Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or most of the plot. All of those things belong to Stephenie Meyer and eventually Summit Entertainment. The first two lines are taken directly from Breaking Dawn chapter 7 'Unexpected'.
A/N: This is my version of Breaking Dawn. I was re-reading the entire series and decided that I wanted to make my own version of the end of the series because I wasn't happy at all with Breaking Dawn. Anyways, it picks up right after Bella calls Rosalie and it covers a little bit of what we missed since the book jumped to Jacob's POV. My version jumps back and forth between Bella and Edward's POV because I think it works out really well. I might have a little bit of Jacob's POV in the future. But we'll see. Anways, enjoy.
And please review!
Bella
"Hello?" the voice like golden wind chimes answered.
"Rosalie?" I whispered. "It's Bella. Please. You have to help me."
There was silence on the other end. For one wild moment, I thought she wouldn't help me. Why would she? She didn't like me. She had no reason to. But I knew a little bit about Rosalie. What she'd told me. She wanted a child more than anything in the world. She would've given up her entire current existence to be able to have a baby. There was little she enjoyed in this life. The life she hadn't chosen. Would that be enough to get her to help me? I wasn't sure. I'd have to appeal to her maternal sense. Then I realized that she was probably just waiting for me to explain further.
"Bella?" the wind chimes tinkled again.
"Rosalie, I can't go against him alone. You're the only one who understands. I can't let him hurt him. I can't let him hurt my baby. I know that's what he wants. " I said, my voice dry, the difference between my voice and her voice was heavily defined now. I could feel her hesitation. I closed my eyes, squeezing the phone tightly. I could see that I would have to really push this.
"Rosalie, Please." I begged my voice breaking in the middle of the word, 'please.' "I can't do it alone. I need…I need you on my side."
I imagined her sitting in the big white living room of the Cullen house, the phone pressed to her ear, a half-pained expression on her face, and then she spoke again.
"It's alright, Bella. He won't hurt him. I promise. I'll help you." Her voice had never sounded more pleasant to me.
I blew out a breath, "Thank you."
I could hardly express my gratitude over the phone. "I have to go." I whispered, "He'll be back soon and he doesn't know I called."
"See you soon." She said and before I had even registered the goodbye, she'd already hung up. I snapped the phone shut and then placed it back on the counter where he'd originally left it before I had picked it up. I had no doubt in my mind that he would remember exactly where he left it. Hopefully, I didn't place it t too far off from its original place. I doubted he would notice even if it was. He was half-crazed. I didn't understand. Why was this so bad? It didn't have to be. I placed a delicate hand on my stomach and then whispered,
"It'll be alright. Rosalie will help us." I could've sworn that I received an answering nudge. I smiled to myself and ran a comforting hand over my stomach.
I looked up and was shocked to find Edward standing there. He really should've worn a cat bell or something. I hadn't heard him come back in.
"Hi." I breathed, he was staring at the hand resting on my stomach and then his eyes flew up to my mouth. I was still smiling, but it was fading now. I couldn't read his face. It was somewhere between worry and confusion. I didn't want him asking questions. Not yet. I dropped my hand from my stomach carefully and tried to mold my face into a solemn look.
"Is the boat ready?" I asked him, surprised at how steady my own voice sounded. He tore his eyes away from my no longer smiling mouth to lock eyes with me.
"Yes." He replied, holding out a hand towards me. I took it. I might as well let him have some sense of protection now. I knew, and hoped that he wouldn't be able to get near me once Rosalie and I had fused together to protect him. My baby. I instinctively touched my stomach again with the hand that Edward wasn't holding, as we made our way to the boat.
