This is a fictional story and not all of what you'll read is 100% accurate- obviously. Sometimes you have to fudge reality to make things more interesting.

EPOV

"Did you know the FBI can investigate major crimes that take place on Indian reservations?"

For the past hour I'd been getting bits and pieces of random information from Bella as she sat on the couch in my office, incessantly scrolling on her laptop. She had her thumbnail in between her front teeth and her eyes moved rapidly over whatever it was that she was reading. I tried to focus on my own ever growing list of things to do but so far I'd only accomplished trying to read the same e-mail five times.

It seemed incredibly hard to believe that twenty-four hours ago we'd been blissfully ignorant of the news that Quil Ateara had dropped on us. Yesterday morning we'd woken up in the middle of nowhere, naked and tangled in the sheets. This morning I'd woken up to find Bella much like what she was now- perched on my couch and scouring the internet for any piece of information she could find that related to the fifteen missing women. Apparently now she'd moved on to reading legislative law about policies and procedures when it came to crimes committed on American Indian Reservations.

When we were younger I'd found her tenacity to be a little endearing- I'd even been able to understand it to some degree. She'd spent the majority of her life being controlled and manipulated by her mother. As an adult she refused to let herself feel out of control of any situation she found herself in. She always fought for what she believed was injustice, regardless of the consequences. But now the absolute disregard for the gravity of the situation felt reckless.

"Am I bothering you?"

I looked up to see her watching me. "No. Why?"

She slowly closed her laptop and sat it beside her. "You look like you're about to scream."

Without realizing it, my body's posture had gone tense and rigid- probably in response to thinking about her reaction. I took a deep breath, trying to relax my shoulders. "I'm fine."

"Edward." Bella stood up and walked towards me.

I leaned my head back on the chair, looking up at her. "What?"

"I promised you I would be careful; that I would let Embry do whatever he needed to before I got involved."

She had.

"And I promised you I wouldn't do anything without talking to you first, right?"

I nodded.

"So." She sat down on the edge of my desk. "What else can I do to make you feel better about this?"

I laughed even though nothing was remotely funny. "Bella, there isn't anything you can do to make me feel better about the fact that a fucking lunatic is hunting down women less than twenty miles from my home- where you, my sister, mother, niece and only about fifteen hundred other women also live."

She tried to get up, obviously annoyed with my answer, but I stopped her by reaching forward to hold her by the hips.

"Do you really want to know what would make me feel better? I want you to understand how serious this is. I want you to stop acting like a vigilante and realize that this is not your responsibility."

"But Emily-"

I shook my head. "You aren't a police officer. You aren't a private investigator. You're her attorney, Bella. So unless we find out that Emily is the one connected to all those missing women then your job is to get her a divorce from Sam Uley. That's it."

"That isn't it."

I stood up directly in front of her now. "This is not your fight. I agree that something has to be done but-"

"My family lives there, Edward. My dad-"

"Would agree with me," I said with one hundred percent certainty. Charlie Swan would absolutely forbid his daughter to step anywhere near the reservation if he knew what was going on. Bella knew it just as well as I did.

Her jaw was locked, eyes knitted together in frustration, and her mouth set in a small pout.

I put my hands flat on the desk, one on each side of her, and leaned down to make our faces even with each other. "I love you, and your immediate reaction to try and help anyone around you, but you can't take on the world by yourself."

Her eyes met mine. "I thought you were done fighting with me about this."

"You thought wrong. I will pick my battles with you, and last night wasn't one of them, but if you think I will just sit here and let you put yourself in the middle of this then you don't know me as well as you think you do."

Bella looked away but I carefully took her chin and held it steady so she was facing me again. I could tell her mind was working- deciding what she should and shouldn't say. Was it worth a fight right now or not?

Finally, she spoke. "You're annoying; you know that?"

I nodded, smiling before I could stop myself. "I could say the same thing about you."

Bella eventually sighed, sounded defeated. "Fine."

This wasn't over, I knew that. She would also pick her battles and was entirely too stubborn for her own good.

"I meant what I said though," my voice was softer now. I released her chin and let my hand move to the side of her face before gently running my thumb over her cheek. "I love you."

