[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back to your favorite twilight fanfic soap opera. I'm happy that some of you seem to enjoy my writing style. It really makes me feel happy and your encouraging reviews really motivate me to continue with the story. So please keep them coming...

This chapter is dedicated to lilibit1016 for being my 500th reviewer.

#FAQ#

*Yes, it's true; Carlisle did cheat on his wife while he worked for Doctors without Borders in Romania and our favorite little Ali is the result of that.

*And yes, he cheated on her with a seventeen year old. Shocking isn't it?

*Why didn't Esme leave him when she found out? Because she's Esme… we'll find out more about her motivates later in the story.

*Ali is the youngest child. Edward was eight when she was born and Rose was ten. That's why they know that Esme is not Ali's real mom. But they don't really know everything of course…

*Can we kill Edward, castrate him, or whatever? Nope, we can't, at least not yet…you just have to be patient.

**Chapter 27**

I didn't sleep one single minute that night and so I spent hours tossing and turning around in the bed, my face buried in the pillows that still smelled of her a little bit.

At about 04:00 A.M. I finally gave up and stood up again. The house was so awfully silent that I turned on the TV just to have some background sounds.

I walked into the kitchen and made a chicken sandwich that I munched down with a glass of Coke; real coke, the sugary stuff, the one that I bought for Ali because she insisted that the Diet variant tasted like crap.

God, how much I missed her and how close I had come to losing her. No, don't think about it too much. It will make you crazy.

My eyes caught the picture of Edward, Lilly and me on the kitchen counter. The stupid grin on his face made me want to punch him straight in the guts. What an arrogant asshole, I thought.

Slowly I stood up and grabbed the picture, without thinking what I was doing I opened the trash can under the sink and threw it in.

Then I pulled out a few huge, grey plastic bags and went back upstairs.

I opened the closet and started stuffing down all of Edward's clothes in the bags. When I was done with that I carried them down to stock them in the Garage.

Small pearls of sweat tickled down my forehead and I wiped them away with trembling fingertips as I put the rest of my soon-to-be-ex-husband belongings into several boxes that I placed next to the bags with the clothes.

For a moment I thought about just setting the whole stuff on fire, but then I was too chicken to do it. What if I accidentally burned the house down too?

I showered and washed my hair with Ali's shampoo. Afterwards I blow –dried it and twisted it into a lose ponytail. It was still way too early to go back to the hospital and I didn't really know what I should do until then.

Then something important came into my mind and I turned on my laptop and typed my request into a search machine. When it had loaded, I sighed deeply. How should I choose a lawyer for my divorce when there were so many of them? God, I wished that I had paid more attention when Edward mentioned some of his competitors. Then I finally recognized one of the names.

Zafrina Penthes

Edward had called her an ice-hearted women's libber. An evil smile flashed over my face as I dialed the number to leave a message on the machine. To my surprise someone actually picked up.

"Penthes" The voice on the other line didn't even sound tired. Why the hell was she in her office that early?

"Hello?"

I cleared my voice before I spoke up.

"Hello. I…I'm so sorry that I called so early, I didn't expect anyone…,"

"You don't need to apologize. I'm a morning person and I'm always here that early. It's easier for me to concentrate when no one else is around in the office that could distract me."

"Hmm, yes I guess it is."

"So why did you call?"

"Well, I want to divorce my husband and I figured out that I might need some help with that."

"Might be…,"

"The thing is that I won't be able to pay you much."

"We can talk about the financial aspect of our agreement later. My secretary Senna could make up a payment by installment plan for you, if you'd be okay with that."

"Ahm, yes of course."

"Can you come to my office this afternoon, so that we could talk about everything? My schedule is pretty crowded but I'm sure we can put you in somewhere."

"Yes, that would be good."

"Fine, give me your name and your phone number and Senna will call you later."

"My name is Isabella Cullen and the nu…"

"Cullen?" her voice raised two octaves.

"Yes. That's C U…,"

"I know how that is spelled. Don't tell me that you're Edward Cullen's wife."

"I'm afraid that's what I am."

