Snowed In

And

Howling

A/N: sorry I haven't published in awhile! I wanted to get all the details of Twelve days out, so that I could have all my little characters ready to play around with. We have some new additions, and if you don't know who they are, check out Twelve Days Of Cullen-Mas, and all shall be explained. If it's not, then just PM me and we can sort it all out [lollmao :) ;D] more will be up soon, and your next seasonal thing will be some New Years treats... Including Jane cooking New Years dinner and a bit of a past present future thing... wait and see! Plus, Valentine's day is getting a Carlisle/Esme one, week long, and it features our little witch, Ani, the London sewers and a very, very lost engagement ring (wait and see!) love, peace and chocolate! ~Elle

disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fan fiction! It is my interpretation of Stephine Meyer's characters, and nothing more. All characters, places, etc belong to their respective owners.

Twelve: Home

Sweet Home... Maybe...

As I was about to realize, the only thing weirder then a Cullen vacation is a Cullen homecoming. And I am not exaggerating.

The entire group of us literally fell out of the van as soon as we were home, and were greeted by foot deep snow. I could have killed whoever controlled the weather, I mean, I just got out of snow banks, and now there's more at home? What gives?

I looked up when I heard the door to the house slam against the wall, and saw Esme rushing out with the rest of my family following close behind.

"Carlisle!" she said, rushing her husband of uncountable years. Well, not entirely uncountable- I estimated around a century and a half, give or take. He returned her kiss happily. "You're home!"

"Thank god." Carlisle added, rolling her eyes. Esme looked at him quizzically, noticing the hat for the first time.

"What are you wearing?"

"Do not ask." he ripped the hat off his head and threw it at Daddy, who was just climbing out of the van with Jake. The two of them had wide eyes, and had been totally traumatized by our little cross country rendezvous across the country. Alec climbed out next, and handed Dora, Picia, his sister and Ani out. Ani kept his hand, and they both beamed through blushes. I practically heard wedding bells when I looked at them, and I swear I heard Jane wince when the two kissed.

"Finally!" Emmett burst out of the door, an odd, spinning contraption on his head. It had bright colours and bells, and spun around at a rapid speed. "Nabelle is getting hard to entertain."

"This fine piece of fashion kept he occupied for a few moments," Rose said, following him out and looking just as frantically disheveled. Parenthood is brutal, even for the beautiful and strong- I should know. "But I think it's lost it's charm."

"I still like it." Jasper said, flicking one of the pinwheels in jest. "I've taken quite a few photos of it already- it will haunt you till you are dead, Em."

"Yeah, well I still have the picture of you and the llama, so we're even." Emmett murmured, and Jasper quickly lost his smile.

"You wouldn't."

"Don't test me."

"Where are they!" Alice said, skipping from the house and stopping at Jasper's side. They were a cute couple, even now. "I need my little fashion models!"

"They're sleeping right now!" Ani said, shushing them with fury. Everyone understood, and quieted down.

Soon, I heard the pounding of feet on wood, and the wolves burst from the house with a fury similar to apes being released.

"We have news!" Leah crowed.

"Big news!" Quil echoed.

"Giant news!" Embry cried.

"Fabulous news, oh mighty alpha!" Seth said, mocking a bow.

"Shut up!" I told them sternly. "I have three sleeping kids, and if you wake them up so help me god you will be rocking them back to sleep again!"

"Mother, it's a bit late for that." I heard Conan say, followed by a few groans and the shuffling of tiny feet on the van's metal floor.

"We've been dozing for awhile now." Chira said.

"I'm sleepy!" Betha cried out as I heard something break in the van.

"Honestly?" Conan asked, his tone rather disappointed.

"She can't even wake up without breaking something." Chira answered.

"I suppose she can't help it." Conan replied, but from his voice I could tell he was just as annoyed as Chira.

Finally, my kids stepped out, and I looked to the faces of my family to gauge the reaction.

Everyone gasped, and I turned around, slightly panicked.

"They glow." Dora said happily, and I could see she was right.

Chira, Conan and Betha were literally glowing. No, not like I 'glowed' or how my parents 'sparkled'. This was a new one. The sunlight made them slightly transparent, like crystals- all see through and glowing. The light made Chira and Betha shine, and they turned into glass clear prisms, reflecting light in rainbows on the snow around them, It was glorious.

