This chapter has been Beta'd by the beautiful Dollybigmomma.

Chapter 25: He Who Shall Not Be Maimed

Emmett's contact, Voldemort, set up the meeting with the judge that evening. I was surprised he was able to work us in so fast. It was obvious he was working after hours to meet with us, since it was going on nine o'clock at night. I gave the guy at the door Bella's name, and he unlocked it, letting us in, because that wing of the courthouse was closed.

It was only Bella and I in the deserted hallways. Emmett didn't come, because he didn't want to expose himself as an agent to the judge. Apparently, you could never be too careful, even judges could be dirty.

What surprised me was, when he opened the door to his chambers, he pulled Bella into a hug.

"George, I didn't know you were a judge," she said, surprised.

He gave a little shrug. "We like to keep quiet about it. Not all of my cases go smoothly. Come, have a seat, Bella. This must be the infamous Edward. I saw the announcement in the paper. Congratulations on the engagement."

"Don't congratulate us yet. Tyler said we aren't divorced. We filled the papers out, and I have a copy of them. He said he'd file them for us. He even gave me the settlement specified in the papers. I didn't expect to receive the notice, because my address was our old house. I've moved around a lot since the divorce. I didn't get the final notice, but I just assumed it was because they couldn't find me," Bella explained and pulled her papers out of her bag.

"Honey, I saw the recording of your confrontation with him in your home. He admitted to perjury to you. In law, that's grounds for suspension and possible disbarment. I've been going over your assault case as well, to see if we can't find something to nail him on. The domestic violence laws here have always irritated me like no other. You didn't have him charged with infanticide, though, which would be a murder charge. That may be our way around the double jeopardy law.

"My old associate will be your new criminal attorney. His name is Peter Marks, he and his son will be handling your divorce and criminal cases. We'll get that divorce pushed through as fast as possible. I've already put in to have your case moved to my court, to be sure Tyler gets the maximum punishment, dear. I'm so sorry you were let down by the system before. I'm not going to let that happen again."

"Just be careful, George. I don't want you to do anything to get you in trouble," Bella worried.

"Don't worry, honey, I can handle myself just fine amongst these wolves," Judge…George...reassured her. How did she know this man? His nameplate said Honorable Judge George T. Whitlock. His last name did sound familiar, but I couldn't place it right then.

He let her know the Marks' would be expecting her the next morning in their office. I wanted to take off work to go with her. I wanted to help in any way I could. I also planned on paying for the attorney's fees myself. I knew Bella had been saving up a lot of money, since she had started working for us, but I'd rather not have her tap in to her little nest egg.

Of course, things didn't go as planned. Since she was still legally married, Tyler would have a right to fifty percent of her money. Garrett Marks was the family law attorney at Marks and Associates. He said it'd be best if she used her own money to pay him, and he could request Tyler pay the attorney's fees. He also thought it'd be best if they did a little more digging on the assets, since they were sure Tyler didn't want a divorce for a reason. Also, since Tyler and Bella had been separated for over two years now, there was most likely a large number of newly-acquired assets that Garrett wanted to make sure Bella also received.

We met with Peter, her criminal attorney, next. He explained the strategy of going after Tyler for first degree murder, since he had beaten her with the intent to kill her child and had succeeded. The case should be open and shut, since he had openly admitted to doing it on video. His only defense would be to try and call for dismissal for double jeopardy. Peter was a little worried about it possibly getting overturned, but it all came down to charging him with a crime against the child, as opposed to the crime against Bella. He had already been charged with that and had basically been told he was a naughty boy and not to do it again.

It really made me mad that he had put her in the hospital, but because they were married, he had just been charged with domestic violence, which carried no real penalty, except for anger management classes. Apparently, you had to be beaten and report it at least three times within a certain time frame, before the jerk would get jail time, which could be as little as four months. No wonder women killed their abusive husbands. There was no law actually protecting them!

I was all wound up when we got home. I was ready for the mess to be over and us to be married and on our honeymoon. I wanted to give Bella a happily ever after.

Emmett had other plans, though. He wanted to take us out to dinner to celebrate Tyler's inevitable demise. I didn't really feel like it, but Bella wanted to go out. I think she just needed to do something that would take her mind off her cases. Thankfully, Bella insisted she pick the restaurant, and it wasn't something too wild and foreign for my lame pallet. I wasn't an adventurous eater like my brother.

We ended up at a little steakhouse and then decided to go out for ice cream. I was busy focusing on not getting ice cream on my hand while I ate my cone, so I didn't hear the conversation leading up to the outburst.

"You know Voldemort's real name?" Emmett shouted at Bella.

A stranger walking by looked at Emmett like he was nuts. "Dude, everyone knows Voldemort's name."

"What?" Emmett was in full panic mode. "We've been compromised! We've been compromised! I trusted you too easily. I knew you had to be a spy. Why would a hot girl want to marry my brother? You were just trying to get to me! Well, that's not happening."

"Emmett, settle down. You're causing a scene!" I hissed at him.

"You can't trust her, Edward. She knows Voldemort!" he pointed at Bella sharply.

Bella just rolled her eyes at him.

"She told everyone. My assistant has been compromised!"

"She hasn't told anyone," I said with a huff.

"That guy walking down the street said he knows Voldemort."

"I think the majority of this establishment would say they knew Voldemort, if asked," I said, trying to explain that it was Tom Riddle they were talking about.

"Oh, no, this place has to be wiped. No one can leave!" he shouted.

People were starting to get upset. Bella, the wonderful woman she was, settled the mess quickly. "Who here knows Voldemort's real name? Raise your hand."

Everyone, even the scooper girl, raised their hands. "On the count of three, could you please say his first and last name out loud," Bella requested.

