Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 44 First Christmas

"Are you telling me she knowingly married a vampire, Edward?", Jacob asked.

"Yes, Jake, I did", Bella answered as she rounded the corner into the living room with us.

EPOV

My wife entered the room and came to sit beside me on the sofa, taking one of my hands in her hand and placing her other hand on the inside of my thigh.

"Jake, I figured out what Edward was after you and I walked on the beach at La Push and you told me the story that the Quilettes were descended from wolves and the Cullen's were a rival clan, cold ones. I noticed that Edward's skin was cold to the touch and hard, that he didn't eat and he was incredibly fast and strong."

"What the hell, Bella! How could you do something like that?", Jacob said as he jumped to his feet and paced back and forth.

My body tensed. I had no idea what would make him phase and neither did he as it would be his first time. I knew he needed to calm down. In the fraction of a second that it took for these thoughts to race through my mind, Bella spoke.

"Jake", she said, standing and reaching to grasp his forearm, "I knew there was a possibility that you were a werewolf and I left town with you! I knew that at least part of the legends were true because of Edward, why wouldn't I think the legends would be true for you as well?", she reasoned with him.

He calmed somewhat at her touch and her soothing voice so I remained seated for now, making sure I could grab her and move her away from him at the least indication that something was about to occur. Carlisle's thoughts mirrored mine and he sat anxiously remembering our meeting with Ephraim Black so many years ago, and with Sam Uley more recently. He was sitting, tense as I was willing to following my lead.

"But Bella, vampires kill and drink blood for God's sake! He could kill you!", Jake said and looked at me with a murderous glare. His thoughts ran wild, fleeting so quickly they were hard to discern. He was having trouble believing the legends at all, much less that she would be with me if she knew the truth.

"The Cullen family does not kill humans, Jacob, we never have. We live on the blood of animals", Carlisle calmly told him.

"That's right, Jake. It's no different than you eating steak or venison or lamb. Same thing. You kill to eat as well. How many hamburgers and hot dogs, Jake? How often do you have bacon? They were alive once, did you ever think about what you were eating?", Bella explained to him defiantly.

Carlisle and I both looked at her and at each other in amazement. I guess we had never really thought about it like that, but she was right. We just consumed different parts of the animal! Once again, my wife deserved more credit than I had ever given her. Her mind filed things in such a logical manner, much as I thought mine did, but her conclusions and justifications were so very different. She had actually considered all this before, I never had.

"But Bella, his strength . . . if the legends are correct, being with you isn't even possible", Jake spoke quietly, willing her to understand what he was saying.

Bella looked down at her belly and rubbed it with her hand, garnering Jacob's attention to the fact that she was pregnant by me, proving that it was indeed possible.

"Not all parts of legends are true, Jacob. Have you howled at the full moon lately? Ripped anyone apart and had them for lunch?", Bella asked. "No, I thought not. Well Edward has never hurt me. Yes he had incredible strength, but he is always careful and loving with me, Jake. You see that yourself! It takes effort on his part, but it's a choice, Jake. We all have choices to make about what's important to us. You and Edward are important to me, werewolf, vampire, whatever mythical creature you want to add. We are friends, you and Edward are friends and Edward is my husband, Jake . . . my mate, and vampires mate for life", she insisted.

"I had no idea. No idea at all. I never believed my Dad, never once considered that the legends were true . . . even any part of them. This is going to take awhile to sink in. Sue is coming in a few days, right?", he asked.

"Yes, she will be here on Tuesday", I answered him as Bella sat back down beside me.

Jacob returned to his seat, his head in his hands.

"This is like not knowing who you really are and waking up one day to see someone in the mirror that you don't even know", he said softly.

Bella crossed the small space to kneel in front of him and take his hands.

"I love you, Jake. Let us help. I know Edward is supposed to be the enemy, but he's your friend, Jake. Stay here with us till you're comfortable with all this. Sue will help I'm sure, being a tribal Elder, she must know how to handle all this. Call Sam. Whatever it takes", Bella told him.

