AN: A big thank you goes to laurazuleta18 who was beta on this one-shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own twilight.
'In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. ~Robert Ingersoll'
This one-shot is dedicated to those who leave us far sooner than they should
Her hand was rested by her side; her lips were still, her eyes closed. Jacob touched her cheek, her now cold and pale cheek; it was no longer the tinted pink that used to always feel warm at his touch.
Silently the tears rolled down, his eyes scrunching in pain as he cups her pale chin, he ghosts his lips over hers but they are unresponsive, no breath leaves them. He cannot bear to see them unmoving, it just hurts too much; he moves his lips to her forehead and rests them there.
He presses them harder, but no response is made, his tears are coming quicker now, a tortured cry rips from his throat as he embraces the lifeless and cold body in front of him. He cradles her head into his shoulder and begins to rock back and forth.
In the corner of the room Edward stands with a small bloodied bundle in his arms, he watches Jacob silently, while joining him in his mourning thoughts as the little girl in his grasp snuggles closer to her blanket, her tufty hair matted with blood.
Carlisle washes the blood from his hands; his shoulders slumped in rare defeat. In all his time practicing medicine a death of a patient has never hit him so hard. The water turns red as he scrubs the dark liquid from his fingers, a frown set deeply on his timeless face as he watches the dark red streams disappear down the drain.
On the downstairs couch Esme weeps dry tears into Alice's shoulder, who soothingly rubs her mother's back in comfort. Rosalie remains silent at the window, her eyes tightly shut against the horror of the last passing hours. The chilling screams repeat in her mind and even she is affected by the cries of the man she despises, her heart mourns for him and for the motherless child left behind from the night of death.
They each bow their heads as his cries echo through the silent house; they feel a wrench on their aching hearts as he sobs, his denial that there was some life in the broken body he cradled in his trembling arms, nothing could be done now, it was over.
"Please don't... don't leave me." He chokes rocking harder, his tears fall on to her silky hair but he earns no response, silence emits from her. Still, cold silence. As each second passes he prays that he will hear the familiar beat of her heart and each second that it doesn't he can almost hear his own heart splitting in two.
"Please..." he whispers. He wishes with every fibre of his being that he could feel her cold lips mumble against his shoulder telling him to stop crying and then proceed to tease him about it. Minutes trickle past, but nothing reaches him in his grief and the witnesses to it can't help but join him, the memory of this dark day branded into their immortal thoughts as the pain overwhelms them all. They can taste the darkness in the air, the feeling that the world has become greyer without her smile to light it up, numbness swept through them like tidal waves, washing all the feelings of joy away.
She can't watch anymore, she walks from the shadows of the room looking for some way to comfort her friend, the man who's always been there for her. She steps forward to his side by the bed, her gaze shrinking back at the sight of the bloodied sheets twisted at the feet off the lifeless pale girl.
"Jacob." She calls softly laying a trembling hand on his shoulder. Her voice shakes him from his grief but only for the briefest of seconds, he glances at her youthful face and takes in her grave expression but he can't stand it, her pity was piercing, striking through his denial. He couldn't pretend any longer that there was anything left of the girl he loved, the one he would go to the ends of the earth for, the girl who lay dead in his arms, it was over.
She was gone.
"No, No... God No... Please, No..." He attempts to cry, his husky voice can't avoid shaking, making his words inaudible to those around him. A fresh round of howls escape him, his presses her body to him one last time, breathing in as much of her scent as he can, the scent of blood is overpowering, but her pure intoxicating scent still lingered.
He lays her back down, her head tilting to the side of the pillow lifelessly. He doesn't attempt to slow the line of tears snaking down his face as he strokes her hair into place. The soft curls slip through his fingers and he tries to memorise its feel. He stares at the peaceful expression that has settled on her face and a small part of him is relieved that she isn't hurting anymore but the heartbreak overrides the feeling so much that he can barely acknowledge it, the hole in this chest just caves deeper and deeper, waiting for him to fall too into the darkness.
"Jacob... "She whispers quietly. He takes his time in smoothing her hair into soft waves that fall past her pale skin before he turns to face her. Her eyes lock with his and she almost gasps as his eyes burn with his pain and loss.
"Your daughter needs you." She manages to force out, she gestures to the small struggling child in Edward's arms, her little cries filling the air. Jacob's eyebrows fuse together in confusion as he remembers the little girl who he lost his love for. Slowly he nods and rises to his unsteady feet.
Edward watches Jacob's tearful approach and carefully extends the moving child away from his body, the werewolf's arm's come up awkwardly to hold his daughter and the vampire silently guides them into the correct position and smoothly hands the infant over. Jacob's gaze sweeps over her for a moment before meeting the gaze of his old enemy.
Their eyes lock and to the ancient vampire he feels the weight of Jacob's agony descend on his shoulders, almost as if the eye contact strengthened his unique power and in that moment he is grateful he'll never have to experience the full extent of the dark abyss of pain Jacob was in. Selfishly glad he was in a position to never lose Bella like Jacob had lost his own love. He can hear Jacob's silent plea to be alone with his child, alone with his lifeless wife and with his pain, he slowly nods and indicates for the others to leave the room with him. No words are exchanged as they swiftly exit but Edward casts a look of worry back to the werewolf, eyeing the small infant in her father's trembling arms.
Jacob looks down at the little girl, studying her face for the first time. He can't stop the sharp intake of breath as he stares at her eyes, little brown orbs that were almost identical to that of her mother's. He felt a prick of warmth where his heart had rested in his chest, a small beam of light in a crushing hole of darkness. He marvelled at the clear likeness, he could see himself in her face but it was overwhelmed by her mother's beauty. Jacob knew without a doubt that when she was older, she would be the most beautiful girl in the world, even if he was biased.
