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.

If he had been more open to his parents or brothers, they might have been able to tell him exactly what he was feeling and why it was important to him to bring Bella back into his life.

CHAPTER 67: DESPERATION

Jasper and Emmett met Alice and Rosalie after work for dinner and then they all went back to Rosalie's place for a quiet discussion. Each man had told their woman that something big was in the works and that advice was needed. When asked on the phone what the problem might be the answer was the same to each woman, "It's something that needs to be discussed in person and quietly since it isn't something that can be discussed on the phone."

Of course, that reply had intrigued both Alice and Rosalie. They were puzzled and kept worrying about the conversation over and over in their mind wondering what was going on. The one thing that kept popping up in their mind was that it had something to do with Bella and Edward. That seemed to be the only thing that the guys would ever ask their advice about.

"Okay, has everyone gotten their drink and gotten settled?" Rosalie asked as she looked to each person for confirmation before she moved to take a seat next to Emmett.

The reply was a yes from the three people who she was addressing.

After Rosalie got seated and comfortable Alice couldn't wait any longer to find out what had the guys in such a quandary, so she didn't hesitate to ask, "What the hell is going on guys? Does this have anything to do with Bella? Is she okay? Have you heard something about her that we might not have?"

It seemed question after question came flying out of Alice's mouth nonstop, not allowing any answers to be given. Everyone knew that Alice was like the energizer bunny hopped up on meth under normal circumstances, but right now she was even outdoing herself with her anxiety.

Jasper reached out and put his arm around Alice to try to help calm her down. She needed to get control of herself and to stop worrying about her cousin so he and Emmett could talk with the two women. They knew Bella so they were the best people to go to for helpful advice for what needed to be done to get Bella to listen to the proposal that Edward was wanting to put forth.

Emmett was nervous enough so after seeing that Jasper had taken care of Alice he just launched into the subject. "We need help to get Bella to listen to a proposal that Cullen Productions wants to put forth for doing her new book.

"Edward read it and wants it to be one of our projects and not give any other company a chance to snatch it up. He also feels like this would be a way to get Bella to listen to his explanation of what happened a few months ago when she misunderstood his conversation on the phone.

"So, we felt that you two could give us some helpful advice." He finished speaking and then looked at each woman as a quietness settled over the room. As Alice and Rosalie sat looking at the two men like they had grown a second head.

"I have a question to ask before we can know how to answer you. How is Edward planning to approach this?" Rosalie asked as she looked at the two men.

"Yeah, I would also ask whom is he planning to approach first, Mark or Bella?" Alice asked as Rosalie had finished speaking.

"Okay. Here's the entire plan as Edward has laid out. He read the book and then told us that he wanted to make it into a movie, and then when we questioned him about his motives, he just told us that he wanted us to read it and then to tell him if it would be worth it, which we did. The thing is damn good. It has the potential of being an award winner.

"Anyway, he said that by going after and getting the contract to make a movie out of the book that it would bring her back long enough for him to be able to try to straighten things out with her. But he stated that he wanted to make the movie because of the subject matter and the potential that the book carried."

"Okay, so he had to have a suggestion as to how to approach Bella about this matter." Rosalie commented as Emmett stopped speaking.

"Well, yeah, he did but we're not sure that it might be the right way to go about getting to her." Emmett responded as he looked at Rosalie and then Alice.

"Emmett's right. That's why we thought it would be better to come and talk with you two about it." Jasper picked up where his brother had left off.

"Okay, why don't one of you just tell us what Edward told you to do and then we'll let you know if you're on the right path." Alice told them with an exaggerated sigh. The beating around the bush was starting to get on her last nerve.

The two brothers looked at each other and then with taking a deep breath Emmett told them, "Edward wants us to go directly to Bella's publisher and not to worry about talking to her agent."

And, as he paused with that statement, Jasper explained after seeing the puzzled look on the faces of the two women, "He explained that the publisher held the same sort of position as a production company does when it hires actors to work for them on a movie project.

"You know how in the contract it isn't just doing the acting to make the movie but also doing the promotion work to bring attention to the movie. That is what Edward's basing his idea on about how to get Bella to talk to everyone again.

"He said that her agent works for her but that she in a manner of speaking works for the publisher once she has signed the contract and her book is published and released for sale."

With that information both women looked at each other and then back to the two men. Everyone was silent for a few moments while the brothers waited for either of the two women to tell them something, anything that could be of help and the two women were giving some thought to what they had just been told.

