( outfit for
chapter above )

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chapter nine
compromise.

           "So, hiding out in the mountains is the plan?" Christina asked as she walked into the middle of the field with Carlisle next to her, holding on to her hand lightly.

They were all meeting in the field that they wanted to trick the newborns to travel into. Christina has just left work, still in her scrubs, with Annie in her arms. The six year old smiled brightly as she saw Seth and Jacob walking in from the other end of field. She wiggled out of her mom's hold before racing towards Seth, easily jumping into his arms. Christina sighed, which made Carlisle chuckle as he pulled her into his side.

"That's the plan," Bella answered back. "Edward will be up there with us."

Christina's eyebrow raised as Jacob snorted, "What, you pull a muscle or something?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "He's doing it for me, okay?"

"Whatever," Jacob scoffed before crossing his arms over his chest. "Just tell me the plan."

Jasper stepped forward slightly. "This field will give us an advantage in battle. We need to lure the newborns with Bella and Christina's scent. It needs to end here."

"Edward, Christina, Annie and I will be going up to a campsite—"

Christina shook her head, "I already made arrangements with Sam to keep Annie at Emily's for the weekend. There's a couple wolves he's leaving behind with the imprints, and I rather Annie not be so close to battle."

Everyone nodded their head in acknowledgment.

"So, if Edward and Carlisle carry us up to the field, they'll pick up our scents," Bella continued to explain, looking back towards Jacob and Seth.

Christina chuckled slightly as she watched Annie grip tightly into Seth's hair from his shoulders. He barely blinked in pain as she tried to braid whatever hair he had left from his recent cut.

"Your stench, however, is revolting—" Edward smirked.

"Dude," Jacob growled. "You do not want to start comparing stinks."

"What Edward means to say..." Carlisle gave his son a look, which went ignored by the mind reader. "Is that your scent will cover the girls, if you both carry them up to the campsite."

Both men nodded their head. "Done," Jacob answered.

Edward narrowed his eyes at Jacob's thoughts. "This is not a good idea."

"Edward," Jasper's lip twitched upward. "They're not going to want to get close to their... odor."

"Alright," Christina sighed as she walked closer to Seth.

"Let's just try this," Bella said as she walked closer to Jacob.

Christina pulled Annie off Seth's shoulders before passing her over to Carlisle, who easily took her onto his side. Annie grinned up at the blonde doctor as she played with his coven necklace.

Christina sighed with a teasing smile, "don't drop me."

"I promise I won't." Seth leaned down slightly to allow Christina to climb onto his back. She lightly wrapped her arms around his neck before they took off into the woods after Jacob and Bella.

It didn't take long to catch up with them. Jacob has slowed down as soon as he was out of sight of Edward.

"You gonna ask me to sit out the fight, too?" Jacob asked, barely glancing down at Bella as the four of them continued their short walk in the woods. "Or don't you care about my safety?"

Christina rolled her eyes as she shifted her arms around Seth's neck.

"Of course I care," Bella sighed. "But you'd say no."

Jacob shrugged.

"Not like he has a choice, anyways," Seth stated, easily jumping over a log with the young mother on his back. "Since he gave up the alpha title to Sam and all."

"Wait, gave up the title?" Christina asked, looking towards Jacob.

Jacob shook his head, giving Seth a side eye. "I didn't want to be in the pack... let alone be it's leader."

"Wow," Bella chuckled. "Chief Jacob."

"Opted out." Jacob sighed, "but every choice has it's consequences. Some more than others."

"Don't start," Bella snapped. "Everybody makes choices. You're gonna have to accept mine."

Jacob sighed again, dropping the conversation.

"We should turn back," Seth commented. "They would have found us by now if they could smell the girls."

Everyone nodded their head agreeing with the young wolf's words.

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        Christina unbuckled Annie from her car seat, letting the six year old run ahead of her into the house. Charlie gently patted his granddaughters head in passing as he followed Alice out of the house. Both Christina and Bella furrowed their brows as they listened to their goodbyes.

"Okay, Alice," Charlie said. "Don't be a stranger."

"Okay." Alice waved with a grin before facing both sisters. "Your alibi for the battle is all arranged."

"Really?" Bella asked.

Alice nodded her head. "I told your father that our whole family's going camping this weekend. So you both and I are having a sleepover at my house. Charlie is going fishing anyway."

"Charlie?" Christina chuckled. "Since when are you two on a first name basis?"

Alice smirked before looking pointedly at Bella. "Me, he likes." Bella rolled her eyes. "Actually, you two along with Carlisle and Edward have the house to yourselves tonight."

"Like, alone?" Bella asked with hopeful eyes.

Alice nodded with a laugh. "We're all going hunting, powering up for the battle." The young pixie vampire winked before walking to her car. "You're welcome."

Christina gave Bella a look as they walked into the house. "What are you thinking?"

Bella bit her lip but didn't have the chance to answer as Charlie greeted them from the kitchen. Christina rubbed Annie's hair as they both passed her on the couch to join their dad in the kitchen.

"Either of you want a sandwich?" Charlie asked as he finished his turkey sandwich in front of him.

Both girls shook their heads negatively.

"Well, the sister, I like," Charlie commented in a teasing tone towards Bella.

