CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:

Bella's POV:

Hunting was... thrilling. Edward tried to do some sort of lesson at the start, but I was too impatient for it to be over, my mind so distracted by my possibly dying sister and my stranger baby.

Disaster had almost struck when I crossed the scent of two human hitchhikers, but when Edward broke my concentration, I turned and fled the other way, taking down several deer instead.

And now... now I was eagerly returning to the mansion, one thought preoccupying the forefront of my mind. My daughter. I wanted to see my daughter.

I'd just crossed the river when I heard the sound. A surprising sound- one I hadn't been expecting. A thudding heart.

Edward was beside me in the same second, his hands clamped down hard on the tops of my arms.

"Don't breathe," he cautioned me urgently. I tried not to panic as I froze mid-breath. My eyes were the only things that moved, wheeling instinctively to find the source of the sound.

Jacob stood at the line where the forest touched the Cullen's lawn, his arms folded across his body, his jaw clenched tight. Invisible in the woods behind him, I heard now a larger heart, and the faint crush of bracken under huge, pacing paws.

"Carefully, Jacob," Edward warned. "Maybe this isn't the best way-"
"You think it would be better to let her near the baby first?" Jacob interrupted. "It's safer to see how

Bella does with me. I heal fast." This was a test? To see if I could not kill Jacob before I tried to not kill Elizabeth? I felt sick in the strangest way- it had nothing to do with my stomach, only my mind. Was this Edward's idea?

"Don't worry Bella," I turned to see George, Leah a few feet behind him. Leah's expression was cautious, but George's was calm. I frowned, tilting my head to the side.

"I can't hear your heart," I say, surprised. "Or Leah's!"

"A spell," George explains, as he walks forwards slowly. The air in front of him seems to shimmer slightly, distorting, not unlike my strained memory of heat waves rising off concrete on a hot day. George points his wand at Jacob and mutters something. The same shield appears, but I can still hear his heart beat. I give George a confused look. He smiles gently at me. "That one's just to keep him safe if you lunge at him."

I nod, feeling calmer now, before I turned to give Jacob another confused look. Why was Jacob doing this? Why was he offering himself as a test to protect Elizabeth? It didn't make any sense to me. Even if our friendship had survived... But as my eyes met Jacob's and he smiled his familiar smile, and I was suddenly sure that yes, I didn't know how and I didn't know why, but our friendship was intact. His smile... it was just like before, when we were hanging out in his homemade garage, two friends killing time.

He was just my friend, the way it was supposed to be. Easy and normal. No strange... need.

"I gotta say it, Bells. You're a freak show." Jacob says, and I relax, falling easily into the old pattern. This was a side of him I understood.

Edward growled. "Watch yourself, mongrel." The wind blew from behind me and I quickly filled my lungs with the safe air so I could speak.

"The eyes are really something, aren't they?" My voice sounds like wind chimes, something I still need to get used to. I haven't had time to get a good look at myself yet, but I remember the startling red of newborn eyes.

"Super-creepy. But it's not as bad as I thought it would be." He notes, and I give a mock-scowl.

"Gee- thanks for the amazing compliment!" He rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean. You still look like you- sort of. Maybe it's not the look so much as... you are Bella. I didn't think it would feel like you were still here." He smiled at me again without a trace of bitterness or resentment anywhere in his face. Then he chuckled and said, "Anyway, I guess I'll get used to the eyes soon enough."

"You will?" I asked, confused. It was wonderful that we were still friends, but it wasn't like we'd be spending much time together.

The strangest look crossed his face, erasing the smile. It was almost... guilty? Then his eyes shifted to Edward. "Thanks," he said. "I didn't know if you'd be able to keep it from her, promise or not. Usually, you just give her everything she wants."

"Maybe I'm hoping she'll get irritated and rip your head off," Edward suggested. Jacob snorted. "What's going on? Are you two keeping secrets from me?" I demanded, confused.

"I'll explain later," Jacob said self-consciously- like he didn't really plan on it. Then he changed the subject. "First, let's get this show on the road." His grin was a challenge now as he started slowly forward. There was a whine of protest behind him, and then Seth's sandy-colored wolf body slid out of the trees behind him. He gave another nervous sounding whine.

"Relax, Seth," Jacob said, soothingly. "It'll be fine."

