Chapter 19: Home for the Holidays

AN: SORRY!!!.... Nothing else to say besides I just suck!! I'll do better- I promise!!

Extra special thanks to my beta – mischief-maker1 for fixing my boo-boos so fast.

Bella POV

I was amazed at how fast the next few weeks went by. Between school and work, not to mention the amount of time I was spending with Edward, it seemed like one day flowed into the next.

Exams were finally over and Christmas was fast approaching. I had been excited that Jessica and Lauren were planning on going to Hawaii with their mother for the winter break. That was until I found out that I was going with them.

The last place I wanted to be at Christmas was some tropical resort. It should be cold and snowy, with a big tree. Not to mention that the only reason they wanted me there was to be their pack mule. Honestly, the girls didn't even want me for that, but for some reason Victoria was insisting that I go as well.

I thought back to the conversation a few weeks ago.

The girls were chatting excitedly as I came in from the grocery store. I set about putting the food away as I eavesdropped in on their conversation.

"I can't believe we are actually going to Hawaii for Christmas, and staying right on the ocean. "Lauren said as she bounced up and down on the couch.

"Mother said it was the nicest place on Kauna 'oa Beach. Just think sun, sand, guys… it is almost perfect." I strained my ears as the tone of Jessica's voice changed with that last statement.

"Why is mother insisting she come with us? I don't want her to come." Lauren whined.

"Well I don't want her there either. Mom says she wants her to go, so she is going. At least we will have someone to pack all our shit back and forth to the beach. "

Lauren let out an evil little giggle.

"You are so mean. Poor little Cinderbella deserves love too, Jessica."

"I guess we will have to be the one to give it to her won't we sis?" Jessica shot back sarcastically. "Considering she has these delusions that Edward Cullen would ever be interested in her. How pathetic."

So here I was trying to get the girls packed and ready for the trip. I had pretty much begged and pleaded to Victoria to let me stay home, but she was insistent that I go. At least I could catch up on my reading… between my slave duties.

I hauled the two large suitcases down the hall and set them beside the front door. We were supposed to be flying out to meet Victoria in two days and considering both girls had almost all new vacation clothes, it was easier to go ahead and get them ready to go, except for their toiletries. That would allow me one free day to wish all my friends a merry Christmas and hand out the small gifts I had bought them.

I was headed to my room to finish up the little bit of packing I had to do for myself when I heard the doorbell ring.

I opened the door and felt the large smile pass across my face…Edward. I stepped back and let him in.

"Sorry to just stop by. I was just headed back to the frat and thought I would see what you were up to."

"Just packing. You want to come upstairs? You can keep me company."

"Sure."

He followed me up the stairs and flopped down on the bed beside my suitcase.

"You really don't want to go, do you?" He asked as I chucked stuff into the open bag.

"No, not at all."

"Why not? You've never been to Hawaii, right?"

"Would you want to go anywhere with Jessica and Lauren?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow at him.

He let out a stifled laugh. "Point taken."

"Besides, I want to be somewhere that feels Christmassy. You know, with snow and lights and…and somewhere that is not ninety degrees. "I flopped down on the bed beside him. "Even if I was here alone for Christmas, it would be better than being with people who didn't want me around."

Suddenly he jumped off the bed and headed to my closest. He started pulling out sweaters and jeans, placing them in the bag as he pulled out the summer wear that I had already placed in it.

"Hey, what are you doing, Edward? I just packed those."

"Unpacking them. Now grab some warm stuff, your uh…necessities and meet me downstairs. "

"Edward, have you lost your mind?"

"No. Now hurry up and do what I said. I'll meet you downstairs."

I watched his retreating form and looked down into the bag he had been packing. What the hell was he thinking?

I was almost at the bottom of the stairs when I heard his voice and to my surprise he was arguing with Jessica.

"I don't really care what your mother says, Jessica. Bella does not want to go with you. She is going to spend her holidays with people who care about her." He turned and started punching numbers into his phone.

"Do you realize how much the airline ticket alone cost? She is going with us!" She screamed at his back.

He turned on his heel, covering the receiver with his hand.

"Send me a bill. Bella! Let's go!"

I scrambled back up the stairs and started stuffing clothes into my bag. I grabbed another duffel out of my closet and loaded the stack of presents into it. I threw both bags over my shoulder and ran down the stairs.

