I forgot all about that list at the end of the story.  I reread the chapter to see where you'd come up with that title.  Ugh!  I hate rereading my posted work, since I find so many mistakes.  Comma overkill and repetative word choices, a missed paragraph in dialogue, and typos, make me want to rewrite it.  But I don't have time to rewrite 80 chapters!  

As for Cullen Tree House, I still haven't finished it.  I pull it out every now and then to tinker with it, but I'm not sure it deserves to be seen by intelligent readers.  Something about a story like that, reveals a lot about the writer.  

Thanks again for reading and reviewing! 

This story seemed to go on forever!  I realized too late, that I was trying to do in one story what SM took three to do.  Thanks again for reading and reviewing.  

Readers never finishing is a peril of writing such a long story.  I should have broke it into two or three, but I struggle with editing.  

Thank you so much for reviewing.  It is different reading weekly updates as opposed to reading it when it's finished.  I like a slower pace when I read, so I can sink into a story and feel it happening around me, but I understand that takes a lot of time--this was a marathon!  In this story, it wasn't the little bites that changed Bella.  The baby's venom developed suddenly, since he was premature at birth.  When he reached his full term age, it came in since in canon all males are venomous.  That last bite was the first one that was venomous.  

As to the lemons, yeah, I get it.  I'm not sure if that's fan fiction specific, but there are a lot of readers who ask for them.  I tried to taper off the more things went along.  This was one of my first fanfics, and I was learning.  Still, there's something about a lemon that racks up the word count superfast.  Since I'm writing my own original stories now, I appreciate hearing what readers do or don't like.  In the case of lemon--a little goes a long way.  I hear you on that, and it's my goal to make sure there's a reason for the citrus in my own writing.  

As to staying in the area...that's a tricky one.  Once they left high school, there wasn't a reason for anyone to really check up on them.  I'm sure those who know Bella would think she's got a plastic surgeoun on her payroll.  But I'm thinking that people would just pass off her quirks as weird, and not even consider there might be something supernatural about her.  That's just not a duck that walks in the real world.  Who knows.  

Thanks again for the long and informative review--I greatly appreciate it! 

Thank you!  What a nice present to find after Christmas!

This is a nod to traditional vampire lore, where vampires have mastery of dogs and wolves.  Edward just had to show Lupin who was top dog.  Thanks for reading and reviewing!

I'm really not sure what you're talking about here.  andwers, Cullen?  If you're looking for a different story, I'm sorry....this is the one I wrote.  As to time, it's a very long tale, and chapter 18 is still early.  Thanks again for the review.  

Thank you so much!  I'm always excited when someone wades through a story this size, and I don't lose them or make them give up.

To be honest, I just never thought about the hair.  I might argue that for all the medical tests, she kept it neat, but pregnant bodies don't honor shaving or waxing.  It probably would have grown back, unless Edward liked it and did it himself--TMI.  If you really think about it, vampires should be hairless, since there's no reason for the hair, and it's all dead cells.  Anne Rice likes to say the hair comes back exactly as it was at the time they died.  I like the idea that the hair can be cut, but not removed, because the cells it's attached to won't release the roots.  It will grow, but VERY slowly, maybe taking years to regrow a couple inches.  

I loved making Mike her singer, because to me it was never romantic in the first place.  "I'm kinda having trouble controlling my urge to murder you because of your scent--wanna go out?"

Thanks again for reviewing. 

I'm kinda confused.  Is it NO! (the story has ended) and Thank you!! (for posting it).  Or did I do something really wrong?  I hope it's the first.  I'm still working on a chapter of outtakes.  Edward had a bit more to say than I realized.  

Thank you so much for the kind words.  I love when readers miss it when some of my original characters are missing from a chapter.  I've heard many rants about original characters ruining a story, or taking over, so I try to make sure they fit in.  With Sam's POV in the epilogue, I was trying to show how similare she was to her mother.  It was impossible to know she wasn't Bella, until she started talking about her kids.  

Thanks agian, it makes me feel great, that the story held your interest so well.  

