Chapter Nine
Her Name is Elizabeth
Grace Cullen-Swan

Eight pairs of eyes all stared with mixed reactions.

Bella was nervous for the Cullens to find out she had given birth to Edwards child, understandably. Carlisle looked curious as to what I was doing with a baby. Esme seemed to be thrilled as her golden orbs shinned at Elizabeth. Emmett and Rosalie both stared in absolute shock. Alice seemed confused as to how she hadn't seen a baby enter our lives while Jasper looked like he was trying to decide if she was an illusion or not.

That left Edward, who must've heard something in my mind that made him understand immediately, because he slammed his head down onto the table and began to curse himself in Latin.

"Is it real?" Jasper asked me, freaked out by Edward's strong reaction.

"Well of course." I laughed dryly at him.

"Where did she come from?" Esme cooed, standing and coming to my side to get a better look from around my arm.

"Me." Bella revealed, and all eyes turned on her.

She looked absolutely tortured and embarrassed as she took a deep breath, preparing herself to answer questions I know she hoped would never be asked again.

"But...how?" Alice asked. "How did I not see this happening? How did I not see it in any of your futures?"

"Her birthday." Edward groaned, pausing his moment of self-loathing, his face still in his hands. "I couldn't resist. I couldn't when I knew I might not ever see her again. It killed me and I'm disgusted with myself for it, but I know it didn't mean as much for her as it did for me. It was just supposed to be a goodbye. I had no idea this would happen." He cried before reaching out to take one of Bella's hands in his tightly. "I'm sorry, Bella. I can't imagine all of the hell I've put you through." He sobbed, his entire body wrenching as if he were about to vomit.

I was actually a little touched by his words. I found myself surprised and encouraged that he seemed to fully understand the severity of his actions. It gave me hope that we all might be able to solve our problems a lot sooner than I had anticipated.

"Are you an idiot?" Bella laughed at him coldly.

Or, maybe not.

"You left me in such a state of depression that I couldn't function properly. I couldn't eat, sleep, or even move without feeling like my heart had ripped out of my chest by your cold fingers. I almost killed myself, and her by association, and we both would be dead right now if it wasn't for your amazing mother that you couldn't care less if you hurt or not!" Bella yelled at him. "You haven't even thanked her properly for us all being alive right now! That's how little you must care about her feelings." Bella laughed. "I can't believe you're actually so delusional that you believe our relationship meant so little to me. I love you, obviously," She shook her head, shooting a quick glance at Elizabeth "so yeah, go back to caring absolutely nothing about me or anyone else if it makes you feel better about yourself. But, I'm not going to let you drag me down again." She spoke soundly, and I resisted the urge to smile proudly at her.

"Bella, every word I said to you when I told you we were leaving was a lie. An awful torturous lie that I will spend the rest of my existence damning myself for ever daring to think, let alone speak aloud. I know it was horrible things to say, but it was all I could think of to get you to let us leave so you could go on with your life. I was an idiot to believe that you wouldn't miss me as much as I would miss you, I understand that now. I'm sorry for hurting you so deeply. I'm sorry Mother for treating you so morosely; I will never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done for all of us. I'm sorry for tearing apart this family, and I'm sorry for unknowingly tearing apart another one in my wake." He sobbed, glancing at the baby strapped to me. "I'm so sorry for forcing her life to start off chaotically, and I know I'll never be able to make amends for what I've done, but I'm begging you all to at least let me try to prove my love and loyalty for you again."

"Maybe you both should go talk through things." Carlisle offered, looking too stunned to say anything else. "We'll all visit in the living room while you do. I'm curious to learn more about the child."

"Elizabeth." Bella told him shortly. "Her name is Elizabeth." she told the room as she rose from her seat and followed Edward upstairs.

"Can we just get this vote over with already?" Rosalie snapped as Edwards door shut behind them.

"What vote?" I questioned the room.

"We are deciding as a family what to do about the Volturi situation. They know you've already agreed to change Charlie after Bella graduates and he wraps up his work at the station, but now they're expecting Bella to be changed as well." Carlisle explained. "So, we're voting on her change."

"What's been the decision so far?" I asked, equally uncomfortable with the idea of Bella being a vampire as I was someday losing her to death.

