Disclaimer: All characters and part of the plot belong to Stephanie Meyer.


Chapter 12 – Cheering up

Alice POV

When you live for as long we do, years blend into one. Yet, upon my insistence, we still celebrated Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July every year (even though my siblings had outright forbidden me to even think of celebrating their birthdays).

But this years, even I did not feel like celebrating Christmas this year. After all what joy would be there in celebrating Christmas if the entire family wasn't there? If the entire family was suffering due to the insecurities of an idiotic seventeen year old boy that led to his absolutely stupid decision?

Esme was grieving for the loss of her daughter. Her innate motherly nature made it even more difficult for her to move on, not that any of us were trying to (except one).

Carlisle was trying to stay strong for our family but even I could tell that his heart was not complete without his first son and one of his daughters.

Emmett, the big teddy bear of a brother who managed to crack jokes whatever the situation, had not even smiled for the last three months. He had seen Bella as the fun little sister he never had. And her loss was affecting him terribly.

Rosalie was… well, Rosalie. She always had the I told you so look. Rosalie was gleeful that we had moved away from Forks and left Bella, and was grumbling about why we couldn't return back to normalcy. Well, news flash, Rose – Bella had meant more to each of us that you'd ever understand! Oh yes, I had told her this already.

Jasper. Being an empath, my poor Jazz was suffering under the burden of the sorrow of most of our family. Also, his guilt and self-loathing were eating away at him. Guilt for almost killing his little sister, guilt for causing our family to be torn apart and fall into a pit of misery. I repeatedly told him that Bella did not blame him for his actions, that she had forgiven him. But my stubborn husband would not believe me until she told it to him herself. Add to that the gloom of leaving Bella alone.

I tried to be strong and, somewhat, happy for my husband, my family. But it was extremely difficult to do so. Bella was my best friend. My only friend outside the family. For a period of the time, I had even thought of her as my sister. Her indulgent smile when I wanted to take her to shopping badly, her voice when she teased me… I missed it all. I missed her.

And Edward. It was all because of him that had led to our family's current state. Yet it was him who was suffering the most out of all us. None of us had seen him since the night after he left Bella. And his face was terrifying – his eyes were dead and lifeless; his movements were that of a man who had lost the purpose of living. We understood him. Jazz, Esme and Carlisle had supported him whereas me and Emmett had verbally given him a beating for his actions. Because of anger… and fear. The family was not afraid of him… we were afraid for him. Because even before Bella came into our lives – before Edward had found his mate – he was never so unanimated, so lifeless.

Edward had come that day and declared that he was going to track down Victoria and end her so that there would be no risk to his mate's safety. Jasper and Emmett were about to offer him help but he was already gone. Though I occasionally got a few seconds of insight into his actions, we had not seen him since.

Still, despite the atmosphere of misery at our house, I made Emmett get a big fir tree from the forest and extracted out the old decoration items from the packing boxes, buying some new ones too. With the help of my siblings, I managed to decorate the entire house.

Though Christmas was not of as much joy as the previous years, we still managed to laugh at the ridiculous gifts each of us received. Must have been Emmett's idea.

Emmett bought me an Energiser Bunny toy, as a reference to my unending shopping expeditions decisions. I poked my tongue at him.

Carlisle and Esme gifted me and Jazz a couple of tickets to the Paris Fashion Week next spring. I jumped in joy and gave them a big hug. Jasper smiled adoringly at my actions.

Rosalie, being Rosalie, gave a make-up set and fifty sets of Gucci clothes. "Thank you, Rose," I said dryly.

Jazz attached another charm on the bracelet he had given me last year. It was a horse this time. "Next time we're goin' to Texas for our honeymoon, darlin'," he whispered and kissed me softly at the corner of my lips.

"Wherever you say," I whispered back softly and turned my head to kiss him fully on his lips.

"Ahemm…" Emmett cleared his throat after a few moments and said in a stern voice, "If you two wanna do that, either do it in your room or outside."

"As if you haven't done worse, Em," Jasper replied with a smirk.

All of us burst out laughing.

After we had all calmed down, Esme asked me, "Alice, can you see where Edward is?"

I tried to peer into his future. Nothing.

I shook my head.

She sighed.

Carlisle stood up and said with a weak smile, "Let's all go for a family hunt, shall we?"

"Yep, let's go!" Emmett jumped up and ran to the long window, sliding it open. "Race you to the river, Jazz!" with that, he was off.

"It's not a race if you cheat, Emmett!" Jasper yelled and chased at him.

Esme shook her indulgently and holding Carlisle's hand, walked out of open window.

Rose and I ran after the boys.


A/N: Sorry for such a long wait. I'm participating in SOF Olympiads so it was hard finding time. Also, I had hit a writer's block.

P.S.: I have edited the previous chapter. Please check for any grammatical errors or inconsistencies you find, and let me know.

I love reviews, so please let me know how you find this chapter.