She burst out into laughter.

"That's too good!"

"I'm happy if my marriage problems manage to cheer you up." I snarled into the receiver.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Cullen. That was completely unprofessional."

"Look, if you don't want to work for me because of my husband," I almost choked at the word. "I can find another lawyer…,"

"No, no. You don't have to search for another one. I'd be happy to help you. I would do it for free just for the sake of seeing the pissed expression on Cullen's face when he finds out that you've chosen me for this job."

XXXX

I realized that Esme's green eyes were red and puffy when I walked into the waiting hall of the hospital.

Carlisle was standing next to the young doctor I remembered from yesterday and from the tortured look on her face he was giving her a hard time.

"Oh Bella. I'm so glad that you here!" Esme croaked out and wrapped her arms around me.

"I've already called Rosalie and I think that she and Emmett will be here soon. God, can you tell us what happened?"

"I, well…,"

I cleared my throat nervously before I spoke up again.

"How is Ali? Why are you here and not in her room?"

"Because our daughter has obviously decided to throw one of her post-pubertal tantrums; she doesn't want to see us. God, why has this child to be so damn stubborn?" Carlisle stated exasperated.

I inhaled sharply through my teeth and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans to keep myself from slapping him straight into the face.

"Maybe you shouldn't have lied to her for her entire life!"

"Lower your voice, Bella. What do you mean, we lied to her? This is completely ridiculous."

"No, it's not."

"Mommy!" Lilly called out and rushed into my arms.

"Can we take Auntie Ali home with us now?"

I lifted her up and kissed her cheek.

"Not today, sweetie, but soon, I hope."

Emmett and Rosalie entered the room and the purple bags under her blue eyes were visible although she had obviously tried to cover them up with make-up.

"What are all of you doing here outside? She's not worse again, is she?"

"She doesn't want to see me and your father." Esme stumbled out before a low sob left her coral tinted mouth.

"Crap. God, mom…I'm so sorry about that. I promise to talk some sense into her."

"Rose, you can't blame her for being mad at them for lying to her."

"We did not…"

"Oh sure, you didn't. You just forgot to mention the fact to her that Esme is not her mother!"

Carlisle's eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

"Rose, for heaven's sake what did you tell her? Haven't we told you over and over again that we have to keep this family affair to ourselves?"

"Dad, I swear, that I didn't want to do it. And I haven't told her the whole story. She thinks that you and Mom adopted her."

"Adopted?" Carlisle's voice raised two octaves.

"Wait a minute. Who's adopted? Ali? God, Rose why didn't you tell me."

"Em, she's not adopted. She just thinks that because of the awful things our brother said to her."

"What did Edward say to her?"

Rosalie sighed deeply and stared down at the linoleum ground.

"Rose!"

"He told her that she's not our real sister and he called her a ba…bastard." Her face turned crimson red when she managed to croak out the words. Hmm, who knew that Mrs. McCarthy could blush like that?

"How dare he call her a bastard! Has he totally lost his mind?"

"Carlisle, calm down, I'm sure that he didn't mean it like that…,"

"Mommy, what's a bastard?"

I cringed slightly.

"Sweetie, you don't need to know what that means. It's an ugly word and I don't want you to use it."

"Your mother is right about that, Lilly. By the way, where is Edward? Did he fly back to Alaska or something? He doesn't answer his cell." Esme mumbled worriedly.

Emmett chuckled slightly.

"He's where men that hit women belong – in jail."

"Edward is in jail?" Esme croaked out and wiped her running nose on the back of her hand.

"Yep, he is. I hope it teaches him a lesson."

"Why the hell is he in jail?"

I sighed deeply.

"For throwing Ali halfway through the room so that she broke her ribs."

"He did what? What did she do to provoke him like that?"

"Carlisle, I don't want to sound like a leaflet against domestic violence but it doesn't matter if she provoked him or not. He had no right to freak out like that, not matter what she has done. A man has a choice…a man always has a choice."

"Yeah, I know, Emmett. It's just I can't believe that Edward would ever physically attack his sister. I can't believe this is really true."

