AN: The gap in the middle of chapter is when Charlie began to regain full cognitive functions when he talked to his family while his transformation was still in progress. I didn't think it was necessary to rehash that even from Charlie's POV now instead of Edward's in the last chapter.

Chapter 11Rebirth

(Charlie)

Nothing could have prepared me for this. No matter how long I talked to Carlisle and Edward about the transformation, they could never had done it justice. I was being burned alive… literally. But at the same time, knowing that my family was at my side had helped me immensely. Carlisle had said to expect agony, but it never really got that bad. It hurt, don't get me wrong, but I had expected much worse.

Jasper had given me the best advice; not to fight the pain, but to embrace it. Embrace it and let the fire do what it will. Yeah right; embrace the suck… easier said than done.

The hardest thing about the burning was that I had no way to know how long had past. About an hour after my family bit me, my eyesight started to fail me. Everything became very… well, cloudy is the only way I could describe it. Not only that, but the cloudy vision gave me an intense headache. Carlisle had told me to expect to be paralyzed, and lose control of my senses but that never happened. I could hear… well, everything going on in the house as clear as if someone was shouting directly into my ear after getting to the clinic after whatever happened in the river. I could hear my family talking no matter where they were in the house. Bella sounded mad at Alice for telling me the truth about them. Edward and Jacob were arguing about his wanting to start dating Renesmee. Esme and Carlisle were both nervous about what I would become. Carlisle had told me about the whole newborn experience, but thought that my having chose this life, would make me as able to control myself as Bella had.

Bella had told me that time would be the hardest thing to measure during the change. She was right. I didn't know if it had been a day or a year since it happened, even though I knew the whole thing was only supposed to take about three days. The only thing I could keep track of was changes in scents of who came. They were really subtle, but as I breathed in deeply I could differentiate between several pleasing scents… and one that was not so much. The scents had changed many times, but it seemed that now I was able to associate them with voices.

"Has there been any change?" I heard Bella ask to whoever was with her. She and Nessie had been the most constant at my side. I knew when they were there; don't ask me how, but I did.

"None," a man's voice said. This once was gruffer; harsher. It sounded like Edward, but at the same time didn't.

"He's gotta be in absolute hell," Bella supposed as I assumed that she was fishing from Edward for more information.

I had wanted to shout that I was fine; that although it was painful, I had no real issues with what was going on. I had been ready for it. In fact Carlisle had told me that it was the most painful thing he had ever gone through, but to this point it hadn't been all that bad.

I could hear the whoosh of a head moving but I wasn't sure if it was nodding or shaking. "Your dad's gonna be fine. I can hear him getting stronger," the man answered. Now I was sure that the other voice was Edward and his head had been shaking.

"I'm so sorry dad," Bella sang to me softly in my ear. Her new voice was absolutely enchanting. I could feel the cold breath come directly from her lips. "I never wanted this for you."

Edward chuckled, I assumed at Bella. "Funny, I never wanted this for you either."

"Mama, is papa gonna be okay?" This was obviously Nessie asking now. I tried to smile knowing that she was also at my side.

"Grandpa Charlie will be just fine, sweetie."

I felt two more people come in and at least one of them had to be Carlisle. I had been able to start differentiating their scents. Bella smelled somewhere in between limes and lemons, while Edward smelled extremely sweet, almost like antifreeze; kind of fitting for him, extremely attractive smelling but poisonous. Esme's scent was easy to distinguish; she was the sweetest honey that I had ever smelled before. One smelled of roses, the other lilac; I assumed that one of these was Rosalie and the other Alice but I wasn't sure which was which. Another had a backwoods scent to him, somewhere between maple and pine. Carlisle's scent was the most comforting. His was the most perfect incense, not too overpowering but just subtle enough for one to know it was being burned.

"Charlie, do you want to open your eyes yet?" This was Carlisle; I would know his soft tone anywhere.

