A/N: This is my contribution for the Secret Santa Fan Fiction Swap 2011. The story was written for badjujube. I hope you enjoyed it! This story is finished, but if you want me to, I could write a few more chapters, covering the days after Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

FIRST CHAPTER

20 December 2007

Forks, WA

There was gold dust on the hardwood floor.

Bella was certain that it hadn't been there last night. Surely she'd have noticed it, wouldn't she? Then again, Bella had to admit that she wasn't very observant these days. What was the point? She decided that it didn't matter whether or not it had been there the night before. It was here now. The question just was how it had got here.

Bella brushed the tips of her fingers across the floor. The dust came away easily. There was nothing unusual about it, as far as Bella could tell. It looked exactly like the kind of gold dust you could buy almost everywhere before Christmas. Inspecting the window, Bella discovered traces of dust on the frame as well. She didn't leave her window open at night anymore. It was far too cold for that now. Besides, who would she leave it open for?

Her heart clenched at the thought and she quickly focused on the mystery of the gold dust.

Bella knew it couldn't have been Charlie. She would have heard him entering; her sleep was so light that the tiniest of noise jolted her awake now. Even if he tried, Charlie would never be able to sneak into her room without her noticing. He might not be as clumsy as Bella, but he didn't exactly move with the grace of a Swan either.

So if it hadn't been Charlie, then who'd left it?

It was intriguing.

It couldn't have been her friends because Bella didn't have any friends anymore. The process had been a gradual one. At first they'd called almost every day, asking her how she was doing and offering her a shoulder to cry on. But when Bella hadn't called back, they'd stopped. She was aware that they thought she was overreacting. Girls got dumped by their boyfriends all the time after all. She wasn't the first and certainly wouldn't be the last. It wasn't the end of the world.

I guess she thinks she's special, Lauren had said disdainfully to Jessica the other day. Personally, I think she only got what she deserved. I never understood what someone like Edward saw in someone like her!

The words had stung because they were true. Lauren had only echoed Bella's own thoughts on the matter. He had left her because he didn't love her anymore. Bella should have seen it coming, should have expected it, but she hadn't. The end, when it came, had been a terrible shock, but it hadn't been a surprise. She just wished his family hadn't left her as well. She missed them so much, every second of every day. She knew she should lock those feelings away, like she had locked away her love for him, but she couldn't. Not yet, because she was still mourning heir absence.

She'd tried to be happy, for Charlie's sake. This was their first Christmas together and she didn't want to ruin it for him. So she'd tried. Had put on a smile and tried to be cheerful. Oh, how she had tried! But Charlie, who was more observant than she'd ever given him credit for, had seen right through her and declared that if Bella didn't feel like having Christmas, then they'd simply have no Christmas.

He'd been so supportive in the past three months. He'd convinced Renée to let her stay. He didn't push her, didn't try to make her talk to him. But maybe he'd changed his mind. Maybe he'd decided that it was time that Bella finally got over Edward.

So maybe he'd left the gold dust for her to find after all, to get her into a Christmassy mood.

Besides, who else could have done it?

Vancouver, BC, Canada

"Why do I have to wear this ridiculous suit?" Santa Claus complained.

Dumping his bag beside the door, he placed his hands on his hips and shot the Elf a sulky look. The Elf, not particularly impressed with Santa's un-Santa-like behaviour, rolled her eyes. She wondered briefly if he was aware of how unbecoming sulkiness was, especially in someone like Santa Claus, and decided that, no, he probably didn't.

The Angel simply sighed theatrically and flopped unceremoniously down on the sofa, nearly snapping her elaborate strap-on wings in half. The Elf growled quietly. She's worked hours to perfect them. The feathers were real, not artificial, and the Elf had meticulously dusted each one with gold and silver to match the embroidery on the Angel's long, white dress.

Judging by the look on the Angel's face she couldn't have cared less.

"Well?" Santa Claus demanded.

"Because it fits you," the Elf replied, somewhat irritated, as she joined the Angel on the sofa, careful not to crease her own costume. A dozen of tiny bells jingled quietly as she sat down. "Besides, it's an honour to wear the uniform."

"An honour?" Santa's eyebrows disappeared into the white hairline of his wig. "How is this," he pointed at the red suit with an expression of severe distaste, "an honour? I look like an over-sized lobster!"

The Elf narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm just asking," Santa amended quickly, realising he was very close to provoking the Elf's ire, "why I have to be Santa! Why can't I be the elf? Or the angel?"

The Angel and Elf both gaped at him, then, in a rare moment of complete agreement, started laughing.

"You honestly want to wear a white dress?" the Elf ask, giggling.

"And wings?" the Angel added.

"No, of course not," Santa defended himself, scowling. Why didn't they take him seriously? Ever? "I was thinking about something along the lines of a trench coat. You know, like Castiel on Supernatural. I'm sure that'd look good on me."

