A/N: Hey, everybody who doesn't hate me for never updating! I put Rescue Me on the back burner for a long time while I focused on my original fiction over on Wattpad, but I've kinda hit a road block (affectionately called writer's block) with my original stuff so I decided to come back to Rescue Me. And I forgot how much I love writing FanFiction! So I'm going to be focusing on this story until it's done and I have so many big ideas...for like a whole series in my own little Twilight world! So please let me know what you think about that!

PLEASE READ...PLEASE: You'll notice some new wolves and imprints, as well. This takes place a few years after Breaking Dawn (both Collin and Brady, youngest members of the pack at like 14/15 I think, have graduated high school so that should give you a good timeline). The Cullens are still around so I assumed new wolves would be transforming and created 3 new pups :) There are also 3 OC imprints (you'll figure out who the third is soon) in addition to Máire. Enjoy!

Rescue me from everything. I just want to live. I wish I could breathe.

Rescue Me by Hawthorne Heights

Chapter Two—Those Quileute Boys Are Strange

How was your first day, sweetie? my mom signed when I walked into the kitchen.

I threw my backpack on the kitchen table, removing it with a sheepish smile when I saw the glare she sent my way. I slumped down into a chair and started pulling out all my books. In class, the teachers had given us instructions to cover our textbooks and workbooks, and I was excited to get started.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned and looked behind me. I asked how your day was? Did everything go okay? An anxious frown pulled at my mother's lips.

I grinned widely and began moving my hands. It was great! I even made a friend.

Oh, that's great, honey, she signed, smiling. What's her name?

Dakota.

My mom smiled and while I could tell she was really happy for me, I knew she still had reservations about letting me return to school. They would go away with time, but right now I just had to reassure her that it was off to a pretty good start.

I have to get started on covering my books. What's for dinner?

She smiled again, running a hand through my strawberry blonde hair. She kissed my head and walked back over to the pot that had been boiling on the stove. Just spaghetti and meatballs tonight. Your father's going to be home soon.

I nodded but my attention was focused on the task at hand. I had books to cover and a new school year to get ready for.

"And this is the library." I read Dakota's lips.

I slipped her a piece of notebook paper: Thanks for the tour. Hopefully I won't get lost.

"I'll sell my copy of the first season of The X-Files if you get lost in La Push High School."

My eyebrows knitted together. I scribbled on another sheet of paper. I always liked the one with the lumberjacks and fireflies.

She grinned and her body shook with laughter when she read it. "No way…you watch The X-Files?"

I smiled, nodding. More writing. Not all of them. My dad was the fanatic. He'd sit my brother and me down to watch them all the time.

"You want to have lunch with me and some friends?"

I smiled again and nodded.

I followed Dakota through the cafeteria. It was pretty small, about forty round tables scattered against a backdrop of floor-to-ceiling windows. Rain pelted against the frosted glass and droplets rolled away, cutting lines in the fog that had collected there. The lunch-line was to my left as I walked in and only took up a small corner of the room. We began walking toward a table in the far right corner up against the glass.

Three obviously Quileute boys sat with their backs to the windows. They were all huge, like muscles everywhere. With their close-cropped black hair, defined jaw lines, and very large statures they could very well have been twenty-five instead of seventeen or eighteen. All three towered over the only other person sitting at the table—a petite Quileute girl. She looked younger than me. Her long hair hung down her back in an inky ponytail and glasses sat perched on the edge of her nose. She had three books sprawled open in front of her, and the finger of one hand raced across the one closest to her as she mumbled words to herself. The boy on her left had pulled his chair close to hers and slung his arm across the back of her chair.

We came to a halt in front of the table. All eyes snapped up to Dakota and me after I assume the redhead cleared her throat. All three guys stared at me curiously but the girl brushed a few stray hairs away from her face and smiled.

I turned to watch Dakota's lips so I could tell what she was saying to them. "Hey, guys! This is Máire, she's new here. Um, she's, uh"—she looked at me, knitting her eyebrows in question—"is it okay that I tell them?"

I rolled my eyes teasingly, nodding and laughing. Kind of have to, I wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

She read it and smiled. "She's deaf so they'll probably be a lot of note-passing unless you speak sign language. She does read lips though…really well from what I can tell," she said, grinning.

I smiled in return.

"Okay, Máire, this is Cody"—she pointed at the boy with his arm on the girl's chair—"and his girlfriend, Penelope. Cody is a senior like us, but Penelope is an itty-bitty sophomore."

Penelope waved, her copper cheeks turning red. It's really nice to meet you, she signed to me.

I clapped excitedly. Someone knew sign language! You, too, I signed back.

Cody turned to her saying, "You know sign language? I should have known, our little genius." He pecked her blushing cheek, smiling.

I saw Dakota point to the middle boy, the one next to Cody, but I missed his name. I tapped her arm then touched my lips, indicating that she should repeat it so I could watch.

"Oh, sorry, this is Elijah—"

The boy—Elijah—waved his arms, cutting her off and catching my attention. "Everyone calls me Eli." He glared at Dakota, who just smirked at him. "Only annoying people, or my lovely mother, call me Elijah."

