Walking down the hallways of the school, derek was lost in his own little world.

It had been ten days since spencer had ended up in hospital, and he 'd permanently felt sick to his stomach since then. His parents had allowed him a few days off school, but now he had to go back to his classes and catch up on all his work.

As he moped down the hallway, he could hear a commotion coming from further down the hall. Looking up, he saw a throng of his peers hanging around one area of the lockers. In the middle he could see grady thomas, one of the tallest kids in the school, and by far the biggest bully. He knew whatever was happening wasn't good, and for that reason, he moved closer to try and see what was going on.

Pushing through to the front of the crowd, he was disheartened to see grady taunting another guy from their year. He recognised the guy as the student who had started at the school just two weeks earlier, but other than that, he knew nothing more.

"what's wrong with you, huh? Freak!" grady exclaimed, shoving the other guy roughly in the shoulders. "can you hear me now?"

Derek noticed how the other guy didn't even react to the taunt, staring blankly at grady in between attempts to shield his face from the blows.

"why won't you answer me, you little maggot?"

With a surge of bravery he didn't know he had, derek stepped out of the crowd and placed himself between grady and the new kid.

"move out of the way hotchner"

"no," derek said firmly. "nothing gives you the right to torment and torture other people for your own personal enjoyment. Especially when they're still trying to find their way at a new school. So why don't you just piss off and go find your band of goons, grady?"

Grady stood back, slightly shocked. He was much bigger than derek in both height and breadth, and he 'd always assumed derek to be a quiet onlooker.

"what are you going to do if i don't?" he asked.

"hit you," derek said immediately. "so i'd get lost"

Grady laughed. "yeah right"

He 'd barely finished speaking before a fist connected with his left eye, sending him staggering back as everyone around them started a ruckus.

"what the fuck dude?" grady exclaimed, grabbing his face and staggering off through the crowd, some of his mates following.

Turning to the new kid, derek looked at him carefully. "you ok?"

The guy nodded. Placing the fingers of his left hand to his lips, he moved his hand towards derek , while mouthing the words 'thank you'.

Derek was struck with the sudden realisation that grady hadn't been bullying the kid because he was new and unfamiliar; grady had bullied him because he was deaf.

The crowd around them was dissipating, but derek remained rooted to the spot. He didn't want to just walk away, but he didn't know how to communicate without his words.

"look straight at me," the guy said suddenly, surprising derek . "talk slowly. I can lip read, but not if you talk fast or turn away"

Raising his eyebrows, derek was clearly impressed. "alright. I'm derek . Nice to meet you"

The guy smiled, extending his hand. "i'm emmett. It's nice to meet you too"

"i was just heading out on my lunch period. Did you want to join me?" derek offered. Emmett nodded, grabbing his bag from the floor and slinging it over his shoulder as he set off down the hall at derek ' side.

He felt like he'd been sitting at spencer's side for nearly a month. The chair was becoming hard and uncomfortable, and despite having spent two nights at home, all dave wanted was to leave the hospital and never come back.

It was late afternoon and he had almost dozed off when he felt spencer squeeze his hand again. Looking up, he gasped when he realised that spencer was looking back at his.

"oh my god... Oh my god!" he exclaimed, leaping up from his chair and hitting the buzzer for the nurse's station. "oh sweet boy! Oh look at you!"

He was nearly in tears by the time the nurse and dr edmonds arrived, and he was glad they could see that spencer was awake, because he was far too choked up to talk.

"hi spencer... Oh no kiddo, don't touch the tube," edmonds said gently, guiding spencer's hands away from the ventilation tube. "it's helping you breathe. You've had a big scare, ok? You had a tumor in your brain and it stopped you breathing properly, so we need to keep that tube in"

Spencer squeezed his eyes shut, reaching for his dad's hand.

"i know you're scared right now, spencer, but the important thing to remember is that you're getting better. You're going to be ok," edmonds said softly. "tomorrow we'll start testing you to see if you can come off the ventilator"

Spencer nodded as dave squeezed his hand.

Looking up at dave, edmonds smiled. "now that he's awake, things will improve radically. Things are looking better already"

"thank you," dave choked out, before falling back into the chair at his son's bedside.

Things were definitely looking up.

"dad, do we have any books on american sign language?"

Doing a double take, aaron turned around, frowning. "did you just ask me for books on sign language? What on earth for?"

Dropping his bag on the table, derek sighed. "there's a new guy at school, emmett, and he 's having a hard time fitting in because he 's deaf. I spoke to him a little today and he seems like a really cool guy, so i thought it might make it a little easier on him if there's at least one person he can kind of communicate with in a way that he 's used to"

Aaron stared at his son, slightly bewildered.

"derek ... That is a very big hearted thing for you to do. Most people just expect deaf people to communicate with them in the way that we're used to"

"i know. And i don't want emmett to think everyone at this school is an asshole. He can lip-read, and he does talk, but it's easier for him to communicate with his hands," derek explained. "i just want him to know he has a friend in me"

Moving over to his son, aaron threw an arm around derek ' shoulder, jostling him slightly.

"you're a good kid, derek . Your dad and i are very proud of you"

Derek grinned. "i hope so...because i punched grady thomas in the face today"

Aaron pulled away. "derek ," he said warningly.

"i only did it because he was giving emmett a hard time! I told him to back off and when he didn't, i hit him!" derek explained quickly.

"did you only step in because you knew emmett was deaf?" aaron asked.

Derek shook his head. "i didn't know he was deaf until after grady had already walked away"

"standing up for someone else is very brave, derek , but please try not to use violence in the future," aaron said firmly.

Derek nodded. "ok"

"good. Now how about we head down to the library and get some books on sign language?"

Derek smiled, grabbing his bag once more and following his dad out the front door.