i own nothing.. damnit

7

bpov

I'm fucking stressed out to the max.

Yesterday after Edward calmed me down, he argued with Jasper over some basketball plans or something then told me he loved me and would call me early.

I spent the rest of the day doing everyone's laundry. Edward's clothes were put on a chair beside the spare closet, just in case. And Emmett took me to get my car. I tried not to think about tonight, though it never really escaped my mind.

After a restless night I feel like utter shit and I swear my nerves are shot.

Edward has already called me five times today.

It's 9:30 am.

I think he may be more stressed than me.

I can't get any work done, I can't focus. I have way too much running through my mind.

The 'what ifs' if this doesn't work. How it will hurt everyone. How it will hurt Edward and I. I just want to be with him. I don't think it's too much to ask.

But I do understand Edward's point. He's going to end his marriage; it's not something you take lightly. Though, for selfish reasons, I wish he would take it lightly and move the fuck on.

I start to pace my office floor. Back and forth. Back and forth.

"Ms. Swan, Mr. Cullen is on line two." My secretary aka Speakerbox tells me.

I sigh, thank God. Every time we speak he manages to calm me down, then the second we hang up I'm on the verge of a panic attack again.

"Edward."

Relief floods my voice. We last spoke about 20 minutes ago, though it feels like 20 hours.

"Bella, stop freaking out. Everything is going to be ok. I swear I heard you pacing your office all the way across town."

My eyes bug out of my head.

"How did you know?"

He laughs.

"Love, please. I know you like the back of my hand. My right hand if you want to get specific. And I know my right hand pretty damn well if you know what I mean."

I can't help it, I laugh. As disturbing as that was, it was funny.

"Jesus, Edward. Thanks for the image!"

"Anytime, love. Anytime. Now that you're a little relaxed, let's talk about something."

"Like what?"

He pauses.

"Uh.. I once caught Jasper singing Barbie Girl."

I fucking died. Major Whitlock: manly-man extraordinaire was singing Barbie Girl.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Oh yeah. I still haven't let him live that down. He tried to blame it on Alice but I know for a fact that Alice detests that song. Something about it being perverted."

"Well, have you listened to the song? 'You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere' or 'you can touch, you can play, if you say I'm always yours.' It's an extremely perverted song."

He laughs.

"Sounds like it. Maybe I need to download it or something."

"I wish I had that on recording."

"Bite me, Bella. If it's perverted, it's my cup of tea."

I roll my eyes.

"Ain't that the truth."

He laughs.

"Oh, I forgot. I really do actually need that information about your job. I really wasn't making that up."

"I never said you did."

He chuckles.

"I know, but I'm sure you've wondered at some point."

"Definitely your right hand."

He laughs.

"Ok, so how many employees are on your team?"

"32."

"Damn, Bella. 32 people?"

"No, 32 martians. Yes 32 people!"

He laughs.

"I'm sorry, you caught me off guard with that. I didn't realize you were that far up there."

"I do what I can."

"Whatever. What are your responsibilities?"

I take a deep intake of breath, this will take a minute.

"I have to edit my own assignments. Hand out the team's assignments then check them once their complete. Keep updated on their status, making sure they follow through on their due date. Submit the books to publishing once their finished.

All editors have multiple meetings with the authors, including myself. I have to keep updated on their meetings as well. I meet with my superiors and update them on the team's status. A daily status report has to be made in order for me to do that.

Uh.. Deal with their inter-office arguments, which is quite frequently. I swear to God it's like high school over here. Um.. keep the team's files updated. And deal with whatever else comes my way."

Edward doesn't say anything.

"Edward.. are you there?"

"Jesus, Bella. You do all that for 32 people?! How the hell do you pull that off?"

I laugh.

"Email is my best friend, Edward. I hardly leave my office."

"You have got to be permanently attached to your computer or some shit. My idea of a hard day doesn't even compare to a normal day for you. That has got to be stressful."

