A light in the darkness

Chapter 30

A/N: This is a very long chapter. Bear with it. All good stuff happens at the end:)

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Anna sighed and plumped herself on one of the foodcourt chairs. She put her head on the table trying to ignore the ache in her feet.

"Oh come on. It can't be that bad." said Alison as she and Ashley sat on each sides of Anna. "We only walked around for three hours."

Anna turned her head which was still on the table and glared at Alison. "Was it really necessary to walk in all of the shops and buy this much? This is unnecessary."

"You are with Xander now." answered Ashley nonchalantly. "You can't walk around him in hoddies and sweatpants all the time. You should show him some beauty sometimes. Seriously, what is with you, computer masterminds, and wearing hoodies? It's kinda creepy."

"It's useless to reason with you about shopping." whined Anna and sat straight.

They heard giggles and watched Bella, Maria, and Kate walking to their table, holding more bags. Maria had paid for all of hers and Anna's shopping with Ben's card who had given it to her by force and it seemed the black card had no limit as the girls dragged Maria and Anna from shop to shop and bought different clothes for them. They had now a lot of clothes that Bella deemed necessary, with one dress for each for the gala. But at least they had a great time together and had bond quickly.

"Tired already?" asked Bella as they sat down as well.

Anna looked at Bella with wide eyes. "Don't tell me we are going to shop more." she asked shocked.

"No." chuckled Bella and Anna sighed in relief. "We have to go home after lunch."

"Seriously?" asked Kate. "I'm pregnant and I'm not tired at all."

"Because you love shopping and I hate it." replied Anna and sighed again.

"But now you have a beautiful dress, Anna." said Maria. "You will shine tomorrow."

"Xander's gonna swoon." smirked Bella. "We really should put a supervise for you two tomorrow night."

Anna flushed bright red and everyone laughed as she dropped her head embarrassed.

"Hey." said Alison quietly as everyone else got engaged in talking and put a hand on Anna's arm. Anna looked up into Alison's blue eyes. "Just don't give up on him, alright? He has a tendency to screw his life all the time. But he is a good man. He will stay true to his feelings."

Anna nodded slowly and stared at Alison's serious but soft eyes, wondering if she knew anything about the incident between her and Xander.

"And if he ever screwed up, just give him time." continued Alison. "He always accepts his mistakes and will apologize. Give him time. He will come back for sure and won't repeat his mistake at all."

She then grabbed her bag and open it in front of Anna's face and showed something inside. Anna's eyes grew wide at the sight of a silver gun inside of the bag.

"We had some problems at the beginning." said Alison. "And this is his gift of peace to me. And now he is one of the first brothers I go to in problems. Just don't leave him alone. I don't know you that much, but I could feel how peaceful and calm you are and Bella has told me how Xander has changed. He needs you in his life."

Anna stared at the sister's worried eyes. It seemed Alison was silently begging her to stay. Like she had read Anna's troubled mind.

"I will stay as long as he wants me and I can." answered Anna and Alison smiled gratfully.