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Act IV

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The Cullen residence hadn't been this silent for years. Even when the 'kids' were at school and Carlisle was working, there was always the sound of Esme cleaning something, or scratches of pencil on paper as she worked on a new draft of a project she had in mind.

The silence left most of them with an uneasy feeling. Not even the baby in the house made a sound, which only served to unsettle them further. They expected her to be making little baby noises even though the adults were stone still.

No. She sat on her mother's lap, her back straight and her tiny hands clasped together as they rested on her lap. Her expression was something that added to their disquiet.

Babies shouldn't have such a serious and determined expression on their face. Her big brown eyes were fixed on Rosalie Hale. The blonde watched her as well, her eyes slightly downcast but she held the gaze with a slightly hard edge to her eyes. Her eyes, which once was an uncanny golden hue, now looked greener. Almost human-like.

A silent conversation seemed to pass between them. Cilantro smirked and Rosalie cringed, her eyes fell to the ground and she seemed to shrink into Emmett's side. Emmett didn't seem to notice, he was still in shock.

Carlisle was the first to speak, "I don't understand. What happened?"

Bella pulled her child closer to her chest and answered shakily, "She gave Rose her blood."

The alarm doubled. Everyone seemed to talk at the same time, but it was Edward's words that caught Bella's ears.

"How could you be so irresponsible?"

Bella was on her feet immediately, she shifted her child to her hip, "Don't you start! I only put her in a chair to comfort Em. We didn't even see her move."

Edward's face morphed with anger, "You should have known better. How could you take her there when she was the reason Rose was in that state. Didn't you think it would upset Emmett?"

Several heads snapped to him. Bella growled lowly, Jasper wasn't far behind her. Surprisingly, Rose snarled at him as well.

"How could you blame a child for something like that Edward?" Esme gasped.

"If Rose didn't try to protect her, she wouldn't have been attacked by the wolves!"

"Are you saying you wanted her to die?" Bella said in a low, dangerous tone.

He sneered but didn't reply.

Bella inhaled loudly, "You did. I don't know why I'm surprised. You didn't hide your opinions throughout my pregnancy."

"Apologize," Esme ordered Edward, "NOW!"

He was about to retort to his pseudo mother but Bella spoke again.

"There's no need Esme." She turned to Edward with a sneer, "I want a divorce."

.-.

"Bella, are you sure this is what you want?" Esme asked again. Bella sighed and nodded. It was tiring having all of the Cullens, with the exceptions of Rose, Emmett and Jasper trying to convince her to reconsider.

Newlyweds often fight. They would say. You just have to work harder.

That was what convinced her that she couldn't stay here. They would never truly see Edward as the one in the wrong. They'd always turn to her to work harder. She'd been blind as a human.

How often did she have 'sleepovers' with Alice? How often did Alice and Esme sit talking to her, telling her how to act properly around Edward, how to always listen to what he said?

He's only doing it for your protection. He loves you so much.

"He's just stressed. You have to be patient."

Bella slammed the bathroom door shut, making it fall from the hinges. She managed to grab it and set it down quickly. She turned a glare to Esme and Alice.

"I'm the newborn, yet I have to be patient. He's the one being a jackass, yet I'm the one that needs to work harder and get used to it? Do I look like a fucking doormat to you people?"

Both women reared back at the accusing tone, both had soothing words of denial at the tip of their tongue.

Jasper entered the room, anger set in his eyes, but his face remained passive. He walked pass the women and straight to Bella, "Have you finished packing?"

She nodded stiffly and moved closer to him, still glaring at the women. She'd owe Jasper big for what he was doing for her. Looking after her daughter when she was changing, standing by her side against the family and now he was taking her away from here.

She couldn't stay in Forks. Not with everyone thinking she was dead, including her father. Jasper provided the perfect escape. He would take her and Cilly and they'd leave together. That way she wouldn't have to deal with Edward and another one of his tantrums.

How dare you defy me?! I'm you're husband! You belong to me forever.

Was he always that obsessive?

Yes. I was just too high on vampire pheromones to care.

Jacob had tried to warn her once, though he didn't use the most operative words.

She closed her eyes in sadness. Jacob was dead. Killed by the man who was determined to help her. Jasper killed him. But she understood. Jacob had tried to kill her baby, Jasper had to step in.

She would have killed him in a heartbeat if she'd witnessed him threatened her child. She was just glad she didn't have to.

Paul was dead as well.

Why hadn't the wolves retaliated yet? She was sure they would have tried again. It had been three days since the fight. Knowing the wolves, they should have tried again. They had the numbers.

"Rose and Emmett are going with us." Jasper said to her, but it seemed to be directed at the other two women in the room.

Alice glared at him and left the room with a huff. He sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm the reason she's angry with you." Bella whispered, watching her best friend turn her back on her.

