Not those hands

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Jacob was remarkably easy going, all things considered. And when Alice had asked to plan the wedding, he'd shrugged and looked at Bella, who shrugged right back. "Sure," they'd said together, Bella adding belatedly, "but we get veto power, OK?" Alice, of course, had successfully talked them out of every veto they'd attempted to make.

But on this, and this alone, Jacob was firm.

"No," he said, "no Vampire hands on our children. And none near them. Ever. Not by our choice."

Bella had only nodded. There was no question to it, not with what it meant with Jacob's heritage.

The Cullen's time in Forks was coming to a close. The whispers about age had begun, and it was with many mixed feelings that they took their leave.

"Not long," Carlisle said, looking at Bella sit awkwardly, trying to get comfortable, while Jacob rubbed her back. "And you're in excellent hands with the midwives here," he added, more to himself, than to her, as they sat together at the table.

"People keep telling me that," she said, fanning herself, warm already, and warmer with Jacob's touch. "But I swear, time moves slower when you're this pregnant."

Carlisle grinned. "You would not be the first pregnant woman I've heard that from."

He hadn't enjoying sitting on his hands, watching Bella's pregnancy progress. It would have been the one he would have treasured caring for most, but Jacob's low, and to Bella, silent growl, had been warning enough when the couple had broken the news to them all. Jacob tolerated it when they hugged her, but even then, the genetic enmity wasn't far below the surface.

She had insisted on driving out to see them off, Jacob insisting he at least go with her. She was squirming in the front seat for most of the ride, not able to find a position that let her be comfortable. By the time they arrived, her back was killing her.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Jacob frowned, watching her grimace through the last rough patches of road.

"I want to say goodbye, properly," she said, her eyes starting to brim.

He blew out a breath. The tears were always close. It drove her nuts, feeling so emotional. It just made him feel uneasy.

"Just hormones," the midwife had told them. "Totally normal," she smiled, watching Bella wipe her eyes.

Carlisle, however, was visibly surprised when she got out of the car. "You didn't think to check in with your midwife, first?" he asked, looking at them both.

"No," Bella said, squatting, focused on the ground, trying to relieve the pressure on her back, "why?"

Carlisle had enough experience with first time parents to word his response very carefully.

"Well," he said softly, "I think you might be in labour, Bella."

"What?!" Jacob said, "why didn't you tell me?" he shot at Bella, suddenly angry, accusatory.

"Because I'm not," she growled back.

Jacob looked at Carlisle, who raised his eyebrows, and looked sideways at Bella, his palms up. He knew better than to argue with a labouring woman.

"Well, we'll say our goodbyes then," Esme said, coming to join Carlisle, hearing and smelling all she needed to know. She wondered if they'd make it back to the hospital in time.

Bella stood up from her squat, and went to take a step towards them, when she felt, rather than heard, a small, internal pop. A volley of fluid saturated her shorts, and she stopped.

Jacob went rigid.

Carlisle had to nudge him to go to her. "Everything's OK," he called out softly, not approaching, "your water just broke."

"Yep," Bella said, "got that," and then her knees gave out with the first contraction, accompanied by a sound Jacob had never heard her produce before.

Carlisle was feeling an unprecedented anxiety, counting the seconds between the contractions he could hear.

"Jacob," he said, and leaned in as close as he could, whispering to him.

Jacob became very, very pale, but picked Bella up, and carried her inside the house.

"Here," Alice said, and pointed to a bedroom on the main floor, where Jacob set her down on the bed.

Carlisle laid out supplies on the bench at the foot of the bed.

By this point, Bella had realized that her carefully planned hospital birth was out the window. All care for the plan was gone too, and she was trying to hold on to herself in the fractional breathing spaces between contractions.

Esme was on the phone in the hall, and Carlisle had stepped back to the door. "Bella, try to get on your hands and knees, if you can," he called, looking at Jacob, nodding at him to help her.

The pain in her back eased with the movement, but the urge to push was overwhelming.

Watching her strain, Carlisle listened intently. Both heart rates were fine between contractions, but there was a dip in the baby's that he didn't like, when she pushed.

"They're on their way," Esme said.

"Who?" Bella called, panting.

