Disclaimer: Any and all publicly recognizable characters, settings, lyrics, writings, etc. are the property of their respective owners/creators. Any and all original content is property of the author, who, in this case, happens to be me. In other words, I don't own Twilight, I just manipulate SM's characters into bastardized versions of themselves and I don't own pretty much anything else, either.

Thanks to Charm, Megan, and Zi for their unending love and support!


Chapter Two – White, Wonders, and Scheduling Routine

The guys had witnessed it all as they were plunging down the slope towards Edward: the boarder coming out from a hidden piste, heading straight towards their buddy, and the facemask that had them all gasping. Mike even managed to wipeout due to the shock of it all.

Therefore, they were floored when, as they approached, they found Edward and the unknown boarder hugging!

"Rose, you raging, psychotic bitch!" Edward laughed as he pulled away from the hug and snapped her goggle strap against her ear.

"Sullen Cullen, you emotastic man whore, I've missed you," she replied, shoving one of her gloved knuckles into his kidneys. He feigned pain at the action, earning a playful raspberry from her.

Edward wasn't surprised in the sense that he was not expecting Rose; she, too, was an Olympiad and X-Game competetor and a year-round Vancouver resident. What did surprise him, though, was that she was in Whistler at the moment- normally she would already be in Aspen training on location for the X-Games.

Rosalie Hale was the premier female snowboarder, one of the most well-known athletes in all the sport. With her supermodel looks, haughty charm, and fearless approach to the slopes. Rose was famous far beyond the realm of slick halfpipes and snowy pistes. She and Edward shared many of the same sponsors, doing print and media ads together, and had become fast friends. She never took any of his bullshit and he treated her like one of the guys; it was a bond that surpassed the slopes.

"So where's Ali-cat and the 'rentals?" Rose asked, wiping the last remaining traces of snow off of Edward's face.

"They'll be up by tomorrow. What are you still doing up here? Shouldn't you be in Colorado by now?" Edward ignored the gaping stares he was getting from the guys; very few knew of the close relationship between Rose and himself.

"I should, I know," she replied, sliding herself towards the ski lodge. Edward followed, but not before giving the guys the universal male head nod for 'go on without me, I'll catch up to you later.' "I'm going down next week."

"What, are you getting soft on me, Hale?" Edward teased, earning a mock glare from the silver-blonde beauty.

"Shut your trap, Cullen. I can still work a box rail better than you can. And I've got tits, so extra points to me." The two of them unbuckled themselves from their boards and headed into the lodge. "No, Vera just had a baby boy earlier this week, and it's been my duty as auntie extrordinare to stick around."

Edward's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Last time he had seen Rosalie's younger sister Vera was at her wedding last year. Had it really been that long since he'd hung out with Rose? "Tell Vera and Marcel congratulations for me, then."

"Will do. So when are you going down to Aspen?"

"Next week, maybe. It's Alice's first X Games, so she was to go early and get a feel for their tracks."

Rose shook her head. "It's her second Olympiad yet her first X-Games. Honey's done it backwards, huh." Edward laughed. "Well, then, we should all go down together."

They lounged together comfortably in the lodge for a little while, Edward sipping on tea while Rose drank hot chocolate. After exhausting conventional conversation, their dialogue turned to their upcoming competitions.

"Heard that Emmett McCarty's competing for the US team for the fourth year," Edward commented, thinking back to what he had read in the newspapers a few months ago. "They say he's looking for his fourth set of medals."

"Damn, his fourth Olympics?" Rose whistled, one eyebrow quirked. "He's got to be at least thirty, then!"

"Thirty two, if I'm not mistaken."

"Wow. And he's still boarding pro."

"The man is second only to Shaun White. Better, since he's an Olympic medaler."

"And he's doing the X-Games again this year, too?"

Edward nodded. He hadn't had much interaction with McCarty over the years. Partly because he didn't endorse regular snow gear companies like West 49 or Burton- he belonged to a family owned chain called Swan Song Gear Co.- and partly because he was a very private individual, doing as few interviews and publicity as possible. Also, Edward never had the nerve to approach him at competitions because he was always a little starstruck: he had posters of this man up on his walls until now.

Rose knew of Edward's fan-crush and decided to tease him. "Maybe this year you'll actually talk to him! Or, if you medal out over him, he'll actually come and talk to you!"

Glaring at his friend, Edward flipped her off. "Yeah, right. I'm good, but I'm not that good."

---

The next morning, Bella awoke to the sweet smell of hot chocolate and a warm body. Burrowing her head into her warmer than normal pillow, she let out a sigh of contentment. Her pillow chuckled, sending her head bouncing with the movement.

