Author's Note .. This is a one-shot containing Edward, Bella, and Charlie, 'celebrating' Christmas together. My prompt, provided by the lovely Pinkeop, was 'But I don't own a blender that can blend a wrench!' I hope you're all as tickled as I am concerning this little piece of work...
Please, leave me some happy reviews!
Christmas Merriment!
"Come on, Bells! This very well may be our last Christmas together!"
I threw a cautious glance in Bella's direction. She was biting her lip to keep her composure, but I could easily see through her mask -- she was in so much pain... I leaned over and brushed her cheek with my thumb, but the gesture didn't phase her.
"I know, Charlie. We're trying to get there as quick as we can," she sighed.
"What's got you so upset, kid?" I could hear the concern in his voice, but it was overrun with his jubilation. It wasn't often that Bella agreed to celebrate so dramatically with him -- it pained me to know that this would be her last Christmas with her father and that it could, very possibly, be the last time she'd even see Charlie.
"Just the Christmas blues, dad," Bella sighed, shaking her head, "I wish Renee could've come. Listen, Charlie, we'll be there any minute. Be ready!"
She hung up the phone and handed it back to me. I wanted to grab her hand, but she drew away before I had the chance.
"Bella..."
"Don't... please? For me?"
I shut my mouth and focused on the road while she continued to brood in dreadful silence. The closer we drew to Charlie's house, the more drawn and elaborate her sighs were.
"We can hold off for as long as you need, Bella," I said sternly, just as we pulled up behind Charlie's cruiser.
"No," she growled. Bella turned in her seat to face me, forcing the conviction of her brown eyes to meet my mind. I could only nod as I pulled her into a tight hug.
"Bells! Edward!" Charlie laughed from the front porch.
His presence seemed to lighten her demeanor considerably. Bella quickly got out of the Volvo and ran up to meet her father in a bear hug. The surprise written on his face was priceless, but his thoughts were much less amusing.
All the way to Alaska... what's she thinking? That stupid boy... keeping my baby girl away from me...
I forced a gentle smile onto my face before slipping noiselessly from the car and up to the porch. Charlie didn't acknowledge me any further than a grunt, but I could accept that. I was stealing his baby girl... I was taking away the only thing he had left. It ripped into me and left a horrible stinging.
"What's that smell?!" Bella shrieked as we entered the foyer.
Charlie didn't speak. His face was red as he hurried off to the kitchen.
"Dad!" she groaned, following Charlie at a much slower pace. She was reluctant to see just what she'd gotten herself into.
"I was... trying to make a cake..." Charlie fumbled for words as he pulled the blackened pan from the oven. It looked more like someone had vomited into a bin and then toasted it for a month.
"Charlie..." Bella sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose -- she was so cute when she copied me. I found myself smiling, despite the desperate need to feel agony and conviction.
"Just as well," she said softly, patting his shoulder. "I'll fix something sweet while you dig out the decorations from the attic. Edward, would you mind disposing of... this?" Bella cringed as she held up the pan of charred cake, an apology clear in her eyes.
I laughingly stole the tray away from her just as Charlie was grumbling and slumping up the stairs.
"My Bella," I purred, leaning down to steal a kiss from her lips, "How you manage to appear so confident when you are so sad..."
"I'm happy," she said firmly, jutting her chin out. She was so stubborn... "I'm happy because I'm spending Christmas with my two favorite men. Period. Get rid of the gunk, Edward."
She spared me another, chaste kiss before she tried to shoo me away.
"And just what, pray tell, am I supposed to do with this by way of disposal?" I asked, eyeing the concoction in my hands curiously. "Don't you have a garbage disposal?"
"I have a blender," Bella said, pulling it from the counter and holding it out to me. "His name is Brutus B. Blends-A-Lot."
I couldn't refrain from laughing as she waved the appliance at me. "Bella, you never cease to amaze me," I grinned, waving the blender away. "I meant for this... thing?"
"Edward! I don't own a blender that can blend a wrench!"
"There's no wrench in that cake!" Charlie guffawed from the kitchen doorway.
"Really?" Bella asked, taking the pan away from me. "I was completely fooled!"
Charlie leaned over to inspect the mess in her small hands and blinked in surprise.
Don't remember how that particular piece of work managed to get in there...
I peered into the pan to see a wrench -- no, not a wrench, but a piece of a wrench -- sitting in the middle of the concoction.
"Charlie! Don't you try to play dumb with me!" Bella said, tapping her foot.
"Really, Bells, I don't know how that got there!" Charlie whined, throwing his hands up in surrender.
