Ecstatic was the word I would use to describe the way I was currently feeling. I was stood waiting for a familiar car to make its appearance in the parking lot. Jenna was sat on the sidewalk beside me, ringing her hands nervously. She was anxious to meet Bella. I'd tried multiple times to get her to calm down and just be herself, but like me, Jenna had rarely interacted with vampires outside of her family. Still, I thought she was over-reacting slightly. I'd had a phone call about an hour ago, with a panicking Jenna, wondering what she should wear. All I could do was laugh.

"Jenna, you're acting like you're my boyfriend who's meeting my family for the first time," I joked. "Can't you chill out just a tiny bit?" I asked holding my finger and my thumb an inch apart to demonstrate.

Jenna glared at me from her position on the sidewalk before she stood up. "Easy for you to say, you're not potentially someone's meal!" She cursed.

"My mom's a vegetarian!" I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing. The frown on Jenna's face was deviously cute and could be misleading if you didn't know her.

"It's different!" She whined in return. I linked my arm through hers.

"Look," I began seriously, "My mom is just like your mom. They just look a little different... and my mom is called Bella," I added to ease the situation. "But still, from what I've been told, our mothers have become friends just by talking to each other regularly. It takes a lot for my mom to be able to trust someone and I have no trouble saying that I think your mom is the same. If your mom trusts mine, and you trust me, do you see how there's no reason whatsoever to be worrying about meeting her?"

She looked up at me, not looking too convinced, "What if she doesn't like me?"

I sighed, "Jenna, you and my mom are my best friends. There's no reason for her not to like you. You're funny, smart and have one hell of potty mouth," I succeeded in making her smile. "Seriously, there is no reason to be fretting."

"God. I really am acting like a boyfriend meeting your parents, huh?" She asked rhetorically as she smiled.

I laughed. Jenna joined me in looking towards the parking lot entrance in anticipation. From my peripheral vision I could see a familiar head of black hair. I turned to look automatically as saw Alice waving at me from the side of the building. I waved back smiling before Edward appeared by her side. He looked over at me briefly with his expressionless mask before saying something to Alice. He turned to stroll away as Alice gave me a brief goodbye wave before following after him.

His face rarely held emotion anyway, but this week he seemed even worse. Alice seemed to care for him more and became attached to him like a shadow in the sunlight. She was genuinely concerned for him, more so than usual. Even this morning during our shared lesson, he had approach me unexpectedly to wish me a happy birthday before seemingly ignoring me completely.

I was drawn out of my trance by the distant honking of a car.

"Is that her?" Jenna asked incredulously.

I followed her gaze and allowed it to fall on the familiar, small, black car that belonged to Jake. From this distance I could make out the outline of my mom in the driver's seat. I beamed automatically, "Yeah, that's her."

The car stopped directly in front of us and the engine cut off. I watched as my mom stepped out of the car and turned to look at me. As she stood, a gust of wind blew in my direction, flaring her long mahogany hair behind her, sending her calming, floral smell at me. She wore sunglasses for some strange reason, but I ignored that and turned my gaze to the heart-warming smile she wore. I beamed back in response. She began walking towards me at a slightly inhuman pace, but I matched it and launched myself at her.

"I've missed you so much, Mom," I spoke into the crook of her neck.

Her melodic laugh echoed around my ear, "I've missed you too, baby. Forks isn't the same without you there." She kissed the side of my head and set me down.

She cupped my face in her hands and looked at me to see if I'd survived a month away from her. She smiled in contentment then looked over my shoulder.

"Hi," she greeted politely. "You must be Jenna. I've heard so much about you from both Renesmee and your mom."

Jenna smiled back. It was contagious it seemed, "It's lovely to meet you. You must be Bella?" Jenna offered her hand.

Bella took it and replied, "It's lovely to meet you too." She then pulled Jenna into a hug and said, "save the antics, sweetie, your mom wanted me to give you a hug when I saw you." All three of us laughed.

"Well, we better get going or we'll miss our reservation," Bella said as she rounded the car to the driver's side.

