A/N: You know what's impossible to do when you're on a Breaking Dawn 2 high? Write J/B.

Well, that means my E/B stories get love and affection, so here you go.


Edward had always had an image of his head of what a newborn baby looked like. Admittedly, he had almost no experience with them save for his childhood memories of the few minutes here and there he spent with his brothers when they were babies.

They were supposed to be chubby, weren't they? Hence the term 'baby fat'?

There was a flurry of activity going on behind the glass, so many doctors and nurses surrounding a single, impossibly tiny little being. Her legs and arms were so thin, Edward winced when someone moved them. They looked fragile enough they could break at a feather touch. She was a scrawny thing - bony - and yet...

She was beautiful. Breathtakingly exquisite.

And Edward was terrified for her. "I-Isn't she cold?" He didn't realize how badly he trembling until his voice shook on the way out.

"It's better for her to have just the diaper for now." The nurse's voice was placating, soothing.

Looking rather miserable, the poor little creature let loose what looked to be a mighty holler, though they couldn't hear it through the glass. Edward jumped, anxiety making him want to do something. But what? What could he do? "Is she in pain?"

"No. She just doesn't like being bothered, that's all." The woman patted his arm. "It's a good sign, her crying like that. See, she's breathing all on her own."

He'd seen TV specials - tiny tiny babies with tubes down their throat. He shuddered, his throat too tight now for words. He put his hand flat on the glass, aching with the need he felt to go to her. If he could pick her up - she looked small enough to fit in his cupped hands - and tuck her under his skin where she'd be safe, he would have.

"Did you and your wife decide on a name?"

It took Edward almost a minute to decipher the woman's question. Information was having a hard time processing through his scattered thoughts.

She was trying to distract him into calming down.

Edward wet his lips, trying to think. It felt like forever ago that he held his wife in his arms and they talked of baby names. He leaned his forehead against his hand, silencing a whimper, trying not to think of how much he wanted Bella back in his arms. She should be here with him, beside him.

Actually. Neither of them should have been in this hospital.

"Riley." The sound of his voice was a scratch, but the tone was gentle. It was one thing to hear a name when he'd never set eyes on the baby before, but now that she was here in front of him, that name and the little being burrowed right into his soul, branding him forever.

She was a part of him now.

"Riley Elizabeth Cullen," he reiterated, as if calling to the baby. His daughter.

His daughter.

His knees were shaking, but he wouldn't allow them to give out - not if it meant Riley would be out of his sight even for an instant.

It didn't feel good, watching Riley be settled in an incubator, covered in monitors and wires. It made her look even smaller, even more frail. But they seemed to be done prodding the poor thing, and so the doctor finally came out to see Edward.

"All things considered, she's doing very well."

Edward let out a big whoosh of air, bending slightly, his hands on his knees.

The long and short of it was that Riley would, by all indications, be fine. The doctor gave him an estimate of about three weeks. Three weeks Riley would be in the NICU.

"Now Kate here will help you scrub in, and you can sit with Riley while you wait for word on your wife."

Edward felt suddenly weak to his bones, tired and nervous.

"I don't know how." His tone was small, timorous.

The doctor 's smile was patient. "We'll show you."

Edward followed instructions to the letter. Nothing had ever been so important.

When he was scrubbed in, Edward walked stiffly to the incubator he had yet to take his eyes off of, and sat in the chair the nurse indicated.

Slowly, unreasonably afraid that his very touch would hurt her, Edward reached through the hole on the side of the incubator. "She's fuzzy," he murmured, talking out loud, running the very pads of his fingers wonderingly over her fine skin.

"It's called lanugo," the nurse explained. "It'll rub off soon."

Edward hardly heard her. He was too completely enraptured, studying every inch of the baby's body, taking in her miniature frame. Her tiny, skinny legs were drawn up close to her body, her hands on either side of her head. She was sleeping peacefully enough, which calmed some of Edward's anxiety.

"Hi, baby girl," he whispered softly. His tone was reverent, his eyes riveted. "Look at you. You're like a little bird, aren't you?"

There was a lump in his throat and his eyes burned, but for once in this day that seemed to be lasting a lifetime, they were tears of happiness that threatened. His heart seemed to be expanding with every beat.

He was as in love with this little girl, his little girl, as he was with her mother.

His breath was sharp as he inhaled, but he managed to speak again. "I'm your daddy, Miss Riley Elizabeth," he whispered, running the pad of a single finger across her chest and belly, feeling the ridges of her bones and the pockets of soft fleshiness. "I'm your daddy, and I love you so much."

There was so much Bella in the little girl's precious face. He could see his wife in the baby's pouty lips and the shape of her nose.

Bella should have been there with him.

Edward's heart twisted, and he missed his wife so badly. For a long moment, his chest was so constricted he couldn't make his lungs work.

His voice was shaking again when he spoke. "You have no idea how much your mommy wishes she could be here. I promise she'll come see you soon, sweet girl. I know she can't wait to meet you. She loves you, Riley. She's always loved you."

Minutes stretched on, going at once too fast and painfully slow. He felt like he would never get enough of his daughter. He had an irrational fear that when he inevitably had to walk away from her, she would disappear, or something else would happen.

