A/N: Sorry the updates are coming slower for now. Hopefully this little chapter will tide you over for a bit.

Twike is a super awesome rad beta.

Characters and stuff are not mine.

Chapter 2 Defragmented

Bella was a tricky little thing. Edward sat at his computer late that night reflecting on the day's events. He just agreed to take her toilet papering, make prank phone calls, and now after a quick Google search, apparently fly her to London, all trying to get her to set a date for the wedding. She went along with all of it, before informing him that she was really just worried about having a "rich people wedding."

Edward shook his head and smiled. She was ridiculous, and he loved her for it. In truth, Edward didn't think he could handle planning a huge wedding. He had been overwhelmed with trying to balance his business, working with Charlie and his contact at the FBI on the mystery surrounding Bella's mom, home renovations, and spending every minute he could with Bella.

He'd spent a considerable amount of time dissecting the disk Charlie gave him, and he was surprised to discover that there was more to it than he originally realized. The disk wasn't damaged at all. It was actually disguised with what had been cutting edge technology in the mid-nineties to further hide its contents. Wherever this disk came from, the person who created it knew what they were doing. The technology was dated over a decade later, which was why Edward failed to recognize it at first. He spent weeks trying to imagine what type of people would have had access to something like this back then – government, large corporations, someone with money to spare.

Tyler, Charlie's friend at the Bureau had spent some time analyzing the names and account numbers Edward pulled from the disk. He found that the account numbers were tied to some off shore accounts holding several million dollars. He traced the names on the disk to an international company called Volterra Corp. They had subsidiaries all over the world, but their main base of operations was in Italy. None of them could figure out Renee's connection to this corporation, but it seemed to be the key to figuring out this mystery. Edward hoped they could find something the FBI could actually investigate hoping that legal measures would be the way to ensure his family's safety.

Edward knew he was on a slippery slope. The longer he kept this information from Bella, the more hell there would be to pay when he finally told her the truth. He'd been encouraging Charlie to let Bella know what was going on. Charlie was afraid he would lose Bella again if she found out what Charlie knew about her mother. The father and daughter were slowly building a relationship over emails and phone calls. Bella had invited Charlie to visit over Easter weekend, and Edward prayed that weekend would mark the end of all the secrets. Learning the truth about her mother wouldn't be easy, but Bella would want to know.

Edward was starting to nod at his keyboard and decided it was time to go to sleep. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after one a.m. He reached for the light on his desk and was startled by his phone vibrating. It was Bella. She usually went to bed early. Edward's first thought was that she was hurt or something happened to granddad.

"Bella! Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Are you okay?" she yawned into the phone.

"Why are you calling me so late? I was worried something was wrong." Edward relaxed his tense muscles.

"Something is definitely wrong. We can't get married in the park now thanks to you."

"Bella, I'm too tired for witty banter. Just tell me what's going on."

"Fine," she sighed. "Finishing that list before we got married was your idea, and we can't possibly do it before the end of June."

"Oh, so you do have a conscience. As soon as I checked online, I was positive you already knew Les Mis was only playing in London."

"Man, you're some sort of mind reader."

"I just know you too well."

"Really? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"You're sitting on your hands aren't you?"

"Crap!" Edward and Bella both laughed.

"So I'm sure we can take a quick jaunt to the motherland. What else is standing in our way?"

"Football season doesn't start till late August. There aren't any Broncos' games," Bella said with disappointment in her voice.

"Hmmm, that's a good point." Edward strummed his fingers on the desk trying to think of a solution.

"Yep, so we can't get married."

"Very funny. How about if we get season tickets for next year instead?" Edward suggested.

"How about if you do a corporate sponsorship, and we get one of those club house things?"

"Geeze, you don't want a rich people wedding, but you want to live like a billionaire," Edward scoffed.

"I'm kidding. I guess we can just go see the Rockies play or something."

"I never would have taken you for a baseball fan."

"I'm not, but I like the atmosphere at baseball games. I could never watch it on TV, but it's so much more dramatic live."

"Okay, we'll do that then and take the whole family. It will be a blast."

Bella yawned again loudly, "I think I'm ready for bed now."

Edward suddenly didn't feel like getting off the phone. He missed her too much when she wasn't with him.

"Did I ever tell you about the time Alice and I broke into a house with some neighborhood kids?" It was the first thing Edward thought of in an attempt to keep her talking.

"Nope."

"Well, it was for sale and empty, and we somehow got a window open and made Alice crawl in. We turned it into our own little club house. A bunch of us guys tried to spend the night there one night, but Alice ratted us out, because we wouldn't let her come."

"Mmmm, that's funny. I can't imagine you ever breaking any rules." Bella sounded tired and bored.

"You obviously don't know me," Edward tried to make his voice mysterious and sexy.

"Okay goodnight…." Bella said, and Edward could tell she was rolling her eyes. He decided to keep trying.

"Did I ever tell you I took Drama in high school?"

"No!" Bella said in a high pitched voice like she was trying not to laugh. Victory! Edward knew he could do it.

"It was either that or home ec. for an elective. I thought you had to sew and stuff in that class, but as I was walking out of class memorizing monologues while the other guys walked out of home ec. eating cookies. I was gypped."

"That's hilarious," Bella laughed. "Can I go to bed now?"

"Bella…." Edward tried to think of something else to keep her on the phone.

"What?" she sighed.

"Um… what are you wearing?"

"Goodnight!"

"I love you, good night," Edward laughed.

"Love you."

Edward looked at the picture of Bella and him on his desk and smiled. He spent several minutes trying to come up with a way they could possibly get the Broncos to play before June. No brilliant ideas came to mind, so he switched his light off and headed to bed.

