AN: Sorry for keeping you guys waiting this long….

Here's a quick recap of the previous chapter:

Edward was running late and Bella began worrying. It seemed like she was a bit paranoid at first, but it turned out that she'd been right to worry. Edward caught someone following his car and had to stop and call for assistance. Two agent joined him and crisis was eventually averted. Edward returned 'home' to the safety of the villa. But of course it didn't end there…. because in the meanwhile someone, across town, was snooping around asking questions….

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Chapter 46 – Panic!

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It was while they were all milling about in the kitchen after dinner that the next odd thing happened.

Bella was rinsing the dishes while Edward was loading the dishwasher, when agent Alec Custer came barging into the room, a phone pressed to his ear.

"We have a bit of a situation!" he said with considerable urgency in his voice. "Listen, you guys need to move to a safer place."

"What?!"

"What do you mean?!"

"Move where?"

A barrage of questions came all at once.

"Leave the dishes, leave everything. We can talk while we walk. Hurry up!" The agent knelt and lifted an unsuspecting and confused Anthony off the floor. It didn't go over well and Tony's bottom lip was trembling dangerously.

"Let me," Edward said and hurried to dry his hands on his shirt so that he could rescue agent Custer from the fussy child.

"Where are we going Alec? Bella inquired, sounding as alarmed as Edward felt. "You want us in the cars?"

"No, there is no time for that. Down stairs. The panic room."

The panic room – Ugh, Edward felt claustrophobic at the mere mention of it.

He could feel hands on his back, Bella's hands, urging him to move forward. He shifted Tony onto his hip so that he could turn and loop his free arm around her shoulders.

Agent Custer said something into his cell phone and then they were moving, walking fast; Alec first with Edward and Bella following close behind.

"There is someone outside, isn't there?" Bella asked, her eyes darting from side to side for any sign of trouble.

"Yes," Custer admitted without turning his head. "Ateara spotted an abandoned car, its hood still warm."

"Where?" Edward asked.

"Halfway up the driveway, and there was no driver to be found."

"Is it the same car?"

"Yes, and whoever this person is, he or she is purposely avoiding getting caught on the camera by the entrance gate. They are activated by motion detection and they haven't been active since Ateara left. I've checked."

As they reached the half-level back stairs, Bree joined them, coming from the direction of the living room.

"I've got all doors, all windows secured," she reported.

"Good," Alec said, "Next you go upstairs and check on Mrs. Cullen."

"Alright," she nodded. "I don't think we should move her, but don't worry, I'll make sure she stays safe," she added for Edward's benefit.

Truth be told, amidst all the haste and confusion, he had all about forgotten about his mother's whereabouts.

"Now Swan, you think you can manage the stairs on your own?" The agent interrupted, turning to Bella. "Or do I need to carry you? Wouldn't want you going into labor over this."

That earned him a murderous glare.

Edward opened his mouth to offer his agreement, but Bella quickly cut them both off.

"What are we standing around for?!" She scowled darkly and pushed past them both. "Keep moving…"

"Shi—shoot!" Edward scurried forward to catch up with her. The last thing they needed was for her to end up tripping and hurting herself out of sheer stubbornness.

He needn't worry though. Bella made it to the top of the stairs with no incidents. There were a few slight pauses and stumbles, and a whole lot of out-of-breath panting, but she moved surprisingly fast for someone as heavily pregnant as she was. The urgency of the situation giving her a surge of adrenaline, no doubt.

Alec was speaking into his phone again, but wisely waited until they had reached the final stop, before he relayed any new information.

"Swan listen, Ateara has located a lone figure wandering seemingly aimlessly on the precarious paths that runs along the east side of the premises."

"Out on the cliffs? That's… that's dangerous, down right suicidal even."

"Yes, especially with this dense, wall-like fog," Alec agreed. "Ateara's going to have to get out on the cliffs and try and rescues this person before any necks gets broken. I'll be heading out there too. We are carefully optimistic. Unless this is some kind staged diversion, it's looking very unlikely that this person will pose a threat to you. However, as a precaution I still want you to stay put down here." He motioned at the door leading into the entertainment area, housing both the home theater and also the all-important secret door.

"Alright, but I think you should give us your phone," Bella countered. "Either that, or your weapon."

