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I reached the store just as they were opening. With Christmas just around the corner, the store was opening earlier than they normally would, still I think saleswoman was stunned to see a kid standing outside the store waiting to come inside right at 7:30 in the morning. She also seemed stunned by my purchases, and yes plural. I was going to go all out on this.
Luckily everything fit into my backpack, I've never been dissatisfied with my bike, but it was times like this I wish I had been a little more practical and taken one of the cars instead of shoving everything in my backpack. It was too late to worry about that though, Nessie would be waking up soon and Bella would be bringing her up to the house for breakfast. With a quick, but polite thank you to the saleswoman I hopped back on my bike and shot off down the road.
It was just starting to snow again as I neared Forks, nothing I couldn't handle even with my bike, but enough that I was cautious as I navigated the winding roads. As I neared our driveway, the first thing that caught my attention was the garland. We have a this lamppost that sits at the beginning of our drive way, it gives off a bit of light, but it was more for decoration than actual function, now that same lamppost was entwined with garland and a bright red bow hung from the rod iron arm of the post.
This irked my curiosity and even awakened some of my lost excitement for the coming holiday and I drove the bike up the driveway towards the house that excitement grew stronger, especially when I was in sight of the house.
I skidded to a stop and stared up in amazement. I have never seen the house decorated to this extent, at least not outside, not only were there lights and the usual displays, but we now had these blow up displays scattered around our front yard.
There was a giant Father Christmas standing next to a giant reindeer, Esme's decorative sled which she usually keeps plants in was now situated not far with eight glowing reindeer lined up as if they were taking off, the first couple were literally in the air, secured to one of our stronger trees by a fishing wire, but at first glance, it appeared they were actually in flight. Not far from the sleigh was a nativity set complete with a camel, donkey, even sheep, not life-size like the reindeer, but still a brilliant set up.
I glanced at my watch and then looked back at the scene in front of me, I had only been gone a few hours, presumably less than that, clearly Benjamin had been busy, but my main question was where the bloody hell he had gotten this stuff?
The reindeer attached to the sleigh that was easy, Emmett and I had built them years ago for a Christmas display for Esme and Carlisle, but I hadn't seen them since the early 90s, I'm not sure where the nativity set came from and I definitely had no idea where the blow up Father Christmas or the enormous blown up Frosty the Snowman had come into the picture. There was even an inflatable snow globe with what looked like a carousal inside. It was the most elaborate, teetering on insane display I'd ever seen.
I had to hand it to Benjamin, for a guy who had never decorated a Christmas ANYTHING in his life, he had done a bloody brilliant job, even by Alice's high standards, it almost looked professional.
I was pleasantly surprised and ready to congratulate him. I started to inch the bike closer, preparing to ask my friend about it as well as give him a pat on the back, when I spotted him standing on the ladder, hooking up more wires, but I could see that he wasn't alone because directing him from my room, was Seth, which explained so much but also just added to the confusion.
"Okay!" Seth called, "that should do it,"
I could see his goofy grin from down here and neither of them had noticed I was back. I shut my bike down, surprised that they hadn't even looked up at the noise my bike made.
"And what exactly are we doing?" Benjamin asked "I'm pretty sure we were just putting lights on the house," Benjamin gestured to the Christmas scene below him "don't you think this is a bit much?"
Seth grinned and ducked back into my room, reappearing a few seconds later with my laptop…my brand new laptop. What was that Fleabag up to?"
I slid off my bike and put the kickstand down as Benjamin climbed down the ladder. He turned when he felt me walk up behind him
"What are you two up to?" I asked, adjusting my backpack, my Egyptian friend shrugged and I could see the confusion all over his face.
"I thought I was all set, but he insisted that it was missing key elements." Benjamin explained shrugging again "he found those deer in your basement and I did not even bother to ask where he found a camel and other assorted creatures, nor did I ask about inflatable items, I went into the house to ask your sister about replacing one of the lights and when I returned a menagerie had appeared in front of the house."
