Not Beta'd - all mistake are mine. Hope you're all taking care of your mental health today.

Then

Isabella Swan had always been described as peculiar. It had begun with her birth, for when she was born, she was silent. Not a single sound came out of her. It led her mother to panic, believing her first (and only) child had passed. It was only when she was in her mother's arms that she began to wail.

And she continued to cry beyond the first night. This was a surprising fact for most to learn - how collicky she had been - considering her moods always remained even keel from the time she moved to Forks as a girl to the present as a young woman. After the sixth day of no sleep due to the crying, her poor mother Renee Swan began to cry along with her, exhausted, defeated. Renee was a nurse at the local hospital on maternity leave. She was used to remaining awake throughout the night, but she was also used to sleeping during the day. Being a new mother was a full time job that granted no breaks.

Isabella's father Charlie was the town sheriff, respected by all who had the honor of knowing him. It wasn't unusual for men to go right to work after seeing their baby, especially men who were police officers. He'd worked double shifts that first week and would return home during his break to let Renee sleep while he held his crying daughter. The crying continued.

The day Renee reached her breaking point, she called Charlie and demanded he come home. Charlie rushed home, after letting his trusted Deputy Ben Weber know about his family emergency. When he came through the front door, he saw both loves of his life weeping on their living room sofa. He immediately grabbed Isabella out of his wife's arms.

"I'm so tired," Renee sobbed. "Nothing I do works. I haven't slept because she wakes up every hour. I can't do this alone anymore."

Her expression broke his heart. She looked so different in this moment, older than her years, but still beautiful as ever. He had met Renee in high school in their ninth grade algebra class. She was useless as a class partner, but he hadn't cared. She was the most beautiful, kind, hilarious girl he had ever known. Granted, he hadn't had many interactions with girls before that, but the one he had with her would always be the most important.

Well, that was until Isabella came into the world. Now, they were tied for first place. He would do anything for that little girl.

Looking at his wife in that moment, he remembered he would do anything for her, too. Renee's large dark eyes begged him to do something - anything to make it better. To help with the crying baby. He would. He always would. So he took off the rest of that week and the following week to stay home and help Renee with the baby. It helped, tremendously. Renee was able to eat and rest, and Charlie was able to spend quality time with his baby girl, even if she was crying the entire time. It was two days later when she finally stopped crying.

Charlie had been holding Isabella - or Bella - as he called her and decided he would tell her a story. He told her about when they had found out they were pregnant with her. Charlie and Renee hadn't intended on having children. In fact, they had been sure they couldn't have children, so it had never crossed their minds that pregnancy could ever be a possibility.

At the time, Charlie had just received his bonus so he and his wife had gone out to dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant. Charlie bought the steak, Renee the duck. They drank red wine and giggled and flirted throughout the entire meal. Less than half an hour later, though, Renee was vomiting outside Charlie's car. At first, they had assumed she had food poisoning. They had even gone as far as complaining to the restaurant owner, who had kindly reimbursed them for their bill and made the kitchen throw out all the duck they had. When the nausea went away and returned on and off over the next two weeks, they finally decided it was time for a doctor's visit.

Renee had done a blood test and urine test and was waiting for the results. She was sitting on the exam room table, kicking her legs and picking at her fingernails. She always picked at her nails when she was nervous.

"It's going to be okay," Charlie had said. He had accompanied her, wanting to know what was happening to his wife. She had looked up at him then, nodding but assuming the worst. She was a nurse. She tried to think rationally. It could be nothing or it could be something very serious. The doctor knocked twice and entered the room.

"Well," the doctor had said. "You're pregnant!"

They had both stared at him, waiting for him to tell them it was a joke. The doctor's smile fell when she realized this didn't seem to be good news.

"That's impossible," Renee had whispered. She'd looked up at Charlie and said, "Charlie, this is impossible. I was told I couldn't get pregnant."

It was true. A doctor had once told her she couldn't get pregnant. He'd diagnosed her with a severe form of endometriosis. While he hadn't told her specifically she couldn't get pregnant, he'd very quickly encouraged her to look into other options.

Charlie had remained silent. Renee was staring at him, willing him to understand that she had not lied to him, but he hadn't believed she'd lied to him.

He had been grateful for the opportunity to be a father, even if his genes had been...somewhat peculiar.

"You were a miracle," Charlie said to Bella who at that point had completely stopped crying. "Our miracle." It took a moment for Charlie to realize she was silent. He was also unaware of the vines that were currently growing alongside the house or the rose bushes that were sprouting. He'd discover those in the morning.

For now, he laughed excitedly. "Well will you look at that. You finally stopped crying."

She didn't cry again for a long time. Most found it unnerving how she could fall down and scrape her arm, but then stand up as though it hadn't happened. It happened often. She was clumsy but never cried as a small child. The next time she would shed a tear would be at the age of eleven, and she would cry for a long time after that.

Thanks again - not sure what happened when I posted the first chapter but it kept giving me a broken link.

Question 2 - what is your favorite Halloween memory?

Mine - I was 25 in Vegas with two girlfriends and we ended up crashing a halloween bar crawl. It was a blast!

Until next time,
Bravery 3