Chapter 38: Covert Operations

Calling my father was nerve-wracking. Dealing with him was a challenge, because he still saw me as a scrawny asthmatic teenager, not the owner of a major research lab. I was taught to be respectful of my elders, but the way he talked down to me was obnoxious. He hadn't been a good father when he had been around, and then he had just disappeared like the selfish jerk he was. Now, he had popped back into my life and was trying to tell me how to run my company, and it was really pissing me off.

"Edward, Son, so nice of you to call," he said upon answering.

"Hey, Dad, you know why I'm calling, don't you?" I was sure he did.

"Marvin called you. I told him not to involve you in our dispute," he complained.

"He'd better involve me! Dad, you can't change the mission of his project. I told you from the beginning, we weren't going to Mars!"

"But the research opportunities-" he started, but I cut him off.

"Don't make money and won't advance our prime directive. NASA is going to Mars; we don't need to. What we do need to do is pay the bills, and making it possible to mine asteroids and pioneering a new resource will keep our lifesaving medical labs open."

"But if we're on Mars, we can-"

"Don't make me fire you, Dad. Do me a favor, have Marvin write you up a nice letter of recommendation and apply for a job at NASA."

"Edward, you're being ridiculous."

"I'm running a business here, Dad."

"But everyone in the bio-dome wanted to go to Mars."

"Well, they're going to the asteroid belt. They were all given the option to leave or go to the asteroid belt, and they chose the belt."

"Of course, they did, they don't want their life's work to be for nothing!" he shouted at me.

"We can't go to Mars. It'll be another twenty-five years before we could ever establish a colony there, and most of the people would not be chosen for the trip because of their age. They'll at least get a chance to go into space this way, and when NASA finally gives the okay to move on to Mars, we'll be ready, but we're not doing it now."

"There's no reason to-"

"Do you want me to fire you? If Marvin calls me one more time and says you've interfered with his project again, you're fired. Don't bother coming into work, and don't expect another call like this. I'll just wait until you pick up the phone and say, 'You're fired,' is that what you want?" I shouted, completely frustrated with him.

"You're just as stubborn as your mother," he snapped.

"No, I'm as stubborn as my selfish, pig-headed father. It's because I take after my mother, that I'll offer you this concession. I'll allow you to purchase space on the next Mars mission to send up experiments for the astronauts to do. That way, you can get some of your precious research done and leave Marvin the hell alone!" I shouted and hung up the phone.

"Everything okay?" Bella asked from behind me. She started rubbing my shoulders and kissed my cheek. "Your dad giving Marvin trouble again?"

"I need to fire my dad. If I don't fire him, he's going to keep slowing things down."

"But you don't want to fire your father," she guessed correctly.

"No, I'm hoping being able to send experiments up in space will get him off my case." I let out a sigh and realized what he said about the others in the bio-dome was true. The only reason they were staying was most likely because they didn't want to give up their life's work. I hoped they didn't become disgruntled, because I basically was relegating them to running a mining camp.

Bella looked tired, so I ushered her to a seat, just as the doorbell rang with our food. At least, I had hoped it was our food, but it turned out to be Rosalie. She was a sobbing, drunken mess, with a box of half-eaten donuts and a nearly empty bottle of wine.

"He's cheating on me!" she cried and fell into Bella's arms. Bella looked at me wide-eyed, and I slipped out of the room to make a quick call to Emmett. I knew for a fact he wasn't cheating on her. Cheating wasn't in our blood, but he obviously had done something to make her think that. Cheating might not have been in our blood, but us messing up was a given.

"Edward, what's up?" Emmett answered, sounding like he was focused on something else.

"You don't have time for a call," I heard a woman's voice in the background. It didn't sound friendly, though.

"My brother only calls if it's urgent," Emmett defended.

"Make it quick, you could be costing lives," the stern woman said, sounding pissed.

