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Let me get one thing straight. I AM ENGLISH. I SPELL THINGS THE ENGLISH WAY! e.g. mum, not mom, colour, not color etc, etc.
Disclaimer: If was a multi-millionaire, award winning author, why would I waste my time writing FanFictions for my own books?
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Esme
I smiled down at the sleeping form in my arms. Bella. This fragile human child, whom I already loved as a daughter. The tiny girl who had captured my heart in the few minutes that I had known her. It was impossible not to love her; she was so beautiful.
She was gurgling softly in her sleep, and I suspected that she would be a sleep-talker when she was older. Her short hair was silken mahogany, and her eyes, when open, were the most exquisite shade of chocolate brown. Her skin was cream and roses, her face a flawless heart shape.
I knew that Alice was already aware that I had found Bella, and I hoped that she had bought everything we needed to take care of Bella until we could contact social services and arrange something.
I also hoped that Alice had kept her promise and not told anyone about Bella. Alice seemed excited, and I knew Rose would be ecstatic. Our husbands would agree to anything that made us happy.
That only left Edward… I knew how stubborn my son could be… The hardest part of this whole thing would be convincing him to let her stay.
Still, I consoled myself. Perhaps when he sees how beautiful Bella is, even he will be taken in by her charm.
I raced towards our current home, a beautiful old manor house, not too far from our friends, the Denali's. I frowned slightly as I tried to plan what I would say when I got back, running through a hundred different conversations in my head, trying to gauge what everyone's reactions would be. In the end, though, it wasn't necessary. Alice met me when I was still a few miles out of earshot.
"Oh! She's even more gorgeous in real life!" Alice cried, rushing forward.
Bella started, and awoke at the sound of Alice's trilling soprano, and stared about with a baffled expression.
"Did you get anything?" I asked anxiously.
"Anything and everything!" Alice laughed. "You should have seen the looks on everyone's faces when I came back with a load of baby things! They all think I'm crazy. Can I hold her? Please?!" Alice was jumping up and down, and I frowned disapprovingly.
"Only if you calm down."
She tried. She really tried, but 'Alice' and 'calm down' aren't words that are generally used in the same sentence. She did, however, stop bouncing around, and I judged it safe to give her Bella.
Bella giggled and tried to push her hand in Alice's mouth. Alice laughed and easily disengaged herself. Neither of us wanted Bella too close to her razor-sharp, venom-coated teeth.
"Can you see how the others will react?" I asked.
"Rose will be delighted. Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett will adore her as much as we do. Edward… I don't know. It may take a while, but I think he will come around eventually. You know him; he's stubborn as a mule." We both laughed.
It did not take long to run the last few miles. Bella giggled the whole way, and it was clear that everyone could hear her, because when we got back, our whole family was waiting outside for us.
Rosalie
What had Alice and Esme been up to now? Was this why Alice had come back, her arms full of baby things? And… Oh!
I caught sight of the little girl as she twisted her head round to see us all. She was adorable! Without thinking about what I was doing, I flitted forward to stand over her and get a better look.
She shrank back into Alice slightly, frightened by my sudden appearance, but she seemed to recover herself quite quickly, and even stretched one of her little hands out towards me. She smiled toothlessly at me, and cooed in the sweetest fashion. I reached out, and Alice surrendered her to me.
"Her name's Bella," Alice told me, but I barely noticed. I was too busy getting lost in Bella's eyes: an easy thing to do, considering how deep they were.
Bella looked away, burying her beautiful face in my hair. I was hardly aware that everybody had come up behind me and was watching over my shoulder. I only noticed when Carlisle spoke softly.
"Where did you find her?"
"On the road, in a car accident with a sixteen-wheeler. She was the only survivor," whispered Esme, her voice heavy with borrowed grief.
"Oh, poor baby!" I cried, holding her protectively.
"And that's not all. The driver of the lorry was reeking of alcohol and half of the vehicles were on fire. It was a miracle that they hadn't already gone up in smoke."
"Tough luck, squirt. Looks like you're stuck with us for a while," said Emmett, peering over my shoulder. Bella smiled again, and reached up towards him. For once, Emmett didn't seem to know what to say.
"D… Does she want me?" he asked incredulously.
"Impossible though it seems, she apparently does," said Alice, grinning.
Emmett reached down and picked her up, seeming just as captivated by her spell as I was. She grabbed hold of his nose, to the general amusement of everyone. Emmett started spinning her around, making Bella giggle harder.
"3, 2, 1," muttered Alice, smiling wickedly.
"BLEUGH! Baby-sick!" shouted Emmett, hastily passing Bella back to Esme before rushing inside to clean up.
After we had all had a good laugh at Emmett's expense, and Bella had been held by everyone (except Edward, who was being a grouch), we took Bella inside, mindful of the rapidly dropping temperature.
"What are we going to with her?" Emmett asked.
"Can we keep her? Oh, please!" I cried excitedly.
"Are you insane?" Edward's voice whipped from behind me. "Am I the only one here who remembers what we are? That we are predators? That she is our intended prey?" He clipped each word, clearly showing his displeasure. Well, tough. This was a family matter and would be decided as a family.
Edward snarled.
Bella whimpered, and hid her face in Esme's shoulder, apparently scared by Edward's violent display.
"Edward," Carlisle reprimanded him softly. Edward made no reply, but at least the snarling stopped.
"All in favour of keeping Bella, say 'I'," said Emmett. Everyone but Edward said 'I' in perfect unison.
"Then it is settled," said Carlisle. "I will go and contact child services. Everyone else – yes, Edward, that means you too – set everything up for Bella. We want her to be as comfortable as possible while here."
"Come on, Bella," Esme cooed softly. "Rose and I will get you fed while everyone else sorts out your living quarters."
Edward stormed upstairs and slammed the door. I ignored him. What did I care what he did now? As long as he didn't hurt Bella.
After all this time, I had a child to look after, even if she wasn't mine. I didn't care. I would be her mum, her sister, her friend, anything she wanted me to be.
And I would do anything for her. Because I already loved Bella.
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