Okay, let's hear from Edward. There may be one more tonight.
AN: I do not own Twilight, but I do own a Snuggie.
EPOV
I had been working on this one thing for hours. No matter how much, how long, or how intensely I went over and over the information, the connection was just not making itself known. I needed an aha moment. I lived for aha moments. It was one of the reasons I became a lawyer. Something about taking ton of information and fitting it together like a puzzle until it all made sense was so satisfying. It was like solving a complicated mystery and usually I was very good at it.
But right now I wanted to tear my hair out. I could see no aha moment in sight. It just wasn't there. I rubbed my eyes in frustration and then stood up thinking maybe something I hadn't seen before would jump out. It didn't.
I'm missing something…
There was a soft knock at the door and the click of the latch opening but I didn't look up. I feared if I looked away even for a second what I had been searching for would retreat deeply back into the mound of paper work and I would have to start all over again.
"Mr. Cullen? Sorry for the interruption, but if you're not too busy I need you to pick your person for the Office Secret Santa Exchange." The sweet voice forced me to give up for the moment. I quietly sighed.
It just isn't there…for now.
I looked up to see the demure Isabella Swan. She looked nervous, but hell she always looked nervous to me. But underneath all that nervousness was a kick ass research assistant who knew her job inside and out. She had certainly made my life a lot easier a couple of times. I had tried to convince Jasper a couple of times into giving her up but he always refused. Lucky bastard. I had to deal with Paul who was okay, but he was not Isabella Swan.
"Come in, Miss Swan. Now's as good a time as ever." I didn't even glance back at the files on my desk that had been taunting me for the past few hours. The case that I was currently working on was consuming me entirely. It made me forget a lot of things, like the fact that Christmas was quickly approaching.
"I know your busy, sir. This will only take a second."
My brother, best friend, and I started this firm right out of law school and it was my life. It had had been tough at first seeing as none of us had any real experience. Everyone thought we were crazy and we spent the first few years sharing a two room office and one research assistant, but eventually all of our hard paid off. News of our dedication and perseverance got around and we slowly attracted more and more clients. Since then we have had to hire a few more lawyers and a lot more staff. It didn't mean we three worked any less. We were still considered small with only about thirty employees so there was always worked to be done. But we were solid and turning a profit and that is what we had always wanted. None of us felt the need to expand further.
I can't remember when we hired Isabella, but I did know that for the last few years she had taken over the annual Secret Santa Exchange. I personally didn't care about it one way or another, but Emmett and Rose thought it would be a great way for all of us at the firm to socialize and get to know each other better. Of course those two would think that way. They fell for each other the day Rose came in to interview for the receptionist position. Literally. The floor had been wet from a leaky water cooler. When Emmett went to shake her hand she slipped on the floor and fell, taking Emmett with her. They have been inseparable since.
Anyway, I digress.
Secret Santa Exchange…eh. I didn't have time to truly shop so I usually ended up asking my sister to pick out the most generic gifts she could. Alice was a genius at putting gift collections together. And as for the receiving end, I was grateful and all, but truly didn't need any of the random gifts I got in return. The Snuggie I got last year was still sitting on a shelf in my closet in its unopened box. To me the whole thing just seemed like a complicated, unnecessary process. Rose claimed that it would really force us all to get to know each other. I thought an average Christmas party with copious amounts of alcohol would have the same result, maybe even a better one, but what did I know? If a Secret Santa Exchange would make our office more of a cohesive unit and satisfied Rose, I was all for it. I guess.
"Not a problem at all." I smiled my most enchanting smile but it quickly diminished as I saw that my efforts were being wasted. Isabella didn't even see it as she hid behind her long waves of hair and held out the paper bag with all the names in it. Her hand was shaking pretty damn hard.
Why was she so nervous? Was it just around me or is this girl a complete mess all the time?
I reached in, stirred up the slips, and pulled one out. Mike Newton. It seemed I always got a dude or Mrs. Cope. This was another reason I would be happy if this whole thing went away. Why couldn't I get one of those cute secretaries? They would be easy to buy for. Now I…I mean Alice would have to come up with a bunch of gifts that Mike would like but did not scream 'I want to take you up the ass.'
Because, fuck, I really didn't.
"Okay, sir?" Isabella looked at my scowling face.
"Yeah, okay." She quietly left the office and I got back to work. I threw the slip into the top drawer of my desk not giving Mike Newton a second thought. I'd call Alice later.
We had a few days before this thing all started, right?
A couple of things…
I have an entry in the Season of Our Discontent Anonymous Angst Contest. There are so many great entries. So if you like to cry (and you will, trust me), head over and check it out. Voting is open until December 10th.
www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/u/3142288/
Also, have you heard of Breath-of-Twilight's Holiday Countdown? This is the first time I have participated and I must say it's fabulous. There are so many great Halloween and Thanksgiving one-shots written by your favorite authors. It will continue every day until Christmas. I'm curious to see if can guess which one is mine.
www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/s/7348457/1/
As always, thanks for reading!
