[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back, my dear readers. Special thanks to those of you who left a review. I always enjoy reading your encouraging thoughts on my story.

**28**

Freedom is the oxygen for the soul

Moshe Dayan

I felt Bella's lips brushing lightly over the skin on my neck. There could be no better way to get woken up than this. With a soft sigh, I stretched against her embrace and opened my eyes.

"Good Morning,"

"Good Morning, sleepyhead." She whispered, kissing my cheek. "Are you awake now?"

"I'm not sure yet." I murmured, blinking into the bright light of the sun that reflected in the windows.

"The twins are good today." Bella stated. "I'm surprised they haven't woken up by now."

I giggled and pushed Bella back against the pillows around us. "Maybe we should make use of our alone time then."

My hands moved under the hem of her shirt to caress her skin. "I love how your skin feels like. It's so smooth."

"That's just that lotion stuff Leah gave to me." Bella explained. "It smells nice too."

"Let me check," I murmured, lowering my head to her abdomen. "You always smell good to me."

She shivered under me when I flicked my tongue against her navel. "I like the way you taste too."

Gently, I let my lips glide down her upper body while my hands moved higher to cup her breasts. Another moan left her mouth. The sound went straight to my core, making me instantly damp and needy between my thighs.

Bella's hands fisted my hair as I pulled down her panties and touched my lips tenderly against her bare mound.

"Impatient today, aren't we?" I mumbled, blowing over the wet glistening flesh. She shuddered. I swiped my tongue down her entrance, never touching her clit at first when I licked up and down her slit.

"Please," she whimpered, tightening her hold on my hair until it was almost too much and painful. "Please, Aly."

I smiled against her sex. Then I started licking her in a faster rhythm. The tip of my tongue massaged her clit. I barely managed to thrust two of my fingers inside her wetness before she clenched around them. I loved that I could make her come like this. It was such a turn-on for me.

"Kiss me," I whispered breathlessly when I leaned down over her a few moments later.

"I'm all over your chin." Bella protested. I wouldn't have any of this shyness now, though.

"Kiss me, Swan, before I make you."

Bella laughed and I enjoyed the heat that spread through my body the split second her tongue touched against mine in her mouth.

"Do you want it to be your turn now?" she asked, stroking gently over my chest. I felt my nipples react to her caress and groaned.

A high-pitched scream from the twin's bedroom managed to ruin my sex mood within a second. I loved the kids. I loved them dearly but sometimes it wasn't that fun to have them interrupt you in the most intimate moments.

"I'll check on our monsters." Bella said, planting a quick kiss on my shoulder. "Don't move. I'm going to be right back."

She jumped from the bed, giving me a very tempting view on her backside as she rushed out of the room.

Our monsters

For the first time, Bella had actually referred to the twins as ours. The thought made me feel all fuzzy. Life was strange sometimes. I had never wanted to be a mother. Now I had ended up as the co-mom for two kids.

The dog whined in front of the slightly ajar door. "Here," I called, knowing that Jake was capable of pushing the door open himself. "No, not on the bed, that's insanitary." I ordered. "No! Jake, no!"

I couldn't even manage to turn my head to the side before one lick of his tongue covered my face in his slobber. It was so gross.

"Jake, get down from the bed right now." Bella commanded when she returned with both twins. She handed Em.J. to me. "Down you stubborn dog,"

Julie giggled and wrapped her tiny arms around the dog's neck. "Jake down. Jake down."

I could clearly see the dog raising his eyebrow before he eventually decided to obey Bella's orders.

"He slobbered all over me." I told Bella, wrinkling my nose in disgust. "It's gross."

"It's his way of showing you his love."

I reached for the box of tissues in the nightstand. Jeez, I wish the dog would love me without all that slobbering.

"How's my prince today?" I asked Em.J. brushing over his curly hair. "We need to cut your hair."

"No," he protested. "No. No. No."

I laughed. "You're going to look like a girl when we don't cut your hair any time soon."

Bella sat down next to me and started brushing through Julie's hair with her fingers.

"Ouch!" the girl cried out. "Ouch, Mommy."

"Give her to me, darling." I told Bella. "I'll do her hair. Can you get me the brush and some of her ribbons?"

Doing a toddler's hair wasn't an easy job. Julie wasn't very good at sitting still but I had learned to work fast.

Bella sighed deeply. "I love this. Us four being together. God, I'm going to miss you so much when you're gone."

I swallowed through the unpleasant tightness in my throat. I would miss her too. I would miss the twins. I would miss Mom, Dad and Edward.

"I'll miss you too."

"Then, stay." Bella whispered. "Please, Aly, I know, it's too much to ask you for, but please. Don't go to Sydney. I want us to be together."

There are things in life that you can't decide on rationally. There was a part of me that wanted to go to Sydney and start that writer's job so very badly. But there was the other, more emotionally based part of me that wanted nothing more than to wake up every single coming day with Bella in my arms.

"I'll stay." I told her. "I won't go."

"For me?" Bella asked, pulling me into a tight hug. "Or for us?"

"For us," I answered, kissing her softly on the lips. "I'm staying for us."

Half an hour later I called Jane to let her know I wouldn't take the job - family reasons. She wasn't too pleased about the news but eventually ended up wishing me the best for my future.

Charlotte on the other hand told me I was crazy when I told her that I wanted to stay in Seattle with Bella.

