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Christmas
(Tess POV)
"Bye, Parker. Miss you." I hung up the phone as Parker and I finished our conversation.
Jake came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. "Hey, babe."
"Hey..." I looked out the window as he pulled away; the sparkling snow outside was beautiful. It was Christmas Eve Day, and I was waiting for Renesmee and Bella to arrive.
Charlie came sprinting down the stairs as a dark grey car pulled up outside. I chuckled and followed him and Jacob outside.
Bella and Renesmee got out of the car, with Ren running towards Charlie. "Hey!" He grunted, picking her up, "You've grown half a foot!" He looked over at me, "Seriously, like, six inches."
I shrugged as Charlie set Ren down. "Well, I actually have a few errands to run; I'll be back in an hour or so..." I raised an eyebrow at her, but then... Renesmee jumped on me.
"Hi, Ren!" I smiled, " Let's get inside before our fingers fall off!" I carried her into the house and set her down on the hearth.
After three months... she already looks like she's seven.
I got a little box with a white ribbon on top from under the tree. "It is Swan family tradition that the day before Christmas we can open one present." I smiled at Renesmee and handed her the box, "Here's yours!"
She grinned at me and opened it. Inside was a wooden carving of a bird.
"A bird! What kind is it?" She exclaimed, taking the carving out of the box.
"It's a wren; like your nickname. Jake made it." I glanced over at him, lounging on the couch, just as he reached out and pulled me next to him.
"It's so pretty!" She giggled, running over and jumping into our laps, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I love it!"
"I'm glad..." I smiled at her and ruffled her long, brown hair.
"Go pick one out for Tess..." Jacob suggested.
"Okay!" Renesmee squealed, jumping off our laps and over to the Christmas tree, rummaging through the presents.
She came back with a smaller, rectangular box, wrapped in a different kind of paper than the rest.
I smiled at her as she bounced up to us and handed me the present. I looked slyly at Jake as I opened it.
It was a leather bracelet with a single charm: an emerald wolf.
"Oh!" I gasped, "It's so beautiful, Jacob!" I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him, "You shouldn't have... Thank you..."
I clipped it around my right wrist and played around with it for a second. I turned and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks, babe..."
. . .
Bella seemed anxious as she left with Renesmee; she kept shooting me and Jacob looks. But I didn't want to say anything in front of Ren, so I kept quiet as she ran around, showing off her present to Bella and Charlie.
"Bye sweetie..." I waved, watching Bella carry her back to the car.
"Bye, Aunt 'Ess!"
I waved at them as they drove away, and then headed upstairs to my room. Jacob was waiting for me. He waited for me to shut the door before lifting me by the waist and carrying me over to the sofa under the window and started to kiss me roughly.
"Woah, Jake... Are you okay? You're being a little... aggressive."
He backed away. "Sorry... I just... I feel like I haven't kissed you at all today... It's kind of drained me."
"Well, that's because I didn't want to kiss you in front of Ren..."
"Why not?"
"Because... we eventually end up making out, and I'm not really comfortable letting my seven year old niece be around that."
"Well... She's not here anymore... So we're allowed to go back to normal..." He grinned, and, with one hand on my waist and the other on the back of my neck, he kissed me again.
. . .
I had had the dream again... The one... where Jacob left. It was only the second time, but still...
I told Jake to go home, before Charlie woke up, so that I could have some time alone with my dad.
After Jacob left, I took some time to myself, just to think, and then I went downstairs and was really surprised to see Charlie, already making pancakes and bacon.
"Merry Christmas, hon." He said, setting down a plate for me.
"What. Is. All. This?" I asked, sitting down at the island. Usually Christmas mornings are relatively calm, and... normal.
"Eh, it's Christmas. This year has been friggin insane, so... I thought I'd do something special."
"Okay... ?"
We spoke a little as we ate. The pancakes were surprisingly delicious.
"So... I have a surprise for you." He said once we finished eating, and I was clearing our plates.
"Okay?"
"You know how I kind of drowned the truck last week?"
"Oh... Yeah?" He had taken the truck to a boat burglary scene, and accidentally forgot to put it into gear when he parked it on a slope, and it backed into the water.
"Well, I think you should take a look outside."
I ran over to the door and outside, into the cold.
