Disclaimer: I own nothing Twilight related.
Today we have some people who are usually the villains. It's our favorite couple that we love to hate. It is also one of the bigger miracles. I hope you enjoy!
December 19, 2011
James' POV
I smacked the night stand as the alarm started going off. It was early and my mind did not want to wake up yet. I groaned and rolled over wrapping my arm around Victoria.
"Babe, it's time to wake up." I said groggily.
"I don't want to get up." She murmured.
I squeezed her closer to me and said, "I know you don't want to get up, I don't either, but we have to go to the house and meet with the fire marshal, and then the contractors have their estimate for us."
"Even more reason to not get up." She said. "I hate going to the house. I break out in tears every time we go there."
Last year we finally bought our first house. It was small, but we both loved it. Last week we had a fire and lost our house. It burned almost to the ground. We lost not only our house but everything inside; we lost all of our belongings other than what we had on our backs.
It was a nightmare come to life waking in the middle of the night to a smoke filled house and firefighters carrying us out of the house. If it weren't for our next door neighbor, Bella, we would have lost our own lives in that fire. Thankfully Bella is a night owl and was awake, and called the fire department as soon as she smelled the smoke.
We are currently staying at a motel, which isn't as fun as people make it out to be.
"And then to make it worse, we have to find out the contractors bid, which is going to be outrageous." Victoria continued.
"Well, first things first, let's get up and go find out what started the fire." I said.
We drove across town and parked in front of what was left of our house. One side wall was still standing along with half of the back wall. The rest was gone, just a big pile of ash. At least it had finally stopped smoking.
"Good morning." The fire marshal said.
"Morning." I said back shaking his hand.
The fire marshal explained that their investigation was done, and how they went about doing it. He explained the fire started in the kitchen and spread quickly.
"Do you know what caused it?" I asked.
"Yes, an automatic coffee pot shorted out and started a fire in the wall." He explained.
"Oh, God." Vicky cried. "This is all entirely my fault. I wanted that damn coffee pot so that I could sleep an extra fifteen minutes every morning. Fifteen minutes of sleep and I caused all our dreams to go up in smoke." She started crying harder and said, "Literally."
I wrapped my arms around Vicky and let her cry into my chest. I knew what she was talking about when she talked about our dreams. Just last month we had decided to start a family. We knew now that we had our home paid for and had good jobs, we could afford children. Now that we have to start over and rebuild, that dream would have to be put on hold.
"It's not your fault." I soothed. "Shit happens. It is no one's fault. Especially not yours."
After we were done with the fire marshal we headed to meet with the contractor. Vicky was right, the estimate was outrageous. We could get a cheaper estimate if we went to a contractor in Port Angeles, but it would cost more for them to travel. So either way, it was going to be a pretty penny. A pretty penny that was made out of a gold bar, apparently.
We told the contractor that we would let them know when and if we wanted them to start. We needed to figure out our finances before we could make a commitment to such a large price. It was something we definitely had to pay for but we had to find a more permanent place to stay and then figure out how much we could afford.
Victoria and I went around Forks checking out the few apartments that were available. Nothing we looked at caught our interest. After owning your own home, looking at tiny run down apartments was depressing.
"I hate all of these places." Victoria sighed as we toured the fourth apartment.
"I don't care too much for them either." I said. "But hopefully we won't be living in an apartment for very long. Maybe we can talk the contractor down on his price, or we can wait until a house around here goes up for sale."
"Everything was so perfect." She cried. "Why now does everything have to fall apart?"
"I don't think there is an answer to that." I said. "Let's go get some dinner and look at more apartments tomorrow."
Victoria and I went to the diner for dinner, which we have been doing every night, except for the few nights Bella and Edward talked us into having dinner with them at their house. They had tried to talk us into staying with them until our house was rebuilt, we actually did stay with them the first few nights, but we didn't want to become a burden. They even supplied us with some clothes since we lost all of ours. We already owed Bella our lives; we didn't want to take advantage of their generosity.
The next day after work we looked at a few more places until we gave up for the night and we headed to the motel. We dragged our feet from the car to the door of our room. Once we got there, there was a note taped to the door. I opened it and it was an address. The address was one street over from our house.
