Christmas Day
I woke up early the next morning to find myself wrapped up in Alistair on Christmas morning, just as it should bed. I smiled widely and buried my face in his chest, reveling in the feeling of having his body wrapped around mine.
It's been months since I have seen him and I have missed him so much.
"Merry Christmas princess." I giggled when I realized he was awake, I looked up at him to see he was smirking at me.
His eyes were half open and his arms were around my bare back.
"Merry Christmas Al. I still can't believe you are home." I shook my head slightly while resting my cheek on his chest so that I could look at him better.
"I'm here baby. What time is it? Do we have time to open gifts here before we have to go meet the family at ten?" I leaned up and looked at the clock by the bed.
"It's eight now, you wanna take a shower before we open gifts?"
"That would be great actually. You wanna join me?" He asked with a wiggle of his brow. I giggled lightly at his playfulness.
"I'll go start it." I gave him quick kiss on the lips before I jumped up and ran for the bathroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Home for the Holidays~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alistair! You got hissy with my last night because of presents how did you get me anything anyway?" I asked in a slightly whiny voice as I sat on the floor with my back against the couch.
It was now nine o'clock we had finally got ready and now we were sitting down to open our presents before heading for my dad's.
"Mom bought em, and your dad bought a few. He is the one who brought em over and put them under the tree." I rolled my eyes, of course.
"I had them use my card." He said with a wink as he handed me the first one, I had four. And another that he wasn't gonna give me until later.
"I knew those presents weren't from our parents, daddy never lets me open my gifts unless I am at home."
"With good reason, so where's mine at?" he asked while looking under the tree, around all my family and his families gifts to find his.
"You have three in the very back and one on the tree." I said as I held the smallish box in my lap.
"Ah! Got em!" He grabbed them all up in one arm before snatching the gift card box off the tree. I giggled as he plopped down on my left and sat his gifts on the other side of him.
"How about we open at the same time?" I suggested with a smile as we looked at one another.
"Sounds good to me, oh and the tree looks amazing by the way baby." He kissed my cheek sweetly and I swooned.
"Thanks baby. Alright, one three. One…..two,"
"Three." He finished eagerly as we tore into our gifts.
"Alistair!" I squealed once I saw what was in the box.
"Shit baby I told you not to get me this!" He exclaimed once he had the paper off the box.
I got him the new Xbox he had been wanting but hadn't had the chance to get since he has been shipped out. He smiled at me widely and watched as I lifted the snow globe from its box to see it in person.
It was a beauty and the beast story book snow globe, it was beautiful.
"Oh Al, I love it."
"I'm glad." He kissed my cheek and took the snow globe from me, he put it on the coffee table and set all our trash aside, along with his new toy.
"Alright this one is actually from me and my folks." He said as he handed me a jewelry bag, dammit!
"I told you no jewelry this year!" I reprimanded as I took the not so little bag in my hands.
"And I told you not to buy me the Xbox, now we are even. Which one do you want me to open next?"
I looked around his pile and pointed to the bag as well, remembering its contents immediately.
"That one." I said with a grin as he grabbed it up. This time we just opened them at our own pace.
I gasped when I came face to face with the 'I am loved' Pandora bracelet that was customized with a nurses charm and a small Christmas tree, it wasn't the usual 'I am loved' bracelet as it was themed more for Christmas than anything.
I looked down into the bag to see two more little boxes and set to those as I heard Al open his watch. He has been needing a new one for quite a while and when I saw it I knew it was for him instantly.
He waited while I opened the diamond necklace with a giant pearl on it and the matching pearl and diamond bracelet.
"Thank you baby, it's all beautiful." I leaned over and kissed him chastely on the lips while setting that gift aside just as he did.
"You're welcome, this watch is beautiful baby." He kissed my head before handing me what looked like a clothing box. This could be anything.
"Just know that that is the one present that I let Alice buy for you." If he didn't get his mother or my father to buy this, then I know exactly what it is.
"Open your gift Alistair before I smack you for this one!" I growled when I saw the white and red nightie. He laughed heartily before kissing my cheek and setting to his gift.
"So are you gonna wear that for me later?" he asked with a wiggle of his brow as he unwrapped the present.
"Maybe." I winked at him as he lifted the top of the box, he froze instantly.
"Is this for real?" he asked with wide eyes as he looked at me in surprise. I got him a Seattle Seahawks jersey and a Wayne Gretzkey Penguins jersey.
"Yeah, I knew you needed a new Penguins jersey and I saw the Seahawks one and so I thought you needed a jersey for them too."
"Thank you baby, this is the best." He kissed my lips sweetly before moving onto the last gift. Until later of course when he gives me my last gift.
I watched him open the small gift card box and all those gift cards fall out. His eyes widened in shock as he looked into his lap at all those cards, I couldn't help but to laugh.
"What the fuck?" He mumbled while picking them up all at once.
There was an Applebee's card, game stop, best buy, a few clothes stores, iTunes, Starbucks, a frozen yogurt place he loves, Lowe's, auto zone, finish line, dick's sporting goods, and one to the Nike store.
