Disclaimer – This is Stephenie Meyer's universe. I'm just playing in her world for a long bit. Any names and characters not found in Stephenie Meyer's books are definitely mine or my wonderful beta and good friend Liljenrock's creations. I couldn't have written this without her Jen's help. I stole so much from her!

I'm so sorry I disappeared for so long. I discovered something, got really, REALLY heavily distracted.. distracted Jen too. And it took me a hell of a long time to finally be able to leave Charming and come back to La Push. My thanks to all of you who were concerned for me. I'm alive people.. And I'm so so sorry.

So, my Christmas gift to all of you. Chapter One of Emmett and Rosalie's tale..

Eternity is Forever

Chapter One : Dale

Dale McCarty

"Happy Anniversary, Momma. Thought I forgot, didn't you?"

I watched from my shadowy corner of the large hotel suite at the scene unfolding before me. After I was escorted out of Rachel Winter's lab by the males of the Cullen clan, still under the watchful eyes of of a number of large built men who I knew without a doubt to be a part of the wolf pack, we checked into a large suite at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was obvious, the money they had at their disposal, evident with the ease they were with the luxury of the place, the way they commanded the respect, right down to the comfortable and smooth way they'd tipped the young man assigned to show us to the room. These were the famous Cullens. This was the lifestyle that they were accustomed to.

My eyes drifted back to Emmett Cullen. He'd yet to relinquish his hold on the baby. He'd been holding him since the wolf Jacob Black had placed him in his arms, having first gently taken him out of my arms just before his punch knocked me across the room. But Emmett, he had taken the baby as if he was the most precious thing in the whole world. The way a father would hold his child for the first time. With a sense of awe and pride and love and so much of tenderness that was almost misplaced in such a big man. This was the way he should have held his own son, but here he was, holding my grandson.

Some emotion I'd never felt before stirred inside me as I watched him place the baby in his mate's arms. His wife. The flawlessly beautiful and haughty Rosalie. I always wondered, what would make a vampire, new or old, forget everything about his past and think only of his future, because I certainly never forgot, I certainly never turned my back, well not exactly. But looking at this blond woman, I had to admit, her beauty was enough to turn any man's head.

"Emmett? W-wh-what?" she stammered as her arms automatically accepted the baby, automatically brought him close to herself, tenderly cradling him as a...as a mother would. "It's not our anniversary." I wanted to hate her.

The female Cullens had arrived at the hotel two hours after we did. It gave Edward and Carlisle Cullen enough time to shop a little before Edward and Jasper had left on a mission of their own. They had the foresight to buy the essential baby products, baby formula, feeding bottles, diapers, and other things that I never thought of when I had first taken the baby. They were all better experienced in handling a child than I was. One of the hybrids made an appearence as well, followed in by her mate, the wolf Embry Call. He did not try to exert his strength and authority the way Paul Winters had, instead, he had grinned a quick hello to everyone and calmly sat down and watched with a smile as his wife flitted over to Rosalie and Emmett. But I was not fooled by his relaxed stance. I knew he would rip me apart in seconds if he had a mind too. I chose to watch his wife as well. I was almost angry with her for intruding on that moment between Emmett and his mate, and my grandson, and I waited for one of them to rebuff her.

"He's your new baby, Rosalie. Everyone says he's like me, but venomous. That means he's like Nahuel! Oh Rosalie, please say you'll take him and love him? Please? Please don't let him go through my years on the farm. I was always hungry and so cold," the hybrid beseeched as she rested her head on Rosalie's shoulder. She reminded me of a little kitten. The innocence of her, this Petra Cullen or Petra Call, was hard to miss. Nor was it hard to miss the gentle and soft way Rosalie and Emmett smiled at her. It showed me, in that instant, that I had brought the baby to the right place. These people would care for him well, would raise him well, do all the things that I could never do for him, that my own father had never done for me.

"I don't understand," Rosalie whispered, never once releasing the baby or pushing Petra away but the longing in her eyes were plain to see. It moved something inside me.

