Why hellooo! Welcome to our first story, Heritage. A few key points for this book: Bella does not know Jacob is a werewolf, nor does she know the Cullens. Thanks for looking, and please review to let us know what you think!

- M&M

Peter Swan looked up at his father, William Swan, in defiance. He held Anna tightly in his arms. "Father, you can't keep us apart!" He said strongly.

Anna's father, Remus, seemed to snarl down at her. "Oh, but I can. You can't get married without my blessing, and I'm sure as hell not gonna give it to you. I won't sanction you sullying the Quileute bloodlines like this. A Swan and a Atera were never meant to be together."

Anna spoke, anger in her voice. "This isn't about tribe traditions, Dad, or family honor, or bloodlines. I love Peter, and he loves me. There shouldn't be anything more to it."

Jenna, Anna's mother, spoke. "Well, there is. This is final Anna. We forbid you two from seeing each other again. This is over as of now!"

Lucy, Peter's mother, nodded stiffly in agreement. Peter and Anna looked at each other, fear plain in their eyes. What would they do? It was already too late. In nine months, there wouldn't be anything their parents could do...

.::~Five Generations Later~::.

Charlie hovered over my shoulder as I flipped through the ancient book. It must have had all of my ancestors recorded there since the cave men days. I had been looking through it for a history project we were given to do over the summer on our ancestors, when a name popped out to me. Several, in fact. Atera... Ulley... Clearwater. Quileutes? I spoke.

"Uh, Dad?"

"Yeah?" He asked, sounding only a little bit bored.

"I didn't know there were Quilieutes in our family..."

"Yup. Your great-great-grandpa was half in half. See there? He had a kid with Anna, a girl, and their daughter got married to an Ulley; then that line follows down to Sam Ulley. He's your fourth cousin removed a few times. Or somethin' like that." He gestured around with his hand for emphasis.

"Really? That's cool." I said.

Charlie almost looked scared. "I hope your not gonna go all 'Native Heritage' and start walking around with a bow and arrow and some moccasins. If that's the case, your gonna be sleeping outside."

I laughed. "Don't worry. I'm too pale to pull it off."

"Good. Well, uh, I hope you found something interesting to put in your report."

I smiled at Charlie's attempt to be gruff. "Yeah, thanks Dad. This is perfect."

"Awesome. Well, you may be on vacation, but not me. I gotta go to work."

"Yeah, OK. Hey, can I go down to the rez today?" I asked. I was eager to tell Jake about this. I saw my dad's eyes light up at the suggestion; I knew how much he liked Jake.

"Of course you can, honey. I'm probably gonna work late tonight, so you take your time."

"Sure. Thanks. I'll see you later then." I said as I watched him clip on his belt.

"Okay. Bye, Bells." He walked out the front door, closing it firmly behind him.

I waited until I heard the tires rolling on the gravel, then onto the pavement of the road, before I got up and called Jake. I walked into our happy, yellow, kitchen and grabbed the phone from the hook. The Black's phone number was on our speed dial, so I pressed the four and waited. It rang three times before Billy's voice answered on the other line.

"Hello?" His voice was gruff and husky, like an older Jacob.

"Hey Billy. It's Bella. Is Jacob there, or..." I trailed off.

"No, he's out with Sam and the others. But if you want to come over an wait, he should be home in a few minutes." He suggested.

"Wow, that'd be great. I guess I'll see you in a bit then."

"Alright. Bye, Bella."

I heard the phone on the other end click as Billy put it back onto the receiver, and I did the same thing. I couldn't hide the smile on my face as I pulled my favorite brown hoodie over my head, grabbed my family tree book, and walked out to my truck. Though it was July, the air was still crisp and damp. I climbed into my truck, and turned the key in the ignition. The roaring engine comforted me, as I sped only slightly over the speed limit.

I pulled off of the paved street, and onto the gravel road that led into La Push. As I went through town, I smiled as several people recognized me and waved. I waved back. It was almost five more minutes until the little red house came into view. The Rabbit was parked next to the shed. I saw the curtains swish, and I assumed that Billy had been looking out for me.

The truck fell into silence as I turned off the engine. I hopped out of the cab, a fine mist now falling from the sky. I was chilled by the time I made it to the porch, thankful that Billy had the door open and waiting for me. The house was warm and cozy. The TV in the living room was muted; the channel showed a man crouching over a freshly killed buck. I could smell something delicious wafting in from the kitchen.

"Hey Billy. Thanks for letting me come over."

