Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! I've just returned from a weekend away visiting family and am kicking back with a mimosa (sounded good for some reason) and thought I'd post the SJ Christmas chappie for you guys. Meant to do it before I left town, but was too swamped. As an added belated Christmas gift, I'll also be posting the corresponding second chapter of Dirty Daddy C this evening. That will be all that I post tonight, however, because the HBIC muse has been filling my brain for the last 3 days and I'm dying to write a new chapter for the first time in a month. Of course, it won't be posted until I finish putting up SJ and the already-written chapters of HBIC. Something to look forward to, right?
Also, thanks for all the fab reviews; it was something I truly looked forward to upon my return home and I wasn't disappointed. You guys rock, for reals.
Beta'd by Mynxi, who should probably enjoy the "break" I've given her, because I'm gonna have her busy again before too long.
SM's characters. This fucked up fam her in particular, however, is all mine. Merry Christmas!
Bella
Over the next few weeks we settled into our new life in Boston. We toured the Boston College campus and registered for the classes we'd be taking the upcoming semester. It worked out that if Jazz wasn't in a class with me, at least one of my brothers or my bitches would be. He was adamant that I not be 'alone' in any class. I huffed about it, questioning his trust in me.
"I trust you just fine, darlin'. But I'd hate to have to kill someone that decided he couldn't keep his hands to himself." Jealous bastard. Oops, I said that out loud.
"And this is news?" he simply replied. No, I guess it wasn't.
We went out to various bars and clubs, taking in the different kinds of nightlife Boston has to offer. I didn't get as trashed as I did the first time we'd gone out, much to Peter, Emmett, and possibly Char's disappointment. After the intense proclamation of love we'd exchanged and the fact that I felt for myself the profundity of his love, I decided I would try to be a little more respectful of that. Was I never going to get shitfaced and make out with a girlfriend again? It was quite possible that I would, actually, before my change anyway. But I could make a solid effort not to do it quite as often. I call that progress.
The girls and I did manage to get some Christmas shopping done. I mailed a package of all kinds of delectable treats to Ben and Lara (oh, how I missed my bitch; the obscenely expensive chocolates should convey that right?), and shipped a large package to Renee and Phil. I had touched base with Renee letting her know of my move to Boston, a few days after we'd arrived and settled in, telling her of my plan to start school the following month. Oh yeah, and that I'd gotten married. Somehow I hadn't gotten around to telling her that until now.
She freaked out a little, upset that she wasn't invited to the wedding until I told her it was really a spur of the moment decision. She asked if I was pregnant which upset me, because fuck, she knew that was a sore fucking subject with me. It was part of why we'd fallen out of contact to begin with. She was furious when I decided to give up custody of Tyler. I couldn't exactly explain the imprinting thing to her, so she took it as me being selfish and irresponsible (yeah pot, meet the fucking kettle), and that I was depriving her of a grandchild by my "abandonment" of him, especially when I forbid her from soliciting any contact with him. Renee had no business in that world, grandson or not, to which Jake agreed. I told her instead that he was placed for adoption so she wouldn't hassle Jake.
She's said some pretty hurtful things, things I hadn't quite forgiven her for, but as my time as a human was now limited, I decided it was time to make amends. I sent them a matching set of luggage and two tickets for a Caribbean cruise. The extravagance of the gift will likely make my mother shit her pants, but I wanted to do it for them, for her, before I couldn't do it anymore.
It was now Christmas Eve, and Carlisle and Esme were due to arrive within the hour. I'd just finished removing the rollers from my hair, shaking out the waves with my fingers, when Jazz came up behind me in the bathroom. He was wearing a dark blue button-down shirt, un-tucked, the sleeves rolled, over a pair of weathered, dark-wash jeans. Yum. His blond curls flopped down over one eye as he leaned in and kissed my shoulder. "Stifle those thoughts, darlin'. We don't want to greet the folks with your moans of ecstasy." He smiled at me in the mirror.
"Then you should probably back the fuck away from me with your sexy fucking self."
The doorbell rang. "Guess I'll get that," he said with a smirk and left the room.
