I donated a one-shot to MsKathy's 'Twifans for Haiti' Compilation, which will only be available to those in possession of a copy. It is a one-off piece that I wrote especially for the cause, and I will not be posting it elsewhere, as quite a few of the other authors have stated with their own donations. So if you'd like to get your hands on a copy of this amazing piece of TwiFic history, go here -

http : // mskathyff . blogspot . com / 2010 / 01 / haiti - compilation - still - available . html (just remove the spaces)

Already we've raised over $17,000. It's not too late for you to add to it and score yourself a copy of the compilation too! The amazing MsKathy has kindly extended the date for donations to January 31st, so head on over to her site to help our fandom help Haiti. =)

Our song is the slam of screen doors,
Sneakin' out late, tappin' on your window,
When we're on the phone and you talk real slow
Coz it's late and your momma don't know.
Our song is the way you laugh,
The first date when I didn't kiss her and I should have.
And when I got home, before I said Amen
Askin' God if he could play it again.

"Our Song" – Taylor Swift

Our Song

It was sixty-four degrees outside, slightly cold for February in Forks, but as it was the weekend and Bella and Edward were both free from commitments, neither of them cared about the weather. They had planned on spending the entire weekend inside together, no interruptions.

They had secluded themselves inside Edward's bedroom for the day and were both currently lying haphazardly across Edward's king-size bed. They had spread a few decks of playing cards out between them in a complicated game of strategy that they had made up, neither of them really quite sure who was winning as they had managed to totally confuse themselves with their own rules. Not wanting to lose, though, had both of them stubbornly continuing.

Edward had his iPod hooked up to his stereo system, the soft music creating a soundtrack to their day of casual togetherness. Edward would find himself tapping his foot in time to some of the songs while Bella hummed lightly along to others. Neither of them really took much notice of it; they were just unconscious actions.

Bella glanced from the cards in her hand, to a small group set face-up in chronological order to her left, back to her hand, and then to the pile of face-down cards that lay dead centre of their playing space. She reached for the face-down pile and drew the top card, adding it lazily to her hand.

"I call double spades," she declared finally, placing a pair of cards down on the comforter next to the pile she had just drawn from.

Edward stared at the cards spread out before them. He looked up at Bella with a bemused grin on his face and chuckled. "You have no idea what you just did, do you?" he asked.

Bella shook her head. "Not a clue."

"Neither do I. I lost track of how to play this game about half an hour ago," Edward confessed.

"Oh, thank God!" Bella sighed, throwing her remaining cards down on the bed. "I was only pretending I knew what I was doing because I thought you were still playing seriously."

Edward shook his head, laughing. "I think we can rule out card game designers as potential careers. We kind of suck at it."

"Kind of?" Bella snorted. "Edward, I wouldn't even consider what we were doing playing a card game. We were just shuffling cards between us and pretending they had a purpose." She let herself fall back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

Edward began to gather the large collection of cards together and started the inane task of separating them back into their original decks. It wasn't long before he found his mind wandering, his thoughts focusing primarily on the beautiful girl that lay peacefully across his bed a few mere inches from him.

His hands paused, a couple of cards slipping from them as his gaze rested upon her relaxed figure; the soft rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, the gentle fluttering of her eyelids as unknown thoughts occupied her mind, the small content smile that clung to her lips. A quiet humming emanated from her, the song playing on the iPod obviously familiar to her.

Edward sat there for a few moments and just watched her. It had been a long time since he had seen her so relaxed and carefree. Seeing Bella lying on his bed looking so radiant stirred something deep inside him, but it wasn't just his horny adolescent boy sensors going wild; it was something different, something more. As much as he wanted to pounce on her and ravish her until she was completely at his mercy, he was just as content to sit there and watch her. At eighteen, he knew that what he felt for Bella was more than just a fleeting romance. He knew that he was in love with her and that he could quite happily spend the rest of his life discovering every single thing about her. Bella was the kind of girl he knew he would never tire of, and as cliché as it sounded, he was pretty certain that she was the one. He wasn't going to propose to her tomorrow or anything rash like that, but he knew that someday it was a path he would probably definitely consider.

