DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me. I just love playing around with the characters we all know and love. :-)

Authors Notes:

***I'm so grateful for everytone's patience and well wishes with all my personal issues. Again I will never abandon my stories but updates may take time.

***Edward's POV is back

***Some new characters this chapter

CHAPTER #14: Unsecured Claim

EPOV

"Mr. Cullen, umm you have a visitor."

"Who?" I didn't remember having an appointment this early. I glanced at my watch just as my office door swung open. My jaw clenched as soon as I saw who it was. I hung up my desk phone, cutting off off any answer my secretary was about to give, not that I needed one now.

"Edward..." His parasitic tone had a way of making me physically hate my own name, or rather any word or sound that came from him.

"Mr. Cullen." I corrected him vehemently. He laughed while ignoring my less then pleased expression. He walked into my office like he owned the place and sat down casually at the chair across from me. His smile was triumphant while his eyes were calculating.

"Eddie Boy, how have you been?"

"Firstly, don't call me Edward, or Eddie, or anything besides Mr. Cullen. I'm your superior. Secondly,..." He cut me off with a loud laugh.

"You aren't my boss, EDWARD. I work for the DA, remember?"

"I didn't say I was your boss, I said I was your superior." His eyes narrowed slightly as I continued. "AND while you are in this building consulting for THIS firm I actually am, in fact, your boss." He didn't respond which was a surprise.

"Before you rudely interrupted me... I believe I was speaking." His temperament changed and he smiled patronizingly while waving his hand as though he was allowing me to speak. "Who the hell do you think you are just walking into my office?"

"Do I need a reason to visit?"

"Leave." I wasn't in the mood for James' bullshit, not that I ever was. He had an ability to always put me in the worst mood. Add in a brief encounter with Tanya this morning, and I was officially 'on edge'.

"Awww, don't be like that." I stared at him coldly, not giving away my emotions. "I didn't receive an email about the board meeting this afternoon." He was baiting me. He desired to leave the public sector for the benefits of a private firm, but loved the reputation and power he had to much to simple start at the bottom here. In other words, he was using who his father was to try and skip as many steps as possible. This of course just made me hate him more than I already had. I despised people who took short-cuts. I have always worked hard and expect no less from anyone else who works here.

"That's because you aren't a board member."

"I will be."

I laughed, genuinely humored by his arrogance, and that seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. "Not if I have any say about it."

"You aren't the only Board Member with a vote Edward."

I did my best to ignore his refusal to speak to me professionally. "I'm the one with the most sway of all of them." His lips pursed just slightly as he searched for what to say. He knew I was right. I was highly respected by the board, and that included James' father. My opinion counted far more than James liked. He and I have hated each-other for years and the feelings only grew with each interaction. His father, Caius, had pushed and pushed to have his PROSECUTER son given consulting rights here in his attempt to get James a reputation with the rest of the board which could lead to him working here full time. I had fought the motion hard as having a prosecutor here could be considered a conflict of interest since our criminal defense attorneys went up against the whole DA's office regularly, including him. Honestly it wasn't just personal feelings on my part either as James really couldn't help elsewhere since his only real background was criminal law. Essentially he was not only aggravating, he was useless. The board had agreed with me on my assessment about him being anywhere near our criminal cases, but that didn't stop his father from getting his son put on the books anyway as a 'consultant'.

Caius's reason for doing this was obvious. He wanted his son to not only collect a salary from us, which was most likely a great deal more than he made at the DA's office, but he also wanted to keep James front and center for promotions into the inner circle of this firm. Over my dead body would that ever happen. The man was a blood thirsty megalomaniac who cared about just two things. Those things were winning and hurting as many as possible to do it.

His expression changed and I internally tensed, knowing he was about to bring up something I would hate. "I spoke to Tanya." Yep, he knew my buttons.

"Good for you."

"She was quite upset about what you're pulling with Lizzie."

"I'm warning you not to discuss my daughter, EVER. Do I make myself clear?" He smiled but remained silent. I had no idea what Tanya saw in James of all people, as a confidant, but I probably didn't want to know the answer to that particular conundrum.

