Sorry for the delay... I actually wrote the FGB outtake for this instead of writing the actual chatper since I gave myself a deadline to get all my FGB obligations in by 8/31. I also wrote half of this through a migraine, so it may not be my best work. JSYK

Thanks for the reviews and adds this last week. If you haven't noticed yet, I posted the outtake I did for Fics4Nash in Samson's POV in a separate story thread for TMWCBM. I still have a couple other outtakes to finish - which includes an outtake in James' POV, if you're interested. Hopefully, they'll both be posted soon.

Looking for an AU fic and like my writing? Check out While You Were Gone... it's a fic I'm doing with Stratan and is getting some decent buzz. (Yay, right?)

Summer Nights readers... Wanna go through your fave chapters again? There's a readalong scheduled on 8/9. Lots of sexin, Eli, and crazy Jane to be had. Got anything specific you want to see on Twitter? PM me, and I'll try to include it in the line-up!

You can also let me know on Twitter (at)JennyB0719

As always, thanks to my super psychic beta, Stratan, who anticipates all my needs with all my fics... Hahaha ;)

Chapter 34

Bella

As Sam slid the creamy yellow file folder toward me, my heart jumped into my throat. It seemed so harmless, yet so lethal at the same time. The papers were stacked thickly inside, showing me how much research and investigation Sam had done for me. Everything about James Eliot was inside; his place of birth, college transcripts, where he frequently hung out. It all was sitting there, waiting for me to lay it all out and solve the riddle. The answers I wanted were all right in front of me, and now, I couldn't bring myself to look at them.

Because it would change everything.

I swallowed hard and let my hand creep out to open the folder, only to snatch it back into my lap. I wrung my hands together and tried to remember to breathe, but even though I was concentrating on the deep, even breaths of air moving in and out of my body, I still felt like I was suffocating.

"I can't."

Edward wrapped his arm around me comfortingly. "Yes, you can."

I shook my head obstinately. "No. I can't. I mean, my God, what if-"

Sam interrupted me. "Bella, no one says you have to look at this. I can just take the file back to the office and destroy it if you want."

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You wouldn't tell Edward what it was over the phone because it was that important to tell me in person and now you're… just willing to take it back with you without me ever looking at it?"

Sam smiled. "Well…"

"I'm confused. It's either so bad I need the two of you around to call the ambulance when I have a heart attack, or it's no big deal at all and you have some kind of flare for the dramatic. Which is it? Because frankly, both of those options piss me off."

Edward coughed a laugh next to me.

Sam's smile widened. "I see why Jasper and Alice like you so much." He took a sip of his coffee before continuing. "All right, here it is. It's important information. Information that could, if you choose to let it, change your life. But there's no danger if you never know. James is, for the most part, a very balanced individual."

"How is that possible?" Edward asked in shock.

"Well, it seems that until he started digging into Bella's background, James Eliot's only offenses were minor traffic infractions," Sam replied. "No more than your average citizen."

"What?" I shouted, quickly looking around and slinking into my seat a little when I noticed that my little outburst had drawn the attention of everyone around me.

"Okay, here's the deal," Sam elaborated with my reaction. "Eliot was attracted to you. Correct?"

"At first." I looked to Edward for confirmation. "Right?"

He nodded. "He thought you were… hot."

"And your interaction with Edward caused some… curiosity and skepticism about your professional relationship," Sam continued.

"So he started digging into my background," I finished.

"Yes. It was his job to follow the two of you and look into your background information. It was his job to follow through on the potential story. But it turned into more than that because, Bella, he found out something about you. Something I imagine he'd wondered about for a long time. Generally speaking," he added.

Edward leaned forward with a scowl. "Enough with the mystery, Sam. What does he want with her?"

Sam chuckled. "I know. I sound ridiculous, but everything is right there in front of you. If Bella wants to know, she can open it."

I grumbled my agreement. It would have been nice to have Sam simply tell me—after all, once you heard it, you couldn't take it back—but I understood why he didn't. It was only his job to gather the information. What I chose to do with it made no difference to him, so long as he was paid.

"Are you going to look or not, love?" Edward whispered, staring down at me intensely.

