Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or New Moon

Author's Note: Thank you to those who have been pushing me to write. My life is really busy, but knowing people are waiting makes me spend some extra time. Also, I've got some excellent twists and turns ahead. As you can tell, I'm weaving several plotlines together…but a lot of things come out in this chapter. Enjoy.

Family Tree Chapter 5

BPOV

I twisted my hands nervously. Even knowing that both Jake and Edward would be ok, and that Victoria was dead, didn't help relieve the anxiety. Perhaps it hadn't sunk in yet.

"Bella?" Alice asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you ok? Everything is fine now, you know that, right?"

"I know."

"Well, what's wrong then?"

I thought about all that had happened, and one thing in particular stuck out in my mind. I debated whether or not to tell her, but she probably already knew.

"Did you know that I'm related to the Quileutes?"

Alice smiled, but it was a bit strained.

"I wasn't aware of that, but so what? You're part of our family too."

"I know, but not in the same way." I looked out the window as the trees whipped by.

"Actually Bella…" Carlisle interjected, "You are just as much one of us as you are one of them."

My mouth hung open. "What do you mean?"

Carlisle pulled over, a few houses away from my house and turned to face me.

"Alice, had a vision, a long time ago, before you and Edward had become so close. She shared this vision with me, and I thought it would be prudent for us to keep it under wraps. You see, Alice has a talent for seeing ahead, to the future, not to the past. But this vision…was long ago, in a time that had already passed. The reason I know it to be true…is because it was a small part of my life. I was there when it happened. I didn't know that the woman's child had survived."

My head spun. What on earth was he talking about?

They both looked at each other and I could tell they didn't want to relay any more information for fear that I would snap. It had been a very stressful night.

"Please…I need to know what you're talking about. I'm trying to understand."

"Bella, how much do you know of your mother's ancestry?"

I blanched. "Not a whole lot…I was actually beginning to study that tonight, before Jacob showed up."

Carlisle seemed to think that over.

"I think…and this is just a thought, mind you, that you ought to look up all the information you have. Maybe then, when I explain, you will better understand."

I felt impatience welling up inside me.

"It would be better Bella, if you got some rest. We'll go over to our house later today and then you and Carlisle can talk." Alice urged.

I yawned.

Alice opened the door then, helping me out.

"See you later today Bella." Carlisle called out warmly, and then he was speeding away.

I leaned on Alice, and she didn't seem to mind one bit. She helped me onto her back and lithely climbed the tree in my front yard. She helped me through the window and landed softly as a cat on the hardwood, even avoiding the tiny bend that always creaked. I unhooked my arms, jumped down and then sat at my computer. The screen saver was on and I swirled the mouse, waking it back up again. Alice stood behind me, obviously interested as well.

"Do you know what Carlisle is talking about?" I asked softly.

"No. I mean, I can tell you what I saw, but I don't know what it means. I can only guess."

"Will you tell me?" I asked again.

"Ok. Well…this was before you and I had been properly introduced, and even Carlisle didn't know what to make of it. As you became close to our family, Carlisle did some research on your family. He wanted to be sure that you didn't have a hidden agenda. You see, it's very strange that Edward can't read you, and other abilities don't seem to affect you either. But what he found, he thought was interesting, once a connection was made with what I'd seen."

"And…what did you see?" I urged impatiently.

"I saw a dark alley, with dirty stones and a rain covered street. It was dark, and only a sliver of moon hung in the sky. I saw a woman, bundled up, hurrying along the street, what looked like a large bag or something, beneath her cloak. Then I saw Aro…"

I shivered as I thought of Aro, and Volterra again.

"He was stalking her, and he looked different, healthier somehow than he does now. Carlisle was with him, wearing clothing that hasn't been in vogue for over two hundred years. Well, this woman reached a doorway and was about to go in, when Aro attacked. He pulled back her throat and bit her, beginning to drink her blood. Carlisle was frozen, his eyes were coal black, but something caused his senses to come back to him. The woman's cloak opened, and he could see that she was pregnant. Quite far along, as far as I could tell.

