Christmas with the Cullens
A/N: Getting into the spirit of the season with everyone's favorite Mary Sue vampire family! Lulz and fluff will abound! Takes place in an imaginary…Christmas limbo after New Moon,but before Bella was turned. Enjoy, and happy holidays!
Disclaimer: Haaaa.
Chapter One – December 23
That first moment of waking up in the morning was always the best. I opened my eyes and glanced around my room blearily before shutting them with a smile, planning to sleep the morning of my first day of Christmas break away. Sighing contentedly, I rolled over only to be met with air. Wait…where was Edward? In a flash I had sat up and jumped out of bed. He wasn't in my rocking chair; he wasn't lying next to me. He was gone. My chest contracted and my vision grew fuzzy for the briefest of moments before I came to my senses. Calm down, Bella, I chastised myself. He's just hunting. You'll see him this afternoon. Pulling my hair away from my face, I sat back on my bed and waited for my heartbeat to slow, but it nearly jumped out of my chest when I heard an unexpected tap on the window. "Bella!" a voice yelped simultaneously, and I shrieked.
"Holy crow, Emmett!" I shouted. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Emmett's hulking frame nearly filled the window, and it shook with his roaring laughter. "That was a glorious jump, Bella," he cackled. "Now, take your human minute so we can get the hell out of here!"
I shook my head, pretending to be disappointed. "You just better be glad Charlie's left for work already." Charlie had gone to Seattle for four days as a consultant to the Seattle Police Department. He was disappointed that he couldn't be around for Christmas with me, but I had assured him that I would be fine. As I grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom, I looked back to see he'd drawn a fake moustache for himself on the windowsill and was proceeding to grin under it. Chuckling, I went to take my human minute.
By the time I'd changed into jeans, a tank top, a thermal shirt, and a pair of ski socks, Emmett had shimmied into my room and was sitting in the middle of my bed, bouncing lightly. A Santa hat perched atop his head, something that the frost had obscured from my human vision. "Ho, ho, ho!" he boomed, grinning. "Are you ready for your first Cullen Christmas?"
"Christmas isn't for two days, Emmett," I replied, pulling a pair of heavier boots out of my closet and tugging them on, along with a hat, coat, and gloves.
"Clearly, you have not been introduced to the concept of the Cullen Christmas," he mused. "I'll put it this way – Alice is in charge."
"Dear God." I shuddered, horrified. "Will I manage to escape without a couple thousand dollars worth of presents?"
"Probably not," Emmett smirked. "She's getting really into it – the only reason she didn't come get you herself is because she's still decorating the house. It's been almost six hours now. She wants to 'do Christmas properly' this year, whatever that means. All I know is that Esme's having a blast, Carlisle hasn't come out of his study all night, and Jasper's going to lose it any minute now with the amount of excitement and Christmas cheer she's been radiating."
I snickered in spite of myself, but I had to admit I was excited. Renee, scatterbrained as she was, had never been so good at organizing celebrations. Still, sitting next to our Kmart tree and eating doughnuts while we opened presents had always been my favorite thing to do with her. I confess – I love Christmas, and this one was bound to be unforgettable.
***
Emmett insisted on making me breakfast, so after I fought my way through a pile of pancakes we clomped our way through the melting slush to the Jeep. It had snowed two nights ago so most of the pretty, white snow was gone, leaving slush gray from car exhaust, but it was supposed to snow again tonight so no one was bothering to shovel their driveways. After making sure I was strapped in, Emmett blasted through the puddle of sleet in the gutter, giggling all the while, and headed towards the outskirts of town and the Cullen mansion. Forks was a dripping mess – icicles were hanging from awnings, telephone wires, and even the undercarriages of cars, and they were all melting fast. The Cullen mansion, for once, had fared no better – the lawn was riddled with patches of muddy snow and the driveway was a sheet of cracking ice upon which Rosalie knelt, carefully blow-drying the undercarriage of her M3 with the aid of an industrial extension cord. Surprised that Alice hadn't come bursting out of the house to fit my boots with crampons, I tried to open the door, but Emmett had removed the keys from the ignition, run around the front of the Jeep, and had me slung over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes before I could blink. "Emmett Cullen!" I hollered, feeling blood rush to my head. "Put me down!"
