On the day of her birthday, Bella woke up and breathed in deeply as she buried her face into Tanya's hair. It fell on a Friday this year and Bella happened to have a schedule without classes on Fridays and Tanya cancelled her one class for the day so that she could stay home with Bella. It wasn't like her students seemed to mind anyway.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close, "Happy 23rd Birthday, Isabella," Tanya murmured against brunette hair as she dropped kisses there.
Bella had finally just accepted that the birthday shenanigans were going to happen and just sighed, "Thank you, T," She replied, "How long do I have?"
Tanya laughed at the phrasing of Bella's question, "Carmen and Eleazer have convinced Kate to give us about twenty minutes but I'm sure if we even attempt to go over that time, she'll be up here."
"I'm sure," Bella grumbled and pulled herself from the bed. She tugged Tanya's hand and the blonde looked to her curiously, "Come shower with me?" She asked with a cute smile and a pout.
"Anything for my birthday girl," Tanya replied and Bella groaned.
"You ruined it. You're not allowed anymore," She said as she crossed her arms over her chest but couldn't quite hide her grin.
"Hmm, I think I am," Tanya said as she stood and stalked towards Bella who was backing towards the bathroom. The human laughed and took off into the bathroom with Tanya following right behind her.
"You'll never catch me," Bella said with a laugh as Tanya's arms encircled her and she kicked the bathroom door closed with her foot.
0~0~0
Tanya and Bella emerged freshly showered, dressed, and dragged down the stairs by Kate twenty-one minutes later. Bella was still glaring at Kate as she was pulled down into Tanya's lap and her 'sister' had no shame and didn't look the least bit remorseful.
A bright smile was thrown her way by Kate as she placed the first gift in her lap. "Kate-" She was cut off by the bubbly blonde.
"Not a chance, Bella. I don't want to hear it and you're going to open everything, then eat the Birthday breakfast Carmen made, and you're going to love every minute of it," She said with no room for argument and Bella huffed and rolled her eyes before ripping the paper off of the gift in her lap.
After the wrapping was removed, she found a new riding jacket for her bike. She laughed, she definitely should have seen this coming. When Kate found out she had a Harley, she'd made so many jokes about Bella being a biker girl who needed a jacket to seal the whole deal. She thanked the blonde vampire and grudgingly accepted the gift that was passed to her from Carmen and Eleazer.
Their gift was in an envelope which Bella figured was more her speed. She thought wrong. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she looked up at the two vampires who were smiling softly at her, "You did what?" She asked incredulously and felt Tanya shift to look down at the paper before she laughed and settled her chin on Bella's shoulder. They just shrugged in response, "You did not pay off my student loans."
"We did," Eleazer responded.
Bella opened her mouth to protest before Carmen was cutting her off, "Bella, forget it. It's the least we could do. When I say that we've been saving for centuries, I mean that we have literally been saving for centuries and I don't mean to seem like I'm conceited or bragging but paying off your tuition was nothing," Carmen said and left Bella no choice but to accept their gift. She gave a heartfelt 'thank you'.
She was handed another envelope, this one was apparently from Tanya and she groaned, "Now I don't want to open anything else. I thought I was safe with that last one," She earned a laugh from Carmen and Eleazer and a gentle squeeze from Tanya encouraging her to open it. She finally did so and smiled widely as she turned to face her mate, "You're going to go skydiving with me?" She asked excitedly.
"We all are," Tanya said, "I just didn't put all seven tickets in there. Irina and Laurent said they wouldn't miss me being a complete vampire anxious mess at the idea of you jumping out of a plane." Bella just laughed and pecked her lips sweetly in thanks.
0~0~0
Bella had opened a few more smaller gifts and had eaten the amazing breakfast that Carmen had made for her. The vampire had mentioned before that she'd loved cooking when she was human and had wanted to make something for Bella. This was the first time that had happened and Bella was very impressed.
The others had left to give Bella and Tanya some time to themselves and Tanya had tugged Bella back upstairs and sat down leaning back against the headboard with Bella straddling her lap, "So," She said as she laced her fingers with Bella's absent mindedly, "I know you don't really like gifts," She stopped when Bella groaned.
"You're not done giving me presents, yet are you?" Bella huffed and Tanya just laughed at her. She leaned over and opened the top drawer of her night stand and pulled out a box. Bella rolled her eyes but took the box that was offered to her. She opened it and felt her breath catch in her throat, "I... I don't," She trailed off and looked at Tanya.
"It's the family crest," Tanya whispered as she pulled the silver necklace and charm out of the box and clasped it around Bella's neck, "We all have one," Tanya continued, "And everyone agreed that you also needed one," She said as she tangled her fingers into Bella's hair, "I love you, Isabella Swan, and so does this coven, this family."
"I love you too," Bella whispered as she captured Tanya's lips, "All of you."