So I was in a festive mood and watching the film clip for 'Seventeen Forever' by Metro Station and inspiration struck. My first Twilight fic, AU and All Human – not to be taken too seriously, but I hope it gets you into the Christmas spirit!

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Sunday the Fourteenth of December

Three minutes and twenty three seconds into the car trip and it had already become awkward. After the expected acknowledgment of how much I'd grown and the routine questions, "How are you?", "How is Renee?" and "How was school?" we silently decided it was better just to stare out of our respective windows. I'd never remembered the trip from the airport to my father's house to have been so long.

It had been years since I'd visited Charlie's house – he preferred making the trip to Phoenix to see me a couple of times a year, but this was the year I spent Christmas with my father in Wisconsin.

We arrived at the house – a gorgeous little cottage on the lake – and I stumbled on the doorstep on the way in. Charlie didn't bat an eyelid; my uncoordinated activities were a regular occurrence. I dragged my suitcase into the entrance as Charlie said, "Do you remember where your room is?"

"Yeah," I replied. This place – though I hadn't seen it since I was five – had a familiar feel about it. That combined with the fact that the upstairs only had three rooms (my room, Charlie's room and the bathroom) made it relatively easy to find my way around. Once I'd unpacked I had a quick look around. My room was small, but comfortable. Surprisingly, Charlie had updated it since I was last here – it now had a desk and the walls were no longer bright pink. The lounge room was scattered with photos of me – mostly from my younger years and the kitchen was spotless and didn't quite match the state of the rest of the house. I didn't have to ask why – Charlie hadn't cooked a meal in his life.

I checked the old grandfather clock in the lounge room and was surprised to see that it was almost seven.

"Hey Kiddo, I've got a surprise for you."

I looked up at him with a wary expression, "It's not another Frog in the Pond ice-cream at the parlour is it? Because, I'm seventeen now Dad and it was embarrassing when I was five."

He blushed and I immediately felt bad, then he laughed softly, "No, it's not that, now get in the car."

We didn't say a word in the five minute drive to... The Sullen Cullen?

"Dad..."

"C'mon Bella, I come every year, I'm a regular!"

I groaned inwardly as we stepped out of the car and into the gravel parking lot of The Sullen Cullen carnival. Despite the depressing name the place had, it was brightly lit with multi-coloured fairy lights and I could already hear the screams of happy children. The sign that informed me I was at 'The Sullen Cullen' perched proudly atop the ticket booth, its bright colours glittering under the dazzling fairy lights. I couldn't help but smile momentarily. I knew that the carnival came to Wisconsin once a year – at Christmas time. It was something Charlie had tried to use as a bargaining tool for me to spend time here at Christmas – he came to the conclusion when I turned fourteen that perhaps carnivals just weren't my thing. I knew the place only from pictures Charlie had kept of me as a kid; he tells me that I used to love it here. I should have guessed he'd bring me.

He purchased the tickets from a beautiful red haired lady at the booth. As we walked through the gates Charlie leant down and whispered, "That's Esme Cullen, do you remember her?"

I shook my head, he laughed, "Of course you wouldn't, I keep forgetting you were so young. She and Carlisle – that's her husband – own this place now – it's been in the family for generations."

I smiled. We walked a few more paces before we were stopped by a clown holding brightly coloured maps of the area in one hand and a bundle of balloons in the other.

"Hello there little lady," he said as he smiled – if possible – even wider and handed me a map, "Find one of the twelve drummers a drummin' and I might just have a special prize for you." He smiled that giant smile again and handed me a balloon and then winked. He looked up at Charlie, "Hey Charlie," he grinned once more and walked away.

I looked off after him, stunned. Charlie laughed, "That's Emmett, Carlisle's oldest boy, you'll get used to him."

I smiled and looked down at the map – there seemed to be some sort of promotion happening, something about the 'twelve drumming drummers' Emmett the Clown had mentioned. There were little drums marked at twelve different areas of the map. I sighed and looked up as I tried to take in the atmosphere around me. The carnival was popular – as was the cotton candy, it seemed. Charlie must have seen me eyeing one off as he lead me over to the cotton candy stall, "Two please," he said to the man working the machine, the man turned around holding two sticks of pink fluff when Charlie exclaimed, "Carlisle!"

"Hey there Charlie," Carlisle said, offering the cotton candy, Charlie went to pull out his wallet, "No," Carlisle said, "It's on the house," he smiled and I immediately saw where Emmett got his charm smile – though I saw no other resemblance apart from the identical brown eyes.

"You must be Bella," Carlisle said, "Charlie has told me all about you of course," he shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you," I said politely.

"Charlie!!" I heard a girlish yell come from behind me; I spun to be faced with an elfish looking girl wearing a red leotard with green tights and vest – she had a golden tinsel halo in her short black hair. Add a pair of pointy ears and I might just start believing in Santa Claus again. She leapt up and hugged my father warmly, "It's good to see you again," she smiled.

Charlie looked down at me, "Bella, this is Alice Greene, she also works here," he indicated Alice with his hand, "Alice, this is my daughter, Bella."

"Of course! It's nice to finally meet you Bella!" She hugged me as if she'd known me my entire life. As she let go of me she grabbed my hand, "Come and see my show!"

