A/N - New story! No, I haven't abandoned DLYLF, but I had a dream last night and this is the result of it.

I'm taking quite a lot of artistic fictional licence with this story but go with it. I chose London as the setting for the Olympics because I know London and the dates don't really matter.

As a former lifeguard and photography enthusiast, I kind of mashed them both together. But I have no experience of the Olympics and no link to or experience with Nike so just... bear with it and pretend this is how it all really works :) It's fiction, I'm allowed to make it up as I go along.

Also, I own nothing except my imagination. SM owns the characters.

~oOo~

Chapter 1

Not once in my journey to becoming a professional photographer did I think that clinical meetings in boardroom settings would become the norm. Hell, not once did I think fashion and sports photography would become my life, but it's funny how things work out and I was never one for pushing myself along a specific path. I had goals, yes, and I worked hard to reach those goals but the route to get there was never mapped out for me and I was okay with that. As it turns out, I was more likely to travel a winding road than a straight one. Who knew?

When I think back to what route I wanted to take with photography, it's all very hazy. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a photographer, since the moment my dad handed me my first camera at five years old. It was that moment that I ditched the dreams of becoming an astronaut and started carrying my little Polaroid camera everywhere. Rocket science and astrophysics were never my strong points either, nor would they ever be, so the decision wasn't a difficult one even at such a young age. I was book-smart, but I was not that book-smart. Capturing moments in motion and freezing them forever, that's what made me happy. Time came and went, moments were played out and passed before our eyes and capturing those fleeting looks, those precious seconds that would never occur ever again; the movement, the focal points, the objects, the people -that was how I always wanted to spend my days. I was an observer and conservationist of the life around us as it happened.

It was during my time in college, late on, when most students already knew the specific route they wanted to take, that I realised my main strength was action shots. After years of focusing on landscape photography -a natural direction when you grow up in a small green leafy town in Washington State- I found myself drawn to the excitement of fast motion; the adrenaline of hoping and praying that I had moved fast enough to capture the moment perfectly, trusting my instincts and skill and then pursing my lips and squinting my eyes as I looked through the view finder, hoping for the best as I faced my shot. Naturally, being drawn to action, sport was the standard progression. I won't lie and say sport was my forte, it absolutely was not but even I couldn't deny that the excitement of the event and the crowds of dedicated fans gave sports photography an edge and I loved it. There was something to be said for the atmosphere of sporting events and it was hard not to get caught up in the moment, even if you were there purely for work. And after four years, I had learned a lot about sport, much to the delight of my father.

That's how I found myself straight out of college, straight to Oregon and straight in to work with Nike Sportswear. It's where I met my best friends, Alice and Rosalie and it's where I spent most of my time whether physically photographing athletes or holed up in my office editing what I had captured and emailing the pictures to their respective departments. Alice Whitlock was on the design team and she was made for it, she may be tiny but she was a force to be reckoned with. Being head honcho on Nike's Team USA Design Panel was a dream for her. She was impulsive where I was methodical, whimsical where I was streamline and although we were mostly opposites, our creative streaks kept us connected as people and gave us a common ground; but more than that, we worked well because she was mostly everything I wasn't. She was my little whirlwind and I loved everything about her, even when I wanted to kill her.

We met at college and whenever the fashion school teamed up with the photography school, we were quick to pair up. As a photographer, I could be insightful about angles and lighting and as a fashion designer, colors and contrasts were her strong-point as far as photographs were concerned. She knew what she wanted from pictures and I knew how to make it happen.

Rosalie Hale was tall, beautiful and the perfect compliment to Alice and I. The epitome of supermodel perfection with the take-no-prisoners attitude to match. Hair and makeup was her game, which meant that when studio sessions were on the books, Rose and I were almost guaranteed to team up and more often than not, Alice was there to complete us. Those were the fun days.

