Daphne waited on the porch for Emmett. The air was crisp. She had a scarf tied loosely around her neck to keep the chill away. She'd taken some motion sickness meds before she'd left the house, but her stomach was still uneasy. After only a minute's wait, she heard the revving of a motorcycle from down the street. Emmett pulled into the driveway as he had years ago when Daphne first met the Kennishes. "Ready?" He lifted the visor of his helmet. She nodded and hopped on behind him. Together they raced to the clinic. Once they arrived, the two walked into the waiting room. "You want to ask?" Emmett asked.
"I left my hearing aids at home, the battery's dead!" Daphne signed.
"It's fine!" Emmett replied. "Just use a pen and paper." Daphne fumbled around in her purse. Emmett pulled a small pad of paper and a pen from his jacket pocket. "Welcome to my world." Daphne stepped up to the desk and wrote on the paper.
"I'm here for my appointment with Dr. Everton. I brought my boyfriend. We're both Deaf." The woman read it. Then looked back up at them and froze. "Hello?" Daphne waved her hand in front of her. The woman reanimated and started talking. "I can't hear you!" Daphne said. "I'm Deaf." She saw the woman move her lips again. Emmett tapped her on the shoulder.
"I have an idea." He said. "I can speech read, you can speak. I'll sign what she's saying for you." (Authors note: This never happens in real life but Emmett seems to have a speech reading superpower.)
"Good idea." Daphne signed. She told the woman again that they were here for an appointment. Emmett watched her speak and then signed.
"Do you need an interpreter?" They have an interpreter yet we're going through all this?! Daphne thought.
"Yes please." Daphne said. Again Emmett watched the woman and then relayed what she said.
"Okay, a nurse and interpreter will be right with you." The two of them sat down and waited. Daphne tapped her foot on the tiled floor. "You nervous?" Emmett asked.
"A little." She admitted.
"What do you think it's going to be?" Emmett asked.
"I don't know, a boy? I just hope it's okay and that there's only one of them."
"A boy, huh?" Emmett raised his brow. "I hope it's a girl."
"Why?" Daphne asked.
"Because I'm a boy, I know how boys work. Trust me, we're hard."
"You can say that again." Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Can I ask you something?"
'Shoot!" Daphne sat back in her chair.
"What do you want to do with it?"
"I don't know, give it up for adoption?" She shrugged. "What do you want to do?"
"I was thinking we would keep it." Emmett signed hesitantly.
"Are you crazy? Emmett, I'm going to medical school in a year! And you've been following Travis around Japan for a year."
"I know, but I can find work here." He said. "And you can still go to school, we'll find a way to manage!"
"I don't think you're grasping the full scope of how screwed we are, Emmett." She said. "We're going to have a baby. A small child that poops and cries and doesn't sleep! How can I stay in school while you get a job and take care of a baby all at once?"
"Like I said, we'll figure it out!" He huffed. "And besides, I don't want someone else raising my kid. I'm sorry but I don't!"
"Well, you know who raised someone else kid? My mom! And she did a damn good job at it." Daphne signed aggressively.
"Apparently it wasn't that great or we wouldn't be here."
"I can't believe you said that, take that back!"
"I'm just making an observation!" He threw his hands up.
"I can't believe you!" She huffed. "I can't believe I even asked you to come!"
"And I can't believe you didn't tell me you were getting an abortion!" The signs erupted from Emmett's body without thought. The both of them realized then the entire waiting room was staring at them. The nurse and interpreter were in the doorway.
"Are you two ready to begin?" The nurse asked.
"Yes. We are." Daphne signed firmly as she shot up from her seat.
They were lead into the exam room. Daphne was weighed and had blood drawn. "The doctor will be with you shortly." The nurse said before leaving the room. The room was silent. Doctor Everton walked inside.
"Good afternoon, Miss Vasquez. And this must be the proud papa!" He shook Emmett's hand. "Now, we'll get started here. I'm sure you're excited." He grabbed a tube of gel and squirted it onto the probe. "If you'll just lift up your shirt, please. This might be a little cold." She exposed her stomach and the doctor began to move the probe around. Daphne and Emmett watched the screen intently. A small blob appeared on the screen. "Well, it has a good heartbeat." The doctor announced. "I think you're around eight or nine weeks. A blood test will confirm."
"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl." Emmett asked.
