Gift for angstgoddess003!
All Signs Point to Yes
Recipient: Angstgoddess003
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: non
Summary: It’s Christmas Eve at the new Casa de Soon-to-be-Cullen, and Bella has come to some conclusions that don’t pan out exactly as she pictured them. With Edward’s outlook on relationships and his mysterious attitude over the past weeks, what was she supposed to think?
AN: Thanks so much to M81170 for her fantabulous banner-making skills.
All Signs Point to Yes
Tonight was the night. I wasn’t into all the extravagance of dressing up, but this was an occasion that called for the very best. With Alice’s help, I’d picked out the perfect dress, spent a little extra on the perfect undergarments, accentuated with the perfect shade of lipstick and topped off the whole ensemble with the perfect tennis bracelet Edward had gotten me for my birthday. The perfectly painful stilettos were a small price to pay for the man I loved.
“You are so beautiful,” Edward said softly, for the umpteenth time that evening.
We were lying on a bed of blankets in front of a roaring fire, sipping wine and staring into each other’s eyes. The room was bare, save for the gaily lit Christmas tree in the corner, the few presents underneath, a festive garland over the entryway, and a picnic basket off to the side, obligingly holding the remnants of our Christmas Eve dinner. We were in our new apartment, the keys having been given to us only two days prior.
Our apartment. I repeated the words in my head and smiled.
Edward and I had basically been living together for the past year, but keeping both of our places was taxing on our relationship - and on our pocketbooks. When we finally decided to move in together, we wanted it to be a fresh start, something that we could do as a couple and share in equally. We’d finally found the cutest little two bedroom unit in an apartment complex not too far from either of our jobs.
But as ecstatic as we were to finally be moving forward in our relationship, Edward still had his reservations. Having been brought up in a very old-fashioned family, with gentlemanly behavior and strict morals, he’d been putting off buying a home together in favor of being married first. I didn’t come from the same background, and felt it was absurd that our choice to spend the rest of our lives together should rest on how much we wished to sleep under the same roof any time soon.
Yet, despite my hesitance to rush into permanent commitment, being with Edward was the most sure I’d been about anything in my entire life. I didn’t just feel safe or content in his arms; I felt loved and complete. I knew he was nervous to get down on one knee and ask the million dollar question, but even with my frank opinion on marriage, I was ready to say yes. I would throw myself wholeheartedly into a life with him, because even imagining a life without him was unbearable.
“What is going on in that devious little mind of yours?” I looked up at Edward’s inquiry and blushed, caught unaware that I had been drifting within my thoughts and oblivious to the outside world.
“Only that I love you,” I smiled. The corner of Edward’s mouth twitched up in a crooked smile of his own, and he leaned in to kiss me chastely before hopping to his feet and making his way to the tree.
“I think it’s time for presents,” he said brightly, eyes twinkling like a child’s.
I threw my head back against the gathered blankets and giggled. The wine might have had something to do with the looseness in my body, but knowing that in just minutes Edward would be proposing made me more giddy than I’d ever allowed myself to be in the past.
“Ooh, open that one first!” I said, seeing from my upside-down position the oddly shaped gift Edward carried.
“Hold your horses. I can’t bring it all in one trip and I’m not getting up again.”
Edward dropped a few gifts on me from above and I playfully grabbed my stomach as though someone had knocked the air from my lungs. I giggled once more when my soon-to-be-fiancé rolled his eyes.
“I know for a fact that didn’t hurt. It’s a pillow.”
“Hey!” I flipped over and glared at Edward’s backside as he bent to retrieve the remainder of our gifts. “I wanted to be surprised.”
“Well, you don’t know what kind of pillow it is.” I threw the revealed object at his bronze-covered head and cracked a smile when he laughed. “Might as well open this first, then.”