"That tickles, darlin'."

Realizing that her pillow was in fact Jasper's abdomen, she nuzzled her nose into his side again, illiciting another round of soft baritone giggles. She felt one of his arms fit itself around her and his fingers began prodding her in the side.

"C'mon, baby girl, up you get. Maggie is gonna be waiting for us and I brought you hot cocoa in bed."

Peeking up with one eye, Bella grinned at the sandy blonde sitting on top of her duvet. He picked up a mug from the bedside table and held it aloft, just out of her reach. Groaning good naturedly, Bella sat up and took the mug, happily sighing as she sipped.

"Morning," she said finally, smiling serenely at Jasper. She must've looked a fright, she thought, but it didn't matter; Jazz had seen her in worse.

"Good morning, doll," he replied, laying a kiss on her forehead. "C'mon, I've got your favorite."

The two of them crawled out of her bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Bella could hear her brother's elephantine snores as they passed his room and supressed a laugh. That is why he doesn't have a girlfriend, she mused.

Downstairs, the aroma of fresh baked goods greeted her, and she made a beeline for the large platter sitting atop the breakfast bar.

"Cherry cheese danish!" she exclaimed happily, plopping down on a stool and grabbing a gigantic pastry. Biting into it, she moaned at the wonderfully mouthwatering taste. She turned to Jasper with her mouth still full and garbled out a 'thank you.'

After a quick light breakfast and clean up, Jasper drove them to the nearby arena where Maggie had reserved them some ice time to practice. The world was blanketed in white, a sudden blizzard passing through overnight leaving everything under a cover of pristine whiteness.

The routine of morning skate was familiar to them both no matter where in the world they were, so once they were at the arena they were on the ice within minutes of stretching.

"Alright, short program dance," Maggie called from the sidelines after they had done the compulsory warm up laps around the rink. "Bella, you first."

Skating to the side, Bella picked up the two different cordless ear buds from her coach. The black one was a communicator, so Bella could hear anything Maggie might want to tell her while she was on the ice; the blue one was connected to her iPod and would pipe music into her other ear. She secured the ear buds with her ear muffs and skated to her start position in the middle of the rink.

"Ready, cailín?" Bella heard Maggie say in her ear. She gave a nod and the beep signifying the beginning of her track warned her that she was about to begin. Bizet's 'Song of The Toreador' began to play and Bella began to skate.

Starting off with some backwards skating footwork interspersed with two bracket turns and a twizzle, Bella let the music guide her into her turns and her first set of combination jumps. Landing a lutz jump and segueing it into a camel spin she missed a beat, entering into her catch foot layover spin too late.

"Keep going, cailín," Maggie encouraged, reminding Bella not to get distracted by her mistake. "Don't complete the spin rotation, just keep going with the next two figures and the three turns."

Following the instructions she was given, Bella proceeded to complete her dance flawlessly. She skated to the side, a pouted frown adorning her face.

"What did I do wrong?"

Jasper joined her on the ice and helped her work out the problem, demonstrating to her that she was accidentally adding a half rotation to her jump, a mistake she had made when first learning the routine. Quickly drilling it out of her, Bella performed the routine again flawlessly and skated off the ice, allowing Jasper to practice one of his routines. They each went through their individual skates then the compulsory pairs and ice dance songs, tweaking and perfecting bits and pieces as they went.

"Alright, I want to see you do your free skate dance," Maggie prompted them.

Bella and Jasper grinned widely at each other as they skated to center ice together. Jasper opened his arms to his partner and Bella fitted herself in his loose embrace. Once situated, he laid his head on her shoulder, kissing her neck lightly as the beep sounded in their ears. She reciprocated with a gentle kiss in his hair just as the strummed strains of Oasis' 'Wonderwall' began to play.

They skated in perfect sync, and Maggie watched them with a mixture of pride and envy. Together they were flawless, the two sharing a bond so deep that even the most complicated of throws and lifts were exhibited immaculately by the two of them. And the music, which had been Jasper's suggestion, suited the two of them perfectly. She never knew the extent of their personal relationship- it was always a matter that Jasper and Bella kept private and between the two of them- but it was obvious that this song held some sort of meaning to them.

Maggie paid special attention as her skaters prepared for their most complicated set of combinations yet- a crouching curve lift with Bella in a full layback position followed by Jasper tossing his partner into a tuck flip and catching her in a straight lift and ending with a set of twizzle spins and two quick overlapped figure eights. This was stuff that belonged in the circus, not the ice, but complex maneuvres were specialities of this pair.