I pulled on a snug white sweater with an asymmetrical neckline and three-quarter sleeves, and a very broken-in pair of True Religion jeans that had a rip across one thigh, my knee poking out of a hole on the other leg. I swiped on some gloss and headed in the direction of the voices I heard in the kitchen and family room. I could hear Carlisle and Esme, but I also heard an unfamiliar female voice and, no fucking way! Edward?
I stopped first into the family room and greeted Esme. "Mom," I said as her arms surrounded me tightly. "Thank so much again for what you did with this place, you really outdid yourself."
"It was my pleasure, honey! Besides, I had a lot of fun with it," she smiled at me. Carlisle was standing off to the side, chatting with Jasper and Edward; I walked over to greet him. "Daddy C, you're looking well as always."
"Ah, beautiful Bella, there you are!" he said, quickly giving me the once-over and pulling me in for a hug. I glanced over his shoulder, seeing Edward's exasperated expression while Jasper's eyes were narrowed… in jealousy? Were these two going to fight again?
I pulled away from Carlisle's embrace. "What's with you two? It's fucking Christmas, could we try to get along?" I asked. I ignored Esme's quiet "Tsk-tsk"-ing as Jasper gently took me by my arm and pulled me away from Carlisle to stand beside him, his arm snug around my waist. Ugh, the possessive thing again. I then realized his eyes weren't narrowed at Edward, but at Carlisle, who looked like he'd be blushing if he were able to, and his eyes were slightly downcast. Oh, I think I get it now. Huh, wow. Just what kind of thoughts and feelings had been going through him just now?
"Come on, there's someone you need to meet," Jasper said as he led me to the kitchen where Peter, Char, Rose, and Emmett were talking to the mystery woman. Her back was to me, but she seemed vaguely familiar somehow, with her long strawberry-blond ringlets that tumbled down her back to her waist, and long legs that rivaled Rose's that were encased in thick black tights under a grey pleated miniskirt. This must be… OH! My mind flashed back to a fuzzy memory from a night not too long after I'd started working at the Junction.
I was serving tables with a bit of a buzz due to the four shots of Cuervo I'd already taken to do a couple of bar-dances. I was getting better at it, but I did even better when I didn't have a nearly crippling case of nerves while standing on a counter five feet from the ground. Thank you Cuervo. I stopped by a table that had three drop-dead gorgeous women, who had been joined at their table by two men since I'd started serving them tonight. It appeared those two men would be getting lucky tonight, but I wondered what the story was with the third woman who seemed uninterested. She was hot enough to have her pick of any man in here, so why wasn't she hooked up?
"Can I get you guys another round here?" I asked. The men held up their glasses indicating two more beers, while the three women who had barely touched their drinks politely shook their heads no.
"We're still doing good," the fifth-wheel woman said, tossing her strawberry-blond curls over her shoulder. She looked me up and down and smiled. "Speaking of good, you were working it up there girl. You looked hot. How does one get to see you do that again?"
"One hundred dollar minimum tip," I answered. Fuck. I didn't want to dance again, although something in her eyes was making me reconsider that. She was smokin'. She held up two Benjamins, which she then folded and tucked into my cleavage. Now had a man tried that, he would've gotten knocked the fuck out. I would make an exception for Strawberry-Blonde Hottie.
"Make it something sexy," she whispered, and then winked at me.
"You got it," I said to her with a smile. And I did.
She was waiting for me when I got off from work. I had a pretty healthy buzz going from all the Cuervo I'd shot over the course of the night, so I stumbled a little (damned ridiculously high heel shoes, I look like a fucking stripper!) in my surprise to see her standing there.
"Can I give you a ride?" she purred. Yes, please. I looked over at Lara, who rolled her eyes as she unlocked her car, and shook her head at me with a grin. "Go, I'll see you at home later. I'd hit that too," she added in a stage whisper. I scowled at her. Bitch. She laughed and got into her car.
Strawberry-Blonde Hottie cocked her head questioningly. "My roommate," I explained.
"Maybe we should go to my place then," she suggested, stroking a manicured finger down my cheek.
"Uh, ok? Where's that?" I was trying to figure out how I was going to get home, but between those startling green eyes and that finger now tracing my jaw, I was a little incoherent.
"The Hyatt Regency. My sisters and I are just passing though town and decided we'd like a little company for the night. As you may have noticed from earlier, they are taken care of for the evening; however I'm still feeling rather lonely. You'll keep me company tonight, won't you?"