Alec frowned. "Fine, you get the phone, but no gun," he nodded, quickly ending his ongoing call.

"Don't use it unless someone calls you. Clearwater is on his way. He'll call when it's safe to come upstairs again," he said and then rattled off the phone's pin code and a few more instructions before he ushered them into the home theater room.

The space was windowless and therefor rather dark, the only light came from the LED-strip running along skirting boards down at the floor.

Edward went to turn the light on, but Alec stopped him.

"Leave the main lights off. You can hang out here in the outer room, that's fine, but keep the room dark and the noise down, alright?!"

"There is no lock on the door though," Bella frowned.

"I know, but it should be alright. There is more space and comfort out here, however, if you hear anything suspicious, like anyone coming down the stairs, I want you to lock yourself into the back room."

The back room being the room they all wanted to avoid; the state-of-the-art panic room, situated behind a hidden panel in the far end wall.

The walls were six feet thick, soundproof, and had a vault door that locked from the inside.

Great, there was that panicky feeling of claustrophobia again….

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"What do you think?" Edward asked in a hushed whisper when the sound of Alec's steps had died away.

"About what?" she groaned, her back protesting as he helped her sink down onto the pillows and blankets Edward had hastily spread out on the floor for them to sit on.

"About who's out there?" he motioned his chin upwards, before he looked around to check where Tony had disappeared to.

The boy was sitting on the floor a few feet away, contentedly munching away on… well something. Upon closer inspection it turned out that the boy must have found a half eaten bag of popcorn; a leftover from a movie marathon they had put on a few nights ago.

Edward went to scope the kid off the floor. He let him keep the popcorn. Snacking at this hour was a bad idea, if they wanted to get him to sleep through the night… but there wasn't much else around to distract a toddler with. The best they could hope for was a carb induced coma instead of a sugar rush… Wishful thinking…

"I doubt it's J-A-M-E-S, " Bella answered his question from before as she moving around to get comfortable. "I doubt he would leave his car in plain sight like that and I doubt he'd stumble out on those cliffs in this weather. Also, I would have thought he is much too professional too get caught shadowing your car like that, but who knows?"

She held her arms out to take Tony so that Edward could get down on the floor next to them.

"Is hot," the little boy whined, fanning a tiny hand in front of his face.

"I know the feeling buddy. I'm always warm these days," Bella replied, unbuttoning a few buttons on her cardigan to rest a hand on her swollen belly. The boy followed suit and started tugging on his clothes.

"Sit still sweetie and let your daddy help you take off your sweater," she instructed. "Edward, can you ….? I can't reach around him."

"Stop wriggling," Edward warned the child as he pulled him into his lap.

"Now, where did that bag of popcorn go? You better hold on to it tight. If you spill them on the floor you can't eat them."

It didn't have the desired effect, quite the opposite in fact. It took a lot of hassle and acrobatic maneuvers to get Tony down to his diapers and a light under shirt. Finally, with joint efforts, they got him settled on the blanket between them.

"Great, now I'm all sweaty," Edward complained in a bit of a whine, instantly regretting it as he looked at Bella.

She raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, 'you've got to be kidding me'.

If anyone was warm and uncomfortable, it was her.

"Can I do anything? Are you okay? Are you comfy?" he whispered, furrowing his brow.

He couldn't read the expression flashing across her face in the semi-darkness, but he knew the floor was hardly a good place for her. At least it was carpeted… and soft and clean and not drafty…. but still…

He had, of course, suggested that Bella should go ahead and sit in one of the big, plush reclining theater seats, but she'd refused. Instead she'd insisted this was the safest place for them. The spot she had chosen was on the floor behind the seats. It was hidden away from plain view and it was next to the now open door, leading into the 'room-that should- not-be-mentioned'.

"I'm as comfy as I can be, I suppose," she sighed, rubbing her hand at what he assumed was a particularly sore spot near her bottom ribs. "This will be over shortly. Don't worry…"

"I hope you're right, but what if J-A-M-E-S has hired an experienced rock climber? Or what if there is more than one of them out there and the one on the cliffs is a diversion, just like Alec suggested? Then this could very well be the real deal and a real, potentially imminent threat. We could be stuck here for hours."

"We could, yes. That's why we're down here where we have food and other stuff to keep us alive for days."

