A/N Hi! Sorry about the late update but work is a bitch! I've also been reading my ass off lately. Good news is that my friend Carl from work has helped me figure out who our stalker is. He didn't mean to but I said that he was acting creepy and it went from there. He was very proud of himself and helped name the character. He was incredibly annoyed when I refused to name the stalker after a Dragon ball Z character!
Also, some of you are worried Bella has remained alone of the years and the answer is no. Like I said, there is a reason why Edward hates Jasper so much.
Please read and review!
Rosalie McCarty handed Emmett's best friend a steaming cup of coffee before taking a seat next to her husband at the dining room table. It was no secret that she and Edward had had their differences over the years, but even she felt sorry for him.
"I can't believe it," he muttered. "I haven't seen her for five years and now... here she is," he ended with a shrug. "And she need's my help."
Rosalie frowned, her blue eyes darkening with concern. "Are you even allowed to take this case? You and Bella were together for almost a year; couldn't that affect your judgment?" Even as she asked the question she knew he would be offended but she didn't care. Rosalie loved Bella like a sister and wouldn't sit back and stay quiet while her friend was in danger because the detective who was supposed to be helping her was too distracted. If Edward couldn't separate his feelings then he shouldn't be on the case.
Just like she knew they would, Edward's green eyes darkened in anger. "I'll be fine," he snapped. "I would never hurt, Bella."
Rosalie refrained from huffing. Yes, Edward would never physically hurt Bella, but that didn't mean he hadn't hurt her countless times in the past.
From the way Edward's eyes narrowed she guessed despite holding back the sarcastic huff that he'd sensed it anyway. Good.
When Rosalie had first got together with Emmett and met his best friend, she had really liked him. Despite Edward's intense and serious nature, he was actually funny and smart and he kept her man safe out there. Rosalie knew that Edward would take a bullet for Emmett and that meant she would love him no matter what.
She didn't have to like him, though, when he broke her friend's heart.
Rosalie had met Bella through the boys and the two had hit it off. They had stayed up nights together when the men were on a dangerous case and the fear was getting too much. They had chatted at ball games that neither of them were interested in and went to the guys Sunday softball game. She had found a really good friend in Bella, someone who she could talk to about anything, even her fertility problems and she knew Bella would listen.
It had been her idea to drag Bella out a week after her break up with Edward. It had been her idea to take Bella to that upscale bar Emmett had taken her to. It had been her who'd seen the look of utter pain and betrayal on Bella's face as she watched Edward lean forward and kiss his date on her red painted mouth.
It had taken a long time for Rosalie to even be able to be in the same room as Edward and even then it had only been for Emmett's sake. Edward could have spontaneously combusted and she wouldn't have even offered to spit on him.
Some would say she was judgmental and cold. Some would even say it was none of her business. To those people Rosalie had always replied that they obviously didn't have true friends because you went out of your way for your friends. You didn't stand by while they were hurting, you defended them as fiercely as you loved them or you weren't worth anything.
So if you had to yell at one of your friends because of it, then so be it. Especially if that person was in the wrong. It didn't matter if he had explained or had stated he'd done nothing wrong, you still ripped him a new one. It didn't even matter that he didn't know she'd seen him, which he didn't. Rosalie knew that Bella would be mortified if he knew that she'd seen him and so Rosalie had kept her mouth shut for five years.
Rosalie had also kept something else to herself, only not for as long. In her defense she had been sworn to secrecy and that meant her husband and his close friend was included. Now she knew they were involved in the case she'd asked if it was okay to let her husband know. Bella had wished her good look with a smiley face.
What a bitch.
As the men talked their next moves and about how they would question everyone on the list, Rosalie tried to think of a good opening. Deciding it would never come she blurted it out. "I knew about Bella."
In unison, the men turned their heads slowly to gape at Rosalie. "You knew she was being stalked?" Emmett demanded quietly while Edward looked like he wanted to draw blood.
She nodded, deciding to go with false bravado rather than show them just how nervous she was. Rosalie knew they would be mad, but she'd had her reasons and Bella had hers. "I knew she'd come back to town recently. I've been to her house and the recording studio. She asked me not to mention that she was here or the reason why she returned. Apparently I was the first person her people checked and I got cleared. So, yay for me," she tried to smile.
