A/N: Woot, people actually seem to like this. I'm very happy now. Thanks to reviewers. So, the rest of the story is in Claire's POV. The chapters are kind of long so if that's annoying just let me know and I'll cut them down. Thanks!

I pulled my mid-back length, black hair back into a ponytail at a stoplight on my way to work on that Thursday in November. I could remember three months ago and driving into the city for the first time.

I was beginning my last two years of college at the University of Washington. I, being a self-proclaimed super-nerd during high school, had taken as many classes as I could. I'd gotten enough credits done and over with between the school year and summers at the local community college back in Annapolis that I was a junior-freshman type of thing.

I remember sighing as I looked at myself in the rear view mirror. But after a moment it was painfully obvious that it was a happy sigh. A final bout of homesickness was hitting but I knew it wouldn't last long. I wasn't going to miss home at all.

My mom and me were not…close. After the perpetually single woman had gotten remarried when I was eight, we had kind of progressively grown apart. It didn't help when she began having other children to take up her time as well. My step-father, Robert, had always tried his best to keep me included but as I became a teenager, I didn't really cooperate. I appreciated the gesture but just didn't fit. I vehemently resented the 'emo' label my mom gave me. Ok, I was a teenager there was a degree of emo-ness but she looked at me like she needed to hide the knives whenever I wore a black shirt.

I had always had the weird feeling that my real family was out there somewhere and not here. It was the weirdest thing but I had managed to bury it somewhat through high school. I was one of those people who didn't connect with mass amounts of people well. I had a few really good friends but other than that kept to myself, my homework, my music and my sketch pad.

That sketchpad was lying on the passenger seat of my appropriately beat-up Honda Civic. The green car had been my sixteenth birthday present, courtesy of Robert I always suspected. I had one of those old, slobbery dog relationships with the car. It was ugly and annoying but you loved it anyway. I couldn't complain; the thing had gotten me across the country from Maryland to Washington. From my mom to freedom.

The leg through Washington was my favorite. I knew that I'd been born there but mom never told me about it. She never said why we'd moved or where we had lived before exactly. Annoyingly, I couldn't remember anything about it. As far as my memory reached I'd just always lived in Annapolis. But the more curious I became the tighter mouthed mom was. She refused to tell me anything about before I was four years old. "I moved us here for a reason, so just leave it be, Claire!"

She had thrown a Disney movie, evil-stepmother worthy fit when I showed her my acceptance letter to the University of Washington. If Robert hadn't stepped in I thought she might've had a seizure. "No! NO, I absolutely forbid it! You are not going anywhere near Washington. Uh uh, if you go there then you're not coming back. Do you hear me? Never! I won't have you bringing anything back with you. I forbid it!"

Jeez mom, way to encourage making your own decisions. You'd have thought I'd just told her that I was going and joining the mafia or something. Well, I guess it would have had to be the 'emos who cut themselves' mafia. That's the only place I would fit in. I just couldn't understand why she had a personal vendetta against the entire state.

I'd come up with hundreds of possible explanations over the years but had shrugged them all off. None of them really made sense, nor as our relationship soured did I particularly care. My mom's reaction had prompted a fascination with the state, if at first only because she hated it. The farther I drove along the forested highways the more I felt like I was coming home. I couldn't get over how it could be overcast and misting and I didn't feel depressed at all. I wasn't even a big rain person and I just wanted to get out of the car and spin around in the falling liquid.

The feeling hadn't gone away after I'd settled. My roommate Aubrey had gotten to the point of merely rolling her eyes and watching as I bounded down the two flights of stairs to stand on the lawn, spreading my arms wide and upturning my closed eyes to the sky every time it started to mist. My boyfriend Colin pretended he didn't know me whenever I did it in public.

Pulling into bistro where I worked, I reluctantly turned the key and killed the radio. I continued humming as I skipped to the back. See where did the emo thing come from? I'm bubbly. I watched Disney movies when sad for crying out loud! After pulling on my apron, I put a hand to my neck, fixing my necklace.

I never took that necklace off except to shower and swim. Nobody ever understood why and I didn't really either. It wasn't fancy. It was just a plain silver chain and my green rock. I'd made it in third grade. I carried the green rock with me everywhere when I was little but as I started school I'd almost lost it a few times. After a week without it I made my decision. I asked Robert if he would help. We drilled a hole through it the long way and coated it with a clear lacquer. I slipped the silver chain on and I hadn't removed it since.

