"Edward, you know immortality hasn't changed me that much. I still don't want you wasting money on some ridiculous, frivolous gift for me."

"Bella, I've heard too many women ready to throttle their husbands for not giving them gifts to fully believe that."

I rolled my eyes, then closed them to focus. I forced my shield away from myself so he could read my thoughts directly; I really didn't need any crazy, overdone presents, I didn't need any presents at all and I wasn't saying that out of some sense of duty. I knew that Edward could, and would, get me absolutely anything I desired. Anything. As if the garage full of insanely overpriced cars, the closet full of Alice's shopping and our cottage in the woods near Forks weren't proof of that.

"You might actually believe you don't want anything," he grumbled and I lost my concentration enough that my shield immediately came back up. "But I want to give you something."

"You know you've given me everything I could want." I wished then, that my gift was like Renesmee's. I wanted to touch his face and show him our life together stretching on forever with all the Cullen household and our beautiful daughter close by with Jake as a sort of son-in-law, not unlike the brother I'd always wished he could be. But I couldn't send him that thought without great effort, so instead I just reached up to touch his face gently, stroking his lips with my thumb and pulling our bodies together at the waist. "God, I love you."

"Love isn't a strong enough word," he murmured, reaching down to kiss me gently. It was amazing to me still that his body had once felt cold, hard, unyielding, when it felt so different now. But there was still the electricity between us. That hadn't changed. He deepened the kiss slightly, and I could taste sour hint of venom in his mouth, mixing with his taste; floral, masculine, sweet, intoxicating.

Finally, he pulled back softly, nuzzling against my face. Softer than a whisper and faster than human ears could decipher he said "But I still want to get you a present."

I scoffed at him, smiling as I pushed him back. "Insufferable, you are. What am I ever going to do with you?"

"Oh, I could think of a few things." He raised an eyebrow, his gold eyes seeming to turn a shade darker. Big talk for Edward. Born in an age when Elvis would have been unthinkably sinful, Edward still maintained so much of his old-fashioned sense of propriety.

Which was fine with others, but I'd be damned if he wasn't going to learn to let go with his wife. I was working away at that repression slowly, and seized upon another opportunity. "Oh? Like what?" I licked my lips, half-smiling, flirting with him.

He smirked and leaned in to kiss me again, but I held him back. My newborn strength was weaning now. I was just over a year old as we were nearing our first Christmas since the Volturi had last stopped by. We were relatively matched for strength now, but he was always responsive to the gentlest physical urgings from me.

"No, Edward. I want you to tell me what you want. I want you to say it. Please." I knew he couldn't reasonably deny me anything, and the word "please" from me had often been the cause of his undoing in the past.

He looked torn for a moment, the same desire still filling his eyes, but not sure how to continue.

"I want you, of course."

I snorted a little laugh and responded "Well I know that, Edward." The uncertainty still rippled through his amber eyes, and knowing him as I did, I knew this expression. Deep desire, but he just didn't think it was proper to say it out loud.

"But honey," I murmured, resuming my seductive voice. "Tell me where you want me." I licked my lips again. "And when you want me." I pushed some of my hair off my forehead and leaned into his body to whisper right into his ear. "And how you want me."

At this, I pushed my mouth against his jaw and kissed the point where his neck met his ear, sucking gently.

He moaned out "Ohh God, Bella," and I moaned a little against his neck, but I had no intention of letting him off the hook that easily.

"Ungh, ok. I want you, Bella," he groaned. "Now. I don't care where. I don't even care how. I just want to see your face in pleasure, in rapture, in ecstasy. I want to unwrap you like the best Christmas present I'll ever get."

He didn't say any more as I continued sucking at his neck. But for Edward, this was a step in the right direction. I pulled my face away to look into his eyes. His irises seemed to pulse and flame with shades of gold.

"Good," I whispered to him, kissing him full on the mouth. With that, my resolve fully melted, and I didn't particularly care if he couldn't say it out loud right then.

---

When morning broke the next day, it was the day before Christmas eve. At the main house, everything, as usual, seemed to center around Reneesme. She was born to wrap people around her littlest finger. Rose read her a story, while she sat in Jacob's lap, looking to the world like the happiest 5-year-old that had ever lived, even though she'd only been conceived and born about a year and a half earlier.

