*Austins POV*

The sun was creeping through the curtains. I groaned as I turned on my side, the bed cracking under my movement.

Sun on Christmas. Of course. Welcome in Miami.

The beam of sunlight was shining right on Ally's face, highlighting the beauty that was always there. Her eyes were closed, her hair sprawled over the pillow.

I smiled, sneaking my hand around her shoulder so I could make little circles on her skin.

She had once told me she liked waking up that way.

I put my face a little closer to her. She looked so beautiful and peaceful while she slept.

But it was time to wake up.

Because it was Christmas, and I was hungry.

"Ally," I whispered. Her eyelids fluttered. She always woke up from the littlest sound. Unlike me.

"Psst, Als, wake up." I pushed my nose against her cheek, followed by my lips, kissing her softly.

She giggled.

Oh, how I loved that sound.

"You're like a puppy," she muttered, her voice still thick with sleep. "They lick you when they want attention too."

Demonstrating, I licked her cheek. She squealed, turning around, her back towards me.

"Al-ly," I whined, dragging the l's.

"I'm hungry."

"Merry Christmas to you too," she said softly, facing me again. I pulled her close to me, kissing her softly but passionately.

Sparks still flew, like that night outside her dad's house.

On Christmas, just last year.

Christmas was always a special time, but since last year, it was extra special.

It wasn't just a holiday anymore, it was a celebration of the day I got the girl that changed my life.

I wanted to make sure she knew I still remembered that. Remembered everything, really. I brought my lips to her ear.

"I´ve got a feeling
This year´s for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby."

I sang so softly, that even Ally could barely hear me. But she could hear me. I could tell by the smile and the blush, which almost always appeared together when it was regarding something I said or did.

I loved that I could make her blush.

"That's cheesy." She turned to me. "But sweet."

"Merry Christmas. Pancakes?" I put on my puppy eyes. She never knew how to say no to those.

She nodded.

"In a minute. Austin, I want to show you something." Her voice turned serious, and I shot up immediately.

"Is something wrong?" I urged.

"What? No. It's just… I had a dream last night." She turned her head a little, pushing it in her pillow.

Her blush had just disappeared, but now she was blushing again. I smirked. Like I said. Cute.

"About what?"

"You. And me. I… uhm, I sang you a song."

I placed my hand on her back, continuing my circles.

"You know you don't have to sing for me. You have stage fright, I get that, Ally."

She still wrote songs, of course. Mostly for me, but I knew she sometimes wrote for herself too.

She just never sang them when she knew I was home. Or even remotely close to home, for that matter.

"But I want to." Her voice was barely audible, and for a second, I was afraid I might have misheard her.

"You want to…sing for me?"

She nodded.

"I wrote a song just yesterday, because it was our anniversary and all, and I wanted to sing it to you as a gift, but I got… distracted."

I couldn't help but smile when last night's memories came back. Distracted was one way of putting it.

She smiled too.

"But I want to sing it to you now. Because if I don't do it now I will never do it, and I think you really need to hear this song."

Putting action to her words, she got out of bed, put on one of my T-shirts, that I'd left on the ground the previous evening, and walked to the piano that was in her bedroom.

I watched her for a while, from bed. She just sat there, looking utterly perfect in my shirt.

I couldn't help but feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

I didn't deserve someone as amazing as Ally. And yet, here she was.

And to think I could've ruined it all. I wouldn't have any of the memories of the last year.

My career was going amazing, which was partly thanks to Trish, who was my new manager so my mom could get some rest.

Without Ally, Trish wouldn't be my manager.

But, I realized, as I watched Ally play with her hair, even if all those amazing things would have happened, they wouldn't have meant as much without Ally.

Her being there made all the good times great, and all the bad times bearable.

I'd give it all up for her. All of the things that happened, it didn't matter without her. The sun wouldn't shine and the sky wouldn't be blue, if I couldn't be with her.

Shaken from my thought by the sound of a piano note, I shot into some clothes, just boxers and a T-shirt, and sat next to her on the piano bench.

Her fingers danced over the keys, not pressing any, not making a sound.

I felt like I needed to tell her that she didn't have to do this, that I understood why she hadn't sang to me like I did to her all the time.

But on the other hand, I really wanted to hear what she wrote. And I wanted to hear her sing it.