"Sorry, Peggy won't stay off my balls. I have a good two-minute window before I…I have two minutes, shoot."

"Rosalie is crying on my wife, sure that you're cheating on her."

"She thinks I have something going on with Piggy?"

"Piggy? I thought her name was Peggy?" I asked, confused.

"It is, but she's…look, I don't have time for this. Tell her Piggy is mean and likes to be extra mean to any and all men under her command. The bitch gets off on demeaning people. She knows I don't like that. She made Jasper scrub the bathroom with his toothbrush, that he had to bring from home, because his report was thirty minutes late. I swear, she's just one bathroom punishment away from giving him a swirly."

"You know, if she ever gets to be too much for you, I can always give you a job."

"I know, but this is my dream job. I'm a freaking God, Edward, I can make people disappear."

"Cullen! Your time is up, off the phone!" she snapped, and the line went dead. I had a feeling Ms. Piggy was the one who had hung up on me. There was no way Emmett was cheating with her.

I walked back into the dining room and saw Rosalie crying into Bella's lap. Bella saw me walk in and looked at me wide-eyed, asking for answers. "Rosalie, why do you think he's cheating with Ms. Piggy, I mean Peggy?" I asked.

"He even gave her a pet name!" she wailed.

"Not one he says to her face! He hates her, and she sounds like a real witch," I defended.

"He's working late with her. He's worked late with her every day this week."

"Is he coming home disgruntled and miserable? Because that was what he sounded like on the phone."

"It could be an act."

"Have you met her?"

"No, of course not. I haven't met anyone he works with because of 'security reasons,'" she huffed.

"There is a security risk. The fewer people who know what they're doing, the better. You wouldn't want to put him and his coworkers at risk now, would you?"

"Now you sound like him. You're on his side. You're covering for him!" she accused.

"He told me she's a meanie and a bully. She's one step away from giving her subordinates swirlies. She's making him hate his job. I offered him a place with the labs if it gets to be too much, but he really is doing what he always wanted to do, Rosalie. He's defending our country."

"A true patriot, with a big fat pig between his legs," she hissed.

The doorbell rang, and this time, it was our food. Thankfully, I had ordered pizza, so there was plenty to share with Rosalie. Bella coaxed her to the living room and turned on the TV, hoping to get her mind off Emmett. I really didn't have enough experience with women to know how to fix this mess. My brother was going to have to handle his own problems.

We were watching some mindless TV, when a breaking news crawler interrupted our show. "A Russian submarine off the U.S. coast has reportedly had a sudden systems failure and has caught fire. Its distress gave away its position, leading to the discovery of two other submarines. More on this developing story on the nine-o'clock news."

I looked over at Bella and Rosalie. "Who wants to bet that was Emmett?"

"I won't take that bet, it probably was," Bella agreed.

"No, it wasn't, he's messing around with that hussy, Ms. Piggy," she sobbed.

"Okay, I'll bet you a bot. I'll give you our robot dog that Emmett's been dying to steal from me if it wasn't him. If it was him, we get your Rosie bot," I bargained smartly. That way, I wouldn't have to make another bot. At least, not right away.

"Edward, that's mean. Can't you see she's upset? Don't take advantage of her like that," Bella chastened me.

I pouted; she was right.

"NO, I'm taking it. I'm taking the bet. Even if Emmett was actually working, what are the chances he pulled that off? He wants that dog. Maybe if I win the dog, he'll be home more to play with it. Nerds like that stuff, right?" she asked Bella, who grimaced. Rosalie was still a little rough around the edges.

"The guys definitely like the robotic stuff," she conceded.

"Okay, when he gets home, we'll tell him the terms of the bet, but not who believed what, just that the dog and Rosie bot are on the line, deal?" I suggested. Emmett never talked about work, but he might for a chance to win my dog.

There was another knock on our door, and I was surprised to find Marvin and Padme there. "Dude, did you hear about the Russians?" he asked, walking in.

