A/N: I do not own Twilight

Adjournment

Chapter 12: War and Peace

"You mother freaking bastard! Don't follow me unless you're prepared to lose a limb." The threat was made with all the seriousness she could throw at him.

Edward watched her walk away, feeling like the sorry bastard she had called him. They had been stuck together for almost three weeks now and he had been instructed to keep communication down to nothing unless he was contacted by Carlisle directly.

They had argued constantly since their arrival. Actually, the first argument started on the trip up to the remote cabin when Bella decided that he was not able to drive with his recent injury. He argued that it was minor and that he was perfectly fine to drive and would have won if he hadn't almost passed out again on the way to reach their escape vehicle. At that point, Edward grudgingly dropped into the passenger side and guided her to their destination.

Hiding out in Phoenix had thus far been a nightmare for the two of them since they had continued to argue about everything from the intensity of the workouts that Bella insisted on doing to build her strength back to who was going to do the cooking and cleaning. Their most recent blow up had been about her wanting to talk to Johnny on the phone just for a minute to verify that he was indeed okay after the incident at the safe house. Edward refused explaining one more time her father's orders. His fear was that she would become even more frustrated about the situation and do something stupid like contact the kid.

He wouldn't put it past her to try. Again.

Carlisle had insisted that she remain unaware that Johnathan Jamison had not made it to the next safe house. That their was a second team waiting that night resulting in Emmett receiving a minor bullet wound and Johnathan being taken. Esme had escaped unharmed much to the relief of her husband. Edward considered it nothing short of a miracle that he had managed to get Bella out of the house without injury or being followed.

He sighed, reaching for his phone to make sure the boss hadn't sent any more messages and all but growled when he realized it was missing from his pocket. It turned out that his roommate was something of a pickpocket.

He ran back into the cabin to find her looking at his missing phone wearing a look of shock and fear.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The words were spoken softly.

"Carlisle didn't want you upset. He was already worried about your recovery time being cut short." Edward decided to be honest with her.

"Is he...Do you think he's still alive?"

"Bella, there is no indication that Johnathan has been harmed. However, that's as good as the news gets. While there has not been evidence of a murder, there has been no communication from Jamison either."

"Nothing?"

"Not a word."

"He won't be silent forever. Jamison knows I'm alive. They'll come after me again."

"And we will protect you."

"What about Johnny?" She looked so lost when she finally looked up at him.

"Your father has people looking for him. They will find him."

"This is all my fault. If I hadn't walked in on the two of them arguing that night, maybe Johnny would be safe."

"And you wouldn't know who your real family is. You wouldn't know who you really are. Listen, I know you really don't want to hear this but sometimes, things really do happen for a reason. Believe me, I know the words sound hollow. I have listened to different people say it to me for the past several years. But in this case, I believe it to be true."

She handed the phone back to him. "I'm sorry for taking it. It won't happen again."

"Look, why we do something fun- distract ourselves for a while."

"Like what?"

"How are your poker playing skills?" He smiled. "Your twin always kicks my ass when we play. You want to try?"

She wanted to deny him, wanted to retreat into her room for a while, but he looked so damn adorable, she gave in. "What are we playing for?"

"Name your stakes, Cullen."

Carlisle

"So, you've narrowed down the suspect list to these three?" Carlisle questioned.

"Yes. Based on your forensic evidence, there are only three people that could have made the shot that killed Director Masen. Actually four, however, I have a solid alibi for that day." Jasper grinned.

"Do you know any of these guys personally?"

"Only two. However, we need to consider another possibility."

"What's that?"

"The possibility that this guy is a total unknown. Not associated with any military or government agency."

"And what are the odds of that being possible?"

"Not likely. But still, I have to throw that out there."

"And what is your professional opinion on the suspects that we are aware of?"

"Any of them are capable. None of them have motive." Jasper tossed the files in question on Carlisle's desk. "Renner is still enlisted although he was on leave when Masen was killed. Jackson is retired at the old age of thirty-seven. He's currently living in Seattle. Greene is still active – CIA. I've never met Greene, but the other two are fairly hard core although I can't imagine either one taking a hit that was put out on the director of a federal agency."

"Motives sometimes don't make sense."

"Generally speaking motives are usually simple. People kill for two reasons, love or money."

"While money is most likely the motive for the actual sniper that pulled the trigger, I believe that revenge is the motive behind hiring the sniper to kill Ed. So we need to determine which one was hired to murder him to determine who made the contract on his life." Carlisle explained.

"I thought we were operating under the assumption that Jamison ordered the hit."

"At this point we can't assume anything." The older man sounded frustrated. "This needs to end. I need to bring my daughter home."

"How's Emmett doing?"

"Recovered for the most part. Pissed that I won't risk letting him go get them. He's convinced that we can bring her here and keep her under guard inside the building."

