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.

Now, Charlie knew that he needed to decide about whether to let Edward be shipped to Seattle and then have the charges dropped to let that act as a reminder of how he should treat others. Or, should he take a chance that by making a phone call to have the charges dropped from here would act as reminder to Edward to considers others before acting upon his own wants and needs.

CHAPTER 43: HELP FROM STRANGE PLACES

Charlie decided that he would make a phone call to see how much good he could do at that moment. He hoped that maybe the charges could be dropped immediately and then Edward Cullen could be released without having to be taken back to Seattle. However, he learned very quickly that any such action was out of his hands.

"Charlie, I had told you that I wanted you to be one of the team that was going to bring Cullen back to Seattle, so, why did you have to take matters into your hands and jump ahead of the team?" Michael Henderson, the Seattle Police Commissioner was yelling at Charlie.

"Look, Mike, I came here acting on my own and didn't use my name. I made no promises to Cullen until after I had talked with him. It was then that I said I would see what I could do about helping to get the charges dropped."

"All right, Charlie, did this man commit a crime or not? You told me what happened to your daughter and by all you told me he was guilty of stalking her and possibly harassing her.

"We do have some pretty stiff laws against stalking. Also, you mentioned his attack of her a couple of times while she was in L. A. so, I'm going to ask what has changed that makes you want to rethink what you told me?

"Did he do what you reported or not?"

"Yes, he did, but I came to hear his side of things after Bella found out about my actions and damn near took my head off of my shoulders. I began to think about things and thought that it might be of benefit to see if there might be a different way to view the whole situation.

"That's why I came down here to talk with the young man."

"Okay, what did you find out?"

"Well, he does admit to the actions stated, but after listening to his side of things, nothing seems as sinister as it all sounded as when Bella was telling me about it and my mind conjured up an image of how everything happened."

"Okay, let me get all of this straight. You are wanting to have the charges dropped because things aren't as bad as you had originally thought. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, more or less."

"Either it is, or it isn't. But it isn't up to us anymore, not since all of this had been handed over to the D. A.'s office. The D. A. started the extradition order, and it has already been sent to L. A. and the court has approved the transfer."

"Mike, what are you trying to say? Just spit it out and tell me straight."

"I just told you. The D. A. took what action he needed to do to bring a criminal back to Seattle to try him for his crime. It cannot be stopped now until Cullen is back here.

"Also, even though, Cullen resides in L. A. he still continued his stalking of your daughter. True he didn't know who she was, but he still approached her with certain assumptions. Then he acted irresponsible when he knocked her out, instead of calling for help and he never took the time to find out how badly she was hurt. She could have been seriously injured or have died from a severe blow to the head.

"No, this phone call isn't going to solve a thing and now you may have made it worse by getting the young man to confess to you and then you confessing to me."

"Look, Mike, you try to pull me into this from that direction and I'll deny it from here to hell and back. Don't try to play that card with me. I'm in enough trouble with my daughter without you adding to it.

"All I'm trying to do is the right thing and nothing more." Charlie concluded before hanging up without another word being said.

Mike had given him plenty to consider about the whole situation, so Charlie knew that he was going to have to make some more unpopular decisions that would require for him to walk a fine line.

He had made a promise in his mind to Bella, just like he had made a promise to young Cullen about helping him. That meant that from that moment onward Charlie was going to have to tread carefully to be able to keep those two promises.

Charlie knew that he had taken the correct steps as a police officer, but he never considered that those steps were going to lead him to the path of his daughter's wrath. He knew how Bella's temper was since hers was like his; slow to light, but once it started to burn then hell and damnation couldn't stop it from exploding. Neither of them held a grudge as they were quick to forgive, but they didn't forget either.

Charlie made the decision to see Edward once more to warn him of what would be happening in the immediate future, but also to reassure the young man that he would still be helping once Edward got to Seattle.

After that Charlie would be returning to Washington and planned to stop by Bella's home to have a talk with her. He wanted to get thing cleared up with her so they could start to get back on the right footing that they had once had. He hated that Bella was so upset with him.

Charlie knew that he would still have taken the same steps that he had, even if it hadn't been his daughter telling him of all of the events that had happened to her. It was his job and one that he had done well for most of his life.

XXXXXX

It hadn't been difficult for Rosalie to be able to get a hold of Emmett to let him know that she and Alice would meet both him and Jasper over at the guys' parents' home later that afternoon. And, of course, Emmett had to ask, "Why?' But all that Rosalie would tell him is that they had more information that the family needed to know about what was happening to Edward.

And no matter how many questions Emmett asked, Rosalie refused to say anything further other than what she had told him already.

Emmett called Jasper and his parents to let them know what little information Rosalie had told him, so they were all gathered in the afternoon waiting, rather impatiently, for the two women to arrive. But, during the waiting for Rosalie and Alice to get there, the family continued researching for the best attorney they could find in Seattle to represent Edward once he was transferred.

The research had to continue on the off chance that Mr. Winston wasn't able to stop Edward from being extradited back to Seattle. They wanted Edward to be represented to make sure his case was handled with absolute competence.

They were sure that the charges would be dropped, and Edward would be back home in no time, but still the stress and worry this whole situation was causing everyone was beyond words being able to express the emotions they were truly feeling.