She leaned her face up to me. "I love you, too."

I kissed her, just a quick brush of our lips together, but her fingers curled around my tie, pulling me closer. I grinned before leaning over my desk- practically putting her flat on her back.

"Bella," I said in a warning.

"Edward."

Her shoes hit the floor.

"I am fully on board for whatever it is that you're planning but-"

"But?" Bella smiled and it was mischievous and incredibly tempting.

I leaned forward, whispering against her ear. "If you want to continue this then we probably need to lock the door to my office."

She sat up before looking over her shoulder at the door. "Damn it."

"And," I leaned into her again, kissing the skin where her neck and shoulder met. "Jasper will be here in a few minutes."

"Jasper can wait." She sounded breathless as my lips moved across her neck and collarbone.

I reached down, taking the back of her knee, and lifting it over my hip. "Or we could just reschedule entirely."

"Even better." She pulled at my tie, undoing it this time.

I kept wondering when this, the incessant wanting, would start to ease up. The two of us, well past our hormonal teenage years, could get distracted with the slightest touch- forgetting everything else around us because there was this. And it didn't matter where, or when, because when this happened we both knew the other wouldn't say no.

"I'll get the door."

Bella grinned before slipping off the desk. "I'll text Jasper."

Kneeling on the cushion, she leaned over to get her phone from her bag beside the couch. I couldn't stop myself from following behind her and grabbing her hips. She braced herself against the armrest and pushed back into me.

"Edward." Her tone was a playful warning now.

I moved over her and kissed the back of her neck.

"Should I come back later?"

We both froze at the sound of Jasper's voice.

"Yes," I muttered against Bella's shoulder. I didn't have to turn around to know he had a smug smile on his face. "Don't you knock?"

She playfully elbowed me in the stomach before getting off of the couch and turning around. She tried to play off any embarrassment as she straightened her dress, but the full blush on her face and neck was an immediate give away. "Hi, Jasper."

He had the decency to occupy himself with whatever was in his briefcase while we made ourselves more presentable, but once I was seated at my desk and Bella was back to sitting on the couch, he raised an eyebrow at me and grinned. I rolled my eyes and ignored the immediate reaction to remind him that I'd caught him in and my sister in way worse scenarios on more than one occasion.

"So," He let one laugh escape before taking a seat across from my desk. "These are for you. The final drafts for the mill."

"Oh, good!" Bella eagerly took the file folder he'd handed her and started reading over the pages inside.

"And," he took an envelope and handed it to me. "This is the check for the building costs. Once Bella signs it you're good to go."

I took the check and held it up so she could see it. "The Bella Swan Legal Center?"

"No." She walked to me and then pawed around on the top of my desk.

"The Isabella Swan Legal Center?" I asked, handing her the pen she was looking for.

Bella grinned while leaning over the desk and signing her name to both the check and the paperwork for the lumber mill. Once finished, she took a deep breath before standing up straight and handing me both of them. "This guarantees that Hope House will always have the means to operate and expand."

I looked up and her choice of words. "What?"

"Regardless of what happens," She added, knowing I would understand.

Hope House, with or without me, would always have the ability to provide the services needed in the community. She'd said no to taking Renee's place, which meant I would eventually be stepping down, and this was her promising me that the people we served, and our staff, would still be taken care of.

She held out the pen for me to take. "All you have to do is sign."

I stood up but instead of taking it I wrapped my arms around Bella's small frame and held her to me. She squeezed my sides and I could feel her smile against my neck.

She knew that I would leave with her. I had chosen the two of us over everything I'd built in Forks, but that choice didn't come without worrying about what I would leave behind. She was trying to make it easier.

"Thank you," I whispered against her ear.

She kissed me, quickly, and then offered the pen again. I took it this time and gladly added my signature next to hers.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is about more than just building a new legal aid office?" Jasper asked, eyeing both of us suspiciously.

I put the pages back into the correct order before handing them to him. "Bella?"

It was her decision, her news, to share if she wanted to. I stood beside her, a hand on her back, and let her make the choice to tell Jasper or not.

She stalled, putting the check back in the envelope with exact precision, and then looked up to meet his gaze. "I've decided not to take the position that Renee left for me. I won't be staying at Hope House."

