Chapter 1: Orphaned

Blood. Blood everywhere. Jacob Black tried not to focus on it as he scrambled about, trying to help Edward and Rosalie keep Bella alive.

Why did babies always come early? Why? And while not all babies were half-bloodsucker and viciously strong even in the womb, Jacob felt anger and hatred all the more at the little fetus for arriving unfashionably early and for making its arrival so violent.

The placenta had been completely detached, and Bella had broken her back, causing the baby to attempt to fight its way out of its mother's body.

Jacob was shaken from his thoughts by an unfamiliar look in Blondie's eyes, as she suddenly lunged for her prone sister-in-law on the operating table. Without thinking, Jacob tackled Rosalie to the ground.

"Get her out of here!" Edward snapped, and Jacob had to physically drag Rosalie from the room. The struggle was all the more acrimonious because he and Ice-Cold Barbie had never maintained the best relationship, trading verbal barbs more often than simple small talk.

Jacob handed Rosalie off to Emmett, who was waiting outside with Jasper and Alice, then returned to the operating room.

It was hard to look at Bella, slipping in and out of consciousness and looking very much in danger of losing her life. So vulnerable. Jacob feared the worst, but banished the thought, baring his teeth at it like how he might as a wolf. No! He refused to entertain the idea of losing the only woman whom he had ever loved. The woman whom he had watched marry another man. The woman who seemed quite serious in partially naming her son after him.

By now, Edward was covered in his wife's blood, as he lifted an equally bloody, squalling thing from Bella's womb and held it to the light. "It's a girl! This is Renesmee." He held the bundle out to Bella, who was trying to focus on it with cloudy eyes.

So it was a girl after all. Jacob would have laughed at the fake-out, were the situation not still so dire. Upon hearing Edward's cry, the other Cullens rushed in, Alice and Emmett keeping a grip on Jasper, well aware of his struggles in self-control. Rosalie, however, seemed to have gotten a hold of herself, and appeared transfixed at the sight of the baby. Meanwhile, Bella was gazing, captivated, at her daughter, eyes full of love.

"Beautiful..." she breathed. "Renesmee Carlie Cullen..." Then she passed out.

"Bella? BELLA!" The monitors around her started beeping, and Edward frantically willed his mind to work, force it on to the next step, the next course of action. He hardly remembered passing his daughter to Rosalie and politely kicking the rest of his family back out of the room. He lunged for the supply of donated blood that Carlisle always kept, but then doubled back, his vampire teeth baring as he prepared to turn the mother of his child into a vampire. Grant her eternal life at the last second.

BEEEEEPPPP. The monitors suddenly flatlined. Edward froze, shaking his head in disbelief. He had missed it by seconds. Less than seconds. No... it wasn't possible... even as he forced the admission from his throat.

"It's too late. She's gone."

The tears burned in Jacob's eyes. Bile seared his throat, as disgust towards an indifferent God bubbled towards the surface.

But not even spiritual renouncement could compare to the rage Jacob felt for his former rival. "I won't kill you," Jacob broke his promise to Edward, and his voice shook. "That would be too easy. You deserve to live with this!" And he stalked from the mansion, mad and wracked with grief.

Now alone, Edward gazed down forlornly at the love of his life. He had waited nearly a century to find her, had held her in his hands for two blissful years, and then... gone. Like the flame of candle snuffed out. Just like that. Hell hath no agony like the pain of losing one's beloved.

Suddenly spying Carlisle's scalpel, Edward got an insane idea. Without a second thought, he seized the blade and drew it across his own throat.

Jacob hunched on the back stoop of the Cullen mansion, head in his arms. The sobs scalded his throat, turning it raw as it mixed with the acidic taste of the bile he had not quite brought himself to hurl.

He blamed Edward. Oh, yes, he blamed him. Jacob had tried to warn him that the baby was dangerous to Bella's well-being. But had he listened? No...

All at once, Jacob raised his head, his eyes puffy and red from crying but now darkening in black pools of sadistic hatred. He was wrong... it wasn't just Edward's fault. It was the baby's! That monstrous little thing had killed its own mother! He did not bother to consider Bella's insistence that the injuries inflicted on her womb during her pregnancy were accidental in nature. The little beast should have been more careful, accident or not! Had it no heart? A child that would commit matricide in its earliest moments, before even experiencing the sensation of suckling at its mother's breast? It was no baby. It was a monster and deserved to die!

Barely hearing the agonizing howls of protest from Sam Uley's pack, Jacob stalked back into the mansion with a new sense of purpose, marching right past Jasper and Emmett and Alice, coming out to defend their home if necessary.

The house was darkened and dim, allowing Jacob to move in the shadows. He discovered Blondie in an armchair with her back to him, facing the fireplace and holding the tiny murderer as if it was some idol worthy of praise and love. The sight alone disgusted him, but he kept still. His only chance would be to launch himself over the chair, possibly in wolf form, and kill it in one stroke, toss it into the fire. Catch Blondie unawares. If he had to then fight her off in what would surely be misplaced grief, so be it. Firm in his resolve, Jacob crept towards the chair, the firelight dancing in his black-as-coal irises...

Which now quite suddenly locked onto the little killer's brown ones.

Jacob stared at her, got a good look at her for the first time. An invisible tidal wave washed over him, furious in its determination to make him stay his desperate hand, yet also peaceful in its cleansing of him. Giving him new eyes with which to see. The world seemed to spin off its axis, and the werewolf fell to his knees to accommodate the new forces that now commanded him. It was like... gravity. His whole center shifted. Suddenly, it was not the earth that was holding him there, but... her. His whole new reason for living, there to be whatever she might give him. A friend. A sister. A confidante. A lover. His imprintee.

Renesmee... Never before had Jacob heard such a beautiful sound. Say it loud, and there was music playing. Say if soft, and it was almost like praying.

Renesmee...

Growls and shouts from outside suddenly shook Jacob from his stupor. He willed his feet to move quickly from the room, despite his desire to push Blondie aside and hold the infant for himself. The vampire did not notice him leave, never realizing he was even there.

Outside, Jacob came upon the other Cullens and Sam's pack fully engaged in a reckless battle. He quickly leapt off the porch, landing between the warring parties and blocking Sam's path.

"STOP! It's OVER! If you kill her, you kill me!" And he phased into wolf form to prove his point.

Emmett stared. "Jacob imprinted. They can't hurt her. Whomever a wolf imprints on, can't be harmed. It's their most absolute law."

Having inadvertently won the battle for the vampires, Jacob drove the rest of Sam's pack away. The victory was short-lived, however, as they re-entered the house only to discover Edward's body.