Bella's POV-

It hurt to see Renesmee so worried about her birthday. I can't say that I wasn't a little upset too about my hundredth birthday, but in my opinion, it wasn't nearly as bad. I wish I could do something to cheer her up, but I have a feeling that no gift will make her feel any better. Regardless, I was going to try to find something.

I walked down the endlessly long hallway to Jane's room. I walked in without knocking and found Jane doing her makeup at her vanity. I collapsed onto her bed, letting out a heavy sigh. She smiled and turned around to look at me.

"What's the problem, Bella?" She asked, standing up and taking a seat next to me.

"It's Renesmee." I admitted. She looked as worried as I did. She knew as well as I did that Renesmee was a generally happy person. She raised one of her eyebrows as if to tell me to continue. "She's really upset about her birthday, and I don't know how to help her." I laid my head on her shoulder.

"Bella, everyone gets a little upset on their big birthday's. You were upset too eighteen years ago. It's normal, and she will be fine." She told me. I sighed heavily again. "Stop that! Everything will work itself out, Bells. I promise. You're a good mom, but you can't fix everything. Only time will help this one." She told me. Over the years, Jane has become my best friend. I was thankful to have someone as great as her to get me through tough times like this. I took my head off of her shoulder and looked at her.

"I guess you're right." She smiled triumphantly. "…But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. Maybe if I get her a really awesome gift she will feel better." I said. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Do what you need to do, B." I smiled and we started talking about a different topic. After a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. I opened it so that Jane could go back to doing her makeup. It was Felix.

"You're presence is requested in the throne room. Aro wants to speak with everyone." Felix told us. He quickly walked away and Jane and I looked at eachother, wondering what could be going on. We began heading toward the throne room promptly and saw that everyone else was already there when we arrived.

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin." Aro said, quickly glancing at Renesmee. "I have a very important announcement, and I hope that everyone will be supportive." A look of anticipated frustration washed over my face. I can only imagine what he was going to say. I looked at Renesmee and saw that she was smiling. I immediately became more interested in what he was about to say.

"In honor of our dear Renesmee's birthday, we will be holding a grand ball in one week's time." I could feel my face fall. A ball? Really? If I didn't deliver Renesmee myself, I would swear that she is Alice's daughter and not mine. "Over the next week, we will be inviting several of the various clans that we know so that Renesmee may broaden her horizons in respect to our supernatural world." Renesmee looked over at my face, so I faked a smile.

"There is also another announcement that I would like to make." Aro stopped for a second and looked at me. "We have reason to believe that there may be another human-vampire hybrid somewhere in the northwestern region of South America." I thought my cold, dead heart was going to start beating again. There are more hybrids? There is so much I could learn. "We would like to send a group to investigate further. Are there any volunteers?" Aro asked. Immediately, my hand shot up. Aro nodded at me.

"Thank you, Bella. Anyone else?" Aro asked again. Felix, Demetri, and several others volunteered. "Wonderful, you all leave the day following tomorrow and if all goes well, you will return ten days from now." A wave of disappointment hit me. Aro dismissed everyone and I walked toward where he and Renesmee stood.

"Aro, I'm not sure if I can go." I told him, and looked over at Renesmee. "Next week is Renesmee's birthday and…" Renesmee cut me off.

"Mom, don't worry about me." She looked at me and smiled. "I can tell you really want to go." She held my hand.

"Ness, I don't know. I would hate to miss you're birthday." I told her. She raised her eyebrows.

"So you'd rather go to a ball than to find out more information about the possibility of other hybrids?" She asked. She got me and I chuckled. "Mom, we can celebrate after you get home." I was still unsure.

"Are you sure, Renesmee? I would miss your whole birth week." She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. "I just want you to be happy." I told her.

"Seeing you happy makes me happy, Mom. So with that being said, I think you should go." I smiled, feeling relived. She gave me a big hug.

"Thank you." I kissed her head.

Nessie's POV-

She kissed my forehead and my heart started racing. I did it. I successfully lied to my mother—Okay, well it wasn't completely a lie. I just wasn't telling the whole truth. Aro knew that she wouldn't want to pass up an opportunity to learn as much as she could about people like me. The Volturi hadn't ever come across a hybrid before I was born, so my mother never knew what to expect while raising me.

About a week ago, Aro had received information about what seemed to be a hybrid in South America. He was going to wait until his suspicion was confirmed before he sent a group out, but he would do anything to make me happy. He had already spoken with the Cullens, who were set to arrive the morning after my mother left for South America. I had hoped that Jane would also accompany my mother, so we wouldn't have to worry about her snitching on us, but I'm sure it won't be too hard to make her see it my way.

I skipped back to my room, smiling and singing like you would see in a movie. I couldn't be happier. I jumped onto my bed, hugging my pillow and daydreaming about meeting my family.

Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reading everyone! I want to let you know that this week is a little hectic, so I'm not sure when the next time I update will be. I'll try to update again soon, but it may not be until Saturday or Sunday (Sorry!).

If I've said it once, I'll say it again. I love reading your reviews! Thank you to everyone who reviewed already, I've read them all and I appreciate it so much. If you don't know what to write a review on, here are some ideas! You could mention what you like, what you don't like, you're predictions, you're suggestions (I pretty much have a story line in mind, but I'm open to other ideas). I'm hoping to have 17 reviews by the next time I update *crossing fingers*.

Lastly, go take the poll on my profile! It's about how Nessie and Edward will react to eachother. Until next time, Taylor.