Jasper, Alice, Carlisle and Esme were hunting, and while they were gone, Edward wanted to wrap a few gifts for them. Never one to be outdone, he was lavishly wrapping everything with huge bows of velvet and satin ribbon. He'd even asked for Jacob's help with Alice's gift. As long as Jacob gave them to her on Christmas morning, we were hoping she wouldn't be able to see the presents coming. Poor girl probably thought we forgot her.

As I was watching him tie a precise multi-loop bow around a larger box, I started replaying our gift conversation in my head. I wanted to give him something, but I couldn't think of anything he could want that he didn't already have.

And then it hit me. I want to unwrap you like the best Christmas present... Maybe, if I could play into that fantasy, we'd both get something we wanted. What he would get out of it, I hoped was obvious, but I also hoped it might get him to come out of his gentlemanly shell a little, validating to him that telling me his fantasies was, in fact, a good thing.

I couldn't help but smile, as Edward pulled snugly on the bow he was finishing. He looked up at me, grinning at him and smiled back.

"What are you thinking?" he asked softly.

"Nothing really." I couldn't entirely hold back the smirk that crossed my face, though it was so quick most people would have missed it entirely.

"Sometimes you are so frustrating," he said quietly, but he was still smiling gently, negating himself.

A new thought occurred to me then. He also wanted to see inside my thoughts. Hmm. Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

---

That evening when Reneesme started to yawn, Edward picked her up and started to carry her to our cottage and her small bedroom. He looked mildly suspicious when I said I had a few things to do at the main house and would be there by the time Reneesme actually went to sleep, but off he went.

I started gathering up all the unused satin and velvet ribbon he'd been working with earlier. Luckily, there was a lot leftover. I hid it all where I could find it the next night and then joined Edward in our cottage. I had been wrong. I made it there before Reneesme even closed her eyes.

---

The next day, Christmas eve, Reneesme was exciteable and giddy. Like most 5-year-olds, she wanted to sleep near the tree that night, to see Santa.

Though she was perfectly able to speak now, she still preferred to talk through her gift when she could, so as she and I sat, looking at the tree, she whispered "Momma," and put her hand against my face.

Immediately I saw an image of Santa, but he was different than what she'd seen on TV. He was paler and thinner, and instead of using reindeer for his sleigh, he hunted them. She wanted to know if Santa was a vampire because she knew humans couldn't move that fast, or carry the weight of so many presents, or even, for that matter, keep a list straight of all the children in the world. It was impossible, and she knew it.

For an immeasurable fraction of a second, I felt overwhelming sadness that she was growing fast enough to have already figured out the impossibility of Santa, but then I started laughing, just as Edward did at the image she'd given me of a vampire Santa, draining Blitzen and Donner. It was ridiculous, and adorable and such an utterly 5-year-old leap in logic that I couldn't help but laugh.

"You know honey, maybe," I said sincerely, smiling at her. "I've never met him, but that makes more sense than what they show on TV, doesn't it?" She smiled her dazzling smile up at me.

"Show me that one again, sweetheart. I like that one."

She put her hand to my face, going back over her thoughts about Santa. There was a new feeling of smugness to her thoughts, that she'd figured it out. She felt good that Santa might be like our family, and we watched, Reneesme, Edward and I, as Santa stalked a reindeer silently and pounced. In any other family, it would have been a child's worst nightmare, but for Reneesme, and so for us too, it was a joyful thought.

---

It was far more difficult to get her to sleep that night than usual, but eventually, she did. Jasper stayed close by to calm her if she got to excited again. When morning came, he would let her feel the full weight of her excitement, but she needed to sleep so for the time being, he kept it at bay.

Edward and I watched her sleep for a few moments, but I was started to feel a knot in my stomach about what I was planning.

Jasper kept glancing at me and finally said "Bella, seriously. I don't know what you're up to, but go do it. You're weirding me out." He smiled at me, feeling the embarrassment I felt at being caught.

Edward raised one eyebrow at me, and I said "Maybe we should head back to the cottage soon."

As we walked toward the door, Alice walked in.

