A/N: You guys all rock! Loved the reviews to the last two chapters.

For those who thought they knew where it was going (and you know who you are), I hope I've thrown you for a loop. For those who are just enjoying reading, stay tuned – there's more happy and more drama (and probably more lemons) to come.

One final note…Happy Birthday AzraTain! (Gee I hope I spelt that right!)

Chapter 19

My jaw dropped, my heart stopped and my stomach sank when I heard a woman's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I heard her say.

I quickly shook my head and replied, "Um, yes. Is Edward there please?" And who the fuck are you and why are you answering my boyfriend's cell? I added in my head.

"He's out of the office at the moment, may I take a message?" she chirped back.

Secretary? I thought to myself. But why would she be answering his cell? Working up the nerve to be polite but pointed I asked, "Can you please let him know his girlfriend called and ask him to call me back?"

I waited for her response to the word girlfriend, hoping like nothing else that she was just his secretary. I could hear her muttering on the other end of the phone. "Girlfriend called…please call back." I waited patiently until she came back on the line. "I've left him a note that his girlfriend called, and can he please call her back. Is there anything else?" she asked politely.

Well, if she's being polite then I will too, I decided. "Nope, that's it. Do you have any idea when he'll be back?"

"It shouldn't be too long I don't think – should I tell Mr Cullen that it's urgent?" She sounded efficient at least.

"No, that's fine. If he could call me when he has time that would be great. Thank you," I said as I hung up.

Still not entirely satisfied, I called Alice.

The phone rang and rang and rang before she picked up. "Design, Alice speaking."

"Are you busy?" I asked. "I can call back…"

"No, you're a good distraction Bells, what's up?" I loved that I didn't even need to identify myself.

"Well, it's a bit of a strange question," I started. "But does Edward have a personal secretary?"

Alice let out a silvery peal of laughter before replying, "I don't think Embry likes the term secretary too much Bella! He prefers executive assistant."

"Who's Embry? I'm confused…" I trailed off. Edward has a male executive assistant named Embry…then who the heck is Tanya? I thought.

"Confused? Why?" Now Alice sounded confused.

"I just called Edward's cell to give him some news, and some chick named Tanya answered and took a message. I presumed she was his secretary." I told her.

"Well Embry has been around forever…maybe this Tanya is his replacement?" Alice mused.

My phone beeped in my ear then, alerting me to another call. I quickly checked the display to see it flashing Edward. "Gotta go Al, he's trying to call. I'll let you know."

I quickly hung up on Alice and answered the second call. "Hello?"

"Hey gorgeous, what's up? Tanya said you called?" The sound of Edward's voice should have made me feel happy but instead it stirred the doubt.

"I have some news, but I also have a question…" I wasn't sure how to ask who this woman was.

"Hmmm…cryptic!" he teased.

"Well, I was just wondering who Tanya is and why she answered your cell?" I blurted out in a rush.

"Yeah, I'm not impressed with that," he said. "Tanya is training to replace my assistant Embry. He and I have both told her she should answer my office phone, but she should never answer my cell, and she sure as hell shouldn't have been in my office while I wasn't there."

The doubt lifted immediately when he confirmed what Alice had suggested. I breathed a huge sigh of relief which made him chuckle.

"I hate to think what you thought when she answered my phone – I'm sorry," he apologised.

"It's ok – it was just a shock to hear a woman's voice when I was expecting you," I explained.

"So what's your news?" I could hear the warmth in his voice over the phone and it made me smile.

I quickly filled him in on what Warner had said.

"That's fantastic baby! So even though it's more responsibility, the hours are better?" he clarified.

"Yep, which means I'll have more time to spend with you!" Brain fart! I told myself. Rushing much?

"You have no idea how good that sounds," he said. He almost sounded sad. "I haven't even been gone a full day and I miss you already."

"Miss you too," I whispered as I passed the nurses' station.

"I hate to do this, but I have a meeting in twenty minutes, can I call you tonight?" he asked.

"Four o'clock meetings? You really do work long hours, don't you?" I joked. "I'll be here until six and then I'm cooking for Alice and Jazz, how about I call you after dinner? Or is that too late?" This two hour time difference was going to be a pain with me working shifts.

"It's never too late or too early for you to call," he said.

I felt that warm, bubbly feeling again. "Ok, I'll try not to make it too late still. Good luck in your meeting."

We exchanged goodbyes and hung up. I was just tucking my phone back into the pocket of my scrubs when Doctor Roger Smith, one of my interns, came walking up.

"Doctor Swan? Sorry to bother you…" he looked at the floor shyly.

"It's no bother, Doctor Smith." He was always 'not wanting to bother me' which was a lot different to the others – they'd just come up and interrupt whatever I was doing.