"It can be. Depending on how things go. I just gotta keep myself organized."

He sighs.

"Damn, I got like half of that typed up. You kind of surprised me."

"Like I said, I do what I can."

"Ok, shut up before your head gets too big. Give me a second to catch up my notes."

I listen to him typing in the background. I can just imagine his fingers typing along the keyboard. I've always had a thing about his hands. His magical, and I do mean magical, hands. I always used to love watching Edward play the piano. If I focused on the music, it was quite soothing. If I focused on his hands, well.. he could barely finish a song before I attacked him.

He clears his throat.

"Ok, tell me about Jacob Black. I've looked through his file. He's only been late turning in an assignment twice, and it was only a day late both times. You stated that there were hardly any error corrections. He has been known to miss quite a bit of work You said in the meeting that he has a reputation around there. What did you mean by that?"

"Like I said, it's like high school around here. Jacob is the rebel. He's slept with half the office, making me endure numerous sob fests. He has a cocky ass attitude that makes me want to punch him. He makes Emmett look like a saint if I'm being honest."

I hear Edward take a deep intake of breath.

"He makes Emmett look like a saint? How is that possible?!"

"I have no fucking clue. This guy is like Emmett times three. I love my brother, but I can hardly handle him. Multiply him by three and I want to stab myself with my envelope opener."

Edward laughs.

"Please, love. Don't do that. I need your body."

"Oh, you need me for my body and not my mind?"

"Pretty much."

"Edward Anthony Cullen!"

He laughs his ass off.

"I'm sorry, I had to. It was just too good to not do."

"You're an asshole."

He keeps laughing.

"You love me."

I roll my eyes.

"Don't remind me."

He keeps laughing.

"Anyways, we'll get more in depth about this stuff overtime. Right now I just need an idea of how it is over there. And however the hell you get through your day. I'm holding you up. I know for a fact that you haven't done shit yet and you gotta meet Alice at 5:30. Get right to work when we hang up and I'll call you in a little bit. Ok?"

I sigh.

"Fine."

I can hear the eye roll in his voice.

"You'll be fine. You just gave me plenty of work to do and now I know you've got a shit ton to do. Get to work and I'll call you later, love. I love you."

I can't help but smile. The butterflies in my stomach are having a mosh pit or something.

"I love you, too Edward. Bye."

"Bye."

I hang up and smile at the phone. After five years of separation, I think we may just get through this together.

I manage to get work and realize that I got myself so far behind that I have to work through my lunch. Which, of course, pisses Jasper off when he shows up at my office at 4:00.

"You need the energy if you're going to be beating some ass tonight. Let's run through a drive thru on the way home or something."

"You're going to let me beat her ass?"

I'm in complete shock. He's supposed to be stationed in front of my house to prevent a fight.

"Bitch deserves it. I won't let it get too far, but I'll let you get a few swings in there. Make them count."

I smile at Jasper. He's a damn good friend. Now I have something to look forward to tonight.

I'm really not a violent person, but she seriously ruined both mine and Edward's lives. We would have been married five years ago if it weren't for her. Everyone would still think Edward is a Cullen by blood and not by name. Edward lost trust in his mother, in me..

Bitch.

"Ok, Bella. Do you have any idea how you want to start this tonight?"

"Uh.. what are you doing here?"

Jasper sighs.

"I hope you don't have the 'uh' in there. You sound scared. Be a bitch, it'll get her to go all 'Tanya' on you. 20 bucks says she'll be smirking her ass off when you open the door anyways. I know that shit will set you off."

I nod.

"Damn straight. But we'll see whose smirking in the end, won't we?"

"That's the spirit!"

I laugh right along with Jasper.

"Ok, so you think I can get this out of her by playing her cocky side?"

"Definitely. In her mind, no one will believe you no matter what you say. Say something like 'how dare you show your face here after everything you've done to me and Edward.'

"Edward and I."

Jasper looks confused.

"What?"

"It's Edward and I not me and Edward."