Not to say that both didn't earn their fair share of injuries experimenting on the ice. Enough blood, sweat, and tears had been shed on the ice they shared, sprains and broken bones and pulled muscles the prices paid in the quest for flair and perfection. When executing this move early on once, Bella had actually managed to slice Jasper's cheek open with her skate blade. Jasper's body was covered in scars from practicing their daredevil tricks on the ice, but he never begruded Bella, wearing the scars like badges of honor.

Both skaters grinned as they heard Maggie exhale a breath she probably didn't realize she was holding. The combination had been executed perfectly, and they were on to some footwork and a few more minor combinations as the song wound down.

Letting out a whoop as the song finished and they skated into their final positions, Jasper carried Bella over his shoulder in a small victory dance, Bella laughing wildly as he twirled eccentrically on the ice.

"We do that on medal night, baby girl, and we're golden!" he hooted, setting the petite brunette down on the ice and catching her in a tight embrace.

Watching the prideful smile on Jazz's face, Bella felt like she could actually believe it.

---

Wearing his thermals, snow pants, toque, goggles, and a Team Canada hoodie, Edward felt like a king surveying his kingdom as he stood at the top of the mountain slope. It was barely five in the morning but he couldn't wait- the lure of the freshie pow on a blue bird day like this was too much, and he wanted to claim the mountain as his, carve the first trails into her side and tell the world that he was her conqueror.

The whiteout the night prior had petered out during the wee hours of morning, and Edward awoke when the howling winds had quieted, his body already anticipating the pristine white. Thankfully, his bodily aches were gone and the pain in his chest and throated had lessened into a bearable cough, due mostly to the afternoon and evening spent heavily medicating with soup, tea, and bottles of Vicks Vap-O-Rub and Buckley's.

Cueing his iPod to play his favourite track for times like this, he smiled as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and hellogoodbye's 'Here (In Your Arms)' track sang into his ears. He weaved down the trail to the beat of the music, loving the serenity of the empty mountain combined with the upbeat techno-pop track.

The snowy mountain was his one true lover, accepting him with open arms and letting him be whoever he wanted to be without asking any questions. The wind whipping past him was her whispered words of love and longing, the snow her sign of gentle submission. Edward was convinced that he would never find a woman as loving as a fresh mountain slope.

He reached the bottom of the mountain several cycles of the song later and the sun was just starting to peek out from the morning winter clouds. The gondola lift wasn't operating yet so he jellybeaned it back up the mountain, telling himself that it was good exercise to motivate him. After making it a ways up, he decided he'd board back down, testing some of the naturally occurring jumps on the way.

As he cruised down on the snow, he spied a large ledge, probably a snow covered boulder. Heading towards it, he determined it to be the perfect height for an aerial 5 with a backflip kick.

The feeling as he soared and manipulated his body through the air was indescribible- thrilling and exhilarating and all the different words that could ever describe the way his blood was pumping furiously through his veins. He grinned, glad that he had executed his jump flawlessly, and proceeded triumphantly down the mountain.

As he came nearer to the end of the pass, he saw a large dark mass. Seconds and yards passed and he realized that it wasn't a singular entity but three separate people: his parents and sister. Grinning devilishly, he made a beeline for Alice, intent on feignting to piss her off.

Pushing his weight on his lead foot which increased his speed, Edward barrelled towards Alice. It was a game of chicken that they were both familiar with, and he could sense the determination in her stance. Closer and closer, he mentally calculated just where he'd have to shift his weight in order to skid to a stop right at her toes.

At six inches away, he saw his sister jump behind their father and he slowed to a stop in the place she had just been standing. His Cheshire grin as he pulled his goggles off his face annoyed Alice enough that she jumped on his board and began pummelling his torso and shoulders.

"You ass!" she cried as he laughed at her. Their parents watched on in amusement. "It's way too early for your shit, you know! We've been up since the ass crack of dawn and this is the kind of greeting I get? Just you wait, one of these days you're going to wake up with a pound of raw tripe instead of a pillow and--"

Pulling her into a hug- mostly to stop her from causing him any real bodily harm- Edward shouted out a, 'Hey, Elph,' before muffling her face into his chest. She quieted and hugged him back fiercely.

"I don't know why you two insist on goading each other like that," Esme sighed as she watched the playfully violent display from her children. She stepped towards her son and pulled his head down to kiss his temple.

"Hey, Ma," he replied, smiling impishly after kissing her cheek.

