A/N: Good Monday to you, friends. I don't care what you say. Six twenty is EARLY.

In any event… let's continue.

It was a long, demoralizing day.

Bella fell into step with Alice and Esme doing what she could. They went to the two remaining wagons to take an inventory of what they had left.

"If one of our wagons had to burn, I wish it had been this one," Alice said as they surveyed the smallest wagon in their group. "It all seems like such a waste now. Petty incidental things." She touched a small nightstand that had been in her room at home. "Most of the house Pa sent ahead of us by boat, but these are things we thought we needed."

Bella touched her arm. "Our things are important to us. Sometimes we take human lives for granted because they aren't as fragile as things."

Alice huffed and looked around them. "I feel fragile out here," she said in a small voice.

"And helpless," Bella agreed. She hugged her friend close, and they trembled together for a moment.

"Oh, Bella. I was so worried about you yesterday. When we found you'd wandered off, and we searched and searched but couldn't find you. And then all this." She gestured at the wreckage with an arm. "I imagined the most horrible things."

Bella's stomach twisted. While her family was going through all this panic and pain, she and Edward had been safe and warm. "You didn't have to worry about me."

Alice pulled back. "Ugh." She stamped a foot in frustration as she looked for a not-so-dirty spot on her skirts to wipe away her tears. Finding none, she pulled Bella's apron up and dabbed at her eyes. "You and Edward did seem to fare better. Neither of you had anything on you. How did you shelter from the storm?"

Bella started at the beginning, recalling how panicked she'd been when she woke to find Edward missing. She succeeded in breaking the oppressive mood anyway. Alice giggled. "You are so strange," her friend said. "Thinking you could track a horse."

"Well, James said it would be easy."

"Easy for him, I'm sure. Those boys have practice at that sort of thing."

Bella rolled her eyes and continued her story, recounting how Edward had found her right before the storm hit and that they'd ridden through the pelting rain.

Alice sighed. "The rain missed us for the most part. That was half the trouble. I suppose it was chasing after you. But gracious, you must have been soaked through."

"We were, but apparently there are trappers cabins dotted all about these parts. Makes sense, now that I think on it. Carlisle told us the trail was originally travelled by fur trappers. Edward knows their trails well, and he knew where the nearest cabin was."

"Isabella Sw- err, Masen. You mean to tell me you spent the night indoors?"

Bella ducked her head, and Alice sighed. "Mercy. I've been dreaming about a roof over my head for months now." She chuckled and leaned in closer to Bella. "If I'd had that kind of time alone with my husband…"

She trailed off suggestively and Bella averted her eyes. She could feel a furious blush heat her cheeks and hoped Alice was too busy with their task to notice.

No such luck.

Alice gasped and grabbed Bella's arm. "Why, Mrs. Masen. Tell me your husband has finally made you a woman."

Bella rolled her eyes, but even the tips of her ears were burning at that point. Alice squeaked and hugged her. "Of course he did. Imagine him riding off to protect his lady fair from the lightning. The two of you, cold and wet and all alone in a little cabin. It's all terribly romantic."

"Romantic?" Bella pulled back to look at her friend. "You think it's romantic that while I was… while we were…" She gestured helplessly. "You all, my family, may well have been dying."

"And what luck with that? If you'd been here, who's to say it might not have been you dying? The fire that swept through the camp was so quick. Who's to say you might not have been in its path?"

"But if I hadn't run off in the first place, you never would have been in this spot."

"Perhaps not. Perhaps we would have made it to the City of Granite. James told us how dangerous granite is."

Bella nodded, remembering what Edward had told her, but she wasn't convinced all this destruction wasn't her fault.

Alice took her hand and squeezed. "Bella, there's no use thinking about what might have been. We make our choices. We make our mistakes. And maybe if you hadn't things would have been better. But then maybe if you had something else might have happened. You'll drive yourself crazy thinking about it.

"This trail… it's not real life. Or maybe it's too real. I'm not certain. What I know is none of our days is anything like what life was like back home. It's like you told me before. You and Edward didn't get those quiet moments with each other. You've never had the chance to just relax and be with each other. I'm glad you got that chance. I'm glad you weren't here, and I'm especially glad you were safe."

Bella hugged her friend fiercely again. "We'll get back to normal. We'll get back to real life soon."

Alice smiled. "Yes, and hopefully, we'll find some land not far from yours and Edward's. We can be neighbors. Our kids can be best friends like us."

