Charlie's POV

There was what felt like never ending silence whilst I stared at the wolf and it stared back at me as I tried to figure out whether this was really happening or whether I was having the weirdest dream of my life.

A curt growl from the woman sat at the table demonstrated to me that this definitely wasn't a dream. My subconsciousness wouldn't be so warped as to be able to make a female growl more threateningly than a … well than a wolf. If this was real (which I strongly feared I was) then how had the woman growled like that?

The woman in question shot to her feet so fast I rubbed my hands across my face. She'd moved so fast she'd blurred which was completely impossible.

Just as impossible as a boy turning into a wolf? My mind commented drily.

"You fool Jacob!" The woman growled, sounding more like an animal than a human. "Are you trying to give … Charlie a heart attack?"

I pause mid-way in pinching myself to check this wasn't a dream when she said my name. The sound of my name coming from her lips, albeit hesitantly, sounded oddly familiar like I'd heard her say my name before.

But I'd never heard a voice as musical as that, with exception of the Cullens, so how could I know her? I guess I was just imagining things now, my mind as shocked as it was by the whole Jacob wolf thing.

Which was completely impossible. And yet, had just happened.

"Like I said before, Charlie's one tough cookie. He won't have a heart attack." My jaw drops open as my eyes seek the vice and I see it belongs to Jacob who is now Jacob again, as in completely human Jacob.

And completely naked.

"Wha…What?" I choke out, more perturbed by the sudden change from wolf to human form than his non-clothes situation. "You were a … a …"

"A wolf." Jacob says cheerfully. "Yep."

"And now you're … you're naked." I say, my other priorities catching up with me.

Jacob's grin slips as he frowns. "Oh yeah, didn't think about the consequences of doing that. My mistake. Please Charlie, you gotta lend me some clothes." He whines.

"Huh?" I ask incoherently, my mind struggling to keep up.

"Well I'm guessing you have lots of questions." Jacob says, grinning again. "So if you want to ask them without being uncomfortable with me being all au natural then I need to borrow some of your clothes."

I manage to glare at him, keeping my gaze directly focused on his boyish face. "Why don't your clothes pop in and out of existence when you…?" I begin and then trail off when I'm not sure how to phrase it.

Jacob shoots a sideways glance at the woman at the table, who has now returned to her seat and is sat rigidly, so much so she could be a statue, her eyes safely averted away from Jacob. "This isn't a fairytale Chief." Jacob says quietly, his expression strained. "Things never happen the way you expect them to. "Now," he says, forcing his tone to be cheerful although I can still hear the strain underneath, "can I please borrow some clothes?"

"Go upstairs, first door to your left. There will be some shirts and stuff in the chest of drawers." I mutter finally.

Jacob grins and instantly rushes out the room, yelling as he goes. "Thanks Chief!"

I shudder at the memory of him turning into a giant wolf and find I have to sit down. "He's still Jacob, you know." The woman across the table says, her eyes fixed on me. "Even if he does spend half his time as a wolf."

I shudder again. "Ugh… Please. Keep it strictly on a need to know basis okay? I could have happily gone my whole life without seeing that."

The woman laughs, her laugh like tinkling chimes. Her face softens as she laughs, making her look years younger. "Your whole life without seeing what? Jacob's transformation or his nudity?"

I find myself laughing too, properly for the first time in months. "Both." My grin disappears as I meet the woman's purple eyes again. "How can you sit there so calmly when Jacob just … just did that?"

"I've seen stranger things." The woman says softly.

"Like what?" I hedge quietly, wondering what on earth this woman had seen to make someone turning into a wolf seem so normal.

The woman hesitates, pain flickering on her face once again. "You want to operate a need to know basis right?" She asks quietly.

"I guess so." I say reluctantly.

"Right. Well then I'm sure you really don't need to know." She says slowly.

"Are they all like that?" I ask quickly, attempting to change the subject when the pain returns to her face once again.

"Are all who like what?" She asks, frowning.

"All the Quileute boys. Do they all… turn into wolves?" I ask, trying to remain calm at the idea that the human race was completely different to everything I'd ever learnt about it.

