"Jake, I'm telling you, it's fine!" I said for about the thousandth time as I soothingly rubbed Jacob's back.

He gazed up at me with livid eyes; for a moment I was stunned.

"Dammitt Bella, no it's not! I scratched a great big hole in your daughters face! Sure, it's healed now, but can you imagine what it would have done to her if she hadn't been a… a…" A shiver rippled through his body, he was repulsed by the thought. "Imagine her then Bella. Go on."

And suddenly I could see it. We were at the airport, but this time, we had gotten to the Volturi in time, she was still my little hybrid. I saw  Jake's face beaming MY smile, and I was deliriously happy. Then Jake, so happy that he was shaking all over, so happy he couldn't control himself… So happy he phased and tore a great chunk out of my baby's face. I could see, even smell the blood. Hear her screams. I was drowning, suffocating in my own misery, my own morbid imagination.

"STOP THAT!" I heard a roar, and jumped in fright. Edward was glaring at Jacob. "Don't you see what you're doing to her?!" he yelled at him "Don't you see how much pain you're putting her through?! When you have pain you don't make other people feel it, you don't deal it out like a pack of cards! Can't you see the look on her face?! When it's bad enough she lost her – our – unique daughter to this life…" his voice broke on the word our "You think you should make her feel the pain that YOU RIGHTFULLY DESERVE!?"

"No. Edward I'm… Fine… Er…" My voice sounded weird, it was high and low and twisted together so the words sounded like a foreign language.

Edward relaxed, his eyes looking sad and soft. "No your not Bella. I know. I can see it in your eyes, in your voice, in everything you do. You're suffering so much, and this… this… this FLEBITTEN MONGREL goes and makes it worse for you!"

"Edward, I… He didn't mean…" I began

"Oh he did!" Edward growled.

"Well, I…" I sighed. "Can I please see my daughter now?"

"Sure sweetheart." He replied, putting his arm around me and leading me into Carlisle's study.

We walked in, and she was sat there, her face stained with red from the tears of blood she'd cried.

"He baby. Momma's here now. It's all gonna be ok." I whispered and put my arms around her.

After an hour spent just watching her, Edward led me out into the forest. I could sense he was feeling a strong emotion; I just couldn't work out what that emotion was yet. I felt quite scared. Then he turned to face me, and I wasn't scared. I was terrified. His face radiated pain like Jacob radiated heat.

"Bella." He said, his voice choked. "This will probably be the most selfish thing I've ever done. But it's what I want. Well, not really what I want. More of a necessity. Because if I could get what I really want… My baby daughter would be stood here with us, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. But Bella," He choked out, and his eyes looked agonised. "I can't. I can't keep her like this. She's not… She's not my little girl any more. In her body she had your blood and my venom. And now it's just Aro's." He spat out Aro's name, as if it were dirt. "And I can't live with that. Please. I've asked Carlisle and… there's a way without ripping her apart. A simple medicine, sort of a drug. She's be in a kind of coma, unable to feel, see, eat etc… but she can hear. And all we have to do is bite and suck until the venom's gone. That's what I'm asking Bella. Please."He gazed at me, tears rolling down his perfect face.

"I didn't plan for her to stay as a vampire anyway, Edward. I just think I thought… That somehow we'ed find a loophole, a way around. Like we always do."

"So did I. So did I."

And with that, I buried my face in his chest and drowned in my own misery – and this, time it wasn't a hand me down