So glorious that I didn't even notice that Conan was crying, and even slightly smoldering.

Jake got there before me, and had Conan in his arms so fast it was a blur.

"What's wrong?" I asked, immediately worried.

"It's nothing." Conan said, attempting to be calm as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "The sunlight has a different affect on me then it does on my sisters, unfortunately."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jake was caught between being furious and being concerned, just like me.

"Because," Conan said, wiggling free of Jake's arms and landing with two feet on the ground, simultaneously pulling up his hood. "It doesn't matter. You can't change it, I can't change it, and no one can. And no," he said, pointing at Alice and looking at her sweetly. "No amount of sunscreen is going to fix me."

Alice's face fell. Well, it was a good thought.

"So..." Esme said, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot. "These are my great grandchildren?"

"You bet!" I said, attempting to be happy again.

"I'm Chira!" Chira stepped forward, offering a small, pert hand to Esme. Esme looked surprised as she knelt down to shake hands. "I'm the middle one. Along with the smartest and brightest."

"I see that." Esme said, laughing.

"And who are you?" Chira asked, cocking her head to the side and letting her black curls fall onto her shoulder. "Are you Auntie Rosie, Aunt A, Jazzy, Emmie, Pappa Paw, Essie, or someone else?"

"I suppose I'm Essie." Esme smiled, and I could tell she already adored Chira.

"You're my great grandmother?" Chira looked surprised, but happy.

"Yes, for all intensive purposes."

"Oh, joy!" Chira clapped with glee. "I thought great grand parents were old, but you're perfectly young and pretty! How wonderful!"

"She is perfect!" Betha said, rushing up and hugging Esme's leg. "Yay!"

"And who are you?" Esme asked happily.

"Lubetha Andren Black."

"Oh." Esme turned to see Conan. "And I suppose he's your brother."

"Yes." Conan said, stepping forward and offering his hand. "I'm Conan Altair Black, very pleased to finally meet you."

Esme was shocked by his introduction, and I have to say I was too. Conan was clever, and a formal introduction was nothing for him. A challenge for him was translating Greek to Latin backwards by candlelight in a hurricane without a house.

When Esme took his hand, Conan eyes went blank.

"You're a very strong woman," he said softly.

"Emmett's the strong one." Esme said sweetly, but Conan shook his head.

"Not like that. You have had to put up with a lot, but you never backed down if you knew it was the right thing to do. Protective, mothering beyond anything else. Yet, for all this, a certain selflessness that dominates your choices. You choose another happiness over your own, even if it means your on downfall." Conan patted her hand, and smiled. "Luckily for you, everyone hear would die to keep you safe, so I very much doubt you'll ever get into a scrape of the kind."

There was an awkward silence, and then Chira spoke again.

"On a more ordinary note..." she drawled. "We're your new family members! Happy days!"

"Nessie!" Mum called, dragging me from my thoughts. The memory of that first day back was interesting, but now it was December 30th, and everyone was nicely settled in. Thank god, because the house was now officially over flowing. We had collected two orphans (Quil's imprint, Claire and Seth's imprint, Darlene), one lawyer (Leah's imprint), three little kids (the cubs and Rose and Emmett's new adopted little one), and a Valkyrie (Embry's imprint... Don't ask). The house was over flowing, and Esme had all of us working over time to build on enough rooms to the back of the house. What were we, a supernatural resort? Vacation at Cullen Springs, a refreshing, if not TERRIFYING experience. "Jazz is about to serve dinner."

"I'll get the kids!" I called back, and stood from the couch to get up to the nursery.

"Betha, this dress looks the best." Chira said strongly.

"But I like the blue!"

"You look best in pink." Chira answered. "Doesn't she, Miss Picia?"

"Oh, quite, dear." Picia sounded bored as anything, and the lovely piano music didn't even pause. This girl was giving Daddy a run for his money! "Now, please shut up."

"Please sister!" Dora said, her sweet little young voice wafting from the room. "They don't deserve such harsh treatment! They're a set of darlings, the whole lot!"

