A/N: Yep, I still can't stand Wilke. Liam all the way!

Give Me A Sign

Daphne pinched the cotton of her teal shirt between her fingers, pulled it back like a string on a hunting bow, and finally released it so it could loosely snap back against her chest. She repeated the process again and again as she walked, each time inhaling the acrid scent of charred pot pie crust that had permeated her clothes from a slight oversight in her cooking class. In fact, the oversight had been Wilke's. Miscommunication, as he had called it.

"There seems to be a lot of that," she mouthed wryly, only to herself. She rolled her eyes and shrugged indignantly as she made her mouth form the shapes of the words. It didn't feel right. Speaking orally was a second language, ASL was her primary. In the same token, she couldn't fault oral English for being Wilke's first either. The problem was that he was willing to do everything with his hands except sign to her.

Daphne had almost made her way out of Buckner Hall – completely oblivious to the goings on around her – when she felt a hand grip her shoulder. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she felt a gasp catch in her throat. Instinct took over and she whirled counterclockwise, casting the hand away in less than sixty seconds.

Standing before her was a familiar face: oval shaped with large square teeth, like laser cut pieces of porcelain, framed by plump brown-pink lips. Liam Lupo had his hands high, just above his shoulders, in a defensive posture. His eyes were wide at first, then the skin around them creased as his lips curved upward into a smile. He made a fist with his right hand and moved it to his chest where he rubbed it in a continuous slow circle. "I'm sorry," he chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Liam!" Daphne exhaled in surprise. She pressed her hand to her chest, but her eyes fell to the sign he was making against his burgundy Buckner vest. She shook her head, simultaneously snapping her index and middle fingers against her thumb, "No, I'm sorry." She directed her index finger at herself and then mimicked the sign he had done. "I didn't realize it was you. You can't sneak up on deaf people, you know." She tapped the top right of her head, above her temple. "We're liable to karate chop you!"

"Karate chop me?" Liam grinned. He copied the obtuse angle she'd made with her hands and then alternated a swishing motion in the air. Then he momentarily laughed alongside her.

Daphne touched her hand to her stomach. Briefly, it felt as though no time had ever passed between them and she recalled that first day that she had accidentally run into him at Buckner, not unlike today. He'd fingerspelled his name to her when he realized she was deaf. And then Bay and their breakup – technically, her breaking up with him – all came flying back, smacking into her brain like a boomerang. The memories were instantly sobering and quickly ceased her half of the laughter.

"How've you…" Liam cupped his hands and folded them inwards before pointing his index finger at Daphne. "…been?" He suddenly shook his head. "No, 'how are you'?"

Daphne smiled fondly. With her fingers pressed together, she touched her lips and brought them down in a sharp diagonal line.

Lines wrote themselves into Leo's forehead as he watched her. His eyes creased too, but not in the way they did when he had one of his jovial smiles on his face. This time, it was a contemplative expression, speckled with puzzlement. "Uh…"

"Go-"

Liam shook his head and simultaneously held up his hand, silencing her. "Nah, I know this," he frowned. Slowly, he repeated the sign. Then he did it again, a little faster. After the third time, he finally shook his head. "Okay, tell me?"

Daphne pursed her lips and tilted her head slightly, then she curled her pinky finger, middle finger, and the finger in between the two into her palm. Finally, she stuck out her index finger and thumb and turned her wrist in a semicircle, so that her knuckles faced Liam and her index finger stuck out horizontally, pointing left with her thumb.

"G," Liam spoke.

Daphne nodded as she formed an O with her hand. When Liam acknowledged it, then she slid her hand an inch to the left, but kept it shaped like an O.

"Double O? Like, double o' seven?" He joked, suddenly forming an L-shape with his hand at the side of his head before quickly bringing it down and aiming it at Daphne like a gun.

Daphne swatted his arm playfully with her left hand. Finally, she tucked in the last two fingers on her hand into her palm and stuck her index finger straight up in the air, pointing towards the ceiling. Meanwhile, her middle finger and thumb curled around to meet each other at their tips, making a circle.

"D?"

Daphne nodded enthusiastically.

"G-O-O-D." Suddenly Liam thudded his palm against his forehead. "Good! Ah, man! I'm an idiot! I knew that, I knew that!" he said, tapping the side of his head above his temple. He narrowed his eyes. I-D-I-O-T, he fingerspelt. Then he curled all the fingers on both of his hands into his palms except his index fingers and rotated his index fingers in a circular motion around each other, as if he were spinning something around them. Afterwards, he flexed both hands as though he were clutching an apple in each and shook them in front of himself.

Daphne laughed. "You're not an idiot," she countered. "But the sign," she said, simultaneously repeating the rotating sign he'd just done with his index fingers, "for idiot is…" Daphne made a fist and thudded it, palm facing out, against the middle of her forehead.

"Like this?" Liam confirmed, simultaneously repeating the sign.

"Yep."

"I'm an idiot," he said again, simcoming. "Anyway…" He quickly closed his fingers together on both hands, as though he were about to wave at a Miss America Pageant, and lightly swept them against each other three times. "I just wanted to say hi. It's good to see you." Liam made a point to sign good.

It's good to see you too, Daphne signed back with a little laugh. Then she realized the hall was nearly empty, with only a few stragglers here and there. She frowned. "Did the bell ring?"

Liam's face fell. "It's about too."

"You'd better get going. I don't want you to be late for class on my account."

Liam nodded, but hesitated before leaving. A deep line bore into his forehead again. "We miss you at Forno de Lupo. You should stop by for fried zucchini sometime soon."

"I'll think about it," Daphne nodded. She could feel her stomach vibrate at the thought of it and noticed Liam simultaneously chuckle and point to her belly. Immediately, she felt a rush of heat grow in her cheeks. "It was good seeing you too," she said, signing as she spoke. "I'll see you around."

Bye, Daphne.

Silently, she returned the gesture: Bye. She touched her stomach again as Liam disappeared down the hallway. It was completely empty by then, save for herself. Daphne sighed and closed her eyes, picturing Wilke in her mind's eye, and how he had completely ignored her request to let her teach him any signs the other night in the car. He was a contrast to Liam in every way possible, including the fact that Liam – even after having been broken up for so long – still went out of his way to try and sign to her.

Her stomach rumbled again and she looked down. Her nose wrinkled as it caught a fowl whiff of the burnt pot pie crust again. Maybe I will stop by to get some fried zucchini tonight, she mused, her hands flowing rapidly in the empty hallway. Fried zucchini's always been good.