Hey everybody! I just about had a heart attack when i uploaded this part and the edit/preview window was tiny and when i expanded it, the document was one big paragraph. but i reloaded the page a couple times and it fixed itself. (yay!) has that ever happened to anybody else?

Somewhat unnecessary disclaimer: I do not own Switched at Birth. (surprise, surprise). However, what I do own- is the knowledge how to sign the alphabet and random words in ASL, season 4 of the Big Bang Theory on dvd. And a fervent wish that my classes will be cancelled for tomorrow. (in case you all wanted to know :P)

anyway, i know i promised a somewhat-quick update, sorry. Anyway! Enjoy.

(2:03am)

Michael Quincy was driving home from a very nice blind date. He was thinking about the way her green eyes sparkled in the light of the restaurant. He would definitely need to call that girl soon, as early as tomorrow afternoon possibly. A good blind date was pretty unusual, so he would definitely make an effort to keep this girl.

He was planning what he would say when he called her tomorrow - should he be cute and flirty? or should he be up-front and honest? As Michael Quincy contemplated the pros and cons of each method. He was stopped at a red light, and he's waiting patiently for it to turn green, when he sees a motorcycle drive up, and signal to take a turn. However, he doesn't expect what happens next, is that the bike tips, and the rider flies off the seat and comes to rest a few feet away.

"Holy shit!" Michael exclaims, and pulls over to call the police.

(1:42am)

A few minutes pass and I'm feeling uncomfortable in this fellow's backseat, the attempt to try and forget Emmett is not going very well, mostly because this fellow is not very good. Distantly, I hear the rumble of a motorcycle driving by, but the noise is gone within a matter of seconds and the sounds are replaced by heavy breaths and grunts, he finishes and stops. Ugh, fuck this. Under any other circumstance I would have said something, but right now I just honestly don't care. I don't care at all.

This fellow is considerably more sober than I, so I ask if he could please take me home.

"You sure ask for a lot of favors, without paying me back." he says. I hold back my retort by pressing my lips together in a thin line, the retort would have been something to the degree of "hey asshole, I just had sex with you. How's that for payment?"

I get out of the car, and try to straighten myself up a little, my dress is wrinkled from being mashed up in a backseat, and my belt is on the floor. I buckle the belt back around my hips, and hope that makes the bodice look less wrinkled. I climb into the passenger side and pull down the visor and look at myself in the mirror, my hair is ridiculous, I definitely need to pin it back, I can't deal with myself looking like a slob. My face looks pretty decent, although my lips look a bit puffy from the making out, he has a definite beard. Oh god.

He gets into the driver's seat and says something to me. I no longer wish to chat. I am aware of the gaping mistake I have just made. My days of hooking up with men should have been left in Europe. Where Emmett could be out of the picture and never know, what if he found out about this? If I consider myself as two people - "European Bay" and "American Bay" "European Bay" didn't have Emmett as an option, "American Bay" was having a bit of trouble realizing that I hadn't ever stopped loving him. What if he didn't… oh god. He probably didn't feel the same way. I broke up with him and then ignored him for two years. He's definitely moved on, why wouldn't he. I would have moved on from me (if physiologically, that was even possible).

We are driving and we catch a bit of traffic, odd, since its 2am. We are stopped. Shit, all I want is to shower and go to bed. Why?

"What do you think happened?" I ask him.

"Must have been an accident. Is there another way to get to your apartment?" he asks me.

"Not that I know of, I haven't lived there long enough to figure all the ways."

"Damnit." he says. I silently agree. I think we are both done spending time with each other.

We start moving, but only at a snails pace. Coming up onto the site, I see an ambulance roaring away, and a couple of workers are putting a motorcycle into the back of a truck. I see it, and recognize it. It can't be. Could it? I need to know right now.

"Stop the car!" I yell.

"What the fuck?" he shouts, slamming on the brakes. I jolt forward and get pulled back harshly by the seatbelt.

"I recognize that motorcycle, I need to get out of this car!"

"Bay, you can't, they aren't going to tell you anything! They aren't allowed to!" he tells me.

"I don't care, I know that motorcycle, I think I'm going to throw up." Well, that bit did the trick, he jerks the car off to the side of the road, just after the scene.

"Do you want me to wait?" he says.

"No, just go ahead." I tell him. I snatch up my purse from the floor and get out of the car. I walk up to one of the policemen that is still there.

Alright, Bay, be casual, be calm. Don't yell.

"Excuse me." I say, trying to be calm.