Sure enough, it was a pillow, a dream pillow to be precise, infused with lavender to bring a restful night’s sleep. I would have to thank Esme when we called her tomorrow. Edward’s mother was more than slightly disappointed that we weren’t spending the holidays in Forks, but understood that we wanted to be together in our new abode.
And I was almost positive she knew of Edward’s plans for this evening, otherwise the guilt trip would have been laid down a lot heavier. Nothing could have made me regret staying in Seattle, though. With my love, starting our new lives, was where I belonged.
Edward’s joyful laugh rang through the room as he opened the misshaped present and my heart beat faster at the sound. He’d remembered.
“I can’t believe you got me all four,” he said excitedly. “And Shredder, too?!”
The first time we met was at a mutual friend’s house party. It was a rather boring party, but Edward and I had struck up a passionate discussion about The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s, of all things. That led to a marathon movie night at his place the following weekend and the rest was history. Four crime-fighting turtles and a talking rat were the cupids that brought us together. How many couples could say that?
Gift after gift, our spirits flew, but the anxious knot in my stomach was becoming more pronounced as well. I didn’t know why I was so nervous, but it was almost a good feeling, intermingled with elation and excitement. Finally, the pile of presents was fully depleted and Edward smirked at me from his place across the destroyed wrapping paper.
“I think there is one more present under the tree.”
I blinked and looked toward the Douglas Fir with bated breath. As the packages had dwindled, I could feel the small seed of doubt trying to weed itself into my thoughts. What if Edward didn’t want to marry me after all? I was so sure, but being wrong wasn’t something I was infallible to. Maybe I wasn’t wife material.
My worries were in vain, for there, sitting on the empty floor beneath the lowest branches, under baubles and beads, was a small black box.
“Edward,” I breathed, and glanced away from my ring to the vibrant green eyes of my future.
“Open it,” he said softly, something swimming in the depth of his gaze that I couldn’t quite place.
I moved cautiously, but with a bounce to my step which betrayed my excitement, and lifted the box from its resting place. Edward had stood with me and placed a gentle hand at my elbow, watching my face as I lifted the lid. This was it. This was the moment my life would finally be… earrings?
I could feel the smile slip from my face as I looked upon the modest diamond studs. This was… not what I had expected.
“You don’t like them? They match the bracelet I got you.”
“No… No, I do. It’s just…” But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Had I scared him off from wanting to spend forever with me? Was I not worth it?
I knew I was being irrational; we had just moved in together, after all. But trying to get the message from my brain to my heart was like trying to push a cotton ball through in iron barrier. I could feel the tears working their way up my throat and I needed to leave. It was rude, sure, but I didn’t want to have to explain why I was so upset.
“You know, I think I want some ice cream. I’ll be back in a half hour,” I said, far more cheerfully than I should have. I sounded more like Alice than myself.
Edward’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “It’s Christmas Eve, Bella. Nowhere’s open.”
“Oh, um… I think there’s some at my apartment,” I lied. I had been spending most of my time at Edward’s place and had very little in my freezer. Edward saw the lie through my glass face and was able to grab my wrist before I got too far.
“Will you stop? What’s this about?”
“I just…” Turning to see the look in Edward’s eyes was a mistake. He was pleading with me to let him in and there was nothing I could do but acquiesce. “Why didn’t you propose?”
Edward’s lips tightened into a thin line before he spoke in a flat tone. “What would make you think I would do that?”
My heart plummeted. How could I have been so stupid?
“But you… you didn’t want to move in with me because we had to be married first. You said… and then…” Apparently coherency was not my friend this evening. That’s when my anger kicked in. “Damn it, Edward. What was I supposed to think?!
“You make a big deal about needing to be proper and wanting to make an honest woman out of me. Was that all for show? You’ve been hiding things from me and jumpy. I thought you were nervous about asking me! And what about the trip to Forks two weeks ago without me? I know you were getting your grandmother’s ring. You had to be!”
