[Disclaimer] Last time I checked SM isn't planning on giving up her copyright on the Twilight Saga.

[A/N] Welcome back to another episode of your very favorite Twilight soap aka fan-fiction. I'm totally blown away by the response for the last chapter. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to leave a review. It really means a lot to me.

This chapter here is dedicated to secrets87 and megster1992. Hope you'll enjoy.

#FAQ

What's an Au pair?

Well, an Au pair is a young girl (or a boy) who lives in another country for a limited period of time (usually a year or something like that) to learn the language by living in a family of her guest land and helping with the kids.

**Chapter 90**

Ali's POV

"Are there only complete incompetent morons working at that damn police station down there?" Zafrina snarled into the receiver while she continued typing texts into her silver colored cell.

"Fine,"

"Yeah, it's okay. When they should call me? Two hours ago. Jeez, how long can it take to send a goddam fax from one police station to another?"

She disconnected the call and sighed deeply before she turned to me again.

"You're not going to faint now, are you? Both of you are white like…chalk."

Bella sniffed and pulled a tissue out of her pocket to clean her nose. She had cried so much in the last hours that her eyes were red and swollen now.

"I can't believe that this is true. It can't be true. It can't be true."

I hope it's not true, I thought, nibbling my lower lip until I tasted blood on the tip of my tongue.

How would we be able to cope with this, if it turned out to be true? What if….oh god, what if….

Jasmine cleared her throat and wrapped her arms around my shoulder when she sat down next to me on the couch. I was so exhausted that I didn't even manage to tell her to keep her hands to herself because I knew that Bella hated it when she saw her touching me.

"Breathe, Ali, and stop biting your lip. The situation isn't going to get better if you get a panic attack now."

"She's right, Ali. We need to talk to your mother first before we can make any assumptions." Zafrina reminded me. I was glad that she managed to stay so calm, having her here was a true blessing.

"But they found her hair…," I started hesitantly, my voice trembling slightly. This was worse than any nightmare I had ever had before. At least a nightmare was something that ended when you woke up again. But this here would probably never end.

My hands moved down on the sides of Bella's body until I found the roundness of her belly. How could we bring an innocent child into this whole mess?

"Mommy, why are Jasmine and Zafrina still here?" Lilly asked her mother, rubbing her eyes when she walked down the stairs.

"Honey, please go to your room and try to sleep. It's really late."

"But I'm not tired."

She started biting her fingernails nervously and sat down on the first step.

"Zafrina, are you and Jasmine going to sleep here tonight?"

"No, sweetie, we're just waiting for…something and then we'll go home."

"What are you waiting for?" she asked her curiously.

"Lilly, please go to your room." Bella repeated exasperated, slowly sitting down on the couch.

"But I'm thirsty,"

"I'll get her something." I whispered, standing up from the couch. Carefully I lifted Lilly up and carried her into the kitchen, relieved that I had found something to do apart from the nerve-wracking waiting.

"Are you and mommy angry at each other?" Lilly asked me worriedly while she sipped on the glass of milk I had poured her from the fridge.

"Of course not, sweetie; what makes you think that?"

"Mommy cried and yelled and then you yelled too."

"We shouldn't have done that, Lilly. Look, sometimes…adults are…well, sometimes things are complicated for adults."

"I don't think I understand."

"You will, when you're older."

"Hmm,"

"Are you going to go back to sleep now?" I asked her, putting a small wisp of her copper curls behind her ear.

She nodded her head and walked out of the room while I put the empty glass into the dish washer before I returned to the living room.

Zafrina's cell started vibrating and she quickly flipped it open to read the new text.

"The papers are here." She mumbled so low that it was barely audible and reached for the cup of coffee on the table.

Jasmine grabbed it and shoved the bottle with the water over to her. The way they behaved around each other was starting to get a little bit weird.

"It's nice to see how much my health seems to concern you, Miss Whitlock."

"I thought it would be best if I try to keep you from getting caffeine rush or something like that. You might need your brain cells working correctly."

"My brains works best when I'm awake, Miss Whitlock."

XXXX

It was weird seeing the person I had known as my mother for my entire life sitting in front of me like this. Her heart-shaped face was so close that I would be able to nudge my forehead against hers if we hadn't been separated by the thick Plexiglas window.

I wondered if she was going to talk to me at all. She hadn't spoken one single word to Dad and Rosalie when they had visited her earlier this morning.

"Mary Alice, you shouldn't be here right now."

I cringed slightly and dropped the entire content of my handbag on the floor.

"Mom…," I mumbled, pressing my hand against the cold glass in front of me.

"You shouldn't be here. Please go home."

"No," I whispered hoarsely.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened."

"Mary Alice, please….I can't tell you anything. It's better for you, if you don't get involved with this here. It's probably going to get ugly."

"Mom, just tell me that you didn't do what they think you did." I pleaded her, fisting my hands so tightly that my nails cut painfully into the skin of my palm. This pain was way better for me to endure than the other…

"I can't do that, Mary Alice."

"Does that mean it's true?" My voice raised two octaves, sounding way too shrill now in my own ears.

Her lips twitched for a moment before she stared down at her folded hands in her lap.

"Mom, please tell me this isn't true. The woman who raised me isn't a murderess."

