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.

"What the hell have you done to Bella?" Both Alice and Rosalie demanded at the same time.

CHAPTER 64: THE PAST HAS COME A KNOCKING

"I haven't done a damn thing to her. She's the one that attacked me in my office." Edward was trying desperately to answer the two women. But after they had shoved him up against the wall in his living room, he had hit the wall hard enough that he had lost his breath and was having a hard time trying to regain enough air in his lung to keep from passing out.

Jasper and Emmett made a move to remove the women from assaulting their brother, although, they, like the women, wanted answers as to why Bella wasn't available to anyone. All of them were worried about Bella and knew that, somehow, although they had no proof; Edward had to have had something to do with her sudden disappearance.

"Come on, girls, give him a chance to answer your question. He can't do that if you cause him to pass out from not breathing." Jasper told them as he was pulling Alice off Edward. Of course, Emmett felt the same way as he was pulling Rosalie off Edward as well even though he hadn't spoken a word.

"Look, I have no idea where Bella is but, just like you, I'm worried about her. I haven't heard from her in a few days which isn't like her.

"I mentioned to her the last time I did see her which was over a week ago that I would be out of touch for a bit since I did have some work that I needed to catch up on. She seemed to be understanding about that at the time then she starts calling me at the office and at home, sending text messages and leaving voice messages. However, I didn't have the time to return them and then I was so tired after getting home that I just forgot to answer any of them by then.

"Then three days ago she came to my office and got pass my PA to enter my office. She heard me talking on the phone and I think she misunderstood what she heard and attacked me. Punched me in the nose which is why it's swollen, and I have a black eye.

"She accused me of lying, cheating and stealing. Then told me to forget that I ever knew her and to delete her number. That she didn't want anything else to do with me. After that she marched out of my office, and I haven't seen or heard from her since then.

"I thought to give her a few days to cool off and then I would get in touch with her after I had my workload completely ahead of schedule. That is when I was going to ask her to go to Mom's and Dad's Island for a few days just to get away from everything and to enjoy being with each other." Edward explained to the two couples. Then he continued, "Look, guys, doing relationships isn't something that I have ever BEEN interested in doing. In fact, I'm totally confused about my feelings and my reactions to Bella. I'm trying to figure all of this out.

"I just need time apart from her and then with her to really try to understand myself and what she is to me."

They heard confusion, hurt and worry in Edward's voice as he was explaining what had happened and when he had last seen or heard from Bella.

"Edward, what was it that Bella overheard that caused her to react the way she did?" Emmett asked as he like everyone else wanted some clarification as to what had created the current situation.

"She overheard me talking with one of our screenwriters. Frank was wanting some word changes made to the script and Evan wasn't comfortable with the changes he was wanting done.

"So, to get a final decision he called me and was asking for my opinion, and I gave it to him."

"Edward, what exactly was it that she overheard you saying?" Jasper asked, a bit confused as to why what his brother had just explained would have caused Bella to go off like he had told them.

"She overheard me saying, 'Yes, Alicia, I will definitely be there to attend to your more personal needs this evening.' That was the line that Evan was wanting to leave as it was and Frank was wanting it completely changed to some nonsense."

What Edward had just told them had caused a sharp intake of breath for the other four people in the room with him.

"Damn, no wonder she reacted the way she did." Alice commented to no one in particular. She like Rosalie knew that they needed to try to get a hold of their cousin to see about trying to get the situation straightened out before things got out of hand especially in Bella's mind.

"So, hearing that bit of conversation she assumed that you were screwing around with her and on her." Jasper commented and knew that if he had been in his brother's place and Alice had been the one to overhear that part of the conversation then she would have reacted much the same way as Bella. The only difference would be that Alice, or truth be told, Rosalie as well, would be doing a lot more damage to him or Emmett than what Bella had done to Edward.

It didn't take long for Edward to ask Alice and Rosalie to do everything they could to get a hold of Bella. "This needs to be explained to her and with her current mental state she will not believe a single word that I say. You need to do this asap. I need for her to understand that I wasn't involved with another woman while I was taking a break from her."

"Edward, why do you care so much about what Bella is feeling at the moment?" Rosalie just had to ask him. "I mean with your reputation of being a player why would the opinion of one woman make all of that much difference to you?"

"Right now, I can't explain why it matters to me? It just does.

"You're right, all of you, that I've been known as a player and showed little to no concern for the feelings of the women that I've associated with. I considered them to be a convenience to dealing with certain needs or urges that I had and that was it. I kept them at my beck and call, only choosing whichever one that I felt like dealing with at the time, never taking into account how they might be feeling, only being interested in my own selfish desires and wants.