Before their thoughts could get too deep into that rather depressing scenario, Tony let out an unhappy squeak, indicating that he had run out of popcorn.

"Aww, man you've got popcorn everywhere. You're a mess!" Edward whispered in mock horror. Then in an effort to distract the child he pretended to use the corner of the blanket they were sitting on to shield himself. "Stay away from me! Stay away…."

"Oh, look Tony! A fort!" Bella pointed at the space created by Edward's bent knees and the blanked, causing the boy to clap his hands excitedly telling them that it was the Baff cave (the Bat cave in toddler-lingo).

He kept himself entertained for quite a while, hiding and unhiding himself and everything he could get his hands on in his newly discovered hiding place. Eventually though, his games got a bit too loud and boisterous, and Edward had to go look for another snack shaped bribe, crackers this time, to get him to quiet down again.

They took turns feeding the boy tiny little pieces to get the crackers to last for as long as possible. Once they were done Edward rewarded the boy with a remote control to play with, knowing he loved gadgets with buttons or lights. This one controlled the screen for the projector. He hoped it wasn't too expensive in case it wouldn't survive the toddler treatment.

They sat in silence after that. The only noise heard was Tony's occasional excited squeal and the hum of the motor-driven screen descended from the ceiling and then ascended again. Up and down, up and down….

Edward checked his watch for the umpteenth time. Time moved ever so slowly.

Bella seemed equally restless as she kept fiddling with the cell phone. She was making sure that there was still full service and sufficient battery time left, no doubt.

They both knew the more time that passed without them hearing anything, the more reason for concern.

"You don' think it's your mother, do you?" Edward asked, when he couldn't take the silence any longer.

"Not in person, no," Bella replied in a tone of voice that suggested she'd given it some thought. "Seth is keeping tabs on her, he'd let us know if she was anywhere nearby," she reminded him.

"Right, but… Nevermind, it was just a though."

"Honestly Edward, I know as little, or as much as you do about any of this," she sighed, wiggling her feet a bit as if to stop them from cramping up.

"Do you want to get up and do some walking?"

"Na, I'm fine," she insisted, though it was obvious she was lying through her teeth.

The thing was that Tony had curled up into a little ball between them, the remote cradled to his chest like a prized possession. It almost looked like he might be falling asleep. His eyelids were heavy and half closed. It made sense for them to try and stay still a little while longer.

"You sure?" he asked anyway, knowing those foot cramps were no fun.

"Yes." She sighed audibly. "I'm fine."

"Promise you'd tell me if you weren't."

There was another sigh. "I can assure you, you'd the first one to know."

He thought he could detect a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I'm serious."

"I know, so am I," she replied. "Do you know why I messaged you this afternoon?"

"To check on me? To tell me dinner was about ready and that you'd eat it all if I didn't hurry up?" he guessed.

She shook her head. "I was having more of those oh-so-lovely Braxton hicks pains. That's why I wanted to know where you were and when you were coming 'home'."

"You were having contractions? You didn't mention anything about any contractions!"

"I didn't think I needed to. You responded that you were already on your way, which under normal circumstances should have meant you were no more than fifteen minutes from the villa…We both know what happened… It doesn't matter though. " She patted his knee as if to say 'let it go'. "I was feeling a bit iffy for a while, but the went away eventually, like they always do. Everything is fine now. Everything on the baby front at least…."

Of course, there were other aspects of their situation that wasn't fine and they both knew it… The phone was still dead silent.

Edward checked the time again.

"I'd kill for a bed right about now," he muttered. Then he realized he had worded it a bit clumsily. "I mean, I really, don't want to sleep on the floor," he amended. "Also, I really, REALLY don't want to have to sleep in there," he motioned with his head at the vault like door. "Just poking my head inside to get Tony those crackers had me feeling like the walls were closing in on me."

"Edward… that sounds awfully much like the beginning of a panic attack to me," Bella said cautiously, reaching out a hand to touch his cheek. "Stay with me. Don't let it get to you."

"I'm fine. You aren't completely wrong, but I'm fine, for now at least. I just don't like that room… AT ALL," he shuddered. "It's too small, too compact, too… I don't know, coffin-like "

She laced her hand with his. "It isn't THAT small, but I agree, it would get rather cramped after a while. Tony would grow bored in a matter of hours."