I nodded, mouthing, "Okay."

Dakota looked at me. "And that last one there is Luke."

Luke looked at me, tipping his chin up and grinning.

"So that's everyone," Dakota said. "Let's eat."

As I walked out the front doors of the school I was happy to see that the rain had lightened to a drizzle and the fog had thinned considerably. I really didn't want to walk home in a downpour. I had gotten my permit to drive when I was sixteen, but not being able to hear the other cars—and their horns—proved to be a bit of a problem. I'm sure many other deaf people made it work but I just felt too cut off from what was going on around me so I settled for taking the bus and walking. Nothing was really ever that far away on the reservation anyway.

I jumped a bit when I felt a hand close around my shoulder. I saw Dakota smiling widely and opening her mouth to say, "Hey, do you want to ride with us and hang out after school?"

I held my finger up, telling her to wait a second, and pulled my cell phone from my pocket. I quickly texted my mom and asked her if I could hang out with my new friends.

Sure, sweetie, but who's house are you going to? And be back for dinner.

I showed Dakota the text and pointed to my mom's question.

"Oh, Sam and Emily Uley's house. We all kind of hang out…it's a big family."

I thought it was a little weird that high school kids hung out with a married couple but I didn't say anything. Sam and Emily were pretty young themselves and the elders seem to like them. I texted my mom and got the okay to go with Dakota.

We walked toward a huge black pickup truck with mud caked on the tires and sides. Cody, Penelope, Luke, and Eli all stood around the truck…waiting for us apparently.

I watched Eli punch Cody in the arm that wasn't wrapped around Penelope and smile. "This thing needs a bath."

Cody just shook his head. "Okay, my baby sits up front with me," he said, squeezing Penelope into his side, "the girls sit in the back seat and you boys get the bed. Hop on in."

Eli and Luke didn't even go around the back of the truck to let the tailgate down. They just jumped right in over the side. My jaw hung open. The side of the truck was almost up to the top of my chest.

Dakota tapped my arm, and I looked at her. "They like to show off," she said, grinning.

I just nodded as she led me to the cab of the truck. I glanced back over my shoulder, watching Eli and Luke talk and laugh with each other. I hadn't been to school with any of the people on the reservation in a while, but I sure didn't remember anyone like them. These Quileute boys were strange.

The truck rolled to a stop in the driveway. The house in front of us was small. It was all wood except for the green-shingled roof. A porch wrapped around the front and left side of the house and led to a huge backyard that was bordered by the woods. Their neighbors—if they had any—had to be a couple of miles away on each side because no other houses were in sight.

A head suddenly popped between Dakota and me. I jumped and let out a little scream. Eli had stuck his head through the back window from his spot in the bed of the truck.

"Emily's baking, guys. I smell chocolate chip cookies."

Suddenly Cody had killed the ignition and was already halfway to the front door. I felt Eli and Luke jump out of the back and watched them sprint to beat their friend to Emily's cookies.

I thought about pulling a notebook from my backpack, but turned to Penelope and signed, You'd think they hadn't just had four pieces of pizza each at lunch.

She laughed and smiled, moving her hands. The way to those boys' hearts is definitely through their stomachs. She turned to Dakota and said, "She was commenting on their appetites."

I felt Dakota laughing next to me and turned to look at her. "Wait 'til you see them eat for real. They were being polite at lunch but truly…they eat like wolves." She smirked, sharing a look with Penelope.

The Quileute girl, however, sent a warning glare at Dakota before turning to me with a smile. Come on, she signed, I'm sure everybody's here. We'll introduce you. She climbed out of the cab and Dakota and I followed.

I began wringing my hands together and pulling on the end of my sweatshirt nervously as we walked up the front steps. This was the second time today and one of the first times in years that I'd be communicating with people who weren't deaf like me and/or who didn't know sign language (minus Penelope).

After I got out of the hospital I had been allowed, briefly, to go back to school. I had also just started a class, along with my family, to learn sign language. But I didn't know enough to use it in school and I hadn't got the hang of lip-reading yet. Teachers got frustrated with me, I got frustrated with everyone. I would know an answer but couldn't write it down faster than the kids who could just raise their hands and say the answer. My friends didn't really understand what was going on, and all the other kids just stared. I felt like screaming all the time…it was like being a toddler all over again. No one knew what I wanted, what I was trying to tell them. I lasted a little over a week before I came home and told my mom I never wanted to go back, which was probably why she was so reluctant to let me finish high school. She still remembered me coming home crying everyday for a week. I still remembered it, too.

Someone touching my hand lightly snapped me out of my thoughts. I saw Penelope smile and sign to me. Relax. It's going to be fine. I'll help them understand.

I flattened my hand, touched it to my lips, and brought it down again. Thanks.

Dakota pushed open the door, and we walked through a doorway to the right, following the scent of chocolate into the kitchen. To say it was crowded was an understatement. The kitchen was fairly small to begin with, but it seemed even smaller with all the bodies packed into it. There had to be almost fifteen people stuffed in the kitchen.