"Damn Bella, these had to of coast a fortune." He looked at me in surprise, as if I hadn't spent enough on the Xbox, and everyone else.
"You're worth it." I said with a small smile as he put all the cards back in the little box.
"Hey, you still haven't opened yours. The very last one won't be until later, now hurry up we gotta hit the road before we are late." I looked to the clock to see it was nine thirty, we would be cutting it close.
"Okay, okay." I set to ripping the paper away and found myself looking at a stack of my favorite classics.
"Alistair, how did you-?"
"Your dad found some of them and my mom searched everywhere for that edition of Wuthering Heights."
I smiled a watery smile, fucking hormones! Sitting in my lap were: Wuthering Heights, Pretty Woman, Dracula, Fahrenheit 451, Romeo and Juliet, Edgar Allan Poe full collection, A Midnight Summer's Dream, Macbeth, Beowulf, Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby.
"Alistair this is perfect, thank you so much baby." I leaned into him and gave him a long passionate kiss.
"You're welcome baby girl. Let's get this cleaned up so that we can head out of here yeah? Go surprise some people." I giggled as we shared one last kiss before we got up and threw away all the paper and moved our gifts out of the way so we wouldn't stumble over them when we got home later.
"You know, I loved all those gifts, but the one you gave me last night…nothing will top that Bella." Al admitted as we made the drive to my dad's house. I looked at him to see he had silent tears in his eyes as he watched the road carefully, it was snowing like mad out here.
"I knew you would love it." I leaned over the console and kissed his cheek, making him smile even wider.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Home for the Holidays~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Merry Christmas everybody!" I yelled as we walked into the house, no one was around the foyer and so I told Alistair to be quiet and count to five before coming into the living room. He winked at me and kissed me once chastely before I walked into the living room to see my family already gathered.
"Merry Christmas baby girl." Daddy enveloped me in his arms, kissing my head lovingly as everyone else wished me a Merry Christmas. Esme hugged me tightly before giving Edward his turn.
"Did he not make it?" he whispered in my ear right before Alistair came into the room.
"Ya'll didn't start without me did you?" He laughed loudly as he walked into the room with a giant smile on his face.
"Alistair!" Everyone was up instantly and enveloping him into hugs.
"Hey everybody!"
"I see you made it just in time." I looked over to see my father and my lover smiling conspiratorially at one another.
"All thanks to you Carlisle." My eyes widened and my jaw dropped, everyone looked on at the pair in shock.
"Daddy?" He smiled sheepishly at me, rubbing the back of his neck as Alistair looked around like he didn't know what was going on.
"Yeah, that's who I was on the phone with last night when you came in. He almost didn't get a flight but I pulled a few strings and got him here last night." I was crying again, I really hate these hormones.
"Oh daddy thank you! Thank you so much!" I gushed as I pulled him into a hug and held him tight.
"You're welcome baby girl. Merry Christmas." He kissed my head and we all moved apart to sit down and start in on our presents.
Esme and dad distributed the gifts evenly amongst us all, Al handed Esme our bag of gifts and she set to handing those out as dad handed out the gifts from everyone else. By the time they were all set out we each had about ten gifts piling around us, that's what happens when you have a big family.
"Oh Mom, Dad don't open the one from me and Alistair yet that one needs to be last." I remembered right as Esme picked hers up.
"Okay." She looked at me suspiciously, she knew already but I still got her the same thing I did for Dad and so I didn't want them opening it at different times.
"Alright are you going to open you gifts or stare at them?" Dad asked with a grin, kicking everybody into gear instantly.
I grabbed the one from Alice and Jasper first and saw that they got me some clothes from my favorite store and a bath set from bath and body works. I thanked them and then opened the one from Em and Rose, they got me the box set of all the Harry Potter movies. I then opened the gift from my step brother, excited to see what he got me.
I opened the box and tears sprung to my eyes once again. This is getting seriously old.
Inside the box was a monogram necklace with my initials, except it didn't have a 'C' for Cullen. It had an 'IBM', what? My brows furrowed in confusion as I looked up at my brother who was smirking at me and motioned for me to look back in the box. Inside was another gift and a note, I grabbed the smaller box and opened it to reveal a sea shell locket, I opened it to find a picture of me and Alistair in it. It was one of our engagement pictures Edward had taken for us. My eyes lit up and I looked further into the box to see an envelope that was bulging full.
He got our pictures finished.
"Edward you got our pictures done?" I asked while looking up at him with tears, everyone stopped what they were doing to see the exchange. He smiled widely before standing up, holding up a finger to signal he needed a minute.
He disappeared into the hallway before returning with two things in each hand, one looked like an album and the other was a big black picture frame.
"I made this special for you guys." He smiled widely before setting the album down beside me and turning the frame around to reveal the picture behind the frame. I gasped loudly, the tears were back and a sob or two may have slipped through my lips as I looked at the picture before us.
