I do not own the characters of Teen Wolf. I only own this idea and the characters that have been made up to help with the story. Reviews are appreciated. I love to know what you think. If you are interested in learning any ASL signs, let me know, and I'll try to explain the movements of your hands and your facial expression.
"Derek? - Derek? - Derek?" asked Deaton as he brought his hand down on the metal table below the wolf in the examination room, his hand tapping on the table a few times to get the wolf's attention, watching as his head snapped up automatically, eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion as his eyes locked on the vet, going from his eyes, down to his hands, then back to his eyes.
"I'm sorry, did you ask something?" asked Derek as he tilted his head to the side a bit, his eyebrows now raised up in question. The vet nodded at the Beta on his examination table, held up two of his fingers, bent them just a bit inward, before tapping them twice behind his ear.
"I asked if your implant was still working, if the levels of the sounds are still how they were previously? But I can see that you don't have your receptor in, did you lose it?" asked the vet as he slid a chair over and sat down in front of the wolf, making sure he was eye level with the teen.
"No, I haven't lost the receptor. My CI actually stopped working while I was in New York, I had it removed once I got back to Beacon Hills again. As well as returning the receptor back to the doctor. I haven't been using anything lately but just my eyes, sometimes my hands when I'm with Peter. I've been strictly lip-reading, as tiring as that is, but that's my only option at the moment. I really don't want to have to deal with the cochlear implant again, it was hard to adjust to once it was turned on and the levels were switched around." replied Derek as his eyes automatically moved to the vet's lips, in order to understand what he was saying next.
"You've been relying strictly on lip-reading? How has that been working with the Pack?" asked Deaton as his eyebrows furrowed to show that he asked a question. He could see the wolf's shoulders drop a little as he debated on his answer.
"It works with a couple members of the Pack, other times I just have to follow gestures and facial expressions if I get confused. Like, Lydia tilts her head when she asks a question, Scott throws his arms in the air when he gets frustrated. When it comes to Stiles, he talks about a mile a minute and moves different parts of his body around even without realizing it. It's a lot harder to follow what he is saying, lip-reading with him is not easy at all. I'm lost more than half the time, and it's more than a little frustrating." explained Derek in all honesty, as he brought the back of his right hand towards his face twice, to show the frustration.
"I can see how trying to lip-read can be frustrating when the person does talk a mile a minute and moves around without real reason. What are your feelings on trying hearing aids again? If I remember correctly, Talia had you wear them when you were younger, around 3 years old up until you received the implant." asked Deaton as he curved his pointer finger inward a little and tapped his ear twice, the universal sign for hearing aid.
"I don't really remember what hearing aids were like, I tried my hardest to not have to wear them, with my short hair they drew a lot of attention. As if my voice didn't draw enough attention." explained the blue eyed Beta with a slight chuckle, eyes downcast now onto the floor. Deaton reached over and tapped the teen's knee to get his attention before he spoke again.
"Let me get a quick mold of your ear before I send you back to your Pack. As for your voice, luckily, it doesn't sound like not having the implant has affected it. Are you still going to Speech Therapy as scheduled?" asked Deaton as he started to mix the different substances together that were used to make a mold of a person's ear. The wolf nodded his head slowly before he turned his head to follow the man's movement as he moved from drawer to drawer.
"I still go to Speech Therapy once or twice a week, usually while the rest of the Pack is in school. Either Peter, or oddly enough John, stop by once the session is over and offer to drive me back home or to the library for a new book. John always insists that he take me to the library after each session, or back to the Station where I could help work with the Interpreter there. That guy doesn't know more than about 50 signs." replied the blue eyed Beta as he allowed the vet to tilt his head to the side a bit, before he applied the now foam-like mixture to his ear, shuddering a bit at the odd feeling. He diverted his gaze so the vet could focus on what he was doing instead of talking, as well as to give himself a break from lip-reading. He could feel the foam molding around the curves of his ear before it was slowly and carefully removed.
"That should do it for today, Derek. I'll give Peter a call when the hearing aids come in and we'll see how they fit and how they feel, we'll make some minor adjustments if we have to. Thank you for coming in today on such a short notice." said Deaton as he carefully placed the mold down onto a piece of plastic on the counter. Derek slid off of the examination table and rubbed at his ear a few times to get the odd feeling of the foam off of his ear that remained.
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Derek brought a hand up again to rub at his ear that had the foam previously over it, before rubbing at his temples, edging the slight pain that had started from trying to concentrate constantly on what people were saying. He would much rather focus on watching people's hands when it came to talking, as well as using his own to talk, instead of actually vocalizing what he wanted to say. He put his car into park in the driveway of the Hale house, grabbing his leather jacket off of the passenger seat before getting out of the car, using his foot to close the door. Derek's green eyes flashed blue momentarily as he scanned his surroundings, before they dimmed back down to their natural bright green. The blue eyed Beta walked inside the house, silently closing the door behind himself before he walked towards the kitchen where he knew Peter would usually be. He draped his jacket over one of the chairs, his head snapping up when he felt the vibration of Peter's hand coming down on the table. The older wolf must have seen the look in his eyes, because instead of speaking he turned to his hands to talk.
How did your appointment with Deaton go?
Derek tapped his thumb against his chest twice before he answered, signing the word "Fine" before he continued.
Fine, I told him about having the implant removed when I was in New York. He took molds of my ears for hearing aids, so I can manage to hear some frequencies of sound around me.
Peter's eyebrows rose up in shock, his eyes widening a fraction as he signed a bit faster than before, his head tilted to the side.
You had your implant removed?!
The younger wolf chuckled softly before he held up two fingers, before making a circling motion with his fists before stacking one on top of the other, to form the sign "Year".
Two years ago, I had it removed and everything but the implant was sent back. I still take Speech Therapy, though.
Derek took two fingers and bent them towards himself before he circled his bent fingers around his lips, the sign for "Speech". He placed his thumb between his pointer and middle finger, resting his hand on top of his left hand, raising both up a bit, the sign for "Therapy".
You should have told me sooner, I would have made an appointment with Deaton and a radiologist sooner. You could have had hearing aids sooner than this.
I'm not very fond of hearing aids either, but they're my only option at the moment. I can't always lip-read 24/7, and the Pack is clueless to me being deaf. Could you imagine how hard it would be to try and teach all of them to sign, and get them to remember the signs?
They're going to find out sooner or later, Derek. You might as well just tell them the truth, and if they're willing to learn to sign, start easy. Start with "Name Signs".
I'm going to go with later, Peter. Definitely later. I'd rather not have a repeat of many years as being labeled the "Handicapped" or the "Liability".