DISCLAIMER: Characters and all things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. If I owned them, I certainly wouldn't need to write fanfiction, now would I?
It was hard to believe that only a few short hours ago, I had been planning a murderous rampage over the small sleeping bundle in my arms. A wave of guilt swept through me as I thought about my abandoned plan to take the life of the one who was now the center of mine. I could hardly fathom the reality that only just this morning, I considered Bella's child to be a demon spawn that needed to be destroyed. Oh, how wrong I was.
It had taken over an hour to convince the bloodsuckers that I wasn't going to attack Renesmee the second she was left unattended. Blondie sat on the couch coddling Renesmee, and the rest of the bloodsuckers except for the doctor and the monster- Edward- had been flitting about the first floor bringing bottle after bottle of putrid blood to the child. Each time I took a step closer, the blonde Devil herself would snarl at me and tighten her grip on Renesmee. Later on, as I could hear Bella's restarted heart racing to higher speeds, I had finally managed to get close enough to get a better glimpse of the newborn. Immediately her eyes locked with mine, and I was trapped in the gravitational pull towards her once again, my feet moving of their own accord.
Just as my feet had carried me within an arm's length of the baby girl- Blondie otherwise distracted by a disgusting diaper- my concentration was broken by footsteps on the stairs. Edward's heavy footfalls stunned me in my place, and for the first time I was fearful of his reaction to the massive turn of events. I'd painfully torn my gaze from Rensmee and turned to face the staircase in time to see Edward stalking towards me, a murderous look on his face.
"Outside, mutt!" He'd screamed, and I'd turned tail to run out the front door. Leah and Seth immediately came up on my flanks snarling (Leah anyways), but I wanted to face Edward on my own, so I told them to back off. Surprisingly, he didn't rip my head off as soon as he came within reach, mercifully giving me time to explain myself. It'd taken some fast talking and calming waves from Jasper, but I was finally able to make Edward see reason and understand the feelings I had for his newborn daughter. I'd never thought I'd actually be thankful for his ability to read my thoughts, but whatever he found in them seemed to be enough to convince him not to kill me. He muttered something about "his baby girl" and "damn mutt" under his breath as he turned and walked back into the house, leaving me standing alone, too stunned to move. Seth slowly walked up to me and nudged me with his nose and whined, snapping me out of my stupor.
"Thanks kid," I said, giving him a pat before walking up the porch and back into the house. As I'd entered the living room, I had immediately spotted Edward and Rosalie on the other side of the room speaking in hushed, frantic tones. No doubt they were arguing about the reason for the 180 degree change in my attitude towards Renesmee. Alice sat on the clean end of the couch with the baby girl in her arms, cooing while feeding her yet another bottle of blood.
"Don't pay any attention to Rosalie and Daddy, they're just grumpy," she said in a baby voice as she nuzzled her nose against Renesmee's bronze curls. I slowly walked up to the back of the sofa, half expecting her to snarl at me like Blondie had, despite the strange camaraderie we had developed during Bella's pregnancy. Thinking that I might have better luck with the pixie, I gathered my courage as I sat myself in the armchair closet to her spot on the couch.
"Can I hold her?" I asked cautiously, preparing myself to be attacked for just asking the question. She eyed me warily, as if trying to figure out my motive for the request. I knew she felt uncomfortable with me being around Renesmee, since she couldn't foresee either of our futures. Thankfully, Jasper leaned over and whispered in her ear, reassuring her of the innocence of my request.
"Its ok honey," I could here him murmur. "I don't feel any animosity coming from him. In fact, it's almost as if he…loves her." A look of understanding flashed across the pixie's face. She may not be able to see my future, but she knew what that love meant. She smiled at me as she silently handed Renesmee to me, who had fallen asleep having finished her bottle.
Due to the mental connection I had shared with my former pack brothers, I was familiar with the intense feelings that came along with imprinting. But sitting here cradling the sleeping newborn in my arms, I was hit with a flood of emotions I had never before felt for another person. I suddenly realized that I had never truly been in love with Bella, because this swarm of feelings made my affections for her pale in comparison. I studied Renesmee's cherubic face, carefully cataloguing each feature. My fingers stroked her silky bronze hair, already long enough to form defined corkscrew curls. Bronze lashes hid her eyes, a deep chocolate brown identical to her mother's. Her soft skin was pale, except for her cheeks which had also inherited her mother's blush. Her cheeks dimpled as she smiled in her sleep, dreaming about something pleasant I hoped.