The men looked furious. "What the hell, Rosalie?" Edward hissed. "Bella is in serious danger and you didn't think to tell us? Dammit this is our job, this is what we do!" Edward exploded before getting to his feet to pace. The man liked to pace.
Emmett turned to face his wife. "I have to agree with him on this one, Rose. You should have told us."
Rosalie huffed. "It had nothing to do with you. Your Homicide, so none of us thought that you would even be involved. Besides, I was told not to say anything until you got cleared. Bella knew you wouldn't have anything to do with it, but Jasper's protective of her."
At Edward's string of cuss words, all directed at Jasper, Rosalie bit the inside of her cheek. Good, the man was jealous and so he should be. He'd let Bella walk away, he hadn't fought to get her back and he hadn't fought for the relationship before that. What did he think that the hurting woman should remain celibate while he whored around? Hell no.
"You should have said something," Edward growled at her.
The mature thing to do would be too calmly and reasonably state that this was Bella's private business and she'd asked Rosalie to keep it to herself. The mature thing would be to ask them to understand that Bella had trusted her to keep her mouth shut.
Rosalie was in no mood to be mature. She'd been waiting five years, five long years, to get some sort of revenge against Edward. It hadn't been him who had held Bella as she cried night after night for a week. It hadn't been him who had seen her eyes fill with tears as she watched the man she loved with another woman. It hadn't been him who had sat there in the audience and watched her heart sink when she realised that the one person she wanted in that crowd just hadn't bothered to show.
Bella had already called Rosalie and told her with pride that she'd acted cool and calm and polite. Bella had taken the high road. Rosalie had no intention of following her lead.
No, it had been Rosalie. It had been Rosalie who had comforted her friend. It had been Rosalie whose heart had broken as Bella had wept silently on her shoulder. It had been Rosalie who Emmett had ordered to stay out of it and enough was enough.
"Why Edward? Bella is nothing to do with you. Not anymore," she pointed out, unable to resist getting a dig in, and a long awaited satisfaction filled her when he flinched.
Edward being Edward he wasn't about to back down and admit she was right. "I'm the one on this case. Bella is everything to do with me," he snarled. Emmett shot him a look that told him to watch his tone around his wife. Edward ignored his best friend completely.
Rosalie wanted to smile. It had taken five years but she was getting her digs in. "Not until this morning she wasn't," she replied just as coldly. "You let Bella walk out of your life five years ago, Edward and with that you lost all rights to know what was happening in her life."
"She's in danger," Edward lashed out.
Rosalie nodded. "Yes, she is and she's being taken care of. Who did you think pulled all those strings so that two of the stations finest would be put on the case? Jasper did it. He's gotten her around the clock security and if she'd let him he'd be at her side twenty four seven. He's kept me informed every step of the way and he's doing everything he knows how to protect her."
Edward glared at her. A lesser woman would have been scared, but she was just too damn mad at him. "Obviously it's not working out so well since she's being stalked."
Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Well, forgive him for not being able to prevent that. He's done everything he can, but sometimes pyschos slip through the cracks. He's her manager, not her bodyguard and he's not a cop. You are. So do your job and get it done."
"I will. But so we're clear, don't use the past against me, Rose. I know you and I know how your mind works."
Unsurprised, she shrugged her shoulders. "You wouldn't be worth shit as a detective if you couldn't crack that code, Edward. I've waited a long time to lay into you."
He blinked. "You've been harsh and rude to be for five years. It's only just now that you're deciding to lay into me?"
Rosalie's blue eyes met his green and held them locked in her intense gaze. "She's my friend, Edward and you treated her like shit. More than you know," she added in a whisper before getting to her feet. "Just do your job and fix this. She needs you, Edward, and not as a man this time. She needs you to be a cop. It shouldn't be so hard since that's all you cared about before, right?"
With that she left the room. She had finally said her peace and felt much better for it. All she had to do now was wait.
Edward slammed his front door with more force than necessary but couldn't bring himself to care. Rosalie had pissed him off today and what annoyed him more was that he knew she was right.
Edward had no right to any information about Bella up until this morning. He had never spoken of her, never spoken to her for that matter and acted as if she hadn't existed in the first place. Bella had left his life and with that all of his rights about her private life had become void.
It also didn't help that Rosalie was pretty much right about everything else too. He had hurt Bella. Had he cheated? No. Did he hit her? No. Had he put himself and his job before her time and time again? Without a doubt.
