A/N: So, um, this is an idea that came to me while I was reading another story up here, and I don't know… This idea just came to me this afternoon and I spent the entire day working on this chapter. It would mean the world to me if anyone read it, and reviewed it. It's not planned or anything. Like I said, it was just a random idea…. Lemme know what you think?

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. But I own this story.

* * *

ONE

* * *

I stared at the plaster peeling from the ceiling and waited for the buzzing to stop. Maybe if I stood perfectly still, and did not aggravate "Miss Monotone", I could get out of here unscathed.

But alas, luck was not on my side this day.

"Mr. Call, are you listening to me?" You'd think she would at least over-enunciate on the word listening… You know, to emphasize it a little more. Especially if she didn't really believe I was paying attention. You'd be amazed at what inflection could do for a simple sentence.

"Embry Call." Still nothing. Not even a raise in her voice. Incredible.

"Yes, Ma'am?" I said, struggling to keep my voice as neutral as hers. But I couldn't help it. My voice naturally rose a little higher on the word, 'Ma'am.'

"Embry Call, this is a business," she said. "A chain business, to be more exact. That means, in simple terms, that it is linked to a number of other businesses. Hence, the word, chain."

She paused, I'm guessing, to make sure I understood, so I gave her what she wanted, and nodded.

"And in a chain business such as this one," she continued, "we only get a limited amount of supplies, or as this is a grocery store - we only get a limited amount of groceries each week - so will you please explain to me why you felt the need to take it upon yourself to dispose of some of our limited products?"

In addition to her lack of rise and fall in her syllables, she also used a lot of unnecessary words.

"Well… they were expired," I answered, shrugging.

"Expired," she said, nodding grimly. "Expired. What does that word mean to you, Embry?"

I blinked at her.

"Um, it means dead, in the literal sense. But I guess, here, it means that the food isn't good anymore," I said.

"Wrong, Mr. Call," she said, smiling widely, now.

Ew.

"Wrong, Ma'am?" I responded.

"Wrong," she repeated. "Expired in the grocery business is merely a suggestion, Embry Call. The expiration date is a suggestion to the consumer that they should either eat the foods immediately, or they should purchase something with a later date. It doesn't mean they will die if they eat the foods - it's just a user-suggestion date. You were taught to put the foods that have been in the store the longest in the front, yes?"

"Yes, but - "

"But, nothing, Mr. Call. You were taught to put the foods that have been in the store the longest in the front. And that is what you will do. Or, you will find yourself out of a job. Is this understood?" she said, still smiling.

I really wished she would stop.

"Yes, Ma'am," I said, quickly instead.

I grimaced as soon as I left her office and headed back to do what I was supposed to be doing - stocking in the freezer aisle. I regularly volunteered for this, as none of the other people wanted the job, and it didn't bother me with my above average body temperature.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to remember why I was here again, working. Oh, right, I needed a job to help my mom with bills. Bills that she insisted I was running up because of my increased appetite. Now that I was a senior in high school, and didn't have as many classes, she decided it was time for me to help out with bills and chores.

And after being fired from three consecutive jobs in a row, this was pretty much a last resort. So, I was forced to put up with Miss Monotone, and smile as I watched people walk away with expired food that would surely give them food poisoning.

I wondered if they were allowed to sue for that. I wondered if I would go down with the company for not saying anything when they tossed something expired into their cart. Probably not. But I was pretty sure it made me a bad person.

"Embry Call, working man!" My pack brother, Jared, was sauntering towards me in the aisle, accompanied by his imprint a.k.a. future wife, Kim.

"You guys are going to get me fired," I said, grinning nonetheless.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Jared said, grinning back, as Kim smiled and said a quiet hello.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

At those words, Jared and Kim both blushed, unexpectedly. Well, actually, for Kim, blushing was always to be expected, but for Jared? Not going to lie. It was a little strange.

"What are you doing here?" Jared countered, obviously trying to change the subject. I let him, figuring that whatever it was, I would find out eventually. He had no secrets from me and he knew it.

"You know I work here now," I answered, in mock seriousness. "I have a dream, you know. I'm going to own this supermarket one day, and all the others on this chain."

