A.N. And….here I am, back after 3 ½ months of no updates! Sorry about that…Lots going on and stuff. Anyway, I updated the story summary because now that we've kind of resolved the Ty thing, I was thinking about the interest plot twist that Travis (new character in the show) could set into motion. I'm a sucker for angst, so that's why I'm doing this…In the show, I felt like Emmett's jealous plotlines weren't really wrapped up and so I didn't get as much satisfaction out of them.

Btw, for those of you who've forgotten or who haven't really read my other A.N.'s, I don't differentiate between signing/speaking/both using underlines, bold, or whatever. Everything is written in quotation marks with regular font. Well, the thoughts are italicized. Anyway, I give you readers credit and assume that you can figure out who is communicating what through whichever method. Sometimes I'll specify sign, sometimes I'll specify speak aloud. Other times, use your own judgment to figure it out.

Two months had passed since Emmett and Bay's talk about his previous feelings for Daphne. Things were really good between them again…something which Emmett had occasionally doubted would ever happen.

He and Bay were in her room, sitting on the floor with their backs against her bed. They were each studying for different subjects, he for Biology and Bay for English. Despite the temptations that close quarters involved, he and Bay were actually pretty good about getting work done when they studied together like this.

Just as he was thinking this, though, he felt a soft hand cover his hand, which was resting on his knee. A slow grin spread across his face, and he glanced at Bay, who was fastidiously focusing on her English book, a small smile peeking at the corners of her mouth. Emmett's gaze reverted back to his notes for a few moments, until he felt Bay's hand slip off of his hand and start to stroke his knee a bit. His eyebrows shot up, and he glanced at Bay again. This time, however, she couldn't keep a full-fledged smile from breaking out on her face and she returned his gaze when she felt his piercing into her.

"Is this your way of telling me you're in the mood for a break?" Emmett signed, his eyebrows still raised suggestively.

Bay smirked. "Whatever would give you that idea?" she responded, slyly.

Emmett glanced meaningfully down at her still moving hand, then back up at her.

Bay laughed again. "Ok, maybe I am in the mood for a break. What are you going to do about it?"

Emmett pushed aside his biology notes and then grabbed Bay, bringing his mouth to hers. The kiss quickly turned heated and they were so involved in each other, that it took a few moments for Bay to hear someone clearing their throat from her doorway. She quickly pulled away from Emmett, whose gaze followed Bay's to the doorway, and then they both blushed. Kathryn was standing in the door, her hands on her hips.

"Aren't you both supposed to be studying?" she asked, speaking the question aloud but signing at the same time, too, for Emmett's benefit.

"We, uh, were just taking a break," Bay replied, also signing and speaking simultaneously.

Kathryn looked at the both of them skeptically. Emmett gave her a small smile, unsure as to what he should be saying during this exchange.

He saw Kathryn shake her head a little and then start speaking again. "Well, as long as you're "taking a break"" Kathryn said, using air quotes, "Bay, could you please come downstairs for a family meeting? It's really important."

Bay looked at her mother oddly. "A family meeting? What about?"

"We'll discuss it when we're all together," Kathryn said, then she looked at Emmett. "Emmett, you're welcome to come, too, if you want."

Bay looked to him for his response. "Nah," he replied, shaking his head, "I'll just stay here and study meanwhile." Then he looked to Kathryn, "Is it okay if I come and get some food at some point?"

Kathryn melted. "Oh, honey, of course it is. You know you're welcome to take whatever you'd like."

"Thanks," he smiled.

Bay turned to him. "I guess I'm going to a family meeting. Hooray!" she said, sarcastically. "See you in a little bit. Don't get into any trouble in here while I'm gone, okay?"

Emmett gave her his best "Who, me?" look. She bent down and kissed him briefly before walking out of the room.

About 10 minutes later, Emmett got hungry and was bored of studying by himself. Leaving his stuff on Bay's floor, he headed down to the Kennishes' kitchen, opening up their fridge to see what he could find to eat. Biting into an apple, he also grabbed some leftover lasagna that was sitting in a container on the shelf in the fridge.