The wind was still now; it wouldn't blow his scent away from me. He got close enough that I could feel the heat of his body in the air between us. My throat burned in response. "C'mon, Bells. Do your worst." he coaxed. I stilled, unsure. "I'm getting older here, Bella," Jacob taunted. "Okay, not technically, but you get the idea. Go on, take a whiff."

I locked my muscles in place, hoping I could keep them frozen. I resolved that I would do at least as well as I had on the hunt. Worst-case scenario, I would stop breathing and run for it. Nervously, I took a tiny breath in through my nose, braced for anything.

It hurt a little, but my throat was already burning dully anyway. Jacob didn't smell that much more human than the mountain lion I'd snacked on, less then ten minutes ago. There was an animal edge to

his blood that instantly repelled. Though the loud, wet sound of his heart was appealing, the scent that went with it made my nose wrinkle. It was actually easier with the smell to temper my reaction to the sound and heat of his pulsing blood.

I took another breath and relaxed. "Huh. I can see what everyone's been going on about. You stink, Jacob." Edward burst into laughter and stepped back towards me, his hands wrapping around my waist. Seth barked a low chortle in harmony with Edward; he came a little closer.

"Look who's talking," Jacob said, theatrically plugging his nose. His face didn't pucker at all while Edward embraced me, not even when Edward composed himself and whispered "I love you" in my ear.

Jacob just kept grinning. This made me feel hopeful that things were going to be right between us, the way they hadn't been for so long now. Maybe now I could truly be his friend, since I disgusted him enough physically that he couldn't love me the same way as before. Maybe that was all that was needed.

"Okay, so I passed, right?" I said. "Now are you going to tell me what this big secret is?" Jacob's expression became very nervous.

"It's nothing you need to worry about this second..." I heard Emmett chuckle from behind me- a sound of anticipation. I would have pressed my point, but as I listened to Emmett, I heard other sounds, too. Seven people breathing. One set of lungs moving more rapidly than the others. Only one heart fluttering like a bird's wings, light and quick.

My daughter was just on the other side of that thin wall of glass. I couldn't see her- the light bounced off the reflective windows like a mirror. I could only see myself, looking very strange- so white and still-compared to Jacob. Or, compared to Edward, looking exactly right. "Elizabeth," I whispered. Stress made me a statue again. Elizabeth wasn't going to smell like an animal.

Would I put her in danger? "I'll make sure she's safe." George tells me and I nod, trusting him, though a small plea does escape my lips.

"Promise?"

"Promise." He smiles, "None of us would risk Elizabeth. I think you'll be surprised at how entirely she's already wrapped us all around her little fingers. She'll be perfectly safe, no matter what."

My yearning to see her, to understand the worship in his voice, broke my frozen pose. I took a step forward. And then Jacob was in my way, his face a mask of worry. "Are you sure, bloodsucker?" he demanded of Edward, his voice almost pleading. I'd never heard him speak to Edward that way. "I don't like this. Maybe she should wait-"

"You had your test, Jacob." It was Jacob's test? "But-" Jacob began.

"But nothing," Edward said, suddenly exasperated. "Bella needs to see our daughter. Get out of her way." Jacob shot me an odd, frantic look and then turned and nearly sprinted into the house ahead of us. Edward growled.

I couldn't make sense of their confrontation, and I couldn't concentrate on it, either. I could only think about the blurred child in my memory and struggle against the haziness, trying to remember her face exactly. "Shall we?" Edward said, his voice gentle again.

I nodded nervously. He took my hand tightly in his and led the way into the house. They waited for me in a smiling line that was both welcoming and defensive. Esme was several paces behind the rest of them, near the front door. She was alone until Jacob joined her and then stood in front of her, closer than was normal.

Someone very small was leaning forward out of Esme's arms, peering around Jacob. Immediately, she had my absolute attention, my every thought, the way nothing else had owned them since the moment I'd opened my eyes.

"I was out just two days?" I gasped, disbelieving. The stranger-child in Esme's arms had to be weeks, if not months, old. She was maybe twice the size of the baby in my dim memory, and she seemed to be supporting her own torso easily as she stretched toward me. Her shiny bronze-colored hair fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her chocolate brown eyes examined me with an interest that was not at all childlike; it was adult, aware and intelligent. She raised one hand, reaching in my direction for a moment, and then reached back to touch Esme's throat.

If her face had not been astonishing in its beauty and perfection, I wouldn't have believed it was the same child. My child.

But Edward was there in her features, and I was there in the color of her eyes and cheeks, and my twin had a place in her thick curls, though their color matched Edward's. She must be ours. Impossible, but still true.

