Disclaimer: Seriously, you know by now that I don't own Twilight or its characters.

Warnings: language, excessive use of italics

Renesmee took a shaky breath, wiping the tears from her eyes. A drop of blood from her busted knuckles slid down the back of her hand. She stood on shaking legs, and her foot almost slipped out from under her over the crumbling surface of the rock she had taken her frustrations out on. Her heart thudded wildly against her rib cage as she watched more of the rock tumble into the stream.

That was almost me, she thought. And then she nearly wished it was so that she didn't have to go back to face the people in her house. Her "family" as she had always called them. Some family. They turned around so easily.

Of course, Renesmee had expected that. She knew they wouldn't take it well once they found out - that was why she had decided to keep it secret even before all of this pregnancy mess. But some small, naive part of her had hoped that her anxiety had just gotten the best of her, that she was making their disgust and disapproval out to be worse than it was. But tonight had proved just how bad the blood ran between their two covens, and just how far, in her family's eyes, she had fallen.

Figuring she had to go back sometime, she took one step away from the stream and then another. As she walked, she fiddled absentmindedly with the ring on her finger, twirling it around before slipping it off and back on. It hadn't felt weird to wear it these last few weeks - it had felt like a more mature version of the bracelet Jacob had given her for her first Christmas - but with his presence here now, it made her uncomfortable, like she was living in a charade. She couldn't help but wonder if he had seen it, and how it had made him feel.

Not that she should worry about that, she reminded herself. He left her, after all. And right now they had bigger fish to fry, such as their families and the impending growth of a new one.

Renesmee slipped quietly through the back door, out of the darkening wilderness and into the fluorescent light of the dining room. Jane sat prim and proper across the room on the couch, still cloaked in black and staring at nothing. The rest of the family was missing, probably sequestered away in their rooms to give Jane her space, afraid of her wrath.

Renesmee quietly slinked into the hallway, halfway to her room before Bella stepped out of hers. "We need to talk."

The hybrid sighed, glancing around for witnesses or any way out of the conversation. "I'm kinda...tired," she explained weakly.

"Renesmee," her father's voice called from inside her parents' room. "Enough games. We need to talk about this, now." She gulped, glancing around uncomfortably one last time. "He's not here."

She sighed, stepping into her parents' room and shutting the door behind her. Edward sat on the ottoman at the end of the bed and Bella took a seat beside him. Renesmee sank down in a plush red chair in the corner of the room, tucking her knees into her chest. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"How about the basics?" Edward suggested tensely.

Renesmee scoffed, shaking her head. "How about we discuss the fact that this is the longest conversation we've had since we figured out I was pregnant, and that the only reason you're talking to me now is because you can't stand my baby daddy? Let's talk about that."

"And we," Bella rested a hand on her mate's forearm, "want to apologize for that. Edward hasn't handled it well, and I'm sorry that I've chosen to be on his side instead of yours, but you have to understand something, Renesmee…"

"Oh, I do understand. I understand more than you could believe. I understand that I was never what you expected from this life. I was a complete accident, a fluke. You took care of people your whole life, Mom, and there I was needing you like everyone else, and you can't deny that part of you resents me for it. But that's the life you chose."

"And we wanted you to have a different life, with different choices. Every parent wants that for their child," Edward quietly explained.

"Why can't I make different choices and the same ones? God willing, I'm going to live a long, long life. I can have all of it."

"That's greedy, Renesmee."

The girl shrugged, not denying that. "So be it, but nothing is gonna stop me from getting what I want in this life."

"And what do you want, right now?" Edward asked, tensing as if he already knew the answer. A certain vampire's face flashed in her mind, confirming his suspicions. "Yes, that. That's what we wanted to talk about."

"I know what you think of him, and of me now. I don't see a reason to talk about it."

"Oh, so you're a mind reader now too, are you?" Edward asked sarcastically. "Stop being as stubborn as your mother for three seconds, and talk to us."

Renesmee sighed, burying her face in her knees. Her voice came out muffled as she spoke, "What do you wanna know?"

"Everything," Bella answered simply.

Edward grimaced. "Not everything. Just…help us understand how this happened."

"I ran into him in a club in Paris. I had been having fun. He had been on a mission with the others, but they had split up to hunt. He came in looking for...food, but he ran into me instead."

Her parents just sat, listening intently, so Renesmee kept going. "It was just sex, at first. He'd find me anywhere I went, and…"

"I don't need details. And for the love of God, quit thinking about it," Edward complained.

"Sorry. But from the beginning, we decided if we were gonna have a... relationship, nobody could know. We didn't understand what we were doing, and we didn't want to deal with a million other people asking questions. And we knew you all would act...pretty much like you are right now.

"So we kept quiet. We saw each other anywhere we could, and eventually what was just sex felt like something...more. To me, at least. But in May, he changed his mind. He didn't want to see me anymore, he fed me some line about not being good for me, and he just...ditched. Three days later, I came home."

"You pretty much know the rest," she finished. Her heart ached fiercely and her stomach churned at everyone else in the house hearing what she had just shared with her parents.

