"Bella, wake up!"

"Alice!" Edward moaned.

Bella mumbled something incoherent as she rolled over onto her back, blinking up at the golden eyes staring down at her. "Alice, what are you doing in my room?"

"She insisted on coming to ask if you want to go sledding."

"Edward was right; you do talk in your sleep." Alice added.

"What'd I say?" Bella sat up blearily, not fully awake.

"Oh, just stuff about Edward and snow. But anyway, get up and changed! Do you have a sled?"

"A sled?" Bella repeated, rubbing her eyes and mentally searching the house. "More of a toboggan kind of thing."

"Where?"

"Garage..."

Edward disappeared to get it, and Alice pulled her out of bed, physically dragging her to the bathroom and thrusting clothes at her from my closet. "Wash, change, eat, and meet me outside, okay?"

Bella mumbled something and Alice left swiftly.

"When you said toboggan, I thought you meant a decent thing, not wood with string." Alice accused as soon as Bella reached the front door.

"Hey, it works fine! It just looks a little old."

"We have –"

"Mine is fine." Bella insisted, taking the thick red string from Edward. He took it back, grinning. "And I can take it."

Alice's, which he was also holding by the handle, was streamlined and light pink. With Bella's next to it, it was like a tricycle and a motorbike next to each other.

"Sit. Edward'll pull you." Alice instructed, gently pushing Bella down and joining her on the pink one. Edward rolled his eyes, chuckling.

"You know, Alice, I think you're gaining some weight." he teased, pulling them along the snow. "You should lay off the wild boars."

"Ahahaha. Not funny." Alice stuck her tongue out, and Bella watched the pale clouds go by sleepily.

"Will you go down with me?" Bella asked softly, looking up at the topaz eyes looking down at her.

"Sure." Edward swiftly lifted her, sat down on the sled and lowered her onto his lap.

"I'll push you!" Alice volunteered eagerly, scrambling to her feet.

"Not too fast." Edward cautioned, glancing at Bella, who was staring at the steep slope with a worried smile.

"Oh, you'll be fine." Alice predicted, shoving him in the back.

Bella squealed, Edward's arms tight around her torso, as the wind whipped past her ears. Edward was laughing, looking around her at the bushes whizzing by.

"We're gonna hit that – "

The sled crashed into a rock, but Edward had already curled around Bella protectively. She found herself laughing with him at the speed and exhilaration, the sound of the wind and ice, and the heavy thump as the sled returned to the snow and continued downhill wearily. Alice, seeming many miles away, cheered.

Edward loosened his grip and Bella squinted, snow flying into her eyes. "Where are we going?"

"I can't see, either!" they looked at each other, and yelled – but the kind of yell someone does when they're on a rollercoaster.

Bella closed her eyes as, 15 seconds later, cold arms went around her waist and Edward bent over her, swiveling her around so they were facing backwards – "What are you doing?!"

They started zig-zagging and the metal slides scraped on ice, threatening to topple over. In seconds they were shoulder-deep in a bank of light, fluffy snow, both looking slightly dizzy and – in the human's case – trapped.

"You're freezing." Edward realized, noticing Bella's shivers.

"I'm fine! Let's go up and do it again!"

"Alice's coming down. She saw us crash."

Bella giggled. "How deep's the snow? My feet aren't touching the ground."

"Well, seeing as I'm on my toes and would be in danger of suffocating if I had to breathe, I'd say too deep to let go of you." Edward hoisted Bella up onto his shoulders like a little kid, laughing.

"Can you see Alice?" he asked, smiling her favorite smile.

Bella craned her neck and squinted through the falling snow. "Um...no. Oh, yeah! Over there!" she pointed to a spot of pink skidding through the snow towards them.

I didn't know it'd be THIS icy...There they are! Alice's thoughts drifted to Edward, who chuckled. Bella waved awkwardly.

"Found yooOUUUUHHH!" Alice yelped as her sled caught a tree and she was spun directly into the snow.

"THAT WAS GREAT!" she yelled, poking her head out. She got to her feet, and waded over to her brother and sister-in-law. She reached out her arms for Bella. "Pass!"

"Alice, you're half my size." Bella protested.

"Oh, but according to Mr-Lay-Off-Wild-Boars Cullen over there I'm huge." Alice took Bella's hand and tested the ground. "Over here."

Bella gingerly let Edward take her in his arms and hand her over to Alice, who in turn stood her on safe ground and beamed. "Wasn't that great?"

"Definitely exhilarating." Bella sat on the hard ice, panting. "Who knew my sled could go that fast?"

Edward joined her and shrugged off his jacket, putting it over her already bundled-up shoulders. "Who knew you could get so pale? Emmett would have killed for a ride like that."

Bella laughed and climbed onto his back as he turned, half-closing her eyes from exhaustion.

"We'll go home, surround you with blankets and hot-water bottles, and you'll tell me I'm being paranoid and I'll say I just would rather you didn't develop pneumonia and you'll get irritated and say that everyone gets cold when they go out in the snow and the worst I'll get is a cold, and I'll shove more blankets at you and turn on the TV and you'll complain that we could go out and sled more and you'll try to look angry and I'll kiss you and get you a hot chocolate. How does that sound?"

"That sounds fine." Bella agreed, smiling. "Just fine."