A/N: Any wolves you recognize from The Twilight Saga belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Basically everything else, including past and present wolf pack members, imprints, wolf families, and additional characters in this story belong to the universe created by the amazing, brilliant, and wonderfully talented yay4shanghai!

Thanks everyone who reviewed, you guys make my day—honest!

As always I recommend you read the other spinoffs, links are in my favorites on my profile. They are fantastic worth taking the time to read.

One last thing, I have a Christmas present planned for everyone that has fallen in love with a different couple in this universe…not saying anything else, presents are supposed to be a surprise after all ;)

Umm, yea in case anyone's forgotten…yay4shangai is basically the shit. Thanks for being such an amazing beta. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meddlesome Sisters

22 June 2041

When we got home, I grabbed a couple oranges for Bree and me to snack on and followed her upstairs. Beth and I share a bathroom, so we had to wait for her to finish showering since she immediately raced in there when we arrived. We decided to wait in the hallway, so we could tease Beth into hurrying up while we ate and somehow I also ended up letting Bree talk me into going out to eat later tonight.

After showering, I felt absurd when I realized how much effort I was putting in to get ready. I knew it was unlikely that I'd see Levi, but I still wanted to look nice, just in case. I almost always wear casual dresses or skirts, so it wasn't unusual that I picked an olive green slightly fitted knit dress for tonight. The part that was different and I felt more than a little ridiculous about was that I added a little make-up and pulled part of my hair back in a brass clip leaving a few wavy strands loose around my face.

Bree didn't say a word about it; although I'm sure she wanted to. She, of course, was wearing her typical summer apparel—solid white tank top, thrift store vest, frayed denim cut-off shorts, and flip flops.

She and I were both ready before Beth, despite starting after her. We waited for her in the kitchen and Bree told me about a job interview she had coming up in a few days as a rafting guide. It sounded awesome, but they very rarely hired anyone under 18 so she thought it might be a waste of time to even bother going. Before I could ask Bree anymore about the job, Beth showed up, demanding to leave right then so she wasn't just plain late instead of the fashionably late she planned on being.

She looked sexy, but definitely nothing like the barely thirteen year old girl she was. Her hair was done in elaborate twists pinned up so parts were spiky and her make-up, while excessive for a beach party at night, looked great. The issue I had, mostly because I'd hear about it from our parents later was the outfit. She had her red glittery two piece swimsuit on with super short black shorts, a leather biker jacket, and combat boots. She wasn't happy when I made her put on a tank top over the suit and leave the jacket, but stopped arguing once I pointed out that it'd get ruined at the beach anyways.

Beth told us more about Chloe's mom, Tara, on the way there, no longer pissed about the clothes issue. About how she was a famous dancer and had her pick of companies to dance for before she retired. She sounded in awe of the woman and I'm sure that meant progress was being made on the parent front to join Tara's class in spite of quitting after a few lessons twice before.

When we pulled into the First Beach parking lot I was stunned. There were at least as many people here as there had been earlier today and it was too dark to really see who was who so feeling defeated, I gave up my plans of catching a glimpse of Levi.

"I thought you said it was just Chloe's friends and family that were going to be here tonight," I remarked to Beth, turning the car off and looking over my shoulder to see her.

"These are all friends or family. Kris…I love you, but not everyone is as antisocial as you—no offense. See you later!" She was out of the car before the words were completely out and called the last bit back to me as the door slammed shut and Bree hissed at her. The crowd swallowed her up before I processed what she said. She didn't mean anything by it, but it stung and mostly because she was right. It shouldn't matter though, because I did not need or want more; I loved my life, well there was one more person I wanted in it, but that didn't count.

"What time are we supposed to pick her up at again?" Sabrina's question brought me back to the present and I looked over at her realizing I didn't have an answer.

"Damn. I forgot to remind her to call and find out earlier," I confessed, frustrated at myself for forgetting.