"And Demetri?" Bella asked curiously. "You two were closer than you'd expect while he was here."

"Demetri knew. He put it together himself. Apparently, we weren't discreet enough to slip it past him, but he kept it to himself. And he was a good friend while he was here. It was nice to not have to lie to someone, and not have them judge me for knowing the truth." Renesmee stared pointedly at Bella and Edward.

They at least had the audacity to look ashamed. "So...what are you going to do now?" Her mother asked.

Renesmee knew what she meant but she wasn't ready to answer yet, probably because she didn't have an answer. Instead, she said, "Now, I'm going to take a shower and wash off all of the tension of today."

Her parents looked like they wanted her to say something else, anything else, something probably along the lines of "don't worry, I'm not going to run off and join the Volturi and start using innocent Girl Scouts' necks as bendy straws" but she didn't say anything as she stalked out of their room.

Renesmee showered, washing off the sweat from her bathroom nap and scrubbing the blood off her knuckles, leaving just the bruised and torn skin behind.

After, she dried off and dressed in her favorite flannel pajama pants and a tee, sitting down in front of her vanity to tame her tangled hair. As she separated the knots in her curls, her eyes drifted to the pictures taped to her mirror. Two of Peanut's ultrasound pictures. The right side of her lips quirked into a small smile as she took the bottom one down, staring at the little blob and trying to believe that it was currently inside her body. It was so hard for her grasp, the thought making her head spin.

Renesmee sighed, standing up and leaving her room, taking the picture with her. She didn't look up as she walked, using her periphery to climb the stairs to the second floor. The balcony was one of her favorite places to go when she wanted to think, besides the waterfall or the beach.

She paused as she stepped out onto the balcony, hand falling down beside her. Alec sat there, legs dangling off the edge between the wooden slats. He tensed when he noticed her behind him, but he didn't turn around.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were out here," she said dully.

All he said was "this is bad." He never turned to look at her. From behind, she could almost pretend everything was the same as months ago. Months ago, they would've had sex and cuddled and talked, and then she would've taken pictures of him when he wasn't looking. Her fingers almost itched for her phone to capture his dark silhouette against the darker sky.

Instead, she just agreed. "Yeah, that was my first reaction too. Had to force myself to think past that."

"This is really bad," he reiterated.

She rolled her eyes. "You already said that."

"It seemed worth repeating."

"Can you snap out of it already? I can't have an intelligent conversation with you like this."

"Well I apologize, but I just found out the girl I used to sleep with is having a baby. It takes a second to process," he explained bitterly.

"Your baby," Renesmee reminded him. "I'm having your baby."

"Are you?" Alec asked rudely, face turning around to find hers in the dark. His crimson eyes burned bright in the darkness, sparking with fury. Renesmee recoiled like he'd smacked her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He got up in a second, standing in front of her, rigid posture displaying his misplaced anger. "You think I haven't noticed the ring on your finger, Renesmee? Obviously, the mutt has gotten to you in more ways than one."

Renesmee's annoyance quickly rose to match his fury. "What the hell is the matter with you? Of course it's yours. Have you forgotten all the times I've told you Jacob is just a friend?"

"So the ring on your finger is a symbol of friendship, is it?" Alec asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes as she crossed her arms, ring on full display now just to piss him off, the ultrasound clenched tightly in her hand.

"Where do you come off? Do you need a refresher course on our relationship? You left me, remember? So yeah, Jacob asked me to marry him when he found out I'd be raising our child alone."

"And so you said yes. You really want to spend your happily ever after with a dog?" His eyes narrowed.

Renesmee growled at him, bile rising in her throat. "I didn't say yes."

"You're wearing the ring."

"At Jacob's request," she explained to him as if he were years below her. "He asked me to wear it while I considered the proposal."

"So you're considering it." Alec didn't say it like it was a question. He said it like it was final, the last nail in the coffin. It felt like it to him.

Renesmee's eyes narrowed at him. "Maybe I am, so what? It wouldn't be the end of the world for me to marry someone who actually loves me."

What an opening that was. A thousand unspoken feelings circled the air between them, words they had never said sparkling like the stars in the sky. Neither one of them was willing to open that particular can of worms tonight.

Instead, they covered those feelings with more anger. "If you think our child…" Alec couldn't believe he was actually saying those words, "is going to call that mutt 'Dad.'"

"I don't see how that's your choice," Renesmee stepped towards him angrily, their bodies only a foot apart. "As far as I'm concerned, you forfeited any right you had when you walked out of that hotel room in May. Who I allow in my child's life is my choice."

The word "my" felt like a brick in Alec's stomach. He wished she would take it back. Though he still couldn't wrap his mind around it, he didn't like the thought of not being involved in the child's life. He looked down when he felt her hand push something into his chest.

"Here. I was gonna give you this before you started acting like a dick. Keep it, throw it away, I don't care. Just do your mission like the good little guard you are, and stay the fuck away from me."

Then she turned around and stomped away, slamming the balcony door behind her. The ultrasound picture fluttered to the ground at his feet.

A/N: This is what happens when I have no plan for how the chapter should go lmao don't forget to review! It makes my day to read your thoughts.