I refused to think that all of Edward’s secrecy was because he was stepping out on me. He wasn’t that man. Relationships meant too much to him. Unless… No, I wouldn’t even consider the idea that he might be trying to break up with me. Turning on my heel, I made a dash for the door. Unfortunately, my perfectly painful stilettos made getting away quickly a near impossibility and Edward caught up to me in the entry hall.
“Whoa,” he said, wrapping strong arms around my torso. “Can I talk now?”
“Let go, Edward.” The tears had finally made it to their destination and the first had fallen over my lashes without hesitation. I did not want to cry in front of him. Why couldn’t he just let me go?
“Not unless you promise me you won’t run.”
Hearing the barely restrained panic in his voice, I nodded. I would let him have his say and then go back to my place for the night. He turned me in his arms, but I refused to meet his eyes. When he used his finger to lift my chin, I still kept my gaze fixed and heard him sigh in frustration.
“Fine. If you don’t want to look at me, that’s fine. But will you please look up?”
The request was odd and my curiosity got the best of me. Lifting my gaze to the arch above us, I took in the sight of the Christmas garland and ribbon before landing on the mistletoe in the center. I did look at him then, my furrowed brow relaxing into a heated glare.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I pushed from behind a locked jaw, trying very hard not to yell. Edward looked confused and even a little scared. It might have been comical had I not been in the state I was.
“But, I thought--”
“You thought you could get me under the mistletoe and then you could kiss it and make everything better? The world doesn’t work that way, Edward.”
The tension visibly left the broad shoulders still blocking my view of the door. This entire situation was getting more and more baffling. Why, over everything else, would that statement calm his worry? I didn’t understand.
“Bella, look up.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me, with a hand concealing the lower portion of my face, a smile lighting his eyes. “Really look this time.”
I narrowed my stare even further, but did as he said. Mistletoe. I got the picture the first time. Honestly, what was he trying to prove? There was no way I was going to… Holy shit.
I gasped and felt more tears come to the surface as his hand pulled gently away, before the shadows in the room shifted and I looked back down to see Edward kneeling in front of me.
He had tricked me. I had expected an open box and the one knee; I had expected a big to-do that would result in the clichéd proposal; I had expected to know that it was happening when it was happening… I did not expect to look up and find the engagement ring sparkling around a bunch of mistletoe after nearly walking out on my boyfriend.
I pushed his shoulder a little more roughly than I had intended and then covered my mouth with my hands. Edward laughed and then swallowed, the emotion in his eyes making my heart tremble and swell. Lifting his fingers to my elbows, Edward drew my hands from my face and situated them within his own.
“Bella, I know you’re worried that I’m rushing into this because of my family’s influence, but the truth is I wouldn’t be here now if I wasn’t sure you were it for me. Ideally, I would have had a ring on your finger before we bought this place,” he said with a teasing smile, “but none of that matters as long as I get to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, Isabella Marie Swan, say you’ll be my wife and make my world more than I ever dreamed it could be?”
A sob escaped my body as I nodded my head. “Yes,” I choked out. “Oh, God, yes.”
I was sure I looked hideous, red and splotchy, face slick with tears, but Edward looked at me as though I were the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. When he stood and took me in his arms, his lips making sweet overtures to the skin across my cheeks and nose, I felt the final piece of my heart click into place. How could I have denied this to myself - to him - for so long?
“I love you,” I whispered. Edward rested his forehead against mine and gave me a smile bright enough to rival my own.
“More than you could ever know,” he finished softly.
But I did know. My love for Edward was so powerful, it was force enough to cripple my soul or make it soar. I could end poverty, fight off a grizzly bear, or even walk down a street full of models with my head held high all because I loved him. I knew how much Edward loved me because there was no doubt in my mind that it was just as strong as my love for him. And I would spend the rest of my life making sure he knew it, too.
*
Santa and the Ice Queen
Recipient: Angstgoddess003
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Mild Nudity, Suggested Sexual Nature
Summary: Rose and Emmett are having a little Christmas fun of their own variety. And Emmett's been very naughty.
