[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Thanks for the kind and encouraging words some of you left me on the last chapter. I can't tell you enough how much your support means to me.

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#I feel like I need to give you a tissue warning for the chapter below. It made me cry when I wrote it.

**26**

Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.

Eckhard Tolle

xxx

"I mean it." I tell Charlotte who is looking back at me with a grin on her face. "You need to stop being so rude to Bella."

My friend rolls her eyes at me and slurps on the milkshake between her hands. "Your girlfriend needs to relax. Oh, and just for the record, I'm just watching out for you because you're my friend."

I sigh and reach out to wrap my arm around Charlotte's shoulder. "I appreciate that. But Bella is part of my life now. I really want you and her to get along."

Charlotte slurps loudly through the straw and coughs when she swallows too much of the cold drink at once. "I get along with everyone. It's her who has a problem with me. Not the other way round."

I nod my head. Bella is still jealous of Charlotte. She doesn't grasp the intensity of my friendship with her. That's why she's reacting like that. Charlotte has helped me through some shitty times and I will always be grateful for that.

"Please," I begin again in a pleading voice. "Please, try to be a bit nicer to her. For me, okay?"

Charlotte throws the empty cup into the trash standing next to us. "I'll be on my best behavior."

I laugh and bend forward to plant a quick kiss on Charlotte's cheek. "Thank you."

Charlotte loops her arm through mine and we continue with our shopping trip through the mall. This is why I love Charlotte. She's always up for spending time looking at clothes. Bella hates shopping and always claims that she can't find anything that looks nice on her. What kind of problem it is, she's having with her figure. I don't get it. I love my Bella the way she is.

"Look, at those heels." Charlotte calls out, moving a bit closer to the shop window. "Crap, three-hundred bucks. Who on earth spends that much money on a single pair of shoes?"

I feel tempted to tell her that I have a pretty similar pair in the depth of my closet back in Sydney. They've been on sale though. Plus, I always get things cheaper if I order them over the company. One of the many advantages working for a fashion magazine brings with it.

Two hours later, Charlotte's credit card doesn't allow any more additions to her shopping and we head outside to the parking lot.

"I have an idea." I tell Charlotte while I try to get all of our stuff into the trunk of my car. "I want to throw a goodbye party for everyone before we fly back to Australia."

"Great." Charlotte states, "That's a wonderful idea. I love parties."

In the car next to ours, a dog is barking loudly. The sound sends shivers down my spine. I'm still afraid of dogs. Jake is an exception. He's a gentle giant and I trust him.

The dog in the car doesn't seem very friendly. I'm glad he's locked inside the car. There's a name sign on the rear window. Nero, it reads next to the picture of a Rottweiler.

"Did you hit my car?" an unfriendly deep voice asks from behind me. I turn around and cross my arms in front of my chest.

"Of course not," I tell him. The car is old and rusty. If this is an attempt to make me pay for some long overdue repairs, it isn't going to work. "I didn't touch your precious car." I state coldly.

The dude shakes his head and walks around his car two times, scanning it for any kind of damage. Somehow he seems a bit paranoid to me.

"Stop it. She didn't touch your fucking car." Charlotte tells him, stepping in front of me.

"I know how women drive like." He snaps, opening the passenger door of the car. The dog instantly jumps forward.

"Sit." The man commands in a dictator voice. "Sit, you useless mutt!"

"Animals need love." I tell him, regretting the words as soon as they have left my mouth.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Missy." Asshole growls, his face turning red with anger.

Charlotte put her hand on my shoulder. "Let's go, Aly. Just ignore him."

I know she's right but for some reason I can't move. Instead I stare at the man's car and back at him. The dog barks angrily. He yells. I hate it when someone yells around like that for no reason.

My knees start shaking. I can't breathe anymore. Next thing I feel is how my head makes hard contact with the asphalt underneath me.

xxxx

Charlotte insists on driving me to the hospital after I open my eyes again a few moments later. Maybe there is something wrong with my blood pressure and that's why I fainted. Low blood pressure sounds better to me than panic attack.

The choleric driver has already driven off. What an awful person. I pity the poor dog.

In the hospital I get the nurse at the reception to page my father. He shows up within minutes and leads us to his office.

"She passed out." Charlotte informs him. "Maybe she has a concussion."

"What happened?" Dad asks, shining a tiny flashlight directly into my eyes.

"Nothing," I mumble. "I just felt dizzy suddenly."

"Do you feel better now?" he wants to know, while he checks my blood pressure. It is perfectly fine.

"Yes, I do. Please, don't make me stay here." I beg him. "I hate hospitals."

He laughs and kisses me gently on my forehead. "It looks like you're going to live. But I'd like to keep you here for one night just to be on the safe side."

Charlotte, the traitor, is instantly on his side. She generously offers to call Bella and let her know where I am. Great, now Bella is going to worry unnecessarily.

Dad manages to get me in the same room like Rosalie. At least I'm going to have some nice company for the time I'm forced to spend around here. God, I can't stand the smell of antiseptics in this place. It reminds me of sick people.

"Hi," I greet Rose when the nurse rolls my wheelchair into the room. A fucking wheel chair—they insisted on it. Can it get any more embarrassing?

"Aly, what are you doing here?"

"I fainted." I tell her, hopping on the empty bed next to hers. Then I tell Charlotte goodbye and watch her walk out of the room.

"Why?" Rose asks, sitting up a bit straighter in her bed. She has her laptop on her knees and I can see some mathematic scripts on its screen. "Are you okay?"

I grab the pillow behind me and hug it tightly. "Don't tell anyone, but I think I had something like a panic attack."