My hand flew to my mouth and Alistair pulled me into his arms as we looked up the picture Edward took for us. It was blown up big enough to fit in the giant frame, it was a picture of Alistair holding my waist as I sat on the rock wall and he stood behind me. My upper body was twisted so that I was looking back at him, one hand on my leg and the other on his cheek as he looked down at me and I looked up at him.
"Edward it's beautiful, thank you." Al rasped through his own tears.
"You're welcome. I cut it really close but I finally made it, took forever to find a frame this big that was nice enough. I'm glad you guys like it and I hope you like the other pictures as well." He sat the frame down on the side of the couch, I jumped up and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thank you Eddie."
"You're welcome, like the necklaces?"
"They are perfect. But the monogram doesn't have the right initials." I said while pulling away to look at him, everybody was watching our display.
"Bella, look at it again." He urged while handing the silver monogram to me.
I looked at it and tried my hardest to figure out what I could be missing. I was about to give up when Alistair exclaimed excitedly.
"Aw shit Bells! What's my last name baby?" Oh my god I feel so stupid.
"Oh my god do I feel stupid." Everybody laughed at me as I took the necklace from a smiling Edward and slipped it around my neck.
"Thank you, but I don't have his last name yet." He winked at me as Alistair pulled me down into his lap and tickled my sides.
"I thought I would save you the trouble of getting it later."
"Why should it matter huh? You'll have it soon enough." he said between tickles, he blew raspberries on my neck making me squeal even more.
"Okay, okay, okay!" I squealed loudly, he finally released me. Everyone was smiling at our little display of affection.
"Did everybody open their gifts?" Daddy asked while looking around the room to see all of us had opened our gifts and now it was time for them to give us what they got us all.
"These are from Esme and I." he said while handing Alistair and I our gifts, winking at me as he moved to Edward and then Rose and Emmett while Esme gave Alice and Jasper theirs.
"Alright, open up."
All at the same time we ripped off the paper and tore into our gifts, I looked over my shoulder to see Alistair had gotten a new tool set he has been wanting for a while but we hadn't had the money for it.
"Carlisle…Esme thank you." They smiled at him and nodded at him as they watched me open my gift.
I lifted the lid and froze, inside were quite a few things but the necklace on top caught my eye instantly. I lifted it from the box and looked at the crystal heart that shone under the light of the Christmas tree.
It was beautiful, I set it down gently on the arm of the couch as Alistair set his chin on my shoulder and watched as I sifted through the box. There was a picture of me and dad from the Christmas banquet at the beginning of the month, a new fuzzy blanket and a beauty and the beast DVD along with a little statue of Bella and the beast. I lifted the blanket to find an ornament.
It was a Jack Skellington ornament to go on the little tree in our kitchen.
"Thank you guys so much I love it!" I squealed in excitement as I whipped my tears away once more.
"Damn Bella is it that time of the month or something? You haven't stopped crying since you got here!" Emmett joked playfully, earning a smack on the back of the head from Rose and a glare from everyone else. Especially Esme.
"Leave her alone Emmett!" she chastised.
"Okay, okay I'm done. You guys have to open your present from Alistair and I now." I said excitedly as I bounced and grabbed onto Al's arm.
"Alright, alright." Esme conceded as she and dad grabbed their present and began to rip the paper off.
Alistair and I exchanged secret smiles as they opened the frame. Dad froze as soon as he got the front of the paper ripped off. He looked at the frame with tears in his eyes, it was a simple black collage frame, and in the middle was the picture of my first ultrasound, some of me and Al, of me and Dad, and of me him and Esme.
The top two corners had something different in them, the one on the right had a pink slip of paper on it with 'it's a girl' painted on it with a pacifier painted under it. The other was an identical blue one that said 'it's a boy' and that one had a rocking horse under it.
"Bella?" Esme sat her identical frame down, hers had a few modifications such as pictures of me and her instead of me and dad. But the other pictures were the same as daddy's. She watched dad just as I was, he was even more emotional that I was, his first grandbaby.
"Yeah daddy?" I whispered back as I laid my head on Alistair's shoulder, everyone was confused as they hadn't seen the contents of the frame.
"Are you really?" he turned those blue eyes upon me and I was thrown aback by the depth of them. He was excited, I could tell it.
"Yeah, I'm two months along. Almost three." That's when it clicked for everyone.
"You're pregnant?" he asked, finally saying it.
"Yeah daddy. I am. I'm pregnant."
Everything happened at once, daddy jumped up and pulled me into his arms just as the room erupted with cheering and congratulations. Hugs all around, but none of that mattered as Dad held me close to his chest.
"Oh baby girl…Mmm, you're not my baby anymore."
"Yes I am daddy, I always will be. No matter what." I looked up into his eyes, we were both teary eyed and very emotional.
"Merry Christmas daddy, I love you." He kissed my forehead before pulling me closer into his embrace, laying his head on mine and just holding me close.
"Merry Christmas baby, I love you so much more."