Yay! I decorated my Christmas Tree yesterday! It looks awesome!! :D

Disclaimer - I don't own Twilight

I've never done this before with any chapter of any story, but I wanted to dedicate this chapter to MilesofSmiles13 and bearhug946 because they both seem to love this story so much, they review every chapter, and they both pretty much begged me to get this next chapter out(And because bearhug946 honored me with a very awesome fact about Idaho. Lol :p).


Under the Mistletoe

Chapter Five

Thanks in large part to Edward's insane driving, we got to Jasper's house in plenty of time. Edward slid the silver Volvo smoothly into the driveway and honked the horn twice. A moment later, the front door opened and Jasper bounded over to the car. Alice opened her door and stepped out.

I rolled my eyes. "Where are you going? We don't have time for you to say hello to Jasper." Edward smirked. Saying hello to Jasper usually involved a lot of touching and a rather long kiss.

"I'm not saying hi to Jasper, Bella," Alice sighed in exasperation. Jasper reached her and wrapped an arm around her tightly. She leaned into his embrace and I raised my eyebrows.

Jasper hadn't heard us, and he leaned down to wave at Edward and I. "You two have fun getting Rosalie and Emmett," he said, uncharacteristically cheerful.

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion. "You guys better not be ditching on us," I added threateningly. That would explain Jasper's cheerfulness. I'd be happy too if I was getting a chance to miss out on Rosalie's wrath. The fact that Jasper was her brother didn't exactly help her temper.

"Sorry Bella," Alice said apologetically. She shrugged sheepishly. "There's something I need to do, though. It can't wait."

"What?" I asked suspiciously. She was acting a little too casual.

"You'll see," she said vaguely, with a grin.

I sighed. "Whatever. Enjoy getting out of this one Jasper." I grinned mischievously. "Don't think I'll forget it."

Edward chuckled. Jasper winked. "We'll see."

We left Alice and Jasper kissing rather enthusiastically in the driveway. For once, I wasn't disgusted by it; I envied them, how easily they were with each other, together. I shot a glance at Edward from the corner of my eye. I wished I could reach out and hold his hand on the seat. I longed for his thumb to rub smooth circles over the back of my hand. He did that sometimes when he wanted to comfort me, but I wanted him to do it because he loved me.

"Someone's quiet," Edward noted, looking at me with that crooked smile sprawled across his face. I forced myself to think coherently. It was so hard not to throw myself at him when he looked at me like that. To somehow, somehow show him how much I loved him.

He was waiting for an answer. "Oh, um…" I tried to think of something believable. "I'm trying to figure out where Alice would need to go so badly that she's not coming with us. She had all day to do whatever. Why now?"

"Bella," Edward chuckled affectionately. "You over think everything, especially when it comes to my sister. Even if it is usually justifiable," he allowed when he saw my expression. "But it's probably nothing. Don't worry so much," He soothed me. I doubted it was nothing, but I sighed and didn't pursue the topic. Edward would just keep telling me that I was overreacting.

"Edward?" I asked slowly, changing the topic. "What's going to happen to Mandy?" I couldn't stop worrying about the little girl. I hadn't spoken to Edward about her for awhile, and I wanted to know if Carlisle had any more answers for her.

Edward sighed. "I don't know Bella. Dad has talked to a few families he knows who have adopted kids before, but none of them can handle it right now." He hesitated. "Bella…if we can't find a place for her, she might have to go to some sort of children's home." His voice was full of regret, and his eyes were sad.

I gasped, caught completely off guard. No matter how many problems Mandy was facing, what he was suggesting had never crossed my mind. "What?! No!" I grasped Edward's arm. "Edward, no! You can't do that, she'll fall apart in one of those places. She needs people. She needs us, we care about her!" I felt the tears of desperation prick my eyes. "Please," I choked out.

He wrapped and arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I buried my head in his shoulder, breathing in his sweet, soothing scent. "Please…" I whispered chokingly.

"I don't want it either Bella," Edward murmured, rubbing my back. "Goodness knows Dad will try his best, but I don't know what we can do if we can't find someone who wants her."

