Emmett Bledsoe leaned back on his bed, his hands crossed under his head. He glanced at the picture sitting on his desk and smiled. Things sure have changed, he thought. A few months ago, I never would have guessed that I'd be sitting here, thinking about my girlfriend. He let out a laugh.

The picture he was looking at showed him and his girlfriend sitting on the grass in the park, laughing while looking at each other. They had asked a stranger in the park to take the picture, but just before the flash went off, Emmett tickled her, and then looked at her to see her reaction. She started laughing and looked at him, and that's how the picture came to be. Despite the cliché, it was Emmett's favorite picture.

It was really pretty funny because for years, Emmett had always pictured himself with Daphne. After all, she was beautiful, funny, smart, and deaf. It wasn't logical for someone deaf and someone hearing to date; they couldn't possibly understand each other's worlds! Then, Daphne's world turned on its head when she discovered that Regina Vasquez, the only mother she'd ever known, was not actually her biological mother. Daphne had been switched at birth with another girl named Bay Kennish, who had grown up in a wealthy family with 2 parents and a brother. Well, at least Bay had thought they were her two parents and brother. When the mistake was discovered, Daphne and her mother and grandmother moved into the guest house at the Kennishes'. Things were pretty weird for a while, but then everyone seemed to settle into some sort of this-is-weird-but-we'll-try-to-make-this-situation-that-only-happens-in-books-work-somehow.

Daphne and he kept up their friendship, although there were a few sticky moments when he got jealous/mad because she was dating Liam. Thankfully, she broke things off with Liam and things went back to normal…or as normal as things could be, considering the circumstances. One day, he was waiting for Daphne to come out from her cooking class at Buckner when Bay came up to him. Truth be told, it was a little strange because they'd never really talked at all before. After the first couple of seconds, though, it became more natural and actually enjoyable to talk with her. He was a photographer, she was liked to draw and paint. They were both artists. She soon enlisted his help in searching for her father. As they followed the leads like amateur detectives, they bonded some more. He found that even though Bay was hearing and didn't know all that much sign language, she was spunky, smart, and funny, and pretty quick at catching on to the sign he incorporated into their conversations. She was pretty cute, too.

His friendship with Bay was kept kind of on the DL for a while until Daphne walked in on him with Bay. Granted, it was probably one of the more awkward positions he'd ever found himself in because he had just been teaching Bay the sign for love, but it could've been worse. Probably. When Daphne realized they were searching for Bay's father, she was not pleased. Bay told him to follow Daphne, but when he caught up to her, she was mad. Eight years of knowing someone pays off, though, because he had a strong feeling that Daphne would show up to come with Bay and him to the club that night. He was right. The club was a bust as they didn't even find Bay's father, but at least they all went out for drinks after. The next day at school, Daphne confronted him about his relationship with Bay. He told her in no uncertain terms that nothing was going on between them…and really, he thought it was true!

Later that night, though, he was at home and thinking, and Bay's face popped into his head. He thought about how excited she was at the prospect of meeting her real father and how down she had been when she thought the license plate lead was a dud. He thought about how much it meant to him when she said, "You're the best listener I know," and how cute she looked when she said, "Wow, I have no gaydar." He thought about how proud she looked when she showed him that she knew how to sign "I think I found my dad," and how she shared a look with him when Daphne seemed so upset at the thought of them rifling through the mysterious guitar case.

It was then that he realized that maybe he had inadvertently lied to Daphne.

The next day, he waited for Bay outside Buckner Hall. When she saw him, she smiled at him, clearly happy to see him, and his heart beat a little faster. Initially she thought he was there for Daphne, but he quickly dissuaded her of that notion. "I came here to see you," he signed to her.

She didn't want him to tell her anything else about her dad, but he wasn't there for that either.

"Daphne and I were talking about you and me," he signed slowly, letting her interpret as he signed.

He realized that this was not the way that he wanted to start off, so he quickly signed, "No, no, no," even though Bay had read his signs correctly. She looked at him, part amused, part confused.

"I like you," he signed to Bay. She looked at him, still unsure of where this was going…unsure that is, until he leaned in and kissed her.

Emmett was uncertain as to what he had been expecting to feel when he kissed Bay, but he was not expecting to feel warmth and pleasure run through him when their lips touched. The kiss continued for a few seconds, and after they broke away from each other, he walked away, letting Bay and himself have time to think.

