[Disclaimer] All things Twilight belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N]

Hi my lovely readers out there. This chapter was difficult for me to write and I hope that it turned out okay.

Thanks to all of you who keep reading and reviewing. It's because of you that I keep writing this story.

**Chapter 35**

"No way," Ali stated, her crystal voice sounding slightly sullen as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"There is no way I'm wearing these ridiculous wings for the rest of the day, Bella."

I suppressed a giggle and wrapped my arms around her dainty waist, planting several kisses on the exposed skin of her collarbone.

"But you look so gorgeous with them, like a real pixie. You're like Tinkerbelle with dark hair…" Sexy Tinkerbelle, I added secretly in my head. God, how much I'd love it to see her while she wore nothing apart from them. My face reddened instantly and I quickly kneeled down, pretending to be searching for something on the ground, in a lame attempt to hide my blush.

"Fine, if it makes you happy, I'll keep them on. But if you are going to call me Tinker-Ali just one single time, they'll end up in the next trash…"

"Kay." I whispered as I stood up again, twisting my hair into a ponytail.

"You know that I love you, when you're trying to be stubborn, don't you?"

I mumbled against her neck, before blowing a last kiss right under the sensitive spot below her hairline. She shivered under my caress and I stroked up and down her bare forearm with my fingertips.

"Just for the record, Ali…the wings were Lilly's idea, not mine. If she wants us to run around with plastic wings on our backs on her birthday…we'll do it."

I checked my reflection in the mirror on the wall and cringed slightly. Geez, I looked like that chubby fairy in Cinderella…

"We can go now, if you're ready, Ali."

"Lilly, sweetie, we can…" I looked around but realized that I couldn't see her anywhere in the souvenir shop.

"Lilly?"

"Lilly!"

Almost instantly a very unpleasant, panic-like feeling spread through me that literally knocked the breath out of me.

Ali put one arm on my shoulder to calm me down.

"We'll find her. Don't worry. She's probably just waiting outside of the shop."

I stumbled out of the shop, desperately trying not to freak out.

Great, just great, I thought. I could literally see the headline in front of me.

Woman loses child in Disneyland…

God, what the hell should I do now? How long would I have to wait until I could call the police? My knees felt suddenly like yell-o and I sat down on a bench in front of the shop. My eyes scanned the entire area around me. No, still no Lilly.

Ali wrapped her arms around me and stroked my back until my body finally stopped trembling.

"Bella, you need to calm down. We'll find her. She can't get lost here."

Tears started burning in my eyes and I swallowed hard to keep them from falling.

"What if she gets hurt? God, I'm such a horrible mother."

"Bella, please stop saying such stupid things to me. You're a wonderful mother and everyone knows that, even my bitchy sister."

Then suddenly a new thought flashed through my mind and my panic increased. What if Rose had slipped about where we were right now? What if Edward…

"Mommy!"

"Lilly!"

I wrapped my arms around her and sobbed against her tiny shoulder.

Mommy, why are you crying?"

"Because, because…" I croaked out as I finally managed to pull back.

"Because you scared your poor mother to death, Lilly."

"Are you and Mommy angry at me?"

"No, we're not. But you have to promise me that you won't do that again, Lilly."

"Hmm."

"I'm serious, Lilly. You can't just walk away without telling me or your Mommy where you're going."

"Okay, Auntie Ali. I was just bored because it took so long until you bought your wings."

"I know, sweetie. What do you think of them?"

"They're pretty, Auntie Ali. Mommy can you take a photo of her?"

"I have a better idea. We'll make one with all of us." Ali suggested and pulled the camera out of her handbag.

She pulled Lilly on her lap and wrapped her arm around me before she pressed the shutter release button.

"Did it work?" I asked her as she checked the camera afterwards.

"Hmm, yeah it did. Do you want to see?"

I looked down on the tiny picture in the display, touched by the fact how happy the three of us looked in it. Somehow I wished that I could protect that for the rest of my life.

XXXX

This is a stupid idea, I thought bitterly while I parked the car in front of Carlisle and Esme's house. This is such a stupid idea and we're going to regret it.

"Bella?" Ali asked me anxiously, wrapping her dainty hand around my wrist as we stepped out of the car.

"Yes, Ali?"

"Are you sure that you want to do this?"

I shook my head and sighed deeply.

"No, I'm not sure. But Jasmine talked Zafrina into agreeing to this; well what should we call it…discussion or whatever. I just hope that they stick to their promise that Edward won't be here."

"Rose told me that he's in Anchorage again. I wished he'd stay there. It would make our life so much easier."

"Yes, I guess it would."

Ali knocked on the door that was opened a few seconds later by Esme who instantly wrapped her arms around her.

"Oh Mary Alice, I'm so glad that you came."

"Hi mom, please stop crying."

"Okay, I'll try, but this is so sad. How could you do something so stupid like starting an affair with your sister-in-law? Your poor brother is completely miserable because of this."

A low growl left Ali's throat and she took automatically two steps backwards.

I put one arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to me.

"Esme, I know that this must come as a shock to you, but what's between me and Ali is more than just an affair."

We followed her into the living room where the rest of our 'discussion group' were already sitting around the huge oak table.

