Disclaimer- I do not own Twilight, this is a purely fan made story, however, the plot of this story that does not directly involve that of Twilight, and the characters I have created, are mine, and I hope you enjoy reading about them.
Chapter 34- Christmas
Rebecca POV:
"Rebecca?" His voice was quiet and gentle, the scent of cinnamon and rain-sodden earth hung in the air.
"Mm…." I managed through the haze of sleep.
"Merry Christmas."
"Buon Natale." I replied with a smile, slowly rolling over and burying my face in his shoulder. He surprised me by gently pressing his lips to mine while I still had my eyes closed. It was perfectly sweet. His fingertips brushed across my cheek, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
I smiled against his lips as I rolled over, lying on my back and cupping his face in my hands. He pulled back just by a few inches, so I could see him beaming at me.
He cocked his head to one side and smiled, "Don't laugh at me." He said before pursing his lips, as if trying to get a handle on a word he was going to say, his brow puckered and he bit his lip once, "Ti amo." He said slowly, the minuscule French-Canadian twinge in his voice ringing twenty times as strong with the Italian words. I stared at him memorized. The way Italian sounded when he spoke was beautiful and natural, as it should be. It filled that little tiny missing piece in my heart, it reminded me of home. "Rebecca…?" His eyebrows knit together at my silence.
I threw my arms around his neck and flipped us over, so I was leaning over him, and kissed him fiercely. God, how I had missed the sound of my language. How could it sound so right on his lips? He was surprised at first but then slowly tangled his hands in my hair. When I ran out of breath, I pulled back, gasping, and he laughed breathlessly beneath me. His hands trailed down my back until they rested on my hips as I caught my breath.
"I should learn more Italian." He muttered with a smug grin.
I smiled and leaned in, the tip of my nose brushing against his neck. "Mmm…" I inhaled deeply, "You should."
I watched his eyes darken and my breath caught in my throat slightly. I moved to wiggle away but he caught me and flipped us back over, kissing me senseless. It was a while before we broke apart, both laughing this time.
"What a wonderful way to start the holiday." He whispered in my ear.
I hummed and snuggled closer to him, making him laugh again. "But I did mean what I said about starting the day," He said, "The family is all gathering downstairs and I really don't like the idea of Emmett having an excuse to come up here and get us."
I shuddered at that thought.
"Alright, alright, let me up." I sighed, and slid off my bed. I walked over to my closet and glowered at it. Overnight, Alice had redone it the very night before she left. "Is it too much to ask for my wardrobe to not be replaced every three days?" I growled lowly, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Well, it is Alice we're talking about." Dylan muttered, standing up and walking over to the dresser in the corner where he had moved some of his clothes to, I knew that he missed her though. We all missed her. He shuffled his feet as he pulled some clothes out of his drawer, as if he actually slept. It occurred to me that this was my room and he had moved some of his stuff into it with my permission. Generally, I had thought these things work the other way around, that I would move into his room. But, Dylan explained his room had no bed and that I shouldn't feel like I was obligated to sleep in his room just because I wanted him laying next to me every night.
Of course… it was never like that, ever, but I found it difficult to sleep without his arms around me.
Finally, I picked out a light blue sweater that fit snuggly but was warm and stretchy, to go with a pair of black dress pants and black boots that Alice bought for me that I discovered suspiciously close to the pants. Grumbling to myself about my everlasting dislike of fashion, I slipped on the boots and threw my hair up in a high pony-tail. Alice had cut it for me just two weeks after arrived in Forks, so it wasn't down to my hips, but just long enough to cover my chest if I let it down. Alice, through giggles, called it hooker hair even though I pointed out that she'd just cut it shorter.
I paused, my hands still on the boot I pulled on, I missed Alice. I missed her a lot. Her and Jasper, the Cullen home felt less… complete without them. I sighed and Dylan noticed,
"You miss her too." He said quietly, not a question.
"She's overly enthusiastic… but a wonderful friend, and Jasper as well." I mused, sadly.
"She'll come back." Dylan stated, I turned and saw him leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, hands clenched in fists, "They both will. Right after we show those bastards they're wrong." I could hear his teeth grind as he mentioned the Volturi. I hugged him, knowing the loss of two of his siblings was hard on him.
"Damn right," I murmured, "I owe them."
With that I stifled another yawn, walked out of my room and slid down the railing on the stairs.
"Merry Christmas!" Esme called as Emmett ambushed me in hug. "And… please stop sliding down that railing!" Esme chided me as an afterthought.
"Yes mom." I rolled my eyes with a smile, while trying to unwrap Emmett's arms from me.
