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“Seriously! What is it with construction sites?!” Leo complained about this as he dodged another I-beam thrown his way. He stumbled a bit with that avoidance maneuver, but at least Mikey still gave chase with their target. It was yet another mutant, of course, trying to hijack a bulldozer for some unexplained reason. This one was tricky though, being that it had several really strong arms. Two were occupied by steering the small yellow vehicle while the other four grabbed loose materials to chuck at the two turtles following him.The mutant grinned as he thought he managed to lose one of them, seeing only the orange-masked turtle running after him in the rear mirrors. He jerked the wheel in surprise as something landed and latched onto the side of the bulldozer. Leo managed to catch back up quickly by using the framework above them to swing around. It also helped that most of the ground was still dirt, and this vehicle was not built for speed. He continued, “Is it like, in concrete that most fights have to happen here?”Mikey groaned a little at his brother’s joke, but was glad that they seemed to be keeping the mutant on the course they wanted him to be. That was, until their target swerved to try to shake Leo off. The turtle managed to jump off and avoid colliding with a large support beam, landing on his feet nearby. The driver barely managed to regain control on the dirt ground, knocking into more framework as he did so. The barely-built structure groaned in various places above them threateningly.The youngest turtle felt almost like a sheepdog as he ran up beside the vehicle, trying to get the mutant to head back into the direction they wanted him to go. And that direction was fast approaching now.Raph’s strength and Donnie’s gadgets put together managed to create a haphazard barricade out of the materials on site. Leo and Mikey had now narrowed down the thief’s options; it was either stop, or ram into the pile of materials blocking the construction zone exit. And chances were, the dirt ground wouldn’t give the bulldozer enough traction to plow aside everything blocking its way. This trap became apparent to the mutant, as a frustrated and panicked look grew across his reddish-brown, deformed face.With two turtles in from of him, and two turtles behind him, the thief made his snap decision. He floored the gas pedal, heading for the barricade as he stood a little off the seat. He was going to crash and bail. Donnie and Raph dodged as it was only 10 feet from their trap, just in time for the plow to pierce some concrete bags. Of course instead of breaking through the materials, the bulldozer’s front end rolled up onto its back wheels, sending concrete dust flying everywhere.Quick to anticipate an opponent’s move, Donnie pulled down his goggles with them already on heat signature mode. The dust made him and his brother cough, but at least he could actually sort of see. Unfortunately, it was just in time for the mutant to jump out of the vehicle and hurdle the pile off the front end of his failed steal.The bulldozer was still trying to plow forward without a driver, knocking over some materials and starting to topple the structure around them.“Guys, get out of there!” Leo yelled as Mikey tried to climb the pile to chase the mutant. Donnie was getting Raph to safety as the concrete dust was settling, looking back to their trap and the youngest brother.He saw something that Mikey didn’t and hurriedly cried out, “Mikey, don’t!” His feet already carried him towards the other on impulse, going to climb the materials.Mikey froze, seeing the mistake he made and danger threatening them now. What little of the building that was built began to collapse inwards, from the impact of the bulldozer and most likely from the damage the swerving had caused from Mikey and Leo’s chase. Concrete and steel were all coming down fast and heavy closest to Mikey as Donnie reached his brother. With quick thinking, he tossed the lighter turtle towards the plow of the bulldozer as it was about to flip onto its back. The flipping movement created enough force for the plow to catch Mikey and fling him away from the barricade and concrete walls on either side.Raph managed to catch him roughly, then dodge a beam falling from above. Leo sliced through some lighter materials with his sword before the biggest turtle grabbed him and shielded two of his brothers with his own shell. Luckily, they weren’t standing amongst the bulk of the structure, only getting pelted with some scraps and chunks. The progress made by the humans who worked on this was now ruined, and the mutant had escaped… Though, they seemed to have survived the encounter at least.As the three turtles stood up and tried to shake the dirt off of themselves, Mikey complained, “We were so close!”Raph added, “If we had a bit more time, we could have built a taller barricade…”“Well, he’s gone,” Leo huffed, looking at the mess of toppled concrete and steel beams around them. “We should get out of here before someone sends the cops to investigate.”The three turtles looked in the direction of the accident, the bulldozer barely visible under the wreckage. It was totalled. Everything was definitely totaled. And they came to realize that they didn’t see their purple-masked brother anywhere.“Donnie?” Mikey called out, going to climb over the wreckage.There was no answer.“Come on bro, let’s go home,” Leo also called out, waiting to hear a reply.Yet still, it didn’t come. The general silence settled over them as worry set in. The turtles immediately started climbing over the wreckage to look for their brother. He had been on top of the pile, so maybe he had jumped out of the zone and onto the street to avoid the mess? Leo climbed up towards the higher point of it all. To Leo’s dismay, that idea proved to be false as he reached the top of the wreckage and edge of the zone.The expression on his face as he turned back to look at his two remaining brothers wordlessly explained the gravity of the situation they now faced. “Donatello!!!” Raph yelled as they started climbing over the rubble and peering down into the cracks. They all quickly combed the area while calling his name, though some of it was too deep and piled up to know what was underneath. The brothers spent about five long minutes looking with no results. They began to hope that perhaps he ran ahead to catch the mutant. There was no way he could be here, right? He had to have dodged it, he was smart and quick. Plus, his gadgets could also get him out of almost any situation, though not always gracefully.Growing tired and confused, their hopes and thoughts of their brother’s possible escape were dashed by a low moan nearby. Fear making his heart practically flip-flop in his chest, Leo got closed to the spot the sound came from the fastest. “Donnie?” he called again, still slightly hoping against all odds that their worst fear wasn’t true.A pained groan escaped from the pile of concrete and steel under him, their brother’s voice then weakly letting out, “Leo…. m’stuck……..”Raph, Leo, and Mikey now crowded around the spot, careful not to accidentally step on top and add more pressure. “Are you hurt?” Leo shakily asked, starting to look for where they could start digging him out. Mikey and Raph started moving chunks out of the way as Leo waited for a reply.“.... I…. I think so…..” Donnie replied in a pained tone. “Hurts….. My leg…. I-I…. can’t move.”“Just stay calm, we’ll get you out,” Leo demanded, joining his brothers in the effort.After a few minutes of difficult work, it wasn’t clear whether or not they were getting closer. They were already tired from the chase and scraped up from the collapse. “Dude… where is he?” Mikey whined, eyes starting to tear up as the stress built. Leo put a finger to his lips, not wanting Donnie to hear him and panic.“Just keep going,” Raph grunted, going to try to lift a huge piece. Gathering back their fortitude, the two others went to help him, all three managing to shove it out of the way. That seemed to be the biggest piece that was in their way, as smaller and medium pieces with gaps were underneath it. Mikey crouched over the pile, trying to peer through the cracks. They felt a little relieved as they heard Donnie let out, “I see…. light…. Just a bit…”“We’re here, bro, we got you,” Mikey encouraged him, going to stick his arm into a gap to feel around. He jumped a little in surprise and excitement as he felt trembling fingers grasp at his hand. “Donnie, it’s me! That’s me! We’re so close! Guys, I can feel his hand.” He turned his head to look to Raph and Leo, who both quickly went to remove more concrete.“Hurry…. Careful…….” Donnie quietly pleaded with a cough or two.Though it hurt him to do so, Mikey said, “I’m going to let go so I can help again. I promise we’ll get you out soon! Then we’ll slap on some bandaids and grab pizza on the way home, okay?” He felt Donnie let go and heard him mumble something in reply, and Mikey retracted his arm.The instant it was free, he stopped and tensed up, his other two brothers stopping for a moment as well. Mixed in with the dirt was blood on Mikey’s palm. It obviously wasn’t Mikey’s. What little relief they had gained was now replaced with horror at what condition Donatello was in under all of this.Mikey wiped his hand on a nearby concrete chunk and quickly yet cautiously helped his brothers remove the remaining rubble. They could hear the sound of police sirens in the distance getting louder, encouraging them to ignore the aches and scrapes for now. Their effort was finally rewarded with the sight of their brother revealed among the wreckage.Donnie squinted a bit in the light, also especially from the dirt and dust in his eyes as he lay still partially pinned on his stomach. He looked dirty, tired, and pained. Mikey gently hugged his head with a cry of relief as Leo and Raph continued going to unearth the rest of him. “We’re here, bro! We’ve got you!” Mikey reassured him, though it was more like reassuring himself.Donnie suddenly gave a rough cry of pain as Raph went to try to pull away a chunk of concrete and rebar from his right side. The brothers froze, having never heard such a distressed sound from Donnie before. They probably never heard it from each other at all. The injury under this chunk seemed to be the source of the bleeding, though it was hard to tell how bad it was at this moment. Leo removed one of his own gloves in preparation as Mikey hugged Donnie’s head a little tighter.“W-wait… Wait wait wait,” Donnie pleaded right as Raph ripped up the rubble and rebar. The brothers kept working as fast as they could through the shriek and sobs, Leo going to press his glove against the bleeding wound on his brother’s right ribs as Raph yanked away the last big pieces of concrete on Donnie’s lower half. Mikey continued to hold his trembling older brother, quietly trying to keep him calm despite the loud sirens getting incredibly close. Fortunately, Raph freed their brother, cringing a bit as he saw the odd angle his left leg was bent at.“We have to get out of here, now,” Leo hurriedly said as they heard the shouts of police officers at the edge of the construction zone. He secured the glove, already mostly soaked with blood, with a spare bit of sash. Mikey had a hard time letting go, but allowed Raph to scoop up Donnie and start running. The purple-masked turtle was shivering, but fading in and out of consciousness as they all booked it out of there.Leo had to drive them home as soon as they were all in the Turtle Tank, as Raphael refused to let Donnie go from his careful yet tight cradling embrace. . _ . _ _ _ _ _{ o \ / \_/ \_/ \. .\_ \_/_\_/_\_/ >....UU…….UU……. It was practically a given that Splinter’s peaceful TV time would be interrupted whenever his sons arrived home. They were his adorably annoying tornado of teenage turtles, on an excited path to eat whatever pizza was around and regale him in tales of their nightly adventures. There was nothing more frustrating than having a good program completely crashed at the good part, no matter how much he cared for them. But this time… he knew something was wrong. He heard the Tank roaring back into their home right in the middle of a commercial break. Splinter was never lucky enough to have a commercial break disturbed. It had to be an omen. Something was wrong.As if confirming his odd superstition, he sat upright in his recliner at the sound of Mikey yelling for him in a panicked pitch.“Dad! Help! Please help Donnie’s hurt he got stuck under a wrecked building because it was rammed by a mutant and a bulldozer with lots of arms and he’s hurt and we don’t know what to do!” the youngest cried out in one long almost unintelligible explanation.Splinter leapt out of his chair and ran for his sons to where they usually parked, hoping that his youngest was just exaggerating a small injury. What he wasn’t prepared to see was Raph looking lost and afraid as he stood there outside the tank, holding his bloodied smaller brother as Leo and Mikey argued over what to do. Mikey wanted to bring Donatello to his workshop with the hopes that some gadgets could help him, while Leo tried to convince him that the kitchen was the biggest and cleanest space.Seeing the mess of his purple-masked son crumpled up in Raph’s arms, Splinter quickly and loudly belted out, “QUIET! All three of you! Red, take him to the kitchen to a clean counter. Orange, get the first aid supplies. Blue, find my small green briefcase in my bedroom closet! Get to it!”There was a moment of pause and shock, which soon gave way to the turtles hurriedly doing what they were told. Splinter leapt ahead of Raphael to get to the kitchen, turning on the lights and grabbing some dish towels. He soaked one of them in water as Raph and Donnie came into the room and walked up to the island counter. The biggest turtle eyed the counter but didn’t seem ready to put his brother down.Splinter jumped up onto the counter and pointed at the spot, though Raph only stared at him in sadness and apprehension. Splinter huffed and said, “I need to take a look at him, your well-intentioned hugs aren’t going to heal him.”Realizing the rough truth in that statement, Raphael went to carefully lay down Donatello on the counter beside their father. He let out a groan and a sharp intake of breath at the movement as his father used the damp towel to wipe away some of the caked-on dirt. Mikey arrived with an armful of first aid supplies, although Splinter could already tell that Donnie was beyond any of it. This wasn’t something they could adequately patch up here. Hopefully Leo would be just as fast in looking for what he was sent to find.Raph and Mikey went to try to soothe their injured brother as their father cleaned him up. Against his intuition, the rat went to remove the glove from the side wound and replace it with a huge wad of gauze. The bleeding was slowing with the pressure of the glove, but it wasn’t the most sanitary thing to use in this situation.