"Thanks," he said, briefly meeting my eyes before looking at his feet again. "It's just…Doctor Newton just came and asked me to start a central line on one of his patients, then walked off. I've only ever done it with supervision, and I don't know that I should be doing anything on one of his patients…"

"It's ok," I replied through clenched teeth. "I'm going to go and find Doctor Newton and sort this out. You don't have to do it," I finished with a smile.

I turned on my heel and marched off back towards the nurses' station. Jessica was still there and barely looked up as I approached. This girl must have testosterone radar, I thought as I slapped the counter to get her attention.

"Jessica, I need Doctor Newton as a matter of urgency. Where is he?" I didn't bother with manners – they got me nowhere with her.

"Resident's locker room," she snapped. "With Doctor Mallory." She looked at me then, as if she expected me to be upset by this news.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I seethed under my breath as I stormed towards the locker room.

"Where's the fire, Doctor Swan?" I heard from behind me.

"In Newton's ass, I hope," I muttered, turning to see Doctor Hussey behind me.

He laughed at my comment and I blushed – I hadn't meant for anyone to hear me. "What's he done now?" he asked, falling into step beside me.

"I think it's more likely to be who he's doing actually," I groaned.

"Again? I caught him with one of nurses last week, and White caught him the week before that with a cleaner," he filled me in.

"So he's moving up in the world," I joked. We both stopped outside the locker room and could clearly hear a male grunting and a female squealing.

"That's just wrong," Hussey commented. "Ladies first."

I gave him a dirty look and threw the door open, freezing as it hit the wall behind it. There, in the middle of the lockers, were Doctor Newton and Doctor Mallory. Both of their scrubs were around their ankles and he had her bent over the laundry trolley our dirty towels from on-shift showers went into. What was even more disturbing was that they didn't even stop when they saw Dr Hussey and me in the doorway.

"Do you fucking mind?" Dr Mallory yelled. "We're busy."

Dr Hussey tapped me on the shoulder then and we both stepped back, letting the door swing shut again. "Warner's coming," he said in a quiet voice as my brain started working again.

"Something going on in there I should know about?" Dr Warner asked as he approached.

Neither of us needed to answer – Dr Mallory did it for us. "Oh fuck yes!" we heard her scream from inside the room.

A look of disgust crossed Warner's face as it dawned on him what was going on. "Who is that?"

"Newton and Mallory," I mumbled, not meeting his gaze.

"Doctor Hussey, can you please go and find Doctor Newton and Doctor Mallory's interns and ask them to wait outside my office?" Warner said quietly. "Make sure they know they're not in trouble, I just need to get some information from them."

"Yes sir," he said, walking away.

"Doctor Swan, would you mind waiting here with me until they emerge? I could use some support." Dr Warner looked almost ashamed.

"Not a problem, sir. I don't think I can focus on medicine right now after seeing what I just saw," I admitted.

"How did you know they were in there?" he asked. "Or were you just unlucky enough to walk past?"

I laughed humourlessly as I explained, "One of my interns came to see me after Newton asked him to perform a procedure on one of his patients. I told him not to do it and I wanted to discuss it with Doctor Newton. I asked Jessica Stanley at the nurses' station where Doctor Newton was and she told me he was in the locker room with Doctor Mallory." I made quotation marks in the air with my fingers as I used Jessica's words.

Warner shook his head and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't catch. We heard muffled voices on the other side of the door and I worked out they were decided who was going to leave first and who was going to wait for a few minutes. The door opened and I wished I had a camera to capture the look on Lauren Mallory's face when she saw Dr Warner standing there.

"My office, now!" he demanded. "You too, Newton," he called into the room. They both stalked past me, giving me dirty looks.

"That will be all, Doctor Swan," Warner said, breaking me from my trance.

"Yessir," I mumbled as I wandered towards the resident's office.

I shut the door and sank into the chair behind the desk. I folded my arms on the desk and rested my head, closing my eyes for a second. All I could see was Mike and Lauren and the damned towel trolley.

I lifted my head from my arms and rolled my shoulders a few times to relieve the stress. Once I felt slightly more pulled together I left the office again and chanced a look down the corridor to Warner's office. Mike and Lauren were still sitting outside so I quickly looked away and walked in the opposite direction.

I took a quick look at my watch and was relieved that it was 3 o'clock. Time to round again. I went back to the nurses' station and collected the charts for our remaining four patients. The eight interns who were being supervised by Dr Mallory and Dr Newton were also there, and I had a feeling they wouldn't have a resident to round with.

"Jessica, has Doctor Hussey left on his rounds yet?" I asked.

"Haven't seen him," she replied, once again not looking up. And if she hadn't seen him, that meant he hadn't been past. Late 30s, happily married with three children – it didn't stop Jessica throwing herself at him every chance she got.

His interns arrived a minute later and he wasn't far behind. "Intern convention?" he joked, reaching past me for his charts.

"Something like that," I replied with a smile. "Can I have a quick word?" I motioned down the corridor a bit with my head.