"Fair enough, besides there's plenty of other things we can talk about."

Was I a masochist for having about to ask what other things he was referring to? Luckily I didn't get a chance to find out as for the second time, my door swung open without warning. This time however it was a welcomed face.

"Edward!" He drew my name out gleefully and in his usual booming volume. He stopped when he saw who was in the room with me. He glanced between us, clearly getting a feel for the atmosphere, before literally shrugging and continuing as if James wasn't even there. This seemed to piss James off just enough to wipe the arrogant look off his face that had been in place since he came in. Leave it to my brother to rub someone wrong without actually doing anything. I smirked slightly at the aggravated James. Sometimes I really loved my brother.

"Emmett." I tried to match his enthusiasm without being nearly as loud.

"You, me... gym." I rolled my eyes.

"Emmett we were going to go tomorrow."

"Last minute shift change at work so I'll be occupied tomorrow." His eyes flashed to James who looked put out that we were now ignoring him.

"I have plans Emmett." Clearly this was the wrong thing to say as James' earlier mood returned with a vengeance. He smiled at me and cleared his throat before speaking.

"That's right." His tone made my skin crawl. "I saw you at the fundraiser the other night, and you weren't alone. In fact your company had been quite lovely."

"I swear to God James if you are about to speak in any sordid way about our baby sister I will kill you and dispose of the body. Law firm be damned." It was Emmett that spoke up now. I would have said something similar but I somehow knew that James wasn't speaking about Alice. He must have seen me with Bella as that was the only thing that explained his behavior. The man could smell a situation he could exploit from a mile away.

The asshole laughed at Emmett's promise and didn't even look away from me as he did. "What interest would I have in her, there were more alluring women to behold."

"What the Hell does that mean?" Poor Emmett. His tone suggested he was torn between being thrilled that James wasn't interested in Alice while also finding the lack of interest to be insulting to her. Always the inner softy...

James didn't respond and neither did I. Instead we had a stare off with neither giving in. I just knew he wanted to say something about Bella and I also knew that there was a limit to how much I could take before I would seriously contemplate murder. "I was referring to the young brunette in the black dress I saw take the elevator with you. Far away from prying eyes, one might say." Such a statement could be meant in a playful way, suggesting that I just wanted innocent time alone with her, but that certainly wasn't what James was implying. He was assuming I had taken her to my office to have sex with her. Normally I could ignore James's crudeness easily as he was always an asshole with regards to women but since it was MY girl he was 'imagining' things with I was getting more pissed off by the second.

"That 'one' being you, I presume?" James chuckled at my diversionary tactic. He knew he was getting to me, despite my poker face. As I said the guy was a shark that excelled at smelling blood.

"I'm not the only one that noticed her, Eddie. In fact I doubt any male in the vicinity wasn't starring at her. She was a beauty... Very, very beautiful" I chose not to say a thing, but continued to stare. Nothing I could say would keep this situation from escalating and I knew it.

"Was that Bella?" My brother asked in a confused tone. I tensed and silently cursed my brother. I didn't want James to know anything about her or our relationship, not even her name. He had a way of ruining things and there was nothing he loved more than pissing me off. My brother's words invoked a feeling of protectiveness in me and my desire to keep James away from all things related to Bella increased ten fold. Even this man knowing her name and seeing her from afar felt like a violation. I didn't want him near anything as good as her.

As I had an inner struggle to reign in my emotions regarding the new woman in my life who was fast becoming quite dear to me, James smirked in triumph.

"Bella... what a fitting name."

I instantly hated him more for even uttering her name. "Watch yourself James."

"What did I say?" I could feel my blood boiling at his faux innocence. "She was gorgeous... and very young."

"What are you getting at exactly?"

He actually shrugged. "Just making an observation. There's no need to get defensive." His tone as well as his smile caused me to feel just that, defensive. "Who is she?"

"She is none of your damn business."

"Why? Because she's yours?" Nothing I could possibly say would deter him at this point and I knew it. He was the shark and she was the blood. Her being beautiful, strike one. Her being off limits, strike two. Finally her being MINE, strike three. She was officially the new toy that James wanted.

