[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back my lovely readers. I hope that you're still enjoying this soap…ahm I mean fanfiction. Your support and encouragement means more to me than I can tell you.

This chapter is dedicated to rpatzluver4ever for liking the length of the story. There's a lot more to come –promise :-)

**Chapter 69*

Ali's POV

"Was that everything he told you?" I asked her impatiently while she sipped on the hot chocolate in front of her.

"Maybe you should have placed a hidden camera somewhere on Lilly's clothing than you would sure as hell know more now."

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

"Bella and I are not that good with technical equipment, but the idea sounds pretty good to me."

She started rolling her thumb over the edge of her cup. Damn it, why did she always have to do that?

"You owe me, you know?"

"For what?"

"Jeez, Ali, do you think that I enjoy spending my rare free time with Peter? He and I run out of conversation topics when we were in second grade."

I suppressed a chuckle and pretended to be searching for something in my handbag.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"Hmm,"

I hoped that she would still try to get some information out of Peter for us, so I gave her my brightest smile.

"I don't know how long he's going to keep the job here in Seattle anyway. Looks like his father is going to pay for his tax obligations, so he doesn't have a reason to stay."

"That doesn't sound too good."

I pulled out my tablet and started drawing a flower print on the dress I had sketched this morning.

"Peter said that your shithead of a brother was pretty moody at first. It was almost as if he didn't really care if she was there at all and then he gave her his present and suddenly he cheered up, asking her what other toys she wanted him to buy for her."

The front door opened and a few moments later the dog rushed into the living room, leaving a trail of mud and dried leaves behind him.

I wondered how that dog always seemed to know when I had cleaned up before. At least he didn't bring any dead mice or something like that in here. That would be too gross.

"Hi, honey." Bella greeted me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I planted a soft kiss on her lips that felt smooth like velvet against my mouth. Much too soon for my liking she pulled back and turned to her copper-haired daughter.

"Lilly, sweetie, can you get me a towel for Fido?"

She nodded her head and walked out of the room.

"Did the other shrink tell you what's wrong with her?"

"Hello to you too, Bella," Jasmine snarled at her.

"Sorry, it's just that I'm so worried about Lilly."

"I know, Bella. Look, Peter didn't really tell me a lot that was useful."

Lilly returned with a yellow towel and started rubbing it over the dog's russet colored fur.

"Down!" she instructed, her lips twitching into a smile when the calf-sized dog instantly obeyed her order.

"You've trained your dog pretty well, Lilly." Jasmine told her kneeling down on the ground next to her.

"Oh, Jasmine, he's the best dog and he's my best friend too."

The dog nudged his head against her side and whimpered slightly.

"That's nice. Dogs are great friends. Have you ever wondered why that is so?"

"Because they don't talk." She replied instantly.

"He keeps all the secrets I tell him to himself."

"Hmm, I see. Do you have a lot of secrets?"

"Some," she whispered, putting her fingers into her mouth to bite her fingernails nervously.

"Lilly, please stop doing that. It's going to make your nails look ugly."

Jasmine gave Bella a dirty look before she turned to Lilly again who was obviously trying to find another way to compensate her nervousness. He tiny hands fisted into the towel so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"But you don't want to tell us about your secrets, do you?"

She nodded her head and her brown eyes, the eyes that had exactly the same shade of milk chocolate like her mother's turned glassy.

"Lilly, please, tell mommy what's wrong."

"No, I won't. You made me see daddy although I didn't want to."

I felt Bella stiffen next to me and pulled her closer, rubbing up and down her forearm in small circles to calm her down a bit.

"Can you tell me why you didn't want to see your father or is that a secret?"

"It's a secret."

Lilly fumbled for something in the pockets of her jeans that instantly disappeared in the dog's snout.

"Did your daddy tell you that it's a secret?"

"No, he didn't but he's angry at me. He yelled at me when I spoke to him on the phone."

"Do you know why he was angry at you?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before she spoke up again, her voice so low that it was barely audible.

"Because I didn't want to change the code again,"

"The code? What kind of code?"

"For the alarm stuff that Uncle Emmett brought."

I closed my eyes for a moment to fight the unpleasant dizziness before my burning lungs reminded me that I had held my breath for too long.

"He said when I did it once I could do it again. It wouldn't make any difference."

"So you've changed the code before. Isn't that very difficult to do?"

She shook her head.

"You're like my daddy. He wouldn't believe me when I told him I know how to change the code. He thinks that I'm a little baby and too stupid to change it."

"But you didn't want to change the code again, did you? Do you want to tell me why?"

"Because I don't want to move to Alaska and I don't want to give Fido back to Auntie Rosie. She doesn't feed him enough cookies, because she thinks he's too fat."

"Lilly, I'm sure that your mother and Ali want to keep the dog. You don't need to worry about that."

"But when something happens, I'll have to move to Alaska to live with my daddy and I know that he won't allow me to take Fido with me. My daddy is scared of him."

"And you're scared of your daddy, aren't you?"

"Yes, because he's going to hurt my mommy when he comes back here and he said that…that…," she burst out into tears while her entire body trembled slightly.