She was perfect in every single way imaginable. She already looked as if she were weeks old, undoubtedly from the vampire genes. My heart was filled with wonder and adoration for this tiny miracle in my arms. I was ashamed of myself for ever thinking of her as an abomination. As much as I despised Blondie, I couldn't help but be thankful for her stubborn determination to help Bella deliver this child and for keeping Edward and myself away in our hopes to abort the pregnancy. I hated feeling indebted to the blonde vampire, but that's exactly what I was- indebted to her for her part in bringing me my soul mate.
I was pulled from my musings by the feeling of Renesmee nuzzling her face into my chest. I gently grazed her cheek with a finger, and watched as her eyelids fluttered open. I smiled as her warm brown eyes widened to captivate my attention. Even though she couldn't voice it, she gazed up at me as if she was fully aware of who I was. She reached a dimpled hand towards my face, and I adjusted my hold on her so that she could touch my cheek. I was first surprised to feel that her skin was almost as warm as mine, but even more so when I suddenly began to see flashes of a foreign memory. I gasped as I saw Bella's body, bloodied and broken, from a vantage point that I had not seen in person. My body jerked backwards at the intrusion, and the visions quickly stopped as the contact between Renesmee and I was broken.
"What…the hell…was that?" I stuttered, causing the vampires in the room to snap their attention towards me.
"Watch your language in front of my daughter, dog!" Edward snarled, quickly crossing the room to stand in front of me. Rosalie stood still in the corner, growling at me, while Alice just gave me a knowing smile.
"Sorry, it just startled me! What was that?" I asked, with my voice calmed.
"It seems Renesmee has a gift of her own. That was her memory of her own birth," he responded, a proud smirk growing on his face.
"As if there weren't already enough of you with freaky powers," I mumbled under my breath, fully aware that their perfect ears heard every word I said. Edward responded by rolling his eyes while Alice giggled, with Blondie's growl a low rumble in the background. Renesmee still sat in my lap, quietly watching the exchange between myself and her father. She beamed up at me, her small white teeth clearly visible. Once again, she reached toward my face, patting at my chest as her reach stopped short. Now that I knew what to expect, I lifted her up and allowed her to once again place her tiny hand on my cheek.
The memory picked up right where it left off. I cringed as I once again saw a broken Bella lying on the table in the library. But just as soon as I got a glimpse of her, the vantage point of the vision changed. I now was staring at myself, covered in Bella's blood as I performed CPR. The gaze held for a long moment, and then suddenly a new memory had taken its place. I was now walking down the staircase, having just been banished from the makeshift operating room. I looked like hell, but that wasn't what caused my breath to catch in my throat. I was stunned to feel the same adoration- the same love- that I felt for Renesmee emanating from her memory. I could also sense that she felt the same magnetic pull towards me that I felt whenever I was within sight range of her. As the vision faded away, I placed my large hand over her small one on my cheek.
"Thank you for showing me that," I whispered to her, causing her to giggle. She flashed her beautiful smile at me once again, and then curled herself into my body while burrowing her face into my chest. Sensing that Renesmee was indeed safe in my arms, Edward went back upstairs to check on Bella and Blondie went into the kitchen to fetch another bottle of blood- and I'm sure to sulk for a while. I leaned back in the armchair I was sitting in and tightened my hold on Renesmee, who had fallen asleep again. The events leading up to her birth earlier today already seemed a faint memory. I had never thought that I would imprint, nor had I ever wanted to, but now that I had my entire being was filled with joy. I had never felt more at peace in all my years of life as I did at this moment, staring in awe at the beautiful baby girl in my arms. Now and forever, I would only have eyes for Renesmee, my soul mate, my Nessie.
Thank you for reading!! This story is currently in the 'Breaking Dawn Missing Moments' contest at twilighted(dot)net. There are lots of great stories in the contest, I highly suggest reading them all! Visit www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/forum and click on the 'fanfiction challenges' thread to read the stories in each category and vote for your favorites (you need to sign up for the forums separately from the fanfiction part of the site). Voting runs through August 25th. If you liked this story, please vote for it in the 'Surprise' category, I'd greatly appreciate it!!