"Sweet!" Seth called from my window "Chris you're home!"
"Home and very confused!" I called back, I pulled my helmet off and looked up at my best friend "what are you up to you crazy wolf?"
"Dude you're going to love this!" Was the answer I got, I exchanged a look with Benjamin who was just dumbfounded by Seth
"Is he always like this?" Benjamin asked "and if so is this a human trait or a werewolf?"
"To the first question, yes usually, and to the second your guess is as good as mine," I replied "honestly I think it's just a Seth thing."
"Okay so what are the chances of keeping Nessie away from the front of the house until it gets dark?" Seth asked
"Slim," I replied "but I bet Rosalie and I can keep her occupied for a while."
"Excellent, 'cause I want you to see this when she sees it, you guys are all going to be blown away, right Benny?"
Benjamin gave me another confused look and I just closed my eyes and shook my head I literally had no answer
"Er, right?" Benjamin called back to Seth he looked at me and lowered his voice "I have no idea what he did I just followed instructions."
"Don't worry Benny," I said with a grin and he rolled his eyes "I'm sure it's bloody brilliant whatever it is." I paused "this place does look great though." I added loud enough for Seth to hear and he grinned "seriously you guys, not just Ness, everyone is going to love this,"
"Hey we're going to make this the greatest Christmas ever for Nessie."
"Speaking of which, I have some things I need to bring Rose so if you'll excuse me for a moment, I can come back out and help if you guys need it?"
"Naw Chris don't worry, me and Ben have got this,"
"That's what frightens me," Benjamin whispered and the three of us laughed.
I guided my bike to the garage and carefully parked it in it's place before heading inside. If the outside resembled a Christmas scene, the interior was just as extreme; Rose, Fi, Maggie, and Tia had clearly been busy and the Christmas tree was the first thing I spotted. It was hard to miss it of course the sucker was huge, the top of it was just barely clearing the ceiling, just enough room for Esme's crystal star.
"Whatcha think Kid?" Emmett asked coming up behind me "good enough?"
I turned to look at my brother, forcing myself to take my eyes of the beautiful tree that stood in our family room.
"It's perfect Em, absolutely bloody perfect."
"I had hoped you would approve, given how psychotic you are about the tree." Emmett replied ruffling my hair "did you see what's been happening outside?"
"Hard to miss," I reminded him
"Any idea what they're doing? Seth wanted permission to borrow a laptop and since you've got the newest I didn't see any harm in letting him borrow it, hope you don't mind kid."
I shook my head
"It's fine I don't care, but I have no idea what is going on either, nor do I know what he wanted with my laptop, he said we would all find out later today, when it gets dark."
"Well, whatever it is I'm sure it'll be cool," Emmett said thoughtfully "he really helped Benjamin get a pattern going with the decorating outside. He was really having trouble when I got back with the tree, if Seth hadn't shown up to help him I was going to go out there,"
"Hey give the guy some credit, I don't think Amun lets them decorate too much." Emmett and I exchanged a look and burst out laughing at that.
As we walked into the family room I was able to get a full sense of what had been accomplished inside, it looked perfect. I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect Christmas scene in my life, it seriously reminded me why I am fond of this holiday, my birthday not included in that. But at the same time it also brought with it the reminder that Alice and Jasper weren't with us, Alice would have been proud of this set up, I don't think she would find anything to complain about or alter in anyway, it was perfect. I just wished her and Jaz were here to share it with us.
The tree itself, now that I was able to look closer wasn't fully decorated, just a few lines of garland and strung lights, but aside from that it was bare.
Emmett seemed to read my confusion and patted me on the back
"It didn't seem right decorating the tree without you kid, you and Carlisle love the trees so much, we figured wait till you're home and Nessie comes up and we can all decorate it, really surprise Esme and Carlisle when they get back."
