Hi guys! Well, still pretty long update time, but at least I was better than last time! And that was with Prom and AP's in the middle - I've already started working on the next chapter, hopefully I can get it to you quicker. I tried to make Angela a little less OOC here and I think I answered some of your questions; I'll get to them all I promise! Please comment with any questions or anything, I'm always open to constructive criticism! Enjoy!

I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own Twilight.

Vampires. The word seeped through me like cough syrup, and a small shudder escaped me before I could help it. Wait, I told myself, these are the same people I sat next to at lunch for most of last year. And I'm a werewolf. Obviously, not everything is as Hollywood teaches us. I can hear them out, at least.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. And more than a little confused. You took that more calmly than when we proposed you phase back to human. Don't you think your priorities are a little out of order?"

Bella cut in before I could respond. "Love, stop obsessing about how people are supposed to react to things. Are you saying you'd rather she had freaked?" When her vampire husband looked properly chastised, she rolled her eyes and turned to me. "Don't mind him. For a mind-reader, he's awful at understanding people. Now, if I know my family, they have yet to give you any answers. Am I right?" I nodded, and she rolled her eyes again. "I love them, I really do, but sometimes they're a little idiotic. First things first: we—my family and I—do not drink human blood. He should've told you that before giving you the chance to freak out, but he has a bad habit of making things seem worse than they are for some masochistic—

She was cut off by a throat clearing behind her, and we all turned to where Dr. Cullen was leaning against the sink. Clearly, we had all forgotten he was there. Luckily, he did not look irritated, merely amused. "Bella, you were just saying…? About giving answers first?" He raised his eyebrows, and she looked down. She looked like she always used to when she was blushing, but no red appeared on her cheeks. That must not be something vampires—Iforced myself to think the word—could do. Bella turned back to me.

"Why don't you keep eating, I know how powerful a wolf's appetite is, and I'll fill you in? Here, I'll get you some more, you probably want seconds." She moved so fast she was a blur even to me, and my plate was magically full once more with lasagna and garlic bread. Heh. Garlic. Out of the corner of my eye as I sat back down I saw Edward roll his eyes. Bella sat across from me, and the two men went back out to the living room to give us some privacy, Edward still holding his daughter (now that was going to take some getting used to). Bella sighed, relaxing. "So…how are you holding up? I know it's hard to take, but it does get better once you've had a chance to sleep—your mind just kind of smoothes everything over and you can get ready for the next impossibility. Or at least that's how it was for me, but then again, I never was very normal…"

I took a huge bite, thinking it over. I was much calmer than before, partly because I suspected Jasper was still helping me, but also because of Bella. I had always liked her in high school; she was so much nicer than Jessica or Lauren, even when I got the feeling that she was keeping something from me. Now that I was no longer panicked and therefore jumping to crazy conclusions, I realized that this, the existence of the supernatural, was probably her big secret. Which meant she had known for ages. Or maybe not? Had she discovered Edward was a vampire and that was why the Cullens left, triggering her zombie phase? Wait. Had she actually been a zombie then? After all, I was a werewolf and she was a vampire. It could totally happen. Wait. Jumping to crazy conclusions again. And Bella was still waiting for an answer to her question. I shrugged.

"It's better, now. The shock is still there, but the anger's under control now, and it really helps having you here. I always wished we could be closer—you were the nicest girl friend I had had by far—but I always felt like there was something you wouldn't or couldn't tell me…and you never thought the height thing was too weird between Ben and…" I turned away, wiping my eyes. "Wow, this garlic bread is strong," I said weakly. I felt a gentle, brief pressure from a frozen hand on my arm, and then it was gone.

"The shape-shifting gene is one of the most closely guarded of the Quileute tribe," Bella said, giving me the explanations that just a few moments ago I had felt to be my first priority. When I looked at her, her butterscotch eyes were knowing, but she continued with her explanations as if she were teaching a college class (not that I had ever taken a course on Supernatural Genetics). "It's typically passed down from father to son, and only through a few bloodlines at that. You and Leah Clearwater are the only two females known to have phased."

I gave a hard laugh. "That would explain the conversation where your husband saw fit to imply that my mother of adultery, then inform me that I had been adopted. I might have tackled him. I sure hope you're okay with that."

"Angela, calm," Jasper reminded me from upstairs, accompanying it with a burst of peace.

I blushed and took deep breaths (through my mouth after the first one, the stench that I now identified as vampire was definitely not something to help me calm down). Bella seemed oblivious to my near-explosion, simply rolling her eyes and muttering something too low for me to hear, although I did think I caught the word "idiot." After a moment, she continued.

"Jacob—you met Jacob, right? Yes? Well, his great-grandfather, Ephraim, was a wolf, along with two others. When they died, the gene was thought to have died as well, but when the Cullens came back, the gene was switched on again. Apparently, it was only dormant and the presence of vampires woke it up. Which is probably why you phased; Leah phased when just a couple vampires were around because she had the gene from both sides, but you only had it from one side…we had a lot of vampires here until a couple days ago. They were here for a month, and then with the advent of," she shuddered, "New Year's Eve there were a lot more, and then everyone did leave but I bet it was still just too much for the wolf gene…Carlisle? What do you think?"

In a flash he was there at the door, looking both thoughtful and eager. "Very well reasoned, Bella, that does seem probable. I wonder, when is one considered a werewolf? Is it only once the first phase has occurred? Because if I were to guess, the gene is activated far earlier than that, when the growing starts…"

"And when it comes to biology, we've all learned to trust your guesses," inserted Bella with a smile.

Her father-in-law chuckled lightly. "Well, you might be surprised. While you were pregnant, I thought Renesmee might actually be a werewolf. Of the Quileute variety, of course." He raised his voice slightly to compensate for the sudden chorus of growls from the living room. "I'm sure everyone is very relieved that she is not, and that the Quileutes are not descended from vampires."

"I wonder if there is a way to prove our theory?" he continued in a normal tone. "Angela, did you notice any discrepancies leading up to today? When did you first start feeling or acting odd?"

I thought for a second, then blushed. There was no way I was going to say that in a house full of people with super-hearing.

Edward breezed into the room. "I think we can safely say that she's been a wolf for two days at the least," he said quietly. "That's when her monthly cycle should have come."

I was saved from death by blushing when he came out with something that shocked me out of my humiliation.

"She must have been immortal by then, for her body to have stopped changing."

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