"Where do you think you are going?" Lauren sneered.

I looked at Edward and then back at Lauren as he grabbed both bags and headed out the front door.

"I have no idea, but it is somewhere without the two of you and that's all I need to know. Merry Christmas!"

I sprinted out the front door, ignoring the screaming and profanities coming from inside the house. Edward already had the passenger door open for me as I slid into the front seat of the Volvo.

"So where are we going, Edward?"

"You have some time off right?"

"Well, yeah. Jake was going to cover for me while I was in Hawaii since I worked Thanksgiving week. I don't have to be back until January third."

"Perfect. You are coming with me and my family to Colorado for Christmas."

"Colorado, really?"

"Yes. The rest of the family is leaving tonight, so you are welcome to ride with them."

"What about you? You said the rest of the family was leaving tonight, when are you planning on going?"

"I am staying here another two days. It is my turn to play Santa at the pediatric ward of the hospital. But I will be driving to meet them as soon as I'm done."

A few days alone with Edward wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, now would it? Unfortunately my conscious kicked in and I forgot that I had made myself a promise not to bring up…her.

"What about Tanya?" I blurted out. He gave me a little smirk as he turned into Rose and Alice's apartment complex.

"What about Tanya?"

"I am sure she is not going to like me going with you…I mean you and your family. "

"Tanya is going out of town for the holidays – Switzerland, I believe. And you…you are part of our family. I honestly don't care what she thinks." He shut the car off and went around grabbing my bags from the trunk.

I felt a shiver run through my core. Defiant Edward was sexy Edward. Perhaps this was the beginning of him breaking his ties with Tanya. I grabbed his arm as we were walking to the door.

"If you don't care, and Alice doesn't mind if I stay here, I would like to just wait and ride with you."

"I was hoping you would say that." He flashed me his crooked grin and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. Perhaps this would be a great Christmas after all.

I was surrounded by remnants of cheeto bags, Slim Jim packages and chocolate bar wrappers. Who would have believed that Edward could be a junk food junkie?

The party at the pediatric ward had gone off perfectly. Edward was completely in his element with the children. He told me that he, Emmett and his dad took turns each year playing Santa for the kids. They had been so excited about the pillows Esme had made and Edward's frat had collected a whole truck load of toys that I helped him hand out. Alice had even left me an elf costume to wear before she left.

We had spent the entire ride to Colorado just talking, listening to music and pigging out on munchies. Edward regaled me with stories about his family, my favorite being the one about what the nurses liked to call Carlisle behind his back – Hot Bitch. I had laughed for a good twenty minutes at that one. Some nurse named Nina had made it up and it just stuck. Although Carlisle didn't find it funny, Esme thought it was hilarious and loved to tease him about it all the time.

We pulled up in front of a huge log cabin about twenty minutes outside of town. The entire house was decorated in Christmas lights, candles flickering in every window, snow completely covering the ground; it looked like something out of a Thomas Kinkaid painting.

I was still standing in awe when Alice came bounding down the front steps.

"I'm so glad you two are finally here. Mom has the tree up, but wouldn't let us put the ornaments on until you got here."

I was almost to the steps when my feet hit a patch of ice, which combined with my natural clumsiness, sent me flat on my derriere. Edward was beside me in a flash, scooping me up in his arms, carrying me through the front door.

"Edward!" I squealed. "I can walk you know."

"Obviously not very well." He chuckled.

"Besides Bella there are worse things than having a guy sweep you off you feet, right?" Alice piped up while grabbing the bags that Edward had set down so he could pick me up.

I felt my cheek flame but still kept silent. I was too engrossed watching Alice mouth words to me behind Edward's back. All I could make out was "perfect", "excited" and "great time" along with her hyper double thumbs up signs.

We were no more inside the door than everyone else in the house descended upon us. Esme and Carlisle taking our coats and my duffel of presents and adding them to the huge pile that was already stacked in the den.

I stood in amazement in front of the gigantic tree covered in lights that stretched up to the ceiling. It looked like something you would see in a department store, not something you would find in someone's house.

I was overtaken by a boisterous Emmett, who grabbed me and swung me around in his arms.