Jared snorted. "No offense, Embry, but I think you can do better."

"Why, Jared, I had no idea you had such faith in me!" I said, grinning. "So, come on, what are you guys doing here? Not that I mind your company…"

"Um…" Jared said, trailing off. He looked to Kim for help.

Wordlessly, she held up her left hand and my eyes were drawn to the tiny silver diamond ring on her finger.

I gasped, dropped a huge box of frozen pea packages, and watched, horrified, as several of the bags burst and peas scattered in all different directions.

"Oh, no!" Kim gasped as well, echoing my thoughts, as Jared just stood there and laughed his head off.

I glared at him, and got down on my knees to gather the peas. Kim immediately dropped down to help me, hitting Jared lightly on the shoulder.

"There is a spill in aisle ten," Miss Monotone spoke over the loudspeaker. "Embry Call, Tobias Butcher, please report to aisle ten. There is a spill. Thank you."

"Actually, never mind what I said. Looks like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, Embry," Jared said, grinning. "Come on, Kim. Let's go before we get him in even more trouble."

With an apologetic glance in my direction, Kim followed after Jared.

"Congratulations," I called hoarsely after them.

* * *

"Engaged? Jared and Kim are engaged?" my mom said, after she had managed to pick her jaw up from the floor.

"I know!" I said, shamelessly, shaking my head.

"They only graduated last year," she said, shaking her head as well.

I shrugged. "I guess… when you're going to be together forever, there's no point in waiting," I responded.

"What?" she said, widening her eyes at me. "Embry, no! No, no, no! Don't you dare!"

"What?" I asked, alarmed. But, really, she was turning an alarming shade of purple. I wasn't aware that was possible. "Mom, what? Calm down!" I rose from my chair. I seriously thought she was going to faint. "Breathe, Mom!"

"You're acting like it's okay! To get married so young. That's not okay!" she said, protesting. "They're so young. They may think they're in love now, but they don't know if they're going to be together forever… So, please, promise me, that you won't ever jump into anything like that. Please?"

"I wasn't planning on it…" I said, confused.

"Promise?" she insisted. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. My mom was a bit overdramatic at times, and I had - mostly - learned to deal with it.

"Sure, sure," I said, and a pang shot through me as I realized what I'd said. I forced it down, and forced myself to forget it as my mom pulled me into a hug. Well, not really. Because she really couldn't physically pull me into anything. But she tried, and then she kind of gave up, and just threw her arms around me.

* * *

There's really not much to do tonight -

Seems like there never is -

- mean we can go home?

Ooo, I'd love to!

- only wanna get back to Kim -

His new fiancee!

CONGRATULATIONS, JARED!

Awesome! Stop by tomorrow, so we can see -

Hey, Collin, can you help me with my -

Do you guys really need me? Cuz if not, I'm gonna take off. I have a lot of homework to -

But, tomorrow is -

- it's Saturday, isn't it?

Come on, Embry, stick around for a bit -

I can't, guys! Sorry! I really need to stay on top of things if I'm going to graduate early.

Right, I forgo -

- can't understand why you don't want to stay for the whole year -

It's senior year! Spend it with us!

- not like he doesn't see us all the time, anyway, ha -

See you, Embry!

Don't forget! My place tomorrow! Peace!

Ciao, Embry!

I phased back, and had to adjust as suddenly my thoughts were mine and mine alone again. It was a feeling similar to whiplash. One second I was hearing so many voices in my head; we tended to overlap each other frequently. Not one of us can really control what we say and think to each other the same way we do out loud, so it was a job trying to follow conversations. We were used to each other's different "voices" and thought patterns by now, though.

By the time I got home and completely finished all of my homework, I was exhausted. All of my days were like this: school, work, patrol, homework. Sometimes homework came before patrol depending on when I had to work. Sometimes I didn't have to patrol at all. And as much as I loved my pack, my brothers, the rest of my family, those were the best nights, because I got to relax. And there weren't even any vampires in the vicinity. Patrolling was really just an excuse to not get rusty with our wolf forms. We averaged about a half hour to an hour a day, though I know that most of the guys did it a lot more than I did. I just didn't have the time anymore.

