TEAM FOREVER

Disclaimer: The Cullens, 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.

My stories are being beta'd by dowlingnana and she is doing an awesome job. Thanks so much.

It wasn't long after Edward had returned home that Bella received the shock of a lifetime. She had returned home early from the final meeting about the new gallery knowing that Edward was still in his meeting about his upcoming new film and she wanted to surprise him with something special. So, going upstairs to the master suite they shared and opening the door stopped dead in her tracks. For there sound asleep in their bed was her husband and Irina. Bella closed the door, left the house, and went to the nearest hotel, checked in where she took up residence from that time onwards.

CHAPTER 24: DO WE WORRY OR PANIC?

Edward slowly began to stir and as he was gaining more of a conscious state he felt the body lying next to him and thinking it was his wife he reached out to draw her closer to him. Feeling pleasure as she reached out for him underneath the covers and below his waistband he started to moan as he hardened from her ministrations. Turning towards her he whispered her name, "Bella" and told her how good he was feeling from what she was doing to him.

As the pleasure continued until Edward moaned his beloved's name once more then all movement suddenly halted which once it registered that it wasn't going to start again he opened his eyes to mere slits, glanced over at the woman he had assumed was in bed with him. What he saw jolted his eyes wide open as he made a sudden moved towards the edge of the bed which landed him on his butt on the floor as he didn't realize close to the edge he had been.

Looking over the edge towards the woman that was in his bed and not his wife he demanded, "What the hell are you doing in my house as well as my bed? And, what have you done to Bella?"

"You're the one that asked me to stay since we had gotten in and were beyond exhausted." The woman remarked with a smug smile.

"No way in hell would I have done that, bitch! Get the hell out of here before I call the cops or Bella comes home. I don't need your presence here causing trouble."

"But, my dear Edward, you had better look at the time since I do believe your Bella has already been and, maybe, perhaps, gone." she replied and laughed at his look of terror due to her statement concerning the time and Bella's possibly having discovered Irina and he in bed together. If that happened it would be near impossible to talk his way, even, with the truth, out of that situation.

Edward inhaled a breath, held it in an effort to calm his emotions enough to speak, slowly let it out, looked at the woman that was before him getting dressed while still chuckling to herself as if she had heard a funny joke, and spoke to her with no emotion sounding in his voice, "If you have hurt Bella because of this incident that you created in your fucked up, twisted mind and destroyed our chance of happiness, I will ruin you, Irina. Mark my words for they aren't idly spoken and I'm not making empty threats; I'm making you a promise for I will destroy you."

Those words spoken by Edward had given her a moment's pause, but, she began to depart with uttering the last words, "You are the one that invited me to stay since we were so tired and exhausted from the flight."

"Wait just a damn minute! There is no way in hell that I would have offered for you to stay in my house, let alone share a bed with me. I might have been exhausted last night from the flight in and the meeting, but, I haven't lost my mind."

"Oh, but, you did and I was pleased to have accepted, but, true, you didn't say where to sleep, so, I made my own choice. Must say that it was the best sleep I've had in a good while other than with my Jakey."

"You're lying. I know you're lying because I love Bella and wouldn't dare to do something like that to hurt her or betray her trust in me. It took me too damn long to gain that trust that would prevent me from even considering doing something that would cause me to lose it or her."

Without another word spoken by Irina she looked at Edward and then turned leaving him standing in the silent bedroom by himself in all of the glory that God bestowed upon him. He knew in his heart that Irina was lying, but, again he was just that dog ass tired last night, so, he wasn't sure how he had worded anything to anyone. Then the sudden reality of the time brought the next question to mind, 'Where was Bella?'

"Please, someone, tell me there is a rational explanation of why she isn't home." He whispered aloud to an empty room, but, found out very quickly, after dressing, that he was the only one present in the house. It was then that he began to worry even more about where she was and why she wasn't home. "Surely, she didn't come home to find that scene upstairs and leave again without saying a single word to anyone." He wondered quietly. His Bella was a very outspoken person and there is no way that she would have withhold comment upon finding someone else in her place beside him.

He decided that maybe her business and meeting with Alice and his mother must have taken longer than believed would be required, so, she must have stayed at Alice's or at the gallery due to the lateness and being too worn out to drive herself home safely. "Yeah, that's what happened, so, there's no way she could know about the incident upstairs." Edward was trying to convince himself of why she wasn't home.

With that thought in mind he reached for the phone to try her cell phone first and if no answer then he would call Alice. And he was met with disappointment when her phone went straight to voicemail, not even a ring which meant the phone was turned off, but, he left a message asking her to give him a call as he was concerned about her not being home.

Next, he tried Alice and got voicemail there also. He knew that she was up and moving around since Alice was nothing short of a bundle of constant energy which guaranteed that she rose earlier than anyone else known him or anyone else in the family and she had always been that way; she was always on the go so much that Edward wondered if she ever ran down. Since he couldn't get a hold of Alice he did the same thing as he did with Bella; he left a message asking his sister to give him a call.