"No can do, Squirt," he boomed, laughing. "If you slip on the ice and break something, Edward threatened to dismantle the Jeep and get you to hide the pieces in La Push."
"Who says I'll cooperate?" I bellowed. "Just put me down, now!"
"Whatever you say, Bells," Emmett chuckled, setting me down gently on the garage floor. I stuck my tongue out at him childishly and untied my boots, setting them next to the door and entering the kitchen.
"Good morning, Esme," I greeted the matriarch of the Cullen family standing at the kitchen table.
"Bella, dear!" she exclaimed, wrapping me in a cold hug. "We're so excited that you could be with us for Christmas. Alice is in the living room, she's been waiting for you." I thanked her and headed into the living room.
The living room was so transformed that for a moment, I wondered if I'd taken a wrong turn. Alice had gone all out – pine garlands festooned the banisters of the staircase, crystal knickknacks crowded the mantle, and boughs of holly sat in vases on every end table. She'd covered the top of Edward's piano with fake snow and set up a nativity scene on top of it and, I'd noticed as we'd pulled up to the house, hung a gigantic wreath on the front door. The only part of the room that wasn't decorated was an empty corner on one side of the picture window. "Alice?" I asked, not seeing her.
"Bella!" she shrieked, popping up from next to a couch. The pompom on her Santa hat bounced as she flew over to me and flung her arms around my neck. "I'm so glad you're here, I've been decorating all night and I'm finally finished, what do you think?"
"It's amazing, Alice," I replied, awestruck. "You don't have a tree, though."
"We were waiting for you," she said, squeezing my hand. "Every member of the Cullen family must be present when we pick out and decorate our tree." I squeezed her hand in return, and she led me to the mantle. "Check out the stockings," she said, gesturing to eight stockings I hadn't noticed before. Each one was ornately decorated and was embroidered with a different Cullen family member's name: Rosalie's was red, Alice's was pink, Emmett's was a dark orange, Carlisle's was cream, Esme's was an eggplant purple, Jasper's was a rich gold, Edward's was forest green, and mine was navy blue, with Bella C embroidered at the top.
I threw my arms around Alice, thrilled. "I love it," I gushed. "Thank you, Alice." Every time I pondered the fact that the Cullens were going to accept me into their family, my core warmed from the inside out, like I'd taken a huge sip of hot chocolate.
Alice smiled, and her eyes glazed over for the briefest moment before focusing again. "Emmett, if you throw that snowball, the window will shatter and Esme will get Rosalie to tear off a very important part of your body!" I heard Emmett curse in the yard and blushed, laughing. "Anyways…besides getting and decorating the tree, there's a bunch of stuff we could do today…Emmett really wants to go sledding or have a snowball fight and Esme wants to make Christmas cookies. What do you think?"
"When does Edward get back from hunting?" I asked.
Her eyes glazed and refocused. "He'll be back in two hours. In the meantime, I was thinking…maybe we could do some Christmas shopping?"
I groaned internally, but I knew she was right. I had put off shopping for Christmas presents as long as I could, and now the punishment for my procrastination was a trip to the mall with Alice.
***
Pacific Place Mall in Downtown Seattle would've taken four hours to get to by human standards, but Alice's Porsche and crazy driving got us there in two. As we parked and headed across the street to Nordstrom, we were hit with a blast of Christmas music and heat. "Where are we going first?" I half-shouted over the strains of "Jingle Bells".
"We need presents for Rosalie," she replied, taking my arm and directing me towards the escalators. What do you get for a vampire who has everything and also hates you? I found myself wondering as we passed the cosmetics counters. Maybe I could get her a nice beauty basket? Alice shook her head. "Bad idea. Rosalie hates it when people buy her cosmetics, she sees it as the giver questioning her looks." We got off the escalator at the third floor: lingerie, women's formal wear, and designer collections. "The one thing Rosalie really wants for Christmas, besides a car, is a new purse," Alice said, as we stood in front of a selection of Chloe handbags. She very nicely let me pick one myself, and so Rosalie would receive a chocolate brown satchel with gold accents and a decorative padlock. Alice approved and moved on, picking out a black cashmere sweater for Rosalie and a red one for herself.
