DISCLAIMER: Madame Meyer owns everything in the Twiverse. I'm just a crazy fic writer who just had to do something for Christmas this year.

Greetings and salutations, all! Last week, I got this brilliant idea to do a "Twelve Days of Flash Fic" collection for Christmas—for which MarieCarro Vanadesse made me an absolutely stunning banner—which means twelve updates in twelve days.

Somebody get me some sanity for Christmas!

Now a flash fic is typically verrrrrrry short—like 100, 200, 300, 500, or maybe 1,000 words—and that was my intent when I cooked up this idea. But so far, I have two completed entries that are 2,200+ words, and another that's about halfway done and 1,200 words already. So take "flash fic" with a grain of salt, okay?

Each chapter stands alone, and POVs/pairings will change throughout. A hearty "Thank you" to everyone who submitted story ideas/prompts in the No Rules thread. Your voices have been heard! Oh, and it's Rated M just in case.

Okay, here we go!

PROMPT: A Christmas Miracle (suggested by Karen Day)

Word count: 2,442

Edward's POV (AH)

Jasper's new girlfriend was freaking me out.

She wasn't being loud or obnoxious—a huge relief after two years of Mouthy Maria—but she kept staring at me.

No. That wasn't quite it.

She kept... looking at me. Not in lust or confusion or even disgust. No, it was... it was almost like she was trying to look through me or beyond me or something.

And even when I caught her staring, she didn't turn away or seem embarrassed like a normal person would. She'd just tilt her head slightly, as if getting a better read on me, and then gradually put her attention somewhere else. But no matter where I was in the room or what else was going on, I could feel her staring at me.

And it was seriously giving me the creeps.

"Hey." Bella came up to me with two cups of egg nog. "This party is much tamer than last year's, thank goodness."

I glanced at Uncle Alec's full glass of whiskey and heard his wife cackling as she set up the karaoke machine. "Give it time."

"Aw, but you love it when Aunt Jane butchers the holiday hits. Her rendition of 'Santa Baby' still haunts my dreams."

"Yeah."

Bella studied my expression. "What's wrong?"

"She's doing it again."

"Who's doing what?"

I hid my mouth behind the cup Bella gave me, certain she could read lips. "Alice. She's staring at me again."

"Oh." Amusement lit up my girlfriend's eyes as her gaze roamed my face. "I told you you're too beautiful for your own good."

I rolled my eyes as I always did when she said things like that. "Your bias is not helping right now."

"First of all, I'm not biased. I'm right." She kissed my cheek to punctuate her point. "And second, you know Alice is a little..."

"Crazy? Deranged?"

"Clairvoyant," Bella clarified, setting her cup on the end table. "She predicted your friend Emmett would give up football to become a nurse, which nobody saw coming. She saved your parents from a stomach virus last month by insisting they cancel their reservations at La Bella Italia. And she managed to find the last Nintendo Switch in town for Aro and Amun. At a gas station. On Christmas Eve."

"I know." The sound of my twin nephews gaming it up in the den was certainly proof of Alice's... er, talents. "But that doesn't make her staring at me any less weird."

"Just try to enjoy yourself, okay?" Bella stood on tiptoe to nuzzle my ear with the tip of her nose. "And if you do, I promise you a very merry Christmas night back at my place."

The thought of unwrapping my favorite present in the privacy of her apartment banished all thoughts of Alice's weirdness from my brain, and I turned to Bella with a slow smile. "Well, ho ho ho."

"Oh, I'll be your 'ho ho ho'." Bella kissed me lazily, humming against my lips before pulling away. "For now, I'm gonna find a quiet corner and call Charlie. See if we're still on for brunch tomorrow."

"Try my dad's office. No one should be in there."

"Okay."

I watched my girlfriend walk away, marveling at how easily she made everything in my life instantly better. I didn't know what I'd done to deserve her devotion, but later tonight, I would take my sweet time showing her exactly what she meant to me.

"Edward."

The interruption made me jump, and egg nog sloshed over the rim of my cup as I turned around...

...to find Alice holding out a small stack of napkins.

"Thanks," I said and dried my hands, avoiding her gaze as long as possible. I set down my mug and swiped some stray moisture from my sweater, stuffing the used napkins into the empty cup.

When I finally looked at Alice, she was closer than I remembered, her bright blue gaze fixed on my face, and I fought the urge to take a huge step backwards.