Making sure the stone was in the center, I took my place at the register. Half way through my coffee aroma filled evening, a woman came into the store. I subconsciously was startled by her. She was probably mid-fifties or early sixties but still very pretty. She struck me because, well, she kinda looked like me. Her skin was a bronze tinted copper, her white teeth glowing against her skin when she smiled at me to order. There were wrinkles and some grays in her otherwise jet black hair but the facial structure was so familiar. It was a bit creepy actually.

Thankfully she didn't notice my complete inability to not look like she was some kind of undead banshee or something. "A large black coffee with two sugars and a medium mocha latte with whipped cream, please."

All but physically shaking my shock away, I managed to punch that in and reply with a smile, "Anything else?"

She still looked at the menu, considering before inquiring, "What's the best kind of muffin here?"

Total no-brainer there. I lived off that place's muffins. Actually, I lived off muffins in general. "The mixed berry, hands down. It's good even without honey."

"Oh, my husband Charlie will definitely appreciate the honey. I'll take one of those too, please." After rummaging in her purse and coming out with a billfold, she looked to me for the first time.

"That's $6.20, please." The creeped out feeling came back. This time she was staring at me like I had suddenly acquired facial polka dots or something. I always thought that saying a person had grown extra limbs was so overdone. Anyhow, she didn't look away as she slowly handed me a ten dollar bill.

I gave her a tight smile. "I'll get that for you right away." I tried not to look but when I snuck a glance as I grabbed the coffee, she was still staring. Maybe she was just as amazed by the resemblance as I was. Yeah, I told myself, that's it. She's not a creepy serial killer who has just been scouting for her next victim.

I am also occasionally dramatic. I think it came from watching too many princess movies.

When I handed her the coffees and muffin in a bag, she lingered for a moment. Smiling a bit anxiously she asked, "Excuse me for asking but what tribe are you?"

Oh thank God, that's a no on the serial killer! I shook my head, "I don't know. My mom never told me. I was born here in Washington and so was she though so I'm guessing from one of the tribes here." Truth be told, I hadn't thought about that for awhile. High school had been busy and I just had to deal with being 'Squaw' to everyone. The joys of being the only Native American who looked it in the school. Now that she brought it up, I was curious.

She studied me for a minute more, "I know this is going to sound kind of weird, but your facial structure looks local to me. What's your name?"

"Claire, Claire Allen."

I thought I saw her smile falter just a bit but she held out her hand, "Sue Swan." While I shook it, I was pleasantly surprised by how actually happy it made me that our skin matched. It sounded stupid to me at the time even but it was nice to find someone that I fit in with, even if it was just skin tone. My mom was Satan's mistress. Her skin didn't count.

"Here." She dug around in her large purse again. Pulling out a notepad and pen she scribbled something quickly down. "This is one of our tribal elder's name and address. He knows everybody and I'm sure he could help you if you ever want to do a little root searching. If he's not at home then just wander around the rez and ask for me."

I didn't understand why she was doing all this for me but I took the note anyway. Her eyes were so sincere. I was having one of those Hallmark moments where a stranger helps you out for no particular reason but just being nice. I was touched. A grin spread across my face, "Thank you so much."

Sue nodded before gathering her coffees, "You're welcome."

"Have a good night!" I called after her as she pushed the door open with her back. I picked up the note but, as my boss came out, quickly stuffed it into my apron and began wiping down the counter.

The note scraped at my curiosity the rest of the night until I was in my Civic at eleven after close. Feeling oddly secretive, I looked around behind me before I pulled it out of my Cinderella purse. Yeah, I bought purses in the girl's section of Wal-mart. I also had two Tinkerbell ones, a Jasmine, a Belle, a Snow White backpack, and a Sleeping Beauty one too. Princesses, me, love: enough said.

Sue had old school handwriting. The flowing, beautiful kind that you wished you had but the schools didn't teach anymore. I didn't admire it as long as I might have otherwise. I read it twice, for some reason committing it to memory.

Billy Black

115 C Road, La Push Reservation

A bit back from the road, red house.