Jasper sat back in his chair, obviously upset about her choice.

"Once Emily's case is finished I'll leave. The right way… this time."

"Both of you?" Jasper asked.

Bella looked up at me and I nodded.

"Both of us," I answered for her.

Jasper was silent for a moment and then asked, "Does Alice know?"

Bella nodded. "She's… surprisingly okay with it."

"If you're leaving too," Jasper looked at me. "Then that's two positions that are vacant on the board. What kind of timeframe are you looking at?"

I shook my head. "That is a whole different issue."

"And not a pleasant one." Bella added.

After hearing the entire story, or at least what we'd been told by Quil Ateara, Jasper was pacing in my office. Bella was sitting on the couch, her legs folded underneath her, and was back to chewing on her thumbnail as she watched him pass back and forth in front of her.

"How can this even be possible? Fifteen?"

"In three years," Bella spoke softly. "His private investigator thinks it might actually be more."

Jasper briskly sat next to Bella before pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

He answered as his finger flew across the screen. "Telling Alice not to go to the beach with the kids today. Peter loves to go look for sea glass out there. Did you tell Rosalie? Esme?"

"I will."

Bella looked at me and I met her gaze for a moment before focusing back on Jasper.

"So what… what do we need to do?" He asked me.

"Quil and Embry are coming today. I think Quil and Bella will try and meet with Emily while Embry heads down to the reservation to see if he can find anything out."

Jasper nodded before getting back to his feet and pacing again. "So Sam Uley and Paul Young? You think they're the ones behind this?"

I wanted to say no. I wanted to convince him, and myself, that none of this had anything to do with Emily. Because if it didn't, if they weren't connected, that meant that Bella and I would be one step closer to putting all of this behind us. But naivety would only go so far before the truth was glaringly obvious.

"I think Emily knows whatever it is that is happening down there," Bella answered for me. "I think she is keeping a lot of the truth hidden and only giving me enough information to get her a divorce."

Jasper nodded. "Which should be enough- the physical abuse alone. If that happened here in Forks, Sam would be in jail for assault and no judge would contest her request."

"Right? So why is it that they're so determined to not let her walk away? I mean, it's a fucking divorce, people get them every day."

"Marital privilege," He answered her.

"Exactly."

"But wait," I shook my head, confused. "I thought marital privilege meant you didn't have to testify against your spouse but you could if you wanted to."

"Quileute law considers it a conflict of interest for any spouse to testify against the other," Bella explained. "So if we have proof that her request for a divorce should be granted, and they're still refusing, it would only make sense that they're doing it because she knowssomething."

She stood up and started pacing, taking Jasper's place since he'd sat back down across from me.

"Originally I thought it was just a pride thing- Sam knew someone that could stop the divorce because he just didn't want to let Emily go. You know, that whole macho bullshit from an alpha male? But now… I don't know. Does she know something? Did she see something?"

"Did she participate in something?" Jasper asked quietly. "Is that how she got those scars on her face?"

Bella stopped next to my chair and shook her head. "I think her face was a warning. Sam knew Emily would leave eventually and he put it there as a reminder that she better keep her mouth shut."

"All the more reason why you should stay away," I said under my breath, looking up at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't."

Jasper, who hadn't heard me, continued their previous conversation. "But Emily's never said anything about any of this, right? She's only ever talked about the abuse from before. Never what happened when she left and came back?"

Bella crossed her arms across her chest before leaning against the side of my chair. "Right. I never pushed the issue because I always assumed she'd avoided talking about it due to the trauma. Now though…"

"Someone is going to have to get the answers out of her. It isn't just her life anymore. If this is true, and it's all connected, there are at least fifteen other women- plus their families." Jasper said.

Bella looked down at me. "Do you think we should tell Dr. Miller what's going on? Maybe she needs to be the one to talk to Emily."

I nodded. "I want to wait and see what Embry is able to find out. There's no point in getting more people involved until we know that this is more than just a theory."

Jasper sighed heavily before shaking his head. "But fifteen women?"

The three of us looked at each other, leaving so many unanswered questions hanging in the air.