[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back everybody. Thanks for taking the time to read and review my little story here. It's your support that keeps me going.

This chapter here is dedicated to SOFisticated1 and MangekyoMasta510. Hope you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 84**

"Look at me," I whispered after a few awkward moments that felt like forever to me.

She didn't respond and that hurt me way more than the cruel, disgusting things she had told me just minutes ago. How could someone she cared for let something like that happen to her?

"Ali, please look at me." I repeated, taking her hand in mine to squeeze it gently. It would be okay touching her now, wouldn't it?

"I can't," her voice was barely audible and sounded completely tortured.

"Yes, you can." I mumbled, leaning forward to put a wisp of her spikey hair behind her ear. Then I cupped her face, that was white like chalk now, in my hand and wiped a few teardrops from her cheekbone.

"No, I can't." she murmured, her voice trembling from the fresh tears she was obviously trying to hold back.

"Why?" I stammered out, while I suddenly had to hold on the table next to me because an unpleasant wave of dizziness spread through me.

"Because, because…I'm so, I'm so…," she started hesitantly, searching for words to express what she was feeling now and I realized that most of all it was shame. I didn't want her to feel that way, ever.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer, planting several kisses on the curls of her hair that smelled like apples and cinnamon like always. It was then that I realized that she was still mine, would always be mine, no matter what had happened before we met or even what would happen in the future.

"I love you and I'm so sorry that they, that she hurt you like that." I whispered finally, before I collapsed on the ground next to her. Damn it, why was I feeling so dizzy. This wasn't normal for this state of my pregnancy. Or maybe it was just my nerves, hopefully.

"Bella?" her voice sounded more worried now and less pained.

"I'm just feeling dizzy,"

She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and cleaned her nose before she wrapped two of her dainty fingers around my wrist to check my pulse.

"That's completely unnecessary."

"Leave that to me."

"Please, Ali, it's just some dizziness. I feel good apart from that. Can we focus on you now?"

"You think that I can focus on anything else when I know that you aren't feeling well?"

She stood up and rinsed a cloth under the faucet before she pressed it gently against my neck. The wet, cold felt amazingly pleasant against my overheated skin. Why the hell was it so terribly warm inside here?

We should get you to the hospital, just to let them have a look at you." she stated finally.

"That's unnecessary."

"Don't be so stubborn. I just want to make sure that everything is okay with the two of you."

"And what about you?"

"I'm fine."

"I highly doubt that."

Slowly I stood up again from the ground and leaned back against the counter behind me.

"I hate them for what they did to you. How can people suggest something as disgusting as that to you? I mean how old were you when that happened? Eighteen? Nineteen?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does. They obviously managed to make you feel guilty about this crap and I don't understand why. It's so clearly not your fault what happened back then."

"I could have said no, you know. I should have but the truth is that I was willing to do anything to keep me from losing her. She was the only person I had over there."

"Hmm, but you did stop and that's all that counts, Ali,"

The dizziness came back again, stronger this time and I had to close my eyes for a moment to keep me from falling over again.

"I love you." I whispered hoarsely, resting my face against her shoulder to plant a soft kiss on the crock of her neck.

"I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

My legs felt too weak to remain standing and so I quickly sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and buried my face between my knees.

"Still dizzy?"

"A bit,"

"Okay, we're definitely going to the hospital."

"What if they make me stay there? I have to work later."

She kneeled down in front of me and planted kisses all over my face before she gently pressed her lips against mine. Her tongue caressed my lower tenderly until I parted my lips enough to let her slip into my mouth. A wave of lust spread through my body and I twisted my hands into her hair to pull her closer.

"Not now," she whispered against my trembling lips when she pulled back a few moments later.

"I need to make sure that the two of you are alright first."

I nodded my head and sighed deeply, secretly thinking that it was way more important for me that she was okay, but when she rested her head against the crock of my neck, I knew she would be.

XXXX

I cringed slightly when I felt the cold metal of the stethoscope on my skin.

"Hmm,"

"She's okay, isn't she? Please say she's okay, Dad." Ali pleaded, squeezing my hand so tightly that I feared she would break my knuckles. Who knew that my delicate wife had so much strength?

He cleared his throat nervously before he spoke up, trying to make his voice sound casual and calm. It was his doctor-voice and it annoyed me more than anything.

"Her blood pressure is too high that's why she's feeling dizzy but apart from that she's fine. I'll let Dr. Bennett do an ECG too, just to make sure."

"That's good. Why is her blood pressure too high?" Ali asked him curiously, while she continued playing with a wisp of my hair.

"That's normal for some pregnant women. Make sure she rests enough, than she should be good."