"No." He said firmly, turning to look at her, "Alice just doesn't like when things don't go her way."

"But she's upset you're not going to Denali with them."

"She's upset that I'm not abandoning you." He said with a slight hiss.

Esme decided to add her two pence, "Don't be ridiculous Jasper. She just wants us all together."

"Edward will be in Denali. Exposing Bella and Cilly to that won't end well."

Esme frowned and stared at him, "They need time together. As a family."

"He wants his own daughter dead!" Bella challenged with a growl, "I won't expose her to that sort of behavior."

"But—"

"Leave it Esme. I'm not changing my mind." Bella ordered harshly and left the room, in search of her daughter.

"Of all people, I expected you to understand her the most. You know how he's been treating her. It's borderline abuse. Hell it is abuse. Did you know he planned on taking Bella away and leaving Cilantro behind? Bella told me that's what caused them to fight during her hunt."

With those words, Jasper left the room.

He found Bella and Cilantro in his room. Bella was sitting on the chaise with Cilly resting beside her, both looking out a window.

"Mah. Jah-pur." Cilly declared, pointing towards the empath with a smile.

"It's about time for your nap." Jasper said, he moved to his desk and picked up the book he'd been reading to the little monster for the past few days.

Cilly stretched out her arms, telling him she wanted him to pick her up. He eyed Bella, who nodded with a smile and followed the child's instruction.

"I usually read to her on the bed." Jasper said after a while, clearing his throat after he did. Bella tilted her head to the side and watched him carefully.

"She really likes you." She observed. Cilly kept tapping his shoulders and pointing to the bed, "Go ahead. If you don't mind, can I stay in here while you read to her?"

"Not a problem ma'am." He declared with a smirk and moved to his bed. As always Cilly settled into his side, Jasper opened the book and waited for her to settle.

Bella watched with a tentative smile as Jasper read the works of Tzu to her not even (a) one week old child. Said child listened raptly, an inquisitive look in her eyes. Her small hands patted Jasper's chest in an unknown rhythm.

After five minutes of Jasper reading aloud, Cilly sat up and turned to her mother with an easy childlike grin.

"Ma!" She exclaimed happily and stuck her hands out beckoning the woman closer, "Come, mah."

Jasper chuckled at the order, and watched as Bella shook her head, with a smile on her face.

"Say please…Cilantro." Bella scoffed lightly at the name.

Cilly's nose crinkled. Jasper smirked at the pair.

"We'll have to explain manners in detail to her."

Bella couldn't help the stirring in her midsection when he said 'we'. She knew the feeling all too well. It appeared to have transferred over from her human life. Only now, it was far more pronounced and hard to ignore.

"Come!" Cilantro repeated, her nose still crinkled, "Please." Only it came out sounding more like 'peas'.

Bella fidgeted slightly, before moving closer. She stood at one side of the bed, waiting. Jasper noticed her apprehension and tried not to smile, but did shift down to one side to give her space. She made an odd throaty noise and lightly sat on the bed, one leg folded under her and the other still on the ground.

Cilly frowned at her and sat up straighter. With surprising speed and strength, the child reached forward and pulled her mother closer. Bella squeaked in surprise and found herself sprawled across Jasper's lap, the man looked just as surprised as she was.

Cilly grinned and moved back. Watching the pair stare at each other.

"Sorry." Bella muttered and sat up suddenly. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, whichever you choose) her hand landed between his legs. They both stiffened.

I just grope him! Bella screamed in her head and launched backwards, almost knocking Cilly off the bed.

"I'M SO SORRY!" She yelled out as she backed off the bed quickly.

"It's alright." He managed to say, not bothering to hide his smirk. She glared at him, then to her daughter, who was giggling. No, it was absolutely impossible that her daughter had just orchestrated that. Or was capable of understanding what it meant to put her hand on a man's…no.

"It's far from alright? I just…assaulted you."

"If it's any consolidation, I enjoyed it."

Bella's eyes widened but she schooled her expression at his teasing smile, "Unfortunately, I didn't."

He smirked at her slight pout and sat up, "Don't worry about it Bella. I was just teasing."

"I know." She grumped.

He patted the space beside him on the bed, "Come on. The little monster needs her bedtime stories before she can settle down."

A small growl made him chuckle. He ignored it and helped Cilly under the covers, before sitting up against the bed head. Bella stayed still for a moment, but eventually pulled on her big girl panties and sat on Cilly's other side, taking a similar position to Jasper's.

As Jasper read in his deep soothing voice, Bella lightly combed her fingers through Cilly's curls. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. She let out a small sigh, which made both Bella and Jasper smile down at her.

"That's the first time she's fallen asleep so fast." Jasper whispered, "She feels better with you near I think."

Bella grinned and continued to stare at her, "She's beautiful."

