Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer' intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.

"You must be insane Michael! There is no way this side of hell I would agree to those terms!" The exclamation echoed through the hall, warping the crystalline voice from the intended cutting hiss to a dull throb of despair.

The acquisition agent paused in the shadows and leaned against a nearby pillar. He smirked as the drama unfolded before him. When he heard the target say she was practicing her presentation in the morning, he was pleased to have the opportunity to gauge her passion and approach her alone if warranted. The last target was perfect on paper, but had quickly ended her employment with a pathetic yet spirited attempt to seduce the boss. The agent knew that whomever he brought back this time must have real passion for the work.

Real passion made his life more difficult. Few researchers wanted to leave the comfort of academia for the unsure business practices of private industry. They feared the loss of scientific independence, the misuse of their work, and the endless expectation of profitability. The promise of a hefty paycheck was sufficient in the past, but his employer had found those workers insufficient, their minds too dull to stimulate his work, their efforts more of a hindrance than a help. He had demanded that his agent bring him a real researcher this time, one devoted to the work who could work independently. By definition he wanted one whose loyalty would be impossible to simply purchase. A truly passionate scientist would be difficult to acquire. Of course, Jasper hadn't counted on Dr. Michael Newton being quite such an ass.

Mike smirked as Bella Swan's professional life fell to pieces around her. Restraining her sudden and intense urge to slap him, Bella simply repeated her earlier question: "why exactly would I agree to those terms? The grant award specifically stated that ninety percent of the funding would be on my project. I spent months writing that proposal, and I know exactly what was laid out to the grant committee. And now you are telling me that instead of following the proposal, Jessica's project will take precedence. Even though it should only be getting ten percent of the budget. Moreover, you've admitted that there has been no breakthrough sufficient to justify the shift, but you expect me to help produce said breakthrough."

He said nothing, simply nodding as though urging her to continue.

"I don't understand, and nodding doesn't actually answer my question. Why would I agree to this?"

"Because you don't have a choice."

"Are you really that much of an idiot, Mike? Of course I have choices. I'm a better geneticist than Jessica, if I leave the lab, there is no way you can fulfill the grant requirements. Or I can just go to the committee myself and explain how you've allocated the funding." Bella tried to control her breathing, but it was getting difficult. Red edged her vision and she took a step away from Mike to reduce the temptation to physically lash out at him.

"No Bella, you don't understand. There is no way another lab would take you now, because your name is attached to this grant: no one will fund you if leave the lab now. Even if you claim that I am abusing grant money, as long as it all stays within the lab, there's no way to prove it. And once we get a breakthrough on Jess's research, that's all the justification that I need to shift the resources."

She bit the inside of her mouth until a coppery taste warned her that she might actually injure herself over Mike Newton. "Fine then," she snapped, "I'll go to a private company. I might as well get paid if I'm going to be putting up with this sort of bullshit."

"There is no way you'll get to continue your research in a private lab. We both know that the only private lab working on reversing gene therapy is Edward Cullen's, and there is no way I'll be giving you a good recommend if Cullen Corp. calls me. Face it Dr. Swan, you're in my lab doing the work I assign you for the next five years. If you're lucky, you might get a chance to test some of your theories in a few years."

Bella paused to consider her options. She could go ahead and deck Mike, get arrested for assault and let the next five years pass while living in a correctional facility. While this had the benefit of physically harming Mike, the downside was that she would never see her work completed.

Alternatively, she could search for a job elsewhere. She already had her degrees, and a post-doctoral fellowship wasn't necessarily her only option. Mike was right; another university wouldn't touch her with her name attached to Mike's lab and grant. Bella knew that Cullen Corp. probably wouldn't hire her without glowing recommendations, but some pharmaceutical companies had been sending her e-mails. Granted, most of those were actually just spam advising her that she could enlarge her non-existent penis, but tucked within the trash were a few real job offers at medical research facilities. Her expertise was sufficient that she might even be able to get a small budget for personal research.

Finally, she could continue to work in Mike's lab, watch Jessica muddle through science too difficult for her, and hijack the needed resources to continue her research. Jessica needed help with the basic aspects of research and Mike spent too much time surrounded by formaldehyde fumes to notice if resources were directed towards Bella's research instead of Jessica's. Hell, if she played this right, it might not even delay her work that much. Just as she decided on this plan of action, Mike set her on the first two paths.

"You know Bella," Mike's hoarse whisper echoed through the room, "there are other options."

Uncertainly, Bella quirked an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. Mike's eyes immediately focused on her now plumped cleavage.

