DAMNIT, WOMAN, I LOVE YOU
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.
Right now he was sitting in one a rehearsal run through of the script. Notes are being made by the director and by Edward Cullen who seemed to be acting as an advisor to him. He was learning that show business wasn't as glamorize as everyone seems to think it is. Charlie had no idea how he was going to make these script changes before tomorrow. Somehow Bella was going to have to help him. He needed to get word to her as quickly as he could without blowing his cover.
After being involved for the last two weeks this was the first time script changes had been discussed, but, Charlie had been around each of the crew members enough by now to have a feel for each and to see how they interacted with each other and with outsiders. He had his eye on a couple of men that work with cameras and the lighting. One was Martin Thomas, a cameraman, and the other was Sydney Haroldson, a lighting expert. Both men behaved as if they had something to hide, but, Charlie had seen a couple of men not involved on the filming hanging around from time to time. All four men would disappear from time to time for only two of them to reappear to pick up where they had left off as if nothing unusual had happened. It definitely alerted Charlie to keep a close eye on them, their associates and their happenings.
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Bella felt her phone vibrate so checked to see who was sending her a text message. She smiled as she saw what her father had sent to her. so, without hesitation she responded back with an affirmative and got ready to leave the office to meet with him at the pier as they had before when she had given him Marie's letter. She still had the key since that was what Charlie had wanted.
She was enjoying her new job and Esme Cullen seemed happy with her work. Bella knew that she was going to have a late night doing rewrites for him to hand in tomorrow. So far she had managed to avoid Edward after their confrontation two weeks ago, but, she knew that she was going to have to get him to make another play for her attention so she could play with his emotions and get them involved towards her even more. That was going to take some thought, but, she would get it done.
CHAPTER 29: HOW MUCH MORE CAN I TAKE
Time passed quickly. Bella was settled into her new job and had the department running smoothly. New scripts, book adaptations and screenplays were flowing constantly in which kept everyone busy. Quite a few new possibilities were residing on her desk waiting for the final okay to be presented to Esme and Carlisle for their final approval before an offer would be made.
The way she had set up the whole procurement procedure was that as an item was presented documents would be signed and a small reservation fee would be paid for exclusive rights until a decision had been made in regards as to whether the item was of interest or not. If it wasn't then the item would be returned to its owner who kept the fee since it paid for the tie up time the company had the item in their possession. But, if the item was found to be of interest then a final price was negotiated between owner and company with the owner signing all rights away to the Production Company. This was what Bella felt was a fair way to treat the people presenting their hard work for recognition.
It has now been four weeks since Bella and Edward had had their confrontation and they were no closer to resolving things between them. In fact, Bella ignored Edward as much as possible except for when they actually had to been together for business purposes. She had decided to use the saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' would be the approach to use. It would hopefully height his senses and take his feelings even deeper by her not acknowledging him outside of the office.
Edward had tried on several occasions to speak with her privately. Such times as when she would come home, during lunch time at the office and even, after any meeting that took place in his parents' office, but, she always managed evade any attempts he made to get her alone so he could speak with her. She was getting really good at doing that. But, it was getting on his nerves. He needed to get things straight between them. He wanted her to understand that they were meant to be together. That he meant what he had said about not giving up, but, she needed to give him a chance to prove that he wasn't involved with Marie Swan and her death. Why Bella was so adamant about this was beyond his understanding, but, it seemed that it was important to her.
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Charlie was getting in good with all of the filming crew and had made friends with quite a few of them including Martin Thomas and Sydney Haroldson. He had let it be known that finances were getting to be a bit strained for him and he was needing to find another source of income to help balance things. This baiting seemed to be paying off for him as only two men had made a comment or so about his supposed situation. They asked about the funds they thought he had received from selling the screenplay.
Charlie took the time to explain that he hadn't received anything from it that all of that money had gone to the individual, a Marie Swan that had passed off as being the owner of his work. Even when further to explain that he wouldn't receive any revenue from the story until after the movie was released. He had made the deal with the Cullen's concerning certain legal issues since Marie was a distant family member and had robbed not just them, but, him, also, of money due to her selfish actions.
"Man that was pretty shitty coming from family. Were you close to her?"
"No. Didn't really know her at all. Just at family gathers and so forth. Not really sure how she had gotten a hold of my work. But, her actions sure put a financial binding on me. Selfish little bitch that she seems to have been. Just like the rest of her family." Charlie played the situation along.
"Yeah, seems like all of us are learning that you can't even trust family any more. They'll turn on you in a fucking heartbeat and stab you in the back. Sounds like that is what happened to you Isaac." Martin commented. Sydney just nodded in agreement to his statement.
Then he said, "Listen, if we come up with a solution for you I'll be sure to let you know."
"Sounds good, thanks, guys. I appreciate the thought."
Nothing else was said after that and it had been a couple of weeks ago that the discussion had even taken place. Charlie didn't push them, but, his cop instincts were tell him that he had found the contacts in the studios that Marie had been working through. Even if that was the case, he had to go slow and let them make all of the moves for right now. If he started appearing desperate or asking too many questions it was alert them and possibly their boss which would really create further problems.