"Trust me, Carlisle…it is. Your sneaky little smart-ass of a son is not as perfect as you think he is."

"Stop talking about him like that, McCarthy!"

"Grandma, what is a smart-ass?"

"Honey, that's not a nice word and I don't want you to use it."

"But Uncle Emmett uses it too."

"Yeah, right, sweetie, but he shouldn't have done it."

"It's not fair that all of you use words that I shouldn't say. I'm not a baby anymore."

"Yeah, I know, Lilly." I mumbled and pulled her on my lap.

"Can we go and see Auntie Ali now? I made a picture for her as present."

XXXX

"Hi, Ali, how are you feeling today?" I whispered as I bend down to plant a kiss on her cheek. Her skin tasted salty and I realized that she had been crying.

"Ali?"

"Are they still here?" she croaked out hoarsely as I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Esme left to get Edward out of jail, but your father is still here."

"I wished he would leave too."

"Ali…"

I took her hand in mine and started rubbing small circles on it.

"You look tired, Bella. Didn't you sleep at all?"

I shook my head.

"Why?"

"I couldn't. I was so worried about you and I felt lonely there on my own."

"Bella, I don't want you to worry. I'll be fine."

"I'll try to work on that part…"

"Where is Lilly?"

"She's in the cafeteria with Emmett and your sister. Dr. Connor says that the tubes and all that stuff would scare her."

"Dr. Connor might be right about that. Will you tell Lilly that I miss her?"

"Of course, I will. Oh, before I forget it. She made you a picture. Do you want to see it?"

She nodded her head and smiled halfheartedly.

"Let me guess, that thing that looks like a dragon is not really a dragon?"

"I guess that's Fido again."

"Why does the dog have wings?"

"I don't know…to fly maybe. Your childhood pictures seemed to have made a big impression on her."

A low sob left her throat and then she started crying desperately.

I wiped away the tears with trembling fingertips. Carefully I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and started stroking up and down her back.

"I'm so sorry, Ali."

"I can't believe that they lied to me for my entire life. All of them!"

"I know, Ali, and I understand that you don't want to talk to your parents right now."

"Stop calling them my parents!"

"Ali, please try to stay calm. It's not good for your heart, if you do that."

"Yeah, I know."

She sniffed and I pulled a tissue out of my handbag to help her clean her nose again.

"There is one thing that I don't understand at all."

"Hmm,"

"Why did they choose to adopt me? My fa…well Carlisle is a cardiologist, so he'd probably found out about my condition very soon. Why should they have kept a sick child? No one would do that."

"Ali, they didn't adopt…" My voice was barely audible. God, I didn't want to be the one to tell her the truth. I shouldn't be the one to tell her the truth.

"Bella, please don't cry. It is worse enough that I'm such a crybaby."

I took a deep breath before I spoke up again.

"Do you remember when you told me that you'd always tell me the truth?"

"Hmm,"

"I want to do the same to you."

"It's nice to hear that you don't want to lie to me about anything; although you really suck at lying anyway."

"I know. You see, I want to tell you the truth but I don't want to hurt you with it."

"You're not trying to break up with me, are you?"

"No, no…of course not, how could I break up with you? Don't you know that you're the love of my life?"

Slowly I leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"What I need to tell you has nothing to do with us. It's just about you. Rose told me not to tell you because it would hurt your feelings - but I think that they've already hurt you enough by lying to you."

"What can be worse than finding out that your parents illegally adopted you as a child?"

"Ali, they didn't adopt you."

She raised one eyebrow in confusion.

"Promise me to stay calm, will you?

"I'll try. Bella, please you have to tell me what you know."

I placed one hand on her chest while my other continued stroking her cheekbone.

"They didn't adopt you because it wasn't necessary. People don't need to adopt their own children."

"But Rose said that I was born in Romania. She said that Carlisle gave my mother money…"

"Yeah, that's right, Ali. I don't know why he did it. Maybe it was because he had such a bad conscious because of the problems he caused her."

"Problems… What kind of problems?"

"Getting her pregnant at seventeen…"