AN: This last chapter was hugely popular and that makes me very happy. I was afraid people would be turned off with the turn in events, but clearly that did not happen. Thank you so much for letting me know. I know the end was confusing and that was actually on purpose, it was supposed to be that way, to create some suspense and because the situation required some confusion I thought.

Chapter 10:

He has never driven faster, his insides churning, he feels like he hasn't taken a proper breath since he got that message and his stomach is still upset, refusing to digest the pasta he was eating. His mother didn't want him to take the bike, said she would drive there herself, she was calmer and afraid that he would hurt himself rushing, but he couldn't wait for her, he needed to be at the hospital like 10 minutes ago. And he is lucky, there is barely any traffic and no police. He parks and rushes inside, needs to know, needs to see that she is OK and he is deadly afraid that she might not be; if she isn't though he doesn't really want to know. The Kennish-Vazquez clan is standing around in the waiting area of the ER looking terrified and more like a unit than ever before. Puzzle pieces that finally combined into a family, gelled together by pain and worry. Daphne is sitting next to her grandmother, but as soon as she sees him she stands up and comes to hug him. He only lets her close for a short moment, gently pushing her away quickly , so she can see his hands and asking the question he is not sure he wants answered. "Is she going to be ok?" Daphne looks down and shrugs, "We don't know, they don't say anything. She was hit by someone. They are "working" on her they said." Emmett immediately pictures Bay's doom-buggy, the one without airbags, the one without any safety features, the one without a freaking roof for heaven's sake, and the pressure in his chest increases. Out of the corner of his eye he sees John talking, possibly yelling, at the desk lady, demanding to know something more, demanding to see his daughter. He sees the way Regina and Mrs. Kennish are leaning onto each other, holding each other up, finding a lifeline in another mother too worried to think clearly. He sees Toby, the constant joker, massaging his temples, his gaze lost in terrifying thoughts. And he sees Daphne's eyes, red and tortured, looking up at him. He wishes he could go outside and scream, try to find a way to properly breathe again, but he knows he won't be able to, until he knows what is going on, if she will be ok, and even though his own pain is so acute he just opens his arms and welcomes Daphne into them and feels her sob against his chest.

Daphne doesn't allow herself to cry for too long, the guilt and the sadness only tamed for a little while, but she is thankful that he is there for her, only she knows he really is here for Bay. And right now that doesn't even matter. As long as she is ok, as long as she recovers, they might as well get married for all she cares. Melody joins them, gives everyone hugs, asks if there are any news and then sits down next to Adriana. Emmett is still standing and refuses to sit down; she has never seen him like this before, his blank face a mask she can see right through, his eyes giving him away, letting her see that he is terrified. She doesn't really believe in any deity, never has, her mother not being religious and her grandmother practicing her own religion outside the house, respecting Regina's wish not to be proselytized, she just wasn't brought up with any religion. But now she prays inwardly, starts trying to make deals with God. If she lives, I promise I will spend more time with her, bond properly. If she isn't badly injured, I will try harder to make our family work. If she comes out of this unharmed, I will go to church and check it out. She didn't even know, how close she felt to Bay until right now. She has never really pondered what they are to each other, but the way she feels right now is unmistakably telling her, Bay is definitely family.

A nurse comes and asks something, maybe who Bay Kennish's family is, he doesn't know as the woman is not really facing him, but everyone gets up and he comes closer. She moves her lips, too fast for him to read and he wants to shake her in anger, hearing people always assume everyone can hear them, feel entitled to the entire world and so he watches not understanding as she points towards a door and everyone starts moving. He looks at Daphne, at his mother but nobody is looking back at him, nobody will interpret, he just has to follow them. At the door, the nurse turns and this time he manages to read her lips. "Only family I'm afraid." He starts shaking his head, wants to complain to someone, lifts his hands to start signing but he sees Mrs. Kennish talk and haphazardly sign "Everyone here is family to Bay." and he could just go and hug her. The nurse opens her eyes questioning, shrugs, and ushers them into another room, tells them to wait here. Ugh! He hates waiting, and now he is starting to get panicky as well. A special room in a hospital, where only family is allowed… he has seen this on Grey's anatomy. They do this when someone… he can't even think the word when in relation with Bay, his lungs shrinking yet another little bit and he lifts his hand to his lips and starts biting his nails. But the wait is not long, a doctor comes in and starts talking, Regina signs for Daphne's benefit, but he can see that she is only signing about half of what the doctor is saying, she isn't an interpreter but in his current state of mind it frustrates him to no end.

"A drunk driver crashed into Bay's car as she was in a crossing, her car toppled over. She has broken ribs, a concussion, and was bleeding a lot when she arrived. She is in surgery now, they may have to remove her spleen." The choking sensation just gets worse, what does that all mean? Concussion he knows, he had one as a kid but broken ribs sounds horrible and can one live without a spleen? What on earth is a spleen anyway? He looks around and sees Daphne hugging the sobbing Mrs. Kennish, Regina and John talking to the doctor, their backs turned to him so he doesn't have a clue what they are saying. He needs to know though and he turns to his mother, who he hadn't even looked at since she arrived, and signs "Is she going to live, will she survive?"