"NO, more people will-" Emmett started freaking out even more.

"Quiet," she ordered Emmett. "One, two, three," she counted off, and the whole place said Tom Riddle.

Emmett looked confused at everyone. Bella let out a sigh and hooked her arm in his. "Come on, let's get out of here before they throw us out. I like the ice cream here."

When we got in the car, I kept looking back and forth between Bella and Emmett, trying to figure out what had just happened. Emmett was scowling at Bella, which was never a good thing. Emmett being upset tended to lead to insanity.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"He's upset, because I know the name of the guy he works with. We all went to school together, and he's married to my best friend, Alice. I got to know George at the engagement party, during the planning stages of the wedding, rehearsal dinner and actual wedding. I know for a fact he only has the one son."

"It could be a daughter!" Emmett threw out there randomly.

"Jazz is an only child," Bella said annoyed.

Emmett grabbed my head, trying to cover my ears. "Stop saying his name out loud!"

"Emmett, no one knows who you work for or who you work with. Your ridiculous display was what was making a huge deal out of this and drawing attention to it. If you compromise Jazz, Alice will kick your ass. I know she can, she took kickboxing with me," Bella said through narrowed eyes.

I watched Emmett rub the side of his head, remembering the time Bella had kicked him and knocked him right out. My woman was dangerous. That was sexy. Her eyes darted to my smile, and she smirked. Sometimes, I would swear she could read my mind.

When we finally got home, Emmett rounded on Bella. "I don't trust you. You're a spy. Why else would you be with Edward?" he accused.

The fire in Bella's eyes was wild. "How dare you insult my fiancé. He's your brother and a pretty amazing man. There are millions of reasons to be with Edward. Not to mention I love him madly, more than I've ever loved anyone. If you put him down again, I'll kick your ass!" she snarled at him and stormed out of the room.

Emmett glowered after her. "That's just what a spy would say. A field spy would know how to kick butt like her, too," he whispered at me.

I was with Bella on this. He was being ridiculous. I knew Bella wasn't a spy. "She's not a spy. Didn't you do background checks on her?" I asked him.

"Maybe I missed something," he said, mostly to himself, and ran off to his attic. Nothing good could come from Emmett thinking Bella was a spy. Hopefully, things would be cleared up soon.

I went to go find my fuming girl, to see if I could calm her down. She was in our room on the phone. "Alice, just get over here and bring Jazz. Emmett's acting like an idiot. I swear, if he calls me a spy one more time…Exactly, I'm not from a foreign country…Just get over here and have Jazz set him straight. Okay, thank you, bye."

She turned to see me waiting for her. She walked over and fell right into my arms, snuggling into me. I really liked this part of having a girlfriend.

"Edward, I know Jazz was an asshole in high school, but he's outgrown it. I hadn't had Alice and her husband over for dinner, because I knew how you felt about him. I didn't even plan on letting him come to the wedding, because I didn't want to upset you, but I think he's the only one who can stop Emmett," she explained, but still left me in the dark.

"Jazz?" I didn't know anyone named Jazz. Why would someone name their kid after a music genre?

"Jasper Whitlock, from high school. His dad is George Whitlock, the judge. He's married to Alice Brandon, who's my best friend. She's the one who took care of me when I left Tyler."

"Ja…Ja…Jasper?" I hated how upset I was.

"He won't hurt you, baby. He's not an idiot kid anymore," Bella promised.

It wasn't much later, when her friend and Jasper showed up at the front door. Alice jumped straight into fussing over Bella, checking for bruises and whatnot. I liked how sincerely she cared about my girl.

Jasper stood back silently, letting the girls catch up. He didn't say anything to me, just gave me a grimacing nod.

"What are you doing here? Is there trouble? I knew you'd been compromised!" Emmett rushed out.

Jasper shook his head. "My wife and Bella are close friends, man. I consider her a friend as well. Why do you think I got so pissed, when I saw what was happening to her? Why else do you think I'd get so upset, unless I had a personal interest in her? She's not a spy. She's my friend."

Emmett looked back and forth between Bella and Jasper several times, like he didn't quite believe him.

Jasper just shook his head. "Whatever, dude. I tried." He looked over at me with a frown on his face. "I'm sorry I was such a douchebag to you in school, man. I swear I'm reformed. Alice and Bella would kick my ass if I was a jerk again."

I took a puff on my inhaler, not speaking to him.

Bella found her way into my arms and kissed my cheek. I was grateful she didn't feel the need to make me accept his apology.

"We've taken up enough of your night. Edward, it was so nice to finally meet you. Thank you for taking care of my girl," Alice said and gave me a surprise hug. Jasper was smiling at her in a lovesick way. They both waved goodbye and left.

Emmett was still looking at Bella suspiciously.

"Emmett, do I know your name?" Bella asked out of the blue.

His eyes narrowed. "Is this a trick question?"

"Just answer me. Do I know your name?" she pushed again.

"Yeah, you just said it."

"Are you compromised, because I know it?" she asked, and he looked confused. "Emmett, I know your name and live in your house. I'm marrying into your family. We'll be in-laws soon. Does me knowing your name compromise you?"

"No," he said slowly, like he wasn't sure.

"Exactly, just like me knowing Jasper's name won't, either. We're all safe. I'm not a spy, just like he explained." Emmett was still looking at her funny. "Oh, for heaven sakes, forget it. I'm going to bed. Edward, you're coming with me. I need some help relaxing tonight. Could you give me a special adjustment?" she asked of me.

It took me a moment, but then I realized she wanted to have sex. I nodded yes eagerly. We could both use some special adjusting. I loved having a girlfriend!