"Like her mommy." Jasper said almost immediately, "I have a feeling she's going to be a hellcat just like her mom as well."

Bella scoffed and glanced up at him, "I was anything but a hellcat."

"You punched a shifter."

"Twice." Bella chuckled but frowned soon after, "That's probably to only instances where I showed I had a backbone."

"Right." He scoffed, "If you honestly believe that…" he trailed off when he noticed the look in her eyes. She did believe that.

"Don't worry. I plan on fixing that." She said with a determined glint in her eyes.

"I sense the apocalypse on the horizon." He deadpanned. She reached over and pinched him, earning a muffled sound of protest.

"Be afraid. Be very afraid." She grinned wickedly, making pinching motions with her fingers.

He reached over and flicked her nose with a smirk, "Such a scary little newborn."

"I will be. Just give me some time. I'll be able to kick your ass with such ease, you'll marvel at my awesomeness." She said with a pompous air.

He chuckled and let his head fall back to look at her better, "I don't doubt that."

She glanced at him again and smiled, before moving too slowly off the bed.

"Where are you going?" He asked, cringing at the panic in his voice.

"I need to find a lawyer, don't I? I'd rather get this divorce over with before we leave." She expected to hear some sounds of protests from the rest of the family, but they were all silent. Edward, being the mature vampire he was, had already left for the Denali. He probably expected her to come running behind him.

Fat chance, you pig.

Jasper got up slowly, to not rouse the sleeping Cilly, but zoomed over to Bella the moment he was free of the baby's wrath. Alice had made the mistake of barging into the room during one of her naps, intent on playing dress up with Cilly. Only to have a lamb thrown at her head by the disgruntled infant upon being awoken in the most deplorable fashion.

If that didn't set off warning bells in the psychic's head, Jasper wasn't sure what did. Granted, Alice did stay away from Cilly since then and would often stare at the child with an odd look in her eyes.

"I know a lawyer who can help. I already contacted him, requesting papers for you and Cilly, but wasn't sure what name you'd want on them."

She smiled at that. Her soon to be ex-husband would have went ahead and gotten the papers, with names of his choice.

"Thank you Jasper. I really don't know how I'll repay you for this."

Jasper tried to act casual, but his thoughts were anything but. He'd smack himself to be rid of the thoughts if he thought it would help. Unbeknownst to him, Bella's line of thought was on a similar plane of lewd adventures.

She didn't bother hidden her slight smirk at his very visible reaction. Or maybe it was a left over from when she accidently grabbed his junk.

Resisting the urge to ask if he had an eggplant in his pocket, she followed him to his desk and stood behind him while he sat.

A short call to his lawyer, a human named Jenks, and they were scheduled to pick up their documents at his office in Seattle. Bella choose the first names she could think of, trying to keep them as average as possible. Though, she doubted they'd have to use the names anytime in the near future.

They wouldn't be travelling by plane to wherever Jasper had in mind, they couldn't risk it. They were in for a long drive though, according to the empathic vampire. She hoped her daughter wouldn't be too bothered by that, knowing most kids didn't have the patience for long distance trips.

They'd make the short trip to Jenks in a few days.

"I'll find a way to pay you back Jasper." Bella said to the empathy as soon as he ended the call. She knew forged IDs and passports would cost an arm, but include annulment papers to that list and you could find yourself missing a leg as well.

He was about to object but she scowled at him, "Don't. I'll pay you back."

Nodding, he accepted that. Bella wasn't one to just let people pay her way. She'd said so often enough, usually during a disagreement with Edward.

"Carlisle wanted to speak with us before they left for Denali."

She pressed her lips and agreed that they would have to talk with the Cullen patriarch. He had been a supporting element in her life since meeting him.

They found him in his office, Rose and Emmett leaving as they walked in. They've been trying to come up with an explanation for what had transpired with the blood.

So far he could only deduce that her excess loss of venom had led to her unconsciousness. Their lack of success at waking her was what led to them assuming she was dead. None of them had thought to feed her some blood. A major error on their part.

But her sudden revival could have been due to Cilly's unique blood. Carlisle couldn't deny that Cilly was somewhat of a miracle. And a mystery. He'd tried to get a sample of her blood, but was met with resistance. By both Jasper and Cilly herself.

He tried pleading with Jasper, they needed to study her blood work. They needed to know what she was, or what she was capable of.

No. She isn't a lab rat.

He knew that. Of course he did. But she was also unique and ignorance could led to something detrimental happening to her.

No, was Jasper's firm response to that.

Carlisle waited, hopefully Bella would agree upon her awakening. He'd tried Edward, who didn't care much and told him to do whatever he wanted. Jasper wouldn't allow it though.

