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.

But, before Jasper could answer his phone began to ring once more. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, Jasper looked to see who was calling, shook his head a little and then laid the phone on the table without answering it. Reaching up, he buried his face into his hands and suddenly regretted coming to see his parents.

Before he could get up to leave, Carlisle said, "Jasper, tell us what's brought you here and what trouble is bothering you."

CHAPTER 26: NEEDING A BREAK

"Dad, I just failed an assignment and now have to figure out a way to tell Edward and Emmett. Neither of my brothers are going to take my failure very well. Not well at all, and Edward is going to be the biggest problem between the two of them, and I'm not sure how to approach the situation with either of them." Jasper told his parents even though he had started off addressing Carlisle.

Both Esme and Carlisle looked at their son with an expression of puzzlement for a moment before Esme spoke, "Jasper, my dear, you need to tell us what you are carrying on about before we can even begin to give you any advice.

"At the moment it's my understanding that you're dealing with the contract that has to do with Isabella Swan. So, does there happen to be another contract, although I do realize that you are handling several right now, that we are unaware of?" Esme commented and then asked her son.

"You're correct, Mom, about all of the contracts that I handle at all one time. No, I don't have any other contracts that seem to have created any problems but the one that does concern Ms. Swan and Edward."

"Okay, Jasper, stop going around the bush and just tell us what the hell is going on." Carlisle demanded after listening to the exchange between mother and son.

"Okay." He paused before drawing a deep breath and then letting it out, he continued, "for some reason Edward decided to stop fighting about the changes he wanted in the contract. He called me on the phone to say that he had decided to go ahead and sign the contract as it is.

"When I asked why he just answered that it wasn't worth making mine and Emmett's lives any more difficult than it needed to be. And, also, this was a project that Emmett was truly excited about doing." Before Jasper could continue Carlisle unexpectedly interrupted him.

"You're saying that Edward just gave up the battle like he has been advised to do? Damn, is that boy sick or something? He never let's go of anything once he has dug his heels in. What's he up to, I'm wondering." Carlisle responded since he was surprised by what Jasper had just told them.

"I went to the office and sure enough he had signed the contract and just handed it over to me without any argument whatsoever.

"After that I called to see where I could meet with Ms. Swan and found out that I was almost too late in reaching her. It seems that she had decided to go back to Seattle.

"Armed with that information from her cousins, I rushed to the airport to get her to sign the contract so the project could move forward without any further delay. And, that was when I ran into my next problem after we all had dealt with hardheaded Edward. She refused to sign the contract without reading it over once more and then having her attorney look at it as well.

"Her excuse was that she refused to hurriedly sign the contract at the airport without making sure that everything was still as she had wanted it. She didn't take my word that Edward had left everything as she had wanted it to be. She wanted to make sure for herself because she didn't trust Edward one bit.

"Ms. Swan told me that I could let her have the contract to take back to Seattle with her or I could bring it to Seattle myself, but either way she wouldn't be signing it until she had a chance to have it gone over. And, at that point she walked away from me before I could say or do anything as I watched in a shocked state as she walked through the security line and left for her departure gate.

"So, now how do I explain my failure to Edward and Emmett?" Jasper concluded his explanation as he waited for his parents' reaction to all he had just told them.

"To Emmett I would explain everything exactly as you've told it to us. But Edward does present a different problem. I have to agree that it isn't in his nature to just suddenly quit a course that he is very dead set on. So, what caused his change of mind about the contract being changed to his demands?

"But with all said and done, I have to admit that I can't fault the action that Ms. Swan has chosen to take. Edward has done nothing to endear her to him in order for her to trust him one little bit.

"I'm still puzzled as to how Ms. Swan ended up in the hospital in the first place. I've been checking out all of the entertainment buzz and not one single word has been mentioned about that young woman anywhere. So how was she injured and by who?" Carlisle was offering his advice and making his comments about the situation.

However, as he paused, Esme began to speak, "Jasper, don't worry about Edward, your father and I will handle telling him. Personally, if it were me in the same set of circumstances as Ms. Swan finds herself, I would be doing and reacting the same way. Nothing wrong with wanting to protect your hard work."

"But, Mom, Dad, all of that isn't going to help once Edward and Emmett finds out that the contract hasn't been signed." Jasper whined to his parents.

"We've told you what needed to be done. Now, you can either accept our advice and help or do everything on your own. But I would suggest that you take a moment to consider your options before making a hasty decision." Carlisle told his son. And, as he finished speaking Jasper's phone began ringing once more.

"Damn, what do I say to him?"

"Who, son?" Esme asked patiently for Jasper to answer her question.

"Emmett. Why is he calling me? I didn't say anything to him about Edward signing the contract. I was going to surprise him by presenting him with a done deal." Jasper told his mother in answer to her question.

"Then I would suggest answering your phone to hear why he's calling you. Chances are that it's nothing more than just to talk to you about something else; perhaps, about the two ladies that seemed to have captured both yours and his attention." Esme said with a bit of a chuckle as she observed the stunned look on Jasper's face because of her last statement.