"Merry Christmas, you two." Then she winked at me. Then I was hit by a wave of lust, and I knew Jasper was sending us the same message. I grabbed Edward's hand and pulled him toward the cottage. By the time we were halfway there, he was pulling me along.

When we got in the door of the cottage, he grabbed me, but I kissed him only once before pulling away.

"What was Alice thinking about back there?" I was suddenly afraid she might have ruined the surprise. Damn psychic sister-in-law.

"Translating The Illiad from Greek to Swahili. What did Alice see that she's keeping from me?" he smirked in my direction.

"I wanted to give you your Christmas gift."

He grinned like Reneesme thinking about Santa, his teeth glinting in the dark.

"But you have to follow my instructions." I said, willing my voice not to betray any nervousness I felt. He looked thoughtful then.

"Of course, Love. Anything."

"Good. So," I paused pushing him back to sit on the loveseat in our living room. "You need to stay here, while I am in the bedroom. And I want you to listen."

He looked a little confused. Listening was hardly a conscious choice for us. It was part and parcel of what we were.

"Not with these," I said, covering his ears with my hands. "Listen here." I put two fingers against his forehead. "I might want to show you things, but you need to be paying attention." His smile softened and his eyes flared with desire.

I kissed him again, and walked away, feeling his eyes on me.

"And stay there until I come get you," I said quiet but stern, knowing he would hear me.

---

EPOV

I sat there feeling more and more certain that Bella was not only the most desirable, loved, fantastic thing I'd ever laid eyes, or any of my other superhuman senses on, but she was also my absolute match.

She knew exactly what would drive me crazy. She stirred up not just passion based in our shared love, but a desire that rivalled the omnipresent thirst for its urgency and strength.

And then I felt the slightest shift in the atmosphere, and an image came to me through Bella's eyes. She was showing me something, through her thoughts.

I saw her delicate left ankle as she wrapped inch-wide ribbon around it, drawing the candy-red satin up her leg in criss-crossing motions. I saw her caress her leg as she did it, feeling the smooth, firm texture under her fingers. She smoothed the ribbon flat.

But as she reached her knee, the image disappeared. I waited, hoping maybe she'd lost her concentration and the image would be coming back, but nothing happened. I replayed the image again, and went from curious and excited to completely and wholly aroused. I could probably hold that image in my mind forever and be a happy man. I longed fiercely to caress her leg for her, feel the little electric shocks that flowed between us in shared chemistry. I shuddered, just thinking about it.

Suddenly, another image poured forth into my mind. I saw Bella's right wrist as she nimbly tied a bow around it in the same kind of ribbon as her leg. The gaze I saw shifted up her arm, as she trailed her own fingers up to touch the inside of her elbow, then further. She grazed her fingers up, trailing the pale blue vein that still traced up the centre of her arm across her shoulder and up her neck. But again, just as she reached her shoulder, the image disappeared.

I shuddered out a breath in spite of myself. I'd fantasized about seeing into Bella's mind, but I'd never considered this would be something she'd show me. It was amazing. I could practically taste the desire in her shared thoughts. My own desire was just as palpable. Figuratively and literally speaking. I could sure as hell feel my own desire.

I willed more control into myself. I had to sit still. Though she was now my wife, there were still things I wouldn't dare say out loud. Totally indecent things. Like the way the crease between her leg and her body made me want to just spontaneously come. I chided myself for even thinking such a thing.

Another image flooded in. It was Bella's hair from the back, like she was looking in a mirror. She tied a ribbon around her as a headband, gently cinching the ribbon into a bow. Then she tied another one around her hair, letting her long dark ponytail fall like a heavy satin curtain, tied open. Her gaze started to travel down her naked back. I took in the soft curve of her waist and the gentle flare of her hips. Expanses of cream coloured skin. Just as I could see the dimples in lower back, the image once again disappeared.

I was straining, trying to get the image to keep going. I realized my tongue had slipped between my lips unconsciously willing me to reach out and taste her skin. But my own memories of her body, as perfect as they were, were not this exact image. When I tried to make the gaze continue down to her ass and her glorious legs, it took on the haze of the imagined, which just wasn't as good as seeing Bella's milk-white skin through her own eyes.

