A/n:

Thank you once again to loss4words. Apologies are in the end note.

Ren

7 August 2010 Falls Church, Virginia

Okay, so maybe I was breaking my parole. Maybe just a bit, but I wasn't playing WOW. I wasn't even on an MMO that was available to the public. It was a private server and I barely had to hack it to give myself permission to create an account…

At some point I was going to get caught and Carlisle was going to put me under house arrest.

What was I supposed to do when I couldn't sleep?

I supposed that I could lie there with a book all night, but my mom's computer was just downstairs in her office. It's not like she used the thing for anything other than e-mail and word processing, which was a complete waste of the kick-ass video card I'd installed when I built it. It was calling to me.

Then there was my new temptation, Jacob Black, or Black Wolf as he called himself on almost every MMO he was registered with. I knew where to find him. I thought perhaps it would be an adversarial type of thing, like I kind of wanted to wipe the floor with him for calling me Nessie.

On the other hand, I was in need of a guy, and Jacob, annoying as he was, was still kind of hot. He had dark hair, and caramel skin… he was also built well enough that I'd considered licking him when he tried to intimidate me. Nothing diffuses male stupidity like randomly licking a nose. It puts them off their guard. Having said that, I totally would never lick an ugly dude.

And he was a gamer! Hot gamer guys could be difficult to find. Most of them were solely into FPS style gaming, which didn't interest me in the slightest. I was more into the story and the long game. There were these other worlds to explore in which I could be a completely different person. I could be an elf. I could be magical. I was so much cooler in game. There was also a social aspect to MMOs that I appreciated.

The big problem was that RL* relationships tended to suffer. Finding a significant other to game with was like the holy grail of dating. This way no one was upset spending a weekend watching anyone else raiding. Instead, we could do it together.

This is not to say that I didn't have a life. I really did have one. I wanted a guy who gamed and had a life outside of gaming too. Jacob seemed to have potential.

He was also an artist. The things that man could do with a camera… I appreciated his eye. The images said a lot about how he saw the world.

I was concerned about his attraction to Bella, but she seemed disinterested, and he did refer to her as a 'friend.' Guys don't generally go into the friend zone with an attractive woman if it could be avoided, and Bella was pretty good looking – especially in the photos he'd taken of her.

I wasn't sure if I was in her league, but I was willing to give it a shot. Jacob seemed like a bit of a geek and I figured that my geek factor might help me be more attractive when it came to him. I was pretty sure that Bella didn't play video games, and guys who play can't resist a girl who'll do it with them rather than nagging about wasted time.

But I wasn't supposed to be playing…

Geez…

I was heading for trouble with a capital "T."

It was worth it. YOLO**, right?

I removed all of the evidence that I'd been using the computer that I could before shutting it down.

~V258~

16 August 2010 SpecInt Headquarters, MD

My cousin, Edward, could be a tool sometimes. He'd read the interrogation notes, Jasper had even taped it, and he was still digging for information. It wasn't like it was going to change just because one of us gave him a play by play. It'd been two weeks. He just didn't know when to quit. He kept hounding me.

"He called her his friend," I said.

"When was that?" Emmett asked. He was in his cubicle when Edward pulled me aside to ask 'one more time.'

"He said it," I insisted.

"I don't remember that," Emmett said.

I could have sworn that he said it… then it occurred to me. He'd said it online, not in person. I was totally getting busted. I could feel it. There was no way I was going to get by with having said that.

"I'm sure he did," I insisted half-heartedly. I heard the office door behind me open.

"Ren?" I heard Jasper call me.

"Yeah?" I looked over my shoulder at his office door, and stepped away from Edward's cube. I was done. Jasper had 'dad-face.' You know that look your dad used to give you when you would get caught doing something wrong. It was all over Jasper's face. I'd done something wrong and he knew it, even though he didn't know what it was. He had every intention of finding out. I was screwed.

"What have you been up to?"

"Nothing…" I sounded like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar and I knew it.

"Empath," he said and tapped his head.

"Crapcakes!" I stamped my foot, and took another step forward. Edward followed me out of the cube.

"Shall we try this again?"

"Okay, I might have continued contact with him," I admitted. I hoped to downplay my interaction with Jacob and avoid the fact that I'd been using my mom's computer entirely.

"Might?" Edward chimed in.

"Fine, I've had contact with him," I clarified.

"How much contact?" Emmett asked, peeking over the cubicle wall.

"Not that kind of contact, perv." I flopped down into Bella's chair because it was the closest.

