[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome back to another episode of your very favorite Twilight soap…aka fan-fiction.

This chapter is dedicated to the-poetry-of-ink. There's lots of 'Lilly time' in this one. Hope you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 97**

"Can I ask you something different?" I started hesitantly, while I took another sip from the cup of tea in front of me. My head was already hurting from all the details Zafrina had told me in an attempt to 'prepare' me for the upcoming trial. Still there was a question burning inside of me that I needed her to answer me before my beautiful wife came back home.

"Of course you can. What do you want to know?" she asked me, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"It's about the baby."

"The baby? Oh Bella, I know absolutely nothing about babies."

"I know." I mumbled before I cleared my throat nervously and continued.

"It's more like a…juristic advice that I need from you."

"That sounds better. I was afraid that you wanted to have my opinion on breastfeeding or some stuff like that."

"I don't need another opinion on something so awfully that I'm sure as hell won't be trying again." I responded a little too harsh.

"I wanted to know if it's possible to get Ali's name on the birth certificate instead of mine."

"Did she suggest that to you?"

"No, she doesn't even know that I'm talking to you about it. I wanted it…to be like a surprise for her."

"Bella, technically the woman who gives birth is always the mother and that's what the birth certificate will be based on."

A small smile flashed over her face before she pulled another tablet out of her handbag and wrote something down on it.

"It would be way easier for her to adopt the baby after it is born. All you need for that is a written declaration of content from the…well from the father."

I nodded my head.

"I'm sure Benjamin would sign something like that. All he wants is that we allow him to see the baby whenever he wants to."-

"Good, I'll set something up than. Ali is lucky to have such a nice brother. Or maybe that's just poetic justice for the other one she has been…cursed with."

"Probably,"

I cradled my rounded middle between my hands and waited for the kicking inside of me to stop for a moment again.

"You don't get along that well with your brother, do you? He seemed so…tensed when he showed up here."

"It's probably not that easy to relax when you got something sticking in your ass all the time."

"He's not going to mess up the trial because of that, is he?"

"No, Bella, don't worry about that. Derek is pretty good at what he's doing at the public prosecution department. He's going to make sure that Edward gets what he deserves."

She sighed deeply and searched for something in her handbag.

"It's my relationship with Jasmine that he's not very fond of and he can't hide that very well."

"Because she's a woman?"

"No, it hasn't got anything to do with that. Derek doesn't give a shit whether I'm with a man or a woman as long as said person isn't white."

"You weren't kidding when you told Jasmine that he's a racist, were you?"

Zafrina nodded her head and pulled something out of an envelope.

"It's probably because of our father. I show you a picture of him."

She handed me a wrinkled picture that showed a tall African-American man with a blonde woman next to him. In front of them was a pair of three little children kids with a light brown skin color.

"That's my father and his…second family. He left our mom for Tia when Derek was twelve. I don't really remember a lot about it, but my brother does. That's why he's not really fond of interracial relationships."

"Hmm, I see. It's still stupid."

"Yeah, I know but that's just the way things are with him. I can deal with that."

Her cell started playing the melody of Yellow Rose of Texas and she giggled before she flipped it open.

"Hi, cowgirl,"

"I know that you don't like it when I call you that. Want to know what I don't like…yeah that too. I don't like it when someone changes my ring tone behind my back."

She chucked into the receiver.

"You are forgiven. Did you check the papers the prison psychiatrist sent to my office?"

"It doesn't make sense to you? What do you mean it doesn't make sense? Of course his answers don't make any sense. That's probably normal for someone who's not right in the head."

"Where I am right now? I'm having lunch with my other secret lover. Where else? No, I'm with Bella, trying to prepare her for all the trial crap that is about to happen in the next time."

"Dito,"

"You're not actually going to make me say it now, are you?"

"Fine, if it makes you happy. I fucking love you too, Jasmine."

XXXXX

I wrapped a towel over the wet fur of the dog while I desperately tried not to breathe through my nose. Jeez, had the poor animal always smelled that bad?

Lilly pulled a few biscuits out of her pocket that almost instantly disappeared in Fido's snout.

"Down!" she instructed, making the calf sized dog flop down on the ground in front of me.

"See, mommy, he does everything I tell him too."

"Yes, sweetie, I know that you've trained him well."

"We're not going to give him away when the baby is born, are we? I really want to keep him."

"No, Lilly, we're going to keep him as long as the baby isn't allergic against the hairs."

"If the baby is allergic it could live with Auntie Rosie and the twins or I could move out with Fido to live with Jane and her family."

"Sweetie, please, we don't have to talk about that now."

"Do you love the baby more than me?"

"No, of course not, I love you both the same."

"But you want to give Fido away if the baby is allergic…,"

"If you were allergic I would give him away too."