I couldn't debate on it any longer; it was pointless, and I'd been so eager to know everything before, hesitating now seemed stupid. So I made a split second decision. I'd hate myself if I let Sam take all this information and destroy it before finding out why James was so interested in meeting with me— in getting to know me.

I flipped open the file folder as a silent answer, spreading the documents out before me. Born in San Francisco. He was two years older than me. He'd once lived in a tiny little apartment in the Valley. All these facts were at my disposal, and I soon found myself immersed in it all.

"Jesus, Sam. You got everything," I breathed, fumbling through his credit report.

"Yep."

I passed the document off to Edward and picked up another one.

Adoption.

The word jumped off the page and caused my heart to sprint uncontrollably.

"No."

Sam's face softened with concern. "Where are you?"

I held up the fantastic California State Record of Adoption that was in my hand. "Here," I answered with an artificial calm.

"That was the hold up," he stated. "Details about closed adoptions are sometimes a pain to get. This one gave me a ton of issues."

"Holy fuck," Edward cursed quietly as he scanned the document.

"Yes, 'holy fuck' pretty much covers it, baby," I said dryly in response to his uncharacteristic outburst.

He squeezed the back of my neck once and managed a smile. "Quiet. It took me by surprise."

I forced my eyes back to the page and studied the legal jargon carefully… until I got to the important part. My mind skid to a halt as I read the two people listed as James' biological parents.

"The father's name is blank," I said dumbly.

Sam reached over and fumbled through the papers. "It is. So I did some research. James' mother went to school in none other than Forks, Washington. Can you guess what year she graduated in, Bella?" he asked kindly, holding out a copy of her diploma with a picture paper clipped to it.

I yanked the picture out from under the paper clip so I could study it better. Two people walking down the hall, hand in hand, in all their eighty's glory. They looked so carefree, happy. And then I recognized the boy in the picture.

Everything around me went black as I froze and stared at the one person I never thought would have some sort of skeleton hiding in his closet.

Boo.

I shook my head violently and threw down the picture, shoving my chair back away from it as if it was on fire.

"No. He would never."

I refused to believe it.

"Bella?" Edward asked in alarm. "Are you all right?"

"I do not share DNA with that freak," I said between my teeth.

I snatched up my purse and rushed to the Aston Martin, pushing past the paparazzi that miraculously appeared out of nowhere again while I frantically dug the spare set of keys out of it.

I was so close to breaking down, but I would not do it in front of the cameras.

My hand shook as I pulled the keys out of my purse, and I unlocked the door just as tears filled my eyes. I threw the door open and slammed it shut before I curled up into a ball in the backseat and let it all finally hit me.

Charlie Swan had another child.

God, my father had always seemed so responsible. He'd slipped up with my mother, but he'd made it a so-called right when he married her. He'd wanted me, even though he was only twenty. If this was true—if James Eliot was my brother—it changed everything I knew about my father. It made him…

No. No. No.

There was no way. It seemed so wrong—so impossible—but the proof was undeniable. I'd seen it myself. Maybe this was the work of denial, but it felt like a lie.

Edward came rushing out of the building with the file folder in his hand. He made no attempt to hide his scorn for the paparazzo's intrusion of the moment as he shoved past them, shouting something I couldn't understand but judging by the look on his face, it wasn't the niceties he usually made with them.

He opened the car door and threw himself inside, glancing back at me as he threw the folder down, and then somehow managing to get his long limbs over the console. He sat next to me and pulled me up, staring at me with indecipherable concern.

"Are you all right?" he repeated.

"You know they're going to make it look like we got in a fight. 'Trouble in Paradise' or whatever the clichéd line is."

"I don't bloody care what they print about us," he shot back. "Are you all right? I'm not you asking again."

I nodded and wiped the tears off my face. "It's not true. It can't be."

"Bella…" He looked almost pained to argue with me about it.

"No, really, Edward. I know what it looks like. But I don't believe it. My dad wouldn't do that. It's Charlie Swan, for God's sake. Forks, Washington's very own Chief of Police. He makes mistakes, yes. Hell, look at me. I'm living proof of that statement. But he's the most levelheaded man I know. Even more than you."

"I'm not all that levelheaded, Bella," he mumbled.

"Not so much when it comes to me, lately. But you are." I grabbed his face. "Charlie wouldn't have done this twice in his life. I know it."