"Take out the trash," she said.

"What?"

"Take out the trash."

"Take out the..." I looked past her into the kitchen and saw my mother lifting a full white bag from the kitchen can. "Make your boyfriend do it," I said. "He needs to pull his weight around here for once."

"Put it in the neighbors' can three doors down," she continued as if I hadn't spoken. "The neighbors to your left not the right."

"But that doesn't make any..."

She gripped my wrist. "Now, Edward."

I wanted to ignore her. To tell her she was psycho and weird and everything Christmas ghosts are made of.

But something in her eyes wouldn't be denied, so I swallowed a sigh and went into the kitchen, approaching my mother with an outstretched hand. "I've got it, Mom."

"Oh, thank you, honey." She passed me the trash bag with a grateful smile. "You're a life saver."

I slipped out the back door and stopped at the foot of the stairs. Instinct wanted me to go toward the right side of the house where we kept our trash cans. But Alice's insistence made me head left instead, going around the back of our house toward the street.

After passing the first two houses, I looked ahead and noted with relief that the Gilmores' house was dark, saving me the shame of having to explain myself.

Not that I would have known what to say anyway.

As I approached the Gilmores' cans, I heard someone gasp across the street. Afraid I'd been caught, I looked up sharply but didn't see anyone, so I shrugged it off. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a cascade of blonde hair poking out from behind the old oak tree.

And when the owner of that hair emerged and stepped under the street light, I froze in place with a gasp of my own, staring at her in shock.

"Rosalie?" I barely got the word out. "Is it... is it really you?"

"Oh, Eddie..." She raced toward me with shining, violet eyes. "It's me."

"Rosie-girl." I threw my arms around her, shivering as she buried her chilly face in my neck. "Oh my god..."

Trails of moisture slid down my neck as she squeezed me, freeing me to release tears of my own without shame or restraint. Because Rosalie... my twin sister and first best friend... was in my arms.

We'd seen the signs long before she did: the barely veiled insults Royce delivered with a slick smile, his dismissal of anything in her life outside of him, the way he gripped her wrist instead of holding her hand. Our parents tried to warn her, and Jasper went full-on big brother and threatened Royce's life every chance he got. But Rosalie had always been headstrong, fearless, and hopelessly romantic, and it was her heart's ambition to become Mrs. Royce King III.

So when they eloped three years ago, we were horrified but hardly surprised. Rosalie sent us picture-perfect images from her Caribbean wedding, her smile somehow wide without quite reaching her eyes. Mom tearfully observed how the makeup was thicker on Rose's cheeks than anywhere else and how Rose wore a tightly knotted scarf in every photo despite the supposedly balmy weather.

And we realized her dark glasses weren't just protection from sun glare.

We begged Rosalie to come visit us, to let us come to her or meet somewhere neutral... to do anything anywhere so we could "put our eyes on her" as Dad often said. And she would always make plans, elaborate ones full of activity and general merry-making, but she'd never show up or call to explain why.

About two years ago, Rosalie left my mother a whispered, rambling voicemail, swearing that she was fine but just needed some distance from us. Mom called the police, and Dad took on a second job to pay for a private investigator, but it was like Rosalie had vanished. We knew she was still alive—because the alternative was too horrible to fathom—but we had zero proof to sustain the claim.

And now, from the shadows of Christmas night, my sister was back.

"Let me look at you." I pulled back to cup her face, noting how she flinched when I touched her cheeks. "Rosie-girl..."

"It's okay, Eddie-boy." She tried to smile, but the tears made it difficult. "I'm okay."

"Are you?" I released her cheeks and settled for taking her hands. "Are you really?"

"Yeah. Getting there, anyway."

We stared at each other in soft silence until the moment caught up with me, and I grabbed her hand with glee. "Well, come on! Mom and Dad are gonna completely..."

"No." Rosalie pulled her hand away, looking ashamed. "I don't... I mean, I want to see them; I really do. But... but not with all those people in there."

"Oh, of course." I ran a hand through my hair, annoyed with myself. "I'm sorry."

"Look, I'm... I'm staying with Renata's best friend not too far from here and..."

"What?" All traces of calm disappeared. "Royce's sister knows where you are?"

"Yes," she said slowly, understanding my ire. "But she's good people. She and Carmen, they... they helped me get away."

