A/N: I got no reviews at all for this story.

I'm going to keep this nice and sweet because I have a lot to write and my grandma will kill me if I bust my fingers and can't play piano again. Scoff.

Disclaimer: I do not own Catwoman or Twilight.

Third persons point of view

Bella hurried into the lobby of the Hedare building-world headquarters for Hedare Beauty, the leading cosmetics brand in the United States. The sleek lobby was decorated in marble and glass, and the walls were covered in plasma screens displaying the perfect profile of Victoria Hedare-the wife of the company's founder-whose fine features, long red hair, and ice-blue eyes made up the face of the company.

Bella shoved open the door with her hip, then rushed into the lobby. "Sorry!" she said as she bumped into someone. She backed away, running into someone else, and had to mutter another apology. Bella sighed. Things at the office were already not going well.

James Hedare paced the width of the boardroom as his wife, Victoria, gazed at him impassively from her place at the end of the long conference table. James was a commanding presence, made all the more so by the fact that ha had built Hedare Beauty from a small operation into a world enterprise. And now the company had developed something that was going to change the face of the industry. "Hedare Beauty stands at the threshold of a new era," James Hedare announced as he gestured to a plasma screen that showed two dramatic photos of the same woman. In the first photo, she looked haggard and old. In the second, her skin was smooth and seemed to glow-she looked twenty years younger. "Botox, collagen, dermabrasion . . ." Hedare went on. "Woman will suffer for beauty. We also know they'll pay for it. Our goal, of course, is that they pay us."

The members of the board chuckled. Everyone except for Victoria, that is, who gazed at her husband in stony silence.

"And soon that will be more true than it has ever been," Hedare said, ignoring his wife's glare. "In one week, we will launch the most exciting product to hit the beauty industry since soap: Beau-line. It doesn't just hide the effects of aging . . . it reverses them." He gestured toward the images on the plasma screen, and the room burst into applause.

"However," Hedare went on, his voice softening slightly, "with change comes sacrifice. As we move into the future, we must set aide the past."

Victoria pushed back her chair and slowly rose from her seat. "My husband . . . and I . . . have decided its time for me to step aside as the face of Hedare," she announced. "It has been a magnificent fifteen years, but we have chosen a new face to represent Beau-line. A . . . younger face."

A murmur of surprise rippled through the room as Victoria took her seat. The image on the plasma screen shifted to reveal a beautiful young woman with light skin. Lush blond hair, and exotic almond-shaped eyes. The Beau-line slogan, "To Be More," appeared below the model's image.

"Rosalie!" Hedare announced. "The future of Hedare Beauty. I look forward to seeing you all at the gala, where you can toast her and our success in person."

"Careful, James," Victoria quipped, "she's not old enough to drink."

This time it was Hedare who glared in stony silence as laughter filled the room. Victoria gave him a brittle smile.

She always did like to have the last laugh.

"Don't be intimidated," Bella's good friend, Alice, coached as she walked Bella to Hedare's office for her presentation. "You've got more talent than anybody in the building. Don't hide your light under a bushel." Alice paused, adding, "Whatever that means."

Bella didn't laugh-she was too nervous. "It's just-this is my first lead campaign, Alice. I want everything to be perfect, you know?"
Bella managed a thin smile as she paused in front of Hedare's door. Just then, muffled shouts sounded from behind the door. Bella flinched.

Alice grimaced. "Eese" she said. "Good luck."

I'm going to need it, Bella thought as she knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Hedare bellowed.

Taking a deep breath, Bella put her hand on the doorknob, turned it, and peered into the office. Hedare was seated behind his desk, and Victoria gazed out the window in silence as Bella walked into the room. "Mr. Hedare," Bella said awkwardly. "Hi."

Hedare didn't reply.

Maybe I should come back later, Bella thought. "Did you still want to-"

"Sit," Hedare commanded.

Bella sat. Trying hard to quiet the squirmy butterflies in her stomach.

"Swan," Hedare growled, "I'm not pleased." He glanced down at Bella's designs for the Beau-line campaign. "That's not even close to what I wanted. I can't imagine what you were thinking."

Bella was stunned. She had thought that the campaign was her best work-the freshest design the company had ever seen. How could I have been so wrong? She wondered. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"Look at this red," Hedare went on. "It's all wrong. I wanted something darker-"

"But you said specifically-" Bella bit off the words. She knew there was no point in arguing with the boss.

Hedare glared at her. "I know what I said."
His words hit her like a slap to the face. "Maybe I misunderstood," Bella corrected.

"Clearly."

"Mr. Hedare, I'm so sorry," Bella said quickly. "I can fix it. If you'll just give me another chance-"

"I don't reward incompetence. I have no idea why I expected your art to show better taste than your wardrobe."

Bella felt her cheeks burning.

Hedare shook his head, looking at Bella disdainfully. "And try a manicure."

"Oh for g-d's sake, James," Victoria broke in, turning from the window, "Let her fix it. You change your mind every hour. It's good and you know it."

Hedare opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to change his mind. He turned back to Bella. "By midnight, tonight."

Hedare looked down at the papers on his desk as Bella stood to leave. Clearly, the meeting is over, Bella thought. She gave Victoria a grateful smile before hurrying out of the office.

Now I've been rescued twice in one day, Bella thought as she scurried out the door. I guess you could say I'm one lucky girl.

