[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back my lovely readers. Thanks and hugs to those of you who keep supporting my story with your reviews. It means so much to me to read that you enjoy reading what I'm writing. Without your encouragement I definitely wouldn't be here now.

This chapter is dedicated to DeJee for making me laugh when I really needed it. Hope you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 58**

Ali's POV

I had hoped that it would get easier for me to work when Lilly wasn't swirling around me the entire time, but the truth was that the empty house made me way too nervous to concentrate on new sketches. So, I finished the dresses for Didyme and put them into a box. Her PA had called me earlier that she would come over to pick them up because she wanted to wear them at the opening of a gallery.

Then I turned on the TV, not really paying attention to what was on. All that mattered was that there were at least some background noises. I petted the huge head of the russet colored dog next to me, making him purr like a little kitten.

"Are you hungry again?"

Jeez, you're talking to an animal. What the hell is wrong with you?

"You miss, Lilly, don't you?"

The dog raised one eyebrow looking so sad that I had to swallow hard to keep tears from falling.

Yeah, I know. I miss them too, Fido."

The doorbell rang and I went to open it.

"Hi, Ali," Benjamin greeted me cheerfully before he planted a kiss on each of my cheeks.

"Morning, Benjamin. So it's turquoise today?" I asked him when I realized the bright color of his new contacts that matched the scarf around his neck.

"Are you okay? You look so sad." He stated as he followed me into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"It's nothing." I croaked out, embarrassed that it was so obvious how it looked like inside of me.

"Kay, if you say so, but you could tell me if something is wrong,"

"Yeah, I know. Thank you."

"Where is Lilly?"

"She's at school."

"Oh, I see. And Bella is working and you're sad that you have to stay at home like some dull, old housewife, aren't you?"

"No, it's not like that. I just don't like, I mean I just…"

"You just can't be alone, can you?"

"What makes you think that I can't be alone?" Although, it's true of course, I added in my head.

"And why are you here anyway? Did, I forget that we wanted to meet or something like that?"

"Firstly, I know because you're not old enough to watch the crappy shopping channel."

I caught a glimpse of the screen and quickly changed the channel when I realized that they were advertising for electric blankets.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Ali. A lot of people have problems with that."

"I don't have problems with being alone." I stated sullenly.

"Mom had trouble with that too. I think that you inherited that from her."

"Hmm,"

"You know that I'm right, don't you?"

"I don't know if you're right or not. Have you forgotten that I never met our mother?"

"I meant the part about you not being able to be alone."

"Yeah, okay, you're right about it. Being alone makes me nervous, kind of."

"It's okay. You'll get used to it." hopefully…

"And as for why, I'm here…," He cleared his throat nervously before he continued.

"I'm trying to avoid my uncle. He's starting to get on my nerves and I don't want to spend more time with him than absolutely necessary."

"Oh, I see."

"He's constantly complaining that my father refuses to do something about my homosexuality. God, I'm so happy when he's off to Romania again."

"My father and my mother aren't too happy about me being gay too. They're pretty old-fashioned."

"Maybe we should set up a therapy group for them or something like that? My kid is gay and I should stop being a homophobic ass about it."

I chuckled and poured him a glass of water that he emptied in one big gulp.

"But I guess it wouldn't be a smart decision to have your father and my uncle together in the same room."

The phone started ringing and I picked it from the table in front of me.

"Cullen."

"Good morning, Mrs. Cullen. My name is Emily Young. I'm your daughter's teacher."

"Oh, I'm Lilly's aunt, not her mother. Is everything okay with her?"

Can you tell her mom to come here and pick her up?"

"Is she sick or something like that?" I asked her worriedly.

"No, she's not. She…, well I would rather talk about that with her mother."

XXXX

I sighed deeply as I parked the car in front of the grey school building and walked into the small office on the right side of the entrance.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

"My name is Mary Alice Cullen. I'm here to pick up my niece."

The raven-haired woman behind the desk stood up and shook my hand for a moment before she crossed both of them on her stomach again. She looked about six months pregnant to me and an unpleasant feeling of jealously spread through my body. I would never know how that would be like, thanks to my stupid heart. It was so incredibly unfair.

"Hi, Miss Cullen, I'm glad that you could come here, although I still would prefer to talk to Lilly's mother about it."

I sighed deeply and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

She opened a box with blueberry muffins and stuffed the half of one into her mouth.

"Do you want one too? They're low-fat."

I shook my head.

"Look, I've already told you that her mother is working. So, I'm afraid that you will have to talk to me now, if you think it's necessary."