"We all have our rebellious moments, love. You should speak to your father before you set yourself up for disappointment."

"I don't need to talk to Charlie. James and I can have a DNA test done here in LA. I'll prove it that way."

"Talk to your father," he said firmly. "Don't keep something this big a secret from him."

I opened my mouth to protest but wound up just nodding and throwing my head on his chest while I calmed down.

"So what's next?" Edward eventually murmured. "Gallons of ice cream? A day at the spa with Rosalie? I'm completely at a loss here."

"But you always know what to do."

He kissed my temple. "I've never had to deal with my wife learning she has some potential long-lost brother. Forgive me if I'm a little out of my element."

I giggled a little. "Well, that makes two of us."

"Really, though, baby. What are you going to do?"

I chewed on my lip. "I want to spend the day with you, but I think I need Rosalie. She..."

"No explanation needed. I'll run you by her flat and pick you up when you're ready."

I shook my head. "Stay."

His eyes widened with mock horror. "You want me to stay and do girl talk? Are you mad?"

I rolled my eyes. "Edward."

He chuckled. "Just promise there will be no tweezing, waxing, or painting my toenails. I get enough of that rubbish when I'm getting ready to film."

"They paint your toenails?"

"Oh, you know what I mean. Now, get in the front before I shove you up there and buckle you in myself."

I batted my eyelashes and threw him the best possible teasing grin I could through my… upheaval. "Yes, master."

I crawled back up to the front and stared out at the mass of photographers trying to get a decent shot of us through the tint of the windows. I was vaguely aware of Edward starting the engine and laying on the horn a few times as he crept through the crowd, but I had checked out. I watched the scenery finally start to blur blankly, too… well, there wasn't really a word for what I felt.

We pulled into a parking space, and I immediately realized I hadn't called to see if Rosalie was even home. I scanned the parking lot and breathed out a sigh of relief when I spotted her car a few spaces over. I went to open the car door, only for Edward to reach over and stop me. I turned my head and was met with green eyes, wild with worry.

"Bella-"

"Stop acting like I'm going to fucking break," I snapped. "I was just thinking that I hadn't bothered to check if Rose was home or not. I don't need you coddling me, Goddamn it."

Anger flickered across his face, but he merely nodded once before quickly sitting back up and letting me get out of the car.

We silently walked toward the building, unable to speak because of all the commotion around us. Although, honestly, it seemed like Edward probably wasn't going to speak much anyway for fear of getting his head bitten off again, and I couldn't blame him.

When we reached the door, I went to ring the bell, only to abruptly turn around and throw myself at Edward. He held on to me tightly and kissed the top of my head while I did nothing but sob and cry out some garbled apology for being so shitty to him a few minutes ago, because he hadn't deserved it. I was just so… mad. Confused. He murmured that it was okay, and I jerked my head back so that I could see him and found myself plunging my tongue into his mouth.

Desire raced through my blood as he recklessly threw me against the wall, pressing himself into me. I moaned loudly into his mouth and tried to wrap myself around him, only to find that he blocked my every move.

His control infuriated me. "I need you," I groaned, grabbing his hair and tugging on it. I needed to forget the uncertainty, the fear that my life had the potential to change so dramatically. Again. In such a short amount of time.

Edward's touch was the only thing that could drive it all away, even if was only for a little while.

"No," he rasped. "Not like this. Not because you're trying to run away from the situation."

I growled. "I hate that you know me so well."

He smiled warmly. "You don't."

I tipped my head up and kissed him before I turned around to face the door. I rang the bell and listened to the footsteps move across the floor and glanced up at Rosalie's look of surprise before forcing some kind of horrific smile on my face.

"Shit, what happened?" she asked immediately, skipping over any kind of greeting as her eyes darted between Edward and me.

"Long story. Got time?"

"All day. Get in here."

Edward and I followed her inside and into the living room. Emmett came out of the kitchen with a bag of chips in his hand as I collapsed on the familiar, brown leather chair. One look at me, and he threw the bag down on the bar and stormed over to Edward.

"What the fuck happened?"

"We met with Sam," Edward answered, sitting on the armrest and running his fingers through my hair.

God, that felt good.

Rosalie stared at us both. "Well?" she prompted.

"I need to have a DNA test done," I replied. "They can compare our markers, or whatever they're called."

