When I was sure that the venom had truly begun to course through Bella's body━ repairing all that was broken, I gave her a quick kiss and I turned around to Renesmee.

"Why did you stop? Why aren't you… We have to… to call an ambulance?" Charlie yelled.

"We don't. Give me a moment to check on my daughter and I will explain everything." I hoped that putting on a composed facade would calm some of his anxieties and bring some reason back to his thoughts.

"Your daughter?"

"And your granddaughter."

"My…?"

"Yes, Charlie. She needs my attention too. Bella, will be fine. I will explain all of this later."

Renesmee had opened her eyes and was following my every move. I gently took off the oxygen mask and watched her for a couple of minutes. Her color had improved and she was breathing fine on her own. She was very warm, but it didn't seem to be a fever.

I gathered her to my chest and I marveled at her. She'd been born with a head full of hair━ the same color as mine. There were other hints of myself in her: in the shape of her nose and of her lips. Her eyes were all Bella. It brought me incredible joy that they had not been lost. Her scent was a mixture of vampire and human, intoxicating but not at all tempting.

In my arms she felt even more fragile than Bella ever did. I wanted to fall on my knees and thank her mother for what she'd done; for how much she made my heart grow. She took a hard piece of stone, carved it into a man and gave it a soul.

I did not think I could have ever loved someone as much as I loved Bella, but I did.

My daughter.

Renesmee.

I was going to have it all: my wife and my child. And hopefully, Bella might get to have her father in her life. I knew that the years that were to follow would be difficult for her, but with enough care, she and Charlie could keep in touch. He could be in his daughter and graddaughter's lives.

I heard him take out his phone. I swiftly grabbed it and crushed it. "No one can know about Bella and Renesmee."

I sat on the floor beside him.

"What are you?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

The rest of my family arrived not long after. The truth had left Charlie in a stunned silence for a long time. His mind went through all the strange things, the disappearances and the stories he'd heard as a child from Jacob's great grandfather (the wolves really did not have a grasp on the concept of secrecy). Considering everything that had happened to him, he was taking it all very well.

Esme remained with him, while the rest of us went into the room where Bella was. Carlisle inspected my wife and daughter. I'd been worried by Bella's lack of movement or screams, but he assured me that, given the amount of morphine I'd given her, it was not surprising. Renesmee was perfect.

Everyone huddled around her bed to meet her and, with some guilt in my heart that the third person that was going to hold her was not her mother, I gently placed her into Carlisle's arms.

She stared at him, her eyes filled with wonder. He caressed her cheek gently with his finger, "Hello, dear Renesmee." Her small hand wrapped around his finger and in an instant Carlisle was looking at his own face from above.

"Fascinating," he whispered.

"What's going on?" Emmet interjected.

"It seems that Renesmee has talent of her own," I informed them.

"Already?" Everyone in the room was surprised.

'Of course she has," Emmett mentally threw his hands in the air.

"What is she doing?" Rosalie moved closer to Carlisle.

"She's showing me my own face, mixed with feelings of happiness and comfort. It is a strange thing. Is this how it feels to read minds?"

"Yes. It is very close."

"Incredible."

"I want to see," Emmet protested.

"Me too," Alice joined in.

"I think Rosalie should be the next one to hold her."

Rosalie had retreated somewhat, but perked up at my request. 'Really?"

"Yes, Rose. You've been by Bella's side, right from the very beginning while I was trying to remove my own head from my own… well, you don't need me to tell you."

"I certainly don't," she laughed softly. 'Thank you! I mean it.'

Carlisle gently passed an almost sleeping Renesmee into Rosalie's arms. She gazed upon my daughter with such reverence, "Hello, little one! Welcome into our family! I am your aunt Rosalie and I love you so very much!" There was much more gentleness than I thought capable of in her words and thoughts. The love she was already feeling for the little creature in her arms had overwhelmed even her. I felt a need to apologize for all the times I called her shallow. Her face was lit with adoration and, for the first time in the seventy years she'd been my sister, no sorrow was present in her features.

Emmet looked at his wife. His heart was breaking into a million pieces. He would never be able to give her something like this. He thought he'd understood her pain; he thought it'd been similar to his and they had each other's company in their impossible desire, but he realized that she'd been hiding most of her pain, caring for him enough to make him think it was the same.

