Caught in the Flames

Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

As always, none of this is mine. I'm just the perv who want to make our beloved Twilight characters swear, drink, and go at it like horny rabbits. This story will be a combination of love, suspense, some violence and steamy, sweaty sex.

Chapter 114

BPOV

The next couple of days was spent wrapping presents and finishing up assignments before we closed the office for the holidays. The Monday following New Year's, we'd be back in business, but I wanted to give my employees some time off with their families. Before I knew it, Edward was parked outside and we were loading up the presents into the trunk of his Mustang to drive up to his parents' place on Christmas Eve.

"God, I missed you, sweet girl," Edward cooed, enfolding me in his arms after we finished packing up his car. "Working two days in a row? Hmmmm, not worth it."

"But having you off for a week is soooo worth it," I sang. "Christmas with your family sounds like such a dream."

"And a few days just to be with you, truly celebrating our engagement is even better," he smiled crookedly, kissing my lips softly. "What we did the night we got engaged was amazing, but I want to truly relish our happiness."

"I love the sound of that," I breathed. "Now, let's head to your parents' place before Alice texts me one more time."

"Alice loves Christmas. She's like a hyperactive five year old when there is anything revolving around presents and the holidays," Edward chuckled. "Be prepared, she will wake us up at the crack of dawn to open gifts on Christmas morning." I groaned, wrinkling my nose. "We've tried to get her to stop, but it's gotten worse with age."

"Is Jasper going to be there?" I asked.

"I think he will," Edward nodded. "He's always had to work on Christmas because he was low man on the totem pole. He got off this year since he'd been on for the past four years on Christmas. His supervisor felt bad for him. He's off for Christmas, but is working New Year's and Easter. Maybe he can wrangle her in." He leaned in, kissing me softly. "Now, let's go have some delicious Christmas dinners and be spoiled by my parents."

A short drive later, we arrived at Carlisle and Esme's. I was swept into the kitchen with Alice and Esme while Edward was told to put our bags into his bedroom. I helped making appetizers and dinner, which smelled amazing. Emmett joined us along with Jacob, Seth, Claire, their baby and Leah. We nibbled on the appetizers and laughed. I was curled up against Edward's side. Leah, Esme and I put the dinner on the table in the early evening. Alice was banned since she had had a great deal to drink and was a bit sloppy.

Once we had eaten, Alice sobered up and we settled into the living room, sitting around a massive, nine-foot tree. Esme passed out presents. All of the bags were the same size and presumably the same thing. Opening them up, we found matching pajamas and some fluffy socks. Esme said that we needed to wear them to bed tonight so that we would be coordinated for our Christmas morning. With hugs and kisses, Jacob and the rest of the Clearwater's left since Jacob and Seth had to work. Leah was on a temporary leave of absence since the fire in the bar had rattled her to the core. She froze at a scene. Garrett gave her time off and requested that she go to counseling. Esme invited Claire and Leah to the house for the holiday, but they were going to the firehouse for their Christmas celebration.

Shortly after Jacob left with his friends and family, we all went to bed. Edward and I made love quietly, with whispers of love, promises of the future and just carnal want. When we fell asleep, just after three, we were naked, sated and blissfully entangled between the sheets and with each other. No sooner did we fall asleep that an obnoxious rapping attacked our door. "Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!!!"

"Ugh, Alice," Edward groaned, dragging his naked ass out of bed. He opened the door, poking his head out of the room. "We just fell asleep, Alice. Give us until ten."

She screamed, running away. I laughed, my head buried in the pillows. He crawled back into bed and curled around me. "Did you show her your goodie bits?" I snickered.

"Yep. And all of your bite marks," he said, burying his nose into my hair. "My sexy little vampire." His arms snaked around me, one hand resting under my head and the other gently squeezing my breast. Within moments, we both crashed, sleeping until after eleven. We got dressed into our pajamas, heading downstairs and meeting everyone down in the family room. Alice was cuddled next to Jasper, not making any sort of eye contact with either Edward or me. Esme giggled as she handed me a cup of coffee. Presents had already been distributed and set up in the family room.

I was shocked at the amount of gifts I had received. Renee usually forgot Christmas and Charlie sent me a check in a card. This year, he had sent me a present. It had been delivered to Edward's condo and it was something that I never expected from him, a scrapbook of all of my pictures from when I was a kid. I didn't see him all that much, but my grandmother had obviously kept in touch with him, sharing pictures with Charlie. I was a snot sobbing mess by the time I was done looking through the scrapbook, reading each note that he included with the photos. He'd written them when he received them from my grandma. Charlie, in his letter that accompanied my present, said that he wanted to be in Chicago but since he was the chief, he gave his deputies the time off to be with their families. He did, however, promise to make it out in the next few weeks so we could celebrate our engagement.

We dressed after we opened presents and went to the children's ward at Northwestern Memorial. It had been a tradition for years since Carlisle started working there. We handed out small gifts to the kids who were stuck in the hospital on Christmas. Emmett dressed up as Santa and he jovially moved from room to room, giving the kids their presents. Even with all of the sadness in the ward, the kids smiled happily, excited to see Santa and get a personalized visit.

After the hospital visit, we went back to the Cullen's and enjoyed another delicious meal before we all left to go to our respective homes. Edward was staying with me since he wanted to celebrate our Christmas privately.

I couldn't wait.

A/N: Up next will be Edward and Bella's Christmas celebration and...I'll leave it at that. Pictures of the presents distributed are on my tumblr and blogs. Links for those are on my profile. You can also find me on Facebook: Tufano79's Twilight Fanfiction Appreciation or on twitter: tufano79. Leave me some!