Bella smiled back allowing herself, for the first time, to picture a little boy with Edward's hair or a girl with his eyes. The thought excited and frightened her all at once. She still wasn't used to how quickly her life had changed that it would be a possibility soon for her to have a baby, her baby, in her arms soon.

She thought of how it felt to hold Edward inside her and she pressed a palm to her flat belly.

Perhaps sooner than later.

Bella shook that thought away when she heard voices headed in their direction. James and the others were back, including her husband. Bella hurried to the edge of the wagon bed, eager for whatever nonsensical reason to see he was safe.

He was. He and Victor had a charred barrel between them. The rice, if Bella remembered correctly.

She and Alice hopped down from the wagon. Bella kissed her husband's cheek-stained though it was with soot like everyone else now-and then set to work.

~0~

The group worked all throughout the rest of the day and into the night. It was well past sunset by the time Jasper and Emmett came around to their camp. They had news of the rest of the train.

Something in the area of twenty families had suffered some kind of loss. For the most part, the wagon train had banded together to help those who could be helped. Lost livestock was rounded up. Wagons that could be repaired were. Many people's belongings had to be rearranged to make room for injured family or smaller animals.

In total three wagons, including the Hale's, were at a complete loss. Fifteen animals had been killed in the fire, and about seven more injured to the point that they had to be put down. There wasn't a count on how many had been injured. Carlisle still hadn't come back. He'd been awake for dangerously close to two full days at that point, but there were injuries to tend to.

"He spent a lot of time with a family whose little boy was bad off," Emmett said, his tone uncharacteristically soft and sad. "So strange. He looked fine. Dirty like everyone else, but on the outside he looked okay."

The boy had hung on most of the day but slipped away as the sun fell.

Emmett was devastated. His shoulders were slumped and he leaned his head on Rosalie's shoulders like he carried the weight of the world. She stroked his cheek and moved his hand to her huge belly. His lips turned up, and he lifted his head to kiss her.

But unlike the rest of the camp who grieved for the loss of a life so young, Carlisle had not had time to grieve. There were still wounds to be tended and others suffering the ill effects of breathing in smoke. Esme worried, but Emmett told her Carlisle was best served knowing his family was safe.

James said, "We'll finish our inventory by midday tomorrow then hopefully we'll be able to put in a few hours at least, get ourselves past the City of Rocks. I'll know what kind of shape we're in by then, but it ain't good. We have food enough for less than half our journey from this point, but that's not the worst of it. You folk are well enough off we may be able to buy foodstuff from the fort we'll come up on soon. There's not many who can afford to resupply this late in the trail. The store won't have much and what they do have they'll be selling for far too much. But I know Carlisle well enough by now, and he'll pay what they ask.

"What's more troublesome is two things. First, even if the fort has enough food to get us through the rest of the trip, they're not going to have enough meat. We got some, but meat is important. I seen people get mighty sickly when they've got nothing but rice and dried celery to eat.

"Second thing is we're down to only one spare part now, so we can't afford any mistakes with the wagons we have left. We're going to be careful, but Emmett, I'm going to need your help looking after the wagons. We have to make sure we repair the small things before they get to be big things."

Emmett nodded at this.

After that, Esme shooed everyone off to sleep. The whole party was exhausted. Bella went to her foster mother and wrapped her in the hug. "I can stay with you." She knew well enough Esme wouldn't sleep while Carlisle was still out.

Esme smiled and nodded to the short distance away where Alice was helping Jasper and Rosalie Emmett. "You have your own husband to attend to," Esme said. "Go on. I'll keep watch over all of us."

So Bella retreated to where her husband was waiting, watching her. She had set aside a bowl of water, and he was using it to try, however vainly, to clean his face. He winced. Earlier, Bella had seen his hands, pinked and tender from the minor burns he'd sustained dealing with the smoldering wreckage. She took the rag from him as she knelt down. "Let me," she said.

Edward sighed and sat back.

"Close your eyes," she said as she raised the wet rag to his temple. His eyes met hers and lingered for a few seconds before he did as she asked. He closed his eyes, and she let water strike his hairline. She watched the drops carve rivulets into the black dirt and ash that stained his skin. She wiped his forehead, over his eyes and down the bridge of his nose. She wished she could wipe away the exhaustion she saw written all over his face.

When she'd drawn the rag down to his cheeks and above his lip, his eyes opened again, slowly, and the atmosphere between them changed, charged. The air heated. Bella's hand faltered.

