(Disclaimer: I don't own anything from any movie/book/TV show – Twilight, Leverage, etc – I may reference. I only own my OC's and my shtuff.)

Mom

(Tess POV)

After about 5 and a half hours, our plane finally landed at 11:37 am.

Jake got up and waited until the line was moving to get our suitcases down. As he did, I groggily got up. I had slept for four hours, totaling 8 hours of sleep.

We got in line and filed out of the plane. A little blonde girl turned and smiled at me. I waved. She waved back. Then, her mom pulled on her arm as the line continued moving.

. . .

Here we are.

Her house.

I'm finally going to meet her!

After almost 15 ½ years, I'm going to see my mother.

I got out of the taxi. Jake was already getting our bags out of the trunk. I paid the driver and took my suitcase from Jake. The taxi drove away as we walked through her front garden. It was beautifully filled with flowers.

I looked up after hearing the door shut.

A lovely woman with short brown hair came walking towards me, her arms spread, welcoming me.

"Bella!" She called, running down the stairs and hugging me. "You cut your hair..." She said, running a hand through my hair.

"Actually, mom," I said, removing her hand, "It's been this length for years. I'm not... Bella."

Her brow furrowed for a second, but then her blue eyes widened.

"Tessa?!" She exclaimed, "Tessa?" She repeated my name over and over again, touching my face.

After a few minutes, Renee let go of my face and hugged me.

"You still have my eyes..." She smiled, "I never thought I'd see you again!"

We both started tearing up, but then I felt Jake's hand on my hip.

Renee pulled away and noticed Jacob for the first time. "This is your boyfriend, huh?" She said, gesturing to Jacob.

"Yeah, we've known eachother – wait, d'you remember Jacob Black?"

"Kind of, he was four months when – wait, this is 'Little Jacob'?"

"Yeah. We've been best friends since... forever, and we've been dating for the last... Month and a half? But it feels like we've been dating for years..."

Jake stuck out his other hand and Renee shook it. "Nice to meet you again, Mrs... ?"

"Dwyer. My husband, Phil, is just inside."

She lead us inside. It was a warmly colored house, lots of variations of oranges, reds, and yellows. But the bathrooms were a light blue, a good change for it.

The foyer was a orange-peachy color. Phil, a balding 6 foot tall guy with blue eyes, was right inside. "Hey, Be – "

Renee cut him off, "Phil... this is my other daughter, Tessa. And her boyfriend, Jacob Black." Phil shook both our hands.

"Hello, Tessa. It's nice to meet you. I'm Phil, you're step-father."

I nodded. "You can call me Tess."

"Right."

"So," Renee clapped her hands, "A tour and sleeping arrangements!"

She lead us around the house, leaving our suitcases by the front door.

The kitchen was a pretty yellow, with nice wooden cabinets and white countertops. It doubled as the dining room with a lovely wooden table with four matching chairs.

The living room/den area was a deep maroon with dark brown wood.

My room, right off the den, was a light brown color, with white bedding on the bed. It had a fake fur blanket on the edge for decoration, because it was way too hot to use a blanket here.

I would sleep in that room, and Jake would sleep in the den.

. . .

Renee and I were talking at the kitchen table, telling stories and laughing. Jake was over in the corner, talking to Phil in semi-hushed tones.

Renee got up to use the bathroom, so I sat back and sipped my lemonade.

"Look, I know I just met her," I overheard Phil say, "But she's my step-daughter, so if you hurt her..."

"Mr. Dwyer, I know you may be worried, but one, we've known eachother for years, and two, I would never hurt her." I felt Jake glance at me as he lowered his voice, "There's something different about her..." Jake said. He knew that if he said we were soulmates... It would sound weird...

I smiled to myself as Renee came back.

"So, how is school? Do you have many friends?" She asked.

"Well, I'm going to be a Junior next year, so I'm kind of excited." I replied, sitting up, "I dont have a lot of friends from school, I have Parker, she's been my girl BFF since I was three, blonde, super smart, athletic... but, I have several friends from La Push... There's Leah, Emily, Quil, Paul, Embry, Jared, and Sam."

"A lot of guy friends..." She said, raising her eyebrow.

"Well, most girls aren't really... like me... I like working on cars with Jake."

"Cars? Wow. I guess I have two tomboys in the family..." She smiled.

"Yeah, except I think I'm more of a tomboy than Bella."

She chuckled and got up. "I want to show you something..."

I followed her into her bedroom. She pulled a photo album from the bedside table. She sat down on the edge of the bed and patter a seat next to her. I sat down and she opened the album.

The first several pages were clearly of a baby Bella, because she had darker hair and brown eyes. Then, There was a picture of Renee, holding me in front of her, with Charlie next to us, holding Bella on his hip.

"See? That's you..." She pointed out, "And that's Charlie, and Bella... and me."

She flipped the page.

"You and Bella... playing with blocks..." She chuckled.

I noticed that my hair was slightly redder than Bella's. I was slightly less pale, too.

Renee pointed to the next picture. It was her, bottle-feeding me.

"I normally breastfed you, but Charlie asked me to bottle-feed you, just this once, for this picture." She chuckled again, "He was a little obsessed back then. But... once we left... I took it up... Just to save memories for when I'm old..."

She flipped through the rest of the pages until the last filled one. It was of Bella, with her suitcase, surrounded by Renee and Phil.

She flipped back to the picture of her bottle-feeding me. "That was the last picture I still have of you and me." She said, tearing up.

"Aw, mom... Don't cry..." I said, rubbing her back.

. . .

I snuggled under the sheets. It was nice, and cool, but... not normal. The blanket would make it too hot... Maybe...

There was a soft knock at the door. I got up and opened it.

Jacob was standing there.

He padded inside and shut the door quietly.

I sat down, cross-legged, on the bed. He crawled onto the bed and lifted me onto his lap... And then he started showering me with kisses.

I smiled against one of his longer kisses.

"Oh..." He sighed, "I haven't been close enough to you all day."

"Sorry," I giggled, "My mom wouldn't let me out of her sight..."

"It's alright... Now... I'm close enough... Phil's a nice guy. He took well to suddenly meeting his step-daughter he probably didn't know existed." He chuckled. "He was warning me about hurting you..."

I sighed.

"Babe, I would never, EH-VER hurt you." He tilted my face up, "Ever."

I smiled. "Are you tired?" He asked.

"Not particularly, no. Why?" I replied, shrugging.

He lay back against the pillows, motioning for me to join him.

I cuddled into him, absorbing his warmth. Now this was normal.

"So... What all did you do today?" He asked, running a hand over the side of my body.

I recounted the events of the day, sighing, crying, and chuckling all throughout.

He brushed my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.

I closed my eyes and laid down on Jake's arm. He kissed my forehead again as I fell asleep.

It was nice and warm for the rest of the night. I normal warm. A comfortable warm. A Jacob warm.

A/N: Soo... This was a pretty cheesy chapter... But it was quick, and I have to push a bunch of chapters out my ass because I missed a few days PLUS I'm trying a new 'every other day' schedule... so... Yeah... Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review!