Author's Note: This is based on a dream I had, except I made it a little bit more normal since my original dream involved a ginormous stereo in the middle of nowhere, Edward living in a really cute little trailer/house thing that looks like the one I live in, and Esme asking him to sample her Christmas cookies. This is set after Eclipse, probably extremely right after it.
Baby, it'scold Outside (Bella's POV!)
I watched the fat, delicate tiny little of lace-like patches of snow fall gently to the ground, which was already deeply covered at least a half a foot deep, while in the background I could just barely hear the local weatherman droning on about how there were record lows all around the state, and Forks was no exception. He also said that the snow would be frozen to ice within three hours of now, so anyone who wanted to brave the icy-cold wind and play in the snow had better bundle up and head out now. I cocked my head back towards the TV at this, and bit my lip thoughtfully. I hadn't played in the snow much as a child, it being too cold, and I had definitely not wanted anything to do with it since then. But it was strange, I had this weird feeling that I needed to go outside and play in the snow, despite the obvious facts that I hated snow and that it was the coldest it had been in Forks history. I didn't know if it was the fact that soon it wouldn't matter if the whole town of Forks froze over, I still wouldn't feel the air bite at my skin or the wind take all feeling from my ungloved fingers, just one of the few infinitely small drawbacks to me becoming a vampire, not that you'd catch me complaining. Or any other day besides this one, caring.
My mind made up, I scrambled to the front door and yanked it open, not stopping to grab a jacket or gloves, something that was sure to get me into trouble. Or dead from hypothermia or pneumonia, something along those lines, I had almost made it to the front door when I felt a gentle tug on my hand. Sighing, I turned to glance at who had stopped my mad dash for the snow, knowing before I looked who it would be. Edward. He had one eyebrow shot up and a tight-lipped grimace on his lips.
"Hiya Edward!" I sang, hoping to charm my way out of this.
"Hello there, Bella." He said, his stern voice a little ruined by the fact that his lips had pulled up into a small smile despite himself.
"What can I help with?" I replied innocently, as if my running outside in the unbearably cold with just a thin, long-sleeve grey Henley and slip-on clogs occurred daily.
"What, if you don't mind me asking, do you think you are doing?" His arms that were covered in a deep-brown extremely soft knitted sweater were now crossed.
"Actually, I do mind your asking, so, if you'll excuse me…" I said, turning back to the wide front door quickly, but it was no use.
"I don't think so Bella. Are you aware of the fact that it is, at the highest, about ten degrees outside at this very moment?" While he was speaking, he had slowly and gently reeled me back from the door and into his arms like some kind of human fishing line.
"I am perfectly and totally aware of that, Edward." I mumbled into his cold sculpted chest. "And, to be quite honest, I don't care one little bit. What could my going out and playing in the snow for a few minutes hurt?" I looked up into his twinkling eyes and knew I was about to get it.
"What could it hurt?" He scoffed. "What could if hurt, you ask? Well, for starters, it could hurt you. You could fall, slip on some ice; accidentally get ran over by a snowplow, trip over a hidden stick, not to mention the medical consequences since it is so cold outside, the possibilities are endless, Bella." I had tuned out after he had asked the question the first time; I was currently staring out of the panes of glass on that decorated the front door, wondering if the snow was already starting to freeze over. He pulled me back so he could look down at my face. "Are you even listening to me, Bella?" In fact, I hadn't been, but my quick lie had gotten caught in my throat when I looked into his eyes again. I'm sure the effect made me look a little out of it.
"Oh, um, of course I was Edward." I laid my forehead on his chest again and gently shook my head back and forth a few times. "But, think about it, there's a lot less accident potential in playing in the snow then there is doing other things. Just five minutes, please?" I realized I sounded like a 5-year old girl wanting to stay up past her bedtime, but I didn't care. The need to play in the snow was still strong, and my maturity could be forgotten for the time being. I felt his chest heave as he sighed, a bit on the dramatic side.
