Author Notes:

Welcome everyone! We're back in the Seeing Bella universe. This will be a short story for the holidays, though I may decide to expand it. It probably helps if you've read Seeing bella, but it may not be fully necessary.

Some of my Seeing Bella readers hoped for certain things in a sequel, in particular, a child and Charlie becoming a vampire. I've thought about it a lot, and I don't think this Charlie would want to be a vampire, but even if he did, it's not happening in this story. Also, though a child might appear in this story, remember that Bella is already a vampire, and some things may not always happen to Bella.

Okay, I'm not going to be writing long-winded notes this time around. Please just read and enjoy. And if you feel like reviewing, that's great. Either way, I hope you like seeing Christmas.

Thanks to Shannon, Chris and LadyLibra for prereading and doing a little beta work. All mistakes are all mine.

Disclaimer: Remember, as always, Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, and I'm definitely not her.

Seeing Christmas

A Seeing Bella Christmas Story

Chapter One

The forest was silent, almost seeming to hold its breath. All nature could sense that a predator was among them, and the wildlife from insects to birds to animals, stopped their usual pursuits, hoping the predator would pass them by. The predator stalked through the woods, though she was not interested in the flora and fauna this time. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, a familiar scent made her smile. The aroma of honey and sunshine, her favorite scent in the world. A giggle escaped her lips and she covered her mouth, hoping to surprise the one she sought. Ahead of her, the trees seemed to thin, and a light shone into the edges of the clearing she approached. She smiled and began to run. Leaping into the clearing, Bella Cullen threw out her arms wrapping them around her husband.

"Caught you!"

The strength of her leap caused Edward and Bella to crash to the ground. They lay there, amid a tangle of arms and legs, neither in a hurry to move.

"I knew you were coming," Edward said. "I could smell your most delectable scent. Not to mention hearing you giggle."

He rolled them till he was lying above her, gazing down into her eyes.

"Are you happy to be back in Forks, Love?"

She nodded.

"I'm so glad we decided to come back for Christmas this year. I know Dad wanted it badly and has even planned the wedding to coincide with our visit."

It had been five years since the Cullen family had moved away from Forks, following Bella's newborn year. Bella's father, police chief Charlie swan, had visited them, but this was the first time the entire family had returned to Forks. They couldn't risk anyone who'd known Bella before seeing her now. Not only did she look quite different with her golden eyes and well-defined body, but it would be hard to fine the fact that she was no longer blind. However, Charlie was planning to marry Sue Clearwater and wanted the Cullens to be a part of the celebration. The family had returned to forks for the Christmas holidays and the wedding, knowing that Bella must not be seen by anyone outside her father and the quileute pack of shape-shifters.

Charlie wanted all the cullens at his wedding. He'd grown close to them during Bella's transoformation and her newborn year. He considered them family now and couldn't consider getting married without them. He had even asked Edward to stand up with him, since the lifelong friendship between Charlie and Billy Black had fallen to nothing after Bella's change.

"I still cannot fathom Charlie asking me to stand up with him," Edward said, idly tracing Bella's face with his fingertips. "He will never know how much that means to me."

"Oh, I think he knows."

Bella smiled up at him and then pulled his face down to hers and kissed him deeply.

"Let's not talk about my dad just now."

Edward growled, a soft throaty sound. With the gentlest of touches, he began to remove her clothing.

"I do so want to rip these off you, but we do not have anything for you to wear hiding here in our meadow."

"The cottage isn't far."

"Mmmm. Indeed. However, at this moment, I want to make love to you slowly and savor every second of it."

"Mmmm."

Reaching up, Bella began to unbutton his shirt. Together, with few words and tender caresses, they made love, gazing into each other's eyes. It felt right to be there, sharing the moments in a place where things had all begun. Afterward, they lay entwined, sated for the moment.

"You know," Bella said, "Of all the marvelous and wondrous things you've shown me since my change, the one thing I can't get enough of looking at is you. You are the brightest sight in my world."

"And here I thought it was the view from the top of Mount Everest."

"Oh you!"

Laughing, Bella tackled him, flipping them over.

"Just for that, Mr. Cullen, I'm gonna have my way with you."

"Oh Please, do so, as often as you desire."

In one swift and fluid motion, Bella slid down on him. Edward grasped her hips and thrust himself into her as deeply as he could go. Her hands were everywhere, stroking his chest and stomach, pinching his nipples. Rising up, Edward took one of her nipples in his mouth and suckled till she cried out with pleasure, her orgasm crashing over her. He pulled her down and with one more hard thrust reached his own climax.

Somewhere in a pocket of their discarded clothes, a phone chirped.

"It's gotta be Alice," Bella said. "Nobody else would text right after we finished having sex."

