Theme #17- Black Wings; Wings for the 30Nights community on livejournal. This one turned out lame and OC, though. ):

!IMPORTANT!: I've recently started up an LJ community (that will spread past LJ, I assure you) to write a collaborated HP fanfic. Now, I know that you all are Twilight readers and probably wouldn't want to be involved in writing that fic but here's what I was thinking about: A Twilight Collaborated Fanfiction. It'll be the same general idea as the Harry Potter one, only...It'll be Twilight instead. If you'd like information to get an idea of what it would be like and if enough people would like to help out then I'd LOVE to start it up! Information on what it would be like can be found collaborate(downdash)fic on LJ. Just go to and enter " collaborate(downdash)fic" in the username search bar. Everything on that site will be the same as the Twilight one if I start it. The only change will be the fanmix part. Anywhoz, have fun reading and let me know if you enjoyed it! (:

Disclaimer: If I owned it, it'd be more sappy and less interesting. XD

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Bedtime Stories

The clap-clap of her flip-flops against the creaking wooden stairs flowed through his ears to resound quietly through his head. He knew she would be returning for her trip to Heaven that evening and after being separated for so long -three days that felt more like 3 centuries- and had left loving parents standing shocked in the kitchen when he realized the time and how soon she would be arriving at her home. He made a mental note to apologize when he returned to change that evening. Running out of the house unannounced was quite rude, he mused as the sound of her clapping shoes became louder and louder with every creak of the stairs just before it all stopped and the gentle sound of her anxious breathing just outside the door filled the space where the clapping had once been.

His eased his body slowly off the padded mattress to pad silently across the room to her bedroom door. Her scent -light, floral and with a mix of the light air from Heaven- wafted heavily through the cracks at the side and under the door to flood his senses once again. A deep breath brought it all in to linger in and around his nose. It was a scent so pure gentle that he was suddenly reminded as to why he couldn't get it off of his mind while she'd been gone.

In a slower pace than he'd ever managed, his hand moved to grasp the copper handle of the door and pull it slightly open to reveal his pale form. The dark hair on her head shook and fell gracefully off of her shoulders as her head snapped up to gaze at him with large, shocked eyes, "You're here, already?"

A small, crooked smile took place on his lips when he laughed a breathy-laugh and nodded his head. Her short, lithe body was wrapped securely in his arms just moments later and they struggled to pull each other ever-closer so that they may never be separated for such a long time, again.

"Next time," he whispered for only her to hear, "I'm coming with you."

Though he couldn't see the nod, he felt it as her head moved slowly against his chest. "Yes," she whispered just as quietly, "you defiantly will be."

Bella's eyes were squinted and confused for a moment before her mouth opened to speak and then closed again. The movement distinctly reminded me of a fish; a small white one with large, lovely brown eyes and glowing scales that would make any predator faint from their beauty. It was a rather amusing sight and I had to remind myself that it was late in the evening (long past Charlie's bedtime) and that my volume needed to be kept very low when I laughed at the very peculiar face she was making.

The confused in her chocolate orbs dimmed momentarily before she whispered, "Wait a moment. Was she...dead?"

'Volume, Edward. Remember your volume,' I repeated in my head and I held back my laughter. Though her lips had closed and the fish movement was complete the pursed shape they had formed at my laughter was even more entertaining than the previous face had been. She scoffed just a little and whispered, "Well fine, laugh at my expense. That was probably your plan all along."

"What? To tell you a story that you wouldn't understand so that you would make odd faces at me and bring me to uncontrollable laughter?" I whispered back with a breathy laugh following.

She nodded just a little and eased her pursed lips, "Exactly."

I pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face, letting my cool fingers linger at her cheekbone before smiling at her, "No, that wasn't my plan and yes, she was dead. She was his...guardian angel of sorts. At least, that's what I assumed. My mother never really explained it to me. I believe she expected that I would understand it in my own time." I paused, trying to remember the story word for word. "You have to understand, Bella, It's been a long time since I've heard that story. I may have it all backwards, by now."

Her sigh was light -a gentle flutter of breath against my shoulder.

"Tell me, Edward," she said in a quiet, patient voice, "What do you think it meant?"

My memories of late nights and whispered tales were blurry, barely recognizable and I feared that my patience would wear thin before I was able to fully create an opinion about what I did think it meant. It made very little sense for her to be his guardian angle when he was waiting at her home but who else -other than angels- visited Heaven? Surely angels didn't live in homes with creaking stairs and cooper door handles nor wear flip-flops that clapped with their ever step and I guarantee that Carlise's father never told the Church's followers of angels having such beatific scents and sleeping on warm, cushioned beds.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure if I had the story right at all. The idea of having mixed various stories together to form a new one wasn't at all an uneducated idea. Frankly, I remember how the flickering candle light shed the brightest of glows to the light copper of my mother's skin and how her skin always smelled of rosewood and thyme when she read to me those long, lonely nights. I remember more of the sound of my father's deep grumble when I shook him with my whispered worries of ghosts and monsters under my bed and my mother's patient whisper of, "Come on to your room with me, Edward. I'll scare all those ghosts and monsters away" more than the stories she told me to ensure that I was well protected there in my bed.

I turned to face Bella with dimmed eyes and a slightly grim look to tell her that I really didn't know what it had been about when I saw that she had fallen to sleep while she waited for the rest of my tale. The gentle sweeping motion of the wind-blown curtain created a flicker of light from the moon and highlighted the gentle curves and dips of her pale skin while her steady breathing brought a rise and fall to her chest and brought a gentle flutter of air against my shoulder. Her light and very pure scent wafted through the air along with the gentle breeze from outside and for a moment I wondered just how I would be able to last while she was away in Phoenix next week. Such a sight would defiantly be missed by my eyes.

I sighed, glancing up at the digital clock before turning back to face her slumbering form.

Powder-white light had seemed to highlight the area just around her back to create a swift arch that, at least for a moment, closely resembled a glowing white wing spreading free from Bella's back to reach with every ounce of it's strength towards the ceiling as though desperately trying to meet it. My thoughts, silenced by the sight, picked up immediately when the sight faded from sight and clicked together faster than I could comprehend.

Surely, Bella hadn't grown momentary wings and surely she wasn't an angel in the sense that she'd died, gone to Heaven and then ventured back down to Earth to keep watch over me but, perhaps, I had remembered my mother's story just as it had been told. Maybe my mother had been right to not tell me of what she truly meant by that story.

Perhaps-

Well, there were plenty of 'perhaps's and 'maybe's but for now, I believe I will settle with the idea that Bella was the guardian angel my mother had told me of and that she will be the very person to scare away the ghosts and monsters under my bed. Once again, I find myself holding back a laugh and had to bring my face to rest against the warm, silky strands atop her head to keep my volume low as I whisper goodnight to my sleeping angel and let the power-white wings fade from my view as my eyes drift shut to simply feel.