The store means you've gone too far.

La Push sounded oddly familiar to me. It was a faraway echo of a distant memory. I had heard it before I just didn't know how or why. If Sue was right maybe that's where I'd lived the first three years of my life. Excitement started growing exponentially and I knew that I had to go. This was quite possibly my history, my roots, my identity. Maybe that family I'd missed having could be found again.

That thought surprised me, as well as how much I wanted it to be true. I never felt that my lack of close family was a big deal. Yeah, it sucked and I got occasionally jealous when Aubrey and I went to the mall and I saw mothers and daughters laughing and talking as they shopped. The daddy-daughter songs played at weddings made me cry and a dull ache sprang up but I always got over it.

I shook the confusion off as I put the car in drive and went home to my dorm. I put the note safely in my billfold before locking the car and tiredly trudging up the steps. I opened the door and found Colin and Aubrey where I usually did. I had met him through Aubrey so them alone in our dorm room wasn't weird or anything. Aubrey was lying on her bed doing her nails and Colin was playing on her X-box.

Aubrey immediately smiled and exclaimed, "Hey," when I walked in. I fought to hide the pain when Colin gave me a sideways nod, not looking up from the screen.

He'd been doing that more and more often. We had only been dating a little over six weeks but I was falling for him. He had a smile that made me grin and he was sweet…at least when he noticed me. We liked quite a few of the same things. He could keep up when I ranted about the stupidity of reality TV. He was perfect and when he asked me out I was paralyzed with shock and ecstasy.

I'd always thought he was cute. His blonde hair was tipped with black and covered one of his eyes. All right, he had an emo haircut. At parties or when Aubrey and all her other friends hung out, he had always taken time to talk to me. Once Aubrey had found out that I had a bit of a crush on him, I suspected she'd told him. She was insistent that he liked me back and he asked me out a few weeks later.

Seeing that most of the boys in high school didn't know my name wasn't Squaw, I didn't have any boyfriends. My dates to prom and homecoming were my guy friends from academic clubs who were unable to talk to any girls but me. I was so busy scheming on ways to get the hell out of the state that I didn't focus on my love life. But after I got to college it dawned on me that I'd never really been in love and that bothered me.

The princesses always got their prince and I was ready to look for mine. I didn't think I loved Colin yet but I was willing to see if I could. He was just starting to make it hard. I clung to the fact that he liked me enough to ask me out in the first place when he ignored me like that.

Dropping my stuff, I grabbed my Tinkerbell pajamas and headed to the girl's bathroom to change. Colin and I were so not to the point where I was comfortable being near naked around him. When we made out, I got the feeling that my reluctance annoyed him but that was one thing I was not budging on. I liked self-respect. We got along well together.

At lunch the next day, I brought up my meeting with Sue. Aubrey, always ready for a good story, leaned forward and asked, "So are you going to go?"

"Yeah. It never really bothered me before but now I really wanna know where I come from."

Colin snorted from behind his Game Boy. "Why? Who cares whose teepee you were born in? It won't change anything, Claire Bear."

If nothing else, Colin was a live-for-the-present kind of person. That was just him…stating how he would've handled it. But still…no stereotyping and insult there, huh. And why did he insist on calling me Claire Bear? I'd told him tons of times not to. It wasn't that I didn't like it but I had this vague memory of someone else calling me that and it just felt wrong when he did it.

Aubrey reached across the table and smacked the side of his head, "Shut up, if that's what you're gonna say. Just because you're embarrassed you're French and don't let anybody know doesn't mean she doesn't want to know her ancestors!" She turned back to me, her eyes telling me to go on. I couldn't help but smile. I knew there was a reason she'd become my best friend.

"You're going home to Olympia for fall break next week, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, my mom's been begging me to stay the whole two weeks so I'll probably be gone the whole time."

"I'll probably drive down there then. The bistro is closing because Maggie is going to New York to see family and she doesn't trust any of us to run it while she's gone. Two weeks'll give me some time to poke around and stuff." She nodded again, liking the plan.

"No you're not." We both looked toward Colin in surprise. Unconsciously, I reached up and began absently braiding my hair. I'd done that ever since I could remember. It kept me calm when I knew arguments were going to happen, especially when I was going to be involved. He closed the lid to the game for the first time since we'd sat down a half hour before. "You have to come with me to the gaming tournament in Portland. You already said you'd come."