"Get the Hell out of my office." To Hell with propriety at this point. I couldn't stand him and I just needed him gone. I rose from my desk to illustrate that the conversation was beyond over.

"Hey, hey." Emmett stepped between us as James had risen at the same time I did and seemed thrilled by my reaction. "Let's not do anything stupid."

"Stupid like bringing young girls to our private offices?"

"Fuck off James."

"I'm not judging. I applaud you." He mockingly clapped while my brother more or less pushed me back from punching James right here. My body looked in full control as was my facial expression but inside was an entirely different story.

"Seriously do Fuck off James." Emmett spoke this time and his normally laid back voice turned serious which was a scary tone for him to have. The man was NEVER serious.

"I'm just curious about whatever game you're playing Edward. It's not like you."

"I'm not playing any game."

"Really? She looks like a fun toy." As clever as I'm sure he thought he was, in reality he just sounded like an adolescent ass.

"Games are for children and toys are for little boys who think they're men."

James didn't seem to have a comeback to my accurate observation and Emmett took the opportunity to more or less push James out of my office before slamming the door closed. He turned around to look at me and immediately started laughing.

"Seriously dude, RELAX." My eyes narrowed at Emmett but my rather tense body did calm a bit. "The guy is a tool, just ignore him."

Frankly that pissed me off a bit. "How would you have handled him saying such things about Rose?" I had him there. Emmett was just as protective and possessive as I was and he never handled his wife's unwelcome admirers well, and she had many over the years. His smile dropped before he glanced back at the door then looked back at me with a completely serious expression.

"Okay where do we dispose of the body?" His calm tone in contradiction to the humor in his eyes made me laugh, hard.

"VICTORY!" He raised both hands in the air in a touchdown pose. "I got my straight-laced, ultra serious, stick-in-the-mud brother to laugh even after a confrontation with the biggest asshole in the world!" I continued to chuckle at his antics as he did his own version of an in-zone dance. "Do you know how I did that?" I knew what answer he wanted and I figured he earned it, if for no other reason than having prevented me from going to prison for murder.

"Because you're awesome?" I couldn't resist giving him my response as a question, just to mess with him.

"Because I am FUCK-awesome!" I rolled my eyes but smiled at my goofy younger brother. "We shall celebrate my victory with my brother buying me lunch after our work-out."

"I did have plans Emmett." I was already about to tell my assistant to reschedule them for me but I had to give him a hard time.

We headed out the door and stopped by my assistant's desk. "What plans are more important than hanging out with the coolest guy in the world?"

"Jessica would you please reschedule my meeting as I apparently have the rare opportunity of spending the day with the coolest guy on the planet." I rolled my eyes as she laughed but nodded, while typing away on her computer.

He patted my back roughly before more or less strutting to the elevator. I shook my head but followed. We stepped in and stood next to each-other as we faced forward. Just as the doors started to close Emmett cleared his throat. I turned to him and his smile was wide. "So this Bella got the grand tour did she?"

I chuckled and shook my head while pressing the button for the lobby, but gave no other response. The elevator started to descend and Emmett bumped my shoulder a few times until I finally turned and gave him my attention. "What is it?" This time it was his turn to chuckle.

"Exactly how beautiful is this girl?" His eyes were narrowed playfully. I sighed but pulled out my phone so I could scan through the pictures. I found the perfect one instantly as I had taken it the last time I'd picked Lizzie up from school. She had wanted a picture with Bella and so they posed together. Lizzie had her arms around Bella tightly as Bella stroked her hair affectionately. Lizzie was glancing up at Bella slightly in the picture with so much joy on her face and Bella was smiling beautifully. I handed Emmett the phone and watch with a little to much joy as his mouth dropped.

"God damn she's hot." I laughed as the elevator chimed and the door opened. We stepped from the elevator and as we walked I looked back to notice his eyes were still on the picture. I grabbed the phone out of his hands forcefully and glanced at it again before pocketing it. "Hey..." He looked a bit put out by me taking my phone back.

"Don't you have a wife to give that much focus to?" I raised my brow at him and he glared.

