I walked through the sliding doors of the Jacksonville local hospital. Carlisle and I have been working here for a little over two years. Alice, Jasper, Rose, and Emmett are still going the school route. I'm sick of hearing things I already know. It's really sunny here so we always come to work early and stay late to avoid sun. I haven't really done a whole lot except work since I left Bella back in Forks twenty-five years ago. I have never regretted anything more then that choice I made the day after her eighteenth birthday. I crossed too many boundaries with her. I try to make myself feel better think about how she has probably moved on. I bet she has a family and a husband. But usually, my selfish side takes over and I get angry over the thought of her being with another man. My family tries to act as nothing is wrong, but my readings of their minds say otherwise.
"Edward" Carlisle interrupts my thoughts. "We have a stroke patient in ICU room 135. I think you better come and see."
I made my way down there. I picked up the patients chart. Renee Dwyer. My God.
I turned to Carlisle who was staring at me with cautious eyes. "Bella's mom" I said in a way that was both a question and an answer.
"Yes" Carlisle said regrettably. "Her odds aren't good. My secretary called Bella and her family and their all coming down. I thought you would want to know."
"Well yeah" I said running my fingers through my hair. I'm going to see Bella again.
I excitedly took care of the rest of my patients and was collecting paperwork from the front desk with the automatic doors opened. The women who walked in was stunning. She had long bronze hair, pale skin, and golden eyes. The eyes of a vampire. On her hip was a child no older than a year. She approached the desk her eyes wide with worry.
"Can you tell me what room Renee Dwyer is in?" she asked avoiding eye contact.
"I need to know you name and how you are related." I said.
"Renesmee Carlie Kirk. My maiden name is Swan. I'm her granddaughter." She said breathlessly.
"You're Bella's daughter." I said. She didn't look at all surprised I brought that up.
"Yes and you are Edward Cullen." She said looking me in the eye. To my surprise she had a smirk on her face.
"Bella told you about me." I pressed.
"Yes and your wearing a name tag." She laughed lightly.
"You're a vampire" I whispered in a voice only she would hear.
"As are you" she came back with her eyebrow raised.
"gamma nay" said a small voice. Renesmee looked to the baby resting on her hip.
"Is she yours?" I pushed trying to get as much information out of her as I could.
"Yes this is Meghan" she said looking adoringly at the child pulling at her curls.
"But how?"
"I'm different." She stated simply. "My husband's a vampire too." That was going to be my next question.
I started to ask something else when she interrupted me.
"Can I answer more questions later? I really want to go and see Renee."
"Of course. I'm sorry my questions were inappropriate in this circumstance."
"No worries" she said. "You're not the first to be curious."
Meghan whimpered and buried her face in her mother's curls.
"Alright baby were going" she said the worry returning to her eyes. "What room is my grandma in?"
"135"
"Thanks" she said and made her way down the hall.
Not ten minutes after Renesmee's entrance a blonde haired vampire frantically made his way through the doors. He didn't stop to ask what room but quickly made his way to room 135. I walked down to the room also to check on Renee's condition.
I walked in to see Renesmee in there alone with her knees to her chest.
"Hey. Are you holding up ok?" I asked.
"Sort of" she said with a half smile. "Can I see her charts?"
"Sure" I handed her the clipboard.
She looked over them for a minute. "Her stats are fairly consistent. Do you think she has a chance?"
"She might you never know. Are you a doctor?" I asked.
"Yeah, for about six years now." She ran her fingers through her long bronze hair. "Renee's had a hard time since Phil died. We had tried to visit her as often as we can, but it's hard with all the sun you know. My mom asked if she wanted to move to St. Louis with us but she has always been a sucker for really hot weather."
Renee stirred in the hospital bed and Renesmee quickly rushed to her side.
"…Ness" Renee said her words slurring.
"Hey Grandma" she whispered.
Renesmee's husband returned to the room holding their daughter.
"Is she awake" he asked me as he entered.
"Yeah just now" I said nodding towards the bed.
"Thanks. I'm Logan by the way. Nessie's husband."
"I'm Doctor Cullen. Just call if you need anything.
When I turned to leave I ran right into the women I left 25 years ago.
I got a good look at her. I didn't think it was possible for her to look anymore beautiful that she did as a human but she did. Her long brown hair hit just below her shoulders and her eyes were a solid gold.
