Chapter 36

A Touch of Reality

Edward's POV

"What the hell? Are you kidding me? We just got married, as in wife and wife. I'm not going to let Bella out of my sight—especially with all the crazy stuff that's going on," the pixie said what I couldn't say and I gave her a big smile of approval. She winked at me, but the look that she levelled on Carlisle was one of anger. Ally should have gone for a career in acting.

"Now look here, Alice…" Carlisle barely managed to open his mouth when the pixie interrupted him.

"Are you out of your mind? You want Bella to move in with you, when you yourself nearly got killed. They'd be very happy to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, if both of you cooperate and stay in one location." Ally now stood in her pixie stance and for once Carlisle was speechless just staring at her.

"We do need a bit more security. Since Alice lives in a condo they have guards at the gate and it should be more secure than the Bella's apartment." I decided it was time to speak up.

"Who says Alice's condo is secure? I once simply followed them inside and no one asked me for my credentials. The guards just asked me for the condo number and I rattled off a number from the top of my head and they let me in, just like that. They didn't even ask me for the name of the person living there," Rosalie suddenly chimed in walking into the room like she owned it.

"Hmm…I was wondering how you got in that day…" Alice looked thoughtful.

"Where have you been, Rosalie?" Em's voice sounded ominous.

"What's it to you?" Rosalie glared back at Em.

"As your supervisor I should know," Emmett said in a much sterner voice.

"Since when did you become my supervisor?" Rosalie asked disdainfully.

"Since I recruited you—you do remember that I asked you to work with Emmett don't you? Bella is your supervisor when it comes to office work. But for security related matters you have to defer to Emmett." Carlisle sounded too civil. I know that tone of voice. He was not happy with the situation at all.

"Fine. I just took a long lunch break. I am entitled to at least that after working during the weekend." Rosalie sauntered over to my sofa and sat down. All of us were standing around. She really knew how to annoy people.

"We have nothing against you taking a long lunch break but you should have informed us," Em said, with his hands on his waist. I have never seen Em look so angry before. He is usually a very easy going guy who loved to joke around.

"I told Paul," Rosalie looked adamant.

"Paul is not your supervisor, and you simply cannot change shifts and work schedules without informing the rest of the team. I want to have a word with you after this meeting." Em had lost his cool and he sounded really angry now.

"I'm not interested in dating you Emmett and that's final. If you don't stop bugging me I am going to file a sexual harassment case against you." Rosalie huffed, and Carlisle stared at her as if he's never seen her before along with the rest of us. Who was this woman?

"This has nothing to do with my earlier conversation with you. I promise you I have no interest in ever renewing my offer to take you out. I only want to inform you of what your duties are because of the new developments." Emmett's voice was firm and full of authority. I was proud of him. He must have suffered a big blow to his ego earlier, and things were made worse with Rosalie's attitude towards him now.

"What developments?"

It was Carlisle who informed her of what had happened. "So I think Bella should not live alone in her apartment," Carlisle finished his conversation with a flourish.

"I agree with you on that, that's why she's moving in with me," Alice chimed in.

"I don't think it's a good idea for Bella to move in with you. As I explained earlier the security at your condo is too lax," Rosalie said. I could tell she had an ulterior motive behind that. Did Rosalie hope to have Bella move in with her? Was she really interested in Bella? I still couldn't bring myself to believe that.

"I have suggested she moved in with me." Carlisle explained giving the pixie a pointed look.

"That's not a good option since both you and Bella seem to be targets." Rosalie didn't hesitate to point this out.

"See that's what I told him." The pixie grinned.

"I think…" Rosalie started to say something and I had a good idea that she was going to suggest a safe house or at least her house. I had just opened my mouth to suggest they move in with me when Jazz beat me to it.

"I think Alice and Bella should move in with Edward. He's got a good security system installed already, and we can add additional guards if needed." Jazz had a huge grin on his face. I knew he was thinking about how ideal this situation was for me and Bella. God! I could have hugged him. Shit! Did I just think that?