Recipient: Angstgoddess003
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: non
Summary: It’s Christmas Eve at the new Casa de Soon-to-be-Cullen, and Bella has come to some conclusions that don’t pan out exactly as she pictured them. With Edward’s outlook on relationships and his mysterious attitude over the past weeks, what was she supposed to think?
AN: Thanks so much to M81170 for her fantabulous banner-making skills.
All Signs Point to Yes
Tonight was the night. I wasn’t into all the extravagance of dressing up, but this was an occasion that called for the very best. With Alice’s help, I’d picked out the perfect dress, spent a little extra on the perfect undergarments, accentuated with the perfect shade of lipstick and topped off the whole ensemble with the perfect tennis bracelet Edward had gotten me for my birthday. The perfectly painful stilettos were a small price to pay for the man I loved.
“You are so beautiful,” Edward said softly, for the umpteenth time that evening.
We were lying on a bed of blankets in front of a roaring fire, sipping wine and staring into each other’s eyes. The room was bare, save for the gaily lit Christmas tree in the corner, the few presents underneath, a festive garland over the entryway, and a picnic basket off to the side, obligingly holding the remnants of our Christmas Eve dinner. We were in our new apartment, the keys having been given to us only two days prior.
Our apartment. I repeated the words in my head and smiled.
Edward and I had basically been living together for the past year, but keeping both of our places was taxing on our relationship - and on our pocketbooks. When we finally decided to move in together, we wanted it to be a fresh start, something that we could do as a couple and share in equally. We’d finally found the cutest little two bedroom unit in an apartment complex not too far from either of our jobs.
But as ecstatic as we were to finally be moving forward in our relationship, Edward still had his reservations. Having been brought up in a very old-fashioned family, with gentlemanly behavior and strict morals, he’d been putting off buying a home together in favor of being married first. I didn’t come from the same background, and felt it was absurd that our choice to spend the rest of our lives together should rest on how much we wished to sleep under the same roof any time soon.
Yet, despite my hesitance to rush into permanent commitment, being with Edward was the most sure I’d been about anything in my entire life. I didn’t just feel safe or content in his arms; I felt loved and complete. I knew he was nervous to get down on one knee and ask the million dollar question, but even with my frank opinion on marriage, I was ready to say yes. I would throw myself wholeheartedly into a life with him, because even imagining a life without him was unbearable.
“What is going on in that devious little mind of yours?” I looked up at Edward’s inquiry and blushed, caught unaware that I had been drifting within my thoughts and oblivious to the outside world.
“Only that I love you,” I smiled. The corner of Edward’s mouth twitched up in a crooked smile of his own, and he leaned in to kiss me chastely before hopping to his feet and making his way to the tree.
“I think it’s time for presents,” he said brightly, eyes twinkling like a child’s.
I threw my head back against the gathered blankets and giggled. The wine might have had something to do with the looseness in my body, but knowing that in just minutes Edward would be proposing made me more giddy than I’d ever allowed myself to be in the past.
“Ooh, open that one first!” I said, seeing from my upside-down position the oddly shaped gift Edward carried.
“Hold your horses. I can’t bring it all in one trip and I’m not getting up again.”
Edward dropped a few gifts on me from above and I playfully grabbed my stomach as though someone had knocked the air from my lungs. I giggled once more when my soon-to-be-fiancé rolled his eyes.
“I know for a fact that didn’t hurt. It’s a pillow.”
“Hey!” I flipped over and glared at Edward’s backside as he bent to retrieve the remainder of our gifts. “I wanted to be surprised.”
“Well, you don’t know what kind of pillow it is.” I threw the revealed object at his bronze-covered head and cracked a smile when he laughed. “Might as well open this first, then.”
Sure enough, it was a pillow, a dream pillow to be precise, infused with lavender to bring a restful night’s sleep. I would have to thank Esme when we called her tomorrow. Edward’s mother was more than slightly disappointed that we weren’t spending the holidays in Forks, but understood that we wanted to be together in our new abode.
