AN ~ Hello! I graduated – yay! I start at the University of Western Australia in February! So excited!

In the mean time, I hope the Whovians amongst you (I don't know how many of them there are) enjoyed what I posted (which admittedly wasn't much) since November, my last Stars chap, and for those of you who missed it, Life is Harder (my B/E fic) has also been updated.

Thanks for your patience with this one guys! Next chap should be up very soon! Anyone know when BD part II DVD comes out?

Anywayyyyy we last left with the arrival of Charlie. Things go downhill fast for the Cullens this chap though!

Chapter Sixty Nine: Red Handed

Carlisle:

"Sure looks a lot like you," Charlie remarked.

He seemed to have handled it all surprisingly well so far, though to say he was comfortable with all of this would be a lie. He'd joined Emmett watching the football eventually – thankfully ignoring the ever-more-inappropriate jokes my son was making – but still, the experienced police officer was not at ease. Now he was being introduced to his granddaughter, though he did not know the truth of it, and of course the entire family was gravitating back to the living room. Esme and I rested on the lounge, I with a book and she with a sketch pad, keeping a hopefully unobtrusive eye and ear on proceedings.

"More like Edward, I think," Bella said casually. "She has your curls." Charlie started, apparently not having noticed, and then snorted.

"Huh. Guess she does," he agreed, not having decided if this was a good thing or a bad thing yet. He shook his head, still trying to comprehend it all. "Huh. Grandpa. Do I ever get to hold her?"

"Here," Bella offered, holding her daughter out for him. She looked just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but she was handling it well. Very impressively, in fact. I smiled gently at her, but she was hopelessly absorbed in her daughter.

"She's…sturdy," Charlie remarked. Bella frowned and twitched her fingers, as if trying to figure out how something so light to her could be so heavy for Charlie. It would take her a while to get used to that – and no doubt Emmett would enjoy it.

"Sturdy is good," Charlie explained, seeing his daughter's expression. He looked back at Renesmee and muttered to himself: "she'll need to be tough, surrounded by all this craziness." He gently bounced his arms, swaying from side to side as he did so. He clearly knew how to handle a child – and I must say it was a little strange, disconcerting even, to see Forks' Police Chief acting so fatherly and soft.

"Prettiest baby I ever saw, including you, kid," Charlie remarked good-naturedly. "Sorry, but it's true."

"I know it is," Bella replied, with the sort of dazed pride on her face that only mothers get. Esme was wearing the same expression at this very moment, captivated by the scene before her as she fixed her sketch without even looking at it. She was proud of Bella – she always had been. Not only that, but now she got the opportunity to watch her grandchild grow up. That thought in itself brought a smile to my face.

"Can I come back tomorrow?" Charlie asked, now unable to take his eyes off Renesmee. If he had loved her before – which he certainly had – he was completely under her spell now.

"Sure, Dad," Bella agreed, unmistakable relief in her tone. "Of course. We'll be here."

"You'd better be," he said sternly. Then, gently: "See you tomorrow, Nessie."

"Not you too!" Bella whined.

"Huh?"

"Her name is Renesmee. Like Renée and Esme put together. No variations." Bella tried to soothe herself without taking a deep breath. It wasn't entirely effective, but she did manage to get her voice and expression under control. Once again, I was impressed by her control.

"Do you want to hear her middle name?" Bella offered.

"Sure."

"Carlie. With a C. Like Carlisle and Charlie put together."

I couldn't keep the smile off my face now. Esme poked me in the side with her foot, as I was sitting on the end of the sofa she was lying on, and grinned at me, letting the hair fall like a curtain to conceal her expression from the rest of the room: the smile lit up her entire face, making even her eyes sparkle. I could have kissed her.

Edward hit a wrong note, just to get my attention, and cleared his throat quietly, almost glaring at me from the piano stool, where he now sat, quietly playing to himself. Jasper chuckled.

I quickly lowered my eyes to the page before me, but I was so painstakingly aware of Esme's presence beside me that I could not recall where I was up to. My senses were so heightened that the soft ruffle of her hair falling back into place as she too returned her eyes to her page seemed to whisper in my ear. I shuffled in my seat, and Esme made the faintest – but unusually throaty - chuckling sound.

I'm still not sure whether or not I believe in a sixth sense, but something in a century of experience with him allowed me to feel Edward spare a moment from thoughts of Bella in order to roll his eyes.

.o.o.o.

The next couple of days were fairly peaceful, if a little crowded – Sue Clearwater came often with Charlie, and Jake's small pack frequented the house. Nobody went to school – not even Seth, who was only a young boy. But nobody complained either. There was much more at stake here. The things Renesmee was doing got stranger and stranger as her mind continued to accelerate far beyond her appearance. At one week old, Renesmee had called Bella 'Momma.'

This rate of growth was bad…very bad. By physical appearance, Nessie would be an adult by four or five years of age, and an old woman by fifteen. Psychologically, she would likely be senile before she even reached her teens. I cringed at the very thought.

Only a week after the 'first word' incident, all sources relevant to half-vampires and other similar anomalies were practically dried up. Edward suggested we travel to Brazil, to the Ticunas. They had legends about children like Renesmee…much more frequent than those mysterious accounts I had researched throughout Bella's pregnancy. Well, 'frequent' is perhaps the wrong word, considering they were separated by a good twenty years at the very least. This very day, Bella had told Edward about Renesmee reading Tennyson's poetry without hesitations or difficulty.

Another week passed, and another, and Renesmee went through thousands of outfits - Rosalie and Alice were creating a baby album that was supposed to span years rather than weeks, and not to mention the rate at which Renesmee grew out of her clothes. By now, she could walk confidently, as well as jump, dance and run. She could speak and write flawlessly, and read effortlessly. She was even starting to learn French. I wouldn't be surprised if she picked up my Latin Canon of Medicine when she was two months old and read it all the way through in one sitting.

