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

[A/N] Hello my lovely readers out there. Thanks so much for reading & reviewing my little story here. Your support really means a lot to me.

This chapter is dedicated to Hayley and Antonia23. Freu mich immer wahnsinnig über reviews auf deutsch :-)

#FAQ#

What kind of heart disease does Alice have?

Ali's heart condition is made up, but we'll learn more about it in one of the next chapters. I don't have any medical knowledge at all apart from watching Grey's Anatomy so that's not very easy for me to do.

**Chapter 28**

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her carefully, making sure that I wouldn't hurt her broken ribs.

To my immense surprise she didn't cry. Maybe she was too shocked to do it. Maybe she just hadn't any tears left right now. Whatever it was it scared me way more than her sobbing earlier.

"Ali?"

"Hmm,"

"I'm worried about you. You seem so calm. It's scary somehow."

"I know, Bella. Please, you have to promise me not to worry about me too much."

I twisted the fingers of her hand with mine and started rubbing invisible circles all over her wrist.

"I can't do that, Ali. I care too much about you not to worry, if I know that you're upset.

"Yeah, I know. I'm so glad that you told me the truth, Bella, although I don't know yet what I will do with my new knowledge now."

"Do you want to talk to your father?"

"No fucking way. I don't want to see him!"

She burst out into tears and I wiped them away with the back of my hand.

"Shhh, it's okay."

"No, it's not. Everything is so messed up."

"You're right about that."

"Can I tell you something stupid?"

"You can tell me whatever you want, Ali."

"When I thought that I was adopted, I felt so relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yes, I was so relieved that Edward isn't my real brother. It made what I did to him less sad."

"What you did to him? Alice, just for the record, you're only in here because of him."

"But I stole his wife away from him. I cheated on him behind his back…in his own house."

"Ali, that doesn't matter. Well, of course it matters, but you have done nothing to deserve this here."

My fingertips stroked over the bandage on her chest.

"I'm sorry for complicating your life so much."

"Bella, you don't complicate my life, you complete it."

XXXX

Esme's copper head appeared in the doorframe where she remained standing, hesitating to enter the room.

"Mom?" Ali's voice almost cracked at the short word.

"Can I come in here, Mary Alice?"

She nodded her head and swallowed hard to hold back a few tears that were already glittering in the corners of her caramel eyes.

"Thank you. I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me at all. Your father thought that we should probably leave you alone for a while, but I couldn't do that."

Slowly she stepped closer to the bed and sat down on the plastic chair that was standing next to it. For a moment I thought that it would probably look strange to her that I was sitting on the edge of the bed but then I realized that it didn't matter what Esme or any of the others were thinking about that.

"Are you in pain?"

"Not really, they gave me so many painkillers that I feel a little bit stoned right now."

"That's good, Mary Alice. I was so worried that there was something wrong with your heart again."

"No, this time it's not the heart, just my stupid ribs and my lung."

"But you'll be alright soon, won't you? Dr. Connor told us that there won't be any long-term consequences."

Ali rolled her eyes at that.

"No one in this hospital gives a shit about medical confidentiality."

"Please don't sue the poor doctor. I think that your father intimidated her somehow. That's why she told him everything."

"I wasn't planning on doing it. But if you're asking me to do the same for my…well for Edward, I'm not so sure about that."

"Mary Alice, please. I'm so sorry for what he did to you, but you can't honesty want him to stay in jail."

"Hmm,"

"He was so miserable when I visited him in there. I think he's scared that the people in there might find out that he's a lawyer. Criminals don't like lawyers. The poor boy fears for his life and I'm sure that he didn't want to…"

"Why are you defending him?" I snarled at her angrily.

"He hurt her so much, not only physically, but emotionally too. Your perfect son is not as perfect as you think he is!"

"Don't yell at her, Bella. It's understandable that she's on his side. Edward is her own child and I'm just a…I'm just a…"

"Don't you dare to finish that sentence, Mary Alice; I've never thought of you that way, never."