Well, Carlisle rushed forward and pulled Aro off of her. Aro was angry of course and Carlisle begged him to find his senses, pulling Aro away from his prey. Aro argued with Carlisle, trying to explain to him that what he was doing was right, that Carlisle's way of thinking was wrong. Carlisle didn't agree and began to tend to the woman, trying to help her by sucking out some of Aro's venom. Aro hesitated for a few minutes, probably thinking that he'd won the argument and Carlisle was drinking the rest of the woman's blood. Aro lunged after a few moments, when it became obvious that he was trying to help her, and pulled Carlisle away, but one of Carlisle's fangs was caught, and I saw…and he saw…that some of his venom had entered the wound, quite unintentionally of course.

Well, the people inside had heard the commotion and opened the door to find the woman on the street, nearly lifeless from lack of blood. Aro and Carlisle took off into the night.

Suddenly, I was inside and I saw her, lying on the table, screaming in pain. The venom was moving through her body, you see. Well, she was screaming from the effects of the venom, but she was also screaming because her body was aborting her baby. The baby came, and a few short minutes after, she died, from blood loss. She didn't have enough blood to sustain her for the three days, for the transformation to be complete. But I heard the baby cry…and though it was white as the sheet it was lying in, it was not dead."

"I don't, understand." None of it made much sense to me.

"Bella…I don't really understand it either. That's why I told Carlisle about it. He was really surprised that the baby hadn't died when the mother did. He saved that baby's life, because if that woman's blood had been drained completely, the blood of her unborn child would have been drained as well. I'm not sure what it has to do with you, but Carlisle thinks it does."

I opened the first file that I had been looking at and skimmed through it quickly. I wanted answers.

This file was mostly about my grandparents, Stephenie Abbott and Jack Meyer. I looked at a copy of one of their photos and my breath caught as I saw how incredibly pale and beautiful Stephenie had been. I'd never met her, she'd died before I was born. That must have been where I got my skin from. My mother had a normal complexion. I studied Jack, and he seemed perfectly normal, other than an oversized mustache that he really should have trimmed. They had both been born in Colorado and later had moved to Phoenix, after they were married. This didn't help at all.

I continued my search with the next document, and found Robert Abbott and Lorraine Johansson. Again, there was a picture, but this one was in black and white and much of the detail had been lost. Robert had been born in Denver, Colorado, and Lorraine had been born in…Volterra, Italy. I felt my heart stop momentarily. I looked up at Alice and her eyes were intent, reading the text quickly.

"Volterra? I didn't know you were Italian, Bella." she accused.

"I'm not…as far as I know." I answered.

"Weird…may I?" Alice asked, pointing to the mouse.

"Sure."

Alice took the mouse and scrolled through a lot of documents, faster than I could even begin to see the words on the pages. She stopped briefly at an old newspaper article but then zoomed on, apparently reading through it all.

"Wow, Bella. I never would have thought you'd have such an interesting ancestry."

I looked up at her questioningly. "I'm sorry…I don't read at the speed of light."

She looked down and grinned. "Shall I save you the trouble of reading through all of that?"

"Yes, please."

"Bella, on your mother's side of the family, there were several people that had lived in Volterra, going back four generations. The fifth generation, however had resided outside of the city, in a town about twenty miles away, called Solera. Well, Solera no longer exists today, you won't find it on any map, because a hundred and fifty years ago, it was burned to the ground."

"I'm not following…"

"Ok, let me simplify this…in my vision, I saw a town marker, a sign that said Solera. I didn't know that this was a town until I looked through these files. Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that one of your great, great, great grandmother's lived in Solera, and she was born of a woman named Matile who had died in childbirth. She didn't die of normal causes, she had been attacked outside of her home, and died as a result of injuries to her neck. There was an Old Italian piece of parchment in your files that described the crime.

Anyway, the child she bore was a girl named Emberly and her family brought her to Volterra, the safest city around at the time, to grow up. It said in an old newspaper article that Emberly was not liked in the town, that a mob killed her just outside of its borders, because of a rare skin disorder and they believed she was a vampire.

In the records, it shows that Emberly herself had a child, when she was sixteen. Her child grew up alone in an abbey, but was later adopted by a German couple. What I'm getting at, and what I think Carlisle is getting at…is that Emberly was one of your ancestors."

"Ok…so what? Emberly survived. What's the big deal?"

"Yes…but she would have had some contact with the venom, it would have affected her, somehow. Perhaps that was why she was so white when she was born and people thought she had some kind of a disorder. Perhaps…" Alice continued.

