Sorry guys, but I forgot to mention that this, and the previous chapter, don't take place in the Cullen house. It takes place in the… uh… the tinier Cullen house. You know… the one just for Edwardo and Isabella? Sorry, I haven't read BD in a while and I forgot what it was called. XD.

Edward's POV

I advanced toward them so quickly, I couldn't have imagined ever being stopped mid-stride. But as soon as the scent of fresh blood hit my nose, my body completely froze up. I felt the strange heat well up inside of me, the same one that always took over me when we were hunt- no. I took a moment to suppress the uprising beast inside me before I would dare look down from Jacob's undecided expression to what was surely the cause of the too sweet smell in the air. When I finally did, the result was far from what I had envisioned.

There my daughter lay, in Jacob's arms. She looked like a bloody, cold, mangled corpse. And considering Jacob's most recent revelation, she probably was. Renesmee was soaked, and her clothes stuck to her skin, revealing the unsightly, bloody wounds, or more so lacerations, that enveloped her entire left side. Her curls, darkened by the water, hung past Jacob's arms, revealing an even darker patch, which I quickly realized was caused by blood. So much, in fact, that I could barely see each droplet make its way down each individual curl. Never had I truly realized, until then, why they'd named the hue "Blood Red."

I snapped back into the present and continued, more slowly, my few-step trek toward them, and tore Renesmee from his arms. She gasped out in unconscious agony, causing her breathing to kick back into effect (although it was now more of a groaning). Her skin was cold- too cold, and she began to shiver violently. Bella, directly behind me, wore the exact same mask I wore- one of almost expressionless shock.

"Renesmee." I croaked out. I turned my head in Bella's direction, "Bella, Love, could you please call Carlisle and tell him to come assist us here?" She nodded once, grabbed her phone off from the table, and began dialling the number immediately.

"How did this happen!?" I demanded. Jacob's head snapped up, and though out of breath, he tried to explain.

"When… I got there," he panted, "Embry already… She… Nessie… was already th-there."

"Got where!?"

"The c-cliff." he said, raising his arms to emphasize the very top of it. My teeth ground together, and I held Renesmee closer, but she gasped again. I looked down at her eyes, squeezed shut, and frowned.

"How did this happen?" I repeated more softly this time. Jacob again answered, but I had stopped listening. The question was more for me than anyone else.

How did this happen? How could I have let this happen? What could I have done to stop what happened if I had known? Would the result be the same? Would she still be corpse-like in my arms? I doubted it. But I didn't do anything. It happened. I couldn't do anything. Poor excuse. If I had just paid more attention… If I had been the father I was supposed to be…

Bella snapped her phone shut and looked at me nervously. "He'll be here in a minute." she said. I nodded.

Renesmee shuffled in my arms, causing herself discomfort. I laid her down on the couch, her right side facing the back of it as to not irritate the wounds on her left. Speaking of which…

"Jacob, how did this happen?" I asked.

With his breath fully back, he answered. "Didn't you already ask that… twice?"

I shook my head. "No, I mean how did those wounds get there?"

He came around beside me to see what I was talking about. Had he not noticed? His eyes widened as he remembered something. He'd felt that warm, wet feeling of the blood, but hadn't expected to see this much.

"I… don't know."

I sighed and looked down. Just another piece of the puzzle to be solved. And I was sick of this damn puzzle. A thousand pieces, missing too many.

Bella stood with an agitated expression on her face. "Why was I the last to know about this?"

"None of us were supposed to know." Jacob murmured. "Besides, we only found out yesterday."

"What do you mean 'none of us were supposed to know?'" Bella asked. "What the hell was this idiot thinking? If no one was supposed to know, how was he going to get away with whatever the hell he was planning?"

I'd completely lost track of the conversation after that. I just knelt beside Renesmee and stroked her blood-stained hair, wondering what to make of anything anymore. I couldn't tell if what had happened to her had really affected me as much as it should. Was it shock, or was it that I wasn't capable of the anger I should be feeling… or the love I should be showing.

There was a knock on the door. Jacob's mind was in chaos, and his eyes couldn't bear to see Renesmee like that any longer (just as I couldn't), so he took a dash to the door for an excuse to escape this, just for a moment.

Carlisle walked in, the small bag in his hand. He looked at Jacob curiously, registering how soaked he was, then saw me and nodded. He took one more step in and smelled the blood; paused, and then swiftly walked toward the couch where Renesmee lay. His reaction was identical to mine- expressionless shock. But his only lasted a second.

"What on earth happened?" he asked while placing his bag on the ground. I stood back up and took a step aside, giving him more room. He removed the sutures from the bag, along with a few other things and began to work while Jacob answered- or attempted to, anyhow.

He grumbled something about a cliff- something I hadn't heard. I vaguely remembered him trying to tell me something earlier, but I didn't pay attention. Another thing that I should have done, but didn't.

Jacob remembered a scene of only so many minutes ago. Embry had threatened to push Renesmee off, claiming that if his original plan didn't work, he was just going to have to make the immediate demand. And if Jacob didn't 'give it up,' he'd have no choice except to shove her off. And so he did. And hell, was I ready now more than ever to kick his ass into yesterday.

But what caused the sudden hole in the wall, what caused the stillness of everyone else in the room was not that part of the thought, but what had been said just a moment earlier.

'…If you had to help your little Imprint for a decent amount of time, let's say… nine months…'

A sudden surge of anger belted through me. My fist raised to punch someone, but finding empty space beside me, I struck the wall instead, causing a small bit of it to collapse and crumble away under my fist. I stood there, breathing in as much as my lungs felt they could handle, and breathing out more, if you count the metaphorical smoke I was exhaling.

Bella immediately took a step toward me, about to place a hand on my shoulder, but for the first time (for a different reason than it would have been many years ago), I said no.

"Bella, I wouldn't advise that right now." I mumbled. She backed off immediately, as if she understood. But she didn't. She didn't know what I had just seen.

"Edward, calm down." Carlisle urged. He didn't know either, but I took his advice.

I would save the violence for later.

Happy New Year!

I know it's a tad late to say that. Eheheheh. ^.^'

Sorry for the odd ending to this chapter- I couldn't think of anything else. And if I could ask you guys a favour- do you think Edward felt enough regret (or guilt), or do I still have to work on writing emotions? Thanks.

Read on, faithful readers!