Seeing this unanticipated little person did not make her more real, though. It only made her more fantastic. Esme patted the hand against her neck and murmured, "Yes, sweetheart, that's her."

Elizabeth's eyes stayed locked on mine. Then, as she had just seconds after her violent birth, she smiled at me. A brilliant flash of tiny, perfect white teeth. Reeling inside, I took a hesitant step toward her. Everyone moved very fast.

Emmett and Jasper were right in front of me, shoulder to shoulder, hands ready. Edward gripped me from behind, fingers tight again on the tops of my arms. Even Carlisle moved to get Emmett's and Jasper's flanks, while Esme backed to the door, her arms clutching at Elizabeth. Jacob moved, too, keeping his protective stance in front of them.

Maggie was the only one who held her place. "Relax guys," she chided them. "Bella's fine- she wasn't going to do anything, she just wanted a closer look. You'd want one too."

Maggie was right. I was in control of myself. I'd been braced for anything-for a scent as impossibly insistent- but I could smell nothing, and I knew that was George's doing.

I could handle it. I was sure.

"I'm okay," I promised, patting Edward's hand on my arm. Then I hesitated and added, "Keep close, though, just in case." Jasper's eyes were tight, focused. I knew he was taking in my emotional climate, and I worked on settling into a steady calm. I felt Edward free my arms as he read Jasper's assessment. But, though Jasper was getting it firsthand, he didn't seem as certain.

When she heard my voice, the too-aware child struggled in Rosalie's arms, reaching toward me. Somehow, her expression managed to look impatient. "Jazz, Em, let us through. Bella's got this."

"Edward, the risk-" Jasper said.

"Minimal. Listen, Jasper- on the hunt she caught the scent of some hikers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time..." I heard Carlisle suck in a shocked breath. Jasper's eyes widened, but he

nodded just a tiny bit, as if Edward's words answered some question in his head. Jacob's mouth screwed up into a disgusted grimace. Emmett shrugged. Esme's face was suddenly full of concern mingled with compassion as she tried to hold on to the struggling child in her arms, and Maggie gave me a pitying look.

I cringed slightly at the memory of the hunt, of the sweet, delicious smell that burned my throat. If I hadn't have stopped... But I had, I reminded myself, ignoring Edward's story telling and the shocked gasps it brought as he revealed that I'd managed to leave the humans alive, instead concentrating on my perfect baby.

"Edward," I said, leaning around Jasper to see her better. "Please?"

Jasper's teeth were set; he didn't move.

"Jasper, this isn't anything you've seen before," Edward said quietly. "Trust me." Their eyes met for a short second, and then Jasper nodded. He moved out of my way, but put one hand on my shoulder and moved with me as I walked slowly forward.

I thought about every step before I took it, analyzing my mood, the burn in my throat, the position of the others around me. How strong I felt versus how well they would be able to contain me. It was a slow procession.

And then the child in Esme's arms, struggling and reaching all this time while her expression got more and more irritated, let out a high, ringing wail. Everyone reacted as if- like me- they'd never heard her voice before.

They swarmed around her in a second, leaving me standing alone, frozen in place. The sound of Elizabeth's cry pierced right through me, spearing me to the floor. My eyes pricked in the strangest way, like they wanted to tear.

It seemed like everyone had a hand on her, patting and soothing. Everyone but me. "What's the matter? Is she hurt? What happened?" It was Jacob's voice that was loudest, that raised anxiously above the others. I watched in shock as he reached for Elizabeth, and then in utter horror as Esme surrendered her to him without a fight.

"She's fine, Jacob," Esme reassured him. Elizabeth went to Jacob willingly enough, pushing her tiny hand against his cheek and then squirming around to stretch toward me again.

"See?" Esme told him, gently. "She just wants Bella."

"She wants me?" I whispered. Elizabeth's eyes- my human eyes, Hermione's eyes, Charlie's eyes- stared impatiently at me. Edward darted back to my side. He put his hands lightly on my arms and urged me forward.

"She's been waiting for you for almost three days," he told me. We were only a few feet away from her now. Bursts of heat seemed to tremble out from her to touch me.

Or maybe it was Jacob who was trembling. I saw his hands shaking as I got closer. And yet, despite his obvious anxiety, his face was more serene than I had seen it in a long time. "Jake- I'm fine," I told him. It made me panicky to see Elizabeth in his shaking hands, but I worked to keep myself in control.

