Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Kisses!

Don't own.

Ch. 2: There is NO Silver Lining!

I woke to my office door opening, and jumped. Damn, I'd fallen asleep at my desk again.

"Bella? Some people called, they're going to be here in fifteen minutes to talk about buying the—holy…Good God, woman, get dressed! They're going to be here in fifteen minutes and you just rolled out of bed!" Robb shouted at me, throwing his armful of papers into the air and grabbing my arm to make me stand.

It was then I noticed I still had my work clothes on from last night, at the hotel. Why was Robb squawking at me again? Ugh…I was just too tired to care.

Five more minutes, please!

"What?" I said groggily, swatting him away. "I'm awake…now what is it?"

"Some people are going to be here in…fourteen minutes now and you're not dressed! Did you even shower? God, Bella—" his shrill voice exclaimed, as he dragged me to the ladies room. "Alice! Go get Bella's clothes, something professional." He called to a petite, fairy-like girl with dark hair.

I'd never seen her before, but that didn't surprise me. I'd never seen most of my workers before.

He started messing with my hair as I was still trying to grasp what was going on. It was okay for him to be in the ladies room, I remembered, because he was gay. I'd met his boyfriend once, they were adorable…

You see, Robb is one of those metropolitan homosexuals. He had designer glasses, hair currently dyed platinum blonde gone wrong, styled ever so carefully to hold that 'just rolled out of bed' look, and he probably knew every designer in the city personally.

Why he was working as my secretary and not in fashion merchandising, I didn't know.

I didn't really care, either, because he knew what kind of hours I pulled and took care of me. Oftentimes he brought me breakfast, oftentimes he woke me up for my second job, I think he rather looked at me as his child, though he was only a year older than I was.

I still can't believe I'd passed up his offer when he offered to let me move in with him and his boyfriend, when I was having apartment problems…oh wait, I still was! That's right, last night I was evicted. How had I forgotten?

Maybe it's because I hadn't set foot in that apartment for more than fifteen minutes for the past three months. That could be it…

"Stop!" I exclaimed, trying to get his hands off me as he frantically began messing with my hair, combing through it with a comb he pulled out of absolutely nowhere. Well, he was a hair freak, so he probably carried one in his pocket at all times…

He didn't listen, as Alice joined us with an armful of clothes and toiletries.

"What's going on!" I demanded, awake now. Why on earth would Robb be so frantic? Nobody ever came in, I could wear sweatpants to work every day.

In fact, I think I'm going to start doing that. Get some sleep in…

"God, you look like hell." Alice said, handing Robb a spray bottle full of water which he used to smooth my hair, then style it to hide the fact that oh, you know, I was still gross from the previous night. "Robb, let her wash her face so I can do her makeup."

He obliged, listening to this small girl, who then pushed my head down into the sink which was running warm water.

I hadn't been expecting that, and gasped for air, coughing and spluttering, for water had gone up my nose and tried to choke me.

Why was I being manhandled all of a sudden? By…by a freaking pixie, no less! I didn't understand what was going on…

"Bella, Carlisle Cullen is interested in buying your newspaper. He's coming here today, in about seven minutes, to meet with you." Alice said seriously, as she started jabbing me in the eye with an eyeliner pencil.

I hated makeup. I never wore it. Ever…

…wait.

Rewind.

Did she just say Carlisle Cullen was coming to look at my newspaper!

"Robb, get to the desk to greet them, and stall them if you have to." I hissed, as he was still trying to mess with my hair. Alice pulled my hair away from my face on one side with a shiny hairclip, and I finished putting on the pinstriped pants she'd provided, along with a black sleeveless tank top and short gray blazer.

"SHIT!" I shouted, as Alice finished with my makeup, standing on a stepstool to do it.

"What? You look fine, now…"

"My office! I just got kicked out of my apartment, it's a mess!" I exclaimed, as her eyes went wide.

"How bad is it? Can we just move a few things?"

"No! Two and a half taxi's worth of stuff!" I exclaimed, slipping my shoes on and scrambling out to the corridor, where I saw Robb talking animatedly to a very professional looking couple. I stopped dead in my tracks as they saw me, and tried to force a smile.

"A little more and you got it." Alice whispered beside me. I tried harder. "There. Now leave this to me, I know them. And think of an excuse."

