"What are-?" Bella stopped and I saw her look around before pushing herself up slightly, her eyes finding Esme's first. Esme stepped away, shielding the baby in her arms as I stepped toward her and sat down on the bed. I took her hands in my own.

"Bella," I commanded gently, "Look at me."

She hesitated, and then she met my eyes, her own frightened and unsure.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked carefully.

"I was at Charlie's," she started faintly, "No, I was going home. There were bright lights, and pain... and that's all I remember..."

Her hands clenched painfully around mine.

"There was an accident, wasn't there?"

"Yes, Bella..." I told her, "There was."

"Then that means..."

I nodded.

"I changed you, Bella."

She looked past me to Esme who was holding Teresa tightly.

"The baby was in the other car. We're keeping her for a little bit."

Bella's eyes seemed to clear a little.

"It's okay, Esme..." she said softly, "It's not too bad. I can handle it."

She smiled and stepped toward the bed once more, her arms relaxing a little.

"Are you thirsty, Bella?" she asked gently.

The newborn shifted her eyes from my wife to me, and then she half shrugged.

"A little. Not unbearable."

I set her hands back on the covers and stood up smoothly.

"The trick is to make sure it doesn't become unbearable," I stated, undoing the top three buttons of my dress shirt and pulling it over my head, uncovering the black t-shirt underneath. I offered her my hand and helped her out of bed, "I'll take you hunting."

~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~C

We were only gone for a little over two hours. We returned to the mansion without anyone having seen the late Bella Swan, which I was very grateful for.

"Everything go alright?" Esme asked.

"Perfect!" I said, giving Esme a kiss. She passed me the baby and then crossed the room in a flash to greet Bella, wrapping her arms around the girl.

"Welcome to the family, Bella..." I heard her murmur.

Bella returned the embrace, and then she approached me, looking at the baby.

"We're keeping her, right?"

I looked at Esme, and she looked back at me. We both knew the other wanted to, and we both knew that Bella was the only reason we were tentative.

Bella seemed to come to the same realization.

"I'm okay, Dad. I promise."

My heart warmed and I looked at Esme again and shrugged.

"What should we name her?" Bella asked.

"How about Renee, after your mother?" Esme suggested, "This baby is the closest you'll ever get to having a daughter."

I winced, watching Bella, but she seemed okay.

"What about Esme?" Bella said, "After the person who's my actual mother and will be for the next thousand centuries or so?"

"How about Esmree?" Emmett suggested, entering the room directly behind Bella, making her scream. She slapped his arm.

"Don't do that!" she scolded, and then seemed to realize who it was.

"Emmett! What are you doing here?"

Emmett lifted her off the ground and spun her around before setting her back down on her feet. Behind him, Alice and Jasper entered and Bella threw herself into the pixie's arms.

"Careful, Bella." Jasper told her gently, "You're a lot stronger than us at the moment."

"Oh, please!" Emmett snorted, "I could beat her any day."

Bella carefully untangled herself from Alice and turned to face her largest brother with exaggerated slowness.

"Remind me to take you up on that challenge." she said silkily.

"Certainly!" Rosalie agreed, stepping into the room. I caught her eye and jerked my head toward her new sister, implying that she needed to make things right. Rosalie nodded and turned toward Bella, who looked slightly wary, but the blond only wrapped her arms around her and said, "Welcome to our clan, Isabella."

Bella smiled and stepped back, looking around.

"What are you all doing here, and where's Edward?"

Emmett looked uncertainly at me, and Alice stepped forward, putting her hand on Bella's arm.

"Bella," she said gently, "We're here to help pack. We can't risk you being seen, and we can't risk the mutts finding out we changed you. One day, decades from now, we'll come back... but not 'till then. I'm sorry, but we have no other choice."

Bella nodded once, and then looked to me.

"And Edward?"

"Edward is waiting for us in Denali," I said quietly.

"Is he mad I'm one of you?" she asked softly.

"No, of course not, Bella," Rosalie cut in before I could talk, "He just didn't want to take you by surprise."

"What, the way you did, Emmett?" she flashed him a look, "What name did you suggest? Ersmee?"

"No, Esmree!" Emmett repeated, and then he considered, "I'm sorry, what are we naming and why?"

Seemingly for the first time, they noticed the baby in my arms. Rosalie flitted over and took her right away.

"She's adorable! Are we keeping her?"

I looked at Esme.

"That's the plan." my wife said.

Jasper looked at Alice with a scowl.

"Well I'm not going to spoil everything for you!" she defended.

"Emmett might be on to something," Bella cut in, "Combine the two names, like: Resmee."

"Renesmee?" I suggested, "Renesmee Teresa Cullen?"

Bella looked at the baby, Rosalie looked at me, and I looked at Esme.

Esme took the baby from Rosalie.

"I think we have a winner," Alice said with a smile.