We were desperately running out of options. The trip to Brazil was the only chance to find out more about the bizarre phenomenon. In very low voices, so as not to disturb the others, Edward and I discussed our possibilities. The one theory that held up through all criteria was to just change Renesmee when she reached a good physical age. Unfortunately, this had many questions left unanswered. Firstly, Renesmee would actually be only two or three years old before she looked to be in her late teen years. If we changed her then, would the Volturi consider her safe, or was she still a risk? And what would Jacob do? Especially if – or, unfortunately very likely, when – Renesmee hurt or killed someone. It would be his duty to destroy her. Would he do it? Would he take one of us instead? Not to mention, it would be cruel and painful to both of them. They loved each other profoundly, even if it was not in the way most wolves loved their imprints. To destroy that would be vicious.

Even more pressing than the need for the trip to Brazil was Bella's need to go to Volterra, to show the Volturi that she had been changed after all, so there was no need to hunt her down. The situation with Charlie and the wolves was fragile at best even with our own considerably compromised understanding: the Volturi, on the other hand, would be ruthless in their inspection and management of every detail, and it would certainly not end well for any of us. In traditional Bella fashion, she insisted that she was to go alone, but of course in traditional Edward fashion, he would have none of it. Especially after Aro's gift arrived; a beautiful necklace inside an almost-as-valuable carved wooden box, with a note that read; I so look forward to seeing the new Mrs Cullen in person.

Logically, Bella's reasoning did make sense; why should the rest of us be put at risk of an attack from the Volturi when we could just give them what they required and be done with it? All they wanted was proof she was a vampire – at least, that was all they said they wanted. Edward seems certain that they have darker intentions, and I am almost certain they would not be beyond trying to coerce Bella to join them. I highly doubt she would, and so does Edward, but he believes they would attempt to force her. Aro seems unlikely to use blunt force to make someone join his group: no vampire on this earth is as obsessed with collecting talents as Aro, and no talents more desired than Edward's and Alice's, but despite constant pressure, neither has actually been given a life-or-death threat yet.

That said, Aro always has tended to do whatever he fancied, and he had experienced Bella's gift when she was human. Edward was almost certain he would kill to have her. He was absolutely certain she would not go alone. Complicating this, though, there was the problem of her daughter: Renesmee would most certainly captivate Aro's attention. If he saw or heard of her, even in our thoughts, it would be disastrous. And, just in case something did go wrong in Volterra, Bella refused to leave Renesmee without at least one of her parents. In the end, it was decided that I would accompany Bella to London, and she would then make her way to Volterra. I would only be a few hours away. Edward was reluctant, but eventually agreed.

Alice was sure to keep her eye on all of this, of course, but there were many decisions to be made between now and the trip, so she couldn't be certain. After three months of arguments, plans and attempts to smooth out the other storm clouds gathering over the family – especially Renesmee's rapid aging – we arranged all the flights. Jacob was stubbornly against it; almost an exact facsimile of Edward's view. Nevertheless, it was to go ahead.

With that weight off my shoulders, I could relax a little. Jacob, Bella and Renesmee were going hunting today, and all was well again in the world – except for the problem, once again, of Renesmee's accelerated development. For some reason, that seemed small right now. I was going to go for a walk with Esme, just enjoy some quiet time with her. It had been a long time since we were alone. In fact, I don't think we had been since Edward's most recent disappearance, when we had lived with Tanya, Irina and Kate for a while.

"Sorry," Edward interrupted, just as we were about to leave. "I really am, but we've got to sort out Brazil! We're running out of time, Carlisle."

I nodded, understanding. It was true, after all. I glanced back at Esme, who dropped her coat back onto its hook and kissed me on the cheek.

"Go on," she sighed, trying not to sound disappointed. "He needs you – they all need you."

She smiled so that I wouldn't feel so bad about leaving her. As if to prove that she didn't mind, she calmly walked up to her room. I could hear her humming quietly to herself as she worked on some blueprints or sketches or a painting. She turned the CD player on as Edward and I headed into my study.

"I really am sorry. You deserve some time alone, Carlisle. I feel like I'm an obstacle. I just keep getting in the way." He shook his head as he opened my laptop computer and turned it on.

"It's not your fault," I told him, trying not to ponder on the issue. I picked up the paper from the top of the pile and stared at it, pretending to read, as Edward set about his Internet research, also in silence.

Several minutes passed without a word.

"Carlisle?" Edward finally asked.

Yes. I'm listening. I lowered my eyes as Edward turned to face me. I could not look at him for fear of losing all composure.

"Do you forgive me?"

Of course.

"Then why don't you say anything?"

There's nothing to say. It's not your fault. It cannot be changed.

"Nothing to say?" Edward repeated. Suddenly, his cell rung, interrupting our conversation. It was Bella. He flipped it open immediately, and I jumped to attention as she told him about something that had just happened.

Are they okay? I pressed Edward. Bella was still talking.

"We'll be there in half a minute," Edward assured her, flying down the stairs without hanging up. I chased him straight away.

"What's going on?" I asked, slamming into him in the doorway. "Who's going where?"

"You and me. We have to help Bella. Irina saw them hunting together."

With that, he shot off into the forest like a bullet from a gun. I sprinted off after him as quickly as I could manage. A moment later, I heard two large wolves running either side of me. No doubt they were Seth and Leah. I leapt over the river, and they crashed through it, and suddenly the greater weight of the situation hit:

Renesmee was in danger. Why else would Jacob have called reinforcements?