How? How was this the first thing she felt when it was just the two of them? All day they'd both been surrounded by destruction. Lives hung in the balance. Just an hour before, she'd heard Alistair give the most god awful scream of agony when they changed his were both bone-tired. Why in heaven's name was she remembering his touch now?

She brought the rag over his lips and stroked down his beard. His eyes were intent on hers. Even in the flickering light of the fire, she recognized the look there. She got the sense he was fighting like her not to let this heat overtake them.

With two fingers under his chin, she raised his head, bringing the cloth down his neck. She felt his adam's apple bob under her fingertips. She paused.

"Bella," he whispered, raising his hands to her wrists. He winced when he tried to take her hands. She finally broke their stare so she could look at his hands. She held him by the wrists, looking over his tender skin. Remembering Alistair's destroyed skin, Bella shuddered. She raised his hands to her lips and brushed the lightest of kisses against his skin.

Watching her, he cupped her face in his hands. He winced again, but he didn't pull back. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her. After a moment, he pulled her down with him, laying back on their bedding. He tasted vaguely of ash and dirt. She didn't care. She scooted as close as she could to him, letting him wrap her in his embrace.

They were alive.

This trail, it's not real life, Alice had said, but Edward was real. They were real.

Edward pulled back with a groan and a sigh. He kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose. "Sleep, Bella."

She traced a finger along the lines of his face. "You too?"

He smiled and kissed her forehead again, a lingering kiss. "Me too."

~0~

It felt like only a minute had passed when Bella opened her eyes again. They burned. She hadn't had nearly enough sleep. She blinked, trying to figure out what had woken her.

The fire was low. Bella blinked, and her eyes focused on a figure across the circle. She barely heard Esme's gasp and the relieved way she said her husband's name. They embraced. Bella watched through bleary eyes and hazy thoughts as Esme pulled him down beside her and rocked him gently a they spoke in whispers.

When her foster parents laid down together, Bella closed her eyes again. She was safe in her husband's arms with almost everyone she loved close by. In that moment, her future, their future, felt certain, and Bella fell back asleep secure that they would all make it through somehow.

~0~

Not enough time could possibly have passed when Bella was again awakened. It was still nighttime. The fire was still burning low. But now, voices spoke urgently. Bella opened her eyes.

Across the circle, Jasper was crouched near Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle had propped himself up on one arm, listening. He got to his feet and followed Jasper over to where Vera sat with her husband's head in her lap. The voices grew more urgent, and Bella could hear Alistair's pained cries only too easily.

"No. No."

"I'm sorry, Alistair," she heard Carlisle say. "Your fever is getting much too high. It's the only way."

"I'll get through this."

"If we don't take the leg, you'll surely die."

"I'd rather die," the other man yelled.

Behind Bella, Edward stirred. She knew he got the gist of what was going on quickly as his arms tightened around her, and she felt the hot breath of his groan against the back of her head.

The arguing continued for another few minutes before another figure bolted from the opposite side of their circle. A bulky figure. Emmett.

"Dad." He wasn't even trying to keep his voice down, and Bella thought she knew exactly what he was going to say. "Rose… I think the baby's coming."

Bella's heart threatened to pound right out of her chest.

"That settles it then," Alistair said. "You tend to my daughter. You bring our grandson safe into this world."

Carlisle's shoulders were tense and slumped as he sat still for a moment. Bella couldn't imagine what was going through his head. Surely the situation with Alistair was dire, and the lives of mothers in childbed were never certain. On top of that, Carlisle hadn't slept in two days.

This wasn't good.

"Jasper, go find Doctor Snow," Carlisle said, his voice far too even and rational for what the situation merited. "Or there's a woman. She's perhaps a half mile back. Her name is Sasha. She's a midwife. Get one or the other or both."

He started to rise, but Alistair's hand darted out, and he grabbed him by the arm. "Carlisle, you're not going to let one of them deliver my grandson. Do you hear me? Take care of my daughter. I'll be fine. You take care of her."

"Shh." Carlisle put a firm hand to Alistair's chest and pushed him back down. "Rest, my friend. Just rest. I'm going to take care of her. I promise. Rest, and don't fight me. Think of our grandson. Think about living long enough to hold him, no matter what the price."

~0~

As fate would have it, Alistair Hale did live long enough to see his grandson born.

It was yet another long day.

Rosalie's labor proved difficult and, for Bella, terrifying. She had never seen so much blood. As the day wore on, Rosalie's strength waned until she was limp and pale as death.

