[Disclaimer] SM owns everything Twilight. I own Lilly and the McCarthy twins.

[A/N] Welcome back to a brand new episode of WTHN. I'm thankful for those of you who keep reading and reviewing. Your support means more to me than you'll ever know.

This chapter here is dedicated to chaseherchiss for making an interesting suggestion concerning Edward's 'voice problem'.

**Chapter 88**

"An au pair girl, are you sure that Rosie will be okay with that?"

"I hope so. Emmett thinks it's a good idea."

"Me too," Ali told him, playing with a wisp of my chestnut hair.

"How old is the girl? Won't she feel lonely here so far away from her parents?"

"She has her uncle here and her cousin although I'm not sure if Benjamin isn't going to show her a lot of nonsense. That boy is still such a child, so completely careless…"

"Hmm,"

Carlisle placed the cold metal of the stethoscope on my chest and I cringed slightly from the sudden temperature difference.

"Please, tell me that she's going to be alright." She pleaded her father while he wrapped his hand around my wrist to check my pulse.

"Please…,"

He cleared his throat and stood up from the chair he had been sitting on.

"Mary Alice, you need to calm down a bit. Dr. O'Hara already told you that there is nothing the two of you can do but wait. Things like…like that happen. Your mother had a miscarriage between your sister and your brother. Maybe that's why she's so overly…caring when it comes to Edward."

"She's in Forks right now, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. I told her not to go. It doesn't help to improve his situation one tiny bit if she sits there in front of him sobbing her eyes out."

"I'm sorry." I whispered so low that my voice was barely audible.

"Not because Edward is in jail but because Esme is so miserable."

"Thanks, Bella. You don't have to be sorry. I'm the one who should have managed to do something about his mental issues when he was younger. But I didn't do it because I cared too much about what people would think. Who wants to admit that their son is sort of…crazy?"

Ali nodded her head and put one hand on Carlisle's shoulder.

"I should go now. In case your mother decides that she's going to speak to me again. She was so angry at me for telling her not to go to Forks that she turned off her cell."

"Dad, I'm sorry. If you want me to, I could call her and tell her to talk to you again."

"Not necessary. She'll come around. There's nothing that she couldn't forgive me. I mean she forgave me…you. So, I'm pretty sure she that she'll calm down about my attitude about the current Edward situation."

He sighed deeply and put his jacket back on, running his fingers through his silver highlighted blond hair.

"I'm so terribly worried about Bella and the baby. We don't want to lose it."

"Welcome to parenthood, Mary Alice. Get used to that feeling of being worried. It's going to be your companion now for a very long time."

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently before I planted soft kisses all over her knuckles.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"You should take Dr. O'Hara's advice with the bed rest serious. It's the best thing that you can do right now. Oh, and don't try to get too agitated."

"I'll try." I mumbled halfheartedly while he stuffed the rest of his equipment back into his doctor's bag.

"And I'll make sure." my pixie-like wife responded, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

"That's good to hear. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks," I responded before I leaned back against the fluffy pillows behind me and closed my eyes for a moment.

I heard the front door open and close again while Ali wiped my overheated face with a wet cloth.

"You heard him. No agitations in the next time for the two of you."

"I'm sorry, Ali. I hate being such a burden for you. It's not like you don't have enough other stuff to deal with right now. There's the whole mess with Edward and your new job."

"Please stop thinking about my brother. There is nothing we can do but wait for the court trial to come."

She poured me a glass of orange juice that I emptied in one big gulp.

"That's delicious."

"I'll get you more of it when I pick Lilly up from school."

I cleared my throat before I placed her hand underneath my belly button.

"I love you, Ali."

She kissed my mouth tenderly and put a wisp of my long hair behind my ear.

"I love you too, Bella. Please stop thinking of yourself as a burden. I'm the one who feels so...useless because I can't do anything for the two of you but sit here like a complete moron."

XXXX

My fingertips caressed the skin underneath my belly button while I nibbled on a few chocolate cookies on a plate next to me.

They're for you, not for me. I told the baby, circling my thumb over my abdomen. God, I was going to look like a whale in the next months.

Then I sighed deeply and whispered lowly.

"Promise me to be okay, will you? And I promise you not to complain anymore about gaining weight."

The phone started ringing and I grabbed it from the night stand.

"Swan,"

"Hello Bella. Are you allowed to speak to me now or is your little wife going to interrupt us again?"

"Hello to you too, Mike."

"Look, Bella, maybe I shouldn't have called you until we have more proof about the whole Charlie case. It's just; we've waited so long to make any progress in finding his murderess."

"I know, Mike. There is no one else that is so eagerly looking forward for you to find his killer than me."

I cleared my throat nervously before I spoke up again.

"Please, tell me everything you know, Mike. How did you find her?"

"Well, it's more like she found us."

"I don't think I understand."

