Author's note: For some reason the document manager didn't like this one. Sorry if the format's weird.

Later that night, Emmett and Daphne laid in bed together. Daphne was fast asleep at Emmett's side but he couldn't sleep. It might have been due to the coffee he'd been force fed but his thoughts raced through his head relentlessly. With no sign of sleep in sight, he turned his attention to the slumbering body curled up next to him. He watched her shoulders rise and fall as she breathed. She looked pretty in the soft glow of the streetlamp coming through his window. "Is this creepy?" He thought to himself. "Probably." He replied as he looked up at the ceiling. He thought back to the day he first realized he had feelings for her. It was in the third grade and Emmett was walking home from school. He and his mom had worked out a plan that he'd walk half way and she'd pick him up and drive him the other half. This way he felt more independent and got some much-needed exercise. Unannounced to him, however, Melody would follow closely behind him until they reached the final block where they were to meet. Emmett walked past the hearing school as he did every day, however, this day was different. Out on the playground was a girl with long orange hair shooting free throws at the basketball hoop. He stopped for a moment to watch her. She paused for a quick breath and brushed her hair behind her ears. Emmett saw two hot pink hearing aids sitting on either ear. "She's deaf!" He thought. He was about to go over and introduce himself when a group of three girls walked over to her. The large girl at the head of the group said something as she approached her. The red-haired girl retorted, holding her ball defensively. The big girl walked up and snatched it from her, along with one of her hearing aids. The girl jumped to reach her hearing aid as her bully held it in the air. Emmett walked over. "Hey!" He hollered. He wasn't used to his voice, but it resonated firmly in his chest, he imagined it sounding confident. "Give it back!" Apparently, the bullies didn't seem to think so.

"Who's this, your boyfriend?" The big girl mocked the deaf girl.

"I said give it back!" He repeated.

"You gonna make me, deafy?" The girl got in his face. He stomped on her foot, causing her to recoil in pain. "You're gonna pay for that!" She hissed. She winded back, about to throw a punch, when they're attention was brought to the sidewalk.

"Hey!" Melody said. Her accent was as bad as Emmett but she had age and authority on her side. "You girls think it's funny to pick on Deaf kids?"

"No- no, miss. We was just-" The larger girl said.

"What do you have there?" She pointed to the girls balled up fist. She opened it to reveal the hot pink hearing aid. Its battery had fallen out under the force of her grip. "Give it here." Melody gestured forcefully. The recess aid walked towards them.

"What's going on here?" The woman asked. Melody explained the situation.

"Mom," Emmett tugged on her jacket. "What's she saying?" Melody interpreted for him as best she could.

"Is this true, Minerva?" The woman asked. "Did you steal Daphne's hearing aid?"

"Yes, ma'am." The big girl bowed her head.

"Well, are you going to give it back to her?" The woman asked in a sort of question meant as a command. Minerva begrudgingly handed back the hearing aid. "And what do you say?"

"I'm sorry." She groaned.

"Sorry what?"

"I'm sorry I stole your hearing aid, Daphne." The woman told Minerva to head back inside and wait for her there. She thanked Melody for intervening and was about to leave before Melody spoke.

"Actually, can I talk to the girl's principal? I have a couple questions." The woman agreed and Melody walked with her into the school, leaving Emmett and Daphne alone.

Emmett grabbed a piece of sidewalk chalk out of his pocket. "Your names daphne right?" He wrote on the blacktop in front of them. She nodded. He smiled. "My names Emmet. Im deaf like you."

"Im not def. I jest cant heer." Daphne wrote in response.

"That's what deaf means." He explained. "Me you my mom, we all cant here. But thats ok, it makes us different. And differents good."

"Mini thinx it makes me dum."

"I don't. I think your cool."

"I thinc u r 2" They smiled at each other.

Daphne stirred in bed as she slowly woke up. She flipped on the lamp that sat on the bedside table. "Are you awake?" She asked.