"So Bells, how did it go at the kid's party? Did ya get to sit on Santa's lap? Maybe tell him what you want for Christmas." He let out a loud guffaw obviously amused at his own joke. Unfortunately for him his attempt at embarrassing me was rewarded with a resounding smack upside his head from Rose.

Quickly I tried to change the subject. The last thing I wanted was to be uncomfortable around Edward the entire holiday. Although to his credit, he was taking it all in stride. He never even glanced at the exchange between Rose and Emmett, instead just giving me a quiet smile as he went to retrieve the rest of the bags from the car.

I noticed all the colored balls and homemade ornaments hanging on the tree. I was particularly amused by one of Edward that looked to have been taken when he was around seven. His front tooth was missing and he was dressed up in camouflage like a soldier.

"Christmas pageant at school, he played a toy soldier." I felt Esme's warm hand on my shoulder as she glanced at the ornament in my fingertips. "He hates we put them up every year, but I just can't seem to stop. They grow up so fast."

"I think they are adorable." I told her as I moved to one that held a picture of all three children. "They give the tree…I don't know, character."

"I am glad someone sees it my way. The kids have been threatening to hide them for years. I told them they will understand when they have children of their own." She said lovingly fingering an angel made out of popsicle sticks and paper that had Emmett's face glued to the top, complete with toothy grin.

"I thought Alice said that you were waiting to put up the ornaments until we got here?" I asked.

"We did, silly. These we only put on when we are all together." Alice answered gliding into the room, holding two large decorative boxes.

She sat the boxes upon the floor and lifted each lid as the entire family gathered round. Inside were brightly colored ornaments in different colors, each one a different shade of delicate hand blown glass.

As Esme took each one from its satin lined spot, I noticed they had been painted with a name.

The first was a midnight black shot through with different hues of color, almost marbleized. Carlisle's name was written in silver script along with a medical insignia. The next was a pearl white that also reflected the same rainbow of colors. Esme's name was on this one along with a scattering of hearts.

Emmett's was handed out next. It was a brilliant gold that for some reason had what looked like a bear claw on it.

"Don't ask, Bella. It is best to just say our Emmett had a thing for uh… teddy bears when he was younger." Edward said as I gazed at the golden ball being hung upon the tree.

"Nuff said little bro. I have enough dirt on you to bury you eight feet under, so how about we just leave it at that." I knew he was kidding, but the slight lilt in Emmett's voice convinced me to just drop my question.

Rosalie's ornament was a bright silver. One long red rose was painted completely around the ball, with her name scripted out in white.

The next one was all painted in red white and blue with a white star housing Jasper's name. Upon closer inspection I realized it had been made to look like the Texas flag.

Alice's was a majestic shade of purple. I turned it over in my hands, noticing the intricate detail of the strappy shoe that had been painted on it, the laces from it winding around finally spelling out her name.

After the first box had been emptied, Esme pulled an emerald green one from the second box. Along with his name it had several music notes and a G clef painted in it. Edward took it from his mother and placed it on the tree.

"The ornaments are just beautiful Esme. Each one represents its owner so well." I gently touched each one, admiring all the detail.

"And yours and Carlisle's, it is like you can see all of the other ornament's colors swirled in them."

"You are very perceptive, Bella. That is what I thought when I picked them out. I thought it was fitting that you could see each of our children's 'colors' so to speak mixed in with ours."

I watched as she went back to the box and pulled out a round ball of tissue paper. She pulled my hands to her and placed it softly in my palms.

"I hope you like the color. Edward said that it had to be this shade."

I slowly unwrapped the tissue as I felt the air catch in my throat. There nestled in my hands was a bright blue ornament. My name was written in white with golden accents and the tail of the a in my name trailed off to make a book mark for the book that had been painted on the other side.

"We hope you like it. There is a little Christmas store in town that makes them. We wanted to add something of your personality to it and everyone pretty much agreed that with your love of books that it would be appropriate."

I felt the tears starting to form, and I willed them away.

"It is breathtaking, but you shouldn't have. I mean these are your special family ornaments and I'm just…" I knew if I don't stop talking the tears would be inevitable.

"Just family." Edward said removing the rest of the tissue from my hands. "Now find a place to hang it."

