Bring Him Home 29

We sat just looking at our joined hands for a few minutes before we were rudely interrupted by the waitress.

"Can I get you dessert or coffee?" she asked Edward

He broke our contact to take the menu from her and turned to me

"I've developed a real sweet tooth of late, would you like something? I'm definitely going to have either cheesecake or ice cream if they have it."

I scanned the menu and saw they had both

"Why don't we have a large portion of the chocolate & salted caramel cheesecake and a side order of peanut butter ice cream and share?" I suggested.

The look of horror on his face made me laugh so I had to ask

"What is wrong the sharing or the choices?" I was still giggling, how old am I?

"Peanut butter Ice cream, that's disgusting"

"Have you tried it?" he shook his head "then don't knock it until you do"

I turned to the waitress and ordered everything and asked for a serving of vanilla ice cream as well, just in case he didn't like my new favourite sweet treat.

"Dad told me you were at the hospital with me when he turned up, I don't remember whether I even thanked you for coming to the hospital in the first place. I'm still a little shocked at the speed at which everything has happened, one minute I was staring at the building I was sure Emmett worked in, wondering what he would say, whether he would even speak to me, the next I'm in hospital with my Dad and Emmett hugging me and then I'm home in my old bedroom like the last six years haven't happened"

He looked so sad, his shoulders sagged and his head dipped and for a second I really thought he was going to breakdown, I wanted so badly to take him in my arms and hold him but I didn't know him well enough to know how he would react, I could have made things worse.

"Hey, whatever has happened, happened, you can't change that. You can only move forward and make the rest of your life count. "

He looked up and smiled weakly at me, "Thank you for everything Bella, you have been a good friend, even though you barely know me. Not many people would have let me sleep in their office looking and smelling like I did"

"Hey I know you love sweet things, I know you have a taste for old movies and you're not yet interested in anything up to date on the telly, I know you love your Dad and Emmett and I know you have had a really rough few years, so please don't say I don't know you"

He was smiling again, my heart swelled as his face lit up and I was so glad that I'd been the one to put the smile back on his face.

The waitress again broke the spell as she brought over our dessert, but I forgave her when I watched his eyes light up as he saw the two portions of cheesecake and the bowls of ice cream.

"Go on dig in, try the ice cream on its own, but I'm warning you you'll never eat vanilla again"

The rest of the ‘date' flew by, we had coffee and finally it was time for me to return to the office, I tried to pick up the bill but he wouldn't let me, saying he owed me lunch at least.

"Would you like to walk me back to my office?" I asked him, I wasn't ready for him to disappear again just yet and a small piece of me was hoping this wasn't a one off. I wanted him to ask me out again.

"Of course, I've arranged to meet Emmett this afternoon anyway, I'm going to start working out again, apparently the fact that I've barely stopped walking for the last six years is not a good enough work out in his eyes, he wants to start building me up before all the food I'm eating takes hold of my hips apparently"

I couldn't help but smile, firstly because his features had already started to soften a little, he had lost that hard edge his face had before, it was now rounder and softer and even more handsome, and secondly because I could think of another way to burn calories, not that I'd ever tried.

"You know you never told me how you got on with the Dean, what is happening with your degree?"

"I'm still not sure, there are several options open to me I think. I can re sit the final year but they are trying to see if I can just do a refresher course and then sit the final exam, they will take into account all the work I'd completed before I left. My grades were excellent so I'm hoping I can just get it sorted quickly, the thought of going back to college for a year really does not appeal to me at all."

We continued to walk back to the office, our pace was slow, nothing like the throng that surrounded us. People were rushing to reach their next meeting or destination but I dictated the pace really, these shoes were gorgeous but impractical for anything other than to look at. As we approached my office building I couldn't help but glance at the place where I presumed the person had videoed me from. There was nobody there of course but I knew the PI would eventually show himself so I was getting myself ready for the meeting.

"Bella I've really enjoyed lunch today, would you like to meet me again some time?"

"I'd love to, how about next time we make it dinner, then I don't have to worry about getting back to the office?"

"Err no, I'd rather stick to lunch if that's ok but maybe we could do it at the weekend if you are worried about work" he looked worried about what I was going to say.

"Whatever makes you comfortable Edward, I'm happy to do Sunday lunch if you'd like, why don't you come to my place and I'll cook, I love to cook but I don't get the chance really and it's not the same when you are on your own."

I could see he was struggling with the decision and I guessed it was the thought of being alone with me.

"Why don't I ask Rosalie and Emmett to join us, would that be better?"

"Yes but that would leave Dad alone, can I ask him as well?" he asked

"Of course, the more the merrier, I'll speak to you later and we can arrange a time and everything".

With that he kissed me chastely on the cheek and said goodbye and watched as I made myself to the elevator.

As soon as the door closed I touched the cheek he kissed, did a little dance and let out a squeal, then I checked myself and asked again, "how old am I?"

Walking back into the office my bubble was burst instantly, Jasper was sat with Alice at her desk and my gut instinct told me he wasn't there to just see his wife.

"Hi Jasper, what brings you here?"

"Well I have some news I wanted to share with you and I didn't want to do it over the phone and of course I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to see my gorgeous wife" he smiled at her with such a look of pure love and admiration that I actually felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.

"Well on come through to the office, would you like coffee or something?" my mask was back on, professional Bella was back.

"No I'm fine, I just wanted to bring you up to date with what we have found"

I nodded and made myself comfortable, I'd been racking my brains and other than a competitor wanting my business and this was the start of some sort of hostile takeover attempt I couldn't for the life of me bring anyone to mind who would want to hurt us.

"Well I haven't got much, I know the name of the PI, he is called Caius Volturi, he has an office in Seattle but I have been able to track his movements and he is here in the city at the moment and has flown backwards and forwards several times over the past year."

"Year, but this has only been happening for a month or so" I was confused.

"I know but we can't rule out the fact that this is something he has taken time to set up, or it might just be that his client chose him because he has knowledge of this area, anyway we know he is here and I'm trying to locate him, I know he doesn't want to be found because he isn't using any credit cards and we can't find him in any of the larger hotels. He may have an apartment here or he is staying in a small motel paying cash and using a different name."

"I don't understand what does he want?"

"Well I have an idea and I'm checking something out at the moment, what I need you to do though is keep an eye on Esme"

"Esme, why, is she in danger ?"

I'm not sure yet, I'm just working a hunch. That last video was different and I just have a feeling that it's leading up to something, but unfortunately we probably won't know until the next video is released."

"Oh shit, you think there will be another?"

"Yes I do but at least we have managed to get the other taken down"

I hadn't realised that, so I quickly opened my laptop and started to type in the web addresses I knew by heart. Thankfully all the sites said the same, that the clip had been removed for legal reasons.

"So we just wait then" I said as I closed the lid.

"Well yes but there are other things happening as well, I have someone looking at his computer now we have managed to get past the passwords, that should give us some more insight"

I sat back in my chair and left out the breath I'd been holding, "Jasper are you going to get into trouble for doing all this? You have to know that's the last thing I want, we can leave it in the hands of Chicago's finest, not that I've heard anything from them in ages"

"No I won't get into trouble, let's just say my job offers me a little leeway when it comes to these sort of things and leave it at that shall we?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

So we know who the Pi is and our couple have another date .