I nodded
"I can get behind that," I replied. Rose was standing near the tree putting the finishing touches on the garland, she looked up when she heard the two of us and came over, hugging me tight.
"Did you have any luck?" She asked softly and I grinned
"Just a bit," I replied holding out my backpack to her, Rose took it and unzipped and looked inside
"Chris how much did you buy?!" Rose exclaimed "I thought you were going to buy a stocking for Bella and one for Nessie, there's like twenty extra stockings in here."
I took a deep breath
"There are two special, one's that are for Bella and Nessie, the rest which are sadly not elaborate, are for our friends." I nodded towards everyone scattered throughout our house "even if they don't care or don't celebrate Christmas or in some cases are just too insane to deal with," I added meaning our own Count and Dracula who were apparently hanging (no bat joke intended there) in the loft with Alastair who I'm sure was not enjoying the company at all. "It's just a gesture of goodwill, in honour of the holiday." The plain stockings I had picked out were the generic red stockings with white trim, even though they were generic, they were still made of high quality material and clearly hand done. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a couple of squeezable bottles of fabric glitter glue. "I figure we put everyone's name on these and it just brings us all together in a way."
Rose exchanged a look with Emmett before she reached forward and hugged me tight and kissed the top of my head.
"I think that is the sweetest gesture anyone could have made." She explained "tell you what, I'll get to work on Bella's and Nessie's and you and Emmett use the glue to fill out the rest of the stockings. I ran down to the cottage while you were gone and told Bella to hold off bringing Nessie up here for another hour or so, that we had a surprise for her."
Emmett looked from his wife to me as we huddled close, Rose taking the two stockings I had chosen at the store for Nessie and Bella and handing me my backpack full of the others.
"So, well, Rose you seem to be the quarterback here are you going to say break or what?" he asked seriously and Rose smacked him on the shoulder
"Ready Break!" I exclaimed clapping my hands together and getting a laugh from my brother and sister.
"At least the Brit is ready to go," Emmett said grabbing my collar and pulling me towards Esme's office.
It took us about half an hour to decorate the stockings with our guests' names with the different coloured glitter glue and most of that time was spent checking everyone off and spelling names correctly. Emmett was finishing up Garett's and I had Fi's in hand, Emmett glanced at me and grinned wide.
"Working on Fi's?" he asked smartly
"Unless you'd like to switch?"
Emmett grinned and shook his head
"Naw, I owe it to my man Garrett to make his as American as possible, if I leave it to you you'll have a British flag on it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied with a grin
"Just like you don't know anything about how much care you seem to be putting into Fi's stocking?"
"Shuddup," I shot back quickly finishing her stocking and carefully adding it to the completed pile.
"That everyone?" Emmett asked counting each one
"Should be,"
"Um, Chris there's three extras here,"
"Seth, Leah, and Jacob." I replied "I mean they probably have their own thing at home, but they're family too, it just seemed like the right thing to do."
Emmett nodded, I kind of expected some sort of teasing reply, but none came, instead he ruffled my hair and scooped up the stockings.
I followed him to the family room where Rose had literally shooed everyone out and shut the doors as well. She had finished Bella and Nessie's stockings and had added them to the box of ours and Emmett carefully deposited the new stockings on the couch.
We had finished not a moment too soon as I felt a wave wash over me, seconds before the backdoor opened, Edward must have read our thoughts or something and knew we wanted them to come through the backdoor so Seth could have his grand reveal, whatever it was.
Bella knocked on the door to the family room and slowly pushed it open, Nessie ducking around her mom's leg to look inside, her eyes went wide with amazement at the tree and the rest of the decorations.
"Mommy look!" she exclaimed pointing
"I see it," Bella breathed she walked over to the three of us and hugged each of us tight "thank you for doing this," she whispered when she hugged me
"We wanted it to be special…especially for Ness," I replied and Rose and Emmett nodded in agreement.
