Disclaimer: I don't own the ABC family show "Switched at Birth", which will here on be referred to as SAB

Story Title: Santa I'm Right Here

Chapter 3: Christmas Culture Shock

Authors Note: This my dear readers is my gift to you this holiday season. Remember though this is an SAB Christmas miracle…..this is not "Miracle on 34th Street".

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

"People signing without vocalizing, but will be mouthing all words"

'Thoughts'

"People signing and vocalizing"

Distantly Bay could hear the blaring of music pricking at her ears nudging her awake. Feeling more rested than she had in a while but not ready to face the day she snuggled deeper into the warm body that she was wrapped around. Suddenly her whole mind jumped with that one thought.

'Why am I sleeping on someone?' A sense of unease washed over her.

Bay forced her eyes open and found herself looking at someone's chest. She sucked in a breath sharply a familiar scent filling her up. A smile twitched on her lips when she looked up instantly relaxing remembering that Emmett had slept over and was still sleeping. She leaned her chin on his chest taking the rare relaxed moment to watch him sleep.

The lines on his face vanished when he slept everything about him was relaxed. His normally artfully disarrayed hair was almost comical after a night spent in slumber. It was so warm lying against him that Bay thought she would slip back asleep. It was looking at his mouth and the way his lower lip drooped in the morning that stopped her.

'I want to taste that,' Bay licked her dry morning lips wondering what his reaction would be if she tried, 'Only one way to find out.'

Leaning forward on his chest she cupped his cheek with one hand gazing at him just a moment or two more. She kissed him gently his lips pliant beneath hers but she swore she felt his heart thump in his chest when she did. Just when she thought to pull away Emmett sucked on her lower lip drawing a gasp from her. His arms tightened around her fingers running through her hair while he kissed her breathless. Sitting up he pulled her with him never releasing her lips.

Emmett broke the kiss opening sleepy eyes and told her cheekily, "That is how you kiss someone good morning."

Bay grinned widely at his morning wit, "Oh there are rules for that sort of thing are there?"

"You bet and there are consequences if you break them," he struggled to maintain a serious face but visions of spanking his little minx were making that hard to do.

"What consequences?" Bay could feel herself heating up inside, every dirty romance novel she'd ever read was suddenly flying through her mind.

Emmett looked like he was going to say something but changed it to something else at the last minute, "Later for now why don't we see what you've learned so far."

"Okay but I'm warning you I might need another demonstration from you afterwards," Bay leaned into him.

Bay pressed herself against him kissing him greedily. Indulging in the constant craving she always had for this boy Bay ran her hands over his bare chest feeling the heat of his body soak into hers. Emmett's arms wrapped tight around Bay holding her too him. He returned her kiss passionately relishing in their first morning spent together. Her tongue slipped inside his mouth dueling with his. She pulled away and he tried to stop her but she just grinned in response refusing to yield.

"How was that?" She questioned teasingly.

"Better," Bay gave him a playfully annoyed look, "Why don't you let me give you another example."

"Please do!" She was more than ready for some early morning making out.

Just as Emmett was leaning in for another taste Bay heard her cell phone alarm going off. Jerking away she reached out and grabbed it shutting it off. Emmett looked relieved and then reached for her again. She just shook her head at him getting off the couch to stand.

"We gotta go. Our first shift is to help serve breakfast this morning," scoping out the time quickly, "and we gotta be outta here in an hour so we can get there by 7:30."

Now he was thrown, "7:30? What time is it now?"

"Six," Bay answered easily.

"In the morning?" He looked surprised

Bay just rolled her eyes at him, "Yes in the morning. Now come on we gotta get moving they set-up at 7:30 and serve at 8," with that said Bay started hustling him off the couch to get ready in a hurry.

They got out of the house relatively easily and Emmett wasn't caught by any of the parental units. He was however spotted by one pissed off brother. Toby had apparently decided to get up early to play on his guitar. He spotted them just as they were heading down the drive towards his bike. Toby gave Emmett a look that he was surprised hadn't killed him. Clearly big brother didn't like seeing Emmett with either of his sisters first thing in the morning. Bay noticed him glaring after climbing on the bike behind him. She just stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes in return. This was conversation they'd had many times before so no words were required. Emmett knew Toby would be cornering him soon enough though.

The neighborhood they were going to was in Emmett's opinion considerably worse than even where Daphne had grown up. Noble cause or not he knew that his Mom would have meltdown. This was important to Bay and he couldn't bear the thought of telling her how much of a reckless idea that this was but that also meant that there was no way in the world he'd let her go ahead with this adventure alone. All this lead to where they were now at seven in the morning with Bay clinging to him on his bike as they flew down the street unsure of where the crazed plans of a compassionate heart would take them.