Over the years together we had become the perfect team. Alice would provide the clothing, her and Rose would work together on how best to style the hair in order to show off the clothing (especially where female models and athletes were concerned), Rose would match the makeup to the clothing provided and the vibe of the shoot, I would create the lighting to best enhance all the variables and finally, take the shots that would put all of our hard work together.

"So, guys," Seth Clearwater, the head of Nike's Olympic Division, spoke over the room, "our main focus will be the Nike Ambassadors. There's a list of them in your folders, study them, get to know who and what they are and focus mainly on them when you're there."

I looked fleetingly at the list as I concentrated on Seth's words. At first glance I recognised a few of the names nearer the bottom of the list but I'd need to do my own research. Olympic athletes were a far cry from the golfers, basketball stars, football players and sportswear models I had recently been tasked with, so I was a little out of the loop.

"Our Team USA studio session will take place on the the second full day in London," he continued, "But all of those details are in your itineraries. Most of the athletes are there already. By the time you arrive, they will be acclimatised to the time difference and will be ready to go." Seth looked pointedly around the room in silent warning for us all to know where we needed to be and when.

Heading to the London Olympics was a big deal for our small team and a massive leap of faith for Nike. The whole team consisted of employees who had never travelled to an Olympics before and considering Seth would be staying in Oregon to accumulate all of our work and publish it, we were effectively on our own when we got out there. I risked a sideways glance at Alice who was almost vibrating with excitement, to Rose who looked like as cool and calm as always and to Sam who was, as usual, scribbling notes on his itinerary. Being a writer, it wasn't ironic that Sam was literally always writing.

"I'm trusting you," Sam went on, "you're the varsity team, don't make us regret this decision. Study everything in your hand-outs, programme everything in to your phones, learn the layout of the land when you get there, take down everything from how long it takes to get from A to B, to where each athlete will be and when. Bella," he caught my eye before speaking again, "take that camera everywhere with you, we're not paparazzi but you never know when you'll stumble upon an athlete jogging in Nike sneakers." I nodded in agreement but didn't speak, I understood and nerves were starting to take over, this really was happening. "Alice," his attention landed on the small excited bundle of energy to my left, "I'm assuming you've gone over all the design aspects of your trip with the design and fashion team?"

"Yes," she squeaked in reply, clasping her hands together on top of the table of smiling wide. "I've got everything packed and ready to go, the majority of it will be in London on my arrival waiting for me."

Seth nodded, placated by Alice's energy and answers. She may be hyper but she's always efficient and organised.

"Sam, I trust you know what you're doing by now?" Sam nodded at Seth, showing him his messy checklist and at quick glance I noticed that's what he had been scribbling during the meeting. Laptop, note books, recording devices and all his writing and reporting essentials took over the negative space on the front page of his hand-out.

"Rose, you'll be needed mainly during studio sessions and not at events. You'll have more down-time than the others but there's no way we're using freelance hair and makeup artists again. We learned our lesson last time." Seth outwardly shivered as though he was reliving a particularly nasty memory and Rose sniggered. Much to the dismay of Alice and I, he didn't specify.

"Fine by me, boss," Rose smiled, looking smug and I must admit, I was a little jealous of the thought of her free time.

Looking at my itinerary, I inwardly groaned. There wasn't a single day I wasn't required at an event, interview, training session or studio. I'd have liked at least one day for shopping but it looked like most of my down-time would be spent sleeping. Alice's timetable was just as hectic as mine, as was Sam's. The good news was, when I was at an event and Alice was making sure the physical sportswear was up to par behind the scenes, I would have Sam with me, taking notes for articles whilst I took the pictures to accompany them. Our main focus was Team USA but Nike was an international brand so there would be a lot more Nike employees at the Olympics than just us four and a lot more athletes wearing Nike than just those on Team USA, so we had to be alert at all times. If an athlete from another country won an event and that athlete was a Nike Ambassador, if we had no prior engagements we were expected to be there.

