Too Close | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 22

Lex was sitting on the couch watching Rosalie and Alice fawn over Bella's large baby bump. Bella was looking a lot better— the color had returned to her face and she looked slightly less frail than she had before. The blood that she had been drinking had done a lot for her health, and people were finally starting to relax and find joy in the impending arrival of the Cullen baby. Even Edward seemed to be cutting himself some slack about the whole situation— he had even cracked a few smiles for the first time in weeks.

"Hey," Bella greeted as Jacob entered the room. Alice and Rosalie were supporting Bella's weight— she was doing better, but she still wasn't feeling great. "How are you doing?"

"It's not like I'm the one carrying a demon," Jacob joked.

"This is pretty important, Bella," Rosalie said sweetly. Lex couldn't help the smile that formed on her face— Rosalie's voice was her favorite sound. "Why don't you tell Jacob what you've decided?"

"What now?" Jacob asked concernedly.

"Rose and Lex are trying to talk Bella out of her baby names," Edward chuckled.

"They hate them," Bella said light-heartedly.

"Hate is a strong word," Lex said sheepishly. "I just think you're setting them up for a lifetime of bullying, mispronunciations, and weird questions... As a person whose parents chose a terrible name, I'm just trying to give some perspective."

"Alexandrine isn't that bad," Rosalie said supportively. Lex visibly cringed at the mention of her name— she absolutely hated it. Her parents had chosen the name because it meant 'protector of man,' and it reflected all of the great things that their daughter would do during her life. She found it kind of ironic now, seeing as how she was turned into a vampire— killing humans had become instinctual.

"You don't have to lie to me," the dark haired vampire replied flatly, making Rosalie chuckle in response.

"Okay," the blonde girl replied as she placed a soft kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "It's not a great name, but I love you anyway."

"Thanks, Ro," Lex snorted. "That's so charitable of you."

"Well, I'm on your side no matter what you picked," Jacob brought the conversation back to Bella.

"They're not that bad," Bella looked at Rosalie and Lex. "If it's a boy EJ— Edward Jacob."

"Okay fine, that one's not awful," Rosalie conceded. "Why don't you tell him the girl's name?"

"I was playing around with our mom's names, and I was thinking— Renesmee."

Jacob stared at her, speechless as Edward suppressed a smile.

"R-Renesmee," Jacob repeated. Edward and Lex both failed at containing their laughter at the whole situation. This boy was trying so hard to be nice, and he was obviously struggling. Lex wished that she could hear the thoughts that Edward was hearing— she had no doubt that the others were having some less than nice thoughts about the name.

"Too weird?" Bella asked with an awkward smile on her face.

"Uhmm," Jacob failed to find the words.

"No," Edward said, suddenly seeming very serious. "It's not too weird— it's beautiful, it's unique. It certainly fits the situation. I like Renesmee."

"He likes it," Bella smiled as she looked at Rosalie, who rolled her eyes in response.

Out of nowhere, a horrific snapping sound came from inside of Bella's body. She let out a yelp of pain, and collapsed. The room watched in a state of stunned horror as her knees hit the ground, and they rushed to catch her before she got even more hurt.

Hurriedly, Edward moved her into the room where Carlisle had put all of the medical equipment for emergencies like this. Even with her vampire senses, Lex felt like the world was moving in double time, and she could hardly keep up.

"Rosalie, pass the morphine," Edward ordered.

"Carlisle said the placenta must have detached," Alice said frantically as she held a phone up to her ear.

"I-I have to go," Lex said. She had a feeling things were going to get bloody, and she wasn't sure that it was wise to stick around.

The second that the cool night air hit her face, she collapsed. She could still hear the screams coming from the house, and she was so scared for her coven and frustrated that she wasn't strong enough to help them.

"Dammit," she muttered as she sat on the ground and listened to Bella's shrieks of pain. "Please be okay."

Lex whipped her head around as she heard footsteps approaching, and saw Rosalie being restrained by Alice.

"Ro, what happened?" Lex rushed to her mate.

"The blood," Alice answered. "She lost control."

Rosalie was still struggling against Alice's hold, trying to get back to the source of her craving. She was snarling and vicious, and Lex had never seen her act like that before— not even when they were hunting.

"Ro," Lex said, moving closer to her mate. "Look at me— I need you to look at me."

Lex's golden eyes met Rosalie's black ones. She wasn't calming down, and Lex didn't know what to do.

"Use your power," Alice suggested. "She'll calm down if you make her."

"I promised that I would never use it on her," Lex replied definitively before turning back to Rosalie. "Ro, I need you to calm down. Listen to my voice— can you do that for me?"

Rosalie continued to struggle against Alice's hold, but she stopped snarling.

"Ro, I know that this isn't you," Lex said. "I know that your instincts are telling you what to do right now, but I need you to fight them, okay? I know that you want Bella and the baby to be okay, and in order for that to happen, you need to calm down. Focus on me, okay? There's nothing else— just us. Just you and me."

Lex continued to murmur reassurances and distractions to Rosalie until she stopped fighting to escape from Alice's hold.

"I'm sorry," Rosalie whispered, her body wracked with tearless sobs. Lex embraced her tightly.

"It's not your fault."

Running her fingers through Rosalie's hair, Lex kept repeating her words like a mantra. "It's not your fault."

"I was supposed to protect them," Rosalie whimpered. "But I couldn't control myself when it really mattered."

"You did amazing, Ro," Lex reassured her. "Without you, the baby probably wouldn't have gotten this far. That baby is alive because you protected it and you fought for it, and one slip up doesn't change that."

The sound of a baby crying pierced through the air. Rosalie and Lex pulled away from each other. Rosalie looked longingly in the direction of the house, but she hesitated to return.

"I need to go back," Rosalie said.

"Are you sure you're okay to go back inside?" Alice asked, still leery from what had just happened.

"I'm fine," Rosalie reassured her. "That baby needs someone to be there. You saw Bella— there's no way she's going to be well enough to care for the baby right now, and I don't trust that stupid mutt not to do something stupid."

Alice nodded and stepped aside so that Rosalie could return to the house.

"Are you going back in?" Lex asked Alice.

The pixie-like girl opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Jacob exiting the house and breaking down in tears. Lex's heart dropped, as she realized what this meant.

"She didn't make it."

A/N:

Hey everyone! Renesmee has been born! I think it's a terrible name lol, but I'm excited to write some scenes about Rosalie and Lex being the cool aunts. Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying this! Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate it a lot!!!