A/N: Sorry this is a couple days late!

Edward got out of the car and headed toward the mall at a quick pace. If he hurried, he could catch Bella at the tail end of her break. Oh, he could have texted her, but he wanted to see her, to touch her. Maybe get another of her sweet kisses. Though, while she was at work, probably not. Were elves supposed to have human boyfriends?

Sure enough, as he came up on Santa's Village, Bella and the other elves were straightening up—sweeping and getting ready for Santa to reappear. Edward waved, catching Bella's attention. He was rewarded by a big grin. She came over to the sale's counter in the guise of straightening things there. "Hey, you."

Edward leaned across the counter, grinning at Bella. "I have good news." He signed the last two words, getting in the habit of signing and speaking as she'd suggested. "My company gave us all an unexpected Christmas bonus. I'm taking you on a date."

Her eyes danced. She folded her arms on the counter, leaning in so they were almost nose to nose. "That's great. What kind of date are we talking here? Should I wear a silky dress?"

"Ooh. That could be interesting." He stood up straight, taking the voucher he'd been given out of his pocket. He unrolled it, holding it between both his hands, and gave it a little snap. "See that? Twenty-five whole dollars to Ralph's grocery store. I could almost retire on that generous bonus, but instead, you and I are going to paint the town red." He smirked. "So? Can I cook you dinner?" He cleared his throat. "At my place?"

"Ho. Ho. Ho," came a big booming voice. Edward jumped and took a step backward as Santa leaned on the counter next to Bella. "What do we have here?"

"Uh." Edward blinked, remembering belatedly that under the wig, Santa was also Bella's father, and they hadn't actually been introduced yet. The little boy in Edward was disconcerted to find himself on the receiving end of a Santa stink-eye.

Bella grimaced and tapped her father on the shoulder. She signed something to him in a flurry, her face reflecting sarcasm. Santa signed back. Bella gestured to the children waiting for him to come off break. Santa huffed. He cast a look at Edward and pointed in his face. "Just remember. Santa sees all."

Hands on her hips, Bella watched her father retreat. She turned back to Edward and grinned. "He said he didn't mean it when he told me to give you my number. He was just teasing. I told him the joke was on him, because now you're taking me home to ply me with liquor and food."

"Oh, jeez." Edward slapped a hand over his eyes. She was so blunt. "I'm not even going to have a chance with him, woman."

The thought should have scared him for different reasons. They'd only been on two dates, and he was already talking as though the meet-the-parents event was inevitable. It was presumptuous to the say the least.

But Bella's smile was wide and easy. "I'm the only one you have to impress, stud." She winked and then looked over her shoulder. "Gotta go. See you in a few hours?"

"I'll be there."

~0~

It felt very domestic to enter a grocery store hand in hand with a woman. He was out of the loop in the dating world. Did he have a girlfriend now?

Life. What the hell?

Edward was so distracted, he hadn't even noticed he'd let Bella lead him until she pulled to a stop. He looked around, confused to find they were in the freezer section. "What are we doing here?"

"I thought by cook you meant you were going to toss a one pan meal in the oven." Bella fixed him with her best bratty smile. "In case you don't know, lasagna takes three and a half hours. I've made that mistake before." Her grin turned seductive, and she put a hand to his chest. "Though we could probably figure out a way to pass the time."

Edward pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, shifting because his pants were just a little bit tighter. His brain grinded to a halt for one, two, three seconds before he shook his head hard, remembering what he'd come here to do. "I can cook. You know, for real." For good measure, he signed, "Can cook me."

Bella grinned and swept her arm wide. "What's on the menu?"

That was a question. Being a part-time single dad, he had any number of quick, cheap meals in his repertoire. Tonight, though, was a time for simple and elegant.

And cheap.

Squeezing her hand, he led them out of the frozen meals section. They wandered through the store picking up what he needed. Bella amused him with stories about how she'd been obsessed with baking shows lately and between that and her Pinterest board, she'd gone on a rash of baking cute and fancy desserts.

"My Cookie Monster cupcakes were so disturbing," she said with a rueful sigh.

"But did they taste good? That's the most important part." His lip twitched. "Hadley and I were decorating Christmas cookies. Her uncle was teasing me because mine were awful. Hadley told him no dessert." He signed the last two words, imitating the face Hadley had made at Jasper when she realized he was making fun of her daddy. "I guess in her book, if you can't be nice, you shouldn't get to eat the goodies."

"Good plan."

A few minutes later, they left the grocery store, Edward's generous bonus spent on the fixings of chicken carbonara pasta, a side salad, a crusty loaf of French bread that was going to be turned into garlic bread, and two individual cupcakes. Luckily, he had most of the ingredients and a bottle of red wine—thank you after all, Alice—at home.