"I love you, Als," I muttered, sitting closer to her. She smiled. She turned at me, looking at me, and I skipped a breath.

Still happened all the time, too.

"I love you too," she said softly. I placed my hand on her waist, as she started playing.

And then, she started singing. And it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. As I listened, my smile grew wider, as I realized that I really was the luckiest guy in the world.

And I realized she was right: I had needed to hear this.

The girl I loved, the most amazing girl in the world, was sitting right next to me, telling me how much she loved me too.

"When your soul finds the soul it was waiting for,
When someone walks into your heart, like an open door,
When your hand finds the hand it was meant to hold,
Don't let go."

I tightened my grip on her waist. I could tell she meant every word she sang, and it was all for me.

Her words were getting through. I heard them, loud and clear. But she shouldn't worry. I wasn't letting her go.

Ever.

"Someone comes into your world,
suddenly your world, has changed forever.

There's no one else's eyes,
That could see into me.
No one else's arms can lift me up so high.
Your love lifts me out of time,
And you know my heart by heart.

When you're with the one you were meant to find,
everything falls into place, all the stars align.

So now we've found our way to find each other.
So now I've found my way, to you.

No there's no one else's eyes,
That could see into me.

No there's no one else's eyes,
That could see into me.
No one else's arms can lift me up so high.
Your love lifts me out of time,
And you know my heart by heart.

Yes, you know my heart by heart."

The piano sounds died out. Ally stared at her hands, blushing lightly. I knew she was waiting for me to talk.

To tell her what I thought.

But I couldn't say anything. Looking at her, I suddenly felt like I'd lost my ability to speak.

Do you ever look at someone, or something, and feel like your love for them consumes you, in a totally not creepy way? Sometimes I feel like that, even when I just think about her.

It feels like you want to cry, and scream, and smile, and just hug that person for the rest of eternity. Instead, you just smile a goofy smile, praise yourself lucky and promise yourself you'll always take care of her.

I couldn't tell her that. Because it sounded silly. But I knew, in some way, that she knew all of it already.

She could feel it.

Just like I could feel her love. Through the song she just sang, it became even more clear that she cared about me as much as I cared about her, even though I would never understand how.

Because she was perfect, and I was not.

But even though the song reminded me again of how much she cared about me, I had always known.

From the way I caught her looking at me sometimes, when I was playing guitar or piano. And she just sat there, looking at me, lost in thought, smiling.

From the way she laughed when I said somthing no one else would find remotely funny, but seemed to crack her up every time.

From the way she would cuddle into my arms at night, draping them around her like a blanket, when she thought I was asleep.

"You're awfully silent," Ally said softly, bringing me back to earth.

Instead of answering, I pulled her into me, burying my face in her neck, holding onto her for dear life.

Because sometimes, my thoughts became so tangled, and I couldn't understand myself anymore, and I felt like I was losing my mind.

Ally said it was the downside of having a creative soul.

And holding her, inhaling her scent, was the only thing that made sense to me.

When I was younger, I had said music was the only thing that made sense to me. And then I'd met Ally. And suddenly, the world seemed to make a little more sense every time she smiled at me.

"Please tell me what's wrong," Ally whispered in my ear. She was stroking my hair like I was a little kid crying into his mom's shoulder. "Was it my song?"

Her voice was trembling and I could tell she was freaking out.

"No, Als, your song was amazing. You sounded amazing. Everything was amazing," I told her. I could hear her sigh, relieved.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Why should something be wrong?" I responded, still not letting her go.

"Because you're only silent when you're sad."

She knew me better than I knew myself. She was right about that: she knew my heart by heart.

But I knew that the same was true the other way around. Everything she meant to me, I meant to her. And that was the only thing I needed to know in life.

I let her go, kissing her cheek softly. She looked a little confused and mostly worried. I smiled at her, and she smiled back, unsure as to why we were smiling.

I took her hands in mine. It was time to start Christmas. I was going to make it the best day ever.

For her. And for us.

"I'm also silent when I'm really, really happy. And just know that that type of silence will always be for you."

I kissed her, and I could feel her smile into the kiss, like she did so often. I pulled back, watching her smile, and I poked her side, making her squeal.

"Now, how about those pancakes?"

Song: Heart by Heart by Demi Lovato