I nodded dumbly. "Fantastic," she whispered and leaned forward to touch her lips to mine. I closed my eyes, but when I felt her lips they flew back open again. Her lips were cold and firm. I looked carefully at her eyes, checking for red or topaz. Nope, still green, so she couldn't be… I dismissed the thought, and figured she'd just gotten some botox or something. She was too beautiful for it all to be natural.
"Let's go," I said and got inside her rental car, a sporty Lexus sedan. I fished my flask out of my purse, took a swig and offered it to her. She shook her head no, so I took one heartier swig, relishing the burn, and put it back into my purse. "By the way, I'm Bella," I said, holding out my hand to shake hers.
She took my hand and placed it on her very firm thigh, which was encased in the thick black tights she wore under that sweet little denim skirt she had on, and then she placed her hand high on my thigh, stroking gently as she looked in my eyes. She moved her face close to mine and I could smell her intoxicatingly sweet breath. "I'm very pleased to meet you Bella, and even more anxious to get to know you better," she murmured, and her tongue suddenly darted out to trace my lower lip. "And by the way, I'm-"
"Tanya?" I asked. She turned around; her now-topaz eyes grew wide. Contacts. I fucking knew it. This bitch dazzled the shit out of me that night.
"Bella?" she asked incredulously.
"Are you fucking KIDDING ME?" Our heads whipped around in time to see Edward flip his fucking wig. Ah, shit. Tanya probably just gave him quite the visual if she was thinking about the night we'd spent together. Sorry Eddie. And, by the way? You are a very lucky man.
Alarmed by Edward's outburst, Jasper placed himself immediately between me and Edward, and growled defensively. "Easy Jazz," I said quietly. "He's got a good reason to be upset."
"What's wrong, do you two know each other?" Rose asked, confused.
"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say we do. In the biblical sense," I said getting the point across as gently as possible, as I gauged Jasper's reaction to this bit of news. He looked about two seconds from his eyes popping out of their sockets.
"You and Tanya," he asked slowly.
"Had a one night stand," I finished. May as well put it out there; no secrets in this family right?
Rose, Char, Emmett, and Esme's eyes now looked like Jasper's; Peter grinned like the fucking shithead he is, and Carlisle looked… thoughtful. Uh oh.
"DO YOU FUCKING MIND?" Jasper and Edward snarled at him in unison.
Carlisle's eyes dropped to the floor. "Sorry," he said quietly as Esme stared daggers at him. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"Awwwkwarrrd…" Emmett said quietly in a sing-song falsetto, which was some funny fucking shit right there.
I couldn't help it; I started busting up because the whole situation was seriously fucked up and what else was there to do about it? Everyone with the exception of Edward and Jasper joined in and, after a bit, even the corners of Jasper's lips betrayed the smile he was trying so hard to suppress.
"Well I'm glad you all find this so fucking funny!" Edward hissed and stormed from the room.
The thought suddenly occurred to me. I turned to Tanya. "You two are mated now?"
She nodded, gaining control of her mirth. "Yes, for a little over a month now," she said.
"Huh," I replied. "You know, I thought he wouldn't be quite so uptight after he…" I trailed off, but she knew what I meant.
"Yeaaah, no. But we're working on it. I better go find him, excuse me."
"Of course," I said and she hurried from the room.
I turned to find five sets of eyes staring at me. Esme's eyes, however, were still glaring at Carlisle, while he stared at the floor. "What?" I asked the others. "You are all well aware that I've been less than innocent in recent years."
"Yeah, but Tanya?" Rose asked. "How come you never mentioned it?"
I snorted. "There are a lot of one night stands I haven't mentioned, Rose."
Carlisle's head shot up in my direction and then he glanced at Esme and looked back down to the floor. Jasper's eyes narrowed again. Fuck.
"What I meant is I went through kind of a wild streak okay? It's not exactly a period of my life that I'm fucking proud of," I explained, as I watched Jasper.
"I would think that the vampire one night stand would've come up," Rose replied, raising an eyebrow at me. God! Fucking drop it Rosalie!