Sam handed us our airline tickets, hotel confirmation, press badges and bidded us farewell. It was Thursday and we left for London tomorrow morning. We'd fly from Portland first thing, arriving in London at 11pm Oregon time which just so much happened to be 7am Saturday morning in The UK, a sure-fire way to screw up anyone's body clock.

"I'm not sleeping tonight," I groaned as we packed up. "If I stay awake tonight and try to sleep on the 11 hour flight, I'm hoping it helps me out a bit."

"I'll be too excited to sleep on the way and when we arrive," Alice practically sang. "A whole free day in London, there's no way I'm sleeping through that."

Rose rolled her eyes and sniggered at Alice. Rose could sleep anywhere at any time and it made her the perfect international traveller, a skill I envied.

"Sunday, we hit the ground running," Alice continued, waiting for Rose, Sam and I at the conference room door. "It's going to be so much fun!"

"Whatever she's on," Sam growled, "get me some."

I laughed, knowing exactly what he meant. Alice was always raring to go, no matter the time, place or how many hours of work we had already endured; she was always on a high and sadly it was natural. Otherwise I'd have been on whatever it was long ago.

The four of us made our way through the building, out in to the stuffy Oregon air and towards the car park.

"Anyone want to go for a drink?" Rose asked just as we were about to depart in the direction of our individual cars. "It's only 3pm."

"I'll pass," I shrugged, waving my hand-out at her, "I've got a lot of research to do."

"I'm in," Alice sang as she skipped towards Rose and Sam declined too, opting to follow my lead and go home to research.

Rose shrugged before confirming what time she'd pick us up for the airport run in the morning. We decided we'd all drive together and park Rose's car in the long-stay car park because it worked out a lot cheaper. We just had to make sure everyone was ready to go at their pick up time so we didn't miss our flight. She was picking me up at 7am which was a horrible thought but should give us all plenty of time to check in and relax before our flight.

~oOo~

After packing the last of my luggage, making dinner and pouring a glass of wine, I finally sat down at 8pm to start my research on the Nike ambassador athletes. The list wasn't too extensive which was a relief and I lay the paper in front of my laptop and opened Google, deciding to start from the bottom of the list and taking notes about each athlete as I went. James Harrison was the first at the bottom of the list. Team USA swimmer, he was blond with piercing blue eyes and an impressive list of accomplishments and trophies for his age.

'6 feet tall, 23 years old' I wrote. 'Second Olympics after a disappointing performance at Beijing. Seems to have improved marginally in the past four years. Strongest event: 100m and 200m butterfly. Known to be fiery with press. Cocky and arrogant apparently. Trains with and coached by five-time Olympic medalist Riley Biers. Graduate of NYU, swimming scholarship.

I continued scribbling notes, noticing the footnote that James was in danger of losing his Nike sponsorship due to his behaviour out of the pool and in front of the press. Judging by his pictures, I can see why, he had 'arrogant' written all over him, pictures of him out partying, shouting at paparazzi and scowling graced every page of his Google results. Something about him made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Taking a sip of my wine, I moved on to the next athlete.

Mike Newton - 'Team USA Tennis. 24 years old, 5'10. Graduated from Barcelona Tennis Academy in Spain. First Olympics. Seeded 104th in the world currently after a knee injury. Top ranking: 34th in the world after reaching the third round of Wimbledon three years ago and the quarter finals of the USA Open the same year. Lives in Miami Florida.'

I clicked on Google images and studied the young blond athlete to make sure I'd recognise him if I saw him. He seemed straight-laced and sweet, with a kind smiling face. No pictures of him off the court which was a good sign. He came across as a private person unlike James Harrison.

Next up was Leah Clearwater, a young 20 year old swimmer. She was still attending college in Utah on a swimming scholarship and looked to be Team USA's best shot a medal in women's swimming. She was tall, tanned and toned, with broad shoulders and the epitome of strength. She was impressive with a long list of trophies, awards and accomplishments. I was actually really looking forward to meeting her.

