Wednesday, 10:30 am

Is he finally beginning to realize that I am frustrated and why? An odd look of empathy crosses his face, and I can't help but notice his forlorn expression when he says, "I don't want special treatment, just fairness. I don't feel that's what I get."

"How can we solve this?"

"Could we start by having an afternoon rather than a morning meeting?" he asks.

I'm so happy that this time it is a request rather than a directive that I can't help but reply, "That's certainly a possibility."

"As long as I'm achieving everything I need to achieve, can you accept that there are mornings I'm going to be late? Unfortunately, it's unavoidable."

But what is unavoidable? Him not being able to pull himself out of bed in the mornings? "This is where the problem lies. I still don't understand." And I need to understand this to be able to consider the allowances he is asking for. "Explain it to me."

"I'll try." He is sincere; I can hear it in his voice.

Pushing my chair back slightly, I stretch out my legs and watch him. He's just about to speak when Alice knocks on the door and looking at me says, "Sorry to interrupt, Mr.—" Mr.? Alice... What are you playing at? I immediately realize why she's here though, and all I can think is, Oh shit, Carlisle!

"It's okay, Alice. That meeting—I'd forgotten. I'll go up now." She nods her head and closes the door. I look back to Edward. "Sorry. I really need to get to my meeting; it's with your cousin actually, but I'd like to continue this conversation, soon." And I really would. We've made headway here, I think, and I don't want to do anything other than move forward.

"Okay," he says, standing and placing his presentation in front of me. "I hope this is what you were after. Just give me a yell if you need to discuss it before the team gets together again."

I'm distracted by his behavior—really distracted. He's a different person today, and God, I hope it continues.

Wednesday, 10:40 am

I walk past Alice, stopping to let her know what time to expect me back and then make my way to the elevator, noticing Emmett sitting in Edward's chair with Edward perched on the front corner of his desk as I pass; they are deep in conversation and don't notice me—I envy the easy rapport Edward has with his friend.

"Hi, Jasper," Tanya greets as I walk from the elevator and onto the executive floor. "He's expecting you, go straight in."

"Thanks, Tanya. How are you?"

"Really well, and you?'

"No complaints," I answer; she smiles at me as I walk past and knock on Carlisle's door before pushing it open.

"Carlisle, sorry I'm late."

"That's fine, Jasper. I was running to the wire myself; those extra minutes did me a favor." His smile is very genuine.

I like Carlisle, he's a really nice guy, easy to communicate with and very professional. We discuss the Pearson Project; he's very happy with our progress and excited for next week. I couldn't ask for more than that.

"How is everything going with Edward, Jasper?"

This change in the conversation comes from left field, and I take a moment to think of my response. Even though Esme is the one who intimidates me, and I have no doubt the reason why relates to Edward, I'm not foolish enough to believe that a certain level of nepotism wouldn't come from Carlisle if I pushed him on it.

He obviously senses my hesitancy to answer. "It's okay, Jasper. I would prefer you be frank with me rather than hold back. I know that Edward's insomnia is affecting his ability to be an equal participant in the team at the moment, and I can understand that would be making things difficult for you."

"Ummm…" I take a deep breath and decide I need to be candid with him. "It has been difficult, Carlisle, very difficult in fact. And honestly, I'm not sure I have dealt with it the best that I could've recently.

"Edward is doing a fantastic job with the targets I've set him, but his consistent late arrivals of a morning, and not always just the mornings unfortunately, are making it hard for the other members of the team to work with him to meet our goals."

"And what are you both doing to resolve the issues?"

"We were actually only talking about it before I came up here."

He looks confused. "Just now?"

"Yes." I can only imagine what he is thinking, Just now, as in, for the first time? But I choose to continue. "I understand that his insomnia has thrown out his body clock and his ability to get consistent sleep patterns; I don't understand why that is, but I do understand that he has little control over it. I'm willing to work with him to a point, Carlisle, but I struggle to do so when I have so little information to go on. I just don't think it's fair to the other members of my team. They all manage to get here on time every day, and we all have different things to deal with, that is just life."

"Yes it is, Jasper, and I do understand your frustration, I really do, but are there any possible solutions here that you can see?"

"Actually, Edward asked if we could reschedule our morning meetings to give him a better chance to attend them. I said we could definitely consider it and I will, but I still feel doing so will only work against Edward. Carlisle, you must realize that Edward being related to you and Esme can sometimes be as much of a negative for him as it is a positive. Nepotism is a very difficult thing for many people to get over."

"Do you feel that way as well, Jasper?"

Thanks for reading. And thanks to all of my very loyal readers for keeping with me. I appreciate the support so very much.

This covers Chapters 15-19 of Insomnia.