Marriage. The thought caused a small shiver to run down his spine. That day was still a long way off yet.

The longer Edward stared at Bella, the more he noticed a pink blush blossoming on her cheeks. Her humming had ceased, but her eyes remained closed and the fluttering of her eyelids had increased slightly. She could most likely feel his eyes on her.

Edward smiled to himself and shook his head in amusement. He quickly gathered the rest of the unsorted cards together and dumped them unceremoniously on the floor beside the bed. He then stretched out over the bed and rested his head on the pillow beside Bella's.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked softly.

She opened her eyes slowly to find his green orbs sparkling back at her, only inches away. Her skin warmed a few degrees when she felt him bring his hand up to her face and sweep a few stray tendrils of her brown hair behind her ear. His hand lingered on her cheek as he stared deep into her soul, a coy smile on his lips.

"You looked so peaceful lying here. It made me curious."

Bella shifted her body enough so that she was facing Edward, his hand sliding down to rest on her waist as she rested her palm against his chest.

"I was thinking about you and me," she said. "Listening to the music made me realize that we don't have a song."

"A song?"

"Yeah, you know how people have a song? One that reminds them of each other whenever they hear it?"

"Yeah …"

"We don't have one of those."

"Who says we have to?" Edward asked curiously.

"No one says we have to …" She paused. "But most people have a song that defines their relationship. It's the song that comes on in a club and makes them share a secret smile, or they hear it when they're in the grocery store and they pause to reminisce, or they hear it on the radio while they're cooking and almost burn their dinner because they suddenly begin dancing together around the kitchen …"

Edward raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "Bella, you don't dance."

"That's not the point, Edward," she sighed.

Edward slid his arm across her lower back and pulled her body closer to his.

"Bella, we don't need some commercialized, three-minute-average mash of rhyming words to a pretty sounding tune to define our relationship. Nor do we need one of the great classics or a powerful symphony to do the same. We know who we are in our relationship; we know what our relationship means. Why do we need something that's not us to tell us that?"

Bella dropped her gaze to his chest, where she was fingering the buttons on his collar, and shrugged. "I just thought it'd be … nice …" she mumbled.

Slipping his thumb and forefinger under her chin, Edward tilted her head back up to his.

"Bella, look at me."

Bella flicked her eyes back to his and sucked in a breath at the emotion she could see pouring out of them.

"We don't need someone else's version of us, because we already have our own. Our song … our song is the sound of your truck's door closing when you come home to me, your eye rolls when I tell you how much of a piece of crap that vehicle actually is, and your blush when I try to distract you by kissing you right here," he whispered, pressing his lips softly to the sensitive spot on her neck. "It's the sound of rain hitting your rain jacket when we walk between classes and the creak of your bedroom window when I sneak in at night. Our song is Charlie's snoring and your muffled whimpers when I make love to you in your childhood bed. It's the way your hands fit perfectly into mine, the table in the biology lab, the stages of mitosis, strawberry scented shampoo, the spark in your eyes when I tell you I love you … Bella, our song is forgetting that anyone else exists, because when I look at you I see the most important person to ever enter my life, and I know that if I ever lost you, my heart would shrivel up and die. Our song is us, as we are, every second of every day."

A small half-sob, half-whimper escaped Bella's lips as Edward fell silent. Tears were sliding silently over her cheeks and disappearing into the pillow underneath her head.

Edward brought his hand back up to her cheek and brushed away the tears, tangling his fingers in her hair as he closed the distance between their faces. His lips hovered in anticipation over hers for a second or two before he finally pressed them together in a kiss so soft and sweet that Bella almost forgot why she was crying.

"Edward, let's never stop playing our song," Bella whispered against his lips as they broke apart.

"I'll spend the rest of my life making sure we don't," he whispered in reply, pressing his lips to hers once more. "I love you, Bella."

The twinkling of love and joy that shone from her brown eyes at his declaration was all their song needed to flow into the next verse.

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