"How could you lie to me for my entire life?"

"That's complicated."

"I guess, it is…but I still need to know."

"Well, your father had an affair with the niece of his housekeeper in Romania. I can't really tell you much about her though. Just that she was very young…too young actually, that's one of the reasons why Carlisle wanted us to keep the whole thing to ourselves."

"Yeah, statutory rape isn't something to be proud of, is it?"

"He did not force himself on her!" Esme's voice raised two octaves.

"She seduced him."

"Let me guess, that's what Carlisle told you?" I asked her, trying not to sound too sarcastically.

Esme shook her head.

"No he didn't tell me that, but I knew it anyway."

"How?"

"Carlisle is so old-fashioned; he even refused to touch me before our wedding night."

"Mom, that's the kind of information that I really don't need to have."

"I wasn't planning on giving you any embarrassing details about our love life."

"Thanks a lot."

"You don't see Carlisle the way I see him. You don't know him the way I know him. He's a good man."

"Why are you not angry at him? He cheated on you. God, he even fathered a child with the other woman."

"Oh, Bella…That was over twenty years ago and it didn't mean anything to him."

"How do you know that?"

"If it had meant anything to Carlisle he wouldn't have come back to me. But he did and that's all that matters to me that he came back to me."

"I understand…or I don't, I'm not so sure about that actually." I confessed after a few awkward moments of silence.

"That's okay, Bella. Well, you probably never loved Edward the way I love his father and that makes it difficult for you to understand the way I see things."

"Mom, can I ask you something?" Ali whispered anxiously.

"Of course you can, Mary Alice." She took Ali's hand in hers and squeezed it carefully.

"How can you love me although I'm not your child?"

"Mary Alice, love isn't something that you can explain with rational arguments. You don't choose to love, you just do it. You were such a dear child and you needed me so much when you were little, way more than your siblings ever did. And then there's the fact that you are a part of the man that I love. That alone would be reason enough for me to love you.

XXXX

The office was very much like Edward's; leather furniture and a huge desk crowded with books and files.

She looked up from her laptop and her lips twisted into a polite smile before she stood up. Jeez, she was really tall, and she didn't even wear heels.

"Hello Mrs. Cullen. It's nice to meet you."

I shook her hand and realized that her ebony skin was smooth like silk.

"Hi, Miss Penthes, I'm so sorry that I had to bring my daughter with me…"

"You don't have to apologize for that. I like kids." She kneeled down in front of Lilly and a bright smile flashed over her face.

"Hi, I'm Zafrina. And you are?"

"I'm Lilly. Your name is funny."

"Lilly, please…" My cheeks reddened under the curtain of my long hair.

A low chuckle left the lawyers throat before she spoke up again.

"It's okay, Mrs. Cullen. She just says what she thinks and that's a good thing actually. She'll learn how to lie soon enough."

With her genetic background you can bet on that, I thought sourly.

"So, you want to divorce your husband. Do you want to give me any details about your reasons?"

I hesitated for a moment. She was a stranger after all.

"Look, Mrs. Cullen. I know that it's hard for you to trust someone you don't know at all, but it's necessary if you want me to be able to do my job properly."

I sighed deeply and fisted my hands so tightly that my fingernails cut into the skin of my palm.

"It's very complicated."

"Complicated cases are my specialty."

"Well, he cheated on me with his secretary."

"That doesn't sound too complicated, Mrs. Cullen."

"And I cheated on him with…with his sister."

"Kay,"

"And he told me that he wants full custody for Lilly when I informed him about my divorce plans."

"Was that before or after he found out that you and your sister-in-law have a rather….unusual closeness in your relationship."

"It was before. Does that make a difference? I'm really scared that he's going to take the child away from me. Lilly is everything to me."

