Okay, this story is going be a series of one-shots about Bella's life as the eighth Cullen. Each chapter, apart from the first two, will be a year from her life. Various POV's. Please read and review!

Disclaimer:

Sadly, I don't own Twilight. But if I did, I would be stinking rich enough to own this website and all rights to every story and its representation of every character... LOL what?

**This story is written where Carlisle's coven lives in Forks 18 years before they do in the book, just in case anyone is wondering :)

Renee's POV

It was time. I couldn't stay in Forks any longer. I had made my decision a long time ago, and it was now or never. I couldn't stand the house, which despite my efforts to brighten up remained dreary and drab. I couldn't stand the sight of Charlie's face, peeking down at our baby, cooing softly. I couldn't stand the entire town! There were no secrets; everything you had done was out in the open. I needed my space sometimes, and you couldn't get it in a place this small. So I was leaving. I was going to go somewhere south, somewhere warm; maybe Los Angeles or Phoenix. I wanted to see the sun, not a faint shadow of it behind the clouds. I'd start over, a clean slate. I knew it was a cliché, a married couple trying to make it work by moving to a different place and starting over, but I was different. I was going alone.

My Bella; My baby, the one I loved too much. She was sweet, three months old and already beginning to recognize me and Charlie as her parents. She loved being touched, and she was starting to make little gurgling noises. She was the cutest thing, and she was intelligent. Whenever I was doing some chores around the house, she would follow me, crawling as fast as her hands and knees could take her. She would look up at me, washing the dishes, and her little brow would furrow, as if in concentration. I'd tell her what I was doing, and her face was so serious, staring back at me, it looked like she actually knew what I was talking about. In truth, she probably didn't have a clue what I was saying, but it was her way of saying she knew that I was talking to her. It broke my heart to know that soon, most of her world would shatter.

I couldn't take her with me. This was probably the hardest move I would have to make in my life, but I couldn't. The fact was just that I was too young. I always had been. I had married Charlie at nineteen, about one month pregnant with Bella, though I hadn't known it at the time. I thought I was in love, but I hadn't been after all. If I took her with me, I wouldn't be able to take care of her. I would have to work full time to support us, and then I would be unable to take care of her. I couldn't hire a full time sitter, that would be too costly and I would never get to see her. This wouldn't be good for her, and I was trying to make her life as good as possible. But I didn't want to leave her with Charlie, because I knew that he wouldn't be able to handle her. He wasn't of the parenting type, and we both knew that. I took care of Bella mostly; he usually just fed her once or twice or occasionally changed her diaper. This didn't mean that he loved her less, just that he couldn't take care of her on his own. I didn't want to burden him with that, because I knew he also worked full time. But on the other hand, I didn't want to put her up for adoption. The thought of my baby girl, my Bella, in the hands of a complete stranger, was enough to make me sick. So what did I do?

I had been stuck on this question for weeks, speculating over what I would do. Then, sitting in the armchair, rocking Bella, who was asleep, taking her afternoon nap, it came to me. I wasn't entirely sure it would work, and there was a strong possibility that if it didn't, I would be forced to put her up for adoption. That choice would break me, and I didn't want to do that, ever. So I had to try my option, the only one I had then. I was going to ask Carlisle to adopt my baby. The idea was absolutely insane, but I had to. Carlisle was the doctor that had monitored my pregnancy, and so he already knew about her. While he had been checking up on my baby, we had talked. He told me a little about his adoptive children, and I had listened, intrigued. He and Esme were unable to have children, he told me, and so they had adopted. They figured that they might as well help someone because of their dilemma. He told me that they loved each of their children like they were their own, and from the way it sounded, I might have believed that they weren't adopted at all. Looking back, I realized that if he accepted all the hard responsibility of taking in my child, she would have a great home. But even then, this was huge. It wasn't just asking him to take care of a pet for a week, this was a child! My child! But he was my absolute last hope, and I had to try. I decided that I would have to leave Charlie first, because I wouldn't want to leave and have him wondering what had become of our child. I'd take her with me, and then ask Carlisle to take my daughter. If he refused, which I knew in my heart would be most likely, then I'd take her to the nearest adoption agency. I'd ask them to keep it private, to not tell anyone. I was pretty sure there was some sort of a privacy policy, but they might put out a notice. I guess I'd tell them that I had run away with her and couldn't take care of her…

