Title: A Baby Changes Everything

Written By: Vivian Storm

Rated: T

Summary: During Bella's transformation, Edward is introduced to their newborn daughter Renesmee officially for the first time. It's then he realizes just how much a baby changes everything.

Notes: Inspired by "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill (not based off of, because if you've ever heard it you'll know the lyrics have nothing to do with Twilight - they're about Mary and Jesus), and "I Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot. Please review (this is my first Twilight FanFic!!!).

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Everybody's watching you now…

Bella hadn't made a noise since the venom had been injected into her system. The only thing that reassured me that the transformation was taking place was the frantic beating of my beloved Bella's heart as it futilely attempted to fight off the fire flooding her veins. She occasionally twitched or had a spasm, and each time she did I apologized to her softly. Because I was truly sorry she had to endure this horrible torture, this completely appalling pain that could only be described as pure hell.

Alice hadn't come up in nearly an hour to give me an update on the transformation. But I could hear her thoughts downstairs, along with the others, and there was no reason to panic.

At least, that was what I kept trying to convince myself.

Desperate to escape the prison my mind had become, I let my ability wander to listen to the mental voices of my family downstairs.

Naturally, my mind went to Alice's first. Hearing her thoughts were so natural that at times it was hard to distinguish them from my own. She was my closest sister and the one I cherished the most, as we both had abilities the family counted on for their safety. She had also been the biggest help throughout this trying time. She had been the one to give Bella and I a beautiful wedding, which was something I could never thank her enough for, and she knew it. Of course, she'd let the endless praise and thanks to go to her head, but I knew she deserved every word of it. So I didn't protest.

If only such a beautiful thing weren't so difficult to see… Alice was thinking.

I left her mind, and entered that of her mate's, Jasper's. Jasper was a calm presence, which was reassuring to my feverish mind. His thoughts were serene and placed as they usually were, but for once they weren't centered around the little pixie that I called my sister.

She's so warm, and I can feel the blood pounding through her veins, but… but she doesn't make me thirsty. It's a miracle, were his thoughts.

I went from Jasper to Esme, my beloved mother. She was always thinking something sweet, never thinking of herself. I smiled as her thoughts came across me. The family can finally be together now. Just what I've always dreamed.

Then, I went to Carlisle. He had been my father, for all intents and purposes, for the past century. The patriarch of our coven, he was the beloved father figure to all except Esme, who saw him as an equal. He was the leader, and his opinion was valued above all in our family. His thoughts, like Jasper's, were serene. But, unlike Jasper's, they were full of compassion and love.

Such a wonderful thing has been bestowed upon my son and daughter… to all of us, was what was going through his mind. I pray it will remain this way for eternity.

Then, for a little bit of a laugh, I entered Emmett's mind. He was the most boisterous of my brothers, always ready for a fight or a hunt or something that involved physical activity. Always so optimistic about every outcome, and very passionate about gambling. But, for now, his thoughts weren't on gambling, hunting, fighting, or even staring at Rosalie's backside (I usually avoided him when he was having those kind of thoughts). She's so damn cute. If only Rose would let me hold her…

Ah, Rosalie. The one mind in this house that I wasn't particularly fond of at the moment. Her thoughts, as usual, were self-centered and if I could I would have tuned them out of my head for the rest of eternity. She was always so vain, so conceited that at times I felt as if I would be sick. But, given my state of being, I couldn't. So I was forced to hear her as she thought, …can't wait until she gets older. It'll be like having a daughter of my very own. It'll be as if I were human… although, I don't think I would be this beautiful if I were… nor would she…

I didn't miss that all of their thoughts were revolving around one thing, and one thing only.

My daughter.

Renesmee.

The child Bella had fought so hard to bring into this world. The child she'd nearly died for.

My eyes and thoughts went back to Bella briefly. My angel. My everything. If only she knew just how much she meant to me. I knew she understood some of it, but then again I didn't know just how much she comprehended of my emotions involving her. But, hopefully, soon, she would understand just how much I wanted her, needed her, and loved her. Just the thought made me smile in desire. But, alas, I knew I couldn't until she awoke from the transformation. Which, as Alice had informed me, would not be for at least another twenty-four hours. The idea of my beloved undergoing this hellish pain for another day was almost unbearable.