"Help," she said, not wanting to startle her with the words 'ambulance,' 'midwife,' or, 'your dad.'

"Try to pant through the urge to push," Carlisle said, "until there's more help."

"YOU'RE HERE!" Bella roared through her next contraction, bearing down. He seemed like help enough, at this point.

Carlisle was shaking his head at Jacob.

His meaning was clear.

All was not well.

"I'll be right back," Jacob said softly, pulling away from her hands. She put her face down into the bed, a long, and low moan disappearing into the mattress. She couldn't hear the murmurs at the door, but she knew a worried tone when she heard one.

"What is it?" she called out, before bearing down again.

"Pant!" Carlisle barked, still staying back. "Don't push!"

Jacob closed his eyes, weighing what he'd heard from Carlisle. "Just enough to help," he gritted at him.

"Everyone else out," Carlisle said tersely.

They house cleared, instantly.

"Bella," Carlisle said softly, "I need to check to see where the baby is, OK?"

Bella nodded, and Jacob helped her turn, pulling her shorts off. She hissed at the pressure on her back.

"You're doing great, Bella," Carlisle whispered, as he palpated her abdomen, and then checked internally.

When he was done, he looked at Jacob. "I need more hands," he said, "quickly. Who?"

"Alice," Jacob said.

"And?" Carlisle said, pulling out more items from the bag by the bed.

"Esme," Jacob swallowed.

He really hoped they'd hunted.

Carlisle called them, and they appeared silently, all eyes on Jacob's anxious posture. "It's OK," he said, looking at Bella, who was panting through another contraction. "One more push, Bella, and then we're going to help the baby out, OK?"

She nodded, and pushed, the pressure of the head making her gasp and stiffen.

Carlisle moved at a careful, and human speed, placing Jacob's hands on the last firmness in Bella's abdomen, with sharp instructions to push when he told him to. Esme and Alice moved Bella's legs back, and with a maneuver that made Bella wonder how everything could hurt more, dislodged the baby's shoulder from her pelvis.

The small, and loudly protesting body of their baby slid into Carlisle's hands, and he turned her gently onto Bella, stomach to stomach, placing a soft blanket over them both. Her rattling cry made everyone in the room smile, and for those who could, cry.

Alice and Esme had backed away as soon as the baby was out, holding each other's hands, faces joyful, as they watched Jacob and Bella's faces crumple in smiles and tears.

"Baby's good," Carlisle said, tallying the apgar score in his head. "Jacob?" he said, looking at the baby, smiling, trying to get him to pick her up. "Remember to support the head," he said softly, and began kneading Bella's abdomen, throwing a sheet over her, and another blanket. When he heard the distinct cry he was waiting for, he handed the scissors to Jacob, who seemed uncertain what to do. "Just cut," he smiled, "you can't do it wrong."

"One more push," Carlisle said to Bella, and was relieved to see the placenta arrive intact.

As he stitched, Carlisle said, "I don't normally tell mothers this while I'm patching them up postpartum, but if you ever have another one," and he paused, watching Bella look at him wide-eyed, "plan a home birth," he finished.

Esme and Alice had just helped Bella clean up, when they heard the crunch of tires on the distant side of the drive.

Peering over Jacob's shoulder, Carlisle smiled at Bella's daughter, and said softly, "Grandpa's here."

"Wait," Jacob said, as he went to leave, and looking back at Bella, raised an eyebrow. She nodded, and Jacob carefully put the baby in Carlisle's hands. "Thank you," he said.

Carlisle had no words, but looked down at the baby and smiled, feeling her solid weight. He knew it would be the only time he held her, and it was with a distinct, and unusual mixture of joy, and sadness that he gave her back to Bella.

Alice had snapped a photo before Bella could protest, and was pleasantly surprised when she looked directly at her, inviting another one.

"I'll send them to you," she said softly.

Charlie was beyond ecstatic, and his breathless arrival eclipsed the noise of the ambulance, and the midwives, who picked up their work where Carlisle had left off.

And so it was, as she watched the ambulance doors close over the smiling faces of the Cullen's, waving at her, Jacob, and their baby, that this newest chapter in her life began, and the old one ended.

- The end -