And I admit that… for certain reasons, being a wolf had lost some of its appeal.

The next day was Saturday, but as previously stated, I got no break at all. My job had scheduled me from nine to three. Directly after that, I was supposed to go to the library to study for a test I had on Monday, and then over to Emily's and Sam's for dinner. No break at all.

I kept my head down at work today after being berated yesterday about the mess in aisle ten. I thought Tobias was cool, but apparently he had been having a bad day because when he discovered that I caused the mess in aisle ten, he blew up. And ratted on me. Like a tattletale. A four-year-old tattletale. Which caused Miss Monotone to chew me out. Again.

It also caused her to mutter something as I was leaving that sounded suspiciously like, "Strike two."

I willed the time to go by faster while keeping my mind on Emily's cooking, and miraculously, it seemed to work. Afterwards, I grabbed something to eat for lunch with my discount, slung my backpack full of school books over my shoulder, and then hightailed it to the library. I noted that it was raining, but that didn't deter me from eating on the way there. By the time I arrived, I had devoured my three ready-made sandwiches, four lunch box sized bags of chips, and a quart of Gatorade.

I pushed the door open and sighed as I was enveloped by the quiet. This was heaven compared to the noise of the pack. I definitely needed this pit-stop, whether I ended up studying or not, before going over to Emily's.

I nodded at the librarian on duty and received a curt nod back. They all knew me by now. I was in here as often as possible. Adjusting my backpack, so that I didn't knock over any unsuspecting stacks of books, I headed for my favorite round table in the back, right next to the gigantic window seat decorated with plants. The window seat wasn't actually for sitting, but I liked sitting at the table near it anyway.

I rounded the corner that would take me to my secluded spot only to find that someone else was already sitting there. A girl. About my age from the looks of it, but I couldn't really tell because her head was down, and she was surrounded by books.

I sighed. I didn't mind sharing the table. I really didn't, but I had been hoping for some alone time. And then, there was the fact that she might not want to share the table. It was worth a shot, though.

I walked up to her, surprised that she didn't seem to notice me approaching at all. I guess my wolfy feet were stealthier than I had given them credit for. I got right next to her and cleared my throat, but she just turned a page in her book and ignored me.

Um… okay.

I started to turn, but then I spotted through the curtain of her hair that she had earphones on. So instead of leaving, I prayed it wouldn't scare her, and I tapped her on the shoulder. It didn't work. It scared her.

She jumped and turned to face me. I was ready to meet her with an apologetic expression, but the minute her eyes met mine, everything in me that was once solid had instantly liquefied.

Forks was not a big town, by any means. Consequently, La Push was not a particularly large reservation. But I had never seen this girl before, and I knew that if I had, I would have remembered her.

Because, fuck. I had just imprinted.

Her eyes widened, and everything in me screamed at me to take a step back, that I was possibly making her uncomfortable, but I was mesmerized. Stuck, even. I couldn't move, and I desperately wanted to. It was only when she pointed to her mouth and then her ear that I was even able to blink.

"I'm sorry," I said, forcing myself to back off, back away.

She gave me a look I couldn't decipher, and I repeated my words.

"Hi," I said, trying not to appear too eager. I didn't want to scare her away. "I'm Embry Call." I shrugged out of my backpack, and held out my hand for her to shake, and she gave me the same strange look before hesitantly placing her hand in mine.

The happiness that radiated through me then, at that tiny bit of contact, made me feel like every inch of the virgin that I was. I felt my face getting hot, and was grateful that imprinted couples couldn't read each other's minds like the pack could. Wait, Embry, slow down. I was getting way ahead of myself. We weren't a couple! I didn't even know her name!

"What's your name?" I asked, reluctant to let her hand go. But I had to because she pulled away as soon as I started speaking again.

She opened her mouth as if about to speak, and then… didn't say anything. Once again, she repeated the movement from earlier. She pointed to her mouth, then lightly skimmed her finger across her cheek to her right ear.

"Your… ipod?" I asked, confused. But, strangely, even with my werewolf hearing, I couldn't hear anything coming from her earphones.