I'm sorry, but I just don't know how I could go further with a second take from Bella's POV.  I intended the epilogue to be a bit of a twist, as the first few paragraphs show just how much like her mother Sam turned out to be.  Every time I've tried to rewrite or rework something to suit a reader, it's messed it up.  I can only write what's in my own head.  I do have a Bella outtake in the next installment, but the lion's share will be from Edward's POV.  

Chapter 1 of Cold, Fragile Hearts is up.  It's different, and not everyone's cup of tea.  The summary should give you a big clue whether it's for you or not.  

Thanks so much!  It's funny, with fan fiction, so many readers love the original, and they really only want to see more stories like it.  Trying to make changes, or write a different story leaves them cold.  Then there are those who just want to picture the actors in stories that pair them up in interesting ways, and it's not about the story at all.  Those readers get upset if you make them think too hard, or wait too long for the love scenes.  I'm fishing for the rare reader who can let me take them off the beaten path, and show them something they didn't expect to see.    

Thank you so much for making it to the end without giving up.  It's especially encouraging, since so many of the characters in this story were my own.  It's a rare reader who can let a writer tell them a new story, taken from their old favorite.  

Thank you so much for your consistent support.  This was one gigantic story, and I still think it should have been two parts.  I'm glad it was fun to read again; I'm not sure I could have read it all myself.    

It's a flaw of mine, that I like stories all tied up with a bow.  Two chapters left, and I promise not to leave you with a cliffhanger.  

I think there are several reason Bella's change and newborn thirst were so manageable.  Her age is a big plus, then there's the exposure to Jane's venom.  There's also her acceptance of the change; she knew it was eventually what she was going to do.  She also learned from Edward, all the weaknesses and desires of the change.  I think seeing the control the Cullens have, goes a long way toward giving her confidence that she can do the same.  

As to what's next, I'm still not sure.  I do need to finish my Leah story, then I can be posting two at a time again.  I might try reposting one, and reposting and finishing another.  I'm also in the midst of writing an original story to try to break into self-publishing.  I sit at this computer so long, my butt's flat.  

Considering his age, biting is a typical behavior.  I'm sure as he gets more mature, it won't be a problem.  He's not likely to sleep with Sam or Renee, and now that everyone knows he's venemous, they'll be a lot more wary.  

Hah!  I have been a stinker on the timing.  But at least they got a whole honeymoon, unlike a certain book we all read.  The idea that Chip could be venemous probably never crossed Edward's mind; it really doesn't make much sense.  The idea that hybrids can bite someone, and give them traits and abilities that they themselves won't ever have, is just one of those things that gets chalked up to Twilight magic.  In this story, Edward doesn't have much time for self-recriminations and brooding angst.  As horrified as he is, he's got to figure out what to do next.  

Yep.  You called it and I was afraid to say anything.  The venom still doesn't make sense to me.  But this, like so much of Twilight, is one of those things where I just have to shrug my shoulders and chalk it up to supernatural magic.   

No, thank you.  If not for readers, I might still write, but I wouldn't have a reason to post.  

Aww.  Not that I should criticize, but that teacher wasn't being very fair.  In a sense, the same offense that might have earned him a missed recess a few months ago, now carries a much stiffer penalty.  I'm a big believer that the penalty should fit the crime.  In a classroom setting that's probably closer to impossible.  I know from volunteering in school (and being a parent), that kids are so very different.  The same offense can occur for two very different reasons.  One child could be willfully disobedient, while another is being held to expectations he can't meet at his maturity level.  

My son had some learning issues, and that boy was in trouble so many times, for things that were really out of his control.  Demanding a child with attention deficit disorder to "pay attention!" sort of struck me as demanding a deaf child to "listen!"  Some teachers didn't believe the disorder existed, and treated his behavior as a discipline issue.  We're pretty sure now that ADD wasn't his issue (most of his behaviors fall on the autism spectrum,) but unless it was a physical ailment, the school staff didn't want to change their methods.  Then again, in our day there were no labels, and those methods worked.  Go figure.       