“He’ll be fine right? We can fix this, right?” Mikey asked Splinter through Donnie’s touchingly pathetic whimpers and moans.“I……..” Splinter started to say, wishing he could promise that his purple son would be completely healed and fine with a simple snap of his fingers. “... We’re doing what we can. Both of you, go help Leo find the briefcase. Quickly.”Raph and Mikey looked like they wanted to protest, but decided against it. Finding whatever this briefcase was seemed to be the most important thing for whatever reason. They ran out to join Leo in his search, leaving Donnie and Splinter alone.“Dad…… it’s…. Really painful….” he mumbled so quietly, shivering on the kitchen counter.Splinter carefully wedged a clean, dry dish towel under his son’s head as he checked over the smaller injuries and applied ointment. “I bet it is… You got into quite the mess,” he responded as he worked.“Ngh……. Sorry…..” he whined a little.“Don’t say you’re sorry. Not for this. Even famed Lou Jitsu couldn’t win all his fights completely unscathed.”Donnie gave one short chuckle at his dad’s usual obsession, but winced and tensed up. “Sure……..”Splinter went to gently clean his face and remove his slightly broken goggles while replying, “You don’t ever believe me, but it’s true. You will believe me one day. You will see.” They waited for several minutes, Donnie struggling with staying conscious. His side made it painful to breathe, and it felt like the ache in his leg was throbbing through his entire body sometimes.The other three turtles burst into the room again with an old, roughed-up briefcase that fit Splinter’s description. Leo quickly thrust it towards their dad as they looked at Donnie in fear.“Please tell us this is some sort of super secret medicine or something,” Leo pleaded as Mikey went to cling to Donnie’s arm. They watched the rat open it up, though he tried to keep the contents mostly hidden from them as he did so. They could see some odd coins and ancient-looking junk in there, along with some human-sized clothes in rough shape. Any other day and the boys would be super nosy about any of this secretive stuff…Splinter took out a large silver coin and a talisman similar to the one they had first used to open the portal to the world of yokai. He handed the coin to Leo, and then fiddled with the talisman as he jumped off the counter. “You take him through the portal, and into the building. She will help him and take the coin as repayment,” he said, playing the incredibly vague pronoun game with his instructions.“Wait, what? We’re doing…. What?” Leo let out, examining the coin in confusion.“Can you come with us?” Mikey asked, feeling lost and worried in this situation. Despite how much he insisted he was old enough and strong enough now, this situation made him feel as helpless as a child again. They were all feeling that a bit.Splinter looked away, as it looked like an emotional weight had settled over him at the thought. “No…. It’s better that I not. I will wait right here for you all to get back.”“Let’s just go,” Raph decided for them before they could waste more time, going to pick up Donnie again. The small whimper and groan from their injured brother being jostled around again hurt for them all to hear. The room then filled with the crackle sound of the portal opening on the wall, where Splinter had just finished setting it up. With an encouraging nod from their father, they carefully walked through the portal with Leo going first.He took a look around to make sure things seemed safe enough, the others following close behind. It was a fairly quiet side street in this usually bustling hidden world, with what looked like some shops and food stalls. Directly in front of them was a small storefront with double doors and clinic-type posters in the windows. This seemed to be the place they were directed to go into, so Leo and Mikey opened the doors for Raph and Donnie. Inside was a bunch of herbal remedies and ancient-looking medical devices in a store setting, though it looked like there was a sitting area close to a door in the back. No one was within immediate sight, not even at the counter.“Hello?” Raph called out as Leo and Mikey looked around at everything. Donnie was out of it, but he glanced around with a bit of a wary gaze. “We need a bit of help please!”In response to his call, the back door swung open to reveal a yokai woman with the features of an elk. She was dressed in an older-looking doctor’s robe with a modern apron over it, carrying a book and some ballpoint pens. Her antlers were sizable enough to where she had to turn her head to be able to step through the door, a nearly empty mug of tea comically swinging off of one of the prongs. It was hard to tell the age of mutants and yokai sometimes, which was also true in this case. She didn’t look old, yet she didn’t look young. She carried herself with a dignified and almost matronly grace, though.Taking in the scene of the turtles in her empty shop area, she cut off Leo from explaining what happened to instruct them, “Bring him back with me, please.” With that simple and nonchalant explanation, the apprehensive brothers watched her go back through the door she came from. Too afraid for his brother’s life to waste time on doubting this odd doctor, Mikey quickly darted forward to hold the door open for Raph.The area behind the door wasn’t incredibly large like human hospitals, but it had a few curtained-off sections. It was incredibly quiet, which most likely meant they were all alone here. The elk yokai was going through her supply drawers, hanging the things she’d need off her convenient antlers. “Lay him down and I’ll be right there,” she said, still calm yet moving fairly quickly.Donnie’s eyes were only slightly open, his vision cloudy and swimming. His brothers worried over how uncharacteristically quiet he was now, hoping he wasn’t past help. They tried really hard not to think about the possibility of that scenario. There was no way that could happen. Not to Donnie, not to any of them. Right?It took emotional fortitude, but Raph managed to get his injured brother safely laying down on the examination table in an open curtained area. He was still with it enough to wince and hiss a little at the movement again. Donnie managed to keep a weak, clammy grip on Raph’s arm, which the larger brother did nothing to break free of. Mikey scampered over to his other side to hold his other hand, which had started to gravitate to the bloodied chest bandaging. Leo stuck very close by, but watched the stranger with medical supplies.She came to join them, taking some things off of her antlers in preparation. She sighed just a little disdainfully at how Mikey was in her way at the moment, but didn’t immediately or obviously try to remove him.“So uh… Doc…. what’s your name?” Leo started, all of them unnerved by her lack of communication.“Aeshlen Iman’Aerien of the Verdant. But you can just call me ‘Doc’ to make it easier on you,” she said, not even looking up from her set-up work. “Yeah… Doc is cool,” Leo said, already forgetting her overly-long and fancy name. “Doc, please help our brother. He got hurt when he were chasing a thief. It all came crashing down like crazy, and I mean it like the steel and concrete because we were at a construction site, and he got buried. We tried to dig him out quick but….. But yeah…….” His words came out as a worried jumble, not even sure if his explanation was helping.“You’ll be okay. She knows what she’s doing,” Mikey quietly reassured Donnie, squeezing his hand a little. The youngest turtle had to put all of his faith and trust in the Doc, not having much else that could help with their predicament.Donnie was too tired and faint to turn his head to Mikey, but he tried to crack a small, pained smile to reassure him. His breathing was irregular but shallow, and honestly he couldn’t really feel a lot of the pain anymore. He just felt cold. And oddly light. What mental processes he had left screamed at him that this wasn’t good, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Even if he could speak up, he couldn’t bring himself to worry his brothers. Any substantial fear he had for himself was replaced with trust for them.Finally done spreading out all of the tools, bandaging, and medicine she’d need, the Doc said, “You may all wait out front while I work. I’ll need room, and it’s better that you be there.”Raph didn’t like the sound of that, responding with frustration, “Uh-uh, no way, we’re not just ditching Donnie when we don’t even know you! We may not be fancy, smooth-talking, smarty-pants doctors, but he needs us probably as much as he needs you!”The Doc stared at him for a moment, then let out a small chuckle with a very slight smile. “So big now and yet so feisty still. The door you came through will remain unlocked, and you will all be sitting in chairs practically on the other side of that wall if anything goes wrong. You will need to be rested and calm to help him recover after this, and staying in here to watch will only upset you, and eventually him. Please trust me. You may keep your coin, I do not need payment today,” she softly spoke to try and set their minds at ease.It took a moment, but they managed to decide to trust her. It was heartbreaking, but they separated themselves from Donatello to return to the shopfront. They couldn’t take their eyes off of him until the door swung back closed behind them. The three remaining brothers stood there for a moment, just looking at the blank door as the situation’s gravity settled over them. Mikey was the first to go take a seat, curling up with his knees to chest as he sighed.Leo realized something and quietly said to Raph, “Dude…. I didn’t say anything about dad’s coin, or show it to her. And that thing she said to you…. I think she knows us.”“Well I don’t remember her,” Raph muttered, still feeling upset.“It must have been when we were little or something. I don’t remember her either. But I guess she knows what’s going on,” Leo sighed. “Let’s just wait…”With that, he went to sit down as well in the chair right next to Mikey. Eventually, Raph came to join them with a defeated sigh. An awkward and sad silence settled over them. It was difficult trying to think of conversation topics at a time like this. It was difficult to judge what would be better, forced conversation or sullen quietness.The one thing they could all do together at least was wait. And that’s what they did. . _ . _ _ _ _ _{ o \ / \_/ \_/ \. .\_ \_/_\_/_\_/ >....UU…….UU……. At least two hours passed before they heard anything from beyond the clinic door. The doctor partially emerged only to point at Leo and motion for him to follow her back. All three looked confused, and definitely wanted to go together. Leo ended up going on his own though, as they quietly agreed to do whatever was instructed of them. Waiting this long was agonizing, so having Leo borrowed was better than nothing.He smirked a little with a hint of nervousness at Raph and Mikey before going through the door. He could at least gloat a little about being the only one picked to go back, even though he had no clue what it was for.When Leo returned a while later, practically shoved out of the door alone, Mikey couldn’t help but snort at how his smirk had turned to a look of discomfort and frustration. The bag of snacks he now carried was the first thing the other two turtles spotted, though it took a moment to see that he now had a bandaid on his inner arm. The mood mellowed out again right away as Leo wobbled back over to his seat with a sigh.“... You see him?” Raph quietly asked, his eyes darting to the bandaid in concern. They obviously knew how serious this was…. Though the reality of a required blood transfusion really hammered that point home.“Nope…. Curtain was closed,” Leo mumbled, picking out a bag of what looked like fried dumplings. After letting him have first pick out of the bag, Raph and Mikey took some food for themselves. They hadn’t really felt hungry until the opportunity to eat was presented to them. Over the next hour after eating, Leo and Mikey fell asleep leaning against Raph. The biggest brother closed his eyes and leaned his head forward a little to rest, but he couldn’t really fall asleep. Not yet.Finally, the doctor emerged from the back room with a new, clean apron on. She stepped through fully, ducking her head sideways like she had before as Leo and Mikey woke up from the sound of the door opening. Despite the amount of time and work she spent helping Donnie, she somehow didn’t even look tired. Although she did have a new hot mug of tea dangling off her antlers. “I’ve done all I can for now,” she said to them.“Is he…. okay?” Raph hesitantly asked, going to stand first.“His chances are much better,” she honestly answered. “He’s still going to need a lot of rest and care at home, along with medicine I’ll be giving you. Please come with me.” The Doc went back through the door, the three turtles following very closely behind.The curtain was open again, revealing Donatello sleeping on the table with a blanket draped over him. His Battle Shell had been removed and place aside on the floor, the side of it where it was close to his injury practically crushed. They couldn’t see the state of the wound on his side, but they could see a fresh cast constructed around his left leg sticking out from under the blanket.“Truthfully… that outer shell of his is what put the odds in his favor. If that hadn’t taken the worst of the damage, you all wouldn’t have even made it here with him,” she informed them, going to take down her mug of tea and sip at it a little. “However, that doesn’t mean that the damage wasn’t bad. If his breathing gains a noticeable rattle, you’ll have to bring him here. Aggravating his broken ribs could puncture a lung.”Mikey had already returned to his previous spot at Donnie’s side so he could gently put a hand on his older brother’s shoulder. It was difficult to listen to the doctor detail his condition, but seeing Donnie and feeling the gentle movement of his breathing was constant reassurance that he was alive. Donnie was alive. Raph and Leo were similarly very close to their ailing brother, though better kept their attention on the doctor.She continued without interruption, “It’s all stitched and bandaged, though the area will have to be kept clean. The next biggest thing you should be afraid of is the risk of infection. I expect him to develop a fever, but as long as it doesn’t get too high and the stitches don’t look infected, he’ll get through it. The break in his leg was clean and easy to set, but it will take a while to heal fully. Don’t get the cast wet, and no putting weight on it yet. Those two injuries, along with blood loss, were the most pressing of my concern. I cleaned minor scrapes, and he will most likely bruise in a few areas. Any questions before I move on to basic instructions?”The three awake brothers just looked at her and eventually shook their heads a little. They were exhausted at this point, and this was all a lot to take in.The Doc presented them with two small bags and said, “Take him home, settle him comfortably into bed and let him sleep for the night. Give him both medicines in the morning, unless he’s woken by any pain or discomfort. Then he may have the pain medicine sooner. No more than two doses a day, one in the morning and the other in the evening. The other medicine is to help prevent infection, and should be taken every morning. Other than medicines, he needs plenty of bedrest and good food. He may not feel hungry right away, but he’ll need to eat something by tomorrow afternoon. You may return to consult me if you feel anything is going wrong. But I need to see him back within two months at the very longest to check on his healing progress. Do you all understand?”The brothers looked to each other, overwhelmed but feeling a little more optimistic now. They nodded in agreement with each other, Leo going to take the bags of medicine.“Alright. We’ll do it all for him,” Raphael said, resolutely.Placing her mug of tea aside, the doctor responded, “I have confidence in your responsibility. Go home and get some rest. You all need it.” Making sure they had everything they needed, along with Donnie’s things, Raph gently picked up the purple-masked turtle while keeping him wrapped in the blanket. Donnie didn’t even stir from being moved and cradled this time, continuing to sleep soundly. They all followed the yokai elk out of the back area and out through the front door of her clinic. The portal in the wall across from them had shrunk during the time passed, but widened again as they approached.Taking one more grateful look at the doctor, the brothers thanked her for her help. Mikey couldn’t help himself as he lunged forward to give her a quick and awkward hug. As they all stepped through the portal, she said to them, “Tell…. Tell your father I say hello.”And with that parting sentiment, they were back in their kitchen with the portal closing up fully behind them.. _ . _ _ _ _ _{ o \ / \_/ \_/ \. .\_ \_/_\_/_\_/ >....UU…….UU…….
