Author's Note: Just thought we would point out that Bella and Edward do not recognize each other's voices for the most part because they are not expecting it to be someone they know. We frequently have people calling here who mistake one voice for another and, sadly, I have failed to recognize the voice of a very good friend on occasion simply because I wasn't expecting the call.

Sorry that we can't update as often due to work getting back to normal.

Disclaimer: Ha ha ha Twilight and The Shop Around the Corner are ours all ours. Okay, maybe not.

Edward always composed in the attic. Large and barren except for the soft white carpet and piano, the silence in the room could be described as deafening. To Edward, however, it just seemed pleasantly empty. It had the tone quality of a canyon, where notes and moods remained shivering in the air even when a piece was done.

Normally, however, he wouldn't have gone immediately up to the attic after a day at school. He would describe himself as an off and on composer, and he used the piano like most others would use a journal -- only when he had something to say. Still, though, for some reason he found his head tilting upward as he walked through the door, and the temptation was far too hard to ignore.

Muttering some excuse to Rose and Emmett, who had apparently decided that the kitchen was the ideal place to spend a romantic afternoon, he had succumbed to the call.

And now here he was.

Edward thrummed absentmindedly through some scales to get his creative juices flowing. Walking his fingers delicately up into the highest register, and then slowly winding his way back down, he pondered exactly what he was going to do. There was no pressure on him to play a real song, of course, as every sound seemed mysteriously to get muffled in its trip to the lower floors, but he wanted to be productive given that he otherwise had no reason to come up here.

He ended up wandering aimlessly with the notes, setting up a generic tune and just playing as he watched the sky get steadily darker outside. He couldn't help thinking back to his day at school.

Edward continued to stare at the computer which had just been vacated by Bella Swan. That went well. He had heard her grumble about finding the error in her program and decided to suggest looking at the array since he had just discovered having made an indexing mistake himself. It had seemed the perfect opportunity to speak to her and, maybe, convince her that he wasn't a self-absorbed idiot. Thanks Mr. Phelan for letting her know the "real" me.

Certainly he had been noticing her more and more over the last few weeks. He had to admit that part of him felt a bit competitive with her since that first day in Statistics. In trying to prove that she underestimated his abilities, however, he discovered that he had probably also underestimated hers.

Edward watched as Mike Newton appeared out of nowhere to escort Bella to class. The boy didn't even have class with her next period. If anyone was going to walk Bella to her next class it should at least be someone in that class. Someone like Edward. Ugh, was this just about correcting her misconceptions or did he feel something else? What was wrong with him? It was bad enough that every other male in the school seemed to be drooling over her, did he have to think about her all the time too?

Scarcely any of these admirers had actually tried to get to know her. So, what exactly was it that they saw? A pretty face, thick mahogany hair. Maybe the less idiotic ones had noticed the soulful brown eyes. Surely no one who knew so little about her could see more in her than that? They saw something, but it obviously wasn't the independent intelligence, the geekiness that one noticed by glancing at her sideways in class. Just what was it about Bella that kept them thinking?

"That's a nice song."

Edward recognized Esme's voice and without pausing in his melody began to laugh a little.

"You say that so much that I'm afraid I'm too suspicious to believe it anymore, you know."

"It's my job as a mother," Esme chuckled, adding another harmony to the music-filled room. "Still though, I like it. Relaxing, after a few hours of stressful supermarket crowds. What's it called?"

"This? It isn't even really a song, it's just..." but then he stopped.

Because suddenly he realized that he had stepped off his random assortments of chords into another realm entirely. From out of nowhere, his fingers sliding onto the keys as if they had already played this song again and again, a real tune picked its way into the air.

"I don't know what it is," he murmured, confused, as his fingers came to a halt.

Esme smiled at her son when he turned around, a bag of groceries still in her arms.

"It sounded kind of like a lullaby to me."

--------------------

Pixie: Hey Arrwyn

Arrwyn: what is it?

Two small feminine figures moved in a dance across the screen, one shooting off sparks of blue magic that surrounded her like an aura, the other lithe and pale, to confront ferocious creatures that looked vaguely feline.

Pixie: I finally chose my song

Pixie: I've been practicing

Arrwyn: really?

Pixie: You?

Arrwyn: lol, its a surprise...

Pixie: That doesn't sound promising.

Much to everyone's sincere amazement, karaoke night had become an almost weekly occurrence. And it wasn't all Pixie's doing. The first night had been an unbelievable success (when MoodMan had surprised them all by singing a hilarious song about a person who could sing like a frog, the fun was only destined to increase). Bella still felt a little nervous every time, though, since she wasn't all that confident in her vocal chords. Pixie assured her that that was half the fun of karaoke, however.

Pixie: You better actually have something

Pixie: No one gets to sit out

Arrwyn: o, dont i, tho?

Pixie: ...

Arrwyn: we hav 2 get connected 2

Arrwyn: ventrilo soon, actually

Pixie: What? Is it already that late?

Pixie: Oh, youre right

Arrwyn: sigh, 5 more percent ...

Pixie: No leveling today, my friend

Pixie has signed off.

--------------------

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are?" Bella finished dramatically, to the thunderous applause trapped in her headset.

"Bravo! And here I thought that she hadn't picked a song!" laughed Pixie brightly.

Bella was the fourth to sing her masterpiece tonight. As was tradition, MoodMan had started them all off with a song in his deep, unusually tuneful voice, although it had been a fast-paced song jabbered away entirely in French so Bella could only appreciate the music and the expressions which he threw in. Pixie had then taken her spot singing a Johnny Cash song about someone hurting himself in a voice so hilariously upbeat that it ended in breathless laughter on every line. Angela's song was quiet and soaring, leaving a note of satisfaction in every mind... and Bella's had been...

"Awe-inspiring," Lehstat said in mocking congratulation. "I just can't get enough of your voice, Arrwyn. So deep and moving."

"Huh! Let's see how you do," Bella challenged him, knowing immediately that it was a wasted attempt at a dare. Lehstat should have been on American Idol, he was so good.

"I'm the last person yet to go, so I accept that challenge," Lehstat said seriously. "I warn you, however, that my awesome powers may be too much for mortal ears." He paused a minute to say, "I wrote it myself, you know," and then continued darkly, "listen and be amazed..."

They all were.

It was almost impossible to believe a high schooler had written it. As soon as the song began it swept everything else away. It would rise on a sweet wave of voice, then fade by shades so gently that Bella caught her breath. The lyrics were frustrated and poetic, but the tune itself was tender and a lot like a lullaby. It built and fell, tossed and turned like a dream, and when Lehstat's incredible voice finally rose to a climax and died away, there was only a stunned silence to replace it.

"...wow," Bella breathed. That was all one could say. Even as they sat there, she realized that she had already memorized it.