I adjusted my position in the chair, feeling uncomfortably stuck there. Very human, I thought wryly, that these little voyeuristic glimpses were making me fidget in my chair and think crude things. Like how I just wanted to feel Bella's firm thighs under my thumbs, and grab her roughly as I pushed my tongue into—God, I had to get control of this unholy lust racing through me. This was my wife, after all. Of course I desired her, but I couldn't let myself view her this way. As an object for my gratification.

Another shared image stopped my own thoughts. She was looking down at her body, tying a wide velvet ribbon across her chest. She was crossed all over with red ribbons of varying widths. And then again the image was gone, this one shorter even than the others.

I wasn't sure how much more of this I could sit through. This was torture. Surely during the great wars, they could have used these kind of images to completely break a man. If I'd had a heartbeat, anymore, I was certain I would have been nearing tachycardia by now.

A dark image filled my head. The back of a man's head, fidgeting as he ran a hand through bronze waves of hair. With a start, I turned in my chair as the image dissipated. Bella was standing behind me, wrapped all over in red, looking like a pin-up girl painted on a WWII fighter plane come to life.

Her breasts and hips were swathed across in two wide bands of red. The long expanse between them was criss-crossed with narrow satin ribbon, like corset lacing, but set against her skin. Her limbs were wrapped the same way, tied like the ribbons on ballet pointe shoes.

She'd finished the whole thing with a santa hat on her head, hanging low over one eye.

And she said my name, "Edward," like it was the end of a long prayer and she couldn't wait to get out of church. I was dazzled, and completely unaware of whatever expressions crossed my face.

"God, Bella. Please, please, pleasepleaseplease tell me I can move now."

She smirked, twitching up one corner of her mouth.

"Not just yet, honey. I showed you mine, now you show me yours."

I was utterly dumbfounded. If she'd wanted me naked, she certainly didn't have to ask me twice. I yanked my shirt over my head, and she started laughing.

"That's not what I meant, though by all means, continue. I'll want you naked pretty soon."

I grabbed the edge of the chair, tearing neatly through the fabric of its arms, and watched her. I knew my face gave me away, confusion, desire and pain mingling there. I was never going to understand the way her mind worked. Even if I lived forever, I was sure of that.

---

BPOV

"That's not what I meant, though by all means, continue. I'll want you naked pretty soon." I laughed when he nearly ripped the chair apart, tearing the upholstery. I was teasing him and enjoying every damn minute of it. And to top it off, he still didn't know what I was getting at.

"I meant that I showed you what I was thinking. Now I want you to tell me what you were thinking while I was in there."

"Ugnh, you have to know what I was thinking. God, I was thinking how beautiful you are and how amazing it is to see you through your own thoughts. How lucky I am to have you."

"Is that all?" I asked, looking down at the ribbon around my wrist, picking at the edge of the bow tied there.

"Basically." He swallowed audibly. Not good enough. I raised an eyebrow and looked back up at him.

"Maybe you need help remembering." I walked over to him sitting in the chair and raised my foot, pressing it lightly in his thigh. "Now, when I showed you this-" I reached down, tracing the satin wrapped around my calf "-what were you thinking?"

He stared at my leg for a moment, before groaning out my name. "God, how much I want to feel your skin. I need that spark in my fingers that I get every time I touch you."

"Mmm, Edward. Touch my skin then, Edward. I want you to."

He reached tentatively forward, tracing the ribbon's line from my ankle to my knee. Back at my ankle, he untied the delicate bow and unwrapped the ribbon slowly. He trailed his fingers softly up my leg, then pressed his fingertips harder into my skin, wrapping his hands around my calf. Delicious.

When his hand reached the back of my knee, I pulled my leg back, not ready for this to be enough yet. He groaned as I moved away.

"Edward, look at me." He did, meeting my eyes after only a moment's hesitation across my body. "Now," I said, holding my hand out toward him. "When I showed you this, what were you thinking?"

He had already grabbed my hand and was starting to untie the ribbon at my wrist. "Same thing," he mumbled.

I pulled my hand back. "Not good enough." His eyes were pleading, like a child made to wait for a present on Christmas morning. He groaned again.