There were six guys sitting around the kitchen table including Eli, Luke, and Cody. The other three looked familiar but I don't think they went to school with us…then again, it was only my second day of high school. A woman, who I assumed was Emily, was bent over the table, placing two plates of cookies in front of the boys. An older-looking man with a stony face came up behind Emily, placing his hands on her hips. Sam. Emily straightened and her hair fell back from her face. My eyes widened. The beautiful woman had claw marks down the side of her face, pulling her lips into a permanent frown. I blushed and looked away when Sam bent down to kiss each scar. My eyes landed on a couple cuddled together by the sink. Another large Quileute man was leaning against the counter by the sink, his arms wrapped around a Quileute woman.

You guys have a lot of friends, I signed to Penelope, who was still standing next to me.

She grinned. And this isn't even all of them.

Oh, boy.

I turned to Dakota and watched as she began introductions again. "Okay, Máire, I'll tell you who everyone is first. The other three guys sitting with Cody, Eli, and Luke are Seth, Collin, and Brady," she explained, pointing at each guy as she said his name. "All snuggled up over here by the sink are Jared and Kim. That's Sam and Emily, the gracious owners of this establishment." The woman with the scars smiled warmly while the man behind her just tipped his head in greeting. "Paul, Embry, and Leah should be back soon from what I gather?" She looked at Sam and he nodded in agreement. "Quil is babysitting up on the Makah rez, and Jacob is over at the Cullens' house."

Cullens? As in Carlisle Cullen, the doctor? Hmm. It's nice to meet you all, I signed. Might as well get this part over with. I turned to Penelope, hoping for an interpretation.

The small Quileute girl smiled. "She says it's nice to meet all you guys. Máire is deaf. I know a little sign language so I can help out."

I saw a bunch of waves, tipping of heads, smiles, and mouths moving. I didn't catch what everyone said but I got the gist.

They say hi and it's nice to meet you too, Penelope signed.

I smiled.

"Let's go sit down," Dakota said. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the table.

Cody wrapped an arm around Penelope's waist and dragged her down to his lap. I watched as she blushed but quickly relaxed against his chest. He whispered something in her ear, making her grin and blush harder.

Dakota let go of my hand and leaned down to plant a kiss on Brady's lips. Brady grabbed the back of her neck and deepened the kiss. I quickly averted my eyes and caught Collin saying, "Alright, you two, break it up. Go get a room or something."

Dakota broke the kiss, smirking at Collin. "You're just jealous." Suddenly, her head snapped around to look at Sam. The man jerked his head back toward the doorway where we came in.

Brady stood up, scowling, but stopped when Sam sent him a glare. Dakota and Brady both followed Sam out of the kitchen and into the hallway by the front door. Weird. I debated asking Penelope what that was all about but didn't want to be rude. I didn't know these people very well, and I shouldn't be butting into their personal problems. They were nice enough to invite me over. I didn't want to make them regret that.

I reached for a cookie from one of the plates in the center of the table without really looking. My hand touched glass and crumbs. I turned my head and discovered that all the chocolate chip cookies were gone. The guys ate all of them—there had to have been at least three-dozen!

Emily walked over to Penelope and leaned down, saying something softly.

Emily says not to worry, Penelope signed. She has more in the oven.

Emily smiled warmly at me and grabbed the two empty plates off the table. The counters in the kitchen were in the shape of an "L" with one side stretched along the wall. The other part extended out into the room, separating the cooking area from the kitchen table and creating a small breakfast bar. Emily placed the plates on the counter of the bar and walked back over to where we were seated.

Can you tell them that I can read lips? I hesitated. I just want them to feel comfortable and talk like they normally would.

Sure, she signed back.

"Máire can read lips so you can just talk, and she'll figure out what you're saying."

Emily smiled, saying, "I'll save some cookies before Embry, Paul, and Leah get back."

"Thanks," I mouthed.

Everyone's head turned toward the doorway. I turned around too, looking for what caught their attention. A man came bursting into the kitchen, shirtless and mouth open in the middle of saying something. He was tall, way taller than me, like almost six-and-a-half feet tall. He had copper skin like the rest of them and it was stretched over thick muscles. And, oh god, he had an eight pack—a pack of eight perfectly defined abdomen muscles. All these guys must be on steroids or something. His jaw was square and looked like it was cut from marble or glass. It was hard and covered in a light stubble. A slightly crooked nose led to perfect lips, and his hair, while cropped like the others', was slightly longer and stuck up messily in certain places. He was gorgeous. I reached his coffee eyes and realized they were staring straight at me. Yikes! I also realized that I hadn't breathed once since he walked through the door so I took a shaky breath.

My eyes shot to his lips as they opened and formed a word.

"Fuck."

Ending A/N: So I hope you liked it...please review and let me know what you think! Also review or PM me if you want to know about or are interested in a whole series for this story.

Pictures from this chapter—

Cody's truck & Sam and Emily's house: check out my profile for those

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight (characters, setting, plot, ect.) because it belongs to Stephenie Meyer, and I do not own the song Rescue Me because it belongs to Hawthorne Heights.