3rd Place – SKIING WITH THE CULLENS By: Permanent Rose

Contest Host Review:

This fic was just so absolutely cute and true to Bella's personality. The writing was absolutely beautiful, and went along with the mood, and tone of the fic. It was just so much fun to read. It made me laugh and smile, which is something that always gives merit to a story. This story is the definition of quality romance fluff! It is so often fluff stories are shallow, have no depth, and are badly written, but the opposite is to say about this fic. What a great fan fiction!

Congratulations Permanent Rose!

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Skiing with the Cullens

By: Permanent Rose

I snuggled deeper into my blankets, pulling them tightly around me…so warm…wait, warm? I had grown accustomed to Edward's cold form lying beside me. My eyelids flew open. Dull sunlight streamed through my window and onto my bed. I turned to glance at my alarm clock. 8:00.

"Edward!" I screamed, turning around to see him sitting in the chair across my room. "Why didn't you wake me?! We're going to be late."

I scrambled out of bed and began pulling random articles of clothing out of my dresser drawers. I stopped after a minute and turned to look at Edward. He was laughing.

"And what's so funny?" I snarled through gritted teeth.

"No school today," he informed me.

I cocked my head, a bit confused.

"Snow day," he explained. "Take a look out your window."

I walked over to my foggy window and peered out. My mouth hung open. Everything was covered in a blanket of white. I couldn't even tell where the road was supposed to be. The trees were covered with a layer of snow and icicles hung from their branches. It looked like a winter wonderland.

I fell back against my bed, recovering from my momentary shock. Edward came to join me. He scooped me up in his arms. I rested my cheek on his shoulder. He picked up my wrist and brought to his lips. My heart rate accelerated.

"Relax, Bella." He placed me on my back and lied down next to me. He brought his face close to mine and breathed deeply. My heart rate sped up at first, but as I took deeper breaths, it began to slow.

I locked my eyes with his topaz ones. Edward began to stroke my cheek. He brought his face even closer to mine. I knew what was coming. I knew I had to be good. I tried to stay as calm as I could as his lips softly brushed mine. I cautiously wrapped my arms around his neck. He scooped me up, crushing me against his body, deepening the kiss. Just as my lips began to part, he abruptly pulled away.

"Edwa—" He had disappeared. I looked around in confusion as my door swung open. Charlie. Oh.

"You're up already," Charlie pointed out the obvious. "There's a snow day, if you haven't already noticed."

I tried to catch my breath and regain my focus. It was hard to concentrate on Charlie's words.

"I'm gonna have to leave as soon as the roads clear up a bit," he told me. "Do you know what you're gonna do today?"

"Umm…" I thought for a moment. "I don't know yet. I was planning on calling Edward."

"Good luck actually getting anywhere. I made some eggs and toast. Wanna come down and eat?" asked Charlie.

It touched me that Charlie had taken the time to cook breakfast, but then again, Charlie in the kitchen could be dangerous.

"I'll be down in a minute, Dad," I told him. He left, smiling. Sometimes I was glad he was so oblivious.

Edward appeared by my side a moment later.

"That was close," I said.

"Too close," Edward murmured. "So since you told Charlie you'd be spending the day with me, would you like to know what's on the agenda?"

"You actually have plans?"

"Well, considering Alice can see into the future, we made some probable plans," he said.

"And?" I prodded.

"Have you ever skied before?" he smiled.

"Edward Cullen! You didn't!" I shrieked. "I can't even walk straight! Can you imagine me on skis?!"

Edward chuckled. "So I take it you've never skied. We'll, there's a first time for everything."

"I think I'll stay home," I told him.

"All day?"

I nodded.

"Alone?"

I continued to nod.

"Without me?"

I stopped mid nod.

"Oh fine! You win!" I huffed. "But I'd better not die."

"Bella, seriously," Edward reason with me. "Do you think I would let that happen?"

"Not willingly," I replied. "But you know, I am a danger magnet."

"And that's exactly why you're going with a group of indestructible vampires. Now go get dressed and eat that lovely breakfast Charlie prepared for you."

***

A few hours later, I stood facing the biggest mountain I have seen. (Okay. So I was exaggerating a bit. The biggest mountain I had ever seen up close while waiting in line to get on that big scary ski lift that went so high up that I couldn't see the top of it…)

"Bella, are you alright?" Edward asked.

I gulped.

"Oh come on, Bella! Don't be scared! This will be fun!" Alice exclaimed enthusiastically.

We were up next to get to get on the ski lift. As soon as I tried to move forward, I immediately tripped. The operator had to stop the lift as Edward picked me up and placed me on the seat. At least there was a bar, I noticed.

"Oh, Bella, what are we going to do with you?" sighed Edward. "You've already fallen and we not even up the hill."

I didn't answer. I was holding onto the bar for dear life and squeezing my eyes shut as tight as they would go.

Edward had to help me off the ski lift when we got to the top because I refused to open my eyes. Finally, after placing me safely on the ground and pleading endlessly, Edward convinced me to open my eyes.

