A/N: It's past midnight here, so let me wish a very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and to everyone else, hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season.

I know I don't say it enough, but Ashmerlin is a kickass beta and I'm beyond lucky to have her by my side.

Let's bring our boy home now, shall we?

Chapter-12: EPOV

The last two months of my deployment pass in a sluggish pace. In between my work, I try to keep in touch with Bella, providing moral support and keeping her from sinking into post-partum depression.

Since Lily's birth, Captain Denali has been more than accommodating with my phone calls. While it certainly helps to be able to hear Bella's voice and my daughter's coos, I yearn to whisk my girls up in my arms. I can hear the exhaustion in Bella's voice every time we talk; it's there with every short email response she sends me, and I can only marvel at her strength in taking care of the baby all on her own.

When I tell Captain Denali about this being my last tour of duty, he understands. He tells me how he ruined his marriage by coming back to war-torn countries again and again and ignoring his family in the process. He advises me to know where my priorities lie. That night, when I lie awake, looking at a photograph of my wife holding our daughter, I know what my priority is … where my heart lies.

During my flight home, we make a stopover at Dubai. As I'm mindlessly walking around Dubai International Airport, Black, or Jake, as I am to address him now that we're both off duty, points to a bakery shop. "Sarge, do you mind if we grab a few cookies there?"

Smiling at his exuberance, I shrug. "Sure. We've got time to kill anyway."

I'm surprised when he reaches for gingerbread cookies instead of something more like the local delicacies. "Why gingerbread?" I ask him as he joins the line to pay for them. "You can have as many of them as you want when you get home."

He grins widely. "It's Christmas time, Sarge. Besides," he says, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Gingerbread can make a girl fall in love with you."

I scoff at the idea, and he persists. "I'm serious, Sarge. I read about it in an article. In 16th Century, apothecaries sold Gingerbread to chicks who were to give them to men they liked. If the man ate it, he'd fall in love with the girl."

"And you're the girl who wants to lure a man into her trap?" I say jokingly.

He huffs. "There's this girl in the Rez I grew up in, Ok? Her name's Leah, and I really like her, but she doesn't want to date a soldier." He pulls a face at that. "I'm hoping to make her fall in love with me so she won't oppose when I leave for the next tour."

I roll my eyes at the absurdity. "Then you need to romance her, Jake, not feed her some Christmas cookie."

"Not all of us can be so lucky as to meet the right woman and fall in love all within the span of six months, Sarge," he remarks before heading for the cashier.

Realization dawns when his words hit me hard.

Despite everything we've been through together, Bella hasn't told me that she loves me. Not once.

Although in my heart, I think that she must return my feelings, but … I realize that I want, no, need, that part of her … her heart.

So when we're done with our shopping, I make up some excuse and double back to pick up one package of cookies for my wife … just for luck.

Landing at Sea-Tac Airport, the formalities are done as quickly as possible, and before I know it, I'm saying goodbye to Jake and promising to meet up sometime soon. Once his back is turned, I start on my own way, walking as fast as my legs can carry me toward that elusive door where my girls would be waiting for me.

As the doors open to reveal the sea of people waiting to welcome their loved ones home for the holidays. I barely manage to take two steps out of the door when a blur appears before my eyes and collides with me, holding me tight. I look down to see the mane of mahogany hair I've dreamed of for the past year.

"Bella?" My voice is barely a whisper as I call her name.

She tightens her arms around my middle in response and pushes her face to my chest, her fingers gripping the back of my uniform in a tight grip. I hear her mumble something to my chest, but with the hubbub around us, I fail to distinguish her words. Moving back a little, I free one hand to take her chin in between my thumb and forefinger and ask, "Could you repeat that, sweetheart? I didn't quite catch that."

She jerks her face to the side so that it's free from my grip and then resumes her earlier position, her face pressed over my heart. This time, she turns her face sideways to make her words discernible. "Never again, please, Edward," she pleads, her voice making my heart shatter in a million pieces. "I can't go through that again. I can't risk losing you again. Please."

I move to press a kiss on the top of her head and then unentagle her from me so I can finally look into her face. "Never again, baby. I'll be wherever you are now," I promise. The emotions I see on her face make my heart race, hoping that I am right … she does love me.

Now all I need is the gingerbread to work its magic.

The thing about love at first sight is that its overly romanticized; hence has become unbelievable to most people. I used to be one of the most people. However, the moment I see her for the very first time and take her in my arms, it's like the spell has been cast, and she's the most perfect being in my world.

