A/N HollettLA can come and stay with me in Queenstown any time she wants. Anyone else wanna come?

Off Piste

- 21 -

A year after the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Edward came with me on another trip back to New Zealand to visit Renee. Despite him wanting to stay at the house she shared with Phil, I insisted he'd regret it and booked us into the new Hilton down the road. Renee was totally fucking smitten with Edward. It was disgusting how quickly she was asking me when I was going to make her grandbabies and "Oh Phil, just think what little skiing prodigies they'll be! Oh, delicious." Barf. But interestingly, Edward just smiled and stayed quiet, not looking like he wanted to jump on the next plane out of there.

It was summer in the Southern Hemisphere, another mini-vacay where we wouldn't be hitting the slopes. Edward was still just keeping up his base level of fitness, before the ski-specific training started. We went for a couple of runs together around the gravel track which bordered beautiful Lake Wakatipu in the heart of Queenstown. I loved checking out some of the amazing properties that had been built on the lakeside since I was there last. Of all the ski towns I had been to in the world, Queenstown was still one of the most breathtaking.

Our fourth day there was the year anniversary of his downhill win. He also reminded me it was the anniversary of the day he reckons he finally won me over. I argued it wasn't until the night of the after-party, but he insisted that he had me long before that. I didn't pipe up and say that it was probably a whole four years before.

We went for a drive to a nearby vineyard for lunch, and on the way back he asked me to detour down a road in the countryside. I was, of course, behind the wheel; there was no way I was going to be a passenger to his foreign skills when New Zealand drove on the wrong side of the road. As we turned off, the view of the surrounding mountains was awesome, and the tree-lined gravel road ended down at the smaller lake next to the big Wakatipu, Lake Hayes.

"Take a left here," Edward said when we reached the only driveway beside the lake at the end of the road.

"How the hell do you know your way around here, dude?" I hesitated.

"Just trust me, dude," he mimicked.

I was getting damn suspicious, but did as I was told for once.

The driveway was similar to the road, just smaller but still lined with trees and grass fields on either side. I could see a schist stone and cedar house up ahead. It was my favorite style, which was fairly typical of the Queenstown area, making use of the local stone as a feature. The whole thing was spread across one long level, making the most of the view with huge picture windows looking out to the lake and mountains behind. You could see the ski field where Edward and I had that amazing encounter all those years ago.

"Why are we here? Do you know the person who owns this house?"

"Yes, I know the person who owns this house."

"A ski friend?" I asked, thinking of the mountain staffees he knows who work the winters here.

"Ah, kind of a ski friend, I guess," he debated.

"Quit being cryptic, Cullen," I said, crossing my arms and giving him my stern face.

He unbuckled his belt and got out of the car, so I hurriedly did the same and met him at the front of the car.

He handed me a set of keys.

"Happy anniversary of deciding I wasn't a snow-ho douche." He smirked.

"But we're staying at the Hilton," I said.

"Honey, are you sure you're not blonde?" He touched my cheek. "I bought this house. For us. To keep."

"You bought a house in Queenstown?"

"Yes, I bought us a house in Queenstown."

"Do you want to move here?" I asked. I was a little perplexed.

"No, not necessarily, but I want us to be able to come here whenever we want, to our own place, and spend more time here."

I looked between him and the house, and then walked up to the front door, taking it in, trying to place this whole moment in reality.

I turned back to him, totally gobsmacked.

I couldn't even think about what this said about Edward, not to mention our relationship. All I could think about was how much I needed to show him that he was fucking awesome and that I was all about loving him.

I wanted to be all about loving him, all over our new house.

I held up the keys to him.

"I need a tour, and then I need to christen this fucking perfect pile of wood and stone with my fucking perfect man," I said, finishing my sentence with a Cheshire smile.

-x-x-x-