Uh, no, I'd said I would think about it. I had said I didn't know why he wanted me to come. I'd said he should stop pushing it when I wouldn't be able to do anything. I'd said I didn't want to go just to sit around and hold his spare controller. That's what I'd said.

I tried to smile, "But I won't be able to do anything, babe. You said yourself that you're completely in the zone at those things. You won't even notice me there."

"You're my girlfriend you should support me." He said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world and there was no context surrounding it.

My braiding quickened, "Colin, I also told you that I don't have the money for a hotel room for a week either. I promise I'll call you everyday and you can tell me all about it when you get back. I'll even kiss your controller for good luck if that's what you want."

His eyes rolled at me and his expression clearly said I was an idiot, "You don't need your own room. You'll stay in mine. Why do you want to do some stupid tribe searching when you can cheer me on instead?"

"It's not some stupid tribe searching, Colin." Dammit, why didn't I have longer hair? I needed more to braid. Putting a tie around the big one, I started on the layers around my face. "I'm going to La Push to see if this guy can help me out."

His eye-linered green eyes narrowed at me before he got up. "You're a horrible fucking girlfriend." Slinging his backpack over his shoulder he stomped away in a huff. Ok, emo haircut totally being representative today. As I glared after him I realized that I should be hurt that he said that. I wasn't. I was mad, disappointed.

Before I could analyze further Aubrey cut in with what sounded like forced hope in her sympathetic tone. "He doesn't really mean it. You know how he is with his stupid video games. Just go. He'll get over it." She glanced at her phone and cringed. "Crap, I've got a class in five minutes. I'll see you back at the room later?" I nodded, smiling faintly. With that she took off.

I wandered around campus for the rest of the afternoon. I only had one class on Friday and I was free for the next two weeks. Colin was just being a bit emo, right? He didn't really mean it. He couldn't. And what was with staying in the same room? I'd told him time and again that I wasn't comfortable with that. He'd been a good boy so far and after I'd move it once when we made out, his hand would stay away from my pants. Why was he suddenly thinking I'd stay in a hotel room with him for two weeks…?

'Who cares whose teepee you were born in?' What was all that about? He'd made a passing joke or two about me being a Native American. To him I was Claire and not Squaw, except once or twice or a dozen times jokingly, so I shrugged them off. I'd been through much, much worse but this time it was just mean. He complained because I was supposed to be supporting him but why wasn't he supporting me with something that seemed way more important in the long run than a gaming tournament? I sighed and looked up to the sky.

"Please rain." I was raised Christian but at that moment I felt that Mother Earth was comforting me because not five minutes later it began to pour. Forgetting about Colin for a few moments, I went through my ritual. I let the raindrops caress my face as they fell to the earth. They just made me feel whole, clean…just better.

I'd forgive Colin by that night. I always did. I was too grateful he wanted me at all to stay mad. Even so, after getting satisfyingly soaked I walked slowly back to the dorm with a smile. After curling up in one of my many Tinkerbell blankets, I put Aladdin into my laptop and threw on some headphones.

Colin didn't come by that night or the next. He was still just pouting according to Aubrey. Like I knew I would, I'd forgiven him and his ignoring me started to hurt my feelings. He texted me to tell me he was leaving in a half hour Sunday morning. I replied "Bye". He didn't answer all day.

Aubrey headed off early Sunday morning as well. She hugged me, "Don't worry about Colin. He's just being emo."

"I've noticed." We laughed and I continued, "Have fun."

With that I was alone. Now during high school, I was perfectly fine with alone. I could do alone for days. But I'd gotten used to having people around here. Even if she wasn't saying anything, it was still nice just having Aubrey in the room. The same with Colin. Although, Aubrey usually interacted with me more than him anymore.

I made it until noon before I made up my mind to leave. After showering, I grabbed a duffle bag and just randomly threw clothes and shoes in. I went to my closet and spent a good twenty minutes deciding on a purse. I decided on Jasmine. She was the defiant princess. She sounded good at the time. I was just about to walk out before I noticed my sketchbook on my dresser.