I had closed my eyes tightly not long after I felt the last bites. All of my other senses improved quickly, but I had nearly gone blind. My failing sight gave me a massive headache which only went away when I kept my eyes shut. "No!" I struggled to shout, but was unsure if I still controlled the muscles to make the sound come out.

I heard the door open downstairs and assumed that new people were coming. The first whiffs of their scents were extremely pleasing, but the one that centered in my consciousness was of strawberries. It kind of made me hungry… well not hungry, since the smell of food cooking downstairs made me nauseous, but I longed for something but I didn't know what.

My smell was improving by the minute; I could make out the most subtle differences in them based on nothing but the direction of the wind. In addition, I could hear better than ever before. I could actually hear the radios playing from cars on the highway; this wouldn't have surprised if the highway wasn't more than three miles from the house. I could hear whispering downstairs. At least three voices I wasn't sure of, plus Edward and Bella.

Carlisle's voice pulled me back from inside my brain. "You're more than halfway through the transformation, I think. Unfortunately the last part is the most excruciating; when the venom stops your heart."

It hadn't been all that bad yet. I had felt a slight burn for the last while, but nothing like what Carlisle had said I was in for. Maybe the end wouldn't be that bad too.

"I think I'm gonna leave you alone for a little bit. It sounds like Bella would like some private time with you."

I smiled… I think. I couldn't be sure if my muscles were listening to me or not, as it felt like they were twitching and spasming on their own. Carlisle said that it was disorienting, since many of my muscles would be firing in their own throughout the change. But even still, Bella said that the release was incredible. I had been looking forward to that since I knew what happened.

It was great; having almost everyone I loved telling me what was going on, and what I should expect whenever I woke up from this.

Most of my family had come to see me again, including their Alaskan friends. The pig's blood that Edward fed me was sour but tangy and soothed my throat from the desert like burn I had been feeling. About twenty minutes after they gave me the blood, I started to feel different; almost like my toes had just fallen off. I only was able to understand the burning that I had felt since I was bitten, but now that had stopped in my feet. The fire began moving. But it wasn't leaving, rather it was retrenching. The flames shot towards the center of my body, first concentrating in my lungs. I could hear the sounds of things being singed. Was this the cancer? My lungs burned, but still, it wasn't that unbearable. What happened next though was excruciating.

The fire was pulling out from my feet and ankles, and also my hands. I don't know why, but I opened my eyes for the first time in however long it had been. My vision was indescribable. I could see… well everything. I could make out from more than twenty feet away the most subtle details in the wood-grained paneling on the walls. As I stared into the lightbulb, I could make out every color of the rainbow in it, and also an eighth color that I couldn't describe. My eyes stopped on Bella… or who I thought was Bella. I couldn't be sure of that; while she looked like my daughter, she didn't at the same time. Her face had changed slightly after what I know now was her transformation from human to vampire. The angles were different, but deep down I knew she was still the same person. But now I could see everything; every strand of hair as if it was under a high power microscope, the faintest sparkle from her diamond like skin, everything. I saw something flying past Bella's face, and that caught my attention. Just a common housefly. I could see everything about it; every little imperfection in his wings despite the fact its wings were flapping at a remarkable speed. I could see the smallest detail, yet again everything.

My thoughts returned to myself as the fire began to grow hotter in my chest, centered on a fist sized ball almost in the dead center. Carlisle had told me what was coming, and his warning could not do this justice. My heart burned hotter and hotter, feeling like it was engulfed in the fires of hell pumping through it. My blood felt like lava. I was able to scream, the most savage sounding pained scream that an animal could ever had made, and my eyes snapped closed again. I felt two gentle hands take me, and the scents told me who they were even before their voices said anything.

"It'll be okay dad," the voice on my left said. This one was obviously Bella.

The one on my right gave me a gentle squeeze. "The last part is the worse, but it'll pass Charlie. I promise." This voice sounded like an angel's and it was clear that it was Tanya.