Yes, that's exactly how I realized that my daughter is the one girl I would unabashedly declare to loving from the very first sight. With her baby hair in the exact shade of mahogany like her mother's and eyes as green as my own, she's the perfect mixture of us, and I couldn't imagine being away from her anymore.

So when Rose and Emmett graciously offer to take Lily for the night to allow Bella and I a chance to catch up, I decline. On the walk back to the car, I try to gauge Bella's reaction to me saying no to my sister, hoping she understands my need to have both my girls with me tonight. The way she cuddles into my side, clutching Lily to her chest tells me that she understands.

In our new home, the apartment Bella moved to after my leaving, we settle down Lily and then Bella offers to give me a tour of the house. Instead, I pull her into my arms and press my lips to hers like I have been dying to do the moment I laid eyes on her today. With a soft hum, she melts in my embrace.

Breaking our kiss, I take her hand and lead her back to where I had dropped my duffle bag after getting home. One quick rummage yields the treat I'm looking for, and with a flourish, I hold it up to her. "For you, my beautiful bride," I say cheekily.

She takes the package from my hands and peeks inside, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "Gingerbread Men?" she asks, looking back up at me. "You brought me cookies from war?"

I bite the inside of my cheek and smile sweetly. "Not from war, honey. I got them from the airport."

"I could've made them for you, you know? If you had told me you wanted your Christmas cookies early this year," she says as she slowly unwraps one of the cookies and hands it to me.

Being already in love with her, I know that I don't need one. So I take it and lift it to her mouth. "These are for you, love."

"And I want to share them with my husband," she tells me. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I just ..." I rack my brain for a plausible reason for my not eating it and spew the first thing that pops into my head. "These gingerbread men have been bought for you by your man. So it is only right that you eat them."

She frowns at me then. "You're making it sound very fishy. Are these rigged or something?"

Seeing her eyes starting to narrow, I make an executive decision. So what if I eat one cookie? I can't be anymore in love with her than I already am. So bringing the cookie back to my mouth, I take a large bite of it. After swallowing a mouthful of cookie, I grin at her. "See? Not rigged."

I watch with utmost eagerness as she considers the cookie for a moment and then brings it up to her lips for a tentative bite. She slowly chews the cookie and then swallows before smiling at me. "It's actually very delicious … very Christmas-y. Thank you, Edward. It's been sometime since I really celebrated Christmas."

"Didn't Rose invite you?" I can't help but ask.

She nods. "She did, but Christmas is a time for family and I didn't have a family to celebrate it with. Until now." As she adds the last two words, that truly beautiful smile appears on her face.

I can't resist it any longer. Taking her in my arms, I kiss her long and hard and then say, "From this year, you'll have your very own family to celebrate with, baby. We have many lost Christmases to make up for."

She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me again. Once our kiss breaks, she smiles up at me and says, "I love you."

I'm astounded by the sheer suddenness of her declaration and a little taken aback because my skeptic self can't believe that the cookies could work so fast. "What did you just say?"

She bites her lips and blushes brightly. "I'm sorry it took me so long to say it," she tells me, her voice filled with emotion. "I couldn't bring myself to believe it that I could have a forever kind of love."

"Do you believe it now?"

She nods. "With every fiber of my being. I love you, Edward."

A goofy grin threatens to split my face in two as I ask, "Since when?"

"Since that night at the Sound," she answers honestly. "And every day onward."

"That is a long time," I remark. Arching an eyebrow questioningly, I add, "You do realize that you have to say it a lot more times to make up for the lost time, don't you?"

Just as she opens her mouth to respond, Lily's cries reach us through the baby monitor. Hand-in-hand, we walk to the nursery to soothe our daughter. As I watch Bella cradle our beautiful baby girl in her arms, I whisper to her, "Would you mind saying it again?"

She lifts her eyes to mine and whispers back, "I love you."

Thank you, Gingerbread, I want to say, instead, I settle for asking hopefully, "Forever?"

"Forever," she promises.

I gather both my girls in my arms and hold them where they belong … close to my heart.

A/N: There you have it, my lovelies. Only the epilogue is left now. :)

As for the Gingerbread myth, it's based on a Time Magazine article from 2016, titled "The Surprising Reasons Why Gingerbread Men Became a Holiday Classic". According to the article, the idea was generated back in 16th century. During this time, Gingerbread Men were sold to young women by folk-medicine practitioners (also described as witches or magicians) as tokens of love. It was said that if they could get the man of their choice to eat the gingerbread man that had been made for them, the man would then fall in love with the young woman. This little tidbit was uncovered by my muse herself who was kind enough to share it with me when I asked for her permission to write this story.

Please share your thoughts with me and leave a review.

Thanks for reading.

See you tomorrow.

Love,

Ann