la belle dame sans merci | carlisle cullen

14

Minerva took the holidays pretty seriously for somebody who celebrated alone. A month or so out from the car crash, she was equipped with her shiny, new-to-her Monte Carlo, to do some serious prep.

Equipped with her performative orthopaedic boot, she was on the road. Stopping by every little shop in town, ambushed by questions about her leg and how she was feeling and why didn't she press charges and blah blah blah. It was all very monotonous. She wished she'd gotten Carlisle to tag along for this unnecessary excursion. Most people were too intimidated to approach him and she loved it.

Not that Carlisle was unkind, far from. He was probably the nicer of the two of them. It was the way he carried himself— the way nobody really know how to talk to him. It made him intimidating. Not that Minerva had ever been intimidated by the tall blonde, not for a moment. His smile made it impossible to feel anything but warm.

As Minerva perused the aisles of the antique store, Carlisle swarming her thoughts. It was hard to think about much else, especially when she was here because of him. She needed to get him a really kickass Christmas present which was far easier said than done. Unfortunately, Forks Antiques didn't yield much besides some old chinaware and a few books. Nothing suitable. She left with only a bottle of fine, aged scotch to make the trip worthwhile.

Her next trip was to the Red Robin, the best Christmas Tree spot Forks had to offer. The Forks rain didn't allow the snow to stay for long so the air was frigid and the earth soggy under her feet. She was thankful for the choice to wear her rain boots.

Perusing the rows of trees, Minerva scrutinized each tree she passed. She didn't want any of that patchy shit and she didn't want the tree from Charlie Brown or anything. Twenty minutes of intense scrutiny went by before a gasp brought her out of her focus, she looked the wrong way first.

"Minerva!" The shriek made her turn the right way to find a familiar grinning girl with spikey dark hair racing toward her.

"Hey, Alice!" Minerva couldn't help but grin right back. She hadn't seen the girl since before her accident, which had been a month past now, "how are you?"

"I'm good! How are you? I heard about the accident!" Alice gripped her hands as she spoke; The cold of her palms seemed to seep through the fabric of Minerva's mittens.

"I'm alright, on the mend." Minerva assured, trapping Alice's hands between hers and trying to conjure some heat into them, "You should be wearing mittens, it's freezing out."

A brownish-red haired boy cropped up behind Alice then, tall and beautiful in an indescribable way. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that this was another Cullen. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"Edward, this is Minerva. Carlisle's friend." Alice said with a smile. It brought her a little too much satisfaction to be introduced as Carlisle's friend. "Minerva, this is my younger brother— Edward."

"I've heard a lot, it's nice to finally meet you." Minerva smiled, extending a hand to him. His hands were just as cold as Alice's, "you need mittens too."

He offered a crooked smile, "left them right on the kitchen counter. It's nice to meet you too. I hope you're not as particular with your Christmas tree as Alice is with ours. We've been out here for an hour."

Alice turns an incredulous look up at the boy, "It's important!" Minerva realized, when Alice's eyes levelled— as much as they could given that the girl was several inches shorter than her— that the Cullen family had the almost the same beautiful golden eyes. The ones she'd met did at least. Didn't Carlisle say they were all adopted? This certainly didn't help the cult rumours.

Edward chuckled a little bit, eyes meeting hers. "I take my Christmas tree just as seriously." Minerva informed with a smile.

"Finally, someone who understands me." Alice chimed, looping her arm through hers, "Why don't we look together?"

It turned out that Alice was even more particular than Minerva was, which boggled the mind of the old witch. Edward was an odd duck to say the least. He didn't say much, following at a disinterested distance. Only speaking now and again with a snide remark towards his sister's persistence. Minerva found it charming but she could understand how it could get on your nerves if you lived with it every day. Luckily, she didn't. So Minerva loved every second.

"Look at this lovely spruce. Full, 8 feet. It's perfect." Alice clapped with a jump, "You wouldn't mind if we stole this one, would you?"

"Not at all." Minerva assured, "I'm after a fir, acrually." To which Alice turned horrified eyes in her direction.

"What on earth have you been letting me drag you around the pines for then?" She demanded.

Minerva gave her a tranquil little smile, "I enjoy your company. Besides, I doubt I'll find anything I'm happy with here. I'll probably go up to Port Angeles, I want to scope out some antique shops anyway."

Alice might as well have been vibrating as her face broke back into a grin, "Would you like company?"

"Alice—" Edward tried.

"It's a school night." Minerva reasoned, "I wouldn't want your dad upset with me if you've got homework to do."

"It's done! Even if it wasn't, I think you're a get-out-of-jail free card." Alice beamed, "As long as you wouldn't mind?" The enthusiasm was hard to turn down.

Minerva's eyes flickered to Edward, who was looking at his sister with an unreadable expression. "As long as you really don't think it'd be a problem.." She said carefully looking back to Alice who squealed.

"It absolutely won't be. Edward, you can take the tree home. I'm sure Emmet can help you get it inside." Alice bounced up and down as she spoke, "Oh, I'm so excited!"

Minerva gave a slight chuckle, looking between the siblings again. She hadn't been planning on going today but she wasn't about to turn down company, "You're obviously welcome to come too, Edward." Minerva couldn't help the slight twinge of nervousness she felt extending the offer. He'd been perfectly polite but standoffish. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel unwelcome. "I could follow you in my car, if you did want to."

"Oh," he seemed a little surprised, "Unfortunately, I do have some homework to attend to. Thank you, though."

"Of course." Minerva returned, offering a little smile.

"Let's go." Alice squeezed her arm and began pulling her toward the parking lot, "See you later, Edward!"

Minerva tried to wave as Alice pulled her along, "Nice meeting you!"