Disclaimer: I do not own Switched at Birth or any of its characters.
I drove home on autopilot, my mind racing. Had I just invited Emmett to live with me? With my family? What in the hell had possessed me to do that?
Oh, right, his puppy dog face. Not puppy dog face in the traditional sense of the phrase. He had just looked so... upset. Upset and worried and even a little scared. Scared for me, and for the baby.
I didn't have it in me to just say 'no' and walk away.
So now I get to live with him, anyway.
I pulled up to the house and got out, going inside.
Regina sat at the table with a cup of coffee, talking to my mom. Daphne talked to Toby in the kitchen. I hadn't seen much of my brother lately. It wasn't like he was avoiding me specifically. It was more that he had been avoiding life. Who could really blame him? His dad had been kicked out by his mom, because said father had threatened his sister's baby, whose father was the boy that had slept with his girlfriend. Life was screwy lately. It almost always was in the Kennish house.
It was still good to see him, though, even if it was coincidental.
Regina was the first to notice me and was quickly smiling expectantly. "Well?"
"How many of you knew, exactly?"
Mom grinned sheepishly. "Well, he had to ask us if it was ok to steal you away."
"And Daphne's been helping him do everything."
Toby signed something to Daphne-his back was to me, so I couldn't see-and turned around. "And you don't keep secrets in this house for long without everyone knowing about it."
I suppose I could give him that.
"So? Are you packing?" Mom asked, smiling widely.
"No. I'm not."
"What? Why not?" Daphne took a few steps to me, her eyes wide.
"Because he's packing."
"What do you mean? He's moving?" Toby asked.
"Kind of. Just him. To here."
They all fell silent, staring at me, before Mom got up. "I'll get a room ready for him."
"Why is he coming here?" Regina asked. "Didn't he get the room ready for you?"
"Yeah. He did. But for now... I don't think it's a good idea to be away from everyone. And he doesn't want me to be alone if John shows up."
Toby raised an eyebrow. "Can I talk to you a minute, Bay?"
Before I could answer he had already started walking upstairs, towards my room. I followed him, walking past him and sitting on my bed while he leaned against a wall.
"You just... invited him here?"
"What else was I supposed to do, Toby?"
"He slept with my girlfriend, Bay!"
"I'm fully aware of what he did. He was dating me at the time."
"All the more reason for him notto live here."
I sighed, looking down. All of this was just tiring. Trying to keep everyone in my family happy, dealing with Emmett, growing a person... A girl could only take so much. Which is why instead of trying to reason with him, I just said, "Well, Toby, you get to deal with it." That's the only reason I could think of, anyway. As to why I would say that. I like to think I'm not that bad of a sister. But a girl's gotta do and all.
"What?"
I looked back up and glared at him. "Deal with it. He hurt me, too. But now his baby is kind of inside of me, so he's going to be around. Would you rather he have cheated on me, which in turn made your girlfriend cheat on you, and then not take any responsibility with the kid? Or would that have just pissed you off more?"
By the flush in his cheeks, I knew his answer, and I knew that he knew I was right.
"Fine. But I'm not happy about it."
"Trust me, neither am I. But it's happening, anyway."
He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, yeah." He fell silent for a moment, and then, "Hey... Bay?"
"What?"
"Are you keeping it?"
I blinked and looked away. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I am."
He nodded slightly. "Uncle Toby."
I laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Uncle Toby."
"Crap. I feel old, now."
"You feel old? I'm gonna be 'Mom'. "
He laughed and shook his head slightly, leaving the room. I laid back on my bed with a slight grin on my face. Minutes later, I heard the tell tale roar of a motorcycle, and I got back up. Time to face the music.
Downstairs, Daphne was already talking to him, and Mom was close behind me.
"I got the guest room next to your room ready. Hope you don't mind."
I shook my head. "Whatever works."
"Good."
I waved to Emmett when I had stepped off the last step, and he waved back. He had a backpack on, but otherwise it didn't look like he had packed anything.
Mom smiled and her hands moved as she spoke. "Your room is next to Bay's. I know you want to be near the baby."
'Thank you.'
"Of course. Let me know if you need anything."
'Thank you.'
She led the way upstairs, showing Emmett the room, though he no doubt knew where it was already. I took a few steps towards Daphne.
"So... Living with Emmett."
I nodded slightly. "Living with Emmett."
"How does that make you feel?"
"Weird."
"Weirder than being pregnant?"
"Almost."
She laughed slightly. "So... Tomorrow at one?"
"Tomorrow at one."
"And Emmett's going to be there?"
"From what I understand, everyone's going to be there."
"You know what I mean."
I sighed slightly. "Yeah. Emmett's going to be there."
"Tomorrow is the heartbeat thing, right?"
"Yeah. Not sure how that's supposed to happen. But yeah."
"Nervous?"
"A little bit. I've done reading online, and tomorrow's appointment changes everything. From what I gather, almost everyone feels the same. Right now, the baby is all logical. Cells are splitting right now and whatnot. But most women, they hear the heartbeat and see the baby, and they said everything just changed. And there's already a lot of change happening."
"And it's going to keep happening. Forever, Bay."
Forever. Forever was a daunting prospect. Growing a human was a daunting prospect. But then giving birth (which didn't sound like much fun anyway) and then taking care of this human for all of their life... It wasn't something you could theorize. It wasn't like 'Oh, yeah, in a few years I'm going to have the job and hurr dur dur'. No. It was 'For the rest of my life I'm responsible for this other life that is going to be its own person and act based on how I act' and did I act right for that?