He didn't see Bay again until two days later, when she met him outside his school. He crossed him arms and gave her a smirk, waiting to hear what she had to say. Well, she had a lot to say and he had trouble reading her lips at some points because a) she talked really fast b) she was blending her questions together and c) he got distracted by her mouth. When she finally stopped talking and he made sure she was done, he walked closer to her and kissed her again. This kiss was even longer than the first, but the warmth and pleasure he felt when kissing her had not decreased. If anything, they had increased because for the past two days, he had thought of little else except for their first kiss. When they stopped to breathe, he signed to Bay, "Kissing you has nothing to do with Daphne."

That had been the unofficial official start of their (romantic) relationship. They hadn't let everyone know about the new aspect of their interactions for a week or two, but after their families found out, everyone came to terms with it in time. Daphne was a little annoyed because he had given her such grief about dating Liam, but c'mon, the guy was a jerk! Also, Daphne seemed to be hanging out with Wilke, Toby's friend, a lot recently, so it seemed like she wasn't too hung up over Liam anymore.

Needless to say, Emmett's perceptions on deaf and hearing people dating had changed. It was weird because it was kind of without warning, but he wasn't complaining. He and Bay saw each other almost every day, managed to go out a few nights a week together, just the two of them, even though their schedules were different. Emmett was really happy, and he Bay was pretty happy, too, if he did say so himself.

Emmett glanced at the picture on his desk again, grinned again, and looked at the clock. It was 8:00 p.m. and he had thought that he'd just stay home and chill for a while, but on second thought, he decided to go and visit Bay. Granted, he knew she had homework and probably wouldn't be able to do anything tonight, but maybe he could convince her to do some other form of studying for a little while…

He told his mother where he was going, promised he'd be home by his 10:15 curfew, and drove to the Kennishes'. He texted Bay when he got there, wondering if she was in the house or in her garage.

'In garage. Needed break from hw,' she texted him back.

He opened the door of the garage quietly and saw her standing before an easel, painting something. He crept up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped. "Oh my gosh!" Bay shouted. "Emmett! Don't do that!" He looked at her with a smirk on his face and then started laughing. When he had startled her, she had jumped so much that she had splattered paint on herself, and there was now a blue splotch of paint on her cheek. He took his finger and wiped it off, smirking at her the whole time.

"That is NOT funny, Emmett!" Bay said, slightly calmer than before, but not willing to completely forgive him yet.

One of the advantages of not having complete use of all your senses is that the other senses become heightened. Emmett had become a keen observer and very perceptive in his lifetime, and he saw the little smile teasing at the corners of Bay's mouth. He raised his eyebrows at her and she quickly tried to force her mouth into a frown again. He just laughed at her some more, and finally she gave up.

"What are you doing here?" Bay signed. Little by little, she was catching on to more and more sign language.

"I wanted to come and see you," he replied. "I missed you."

Emmett saw her expression soften, and they both smiled at each other.

"Sorry I've been so busy lately. It seems like all of my teachers aren't happy unless they're giving us an hour of homework each every night," Bay said.

"Well, do you think you have time for a little break from your break?" Emmett wanted to know. At this point, Bay understood a lot of sign, but still couldn't sign all of it. Most of the time, he could sign at a decent pace, unless he used a word that was unusual. That didn't come up so often, so his interactions with Bay went a lot more smoothly now. It was less like charades and more like conversation now.

Two minutes later, he and Bay were making out on the chair in her garage. It wasn't the most comfortable chair in the world, but it would do. It also meant that Bay sat on his lap, which was a bonus. They were pretty involved with each other until there was a sudden knock on the door of the garage.

"One minute!" Bay called, straightening her clothes which had become a little wrinkled during their "little break from her break." Emmett reluctantly let her out of his grasp, and gave her another smirk as she walked to the door. If he had known who was on the other side of the door, he wouldn't have been smirking, and he probably wouldn't have let her off of his lap.

As Bay opened the door, Emmett saw a flash of dark hair before the person pulled Bay close and kissed her. Emmett quickly stood up, the chair he had been sitting on falling over in his haste. He quickly made his way over to the door, about to physically separate Bay and whoever it was she was kissing, but he saw Bay push the person away before Emmett had to do anything. When Emmett glimpsed the guy's face, his heart dropped at least three feet.

"Ty?" Bay gasped.

A.N. Alright, although I've only done Glee fanfiction before, I've become totally hooked on Switched at Birth, and especially obsessed with Bay and Emmett! C'mon, aren't they adorable? I figured that I just had to write a story for them because they're so cute. And, of course, I'm kind of a sucker for angst, so I had to incorporate some of that, too. This chapter was a lot of what we've seen in the show, I know, but I still wanted to get that established before getting into the new stuff. Please let me know what you think!