Lily Annabelle Cullen: A What If Story

Chapter 28: Cullen Family Christmas (Part 2)

(Edward's POV)

I was at the end of my wits. Lily had been gone all week and I couldn't go visit her. Worst yet, Emmett and Jasper would be the first ones she would see of the family after being gone so long. Alice had been sneaky on how she had sent them. She told them she had a mission for them and she would text them once they had gone. She had blocked her thoughts well until she decided to tell everyone after she sent her text to them. I sighed and went to wait outside for them to arrive. I wanted to be the first to greet her when she got home.

Jane and Alec were here as well as our cousins from Denali. Everyone but Tanya was excited to see Lily again. I knew they would take her when she came in the door. Their thoughts basically said as much. Especially Jane and Alec. I can't begin to imagine how happy Lily is gonna be to see them. They're taking Lily after Christmas back to Italy the day after Christmas for New Year's with the Volturi. I'll be going with her. After this week, I want some time with her before we go back to school.

I looked around the outside of the house. It was completely decorated with almost every type of Christmas decoration, color cordinated of course. Couldn't make the house look tacky. We had done all we could in the week we were given. This will be our first Christmas with Lily. To be honest, we were surprised that the Volturi didn't demand she be home for Christmas. I had the suspicion that it has to deal with the aggressive texting Lily had engaged in before she left. She had mumbled something about Aro being shameless. That was also the same day we found out that she would be returning to Italy until the day after New Year's.

I pushed my remaining thoughts to the back of my mind as I heard the sound of Emmett's jeep approaching. My hearing zeroed in on the sound of Lily's heartbeat. My love was home. Emmett hadn't even fully stopped the jeep before she jumped on the top of the car grinning wildly. I ran towards them and she jumped. I swear if my dead heart was beating, it wouldn't be anymore seeing her jump off the top of the moving vehicle. Despite my fear of her getting hurt by her stunt, she landed perfectly in my arms. So perfect that I briefly wondered if she used her psychic ability to do this. She wasted no time hugging me around my neck.

"I missed you so much Eddie."

"I missed you too Lily." She nuzzled into the side of my neck and took a deep breath, breathing in my scent. She relaxed into me for a moment. Then the wind blew softly, ruffling her hair a bit, and she stiffened. She suddenly sat up straight in my arms, the top of her head colliding with my jaw and making a clacking sound. She gripped where the top of her head had connected with my jaw but quickly forgot about the pain as she sniffed the air.

"Jane! Alec!" She wiggled out of my arms and ran inside. I could hear her giggles from inside. Jane had picked her up and was spinning her around. I sighed. For a brief moment, she was mine and only mine.

"Cheer up Edward. That's better than what Emmett originally got." He replayed the scene in his mind of Lily's clone running up to them faster than she should have, but not by too much, and vanishing as Lily hugged Jasper's leg. I chuckled at the memory and began helping them bring Lily's bags to her room. When we came back downstairs, there was a stare off between Lily and Tanya. Nobody knew what started it. Just that Lily's head turned to stare at Tanya so it must've been something she thought. Jane and Alec were at her sides staring at Tanya as well.

"Lily." I tried to get her attention off of Tanya. She just came home. I don't know what I would do if she left again. Her ear had at least twitched so I knew she could hear me. "Come here love. I don't know what's going on but I would like to hold you." The whole room felt like it was frozen in time. Nobody but Lily breathed. Nobody moved. Five minutes went by before she turned away from Tanya and came to me. I silently breathed a sigh of relief as did Eleazar, Carlisle, and Esme.