"Or maybe she was so white because she had only a tiny bit of blood to survive on." I postulated.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, the files you have here are good, but there are definite gaps. Perhaps Carlisle knows something we don't. It will still be a good two hours before we can leave. You should get some rest."

"Ok." I mumbled. I didn't want to sleep, but I knew that I didn't have enough strength for another argument. I stood and yawned, stretching my arms over my head. I crossed to my bed, folding down the covers and slid beneath them. I warmed up quickly but found that something was missing. "Alice?"

"Yes Bella?"

"Would you lie next to me until I fall asleep?"

"Sure, ok."

"I miss Edward."

"I know. I know. We'll see him in the morning, ok?"

"Kay." I mumbled again, and as her cool body made contact with mine, I felt myself drift off.

EPOV

I jerked in pain as yet another compress was administered to my side.

"It's almost there Edward, your skin is healing quickly." Carlisle said.

"It better heal up faster. I don't want Bella to see me like this."

"I think you'll be fine in a day or so, but you need to take it easy." Carlisle continued.

I wonder if now would be a good time to tell him…

Carlisle's thoughts drifted into my mind.

"Tell me what?"

Carlisle sighed.

"Edward…I've uncovered something, something about Bella's family. I don't want you to be upset and I don't know that I should be telling you this now."

"I think I can handle it, after a night like the one I've just had." I retorted sarcastically.

"Well…all right. You see…when it came to my attention that Bella was able to avoid our "gifts", I became intensely curious. I researched her family on both sides. I know that you know about Charlie's side…and the Quileutes. What you don't know…is that Bella's protection…the blockage of her mind, probably comes from her Quileute blood. You can read werewolves thoughts…but only when they are broadcasting, and only when they are overly emotional.

Bella isn't a werewolf, but she carries an ancient genome within her that affords her a certain level of protection from us. This particular genome is exceedingly rare, even in her bloodline. It shows up only once every four generations or so. It causes a tiny structural change in the brain itself…I know because I've seen her CT scans. This particular structural change affects the brain, but it also affects balance. We all know that she is particularly prone to accidents, and it is because of this genome."

I felt my head spinning. I mean…it was the perfect explanation. I could suddenly understand how she and Jacob were able to become so close, so quickly. How she would call him her best friend. I also knew that she was as graceful as an elephant in a room made of glass. Yet…something didn't add up.

"Carlisle, why would she be drawn to me? Why would she want to become one of us if she has this genome? Wouldn't her instinct be to stay away from us? That girl seriously lacks a healthy dose of fear when it comes to our kind."

"I've given it a great deal of consideration son. That's what I thought at first, and why I thought she might be less than truthful, but…other things began to fall into place; things that have to do with my past."

I didn't understand what he was talking about. What could Carlisle have to do with Bella?

"You see…over a year ago, Alice came to me with a vision. Unlike all of her other visions…this was something that had already happened. This was something that had happened in my life."

I looked at him, startled.

"She envisioned a scene that took place over two hundred years ago. It was while I was in Italy, staying with the Volturi. Aro was trying…with no luck, I might add, to convince me to hunt humans. I humored him and went along with him, hoping that I might convince him of my way of life. Well…we traveled outside of town…as you know, no one is allowed to hunt in Volterra, and we went to a neighboring town about twenty miles away called Solera. It was there, in a dark alley, that Aro attacked a young woman. She was young and innocent and it took everything in me to not fight Aro, to try to save her life. At the same time…after he had bitten her, I smelled her blood…and it was amazingly fresh and sweet. It called to me, but I fought against my powerful thirst. I might even have lost control and attacked her myself…if not for her cloak moving in the breeze, and my being able to see her stomach. She was pregnant. It disturbed me, enough so that I was able to come to my senses, and something told me that I had to save her."

I'd forgotten to breathe. I was so wrapped up in his story…not knowing where it would lead…but knowing that it would be important.

"Anyway…I managed to pull Aro off of her and I tried to suck out the venom from her blood…but it was a losing battle. Aro was strong, his venom was much more powerful than I would have thought. Her blood was absolutely laced with the taint of it. Aro thought at first that I was feeding…but when it became clear that I was trying to save her…he pulled me away. Regrettably, my fang was caught in her skin, and some of my venom was pushed into her bloodstream. Still…I fought Aro, as best I could and it was only a few seconds before a door opened, and people saw her lying on the ground. They pulled her up and Aro and I fled.