"Try minutes," Edward snorted. Then, after a moment of reflection, he added, "What if you were to go into labor while we're locked up in there? Then I'd really have a panic attack, that's for sure."

"If I go into labor, then I go into labor, but I really don't think you have anything to worry about. No baby will come out of this body tonight," she stated, like it was an absolute FACT.

"That's reassuring, but-…"

"Sshh, no buts," she silenced him. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"Someone's snoring."

"Oh." She was right All that was heard from the boy were soft snores as his little chest heave up and down in an even rhythm.

"He's sleeping?" Edward whispered.

"Sshh," she shushed him agian, bringing his index finger close to his thumb to indicate that it was close, merely minutes away.

The silence stretched as they waited. Belal was checking the phone again while Edward stared at the floor, his mind about as numb as his back.

Suddenly a question popped into his head. "What's the floor like inside the coffin?" he asked seemingly out of the blue.

"The coffin?" It took her a few seconds to realize he meant the panic-room. "A similar carpet as this one, I believe. Why?"

"Never mind." He shook his head.

"No, tell me."

"It was just something Alice said about wooden floors... It's silly…"

"You've spoken to Alice? Today?"

"Yeah, briefly, before Clearwater caught me on the phone."

"What did she say?" Bella inquired, sounding…. concerned? "Is everything alright with her? I haven't spoken to her in days. I think, I might have upset her the last time we hung out together and now she's avoiding me."

"Really? I don't think that's the case. She didn't sound upset… and come to think of it she did ask about you. She asked how you were doing and you know about the baby."

"Oh, she did, did she? What else did she say? How does wooden floors fit into this?"

"Well, you know Alice…." He debated whether or not to tell her, but decided why not? She'd probably get a kick out of it. "My sister has been having weird dreams lately, dreams involving a shiny, wooden kitchen floor."

"A wooden, kitchen floor?" She sounded mildly confused. He didn't blame her.

"I'll probably regret telling you this but here goes… the dream is about baby Cullen being born on a floor. She says our baby will plop out straight onto a shiny, wooden kitchen floor."

"What the actual fu-.. fudge!?" she exclaimed a bit too loudly. Then, she continued in a lower voice, "Babies very rarely just 'plops' out. I mean, usually there are hours and hours of hard work and excruciating pain involved." She threw her hands up like she was making a big point. "Though, I wouldn't mind if this baby decides to plop out real quick and easy, but that's wishful even your sister must know that not every dream has to be a prophetic warning about the past or future. Sometimes there is no deeper symbolic meaning at all, sometimes they are just the brain's way of taking out the trash!"

"Yeah, but you know her track reco-…"

Just then a sudden sound shocked them both into momentary stillness.

Someone was stomping down the stairs with determined, angry steps and this 'someone' wasn't trying to be quiet about it… at all. While the entertainment space was not entirely soundproof, the walls were insulated to muffle noise from adjacent rooms, meaning someone was nearby and moving closer by the second.

They stared at each other in panic. Edward felt dread surge through his body as he realized how little time they had to get into safety; dread and adrenaline. He got up onto his feet, dragging Bella up with him in an almost brutal manner.

"Get in and look the door behind you!" He bent down and got Tony off the floor, placing him into her arms.

"NO," she protested when she realized that he wasn't planning on following them into safety.

"YES," he maneuvered her backwards into the tiny space and began shutting the thick door for her.

Of course, by this point Tony had stirred from the commotion and was crying and rather loudly at that. Cries that would no doubt tip off the person outside the room about their whereabouts

"Edward, you don't have to do this," Bella pleaded with him.

No, she was wrong. He really HAD to stop this person… whoever it was. He fumbled around searching for something – anything - solid or sharp to protect himself with. He found a small, part glass, part metal side table. Light enough to lift over his head and throw, if needed.

He realized Bella had yet to pull the door all the way closed and, so he went back to do it for her.

That's when he heard it.

That's when his heart stopped.

Two things happened simultaneously; there was a knock on the door and there was a cell phone ringing.

He froze for a split second, then he heard himself growl like an animal as he turned to face the person about to enter the room. In that moment he knew with startling clarity that he would kill to keep his family safe.

Bella must have realized it too, because she shouted at him, "Don't! It's SETH! Seth's outside the door."

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….

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AN: Who's at the door? Did I just spoil my own cliffhanger with that last sentance...