Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in Moonlight nor in the Twilight Book Series. The children of Mick/Beth: Elliott and Colleen and Josef/Simone: Charles "Spike" Kostan are my creation.

Spoiler: All the episodes from Sonata and all the Twilight Books. Envisions Mick/Beth and Josef/Simone as having hybrid vampire children; and of course, Bella and Edward's child.

A PARENT'S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE CHILDREN

"Mick St. John, thanks for coming. Beth, as always it great to see you. And I see you've brought some friends to our little roundtable discussion?"

This is, ah, Charles and Simone Fitzgerald. They are extremely private people and it took some persuasion to get them to come tonight."

"Welcome. You are among friends and you can speak in complete confidence and candor with me. This is historical research and I am so pleased you decided to come. After all, you, the St. John's and the other couple here are the only ones we know of so far to have such unique children."

"Charles" is only here because he lost to me at poker and eight-ball in the same night and this was his bet."

"Well, however, he and his charming wife are here now so shall we continue with the introductions?"

"Bella Swan Cullen and her husband, Edward Cullen, meet Mick St. John and his wife, Beth Turner St. John. And Charles and Simone Fitzgerald. The Cullens are very recently married and most surprisingly, to them, got pregnant almost immediately. I understand that was very dangerous for you, Bella, as the fetus was growing very fast. And once you delivered the child, Edward was able to save you from death by injecting his venom into your heart and turning you? What made you want to keep the baby if it was damaging you?"

"I had a foreshadowing dream about all the people I loved defending this baby, and I loved her from the moment I first felt her move inside me."

Murmured assent from Beth and Simone.

"There was no doubt about keeping her, even though she was breaking my body. And I was already planning on being turned. She has been accelerated in her growth right from conception and is now full grown and married. But we had to fight the hardest to keep her alive once she was born since we had to prove she was truly a hybrid."

"Beth and Simone, did you also have difficult pregnancies? Simone, why don't you go first?"

"My husband is an over 420 year old vampire who took a compound that allowed him to become human again temporarily so that we could become pregnant."

Mick sotto voce to Beth: "I knew it!"

"My son, Charles Jr. (we call him "Spike") was a normal nine month gestation with no complications, other than I started craving blood. When he was born, he immediately wanted blood rather than nursing. But he didn't actually start having normal fangs until he was nine. Up until that time, he had baby fangs that couldn't break the skin."

Mick coughs.

"And the nickname, Spike, where did that come from? Does he have an unusual bone structure?"

"No, actually, it's from his hair. His father's genetic makeup includes tall, lanky bodies and cowlicks on either side of their foreheads."

"Ah, rather like a devil's horns. Yes, I see. Spike, good one, yes, I can just see that.

And Beth?"

"My first pregnancy was normal with only a few snags such as low red blood cell count, until at 8 ½ months I gave birth under some duress, as I had been kidnapped, again. But while pregnant, I started being super aware almost as if I was turning and I had a huge amount of energy." Beth looks at Mick, "you could almost say I had an increased lust for life."

"Yes, uh, and the baby was human or hybrid?"

"Elliott has exhibited no vampirism traits, although he does have a keen awareness of the world just like his father and carries his dominant dark looks. As you know, my friend, Alison Linn, formerly with BioNalysis and now working at our Foundation, noted unusual DNA markers in him, which she continues to study, and, of course, I've already told you about all of us having the rare blood type. But Elliott has never been attracted to blood for nourishment so he's human."

"And the other pregnancy? I understand you have a daughter, also, and is she …?"

"Charles" and Mick snort.

"Colleen (we call her Collie) is a vamp. The pregnancy was not as difficult as Bella has described (thank God) but I had always been told that each child was different, and this was definitely the case."

Again, the men snort and then start to howl with laughter.

"Mick St John, stop that. Uh, doctor, maybe I should explain. You know how people always talk about the birth order: the first one is the serious one, the leader, maybe because they have had all that time alone with their parents?"

Mick says, "and then there's Collie who right from the womb has disrupted our household with her antics and …"

"her sheer gusto, charm and, yes, Mick, mischeviousness in being alive and yet undead all at the same time. I'll admit she's trying at times but she is a good soul."

"Mick, how do you handle such a wild child?"

"Mostly with a whip!"

"Mick, you liar! He's like putty in her hands. And all she has to do is smile at him."

"She does have Beth's smile."

"So how do you handle her, really?"

Mick St. John smiles his own beautiful smile and says, just like the old Camelot song, "How to handle a woman? There's a way said the wise old man. The way to handle a woman is to love her, simply love her, merely love her, love her, love her."