Bay Kennish looked up at her parents' house with dread. It had been almost two years since she had walked out that door for the last time. Now, sitting in her car looking at her childhood home, she wished she had stayed away.

"Momma!" Emmelaine squealed from the back seat, excited to be at a new house. Bay looked at her little girl in awe, glad that she was so carefree. Her peace was short-lived, however, when someone knocked on her car window. It was Kathryn, her mother. Well, her legal mother. Regina, Bay's biological mother, was living with Bay's dad in New York. Bay had been living with them in a three bedroom apartment since abandoning her Kansas home and the family who'd raised her.

"Bay!" Kathryn pulled open the door and pulled Bay into a bone-crushing hug. John and Toby came out from the backyard, followed by Daphne. Bay braced herself for the talk she would need to have with her family about Emmelaine.

"Bay it's great to see you! But who's the brat in the backseat?" Toby asked while wrapping his arms around his little sister. To Toby, Bay would always be his annoying, little sister. After Toby released her, John and Daphne approached. Neither welcomed her with open arms, at least not in the way that Kathryn and Toby had. Daphne stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Bay and John wouldn't even look at her.

Bay grabbed her purse and shut the driver's side door. She then opened the back door on the left side and proceeded to take Emmelaine out of her car seat. The little girl wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and planted a wet kiss on her cheek.

"Toby can you grab my bags from the trunk?" Bay asked of her brother, flashing him a grateful smile when he opened the trunk and started unloading her luggage; two suitcases and a diaper bag.

"Thank you for coming, Bay. We've missed you." Kathryn wrapped one arm around Bay's slender waist and the two walked in unison into the house that had once been her home.

"Hi." Bay's little girl signed to Kathryn, when the older woman smiled at her. Kathryn was taken aback by the young girl's use of sign language.

"Is she deaf?" Kathryn asked Bay. Bay fought the urge to roll her eyes at Kathryn's utter lack of manners.

"No, she's not. I took the liberty of teaching her to sign as she learned to speak, that way she could not only communicate with Daphne, but with Emmett and Melody as well. It was really quite easy, and Emmy prefers to sign when she's shy."

"What do you mean you taught her? Why wouldn't her mother teach her? And why would she need to communicate with Emmett and his mother?" Kathryn's voice was rising with frustration. Though she asked these innocent questions, she appeared to suspect the answer and she didn't seem to like it.

"Why wouldn't I teach my daughter to sign language? Her father is deaf; it's the only way she can communicate with him." Bay looked Kathryn dead in the eyes as she let her secret be known to the family she had abandoned.

"Who is the father?" Daphne asked while signing. She had been watching Bay talk and could sense from her body language that the child was hers.

"Emmett." Bay used the sign for his name so that there would be no misunderstanding with Daphne. She needed to be honest with everyone now that she was strong enough to face them. To hide the truth would be to hide from the woman she had become.

"You're lying!" Daphne screamed, not bothering to sign while in a room full of hearing people. With tears streaming down her face, she ran out of the room.

"I'll go talk to her." John left the room without so much as a glance at Bay or her child.

"Oh, Bay!" Kathryn wailed, wrapping Bay and Emmelaine in a hug, whilst tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry! I should have known something was up, but I was too busy trying to get Daphne to fit in with the family that I pushed you away! This is all my fault!"

"No, mom, this isn't your fault. I was in love with him, and because of that I gave him what was most precious to me. Just because I ended up with a child doesn't mean it was a mistake. It happened, and that's that. I'm happy to be a mother; Emmy has changed my life for the better." When Kathryn looked unconvinced Bay gave a reassuring smile and handed the little girl to her.

"Hi pumpkin. I'm your grandma." Kathryn smiled at the girl in her arms the same way she used to smile at Bay when she held her as a baby. Emmelaine looked exactly as Bay did when she was little, except for the eyes; she had the same bright blue eyes as Emmett.

"Grandma Regina?" The girl signed and spoke, looking confused.

"No, Emmy. This is Grandma Kathryn." Bay explained to the girl. Though the answer was simple, it caused Emmelaine's blue eyes to shine with wonder.

"Is it okay if we stay in the guest house?" Bay asked her former mother. "I don't want to upset Daphne or John."

"Are you sure? Your old room is still free…"

"I'm sure. Is there a room set up there?" Bay didn't mean to sound rude, but she couldn't stand being under the same roof as the Kennish family.

"There is still furniture, yes. I put some linens in the cabinet in the bathroom, though it hasn't been used in months. The key is above the stove." Kathryn's eyes took on a distant look, as if she were remembering a different time: a time when Bay was still an active member of the family.

"Thanks."

"And Bay—" Kathryn looked down as tears escaped her eyes, "Thank you for coming home."