"However, where Bella is concerned the situation is different. I don't understand why but it just is. I did start out with the same attitude toward her that I had with the other women, but she refused to allow me to treat her that way.

"Then after I was arrested and returned to Seattle for trial, I was determined to get revenge for how I had been treated. In my opinion, I was in the right and everyone else was in the wrong. But the more I got to know Bella my outlook began to change. My feelings began to change.

"I started to feel things that I laughed at others for feeling such pussy thoughts. It was confusing and I felt like I was weak, it made me out of sorts because of what I was being forced to feel which made me feel as if I no longer had control over my own thoughts, feeling or life.

"Don't get me wrong because I'm still confused about my feelings towards Bella, but I know that I can't let her go. It feels like I would be missing out on something important that was meant to be in my life, almost like the other half of myself if I didn't have her any longer in my life. I know that sounds crazy, especially coming from me, but it's the truth.

"This must be resolved, and she needs to know that I was serious about both of us being exclusive with one another." Edward explained and felt embarrassed about what he had revealed to his brothers and Bella's cousins about his feelings. He felt like it had made him vulnerable. That was a feeling that was foreign to Edward and made him very uncomfortable. Edward didn't like not being in control and he didn't like not being right about any situation that he might be involved in.

Alice and Rosalie recognized that Edward was, maybe for the first time, being completely open and honest about what he was saying and expressing where his feelings about women were concerned.

Even his two brothers were impressed with how much Edward seemed to have changed and grown since meeting Bella. They wanted to tell him so but were afraid that any comments from them would cause him to retreat to his old habits.

"Edward, we'll try getting in touch with Bella and let her know about how mistaken she was and about your sincerity where your relationship with her is concerned." Rosalie told him in an effort to try to reassure him.

"Thanks, that's all I can ask." Edward quietly said and then watched as his brothers and Bella's cousins left immediately after that. He only hoped that Alice and Rosalie would be able to get Bella to listen to reason.

XXXXXX

Bella decided that she needed to go somewhere quiet so that none of her family would be able to track her down. Somewhere that she could work to finish her current book that she was wanting to get finished as quickly as possible.

She realized that she needed to inform her dad that she was going to be unreachable for a while and that she didn't know for how long but she would stay in touch from time to time just to let him know that she was okay.

Now all she had to do was decide where she could go to have the privacy that she felt she needed to finish her book and to get herself, especially her feelings, back under control once more. It had to be a place where no one would think to look for her, but to where she could still stay in touch with her dad, her agent, attorney and accountant.

After giving the matter some thought, Bella finally settled upon a location so she went online to get names and numbers for realtors to get all of her arrangements in place. She is going to return to the place where Emmett filmed a portion of the movie, in Vancouver Canada. She reached for her phone to make the calls that were needed and after a time she had everything in place to have the space that she was desiring at the moment. No one would think to look for her there.

Looking at the clock Bella realized that it was later than what she thought. She began packing all the things she would need while she was gone. It was going to take a few hours for her to arrive at her destination so she wanted to have everything ready to be loaded in the morning. That way she would be arriving in the late afternoon before the realtor's office or any of the stores she might need to stop at were closed. She would be able to sign the necessary paperwork and get the key and then go by the store to get what food and supplies she was going to need.

Bella decided that she would call Charlie in the morning just before she left so he wouldn't worry about her.

After having everything ready by the door she relaxed for a few minutes before taking a relaxing shower and then heading for bed. And as she got comfortable the phone began to ring, however, she made no move to answer it. As she listened to the voicemail, she learned that it was another call from one of her cousins requesting that she call them immediately.

She was in no mood to discuss with another all that had transpired between her and Edward. The hurt and humiliation that she was feeling after being played for a fool. She had allowed herself to finally trust his words only to have them thrown back into her face. No, she definitely wasn't in the mood to discuss any of that with anyone, especially her family members.

XXXXXX

"Alice have you been able to get through to Bella yet?" Jasper asked while hoping that she or Rosalie might be able to help Edward get this problem of his resolved.

All Alice did was shake her head no and then informed him that she had gotten a text from Rosalie saying that she hadn't been able to get a response from Bella either.

A/N: Edward is confused about his feelings where Bella is concerned but he does realize that she's important to him. His past has helped to create the current situation that he's facing and has really come back to bite him in the ass. Bella isn't wanting to discuss the problem with anyone until she can figure out what she wants to do in the future and until she has more control over her feelings where Edward is concerned.

Thanks for reading.