"Rosalie, this is Dale McCarty. His human granddaughter died yesterday giving birth to the baby in your arms. Dale has been on a mission to somehow get the baby to us to raise. Jacob felt it should be yours and Emmett's turn to raise this child. If you're not ready for something like that, Esme and I will raise him as ours. But the decision is yours," Carlisle Cullen spoke up. He was the one I had originally intended to hand my grandson over to, but I suppose fate had other plans.

Rosalie turned to look at me for the first time, the haughty demeanor she had when she had walked in having melted away the second the baby was in her arms. It was uncomfortable seeing that raw longing in her gaze. She was so lovely, that it was obvious why Emmett was so devoted to her. "Really?" she asked as her voice hitched, almost like she was fighting tears, which I knew wasn't possible. "H-He's mine?"

"Ours," Emmett whispered as he knelt in front of her, softly laying a kiss on her forehead, then another on the baby.

My heart twisted painfully. This was how a perfect family was supposed to look like. Well, not with that young hybrid leaning on Rosalie while Emmett and Rosalie came to terms with the fact they were taking on my grandson as their child. It was ironic in a way. Do they wonder about their human families at all? When they were turned, did they turn their backs on their past? I looked at all of them as they watched the new family with smiles on their faces. Did any one of them keep track of their descendants like I did?

Petra Cullen chose that moment to ask. "May I hold him, Rosalie? Please?"

I had thought Rosalie would have refused, she seemed the type. She was how I imagined a cold, selfish bitch would look, but she nodded, surprising me and handing the baby over carefully. It was hard to miss the sudden tensing of the wolf's muscles as he sat up as if alerted to some danger.

"The baby is asleep, Embry. He's no danger to Petra," Carlisle called out and the wolf nodded, but he remained on alert.

I watched as Rosalie got up with a smile and Emmett quickly take her seat as he bent his head close to Petra and the two whispered together like conspirators with huge grins on their faces. Rosalie came towards me, determination in her eyes, gratitude, curiousity, emotions of all kinds and I looked away. I couldn't face her. How do I face her? What do I tell her? How do I talk to her? As much as I wanted to hate her, she was going to be the mother of my grandson, she was going to raise him as her own, he was going to call her mother and Emmett father.

"Thank you," her voice was heartfelt, she meant it, I could tell from the way she said those two words as she reached for my hand. I couldn't, I just couldn't and I brought my hand up to run my fingers through my hair, avoiding her touch. I saw the flash in her eyes, she realized what I had done and I saw a milisecond of hurt flash in them before she blinked them away. "Are you...are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"I can't raise him. I don't have a home, I travel a lot," I whispered. "And a child, any child deserves normalcy in their lives, and structure. Please, help the child." I couldn't look at her. I just couldn't. She made me think of my own mother although they were worlds apart, and I didn't want that. Not now, not here, surrounded by all these people. It made me feel stripped bare.

"Emmett and I, we will raise him well. I promise you. We will love him like he was our own. I have always wanted a child and you have given me so much," she choked out.

I could hear the emotions in her voice and against my will, my eyes drifted to her. I nodded. I could accept that. Her promising to raise him well, she would. Of that I had no doubt as I looked towards the other hybrid. She seemed secure with her place in their extended family and as Emmett guffawed over something she said, I could see it, the baby growing up in this family, I could see him whispering mischeviously with Emmett, of them plotting and scheming. I could imagine the baby having the time of his life with Emmett as his father. Him coming to them, it was meant to be. It just was.

"I just want him to have a good home," I whispered.

"He will," Rosalie nodded. "He will want for nothing. I promise."

"Love him. That's all I ask. Every child deserves the love of parents and a home."

Emmett chose that moment to get up and walk over to us. It was hard to miss the casual way he rested his hand on Rosalie's hip as he brushed against her before stopping in front of me. "Rose and I, we'll love the baby like he was our own."

I nodded...like their own. That pang in my chest hit me again. After some time, when the pain of watching a large happy family, one that I was not a part of, one that my flesh and blood was a part of, got too much to bear and I excused myself. Corey still lay in a bloody mess in her flea ridden little apartment. It wouldn't do to have the authorities find her ripped open as she was. I had to do something.

"Allow me to accompany you," Carlisle Cullen offered, no doubt guessing the nature of my mission.

I glanced over at Emmett. The baby was awake and staring up at Emmett's grinning face. He should be the one coming with me to see about Corey. But I found myself nodding at Carlisle, accepting the older man's offer.

