Chapter 2

A/N: Just wanted to first of all, thank everybody who has taken the time to read this story and follow it or review it. A good portion of the dialogue and the events is from the actual episode, but I wanted to put some things in that we didn't see, and there will be more of that to come! Enjoy!

She dreams of Emmett. It might be why for the first time in a long time, she's able to fall into a deep, deep sleep. She wasn't sure why sleep was so difficult for her. It just was. When she couldn't sleep she would do a myriad of things; she would paint, she would do puzzles, and her most favorite nocturnal activity was Nick at Nite reruns. Maybe it was the way family was idolized on television that drew her into old sitcoms, even if they were at times corny. She could picture herself being part of a real family, one without shams and lies as wide as the Pacific Ocean. Oh perchance to dream. So, naturally, given her problems with sleep, she was pleasantly surprised when she awoke feeling refreshed…and happy. Bay had forgotten what happy truly meant. Receiving straight-A's didn't even do that much to fill up her empty void; it was just something she expected of herself. No, that wasn't happy. The prospect of Emmett and a future with Emmett, that made her happy. Of course she was getting way ahead of herself. Slow down, Bay. Don't go picking out china patterns just yet. But still, there was a newfound sense of hope. And what was strange was her family picked up on that. During breakfast her chipperness even put Daphne off.

"What's with you? You're not your usual morose self." Bay rolled her eyes. Daphne would not get the chance to ruin this.

"I guess I'm just feeling like I can be the weird upper girl instead," she replied, shrugging her shoulders and placing her cereal bowl in the sink. Truthfully she can't even remember what she did the rest of the morning. The only memory is hearing the doorbell and Daphne call out "Bay, some guy's here to see you." She comes to the door wearing her Pussy Riot t-shirt, her favorite. Even though it had been less than fourteen hours since she had last seen him, she's a bit taken aback by how sexy he is. James Dean reincarnated for sure.

"Hi, come on in," she says excitedly.

"Who is that?" he asks, taking note of Daphne's presence.

"My sister," she responds while simultaneously signing. He gives her a thumbs up, clearly impressed with her use of ASL. "Yeah. I stayed up late learning a few signs."

"Cool."

There's a moment, a beat, in which they are both smiling. Then Emmett starts to say something.

"We don't look alike. Yeah. She's not really my sister." He just nods, knowing that there's more than she's letting on, but not pressing her on it. "It's a long story." Again, he simply nods. She feels so comfortable with him. There's no pressure. If she doesn't want to tell him, she doesn't have to. But she really wants to. "Why don't you come with me into my studio?"

He smiles and follows her, eyeing all the eclectic furniture. God, I hope he doesn't think I'm some rich bitch. When he comes upon a rooster statue three feet long, he just stares. An internal groan lets out. "What can I say? It really adds to the ambience." A few minutes and a few other figurine animals later, they are in Bay's studio and she is furiously showing him her sketches. She's never shown them to anyone before. But he's different; he's special.

"I keep drawing pictures of what I imagine my real mom to look like. Like does she have my hair or my eyes. I pass people on the street and I keep thinking that could be her."

Emmett says something. She's desperately trying to remember what that sign means and then it comes to her: find.

"Oh, I remember this one. Find, oh, find! I've tried, but my parents won't talk about her."

Emmett gestures list, but then she realizes he means papers.

"List? Oh, papers! Yeah, I figured there had to be something from the trial, but it's not in any of my dad's files."

He makes a motion with his hands and it looks like he's trying to tell her something about a box, and he's opening it.

"Box. Turning, turning a door, like a tiny house like a lock – a safe!"

Emmett smiles. Even in the midst of this huge language barrier, she still feels like she's able to communicate with him better than anyone else in her family. She allows herself to feel some pride.

"Ah, I'm getting good." And then it dawns on her; "We don't have a safe." Defeated. And then an epiphany. "But there's one in the car wash."

She doesn't even need to ask him to come. He just grabs her hand and leads her out to his motorcycle, as if this is a routine they have done daily for years. She actually feels as though his spare helmet was made for her. Maybe one day he'd even put her name on it. She pictures bright, red, bold font with lines sprawled out from left to right and in the middle was Bay. How awesome would that be?

As they pull up to the car wash, she has to admit the irony in perfect do-gooder Bay performing a B&E on her first date with Emmett. She almost wished she was being recorded. Proof positive that she was not who everyone expected her to be. After they come inside, Emmett asks her if she knows the combination.