Emmet went behind her shoulder and looked at my daughter, "Quite a looker, even if she looks a lot like you," he teased.

"She is, isn't she?"

"Can I hold her?"

"Of course, Em."

"We're next," Alice excitedly said. Jasper was reticent. He was glad that the child did not smell appealing, but she was such a small creature, how could he, a consummate killer, be allowed to ever hold something so precious and fragile?

"You can," I mouthed while everyone was distracted.

'Thank you, Edward.'

"I can't wait for you to grow up so I can toss you in the air like a football," Emmet said, not an ounce of humor in his voice.

"I'll do the same with your head," I replied.

"I'd like to see you try. You're a dad now. Dads are lame."

"Say that to Carlisle's face."

"A slip of the tongue, I'm sure," our father kindly said.

Emmet's smile faltered, "Sorry, pops!"

"Gimme, gimme, gimme," Alice thrilled, unable to control her excitement. "Hello, little one! I am your auntie Alice and I love you very much! Yes, I do, yes I do."

Alice looked at her mesmerized. A pang of guilt and shame took root in her heart as she still could not see into her future. Meanwhile, Bella had become clearer than before. It was the reason they knew to return much earlier from their hunting trip, she had mentally told me. My wife's transformation was going to last about a day and a half ━the image of Bella opening her eyes gave me great relief.

"I have to take pictures," Alice suddenly exclaimed and passed Renesmee quickly into Jasper's unprepared arms.

"Oh," he exclaimed. "Hello, Renesmee! It's a pleasure to meet you, little miss," he told her in a rather serious voice. Since it was the first time they met, he had to make a good impression by showing impeccable manners. She smiled and grabbed one of his fingers. Jasper, like my father, saw his own face reflected back, but with none of the scars, none of the pain he'd always carry. Through the small connection, Renesmee, unknowingly shared her uncomplicated feelings. She was curious, sleepy and content.

"I haven't felt the desire for sleep in a hundred and fifty years," he told no one; his eyes full of emotion.

While Jasper was rocking my daughter to sleep, I turned my attention back to my wife. I'd already cleaned all the blood and closed all her wounds to the best of my ability while I'd told Charlie about us; about how I tried to give Bella her life back after Jame's attack and how miserably I'd failed; the Volturi and their threat; Bella's desire to be like us and the unfortunate steps that had to be taken in order to achieve; how we thought that we would never be able to have a child of our own and how surprised we'd been when it had happened.

There still was a lot more to be told, but his curiosity had been satiated for a while.

Preserving Bella's modesty, before removing her blood soaked clothes I brought in a room divider. Once all the blood had been washed away I dressed her in her favorite T-shirt and a pair of long yoga pants that she'd worn all throughout college.

After I was done, I let Charlie see her. His heart ached at the sight of her. Her skin was drained of all life, she was as still as a corpse and she felt cold to him. He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her palm, "And she's going to be like you? A…" He made a circular motion with his free hand. He wasn't quite comfortable with the word yet.

"Yes."

"And this was necessary?"

"Yes."

"She could've told me. I would've understood."

"She was scared for your safety."

"Ain't that a thing?" He asked dejectedly.

He smoothed out her hair. He was glad to have her back, no matter how. There'll be hell to pay later, but for the moment he was happy that she was alive.

"And you're saying I've got a granddaughter?"

"Renesmee."

"You sure about the name?"

"Bella came with it. She went through all this to bring her into the world. She decides the name."

"You're smarter than I thought."

"All thanks to Bella."

Charlie looked at his sleeping granddaughter, "can I hold her?"

"Of course."

"It won't hurt her?"

"Her vitals are looking great. She's a strong little girl."

"She'll have to be in all this craziness."

He gently picked her up, "She sure is sturdy. Hello, Renesmee! I'm your grandpa Charlie. Your mom's dad. Huh, grandpa Charlie." He wanted to say more, but no other words came.

"Let's take a picture," Alice came with a camera in her hand. "Come down to the living room."

We all gathered in the living room and Alice arranged all of us for a picture worthy of the royal family.

After I took my own picture with her, my sleeping daughter was left at the mercy of Alice's artistic desire's while I returned to my wife to start my vigil. Soon Charlie joined. He was slightly disturbed by Alice's cheeriness.

