The Crow and the Butterfly.

Soundtrack: "Alive" by Adelitas Way.

Chapter 13.

Christmas Eve.

Bella watched in admiration as Charlie took out two mouthwatering apple pies from the oven. Last time she remembered her father baking anything was never. But here he was wearing a dark green apron tied around his neck and waist with his hands in matching oven gloves. "Merry Christmas Eve Bells!" Charlie face broke out in a grin when he noticed his daughter's expression. "What?"

"You made these… How?" When he nodded and explained to her that he followed the instructions on the cook book, Bella went to give him a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

Charlie rolled his eyes at her. "Check the fridge, there's more." She opened the stainless steel door. On the entire first shelf, there were about dozen small glass bowls filled with chocolate mousse. On the table was a can of Cool Whip and a bowl of strawberry. It would be hours before the chocolate mixture was chilled properly.

She was already dressed for the outside weather. Dark blue jeans, black long sleeve cashmere top with a diagonal dark red rose design. "If you need any help, just holler." Bella told him as she fixed a burgundy scarf around her neck.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to burn down the house." He pointed at the smoke detector that he had installed a few weeks ago.

o0o

Jenna and Elena sat on the sofa as they looked at Damon then Stefan while they argued back and forth. Should Jenna drink animal blood or human blood? That was the question. Damon had won the argument after he had pulled out the Stefan was a Ripper card. Not waiting for another second, Jenna picked up the blood bag from the table then proceeded to drink it. Her facial features never changed to a vampire as she gulped away.

Damon turned towards the entrance when he heard Isabella's laughter as Jeremy alerted her about the mistletoes placed in every room. Elena had gone a bit over the top with hanging them. "I love the tree." Bella said as she saw the white Christmas tree with gold and silver ornaments. "It's very beautiful."

Jenna smiled at her as Elena went to get rid of the empty blood bag. "Thank you." Jenna was a professional in interior decorations. She was very proud of her work.

Isabella took hold of Damon's hand as they went outside to join the others. As they walked towards the door, Damon stopped by each mistletoe giving her a short sweet kiss. He took another kiss outside the house, but this time it was longer, however they were interrupted when Tyler threw a snowball at Damon. It ended up as a snowball fight.

Bella walked towards Bonnie, Elena and Caroline, making a snowman. They were almost done. The carrot nosed snowman smiled back at them with a bead trimmed grin. "It's missing something…" Bella took off her burgundy scarf then wrapped it around the snowman. She saw Katherine strolling towards them with two fedora hats. One was black and the other was beige with a dark brown trim. "You read my mind."

When Damon saw that they were about to use his favourite fedora hat, his inner voice screamed at him. They have better not use the black one on that thing! He let out a breath that he was holding in when Isabella placed the beige hat on the snowman. He agreed with Elena when Isabella placed his black fedora hat on her head. She did look sexy.

o0o

Isabella sat comfortably on the cushioned bench swing on her porch as she admired the beauty of the Christmas lights during the night. The dinner Charlie had prepared was very delicious. She was eating her second bowl of chocolate mousse when Damon came up to her. She moved her feet closer to her side, giving him a place to sit down.

"I heard that you were planning to visit Europe." said Damon

"Yep, it's one of my new years resolution. Austria, Finland, Italy, Switzerland… Etcetera etcetera. Do you want to go with me…" She looked at Damon as he was thinking. "It's okay if you don't" She added on quickly.

"I'll follow you wherever you go." He replied in a deep voice. After a few seconds both Damon and Isabella were laughing uncontrollably. " That was so cheesy!"

"You sound like a stalker!" they abruptly stopped their mirth then five second later, they were laughing again.

THE END.