So I now had a man in my house on a semi-permanent basis. He was supposed to be sleeping on a cot in Spences room, but for some reason that never seemed to be where he ended up. There was always some reason that he ended up in my bed, and most mornings, he was sprawled across half the bed and me. I was getting used to it, and at least he didn't snore too damn bad, but he did talk in his sleep on occasion, and what he mumbled was often pretty damn weird and entertaining. He managed to quit smoking without killing anyone and in relatively good spirits so that wasn't even something I could hold against him, and he even managed to pick up after himself most days. He spent much of the time he wasn't with the baby, hanging out with the Capt and J.D. , doing all kinds of boy things. They took him out shooting and they went out and broke his truck in out in the woods, testing it out on trails to make sure it was safe for the impending zombie apocalypse or whatever they were expecting to hit. I was able to get back into shape relatively quickly, and he often joined me in the gym and even volunteered to spar with me on occasion, though he made sure to be in my good graces before we entered the ring. I taught him a few basic holds and strikes that would keep him safe in the event of rampaging groupie attack, or angry husband encounter, but he didn't seem to be in any big hurry to get back to talking about rejoining his band or the working world.

Spence was growing quickly, and his firsts were captured on video and sent all over the world for his and even my family to behold. His hair had never been tamed and it was a wavy mess all over his head that often got him mistaken for a girl. As he approached the 9 month mark he was babbling and drooling as well as attempting to explore every nook and cranny of the apartment on his hands and knees as well as get into everything he could get into. I had moved him out of the bassinette and into his crib after he started pulling up onto his knees and moving a little too exuberantly, for my liking, but I still hadn't managed to get his father to make the transition, though truthfully I had quit trying. I was used to him like you get used to a certain pillow or an old cat that you never can convince to not sleep on your feet. For the most part we were getting along pretty well. He left a few times for a week or two at a time to do some concerts and to record some music with his band, but he always came back and he called for nightly updates on Spence while he was gone. His family had come up to Portland to see the baby when he was around 6 months old. I was out of town at a conference, so I missed that little bit of fun, but I told him to have them stay at the house and feel comfortable so everybody would be happy. Daughter sure seemed to like them and I got glowing reports from the Captain and J.D., so I figured when the time came for young Rock star to take Spence for visits, he would be in good hands and well looked after.

We butted heads a few times, but that was because he seemed to keep forgetting that he had no right to tell me what the hell to do. Im a damn cop and a SWAT team member, sometimes dangerous things happen, sometimes I get booboos and that is just a part of the deal, and I had made it though my life before he came along without some man taking care of me or worrying about me, and I had no intention of that changing, so when I ended up at the E.D. one night after getting into with some boys who thought that there were going to charge through me rather than get arrested with the pound of meth they had on them, It was a bit of a tense time. Daughter had sent me a text letting me know that she had Spence for the evening, and that young Rock Star was out on a ride-along with J.D.. Cullen and I had been working on surveillance of the meth house for close to 3 months and we had decided to finally hit it and take them down along with other members of the team. We decided to hit the door hot and heavy, with me going in second, but we did not count on scumbags boiling out of that place like cockroaches out of a flophouse, or that one of them would throw a baby at the number one guy that was supposed to go in.

The whole mission went to shit at that point and with scrotes scattering to the four winds with the meth on them, I went after the two I knew were carrying it towards the bathroom to flush it, lucky for the bust but unlucky for me, the entry team at the back of the house had made it in and were coming and we ended up in a huge pileup in the middle of a hallway outside of the bathroom. I managed to grab the meth from one to the scrotes and I went to ground with it as the rest of the goon squad laid in with whatever they could swing in the narrow hallway. They got the scrotes under control pretty quick, but not before I caught a couple of boots to the ribs and a buttstroke to the shoulder and then someone caught me in the head with something pretty damn hard and that was all she wrote until I woke up in the E.D. with a nurse telling me that my "Husband was on his way in to see me." What the what? Husband? Had I been hit harder than I thought? How fucking long was I out? I shook my head to try and clear the fog away but that was a bad fucking idea because that shit hurt! I started trying to get up and find my boots and gear, wondering who the hell had my weapons and grumbling that they better not have cut my damn tactical bdu's again. It was bad enough those crazy nurses in the E.D. seemed to get off on cutting the laces on my zip up boots so that I had to spend time getting them relaced , but bdus to fit me had to be cut down to size and that shit cost money. Sure enough! Dammit! Both my pants and my shirt were cut right the fuck up the front! Somebody was fixing to get their ass kicked, and as the curtain pulled back, flashing my ass to the minions in the E.D. as the nurse said, "Mr. Swan she's right through here" I thought the perfect one to get his ass kicked had just arrived.

