Thanks to Loopy Lou, Lotty de Bonte, and Sally Hopkinson aka Alice's White Rabbit.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental. The original characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter 3.
"We had a decadent breakfast; we're not really hungry," Bella explained to Carlisle, refusing to take a cookie from the plate, which the old man held right under her nose.
"Pity," their host said. "These are delicious."
He took the plate away and picked a treat himself. He chewed slowly, his eyes closed, nostrils flaring with a prolonged intake of breath.
When he snapped his eyes open, he looked straight at Edward.
"What do you do for a living, young man?" he asked out of the blue. Edward choked on his cookie and spat a few crumbs out.
"Don't worry about that," the old man added. "Just answer my question."
Edward swallowed what remained in his mouth together with his pride.
"Sorry about that. Wasn't expecting an interrogation." He tried to smile politely. "I'm a student. At Seattle University."
"A student? And what's going to become of you? A renowned scientist?"
"An accountant."
"You don't look like an accountant to me. Where's the adventure in that? Don't you like adventure, Edward?"
Carlisle was seated comfortably in an armchair but now leaned forward, attentively awaiting the young man's answer.
"I guess I do," Edward replied hesitantly. "Maybe I'll go to Egypt someday ."
Carlisle stared at him, wide-eyed .
"You think you need to go that far to find an adventure? Bullshit. It's probably waiting right in front of you, here in this room, on this wonderful Saturday afternoon. If you're not deliberately trying to avoid it, that is. Now, how did you meet Bella and Jasper?"
Edward shifted in his seat. He felt like a schoolboy attacked by a bully. But he didn't want to be rude to the old man, so he decided to give him the answer. "I met Bella last night, at a club." The statement sounded lame. Edward couldn't put his finger on the reason, but the whole situation about meeting Bella made a lot more sense than he could put in a sentence. "And I just met Jasper in the morning, in their apartment upstairs." Lamer. Edward knew it, at the bottom of his heart. The universe had made an effort to make this all happen. Mainly, he liked to believe he was destined to meet the girl. Secondly, he was very much pleased to know her flatmate, Jasper. Jasper was a thought-provoking guy. Not that they'd had much of a conversation, but he seemed nice; there were a lot of things Edward wanted to know about Bella and her friend.
"So, you've found out that those two are not a thing, right?" the old man blurted out.
Edward nodded in confirmation, a little confused.
"Why would she pick me up, for starters. I mean, take me to the apartment she shares with him. If they were a thing."
Jasper and Bella listened to the exchange, both of them rather interested. Bella was about to open her mouth and speak but kept it shut. Her neighbor didn't actually need to know about her drunken state last night. In the chair next to hers, Jasper fidgeted.
Carlisle's cellphone chimed at that moment, and his three young guests felt relieved for the interruption, each for their own reasons. Edward felt uncomfortable with what he called an interrogation; Bella was afraid someone would bring up the subject of her short loss of memory; and Jasper didn't like how the two conversed as if he and Bella weren't even present.
"Well, hello, Emmett," the old man spoke, the silvery device firmly held against his ear; he had a little problem with those modern phones so he used an old, monochrome, little piece—so easy to operate. He listened to an obviously long tirade by Emmett, shaking his head from time to time, his eyes closed for a while. What the voice at the other end of the line was saying remained unheard by his company.
"No, don't do anything," Carlisle suddenly barked. "You're on their territory." Then he added, his voice a little calmer, "Wait 'til I call you back. I can't speak now; I've got company."
Carlisle put his phone aside and, with a deep sigh, spoke to his companions.
"Now, excuse me, kids. I've got things to tend to. Maybe I shall see you tomorrow again? Or in the next couple days?"
Rising to their feet, the three mumbled their confirmations and hurried to leave. Bella was the first to address the situation while they climbed the stairs to the third floor. "Phew, that was odd."
Just when he was about to answer, Edward tripped over a step. Jasper was accidentally standing very near, and he stretched his arms instinctively to stop Edward's fall. The two young men found themselves stuck in an uncomfortable embrace, Edward's hip flush against Jasper's groin. They were quick to disentangle their bodies but not before Jasper felt a betraying rush of blood rendering his ears red. A moment later, he noticed similar redness covering Edward's cheeks.
Jane Volturi sighed in contentment and pushed the last drawer closed. All those folders she had to put in alphabetical order, the hundreds of pages she had to go through, the countless photographs, newspaper cutouts, and crumpled postcards; everything was stored, locked, and meticulously enlisted in her notes. Now, she had to type up her notes, save them on the hard drive of her password-protected laptop, then burn the little sheets, which held her handwriting.
Some of the documents in the museum archive were in an awful state, pages ruined by time, or misplaced, some obviously missing. All of them had one thing in common though: they had to disappear. She didn't know what her uncle, Aristotle, was going to do with them. Her mission ended with the listing and descriptions.
She sipped from her coffee cup only to find out there was a mere half-gulp remaining. With a frown on her face, she headed for the vending machine.
There weren't many visitors at the end of the working day; the vast hall was quiet. It was nearing 5 p.m., and everyone would be gone in a little while. The clicking of her high heels was muffled by the wooden floor, but still, the security guy heard it.
"Good afternoon, Jane," the huge, smiling guy greeted her.
"Hello, Emmett," she answered. Dork, she added in her mind. Not giving him a second thought, she went on her quest to find her next cup of coffee.
She heard the buzz of a vibrating phone somewhere behind her. The security guy's steps retreated to his booth. Fine, he won't try to speak to me again, Jane thought gratefully.
Carlisle heard the phone ring four times before Emmett answered.
"Hello," the old man said. "I'm alone now; my company just left. Now listen, here's what we're gonna do." The old man sat cross-legged. His back ached a little. "We have to bypass Jane and get ahold of the "C" folders. Tonight."
A/N Please, review! Any idea what happens next?