A.N. Hi, readers! So, it's a little sad for me because I was getting around 20 reviews for the first few chapters of this story, and now I'm getting less than 10…it's kind of a bummer, but I suppose that's the way things are! I hope it's not because people are disappointed in the storyline or in my writing! Anyway, a huge thank you to those of you who take the time to review; I really appreciate it!

Emmett smiled nostalgically, remembering the story. Back then, he and Bay had laughed at the lady's perspective. But now, Emmett couldn't help but hope that the lady was right and they would last…that he and Bay could go back to holding hands and being a couple.

Over the course of the next week, Bay was slowly remembering more and more. She'd remember random things like the types of cake they had at her and Daphne's joined birthday party, and what she was wearing when Daphne first found out she was dating Emmett.

On Wednesday, it seemed like Emmett's dreams were becoming more and more within reach. Bay texted him in the middle of the day (he snuck a peek at his phone during English). She wanted him to come and see her right after school because she really needed to talk to him. That in itself made Emmett really happy. The fact that Bay was texting him to tell him she wanted to talk to him was major progress. It meant that she trusted him and viewed him as a confidante, something which he had been working hard towards.

Things got even better when he finally visited her. She was chilling in her room, when he knocked and then walked in.

She beamed at him, and he beamed right back…simply because she was beaming at him.

"Hey," she signed. She was almost at the signing level she'd been at before the accident. It was rather impressive.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

"I broke up with Ty," she told him, her eyes searching his face for his reaction.

Emmett felt his eyes almost pop out of his head. "You broke up with Ty?" he repeated dumbly. "Why?"

"When I woke up from my coma, I remembered Ty and my feelings for him. It was something I knew in a world where all of a sudden, I knew nothing." She paused for a minute, wiping her sweaty palms off on her bedspread. "But as things became clearer and I became more settled, I realized that the feelings I thought I had for Ty weren't really there anymore. They were more of a crutch."

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Emmett thought. "So what now?" he wanted to know.

Emmett noticed Bay's eyes dart to one side, then the other. She was avoiding his gaze. Maybe, he dared to think, maybe she has redeveloped feelings for me, but is too shy to ask me out or to ask me about my feelings. A small smile appeared on Emmett's face. Ask me, ask me.

Finally, Bay looked at him again, but only for a moment. Then her gaze redirected to somewhere past his left shoulder.

"Do you think it's too soon for me to move on?" she finally asked, her gaze darting back to him and then away, almost afraid of his answer.

Emmett willed his fingers to behave and not to appear overwhelmingly excited. "No, not at all," he managed to sign as nonchalantly as possible.

"But what if people think I'm moving on too fast or something?"

"Who cares what other people think? Let them think what they want. What's important is what you think and how you feel."

Bay paused to ponder that for a few moments. Then she looked back at Emmett again, a question in her gaze.

"Do you remember on Monday, when we met up with Jared, Jackson, & Janet?"

Emmett smiled. "Yeah, you asked me why all my friends' names start with J."

"Yeah, that's still weird," Bay clarified. "Anyway, do you remember when you went to go get us some drinks from Mount Smoothie?"

Emmett thought back to that day. It was actually a surprisingly good day.

When he and Bay had gotten together, they initially kept their relationship on the DL. After the first month, though, when basically everyone had been told, his friends demanded to meet Bay.

"C'mon, man, why are you hiding her away?" Jared asked him one day. "Are you scared she'll meet me and fall in love with my good looks and charm?"

Emmett pointedly looked Jared up and down and then stated, "No."

The truth was, most girls actually found Jared very attractive. He had dark hair, bright green eyes, was pretty muscular, had an easy smile, and was around 5'11". Jared was probably the one in the group who had the most experience with hearing girls coming on to him, realizing he was deaf, and then walking away. It could be pretty demeaning after a while of that happening, but Jared mostly took it in stride.

Emmett, however, had absolutely no compunction whatsoever that Bay would like Jared. Their relationship was as rock solid as it could get at their age, so that wasn't the problem. Emmett was just a little hesitant about bringing his hearing girlfriend to meet his deaf friends. Yes, Bay's signing was getting better and better, and she could understand most of what he said, even when he signed fast, but she was still slower than him and Daphne, and he didn't want anyone to be uncomfortable. What if his friends started to make jokes about her signing or looked down on her ASL skills? It would just put him in such an awkward position because he didn't want to lose his friends and he certainly wasn't going to lose Bay.

Janet, the only girl in the group and Jackson's on-again, off-again girlfriend, was able to surmise what his hesitations were.

"We'll be nice, Emmett. We promise, don't we, boys?" and she gave Jackson and Jared a threatening look.

"Of course," Jackson wilted under that gaze.

"Am I ever not nice?" Jared asked, innocently.

"Oh, shut up," Emmett signed, but agreed to bring Bay to meet them.

The meeting (which sounded really formal, but was actually not) was better than Emmett could've imagined. Bay's quick wit and determination to get along with his friends won their approval after the first 20 minutes. From then on, the gang had gotten together as least once a week to do something together, whether it be hanging out at the mall, going out to eat, or bike riding.

The first time that Bay had re-met his friends was this past Monday. The J's (as Bay had liked to call them pre-accident) had demanded to see their friend again, even if it was in a slightly different capacity than every other time (as in, she wasn't his girlfriend now because, well, she couldn't remember that). When he suggested to Bay that they meet up with a few of his deaf friends, she seemed hesitant.

"What if I can't sign fast enough or don't understand what they're signing?" she asked, unsure of herself and her skills.

"Don't worry. They know about your accident and memory loss. They'll be understanding; they're your friends!"