"Not quite yet, but the blood test should tell us that as well." He took a screenshot of the sonogram and the machine spat out a photograph. The put the probe away and turned off the machine. "You can get cleaned up now. I'll be back with the test results shortly." He left the room. Emmett took a picture of the sonogram with his phone. Daphne furrowed her brow.
"You know me," He said. "I take a picture of everything." Daphne laid back on the exam bed, closed her eyes, and smiled.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was thinking about abortion." Her smiled dropped. "To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to go through with it."
"I understand." Emmett nodded. "You were afraid, and that's okay. But you don't have to be afraid alone."
"Thanks." Daphne smiled again. "You sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah," He grabbed her hand. "I am." The doctor came back with a clipboard.
"Well, we have the results of the test. You're baby's healthy, you're about nine weeks along, and…" Daphne sat up.
"And?" She held tight onto Emmett's hand. They both watched the interpreter intently.
"We believe it's a girl." The doctor said. The interpreter signed "girl" and Emmett's jaw dropped.
"That's fantastic!" Daphne said. "Thank you, so much!"
"You're very welcome." The doctor smiled. "Congratulations to you both." The two thanked the doctor again and left.
Outside the clinic, Emmett was about to put on his helmet when Daphne got his attention. "Hey, are you okay? You haven't said a word."
"Sorry," Emmett blinked. "I'm just...I'm kind of in shock. Like when you told me, I believed you, but it didn't feel real." He held up the sonogram. "But now we have this, now we know it's a girl, now it feels real."
"It is." Daphne nodded. "We're going to have a daughter."
"How do you feel?" He asked.
"Scared, excited, not at all ready but...optimistic."
"Same here." Emmett smiled. "Are you ready for dinner tomorrow?"
"Ooh, that...I think I'm more scared of that then I am anything else." Daphne sighed.
"Same here!" Emmett Smiled again. He brought her in closer and hugged her deeply. The two then got on his bike and raced out of the hospital parking lot.
The following day came and with it, the dreaded dinner. Lily, the only animating force in this situation, had come to Daphne the night before with an idea to make a "gender reveal cake" for dessert. "I'll be fun!" She argued. "If it's a boy the inside will be blue and if it's a girl the inside will be pink. A sweet little surprise for everyone." Daphne was not amused.
"I think the last thing this family needs is another surprise." She rolled her eyes. Lily gave her a pleading look. "But, if you insist, we'll make the damn cake!" She threw up her arms. "It's not like it's my baby or anything." She muttered under her breath. Lily went to the store and bought all the ingredients including both pink and blue food coloring. Daphne was already in the kitchen, deciding what they were going to eat as the actual meal. Kathryn had offered to make dinner but Daphne insisted she would. She thought it would remind everyone she was independent and capable, which would make it easier to tell them her and Emmett's decision. Her sniffer was working on overdrive, though, and she couldn't begin to think about food until she cleaned out the fridge.
She pinched her nose as she dumped something in a Tupperware bowl that had long since seen it's prime down the sink. Bay walked in, not saying a word. Daphne rinsed out the bowl, put it in the dishwasher and turned around to face her sister. They hadn't spoken since Bay found out about the pregnancy. "Hey," Daphne said. "Which sounds better, chicken tacos or stew?"
"Up to you." Bay shrugged, flipping through a magazine inattentively.
"Hey, what's been up with you?" Daphne walked over to the island. "You haven't said a word to me for like three days!"
"Nothing's wrong, I've just-" Bay turned her back to her, pretending to check her phone.
"Hey! You know I can't understand you when you back's turned." Daphne's brow furrowed.
"Oh really?" Bay spun around. "Now you care about communication, huh? Well, maybe you should have considered that sooner. Maybe you should have communicated like, I don't know, that you were sleeping with my ex!?" Bay crossed her arms.
"Why do you care?" She took a defensive stance. "You and Emmett broke up years ago! You're with Travis now." Bay scoffed.
"It's not about that." Her lips tightened. "It's that you didn't tell me."
"I'm sorry, okay? Mingo broke up with me and I was upset. It was an accident! How many times do I have to say that!"
"You could have called me, Regina, Iris, Natalie, anyone! Hell, you could have even called Emmett, it doesn't mean you had to screw him!" She yelled.
"You know what, Bay?" Daphne yelled back. "We're in love, okay? Emmett and I are in love. I've loved him for fourteen years but I was too stupid to see it, and if you hadn't gotten in the way…"
"Don't you start." Bay growled. Before the argument could continue, Lily walked in with bags of cake ingredients. Daphne and Bay were now standing face to face, almost at each other's throats.