A while later, Renesmee's bed was moved to our bedroom and the room slowly started to return to its former use. The only strange thing remains was my still and pale wife who after more than twelve hours had not moved an inch or made any sound.

Renesmee slept in my arms. Having her close by gave me comfort. Her dreams were made out of colorful smoke and the faces of the people she'd met. "Soon, enough you're going to meet your mother. She loves you very much, but she has to rest for a little while."

When it came time for her first mean she was not responsive to the formula, but took to the blood quickly.

"She's a healthy eater," Charlie commented, unaware of the content of the bottle.

There was still much he didn't know: my mind reading; Alice's visions of the future; Jasper's ability to alter the mood. He'd been using it ever since he realized that Charlie was in the house, making sure he was keeping his calm. Though there was no need: Charlie was quite adept at controlling his emotions under pressure. I was happy that Jasper had not once thought that Charlie should be dealt with in a more permanent way.

Alice had looked into his near future and she hadn't seen any threats. Regarding the distant one, things were still unclear. There were too many decisions to be made.

Once my daughter had fallen asleep, I asked Charlie: "I am curious, what made you come here tonight?"

I immediately saw the response in his mind and for the first time I realized where Bella had gotten her mental silence, because when Charlie was not trying to protect himself and opened up I could read his thoughts rather clearly. It all depended very much on his state of spirit, he was generally a quiet man who worked best in the background. Attention made him uncomfortable. Just like his daughter.

"I began to doubt your story not long after the funeral. I did think it had been grief that made me think how weird my last call with Bella was. It was almost like she was trying to let me know that it was going to be the last time we were going to talk. Then was the Alaska trip," he trailed out lost for a few moments in the memories of theri vacation. "I love my daughter, but she would never willingly go fishing with me. Something pretty important must have made her want to do that. Then there was your graduation. You both tried to put on a happy face. I didn't think much of it at the time. The stress of the ceremony and all that…"

"But then… then I thought about it more. You both weren't stressed out. No… you were in a fight. Pretty big one. And when I thought about it more, your family knew about it. Rosalie was clearly on Bella's side, while the rest were trying not to shake the boat. I'm not trying to… but, well, I always got the impression that she did very much not like Bella. So that was weird."

"Then, there was you… you were properly heartbroken. Felt bad for you kid; I might have lost my wife at about your age, but divorce and death are different things…"

"I'm older than you," I interjected.

"What? By how much?"

"I'm a hundred and nine. I told you that we were older than we looked."

"I guess you did… A hundred and nine…," Charlie shook his head and filed the information to be pondered at a later date. "Anyway, where was I? Ah, you. Well you looked terrible, but the more time we spent together, I realized that you were showing signs of guilt. Almost like it'd been your fault she was dead. And then a few weeks back that changed. You started to pretend you were devastated. You're a good actor, but I'm better at detecting lies. When I put my mind to it."

"You suddenly being happy made no sense. Something big must've happened. Something regarding Bella; for that one I had no proof, just a feeling in these old bones. Around that same time, thefts at the hospital were reported. Bags of blood began disappearing. Now, the director thought it was one of the staff handling the blood improperly and hiding their mistake. When I looked into it, I realized that most of the blood taken was the same group as Bella's; as mine's. They were hiding their trail by taking other types of blood, but always, always, there it was, the O negative. I had a few of my guys dressed in plain clothes move around the hospital. Normally I would've told Dr. Cullen about it… you can see why I didn't."

I nodded.

"My guys found nothing, though they commented about how often Dr. Cullen's kids came to visit him at work. I used to go to highschool with one of the nurses, Trudy- nice girl, chatty. She told me that it was unusual for the kids to come as often. Something weird was going on, I just couldn't figure out what. It seemed that whatever was going on had something to do with Bella. I know some people and I managed to get my hand on the original M.I. report. It all looked good enough, though something kept bugging me. It took me a while… Can you guess what it was?"

"No."

"When Bella was about nine I tried teaching her to ride a bike, she fell, broke a tooth and had to have a crown put on. This body had all her teeth."

Charlie was amused by my reaction; he'd told me the story but I'd been far too distraught to realize its implications.

"As far as I know, permanent teeth don't grow back. Still, I checked all my boxes and went back to verify that there had been a mistake in filing. No other deaths in car crashes around Bella's 'death'."