"What is the address?" Vicky asked.
"I'm not sure." I answered.
"One of the workers here might have found another apartment for us to look at." She guessed.
"Should we go check it out?" I asked.
"Go check out a possible place to live or stay here and watch old bad movies on HBO?" She said tapping her finger to her lips in thought. "Yeah, let's go."
I laughed and followed Victoria back to the car. We drove to the address and pulled up in front of the address.
"It's someone's house." I said looking at the house in question.
"Should we go knock?" She asked.
I shrugged and got out of the car. I guess knocking on the front door was the only answer as to why their address was taped to our door. We walked up the pathway to the front door. Victoria was gushing on how cute the house was. Even though we live one street over we weren't familiar with this street, so we had no idea who lived here.
We walked up the stairs to the porch and I knocked on the door. We waited for a minute until a woman I had never seen before answered.
"Are you James and Victoria?" She asked with a warm smile.
"Yes?" I said puzzled.
"I have been expecting you." She said. "Come in, come in."
"I'm sorry, I'm confused." I said as we walked into the house. "You were expecting us? Who are you?"
"I'm sorry. I'm Rebecca." She said holding her hand out to shake ours. "I am a realtor."
"It's nice to meet you." Vicky said shaking her hand.
"Would you like to look around?" Rebecca asked.
We still weren't sure what was going on, but we looked around anyways. The house was a spacious three bedroom. It was beautiful and cozy, bigger than the house we lost.
"Oh, there's a nursery." Vicky gushed as we walked into one of the bedrooms. Along with the nursery there was a master bedroom and another bedroom that was empty.
"Do you live here?" Vicky asked as we walked back into the living room. The place was fully furnished, closets stocked with clothes, kitchen full of food, so it was obvious someone lived here.
"Oh, no. I live in Port Angeles." Rebecca answered.
"Is this house going up for sale?" Vicky asked excitedly.
"No." Rebecca answered shaking her head.
I looked at the woman in confusion. "So, you're just showing us someone's house? That's kind of cruel. We just lost our home."
"Actually, this is your house." Rebecca giggled.
"Excuse me?" Victoria and I asked in unison.
"You heard me." She said. "Your house. I was just sent here to give you the keys." She then handed us each a key.
"But, somebody's stuff is here." I said.
"Everything in the house is yours." She explained. "It has been fully furnished and stocked for you."
"How much is this costing us?" I asked.
"Nothing." She said. She pulled out a piece of paper and said, "Once you sign this little line right here, it's all yours, free and clear."
I took the pen from her hand and blindly signed the paper, not fully absorbing what she was telling me.
"Who would just give us a house?" I asked.
"That...is a secret." She smiled. "But, I am told that the whole town can't wait for you to fill that nursery."
Victoria started squealing and bouncing in her spot next to me.
"Well, I have given you the keys, and had you sign the paper, so my job is done." Rebecca said. "Welcome home." She smiled and then turned, heading for the door. "Oh," she said turning back around, "there is a house warming gift in the kitchen for you."
After she left Victoria and I stood in the living room completely speechless. I looked around noticing how the furniture looked similar to the furniture we lost in the fire. There were also framed photos of us on the walls, how we missed those the first time was a mystery in itself.
I grabbed Victoria's hand and walked to the kitchen. There sitting on the counter was a coffee pot with a red bow on it and a card.
"It's a battery operated coffee pot." Victoria cried.
I opened the card and read it aloud.
James and Victoria,
Things are just that, things. Everything you lost is replaceable, what isn't replaceable are the precious lives you almost lost. The whole town is extremely thankful that we did not lose you, the only thing in the house that could not be replaced. And you should not have to give up on your dreams of starting a family because of one enforceable accident.
Enjoy your lives and welcome home.
Santa
"We get to start a family." Victoria cried.
I wrapped my arms around Victoria and laid my head on her shoulder and said, "We sure to baby, we sure do."
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, I loved writing it. Let me know what you think.
Leave a review and I will see you tomorrow!