I smiled as they held my hands and the fire seemed to cool for a few seconds, but then as the fire slowly pulled in from my legs and arms the heat increased yet again. "AGH!" I screamed as another flame ripped through my heart which seemed to make it speed up. "Okay, that one hurt," I grunted with what I thought was a grimace. By now only my heart and lungs were still on fire. Every other part of me felt amazing. I didn't have to think about anything to do it. When I wanted to squeeze Bella's and Tanya's hands it just happened; thinking was doing. At least until they shouted in pain as I heard what sounded like stone cracking. Bella had told me about this; how as a newborn vampire I'd be stronger than anyone else here. At the sound of their groans I tried to release their hands, but they didn't let go. In fact Bella, on my left used her other hand to gently caress the back of my hand.

My lungs were still burning slightly as I could still hear things being burnt in them, but that didn't last much longer. No sooner had the burning there started that the fire left my lungs and my heart burned even hotter. That's when something happened I wasn't ready for. My resting heart rate was about 75 beat a minute. Shortly after I had been bitten and my hearing improved, I could hear my own heart beating, and it had been closer to 100. But now another gasping scream came from my mouth as my heart rate slowly took off.

The pain had gone from mill discomfort to unbearable and now was absolutely excruciating. I had had enough; I wanted to die now. It was too much. Edward was in the corner of the room and I heard him rush to my side, with him just behind Bella. "Don't fight it," he said softly.

All I could do was think what the hell does he want me to do.

Yet again Edward said, "Don't fight the pain. You're almost through it. Just trust me."

I nodded, and gave in. I stopped thinking about the burn which seemed to fade slightly. My heart rate had increased to almost 150 beats a minute and I could hear every one of them. My heart kept beating harder and harder and faster and faster by the second. It felt as if my heart would break through my sternum at any moment. My heart was fighting a battle with the fire, and was losing. Now my heart rate was approaching 200 beats, sounding more like a single long note than a steady but fast rhythm. I knew this wasn't good. My heart couldn't go on like this for much longer. But then something happened I wasn't ready for; my heart missed a beat, then another, before it thudded almost silently once more and then… I kept waiting for another sound but none came. No breathing; no thrumming heart. Nothing. Was I dead?

I opened my eyes again, and heard absolute silence. But I was entirely conscious of everything. I started to look around the room; as soon as I wanted to move my head, it was there. I never felt my head move.

"Dad?" Bella asked realizing that the change was over. "Dad, how do you feel?"

I breathed in deeply again through my nose and could decipher smells I couldn't even just a few minutes ago. I smiled; this time I knew that it was over. "Incredible," I gasped at a whisper. This was the only word that seemed to fit. I continued to look around and was shocked at what I saw. My old eyes couldn't do justice to any of them. These new eyes saw things in my family that I couldn't even imagine in them before. Jasper was the most frightening, as I could clearly see many scars running across his arms; several half crescent moon shaped marked that looked exactly like the bite marks I had on me.

"Amazing!" Jasper gasped, which made everyone turn to look at him. He must have known what everyone was wanting to know, because no sooner had all the eyes in the room stopped on him did he follow up. "He's even calmer than Bella was."

"You wanna hunt dad?" Bella asked me smiling. "It'll help your throat."

To be honest, my throat wasn't really that uncomfortable until Bella brought it up, more kind of a dry burn than actual fire. I did remember what they told me about being new; how the only thing I'd be able to think about would be the thirst. "I guess," I answered. I had wanted my first hunt to include Renesmee, but I hadn't seen her yet. Just then the smell of something caught my nose.

"Oh crap!" Bella shouted upset about something.

"What is it love?" Edward asked to her sounding just as worried.

"Human," she whispered to him, but everyone heard it.

I sniffed again. While the scent smelled absolutely delicious and tempting, knowing it was a person made me file it in the 'forbidden fruit' category.

"Impressive," Edward gasped smiling at me. Bella looked confused at him, along with most of the rest of the family. "Charlie is showing absolutely no instinct to go after the humans. Alice was right; his record will be as clean as Carlisle."

