Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight saga or its characters. Any unrecognized plot or characters are mine.

Thank you to the ever wonderful Lady Skyelite and Fanficqueen306 for the ideas and support. You both ask questions and give me suggestions, ideas on how to make this story better. You also inspire me with your enthusiasm when it comes to the characters, chapters and events. This one is for you! A thank you to those who read, review, favorite and follow. :)

The tender bruise on the inside of my elbow twinged again, reminding me of its existence. As if I was going to forget it.

I had greatly disliked my blood workup. Mainly the needles and the fact that you could actually see the blood flowing into the clear little tubes like some disturbing version of filling a glass of water or milk. I shuddered at the thought.

If it wasn't for the sake of safety, I would've said to hell with it! Outright refused.

As it was, I was sitting in Carlisle's office, waiting patiently for him to share the results of the darn thing.

"Everything looks good, so far. I don't see any deficiencies or problems in the blood work." He said, setting the papers in a folder and slipping it back in the desk drawer. "You can begin taking the supplements and vitamins tomorrow. I would advise you to make sure you take them every day. Do not miss a day." Hre instructed firmly, handing me three pill bottles, each a different size.

"So, that's it? I pop these once a day, eat the healthy diet you and Esme suggested, and I'm good to go?" I blustered, blinking in surprise.

Honestly, I thought it would require more work than that.

He chuckled, an amused smile on his face. "I would recommend light exercise to accompany those things, but yes, that's it for now."

"Noted. How are the blueprints coming along? Cullen manor 2.0 planned out and ready to build?"

"The blueprints are nearly finished, thank you for asking. All that's left is the approval of the children's bedrooms."

"I suppose Esme and Rosalie will do that, then. They would probably be best, with their experience."

"Actually, no. Each couple will individually approve and possibly design the space that is meant for their child. It's only right, since it's their family and their responsibility." Carlisle stared at me for a moment, face open and eyes bright with wonder. "It's an amazing thought, you know? That there will be children in the house, after all this time, after everything . . . Sometimes, I look at you, Bella, and I can't believe you're real."

I blinked, stunned. What?

"Ever since we met, you've never treated us differently, never feared us even for a moment. You see us as people, love us a family, accepted us for who we are-what we are. We are so incredibly lucky." His golden eyes were open, earnest and so vulnerable. It almost physically hurt to see. "You're heart is so big, so kind and gentle. You're willing to give up a flesh and blood child of your own to help one of my daughters to have a chance at being a mother. You didn't even bat an eye while doing so. You're giving us hope, a future we never thought we'd be able to have. You've chosen to give us all a gift we may never be able to properly thank you for. I have no words that can fully express the enormity of the gratitude I feel."

I stared at him, unsure what to say. His words threw me, the heartfelt confession making me teary eyed and equally emotional. He, a gentle and kind vampire doctor, was getting sentimental and just melted my heart with the warm joy in his eyes. I had done that. My choice had done that.

Sitting here, Carlisle staring at me as if I hung the moon and sun, it didn't hurt as much that Charlie discarded me from his house and his life. My fathers shadow, that had loomed over me since I had moved out, was gone in a puff of smoke.

This moment, among the others I've experienced since I made my decision, made everything worth it.

I left the study not long after, heading to living room. The ladies of the family had decided, and the men approved, to undertake the task of searching for either land to build on or a house that was already constructed that was big enough for us as we were now. Additional land that came with the house would be a welcome plus.

"Bella!" Alice practically mauled me as she latched onto my arm and led me over to the couch. "I made a folder while I was waiting for you, we're going to go through it together. It's going to be so much fun!"

I sighed indulgently and allowed her to show me the houses she had waiting for me to look at. Esme only gave me a reassuring smile and Rosalie rolled her eyes at the smaller vampires antics.

I hummed appropriately while she showed me pictures of houses that she liked. We had gotten through a page, her describing each houses best features enthusiastically and me listening dutifully.

Carlisle entered from the kitchen and smiled at us. "While I have you ladies in the same room, I'd like to discuss something."

I turned my attention to him, interested in hearing what he had to say.

"I would like to try to harvest eggs from Rosalie and Esme, to fertilize and implant in your womb so you can carry the children." He shifted, watching each of our expressions.

"That's a great idea, Carlisle, we should try it." I smiled at him in encouragement. It would be more perfect than using only half of a couples DNA. "It would help make the future child theirs even more."

"I love it, it's a wonderful idea." Esme glowed as she kissed her husband and mate.

I politely looked away, but smiled, happy that they were happy.

Rosalie rushed off, probably to tell Emmett by the look of excitement I saw on her face before she disappeared.

"Alice, you wanted to show me something?" I prompted, when Esme and Carlisle's kiss got more intense and intimate.

Technically, she had already showed me, but the PDA was making me uncomfortable.

I wasn't surprised that they left in a hurry a moment later.

I also didn't think very hard on where they were going and very likely going to do when they got there.

None of my business. Don't want to know.

"Yes, there's a tie I was hoping that you'd be able to help me break. See, Esme loves this house, but I think the second choice is best. Which do you like?"

The first was a minor spin off of the house we were currently living in, large and clinical with plenty of space. The second was better, but still held a similarity to this house. Looks like they were having a hard time changing habits for house designs, but in their defense, they'd been doing it this way since before I had been thought of. I caught sight of one house she hadn't mentioned. The third was a traditional home that was smaller and had a heap of charm, along with a good chunk of land. I loved it! I wanted to buy it right away. "The third one."

"Really? It's small." Alice made a face at the house in question.

