THE HER AGENCY

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, 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.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

Time did pass swiftly and it was lunch time before Bella realized it. It was at that moment she decided to make the call to Alice and Rosalie and then she would call Edward and talk with him for a few moments.

CHAPTER 21: REASONABLE DOUBTS

Picking up her phone Bella dialed Alice's number, but, all it did was ring. So, she hung up and tried again, but, with the same results. Not being too worried since she knew that her sister was more than likely busy getting things packed up from her showing to have everything ready to be shipped back home.

Next, she tried to get a hold of Rosalie, but, had the same results. 'Damn, what the hell is going on?' she thought to herself. She guessed that it might be possible that Rosalie was helping Alice get everything ready and finalized, but, you would think that at least one of them would answer the phone. And, she realized, with a small chuckle, that she really couldn't bitch at them since she had, more or less, done the same thing to them.

"Well, since I can't seem to get a hold of Alice or Rosalie, I need to talk with Edward. Chances are he's about to freak out if he's noticed yet that I've packed up and left.

"Wonder if he's talked with the others yet?" Bella was busy thinking aloud as she was searching through her contacts for Edward's number. And, as she dialed, waiting for an answer she was trying to prepare herself to answer, as much as she could, whatever questions he might be asking.

"Hello?" Answered a stress sound man.

Bella was a bit puzzled as to why he might be answering his phone sounding as he did. What the hell was going on there that wasn't normal any other time? But, she was quickly jerked out of her thoughts by the voice having a more impatient demand with the same word, "Hello?! Either say something or lose my number."

"Damn, someone's in a bad mood. The others giving you hell today?" She asked while trying to maintain a serious tone in her voice as she imagined what he might be having to put up with from Alice, Rosalie and Jasper, even. The picture of how her sister could be had flashed quickly across her mind as she had asked her question and that had nearly caused her to give a chuckle which she had managed to quickly contain before it could escape. That would probably not have gone down too well from his side of things considering how his voice sounded.

"Why? Why, Bella? Why did you leave like you did? We could have talked things out. We didn't do anything wrong."

Bella heard the mixture of many different emotions in his voice, but, wasn't sure which one had the greatest rein as she listened to the questions that seemed to be tumbling out of his mouth without pause.

But, once he made the statement about 'they hadn't done anything wrong', she replied, "I know that. It had nothing to do with the right or wrong of the situation. And, to be quite honest with you I didn't then, the same as I haven't now, taken the time to give a great deal of thought to what happened.

"I can tell you right now, though, that all I'm willing to accept from anyone is friendship and nothing else. I'm not interested in being committed to another person ever again. Tried that and have no desire to repeat the experience."

"Bella…..I really don't know how to respond to that, but, we have an agreement and I plan to stick to that as I'm going to expect you to do the same. Doesn't your word mean anything? I believe that it does and that's why I'm determined to continue forwards as we had planned.

"I do hope that you'll give consideration to taking the time to talk with me about why you reacted as you did when we were engaged in the passion that was being felt and shared from both of us. But, don't worry, I'm not going to push the issue at the moment.

"No, I'll change that last statement a bit; I'm not going to push the issue, but, hope that you will learn to trust me enough to talk to me about what happened in your past that has made you to behave as you do now."

"That is going to take a hell of a lot of trust for that to ever happen. There are too many things against that ever happening with you, to be honest about it."

"Why? What have I done that would make you feel that way? We don't really know one another that well as yet. And, in just the way you're talking, at the moment, it sounds as if you aren't really going to give us a chance to get to know one another on a more deeper level."

"You're right! I'm not. I don't want my life complicated with a one on one commitment to someone else. As I said awhile ago, I tried that and don't want to repeat the process. I like my life the way it is now and have no desire to change it for anything or anyone."

Edward remained silent for a moment before he remarked, "This discussion is being sidelined for the moment only because it requires being dealt with on a face to face basis, but, be assured that it will be revisited in the future once I'm in front of you.

"Now, on to other things." And, with that said he continued on to inform her of what he had found when he returned to his hotel suite and what was discussed during that brief visit from Alice. Then he finished by asking, "Has the press or any news media bothered you about the ending of Alice's fashion showing?"

"No. Everything is good back here, but, there is a buzz about Edward Cullen proposing to some woman on bended knee at a certain fashion showing in New York." She answered with a laugh to which he joined in.

Then he questioned, "But, they haven't connected you as to being that person?"

"Again, no, when I left the hotel in New York I wasn't bothered and once I was back here in L. A. it was the same story: all about you and a mystery lady, but, no one noticed me. No, Edward, this all seems to be on you to explain what you want the world to know, or, to guess at. I seem to be in the clear."

