Disclaimer: I may forget to place a disclaimer, but I will never forget that I do not have any claim to the Cullen fortune or Stephenie Meyer's royalties from any part of Twilight. It bums me out a little.

Chapter 14 New

We left out of port from somewhere just south of Seattle on a cruise ship. I was distracted by many things. The main thing going through my mind was that I was worried about sea sickness. Edward tried to dispel my fears by saying he thought I'd be fine since I'd been doing better when he ran with me. I wondered if he chose the ship, because he was afraid of trying to make love with me. When we were alone I asked him about it.

He explained, "I took your advice and read the Kama Sutra before I started planning, hoping that it would give me as good advice as you proclaimed it would. You were right. It was more than what my prudish mind thought. I paid attention to the specifics of the first time and certainly it does have good advice for humans. In addition I have reviewed a few textbooks that Carlisle had that I had placed little import on, but he recommended when I asked.

I am not sure what to expect of myself, but I think we can try. I wanted to spend this time on the cruise to our destination to work up to things a bit more. Since the wedding came along quickly after I returned, we haven't had much chance to explore each other as we might have had we give ourselves more time. We will work up to things and then we will try in earnest when we get to the place I am taking you. I promise."

I thought about him talking to Carlisle. I'm certain that Carlisle was the best to seek advise from, but it embarrassed me so. Perhaps more so since the events were coming so eminent. He seemed to sense that I was over thinking things (we were both good at that, obviously). He knew how to distance me from my ruminations.

He started to kiss me and we made up for lost time. Truly we hadn't had much time without Alice intruding with wedding plans. Also, the guys made Edward hunt almost daily to prepare for our time together since we had been separated for so long. We had only been back together for a few weeks.

We spent most of the cruise exploring each others' bodies. It was very pleasant, but I was impatient to get to wherever we were going. I still didn't know our destination..

I was surprised when we arrived at Isle Esme off the coast of Brazil after docking on the mainland and taking a speedboat. It was a gift from Carlisle to Esme. What a generous gift! I wondered how I would ever reign in Edward with such an influence. He was always trying to buy me something.

Though he was pleased that I had the foresight to have my hymen broken after we decided to get married so there would be no tempting blood, he was angry that my body ended up bruised from our first try. I was certain that practice would help us know how to please each other without those consequences. He disagreed, being certain that it would only get worse. He did everything he could to keep me otherwise occupied. I was drained of energy from the daily activities he planned. Such stubbornness I was matched for.

After two and a half weeks of pleading and shameless attempts at seducing him, he finally gave in. After the second time proved he could be more gentle with me, he agreed that trying to practice more frequently might help. In the mean time I had researched positions that might be less injurious to me. Emmett had hidden a book in my luggage before we left. I found it to be a great resource. We were enjoying each other quite a bit more, even though he kept being conscientious of my delicate state.

He left me one night while I slept to go hunting. I was awakened by the heat and strange dreams that made me restless. I couldn't make sense of them. There were only vibrant colors and shapes like a stained glass work done by an abstract artist. My emotions were high from them and I couldn't understand why.

I wondered briefly what my dreams were telling me. I remembered a speaker that I heard while in college say that in dream interpretation the strongest emotion you recollect is the one your subconscious is working out. Since it was a pleasant high, perhaps I was trying to catch up with my joy of being with Edward? That didn't seem to make sense.

I got up to take a cold bath. It refreshed me and calmed me down. I reviewed the enjoyable time Edward and I were having alone. My stomach growled and I made a sandwich. There was some left over chicken that I reheated and placed on bread that I had spread with mayonnaise. After a few bites I thought it tasted disgusting and then my stomach lurched and I ran as my stomach rejected all I had eaten. After I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I checked the date on the mayonnaise jar. The date was still good, but when I lifted it to smell it, the nausea returned. I dropped the jar into the trash. It had obviously gone bad.

I went back into the bedroom and turned on the ceiling fan. I had brought a zipper sealed bag of ice with me to help cool me. I laid down in the middle and stretched so my limbs wouldn't touch each other to hold in heat. I quickly fell asleep again.

When I awoke, the bag of ice was gone and Edward had returned holding me. I had slept better. I asked him about his trip and he told me about his hunting. I told him about how I had gotten sick. Actually, while I was talking, my stomach wasn't doing too well again. I had to run to the bathroom quickly. I thought I should take some medicine. While rummaging through my luggage I had a passing thought about my period being due soon. Then I pulled that thought to the forefront, because I was then thinking it was passed time -well passed time. I had never been late or missed before.