And then Bella woke and turned out to be a mystery of her own. Catlike eyes. Something he'd never seen or heard of. Something else he'd never heard of was a female human getting pregnant after intercourse with a vampire. And he knew a few male vampires who had affinity to human females and would enjoy pleasures of the flesh on many occasions. Sometimes with the same female more than once. None of the women ever got pregnant. Granted most of the women ended up dead after some time.

Maybe Bella was the key. Maybe she wasn't as human as everyone thought. She'd always been a unique girl. Maybe her blood was the reason a hybrid was possible. It could explain her own peculiar transformation.

Then there was Rose, who'd ingested the blood of the hybrid. He couldn't deny that there was a noticeable difference in her as well. She looked, almost human. Her complexion looked similar to Bella's with a rosy undertone. Then there were her eyes.

Cilly's blood was the key to solving this mysterious turn of events.

"You wanted to speak with us Carlisle?"

Carlisle blinked, so lost in his thoughts he hadn't realized the new arrivals. He smiled warmly at Bella, who'd spoken. She really was a beautiful vampire…or whatever she was. He wasn't so sure he should call her a vampire.

"Yes Bella. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me."

She stiffened, but nodded, "I'll try my best. I know it about Cilly…and Rose."

"And yourself. We must be frank Bella. There has been some strange happenings as of late."

Bella held back a scoff at his words. Understatement of the century, Carlisle.

He continued, "I was hoping I could get a sample of blood from Cilly. And maybe a sampling of your venom."

Jasper growled, interrupting whatever Bella was about to say, "We already discussed this Carlisle."

"You're not her father Jasper." Carlisle challenged calmly.

"I am her protector!"

"Calm down." Bella said firmly, baring her teeth at both parties, "I know it would help Carlisle, but I doubt she'd want you to take any."

Jasper stared at the doctor hard, "You're right. She bit him when he pulled out his syringe."

"We need to be cautious Bella," Carlisle started, his tone slightly frantic, "Her exhilarated growth and preference for blood over baby formula is alarming, you must admit."

"Well, she is part vampire. So the blood thing isn't so worrying."

"And her growth?"

"I'm not worried about that." She said simply, not sure why.

"Bella…she's not even a week old but looks close to the size of a toddler. You must find that disconcerting."

"It's strange, I admit. But I'm not worried. Something tells me she'll be fine."

"Bella, blind optimizing won't help us. I need to study her. We all need to go to Denali together so I'm able to find a solution to this issue."

"And we get to the root of this discussion." Bella said with hard eyes, "We can't go to Denali Carlisle. Not only will it be annoying to see Edward, but it would put both Cilly and I in danger. Not forgetting Rose. How do you think the Denali's will react to Cilly, or me for that matter? I'm not risking it."

Jasper spoke, "That brings up another problem. No one can speak of Bella or Cilantro. This has to be kept silent Carlisle. I don't trust the Denali's to not report this to Aro."

"They would not betray family Jasper."

"Not willing to risk it, Carlisle."

The vampire turn doctor sighed in defeat, "I understand. But you must realize I'm worried. Not only about Cilly, but Bella as well. And now Rose."

"What's wrong with Rose?" Bella asked suddenly.

"Nothing that I can tell. Besides the obvious physical changes, she as much a vampire as she was before her ordeal."

"So you didn't find an explanation for her eyes?"

"No." He said in a strained voice, "Please, you have to promise to keep me informed of any drastic change in you three. And keep a close eye on our little hybrid."

"Of course."

"You'll have to excuse me, I have to call Tanya to make sure Edward made it."

"He isn't a child Carlisle."

"No? He tends to act like one sometimes." Carlisle said more to himself, not realizing he'd spoken aloud. He cleared his throat at their matching looks of humor and left his study.

.-.

Carlisle lowered his head sadly, Esme stood beside him. They were about to do something that would evidently hurt this man. But he'd volunteered to do this. He had to, as the head of the family.

His hands moved over the ornate container in his hands, before he reached out and rapped lightly on the door.

The haggard, unshaved face of Charlie Swan greeted them.

"Carlisle?"

"Hello Charlie."

Charlie's brown eyes moved down to look at what Carlisle was handing him.

An urn and an envelope.

Bella and Jasper watched from the tree line. Bella had her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes shining with tears. Jasper unconsciously moved to put his an arm around her. Cilly shifted in his other arm.

"It was necessary." Bella said, trying to convince herself. She choked out a cry when Charlie fell forward with a cry after taking the urn and letter. Esme wrapped her arms around him.

Cold vampire skin be damned.

"It could complicate things." Bella continued, "After he grieves, he'll question why there was even such a letter…But I had to. I couldn't just disappear without telling him how much I loved him."

"Carlisle will tell him that you didn't have much hope of recovering."

"I beg him, in the letter, to take care of himself. I don't know if he'll listen."

"Let's hope he does." Jasper said softly, tightening his arm around her.

.-.