The woman bites her bottom lip, which is slightly out of balance with her top lip. Finding this small flaw made me feel better like perhaps this woman wasn't as unattainable and distant as her perfect appearance indicated. "Have you noticed a change in any of the Quileutes recently?" She answers my question with one of her own.

"Such as?" I question.

"Like a change in hair style, unexplainable growth spurts, a change in physique, that sort of thing." She answers quietly.

I think about it for a moment and realise I have noticed a change in a few of the Quileutes but had attributed it to normal factors. "Yes, I just thought it was a phase or that they were working out or something. Sam Uley was the first to become like that." I add.

The woman nods, but doesn't look surprised. "That's how you know." She tells me calmly. "They have a growth spurt which readies their bodies for the transformation and then cut their hair otherwise they'd have really shaggy hair in their wolf form."

"I hope you're never giving away all of our trade secrets." Jacob says suddenly, appearing at the foot of the stairs, dresses hurriedly in a pair of my old jeans that were slightly too small for him and a shirt of which the sleeves only reached his elbows. He was big, way bigger than me and it made me shudder to think that it was to do with him being a wolf.

The woman glares at him. "You see, unlike some people, I know where the line is. Besides, Charlie only wants to be told things on a need to know basis."

"Need to know." Jacob says thoughtfully. "Hmmm… I can manage that."

A sudden thought strikes me and I voice it. "You're … you're not a wolf too?" I ask quietly, my eyes fixed on the woman.

"She wishes she were that cool!" Jacob laughs, slapping his hand on the table as he sits down opposite me.

The woman rolls her eyes at him before turning back to me. "No Charlie, I'm not a wolf." Her voice was light, but her expression and her eyes were serious, as if they were trying to silently tell me something.

I sigh in relief. At least there was some element of normality in my now freaky life. "So … uh why are you here?" I ask finally, when no-one says anything further. "I'm sure you didn't come all this way to show me … uh … about your other side." I say to Jacob, avoiding his eyes.

"Chief come on! I'm still the same old Jacob! Just treat me like you usually do!" Jacob grins impishly at me.

"You're still the same old Jacob, with exception of the giant dog you turn into." I mutter.

"Chief I've been turning into a wolf for the past two months." Jacob says cheerfully. "I'm still the same old me."

"Fine." I mumble. "I'll try and treat you normally. After all, being a wolf hasn't changed your personality one bit. Is… Billy aware of this?"

"Of me being a wolf? Yep." Jacob smirks.

"And he's okay with it?" I hedge, wondering why my best friend had neglected to mention it to me. Half of me didn't even want to know and was opting strongly for the need to know basis.

"Sure is Chief. I'm his son, he doesn't care what I do as long as I come back to him at the end of the day. End of." Jacob says and his voice is hard.

"Ok." I mutter agreeably.

Jacob instantly brightens. "So, you want to know why me and my friend are here, right?"

The woman stiffens which I notice it, but both Jacob and I ignore it. "Yes, I do, but can we keep it to a need to know basis, please? I'm not sure if I can handle another shock like that right now."

Jacob immediately looks chagrined. "I'm not sure I can promise you that Chief. This is going to be a bigger shock than men becoming a wolf. I only showed you my wolf form to prepare you for the practical impossibility of this."

"Enough Jacob." The woman says and her voice is hard. "I won't do this to him. I've seen him again and that's enough. We need to leave." She quickly gets to her feet, supple and graceful. "Thank you for having us here Charlie. I hope we haven't shocked you too much with all this. We better be going now."

I could see the woman was pining to go, so although I was burning with curiosity as to what their intentions were in coming here, I decided to let it go for the woman's sake. I don't know whether I could have handled more obvious pain on the woman's face. "Okay, I hope to see you around sometime." I say politely.

The woman looks relieved. "And you Charlie." She smiles slightly. She turns to Jacob and her expression hardens. "Come on Jacob, I'm sure Charlie has got things to do and we need to get going."

But Jacob doesn't move from his place at the table, his expression unusually serious. "I'm not going anywhere until the reason we came here is out in the open. So why don't you sit down and talk to your father, Bella?"