Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Stephanie Meyer owns them. This fic is in no way intended to infringe any complicated legal thingies.

Summary: Doctor Cullen is no ordinary doctor. He is hiding an amazing secret. Amazing, and potentially devastating. His wife shares his secret, and rescues dying infants with special powers. The doctor can tell that trouble is coming, and decides to change his children so that they can fight for everything that is right and good, without the risk of death that a fragile human body invites. But will his plan work? Is it enough? Will his children grow up to save everyone... without sacrificing themselves?

CHAPTER 1

Esme Cullen was twenty-seven, beautiful, and listening very carefully for a special sound. It wasn't long before it reached her ears once more. Weak, distant, but there. Somewhere into the sunset, a human life beckoned her.

Thump. Thump.

She was being drawn into the forest. Swiftly, softly, in seconds, she was among the trees, ducking smoothly under branches and leaping gracefully over stumps and bushes.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The trail took her twisting through tall, ancient firs, almost as though she were dancing, yet wilder and faster. She moved gracefully, impossibly fast.

Thump. Falter. Thump.

Snow-white skin and snow-white coat. Golden-brown hair and golden-brown eyes. Running, listening, twisting and turning. Spiralling.

Thump.

There. By the river. A bundle, the source of the weak heartbeat. Weak, but at the same time inexplicably persistent and determined. Unusual.

There was no way this baby could die.

She pulled the baby out of the sack. It kicked feebly.

A girl.

Cold.

Weak.

Alive.

The sun had set fully when Dr Cullen finished his work. He closed the heavy book and replaced on the oak bookshelf that covered an entire wall of his study. Then he set about putting the papers in the correct files, in alphabetical order.

He was tidying his desk when Esme returned. She held her cloak firmly in her arms, covering something. She didn't stop to speak to him, but went straight into the living room and threw wood into the grate, coaxing life out of the dying embers. She carefully set her coat down in front of the fire. Only when her husband closed the study door behind him and sat down on the sofa did she look up and speak.

"I came back as quickly as I could. Need to get it warmed up in here."
"You found another one." It wasn't a question. Carlisle knelt down by the fire next to Esme and the bundle concealed in her coat.

"Don't touch her!" snapped Esme, waving his hand away. "Wait until she's warmed up Carlisle."

"A girl, is she?" Carlisle knew better than to get any closer. He knew Esme's maternal instincts. She could be quite fierce sometimes, especially when it came to rescued gifted children. "How old?"

"About two months." Esme put her hand into the bundle, very carefully, to check the temperature of the child. "She was down by the river. Mother probably couldn't bare to drown her, or didn't have time. Just threw her down on the ice and left her. Warmed up a bit now. Could you fetch a blanket?"

Carlisle dug a blanket out of the cupboard in the hall. On his way back to the living room he checked upon the children Esme had already rescued. They were all sleeping peacefully. He breathed a sigh of relief, and went back into the living room.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Esme was unwrapping the baby from her coat. The blue was gone from her lips and the ivory had receded slightly from her skin. When Esme allowed Carlisle to wrap her tightly in the blanket, she blinked and smiled, then fell asleep.

Esme sat down on the armchair close to the fire, holding her new daughter as close as she could without hurting or chilling.

Carlisle stood behind her and stroked her hair.

"I knew," said Esme, "when I heard the- her- heartbeat, that she was one of them. I couldn't leave her to die. I couldn't let her just..." she stared at the baby. Her tiny fingers flexed and touched the blanket.

"I know, I know." replied Carlisle softly. "You did the right thing. You always do. What are we going to call her?"

Esme gazed more intently at the baby's face. She knew she had done the right thing this time.

"Bella."