Not bothering to warm it up, Emmett grabbed a fork and dug into the lasagna. Man, Kathryn is a good cook, he thought while inhaling the food. After a few bites, his hunger was slightly sated and he slowed down. Only then did he look up and see that Kathryn, John, Toby, Daphne, and Bay were all gathered in the living room, which was situated off of the kitchen.

There was clearly something very intense being discussed because he could see that Daphne and Bay were arguing with Kathryn & John, their gestures large and emphatic as they signed and spoke.

Emmett grabbed his half-eaten apple off of the counter and bit into it again, placing his now empty plate in the sink and surreptitiously creeping over to where he could better see what was being signed.

His eyes flitted between Bay's and Daphne's signs.

"-that woman-" Bay was signing, outraged.

"-obnoxious, rude, bad enough just in school or at work-" Daphne was signing, equally outraged.

"-could you do this to me?" (Bay)

"-can't believe this!" (Daphne)

Finally, just as Emmett felt he was almost going cross-eyed from trying to keep figure out what they were talking about and getting so hyped up about, John put a stop to it.

"STOP!" Emmett saw him yell.

"Sit down!" he ordered his daughters.

Emmett decided to make his presence known. He walked over to the couch and placed a hand on Bay's shoulder.

She turned around instantly, still in fighter-mode.

"What's going on?" Emmett asked her, calmly, his normal signs a contrast to the ones being used only moments before.

"My parents are having someone move in with us!" Bay responded, her signs jerky and upset.

Emmett gave her a questioning look. "What?"

"Remember the lady who backed into me, causing my accident?" Bay asked, her eyes darting over to glare at her parents. "Well, apparently she had come to ask my parents if they minded having someone deaf move in with us temporarily!"

Emmett was thoroughly confused. "What?"

Daphne interrupted their conversation at that point. "You know Travis from school?" Emmett nodded. "He's the one who's going to be moving in!"

"The guy who's obnoxious to everyone?" Emmett asked, astounded at this news.

Daphne smiled sarcastically. "That's the one!"

Emmett was confused. There had to be more to the story than this, right?

Suddenly, he noticed John waving his hands, trying to get their attention. "Can we please say something now?"

Daphne and Bay reluctantly turned back to their parents.

Kathryn started to talk. "We know this is a bit of a shock-"

Before she could continue, Bay interrupted her. "A bit of a shock? As if our lives aren't complicated enough, you're having someone else move in with us? Per the request of the woman who ran me over?" She looked around. "Am I on some crazy TV show called "Let's Screw Up Your Life"? Because it must be getting a LOT of views!"

Kathryn attempted to calm her daughter down. "Ok, honey, we know this is hard, but please let us explain."

Bay folded her arms across her chest, her gaze resentful as she glared at her mother, listening. Emmett stretched his arm around her shoulder, and after a few moments, he felt her relax a little against him.

"Martha Bittern, the lady who came to speak to us about Travis, said that she came to us specifically because we have hearing and deaf people living here. Apparently Travis was born to two hearing parents and his parents never bothered to learn sign. They never even tried to learn a language so that they could communicate with their son!" Kathryn looked at each of the people present in the room, appealing to them. "It came to the attention of some people at Carlton that this was going on, to the point where Travis was almost being neglected, and so, with the permission of his parents, they were trying to find somewhere that he could stay for a little while, even just to give him a taste of a normal home life."

Bay laughed sarcastically. "And you think coming here is going to give him a taste of normal?"

Kathryn and John looked at their daughter sternly. "Yes," John said, "we do. Your mother and I have discussed this at length, and though we put it off after your accident, we decided that now that things are back to normal, we'd like to continue with this plan. No matter what has happened in the past year, Bay, you never doubted that we cared for you."

Bay looked away, unable to refute that.

John looked at Daphne. "And you, Daphne. No matter how crazy the situation was for you, you knew that we love you and you saw that right from the beginning we tried to figure out ways to communicate with you."

Daphne nodded, also unable to refute that.

"Listen, girls…and Toby, you, too," John said, acknowledging his son's presence in the room, though his son hadn't said much. "We understand that this will be a change for all of us. But we're going to try to give Travis a place where he can feel comfortable, even for just a little while, ok?"

Bay, Daphne, and Toby all nodded. "How long is he going to be here?" Daphne asked.

