Stephenie Meyer owns all TWILIGHT characters.
The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25[dot]com
Prompt: 1 – i41[dot]tinypic[dot]com/vynoft[dot]png
Pen name: IngenueFic
Characters: Bella, Edward, Emmett
Rating: PG
All prompts can be found here:
www[dot]thetwilight25[dot]com/round-five/prompts/
Edward curses as the snow begins to fall. He checks the gauge in his Volvo and thanks no one in particular that he decided to fill up at the last rest area. He's far enough from the city now that all he sees is trees and blackness. Within minutes, the snow is falling heavily and he breathes a sigh of relief when he turns into the driveway of his parents' house no more than 20 minutes later.
The lights on the first floor are on and he can see the Christmas tree through the window of the formal dining room. The driveway is empty, which is strange, but he has a key so it's not a problem. After grabbing his duffel bag from the trunk, he rushes up the walkway and makes a mental note to throw some salt down after he settles in so the snow can melt a bit and no one will slip.
The sound of laughter hits his ears once he steps inside and he pauses. "Mom?" he calls out. "Dad?"
"Edwahd!"
A tiny blur streaks toward him and Edward bends down to grab his little brother who squeals when he's thrown into the air. When Edward settles the three-year-old in his arms, tiny hands press into his cheeks before a kiss is placed on his nose.
"Hey Emmett," Edward says with a grin. "Are you all alone in the house?"
"No!" He giggles and pushes his hands closer together so that Edward's lips look like a fish's.
"No? Well who…" He trails off when he sees the young woman walking toward him. He can't help but stare at her as she gives him a warm smile. She's pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way, not really on par with the women he sees day in and day out in his job, but that's a good thing. "Uh, who are you?"
Her smile doesn't fade and she stops only when she's a few feet away. Emmett immediately starts squirming; when Edward puts him down, he runs over to the woman and hugs her legs.
"Edwahd, is Bella," Emmett introduces her.
"Bella?" The name isn't familiar to him.
"Emmett's babysitter," she supplies. "Well, when I'm home from school, anyway. You're the infamous Edward."
"Infamous?" He feels like an idiot with his one-word responses.
"Emmett always talks about you. Your mom, too." She shakes her head. "I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow or that's what your Mom said…"
"I was," he says with a nod. "Managed to change some of my meetings though so I could come home earlier. I thought they'd be here."
Emmett tugs on the hem of Bella's shirt and she picks him up with a grunt. "The Rushmans are having their holiday party tonight."
"That's right," Edward muses quietly, mostly to himself. "Jasper mentioned that the last time we spoke. I should stop by." He glances behind him at the still open door and all he can see are sheets of white. "Or not."
"Yeah, it's getting pretty bad out there."
"Bella, we play outside?"
"Not tonight, kid." She shakes her head for emphasis, making a face when Emmett's face scrunches up. "It's cold!"
At her words, Edward shuts the front door. "Sorry about that."
Bella smiles and tilts her head. "I don't have to stay if you're here." She pauses. "Oh. Wait. Your father was supposed to bring me home."
"Do you mind staying?" Edward asks. "I'd take you but I don't have a car seat for Em."
"Yeah, that's fine." She nods her head toward the back of the house. "We were actually baking cookies. We're just about ready to decorate some. Wanna help?"
"Sure." He reaches out and snags Emmett, ignoring the sounds of protest. "I'll watch the kid and make sure he doesn't overdose on icing."
"Is that all?" She laughs as she walks back to the kitchen. A quick glance over her shoulder shows Edward and Emmett smiling identical grins.
"Hey," he protests. "At least I'm doing something worthwhile. This guy's just going to try stealing cookies the entire time."
"Nooooo," Emmett wails playfully. "No stealing, Edwahd."
"I'm not going to steal, kid."
"Not me!"
"We'll see about that." He narrows his eyes at his brother and jerks his head back when Emmett tries to smooth back his eyebrows and almost pokes his eyes. "Watch those hands. You'll make me go blind."
There's a slightly eerie silence in the kitchen. Bella is staring at them with raised eyebrows. "Are you two done with the bickering?"
"Bella, what's bick-ing?"
"It's almost fighting," Edward explains. "And yes, we're done." He says the last part to Bella who shakes her head and pushes a paper plate with three cookies over. "What's this?"
"You're in the kitchen. You can't leave until you frost or decorate or… Something."
Edward smirks at the sassiness in her tone. "And if I don't?"
She glares at him for a moment before turning a smile to Emmett. "Emmett, don't you want your brother to decorate a cookie for you? A work of art just for you?"
"You're an evil woman."
"Edwahd, can you?"
"Yeah, Edward, can you?" Bella giggles at the face he shoots her and passes over some frosting tubes. "Just one?"
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles.
For the next 30 minutes, the three of them sit at the table, frosting cookies and sprinkling them with glitter. Emmett eats more than he's allowed which means he's a crumbly mess. With a roll of her eyes, she leads him out of the room for a wash and to get him ready for bed.
"You'll be okay?" she asks Edward. He waves a hand at her because as soon as she stood up, he had grabbed a plate of plain cookies, and is now bent over them with a tube of red frosting. "I'll be back."
It takes 45 minutes for Emmett to settle into bed and to say good night to Bella. She flips the switch to the main light in his room and leaves the door slight ajar. When she returns to the kitchen, Edward is nowhere to be found but everything is cleaned up – the few dirty dishes are all in the sink instead of scattered over the table and the counters, the decorations and frosting have been put away, and the cookies are all in plastic containers.
One plate remains on the table.
Bella walks over and looks down, letting out a rush of air when she sees the art. That's what it is – art, not just frosting. On the sugar cookie is a cartoon version of her, all swirled hair, red dots where her cheeks should be, and big eyes done in purple.
"Purple was the closest I could get to brown."
Whirling, Bella sees Edward leaning against the doorway between the kitchen and the den. He's eating a cookie.
"That one is yours."
"You did this." It's not a question, really, because of course he decorated the cookie. No one else is in the house. Her mouth forms a half-smile. "It's not your usual work."
His eyebrows lift. "You know my work?"
She gives him an incredulous look. Of course she knows his work – long strokes that form a woman's body; curving lines that are intimate, sometimes too intimate for Bella's eyes; colors that somehow convey emotions across a canvas.
"Of course."
He grins and lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "Well, I didn't think my usual work would be appropriate for a cookie nor do I think it could have fit correctly. That's what you get."
"It's cute. I almost don't want to eat it."
"Really? Because I could go for another –"
"I said almost." She grabs the cookie before he can step toward her. "So, uh, I don't know when your parents are getting back."
"Late, probably."
"And I can't get home until they're here."
"No worries." Edward points with his thumb over his shoulder. "I set up the system so we could watch a movie. I mean, if you're up for it."
"Can I choose the movie?"
"Depends."
Bella thinks about the titles she's seen on the shelves and what she really wants to watch. She looks down at the cookie in her hand before glancing out the kitchen window to see the snow still falling steadily.
"Nightmare Before Christmas?"
He's quiet for so long that Bella finally lifts her head again, moving her gaze from the caricature of her face to Edward. The corners of his mouth are pulled up into a sweet smile.
"Yeah. Okay. We can do that."
Thank you to fanglang for pre-reading. All mistakes are my own - my apologies.