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.

Bella goes back inside and calls her cousins to let them know all that has happened in the last few days.

CHAPTER 53: TRUE OR FALSE

Edward stood looking out of his office window, thinking about the last three weeks since his case had been dismissed in Seattle. The whole experience had taken a tow upon Edward's nerves, but he refused to give in to talking to anyone about what he was really feeling; his confusing feelings concerning Isabella Swan.

He was still reeling from the tongue lashing that both of his parents had given him once they had returned from Seattle. And, unfortunately, it wasn't just him that had been on the receiving end of that discussion. His brothers were included despite their protests. None of the three of them had been excluded nor favored at all from hearing the threats, or rather more like promises and demands of their parents.

It was clearly stated that the project concerning the filming of Isabella Swan's book would be handled in nothing more or less than a professional attitude by all involved. And Edward was made to understand that one more screw up he would be out as the head of the company until he could prove that he had his head, the one above the beltline not below, was finally functioning properly.

He was also told that he would begin treating Ms. Swan in a strictly professional manner or he would be out on his ear right then and there. They were tired of all of the bull that he had been causing everyone where this matter was concerned.

Turning over in his mind all that has been happening and what has been said, Edward was trying to figure out how he could get his revenge upon Isabella Swan for the pain and damage she and her father had caused him. She had been defiant, unreasonable and a pain in the ass even before he had met her. Isabella Swan's demands and unyielding stubbornness has created some big problems within his family and Edward was determined that the young lady needed to be taught a lesson.

Also, there was the problem of how she was affecting him personally. No other woman had even come close to messing with his mental and emotional feelings like this woman has. He just couldn't understand it. Why was he reacting the way that he was toward this woman? In any other situation, all other women hadn't even managed to touch him other than what he needed from them regarding his recreational relief of one kind or another. In fact, if they had shown that they wanted nothing to do with his temporary attentions then he would just move on without a second thought. But that wasn't the case with one Isabella Swan.

Isabella Swan had his thinking, actions and emotions all twisted around and it was putting him off his game. Off of his game so far that it had his entire family jumping on his ass from every different direction and for what seemed to be for anything at all that they thought he was doing wrong. That was causing him to second guess every action or decision he needed to make, both personal and especially businesswise. Yes, it was definitely messing with him in all areas.

As Edward reached this point in his thinking, he realized that with all the thoughts he had been having concerning a certain revenge to Isabella, not even realizing that he had just referred to her by her first name for the first time, was causing a problem down south. A problem that he was going to have to rid himself of before anyone entered his office and would be able to observe the tent that was very evident at the moment.

As soon as that thought had completed a path through his brain, his office door opened to admit his mother. Esme walked in without preamble and made herself comfortable on the couch across from his desk.

"Mom, what are you doing? Why are you here? Did one of us forget something?"

"Nope. I just decided that a bit of supervision wouldn't be remiss. That's all." Esme answered her son directly as she continued to settle in and get comfortable on the couch. Then she reached down into the oversized purse she was carrying to pull out her laptop.

"Mom, I don't need any supervision."

"I didn't say that you needed it; only that I thought a bit would be good."

Edward gave out a big heavy sigh and went to work on the pile of paperwork that had built up while he was gone. He also needed to check over everything that Emmett and Jasper had handled while he had been gone to be able to come up to speed and to make sure that they had made some intelligent decisions that would benefit the company instead of the other way around.

After a bit, Edward did become so absorbed in his work and the files that he was going through that he forgot that his mother was there in the same room. He didn't realize that Esme wasn't really doing anything on her laptop; she was only using it as a prop to be able to keep an unobserved eye on Edward.

Edward's attention was jerked back to the here and now by the ringing of his cell phone. Checking the caller ID, he saw that it was Emmett giving him a call.

"Yeah, Emmett, what the hell do you want?"

"What has your ass in such a twist?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying to catch up on all the work that was going on during my absence." Edward explained with a sigh before adding, "Sorry, Em, just trying to go through all that you and Jasper handled, and then looking at all of the new stuff that needs my attention."

"Just calling to let you know that everything is in place to begin filming. Thought you might like to know since the bills will start arriving in the accounting department before too long.

"Also received a call from Rosalie to say that her cousin, Isabella Swan, would be arriving today to meet with me to give the final okay for the lead actors. She'll be arriving this afternoon and Jasper will be picking her up at LAX.

"And, Edward, I'm warning you now not to do anything that is going to screw this up for everyone." Emmett concluded what he had to say with a tone to his voice that had never been delivered to Edward before.

Sure, he had heard that tone to others when they were messing with things that troubled his brother, but never had Emmett spoken to him in that manner.

