[Disclaimer] All things Twilight belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer
[A/N] Welcome back my lovely readers. Thanks so much to all of you who keep reading & reviewing. Your encouraging words mean so much to me.
This chapter is dedicated to secrets87 and ebonyedlove. Hope you'll enjoy.
**Chapter 48**
Ali's POV
I inhaled deeply through my nose, trying to absorb the overwhelming scent of disinfectants in the air. It smelled nice to me, familiar somehow.
Bella took my hand in hers and started rubbing small circles all over my wrist. Hesitantly she forced her mouth into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was nervous about this, way more nervous than I was myself. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to spending so much time in hospitals like me. Maybe it was because this was so much more important to me than to her. Whatever it was, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that she was trying to be supportive about it.
When Dr. Bennett walked into the room I thought about letting go of Bella's hand. But then I decided against it. What did it matter to me…to us what he would think about our relationship?
"Morning, Mary Alice." He greeted me politely, while he continued nibbling on the pencil in his mouth.
"Morning, Dr. Bennett. How are you doing?"
He chuckled slightly and sat down on the cream colored leather chair behind his desk. His hands grabbed the reading glasses on it.
"Fine, Mary Alice, just fine. Would you, do me the favor and thank your mother for sending so much delicious food to your father's office?"
"Sure, I will." If I see her again anytime soon, I'll do it. God, how much I missed my mom.
"How's your heart doing?"
"Still beating, I guess, but you're the expert."
He chuckled again and took his stethoscope in his hands.
"Is your friend going to stay here during the examination?"
"If you don't mind…"
He shook his head and placed the cold metal of the stethoscope on my chest.
"Are you feeling dizzy or anything?"
"No, not in the last time," I mumbled towards the floor.
Then I cleared my throat before I spoke up again.
"Dr. Bennett, can I ask you about something and you won't tell my father?"
"Of course you can. What do you want to know?"
"The pills that you have given me for my heart, could I still take them when I'm pregnant?"
"You think that you're pregnant?" his voice raised two octaves, almost sounding panicked now.
"No, not yet, I was just asking…in theory."
"Good, Mary Alice. Look, I know that no one ever reads the package insert, but still…"
"But still what?" Bella croaked out. It was the first time she spoke at all since we entered the room.
"Taking pills like these during a pregnancy could be fatal for the fetus. It would probably end up in a miscarriage or the baby would be born with spina bifida or something like that."
I felt Bella stiffen next to me and took a deep breathe through my nose.
"Well, I could always stop taking them, when I got pregnant."
"Mary Alice, if you want to talk about contraception possibilities you should probably make an appointment with Dr. O'Hara."
"I don't need to know about contraception." Ever, I thought.
"I wanted to know how my…condition would affect a pregnancy…in theory." God, I was starting to sound like a complete idiot.
He walked over to his desk again and flipped the file open. His eyes moved over several pages before he spoke up again.
"Mary Alice, I've treated you since you were a little girl and I'm glad that we've finally achieved such a good control over your condition."
"Me too, Dr. Bennett and since everything is pretty fine now…"
"Everything is not fine, Mary Alice, definitely not. And as for stopping to take your medication…"
"I've already done that. It wasn't that bad." Apart from the unpleasant dizziness of course, I thought secretly.
"For a few weeks, yes and don't tell me that you felt too good while you did that."
My cheeks blushed into an embarrassing crimson color.
"You could stop taking them for a few weeks but not for nine months. That wouldn't work. Your heart isn't able to pump enough blood into your system without the medication."
"Could it make me feel dizzy or something like that?"
"Not exactly, I'm more concerned that it could damage your kidneys so much that you would probably need dialysis for the rest of your life."
"Does that mean I can't have a child without ending up with a kidney condition on top of my crappy heart? This is so fucking unfair!"
"Mary Alice, lower your voice. I know that you don't like hearing the truth. No one ever does that. Some people are just not supposed to have children. You're not even married yet, Mary Alice. And when you do that you could always adopt or…"
"I don't want to adopt a child." I stumbled out while I stood up so quickly from my chair that it dropped to the floor with a loud noise.
Something cramped forcefully inside of me and I swallowed hard to keep the tears from falling.
"Excuse me. I think that I need some fresh air now."
I rushed out of the office, wiping away a single tear that was running down my left cheekbone.
My hand pressed the button of the elevator and as soon as the door opened I stumbled into it.
"Ali!"
"Go away." I whispered my voice barely audible now. My knees started trembling so much that I had to sit down in a corner of the elevator.
She kneeled down next to me and wrapped her arms around me.
"I won't. God, Ali, I'm so sorry about this. I know that this was really important to you."
"It's not that important. I mean, it would have been rather selfish anyway, wouldn't it? What if the baby would be born with my stupid heart condition? Just forget it, it doesn't matter anymore."
She pulled me closer and I sobbed against her shoulder while her fingertips stroked over the short curls of my dark hair.
"I'm so sorry, Ali. Please, if there is anything that I can do, please…"
The door of the elevator opened again and to my embarrassment I blinked into a familiar pair of grey eyes.
"Ali?"
Slowly I stood up from the ground again, while Bella grabbed my hand so tightly that it was almost painful.
"What's wrong with her?"
"That's none of your damn business, Jasmine. Just leave us alone. Don't you have any lunatics to talk to right now?"
"Ali, is my business, Bella."
"No, she's not."
"Oh, yes, she is."
Jasmine pulled a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to me.
"Don't, you dare to touch her!"
"You can't tell me what to do, straight girl."
"Keep your hands to yourself."
Jasmine chuckled slightly before she put a wisp of my hair behind my ear.
