[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back my lovely readers to another episode of your very favorite soap-fanfic.

This chapter here is dedicated to SiempreCrystleClear and mydsgirl. Hope you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 78**

"Open," she instructed, letting the cold thermometer slip between my lips.

"D…f…t..ff..i…nece…ss..ary?"

She giggled and nodded her head before she pulled it out of my mouth.

"Trust me, I know exactly what I'm doing, Bella."

"You make me feel like some medical project."

"It is kind of. Your temperature looks pretty good by the way. I think it's not long until…,"

"Auntie Ali, are you and mommy playing doctor together?"

"Hmm, yes, honey, kind of." She tried to suppress a giggle.

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

"I don't understand why he hired Lauren as his secretary. She and I haven't spoken more than two words to each other since we finished School."

Ali wrapped her arms around me and buried her face into the messy curls of my long chestnut hair.

"Bella, we need to stop thinking about it all the time. You need to stop thinking about it all the time. Edward probably chose her because he thought it would piss you off when he hired someone that you knew."

I sighed deeply and tried to start reading the contract that Zafrina had showed me earlier over again. It still didn't make any sense to me. How could I have been so stupid to sign that damn thing without reading it beforehand? I guess, I had been far too busy with the whole pregnancy and mourning my father thing.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Is Fido going to die? He still doesn't want to eat anything of the stuff I'm trying to feed him."

"No, sweetie, he's not dying." I told her quickly, when I realized the horrified expression on her tiny face.

At least I hope he won't. That would make her so miserable. Should I prepare her for the case it did happen? No, I couldn't do that. She would freak.

"Maybe the dog just isn't very hungry right now. Look, when you're sick, you don't want to eat either."

"Hmm,"

She kneeled down next to him and starting stroking the fluffy fur under his chin. A low purr that was barely audible left his throat.

"I hate Daddy." she stated suddenly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"It's his fault that Fido is sick now."

"I know, sweetie. You still shouldn't hate your daddy. It's just not right."

"Is Daddy going to stay in jail?"

I nodded my head and sighed deeply before I spoke up again.

"Yes, he will. He won't come back here."

"Are we going to live here now?"

"No, Lilly, we're going back to Seattle as soon as Fido is stable enough to travel."

"Good, because I'm missing Jane and my room back home. It's so boring here."

"Benjamin and Angela will come here to visit us today to bring some of your toys and other stuff."

"Are they going to stay with us?"

"No, sweetie; have you forgotten that I told you that Angela's mommy lives here. They are going to stay at her house."

"But why can't we all stay here and have a slumber party together. Jane says…,"

The doorbell rang and I stood up to open the door, instantly cursing myself for the hint of fear that spread through me. Edward can't hurt you anymore, I tried to calm myself.

"Hi, Bella," Mike greeted me, trying to make his voice sound cheerful. He almost sucked as much at pretending something than I did.

"Hi, Mike. How's it going?"

"Jess won't let me see Jamie because she's angry at me for letting her BFF show up at the station."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't have to be. It's not your fault. I just feel bad for the little one. He doesn't understand what's going on between me and his mother."

"Hmm, I see. It's difficult for Lilly too."

"What is difficult for me to understand?" she asked me, when we entered the living room.

Damn it. She heard that.

"That mommy and daddy are angry at each other; well and all the other things that happened in the last time."

She wrapped her arms around Fido's head and planted a kiss on his snout.

"Adults are weird sometimes, aren't the, Fido?"

"What? Who told you that?"

"Jasmine."

I wondered what other kind of crap she was telling her during her so-called therapy lessons. Maybe it would confuse her more than she already was.

"Did Lauren tell you anything that could be useful for us?" I asked Mike while I sat down next to Ali on the couch and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"Not that much. She said that she got the job at Edward's office over an agency. He was obviously thrilled that she's from Forks. Maybe he didn't know that the two of you don't get along that well."

"And now?"

"We can't do anything about her telling her boss where you were. She didn't know about the restraining order and he told her that he wanted to surprise you."

"Fucking liar, I'm so glad that Ali managed to knock him out."

"What is Lauren going to do now, will she go back to work for Jessica's dad?"

"She said that she wants to continue working for Edward. He paid her more than she makes here in four months. Well, her new boss is in jail and won't come out anytime soon, so I guess it's really easy money for her. Oh and Bella, we can't do anything about him entering this house because technically, I mean on paper, it's his."