Funny, but as mature as I've tried to write her, she's still the same Bella.  One of the things that drove me nuts about the character, was her willingness to trust her feelings over common sense.  She never worried about her own safety.    

I can deal with getting old, and everything my body is doing (or not).  What bugs me the most, is that while I feel like I'm the best I've ever been, the world shifts its focus to the young and beautiful.  While everyone pays lips service to substance, character, and inner beauty, the truth stares us in the face daily; beauty is king.  

He asks if the baby is bottle or breast fed, and the woman answers that the baby is breast fed.  The doctor asks the woman to open her blouse, and he proceeds to give her a thorough examination, squeezing her breasts and pinching her nipples.  

"It's clear why this baby isn't thriving; you're not producing any milk."

"Of course I'm not, Doc,; I'm the baby's aunt."  She grinned.  "I sure am glad I came in!"

The new breed is an Irish Spring-er, a fresh and clean smelling dog.

They crossed a malamute and a pointer.

The new dog is a moot point, a dog that...oh it doesn't really matter.

After months of a fruitless search, he happens upon a farmer with three beautiful daughters.  He dates the first daughter, and has to let her father know she wasn't perfect enough.  "She's just a wee bit pigeon-toed, not that you'd even notice it."

He proceeds to date the second daughter, but again has to report to her father that she's not quite perfect.  "She's every so slightly cross-eyed, though it's nearly impossible to tell."

He then goes out with the third daughter.  Though he tries, he can't find a thing wrong with her.  He tells the farmer she's perfect, and they are quickly married.  

Nine months later, she gives birth, and the man is horrified to see the baby is hideous--the ugliest thing he's ever seen.  "How is this possible, considering the parents?" he asks the farmer.  

"Well, son, when you met her, she was just the tiniest bit pregnant--not that you could tell."

Thank you.  I love being a story teller.  No matter how much I improve as a writer, it all comes back to the story.  

Thanks again.  My memory is a little fuzzy on what happened after the birth of Renesmee, so much of this comes from my own imagination, and the timetable may be all wrong.  Realism tells me that a hybrid would need to be self-sufficient after it's born, just because it's likely to be alone.  My imagination takes me to a possiblity where the mother dies, and the baby feeds from the corpse.  Actually, I've written that in a different story.  Perhaps it's this baby's love for his living mother, that keeps him from seriously injuring her, when physiologically he's wired to get his final boost from her.  

That venom is another contention I have with the original.  Why would a hybrid have the ability to turn normals into vampires, but it doesn't work on them?  It seems at best they should be about to turn normals into hybrids.  Or maybe the venom should work to turn them into vampires.  Instead they're a sort of carrier for the vamp disease, but they themselves are immune?  

I've had some ask me how the Volturi even knew about the baby.  That one was hard to figure out, but when I asked my daughter, she didn't even blink.  "Twitter."  Somehow it escaped me that there would need to be a reason they would know; I often think of them as being so powerful and well-connected, they always know what's going on.  Now that I've had time to really think about it, I know it's not from twitter; they're not that technical.  It's alice.  She shared her visions with Aro at the wedding reception.  She sees many different options for their futires, and one of those included Bella's baby.  She dismissed it as wishful thinking, but Aro had the opportunity and inclination to study her views of Bella.  He's old enough, he may have heard of a pregnancy or two between vampires and humans, before its natural end, likely in horror and death.  Caius was drawn more for the opportunity to kill a werewolf.  

You're right.  A man would never have a peaceful resolution if he could have a big fight instead.  Then again, one of my stories does start out ten years after BD, when the Volturi return and they do have a war.  I also have a sneaking suspicion, that if the Cullens really threw themselves into a fight with other vampires, it would change them.  

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic response.  I'm not sure why so many romances end at the wedding.  To me, that's just the beginning.  Maybe it's because so many romances are full of the push and pull of indecision, and the wedding ends it.  There's no indecision here; they're both all in.  Considering all they have to face, that's necessary.   