"I wasn't checking her out jack ass I was trying to figure out how you..." He gestured to me dismissively, "...got a girl THAT out of your league." He smirked as I glared.

"Fuck you." I opened the door and he laughed while following me to the parking garage.

…...

"Such a wuss." I rolled my eyes as I continued benching weights with my very much unwanted spotter.

"I'm not a wuss, asshole."

He had the nerve to 'tsk' me while shaking his head. Dick... "I bench a minimum of 80 pounds more than this."

"That's because you're a muscle headed show off." He laughed at my insult.

"Ladies like a man with definition."

"Ladies like me just fine. Low weight, high reps... it keeps me from looking like a roided up freak." He crossed his giant arms and I swear flexed as he did.

"What does Bella like?" Here we go...

"Obviously me as she's dating me." I continued lifting while ignoring his clumsy subject change.

"I've gotta ask bro. How old is she?"

"What the hell concern is it of yours?" I was well aware how overly defensive I was getting but I hated this topic. I had finally gotten past all my idiotic reservations involving Bella's age and now that I had I didn't want anyone else in our lives bringing up a topic I've already buried.

"Jeez, easy there tiger." He held up his hands and smiled gently. I rested the bar and got up to find an elliptical. He followed but rather than get on one next to me he stood in front of mine, watching. I ignored him as I started on it. "Seriously man I'm not trying to upset you. I was just curious." I nodded but my displeased expression didn't drop. I was a very private person and always had been. My relationship with Bella was only making this side of my nature more pronounced. Her age, her innocence, her amazingly kind and understanding nature just made me want to keep her more to myself. Whether it was out of an archaic need to protect her or genuine concern that I would somehow lose her I really didn't know.

Emmett eventually hopped on the machine next to mine and I breathed a little easier. I knew my family acted out of love but I really disliked discussing my love-life with anyone. "How's everything going with Rose and...?" My words trailed off as I didn't know what words to use involving their fertility problems.

"Rosalie is back on the idea of using a surrogate but I'm hesitant."

"Why?" My question was referring to both of them. Why did she want that and he didn't?

He sighed and rubbed his hands down his face in aggravation. "Well I know Rose and I know that her seeing another woman doing what she can't... she'll feel...uggg."

"It's not her fault." Rosalie had undergone some rather traumatic things in her past which resulted in her having damaged reproductive organs that essentially meant she may never get pregnant.

"I know that!" He more or less snapped at me but I knew he was frustrated over the situation and not at me. Emmett was born to be a dad and Rose was made for motherhood. It was completely unfair that such naturally born parents had no children of their own. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay."

"I still like the idea of adoption. We would get to help a child in need and/or a birthmom in need of options for her kid, we get to potentially pick the gender..." He shrugged and I patted his shoulder.

"What's her thoughts on that?"

"She likes those ideas but she wants a child that looks like us. She says she wants a son with my smile." Part of me wanted to joke around with him about something so corny but I knew this was a serious conversation so I held my tongue.

"What are you guys leaning towards?"

He let out a big sigh as he slowed his machine to a halt. "I know Rose wants to go through with the surgery but doesn't want to bring it up again."

"The surgery could work."

He shook his head. "It's a major surgery Edward. A surgery that has high probability of not working, after which she would need IVF which ALSO has a chance of being unsuccessful." He hopped off the machine and I followed as walked towards the pool to swim some laps. "I just don't want to think of complications during a surgery and then for Rose to take more hits from the doctors telling her yet another thing hasn't worked."

"Maybe everything will work out." He laughed without humor at my statement.

"Yeah because everything has worked up to this point." He wasn't hiding his sarcasm. "You don't understand..."

"Understand what?"

"All of you only see the STRONG Rose which she is most of the time, so strong... but sometimes she's far from the powerful dedicated woman you all know. I see all of her and I see how much each failure kills her and leaves scars that will never heal."

I was about to respond but he continued. "The hits keep coming to her and I hate seeing the most powerful woman in my world continue to take each one and not be able to help her."

"What do you mean by hits that keep coming?"

