The Wedding Picture Chapter 4, a twilight fanfic

Thank you to my co-writer, Devonna, for sharing ideas with me and encouraging me!

S/O to Cedric and Connie Sanders for helping me with the military info for this chapter. Much love to you both!

Happy New Year… if you celebrate!

This story is un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

Sorry for the delay but I have two jobs and I'm in school.

I'll let you get to it…

Love doesn't hurt. Loving the wrong person does…

-Unknown

Chapter 4

Bella

"Wahoo," I smirked. "Got your annoying ass."

"No fair Swan," Robert whined rubbing his leg. "Yours is bigger."

"That's what she said." I smiled, although he couldn't see it because of the headgear.

"Suck a bag of dicks, Swan." He challenged.

"Now, now Lieutenant, do you kiss your wife with that mouth of yours?" I teased.

"Screw you, Lieutenant." He got me on the arm as I darted past him. "Ha! Bigger ain't always better, huh?"

We'd been intensely working on several fighter jets since I'd been back and now, we were letting off some steam.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant's Swan and Sullivan." Officer Paige called over the intercom.

"Yes?" Robert and I answered in unison and turned toward her.

"Sorry to interrupt but Lieutenant Swan you have a guest in the lobby."

"A guest?" I frowned and removed my helmet.

We worked for Durand Martin, a gun manufacturer for the military. Very few people knew where I worked but the few that did know would never come unannounced.

"Yes, ma'am." Officer Paige cleared her throat. "A Mr. Aaron Smith—he says he's your husband ma'am." It came out more as a question than a statement.

I knew it was out of respect, but I hated when they called me ma'am, it made me feel old.

Robert shook his head as he looked between Officer Paige on the other side of the thick bulletproof glass and me.

I couldn't say I was completely surprised by his impromptu visit since the last time I'd seen him was on our wedding day—three weeks ago.

I decided to keep my cell phone off by my second day there since Aaron blew it up with voicemails and text messages. I used the phone in my suite to call my parents.

He must have figured out he wasn't going to catch up with me outside of work. He had no idea where I was staying, and I'd switched phones shortly after the plane touched the ground from Fiji.

I was positive he'd already checked my parents and Althea's house, which is exactly why I didn't go to either place.

I didn't need him hovering over me trying to sway me with his fake promises.

I needed time and space to figure this out for myself.

It was a desperate move for him to show up at a place he claimed to hate so much.

Aaron resented how I worked around a lot of men and the sometimes long hours I kept when working on special projects.

He'd had never been a fan of my career choice and if he had his way, I'd be at home barefoot and pregnant.

Leaving my career was one of the deal breakers. I'd worked my ass off to get where I was and there was no way in hell, I'd walk away from it just to please him and his insecurities. Once he saw that I wasn't going to back down, he relented.

"Um, Lieutenant, what would like me to tell the gentlemen?" She brought me out of my internal dialog.

"You can tell him to go straight—"

Robert cut me off. "Officer—" Robert removed his headpiece and stared at me while responding to Officer Paige. "—dismiss him and let him know that the Lieutenant is busy."

It wasn't her fault, but the wound was still so fresh—raw.

"Thank you, sir." Officer Paige nodded and walked out as quietly as she entered.

"Bella." He sighed as he leaned his mock gun against the wall and walked toward me.

The first person I called after I bought my new phone was Robert. Althea and Robert were my two best friends, but I knew where Althea would be just as emotional as I would, and I didn't need her adding to it.

I needed to think—to get my head on straight.

That's where Robert came in. He was logical but not too much where he came off as cold and withdrawn.

Plus, Aaron had no idea where he and Cassie lived, and they had plenty of room for me to crash with them until I decided what my next move would be.

After I explained everything to them on the phone, they insisted that I come to stay with them.

You see our friendship goes back over fifteen years. We met fresh out of high school in Great Lakes, Illinois for basic training, for the Navy.

Commander Cedric Sanders, better known amongst the recruits as 'hard ass' seemed to always pair Robert and I together during seamanship and firearms. So, within our ten weeks of boot camp a friendship developed.

He looked out for me and I looked for him. There were several times we had to act like we were a couple to keep pushy females or males away from us.

Robert had a new bride, Cassie Haydon-Sullivan waiting for him in Northwest Chicago. They were high school sweethearts who got married shortly after they graduated.

As for me, I didn't like pushy guys and my mind wasn't on being in a relationship at the time.

On the weekends we hung out together with a few of the other seamen, Moore and Clifford. The more we got to know each other, the more we realized we had in common.

