I was still in disbelief stage. Every thing that had changed over the last few years was nothing in the face of this. Pregnant. Bella. Not me. It never would be me. The thought made me unbearably sad, but at the same time, happy. Bella would have a child. I promised myself to be close to that child, no matter what. It was an unusual occurrence, to say the least. Typically, if a vampire and a human got that close to each other, the human would end up dead. That made me think that this was very rare indeed, maybe the only case ever. A half vampire child—I had no idea what to expect, and nobody else did either. Even Carlisle was puzzled. But, at Bella's request, and my pleading, she had kept the baby. Currently laid up in our family room. Bella's pregnancy was progressing at an alarming rate. This made us even more unsure, and the fact that the ultrasound was not working on this particular unborn child did not help. She was in great pain, so we wondered how it might end, but we really didn't know what to expect…

***

It had happened, as we feared it might. The unthinkable, but certainly not the unimaginable. Everything was so fast; we had acted quickly in response. The baby. An emergency c-section…and then, nothingness, for only a short time. Not peace, at all, but nothing. Edward changed Bella, like he promised her, and as Alice's vision a year and a half ago had. Surprisingly, it didn't hid me as hard as I thought it would. The climax of the past years, and I was sitting, comfortable for the first time in days, in my favorite arm chair. Holding Renesmee, it was easy to block out thoughts of Bella's pain. I felt did feel bad for her. I did remember the pain. But I was preoccupied, with the miracle. A half vampire child, she was the most beautiful thing ever witnessed, surely. She had humanity in her, definitely. She had Bella's deep brown eyes. They would not be forgotten. In her perfect mouth, beneath her plump, symmetrical lips were teeth, already, very white ones, gleaming actually. Her curly brown hair was the same color as Edward's. She had so much of her mother and her father in her. She was perfect. In that moment, that fact didn't make me sad, that she wasn't mine, because it didn't matter. She radiated an energy that made you smile. Clearly, she slept. She had been sleeping for much of the last three days, her entire life. I heard Emmett's footsteps coming up the stairs, and down the hall. Automatically, I knew that he was coming to tell me, but I didn't want to let her go.

"Rose…it's over" I had expected this; it had been almost three days. I was happy that she was no longer in pain, truly I was, but that meant that it was only me and Renesmee. Bella would want to see her, only a little later. I appreciated the time I had alone with my only niece.

"Okay…" he sensed the upset in my voice and frowned.

"What is it? Rose, it's over. It's all good now, right?" I wanted to say yes, but I never lied to him.

"I don't want to let her go…" I looked down at the little baby asleep in my arms

"I know…but she's theirs…they won't be back for a while. They're going to go hunting…" some time, at least, but not enough. I didn't have to prove myself to her, and that made me enjoy her company very much, even if she was only a few days old.

"She likes me. Just me for me, not me putting up a front…"

"But Rose. I love you. Just you for you. Honestly." And I could let her go. He put me at ease, as usual, and it was really over.