A Present Surprise

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: This is a Christmas present for my friend Angel of Music Lover who first introduced me to the Twilight series. She'd been telling me about them for months, but I just started reading them about two weeks ago. So this is kinda a thank you to her. As for setting, let's just say between New Moon and Eclipse, because I haven't finished Eclipse yet.

I reached up while on my tiptoes, putting the last ornament on the Christmas tree. I was so excited. Edward was coming over tonight to help wrap presents for Christmas. Edward said that his family didn't really celebrate Christmas, for obvious reasons, but he was willing to make me happy and come over and help. He said that he wanted this Christmas to be my best, since I insisted on it being my last Christmas as a human. I didn't think about that though and what it meant.

Charlie was out of town for the weekend, at a football game with his friends, which made the night all the more perfect.

I had all my presents ready to be wrapped on the sofa, supplies ready as well. Everything was perfect, I even had Christmas music on. Now all I needed was…

Then the doorbell rang, of course. He had perfect timing too.

I opened the door without hesitating, grinning as Edward gave me one of his breathtaking smiles.

"Merry Christmas Bella." He said cheerily.

It was then that I realized that Edward had a present in his hand.

"For me?"

"Of course."

"But I didn't get you anything." I murmured as I took his gift.

"That's okay. I'm not going to let you open it until Christmas anyways. I just wanted you to have it under your tree."

"What? Not fair!" I stomped my foot childishly, and Edward laughed. Hearing him laugh quickly sent all my anger away. I took the present from him.

I turned to walk over to the tree, but Edward pulled me close to him, he started to kiss my neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I turned around and met his lips. We stood like this for several seconds before Edward pushed me away, muttering something unintelligible about him being the death of me one day.

I ignored it and tried to calm myself as I put his present under the tree. "What if I open it before Christmas? What would you do?" I tested him. I knew that I pushed my luck with Edward sometimes.

"I would take it and wrap it again. Or rather have Alice wrap it again." Edward frowned for a brief second, and I couldn't help but stare. Edward always looked amazing, but tonight for some reason he seemed even more beautiful.

"You should be used to how stubborn I am." I grinned at him.

"I should be." Edward muttered. He sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to him, indicating I should sit down. I eagerly complied, and snuggled up against him, even though he was chillingly colder than usual. I gazed over at the Christmas tree, and my eyes fell on his present again.

I stared down at the present and gasped. It was a small box. "It's not a ring is it?!" I panicked.

"What? No. Trust me, when I propose to you, when I know you'll say yes, you'll get a real ring." Edward promised.

"Okay." I decided to ignore his part about me saying yes, and changed the subject.

Angela is coming over in a few minutes to let me have some of her wrapping paper."

"Oh really? Is she staying?" Edward asked as he stroked my hair, sending shivers down my spine.

"No. Of course not. This is our night."

Edward smiled.

Just then the doorbell rang and I jumped up to get it, Edward following me in his perfect stride. And then there was me who stumbled walking to the door, of course.

"Hey Angela!" I grinned.

She stepped inside the house and handed me the wrapping paper. "Ooh! It looks like you guys are gonna have fun." She smiled shyly at Edward, who smiled back.

"Hello Angela." He greeted her.

"Thank you!" I grinned at her.

"Well I gotta go. Ben's in the car waiting for me." As if on cue, Ben honked the horn, and we all laughed.

But the next thing that Angela said sent shills down my spine. "Now don't you guys get any paper cuts!!"

It was a innocent enough of a statement, and a year ago I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but now it meant the start of a awful period in both my life and Edward's.

I felt Edward tense up behind me, and I forced myself to not overreact. I laughed a little, so that she wouldn't notice how the mood in the room had quickly changed, and Angela gave me a smile as she left and closed the door. I turned to Edward, who seemed to be in some kind of quiet agony.

"It was a joke. She doesn't know." I told him quietly.

Edward only nodded, and I put a hand on his wrist. "Nothing is going to happen. I trust you."

"I know you trust me. I don't trust me." Edward said quietly.

"If you didn't trust yourself, you wouldn't be here in the first place." I reminded him, and then I took his hand, pulling him into the living room, where I handed him a present to wrap.

I took one as well and sat across from him, beginning to unroll the wrapping paper. I cut the amount I needed, and then I handed Edward the scissors and the wrapping paper. I began to wrap my present, putting the tape where it needed to be. I was so busy concentrating on my present that when I finished I realized that Edward hadn't even started; he was just watching me do it.

"Well are you gonna help or not?" I grinned.

"Yeah." Edward unrolled the wrapping paper and cut a significantly large amount, much more than he needed for the simple gift set I had bought for Mike.

I bit my lip and watched as he concentrated on positioning the present on the right place on the paper. Once he was satisfied, he placed one of the ends on it, and then put tape on it. He rotated the present, and continued to do this until he was finished. Edward didn't seem satisfied, glaring at it in an angry silence until finally I burst into giggles.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked me, his glare disappearing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Wrapping a present." He looked up at me in surprise. "What?"

"It's just, it look like a five year old did it."

Edward actually looked hurt, and I tried to resist crawling over to him and hugging him, without any use. I was on his lap within seconds.

"Have you ever wrapped a present before?" I asked him, trailing my fingers across his chest.

Edward looked embarrassed, and I couldn't help but smile at him. ""No, I haven't."

'Well what about the present under the tree? It looks like a professional did it."

The answer came to me at the same time he answered, "Alice."

"Oh." I looked back down at the gift he had wrapped. "Why don't I show you how to wrap?"

"You mean, teach me?" Edward asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Teach you."

A look of horror and dread spread across Edward's face, and I couldn't help but feel a little smug about the situation. For once I knew how to do something that he didn't know how to do.

I spent the next hour showing him where the tape should go and how to fold the paper correctly so that it looked nice. Several times Edward became frustrated, and once he even threw the present across the room. I picked it up and started over again, forcing him to watch. At the end of the hour, I sat on the couch while he was on the floor trying to wrap poor Mike's gift without any help from me.

I shifted anxiously on the couch as Edward's folding job was getting a little crooked, and Edward noticed the movement and quickly corrected his mistake.

"I'm done!" Edward exclaimed, proud of himself.

Again, I laughed and started clapping. "Good job!"

Edward stared up at me with resentment. "This doesn't leave this room."

"It won't." I promised, but I also promised myself that this wasn't the last time he was going to hear about this. "Let's just finish okay?"

Edward nodded and we both started a new present to wrap. I noticed Edward was concentrating a lot harder on this one. I even tried to start a conversation and he shushed me.

After a while, we finished all the presents and we ended up sitting on the couch again, staring at the tree. Edward was holding me tightly against him, and my head was resting on his chest.

"So what did you get me?" I mumbled softly. I just had to try again.

"You'll have to wait until Christmas." Edward told me, kissing the top of my head. My head tingled where he kissed me.

"At least you didn't wrap it." I couldn't help but tease him once more.

Edward made a face, and I quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. If it really upsets you that much, I won't say it again."

"No it's fine. Really. At least I know how to do it now."

I sat up and pushed him gently. "And hey, no paper cuts." I smiled at him, showing him my hands.

Edward looked at my hands carefully, and then he took them in his hands, gently kissing each finger as if they were porcelain.

"No paper cuts." Edward grinned.

I leaned in to kiss him, and knew that all was forgotten for now.

A/N: Please let me know what you thought. If I wrote anyone out of character, please tell me. I really want to improve, so anything would really help! Thanks!