"We don't know, honey," Kathryn responded. "It's dependent on several different things. We'll just have to see and take it day by day, alright?"

Satisfied that this was as good as it was going to get, everyone was allowed to return to their previous activities.

Toby quickly escaped to his garage, while Daphne grabbed a basketball and went to shoot hoops outside…with a lot of force.

Bay grabbed Emmett's hand and practically dragged him up the stairs to her room.

When they got into her room, she closed the door. Emmett thought it safest not to point out that her door was supposed to remain open if he was there.

"Can you believe them?" Bay seethed, gripping his hand tightly.

Emmett gently extracted his hand from hers, preferring to keep all of his bones intact. "It's pretty crazy," he agreed. "I mean, Travis is pretty rude…to everyone. Even at school, he pushes everyone away."

"Oh, great. We're going to have Grumpy living with us. That'll be a party," Bay grumbled.

As the reality of the situation sunk in, Emmett started to process all the different components. "Wait, where's he going to sleep?"

Bay looked at him like he was stupid. "We're not exactly lacking space here, Emmett. He'll probably sleep in one of the three open rooms on this floor." She gave him a "duh" look. "Why?"

Emmett's jealous tendencies started to kick in. "A guy you're not related to is going to be sleeping down the hall?"

"Apparently, yeah," Bay responded, still too annoyed to understand what Emmett was getting at.

"Great," Emmett retorted. "Another guy is going to be entering your life. As if Ty still hanging around town isn't enough."

Bay finally started to understand, and she wasn't too happy. "Seriously, you're going to get jealous now?" She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Emmett, Ty is barely around anymore, and from what you and Daphne say about this guy, he's so obnoxious I'm not going to want to even see him!"

Although her statement about Ty didn't reassure Emmett too much, what she said about Travis made sense. The guy was clearly a jerk. It wasn't like he was going to be any trouble; he'd probably just clash with Bay and they'd avoid each other whenever possible.

Feeling slightly better, Emmett asked Bay if she wanted to continue studying. She declined, saying she was too distracted, and shortly after, Emmett went home.

Two days later, Emmett was lying in bed at night when his phone vibrated. He saw it was a text from Bay.

"U were right. He IS a jerk," the text said. Emmett smiled slightly and placed his phone back on his nightstand.

Three days later, Thursday, Emmett saw Daphne as he was heading into school.

"So?" he asked.

She gave him a weird look. "So, what?" she asked right back.

"So, what happened with Travis?" He was impatient to hear.

"He moved in yesterday, which you seem to know. I don't know what else you want to know."

"What happened when he moved in? How was it? How was it when he met everyone?" Emmett wanted to know.

"He was okay, I guess. Less rude than usual, but still pretty rude." Daphne started to smile. "You should've seen it when he was moving his stuff into his room and he bumped into Bay in the hall. John and Kathryn were already downstairs, and it was just me, Bay, and him in the hall upstairs. When he bumped into Bay, he gave her an annoyed look as if it was her fault, and she totally blew up at him!" Daphne started to laugh. "Bay started to yell that she didn't want him there, and that he could go jump in a lake for all she cared, but that if he was going to be living in the same house as her, then he'd better stop being such a jerk because she wasn't going to take it!"

Emmett started to laugh along with Daphne. He could totally picture Bay getting riled up and saying those things.

"How'd Travis react to that?" Emmett questioned.

Daphne shifted her knapsack strap a little, preventing it from sliding off her shoulder. "He started to yell back a little, until he saw Bay glaring at him." Daphne laughed again. "I now understand the expression 'if looks could kill.' I thought Bay was going to stare a hole through him. He kind of just huffed and backed off, then."

Emmett grinned. "That's my girl," he said, and slung an arm over Daphne's shoulder in a friendly gesture, heading off with her to class.

Over the next week, whenever Emmett couldn't see Bay, he was receiving texts from her about how annoying Travis was and how horrible he was. When Emmett did get together with her, she'd tell him in person, always equipped with some anecdote or three about how Travis was rude to her or to Kathryn or John or Daphne.

To be honest, Emmett felt better about the fact that Bay seemed to dislike Travis so much. After all he'd been through with Bay over the past several months, he wasn't in the mood for anyone to interfere with their relationship again.