She glowed at my comment, making me blush heavily as I shoved Emmett playfully. Rosalie hugged me as well, followed by Bella. Edward smiled at me, but seemed slightly reserved, most likely because it was him I'd been the most wary around.
"Oh, Merry Christmas to you too." I huffed and hugged him myself, making him jump slightly in surprise before returning my hug awkwardly.
And I felt pretty darn proud of myself for that.
"Becky!" Nessie ran out from around the corner smiling.
"Nessie!" I laughed, leaning down to pick her up in my arms. I twirled her around and tickled her stomach, "Are you having a nice Christmas?" I asked her.
"Uh-huh!" She giggled, "Mommy and Jakey made pancakes!"
"That sounds yummy." I smiled as I set her down.
"Not as yummy as candy-canes!" She laughed, twirling around the room before grabbing a candy-cane off a huge tree that was in the center of the room. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw it.
"Whoa." I breathed. "Why is there a tree in the middle of your living room?" I asked as Carlisle chuckled at my expression.
"It's a Christmas tree Rebecca, haven't you seen one before?" He asked me curiously.
"Ahm… no, I haven't. I mean, when I was really little and living in Valle Celeste, our house was too little to have a tree in, and the Volturi... were not exactly huge fans of celebration. Felix, Jane, Alec, Heidi and I had our own little… movie marathon and secret-Santa every Christmas but that was about it." I shrugged.
Emmett gawked at me, "Felix?"
"Yeah…" I said slowly, "why?"
"Felix, as in, huge-guy, all business, kind-of-crazy Felix Volturi played secret-Santa with sadistic-Jane, depressed-Alec and nut-job-Heidi?" He asked in disbelief. I stomped on his foot, "Ow!"
"He was a wonderful brother if you got to know him, they all were. Even Heidi, she was a wonderful role-model… except for the seducing humans to their death part." I muttered
"Well, besides that." Emmett scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, we had secret Santa's and Christmas movie night on Christmas, but that was all we ever did." I muttered impatiently, "Though… this tree looks rather nice with all of those silver and gold ornaments on it."
"Thanks, we decorated it last night." Rosalie smiled at me.
The entire home seemed to radiate warmth, even all witnesses seemed especially pleasant and happy.
"Rebecca?" Rosalie asked me as I leaned against the couch, sitting on the floor.
"Yeah?" I asked,
"I have something for you." She said warmly, with a smile.
"Oh, Rose, you didn't need to." I said quickly, feeling embarrassed.
"Shush, you're my sister so don't act like Bella does when I give her gifts." She chided me and sat down.
"I resent that." I heard Bella called.
Rosalie rolled her eyes and handed me a small box wrapped in colorful blue paper. Unwrapping it, I gasped at the beautiful red scarf folded into the box. The soft cloth was embroidered with swirling patterns like whirlwinds
"It's beautiful." I muttered, "Thank you… I wish I had something to give you."
Rosalie smiled, "Don't worry about it… but, you know, I have been wanting to here you play." She urged me.
"Oh… I uh, I haven't played in a while, and I really know more songs on guitar than I do violin." I babbled.
"Oh, just play something, we have a violin and a guitar!" She sighed.
"Uhh…"
"I'll play a song with you." Garrett volunteered, strolling into the room with a lazy grin.
"Yeah, play a song Italy!" Emmett clapped his hands loudly.
"O-okay." I said shakily, "Garrett… how do you feel about um… 'Half an Acre'?" I asked tentatively.
"Wonderful, would you like to play the violin or guitar part?" He asked over-theatrically., offering me his hand to stand up. He pulled me to my feet as I deliberated,
"Guitar, I think I could play Valleys of Athenry on violin later…" I mused,
"Hah! Back to those Celtic pieces!" He chuckled, elbowing me in the ribs.
Edward kindly gave us the use of his music room, providing Garrett and I with two stools. Most of the witnesses and all the Cullens packed into the small room to listen. I pursed my lips as I saw Dylan walk in, Emmett behind him, he smiled and winked at me, Emmett gave me a thumbs up.
"Well… seeing as I'm dirt broke and couldn't get most of you a Christmas present, I guess this is the best I could do." I said quietly, earning a chuckle from someone.
I strummed an opening note, and grimaced slightly, tweaking the strings to re-tune the instrument. Of course, Garrett's violin was wonderfully tuned due to the fact that it was tuned to vampire standards every day. I tried again, and was satisfied with the result.
I am holding half an acre, torn from the map of Michigan,
And folded in this scrap of paper… is the land I grew up in…
I sang the first line almost silently as Garrett played the first slow bars on the violin,
Think of every town you've lived in,
Every room you lay your head,
And what is it that you remember?
We both played a sweet, short harmony together before Garrett joined me for the chorus.