I claimed the passenger seat as Jenna fell into the backseat. It seemed that my two best friends had quickly become accustomed to each other as they talked about school and other bits of useless information, but I smiled all the same.

"Mom, why are you wearing sunglasses on an overcast day?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Oh!" She replied like she'd forgotten she was wearing them. "We ran into a situation a little over a week ago and I was the only person that could fix it."

"By 'we' you mean the pack?" I guessed. "Care to elaborate?"

My mom took a hesitant glance in the rear view mirror at Jenna. "She's fine," I told her, too low for Jenna to hear.

"You remember how I told you we had a run in with a certain vampire?" She looked at me before turning back to the road. She saw me gulp and nod. I'd never met the vampire before and I sure as hell didn't want to either. "Well, she showed up again. I was at Emily's at the time because I was helping her out – did Jake tell you she was pregnant?" She suddenly asked.

I gaped. "No, he didn't! When did she find out?"

"She found out a few weeks ago," she told me with excitement.

"Oh, I bet they're overjoyed!" I replied. "I'll kill him when I next see him," I glared out of the windscreen. He knew this was something I'd want him to tell me.

Bella laughed. "Anyway, I was with Emily when Sam got the alert from Paul, so I took off after Sam. The pack caught up and we heard a scream. We came across a young girl who had been bitten. Half the pack took off looking for the red-head, and Sam and Jake phased to attend to the girl. She hadn't had the venom in her system long and from what I already knew, I asked to help save her the only way I knew how," she looked at me before continuing; a look of sorrow in her eyes. "I sucked the venom out."

I heard Jenna gasp, "Is that possible?"

My mom looked at her again but this time her smile was strained. "Yeah, it happened to me before."

It must have related to the vampires from her human life.

"What happened after that?" I asked, trying to change the subject before her memories dragged her into the past.

"Jake wasn't receptive to the idea, but I did it anyway and it worked. Only, because I had drank her blood, my eyes became red and that freaked both of them out," she smirked. "I was ordered off of the reservation until my eyes were normal again. They thought it would activate a rampant blood-lust. I wasn't even allowed to go home to Charlie alone because of it." She shook her head and laughed at the absurdity of it. We both could see the understanding behind it though. "Jake stayed with me to 'keep me in line'," she impersonated, "I'm not allowed back on the res yet though."

"Are your eyes still red then?" I asked.

My mom looked at me and pulled her glasses down her nose. Her eyes looked the same golden colour they were usually to me. "They look normal."

"Not completely. In daylight you can still see a slight red tint. It wouldn't be noticeable to a human but I want to be cautious," she rationalised. "I'll take them off in the restaurant."

"Speaking of," I began, "where are we eating?"

My mom smiled. "Right here." She pointed at the restaurant as we pulled into the parking lot.

I looked up and the black sign that had 'Bellini's Italian' written in fancy orange script as its foreground.

"Mom!" I complained. "This place is really expensive for three of us. It's too much!"

She shook her head. "No it's not, and I can afford it. It's your birthday, you love Italian, and this is the best!"

"Besides," I heard Jenna pipe up as we stepped out of the car, "only two of us will be eating."

I turned to glare at Jenna for that remark; she was supposed to be on my side. She blew me a kiss in return and my mom winked at her. The stubborn part of me wished they'd never met.

We walked in and my reluctance dissolved as the mouth-watering smell hit me. I saw Bella wrinkle her nose before removing her sun-glasses and moving towards the hostess, "Excuse me, we have a reservation for three under the name Swan?"

The hostess smiled before leading us to a table, "Right this way please ma'am. Your waitress, will be along shortly. Here are your menus and I hope you have a wonderful meal."

I browsed the menu quickly before the waitress arrived. I looked over the top and saw my mom looking at me. I closed the menu and looked at her. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied casually. I narrowed me eyes and she just laughed, "What are you having?"

"The chicken tagliatelle, please," I told her.

She nodded and turned to Jenna, "Jenna, what are you having, sweetie?"

"I'll go for the mushroom risotto, if that's okay?" She asked.

"Of course it's okay," Bella replied. "Anything else?"

Food must have brought out Jenna's courage finally as she said, "Is the cheesy garlic bread any good?"