Laughing, Edward pulled the phone out of the pocket of his jeans and read the text aloud.

"Charlie will be here in thirty minutes. Come to the house."

They dressed slowly, neither of them in a hurry to leave their meadow. At last, hand in hand, they headed into the woods to return to the Cullen home.

Alice was waiting for them when they arrived at the house, bouncing from foot to foot.

"Too you two forever to get here! Charlie is on his way and he's bringing some of the wolves because I can't see anything about why he's coming. So, hurry up and get in the house."

"Chill out." Edward grinned at her. "We're here. We wanted a little quiet time to ourselves, you know."

Emmett came to stand in the doorway.

"You wanted more than quiet time. Honestly, you two never quit."

"Well, we have the example of you and rose," Bella said, as she passed him to head into the house, "and that should mean we'll never get tired of being together. Having quiet time and all."

Everyone laughed as they gathered in the living room to wait for charlie.

"How does it feel to be back here, bella?" jasper asked.

Bella poked his shoulder as she walked by him to sit cross-legged on the floor by the fireplace.

"Analyzing me, Major? Once a teacher always a teacher, huh?"

"I'm just getting a lot of emotions from you, darlin."

She smiled back at him. Holding her hands toward the fire, though she didn't need the warmth, she paused a moment to think. Edward came to sit with her, pulling her onto his lap. She snuggled against, looking back at Jasper to answer his question.

"how do I feel? I feel wonderful and weird. Like we've never been away and like I've been away for much longer than five years. It feels all those things together. But mostly, it feels like coming home."

Just then they heard the sound of a car turn off the highway into the long winding drive leading to their home. Esme rushed to the kitchen to start the coffee pot, while Bella went to the door, eager to see her father.

As charlie stopped the car, he smiled to see Bella waiting for him, waving and looking like she might start bouncing Alice style. Even after five years, charlie still couldn't get over how beautiful she looked or how incredible it was to know she could see him.

Impatient, Bella, ran down the steps, reaching the car just as Charlie opened the door and stepped out.

"Dad!"

She threw herself into his arms, careful not to hug him too tight. It was so good to be with Charlie again. He'd come to her college graduation, but since then, she and edward had been traveling. She stood in her father's arms, just hugging for a long moment. As they turned to go into the house, another car pulled up with sam, emily and jacob.

"Bells!" Jacob called, "Welcome home. You're looking good. Can we all come in?"

Carlisle came through the door, holding out his hands and smiling in welcome.

"Of course. Charlie, great to see you. Everyone, please come on in. esme will be thrilled to have a chance to feed you boys again."

Greetings and hugs were exchanged, as the group moved into the house and all settled down to spend the evening being together. Esme reveled in having the house so full and hurried in with plates of food for the human guests before sitting beside carlisle, ready to enjoy the time together.

Once everyone had eaten their fill and all the what-I've-been-doing discussions had finished—Jacob's auto shop, Sam's work on the Reservation, Emily's work as a nurse—Charlie cleared his throat and looked around at them all. His expression was serious now.

"a case has come up and I wanted to discuss it with you. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know. I can't get it off my mind, ever since Emily brought it to my attention and I just thought—well, let me explain it first."

"We're listening, Charlie," Carlisle said, "Go ahead."

Charlie shifted in his chair, a little uncomfortable being the center of attention.

"Well, about a month ago, Emily called me from the hospital here in forks. She works there now, you know, and it was something that was gonna need some investigating. There was a kid, about five or six we think. A little girl, just sitting there in the emergency room. No adult no nothing but a backpack and a note and a hell of a lot of bruises. The note was from someone claiming to be her mother. It said that she was giving up her parental rights, because she couldn't give the child a good or safe home. Her boyfirend didn't want the kid because it was defective."

He stopped there. Reaching for his coffee cup, he took a swallow and turned back to the group.

"The poor little thing had been abused," Emily said, "probably for years. There's evidence of old wounds, broken bones, that kind of thing. We did what what we could of course to get her back to physical health, but she's behind her age group in everything and has almost no knowledge of things she should know at her age.

Rose glared.

"Defective! How can anyone say that about a little kid?"

"I've done all the checking I can, trying to find the mother," Charlie said. "The note with the girl said that the father was dead. There were some papers she'd signed giving up her rights to the child. Now we're all scrambling around trying to figure out what to do, trying to find a suitable foster home. She'll need a damn lot of one on one attention and teaching. And lots of love. It's hard to find a situation for an older kid with disabilities."

"What kind of disabilities?" rose asked. She was still glaring, but her voice was soft.

Charlie hesitated.

"The little girl is totally blind."

End Note:

I have company for the holidays and this story isn't all pre-written. I'm not sure how often I'll update, but I'll do my best to have this completed in a week or so. Thanks for reading.