[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] This chapter here is dedicated to Shelley421 and Madmum. Hope, you'll enjoy!

**Chapter 82**

"It's green," she stated, turning the small plastic stripe around in her fingers.

"What do you mean, it is green? It's not supposed to be green."

"But it's green."

I splashed some water on my face and twisted my hair into a ponytail. When I checked my reflection in the mirror I realized that I looked horrible. But what could you expect at 6 A.M. in the morning?

"You're still tired, aren't you?" she asked me when she kneeled down next to me on the bathroom floor.

I nodded my head and put one of her short curls behind her ear. She looked lovely as always. Even with her hair not done and without any makeup, she was still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. What a miracle that this amazing, gorgeous being had chosen me above all others…

"Bella?"

"Hmm,"

"It's still green and I don't think the color is going to change anymore."

I grabbed the instructions and read through them again.

"It says nothing about the stripe turning green. Blue is negative and pink positive but green….Are you sure it's green?"

"Of course, I'm sure. Just look."

She handed me the stripe and I realized that it as in deed green, grass green without the slightest hint of blue or pink.

"See, it's green. Maybe the test isn't working properly."

"We should have bought the other one, that with the nurse on the box. It made a way more professional impression to me."

"I bought that one when I had Lilly. It gave me two very secure weeks until I suddenly vomited my breakfast into my handbag."

"Hmm,"

"We can go to the hospital and let them do a test there."

"Fine, that's good. When can we go there?"

"At a decent time, Ali, it's just a stupid pregnancy test and not an emergency."

She cupped my face between her dainty hands and planted soft kisses all over my face.

"I'm sorry that I woke you up so early. I know that you don't really like getting up that soon."

"It's okay. Can we have some coffee now?"

She shook her head and leaned forward to kiss my mouth very lightly.

"No coffee for you. Do you want hot chocolate or something like that?"

I chuckled and twisted my hands into her hair.

"I have severe problems of functioning without coffee."

"How did you do that when you had Lilly?"

"There was no one around to tell me that told me what to eat and drink. And voila she still turned out healthy and fine."

"Are you telling me that I'm overreacting?"

"No, it just shows that you care."

There was a shy knock on the bathroom door before Lilly's copper head appeared in the doorframe.

"Did I sleep in?"

"No, honey, it's still early. Go back to sleep."

"Why are you both together in the bathroom?"

"We couldn't sleep anymore."

God, it was so embarrassing how much I sucked at the whole lying thing.

Ali cleared her throat nervously and stood up to run her fingers through Lilly's hair.

"Do you want to help me make breakfast for all of us?"

She nodded her head and walked around in the bathroom until her eyes caught sight of the small box that was standing on the basin.

Slowly she started reading what was written on top of it.

"Pre…preg..., that's such a long word. Mommy, what is that?"

"Nothing, sweetie,"

I grabbed the box and threw it into the trash.

"I want to know,"

"Sweetie, it's nothing. Now go with your aunt and help her with the breakfast."

She turned around and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Then she started nibbling on her lower lip.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"When am I finally old enough to use tampons?"

"What for? Ahm, maybe when you're twelve or something like that."

"But that's so long. I want to use some now."

"What for, Lilly?"

Please, I don't want to have that kind of conversation with her now, or in the next ten years. No, that wasn't even true. I didn't want to have that conversation with her ever.

"Come with me, sweetie. We'll give your mother some time to wake up."

"Auntie Ali, is something wrong?"

"No, honey, everything is fine. Don't worry."

Ali lifted her up and I fought the urge to tell her to stop carrying her around all the time. She was tall for her age and probably too heavy for her.

I wrapped my arms around her and tried to pull Lilly on my hip.

"Give her to me. She's too heavy for you."

"No, it's okay. You're the one who should be careful."

I planted a kiss on my daughter's hair before they walked out of the room and I remained there for several minutes. My hand still wrapped around the stupid test and waited for the things to come.

XXXX

She parked the car in front of the hospital and turned off the engine before she leaned over to me and planted a kiss on my mouth. I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her closer to me. My heart skipped a beat when the tip of her tongue swirled between my lips.

Someone honked next to us but I tried to ignore it. There were so many idiots around that seemed to see a couple of two women as some sort of invitation to god-knows what kind of sick things.

We entered the waiting hall of the hospital where it was once again terribly crowded and so we just sat down on the edge of a small plastic table that squeaked underneath me.

"Mary Alice? What are the two of you doing here? You're not feeling sick again, are you?"

Carlisle asked her worriedly and wrapped one hand around her wrist to check her pulse, while I somehow hoped that his pager would go on so that he would have to leave. Of course, I wasn't that lucky.

"Dad, I'm good. We're just here for some test…"

"What kind of test?"

"It's nothing. Don't you have work to do? Some crappy hearts to fix or stuff like that?"

He chuckled and put a wisp of her hair behind her ear.

"One of my surgeries was cancelled so I have some time to spare. Do you want to tell me why you're here?"

"It's nothing."

"You go to the hospital because of nothing?"

"Dad, please, this is embarrassing."

"I'm a doctor and you can trust me when I say that there is nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I highly doubt that."