I nodded dumbly, trying to get the fear out of my eyes. Carlisle Cullen was here, in my newspaper, and my office looked like a hurricane had just hit it! Of all the days…

"Alice! What a wonderful surprise!" the woman, a beautiful woman who looked not a day older than thirty exclaimed, exchanging a kiss on either cheek with the girl. She had a very motherly face, with caramel colored hair framing it nicely. "I didn't know this was the newspaper you photographed for."

Hey, I didn't either! What a coincidence, we have so much in common…oh wait, we don't, because you're filthy rich and I'm living out of my office. Yes. That's right…

God. I hated rich people.

"It is." She smiled, and hugged the man, as well. He was equally as gorgeous and youthful, with blonde hair, and a contagious smile. He was tall, and looked scholarly. "Carlisle, Esme, this is Bella Swan, editor and owner of the East Side Herald."

"Why, she's so young!" Esme exclaimed, and I just kept up my forced, fake smile.

They seemed nice, for people so wealthy. At least, they weren't flaunting their money. That helped. Maybe I could appreciate them.

"I recently inherited it." I said in explanation, shaking Esme's hand and being surprised by Carlisle taking my hand and kissing it.

"It's a pleasure." He said.

I was floored. Now, that was classy. I'd never seen anything like that done, except in the movies. Men just didn't kiss ladies' hands.

Woah.

"Um…my apartment building is…being painted. I'm afraid my office wouldn't be the best place to chat…you know, moving things out…" I said quickly, before they thought about going inside. "Would you like a tour, instead?"

"That would be delightful." Esme smiled, and I couldn't help but return it.

I was so nervous. This was big. The Cullens? They were one of the wealthiest families in town! And they were interested in my newspaper, my crummy, third rate newspaper that was slowly going out of business…

This could be a big break for me. They buy it, I keep my job as a journalist here, I don't have to worry about managing a paper, and I use the money to pay off some debts. This could be great.

Or this could be awful. I could get my hopes up, then have them dashed. Who would really want this place? It was a mess, it had no talent, we were going out of business…

"Um…let's start with the printing room…"

I led them down the corridor and down the stairs to a room kept locked on the floor below, its sole purpose printing. I began talking about the room itself, and how we printed our papers every morning and they were picked up at six and blahblahblah…it was really boring, but it flowed naturally.

Maybe this is why I was in journalism. I was good at turning crap into gold.

Esme and Carlisle Cullen were polite, and seemed to be listening to every word I said. In fact, they seemed to be eating it up. Like cake.

This was definitely too good to be true. This was lucky.

Odd, usually I was involved with bad luck, not good luck…

God, Bella. Just be happy this is happening. It's a good opportunity, stop jinxing it!

I led them through the lounge, through my co-editor's office, and ended the tour back at the front desk.

"It's simply a charming little place." Esme said with a kind smile. "And you run it by yourself? It must take a lot of hard work."

"I do what it takes." I said with a small smile, shrugging.

I do what it takes? Who the hell was I, the mob? Yeah, Tony, I do what it takes…I get your job done…

Sometimes, I really wanted to shoot myself. This was one of those times. Here I was, with a chance of a lifetime, and I was messing it up.

"We all do. We do our best." I said, trying to redeem myself.

I felt like an idiot.

Here were some highly educated, sophisticated, nice people and I was a bumbling fool. Like that cartoon… "where did he go George, duh, where did he go?"

"Um…feel free too look around some more…and if you have any questions…" I produced a business card from Robb's desk, that he'd slipped into my hands that I held sheepishly behind my back. "Feel free to call…"

"Actually, that's not necessary." Carlisle said with a smile.

My heart fell, and I'm sure my face followed suit.

Here it came. 'I'm sorry, this just isn't what we're looking for.'

He reached into his coat pocket and produced a check book.

Wait.

People who rejected you didn't produce check books. They handed back your card and left, occasionally slamming the door in your face.

"You see, we're buying this for our son. He needs to start showing responsibility. Managing a newspaper…" Carlisle trailed off, as he finished writing the check.

He handed the check to me, and my hand flew to cover my mouth at the amount there. It was almost double what the paper was worth!

"This…this is too much, Mr. Cullen…" I managed to choke out, confused. "I…do you…"

"Oh, that's hardly enough." He laughed at my reaction. "You'll be working with my son. I couldn't pay you enough to do that."

