Chapter 8

Family

26 Weeks…

The rest of that week came and went, and Renesmee's twenty-sixth week began. She only had ten more weeks before her leave began, which meant that, for her, things at Children's were slowing down. King had added more regulations to Renesmee's 'pregnancy-during-work' deal. It seemed as if the only things Renesmee was allowed to do were her post and pre-op rounds, clinic work, which involved dealing with children who had broken bones, needed stitches. She also had to work in the NICU/PICU. Rarely, she would get an opportunity to scrub in, or watch a surgery from the Gallery. But still, she would find herself at the end of the day in complete exhaustion. If she wasn't working, she was sleeping.

She and Jacob still had their thoughts on each other. They knew that they needed to talk about their relationship, and that it needed to be done before the baby arrived; but either they didn't have the time, or they avoided the topic.

They were running out of time. They had 3 ½ months: fourteen weeks: 98 days, until their son was born.

xXx

As Jacob drove around Seattle on his patrol route, he couldn't help but pick out the children. Every child he saw had two parents, who were married, or at least dating. He couldn't get his mind off of children; he couldn't stop seeing them, and wondering: were they a family? Renesmee, himself, and the baby? Or was a family something much more complex than two adults and their child?

Ever since that conversation he had had with Relic at Joe's, it was all he ever thought about. It was all he ever saw. Families. Babies. Couples…were he and Renesmee even a couple? They called themselves partners, but they hadn't even gone on a date. They had only slept together once, and they were drunk that night.

So, what were they?

Jacob couldn't live without knowing what they were. He had to know.

Today.

Now.

Quickly, Jacob made an illegal U-turn (the irony to him was amazing), and headed straight for Children's.

xXx

Today, Renesmee was working with the NICU team. She was assigned to a newborn (three-hour old newborn), a little boy, by the name of Ethan. He had been born with a heart condition called Ebstein's Anomaly. A condition where the tricuspid valve of the heart doesn't form properly, and blood leaks back through the valve.

Fioni was going to perform a tricuspid valve replacement surgery on him in a few hours, and because it was a surgery that lasted from two-to-four hours, Renesmee had gotten lucky enough to be able to scrub in and observe the procedure.

Which also meant that she needed to do all of his pre-op labs, EKGs, and tests.

She smiled down at the tiny newborn, as she brought over the EKG machine.

"You know," She said, placing the electrodes on Ethan's tiny, shallow chest. "I'm going to have a baby, just like you."

She attached the twelve electrodes to his little chest, arms, and legs.

"Yep…" She said, as the EKG went underway. "He'll be here in June. We still haven't decided on a name yet, though. I'm thinking about Alec, or maybe Collin. What do you think?" She looked down at the newborn, as if he could answer.

Instead, he yawned.

Renesmee laughed to herself. "I thought so."

After the EKG was done, Renesmee took a few vials of blood, and sent them to the lab. After a few more tests and pre-op procedures, she was done; she scrubbed out of the NICU, and started to get ready for her rounds. There was still about an hour before Ethan's surgery began, and Renesmee had twenty kids that she needed to do post-ops on.

After the first three rounds, she ran into Jacob, who was still in uniform.

"Jake…?" She asked, as he walked down the hall towards her. "What is it?"

"I…" Jacob looked vexed, as if something bothered him. "What's your middle name?"

"What?" Renesmee furrowed her eyebrows.

"What's your middle name?" Jacob asked again. "I…I want to know your middle name."

"What does it matter?" Renesmee headed towards the nurses' station Mark worked at, and traded him her old patient chart for her next patient's chart. Mark strained to hear their conversation.

"What does my middle name have to do with anything?"

"I just want to know." Jacob said. "I want to know your middle name. I want to know more about you than your profession. I want to know your passions, your fears. How you take your coffee in the morning, if you like bacon. How you like your eggs, your favorite movie, book…food. I want to know your middle name."

"For God's sake, Dr. Cullen, if I may interject, at least tell the man your middle name!" Mark said.

That earned him a glare from Renesmee, and he shrugged. "Just a thought." He said.

"Carlie," Renesmee murmured, looking back at Jake.

"What?" Jacob asked, unable to hear the young surgeon's response.

"Carlie." Renesmee repeated. "Carlie. I'm passionate about kids, about saving lives. I'm deathly afraid of spiders, ever since I saw that Harry Potter movie with the giant spiders that attacked the two kids. I hate black coffee. It has to be a mocha, with nonfat milk, white chocolate instead of regular, and French vanilla. If I could, I would only eat bacon. Omelets are my favorite way to eat eggs. Where the Heart Is is my favorite movie and book. I still cry at the end of it. I love Chinese. My middle name is Carlie. Spelled 'C-A-R-L-I-E', not the normal way."

Jacob smiled. "Carlie."

Renesmee nodded. "Carlie. My parents combined the names of my grandfathers. Carlisle and Charlie. Carlie."

"I like it." Jacob said. Slowly, he stepped closer to Renesmee, and wrapped his arm around her now medium-sized waist. Methodically, he leaned closer into her face, until he could feel her breath on his cheek.

Mark raised his eyebrows, and leaned in, watching as Jacob pressed his lips against Renesmee's.

Surprised, Renesmee's eyes widened. She didn't know what to do, what to think. But the fireworks set in, and she closed her eyes, letting the euphoria course through her body.

