A/N: Just a little Christmas oneshot that was also posted as a chapter to my Christmas series, Snowflakes. Readn and review? Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.
Tradition
She had been avoiding him all day. He didn't know why, but she was. Fortunately for him, it was the perfect time to get revenge.
Getting down off of the step ladder, Emmett grinned maniacally at his work, hanging innocently from the middle of the doorframe. No one, especially not Rosalie, could deny the Christmas tradition of getting caught underneath the mistletoe with a certain someone special.
Smiling, Emmett straightened up and carried the stepladder back outside to the garage. Now, all he had to do was trap Rosalie in a small corner and let the fun begin.
In the kitchen…
Esme set the pan of gingerbread men down on the counter to cool. Since there was only a few days left to Christmas, she had wanted to make Bella a collection of holiday treats for when she was over.
Looking around, she realized that her set of cookie cutters had disappeared. Sighing, she crept towards the door, thinking that it was just one of her kids playing a joke on her by hiding them. Right before he could set foot into the living room to interrogate them, a set of stony arms locked her in a warm embrace.
She smiled brightly as she stared up into Carlisle's molten eyes.
"And just where do you think you're going?" He smirked, obviously pleased with their current position.
"To ask the kids if they seen my cookie cutters. I seem to have ,misplaced them and since hiding them is a thing that Emmett or even Jasper would do…" She replied.
"Looking for these?" Carlisle whipped about a half dozen cookie cutters out of his breast pocket.
"Yes!" Esme exclaimed. "Why do you have them?"
"They're my hostages."
"Hostages?"
"Yes. You don't get them back until you comply to the tradition."
"What tradition?"
"Look up."
Turning her gaze upwards, Esme noticed that there was a sprig of mistletoe hanging in the doorway.
Not needing to be told twice, Esme pushed herself up onto her toes and gave her husband a brief kiss on the lips.
"That wasn't much of a kiss." He responded, in a somewhat whiney voice.
"Well, once you let the hostages go and I clean up the kitchen, I think I could grant you another little one."
Carlisle immediately handed over the cookies cutters and waited patiently.
Upstairs in the bathroom…
Alice stood under the doorframe anxiously, once in a while taking a glance a glance back over her shoulder to look in the bathroom mirror to see if she looked alright.
She had been standing in the same place for close to ten minutes and it was starting to bother her that he hadn't appeared yet. He had to come, he just had to. She had a vision of him showing up.
Just then, the blonde haired vampire that just so happened to be the love of her life, came strolling up the stairs and down the hallway towards her.
As usual, he stopped in a daze in front of her, just as he always did.
"What took you so long?" Alice whimpered.
"What are you talking about?" jasper questioned, reaching out for his wife's hand.
"I saw you coming."
"I don't doubt it."
"You've kept me waiting far too long."
"Oh? And what did I keep you from?"
"A kiss." Alice smiled as she flickered her eyes upwards, knowing that Jasper would follow her gaze.
Once their eyes met again, the feeling to have his lips on hers was irresistible. Throwing her arms around his neck, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to hers.
Soon enough, they were both trapped in an unbreakable kiss, with the passionate embrace to match.
Carlisle, they both loved that tradition.
In the upstairs hallway…
Bella nervously strode towards Edward's room. She had noticed that since she entered the Cullen mansion that in in almost every doorway was a bit of mistletoe. She had a good feeling that Esme or Carlisle didn't put it up, nor Rosalie. Then again, it didn't really seem like a Jasper thing to do either. Or and Edward thing. No, this could only be the work of one of two people. Alice or Emmett.
Which one it was, she never knew, but she did know that until she left, she would have to watch herself.
It would be just like those two to pop out from behind doors and attempt to smother her in friendly kisses. However, she did not want that.
The only person - vampire - that Bella desired to kiss was Edward.
Oddly enough, ever since she stepped onto the landing that started her trek towards her destination, she only stumbled across one sprig of the offending plant, hanging in the bathroom doorway.
Hopefully, that would be the only one she came across.
Cautiously, she continued her trip down the hallway until she ended up standing right in front of Edward's door. Luckily for her, Bella did not run into any more mistletoe or vampire's that were prepared to jump out at her.