Bella pulled her on her lap and started rocking her back and forth while the little girl in her arms sobbed against her shoulder. Tears started falling down her own cheeks.

"Oh please, honey, you have to tell us what he said to you." she croaked out, wiping her running nose on a tissue I handed her with shaking hands.

"He said that…that," her voice reached a hysterically high frequency before it cracked like a broken record.

"It's okay, Lilly." Jasmine told her, trying to make her voice sound light and cheerful, although the tensed expression on her face told a completely different story.

"You don't have to talk about if you don't want to. Sometimes it's not that easy to tell a secret to someone else. It's good that you have your dog to…,"

"Fuck you, Jasmine, we need to know what my stupid brother is up to. Can't you just...,"

"Just what? I'm just a psychologist and not some fucking FBI agent. And as much as I understand that you want to know…need to know, what your shithead of a brother told her, we sure as hell won't find out tonight. Can't you see that she's exhausted?"

XXXX

"I can't believe she managed to change the code of the security system. What a clever girl. I would totally hire her when she's old enough."

I growled and crossed my arms in front of my chest while he continued fumbling with the small metal parts on the table. Fixing cables and other stuff that looked more like a bomb to me than an alarm system.

"It's not funny, Emmett."

"I didn't say it was. Just that Lilly is clever. Kate had to explain the stupid alarm system to Bella for half an hour until she understood it and she still can't do it without the instructions."

"Maybe you should consider building these things with a child-proof lock?"

"Maybe we should consider teaching you how to defend yourself, because since Edward has obviously giving up his idea of sneaking into your house again, it's more likely he's going to show up somewhere when you don't expect it at all."

"Are you going to show me how to shoot?"

He sighed and shook his head.

"Definitely not, but I set up a meeting for you and Bella so that Kate can show you some self-defense stuff. It will give you some inner peace…at least I hope it will."

"Kay," I mumbled, while I tried not to think too much of the awful things my brother would manage to come up with.

Emmett cleared his throat nervously before he spoke up again.

"Can I ask you something? You and Bella…do you ever use toys?"

My face turned warm and I bet that its color equaled that of a ripe tomato.

"McCarthy, you are not honestly asking about our sex-life, are you?"

"Don't be such a prude, Tinker-Ali. I was just asking about the toys, not the dirty details about…"

He put his tongue between his fingers and grinned sheepishly.

"You are impossible. Why the hell do you want to know about toys?"

"Because I want to buy some for Rosie and there are so many out there that I can't decide what to buy."

"God, Emmett, this is so embarrassing. Can't you just ask someone else?"

"Whom should I ask, Riley perhaps? Look, this is really important for me."

"Oh Emmett, just ask Rose what she wants."

"She wants me…but I…I just can't…,"

I remembered the unpleasant conversation with my older sister I had about said subject before and raised one eyebrow in confusion.

"Why? Do you think she's fat? Just for the record, she's just that big right now because she's carrying your children."

"I don't think she's fat. She's the one who is comparing her ass to that of fourteen year old girls. I don't give a shit about that for I understand that she's not the sophomore girl I fell in love with anymore. And I like the woman she's now a lot better."

"She thinks that you think she's fat because you don't want to sleep with her."

"Of course, I want to…I just can't…I'm afraid that I would damage the babies and I can't risk that."

"Damage the babies? Are you kidding me?" I tried to suppress my amusement.

"I'm pretty sure that it's not possible to harm the babies while you're having sex."

"And you know that why; because you slept with so many pregnant women before? No, no, no…I won't risk anything. Not after everything we've been through the last eight years. But I understand that Rosie has some…well, you know what I mean…that's why I need to buy her some toys, preferably something small that vibrates or something like that."

"I can't believe you actually want to talk about toys."

"Who wants to talk about toys?" Rosalie asked me cheerfully before she hugged me and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Are you warm? You look a little flushed?"

"No, I'm good, thanks."

She kissed Emmett and twisted her hands into his curly hair.

"You didn't buy any more, did you? Jeez, Emmett, I told you that it's not necessary. We have already more than enough of that stuff."

"No, I didn't."

"Good, because we need to wash and sanitize all of them before we give them to the babies."

"Don't you think that you're overdoing, babe?"

Says the man, who is afraid of damaging the babies with his…arg, don't think about it Ali…

"Overdoing? Don't you know how many germs are on children's toys? And little children put everything into their mouth."

She pulled the stuffed animal Lilly had given to her out of a box with several others.

"That's honestly the ugliest teddy bear, I've ever seen." Emmett told her, shaking his head.

"All that glitter stuff, gives me eye-cancer."

Rosalie chuckled and turned around to fill the kitchen sink with some water.

"If it survives the cleaning process, we'll give it a try. Kids usually have a different taste than adults. Remember that pink Barbie house we bought for Lilly?"

"Hmm,"

There was a weird cracking noise when she dunked the teddy-bear into the water.

"Ouch!"

She dropped the soaking toy on the ground and inhaled sharply between her teeth.

"Ouch, damn it."

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Call my father." She croaked out, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs while her face turned paler and paler with every breath she took.

"What for? Are you sick?"