He stopped to take a sip of water, "Then I looked into the M.I.; that was a dead end, but I still had enough clues to think something really strange was going on."

"So I thought that maybe I'd find some answers here. I began looking into your backgrounds and keeping an eye on all of you. The doctor was the only one that came and went with some regularity. I knew that all of you were here, so I had to wait for a time when you'd all leave. And last night it happened. I saw two of your cars leaving. And I hoped that all of you had left. I made my way up to the house with my car and then on foot."

"I saw that the light was still on and before I could start making my way back, I saw Bella in the kitchen. I thought I was losing my marbles. And then she screamed and you came out of nowhere and disappeared with her just as fast. I don't remember much from that point on; that is, until I came into this room."

"Where I gave you the sock of a lifetime."

"I'd say. For now, I'm just happy she's alive."

Esme came by, not long after and took Charlie to the kitchen for a meal and then some rest. He reluctantly agreed. I remained with Renesmee by her mother's side.

Bella was only a third into her transformation, but changes were already evident. Her skin had grown paler and smoother and the bite marks began to faint. Her breathing was fairly regular and her heartbeat was strong and fast. She was somewhat further along than Rosalie had been in the same time period and I wondered if it had anything to do with the amount of venom.

Emmet and Jasper took over my watch when I went to Carlisle for Renesmee's first check-up. I could tell that she'd already gotten bigger; it was a small change, but it was faster than a human baby would grow.

"Clean bill of health," Carlisle smiled. "Do you know how much time there is left?"

"Alice say's around eighteen hours."

"We'll have to get Charlie and Renesmee out of the house sometime before Bella wakes up."

"I know. Bella won't be happy about it. She'll want to see her."

Despite Charlie's protests, it was agreed that he, Renesmee, Esme and Rosalie would leave Forks for Seattle and wait for updates from us. It distressed me to be separated from my daughter and I could only hope that Bella could forgive me for delaying their meeting. While I was relatively certain that Bella would not be tempted by Renesmee, I could not bear to take the risk. How she was going to react to Charlie was another matter entirely.

A few hours later, just as Renesme celebrated one day of life, I took her to say goodbye to her mother. At the mention of 'goodbye', I saw my wife's hand twitch.

"I love you, Bella, I'm sorry."

A sob escaped her lips and I knew I had to get her father and our daughter out of the house as soon as possible. The morphine had completely made its way out of her system just a few minutes before. My hope had been that she was just sleeping; it was more wishful thinking than anything.

With Renesmee safely placed in the seat car, after I'd given her a kiss on the forehead, they left towards Seattle and I returned to my wife, "I'm here, my love. They are gone. You don't need to be brave anymore."

Sobs escaped before her eyes opened━ a mix of bright red and chocolate brown. In a move much faster than she had ever been capable before, she grabbed my shirt and brought me close to her, "Kill me!"

I took her in my arms and climbed on the gurney, "I know it hurts, I know, baby. You're so strong, you're the strongest woman I know," her arms locked tightly around my waist and I heard my shirt rip.

She let out a scream and I didn't know what to do to take her pain away. There was nothing I could do besides staying by her, like I vowed I would.

"Let me die!"

"Please, please, please, let me die, please!

Another earth-shattering scream.

"You're so strong, baby. The pain isn't going to last much longer. It will end, I promise you. And then you'll meet Renesmee."

"Renesmee?" She sobbed.

"Yes, she's so healthy. You've done such a good job; hold on for a little while and you'll see her."

She let out another half sob half scream; and another and another and another.

I kept on holding her in my arms and I sang: all the songs she loved; all the songs I'd composed for her; all the songs that were in my waiting to be finished.

I sag it all, again and again. And then I described our daughter; I told her how much I loved her; both of them; how happy Bella made me; how I never thought this much love was possible.

With time her sobs lost their intensity and she stopped screaming. That was when the rest of the family gathered around us.

Her heart was racing unknowingly towards its silence, in a desperate attempt to escape the pain that had tormented it.

"How long?" she sobbed.

"Not long. You're almost done. It will end. I promised you it would."

When the fire was at its end, her back arched and her hand painfully gripped mine thighter.

Bum…

Bum…

Bu…bum…

Silence.