Raising her hand, Bella readied herself to knock, but before her hand had even touched the door it flew open. She was pulled inside by Edward, in all of his god-like glory. The only thing that registered in her mind before she fell under his charms was the fact that the ceiling seemed to be painted red and green.
Before she knew it, Edward had her dipped low, his lips crashing onto hers. The kiss was fierce and passionate, but once again, over far too soon for her liking.
When he pulled away from her, a glistening smile was making its way across his features.
Gasping for breath, Bella asked dazed, "What was that for? Not that I'm objecting, but that kiss was…"
"Totally unlike me?" Edward finished for her.
"Yeah." Bella replied.
"Well, who am I to tamper with tradition?" He winked at her before leaning back down to plant butterfly kisses all over her face.
"What tradition?"
"Silly Bella," Edward whispered between kisses. "Look up."
Following his instructions, Bella turned her eyes upwards, only to gasp in shock. She was right when she thought that his ceiling had been red and green, although it was not the effect of paint. Hanging above them were a good thousand sprigs of mistletoe. Not one inch of the ceiling could be seen through the tightly packed plants.
"Oh my Carlisle…" She said, stunned.
"You like it?"
"Where did you get all of it?"
"From Emmett."
"Why does Emmett Have that much mistletoe?"
"It's for Rosalie." Edward inserted before moving his assault of her skin down towards her neck.
"Now who's breaking tradition?"
"Huh?"
"Edward, Mistletoe is meant to be hung in a doorway, not all across the ceiling; not to mention there is only supposed to be one piece per room."
"Oh." He said dejected, pulling back entirely so she could get back into her unbent position of standing. "Shall I take them down? If they displease you so much, I can get rid of them."
"I never said that." Bella smirked, popped up on her toes to give her boyfriend a brief kiss on the cheek. "I just said that you're breaking tradition by having all of those in their.
Grinning like mad, Edward picked Bella up and before she could register what had happened, she was sitting in his lap on his couch.
Just as they were about to continue their affectionate show of love, Edward remembered something. Reaching back, he hit the wall. The vibrations of the connection ran all the way around the room, causing the door to slam shut.
"Now, we can begin." Edward whispered huskily, nuzzling his head into Bella's neck.
"Well, I for one won't be the spoil sport who'll break such a fine tradition." Bella replied before bringing Edward's lips up to meet hers.
In the living room…
Emmett was curled up in one of the many chairs, pouting like a child. His grand scheme to make Rosalie forgive him for not remembering what she wanted for Christmas had failed. He had witnessed Alice and Jasper fall into the mistletoe's magical traps, Edward and Bella had taken full advantage of it, and even Esme and Carlisle couldn't resist its mysterious pull. However, his Rosalie had managed to sidestep every bit of it without even a glance towards him.
Hence, why he planned to rid the house of it within the hour.
All was silent for a few minutes, that was, until she came strolling in.
Rosalie stood a couple of meters away, her hands behind her back.
"Hi." She said timidly.
Emmett just looked up at her and scoffed.
"Emmett-" She began, taking a short step towards him.
"What? Oh so now you decide to talk to me?" He cut her off, standing up. "Well you know what, Rosalie? I'm sick and tired of this! All you ever do is criticize me fro one small thing after the other and I'm sick of it! It's like I can't do anything right! Look, I'm sorry if I forgot what you wanted for Christmas, but instead of shunning me couldn't you have just told me again? Everyone makes mistakes, Rose, even vampires."
By now, he was less than a foot away from her, towering over her as if she wee nothing more than a small child.
"Emmett?" Rosalie whispered, almost sounding frightened of her husband.
"What?" He ground out.
Pulling her hands out from behind her back, she revealed that one harbored a slip of paper saying 'Tiffany's Diamond Encrusted Bracelet' while in the other was a single piece of mistletoe.
She handed him the paper and lifted the mistletoe above their heads.
"Merry Christmas, Emmett."
Without another word, she felt herself being lifted by her waist before Emmett complied with the one Christmas tradition that they both loved.