One Friday evening, he and Bay decided to take a detour to "their" park instead of going straight home. It was hard to go to the park at night because if there was no light, it made it hard to see each others' hands when signing; therefore, their park dates were really just over weekends or in the evenings, before it turned dark.

They sat on a blanket, munching on crackers while discussing their days. As Bay was discussing a piece she had to do for an art class, her eyes lit up, her passion for art evident. There was very little that was more attractive to Emmett than Bay when she was passionate about something…of course, he liked it better when she was being passionate about him- or with him- but still…

"…and she told us that we have to do an interpretation of something very meaningful to us. I'm actually really excited about it!" Bay was saying.

Emmett moved closer to her. "Do you know what you're going to do it on yet?"

She tilted her head in thought. "I'm not sure, but I have a few ideas."

"Care to share them?" he asked her.

She gave him a sly look. "No, you're going to have to wait, just like everyone else."

He pretended to pout. "But," she said, "I'll tell you something that I wouldn't tell anyone else…"

He recognized the look in her eyes and grinned. "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

Bay straddled him. "I love you," she signed sweetly, and then proceeded to kiss him in a very unsweet manner. Not that he was complaining.

When he dropped Bay off an hour later, they tentatively made plans to go out later that night for pizza.

"See you at eight?" she clarified while unbuckling the helmet and removing it from her head.

He nodded and smiled at her when she shook her hair, trying to get it to sit normally.

She gave him a long kiss good bye, walked toward her garage, and he sped off.

When Bay got to her garage, she dropped her bag on the floor and walked to her paints. She picked up a paint palate, but a paintbrush was balancing precariously on it and dropped off. Fortunately, Bay jumped back quickly enough and no paint got on her clothes.

Remembering that she should change before she got paint on her Buckner uniform, Bay grabbed her knapsack and headed into the house. She was feeling cheerful and happy from her trip to the park with Emmett and was humming under her breath as she bounded up the steps to her room.

As she rounded the corner, she bumped into Travis.

"Seriously?" he signed, annoyed. "Don't you ever watch where you're going?"

Well, there went her good mood. "Why is it my fault? Why don't you watch where you're going?" she responded, just as annoyed in her signs.

He gave her a disgusted look. "You think that just because you grew up with money and in this big house that you're so untouchable, right? It's never your fault; it must be other people's fault!"

She was shocked at his audacity. "What are you even talking about? You don't know me at all!"

"Yeah, well, you don't know me!" he retorted. "Doesn't stop you from judging me!"

Bay was about to respond, but then realized he had a point. She took a few deep breaths, determined to calm down. "You're right."

Travis looked taken aback, like nobody had ever said that to him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Bay asked, tilting her head in thought, her hair loosely falling down over her shoulders. She stepped closer to him.

Travis nodded suspiciously.

"Why are you so angry all the time?" Bay asked.

She saw color rise in his face, and before he could respond, she hastened to add, "I mean, nobody's better at being angry at the world than me, but still…you take it to another level! Don't you-" she stopped, unsure whether to go on.

Travis gestured at her. "Don't I what?"

"Don't you have any outlet for your anger?" she finished, then stepped back, as if she wasn't sure how he was going to respond.

"No," he replied shortly.

"Why not?" she asked.

"What do you mean 'why not'?" he questioned her.

"Why don't you have any outlet for your anger? Isn't there anything you ever do just to let out all of those emotions?"

Travis started to get annoyed again. "Listen, my parents aren't like John and Kathryn or Regina. They didn't learn another language so they could communicate with their child. My mother made up a few signs of her own so that she could tell me when it was time to eat, time to clean up my room, or things like that, but otherwise, that was about it. My only outlet was video games, where I got to shoot at things. Nobody was there encouraging me to get involved in a hobby, okay?"

Bay felt herself begin to gain a new appreciation for Travis. Her life may not have been all roses and lilacs and frolicking among the daisies, but at least she knew her parents cared about her and were there to support her and encourage her. She remembered her father saying something along these lines when it was first announced that Travis was going to be living with them, but she hadn't really processed or understood the full meaning of what he had said. Now she was starting to, and she was beginning to realize that maybe there was more to Travis than just the irritable jerk she had previously thought him to be.

"Are you doing anything right now?" Bay asked him, impulsively.