Get your own ass out of a bed in an emergency room and start trying to get dressed so you can leave because you damn sure don't need to be there? People get a little upset. Go to take a swing at the young peckerwood that is claiming to be your HUSBAND and somehow miss and end up almost hitting the floor because all the sudden you are really fucking dizzy for some reason? They freak the hell out. Next thing I knew he caught me up and was trying to talk to me, and some bitch jabbed me in in the ass and that's I knew for a bit. If they thought I was a bit annoyed before, when I woke up later and not only was I still in the damn hospital, I was fucking hogtied to the damn bed. "What the fuck are you doing here, where are my clothes and who is with the baby?" "J.D. and daughter are with Spence, Edward went to get something to drink." I was groggy as hell, and I had to wonder what the hell that bitch had hit me with, it must have been strong enough to take down an elephant. "You didn't tell me where my clothes are." he looked uncomfortable as he said, " They cut your clothes off to see how badly you were hurt, so J.D. took them and your other stuff home." "Well, where the fuck are my replacements so I can get the hell out of this place, get Cullens ass in here after you untie me." He shook his head, " I cant untie you, you will try to get up and you might hurt yourself, you have a really bad concussion and some cracked ribs. They want you to stay overnight." Oh he did not just tell me he was refusing to untie me! Nobody restrains me in some Goddamned hospital bed against my will! "Un-Fucking-Tie Me NOW! He shook his head again. "No Bella, you are hurt pretty bad, I saw the bruises and I am not going to untie you." I started hitting the call button and working on sitting up, I was soo fucking angry that he would have been best served to be praying that I didn't get loose any time soon. He stepped towards me and put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into the pillow, "Lay the fuck back and take it easy ! You have a head injury and if you don't settle down they are going to sedate you again and I am going to help them!" I saw red. "You better fucking pray that you are far enough away when I get loose that I have time to calm down before I find you, other wise I am going to kick your ass so hard your grandma is going to feel it.

The nurse came charging into the room armed with a syringe. "If you sedate me with that shit I swear to God I will sue your ass off, bitch! Step the hell off of me and untie me! She glared at me as Cullen came into the room, he looked at young Rock Star, "What's she up to? "Threatening me and demanding to be turned loose so she can leave." Cullen looked at the nurse, "He is her legal next of kin, so whatever he says, works for me." Young rock star looked at the nurse, "She is just going to keep trying to get loose and trying to leave, so you are better of knocking her ass out again. I will stay here and keep an eye on her." "Remember that bruise on your thigh I gave you when we first met?" His eyes got big, and as the nurse jabbed me in the arm with the needle again I said, "The one you are going to have on your taint is going to make it look like a love tap when I get done with you." The last thing I heard was Cullen laughing as I said, "You too, you bastard!"

The sun was just coming up the next morning as I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a Mack truck. I decided to play possum for a bit so I could get my bearings and get good and awake before I let the rest of the room know I was up and moving. I heard snoring from my right and I took a quick peek only to see that the young rock star was assed out in a chair next to the bed. I thought I was being stealthy, but then a voice whispered in my ear, "I know you are awake heifer, you aint fooling me." I opened one eye and looked right into J.D.'s face. "You need to untie me so I can commence with the ass kicking, beginning with that fool and ending with your boyfriend." He chuckled and keeping his voice low, whispered in my ear again, "Now why would I let you hurt a boy that loves you as much as that poor fool loves you? He stayed here all night long, worried to death and watching you like a hawk, until I got a nurse to slip him a sedative because he was giving me nervous fits with how he was looking like he was going to have a heart attack every time you moaned or whimpered." Bullshit! I don't "Moan or whimper" I had no idea what that fool was talking about, but "Love"? Nah, the kid was just scared to death he was going to end up taking care of a baby on his own, I had made it damn clear from the get go that ,that particular emotion was not on the table at all, so it wasn't even in the realm of possibility, and if he had been foolish enough to go ahead and try to feel it, then he needed to snap the hell out of it and learn the reality of the situation, I was not a loveable kind of woman, I was the kind of woman that drove men to insanity and left them wanting to hurt or kill me, but never "love" me and if he did, then that would have to stop. .