"It has land we can build on, which means we can build a few more houses on the land. Each can be about three or four bedrooms and each couple can have privacy for themselves as well as with the children once they're born. It's perfect for us." I pointed to the spot that says location. "It's not too far from a small town that Carlisle can't get supplies if we need them, but far enough away that we will have all the privacy we want for hunting and being your natural selves."

Silence.

Well, except for the gentle hum of the dish washer in the next room.

"Hey, Emmett." I called, seeing Alice's face hadn't cleared up one bit. I wanted a second opinion, one that wasn't biased on what they wanted for themselves and Carlisle was . . .busy.

"Yeah, Belly Bean?" Emmett boomed, bouncing into the room with eyes too bright for me to be comfortable. I didn't want to know what made them that happy.

"I think I found the house. Look, there's a lot of land, it could be built on. There could be about three houses built with four bedrooms. If we did that, there could be the main house, the traditional house we're buying to get the land, and seperate houses for each mini family. What do you think?" I glanced at his expression, hoping he didn't laugh or something.

"Sounds perfect, we should go for it." He answered, grinning at me. "I'd tell Carlisle, but he and Esme are busy attempting to make babies at the moment."

I flinched at the mental image.

"Ew. I really didn't need to know that, Emmett." I groaned, shuddering. As my honorary parents, I really didn't to have that floating around in my head. Catching Renee with Phil once after school had been bad enough.

"Aw, c'mon Bells! It's not like you haven't gotten to third base before!" He crowed, grinning like a madman.

Edward told him?! It was embarrassing enough that the mind rapist found out when I accidentally let it slip in my sleep. He grilled me the next morning, wanting to know all the grisly details of the whole ordeal.

"Wait until you meet your mate, you'll be worse than me and Rosie!" He boomed, laughing at my horrified blush.

"Stop! Oh my God, I don't wanna know!" I yelled, covering my ears before he could tell me anything specific about his sex life with his wife.

I hurried out of the room and upstairs to my sanctuary.

I had had quite enough of people saying and doing things I really didn't want to know about for the moment.

Tomorrow, I'd talk to Carlisle about the embryo harvest more.

Right now, I was going to go to bed.

I woke, rested and refreshed, at eight.

I took a quick shower and made an effort to dress as fast as possible. I chose a pair of faded jeans, a white tank top, and a navy button up blouse for the day. I tossed my hair into a messy bun using a slightly battered scrunchie, cleaning up the sides with a couple of small clips. My fuzzy tweety socks were on my feet to protect them from the hardwood floors as well as because I wanted to by comfortable and they were cute.

I hummed a happy, familiar tune on my way downstairs, a skip to my step.

My good mood carried over as I made a bowl of cereal, carefully slicing a few bananas to throw on top, bobbing my head to the music playing in my head. The Cullens shared fond smiles through breakfast, amused at my antics.

Carlisle had some papers and a red ink pen, reading through them and occasionally writing or seemingly crossing out something.

After breakfast, the Cullens and I gathered in the living room for a family meeting. Carlisle and I agreed that there was no reason the rest of the family shouldn't be included in the conversation since it effected them if the harvesting worked, which could be a big if given the hurdles he had to go through to even get the eggs from the women.

I settled on the couch, Alice and Jasper taking the seats beside me. Esme reclined in the love seat with her husband, Rose and Emmett closing the loose circle in the armchair.

"How would you harvest the eggs?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what he may have discovered.

"I'm not sure, yet. I have to find a way to penetrate skin, muscle tissue and into the ovaries themselves to extract the eggs-possibly blindly as the ultrasound machine doesn't work on vampires. I need more information, more data." Carlisle sighed, rubbing his forehead and glaring down at the folder holding the papers he'd been looking at during breakfast. "From what I have learned, the process is painful for human women, I don't know if the procedure will do the same with vampires since the physiologies are different."

"Okay." Alice murmured. "How would we find out either?"

His shoulders slumped, Esme rubbing his arm comfortingly. "I don't know."

"What's that?" Rose asked, pointing to the folder with a perfectly manicured finger.

"I am attempting to map out the approaches I would possibly use to determine a safe and hopefully painless way to extract the eggs. So far, none of them will achieve both or either goal." He flicked his eyes to me, the rest of the family following suit. "If I do succeed, I will need to monitor Bella once I inject the eggs, her body may not accept them. There's a chance that you'll accept them and you just fine and carry a healthy fetus to term. I'm sorry, but I can't make any guarantees."

"I understand." It felt like a kick in the gut, the thought that I may not be able to carry the children I wanted to provide my family.

Carlisle leaned forward, gently grasping my hand in his cooler, larger hand. "Let's not dwell on these things. We should instead focus on the move and decorations, it will help."

"Speaking of," I said, clearing my throat and forcing a more positive attitude until it came naturally. "When do we take off?"

I'd heard that Emmett had traveled up last night to finalize the purchase so the construction could start as soon as next week.

"We were thinking a month or two. Let you have some time to say goodbye, we could reach out to a few contacts regarding things such as materials and shipping." Carlisle answered, scooting back in his seat again. "Emmett and Esme will head down a few days to a week beforehand to begin construction and interior design. She wants to do a slight remodel to the existing house to make it more comfortable, have a few things ready so you can arrive and settle in quickly."

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful." I smiled at her in appreciation.

"No thanks needed, the drive will be hard on you and there will be enough to do without worrying about furnishing necessities for the first night." She replied, waving my words away.

"Is there anything we aren't taking with us?"

"I suggest you pack everything you wish to have with you. I think this will be the last time we come back to Forks."

"Are you selling the house, then?"

"I've spoken with our lawyer about it becoming a property to a dear friend."

"So, that's a yes."

"Yes, Bella, I'm afraid it is."

I nodded. There were some memories I wasn't going to miss, but there were more that I would.