Edward
It frightened me that she wasn't speaking to me. I tried to focus on guiding the boat, but it was impossible not to worry about her. It was impossible to think about anything else. Impossible to think of myself as anything but a monster. How had I allowed for this to happen? How had I let her make me believe that I was anything more than what I was? She was dangerous. She made me feel too human. She made me feel human enough to let down my careful defenses. Human enough to make love to her. I see now that we were not afforded that luxury. Every time I tried to make her happy, something went horribly wrong. Something horrible always happened to my Bella. This wasn't supposed to happen. I chanced a glance at her, but she was in the same position she had been since we boarded. She was sitting against the side of the boat, her legs sprawled out and resting her head on her arm which was resting on one of the rails. She looked upset, scared, and unhappy. I was entirely sure that those were not the three emotions someone should be feeling coming home from their honeymoon. The worst part was that all those emotions were directed at me. She was upset at me. Scared of me. Unhappy because I'd made her that way. Because of what I'd put inside of her. I couldn't have foreseen this. How could I have? There was no one in the world like Bella and I. That thought made me feel even more like a monster. I should've let her be. I should've kept insisting that we not attempt to be friends. The choices I'd made after Bella came to Forks would always haunt me. Always.
We were close to being ready to dock, and I was glad. Sick of being stuck inside my own head. I risked another glance at Bella. She was asleep now, her hand resting protectively over her stomach. Was I misinterpreting how she felt? Was there a possibility that she believed that I wasn't a monster? That, what was inside of her was part of me, and part of her, and only that? Was there a possibility that she believed that the creature residing inside of her was created out of our love, and not out of whatever poison was running through my veins?
I shook my head. The thing was a monster. Just like me. I felt myself cringe at the thought. What had I done to her?
I managed to carry her off the boat without waking her. Getting her onto the plane was a bit trickier but I managed. Although I might have been being trying too hard not to wake her. She'd been sleeping like the dead lately. She probably wouldn't wake up even if I did jostle her. I couldn't keep myself from watching her on the long plane ride. She was sleeping soundly for the most part, every now and then her hands would run over her stomach and then drop, as if checking on whatever was inside. It made me a little sick. I leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, and then rested my cheek against her forehead. She felt very warm, so I imagined my skin probably felt good to her now.
"I'm going to fix this, Bella. I promise." I whispered, pressing my lips to her temple lightly. I held her hand for the rest of the trip. She never woke. One plane change later and she was still asleep. I would've worried that something was wrong if not for the light twitches that human eyes would've missed. I woke her just before the plane landed. I brushed my fingers across her cheek lightly.
"Bella?" I asked softly. "Bella. Wake up. Were home." It took a few minutes but then her eyes fluttered. I was amazed at the amount of relief I felt. I had really been stressing while she was asleep.
"Already?" She mumbled sleepily.
I nodded, not bothering to mention how long it'd actually been. How long she'd been asleep. I was already up, and offering a hand to help her up as well. She took it and I was grateful. At least she didn't completely hate me. This was a good sign. Maybe after that thing was out of her, I could make it up to her. Maybe we could mend our relationship. As soon as she was up though, she dropped my hand in favor of placing both on her stomach. I tried to hide my hurt the best I could. The way she kept touching her stomach made me think she was worried that the thing was going to come out this instant. I knew she hadn't meant anything by dropping my hand. She was just scared. As we walked through the airport towards where I knew my family would be waiting for us, I was surprised when Bella spoke again.
"Edward," She said softly. "Don't be mad at me."
I wanted to stop walking in favor of stopping to stare at her. Was she insane? How could I possibly be upset with her? Why did she have to blame herself for everything?
"Why would I be mad at you, Bella? If you're blaming yourself for this, you need to stop that right now."
She didn't respond to me, she was gazing ahead; We could see my family now. They were all standing in a line. Alice and Jasper staggered a little behind everyone else, her hand intertwined with his. Esme and Carlisle, Carlisle's arm wrapped lightly around her waist. Esme had worry etched all over her face and Carlisle looked puzzled. I would have thought that impossible of him, until this moment. Then there was something odd about the line that I hadn't noticed until my eyes fell on my tenacious sister and my favorite brother. Emmett and Rosalie were on the right of Carlisle, but they weren't touching. They weren't even standing close enough to each other to be considered an intimate couple. There was a significant amount of space between them, and she was angled away from him, and if I didn't know any better I would think that some sort of arctic cold was between the two of them. Emmett looked frozen. More frozen then he usually did. His eyes were on me, but Rosalie…her eyes were on Bella. Before I knew what was happening, Bella took off at a sprint. I didn't even know she had that kind of energy in her. The whole way home she'd looked so weak. Apparently she'd been saving it up for this moment, and then she collapsed, directly into Rosalie's arms. Rosalie cradled her, rocking her just a bit.