They have moved to a third waiting area, this time the OR waiting room, and Daphne is sitting in a corner with Toby and Emmett. Minutes in hospital waiting areas are slower than minutes everywhere else and every time she looks at the big clock above the door the little handles have barely moved. Toby is listening to some music on his Ipod and Emmett stares vacantly at the wall. He is too worried to talk to her. And what would they talk about anyway? School? Movies? How she was too selfish to let him be with the girl he clearly liked? She bites her lip and holds onto her mother's words. She will be fine, they will fix her and she will be fine. But surgery, hour long surgery to fix her, doesn't exactly make any of them feel at ease. A doctor in scrubs finally comes in and Toby and Emmett are on their feet faster than lightning, she follows them a little more slowly. He talks to John, Kathryn and Regina, not knowing, or not caring, that some family members are deaf. She can read his lips though, reads "went well, she is recovering now. You can go and see her, two by two maybe, not everyone at once. She is still anaesthetized, sleeping, but she should be waking up in the next hour or so." Emmett taps her, his eyes begging for her to interpret and so she does. He nods and thanks her, then turns around and slowly walks to a far off corner, where he sits down, his back to the group, buries his face in his hands and allows himself for the first time this evening to shed a tear. Tears of fear and of relief. Daphne goes and puts a hand on his shoulder, a silent apology for the last few weeks and she knows he takes it when he reaches up to her and puts his hand on hers, lets her comfort him for once.

Toby has never been as scared as he was on the last 2 hours and even though the doctors have all said she will be fine, he is still scared. Regina and his mom went in to see her first, his dad letting Regina do this, more than a surprise for everyone, and when they came back they were even more weepy than before, unable to express in words how bad Bay looks. He walks slowly down the corridor next to his dad, too old to hold his hand and yet wishing he wasn't. The room is dark, only few lights on, a few machine beeps breaking the silence every now and then, a curtain in the middle of the room, dividing it. Bay lies on the side closer to the door and when he sees her he involuntarily gasps. Her face is bruised and scraped to a degree where recognition is almost difficult, only her messy curls looking the same. A tube is in her mouth, the doctor mentioned this, that she still had that tube they used for the surgery, they would take it out once she woke up, but he had not really imagined how grotesque it would look and one of her hands, the left one, is all wrapped up in gauze a few thin tubes leading to it, giving her medicine. He looks at his father, who stoically watches his daughter, Toby knows that he is afraid that if he starts crying, he won't be able to stop and so Toby takes the first step closer to her, touches the unwrapped right hand with two fingers, giving her the smallest and most careful of all caresses. They spend about 5 minutes in the room, neither of them able to stand the sight of broken Bay for longer than that, him by her side and his dad at the foot of the bed, probably feeling guilty, Toby thinks. For buying her that car, for allowing her to drive it, for letting her out of the house at all. When they leave the room he clears his throat and then puts an arm around his dad, trying to comfort him and he feels the man slowly falling apart. They stand in the hallway long enough for him to wipe his face, to look in control again, then they go back to the waiting room still in silence, so Daphne and her grandmother can go in.

He and his mom are the last people who have not been in to see her. Everyone who has gone has come back looking terrible though and since he and his mom are not really family he is unsure if they will even let him in. But he needs to see for himself, needs to make sure she really is ok, recovering. When Daphne and Adriana are back, tears galore once again, Regina holding Daphne as she cries, John walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder, says slowly "You go now, son." He wants his mother with him, the hatchet buried and the last few weeks of anger forgotten, and she doesn't need him to ask, she nudges him ever so slightly towards the waiting room door and they go together.

She does look awful (when a doctor says fine, he clearly doesn't mean it in the literal sense), but she is alive and she will recover and that is all that matters. He sees past the blue and purple in her face, past the stitches along her jaw line, past the swollen shut eye and the big tube snaking into her mouth and he just sees his beautiful artist girl with the smile that looks like the spring sunshine feels. Slowly, carefully, he goes closer, takes her hand, small and with the black polished nails bitten down to little stumps and strokes it. His mother has merged into the back of the room and when he looks at her, she motions getting out and he nods; she hates hospital rooms and who can blame her. A nurse walks past her as she leaves, starts reading some stuff off the many monitors around Bay, writing down some notes and after he carefully lifts her little hand to his lips, the only place that really looks strong enough to stand a little kiss right now, she taps him on the shoulder softly. "You can talk to her if you want" she says, clearly also unaware of his deafness, and he nods, watches her leave in silence. Then, after making sure nobody is around, he bends down, gets close to her ear and whispers just loud enough to be audible, the words feeling strange in his throat, "Bay. I'm here."