I sat there for the duration of Bella's nap, planning out what I would do and making back-up plans, going over every detail, making sure that Bella would be safe and in good hands the whole way. I stroked her hair while she slept, and as I thought about the beautiful little girl I would have to leave behind me, I cried. It started with one tear, a tiny drop of water just running in a single line down my cheek. It dropped, and I watched it fall. Then, before I could stop it, a whole cascade of them wet my cheeks and turned my eyes red. Quiet sobs wracked my body, and I tried to not move so much, so I wouldn't wake her. When I managed that, I was too tired to try and stop the tears. So I clutched her tighter to my chest and asked God why this was so hard. She shouldn't have been born in to a world where she would have to face separation from her parents. I cried for my mistake that she would have to pay for. I didn't regret for one second that she was alive, only that she would have to go through more pain than someone as small as her should have to. I buried my face in her hair and took in a deep breath, committing to memory the sweet smell of her. And before I even realized what was happening, I was crying again, this time with louder sobs and even more tears. No! My mind cried out. This was my baby! I couldn't leave her! I gently set her down on to the couch so my cries wouldn't wake her with the movement, and then returned to the chair. I buried my head in my hands. What was I going to do? I loved her too much to let her go, but I couldn't take her with me. It was an impasse, and I couldn't bring myself to get out of it. My Bella would be in a bad situation if she came with me, and she would be better off if Carlisle would take her, or even an adoption agency. She could be someone else's little angel, someone else's daughter they had dreamt of. Another huge round of sobs wracked my body, and I curled in to myself, bent double, as if to hide from the pain. But I couldn't hide; I had to be strong and brave for Bella. All this was resting on her, on whether she made it in to a good place after this or not. Come on, be strong. Fight through this, you'll make it. I steeled myself with these thoughts, and sat up straight. My sobs quieted, and the tears subsided. After I had control of myself, I walked back over to the couch where Bella was still lying, unaffected by emotional breakdown. I picked her back up and held her to my chest, rocking her softly. I had to get through this for her. I just had to.

About a week later, I was ready. It was around five in the evening, and Charlie would be home soon. Bella was awake, and she was resting in my arms. I was sitting in the armchair, and I had made sure my bag and hers were stowed safely away in the tiny little Toyota I had bought when I graduated. For a moment, I was taken aback. I graduated little more than a year ago! I was only twenty! What was I doing? My breath came in a gasp, and if I hadn't been holding Bella, I would have clutched at my heart. I was too young for this! I can't be a mother! Then I remembered that I would be more of an ex-mother soon, and some tears sprang to my eyes. But I blinked hard several times, and they cleared. There would be time for crying later, I reminded myself. So the moment passed, and I returned to my previous state of anxiety.

I was hyper-aware that this would probably be the last normal time I would hold my daughter. A part of me wanted to break down and start crying again at this, but I shushed that part again and locked it down inside me. I had my traveling coat on, and Bella had her little jacket on. Her bag was separate from mine, and it had everything she would need. A passport, a few sets of clothes, some diapers, and a can of formula. Also, there was a letter from me in there. When, and if, she learned to read, she would be able to understand it. Or at least get someone to read it to her. It would tell her why I had to leave her, and how much I still loved her. I didn't want her to be like those poor children whose mothers didn't even want to know them. I didn't want her to grow up alone, so to speak. I'd tell whoever got her about it, so they could still read it to her right now. She'd have it memorized from a young age. In my pocket, I had one other letter. It would only get delivered in one instance. If Carlisle did adopt her after all, then I would give it to him.

