"Uh," Edward stutters, looking from Isabella to his sister, who's staring at them in confusion, completely at a loss for what to say. "Um."

Isabella comes to rescue. "Irina's actually my middle name," she says easily, and Edward almost sags in relief.

"Isabella Irina? Poor soul." Jasper mutters and Alice elbows him in the stomach, causing him to grunt.

"So, do you just prefer Irina then?" his father asks.

Isabella pauses, then gives Edward a little smirk. "Not really. But I have friends who call me Irina just to torment me. They were with me when I met Edward, and he's insisted on calling me that since. I guess he just likes it better."

"Oh, I don't know," Edward says lowly, meeting her eyes. "I think I'm starting to like Isabella better."

She stares back at him for a moment, silent, then gives a little cough and looks away. He notices in delight that the tips of her ears are a little pink.

"Anyway," she tells Edward's family, "Isabella is the name I usually go by, or Bella to my friends."

Ha, Edward thinks. Isn't that the truth. He sits back in his chair and starts snacking on the candy, un-wrapping a piece of chocolate with Santa's face on it and popping it in his mouth.

"Jesus," Bella mutters. "You just had a breakfast big enough for three, and all of it sweet. How can you eat that?"

He just smiles and unwraps another one, biting into it with an exaggerated moan, pleased when she grimaces. He's suddenly in a great mood, despite the close call.

Edward's grandmother arrives about an hour after that and she, Esme, and Rose lock themselves in the kitchen, preparing Christmas dinner. Carlisle disappears into his garage, and the rest of them pile onto the couches in front of the TV as Emmett hooks up the gaming console. He pops in the game he gave Edward, a car racing game that Bella has never heard of, and they both grab controllers, starting an intense game of yelling and taunting, elbowing and smacking at each other's hands in an attempt to mess the other one up.

She stares at the crappy graphics and frowns. "What is this?" she asks Edward on a break between games. Emmett had won and he's currently doing a victory lap around the living room, picking up his kids and swinging them around.

Edward shrugs. "I have no idea. I have never heard of it before."

"Your brother gave you a game you've never heard of? A crap one at that?"

Edward shrugs. "Well, yeah. It's what we do. The point is to get a crappy game we can play and beat while I'm here. Check out the game I bought him." He gestures at the coffee table, where another game lies.

Bella picks it up. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For PS2. She looks at Emmett, a grown man with a wife and kids, and snorts. Edward grins as if knowing what she's thinking.

He holds up the controller. "You wanna play winner?"

They play video games for almost an hour. The Cullen family is just as loud and enthusiastic about video games as they are about everything else, even Alice, who is usually the calm one gets into it, yelling at the screen when it's her turn, yelling at the players when it's not.

Bella gets trumped when it comes to the two person racer. Edward and Emmett have been perfecting their skills for far too long for her to take on either of them; however when they switch to Harry Potter she wins, beating Edward's time at learning the spells by three minutes.

"Hah! Yes!" Alice yells, who, strangely enough, has become Bella's cheerleader around her second racing game. "Take that Edward, Iri-Bella beat you!"

That's another thing that's a little overwhelming. After the incident while opening presents, most of the family have taken to calling her by her real name, even Edward calls her Isabella. It's a little weird to hear them say it after two days of pretending to be Irina, but a relief too, because it's easier. She doesn't have to remind herself that when they say 'Irina' they mean her, and she doesn't have to stop herself from correcting them every time. She's not sure it's a good thing, though. It makes it easier to get lost in the excitement and enthusiasm that is inherent in this family. Easier to forget it's all a lie.

She hands the controller to Alice, suddenly not in the mood for video games anymore. "Take over for me?" She stands up quickly.

"Sure!" Alice hops into the spot Isabella vacated. "Don't worry, I won't let them win."

Bella forces a smile and nods.

Edward looks up from the game. "Where you goin'?" he asks, but his tone is curious, not suspicious.

"Just thought I'd see if Esme and your grandma need any help in the kitchen."

Emmett snorts. "Suck up," he says, teasing. Something inside her clenches and she leaves the room in a hurry. The thing is, she wants this. She likes this family and their crazy love of food and everything loud and obnoxious, even likes their weird family traditions. She's finding herself enjoying herself more and more the longer she stays here. She's almost stopped fighting it, not sure she wants to any more. They're so close to each other, always teasing and joking around, switching to caring and concern at the slightest provocation. Even the way Alice has grilled her over the holiday is done out of her love for Edward—she's just being protective.

Bella hasn't had something like that in a very long time.