"So far, its two no's to five yes's." Jasper responded.

"Then I'll vote undecided, since it doesn't matter." I sighed, knowing Charlie wouldn't like the idea of his daughter being changed discussed so casually. "At least until everything settles down and we mend relationships again."

"Easy enough." Carlisle nodded, looking like he wanted to reach out to me but restrained himself from doing so. I reached out and touched his arm gently as a sign I was willing to work through things slowly.

"Well, that went well." Emmett chuckled at our awkward interaction

"Let's go into the living room." Esme offered, and I carefully followed after her.

When we got into the room, I took Elizabeth out of her wrap and put her onto the floor near the fireplace to play while we talked. As I took my usual seat near the fireplace, we all couldn't help but watch her for a few long moments in silence. She seemed quite content to have her stuffed bear Charlie gave her for a playmate as she smiled and laughed at him.

"Remarkable." Carlisle shook his head in wonder at her.

"She's an angel." Esme smiled widely.

"I'm convinced so." I nodded, smiling down at her.

"And she's really Edward and Bella's?" Rosalie asked. "I just don't see how that's possible."

"Apparently it's only female vampires who are unable to reproduce." I told the room. "I met a vampire, decades before finding Edward and Carlisle, that claimed to have fathered two children with human women. I thought him insane at the time and didn't think twice about it. I wish I would've taken more caution, but I also can't help but be overly thankful that Elizabeth is here."

"So, if she's half-human and half-vampire, how is Bella even alive right now?" Jasper asked. "Shouldn't she be dead? I mean, we're parasitic, having a vampire inside of you sounds like a death sentence."

"It was." I nodded. "She should be dead with the amount of pain she was in and the lack of nutrients she had. But, my illusions worked well to trick her into thinking she was perfectly fine, also, I started her on an unconventional diet the moment she told me she was pregnant. I couldn't let her know how terrified I was for her, so I hid it all from her. She still doesn't know a majority of what I had to do." I explained.

"What do you mean by unconventional?" Carlisle asked me.

"Blood." I answered and the room cringed. "She was carrying a half-vampire fetus that was draining her blood supply as well as her nutrients, what was I supposed to do?! Just let her starve to death no matter how much I forced her to eat or drink? Because nothing else I could have done would've ever been enough. They both would've suffered without what they needed. Do you understand how utterly terrified I was every minuet of the day? I monitored her constantly, even when she thought she was escaping me to go to the reservation, I stayed on the treaty line to listen in on her out of precaution. I have never seen a pregnant woman suffer so physically and emotionally the way Bella did. She still looks like hell under the illusion I have over her constantly. She's never going to be the same girl that all of you had a part in killing." I ranted angrily.

"You have me under an illusion?" Bella asked, just as angry, suddenly appearing in the doorway with Edward.

"Bella, I-"

"Take it off." She ordered me. "Drop it right now."

"Sweetheart, that's not a good idea." I shook my head.

"Take. It. Off." She commanded and I dropped it immediately.

The room looked on in stunned silence as Bella's face distorted into that of a skeletal mask. Her eyes sunk deep into their sockets while her cheekbones protruded from the tight skin of her face. Large bruise-like circles marked her under-eyes as her face drained of color. She looked like she was closer to the grave than she was graduating high school.

"Oh Bella!" Esme sobbed, overwhelmed entirely.

"How bad is it?" Bella asked nervously, not expecting such grim reactions from the Cullens, as she rushed over to the mirror above the fireplace, carefully dodging Elizabeth at her feet. "Oh my god." She breathed out all of the air in her lungs, stunned entirely by what she saw staring back at her. "I thought you said I was fine?" She turned on me.

"You are." I nodded. "Your chemistry changed after having Elizabeth. Your metabolism just works too fast for the rest of your body to keep up with now. Your body has gotten so used to being starved that it's normal now." I sighed.

"I look like I should be dead, Grace! How is that normal?!" She panicked. "How am I not dead?" She paled, and Elizabeth cried out at the sound of Bella being so distressed.

"It's okay." Bella sighed, picking her up and bracing her on her hip naturally. I was surprised to see her taking initiative instead of panicking and passing Elizabeth to me. "Mom, how am I not dead?" Bella asked me, forcing herself to be calm as she bounced Elizabeth carefully.