The ride to the other side of town was relatively uneventful with nothing to slow them down. It wasn't until they'd left upper class suburbia and downtown KC behind that he felt Bay start to tense behind him. The streets became less and less smooth as more and more cracks and potholes filled their path. Flashy well kept buildings gave way to crumbling foundations littered with trash. People were crawling out of their hiding places where they'd spent the night huddled together trying to keep warm. The playgrounds here boasted dead grass, unstable jungle gyms made from rotting wood surrounded by broken and twisted chain link fences. It looked less like a place for children and more like a death trap waiting to happen. Emmett didn't even want to consider what he'd find there with more than a passing glance on his bike.

They turned down a side street that fed into a parking lot. Emmett idled to a stop next to a partially boarded up entrance. The both of them climbed off the bike and Emmett watched as Bay absorbed everything around them. He could sense her unease and he wouldn't blame her if she chose to just turn around and go home.

Bay grabbed his hand tugging him towards the door, "Come on lets go sign in."

Reaching out Emmett opened the creaky half shattered glass door that had seen better days. The two found themselves in a dimly lit reception area. Bay looked at all the people crowded inside and realized that she had never seen such a broad assortment of people all together in one place. All different races, ages and genders surrounded her. It was mind boggling because everyone seemed so different yet they were all here. Emmett gently squeezing her hand broke the trance that she'd fallen into as she looked over him.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" He asked maintaining a carefully guarded expression to avoid influencing her decision.

"Yeah I am." Bay answered without hesitation.

Bay eased her way to the front where a desk stood manned by an older gentleman with graying and scraggly unkempt beard. He had a clipboard and it looked like he was alternating between signing people in and yelling at them to wait their turn. Not an altogether welcoming person to approach but he was the only one in sight who appeared to have any authority whatsoever.

So after putting on her big panties she walked over and tried to get the older man's attention, "Sir if we could get some…"

"Go To The Back Of The Line And Wait Your Turn The Two Of Ya!" He yelled at her gruffly without letting her finish or bothering to look in their direction. That's when Emmett stepped in banging on the desk to get his attention until finally the guy turned sharply to them, "WHAT?!"

Emmett gestured to Bay almost as if he was saying pay attention to the lady or I'll continue annoying you.

"If you're lost tough I don't give out directions. Other than that what do you want?" He looked thoroughly annoyed and suddenly everyone in the room was watching them.

Bay smiled with a mocking sweetness as she stared down the old grouch the feeling of tension mounting, "We're new volunteers. Where do we go to sign in?"

He just rolled his eyes at them before jerking his thumb back towards a door behind him and yelling out, "CHRISTA WE GOT FRESH BLOOD!"

After that he went back to ignoring them clearly not caring about what they did. The two walked through the door he'd indicated. It opened into what looked like a large school cafeteria. All around were round and long tables being set up and folding chairs being brought in as well. The number of chairs she saw was alarming to her. It looked like they were expecting over a hundred people making it seem like finding one family would be harder than she thought.

Shaking off the depressing notion, "Thanks for that back there."

He just smiled and shrugged like it was no big deal, "He was being an ass anyway."

Bay was just about to respond when a woman stepped into their field of vision. She had a soft coffee colored complexion with light brown eyes. Her hair was the color of midnight and artfully arrayed in an astounding pattern of braids. She wore washed out faded blue jeans, sneakers and t-shirt that was covered by an apron. She had a dull bored expression on her face but there was intelligence in her eyes that couldn't be ignored.

"I'm Christa. You guys the new volunteers?" Christa pointed indicated the two in front of her.

Bay gave Emmett a quick sideways glance watching as he nodded his head at her. Bay wasn't sure how much Emmett had understood but he was trying. Although you couldn't see it in his face Bay could tell that he was concentrating based on the sudden stiffness of his stance and the rigidity in his shoulders.

Looking back at Christa, Bay nodded and started signing her response purely for her boyfriend's benefit, "Yeah we are. I'm Bay and this is Emmett"

The other girl didn't answer right away instead she looked the pair over slowly assessing them, "Yeah you'll do." She pointed to Emmett so far not the least bit phased by Bays hand gestures, "You go back through that door and into the kitchen and find a guy named Wade," turning back to Bay she followed with, "You're with me."

Emmett apparently understood because he started walking off but Bay was more than a little concerned, "Uh could you hold on just one minute." Rounding on her heel Bay caught up with Emmett tapping him on the shoulder, "You going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Emmett gave her an indulgent smile actually quite pleased with the fact that no one had commented on Bay's use of ASL, "You just go and do what we came here to do and keep your eyes open."

"Are you sure," she countered with quickly.

"I'm sure," he placed a chaste kiss on her lips before pushing her in the direction that she was meant to be going in than high tailed it out of the room.

