Hello there! Did you miss me last week? I'm sure you didn't haha. Anyway, we're nearing the end. Still don't own Clara, still don't own Twilight. Woo!


Chapter 51.

What kind of trick was this? Randall was dead. He had to be. If the Volturi didn't kill him they surely would have told him I was alive and he would have come home. If he knew I was alive, but didn't want to return, then surely he wouldn't be here. So why did I see his face? How could I feel the warmth of his hands as they gently took mine?

He silently made his way around me, until he was sitting in front of me. We just stared at each other for a second. He seemed as shocked by my presence as I was by his. First his eyes brightened, almost laughing, and the smile slowly crept onto his face. "Hello, Clara," he almost chuckled.

I all could do was stutter. "What? How? I-I--" I couldn't figure out if I was hallucinating or if maybe someone had killed me and I just couldn't remember it.

No matter the cause of this illusion, it was magnificent. He looked and sounded exactly the same. His eyes crinkled in the same way as he began to laugh again, his chestnut hair flew as he threw his head back, then looked at me again, his teeth gleamed and when he paused to regain his breath, he looked at me with the fire, the intense love he had before. "I could ask the same thing," he grinned.

Could it be that he was really here? I had to test it. Warmth and soft skin was there to greet me as I touched his cheek. He didn't disappear as my fingers travelled down his face and neck, and when I reached his chest, I could feel it move up and down as he breathed. As improbable as it was, he was here. "Where did you go?" I whispered.

His smile fell, the mirth and joy in his eyes turned to serious sadness. "Mary lied to me," he finally murmured.

Mary lied to him? What did that mean? She obviously lied to me too, but what did he do when Mary lied to him? "You didn't answer my question," I said.

"I love you," he said. He moved so we were only inches apart. "I love you, I love you."

I could only wonder what he had done. "I love you too. I missed you, so much, but that doesn't answer my question. Where did you go?"

He sighed. "Clara, you have to understand. When I came back to England after killing Christopher--"

"You killed him in front of his family!" The words flew out of my mouth with unexpected fervor.

He put his finger over my lips. They tingled. "Sh...listen. I know, I was angry, I was wrong, and when I came home, and you weren't there, I understood just how wrong I was." He stopped.

My heart broke for him again. I kissed his finger before taking it off my lips. "I'm listening."

He shook his head. "I just wanted to have you back, and then you were gone, and I didn't know what to do. I made arrangements to go to Italy. I'm not even sure if it was lucky or not, but Mary found me, and she convinced me not to go, she said you wouldn't want me to, and I believed her. I--I went home with her."

I swallowed hard. This story was not heading in a direction I approved of. I remembered the phone call Mary and I had, I remembered her mentioning a new mate. "And...what did you do when you got there?" I asked.

"Nothing," he answered quickly. "I couldn't do anything but lay on her couch and think about you. That didn't please her too much of course," he said with a humorless chuckle. "She tried, she really did, but I chose a long time ago, I wouldn't respond the way she wanted. She'd give up for a time, then come back again. Two days ago, she was so frustrated she let it slip that you were still alive. I'm so sorry Clara, if only I had known...if I had known I would have...I would have done exactly what I'm doing now," he said as he leaned in until our lips touched.

The tingle that had raced with a touch of his finger turned to a fire at the touch of his lips. After so much time apart, we were finally one again, if just for a moment.

"Clara," Carlisle said, startling us both. He seemed dumbstruck for a moment before he continued. "As much as I'd like to congratulate you on finding your husband, we have twenty minutes before Jacob is going to leave; you need to come now if you want to do this."

Oh, right, the baby. Randall stood up and held out his hand for me. "Carmen told me about it when I finally tracked down the family," he grinned. "Looks like I came just in time."

"Randall...I," I started as I stood up.

He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me. He leaned in, his lips brushed my ear, and he whispered. "You've wanted this all along, Clara, I won't leave your side." He paused for a moment; out of the corner of my eye I could see a slight grin on his lips. "After eleven years away from you, I have had many fantasies in which I looked into your eyes and grabbed your ass at the same time."

I smirked and nodded as immature and strange as it was, I had had similar fantasies, and while I realized he was trying to keep my mind off what was going to happen, it still worked. "I'm coming," I said.

He led me up the stairs, down the hall which I had sprinted down less than an hour ago. "Jacob, I think?" he asked as we walked into the room.

The room was relatively empty now. I wasn't sure of where Tanya and Jasper went. I supposed they were downstairs still, but I didn't mind. I didn't need a roomful of people to do this, just Carlisle, Jacob, and of course, Randall to watch over and protect me.

Jacob nodded, but his lips pulled back again. He didn't seem to like the idea of an unfamiliar vampire.

"My name is Randall Harris, I'm Clara's husband," he said, grabbing my hand.

"It's alright Jacob, he's just going to watch instead of Tanya," Carlisle said. "Let's begin again. Randall, will you watch her closely? If she tries anything stop her."

