Toby and Daphne went into the dining room and took their seat at the table. Toby sat with Lily, Travis and Bay sat across from Emmett, Emmett and Daphne sat next to Melody. Lily sat at the end of the table between her husband and Melody and across from Kathryn. John sat to Kathryn's right side and across from Bay and Regina sat across from Daphne. The table had been set with good china, candles, and a floral centerpiece. A lovely arena for the gruesome battle about to take place. Daphne thought. "Daphne," John spoke up. "Would you like to catch everyone up to speed before our food gets cold?"
"Uh…" Daphne swallowed hard. The words got stuck in her throat. She looked at Regina, she hadn't seen her since school ended.
"What is it, sweetie?" Her mom said.
"I'm pregnant." The words fell out of her mouth. Regina's jaw dropped. She stared at her with a look of shock and disappointment.
"I'm sorry, what?" She picked her jaw off the floor and furrowed her brow.
"Daphne and I are-" Emmett began.
"Stay out of this!" Regina snapped. "H- How could this have happened? When? When did this happen!?"
"About nine weeks ago, give or take." Daphne slouched down in her chair, making herself small.
"Well, what are you going to do. Have you considered-" She looked around. "Terminating?"
"She's not getting an abortion." John said. "We've made that clear."
"Excuse me," Regina turned to the former baseball star. "It's not up to you what my daughter does with her body!"
"Actually, she's my daughter!" John smiled back at her. "And it's not her body we're talking about."
"We're keeping it." Daphne declared before things got ugly. "Emmett and I are going to raise it, as our child."
"Oh no!" Melody shook her head. "I don't like that at all."
"Mom!" Emmett signed.
"Have you thought about what this means? About your careers? Emmett, how are you going to pay for a baby? And Daphne, you're future's so bright. A Deaf neurosurgeon! It makes me proud to just think about it."
"Maybe they have thought about it, maybe they shouldn't live their lives based on other's expectations of what they should do!" Toby said.
"Well," Melody turned to the young father. "I just want better for my son!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toby sat up.
"Nothing, nevermind." Melody raised her hands. "So what are you going to do about school?" Before either one of them could speak, Kathryn chimed in.
"Well I think she should take a break to raise the baby, go back when she's older."
"What are you on about!?" Lily interjected. "You can't just take a break for several years and start back up where you left off. Med school doesn't work like that!"
"So what do you think, Mrs. Kennish?" She asked in a mocking tone.
"Well, Emmett's not going to school right now so I think he should stay home to raise the baby. It makes sense!"
"Well studies show-" Kathryn started.
"Oh don't give me a study, this is real life! It's what's practical!" Lily scoffed.
"We-" Emmett chimed in. "Haven't decided yet. But we have time!" The room fell silent for a moment. The family picked at their food in a tense pause.
"Travis and I are engaged." Bay blurted out. Everyone looked towards her in surprise, except the three that were at the mall.
"Really?" John asked. "A wedding, already?" John sipped his water. "I just don't know if its a good time right now, honey. And are you sure you two are ready for that kind of commitment? What has it been, a year? A year that you've both spent on separate continents."
"We've known each other for a lot longer than that. Plus we skype every night, and trust me dad, we're ready." She explained. "We can have a small ceremony so it won't be too expensive."
"Even a small ceremony is pretty expensive, sweetheart." John sighed. "Plus with Emmett and Bay's bab- oops!" John caught his slip. "Uh, sorry about that. I meant Emmett and Daphne's baby. I just always thought, I'd be saying that differently." Travis glared at Emmett, John's freudian slip stung as it hit him. They had so much history together, how could he ever contend with that. She probably didn't even really love him, nobody did. He didn't deserve it anyway. He sat in disgust imagining the two of them together. He shot up from his seat.
"It doesn't matter!" He spoke. "The weddings off!" He signed "canceled" so hard it hurt his hand. He stormed off out of the dining room and out to his car.