Their conversation shifted again a bit after that to include that Edward will be arriving back in L. A. within the next couple of days and he was trying to get Bella to commit to a definite time of when they could get together for some private time. However, she refused to lock herself into any sort of arrangement at the present time; only telling him that she'd see what her schedule looked like once he had returned.

As she was finishing the conversation with Edward her phone signaled an incoming call, so, she quickly said goodbye to him and switched over to answer, but, the caller hung up before she could complete the changeover. Looking to see who the caller might have been it registered that it was her sister's call. So, she quickly dialed back.

XXXXXX

"Alice, honey, since you did manage to talk with Edward have you tried calling Bella? In fact, have you checked your phone to see if she has tried calling you at any time in the last little bit?" Jasper asked his little lady. He knew that she was worked up with not being able to get a hold of her sister since she was wanting answers to her questions; that is, more in-depth answers to her questions. Also, the fact that she was worried as hell since Bella seemed to have dropped completely out of sight.

Of course, Emmett wasn't much better with Edward being off the scope, but, he knew that Edward would show up again eventually with a reasonable explanation. He did at one time try to explain this to Alice, but, she wasn't in the mood to listen to him. He had tried to calm her down by explaining that Edward would make sure nothing would happen to Bella, but, Alice wouldn't listen to reason. The longer it seemed that Bella and Edward were unheard from the more anxious Alice became.

Of course, Rosalie was just as concerned and worried, but, she was willing to be reasonable about where her friend and agent might be. The one thing she was sure of was that Bella was with Edward, of that fact she was firmly convinced no matter where they were.

But, with the facts of what Alice had relayed to them concerning her discussion with Edward, Rosalie was convinced that Bella might have taken a flight back to L. A., but, was never given the chance to suggest that fact because Alice was on a constant verbal rampage without pause.

And, when she did check her phone after Jasper had suggested that she do so, it was found that it was dead. Plugging it into the charger Alice tried calling Bella's phone again, but, as before, it was going to voice mail. The only difference this time was that it was ringing before going to Bella's voicemail box.

She had sat the phone down and was about to walk off when her phone began chirping the ringtone she had assigned to Bella. Quickly snatching the phone up into her hand so fast she dislodged it from the charger which caused her to lose connection. And, Jasper, along with Emmett, thought that for one so tiny Alice, in her rage and verbiage, could put a sailor to shame and cause him to blush as well.

Quickly plugging the phone back into the charger once more, Alice dialed Bella's phone again. It didn't even ring a full tone before it was answered by Bella. Once Alice heard her sister's voice she quickly launched into nothing, but, questions with a tone of voice that demanded immediate answers. And, as she kept firing questions she was becoming even more irate since no answers were forthcoming from the person on the other end of the phone connection.

"Well, why aren't you answering me?" She demanded with a great deal of fury sounding in her voice which also reflected all of the worry and concern she had been feeling for not knowing what was happening to Bella.

"Alice, you seem to forget that I'm a grown woman with a mind of my own and that I don't have to answer to you or anyone else as long as I'm not breaking any laws.

"But, how the hell do you expect me to answer you when you didn't stop long enough for a gnat's breath to be drawn before you started the next question?"

Alice had stayed silent while Bella had been talking, but, what her sister had said was the truth; she had been so worried about Bella that she never gave thought as to how she was treating the others around her. With that realization, she drew a deep breath, apologized and asked Bella to please explain all that had taken place from the time that Edward had dropped to one knee.

So, with a much calmer Alice listening, Bella did tell her everything, even about her and Edward going to have dinner. Bella told her sister about all that Edward had to tell her and the agreement that they had agreed upon.

Then Alice asked, "Are you happy about all of this?" as she had heard a hint of sadness coming through in Bella's voice.

"To be honest with you, sis, I'm not sure, but, I've agreed to give him a chance."

"It doesn't sound like you're too happy with the idea. Tell me what's wrong? Does this have to do with James?"

"Yes, in a way it has a lot to do with James. Edward and James are in the same situation. You know with the acting, the parties, the women and all of the love of attention from constantly being in the spotlight. Then throw in the inferno media surrounding him and covering every breath he draws.

"Sis, I can't go through that again. I refuse to endure that again."

Forgetting that others were around her and were listening to one side of the conversation, Alice asked Bella, "How do you feel about Edward?"

"For some unexplainable reason, I'm attracted to him, but, because of the circles he's associated, I'm afraid to allow this to go any further."

A/N: Bella and Edward talk for a short period of time. Then Bella and Alice got to talk. What do you think of Bella's confession concerning her attraction to Edward and her fear of going forwards with the agreed association?

Reviews and comments are always welcome and hope you'll take the time to let me know what you think.