"Does the name Anne Platt make any bells ring for you?"

"No, I've never heard it before. Anne Platt, is that her name?"

"We're not sure, if it's her real name. She refuses to talk to us or anyone else. I've never met such a stubborn person before."

"Why did she kill him? Did they have an affair or something like that?"

"You do actually know that we're talking about Charlie, don't you? The only woman he's ever been interested in was your crazy mother. He was a nice guy. Women aren't after the nice guys."

There was a bitter hint in his voice that I couldn't really place.

"How did you find this…Anne Platt anyway?" I asked him, biting my lower lip nervously until I tasted blood on the tip of my tongue.

"She showed up at the jail here and started throwing a tantrum in front of Officer Call because he told her that visitation hours were already over."

"Whom did she want to visit?"

"Your shithead of an ex-husband. Isn't that weird? No one came to see him apart from his lawyer and Lauren who acts as if she's working for the pope now."

"But how did you discover that the hair you found at the…," I had to swallow hard to keep the tears from falling.

"At the crime scene belonged to her?"

"Ever heard of this wondrously thing called the DNA?"

"Since when are you so sarcastically, Mike?"

"Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed right now. I'll call you again if I find out anything more."

I disconnected the call and took several deep breaths through my nose while I waited for the tears to come. It didn't happen. Maybe because I had already cried too much over the loss of my father, maybe because I knew that it wasn't good for the baby if I was sad all the time.

"I love you." I whispered softly, circling my fingertips over my belly.

"Please, be okay. I really need you to be okay because if you don't…it will break your momma's heart and mine too. Please be okay, please be okay. Will you?"

The dog barked downstairs and a few moments later he rushed into the bedroom and nuzzled his huge head against my lap.

Lilly's copper head appeared in the door frame and I cringed slightly when recognized that her eyes were all puffy and red.

"Sweetie, are you okay? What's wrong?"

She sighed deeply and turned to Ali who had wrapped one arm around her shoulder.

"Auntie Ali, do I have to tell her?"

"I'm afraid you have to, Lilly. Or do you want me to tell her?"

"Hmm,"

"Tell me what?"

"I don't have any school next week."

"Why in heaven's name are they closing in the middle of the semester?"

"No, the school is still open; it's just me and Jane that don't have any next week."

"Lilly…,"

She kneeled down next to the bed and buried her face in the fluffy fur of the dog as he would somehow be able to answer for her if she waited long enough.

"Please, try to stay calm, sweetheart. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? How can you manage to get detention in the first grade? Lilly, I swear to god, I won't let you see Jane outside school ever again if she keeps influencing you like that all the time. What the hell did the two of you do? Did you punch Alec again or something like that?"

"I didn't hit anyone and Jane only did it to defend me."

I put a finger underneath her tiny chin to make her look up at me again.

"That's good to hear. I mean that you didn't hit anyone. You know that I don't want you to."

Hesitantly she sat down on the edge of the bed while Ali stuffed some dry toast into the snout of the calf-sized dog.

"Ali, did you talk to her teacher about why she got detention for an entire week?"

"Yes, I did. And I actually think that it's our fault. We should have talked to that woman about the...well, about the situation we're living in."

"Excuse me, please? It's not her damn business how we're living here. How dare she…,"

"Bella, please try to stay calm. Everything will be okay. It's just a week. She won't miss too much."

"I don't care! This is not acceptable."

"Mommy, are you angry at me?" Lilly asked me worriedly.

"Yes, I am, but I'm angrier at your stupid teacher."

"Me too, mommy,"

"Why are you angry at her? Do you want to tell me about it? She didn't say anything rude to you, did she?"

"She wouldn't let me sign my drawing with my new name."

"Your new name?"

"I want to be a Swan like you and Auntie Ali. The baby will be a Swan too. I don't want to be the only one who's called Cullen. That's not fair."

Something cramped around my heart for a moment but then I pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"We'll see what we can do about that, sweetie." I told her, making a silent note to myself to talk to Zafrina about the name thing.

"Miss Young said that I have to put my real name on my drawing and not some fantasy name. She's so mean and when I started crying Jane jabbed the tip of her pen in Miss Young's hand."

"She did what?" God that little witch child was so weird. I really needed to make sure that she didn't influence Lilly all the time.

"Jane said that if our teacher gives me a reason to cry, she'll make sure that Miss Young has a reason to cry too."

"Oh Lilly, she shouldn't have done that. I bet her father won't be pleased that she got detention."

"But she did it for me. Can't you understand that? Oh mommy, Jane is my best friend because she's always protects me, no matter what."

I nodded my head and sighed deeply while I couldn't help but think about all the right things and all the wrong things people did to protect the people they cared for. For it was love that brought out the best and the worst in us…

XOXXOXXOXXOXXO

[A/N] Do you have any theories about Anne Platt? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so press the review button down there.