I'd stopped drawing as often as I used to. Colin once stole the book from me and laughed. I never let anybody look at it for that reason. I'd never thought I was very good and wanted to stay in blissful ignorance. Colin hadn't let me. According to him they weren't dark enough. My fairies, faces, wolves and other animals didn't mean anything. They needed to have a point. Mine were dumb. I hadn't picked up the sketchbook in the month since he said that.

But this time I grabbed it and a handful of drawing pencils. Colin wasn't there and I missed it, even if the results did suck. After locking up the door, I hauled my bags down the narrow stairway and out to my car. A print out from Google Maps was in my hand and there was no way I was stopping now. Claire was going on an adventure, even if it only meant finding an elder guy.

I got an hour or so out of the city when fog rolled in. That wasn't really out of the ordinary but it made everyone adhere to the unwritten rule of going fifty. According to good old Google, La Push was roughly two hundred miles away. Map reading really isn't one of my strong points so I got lost twice. I pulled into a town called Forks around eight-thirty.

Two hundred miles in seven and a half hours, Claire. Astounding.

It was worth it. Seattle occasionally made you forget about all the trees. The entire drive I was just in this arboreal tunnel and I loved it. I could see the huge pines through the fog and then the stars came out after it cleared away. I could have driven along that forever.

My tired old Civic pulled up to a diner and I got out. I was already missing muffins. Aside the waitress, there were only two people in the establishment. I got the small town once over as I sat down. I devoured the cheeseburger after I ordered. If I was preoccupied I forgot to eat. Being mad at myself about Colin and then the drive equaled preoccupied.

After I got up to pay the check, the waitress asked, "You headed down to the Quileute reservation, La Push?"

I nodded with a smile, "Yep, could you tell me which way it is?"

She pointed to the southwest, "There's a sign. Kinda hard to find in the dark but you'll be fine. You know, you kinda look like Emily Uley. Are you related to her?"

I shrugged, "She doesn't sound familiar." The name Emily rang some long ago bell, kind of like La Push had though.

Shrugging the woman turned away, "Just saying. Have a nice night."

"You, too." Ok, apparently I not only looked like Sue Swan but also an Emily Uley. The prospects of finding where I'd been born were beginning to look better than ever. I tried to follow her directions but me, the dark, rain, hidden signs, and roads didn't really go together well. After forty-five minutes of driving rather aimlessly I decided to save my gas. Pulling off onto the side of the road, I let my Civic rest. It was too late to be polite if I showed up on Billy Black's door anyway. My life revelations could wait for tomorrow… Ah, the irony in innocent thoughts.

I pushed the center console up and used my duffle bag as a pillow. The rain poured down harder on the roof of the car, lulling me to sleep along with my iPod.

The rain hadn't let up by the time I woke up the next morning at 10:30. Instead of the sun waking me, I could've sworn I saw a pair of gigantic brown eyes staring through my window at me. Strange dreams were nothing new to me so I didn't really think much of it. Weird things happened in my groggy moments of the morning. For some reason, here elicited dreams of really big wolves running back into the forest after looking into my car.

I realized after a moment of stretching and hitting my knees on the steering wheel, that I had no way to change clothes. Well, that is just some efficient preparedness there Claire. The boy scouts would be proud. I sighed but then shrugged. Nobody had driven by on this road last night as far as I knew. I was a heavy sleeper except when it came to light. I even had to cover up the clock on my stereo or I couldn't sleep and there little pieces of tape over all the lights on my power-strips.

I highly doubted that anyone would come by in the two minutes it took for me to change. I took another look out to the road and forest. Ok, Claire, even if it's a little gross you're not changing your underwear today. Crawling and then falling headfirst into the backseat, I took refuge behind smaller windows. Rubbing my aching head, I dug through my clothes. As I randomly pulled out both a dressy babydoll shirt and a cut-off t-shirt, it occurred to me that I had no idea what to wear to see an elder.

I figured that I didn't need to go all job interview style but was a t-shirt good enough? Was there some protocol I needed to follow here? Looking from one shirt to the other I groaned. FML. I had kind of an eclectic style to begin with, so a skill to figuring out the appropriate outfit was about as strong as map reading.