Jasper rolls his eyes.

"Get over it, Bella. We're not in English class. As I was saying, say something like that and she'll just keep on smirking or something and say something totally stupid and cocky and just play off that."

I sigh.

"I wish you guys could put a thingy in my ear and tell me what to say."

"Yeah, right. You would sound even more unnatural. Need I repeat that you're a shitty actress?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jazz."

"Look, your argument will be completely natural. Starting it off is what's going to suck ass. I'm tellin' ya, darlin', once she gets going you won't be thinking. You'll just go with it. This will work, trust me."

I roll my eyes.

"Last time you told me to trust you I ended up waking up in a boat off the coast with no shoes on."

Jasper laughs.

"That night was totally awesome! And for the record, you threw your shoes off the boat. Not my fault."

"Whatever, Jazz. What time is it?"

He whips out his cell phone and looks at the time.

"5:00. Time to head home to get all beautified."

I groan.

"Is this really necessary? Can't you pull some strings or something? I mean, she is your wife after all. She's going to try to put me in a dress and heels or something stupid. I don't need to be worrying about my balance at a time like this. And plus, who wears a dress and heels when they're hanging out home alone?"

"Alice does."

I glare at Jasper.

"Alice is a freak of nature."

Jasper grabs my keys and purse and hands them to me.

"I'll be right behind you. Em, Rose, and I will keep you company while Alice does her thing. And fair warning, I'm probably going to try to start pissing you off. I'll keep it in low mode, but it'll help."

I nod as we head out of my office and towards the elevator. I don't say anything to him; this is our top secret plan after all. We can't be having witnesses laying around.

Good God I'm starting to sound like Emmett.

Jasper kisses my cheek as we part in the parking garage heading towards our cars. I blare music on my way home to keep me from thinking. I've been thinking all day and I just want a break. With the gang at my place all we're going to talk about is this show down. I just want this to be over, I'm sick of thinking about this. I'm sick of thinking about Tanya. I just want Edward.

I don't stop for food. I'm literally sick to my stomach with nerves. Jasper will get over it. And I could kick Tanya's ass with one hand half asleep.

Jasper and I walk into my living room to see Rosalie putting black face paint on Emmett while Alice babbles on about their "black gear."

"Bella! You're home! Let's get started, we need to hurry!"

I roll my eyes.

"Alice, we have three hours! I swear to God if you're planning on this taking three hours you've got another thing coming to you. This whole thing should last all of 10 minutes and if we fight it'll get messed up anyways."

"Bella, do you want to look like crap when you finally defeat Tanya? I know you don't. Do you wanna look like crap when you finally get back with Edward? Hell no!"

I groan.

"I'm not sitting still while you pluck and prod me for three hours. And I'm not wearing a dress and heels either."

"Bella, last thing we need is for you to trip and break a leg when Tanya shows up. And tell me you love me because I'm letting you wear jeans."

I start jumping up and down in excitement. Alice absolutely never lets me wear jeans when she dresses me up. I've begged and threatened but she always manages to get her way. I'm writing this day down on my calendar.

"That's the best news I've had all day!"

Emmett starts chuckling.

"Sounds like a shitty day."

"Emmett, leave Bella alone. I'm sure she did have a shitty day so don't remind her. Let her be in a good mood while it lasts. The next three and a half hours or so are going to be intense. Give her five minutes of happiness."

I smile at my sister in law.

"Thank you, Rosalie. I knew I kept you around for a reason."

Rosalie blows a kiss at me and winks.

"You know that's not the reason, baby."

Alice and I laugh while Emmett and Jasper make some kind of weird choking sounds. I think they're trying to gag.

Alice grabs my hand and drags me to her bedroom and sits me down at her vanity set while Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper get comfortable on the bed.

"Emmett, do you have everything set up?"

"Just about. I need to get the command post ready now that Jasper is finally here then I'll be all set."