I whimpered. "This could be her last Christmas with us then," I realized in a whisper. Her last Christmas of relative happiness and comfort. Of joy. Of knowing someone cared. Who knew where she would be in a year from now? Knowing such, I vowed to do everything in my power to make it wonderful for her.

But that meant…

I would have to kiss Edward.

On Christmas Eve.

Under mistletoe.

"Oh!" I gasped before I could stop myself. I yanked away from Edward without thinking about it.

"Bella?" he asked in puzzlement.

I threw my hand over my mouth. There would be no way to conjure an excuse for that one. But I was dismayed. The kiss was inevitable now, because it was what Mandy wanted, and I was in no way going to deny Mandy. I looked up at Edward and debated just explaining everything to him, and telling him that we had to do it for Mandy, no matter how we felt. I knew I wanted the kiss, but I had no idea whether or not he did as well, and somehow I had to convey that regardless, we would have to kiss. Even if it meant nothing to us, it would mean everything to Mandy.

"Bella?" Edward chuckled, worriedly now. The sound seemed to get stuck in his throat, and he rubbed my knee anxiously. "You alright?"

"Yeah," I said breathlessly, falling back on the seat and closing my eyes. Now would have to be the time to tell him, before I lost my nerve. Unless I had already lost it. "I'm fine," I added when he looked at me skeptically, more to reassure myself that I could do this than to comfort him.

Edward took my hand again, and spoke before I could open my mouth. "If I'd known that you'd get that worked up about it, I would have waited," he murmured regretfully. "I'm sorry."

It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. My recent epiphany had blocked all other things. Then I remembered his news; Mandy would get sent to one of those horrid children's homes if we didn't find her a family soon.

I was relieved that his assumption saved me from having to think of an excuse, but I was still distraught that Mandy would be forced to leave us. It wasn't fair. She didn't deserve that.

"It's alright," I assured Edward, although it definitely was not alright. The moment to confess Mandy's Christmas wish had passed. I squeezed his hand on my leg before he withdrew it and continued driving. We didn't bring up the topic again for the rest of the drive, and soon enough we had reached the airport in Port Angeles.

"Prepare yourself," I joked as we got out of the car. Edward chuckled.

We spotted Rosalie and Emmett waiting for us impatiently in the rain, without even a jacket or umbrella to account for. Their hair and clothes were sopping wet, and water drizzled down their faces. Even wet, Rosalie still managed to look like a model, although I had gotten over my jealousy years ago. She was glowering at us, and she muttered something to Emmett as we came over. Emmett just laughed his big, booming laugh. I heard the sound and was, in a way, comforted. I'd forgotten how much I missed Emmett.

When we reached the two, Rosalie started to say something angrily, but it was drowned out by Emmett's "Bella!" as he swept me up into a hug.

"Hey Emmett!" I squeaked, crushed against his chest in a grip that took my breath away.

"Let her go Emmett." I heard Edward sigh. Emmett released me reluctantly and I stumbled back. Edward caught me in his arms and brought me to a halt.

Emmett smirked. "Defending your girlfriend, little brother?" He snickered. I blushed, and twisted out of Edward's arms hurriedly. I swore I saw him looking at me regretfully as I left his arms, before he glared at his brother.

Rosalie hit Emmett on the chest. "Be nice," she chided him, with a sympathetic glance at me. I smiled back at her gratefully. Although our early friendship back in middle school had been a little shaky, Rose and I were now firm friends. She was the only one who sided with me when it came to my Edward situation.

"What?" Emmett whined. Rosalie rolled her eyes and turned to me.

"Hey Rose," I said breathlessly as she pulled me in for a tight hug.

"Hi Bella." She returned the greeting warmly, then whispered in my ear so that the boys wouldn't hear us. "Sorry about Emmett."

I shrugged and pulled away. "S'ok. Sorry we were late."

"That's alright. Although I completely ruined my clothes." She looked down in disgust at her drenched shirt and jeans. I assumed they were designer – that was the only thing Rosalie ever wore. Designer and expensive. I shuddered just thinking about it.

"Besides, I'm sure you had a good excuse," Rosalie hinted, mock glaring at me. There was a teasing glint in her eye.