I think I've rubbed off some of Edward's edges.  Some have said that makes him out of character, but I see it differently.  I think people change, and most people don't conform to a rigid set of personality traits.  This chapter was about showing that things can change and still be good.  Some hated that I changed the meadow, but I thnk this change worked out for them.  My whole story is about how things changed over they past 25 years, but what matters stays the same.  Thank you for reading and reviewing.

The possibility for more children is there.  At this point in the story, Edward says, NO!  Bella says maybe.

I always feel a bit sad for Rosalie and Esme.  Both women wanted children and Rose especially was denied.  I have to wonder, if originally she attached to Bella's baby, because Bella was so young and inexperienced herself.  With the delivery going so well, Rosalie isn't left as the baby's surrogate.  Bittersweet that she has to let him go.  

I wouldn't have anything bad happen after something so good now, would I?  (evil grin) 

In deciding what to tell everyone, I was surprised it was Edward who had the best idea.  His ingenuity comes through, proving he's not a teenager.  

I guess I wouldn't have had such an issue with the original, if Carlisle wasn't a practicing physician.  That Alice didn't see what was about to happen, I understand.  But that Carlisle allowed a dangerous, life-threatening pregnancy to progress so far, really violates his hippocratic oath--first do no harm.  Any real doctor would have had a better plan than letting his patient die, even if she could be changed into a vampire afterward.  As to the drama; that is a mistake on my part.  I worked so hard to fix what I saw wrong with this story, I took out too much drama.  Drama makes a story worth reading.  

One of the things I wanted to happen in this story, was to have the Cullens fully accept her, not just tolerate her.  Even when she and Edward are a united front, life still seems to throw her curve balls.  On one hand, she wants Sam to have a good relationship with her father, but on the other hand, she doesn't quite trust Mike, and she still wants to be the one mothering Sam.  I'm sure after watching Renee go off with her new husband, she wanted to make sure Sam didn't feel like she was choosing Edward over her.  That blood pressure lowering method... I just couldn't resist, after their nearly sexless honeymoon in canon.  Middle-age libido, pregnancy hormones, sexy young lover, and the passion of new love, why not?  

(snicker)  I had to scratch my head at the name Renesmee.  But then again, I wasn't thrilled with Edward, Emmett, or Alice either.  And Italian vampires named Heidi, Jane and Alec?  Maybe they changed their names to something they saw as more unique?  I once quit reading a book because of a bad name.  She was a sexy brunette stewardess named... Hattie.  I just couldn't get past it.  

I wanted to dope-slap her a few times myself.  I've finally had to just accept that this character is never going to be perfect, and let it be.  Perfect is boring anyway.  Your granddaughter's gift is precious!  When a child will part with something they love, because they love you more... absolutely a treasure!  I have held on to the weirdest things, like a picture the kids I baby sat drew for me, half of a broken music box my dad gave me, and the curls from my son's first haircut.  

As to the reviews not posting, it's always something.  I'm still getting the error every chapter, so I think the site has a few (many) bugs.  I'm not complaining, since the admins here are much more responsive and respectful than those at the first place that hosted my story.

"Albeit"  I so love it when people aren't afraid to use their vocabulary!  Sometimes I'll be reading something I've written, and I'll stop and look at my word choices.  Then I'll realize I've chosen a word that most people don't use, and might not know.  Then I've got to decide if it fits the character, and make sure I've given enough context a reader could figure it out.  My Bella is an English teacher, so I allow her a more precise language than I might for Sam or another character.  The Cullens also should have a better grasp of language and vocabulary than the average modern American.  Sometimes I fail at this.  But at least when I have a choice between the common and the obscure, I can choose the road less traveled, albeit my readers may have to look up a word.   

I loved this chapter too.  Edward doesn't give himself away yet, but he does manage to make it clear he's interested in her as a woman.  After that kiss, there's no way she can pretend he's just a student with a harmless crush.  

I can't imagine how it would feel to have my crush at thirteen visit my house.  Let's see ... his name was Rob, and he was the cutest thing:  a tall blond, with a sweet smile and a personality to match.  I would have been struck speechless for sure.    

Thank you for your kind reviews.  At least this early in the story, you don't have to wait for updates.