"I would be more than happy to accommodate you. I have plenty of space," I quickly said before anyone else had time to add their two cents.

"That's a good idea, Edward." Carlisle actually looked pleased with this turn of events. I really loved my father. I could hug him too. I was truly pussy whipped. It looked like I would do anything just to have Bella move in with me.

"And Jazz, I think you should also move in so that we have additional protection." I couldn't help adding when I saw Jazz looking longingly at Alice. He had been willing to sacrifice his time with Alice so that I could keep them safe.

"Er…okay." Carlisle was now frowning. Was my father trying to break off the supposed relationship between Jazz and me? I guess he was not that happy to have a gay son after all. I barely managed to supress a grin.

"I think from a security point of view that's an excellent idea. With both Jazz and Edward there we will have additional protection. But it's going to look a bit odd when all of you suddenly move in with Edward," Em suddenly said out of the blue. I wanted to kick his butt. I glared at him. But he just shook his head.

"I'm also worried about adding additional guards. If whoever is after Bella suspects we know something, it is going to be difficult to keep track of them." Em added daring me to protest. I understood his point of view. He was just playing the devil's advocate pointing out the flows in our plan.

"Ally and I could pretend to do some interior decorating projects at Edward's house. Edward was kind enough to show us his house when we arrived in Seattle last night. And he did ask us to help him to decorate the place. We could have some security staff in pretending to be interior decorators. We might even get some work done if they at least know how to cut a piece of wood," Bella said smiling at me. My sweet girl! I couldn't help giving her a huge smile.

"That's a good idea. I've been asking him to do something about that place for years now." Carlisle looked at me with disapproval.

"Thank you, Bella and Ally. Yes. I would love to have some decorating done." I grinned and I knew I had the cat that swallowed the cream look on my face. Jazz winked at me.

"You know this hair-brained idea could actually work." Em looked at Bella as if seeing her for the first time. "We should make sure no one knows that all of you actually moved in with Edward. We'll just pretend that you are busy with the decorating and staying over there from time to time. I think that's a better idea than having everyone move in officially," Em suggested.

"I agree." I turned to Bella. "Let's keep your place as it is, and move some of your essentials to my place."

Bella frowned at this.

"I was actually going to sell the apartment off end of this month. I've already put it up for sale. I was planning to move in with Esme." I was surprised to hear of this.

"Well, Esme would understand the need for protection and we could easily hire someone to help her take care of Colin."

Bella didn't look that happy with this turn of events at all. I wondered why.

"Still… we should just sell off my apartment. We don't really need it now." Bella looked pleadingly at me.

"Bella, I think you should pretend to live there. It would be the best way to confuse whoever is after you," Emmett explained. Bella's face fell but she nodded in agreement.

"So now that's settled, do you think we can go through the security footage?" Carlisle asked impatiently.

"Actually, I haven't had the time to go through it all. I had been planning to have Paul go through some of it while I do the rest during lunch, but…" he glared at Rosalie and she had the decency to cringe. "I think it's best if we go through it tomorrow. I'll edit it so that we only have the footage of people visiting the office."

Carlisle sighed. He was impatient at always.

"Okay, so first thing tomorrow morning we can meet at my office and go through everything. I can arrange it as a management meeting or something and get Tanya to send out invitations to all of you so that she doesn't suspect anything." Carlisle ran an agitated hand through his hair.

Everyone finally dispersed. I kissed Bella one more time and let her go. I got back to actual office work and didn't even feel the time passing until I heard a knock on my door. Bella entered with a huge smile on her face.

"So Mrs. Cullen, you are finally going to move in with me, aren't you?" I stood up and extended my arm pulling her into a hug.

"Sure looks that way, Mr. Cullen. And don't forget my father-in-law wants me to decorate your house." I laughed at this.

"He sure does." I placed a kiss on Bella's lips and for a short while we forgot where we were.

"So what are your plans for the evening Mrs. Cullen?" I hadn't really thought much about how we were going to organise things. I will have to get some extra beds if Alice and Jazz were going to move in—and what about the extra guards? I sighed.