As for Alistair, his fever got worse quickly. By the time a proper tool could be located to amputate his leg, it was too late for him.

"At this point, we'd only serve to torment the man further before the inevitable," Doctor Snow said to Carlisle.

Priority shifted to Rosalie and the baby. For a time, it looked as though Rosalie and her baby would precede Alistair in death.

They rallied. Rosalie roused enough to push one last time, and Bella watched in horror and awe as a tiny body slid from her friend into Carlisle's waiting hands. There were ten agonizing seconds of horrible silence as Carlisle worked to clear the baby's airways and then the most beautiful sound in the world: the baby's gusty cry of resentment and general displeasure at being displaced from its hidey hole.

Rosalie whimpered, and her head lolled. Her lips moved, but her voice was too weak for Bella to hear the words.

"It's a boy," Carlisle said finally, assured the baby was breathing and likely to keep doing so.

"Rosie." Emmett leaned down close to his wife and pressed a long kiss to her temple. "It's a boy. Do you hear that? We have our boy."

She seemed to breathe easier after that, though she was only semi-conscious for a few more minutes before she closed her eyes.

"She's just sleeping," Carlisle said after he'd examined her.

Sasha, the midwife who spoke not a single word of English, gave Emmett an exaggerated grin as she handed the now clean and swaddled newborn over to him. She guided the baby into his tired, uncoordinated arms, nodding emphatically as she backed away.

For a moment, just a moment, there was only perfection. Bella watched with everyone else as Emmett rock his son, checking him over, counting tiny fingers. He leaned down to press another kiss to Rosalie's temple. Bella was close enough to hear the sweet words he whispered near her ear. "You did it, sweetheart, and he's perfect. I love you so much. I love him so much, and I'm going to protect you. I promise there's nothing I wouldn't do for both of you."

He cried. They all did.

Life.

Alistair's strength kept up just long enough to let him hold his first grandchild close to him. His face, like his daughter's, was bone pale with exertion, but he was able to hold and kiss the boy. He told Emmett to take care of his daughter and grandson. He reached up a trembling hand to stroke Jasper's face and then that of his two little boys. He told them to be the good men he'd taught them to be. His hand lingered at Vera's cheek, and he told her he loved her. He said, "Thank you," to Carlisle.

Then his hand fell to his side and he slipped into delirium. By the wee hours of the next morning, his shallow breaths stopped.

Death.

A perfect cycle on the worst and best day.

Bella cried in Esme's arms because her husband had gone to Carlisle's side. She watched as Edward gently coaxed Carlisle away from the family that had gathered around Alistair's still form. Carlisle was babbling something nonsensical, delirious with grief and exhaustion, but Edward hushed him.

"You've done so much more than anyone else could. You need rest," Edward said, leading him back to where Esme and Bella waited.

Carlisle stopped short. "I need…" He rubbed his eyes. "We need…"

"You've taken care of all of us," Edward said, guiding him another few steps forward. "Let us take care of you."

Bella let go of Esme so she could bring Carlisle the rest of the way to their camp. She stood and went to Edward's side, letting him wrap an arm around her waist and pull her tight against him.

They waited until Esme had finally convinced Carlisle to lie down. Almost the instant he did, he was gone to the world.

Edward and Bella crept back to their places to get what rest they could because they all needed their strength for what lay ahead.

What did tomorrow look like? For the first time, even on this trail of endless dangers, Bella realized she honestly and truly had no idea.

A/N: How we doin' folks?

Many thanks to barburella and especially to jessypt. Man I love waking up on Monday mornings to a beta'ed chap.

On a personal note, my new ofic book, One to Tell the Grandkids, should be coming out soon. Here's a summary for you:

One to Tell The Grandkids:

Since she was a teenager, Taryn Sato skirted the edge of disastrous decisions. When she found herself pregnant after a one night stand with a complete stranger, she knew she was giving her family an opportunity to say "I told you so."

Caleb Ryder was more of a big brother than best friend to Slate McKenzie. When Slate found out he was going to be a father, Caleb promised to be there for him. Though Caleb was the type of man to learn from his mistakes, history threatened to repeat itself in the form of Slate's baby's mother, Taryn.

A story about finding love when you aren't looking and finding your place when your family tree is really a forest.

If you're interested, feel free to follow me on FB or follow my website. I'll be posting an excerpt on Tuesday, I believe. Thanks so much for your time!