I DREAM OF RAINBOWS

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.

So, as Esme and Carlisle left Edward, she called to her other two sons and told them that they could treat their parents to lunch. And, with that everyone left, but, Edward who was having a hard time believing that he had escaped the wrath of his mother.

CHAPTER 19: THE OPENING SHOTS ARE FIRED

Although, it had been a close call, Edward felt that he had managed to fool his family for now. He was aware that he still wasn't out of the woods yet. His mother wasn't easily fooled, and she was likely to worry the subject to death until she was satisfied with the answer. But, he wasn't going to worry about his mother at the moment, he had other things to be concerned about which was the fact that Ms. Swan was in the hospital due to the accident of last night.

After dealing with all of the business scheduled for that morning, Edward told his PA that he was going to be out of the office for the rest of the day. When she asked for a reason to tell anyone that asked as to why, he very bluntly told her to mind her own business and to offer her regular excuse to everyone else.

Edward wasn't a fool, he realized that his PA had a thing for him and was very jealous of any other woman that he might look at twice. And, it was always when he decided to take off for an afternoon that her green-eyed monster would appear, but, she wasn't aware that he knew about how she felt. At times, he would wonder if he should find someone new, but, Ms. Hyde was good at her job and had been with him the longest. He hated changes! Still not coming to a decision he, chose to ignore the current situation and just left without saying anything else.

On the way to his car, Edward realized that he hadn't taken the time to call the florist to have flowers delivered to Bella at the hospital. So, he quickly rectified that slight problem as he rode the elevator down to the garage level. Arriving at that level, Edward exited the elevator and made the way to his car to go to the hospital to check Ms. Swan's condition for himself. He was very much aware that if he didn't follow through with this plan then his ass would be in bigger trouble by the family. He didn't take the time to realize that by not informing them of Bella's stay in the hospital that he could be in trouble anyway. No, that thought never crossed his mind.

XXXXXX

Mark quickly explained to Rosalie and Alice about the phone call he had just answered before they began to question him for more details about what had put Bella in the hospital. The information he was able to give them wasn't any different or added any further details than what he had already told them.

"I wonder if there is some way we can contact the hotel to see if we might be able to identify the person that had put her into Mark's room. We might be able to find out exactly how her accident happened, as well." Alice commented aloud to no one in particular.

And, with her comments, it didn't take Rosalie long to pick up that thread of thought and agree with her cousin about checking with the hotel management to see if there was any way to check out the accident. "I think that's a damn good idea. Let's check on Bella first, taking her some comfortable clothes and then we can take the time to go by the hotel to follow up about getting the information we need. That sound okay with you, Mark?"

"I don't see any problems with that. In fact, the more I think about it, the better it sounds. We do need to know who could be so uncaring as to do what they did without a backward glance."

Both women looked at Bella's agent like he had suddenly grown a second head. Neither of the two had considered him to be much of a decisive individual. He had always seemed so meek and mild mannered, in their opinion. They had really wondered what Bella saw in him as to allow him any sort of control over her writing decisions.

Mark noticed the two women looking at him a bit funny and then asked in a puzzled tone of voice, "What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all." Alice responded, and then Rosalie added in her no-nonsense way, "You surprised us, is all. You always seemed kind of lacking in the forceful department."

And, with that being said, the poor man looked from one lady to the other as he remarked, "I don't know why you would think that I'm a 'push over'. Just because I don't go around throwing my weight around doesn't mean that I can't handle myself in a necessary situation when it's called for."

"Sorry, if we hurt your feelings, but, you have never presented yourself as being a very forceful type of personality." Alice answered for both herself and Rosalie.

"Just because I don't go around acting like a high powered s.o.b. doesn't mean that I can't handle myself when necessary. With my kind of job, you have to be flexible to be able to bend to any set of circumstances presented to be able to act on behalf of the client's welfare and wellbeing.

"Acting like an ass all the time, like you know everything and going around demanding the attention all the time, isn't the way to get things done for the mutual comfort of everyone's working relationship. You two should know that." Was the only explanation Mark gave in answer to the comments made by the two cousins moments before.

But, after a minute or two had passed, he told them that it was time to get moving if everyone wanted time to get to the hospital and then to go by the hotel. With that reminder it didn't take Rosalie or Alice long to get some things thrown together for Bella and to be piled in Alice's car heading to visit with Bella.

XXXXXX

As Edward was walking down the garage level towards his car, someone quickly stepped out suddenly and grabbed him by the arm from behind. Being startled by such unexpected happening, Edward swiftly turned, with fist raised, prepared to defend himself. But, before he could throw a punch, he was blocked by a giant of a man, that upon a closer look he recognized as his brother, Emmett. "Man, what the hell do you mean grabbing me that way?" Edward angerly questioned.

"Hold up, bro, what has your panties in a twist? Does it happen to have anything to do with what Mom was just telling us?"

"What has Mom said to you? And, who else is included in the "us" you just mentioned?"

"Oh, just Jasper. Why? You seem a bit nervous about what Mom might have told us. Is there something that we need to know and you are, for some reason, staying quiet about it?" Emmett questioned in a half-way joking manner.

"Nothing at all, but, I just learned that Ms. Swan is in the hospital due to an accident that she suffered last night. Nothing serious, so I'm told, but, it was serious enough to have given her a concussion.