"What's wrong, beautiful?"
"Nothing," I croaked out hoarsely.
"It doesn't even matter. Just leave me alone; both of you. I don't have the nerves to deal with your stupid jealousy issues now."
I walked out into the parking lot and sat down on a wooden bench on its left side. A dry sob left my throat and then I put my face in my hands, feeling the tears burning in the corner of my eyes.
"Hey."
"Look, Ali, I'm sorry for fighting with Jasmine. Please don't be mad at me."
Jasmine sat down on the edge of the bank and cleared her throat nervously.
"She didn't hurt you, did she? Because you know how much I'd like to kick her ass so hard that she wouldn't be able to sit down for a week."
"No, I didn't hurt her. Look, you wouldn't understand it anyway, Jazz."
"You're not sick again, are you? I thought that the new medication is working?"
"Yes, it is working. Pretty fine, actually, everything is working just fine as long as I don't stop taking them every fucking day for the rest of my fucking life."
"You're using the f-word too much, Ali. Your mother would be disappointed."
"Esme is disappointed in me anyway." I snarled at her, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
"That's not true. She just has problems to accept your homosexuality and then there's the fact that you're…well dating your sister-in-law now."
"I'm divorcing her brother. Can't you see that I'm serious about being with Ali?"
"Bisexual people are never serious about anything. You switched your team once…you could do it again."
"Oh, Jazz, please don't bring up this crap now. I'm really not in the mood to deal with it."
"Kay, I'll keep my mouth shut, if it makes you feel better, Ali."
"Thanks a lot."
"Can I ask you something? Why would you have to stop taking your medication? Your father didn't freeze your account again, did he?"
"No, he didn't. I talked to Dr. Bennett about…well about a possible pregnancy." I didn't dare to look into her face when I stumbled out the words.
"You want to have a baby with…her?" she sounded hurt now, kind of offended. I knew that she would react like that.
"Just forget it, Jazz. The doctor says that it's impossible. It doesn't even matter. It was a stupid idea and I should have known that it wouldn't work. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."
"Ali, you don't sound and look as if it doesn't matter." Jasmine stated calmly.
"She's right, honey." Bella mumbled, wrapping her arm around my quivering body. I wondered if that was possibly the first time the two of them agreed on something.
XXXX
I didn't' really feel like going out but Bella thought that it would be a good idea to celebrate my new success as a designer. Something cramped around my heart whenever I looked at Bella and her little daughter. How much I wished…no, stop thinking like that, Ali.
"Auntie Ali, this is a stupid restaurant. They don't even have fries here." My copper-haired niece told me reproachfully.
"I'm sure we can do something about that, Lilly." Zafrina chuckled cheerfully and waved at the waiter.
"We would like to have some fries for the little one."
"I'm sorry, Ma'am but this is a fine restaurant and we don't serve greasy fries as if this was a takeaway."
She cleared her throat and her lips twitched into a smile when she spoke up again.
"But she's allergic to everything on your menu. Did you know that they would probably close this fine restaurant for an entire month, if she got an allergic shock here?"
"Hmm, yeah…probably, I'll try to make sure the kitchen crew will manage to make some fries."
"Thank you. That would be lovely."
When he walked away again, Jasmine leaned closer to Zafrina and whispered.
"It's shocking how easily you can lie to people, Miss Penthes. Is that a natural talent or something that comes hand in hand with your profession?"
"Probably a bit of both," She confessed, taking another sip from the glass of wine in front of her.
"Didyme was so thrilled about your designs, Ali."
"Who is Didyme?"
"The shrink that did the psychological report about Bella's mental status…" I explained, nibbling on a breadstick in my hands.
"What kind of shrink has enough money to pay you several hundred dollars for clothes? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that she did it. And it was very nice of you to invite all of us into this…fries-less restaurant."
"Didyme is the ex-wife of the CEO of Volturi Inc. She doesn't work much since the divorce but she owed me a favor and that's why she agreed to do the report."
"You could have asked me to do that stupid report, you know?"
"Yeah, I could have. But Bella didn't really like the idea."
Jasmine inhaled sharply between her teeth and dropped her fork on her plate.
"What is she doubting my skills?"
"She is here right now and can hear you perfectly." Bella snarled at her crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"And just for the record; Miss Whitlock…I'm not doubting your skills as a therapist."
"Hmm,"
"I think that she's more concerned about the way you keep flirting with her girlfriend as if she was the last piece of steak."
"Steak? I'm not treating her as if she were some piece of meat!"
Zafrina chuckled slightly and took another sip from her wine.
"That was just an example. Don't you usually work with examples?" Her voice had a smooth, silky tone when she continued.
"How does this oyster here symbolize hidden desires or something like that?"
She slurped it down her throat while her eyes stayed focused on Jasmines face. Jazz didn't blush but her pupils dilated for a moment and she licked her lips thoughtlessly.
When Zafrina realized that Jasmine kept watching her, a smile flashed over her face. Was she trying to flirt with her? Hmm, yeah, definitely flirting…flirting was good. It would distract Jasmine from her love thing. Should I try to pair them off? Good idea, but how should I do that? Right, getting her drunk would definitely work…Jasmine always got tipsy and flirty when she had too much to drink.
My lips twitched into an evil smile as I waved at the waiter.
"Is everything alright with the fries, Ma'am?"
"They are okay." Lilly stated with a full mouth.
"But I had better ones before."
He cringed but forced his face to stay a calm mask.
"Fries are not really the specialty of our house."
"I'd like to order a bottle of champagne then. You do have champagne here, don't you?"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
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