"Fuck! I'd forgotten all about it until I saw her standing here. And at the time, yeah, I'd suspected it briefly but she must've worn contacts because her eyes were green. I was also pretty buzzed by the time we hooked up and I guess I didn't really notice her body temperature at that point."
"Is there anyone else I should know about?" Jasper asked quietly. I looked at him to see if he was angry, but he just looked cautious as he continued. "It's a little weird is all; I just want to be prepared if there are others-"
Okay, now I was angry. "Because I'm such a slut I'll fuck anything without a pulse?" I snapped. I immediately felt a wave of calm and apology.
"No darlin', that's not what I meant and you know it. I'm sorry if it sounded that way. What's in the past is in the past." He put his arms around me and kissed my forehead.
I looked around to the others, and noticed Carlisle and Esme had gone. "Did they go to help Tanya with Edward?" I asked.
Peter chuckled. "No, I'm pretty sure Carlisle's getting his ass handed to him by Esme at the moment."
"What's up with him anyway?" I asked. Rose shrugged as Peter and Emmett rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
"You're hot," Emmett replied, as though that answered everything.
Rose frowned at him. "What the fuck does that they have to do with anything?" she asked him crossly.
"That means that Carlisle's feelings toward Bella are far less paternal than they used to be. And if he doesn't get control over it, I'll be handing his balls to him after Esme hands him his ass," Jasper stated matter-of-factly.
"That bad huh?" I asked, probably sounding a little naïve. Jasper remained stoic, but Emmett and Peter nodded vigorously.
Edward
I never cursed my 'gift' as much as I did the moment I saw, in Tanya's mind, the image of Bella's eyes gazing up to hers as she traced her tongue from Tanya's navel down to her- Fuck! Surely God hated me. First He sees fit to give the love of my life to my brother, but only after she'd besmirched herself in promiscuity and taken to behave in such lewd ways. And now this.
I couldn't handle any more of the glimpses I kept getting of Carlisle's fantasies of the image of Bella dancing erotically in those tight leather pants on top of the bar, followed by her moving the dance to his lap. I knew Carlisle had a penchant for naughty girls; it came into play many times in he and Esme's sexual relationship (more gratuitous imagery I wish I could bleach from my mind), as well as the occasional fantasy about random bad girls he happened to come across. Carlisle never touched, but he did look and he had a very active imagination. That never bothered me so much before, but this was Bella, whom he had once thought of only as a cherished daughter. His thoughts of her were obviously no longer so innocent. I couldn't help but be disgusted by it, so I left.
The Denalis welcomed me, especially Tanya, who'd been after me for decades. I always put off her advances, until the evening I received the phone call from Carlisle that Bella and Jasper had married in Vegas. How tawdry, was my first thought. But I also realized then that I'd lost Bella for good and I flew into a rage.
Tanya found me in my anger and placed her hands gently on my arms in effort to calm me down. Furious, I slammed her against the wall, pinning her hands above her head and growled at her. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the scent of her arousal, and I gave in to my primal instinct, taking her roughly against the wall. We'd been together ever since. She was slowly helping to heal my emotional wounds and I began to develop rather deep feelings for her. Was it love? I think it was certainly headed there, I had no doubt. But I had more healing to do before I could give myself to her completely. Well, this was not going to help matters.
Now that this had come to light, I would forever have those images burned in my brain; my current love being pleasured by my former reason-for-existence. The images that shot through Carlisle's mind were even worse; his lust level must have matched the images, because Jasper's reaction to it was just as angry as mine. What the fuck was wrong with him; can vampires suffer from sexual addiction? Esme entertained a vision of stringing him up by his testicles. She didn't care for his less than fatherly reactions to Bella as of late, though being the kind soul she is, she didn't hold it against Bella. A lesser woman, Rose for example, would not be so generous.
I heard Tanya's apologetic thoughts before she spoke. "Edward, are you okay?"
"What do you think, Tanya?" She was trying really hard not to think about her night with Bella, which I appreciated. "Thanks," I said quietly.
I'm trying sweetheart. I know you don't want to see that. "I'm sorry Edward. Had I known who she was at the time I would never have approached her."
I knew she was telling the truth. "I know Tanya. You just have to understand how difficult it was to see that."
"I'm sure it was very difficult for you," she said quietly.
"I would be grateful if you could do your best not to think about it. Please." I told her as I pulled her into my arms.