"We do have one extra surprise for both of you," Rose said she picked up the stockings and held them behind her back. She knelt down in front of Nessie and smiled "close your eyes sweetie," she said softly and Nessie did as she was told, covering her eyes with her hands. Rose held the stocking up in front of her, it was beautiful and perfect for Ness; snowflakes, music notes, hearts, a wolf's paw print, again totally Nessie. "Okay you can open them," Rose said and Nessie uncovered her eyes. She reached forward quickly and hugged it close
"Auntie Rose I love it!" she squealed "it's so beautiful, thank you, thank you." She turned to Emmett "Uncle Emmett, can we hang it now?"
"Of course we can!" Emmett exclaimed, he lifted her up carefully and carried her over to the fireplace where the nails were already in place, left there from other Christmas' in this house.
Nessie picked a spot and hung her stocking on it, she hugged Emmett tight and he returned the gesture, gently putting her on the floor. She ran over to me and threw her arms around my waist hugging me just as tight
"Thank you Uncle Chris," she whispered
"Anything for you Ness," I paused "want to see mummy's stocking?" I asked and Nessie nodded quickly, I picked her up as best I could and held her on my hip so we could watch Rose give Bella her stocking.
Bella's eyes grew wide when Rose handed it to her and I half expected the brilliant shade of red Bella always turned with embarrassment, of course it never came, but she was still blown away.
Rose had done a great job on Bella's, it included a Chevy truck in a winter scene, (which Rose winked at me for) a Christmas tree sitting in the bed of the truck and snowflakes around it. Like Nessie's it wasn't as detailed as the rest of ours, Rose is talented and did something I could never have done, but Esme rules the sewing, crocheting, stitching, etc. part of this family, she had designed each of our stockings to reflect the personality or likes of the owner and Rose had certainly tried to do that.
Bella hugged everyone and carefully hung her stocking up next to Nessie's and Edward followed in suit his going up on the other side of Nessie's. Next Rose hung her stocking up and Emmett his.
I reached into the pile and pulled my own out and hung it next to Edward's. Rose and Bella each took Carlisle and Esme's and hung them up while Emmett and I did the same for Alice and Jasper's. It didn't seem right not including them, I knew it had potential to make Esme and Carlisle sad, just as seeing Edward's last year had done, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I had to have faith that Alice and Jasper had left us, not for selfish reasons, but to find a way to help and doing it in the only manner they could.
I know we all felt at least a little betrayed by the pair of them leaving without a word, especially when staying together and being together meant everything because it might be our last act on this earth, but again…faith. My ability allows me to see things that others might not, even if it's not 100% clear to me at first.
Nessie looked at the last two stockings on the chair and smiled as she picked one of them up.
"Uncle Chris?" she asked "can I hang Chaplin's stocking up please?" it was impossible to say no to her so I carefully picked her up and carried her to the mantle. I hadn't noticed it, but over the last few days she had grown again.
"Perfect Ness," I said softly as she carefully hooked Chap's stocking next to Rose's stocking, my sister spotted that and rolled her eyes.
I let Ness slide to the floor as she skipped back over to the chair, where one more stocking remained, it didn't dawn on me at first who the stocking belonged to, why there was an extra stocking after Chaplin's.
"Uncle Chris?" she called holding the stocking up "Uncle Chris, we forgot to hang Grandpa Charlie's stocking!"
I glanced over to see what she was talking about even though I already knew. My shoulders slumped a little bit and I felt Emmett, Edward, Rose, and Bella all exchange a look, sympathetic looks, even a little bit of sadness. It was Charlie's stocking of course and since we haven't opened the Christmas stuff since of course last Christmas it was with everything.
Nessie looked around and saw the looks, she was obviously very confused and why not, she had no idea, she had no way of knowing that Chaplin had a brother.
Charlie's always been in the back of my mind, but with Nessie being born, Bella becoming one of us, and the impending threat of the Volturi, I haven't thought of him as much as I should, especially with Christmas right around the corner I felt ashamed that I hadn't given Char even a thought.