Her lips moved as if she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, and then she held up both of her hands, palms facing herself, and wiggled her fingers. I just stared at her, perplexed.

Moving rapidly, she closed her book, reached down and pulled a small notepad out of her bag. She found a pen on the table, and wrote quickly on the notepad. My heart leapt into my throat, as my mind raced over the possibility that she was giving me her phone number.

But then, she slid a note across to me, and quick-as-lightning, before I could think of anything to say, she had packed her back and was practically running out of the doors.

I looked down at the note. In shaky handwriting was written:

I sory. I am Deaf. That mean cant hear you. You can have your tabble.

And further down it read:

My name Cellie.

I sat down hard in the chair she had just vacated, my legs giving out from under me.

"Fuck," I said loudly.

* * *

Needless to say, I didn't get any studying done, and I was practically hyperventilating by the time I reached Emily's and Sam's.

As soon as I walked into the kitchen area the guys could tell something was wrong with me.

"What's up, Embry?" Emily asked, softly, and everyone gave me concerned looks. 'Everyone' included Sam, Jared, Kim, Quil, Paul, Rachel, Brady, Collin, and Seth.

There was no point in hiding it. I crossed my arms in a typical 'I'm Paul and I'm uncomfortable' pose and blurted, "I… imprinted."

For about three seconds there was absolute silence, and then a cacophony of noise erupted in the room. I just stood and waited for everyone to notice that I wasn't exactly jumping for joy. It didn't take long.

"Wait, isn't this supposed to be a good thing?" Collin spoke up, and at that, everyone quickly shut up. All eyes returned to me.

I clenched my right fist, and unfolded the note that I still hadn't put down.

I sory. I am Deaf. That mean cant hear you. You can have your tabble.

My name Cellie.

I took a deep breath. "She… she's Deaf."

Absolute silence reigned for a second, and then -

"Oh, Embry," Emily breathed.

"But, she - she knew which table was mine. She was sitting there. I - I think she's seen me before," I said, suddenly wanting to defend my imprint, this girl that I didn't even know.

"It's a possibility," Kim spoke up, blushing as usual. She snuck a look at Jared, who grinned back at her, and blushing even more, she looked away from him.

"So… what are you going to do?" Paul asked, bluntly. "Can she lip-read?"

"Are you going to learn Sign Language?" Rachel interrupted him, excitedly. Naturally, she was the only one who could get away with that.

"I don't know," I said, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed. I hadn't even thought of that. Could she lip-read? I really, really hoped so. I mean, I had asked her name, and hopefully she understood me, and maybe that was the reason she had written it down. Maybe. Or maybe she wanted me to know her name.

Or maybe she was just being polite.

"So what's her name? What does she look like?" Seth asked, eagerly.

I hesitated, clenching the piece of paper tight in my fist.

My name Cellie.

I knew her name. Well, I knew how to spell it, but I realized then that I didn't know how to pronounce it. Was it 'Sell-E'… 'Kell-E?' How frustrating.

"Cellie," I said, taking a chance and going with the S sound. If I was wrong and had to correct them later, they wouldn't hold it against me.

"And she's… beautiful," I said, my voice a little above a whisper. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was aware that this wasn't normal behavior for me. Embry Call? Shy? Never. But here you have it.

"She's… she's black, a little darker than me. And she has these incredible brown eyes. So expressive. And… and her hair is dark, and long, and straight, and shiny…" My voice trailed off and I looked up to find the guys, plus Kim and Emily, grinning at me.

"Sounds like you're in love," Sam said, smiling. Somehow, he had navigated over to where Emily was, and they were holding hands.

I shook my head. "I don't even know her."

"He means, 'Not yet,'" Brady finally spoke up, rolling his eyes. We knew he found the whole imprinting idea stupid. But at the same time, we all knew he was secretly wishing it would happen to him.

"So what are you going to do?" Paul asked again, as Emily detached herself from Sam and started putting heaps of food on individual plates. Kim moved to help, and as a result, so did Jared.

I didn't know. What I wanted to do was dress up, do a rendition of Little Orphan Annie's "It's A Hard Knock Life," with all the guys as my back up singers, Broadway musical style.

