In the hospital bed laid a frazzled woman with wavy brown hair scattered in all different directions upon her pillow. She could hear the sounds of her newborn daughter’s first cry near her and yet it seemed so far away. Her forehead invaded by beads of sweat, her tired blue eyes traveled down to her left arm and then to her hand. It was held, gently caressed even, by a young man who looked to be in his early-to-mid-twenties. He was, for lack of better words, beautiful.
It was her one wish for him to take her new daughter, to adopt her and have her live amongst him and his family as though she were one of them. The baby had no one because the mother was dying and the father was possibly already dead. She would be alone in this world if he did not take her. Through her weary eyes she tried to beg, desperately hoping he would agree. This handsome man with the tender touch, this inhumanly attractive doctor, he surely would be able to do wonders for her child, wonders she could never hope to achieve in this life anymore.
The doctor was but a gentleman, a kind-hearted soul who wished for nothing other than peace and to contribute to it however he could. This, despite how the subject was brought to his attention, would require a thorough examination of all possibilities before he could give his answer to her. Unfortunately, it was the call of a dying mother, one who hadn’t even had a chance to hold her baby. It was her last request she would ever utter and he had to respect it.
“Please, Doctor...” she pled faintly, tears slowly making their way down her reddened cheeks, “I trust no one else... as much... to touch her...”
There it was. The blind trust in him to do what was right. Personal reasons aside, he could not refuse her now. It would haunt him for all eternity.
“Of course,” he said calmly, holding her hand. “Your daughter will be taken care of. You don’t need to worry about her. I’ll make sure she becomes someone you would certainly be proud of, Renee.”
Renee heaved a sigh. “Thank you so much... Dr. Cullen... It means the world to me... to know my little Bella will be in good hands...”
“Bella?” he raised an eyebrow. “Does she have a middle name?”
“Isa...bella... M-Marie... Swa...”
The doctor nodded and stood up, gently tucking her hand underneath the thin blanket. The heart monitor had stopped beating. Nearby, the newborn Isabella Marie was just quieting down and getting cleaned up.
“Swan. Isabella Marie Swan...” he whispered. “I’ll be right back to check on Bella,” he told his colleagues, “I need to make an important call to my wife.”
Swan. He knew of only one with the surname. Charlie Swan was an old acquaintance – surely he was the child’s father – but according to Renee and his own memories, Charlie had long since left Forks. He left the old police force in favor of finding something. Both men weren’t sure at the time what it was Charlie was after, and from the looks of it, Renee had no idea of the matter. Maybe that was how their paths crossed. She was the pot of gold at the end.
And now he was possibly dead, having never come to know the daughter he had. Carlisle slowly walked toward his office. The gold had lost its shine, the swan disappeared and all that’s left to prove the two had known each other was this little golden egg named Bella.
Bella Swan... the human baby unknowingly living amongst vegetarian vampires.
It would change the pre-existing dynamic drastically.