I looked at Bella and Edward, silently asking them for permission to explain who Charlie was, even though in all reality Nessie is a baby she's mature and extremely smart I didn't want to confuse her or worse ruin her Christmas with a sad story. Edward and Bella exchanged another look and nodded
"Um. Ness," Emmett started to say, trying to be the big brother and take care of me, but I put a hand up
"I've got this Em," I replied, I gestured for Nessie to come over to me and I sat down in the easy chair, she scrambled into my lap and inched closer to me.
"Uncle Chris, how come everyone looks so sad?" she asked, then she looked around carefully "that's not Grandpa Charlie's stocking is it?" she guessed
"No Ness, it's not," I took a deep breath "that stocking belonged to Chaplin's brother Charlie,"
Nessie's eyes went wide
"Chaplin has a brother?" she asked excitedly and I couldn't help but smile a little bit, fear is definitely not in my niece's vocabulary, especially not a fear of rodents.
I shook my head
"He did, he had a brother named Charlie,"
"Oh, what happened to him?"
"He was very sick Nessie and he died,"
Nessie seemed to process this for a couple of seconds, it's so hard to tell if she can comprehend death or if that word is foreign to her.
"Is that why everyone looks so sad?"
"He kept us laughing Nessie," Emmett explained coming over to us "he liked to hide in Aunt Rosalie's magazines and loved to shred blueprints and documents."
Nessie smiled a little bit
"He sounds silly,"
I nodded
"He was Nessie girl, he was very silly, we all miss him and he would've loved you." I paused and tickled her a little "you are exactly the buddy he would love to have, someone else to spoil him and Chap rotten, I know you've been giving Chap all those sunflower seeds when you thought I wasn't looking!" Nessie grinned and ducked her head, I took a deep breath "do you want to hang Charlie's stocking up too?"
"Not if it's going to make everyone sad," Nessie concluded and I kissed the top of her head, before standing up with her on my hip
"I think Charlie's going to be with us this Christmas in spirit and having his stocking up there is only right,"
I lifted Nessie up and she carefully hung Charlie's stocking next to Chaplin's, in it's rightful place.
Charlie's stocking was the last of the immediate family, and once that was up, Ness looked over at the pile of extra stockings, surveying them carefully.
"Who are those for?" she asked tugging on my shirt
"Our extended family," I explained I picked up the first one in the pile, Tanya's. "Everyone deserves to have a stocking with their name on it, would you like to help hang these up? Then we'll decorate the tree and surprise everyone?"
Nessie's eyes were wide and bright as she nodded, she snatched up an arm full of the stockings as careful as could be and skipped over to the mantle to start putting them up. Of course we ran out of mantle space pretty quick so with Emmett's help I carefully added spots above the mantle creating almost a pyramid effect. With all of us working together it literally only took about five minutes to get EVERYONE's stocking up and not to brag or anything, I thought it looked pretty damn good.
Now that the stockings were done, all that was left to do was the tree and tackling that sucker was going to take the most time. The main issue? The amount of bloody ornaments we have.
About thirty, maybe even forty years ago Hallmark this American greeting card store, decided to start selling Christmas ornaments and they've become more commercialized every year and every year Esme insists on buying a new one for each member of the family. These things take up eight boxes of Christmas stuff because each one is carefully stored in its original box and each one of the eight boxes belongs to a specific family member. I have to admit, I do look forward to getting the new ornament every year, it's brilliant to see what Esme has picked out for each of us every year, especially lately because as I said these things have gotten extremely commercialized so the ornaments range from cartoon characters, to movies, to cars, and sports figures to everyday things and more Christmas related items.
Still that doesn't change the fact that we have a lot of these things and finding space on the bloody tree is usually very difficult because of that, but it is amusing.