There, out in the driveway, was a black Chevrolet StepSide C10 pickup. It looked so sleek and shiny and new – even though it was most likely over forty years old.
"Oh. My. God!" I squealed, "It looks like new!"
"Well, it's forty-two years old, but the original owner never used it – until recently, it was parked in a half-blown down barn. I was looking for a truck for you, and I found this one."
He tossed me the keys from the porch, and I ran back to him and hugged him. We went back inside and opened our other presents. I had two unopened ones from Jake, one from Renee and Phil, one from Bella and Edward, two from Parker, and three from Charlie.
The one from Renee and Phil was a book – the first book in the Conspiracy 365 series. The one from Bella and Edward was – of course, something expensive – a laptop.
Parker's presents were a Build-It-Yourself model of a 1960's convertible, and a card with a picture of her an Alec outside the Empire State building – all the way over in New York, where Parker was visiting her extended family, and Alec had joined her just a few days ago. She'd been gone since Thanksgiving, and I missed her a lot.
I set the ones from Jake aside – I wanted to open them with him present – but the three from Charlie were really cute. There was a little picture of us, outside a ferris wheel we had gone on last summer at a traveling fair. The second one was my old rag doll I had gotten when I was a baby – and had lost when we went on vacation a few years ago – and, sure, I was a little old for dolls now, but Maggie was really important to me. I'd been heartbroken when I lost her.
And finally – the last one. I knew what it was almost immediately.
Some Christmas-themed pajamas I had pointed out back in November. A grey and red plaid, long sleeve shirt, with red plaid pants.
I chuckled as I opened the wrapping paper and saw the pajamas. "Thanks, dad." I said, kissing his cheek.
. . .
I smiled as I pulled up to Jake's house in my new car. Jake was sitting on the snow-covered porch, waiting for me.
I jumped out of my truck, with three gifts in tow.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, skipping up to him through the snow, "Merry Christmas!"
"Hey, Tess." He replied, standing up and hugging me."
"So, I have your present here, and I saved the two from you so I could open them with you." I smiled.
He chuckled, "Well... come in, we should probably get out of the cold."
We made our way through the house and into Jacob's room, where I handed him his present.
He smiled and opened it. He smirked, leaned over, and kissed me softly, "Thanks..." He chuckled. I had gotten him several sweaters, because he had ripped most of his old ones.
I took out the larger present of mine and opened it. It was a stuffed animal – a wolf. The smaller one was a little cartoony wolf keychain.
We hung out for a while, watching Christmas movies.
A thought popped into my head as the last movie ended. "Jake?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"What do you think you'll do after we graduate?"
"I dunno... I've always wanted to go into the military, though."
I froze.
"What do you want to do?" He continued.
"I..." I gulped, "I've been planning to go to... Washington State U for Fine Arts. Mainly so it's kind of around Charlie... He's getting older... And he wouldn't really have anyone to take care of him."
"Yeah? You always have been the artsy and caring type."
I was too stunned to speak. I kind of just fell silent. He was planning to join the military... What if... What if that dream...
Told the future?
A/N: *Gasp* A cliffhanger!
First off, I just want to apologize for being late on my schedule, I've been swamped with the holidays and school, etc. so please, forgive me.
I wanted to make this a little longer, but it's about to transition, and it's a big transition. Which brings up some kind of bad news for you guys!
This series is going on break until January 2nd, 2016. I know, I know, don't shoot me yet! With the transition being so big (about two years, book time) I thought we should take a week or two off. But then, I thought "Oh, shit! I don't have the plot put together yet!" So I added a little extra time, so... yeah... Sorry, I know it's more than a month... But also, holidays...
In better news, the next few chapters are probably going to be depressing, because now it's Tess's turn to be super fucking depressed because her boyfriend is gone. But, Bella helps her, Renesmee calms her down a bit, the pack tries their best, Emily helps, Leah completely knows the feeling, and Charlie and his new OC girlfriend help, too! So she ends up being alright at the end of the four year stretch.
And, WE FINALLY HIT 30,000 WORDS!
Anyways, leave a review on how you feel about this chapter and the next one, and if you've read Conspiracy 365 before (one of my favorite book series) and I will see you guys... in about a month!
Love,
Lucy