It wasn't until Kate came into his life that he understood that he didn't come first. His wants and needs had to come second with someone you love. So yes he now understood what a complete selfish bastard he'd been. Only it was five years too late.
Edward hadn't realised until recently just how selfish he had been. He had thought he understood at the time, but he'd made excuses to absolve himself of any guilt or blame. He had an important job; he had to put that first. He'd had a long day seeing the brutal side of life; he deserved a drink after work with the guys occasionally.
It may have been Bella who had walked away from him, but he'd given her so many reasons to leave. Then he hadn't fought for her, even when he'd wanted to. He had been too proud, too full of himself to fight for a woman. So he had moved on and though he had tried to convince himself that he was over her, he couldn't deny the fact that her memory had haunted him.
Edward still saw her in his dreams most nights. He could still remember how it felt to have her in his arms with such clarity that when he woke to find his arms empty he was shocked. Even when Edward had been with another woman, he still dreamed of her. No one knew this and he had vowed to never tell anyone.
Not even his best friend or his annoying wife.
Slumping into the overstuffed sofa in his living room, he frowned at the silence that filled his house. It was strange to not have Kate around for the evening. Yes she spent nights at friends and Rosalie's, but usually when he had work. To be home without her felt... wrong. To have her angry with him felt even worse.
He would let her go, he decided. He would make sure they had adult supervision, but he would let go. Kate put up with a lot of his shit and was an amazing kid; she deserved to have fun with her friends. As long as none of them were guys, that is.
Edward sat there for a long time while he replayed the confrontation between Rosalie and him earlier. The woman knew where to cut so it bled like a bitch that was for sure. Not only had she questioned whether or not him being on the case was best for Bella, but she'd pointed out that he'd given up all rights to Bella's life.
He groaned as he let his head drop back and watched as the sky darkened. How could he make up for something that happened so long ago? Did he even have the right to try? Bella was sweet and kind and as lovely as ever this morning but did she feel the pull there that he still did? Or was her love for him just a thing of the past?
Edward shook his head angrily. None of that mattered right now. All that did matter was making sure that she was safe; all that other stuff could be fixed later. Hopefully.
The thing was, he was restless. He honestly had no clue what to do with a free night. For a year anytime not spent with his daughter or friends was spent on work. He hadn't been with a woman since the moment Kate walked into his life.
Edward didn't have a nine to five job. He couldn't come home, see his daughter and still have time for a social life. He had a job that consumed most of his life and had ruined more than one relationship, so the last thing he wanted was to lose even more time with his daughter.
Yet, here he sat, free as a bird with no one around. He wouldn't call up one of the women he knew would be willing to meet him for drinks and a few rolls across the sheets. He couldn't. As much as he knew it was wrong and as much as he knew that bridge was mostly burned to ash by this point, Bella was back. Bella was home and oh so close and to be with another woman felt incredibly wrong.
Edward blinked at that. There was a time when he would have used a woman to push away the loneliness that her leaving him had created. There was a time he wouldn't have hesitated and yet here he was, and he'd rather be alone then do anything that could potentially screw anything else up.
Your fucked up, Masen, he thought as he reached for his laptop and loaded it up. Not only am I fucked up, he added, but I'm also way ahead of myself. Bella was back but that didn't change anything, it didn't erase all the things he did to mess it up.
As he stared at the bright computer screen, Edward decided to hell with it. He knew he most likely had no chance in hell of ever getting her to forgive him. Edward knew that it was him who needed to earn forgiveness. He had always known that.
But after so many years of near death experiences and seeing such evil in the world, he had needed to believe that there was something, someone out there. That such hideous things didn't happen for nothing. Call it God, fate, whatever it hadn't mattered. He just needed to believe there was some rhythm or reason to the evil he saw every day.
So, believing in that, he couldn't help but think that someone, for some reason, had brought Bella back. He had heard that she was living in Los Angeles and living the celebrity life and couldn't be farther out of his reach, but now she was home. She was here and she needed his help. He couldn't ignore what he thought, that it had to be fate giving him another chance.
Edward didn't know if it was just desperate dreams of a desperate man, but he was taking it. Bella was home and she seemed to have at least somewhat forgiven him for his past sins, so he had a chance in hell. It may be slim, but it was there. He wasn't going to screw it up this time.