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Splinter had pulled a cushion into the kitchen to wait for his sons, as he promised he would. He seemed a little more relaxed to see that Donnie was with them and generally in one piece, even though the damaged Battle Shell that Mikey carried was unsettling to look at on its own. He didn’t really seem like he intended to explain any of that business with the coin and the clinic. Honestly, the turtles were too exhausted to really care about prodding Splinter for answers.It took a bit of debate and discussion, but with Leo’s suggestion they decided to set Donnie up in Leo’s bed for the night. His elevated half tube of a bed was too inconvenient to lift him into, and would probably be unsafe anyways. Everything they held, excluding their unconscious brother, was dropped in the kitchen to handle later. For now, they wanted to end this long and stressful evening.Everyone trudged to Leo’s room, Raph going to set down his brother in bed as soon as they got there, especially minding his broken leg. Leo went to shove his garbage and collectibles out of the way while Splinter and Mikey covered Donatello with some comfortable blankets. “Wait, where are you going to sleep?” Raphael asked his blue-masked brother.Leo wouldn’t say it aloud, but taking Donatello’s now open bed didn’t feel right to him. Not to mention the numerous bright screens littering the walls of that room would keep him up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this dumb thing,” he quietly said, going to drag an old, cheap, Japanese-style futon out from under his bed. It had been left there wadded up haphazardly for maybe a year now. It seemed like a great idea and a decent dumpster-diving find around the time he had started collecting swords. Japanese samurai swords, along with a Japanese samurai bed… Of course, it only took one attempt to sleep on it to find out it wasn’t much more comfortable than a sleeping bag on this concrete floor. So, under the bed it had gone, where he had figured it could be a firm problem for another day. But now, it was a firm problem for tonight, unrolled on the floor at the left side of Leo’s actual bed.With the temporary sleeping situation settled, Splinter, Raph, and Mikey left Leo’s room. Leo gently sat on the edge of his bed to take off his gear while heaving a sigh. He was fairly confident that he wouldn’t be sleeping very well tonight, and it wouldn’t just be because of the futon. After getting changed into pajamas and making the light a bit dimmer, Leo glanced at the sleeping form of his brother.“... Goodnight, D,” he mumbled to the other, going to lower himself onto the futon.Despite the less-than-plush cushioning underneath him, Leo found himself starting to doze off fairly soon. However, his attempt at sleeping was interrupted by the sound of shuffling entering his room. Leo sat right up, squinting in the dark, only to see Mikey trying to make his way in with his hammock rolled up under his arm. The youngest turtle jumped a little in surprise as Leo went to stand up. Mikey had expected and hoped that his older brother would be sleeping by now, but that expectation was suddenly replaced by the fear that he’d be scolded and turned away. As a pleasant relief to him, Leo had gotten up only to come over and help Mikey find the spots to hook his hammock into close to the opening of the room, at the foot of the bed.“It’s okay?” he quietly asked Leo permission as the first hook was latched onto the wall.“... Yeah. I get it,” Leo softly responded, glancing at Mikey to pass him a small smile.Once the hammock was set up, Mikey went to get comfortable on it with a spare pillow, and Leo settled back onto his previous spot. All was quiet again, except for the soft sounds of breathing.Until Mikey gave a small, stifled yelp of surprise. Leo sat back upright immediately in alarm, spotting Raph in the middle of walking practically right into the orange-masked turtle’s hammock. The biggest of them was apologizing in a hushed tone, looking a bit surprised but honestly not feeling that surprised. Here he was, with a pillow and blanket under his arm, trying to sleep in Leo’s room as well.Leo made eye contact with Raph and shrugged in acceptance, Raph sighing in relief at the non-verbal permission given. Raph ducked under the higher part of Mikey’s hammock so he could go lay on the floor on his stomach at the right side of Leo’s bed. Despite this out-of-the-ordinary sleeping situation, they all found themselves feeling comfortable enough to fall asleep fairly quickly. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Mikey woke up to the sounds of pain being hoarsely expressed. Or more accurately, he was woken up by Leo haphazardly bumping into the hammock as he ducked under it and ran out of the room. Mikey gained his bearings a bit more as he went to try to steady the rocking of his bed. The events of the past evening came back to him almost in a rush, and he looked to Leo’s bed in panic.Raph was awake as well, kneeling at the bedside and holding Donnie’s hand as the injured brother groaned and whimpered in what seemed to be agony. It was unclear just how coherent Donatello was, but he was awakened enough by his current and fresh afflictions to be expressing the severe discomfort. Mikey leapt out of his hammock and jumped over to the opposite side of the bed as Raph, hurriedly asking, “What happened? What’s wrong?”“Nothing I think,” Raph said, glancing to Mikey as the youngest brother put a comforting hand on Donnie’s forehead. “He woke up like this, hasn’t said anything. Leo went to get the medicine.”Mikey tiredly sighed, remembering that the doctor warned them about this possibility. He added his observation, “He feels a bit too warm…”“I guess that would be the fever,” Raph responded, gently squeezing Donnie’s hand. Mikey got up to sit on the edge of the bed, going to stroke his older brother’s head and shoulder in a comforting motion. Although his eyes were still mostly closed, this seemed to soothe Donnie a little as the sharpness in the sound of his moans died down. The heavy, unsteady breathing was only making his stitched-up side hurt more from the movement.Leo quickly dashed back into the room, carrying the small bags of medicine and a glass of water. Half the glass had sloshed out onto the floor and Leo’s hand from his hurried run back to his room, but at least he didn’t take too long getting everything. He ducked and practically stumbled under Mikey’s hammock over to the bedside again. Mikey shimmied over a little more towards the head of the bed so Leo could have more room.He upended the bag of painkiller medicine onto the blanket, sending a few unlabeled old-fashioned-looking bottles and a tiny clay cup tumbling a little. Leo went to read the small, scrawled instructions on the bag as Mikey straightened out the bottles, picking up one and the small cup to inspect them.“O-okay… So we fill the cup and have him drink it. One cup in the morning, one in the afternoon,” Leo rambled out what he read in summary. This one was for the apin, they’d wait for morning to use the antibiotics.“One cup? You mean that cup that came with this? That doesn’t look like enough,” Raphael worried aloud as Mikey held up the hand-made clay cup.“That’s what it says, okay?” Leo partially snapped, tired and stressed at the moment. They were all feeling that at the moment, as Donnie continued to whimper a little at every wave of throbbing ache that washed over him.“Alright, if that’s what the instructions say,” Raph quietly replied. Leo shook and then uncapped a bottle as Mikey held the cup, both of them steadily going to dose out the syrupy liquid. Raph very carefully dug him hand under Donnie’s neck and head, going to prop him up a little in preparation. The injured brother’s eyes cracked open a little after wincing, though he didn’t seem incredibly with it.It took a bit of coaxing and finesse, but Mikey was able to get his older brother to drink the medicine from the cup offered to his mouth. Leo offered Mikey the glass of water as Donnie made a predictably irked face from the taste of the doctor’s concoction. They helped him sip at the water a bit before going to lay him back down and tuck him in. The three turtles watched and waited for signs of it working, despite how utterly exhausted they felt.Fortunately, within about fifteen minutes, Donnie started to settle down again. His breathing slowly evened out as his sounds of distress died down. It seemed like he had drifted back off into a deep and painless slumber at this point. All three awake brothers feeling relieved and satisfied, they reluctantly crawled back into their sleeping spots. Leo had to pry Mikey away a little, or else the youngest one would have crammed himself onto the bed along with Donnie for the rest of the night.It wasn’t easy, but they all found themselves falling back asleep in silence. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] The nice thing about being hidden mutants who didn’t have school or real responsibilities was that the turtles were free to pursue whatever activity they had on a whim. They would spend their waking hours, usually late in the evening, skateboarding, reading comics, training, exercising, playing games, or doing generally whatever tickled their fancy. Any teen would kill to live that kind of lifestyle and the freedom it entailed.But all day, Leo, Mikey, and Raph desperately wished they had some sort of obligation to fill and pass the time as Donnie slept. Leo’s room, or all of their rooms for that matter, were too cramped to spend an entire day in together. Those spaces were pretty much only used for sleeping and storing some of their personal collected items. So they left the opening to Leo’s room wide open to keep Donnie easily in sight as they passed the time. Leo settled down with a stack of Jupiter Jim comics with the highest re-read quality and tried to enjoy them. He got through one or two, fully aware that he wasn’t really invested in the words and pictures today. If it were possible to zone out while reading comics, as if watched television, then that was what he was doing. Eventually, the shapes of the panels and the slender gutters between them started to get to Leo. He felt more and more unsettled as he thumbed through the worn pages, unable to place what exactly it was that was affecting his mood, other than the obvious situation.His mind wandering back to the previous night at the construction site. Those tall, slender beams and poles supporting what would soon be another building in NYC… The basic walls of concrete that had been fabricated at the base… It all fit together so neatly until that crash.Stupid…. So stupid…. Why did Leo jump onto the bulldozer and startle their target? The goal was to herd him in a specific direction. That was the plan. The plan fit together. Then Leo made it all come crashing down the second the mutant tried to swerve him off, and struck some of the support poles.It all fell. The beams, the concrete, everything fell apart. And fell on them. On Donnie. And it was because of him. Stupid, stupid… Stupid!Leo threw his comic aside, shutting away the images of orderly panels and gutters from his vision. Instead of picking up the stack and putting it back in the box, he simply flipped the box over and covered the stack, as if trapping some angry, small animal that threatened him. He didn’t even want to look at the comics at this moment. Running his hands over his head as we went to stand, Leo decided it was time to find something else to do. He passed by Raph in the exercise tube, not even looking at his large brother as he heaved a sigh.Raph glanced to Leo as he recognized the metaphorical blanket of frustration draped over the blue-masked turtle, and said nothing. He knew how that felt, especially at this moment. Saying something would only be like prodding at dying embers in a bonfire. It was better to let this quietly burn out than risk making it reignite into something worse.He understood how tired everyone felt, and his leadership couldn’t do a thing to improve morale while Donnie continued to so obviously suffer. Raph pushed through the fatigue, setting down the dumbbell he was currently lifting so he could add a bit more weight. He wanted to feel the burn in his arm muscles. It was satisfying. It was a sign of hard work, of feats slowly being achieved.