As soon as I opened them, I wished I hadn't. I was peering down a hill that appeared to slope straight down. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

"Bella, calm down," Edward tried to reason with me. "That's the beginner's slope. I promise it will be easy."

Maybe for you, I thought.

"Would you like to watch Alice go first?" he asked.

I nodded.

Alice flashed me a dazzling smile before speeding off down the hill at lightning speed. My mouth hung open as I stared.

"Okay," said Edward. "So that wasn't the best demonstration. Esme, would you care to show Bella how to ski just a bit slower than Alice."

"I sure can," she said with a smile and started down the hill at a much slower pace than Alice. Esme swerved gracefully down the hill. The way she skied, making large, even turns instead going straight down, made it look ten times easier than Alice had made it look.

Once Esme disappeared out of sight, I turned to Edward. "I think I'm ready."

He smiled. "Do you want me to go first? I'll ski just like Esme did and you can follow my path."

I nodded.

I learned two things from going down that slope. One, that skiing is a lot harder than it looks, especially when it's a vampire who's demonstrating for you. Two, always bring you vampire boyfriend on ski trips if you want to avoid hitting tree.

I was utterly exhausted by the time we reached the bottom.

"I think I need to sit down for a minute," I told him.

"I'll sit out with you," Esme offered.

"No, that's really okay, Esme," I said. I wasn't looking for sympathy.

"No really, Bella, its fine," she told me, looking sincere. "I'll buy you a hot chocolate."

"You'll be okay, Bella?" asked Edward, looking hopefully up at the slopes.

"Yeah, you guys go have some fun," I urged.

They were gone in a flash. Esme and I headed into the ski lodge to get some hot chocolate. Esme walked gracefully in her perfectly fitted ski boots, while I clunked noisily along in my rented ones.

It was nice to have hot chocolate with Esme. We talked about little things and she didn't seem to mind at all that she wasn't up there skiing with the rest of the bunch.

Edward and the rest returned about an hour later.

"Want to try again?" asked Edward, looking particularly stunning with his wind blown hair. "We've looked around a bit and found a lift that leads to smaller slops," he added hopefully.

"Oh fine. I guess I'll try again," I caved.

I didn't have as much trouble boarding this ski lift as I had the last one (The operator only had to slow the lift this time for me to get on)

But as soon as we were on, I noticed one major difference. This lift had no bar. I yelped and clung to Edward's arm.

"It's fine, Bella," he promised, wrapping his arm around me.

About half way up, I realized that my ski was hooked on to Edward's. That was going to make it difficult to get off the lift.

I scooted away from Edward. "Let me just try to—" I gave my ski a good hard yank. Our skis immediately came unhooked, but unfortunately I slipped from the seat in the process.

It all happened at an unbearably slow speed. As I fell to my doom, I realized that when I did hit the ground, it was going to be particularly painful. I would probably break nearly every bone in my body. That was the lucky outcome. I knew that if I landed on just the right place on neck, the fall would probably kill me. Surprisingly, I was not panicking.

A moment later, I hit something very hard and cold. It was not nearly as painful as I had imagined it to be. In fact, the impact had been a lot less intense than I had thought it would be. The only pain I felt was a dull aching in my left arm, which smashed under my body.

I open my eyes. I saw Edward's angelic face staring down at mine. Maybe I had died and Edward was part of my heaven.

"Bella? Are you okay?" Edward asked, a note of panic in his voice.

We stopped moving. Wait. Since when had we been moving? The sudden stop made me feel woozy. I groaned.

"What hurts?" Edward took no care to hide his panic. "Bella? Can you hear me?"

I opened my mouth to speak. At first no words came out, and when I was able to speak, my voice was very faint.

"Only my arm, I think."

I felt Edward pry my arm out from under my side. It hurt a considerable amount more when he moved it.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"What?" I asked.

"It think it's broken. Carlisle can fix it easily. Can you move it?"

As soon I tried, a burst of pain shot up my arm. I whimpered in agony.

As Edward went to gather the others (Never letting me out of his arms) I found it particularly hard to keep my eyes open.

Edward's voice seemed miles away as he explained what had happened to Carlisle.

And then I passed out.

***

When I awoke, I was curled up on Edward's couch. The pain in my arm was dulled. It was then that I realized that I was wearing a bright pink cast.

Edward chuckled, registering my expression. "Alice's pick. Since you weren't conscience for the decision, we decided to let her choose."

"So what's the story? We aren't going to tell everyone I fell off a ski lift and you jumped off to catch me and the only injury resulting from any of this is my broken arm, are we?" I asked.

Edward smiled. "So you remember all that? That's a good sign. Carlisle wasn't sure if you had a concussion or not. Basically, you went skiing and fell on one of slopes, resulting in a broken arm. Nothing more complicated than that."

We were both silent for a moment as I thought that over.

"Edward," I said.

"Yes, darling."

"I told you I should've stayed home. I really almost did die."

Edward shuttered at that remark. "But you didn't. But I do have to say, you are pushing you luck. I might have to stay even closer to you than before."

He joined me on the couch and scooped me into his arms. I snuggled deeper into his arms. "Now that's something I think I can live with."

~The End~

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