AN: Yes, I'm still alive. I have to admit, I forgot about the "Camping Trip" - today, I wanted to write on on it again but I got stuck in the first paragraph. My English got rusty and I don't want to ruin the story now with bad style. So instead, I chose to write a short story, 3 or maybe 4 chapters (and hopefully not too long) to get me back on track again. I will write on the Camping Trip again, but just not yet. So, have fun with this one :)!

But now, on with the first chapter! (It's placed sometime after Volterra)

The perfect gift?

Chapter 1

It happened during my math class.

I was brooding over some stupid equation since about half an hour and I was stuck. I couldn't get the right numbers and it seemed like everything I had written down so far was wrong, too.

I sighed, ripped the page out of my block and started again.

Of course I knew the reason why I couldn't concentrate. It wasn't that the subject was too hard, no.

It was because Edward was hunting again. A nice long trip, taking about a week.
Today would be the last day without him.

Additionally, it was just two more days until his birthday.

And I had no clue of what I could get him.

I groaned inwardly. Again, I ripped the page from my block and started over once more. It was the fifth try and my nerves were running thin. On every front: How could I not solve a stupid equation? Why can't I even stand to be away from Edward for five stupid, rainy, lonely days? And why couldn't I come up with a good gift? I mean, it's not like I didn't know about this day for some time.

My block was starting to thin out because of just one stupid equation.

"Mrs Swan?" A male voice caught me in my train of thought. My teacher. "Are you having problems with the answer to number five?"

"Ehm… No – I mean, a little maybe. I just can't seem to be able to concentrate properly today." I confessed.

My gaze wandered to the tall windows of our classroom, watching the thick, grey clouds above as they passed.

"Well, I can see that. Your usage of paper for just this one number would unsettle every saver of the rainforest right now." He tapped on the small pack of paper to my left. "It won't help you, but trust me: You are not the first student with problem to concentrate today. There are always those who have a hard time doing that while the weather is so… dark like the last few days."

Even I could hear the longing in his voice and I had to admit: I wanted some sun again, too. Preferably soon.

The teacher didn't say anything else continued his round through our classroom but I knew I had no chance of solving the task at hand for today anymore. I didn't even know how to start anymore. I let out a sigh, putting my pen down and relaxed a little in the more or less comfortable chair. My eyes wandered again. All that rain in the last days had caused several problems for the people of Forks. Charlie had gotten many calls in the last week about overflowing basements because of the rain. Some streets were blocked because of the water masses.

Idly, I wondered how the Cullens felt while hunting in the rain. Did it bother them? Edward had never told me much about the way they hunt, but I was certain they wouldn't do it … eh… Well, I was certain that they were clothed during the hunt. So, they would get wet… I remembered the last time I had gotten a little too wet in the rain and of course, I have had a cold just the day after. Edward hadn't been too happy about that. Luckily, vampires weren't able to catch a cold. Or a flu. Or whatever.

I took a pencil out of my pencil case and started to doodle some things down on one of the wasted papers. A sun, a flower, a moon… Whatever came to my mind. So… There has to be something I could give to Edward, right? I poked myself on my temples with the pencil. But what could someone like me give to someone like Edward? I mean, he could obviously just buy whatever he liked, he was rich enough. My savings summed up to… Ugh. Better not to think about that.

Another sigh escaped my lips.

The last few days, the question of "what" had constantly been on my mind. I had thought about quite everything. At least, I was sure I had. My first idea was some kind of ring or something like that. Several reasons worked against that. First, I wouldn't find what I like – but when I would, I could be sure that it would be too much for my savings. Second, I wasn't too sure about jewelry and Edward. As cheesy as it sounds: He was a diamond on two legs already. Women wore jewelry to appear more beautiful but Edward? I couldn't wrap my head around that. So, that was out of my list.

Then, I had thought about his hobbies: listening to and writing music. But a CD was just not enough and what can you give to someone who likes to write music? Sheets of paper? Great idea. In addition, he didn't even have to write down the music, he just remembers everything he has ever played.