"I was thinking of stopping by my place and getting some of my stuff. Not the big stuff just some clothes and things I would need for this week."

"That's a good idea. Will Alice be coming?" I grinned when I remembered the happy smile on her face when I asked Jazz to stay with us as well.

"No, she went home to pack their things. She'll be over later tonight and we are planning to pretend that we are having dinner at your place."

"Okay. We can order something. Shall I come with you to get your things? I know Rosalie will be following you, but I would feel much better if I go with you." I knew I was being over protective. But I just couldn't bear to let Bella out of my sight.

"Umm," Bella didn't look that keen on the idea.

"Bella, love, someone out there is stalking you. I know Rosalie will be there but, I would feel much happier if I'm there with you. We'll have no way of knowing if they are hiding out at the apartment." I wanted her safe. Bella looked a bit thoughtful and finally she sighed.

"Let me get my things and get out of here."

I followed Bella home in my car. I was shocked when we arrived at a small shabby apartment complex. It was barely respectable. I had been here once before but it had been when I had thought Bella had broken off with me. I had been too upset to notice anything other than the apartment number. Was Bella having financial trouble? But she had said she had some savings when she offered to pay for Colin's operation. It was not a huge amount but it was something. And I knew she earned a decent salary. So what was she doing living in this shabby apartment and driving that old truck?

I parked and followed Bella into her apartment. It didn't look any better inside either. It was sparsely furnished with furniture that had seen better days. I knew she owned the apartment since she said she wanted to sell it, but even that didn't explain why she would live in a place like this. However, it did feel very homely. Beautiful paintings of breath-taking sceneries adorned her walls. There were flowers everywhere. Little knick-knacks and family photos took up much of the remaining space. I could tell Bella had really made the apartment her home away from home and lovingly decorated the place. To my surprise her apartment reminded me of the little house we used to live in before mom died. The same welcoming homely feel was there. The numerous apartments Carlisle and I moved into after she was gone had never felt like home. Even though I had taken some of the old furniture and things out of storage and put it in my new house it never felt like home. I guess the saying that "home is where the heart is" is true.

Bella hadn't spoken to me since we entered. She disappeared through the only door I could see. The kitchen and the living room were in one room. I decided to follow Bella into her room. The small closet in the wall was open and Bella was folding clothes. There were only a very few things in it. I looked around but could not see any other place she could have stored anything else. There was another small door leading to a bathroom. Other than that the room only held a single bed and a night stand. There were over twenty bright scarves hanging in the closet. They looked like Jacob's creations. The rest of the clothing all looked mostly like office wear in very plan colours without any prints on them.

I tried to remember what Bella wore to work. She always looked good. But I realised that her clothes were non-descript and one could not remember whether she wore the same thing twice. But she always had a bright scarf on her neck that distracted anyone from actually noticing her outfit. For the first time I realised Bella must have been wearing the same things over and over again without me or anyone else figuring it out. Shit! It really looked like Bella had some financial difficulties, or she was saving every last penny she earned for her treatment. For the first time I began to understand how desperate she really must have been to have agreed to marry Jacob. I decided to play it cool and cheer Bella up a bit.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Cullen?"

Bella smiled back at me. "Mmm…Mr. Cullen, I think you should get naked."

I stood there like an idiot, dumbstruck by what she had just said, when she turned back to me.

"Oh, and leave the tie on." What?

I was just reaching for my shirt when my phone began to ring.

"Ed, we found out who was following Bella and Alice today."

"Oh, who was it?"

"Dimitri. Our agents found the rental place from where he rented the car."

A/N: What's Dimitri doing following Bella? What about the hare-brained decorating plan?

Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews I got for the last chapter. I really loved hearing from you. Sorry for the late review replies. This chapter is also not beta'd and yep, I got late again. Paid a visit to doc again, because I got a horrible migraine which lasted two days. But now I'm almost back to normal:). Do you know of good migraine cures? My doc prescribed some pills but I hate taking pills:(.