"Grandpa, is my mommy sick?" Lilly asked him, biting her fingernails nervously.

"A little bit, but you don't have to worry about it, sweetie."

He placed one of the earphones of the stethoscope over her head and pressed the other end to my chest again.

"Can you hear that?"

"Is that my mommy's heart?"

"Yes, honey and that is…,"

He placed the metal plate on my abdomen.

"That's the heartbeat of the baby."

"Why is it beating so fast?" she wanted to know.

"That's normal; it will slow down a bit when it grows."

"Grandpa, do you know how the babies get into the mommies?"

"Ahm, I think that you should better ask that your mother."

"But she doesn't really know it and you're a doctor and are supposed to know everything."

Someone knocked on the door to his office and a young nurse with huge fearful eyes appeared in the doorframe.

"Dr. Cullen? Mr. Popescu is here for his appointment. Do you want me to tell him that you need some more time?"

"No, it's okay. Bring him in."

When Stefan entered the room I realized that he looked way better than a few weeks ago. Angela had told me that they had changed something about his medication. It was a test series and Stefan, who was scared shitless of getting surgery, had happily agreed to give it a try.

"Oh, hi there, I didn't know that you had company."

"Hello, Stefan. You look good."

"Thanks, an old man does what he can. How are you feeling, Bella? Is everything okay with the baby?"

I nodded my head and wondered if Benjamin had accidentally told him about the baby's heritage. No, that couldn't be. Stefan was probably just being nice.

"Stefan?"

"Yes, Lilly?"

"Do you know how the baby gets into the mommy? Nobody seems to know and I really want to find out."

"Hmm, that's difficult to explain, Lilly."

"Is it a secret?"

"No, it isn't. Look when two people really love each other…that love sometimes makes a baby."

"Because they wish for it?"

"Kind off,"

"Okay, you seem to know more about it than the others."

He chuckled and pulled some candy out of his jacket that immediately disappeared in Lilly's mouth.

"Your granddaughter is a pretty girl." He told Carlisle, who had started reading a file on his desk.

"Yes, she is. I'm glad to have her. Grandchildren are way more fun to have than kids of your own. Do you want to see a picture of the twins too? They seem to grow every time I see them."

"Very cute," Stefan mumbled when Carlisle handed him the silver-framed photograph.

"If you like children so much than you should consider having some with your wife, she's still young enough." Carlisle suggested.

He frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Thank you; I know very well how old my wife is. We don't want to have kids. It's better that way. I don't want her to…, well never mind."

XXXXX

I hated it to be treated as if I was sick and so I wasn't too happy when Ali decided to play my personal nurse when we were back home.

She placed a pile of pillows behind me before she made me lay down on the couch.

"That's unnecessary. Please, you embarrass me when you make such a fuss about me."

A chuckle left her throat before she leaned over and put a wisp of my hair behind my ear. Then she twisted all of it around each other until it was a messy knot at the back of my head.

"I like taking care of you, of both of you."

She pulled my shirt up and planted a kiss right underneath my belly button.

"Are you hungry?" she whispered, sending a tingly feeling through me when her cool breathe tickled my skin.

I giggled and pulled her up again.

"Are you asking me or the baby?"

"Both of you,"

"I'm not really hungry. It's not necessary that I stuff down too many calories. I'm already fat enough."

"You're not fat. When will you finally stop thinking that?"

She started caressing my abdomen in feather light movements.

"I love you, like the way you are."

"But I'm going to get bigger."

"I know. I've heard that's normal when a woman is pregnant."

"What if I can't get the weight off afterwards?"

"Stop worrying about that, it doesn't matter to me."

But it matters to me, I thought nervously, playing with the spikey ends of her hair. Then I cleared my throat before I spoke up.

"I think that you should take the job. If you refuse to do it, it's like you give this James idiot some secret power over you. I mean, there are so many other photographers around there. Can't you just tell Didyme that you don't want to work with him?"

"He has a contract with her too." she mumbled, standing up from the edge of the couch. Then she walked into the kitchen to return a few moments later with a glass of orange juice in her hands.

"Drink that. You need more vitamins."

"You really would have been a good doctor, you know?"

"Probably, although I look not that good in green, it's not really my color."

I took a sip from the glass and took her hand in mine.

"I like it better when you do what you love and you really love designing clothes don't you?"

She nodded her head.

"About this shithead having a contract with Didyme, maybe we can do something about it. We could call Zafrina to ask her if there's anything that we can do."

"I don't know."

"But I do. This chance is too great to let it get wasted. We'll find a way to make this work for you."