I smiled. I'd forgotten how much I'd missed Rose, too. "Yeah," I assured her. "We were doing our Christmas shopping for the hospital kids…and Alice was with us."

Rosalie chuckled. "That explains it. So where is the little squirt anyway? I thought you were all coming to get us."

I frowned when I remembered Alice, and shot a glance at Edward, who had been talking to Emmett. He had looked up when he heard Alice's name. Rosalie watched us perceptively as we stared at each other.

"Uh oh," she said knowingly. "What'd she do now?"

I laughed nervously. "We don't exactly know."

"She told us she had something she needed to do," Edward explained. He smiled at me affectionately. "And I still think Bella's reading too much into it."

"I don't," Rose snorted skeptically. "Come on Bella, let's get home before she blows the house to bits." She grabbed my arm and hurried for the car, leaving Emmett and Edward to get the luggage. I knew I could count on Rosalie to know that Alice was definitely up to something. I was relieved because she would inevitably side with me if Alice was planning anything too outlandish.

The ride home was overwhelmed with Emmett's enthusiastic voice, suggesting this or that in the ways of Christmas decorations. We were planning to go all out at the Cullen's house this year, and Emmett was rather opinionated. We all dutifully listened, but none of us really took many of his suggestions to heart.

"You do know that we're the ones who are going to make all the decisions, right Emmett?" Rosalie teased him, referring to herself, Alice, and me. She pecked him on the cheek.

"Yeah," I laughed in agreement, looking back at him from the passenger seat. "You guys are just there for the manual labor."

"And you're very welcome for that," Edward said pointedly, grinning crookedly at me.

I rolled my eyes, although my heart was doing flip-flops. "Thank you Edward," I said sarcastically. I loved seeing him like this; cheerful, fun – he was too serious, especially as of late. I knew he was just as worried about Mandy as I was. It was nice to watch him enjoying himself, fooling around with me the way he used to when we were kids.

We made it to the Cullen's mansion by seven. Jasper's car was already parked off to the side of the long drive, and Alice was practically bouncing up and down as she waited for us on the front porch. Jasper was sitting on the steps, appearing vaguely amused by her antics.

Unable to contain her enthusiasm, Alice leapt down the steps and met us at the car, grinning. "Emmett, Rose!" she cried, throwing herself at Rosalie, who rolled her eyes, albeit affectionately, and returned Alice's embrace a bit more reservedly.

"Alice!" Emmett yelled back, stealing her from Rosalie and sweeping her up off the ground and into his arms, laughing.

Rosalie rolled her eyes as Jasper came up. "I don't know how you put up with her," she muttered to her brother, putting an arm around him.

Jasper only smiled affectionately as he watched Alice. "I manage," he said quietly, the smile still playing on his lips. Once more that jealousy I was feeling sprung up towards the two couples. I stood a few feet apart from them, leaning against the car. I noticed Edward also on his own, watching Emmett set Alice on her feet and Rose take her place, kissing Emmett once on the lips before handing him their luggage with a smirk. She had decided to stay with Emmett instead of living with her parents and Jasper for the holidays.

Alice and Jasper walked hand in hand into the house after Emmett and Rosalie. I stayed outside with Edward. We were both quiet for a minute. Edward looked thoughtful, and I was thinking about how much I'd rather just stay here, alone with him, than handle the chaos that I knew awaited us inside.

I was pretty sure Edward was thinking the same thing, because he looked back at me wistfully before offering me his hand. I accepted it and reluctantly allowed him to lead me into the house. I could hear Emmett laughing, Alice screaming, and Rosalie yelling at them both to behave. Carlisle and Esme were really lucky that they worked late.

"You call that a tree?" Emmett accused when we entered the living room. He was glaring critically at Alice, who stood with her hands on her tiny waist. It was comical watching the little pixie face off with the giant. I stifled a giggle and glanced at the subject in question. The Christmas tree was huge, brushing against the ceiling that was at least ten feet off the ground. It had large, sturdy branches that could hold even the heaviest ornaments. All in all, I though it was a pretty good tree.

Apparently, Emmett disagreed with me.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Alice shot back. "And that's the tree that we are going to be decorating. If you're so insulted, you don't have to join us."