We were both over-achievers with dual enrollment in high school—earning college credits at the same time and we both knew we wanted to be weaponry engineers before we were teenagers.

I fell in love with guns when I was eight years old—the first time my dad introduced me to a BB gun. We'd drive to one of our family's downstate cabins and target practice.

While most girls were reading Pride and Prejudice, I read my dad's Shooting Times or Gun Digest magazines.

When Charlie saw my passion for guns and how they worked, he bought me a .22 caliber pistol at eleven years old. He told me that was my gun, but I had to know how to clean and maintain it.

I'll never forget my Sunday afternoon gun maintenance time with my dad. No matter how busy his schedule got, he always made time for me. We laughed and talked about any and everything.

On my fourteenth birthday, Dad gave me a 9mm pistol and a .223 rifle and that is also when they surprised me by driving up to Apple River Canyon in Northwest Illinois. We spent five days camping, fishing, hiking and hunting. That was the first of many trips there for us as a family.

"Sweetheart, I know you're still hurting but you can't take it out on others."

I turned away from his gaze and nodded—too afraid to speak.

"C'mere." Robert pulled me into a hug.

I allowed the tears I'd been holding back since Officer Paige told me Aaron was here, to fall.

I didn't have to be tough with Robert.

I was safe with him.

"Why did he have to do this?" I sobbed.

"I don't know. That's the billion-dollar question we all want to know. Sometimes men can do the dumbest shit for no reason at all."

The past week or so I'd begun to doubt myself and wondered if maybe I had been more of what he wanted he would've done this.

"Do you think if I had quit my job Aaron might've—" I buried my face into Robert's chest.

He pulled back and looked down at me. "That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard you say, Swan and that's saying a lot." He wiped a tear away with the pad of his thumb. "Don't you dare change to try and please that sonofabitch. He knew who you were when you all dated. If he didn't like what he saw, then he should've wanted away. You've never asked him to change his career, so why the hell should you?"

"I know but—" I shook my head, unable to finish.

"There are no buts in this. He did that bullshit because he wanted to. It has nothing and I mean nothing to do with you." He frowned. "Now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions. Whatever it is you choose."

"Rob, I can't—there's no coming back from this."

"You don't trust him."

He knew well.

"No." My chin trembled.

"And you have every fuckn right not to, Bella." He grabbed my hand. "Look, we can call it quits for today and head home if you want. We're ahead of schedule with the M4A1's anyway." He raised his eyebrows, squeezing my hand.

I let out a huge breath. "Yeah, let's go home."

"Great." He smiled. "Give me a minute to put everything away and lock up before we leave."

"All right." I agreed.

I was tired of the indecision.

This wasn't me… at all.

Normally I would have decided by now, but this was different—this was my life.

I loved him and when you love someone you don't just turn it off like a light switch.

But I'd grown tired of crying over him—this.

I cried myself to sleep every night for three damn weeks.

Rob and Cas were almost force-feeding me daily because I was half-eating.

I knew I'd lost weight because my clothes were fitting looser.

I was a goddamn mess and I hated it.

I couldn't keep hiding, I had to face it—him soon.

I didn't know what was killing me more, not talking to him or the thought of having to eventually talk to him.

TWP

"Wait here and I'll bring the car around," Robert said before he disappeared to the bank of elevators.

I nodded and sat down in a chair that faced the window and allowed my mind to get lost in the small pond with the family of ducks and people milling about the state-of-the-art facility that was an impressive 15,000 acres, including a large section of natural areas made up of woodlands and rivers. I wanted to not think about the shambles my life was in for a brief moment.

"Bella." He hissed through his teeth.

I closed my eyes and exhaled because I knew my small reprieve was gone.

Not ready to look at him yet, I continued to look out of the window. "What are you doing here, Aaron?"

He scoffed. "I'm here for my wife."

"Go home." I massaged my temples.

"I'm not leaving without you, Bella." He stepped in front of me blocking my view.

I finally looked at him, starting from his Santoni charcoal gray shoes to his Zegna navy and gray glen plaid silk double-breasted suit. His hair was cut and laid to perfection, along with his beard and mustache.

He didn't look like he'd lost any sleep or weight.

The asshole looked the same as he did on our wedding day.

Heat flushed through my body.

I was pissed… at myself.

I've barely been holding it together and his ass stood in front of me looking unfazed—unbothered.

"Did you hear me, Bella, I'm not leaving here without you. I haven't seen or heard from you in three goddamn weeks and you think you're going to simply dismiss me." He laughed without humor. "Lets. Go. Bella." His face was red as he stepped closer to me.

My pulse elevated.

My hands clenched and unclenched.