Just then, I heard the click of the lock turning. A small shudder passed through me, and I knew what I was about to do would be hard. Charlie walked in, and smiled when he saw me and Bella sitting in the armchair.

"Hey, babe. How was your day?" He stooped to kiss me, and for a moment I kissed him back, wanting to remember this last moment with him. He pulled back, and that's when he noticed what we were wearing.

"You guys going somewhere?" His brow creased, his eyes narrowing. I sighed, and thought, here we go.

"Charlie," I began, then stopped, because I didn't know how to go on. Oh God, what was I doing? I was going to break him! But you already made this choice, an annoying little voice inside my head said. You have to follow through with this.

"Charlie, we're leaving." There. It was out, I had said it. His eyes narrowed further, and I saw a dark shadow pass over his face.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I sighed again.

"I mean Bella and I are leaving. I can't stay here any more. I can't live in a small town!" He blew out a breath as he realized exactly where I was going with this.

"Don't go! We can move, go somewhere else…" He faltered as he saw the look in my eyes.

"That's not just it. I just can't take it! Charlie, we're too young! I don't want to try and make this work, I want to be free! I don't want to be tied down now! I have to get out, and I'm not going to leave Bella behind!" He took a step back, looking shocked, then came forward again, his face contorted with rage.

"So you think you're just going to walk out on me with our daughter? She's as much mine as she is yours! Remember?" I shook my head at this, and knew I would have to hurt him even more then I had originally planned for. I didn't want to hurt him that much, because I knew that he was a nice guy and I didn't want him to feel a lot of pain. I was trying to make this as easy as possible on everyone. But to get out of here, I'd really have to make it hurt for him.

"Oh yeah?" I snarled back, making the words sting. "Like what? Changing a diaper every other day? Playing with her while I make dinner? Charlie, I do the work with her, you just bring home the paycheck." He gasped at this, and then his face turned red.

"So what do you plan on doing with her? Hiring a sitter? Where would you get the money to do that?" He was playing the money card, which I knew he would.

"I'll manage," I muttered, and knew that I wouldn't actually have to worry about providing for her.

"Where are you taking my daughter?" He suddenly roared, and I returned with as much force as I could manage.

"Somewhere you'll never find us! Now, try to look for us, and you'll not see your daughter outside of court!" He gaped at me like a fish, and I almost apologized. Almost. He opened his mouth to say something, and I stopped him.

"Just let me go, Charlie. It didn't work out, okay? I really, really hate Forks!" With that, I wrenched open the door and strode out in to the darkening sunset, leaving a shell-shocked Charlie in my wake. It was cold outside, and I held Bella tighter to my chest. I wanted to keep her warm, and I knew I had a blanket in the car. I unlocked the car, and carefully strapped her in to her car seat. I grabbed the blanket off the seat next to her and draped it over her small body. The expression on her face was surprised, like she didn't know what just happened. That made two of us. I closed the door and got in to the drivers' side, and didn't look back to the house I had just walked out of. Because I knew that if I did, I would see Charlie's face still looking out the door to where I used to be, even long after I was gone.

As I drove down the street, I willed the tears back. They wanted to come, but I kept up my mantra of, not now, not yet, going inside my head. The first hurdle was over. I had left Charlie. It hurt, badly now that I stopped to think about it, and I didn't want to feel it right now. Because I knew if I did, I'd never make it. Later, just later. I turned off the road hat had become familiar to me, and down the main highway. I turned around at the stoplight to check on Bella, and she was fine. Her chocolate brown eyes glowed in the semi-darkness in the back of the car, and her breath came regularly. My little baby; my sweet angel. For about the hundredth time that night, I wondered how I was going to make it through this. How was I supposed to just hand over my baby, forever? I knew a lot of moms do it every day, just turn away from the one they carried inside them for so long, like they mean nothing to them. It was people like that that made me sick. Those poor children, growing up without a mom figure. I didn't want that to happen to Bella. I turned back around just as the light turned green and I stepped on the gas. Now that I was out of the gate, I wanted to see if my first, only, and best option would work. I looked for the turnoff that would mark the way to the hospital, and when I found it, I took it slowly, as I didn't want to scare Bella. I drove up the slightly winding road, and I didn't think at all. I didn't want to replay Charlie's final scene with me, and I didn't want to think about what would happen if Dr. Cullen refused to take her; which was likely anyways. I just didn't want to feel the horror over what I was doing. I wanted to feel numb, and through unspoken prayer to God, I begged for it. Amazingly, He answered. I felt some of the shock and fears subside, though only by a bit. Still, it was enough for me to feel relatively under control.