I knew when I left that she would die. There was nothing more I could do. I left Italy and the Volturi, knowing that we had hit an impasse, and our two ways of life couldn't coexist. He forgave me, I was always a "pet" of theirs, something they found interesting. But I have always looked back on that night with regret, wishing I could have stopped Aro. Two hundred years later, Alice told me of her vision."

I gulped, an unnatural thing for me to do, and Carlisle raised his eyebrow.

"What did Alice see that changed your mind?" I questioned.

"The woman died…of course. I assumed that the child had died as well. Alice saw it brought into this world…alive."

"How could it be alive? Aro drains his victims quickly, and with that much venom in her system…his and yours…"

"Edward, I know. That's why I never thought there was a possibility. Once Alice told me this…I began to research anything I could about this woman, who she had been, etc. I researched the life of her child, and found that the child was named Emberly and she had a rare skin disorder. When the child stepped into the sun…do you get where I'm going with this Edward?"

I was shocked. I couldn't think of anything to say. I finally was able to form a coherent question.

"This child…was a vampire?"

"I wouldn't say that. All I know…is that the child grew up to be eighteen, something vampires can't do, and then was killed by a mob, outside of Volterra."

"So…she couldn't have been a vampire."

"Well…this is the interesting part…the young lady had a baby about a year before the incident. She was being taken care of by the local religious faction. They thought she was some kind of an angel…the way her skin sparkled.

Emberly was a stubborn young lady and refused to stay indoors the rest of her life, as the church elders had advised. I found out all about her from records contained in the church. She left the sanctity of her home and ventured outside of Volterra, no doubt on a trip home to Solera. Once outside, her appearance frightened the locals, and they tried to kill her. They had to try…many times, and many different ways to finally get the job done. She healed when they cut her. They finally tied her to a stake…and burned her."

"What happened to her child?"

"Her child was named Sienna and she seemed perfectly normal, other than her very pale skin. She lived to be a hundred and thirty years old, and still looked young at her death."

Carlisle was spinning so many contradictions at me I was struggling to keep up.

"So…what does this have to do with Bella?"

"Your Isabella…Edward, is a descendent of Sienna, through her mother, and her mother's mother. The bloodline has thinned, and the altered DNA, no doubt, has thinned with it. However…Bella has a tiny bit of Aro's DNA in her…and a tiny bit of me."

I couldn't form a coherent thought.

"Of course…much of this is conjecture. I had to fill in a few blanks myself, and I'm not really certain of anything, other than Bella is a descendent from the woman that Aro killed."

"Does Aro know about any of this?" I stammered.

"Perhaps. I didn't understand his letting her live when you both were in Volterra, other than his being able to read all of Alice's thoughts when she touched him. He was able to see all of her thoughts, all of her visions…and this undoubtedly was one of them. He also was able to see what she will become when she's changed. Edward…when Bella is changed…"

I hissed.

"Ok. If Bella is changed…I don't know what will happen for sure. Alice has said that the end result will be the same for her, but the journey will be slightly different. She has our venom in her DNA…but she also has the Quileute genome. I tried to get Alice to explain, but she says that her vision keeps changing, undoubtedly because of you, Edward. It's complicated."

"Really…I never would have thought anything like this could be possible. It doesn't make sense Carlisle."

"It does…and it doesn't. But Bella…is on her way here, to know the truth."

I glared at him but his expression softened my features.

"I don't want her to know." I said stubbornly.

"She…has half of it already, and I'm sure she's gotten Alice to tell her of the vision by now. It's only fair that she knows her ancestry. She's still the same person, Edward."

I thought of her beautiful face, her quiet smile. I thought of how small and delicate her hands were, how smooth and even her complexion. I thought of her sweet smell…that wonderful floral bouquet that was her skin. It didn't matter…what blood she had in her. It didn't matter to me. I knew I would love her for eternity, whether she was human, a vampire, or werewolf, or some mixture of all three. She was my Bella, forever.

"I don't care about any of this Carlisle. I love her no matter what." I said fiercely.

"I know Edward. You two are bound by the same thing Esme and I are…it goes deeper than rational thought. Well…if there's nothing else, I'm going to let you rest. I'll be in my office if you need anything."

I nodded once and closed my eyes. Obviously, everyone had heard our conversation, and their various thoughts on the whole thing weren't something I wanted to deal with right now. I would wait for Bella to come, and until then…she was all I would think about.