"Alice, this bag is almost two thousand dollars!" I yelped, finally checking the label. "I can't pay for this, and you guys cannot spend this much money helping me buy Christmas presents!"
"Look in her wallet," she said, not taking her eyes off the jewelry counter. I looked and found a platinum American Express debit card with my name on it, and a note from Edward which read, Alice won't take you home until you agree to let us pay, and I want to see you as soon as I can. Love, Edward. I groaned. Manipulative vampires. Alice and I paid and went back to Pacific Place, where I bought a large Civil War history book at Barnes & Noble for Jasper. Once we'd paid, Alice went to go look at the purses in Coach, and I made up my mind to get her a Victoria's Secret gift card. Concentrating on the gift card as hard as I could, I made a beeline for Tiffany & Co., where I found the perfect necklace for her. Set in yellow gold, a dark yellow citrine stone sat in the middle of three diamonds on a delicate golden chain.
"I'd like this, please," I said to the man. "Gift-wrapped."
"232 dollars miss," he said, and I handed over the card, ignoring the wrenching feeling in my gut. On the way out, I noticed a silver fountain pen with a caduceus clip, which I purchased for Carlisle. I thought he could use it when he was writing prescriptions. I'd already made my present for Esme, a book of my favorite recipes because of how much she loved to cook for me.
After a trip to the Mariners team store for a baseball signed by Ichiro Suzuki, it was time to find a gift for Edward. "Alice, I have no idea what to get him," I whined. "It has to be perfect, you know?"
She nodded. "Let me see…." Her eyes glazed and refocused, and she grinned and dragged me back to Pacific Place and Victoria's Secret.
***
"Alice, no," I exclaimed emphatically. "Couldn't I get him some sheet music? Or some nice cufflinks?"
"Isabella Swan," she said, "I have seen the future and it will end up very well and you are getting this nightgown."
"But…Alice, I can't even wear this in a room with a mirror! I'm way too uncomfortable!"
"Bella, compared to what I was going to get you, this is very conservative. And if it makes you feel better, we'll get you a robe, okay?"
I looked at myself. I did want to dress like this for Edward one day. And a robe might not make it so revealing. "Okay," I agreed finally, and she cheered and hugged me.
"Come on, let's go home," she said, taking the elevator down to the garage. I fell asleep as we pulled onto I-5 and when I woke up, we were home.
***
As I opened my eyes, I was distinctly aware of a pair of ice-cold lips pressed to my forehead. "Edward?" I mumbled, smiling, and the lips lowered to meet mine.
"I missed you," Edward murmured, picking me up and carrying me over the ice to the house while Alice followed with the bags. Inside, the rest of the Cullens stood in the kitchen – Carlisle had come home from the hospital, Jasper had obviously been hunting as his eyes were very light, and Rosalie had finished working on her M3, showered, and dressed.
"How long were we gone?" I asked as Edward set me down on the kitchen floor.
"Four hours," Emmett replied, laughing, pointing to the clock on the kitchen microwave. It read 2:14 PM.
"No wonder I fell asleep," I muttered to myself, and Rosalie smirked. "Are we going to pick out the tree now?"
"As soon as you get ready," Alice said and the next thing I knew, I was holding a thick, wool sweater and a down jacket. Once I had donned them and Edward was satisfied that I wouldn't come down with hypothermia in the woods, we went into the backyard. Edward tossed me lightly onto his back, and the entire Cullen family ran, vampire speed, deep into the woods behind their house.
Five miles into the woods, Edward finally set me down. He, Carlisle, Esme and I watched as Alice and Rosalie sped off, looking for the right tree, and Emmett and Jasper started chasing each other. "I'm so glad you're with us for Christmas, Bella," Carlisle told me, smiling. "Esme and Alice are thrilled that they have someone to cook and shop for."
"Thank you, Carlisle," I replied, touched. "How did you celebrate Christmas when you were a human?"
Carlisle chuckled. "Funny you should mention that. When I was a child, Oliver Cromwell had banned Christmas celebrations in England and the British Colonies. I didn't get a proper Christmas until I left England and joined the Volturi in Italy."
