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

[A/N] Welcome back to your favorite Twilight fanfic/ soap opera. This chapter was difficult for me to write. Hope I didn't mess things up too much. And just for the record; physical violence is wrong…but I guess you'll understand things better when you've read the entire thing…

This one is dedicated to Herschie and 10-TwilightFan. Hope you'll enjoy it.

#FAQ#

*Why didn't Bella do anything when Carlisle shoved her off the bed?

Because she was too shocked to do it and she probably really thinks that it was just an accident that she hurt her head on the bedframe.

*Is Rose pregnant?

I so knew it that you would assume that if I make her throw up. I guess we'll find out soon…

**Chapter 31**

"Your entire family is about to lose it, Ali and I can't believe that you're still not planning on pressing charges against your moron of a brother."

Ali sighed deeply and emptied the glass of water in front of her. She looked incredibly tired and I wondered if she had slept at all last night. Weren't they supposed to give her sleeping pills in there?

Well, it didn't matter anymore, for she was finally back at home with me. Dr. Connor wasn't too happy that she wanted to leave the hospital that soon, but Ali was stubborn and finally convinced the doctor to let her go.

"Emmett, I can't do that, I just can't."

"Oh yes, you can, Ali. You don't want to that's the problem."

"Emmett, you don't need to be so rude to her. It's her decision whether she wants to do it or not."

He stood up from the kitchen chair and kneeled down in front of -the russet colored dog that was standing next to him. A low purring noise escaped Fido's snout when he started stroking the huge head with his fingertips.

"Don't you know that I fucking know that, Bella?"

"Then why are you still trying to convince her to? Can't you just accept her choice?"

Slowly he stood up again and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I still think that she should do it. What he did to her was so below the belt that I have no words for it. And the thing is…if some random stranger would have injured her in the way Edward did it, I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't think twice whether she should press charges against the shithead or not."

"Mommy what's a shithead?" Lilly asked me while she continued stuffing pieces of her sandwich into the dog's snout.

"Nothing you need to know, sweetie."

I gave Emmett a dirty look.

"Don't use words like that when the kid can hear you. How often will I have to tell you that, McCarthy?"

He chuckled slightly.

"I'm getting her a shirt for her birthday that says something like 'My godfather taught me all the bad language I know' or something like that."

"Just for the record; that's so not funny." I told him and swallowed another painkiller against the throbbing pain in my head. Was it possible that I had a concussion? No, I had that before and it was worse.

"How is Rose?" Ali asked her bear-like brother in law in an attempt to change the subject of our conversation.

"She's still sick. I guess it's just stomach flu, nothing serious. You don't need to worry about her."

"Bella told me that you and Rosie are arguing about me pressing charges against my brother. You really shouldn't do that."

"Tinker-Ali, I know that this must come as a huge surprise to you, but your sister and I we argue a lot. That's normal for us…no biggie. We argue whether we should use a surrogate mother or whether we should adopt a child from Korea or whether we should allow the dog to sleep in our bed at night..."

The dog raised his head when he mentioned the last one.

"Forget it, buddy. I don't want to wake up with your slobber all over my face."

Then he turned to Ali again.

"As for pressing charges against your brother, Rosie knows that it would be the right thing to do. He deserves some punishment. She's just against it because your mother called her about five times a day, sobbing into the receiver that he would get probably beaten up or raped by some of the other inmates."

"But it could happen, couldn't it?"

"And you could have been killed, Ali."

I cringed slightly and put one arm on Ali's shoulder as if to make sure that she was still there.

"Yeah, I know, but I wasn't. So can we please try to get over it now? The whole divorce crap will be worse enough without me pressing charges against him."

The doorbell rang and I stood up to open the door.

"Mrs. Isabella Cullen?" The dispatcher asked me politely and I nodded my head.

"You need to sign this….here…and here."

"What's in there?"

"I don't know Mam. I'm not allowed to open the envelopes."

"Yeah, of course not…well, thank you and have a nice day."