I moved around the tree, finally settling on a branch right below Edward's green one. It was mesmerizing the way they caught the light and I couldn't resist reaching out to touch it again.

"And the color is beautiful. Such an odd shade of blue. It is almost like the sea or something. I feel like I have seen it before."

Suddenly Emmett let out a loud snort, choking on his drink. Rose was pounding his back as he gagged, trying to force the liquid from his windpipe.

"Oh, god…Edward...you didn't. That blue…I remember…"

A spark of embarrassment flashed across his face as he strode across the room, grabbing Emmett by the elbow and practically dragging him from the room. A minute later they both returned. Edward seemingly placated and Emmett looking like the cat that ate the canary.

"Do we want to know what that was about boys?" Carlisle asked as he pulled a bottle of wine from behind the bar.

"I don't believe so, dad. How about a drink? I somehow got choked on mine." Emmett answered, giving Edward a wicked smile.

I looked at Alice and she just shrugged her shoulders. Obviously an inside joke between the two, I thought as I took a glass from Carlisle.

"Here's to a wonderful holiday. Bella, we are so glad you are here to share it with us." Carlisle toasted as we all raised our glasses.

Several glasses of wine later I was feeling quite relaxed, but also sleepy as the long drive started to take effect.

"Alice, why don't you show Bella to your room. I think we should all probably call it a night if we are going to go skiing tomorrow." Esme said as she watched me stifle a yawn.

"Sure, we'll just tidy up in here and head on to bed."

I looked around the room. Besides a few glasses, the room was spotless. I gave Alice a strange look that she just shot back with a stare.

We stood around for just a few more moments, with Alice looking like she was going to spontaneously combust. Finally, she grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs.

"You know I love you like a sister, right? And that I would do anything in the world for you, right?" Her speech was getting faster and faster and I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Of course, but why exactly are you telling me know?"

"Well…I wanted to ask you a favor." We stopped in front of a door that she opened to a beautiful bedroom. My bag was already sitting in the middle of the bed.

"Is this our room? It's gorgeous, Alice. And you know you can ask me anything."

I flopped down on the bed, watching her nervously flit to the dresser, her fingers trailing up and down the dark wood.

"You see…this is so hard…I wanted to know…" It was almost painful to watch her trying to get the words out.

"Good Lord, Alice. Just spit it out already."

"Mom and Dad are sort of funny about sleeping arrangements. This is the first year that they are allowing Rose and Emmett to stay in the same room." Her voice sort of trailed off as she finished her sentence.

"And…"

"And I was hoping that you would stay in here and maybe let me sneak and be with Jasper." Her damn puppy dog eyes were back and I knew I couldn't say no. Besides, there was a huge king size bed and a fireplace. Who in their right mind would mind staying in a room like this?

"Of course I don't care. I most certainly don't want to get in the way of your, uhhh… good times." I felt a soft pillow smack me upside the head as Alice's giggling filled the room.

I grabbed for the closest pillow to me and started swinging wildly at her tiny body. Alice was dodging and wielding her pillow all the while trying to speak through her laughs.

"I'm so glad you are okay with this. I am really surprised. Besides this might be the best thing that could happen."

I maneuvered out of the way of an oncoming hit.

"Why would I care? We'll still get to hang out everyday. I'll just be sleeping alone."

I watched her mouth fall open, as the pillow went limp in her hands.

"Bella, I don't think you completely understood what I was asking. You see…"

I watched as Edward walked into the room and dropped his bag on the bed beside me.

"So, I hear we are going to be roomies."

AN2: So did everyone catch the color of Bella's ornament? If not, think back to the night of Carlos and Charlie's. Hmmmm… seems Edward remembered those blue panties fairly well.

A special thanks to Ninapolitan who coined the term Hot Bitch in reference to Carlisle. I actually had a One Shot called The Big Four OHHHH!! that won a contest in her honor.

And finally… (I know, I know…it has been a while. I have a lot to say)

Mischief-maker1 (Miami at Twilight), I'mwiththevampires08 (Bitter Sweet Symphony) and yours truly have teamed up with a new profile called VampsofTwatlight. We have a new story that should be coming out next week called How to Save a Life. It is going to be controversial and dark and oh so good. Make sure you put us on author alert so you can get the story when it starts.