WRONG DECISIONS

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

After everyone had eaten, J reached for his phone and placed the call to Carlisle Cullen.

CHAPTER 11: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY

J listened as the phone rang until his call went to voicemail. He hung up and decided to wait a few minutes before trying once more.

"No luck, huh?" V asked as she came back into the room after making sure the twins were settled in the bedroom with some toys to keep them occupied. She had explained to the children that they had to stay in the room before she left but made sure to lock the door after she had left them. She was aware that if one of them needed to use the bathroom then her orders would be ignored, so she went the extra step to ensure that they would stay put and out of the way.

The hardest part she had had to deal with was when the twins had demanded to know where they were and where their mother was. All she told them was that their mother was busy and that the kids would be staying with her for a few days. "And that's all you two need to know for the moment. Now make sure you do as you're told so I don't have to worry about causing you any hurt."

As V explained that she had the children taken care of for the moment, she saw J reaching for his phone once more. She couldn't resist asking, "How were you able to get a hold of a private number for Carlisle Cullen?"

"That isn't your concern, nor anything that you need to know. It could be hazardous for your health if I told you and the wrong people found out. I don't want to chance that; I need you." J answered in a manner that he felt would explain things the best way that he could but would also let V know not to ask any further questions. So, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand, trying to call Carlisle Cullen once more.

This time around the call was answered with just one word, "Cullen."

"Cullen, you don't know me yet, but you will soon. I'm calling to tell you that if you want to save the lives of your grandchildren then you will pay the ransom that I'm going to demand."

"I don't know who the hell you are or who the hell you think you're talking to, so you had better rethink whatever plan that you think you're about to sell to me. I don't have the time for your bullshit and I don't have any grandchildren.

"Also, if you have any sense at all you'll forget this phone number and don't try this shit with me anymore, that is if you enjoy living." And, with that Carlisle hung up.

J looked over at V with a determined look before saying, "Well, the first time didn't go very well so I'll give him a little time to consider what I said before I try calling back. Who knows, maybe he'll call me back if he looks at the number."

XXXXXX

Edward rose from his desk in complete shock as he continued to stare at the vision that was standing in his office and had just spoken to him. He was afraid that if he blinked the vision would disappear. In fact, he was scared to even speak or try to approach the vision of Bella standing in his office in case she did truly and suddenly vanish.

Bella observed Edward's reactions to her sudden appearance and was a bit puzzled as to why he hadn't said anything to her and why he seemed hesitant about approaching her. So, after the silence was starting to get uncomfortable Bella spoke once again and asked, "Edward, are you all right? Why aren't you saying anything?"

The sound of her voice worked to shake Edward out of his shocked state and freed him to where he moved toward his ex-wife. Then suddenly, he halted in his tracks once more as what Bella had said when she first entered his office caught up to his conscious mind.

Looking her up and down as if trying to disconcert what might be Bella's problem; a fear struck at his heart that something was terribly wrong with Bella's health, something that was life threatening. Then everything that she had said hit him like a bolt of lightning.

She had said that they needed to talk and that she needed help that only he and his family could give. What the hell did she mean by that? If she was seriously ill, then how could he and his family help her?

Edward pulls up his thoughts quickly to be able to confront Bella and motions for her to take a seat on the couch that was along one wall of his office as he sat down next to her and then by asking, "What do you mean when you say help the only way I and the family can give?"

"Edward, I need for you to sit down and to stay calm, well as calm as you possibly can, while I explain. We don't have a lot of time and we must get started working together immediately."

"Bella, why don't you just tell me what's going on. After that I'll be able to determine whether I can offer any help or not. Then I will be able to determine if the family help will be needed as well."

"My problem is that I'm afraid to tell you what I need to because I know that your reaction isn't going to be one that would be very reassuring. I do know that you'll feel violent, might even throw an item or two, but that you won't hurt me. At least, I believe that I know you well enough to be able to make that statement."

"Woman stop beating around the bush and just tell me what has happened that would bring you back here to Chicago and to me after all of these years. Just rip the damn bandage off and tell me without worrying about how I'm going to react."

"Our children have been kidnapped and threatened if money isn't paid for their ransom. It isn't that I don't have the money to pay the ransom but how can I be assured that my babies will be returned to me without them having been harmed or even alive? Is that ripping the bandage off and cutting to the chase quickly enough for you, asshole?"

"Wh…Wha…What the hell did you say?" Edward was having a hard time getting his mouth to cooperate with wanting to get the words out. For the second time in as little as ten minutes, Bella had managed to shock Edward into a state of stunned silence. His brain as well as his body were as if paralyzed into immobility. He seemed, to Bella, to be having a hard time grasping what she had just said.