So, I tried to escape my head again.

Everybody waits for you now…

But, instead of going to my family's head, I entered the mind of my young, hardly twelve-hours-old daughter. She was sleeping, rather peacefully, and I could see her thought my family's eyes. A perfect child, with a feverish temperature and a hummingbird heartbeat. Bronze locks, very much like my own, but with the very curls that came from Bella's father, Charlie. I could see myself in her features, but what I cherished there was not my own.

It was her eyes.

Though they were closed right now, I knew their color. A beautiful milk chocolate brown, just like her mother's. As immersed as I was in Bella's transformation, I had not yet taken the time to fully acquaint myself with her. So, as an act to try and right that particular wrong, I let myself be overwhelmed by her thoughts.

Mother… Father… For a child who had just been born, her thoughts were so advanced even in dreams. That might have troubled me if it hadn't been for her next thoughts. Love them so much… So sorry… about mother… Where… is Father?

I tensed. Though she was sleeping, it wasn't very deeply. She could hear the soft conversations of her family around her, and could single out each and every voice. Though she had not memorized names just yet, she could tell what role they would play in her life. She knew her aunts, her uncles, and (I realized this with a small smile, as Carlisle nor Esme looked over thirty) her grandparents. She knew who her mother was and vaguely where she was, and why she was there - as it had been explained to her by a very accommodating Rosalie.

But nobody had told her where I was. And, even in her dreams, she was worried about me.

Jacob had been removed from the house temporarily. After the rather shocking (and in my case, enraging and repulsive) revelation that he had imprinted on my daughter, Rosalie had literally kicked him out. He hadn't returned, and neither would we let him. We weren't going to let him anywhere near Renesmee until we at least had the Bella thing sorted out.

Renesmee.

Just her name made me feel… odd.

There was a warmth in my heart… a warmth in a place that had never been warm before. Not that Bella's love for me had warmed my whole heart, but that was more like a passionate fire. This was… it was hard to describe. Like a blanket of security that I cherished, had wrapped a part of my heart into itself. And I needed that warmth, like it was vital to my survival, as well as the fire from Bella that was necessary to keep me from freezing. As if there could be no fire without the warmth, and vice versa. And with neither of those, I would die.

I suddenly had a deep urge to see my daughter and really look at her for the first time.

"Will you bring Renesmee up here, please?" I asked quietly. I knew they would hear me.

Suddenly, everyone's thoughts were in disarray.

Bella's transforming up there - the child can't be anywhere near her right now. Rosalie's mental voice was the loudest out of all of them, hissing venomously at me through my ability. I growled softly, knowing she would hear that too.

"Bella has been nothing but docile ever since the transformation began. I don't need much time with her," I told her, even though were on completely different floors. "I just want to hold her."

"Rosalie." Carlisle's calm voice echoed throughout the entire house. "I have seen Bella for myself. She is not thrashing at all, and I'm sure that even if she were, Edward would be able to handle Renesmee alone perfectly well for a few moments. She is his daughter, Rosalie, and I believe she should be treated as such." I didn't miss how he put special emphasis on how Renesmee was my child, and apparently neither did Rose. She hissed indignantly.

"Rose." Alice's voice suddenly entered the mix. "I can't see the future but it'll be fine. Now hand Renesmee over before you get too upset and hurt her."

I growled again.

I heard the gentle rustle of fabric as Renesmee was transferred over to someone's arms - Alice's by the sounds of her thoughts, and prepared myself to hold my daughter for the first time… well, for the first time that I fully acknowledged her as my daughter.

Alice began coming up the stairs, in an agonizingly slow human pace, probably because she didn't want to upset Renesmee. Jasper was shadowing her every step, his thoughts adoring in every way as he followed the little pixie up the stairs. But surprisingly, for the first time in a long time, I found that his thoughts weren't centered on Alice. He was thinking about Renesmee.

The door to the room Bella and I were in slowly opened, and Alice entered with little Renesmee in her arms.