But before he could answer the ringing stopped once more. However, almost immediately a text message alert was received. And, Jasper didn't take any time before reading the message. However, as he read what was written, he began to moan while moving his head from side to side.

"What now?" Esme asked of her son.

"It seems that Emmett talked with Rosalie Hale and she informed him about me trying to catch Ms. Swan to get her to sign the contract. Then he talked with Edward and Edward told him about the contract as well. So, his question is when can he start getting things ready to begin filming."

"Then, son, I would say that you need to start making some decisions and to make them quickly." Carlisle remarked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Dad, for the support and for stating the obvious."

"Don't take that tone with us, young man, we've given you our advice and offered help. However, the choice as we mentioned is yours to make. Let us know how you want to handle this, and we'll help, but we won't make the decisions for you." Carlisle responded back to Jasper quite sternly.

XXXXXX

Alice and Rosalie were curious as to whether Jasper had managed to get to the LAX on time to be able to catch up with Bella and to get her to sign the contract. If all had gone well then filming would begin almost immediately and both women were eager to get started.

At the urging of Rosalie, Alice was reaching for her phone when Rosalie's begins to ring. Looking at the caller ID, Rosalie answers to talk with Emmett. Both women were hoping that he had the news they were excited to hear. However, it turned out that Emmett wasn't even aware of the immediate happenings, so, Rosalie explained it to him. She ended by telling him that she and Alice were anxiously waiting to hear from Jasper about if he had been able to get to Bella in time.

"Don't worry about it; I'll get a hold of Jasper and then let you know the outcome." Emmett told Rose with a lot of excitement sounding in his voice.

To say that he was extremely happy to hear that he could finally get started on this project would be an understatement. Isabella Swan's book was one that gave hope and encouragement; it was a story that was of true human emotions of the ups and downs in life and of how to look ahead instead of backwards. It would reach the public on many personal levels if he did his job correctly and was able to tell it correctly.

After a bit more conversation, Rosalie hung up and looked around the room to tell Alice all that she knew, but found the room empty except for herself. It seems that Alice had left to give Rose some privacy for her conversation with Emmett.

Alice had stayed long enough to understand that Emmett had no idea of what was happening about the contract. So, she decided to give the couple some privacy to conduct their phone conversation while she was making an effort to try to reach Jasper.

XXXXXX

Edward was busily going about his usual afternoon routine before calling it a day. He wasn't really concerned about Jasper getting the damn contract signed; he knew it would get done, since Jasper doesn't believe in failure as he had always managed to charm people in doing what he wanted. And, Edward had to chuckle to himself every time he thought about Jasper's reaction when he had been told that the contract had been signed.

It didn't take long for Jasper to get to Edward's office to ask his brother what had changed, and Edward just spewed forth some lame excuses that Jasper seemed to buy for the moment. And, Edward had reasoned that no one would really give a damn about why he had changed his opinion as long as the contract got signed as it stood like Isabella Swan wanted it. So, now that the first part of his plan was moving forward, it was time for him to start making plans for the second part; getting Isabella Swan to start trusting him.

XXXXXX

Driving up to the house that she had grown up in, Bella just sat in her car for a quiet moment letting memories run through her mind. This was her safe haven when she needed a break from the madness of the rest of the world. Her father, Charlie Swan, was always here for her no matter what or why she came back home. He always took her sudden appearance in stride like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Father and daughter had a solid understanding that had the strong foundation of love.

As her mind came back to the present, Bella realized that her dad's cruiser wasn't in the driveway, so, that meant that he was working. She made the quick decision to go to Police headquarters before going into the house. She was wanting to see her father and let him know she was home for a bit.

So, backing out of the driveway, Bella drove to the main street that ran through the entire length of town until she pulled into the parking lot of the Police station and pulled in the slot alongside of Charlie's cruiser. Getting out and heading inside brought all motion to a halt for a single heartbeat and then erupting into excitement to see her. These were people that had seen her grow up and knew that her sudden appearances at the station were an almost routine event over the years.

Hearing the increased volume of voices, Charlie walked out of his office to see what unusual was happening. And, as he saw Bella a slow smile began and continued to grow as he walked towards his daughter with arms ready to give her a hug and a loving greeting.

Everything quickly returned to normal as Charlie led Bella to the quietness of his office. And, once the door was closed, he turned to look at her and asked, "What's wrong, kiddo?"

And, with that one question Bella began telling her father everything that had been happening since last time they had talked. She left nothing out, even including the incident at LAX that had taken place just a few short hours ago. "Now you know why I needed to come home for some peace and for a quiet place to be able to think."

"You always know that you can come home anytime, even without having to have a reason other than just to come." Charlie offered with a smile and then continued, "I'm not going to interfere into your business; however, I am going to advise you to stand by your decisions as long as they feel right to you."

Bella looked at her dad and gave him a watery smile as she rose and hugged him with a whispered, "Thank you."

A/N: Is Jasper going to follow his parents' advice? How is Edward, Emmett, Rosalie and Alice going to take the news that the contract didn't get signed? Who is going to make the trip to Seattle to get Bella to sign the contract? What is going to be Edward's reaction when he finds out that Bella has left L. A.?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.