Rose enlisted Bella to start opening the boxes and setting the more fragile ornaments up carefully on the couch, while Emmett began hanging those fragile ornaments up as they were passed to him by Edward. Nessie and I took the sturdier ornaments to hang up, both of us working at our own height. Every once and a while Nessie would reach up and tug on my shirt asking for help finding a good spot for an ornament.
"You having fun Ness?" I whispered and she nodded quickly
"I like decorating for Christmas, it's fun," she whispered back "can I help next year too?" she added and I did my best to hide my wince, thankfully I either wasn't that obvious or Nessie was completely oblivious "and next year I'll make ornaments for everyone, and Auntie Rose showed me a movie about Christmas and it had a bell in it." She was rambling on and on but I didn't mind, I loved listening to how excited she was about the holiday, it gave me a sense of closure.
I'm not the kind of person to give up and I'm certainly not fond of looking at the glass half empty, but I'm not an idiot I knew the chances of us all being around next Christmas was slim at best, however who was I to damper Nessie's dream.
We had just hung the last ornament when I heard the front door open, Esme and Carlisle were home with the rest of the Denali's they had all gone hunting together, I looked down at Nessie then up at Emmett
"Ness, do you want to put the star up?" I asked and she nodded excitedly
"Come here kiddo," Emmett called he lifted Nessie onto his shoulders so she was standing on his broad shoulders "Dr. Doolittle grab the star?" I nodded and knelt down to pick up the crystal star and carefully handed it up to Emmett who in turn handed it to Nessie, holding her ankles securely. "Okay up there Ness?" he asked
"Yes Uncle Emmett,"
"Just put it right on the top of the tree,"
She had just put it there when the rest of our family walked in, followed by most of our guests. I heard Esme gasp in surprise and looked behind me to see the look on my mother's face, she was stunned and had her hands to her mouth, with a look of pure happiness on her face.
"Granma!" Nessie exclaimed, she scrambled down from Emmett's shoulders and skipped over to Esme, leaping into her arms "look at what Uncle Emmett, Auntie Rose, and Uncle Chris did!" she said gesturing to the decorations around the house "I helped with the stockings and the tree and Uncle Emmett let me put the star up!"
I walked over to my parents, Carlisle held out his arm and hugged my shoulders tight and Esme couldn't stop smiling, she put Nessie down and allowed herself to be pulled all over the room as Nessie pointed out the different decorations
"You three did a wonderful job," Carlisle said to Emmett, Rose, and I
"We can't take all the credit, Maggie, Fi, and Tia helped in here and Benjamin decorated outside." Rose explained
"Yes I did see that, and I am assuming he was not alone on that one, I think he might had some assistance?" Carlisle guessed
"Furry assistance," I explained "something that we're apparently not allowed to see until it gets dark, whatever it is, it involves my computer somehow." I added.
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Patience has never really been my strong suit, but I did manage to kill time long enough that before I knew it, Nessie had eaten dinner and it was dark outside. My curiosity over what Seth and Benjamin had concocted had been eating away at me, so I was pretty relieved when Seth came bursting into the house excitedly the moment it was dark enough outside and gestured for us to follow him out. Bella carried Nessie out and pretty much everyone else followed as well, even Alistair came down from his cave, there was no sign of Vladmair or Stefan, but I really wasn't surprised on that one.
Once everyone was gathered outside, Seth joined us with my laptop, he stood next to me and grinned
"What are you up to?" I asked
"You'll see," he replied "okay Benny, hit the lights inside," I saw Benjamin stick his head out through the front door and shake his head at Seth who was oblivious of course, he was too focused on whatever he was doing to my computer. Slowly one by one the lights went out through the house until they were all out. "Here we go," Seth whispered, hitting a single key on my laptop.
Instantly the lights Seth and Benjamin had hung up illuminated the house, but that was only the beginning as music started to play from my subwoofer speakers in my room… I recognized the tune instantly and found myself fixated on the one set of lights that seemed to dance back and forth in time with the soft beat of Carol of the Bells.