… Why didn’t he ache that much this morning? With all the lifting last night, it seemed like enough muscle stress to leave him with a sore day afterwards. So many chunks of concrete to remove from their injured brother… No, that was nothing. It wasn’t all that difficult lifting.Did Raph do everything he could to dig Donnie out as fast as possible? Yes, yes yes yes. Of course he did. He was strong, and that wasn’t strenuous lifting, except for one or two particularly large pieces. Not enough to outpace the daily lifting and training he did.But… did Raph really do everything he could? Digging was easy, though what about building things? That barricade was a haphazard pile. Even if they were pressed for time, there were more materials to work with nearby. It could have been bigger, stronger… Raph knew he didn’t push himself to follow through on his role in the plan he gave to his brothers. He did… good enough.Good enough. An unstable and poorly-thought out barricade wasn’t “good”. It was good enough. Raph could have put more work and lifting into that. He could have felt sore from a job well done in the first place, and spent them day letting the muscles rest and heal themselves. Now, he didn’t feel anything. No pain. Nothing. Except for the pit in his gut as fragmented thoughts tossed around in his head.Raph tossed aside the dumbbell, which put a crack in the floor with a loud clang. He growled a little, feeling his eyes burning a little.He was tired. It wasn’t time to rest though, he would lift the barbell until his limbs hurt more than his heart did.Mikey peeked over the railing from the level above their gym, having been startled by the sound of the barbell’s metallic impact. He gave a small sigh of relief after seeing Raph wasn’t hurt or anything, he must have just dropped some equipment. Mikey left him to continue working out without interrupting, so he could return to his more creative endeavor.He returned to the new mural that he had been working on. He had started it a few days ago, after finding some sweet metallic spray paint cans that had been left half-full near a dumpster. This had called for something more special than a standard “Turtle Power” or whatever. This called for real Art. Art with a capital ‘A’. Mikey had started with some basic squiggles from non-metallic spray paint, choosing to see what spoke to him in a sea of randomness. And that had happened to be a Dragon. Dragon… with a capital ‘D’!D… Mikey would make this a get-well-soon present for Donnie. The dragon had to be metallic pewter, the coolest-looking metallic of the cans he found. But the lightning around him could be purple, and maybe the dragon could even be breathing lightning instead of fire! Perfection. Mikey began filling in the shape of the clouds that the dragon spiralled around and through, accenting them with purple. As he made progress, he admired how realistic the texturing on the clouds was coming out.It was like… the clouds of concrete dust. Every good artist used reference from somewhere. Last night’s events were etched into his head. The dust had been hard to see through, so obviously climbing above it to chase the mutant was the smart choice. It wasn’t like the collapsing building around them could be seen through the clouded air.But it could be heard. The groan of the beams, the cracking and crumbling of the concrete. The warning sounds had been clear as day. Also, when was it a good idea to split off from his brothers? What did he think he could do chasing the mutant on his own? He was small. And weak. Mikey, the baby. Always needed babysitting. Along with constantly being pulled out of danger.Even at the sacrifice of Donnie’s safety.Mikey painted what he wanted. He painted what he thought and felt, what his internal muse inspired him to paint. And now he found himself painting in shaky handwriting the word ‘sorry’ onto the cloud.The youngest turtle shook his head as tears formed in his eyes, then immediately went to try to wipe away the wet paint in embarrassment and shame. He only smeared it all over the place, turning it into one big purple smudge. Mikey looked down to his hands to see the purple paint splattered all over them.Feeling a chill creep down his back and the contents of his stomach rise up his throat a little, Mikey ran away from the mural towards the bathroom to wash up. The mural could be worked on later, he had screwed up enough for now.And he felt so tired… It was a difficult, quiet day as Donnie continued to sleep. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] “Okay, so he’s still sleeping,” Raph sighed as they stood not too far away from the opening of Leo’s room. The brothers had reconvened, now that it was about time for dinner.“And he’s still running a fever,” Leo pointed out.Mikey chimed in, “I’m really worried… Like, really really really worried. Maybe we should take him back to the doctor.”Raphael considered that idea, wanting to be sure that they were really doing everything they could. Also, that everything they were doing was correct. Everything the doctor said might happen at the start of the recovery process was happening, though. Plus it wouldn’t be a good idea to pick up and thoroughly disturb Donnie while he was still so fragile and fighting through the fever. That might just make things worse.“Let’s not do that right away…” Raph responded. “It’s going to take more than a day for him to get better, so unless we see something that looks really bad and out of the ordinary, we try to weather it out here.”Mikey whined a little and asked, “Can’t we try to wake him up for a bit? Ask how he’s feeling? He has to eat something anyways.”“You should not,” Splinter’s voice replied, startling the three turtles. They hadn’t seen him approaching them, though Splinter only seemed to be passing by. Their father had checked in on his injured son a few times during the day briefly, but mostly remained parked in front of the tv in his usual chair. Now he was up and about again, it seemed.“But….” Mikey started to complain.“Whenever you all were sick, did I keep pestering you awake to ask how you felt?” Splinter pointed out.Thinking back to their childhoods, among some other recent times, the turtles realized he had a point. Even if it wasn’t something they wanted to hear.“A watchful eye and a helpful hand is the best that can be done in trying times such as these,” Splinter said, imparting some wisdom into them.“... Wait, what about that time you dropped me in a tub of ice and cold water while I was sleeping?” Mikey regrettably remembered now, pointing out.Splinter flinched and agitatedly responded, “You were so young and your temperature climbed to 104, what was I supposed to do?! Do I have a college degree in being a nurse? No!” Despite how calm and collected their dad had been through the past day, it was clear that he was feeling the worry and stress too. With a frustrated ‘hmph’, he walked away and left them alone again.The three brothers looked to each other, at a temporary loss for words as Mikey shrugged. “Okay, so we should most likely check his temperature to make sure it’s not getting too high. And we can at least wake him up a little tiny bit to see what he wants to eat,” Raph decided. “That shouldn’t be too much.”Agreeing on that plan, Leo got the thermometer while Mikey got another glass of cold water. They then clustered around Leo’s bed to check on Donnie. He was, of course, still fast asleep under the covers. It took a little maneuvering, but Leo managed to get the thermometer in Donnie’s mouth and mostly under his tongue. The irritation of that feeling slightly roused him as he tried to spit out the cold, glass rod. Raph had to hold his head steady while Leo kept the thermometer in place. Donnie’s eyes opened a little, and he didn’t look pleased at all.“Hey D, don’t worry, we’re just doing a little check up,” Mikey said to reassure him, going to hold his hot hand again.Donnie heaved a sigh and glared a little at Leo. He wanted to yawn so badly, but it was hard when his head was being held like this.“Bro, don’t give me that look. You’ve slept all day, so I don’t feel bad at all,” Leo huffed, looking unfazed. “Just bear with me for a few more seconds.”Enough time had passed, so Leo withdrew the thermometer to read the number it had reached. Raph stopped holding Donnie’s head so Mikey could offer him the glass of water, though he paused for a moment as Donnie finally let out a long yawn.“It says about 102… So I guess that isn’t too horrible. Not like, ice water bath horrible,” Leo guessed, which only prompted another small glare from his injured brother. At least until Mikey went to help him drink some water.“Gotta stay hydrated! Plus I’ll get a cool cloth or something for your forehead. I think that’s supposed to help,” Mikey offered in his usually sunny, helpful tone as Donatello closed his burning eyelids again.Raph went to gently cup the side of his brother’s head with a cool hand as he quickly interjected, “Wait, wait! You gotta eat something. Aren’t you hungry?”“Anything you want, we’ll get,” Leo offered. “We could order your favorite pizza, or maybe I could make it myself.”“If we do that, we have to put fresh veggies on it. It has to be both delicious and nutritious,” Mikey added. “Remember?”Donnie watched them through half-lidded eyes and listened as his brothers suggested more and more foods to have for dinner. It started with pizza, then moved on to the possibility of noodles with lots of veggies, which was then compared to pizza because wasn’t that practically the same thing? Noodles are like the dough, so pizza would be the better option, and not to mention a plain salad was just so boring. But if he really wanted salad, that would be okay.Eventually, after the borderline argument between the three healthy brothers mostly concluded, they turned back to their ailing brother.“So it’s really up to you,” Leo said, now that the options were all out on the proverbial table. “Donnie, what do you want for dinner?”He looked to his eager brothers, feeling an equal mixture of discomfort, tiredness, and unamusement. Donnie finally answered their question in a hoarse mumble, “Sleep…”It took a second for them to process his answer, only for them all to groan in response. Mikey whined, “Donnie, come on, you’re a genius, right? You know sleep isn’t food. So what should we get for you?”“Hot soup,” an answer came from behind them. Yet again, it was their father appearing without warning, everyone’s favorite Lou Jitsu battle cry now instead a resolution to their question. It was also the answer as to where he was going earlier when he first interrupted them, for now he was holding a lightly steaming bowl of chicken broth and a spoon in his hands.Leo, Raph, and Mikey mentally kicked themselves at how obvious of a dinner choice that should have been, going to stand aside so Splinter could get by them. He moved slowly and carefully, going to sit up on the edge of Leo’s bed. Donnie had started to fall asleep again, only to be brought back a bit by the movement of the mattress sinking down beside him. And by the good smell of something previously canned, chock full of sodium, and heated to the ideal temperature.“Red, if you would please prop him up a bit for me, then you all may go. No audience is required right now,” their father demanded. Raph obediently used a spare pillow to sit up Donnie a little more as Leo pushed Donnie’s medicine a little more within reach. They then trudged out of the room, doing what they were told no matter how disappointed they felt.Once they were gone, Splinter set aside the bowl of soup so he could pour the next doses of his son’s medication. He felt a twinge of pity for Donatello at his grimaces from the nasty taste as he was forced to take them. It was rare that the rat felt his stomach twist in sympathy for ‘purple’, with how devious and treacherous this turtle could be. It was only a few weeks ago that Splinter had earned back his own dvd player and collection of movies, which had been taken away by Donatello as punishment for messing around with some things in his lab. Seeing his overly-mature, and sometimes borderline vindictive, son laid so low by this injury was disconcerting.“The worst flavor is out of the way, now the best is for last,” Splinter reassured Donnie when he picked up the bowl of soup again. Making sure again that it wasn’t too hot or too cold, he started spoon-feeding his bedridden teenage turtle. It was a very slow process. The spoon couldn’t be too full, or else it would risk dripping and making a mess. Plus, the more warm broth he ate, the sleepier Donnie got. It would take an occasional gentle tap on the shoulder or cheek to get him to wake up enough again to continue. Splinter couldn’t help but crack a small smile of amusement, as about half the bowl was gone. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had fed any of his boys like this. If he had been able to feed one very young turtle at a time, he had been able to minimize the mess by using this spoon process. If feeding them all at once, he was better off giving them bowls of food, letting them eat with their hands, then hosing them clean afterwards.Either way, it had ended with small, content turtles taking a much-needed nap. At this point, that’s what Donatello could use again. A bit over half a bowl of soup was a good enough start for now, and it was getting more and difficult for him to stay awake with warm food in his stomach.Splinter set aside the dishes and pulled away the pillow so that Donnie could lay down fully again. The slight movement barely bothered him now. The rat looked around and glanced in the direction of the exit of the bedroom to make sure the other three turtles were really gone. Satisfied that he was out of their sight, Splinter went to gently plant a brief, whiskery kiss on his son’s forehead before going to leave with the dirty dishes. Something he probably wouldn’t be able to get away with and live down at the age his sons had grown to be at this time.Indeed, the three remaining brothers were elsewhere. And although it hurt a little for them to have been useless with the whole dinner problem, they didn’t let that get them down. They now had something else in the works, that they knew would be incredibly helpful this time.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The three brothers surveyed their handiwork, after almost an hour of effort and planning had been spent on it. They couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of accomplishment, although it was slightly overshadowed by worry and doubt.“I’m not sure about this now… Remember the last time we tried to use this thing?” Mikey sighed, rubbing the back of his own head worriedly.“I know, I know… And not to mention we told Splinter we got rid of it. So not only are we revealing that we lied, we’re bringing that danger right back into our own home,” Raphael added. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Maybe there was still time to get rid of it for good this time and hide their tracks. “Maybe this is incredibly risky, but it will be worth it. We’ll just have to be careful,” Leo reassured them. They took another second to stand in the TV room in silent contemplation, each mustering up the willpower to commit to their idea. Everything they would do for the foreseeable future would be with Donnie’s benefit in mind. His recovery was the number one priority now. That meant using every and any tool at their disposal. Leo finally said, “When we no longer need it… we’ll get rid of this fold-out couch bed. For good.”The seemingly harmless piece of furniture sat there beside Splinter’s chair, the bed portion fully pulled out from the confines of the sofa’s seat area. It was decked out in freshly cleaned sheets and pillows, practically looking like brand new, if not for a few stains on the arms. Eyeing the stains, Raph remarked, “We just can’t let Splinter try to claim it later. I dunno if we’d be able to get him out of here again.” They all cringed at the memory. It seemed like a good holiday season gift for their father, with the thought that he’d have a whole couch instead of just an armchair. If only they had known that some sofas were ingeniously designed to have a bed hidden inside. If only they had known that Splinter would use that gift and his familiarity with comfortable furniture to try to turn the TV room into his new… habitat. “Let’s get Donnie before Splinter comes back and sees it,” Leo said. Setting up their brother here would give him more bed space, and everyone else would have an easier time getting to and around him. Also with their father perpetually in his chair nearby, he could be more easily monitored. There was no telling if the three un-injured turtles would have to go protect the streets from some mutant yokai threat suddenly. They all had a lingering desire to find the four-armed mutant who caused this mess. Yet… that idea was more commonly overshadowed by feelings of blame and guilt. The boys weren’t ready to confront that yet.They reached Leo’s room, where Donnie was alone and asleep now. Mikey went to unhook his hammock to get it completely out of the way. He’d most likely set it up in the TV room anyways, after they had all agreed to take turns to sleep near Donatello, just in case. Raphael surveyed the bed, thinking about the best way to do this. He knew that the move might disturb their brother, but he’d make it as quick and gentle as he could.“Just take the blankets with him, I have spares,” Leo suggested. “Should we wake him up and let him know what we’re doing?”“Nah, we bothered him already not too long ago,” Raph sighed. He wrapped Donnie up in the blankets a little more so that he could be more easily lifted. The process was very slow and cautious, but the biggest turtle went to pick up Donnie along with the blankets, almost as if he was some sort of younger brother burrito. Mikey and Leo followed closely as he was slowly carried to the new bed set up for him. When they got to the fold-out couch, Leo and Mikey helped Raph set up Donnie comfortably. Miraculously, he had managed to sleep while being moved here. With a hint of amusement, Mikey remarked, “Wow, he’s out like a light, huh?”“I guess we should just let him sleep,” Leo sighed, going to adjust the volume on the TV to make the room a little quieter. “That’s probably what he really needs the most.”“He could probably also use something for his fever. He practically radiated heat,” Raph responded, going to walk out of the room. Mikey fidgeted with getting the blankets and pillow perfect until their bigger brother retrieved a washcloth and some cold water. Splinter made it back before Raphael did, looking a little surprised to see the new furniture arrangement near his usual spot. He gave a look to his present two boys that silently said ‘we will talk about this later’, but didn’t raise a fuss about it. He had to admit, it was a good, useful thing to do. He sat in his usual chair as Raph returned. Leo set up Donnie with the cold, damp washcloth on his forehead.It was a long and tiring first day of recovery, even for the four family members who weren’t the wounded ones. So they contented themselves on spending the rest of evening watching TV together.[ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ]Almost two days passed of this, and that time only seemed to drag by. Splinter had taken to feeding Donnie periodically throughout the day, while he continued to sleep through the fever. It wasn’t getting worse, and he didn’t seem too uncomfortable, fortunately. Though it was difficult for three of the brothers to just sit around and wait. They helped with the medicine, and spent plenty of time in the TV room. A sleeping person probably wasn’t in need of constant company, but Donnie’s family provided it practically around the clock. Raph had set up a sleeping bag nearby for the first night, and Leo dragged the futon over for last night. Mikey would have his turn camping out in the room this upcoming night. It was still a while before bedtime, but he had already set up his hammock nearby.For the moment, the whole family was gathered together in the TV room for a Lou Jitsu movie Splinter had rented not too long ago. Of course, he sat in his armchair with some favored snacks. Since the fold-out bed was large enough for two bodies, Mikey had immediately taken the open space next to Donnie, using a few pillows to prop himself up. Leo had draped himself on his side across the back of the sofa, somehow managing to relax and not fall off. Raph sat on the floor at the foot of the bed, leaning back against it with his knees pulled to his chest.This movie was definitely one of the best, although they all considered most of the movies to be ‘the best’ anyways. The volume was kept at a respectable level, so that fight scenes like the one ending just now weren’t blaringly loud. As the excitement on screen died down, Mikey glanced over to Donatello. It took all of his restraint not to immediately display his happiness as he realized that Donnie was awake. At least, he had woken up on his own without one of his well-meaning brothers poking at him. He was mostly lying down with his head a little propped up on a pillow, but he watched the TV through tired, half-lidded eyes. Mikey allowed himself to selfishly hoard the enjoyment this development to himself for a moment, before very slowly and covertly going to jab Leo’s shin with his finger.Leo lifted his head from his hand for a moment in surprise, looking to Mikey with a questioning expression. Seeing the youngest turtle glance to him and then to Donnie in a quiet signal, Leo looked down at his brother in concern. That concern was soon wiped away by a grin spreading across his face.“Hey sleeping beauty,” he quietly went to tease Donnie, his voice also getting the attention of Raph and Splinter. All focus had been taken off the screen, and was now on Donatello, who blinked up at Leo in unamusement. “You made it just in time for movie night,” Mikey chuckled, despite the fact that it was already a third of the way through. “Wanna sit up a bit more?”Donnie went to reply, but was a little hoarse. He cleared his throat a bit and finally responded, “Yeah….”Through team effort, the three brothers carefully yet quickly went to help their brother. Leo gingerly sat Donnie up, Mikey stuffed pillows behind him, and Raph got up to adjust the blankets. There was a small wince and grunt from the injured brother during this process, but he didn’t seem to be in excessive amounts of pain. A content sigh signalled that it was worth it though, as he was in a better, slightly more upright position to watch Lou Jitsu. If his brothers, who were visibly excited over this promising moment, would let him watch it.A warning look from Splinter to the three healthy turtles told them not to smother Donnie with worry and attention. No matter how much the temptation was there. Fortunately, they didn’t have to prod too much this time as Donnie mumbled, “M’thirsty….”Leo immediately reached for the side table nearby, where they had a glass of water waiting. It was always there with the medicine, just in case. He offered it to Donnie, whose grip still seemed a little weak and unsteady. Being in a better position to help out, Mikey used one hand to make sure the glass didn’t tip or fall while his brother sipped from it. When he was done, the glass went right back to its spot on the table.The movie continued on, as Donnie relaxed and watched it. His brothers had trouble re-focusing on the screen though, now that he was awake. They had maybe a hundred questions between them, most being similar if not the same.Are you okay? Are you comfortable? Do you need anything? Does anything hurt? Are you hungry? Is there anything we can do to make this situation better?The lingering guilt helped them keep quiet, smothering their relief with the reminder that this was their fault. This whole living room set up wouldn’t have needed to happen at all if they hadn’t screwed up that plan several nights ago. Donnie would be fine, and it would just be another day of practically carefree antics...The action adventures of Lou Jitsu continued, though it didn’t hold the same attention from them as it had before.Another movie and a half later, it was about time for sleep. Splinter shooed his boys away so he could check Donatello’s bandages and bruising. Mikey temporarily left to go get ready for bed, intending to return to their living room so that he could sleep on his hammock. After they all were ready and said their goodnights, Raph and Leo returned to their rooms. Mikey yawned and headed back towards his sleeping arrangement for the night.Although, he stopped in the doorway before entering. He first heard the few hisses of pain from his brother with quiet reassurances from their father. In the doorway, he then saw Splinter tending to Donnie at his bedside. From a vantage point behind the sofa, there wasn’t much to see at all. Yet Michelangelo felt awkward, unsure of whether to stay or to leave. He stood there, frozen and unable to make up his mind.Splinter made up his mind for him as he spotted his youngest son, and said, “Orange, I could use some help.”Mikey found himself glad to have someone else tell him what to do, although he started thinking that maybe this time he would have preferred to have been told to go away. Obediently, he came back over to the fold-out bed and went to kneel on the edge of the bed where he had been sitting a while ago. Donnie was awake but looking a bit uneasy as he stared into space. “Please help him sit up more so I can get his side,” Splinter quietly said to Mikey without looking at him, reaching for some ointments and fresh bandages. Mikey gently wrapped an arm around his brother’s back, and brought him off the mound of pillows behind him. He used his free hand to steady Donnie by his shoulder, so he wouldn’t fall forward. It was difficult to find a good spot to do so, as there were quite a few bruises everywhere. Splinter removed the covering and gauze from his son’s right side, which fortunately wasn’t too dirty.Mikey now wished he hadn’t come back so soon. He wished Splinter had told him to go away. He wished he hadn’t looked at the worst of his older brother’s wounds.It wasn’t a clean tear in his flesh and soft shell. It was jagged and shaped more like a Y, looking ugly and angry in its stitched-up state. There was no sign of infection fortunately, but there was still swelling and redness among some of the caked-on flecks of dried blood. Mikey turned his head away and closed his eyes, trying to regain control of his own breathing again as it felt like someone had grabbed his throat and twisted it. He had to be strong for his brother. Donnie wasn’t looking at the wound, Mikey knew he couldn’t freak him out. The young turtle hid his tears and stifled a few sobs as he continued to hold Donnie upright.Fortunately, Splinter was fairly quick and efficient. Donatello cringed and hissed a little more at that area being touched, but the healing ointment brought cool relief as it was applied. New dressings were gently applied over the stitches, carefully secured in place. Splinter used a damp cloth to wash his son up a little, then removed the excess pillows as he finished his work. It was impossible for him not to notice Mikey desperately trying to hold it together. Splinter admired him for how much he had grown by now, but felt sorry that he subjected the baby of the family to this.He helped lay Donnie back down and pulled the blankets over him. “Thank you for your help, my son….” Splinter quietly said to Mikey, who remained sitting on the edge of the bed with a lost look on his face. “You are making this easier.”Mikey didn’t know if he fully believed that. He felt like a weak burden right about now. But he managed to crack a small smile for his adoptive father’s sake at least, and said, “Anything I can do… I just want him to get better fast.” His voice warbled a little at that last sentiment, as he tried not to let his watering eyes overflow again.“... He will. Especially with you at his side,” Splinter reassured him quietly. He knew he could say so much more to try and ease his son’s sadness, but this sort of thing took time and effort. Words only helped so much. “Get some rest.”Splinter left the room as Mikey nodded and went to crawl into his hammock nearby. With the TV off and the lights dimmed, the room became a lot more peaceful than it usually was. No amount of quiet and peace could quell the excessive worries in Mikey’s mind, though. He tossed and turned a little, and took some shuddering breaths into his pillow. All he wanted to do was just continue to cry right now. Everything felt so wrong. Donnie was the one actually suffering and hurt, but Mikey wanted Donnie to tell him that everything was okay. As the feelings of guilt and anguish persisted in plaguing him, Mikey continued to have trouble falling asleep. Slowly and quietly, he slipped off the edge of his hammock with his pillow under his arm. Common sense told him that what he was thinking was a bad idea. It was selfish. And childish.But he trudged back over to his older brother’s bedside, and very carefully crawled under the covers with Donnie. Mikey was exceedingly careful not to bump into his brother, pausing as he felt his foot bump into the solid cast under the blankets. But Donnie didn’t seem disturbed in his sleep at all by Mikey’s presence. He felt a little more comfortable and at ease, even though it was a bit warm under the blankets. That was to be expected, as the other turtle was running a low-grade fever. Mikey sighed, inching just a little closer to his brother and watching him in the darkness. The mess of thoughts in his head were starting to untangle at this point.“Hey…. Hey, D….” Mikey whispered. He hesitantly went to poke Donnie’s shoulder in a spot where he knew it wasn’t bruised.He could see his brother’s eyes crack open a little as he mumbled an inaudible response.Mikey quietly started to say, “I’m… sorry…. I’m really sorry….. I’m sorry you’re hurt….. You… shouldn’t have pushed me out of the way… I did something stupid…. I should b-be hurt, n-not you…. I’m s-sorry I’m s-s-so stupid….” The sobs he had suppressed earlier came back at full force, as hot tears streamed down his trembling face. Donnie was definitely more awake now at the sounds of distress coming from his baby brother. “Mikey….. No….” he let out. “M’fine…….”It took some willpower and aggravated his aching body, but Donnie summoned up his strength to dig his left arm under Mikey’s neck and around his shoulder and back. He was grateful that Mikey understood the invitation and shimmied up closer, so that Donatello didn’t have to try to pull him.