Renee's POV

My baby! My baby had been found. My baby had been found and now was dying. I looked down at her reveling in how much she had changed. She was a woman now forced to grow up in so many ways. But then she was always a middle aged kid. My fault. My fault I wasn't a more mature person. Maybe she would not have run away if I had been a better mother.

I sobbed loudly as I grasped the only part of Bella not wrapped in bandages. Her tiny hands. Her tiny hands that housed more scars than I remembered. They criss-crossed her knuckles, and I ran my fingers over them trying to focus on something other than the overwhelming grief that was consuming me.

I felt Phil's hand on my shoulders and they pulled me away gently. I glanced up at him and saw tears in his eyes. He had always liked Bella. He thought she was incredibly brave and compassionate for leaving Phoenix and going to Forks just to give us some time together. But I knew that that was what my daughter did. She always put people first.

As I stumbled out of her room, I noticed a lot of eyes on me. The family Bella had been staying with all stood vigil outside her room. When I arrived I had been introduced to them, but I failed to remember any of their names my mind screaming for my daughter. Charlie sat next to the tiniest teenager I had ever seen rubbing her back. His eyes were red from crying but now looked dry. He stood as I moved slowly over to him. He opened his arms, and I fell into them blubbering incoherent sentences into his shirt. I suddenly remembered why I had fallen for Charlie Swan. He may not say or express his emotions very well, but you felt it when you were near him. He was in just as much pain as I was if not more. I laid my head against his shoulder and looked at the strange family Bella had been welcomed into.

They were all inherently beautiful, even the men, although my mother had told me that men were not beautiful, they were handsome. These men, though, they were beautiful. There was no other word for them. Their eyes were disconcerting, the pale yellow of a bird of prey. I felt like a wood mouse ready to be eaten whenever one of them would look at me. The most disturbing thing though, was that they rarely moved.

As if they heard my inner musing they all moved quietly. The blonde deity flicked her hair behind her head, the goliath rubbed his hands over his face and the tiny girl huffed and leaned back in her chair.

"Charlie…Renee?"

I looked up to see the young man who had spent the all his time staring at Bella as if willing her to get up. Charlie had said he was Edward, Bella's boyfriend. I thought he was too young to be Bella's boyfriend, but Charlie assured me he was older and more mature than he looked. It was still unsettling.

"I am so sorry-"

Charlie cut him off with an angry wave of his hand. I disentangled myself from him and turned to look at Edward.

"Edward we talked about this yesterday. Bella made her own decisions. This is not your fault. You could not help having to leave," his eyes flicked to the blonde doctor who ducked his head. "I know that you did what you did to…Bella in the woods, and while I don't agree with it I know why you did it."

What had he done to my Bella in the woods?

"Telling her I didn't love her was one of the most stupid things I ever did," Edward whispered looking directly at me. Had he heard my silent question? I shook my head trying to right my silly thoughts. Both Bella and Phil had said on numerous occasions that my mind could run away with itself with crazy theories.

"Yes and I don't think you will ever forgive yourself for that, but Bella could have made an effort to get on with her life instead of acting like a spoilt child and running away."

I tsked angrily at the fact Charlie was insulting our daughter while she lay dying in the next room. Charlie's hand tightened on my arm, and he sighed.

"It did however make her grow up. And she found you again. And she was happy. So I cannot be disappointed with her or you."

Edward nodded, and suddenly the blonde supermodel walked over.

"Edward I rang the Denali's this morning to tell them what was going on and to maybe expect us soon."

Edward nodded at Charlie and myself before turning to the woman. "Are they okay with everything?" he whispered quietly.

"Yes though Tanya didn't take it to well."

Edward nodded, and then led his sister away. Phil walked over to me.

"We should head back to the hotel dear. Danny will be waiting for his phone call."

I nodded and kissed Charlie on the cheek knowing he would be heading to his hotel where his fiancé was waiting for him. He nodded and turned to talk with Dr Cullen. I took one last glance into Bella's room seeing the tall blonde man leaning reverently next to her bed as if he was praying. Something told me that he was praying to a god that would not listen.

**********

Edward sat stoically next to Izzy ignoring the whir of machinery that had been squeezed into the room. Carlisle and Esme murmured strained goodbyes to their son as they set off home to talk to their other children about their options. Nurses and doctors continued their duties, running in and out of rooms, answering pages and filling out prescriptions.