"He's right. I don't think Jamison would stand a chance of getting inside this building."

"Right now no one knows where they are. The risk lies in getting them back here without incident. Besides, I have no doubt that my daughter will have serious issues with the fact that Johnathan has been taken."

"You're afraid she would try to go after Jamison on her own?"

"She considers him her brother. And if there's one thing I've learned about her in the short time we've had her back, it's that she is loyal to a fault."

"The fact that Jamison was training her to be muscle for his little empire doesn't hurt. From what Alice has told me, the girl has skills."

"That would appear to be true. But I don't want her 'skills' tested again. We still don't know how Jamison's men found them the first time."

"Well it couldn't have been an inside job, right?"

"Not unless it was Johnathan himself. He is the expert in computers. Although, he appeared to be in fear of his father." Carlisle reasoned as he opened up the e-mail on his computer. He sifted through them quickly while contemplating the three sniper suspects that Jasper had provided him.

"Jamison is rather ruthless from what I understand."

"That is one way to put it." Carlisle grimaced. He was about to close down his laptop when something caught his eye. It was the e-mail that had confirmed Angela Jamison was indeed Isabella Cullen. He had looked it over many times since receiving the communication, however, he hadn't noticed that there were two attachments until this very moment.

Jasper knew something was wrong as he watched Carlisle turn white as a ghost. "Carlisle, what's wrong?"

"The boy, Johnathan. We took a DNA sample that night at the hospital. When we needed him to donate blood and discovered his wasn't compilable with Bella's. All this time I assumed that Victoria was his mother and Jamison was the father."

"If Jamsion isn't his father, then who is?"

"Edward Masen Senior. Ed was his father."

"If Jamison is aware that the boy isn't his. This changes things. He has no reason to keep the kid alive."

"Sure he does. If he thinks Johnathan can eventually lead him to Bella."

Edward

In the end they had decided to play just for fun for which Edward was grateful. It turned out that Bella was just as good as her sister if not better. He decided that he would love to see the two girls play against each other. It would be interesting to see who would win.

"So, tell me another story about my family. You grew up with them. I want to hear about all of their embarrassing moments."

"I'm sure that I am not privy to all of their best moments. I know the most about Alice."

"Spill, Edward." She demanded with a grin.

"Alice, let's see...Alice used to be a video game addict. The year Halo 2 was released, she spent the entire winter break from school playing. She didn't stop to shower or eat unless Esme physically made her. When her grades started falling after school was back in session, your parents took the game away and she was never allowed to play again. That's when she turned into the little fashion-ista we all know and love. She told me that at least her obsession with clothes wouldn't affect her grades."

"Video games? Alice? Seems unlikely, Edward."

"It's true. Just ask her. She calls it her dark period." He laughed.

"What else?"

"Rosalie didn't always want to be a physician assistant. She started out wanting to be a model. She even did a couple of small things when she was a teenager."

"Really? What changed her mind?"

"A guy. There was this boy when she was in high school. Jordan something? Anyway, she decided to take shop to be in the same class with him. Turns out she liked working on cars more than sitting in class with this guy. One of the students was severely burned in class and Rosalie helped provide first aid, like your Mom taught her. That's what set her career path."

"She would have been great as a model, but she will be amazing in the medical field."

"And she still loves cars. She has a thing for old Cameros. She and Emmett are restoring one together."

"My family seems kind of..." She struggled, searching for the right word.

"Eclectic?" he offered.

"Strange." Bella nodded.

"I don't thing you'll have a problem fitting in." Edward snarked. "She who practices martial arts, plays with guns and likes to read mommy porn."

"I can't help what the previous tenants left behind in the way of literature. I was desperately bored." She tossed a poker chip at his head in retaliation for his teasing. "Can I ask you something else?" He nodded for her to continue, "Why do I annoy you so much?"

"You don't annoy me." He insisted.

"We've done nothing but fight for weeks. It started before we left California. You were avoiding me before and now we argue all the time."

"You fight with me too."

"Because I don't want you to ignore me anymore." She admitted. "At least when we're fighting you aren't ignoring me."

"I don't want to fight with you anymore. Unless there's a good reason."

"And what reason would be good enough?"

"If you decided to say, steal my phone again, or if you decided to go after Johnathan on your own, ect..."

"I promised not to steal your phone again and I'm not stupid. I know I can't handle going after Jamison alone. So we're good. No more fighting?"

"Like I said, no more fighting," He agreed.

"And I'm sorry for calling you a bastard earlier," She offered. "Friends?"

"Friends." Edward agreed with a grin that turned into a frown when his phone alerted him to a new message.

"What's wrong?"

"We've been instructed to head back to Seattle. Something has changed."

"What do you thing it is?"

"I'm not sure, but it can't be good." She heard him swear under his breath as they moved to gather their things.

A/N: Sorry for the delay with the update. Real life sucks sometimes.