Emmett remained with his head popping up over the stupid cube, while Edward and Jasper blocked off the door. It wasn't like I had any intention of escaping. I knew better than that. If I was lucky, maybe they wouldn't tell Carlisle right away.

"You're being evasive," Jasper commented.

"Okay, fine. He logs onto a private server to play a demo for this new MMO that some guys at GT are developing. I may have hacked my way into the server and created an account. I may also have been meeting him there for a couple of weeks."

"Ren?"

"What?" I sighed.

"You know you're not supposed to have access to the internet outside of work."

"I have insomnia," I said.

"Read a book," Edward huffed.

I sighed. I'd heard that argument before.

"Whose computer are you using?"

"Mom's."

Edward shoved his hands into his hair and scrubbed at his scalp hard enough that it looked like it hurt.

"But shouldn't someone stay in contact with him just in case that spy makes contact again?" I asked. It was the only excuse I could think of that they might go for. It was totally wrong. Saying it was a bad move because Jasper was going to jump on that little piece of deception and run with it.

"See, sugar, this sounds like a good idea, but it shouldn't be you, and you shouldn't be breaking your parole," Jasper said.

"I like him." I came clean.

"I can tell." Jasper smiled.

"You're into Jacob Black?" Emmett asked.

"Isn't he a bit old for you?" Edward interjected.

"How old was Bella when you dated her?" I fired back.

"Burn!" Emmett shouted.

Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Guys, come on, it's hard to find a decent guy these days," I whined.

"Is he a decent guy?" Emmett asked. "You don't know him that well."

"Bella was engaged to him," I said. "He can't be that bad."

"She does have a point there," Edward reluctantly came to my aid, even though it looked like it pained him to do it. "Jacob has always been a stand up kind of guy. He's very protective. Bella's a good judge of character."

"Soooo… are you going to rat me out?"

"We have to," Jasper said.

I slammed my fist down onto Bella's desk.

"Don't worry, little bit, Carlisle's not sending you to jail," Emmett tried to comfort me.

I glared at him. The guys were totally going to sell me out to the man. I was ticked.

~V258~

Edward

16 August 2010 SpecInt Headquarters

"We should use that connection," Carlisle said.

I stared at my father completely dumbfounded. This was completely contrary to what he told my aunt. Suddenly he was putting Ren in danger? Ren was a nineteen year old. Granted she'd been in trouble and spent three days in jail, but this was a whole new level of danger. She wasn't a spy. She wasn't trained.

"Carlisle?" Jasper seemed just as shocked as I was.

"We should treat Ren like an asset. One of us can handle her. It'll be much more straightforward this way."

"Ren's nineteen and your niece," I said.

"We need someone to keep tabs on him and make sure that he hasn't been contacted. She already has a relationship of trust with the target. Having one of you attempt to build a rapport with Black at this point would be pointless," Carlisle explained. "It's traditional spycraft. You use who you have in place. We turn assets who aren't spies all the time. This one just doesn't require turning."

Jasper sighed.

I pulled my hair.

"The two of you are acting like I'm putting her in danger," Carlisle scoffed.

"Aren't you?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm asking the girl to continue a relationship with a man she likes and to just pass on any information she finds out. She's not even going to leave the office to do it. There's no risk involved."

"There's always risk involved," I protested. "What if she accidentally compromises him? She could get him killed."

"How exactly is she going to do that?"

"Things happen. What if she says the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time?"

"For goodness sakes, Edward, you worry entirely too much," Carlisle said. "Ren will be in no more danger doing this than visiting our house on the weekend. This is hardly different than her providing tech support."

"This is exactly different! You want her to act as an informant. How, in your twisted mind does 'using her as an asset' not equate to putting her in danger. No, absolutely not, you can't do this," I argued, pacing the length of the office.

"I'm not sending her to Atlanta, Edward. She can keep in contact with him from here."

"What about when she goes home? She's obviously been contacting him on Aunt Helen's computer. What if the spy who contacted him has already traced the connection?"

"We'll move her into my house. Esme and I can keep an eye on her. We should probably be doing that anyway since she's apparently been breaking the terms of her parole. It's unlikely that Helen would be in any danger," Carlisle said.

"I'll handle Ren," Jasper volunteered. I stared at him in shock. Why was he suddenly changing his mind?

"It should be me," I said, because if anyone was going to watch out for Ren it should be me.

"You don't even want this to happen," Jasper protested.

"Neither do you, and she's my cousin." I folded my arms and stared him down.