She still looked apprehensive, but agreed. "Ok, if you're sure."

He smiled reassuringly. "You'll be fine."

They met up with the gang in the center of the mall, where several benches were situated. Janet, Jackson, and Jared were very respectful of the situation and tried not to be overwhelming when greeting Bay.

Things became a bit more natural after a little while, and soon they were all chatting together like before (almost…because in the past, Emmett's hand was in Bay's hand or his arm was around her shoulders or some form of touching between the two was going on…but not now).

"Hey, Bay, want anything to drink from Mount Smoothie?" Emmett stood up, about to go with Janet and Jackson to get drinks.

"Um, sure. I'll have a strawberry-kiwi smoothie. Thanks." She smiled at him before turning back to her conversation with Jared.

He wasn't sure what they were discussing because he had been involved in a conversation with Janet and Jackson, but whenever he look at her to make sure she was ok, she looked content, and that made Emmett happy.

When he and the other couple returned with the drinks, Bay was laughing at something Jared had told her, a slight flush in her cheeks. When asked what was so funny, Jared innocently said that he had told Bay a story from when Emmett was younger. He refused to say any more than that, though, no matter how intense Emmett's faux-glare was. Bay was still laughing too hard to tell, anyway.

After Bay and Emmett left the mall, Emmett drove her home. As she got off his motorcycle, she said, "I had fun today. Thanks for bringing me!"

"My pleasure," he grinned. "I'm glad you enjoyed."

She was about to head inside, but turned around before reaching the door. She squinted at him a little, tilted her head to the side, and asked, "Have I ever asked you why all of your friends' names start with J?"

Emmett laughed. "Yes, you have."

A grin broke out on her face. "K, cuz it's kind of weird."

Shaking his head, still laughing, Emmett put his helmet back on. "Good night, Bay."

"Good night," she said and went inside.

"Yeah, Janet and Jackson and I went. What about it? You wanna go out for another kiwi-strawberry smoothie?" Emmett asked. He was determined that that was going to be as close as he got to asking Bay out. She was going to have to take the initiative here.

Bay looked uncomfortable again. "Jared and I were talking and he was telling me all these funny stories about you-"

Emmett interrupted her. "Yeah, what stories did he tell you exactly?"

Bay laughed a little and then said, "Not the point here, Emmett. Anyway, when he and I were talking, I felt like we really connected. I was wondering if you thought it'd be weird for me to ask him out." Bay looked at him for his thoughts on the matter.

At that point in time, Emmett didn't have any thoughts. His mind had suddenly gone blank. All he could see was Bay signing, "me to ask him out…me to ask him out…me to ask him out."

It was like a never-ending nightmare. How had his life gotten so screwed up? Did he do something so terribly wrong that he deserved this?

He managed to distractedly sign something like, "I don't know" before he looked at his phone, pretended he got a message from his mom, and told Bay he had to leave. He ran out of her room, bumped into Daphne on the way out but didn't even stop to apologize, brushing her off when she tried to ask him what was wrong, hopped on his bike, and zoomed off, paying no attention to the speed limit. Thankfully, he didn't get pulled over on his way home.

When he arrived home, he opened the door angrily, then slammed it closed, stalking past his mother, and slamming the door to his room closed.

Anger, that's what he was feeling. Anger. And disappointment. And hurt. And pain. And rejected. And more anger. He was just so angry. He was so angry that Bay didn't remember their relationship. He was angry at Bay for looking everywhere but right in front of her, at him, for that connection that only he and she could share. He was angry at Jared for being so friendly to Bay that she thought she was developing feelings for him. He was angry at the woman who had knocked Bay down with her car, changing his girlfriend into someone who didn't even know him. He was angry and he felt like if he didn't give his anger an outlet right now, he'd explode. Emmett looked at the picture of him and Bay on his desk, his favorite picture of the two of them, and felt the anger pulsing inside him, throbbing and festering like an open sore. He looked at that picture and punched the wall right behind it, causing the plaster to break a little, and the skin on his fingers to break a lot.

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder and he whirled around, furious and now hurting inside and outside. He saw his mother's loving gaze and finally, something broke inside of him. Tears started leaking out of his eyes, traveling down his face leaving sticky wet trails. All of the anger and disappointment and hurt he felt came out, as he bent down, leaning on his mother's shoulder, his heart feeling like it was physically breaking. His mother rubbed soothing circles on his back for a few moments, and even though it wasn't exactly the pinnacle of manliness, it comforted him a little.

He finally looked up, stepping away a bit, so his mother could see his signs. "She broke up with Ty and wants to move on with a deaf guy who's not me," he told her, and felt his heart break all over again.

A.N. Ok, I know this isn't exactly like what I said this chapter would probably be like..and I know I said that Bay would remember by now, but I got this idea in my head, and well, I decided to pursue it. I thought it'd be interesting to see a) Bay feel connected to a deaf guy other than Emmett and b) to see Emmett finally break, but as in character as possible. Like, I purposely didn't make him too emotional throughout this story because that doesn't seem to fit his character very well in the show, but everyone has a breaking point. I thought this might be his. I'm sorry for those of you who were counting on me to have them get back together in this chapter…however, I already know how they're going to get back together, and I think you readers will really like it! The only question is when it'll happen. I'm hesitant to say that it'll be next chapter because, well, clearly that didn't exactly happen the last time I hinted at something like that. But, the truth is, I really want it to be next chapter, so there's a decent chance of that occurring, unless I get some other idea to pursue or whatever. Anyway, please let me know what you think! Reviews are always VERY MUCH appreciated! Hope you enjoyed! Wow, this was a long A.N. Wonder how many of you actually read it.