I have never felt my heart shatter more than the first night I heard Alexei wake up screaming.

Before we'd adopted him and his sister, Brielle had explained some of his past. They'd been held in an illegal experimental facility with other children, and both had suffered greatly during their time there. After the kids escaped and were rescued, Alexei had nightmares of his time there.

But hearing about it was much different from holding my sobbing son in my arms, completely inconsolable. Very quickly Emmett and I found that someone needed to sit with him while he slept. That meant most nights all four of us, Hope in either Emmett's arms or mine, would be in Alexei's room. When we had to hunt, Carlisle and Esme would take our place.

It was so different from when he was awake. During the day, he was a giggly little boy who loved to explore and run around. Whenever possible he was outside on the massive play set we'd put up for him. On the rainiest of days, he'd take his stuffed animals and a pair of toy binoculars and play "Jungle Safari" in his room.

His trauma was an ongoing worry for us, but over time, he improved.

Hope grew a lot over the next few months, and before long, we were celebrating their birthdays. Nobody knew the exact date, so we'd chosen the first of December.

The party was larger than we'd anticipated it would be. The Denali's came down from Alaska for their second visit. Brielle and Seth came, of course, as did my great-nephew Chris and his wife Ace. The brought Boahinmaa with them.

Boahinmaa was a member of the witch High Council, and she'd looked over Alexei and Hope before they'd come to us. She was a quiet and gentle woman, but she was very wise. Gavrila, the quick-witted witch who'd helped Alice learn to see the futures of witches, half vampires, and Quileutes, tagged along too. I hadn't expected her to be good with kids, but shockingly, she was great with them.

We had some new visitors as well. The eight children who'd been with my kids in the facility all came with heir new guardians. They'd all been there when Hope was born, and the oldest two had actually delivered her.

Hailey was very quiet around everyone except the other kids. Though she was only sixteen, the past they shared caused her to slip into a motherly role around them automatically. Her father Lukas was very protective of her, and though he didn't interfere with her time with others, she was rarely out of his sight. According to Edward, he was still scared of losing his daughter again, more so than any of the others.

To contrast Hailey, the oldest Leon, now eighteen, was the father of the group. In fact, he'd taken custody of the eight year old Lola, who had a habit of calling him "Papa" on accident. Leon was good friends with Gavrila, and Alice's little hints seemed to suggest that some day that relationship would grow further.

A boy named Jan, who was fifteen, came with his mother Mariam, an employee of the witch council. He was extremely polite and loved to cook.

The eleven year old twins, Thomasina and Mairéad, were bubbly little girls with attitude to spare and perfect syncronicity. It wasn't uncommon for them to finish each other's sentences. Their father Cian was a humorous man who got along well with Garrett, the newest official member of the Denali clan.

Maddox, nine years old, was a jittery kid, but he was much better according to the other kids. His godmother Jess, another council employee, was his new guardian.

The only child we'd met before was Alejandro, or AJ as the kids called him. He was six, but definitely on the small end, and he was Alexei's best friend. The two had met up for playdates, and they'd been receiving magic lessons together when AJ was here. His godfather, Luis, was the one who always brought him over, all the way from South America. Magic travel was a marvel.

I wasn't expecting the emotional intensity of the reunion. There was plenty of smiles and giggles from everyone, but periodically there were long, quiet silences. It all peaked at the simplest of moments. The sun slipped out from behind the clouds, and all ten children froze and looked up to the sky. And then Maddox began to cry.

All the kids followed suit, though Hailey, Leon, and Jan managed to keep composed enough to gather everyone up into a massive group hug on the lawn.

"It's alright now, guys. It's alright. It's over, and we're free," Hailey choked out between sobs. Hope was cradled in her arms, and Mairéad was draped over her knees.

"Our families, they are with us now, we're safe," Jan murmured in a thick voice, just loud enough to be heard. He was holding Alexei and AJ tightly

After a long while, when all the kids were close to being cried out, Leon straightened up, though still kept kneeling with Lola, Maddox, and Thomasina clinging to him. "Everybody, lay down on the grass."

They all formed a big circle, everyone holding hands, Hope resting upon Hailey's chest.

"The sun is so pretty," Maddox said.

"I like the sun," AJ sniffed.

"Me too," Lola mumbled.

"Mhm," Jan agreed.

"The sun is free," Alexei whispered.

"And we're free now, too," Thomasina replied.

"Free," Mairéad sighed.

"Yes, we are. We're free," Hailey told them, shouting the last word triumphantly.

Hope laughed. "Fwee!"

They all burst out in cheers and laughter.

We left them out there for a long, long time. They talked and opened up to each other as the adults stayed inside, careful to keep a close eye on them. The clouds thinned further and further out, and eventually the sunset faded into a clear starry night. Alice, Esme, and I had gone all out on party planning. We'd chosen to do a fairytale forest theme, with sections for princess cottages as well as Robin Hood and a dragon cave. It all ended up forgotten, but I didn't feel it was wasted. I wasn't the psychic one in either of my families, but I knew that this was a turning point for all of them. And that was worth more than anything.

The kids all left with gift bags in tow, and promises of the photo albums we were going to personally put together for each of them. Almost every adult had taken a few sneaky pictures, and Alice had been militantly demanding every single one all day.

Alexei was quiet before bed that night. He stayed in my arms whenever he could, silently resting his head in my neck. For the very first night ever, he slept peacefully. He was free of the nightmares that haunted his sleep, and I knew my baby boy was healing.