"Edward, are you okay?" Bella was quick to ask as she had moved to kneel next to Edward where he was seated. Giving him a little shake to try to rouse him back to a natural state, she continued to speak to him, "Come on and get a grip as we have to resolve this problem."

It did take a little time, but Edward then came to his senses and demanded for Bella to explain what the hell she was talking about. "We don't have any children that I'm aware of. Were you pregnant at the time we got divorced and were determined not to tell me? What kind of game were you playing?"

Bella bit her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and then explained everything to her ex-husband. She asked him if he remembered the last time they had been together after leaving court? He answered yes, and then let her continue the story from that point.

"After you found out about being pregnant, why the hell didn't you let me know? Bella, you had no damn right to keep that information from me. No damn right at all!" He shouted as he quickly rose and moved across the room to get away from Bella before he did something that he would regret later. He was barely in control of himself as it was and refused to accidentally harm one hair on this beloved woman's head. The woman he loved beyond all reason.

"All this time when….." he wasn't able to continue with what he was going to say since his anger had him so choked up over what Bella had just disclosed to him. "I have missed so damn…" And before he could finish his statement this time his phone began to ring.

He chose to ignore it as he needed to get this all straightened out with Bella. He was still having a hard time believing that she would deliberately withhold such information from him. Although, he did mentally remind himself that he was very much aware of her feelings about what the Cullen family was and did. But he had to admit as well that it hurt deeply that she didn't have enough faith in him or belief in what he had told her that he was getting away from that part of the family business.

"Bella, I really am at a loss for words as to how to respond to what you've told me. But to move beyond the fact that I'm a father and that they have been kidnapped we now need to find out who did it and retrieve the children. That is where you're wanting the family's help. Right?"

"Yes, because like I mentioned earlier, I do have the money to pay the ransom, but what guarantee do I have that the children will be returned."

"You don't have to convince me, but we need to get to Carlisle and let him along with the rest of the family know about this so we can get the children home.

"However, make no mistake about what will happen once that is done; I and the family will be a part of their lives from this moment onward. You've only mentioned twins but never mentioned whether I'm a father of boys or girls. Nor have you told me their names." Edward said with anger still very much sounding in his voice and words.

"We have a son and a daughter and the names we had discussed so long ago is what I named them: Anthony and Annabella. Their full names are Anthony Ross and Annabella Carlie Cullen-Swan. For Annabella I took the combination of Carlisle and Charlie's names to form Carlie."

"I have a son and a daughter. And I'll tell you right now that a correction will be made where their last name is concerned." Edward informed Bella as the information slowly registered with him. He was in the act of walking back over to where Bella was when his phone began to ring.

It irritated him that it was his cell phone and that the name calling was a number that he couldn't ignore; it was Carlisle calling him for some reason.

He answered the phone and listened to what Carlisle had to say. "Dad, we'll be there shortly. You need to call the rest of the family to be there and wait for our arrival. Don't do anything until the whole family is all together and all of the details are known.

"You won't need any explanation of what I mean by 'we' once I get there. You'll understand without the explanation."

With that said Edward hung up, reached for Bella and they both left his office with Edward telling his PA who had returned from lunch to cancel the rest of his appointments for the day.

XXXXXX

Time was passing and V was becoming very impatient with having to wait for J to decide to either call Cullen back or to wait for the off chance that Cullen will call him back.

"J, dammit when in the hell are you going to bring this dumb waiting to an end?"

"What's the problem? Are the brats giving you any problems?"

"No, but it feels like the longer we wait the more likely we are to end up on the wrong side of things. And that could very well cost us our lives. You know as well as I do the reputation of the Cullen family, especially Carlisle Cullen and his son, Edward. We really don't want to get on the bad side of either of those two."

"I'm not totally without some common sense, but word is that Edward Cullen is in charge of moving a lot of the family businesses into more legal avenues. That he is leaving behind the more violent side of things."

"Regardless I would caution you to take care and not let your guard down or we might end up paying the ultimate price for you doing so."

Several more hours passed before the phone rang and J answered it recognizing the number as being the one he had first called Carlisle on earlier in the day.

Before J had a chance to say a single word, Carlisle said, "What in the hell are you demanding for their safe return other than the money?"

AN: Well Bella has confronted Edward and now he knows that he's a father of twins, a boy and a girl. He didn't take the news very well and had some definite plans where the children were concerned and didn't hesitate to tell Bella. Carlisle got an unexpected call from J and told him to more or less bug off. But, several hours later Carlisle called back asking about what J's demands were.

Next chapter we will see what the family's reaction was to Bella's appearance and her news.

All I'm going to say at this point is to not get too comfortable with the current set of circumstances as they might be changing very quickly in the future.

Thanks for your patience as RL has really been raising its ugly head the last several weeks. Hopefully things are slowly getting back into place.