I had no other option, so I went with Alice to see her show – before I had a chance to ask her what her show was, exactly, we were there. I saw a blonde boy wearing a similar vest to Alice with long baggy green pants, and on his waist, a belt packed with dangerous looking knives. About ten metres in front of him was a circular wooden board, obviously the intended destination for the knives. Alice walked over to the blonde boy and pulled out a piece of black cloth from a pocket in her vest. She spun the blonde around and tied the cloth over his eyes like a blindfold. She waved her hands at the audience dramatically. I was more than a little shocked as Alice then walked over to the circular board and began to strap herself to it, she grinned at me. An assistant appeared from the audience and began to spin the board; she then retook her place in the audience.

The blonde boy suddenly spun around and threw one of the knives at the board with terrifying speed. I heard Alice laugh. Then he threw another knife, and another, and another until all that were previously on his belt were now attached to the board – or Alice, I gulped. Once all the knives had been thrown he took the blindfold off and looked straight towards the board, as it slowly stopped spinning he walked over to it. He helped it to slow down with his hands and, once it had stopped completely, he pulled Alice down off the board, carried her bridal style to the middle of the makeshift stage and set her down, they both bowed. I looked back at the board – there was a perfect outline of Alice made by the knives. I stared at the blonde in awe.

Alice grabbed his hand and lifted it into the air as they bowed one last time, she skipped over to me and introduced me to the blonde, "Jasper, this is Bella, Charlie's daughter," Jasper shook my hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Jasper Hale."

"Nice to meet you Jasper," I said. He was nowhere near as openly friendly as Alice, but there was something about him that intrigued me.

"That was pretty amazing," I told him as I indicated to the board.

Jasper smiled, "Practice makes perfect." I laughed along with him but I had the feeling that even if I practiced for a century, I'd never get that trick quite right.

"I think I'd better go find my Dad," I told them, they wished me a good night and went back to their show. I turned and walked back in the direction where I thought the cotton candy stall was. My head was spinning as I tried to remember everyone I'd meet... Esme - the ticket lady; Emmett, the clown; Carlisle at the cotton candy stall and Alice and Jasper: knife throwing team extraordinaire.

I walked around the carnival for what felt like hours – but despite my reluctance I was actually enjoying myself, the lights and the sounds made me feel... happy. I had a hotdog for dinner and watched a few more shows before deciding to find the cotton candy stall again – Charlie was no doubt busy catching up with his carnie friends.

That was when I walked straight into the most breathtakingly beautiful person I'd ever seen. As I sat ungracefully on the floor I saw that she was wearing dirty grey overalls covered in grease. She was tall, blonde and absolutely gorgeous, until she spoke.

"Do you mind?"

"Oh... Umm... Sorry, I'll just..."

"Just watch where you're going, k?"

I nodded as she strode past me. I saw Emmett the Clown striding after her, grinning.

I shook my head and struggled to stand up– where was the cotton candy stall?

"Don't worry about Rosalie, she's always like that, it's nothing personal."

I looked up to the voice and swallowed – hard. I immediately took back my thoughts about Rosalie – this was the most beautiful person I had ever laid eyes on – anyone had ever laid eyes on. He had gorgeous green eyes and windswept bronze hair which I had an unusual urge to run my hands through. I realised too late that he had spoken to me and had his hand out ready to help me up.

"Oh, yeah...I'll keep that in mind, thanks," I said as I grabbed his hand gratefully.

"No problem," he said as he helped me up and turned back to what he was doing – manning the carousel. I looked at all the smiling children. It was funny to think that I had once been just like them. I looked back at him and became wary, back home guys like him didn't come with equally gorgeous personalities.

"So, you're new in town?" He asked.

"Sorta," I said distractedly.

"Sorta?" He grinned.

"My Dad lives here, I'm visiting him for Christmas."

"Do you have a younger sibling?"

"No..." I was a little confused as to why he was so interested.

"I just thought, because you were here..."

"Oh that," I laughed, "No, apparently my Dad's a regular here... I haven't stayed with him since I was really young; I don't think he's quite used to me being a teenager yet."

He laughed a beautiful laugh, "You're Charlie's daughter?"

"Yeah," I smiled, "I think he was right about the whole 'being a regular' thing."

There were a few moments of comfortable silence as he let the kids off the ride and allowed some more on.

"So what does Rosalie do here?"

"Oh, she's the ride technician." He smiled.

I knew there must have been a surprised expression on my face because he continued, "Yeah, I don't get it either," he laughed again.

I had a good look at the carousel. It was magnificent. All pastel colours and delicate filigree designs, the paint was wearing slightly and the wood was a little chipped, but the eyes on the wooden horses held a sort of innocence that made me feel like a kid again.

He caught me looking, but didn't say anything except "Hello Charlie!" over my shoulder; I looked and saw Charlie smiling at me.

"Enjoying yourself?" Charlie asked me and, because I knew him so well, I knew he was nervous to hear my answer, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Yeah Dad, it's gorgeous here. I was looking for you too."

"I'm glad you like it, but we need to be heading back – it's nearing ten, I hope you ate some dinner."

I simply nodded and turned back to him.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," I said somewhat nervously.

"It was nice meeting you Bella, I'm Edward," he said as he shook my hand.

I nodded, "Right."

"I hope we meet again soon," Edward said.

I nodded and turned back to Charlie. He began to walk towards the exit when Edward grabbed my hand.

"Here," he said quietly as he trusted something into my hand with a smile on his face.

I looked at him questioningly but he had already turned back to his work. I turned around, puzzled and walked swiftly to catch up with Charlie.

What'd you think? There should be a new chapter every day until Christmas – more will be revealed about the Carnie Cullens tomorrow. Hope you liked it!