"Well let's just ask when this gets over at. Someone out there has to know." She undid her seatbelt and reached for the door, I groaned at the thought of going out there and dropped my head against the steering wheel. It was a reasonable solution, but one I wanted no part of. Walking into a party I wasn't invited to made me feel like a stalker and just a little too desperate. When I didn't move she added, "Oh come on, the sooner we ask the sooner we can leave. I'll even do the talking, but you have to come with."

I shot her a disgruntled look that only served to make her laugh before following her out of the car. Walking onto the beach, I stayed a step behind her as she headed to the nearest person and furtively glanced around. There were a couple fires going and their light illuminated the area making it easier to see individual faces.

It was loud. Music was playing from somewhere, people were talking and laughing, and some of the kids were yelling. The yelling was mostly from the ones running around by the water splashing each other. From what I could see, a few even looked familiar from my recent trips to the beach, but I didn't see Beth among them. She was probably off having fun somewhere else; I hope she's not doing anything too reckless. It was reassuring to see one or two older guys down there with them taking care of things.

Several small groups of women, all remarkably beautiful, were standing around one of the fires. A couple of them were holding young children and one was cradling a baby in her arms. They looked like they were having fun chatting and mingling with each other and they all seemed to be good friends, odd because their ages varied from teenager to probably late forties, early fifties.

Near the parking lot I saw several tables set up with more food than even this many people could ever hope to finish and I wondered why they would waste so much. A few guys that looked too enormous and muscled to be real were standing there loading food onto paper plates until they looked like they would collapse under the weight of it. Judging by the size of them, it was easy to re-evaluate my opinion and decide that maybe they really could polish off that food. Another table, set a little apart from the others, was piled high with colorfully wrapped presents decorated with shiny bows.

Five or six folding chairs were set up at the other driftwood fire. Most were filled with still more guys that looked too big to exist and there were more of them standing around, what was up with that anyways? Practically every guy here, and there was quite a few of them, was huge, fit beyond belief, and drop dead gorgeous. A good number of them had their shirts off, not out of the ordinary for the beach, but I had never seen so many perfectly sculpted abs in one place before. It was enough to make my head spin. How was it possible for me not to ever notice this before?

I grew up in Forks came to the beach all the time as a child, but I must not have paid attention to them then. I didn't make it to the beach more than a handful of times the past three summers; because I was watching Beth and we didn't have a ride since my parents were working. My parents also hadn't wanted us going without one of them when Beth and I were younger in case something happened. Instead, I had to make due with my backyard or Nikki's pool occasionally, but when I was here I really should have noticed the shear size of these guys.

My attention drifted to the last chair because this one was occupied by a younger couple. They were as stunning as the rest of the people here, a little more exotic even, but what really grabbed me was the way they were looking at each other. No words were said, but I still felt embarrassed for witnessing such an intimate moment and possibly a little jealous.

My invasive survey was interrupted when I crashed into Bree's back causing us both to stumble a few steps when she came to a halt several feet away from the guy we were headed for. I wondered why she paused until I noted the surprised look on her face and traced it back to our intended target and found he had turned his head towards us and she was transfixed by how incredibly hot he was. She recovered quickly, but still didn't move. It was too late to walk away without drawing even more attention to us, so I nudged her forward, but fell back a little farther myself…she was the one with the bright idea to go ask someone after all.

As covertly as possible, I assessed him. It was quite a challenge when I was trying to hide behind someone that was five foot nothing tall, but I managed. He only looked a few years older than us, but it was hard to tell, early twenties maybe. His indescribably sexy plump pink lips were stretched in a friendly smile that made it easier to take the last step towards him, though I doubted I retained the power of speech. Not with those long lashed eyes fixed on me. Something about his expression even helped me relax more than normal at the idea of talking to such an imposing stranger, despite how intimidating his height and muscles should be this close up. My calm state didn't last once Bree opened her mouth and was her usual brash and direct self.

"Are you from here?" She asked incredulously. He chuckled, nodding a little with a slightly confused look. It was kind of an obvious answer.

