Hello people! Happy Holidays!

This is a short holiday fic I'm posting daily from Christmas Day until New Year's Eve, and it's my end of year gift to Team Momo.
I gave them all a break for this one, and left the red pen to Midnight Cougar.

But this goes out to Team Momo, and without them my stories wouldn't exist: hats off to Alice's White Rabbit, AGoodWitch, Driving Edward, Mel, Maplestyle, and Eternally Addicted.

Today we're sticking with Bella, but CluelessWard will be back tomorrow.

Chapter 3

Thanksgiving 2019

~~Bella~~

It's the day before Thanksgiving and, with some Herculean effort on our part in coordinating our schedules, the entire gang will celebrate here with us in Venice Beach.

Including the Admiral and the senior Cullens.

For Charlie, being a grandfather to Lily has done wonders to crumble his longstanding fame as the family's resident grump. It's also eroded his resistance to air travel, and now he flies in from England every time there's a good enough excuse to make it all about Lily. Being a new father, on the other hand, has done wonders to repair the ruptured relationship Em has had with Charlie for years. They've had a few good talks since Lily's birth, and they don't butt heads that much now.

Alice got into town last week and will stay for a few months to oversee the launch of her flagship store in L.A., then to play fairy godmother to all the celebrities she's dressing in AW La La for award season. She'd planned to be here in February, but her plans changed, which is a very Alice thing to do.

Jasper is jetting into LAX today, and so are Charlie, Carlisle, and Esme. Em and Edward are driving over to pick them up, so I'm spending the afternoon baking with the girls.

Correction—I'm baking. Alice is working on and off, but lends moral support from her seat at the breakfast bar, while she puts the finishing touches on some last-minute designs from her upcoming collection. Rose is helping me prep, but keeps an ear and an eye on the baby monitor, watching out for Lily, who's napping in the study away from our chattering in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry to be such a nuisance, BeeBee. But she's just gotten over a nasty cold, and she gets grouchy when she can't breathe properly," Rose explains.

I wave her off. "No nuisance, Rose. She's nine months old— she's allowed to be grouchy if she has a cold. Heck, I'm a grown-up and I was hugging the toilet two days ago."

"What happened?"

I groan, thinking about my less than stellar return from England. "I don't know if it was airline food, bad takeout, or both. I feel fine now, though," I add. "I won't pass any cooties to baby Lily, I swear."

Rose winks at me. "You're fine, don't worry."

Meanwhile, in the background, Alice grumbles and stabs at the screen of her iPad with such vehemence that its continued existence might be at risk.

"Who pissed in your Chanel No. 5, Pixie?" Rose asks.

She folds the iPad shut and bangs her head on the countertop. "This launch is driving me nuts. Only two things are keeping me afloat right now—Maurice and Sam."

"Jones?"

Edward's contract with Sam's Maison SJ expired last year, but they've kept in contact. Seth is Sam's other half, and with Maurice still being Edward's stylist, Sam's place within Edward's inner circle is pretty much cemented.

Alice smiles bigger than I've seen her do today, and brings her hands to her cheeks. "He's been so wonderful. Heaven-sent. So much for being the competition."

"He's not like that. He believes the clothes will speak for themselves, and fashion designers should stick up for each other a little more," I explain while mixing cookie dough.

Lily's fierce and displeased cries cut Alice's answer short.

"That's my cue to grab the little miss." Rose sighs. "Don't say anything important while I'm away."

I barely suppress my snort. "I hate to tell you, but you'll hear us through the baby monitor, won't you?"

"Why do I still have pregnancy brain nine months later? I want a damn refund," Rose mutters, walking off to retrieve her daughter.

When she comes back a minute later, I'm done with the peanut butter cookie dough, so Rose deposits Lily in my arms when she sees I'm available.

"Hey, sweet pea."

She still feels so small in my arms. That sweet new baby smell follows her wherever she goes, too. I take a good whiff of it as I hold her in my arms, and her head leans on my shoulder while she babbles away, happy as a clam.

"Stop sniffing my daughter, she's not a truffle," Rose protests. She's smiling, though, so I know she's just razzing me.

"Maybe Alice wants to hold her?"