As we watched the fire burn, paying our last respects to the young girl who had unknowingly bridged a strange gap, Carlisle asked me about my history. It was his quiet non-judgemental ways that led me to speak freely. One day the baby might ask, he should know about at least one human descendant who was a good man.

I was a good man. Growing up in Tennessee, falling in love and marrying, being a good father to a young son. It was the hopes for a better life for my family and a chance to leave Tennessee that led me to join the army. I was the kind of father who would have done anything for his family. I was supposed to move us forward.

That was the plan. That is until my entire unit was ambushed during a training mission. Only it wasn't an enemy army that wiped us out, but a large group of vampires. I was turned because of my size and the strength I had as a human. I was as wild and ruthless as the vampires I ran with for a number of years. I don't know what it was, perhaps seeing a child somewhere who reminded me of my own son, that thoughts of my wife and son suddenly came foremost in my mind. Memories I didn't know I had popped up unbidden. Nothing I did could wipe away this yearning I felt to find them, to assure myself that they were okay. Leaving the group was not easy, and in the end it was only possible to walk away with more notches on my belt, for all the vampires I killed before they gave up on destroying me, self perseverance on their part allowing me to walk away.

I found my wife in Boston, living close to her sister. She had received my insurance payoff, the army had classified my unit's massacare as a 'training accident' and had tried to hush everyone. She had remarried. I guess I was easy to replace, or maybe that's how all women are? My own mother certainly did the same when she believed that my father had died. I found that my son had become a cop and I felt pride that I had never felt before. A good man. My son was a good man. Only he wasn't. He was deep in the pockets of an organized crime family. Greed led his every action and in the end, his entire family was wiped out by the very mob he had been loyal to.

Well all of them, except his newborn daughter, Corey. Spared no doubt because she would not be able to identify anyone. I killed her adoptive parents, the abuse and neglect they put on her too much for me to stomach. From then on, she was in various foster care until she was eighteen. Then with a guitar on her back, she hitchhiked all over the country, busking to make ends meet. Maybe I was biased, but I thought she sang beautifully. Seattle was the only place she had lingered long. Some good that did her.

It surprised me, when Carlisle picked up things from around Corey's little appartment. Photographs, some costume jewelery that she had, a notebook of song lyrics and her guitar. "For the baby," he explained. "Someday he might ask about his own mother. He has a right to know her."

I could only stare at him. Does he say things like this to all the vampires he welcomes to his coven? It gave me an unsettled feeling and I tried to push it away. "I—I have a family Bible. It was my mother's. I've always carried it with me. Could you...could you see that he gets it too? If he ever asks, that is." Carlisle clasped my shoulder as he agreed.

The break of dawn, found me still surrounded by the Cullens. The quick escape I had wanted to make twarted at every attempt. The Cullens would all somehow keep me occupied. Each and everytime I tried to leave, they'd start something else. It was when Rosalie started humming as she fed the baby another bottle that I knew I had to put some distance between me and the Cullens. Watching all this, I was going to loose my decorum.

I stood up, reaching for my jacket when it was Carlisle himself who put a stall to my plans. "Emmett, did you know that Dale is originally from Tennessee too? How big was the McCarty clan?"

Emmett looked at me with surprise, with interest. "No kidding? Man, that's cool. I was from Tennessee too. From a long time ago, a different lifetime ago. Gatlinburg, I think."

"You don't remember?" I murmured. I wasn't sure if that was a question or was I just stating a fact that was glaringly obvious.

"My memories from the past are rather fuzzy. I know I worked the railroad, I had brothers and a baby sister, and my parents. But no solid thoughts or feelings. I never had your drive to look them up or anything. I know they think I was killed in a bear attack. I went back once, only once. Left some money on the porch. I used to be Emmett McCarty, a long time ago. Maybe we're related?," Emmett laughed making it a joke. Some joke. "Which part of Tennessee are you from?"

"Gatlinburg," I swollowed, it was almost painful. "My parents were Ima Stobrod," I searched his face for some recognition, some sign of something. "And Elijah McCarty."