"I was on my way over to see her and send some flowers when you grabbed a hold of me."

"Edward, how did you find out about this accident?"

"Well, as Jasper can tell you, I was trying to call Ms. Swan to ask her to lunch so we could discuss this contract one final time before we both signed off on it. But, I wasn't able to reach her by the number Jasper had first given me, so, I called her agent after Jasper gave me that number.

"All of you, as well as Jasper, were sitting there as I made the call to Ms. Swan's agent and that was when I learned about Ms. Swan's accident. However, I didn't want to mention to all of you as I wasn't sure what type of blame I might have to deal with from the whole family."

"Edward, why didn't you mention this earlier. You know the whole family would want to check on her and give her their well wishes." Emmett was quick to admonish his brother for Edward's lack of foresight.

"Well, as I just mentioned, I didn't want to have to try to deal with any kind of blame game at that moment from any of you. And, also to be honest, I didn't really want anyone to know about my intention of trying to get Ms. Swan to change her mind about the contract. Then, once I found out about the accident, I thought everyone would begin to blame me by saying that in some way my ill-treatment of her might be responsible for her getting hurt."

"Well, I can see where that thought might have crossed your mind, but, I can assure you that we wouldn't have looked at it that way. How could you be responsible for Ms. Swan having an accident since you weren't even involved."

"If there's nothing else that you need to know, I'll be on my way. If you don't happen to remember that in our business 'time is money and time wasted is money thrown away'." Edward commented as he started to turn away from Emmett with the intention of continuing with his plans.

Before Edward could move away from his brother, Emmett did ask what hospital Bella was in. He was told and he then told Edward that the rest of the family would be informed and more than likely, they would want to pay the young woman a visit.

After that each man turned away to continue on to his interrupted destination. Edward to the hospital to see Bella and Emmett back up to his office to go over more paperwork concerning his upcoming project of Bella's book.

XXXXXX

Alice, in spite of being such a crazy driver, managed to get everyone to the hospital in one piece. At times, Mark was silently praying to the highest power above to please get him to their destination in one piece considering how Alice was so busy weaving in, out and around all of the other traffic that was on the same roadway as herself. Then, once they did arrive at the hospital and got parked, he had to consciously prevent himself from dropping to his knees to thank the good Lord and the blessed earth that he was once more able to stand on.

The three entered the hospital and Mark took them directly to Bella's room and they found her sitting up in bed grumbling to the nurse that was busily checking her vitals. Both Alice and Rosalie tossed the items of luggage they were carrying at Mark as the two raced over to check on their cousin as if making sure for themselves that she was really okay.

Poor Mark had been hard put to catch the two pieces of baggage, but, he did manage and walked slowly over to greet his client after depositing the items down on a chair that happened to be sitting near the bed and the patient that was lying in it. The four spent time visiting with Bella ever so often reassuring Alice and Rosalie that she was fine and couldn't understand why the damn doctor wanted to keep her when she was feeling good except for the headache that seems to come and go.

After a time, Mark was told to leave the room while Rosalie and Alice helped Bella to get more comfortable in her own clothing. Of course, Bella spent some of the time protesting about all of the fussing her cousins were doing, but, still deeply appreciated the care and love they were showing her. And, truth be told, she was grateful to be dressed in her own lounging clothes.

Bella was feeling a bit tired after all of the exercise she had been put through by her cousins in order to get changed, so, Rosalie and Alice decided to go with Mark to get a bit to eat and to bring back something for Bella that was other than the tasteless hospital food.

They were walking towards the door when it opened and in walked a well- dressed man in a business suit. Rosalie and Alice glanced at him as he walked into the room, but, didn't immediately recognize him, but, Mark and Bella knew right away who he was.

"Mr. Cullen, what are you doing here?" Mark questioned as he watched Edward approached Bella in her bed with a bouquet of flowers beautifully arranged. And, Mark, also, observed the puzzled looked that was coming and going on Bella's face. He was greatly puzzled as to the reason for that.

"Ms. Swan, you agent mentioned about your unfortunate accident. So, on behalf of my company and the whole family I wanted to stop by to wish you a speedy recovery and to bring you by a token of our well wishes."

Alice quickly moved to take the flowers from Edward and sat them on the side table close to Bella's bed and it was at that time that she also noticed the fleeting expressions of puzzlement that came and went on her cousin's face. She looked over at Rosalie and saw that she was also observing the same reactions Bella was having to Edward Cullen.

The other three occupants of the room were far enough away that they were caught by surprise due to Bella's actions as Edward reached out to take Bella's hand as he expressed his well wishes. But, he was even more surprised as Bella swiftly reached out, grabbed his tie and jerked him down closer to her, then whispered, "I know what you did."

No one, but, Edward heard what she said, but, he also quietly responded by saying, "And, I know that you aren't as much of the prude as you would like others to think."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bella responded, still in a muffled voice.

A/N: Can you guess what each meant? Edward doesn't seem to have gotten away as cleanly as he believed. And, Bella has no idea what the hell Edward is accusing her of doing. Will explanations be given, or, will the other three be kept in the dark for a while longer?

Your thoughts and comments as always are welcomed.

I also would like to take this moment to thank all of you for your patience as I do realize that I'm a bit late on getting this chapter to you. It should have been done last week, but, I was ill and had a hard time trying to concentrate to get any writing done.