Author's Note: So. Heh. Yeah. Hi. It's been a while, ain't it? Sorry, RL's crap some times, and it's not going to get better any time soon (besides these 2 weeks I have off). I hope you're still interested in this story even though it's been so long since I've updated. I really appreciated all your reviews. I even went back to read them to inspire me. But I do have plans on finishing this.

So recap: Alice and her scheming ways attempted to hook Bella up with Edward (who is totally understandably emo because his parents died while he was in college) by putting them in the same room on a Christmas skiing trip. Edward and Bella decide to play mind games with their friends by switching from being in love, then fighting, and then lusting. On the first day of skiing, Bella managed to hurt her ankle in the clumsy way that Bella is. So now it's Christmas Eve… This chapter isn't very long, but I decided it needed to stop where it is.

This chapter isn't so comical as fluffy. Because we all need fluff once in a while.

SM owns all.

Chapter 6 – We Loved and Laughed

"I still can't believe it," Rosalie shook her head as she curled Bella's hair. The women were currently in Rose's room preparing for Christmas Eve dinner. "How did you even manage to hurt yourself the first time skiing?"

Alice snickered as Bella shrugged her shoulders. "Face it, guys: I'm a walking disaster."

"Oh we know that," Alice giggled. "That's why I'm currently applying your make-up so you don't poke your eye out with the mascara."

"Oh shove it!" Bella cried out as she playfully kicked Alice in the shin. "Ouch!" She reached down to tenderly touch her foot that was injured; the one that she used to kick Alice.

"Serves you right!" Rose laughed. "Why isn't it wrapped anyway?"

A blush spread over Bella's face as she explained, "Edward was going to do it, but then I ended up taking a shower over here. I guess he has to do it after I'm done getting ready."

Bella's two friends gave each other significant looks. "Oh. And how is Edward, Bella?" Alice coyly asked.

If it were possible, Bella's face turned even a darker shade of red. "He's okay."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay? You expect us to be okay with that answer?"

"What?" Bella shrugged her shoulders. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, how about how he helped you when you fell," Alice prompted.

"It wasn't much," Bella worried her bottom lip as she recalled the accident earlier that day. "He helped me up and to the lodge."

"Did he carry you?" Alice's eyes were wide with curiosity.

"Not up the hill. He'd need to have superhuman strength with the layers of clothes I had on."

Rose joined the interrogation, "But he did carry you?"

Bella nodded, her cheeks flaming. "Once we got to the lodge."

"Oooh," Bella's friends sighed simultaneously, only causing Bella to roll her eyes at them.

"And the whole time he was making fun of me."

Alice waved it off. "He was probably just teasing, Bella. A lot of times, that's just a sign of affection. That's why I tease you."

Perhaps Alice was correct; maybe Edward did feel some affection towards Bella. But it seemed too much to hope that the affection extended past friendship.

Wait. Since when did I wish he thought of me as more than a friend?

Just as Rosalie stated that Bella's pampering was all done, there was a knock at the door. Rose rolled her eyes muttering, "Can they be a little more impatient?"

However, Alice raised her voice to politely answer the door. "Yes?"

Surprisingly, it was not Jasper or Emmett's voice they heard through the solid wood door. Instead, it was Edward's soothing baritone that answered. "Are you all decent?"

Alice let out a little squeal as she bounced, yes, bounced, over to the door. Opening the door just enough to peak out of the crack, she responded to Edward's question. "We are, but you can't see Bella yet."

"Why not?"

"Because you just have to wait for our grand appearance." The pixie rolled her eyes as if it were obvious.

"But I need to wrap Bella's foot," the man at the door stated. "She has to have her ankle stabilized as much as possible.

Alice let out a whimper. "But…"

This time it was Bella that rolled her eyes. "Let him in, Alice."

Immediately a pout formed on the woman's face, but she opened the door wider nonetheless.

Edward flashed her a smile and thanked her before laying his eyes on Bella. The vision of her nearly caused him to stop in his tracks, but he managed to talk himself into remaining calm and collected as he walked towards the chair that she currently occupied. She sat with dark curls that framed her fair face, a black skirt that barely reached her knees, as well as a red scoop-necked cashmere sweater. The collar of the sweater was not meant enough to be provocative; it did not reveal much of her chest at all. But nevertheless, Edward, wondering if Bella's skin would be as soft as the cashmere, felt the desire to brush his fingers, and perhaps his lips, across her clavicle. He could honestly confess that no other woman had ever took the his breath away like the innocent vision of Bella, waiting for him to wrap her ankle.