I closed the door behind me and walked back into the kitchen, already ripping the yellow envelope open.

Most of the stuff that was written in the letter inside of it was too complicated for me to understand but the last paragraph made it pretty obvious what it was all about.

Custody claim concerning the child named Elizabeth Charlotte Cullen

My hands started trembling and the piece of paper slipped through my fingers, while I desperately tried to continue breathing in and out very deeply to fight the dizziness.

"Bella, are you okay?"

I shook my head and sat down on the chair next to Ali. She wrapped her dainty arms around me and I buried my face against her shoulder for a moment.

"It's starting." I croaked out.

"He's really doing it."

"He's doing what?" Emmett asked me curiously while he sipped on the glass of coke in his hands.

"Trying to get custody for Lilly…"

XXXX

"Mrs. Cullen, you really don't have to worry too much about this ridiculous letter."

I sighed deeply and wiped the last tears on my cheeks away with the back of my hand.

"I'm sorry that I cry so much. It's embarrassing."

"No, that's okay. I understand that the situation is difficult for you, Mrs. Cullen."

I cringed slightly and remembered that I had wanted to ask her about the name thing too.

"Ahm Miss Penthes?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to change my family name back to my maiden name if that's possible?"

"Hmm, of course you can do that. You just have to fill out one of these here."

She handed me a form and when I wrote down my old name it felt kind of relieving.

"Your maiden name is Swan?" Ali asked me while she twisted a wisp of my hair around her dainty fingers.

"I kind of like that, it fits you really well."

Yeah of course it does, I thought. Swans are supposed to be graceful and not as clumsy as I am.

"My brother won't get custody for Lilly, will he?" Ali asked Zafrina anxiously while she continued biting her fingernails.

"Probably not; normally the custody always goes to the mother unless she can't properly take care of the child or something like that."

Zafrina cleared her throat before she continued.

"Miss Cullen, I know that this is none of my business, but you really should re-think your decision about not pressing charges against your brother."

Ali sighed deeply and I took her hand in mine to squeeze it gently.

"I can't do that. No matter what he has done…Edward is still my brother. It would kill my mother if he'd end up in jail. What if something happens to him while he's inside there?"

"Miss Cullen, you shouldn't think too much about what could happen while he's in jail. The chances that he'll even get a prison sentence are close to nothing. It will probably end with a suspended sentence anyway."

"But he would lose his accreditation, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, but only for the state of Washington…look, Miss Cullen, if you don't press charges it's like your secretly saying that what he did to you was not that bad."

"It was…god, this is so damn complicated. I'm so pissed at him for what he did to me…for what he's doing to Bella with this custody crap and on the other hand I'm still so worried about him. Do you think that it's possible to love and hate one person at the same time?"

Zafrina nodded her head.

"Hmm, of course it is. Well, you don't have to make your decision now. Think of it and feel free to contact me if you want to know anything."

"Kay, I'll do that."

The loud barking of the dog made me almost jump from my chair.

As fast as possible I walked out into the garden where I was greeted by an almost livid looking Edward, a sobbing Lilly and a dog that looked as if he had been set free straight from hell just moments ago.

"What do you think you're doing here, Edward?" My voice raised two octaves and I cursed myself for the embarrassing tremble in it.

"Getting my things and my child!" Then he turned to Lilly again who had hidden her tiny face in the fluffy russet colored fur of the dog.

"Daddy, I don't want to go. Uncle Emmett said that I could play here with Fido until he comes back from the pharmacy."

Edward growled angrily. It was pretty obvious that he didn't have the nerves to discuss things with her now.

"For the last time now, Lilly; get into the car this moment before I make you! Why the hell do you have to be as stubborn as your stupid mother?"

"Mommy, do I have to go with him? I want to stay here."

"No, don't have to. Stay where you are."

"Lilly Cullen, get into this fucking car right now!"

"Edward, you can't just show up here and take the child with you."

He stepped closer to me, his emerald green eyes narrowing into tiny slits that made him look like a snake ready to attack its prey.

