I woke up to the sound of groaning. I looked up to see Rosalie's face scrunched up in pain.

"Rose? Are you okay?" I asked fear lacing my voice.

She nodded jaw clenched, then another wave hit her and she doubled over. I jumped up quickly laying her down against the couch. Lucia and Edward rushed over quickly.

"I think she's going into labor" Edward spoke.

I picked Rosalie up easily and ran her to the bedroom. Edward showed up with everything necessary for the birth and helps set up before Lucia ushered him out.

"don't worry Ed, I got this, you stay with Bella" Edward nodded giving me a glance, waiting for my nod, before leaving.

I walked to the side of the bed grabbing Rosalie's hand. "you're going to be okay... I promise"

"Rose, I need to removed your pants, okay?" Rosalie nodded and I helped her move Rose to do so. I kept my eyes on Rosalie's face to make sure she was okay.

Lucia checked everything she needed too. God I wished I read some more books and prepared for this... I mean how could I? I know Edward called Carlisle and they hoped to be back in time, but they weren't here yet.

Rose let out another groan that was bordering on a scream and I moved my free hand to her neck rubbing any tension away from her, trying to sooth her enough to free my other hand, that was being crushed in her hand.

Her face was scrunched up in pain, her eyes closed tightly and teeth grinding. I peppered her face with kisses hoping to relax her. I felt her tense and place her face in my shoulder to muffle the scream. I didn't register her teeth clamping down on my shirt or Lucia moving to get everything ready, or her hand crushing mine.

I was too focused on comforting her, my pain didn't matter.

In between screams I heard something else. There was the strangest, muffled ripping sound from the center of her body.

"Oh!" she gasped.

Then the cracking of bones, A half second later, Bella screamed. It was not just a scream; it was a blood-curdling shriek of agony. The horrifying sound cut off with a gurgle. Jasper was in the room suddenly, and I knew what happened.

With a heavy heart I looked at Rose. "I have to help Edward, okay?"

"Al?"

"I know, but I have to, I have to help Bella, I have to help Edward. Okay, Lucia and Jasper are going to take care of you" I kissed her forehead then ran downstairs.

Bella's body, streaming with red, started to twitch, jerking around in Edward's arms like she was being electrocuted. All the while, her face was blank— unconscious. It was the wild thrashing from inside the center of her body that moved her. As she convulsed, sharp snaps and cracks kept time with the spasms.

Alice and Edward were frozen for the shortest half second, and then they broke. Edward whipped Bella's body into his arms, and, shouting so fast it was hard to separate the individual words, Edward shot up the staircase to the second floor with me following behind.

"Morphine!" Edward yelled and I rummaged through the table to find the item handing it to Edward in lighting fast movements that I had only done once before.

"Alice—get Carlisle on the phone!" Edward screeched.

The lights were brilliant and white. Bella was on a table under the glare of the spotlight. Her body flopped, a fish on the sand. I pinned Bella down, yanking and ripping her clothes out of the way, while Edward stabbed a syringe into her arm.

"What's happening, Edward?" I asked.

"He's suffocating!" He said moving frantically "The placenta must have detached!"

Somewhere in this, Bella came around. She responded to their words with a shriek that clawed at my eardrums.

"Get him OUT!" she screamed. "He can't BREATHE! Do it NOW!"

I saw the red spots pop out when her scream broke the blood vessels in her eyes.

"The morphine—," Edward growled.

"NO! NOW—!" Another gush of blood choked off what she was shrieking. He held her head up, desperately trying to clear her mouth so that she could breathe again.

Alice darted into the room and clipped a little blue earpiece under Edwards hair. Then Alice backed away, her gold eyes wide and burning, while Edward hissed frantically into the phone. In the bright light, Bella's skin seemed more purple and blacker than it was white.

Deep red was seeping beneath the skin over the huge, shuddering bulge of her stomach. I grabbed a scalpel, but Edward stopped my hand.

"let the morphine spread!"

I shook my head "the longer we wait the worse Bella gets. We have to now or we lose both. And I don't know about you, but I would rather not do that"

Edward looked me in the eyes for a fraction of a second before nodding. My hand came down on Bella's stomach, and vivid red spouted out from where I pierced the skin. It was like a bucket being turned over; a faucet twisted to full. Bella jerked, but didn't scream. She was still choking. Bella was turning blue, her eyes wide and staring.

"CPR?" Edward growled at me, fast and demanding.

"Yes!"