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, I'm fine now. But, it was like I couldn't breathe anymore. Isn't that weird?"

Rosalie types something into her laptop and turns it off. "How long are you staying here?"

"Just for one night," I state. "Why are you still here? I'm so sorry about the incident with the ring. I can't even tell you how much."

"It's okay. I actually think it is romantic to choke on an engagement ring. What a way to die. Did Bella say yes?"

I shake my head. "It's too early. She says it's too early. You know, because of Emmett and everything."

Rosalie sighs. Her hand moves to her chest. "I can't stop thinking about him. How he had to die so that I can live. It doesn't seem fair to me."

The door to the room is pulled open and Bella storms in, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug.

"Are you okay? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Was just some dizziness, nothing more. I'm sorry if Charlotte worried you with her call."

"How can I not worry when you are in the hospital? Why did you faint?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know. Where are the twins?"

"Back home with your brother. Edward offered to watch them."

She plants a kiss on my mouth and sighs. "If you are sick, you can't fly back to Sydney."

"I'm not sick. Please, stop worrying."

Bella kisses me again before she turns to Rose. "Hey, Rose. Why are you still here? Is everything okay with you?"

"They're just doing some extra tests. Hospitals love doing unnecessary tests when you have an insurance that is willing to pay for everything."

I take Bella's hand and draw an invisible heart on her palm. "I love you. Please, ask my Dad to let me go home with you. Maybe he'll listen to you."

My father doesn't clear me to go home with Bella. She is worried and I don't like her feeling that way. There are tears in her eyes when she goes home a bit later.

"Crap." I hiss, bursting into tears. I hate hospitals. I hate that I have to spend one of the last nights I have here in Seattle in this stupid hospital instead of with Bella. Everything because of that moron in the parking lot…

"Hey." Rose tells me, standing up from her bed. "Everything is going to be okay."

She strokes my hair and hums some lullaby into my ear, as she sits down next to me. "There's no need to cry now."

"I don't want to go to Sydney without Bella." I sob. "I'll miss her so much. I'll miss the kids so much."

Rose rocks me back and forth against her chest. She smells good, better than the hospital. Rosalie smells of flowers and vanilla instead of disinfects.

"You could stay here." She suggests. "Bella would be more than happy."

"I know," I croak, wiping my nose at the sleeve of the ridiculous paper gown they've given me to wear. "But my job—"

"A job is just a job." Rose states. "Other things are far more important. Nobody knows that better than me."

I notice a bandage around her left thumb. "What happened to your hand?"

"Oh that's nothing. Sammy bit me when Leah was here to visit me earlier. Samara is such a cute little girl, but a bit wild."

"I'm sorry, she bit you."

"It's not that bad. Leah was terribly embarrassed about it."

Rosalie's fingertips move over the bandage. "She even offered to do the rest of my laser treatment for free. I can't allow that."

She unbuttons the first three buttons of her nightgown and shows me the scar. It already looks a bit paler now. But it will always be visible. That's how scars are like. They remind us of the painful things that happened in our lives.

"Leah is a very pretty woman." Rose states, playing around with a wisp of her long hair. "She reminds me of Pocahontas."

"Pocahontas?"

"It's silly I know." Rose mumbles, blushing a bit. "Too bad, she's straight."

I reach out for the glass of water on my night table to take a sip from it. "Bella told that Leah is bi."

"Really? That's great. Not that it matters anyway."

Yes, sure, Rose, I think unable to suppress the grin on my face. I make a mental note that I need to push those two together somehow. Pairing off people is not something I'm good at but hey, it can't be that difficult, right?

"You should stay here in Seattle." Rosalie says after a little pause. "If that's what your heart tells you to do, go for it."

I nod, trying to hold back the tears. Why am I so awfully tearful today? It's annoying.

"Speaking of hearts," I tell Rose. "You need to stop thinking of your heart as Emmett's. It's yours now."

Rose swallows hard. "It is and yet, it will never be. This heart in my chest will always be Emmett's."

Something shatters in the direction of the door. Bella is standing between a puddle of flowers, water and a shattered glass fragments of a broken vase. Her entire body is trembling.

"Bella?"I press out, barely able to bring out an audible word.

"You have his heart?" Bella whispers in Rosalie's direction. "You have his heart?"

Rose starts crying. She buries her face in her hands and sobs loudly.

I pull Rose into my arms and hold her close. Damn it, I didn't want Bella to find out about this. It's more than she can handle.

"Did you know this?" Bella asks after a few moments of torturous silence. "Alice, did you know about this?"

My head moves downwards, once, twice and eventually a third time.

"How long?" my girlfriend yells. "I want to know how long!"

"Bella, please, try to calm down." I whisper. "I know this is hard for you."

"You know nothing! How can you keep something like that from me? You and I…we promised to tell each other everything. EVERYTHING!"

With a few clumsy steps Bella steps closer to me and Rose. She places her quivering hand on Rosalie's chest and whimpers.

"You have his heart. Why? How did you find me? Why did you come here?"

"I needed to know." Rose demands. "I'm so sorry, Bella. It's just...I needed to know who the donor was."

"He's not some fucking donor! He was my husband. I hate you! And I hate you even more, Aly. You're my girlfriend."

"Bella, please," I tell her. "I'm so sorry."

Bella's face turns into a hard mask. I remember the last time she has looked at me like this and the memory of the pain is horrible. It's her way of going on some kind of self-protection mood. There is only so much someone can handle before the person breaks irrevocably. Now, I have done that to the one person I love more than my own life. If she wouldn't forgive me, if she couldn't forgive me…I had no clue how I was supposed to live with that.