"Fine, Bella, fine, but not for very long, I don't want you freezing out there in the cold!" I squealed and giggled, I even jumped up and down a couple of times, which was really unlike me. Edward rolled his eyes, but he had a wide smile spread across his face, so I knew he was fine. "You can go out," he continued, "but only if you were the proper clothing." I groaned, sure that he would go completely overboard. He zipped off up the stairs and was back before I could even tap my foot impatiently, he surprised me by only holding a thick poufy black jacket and a pair of fuzzy pink mittens. I hurriedly slipped them on and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him towards the door, but he wouldn't budge.
"Edward! Come on, the weatherman said that the snow would freeze over before we knew it!" I looked back at him, but he still hadn't moved. He had a weird, sad look on his face.
I walked back towards him and gently smoothed the hair that came down in his face back. "What's wrong?" He just shook his head and half-heartedly smiled, but the look didn't leave his eyes, and the smile didn't touch them.
"Bella, I can't go with you." I opened my mouth to protest furiously. "It's not because I don't want to, but it's just so cold. That, combined with my already low body temperature, would, if I touched even the small part of you that is uncovered, it would, well, it would be sort of like, well, it would be like if you stuck your tongue on a light pole." He stared at his feet sheepishly, and obviously upset.
"Oh. Well, that's okay; I didn't want to go out there that bad anyway…" I lied feebly, trying to make him feel better. He shook his head before I had finished my sentence.
"No, Bella. You go, just don't stay out too long, and I'll be here when you come back in. It's not every day it snows this much, and even more rarely, that you want to play in it. So, go." He smiled, and it reached his eyes this time, zipped up my jacket the rest of the way, and lightly pushed me out the door. I took a few steps out into the fresh snow, and for a few minutes all I did was amble around, looking at the patterns different animals and I had made in the clean, sparkly snow. I looked up towards the sky, wondering if it was going to snow some more, when my foot hit a small patch of ice and I lost my balance, falling flat on my face.
"Ouch. " I groaned, the pain wasn't that bad, but the spot I had landed on was already a little sore. Instead of trying to pull myself to my feet, I just laid back and looked up at the sky again. There was complete silence and it was sort of peaceful and beautiful, when all of the sudden, I heard a humungous bang and I whipped my head around to where the sound was coming from.
Edward had, as soon as he had seen me fall, rushed upstairs and pulled on every bit of winter clothing he could find. He had on a tan toboggan with a red ball on the top shoved onto his head. Under the toboggan, he had pulled a black ski mask over his face and neck where it met an enormous yellow parka, buttoned all the way up to his throat. Enormous black gloves covered his hands and he had thrown on a pair of those snowsuit overalls to cover his legs. All in all, not one piece of Edward was visible except for his eyes and lips. After he had pulled on this ridiculous outfit, he had flung down the stairs and slammed out the door in his hurry to get to me. Now he stood above me, unsure if he should move me, in case anything was broken, like my neck.
As I looked up at him, I began to laugh. The intensely worried look on his face turned to confusion. "Are you in shock?" He asked.
I managed to choke out an "N-n-n-o." between my fits of giggles. Once I had calmed down a little more, I looked up at him again. "What are you wearing? Is that Alice's toboggan?" I clamped my hand over my mouth to try to stifle the hysterical laughter issuing from my mouth.
He looked down at himself. "Well, I didn't know if you would be hurt or not, and if you were hurt I would have to carry you into the house, wouldn't I? And I didn't want the whole "light pole" situation to make you more uncomfortable." His tone was a little clipped, and I could tell he didn't like that I was making fun of him. I hiccupped and stopped laughing.
"Well, I'm not hurt. So that's good." He shook his head yes, but wouldn't meet my gaze. "I'm sorry, Edward, for laughing at you. It's sweet that you put all of this on just to make sure I was okay. But seriously, is the yellow parka for real?" I giggled again, and this time he laughed, crystal clear and loud. It echoes around the trees.
"I guess I do look extremely ridiculous." He allowed, shrugging his shoulders lightly. I laughed again and he offered me a hand, which I gladly took. Once he pulled me to my feet I took a step back.
Turning around and leaning down pretending to fix my shoe, I said, "You know what this means, right?" I scooped up a snowball, packing it as quietly as I could. I heard the crunch of snow as he stepped closer.
"That you've had enough of playing in the snow and you'd like to go inside?" He guessed.
"Nope." I stood up and hid the ball behind my back, "This mean that you're fair game." And I tossed the snowball at his face.
