Ch. 31 Everything I Need

[Bella POV]

"Not so fast," said Alice as she handed me a liter water bottle that was filled with blood. "Drink at least four of these and then you can go see them. Human blood runs through my niece and nephew and you're too anxious so hunting for you is out of the question right now. This was the best compromise I could make."

I took the bottle from her and began to drink. It smelled somewhat off but it had to be since it was animal blood.

I looked over at Jacob. Surely he would have been disgusted by now but he wasn't. The answer was simple: Ness and EJ. He'd probably been feeding them since they were born.

It amazed me at how easy this all seemed for Jacob, at how being around vampires wasn't an issue. It was as if he had come to consider them…us… as people. And how could he stand being so close to me now especially when his imprint was downstairs? I could barely stand the smell of him but he was still Jacob, still my best friend, still the guy who stood by my side through everything and he continued to do so.

It took me less than four minutes to drink all the bottles.

"How do you feel," Edward asked.

"Satisfied," I replied as I reached over for his hand.

Edward took it a step more. Our right hands entwined he got closer to me so that my head was on his chest. Despite how long he was gone our closeness felt completely right.

The burning in my throat was still there but it felt easy to manage kind of like the way you'd get a sore throat before getting really sick. It was there and I could feel it but it wasn't painful enough to become a full on distraction.

"Wait," said Alice, "Maybe we should hold off I mean she is a newborn, at least she's supposed to be."

"What does she mean by that," I asked.

"Bella hasn't gotten the introductory course," said Jacob.

Edward nodded. I could tell he didn't want to tell me. I wasn't sure why. "I wish I could get inside your head," he said to me. "You're not acting like a newborn. Usually in our first few months we're at our most…monstrous. We're so full of rage that nothing but the thirst matters. We're uncontrollable at this stage but…"

"But I'm not," I said unsure of how to feel about that. "So what you're saying is that I should want to slaughter the town and my friends downstairs," I said having smelled Emily and Rachel but not having an inclining of wanting to kill them or go for their blood.

"Pretty much," said Edward. "It's not normal."

"Dude," said Jacob, "Since when has Bella ever been considered normal? Even without your family around to help her with this she still came out domesticated. Kinda cool if you ask me."

I smiled at them. A domesticated vampire. I was pretty sure that was a first.

"Are you sure you're in control," Alice asked not sounding convinced.

"More sure than ever," I replied. It was going to take me a while to get used to my new voice. "Edward, Jacob, please, can we go see my kids?"

Jacob smiled, "That's gonna get old quick, you calling our names like that when you gave your son those same names." Jacob reached out his hand to me. "Come on."

I hesitated to grab it for a minute. Not because I couldn't stand his smell but because of how easy he was being.

"What?" Jacob asked.

"Blood runs through them and you're not worried about me being around them?"

"He is worried," said Edward.

"Of course I'm worried," said Jacob, "but you're vampire family has been around the kids and they're okay."

"Yeah but I'm only a few minutes old."

"Hey," Jacob said taking hold of the hand since I hadn't grabbed his yet, "I trust you. And if anything does go wrong there are over half a dozen people downstairs to make sure nothing happens to them. I promise."

I nodded at Jacob's assurances. Even now he was protecting me and the twins. Now that I was no longer the carrier for his imprint the friendship we'd had was still intact and it seemed stronger than ever considering that he was here with me now instead of circling Ness downstairs.

I smiled at him. "You're still here for me aren't you, even though I'm no longer a walking incubator?"

"You're still my best friend, Bella. Your body may have changed but that hasn't. I can be with you in a less complicated way now. We all ready live together so we're practically family but now it's…"

"Easier," I finished.

Jacob smiled, "Much easier."

In this moment with Jacob I could sense Edward's eyes on me. Just like he couldn't read my thoughts, I couldn't read his but by the look of sadness in his eyes I could tell that there was some part of this that bothered him. I would have to talk to him about it later but right now I needed to see my kids. My human memories were becoming a bit hazy and I needed to know they were real. I needed to feel them.

"Ness and EJ," I said.

Edward smiled as he squeezed my hand.

The four of us made our way downstairs without another word.

Jacob wasn't kidding when he said that over half a dozen people would be there to protect my kids from me. Not only were all of the Cullen's here but my wolf family was here along with Sam, his two boys and Emily and Rachel. They were all in good hands and upon seeing Rachel and Emily I didn't have the need to go for their throats, maybe it somewhat helped that they were surrounded by dog smell.

"You're awake," Sam said with a smile.

I smiled back. It seemed that that relationship was amicable.

Leah turned around to face me and a smile crossed her lips. She placed a comforting hand on Esme's back and made her way toward me. I could tell she had been with EJ as Esme's arms were up in a cradled position and Seth was with them but I couldn't make a clear view of my son.

"You're alive," Leah said as she hugged me. That was very unexpected. And I could tell I wasn't the only one surprised by it. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too," I said as we pulled apart. "So we're still friends?"

"What you think just because you're no longer a host that I'll go back to being the angry person I was?"

I could only shrug. I was a bit nervous of saying something that could offend her.

"Don't worry," said Leah, "You're not the only one. I know the guys have thought the same thing." Leah stuck out her left hand since Edward was still holding onto my right. "Still friends," she said.

I shook her hand with my left as well. Another relationship down.

"You look perfect Bella," Carlisle said as he came up to us as Leah went back to EJ.