"Does your family know, Chica?", Jacob asked,seeming more calm now.

"No, no one outside can know, Jake. The mythical world has to remain secret. I only know because I put two and two together, spending so much time around Edward. If you are not a part of this world, you can't know about it. That's probably why you were never told. They probably had to wait to see if you had the gene that let you phase into wolf form", she explained.

"How do you know that will happen to me? Maybe I just have a fever, you know!", Jake questioned, looking toward Carlisle and thinking about the tests he was supposed to be running.

"Jacob, when I took a blood sample from you yesterday I wasn't testing for germs, I did a chromosomal count. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, Jake. Vampires have 25. You have 24 . . . obviously more than just human, that's why we are willing to tell you all this", Carlisle explained.

"Huh. Wish I knew what that meant, doc. You're gonna have to dumb it down a little. I should have listened in biology, but I take your word for it", Jacob said.

"Well, there is plenty of time for questions and answers, Jacob, and Carlisle and I will help however we can. Tonight, however, it's Christmas and my pregnant wife needs her rest. Let's just enjoy each others company today and the holiday. I'm sure Sue will have some answers for you. Is that okay with everyone?", I asked as I looked at each of them.

Bella hugged me to her as I stood and she put an arm around Jake.

"My two favorite guys in the world. I love that you two are friends, no matter what!", Bella said as a tear fell down her cheek.

"Damn it, Chica. Stop with the waterworks. Okay okay. I'll handle it, we will all stay friends no matter what, I promise. Just turn off the damned tears, you know I can't deal with those!", Jake fussed at her.

I put my hand out to Jacob and he took it, Bella placing her hand on top and we all shook.

"Friends", I said, "regardless."

~oooOooo~

Bella put her arm around me as Carlisle left, closing the front door after him and Jacob headed up the stairs in front of us. We walked to our room, shut the door and climbed into bed from the side nearest the door, never bothering with a light, dropping her robe and my pajama pants as we walked, never loosing contact with each other or speaking a word.

We faced each other, covered in blankets and Bella hitched her leg over my hip as I entered her. It was one fluid movement, as though you were making up a bed or putting on a pair of favorite jeans. This understates it, of course . . . she was everything to me, but the familiarity and knowledge of what we would both want right now was there, all the same. We needed no words between us. I wrapped my arms around her and she tucked her head into my neck with one hand entwined in the hair at the nape of my nec. She played with the curls there for only a moment before falling fast asleep.

I had no idea it could ever be like this with a woman. I had never read the mind of anyone who was thinking about experiencing anything similar. We were more connected than any one I had ever encountered. She was in fact, my other half. It was as though, being with her allowed me to have everything I ever wanted, that she somehow willed me to have whatever it was and it was there. Sleeping, for example. I told her it was the one thing I missed about being human and now it seemed I could almost sleep at will. Amazing. I wondered if this was a gift she had, something latent in her even though she was human, something that would show up when she became an immortal. She was gifted, that much was for certain.

Morning light came through the windows. I had not slept, preferring to spend the hours talking to my son and listening to his mind. He grew daily in intelligence and he was able to copy sounds in his mind that he had heard from us. Some of them were kind of disconcerting, moaning for example, but the vocabulary he was developing was impressive.

I was still, having laid with her, unmoving the entire night save for moving one of my hands to her belly. I was completely engrossed in all things to do with Masen. Her hand was still entwined in hair at the back of my neck and the base of my erection. That had not changed either and I loved it. I think we both just liked the feeling of being physically connected, of feeling like a part of each other.

I moved my hand from her belly to her cheek, gently stroking her jaw line, willing her to wake up. She nuzzled into me further, rocking her hips against me before she even opened her eyes.

"Ummmm, I love waking up with you this close to me", she all but whispered to me as she continued to gently rock her hips back and forth.

