AN: A little over a day, didn't beat my record, damn! Thanks for all the reviews! Fourteen in one day! Awesome! The next chapter might be a little harder for me to write, the meeting with Dad and her sister, but I'll try to get it out before my birthday or on. :D

Chapter Seven

… It All Comes Crashing Down

Good gravy, why does my mother always have to jump to the conclusion that I'm being held against my will?! I stood and Nessie stood with me. "Mom, calm down, Jacob is cool." I said tiringly.

"Claire, get away from them!" She yelled insistently, standing two feet behind the bench.

I looked to Nessie and Jacob whose body language had turned defensive. I walked around the bench to my panicking mother. "Mom, what's going on?" I asked confused. She wasn't freaking out about Jacob.

"Do you want to tell her or should I Hannah?" Jacob asked impatiently.

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to my mother.

"You two know each other?!" I demanded.

"Don't listen to them Claire." Mom said quietly.

"So you tell how he knows your name, because I've never told him." I asked incredulously.

She stepped closer to me and took my hand, trying to pull me along. "Trust me Claire, please, we need to leave." She pressed.

I yanked my hand out of her grip and took two steps back. "Why?!" I yelled, rather childishly.

"Not here, Sweetheart." She murmured with a fake smile.

"Yes here," I said firmly.

My mother looked at me with a painful look but kept her lips sealed.

I turned around to Nessie and Jacob. "Jacob?" I asked desperately.

"Why do you think she never let you come back to either reservations? She doesn't have painful memories, she took you and ran from your father and two sisters." He said knowingly, throwing my mom a nasty look.

My breath hitched and my heart clenched as I looked back to my mother. "He's… alive?" I croaked.

"Honey, you have to understand, I had to protect you." She explained franticly.

"You lied to me?" I asked so quietly, I wasn't sure she heard me, but I couldn't speak much louder than that.

"It was to keep you safe, away from them." She hissed, glaring at Jacob and Nessie for a moment before giving me her soft, motherly smile. "Because I love you." She whispered, reaching out to touch my arm.

I wrenched my whole body away from her. "Don't touch me." I seethed. "I've spent the past thirteen years thinking my dad is dead, but you left him and two other daughters?!" I cried out, infuriated.

"Someone had to do something and I was the only one willing." She said lowly.

"Something about what? Making excuses for yourself isn't helping your case." I spat.

Her eyes were screaming to say something, but her mouth never opened. "She can't tell you." Nessie said from behind me.

I spun at a ridiculous speed to glare at her. "So now you're defending her!" I yelled disbelieving.

"Its something someone else has to explain to you." Nessie said quietly. Her tone utterly calm for the situation.

"Who?" I asked distracted.

"The pedophile." Mom growled.

Jacob took two long strides and closed the space between him and Mom. "I remember you dropping her and Dana off with him through the last trimester of your pregnancy with Willow. You knew he wasn't a pedophile before you learned the truth." He spat, hanging his head over Mom's.

"I couldn't leave my daughter with monsters!" She yelled.

"What about the other two you have?!" I shrieked.

Her eyes were pained. "Claire-" she started breathlessly.

I cut her off before she could finish. "You left your family, you took me from my home and made me believe I was alone in the world." I whispered tearfully.

That one hit her hard. "I never meant to hurt you." She sounded genuinely upset.

"You did a fantastic job with that Mom." I spat dryly. I turned my back to her and looked up at Jacob. "Can you take me to my dad?" I asked softly.

"Claire!" Mom yelled aghast.

I glared over my shoulder to her. "Mom, if you ever want me to talk to you again you will let me do this." I snapped angrily.

Nessie picked up all of our bags and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Come on," she murmured, moving me toward the road.

I forced my legs to start moving and walked with her. "You knew the whole time?" I asked, hurt.

Nessie gave me an apologetic look. "I had an idea." She whispered sadly. Jacob started walking in line with us toward the road, throwing looks back at my mother until she started yelling.

"Claire, please don't go with them! I'll take you to your father, but not them!" She yelled desperately.

I took in a deep breath and turned to her. "Why Mom, because they can tell the truth? Or because they called you on your lies?" I asked blankly.

"Because you don't know them." She said firmly.

That set me off. "Well, I sure don't know you." I spat back, turning back toward the road and walking solemnly with Nessie and Jacob closing in behind us.

"Claire!" I heard screamed from behind me. I closed my eyes tightly and let Nessie guide me as I walked. I heard tires screech against the pavement and I looked to find Jacob's blue Bronco in front of us and a tall, muscled, Native man storm out of the truck looking particularly angered.