He frowned at me, eyes tight, like he was just as panicky at the thought of Elizabeth in my arms. Elizabeth whimpered eagerly and stretched, her little hands grasping into fists again and again.

Something in me clicked into place at that moment. The sound of her cry, the familiarity of her eyes, the way she seemed even more impatient than I did for this reunion- all of it wove together into the most natural of patterns as she clutched the air between us. Suddenly, she was absolutely real, and of course I knew her. It was perfectly ordinary that I should take that last easy step and reach for her, putting my hands exactly where they would fit best as I pulled her gently toward me.

Jacob let his long arms stretch so that I could cradle her, but he made as if not to let go. He shuddered a little when our skin touched. His skin, always so warm to me before, felt like an open flame to me now. It was almost the same temperature as Elizabeth's. Perhaps one or two degrees difference. I gave a little frown at him and tugged until he did release her, pulling my baby to me, cradling her against my chest.

Elizabeth seemed oblivious to the coolness of my skin, or at least very used to it. She looked up and smiled at me again, showing her square little teeth and two dimples. Then, very deliberately, she reached for my face. The moment she did this, all the hands on me tightened, anticipating my reaction. I barely noticed.

I was gasping, stunned and frightened by the strange, alarming image that filled my mind. It felt like a very strong memory- I could still see through my eyes while I watched it in my head- but it was unfamiliar. I stared through it to Elizabeth's expectant expression, trying to understand what was

happening, struggling desperately to hold on to my calm. Besides being shocking and unfamiliar, the image was also wrong somehow-I almost recognized my own face in it, my old face, but it was off, backward. I grasped quickly that I was seeing my face as others saw it, rather than flipped in a reflection.

My memory face was twisted, ravaged, covered in sweat and blood. Despite this, my expression in the vision became an adoring smile; my brown eyes glowed over their deep circles. The image enlarged, my face came closer to the unseen vantage point, and then abruptly vanished.

Elizabeth's hand dropped from my cheek. She smiled wider, dimpling again. It was totally silent in the room but for the heartbeats. No one but Jacob and Elizabeth was so much as breathing. The silence stretched on; it seemed like they were waiting for me to say something. "What... was... that?" I managed to choke out.

"What did she show you?" Esme's voice was soothing. "She showed me that?" I whispered.
"What was it?" Jacob asked. I blinked quickly several times. "Um. Me. I think. But I looked terrible."

"It was the only memory she had of you," Edward explained. It was obvious he'd seen what she was showing me as she thought of it. He was still cringing, his voice rough from reliving the memory. "She's letting you know that she's made the connection, that she knows who you are."

"But how did she do that?" Elizabeth seemed unconcerned with my crimson eyes. She was smiling slightly and pulling on a lock of my hair.

"How do I hear thoughts? How does Alice see the future?" Edward asked rhetorically, and then shrugged. "She's gifted."

"It's an interesting twist," Carlisle said to Edward. "Like she's doing the exact opposite of what you can."

"Interesting," Edward agreed. "I wonder..." I knew they were speculating away, but I didn't care. I was staring at the most beautiful face in the world. She was hot in my arms, reminding me of the moment when the blackness had almost won, when there was nothing in the world left to hold on to. Nothing strong enough to pull me through the crushing darkness. The moment when I'd thought of Elizabeth and found something I would never let go of.

"I remember you, too," I told her quietly. It seemed very natural to lean in and press my lips to her forehead. Elizabeth was real and I knew her. She was the same one I'd fought for from the beginning. My little nudger, the one who loved me from the inside, too. Half Edward, perfect and lovely. And half me- which, surprisingly, made her better rather than detracting.

I'd been right all along. She was worth the fight.

"Haven't we experimented enough for one day?" Jacob asked, his voice a slightly higher pitch with stress. "Okay, Bella's doing great, but let's not push it."

I glared at him with real irritation. "Can you back off a bit?" I complained. Jasper shuffled uneasily next to me. We were all crowded so close that every tiny movement seemed very big. Edward hissed at him.

"Just because I understand, it doesn't mean I won't throw you out, Jacob. Bella's doing extraordinarily well. Don't ruin the moment for her." I glared at Jacob's anxious half-angry expression. His eyes were locked on Elizabeth's face. With everyone pressed together, he had to be touching at least six different vampires at the moment, and it didn't even seem to bug him.