"It's really best if you don't know." I told her.

"The tea she had you drink wasn't tea." Edward told her from the doorway, curious eyes watching Elizabeth as she stared sweetly up at Bella. "It was blood."

"What?" Bella gaged.

"Elizabeth quite enjoys mountain lion." He laughed once. "Wonder where she got that from."

"I thought she might take after her dad." I laughed with him. "Wait. How did you know that?" I asked him quickly.

"Her thoughts aren't like normal babies thoughts. She's brilliant." He smiled widely at her. "She was just thinking about everything you did to save her and Bella. She's been hyper-aware her entire life."

"What?" I gasped. "Elizabeth." I spoke her name, and she looked at me with those wide brown eyes that never fail to make me swoon. "Have you understood us this entire time?" I asked her.

"She said yes." Edward nodded as Elizabeth reached out to me.

"Nod your head yes or no." I showed her the movements as Bella passed her to me. "Do you understand me?" I asked her.

I almost fell out of my seat when she nodded her head yes.

"Elizabeth!" I cooed, hugging her tightly to me. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart! I had no idea you were so smart."

"She knows." Edward laughed. "She's amazing." He smiled widely.

Elizabeth let out a delighted tinkling laugh that immediately made everyone in the room laugh with her as she reached out across the room towards Edward.

"Would you like to hold her?" I asked him, keeping a careful hold on her so she wouldn't fall off of the chair.

"I really want to, but I don't feel worthy." He shook his head sadly.

"Stop that." I frowned at him, standing and crossing the room to give Elizabeth to him. After showing him how to hold her, I stepped back and smiled at the sweet look on Elizabeth's face as she stared happily up at her father.

She reached her tiny hand up to grab at Edwards jawline while he smiled widely down at her, absolutely in love with his little look-alike daughter.

Edward suddenly took in a deep breath and swayed on his feet as his eyes clouded. I reached out to take Elizabeth from him as a precaution, but before I could touch her, he snapped out of it as if he had come out of one of Alice's visions.

"You didn't say she was gifted." Edward gasped, marveling at Elizabeth.

"Gifted?" Bella questioned. "She's not."

"Then how did she just do that?" He asked. "She just showed me her memories."

"What? Edward that must've just been your gift picking up on her thoughts, she's not gifted." I shook my head.

"Show her what you showed me." Edward asked Elizabeth, handing her over to me.

"She's just a baby, how could she already be showing a gift?" I asked as Elizabeth reached up and pulled at my collar, putting her hand against my collarbone.

My sight suddenly swirled and was replaced by bright images of myself, Charlie, and Bella. Fast moving movie-like memories of Elizabeth's first weeks of life. Everything was associated with a feeling. Charlie's deep soothing voice speaking to her as if she was the most intelligent person in the world brought her happiness. My soft adoring smile as I rocked her brought her overwhelming feelings of love and safety. Bella's curious brown eyes and familiar voice strangely gave her a feeling of understanding and appreciation. It was as if she understood her mothers decisions and supported them entirely.

Just as quickly as my sight had left, it returned, and I stared down at Elizabeth's face in a mixture of surprise and shock.

"She didn't feel the need to show you, Bella, or Charlie since you all have been in those memories. She wanted me to know what I missed." Edward related, frowning sadly.

"We've got a lot to work on." I sighed deeply, pained to see such a tortured look in my sweet sons eyes.

"We do." Carlisle nodded, coming to my side to carefully reach out and play with Elizabeth's hand, earning a sweet smile from her. "We have to start somewhere. Grace, would you like to follow me to my office?" He offered.

"Yes." I nodded carefully, knowing we needed to sort things out to encourage our coven reuniting. "I'll leave her with you." I told Edward, passing Elizabeth to him after pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Are you sure?" Bella asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine. Anything you might need is in her bag." I laughed at her. "We'll be back shortly." I promised before going up the stairs after Carlisle.

As I entered his office, Carlisle patted the empty spot on the leather sofa beside him.

Seeing such a look of longing and regret on my dear brothers face struck me deep in my soul. In that moment I knew I would do anything to piece my family back together, no matter how difficult it may be.