"Emmett, tell Jasper never mind about picking Ms. Swan up from LAX, I'll be going instead. I have a lot of groveling to do to make sure that everyone is on a more comfortable standing." Edward told his brother.

At that moment Edward looked up to see that his mother was giving the conversation her full attention. He noticed also that she was nodding her head in the affirmative at what he had just told Emmett.

"Edward, I don't think that is a good idea considering all that has transpired between you and Ms. Swan."

"Em, I think that it is a damn good idea and so does Mom. She's in my office at the moment and listening to the conversation and is nodding her head yes to the suggestion."

Emmett didn't have anything to say at the moment, but he did have a bad feeling about what Edward wanted to do and finally told him so. "Edward, I really don't feel good about you doing this because of your past attitude that you have going on toward Ms. Swan."

"Attitudes can and do change, Emmett, and I need to do this to prove that to everyone. So, tell Jasper that I'll be meeting Ms. Swan when she comes in." And before Emmett could object further or add any more comments, Edward hung up and with a smile to his mother, went back to work.

He did take a moment to call Jasper to ask what time Isabella's flight would be landing since he hadn't asked Emmett and Emmett hadn't volunteered the information.

Once that task was taken care of Edward went back to work until it was lunchtime then he offered to take his mother out for a bite to eat. It was during lunch that Esme informed Edward that his father would be spending the afternoon with him since she had a meeting to attend. Edward tried to talk her out of Carlisle coming into the office but had no luck.

Carlisle stayed in the office keeping a close watch on everything that Edward did or said until it was time to go pick up Isabella Swan. His father's presence got on Edward's nerves more than his mother being there. At least she pretended to be involved with some work while his father did nothing but sit and watch.

XXXXXX

Bella really wasn't looking forward to all that this trip would entail. She had to meet with Emmett Cullen to discuss the lead actors and give her approval of his choices. Then she would have to endure being dragged by Alice and Rosalie all across Los Angeles looking at places they had chosen for her to see and give final approval on a place to stay during her various trips to L. A. during the filming of her book.

And, as a last bit of business, she would have to deal with any arising problems with Edward Cullen. His attitude has never been the best, but after what Charlie did to him, his attitude went from bad to evil. That was the vibes that she got from the man.

As she stepped off the plane and was heading to retrieve her baggage, Bella was wondering who would be meeting her: Alice or Rosalie? But, to say she was so surprised by the person she did see, it caused her to stop dead in her tracks which cause a small hold up to some of the deplaning traffic flow of passengers. She had a hard time getting herself together to be able to move toward the person that was standing there, waving at her. The one person she wasn't truly prepared to see just yet.

"How the hell could Alice or Rosalie do this to me?" Bella thought to herself.

She managed to pull herself together and began to move forward once more. Once she came face to face with her welcoming committee, she asked, "Why are you here?" Not meaning to sound rude, but that was the way it came across.

"I'm here in a professional manner at the moment with the hope that you will accept my offer of having dinner with me that is being issued for a personal reason." Once that was said and a funny look that couldn't be identified, the next statement that followed was, "I'm not wanting to do anything other than try to get us all back on the right footing since we're going to be doing business together. Also, my brothers are deeply involved personally with your cousins so that would give us reason to be interacting with each other on a personal level."

"Okay, if that is your objective, then I accept happily because I would like to work with all of you without all of the tension and nonsense that has existed in the past."

"Okay, then. Let's go get your baggage and get you settled wherever it is that you'll be staying."

"Edward, I don't know where I'll be staying. My cousins have several places lined up for my viewing, so I'll have a place to stay each time I come to L. A. but until then I guess I'll be staying in a hotel, so I'll have a place to work while I'm here."

"Then let me offer the apartment that the company keeps available for such reasons as this for our out-of-town business associates." Edward offered and then seeing that funny look on her face once again, he added, "No strings attached. I promise."

Bella didn't say anything to Edward, but she kept stealing swift glances at him as they walked to the conveyor belt to get her bags. As she watched him, she noticed that he maintained a very relaxed posture and didn't get any hostile vibes from him. So, because of that she turned to him and said, "I think I will take you up on both of your offers: dinner and the temporary use of the company apartment."

Once they had Bella's luggage, Bella told Edward that she needed to rent a car, but he informed her that she would be able to do that from the apartment without any problems.

"Okay, then. Let's go to this apartment so I can get settled, give my cousins a call to thank them for meeting me and then I'll be ready to go to dinner, if that's okay by you?" Bella said and then asked.

A/N: Carlisle and Esme taking time to check up on Edward and not being very stealth about it either. But, what is Edward planning where Bella is concerned? A leopard doesn't change its spots or does it?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.