We'll be moving up on time, especially at the last part.

Bella was waiting in the lobby of the lavish hotel where her company's Christmas party was held. She could hear the music blaring and the laughter. She had a good time, but Edward's party was also held today and for his, he could bring a plus one, so they decided for her get early into her party and leave soon so they have the chance to enjoy Edward's. And they really needed a night out.

She was a bit nervous because today she was going t meet the newest members of Edward team: the infamous Jacob Black and a young boy named Michael Newton. The last Friday, when she met Tanya and Leah for drinks, Edward arrived with the good news almost at midnight. He said the damn meeting took too long and that while they approved of his plans of asking one more lawyer and one more paralegal, they weren't kind enough to give him someone experienced. But at the time the girls were half drunk, so Edward just joined for a beer and he took all of them home.

For the Christmas party, Tanya was anxious to see if Marcus was bringing a date and she almost asked Jacob to come with her. She was lucky to have Leah and Edward discouraging that plan, so now Bella was also curious about him. Was he annoying? Was he a jerk? Edward said that Michael, on the other hand, was a young man who got his girlfriend pregnant and married her. He was working his ass off to pay the bills and hoping to continue his education soon.

Still... Bella kicked the box at her feet and whined because it hurt her. Every year she won something at the company's raffle but this year's prize trumped everything she ever won. It was a desk lamp, so hideous it was funny, but she couldn't wait to show it to Edward. Maybe that could become Jessica's Christmas gift.

Edward parked the car just in front of her and descended to help her in.

"Oh, so you won something again, eh? What's this?" He lifted the box and huffed. "Is this really a mermaid on a rock?"

Bella giggled and nodded. "Is this tacky or what?"

"You know, we should keep it just for the giggles."

They went on their merry way, making fun of the damn lamp. Edward guessed it cost a pretty penny, because of the material, but it was such a waste to make it so awful.

They were still joking when the got into the party, and Bella smiled at the lavish setting. She knew the company where he worked was huge, but this party housed, at least, five hundred people!

"Look, I think Tanya is standing behind that column. Let's go and get her." Bella said, already happy to see a friendly face between the sea of strangers.

xxx

Jacob was so excited for this party. While he felt this change of teams was like demoting him, Michael made him see that if they played their cards right and win this case, they will be seen as the next big shots. But Jacob decided to keep his chances open in case the case didn't end well and decided to meet more people. Who knew where his next chance could come?

But then, among the throngs of people, he saw something unexpected. Someone must have listened to his prayers because she was there in a beautiful green dress as she just came out of his dreams. The brunette from the gym. As he got closer, decided to at least ask for her phone number, he noticed she wasn't alone. He could see the back of a man and a woman. Right, Jane told him she was married. But still... He followed them one afternoon and noticed they went to have coffee and bitched about their husbands, so if there was a chance she wasn't as happily married as Jane portrayed, he could wait and show her there were other men who can treat her like the queen she was.

When he got just behind her, his heart plummetted to the floor. She was here with Edward and Tanya. She was Edward's wife.

"Jacob! Let me introduce you to Edward's old ball and chain, Isabella Masen." Tanya said, trying to hide her laughter after seeing Jacob's blush.

What went unnoticed to her was that for a second Bella paled before giving her hand to Jacob. A gesture he misinterpreted completely.

'I knew it!' He thought, 'Her face was one of pure guilt, as she is so attracted to me.' He was gloating internally. And which every attempt he made to get closer to her, answered by Bella bringing Michael or Edward between them, he was convinced more and more that she was trying to hide her attraction because Edward was here. Sadly, Tanya who always was more observant was hiding from Marcus, who came with his daughter. But to Jessica's observant eyes it didn't go unnoticed.

xxx

At the other side of town, Jasper was coughing. first, Peter got a cold, which passed to Cyn, Alice and now to him. So instead of being drinking and joking with his co-workers, he was sneezing and sporting a fever. He was supposedly in charge of the kids, but in reality, all he did was to call for the pizzas and go back to bed.

"Hey, I'm back." Alice waved from the door. She was glad she felt better because, for the Christmas party at her stores, she organized a simple toast and canapés. She went to each store, greeted the employees, said a few words, toasted and left. She did it four times and she was exhausted and a bit tipsy.

Things between her and Jasper were improving but she was having a lot of trouble reconnecting with her kids. Cyn was most amenable to talk to her since Alice was the one who took her to the supporting group meeting. It was quite an eye-opening session. A big part of Alice was happy because Cyn problems weren't as bad as the one she heard, but when a couple of the girls mentioned how all their problems started, it gave Alice chills to notice how similar it was to what Cyn was living through.

Peter was still being cold to her. He wasn't rude, just not in his usual playful manners. And she thought he was going to be the easy one.

"Mom, my belly hurts," Peter said when she got into the kitchen. While her first reaction would usually be to see how many slices he ate, she decided to cuddle him and then figure out how much did he eat.