"Mr. Cullen…I…really, I can't accept this, it's not right…"

Isabella Marie Swan. Why on earth are you trying to give back that much money. What the hell is wrong with you! That covers nearly a third of the debt! That's that many thousand dollars you don't have to worry about!

"Please do. Or I'll make it more." He said, mock threateningly.

"Thank…thank you, sir." I was still in shock, and he winked.

"Have a nice day, Miss Swan." Esme said, taking her coat from the peg.

"You…you too." I murmured, as they left. I was still staring at that check, that lump sum of money.

"ROBB!" I shouted, once they were in the elevator going down. He looked up, having been in the other room. "Robb look! What does that say!"

"Oh my god." His reaction was the same as mine, and he immediately swept me up in a hug, spinning me around. "Oh my god! That's amazing!"

He put me down, still grinning, staring at the check in my hand like I was.

I was a third of the way out of my debt. Sure, I couldn't quit any of my jobs, but I only had to work like I was for…maybe seven more years, instead of the twelve to fifteen I'd be doing.

"Alice, what did you do!" he exclaimed, as the petite girl I'd never seen before today stood leaning against the desk, grinning. "Look at this!"

"Engaged." She said smugly, displaying her left hand. "To one of the Cullen sons. Jasper Cullen."

"Is he the one coming here?" Robb asked.

"Oh, Alice I could kiss you!" I exclaimed, elated, picking up the petite girl and swinging her around. She laughed as I let her down, and looked truly happy.

I didn't doubt that everyone in the office knew of my debt problems. I knew Robb knew how bad they were, he was one of my few friends. It's not that I had time for him, it's that I saw him every day at work so we interacted there.

"No, that's his brother." She said with a smile, looking at the ring.

I couldn't help but smile, too.

I was certain it was her connection to this office that caused them to even come here. Maybe Esme hadn't known, but Carlisle definitely did. And she'd probably told them of my debt problems, too, to help me.

I didn't really like being a charity case, but this was too big to pass up. And I'd been polite, in trying to decline it…

Okay, so I hated accepting this money, knowing I was a charity case.

But they were nice, and with this much money, and a money powerful family behind the newspaper, it would definitely be turned around. Things would definitely be turned around…

"Excuse me, I have to go call my mother." I said, still staring at the check in my hand. I couldn't believe it.

Someday, I would be debt free!

Six thirty again. Time to change and go to work. And I was running late.

"But Miss Swan, just one more day…"

"Mr. Clemons, you've been writing this piece for two weeks now. What is so damn important, that it's not done yet?" I snapped. The novelty of the check had worn off by now, mainly because my mother had this awful way of bringing you back to reality, and smacking you in the face with it.

She was right in doing so, I mean I still had a lot to pay off. She'd agreed to help me in the beginning, but there was only so much she could pay for while still running her business, so I told her not to, to take care of herself. So she agreed to let me move back in when my apartment fell through, like it was inevitably going to do.

And we were saying this three months ago!

So yeah. I had to leave early to stop at the bank on the way to work, and knew I'd be late now. I was supposed to leave at six, but was caught up in a meeting with the owners of the building.

I still had to pay them for the office's rent.

I told them they'd have it by tomorrow.

They said they wanted it today.

So we argued for an hour and a half, in which I got up and left the room.

I really hate stupid people. People who care only for themselves, arrogant assholes who hold your life in their hands, and think its funny to make you dance for a few pennies…

This was what the owners of the building were trying to get me to do. We'd been in this argument several times over the past three months, and they weren't going to do anything.

Especially since they'd seen the Cullens exit the building, from my newspaper. So they knew I wasn't lying.

"Ah…it…it'll be on your desk in the morning, sir…Miss! I mean Miss!" Mr. Clemons said, defeated. He knew I was in no mood, from being in the meeting.

"Mr. Clemons…you have an extension until noon tomorrow." I sighed. The man looked like he was going to cry. He was nearly working the same hours that I was, and was writing three pieces a day. Well, three pieces a newspaper. We ran Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We just didn't have enough staff to make it a daily. It had been, in its prime, but that was years ago.

Regardless, I didn't doubt that he was busting his ass for the job.

He was me, in twenty years. Middle aged, balding, divorced, living with his mother…it truly was sad. I was rather surprised he hadn't a. collapsed by now or b. committed suicide.

"Thank you, Miss Swan." He said, relieved. "I'll…I'll have it done."

