Edward was at the office at his usual ridiculously early hour the morning after the blurb had appeared in the paper. To say that he was unhappy would have been an understatement. He had been calm on the phone with Bella, but only because he had wanted to ease her own anxiety and fears. He didn't like the fact that someone was trying to make his personal life news, but what he liked even less was the how they had portrayed Bella.

After talking to her for a while, assuring her that everything was going to be all right, though he wasn't sure of that himself, he had called Emmett back and asked him to do a bit of digging into the author of the blurb. He'd never heard of Victoria Dodge and when he'd done a brief search online all he could find out was that she had only recently started working for the Post. Other than that he couldn't find her name listed anywhere. He just had to trust that Emmett would find some further information.

As the rest of the morning went by he got caught up in his work, though in the back of his mind he did remember that he and Bella were supposed to meet for lunch if they were both able to. Edward was trying to get as much work done as possible before then so he could spend some time with her.

Emmett came in late in the morning and knocked on his door, causing Edward to look up.

"You got a minute, Chief," Emmett said with a frown.

If Emmett was frowning, Edward figured that this wasn't going to be good.

"Sure, come in," Edward motioned to the sitting area in the corner of his office. "I take it you found out something."

Emmett settled in his seat. "Well, sorta. Rosie is the one that really looked into things for me after I couldn't find out crap about this Victoria Dodge. I mean it was like she appeared out of thin air there at the Post."

"I couldn't find any references to her online myself," Edward admitted.

Emmett nodded. "The staff there at the Post was also pretty tight lipped about her."

"So," Edward said with a frown, "what'd Rosalie find out about her?"

"Well, this is the interesting part. It seems that someone major must have pulled some strings for Ms. Dodge to get her job at the Post. Dodge isn't even her real last name. She apparently used to work under the name Victoria Price for Big Apple Magazine in New York…"

Edward interrupted him with a frown, "That's a rag that's filled with nothing but gossip, isn't it?"

"Yeah, not really the most reputable publication," Emmett sighed. "Thing is that she apparently got in some trouble there due to some things she was writing. Unreliable sources, half-truths, that sort of thing."

"Like the blurb that was in the Post this weekend," Edward said with a frown.

Emmett nodded. "Exactly."

"How'd she manage to get in with the Post then? They're careful about who they let in," Edward said with a frown.

"That's a good question and one I don't have the answer to," Emmett said. "We were lucky enough that Rosie was able to get the information that she could. She had to call in a couple of favors."

Edward sighed, "Well, tell her I owe her."

Emmett chuckled a bit, "Trust me, she'll hold you to it."

)( )( )( )(

Bella had been working all morning on finalizing Carlisle's speech announcing his intention to run for his party's ticket for President. She was finding it a bit hard to concentrate though, not having gotten a good night's sleep the previous evening.

Alice and Jasper had continued arguing for a while, they're screaming growing steadily louder till Bella couldn't drown out their words with the music she was playing in her room. At that point she could only be grateful that they weren't arguing about her anymore. She actually thought about escaping to Edward's place. She was sure she would be welcome, but the only thing holding her back from leaving was having to face Jasper and Alice on her way out of the apartment. So, she stayed trapped in her room, wondering if the fight was ever going to end.

It had been over an hour before the voices had died down and thinking that the fight had been over she opened the door to her room a crack only to hear Jasper's voice. He was actually crying and begging, "Please…please, Alice. Don't...don't do this."

In all the years she had known Jasper, Bella had never heard him sound like that and despite his horrible behavior towards her, her heart broke for him.

Alice had answered, her own voice choked up with tears, "No, Jasper. I can't do this anymore."

And, despite the fact that Alice sounded so sad, there was conviction to her words and Bella knew that it was over between her and Jasper.

She felt bad for both of them. She knew that they loved each other, but sometimes she supposed love wasn't enough.

When she was sure Jasper had left, she went to check on Alice, but Alice hadn't been in the mood to talk so she had left her alone.

Jasper hadn't come to pick her up the following morning so she had taken the subway to work, assuming that if he was going to fire her over the blurb in the paper that he was going to have to say it outright, to her face.

She made her way to her office, actually getting there before anyone and had tried to concentrate on her work, but it was of no use.

Jasper hadn't come into her office at all so she wasn't even sure if he had come in today. She was just waiting for Edward to call and tell her he was on his way to pick her up from lunch when the phone on her desk rang.

"Bella Swan," she said as she put the receiver to her ear.

"Bella, it's Carlisle. I was wondering if you could have lunch with me today."

Bella blinked, obviously surprised. To her recollection, Carlisle had never asked her to lunch. Sure, they'd eaten meals together, but usually it was when Jasper asked her to join them for a working lunch or she was eating with him and his family like dinner the other week when she'd taken Edward along.

"Oh, yes, Senator. Of course," she finally managed to get out.

"Good. I'll pick you up at your office in half an hour," Carlisle said. "See you in a bit."

"Yes, sir," Bella managed to say before he hung up the phone. She stood there staring at the phone in her hand for a while, wondering what all this was about. Was he going to fire her? She knew that Carlisle wasn't the type to make rash decisions, but he trusted Jasper's judgment and she didn't doubt that he could convince the Senator to do whatever he thought was in Carlisle best interest.

Finally hanging up the phone she picked up her cell phone and called Edward. He picked up after two rings.

"Hello, beautiful," he said. "Where did you want to have lunch?"

Bella sighed, "Actually, I can't make it."

There was concern in his voice as he answered, "Is everything all right?"

"Honestly, I don't know," she said with a frown. "Senator Cullen asked me to have lunch with him."

"Is that unusual?" Edward asked.

"Very," she said.

"Does this have to do with the newspaper article?" he asked.

"I don't know, Edward. Jasper was so upset last night. He's never been that way with me."

Edward responded, sounding upset, "It's not your fault though."

"I know, but…" she didn't get to finish as he interrupted her.

"Listen, Bella. Just play it cool. Jasper seems like a bit of a hothead, but the Senator seems like a good, level headed man. He'll know it's not your fault. Tell him that the person that wrote that blurb is known for stirring up trouble and writing trash."

"You found out about her?" Bella asked, her interest piqued.

"Yes, I was hoping to tell you over lunch. Listen, call me after your lunch with the Senator and let me know how it goes. Can you meet up for dinner?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm a bit worried about Alice. I'm pretty sure she broke up with Jasper last night, but I'll find out before I call and let you know," she said in response. "I'm really sorry, Edward."

"I understand, Bella," he said in response. "It's all right. Just let me know. If we can't get together tonight there's always tomorrow."

She smiled. "You are…wonderful, you know that?"

He chuckled softly. "Am I?"

"Very," she said in response.

"Why, thank you, Ms. Swan."

"You're very welcome, Mr. Masen."

"Care to show me how wonderful you think I am?" he said mischievously.

She laughed. "I think I can do that."

"Good. I'll let you go so you can go to lunch," Edward said. "Call me and let me know what happened."

"I will," she said.

"Talk to you soon, dearest." And, with that, he hung up the phone worried.

The lines between their business and personal lives were becoming less and less defined, but at this point he was caring less and less.