Edward shot me an exasperated look and joined Jasper in the relative safety of the couch. This time I couldn't help the giggles.

"You tell them Bella," Rose muttered, coming up behind me. She glared at Emmett, who immediately backed down under her gaze. Alice relaxed when she saw me and bounced over to kiss my cheek.

"Hi Bella," she said cheerfully, and again I got the feeling that she knew something that I didn't. I had no idea what she was up to, or what she had been doing while we were gone, and was a little scared to know. "You like the tree, don't you?" she continued.

"Alice, I helped pick it," I pointed out. She beamed. Emmett grumbled, but didn't protest further. With that, the petty argument was concluded.

We spent an hour working on the tree. Half of that time was spent attempting to untangle more lights. Edward shot death glares at Emmett every time he got stuck in the wires. I had to try to help him out of them, which usually resulted in a larger, twisted mass as I got involved. Finally, we managed to get them straightened out and dangling from the branches.

"Pretty," Emmett decided when we stepped back to inspect our progress. Rose rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. He pulled her to him and kissed her lips with a loud smack. Rosalie struggled from his grip, but when she pulled back, her eyes were soft with affection. I looked away, and felt like crying.

"Ornaments," Alice proclaimed. While everyone else gathered around the box of ornaments, she cast a sympathetic look at me. I shrugged it off with a smile and joined the others.

Emmett had immediately lunged for all of his favorites, nearly crushing the delicate glass globes on top.

"Emmett!" Rose cried, distraught as he just missed knocking all of her carefully collected globes out of the box. They tumbled against the sides of the cardboard box as Emmett stuffed his hands further inside.

He froze at the sound of her voice. "Sorry Rosie," he apologized quickly, wincing, and gently set straight the mess in the box. He cast anxious glances at his girlfriend as he worked, probably anticipating a slap in the face or more yelling. For all his muscle and brawn, Emmett was scared stiff of Rosalie. I found it incredibly amusing.

"Shoo," Rose shoved him aside when he was finished. "You're not allowed to so much as put one finger on any of them unless I say so." She glared at him.

Emmett gulped and mock saluted, his eyes glinting teasingly now that the danger was past. "Yes mam," he said in fake solemnity. She rolled her eyes and began picking through the ornaments. Alice and I joined her, letting the boys hang whichever ornaments we found fitting for the tree. Eventually, I got bored with the routine and joined Edward as he decorated. He lifted me up easily so that I could hang some ornaments on the higher branches that I had no hope of reaching otherwise. Whenever he did this, my whole body would tingle with pleasure and electricity. I did my best to ignore it.

"Cocoa time?" Emmett asked hopefully when the tree was fully decked out in its Christmas attire.

"Nope," Alice said with a tight grin, tugging a reluctant Jasper towards the front door. "Lights are next, you know that." Rosalie laughed and kissed Emmett's pouting lips. I carefully avoided turning my eyes on them, instead allowing Edward to link arms with me. I was used to all the casual contact between us – it was just the way we were. But my heart ached for the connection of our arms to mean something more.

The outdoor lights were brand new, still in the box, big fat, multi-color bulbs. Boy, did Emmett get a kick out of that. We plugged them in to see if they worked, and his eyes lit up along with them.

"I swear, he's like a kid on Christmas," Edward muttered, coming up behind me. "No pun intended," he added. I pulled the plug out of the outlet and the lights snapped off. We were immediately plunged into darkness. The sun had set hours ago.

I laughed. "Sometimes I feel bad for Rose," I said, which was a terrible lie. No, no I definitely did not feel sorry for Rosalie. I envied her; envied her so terribly that it hurt, because she could call Emmett hers, and Edward was still a world away from me.

Edward chuckled and then took the string of lights away from me. "So where are these going?" he called to Alice. He didn't bother asking me, although it was supposed to be the three of us girls who did all the planning. We all knew that Alice had the final say.

"The bushes in the front of the house. You and Bella do that. Rosalie, help Emmett with the icicle lights and then I want those to wrap all around the house." She grimaced at Emmett. "And please, please don't let him mess it up." At that Emmett stuck his tongue out at her like the five year old he was, and Alice just grinned triumphantly back at him.