But at the same time, I was seized with the desire to run out into the rain and shout, "YES!" several times while simultaneously pumping my fist into the air until someone called the police on me for disrupting the quiet.

Thankfully, both of these wishes were tugging at me equally which resulted in me not moving a muscle, and instead just looking at Paul wordlessly, while fighting the urge to dissolve into hysterical giggles.

Wow. I needed some serious sleep.

"I don't know," I finally said. "I… I guess tomorrow I'm going back to the library."

* * *

I didn't have to work on Sunday, but I had planned to spend the day with my mom. She wanted to have a scary movie marathon, but I had to cancel. I felt bad about it, but told her that I had to study, and promised I would make it up to her. She muttered something about straight A's that I pretended not to hear on my way out the door.

I raced to the library. I couldn't get there fast enough. Breezing by the people at the front door, I rounded my corner and came face to face with -

No one.

She wasn't there.

The disappointment that radiated through me at that moment was almost physical.

And then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around, grinning, and met another librarian.

"Is your name Embry Call?" he asked.

"Yes?" I said, hopefully. Maybe she had found out my name and left some kind of message for me.

"You dropped this yesterday," he said, holding up my math book.

My eyes widened. My bag had felt suspiciously light on my way to Emily's and Sam's, but I had figured it was metaphorical. As in, my mental burdens outweighed my physical ones. Or something.

Right.

"Thanks," I muttered, disappointment piercing me through a second time.

He gave me a tight smile, and turned to leave.

"Wait," I said, acting on instinct. He stopped, and turned back, one eyebrow raised and I paused for a moment to admire that. It was something I had alwas wanted, but had never been able to do.

"Yes?" he said, impatiently.

"Oh, sorry. I was wondering if you knew of anyone named… Cellie?" I asked, pronouncing it with the S sound again. "Or… Cellie?" This time I pronounced it with the K sound.

"No, sorry. Never heard of her." He started to leave again.

"Are you sure?" I persisted. "She's… Deaf. And she had earphones in her ears yesterday…" But I realized that he wouldn't know she was Deaf if he had never tried to speak to her. I sure hadn't known.

He continued to shake his head.

"She's black," I say, a little desperately now. "And she's… well, she's beautiful." I blushed at this. "She's short, way shorter than I am, but I think she's around my age. Her ipod was… blue, I think."

The guy was smirking now. "Do you mean her?" he said, walking from behind the shelves to point to someone inside of a glass room.

I didn't need my werewolf vision to realize that it was her. My heartbeat sped up, and I was barely aware of him walking away. I'm sure he thought I was an idiot, but I didn't care.

Before I realized it, I was halfway across the library, and standing in front of the glass room. I put my hand on the glass wall. The sign on the door read: QUIET STUDY AREA. NO TALKING PLEASE. EARPHONES REQUIRED WITH MUSIC AND AUDIO RECORDINGS. NO STUDY GROUPS.

"Cellie," I whispered, hoping that I was pronouncing it right. Even though I knew she wouldn't be able to hear me say it, for some reason it was important that I got her name right.

Nervous suddenly, I hung back. What if I went in there and she didn't want to talk to me? I wasn't prepared to face possible rejection. I mean… she had told me her name. That counted for something, right?

Before I was ready, she looked up and our eyes met. Her eyes glanced at my hand, which I realized was still on the glass wall, and she raised her hand in a tentative wave, an obvious question in her eyes. I remembered to breathe, forced myself to smile, and was awarded with a slow easy grin that expanded until the expression enveloped her entire face.

I gasped, overwhelmed by her beauty, and was surprised to find that it literally took my breath away. If possible, my heartbeat doubled in pace. I felt light-headed, dizzy, and all from a smile? I took a step back, letting my hand drop. Was this how imprinting felt?

I watched as she suddenly turned and started scribbling on a note. Then, she came over to the glass wall, and pressed the piece of paper on it. I looked at it to see that she had drawn a picture. It was my round table with the window seat behind it. There were two characters that represented the two of us. Except there was a question mark over her character's head.

Was this her way of asking if she could sit with me?

I really, really hoped so, and I nodded Yes! fervently.