At that point the waitress arrived. "Hi, I'm Rebecca and welcome to Bellini's, what can I get you to drink?"

"Can we have a pitcher of iced tea please, with three glasses?" Bella said. I assumed Dawn had filled her in on what Jenna liked given that Jenna's preference was either that or coke.

"Of course. Are you ready to order?" She asked us.

"Can we have one tagliatelle al pollo, the risotto fungi and I'll have a portion of cheesy garlic bread as a main, please; I'm not that hungry." She turned and winked at Jenna again. Jenna visibly relaxed at my mom's friendliness.

"Is that everything?" Bella nodded in reply. "Okay, I'll be back with your drinks shortly."

I watched her strut away before turning back to my mom and Jenna. Bella was watching Jenna intently. Her eyes sparkled as she scrutinised my friend sat opposite her. A contrast of hesitation and eagerness displayed on her face told me enough of what she wanted to do.

"So Jenna," Bella began casually, "Tell me a little bit about yourself."

Jenna, who had been oblivious to my mother's stare, looked up and met Bella's intense expression. "From what I've heard off of my mother; you already know a lot about me," she replied with a smile.

I smiled myself and so did Bella. Jenna was being herself with us and that's all Bella really wanted. Yes, she was a vampire, but there was nothing malicious in my mother at all. She'd changed to save her life. I didn't know whether she would have chosen this life willingly or not.

"Yes, that's true. But I'd like to hear something from you. You're mom is a very intriguing person, I might add, and I look forward to meeting her eventually. It seems we have a lot in common when it comes to our past times, personalities and families," she glanced in my direction at that statement. "But I'd like to hear it from your perspective, if it's not too much to ask."

Jenna nodded. "It's strange at times, when I properly think about it. I mean, I'm a human who lives around vampires and as much as I love them, it can be difficult." Her face fell slightly. "Admittedly, I can feel an outcast. I don't fit in with the vampires because I'm human and I feel that more when Shane's around. As much as I love him, he sometimes forgets I'm human and has been the cause of a broken bone once or twice." She chuckled at that. "But I can feel an outcast with humans too because I've been brought up by vampires. I see things the way you see them so, try as I might, I do find it difficult." It was then she turned her attention to me. "That's the reason I feel my change is necessary."

Subconsciously, my mom reached out and took Jenna's hand from the table top and held is in comfort.

"I was faced with that decision once before too."

I watched her closely at that point for any signs of a hellish emotion that crept up on her.

"I dated a vampire when I was human and he had a large family that I was intending to join, but they all had conflicting views on whether I should remain human or be changed."

"What did you do?" Jenna whispered; her brow pulled in, causing a small line between her eyes in complete helplessness as she thought about her own decision.

Bella forced a smile. As much as I wanted to hear more of her past, my heart wouldn't let my curiosity overrule the love I felt for my mom and the pain I knew talking about it would bring.

She shrugged. "They made it for me; they left without me. Only I don't think the outcome was at all what they would have wanted." She then sent me a loving look. "But from it all came the best and most important thing in my life." She took my hand in her other and looked between us both. "Don't think too much into the future. It's never set in stone. An old friend once told me that it's subjective and changes as someone thinks, creating different pathways and choices. Everything happens for a reason and you must remember that, especially with a limitless lifetime ahead of you. There's no point in dwelling on the past – hypocritical as it might seem coming from me. But, both of you, for now, just focus on the now. Okay?"

I nodded along with Jenna. At that moment, a waitress arrived with our drinks as another arrived with our food. Once they left, Bella pushed the plate of garlic bread towards us and let us enjoy our food without anymore unwanted emotions. Conversation flowed easily and lovingly, including my mom telling Jenna how much she sounded like Dawn. Jenna shared childhood memories of her and Justin growing up and of the little English village she used to live in. Bella and I pitched in with stories of our own and she even talked about some of her embarrassing human experiences – most of which included Renee. Once our plates had been cleared, Bella brought up the dreaded topic of presents.

"You knew this was coming," she told me as I gave her the look, "and it's only something small. Jake and Charlie wanted to give you theirs themselves so you'll only have to open mine today."