I pulled the whole bag into the back, defeating the purpose of getting leg room to change. I decided upon something that, for me, was in between dressy and lounge around the house. It was like semi-first date. Throwing my duffle back into the front was the only way I managed to change pants.

When I emerged from the backseat, this time smacking my boobs on the steering wheel, I felt a bit braver. I had chosen dark green skinny jeans, a black tank top, and one of my favorite hoodies. It had elbow length sleeves, buttoned from right below my ribs to my neck if I wanted, and was green and dark grey striped.

Yes, there's a pattern emerging. Green car, green jeans, green rock, and green nail polish…need I go on? Green was my favorite color, always had been.

After pulling my black hair back into a braid, I managed to shove my feet into my black, vine-designed Vans. After swiping on some mascara and eyeliner, I looked down to make sure my necklace was just right. My usual girly, yet slightly abnormal, get-ready ritual was then done and I felt ready. I put the key back in the ignition and pulled out onto the road.

Now that I was all ready all I had to do was find La Push and then Billy Black's house…oh great.

It was eleven-thirtyish when I found the sign the woman had spoken about. A little hard to find…stupid normal people and their directions. They have no mercy for the directionally disinclined. It was another fifteen miles or so down the road from Forks. The road came upon the coast before the reservation. I immediately stopped and just stared for a long moment. Ok, I was really glad I'd brought my sketchbook. I grabbed it and threw it in my Jasmine purse along with a good pencil. It was positively gorgeous out here. Portland had nothing on this.

That thought only reminded me that Colin hadn't texted or called me since the day before. I sighed and got back in my car. I continued down the road and houses slowly started to appear. I knew it was a town of some kind but everything was spread out nicely. Everybody had their own space but you still got the neighbor effect. It was better than the row house I'd lived in back in Annapolis. Here was pretty.

I was about to dig out Sue's note again, despite knowing exactly what it said, when I saw the first road sign. Fate, apparently not wanting to be a heartless bitch that day, decided to bless me. I'd found C Road. I turned left and began looking for a red house. I almost missed it but the VW Rabbit in the driveway caught my eye. When I glanced up at the house I saw that it was even 115. I almost squealed.

Apparently I had a weird laugh. Colin always rolled his eyes and it just made Aubrey laugh harder. When I truly thought something was funny, when it was giggle worthy, my laugh was very shrill. It was high pitched and sounded like I was being tickled. Robert said I'd laughed like that as long as he could remember, too.

My car almost got lost in one of the potholes in the driveway but I parked opposite the Rabbit. Taking another deep breath, I grabbed Jasmine and climbed out. Ignoring the mud and rain, I walked up the ramp to the porch and knocked. It took a long minute or two but finally the door opened. A man about the same age as Sue was behind the screen. Had he not been in a wheelchair I thought he would have been a good six inches taller than me.

Then, when not in heels, everyone was at least six inches taller than me. The beauty of being a whole 5'3".

His black hair was pulled back into a half ponytail. His temples were sprinkled with grey and white hair. His gaze was sharp but somehow welcoming as well. "Can I help you?"

Internally chastising myself for staring, I smiled, "Yeah. I met Sue Swam in Seattle a few days ago and she gave me your address. She said she thought I was probably from a tribe around here and since I know pretty much nothing about my history she said that you were the person to ask."

He pushed the screen open and held out his hand, "Hi, I'm Billy Black."

I shook it, "Claire Allen." The same slight fall of his expression that I saw with Sue happened when I mentioned my last name. I didn't really think much of it at the time.

He wheeled himself back and motioned past him, "Come on in. Try to ignore the mess. My son, Jacob, doesn't get around to picking up much and my cleaning abilities are kind of… constrained."

"Sir, I'm a college student. I have clean and dirty clothes piles instead of dresser drawers."

Laughing at my remark, he shook his head, "It's just Billy, please sit down." I grabbed a pair of guy's athletic shorts and set them beside me so I wouldn't have to sit on them. Billy just shook his head in slight embarrassment. He took a long look at me and nodded, "You do look like you'd be from around here." Noticing what I guess was probably an uncomfortable look, he smiled, "I know it's like I'm comparing you to a horse or something, trying to figure out which breed. If you know what to look for though, all the Pacific Northwest tribes have some of the same features."