"Not as much as I love being this close to you, my wife", I answered, kissing her hair and tightening my arms around her, my hips responding to hers.

We lay there, moving together for a long moment before either of us spoke again.

"Merry Christmas", we almost said in unison, then laughed and hugged each other tighter.

"Our first Christmas together, sweetheart", she said as she traced kisses up my neck, finding my lips.

"The first Christmas in an eternity of Christmases, love", I reminded her.

"I just didn't know it was possible to be this happy, Edward."

I felt as though I would burst, I wanted nothing more than for her to be happy and content in her life with me and I would do all I could to see that she always felt that way.

"There is only one thing that I am truly upset about", she added.

Oh God. I had no idea what it would be, but whatever it was I would find a way to fix it. I wanted everything perfect for her and I was still not above having some insecurities rise to the top of my emotions if I allowed it. I knew she would never leave me, I had accepted it . . . most of the time.

I stared at her, my mouth agape and I'm sure fear shot across my face before I could control my expression.

"What, love? What has you upset this morning?", I asked, stunned that anything could be wrong.

"Well", she said with a coy smile and a pout that started to alleviate my fears, "I want to kiss you while we make love." She brought both of her hands, entwined with mine, to her belly and rubbed it with the backs of my hands, "and I can't each your lips with this belly in the way!"

The pout on her face was adorable.

"Well, we might just have to start spending twice as long each day making love . . . half of the time kissing and the other half with me sheathed inside you, love", I told her, stifling the laugh that was trying to come out as I spoke, she just looked so damned cute sitting naked atop me, complaining that she wanted to be able to kiss me as well.

God I loved this woman.

"See, love. I can still kiss you while we make love. Your belly isn't big enough that we can't do it this way for awhile yet", I said with my lips against hers.

She threw her arms around my neck, her hands entwining in their favorite position at the nape of my neck.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I just wanted all of you, for as long as we can manage it", she said softly.

We held each other, rocking back in forth for the longest moment.

"Bella", I addressed her with her name for a change instead of an endearment, "would it be alright if we exchanged one gift now, while we're alone this morning?"

"I'm so glad you suggested that, baby", she said as she leaned to her night side table and took a small box from the top drawer, remaining astride me and keeping me inside her as she did it.

I looked at the delicately wrapped box in her hand and scooted us closer to my night side table, where I reached for a similarly small box, slightly larger than the ring sized box she held. Mine wrapped in blue with a white bow - standard from Tiffany's.

"You first", she said as she handed me the small box.

Her excitement grew as I removed the bow and started to lift the lid of the box. She was biting her lip in anticipation, making me wonder what in the world she had gotten me that would make her so anxious. It was a ring. An absolutely beautiful thick men's signet ring. Instead of an initial on the face of it, there was the delicate engraving of a swan . . . a swan with deep red garnets for eyes, so deep a color and so small they they gave the impression of being brown - the color of my wife's eyes. I looked up at her.

"I never got to pick out your wedding ring when we were married, you selected both of ours since I was in the hospital. I thought you might wear this ring that I picked for you as well. It should be small enough to fit with your wedding band . . . I had it made to fit flush against one side", she told me with a certain amount of trepidation in her voice, as though there were any question that I would not love it and wear it.

"Bella". I heard the word escape my lips, but it had been completely involuntary. She took the ring from me and stared into my eyes.

"Will you wear this? Do you mind if it shows that you're mine?", she asked me, the ring in her hand poised to slip it onto my finger.

"I will marry you a hundred times over, love, if you want me to. I love that you got me a ring and want it obvious that I'm yours", I looked into her eyes, willing her to truly understand what I was about to say to her, "I am yours, Isabella." I kissed her lips softly. "Thank you, love . . . and thank you for having me as yours."

She slipped the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly and as she said, it fit flush against my wedding band with the swan slightly sticking out above the band on the topside of the ring. It was simple, appropriate and meant a great deal to me. She really did own me . . . and I would have it no other way.