"Anytime, Bella." He said with a surprisingly white smile. I returned it and sat down on the couch, my book resting carefully on my lap. "What'd you got there?" Billy nodded at my book and wheeled closer, peering at the faded cover.

"It's my family tree book. I thought you and Jacob might be interested in something I found this morning." I replied, putting a piece of old tape back in it's place.

The front door opened, and Jake walked in. He was wearing a pair of old cut of khaki shorts and nothing else. "Bella!" He exclaimed, striding over to me and picking me up. He grasped me in a huge hug and held me tight before letting me go.

"I have something to show you." I said, reaching for the book from where it fell onto the couch. I sat down, Jake doing the same. I placed the gargantuan book on my lap, the old wrinkled leather was smooth under my fingers. I flipped open to the most recent page. I followed the line up. "See, here's me, and above me there's Charlie. That's his father, my grandpa, Jeffery Swan, than Jeff's great grandfather there; his name was Peter. Peter married an Atera, who had a daughter who married an Ulley! Then they had some sons, which eventually ended up with Sam. See, I'm part Quileute! I'm like Sam's fourth cousin removed a few times."

Jake took the book. "Huh. That's... I wonder how that happened. I heard that back then, the Tribe was really big on 'Pure Bloodlines' and stuff. I can't imagine that her parents would just let her have a kid with a pale face."

"They didn't." Billy spoke, his voice dark and disapproving. "I remember the stories. The two fell in love. Their parents didn't approve at all, so the two ran away together. Nine months they came back with a baby stroller." Billy seemed to spit the words out in disgust. "Their parents all but disowned them. If I remember, they had two children, a daughter and a son."

I was a little bit disturbed at Billy's strong feelings, but disregarded them. "Uh, yeah. That's right. The daughter married an Ulley, and the son continued on the Swan name." I paused. "So isn't that cool? Ha ha to you Jake. You can't call me a pale face anymore."

He shook his head, smiling. "Yes I can."

I pouted.

"Though you may be, what, one twentieth Quileute, and from Phoenix, you are still very pale; so to me you will always be a pale face."

"Wonderful. Here I was, thinking I was off the hook."

"Nope. Never. So, why are you here?"

"Oh, I can't drop by and see my best friend? Too busy to spend time with me? I'm hurt, Jake."

Jake looked worried for a second, like he thought I was serious, then laughed and pulled me up off the couch. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Hey, come on. Let's go do something."

"Alright." I agreed quickly. I had always enjoyed spending time with Jake, and probably always would.

Jake led us outside, and I was relieved to see that it had stopped misting, though the skies remained gray and it was probably going to start back up again. Just as a few drops began to fall, we ran into the tiny garage. Jake opened up the passenger door of the rabbit and gestured for me to get in. "After you, madame."

I laughed. "You're such a nerd."

"Sorry. Can't help it." He grinned, getting in the drivers side.

"Are we going somewhere?" I asked as he put his hands on the wheel.

"Nah. I only need one more thing, but then we could. I just thought these finely carpeted seats would be more comfortable than the ground." He joked.

"They are. So you're almost done? What more do you need? I can't wait to see you get this thing out on the road."

"Just a part for the brakes. They sell it in town, but I haven't gotten a chance to go yet." He shrugged.

"Well, we have the truck. Let's go get it, and you can finish it today."

"Seriously?" He grinned a stunning smile, and I returned it.

"Why not?"

"Awesome." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

It seemed that almost as soon as we had gotten in the Rabbit, we were out and back into the cold drizzle. Jake was jogging through the rain and I tried to keep up, but failed miserably. Foolishly, I tried to speed up, and only succeeded in nearly falling flat on my face. Jake must have heard my gasp or my flailing limbs as I tried to regain my balance. He turned and laughed as he saw me in what I could only assume was a fairly hilarious position. My feet were braced apart and my hands splayed out on either side on me, standing upright, waiting for the ground to try and shake me down again.

He jogged back to me and swept me into his arms. I squeaked, and beat on his chest as he shifted me so he was carrying me bridal style. "Jake! Put me down! I can walk by myself."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day you'll meet someone who believes you."

I sighed. "You are not funny Jacob Black."

"You're right. I'm freaking hilarious."

I shook my head as he opened the passenger door and set me down in the truck. He walked over to the other side and sat down, asking for the keys. "Jake, you don't even have your license."

"So?"

I shrugged and gave him the keys. "If you get us arrested I will kick you until you can no longer move." I said, turning to watch the rain falling outside of my window.

