THE HER AGENCY

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

But, after he had gotten through with the business of signing with a new agent, Edward drove over to The Her Agency to see Bella only to be told that she was out to lunch and then had some other appointments scheduled out of the office for a while that afternoon. To say that he was disappointed would be an understatement, but Edward accepted the news stoically and left to go home.

CHAPTER 40: DECISIONS

Bella was proud to show her dad around the new agency before speaking with the manager of this agency, Harold Babcock. She was anxious to see how the meeting with Edward had gone. She wanted to make sure that everything had gone as she hoped it would and would be successful for both sides.

"Bella, sweetheart, I truly think that you have another winner. All the work you have done, and the suggestions tossed in by Alice, is very tasteful and wonderful looking. I don't know what else to tell you." Charlie paused for a moment as he had seen Bella glancing toward the manager's door every so often, then he urged her, "Go on and talk with your Mr. Babcock and satisfy whatever it is that you're wanting to know."

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all. I know the poor man was sweating wanting to know why you're really here. I mean, after all you did dismiss the poor man immediately upon our arrival as he came out to greet you."

"Thanks, Dad, I shouldn't be too long. Go ahead and look around some more if you want." Bella told him as she walked to Babcock's office. She looked back once before entering the office to make sure that Charlie was going to be okay until she was able to get this meeting done. It seems that her dad had begun to engage Babcock's PA into conversation as he asked questions and the young woman was answering them as much as she was able.

After seeing that her father was occupied, Bella knocked on Mr. Babcock's door and then entered. She saw Babcock look up from the documents he appeared to be looking over and saw his reaction to seeing her entrance into his office. Mr. Babcock appeared to be a bit nervous, but he did manage to cover it well. To anyone else they might not have noticed, but Bella was very astute when it came to body language of the people around her.

Bella smiles as she advances toward Babcock and then she does try to put him at his ease by saying, "I know that you aren't nervous around others, so I have to assume that you are only that way because I'm your boss."

Sensing that Bella was joking with him, in a fashion while making an effect to put him at his ease, he smiles as he rises to move from behind his desk to meet her halfway. "You're correct. Your appearance here is a bit unexpected at this time."

"Why? Surely you knew that I would want to check up on how the meeting went with Mr. Cullen? After all he is an A-lister in this town and his name carries a lot of weight." Bella questioned and explained as she moved to take a seat in front of Babcock's desk. She took that approach as a means of showing that he was in charge and that she was only checking about how things have started out with the signing a such a well-known client.

"To be honest, it was probably in the back of my mind, but I didn't envision your visit to be this quick after my meeting with Mr. Cullen." Harold Babcock replied in response to Bella's questions.

All she did was smile and then asked him to fill her in on how the meeting did go. So, with that request, Babcock did just that. He let her know that Mr. Cullen and he went over everything that was in the contract that had been presented the day before. "And, as we went over each item all Mr. Cullen did was nod once but asked no questions. However, he did keep indicating for me to continue on to the next item in the contract.

"Then as we got to the end all he did was ask for a pen and he signed the contract. He didn't seem to be dissatisfied with anything that he had been offered but was happy with all that had been discussed.

"But, Mrs. Herndon, he did make a strange comment after signing the contract" Mr. Babcock concluded with the briefing that Bella had requested from the man.

"And what strange comment did Mr. Cullen make?" Bella asked since it appeared that Babcock wasn't going to tell her immediately.

"He said, "It seems that she knows everything that I could want or need.", then he smiled, shook my hand and left the office with the smile disappearing only to be replaced with a frown.

"Of course, he had another man with him which seemed to be someone acting as his agent at that time, but appeared, to me at least, to have no knowledge of what was a good or bad offer. So, in my opinion, Mr. Cullen has made the right decision to switch to us."

At Mr. Babcock's last observation, Bella smiled as she agreed with his comment, but offered nothing in return. However, she did tell the man that she was happy with the results and to keep up the good work. With that said she got up, shook hands once more and left the office to join Charlie out front. Father and daughter left the office to return to The Her Agency.

Once Bella had stepped inside the office her P A informed her that Mr. Cullen had stopped by to see her for a few moments. But since she wasn't available, he left the message that he would try to get in touch with her a little later.

XXXXXX

Edward and Emmett returned to Edward's home to discuss the meeting they had just left and to have lunch with Carlisle and Esme. Of course, Emmett being more observant than what he was given credit, couldn't resist asking the questions that he should have kept to himself. "Edward, what seems to have you in such a foul mood? Bella decided to cast your ass aside already? If so, what the hell did you do wrong?" He asked jokingly.

All Edward did was to shoot a sharp look over at his friend and refused to comment one way or the other. And, Emmett had a shocked expression on his face when he saw that Edward wasn't laughing at his joke. That caused the poor man to wonder what the hell had happened between Edward and Bella.

After giving Emmett a sour look, Edward felt bad about how he was reacting to Emmett's teasing, so he apologized and then explained about the phone call gone wrong from just that morning.

"Damn, man, what could have caused her to react that way? Do you have any idea?" Emmett responded to what Edward had told him. "I wonder if maybe Rosie might have an idea what could be the cause behind such a rejection?" Emmett continued to wonder aloud. "Say, why don't I call Rose and see if she might have some insight as to what the problem might be. I mean, after all she, Alice and Bella are all really close. Maybe Bella might have mentioned something to her."

And, at Emmett's suggestion, Edward agreed as he continued driving them both to his house. Edward still hadn't explained to his parents about what had caused his attitude this morning. And, he didn't want to get them involved now. So, hopefully some answers could be gotten before they reached Edward's house.