As the day turned to night and Carlisle and Esme exited the hospital and drove away, no one noticed the two shadows that hunkered against the darkness. Their eyes lit up like cats, fluorescent and unnerving. They watched the hospital as if their lives depended on it.

"Only the boy is left," one muttered.

The other nodded. "I will get him away from her. Then you can do what needs to be done."

"Are you sure?"

They both stood now, and the one that spoke first towered over the other. They glanced around knowing no one would take any notice of them but unable to shake the uneasy feeling. The taller one took to the trees, and with a brief nod, the other followed.

"It needs to be done. The Cullens are too close. Their vision is clouded."

The taller one perched on a branch and stared at the other.

"And you little one? Are you not too involved?"

The other sniffed. "I have never met her, but I know this needs to be done."

The taller one nodded and then gazed into the sky.

"It should be done tonight. Once you have called the protector away you know what needs to be done."

The other sighed and sat back against the trunk.

"I really wish I didn't need to do this. It sounds so barbaric."

The taller one laughed. "Well it happened a lot in our time, so you should be a little more realistic. Besides you will give them back."

The other grimaced. "Yes but still…okay let us begin."

The taller one nodded and fixed his blood red eyes on the other's shining gold ones. Holding out a hand the other dropped a small package into the taller one's grasp. Red Eyes pulled the package open and stared at the contents.

"Are you sure this will work?"

"I hope so," the other whispered pulling out a mobile and dialing a number. A woman picked up on the third ring.

"Hello, Intensive care unit."

"Hello may I speak with Edward Cullen? I believe he is still there?"

There was a pause, and then the nurse answered slowly. "Yes…let me just get him for you."

"Thank you."

The taller one had already shot off by the time the other had opened the phone. Running lithely and sticking to the shadows, Red Eyes climbed the building with ease shutting the mind off from any errant thought as the other had instructed.

The finding of the room was easy as the girl had a remarkable scent. Red Eyes pulled through the open window and stepped gingerly into the room knowing the protector had just left.

The human looked peaceful even bandaged up. The scent that filled the room also filled Red Eyes' mind and immediately venom pulled. Quickly closing off the need to breathf and bent over the human.

Her neck lay exposed, her blood pumping just below the easily breakable skin. So delectable. So mouth watering. So lucky Red Eyes had already hunted.

"I am sorry. You will suffer. He will suffer. You will die."

Slowly he positioned his hand over her chest and heard her heart falter as the titanium pushed into the organ. It spluttered wildly as he pulled it away. The protector would have heard her heart, and Red Eyes quickly backed out of the room. The cool air touched softly on Red Eyes' face as the decent to the ground took mere seconds. Returning into the shadows, Red Eyes launched into the trees and waited for the other knowing it would not be long before the human would die.

Edwards POV

"Hello? Hello?"

I stared at the nurse who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. I sighed and placed the receiver back down. At that moment, Izzy's heart fluttered wildly, and fear in cased my chest. I quickly ran the short distance to her room and flung the closed door open only to find nothing.

Izzy still lay on her bed, her heart…

Oh God, her heart.

It beat wildly in her chest when, really, it should be have been a slow steady thump. Sweat beads had formed on her forehead and alarms started to go off one by one. As nurses and doctors filled in the room I stood to the side listening to the out of control muscle beat too fast for a human body.

What had happened? I only left for a minute.

No new scent lay in the room; nothing had been out of the ordinary. All my medical experience told me this shouldn't be happening. I quickly took out my phone and rang Carlisle.

"Yes."

"Carlisle you need to get down here. Something is wrong."

"We're on our way son."

I snapped the phone closed and watched as a nurse wheeled in a defibrillator. She took the paddles from their holster and handed them to a doctor I had never seen before. He murmured instructions to her, and she nodded quickly adjusting the knobs. I jumped as the electricity pulsed through Izzy's body making her back arch away from the bed. I had not seen her stir once since the accident, and I was unprepared to see the sudden movement. And then I realized.

Izzy's heart had stopped.

Time stopped.

I stopped.

And then it started again. Only this time it was too fast for me to keep up. I didn't notice when my family arrived and were told it was time to say our goodbyes. I couldn't focus on the words they murmured as they hunched over Izzy's form. I didn't acknowledge Renee and Charlie as they ran in, nor did I realize that Renee had collapsed after being told her daughter was dead. The only thing that I noticed was her heart. It had stopped beating.

And my world ended.