"It's alright Bella, shush." She said patting her hair and then she looked up and locked eyes with me. "Don't cry, you'll stress yourself and the baby. There's no need. I won't let anything happen to him."
It didn't make any sense. Bella, as far as I was concerned, didn't even like Rosalie. I hadn't even bothered reading their thoughts; I was doing my best to block everything out. Too many people. Too many voices and I didn't want to deal with my own thoughts as well as everyone walking through the airport, so I turned it down to a low buzz, but now the volume had been turned all the way up, and Rosalie was the one I heard the clearest. One little thought made everything crystal clear.
You won't take this away from us, Edward.
It was Rosalie's voice in my head and then everything made sense. The protective way she kept touching her stomach. How she hadn't talked to me at all on the boat ride. She wasn't scared at all. Well, not of me. Not of the thing inside her. She was afraid that I was going to hurt the thing inside of her. And she wasn't wrong. I wanted too. But she didn't want that. I'd completely misinterpreted her feelings. She must've called Rosalie when I was packing. Yes, that is exactly what happened. Rosalie's mind was practically shouting that at me.
"Don't be mad at me, Edward"
Everything was clicking together. She wanted to keep it. My heart shattered in that moment. I looked at Bella. She looked so weak, crying silently now into Rosalie. It was the only thing stopping me from ripping Rosalie limb from limb right in the middle of the airport. I didn't want to hurt Bella in the process. There was a low growl coming from somewhere and until Carlisle stepped forward, and placed a hand on my chest, I had no idea that it was coming from me. I watched as Emmett stepped protectively in front of Rosalie, but she rolled her eyes.
"Emmett, it doesn't matter. Let him try and hurt me. I doubt he's going to do that with a thousand witnesses."
She was right. I couldn't touch her here.
Carlisle's deep voice broke through my thoughts of the easiest way to separate her from Emmett once we were no longer surrounded by a thousand onlookers. I didn't want to have to hurt Emmett as well. But it might be necessary.
"No. This will not happen." Carlisle said firmly. "We have to get Bella home. I'd like to run a few tests, at least. Then we will discuss this further. I suggest we not talk any more of this, in an airport." He gestured towards the people milling about. I imagined we didn't look like the happy family reunion that usually happened at airport terminals. I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath to calm myself. I took a few steps towards Bella, but Emmett growled at me. I locked eyes with him, and shook my head just a little.
"I just want Bella." I told him, and then he stepped aside. Rosalie was glaring at me now, holding Bella tightly. I sighed and then extended my hand for Bella to take. I stayed like that for a long time. Bella did nothing but stare at it.
"Edward…I…I…" She started, but then Rosalie cut her off.
"It's fine, Bella, you don't have to explain anything to him." And then she was dragging her off, Emmett trailing behind her. Carlisle let out a sigh and followed them as well, only to be followed seconds later by Esme. And then Jasper. I waited for Alice to pass me as well, but she didn't. I looked up at her, shaking my head a little. I was sure that I looked a complete mess. She took several steps towards me and then took my hand in hers, squeezing it lightly.
"I know." She whispered.
"No." I said quietly. "You really don't."
She didn't respond, she just tugged me along, and I let her. I wouldn't have moved if I wasn't prompted.
After we'd walked a little ways, she turned around to face me.
"Suck it up." She said in a firm voice. "For Bella. And for me." She finished in a small voice. "I want to kill Rosalie too. What she's doing is wrong, and we're all perfectly aware of it. But you can't do this. You'll tear our family apart. And I don't want to have to pick sides between my brother and my sister. "
I just nodded at her. I didn't promise her anything though. Carlisle wanted to wait till we got home to discuss it. Fine. Although, I wasn't sure how much discussing I would be able to do before a murder was committed.