Mark chuckled to himself. Oh, to be young and in love…okay, so he wasn't that old. Thirty-five. Still. The man smiled to himself, thinking about when he and his partner, Jayce, had met, and fallen in love.

As he watched the couple, he noticed Dr. Cullen's resident coming down the hall. Not wanting to watch Dr. King spoil their moment, he knew that he had to alert them.

"Dr. Cullen," He said quickly, his eyes darting back to the short, stacked black woman walking down the hall.

Renesmee jumped back in surprise, and looked down to find her resident walking down the hall.

"I have to get back to my rounds," She said quickly, pushing Jake off of her.

"Let's talk tonight. I'm off after the valve replacement."

"I think we should." Jake said. "How about dinner? I can pick you up here, after your shift's over."

"The surgery should get out around six. Pick me up out front at seven?"

Jacob smiled. "I'll see you then."

Tipping his hat, he nodded at Renesmee, and then Dr. King. "Ma'am." He said to both women, as he began to walk down the hall.

"Would you mind explaining to me what that was about, Dr. Cullen?" King asked, crossing her arms, and looking up at her intern.

"Nothing." Renesmee said quickly, grabbing the chart that Mark handed her.

"He just needed to be directed to gynecology for a sexual abuse case that came in."

"Uh-huh." The black woman nodded, not believing the intern. "Get back to your rounds, Dr. Cullen. If I'm correct, you still have seventeen more kids to check on before your surgery…which starts in forty minutes."

"Yes, ma'am." Renesmee nodded, and started on her next round.

King looked to Mark.

"Don't ask me," Mark raised his hands, and returned to his computer work. "I didn't see a thing."

xXx

As promised, Jacob met Renesmee at the main entrance of Children's. As the two soon-to-be parents walked through the parking lot, Jacob noticed how bubbly Renesmee appeared.

"How'd the surgery go?" Jacob asked, looking over at the pregnant woman.

"It was amazing." Renesmee sighed happily. "It was a valve replacement, right? But, when we go in, she decides that she wants to take a look into Ethan's heart before replacing the valve. After taking a closer look, she asked me to look. She asked me if we should replace the valve, or if we could fix it."

"What did you choose?" Jacob asked with a small smile.

"Well, I said that the damage to his valve wasn't that bad, and that we could repair it. She agreed, so instead of doing a replacement, we start on a repair. She starts a decalcification and reshaping repair, and she let me close. Jake, that was the most mind-blowing, incredible surgery I have ever witnessed…and I got to help!" Renesmee felt as happy as a kid in a candy shop.

"Nessie, that's incredible." Jacob smiled. "You are going to make one hell of a surgeon."

Renesmee blushed. "Oh, please. I'm just an intern. I just started. Give it a few years before you say that."

Jacob chuckled softly to himself. "Okay, Nessie."

Renesmee shook her head with a small smile.

"So, what was that about?" She asked, as they made it to his car. Jacob opened the door for her, and helped her inside. He quickly made it around to the driver's side, and started his car.

"Earlier." Renesmee explained. "Why you wanted to know my middle name…all those things about me…the kiss." Shyly, she looked up and Jacob.

"What are we?" She asked.

Jacob sighed loudly. "That's what I want to know. Renesmee, look at us. We're having a baby together…and we don't know what we are. Partners? Friends?" He shook his head.

"Renesmee…" Jacob shook his head. "This relationship…is it only happening because of the baby? Are we only together solely on the fact that I got you pregnant? Because if it is…" He shook his head again.

"I don't want us to be together because of the baby. I want us to be together because we want to be together. Because we want a relationship. Not just because of the baby; but because of us."

"Jacob…" Renesmee didn't know what to say. Everything that happened today, everything Jacob said…that kiss. She could still feel the taste of him on her lips. It was all so much…but it was so right.

"Here," Jacob muttered, as he pulled into the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant, P.F. Chang's. He got out of the car, and, being the gentleman that he was, he helped Renesmee out of the car. The two walked into the restaurant, and were seated in a secluded booth.

"Do you really feel that way?" Renesmee asked, setting down her menu. "Do you really feel that way about this…about us?"

"I want to be apart of your life just as much as I want to be apart of his," Jacob's eyes motioned to Renesmee's stomach.

Reaching out his arms, he took Renesmee's hands in his own, and looked into her eyes.

"Renesmee," He started. "I think I'm falling in love with you. I haven't felt like this in years. Whenever I'm around you, I…I lose myself. I don't know what to say, or-r what to do. I forget everything…you're intense, you're intelligent…complicated; like a single-malt scotch. I can't picture my life without you, or that baby in it. I want you in my life, I want to have this baby with you…I love you, Renesmee Cullen, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and our son."

Renesmee felt tears in her eyes. She felt sixteen all over again. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. She felt nervous, yet oddly free…like she was on top of the world.

"I want us to be a family." Jacob said. "A real one. I want us to have a house, one with a giant backyard that he can play in. Maybe even get a dog…I just want us to be a family."

Renesmee smiled so hard it hurt her cheeks. She looked down for a moment, laughing and crying all at the same time.

"Yes," She said. "Yes." She looked back up at Jacob. "I want us to be a family. With a giant-ass backyard, and a dog. I want you to be in my life, and I want us to be a family."

Renesmee felt the baby move, and kick around a few times.

"I think he wants us to be a family, too." She laughed.

Jacob broke into a grin, and looked down at the table with a small laugh. "So, we're all in agreement." He looked back up at Renesmee.

"I guess we are," She smiled.