Bella laughed and I followed and soon, we were, all three, chuckling to ourselves.
"Really, Edward, you should find something to do with this," Bella said, just as soon as she'd recomposed herself.
I nodded in compliance and took the pan to the front porch. There had to be some sort of garbage can out here... I was amazed to find none -- but I couldn't just take it back inside! Inbetween a rock and a pan full of muck, I contemplated just chucking the thing across Forks, but a persistent ring caught my attention. I pried my cell phone from my pocket and held it to my ear.
"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen! If you throw that ... that ... whatever it is, you're going to hit Angela's cat!" Alice shouted.
I strategically turned and I could hear an approving chuckle from the other end of the phone. Blatantly, I tossed the pan into the distance. I was alerted instantaneously by the sound of a car alarm blaring somewhere far off.
"Alice!" I groaned.
"Don't worry," she purred wickedly, "That was Newton's car."
With that, the dial tone reverberated in my ear. I laughed quietly to myself before returning to the house.
"What'd you do with it?" Bella asked curiously.
"Threw it."
"Edward Cullen!"
"Alice made sure I didn't hit anything important. She warned me that I would hit Angela's cat, so I had to turn a few times before I was in the clear."
Bella sighed and shook her head, but I could hear her quiet laughter. I wrapped her up in my arms and set my chin on her shoulder, grinning down at the pan of sweet rolls she was fixing up for Charlie.
"Come on, Edward, we don't have all night!" the chief growled. "Take your paws off my daughter long enough to help me hang these lights on the tree, would ya?"
"You haven't even set up the tree yet, Charlie?!" Bella leered across the room at him, but she couldn't hide the amused smile playing on her lips. They burst into laughter at the same time.
Always could count on that kid to make something out of nothing... this house sure is empty without Isabella.
I reluctantly pulled my arms away from my love to follow Charlie into the living room. As expected, he lead me straight to the bare, spindling, plastic tree. I tried to look pleased, despite the confusion dancing in my head. At the house, Alice made sure we had a ten foot pine to put in the middle of the living room... anything smaller than Emmett would be classified as 'trashy tree' and left at the lot.
"Well, are you just gonna stand there all night, or are you going to hang some lights? Get on it!" Charlie huffed. He was clearly still upset over Bella's choice to accompany me to Alaska rather than stay here with him... I couldn't help but agree with him, though I knew I was too selfish to allow her to stay. The poor man wouldn't be able to eat a decent meal by himself!
I took the lights gingerly from his hands and began to string them on the tree. It took nearly an hour and a half to untangle the lights, string them, decorate the tree, and doll up the living room. By the time we finished, Bella was making quite the fuss in the kitchen.
"What is it, Bells?" Charlie asked as he warily moved into kitchen -- it was becoming grossly apparent how wary he was to enter that particular domain, even with the Queen of the Household safely barring his path to the oven.
When I followed him in, I was met with quite the sight. I had to place a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter, but I could tell she'd heard it, even if Charlie was outweighing my quiet chuckle with his loud guffaws.
"Bella! There's plenty of snow outside! Did you really think we'd need to decorate the house with white?" he managed between loud bursts of laughter.
Bella had obviously dropped the entire bag of flour, which had promptly burst, and covered almost every inch of the kitchen in a layer of white dust. I had to fight the urge to sweep her up and fend off that pout that consumed her face.
"You're one to talk!" she groaned, flicking her hand toward Charlie. It worked brilliantly -- he was hit by a spray of flour almost instantly.
Not one to be shown up, Charlie ducked toward the bag and grabbed a handful of flour, only to toss it in my direction. I wanted to jerk away, to flee from this madness, but I was stunned into stillness just as a cloud of snowy white hit me in the face.
"Charlie!" Bella gasped, but she was soon caught up in a fit of the giggles. It was every man for himself!
I swept my hand along the kitchen counter and waved my hand dramatically in Charlie's direction. He narrowly avoided the massive cloud, but it caught him on the hip as he dove toward Bella. The pair came tumbling down to the tile, sending up a giant wave of white haze.
The evening progressed that way until midnight -- the first story of the Swan residence was coated in a dusty layer of flour before the night was over and the only music heard was the sound of our endless laughter.
As I held Bella neatly in my arms, waiting for her dreams to whisk her away, she rolled around to face me. I was stunned into silence by the delicate smile that was spread on her lips.
"Thank you," she whispered, "for everything..."
"Bella, I should be the one thanking you," I insisted, bridging the distance to delicately brush her lips with my own.
"I love you, Edward..." she sighed in contentment, falling further into her blissful sleep.
"I love you, my Bella..."