Do you carry every sadness with you?
Every hour your heart is broken?
Every night the fear and darkness lay down with you.
He smiled at me and let me sing the next verse while slowly plucking a soft melody. To my surprise, Edward was seated at his piano and was playing the accompanying three-beat melody that wove in and out of the music with flourishing talent.
A man is walking on the highway,
A woman stares out at the sea,
And light now is only just breaking…
The chorus switched tempo, to a slightly quicker beat the moved up and down constantly like a wave. I closed my eyes as I softly strummed the wired strings of the instrument, letting the 'soul' of the song fill me up. It was beautiful, if one stopped to listen, and it touched my heart when I heard it the first time. It was so true… and perfect, it was about true sadness in life, and true perseverance.
So we carry every sadness with us,
Every hour our hearts are breaking,
Every night the fear and darkness,
Lays down with us.
I smiled down at the ground, the lyrics were about a journey, a journey through winter. A journey where the singer finds that the purpose of journeying is not the destination but the experience along the way. Garrett played a long riff solo up to the last verse,
But I am holding half an acre,
Torn from a mpa of Michigan,
I am carrying this scrap of paper,
That can crack the darkest sky right open,
Every burden taken from me,
Every night my heart unfolding,
My home…
Home was here. Home would always be here.
There was light clapping, Dylan beamed at me. I traded instruments with Garrett, who then promptly went to sit down with the others. "Um… well, if Garrett hadn't taught me to how to play violin again… I wouldn't be doing this right now, so thanks." I said quietly, smiling at him. Kate patted his shoulder with approval.
Valleys of Athenry was a slower traditional Celtic song, and very holiday sounding. When I was finished, Dylan stood up and hugged me, before kissing me softly on the lips.
"That was wonderful." He whispered, "That first song… it was amazing, you're voice is wonderful."
"Thanks." I breathed, still embarrassed that Rosalie had convinced me to do it at all.
We all went downstairs, to relax and exchange gifts. Bella, Edward and Renesmee left to go see Charlie. I gave her a tiny silver Egyptian charm that I had bought at a market outside on Benjamin's village. She thought it was 'boo-ti-ful'. Unfortunately, I really only had three gifts. The charm for Renesmee, one for the Cullen family in general, and one for Dylan.
When all the excitement died down a bit, I took the opportunity to dart upstairs and snag my two gifts. Savel, who'd been lazily sleeping all day, woke up as I closed my door and started barking like mad. I chuckled and scooped her up in my arms.
"Aw, getting bigger aren't you, Sav?" I cooed in her fluffy ears. She must weigh at least sixty pounds now, maybe even seventy and was the size of a full grown Border Collie. She yipped and licked my face. "Gross…" I muttered, putting her down and wiping my face off, "love you to, pup."
I ran back down the stairs, Sav followed me and quickly curled into my lap when I sat back down on the floor. Dylan, Emmett, Rosalie, and Esme were seated in a semi-circle, Edward, Bella and Nessie had just gotten back and Jacob was with them. I leaned against Dylan's shoulder and smiled contently.
"Well… I never could land a job between getting chased over the entire world and trying to find you guys, so Christmas planning wasn't… on the top of my list, but I managed to pull some things together." I chuckled, pulling out the long cylindrical tube I stored my sketch in.
Emmett chuckled, "What, no gift shops in the woods of Albuquerque?"
"Not so much." I laughed dryly. "But I made this, as a sort of… 'thank you' to all you guys." I carefully pulled the cap off the tube. The edges of the paper were both semi-burned and crinkled, but the sketch remained intact.
"Incredible," Carlisle breathed as I unrolled it, It was almost six feet in length and two feet in width, "Is that…?"
"The ancient castle of Volterra, before a town was established there… and the castle was all above ground." I nodded, "I've seen both… paintings by the masters who had seen it, sketches by the Guard, and six years ago Corin created a virtual representation with a holographic program." I explained.
"Fantastic…" Carlisle managed, he was all but devouring the new information at his fingertips. The castle dominated the first portion of the sketch, I drew it very boldly, with stark contrast to the white background, as if one were looking up at it. Then, I used a fading effect to transition into my a desert scene,
"The Great Pyramids," Rosalie muttered in surprise, her fingertips tracing their shape. The sun was breaking between them, a sand storm had swept dunes against their sides. "They're beautiful."
"Much better in person," I smiled, "in color."
"I've only seen them once, very, very briefly. The one cloudy day in Egypt's history." She chuckled.
"Is that… India?" Edward asked, leaning forward as well.