"Mrs. Cullen I don't think that you need to worry about the custody thing too much. Normally the custody always goes to the mother. If the father doesn't agree to that, he needs to proof that you can't take care of her properly."

"And he wants me to move out of the house."

"Hmm, is the house his or yours?"

"Well, his parents gave it to both of us as a wedding present. He offered that if I could buy his half, which is ridiculous because he knows that I don't have enough money for that."

"Would you consider selling it? That would be the easiest option."

"I don't know."

"Why? Did you set your heart on that house?"

"No, I don't really care about the house, but we've lived there with Lilly since she was born. It's her home."

"I see. Let me check, if we can make it possible that you keep the house. I assume that you're a stay-at-home mother?"

I nodded my head.

"Edward didn't want me to work after we got married. He said it would be inappropriate for the wife of a lawyer."

She rolled her eyes at that.

"Jeez, he's such a chauvinist. It would have been inappropriate for you to work? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I never really thought about it. Well, I'm trying to find a job, but it won't be too easy to get one, because I haven't had a proper job since Lilly was born."

"Taking care of a little child is a proper job, Mrs. Cullen. And as it was his wish that you didn't work, he'll have to pay support for you and the child, at least until you find work."

"We have a pre-nuptial. It says that he doesn't need to pay for me in case I leave him."

"Could you send me a copy of that pre-nuptial? I want to check if everything is alright with it. Maybe there is something like a loop hole that we can use to your advantage."

"I don't want his stupid money."

"Fine, but if you are going to work, you have to make sure that you have a day care or something like that for your daughter, so that your husband can't throw a tantrum about her being neglected or some crap like that."

"Ali works mostly at home, she can watch her."

"And Ali is who?"

"She's my girlfriend." I almost choked at the word. Was that the first time I had called her that in front of another person?

"That could be a problem."

"Could he get custody for Lilly because I'm in a relationship with his sister now?"

"Wait a minute. Could you please press the back-button for me? Ali is your sister-in-law?"

I swallowed hard to keep the tears from falling and nodded my head.

"See, I've told you that it's complicated." I croaked out, my voice trembling slightly.

"Mrs. Cullen, I've already told you that complicated cases are my specialty. You don't' need to worry."

"Good." I mumbled while I tasted a few salty tears on the tip of my tongue.

She handed me a tissue and I cleaned my nose loudly.

"I'll have to call your husband now to inform him about our appointment. I think that I have the number of his office somewhere here…"

"He's not in his office right now."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Still in jail, I guess."

"He's in jail? I thought that Cullen works for an oil company in Alaska. What the hell is he doing with a client in jail?"

"He's not there because of a client."

"He was arrested?" her voice raised two octaves.

"What did Cullen do, tax fraud or anything like that?"

"No, he's in jail because he hit Ali so badly when he caught us…well…when he caught us together that she's in hospital right now."

"Is she alright? I think it's a good thing that she pressed charges. Many women hesitate to do that when they're related to the man."

My daughter got bored from sitting still. She stood up and walked around in the office.

Her eyes caught a small wooden statue in a book shelve.

"Lilly, honey, please don't touch anything."

"I'm just looking!"

"Can you try to look without using your hands?"

"Yes, Mommy…" She kept staring at the statue and rubbed her chin with her thumb.

"Zafrina? Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Lilly. What do you want to know?"

"Why has the statue only one boob? What happened to the other one?"

Zafrina stood up from her chair and kneeled down next to my curious daughter on the ground.

"She's an Amazon, that's something like a female warrior."

A warrior, I thought secretly, just what we need right now…

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

[A/N] I'd like to hear your thoughts about the chapter. The Esme part was difficult for me to write and I really hope that you understand her better now.

How did you like Zafrina? Her family name is a short cut for Penthesilea (that was an Amazon queen).

Until next time, take care

*I've written a little one-shot for Valentine's Day and if you like my writing, I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it. It's called 'Valentine Girl'.*