So, with his goal in mind, Edward typed a name in the search engine he swore he never would. He typed in Bella's name.
Edward sat there in his dark living room and began to think that Bella now had two stalkers. For the last two hours he had read as much articles on the internet about Bella as possible.
Her first album had been self-titled and her first single that had debuted at number one had been called Undo It. She had then became known for her unique ability to use her songs to connect with her fans. Many of her faithful fans had said that it was like her songs spoke to them.
Edward started to worry; any of these 'faithful fans' could be her stalker. That was the difference between stalkers and celebrity stalkers. With stalkers it could be anyone, yes, but it was more likely someone you knew. With celebrity stalkers it could anyone out of a million people. If they didn't get any more clues soon, the stalker may never get caught and threw permanently out of Bella's life.
Deciding that reading articles of her dating life was a no go zone, Edward clicked onto YouTube and for the first time listened to the songs she had released. He knew he could have gotten her music easily from upstairs, but he wanted to see her. Five years without her had been too long.
Like a drowning man coming up for air, when Bella's face filled the screen, his eyes devoured her.
It was her very first music video that Edward clicked on first. He wanted to see that woman again. The young fresh faced woman who had lit up her life.
As the guitar intro began strongly the music video scanned a crowded bar, zooming on a handsome man obviously flirting with a beautiful young woman. As he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, Bella's voice began. "I should have known by the way you passed me by. There was something in your eyes and it wasn't right. I should have walked but I never got the chance. Everything got out hand and I let it slide."
Bella, with her long hair, dark smoky eyes and cutoff jeans stood on a bar, singing her heart out while glaring towards the man. The man turned to watch the woman who he'd obviously betrayed, call him out on his lies.
Bella looked fierce and sexy and Edward wished he had been there with her. It had been her dream to create her own music video, to give a story behind the song. He'd missed it and he had no one to blamed but himself.
Glancing towards the side bar of recommendations, Edward nearly choked when he saw a video for a collaboration with Bella... and Tim McGraw. Bella's all time hero, she owned every album and wasn't shy about playing them non-stop even when it drove me insane. The man she'd always dreamed of meeting and she'd actually made a song with him.
Edward watched with an incredulous smile as a highway appeared on the screen and the soft guitar solo began. Tim McGraw, with his signature cowboy hat, stood at the side of the road, his deep voice singing about pulled back hair and driving way to fast.
As he looked into the camera, the chorus began and Bella's lovely joined his. She's beautiful, he thought as she came on screen with her thick bangs and a white dress. Bella looked like an angel sent to watch over the young woman who was so distraught in the video. Her eyes looked directly in the camera and it felt as if she was singing the words to him.
Wishful thinking, he decided with a scowl.
Edwards's favorite was a duet with Brad Paisley called Remind Me. It featured the two of them walking across a desert to get to the other. The dress Bella wore highlighted her toned legs as the strong winds blew the brightly colored fabric. Her long hair blew in waves and her eyes were bright with love and determination. A look he'd seen so many times and missed every day.
The reason Edward liked it so much was because it was a song about a love being reconnected. It was about fighting for that you missed and wanted back.
As the song finished, Edward was already clicking onto the next one. For hours he watched video after video, interview, back stage documentaries. In one night Edward watched everything he had spent five years avoiding.
Eventually, he fell asleep on his couch as Bella's voice continued to play from the shiny laptop.
The thud of her book hitting the wooden floor awoke Bella from her deep sleep.
Bolting upright, she clutched a trembling hand to her chest and waited for her heart to calm. With the stalker and the nightmares that plagued her most nights, Bella was a little jumpy lately.
She knew she had no need; she was safe in her home. Bella knew that if she pressed her panic button the men that Jasper had hired would be here within moments to protect her. She knew that, but it didn't stop the nightmares or the fact that she jumped at the slightest things.
It was easier in the day. With the sun shining and her friends surrounding her, she could pretend nothing way wrong and that she was happy. But in the still of night, with only the darkness and the shadows as her company, every sound felt menacing. The amount of times she'd jumped because she'd thought she'd seen someone was pathetic.
What was even more pathetic, she decided as she got up to use the bathroom, was the amount of times she'd found herself thinking of Edward Masen.
Bella padded barefoot through the extravagant bathroom. Marble floors, huge tub and a heated toilet seat which she thought was the coolest thing on the planet.