It was slightly awkward. By then, Edward was used to reminding himself to look at Bella when they talked. She perched on the kitchen barstool, telling him stories about the kids she'd interacted with today, and when he answered, he would look up at her. That was a bit of a problem when he wielding a sharp knife. He kept looking up as he was trying to chop bacon and mushrooms.

He nicked his finger the third time he did it, and Bella leapt to her feet, crossing around the small counter to him. She took his hand, examining it. Edward was startled to find her so close. He breathed in the scent of her, and when she tilted her head up to look at him, a rush of warmth and want washed over him. The only thing that kept him from kissing her then was her furrowed brow. The concern on her face seemed incongruous with what he wanted to do just then.

"Your apartment is quiet," she said.

He blinked. "What?"

The serious expression faltered ever so slightly as the corner of her mouth quirked. "I can hear you okay if you speak loudly and clearly." She raised his fingers to her mouth and kissed the tender skin. "If you cut your finger off, who's going to feed me while you have to go to the ER?"

He smiled and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. "I'll be more careful."

Dinner was made and on the table without any further bloodshed. They ate, and Edward told her stories about his family—growing up with Alice for a sister was an endless source of material. He tried not to get mesmerized by the motion of Bella twirling pasta around her fork and bringing it to her lips and tried not to think about how Alice would love Bella.

They poured their last glasses of wine and sat side by side on the couch to eat their desserts—red velvet and cream cheese for her, strawberry with colorful sugar on whipped frosting for him. The only light in the room were from the soft, white twinkle lights on the small, squat tree in the corner. Bella grinned, watching him lick the rainbow sugar off the toצp.

"I was trying to be all mature and sophisticated when we were choosing our cupcakes at the store," Bella said. "But yours looks like more fun."

He offered her a forkful—they were eating with forks to be more fancy about it. "Want a taste?"

Her eyes sparkled, and she cupped a hand around the back of his neck. "I want to taste it from here."

She tilted her head up, claiming his lips. Edward sighed, letting his mouth open at the press of her tongue. "Mmm. Yummy," she said, the word vibrating on his lips. The gravely sound of it, the taste of cream cheese frosting mixed with the bite of red wine, and the feel of her fingers in his hair—it was all so delicious and erotic.

Bella moved, first kneeling on the couch, towering over him as their kiss got more voracious, and then straddling him. Edward moaned at the feel of her on his lap. He rested his hands first at her waist, holding her to him. When she bucked her hips, grinding on his cock, he whimpered into her mouth and let his hands drift down to cup her ass. He loved the feel of her. He writhed, the urge to devour her, to feel as much of her as possible, overtaking him. He moved his hands up to her back, traced a finger over her spine.

Slowly, he moved upward until his fingers snaked up along her scalp, tangling in soft hair. His head was cloudy, heavy and heated with lust.

Just as he started to twist, intent on laying her back so he could press every inch of his body along hers, a loud, angry squeal sounded in the otherwise quiet room. Edward jumped. Bella did too. They flew apart so quickly, Bella almost fell off his lap. Her arms tightened around his neck and he moved his hands to grip firmly before she tumbled backward.

Bella laughed first. "My hearing aids," she explained.

"Oh." He must have pressed one of them when he cupped her face in his hands. He laughed too, his heart hammering. "I thought it was a Santa alarm." He reached up and brushed her hair back tenderly. "We were working our way toward the naughty list."

"Yeah, but it was so nice." She leaned forward, her hands warm on his face. "Don't talk about my father when I'm trying to get it on with you."

Edward's cock jumped in his pants, very happy to hear they were on the same page about where this was going. "Oh, hell. We're getting coal for Christmas."

She smiled and kissed his lips in a chaste, sweet gesture. She straightened up again, a rare, shy look coming over her. Her eyes on hers, looking like she was fighting uncertainty, she reached up to remove her hearing aids. Her purse rested nearby, and she set them down.

He smiled back at her, thinking that for all her bravado, it still took a little bit of courage to do something like that. It shouldn't, but the world was what it was. It was different for him, but not awkward, and definitely not bad. It did raise a few questions. He didn't know how good her hearing was without her hearing aids. There were so many things he wanted to tell her; sweet nothings to whisper in her ear.

Would she know that this thing between them was beautiful and rare? Would she know that this felt serious to him?

He would have to show her instead.

Holding her gaze, he cupped her face in his hands again. He stroked his thumbs behind her ear and leaned in to kiss her. This time, their kiss was gentle—slow and heated as a simmer. She kissed him back, rocking on his lap to a slow, steady beat only she could hear.