Edward had walked out to get some more ice in a bag while I was searching for an anti-nausea medicine he returned to find me looking at myself in the full length mirror where, to my astonishment, I had found my belly was protruding in a manner it hadn't prior to our wedding. I remembered admiring my flat abdomen as I looked at myself in my wedding dress. It was no longer so flat.

He gasped. "What?"

I felt a tiny nudging, that shouldn't be there. I wondered if I was my imagination or gas, but as I placed my hand over it, it happened again. We looked at each other. He was shaking his head in denial.

We both had realized I was pregnant. He was shocked and afraid. He arranged for us to return to Washington immediately. I was so confused, because I was certain the doctors told me I could never become pregnant. I supposed it might have to do with his vampire seminal fluids. It must have broken through the damage or healed it. I thought Carlisle would find it intriguing.

I called Rosalie first since he was so erratic. I thought I might need her help with him. I knew she would understand my love for this baby. she could explain it right for me. I no longer had the words. She would meet us at the airport.

Then I called Leah and William and asked them to meet us at the house. They brought Anneliese with them. It had only been a few months, but she already looked two.

Who knew a vampire male could impregnate anyone. Here were two examples in the same room.

Boy, was Rosalie pleased! She loved playing with Anneliese and looked forward to playing with my baby too.

Edward was terrified. He was afraid I was a bit too mortal.

Soon I couldn't keep down any of my food. Leah suggested I try raw food since she craved deer when she was expecting. I did like sashimi, but as far as I knew a pregnant woman wasn't supposed to have that, but since I wasn't having a fully human baby, Alice and Esme ran out to Seattle to find a supplier. They were keeping me in good supply since it worked. Well, it did for about a week and a half. Then I couldn't keep that down either. We tried raw steak straight from a butcher, but it wasn't quite right. Leah and Rosalie caught a fresh deer for me, I ate it. It was a fresh kill and would have made me sick before this. That worked for a few days too, but then my body stopped cooperating with any raw meat, even. I was getting sick and I feared for our baby.

Jacob realized I was in town and stopped by to playfully argue for old time's sake. He saw my unhealthful condition and thought "the thing" probably wanted blood. Edward was listening to his thoughts, and for once I was pleased, because once they brought me a cup filled with blood, I felt much better. Both the baby and I were healing. He or she was growing steadily and quickly like Anneliese had inside Leah.

I thought there would have been more panic if not for their precedence. They realized they would have to preform a modified c-section as my body probably wouldn't be able to handle full birth like Leah's did. She was a little more sturdy than I. This baby was already breaking my bones, which was wearing on Edward.

I held off the desire to smack Jacob for his faux memory sharing, since he had inadvertently saved our lives. I probably would only injure myself, anyway. I'd find a way to get even some day. He should probably have worried about that considering he knew I would soon be indestructible.

The wolves knew what was going on. I thought that might be a secondary reason for Jake's visit. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Surely that wasn't his primary objective.

Jacob started to hang around more. No one was sure why. He obviously hated being around us, well the vampire part of my family anyway. I wasn't sure if he was trying to be my friend or watching for signs of trouble with my family. Edward had said it didn't seem to him that Jacob understood either.

One afternoon, Edward heard the baby's thoughts. The baby didn't know from male or female so it didn't help with that, but they were able to talk about what movements were hurting me. It also made it clear that the time for delivery would be sooner than later.

Thankfully, Carlisle had no impediments for getting any supplies, so they readied the upstairs office as a delivery/operating room at vampire speed. That only took a couple of hours instead of the days that it would have taken humans. They prepped me and it was time to deliver my precious bundle of joy.

They put up a curtain so I couldn't see below my chest. I felt the pressure and heard a keaning noise as one of them liberated the baby from the protective placenta that had been created for him or her. I heard Edward say with a smile in his voice, "How beautiful!"

I begged, "Let me see." He wrapped the baby and let me see it was a girl. I cried tears of joy, "Renesmee!"

Around the house the repeated "Renesmee?" rang out. I guessed that I forgot to share the name I had thought of for the little girl. I thought it was fitting to honor both grandmothers. It would have been better understood in another time and another place, I supposed.

I cradled her as best I could and she snuggled in. I felt a sharp cutting as she bit me. I looked down to see her mouth was full of teeth.