"I'm sure the Volturi celebrate lavishly," I said, thinking back to the terrible day in Italy when I stood before Aro, Caius, Marcus, Alec, Jane, and the rest of the guard.
"Yes," Carlisle agreed somberly, but the mood was lifted by the sound of Alice shrieking "I found it!" There was a loud chopping and ripping sound, and Alice and Rosalie came back, holding the tree as though it were as light as a sheet of paper.
"Set it down, Alice, let us see it," Esme ordered. By now Emmett and Jasper had rejoined us, caked in snow and trash-talking each other about who had really won…whatever they were competing in. Alice obliged, and we all looked over her find.
It really was the perfect tree. Nearly fifteen feet tall, it had nice, thick pine boughs with no gaps or weird branches. I inhaled and smiled, surprised at how fragrant it was. In Phoenix, Renee and I had always had a plastic tree, and my first Christmas with Charlie neither of us had felt like celebrating. "It's perfect," I declared, and the rest of the Cullens agreed with me. Emmett grabbed the tree from Alice and ran back to the house, and she chased after him shrieking at an octave almost too high for me to register. Roaring with laughter, Jasper chased after them, and Edward rolled his eyes, threw me onto his back, and ran with them back to the house.
***
When we got back into the living room, Emmett had already set the tree in the stand. As I unzipped my jacket, my eyes lit upon something I hadn't noticed before – about ten large boxes of ornaments from all different eras, as well as at least five strings of lights. "Emmett and Jasper are in charge of the lights," Edward explained to me as Esme, Alice and Rosalie started frantically unpacking ornaments and Carlisle sat back on the couch, smiling to himself.
"Bella, come help!" Alice called, and Edward and I went over to help the girls with the ornaments. By now, Emmett and Jasper had finished the lights and Alice switched from unpacking the ornaments to directing the placement of them on the tree. "No, Emmett," she was saying. "You can't put two red ones next to each other!" Laughing to myself, I reached to pull a very old-looking metal bell out of some tissue paper when Rosalie slapped my hand away.
"Don't touch that," she said. Edward growled at her as I rubbed my hand and tried to will the tears out of my eyes. Seeing that she'd scared me, her expression softened. "I'm sorry. It's just that that's Carlisle's favorite ornament – he got it in Boston in 1713, and apparently the oils in your skin will cause it to deteriorate somehow. I nodded, understanding that it wasn't my fault, but a traitorous tear still escaped and slid down my cheek. "I'm so sorry, Bella," Rosalie repeated, looking truly put out as she gathered me into our first, awkward hug.
I kept quiet until I knew I had calmed down. "It's okay," I replied. "I wouldn't want to hurt Carlisle's favorite ornament. I forgive you, Rosalie."
Satisfied, Rosalie pulled away and kept unpacking as Edward took me into his arms and kissed my hair. "I'm sorry, love," he murmured.
"It's okay, really," I said back, smiling at him. "I'm fine."
"I love you," he whispered, kissing me.
"I love you too," I whispered back, losing myself in his eyes for the briefest moment before running over to help Esme hang more ornaments.
After an hour, working at a combination of human and vampire speeds, all the ornaments had been hung. Everyone's favorite ornaments had their own special spot on the tree: Esme's crystal snowflake from her human home in Ohio, Carlisle's bell, Alice's high-heeled shoe, Jasper's plastic rendering of the Confederate flag, Emmett's blown-glass baseball and bat, Rosalie's mirrored prism, and Edward's multi-faceted crystal heart. My personal favorite was a bluebird made of blown glass, with eyes the exact shade of amber as Edward and his family. "Okay," Emmett said. "All that's left is the star."
"I think Bella should put it on this year," Rosalie offered up, surprising us all. "The youngest member of our family always gets to put it on."