"I better go talk to him." Bay sighed as she got up from the table as well. John then got up.
"I need some air!" He walked out of the room holding his chest.
"I need to go pick up will." Regina placed her napkin on her plate after checking the time.
"I have laundry in the wash." Melody said before leaving as well. Katharin began cleaning up after everyone.
"Wait-" Lily reached out for each fleeing guest. "Wait but- We have cake!" Everyone ignored her reminder. "Guys, there's still the….cake." She began to get more quiet and deflated in her attempt at corralling everyone back to the table. "We worked hard on it." She frowned. Daphne, Emmett, Toby, and herself were the only ones that remained at the table. She shrugged and cut the cake open herself. "It's a girl, yay." She cheered quietly and unenthusiastically.
"Travis, wait!" Bay called after her fiance despite him being Deaf. "Hey!" She grabbed onto shirt.
"What?" He spun around to face her.
"What the hell was that back there?" She asked.
"Look, maybe your dad's right. Maybe we're not ready for this!" He continued walking.
"What makes you say that?" She ran to catch up to him.
"You know." He shrugged her off.
"Is this seriously about Emmett? Look, Travis," She placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "Emmett and I are way, way over with. I'm not in love with him, okay? I'm in love with you!" She reasured him,
"Look at me and tell me that!" He signed angrily "Look me in the eyes, Bay, and tell me you don't have any feelings for him." He stood there silently waiting for Bay to respond. She stammered for a moment, unable to express what she wanted to say. "That's what I thought." Travis unlocked his car, got inside, and drove off. Bay tried to get him to come back but it was no use. She fought off crying and went back inside. Without saying a word, she went into her old bedroom and collapsed on the bed. What's happening to this family? She thought. Everything was going well finally, her and Travis were getting married, Daphne was going to be a surgeon, J and K were happy, Toby and Lily were happy. But now, she was lying in a puddle of everyone's misery. Daphne was in the kitchen helping Kathryn clean up. She was washing her plate in the sink when Emmett came up behind her, touching her lightly on the shoulders.
"Sorry tonight didn't go well." He signed.
"It's okay." She shrugged. "I wasn't expecting it to go smoothly." She flicked the water off her hands and turned around to embrace her boyfriend. "Though I gotta say, I wasn't expecting it to blow up so spectacularly either." She smiled.
"Yeah, there were definitly some fireworks!" He nodded. "Did you see Toby? He really stood up for us."
"Seriously!" Her eyes widened. "Well, it's nice to know we're not completely alone in this." Emmett nodded.
"Hey...Could I stay here for the night? I don't really want to see how my mom took that exchange." He asked sheepishly.
"Sure, you can stay with me in the guest house. I mean you already got me pregnant, what could happen?" She gave him a playful smile.
"Do you want to find out?" He smirked. She brought him in closer for a kiss.
"Oh my god!" Kathryn screamed from the other room. Daphne and Emmett gave each other a worried glance before running in to see what happened. The entered the living room to find Kathryn on the phone, Toby ran in as well.
"Toby," Daphne said. "What's she saying?" She hung up the phone and put her face in her hands.
"Mom," Toby walked over to the couch where sat the very distraught mother Kennish. "What's wrong?"
"It's your father…" She choked. "He…He…" She started to sob "He had another heart attack at the wheel and had a car accident!" Toby eyes widened.
"Toby!" Daphne said. "What's going on? What happened?"
"Dad got in a car accident." He explained. Daphne's hand shot up to her mouth.
"Oh my god, is he alright?"
"The doctors say…" Kathryn gasped between sobs. "He's in critical condition!"
"I- I'll get the car!" Toby said shakily.
"No!" Emmett insisted. "I'll drive you guys. You go tell your wife and son."
"Thanks, man." Toby nodded and handed him his keys. Daphne and Emmett helped Kathryn out to the car and once Bay and Toby join them, they took off for the hospital.