"Yes, I didn't see the Taj Mahal per see, but I did explore a bit on my way there." The next section of the sketch was a line of four elephants walking in a cobbled-street, holding trunk-to-tail. I pointed to the next section, "And the coast of Maine," I said, tapping the lighthouse that I had drawn from the view of the boat, the railing was even in the sketch, "Crossing into Canada," A scene of breathtaking mountains and snow, that had caught my eye immediately, "And… the Olympic Peninsula, from an old freight train car." I pointed to the very last panel.
I had sketched the inside of a train car, the entire side open to the landscape as it whirled by. I specifically drew a mountain that was rounded on one side, almost a dome, and dropped into a sheer cliff into the ocean on the other.
"Mt. Ranier." Emmett recognized it immediately.
"That was the first thing I remembered seeing of Washington."
"Are those the wolves from La Push?" Jake asked, chiming in for the first time.
Mixed in on the bottoms and top were many different little details, one was a large white mother wolf, curled around a black pup with and growling, facing a rising sun.
"No…" I sighed sadly, "That was Savel's mother, she was killed by a hunter."
"Yeah, and you kicked that poor man's ass." Garrett chuckled.
" 'e deserved it." I sniffed.
"This is a very detailed sketch." Carlisle said, scanning it carefully.
"Thanks." I said awkwardly. "And uh… this," I pulled another box out from behind me, "is for you." I handed it to Dylan.
He smiled slightly, "Thank you." He said and kissed my forehead. Out of the small box he withdrew the velvet pouch, and gave me a quizzical look.
"Oh, just open it." I sighed.
He tilted the bag, and the necklace slid out onto his palm. The beads were smaller than marbles, and near perfectly round. Each had a different symbol from my village on it, since Valle Celeste had been founded in Roman times, the symbols of Roman culture survived.
A spear, a shield, a leaf, a vine, a cresting wave, an owl, a lion, mountains, a viper, and a bow and arrow. The centerpiece of the necklace was a small rectangular carved piece of stone. I had carefully carved a mountain lion standing on an outcrop of rock, on paw lifted, jaws open mid yowl with the tail curving around his body.
"In the village, when a child lived through their sixth winter, their family made them a necklace." I said quietly, not sure whether or not he liked it. The necklace hung rather straight around one's neck, and didn't dip, every single man in our village wore theirs till the day they died. After their eightieth birthday, a bead at the end was replaced with jade with the symbol carved in it. Each year they lived past eighty, they had another bead replaced.
"Traditionally, the necklaces are made from wood, and a bead per year replaced with jade once someone reaches the age of eighty. But, I decided something more durable than wood was important… so, Jacob taught me about wood whittling and I used obsidian instead." I babbled, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.
"It's… amazing." Dylan managed , his eyes were wide, as if drinking it in.
I blushed furiously, "Th-thanks."
"No, thank you. It's perfect, I love it." He looked up and wrapped his arms around me in a sweet hug. His nose brushed my ear, "I love you." He breathed almost silently. He withdrew a small object from his pocket and slid it onto my index finger.
"It's a promise ring." He said, his eyes sparkling, "Call it a human tradition, by apparently it runs in my family. It represents a bond, a promise." He murmured and kissed my knuckles.
The ring was made of braided strands, two of platinum, one of gold. "Oh my gosh… it's… wow." I stammered, "Thank you."
He smiled and placed a soft kiss on my lips, "Merry Christmas, Rebecca."
It was my first Christmas in years, and it was perfect.
When the moon had risen, I fell asleep in Dylan's arms.
Everything was perfect, life in general was wonderful. I couldn't believe what I had done, considering how I lived now. Comfortably, safely, happily. Sometimes, Dylan could make it all seem like just on bad dream. But the looming threat of the Volturi began to make my stomach turn after Christmas as more and more snow storms threatened.
It turns out, the beginning of the end would come sooner than I thought. Relaxing by my window, trying to find my pajamas, I never expected it to start like that.
A simple slide backwards, my elbow bumping the beautiful red scarf Rosalie gave me… not exactly an intense or suspenseful sign of the end of my world.
PAGE BREAK-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Sooo, yes it is an odd ending but partway through writing this I realized that if I didn't break it off hear this chapter would be way to long. I hope you liked this chapter, and thank you very much to all my new reviewers who have jumped on board! I'm happy you guys like the story!
In terms of plot, I'm sure most of you can guess where this is going. Something's gonna happen, then… BAM, Volturi time! But don't worry, I plan on spicing it up!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE IT! Happy holidays!
Beware of open window's, they are the start of the apocalypse! No really, I knocked my honors English assignment out my window, it was a water-colored painting, and it fell into snow.
Water color paints + snow = melting snow, and completely ruined painting! :'(
Anyways, REVIEW PLEASE! As always, hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave your opinion.
~^Zeri^~