Drawing a finger along her forearm, Mike licked his lips. "Of course, if you offered me what Jessica gives me, I could reconsider the funding," as he spoke, he raised his fingers, finally reaching for the collar of Bella's v-neck sweater.

Bella quickly slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me Newton."

"Aw, come on Bella, I know that beneath that cold exterior you have some passion," smirked Mike as he reached for her breasts.

This time Bella simply caught his wrist. "Yes, I do, but there is no chance in hell you're going to excite that passion." Mike futilely attempted to jerk his hand out of Bella's grasp. Bracing herself, she wondered idly how long it would take for him to realize that his flabby arms lacked the strength to break her grip. Perspiration slicked the skin beneath her hand, and Bella made a mental note to use plenty of hand sanitizer after this.

Bella suddenly pushed Mike's hand towards his body briefly and then jerked him forward, catching Mike off balance while stepping to the side. Still firmly gripping his wrist, Bella watched dispassionately as he stumbled to his knees, his arm painfully twisting to the side and behind him.

Pushing his wrist into the small of his back, Bella leaned over his shoulder. "Listen to me, Dr. Newton," she hissed in his ear, "you do not touch me without my express invitation, which will never occur. I am leaving your lab, I am taking my research and my expertise, and I am not going to allow you to ruin my career. You better call Jessica now, because there is no way in hell I'll be giving the presentation for a lab I don't work for."

Mike struggled against her grasp, clawing ineffectually at the ground with his free hand while moaning "you bitch, I can't believe-" his rant was interpreted with a gasp of pain as Bella jerked his captured wrist further up his back and stood up, grinding the bone into his arm socket.

"I have the leverage to break your wrist. Don't push me. If you get a call from someone looking to hire me, you will tell them the truth." Her voice gained volume as Bella snarled, "and the truth is that I am ten times the scientist you are. I am the best fucking geneticist you've ever worked with. You've completely screwed yourself Michael, because no one else will get the grant work done, and you'll never have research funding again."

Grimly satisfied, Bella pushed him forward, watching as Mike barely caught himself instead of face-planting into the ornate carpet.

While paying absent-minded attention to the argument between the scientists, Jasper perused his dossier on Dr. Swan. After a year of home-schooling, she had returned to Desert Vista High School in Phoenix and graduated at the age of sixteen. With summer courses and an unusually heavy course-load, she graduated from Berkeley in two years with joint degrees in chemical engineering and integrative biology. At the age of eighteen, Bella Swan graduated Summa Cum Laude and immediately entered the MD-PhD program at Harvard University.

Jasper rubbed his hands through his hair. She must have impressed someone, because he knew that the program was obscenely competitive, especially with her being so young. Her eight-year stay at Harvard ended last year with Dr. Swan's medical degree and PhD in immunology. It also ended with Bella Swan's name attached to more published articles than most tenured professors.

As he scanned the list of publications again, Jasper was gratified with the continual theme of gene therapy: Dr. Swan had made no pretenses about her interests. For the past year she had worked as a post-doctoral fellow in Michael Newton's laboratory at the University of Washington, recently receiving a very large grant for studying how to reverse the effects of gene therapy.

The one piece missing from the file was a photo. Although most labs created webpages replete with photos of all the students and researchers, Dr. Swan was curiously absent. Closing the folder, Jasper resolved to get a closer look at the target.

He glanced up right in time to see Mike reaching for Dr. Swan's chest. Before Jasper could interrupt, she intercepted and redirected Mike's hands. Jasper watched, curious to see just how well Dr. Swan could defend herself physically after already holding her own verbally. To his astonishment, Mike was sprawled across the carpet a short time later.

Leveraging himself up with his left arm, Mike stuttered "you, you can't just leave the lab Bella. We need you. Gene therapy is all you care about, and you won't find a lab working on it in the private sector."

Jasper took the opening. "Actually Dr. Swan, my name is Jasper Whitlock, and I was hoping to talk with you about that."

Jasper carefully stirred his too full coffee cup as he tried to unobtrusively eye Dr. Swan, or Bella as she had immediately corrected him. The light in the hotel café was poor, but enough to illuminate the woman sitting across the table from him. In spite of her best attempts to hide her attributes, Bella was a stunningly attractive woman. Her thick-rimmed glasses failed to dull her dark brown eyes, and the severe bun that trapped her hair only emphasized the long line of her neck. Curiously though, Jasper could tell that she was wearing makeup that was the wrong shade for her skin. Rather than complementing her complexion, it created a sallow pallor on her pale face, but failed to obscure her attractive features or plump lips.