"Correction: You'll try. And even if we do get arrested, I could always just bust us out." He said, a confident grin on his face.

"Yeah. Sure you could. I'm sure Charlie would just love that."

"True, true." He said, turning the key in the engine.

The truck roared to life and he pulled out of their small gravel driveway, then onto the main road. The ride into forks was quiet, but comfortable. We passed the 'Welcome to Forks' sign, and I knew the mechanic shop wasn't far away. Jake pulled into the closest parking spot to the door. I unbuckled my seat belt and hopped out, quickly scurrying under the overhang surrounding the shop.

Jake walked in front of me, but only so he could open the door for me when I got to it. The smell of metal and oil washed out of the shop, clearing my head. It was a familiar smell, reminding me of all the time I had spent with Jake so far this summer. Jake inhaled deeply, and grinned. I could tell he was more at home in a place like this than anywhere else. I smiled and shook my head.

Jake stiffened beside me, and I turned to him, concerned. "Jake? What's-" Then I saw him. It was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. He was tall and lanky. Sinewy muscle covered his body. His hair was copper. Something was off about him. I didn't know what it was, but something didn't sit well in my gut at all. The boy was talking to the man behind the cashier.

"Surely there must be some way you could get that part? I need it within the week."

"I'm sorry, but we only get shipments in once every two months, and that part for a car like that, well, we don't even carry that line." The man was flustered, his speech was shaky, sweat beaded on his upper lip.

I watched as the boy too, stiffened. He turned to us in the door way, and for a second, I thought his eyes looked almost gold, but then they were black. He turned back to the man at the counter. "Very well. It's obvious you can't help me. Thank you for your time." He said curtly, and walked with exaggeratedly long strides, almost as if he were trying not to run.

I tried to step out of the guy's way, but I ran into Jake who might as well have turned into a stone pillar. I ended up losing my balance and bouncing back into the kid. I smacked hard into his chest. And by hard, I mean the kid felt like Jake, like he was made out of stone. Except he wasn't warm like a sun, he was cold like the moon. He turned his vicious black glare on me, his eyes boring holes into mine. His lip twitched like he was trying to fight off a snarl. Then he was gone.

Jake was shaking next to me, and to be honest, I didn't feel too great either. Something wasn't sitting right in my stomach, but I ignored it. I put my hand on Jake's shoulder and shook a little. "Hey Jake? You okay? Come on, let's get this part you need and get outta here. That guy gave me the creeps."

That seemed to shake him out of it. "Yeah? Yeah, okay." Jake picked the part off of where it was hanging on the wall, tossed a few twenty dollar bills down on the counter, and left the store without another word.

The whole ride home Jake's eyes grew blacker and blacker as his mood grew worse, and I felt stranger and stranger. Who had that boy been? Why had he seemed so... wrong? When I saw him, why did I feel that... fear? Not fear really, but just a consuming... anger. I couldn't make sense of it. He was too perfect, too cold, and too... Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I felt like I was falling apart. I felt like I wasn't me anymore, or soon wouldn't be.

"Jake." I said. My voice was urgent and hard.

Jake looked at me from the corner of his eyes, and he must have seen something in my face, because he slammed on the brakes. We were halfway between Jake's house and the main part of La Push. Forest bordered us on both sides. "Oh my God. Bella!"

"Jake. Jake, something's wrong. Something feels wrong." I said, my voice getting panicky. My hands began to shake uncontrollably, and I felt like I was getting a fever. I was burning up.

"No! That... that leech! He did this to you!" He was raging now, and something inside me latched on to that, and I began to feel the same thing. Rage. Anger. Fear. It was so unlike me...

"Jake, what's going on?!"

"Bella, get out of the car! Now!" He said, flinging open his door. I did the same, unsettled by how every thing I did seemed to be in a fog. I was in a daze. He grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me about twenty yards into the woods. I couldn't see the road, or my truck.

"Tell me what's going on! Now!" My anger built inside me.

I couldn't control it. I felt a fire running down my spine. I couldn't control it any longer. My whole body was shaking; I was shaking apart into so many pieces I wasn't even me anymore. I was something else. Then all at once, it blew. All the tension blew up inside me. My limbs were on fire, but only for the briefest moment. I heard a vicious snarl that rang in my ears, somehow comforting, somehow familiar. Then it was over.

Oooooh. I have to say Marissa did an excellent job writing this chapter! Please, please, please, please, please review, favorite, all that stuff. Reviews make us type faster! Promise!

- M&M