"Hey…get some sleep tonight, okay?" I said quietly, looking him in the eye, stopping him as he turned to leave.

He really was going to cry. He nodded, sniffling, and turned away before he thought I noticed.

I sighed, and shut the door to my office, to change. That poor man…

Did people look at me like that? Did people see me, and think 'that poor girl'?

I didn't need to be pitied. I didn't need people's help, I could do it on my own.

Right. You can do it on your own, Bella, which is why you accepted that way too generous check from the Cullens.

Well…

Correction: I can try and do it on my own. Everybody needs help sometimes…

That's right. Everybody needs help sometimes, which is why I gave Mr. Clemons an extension.

That's what it was.

When I finally made it to work after the bank, I was twenty five minutes late, and on the bar tonight.

And Jordan looked like he wanted to kill me for being late.

And he did want to kill me. The happy hour rush had come, and I wasn't there to help.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly, but he just gave me an eerie grin. "What?"

"You're late, Bella. I got one of the waitstaff to cover you, so now you have to go cover them."

"What! Jordan, no…" I exclaimed, probably a bit too loudly. "Jordan, I hate it…Jordan, please…" He was pushing me out, and handed me a bowtie.

"Have fun." He grinned, as I stomped away, angry. It's not my fault I got held up in a meeting! Didn't these people realize I was working twenty hours of the day! Honestly.

"Be more punctual, next time!" he called after me, laughing as I flipped him the bird.

Ugh.

Another elitist gathering. Only this was a charity dinner for someone who was running for a city office, to raise money for their campaign.

Like they needed it. They were all filthy rich anyway…

"Sorry, Lou, I got held up." I mumbled to my supervisor, who just glared at me. I took a tray, and one of the trainees took the stand, so we could serve food. They were starting to eat by now.

Damn. I really was late…

"Chicken, or pasta?" I asked each person at the table, before handing them their respective plates.

I hated hotel food. It tasted awful, prepared in bulk with all these fancy names for all these fancy people who paid fancy money for it…

But sadly, I ate hotel food every night for my dinner, on my meager ten minute break in a shift. A break that I probably wasn't going to get tonight, for being late…

Two tables later, I froze. Carlisle Cullen and Esme were sitting there, chatting it up with some people.

I couldn't let them see me.

I couldn't let them see that I was working two jobs, that I was so desperate for money. They'd think that I didn't put enough effort into the paper, and they'd want their money back…

"Lydia, just ask them if they want chicken or pasta." I hissed to my trainee.

I felt bad.

She was a skittish seventeen year old girl who had just gotten this job, her first job, and I was already on her case, making her do my work.

I was a coward.

I was a proud coward.

I was too prideful to let extremely wealthy people know that I was dirt poor.

And she just stared at me, with the deer in the headlight look.

I sighed, and waved her off.

"Chicken, or pasta?"

"Chicken…well hello, Bella!" Carlisle's voice said.

I pretended to look surprised, and smiled.

"Surprise seeing you here. Jim, this was the young lady I was telling you about. From the newspaper."

Oh god.

They'd been talking about me.

Remind me what I'd done to deserve this? Because I just don't know. This was just cruel.

"An editor, that young?" the stately man called Jim said, sounding astounded.

"That's what I said!" Esme cried gleefully.

Shoot me now, God, please. Smite me. Have the ceiling cave in on me, anything.

I was beet red, and continued serving, remaining silent.

"Oh, Bella dear…our son is going to stop by the office tomorrow. Is that convenient?" Esme addressed me.

"Sounds great. I'm there all day." I forced a smile, putting some extra oomph into it.

It was not great. I decided there and then that I didn't want anything to do with the paper, or the Cullens, or whoever their son was. I was sick of this.

But money is money…

"Have a nice dinner." I said, Lydia trailing behind me as I left, quickly.

I knew they were talking about me now. They had to be.

And you know what they were saying? I guarantee they were saying 'that poor girl', just like I said 'that poor man' about Mr. Clemons.

Could this situation get any worse?

Wait…it's my life. Of course it could.

Now what would go wrong?

God must hate me, because at that moment I walked out of the kitchen with a heavy food tray, Lydia behind me, and found myself on the floor a second later, with hot food burning through my clothing.

"OW! SHIT!" I shouted, sitting up quickly and trying to get the hot soup off of my skin. I couldn't help it, and didn't care that all these refined people had just heard me swear.

