Edward POV: Renesmee's Birth

Even though Alice saw it coming, I couldn't help but dive for the inoffensive cup that had spilled onto the couch, whilst Bella still struggled to reach for it. Her body made an awful crunching and snapping sound with the position her lunge had set her in.

"Oh!" she gasped. Then Bella went entirely still, her body crumpling to the floor. I ran to her in less than a sixteenth of a second, even though Rose already had her secured in her arms.

"Bella?" I asked, slightly breathless. And then I heard the sound in Alice's head about five seconds before the real spine-tingling, macabre scream launched itself through Bella's mouth. She began to twitch uncontrollably, jerking and shuddering, convulsing hysterically. And then she became sick, throwing up a cascade of delicious smelling, thick red blood.

Her spasms only lasted a second longer until she went completely still once again.

In that same second, Rose and I were running Bella up the stairs, in Carlisle's transformed office in a matter of seconds. I cleared the medical table with one swipe of my arm, making way for Rosalie to lay my wife.

"Morphine!" I yelled, as Alice threw a syringe at me. I caught it reflexively, turning back to Bella who was still shaking, flopping like a fish. I heard Jacob enter the room, just in time for him to see me stab Bella with the syringe.

"Alice! Get Carlisle on the Phone!" Rosalie screamed, ripping Bella's clothes apart, clawing through the thin fabric. I caught some of the dog's mental fantasies that this sight triggered.

Really, Jacob, at a time like this, how could you even think about something like that? I was quickly reminded of more pressing issues as Alice yelled to me from across the room, phone in her hand. She didn't need to speak for me to know what she was about to say, though she did anyway.

"What's happening, Edward?"

"He's suffocating!" I yelled back to her, throwing the words as fast as I could, wishing that she wouldn't disrupt me and let me focus on not killing my wife and possible… child.

Even as I thought the word, I could hear the struggled breathing of more than one living body beneath my arms.

"The placenta must have detached!" Rosalie yelled.

And with that, Bella's eyes popped open. The chocolate round balls widened in fear. "Get- him… OUT. He… c-can't BREATH! Do it NOW!" she screamed, the blood vessels in her eyes popping as she shrieked the last word.

"The morphine-"

"No! NOW!" Bella yelled again, but the end of her last word was gurgled by the fountain of blood that spouted out of her mother. I propped her head, wiping away the blood that clogged her airway. Far away, I could hear Rosalie speaking anxiously on the phone to Carlisle.

Alice plunged the morphine into Bella's system, while Rosalie came running at Bella with a scalpel like an angry mob coming at the mythical creatures with torches and pitchforks.

"Let the morphine spread!" I yelled at my sister- even though I felt absolutely no sibling affection for her now. The only thing on her mind was the baby. That was all, not one single thought for my wife, for me, for Alice… we were all trivial facts compared to my child.

"There's no time, he's dying!" Rosalie hissed.

No time my ass. We would have plenty of time if she weren't only focused on the baby. Of course, I wanted this child too, but there was only one thing I wanted more than this baby. And that was to have Bella alive- in any way possible.

Without another word, Rosalie plunged the scalpel into Bella's womb, letting her saccharine blood spout five times more ardently than before. Bella didn't seem to notice, she jerked once, but her screams were cut off by her gags and chokes.

Blood.

Bella's scent overwhelmed the blond vampire, who was standing over her as if she were about to dive in for a meal.

"No, Rose!" I roared at her, unable to push her out of the way because I was still holding Bella up. The dog finally made himself useful, throwing himself at Rosalie with complete satisfaction, attempting to suffocate her- which wouldn't work exactly because we vampire do not need to breath- then swinging her around, kicking her and punching her through the door, where Alice awaited, gripping Rosalie by the throat and dragging her out of the room.

What do I do with her?

I could hear Alice internally ask me what to do with the blood thirsty vampire. "Alice, get her out of here! Take her to Jasper and keep her there! Jacob, I need you!" I added as I watched Bella's normally brown eyes turn blue.

Jacob ran over to the table, looking at my face expectantly. "CPR?" I urged, impatient for him to be so clueless. I didn't have time for his delays. SHE didn't have time.

He just stared at me, thinking idly to himself, Is he gonna freak too? It'd be interesting to take him out too…

Ugh.

"Get her breathing! I've got to get him out before-" I was silenced by another break. I heard the bones crunch and sever, causing no scream to reach Bella's lips. Her previously up tight legs sprawled out over the table. I could just imagine what bone had broken.

"Her spine," I choked out.

"Get it out of her!" Jacob yelled at me maliciously, throwing the scalpel at my head, (which of course, did absolutely no damage whatsoever), "She won't feel anything now!"

He was right. I grabbed the scalpel, and knocked it out of the way. I wouldn't need it. Jacob started doing CPR.