"Yeah." Emmett signed, his arm under his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking about you." He smiled.

"Good things, I hope." She nuzzled up to him.

"Yeah. I was remembering the time we met."

"Hey, I remember that." She smiled. "Back when I had those hot pink hearing aids." She laughed. "Hey, remember when I had that pair that was construction cone orange?"

"'Deaf and proud' I told you."

"Yeah, my mom liked that. I knew that really it was cause they were all they had left."

"You know what." Emmett rolled over and rifled through his bedside drawer. He pulled out a small tin box. Inside was a half used piece of sidewalk chalk and a broken hot pink hearing aid missing its battery.

"I can't believe you kept it!" She quirked.

"Why wouldn't I? It'll always remind me of when I met my best friend."

"Is that all I am?" She smirked.

"No!" He laughed. "No, now you're much, much more." They kissed each other and shortly both fell back asleep.

In the morning, Emmett headed off to work. They'd agreed that after they got off they'd look for apartments. Daphne came downstairs to find Melody hadn't left yet. "Hey, what are you still doing here?" Melody looked at her puzzled.

"Oh," She looked down at her watch. "Slow morning." She was dressed in professional attire. "I've got a board meeting later today and I wanted to be ready for it." She took a final bite of a waffle. "By the way. Gabe and I were looking around last night and we made a list of couples we found wanting to adopt a new baby. I was thinking you and Emmett could take a look sometime. You know, consider your options." She handed her the list. For a moment all she could do was stare at her, dumbfounded.

"Melody…" She began. "You know Emmett and I have made our decision. We're raising this baby whether you guys like it or not!"

"Have you really considered it though, Daphne. It's like I said, raising a baby is a lot of work and it can put a lot of strain on your relationship. Now, you two have been friends for a long time but your romance is considerably young. I just feel like if you rush into things you're going to regret it down the line, both of you."

"We're going to regret our daughter?" Her eyes widened, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Okay," She put her hands out in front of her. "Maybe I misspoke. But…" She sighed. "Have you thought about what you're going to do? It's not going to stay a baby forever. What are you going to do about school, college? If it's Deaf are you going to pay for speech therapy?"

"Woah, woah! Slow down there! We have years before we have to worry about that."

"It's still something you should think about. Parenting isn't always a one-day-at-a-time game. Kids grow up before you know it."

"What's with you? I remember you and Gabe were devastated when the adoption fell through, now you're going to have a granddaughter to coo over."

"I'm only thinking about what's best for my son."

"Well, maybe he can decide that for himself. You know, I was going to ask for a ride but- No, I'll drive myself to work. I can't believe this…" She stormed out of the house before slamming the door. Once in the car, she crumpled the paper and threw it onto her passenger seat before heading to The Cracked Mug.

Once in the parking lot, she paused for a minute. She needed to calm down after the morning's altercation. She saw the ball of paper out of the corner of her eye. She sighed as she uncrumpled it. She read the first names on the list. Charlie and Abbie Boston. She pulled out her phone to look them up. They were a married couple in their early thirties. He worked as a graphic designer and she worked in marketing. Apparently, she'd had ovarian cancer a few years prior but they'd always wanted kids. They knew ASL, they had family that was Deaf. She looked at their names on the list again, her hand on her stomach. "I...couldn't get rid of you. But they sound nice…" She opened her sun visor and pulled out a copy of the sonogram. She smiled, but her eyes started to burn with tears. "I just...can't." She was startled by a knock on her window, it was Regina. She'd been sitting in the car for longer than she thought. She shoved the small sonogram into her pocket and the paper into her glovebox. "Sorry, I got in a fight with Melody this morning and I just lost track of time." She hurried out of the car.

"A fight with Melody? About what? What were you reading?" Regina asked.

"Nothing," Daphne wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "It was nothing. Come on, I'll start my shift. The customers are probably thirsty."