As the lights and the music continued to dance with one another I softly heard my family complimenting Seth and Benjamin on their talent, I only looked away from the lights when I felt someone walk up behind me and slip their hand into mine. I looked over at Fi and smiled as she leaned closer to me
"I saw the stockings you and Emmett made," she whispered "thank you for mine,"
"You're welcome," I replied "I'm sorry it's not much,"
"it is more than enough," Fi said squeezing my hand "and this, this is just beautiful."
I nodded
"It is isn't it?" I said softly looking back up at the lights, feeling comfortable and safe. It was easy to forget the danger that lurked in our near future, Christmas had always been a peaceful time, look at the Christmas truce during the First World War, the fact that Germany gave London a break from the bombing for Christmas only a few weeks after the raid that nearly killed me, a break that lasted only a day or so before they began bombing the hell out of us again. But still, looking up at the light display two of my now closest friends had created reminded me what Christmas had meant to me as a child and reminded me of what it has come to mean.
Bella walked up behind me and hugged me tight
"This whole thing is beautiful Chris," she said "you guys did a great job," she added looking at Fi who smiled shyly. I shrugged and grinned at Bella, a flash caught my attention as Nessie ran from Edward's arms to Jacob as he stepped out of the woods.
Perfect timing I thought Jacob put Nessie down and like she had done with Esme through the house, Nessie guided Jacob through the crowd towards Bella, Fi, and I.
"Hey, I could see this light show all the way back at the line, you guys trying to break some sort of record?" he asked
"Ask Seth, he's the ringleader." I replied "anyways I'm glad you're here Jake," I glanced at Bella "Bella, Jacob and I have something to show you,"
Bella looked at us suspiciously
"Sweetie, go see daddy okay?" Bella instructed Nessie
"Come on Nessie," Fi said "I'll take you," she took Nessie's hand gently and walked her to where Edward was standing with Emmett and Rose.
"What are you two up to?" Bella asked as she followed Jacob and I towards the garage, I exchanged a grin with Jacob
"Don't you trust us Bells?" Jacob asked as we neared the garage, the light show still occurring in front of us.
"The pair of you? Together?" she asked "no,"
"Close your eyes please," I replied and though she still looked suspicious she closed her eyes and allowed Jacob to lead her towards the garage. I ran ahead and slid into the driver seat of the truck. I had planned to wait till Christmas to give this to Bella, but decorating the house, the lights, it all just made me want to give her the gift a few days early, I was just glad Jacob had decided to stop by when he did.
As soon as they walked in front of the garage I started the truck up, Bella opened her eyes quickly. The look on her face was similar to Esme's reaction to the Christmas decorations, it was of surprise and happiness. She seemed to be a loss for words and as I slid out of the truck, Jacob and I exchanged a look, grinning we had been victorious and we had done something good. All the time, effort, working together, and arguments were completely worth it, just for the look on Bella's face at seeing her truck. She walked over towards the truck, mesmerized by the vehicle that was supposed to be sitting in a junkyard right now, she ran her hand down the body of the truck and slid into the driver seat. I moved closer to Jacob and we exchanged a grin, he held up his fist and I returned the gesture, fist bumping.
"Nice work Flea," Jacob said softly
"Right back at you Lon Chaney," I replied. Bella looked like a little kid as she checked her truck out, reacquainting herself with it. Jacob and I let her go, not saying a word, I turned when I heard a crunch outside, someone stepping on the snow and ice that had collected outside the garage. I glanced behind me and grinned as Edward stepped up to the garage, he had Nessie in his arms and was clearly trying to find out where we had all gone. The look of sheer annoyance on his face was priceless. I nudged Jacob's ribs and nodded behind me. Jacob followed my nod and a huge grin washed over his face.
"This outta be good," he whispered
"Oh for crying out loud, really?!" Edward groaned as Jacob and I burst out laughing and Nessie looked at her father, very confused. If Bella's reaction was enough, Edward's certainly made everything that had gone into the truck completely and totally worth it.
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