"Will they ever grow up?" Edward chuckled quietly to me as we carried the lights over to the giant bushes in front of the house.

I giggled. "Probably not."

We worked in sync for a few silent moments, neither of us saying a word. The silence was companionable, comfortable. We didn't need words to be in utter contentment together. I lifted the lights up for Edward, who expertly wrapped them around the bushes. Years of Alice's militaristic lessons had trained him well.

At the end of another hour or so, Edward was finishing up on the last of the two dozen bushes. The house truly was huge, to be able to display that many. Even after years of being friends with the Cullens, I couldn't get over the sheer size of the place.

I was still holding the lights up patiently for Edward, although it was getting a little tedious. "Are you done yet?" I asked teasingly. He looked at me with a smile, his face illuminated in the dark by the shining light bulbs. I shivered.

"Let go of another foot," Edward instructed, indicating the string of lights in my hands. He was moving around to the back of the bush, and I followed so I could hand him the lights. Although the bulbs were shining, I still couldn't see the ground very well, and it made me nervous that I wasn't able to see where I was walking. I prepared myself for a fall with every step I took, but I suppose I could never really anticipate tripping over my own feet, because that was exactly what happened.

I crashed forward into the bush, then sort of bounced off in a way I couldn't begin to explain, right into Edward. Completely unsuspecting, he felt backwards with my impact, so that he landed on his back on the cold ground. I came to a halt on top of his chest, my face inches from his and our lips even closer.

I froze. I could feel his cold breath on my cheeks. My own breathing, so hectic a moment before, slowed, washing over his face. His eyes, which I could see were emerald green even in the darkness, were boring into mine. And his lips. They were so close to mine, I could almost feel them.

Would we even have to wait for Christmas Eve?

"Bella," he breathed. I shivered. Never dropping my gaze, he moved closer…closer…so close

"Hey guys!" Alice shouted. "Are you done yet?" I could hear her skipping across the yard towards us.

I leapt off Edward hastily and was on my feet with astonishing speed in an attempt to avoid further embarrassment on account of Alice. Edward scrambled up just as quickly right behind me, although he was much more graceful about.

"Over here, Alice," I called back shakily. "Um, we're almost done. Here Edward." I flung the lights into his arms and he deftly swung them around the bush, finishing the job.

"Done," he told Alice when she reached us.

Alice looked between the two of us suspiciously. I fiddled with my hands and looked anywhere but into her eyes.

"What's going on over here?" Jasper asked curiously, walking up behind Alice. "I could swear I just heard something crashing."

Yeah," Alice said slowly. "So could I." She continued to scrutinize us until Emmett and Rosalie showed up a moment later.

"We're done. No mess-ups," Rose glanced at Emmett playfully, and he wrapped an arm around her.

Staring at Alice with puppy-dog eyes, he repeated. "Yeah, no mess-ups. Now can we –"

"I'll make the hot cocoa," Alice declared before he could finish. "Good work team." She grinned and grabbed Jasper's hand as she skipped off to kitchen. The rest of us followed more slowly. Edward and I weren't touching this time, and I didn't know if I regretted that or not. What would have happened if Alice hadn't interrupted us?

Edward – Edward had seemed to want it as much as I had. So what if…what if he did want me the way I pined for him? What if he needed me forever, the way I needed him? What if he loved me? I wrapped my arms around myself and walked with my eyes on my dirty old tennis shoes. I was picturing Edward, my beautiful, god-like, kind-hearted Edward, the boy who I had fallen in love with.

Maybe, just maybe, the Christmas Eve kiss wouldn't be so bad.


Author's Note - You guys are so lucky I got this chapter out today. I almost didn't, but I managed it. You'd better be happy. Lol. Anyway, like that teaser almost kiss? I figured I might as well have some fun and torture you a bit. Don't worry, you won't have to wait forever. Next chapter is the last one. You probably won't get as lucky in terms of a quick update, though. Depending on the HW situation, probably the earliest you can expect is Friday. I'll try for earlier, I promise. Just don't expect it. So...tootles for now!

Thanks you to all my reviewers! Fourteen last chapter!!! You guys are great!