"Bella. I was thinking how soft you are, how perfectly delicate your hands are." I let him take my hand back and finish untying to bow at my wrist. "How your fingers make me crazy because I love it when you touch me." He had pulled the ribbon back to my elbow. I reached my hand out and pressed my palm against his face. He leaned into my touch.

"Stand up," I whispered. I didn't move my palm from his cheek until he was standing, several inches taller than me. I trailed my fingers across his cheek, until my index finger brushed across his bottom lip, full, pouting and parted. His breath shuddered across my fingers.

Abruptly, I turned to face away from him. I tossed my hair gently to look over my shoulder at him. He looked positively dazed. Excellent.

"And this, Edward?" I said, flicking my eyes down and up to indicate my back. "What were you thinking about?"

"God, Bella. I was thinking how much I love feeling your hair against my fingers, so soft." He reached out and ran a hand through my hair. "And how much I wish it was never tied up because it is so hot when it's fanned out all around you and I'm above you and we-" He stopped then and said nothing, looking conflicted again.

"Mmm, Edward. Go ahead." My throaty moan seemed to pull him back and he reached out, pulling the santa hat off my head, placing it lightly on his own.

"Cutest santa I've ever seen," I murmured as he untied the ribbons around my hair. When he placed a hand softly on my shoulder, I turned back to him.

"And this, Edward?" I said, sweeping a hand down toward my body. "What were you thinking then?"

He closed his eyes for a second, opening them to focus immediately on my torso. "How much I need to taste you. God, Bella, I need to taste your skin."

I just tilted my head to the side, and he leaned in to kiss my shoulder, sucking softly. I was only vaguely aware of his hands untying my other wrist and unravelling the ribbons from both my arms until they fell softly to the floor. He trailed open-mouthed kisses across my shoulder, down to the inside of one of my elbows, then back up. His tongue reached out softly and tasted my shoulder, tracing a line across it.

When he pulled his head back a few inches, he seemed to search for a moment, not sure where all the ribbons originated from or how to free me from them. I reached under my arm, towards my shoulder blade and pulled out a bow that had held everything tightly in place. The ribbons slackened, and he leaned in greedily, tasting my skin. His mouth described every curve of my torso as he slid each ribbon loop gently down my body, until I was naked, with pools of satin ribbon curled around my feet.

"Edward," I said, suddenly unable to wait anymore. "Remember what I said about wanting you naked eventually? I think it's time." He pulled his face from my navel and looked up at me, before leaping lithely to his feet and shedding the rest of his clothing faster than I'd ever seen.

"Now, Edward," I said before he could touch me. "I want you to tell me what you want to do to me now."

"Oh, God, Bella, I want to feel you around me. I want to make love to you, right now. I need you against me, under me. God, Bella, you're so sexy." He looked almost embarrassed, but I groaned and launched myself at him, kissing him feverishly. He leaned me back slowly, until I had to fold my knees under me. He kept leaning, getting onto his own knees until I had to lay back on the carpet. Immediately, his body covered my own, and I felt his weight press against me.

"Mmm, Edward, I love it when you talk to me. God, tell me again."

"I love you."

"I love you too, but I didn't mean that. Tell me what you want to do to me."

"Oh god, I love having you under me, moving against me. It's perfect. You're perfect. I want to make love to you." He moved his body, one hand reaching between us to line us up. "I want to feel you around me." He pushed himself softly into me, and I arched my body convulsively towards him.

"God, you're so sexy," he murmured, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I hooked my legs around the back of his knees and urged him on. I kissed him hard, pulling his lower lip between my teeth, careful not to push too hard.

He sped up our rhythm, pushing harder and faster into me as I arched my back and raised my hips to meet him. Perfect.

I felt the frantic heat start to build below my stomach and raised my hips once more.

The wave suddenly broke and heat rolled through my body, my muscles clenching convulsively against him. He moaned my name and came then too, shuddering against my shoulder.

We lay there together for a while, eyes closed, smiling lightly. 10 minutes later, he lifted his head up and rolled to his side beside me, leaning up on one elbow.

"Mmm, Edward, I love you."

"I love you too." He dipped down to kiss me again, slow and languid. When he finally pulled away, he looked a little apologetic.

"So," he started. "Can I give you your Christmas present yet?"