Randall smiled. "I'm sure she wouldn't do anything like that," he said. He helped me up onto the table. "Don't you worry; I won't take my eyes off her."

Carlisle pulled up my shirt again, exposing my stomach. I glanced at it nervously. Jacob retook his position, the heat radiated from his body as he placed his paw on my stomach. The pain set in as the flesh ripped, I bit my lower lip, my fingers started to tap on the table top. All I could see was his claw, tearing me in two. I closed my eyes and moaned softly.

"Doll face," the whisper was barely audible, Carlisle and Jacob wouldn't hear him. "Do you remember back to the late forties, your newborn stage?"

I nodded. "It was forty-eight," I mumbled, but even when I opened my eyes my gaze was fixed on the incision. They'd only been working ten seconds, but to a vampire in pain, every millisecond was just as clear as if it were in slow motion.

"That's right," he said, he shifted himself so his face blocked my view of my stomach; he reached around and moved his body so as to block my view of the operation entirely. Very clever. "Remember, it was pouring cats and dogs outside, a little like it is now, and we were sitting in that motel room."

"It was an inn," I protested, playing along with his game. As long as I listened I didn't think about the pain, I didn't think about the last time. I searched my memory for more details, "the Prairie Dog Inn or something silly like that."

"Right, and you asked me if I would act as the father to your child."

I nodded, the request seemed even more appropriate now.

"I said I would, and I will, no matter what the outcome, and I also said I would be here, and I am, okay? So are you going to trust me now?" he asked, quickly glancing back at Carlisle and Jacob.

Although I began to fear what I was agreeing to, I nodded.

Randall looked back and bobbed his head once at Carlisle and Jacob, before immediately turning his attention back to me and taking my hands. "I imagine this will feel very strange, just hold my hands."

Before I could even question what he meant I felt something unnatural happening. For a brief but terrifying moment I thought I was being raped again, but then I realized the feeling was too high up. My stomach was open; my womb was open as well. As I came to my senses I could more clearly feel Carlisle's hands inside of me. A deafening silence filled the room as my body tensed at this new sensation. The only sounds were the slight shuffling of Carlisle's scrubs and Jacob's breathing. I squeezed Randall's hands with a vengeance, but his steady gaze never wavered.

Suddenly I felt empty. Like a weight had been lifted off of me. I gasped as my torn skin was cut again, more quickly this time, then pushed back together before the weight I was missing was at least partially replaced by a towel covering most of my torso.

"It's a girl, Clara," Carlisle said.

Glancing around Randall to get a better look, I saw Carlisle cradling a bundle, but the only part of the bundle I could see was the yellow blanket I had made so long ago.

"Would you like to see?"

I nodded eagerly before I could even think about it. After years of waiting I wanted to see, but I was also afraid. Would Carlisle let me see if she had become horribly disfigured in my transformation? If I asked for it he probably would. I sighed. It would be okay. She was gone anyway. There were no cries.

"Just call if you need me," Carlisle said as he handed me the bundle and he and Jacob left the room.

As I looked away from the door I caught Randall's glance and held it for a few seconds.

"Well, are you going to look?" he finally asked. "She's beautiful."

Looking down the first thing I saw were her piercing blue eyes. Not Robert's green ones, not the changing golden brown I currently wore, but my own blue eyes. For a moment I swore my heart jumped, for a moment I thought she was looking at me. But no, her gaze led just over my shoulder, to the corner where the wall met the ceiling. She wasn't looking at me; she was still staring into the abyss in which she had fallen so long ago. The dead eyes frightened me and a soft cry escaped my lips.

"It's alright," Randall whispered. He reached over and gently closed them. "Is that better?"

I pursed my lips and looked again. She no longer stared ahead fearfully, now she could sleep.

With that I pushed away some of the blanket. Immediately my fingers met the soft, dark tufts of hair that covered her head. I traced the outline of her face, soft and malleable with baby fat, but just as pale and cold as mine. I gazed at the full red lips and button nose, Robert's nose. I was glad she had something of his. Her little brow was furrowed for some reason, but it smoothed as I ran my thumb over it. Only then did she look peaceful.

A little hand fell from the blanket as I shifted her in my arms. Ten fingers, ten toes, she was perfect, just as I claimed she would be so many years ago.

The tender skin, though hardened to an extent by the venom, bended under my lips as I kissed her. I looked away for a second to glance upward, hoping Robert could see this moment, that even though he was gone, he was still standing over my right shoulder, smiling at our baby, and maybe she was smiling back at him.

"She's perfect," I told him.

He nodded and reached over my shoulder, running his fingers across her cheek. "Christine."


Yayyyyy! We birthed a baby! We've still got a chapter or two to go, and I'm going to see what I can do about filling a request from long long ago, so keep hanging in there! Thanks for everyone's support! See you next week!

Hufflepuffbrunette :)