I pulled in to the parking lot, which was nearly devoid of cars. I saw only about two or three. One of them must have been the doctor's, because there was no staff parking lot. The fact no patient or visitor was there amazed me, and I saw it as an omen. This was meant to happen. I parked up close, and cut the engine. I took in a deep breath, and took one last look at Bella, sitting in the back seat. I breathed out, and stepped out of the car. I got my baby out, carefully holding her close to me while arranging her blanket around her, and I took out the backpack that held her things. I slung one strap over my shoulder, and then straightened up. I closed the door behind me, and looked up to the hospital looming like a giant, standing above us.

"Here we go," I whispered to Bella, and when I looked down to her, she was wearing her serious face.

Carlisle's POV

I was finishing some charts at the nurses' station on the ground floor, thinking about a surgery I was going to do the next day. It had been pretty quiet here for the past hour or so. No new ER admittances, none of the long term patients had any complaints. There was literally nothing to do. Nothing but sit around and do charts. Doing nothing was not something I did very often, and it kind of annoyed me. There was always something to do, right? Something you could do other than breathe or think or sit. Only one part of my mind was on the charts, the other was at home, with my wife and children. Sitting with my Esme on the couch, watching Emmett challenge Jasper to a wrestling match, or listening to Edward play the piano, or hearing Rosalie and Alice talking about shopping plans or something. It was all so relaxing, just watching my family do what they liked. I had been so caught up in my own world that I almost didn't notice someone movie outside. My eyes snapped up, and I remembered just in time to move my head up slower, like a human, in case anyone was watching. My eyes zoomed in on a medium height figure, and I immediately recognized it as a person, Renée Swan. She was the chief of polices' wife, and she had a three month old daughter named Isabella, though Renée preferred Bella. I had been the doctor assigned to her pregnancy, and had followed it through the end. She had a check-up next week, in fact. I wondered what she was doing here at this time in the evening, and why she was carrying Bella with her. She approached the front doors of the hospital, and they opened automatically. I stood up and moved over to her. I smiled, and greeted her.

"Hello, Mrs. Swan. Hello Bella." I greeted her daughter separately, because I knew Renée would smile at it. But tonight, she didn't smile, and my vampire vision detected a slight shiver as I called her, "Mrs. Swan." What was going on?

"Please, have a seat." I gestured to the chairs off to my right, the ones used for people waiting for news from their loved ones. She walked over to them, and I sensed an uncomfortable feeling coming from her. She sat down in one across from me, and looked down at Bella, who was playing with a strand of her hair.

"So," I said. "What brings you here at this time?" She looked up at me, and in her eyes I saw pain. It was the kind that makes you think the person is wise, because you have to have been through a lot to take on that look. Her entire face, which was normally a childish, laughing face, looked darker, gaunter. She took a deep breath, like she was trying to figure out how to start, and then blinked.

"Dr. Cullen, I have to ask you to do something for me. I know that it's stupid, and pointless, and it's really not going to work, but I have to ask, for the sake of my daughter." She stopped, and I took a second to think about where she was heading with this.

"You can ask me anything." I said kindly, and she closed her eyes.

"This is really important, so please, don't immediately shoot it down; just hear me out first, okay?" she opened her eyes to look at me, and I nodded, so she continued. "Your sons and daughters are adopted, correct?" I nodded, still clueless as to what this was leading to. She sighed one last time, and then she said the words that changed my life forever.