Edward did not know, however, that Bella's thoughts at the sight of him were not all that innocent. They weren't X-rated by any means, but her thoughts definitely took her past the realm of friendship. He was dressed semi-formally in black trousers that definitely fit him well and a black sports coat. Underneath the coat, he wore a green dress shirt that brought out his emerald eyes. As he did not wear a tie, the first button of the shirt was undone, revealing a small V of his skin. Bella briefly wondered what his skin tasted like there.

Stop it, Bella. This is all pretend. She couldn't help but chastise herself.

"Give me your foot," Edward commanded as he sat on the edge of the bed. Bella wasted no time to do what she was told.

However, as soon as Edward even touched the bottom of her foot, Bella jerked her foot back with a squeal, causing Edward to chuckle. "Ticklish much?"

"Just a little," Bella smiled, while giving her foot back to Edward to try again. However, with just the slightest touch, Bella was laughing again, but this time Edward managed to grab her right above the ankle to stop her from retrieving her foot.

"Stop that!" he laughed, "or we'll never make it to dinner."

"I'm sorry! I can't help it!"

"It's true," Alice, who was all but forgotten by the pseudo-couple, joined in. "She's very ticklish. It's one of Emmett's pastimes to tackle her and tickle her until she can barely breathe."

"Really?" Edward smirked. "Now there's something I've got to try."

With the distraction of the conversation, Edward was actually able to start wrapping Bella's foot without her noticing enough to be ticklish.

"There!" Edward squeezed her foot. "Does it feel too tight?" he asked as he slipped two fingers between the bandage and Bella's skin behind her ankle, and then on top of her foot.

"It feels fine, but what are you doing?"

"Making sure you still have pulses down there so your foot doesn't turn blue and fall off," Edward smirked.

"Well, what's the verdict, doc?"

"I think you'll still have a foot by the end of the evening."

"Well, that's nice to hear. I'd hate for you having to carry me around the rest of the vacation."

"I don't think that would be a problem."

Unbeknownst to them, they had created a sphere around them that only included the couple. They didn't realize that they were both staring intently into each other's eyes with small smiles on them. It wasn't until Rosalie cleared her throat that the bubble was broken.

"Come on lovebirds, or we're going to miss our reservation." Even though it was said with a tinge of annoyance, the smirk on the blonde's face revealed that she was at least amused by Edward and Bella's display.

At the term used by Rosalie to describe her and Edward, Bella immediately blushed. She hadn't realized that she and Edward had gotten so used to playing their parts; they were doing it without noticing.

Edward, however, could not keep a slight smile from forming on his face as he stood from the bed and handed Bella her crutches. "Come on, gimpy. It's time to eat."

"Ha ha. So funny you are." Bella rolled her eyes as she stood, aided by Edward's hand on her arm.

Still, she could not keep the smile off her face.

Dinner passed by quickly with a lot of conversation and laughter. After the meal, the group found themselves in one of the lodge's sitting rooms, sharing a couple of bottles of wine. Each respective couple found their own corner close enough to talk at a comfortable volume, yet far enough away to create their own little world. And as Edward's arm was draped around Bella's shoulders, she could not help but to pretend that it was real.

The conversation amongst the friends eventually led to talk about favorite Christmas memories.

"I remember when both Rose's and Bella's families would come over to open gifts," Alice reminisced with a smile. "We'd all keep our PJ's on all morning while Mom cooked enormous pancakes."

"With chocolate chips," Bella added, licking her lips.

Rose continued, "And then we would have a snowball fight outside, still wearing our pajamas. Our parents always yelled at us that we were going to get sick."

"But we never did!" Alice confirmed.

There was a lull in the laughter before Jasper spoke up. "We'd go hunting while the women cooked. One time we brought back a 13-pointer."

For some reason, the girls thought this was hilarious and burst into giggles.

"What?" Jasper asked.

"It's just it sounds so cliché from somebody from the south. You went hunting while the women cooked?" Alice laughed.

Jasper shrugged. "Believe me, you didn't want any of us in the kitchen anyway. We'd end up having to go out to eat."

Bella smiled, "It was always my mom that Dad and I had to keep out of the kitchen. You never knew what she was going to cook up next. And when she actually used a recipe, it never came out right."

"Remember your thirteenth birthday cake?" Rose asked. Immediately, the three women were giggling again. The cake was always a cause for laughter, and the girls never let Bella's mom live it down. Renee had started to become creative with ingredients and what was left was a flat, brown piece of mush. That birthday, Bella and her friends all went out for ice cream.

"How about you, Em?" Bella asked.

"Hmm," he put his finger to his chin as he though. "Probably playing football outside in the snow… as the women cooked," he smirked. "Remember that Eddie?"

Immediately, Bella felt Edward's arm tense. Remembering what happened to his parents, she gently squeezed his knee, hoping to relax him. It had the desired effect as she felt his arm relax, but all he did to reply to Emmett was nod.