Emmett scowled while Jasper frowned. "Damn it!" Emmett whispered, upset about something. "I hope you enjoy it Charlie."

I tilted my head in confusion. I had no idea what he was talking about and was just about to ask before Bella growled at Emmett. This was not the playful one she had shown me about a week ago, but rather was completely terrifying. She was pissed at Emmett; it wasn't hard to tell that her look was aimed directly at him.

"Come on dad; let's hunt!" Bella shouted in excitement to me. She had a large smile on her face and was trying to pull me out of the room.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Alice crowed trying to get our attention. "Charlie's gotta see this first."

Bella scowled at Alice; this wasn't something I was used to as the two of them had been the closest of all of the in-laws. "Not now Alice," Bella snarled at a whisper. "The humans!" She added. Bella must have been assuming that whoever it was was coming to the house for some reason.

"Your dad's fine," Alice said smiling as she also tried to drag me in a different direction than Bella. I felt like a rope being used in a tug-of-war. "Even Jasper sees how in control of himself he is."

Jasper looked stunned. I hoped that Alice was right about me being completely in control of myself, but did I really want to chance it with someone I knew? Not really.

"Thirty seconds… please?" Alice was begging, giving Bella a sad puppy dog face.

"How can something so small be so annoying and evil," Bella protested, but we both knew that she was giving in.

"Yay!" Alice crowed in triumph with a large grin on her face as Bella dropped my hand and let Alice pull me wherever she wanted to take me. Even though I could have resisted, it was so much more fun to let Alice have her way. She was just so happy-go-lucky, and it always made me feel great to give her whatever she wanted.

We stopped in front of one of the walls of glass that made up the Cullen's home. I was speechless in what I saw. The first thing was the eyes. Any description that Carlisle had given me about them couldn't begin to do them justice. Bright red; somewhere the most brilliant crimson and scarlet you have ever seen in your life. In addition the shape had changed… slightly. They looked absolutely terrifying. These must have been the eyes that gave rise to the phrase 'stone cold killer'. I was concerned since all of the Cullens' eyes were brilliant honey gold. I found out in the past few weeks that they darkened the longer they went without hunting, but I had never seen anyone with eyes this deep of a red.

My focus moved away from the eyes and to the rest of my face. The lines were harder now; sharper. I looked like something that was dangerous. In my former life I would have been scared shitless if I ever ran into something like I was now in a dark alley, but that made sense. I was supposed to terrify people now. As I moved even further out, taking in the whole of my new appearance I was in awe of the simple handsomeness of me. I stood perfectly still in shock of what I had seen.

"Dad?" Bella yelled which snapped me back from my thoughts. "We should hunt before Ness and Jacob get back.

"The eyes!" I gasped absolutely terrified by my new face.

"Give it a few months Charlie," Alice said smiling at me as she handed me back to Bella, "and they'll darken up like ours are."

A few months, I thought worried that I wouldn't be able to go out in public for that long. But then again, I had everything I could ever want right here with me now. Then a kind of sinister thought crossed my mind; wouldn't it be fun to give Phil a good scare. Edward glared at me and I quickly shook my head to remove that thought. I remembered what Edward had said; that there were consequences for knowing the truth and I couldn't put Renee anywhere near them. I still cared for her too much, even though now I was infatuated with Tanya even more. After another two seconds, Edward gave me an approving look.

My family had told me that I might be a danger to Jacob and Nessie more than anyone else, but I didn't have any desire for human blood. I still wasn't sure who it was that I caught the scent of, but I had no inclination for it. I kept thinking that it could have been one of my friends.

Edward nodded at me. Apparently he knew exactly who it was, and while a part of me was curious, I really didn't want to know. I was proud of myself for being able to resist the call of human blood. But now it was time to learn to hunt; something that I had a slight idea of how to due from seeing Alice and Esme a few years ago, but still no real idea on what I was doing. Bella slid open a giant pane of glass from the second story of the house and then jumped down to the ground. I looked at her in awe. This was going to be interesting.