Bella POV:

It hurt. I couldn't begin to describe how much. A searing, burning, all consuming fire burned through my body. Every organ, tissue, everything burned. Surely I must resemble a black, deformed piece of char by now.

I wondered how long it had been. Days, months, years? I had no other thought than death, that death now would be a relief. But that thought made way for an emotion, the first emotion since this pain started, guilt. Like, somehow, if I died, someone would be hurting, I'd hurt someone. More than one someone? And I knew that this person, people's, pain would hurt me so much more than this. I concentrated hard on that thought, and realized it was the same reason I wasn't screaming, I didn't want him to hurt, and suddenly the most perfect face I'd ever seen whirled up before my closed eyes, and the all consuming love that filled me and temporarily numbed me brought forth a name for this beautiful man, Edward.

Everything came rushing back to me. The first time I saw him in the bookstore, too worried about Aurora to notice his inhuman beauty, when he lay at my feet, with Rora in his arms, every time he comforted me, assured me everything would be okay, every 'I love you' he'd whispered in my ear, every time he held the girls, watched the girls, every time they'd called him daddy. When he'd made love to me, his lips traveling every inch of my body, the way his hands caressed every crevice and line, when he finally stopped teasing me and gifted me the sensation of having him inside of me, the love and adoration in his eyes as he held me close afterwards, and we both let go of the painless fantasy we'd allowed ourselves to believe in for the short time that had been bestowed on us.

I thought of Antoinette and Aurora. Especially Aurora. I felt a pang of guilt and sadness wash over me as I thought of her. Surely she must feel our absence; we'd promised her we'd be back soon. Was she lonely? Oh god, she must be so scared without us there, we had not left her side in three months, and now suddenly we were gone for…how long had it been now? I'd lost track of time.

Antoinette was with Jasper and Alice, but she would be okay, right? She wouldn't miss us too badly. Did she even remember us? We had been at the hospital so much; would she recognize my face when she saw it? I would look different enough when this was all over; I wouldn't have been surprised if she had not recognized my face had I looked exactly the same as I had before. But I was her mother, right; she'd have to remember me, right? And as I tried to banish the painful thought the fire burning through my veins came again to the forefront of my mind.

Edward POV:

She had not woken up yet. I sat by her side holding her hand trying desperately not to cry.

My unbeating heart clenched painfully in my chest as I thought about the pain she must be feeling and a strange sense of anticipation and anxiousness as I thought of the few hours left of her pain I would have to endure. God, you're so selfish, Edward. I was thinking about myself and my pain?! I prayed it would be over soon.

A brief image of a little girl in a huge hospital bed flashed before my eyes, and this time I could not control the sob that escaped my lips. Oh, Rora, princess, baby girl, my baby girl. I let out a strangled breath and looked up at the ceiling, as if the remedy to all this pain was there in the paint, that it could supply some sort of comfort.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look into the eyes of my mother. . .mother. I could not control the sobs anymore, and they had accumulated so that as they racked my body now I could not even breathe, so it was a good thing I didn't need to. She sat down next to me and wrapped me in her arms, and they were stronger than even Emmett's could've been, because they held all the love of a mother. She stroked my hair as I cried into her shoulder.

"It's okay, Edward. It'll be okay, I promise you that. I don't even be Alice to tell you this will all turn out for the best," her words offered me comfort, but not because of her reassurances, because every word rang with how much she loved me, Bella, Aurora and Antoinette, she was just so loving.

"It's s-so h-a-ard, m-om," I spoke through the sobs.

"I know, darling, I know. Shh," she rocked me back and forth slightly, like I was a small child. Small child. The sobs came back with a vengeance.

"I know I'm not your biological mother, Edward, I didn't hold you in my womb, rock you to sleep as a baby, but I have watched you grow, somewhat raised you, I agonized over the time you spent alone, just like any mother, and you are my son. I love you as such, and I'm so proud of you. Of the man you've become, the loving dedicated. . .well, I was going to say husband but I suppose the two of you aren't married yet, you need to get moving on that," she chuckled to herself, I think I might have smiled, "and the father. You're such a wonderful father, Edward, so wonderful. I've never seen anyone more dedicated to their children. You and Bella are such wonderful parents, and you've been through so much, and you haven't given up, on each other, on your beautiful babies," she sighed. Her words were confusing me as to if they were supposed to get me to stop crying or make me cry more.

"Why do you and Carlisle praise me so?" I whispered, if I spoke any louder my voice would have cracked.

"Because you deserve it, Edward. Every last word of praise."

Jasper POV:

"Uncle Jisper!" Antoinette screamed at me. She'd been crying for hours now, and I couldn't get her to calm down like I usually could. She was scared, terrified, even. Not of me, no, I think she sensed the major shift in her world. I wondered if this small infant girl knew how drastically things had changed in the few short hours she had been asleep before the beginning of Bella's change, it had been nearly three days, and according to my Alice Bella would be full vampire in just a few short minutes.

Of course, that didn't mean we could go back, her thirst would be out of control for the first decade at least. In all honesty, this plan had not been very well thought out. Bella would not be able to be around either one of her daughters for years, especially not Rora. While she would be thousands of times more indestructible than Antoinette her temper would change like the wind, and while Bella would never, ever hurt her not even her love for her would keep her from fighting back, and because she was bigger and stronger I knew Rora would not make it if it came to that, and our jobs were to make sure it didn't, but how would any of us be able to deny that mother and daughter each other? And what about Antoinette? What about her? It seemed she had fallen to the way side in all this scheming, I thought, to my shame, quite bitterly. But I knew that wasn't true, the girls were at the forefront of every thought that Bella and Edward had, every plan they made, was never executed unless it benefited the girls. And I hoped to god that luck was on our side, and that the universe decided to stop punishing this innocent family, because if somehow, the Volturi found out. . .well, it was a good thing they would kill us all, because if something happened to anyone of the girls, which it would, because they'd be sure to eliminate Aurora first, none of us, would ever, ever, recover.

"Jasper," I turned to look at Alice.

"Yes, honey?" her eyes were wide with excitement, and nervousness, and the two emotions radiated off of her in waves.

"She's going to be waking up soon," and she smiled as I had not seen her smile in ages.

Edward POV:

"Edward?" I turned away from Bella for a moment, Esme had left me to my thoughts a few hours ago, and it was Carlisle who spoke.

"Yes?"

"It's over," and I heard her heart beat faster, faster than it had in this whole process. . .and stop.

No one moved, no one breathed. We all waited there, all eyes trained on her still, perfectly quiet form.

"Bella? My love?" and her eyes fluttered open suddenly.

"Edward," she whispered.

If you don't hate me too much, please tell me what you thought, I know it's short, but I wanted to get this out, and really I couldn't drag out the chapter any longer, it had to end here, the next chapter will be up soon, and I can promise this because as soon as this is posted I'm going to go write the next one, and post that when it's done, so later today, it 4:55 am right now so maybe…11:00 am-ish? Review?