Not being able to get a hold of anyone left him with feeling a bit uneasy, but, looking at the time once more Edward knew he needed to get his ass in gear since he had another meeting at the studio concerning his next filming project. This was something new for Edward as he was not only starring in the movie, but, he was trying his hand at directing for the first time. He was going to try being on both sides of the camera for a change and some of his friends that were considered to be amongst the best in the industry and that had held both sides in the past or presently, warned him that it was a bit difficult at times. He was going to be pulled in two directions at the same time and was going to have to find a happy balance for everyone's sake, especially, his. That last bit of advice had him a bit nervous, but, not enough to halt his plans.

By the time Edward was showered, dressed and ready to go to his meeting he still hadn't heard anything from Bella or Alice. It was strange that neither one of them had returned his call, but, still he wasn't unduly worried as yet. It could be that they were unable to deal with calling as yet. So, with no further concern Edward left home and went to his meeting which once more tended to run until late evening.

Once he was heading home he was sure that Bella would be there waiting with dinner ready like she always did at which time he could update her about his project while she brought him up to date about hers and any upcoming trips she would have to be making. However, pulling into the driveway Edward noticed two things; the first was that Bella's car wasn't in sight and the second was that no lights were showing in the windows of the house. It seemed to be in total darkness. These two things, added to the fact that he hadn't heard from Bella or Alice, started sounding alarm bells in his head that something was seriously wrong.

So, after parking his car, getting out and going into the house turning on lights as he entered and walked through to the kitchen the silence began to swamp his senses as it hit home that Bella still wasn't home and hadn't been all day. Immediately pulling his phone out of his pocket Edward dialed her number and received the same results as he had this morning: going straight to voicemail with no ringing. Next, he tried Alice with a different result.

"Your dime wasting my time, brother." She said jokingly.

"Alice, why in the hell haven't you called me back? Where is Bella and why isn't she answering her phone?" Edward began demanding without preamble of a hello or anything else.

"And hello to you, Alice, hope you had a good day?" Was Alice's sarcastic remark. "What has your shorts bunched up your ass crack, brother? And, why are you asking me about Bella? I haven't seen or heard from her since last night when we called it a night and we all headed out to our own homes."

"She didn't stay at the gallery or with you?"

"Edward, you really have gone off the deep end if you aren't listening to what I'm telling you." She answered, "But, no, once again, I haven't seen or heard from Bella since we all separated last night.

"In fact, I haven't had the time to talk with anyone today since I'm getting the final touches done for the gallery's grand opening and for my new fashion line. Haven't made or taken any calls to anyone and to be honest I haven't even checked for any messages left."

"Then where could she be?" He asked with fear sounding in his tone.

"Edward, why are you asking? Bella went home last night and was planning to be at the gallery early this morning."

"Alice, I'm telling you that Bella isn't here now and there wasn't any signs of her having made it home la-"

"Edward? Has something happened to Bella? What are you saying? Where is Bella?"

"Alice, that's what I'm trying to tell you; I don't know. I got home late last night from a late flight and then having gone straight into a meeting for the new film that I was exhausted as hell and wasn't in any shape to notice anything about anyone.

"It wasn't until this morning that I missed her presence, but, I had to get ready for another meeting and am just now arriving home to no signs of Bella having been here at all.

"I called her along with you this morning, but, her phone went straight to voicemail without ringing and I left both of you a message asking for a call. However, I didn't realize until after getting out of the meeting and arriving home to no Bella that I realized that neither one of you had returned my call. Before calling you I tried calling her again, but, with the results as this morning. That's when I tried your number hoping that you could give me answers as to what was going on." He finished explaining.

"Let me see if I can get a hold of her and I'll call you back after letting her know that she needs to take time to call you since you're so worried about her. You know how she is when she gets wrapped up in a project; nothing seems to penetrate her concentration."

"Thanks, Alice. I appreciate it. Although, I don't understand why she doesn't call."

Edward was on edge and had begun pacing waiting a little impatiently for Alice to call back and was worried about why she hadn't already done so. It was about thirty minutes before Edward did hear back from Alice and the news wasn't what he was wanting to hear.

"Edward, I don't know what to tell you, but, I can't get her on the phone. So, I called Mom to see if she had seen Bella at the gallery today and she said yes, they both had been there all day up until about an hour ago. It was getting late so they both decided to call it a day and go home."

"Alice, she isn't here and she hasn't called. What has happened to her?"

A/N: We now have Edward's POV as to what happened between him and Irina, but, it seems that he has a mess on his hands now. He's concerned and worried, but, it hasn't hit him yet that Bella did return home the night before and saw him in bed with Irina. What is going to be his next action to discover what has happened to his wife?

Your reviews are always welcomed and I will be updating this story every three weeks due to the number of open stories I have going at the present time.