I worked up the list, following links and looking at pictures of each athlete whilst taking notes and scribbling them down on paper. I watched YouTube videos and sat in awe as I sipped my wine. I read about their training schedules, dietary requirements and their accomplishments.

The list wasn't long but it took hours and hours to dig in and learn about the athletes I'd be faced with in a few days. As the list went on, my notes got less and less detailed as I exhaustion took over.

Victoria Dowes - Athletics, beautiful. Tall, red flaming hair. USA's best chance of a medal in the women's 100m and 200m. From New York.

Tanya Denali - Beach Volleyball. Typical volleyball player. Gorgeous. Linked to Edward Cullen.

Not knowing who Edward Cullen was, but recognising the name from somewhere, I carried on reading. Sure-fire medal prospects. From Seattle, Washington.

On the list went and at 3am, I decided to start on coffee if I was planning to stay up all night. Four hours until Rosalie picked me up.

Sitting down again with a steaming cup of black coffee, I looked at the last name on my list, Edward Cullen, and opened Google again.

The first thing that caught my eye was the sheer amount of results from fashion, gossip and and entertainment websites. Without even clicking on his pictures, I could tell he was a hit amongst the women of the world, it took me a lot longer to find his sporting accomplishments which was a little sad. No one's looks should overshadow their accomplishments, whether sporting or otherwise. As I scrolled, I was taken aback by his sporting accolades, not only was he the top rated swimmer in The USA, but he was the top rated in the world at the moment. Four gold medals, three silvers and one bronze from the Beijing Olympics four years earlier. 25 years old and 6'2. Graduate of Washington State University, swimming scholarship. The list of his wins, trophies and awards was endless as were the rumours of his love life. Rolling my eyes at the title of People's Sexiest 'something', I clicked on Google images and my eyes were assaulted with pages and pages of pictures of Edward Cullen and my professionalism flew out of the open window. I had never seen a man so perfectly beautiful. My academic mind couldn't describe it but the photographer in me almost squealed in Alice fashion and I itched to take pictures of this man. The angles of his jaw, his bright green eyes, his chaotically alluring bronze hair, this muscular tall body, his structure and poise. He was a photographer's dream and he didn't even look like he was trying! My face flushed as I looked at the numerous pictures of him wearing almost nothing as he prepped to swim, his taut muscles as he stretched and a few of him in every day settings -fully clothed. Even bundled up against the elements of Washington, he stood out. Hollywood looks with the body of an athlete, he was perfection.

I soon realised that I hadn't taken a single note since I started my search on Edward Cullen. How was I going to face this man in a professional capacity when I couldn't stop thinking about how I preferred his rugged unshaven look to the clean-shaven look he seemed to sport at the pool. That water was the perfect accompaniment to his chiselled body, how his thighs look like they could easily squeeze the life out of a watermelon with no effort and how his lopsided smile made my panties wet.

Oh my god!

I quickly slammed my laptop closed and took a large gulp of now lukewarm coffee.

Linked to Tanya Denali.

That thought somehow caused my stomach to drop.

With two hours until Rosalie picked me up, I was no longer tired. So instead, I made my way to the shower, standing and staring at nothing in particular as the room filled with steam. I had to remain professional, I was a photographer and as such, I was a member of the press. That meant he probably hated me by default and even if that wasn't the case, what was I expecting? That Edward Cullen would sweep me off my feet, ditch his perfectly beautiful girlfriend and run off in to the sunset with me? Plain, boring, short Bella Swan -the thought was nothing but laughable.

I needed to sleep, but I needed to wait until I was on the plane. A good sleep, a bit of time to get over myself and when faced with Edward Cullen, I'd hide behind my camera and do what I did best. It was that simple.

~oOo~

A/N - What do you think so far? How do you think they're going to meet and how is that going to go?

I know that a travelling makeup artist is probably quite a stretch (unless it's GQ) but it fitted the character and storyline so I went with it.

The next chapter will probably be very soon, since I'm in isolation and have nothing better to do.

Hope everyone is staying indoors and staying safe.