Bella stood in front of the ladies' room mirror, inhaling deeply. It wasn't really working-her nerves were shot. That was the worst meeting of my entire life, Bella thought as she took another breath. And I can inhale and exhale all I want-nothing is going to change what happened.

Just then, Bella heard someone walk into the ladies' room. She looked up.

"If you ask me," Victoria said as she checked her makeup in the mirror, "I think you look fabulous."

Bella looked down at her outfit. It didn't exactly scream, "Look at me!"
"Maybe he's right," Bella admitted, giving Victoria a wan smile. "I am a little-"

"Making other people feel small is his game," Victoria interrupted. "You can't win, so you have to refuse to play."

The words held the ring of truth. Still, they were hard for Bella to accept. "I really thought I knew what he wanted," she said miserably.

"Don't feel too bad, honey," Victoria said gently.

"I thought I did too,". She gave Bella a smile. "Hang in there.

Bella leaned over her drafting table, transforming the Beau-line logo while Alice stood behind her, digging in her purse. Looking up, Bella caught a glimpse of the unmarked jar as Alice pulled it out.

Bella frowned. "You know, you're addicted to that stuff."

"Happily," Alice admitted. "Beau-line is magic in a bottle."

"How do you even keep getting it? Production doesn't even start until tomorrow."

Alice didn't answer-she was busy spreading the salve under her eyes. She held the jar out to Bella, who waved it off. "No, thanks."

Alice shrugged. "Well, some of us need more help than others." She winced suddenly and shook her head.

Bella lifted her eyebrows at her friend.

"Headaches again," Alice admitted. "My brain's all . . . cranky."

Bella grinned. That was the thing about Alice-she could always make Bella smile.

"Man sandwich," Jacob, another one of Bella's coworkers, said as he poked his head into Bella's cubicle, "twelve o'clock."

Jacob hurried off as Alice peered into the hall. "Oh my g-d." she gasped. "Let it be me, let it be me . . . ."
Bella looked up and was surprised to see the cop who had rescued her that morning.

"Hello," he said as he walked into Bella's workstation.

"Hi," Bella said shyly as she stood to greet him. "Alice this is the detective I told you about . . . from this morning."

"Edward Masen," the cop said, holding out his hand.

"That is such a good name," Alice gushed as she shook his hand. She lifted her eyebrows at Bella, who was flashing her a You Can Go Now look. "Um. I'll be over here. In my cubicle" Alice said as she disappeared into the workstation next door.

"So," Bella said brightly. "Hi. How did you know where to-?"

"You dropped something," Edward said holding out a very familiar-looking wallet. "You can really cover ground when you're in a hurry," he added smiling.

Bella took the wallet gratefully as Edward looked around her cubicle. He gestured toward one of the drawings in Bella's sketchbook, which was propped open at the back of her drafting table. "This is nice."

"You think?" Bella was flattered that he had chosen to compliment her on her original work, rather than the sketches of products and labels that littered her cubicle.

"Reminds me of early Chagall," Edward said, nodding knowingly. "Elegant, but whimsical. Very much in the old Dutch Masters tradition. The old Masters. Who were Dutch. . . " his voice trailed off.

Bella had to laugh. Edward sounded as though he were reading from a catalog at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A seriously whacked-out catalog.

"I'm . . . impressed?" she said, not wanting to point out that Chagall wasn't exactly Dutch.

"Don't be," Edward confessed, grinning. "I saw all the art in your apartment, so I Goggled it at the office, and just between you and me? I thought Dutch Masters was a cigar my lieutenant used to smoke. But really, I like it," he added, looking back toward Bella's work. "A lot."

"Thank you." Bella could feel the blood rising to her cheeks. She didn't know what to say. A loud thump came from Alice's side of the cubicle.

"I was hoping we could have a cup of coffee," Edward finished finally. "There's this Italian place right around the corner. Grecio's. On sixth."

Say 'I'd love to', Bella commanded herself. Say 'I can't wait'. But she just couldn't seem to make the words come out of her mouth.

"How about tomorrow? One o'clock?" Edward suggested.

Bella stood there in silence for a moment before she could finally force her mouth to move. "That . . . that sounds great," she managed.

A relieved smile spread across Edward's face. "Okay," he said brightly. "Tomorrow, then."

Bella smiled and nodded.

"You'll make sure she gets there, right?" Edward asked Alice, who had just popped her head over the cubicle wall.

"I'm counting on you."

"Yes officer," Alice said, giving him a snappy salute. "And if I don't do it right you can throw away the key" she said holding out her hands.

Edward flashed Bella another megawatt grin and strode off down the hall.

Alice heaved a dreamy sigh as she watched him go, then turned to Bella. "Bella, he so likes you!" she said happily. "Okay, don't eat today, only water, and wear the leather outfit I got you for your birthday-"

"Hello?" Jacobs's voice called from his cubicle on the other side of Alice's.

"Jacob would like me to remind you that he pitched in for the leather," Alice added.

Bella smiled and shook her head. Alice was always full of 'dating advice', most of which would have made Bella feel like a complete idiot if she ever took it, which she never did.

"A" Bella said, "Its just coffee. And B I will never ever ever wear that leather outfit you guys gave me" Bella said remembering the skintight pants and corset like jacket. (On profile)

That just wasn't her style.