"What? What do you need a DNA test for?" she asked.

Emmett was right there with me. "No fucking way."

"Way," I sighed.

"Well, so much for thinking you had one normal parent."

"Emmett! Come on, he's not James' father," I argued.

"Says Maury Povich," he muttered.

I shot him a look.

"What?" he demanded. "It's like an episode of Maury. You are not the father!"

Rosalie shook her head and flailed her arms around irritably. "Wait! James is your brother?"

I nodded. "That's what it seems like."

She fell back against the couch with a somewhat dazed look. "Jesus."

"So what are you going to do?" Emmett asked.

"She's going to call her father and talk to him about this," Edward answered. "If her… instincts are correct, there's been some mix up somewhere. And while I can't speak for Charlie, I can speak for myself. I would want to know if some random ex-girlfriend had gotten pregnant at seventeen and never bothered to tell me about it, especially if it looked like I was the one who'd… done the deed."

"Edward-"

"He's right, Bella," Rosalie said, cutting me off. "Not only do you owe it to your father to be honest about what you know, you're already not speaking to your mother. And I know you consider Edward's family your own, but you can't ruin the only true parental relationship you have left by keeping this a secret."

"Yeah," I grumbled. "But I don't see the point. It's just going to come out that it's total bullshit."

"Maybe," she allowed. "But you still need to tell him."

Emmett grinned. "Buck the fuck up, Bella."

The all waited expectedly for me to do something. I sat there for the longest time, trying to figure out why they were all sitting there staring at me and what the hell they wanted.

And then it finally dawned on me what it was.

"Right now?" I shrieked.

"There's no time like the present," Emmett replied with a grin.

"Jesus, you're full of stupid little expressions and idioms today, aren't you?"

"If it means you're going to call your dad, I'll take that as a compliment," Emmett responded.

"Yeah, you would." I huffed. "Fine. Give me my phone. I'll call him. Right now."

Edward

Bella sat in the hard, gray plastic chair, chewing at her nails nervously. The heels of her feet bounced off the carpet rapidly, causing Charlie to throw her an irritated look.

"Bella. Would you please calm down?"

She stilled and narrowed her eyes at Charlie. "I'm sorry," she spat, "but I'm a little bit nervous since I'm about to get my cheek swabbed with you because you couldn't keep your-"

She cut herself off before she could say something further.

Charlie groaned. "I thought we went over this. I'm not this guy's father. You were fine three days ago when I agreed to fly down here and have this paternity test. Why are you so upset now?"

"Because what if you're wrong?" she asked, blinking away tears.

He sighed. "I'm not wrong."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't know since you're being so fucking secretive about the whole damn thing."

"Watch your mouth. I don't care if you're an adult or not; I won't be spoken to that way."

Bella threw her head back against the wall in frustration. "Fine."

Charlie continued. "I'm being 'secretive about the whole damn thing' because I really don't want to share my practically non-existent sexual history with my daughter."

"Non-existent?" she scoffed. "How is that even possible?"

"I'd imagine it's because of the same reason you've only slept with Edward and that Crowley kid," he replied.

Bella's mouth dropped open in shock. "How do you know about Tyler?"

"I'm your dad. I'm a cop. Do the math."

I raked my hands through my hair. The entire situation had just taken a nosedive straight into to disaster. Not only was Bella stressed out, but she was now arguing with her father also.

"How dare you check up on me!" she shouted indignantly. "I'm an adult!"

"Could we please not cause a scene?" I pleaded. "The last thing we need is for this to be all over the news tonight because another patient overheard the conversation."

Charlie nodded once. "Sorry, Edward."

"Not your fault," I mumbled. It was my wife who couldn't keep it down.

"I check up on you because you live in LA, and I worry. That's all," Charlie said to Bella sincerely.

She exhaled sharply. "Yeah, I get it. But I still think I deserve to know about this chick you dated when you were seventeen that just miraculously popped out a baby a few months after graduation."

"All right," Charlie said, straightening up. "You want to know? Fine, I'll tell you. Lynn—that's this 'chick' you keep referring to—was my high school girlfriend. Like most high school kids, we did a lot of… experimenting. But your mother was my first. My only, if I'm being honest with you."