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"Your resume is impressive Ms. Baccino," Edward looked up from his desk at the attractive woman sitting on the other side. He noticed her heels and could just imagine Bella breaking her neck if she ever tried to wear something like that.

"Please, call me Victoria, or my friends call me Tori."

"Can you please explain to me why you want to work for this company?"

"Honestly, I want to work here because of you. I know you've slowed down over the past few years, but the advancements you made in this field are unprecedented. The opportunity to work under a true genius would be once in a life-time. "

"You're giving me too much credit," Edward shifted uncomfortably.

"Nonsense. You're just being modest. Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you stop? I mean your little operation you've got going here is great and all, and I'm sure the contracts you get are financially sustaining, but with the things you were doing, you could have done anything. You could have easily secured government contracts, created military grade technology, or worked for the most powerful people in the world. Database and account security seems so beneath you."

Edward grew increasingly uncomfortable with her questions. "I went another direction for personal reasons. I don't want to be tied to contracts that consume me and require me to work 24-7. I would rather be a successful business man than a technical genius. I want a life outside of my work."

"That's a shame," Tori sighed. "I'd be thrilled to have the opportunity to glean anything I can from you. It's an honor to actually meet the man I've only read about. You're a true legend." She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward giving Edward a view of her cleavage. "I'd do anything just to be around you," she lowered her voice.

"Um, well, I think that will be all for today," Edward looked away quickly. "I'm late to meet up with my fiancé, but thank you for coming in. I have a few more engineers I want to interview before making a decision, but you definitely seem to be the most qualified. If we decide to bring you on, I'll have Angel call you to discuss compensation and benefits." Edward stood and opened his office door. Tori sauntered toward him, and Edward was worried she might do something inappropriate. She reached out her hand, and he reluctantly shook it.

"I hope to hear from you soon." She smiled innocently, making Edward think maybe he'd just imagined a double meaning in her words. Edward told her goodbye and shut his office door. He sat back in his chair and loosened his tie trying to get some air. Edward felt the need to get to Bella as quickly as possible.

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"Shhhh," Bella wacked Edward in the stomach as they peered around the corner into the dining room. Emmett was standing behind the bar.

Bella was a woman on a mission, but Edward couldn't stop laughing. Bella's irritation with him was growing by the second. Bella took Edward's phone which he'd programmed to show a different number on the caller ID, and dialed the number to the restaurant.

"Amelia's," Emmett answered the phone.

"Hi, this is Carly from Kiss FM. Do you know the Kiss Phrase that Pays?" Bella used her best DJ voice and hit Edward again who was about ruin everything.

"KISS FM PLAYS TODAY'S BEST MUSIC NOW GIVE ME MY MONEY!!!" Emmett bellowed.

"You just won ten thousand dollars!" Edward fell to his knees laughing when Bella said it.

"No way! Thank you! Thank you! My wife is having a baby! This is going to help so much. Now I can take her on that cruise I've been promising her. Thank you! This is so great! Thank you!" Emmett jumped up and down and then did the churn the butter dance.

"Congratulations! Our business office will call you later." Bella hung up the phone. They watched as Emmett announced that everyone's meals were on the house and ran around hugging everyone in sight. Luckily it was still early, so they didn't have many customers.

Bella stuffed the phone in Edward's pocket and drug him around the corner with her.

"I just won ten thousand dollars!" Emmett yelled, picked up Bella, and swung her around. "God must have known how much we needed a vacation!"

"You knew the Kiss Phrase that Pays?" Bella asked him using her DJ voice again. Edward instinctively took a few steps back sensing danger. Emmett froze. He stared at Bella for a few seconds while she laughed at him, and the joy drained from his face. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Emmett's fists clenched, a vain stuck out of his neck, and his face reddened.

"Edward," Bella said while slowly inching away, "RUN!" Bella turned and sprinted toward the stairs to the apartment. Edward didn't know what to do, so he just kept slowly inching backwards toward the door. He was too afraid to turn his back to Emmett.

"You're dead Cullen," Emmett snarled.

"It was all her!" Edward cried and finally made a run for it. He met Bella at the top of the stairs, and Emmett yelled after them, "I'll get you guys back!"

Edward and Bella looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Edward asked.

"You're going to have to send them on a cruise?"

"Exactly, but I think it was worth it to see Emmett dancing around and squealing."

"I hope we still think it was worth it after he gets his revenge," Bella shuddered. "I told you we should've done it to Jasper."

"No way, I'd rather deal with Emmett's anger than watch Jasper go all emo and cry like a baby."

"Jasper's not emo. He's sensitive."

"Do you know any other man who loves Anne of Green Gables and cries when he watches Kodak commercials?"

"Stop making fun of Jasper. It's cute that he likes those things."

"Here we go again with you talking about how wonderful Jasper is," Edward rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, I think you're cute too."

"Don't you mean irresistible?" Edward asked.

"Yes, especially when you use computer talk with me," Bella winked.

"Bella, I'd like to defragment your hard drive."

Bella started fanning herself with one hand, and pulled Edward to the couch with her other.

"My nine cell 85WHr Li-Ion battery can last all night."

Bella initiated the make-out session, while Edward spurred her forward with talk of Intel Xeon Processors and his RAM speed. At this rate they'd be able to check another thing off her list in no time.

A/N: OK seriously I'm in a hurry so I don't have time to give look back at the reviews and give whoever came up with genius idea credit – but they are genius. If you don't review Edward will hack into your computer and delete all your favorite stories. That would be tragic for all of us.

What's up with Tori – is she just ho or does she have ulterior motives? We'll keep working on that bucket list (thanks twilightfan104).