"No! Renesmee!" Edward scolded her. I felt no burning. She wasn't venomous, but her teeth were strong. All eyes were on me in expectation, but I gave them no screaming reply. They figured out I wasn't changing and continued sealing me up.

I asked for an hour with my little girl before Edward was to change me and I was granted my request. I fed her blood from a sturdy metal bottle. I was a little loopy from the pain killers and whatever else Carlisle had given me, so I didn't exactly make it the full hour. It might have only been minutes. Edward was there to take her as my arm failed in fatigue. He looked at me strangely and pulled back the covers.

"She's hemorraging! Someone take the baby. We have to do this, now!" He shouted as I passed out.

I partially came to as I felt a large needle piercing my chest and a slicing at my wrists and ankles. He saw my eyes flutter and moved to kiss me on the cheek. "I'm sorry it had to be like this. I'm sorry about what you're about to go through."

I realized thickly as the fire in my veins started that I needed to fight my desired response to scream. I must reign it in and be in control of my body. I had been strong enough to live without Edward. I was fierce in carrying and birthing Renesmee. I would steal Amzonian strength to keep what I was about to go through to myself. He shouldn't know and neither should my precious baby. I would not stain their memories with weakness.

I went in and out of consciousness keeping a tenuous hold on my priorities. I kept my eyes closed, my eyes shut, and my mouth sealed. It took all I had, but after while my mental capabilities expanded making it paradoxically easier and harder. It was easier because of the ability to focus. It was more difficult because of the power to think on multiple tracts of thought made the pain able to fight for more of my attention. I wouldn't give in to it.

Soon my surroundings were added to what was vying for my thoughts. I chased them rather than the searing pain of the venom. I heard an episode of Supernatural being watched in the living room. I thought that might mean it was Wednesday evening, but I wasn't sure that it wasn't being streamed from an alternate source. Later, I heard a few episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation being binge watched on a computer on another floor.

I heard Edward reading to Renesmee. I wasn't familiar with the passages to know what the book was, but in could tell they were near me as I burned.

Soon I felt the pain leaving my extremities and moving to my heart. Alice and Edward were discussing how my progress was going, but Alice was thinking her replies, so I didn't know more than Edward's side of the conversation. How frustrating!

Then my heart started beating unbelievably fast. I barely heard them all assemble in the room over the sound of its thudding. Then it stopped and only Renesmee, Annie, Leah, and Jacob's hearts could be heard, but they weren't in the room with me. They were on a separate floor.

I opened my eyes and was startled as something touched me. I leapingly flipped over backwards and landed in a protective crouch as I surveyed the room for a threat. I noted Jasper and Emmett were also on alert. I reasoned it must be the appropriate response. As I scanned the room, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then I realized two things. One, I was the cause of their worry and two, the touch I felt was Edward whose skin was now the same temperature as mine. Oops! How embarrassing!

I looked over at him with guilt in my eyes, but he only looked at me in wonder and love. I moved, too quickly, to hug him, whispering, "I love you."

He made a noise of discontent and it came to me. I was stronger than he and I was hurting him. I stepped back, more shame washing over me.

"It's ok, Love. I am so happy you're more sturdy. Now I don't have to be so careful with you, though it would seem you might have to be considerate of me." he chuckled and added. "My only disappointment is that I can't hear you."

I was very pleased with that development and replied, "Well, at least I've kept that. If only I can walk without tripping." How strangely my voice sounded!

The whole room relaxed and laughed with us.

Emmett added, "Don't worry about hurting him, Bella. We can fix what you break." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively. Everyone gave him a "not the time" glare. His only response was "What?"

Alice had dashed out and had now returned with a huge mirror that was bigger than a person her size should be able to carry and let me see myself for the first time. She put her arm around me as we gazed on my newness and we smiled in concert.

"Finally." She sighed. "It's as I saw. You are beautiful."

"She was always beautiful, Alice. She didn't have to become a vampire for looks." Edward went on. "But I am happy that we can be together forever." He looked over at Carlisle meaningfully and said to me, "Let's hunt before the inquisition begins."

I looked down at how I was dressed and found a nice blue dress that wasn't appropriate for hunting. "Can't I have jeans for this? I don't want to ruin this beautiful outfit." Alice glared at me and then was pleased I called her outfit beautiful. Esme left and returned with more suitable hunting attire. Everyone but Edward left me to change.