"Umm…yea, why?" He added, but Bree had turned to look at me.

"Remind me again why we never hung out around here more often? The guys here are smokin'!" I saw it coming, but was still mortified that she said that in front of him. Closing my eyes to avoid seeing the completely blank expression he was staring at us with, it was at least two seconds later when they were startled open again when he burst into laughter. I watched on miserably as he laughed so hard he doubled over at the middle holding his stomach.

I turned away feeling heat radiating from my cheeks knowing they had to be on fire right now and felt them get even hotter when I noticed we had drawn several pairs of eyes from the party-goers. Then, a movement in the corner of my eye drew my gaze towards it and I stopped caring about anything else for a moment.

Levi was here, watching me from the other side of the closer fire and now I was staring directly at him. He was farther away than normal, but I could see him better than ever as light flickered across his face highlighting every emotion that passed over it. Not that there were many to see, just an intensity I had grown accustomed to associating with him. It seemed like I was moving, like I had been floating away without realizing it, but he pulled back to Earth and it happened without either of us budging an inch.

It was over too soon when a gust of wind flew past making me blink and regretfully turn towards it. Immediately, I discovered that the wind was actually caused by a girl pouncing on the back of the guy we were standing next to. She playfully nipped his neck and growled making him smile wider. She flashed us a charming smile before reaching up to kiss his jaw. They were adorable, but I'd rather see Levi.

I turned back in that direction, but he wasn't looking over here anymore. Now his back was to us and he was standing with his head dropped forward, a hand on his neck, and his shoulders hunched over. I felt like my heart was being crushed to see him look so downtrodden, emphasized by the all black attire I kept seeing him in.

"He's pretty cute isn't he? I think he has the whole brooding and mysterious thing going for him, really working the loner angle…drives a girl crazy," she said to me and I looked towards her head resting on the guy's shoulder to see she was scrunching her nose like that was a funny thing to say before continuing, "sorry, couldn't help noticing you staring at him."

"Oh god…di—did anyone else see? Ahhh! I'm sorry—you must think I'm so rude or pathetic," jumping off the guy, she waved a hand interrupting my panicked babbling before it got any worse. Bree steeped closer to me and between the two of them I felt relieved a little, until I heard what she said next.

"So you like him then?" She asked and I swear her eyes were drilling holes in my head the look was so intent. She wasn't cute and cheerful anymore. She seemed dangerous suddenly and I was forced to suppress the urge to run. As it was, I felt all the color drain from my face and I had to remind myself to breath. Was I really that obvious?

The guy wrapped his arm around her then and I thought I heard him say, "Mel, you promised…not even an hour ago," but it was whispered so quietly and she didn't respond I assumed I must have imagined it.

"Yea, she's into him. They've been sending each other mega-deep vibes for over a week now, so what's it to you," Bree jump in defending me and I wanted to strangle her for it.

"Bree! Shut up and please, please stop it," I hissed at her and squeezed her arm, but she just stood her ground, arms crossed, icy blue eyes glaring fire at the newcomer waiting for an answer and ignoring me. It confounded me when this reaction made the girl start giggling and bouncing on the balls of her feet sending her almost shoulder length sleek black hair swinging around and making the guy chuckle some more when she looked up at him.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I…I'm Melody—his sister. Levi's that is," she told us with an absolutely delighted look in her eyes and nodded towards where he was standing, his back facing us. Almost as an afterthought she added, "oh, and this is Taylor." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, lingering for a moment.

The change in her attitude from a minute ago was astonishing. She was beaming at me now; it was engaging and very welcoming. I was just about cowering before and now I felt as comfortable with her as I did with Bree. It was eerie how quickly and completely at ease she made me feel.

"Hi, I'm Krista and this is Sabrina," I told them shyly. Bree just continued to eye them wearily and not move an inch from my side.

"So, are you guys here for the party?" Taylor inquired trying to clear any remaining awkward tension.