She sighed and started biting her carefully manicured fingernails for a few moments before she raised her head again.

"You were such a dear child, Mary Alice." she whispered, her voice trembling from the tears she was desperately trying to hold back.

"How could I not love you? I just wished that we hadn't lied to you about your…real mother for so long. Carlisle wanted to tell you when you turned sixteen but I talked him out of it."

"Dad wanted me to know?" I asked her skeptically.

She nodded her head and wiped a single tear from her cheekbone.

"I couldn't let him do that. You were already so confused because of your…well because of your interest in other girls. And I felt like I needed to protect you from the truth. A good mother always tries to protect her kids."

"Mom, please. We don't have to talk about this now."

"Yes, we do."

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes for a moment to fight the unpleasant dizziness. It wasn't good for my stupid heart if I got agitated like this.

"I was so jealous." she whispered, moving the fingertips of her right hand over the Plexiglas.

"Of whom?"

"Your birth mother, everything seemed to be so incredibly easy for her. She gave you away and didn't look back one single time."

That's not true, I thought bitterly. She wanted me back. I have to believe that she wanted to have me back or it's going to break my heart. How can a woman not want to have her own child back?

"Do you wish that you hadn't agreed to let me stay in your family?" I asked her hesitantly.

"No, I don't. I could never regret that. Not if I lived for a thousand years or more."

I tasted something salty on my tongue and realized that I had started to cry too.

"Mom, please… just tell the police that you didn't kill Bella's father. I know that you didn't do it."

Her lips twitched again and she pulled out a tissue to clean her running nose.

"Can you do me a favor?"

Automatically I nodded my head.

"Tell Bella that I'm so sorry about everything."

"Does that mean it's true?"

She took a deep breath before she spoke up again.

"It means I'm sorry and that's all that I can tell you."

I stood up from the plastic chair that squeaked slightly underneath me.

"Wait. There something more. Please, tell your sister not to come here anymore. The girl has enough to do with handling the twins right now."

"Rose is worried about you too."

"The only thing she should worry about right now, are Tegan and Tennessee. A good mother puts her children first and that's exactly how I raised all of you too."

XXXX

"Ali, please try to calm down." Zafrina told me while Bella wrapped her arms around me so tightly that she knocked the breath out of me for a moment. I gasped for air and she loosened her grip around my waist a bit.

"Did I hurt you?" she whispered into my ear, her breathe tickling the skin on my neck.

I took her hand in mine and started rubbing small circles all over her wrist. Her chocolate eyes met mine and when I saw my own, tortured looking face staring back at me, I knew that we were okay. That she still loved me, would always love me no matter what was going to happen.

"She didn't do it." I mumbled, resting my head against Bella's shoulder.

"Ali, I hate to tell you this. But things don't look too good for Esme." Zafrina stated hesitantly.

"I don't believe that Esme could kill anyone." Jasmine mumbled, playing with the rubber band around her left wrist.

"What you believe or what you don't believe doesn't have much weight in court."

"Zafrina, stop talking like a fucking…like a fucking lawyer. It drives me crazy."

"I'm sorry, if you don't like being told the truth, Jasmine."

"Please, could the two of you stop your little private tirade?" Bella snarled at them angrily. She was exhausted and I hoped that she somehow would be able to sleep a little bit later. Both of them, she and the baby really needed some rest.

"It's not my fault that she takes everything so personally. Well, however, to come back to the facts."

"A single hair is not a fact."

"On its own, not but together with the fact that Esme has no Alibi for the day Charlie Swan was murdered and the fact that she doesn't deny that she killed him."

"But she didn't confess that she committed the murder, did she?"

"No, she didn't. Look, Ali, I know this situation is difficult for you. All of us have a certain way we view our parents and if something happens that changes that view…,"

"My view on Esme hasn't changed and it won't because I refuse to believe that she would do something so cruel like taking someone's life."

Zafrina nodded her head and continued writing notes on her small tablet.

"You really love your mother a lot, don't you?"

"How can I not love her? She has been there for me for my entire life and she loved me although she had more than enough reason to hate me."

"Stop thinking like that, Ali. You are not responsible for how you came into this world."

"Jasmine is right," Bella whispered, pulling me closer against her. The soft curls of her long hair brushed against my face and I inhaled deeply to absorb so much of her deliciously scent as possible.

"Esme loves you, and I know, it doesn't make any difference for her that she's not your…real mother."

"See, that's exactly why I refuse to believe she murdered him. Why would she have done that? No one can be so good and so malicious at the same time."

"I'm sorry to tell you that, Ali but there is a lot more evil in the world than you would suspect."

A dry sob left my throat and I sniffed but no tears escaped my eyes. Maybe I hadn't any more of them left right now?

"There is no crime without a motive." Zafrina mumbled, nibbling on the end of her pen.

"And if Esme is lacking one of it – a motive, well there can't be a crime."

"You juristic mental leaps are starting to give me a headache." Jasmine told her reproachfully.

"But she's right. Esme has no motive to kill my father. God, she barely knew him."

"Why in heaven's name doesn't she just say that she didn't do it? I don't get it and it's driving me crazy."

XOXXOXXOXXOXOXO

[A/N] I'm pretty nervous about this chapter. It was so difficult for me to write it, I hope I did okay. Leave me some love and press the review button down there.