Once again, I was rewarded with a heart-stopping grin, and I forced myself to take another step back. She went back to her space and gathered her things, and together we walked over to my round table.

"Hi," I finally said, after we sat down. I made sure she could see my mouth. To my surprise, she laughed. Loudly. Startled, I stared at her, and she waved at me again.

Hi, she mouthed back, and I grinned. So she could read lips.

"My name is Embry," I said. But then her face expression quickly changed to one of confusion. Okay, so maybe she couldn't read lips.

"I…" I didn't know what to say.

I watched as she started to chew the inside of her cheek again. Then her hands started moving rapidly. Sign Language. My heart sank. I didn't understand. She picked up her notepad, wrote something, and then pushed it and her pen across the table to me.

What your name, she had written.

Embry, I wrote back, quickly. And yours is Cellie, right?

I slid the notebook back across the table to her.

I watched her lips move as she read what I had written. She looked up and leaned her head to one side.

Em-bee, she mouthed, and I smiled.

"Cellie," I said out loud, but she shook her head. "No?" I was confused. Even if I wasn't pronouncing it right, how did she know?

"Cha… Lee," she said out loud. Really loud. Instinctively, I put my finger to my lips and made the 'Shhh,' sound, and she smiled at me. "Cha… Lee," she whispered, instead, and mimicked someone playing an instrument.

"Chel-lee?" I said, and she grinned. "Chel-lee… Oh! Like a cello!" I smiled back, unexpectedly proud of myself.

I wondered how she could tell the difference? I figured it probably looked different coming out of my mouth, and I tried saying the name both ways. Huh. I suppose it did look different.

She started signing again, and my smile disappeared. She held up a fist and made a knocking motion. Then, she pointed to herself, put her hand over her heart, took two fingers from each hand and made an X with them, twice. She, then held up one hand and did something weird with her fingers.

I blinked.

She grinned. She pointed to herself again, and made a motion that signaled I was to do the same. So I did. Once again, she put her hand over her heart, and I copied her. She made the X again twice, and so did I. When she did the last finger-thing, however, and I went to copy her, she shook her head.

She turned the page and wrote in big letters, CELLIE. And further down, she wrote, EMBRY. My heart fluttered as I watched her write my name, and I felt silly.

She showed me, pointed to her name, and did the thing with the fingers again. When I still didn't get it, she pointed to each letter, and then it clicked that she was spelling her name. With her fingers. Cool!

C-E-L-L-I-E, she signed, and pointed to herself again. Then she repeated the series of signs from earlier, and signed her name at the end.

She pointed to me, did the X thing, and signed, E-M-B-R-Y.

By now I had guessed that the series of signs meant something to the equivalent of, "My name is." So, feeling bold, I signed the words first, and then, E-M-B-R-Y.

She laughed out loud, which caused me to laugh, too. Her laugh was loud, happy, and infectious, and I wondered briefly if it was like that because she couldn't hear herself, or if she would have laughed like that regardless. I made the, 'Shhh,' motion again, and was stunned when she rolled her eyes. I had to hold in my own laughter at that.

Then, she signed, HI. MY NAME C-E-L-L-I-E. YOUR NAME WHAT?

And smiling so hard I thought my face would crack, I signed back, HI C-E-L-L-I-E. MY NAME E-M-B-R-Y.

Holding her left palm up, she slid her right hand across it. She lifted both of her pointer fingers, one of them away from her body, and one of them close to her. She had them 'walk' in the air, and meet in the middle. I guessed correctly that one was meant to represent me and the other, her. And then she pointed to me.

On the piece of paper, she wrote, Nice met you. She signed the second series of signs again,

HI. MY NAME C-E-L-L-I-E. YOU NAME E-M-B-R-Y. NICE MEET YOU.

I felt my throat catch. She had no idea. No idea how nice it was.

HI, C-E-L-L-I-E, I signed, hoping she wouldn't notice the moisture that had suddenly formed in my eyes. I blinked it back. NICE MEET YOU.

* * *

A/N: Again, if you would be so kind as to post a review. I'm not asking for much, just a line or two. Please, let me know what you think. Will this fanfic swim or sink…?

- FadingSlowly