"Umm…no. Actually, we were just dropping my sister off, but needed to find out what time to pick her up later," I let them know and looked back towards Levi. There were two other guys with him now, both wearing white wife-beaters and I recognize one as being from the group of people with Levi that first day on the beach. I watched the hand gestures, curious how they could mean anything when they moved that fast.

"Yea, Levi's deaf," Melody said regaining my attention; she'd caught me staring again and I winced, blushing even more. Then the words sink in. Oh. What else was there to say? I felt oddly numb. She was watching my reaction again. She waited a minute, then added, "sign language isn't that hard to learn. I could teach you if you wanted some help with it."

She looked so hopeful and perhaps a little expectant, but I wasn't sure I wanted to learn. Talking with my hands would just draw more attention and I'm not sure that was something I wished to endure. I swear I heard Taylor say something again that sounded like, "Melody, you're pushing it," but I never saw his lips move and again she didn't react.

"I don't know…maybe," was all I ended up saying, but another glance in his direction showed that he was watching again. His face was completely closed off, but I felt the swell of emotions that always came when we made eye contact and I knew I had to think about reconsidering. I was torn and my thoughts were too jumbled to straighten out right now.

"We should head out Kris, get some dinner before we run out of time," Bree spoke up then and I nodded agreeing. She already looked like she was warming up to Melody, but I could tell she was saving me before something else happened. I had enough new things to think about as it was.

"The party ends in about two hours, but you should stay. We have plenty of food," Melody encouraged sweetly with an almost pleading expression. It was hard to say no to a look like that, but I didn't want to meet anyone else right now and I needed to be alone to process my thoughts so I just shook my head.

She looked worried and glanced up at Taylor, but he just rolled his eyes and looked away, shaking his head a bit. She looked back and I waited for her to say more, having no idea myself what to say now, but not wanting to leave things like this. I knew the second she came up with something; the smile that came with it made her whole face shine.

"Well the two of you have to come to our Fourth of July bonfire then. We have it every year and its amazing…please say you'll come."

"We'll be there," Bree answered before I could say anything. I just gazed at her dumbfounded and mechanically said goodbye to Melody and Taylor when she dragged me towards the car so we could get out of there.

"Tomorrow," Bree said significantly with a weighted look when we got in the car. It was the only thing she said the rest of the night and I would be eternally obliged to her for that; it might even be enough to stop me from killing her for agreeing to the Fourth like that. I was so out of it that I missed out on catching one last look at him before leaving. I didn't realize it until it was too late and I couldn't find him when we picked up Beth either.

Later that night, on the way home, Melody's words kept replaying over and over again in my head. I wasn't sure what to make of them or of the whole situation. It certainly seemed like she was encouraging me to pursue her brother, but I didn't get it. She knew nothing about me at all, so how could she possibly know if we were right for each other or not?

And why didn't he come over? If he actually did want to talk to me or even come near me, then he just wasted a perfect opportunity where he could have used his sister as an excuse. Sighing, I dragged a hand through my hair to get it out of my face and leaned back against the headrest waiting for the light to change. Using the quiet to think, grateful that Beth was asleep in the backseat and Bree was reading whichever current book she carried around with her.

Not that we could talk, not without a middleman and that was too awkward to imagine, let alone consider. So, how was I supposed to talk to him? I didn't know what to say before and now I have to worry about how to talk to him. This just kept getting more complicated, but just thinking about him…not that I ever don't anymore, makes it difficult to not be confident that he is worth a few challenges.

I was unequivocally certain that it was impossible for me to make the first move, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to be prepared if he ever made one. I chewed my lip as I continued debating with myself over this and somewhere between the beach and my driveway my evil, glutton for punishment, side won. That meant I had plans to get up early tomorrow morning and drive to the shop in Port Angeles so I could pick up a book on learning sign language.

Even if I never got the chance to talk to him, it might turn out to be a useful skill to have someday and for now, maybe act as an engrossing hobby to distract me from going round in circles in my mind.

And now I also had to worry about getting out of the Fourth of July bonfire.

~*~ ∞ ~*~