I look at him and laugh. He looks like an idiot. Rosalie drew a heart on his forehead with two stars on his cheeks.

Emmett gets up and heads to the garage to deal with setting up the "command post."

"Rosalie, did you tell him what you were drawing on him?"

Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie bust out laughing.

"Hell no. He's doing his "bad ass strut" thinking he's the shit since he has face paint on. That shit is too good to ruin. What's even better is it's on video. I'm saving that shit til' the day I die."

We all laugh together while Alice begins 'working her magic on me.'

Rosalie and Jasper manage to keep me entertained for a while, thank God. Then Emmett rejoins us and I can't help but laugh at him. He looks hilarious!

"What are you laughing at?"

"Uh.. childhood memories?"

Fuck, I'm finished. Rosalie is glaring daggers at me over his shoulder while Jasper smirks.

"Liar. What are you laughing at?"

"I'm not telling."

Rosalie nods in approval while Emmett starts to whine.

"Tell me, please. I'll love you forever."

"You're already going to love me forever. It's like a law or something."

"No, it's not. I'm a cop, I know. Though there are some pretty weird laws out there. Did you know that in a city in North Carolina it is against the law to walk backwards and chew gum at the same time?"

Mission accomplished. He doesn't even remember what we were talking about. We all play along with Emmett for a while so that he doesn't realize he has a heart and stars on his face. Then they start to lay into me, pissing me off.

It starts with jokes about me, which I can handle normally. I did grow up with Emmett and Jasper after all. But I'm not really good at dealing with it if I'm stressed.

Rosalie and Alice chat amongst themselves the whole time, talking about what to do with my hair and what not.

Then they all gang up on me.

They relive that day.

And I know they fucking planned it.

"You know, this reminds me of when I was doing your hair for your wedding."

Alice.

I freeze.

It is an unspoken rule that we don't talk about it unless absolutely necessary.

"Your hair was so beautiful. Of course it was, it took me four hours to get it perfected. Do you remember your ass becoming numb like every hour? All that hard work I put into it. You looked so beautiful that day. Your dress, your hair, all of it. Such a beautiful bride."

Emmett smiles.

"You really were gorgeous, Bells. All I could think about was how my baby sister was grown up. Getting married, moving on with her life. I was so proud of you that day, Bella."

Rosalie nods.

"We all were. You were such a vision in your dress. I was so happy for you. You were marrying your soul mate. I could tell you weren't even hesitating. That you knew that's where you were meant to be. If anyone deserved that future, Bella. It was you."

I'm still frozen. I can't fucking move.

It's like I'm getting flashbacks or something.

Sitting in Alice's room at Cullen Manor with Alice, Rosalie, Esme, and my mom while Alice does my hair.

The twinkle in Alice's eyes while she applies my make up.

The smell of the perfume she put on my neck and wrists.

Emmett and Jasper's expressions when they first saw me.

"The whole time you were getting ready I was chasing Edward around the house. He was so nervous. He kept pulling out the vows he wrote and read them over and over again. They were sweet, too. He had you guys written down to a "T."

I squeeze my eyes shut trying to block out Jasper.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. It even got me a little emotional. I'm telling you, Bella, you would have loved them."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, EMMETT! ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

I get up and storm out of Alice and Jasper's room and out of my house. The sun has set; it's barely light outside.

I walk onto my front yard and start pacing back and forth, fighting tears.

That's just fucking cruel. Who fucking does that to someone they care about?

Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett all come running out of the house.

"Leave. Me. Alone."

Alice rolls her eyes.

"If you want to be mad at somebody. Be mad at Tanya. She's the one who destroyed your wedding day."

I glare at Alice.

"That was fucking uncalled for. I get that you guys are trying to piss me off. But seriously? What the fuck were you thinking? Talking about Edward's vows? Making me relive getting ready? How cruel are you guys?"

They all look down ashamed.

"We're sorry, Bella. We thought that it would set you off. You know, get you pumped for Tanya. We didn't really think about the hurt factor all that much."