"Elijah?" Emmett looked stunned as he shot to his feet. "You're Eli's boy?" He let out a hearty laugh as he strode over to me, pulling me into a hug. I froze. "Oh my God! Rose, you guys, Dale here is my brother Eli's son. This is my nephew," Emmett laughed as he slung an arm around my shoulders and turned to grin at the roomful of vampires. "Rosalie baby, that's a McCarty you're holding there. I guess I really did give you a baby after all. Made all your dreams come true," he winked at her.

She rolled her eyes at him as Esme, Carlisle's mate came over to me. She hugged me too. "This is such a rare thing. We never discover family this way."

I was saved the need to say anything with the appearance of more of the Cullen clan, but these arrivals, I was actually curious about. The ever beautiful Renessmee Black, recognized by the media first as the wife of the CEO of Shipo Industries, one of the top 400 of America's Best Small Companies as per Forbes, and second for her beauty. And she certain is beautiful, far more so than Rosalie or Petra and she had no airs about her. I've been curious about her ever since I agreed to become one of the Volturi's witnesses and I'd come to help pass judgment on her life when she had been a mere child. I was glad they spared her. She seemed in her element. She had a baby on her hip and held the hand of her other son as they let themselves in.

"Hello! We're here to see the new baby!" she announced as her older son let her hand go to run into Bella Cullen's open arms with a cheerful giggle. Esme was quick to take the younger child out of Renesmee's arms. It was obvious how the vampires doted on the young children. Corey's baby would be safe with them.

"Hey Ness, meet Dale. Guess what? He's my nephew!" Emmett announced as he hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her to his side, grinning down at her when she wrapped her arm around his waist. They seem very comfortable displaying the love and affection they have for each other.

"Hello Dale," she smiled up at me and for a moment I was so taken by her beauty that I froze. She covered the awkward silence smoothly. "I guess Petra and I aren't the only ones to call him Uncle Emmett anymore, huh? Good thing I don't mind sharing him. He gets too much at times," she said cheekily, causing Emmett to tug on one of her curls as he called her a brat affectionately.

"You'll still be our Uncle, right?" Petra appeared in front of Emmett, looking worried and he reacted immediately to her fears by placing his hand right on her head and sort of shake her a little and messing up her hair a lot.

"You're stuck with me, kiddo," he laughed as she tried to push his hand away and tame her hair, the glare on her face adorable and not at all ferocious.

And suddenly I could see it. The kind of father Emmett would be. The kind of life the baby would have with someone like Emmett to watch over him, to guide him, to teach him. All the things my father should have done for me. Rosalie no doubt would be the disciplinarian but Emmett would be the kind of father who would let the child be a little boy for as long as possible. Was I bitter or am I glad that I managed to bring the baby to him? I couldn't really tell anymore.

Renesmee wondered off to the women as they dotted on the baby and I could hear her explaining that her boys had been asleep so she'd just checked them in and put them to bed last night. I wondered about that sort of family loyalty, where she would put her young children in a car and take a three hour drive in the middle of the night, just to help a family member. I never had that sort of loyalty before. And that pang hit me once again. I needed to get somewhere faraway and regroup. But I was taken in by Emmett's antics as Renesmee's baby Bodhi giggled with glee. Corey's baby would grow up in this atmosphere. He would laugh like Renesmee's baby was. He would be surrounded by love. One more hour. I'll just stay and absorb this for an hour more.

And that was my mistake I realized, as the two wolves walked in the door. Jacob Black and Embry Call. They walked straight to their mates, greeting them and I watched Black with Renesmee. He was the biggeset wolf, the strongest, the Alpha. It facinated me to watch a domestic moment. She let him drop a quick kiss to her lips and when he raised his head, she asked him a silent question, noticable only with the slightest lift to her eyebrows, he smiled softly down at her and gave her a barely noticable nod. There was a sudden relaxation of her shoulders that told me that she was relieved with his answer. During my research, I had thought a clan of vampires making an alliance with a pack of werewolves dedicated in finding and destroying our entire race would have been politically motivated. A beautiful daughter in exchange for immunity, but watching them, the two of them in question, I knew that was not it. Jacob Black could be many things, a stong man, a born leader, a dangerous nemesis, but he was also a father, a husband, a man in love with his wife and mostly...mostly he was a good man.

