Protecting At It's Finest || SEQUEL

One;

We wait. Just as we've been waiting for days. We wait as patiently as we can; trying our best to occupy ourselves to avoid worry. She's turning, we know that much, but for how long the process will be we aren't adamant. Edward barely leaves her alone for more than an hour at a time to hunt.

Renesmee... she grows quicker than any newborn I've ever seen. It's begun worrying Carlisle, which means it's begun worrying me. If the doctor's concerned then we all probably should be.

"El?"

Damon's voice draws me from my daydream, gaining my attention as I turn my head to look at him. I smile lightheartedly at him, seeing him lean against the doorframe as he watches my niece and I in the arm chair.

"Hey," I whisper, afraid of waking up the sleeping child in my arms, "How are you? How's Stefan?"

Damon's been away for the past day and a half, in Mystic Falls. He needed to check on his brother, and really his brother needed to check on him, so I sent him on his way in my car — I swear he uses that thing more than I do — back to Mystic Falls.

"He's good," Damon responds quietly, "He says hello. He and Caroline will come visit soon, once everything is settled."

Once Bella is awake, he means.

"I'll make sure to call Caroline later." I say, looking down at the small child in my arms as she shifts slightly.

I can feel Damon's eyes on me as he answers, "I'm sure she'll appreciate that, she misses you."

We're silent for a while after that, he sits down on the couch opposite my arm chair, and spreads his legs out so that he can rest his head against the pillows. His hands fold against his stomach. He's as handsome as ever, my Damon. His shaggy black hair glints in every light, enhancing his gorgeous blue eyes so that they'll stand out in every crowd. His jaw line, his cheek bones, his skin... it all makes him so alluring.

I'll spend forever with this man — if we make it that far that is.

Renesmee is quiet, as usual. She never cries, or screams, or kicks about. She's always so quiet and well behaved, using her gift to communicate the things she wants. She's beautiful, too. Her eyes pop, Bella's eyes, and her hair will be a beautiful coppery colour once it's fully grown. The freckles on her cheeks make her look even more adorable. Holding her, feeding her, rocking her to sleep, it makes me wonder what I could've had if I'd been able to stay human. Would I have had children? Would they have looked similar to Renesmee? Would they have had my hair? My eyes? Or would they have taken their fathers?

I never thought about having kids before, to be honest I never thought I'd live long enough for that. I never thought about marriage, kids, the healthy American dream never crossed my mind.

I've thought about it more recently. Obviously I can't have kids, because I'm dead technically, but the marriage side...

I've thought about marrying Damon a lot recently. Spending forever with him like that, it seems like more of a dream than a reality. Something I could want but never have. Damon was born into a time where marriage is a one time thing, where vows were sacred and if you were to take them then you were to keep them for as long as you shall live. He's very set in his ways, Damon is, so if he were to marry then he'd have to be so very serious about it.

He's not extremely serious, though, he never has been serious about much. He's more of the type for a joke and a laugh.

"Eleanor?"

I lift my head to look at him, "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

I smile, "Fine."

"El..." Damon says, twisting his head to look toward me, "It's okay for you to worry."

"What's there to worry about?" I ask, humming once as I go back to looking down at Renesmee, "Alice says she'll wake up soon."

"But that she may not be completely her."

Ah, he's got me there.

Okay, so maybe it worries me slightly that she won't be all Bella when she wakes up, but what exactly can I do about it? I can't change anything, so there's no point kicking up a fuss about it is there?

"Everything will be okay, Damon. You'll see." I say, still trying to keep up the optimistic view I've been sticking to all week.

He smirks, and the sight brings a sense of familiarity to my mind, "Aren't I supposed to be saying that to you?"

"Well we never were ones for the status quo." I counted, brushing my index finger over Renesmee's forehead lightly; careful not to press too hard in case I hurt her.

He grins at my response, shrugging his shoulders.

I listen to Rosalie and Emmet walk from their bedroom, to the kitchen. Everyone else is out, hunting I presume, other than Edward who sits in his chair, upstairs beside Bella.

"Have you ever thought about that?" Damon asks, and I lift my head to see what he's gesturing to. He's watching Renesmee with a strange expression on his face.

"Renesmee?" I say, smiling softly, "Sure. She's growing rather quickly isn't she?"

Damon rolls his eyes as if I just said the dumbest thing in the world, "No, I meant kids in general — having them. Marriage. The whole deal."

I frown, "Sure, I've thought about it, but I can't exactly have kids can I? And marriage... well that means a lot more when you can live forever than it does when you can't."

He nods, biting the inside of his lip.

"What is it Damon?" I ask, becoming alarmed at his worry.

He sits up, leaning forward on his elbows, "What if you could? Have them, I mean?"

"Kids?"

He nods, looking around him as if he's afraid to be lynched for whatever he's about to say, "Yes, kids."

"You're not making much sense Damon." I say, slipping my hand under Renesmee's head to keep her balanced.

He sighs, glancing me up and down before deciding to speak again, "Stefan and Caroline..."

"They're together, I know. It's been on the table for a while now hasn't it?"

He shakes his head, "Caroline's pregnant." He blurts the words simply, but they have the largest effect.

"What?"