No, Picia and Dora were not babysitting. I wasn't that stupid. What used to be ancient central was now the temporary nursery, so Picia was having to tolerate a few unwanted kids. I knew it was fine though, because Dora would but her foot down at hurting my kids, and from what I'd heard of Marcus, he didn't really mind kids too much. Wasn't his primary choice for company, but it wasn't terrible.

I opened the door smiling slightly, and saw that Chira was trying to force Betha into a pink frock. Was Chira taking lessons from Alice that I didn't know about? Conan was sitting in a rocking chair with Annabelle in his arms, his little feet miles from the floor. He and the baby were smiling at each other, and I noticed how bit Annabelle had gotten. She appeared to be at least two or three, and Conan, being about eight to nine and her made quite the pair.

"It's time for dinner, darlings." I said to my kids.

"Nabelle is still sleeping." Conan said quietly.

"Oh." I said, "Well, bring her down to dinner."

"The smell of steaks will wake her up," Conan said, standing up, "And really, she just ate."

"Oh," I answered, as Chira and Betha streaked past me. "Well, I'll go get Rose or Em to come watch her."

"That's not needed." Marcus spoke softly, the first words of the day. "I could watch her for an hour or two."

My mouth fell open before I could stop it. "Are you sure?"

"One moment," Conan said, walking up to Marcus and holding up his small hand. Marcus took it, and Conan's little eyes went blank. Slightly de javeu, but Conan's talent was slightly different from Aro's. Aro just knew the thoughts, Conan knew more then that. He knew not only what the person knew, but everything about themselves that they didn't know. It came in handy, every now and then, and usually Conan wore gloves to cover his hands- otherwise, I imagine it got kinda annoying.

"You appear to be fine," Conan said, and I sighed in relief. "However, if anything should happen to her, be it by your hand or someone else's, I will rip you limb from limb."

"And I would let you." that one threw me for a loop, let me tell you.

After pressing a kiss to Annabelle's forehead, Conan handed her over to Marcus and turned to leave. After a cautious glance around the room to make sure that Marcus was going to be good to his word, I closed the door and went to eat my dinner.

"We're going to have to get a bigger table." Esme observed, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose in thought.

"Good luck finding a table to seat fourteen." Carlisle said before kissing her forehead and heading for the door. "I'm off to work."

"You're going to do the dishes for me, right?" Jasper said, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of food on every available limb.

"That depends on whether I'm needed."

"In other words, it depends on what Jasper's cooked us tonight." I said, a smirk crossing my face.

"What are we having?" Jake asked,honestly curious.

"Steak for the bloodsucking of out bunch, mac and cheese for Claire's benefit, dinner rolls, pasta of whatever kind I have left, soup- most likely, and some form of vegetable- possibly cabbage, corn or some mutant form of broccoli that I got on sale from the black market. The freezer's nearly out and the fridge was already raided at breakfast."

"I think that they'll be one too many heart surgeries for me to come home in time." Carlisle said, grabbing his keys and escaping without another word.

"So!" Claire said happily as she held Quil's hand. Our numbers had really, really grown, let me tell you. "This is going to be an interesting meal."

"Yeah," Embry said, "And the only one who knows CPR just left!"

Angelica hit him on the arm. "Do not insult the cook!"

"Sorry baby," Embry said, looking down sheepishly. Thank god Angelica was around now, because she was finally controlling that boy. And the fact that she was a Valkyrie was very comforting as well, because she was a very powerful woman.

"You should be. The last meal I had cooked for me was in Germany, and it was the left over stomach wall of a dead bore."

"I don't feel like eating." Darlene said, pushing her plate away.

"Can I file for lawsuit if the mutant broccoli kills me?" Eden asked, as Jasper dished his serving out.

"No."

"Fabulous." Eden said, taking a bite grimly.

Needless to say, no one died because of the food. We all managed to survive, and after tucking the kids into bed me and Jake went off to our own little cottage a bit into the woods behind out house.

"You know," I said, smiling as we opened the door and turned on the light, "Even though were kinda far away from out kids, it's a relief to be far away from that place."

"I know!" Jake answered, pulling off his coat and smiling. "That place is becoming the Cullen resort house!"

"You have know idea..."