"…Bella" I whispered. She put her hand to her mouth and stepped back.
"Fuck" she said. "Oh my god." I could she her breaking down in front of me. I picked her up in my arms and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I breathed in her sweet scent that brought me to her so long ago.
"I've missed you" she said into my shoulder. "you have no idea how much I have missed you."
"…Bella I never wanted to leave you, but I thought it was best for you." I whispered into her ear. " I have always loved you and staying away from you was the hardest thing I have ever done. "
"I guess your leaving didn't turn out well for either of us." She said and she kissed me. It seemed like we spent forever just clinging to each other I guess to help make up for lost time.
I set her on the ground.
"What are you doing?" she looked at me.
"You should go see Renee." I told her.
Her blissful smile was gone in a split second. "Right. Will you come with me?" she asked her voice small.
"Of course" I took her hand and we walked into the room together.
Logan had his arm around his wife and the baby sat at the foot of the bed.
Renesmee looked up at us.
"Hey mommy" she said. That reminded me. Bella moved on. Right?
" Hey sweetheart" she said and broke away from to go and kiss her daughter on the forehead and the same with her son-in-law. She then swooped her granddaughter up in her arms and the child squealed in delight.
"gramma" she said. Bella cringed but then smiled.
"Hey Meggy." The child smiled and laid her head on Bella's shoulder.
Bella pulled up her chair and sat down. She motioned for me to come over. Renesmee watched me and smiled.
"Hey mom." Bella held her mother's hand.
"Bella" she smiled and then out of the corner of her eye she saw me. "I told you" she smirked.
Bella's eyes lit up. "Yeah mom. I guess you did."
"Everyone's here just to see little old me." Renee joked. "I'm rather lucky. I got to see my little girl grow up. Well, sort of. I got to see my granddaughter grow up, get married. Now she has her own baby."
"Babies" Renesmee blurted out.
Bella's head snapped towards her. "Ness are you….."
"yeah" she said beaming.
Her husband leaned in towards her. "Really?"
"Yeah, I found out this morning."
Logan pulled Renesmee into his lap and swept her up into a kiss.
"congrats you two!" Bella said thrilled.
Renee smiled "Congrats Ness. That proves that someone in this room is getting some"
Bella almost dropped the baby she was holding
"What?" Nessie asked.
"I was just kidding. I was not making a stab at you mother's love life in anyway. For all I know she could be a whore. She did go the baby without being married route"
"Thanks, Mom. I am a bit of a slut aren't I?" Bella giggled
"I was just trying to be funny" Renee laughed.
"What meds did you give her?" Bella whispered in my ear.
All I could do was smile at her. I had a million questions running through my head. Who changed her? How did she have a daughter? Who was the father?
I took a few minutes to collect my thoughts and when I returned Bella was checking Renee's monitor.
"It doesn't look like she's going anywhere soon. Do you want to take a walk?"she asked me.
"Are you sure?"
She raised her eyebrow. "If you are."
We made our way outside. It happened to be a particularly cloudy day so we were in no danger of exposing ourselves.
"We have a whole lot of catching up to do don't we? How is the rest of the Cullen Clan doing? You have no idea how much I have missed all of you."
"Everyone is doing pretty well. Alice is trying to start up her own boutique here. Go figure. Rose has a new car she's working on. Emmett's not doing anything really. Jasper's pretty much the same. Alice has him whipped. Esme takes care of us and Carlisle lives here. How about you? I have so many questions."
She tilted her head. "Just ask them. That's a whole lot better than just beating around the bush."
Her openness threw me off guard. "Alright. Who changed you and when?"
She sighed. " I don't want to answer that question."
"Ok..then.."
"Hey, I was only kidding. Let's see I was changed by _ almost a year after you left. You know me always in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was trying to be athletic so I went for a run and I ended up tripping on the trail cutting my leg clean upon on some rocks. I was bleeding all over and OH look a vampire. So there she was and here I am."
"Here you are." I mumbled. "Do you have any powers?"
Her voice rang clear as bells "Yes" only she didn't say it out loud. I heard it in my head. I looked at her. I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers. She explained further. "I hold conversations with people in my mind and move things with it."
"You have always been utterly amazing." I spoke in all honestly.
"Aw. I'm blushing." She giggled. That would be something I will always miss. That beautiful blush that graced her face when she was embarrassed.
