YOU'RE WHAT!

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.

"Well, were you able to find out any more about who these guys are and how much they really know? Can they identify the shooters from the alley or just describe action itself?"

CHAPTER 15: FACING SOME HOME TRUTHS

"Sorry, Sir, but, we haven't been able to gain any information as to what they do or don't know."

"What about our people on the inside? Have they been able to give us any leads other than what they already have?

"Nothing of any importance has come their way. It seems that an investigation is being conducted, and everyone is being directed to look into certain areas, but, no one person seems to be collecting the information. It's all being directed to one Jacob Black in the Attorney General's office. From there I'm not sure where the information is going."

"Is there anyone we have available in the AG's office that we can call on to help in that direction?"

"I believe we do, but, it isn't someone that we've used directly in the past as none of you, especially the boss, never wanted to take a chance of them being discovered. The boss was saving them for an absolute emergency."

"Go talk with the boss and see if he will consider this enough of an emergency for that source to be tapped by us."

"Okay, but, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I was you." Was all that was said before the man left to go talk with the big boss.

The tall, leanly toned figure of a man stood and walked over to look at himself in the mirror that hung on the wall. He accepted that he was a vain individual and his vanity was fed on a constant basis by the women that sought to be seen with him. For some reason his pale features and white hair drew the women to him; a reason he never really knew the reason why. True, he was a bad boy, but, he didn't give off that appearance, so, it couldn't be because they wanted to hang with 'a bad boy or man'. But, he really didn't give a damn as to their reasoning because in his opinion women were only good for one thing and one thing only, to pleasure him when he wasn't in the mood for it.

Of course, neither of his brothers were of the lame duck variety. They managed to snare their fair share of women also, but, the only problem was Marcus preferred to live too much in the past when his wife was still alive, but upon occasion he was known to help himself to what was available as well. However, if Marcus knew that Aro was the one that had killed her Caius wasn't sure what would happen between the three of them, or, the rest of the family businesses if strife were to come knocking at the door.

Shrugging his shoulders as if to push away such thoughts to send them back into the deepest recesses of his memory where they belonged, Caius continued to consider his image in the mirror. He was trying to make up his mind about going out to search for a new conquest or just to give a call and have someone brought to him out of the new bunch that had recently been acquired. It might be nice to try out one or two before they were shipped off for the auction.

XXXXXX

"Where's Rose?" Sam and Felix asked as they entered the conference room closely behind each other where everyone always met to go over the reports from the day before and then discuss any adjustments that might need to be made in keeping Edward, Jasper and Emmett safe.

"She's with Emmett while he's busy trying to determine how the explosion happened last week. It seems that he can't rest until he finds the answer. He says that his company's reputation is at stake because the other companies that hire him and his crew to do construction work has to feel that his company is trustworthy and uses all safety measures known to man and beyond. And, he isn't comfortable relying on the investigative skills of the federal agencies." Bella answered with a bit of a chuckle.

"Even after all this time that we've managed to keep the three of them safe and alive he still feels that way." Sam responded to her statement with a small smile.

"Well, I guess we need to go ahead and get started and then Rose can be brought up to date when we see her. But, to be honest can you blame Emmett about how he feels when it comes to his company's survival?" Alice suggested and asked without looking up from the paperwork she was studying.

So, the morning passed without any real information standing out in any of the reports handed in by the agents that were assigned to keep a close eye on their charges. They had been paying particular attention to the reports from the agents they had planted in Emmett's company to see if any evidence would come to light indicating how the explosion had happened and who might be the responsible party. But, so far none was slapping them in the face as it appears that it was sheer carelessness on the part of an employee.

And although, none of them have voiced it out loud, each were concerned about whether something similar might happen at Jasper's or Edward's company even though nothing was indicating such a possibility. So, with that fear in the uppermost in all of their minds, it was important to make sure any details that could help prevent such an action from happening again was important to catch before hand. They couldn't afford to leave anything overlooked or passed off as not important.

With the meeting coming to a close Sam and Felix looked at the two women before asking, "What are all of you planning to do this evening?"

"Nothing, really, since Edward is having to get ready for a business trip." Bella answered, but, as the two men continued to look at her she knew what they were waiting to hear. "Don't worry about the trip, he's taking an 'associate' along with him and I've already put two others in place at the same hotel where he will be staying." She explained.