"Look I don't want you to take this the wrong way." I starred at him in confusion. We were in the locker rooms getting ready to swim now. "It's hard for Rose to see you... and Lizzie. It's everything that she wants and feels she will never have." Emmett and Rose had been together since long before Tanya and I and it was always known that Tanya and I hadn't wanted kids so when we became pregnant, by pure accident no less, I suppose it made sense that Rose would be made even more resentful of her predicament.

"Emmett..." I suddenly felt extremely guilty for all the times that I asked Rose and him to watch Lizzie, how many times in the past Tanya had complained about pregnancy symptoms.

"STOP that." Emmett gave me a playful smack in the back of the head. "I can see the guilt trip in your eyes. Rose LOVES and adores Lizzie and loves spending time with her at every available chance but that doesn't mean it doesn't make her long for a child of her own.

"I wish you had told me all of this."

"So you could feel guilty for being a dad? That's moronic Edward."

He was right but I still hated how my being a parent could make her feel like a failure. "Well if there's anything you guys need please don't hesitate to ask me." In the past Emmett and I had briefly discussed the routes he may take with adoption and I could help with any legal paperwork required.

…...

We were pretty quiet as we swam and I felt bad for bringing the fertility topic up as usually our gym visits were light-hearted and most likely an escape from all of it for him. I took a deep breath as we took a break next to the indoor pool. Emmett had revealed a lot of deeply personal stuff and hadn't hesitated to do so while I had practically cut him off even mentioning Bella. I wished I could lean on him as easily as he did me.

"It's her birthday on Saturday."
"Whose?" He looked at me bewildered.

"Bella's. It's her birthday on Saturday."

"Wow the first holiday together?" I nodded, immediately tense at the thought of discussing her. "What are you gonna get her?"

Now that was the question. "I'm not sure yet. We haven't been seeing one another for that long so I don't know what would be... appropriate." Appropriate seemed as good a word as any. While yes Bella and I hadn't known one another long I still wanted to get her something special. That on top of the fact that she was turning 21, a very significant birthday, meant I really wanted to get her something she loved.

"What's she into?"

"Teaching, children, art, cooking, reading..." She was a simple girl which actually made finding the perfect gift harder as she was the type to value something cheap that had emotional meaning than anything materialistic. This put me in unknown territory as I was only experienced with the more flashy gift giving.

"Quite the domestic girl you have there." He smiled as I glared a bit. He clearly noticed how opposite she sounded from Tanya. "How about a weekend getaway?" He obviously thought that was a great idea as he seemed quite proud of the idea.

"No, that defiantly wouldn't work." Bella and I had only had one official date at this point, and a weekend away implied sex would be included. That was not something I was going to be assuming for Her birthday gift.

"Why not? It's something you two can do together and with how much of a workaholic you are I'm sure she would love it."

"She has a lot going on with the school right now due to the upcoming holiday break, her art class' project, PTA meetings, not to mention she's been wanting to get a head start on her own school work." None of this was strictly untrue though the details may have been a little exaggerated. There was no way I would be mentioning Bella and I's sex life, or lack thereof, to him though. He would become relentless if he knew I hadn't slept with her yet. Teasing me with performance assisting drugs and asking if I had anxiety over trying to keep up with a younger woman. Brothers can be dicks that's all there is to it.

"She's still in school?"

FUCK. I hadn't mentioned that before to him. "Yes, her masters program."

"Impressive... so she's in her mid-late twenties?" He hesitated when asking and I internally flinched. It was now or never.

"She's 20." I couldn't help but stare right at him when I revealed her age, He starred right back at me and I saw his lips move slightly, either hesitating to respond or fighting laughter.

"She's 20?" He dragged out the age slowly almost like he was testing how the word sounded, since it was so foreign to him.

"21 on Saturday." He blinked a couple times but didn't speak right away.

"Your girlfriend is 20 years old?" Did he hear me say she was turning 21?

"No matter how many times you say it, nothing is gonna change." My defensiveness was coming back.

"Does she know how old you are?"

"Yes asshole she's well aware."

He held his hands up in defense. "I'm not judging it's just a very large...gap."

"14 years yes I'm aware." Once she was 21 our age difference was officially 14 years instead of 15 and I was holding onto that little detail.

