Disclaimer: Thank you so much for reading my story, I am glad you like it! I found this chapter very difficult to write and I am afraid it might be confusing at times. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Chapter 4:

She suddenly sits up straight and stares at the door behind him with wide, fearful eyes; he thinks for a split second, please let it not be Daphne, then turns around and sees Toby standing in the garage door. His heart, pumping a thousand beats per minute, starts slowing down, thank goodness it wasn't her, he thinks although a teeny tiny bit of him is also a little disappointed. If Daphne walked in on them, at least he wouldn't have to go upstairs, sit in front of her and start the most awkward conversation of all times.

"Hey! Don't eat my drummer! He is the only one we've got!" Toby quips, grinning widely at the sight of the two of them. Bay looks at him, her stare angry: "Ha-ha you are so NOT funny… close the door, will you? What do you want?" Her brother has the annoying habit of walking in at the exact wrong moment every single time he can. He is still grinning, one eyebrow raised as he closes the door and walks into the garage, coming to a halt just in front of the chair in a way that doesn't allow for Bay to get up without bumping into the computer table. Bay sighs, knowing he is standing there on purpose, trying to embarrass her, to make her uncomfortable sitting on Emmett's lap and she slowly scoots back a little bit to put some distance between them, without standing up and giving Toby that satisfaction.

"I came to find you, there is a storm brewing in the kitchen" Toby says. "Regina is crying, Daphne is crying, dad is yelling… even the cookie squirrel is upset. I thought maybe you wanted to help me get Daphne out of there… go play miniature golf or something. But I see you are otherwise engaged… I didn't know you two were… wait, does SHE know?"

Bay tries to find an answer while Emmett taps her on the shoulder. "What happened? Is Daphne ok?" She shrugs and shakes her head, then turns back to Toby. "No, she doesn't, it is a bit of… a recent development. Emmett was going to talk to her, today… this morning. We will tell her." "Well, not to get involved or anything but honestly, maybe this morning is not the best moment. Dad… well, he has been yelling about suing Regina for the custody of Daphne."

"What?" Bay is confused, scared, surprised; she sits up taller and Emmett who has been trying to understand their conversation by reading lips grabs her hand. "He wants to what?"

He is trying so hard to follow the conversation, but the speed-talking seems to be nurture rather than nature, because Toby speaks just as quickly as Bay, his lips moving as if they were on fire. He is fairly certain that there was some talk about Daphne crying and possibly there is a squirrel involved. And cookies? Nothing makes sense. Then he reads "suing" and "custody" off Toby's lips and Bay suddenly sits up dead straight, hurting his knees. She looks surprised and upset and he grabs her hand, almost by default, trying to get her attention, to get some answers. When she turns to him he signs "What is going on?" She looks at him thinks for a few seconds and then slowly says and signs "my dad and Regina are fighting, we should take Daphne out… maybe to the mini-golf-course.".

Bay feels too many things to put them into words, or even coherent thoughts; they want Daphne's custody? What if they take her away from them for that? Can they have them both? What if they have to choose, would they choose her over Daphne? Daphne the perfect, Daphne the lovely, Daphne who looks like them and plays basketball and cooks? And if they keep them both, will they let her see Regina again? Does she want to see Regina again? A million similar thoughts flit through her mind but she pushes them away. She knows how she has been feeling for weeks now and she also knows that if it was her, sitting there hearing (or in Daphne's case seeing) the strange mess of parents fight over her in front of her, she would want someone to come and take her away. So the main priority should be to try and not be selfish right now and even though she doesn't have a particular soft spot for her, they really have to get Daphne out. But how, without it looking highly suspicious, with Emmett there? As if he could read her mind Emmett seems to come up with a solution; he signs slowly "you go and get her, I stay with Toby… we say he called me, because Daphne was sad, ok?" Toby looks at Bay and raises his brows: "What did he say?" She interprets for him, she doesn't know every sign but the meaning came across all the same, and Toby looks impressed at Emmett. "For someone who has problems with people lying and cheating, you sure came up with that lie fast, huh?" Bay gives him a small kick in the shin and pushes him away to get up.