"If I were allergic I wouldn't tell you. I want to keep Fido, he's my best friend."

She started biting her fingernails and sat down on the couch next to me.

I took her hand in mine and sighed deeply.

"Please, honey, you really need to stop doing that all the time. You're a big girl now and you know that it makes your nail look ugly."

"Your mommy is right." Ali told her, putting a wisp of her copper hair behind her ear.

"I promise to buy you some pretty nail polish if you stop doing it."

"Really?"

Ali's mouth twisted into a bright smile before she nodded her head.

"But Miss Young says that little girls shouldn't wear nail polish." Lilly protested halfheartedly.

"We are your mothers and we decide what you should or shouldn't…,"

She stopped midsentence and pressed her hand against her mouth as if she had suddenly realized what she had told her right now.

We are your mothers

Yes, that was exactly what we were going to be for the little nudger. The baby kicked against my ribs as if it was silently agreeing with me.

But with Lilly it was different. At least it had been up until now…

"I…I….I'm sorry." Ali stumbled out, her face turning a few shades paler under the layer of makeup she had put on.

"I shouldn't have…,"

I wrapped my arms around her delicate waist and pulled her closer to me until she was almost sitting on my lap.

When she buried her face against the crock of my neck I wondered if she would start to cry now. I didn't want her to. Not over this and not over anything else."

"It's okay." I whispered softly, twisting one of her spikey curls around my finger.

"Mommy, is Auntie Ali sad?"

"No, sweetie, she's fine. Don't worry."

She didn't seem to be content with that answer because she cuddled her body against Ali's other side and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"You don't have to be sad. Mommy and I love you."

XXXXX

Jasmine sighed deeply and started rolling her fingertip over the edge of her glass until Zafrina wrapped her hand around her wrist to stop her.

"Nervous?"

"Me? I'm never nervous; I just like to do something while I'm in thoughts."

She cleared her throat before she spoke up again.

"Okay, here's the thing. I've read the transcription the prison psychiatrist sent to us over and over again. Edward's answers don't make any sense."

"Does that mean he's really crazy?" I asked her worriedly, wrapping my arm around Ali's shoulder to pull her closer to me. Her hand rested on my underbelly, where the baby kicked steadily against her palm.

"Well, yes and no. I'm not really sure." Jasmine mumbled so low that her voice was barely audible.

"You're not honestly thinking that man could be right in his head, are you? I'm sure he got a screw lose."

"It's complicated."

"Complicated cases are my specialty. Try to explain to me what's wrong with him."

"Hmm, you see… some of his answers show very obvious signs of a mental condition. I'm not really an expert but it sounds pretty much like a classic case of schizophrenia."

"Schizophrenia?" My voice raised two octaves and I had to take several deep breaths through my open mouth to calm myself down again. It wasn't that I really knew a lot about those kinds of illnesses. But what I knew instantly sent a wave of panic through me. Wasn't Schizophrenia inheritable? What in heaven's name should I do if Lilly inherited that from her father…

"Bella, are you okay? You're looking a bit pale." Zafrina asked me, while Ali wrapped her hand around my wrist to check my pulse.

"Are you feeling dizzy again?"

I quickly shook my head and sighed deeply.

"No, I'm good. Don't worry." It is worse enough that I have to worry about that too now.

"You still suck at lying." Jasmine stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Let me give you a little tip for the future. Try not to look people in the eye while you're trying to lie. That just works for advanced liars like Zafrina."

"I'm not lying to anyone. I just manage to present things in the light that works best for my own interests."

She giggled and planted a kiss on her girlfriend's mouth, twisting her hands into the mess of honey-blonde curls. The entire content of Zafrina's handbag landed on the ground when she shoved her against the wall.

"Can we try to focus a little bit? I really think that it would be better for Bella to rest a bit now."

"Where were we?"

"You kissed me and then…,"

"Before I kissed you, cowgirl…,"

"Oh right that. Look, some of Edward's answers show very obvious signs of a mental condition. There's the fact that he says he thinks that there are voices in his head that talk to him, the blind spots in his memory or the sudden mood swings."

"Yeah I know. But why do you doubt that he's crazy, when it's so obvious"

"Because some of the answers seem too rational for someone who's…sick. It's almost like he's trying to appear crazy, which is the most stupid thing he could do right now. So why would he…,"

"To avoid a prison sentence of course,"

"Do you think that ending up in a padded cell is so much better? Trust me; I've seen places like that during my studies. It's worse like hell to spend time inside there when you are not crazy yourself."

"Probably,"

"I hope that Edward is crazy." Ali whispered next to me, resting her head against my shoulder.

"It would…in a weird way make me feel better to know that he didn't do all the horrible things he did on purpose."

XOXXOXOXXOXXO

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Until next time, take care ;-)