After washing her hands, Bella splashed the cold water on her face before scowling at her reflection. "Stop it," she hissed at herself.
Ever since she'd seen him this morning she'd done nothing but thing of him, dream of him and wonder what he was doing at that very moment in time. Was he chasing leads, was he getting lunch, did he still like pickle on his burger?
Was he with another woman? She thought and rolled her eyes are how pathetic she sounded.
It had been five years since they were together and they'd both moved on. She knew he hadn't become celibate as he pined for her that was for sure. Edward hadn't waited a week to move on. It had taken her a little longer, but she had.
Or she thought she had.
Bella knew that she still loved Edward; she wasn't fickle enough to switch off her feelings like that. When she loved, she loved deeply and she had loved Edward more than anything at one point in her life. So the fact that she'd still felt love for the man had never been a shock to her.
What had shocked Bella was just how much she still loved him. Even after everything that had happened, after all the hurt and that time and distance, Edward still made her heart stop. When he looked into her eyes she still felt like he was looking into her soul.
When she was in his arms, even for that brief moment, she had still felt safe and warm and like she was home.
"You've got problems, girl," she whispered as she dried her hands on the thick towel.
Yes she had problems that was something that had never been hidden from her. Bella still loved a man who wouldn't or couldn't give her the love she needed. She still loved a man who hadn't called her, hadn't stopped her, hadn't fought for her and had moved onto the next woman exactly seven days later.
She had tried, she thought as she made her way down the grand staircase and into the kitchen. Bella had tried so hard to move on and had been happy most of the time. Jasper, for instance, he had made her happy. He was smart and funny and caring and Bella had wanted nothing more than to love him. But she couldn't.
Try as she might, Bella had never loved any of the men she had dated since Edward. She had wanted to, she had desperately wanted to, but she never could.
The fact that she still felt as much love for him now as the day she left was a bitch. It was also something she never planned on telling anyone. Not even her closest friends.
As Bella fixed herself a midnight snack a melody came into her head. It always happened like this, she knew. Bella could sit at a table with her guitar and a pen and paper for hours and nothing, it would come to her when her mind was elsewhere.
Normally somewhere without a pen, she thought with a smile as she hummed the melody that was stuck in her head.
"There it is again," she mumbled. "Every now and then," she added before once again continued to hum.
Smiling, finally her mind on something other than psychopathic stalkers and ex loves of your life; she grabbed her snack and exited the kitchen. Now that she had a melody in her mind, she knew she could never sleep until she got it out.
Remembering she'd left her favorite guitar in the living room, Bella made her way to get it only slipped on something warm, wet and sticky and went flying.
Bella grunted as her head hit the hard flooring, the sandwich she had made flew across the room.
"I'm going kill him," she growled as she lay there breathless.
Mango, as cute as he was, had yet to be completely house trained. He really did try, but on most night's Bella was greeted with a puddle on the floor and a sweet dog with sad eyes. Normally she wouldn't have been angry, but she only wore a white t-shirt and tiny shorts and so was currently covered head to toe in dog pee.
Nice.
Cringing, Bella slowly sat up and carefully got to her feet. Cursing under her breath, she reached for the lamp, trying not to touch anything until she'd had a hot shower.
As she clicked on the light Bella glanced down at her arms and gasped. As she glanced around she caught sight of the floor and walls her heart pounded in terror.
Blood covered her arms and legs, the walls and the pristine white couches that she'd once feared spilling cherry soda on.
As she took in the sight before her she thought, a little hysterically, that it looked like a small budget horror movie. It was then that she caught the sight of the small bundle on the floor and sobbed.
Mango, her precious dog that she'd saved from the pound lay lifeless on the floor. His small body lay lifeless on the floor, his organs spilling out onto the floor.
Bella gagged. It was his blood, she realised.
It was a helpless dog's blood that covered her walls and furniture. That covered her, she thought as her tears tracked down her cheeks for the pain he must have felt.
It was then, as she took in the horror that was her living room that she saw it and couldn't hold back the scream of absolute terror.
Written on the cream walls in Mango's blood was one word that sent ice through Bella's veins and terror in her heart.
Soon.
A/N Mango! I loved that dog.
So, thoughts and feelings are much appreciated. Songs are Undo It by Carried Underwood. Highway Don't Care by Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, Remind me by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley and Every Now and Then by Alan Jackson.