"Girls!" She dropped the bags and ran over to them. "What's going on here?"
"Bay's a jealous bitch and she can't get over Emmett!" Daphne spat.
"Daphne!" Lily gasped.
"Not true! I'm totally over Emmett, I'm just upset you didn't tell me!" Bay said.
"Well, I said I'm sorry. What else do you want me to do, huh? Why should you be all worked up about it, you don't have to carry around his kid! Just admit it, Bay, you're still in love with him." Toby and Travis came inside from the garage to see what the commotion was. Travis entered into the kitchen just in time to see Daphne sign "You're still in love with him".
"Is that true?" He walked over to his fiancee.
"N- No…" Bay calmy signed. "Of course not. Honey," She took Travis's hand in hers. "You know that's not true." Travis grimaced as he looked at her, trying to believe her. Lily tapped him on the shoulder.
"Alright," She told everyone. "Well, that was exciting. Now, if you all don't mind, Daphne and I have a cake to make." Bay, Daphne, Travis, and Toby looked at her silently. "So out! Everyone, out! You heard me!" She ushered everyone out of the house. Daphne attempted to sneak out with the rest. "Not you, missy. Get back in here!" She shepherded the Deaf girl back into the house and shut the door. "Now that that's out of the way..." She let out a heavy sigh.
"I think that's just a preview of what's to come." Daphne looked at her sister-in-law with large frightened eyes.
"Nonsense!" She waved. "She was just getting it out of her system." Lily got to work taking all the cake ingredients out of her shopping bag. She turned around. "Alright, now," She softly grabbed hold of Daphne's shoulders. "-Quietly, in case someone's listening-" She looked up to the ceiling, remembering a lack of John and Kathryn in the fight that happened moments ago. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Her British accent was thick, Daphne sometimes had trouble speech reading her. But she could guess what she'd asked.
"Girl." She whispered. A smile crept across her face. Lily squealed with excitement which made her smile bigger. She didn't know why but all week Lily had been trying to cheer everyone up and it was working. Her excitement was contagious.
Lily gave her the expected congratulation and then they divided the work between them. Lily would bake, Daphne would decorate. They talk about a lot while they worked. Motherhood, Carlton, school. "Do you think Bay was being unreasonable?" Daphne said as she drew blue and pink question marks over the white frosting background.
"I don't want to get in the middle of you girls," Lily began. "But… It is odd she'd be this upset."
"Right!? It's not like she's the only one I didn't tell. We hid it from everyone. We didn't want to deal with the drama! It wasn't until-" She placed a floury hand on her apron over her stomach. "This girl surprised us, that I even considered it." She dotted the last question mark.
"There!" They stepped back to asses their work. It was a layer cake with white frosting on the outside. The middle layer crumb had been dyed pink and the outside was decorated with pink and blue edges and question marks. "I don't think we did half bad!" Lily commented.
"Looks good to me, let's get it in the fridge until later tonight." Daphne said.
Daphne went to see Travis, who was practicing his throw in the backyard. "Hey," She got his attention. "What I said back there, I didn't mean it. It was just in the heat of the moment."
"I know." He shifted the baseball from one hand to another.
"You guys are great together." Daphne said. "She really does love you, you know."
"Does she love Emmett, though?" Travis pursed his lips.
"Like," Daphne paused. "I'm sure she does. But she's in love with you! Besides, Emmett is with me now."
"That doesn't change anything." Travis went back to throwing the ball. "You were in love with Emmett when he and Bay were together." He pointed out. Realizing she was only making things worse, Daphne placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey," She looked him in the eye. "I don't want you to ruin your engagement because a crazy pregnant lady said something stupid in a fight with her sister." Travis curled his lower lip and exhaled, saying nothing. Toby came up to them from inside.
"Hey, dinner's ready." He nodded over his shoulder. "Let's go." Travis went inside to sit. Daphne followed behind but was stopped at the door by Toby. "Are you going to be okay." He asked his sister.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Me and Emmett talked, and we've made our decision." She pushed her hair out of her face.
"Well, I know how hard of a decision that is to make, so whatever you decided I'll stand by you guys one-hundred percent."
"Thanks, Toby." She smiled faintly. Toby brought her into a hug.
"After all," He said into her working hearing aid. "You're my little sister too."