I look at Jasper, and he looks completely sincere. Emmett strolls up to me and pulls me in his arms and starts whispering in my ear.

"We're sorry. Really. We didn't think it would hurt you like this. You need to direct your anger. Direct it at Tanya. You're finally going to get her. Get Edward back. Then, you'll get your chance to finally hear those vows."

I hug Emmett tightly, praying that what he's saying is true. Please God, give me the chance. Let me get the truth. Let me get Edward back.

I breathe in deep and release Emmett.

"Alice, get me finished."

She nods and we all head back to the bedroom.

Alice flutters around and starts on my make up.

I can see Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper giving each other weird glances. Like they're trying to speak to each other without talking out loud.

"Ok, guys. Say it whatever it is."

They all look at me wide eyed.

Rosalie clears her throat.

"Um.. Bella? Can you do this? I mean, after what we just did? You look more sad than angry."

I nod.

"It's probably better. Drown in my sorrows, open the door to Tanya, get mad. Hell, I'll probably lose it. Just no more, please."

They all nod.

"Guys, go get dressed. I'm almost finished with her make up then she'll be getting dressed. We'll have a final pump-up session then head to our locations. Meet in the living room."

Rosalie and Emmett head to their bedroom while Jasper grabs a plastic bag off of the floor then heads into their bathroom.

Five minutes later, Alice finishes my make up then hands me a bag with clothes in it.

"Go get dressed."

I nod then head to my room. The house is completely silent. It's unnerving, eerie even, since I have people over.

While getting dressed I keep hearing Emmett and Jasper in my head talking about Edward's vows. I'll bet they were beautiful. He has such a way with words sometimes.

And that bitch stole my chance to hear them.

Stole my chance to tell Edward my vows.

To tell him how much I loved him. How I couldn't wait to start forever with him.

I look in the mirror. I look good. Really fucking good. Alice got me a pair of tight flare jeans and a long sleeved plain black shirt with black tennis shoes.

My eyes have the black smoke-effect making my eyes pop out. She kept the lip gloss minimal, making my lips look kissable and plump but not over done. My hair was straight with curls at the ends with my bangs sweeping across my face.

I walk out into the living room to see them standing there in silence. They're all dressed in all black looking like some kind of SWAT team. Rosalie pulled her blond hair up and put it in a black toboggan. It's going to be hard as hell to see any of them. They look ready.

The silence is intense.

It's like we're all in the zone. Ready for battle.

"Bella, it's about 10 after. Are you ready for this?"

I look at Rosalie and nod.

"I'm ready guys."

They all smile and each take a turn to give me a hug.

"Ok, gear up guys. Emmett and Alice, grab everyone's cell phones then head out to the garage. Make sure you get your headsets on.

Rosalie, go get your head set then get into position. I'm going to hang here with Bella for a minute."

Emmett, Rosalie, and Alice grab Jasper's cell phone while pulling out their own and making sure they were all on silent. They all file out each giving me one final smile before disappearing out the door.

Jasper grabs a head set off of the coffee table, turns it on, then puts it on his head. He looks like an airline pilot or something, with the microphone in front of his face.

"Ok, Bella, remember I'll be right out front. Hold on.."

He pauses, listening into the head set.

"Affirmative."

They're really going all out, talking in code or whatever and everything. If my nerves weren't shot, I would laugh at them.

Jasper looks at me and I know it right away.

It's time.

Jasper kisses my cheek and squeezes me in a hug before heading out the door.

And then there was one.

Now, it's all up to me.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Fuck.

I start to pace back and forth in my living room. My nerves are completely fried.

Then anticipation, the nerves.. fuck this is too much.

So much is riding on this.

The well being of the people I love most in this world depends on the outcome of this.

Edward depends on this.

Then I hear a car pull up in front of my house.

A car door shut.

She's here.

I know it's a cliffie and they suck ass! Chap 8 is already written so I promise you will get it in the next few days!