Alice looked at her friend with a questioning look which Bella responded, "He mentioned the possibility of a trip was coming up only a couple days ago and that was when I put the plan in place after getting all the details from him. What kind of pissed me off in the beginning was that he left it so long even then before saying anything about it.

"But, when he did I assigned a couple of agents that have been cleared to go ahead and get in position so they will be ready and undercover for his arrival.

"The bad part about it was that he didn't confirm anything to me until this morning just as I was walking out the door to come in to work." She told her three companions in a very controlled voice as her anger at the man in question was trying to slip through.

As she turned to glance in the direction of the two Marshalls she caught them by complete surprise and saw the small smiles they were sporting before she demanded to know what was causing the slight smiles and glances. They didn't reply immediately, but, Alice did, she informed Bella that Sam and Felix were wanting to know about more of a personal nature of what might be going on between the agents and their charges than the professional one.

"Of a personal nature? What the hell are you talking about Alice? A personal nature, indeed. We three are only pretending to be the guys' girlfriends for appearance sakes and their security." Bella huffed in a voice that indicated she wasn't sure of how she should be reacting.

But, finally after looking at the three people looking back at her she burst out laughing as did the others. Bella knew that Alice and Rosalie were getting very personal with Jasper and Emmett, but, she still maintained a more professional front with Edward. Sure, she refused to lie to herself about her feelings towards Edward, but, she didn't want just a 'come and go' type of relationship that would lead to nothing more than hurt when it was time to move on.

Bella was wanting to leave things of the personal side to be dealt with after the case was over. But, then as she admitted that to herself she knew that mentally, emotionally and physically she was craving more from the one man that was filling a lot of her thoughts. And these thoughts always came at the most unexpected times.

Reaching this point in her thoughts, Bella had totally forgotten about the others that were in the room with her as she was remembering the different times that Edward had acted like he had wanted to take things further than just a pretend relationship. At those moments she was of two minds; one being that she wanted him to continue and the second that she didn't want him to move beyond their current position as she wasn't sure how things would turn out. But, each time the choice wasn't made by her, but, by Edward. He seemed to have a radar built in that would detect her mood and desires. It would tell him when to push and when to back off; he would go just so far and then back off at the point she was ready to say "what the hell". It was with the clearing of a throat that brought her quickly back to the present and jolted her from the path that her thoughts had been taking her.

"Want to tell us where your mind went for a bit of time?" Alice asked while sporting a knowing smirk as she looked at Bella and then over to the two men who were wearing the same expression on their faces.

"Nope, cause it's none of your damn business, but, I'll say that I was weighing my options in making sure that Mr. Cullen was going to be safe while away on his business trip of a couple of days."

The four individuals spent a little bit more time getting their things gathered up and saying their goodbyes to each other as they were leaving. Bella and Alice were getting ready to meet up with Rosalie at the restaurant that wasn't far from their office while Sam and Felix were heading back to their office and then left to go out into the field to check up on the agents that were on guard duty at various sites.

Alice had sent a text to Rosalie letting her know where Bella and she would be waiting to meet with and to bring her up to date as to any changes or decisions. It didn't take long for Rosalie to answer back and said she would be on her way to meet them at the restaurant.

XXXXXX

Bella watched as Edward and the agent assigned to watch over his safety walked through and then away from the security gate. Her emotions were mixed as she watched the two men leave her standing there. She wanted to be the one to go with Edward, but, it would have looked strange if she had gone since it was a business trip and nothing else. So, that was why Ben Cheney was making the trip with him since he was familiar with and had a background into the Public Relations arena. It was the perfect cover for Ben and wouldn't draw any undue attention to Edward or himself.

Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Alice had plans to go to the club this evening and had insisted that Bella go with them, but, she maintained her decision not to join them. She felt that she would better serve the current situation of protecting their charges by doing some work at home and reviewing more of the reports about others in the different departments that had been investigated. Bella needed to know who had been cleared and who were still suspect in the case of addition manpower was needed.

But, as she sat with the files open her mind followed down a different path; a path that had both her and Edward enjoying the afterglow of being together and having made love: not sex, but, love.

A/N: No evidence has been found to point the finger to any particular person, but, seems to point that someone had been careless. Edward's away on a business trip and Bella is feeling rather lost without him being close. Closer than what she has allowed thus far. Is this time apart going to let her make the decision to allow Edward to get closer to her; to let her desire be satisfied?

Hope you will enjoy this story and will let me know your thoughts, ideas and comments as we move forwards.