And I was almost positive she knew of Edward’s plans for this evening, otherwise the guilt trip would have been laid down a lot heavier. Nothing could have made me regret staying in Seattle, though. With my love, starting our new lives, was where I belonged.
Edward’s joyful laugh rang through the room as he opened the misshaped present and my heart beat faster at the sound. He’d remembered.
“I can’t believe you got me all four,” he said excitedly. “And Shredder, too?!”
The first time we met was at a mutual friend’s house party. It was a rather boring party, but Edward and I had struck up a passionate discussion about The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s, of all things. That led to a marathon movie night at his place the following weekend and the rest was history. Four crime-fighting turtles and a talking rat were the cupids that brought us together. How many couples could say that?
Gift after gift, our spirits flew, but the anxious knot in my stomach was becoming more pronounced as well. I didn’t know why I was so nervous, but it was almost a good feeling, intermingled with elation and excitement. Finally, the pile of presents was fully depleted and Edward smirked at me from his place across the destroyed wrapping paper.
“I think there is one more present under the tree.”
I blinked and looked toward the Douglas Fir with bated breath. As the packages had dwindled, I could feel the small seed of doubt trying to weed itself into my thoughts. What if Edward didn’t want to marry me after all? I was so sure, but being wrong wasn’t something I was infallible to. Maybe I wasn’t wife material.
My worries were in vain, for there, sitting on the empty floor beneath the lowest branches, under baubles and beads, was a small black box.
“Edward,” I breathed, and glanced away from my ring to the vibrant green eyes of my future.
“Open it,” he said softly, something swimming in the depth of his gaze that I couldn’t quite place.
I moved cautiously, but with a bounce to my step which betrayed my excitement, and lifted the box from its resting place. Edward had stood with me and placed a gentle hand at my elbow, watching my face as I lifted the lid. This was it. This was the moment my life would finally be… earrings?
I could feel the smile slip from my face as I looked upon the modest diamond studs. This was… not what I had expected.
“You don’t like them? They match the bracelet I got you.”
“No… No, I do. It’s just…” But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Had I scared him off from wanting to spend forever with me? Was I not worth it?
I knew I was being irrational; we had just moved in together, after all. But trying to get the message from my brain to my heart was like trying to push a cotton ball through in iron barrier. I could feel the tears working their way up my throat and I needed to leave. It was rude, sure, but I didn’t want to have to explain why I was so upset.
“You know, I think I want some ice cream. I’ll be back in a half hour,” I said, far more cheerfully than I should have. I sounded more like Alice than myself.
Edward’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “It’s Christmas Eve, Bella. Nowhere’s open.”
“Oh, um… I think there’s some at my apartment,” I lied. I had been spending most of my time at Edward’s place and had very little in my freezer. Edward saw the lie through my glass face and was able to grab my wrist before I got too far.
“Will you stop? What’s this about?”
“I just…” Turning to see the look in Edward’s eyes was a mistake. He was pleading with me to let him in and there was nothing I could do but acquiesce. “Why didn’t you propose?”
Edward’s lips tightened into a thin line before he spoke in a flat tone. “What would make you think I would do that?”
My heart plummeted. How could I have been so stupid?
“But you… you didn’t want to move in with me because we had to be married first. You said… and then…” Apparently coherency was not my friend this evening. That’s when my anger kicked in. “Damn it, Edward. What was I supposed to think?!
“You make a big deal about needing to be proper and wanting to make an honest woman out of me. Was that all for show? You’ve been hiding things from me and jumpy. I thought you were nervous about asking me! And what about the trip to Forks two weeks ago without me? I know you were getting your grandmother’s ring. You had to be!”