"I think that Edward might have a good idea, but a few changes need to be made. Go to the publisher first and tell them what you want to do. Begin the negotiations with them. They will after the talks have reached a certain point contact Mark Strollman to fill him in on discussions so that Bella's interests will be represented. Then lastly Bella will be brought into the discussions but if the publisher is totally on board with the idea Bella will have little more to say except to agree to the terms." Alice informed them with her suggestion of how to go about doing things.

"I think that you might have the right idea, cuz." Rosalie congratulated Alice. As she listened to Alice lay out the idea, she felt that that approach was the right way to go.

"I believe that you might have a good idea, but I don't think that we need to tell Edward all of the details that were just discussed." Emmett remarked because he knew that Edward wouldn't want to follow through with anything else but just go completely through the publisher until the paperwork was signed and sealed.

About an hour later Alice and Jasper said goodbye to Rosalie and Emmett as they were headed to Alice's home. Each couple were ready for alone time with their desired partner.

XXXXXX

Bella's depression had taken her to a point where she really needed to talk to her father, so she had tried calling him despite the time difference but received no answer but left a message. It was then that she decided to hell with everything and dialed the number to try to reach out to Alice and then Rosalie. However, it was the same result as when she had tried to call Charlie; Alice didn't answer and she left a message there as well.

She thought about trying to call Rosalie at her home thinking that both women might be there but was afraid that it would be the same situation as she had encountered with Charlie and Alice. Maybe fate was out to teach her a lesson about cutting herself off from those that could be good moral support at a time that she needed it the most.

XXXXXX

Edward was anxious to know what his brothers thought of Bella's new book and whether they had started reaching out to her publisher yet. He was determined that this approach would work. 'It must work because I don't know what else to do if it doesn't bring her back. I need to talk to her to explain to her how that phone conversation was misunderstood by her. Let her know that I didn't betray her; that my word to stay exclusive was kept.' Edward kept repeating this mantra to himself.

Still the reasoning of why he was so determined to get her back to listen to him hadn't caught up with his brain yet, but he was getting close to understanding why it was so important to him. His emotions were steadily talking to him but mentally he just hadn't gotten in sync with those feelings yet.

Not wanting to wait until Jasper and Emmett got to the office the next day Edward decided to try calling Jasper to see if he and Emmett had read Bella's new book and what opinion they had concerning it. However, he received no answer. This didn't really bother him that much as he reasoned that Jasper was probably with Alice.

So, as he started to dial Emmett's number the thought came to him that Emmett was more than likely with Rosalie. Those two couples had gotten tight since just before the filming of Going for the Rainbows began.

With being so anxious about wanting this plan to work and to be able to have Bella close once again and to hear her voice even if she's doing nothing more than cussing him out for something he had done, Edward decides to go out for dinner and then a quiet drink before heading home.

XXXXXX

Charlie returns home but is unaware that Bella had tried to call him. It's late and he is tired as hell. After dealing with the accident that had occurred outside the Forks city limits and the time it took to get everything cleaned up, he was feeling drained.

He headed upstairs to bed since he had to be back at the station early to deal with all of the paperwork that would be needed in conjunction with the accident and the death of the driver. Of course, it had to be a tourist passing through town on his way to Seattle, high on drugs Charlie presumed because of the bag of white powder that was found in the passenger seat of the car and the smell of alcohol permeated the interior of his vehicle.

Next of kin was going to have to be notified once the report had been sent back to his hometown. Then arrangements would need to be made to have the remains made ready to be returned home.

Not something that Charlie was ever happy having to do.

XXXXXX

Alice and Jasper got to her home and were so wrapped up in their emotions for one another that Alice never took the time to check for any messages. The couple barely made it to her bedroom as they left a trail of clothing behind them. By the time they tumbled onto the bed they were naked as the day they were born. But the activity they were involved in had them eagerly moved towards the climax of the moment.

XXXXXX

After waiting as long as she could for a callback from either Charlie or Alice, Bella had to get ready for another book signing assignment. She was hoping to be able to talk to at least one of them before too much longer.

Once she had returned to her hotel and found out that no one had called her she did the one thing that she swore never to do again; she called Edward's number at home.

She was to the point of missing him so badly that she needed to hear his voice even if it was no more than hearing his greeting message from his voicemail.

A/N: Edward sets a plan in motion to get Bella to talk with him and Bella has gotten to the point that she needs to talk to someone; anyone: Charlie, Alice or Rosalie. But that didn't work out. So, she got desperate enough that she called Edward's phone.

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