Jacob had gone over near Rosalie as well.

"I'm sorry to have just shown up like this," Carlisle said to me.

"Even though it technically is our house," Emmett joked.

"I'm just glad you're all here," I replied. "And I'm sorry for taking over the house. I wanted the twins to know where they came from and this felt like the right place."

"It's perfectly fine."

I looked over to my left where Jasper seemed to have taken up a permanent spot. I was confused by his expression and also a bit terrified by all the scars on his hands. Was he still a threat to me? He had tried to kill me once before. As quickly as that thought came to mind, I shook it away. If he'd wanted to kill me he could have done so all ready and Edward would have stood up to fight against him.

"He's drawn to your self control, love," Edward whispered in my ear. "Jasper's been around newborns before so he's not sure what to make of it."

"It's not natural," said Jasper.

"Can we discuss Bella's super self control later," Leah asked. "I've got one very impatient baby over here who wants his mommy."

I smiled at the thought that I was wanted by my kids. Edward led me over to the couch in the living room where I took a seat and him next to me. Various family members smiled at me. They seemed to be waiting for this moment as much as I was. I could now see the infants in Leah and Jacob's arms.

Leah placed EJ in my left arm and Jacob placed Ness in my right arm.

Everyone in the room went about their business: Embry and Seth in the kitchen with Sam and Emily, Paul and Rachel sitting outside on the porch, Rachel's head resting on his shoulder, Carlisle and Edward's brothers went about the house trying to organize slightly.

Jasper hovered behind me along with Alice. Esme was seated on the couch across from us with Rosalie by her side. Leah and Jacob had taken up places near our feet.

At the same time as I was noticing everyone's positions and how easy it seemed for them- wolves and vampires together in the same room without wanting to kill each other, I could also focus on the marvel of my children, a boy in my left, a girl on my right. They were so perfect. EJ looked up at me with Edward's eyes as did Ness who had my brown chocolate eyes. If it wasn't for the eye colors and the genders they clearly resembled each other.

I looked at my son and daughter. I had only been out for two days but I could still remember seeing them after the strenuous labor I'd gone through. They hadn't changed one bit, exactly the same size as when I first saw them. This gave me a bit of hope that like my natural pregnancy, my kids would have a normal growth and that they probably wouldn't reach their full stage of immortality until they were between sixteen and eighteen.

The thought of this made me smile since Edward would at least be here for that.

Ness reached up to me and placed her hand on my face. I was shocked to see a perspective, her perspective, from inside my womb where she and her brother had been for eight and a half months to making her way out of me to her eyes meeting me for the first time. "You're so beautiful. I love you," I heard myself say.

Ness dropped her hand and I was left staring at her.

"She did that didn't she?" I asked not really needing an answer.

"She did," Edward said also in amazement. "They're special, both of them."

"EJ too?" I said turning my attention to her brother.

"When they touch," said Leah, "They can share each other's thoughts. Almost like a wolf thing."

"Or Edward thing," I said with pure joy in the sound of my voice.

"That's not all the little guy can do," Seth said coming in the room with a hotdog and bag of chips. "Like Ness, EJ's got his own power. He can do a mind exchange."

"A mind exchange, what's that?" I asked.

Edward smiled, "He can exchange his mind with someone else's or take over another host completely."

"He did it to me not long after Edward went to go check up on you," said Seth. "Do you have any idea how weird that felt? I hadn't been a baby for fifteen years and then all of a sudden there I was looking up as Leah was feeding me a bottle."

I tried to stifle a laugh. "Can he control it?"

"I think so," said Edward. "We'll keep an eye on him though. It'll confuse a lot of people if he does it too frequently."

I looked down at my children and smiled. Jacob was right when he said they each had a unique smell. Like his own disgusting dog scent I hadn't been able to smell them properly with my human senses but now I understood what he and Leah meant. EJ smelled like the deep woods with a touch of fall leaves and cedar trees. Ness had smelled more like the meadow that Edward and I had sometimes visited with hints of sage and lots of lavender.

It was enough to keep the smell of their blood at a controlled level. Much like the wolves while I could smell their blood their repulsive scent kept me from wanting to drink from them. Same for my children but unlike the wolves theirs was a smell I could never get enough of.

"You can smell them can't you," asked Jacob.

"I know what you mean now," I replied.

"And you don't have the urge," Edward asked.

"Nothing," I answered. "Would it be okay if I kissed their foreheads?" I asked feeling the need to ask permission instead of doing it on my own. I was still a newborn so who knew how the others in the room would react to me getting so close.

"As long as you're in control," said Edward, "I don't see why not."

I looked down at my kids, "It's easy to be in control with them," I said.

Jacob and Leah weren't so sure and took up positions on their knees just in case.

I then placed a kiss first on the top of EJ's head and then on top of Ness's.

Everything was perfect now. I had my wonderful children who were safe and healthy, I had my wolf family who had lived with me throughout my pregnancy, I had the Cullen's who were back permanently and most importantly I had Edward who I was determined would now never leave. I could never have dreamed of a better life and now I never would since this was beyond what any dream could have conjured up.

My dreams were reality and that was enough for now, forever.

~END~

Author's Note:

Okay so there were two scenes that didn't make it into the story. I couldn't decide if they should be included as an epilogue or as part of a sequel. What do you all think?

I'd be more than happy to write a sequel, I feel this story could go either way so it's up to you.