I took the small gift wrapped box from her palm and looked it over. I ripped off the paper and stared at the blue box. One word popped out at me and that was the silver Tiffany & co. labelled on the lid. I looked up into my mom's eyes and she was just anticipating my thoughts. I scowled at her. She smirked before she set her eyes downcast at the box. I sighed and lifted the lid.

I sucked in a gasp of shock and admired the necklace I held in my hands. It's was breathtakingly beautiful. It was a thin silver chain that held a silver pendent on the end. The pendent was about an inch in diameter and was captivating. The image was of two swans kissing forming the shape of a heart elegantly drawn with specific detail. Resting between the bodies of the swans was a circular pale blue opal that didn't quite touch the heads of the swans.

I was so entranced that I was startled when I heard my mother speaking: "Do you recognise the opal? It's from Grandma Swan's ring. I had it put onto this pendant for you because you always loved it so much." She smiled at me; her eyes shining. Mine were shining for a different reason; I could feel myself tearing up at the gesture. "There's an inscription on the back."

Looking down at the necklace I took it from its cushion and turned it over in the palm of my hand. On the head of the swans were the letters R and B; each on either swan. Because the wings and body joined together, it made a canvas for a small inscription.

"Mon trésor" I read, "My treasure."

"There's a saying: A mother's treasure is her daughter. I completely agree with that," she told me passionately.

I couldn't help the tears that fell, "What's with the other letters?"

She chuckled. "Silly," she taunted, "that means Renesmee and Bella. We are Swans and swans stick together. The opal is there for Grandpa too as technically it was his and that was always his saying."

Jenna took the necklace from my hands and clasped it round my neck letting it fall loosely.

"I know you don't like gifts that you don't need, but this is completely personal." Bella hesitated then, "It is okay isn't it? You like it?"

I choked on a sob stroke laugh that came between my lips. "It's the best! Of course I love it! I love you, Momma!"

I walked over to her and hugged her tightly. Sneaking a glance at Jenna I could see her eyes brimming with tears at our affection...

I couldn't have asked for a better day than today but unfortunately it had to end. Bella paid the bill and drove us back to campus, conversing with Jenna as I sat fiddling with my new gift.

I got emotional at our goodbye. I'd have given anything to keep her here with me but I knew that wasn't possible. My mom hugged Jenna tightly and in a motherly way. She whispered something to her too low for me to hear and I saw Jenna nod in return. Bella then turned to me and a sob rippled through my body. I hated goodbyes and I felt I was saying another despite her being close to me.

"I'm never far away, Ness, never. I'll never leave you," she vowed as she held me to her chest.

I nodded and she kissed my cheeks and my forehead before she turned to get back in the car. She mouthed 'I love you' through the sheet of glass that separated us before she drove away.

I forced myself to calm down and to stop being pathetic as Jenna took my hand in hers and led us towards our dorms.

"It's a good job we have a party to go to tomorrow night; you could do with letting loose a little," she stated smugly.

"Oh, goody," I replied sarcastically. A part of me was excited but that wasn't the dominant thought I had about tomorrow's events.

Jenna turned to me then as we reached the fork that split us off. "Oh, stop being a stubborn spoil sport. Alice and I will be here at eight. We'll get ready together, we'll go to the party, get totally wasted then crash out and wake up in the morning regretting every little thing we did."

Okay, so I had to laugh at that.

"Thank you for being there today; everyday, really," I told her sincerely.

She beamed, "Thank you to you too, Renesmee. I'll see you tomorrow."

Inside my room, I walked to the one photo I had displayed: the one of mom, grandpa and I. I kissed it then hid it at the bottom of my underwear drawer. If Alice was going to be here tomorrow, I didn't want to expose my vampire mom – one glance at that photo and she would know.

I fell onto the bed and reflected on today. It was wonderful hearing my mom laugh so carefree. It was wonderful having Jenna with me and knowing that I would have a lifelong friend out of this experience. It was a wonderful day in general.

It was also a day where I'd learned that my father and his family didn't want my mom to be like them. That itself solidified my growing dislike for them.