I refused to think that all of Edward’s secrecy was because he was stepping out on me. He wasn’t that man. Relationships meant too much to him. Unless… No, I wouldn’t even consider the idea that he might be trying to break up with me. Turning on my heel, I made a dash for the door. Unfortunately, my perfectly painful stilettos made getting away quickly a near impossibility and Edward caught up to me in the entry hall.
“Whoa,” he said, wrapping strong arms around my torso. “Can I talk now?”
“Let go, Edward.” The tears had finally made it to their destination and the first had fallen over my lashes without hesitation. I did not want to cry in front of him. Why couldn’t he just let me go?
“Not unless you promise me you won’t run.”
Hearing the barely restrained panic in his voice, I nodded. I would let him have his say and then go back to my place for the night. He turned me in his arms, but I refused to meet his eyes. When he used his finger to lift my chin, I still kept my gaze fixed and heard him sigh in frustration.
“Fine. If you don’t want to look at me, that’s fine. But will you please look up?”
The request was odd and my curiosity got the best of me. Lifting my gaze to the arch above us, I took in the sight of the Christmas garland and ribbon before landing on the mistletoe in the center. I did look at him then, my furrowed brow relaxing into a heated glare.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I pushed from behind a locked jaw, trying very hard not to yell. Edward looked confused and even a little scared. It might have been comical had I not been in the state I was.
“But, I thought--”
“You thought you could get me under the mistletoe and then you could kiss it and make everything better? The world doesn’t work that way, Edward.”
The tension visibly left the broad shoulders still blocking my view of the door. This entire situation was getting more and more baffling. Why, over everything else, would that statement calm his worry? I didn’t understand.
“Bella, look up.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me, with a hand concealing the lower portion of my face, a smile lighting his eyes. “Really look this time.”
I narrowed my stare even further, but did as he said. Mistletoe. I got the picture the first time. Honestly, what was he trying to prove? There was no way I was going to… Holy shit.
I gasped and felt more tears come to the surface as his hand pulled gently away, before the shadows in the room shifted and I looked back down to see Edward kneeling in front of me.
He had tricked me. I had expected an open box and the one knee; I had expected a big to-do that would result in the clichéd proposal; I had expected to know that it was happening when it was happening… I did not expect to look up and find the engagement ring sparkling around a bunch of mistletoe after nearly walking out on my boyfriend.
I pushed his shoulder a little more roughly than I had intended and then covered my mouth with my hands. Edward laughed and then swallowed, the emotion in his eyes making my heart tremble and swell. Lifting his fingers to my elbows, Edward drew my hands from my face and situated them within his own.
“Bella, I know you’re worried that I’m rushing into this because of my family’s influence, but the truth is I wouldn’t be here now if I wasn’t sure you were it for me. Ideally, I would have had a ring on your finger before we bought this place,” he said with a teasing smile, “but none of that matters as long as I get to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, Isabella Marie Swan, say you’ll be my wife and make my world more than I ever dreamed it could be?”
A sob escaped my body as I nodded my head. “Yes,” I choked out. “Oh, God, yes.”
I was sure I looked hideous, red and splotchy, face slick with tears, but Edward looked at me as though I were the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. When he stood and took me in his arms, his lips making sweet overtures to the skin across my cheeks and nose, I felt the final piece of my heart click into place. How could I have denied this to myself - to him - for so long?
“I love you,” I whispered. Edward rested his forehead against mine and gave me a smile bright enough to rival my own.
“More than you could ever know,” he finished softly.
But I did know. My love for Edward was so powerful, it was force enough to cripple my soul or make it soar. I could end poverty, fight off a grizzly bear, or even walk down a street full of models with my head held high all because I loved him. I knew how much Edward loved me because there was no doubt in my mind that it was just as strong as my love for him. And I would spend the rest of my life making sure he knew it, too.
*
Santa and the Ice Queen
Recipient: Angstgoddess003
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Mild Nudity, Suggested Sexual Nature
Summary: Rose and Emmett are having a little Christmas fun of their own variety. And Emmett's been very naughty.