Combined with the unflattering clothing, Jasper was certain that Bella's clothing and makeup were intentional camouflage. After observing Mike Newton in action, Jasper concluded that Bella was even more intelligent than her resume indicated. Focusing on her lips, Jasper began to wonder just what else Bella was camouflaging under outwardly cold appearance. Those lips for instance looked as though they could do well wrapped around…

Lost in thought, Bella's quiet cough took him by surprise. Jerking his eyes up from her slightly frowning mouth, he was quickly caught in her gaze. At some point during his daydreaming, Bella had removed her glasses. As Jasper watched, the brown eyes became flecked with gold, and a sudden pain arced behind his forehead.

Breaking the intense eye-contact, Jasper closed his eyes and gently massaged his temples, trying to ease the unexpected headache. After a moment, he opened his eyes to meet Bella's quietly assessing gaze. After a moment she nodded absently and smiled gently at him.

Jasper returned the smile with a friendly grin, "I'm sorry Bella, I was lost in thought. As I was saying in the conference room, I was sent here to assess you and possibly offer you a position with our company. You're exactly the kind of passionate, devoted researcher we're looking for." As he spoke, Jasper again wondered why there were no photos of Bella, she wasn't his type, but was pretty enough, he supposed. The more he thought about it, the more she reminded him of his sister, lovely, but not interesting to him. Already the headache was fading.

"I'm sorry Jasper, I was so worked up over Mike's behavior that I didn't catch who you work for. I can also assure you that I do not condone physical violence, I was merely-"

"Defending yourself. I saw Bella, don't worry about that. I was impressed with your moves actually." Jasper reassured her.

"Yes, well, studying aikido since I turned sixteen has helped with my self-defense prowess."

"Aikido, huh? Martial arts for your sweet sixteen?"

"Well until I was sixteen I was an unbearable klutz. When my balance improved, I decided to celebrate by learning a new sport. Unfortunately my father insisted I learn a martial art."

Jasper jotted a quick note on Bella's file to check for a history of familial abuse or violence. "Your father wanted you to learn a martial art? That's an odd request for a teenaged girl."

Bella smirked, "but not an odd request for an over-protective police-chief father."

"Yes, I could see how that might be true." Perhaps that deeper background check would be unnecessary. "Anyway, to answer your question, I'm the main recruiter for Cullen Corp." Jasper grinned at Bella's sudden gasp. "If you don't mind, could we start on some standard interview questions? They are a bit of a formality, but one of the responsibilities of the position would be to attend conferences on behalf Dr. Cullen, so I want to get a good sense for your communication style."

"Oh that's right, he doesn't make public appearances, does he?"

"Not since he was a teenager and started juggling business and research, he just doesn't have the patience for them." Jasper waved his hands dismissively at this, as though being a recluse was merely a minor character trait. "Anyway, for questions, let's start with the basics, what are you working on right now?"

"What type of background do you have," Bella asked, "because I don't want to repeat information that's old news to you or just dive in the deep end and expect you to swim with me."

"Assume that I'm a total neophyte."

"Okay then. My main area of interest is gene therapy. Essentially, some people are born with genetic diseases that are hard to treat. Sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and so on. People with these diseases are lacking a correctly functioning gene. So gene therapy uses a virus to insert a functional gene into a cell's DNA to cure the disease." She paused to sip coffee, and Jasper whistled.

"So you can cure these diseases after birth?"

"Exactly. There are some problems though. Gene insertion isn't an exact science, and there usually needs to be a long series of gene therapy until it 'takes.' Not to mention the immune response to the viruses we use, and the possibility of viral mutation. In some cases it can cause cancer as well."

"So is that why you want to study how to reverse gene therapy?"

Bella paused and began drumming her fingers on the table. "Not exactly. Those complications are all risks that someone who has a genetic disorder may be willing to take. I want to study reversing gene therapy because of the future."

"The future?"

"Jasper, if I told you that I could create a virus that would change your DNA, make you smarter, stronger, faster, would you be tempted to use it?" The drumming stopped as Bella waited for the answer.

"Well sure, who wouldn't be tempted?"

"So you'd allow me to change your genetic makeup, the essence of who you are, for the promise of subjective improvements?" Bella laced her fingers together, biting her lip as she waited for his answer.

"Well when you put it like that, it seems a bit less clear-cut," Jasper conceded.

"In the future, people will make the choice to use gene therapy that way. They will choose to change themselves, change each other, and try to achieve perfection. I just want us to have the ability to reverse that process. I want people to be able to heal from a choice like that."

"So you want to heal perfection?"

"That's exactly what I want," Bella confirmed. In a whisper that Jasper wasn't sure he was meant to hear, she added "that's what I promised."