Bella frowned. She couldn't imagine losing your parents before even finishing college, but she would have thought that it could only bring happiness to reminisce about fun times. Taking a chance, she looked up at Edward and asked, "And you, Edward? What's a favorite memory?"

It seemed as if the other friends in the room were holding their breath, waiting to see how Edward reacted. Emmett knew above all that Edward tried not to think of the past, as ridiculous as it may seem.

Bella didn't know how much time passed after her question; it could have been seconds, maybe minutes, but at last, Edward spoke.

"I loved how Mom and Dad would play 'Santa' even long after we stopped believing. They would never put the presents out until the middle of the night when I was asleep. That way I could never check out the presents before Christmas morning," Edward said with a slight smile. Suddenly, his eyes turned mischievous as he smirked, "And playing football outside while the women cooked."

It was almost as if everybody let their breath out at once as everybody chuckled. Bella, however, caught Emmett's eyes as he tried to relay a sentiment towards her. She could see relief in his eyes; perhaps gratitude as well. But she could not imagine what the look was for. She couldn't see why he would feel gratitude towards her.

"Well," Rosalie stood from her chair. "It's time for my beauty sleep."

"Me too," Alice agreed. "And remember we agreed that we weren't going to meet for breakfast tomorrow."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Of course. Because you want to try out the room service. But we all know what that really means."

"Hey!" Emmett exclaimed. "Rose needs to wear her sexy Santa outfit sometime!"

"Wow," Bella drawled. "That was just too much information, Em."

"Just keeping it real," he winked.

"Uh huh."

As the two other couples headed to the elevators, Bella noticed that Edward wasn't moving. "Are you going to bed now, too?"

He shrugged. "Actually, I've been eying that piano over there for quite some time."

"You play?"

He nodded. "Since I was three."

"Wow." Bella took a deep breath before requesting, "Will you play for me?"

Edward gave her the half smile that she loved so much as he responded, "Of course." He stood as he offered her is hands to help her. "Let's not bother with the crutches. I can support you across the room."

Inadvertently, Bella's face flushed as Edward wrapped his arm around her waist, hold her to him tightly, allowing for her to put her weight on him. From her position, she could smell his spicy scent and finding herself wanting to bury her face into his chest just to inhale his smell.

Edward was not unaffected, either. As he felt Bella's warmth against him, he could not stop himself from wishing he could hold her like that forever. He just wanted to bury his nose in her strawberry scented hair, even for a moment.

All too soon, they made it to the simple upright piano. Edward led her to the bench before sitting down beside her. "What would you like to hear?"

"Do you know any Christmas songs?"

"Of course. Do you have a favorite?"

"Hmm," Bella pouted as she thought. "I always loved 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.' Do you know that one?"

Wordlessly, Edward placed his hands on the piano and softly began the song. The music was so gentle and soothing, that Bella could not help but close her eyes as the song enveloped her. The notes flowed seamlessly as Edward caressed the keys and put all the emotion he felt into the song. Too soon, in Bella's opinion, was it over.

"Can you play more?"

"Certainly. Any more requests?"

Bella shook her head. "Just anything you want to is fine."

For the next hour, Bella listened as Edward played song after song. No words were spoken between them, but when Bella finally yawned, Edward suggested that it was time to make their way up to their room.

While waiting for the elevator Bella questioned Edward about the songs he played. "How do you remember all those songs?"

He shrugged. "I actually was making the arrangements up as I went along."

Bella was speechless and she was certain she stared at him with her mouth open. "You're serious?"

He gave her a crooked smile and nodded as they stepped into the awaiting elevator.

"Wow. I knew there were musicians out there that could do that sort of thing, but I never met one. You're phenomenal."

"Thanks," Edward replied as he felt his cheeks warm. He rarely blushed, but something about Bella's adoration of his playing thrilled him.

Exhausted, they entered their room without saying another word, but as Bella watched Edward prepare the couch as his bed for the third night in the row, she couldn't help but feel bad. Gathering all her courage, she spoke as she burrowed her way under the covers.

"The bed's a king size you know." Edward stood up and turned towards her with an eyebrow raised. "I mean… we could share the bed without even touching." She was sure her face was beet red.

"Are you sure?" Edward asked with concern written on his face.

When she nodded, Edward walked over to the bed on the opposite side of Bella and settled himself into the comfortable mattress. He sighed, "You don't know how comfortable this feels."

"I'm sorry," Bella bit her lip as she lied there facing him on her side.

"Don't be, Bella. We didn't know each other and it would definitely have been awkward to share even a big bed."

"Hmm," Bella yawned. As her eyes opened again, she focused on the clock behind Edward. It was 12:01; Christmas morning.

"Merry Christmas, Edward."

"Merry Christmas, Bella."

And soon, both drifted off into a dreamless sleep.