"I need you to adopt my daughter."

My eyes widened so big, that if it had been anatomically possible, they would have literally fallen out. I blinked, and stared at her. I would have been able to tell if she were on drugs, because I would have been able to smell it. She was completely sane, and she had just asked me to adopt her own daughter.

"Mrs. Swan, may I ask what happened tonight that made you ask me that?" She closed her eyes again, and when she looked up, they were sparkling with tears. I grabbed a Kleenex from the box on the table in front of us and offered it to her. I was careful to make sure our hands never touched, so she wouldn't feel my ice cold skin. She took it and dabbed at her eyes, and bounced Bella gently in her lap.

"Tonight I left Charlie. I can't live in a small town, I can't be with him, I'm just too young to settle down!" I nodded to this, and she continued. "I didn't want to leave him to take care of Bella, because I know he barely makes it even with my help. He can't do diapers very well, or feed her… you get the picture. So I took her with me, but I don't plan on moving to a new place with her. I love her, so, so much, but I just can't provide for her. I'd have no money if I stayed home to take care of her, and not enough saved to rent a hotel room, let alone hire a full time nanny. It would just be life in a homeless shelter, and I want much more for my little girl. I don't want to leave her in an adoption agency but if you refuse to take her in, that's what I'll have to do. I asked you because I know you have experience with adopting, and you're the most trustworthy person I know. I'm aware that adopting a child isn't just like taking care of a pet for a week, or something like that, it's a full time responsibility. But I want her to have the best life possible, and if that means flat out asking my doctor to adopt my baby, then so be it. I just want her to be in a better place than with a rough orphanage, or a foster home. And yes, I know you're going to say no, but I had to ask. Because if I didn't, I'd spend my whole life wondering if she could have been better off if I had made a different decision."

She finished her speech, and then sat back in the chair with her arms wrapped around her child. All I could do was stare at the wall while I ran over all this in my head. What was I supposed to do? I wanted to help her and Bella, I really did! But I had to think of the rest of my family? What about Jasper? Would he be able to resist his bloodlust? Bella would be in constant danger. I knew that Esme, Rosalie, and Alice would be delighted to have a baby. And what about the entire problem of vampirism? If she were to live with us, her knowing our secret, the Volturi would be on us in a flash! My head spun in circles for what seemed like forever, though in reality lasted only about a minute. I finally rested my gaze on Renée, and she was watching Bella bat her mom's hair around. When she felt my gaze, she met it with a hard look that told me she would do whatever was best for her baby. But was giving it to a coven of strangely moral vampires that, despite their best efforts, may lose the fight against bloodlust, really the best thing? Her eyes said yes, though she was unaware of our secret. But what she said next changed what I thought about it, and it changed my decision.

"You have to do for her what no one else can do. You have something that can help her, and I don't know whether it's your family, or a talent you have, but she'll have the best possible life with you." Renée's words rocked me to the core, which is a hard thing to do. She had some sort of premonition; she could sense something out of the ordinary about me and my family. She couldn't begin to guess what we really were, but she knew there was just something about us. But what really shook me was that her first sentence was almost verbatim what Elizabeth Mason had said to me about her dying son. I knew better, I knew it was more than just my decision here, but I had to. It wasn't a choice anymore.

"Mrs. Swan," I started, but stopped when I realized that though she and Charlie were now separated, but not yet divorced, she wouldn't want his last name attached to hers. So instead, I used her first name.

"Renée, you do know that you'll have to go through a lot of legal work with this, giving me custody of your daughter even though you don't exactly own her yet?" But the only part she heard was "Giving me." She gasped, and held her tissue to her eyes again. Her breath came faster, and I heard her heart accelerate.

"Oh," was all she could say. I stared solemnly back at her, though a smile was steadily working its way to my lips.

"Thank you!" She finally managed to say, and I just smiled.

"Now, I have to talk to you seriously. Bella is being adopted in to my family, am I correct?" She nodded eagerly, and I went on.