The Elf sighed. "That's not exactly Christmassy."

"No," the Angel agreed. "It's not." Privately, she thought the Elf was carrying things a little too far. Costumes? Really? If she wakes up I don't want her to recognise us, the Elf had explained. Well, in the Elf's world that probably made sense. The Angel could have done without the whole bringing joy to the world thing. All she wanted was to get the lost lamb home, convince him of the error of his ways. The Angel had repeatedly asked the Elf why she insisted on including her in the plan. The answer had always been the same, just delivered with varying degrees of patience: Without her the lost lamb would't come home. The Angel doubted that. Surely, he'd be over her by now. Then again, if he had, he'd be here and they wouldn't be wearing these ridiculous costumes.

It suddenly struck the Angel that she was being unfair. The general mood had improved quite a bit ever since the Elf put her plan in motion. True, they'd had to shift their base of operations from Ithaca to Vancouver. Travelling over two thousand miles each night just wasn't practical.

The Elf's cell phone started ringing. Jingle Bells.

"The North Pole," The Elf said on picking up. "Santa Headquarters. How may I help you?"

"Really?" the Angel mouthed, exasperated.

This time it was Santa who shot her an admonishing glance, apparently having forgotten that up until a minute ago he'd been the one complaining. "If it makes her happy," he said with a shrug.

The Angel made a face. Unfortunately, Santa had a point.

They were in dire need of happiness.

Somewhere in Montana

"The North Pole. Santa Headquarters," the cheerful voice said. "How may I help you?"

"The North Pole?" Jasper asked incredulously although he probably should be used to Alice's antics by now. "Really?"

"That's where Santa lives, isn't it?"

"Alice," Jasper said very slowly and in a tone normally reserved for the dying, "you do know that Santa Claus doesn't exist, right?"

"Do you all have no imagination?" Alice asked sadly.

Jasper's lips twitched despite himself. He could practically see her puppy dog-eyed expression over the phone. Whatever Alice did, she did thoroughly. And regardless of the consequences, which sometimes—well, most of the time, really—meant having to step on people's toes to get what she wanted. By her tone Jasper guessed that she'd had run-in with Emmett Santa Claus and Rosalie Angel again. It wasn't that they were opposed to her idea. Jasper had been there when Alice had briefed the three of them and while Rosalie had huffed and puffed, she hadn't been able to hide her excitement at the thought of bringing Edward home. Emmett had been as enthusiastic as ever, at least until he'd learned that was to play Santa Claus, complete with strap-on belly, red velvet suit, and white beard and wig.

Emmett would never admit it, but he was just as vain as Rosalie.

Jasper liked Alice's idea, mainly because he didn't have to dress up to do his part. Unfortunately, this didn't mean that the task she'd set him would be as easy as killing a baby lamb, but it would definitely be just as little fun. In fact, so far he hadn't made much progress although he'd been on the road for a little over two weeks now. Jasper was very good at tracking, but trying to track someone—who didn't seem to know where he was going was an unmitigated pain in the posterior. Alice was clueless as well, which irritated her to no end. Edward didn't decide anything. He let himself drift. Jasper was currently somewhere in Montana and Edward's trail at least a week old.

If only he'd finally make up his mind!

Jasper didn't plan to give up. That wasn't like him. Besides, Alice had described her visions of Bella to him and Jasper knew that they had no choice. Edward had asked Alice not to look out for Bella's future, but she couldn't just flip a switch and tune her out. She couldn't control the visions that came to her.

"I'm afraid I've hit a dead end," he informed her. "He was here sometime last week. I only know because it hasn't snowed since then which is, in itself, a small miracle for Montana at this time of year. Any ideas as to where he may have gone?"

"Give me a minute," Alice said.

Jasper waited patiently.

"Eureka," Alice finally said.

Jasper blinked. "Does that mean you know where he is?"

"No, I mean that's where he is. Or will be in a little while. Eureka, South Dakota."

"Do you think he may be headed for Chicago?"

"That I can't tell you. Maybe subconsciously."

Jasper sighed. "I suppose that's better than nothing." He knew the general location of the town although he'd never been there before. Hopefully, he'd be able to make the trip in just a couple of hours, provided that the sky stayed hidden underneath a blanket of grey clouds. If it didn't, he'd lose valuable time. "I do have another question," he said then. "I know you want to hand him to Bella gift-wrapped and with a pretty bow on his head. Personally, I'd love to see that, but I doubt he'll let us. For that matter, how am I supposed to sneak up on him? He'll know why I'm there the second I've found him."

"Then don't think about it," Alice advised. "You also might want to corner him somewhere he can't escape you without making a scene. And then you'll just have to hold on to him until you've marched him home."

"You always make it sound so easy," Jasper replied with a sigh.