My heart sank and relaxed all at once. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay." I pulled out my phone. "Give me the details."

Rosalie gave me Carmen's address and phone number, adding Renata's just in case.

"What about yours?" I asked her.

"I, uh..." She scuffed her boot against the ground. "I had to get rid of my phone. He was using it to track me, so it wasn't the safest..."

"That's okay. You don't have to explain."

"Yes, I do. There's , um... there's a lot we'll need to talk about, things that I need to explain and be honest about. And..."

"And we don't have to do any of that right now," I said gently. "Okay?"

She nodded, hunching her shoulders as she shoved her hands in her coat pocket. "So tell me about you. Did you ever get your own place?"

"I thought about it. But it didn't... I mean, I thought it might be better if I..."

"If you waited until I was home so they wouldn't lose both of us," she finished for me. "I get that."

"Actually if you wanna know the truth." I lowered my voice. "I didn't want to leave them alone with Jasper."

She laughed, loud and long, and we were instantly six years old again, trading silly secrets under the covers.

"I also have a girlfriend," I continued. Rosalie raised her eyebrows at my blush, and I cleared my throat. "I met her... uh, Bella... at Madeleine's Muffins about a year and a half ago. I really think you'll like her."

"If she's making you act like this, then I kind of love her." She tilted her head, appraising me. "It's good to see you smile, Eddie."

"It's good to see you at all, Rosalie. You have no idea."

"I have some idea. That's actually why I came tonight. I mean, it's Christmas, you know? And I just... I just needed to see it all again."

"Right. And you weren't going to knock on the door?"

"I thought about it. But when I saw all the cars in the driveway, I realized it wouldn't be a good idea. My first time back at home will be wild enough without adding Crazy Jane, her drunk husband, and the karaoke machine into the mix."

I shook my head with a chuckle. "She was warming up her voice when I stepped out."

"God help us all." She glanced around, her gaze eventually landing by my feet. "Where were you going with that?"

"What?" I looked down, having completely forgotten about the trash. "Oh, uh... our cans are full, the Nelsons keep theirs in the back, and the old Cope house is vacant. So I... I had to walk all the way down here."

"Wow. I actually stayed this far down the street on purpose, assuming no one from our family would spot me if they came outside." She shook her head with a small smile. "Crazy how you found me anyway."

"Yeah. Crazy."

A blue sedan turned the corner and flashed its lights three times. Rosalie turned toward it and waved. "That's Carmen."

The car stopped behind us, and Rosalie brought me over. Carmen lit up when Rosalie introduced me, and I'd never been prouder to be her twin. Carmen assured me that Renata was on Rosalie's side and had no love for her brother.

"He will never find her," Carmen hissed. "Not if we have anything to say about it."

Rosalie beamed at me. "See? I'm in good hands."

Carmen reiterated how nice it was to meet me, and I could only wave, choked up at the realization that my sister would be going away again.

"Hey, now." Rosalie took my hands and waited for me to look at her. "You know where I am now, and I'm getting a new phone tomorrow. You'll never lose me again."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Familiar fire blazed in my sister's eyes. "Because I'll never lose myself again."

I enveloped her in another hug. "I love you, Rosie-girl."

"I love you, Eddie-boy." She kissed both my cheeks, tearful happiness rolling down her smiling face. "And, um... Merry Christmas."

My heart throbbed. "Merry Christmas."

She got in the car, Carmen honked twice, and I watched them drive away, standing in the street long after the taillights faded from view. Wiping my eyes with my sleeve, I plunked the all-important trash bag into the Gilmores' can and headed back home.

When I walked through the back door, Bella was plating pumpkin pie on Christmas-themed saucers while Mom dolloped them with her famous homemade cream. Both women smiled at me, Bella's gaze lingering.

"Everything okay, baby?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Better than okay."

From my position in the kitchen, I spotted Alice by the fireplace, gazing up at the family photo above the mantle. A candid shot from our high school graduation, it was one of the happiest moments I'd ever shared with my sister, and I marveled that tonight I'd been blessed with another one.

As the thought passed through my mind, Alice turned and looked right at me, her knowing blue eyes holding me captive. And I was so grateful that I wanted to run across the room and hug the living daylights out of her.

But I didn't. Because that would have been crazy.

(Anyone know where the Madeleine's Muffins reference comes from?)

Hope you enjoyed the first story! See you sometime tomorrow with the next one!