Touched, I looked tentatively into Rosalie's eyes and saw no trace of hostility or jealousy. It had finally happened – Rosalie had accepted the fact that I was to become a Cullen. Beaming, Esme handed me the solid gold star and, sitting on Edward's shoulders, I placed it on top of the tree. By this time, night had fallen and the living room was dark. "Countdown!" Emmett shouted, and Jasper crouched next to the plug with the light cord.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" we all shouted, and after "one", Jasper plugged in the Christmas tree. We all stood, mesmerized by the beauty of the lights. I hadn't noticed that Edward had let go of my hand and left my side until he started playing "Joy to the World" on the piano. We gathered around the piano and sang for around twenty minutes until my traitorous stomach growled.
"Feeding time for the human!" Alice crowed, and she ran into the kitchen at vampire speed, with Esme following at a more humanly pace. Rosalie and Jasper went to their rooms and Carlisle to his study, while Emmett sauntered over to the den and parked himself in front of the Xbox.
"Alone at last," Edward said, pulling me into his lap. I snuggled into his chest as he stroked my hair. "I haven't had nearly enough time alone with you today, love. I might have to steal you away after dinner." A moment after he said that, he pulled a face and sighed.
"What is it?" I asked, moving my head out from under his chin.
"According to Alice, we're all watching a movie after dinner." He grumbled to himself and muttered something at vampire speed, and I heard Alice's bell-like laugh trill in response.
"It's okay," I reassured him. "I love your family. Besides, we have this moment and all night tonight," I whispered, meeting his lips with mine.
We had been kissing for what seemed like both an eternity and a second when Alice put a huge plate of pasta on the coffee table in front of me. Pulling away reluctantly, I surveyed it. "It smells delicious," I said. "Thank you, Alice."
"Spaghetti with marinara sauce, grilled chicken and parmesan cheese," she chirped proudly, handing me a glass of water. "Enjoy!" The food was delicious and for once, I was able to comfortably finish a portion that a Cullen had served me.
Once I'd finished my food and managed to convince Alice and Esme to let me wash my own dishes, everyone had gathered in the den to watch Home Alone. I'd seen it a million times, but everything about the movie seemed nerve-wracking somehow. I didn't notice the smug grins on Jasper and Edward's faces until the first time the scary salt man came out and Emmett screamed like a little girl. "Jesus Christ, Jasper!" he shrieked over the family's roaring laughter. Edward reached over and gave Jasper a high five, and Rosalie and Alice would have been crying with laughter if it were possible. "You pull that shit every year," Emmett grumbled, but he was smiling.
"Okay, children," Esme chided, amused. "Let's watch the movie." The movie was as good as I'd remembered and by the end, Emmett and Jasper were seriously talking about rigging the mansion the same way that Kevin did to ward off the burglars.
I tried to stifle my yawn but Edward wasn't fooled. "Bed," he said. "Come on, let's go upstairs."
"Good night, Bella," Esme called as Alice took my arm and whisked me up to her room.
"It's a bit late for Bella Barbie, Alice," I yawned. "Can we do this tomorrow?"
"No, I forgot to give you the pajamas I got you," she said, tossing them to me.
I groaned. "Can't I just wear sweatpants and a t-shirt?"
"No," she said. "Now put them on." The pajamas were nice and simple, I had to admit – red plaid flannel bottoms with a white camisole. After taking my human minute, Alice hugged me good night and I went into Edward's room.
"Hello, love," he greeted me from the bed, where he was wearing gray cashmere pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt.
"Hi," I murmured, climbing into bed next to him. He wrapped me in a blue throw blanket and drew me to his chest. I inhaled his heavenly scent and sighed happily. "I love you," I whispered.
"I love you too, Bella," he said back, kissing me gently. "Now sleep." He started to hum my lullaby and I drifted off, completely exhausted from my crazy day.
A/N: Okay! So I've decided to make this fic three chapters: the 23rd, 24th and 25th of December. If you want pictures of the gifts Bella bought for the Cullens, just PM me and I'll send them to you. Any requests for gifts that the Cullens should give Bella should be submitted the same way.
IMPORTANT: I am not trying to offend anyone by putting a Nativity scene in the Cullens' living room or by having them go to church for a Christmas Eve service tomorrow. Since Stephenie Meyer is a Christian, it makes sense that the Cullens would be as well. I am not trying to proselytize or downplay other winter holidays, it's just how I picture the Cullens.
Please review, it can be your holiday gift to me =). I love you all, happy holidays!