Christa just stared at her with a raised eyebrow, "Well that was different," Shaking herself she got back down to the business, "Follow me." Not bothering to see if she was following the girl took off in the direction of what looked like a haphazardly set-up buffet table, "You'll be working the line here."

"What will I be doing," Bay could tell that this was a woman who was all about business and facts.

"Scooping eggs out onto people's trays. Now this is important no matter what anyone says to you or the looks they give you their age doesn't even matter they get just one scoop."

"But what if…." Bay started.

"One!" Christa cut her off, "Look I know it seems harsh but the only way any of this is even possible is through public donations. We don't have a lot to go around and we have hundreds of people in this city who depend on set-ups like this one every day. So we need to make what we do have last so that everyone gets something. You understand?"

Bays shoulders slumped, "Yeah I got it."

"Good," Christa walked to the end of the table motioning for Bay to stay put. When she came back she shoved an apron and hair net into Bay's hands, "Put them on." Before Bay could open her mouth to protest she countered with, "No arguments we have to keep things clean around here. If it really chaffs your fashion sense that much you know where the door is there's too much going on to cater to anyone's appearance issues." After putting a ladle in her hand Christa walked away giving orders and working to set things up.

"Well okay then," Bay said to no one.

Oddly enough Bay found herself actually liking the quick witted bossy girl who seemed to always have a response before you could ask the question. She grimaced looking down at the hair net and went about the tricky business of stuffing her wild unruly hair underneath it all. Once she topped it off with the apron she took her ladle in hand feeling quite ridiculous. All that was forgotten though as she took sight of all the people lining up for breakfast.

Emmett had been relegated to stocking in the back. There was a lot of heavy lifting to be done and not a lot of people who could do it and that was okay with him. He gathered the supplies as people needed them making sure they made it where needed. The only downside was that meant Bay was left to scan the crowd by herself looking for the boy. Not that he would be much help since Emmett had mostly seen the boy from behind but it couldn't hurt to try.

Emmett's phone vibrated and he took it out seeing that Wade had texted him, "Bring another tray of scrambled eggs out."

Wade had actually turned out to be an okay guy. He'd been intimidated by the fact that Emmett was Deaf at first. Once they'd started conversing via texting he'd chilled out. Things were running pretty smoothly now and Emmett was enjoying himself.

"On my way." Emmett replied.

After donning some oven mitts grabbed a pan of eggs out from under the warmer. His knees bent at first swearing the thing must weigh in at 50 pounds or something like that because it was definitely not light. He managed to make it out to the dining area lugging more scrambled eggs than he'd ever seen in his life.

Scanning the table the where the food was being dished out Emmett couldn't help the smile that lit his face realizing that it was Bay he'd be bringing these to, 'So worth it.'

Emmett walked up to Bay attempting to make it look like that carrying fifty pounds of breakfast was nothing to him. The line easily parted for him seeing what he brought with him. Setting down the fresh tray he took Bay's old one dumping what was left of its meager contents into the new one. The whole time he studied Bay face. She was tired that was for sure. This of course was understandable since they'd barely gotten 5 hours of sleep last night but it was the despair and grim set to her mouth that worried him.

"Thanks Emmett," She responded quickly before being overwhelmed by people demanding their trays be filled first.

He was just about to say something but the line of hungry people quickly closed ranks in front of him effectively blocking Bay from view. That's when he noticed Wade waving him to get back to work and quit standing around. Emmett's shoulders slumped realizing that consoling his girlfriend would have to wait till later.

An hour later after taking the empty tray back to the sinks and doing a load of dishes he made his way back to the dining room. The crowd had thinned out considerably giving Emmett a better view of Bay in her lunch lady get-up. Pulling a small digital camera from his pocket Emmett snapped a few pictures that he was sure Bay would kill him over later.

Speaking of killer girlfriends his must have heard the click and snap of his camera because she was currently glaring daggers at him. He just grinned at her playfully and Bay gave him an exasperated look clearly nonplussed by his obvious glee. Emmett always had a camera on him. Even when people assumed he didn't have one he always did. Emmett's philosophy was that you never know when you'll experience something worth freezing for all time. For him every moment with Bay was worth holding onto and he did his best to hold onto as many as he could. Especially moments like these.

Bay and Emmett had volunteered clear through lunch. At two in the afternoon they were finally exhaustively done! Bay sat at one of the round tables with her head down trying to will herself to move. It wasn't working. That's when she felt hands come down on her shoulders rubbing circles over her poor abused muscles. Bay turned her head to the side catching sight of Emmett as she looked up at him.

"Hey," she said watching as he read her lips.

"Hey yourself," Emmett mouthed back to her.

Bay relaxed against into his touch. He continued working her shoulders and neck watching as she relaxed. This was the first time they'd really gotten to be together all day and for now he was just enjoying standing there with her. After he felt all of the tension drain out of her he pulled away tapping her on the shoulder.

