Riley stared down at her phone, chewing her lip as she thought about the text her mom had sent into their family group chat a few minutes ago.

Family meeting in 20 minutes

She had a pretty good idea of what the family meeting was going to be about.

It had been a while since she had last thought about her mom's offer at the beginning of the school year; she hadn't done much more research on the topic since the whole Lucas thing. Now, though, she was seriously thinking about it.

She had never really wanted to hear so much; she had always been fine in a silent world. Her best friend signed like she had been born to it, her brother signed, her parents did their best. And her friends tried. She had never really felt left out enough, or had a real reason to want to hear.

Then, Lucas Friar came into her life.

As good as Lucas was at signing, there was a part of her that itched to understand his world, the same way he had done his best to understand hers. With Maya, it didn't really feel like she was trapped in the hearing world, and Riley didn't really feel a need to understand Maya's hearing like Maya understood her sign language.

She didn't really know how to explain it the way she wanted to, even to herself.

She did know that she wanted to talk to Lucas about it.

Swinging her legs over her bed, she grabbed her watch and the doorbell wrist band and slipped them onto her wrists, then slid her hearing aids into her ears before getting up to get dressed.

Tonight was the Christmas party, she recalled, glancing at her calendar on the wall. She should probably text Maya about coming over to get ready together. And Lucas, about meeting there.

She sighed internally as she stood in front of her mirror to tie her hair into two long braids down her back. Her wrist buzzed and she jumped a little, not expecting someone this early in the morning. She crossed the room and opened her door to see her little brother.

'You got that text too?' Auggie signed silently, and Riley nodded, going back to her closet to pull on a sweater. In the mirror, she watched as Auggie signed, 'You know what she wants to chat about?'

'I think me getting a cochlear,' Riley suggested, not turning around because she knew Auggie could see her signing in the mirror too. Pulling her braids out of the sweater, she turned and pursed her lips. 'I haven't really thought a lot about it.'

'You're going to have to tell her that,' Auggie reminded her.

'I know.'

As they left the room together, they headed for the kitchen and bumped into her dad.

"Good morning!" He said and signed brightly. "Ready for a serious discussion?"

'Not really,' Riley sighed, and her dad chuckled.

"Your mom always was a morning person."

"I'm not," Auggie said and signed.

"Breakfast!" Topanga called from the kitchen, and Auggie exchanged a sympathetic look with Riley.

'Into the shark water,' he signed silently, and Riley smiled a little.

"Good morning honey," Cory said, kissing his wife on the cheek and pouring himself some cereal before sitting down at the head of the table. "Whatever shall we be discussing?"

"Riley," Topanga waved her hand to make sure Riley was watching, "come sit. Let's chat."

The two siblings glanced at each other again before taking their respective seats on the opposite sides of the table, Auggie sitting up a little straighter to interpret everything that his parents would say. Not that they couldn't have a serious family discussion all signing; it was just faster and more clear if Auggie interpreted. Riley was more likely to fully understand what her parents wanted to convey.

"Honey, we've been thinking about the cochlear implant," Topanga began, pouring herself some cereal.

Auggie, interpreting, smirked a little. Riley had been right.

'I know,' Riley signed. 'But I don't know what I want to do yet.'

"No rush to make this decision," Topanga assured her, "we just want to know what you're thinking about."

Riley hesitated, thinking over her list before beginning to sign. 'First, it's hard to do the rehab and… integration. Training your brain to understand sounds. That's what I've heard. And I was never good at speaking.'

'Not true,' Cory signed, watching Riley even as Auggie spoke her words.

'I didn't like to speak,' Riley pointed out. 'Then…' she sighed. 'Then there's my whole identity. I'm Deaf, I know I'm Deaf. That's who I am. That's how people describe me, right?' She shrugged. 'The first identifier, that's Riley, the Deaf girl.'

"That's not all you are," Topanga reminded her quickly, and Auggie signed the words, nodding to show he agreed.

'But it's the biggest part of me,' Riley insisted. 'And what if I can hear? I won't be able to hear well, and then I might just be struggling to hear this and that and pretending I'm part of their world, when it's just really hard for me to understand anything.'

"These are all valid points," Topanga agreed. "I can tell you've really been thinking about this."

'But also,' Riley pivoted, 'it might be good for me to get more ambient noise. And with Lucas… he signs well with me. But I'm going to meet his family tonight, for the first time. And they don't really sign. I'll be… singled out as the weird girl who can't really understand what my boyfriend's parents say. And I don't know what they'll think of that.'

"If they think you're weird, they're the weird ones," Auggie spoke up, signing his words as well as speaking. "And if you and Lucas stay together, eventually they'll get used to it."

'Maybe,' Riley agreed. 'But first impressions are important.'

"True," Topanga said and signed. "And you always nail them."

'I need to think more about it,' Riley concluded. 'But I am thinking about it.'

"Alright," her mom agreed. "It's good to hear your thoughts. Your dad and I have also been thinking about the potential complications of the surgery, and the recovery time and the therapy post-surgery. It will be a big time commitment."

Riley nodded. 'It's something I am really considering, but I want to think more. And I want to talk to my friends too, eventually.'

'You haven't even talked to Maya yet?' Auggie signed in surprise.

'Not yet,' Riley shook her head. 'I just haven't found the right time.'

'You should talk to her soon,' Auggie signed. 'You guys don't keep secrets.'

'It's not a secret,' Riley argued. 'It's a… delay of information.'

Auggie rolled his eyes. 'Semantics.'

"Hey," Topanga waved her hand between the two. "We want to be part of this conversation too, please."

'It's their fault they can't understand,' Riley signed quickly, knowing only Auggie would be able to catch any of what she said.

"Riley." Topanga tapped a hand on the table, one of the ways they got her attention. "Please sign slower. It's not polite to exclude."

Riley's eyes flicked up to her brother's, and then down. 'Sorry.'

'We want to know what you two are saying. All of us are talking together,' Cory signed silently, and Riley knew he was trying to make up for their lack of understanding.

'Can I go?' Riley asked, and Topanga sighed.

'Okay. You're excused.'

As Riley left the table, Auggie dropped his hands and said, "You guys really should learn more sign language if you want full communication with her," before standing and heading off in the direction of Riley's bedroom.

When he was out of earshot, Topanga turned to her husband. "He's right," she admitted.

"This is the time teenagers head towards their friends," Cory reminded her. "But they always come back."

Topanga rubbed her forehead. "But will we be able to understand her when she does?"

A/N: Sorry for the looooooong wait. Blocked on all stories plus homework plus visiting boyfriend across the country and getting caught in a delayed-delayed-delayed-delayed-finally canceled day of flights (don't fly American Airlines).

I really want to get back to Nodus Tollens and I have a huge Rucas chapter already half written, but I have to write Maya's chapter (Princesses don't cry pt 2) first. I may end up just posting a short Maya chapter and elaborating more on Joshaya at the end of the summer. Who knows.

Also have some bits written for new chapters of Anecdoche, but I had to get this bit out of the way first. Maybe next chapter will be the Christmas party (I was trying to write out Joshaya date but then realized I actually had no idea what I wanted to do there so we will just gloss over and have Maya and Riley discuss the date later. Sorry for those of you who wanted to have a chapter with them on a date. I promise I will eventually write one of those.)

In the meantime, please be patient with me.

Kisses,

C