I tried to leave once more but Jacob turned his gaze to me, the first time since he walked into the hotel suite. A watchful, relaxed look that made this sense of awareness creep up my spine. Deer in the headlights, thats how I felt. "You and I," he smiled, I wondered why the Cullens didn't see the threat he posed. "We need to talk. You can't leave yet." I nodded. I was not entirely off the hook yet.

I watched as the wolves ordered breakfast, room service, and I looked at the time. It was way past regular human breakfast hours but they didn't care. I watched as an easy conversation flowed between the wolves and the Cullens. This was a family gathering. This was what a family should look like. Jacob Black ate one handed, his younger son held in his left arm, expertly keeping the baby's grabby hands from reaching into his plate, laughingly spooning a forkful of pancakes drenched in syrup into his older son's mouth as he came over to his father for a bite. I could picture Emmett doing this for Corey's baby. Emmett has been immersed in this family for decades. He would be a good father. He would be like Jacob.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Bud?" Jacob answered as he used his napkin to wipe a smudge of syrup off his son's chin.

"When Mac grows up, he's going to join my pack," the older boy announced.

"Who's Mac?" his father asked.

"The baby. Uncle Emmett said he's a McCarty. It's too long, he likes Mac better."

"The baby told you this?" Emmett asked, a strange smile on his face.

"Uh-huh. I'm going to be his Alpha."

"Griffin, you can't be talking about things like this, remember, sweetheart?" Renesmee chided the child gently from across the room.

"No, no. It's okay, Nessie. It's only us here right now. It's fine," Emmett called out to Renesmee as he walked across the room to crouch down in front of the child, Griffin. "Hey kiddo, were you really able to talk to the baby?"

"Yes," the child sighed. "Because he's gonna join my pack."

"Hey Griff, he's not wolf, buddy," Jacob said gently.

"I know, Daddy," the child replied, a-matter-of-factly.

I knew that I was witnessing a strange moment that I did not understand. This family, they had layers, many layers and just when I think i've reached the core of them, that I'm seeing what they really are like, they peel off another layer and show me another side of them.

"He really liked you calling him Mac?" Emmett asked the child.

"Uh-huh," the child replied as he turned back to his father and opened his mouth, seeking another bite of pancakes that his father was quick to feed him with.

"McCarty Cullen. What do you think, Rose?" Emmett asked, turning in his crouched position to look over at his mate.

I looked at her too. It was hard to miss the moment. What Emmett was trying to do here. He had turned his back on his family years and years ago and this was his way to remember them, to honor them. What would his wife say?

She smiled at him. "McCarty Dale Cullen." I wanted to hate her, I really did. But how do I do that? And I had trouble remembering why.

"How old fashioned," Alice the small vampire chirped out, having just returned from a shopping trip. For the baby, she had announced. How many babies? I wondered from the number of bags she had.

"It's way better than Renesmee," Jacob laughed.

"Hey!" both Renesmee and Bella cried out in indignation.

"Mac! He likes Mac," Griffin announced having swollowed his food.

"Mac! We'll be calling him Mac!" Emmett called out, using the exact tone of voice the little boy did, laughing as a look of satisfation cross the child's face.

"He's gonna join my pack, Uncle Emmett."

"He'll never be a wolf, kiddo," Emmett said.

"He's my cousin, Uncle Emmett. Just like Keegan and Logan. That's enough."

"Go on, argue with that logic, Emmett," Embry laughed.

I didn't understand what just happened, but Corey's baby had found his place in this strange family. That I was sure of.

In a way it was a good thing that the wolves had wanted to talk to me. We moved to another room to be away from the women and the children and Jacob questioned me about how I'd found his sister. I suppose the worry was there that if I could figure out just who the shapeshifters were when they were not in "uniform", then anyone else could do so too. I was quick to assure them, that it was probably only me who held an interest in the Cullens. They never questioned my reasons why.

I explained to them how I had to move fast to get the baby, Mac as he was called now to the Cullens, before Jeremiah found out. He held such control over the creation of a new vampires, that I had feared that he would have had the baby destroyed if he had come to know of him first. This surprised the Cullens, and Jasper and Carlisle slipped out immediatly, against my advice to pay a visit to Jeremiah.