At least his thoughts weren't concentrated on the fact that he was near to kissing her. He was almost completely focused on the procedure.

I bent my head to Bella's bloody womb, biting through the skin.

Once I'd made the first cut, I was able to pull the rest with my hands. I dug through her womb, reaching for where the baby should be. At the same time, I heard Bella's faint cough.

Thank god.

"You stay with me now Bella! Do you hear me? Stay! You're not leaving me. Keep your heart beating!"

Bella's heart was beating, and even though it was slow and stuttering, not at all healthy, it gave me hope. I reached with one more plunge, and found the warm body I'd been searching for.

I pulled my baby out of its mother, inspecting it quickly, to make sure that no damage had been done.

She was absolutely beautiful, hair already growing in curls, covered in blood. And it was a she. Not the boy that Bella had put all her faith in, it was a beautiful baby girl who opened her eyes curiously, searching, and finally finding my face.

I could swear she smiled. And in that weak, baby faced smile, my dead heart nearly left my chest and flew around the room. She was my daughter.

"Renesmee," I whispered.

"Let me…Give…her… to me." Bella croaked, reaching into the distance. I lay the warm body into her waiting arms, not quite letting go, unsure if Bella would be able to hold her.

She smiled, her blood shot eyes softening, sighing lightly. "Renes…mee. So… beautiful." She whispered. The moment looked hardly perfect, hardly what it should be.

In a normal case, the mother would be covered in sweat, not blood. In a normal case, the mother's eyes would be adoring, not blood shot. In a normal case, the mother would be smiling, not gasping in pain.

Yes, the moment was hardly perfect, and not at all what it should be, but it was most certainly enough.

Renesmee was stuck in a state of aw as she stared at her mother with fresh eyes, snuggling into her chest.

But the moment ended with a bite, and I mean that literally. Renesmee bit down on her mother's breast, leaving a mark. I yanked her away, hearing Bella's strangled gasp as she recognized the empty space.

"No, Renesmee," I whispered to my daughter. She cooed innocently.

Bella's heart abated, and only missed a half of a second before Jacob was working on her again, forcing air down her throat and pounding his hands against her chest.

"What are you waiting for?" he gasped at me.

Focus, I told myself.

"Take the baby," I regretted the words as they left my mouth. He hated her more than anything. He would try to hurt her.

"Throw it out the window." He growled.

"Give her to me," Rosalie's Christmas bell worthy voice rang from the doorway.

Jacob and I both snarled deafeningly at her.

"I've got it under control, give me the baby, Edward. I'll take care of her until Bella…" …Until Bella comes back.

I handed Renesmee gingerly into Rosalie's waiting arms. The expression on my sister's face… I don't think I could explain it. It looked like the way I felt inside, just looking at the innocent baby. Utterly devoted and loving beyond what could be expected.

I nodded to Rosalie as she backed out of the room, and turned my attention back to my wife. I grabbed another syringe from Carlisle's cabinet, along with a vile labeled "EV" for, "Edward's Venom". I stuck the syringe in, filling it with the liquid. I dashed back to Bella's table.

"Move your hands, Jacob." I said.

"What's that?" he asked.

I couldn't be bothered with his trivial questions, so I knocked his hands out of the way, satisfied when I heard the crunch of one. Maybe I'd broken it?

I continued to aim the needle, then thrust it into Bella's heart.

"My venom," I said coldly as Bella's heart reacted to the liquid. "Keep it moving." I told him, for his thoughts were on the same wave pattern as mine. I deposited the rest of my venom, and then threw the needle aside, continuing on with my task at hand. I bit into as many surfaces of her skin as possible, hitting all the main points. Arms, legs, torso, neck…

Then I covered each bite with the venom off of my tongue, sealing each one so that the venom could spread throughout her system, taking away her mortality forever.

Whilst sealing the wounds, I noticed the ring on Bella's left hand sparkle in the fluorescent light. That ring reminded me of the promises I'd made. It reminded me of the promises that I'd just kept, and of the ones I would still be fulfilling in a few seconds.

Jacob's thoughts were less than pleasant. He was dead set on Bella being dead, almost as if he wanted it to be over. Like he thought her death would end the pain of what we had caused him.

He wanted to leave.

And I had no problem with that, except for wondering what effect this would have on Bella… if she recovered… But I mustn't think of that.

It seemed like I felt the pull from the opposite direction now. From down the stairs, out the door. The longing to get away from here and never, ever come back.

"Go, then," I smacked his hands out of the way, as they still lingered over Bella's body. I pumped her heart tent times faster than he. Working that much harder for her sake.

"She's not dead; she's going to be fine." I said fiercely, and heard the boy leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

I labored over Bella, her breathing coming back slightly as her hear started up again. It wasn't strong at first, but after a few minutes, I was able to count a steady rhythm coming from her chest.

The lullaby of her heart.