Clearing his throat to ease the sudden tension, Jasper picked the dossier back up to continue the interview. "Your resume is impressive as I'm sure you know, and it's clear that you are passionate about gene therapy research. I'm in the position to offer you a job that gives you more freedom to pursue this interest, and the resources that a research university simply cannot provide."

"Exactly how much freedom are we talking about, Jasper? I have a fairly set research plan, but would I need approval to change it? What about lab hours? I like to work late into the night, would that be possible within the Cullen Corp. facilities?"

"Well to break it down in order, seventy-five percent of your research time is yours to work on whatever you want, though if you change from your goal of reversing gene therapy treatments, you need to let someone know."

"That will never happen," Bella interjected. Jasper was slightly taken aback by the steely glint in her eyes.

"Right, like I said, seventy-five percent on your own research, and twenty-five percent collaborating with Dr. Cullen on his work. Are you familiar with his work, Bella?" Jasper was amused to see the eye-roll at the final question.

"Jasper, everyone in the field is familiar with Dr. E.A. Cullen's work. Even if he never shows his face at a conference, his papers are groundbreaking. I'm certain I've read all of his publications. Even the chance to work in the same lab would be thrilling." At the end of this, Bella bit down on her lip, as though to stop gushing.

Chuckling, Jasper continued, "well I don't know the details myself, ma'am, but if you say so. I know that you're both researching the long-term effects of gene therapy and reversal processes, but I don't know the specifics. So twenty-five percent of your time would still be working in your chosen expertise, just under Dr. Cullen's direction." Jasper wondered briefly if he should elaborate on the difficulty of working with Edward, but decided against it. Bella's fight with Mike was a windfall, there was no reason to push her away from accepting employment at the Cullen lab.

"That seems reasonable, certainly more than I would get elsewhere," Bella conceded.

"As for lab hours, well that's more complicated."

"Complicated how? Most labs have keycards for the night owls they employ."

"Well right, but the lab you would be working at wouldn't be at the main Cullen Corp. facility in Seattle."

"So I would need to relocate? That's not a problem, I've only been in Seattle for a year, my ties aren't that deep." Bella flicked her wrist as though swatting away her ties to the city.

"Well, the lab itself is in Forks, Washington."

"I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't. It's a small town about four hours drive west of Seattle. It's where Dr. Cullen keeps his personal lab."

"How hard is it going to be to find a place to live out there? And that still doesn't explain the 'complicated' lab hours."

"Well, Dr. Cullen's lab is a branch of his private home, so if you live off the estate, access is tricky. As the CEO of a major company, security is very tight there." Jasper wondered if Bella had caught the implications of his statement. Her next question confirmed that she had.

"What do you mean if I live off the estate? I'm not going to just move into someone's house Jasper," Bella huffed.

"It's not really a house," Jasper reassured her quickly, "my wife, Alice, and I live there too. There's a lot of privacy, and it would give you constant access to the labs. You'd have your own suite, and room and board would be part of your salary." Jasper really hoped that this would not be a deal-breaker. Edward liked having direct supervision over his employees, and Bella living in town would make her too much of a target for the gossip-hungry locals.

"Can I see the place before I commit? I would like to get a feel for the house before I agree to live there. Everything else sounds fine. If you have a copy of the contract for me, I can look it over and discuss it with you tomorrow?"

"Actually that would be perfect. We can go to Forks tomorrow and you can meet with Dr. Cullen in person. It's a long drive though, do you mind starting at seven in the morning? We can meet in the hotel lobby since I'm staying here. Oh, what about an overnight visit so you really get a sense for the facilities?" Jasper really hoped that she would agree to an overnight visit. He was desperately missing his wife, and the sudden headache earlier had tired him. Eight hours in the car, even with the delightful Bella, would not be fun.

"That's logical. And since I quit Mike's lab, I certainly have the time," laughed Bella. She rose from her seat and began gathering her belongings. "Thank you for the coffee and the chat. Honestly, I don't think there are circumstances under which I would pass on this offer. Cullen Corp. has the resources that I simply won't find anywhere else. I'll see you in the morning."

As she moved past him, Jasper grabbed her wrist. "Don't forget these," he grinned, shoving some papers at her. As he released her arm, he suppressed a shudder. Her skin was oddly cool to the touch. She must have incredibly poor circulation, he thought idly.

"Of course not. Thank you Jasper. I will see you bright and early tomorrow."

Watching her leave the café, Jasper mused that he really earned his salary this time. If not for his obsessive need to screen potential employees after the Lauren fiasco, he would never have had the chance to swing in and steal her away from Mike the asshole. Edward would be pleased with this acquisition.