Hi, Emma again. I'm sorry it takes me days to update, but my life is hectic right now, so I'm really, very sorry. And in this chapter, we see why Edward is such a grouch!!! Yay, self-loathing Edward! We all love him anyway. This is not one of my better chapters, so please bear with me. And, thank you so much for all of your kind reviews. You have no idea how great they made me feel!

Disclaimer: I wish I was SM, but sadly, I'm not.

The Things I Do

Edward

This was absurd! The entire situation was ridiculous! The child was human for crying out loud! What did any of us know about caring for a human? And a baby at that! The poor thing would probably starve to death within a few days, and the crying. I knew that babies would cry when they wanted something. We, as vampires, would very likely have no idea what it was that she was craving. Food, warmth, her family, sleep, a nappy change? How could we tell the difference?

But the joy on Esme, Rosalie and Alice's face was radiant. I suspected that even a blind person would notice the aura of euphoria that surrounded them. Their thoughts were ecstatic. Jasper had had difficulty refraining himself from breaking into a jig, the emotions were that overwhelming.

Seeing the change that Bella had brought upon my family, even in the short time that she had been here, I began to wonder if her presence here was really such an abhorrent thing. They were all happier than they had been in all the time that I had known them – which was quite an achievement, as I remembered Emmett and Rosalie's thoughts when they returned from their first honeymoon… I suppressed a shudder.

No! I could not let myself start to believe that this might be a good thing. What would happen to my family if Bella were harmed? I doubted that any of them would ever fully recover. And if she were hurt by us, because of what we are? Their reactions did not bear thinking about.

No, it was better that we did not let her become such an integral part of our lives now, so that the separation would not be as painful. Because, surely social services would not allow us to adopt her? Not when there were already five adopted teenagers living here. And, for all we know, she has other family who would like to take her in… an aunt, uncle, grandparents, even cousins. Anyone would be better than a family of vampires.

Feeling my emotional torment, Jasper had come to investigate. He knocked softly on my door.

"Edward? Can I come in?" I grunted. I didn't really care one way or the other. He took my grunt as an assent, and pushed the door open, making a soft whooshing sound over the thick, golden carpet. I favoured the colour gold. To me, it represented light, beauty. Ironic then, for a damned creature of the night to have golden eyes, was it not?

Edward, I know that you don't approve, but could you please just consider the wishes of your family above your own? Jasper knew me well. I had a selfish streak a mile wide, but for once in my very long life, I was thinking of someone else above myself.

"I have. That is why I disapprove."

What? That makes no sense!

"Sure it does. I'm thinking of what would happen to you all if something happened to Bella. None of you would ever forgive yourselves. And, after all that has happened in the past 24 hours, do you not think that Bella deserves a shot at a normal life? She will not get that living with a houseful of vampires."

Edward, she should not have to grow up in an orphanage, where she will never be first priority. We can give her all of the attention she needs. We can protect her.

"We cannot protect her from ourselves. It is not safe for a human to be around vampires for extended periods of time. It would take something so small… a paper-cut, and if one of us was not paying enough attention… it would devastate everyone."

Even you?

"No. Not me."

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Carlisle

First things first.

"Hello, what service do you require?"

"Police please," I said calmly. It never hurt to be polite. It was also my experience that if you kept a cool head when dealing with humans then you got results faster. It was never acceptable to lose your temper with a patient, and all humans should be given the same treatment.

"Hello, this is the police, what can I do for you?"

"Um, yes, I would like to report a found child."

"Can you give me a name, physical description, and the time and place at which the child was found?" The woman on the other end sounded incredibly bored, and I even heard her stifle a yawn. She was probably wondering when her next break was. I couldn't believe it. I could have found any child at all, and she was acting as though Bella's life meant nothing at all. I fought to calm myself. I wasn't used to such anger – I was usually a very calm person. That a human child could invoke such a reaction in me was astonishing.

"Her name is Isabella Swan, approximately six months old, brown eyes and hair, found roughly an hour on the main road out of Healy (A/N I've never been there, I found it on gooogle maps, so I hope it's rainy enough, and has a forest nearby), roughly 5 miles outside of the town." (A/N I have no idea how this kinda thing works, I'm making it up as I go along)

"Thank you, your report has been filed. We will get back to you when we have more information. We will also contact child services to inform them of the situation." Well, that saved me a job.

"Than…" The phone went dead.

"Well, that's just plain rude," sang Alice, skipping in, a very curious Bella in her arms. Bella wailed softly, and tried to get a good look at everything in the room. Alice did nothing to stop her – she was in the throes of a vision. I was beginning to worry; should I take Bella from Alice? But no, Alice's eyes snapped back to reality, and she smiled, holding Bella out to get a better view of the room.

"Welcome to your new home," Alice whispered.