During this time as well, Charlie had made contact with his old friends that had retired from the U S Marshall's office, the Attorney General's office and the FBI. Explaining the situation and the fact that he had received information about a bad agent within the Bureau, it made it hard for Charlie to know who to trust to report back to with any information. As he said this at the moment included the agents that asked for his help. His friends assured him they were on it and would make sure the mole was found and agents would be on stay by for when they would be needed.
Also, during the time that Charlie had started at the filming studios playing his role as Isa Swan and having to work doing revisions, he had to hand it to Bella and her inventive ways of getting the revisions done and back to him as needed. She went from leaving the paperwork in his car, walking up telling him he had left this behind when she had questions about the new script he had submitted for review, to quietly handing him a book that he had supposedly requested to read for research with the revisions tucked within the pages. No one seemed to be the wiser.
Bella even had it set up to do the revisions through emails once the filming went on location. All Charlie had to do was email her his notes and she would email back the revisions and he could just print them out. His baby girl was smart.
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As the next step in her game against Edward, Bella had started dating other men. Most of the time she would let them pick her up at work and they go out, but, there had been a time or two when she would arranged to be picked up at her apartment. Of course, this required that Edward or another member of the household that was available had to let them in through the gates.
One this particular night all of the Cullen family was gathered around the pool on the patio when Bella's date arrived and had buzzed to be given admittance to the grounds. It was Esme that allowed him to come in and went back out to let everyone know what was happening. At her pronouncement Edward got very quiet and still, he had just about reached the end of his limit concerning the situation with Bella. His jealousy was eating him up inside.
"This is getting ridiculous." He mumbled more to himself than to anyone else in particular.
"What do you mean, son?" asked Carlisle.
"She belongs with me and not some damn asshole that doesn't care a damn about her. Why can't she see that? I am going to have to have another talk with her and put a stop from this." he remarked.
"Edward, you really need to give her some space at the moment and let her see that you aren't involved with anyone else. Give her time to realize that you weren't more involved with Marie Swan and that what you said was the true on all fronts." Esme advised him.
"Mom, -" he began
"Don't Mom me. You would do will to listen to me. For weeks she has seen all of this mess unfolding around her. And, then your statement about your relationship, but, there has never been a statement issued from the Swan family backing up your position. So, that would cause her to be cautious in allowing you to get too close to her emotions." Both Alice and Rosalie unfortunately agreed with what Esme was telling him.
All had gotten quiet after that statement when the silence was broken by a car starting a leaving the grounds. Everyone got back to their activities before Bella's date had asked to be allowed onto the grounds and they both left. Edward seems to be himself and to have shaken off his bad mood to enjoy the rest of the evening with his family and friends. Time started getting late when everyone decided it was time to go home as they had a lot to finish up since the filming was heading in a few days out onto location for a few weeks.
Edward stayed up waiting, listening to the sound of Bella returning home. He had what his mother had said and did give it some thought, but, decided that he needed to confront Bella about their relationship. She was his and she needed to understand that and begin to accept it. Finally around two in the morning he heard a car coming up the drive and pulling around to the back.
He had Bella laughing which was suddenly cut shortly, but, by what Edward didn't think he had to guess. But, he did need to make sure the man wasn't going to stay the night. No, that wasn't even going to happen, but, he was going to get Bella's attention. So, he got up and marched out the back of the house, across the patio and towards the garage, making as much noise as he could to announce his pending arrival.
Before he came within sight of the couple he heard the car start up and pull away. Then rounding the corner he saw Bella heading up the steps to enter her apartment. As Edward stepped into the light Bella realized that he was approaching after all and hadn't returned to the main house. "I want to talk with you." He demanded.
"Not tonight. I'm tired and about to go to bed."
"Now. We have tells to discuss and you need to learn to stop encouraging other men. You are meant to be with me and I don't share." He told her very calmly as he moved up the steps towards her.
"You conceited ass. I belong to no one and I will associate with whom I wish. You have no say in the matter."
"That, sweetheart, is where you are wrong." Edward had continued climbing up to her and Bella had continued during their exchange to her door and opened it. As she stepped through and turned to close to end any further comments she didn't realize how close Edward was. With putting his hand up to stop the door from closing he pushed on it to force it open enough for him to enter.
"Get the hell out of my home." She yelled.
"After we come to an understanding." He tells her with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
She pulled her hand back to hit him, but, he caught it in mid air before she could make contact with his face. Pulling her towards him he fastened his mouth to hers in a hard kiss while walking her backwards towards the wall directly behind her. She was fighting, but, he held her in place firmly, but, gently, not lifting his mouth from hers.
A/N: Is Charlie starting to get closer to meeting the persons involved with the drugs, guns and that killed Marie? Should Edward have listened to his mother? Did he make the right choice in his approach to confront Bella?
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