She cleared her throat before she spoke up again.

"I think so. Lilly punched a child in her class in the nose with her fist. I'm glad that she didn't break it. We don't tolerate such behavior here. You should make that clear to her…or her mother should do it."

"Fine, we'll talk to her. Can I see her now?"

"Of course, you can, Miss Cullen…but…"

"But what?" There was something about her that annoyed me endlessly, although I didn't know her at all. Maybe it was the fact that she was pregnant or it was her voice, I wasn't really sure.

"Are you sure that everything is okay at home? I mean, I don't know how much you're involved with Lilly's parents." Involved, what a nice way of saying it. Involved, so I was involved with Lilly now, how much I hated people that tried to sugarcoat everything. I was pretty sure that she was a pro at that. Her words, though they were reproachfully still sounded friendly. Almost as good as the low-fat frosting on her stupid muffins would taste like, I assumed.

"Our family and the problems we might be having is none of your business, Miss Young…,"

"I didn't mean it like that. She told me that her father is not living with her anymore and she's staying with you and her mother now."

"Are you trying to tell me that she punched the other kid because her parents are separated?"

"No, but Lilly seems so…I don't know…tensed somehow. I'm not really sure if she understands what happened."

Her parents just got divorced and her mother is planning on marrying her aunt. Of course, she's tensed, and doesn't understand everything.

"Can I see, Lilly now?" I asked her impatiently.

"She's with the school nurse right now, because she hurt her hand during her little outburst."

XXXX

Carefully I put some cooling salve all over her tiny hand. She cringed slightly and a low whimper left her throat. I wondered if it would be better to go to the hospital with her, although I was sure it was just sprained and not broken.

"Do you want some ice for your hand, sweetie?"

She nodded her head and I stood up to get her some.

"Try to hold your hand still." I told her when I returned with a plastic bag with a few ice cubes in it.

"Auntie Ali, are you angry at me because I hit Alec?"

"Maybe a little bit, I'm sorrier that you hurt your hand. Do you want to tell me why you punched the boy?"

"He made fun of my drawing and pulled on my braids." She stated and her face turned into a frown.

"Lilly, you can't hit other children in your class even if they make fun of you. It's not right."

"But Uncle Emmett punched my daddy too."

"Yeah, I know, Lilly. He shouldn't have done that." At least not in your presence, I added silently in my head. Jeez, there were a lot of things that shouldn't have happened in front of her eyes.

"You have to promise me that you won't do something like that again."

"But Alec made fun of my drawing. He's so mean and I'm going to hate him for the rest of my life."

"For the rest of your life is a pretty long time, don't you think?"

XXXX

"She did what?" Bella's voice raised two octaves. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and pulled her close to me.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I knew that you would freak and it wasn't necessary to call you just for that."

She turned around and took two steps backwards until her back touched the kitchen counter behind her.

"What did you tell her teacher when you picked her up?"

"What do you mean, what did I tell her? That we're going to talk to her what else."

I cupped her face between my hands and planted a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

"I don't think that she's going to do it again. Her injured hand taught her a lesson."

"Where is she now?"

"In her room with the dog, trying to teach him a new trick." The only trick he knew by now was how to look as if he was constantly starving no matter how much food you gave him.

"Lilly! Come down here."

She walked down the stairs, her left hand wrapped around the metal collar around Fido's neck.

Bella kneeled down in front of her and put a wisp of her copper hair behind her ear.

"You were pretty angry today, weren't you?"

"Yes, mommy."

"But you can't hit other children, no matter how angry you are."

"Hmm,"

"I'm serious, Lilly. Promise me that you won't do it again."

"But Alec's sister hits him too when our teacher is not looking, and he is really mean. He says my hair looks like carrots in the sun. Jane says that she's going to teach me how to hit him where it really hurts."

"Lilly, that doesn't sound like a good plan to me."

"But Jane does it all the time and Alec never says anything mean to her because he knows that she's stronger than him."

I don't care what Jane does. She's not my child but you are and I don't want you to do things like that."

"Hmm,"

Bella took her hand in hers and examined it carefully. It looked a little bit swollen now.

"Can you make your hand a fist?" she asked her worriedly.

Lilly nodded her head and sighed deeply.

"I can, but it hurts."

"Maybe we should take her to the hospital, don't you think? It could be broken, couldn't it? How did she manage to hurt her hand like that anyway?"

"I wasn't there, Bella, but I assume she forgot to put her thumb in her fist or something like that. And I'm pretty sure that her hand is not broken but if it makes you feel better we could still go to the ER with her and let them do an x-ray."