But at the same time, he needed to see his wife, needed to see her breath come and go as steadily as Riley's was so he could see for himself she was alive.

Finally, the doctor, a surgeon, came by. She assured Edward that Bella had gotten through surgery just fine. She was in recovery, and he'd be able to see her soon.

For the first time in 24 hours, Edward finally felt like he could take a deep breath.

One of the nurses smiled at him as he bent his head, surreptitiously wiping away tears of relief. "Do you want to feed the baby before you see your wife, Mr. Cullen?"

Edward's head snapped up, his eyes going wide. "H-how do I do that?"

His eyes must have been so huge. He was so nervous, so scared he would do something wrong as they settled the tiny baby and all her wires into the crook of his arm. Her weight was so slight, he wouldn't have believed he was actually holding her if he couldn't see her.

Riley was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen. He was already obsessed with watching her. Her perfect little mouth wrapped around the nipple of the bottle - "It's instinct," Kate explained - and she made the tiniest, most adorable little grunts as she suckled away.

"Can my family see the baby?" he asked, not taking his eyes off her for even a moment.

Kate hummed. "Well, yes. But you'll have to bring them back, one or two at a time. They won't be able to see her without you."

"Well, they'll wait, then. I'm a bit busy right now, aren't I, little bird?" As much as he was desperate to show off his little daughter to his parents, his brothers, he was content where he was.

He was reluctant to give her up and watched forlornly as Kate got her settled back in her incubator.

Just as he was considering bothering someone to ask about Bella, another nurse appeared. "Mr. Cullen? Your wife is in her room now."

Edward stood so quickly he got a little dizzy. He took one step toward the nurse, then hesitated, looking back at Riley.

Kate's smile was indulgent. "We'll take good care of her, Mr. Cullen. I promise."

Nodding, Edward caressed the side of the incubator. "I'll be back soon, little bird. I promise."

With that, he followed the nurse.

"Now, I think I should prepare you, Mr. Cullen," the nurse began softly. Edward's stomach twisted. "Mrs. Cullen is just fine. The injuries she sustained look much worse than they actually are."

He froze in the hallway. "Her injuries?"

The nurse grimaced.

"Please tell me." His tone was deceivingly calm.

The nurse's tone was gentle. "She's suffering from blunt trauma across a lot of her body. Bruising mostly."

Edward clenched his fists, fury making it difficult to even see straight. "Mostly?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Two bite marks." The woman's tone was sad. "One on her neck, which isn't too bad, and another on her shoulder."

A horrifying thought occurred to Edward then, and he felt the blood leave his face, making him feel woozy. Of course, in the gamut of horrors he'd imagined Alec capable of, Edward had thought of this before. But since he'd arrived at the hospital, his concentration had been on seeing her come through emergency surgery okay. He swallowed down bile.

"Did he..." Again, he had to swallow. "Was she sexually assaulted?" There was hardly any volume to his voice at all.

"We can't rule it out," the nurse said quietly. "She's been mostly unconscious since she was brought in, of course, since we had to knock her out right away. Delivering the baby was a priority."

"Of course. I understand."

"Now. She'll be very disoriented. We explained to her about the baby, but she might not remember."

"Is she in pain?"

"The pain from the surgery is being managed," the nurse assured. "But it's not comfortable. Giving birth in any way isn't comfortable.

"Okay." Edward took a deep breath, willing away the trepidation that had his stomach churning. He needed to be strong for Bella. She'd been strong enough, and now he needed to take care of her. "I'm ready."

He stepped slowly into her room, but the minute he saw her, he sprinted to her side, forgetting his anxiety because finally... finally, she was there in front of him.

His eyes went first to her face. Her head was turned away from him, her eyes closed. He was relieved because she looked like his Bella. Her face wasn't swollen as he'd imagined. "Sweetheart?" he said softly, reaching out to touch her with the pads of his fingers just as he'd touched their daughter earlier. Bella was quite a bit more solid, though, and he caressed her hair lightly. "Bella?"

Her eyelashes fluttered at the sound of his voice. Slowly, she turned her head.

Edward only barely swallowed his gasp of horror. The left side of her face was bruised and swollen, though not grotesquely so. Her lip was split.

His hands clenched into fists again, and he'd never wanted so badly to scream, punch something.

Someone.

He'd never been so glad another human being was dead as he was at that particular moment. Though, he had to admit, he was more than a little disappointed he couldn't rip Alec in half with his own bare hands.

But he did his best to temper those emotions as he sat at her side, stroking his fingers along her hairline.

"Edward?" Her voice was just a whisper of wind - barely there. Her eyes were blurry, unfocused, but her hand twitched as if searching.

Carefully, biting back another howl of rage as he took in the variegated purple coloring her skin, Edward took her hand. There were light bluish marks just above her elbow in the shape of fingers, and a line of little cuts circled her wrist where she'd obviously been tightly bound. Handcuffs again, he thought, remembering that was what Alec had done the first time.

"Hi, sweetheart. I'm right here."