"Huh... wow."

"Wow?" I narrowed my eyes at him but he didn't seem to notice my hostility.

"So she's gorgeous,..." He started counting off her traits on his fingers. "...apparently extremely smart, adores your daughter, is very young, and miraculously puts up with your old serious ass... sounds like a keeper. If you let that girl go you're officially the dumbest guy I know." I laughed as I shook my head.

I was surprised by how relieved I was to finally talk with someone about Bella. I knew that Bella had told Angela about me but other than that no one else really knew the details about us and the only person that had really even seen us together was Lizzie, and she didn't see much.

"So you still didn't help me with a gift idea." We were heading out the gym now. He thought about it for a minute before getting an evil gleam in his eyes.

"How about beer... you know, for the newly legal adult?"

I punched him hard in the shoulder for that remark though I knew he meant it in good humor.

"Owww. Does she know how abusive you are?" He rubbed his shoulder and I smiled triumphantly.

"I suppose I'm gonna need to go to an expert for gift ideas." I rolled my eyes as he complained about being replaced. I had just hoped into my car when I got an incoming text, it was Bella. I smiled as I read it.

"Having a good time?"I had texted her earlier to let her know I was going to the gym with my brother.

"Had. I'm leaving now."

"How's your brother doing?"

"Excellent, he enjoys teasing me." I rolled my eyes as I thought of how often Emmett had laughed at me today.

"What did he tease you about?"

"What didn't he tease me about? Work, James, You..."

"He knows about me?"

"Of course." I was downplaying the significance of that fact. Bella knew I didn;t make it a habit of telling my family about women I was seeing as I didn't feel the need to when the relationship was new and I didn't know where it was going. By admitting that my brother knew about her I was admitting that I saw a future with Bella, without actually saying so.

"What did you tell him?" I swear I could feel her nervousness through the phone as I read the text. My innocent girl...

"How hot you are." I knew that would make her smile.

"I'm serious Edward..." Oh how I loved when she got firm with me.

"What makes you think I'm not as well?"

"Why would you tell him that?"

"Because it's the truth. You are gorgeous Bella."

"Thank-you." I could almost hear her timid voice responding to my compliment.

"You're very welcome Beautiful."

"I can't believe you told your brother I'm hot." I laughed as I realized she thought I was serious about that

"I'm kidding I didn't."

"Really? Thank God. I would have been mortified whenever I meet him." I loved that she didn't write 'if' with regards to meeting him but 'when'.

"He did however see a picture of you and said it himself." I laughed knowing she would be red at that piece of information.

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope. I believe his exact words were 'God Damn she's hot'." I chuckled picturing her eyes widen as she read that.

"Seriously Edward..." Ahhh the gently scolding tone I adored.

"The man isn't blind."

"What's your plans for tonight?" Clearly someone wanted a subject change.

"None, how about you?"

"Avoiding Angela and whatever she's planning to do to me on my birthday."

"Isn't that my job?" If she hadn't blushed yet during this conversation she certainly would now. I was getting increasingly more inappropriate with my flirting towards Bella but I couldn't help it. I was crazy about her and the more interactions we had the more I wanted her.

"Behave"

"No"

"Why must you say things like that?"

"Do we need to have the 'because you're hot talk' again?"

"No. :-)"

"Just a couple days away. Are you excited?" I took pity on her innocent nature and brought us back to the topic of her birthday.

"A little. I'm going to miss you though."

"Girls only is still the rule huh?"

"Yes... unfortunately."

"Go out with me tonight." I hadn't actually planned anything but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss her like crazy. We had only really seen each-other in passing since our first date and I wanted to see her again.

"Yes."

END NOTES (Don't read until after you've already read the chapter as there may be spoilers):

-PLEASE REVIEW

-What sis everyone think of Emmett. I hope you enjoyed him.

-Sorry again for slow updates. I've been so busy

-BPOV next. This wasn't an especially long chapter but not the shortest either.

- To my "The Royal Imprint" fans... Please know I am working on it but it's coming even slower than this one. I'm having lots of trouble with it... so sorry...