The little nameless girl looked around, eyes too young to fully absorb what was going on around her or the chaos that had been her birth. She wiggled in discomfort, her mouth beginning to search for food and when she found none in her father's fumbling arms her echoing cries rang out in protest.
A look of worry settled on Jacob's face, having not prepared as thoroughly for the arrival of a newborn as his wife had, he was unaware of what was wrong with her. He rocked her side to side, humming a broken tune frantically.
"Shhh, I'm here. I'm here." He mumbles, he holds her closer and the combination of his voice and sensation of the rocking causes her cries to calm down. He expected to hate her, the little girl that had killed her mother, the love of his life, but he found nothing but love for her, unbroken love lying in the murky depths of his shattered soul. He knew the words he muttered to his baby were true, as they would always be, no matter how hard the pain was he'd always be there for his baby girl.
He walked slowly back towards the bed, he perches on the edge leaning across so his forehead bumps against hers, the small baby between two chests, one warm and heaving with quietened sobs, the other cold and still. He knew this was goodbye, the last time it would ever just be them, away from the grieving eyes of friends and family. The only time that the three would ever be together again.
"Here she is, the little girl we dreamed about, she's finally here." He whispered, his voice broke, tears running from his already puffy eyes and dripping onto the cotton blanket wrapped around their precious daughter. He recalled her vivid dreams, her detailed explanations of how their child would be and look but what he recalled most strongly was the tangible atmosphere of excitement as they eagerly awaited the arrival of the baby.
"I wish you could see her, she's so like you, so beautiful..." he trailed off, his choking sobs becoming stronger and stronger.
"I promise you... I'll love her enough for the both of us. I promise." He vowed with sudden passion, he clenched his eyes closed against the blurry edge his tears had caused. The pain was flaring in his chest as he summoned his strength, strength to say goodbye, to let go, strength not to fall apart completely, strength to fight for his little girl, the only part that was left of his beloved wife.
"I'll make sure she knows you, we'll never forget." He forced out, mentally he was planning out all the things he would tell his daughter about her mother, funny stories and her loving gestures.
She would know her.
He inhaled deeply, taking in more of her lingering scent. It filled his mind, musky memories accompanying it. This was it, he couldn't take the heartache any longer, the thought of leaving her was hard to imagine but he knew he couldn't stay; the pain would drive him crazy, and crazy was not something he had the luxury to obtain at the moment.
He pressed his lips to her forehead one last time, placing a soft kiss on her cool skin. He remembered each kiss he'd put there, a million kisses, for a million moments that he'd loved her, and for a million more that he'd love her, until his dying breath.
"I love you Leah." He whispered against her copper skin. "I'll always love you."
Jacob pulled back slowly, mesmerising her exotic features, the high cheek bones and the silky waves of raven hair that had grown to the nape of her neck and lastly, the peaceful expression on her face, almost turned up enough to be a soft smile which not too long ago had been uncharacteristic for the former female wolf.
He stood up, grief resting strongly on his shoulders as he balanced the girl in his arms; he looked down at her and smiled a watery smile but filled with a father's love. He opened the door and walked straight past Nessie who attempted once more to comfort him, he past Edward, a small sad smile on his chiselled face. His legs felt heavy as he descended the stairs but he didn't spare a glance for the vampires assembled who heaved with dry sobs.
Jacob could feel the small ice crystals settle in his lungs as he walked into the winter air, pulling the blanket tighter around the baby and ripped his thick jumper from his body and created a second blanket from it to cover her.
The wolf paused at the river, the air clean and sharp in his lungs while the sound of gushing water helped soothe the baby girl further. Above them the sky was becoming lighter, a deep royal blue becoming softer as it touched the horizon, a thousand points of light shone down on them even as dawn approached at its lazy pace.
Most of the stars where scattered above their heads but there was one star that stood out, it was lower on the horizon, alone in its own expanse of dark blue sky, shinning brighter than any of the others. Jacob felt a painful flood of love tinted grief pass through him, instantly sure that that star was Leah looking down on them.
He angled his daughter in his arms, so she was facing the star. Her eyes flickered around, colours and shapes catching her attention but several times her delicate eyes latched onto the solitary star.
"That's mommy on her way to heaven, watching over us." Jake whispered confidently, his daughter gurgled in response, earning a watery chuckle from her dad, but he held her closer, breathing in the unique scent that was almost just like her moms.
His footsteps were slow as he made his progress towards home, holding his baby close and trying to remember the name Leah had picked out for their daughter and finally remembering 'Layla' was the name she'd favoured. He hugged her and sent a silent thank you towards the stars, a thank you to Leah for their perfect daughter.
"I love you." He whispered to the starry sky, a sheet of dark velvet that rippled into blues and faint tints of peach, he was wondering in his broken heart if she heard it, that Leah was sitting up in heaven knowing that he loved her, she'd known it in life, and surely she'd know it in death as well.
As he walked a light breeze picked up, softly blowing against Jake's heated skin and he could have sworn he heard a light voice in the wind, a gentle caress that could have easily been the rustle of leaves but deep down, he knew it was something more and this caused a smile to grace his lips as the wind whispered back in her heavenly voice.
"I love you too."
AN: That's right, Blackwater! How many thought it might be Renesmee? I don't think I've ever written anything this upsetting, did anyone cry? I did.
Review please, it boosts my morale.