Two

Carlisle was examining their daughter. He knew it would be futile to ask either Bella or Edward to leave the tiny room, so he made do with their anxious crowding.

In the half hour he had been here he'd already administered anti-seizure medication twice – Renesmee's fever burning through it rapidly, each time it was given to her.

Bella and Edward were holding onto each other in the corner of the room. Carlisle ached for them, as he had always felt the sadness or anguish of his own children deeply when they were in pain.

Edward's voice was on edge, even as he stroked his wife's back, comfortingly. "Carlisle, talk to us, what's happening?"

In the months before Renesmee's birth the entire family had scoured every resource they could think of to unravel the legends of half-vampire children. Although the resources were scarce nothing in the documentation that they were able to find mentioned anything about illness. In fact, on the contrary, it noted the superior health of any child descended from a vampire.

The sudden shifting of air startled them all as the door to the cottage slammed open. "Bella?" It was Alice's voice, breaking the silence open even wider.

Bella sank in relief. "Alice?" within moments Alice had entered the tiny bedroom, with Jasper and the other's close at her heels. She and Bella reached out for each other. "What did you see?"

"Her fever," Alice confessed. "Carlisle…?" The panic in Alice's voice was frightening.

"She does have a fever," Carlisle told them, "the symptoms present like a viral infection. We'll need to do blood work to run a few tests."

The vampire's in the room tensed. Nessie's blood was different from other humans, but it still presented enough similarities to cause a panic.

"Jasper," Alice whispered. "Will you go back to the house and bring me my coat? No need to rush."

Jasper kissed Alice's forehead. "I'm sorry," he said to the room at large.

Bella spoke up quickly. "No one blames you."

"I'm sorry too," Emmett confessed. He and Japer both left the room. Before Emmett departed he strode quickly to Nessie's bedside and gave her a one-sided fistbump. The little girl did not respond.

"I want to say," Rosalie told them, but Edward could read Alice's thoughts and stiffened.

"Rose, will you wait in the living room, please?"

Rosalie angered quickly, "I can handle it, Edward. I'm Nessie's aunt." She and Renesmee had always been close, in some respects Rosalie was closer to her daughter than Bella was.

Edward gripped Bella's shoulder, rigid from anxiety.

Alice defused the tension, easily. "I'm her aunt, too." She gripped Rosalie's shoulders lightly. "Let's go wait in the living room. There's barely enough room for Carlisle to work, even now. We'll come back and check on her as soon as he's done."

When they left it was a relief but also a painful reminder of what they were up against. "I never should have let her go to that school…" Bella argued, absently. She was biting her thumbnail again.

Edward stroked her back. "Going to that school was all she talked about for months. She wanted a normal life."

"Normal," Bella mused. "You both are so alike." She remembered how desperately Edward had wanted her to cling to normalcy while she was still human. She also remembered how desperately Bella strove to become like him. Vampire. Immortal. To move effortlessly and forceful into the next portion of her life.

"I'm going to take blood now," Carlisle interrupted them.

"Bella," Alice called from the other room. "You can come out here and wait with us, too."

Edward tensed as Carlie inserted the needle into their daughter's arm. The room exploded with the scent of blood, crashing into them with unapologetic intensity.

Bella's knees bent and she fell forward, as though she might lunge. Edward held her up. Although Bella would never harm her daughter, the hot, salty, scent of blood was a craving she could not deny. Renesmee's blood only held small portions of human life and that held enough power to bring Bella to her knees.

Edward struggled, as well, but he had decades of practice to ignore the alluring aroma whereas Bella only had a scant number of years. "You need to feed," Edward told her, both as a point of fact, and in the Hope's of distracting her. "You shouldn't go this long; it's causing you too much pain."

"I can take it," Bella said through gritted teeth.

"I know you can." He pulled her even closer and pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

It had been more than a week since Bella had disappeared into the forests around Forks to hunt. She and Edward had decided long ago that only one of them would leave their daughter at a time. Their war with the Vulturi was still very much on their minds and the uncertainty of their futures haunted all of them.

"All done." Carlisle told them. He tucked the vile of Renesmee's blood inside his pocket and slide the window open slightly to clear the air.

Edward was grateful, "that's better."

"What do we do now?" Bella asked.

"I'll run some tests. I gave her a sedative to help her sleep, but her fever will likely burn through it in the next few hours. We need to keep her cool, try to keep the fever from getting any higher. As soon I run the test's I'll have a better idea about that's really going on behind the scenes. We need to keep her hydrated, and in a few hours, we'll see if she can eat anything."

Bella crossed the room to where her daughter slept in the bed. The blankets had been removed and being mindful of the fluid drip in Renesmee's arm she carefully joined her on the bed. Maneuvering slightly, she laid down and lifted Ness until she was laying completely on her chest. Bella's cold vampiric limbs would be the best way to cool her daughter's raging temperature. After Carlisle left Edward did the same, taking up the vacant spot on the bed, and wrapped his arms around his wife and child.

Neither Edward nor Bella were capable of sleep but they were silent as they held each other closely. They didn't worry about how much time was passing but sometime later Alice poked her head through the doorway.

"Bella," she whispered. "Jacob's about to call."

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a/n: Thank you so much for reading! Please review if you can.