The whole family was voicing an opinion about each attorney the family was considering when the sound of a car stopping out front alerted everyone to the arrival of Alice and Rosalie; they hoped.

Before anyone had a chance to knock on the door, Emmett was there and swung the door open wide to admit the two women. He stepped to one side as he motioned for Alice and Rosalie to head on to the living room. "Everyone is anxiously waiting for you there. We all are nervous about what you have to tell us." He told them as they entered the house and he followed behind them.

Alice spoke as the three entered the living room and saw the other three occupants who seemed to be frozen in time. "What we have to tell you is more of an explanation of what has brought all of this to its current point. It will more or less fill in the missing pieces and help, we hope, make more sense of this whole mess." And with that said Alice walked over to greet Jasper before following Rosalie's example by sitting down.

Everyone else took a seat and waited, a bit impatiently, for either Alice or Rosalie to begin telling them what needed to be said. And it seems that no one was ready to break the tense silence until finally with an indrawn breath, Rosalie started to speak, "I think first you need to be told how this information came to us. That might help to answer some of your unasked questions."

So, after Rosalie finished speaking for a moment, Alice began. She told them about the phone conversation she had had with Bella just that very morning. Alice explained about what Bella had told Charlie, Bella's dad, she answered the puzzled looks on the four faces looking at her and then continued on. "Our Uncle Charlie is a police chief in Washington State in a small town a few hours away from Seattle.

"Anyway, Uncle Charlie and Bella took a mini vacay, and it was during that time that she told Uncle Charlie about how she first became aware of Edward as he was in a restaurant in Seattle with Jasper, although she had no idea who he was, and then later how she had seen him following her in a well-known marketplace in Seattle.

"Bella continued to tell him about all that had happened when Edward and she met here in L. A. outside the lady's restroom in the hallway, but also what had transpired in his office with the rest of you in attendance. Then later, she told him of how Edward had backed into her in the hotel hallway and how she had ended up in the hospital and that was when she remembered seeing Edward's face in the mirror that had hung in the hotel hallway before she blacked out."

As Alice was explaining all of this, Edward's parents and his brothers, all, were shocked into silence as it was finally confirmed how Edward had just left an injured person without any aid being rendered.

When Jasper and Emmett had first mentioned that incident to Carlisle and Esme, the couple had a hard time believing, just like Jasper and Emmett, that Edward would have been so callous in his behavior as to leave an injured person alone without rendering aid or making sure that that person was okay without any serious injury.

Alice did continue to explain that without Bella's consent or without any discussion taking place between father and daughter, Charlie Swan, the police chief, turned in to the Seattle authorities what he considered to be a crime of stalking.

"So, you're saying that Ms. Swan knew nothing about any of these charges being filed until the police in Seattle wanted to talk with her and Mr. Strollman?" Esme had to ask just to make sure she was understanding everything correctly.

Then Carlisle had to ask, "Do either of you know who a Sean Winston might be?"

Both Alice and Rosalie answered in the negative. "It's not a name that we recognize." Rosalie answered for both herself and Alice.

"Why do you ask?" Alice wanted to know.

"Because that is the name of a man that visited with Edward earlier today and promised Edward to help get the charges dropped. Which that brings me to this question; do you think since she had nothing to do with the charges being brought against Edward, that she might also help to get everything dropped?" Carlisle asked with a bit of hesitation.

"Carlisle, I really don't know if she would have any luck other than going through Uncle Charlie. We can ask her if you want." Rosalie volunteered. And with that everyone smiled with the nodding of yes, all the way around.

"Okay, the next time one of us talks with her we'll ask for you."

"Can you call her now and ask?"

"Sorry, Carlisle, there's no way. She's working on another book and won't answer the phone right now. But don't worry, she'll give us a call either tonight or tomorrow and we'll ask her then, whichever one of us that talks with her." Alice answered.

After a bit of tense, disappointed silence in the room, everyone slowly began talking about other things since there really wasn't anything else that could be done at that moment and that there was nothing else that could be said.

XXXXXX

Charlie did return to see Edward and quietly explained to the young man exactly what was going to have to happen before anything more could be done.

"So, I have to go to Seattle, and everything has to be dismissed from there?" Edward asked in a tone with the need to confirm what Mr. Winston had just told him.

"That's correct, Edward. I did try with making a phone call but was told that since the extradition was already approved from California to Washington that there was no way to stop anything at this stage of things.

"However, don't worry, I won't let you down once you arrive." And, with that promise the two men said goodbye. Edward was escorted back to his cell and Charlie left to go to LAX for the trip back to Seattle.

A/N: I know that a lot of you are really down on Charlie, but you do need to remember that as a police officer he must report any crime that he gains knowledge of. You also need to remember all that Edward did to Bella and what he was planning to do to Bella. Do you really think that Edward is really the innocent bystander? That he would have changed his mind with what he was wanting to do if this situation against him hadn't occurred? Charlie is trying to help within the means that are open to him. How do you think the next talk between Charlie and Bella will go? What do you think Carlisle or Esme will say to Edward once they've had time to consider all that Alice and Rosalie have just told them and confirmed about Bella's accident?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.