"Dr. Mallory!" Bella growled, when she spotted the redhead with five inch heels walking down the hall.

Lauren looked surprised at the tone, but rolled her eyes when she saw it was Bella. She kept on walking.

That bitch needed a lesson in respect and she was going to learn it, or have that five inch heel stuck straight up her ass.

"I am talking to you." Bella said sternly.

Lauren whirled around and faced Bella.

"What can I do for you, Dr. Swan?" She said, her tone frustrated.

"You can tell me why the hell you decided to release that baby."

"She's fine. There is no need for her to be here." Lauren remarked, as if it was obvious.

"That is not for you to decide." Bella countered.

"Actually it is. I am the head of Neonatal and Gynecology." Lauren reminded Bella.

"But I put Dr. Meyers in charge of that case."

"And I overruled her." Lauren told Bella.

"Again, not your decision." Bella said.

"Why are you so hell bent on keeping this baby here?" Lauren asked suspiciously.

"She has nowhere to go." Bella said.

"That is not our problem." Lauren said. She looked at Bella closely and visibly softened her expression. "Look, I get it. I don't like it either, but that is not our area of expertise. The social workers will place her. Some couple out there will adopt her."

Bella took a deep breath and looked away.

"Yeah, you're right." Bella finally said, her tone and manner abrupt.

She turned to walk away, wanting nothing more than to go into her office, lock the door, burrow into her ugly, beige, sex-stained couch and cry her eyes out.

"Dr. Swan."

Bella turned with an inquisitive and guarded stare.

"I will arrange for her to stay a couple more days, but for the record, this attachment you have to her is not healthy for you. You are still going to mourn her when she is gone. But I do get it… she's a beautiful baby and if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't want to let her go either." Lauren told Bella, with a sympathetic expression.

"I don't need your pity." Bella told her.

"You don't have it. You have Edward after all. What more could you honestly want?" Lauren told her.

"You had him once and you blew it." Bella defended herself.

"I did and I regret it, but we both know he wasn't for me. He only has eyes for you and he would do anything to make you happy. Don't ruin this." She advised with a small smile and then walked away.

Bella continued to watch Lauren long after she was out of sight. She was right, as much as Bella hated to admit it. She was obsessing over something she couldn't feasibly have while neglecting the one thing in her life that was solid. They could adopt later, she knew this, of course that didn't make this any easier. She would still mourn Lily's loss into the foster care system.

Bella trudged back to her office for the cry she so desperately needed.

***TMAIA***

"Are you kidding me?!" Edward bellowed out.

The lawyer he had hired was taken aback. She didn't look like a woman who was normally yelled at.

"Dr. Cullen, the State is legally required to search for the child's birth mother." Victoria Hennings told him.

"She abandoned her!"

"We don't know that." She said evenly.

He stopped his pacing and raised an eyebrow at her.

"The father could have done it, another family member perhaps." She reasoned.

"Has anyone stepped forward and asked questions? Has anyone reported a baby girl missing?" He asked.

She shook her head no.

"Then she was abandoned." He leaned forward and slammed his fist down on her desk, not hard, but hard enough to make her glare at her hot headed client. "You work for me, I hired you, so do whatever you have to do." He looked at his watch. "And you have forty eight hours to make it happen." He strode out of her office without a 'see you later, kiss my ass' or nothing.

She watched him go, one part pissed, one part sympathetic and one part, a tiny part, that admired him for desperately trying to give this child a good home.

She picked up her phone with a sigh. She was so going to double bill him when she did make this happen.

***TMAIA****

"Have you seen Bella?" He asked Tanya, who was the first person he saw on his quest to find her. He had looked in the obvious place, the NICU, first and was surprised and slightly relieved that she wasn't there. She hadn't been sleeping at all lately.

"No. Hey what is wrong with her… and you? You both look like shit straight out of a cow's anus."

He grimaced.

"Thank you, Denali, really, for that wonderful image." He said, sarcastically.

"You didn't make another stupid remark did you?" Tanya asked him, her tone and expression both aggressively threatening.

Edward put his hands up in defense.

"No, I swear." He promised.

"Did you check her office?" She asked.

"Going there now." He said with a sigh.

He walked to her office and eased into the dark room. There she was, sleeping on the couch. He smiled softly at his beautiful girlfriend, until he noticed the tear stains on her cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes.

"Edward?" He heard, her voice a whisper.

He closed the door and quietly walked over to her.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." He told her, brushing her hair out of her face.

"It's okay. What time is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"Half past six."

"I need to tell you something." She said. "I want to apologize." He opened his mouth to say something but she put her hand to his mouth. "I have been so focused on…" She cleared her throat. "...Lily, that I have ignored you. I am happy with you, I am. I don't want you to think you are not enough for me because you are. You are everything to me and I love you."

Edward removed her hand from his mouth, kissing it gently before saying, "Bella, I understand and I am so sorry you are hurting but no matter what happens we will get through this." He promised.

She nodded.

"Edward, can we go home now?" She asked.

"Absolutely."

He helped her up and they walked hand in hand to his car, both of them glancing at the door to the NICU before leaving their hearts there with a little girl named Lily.

See you tomorrow.