CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Charlie showed up the next morning with E.J., who was very excited to see his aunts and grandma. He delicately shook hands with Edward's family, before turning to him, silently begging for good news. Of course, Edward told Charlie that Bella had to go into an emergency C-section, but was too consumed for the rest of the night. He could tell that his son-in-law slept horribly if he had even slept at all.

"She hasn't woken up yet." Edward said sadly. "The doctors are coming back in an hour to take her back to surgery."

"What?" Charlie asked, quite obviously confused. He was making quite the scene in the middle of the hall. "Why?"

"Because she's starving. She hasn't eaten a good meal in months, and nothing in the past… almost two days. They're going to put a feeding tube in, and hopefully that'll help things."

Edward was so grateful to Rosalie for taking E.J. on a stroll to the vending machine at some point so he didn't have to listen to how distraught his dad was.

"What about the baby?" Charlie asked tentatively, raising an eyebrow.

"Haven't seen her yet. It's killing me being away from Bella for this long and we're just outside her door. I can't imagine going to a different wing of the hospital right now." Edward replied.

"Then, lets go inside. Maybe E.J. can try and get her up." Charlie suggested.

It made Edward sick to think about his son seeing Bella in this state. She was connected to so many different machines, she had yet to gain her rosy hue back in her cheeks. If it weren't for the heart monitor, Edward would think that she was dead. Anyway, he led Charlie, his mother, and his sister into the room. Bella still laid soundly asleep, her head turned to the side.

"Wow," Charlie whispered in disbelief. He approached his daughter slowly, taking one of her cold hands in his. "Hey, baby." He whispered, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay. You gotta wake up, though, because E.J. really misses you."

Her heart rate increased at the sound of her dad's voice, but she had yet to stir. Still, Edward felt a twinge of hope in his heart. Maybe E.J. would be the one to wake her up. It wasn't like she was comatose or anything, her body was just exhausted from her hard pregnancy.

Edward looked between Esme and Alice, then pushed past them, making sure to be respectful about it, then ran down the hall to get Rose. He picked E.J. off the ground, then rushed back to Bella's room, kissing his son on the cheek and warning him about his mother on the way. Rosalie followed as quickly as she could, but that woman ran for nothing.

The sound of Ezra's voice caused Bella's eyes to flutter slightly, like he was waking her in the middle of the night to ask if he could cuddle, which happened more often than not since they had left Sacramento.

"Mommy?" E.J. hummed, reaching for her from Edward's arms.

"Mommy's belly hurts." Edward said calmly to his son, then pulled the empty chair to Bella's bedside and sat in it, holding his son in his lap. Ezra stood up, Edward making sure to keep him balanced on his legs, and placed his hands on Bella's pillow.

"Mommy, hi, it's me." He said softly, his face almost directly over Bella's.

Bella's eyes took a second to open, but eventually they did.

"Hi baby." She whispered. Her hand moved to touch his face, but she noticed the tubes hanging out of her.

"Woah, what?" She asked, looking around the room.

"Hey, honey." Edward whispered, pulling her attention towards him instead of sending her into a panic. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Well, I'm in a hospital." She said softly, stating the most obvious.

"Right. My mother, Alice, Rosalie, and your dad are here. You had the baby. She's really small, but she's okay. She's in the NICU." Edward would have kept on, but Esme spoke up.

"Edward, slow down and let her absorb some of the things you're telling her."

Edward did as so, watching Bella's eyes move around the room.

"How do you feel?" Charlie asked when her eyes landed on him.

"I feel like myself again." Bella whispered, relieved. She stroked Ezra's cheek with her cold fingers, taking in how soft his skin was. "I'm not pregnant anymore." She said triumphantly.

Everyone in the room chuckled at Bella. She bounced back quicker than anyone expected. Almost on cue, Alice came into the room with a nurse. No one had even noticed that she left, but they all silently thanked her for doing so.

The nurse tried to dismiss the family out of the room, intending for only Edward and E.J. to stay, but instead the four guests stood quietly in the corner, out of anyone's way. E.J. sat on the edge of the bed with both of his parents hold onto him to make sure he didn't fall. He was far too distracted with the way Charlie tied his shoelaces to listen to the conversation.

"So, Mrs. Cullen," The nurse smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good." Bella replied with a nod. Everyone knew that she definitely wasn't at one hundred percent, but she was definitely on the mend.

"We're going to bring you some food, anything specific that you want?" She asked. When Bella shook her head in response, the nurse smiled and pulled out a piece of paper. "This is the 'application' for your daughter's birth certificate. All we need is her name."

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen." Bella and Edward said at the same time, then smiled at each other. They had the name picked out for a while. Carlie didn't come from anywhere specific; it was just one of Bella's favorite names when she was younger.

Once they got the paperwork filled out, Rosalie and Alice decided to take Ezra back to their house, where Emmett and Jasper were. Once they left, Esme noted that Carlisle sent his love, but he was unable to leave Sacramento due to work. The parents and Edward watched Bella slowly eat her lunch. It was all soft foods; yogurt, apple sauce, Jell-O. She picked at each thing and ended up finishing the small cup of yogurt. Once she had finished her lunch, the nurse came in with a wheelchair and asked if Bella wanted to go see Renesmee.

Of course, she did.

Renesmee was tiny. Bella couldn't look at her inside the glass tube without crying. Edward stood behind her, dressed in the paper scrubs that they had provided him and his wife, and rubbed Bella's shoulders while she cried. It broke both of their hearts to see their baby, much too small for the diaper she was put in, threaded with tubes.

"It's okay, Renesmee." Bella managed to choke out. "I love you, it's okay."

The parents sat in the NICU as long as the doctors would let them, just holding one another while watching their baby's chest rise and fall with the assistance of a machine.