"I'm married to your sister, she's mine too," he countered.

"Perhaps someone else should do it," Carlisle interrupted.

"Who?" Jasper asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Alice could do it. They're not close but Ren has always looked up to Alice, and it might be easier discussing things with another woman," Carlisle suggested.

"What would she need to discuss with a woman that she couldn't tell us?" I practically shouted.

"Oh!" Jasper said, shocked.

"How are you going to react if their relationship progresses?" Carlisle asked. He looked sick to his stomach.

"Progresses?" I asked. Then it occurred to me… "Oh!"

"Yes, oh. I think Alice is better equipped to deal with this."

"I agree," I said. The last thing I wanted to hear about was my baby cousin sexting with Bella's ex.

"Completely," Jasper said, looking a bit green around the gills.

I nodded.

"Send Alice up," Carlisle said, indicating the door.

Ren was sitting in her chair outside of the office tapping her feet.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"You're in less trouble than you should be," I said, shaking my finger at her.

"Do I need to… uh…" She pointed at the door.

"Not yet, he wants to speak to Alice first," Jasper said. He was already halfway down the hall when Ren turned back to me.

"Honestly, how bad?" she asked.

I sat down on the corner of her desk.

"He's surprisingly calm about the whole thing."

"He is?"

"Yeah," I reassured her.

I heard Alice running up the stairs. Her heels were clicking the whole way up. She was running. I turned and looked over my shoulder at her.

"You didn't talk him out of it?!" Alice half-shouted at me when she reached the door.

"Didn't you see it?" I asked.

"I did, but I thought for sure you and Jasper would talk him out of it!"

"Obviously we failed." I gestured at her.

"This is a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" Ren asked. "What are the two of you talking about?"

"Don't worry yet," I said.

"Alice, have you seen something?" Ren asked. "Do I have something to worry about? Is he going to turn me in?"

"I forgot that she didn't know yet." Alice sighed. "No, honey, you're fine."

"You don't sound like I'm fine," Ren said, pulling her knees up to her chest, and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Is she safe?" I asked.

"Of course she's safe, at least for now," Alice said ominously.

"So, you're going to do it?" I asked.

"I don't think I have the option not to," Alice said and ducked into Carlisle's office.

Ren's eyes were as wide as saucers. I grinned, patted her on the shoulder and walked away.

"Just do what Alice says," I called over my shoulder.

I knew one thing, I was probably moving back home to help keep an eye on Ren.

*RL – Real Life

**YOLO – You Only Live Once (Side note, I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who had to look this up. Note further to the side, my general response to this is: No, you only die once.)

End Note:

Oh, hi there. So… it's been two and a half weeks… It was kind of an unavoidable thing. You see, my Best Friend/Little Sister had her baby. She kept swearing that this kid was coming early and since she's a first time parent I totally wrote that possibility off. I've spent about a week at her house teaching Motherhood 101, and running errands. My sister can write a shopping list like nobody's business. She's what we call "high maintenance." It was fun, but exhausting, and I didn't even make it to The Varsity.

Things I'd forgotten about living in Atlanta:

1. Speeding is a way of life. You might get away with 10 over in other states but in Atlanta if you're on a major road and not going 15 over, then the guy behind you is honking and mad.

2. You don't just drop by The Varsity. Trips totally have to be planned.

3, Rush hour – Yeah, I hung out at my big brother's house for an extra hour just to make sure I was clear of it one night.

4. Grocery shopping – Oh my gosh, all the fancy food stuffs! I totally came home with cocoa nibs and masa chips from 'Your Dekalb Farmers Market.' I also hit the Assi market in Duluth. I love that place. Then there's Sevennahdah… Yeah… exotic food is my weakness

5. The Dekalb Farmers Market has a café, but it only takes cash, as does their bakery. Guess who didn't have cash.

6. Fung Mei – Best Chinese restaurant ever, but make sure you order out of the back half of the menu because the front half is for wimpy Anglos. (I couldn't get the waiter to admit to this but I'm pretty sure it's true.)

In addition to the Atlanta trip, my rheumatologist has started me on some meds. I've had some problems with them. Hopefully I'll adjust, but it looks like I may have to choose between pain relief and intelligence. I can either be smart and hurt, or I can feel good but be stupid. It doesn't exactly seem fair on my end.

Also, Daylight savings time. Grrrr… I hate this "Spring Forward" concept.

Anyway, there ya go. Sorry for the delay, hopefully I'll have my act back together soon.