"You could've made that five a seven and still made the backflip kick."

Edward turned and saw the small binoculars in his father's hand. The older blonde man smiled kindly at his son, relaying that his criticism was more constructive than abrasive, and they proceeded to hug in greeting.

"You think so?" Edward asked, unstrapping himself from his board. "I didn't think I had enough air or clearance."

"Start your header further up and push on your lead heel. You'll get bigger air that way. And try a backflip kick with an indy breaker."

"But that would be kinda ginch to bone out, don't you think?"

"Not if you give yourself enough air."

Shouldering his board, Edward nodded and began to map out the move logistically in his head.

"C'mon," Esme chided, herding them towards the parking lot. "No more shop talk. Let's hit Ingrid's for breakfast."

---

"Okay, we have the Nationals in Spokane: it's a six hour drive, give or take, and we're there for three weeks. I've already reserved us ice time at various arenas. We leave on Thursday. Then after the ladies' competition weekend, we'll fly down to Aspen. I've called ahead and reserved us some ice time at rinks there, too, but I need to talk to Emmett and Sam to get his competition schedule and work in practices around that. We have the hotel suites and car rentals in Spokane booked, so that's no problem; we can just stay in the Aspen house, but we need to rent another car while we're there. Once the X Games are over the seven of us will fly back to Vancouver. The three of us move into the Village, Sam and Emmett move on to the Village in Whistler, Renée will be at the house here and Charlie will be at the Whistler cabin. Any complaints?"

Bella fought the urge to salute her coach, her speech sounding more like a military debriefing than anything else. Instead, she nodded.

"Maggie, thank you so much for doing this for me," she gushed. Jasper squeezed her hand under the table. "For us," she amended.

"Don't thank me just yet, páiste," the Irish Comandante warned. "You'll be cursin' me back to Baile Átha Cliath soon enough. I've got you on rigorous training to make up for all the travellin' time."

Bella didn't care that Maggie probably would have them sweating like dogs; she had worked out a way for her to see Em compete at the X Games. Only the most dire of circumstances had ever kept her away from her brother's competitions and vice versa. It would be strange enough not to watch him this year at the Olympics, so having this concedence comforted her a bit.

The three of them were eating a late breakfast at a Tim Hortons before heading to the gym for a workout and swim practice. Maggie pulled out a folder and handed them each a piece of paper- a calendar detailing their schedule for the upcoming month. Not a day was spared, even Sundays had them doing some casual hours at a rink.

"Still want to thank me, cailín?" a wry smirk played on her freckled face as she watched her two ice prodigies read their schedules.

Jasper laughed. "Don't sweat it, Mags. We know you've got our best at heart."

They discussed the routines that would be performed in Spokane while they ate. As they spoke, they also briefly touched upon the upcoming Worlds in March.

"We'll need to figure out what routines to do for that," Maggie mused. "Have you two worked out that new contemporary free skate routine yet?"

"Which one?" Bella asked as she mentally scrolled through her performance playlist in her head.

"It's that catchy tune that starts out with the quick piano and your double axel with the figure footwork."

Jasper shook his head. "Not yet, no. But we could probably have it finished and perfected in time for the Worlds."

"Good. Keep that in mind. Now let's go. I want you two to concentrate on lifts today- Jazz, your arms still look a little shaky by the second to last set of lifts- so in the pool first thing when we hit the gym."

---

Ingrid's Village Café in the heart of Whistler Village was a Cullen family favorite; proof enough of that was the fact that they were all greeted warmly and by name when they entered.

"Excited for your first X Games, Elph?" Edward asked as they lounged over breakfast. He nursed a hot tea, still wary of any residual sick that might have been lingering in his system.

"Sort of. I mean, this is totally different shit than Nordic ski competition."

"Alice! Language!"

"Sorry, Mom." Edward snorted and Alice kicked him under the table. "Anyhow, SlopeStyle looks like it could be hella awesome, but I'm totally psyched for the Olympic aerial ski. I mean, damn, it took them long enough to add it to the event roster, right?"

"Well, you're going to need to pace yourself, Alice," Carlisle warned. Looking at both his children sternly, he continued. "I've emailed you the practice schedule. No dicking around, got it? We have back country runs in the morning, pipe training and gym time in the early afternoons then finishing off with slopes and trails. No drinking, partying, or jackassery of any kind."

The two nodded. Edward grabbed his iPhone off the table and messaged the guys to get their asses out of the house and to the cabin across town. After sending the text, he saw the satisfied look on his father's face.

"Good. Now, both of you need to work on your height values..."