Bella's eyes widened in shock. "What? You… you… I mean, you never-" shestuttered.

"Nope. Not since."

Dear God, the man was a saint.

"But why?"

"Bella... Your mother really messed me up when she left. I won't go into details, but it took me a long time to get over it. Now that I'm finally past it, no one interests me." He shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but the mottling of his cheeks gave him away. "I've lived this long without it; I can wait until it feels right to do it again."

"Yeah. Renée has that gift," she answered wryly. "It's the gift that just keeps giving."

"You could have come to live with me, Bella," he said softly. "I'd have taken you in a heartbeat."

"Thanks, but Renée needed me here. You know as well as I do that someone had to keep her from being thrown out on the street."

Charlie nodded. "So now you see why it's impossible for me to be James Eliot's father." He glanced around the room uncertainly. "He's not going to randomly show up during this, right?"

"No. Sam assured me James would be traveling upstate to interview someone for a piece he's working on," I answered.

"Good. Has he taken the paternity test yet?"

"No. He supposedly will in the morning when he gets back." I had my suspicions, though.

Charlie gave me a questioning look with my tone. "So he knows."

"Yes."

"How did that go?"

How was I to describe the phone call I made two days ago informing James that Charlie Swan was not his father, and therefore, there was no excuse for him to continue following Bella around? The reaction I got; the furious demand to hand Bella the phone so that he could talk to her? He may have been able to convince Bella that he was harmless and misunderstood, but I knew how incredibly cunning he was.

So I'd played along. I'd pretended to be sympathetic to his plight, his feelings. I'd explained to him that Chief Swan knew his biological mother but claimed there was no way he could be his father, and that he and Bella both had offered to have a DNA sample taken to provide proof of this fact to him. I'd been apologetic yet firm; he knew there was absolutely no way I'd let him come anywhere near Bella again.

It was all so bizarre. I didn't care what his records stated; there was something increasingly unsettling about James Eliot's behavior. I wasn't sure if it was a mental health issue, or if he was just that inexorable when it came to getting the "story" he claimed Bella had for him. Even if she had something hidden in her past deemed "newsworthy", there was no way I was letting him access to that kind of information. Ever.

"Interestingly," I finally said.

Charlie laughed. "I bet. I feel kind of bad for the kid."

I glanced over at Bella, puzzled by Charlie's statement. It was nothing like what I'd expected to come from him.

"Has she told you nothing?" I asked him.

I knew from the way she glanced away and the blush that rose to her cheeks that she'd not told Charlie about James' odd behavior.

"Bella," I groaned.

Charlie's eyes darted in between us. "What did she not tell me?"

"Edward-" Bella began.

"Don't," I said sharply. "I can't believe you didn't tell your father—the policeman—that James had been stalking you."

"He what?" Charlie asked, abruptly leaning forward. His face grew red with anger. "And you wonder why I worry about you?"

Bella sank down in her chair and muttered something under her breath.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded from me.

"The man is… peculiar, at best," I told him. "There's not any specific threat to Bella, but he simply…" I trailed off, thinking of how to describe it. "Concerns me. It could be because I'm fiercely protective of her, but I highly doubt it."

"What's he done?"

"Well, he's a reporter. An extremely ruthless, intuitive reporter. He targeted Bella a while back, positive that she was hiding something that would make a good story. Now you and she are getting DNA samples taken. I find the whole situation very contrived."

"Are you saying James knew all along?" Bella asked, stunned.

"It's possible, love. Who's to say that he didn't have this information before you came into the picture? That he knew of his biological mother, her history, and the men that she was involved with at the time of his conception? How do we know he's not spoken to her already before? I just find this too big of a connection between the two you for it to be purely coincidental."

Charlie scrubbed his face with his hands. "Christ, Bella. You're being scammed."

Bella gaped for a moment before righting herself. "I take offense to that, Dad."

"I don't mean it offensively, but you're young and incredibly inexperienced when it comes to how manipulative people can really be. Not only that, but this can honestly happen to anyone. Frankly, I feel lucky that Edward has so much experience with these assholes."

I smiled and shook my head a little. Bella was so much like her father, it was sometimes frightening.

"So now what?" Bella asked me.