"Who's going to stop me? She's my child as much as yours and I can take her with me whenever I want to!"

A low growl left the dog's throat as Edward grabbed Lilly's hand to pull her towards the car.

"Ouch! Daddy let me go. I want to stay here!"

"Mr. Cullen, what do you think you're doing here? This behavior is completely inappropriate. Let go of the child. Can't you see that you're scaring her?" Zafrina asked him as she and Ali walked out of the house.

"Mind your own damn business! I don't have to take any shit from a wannabe attorney who just got her diploma because she fucked her professor or something like that."

Zafrina's lips twitched for a moment, but when she spoke up again, her voice was still calm.

"Mr. Cullen, I swear if you put the child in your car now. I'll make sure the next time you'll see her, will be at her High school graduation."

"You, stupid bitch, how dare you!"

She chuckled slightly and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Try to calm down a bit. You're scaring the child, can't you see that?"

"Edward, please let her go." Ali's voice was so low that it was barely audible. Was she still scared of him?

He inhaled sharply through his teeth.

"Lilly, say goodbye to your mother and get into the car."

"No, I don't want to! Please, Daddy let me stay here."

Edward sighed deeply and tried to pull her closer towards the car while she sobbed desperately.

A moment later he landed flat on his back with the dog growling angrily above him.

"Get the mutt off of me!"

He put his arm in front of his face in an attempt to protect it from the sharp teeth.

"Ouch!" he cried out as the dog started ripping on the thin material of his jacket.

"Fido, let go!" Emmett instructed and pulled the snarling dog off of him.

"That monster of a mutt almost killed me." Edward croaked out as he stood up from the ground again.

"No, he wouldn't. Fido just doesn't like you."

"The mutt is dangerous to public safety, but I already told Rose about that."

Then he turned to Lilly again, who was standing between me and Ali now.

"Come with me, Lilly. I'll buy you this dollhouse that you wanted to have."

"Really?"

"Edward, what kind of crap is that? Are you trying to bribe the kid with gifts now?"

"Mind your own damn business, Em! You don't know a thing about this. Lilly is my child! I won't let Bella take her away from me."

"She's not trying to take her away from you, you moron…but if you continue acting like a maniac…"

"Shut up! It's your fault that I had to spend the last few days among criminals."

"Buddy, you can't blame me because you don't know how to treat a woman properly. What you did to Ali was wrong, can't you see that?"

"It was not. I wished I had broken her stupid neck instead of her ribs! And as for treating women properly…at least I know how to knock up a girl!"

A low growl left Emmett's throat and his brown eyes turned pitch black.

"Say that again! I'm going to break every fucking bone in your body for that! I'm going to rip your heart out and feed it to the dog!"

His hands were trembling slightly and when his fist connected with Edward's nose it left a trail of crimson colored blood on his white shirt.

Edward raised his hand to reply the punch but Emmett grabbed it and turned it around forcefully, before he shoved my ex down to the grass again.

For a moment a shiver of fear went down my spine. Emmett could really hurt Edward, he had been trained to do that and I wasn't keen on letting Lilly witness her father getting killed by her uncle.

"Emmett, please let him go. He didn't mean it…" Ali croaked out hoarsely.

Edward's jaw made an awful cracking noise and when he gasped for air again, he spit out one of his back teeth.

"Em, please, let him go. You're killing him!"

Emmett raised his head while his hand stayed grabbed around Edward's throat.

"I will, if you press charges against him."

"You can't ask her to sue me, you idiot. But you can bet that I'm going to sue you!"

"Don't be so sure about that. It'll be hard for you to do that when you're dead!"

"Emmett, please. You can't do that. He's the brother of your wife."

"Promise to press charges, Ali or I'll make sure that he's going to survive on liquid food for the next months!"

My eyes met hers caramel ones and I knew without a doubt that it was possible to love and hate a person concurrently. She hated Edward for what he had done to her but on the other hand she still loved him because he was her brother.

Hesitantly she nodded her head.

"Okay, I will."