Raven watched as Shelly drug her toes through the sand, tracing patterns as she went. Raven had woken up to the front door slamming around 3am this morning. She had quickly gotten up off the sofa where she had fallen asleep watching random videos on YouTube and bolted out the door to see what was going on. She expected to find either Russ or Joslyn running down the flight of stairs leading to the yard of the apartment but instead it was Shelly. Raven wasted no time catching up with the distraught werewolf.

"Shelly, Wait up. What in the world is going on?" Raven said as she stepped off the final step.

Shelly quickly spun around, hands flying into the air. "I can't take it anymore! I'm leaving!" tears began to build up in her eyes as she let her arms fall in defeat. "How could they do this?"

Raven stepped closer to Shelly and placed her hands on each shoulder, "How could who do what? Blame it on sleep, but I'm completely lost right now."

Anger colored Shelly's face as she jerked out of Raven's grasp. She grabbed one of Raven's wrists as she stormed back toward the steps dragging Raven with her. She stormed up the steps and flung the apartment door open. She drug Raven with her as she stomped back to her bedroom, flinging the door open angrily. She released Raven's wrist and stood in the middle of the door with her arms crossed staring at the wall that joined hers and Joslyn's bedroom.

Raven shook her head and rubbed her wrist as she stepped into the room behind Shelly. "Man, you better be careful slamming the doors like that you're going to break-.” Raven's eyes widened as she took in the shape of the room. As she was about to ask how so many pictures and nick-knacks had fallen, a loud bang hit the joining wall followed by a loud moan and some muffled growls. As if on cue another picture that had barely been hanging on, fell off the wall. "Holy shit! Well, I guess Jos accepted the apology." Raven said staring at the wall in Aw.

"You knew about this!" Shelly's mouth dropped open. Then just as quickly she slammed her mouth back shut and pushed her way back out the bedroom door.

Raven glanced at the wall once more as another bang sounded and more moans emanated. She laughed and shook her head as she followed Shelly once again. "Why are you so mad about this? Surely, you're not going to stand there and tell me this truly came as a surprise to you. Even if you didn't catch onto it when you two were little, surely the past 2 months… Nah, 2 years have been enough proof of your brother's feelings for Jos." Raven slipped her shoes on as she followed Shelly toward the front door.

Shelly hung her head in shame of her own anger. "I know he thought himself to be in love with her since we were children, but I never thought she would stoop as low as to actually sleep with him!" Shelly turned back to Raven who was shutting and locking the front door. "I mean Jos, she's our…"

Raven cut her off as she pulled the key from the now locked door. "She's your friend. Nothing more." Raven moved closer to the young wolf before she continued, knowing her next words would come as a blow to the girl in front of her. "Jos and I both are your friends. We aren't your family. There is no relation between us, and furthermore, I alone was your legal guardian. That too ended when you turned 18. You're both adults now." Raven pointed back to the apartment. "That is two grown ass adults consenting to sex." She dropped her shoulders in surrender, already tired of fighting. "You're probably jumping way ahead anyway. Just because they are having sex doesn't mean they will start dating or anything."

Tears rolled in waves down Shelly's face as she screeched, "Yeah?! Well, that's what I'm the most afraid of! What if they don't start dating? What if it's a one-time thing or just something casual for a while?" Shelly jerked her finger up toward the door, "We live together!" She dropped her hand and turned toward the stairs. Without meeting Raven's eyes Shelly asked, "What if one of them gets hurt? You know Jos better than me…. You know she's not capable of a relationship."

Raven grabbed Shelly's wrist before she stepped onto the top step. "Yeah, I do know her, and I know I've never seen her care for anyone as much as she does the two of you. She's not going to do anything to hurt you or your brother. Is this something that's going to last forever? Who knows, but I do know this she will do what she thinks is best for the both of you. She would do anything for you guys, even if it was something she knew would hurt herself."

Tears flowed freely down Shelly's face as she turned fully around to Raven and wrapped her arms around Raven's slim waist. "I know she would and that worries me even more."

Raven patted her head as she said, "Come on let's go to the beach. We can watch the sun come up. We can stop by IHOP on the way and get those pancakes you really like."

***

"Shell, I have to be at work in about an hour. You want to come and hang out there for a while?" Raven called out from where she was sitting on the soft dry sand.

Shelly turned toward her, a lost expression on her face. "What did you say?" She started walking back toward where Raven was sitting.

When Shelly had gotten closer, Raven repeated herself, "Do you want to go hang out at the bar for a while? It's a Sunday so we won't be terribly busy."

Shelly thought about it for a few seconds before nodding yes. "Yeah, why not?! I'm not in any hurry to go home and see what awaits there."

Raven moved to get up, "Ok well I have to drop back by the apartment to grab my work clothes." Raven looked Shelly straight in the eyes as she added, "You should consider talking to your brother while we are there."

Shelly looked down at the sand, "No, I'll just wait in the car. I don't think I could take seeing either of them this morning."