"Now, we keep our guard up. We have a few days before the test results come in. Once James realizes that this angle of getting to you has been blocked, he'll look for other ways to get to you. And we have a secret that could potentially be disastrous for us—privacy wise—if he gets a hold of it and misconstrues it."

"We're married," she whispered. "Shit."

"Exactly. I think we need to be proactive and get the word out before he does."

"A preemptive strike," Charlie said with a nod. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"So I'll discuss it with Zafrina, see what we can come up with. We might be able to get away with a brief statement that we eloped in Paris, or we may need to do an interview. I'm not really sure, at this point."

"No more interviews. I don't want to get dressed up again."

"So don't," I told her. "It can be candid. We wear our regular clothes, talk to the journalist, let the photographer take a few photographs of us, and forget about it."

"But it's still going to cause an increase in the paparazzi following us, isn't it?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Most likely. We're interesting to them. We're genuinely happy, and by everyone's standards—including my own—we rushed down the aisle. There'll be speculation, more than there was before. Which brings up another subject: moving. When will you start seeing acceptance letters in the mail?"

"Or rejection," she added with a grin.

"Not happening, love."

"Um, a few weeks, I guess. Why?"

"I think we need to decide where we'd like to move to as soon as possible. It might help deter the paparazzi if they have to travel to get to us."

"You think?" she asked hopefully.

Not really.

I shrugged. "It couldn't hurt," I said instead.

"You're planning to move?" Charlie asked. "Where to?"

"I don't know," Bella replied. "I suggested Oxford, but Edward wants me to visit and be sure of my decision before we start looking at houses."

"England?" Charlie exclaimed. "You're moving her to England?"

"Not necessarily," I responded warily. "She applied to ten different universities."

"Relax, Dad. You'll still see me," Bella said with a laugh.

Charlie and Bella were called back into an exam room, abruptly cutting off our conversation. I followed behind Bella with the Blackberry, texting Zafrina and telling her that we needed to meet with her as soon as possible, without giving any details away; she'd know what I was referring to, anyway. I then turned the mobile on silent and slipped it back into my pocket so that I could focus on Bella.

The nurse led us into a plain white room and asked Charlie and Bella to sit down while she readied the testing kits. Within minutes, their samples had been given and sealed, ready to ship off to the lab. They were then informed that it would take five days for the results to be processed from the time James submitted his sample.

If he ever did, that is.

Charlie was scheduled to fly back to Forks this evening, so we only had time to grab a quick bite to eat before we had to drop him off at the airport.

Even though he'd just seen Bella at the wedding, he spent every minute catching up on things happening in Bella's life. He asked her about her classes, Rosalie and Emmett, and even asked how Renée was doing. You could see how much he loved Bella and missed her, and how much he regretted having to leave when it was time to head to LAX.

I pulled to the curb and got Charlie's carry-on bag out of the trunk while he and Bella said their goodbyes.

"I wish I could stay longer," he said with an awkward smile. "But I have to get back."

Bella nodded. "I know. Work."

"Yeah."

"Promise me you'll let me know if this James character bothers you again." He shook his head. "No, Edward will call me. I know you'll try to keep it from me again."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Dad, I'm fine. I have Edward and Emmett. Edward would hire a bunch of Secret Service agents to keep an eye on me if he needed to."

"I've thought about it," I chuckled. "More than you know."

Charlie seemed mollified. "All right. I'll talk to you soon, then."

He gave Bella a hug and took his bag from me. "Keep her safe."

"I will," I vowed.

We waited until he was inside before getting back into the car. I pulled back out onto the road and heard Bella sigh next to me.

"Well, what now?"

"I'm taking you home," I said with a crooked grin. "And then I'm leaving again without you."

"What? No you're not!"

"Yes, I am. I have Valentine's Day plans to make for us."

She groaned.

"No amount of whining or arguing with me is going to stop me. So you should just surrender to me now," I replied teasingly.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You are a serious pain in my ass."

"Maybe," I allowed. "However, I think we could use a weekend away from this disaster."

"We just went out of town."

"I know. But I want you all to myself for our first Valentine's Day together. No interruptions from the paparazzi, friends, or psychotic reporters."

I stopped at a light and leaned over so that I could kiss her. "Just you and me."

Her lips twitched. "You selfish bastard."

I laughed. "I am. Get used to it."