"Get her breathing! I've got to get him out before—"

Another shattering crack inside her body, the loudest yet, so loud that we both froze in shock waiting for her answering shriek. Nothing. Her legs, which had been curled up in agony, now went limp, sprawling out in an unnatural way.

"Her spine," he choked in horror.

"Get it out of her!" I snarled, flinging the scalpel to the ground. "She won't feel anything now!"

And then I bent over her head. Her mouth looked clear, so I pressed mine to hers and blew a lungful of air into it. I felt her twitching body expand, so there was nothing blocking her throat.

Her lips tasted like blood. I could hear her heart, thumping unevenly. Keep it going, I thought fiercely at her, blowing another gust of air into her body. I heard the soft, wet sound of the scalpel across her stomach. More blood dripping to the floor. The sounds of Edward and I trying to save Bella and the baby were outweighed by the sound of Rosalie screaming. I stuttered for a moment, a pain weighing in my chest.

But I kept going, I had to, Edward needed me.

The next sound jolted through me, unexpected, terrifying. Like metal being shredded apart. The sound brought back the fight in the clearing so many months ago, the tearing sound of the newborns being ripped apart. I glanced over to see Edward's face pressed against the bulge. Vampire teeth—a surefire way to cut through vampire skin.

I shuddered as I blew more air into Bella. She coughed back at me, her eyes blinking, rolling blindly.

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

Her eyes wheeled, looking for me, or him, but seeing nothing. I stared into them, anyway, keeping my gaze locked there. And then her body was suddenly still under my hands, though her breathing picked up roughly and her heart continued to thud. I realized the stillness meant that it was over. The internal beating was over. It must be out of her.

It was. I looked at the baby, keeping one hand on Bella.

Edward whispered, "Renesmee."

"Let me...," she croaked in a broken whisper. "Give her to me."

I kept a close eye on Bella's vitals, but my mind wondered, I kept listening to what was above me. Alice was with them now helping Rosalie, she let out small whimpers and groans but her screaming seemed to hit a pause.

And then I heard a gasped— a gasped of pain.

By the time I looked, it was too late. Edward had snatched the warm, bloody thing out of her limp arms. My eyes flickered across her skin. It was red with blood—the blood that had flowed from her mouth, the blood smeared all over the creature, and fresh blood welling out of a tiny double-crescent bite mark just over her left breast.

"No, Renesmee," Edward murmured. I couldn't figure out what happened, only the fact that Bella's eyes rolled back into her head. With a last dull ga-lump, her heart faltered and went silent.

She missed maybe half of one beat, and then my hands were on her chest, doing compressions. I counted in my head, trying to keep the rhythm steady. One. Two. Three. Four.

Breaking away for a second, I blew another lungful of air into her. I was hyperaware of the sounds in the room. The unwilling glug-glug of her heart under my demanding hands, the pounding of my own heart, and another—a fluttering beat that was too fast, too light. I couldn't place it.

I forced more air down Bella's throat.

"What are you waiting for?" I choked out breathlessly, pumping her heart again.

One. Two. Three. Four.

"Take the baby," Edward said urgently. I fought against myself but trusted Edward taking the baby. Edward had a syringe in his hand—all silver, like it was made from steel. "What's that?"

In the same second, he shoved the needle straight into her heart. "My venom," he answered as he pushed the plunger down. I heard the jolt in her heart, like he'd shocked her with paddles. Alice appeared immediately taking the baby and rushing to clean her.

"Keep it moving," he ordered. His voice was ice, was dead. Fierce and unthinking. Like he was a machine. I started pumping her heart again. It was harder, as if her blood was congealing there thicker and slower. While I pushed the now-viscous blood through her arteries, I watched what he was doing.

It was like he was kissing her, brushing his lips at her throat, at her wrists, into the crease at the inside of her arm. But I could hear the lush tearing of her skin as his teeth bit through, again and again, forcing venom into her system at as many points as possible. I saw his pale tongue sweep along the bleeding gashes. Where his tongue washed the venom over her skin, it sealed shut. Holding the poison and the blood inside her body.

I blew more air into her mouth, but there was nothing there. Just the lifeless rise of her chest in response. I kept pumping her heart, counting, while he worked manically over her, trying to put her back together. I tried and tried but no matter how hard I tried it didn't seem to work.

Edward moved my hands out of the way, and continued to pump faster than I could. I watched on, waiting for anything. The Venom had to be in her system... it couldn't be too late could it?