"The combination? It's probably one my dad's old baseball stats, so no." Just then the office door opens and out emerges Toby.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bay asks seeing what looked like a biker gang gathered around a table playing cards.

"Just a little poker game."

"With the Sons of Anarchy?"

Toby doesn't respond to her inquiry, but he does notice Emmett. "Who's he?"

She doesn't really want to explain. Emmett's the only good thing in her crappy life right now and she wants him to remain that way. "A friend" is her answer, even though she wanted him to be so much more. Emmett asks if Toby is her brother. She responds by signing, not verbalizing, yeah.

Toby looks a bit confused. "He was asking who you are."

"Why doesn't he talk?" Oh, Toby, she thought, stupid Toby.

"He's Deaf."

"So, you and your Deaf buddy just decided to break into dad's office?" Am I really being questioned by the guy who is playing poker with Hell's Angels? Of course she didn't say that though.

"I'm trying to find out more information about my birth mom."

"Well, this is not where he keeps his stuff."

"You know where he keeps that stuff?" Toby doesn't answer immediately. Well, if he wants to play that game, blackmail will just have to suffice.

"Toby, unless you want dad to find out about whatever's going on in there, you better tell me everything you know."

He sighs and looks quickly behind him, but then steps forward. "Okay. A long time ago I was looking for dad's playboy's in the guesthouse…"

"Nice."

"And I ran across a bunch of legal stuff about your birth mom."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You know how that is. Everybody tries to forget any of that ever happened."

She turns to Emmett.

"He says it's in my parents' guesthouse."

Once again, Emmett doesn't need to be asked and doesn't need to ask himself. He's immeshed in her world, hopefully forever. Before they get back on his motorcycle though, Emmett types something on his phone. When he's done, he hands it to Bay. It reads: Do you mind if we take a little detour? There's someplace I want to show you.

"Of course," she answers. Anyplace Emmett wants to bring her must be special, because he is special.

She gets on the back of his motorcycle for the third time in two days, but she feels as though it's been much longer than that. When he drives his motorcycle fast through the night, it's almost orgasmic. It's as though no one, nothing can touch them. She wants it to stay that way. Suddenly all of her dreams and plans didn't hold the same appeal. If Emmett asked her to forget about college and come away on a road trip somewhere with him, she would. In a heartbeat. And it wasn't because Bay was without goals. She never wanted to be one of those girls who lost herself in a relationship or a person, but with Emmett, it was different. It was the opposite. In being with him she was truly discovering who she could be and, moreover, who she was meant to be.

When his bike stopped Bay looked around at this place he wanted to show her. It was kind of rural, with a fence and you could see over the city. She fell in love with it immediately.

"This place is so cool. What's it called?"

Emmett took his phone out again. Bay knew that once she began learning more sign language he wouldn't need to use his phone as much, but right now, it was new and she was grateful that he was meeting her halfway.

It's called Blue River Road. Do you like it?

"Like it? I love it. It's like your own personal sanctuary, but it's not hidden; everyone can see it. Well, I don't know if that's true. Maybe everybody has access to it, but not everybody can really see it, you know?

Emmett grinned, widely, and then signed slowly, but making sure to mouth the words along; "I knew you would get it."

They stayed there for a few minutes taking in the world together, leaning against Emmett's bike. Bay felt his hand come over hers. She wasn't sure if there was a true and tried way to measure the amount of electricity she felt going through her body at that exact second. Something was about to happen; she knew it. When she turned to face him, he removed his hand from hers and, instead, relocated it to her waist. He inched closer to her and with his other hand, he cupped her chin. Then he kissed her.

Bay felt her knees go weak. How did he learn to kiss like that she wondered. It should be a crime to kiss a girl the way he was kissing her and making her feel the way she was feeling. It didn't make sense, and yet, it did. Emmett Bledsoe was this enigma, but a beautiful enigma. When it was over, they broke away. Bay was rendered speechless. What was left to say after a kiss like that? But apparently Emmett had something to say because he was jotting something down on his phone.

That was for two reasons. One, because I find you incredibly sexy, and two, because if we find out something bad tonight or if it's not the news you want, I want you to have this moment to hold onto, whether it's to give you hope or just make you realize that someone wants you.

She started to tear up. She didn't have the words to express the gratitude she was feeling right now. Emmett wanted to protect her from the world. She never had anyone like that before.

"Thank you, Emmett."

She was ready to go back with him and face whatever was in that guesthouse. With Emmett by her side she was ready to unlock all the mysteries that remained.