What happens next…

The instant I saw her, everything seemed to change. The world stopped spinning for a split second before it switched its axis. Nothing else seemed to exist, though I was perfectly aware of the others in the room, especially Bella. It was just Renesmee.

Alice seemed to understand the expression on my face. Ever so gently, she began offering my daughter to me with careful golden eyes. There was a small smile on her face, even though I knew it frustrated her that she couldn't see what would happen when it came to Renesmee. As gentle as a dove alighting down on a branch, she handed Renesmee to me.

My daughter's skin was feverish, and I would have panicked if I hadn't already known was naturally this way. While before I would only hear her quick heartbeat, holding her I could feel it pulsing underneath my frigid hands. Her angelic eyes were closed, and before I could truly study her, I heard Alice whisper,

"What I can see is that Rose is going to get pretty upset in the next couple of minutes, so I'm not sure how long you'll have."

I nodded, my eyes never leaving my child's face. "Thank you, Alice."

I could feel her smile, and she kissed my forehead in a sisterly way. "I'll see you later, Edward. Bella will be perfect. Trust me." And she skipped from the room without another word, and Jasper followed.

So, for the first time, I looked down at my daughter to study her features.

I saw myself in her face, in the angular cheekbones and the accented chin. But I could also see Bella in the gentle curves of her heart-shaped face. Her bronze curls fell in ringlets around my hand, which gently cradled her head as my other arm held her safely against me. The frantic heartbeat pounding underneath her skin was enough to remind me that she was half-human. But the sheer perfection in her face, and the glossiness of her paler skin, also reminded me that she was part vampire. Though she felt fragile in my arms, I knew she was stronger than the adult human. She was… she was unlike any infant I had ever seen in my life.

How was I going to be a good father to this beautiful, perfect child? How was I going to be able to handle taking care of this wonderful creature Bella had brought to life?

I had never been a father before, and never had I tried to be one. Carlisle had been such a perfect father figure to me that the thought had never come across my mind. Not to mention in my present… state, I had never guessed that I would ever be able to create a child in the first place. I had never guessed that Bella was going to be able to carry my child, let alone give birth to it.

And yet here she was, in my arms, safe and sound.

If she was here, alive… what else could change? Nothing. Everything in my world had now been altered so completely that I didn't think I could ever be shocked in the same way again.

I dare you to move…

Suddenly, movement in my arms brought my full attention to Renesmee. She was shifting, squirming in her blankets, almost as if restless. I instantly checked her mind, anxious. She wasn't having nightmares, only thoughts of Bella and I. An image of Bella's sweaty, bloodied, exhausted face as she held her for the first time, and a picture of mine as I handed her over to Rosalie.

"I'm here, sweetling," I crooned to her, trying to be quiet about it. "I'm here, and I always will be."

As if my voice had awoken something within her, her eyes flickered open, and I was confronted by her beautiful eyes. Those chocolate brown eyes. Bella's eyes. The eyes I thought that, with Bella's turning, I would never see again. And yet, here they were, staring up at me with an innocence that couldn't be matched.

The sight of me brought joy to her eyes, if babies could feel such joy. She squirmed for a second more, before her hand lifted out from her blanket. It was a pudgy little hand, an infant's hand, but it lifted towards my face with an expertise that could only belong to a toddler. It would have troubled me if I weren't so completely amazed by the act.

But the thing that amazed me more was what happened when she pressed her hand to my cheek.

Instantly, I was confronted by a strong mental image. The picture of my face. My golden eyes, my bronze hair, my pale skin… the image of me as I was holding her myself, as I whispered her name for the first time. But… but there was something else behind the image. It was a feeling of exultation, of joy. I realized in that same split second that those had been Renesmee's feelings, the feelings she'd felt when I whispered her name. She'd felt joy - sheer joy at finally seeing her father after months of listening to his voice from her mother's womb.

The image snapped out of my mind the instant Renesmee pulled her hand away from my face.

I stared down at her, amazed. And as I stared, a smile broke out onto her puerile face, and she squealed in delight. Father, she thought in her mind. I love you.

And for now, for that moment… that second… in time, that was all that mattered.

A baby changes everything.