I shrank back a little into Nessie's arm because that guy was scary. He looked older than Jacob and may have been shorter than Seth but was bigger than Jacob and looked like he was ready to kill. I figured he was glaring at my mother behind me but when he looked at me his look softened and he opened the passenger door and folded the seat for us. Nessie pushed me to the truck and I climbed in, followed by Nessie.

By the time I got my seat belt on Jacob and the new mystery man were in the truck. Jacob took off the minute my seat belt clicked. The traffic was a blur and the car was deathly quiet. Nessie held my hand tightly, her own hand slightly warmer than mine.

"How long?" I murmured, looking out the window.

"Three, four hours." Jacob answered stiffly.

I nodded mutely and rested my head against the window. The highway sped by and cars seemed to just disappear. It was all just so depressing.

Nessie squeezed my hand. "It's going to be okay," She said softly.

"Are you sure?" I asked worryingly.

"Jeff has been talking about this day for years, he'll be happy to see you." She said knowingly.

I took in a deep breath and calmed myself. I turned to Nessie settled my back against the window. "What are my sisters like?" I asked curiously.

Nessie smiled at my curiosity. "Dana, your older sister, is very smart and very serious. She's away at college right now, she was accepted into MIT two years ago." She answered with a smile.

"MIT? Wow." I gasped.

"She's part of this summer program that will keep her busy for a while." She said slightly disappointed. My brows knitted as she let out a long sigh. "Your younger sister Willa, is the trouble maker. She is sixteen and refuses to follow any rules other than the laws of physics." She said frowning.

"Sounds like a handful." I muttered surprised.

"Jeff does what he can, and a few nights in jail never hurt anyone." She answered casually with a shrug.

"Jail?" I asked shocked. My little sister has been to jail before I have, that's kind of pathetic.

"She tried to break into the high school with a few of her friends, none of their parents bailed them out. She was the only one who didn't cry. She's tough." She explained with a little bit of admiration.

"Do I have any other family?" I asked trying not to think about how terrified I am to meet my sister and father.

"Your mom's sister Emily, she lives on the Quileute Rez with us, she's married to Sam and has twin five year old boys." She answered.

I frowned. "My mom always said she was an only child." I mumbled.

Nessie frowned with me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder again to hug me. "Don't worry about that now. You were five, there was nothing you could do." She said reassuringly.

I tried my hardest to think back to the day. It must have been horrible, being taken away from my father and sisters, how could I not remember? "You know, I only remember two moments clearly, from before she took me." I said shaking my head.

"What are they?" She asked with playful curiosity.

"In one I was playing with two girls, one had hair just like yours and the other had jet black hair and skin lighter than mine. I don't remember their voice or what we were doing, only they were running from me." I answered, narrowing my eyes on nothing in particular. It always frustrated me that I could never see the girls clearly.

Nessie smiled brightly. "What's the other?" She asked excitedly.

"I think I had fallen, because my leg was hurting and my eyes hurt from crying and out of nowhere I went from being on the ground to being in a pair of warm arms that held me so tightly, it was like they'd never let me go." I murmured, wishing I could go back to that moment. I looked over to Nessie who looked at me with sympathy and sadness. "I think it was my dad." I said sadly. The man sitting up front with Jacob clenched and stopped breathing. Jacob threw a look at the man who forced himself to breath.

I didn't look away from the man and Nessie noticed. "May have been, you were a popular little girl on the Rez." She said cheerfully.

I looked back to her, glancing at the man as I spoke. "Huh, well, that sure didn't carry over into adulthood." I said dryly. I looked back to the man who was still stiff as a board.

"There are a lot of things that won't be explained right away, so just be patient, okay?" Nessie asked pleadingly.

"I can do that." I said with a long sigh.

Nessie was taken back. "Really?" She asked incredulously.

"Well I figure someone will let it slip before too long anyway." I said smirking. That's usually what happens anyway.

She laughed a little at that. "I dunno, we've been practicing for a while." She said teasingly.

"Sounds like I'm out of luck." I groaned dramatically.

Nessie laughed and tightened her hold on my shoulders. I stared out the windshield between Jacob and our mystery man. I couldn't help but study his profile, and how he was still ridiculously still and rigid. He looked like a statue, an angry statue.

"Pull over." The man ground out suddenly. Jacob moved swiftly through two lands of traffic and pulled into the emergency lane. The man got out and stormed into the woods.

"What's wrong?" I asked worryingly, looking between Jacob and Nessie.

"Don't worry about him." Nessie insisted tiringly.

"Who is he?" I asked confused.

"That's Quil." Jacob groaned.

"What'd I do?" I asked still totally baffled.

Nessie rubbed my shoulder soothingly. "Nothing," She said confidently.

AN: Quil! I know, I made him grumpy, but that's how I think he would be like. Review!