saw on the coffee table. "Oh, that was delivered a few moments before you bunch got home and it's uniquely addressed to Edward." She answered.

A/N: Edward and party are now back home and a package is delivered for him. What will he find in it? What was the favor Josef asked to be done for him?

Give me your thoughts and I'll be glad to answer back.