"Hello, Ms, but you're not allowed to be here. We are still processing the scene."

"I'm sorry, but I thought I recognized the motorcycle. Could you tell me who the driver was?" My voice cracks on motorcycle, my cheeks flush pink, but I continue.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot reveal the name to a civilian at this point."

"TELL ME WHO WAS RIDING THE MOTORCYCLE!" I shout, ok, I've lost control. There's no way I'm going to get anything now. He stares at me.

"Miss, I'm sorry." he tells me tentatively. I think he's hoping that I'm not going to get even worse.

Alright, feeling like I've already gone crazy, I've just decided to run with it. I lean into closer and I say some choice things, mostly they were pretty unclassy. But I suppose the policeman figured that I would go away. This poor fellow probably just wanted to go home, and sleep (I could relate).

He looks at me and says "alright, I didn't catch the name, but it was some blonde guy, who I guess was deaf or something. Anyway, he lost control of his bike at the turn and flew off. He was unconscious, when they took him to the hospital." the policeman finishes telling me.

Before I can I say anything to this police officer, I bend over and I throw up, uncontrollably all over the ground. I mean combined with recognizing the motorcycle and the description of the rider, there are only so many people that could fit that description. Only one, really. Emmett.

I've fallen to my knees and now I'm kneeling in the dirt by the road.

"I'm so sorry for yelling at you" I tell the officer, rubbing my lips dry and trying not to dry heave.

"Did you know him?" he asks.

I glare up at him from my spot on the ground. He shrinks away from me.

"No, I'm only puking at the description because I have no idea who this guy is." I snap. He doesn't say anything in response, he just looks at me curiously.

"Alright, he's my, he's my… boyfriend." I say lamely. I feel myself retch, ugh maybe all that alcohol was a bad idea, and you know, this whole idea to stop at a scene of a traffic accident.

The officer flags down another guy - "Hey Phil, can you take this girl" he looks at me, I supply my name, the first officer looks at me with interest. I have a feeling I'll be the topic of police station gossip tonight "Bay Kennish to the hospital to see the motorcycle guy? It's her boyfriend."

The officer named Phil, comes over, "You want to see Emmett Bledsoe?"

"Yes! I need to go!" I tell him "I need to see him!"

"We're finished with the scene so I can bring you to the hospital." He looks at me, and takes note of my disheveled appearance. "Do you want to stop by your house and change first?"

I politely say "no thanks" and we start the drive to the hospital.

He looks over at me during the drive. "You're not actually dating Emmett are you."

I can't summon the energy to be indignant.

"No. We broke up a while ago, but I still care a lot about him." I confess.

"Oh good, Melody will be pleased. He's been pretty miserable since you left. There were some good points, but now that you're back, it'll be better."

I only have enough energy to process half of that statement, "wait, you know Melody?"

"Yes I do, I used to date Regina."

I stare at him. Regina dated a cop? Hmm, good for her. We chat a little bit more, I thank him profusely for driving me.

"Tell Regina that I said hello" he says as he drives off. I smile to myself, and while at the entrance to the hospital, I'm hit with memories and I almost don't want to go in. But I steel myself and pull open the glass doors. I walk up to the help desk.

"I'm here to see Emmett Bledsoe." I tell the woman at the helpdesk politely.

"You family?"

"Technically, I'm his girlfriend" I lie.

"Blood relatives or spouse." She looks at me, judgingly. Ugh, maybe I should have taken Phil up on his offer to get new clothes.

"Ok" I don't want to protest and risk getting myself in trouble with the hospital. I go and sit in the chairs by the desk, and I'm pretty sure that its been about an hour, when I see a new, younger employee with red hair come up to the woman and send the first woman on break or something. Anyways, once I'm sure that the first woman isn't coming back anytime soon. I walk up to the desk.

"Hi, I'm here to see Emmett Bledsoe, it's urgent!" I elaborate.

"Are you family? Or a spouse?"

"Not really, girlfriend for now. But we got pregnant, so I guess we're in limbo right now." I lie, a lot (hey I've lied all evening, might as well go all the way).

She looks happy at my news. I am startled that she believed me, it's such a bald-faced lie, I do not look pregnant at all. I'm pretty sure I reek of alcohol. Ugh, why didn't I let Phil take me home first?

"How far along are you?" she asks after she tells me that she'll take me to see Emmett. I look at her nametag before I reply. Her name is Carrie.

