A/N: hey guys! Sorry for the lack of chapters, the second semester of college has started and the work is crushing me. In any event, please enjoy this chapter!

Angelique strode into the room where Caius, Aro, and Marcus were. She smiled and nodded hello before asking,

"Master Marcus, May I speak with you?"

Marcus lifted his head in mild surprise, and sighed before getting up and moving into the next room with her. He sat, and she sat across from him.

"Master Marcus, I heard about what happened to you and I wanted to see if I could help."

"What do you wish to do, child?"

"I want to grant your wish. I want to revive your wife."

For the first time during her time with the Volturi, she saw a spark in his eye. Hope, so long denied and avoided, sprung up in his eyes. He became animated as he sat a bit straighter.

"I wish for my wife to become alive again, exactly the way she was before."

In the most daring act of trust she'd ever seen, he took her hand. The glow seemed unusually bright, and the warmth lasted a bit longer than usual. There was a ball of light standing next to Marcus before, at last, Didyme materialized. Marcus became more alive than she'd ever seen as he ran his hand over her cheek.

"Didyme." He breathed. She took his hand, smiling.

"Marcus." She said, wrapping her arms around him. They shared a passionate kiss, and Angelique smiled. This was what she loved to do. Little moments like this reminded her of the good left in the world.

"It was a pleasure to serve you, Master Marcus, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Didyme."

The happy couple looked at her, smiling.

"Thank you, Angelique. Your service is greatly appreciated." Marcus said. She smiled.

"It really is my pleasure." She said, grinning. She left the room with grace and poise, and Marcus was right behind her with his mate in tow.

Rosalie stood in the hallway of the Cullen home, her stomach at it's roundest. She was due any day now. She waddled out to the living room, where her husband was watching the game. She cuddled up next to him while her adoptive father sat opposite to him, reading a thick book. Carlisle had taken the next few days off from work to help his daughter deliver. Alice hadn't foreseen any problems with the delivery, but she kept both eyes open.

The pain hit her in the abdomen. She sucked in a breath and looked to her husband in awe.

"It's time." She whispered. Wide eyed, Emmett dashed her upstairs to their make shift hospital bed. He laid her down gently, and she squeezed his hand, a little scared despite all the preparation she made for this.

Carlisle hooked up Rosalie to several machines. One kept track of her contractions, the others were foreign to her, but she trusted him. As the hours ticked by, the pain grew worse. She was panting. The awful, relentless pain was eating away at her. It was pain beyond anything she'd ever felt, even venom. She took Emmett's hand in hers and started squeezing it, breathing raggedly. Every word of encouragement that passed from her husband's lips started to drive her into madness. When the contractions were unbearable, she screamed for him to shut up, unable to endure.

Rosalie breathed in short, gasping breaths, wishing so badly that she could cry. She wanted to scream, but she knew she was already tormenting Emmett with every choking noise she made. Carlisle checked her cervix and reassured her that she was doing fine.

She wanted to tear his hair out, despite herself.

The pangs of pain grew longer and longer, the reprieves from it becoming all too short.

She had no visitors while in her pain-dazed state. It was a good thing, too. She could barely stomach Emmett and Carlisle. She could feel Esme's presence outside of the door, but also sensed her hesitation. She respected her choice. It made her think more highly of Esme than ever.

Finally, it came time for her to push.

It was the most horrific, brutal pain she had ever experienced. She wished to be dead for the second time in her life. It dragged on and on until she thought she had been in pain for weeks rather than hours. She squeezed Emmett's hand so hard that she worried she'd break it.

Carlisle instructed his daughter to push and waited until he could see the head of his grandchild to say it again. She pushed as hard as she could, and, after what seemed like hours, the head was finally out. She let out a shriek as her minimal patience reached it's end. Her pain was intolerable, unbearable, unspeakable. She felt dizzy and exhausted to the point of wishing to be in a coma.

It all changed, though, when she heard the cry.

It pierced her soul and resonated within the very corners of her being. Suddenly, it didn't matter. All the pain, all she'd went through was unimportant. Only the baby she heard was what mattered.

With one final, gasping push, the baby was out.

Carlisle cut the umbilical cord and cleaned off the baby. When Rosalie's pain ebbed, it was like it never existed in the first place. It took her a minute to regain her bearings, and when she did, she asked for her baby. Holding the bundle, Carlisle handed his grandchild to his daughter with the quiet pronouncement of,

"It's a girl."

When the baby entered her arms, she felt the rest of the world evaporate beneath her. Her breath sped up until she noticed her breathing had ceased. It was fitting that her breathing stopped considering that the event took her breath away. She had a daughter. At last, her deepest wish was granted. She planted a gentle kiss on her child's forehead. Reluctantly, she handed the baby over to Emmett and knew the second he held her that he was a goner. He fell in love with her instantly. She stroked her daughters tiny cheek.

"Welcome to the world Lilliana Marie Cullen."