I walk over to her and pretend passing her the baby, but Alice shakes her head vigorously, with a horrified expression on her face. She's been very hands-off with the Lily since birth.

"No, thanks. I'd rather not. I'm not … This isn't for me."

A little exchange meant to be good-natured banter between friends has turned serious at the drop of a hat—and not of a baby, thankfully.

"What's on your mind, Ali? Talk to us," I entreat her.

As if she knows that she's the cause for our debate, Lily fusses, and starts chewing on my sweater.

"Oh, girl. Please don't slobber on your aunt's clothes," Rose says, coming closer to check on her daughter. "She's teething, BeeBee. Do you want me to take her?"

I shake my head. "Nope. She's fine, I don't mind. Just stick a bib on my shoulder so she doesn't chew on cashmere."

"You're a trooper about this," Rose murmurs.

She takes a moment to rummage in her ever-present diaper bag, and a second later, she lays a cloth between my sweater and Lily's face. Completely nonchalant at her mother's predicament, Lily starts chewing on the bib.

"So, Alice. Cut the crap, what's going on with you?"

Alice huffs, her horrified expression pretty much unchanged, then hides her face in her hands. "I had a pregnancy scare two months ago," she mumbles. "And I feel like crap sitting here and telling the two of you about it. It's insensitive, self-centered, and callous. I don't want to be that bitch who makes shit all about her."

Uncomfortable, pervasive silence locks us in place, petrifying us like hot candy left out in the cold to dry hard and brittle. Rose, who's never had a problem voicing an opinion in her life, shakes it off first. My thoughts are too scrambled yet to have a coherent reaction.

"Scare, you said?" Her voice is calm, collected, and bitingly frosty. That's her scary boardroom voice, as Em calls it. "We're your closest friends, who've known you close for three fucking quarters of a decade. In that time, Bee and I have been trying for children desperately. I lost three babies, three! My marriage almost went down the crapper. Bee and Edward have been in couples therapy for years, and you have the unmitigated gall to use the phrase 'pregnancy scare' to our faces? How could you?"

Through her righteous tirade, Rose has been progressively losing her cool. She's moving her arms around her like windmills, jabbing her pointer finger at Alice in accusation, and by the end, her voice is breaking, even though she's close to yelling.

"Rose?" I murmur tentatively, beckoning to Lily. "Inside voice, maybe?"

When she reconnects and sees her daughter in my arms, she deflates. "I'm sorry, baby girl," she whispers, planting a sweet kiss to the crown of Lily's head. Then, she turns to Alice again. "But I'm not sorry for what I said. That's how I feel, and if we can't be honest to each other, what the fuck are we even doing being friends?"

I've been pacing behind the kitchen counter to keep Lily calm, but finally grab a stool and take a seat. Rose's eruption has given me time to gather my thoughts, too.

"Can I ask you something, Alice?"

Rose throws me a sidelong glance that says, you just did, but I carry on undeterred after Alice assents.

"Do you want kids, or not? Because that's the crux of the matter. A person who wants children wouldn't normally describe a pregnancy as a 'scare'."

Alice frowns. "No judgment?"

I nod at her. Rose is about to interject, but I shake my head at her and she relents.

Alice catches it, frowning deeper. "I don't see myself as a mom. Not now, not ever. I don't feel that drive or motivation. And I don't want to change my life for it. Am I being a woefully selfish bitch?"

After a deep sigh, I give her my answer. "Ali, it's your damn choice. It's not for Rose or me, or anyone else to judge. It's your life and Jasper's. You two get to decide—your family, your rules."

"But you and Edward … and Rose and Em, you've all … BeeBee, you're still trying and—" Her voice breaks into sobs at this point.

I lean a hand on her forearm to comfort her. "Because it was our choice."

"And ours," Rose adds, with her hand weaving through mine.

"Thank you," she murmurs, through tears.

A minute later, the front door opens to a cacophony of voices. And Alice flies away to the bathroom, while Edward, his parents, Em, Charlie, and Jazz walk into the foyer.

Big life choices can be a source of ... divergence of opinions even among the closest of friends.
What's CluelessWard's take on this scene going to be when he walks in on it?
We'll find out tomorrow!