"She talked you into this." My friend snapped at me. "Bella is such a selfish person."

"Don't talk about her like this." I hissed. "If I really wanted to go, I could have done so. It was my idea to stay."

I could hear Charlotte clear her throat on the other side of the phone. "If you say so, Aly, if you say so."

"Charlotte, for fucks sake, can you just try being a friend and support my decision."

"Friends don't support friends doing stupid things. The job at that fashion magazine was such a good chance."

"Chances come to you when you expect them the least. Maybe I would have hated it in a few months."

Yes, I thought, just try to convince yourself. Having my own column was one of my dreams. Well, dreams could change any day. Sometimes they had to.

"On what are you planning to live without a job?"

"Charlotte, are you my mother now?"

"No, I'm not. But I care about you. I want to know that everything is okay with you before I fly back home."

I sighed. "You can stop worrying. Bella has just received an insurance policy over five million dollars. It's not like we are going to starve anytime soon."

"Five million bucks, Christ, so much money," Charlotte called out. "You could easily found your own fashion magazine with that amount of cash."

xxxx

Later that day, when Bella and I were having dinner at my parent's house, Charlotte's words still echoed in my ears. To have my own fashion magazine; what a tempting idea…

"Aly? Aly, can you pass me the salad?" my brother asked me, startling me in my daydreaming.

"Sure, " I mumbled, handing the glass bowl over to him.

"Thanks."

My mother placed her hand on my arm and smiled kindly. "Oh sweetie, we are so happy that you've decided to stay home. I can't even tell you how happy we are. Thank you, Lord."

I took a sip from my wine. Now, that I had finally made my decision a feeling of lightness overwhelmed me. Then, I noticed the strange, almost mask-like expression on my father's face. Something was obviously wrong with him. Maybe he just had a stressful day at the hospital today.

"These mashed potatoes are too die for." Bella hummed. "Esme, you need to tell me your secret recipe."

"My wife likes having secrets." Dad murmured, emptying the glass in front of him with a big gulp. It was his third one, I noticed. I had never seen him drink that much before.

"Darling, is something wrong?" Mom asked, filling his glass another time. "You seem tensed somehow."

"Yes, he is." Edward stated. "I noticed that too."

"Edward, please, this is between me and your mother. I don't wish to talk about it now."

Mom's face turned all pale. "Why are you so mad? Did my sister call again?"

"No, she didn't. But maybe I should give her a call instead. There are some things that, I'd really like to ask her about."

I could hear Mom gasping for air, followed by the clicking sound of cutlery that was dropped too abruptly on the plate.

"Kids, please leave us alone for a moment."

"No, Mom," Edward protested, leaning over to squeeze our mother's hand. It looked like she was close to crying. Just like me it didn't take much for her to start weeping like a baby. Why was Dad in such an awful mood tonight? Shouldn't he be happy too that I'd decided to stay in Seattle?

"I had an interesting patient yesterday." Dad told Mom, looking down at his own hands. "A man was brought into the E.R. because his dog bit him."

"That's awful. People should be more careful around animals." Bella stated. "Aly, don't look like that now. Jake would never harm anyone."

Dad cleared his throat. "The name of the patient was Charles Evenson. Does it ring any bells for you, dear wife?"

"Oh my God." Mom pressed out, covering her face behind her trembling hands. "Don't tell me it was him."

My brother tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. "Aly, come with me. You don't need to hear this."

"Hear what?" I asked. "I don't understand what's going on."

"The man in the E.R. was your birth father." Dad explained with a tortured expression on his face.

"Daddy? But he's dead. Mom, I don't understand what he's talking about."

Mom sobbed. Then she pulled back her chair so abruptly that it fell down behind her and rushed up the stairs.

I hated ugly scenes. I could barely remember that my parents had ever fought in front of me and my brother before. At least not like this.

"I'll check on her." Edward offered, wiping his sweaty forehead with his fingertips.

"No," Dad told him quickly. "I'll do that myself."

When he was gone, Bella stood up from her chair. "Aly, we should go home now."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not leaving until someone tells me what in heaven's name is wrong here. Our birth father was in the hospital? How can he be in the hospital when he's supposed to be dead for over twenty years now?"

Edward reached over the table for the bottle of wine. He didn't even bother with using his glass. In several greedy gulps he emptied the remaining rest in the bottle down his throat.

"Lord, Almighty, please give me strength, I beg on you."

"Edward, stop praying and tell me what's going on." I demanded, shaking him by the shoulders. "Edward!"

My brother coughed, lifting the empty wine bottle to his lips again. "God, I'm turning into him. He always used to drink when he got upset."

"Edward, what is wrong with you? Tell me!"

He laughed a strange hysterical laughter. Then he dropped down to his knees and leaned his face against my lap. I could feel his tears soaking through the fabric of my skirt.

"Edward, please, you're scaring me."

"I'm sorry. Duckling, I'm so very sorry. I never wanted you to know."

"Never wanted me to know what?" I asked, helplessly stroking Edward's hair in an attempt to calm him down somehow.

"Our birth father didn't die. Mom made up that story after he got arrested."

"Arrested for what?"

"Aly, why do you want me to tell you something that will only cause you pain?" Edward said in a lifeless voice. Then, after a brief pause he added. "He was a pig. Our father was a drunkard who had a sick fun beating the shit out of me and Mom. I wish, he was dead for real because that's what he is to me."