Emmett used his phone and dialed Rosalie's number. It took three rings before Rosalie answered and Emmett didn't waste any time in explaining why he was calling. Also, Rosalie didn't hesitate to answer what she thought the problem might be as she said, "In one word, ALICE."

"Honey, I'm going to put you on speaker so Edward can listen to your explanation also." And, that is exactly what he did after Rosalie agreed to it. Once that was done Emmett encouraged her to continue by asking, "What did you mean by saying 'Alice'?"

"Alice was busy on her phone this morning trying to start planning everything or organizing, I should say, all things that had to do with the plans that Edward and Bella were making."

"Everything?" Edward couldn't help but ask.

"Everything, including the baby shower. I mean she was in full organizing mode and wasn't ready to see reason. So, I would say that she was on the phone this morning carrying on about some of these things not only with me, but with Bella also and Bella had had enough.

"With that in mind, I would suggest that you might consider that when Edward called her, she might have assumed that it was her sister once more calling, not quite ready to give up as yet trying to get Bella to agree to her ideas."

"What the hell does any of our plans, mine and Bella's, have to do with Alice?" Edward asked and not trying to hide his irritation over what Rosalie had just told them and suggested.

"Edward, I honestly don't think that she realizes that she's being a pain in the ass, but she is excited about everything that has to do with Bella finally moving forward and letting go of the shadow that James Herndon has been casting over Bella for quite some time now.

"In fact, I have to say that I'm also delighted to see that Bella is letting go of the past, as well, and looking forward to a future with you. You've been good for her and to her. And, all of us that love Bella are grateful for that."

With that statement, Edward did something that he never does and that is blush. He was used to praises of all kinds for his work, his looks and things of that nature, but not for loving someone as he loves his Bella. However, what Rosalie revealed about Alice did answer a lot of the questions that had puzzled Edward. And, he had to admit that if the circumstances were reversed, he would probably have reacted the same way automatically assuming it was the person that was refusing to take no for an answer when the phone rang one more time. Especially, if that person had a habit of not taking no for an answer.

XXXXXX

After Bella and Charlie left The Male Agency, Charlie suggested for both of them to head over to Edward's. Bella looked over at her father with a questioning look and he was quick to explain, "That way we can get a good idea of what you might want to move over there and what you might want to put into storage. That is until you decide what you want to do with the things in storage."

"Dad, you don't fool me for one damn bit. You're wanting to go over to Edward's to give me the chance to try to fix things. However, you're forgetting that I need to get back to The Her Agency. I do have some appointments scheduled for this afternoon."

"Nobody said that we had to stay the whole afternoon. But you do need to take the time to explain things before too much time has passed and things begin to get out of control. The imagination does have a way of running away with itself and bending things out of shape. My advice is not to let that happen." Charlie quietly told her.

Then before Bella could make any sort of comment back to that advice her phone began ringing. She quickly answered and it was Rosalie giving her a call. This surprised Bella since she hadn't taken the time to check who was calling. She had no idea why Rosalie would be calling at this time since she was due on location shortly for a photoshoot.

Rosalie quickly explained the purpose of her call and of course, it had to do with Alice's calls from that morning and the misunderstanding that took place between Bella and Edward. "So, Bella, instead of waiting, I really think that it would be wise to talk with Edward as soon as you can."

"I intend to, but I don't know how upset he is with my actions from this morning." Bella replied.

"I don't think he is really all that upset, but more like confused to a certain extent. After Emmett had told me what had happened this morning, I did explain to both Emmett and Edward what I thought had occurred. But, Bella he does need to hear it from you in fuller detail.

"He's been, all morning according to Emmett, thinking that he had done something wrong that had you wanting to break off the engagement and break up with him."

"That's crazy!"

"Yeah, that's what I told him."

"Okay. Dad had suggested going over to Edward's before heading back to my office. I guess from what you just told us that I need to see Edward now instead of later today."

So, that is what she did. Charlie kept Carlisle and Esme busy while Edward and Bella discussed the misunderstanding from that morning. And, as it turned out, the misunderstanding led to some major decisions being made.

It was decided that Alice could plan the baby shower only, but it was going to be hands off of everything else until Edward and Bella made other decisions on their own. However, Bella did tell Edward that she didn't want to get married until after the baby was born.

With those decisions made the couple moved on to discussing the upcoming move in and began walking through the house to decide what Bella would bring with her and what would go into storage.

It was during the walkthrough that Bella decided what she would do with everything: what she would bring and what was to be done with the rest of the stuff. She told Edward and then they both of them went down to tell the parents.

Bella had decided to bring only her personal things and to auction off the rest and to start a foundation for abused individuals, men, women and children. And, she would also turn the Herndon house into a shelter for persons that needed a temporary place to stay until they could get their life back on track.

Esme, especially, thought that was a good idea and asked to help with the project. And, Charlie, without knowing what Bella and Edward had decided to do about Alice, suggested to putting Alice's talents towards helping with the project as well.

A/N: Sorry it has taken me longer than usual to get this chapter posted. With the holidays and then some family issues it just took a bit more time to get it written.

So, knowing that a lot of you are going to be upset with Alice again, but she is just really wanting to help in her own unique way of doing things. She isn't really meaning to be a pain in the ass. But, what did you think of Bella's idea concerning getting rid of James's home and then of Charlie's idea where Alice was concerning?

Reviews and comments are always welcome and hope you'll take the time to let me know what you think. We are just a few chapters away from having this story completed.