When Bay sat up to look at him he asked, "Ready to go sexy lunch lady?"

Bay couldn't help it she laughed at the cheeky grin he gave her, "You think a hairnet is sexy?"

'No not really but….' His eyes were full of mirth, "Anything on you is sexy."

"Okay R-O-M-E-O and with that one liner we'll be going now." Bay shoved him playfully suddenly feeling much better.

Bay stood walking towards the door leaving Emmett to trail after her. Bay waved a good bye at Christa as she went. Emmett stood back for a couple of beats just taking a moment to appreciate what Bay looked like as she walked away. Sometimes he wondered if her hips always swayed like that or if it was something she did just for him. Shaking off that particular line of thought he caught up with her quickly.

Taking her hand in his the two made their way outside. Emmett could still feel a bit of hopelessness clinging to her but he didn't want to get into in the parking lot with her. He silently he reached over buckling her helmet in place while promising himself that he would find out later. The two climbed on his motorcycle and headed back in the direction of Mission Hills and the Kennish Estate.

Emmett had dropped her off at her house. He was going to go in and spend some much needed time with her. One text from his Mom put the final nail in that coffin. So he'd kissed her slowly and made her promise to be home later. Bay readily agreed after implying that he had a surprise for her and he did.

After getting home and getting cleaned up he was preparing for said surprise. As he pulled six box's out of the attic all varying in size. After one more quick look just to be sure he had everything he climbed back down the ladder. Folding it up he pushed the opening in the ceiling closed and started dragging them all to the front porch. Just as he got the last one outside his Mom came up behind him tugging gently on the shoulder strap of the book bag that he wore.

Turning around Emmett asked, "Yeah?"

"What's with all the boxes?" She gestured to the mess on the front porch.

Emmett already had a carefully worded answer lined up for that, "You told me I could do this at Dad's if I wanted to."

"Oh," Melody's face fell a bit making Emmett wince just a little, "I guess I just thought you'd want to do it here."

"Next year we'll do it here but this year it can't be here," Emmett was careful with his answers trying not to completely lie to his Mother; he wanted all this to fall on a technicality.

Melody seemed to steel herself against her son's plans by asking, "Do you need help getting it all over there? I could drive you because there's no way you're taking all this on your bike."

"I texted Toby he's gonna help me out with this," Finally a totally true statement.

At just that second Toby pulled in driving his Mom's car. As much as Emmett actually wanted to go in the sports car they needed Kathryn's trunk space more. Toby got out leaning against the door watching Mother and son converse. When he'd gotten Emmett's text earlier he was more than happy to help because it would give him time to put his sister's boyfriend in his place.

"I gotta go he's here," more truth, "Oh and I'll see you in the morning," still the truth.

"Are you staying the night at your Father's?" Melody gave her son a disapproving look.

Emmett shrugged not offering an answer one way or the other, 'And my bit of honesty becomes a lie sort of.'

After watching his Mother go back inside he turned around heading over to where Toby was waiting. Judging by the suspicious look his Mom gave him moments ago Emmett just knew that was going to come back and bite him in the ass. He decided that there wasn't time to worry about that now as he and Toby high-fived in a customary greeting to each other.

"So is this all of it?" Toby gestured to all the boxes.

Emmett nodded, "It's everything."

He gave a low whistle in response, "No wonder you called for help."

The two boys went to work. They lifted, carried and loaded, then came the rearranging. They must have stacked and restacked those boxes twenty times before managing to make them all fit without covering any of the windows. Emmett tossed his bag in the back and then slid into the passenger's side up front.

"Where are we taking all this?" Toby asked needing a destination before they could go anywhere.

"To your house. It's surprise for Bay." Toby gave him a look raising his eyebrows clearly wanting to know what was going on, so sighing Emmett answered, "Bay told me about not getting to decorate the Christmas tree. I'm hoping I can do something about that."

Toby's eyebrows scrunched together in concentration watching Emmett's signs, "The tree? Bay told you about the tree?" Emmett nodded glad to see that he understood, "Wow normally she never tells anyone about that stuff."

Emmett looked down as the full implications of that statement sunk in, 'She trusts me, she Really trusts me!' Looking up at Toby Emmett responded with, "Bays been opening up more. When she told me about the tree she just seemed so…devastated that I had to do something."

"Huh…..you know what Emmett your better for my sister than I thought." Toby gave Emmett a clearly confounded look.

Emmett just smiled good naturedly, 'I intend on being the best for her.'

With that the two boys fell into a comfortable silence as Toby pulled out of Melody's driveway.

See I haven't forgotten about this or any other story. A big thanks to bonesbemmettlover for always being available to help and offer feedback despite hectic life schedules. You guys really need to go and check out her work if you haven't. I especially recommend Moments of Clarity, Moments of Insanity.Please read, review and show my dear friend the love!