"Hmm, whatever, if you prefer spending the entire day in this hall where you could catch all kinds of infections…,"

Ali's face next to me paled a few shades and I squeezed her hand in an attempt to tell her without words that everything would be alright.

"We are here for a pregnancy test." she mumbled, her voice so low that it was barely audible.

"For one of you?" he raised one eyebrow in confusion.

I nodded my head and my face blushed into three different shades of red.

He waved one of the nurses that were walking around to us and whispered something into her ear.

"Go with her, she's going to make the test for you."

XXXX

Ali seemed to be really worried about the whole infection risk that Carlisle had told her about. At least it was the only reason that I could think of that would make her spend almost an hour in her father's office with me instead of waiting for the test result in the hall.

"I'm sorry," he stated after a few awkward moments of silence.

"I don't think I understand."

He sighed deeply and took Ali's hand in his. Then he cleared his throat nervously before he continued.

"I'm sorry about all the things that your brother has done to you…I knew that he was jealous of you and I did nothing against that when I could."

"Dad, I don't think, that jealousy is Edwards main problem right now."

"Probably, but still…if I had done something against it when it was still possible, it would have saved us all from a lot of trouble."

"Maybe you should have better told me the truth about my heritage sooner?"

"Yes, maybe…but the truth is that I was scared and ashamed…not of you, but of the way that you came into my life...,"

"Dad, I…,"

A young nurse rushed into his office and handed him a file before she was gone as soon as she had come. The poor girl seemed terribly stressed. Carlisle flipped the file open and shook his head.

"I assume that the two of you planned this. So congrats are probably in order."

"The test is positive?" Ali's voice raised two octaves before she wrapped her arms around my middle and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Yes, it is. Are you going to tell me how the two of you managed to make a baby? No, forget it. It's probably better if I don't know. This is really weird."

Weird, probably but at least it was real and when I saw the happy look on my wife's face I knew that it was not only real but good too.

XXXX

She rested her head against my belly and a low moan escaped my throat when her fingertips caressed the skin in smooth movements.

"Shhh, I can't hear anything."

"Ali, the only thing that you're going to hear down there is my empty stomach. I'm hungry like a wolf."

The dog next to us whimpered and raised his head.

"Seems like you're not the only one who's hungry now," she stated cheerfully and stood up from the couch.

"Come with me, Fido. We'll try to find something for you in the kitchen."

He followed her and almost managed to knock a glass that was standing on the table off with his tail.

When they were gone my hands automatically fell to my abdomen as if somehow it would be possible for me to feel anything down there. It was ridiculous. I wouldn't be able to feel anything for the next months.

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

"Didyme?"

She smiled and I tried not to stare too much at her now bright blonde hair.

"Hello Bella, is Ali home too? She's not answering her cell."

She followed me into the living room and sat down on the couch. I wondered how much the sapphire ring on her middle finger would cost. Probably way more than everything I would ever own in my life.

"Ali? You've got a visitor!"

My pixie-like wife rushed out of the kitchen and wiped some flour from her cheek.

"Didyme? Oh, it's so nice that you came by. Is everything okay with the dresses I made for you?"

She nodded her head and gave Ali a warm smile.

"They were lovely, my dear. In fact they're the reason why I came here today."

"Do you want me to make another one for you?"

"Not exactly,"

She searched for something in her handbag.

"I want you to work for me, as my personal designer for my new fashion line."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely, I talked to a photographer when I was at the opening of a gallery. He agreed with me that we shouldn't let your talent get wasted anymore. Then he showed me some of his work and I just knew that the two of you would work perfectly together."

I felt her stiffen next to me. Was she nervous or something like that? This was good news after all. Wasn't that what she had hoped for? So, why was she so tensed now?

"I don't really know what to say, Didyme."

"How about just saying yes? Or are you worried about the financial aspect of our agreement. I assure you that it will be very gracious."

Didyme pulled a tablet out of her handbag and handed it to her. She quickly read through it and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Why? Are you crazy? How can you say no to this? Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes, but…I…I…I can't do it."

"Why? Look, if this is about the baby…,"

"It has nothing to do with that. Please stop asking."

"No, I want to know."

Didyme stood up from the couch and cleared her throat again.

"I'll leave this here for you. Call my office in case you change your mind."

"She will." I assured her when I guided her out of the house.

"What in heaven's name was that?" I asked Ali when I returned to the living room.

"Please, stop asking. I just can't do it." her voice was trembling and I kneeled down in front of her.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Don't you want to design clothes anymore?"

"Of course, I want to."

"Then why don't you want to work for her?"

"I can't tell you. Can't you just accept that and go over with it?"

Then to my immense surprise she started crying and I pulled her closer so that she could sob against my shoulder.

"You're scaring me. Why won't you tell me what's wrong with that job offer?"

"Nothing, it's really nothing. Just forget it. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

I sighed and started rubbing her back in small circles until the sobbing finally subsided. Maybe it was just her nerves. She was new to this whole becoming a mom thing and maybe she was scared that she wouldn't be able to handle that and the new job on top of it.

Whatever it was she was afraid of, I would help her to overcome those fears, because I didn't want her to miss anything of the things she wanted in her life…