When Laura Hale was four years old, her mother had a new baby.

Everyone had been very excited about it. Laura could remember her father picking her up and placing her on her parents' bed so she could press her ear to her mother's giant stomach and listen for the new baby's heartbeat.

Laura was sure her mother didn't need a baby - she had Laura, and that was enough. She knew people payed a lot of attention to babies, especially when they were really tiny, and she didn't much like the idea of everyone ignoring her because of a stupid little thing like that. Babies were annoying, anyway. They cried a lot, and barked all the time, which big kids like her hardly did anymore (and her mother had told her that human babies didn't do that at all).

Peter, who was three years older than Laura, had told her that sometimes parents even forgot their older kids entirely when new babies were born, leaving them in supermarkets and parks and never coming back. Laura was sure that would never happen, though. Nobody ever got forgotten or left behind in Grandma Hale's pack, not even because of a baby.

She had been a baby, ages ago. Her parents had shown her pictures of when she'd been small and unable to walk like a big girl. She had been a very cute baby, her parents assured her.

The new baby, Laura thought, was not cute at all. She stared down at the tiny, sleeping bundle cradled in her mother's arms and wrinkled her nose. It looked like a squirmy wad of blankets with a face - an ugly, red, wrinkly face, at that - and she didn't quite understand why it was being shown to her.

"Meet your baby brother, Laura," Talia said, smiling down at her daughter. "His name is Derek. Learn his scent and the beat of his heart - it's going to be up to you to protect him."

Laura scrunched up her face and stomped her foot with all the indignation her four-year-old frame could muster. "I don't want a stupid brother! Brothers are boys, an' boys are mean and stupid!"

Scooting over a bit to make room, Talia shifted the baby into one arm, using the other to herd Laura up onto her lap. She threaded her fingers through her firstborn's hair and smiled wider. "Boys can be silly sometimes, but you know not to call people stupid, Laura. And this isn't just any boy. This is your brother, your pack. I wouldn't be trusting him with you," she added, "if I didn't think you were a big girl, a brave girl who could take care of him."

Laura regarded the baby critically. "Why's his hair all stickin' up for?"

"He does have a lot of sticky-uppy hair, doesn't he," her mother laughed. "And when you're both a bit older, I'll let you help me cut it, okay?"

This had the preschooler brightening greatly. "Can I?!"

"Sure. There's a lot for a big sister to do to help her baby brother grow up."

"What else can I do?" she bubbled, bouncing lightly where she sat and reaching out to pat her brother's hair down as best she could.

"Well, he'll have to have someone teach him to count, and spell. You'll have to teach him the names of the colors, how to play hide-and-seek, and how to hide the broccoli you slip off your plate," she added, casting her daughter a wry glance and shaking her head when Laura didn't look the least bit abashed. "And he'll need someone to show him the good climbing trees, and how to make peanut butter sandwiches. And when you're both older, you'll have to teach him to ride a bike, since you'll have learned already, and how to do his times tables. You'll have a lot of important things to teach him and help him with."

Laura nodded, hair whipping around her face in a wild frizz, and reached out to pet the baby's hair again. "I will! I'll teach him everything! I promise!"

"It's a big job-"

"I can do it!" Puffing herself up, Laura tossed her hair back and thumped herself on the chest. "I will be the best big sister!"

Talia nodded, smoothing Laura's hair as Laura went back to trying to smooth Derek's. "I know you will, darling. I know."

Nodding, Laura stared down at her new brother. She would teach him all of that, of course, but she'd also teach him how to say her name, and how to run with the pack - which was the best thing ever. And she'd teach him how to make Kool-aid, which Laura was very good at, even if her father made her let him help sometimes. She'd teach him that grape-flavored things were gross, and the names of the rabbits that lived on their property, and how to color only outside the lines (which made Grandma Hale 'tsk' and shake her head, which was fun).

Being a big sister suddenly seemed like it would be a lot of fun.

Laura watched the fluffy strands of her brother's hair sift through her fingers and hummed her special lullaby that her mother had made up for her, pausing now and then to breath in deeply. Under her mother's watchful eye, she scooted over and pressed her nose to Derek's forehead to take in his scent better. He smelled light, like most of the babies Laura had seen, and a lot like their mother, which she knew would fade, but there was a smell underneath it, like grass and clover and oranges, that was just Derek. It was nice, she decided.

She pressed a kiss to the baby's forehead, and was rewarded with her mother's pleased smile. "Hi, Derek," she whispered, "I'm Laura. I'm going to teach you everything." Dark blue eyes opened and peered at her blearily, and Laura smiled, curling up around the baby as best she could. "We're going to be best friends forever."