She blinked again, moaning a little as her free hand brushed over her middle. Her breath got quicker. "Baby. Where?"

"She's just fine, Bella." With his free hand, he stroked her unbruised cheek with the back of his knuckles. "She's strong, just like you."

"Seen her?"

"Riley's incredible. She's like nothing else in the whole world." He dipped his head, pressing a long kiss to Bella's hand.

"Safe?" she asked in a fretful tone. A tear fell from the corner of her eye.

"Yes, sweetheart. He can't hurt you anymore. Not you, and not Riley. You're so brave, Bella."

Her eyes fluttered closed. "I love you," she mumbled, squeezing his hand for emphasis.

"I love you, too," he promised and carefully kissed her forehead as she drifted back to sleep.

He held her hand, his eyes never leaving her. Part of him was afraid if he even blinked, he would wake up and this would all be a dream - she'd still be far from him.

"Will you bring my family back?" he started to ask the nurse when she came in again, but trailed off when he saw a figure hovering the doorway.

Giving Bella's hand a squeeze of reassurance, even though she was asleep, Edward stood.

"Officer Birdy has been trying to see Mrs. Cullen for a while now," the nurse explained, looking as displeased as Edward felt. Birdy was one of the officers who'd refused to help him the day before.

Edward strode up to the officer in the doorway, his expression fierce. "Unless you're here to apologize, you have nothing to say to my wife right now," he said tightly.

The officer's eyes narrowed, but he looked at least a little contrite, uncomfortable. "We have questions for Mrs. Cullen."

"Well, Mrs. Cullen is indisposed at the moment seeing as she just gave birth to my daughter via an emergency caesarean section necessitated by a placental abruption brought on because that son of a bitch you refused to go after felt the need to beat her. You know, since she went with him willingly." Edward was careful not to raise his voice, but his tone got more threatening, angrier, as he continued.

Officer Birdy grimaced. "That will be investigated, but I'm afraid you're not getting rid of me that easily, Mr. Cullen. Your wife killed a police officer."

Edward saw red. "Come here," he said through gritted teeth, ushering the officer in the door. He stepped over to Bella's bedside, careful to keep the volume of his voice controlled so as not to disturb his wife's rest.

"I'm no investigator, Officer Birdy, but look at her and tell me you think this was anything other than self-defense," he demanded. "Do you see this?" he pointed to her wrists. "I'm fairly certain these are from police-issued handcuffs, because she was so willing to be with him, he felt the need to keep her restrained. And of course, he must have beat her in self-defense because she was so flighty and crazy, he was afraid for his life. Only look at her wounds, Officer." He gestured to the marks visible on her arms. "Those aren't from a fist. The edges of the bruise are long and perfectly straight. My guess is a belt. Because this highly trained police officer felt so threatened by this girl who was so much smaller than he was, he had the time to beat her with his belt."

"You've made your point, Mr. Cullen," the officer said tightly.

"With all due respect, sir, if you get anywhere near this room again, I will have your badge. As it is, I am seriously contemplating going to the media and letting them know that you could have stopped this from happening to her."

"Mr. Cullen-"

"No. I've heard enough. I know your rules, and I know why they exist, which is the only reason my lawyer isn't breathing down your neck as we speak." It was more difficult than ever to keep his voice down. "You will not disturb my wife right now with your questions. My daughter will be in the NICU for weeks, which means we're not going anywhere. You don't need to be anywhere near either of them right now, am I making myself clear?"

The officer nodded shortly, obviously pissed but also aware he didn't have a leg to stand on. "We'll be in touch shortly."

"I'm sure you will."

As the officer went out of the room, he had to pass by Edward's entire family, each of them glaring. Even Esme's expression was hard.

Edward's cheek twitched. After spending the last hour and a half by himself, he was surprised by how relieved he felt, knowing his family was there. His fury began to subside, and he was ready to lean on someone else for a few minutes.

"Oh, sweetheart," Esme said on a breath as she stepped to Bella's bedside, taking in her battered form.

They all found spots against the wall to lean against or chairs to sit in, setting up camp, there to support the both of them.

"Everything's going to be okay," Carlisle said softly, squeezing Edward's shoulder.

And for the first time since he'd realized Bella was missing, Edward truly believed those words. "I know, Dad."

"So tell us about Riley," Jasper prompted after a moment. "Tell us about our niece."

Automatically wary, Edward's eyes flicked up and everyone - even Rosalie - looked nothing but interested. He knew they all had questions, that none of them really understood how Edward had come to be married to a girl on the run from her baby's biological father.

But with Jasper's words and their open expressions, another weight lifted from his shoulders.

They would accept what he already had. Bella was truly his wife, their daughter and sister-in-law. Riley was his daughter, their granddaughter, and niece. Blood had little to no importance to that connection.

Smiling for the first time in what felt like forever, Edward began to tell them about his little girl.


A/N: Much thanks to Shug for beta work and Barburella who will kill me for posting this. Also, thanks forever to Ginny who let me pester her about all things NICU.

I was planning to get much further along than this but Edward insisted on being wordy. I should know this by now.

But either way, we're not very far from the end. Just a few more chapters.