Author's Note: Thanks as always to my beta AgoodWitch for getting this back out between working her hiney off to write her own stories. She's awesome, and as her beta, I have to tell you that her stories will make the delay so worth it! I don't feel like babbling, but just know the next chapter for this story is done and will post in the near future as well. TTYL!

Chapter 3

As time passed in a blur of phone calls for me, Carlisle grimaced through his Red Bull while Edward updated him on everything he had observed. My attentions were divided as I found myself listening closer to Edward than the parade of big wigs demanding answers that we were nowhere near ready to give. One of the worst things about our job is that most people don't realize how much time it takes to sort through evidence and draw conclusions. Just because the writers of the top TV shows in the country manage to resolve the case in an hour does not mean it works that way in real life. Some cases take a handful of hours while others take weeks and weeks.

Once the line finally went silent, I glanced at the clock with a frown. Two and a half hours had passed, and Jane had yet to check in, even though I requested she arrive immediately and come to the War Room to be briefed. Carlisle glanced toward me before his eyes darted to his watch and then back up to me. His lips twitched slightly as his eyes narrowed, standing to follow me as I jumped up and rushed to the door.

I opened it to see Jane suited up and already beginning to examine the bodies.

"Wait, Jane! Not yet!" I yelled, jogging quickly to the stairs that led to the platform where the autopsies would be performed. I quickly slid my badge to deactivate the security system before rushing to her level.

Jane looked at me with a bored roll of her eyes. "I've come to work. I'm a highly sought after forensic examiner. I do not need a kindergarten level talk by a new leader high on the power of a new post before I begin my examination. Now scurry off to look at fact sheets and let me begin my work."

She reached forward with her scalpel as my hand shot out to stop her from making her first incision. "Jane, there are things you need to know about this case. Things you need to be particularly vigilant in documenting. I do not like your attitude or your disregard of my authority in this case. Now I expect you to put down that scalpel and come to be briefed this very instant."

Jane's ice blue eyes turned arctic as she glared at me. "And what do you plan to do about it? You were a poor excuse for an agent when I met you and you still are. I am contracted and thus do not answer to you, Isabella. You can either let me do what I'm here to do, or I'll just leave."

I felt the fire flash in my eyes, my nostrils flaring in my struggle to retain self-control. I nodded slowly before reaching out to take the scalpel from her palm and laying it on the tray before her and dropping her hand. "Then be my guest, Jane. I cannot have people on my team who do not respect me or the way this division is run. If you do not have the capacity to be professional, even when teamed with someone you dislike, then you have no business being on this highly important case, under intense scrutiny by the director himself. I do not look forward to explaining to him why we will be further delayed by your absence as we wait for Dr. Saroyan from the Smithsonian to come back from her vacation, but I will do what needs to be done to make sure this case is treated with the utmost care and due diligence."

Jane's eyes widened as I undeniably informed her that not only is this the most important case she has ever worked on, but that I would be more than willing to feed her to the dogs. I watched as her tongue grazed over her teeth behind her closed lips before she finally stripped her gloves and gown and stalked off the platform and in the direction of the War Room.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before following her, trying to reign in every reaction boiling within me. As I crossed Carlisle, he beamed at me, winking as I caught his eye, and resting a hand on my shoulder. Edward chuckled quietly, shaking his head as he fell into line behind Carlisle and I as we strode back to my office.

When I walked in, Jane was sitting on one of the couches, turning her hand to admire the large diamond on her finger with a smug smile. I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth before crossing to my seat behind the desk, Carlisle and Edward sitting across from her, both taking in her actions with annoyance.

"Before you begin, I was asked by Michael to send you his best wishes. He says he misses working with you, but our life in suburbs makes a regular commute quite difficult. He's working at a medical testing lab near our house in White Ridge. I told you we built a house, didn't I? Yes, we started construction just before the wedding and moved in about a year or so ago. Beautiful panoramic views and we even included a recording studio in the basement for Michael's little garage band."

I bit my cheek and stifled my emotions as I listened to a girl I once thought was my friend gloat about her life with my former live in boyfriend. Mike and I met in college and were living together about a year later. I thought we had an idyllic life. We both got hired around the same time, me working with Jane in Carlisle's division, while Mike worked a few doors down in another division. I should have noticed something was going on, but I trusted Mike, completely. Six months later, Mike moved out and moved in with my "friend" Jane who flipped a switch that very same day and became the biggest bitch I had ever met. It was then I discovered her entire friendship was just an act to get close with Mike, and it worked, flawlessly. She came from money and before I knew it, they were engaged, building a house in the burbs, and Mike suddenly had a high paying job near where they lived, and as far away from me as possible without uprooting her own career.