"Yes, Rosalie and Edward were just placing a wager on Emmett's involvement," Bella said, bringing him up to speed on what the bet was.

"So, one thinks he did it, the other doesn't. I have a third option and an interest in the dog and Rosie bot," Marvin said, rubbing his hands together. Padme glared at him. "Not for that, babe, Edward uses his in the lab, and it's the equivalent of having three lab assistants with perfect recall. I need one of those."

"Fine, but what do you have to offer them? They have a robot dog and a lab assistant," Padme glared at him hard, as she mentioned Rosie bot.

"My light saber, my real working light saber, and I say it wasn't Emmett, but the military, and he was advising them on how to take down the sub. The military had to be involved. He was just a consultant of sorts," Marvin said, sounding sure of himself.

I looked over at Rosalie, and she shrugged. "When I get proof of Emmett's cheating, I can use it to cut off his balls."

"Whoa, you think Emmett would cheat on you?" Marvin laughed insensitively. "She is a blonde, I guess, but I didn't think she'd be that stupid."

Padme elbowed him and hissed, "What did I say about inner thoughts?"

"They should stay inner. Sorry, Rosalie, I didn't mean to point out your stupidity in front of everyone."

"Marvin!" Padme snapped.

"What?" He actually sounded confused.

"What did I say about pointing out stupid people or informing people of their stupidity?"

His eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, right, I'm sorry, Rosalie, you're a very smart blonde?" He looked at Padme for confirmation, totally not noticing a fuming Rosalie.

"Good enough, I need wine. I'm sorry, Rosalie, I promise, I'm working on him," Padme said, grabbing a glass of wine and taking a huge gulp of it.

Rosalie watched Padme fix Marvin's hair and frowned. "They're worth it, once you get them trained, at least until they run off with some hussy at work," Rosalie started sobbing again.

Emmett was definitely going to have his hands full.

It was one rousing game of Risk later, when Emmett came rushing in the front door.

"Edward! You've got to help me!" he shouted, but he stopped and settled down as soon as he saw us all.

"What's wrong, Emmett?" Bella asked.

"I thought she left me," he said, going over to kneel next to Rosalie, who was passed out on the couch. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her softly. She was too out of it to respond. "I'll just take her off your hands. Thanks for keeping her company tonight," he said, scooping her up easily in his arms. He was buff enough now to actually carry around his girlfriend. Maybe I should do some weightlifting…

Before he was at the door, Marvin stopped him. "Emmett, we have a bet going. Did you ruin that Russian sub on your own, or did you help the military, or were you not involved at all?"

"I wasn't involved-" he started, but Bella cut him off.

"Just so you know what's on the line here, I know denying is what you should do, but Rover, our Robot dog, Rosie bot and Marvin's light saber are all on the line."

"Really, who thought what?" he asked.

"Ah, ah, ah, that'd be cheating, you just have to answer, and then we'll see who takes the pot home," Marvin teased.

Emmett looked down at Rosalie, and I knew he would guess she didn't think he had anything to do with it. That wouldn't have been a hard connection.

"Rosalie plans to use the light saber to take off your cheating balls," I said, making sure he didn't pick hers by default.

"What?"

"Cheating balls, but you're not cheating, so I'm sure you'd be fine," Bella said, trying to undo my awesome intimidation.

"You know what, this bet is void, because I can't talk about it."

"He was involved!" I cheered.

"Yes, but we don't know to what extent!" Marvin countered.

Emmett rolled his eyes and left with Rosalie in his arms. I was sad I hadn't won Rosie bot, but maybe I could hire her. I realized what Marvin said about her being an amazing assistant was true. I would have to consider having a few more bots made to work in his lab and Melvin's as well. I was sure he'd value a perfect lab assistant like Vicky, too. I'd talk to Emmett about it tomorrow. Hopefully, once Rosalie sobered up, he'd still be in good enough condition to have the conversation.