"Sorry…sorry, are you alright?" a giant of a man asked, pulling me to my feet. I looked up into an oddly handsome face, on someone so huge. He was built like a truck, but had dark curly hair to soften his appearance. And he looked like he wanted to grin, but couldn't because he was trying to be serious because he'd just knocked me on my ass with hot soup flying all over me and all over everything.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I sighed, holding my shirt away from me where it had been soaked with hot Italian wedding soup.

My shirt was steaming.

Shirt's shouldn't steam.

It was really hot.

"I…didn't see you. You're sure you're alright? My dad's a doctor…"

"I'm fine, really." I said, forcing a smile. A smile that fell when my supervisor came over, fuming. Waitors came over to clean up my mess.

"Swan!" Lou's voice was stern, and he grabbed my arm, pulling me harshly away. I had to admit, I was afraid. My supervisor looked like a hawk. He had angular features and the nastiest goatee I've ever seen, to boot. So the hawk had swooped down on me and whisked me away to the kitchen, where I was sure to get in trouble.

"This is the last straw, Swan." He snarled, the instant we were through the door. "You're a lousy waitress, you were an hour late today, you're late all the time, you're clumsy, rude…do you know how much soup you just wasted? Not to mention swearing in front of our guests…"

"It was an accident, okay?" I tried to explain, not to happy myself. I couldn't really deny any of the charges, they were all pretty accurate. "You pour scalding soup on yourself and see what happens! It freaking hurts!"

"Maybe you should be more careful. Maybe you should find a job you can do." He snapped. "Knocking into Mr. Cullen, Mr. Emmett Cullen. Honestly, what were you thinking?"

This was bothering me. This was bothering me greatly. It was fairly clear to all around that he had knocked into me, and I was being blamed for it. I was being ripped to shreds.

Holding my tongue has never been harder. I wanted to quit on the spot. I didn't deserve this. They had no freaking idea, nor did they care, how their employees were treated.

But I needed the money. I couldn't jeopardize this.

Then why couldn't I stop the words from spilling out of my mouth?

"Did you see him? He's built like a freaking linebacker! He ran into me!"

"He is a linebacker, for the New York Giants. But he's also a member of one of the most influential families in the city. And you just disgraced this hotel to him."

"Disgraced? What the hell are you talking about!"

"Give me your nametag, Miss Swan." He continued, angrier and angrier as he saw some of the waitstaff come back with the bowls I'd dropped, many of them broken. "We no longer require your services at this establishment."

"What!" I shouted, stunned. His words seemed to echo through my mind. "You're FIRING me, for that!"

"Turn over your nametag and your apron." He snarled. "Now."

He was really firing me. I didn't have this job anymore. I didn't have this money coming in anymore. What was I going to do?

"Lou, you can't fire me! I need this job!" I exclaimed, feeling the tears come to my eyes.

"Wash your uniform. Turn it in tomorrow." His voice was stoic, while I was still trying to grasp what was happening.

"Lou, you can't be serious. Please, give me one more chance—"

"You've had several chances, and you've used up all of my patience." He snapped. "Turn over your nametag and apron, or I will have you escorted from the premises."

I couldn't believe it.

I managed to hold in my tears long enough to get the apron and nametag off, but not long enough to get my jacket and leave. I couldn't handle this. They're firing me over Jordan, at the bar? He came to work stoned most of the time!

I went to the bar for my jacket, where I'd hung it up, and didn't answer when Jordan tried to ask me what had happened. I never cried, and I knew I would break down any second now. Already, a few tears were slipping out…

The cool night air did wonders on my nerves. I didn't know what the bus schedule was at this time of night, and didn't have enough money for another cab. So I walked. It was only nine o'clock. I had several hours to kill, seeing as I'd normally be working right now.

I walked for who knows how long, before I reached my mother's house. I needed a shower.

No, I needed a bath. A nice hot relaxing bubble bath.

Well…I did say smite me. Maybe hot soup is all God could come up with.

This was rock bottom, wasn't it? I had just gotten fired, I was living in my office, having just been evicted from my apartment, I had a billion debts piling up and had gone one step forward, but also one step back all in the same day.

Yep. This was rock bottom.

Guess it was time for things to start looking up.

Hey, I never said which Cullens would be present in this…but we'll have Edward in the next chap, I promise. Review!