"You like Carlisle," Christina said back as she leaned against the counter after Charlie sat down at the table.

Charlie hummed jokingly. Christina rolled her eyes as she threw a rolled up napkin at his face.

Bella started doing the dishes in the sink as she cleared her throat. "Hey, Dad. I was wondering... why didn't you get remarried, after mom?"

Christina furrowed her brows at Bella's question as Charlie cleared his throat— also not prepared for Bella's serious question.

"Uh, I don't know... guess I still haven't found the right gal," he shrugged his shoulders. "Why?"

Bella turned around after shutting off the sink water. "I don't know. I thought you just... maybe you gave up on the whole institution of it. Of marriage. But do you think there's any value in it?"

Charlie nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah, marriage has value. When you're older... much older. Both of you." He turned his dark eyes to Christina who held up her hands in response. "Like your mother. It seemed to work out fine for her the second time around."

"Yeah, I guess," Bella sighed.

"I mean," Charlie cleared his throat awkwardly. "You definitely don't... uh, wanna get married because—"

"Because you got knocked up," Christina finished, with a roll of her eyes. "Thanks, Dad."

A light blush came to Charlie's cheeks. "I didn't mean anything by it, Chris. I know you and Jonathon would have gotten married—"

"I'm gonna go take a shower." A painful thump pounded in Christina's chest.

"Chris—"

"It's fine, dad." Christina bit her lip as she made her way towards the kitchen exit. "Really, I'm okay."

She didn't let him answer as she walked upstairs and into her room. She quickly grabbed a change of clothes before jumping into the shower; the conversation from downstairs still following her until the shower turned on.

Christina was quick with her shower. She changed into an oversized sweatshirt with shorts and white socks that reached above her ankle. The young mother threw her dirty clothes into the hamper next to her closet before starting to pack an overnight bag for both Annie and herself.

She left the packed bags next to her door before reaching under her bed and pulling out the old photo book that she hadn't touched since slipping it under her bed. She gave a sweet kiss to the first page— a goodbye kiss to Jonathon Miller. The day he died, the last day Christina was ever going to see him, and she didn't even know it.

She slipped the photo book back under the bed as a single tear fell from her eye.

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Christina walked around Bella as the eighteen year old stared up at the large house in front of them. She furrowed her brows but didn't question her hesitation. Annie already beat both adults into the house and up the stairs to the living room.

The young mother smiled as she heard Annie talked excitedly to Edward and Carlisle.

"Where's Bella?" Edward asked as Christina came into the room by herself.

"She's still outside." Christina shrugged, figuring that Bella would have been behind her by now. Edward also furrowed his brows before walking down stairs to retrieve his girlfriend.

"Momma!" Annie smiled up towards her mother with a small box in her hand. "Look what Carlisle bought me!"

Christina leaned down to the ground before smiling gently to her daughter as she looked at the silver bracelet that was lingering in the box. "That's beautiful, babe. Why don't you ask him nicely to put it on?"

Annie smiled brighter before jumping into Carlisle's lap. His golden eyes were bright as he helped Annie clasp the bracelet on her left wrist. Annie jumped back off with a thank you before dancing in circles, grinning periodically at the silver chain on her wrist.

Christina leaned down behind Carlisle, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck as she buried her face into the side of his neck. His right hand came up and grasped lightly on her wrist while rubbing his thump back and forth.

"I love you," Christina whispered lightly into his ear, making his movements stop at the sudden confession.

The doctor turned his head to look at the young mother with an even brighter smile than before— and Christina wasn't even sure that was possible. He leaned forward to claim her lips against his before muttering, "I love you."

"Life is too short," Christina whispered as they separated. Her eyes turned to look back at her daughter as she showed Bella and Edward the bracelet on her wrist. "I don't want to regret the words I didn't say."

Her heart clenched again as she thought about Annie's father. Edward met eyes with the young mother in sorrow, but Christina ignored it as she buried her head back into Carlisle's neck— enjoying his fragrance, and allowing it to calm her down.

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After two movies, Christina was able to get Annie into bed— after pointing out that the young child was falling asleep on both her and Carlisle's lap. Both adults wrapped her up in blankets in the extra room the Cullens set up for her.

"Goodnight, Annie," Christina muttered against her forehead. "Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Momma," Annie muttered back as she sleepily snuggled into her pillows. "Goodnight, Daddy." Her eyes met contact with Carlisle— who's eyes were wide at the new word the young girl was calling him.

Christina's eyes welled up as she shut off the light before bumping her chest against Carlisle's— surprised that he didn't move in time. She blinked her tearful eyes up at Carlisle as he continued to stare over her head at Annie's door.

"Carlisle?"

He didn't answer.

Christina rested her hand on Carlisle's bicep. "You okay?"  She bit her lip as he slowly brought his eyes down to her. "I can talk to her... tell her not to—"

Carlisle captured Christina's lips with his own, interrupting her worry. Once he pulled away, he shook his head, rubbing his nose against hers back and forth. "No, no. I was just surprised."

Christina laughed. "That makes two of us."

Carlisle brought her in for another kiss, making Christina's knees weak as she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close.

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There's a lot to happen in Eclipse, and somehow I'm also to the battle, that means I'm almost to Breaking Dawn and WHAT.