With the bullshit he pulled he thought he was going to come in here and bully me.

This motherfucker…

I smirked, meeting his gaze. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Look, let's not make a scene here." He looked around the room at the armed security before responding. "We can go around the corner to Big Shoulders Coffee and talk."

"If you'd just leave there won't be a scene now will it?"

"Why do you have to be so goddamn difficult?" He raised his voice enough to get security's attention.

I shook my head and snorted, as two guards walked toward us.

"Fuck." Aaron mumbled.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Swan, is everything okay over here?" Security Officer Walker asked with another guy just as buff as him staring at Aaron.

I guess his dumb ass forgot what type of building I worked in.

He also didn't know I knew most of the security guards here and they knew me. Sometimes testing or upgrading military weapons or systems ran into the early hours of the morning and the security guards would escort us to our cars.

"I'm good." I bit my bottom lip trying to hold back my laugh. "But you can show this gentleman out."

A visible tightness was in Aaron's jaw. "I'm sorry about the confusion—" He paused reading his name from his nametag. "— Walker but I'm trying to have a private conversation with my wife."

Walker continued to stare at Aaron but spoke to me. "Lieutenant, what do you want me to do?"

"Show him the door," I said with certainty.

I was going to be the one that decided when and where we talked.

He wasn't going to come to my job and act like a child having a tantrum because he couldn't have his way.

What he wanted meant jack shit to me.

A vein became engorged across Aaron's forehead and his eyes bulged.

"Okay, sir, it's time for you to go. Either you leave on your own or we can assist you. You decide." Walker said stepping in front of Aaron.

"That is my goddamn wife. You can't make me leave without her."

"We can and we will," Walker replied.

"Bella! Why are you doing this?" Aaron yelled trying to push past Walker and his partner.

A few more guards walked up behind Aaron.

"Okay, okay." He held his hands up in surrender. "All of this has been one big misunderstanding. Give me just five minutes to speak to Bella and I'll leave on my own, please."

"Sir, she doesn't want to speak to you. Now, this is the last time I'm going to ask you to leave." Walker said with a tone.

"Fuck you! Do you know who the hell I am? I am a fuckn lawyer, your worse goddamn nightmare. My suit cost more than your salary for six months. Get the fuck out of my way so I can talk to my wife."

Walker nodded his head once and the next thing I knew Aaron was on his stomach with hands behind his back.

"The police are less than two minutes out." Another guard yelled.

"Good," Walker replied. "Make we get his picture before they take him away because this is his last time in here."

I covered my mouth and shook my head in disbelief.

I didn't know who this person was.

He seemed so angry—out of control.

What would he have done if no one else was around?

Would he have tried to force me to go with him?

"Bella?" Robert ran toward me. "What the hell happened? I was on the phone talking to Cassie waiting for you to come outside. But when I saw the police pull up…" He trailed off scanning the room.

"He never left the building—Aaron didn't leave." I rushed out.

"Fuck! He didn't hurt you, did he?" He scanned me over before he engulfed me in a tight hug.

Just then four policemen entered the building.

"Let's get you out of here." Robert pulled away grabbing me by the hand, toward the door.

"Um, Lieutenant Swan," Walker called out.

We stopped walking and turned around.

"I hate to do this but we're going to need a statement from you." He said closing the distance between us.

"Can't you get it later?" Robert asked with raised brows.

Walker searched my pleading eyes. "Yeah, we can do that." I exhaled. "But I need to know did you ask him to come here?"

"No." I shook my head. "I had no idea he was coming today. Officer Paige came and told me he was here, but I sent word to dismiss him. I thought he'd left after that." I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Okay, thank you. That's all I needed to know." Walker nodded once before walking away.

Robert put his arm around my shoulder and guided me to the glass doors closest to his parked car.

"Isabella!" Aaron shrieked out.

My body shivered as a solemn tear fell down my cheek.

"This isn't over." He continued.

"Sir!" A loud, deep voice hollered out. "If you don't stop I will taser you."

Robert pulled me closer to him as our steps quickened.

"Bel—" Aaron's voice faded as we finally exited the building.

A/N: What do you think about Aaron and him showing up at Bella's job?

RECS

The Way I Wanted It, by iambeagle WIP

Afterglow, by iambeagle WIP

The Love of the Game, by DrivingEdward WIP

This Is Where It Ends, by Hotteaforme WIP

Solace, by FanFicsrForNerds WIP

Blown Away, by Eternally Addicted WIP

Bewitched, by 2brown-eyes WIP

Swan Dive, by samviolawrites WIP

These are some GREAT stories… hurry, please go check them out! You'll thank me later.