The next morning, Jake and Erin took Nick over to Sam and Emily's, since Emily really wanted to baby-sit. Jake held the door open for her as she entered the house carrying Nick in his baby seat. Jake had his diaper bag slung over his shoulder.

Emily instantly turned off the stove. "Oh, look who's here!" she squealed, hurrying around the kitchen table to see the baby tucked into the baby seat. Nearly everyone in the pack had seen Nick at some point the day before after they brought him home. "You can put the baby seat up on the kitchen table."

Jake took the seat from Erin and did as Emily asked. Instantly, the girls at the table; Kim, Rachel, and Emily, started cooing over the baby, tickling his little toes and fingers. Even the guys moved to get a closer look. Embry peaked over Sam's shoulder, who was standing next to his fiancé and smiling down at the tiny baby.

Embry's brows furrowed as he took in the chubby cheeks; soft, black hair; and dark brown eyes. He was one of the few pack members who had yet to see the baby, since he'd been patrolling and then fixing up the dishwasher for his mom the day before. But getting his first look at the tiny baby, he couldn't help thinking…he looked really familiar.

"He looks completely Quileute." Jared noted, leaning forward with his elbows on the tabletop. "Did your mom say anything about who his dad is?" he asked Erin.

Erin snorted. "Are you kidding? I don't even know who my dad is. I doubt she even knows, with how many guys she's been with in the past."

Most of the guys snickered while Emily unbuckled Nick from his baby seat and lifted him up into her arms.

"We've got everything he should need in his diaper bag." Erin told her, gesturing to said bag on Jake's shoulder. "And I wrote down instructions on how to fill his bottle, just in case you need that. And you've already got my number, so-"

"Good grief, Erin." Quil interrupted, dropping his arm over her shoulder, "You sound like an actual mom. I'm sure Emily knows how to take care of a baby."

Erin ducked her head sheepishly. "Sorry." she mumbled.

Emily shook her head with a smile. "Don't be. You practically are his mom, it's good that you're acting like it. He's in good hands, I promise."

"On that note, we should really get going. We've got class at 10:00, so we really need to get going." Jake pointed out. Erin glanced at the clock on the microwave before giving a nod. It was 8:23 and it took nearly an hour and a half to get to the college from La Push.

"Jake's right. Thanks again, Emily." Erin told her.

"You guys need a ride today?" Jake asked Embry and Quil.

Quil's answer was shouting, "Shotgun!" and bolting out the front door. Everyone either laughed or shook their heads.

Embry grinned at his idiot best friend before answering himself, "My class isn't until 1:00. I'll head over there on my own later, but thanks."

"Sure, sure." Jake nodded before they said their goodbyes, Erin dropping a kiss on the top of Nick's head, before they followed Quil out to the car.

When Erin and Jake were done with classes for the day, they picked Nick up from Emily's and took him home. They were sitting in the living room working on homework. Jake was on the couch and Erin was sitting on the floor. She'd folded the quilt Joy got them up a couple times and laid it out on the floor so Nick could lay down on it while she did her homework. She also had his stuffed wolf laying next to him and a toy key ring and rattle for him to wave around and occupy himself. Between homework questions, Erin would reach over and tickle his tummy or toes, or tickle his face with the stuffed wolf. That seemed enough to entertain him.

They'd been like that for about an hour when the front door suddenly swung open and Embry stepped in. He looked troubled and was clutching something like a picture frame in his hands.

"Hey Embry. What's up?" Erin called in greeting while Jake eyed his best friend curiously.

Embry didn't answer right away. He just sat silently on the couch next to Jake, his eyes fixed on the tiny baby on the floor, who was looking right back at him.

"Em?" Jake asked when he didn't speak.

Embry finally tore his eyes from Nick and silently handed the photo he was holding to his best friend. Jake eyed Embry for a couple more moments before looking down at the picture.

It was clearly a baby picture of a Native baby, possibly a boy since it was wearing a blue onesie, and was sprawled out on a blanket. Jake blinked before quickly looking down at Nick. The baby in the picture looked almost the same as Nick. There was just enough of a difference to tell it wasn't the same baby, but Jake couldn't even put his finger on what those differences were.

"What is this?" Jake finally asked Embry, dragging his eyes to his friend.

Embry met his eyes seriously. "A picture of me that used to be on the fireplace mantle."

Jake's eyes narrowed as he thought that over before he looked thoughtfully back down at Nick.

Finally, after several moments of silence, Jake finally spoke quietly, "You think…?"

"Jared said so himself, Nick looks completely Quileute. And we know my father has to be Quileute, too." Embry pointed out.

"What are you two talking about?" Erin demanded, completely confused.

Jake silently handed the photo to his girlfriend. She looked down at it before looking between the picture and her brother.

"So you think the two of you have the same father?" Erin finally asked, looking up at Embry and bluntly saying what the two had been thinking.