"Your turn", I said as I handed her my present.

She opened it slowly, carefully, as though it would break. The box contained a simple charm bracelet made of platinum with a half dozen emeralds encased in the hollow of the links, evenly spaced around the bracelet. It was large enough to hang loosely on he wrist, but small enough that the clasp had to be undone to remove it.

"Edward", she exclaimed, "I love it!"

I took the bracelet out of the box and placed it on her wrist as she continued to admire it.

"That's not the real gift though, love", I told her. I pulled up the velvet holder that the bracelet had encircled and took out the charm that I had hidden there. "Bella, this was my mothers", I said full of emotion, "It's a fair representation of me. It's hard and cold and it casts rainbows and sparkles in the sunlight. More importantly, like my heart, it too is now yours."

"Edward. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, love, its a diamond. I want you to have it", I told her as I kissed her lips.

"Edward, this has to be like, a dozen carats or more."

"Something like that, love. It doesn't matter. Do you like it?", I asked her, worried that she thought it too large or gaudy.

"I love it. It's just perfect", she said as I attached it to the center of the bracelet. "You put emeralds in the bracelet to remind me of your eyes when you were human, didn't you, the color I hope Masen's will be?"

"I did. Just like I think you did with the eyes of the swan on my ring."

It didn't matter that we had just made love a couple of times. It didn't matter that my length had been sheathed in her for hours before that. We made love like it was the very first time, like everything was new to us, every touch, every emotion. We came together with such intensity and calling out each others names so loudly that I was sure the entire house and certainly my family in their home up on the hill had heard us. I was just as certain that I could not care less.

~oooOooo~

Renee POV

"More coffee, Charlie?", I asked as I stood to grab a second cup for myself.

"Sure, thanks Renee", he said holding his cup out for me.

I had been up an hour or so. I thought I would have breakfast ready for everyone, kind of a treat on Christmas morning and it was the one meal that I really could cook well. I had found bacon and sausage as well as eggs in the refrigerator and a waffle iron set out on the counter. There was an abundance of everything in bowls on the counter, steaming hot and ready for everyone to have a much as they wanted. We were already on our second pot of coffee, the three of us, and Jacob, Bella and Edward had not yet come downstairs.

"So what's the plan?", I asked, just sort of throwing it out there to see if the boys had any idea of what was planned for the day.

"I think we are opening stockings and presents here this morning, then Esme is preparing a meal for the afternoon and presents at their house", Charlie said, "at least that was the plan when I spoke to Edward last night.

"You were up with Edward last night?", I asked.

"Well, I was doing some Santa things in the living room and he heard me making noise and came to investigate. It was after midnight and I thought everyone would be asleep", he looked up at me sort of embarrassed, "even those two."

His meaning was clear. We all understood that our daughter did not sleep nearly as much as one would think, given the amount of time she spent in her bedroom. Just then, as if to punctuate the thought, we all heard quite clearly, the names of the two newlyweds being called out in a moment of passion. There was no mistaking it and it was not quiet. I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head to one side as I turned to set the coffee pot back down on the warmer, Charlie just shaking his head.

Phil laughed, "At least the kids have excellent timing! Now I suppose they'll be down to join us for breakfast."

Charlie and I both glared at him. "What?", he said looking sheepish.

"Who is killing who?", Jacob said as he strode into the kitchen, "That almost makes me scared to pass by their door again!" He was laughing as he grabbed a plate and helped himself.

A few more pages on the financials for Phil and the sports section for Charlie and another plate full of food for Jacob and the two of them made their way into the kitchen, freshly showered.

"Working up an appetite?", Phil kidded them, somewhat inappropriately.

Bella turned beet red, but Edward just shrugged his shoulders and headed for the coffee pot.

"Edward just gave me my Christmas present", Bella said, holding her arm out for me to see.

"So we heard", I smirked at her.