"What's up?" he asked. "The sex doctors giving you a hard time?"

"I haven't seen them since Warner hauled them off to his office," I told him. "Which is what I wanted a word about. I started Newton's cases for him this morning and his interns can't round without a resident, if I take his cases can you take Mallory's?"

"Someone's going to have to," he agreed. "Deal."

We walked back to the interns grouped around the nurses' station and I announced, "Ok guys, Doctor Newton and Doctor Mallory are in a meeting at the moment, so Doctor Hussey and I are going to round with you this afternoon. Doctor Newton's cases will come with me and Doctor Mallory's will go with Doctor Hussey. Let's go – we're already behind."

I grabbed Newton's charts and had a quick look over them. The three cases I'd started that morning were well written up and he'd signed off on the treatment plans. The other three had reasonable notes but no treatment plans. Great. More covering for the little prick, I griped internally.

I started with those three cases and coached his interns into making a treatment plan on the spot based on lab results. I gave each of them a case to write up to be presented to me ASAP so I had time to go over it myself before leaving.

We rounded on my four cases next. Scissors-in-the-eye-lady hadn't done too much damage. Drops had been administered hourly since her admission and she was wearing a patch to stop the eye from moving too much. Doctor Smith was her intern and he presented her case well, speaking to her as much as to me. He quickly examined her eye in front of me and then stood to the side so I could check his diagnosis.

"Very good, Doctor Smith," I praised him. "You should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon, Ms Brandon," I told the patient. "Doctor Smith will be back in the morning to assess you once more and to work on your at-home treatment."

The patient smiled warmly at Dr Smith and myself and thanked us for the good news as we left her room.

My other three cases were a bit more complex but I was pleased with the way my interns had worked them up and taken their notes. I promised both patients that I'd see them first thing the following morning.

We finished off with the three cases I'd started for Dr Newton that morning. I was disturbed to find out that he hadn't even been in to see them, having sent his interns each time. More to file away for future use.

I thanked all seven of the interns for their hard work for the day and checked the clock. 5:45pm. "Ok guys, you've got fifteen minutes until go home time. Check over your charts again and see if you can tidy them up. Doctor Newton's team – please leave your charts in my basket when you go – I'll give them a final check before I head out. My team – I'll see you in the morning!"

I was farewelled with a chorus of thanks and see you tomorrow's as I headed once more for the resident's office. I signed off on the orders I needed to clear and started the discharge paperwork for Ms Brandon for the next day. Just before 6:30 I collected the charts and dropped them at the nurses' station, chatted to Dr Taylor for a few minutes as I handed the cases over for the night and then walked slowly back to the locker room. I really didn't want to go in there but I also knew I had no choice.

"Together?" I turned as Dr Hussey walked down the corridor. "I don't really want to go in there either," he explained, "so maybe we can face the evil sex demons together?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," I agreed as he pushed the door open.

We entered the blissfully empty locker room and headed to opposite ends to collect our stuff. "Doctor Swan?" he called from his locker.

"It's Bella," I told him. "At least, off shift it's Bella."

"Bella," he confirmed with a nod of his head. "I don't mean to be rude, but you don't really come to a lot of the social functions – I think today is the most I've ever spoken to you!"

"You're not being rude, just observant," I replied with a small smile. "I've just never felt like I fit in – everyone had someone. I mean, you have your family, Doctor Whitlock has Alice…"

"But now you have someone?" he probed. I must have looked shocked because he hurriedly went on, "There's just something different about you. You seem happy…and I heard you ask someone to tell someone his girlfriend called today."

I didn't even care that my conversation had been overheard. My smile grew as I confirmed his observations. "Yeah, there's someone now. You know Doctor Whitlock's girlfriend?"

He nodded. "You guys are friends from college, right?"

We started walking out to the parking lot together as I explained. "Yes. Jasper and I went to high school together, then I met Alice in college, then Jasper and I went to med school together, and now Alice and I live together and they're dating."

He processed the information then got me back on track. "So, this has what to do with your someone, exactly?"

"Oh!" I was flustered. "I've been rambling. Anyway, my 'someone' as you put it is Alice's elder brother Edward – it's all very new and he's living in Chicago but he could be moving here shortly. He applied for the in-house lawyer position here."

"That'll be nice for you if he gets it," he said with a warm smile. "When did he pass the Washington bar exam?"

"Huh?" I was confused. Edward was already a lawyer.

"I only know because my brother David relocated here two years ago and he's a lawyer. He was licensed in Arizona but still had to pass the Washington bar before he could practice here," he explained.

"Oh – I'm not really sure but my guess is it's under control," I told him as I stopped at my truck.

"Well, good luck with it all. See you tomorrow?" he asked over his shoulder as he kept walking.

"Same bat time, same bat channel," I shot back with a smile as I unlocked the cab and climbed in.

Home and dinner, I thought. And then a nice long call to Edward.