"What have you been doing this last twenty five years?" I didn't want to bombard her with the really personal questions just yet.
"Hm. Let's see. A year after become one of the undead I decided to go to college. I went to Northwestern in Chicago and after that med school. Since then I've been working as a pediatrician and ER resident at various hospitals around the country. Nothing too interesting."
"And you have a daughter?" I pressed
I could see Bella tense up a bit. "Yeah. Renesmee. My angel."
"Bella, If you don't mind my asking who is her father?"
Bella stopped her walking and turned to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said "You are."
My voice caught in my throat "Impossible." It came out as barely more than a whisper.
She shyly smiled at me. "Do you want to go look at her again and tell me that is not your child?"
I recalled my earlier encounter with Renesmee. It was all there. My hair. My smile. Not my eyes though. She had Bella's eyes. I looked back up at Bella. "But how?"
"I'm not for sure. But since I was human my body could change in a way that a vampire's couldn't. My body was able to accommodate a baby…..I mean we had sex and then I guess your man parts are working just fine cause a week after you left I figured out I was pregnant."
Shock was an understatement. "Bella, you have no idea how sorry I am."
"I'm not." She stated simply.
"What.."
"Without her, I would have killed myself. I had nothing left to live for."
"I wish you wouldn't say that. I'm sorry I ever left you in the first place. Let alone deal with that by yourself…I'm a dad." I choked out.
"And a grandpa.." Bella chimed in.
I sat down on the grass. "Jesus Christ. I really fucked up. I'm missed out on a whole hell of a lot."
I felt her body move next to mine. "Yes. You fucked up. Yes. You have missed out on a lot. But think of all the time you have to make up for it. Renesmee stopped aging at 17. She's not going anywhere. I have almost her entre childhood on videotape. Meghan is only one. You are going to be there for most of her life. You'll be there be the new baby's life. Things will be ok."
"Does that mean you can love me again?"
"Honey. I never stopped." She said as she ran her finger through my hair. We ended up laying down tangled in each others arms.
"Tell me about her" I whispered.
"Well, first off I want you to know that I told her all about you. I let her know that you weren't around, but that didn't mean you didn't love her. She knows everything. When she was about four she came up to me and said "Mom, I want to play piano so I can be just like my dad" and so that day I signed her up for lessons and she's been playing ever since. She adores music. She has pretty good taste too. Except for that time when she worshipped that Justin Bieber kid. She's a dancer. I don't really know where that one comes from considering my history with dance. She's intelligent and compassionate. A parent's dream. She definitely has your temper. She loves to shop and drive fast. Typical Cullen. She cusses like a sailor. She cannot tolerate Wuthering Heights, but loves to read. She loves horror movies along with comedies and action films. She hates snakes, rap music, cats, and anything slimy. She loves sports. Particularly baseball and soccer. She married Logan three years ago and then two years later had Meghan. We think her being born half-vampire allows her to have kids. She has the power to show people things by touching them"
"She sounds perfect. God. What do I even say to Renesmee?"
"Hello would be a good start" a third voice cut in. Startled I shot up. There she was standing there.
A million word were trying to push themselves out of my mouth at the same time.
"Renesmee, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you.."she stopped me with her hand.
"Don't be. I wasn't around other kids that much so I didn't really have the time to see what I was missing out on."
"I just wish things could have been different. You're beautiful and from what Bella has told me it sound like she has done a great job raising you. I hope that you are willing to get to know me. I want nothing more than to get to know you." She came over to sit next to me. Until now I hadn't realized Bella had left or that Renesmee had brought the baby out with her.
"I would love that. I'm trying to think of a good way to go about this. I think that we should start off as friends and build our relationship from there. After all, we have all the time in the world. Sound good?"
"Sounds perfect." Maybe I could make things right. "Can I?" I reached my arms toward the baby.
"Of course! Here you go…" she placed the child in my awaiting arms. I sat there in awe for Lord knows how long. The child had my bronze hair too. She grasped my fingers and tugged my hair and grabbed at my clothes. It was perfect.
"I'm going to be completely honest. I never thought I would ever have this opportunity. "
"Opportunity in not a lengthy visitor." She quotes. We stared at each other for a long time. Something about her confidence and understanding assured me that eventually everything we be all right.
Please let me know if you think I should end it here or make it one or two more chapters.
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