He stands up too, he didn't quite get what Toby said there at the end, he keeps obscuring his lips by putting his hand in front of his face, but it wasn't nice, so much was crystal clear. He doesn't really like Toby, spoiled rich brat that he is, thinking everyone has just been born into the world to help him or to be used by him, but it looks like they will be spending the day together, so he'd better start breathing deeply and counting backwards from ten. He really would have talked to Daphne about Bay he tells himself, but if she is already upset, then this will just be salt in her wounds and he is pretty sure that Bay agrees. He would like a minute with Bay alone though, so he looks at Toby and then points to the door, sticks one finger up and thinks, come on dude, get a clue. Toby raises his eyebrows for the umpteenth time in the past 10 minutes and leaves. He pulls Bay close and signs "I talk to Daphne, tomorrow." He crosses his heart as he promises. She nods and kisses him quickly, quietly, on the lips. Then she leaves the garage and he doesn't know if he should feel this relieved that the big scary conversation won't be happening today. An afternoon not only with Toby but with Bay and Daphne in his current situation could be quite the torture.

She enters the house and while she tiptoes up the stairs in her socks, sneakers in hand, she hears her father thundering on and on in the kitchen. Once upstairs she puts the sneakers back on and tramples back down, as loudly as possible, this being her alibi. She was never outside, she just got up! In the kitchen her father walks up and down between the kitchen counter and the working surface yelling, with Regina, her face tearstained and dark shadows under her eyes, on one of the stools, and Daphne, not in tears but definitely not happy either, at the other end of the counter. Her mother doesn't seem to know what to do, standing behind Daphne, one hand on her shoulder and a piece of tissue in her other hand. Bay stomps in and determinedly grabs Daphne's hand, pulls her off her stool and towards the door. "That she can't hear you, doesn't mean she has to witness this!" she angrily barks at her father and then walks out, Daphne in tow.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asks harshly and Bay feels hot bubbles of anger rising in her belly. She was not expecting such an ungrateful reaction, when she was trying to put Daphne first and she wants to yell at her "I am saving you, you idiot!". But instead she clenches her hands into fists and then swallows the anger and explains "Toby and I thought it would be better not to be here while they are fighting… how about doing something cool?" Daphne looks at her, her head cocked bemusedly, and she realizes she has signed "fighting" and "cool" without even thinking. "What cool thing were you thinking?" Bay is about to explain when they see Toby approaching, Emmett in tow, and he says "How about miniature golf? I will totally wipe you out! You will feel sorry you were born!"

Emmett looks at Daphne, she looks sad but isn't crying, he certainly had enough crying girls for a lifetime lately, and she gives him the evil eye, then quickly signs without speaking or vocalizing so as to make it impossible for Bay and Toby to understand "What are you doing here? I thought maybe you had died or something, since you vanished from school halfway through classes and I never heard from you." He signs an apology "I had some stuff to do, you know, with the bike and forgot to check my phone. And I am here because Toby thought you needed some moral support… when he wipes you out in golf". She rolls her eyes at him and he can see she is already ¾ of the way to forgiveness. Best friends… that is why they rock. He sees Bay watch him look at Daphne and when she turns to thank Toby for supposedly calling him, he quickly gives her smile and a wink that makes her smile back. Ah, this girl business sure feels like juggling with 8 balls sometimes.

Toby gets his car out and he waits to see if Daphne calls shotgun and when she resolutely walks to the front door he is relieved; this way she won't be able to sign to him all the way there and try to get more details about yesterday's faux mystery bike errand. He sits down next to Bay and she immediately starts staring out of her window, lost in thoughts. Daphne and Toby are talking in the front and he very slowly lets his hand slide across the seat inch by inch until his pinky touches Bay's and after a little while he sees a lazy smile appearing on her face.

She looks out of the window and her thoughts start running amuck again, what will happen with Regina, with Angelo, will she ever meet him at all? Will Regina have to leave and be left with nobody, she is still mad but she also doesn't want to lose her forever. Then again she doesn't want to go and live in east Riverside with her either. She didn't want me back then, she can't have me now, Bay thinks and clenches her jaw.

She sees one of the pink dress girls fly by her window, that is the one she did on the night after they had all of their bloods drawn for the paternity and maternity testing at the hospital. She was so scared of what would happen once the results were back on that night, which is why pink dress girl is not in her usual fowl mood and about to hack or hammer something to pieces, but dragging her big hammer behind her, like the cross she has to bear. Suddenly she feels something warm by her hand and out of the corner of her eye she sees that Emmett is stroking her pinky with his.

She wanted to tell him about pink dress girl the other day when Daphne kept interrupting with her texts and she still wants him to know that they are hers, so now she comes up with a better idea. She will take him to see them, every one of the girls, tomorrow night, a pink dress tour so to speak, and tell him what each means to her. There is no better way to know an artist than through her art and he will know he, really know her. She smiles and softly gives his pinky a little hug with hers.