"So you have to work out whether you want her to keep the Swan last name, or Cullen." She didn't hesitate at all when she said, "Cullen."

"I don't want anyone to really question where she came from, if you're planning on moving to avoid attention. I just want her to be a part of your family." I bobbed my head to show I understood, and moved on to the next thing.

"Okay, so if she's going to be a Cullen, part of my family, then she'll need a passport and letter from you stating that…" my sentence peeled off as she took out a passport and a letter, which, upon closer inspection, was revealed to be a letter giving me permission to take care of her daughter until it became legal in court. I gave her a quizzical look, and she told me that she had planned this out before, because she didn't want to delay anything in case I did say yes. I was surprised at the amount of planning she had put in to this. In the next half hour, we discussed everything about Bella's adoption, and at the end I thanked her.

"For what? I'm the one that needed the help." Was her response to that.

"For giving my family a daughter, a little sister, and someone else to love." A smile punctuated my words, and her eyes shone with tears again. She drew in a shaky breath, and got up, still holding her daughter.

"Inside her bag, it's a letter from me to her. It's just telling her why I had to leave her. I told you so you know that if she ever starts missing me, just read that to her and tell her it's from me. She won't understand what it means for a good while, but it'll be comforting to her." She gave a little smile, and adjusted Bella on her hip. "Oh! One more thing, before I forget…" She reached inside her jacket pocket, and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper, and handed it to me.

"This is for you and your family." I opened the letter, and inside found two pages filled up with writing. Her script was curly, done with the utmost care a human could do, but still nothing compared to vampire handwriting. Not that it mattered or I cared. It was all things about Bella, which blanket she liked best, the position that made her fall asleep the quickest. Everything she could think of she had put there, and I could see some faintly wet spots on it, where her tears had fallen, though she had obviously tried to hold them back.

I looked back to her, and she was beaming me a watery smile.

"It's all I know about Bella. She can read it too, when she gets older. Just so you, her, and your family all know that I do love her and care about her. That I didn't just dump her off and never look back or care what happened to her." I looked at her steadily, and said, "I never doubted that for a second." She just shook her head, and said, "Just in case anyone else doubted it, I had to write it." We stood there for another minute, just lost in our own thoughts, when she finally spoke again.

"I had better get going. Do you want her tonight…?" She let her sentence trail off, and I debated it internally for a minute. "Would a bit later, or maybe even tomorrow be okay? I know you want to leave as soon as you can, but I do need time to ready my family. And also, they might want to have their say. I know that I already agreed to adopt her, but I don't want to force them in to anything they don't want." She bit her lip and looked up, then said, "Can I wait here? You can come back here when you're done telling your family." My brow furrowed, and I said, "You stay here alone? It's getting kind of late." Rene shook me off, replying, "It's a hospital, not a dark alley in the outskirts of town. I'll be fine." I said, "Alright then, I'll see you soon." She thanked me, again, for agreeing to this, and I replied with, "You're welcome." She sat back down, and I stood up. I nodded to her, grabbed my bag from behind the front desk, said goodbye, and walked out the front steps.

Once outside, I pulled out my mobile phone from my bag. It had cost a lot, but it was convenient and price wasn't really that big a concern for me. I dialed the house line and waited only half a ring for it to be picked up, thanks to Alice and vampire speed. Alice. Everyone probably knew all about Bella by now, and I was a bit late in realizing this. She hadn't seen this until I had made the decision to keep Bella. So she had probably had a vision about an hour or so ago, and I knew that some of my family members had been planning to hunt tonight. I hoped they were back. All this ran through my mind in the space of a millisecond, and then I quickly spoke in to the receiver of the phone.

"Did anyone go hunting?" My words came out so fast and low that all a human would have seen was a slight vibration of my lips. Alice answered immediately, "Yes, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Edward will be back in a few minutes." Even though she asked no question, I could hear the burning to ask it in her voice.

"I'll explain at home. Make sure everyone is there. There's going to be a family meeting. Now."

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