"Hi Ali, you look good." Jasmine greeted her cheerfully and planted a kiss on her cheek, before she turned to me and the smile on her face weakened a little bit. Was she angry at me? She didn't have a reason to, did she?

Zafrina cleared her voice before she spoke up.

"Miss Whitlock, when you're finished saying hello to Miss Cullen we could probably start with this psycho crap right now."

"She's actually right." Emmett stated, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"This is bullshit. And I don't know why we're here at all."

"Emmett! How can you call it bullshit? Jasmine thinks that this could help our family." Rose snarled at him while she tried to pull down her shirt that seemed to be a little too tight.

Did she gain weight or something? No that was impossible. Rosalie was one of the most disciplined people I knew.

"Rose. If your Neanderthal of a husband can't control his language…"

"Carlisle…I've already told you that this is only going to work if you're starting to accept other opinions."

"Calling it bullshit is not an opinion."

"Trust me, Mr. Cullen, it is. Mr. McCarthy is actually right, I think."

I raised one eyebrow in confusion.

"Why did you agree to this meeting, if you don't think this is going to work?"

"Miss Swan…"

"So, it's Swan again, hmm? Cullen is no longer good enough for you, is it?"

"Dad! Stop talking to Bella so rudely or we'll leave."

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently.

"You can do whatever you want to, Mary Alice. Isn't that what you always do; no matter what the consequences might be!"

"Carlisle, darling, please try to stay calm."

"Your wife is actually right about that, Mr. Cullen. Don't forget that my client and your daughter didn't need to agree to this meeting. I think that…"

"Miss Penthes, I think that you should probably try to keep your mouth shut. We're not in court here."

"Excuse me, Miss Whitlock?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Can we just try to get started now?"

"Kay, just start with your psycho show, Miss Whitlock, it'll be interesting enough to watch that."

Jasmine's eyes narrowed for a split second but then a smile flashed over her face. She twisted her honey blonde curls into a knot at the back of her neck and sighed deeply.

"Fine, here we go. Esme would you like to start?"

She cleared her throat nervously before she spoke up again.

"Oh Mary Alice, why are you doing this to us?" her voice was trembling slightly, as if she was trying to fight back tears.

"Mom…"

"You're destroying our entire family! It's bad enough that you're that way…"

"Esme, we already had that conversation six years ago. Ali didn't choose to be a lesbian. You need to learn to accept that."

"Yeah, I know, but she's so pretty. She could find a nice young man."

Ali made puking noises next to me and Jasmine chuckled slightly.

"I bet she could do that. The thing is that it wouldn't make her happy. Don't you want her to be happy Esme?"

"Of course, I want her to be happy. But…"

"No but, Esme. You can't change the way she feel about other women. It's part of who she is." Her eyes met Ali's for a split second and when I saw the blushing on her cheeks an unpleasant feeling spread through me. Was it jealousy?

"Jasmine, I thought that you're here to help us. You promised me that you would."

"Esme, I'm here because you said that you want to talk to her about the….well about the Bella situation."

"The Bella situation?" My voice raised two octaves, reaching an embarrassingly high frequency.

"There is nothing to talk about, Mom. I love Bella and I want to be with her."

"Mary Alice. Of all the women you could have chosen to be with; why her? Why did it have to be your sister-in-law?"

"She won't be my sister-in-law for long anymore."

"That's true, Miss Cullen. I've managed to accelerate proceedings. The divorce should be through in a few weeks."

I sighed in relief while Ali continued rubbing circles over my wrist with her thumb.

Rosalie pulled a bar of chocolate out of her handbag and started nibbling on it.

"Hungry again, babe? Guess, the four double cheeseburgers you had before we came here didn't really satiate you." Emmett asked her cheerfully.

"Are you trying to tell me that I look fat?" She snarled at him angrily.

"No, no…of course not; god, Rosie, I was just kidding."

"I don't have the nerves to deal with your sense of humor now, Em."

"You're too tensed in the last days, but I can't blame you for it, babe. Your mother keeps calling you dozens of times a day to complain."

"She wouldn't need to do that, if my daughter wouldn't be so incredibly selfish." Carlisle stated his voice sounding cold like ice.

"Selfish? How dare you to call me selfish. You lied to me for my entire fucking life."

"Mary Alice, please. Your father only did what he thought was right." Esme started crying again and pulled out a tissue to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"There is actually a difference between thinking what is right and being right. He's the last person on earth to judge anyone…"

"For heaven's sake, Mary Alice…you're destroying your brother's marriage..."

"Carlisle, she didn't destroy his marriage. Your moron of a son didn't need any help to do that."

"Emmett is right about that, Dad. Edward and Bella they were never meant to be. And if Ali thinks that she wants to be with her, let her. It's her choice."

"Rosalie, how can you say something so stupid? I thought that you cared about Lilly."

"Of course, I care about her. Dad, this has nothing to do with Lilly. It's just about Bella and Ali…"

"A child needs a mother and a father. Not a mother and an aunt."

"What my child needs is none of your damn business."

I stood up from my chair so quickly that it dropped on the floor.

"I don't see any point in this discussion as long as you and Esme can't start to accept the fact that Ali and I are together now. We love each other and we're going to stay together whether you like that or not."

Ali wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close to her.

"We're leaving. You can call me if you're ready to accept our relationship."