"I'm not sure, I just took one of those at home tests today." Another lie, ugh. If this all crashes down, this will be embarrassing.

She leaves me alone for a moment by the nurses station on the first floor "Well, according to his nurses, he's pretty good for being in a motorcycle accident, he broke some bones, and is bruised up a bit. But nothing with long term consequences, he's a lucky guy. He's awake now, and we're allowed to go in." I smile broadly at her. Wait, she's coming in with me? That's not a part of the plan. Maybe it'll help…

I walk slowly behind her, and suddenly think that maybe this was a bad idea. I look at Emmett lying in a hospital bed, eating pudding, as if nothing is wrong in the slightest. I watch him, he hasn't noticed me yet, but that will surely change.

Carrie walks up to him and to my surprise, begins to sign. I step to the side so I can see it better. "Congratulations on becoming a daddy" is what I interpret. Oh, balls. That was not part of the plan. Carrie gestures to me, Emmett looks baffled, he swings his eyes over to me. Carrie doesn't notice, she touches me on the shoulder as she's walking out the door.

(3:23 am)

Ok, so I'm in a hospital bed, my brain is in a fog. The nurses tell me that I was in a motorcycle accident, but that isn't the most confusing part of my day. The most confusing part is when I'm eating some pudding a nurse nabbed for me, a woman I've never seen before comes up to me and says "Congratulations, you're gonna be a daddy!" I look at her, and then sign "thanks" so that she'll leave and I can process what the hell just happened. She turns around and places a hand on a woman with dark curly hair. Bay. Bay is standing in my hospital room. At 3:30 in the morning. What the hell is going on?

She looks at me. I look at her "You lied a lot." I tell her, somewhat stupidly as if she doesn't already know. Her lips pull together tightly.

"I know." She replies.

"What the hell is going on?" I sign, exaggeratedly. I almost yell, orally, I feel that angry, and confused. "How did you even know I was here? Last I saw you, you were leaving with some guy from Wilke's party." I reply coldly. She has a moment where she wishes she hadn't started this.

"It was an ill-conceived idea. From desperation." Bay pauses, I raise my hands to begin.

"No, hang on. I want to say more before you say anything else." She looks at me, and I nod for her to continue.

"You know I left because I couldn't handle what happened, I have spent two years running and distracting myself. But now I'm back, and my decisions at Wilke's party were not my best, a grand tradition in the past couple years, almost. I don't know, I talked to you and I realized how much I still felt and what I never really stopped feeling. When we parted ways at the bar, I realized that you weren't mine anymore. I knew that I had given up my right to have you the minute I got into Europe and ignored your emails.

"I never stopped caring though, I knew that if you belonged to somebody else I wouldn't try to sabotage it, and I took solace the way that I have been doing since we broke up. I got into bed with someone else. Well, a figurative bed, since we were in a backseat. That's besides the point." I chuckle inwardly at her motor mouth tendency to share details that maybe weren't necessary in the first place. Wait, damn, what was she saying.

"…I knew that this time I could deal with the love, the hurt and everything else. I was ready for us. If you could forgive me and let there be an us again." Bay stops, wipes a tear from her eye. I'm shocked. Literally, what. How are we still so in-sync after so long?

"Ok, this was a bad idea. I'll go now." Her face wrinkles up, and she shakes her hair out to try and cover it, she turns around to walk out. Instinctively, I know that if I let her walk out that door, we'll be done for good.

"Bay, please don't leave." I ask her.

Ok, a humiliating life choice, aside. Emmett is clearly done with me, or can't forgive all that I have done. I turn around to leave. I take one step away from him. When I hear it.

"Bay, please don't leave." I think my heart stops as I hear Emmett speak. It's one of the handful of times, I've heard him orally speak. Its gravelly from disuse, and his syllables are thick from not ever using his tongue for speech. But in my world, it's the most perfect thing I've ever heard. I feel the tears gather to the corners of my eyes, and I turn around to face him. Emmett looks so sad. I run back to him, I take this as permission to hug him. And we do, for a long time. When the embrace ends, he looks at me and signs "Bay, don't take this personally, but you smell terrible."

:) TA-DAH! I had a different ending sentence, but i thought the ending (above) was more fun. Anyway. I'm pretty sure that I'm done with this story. Although I've been playing around with an having an epilogue. Thoughts? Yay (Epilogue) or Nay (The ending is fine where it is)

And, as you can clearly see, this story did not end the way that the Airborne Toxic Event's song "Sometime Around Midnight" ends. :D