"Don't worry. They're not asking permission. They're just gonna tell ole' Jerry boy that we have a new hybrid on our hands," Emmett explained. "Besides, he's very respectful of Jake, so he'll listen."

"Now, we need to talk about you, Dale," Jacob said. I nodded. I was expecting this to be honest. I had done something unforgivable last night. "Paul has every right to demand his right to kill you. Going after a wolf's mate, a man's wife—that's really low, man."

"Jacob!" Emmett said urgently but Jacob held up his hand and Emmett fell silent.

"I'm not going to let that happen. First, because my sister would probably kill both Paul and me. Second, because of your reasons for taking her, as stupid as they may be. And finally because of your connection to Emmett." I stared at him, not sure what he was getting at. "You get to be in Seattle for as long as the Cullens are here. Then I want you gone. I don't even want to get a scent of you in wolf territory unless you have prior approval from me."

"Jake! Come on, man. He's my nephew. Blood of my blood and all that," Emmett interjected and I jumped at his words.

"And Rachel is my blood. It was not a friendly visit that he made, regardless of how it turned out in the end." It was very simply said but it said a lot. It definitely showed how the Alpha's mind was set.

"Hey Emmett," Embry called out. "The last I checked, Minesotta was not wolf territory."

Emmett perked up at this, and I had to admit, I did too. They were not unreasonable, these wolves. Corey's son would someday get to run with them. Whatever that meant, it seemed like a good omen. That was good, right?

It took me a few more hours before I could leave and Rosalie brought the baby over to me to say my goodbyes. I was touched by her consideration as I accepted him back into my arms, perhaps for the last time ever. He was awake and he stared up at me, cooing softly. He reminded me of my son, I remember holding him in my arms like this as he cooed up at me. I ran my hand over his soft downy hair, hair the exact color of mine, of Emmett's.

"I've brought you to the right place, boy," I whispered softly. "You'll have a good home, you'll be loved. You're with your own." The baby cooed at me as if he understood what I was saying and my heart twisted. I wished I could do more for him, I felt as if I was letting him down, yet I knew I was doing the right thing leaving him here with Emmett and his...wife. They would do right by him, they would give him a home and be a family with him. I was incapable of doing that for him. "It's not that I don't want you, son. I do. Very much. But it's not much of a life that I can offer you. That is why...why I'm doing this. You already have a father and a mother, uncles and aunts and grandparents. Cousins too. A family. You will have a family." I kissed his forehead, like I had seen Emmett kiss him. I never did that to my own son, it seemed like an unmanly thing to do back when my son had been a baby, but now, it came so easily, so naturally after watching Emmett do it first. "This is the right place for you. This new family, they are not afraid to show love. But I am. I'm not abandoning you, son. Don't ever think that you were abandoned. This is fate." I kissed his forehead again because it felt so right to do that.

When I was finally ready to leave, Emmett pulled me into a bear hug. It felt strange being hugged by another man, but at the same time, this feeling of peace came over me. It took close to eighty years for me to feel this. Fate, like I had told Corey's baby. Fate had brought this along.

"You have my numbers. Call me, okay? Don't be a stranger," Emmett murmured still holding me tight and I could only nod. "We can go catch a game or something, if you're in the neighborhood. You, me and the kid. A McCarty men outing." He had no idea how much weight his words held.

Esme hugged me too. "I expect to see you in Minesotta, dear. We will be looking out for you. You're welcome anytime." I could only nod at her invitation, the warmth of it robbing my ability to reply.

Then Rosalie was hugging me. "Thank you," she murmured into my shoulder.

I stepped away from her and looked towards Emmett as he stood by the door, the baby in his arms. He was brushing his lips over the baby's forehead again. "They're both happy," I mumbled to Rosalie. She nodded as she turned to look at them too. "Please keep them happy. There were not many generations of McCarty men who were happy. You seem to have the only two who are."

A/N: Ok, so I'll come right out and say it. I left Jax Teller for you guys. So, I'll swollow my pride and demand a review. And not just the simple sort of reviews, but a PROPER review. There's something really heavy in this chapter itself and I want to see how many of you caught it. Cheers people. Merry Christmas.