I glanced at an angry Carlisle and a confused Edward as Jane droned on another few minutes before she finally finished. I took a drink of coffee before leaning back in my seat with a mask of indifference.

"That's all very nice, Jane. Now if you're done attempting to belittle me with you pathetic excuse for a marital situation, I would very much like to brief you on this murder that appears to be linked by theKing Serial Murders so that you can get back to your job and get us some answers."

Jane's eyes grew wide as she swallowed hard past the lump that appeared to have formed in her throat at the mention of the Serial Murderer and the links in the case that point to his deeds. Her face blanched as I explained what was found etched into the girl's back, a place she had not seen since the corpse had been positioned on the table already by the time she arrived. I asked Edward to fill in any blanks he could and by the time he was done, Jane's professionalism had finally made an appearance.

She looked intently at Carlisle as she spoke, explaining she would do her best. Carlisle just frowned before leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"I am here as a consultant, like you, your oaths should be directed toward the woman behind the desk who is in charge of this operation now, and doing a damn fine job of it as well, from what I have seen. In my mind, Agent Swan has been considerably lenient with your displays here today, but I assure you that if I see you put even one toe out of line the rest of this case, I will be calling my good friend, Director Arogani. I will inform him that your services are not as impeccable as they once were, with or without the sanction of Agent Swan, and see that you are no longer on the FBI's list of professional consultants. Are we clear Dr. Paynor?"

Jane's eyes grew as wide as saucers before she nodded and glanced at me. "I'll get to work right away, Agent Swan."

With that, she disappeared out the door and went straight to work, adding extra cameras and two assistants to help her be as detailed as possible in her assessments. As soon as she was gone, I groaned, letting my head drop to my hand and massaging my temples gently. I could hear Edward question Carlisle as Carlisle hushed him and explained it was private. I made a note of informing Edward since everyone else in the office already knew the full story later, after my pounding headache went away.

The pain wasn't so much about Mike. The second he pulled that whole mess, I knew I was better off without him. The problem I had was that I never did well with bullies in school and now I was going to have to be in direct charge of one of the biggest bullies I had ever met. The thought was not a pleasant one. I had hoped I'd never have to deal with that woman again, and with the entry of Rosalie who was a better examiner and a better all around person, I didn't have to, until now.

Edward and Carlisle left the room, with excuses of work to do in other areas and wanting to check on Alice and Jasper, but I knew the real reason was to give me some space. They weren't gone long when a knock came at the door.

I called for the petitioner to come in, only to be surprised to see the face of Jacob Black pop through the opening, a concerned expression on his face. I shot him a weak smile and told him to come in before pushing back from the desk and moving across the room to meet him. The second he reached me, he enveloped me in his arms and buried his nose in my neck. I sighed and melted into his warm comforting embrace.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on Rose's detail."

The warm rumble of his voice through the wall of his chest made me smile. "I don't go on until six, so I thought I'd better drop in when I found out Jane was here. How are you holding up?"

I sighed, resting my forehead against his sternum. "Fine, I guess. She's already been up to her usual tricks. I had to threaten to tattle tell in order to get her to come get briefed as to the seriousness of the case, and then Carlisle had to set her straight too. I'm already exhausted and this has only just begun."

His warm fingers slid under my chin, lifting my face up to his. He pressed a soft kiss on my lips before repeating them on my cheeks, eyes and forehead. "Don't let her get to you, Bells. You're worth ten Jane Paynor's."

I sigh, not really feeling it, but not willing to argue either. Jake gazed down at me with is warm black stare. In the days following Mike's departure, Jake held me up. He was my best friend. Then, when my heart started to mend a bit, he became my friends with benefits, then my sort of boyfriend, and then back to my best friend ever with wonderful benefits when we realized while we loved each other, neither of us were IN love with each other. We were human though, and there were times when you just need that human contact with someone you trust. If you don't have a romantically special person in your life, then why not rely on your best friend?

Jake continued to comfort me, helping the stress recede, until the door to my office opened after a brief knock, Emmett followed by Carlisle and Edward rushing in soon after. Jake and I broke apart, but not before everyone that entered saw we were in an intimate embrace. I felt my face heat, unable to miss the look of hurt in Edward's eyes, which confused me a bit, before I thanked Jake and told him I would see him later.

I took my seat, to find Emmett's normally happy mood completely gone, an angry gorilla like being taking his place.