He looked at her weirdly. "I was just about to go get something to eat, but otherwise, no. Why?"

"Ok, you go eat something. I'll meet you in the kitchen in five minutes, okay?" Bay said.

"Ok," he said, suspiciously.

Six minutes later, Bay and Travis were in Bay's garage. Travis had never been in the garage before, and he was gazing around in wonder at all the different art lying around the space.

Bay unrolled a large piece of paper and stretched it across one wall of the garage. She had changed into a short jean skirt and a grey off-the-shoulder tee. Travis gave her an appreciative glance.

She made sure he was looking at her before explaining to him what they were doing there. "Look, I've had lots of times in my life that I've been angry."

She held up a hand when she saw him open his mouth. "And before you say something snarky about what could I possibly have to be angry about, let me just tell you…plenty, ok?"

Travis closed his mouth, smirking a little.

"Anyway," Bay continued. "Whenever I felt too angry to focus on anything, I'd come out here and paint. Sometimes I'd paint a picture, sometimes I'd paint a wall, and sometimes," Bay picked up a paintbrush, and dipped it in red paint, "I'd do this." She flung the paintbrush from over her shoulder in the direction of the paper, while still maintaining a grip on the brush. Red paint splattered on the paper.

"Now you try," she said to Travis, handing him a paintbrush.

"Are you crazy?" he asked her, stepping away.

"C'mon, what are you, afraid?" she mocked him. "I promise you, it helps."

Well, Travis wasn't going to stand being called a coward for something as menial as this, so he grabbed the paintbrush, dipped it into black paint, and flung the paint in the direction of the paper. Wow, that does feel good, he thought, and aimed a grin in Bay's direction. She caught his eye and they both grinned at each other briefly before continuing with their splattering.

They continued to do this for two hours, the time flying by as they got involved in the activity, paint splattering not only on the paper, but also on the floor and on their clothes.

At one point, Travis looked at Bay, her eyes alight with the excitement of painting, her dark hair tied up in a high pony tail, her clothes splattered with multiple colors, and a splotch of purple paint right above her lip. He started to laugh, and she turned to him, wondering what he was laughing at.

He pointed at her, gesturing toward her face, and kept on laughing.

"What, here?" she asked, swiping at her lip, but that only made it worse. He kept on laughing and after a moment or two, she joined in, saying, "Ah, forget it. I'll get it later."

They resumed their paint splattering, but this time, Travis kept curious darting glances in Bay's direction. She's so different than what I initially pegged her to be, he thought. And she's so beautiful. He watched her slinging paint some more, pausing to stare. She's also the only person who's taken the time to try to get to know me.

He pondered this some more, but resumed his paintbrush activity, laughing with Bay and glancing at her every 20 seconds or so.

Emmett left his house at a quarter to eight, figuring he'd swing by the Kennish house, Bay would run out, hop on his bike, and they'd be off to Paul's Pizza Place.

When he pulled up to the house, though, Bay didn't run out, which was kind of atypical. Usually when they had a date, she was ready to go right when he pulled up. He swung his leg over his bike, getting off, and headed toward the house. Before he got to the door, though, he saw out of the corner of his eye that there was a light on in Bay's garage.

Maybe she's in there, waiting for me, he thought, and headed over to see.

He knocked softly first and walked into the garage. He couldn't believe what he saw and had to shake his head and close his eyes briefly, certain that he was imagining things.

For there, in front of his eyes, was Bay flinging paint at a large canvas with Travis. Not only that, but they were clearly having a good time, Bay's face alight with laughter. Emmett clenched his jaw.

What he observed next, though, made him clench his fists, holding them tightly against his side. Standing not two feet away from Bay, Travis was flinging paint while darting glances at her every few seconds. Emmett had never seen the guy's face so happy before, but at this moment, he couldn't have cared less. What he saw was Travis looking at Bay in the way that only Emmett should be looking at her.

Emmett's heart sunk. Travis was into Bay…and he lived right down the hall from her.

Here we go again….

A.N. And….jealous Emmett has reappeared! (Did he ever truly leave? Eh, not really for so long.) I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and let me know what you thought about the premise, the scenes, etc. Btw, this is the longest chapter I've ever written…what do you think of it?