"But he broke the restraining order. Edward is not supposed to…,"

"Yeah, I know. Your lawyer and the police from Seattle sent me the papers. It's because of that that he's still behind bars."

"Will he get transferred to Seattle?"

"What for? Don't you think we can handle him here? He's just an aggressive asshole. I wonder how…well, never mind, it's none of my business, Bella."

"No, I want to know. What can't you understand? That I married him?"

"No, that's easy to understand. He's rich like shit and he's what woman call 'good-looking'."

"Mike…"

"I'm not judging. We all fall in love with the wrong person from time to time. What I don't understand is how you could sign the house over to him? You know how much it meant to Charlie."

"I don't remember signing the damn contract. God, when Charlie died I was so…shocked and Edward was always around me. He was so…well; it felt protective to me back then."

XXXX

"So, this is where you grew up." Benjamin stated walking around in the small kitchen. His fingertips touched one of the yellow painted cabinets before he turned to us again.

"It's cozy. The house, I mean. But this town is such a backwater. I kind of understand why you and Ela didn't want to stay here."

"Hmm,"

"How's your father?" I asked him, pulling out a bottle of orange juice from the fridge to pour him a glass.

"He's fine. At least that is what he's telling us. Ela is trying to convince to have that surgery but he's stubborn. He doesn't want to be cut open. I guess he's just scared because of all the crap my mother went through."

"Probably," I mumbled while my fingertips caressed the spikey ends of Ali's short hair.

She cleared her throat nervously before she spoke up.

"Look, we don't have much time before Angela comes back with Lilly and we really wanted to talk to you again."

"Talk to me about what?"

"About the donor thing," I stumbled out, instantly trying to avoid eye-contact with him.

"Oh that,"

"Yes, that." Ali stated while she sat down on my lap and wrapped her arms around me.

"We really want you as the donor for our baby."

"You already told me that, Ali. And you also know my opinion on the whole subject."

I nodded my head and sighed deeply.

"We're really sorry about the way our conversation about it went last time. We should have thought better about the way that would make you feel."

"And now?"

"We thought that it would be good if we talked about it again. You tell us what you expect…or what you want and we'll try to figure out how we can make it work."

"Ali and you, the two of you really want this baby, don't you?"

"Yes, we do. It means so much to us. We really want to start a family together."

"What are you going to tell him or her when the child asks about the father?"

"The truth of course," Ali stated, taking his hand in hers to squeeze it gently.

"Please, say, yes. It would mean so much to us."

"Are you going to let me see the baby when I want to?"

"You can visit the baby whenever you want to but it is going to live with us."

"Kay, that's fine with me. It's not that we have enough space back home for a toddler. My father would probably freak if I showed up with an infant…,"

"Your father would freak about what?" Angela asked him curiously, when she and Lilly entered the kitchen. Fido immediately turned to the bowl of water at the other side of the kitchen floor.

"He ate some grass while we were at the park. Isn't that weird? I told him not to do that. He's a dog and not a cow."

"Hmm,"

"Benjamin, what did you do to make your father freak? Jeez, I already told you that you should try not to provoke him all the time. Carlisle said that…,"

"I did not make him freak. Don't worry. I know exactly what Carlisle told us about his heart. Have you forgotten that I was there during that conversation?"

"No, I haven't. You seemed to have found that part when your father compared the surgery to Frankenstein's methods extremely amusing."

"Oh, come on, Ela. You can't tell me that the way Carlisle described the whole electro-shocking the heart afterwards didn't remind you of a horror movie too."

"You are impossible. I'm worried sick and you're making fun about the whole thing."

"I'm worried too."

"You don't look too worried to me."

"Because I know that everything is going to be fine once he had the surgery. I keep telling me that all the time."

"Hmm,"

"Lilly, sweetie, you look tired. Do you want to lie down a bit before we eat?"

She nodded her head and turned to Angela.

"Are you coming with me? You tell the best stories apart from Jasmine."

As soon as she was out of the room, I grabbed my hand around Benjamin's wrist.

"Are you in now?"

"That's a strange way of saying it, but yes, I'm in. Tell me when you want to handle this whole…baby making project and I'll be ready."