My sheet of paper had more doodles on it now than numbers. Stars had joined the sun and the moon, somewhere I thought I could make out a face – but most of those things looked like the things one sees in clouds. They could be everything.

My eyes wandered to the clock above our class room door. Still twenty minutes to go. I put the pencil away and grabbed a crayon. It was orange. Strange how the subconscious meddles with the smallest things: Since I met Edward, every time I had to restock the colors of my pencil case, I filled it up with more orange-ish or yellow-ish colors. Only a few weeks ago, that had occurred to me. I had searched for a red crayon but hadn't found one. Instead, three different shades of warm orange were in my hand. Maybe I should go to the mall today, so I could restock it again with some other colors…?

Of course, I had already thought about something self-made for Edward. But as soon as I got the idea, I discarded it again. I wasn't gifted when it came to do handicrafts and though drawing had been a hobby of mine for some time, I wasn't too confident about my skills.

Obviously, I couldn't make him a birthday cake. That would have been the easiest thing. Maybe, if Edward would have been human, I would have cooked a nice dinner for him. Since that would never happen, I could just stop think about it without wasting any more thoughts into it.

Last night, I had even dreamed about the topic. It was probably a good thing that Edward hadn't been present while I slept. Sleep-talking is a bad thing while dreaming about crazy birthday gifts. The dreams all faded very much during the course of the early school hours. I just can remember the part about a beautifully adorned vial with something red containing it. Even though that was the only picture I remembered, I knew that sticky red stuff and I was one hundred percent sure that I knew whose blood it had been. When I woke up, I couldn't shake the feeling off me that someone had put a needle in my vein while I had slept. Which was totally paranoid – Carlisle was on the hunting trip, too, so there was no one left who had the abilities to sneak into my room at night, putting a needle in my arm while I slept and then would just disappear. Not to mention that Carlisle would never do that. Nevertheless, I had scrutinized the typical places where someone would put a needle through my skin. Of course, I didn't find anything.

It disturbed me a little that I liked the idea of the vial, though. It would be very personal. Edward wouldn't even have to bite me to get some of my blood, although the small glassy container wouldn't contain much.
But I couldn't do that to Edward. He wouldn't take it, I was sure.

So, that was everything I had come up with. While musing, I had taken the next crayon, this time a blue one. I looked at the clock again. Fifteen minutes to go. If it would have been a digital clock, I would have been sure that someone was messing with it from wherever I couldn't see him while he sat there, laughing at my state of mind.
But no, it was just the same, boring brown clock with the big, old numbers.

It started to rain again. Not much like the last days. Just enough to remind everyone in this classroom that, as soon as we would step outside, we would get wet and cold. Great, I was slowly running out of dry things. If you have to change several times a day because your old clothes are too wet to be healthy, it was only natural to run out of things to wear. Well, probably every human being would have that problem.

I had nothing special planned for today. I would probably just sit in front of the TV, some blankets all over me, cushions around me and a large, hot and steamy pot of cocoa in my hands while watching some sappy movie. I could try to get my clothes dry in the meantime.

Hm.

Maybe…

Ah, no, a "cozy movie-evening" was something, we had almost every week. But… Somehow, that 'cozy' part seemed to jump at me. I looked outside again, thinking harder.

Hm… It was like already knowing the answer but not being able to grasp it. Like something in my peripheral vision, that, as soon as I'd look at it, vanish. Humans liked it warm, cuddly, without any kind of rush. Some time just to them, to relax. So… Would vampires like that, too? I already knew Edward liked warm things – well, he clearly mentioned several times that he was relishing my kind of warmth.

Then it hit me. The perfect idea. At least, I hoped it was, since it really wasn't too bad. If I could just find my notes from when Mom and I took that one course in Phoenix because she had a small crush on the trainer… So, I would have to skip my movie-and-cocoa-plans and start a treasure hunt for my notes instead… Hopefully, I took them with me to Forks. There's no time for Mom to find them in Florida and send them back to me…

But that leaves two things: I still have to go shopping for it. And I need a vampiric "guinea pig" for that task.