Criminal Minds One Shots

Everybody Talks

Disclaimer: As pointed out by someone who might be self-conscious about this so they shall remain nameless, I write signed conversations incorrectly. Despite now knowing the grammatically correct way to write them, I will remain writing them how I did before. (I know, I know. I'm part of the problem.) Reason being I'm more writing the signed conversations as transcripts translated into spoken English, not them actually signing. Additionally, most people probably can't read gloss so writing that way would be ineffective.

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Margery stepped out of the elevator and looked around. When she couldn't find her brother Spencer she became nervous. She took a deep breath and prepared to ask someone for help when a man came up to her.

"You must be Reid's sister, Margery, right?"

Margery nodded.

"Nice to meet you I'm ---"

Margery cocked her head slightly. She couldn't make out the man's name.

"Morgan?" he repeated. This time Margery caught it and smiled.

"Uh I don't know where Reid is right now bu—" Morgan saw that Margery was waving at someone. "Seems you found him." Morgan smiled and walked away, greeting Blake.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Reid's sister. She's supposed to move to Quantico this week."

"Wow from Vegas? That's quite a move."

"Yeah. But there's something off about that kid."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. She's just off. Just look."

The two look at the siblings. Margery's back was toward Morgan and Blake. They watched the Reids talk for a minute before they heard Rossi's door bang open.

"See! Look at that. She didn't flinch. This kid's pretty unresponsive."

Just then, Spencer turned around and started walking toward the two, Margery not far behind.

"Blake, have you met Margery yet?"

"No, I haven't. Nice to meet you."

Margery took Blake's hand and shook it.

Spencer put two and two together and realized they didn't know.

"Hey," Spencer said, tapping Margery on the shoulder. "You can go sit at my desk if you want."

Margery nodded and walked over.

"I don't mean to be rude but there's something up with your sister," Morgan said in a lowered voice.

"Guys she's deaf," Spencer said matter-of-factly.

"Oooooh," the two replied.

"Why do you talk to her? Why don't you sign?" Blake asked.

"She can read lips and it's easier for me to talk instead of sign. She talks too, actually. She's just self-conscious about her speech."

Blake nodded and walked over to Margery.

You don't need to be ashamed of how you speak, she signed. It's okay, I promise.

Margery smiled broadly. "You can speak sign language?" she asked enthusiastically. Her voice was thick and clumsy and the vowels were all rounded.

Blake laughed. Yes. Your voice is fine.

Margery shook her head and the two engaged in a completely signed conversation.