He drew his hands down her back and cupped her ass again. Assuring he had a good grip, he stood. She wrapped her legs around him, never breaking their kiss. Edward had never been more glad that his apartment was so small. His room was close, and he had her where he wanted her in seconds. He set her on his bed and climbed over her. He held himself above her, just watching her and smiling because she was so beautiful. He ducked, dropping teasing kisses on her face. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she laughed, shy and giddy as he felt.

He hissed when she touched his belly under his shirt. The skin was so sensitive, and his every nerve was already singing.

Bella was used to speaking with her body. It was evident in the way she moved with him. Her hands were magic—strong and soft all at once. And just like when she was teaching him how to speak her language, she didn't hesitate to guide his hands.

They didn't need words to speak to each other.

~0~

She woke him the first time.

When he'd drifted off, she'd been draped haphazardly over his chest, her skin hot against his and her hair tickling his skin. He woke to the feel of his cock enveloped in slick heat and the incredible sight of her head bobbing as her tongue worked along his length.

The second time, he woke her. He'd awaken to a room glowing in the semi-darkness of dawn, and the sight of her in his bed, one arm thrown up over her head and one perky tit peeking out above the line of the blanket, had knocked all the breath out of him. He'd kissed her lips, her cheeks, her chin. By the time he got to her chest her hands were tangled in his hair.

Hours passed. He rose, disentangling himself from her carefully so as not to wake her. He'd only been in the shower a minute when she ambled in, eyes half-hooded with sleep and naked as the day she was born. She got in the shower with him without a word and massaged shampoo into his hair as she kissed him.

It was afternoon and they still hadn't managed to make it very far from the bed. They'd made it as far as the kitchen a couple of times for water and the bag of pizza rolls Edward had in his freezer. Then they'd shared pizza-flavored kisses and one thing led to another again.

Edward was sore and more unbearably happy than he'd been in a long time. He hummed to himself as he stroked his fingers up and down her back.

Bella pushed herself up on one arm. She cocked her head as she looked down on him. "Can I tell you something?"

He nodded, reaching up to trace his finger along the shape of her lips. She smiled, catching his wrist and kissing his fingertip.

"You were my Christmas wish."

"What?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

Her smile was soft. She sat up all the way, unabashed about her nudity. She splayed her hand wide on his chest. "When I took the job as an elf and saw all the kids asking Santa for what they wanted? When the parents winked or nodded and I knew the kids would get what they want? I asked Santa for what I wanted." She rolled her eyes. "Not my dad. The real Santa."

"Oh, the real one." Edward grinned, and Bella waggled her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah. I said, don't worry about the job I want, the money, the things. I got that all covered." She traced nonsensical patterns on his chest. "But it would be nice to have someone to share it with—all the successes that are in my future?" She sighed, her voice quiet. "Someone who understands."

She wasn't looking at him, and her cheeks were pink—another vulnerable chink in her tough-as-nails armor. He raised a hand to cup her chin, gently tilting her head up until she brought her eyes to his. "If I'd known Santa was real, I'd have wished for you too."

Her grin was blinding. She leaned down to kiss him. A hard, serious kind of kiss, because Edward had discovered an old cliche was nothing but truth.

When you know, you know. He knew. She knew.

"I want to help you," she said a little later when they were discussing whether or not Hadley would recognize her as the elf from Santa's Village when they were formerly introduced. "Her mother… Most parents come along to an extent. With time. Even if she never learns sign, she'll bend when it comes to Hadley, I think. She'll figure out Hadley can have both—speech and sign. Maybe even let her go to a school like I went to, with kids who spoke my language.

"But until then, I can help. I can teach her." She took Edwards hand, bending his fingers carefully. "And you."

Edward's eyes stung at the idea. It was such a tremendous weight off his shoulders. He couldn't even begin to find the words. What a beautiful image she painted, a future he didn't know he could have until it appeared like a nicely wrapped gift under his Christmas tree. He didn't have words, so he spoke with his free hand, cupping her cheek.

She lifted his other hand, and he saw that she had bent his fingers to form a sign he'd known for a long time—thumb out, pointer and pinky up. A sign he'd only ever used with his daughter.

I love you.

"I do," he mouthed the words, realizing with a start how true they were.

Bella bit her bottom lip, but her grin couldn't be contained. She let him pull her down on top of him and got back to the task of creating their own language together.

~The End~

A/N: Short and sweet.

Many thanks to Packy, Eleanor, and Betsy for all their help. And so many thanks to MyOnlyHeroin for sharing her experiences and making sure I stay true to the experience of real life Deaf and HoH persons.

I hope you had a good holiday season. If you didn't, I hope the new year brings brighter days. You and your kind words are a gift to me all year long, and I hope you enjoyed this little story.