"Of course, darling," she said. I bent my head to kiss her. "But you may want to express that to Carlisle as well." I stopped, my body going stiff.
"Shit Tanya, thanks for that."
She giggled. "So Uncle Carlisle's a dirty old man. Kate, Irina, and I have known that for years, you can't be surprised."
"He never used to be that way with Bella," I groused.
"Bella was a naïve seventeen year old child at the time," she said.
"Do you forget that I'm seventeen?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"No, you are one hundred and eleven, and I'm not terribly far behind you," she argued with a smirk. She suddenly covered my mouth with hers, kissing me deeply, and filled her thoughts with images of the two of us making love. She pulled away with a smirk. "Better?"
"Much better," I growled. Her images had awakened my lust which, after lying dormant for so many years, had recently become a very dominant emotion within me. I turned and locked the door of the guestroom we were in.
"Edward, they're probably waiting for us," she said warily as I pulled her down to the bed.
"They can wait a little longer."
Jasper
Once the initial shock of Bella and Tanya's past wore off, we managed to salvage a fairly pleasant Christmas Eve. Carlisle and Esme rejoined us first with Esme sparing him a final warning glance and Carlisle looked at me apologetically. I could feel the sincerity of his apology, laced with a moderate amount of guilt. We would have to talk later. I mean, I get it; my Bella is one smokin' hot gal, but the key word is MY Bella. I never thought I would have to establish boundaries with 'dear old Dad', but if he couldn't keep Lil' Carl in check we were going to have an issue.
Bella seemed amused by it if anything. She was used to men and women, apparently, of all ages lusting after her. I think that if Carlisle had ever been a true father figure to her, I believe she'd be a little more disgusted by it all. Hmmm. Why wasn't she disgusted by it?
"Knock it off," she whispered while elbowing me in my side, having caught me scowling at Carlisle. "I'm yours," she reminded me, and that's all it took. I relaxed.
Edward and Tanya came back about an hour later. Tanya's hair was a little mussed, as was Edward's but then his hair always looked that way, and while Edward's face exuded calm, I knew he'd just gotten his rocks off somethin' fierce. Picking up on my thoughts, he turned to me with a look of minor annoyance, but I could feel his pride. 'You can't fool me, remember?' I thought to him with a smirk. I reached my hand out to him in a fist. He stared at it for a moment, surprised, and then reached his own out to bump it, meeting my eyes with a grin.
Emmett, who's spent entirely too much time with Peter, had to ruin the fucking moment when he caught our silent interaction. "Whoa, whoa wait a second! What's this Bro? If I didn't know better, I'd say you just got laid! Is our little Eddie a man now?"
The room went silent with the exception of Peter's snort and the sound of Rose's hand connecting with the back of Emmett's head.
"I wouldn't exactly call him 'little', Emmett," Tanya cracked, breaking the silence. Edward beamed with pride, exuding an undercurrent of lust, as I was sure Tanya was sending some nice visualization his way.
"Fucking finally!" cried Bella. "Now can we please just move the fuck on from our family's sexual exploits and celebrate Christmas for chrissakes?"
"Bella, language!" Esme admonished.
"Sorry, Mom."
"Actually, I kind of think that's the point, Sugar," Char said to Bella.
"What's that, Wifey?" asked Bella curiously.
"Christmas for Christ's sake. That is the point of the holiday, is it not?" replied Char with a heavy hint of sarcasm.
"Huh, you might be right," Bella said with a grin. She suddenly had a twinkle of mischief in her eyes; talk about hanging out with Peter too much. She turned her focus to Carlisle. "Is she right, Carlisle? You were there weren't you?" She batted her eyes at him innocently as he gaped at her in surprise. Esme suppressed a giggle, but the rest of us pretty much busted up at the expression on Carlisle's face.
"Uh, no Bella. That was at least seven hundred years before I was born; I'm not that old," he huffed.
"Geesh, Daddy C, calm down, I was just joking. You're right, I should be more respectful of my elders," she said mock-apologetically, but I could feel her smirk, and couldn't help but sport a smirk of my own.
"Uh, well sure, yes. Respect…" he said and trailed off uncomfortably.
I think my awkward conversation with 'Daddy C' had just been averted.