Would he really go through all this just to protect me from myself? What could have happened during my transformation- my alteration into something he hated- that would soften him so much toward the reason for its necessity?

I puzzled over it, watching him stare at my daughter. Staring at her like... like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time. "No!" I gasped.

Jasper's teeth came together and Edward's arms wrapped around my chest like constricting boas. Jacob had Elizabeth out of my arms in the same second, and I did not try to hold on to her. Because I felt it coming- the snap that they all seemed to have been waiting for. "Esme," I said through my teeth, very slowly and precisely. "Please take my daughter."

Esme held her hands out, and Jacob handed Elizabeth to her at once. Both of them backed away from me. "Edward, I don't want to hurt you, so please let go of me." He hesitated. "Go stand in front of Elizabeth," I suggested. He deliberated, and then let me go.

I leaned into a crouch and took two slow steps forward toward Jacob. "You didn't," I snarled at him.

He backed away, palms up, trying to reason with me. "You know it's not something I can control."

"You stupid mutt! How could you? My baby!" He backed out the front door now as I stalked him, half-running backward down the stairs.

"It wasn't my idea, Bella!"

"I've held her all of one time, and already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim to her? She's mine!"

"I can share," he said pleadingly as he retreated across the lawn.

"Pay up," I heard Emmett say behind me. A small part of my brain wondered who had bet against this outcome. I didn't waste much attention on it. I was too furious.

"How dare you imprint on my baby! Have you lost your mind?"

"It was involuntary!" he insisted, backing into the trees, "please, would you try to listen for just a second?" he begged.

"Why should I listen?" I hissed. Fury reigned in my head. It clouded everything else out. "She's just a baby!"

"You know I don't think of her that way! Do you think Edward would have let me live this long if I did? All I want is for her to be safe and happy- is that so bad? So different from what you want?" He was shouting right back at me.

"You tried to get me to kill her!" I shrieked back at him, and he flinched into himself, and my lips twisted into some sort of feral smile. "That's right- remember that? What did you call her again? The abomination! The monster! Remember that?" Jacob flinched again. "You're going to stay away from her," I hissed.

"I can't do that!" "Try. Starting now"

"It's not possible. Do you remember how much you wanted me around three days ago? How hard it was to be apart from each other? That's gone for you now, isn't it? "I glared, not sure what he was implying. "That was her," he told me. "From the very beginning. We had to be together, even then."

I remembered, and then I understood; a tiny part of me was relieved to have the madness explained. But that relief somehow only made me angrier. Was he expecting that to be enough for me? That one little clarification would make me okay with this? "C'mon, Bells! Lizzie likes me, too," he insisted.

I froze. My breathing stopped. Behind me, I heard the lack of sound that was their anxious reaction. "What did you call her?" Jacob took a step farther back, managing to look sheepish.

"Well," he mumbled, "Elizabeth is kind of a mouthful and-" And then I lunged for his throat.

I hit the shield protecting him with a loud ringing sound, like a gong, and shrieked wordlessly with rage. Jacob backed up several steps further, and I glared at him, my hands curled into claw, trying to pull together some semblance of calm. "We're going to set down a few ground rules here," I hissed at him. "Visiting hours, to start with."

"Bells-" he started to say, but I interrupted him.

"Don't push your luck," I warned him, voice low, "one word to Fleur, and I can have Elizabeth behind a ward you'll never get past, or on the other side of the world!" Jacob paled and shook his head.

"You wouldn't!" He protested.

"Try me!" I growled. "You are not her parent! She is my baby girl! There is no sharing, she is mine, my baby, my daughter, and until she's an adult in body and mind, I am responsible for her!"

I then closed my eyes and counted to one hundred before opening them again and turning around. "How's Hermione doing?" I ask, ignoring Jacob. Nobody comments on the abrupt change of subject, and it's Carlisle who speaks.

"There's no change." He says, softly, and I nod. I count slowly to a hundred- again, feeling calm filter back through my body. I then walk over to Esme- and by extension, Edward and Elizabeth. I hold out my arms and after a moment of hesitation, my baby is returned to me.

I let out a happy sigh, and cradle Elizabeth to me gently. She presses her hand against my cheek, and an image is projected into my mind of me yelling at Jacob. Image is surrounded by an air of confusion. I gently stroke her hair.

"Mommy was annoyed," I tell her, and she smiles again. I smile back, my body flooding with warmth.

My perfect little angel.