"Oh, baby. Come here, let me see what can I give to you."

She took him to his bedroom and tucked him before she brought some medicine. Peter was blabbering about how he won the tennis match before the break at his school and maybe he could try to play tennis instead of swimming, then he mentioned how one of the girls invited him to her birthday party and he wondered if he needed to resort to stopping eating like Cyn to get her to buy him clothes for that party. Alice felt like someone kicked her guts.

xxx

Rosalie didn't attend to the same party as Bella, no. Now that she was on the courses for her certification, her boss encouraged to better assist to the party held by the company who will certify her. While it was full of new people, she was confident enough to mingle and find new friends. She would need them if the rest of the course went as the first class.

She was still reeling from the news Emmett gave her before leaving to work: Her mother in law was coming to spend the holidays with them. She was so angry that she did something rash. When she picked up her bonus check, she used it to open a new bank account, one for herself. Just the thought of that harpy faking illness just to gain attention or to get Emmett to buy her stupid things in a way to show how she was more important than Rose... it made her blood run cold.

But for today, she decided to relax and mingle. There was no reason to let that harpy diminishing her spirits today. And the fact that a few men tried to obtain her number while she flashed them her wedding ring, flattered her. It was vain, but sometimes you needed that little push.

"Hello, hello. Please tell me you remember me. I was seated behind you in the induction class. I'm Garret." The handsome man introduced himself. Rose blushed but was polite. she flashed her wedding ring and Garret still remain talking to her, so maybe he was only interested in friendship. And friendship was something she needed now.

xxx

"Mom! Where are the towels?" Bree yelled from her bedroom. She got here three days ago, and she still wasn't used to the way her mother kept the house. It wasn't like this when she lived here! Joham was such a sweetheart, always there to sooth her, but today he left to arrange the transport of the things they didn't want to leave behind in Germany. So for today, it was only her, her mother and her annoying brother.

"In the hallway closet. Now, hurry up. Your appointment is in an hour and the doctor's office is far." Felix answered, with a snotty tone, but he brought her a towel.

"Shoo! Go and play with your toys." Bree answered. She knew Felix had other plans apart from taking her and her mother to her new ob-gyn.

"Thank you, brother, for bringing me a towel and aiding me in my time of need" Felix mocked.

But then Bree opened the towel to find it was a pair of hand towels. "You jerk!"

"Don't fight kids!" Esme yelled from her study. For a minute, she was transported ten years back. Esme remembered how Bree loved to push Felix buttons, only to run and tattle on him when he retaliated.

Esme heard the shower running and a door slamming shut followed by Felix's chuckles. It only made her sigh. When Bree arrived, Esme was so enthusiastic to have her daughter back home. But the tiresome flight and the stress of the pregnancy made Bree to only want to sleep for the first two days. And whenever Esme mentioned Bree's welcome home party, Bree frowned, stating she wasn't in the mood for a party. The nausea was back and she was still used to Berlin time. So the party was cancelled and Esme pressed to set Bree with an Ob-gyn, hence their appointment today. Carlisle was so kind to leave his car behind, in case it was needed and he also stated it was time to buy a new one, which made Esme laugh, because Carlisle always bought the same black Mercedes, only getting the newer version.

Felix poked his head into the kitchen. "We're ready, Ma. Are you sure I can drive around or do you want me to wait with you?"

"Nah, you go and have fun. Just be ready for when we call you to pick us up.

xxx

Felix dropped the girls and decided to drive to the place his old girlfriend lived. He heard through the grapevine she was married now, so it was just out of curiosity he drove over there. In a red light, a sports car stopped by his side.

"Nice ride," He said. It was an Audi TT. His father's dream car. In that moment, the driver of the Audi rolled down the window and Felix was shocked to find the driver was Carlisle.

xxx

A few days later, Alice received the bad news that one girl tried to steal a few dresses of one of her stores. She went immediately to deal with the problem. She parked the car in the back of the parking lot, where it was almost empty, so when she finished dealing with the theft problem she took five minutes to relax.

She had a few words with Jasper before, worried about what Peter said, but he pointed that to him, it was like Peter was taking advantage of her feelings of guilt. She just could never get it right! Sometimes she was ignoring them, other enabling, and now her own son was blackmailing her. It was too much. So Alice took advantage of the few minutes she got alone and cried.

Twenty minutes later, she composed herself. She lifted her phone to see if someone else left a message but by mistake, she turned on the camera pointing at herself.

"Ugh! I look like a train ran over me." She huffed and changed the view of the camera, which pointed outside, on a trailer parked a few feet from her. Then, a shirtless man exited the trailer laughing, followed by a giggling woman who was wearing what probably was his shirt. Alice gasped. That was Emmett! So she did what every sane person would do, took pictures in hopes to show them to Rose to find out she was wrong.

So, what do you think?

Next chapter will be the guys POV, so if you have a question, feel free to ask.

See ya.