"No, you idiot, I'm pregnant. Ouch…damn it, McCarthy, call my father now!"

"Shouldn't we go to the hospital if you're not feeling well?"

"Ali, call Dad for me, my husband has obviously turned into someone mentally slow. Ouch…oh…ouch,"

"Rosie, I actually think that Emmett is right. We should bring you to the hospital."

XXXX

I wiped away some of the glistening sweat pearls from her forehead while I tried to remind myself why I had agreed on staying with her during the birth. I didn't know a thing about birthing babies and I highly doubt that I was going to be of any use for her.

"Can't you ask the nurse to give me some more painkillers? I don't think they're working at all."

"Babe, didn't you tell me that you wanted a natural birth?"

She growled and tried to sit up again, which didn't seem to work that well.

"Are you in labor or me? I get all the shitty parts in this…the in-vitro, the fat ass and now this here. So get yourself useful for once and get me some fucking meds before I consider cas…ouch…strating…ouch you."

"It's too late for medication, Rosalie." Dad told her when he entered the room, pulling down his mask to plant a kiss on her forehead, before he wrapped two fingers around her wrist to check her pulse.

"Shouldn't you be in surgery right now, dad?"

"It was cancelled because Dr. Bennett's idiotic patient didn't show up. Wonder what some people think we're doing here, this is a hospital and not some hair dresser where you can make up and cancel appointments as often as you want."

"Ouch, please, dad…can't you just tell the nurse to give me some…ouch."

He shook his head and took her hand in his to squeeze it gently while Emmett behind him turned almost green in the face.

"Give her something, what kind of shitty doctor are you?"

Rosalie's gynecologist walked in again and gave Carlisle a warm smile. God, she wasn't trying to flirt with him, was she?

"Mr. McCarthy, your wife is in labor and you're asking a cardiologist for advice? I'm afraid that's not really his specialty, but he's actually right about the pain medication. She didn't want any when she came here…,"

"Because it wasn't that bad when I came and none of you morons here told me that it would get worse. Damn it, dad…do something! Please…ouch…"

He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his arm around her neck.

"It's going to be over soon. You're doing great. Come on, try to take a few deep breaths…and…,"

"Are you fucking kidding me? This breathing crap is nothing but bullshit. It doesn't help at all."

"Rosalie, what kind of language is that?"

"If you don't like the way I'm talking feel free to leave."

H stood up again but she grabbed his hand and squeezed it so tightly that he cried out in pain.

"Stay, I didn't mean it like that. It's just…that…ouch…I'm kind of…scared."

"Of the pain?"

"That too, but I'm more afraid that I could screw this up. What if I'm going to be a bad mother?"

"It's a little late for thoughts like that, Mrs. McCarthy. You can start pushing, when I tell you to."

In the birth scenes I had watched in movies that sentence usually meant that the whole thing would be over in about one minute, but of course reality wasn't that kind. I was just glad that I didn't risk taking a look further down because Emmett's face turned even greener when he tried to look over the gynecologist's shoulder for a moment.

And then it finally happened and I waited, we all waited for the tiny blood covered baby to start screaming. Didn't they always scream, when they were born? Was something wrong? I exchanged a worried look with Carlisle, but then a low noise filled the air. Not really like a scream more like a little kitten that was trying to hiss at a tiger.

"He's fine, don't worry. Just a little small, but that's normal for twins. Plus they're born four weeks early."

She turned to Emmett, who had his face buried against the crock of Rosalie's neck.

"Mr. McCarthy, do you want to hold your son while your wife and I are trying to see what progress number two is making?"

"But he's so…tiny…what if I…break him?"

She chuckled and placed the baby into his arms.

"Most babies survive it, when the father holds them. You just have to be careful."

"Hmm,"

I wondered if he would probably faint right now, he still looked way paler than usual.

"Do you know how you want to name him?" I asked him, while I twisted one of the baby's blond curls around my fingers. It felt soft like…like nothing I had ever touched before.

"Tennessee," he mumbled while his eyes stayed focused on the tiny hand of the baby.

"Like the state? Are you sure about that?"

He nodded his head and sat down on the chair next to Rosalie.

"You're okay with the name, aren't you, babe?"

"I like Tennessee," she whispered so low that her voice was barely audible.

"It's just a little long perhaps,"

Another wave of pain rushed through her body, making her legs tremble. Carlisle snarled at the poor gynecologist who unlike most of his other colleagues didn't seem to be impressed by that at all.

"I hope you didn't buy too much toys with glitter stuff," she told Rosalie when she placed screaming baby number two on her chest.

"Most boys are not too fond of stuff like that…but who knows?"

The baby continued screaming, a lot louder than his first born brother. Who had ever thought that such a tiny baby could make such a noise?

"Hi there," Rosalie whispered.

"So that was you who always used to kick me?"

The baby chortled and when Emmett placed the other one into her arms, he instantly starting screaming again.

"Shhh, don't cry. Your brother wants to get to know your mother too."

"Give him back, I can hold them both."

She kissed the blond curls of the tiny infant who seemed a lot more content in her arms now.

"You don't have to be jealous of your brother, Tegan. Mommy loves you both the same."