As I undressed I noted that the scars from my surgery were not there. James's crescent shape bite was overshadowed by a new scar, the one that saved me this time.

I saw Edward look at me with hunger in his eyes and I was filled with the same desire. "Maybe hunting can wait," I stated.

"I'm not comfortable with that. Let's get you fed and then we can fulfill other desires. I can't believe you are even able to think of..."

I covered his mouth with my own. I could think of other things. I was naked and he was not. He needed to be. I put my finger to my lips to show him we needed to be quiet -as if he didn't know.

I led him to the bed I had been lying on. "I have one need that is taking my attention now."

He had to stop denying me what I wanted sooner or later. Better he learned that his vampire wife should get what she wants when she wants. We would both be happier this way.

It was more than our honeymoon attempts as he didn't have to hold back in worry of hurting me -just quietly enough to not let Emmett tease us any more. It was amazing! It was a miracle we were quiet. He later told me that he thought we both might have some special gift of control. I wasn't as assured of that, since I had had the strong need for him, but I guessed that wasn't what he was referring to.

We dressed together and then he led me to jump out the window to hunt.

We were along the trail when I caught the most appealing scent and I knew it was human. I held my breath as we continued on to find a man caught in an old rusty bear trap. I turned to look at Edward whose eyes had turned black. He passed me growling, "Mine!" I had to think fast. I sped to pass him and crouch before the passed out but still alive hiker. Edward was still beyond reason. He leapt for the man and I cut him off. He was fighting hard. Man did it hurt. He detached my arm and I screamed. That brought him back to reason. He reattached my arm and apologised profusely.

"Let's call Carlisle!" I suggested but he only collapsed in a pile of shame. I reached in his pocket and got his phone myself to make the call.

I picked Edward up and carried him about ten minutes away. Then I sat down beside him and caressed him lovingly. He looked up at me to reiterate, "I'm so sorry, Bella." He was still very upset about hurting me.

"Do you remember how when you first asked if you could watch me hunt and I told you I wouldn't want you near once I had given myself over to the hunt?" I nodded. I did remember. "Well, now you understand how it is. And you're a newborn so the instinct and need is even stronger. Or at least it should be." He caressed my face and kissed me gently. "I'm in awe of you. More mature vampires couldn't have kept their senses so easily. You are definitely meant for the vegetarian lifestyle." He kissed me. "So incredible!" He whispered against my skin.

"Well, part of me wanted him, but part of me was thinking that he needed help. That part was stronger, I guess. But I did want him." I tried to get off the pedestal he was placing me on.

"Of course you did. You're a vampire and the man was bleeding. You're not even an hour from 'birth.' I can't believe you were able to try to stop me." He shook his head and closed his eyes in reverence. "Your mind must be so amazing!" How he coveted my thoughts.

"Carlisle has made it to the injured man. He will be able to take care of him. Let's hunt." He said after we had been quiet for a few more minutes. He grinned at me as we stood to run away from the scent of humans.

We found some deer and a mountain lion. He let me have first dibs on the lion, ever the gentleman. After I had had my fill he caught the scent of a second mountain lion. I watched him as he hunted. I noted how he moved. He was so graceful, so swift, so mine. He dropped its corpse and smiled a gleaming grin. He had wet wipes stowed away in his pocket and he wiped his mouth and then he brought one over to wipe mine.

It was very sensual. The way every touch he gave me, even this innocent act, seemed to set me afire with desire. I needed him again. After we buried the last body and the wipes, I pulled him to me. We stood in an embrace. I could stand like this forever and not move except that my body wanted more.

I began to kiss him and he read my message clearly. He laughed,"We have a lot of time to make up, don't we?" I agreed. He listened for any thoughts in the area and let me know that we were definitely alone. With no need to be as quiet as we had been for our brief encounter back at the house, we could really let go and express our emotions to each other.

After about an hour of satiation, we sighed together. We were holding eyes and he knew what I was thinking without hearing it.

"Renesmee?" He asked.

I nodded thinking about the unclear memory I had of her birth. "Yes. Definitely. I need to see that she is more than a dream."

A/N: So many "new" things for Edward and Bella. I had to have him lose his mind over the profusely bleeding hiker and have her be the savior. One of them had to break. After all, they are vampires. He will castigate himself for centuries for detaching her arm. Be assured of that.

Thank you for your time,

JaelSarjenka