Thursday Afternoon, Kennish House, Kansas City

[justbeingbay]

After the fun-filled experience of getting dragged out of a school that didn't even want her, Bay was grateful for a good night's sleep. Peace was good. She liked peace.

... which, this being her life, was destined to last just about until 10 in the morning, but hey. First, Daphne got something up her butt about Bay having talked to one of the reporters outside Carlton the night before, which in Daphne logic gave her the right to call Bay out on acting like she was the victim all of the time. And then Bay's nice quiet trip to see Lana and Angelo before she left turned into taking Lana to the hospital, which turned into being in the waiting room while her new baby sister was born. (Bay owed Toby and Nikki a lot for having entertained Gert while that was going on.)

Oh, and Regina was going to rehab. So that was fun. And apparently Toby had decided to get married, because teenage marriage to some girl you'd been dating for all of three months was such a great idea.

But somehow, when Bay finally made it back to her bedroom at her parents' house, none of that was bothering her the way the last thing she'd seen before she left the hospital was. It was such a small thing -- Angelo holding the newborn, singing and smiling at her. But it reminded Bay of the life she hadn't had, and for a moment she was fiercely jealous of the baby.

She went to half-heartedly pack for the trip back to school, which was turning into a lot of staring at clothes at random like a complete space cadet.

[OOC: NFB, for Gert only! Some dialogue may come from the SaB episode "Introducing the Miracle."]

Comments

[arsenicmauls]

Gert had just been downstairs getting a snack -- turned out Daphne made some pretty kickass cookies, and since she wasn't close enough to Daphne to merit her wrath, it hadn't been too hard to wrangle a plate out of her. She knocked lightly on the doorframe and came inside, setting the plate of cookies down in front of Bay.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

[justbeingbay]

"Sure," Bay said, reaching to claim a cookie. Not much would make her ignore fresh Daphne cookies. "Just ... it's been kind of a wild couple days, huh?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah, I had no idea Kansas City was so intense," Gert said, flopping down and grabbing a cookie for herself. "Remind me to drag you into supervillain-infested LA if you ever need a slow weekend."

[justbeingbay]

"Supervillains would be a nice break from the pissed off deaf people," Bay said. "Wait, I was joking but now I'm wondering if there are, like, disabled supervillains to start with."

[arsenicmauls]

"Probably," Gert said, considering it. "They're pretty diverse. You'd have to ask Victor, he knows more than me."

But that seemed unlikely to happen for some reason, so.

"So," she said. "What's it like being a middle child?"

[justbeingbay]

Bay wrinkled her nose. Nothing against Victor, he just seemed sort of massively geeky in a way that made her not want to ask questions because she'd be stuck listening long after she was done caring.

"Y'know, I'd say I have middle child syndrome except I have no idea what that even is," she admitted, since that was a more interesting topic to begin with. "So far it's weird. Angelo was holding her, and singing to her, and ... I mean, I love my parents, but I missed so much, you know?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Sure, I get it," Gert said. "Parents who got your art, less drama about being switched, growing up with Emmett..."

It made sense that Bay wondered about it. Even if Daphne's life had been the crappiest in the world, it would still be hard for Bay not to try to put herself in her sort-of-sister's shoes. Gert, who had spent more time than she'd like to admit wondering what it would have been like for her if her parents hadn't been supervillains, definitely understood that.

"It probably looks nicer from where you're standing than it really would have been," she offered gently. "In reality. Like, I'm willing to bet you and Regina would have fought a lot."

[justbeingbay]

"Tons," Bay agreed easily enough. "And Angelo's a hothead too. So it would have pretty much been clash of the Titans, every night, forever."

She didn't sound like she would have hated it, though. "No Toby," she offered. "But I bet I would have rocked the only child thing. Or ... who knows, maybe Angelo and Regina would have had more kids if they'd stayed together."

[arsenicmauls]

"Or they'd still have broken up," Gert suggested. "And, you know, you'd be deaf."

Not that it was the worst fate imaginable or anything, of course, but it was a downside.

"And you might be a vegetarian," she added teasingly. "Ew."

[justbeingbay]

"They were still together when I turned into the other me that weekend," Bay said stubbornly. "I mean, the big reason Angelo left was he found out for sure Daphne wasn't his, so..."

She flopped onto her back, folded her hands on her stomach. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'd be totally miserable."

[arsenicmauls]

"Or not," Gert said, because she hadn't meant to say that it would be terrible, "but it might've been a lot like your life now. Bad stuff and good stuff, like anyone's life. And you're lucky, 'cause most people don't get the chance to still sort of experience part of what it would've been like if things were different, but you kind of can."

[justbeingbay]

"My very own parallel reality," Bay said wryly, propping herself on an elbow and reaching for another cookie. "Plus, the whole thing makes my life way more interesting than it was back when all I had was random rich white girl angst."

[arsenicmauls]

"And that," Gert agreed. "And, you know, either way? You have a kid sister as of today. It's pretty cool regardless."

[justbeingbay]

Bay grinned for real at that. "Yeah. Pretty much worth celebrating, huh?"

[arsenicmauls]

"I'd say." Gert smiled back, relieved that Bay was feeling okay again. Another Gertrude Yorkes spirit-lifting success story. "You gonna go meet her before we head back to Fandom?"

[justbeingbay]

"I want to," Bay said, blinking away the last of her tears. "Come with me?"

The visit wasn't likely to go exactly like they expected.

[arsenicmauls]

Noooo, probably not.

"Totally," Gert promised, sitting up straight and dusting cookie crumbs off of her clothes. "Let's do it."

But first, Bay was getting a hug right about now, because frankly, she seemed like she needed it.

[justbeingbay]

And Gert was getting a hug back, because Bay did need it. And because the week would have sucked about 500 times worse without a friend in her corner.