"Yeah, looking at Sue was kind of like looking into an aged mirror of myself. It was kind of creepy. Not that Sue isn't still gorgeous and all but…" Nice Claire, insult one of this friends and neighbors before you're there ten minutes. That's gonna help.

Billy didn't seem to mind though, "Don't worry, I know what you mean. So, you don't know which tribe you're from at all?"

"No. My mom would never say and she never told my step-dad. I never knew my father either so I'm kind of lost. I just know that I was born in Washington and so was my mom." I laughed a bit sarcastically, "I figured out I was Native American because in second grade somebody said I looked like Pocahontas."

His face had turned pensive. "So, your real last name isn't Allen?"

"No, it's Young."

For a second, I thought I'd given the man a heart attack. His wrinkled, copper face paled and had he been able to stand I'm sure he would have fallen down. I wasn't sure whether to get up and help him or stay put. He stuttered out before I could decide, "What's-what's your mom's name?"

"Linda."

Then suddenly, the largest, goofiest, happiest smile I had ever seen on a person. "Claire Young. Oh my God, Claire Young. Claire, this is probably going to sound odd but I know exactly who you are. You're of the Makah tribe, very close cousins to this one. You used to live here."

"Seriously? I-I lived here. This is where I'm from?" He nodded and I felt myself begin shaking. It started in just my hands but after a moment my whole body was trembling.

Billy rolled forward and asked, "Do you mind if I hug you? You probably don't remember me or anything but I just…it's been a long time."

Truth be told, I wanted nothing more than to hug him at that point. I didn't know finding out was going to affect me so much. To begin with I'd thought it would just be some good knowledge to have. Get my background, know a bit of my history but I knew where I was from. I had lived here. Here, in this gorgeous place. And this man had known me!

I got up and threw my arms around his shoulders, suddenly becoming so emotional I wanted to cry. I blinked back the tears as her wrapped his strong arms around me. "Wow, I honestly thought that we'd never see you again after your mom moved you. She didn't tell any of us where she was going or anything. It all happened in less than a week. She just up and left when you were about three. We were all were heartbroken to see you go."

I wiped a blinking eye and nodded, "Yeah that sounds like my mom. Other people's feelings aren't really in her realm of comprehension."

"By my astounding perceptive skills, I'm getting the vibe you don't get along anymore."

I laughed with a shake of my head, "No. I was practically disowned when I got accepted to the University of Washington. She hates Washington for some reason." He was silent, as if thinking, when I asked, "Umm, if you don't mind me asking, who's we? Do I have any family here or anything?"

Billy nodded, "Yes, you sure do. Emily Uley is your cousin. Before she was married she was Emily Young."

Ok, so this is good. Apparently we look alike because we're related. I could so deal with this!

"So by default, you're related to her husband Sam and their two kids. The rest of us were, I guess, not your relatives but your family if you understand what I mean." I nodded. I felt bad because I couldn't remember him, or the others, but the fact that I had once loved them and they had once loved me was still mind-blowing.

We sat there in his living room for the remainder of the afternoon. He told me all about the two tribes' histories and their legends and how I had fit into the group. I sat there riveted and fascinated the entire time. I honestly couldn't get over my luck at actually having him know me.

Ok, fate I'm sorry that I called you a bitch.

He'd just finished one of the founding legends of the Quileutes. It explained their connection to wolves and how whenever the vampiric 'Cold Ones' were around some of the warriors became spirit warriors with wolves. They could turn into gigantic wolves at will and were strong enough to fight the Cold Ones.

"Weird, I've always loved wolves. They're my favorite animal. I've been drawing them since I was a kid."

A strange look crossed his face but then faded like a ghost. "No doubt you picked up on them here. Emily babysat you all the time when your mom was working. She's got quite a few paintings and stuff. Do you draw?"

Unconsciously tightening a protective grip on my purse, I nodded, "Yeah, a bit. They're not very good but I've always done it."

That didn't seem to bother him, "Can I see?"

My hesitation clearly showed but in the end I decided to show Billy. He had so far been wonderful and even if the drawings were crap, I got the feeling that he would have praised them anyway. I already had this father-like vision of him. I opened my purse and pulled out the pad. Before he saw it he smirked, "You still like princesses?"