"I'm not sure." Embry admitted quietly, "But it's been on my mind all day."

"Well,…I would think it'd be safe to say it can't be Billy." Erin said quietly, "He wouldn't want anything to do with my mom, and I doubt she'd want anything to do with him."

"Fair assumption." Jake nodded. "And it obviously can't be Quil's dad, since he passed away when we were kids."

"So,…Joshua Uley?" Embry questioned quietly. They'd all figured that's who his father was, but now it seemed far too real than Embry was ready for.

"We don't know anything for sure, Em." Jake rested a hand on Embry's shoulder, "It could just be a coincidence. Sometimes people just look alike. You have to admit a lot of us look like we could be brothers, even if we're nothing more than distant cousins."

Embry nodded slowly. "So, what should we do?"

Embry opened his front door and waved Jake and Erin through. They'd talked a few things over for a couple days before deciding it was best to just ask Embry's mom straight out who Embry's father was. After that they were considering doing a blood test for Nick when they took him to get his first shots in a few weeks.

"Mom?" Embry called into the house as they entered the living room. Jake was carrying Nick in his baby carrier while Erin carried the diaper bag.

"In the kitchen!" she called back.

"Can you come in here?" Embry called as Jake and Erin took a seat on the couch.

"What is it?" Tiffany Call asked as she entered the living room. She paused when she saw Jake and Erin on the couch with the baby carrier on the floor by their feet. "Oh, Jake it's nice to see you. And Erin, how have you been doing?" she asked kindly with a smile as she approached them.

Jake and Erin smiled in return. "We're good, thank you." Jake answered.

"And this must be little Nick." Tiffany smiled down at the little baby as she sat in the armchair near them. "Sue told me about him. How have you guys been holding up taking care of a baby?"

"It's been a lot of work, that's for sure, but we're doing fine." Erin answered honestly.

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Mom?" Embry cut in, sitting on the couch so he was closest to his mom. "There's something we need to talk about."

"What do mean?" Tiffany asked worriedly.

Embry took a deep breath, "It's just…I've noticed Nick looks…a lot like me."

Tiffany tensed and looked down at the little baby, silently admitting to herself that he did look a lot like her son.

"What are you saying?" she finally asked, looking back at Embry.

"I'm asking who my father is, because we all think there's a chance Nick has the same father." Embry answered bluntly, making Tiffany flinch.

"Ms. Call, we don't want to butt in when it's not our place." Erin interrupted, putting a hand on Embry's forearm. "It's just…there are certain things that come with being Quileute and we'd like to know who Nick's father is. We're thinking of having some blood tests done to try and find out when he gets his shots, but…" she trailed off, unsure where she was going with this.

"Mom, I have a right to know, too." Embry claimed.

"It doesn't matter who your father is." Tiffany answered sharply, "He wasn't around when you were born. I was the one who raised you. I did, all on my own."

"I know that." Embry agreed. "And I couldn't have asked for a better mom, that's not what this is about. I don't want to go looking for my long-lost dad or anything, he doesn't really mean anything to me. It's…it's more of a genetic thing. Please mom, I just want to know. If you don't tell me yourself, I'll just figure it out on my own, and I don't really want to do that if I don't have to."

"What kinds of genetic things?" Tiffany asked doubtfully.

Embry took a deep breath. He knew he couldn't bring his mother in on the secret. Sam had given him permission to long ago, but he couldn't do that to her. "Alright, fine, I'll do it this way." he decided out loud. Staring his mother right in the eye, Embry asked, "Mom, is my father…Joshua Uley?"

Tiffany flinched and her eyes widened. "What makes you think that?" she asked shakily. "Where did you even get that name from?"

"So, I'm guessing it is?" Embry urged.

"Don't put words in my mouth, young man." Tiffany snapped, her hazel eyes watering. "How did you even guess…?"

"I just did, mom. There's some things…I just managed to narrow it down and he seemed the most likely candidate."

Tiffany looked down at the hands in her lap, and an awkward silence fell over the room. Jake and Erin exchanged a glanced, wondering if they should leave.

Embry got up from the couch and moved to kneel on the floor in front of his mother. "Mom, I love you. I'm not going to go looking for him. I don't care about him. Nick just looked too much like me for me to leave it alone. I'm sorry."

A tear fell down Tiffany's cheek and she smiled slightly down at her son, lifting her hand and cupping his cheek. Embry lifted his own hand and used it to hold hers to his cheek.

A few weeks later, Erin and Jake took Nick to the doctors for his shots, and while there they got the blood samples done, comparing them to both Embry's and Sam's, who wanted to know the answer as much as them. When the results came back, there was a 25% average overlap between each of the samples, meaning all three of them shared one parent. So, it was clear that Joshua Uley was both Embry's and Nick's father.

Erin was also told that her mother actually left town a couple weeks after Nick was born, and it was likely they'd never see or hear from her again, which Erin was honestly fine with.