"MOM! I meant the bracelet!", she insisted, somewhat taken back that I would join in the ribbing.

Edward just leaned back against the counter, crossing his ankles with his palms on the counter and smirked.

"Oh my, Bella! It's beautiful!", I told her.

"The diamond was Edward's mother's", she said as she turned the bracelet so that I could see the charm.

I know my eyes looked like they would pop put of my head. I tried to contain my expression . . . I knew their finances, yet seeing a diamond that size totally shocked me. I had no idea what it could possibly be worth, but I was sure it was more than everything I had ever owned combined.

"Edward, the bracelet is beautiful. You still have your mother's jewelry?", I asked him.

"I have a few things. Since I didn't get to give Bella my Mom's engagement ring, I thought she might like to have the charm", he told me.

"Well, you can always let Masen use your mother's ring when he is old enough to ask someone to marry him", I told him.

Bella looked at him and they both smiled. "That's an excellent idea, Renee", Edward said.

Bella guided me to where Edward stood still leaning against the counter and reached for his hand.

"I gave Edward one of his presents as well", she said. "I didn't get to pick out his wedding ring when we were married, so I got him this", she smiled as she looked at her husband.

"Wow! How did you get stones that look so brown, sweetie?", I asked, "They look like your eyes."

"It's perfect", Edward said, his other arm reaching out to go around my daughter.

"So is this lovey dovey stuff going to continue all day?", Jacob said looking at Bella and Edward, "I'm just checking, cause if it is, I'm gonna need to eat less so that I barf less!", he chided.

The entire room broke out in laughter as Edward hugged Bella to him and Charlie 'humphed' to himself.

Emmett walked in about that time and the first words out of his mouth were, "Glad to see you didn't break my little sister this morning, Eddie. Damn, I heard you guys all the way out in the yard!"

"EMMETT", we all exclaimed together.

"What? I was just bringing Eddie boy's present from Bella down here like Rosie told me to! I'm supposed to also tell you all that Esme said dinner will be ready about 2 o'clock, so there is lots of time to open presents this morning. Well, gotta go - presents wait for no man!", Emmett said over his shoulder as he left and headed back up the hill.

"Bella?", Edward looked at my daughter inquisitively and started to push himself off the counter to head outside and see his gift.

"Wait, wait. Just wait and let me see if it's ready", she said as she pushed him back against the counter and scurried off out the door.

I knew what it was, of course. Bella and I had talked about the motorcycles that she and Rose had ordered for the family and I wondered how Edward was going to react.

Her head appeared in the crack of the door to the patio just enough for her to call to him. He moved faster that I had ever seen in his haste to get to her. I guess he really wanted to know just what she had gotten for him. There on the patio, parked next to the blue motorcycle she had gotten for her award from the racing foundation, was a beautiful emerald green bike. It seemed to match hers in styling, except for something sticking out the side of the bike and the fact that it had a seat made for two on it, unlike hers that only seated one.

"Bella!", Edward exclaimed as he threw a leg over the bike and held it upright off the kick stand, "I love this!"

"I thought we could ride together", she said to him.

A frown crossed his face, which he immediately checked but not before my daughter saw it.

"I thought we could ride together on two bikes after I have the baby, but I got a two up seat on your bike so that I could ride with you now", she explained as she put her arm around him.

"Thank you", I heard him tell her as he nuzzled her neck, "You know I would worry if we were on separate bikes while you're . . . pregnant."

It was odd, the inflection in his voice, as if he was meaning something other than what he was saying, but that was between them. He seemed incredibly excited about the bike and Bella climbed up behind him as he started the engine and did a turn around the driveway, parking it back exactly where it had been, next to her bike.

"It's freezing out here!", Bella exclaimed as she dismounted and Edward kissed her, before putting the kickstand down and taking her hand to follow the rest of us back into the house.

My daughter was a very lucky young woman and I knew that she realized it as well. I couldn't wait to see how the rest of this very special Christmas day would go!