"Yeah. I never grew out of them. Why?"

"You loved princesses when you were little. Your third birthday was princess themed. You wouldn't take the tiara Qui…Emily and the others gave you for a week."

I wasn't sure what this 'Qui' was that I wasn't supposed to hear but I shrugged it off. I passed the pad, and what felt like my soul, to him. He turned the cover and I couldn't take it back then. I fidgeted there, subtly re-braiding my hair so I wouldn't reach out and grab it. I couldn't read his expression for the longest time.

"These are amazing, Claire," was the simple praise he gave. My heart still soared. Maybe Colin just had odd taste. He looked at them silently for almost a half hour, flipping through the last five years of my mind. He handed it back to me with a smile that faded when he looked out the window. Rain was again coming down and the world had grown dark.

"Would you like to stay for supper? It won't be much. I'll probably just order pizza because I'm a horrible cook but…"

I cut him off, "I can make something. It's the least I can do after all you've done for me today." With a grin I added, "I promise I'm not one of those college students who lives off Ramen." There was no way I was going to let him buy a pizza just because I was around. I'd taken his entire afternoon. I missed cooking anyway.

"If you're sure you don't mind…"

"No! It'll be great." I got up and followed his wheelchair to the kitchen, chatting as we went, "I haven't gotten to cook in a while. My boyfriend thinks it tastes bad and won't let me make anything for him which kind of defeats the purpose."

His steady pushes to make his chair go faltered for a split second. "You've got a boyfriend. What's his name?"

"Colin."

"How long if you don't mind me asking?"

"We're not too serious yet, just about six weeks."

For some reason that seemed to make Billy happier. "Ah. So, what do you feel like making?"

I started blindly opening cabinets and the fridge, inventorying what I had to work with. "How about macaroni and cheese from scratch with ham?" His grin was answer enough. I returned it, "Macaroni and cheese it is."

We continued to chat as I scurried around the kitchen per his directions. He'd be in the middle of a sentence and suddenly say bottom drawer or top shelf of the fridge then continue right on. I learned that his son Jake and a couple of his friends were attending the local community college, getting actual degrees finally. Jake was going to be a mechanic along with the others.

Jake hadn't been home for a while—he lived with his girlfriend's family—but they had just moved back to Forks.

"Is that his Rabbit then?" I queried with a motion out the window.

"Yes, he built it from scratch." It took him a moment but then he looked at me with surprise, "You know cars, Claire?"

"A bit. Change my own oil and U-joints and such. Most of my friends in high school were nerds like me and the boys in physics club loved cars. I took a semester of shop every year so I learned the ins and outs to get me by. I could never get timing belts or crank shafts right but I do all right."

"Oh, sweetie, it's not going to matter if you know how the engine works. They're going to love you just for knowing what it is."

He branched off on another conversational tangent. The feeling had returned. For first time since I could remember I felt at home. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed what I'd never had.

I was sitting up on the kitchen counter finishing my plate with Billy in his chair in the middle of the floor when I asked, "So where is Jake?"

"Oh, he's off staying with some of his friends. I swear the kid's never home." His paternal complaint made me smile. I did up the dishes with Billy protesting the entire time. At one point, I just looked at him with an eyebrow raised. After that he stopped fighting me on it.

I was his guest but I was going to do everything I could to pay him back.

Around ten that night, Billy looked at the clock and offered, "You're welcome to stay here tonight. Tomorrow I can take you to meet Emily if you want."

"Ok!" My face lit up like I was three again.

My reaction made him chuckle. "We don't really have a spare room so if you don't mind clearing the dirty clothes off, you can use Jake's bed." After I'd grabbed my things from the Civic he showed me down the short hall and swung open a door. Jake's room was about three-fourths of the size of my dorm room and covered floor-to-ceiling with car posters. My face fell a bit when I caught sight of the bed. There was a mountain of clothes.

"I'll get you the disinfectant."

I laughed, "Thanks Billy. Good night."

"Good night, Claire." He backed down a few doors and then stopped, "I'm very glad you're back, Claire."

I answered with complete sincerity, "Me, too."

I shut the door and turned to the bed once again. Jacob Black, you are a filthy, non-cleanliness oriented individual and… I can't wait to meet you.