“M’sorry…. So sorry….” Mikey continued to cry into Donnie’s shoulder as he was held close.Donnie stayed awake and continued to weakly hold his little brother close as he let the crying run its course. The sobs and apologies eventually subsided to sniffles and small hiccups. When Mikey was quiet and tired out enough, Donnie quietly said to him, “I’m glad… you’re okay…… I’m stupid… for making you cry….”Mikey couldn’t help but snort and briefly chuckle at that. “Stop trying to act cool… Okay?” he requested with another sniffle. “No promises……” Donnie muttered, closing his eyes. He could rest easier again, knowing that Michelangelo wasn’t as distressed anymore.Mikey let out a small chuckle, staying glued to his brother’s side. “Goodnight, big bro….”The other turtle mumbled something in response, though he was already too close to falling asleep to be understood. They both drifted off like that, feeling more at ease tonight.[ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ]Mikey kept that night a secret from Leo and Raph. He knew he’d be in trouble with them, because he might have accidentally hurt Donnie or something. That wasn’t the only reason though, and Mikey believed that they wouldn’t understand his other reason. The lingering hurt he felt from the guilt was a lot to grapple with, so much that he didn’t stop to imagine that maybe he wasn’t alone in those feelings. As far as he was concerned, this was all his fault. And stealing attention from Donnie would be something only a real baby would do. He would always be the youngest, but right now, he did not want to be the baby.If only he knew how similar his brothers felt.For the rest of the week, Donatello still mostly slept. His fever had broken on a night where Raphael was staying with him, resulting in him waking Splinter in sheer panic. As Donnie sweated and squirmed a bit in discomfort, the huge turtle had a breakdown over the idea that maybe he broke his brother. By sleeping on the floor nearby him. It took quite a bit of explaining and convincing, but everyone survived that night somehow. Splinter kicked the boys out and tiredly washed up Donnie on his own before going back to his own bed to collapse.This was all wearing down on the family, as they waited for their resident techie genius to heal up more and hopefully start acting more like himself. When he was awake, usually to zone out and watch TV, he seemed to feel a bit awkward over all the attention he was getting. There was constantly at least one overbearing brother ready to wait on him hand and foot. It was embarrassing, though he was still too tired to really complain. He was still weak, and the painkillers made him woozy. Leo, Raph, and Mikey were a horrible combination of anxious and bored. They occasionally went out into the city for some ‘fresh’ air and exercise, but couldn’t bring themselves to stay away for too long. Yet staying cooped up in their home was not good for them. The three brothers, lounging around in the kitchen for now, found themselves returning to a topic that had come up a few times over the past several days. “So okay… what if we take his lab and move it to the living room?” Mikey suggested.“I mean it’s obvious that he would like that and it would wake him up a bit more, but I just don’t think that’s possible,” Leo sighed, shaking his head at the thought of how much time and effort that would take. “All that junk wouldn’t fit in the living room. Plus he’d kill us if we broke something important,” Raph added. Mikey pouted, thinking that his idea was perfectly fine. It wasn’t like they needed to bring ALL the stuff.“Wait wait wait,” Leo quickly said. It seemed that a much better and more efficient idea was forming in his head, like alternatively bring Donnie to the lab, instead of moving the lab to Donnie. He proudly expressed his brilliance by suggesting, “We should just find something that looks really important and valuable in his lab… and just smash it in front of him! You said he’d kill us if we’d broke something, and THAT will totally make him act like his old self again!”Mikey and Raph actually took a moment to mull over this absolutely horrible idea, before they were distracted by the ominous song of metal clanging on metal. The sharp sound echoed through the sewer like an alarm bell. Startled and confused, the brothers ran out of the kitchen to see what the source was. They arrived in the main skate ramp area, at the ready to fight if need be. Were they under attack?They were. In a way.“Hm… Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Where oh where could Donatello be?” a feminine voice snidely called out from above them. There she stood, her metal bat resting on the railing it had just been struck against. April O’Neil. Angry April O’Neil.“Is he hiding? If he’s as smart as he says he is, he should be,” April laughed. “My Computer Science project was due today, and I had nothing to hand in! Because SOMEONE said they would check over it for mistakes and return my thumb drive to me by yesterday night!”The initial shock of this unexpected situation wearing off, the three turtles hurriedly went to try to jump up to her level as fast as they could. Mikey got there first, his first impulse to try to shush her. Leo quickly arrived next to Mikey, going to apologize to the vengeful beast in front of them. Raphael made it up to finally try to explain the situation.“April! Sorry, you uh, just missed him,” Raphael lied. His brothers looked confused, but decided to just go along with it.“And Splinter is sleeping, so I know you’re mad but please don’t wake him up,” Leo also lied, knowing their dad was watching TV as usual. “April! Looking good today! Did you get new shoes or something?” Mikey tried to compliment her out of the blue.She was bewildered at first by the response she received at first, but finally replied, “Okay, stop, quiet! What’s going on? Something’s not right here.”Raphael knew April was a force to be reckoned with, and she seemed justifiably upset at the moment. Donatello was usually more than happy to help with her schoolwork, especially computer projects, and was always reliable in doing so. Although right now, he needed rest and protection from the hurricane of wrath that just entered their home. “Donnie’s… Donnie’s out! He said he was going to do some recon and run some errands,” Raph said.Leo added, “He’s been real busy with some… mutant criminal business. Saving the city kind of stuff. And stuff. Yeah.”April raised an eyebrow at that, not quite buying into this farce. “Guys…”“Hold on, we’ll see if we can call him back to get that thing for you,” Raph interrupted her, calling Leo and Mikey a bit away from her so they could huddle together. Once they were hopefully out of earshot and clustered, he quietly said to his brothers, “She’s real mad. Who has the best Donnie impression? Maybe we can lure her away by getting her to chase a fake Donnie.”“Bro, that’s not going to work. We should try to help her find her project thingie,” Mikey said.“Why don’t we just tell her the truth?” Leo uncharacteristically suggested.Raph groaned and replied, “Because she’s already mad at him, and he definitely can’t run away or protect himself. So we gotta protect him. Mikey, you try to look for her project with her in the lab. Leo, try to wake up Donnie a little and see if he knows where it is while we distract her.”“Guys?” April said again, standing more at ease now and looking concerned.They jumped out of the huddle, Mikey immediately launching into the continued lie, “So we just texted him, and he said that I could go in the lab and help you look for it. And that he’s very very very very VERY sorry.”April stared at them for a moment before sighing and pointing out, “None of you were using your phones. You all had your hands on each other’s shells in that huddle there.”They all froze up at that, mentally kicking themselves. The brothers looked to each other nervously, trying to think of a new lie to feed her. “Look…. If something is wrong, you can tell me. I tried texting Donnie numerous times over the past week. And when I eventually called twice, it went right to voicemail. He never lets his phone die. Not for long, at least. I told myself it had to be a mistake, or maybe his phone was broken or something,” she explained, no longer angry though still a little frustrated. “And with how you all are acting… I can tell something is up.”Of course April was sharp. And she had a maniacal streak at times, but she was always a good friend. The brothers knew she didn’t deserve to be lied to. All on the same page, they invited her to sit and relax a minute. They did the same, at the edge of the concrete ledge overlooking their ramps. It took a bit of thought on how to explain it, but Leo finally began.“So… about a week ago, there was… an accident,” he started to say, watching as April’s face made a subtle shift from confused to a bit fearful. “There was all this construction site junk that came crashing down in a fight… And uh… Donnie couldn’t get out of the way of it.”Their friend looked at each of them in surprise. She could surmise that if Donatello was… ‘gone’, that they would all look much worse and wouldn’t have been able to try to come up with some stupid lie. Though, it still had to be bad. April remained silent, letting them tell her the details themselves at their own pace. Mikey picked up after Leo, “He got hurt. Really bad… Like…. We uh…… w-we almost lost him.”Raph didn’t want to see his youngest brother cry anymore, so he went to quickly explain, “He’s getting better though! It’s been rough, and he’s been resting a lot, but he’s gonna recover. We’ve been making sure of that. So please don’t be mad at him, it isn’t really his fault…”April saw the looks on their faces, sensing that there was some emotional harm the three were suffering from this incident. If she could read minds, she’d know they were each thinking about how it was their own faults. Donnie wasn’t the only one recovering. She took a deep breath and exhaled before asking, “What are his injuries?”“His leg is broken, and his side is all messed up and covered in stitches,” Mikey replied, going to pat his own right rib area in explanation. “He was bruised and scraped up too, but that’s been starting to go away now.”To ease their concerns over their brother’s health and safety, April rolled the bat away from herself before going to ask, “Do you think he’d maybe mind a visitor? If you think he can handle that?”The turtles looked to each other, a bit surprised by that idea. It didn’t seem like a bad one, and Donatello might appreciate it. With some shrugs of agreement, Leo said, “Yeah, I think that would be fine.”“We just want to check with him first, he’s still kind of out of it,” Raph added. April nodded with a comforting smile. “Okay. How about I leave for a bit, maybe get him some ‘Get Well Soon’ gifts, and you all text me when you know. If not today, I can come some other time. Whatever works for you guys,” she suggested.“Great idea,” Mikey said with a smile. “It should be fine though. But yeah! We’ll check and get back to you right away. Thanks, April!”She went to stand up and say, “I’ll figure out something for my project. Maybe I can beg for some extra time. Sorry for making such a racket, I guess…”They all reassured her, glad that the rampage was stopped before it could even really start. And hey, maybe April’s good idea of a visit would bring back some of that Donnie energy that they had been so sorely missing lately.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
-Okay, you can def come! Just wait an hour or so, we need to get ready. K?-Mikey fired off that text to April with a huge grin on his face, which soon turned into a cringe when he heard Donnie let out a cry of pain. The youngest turtle jogged back into the living room after tucking away his phone to see how progress was going. Raph and Leo bickered with each other over how to best get the purple hoodie onto their weakened brother. It was partially pulled over his head with his arm midway through a twisted sleeve. It was easy to see that he was starting to regret agreeing to the visit and asking to have his hoodie on.Their argument was interrupted by Splinter returning to the room, temporarily dropping his microwave meal on his chair so he could shove his two unhelpful sons out of the way. He then hurriedly yet gently finished dressing Donatello in his hoodie, then pulled the blankets back around him up to his waist. Their brief fight broken up, Leo adjusted the pillows behind Donnie so he was sitting up more again while Raph picked up some of the garbage nearby.Things seemed pretty well handled here for now, so Mikey left for a moment. He had an idea for something that would Donnie would appreciate, which took a little while to find in his bedroom. Once Mikey had it, he excitedly returned to the living room. The conflict was settled now, with Splinter in his armchair and Leo and Raph going to pull in some extra seats. Mikey sat on the edge of the bed next to Donnie, careful not to bounce him too much. At least he seemed a little more awake at the moment, though he loosely clutched his injured, throbbing side wound through the hoodie.“Here’s something else for you too, bro,” Mikey proudly declared, immediately reaching for Donnie’s head to put it on.It was a extra touch that was no hassle, yet made all the difference. A fresh, purple bandana was restored to his face, minus the goggle headset. It couldn’t cover up that he still looked really tired and fairly pale, but he looked more like himself. Like one of the team again.The rest of Donnie’s family paused for a moment to crack a smile at the sight, feeling reassured at this small gesture. Even Donnie managed a smile at that, quietly saying, “Thanks… Feels good…”“Looking good, bro,” Leo complimented him.Raph came over to gently coax Donnie’s hand away from his side, chuckling, “Just stop poking at that. I even have to keep you from doing that when you’re asleep. Need some more medicine?”Splinter passed another brief yet well-meaning look to silently tell three of his boys that they were in danger of smothering the fourth again. One overly-concerned brother at a time for now. They backed off a bit and finished up getting their living area a little better arranged.Donnie dozed off while sitting up as his brothers eventually came together to relax and wait. An hour and a half after Mikey’s text to April, a simple reply came back to him. ‘I’m here!! Hope U R ready!’ The youngest turtle excitedly hopped up from his spot on the floor and let his brothers know, before dashing out to meet up with their friend. She had just reached the bottom of the manhole stairs, a fairly-stuffed backpack strapped to her shoulders with Mayhem clinging to it. As she and Mayhem spotted Mikey at the very bottom, Mayhem immediately teleported the both of them down to meet him.“Hope you don’t mind I brought him,” April said with a smile.“Nah, I’m just glad you didn’t bring the bat again,” Mikey excitedly blurted out, the first thought coming to his mind. He realized that might not be the most tactful thing to say, nervously chuckling and scratching the back of his head.April gave a short giggle at that, seemingly not offended. “I brought way more useful stuff than that, don’t worry. I don’t know about everything, but I can at least help with the broken leg thing based on experience.”As Mikey walked with April towards the living room, he asked, “You broke your leg before?”“Yeah, when I was a kid, I was triple-dog-dared to climb a fire escape. Didn’t even make it to the top of the first ladder when I slipped,” she admitted, rolling her eyes. “I was in SO MUCH trouble, but not as much trouble as the kid who dared me after I got the hang of using crutches.”Mikey laughed at the mental image of that, as they approached the doorway of the living room. April’s pace slowed a bit, and she fell behind the orange-masked turtle. He stopped to look to her, seeing an expression he hadn’t seen before on the face of confident April O’Neil. Concern… and nervousness. Mikey looked to the door, then back to April, quietly asking, “You okay?”“Um… yeah. I think so,” she sighed, then took a deep breath. “I haven’t really visited anyone like this before. Obviously we’re not in a hospital, which would be way more scary, but… it kind of feels like that. It feels… weird.”Mikey’s usually slight grin faltered a little as he responded, “I get that… I think…” April felt bad, knowing it must be tougher for them to be dealing with this, even if they were in their own home. She took another deep breath, then shook her body around in place for a moment to dispel the tension she was feeling. With that, she smiled and said, “Okay. I’m good. Let’s go.”They entered the living room, Mikey announcing April’s presence to everyone. Fortunately, Donatello had been woken up while Mikey was gone, and he craned his neck a little to look behind him at their entry.“Hey April! How ya’ doing?” Leo greeted, as if he hadn’t seen her less than two hours ago. Raph subtly pointed out the chair set up for April by Donnie’s side.“I’m doing fine, other than job hunting again,” she lightly complained, going to the spot Raph gestured to. She plopped down in the seat and focused her attention on Donnie, shrugging off her backpack as Mayhem stayed on her shoulder. “I heard you got a bit banged up. How are you doing?”Donnie shrugged a little and softly responded, “Aching… Tired…… but could be worse.”April took in the sight of him, also noticing the discomfort his brothers slightly showed at that last bit of Donnie’s reply. He really did look pretty bad, to someone who had seen him healthy and fit only about a week ago. He definitely looked fatigued and sort of pale, and if it was possible, his vulnerability made him seem smaller at the moment.“Poor thing,” April sighed, a rare hint of tenderness to her voice. “Well, I came prepared with some good stuff for you. But first things first… Why isn’t your broken leg propped up?”Everyone else in the room just stared at her in ignorant silence, the concept she presented entirely new to them. Unamused, April huffed, “Oh jeez, I have some work cut out for me, huh? Okay, you won’t be too embarrassed if I check your cast?” The last bit she directed at Donnie, who shook his head a little.April internally squashed her own feelings of embarrassment as she stood back up and went to the foot of the bed, pulling the blankets away from there to better see the new white cast set around his broken leg. She looked a bit happy as she noted, “Oh good, I was afraid there would be no more space for me to sign it. Actually, I bet you guys didn’t even know you could do that.”Leo and Raph still looked confused, though a look of jubilation was growing on Mikey’s face as he had a feeling he understood what April was insinuating. “I need a fluffy pillow. Maybe two of them,” April said, which Raph obediently grabbed for her from nearby. “Okay, so just hang in there for a moment. This might hurt when I move it, but I swear you’re gonna feel loads better after.” She gave the polite heads up to Donnie before going to lift his leg and slip the fluffiest pillow underneath it. He cringed a bit initially, but it took little to no time for him to practically melt into his pillows in relief.“Oh….. wow….. What human sorcery is this?” he sighed in contentment. His brothers were in disbelief at this small change’s impact on their brother, though it was definitely a ‘happy surprise’ sort of disbelief. So far, this visit was going better than they had imagined. And April only just got here.“I mean, I thought it was obvious, but I guess you haven’t really dealt with this sort of thing before,” April said with a triumphant smile. “When you have an injured limb, propping it up a little higher on a pillow can make all the difference. It reduces the swelling, and thus, the pain.”“Thought it would throb forever….” Donnie mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment with a small smile gracing his mouth.April crouched down beside her backpack, digging through the small, front pocket to pull out a marker. “Unfortunately, that is part of the healing process… But there are little things you can do, like that, to make it a bit easier,” she said. She then returned to the foot of the bed to scope out the best prime real estate to write her name. April decided on the spot just below his knee to sign, then gave the marker to Mayhem to bite then scribble his own sort-of signature near April’s. She chuckled and said to Raph and Leo, “You better grab a spot right away, too, before Mikey starts working on his next masterpiece.”The two of them looked to Mikey, who was practically vibrating in his seat as ideas filled his head of what he’d cover that oddly-shaped plaster canvas with. Leo next took the marker to write his own name, and drew a sweet-looking sword under it. Raph was content with just writing his own name in big letters, as soon as it was his turn with the marker. Once Mikey had it, he went to lay on his stomach on the open bed-space so he could start laying out some basic linework on the blank areas. It would be a miracle if there were any white visible on the cast by the time he would be done with it.April was now sitting in her chair again, digging through her backpack on her lap while Mayhem curled up on top of the blankets next to Donnie’s hip. He felt comfortable enough to nap again, but managed to stay awake out of politeness and curiosity. He watched as she pulled out what looked like a ball of thin, rubber-coated wire.“Here’s something I know for sure you can use,” April said, putting it aside on the mini table nearby. “An extra long charging cable for your phone. And I mean EXTRA long. However long you might think it is, it’s longer than that!”“Good idea,” Donnie quietly praised her. He still felt tired enough to want to sleep most of the time, but it would be great to have his electronics charged and accessible to him. “Thank you….”April pulled out a few more things, including a science themed adult coloring book, a big box of crayons, a bottle of honey-scented lotion, a plush blanket with a circuit board print on it, and several small boxes of candy and crackers. When it came to pulling out the snacks, April made sure to turn to Splinter in his armchair and make it exceedingly clear that they were for Donnie only, not him. Which he rolled his eyes at, yet remained silent. Donnie seemed appreciative of the gifts, even the coloring book which was a bit more of a joke gift. He was definitely looking and acting a bit more like himself, albeit quiet. His three brothers felt better than they had in a long while, immensely grateful for their friend. This was definitely a good day, after a week of stress and worry.“And I have one last treat, that helped me feel better when I was a kid with a broken leg,” April said, and proceeded to bring out a bag of several cold oranges. She immediately went to peel one, continuing to explain, “Vitamin C is good for making collagen, which is important for bone growth and healing. Plus, it just tastes nice and sweet.”She peeled the orange and started handing the slices to Donnie, who gladly took them one at a time and ate without protest. A sense of peace and optimism had settled over the room over the course of April’s visit. It was a more than welcome change in atmosphere as they relaxed together. They all chatted on and off while watching TV in the background, as nothing was out of the ordinary at all. Mikey continued to doodle on the cast while Leo had found Donnie’s dead phone to started charging with the long cable. April focused most of her conversational attention on Donnie, but made sure to back off when he seemed sleepy and needed to doze a little. With Donatello in their care, Splinter eventually retired to his room to rest for a bit.What could have been a short, polite visit turned into a comfortable hang out session, as the hours just flew by. Before they knew it, their day had reached the evening. Unfortunately, it was a school night for April. “I still have some homework to do before bed,” April yawned, going to tuck Mayhem into her now-empty backpack and sling the straps over her shoulder. “I should get going.”“Sorry… about your project… I’ll work on that,” Donnie quietly apologized, having remembered that not too long ago.“Hey hey, don’t worry about it. I can sweet-talk my teacher into giving me an extension, so I can figure it out,” she replied. April gingerly went to wrap her arms around his neck to give him a quick hug. “I’ll come by again soon. If your family gets on your nerves, you can text or call.”Donnie let out a small chuckle at that as his brothers just smiled and shrugged in feigned innocence.“We’ll give you a ride home. It should be dark out now,” Raph offered April, which she was more than happy to accept.Leo interjected, “If you don’t mind, I’ll stick behind and put stuff away.” Their dad was most likely asleep in his own bedroom for now, and they didn’t want to leave Donnie alone yet for too long.“Alright, have fun with the clean-up,” Mikey teased, going to leave with Raph and April. She gave one last wave goodbye to Donnie and Leo before disappearing around the corner. As soon as they were gone, Leo went to shove aside the extra furniture, and stashed the snacks and stuff under the side table next to the sofa bed. Donnie yawned and turned to look at Leo, quietly asking, “Can you help me lay down?” He was exhausted, with this being the longest amount of time he had been mostly awake over the past week. “Sure thing, bro. Let me just get your medicine and stuff first. Are you hungry?” Leo asked, going to get the two bottles and the dosing cup from nearby.Donnie grimaced a little and shook his head in response, his hand gravitating back to the injury on his side.Leo gently pushed his hand away, saying, “Hey, don’t do that. Here, if it’s hurting, the medicine will help. We’re a little late on this dose, anyways. But April coming by was great, huh?”Donnie nodded in agreement, and accepted help with taking his medicine. Noticing that the water glass was empty at the moment, Leo grabbed a baggie of chips and opened it up for his brother. He set it on his lap so Donnie could help himself before going to grab the empty glass and stand up. “I’ll be right back. You can wash away that gross tastes with chips while I get you some more water. Then I’ll help you lay down. Okay?”Donnie wrinkled his nose at the horrible aftertaste in his mouth, and slowly got a chip for himself. With him set up for the moment, Leo quickly stepped away to head for the kitchen. Upon his arrival, he decided to just put the old glass in the sink and get a clean one from the cabinets. Unfortunately, he found there were no clean glasses in the cabinet. It was only then that he remembered the dishwasher full of dirty dishes, and how he forgot to run it earlier. Mostly thanks to April’s intrusion. With a frustrated groan, Leo returned to the sink to wash the glass he had just put in it. As soon as that mundane task was finished, Leo refilled it with cold water and headed back towards the living room. Suddenly, as he approached, Leo became aware of the sound of coughing coming from the room. A horrible feeling of cold fear seizing his chest, Leo practically ran the rest of the way. Though there was now little water left in the glass due to the running, the remainder of it spilled to the floor as the glass was completely dropped in shock.Donnie was out of bed, partially collapsed on the floor beside it as he clutched his side and alternated between coughing and wheezing. Leo was over at his brother’s side in a flash, going to try to pull Donnie back up onto the thin mattress he had seemingly tumbled off of. Leo asked in a panic, “D, what happened?! What’s wrong?! W-what’s wrong, bro?!”The injured brother weakly leaned against Leo, unable to hold himself up as he gasped for breath. A bit of blood was starting to spread under his fingers, soaking through the hoodie material. Leo struggled to figure out how this happened, and tried to make out what his brother was attempting to say. It was incredibly difficult, as his ragged breathing was getting in the way.But Leo finally understood what Donatello was trying to say. ‘I can’t breathe.’If he wasn’t already at top panic mode before, Leo definitely was at the max now. A million thoughts and fears ran through his mind at once, though it was too fast and unintelligible to be useful. He pushed through it enough to try to do the first thing that came to mind. Leo screamed out towards the door, “Splinter! Dad!!!! Daaaad!!!!”The coughing had mostly stopped, but Donnie’s breathing wasn’t returning to normal. If anything, Leo could swear that he was hearing a slight rattling sound with each gasp and wheeze. This was bad. This was really bad. There was no time to run and wake up Splinter.“Hold on, bro, j-just try to breathe! Keep trying,” Leo ordered him, getting in a position to pull Donnie onto his shell. He carefully and quickly picked Donnie up in a piggyback position, draping his brothers arms around his shoulders before going to lift him up with his elbows under Donnie’s knees. Donnie was weak, but managed to hang on to his brother as he was lifted and rushed to the kitchen. Leo knew the portal coin was left on the counter, leaning forward and freeing one arm to grab it. All he could hear was Donatello gasping for air by his ear as Leo frantically rubbed the coin against the bare brick wall. “Come on come on, open!!” he growled, throwing the talisman against the wall. It stuck, and the portal ripped open in front of him. Without hesitating a second, Leo strengthened his hold on Donnie and leapt through. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ]Doctor Aeshlen Iman’Aerien of the Verdant never had too busy of a day in her independently run clinic, yet had steady enough work to not have to worry about making ends meet. For today, she had a bird yokai in the back resting off a slipped disc with the help of some painkillers, and a small child yokai picking up the usual herbal supplements for his mother back at home. It was an average evening for her.Until the door was literally kicked down by a teenage turtle carrying his brother inside in a panic. Obviously the blue bandana on his face was nothing out of the ordinary, along with the reckless energy to be expected of people their age. What alarmed her was how Donatello’s face was turning a deeper shade of blue than his brother’s bandana. Leo ran forward to beg for her help, at least being careful enough not to run over the kid nearby.“Doc please you have to help him!! I dunno what happened, I stepped out for a moment then heard coughing when I came back and saw him on the floor wheezing and having trouble breathing with some blood on his hoodie where that big wound is and he can’t breathe so I brought him here,” Leo explained in a fast jumble of words he tried not to trip over saying. “Please help him, please!”The initial surprise wearing off, she got up from her stool behind the desk and jumped over to the door leading into the treatment area. The Doc opened the door for Leo before giving an apologetic nod to the kid she just finished helping and was now leaving behind. Leo headed right inside and made a beeline for the closest open curtain area. As the elk yokai went to grab the supplies she needed, Leo carefully let Donnie down off his back and laid him on the examination table. It was the same one he had been treated on about a week ago.Although Leo obviously knew he had to put Donnie down so that he could be treated, Leo instantly wished he didn’t have to do it. At the sight of Donnie’s face and his worsening struggle to take in air, Leo burst into tears and collapsed to his knees beside the table. This was all so wrong. This felt so wrong. Why was this happening? Weren’t they just having so much fun with April? That felt like so long ago at the moment.“I’m so sorry… Bro, I’m s-sorry,” Leo apologized, gripping Donnie’s hand and burying his face in the slightly soft plastic table cushion. “I shouldn’t have left you, how did this happen?! Why did I jump on that stupid vehicle?! Everything’s crashing down and this is all on me, I’m sorry!!”The doctor quickly returned with her things, setting them aside so she could first listen to Donnie’s chest with a stethoscope. As usual, not explaining much in the moment.Leo felt frustrated, standing back up and whining, “What is there to listen to, you can hear him gasping! We know what the problem is!”“Calm down,” she immediately and urgently demanded without even looking at Leo.“I’m just saying, can you set him up with something useful to try first before you do that?! There has to be something you know you can do right now,” he persisted, roughly using his balled up fists to try to wipe away his own tears as they continued to fall.“I will tell you one last time, calm down,” the Doc ordered him, starting to try to pull up the bottom of Donnie’s hoodie so she could get to the wound. Donnie’s consciousness was fading, as he was mostly taking in short, shallow breaths with a pained look on his face. “I will, just hurry up will you?!” Leo shouted, unable to think through the fear and anxiety.In what seemed like only a fraction of a second, he found himself tumbling away from the table and towards the corner of the room. He came to a rough stop as he face-planted into the wall, the shock of it silencing him. As he regained his bearings from being rolled head over heels, he realized that the elk yokai had bent her head and deftly used her antlers to snag his belt and throw him out of the way. It was obvious from the start just how skilled she was with using them in her environment, but he could also tell she had enough strength to send him straight through the wall if she had wanted to.Leo remained sitting in the corner, curled up and leaning his head against the wall as he mentally berated himself for losing it a second ago. He couldn’t believe he talked to her like that… Leo didn’t dare return to her immediate vicinity against, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave in shame like he wanted to do. Instead, he remained in the corner like the punished child he felt he was right now, still trying to wipe away and stop his tears.Fortunately, this time didn’t take as long as their first visit. Once she had finished in about thirty minutes, the doctor sighed, “Please come back to your brother.”Leo turned his head to look back over his shoulder. He saw Donnie’s arm hanging over the edge of the table, weakly trying to reach for him. No longer afraid of the yokai, Leo leapt up and stumbled over his own feet to get back to his brother. Coming to stand by the edge of the table, he took hold of Donnie’s hand again. His grasp was gentle yet firm as he tried not to cry from relief this time. “H-hey bro…” Leo croaked, seeing an oxygen mask on his face and the very small tube poking out from under the fresh bandages on his side. Somehow, Donatello was still awake despite how worn out he looked. “I’m sorry…. I shouldn’t have left you alone… I keep screwing up over and over… This is all on me…”His voice could scarcely be heard, but Leo could make out Donnie trying to tell him ‘Stop it’ a few times. ‘My fault.’Leo scoffed at that, rolling his eyes. “What, you choke on a chip or something?” Donnie hesitated but nodded just a little with a very slight shrug, trying to communicate more that he swallowed it awkwardly instead of full-on choking. “Unbelievable,” Leo moaned, leaning his forehead down to rest on the hand he was holding. He involuntarily flinched a little as the doctor spoke up from the other side of the table.“It seems that some throat irritation caused him to cough. It must have been hard enough to pop a few of his stitches, which I’m guessing spooked him. His lung wasn’t fully inflating, but it isn’t collapsed. The tube is there to help, and it would be much bigger if it was more serious,” she explained. “I replaced the broken stitches and assisted his breathing in returning to normal. The condition itself wasn’t fatal, but he almost suffocated himself.”Leo refocused on Donnie to pass him a glare, before going to repeat, “UNbelievable! There’s no way you’re the genius of the family, you humongous dumb-dumb!!!”Donatello sighed and narrowed his eyes with a facial expression that said, ‘I couldn’t help it.’“... It doesn’t matter what you believe led to all of this,” the yokai suddenly spoke up, looking away. “What matters is that you’re there for him. You saved him again, this time on your own.”Leo was at a loss for words for once in his life. He stared at her in shock, a slight, humiliated blush starting to creep onto his face. Before he could reply, they heard another racket from the front of the clinic. The doctor sighed, “That would be the rest of you…” She went to remove the small tube from Donnie’s side and wipe her hands clean before going out to meet them.It was no surprise that Raphael and Michelangelo were just as agitated and frightened as Leo was earlier, although they weren’t carrying anyone on their shells in with them. She managed to calm them down by only giving them a basic explanation that their injured brother just had some trouble breathing, and Leo had smartly brought him in right away. It was obvious that going fully into detail would only be an emotional setback to all the brothers.And that was how an ordinary, slow day at the clinic was disrupted by four immature mutant brothers. Aeshlen stood in her front doorway, watching them all leave back into the portal they came from. Leo insisted on carrying Donnie back out by piggyback this time, instead of Raph cradling him as usual.She looked down at her broken door and sighed, only realizing now that it would have been smart to ask for the coin this time to repair the damage. She propped it back up roughly in the frame while muttering to herself, “They are their father's sons..."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After that harrowing evening that Leo was sure had shaved a few years off his life, the brothers returned home with some new recommendations and instructions. Donnie should definitely be encouraged to rest a lot and avoid any anything that might be too strenuous on his injuries, of course. Though now, whenever he did wake up, his family should encourage him to stay awake a bit longer by engaging him in conversation and easy activities. Allowing Donnie’s body to repair itself was still the biggest priority, but letting him sleep all day might negatively affect his stamina and energy recovery. Along with his mental recovery.With these new things to keep in mind, his three brothers brought him home from the doctor and got him settled and comfortable again. This wasn’t really getting easier on them, but Donatello’s slowly improving condition was helping lift some of the stress. A few more days passed, as everyone worked on keeping him awake for longer increments of time while maintaining his medicine and comfort. Continuing to rotate turns of sleeping nearby Donnie, Raph woke up in the morning on the floor beside the fold-out couch. It was late in the morning, since their sleep schedules didn’t really conform to those of ‘normal’ humans, but Raph was the first one awake. As usual, or at least during the nights when Leo wasn’t going through his random bouts of insomnia. Normally the biggest brother tended to wake up first so he could get some early morning exercise in, then grab a good portion of breakfast before a flurry of smaller turtles (along with one rat) emerged from their rooms. He couldn’t help it that his appetite tended to be a bit larger than theirs, so he just had to make sure there was enough for himself and then everyone else to eat. The habit of being up early continued, though his schedule had been altered due to recent circumstances.Raphael did some basic lifting in the quiet of their empty gym, albeit for a shorter amount of time lately, then headed for the kitchen to get some breakfast for Donnie. Keeping healthy ideas in mind, he peeled and split one of the leftover oranges while a few pieces of bread roasted in the toaster. The orange slices were put on a plate, soon to be joined by an ample amount of peanut butter spread over hot slices of toast. They were running low on juice, but Raph was sure everyone else wouldn’t mind giving up the last bit to their injured, and therefore more needy, brother.He usually liked to try to be a bit healthy himself in the morning, but Raphael simply grabbed a few slices of leftover pizza for himself for now. With everything prepared, he returned to their living room with plates and cups carefully grasped in his hands and arms. Predictably, Donnie was still fast asleep on his temporary bed. Raph set down everything he was holding very carefully before going to wake his little brother.“Hey buddy.... Rise and shine,” he soothingly said with an upbeat tone to his voice, gently placing a hand on Donnie’s shoulder. The other turtle winced a bit in displeasure, his tired eyes cracking opening just a bit to see his caretaker smiling down at him. Being woken up was never really pleasant, much less so when waking back up to daily pain and discomfort.Fortunately, Raph was pretty good at getting the day going by now. As soon as Donnie was sufficiently coherent, he was propped up with a bunch of comfy pillows behind his shell and given his morning medicine. The taste was disgusting, but the relief that soon followed was mostly worth it. Once that was out of the way, Raph placed the plate of fruit and toast on Donnie’s lap. He then made sure that the pillow under the cast-wrapped leg was still fluffed up enough, and reminded Donnie to stop touching his hurt side yet again.Donatello was still considerably weakened and less coordinated, but he wasn’t as shaky anymore. Eating his own breakfast without help was doable now, as long as the components of it were small and/or light enough to pick up by hand. Utensils and messy foods were still mostly out of the question for now. His brothers tried to make each meal manageable for Donnie on his own, as long as he was feeling well enough. Splinter still had to feed him when his hands shook too much or if he was too tired to get through a full meal on his own effort. The other three turtles left for those instances, capable of imagining how embarrassing it might feel. No matter how much the onlookers cared for him and understood the situation.For now, he was doing just fine on his own as Raph sat nearby and watched. Donnie went for the cold orange slices first, slowly munching on them and staring into space. Satisfied for now, Raph switched on the TV and went to grab his own nearby plate of room-temperature pizza. They sat together and watched TV while eating breakfast for a bit, until Donnie looked to his brother for a moment and spoke up, “I want pizza too….”Raph’s attention snapped back to Donnie, a slice practically hanging out of his mouth. He quickly thought of the best way to respond in a polite and encouraging way, then replied, “S-sorry, this is the last bit of old pizza anyways. Plus your food is much better for you, ya’ know?”Donnie sighed and looked down at his own dish. There were only two slices of orange left, beside the peanut butter toast that he had taken a few bites out of. Raph could tell by the silence that he didn’t like that answer. “Hey, we’ll order some pizza for lunch or something. Or maybe even a calzone, since that might be easier for you to eat,” Raph said, trying to cheer him up a little. And when he thought about it, he realized Donnie hadn’t had pizza since the accident… Splinter and Raph had taken the most responsibility for his food, and they had tried to focus on nutritious options. Raph grew distracted by his own thoughts of what toppings would make a pizza healthier, until he was brought back to the current situation by the sound of something clattering to the floor. Donnie was still staring down at the blankets on his lap, but Raph noticed that his plate wasn’t there anymore. He quickly put aside his own food to stand up and look for it. The plate and remnants of Donnie’s breakfast were now on the floor beside his bed, creating a slight mess. Raphael knew why it was on the floor. No amount of inner reassurance to himself could cover the fact that Donnie wasn’t feeling very happy at the moment. “Oops, let me clean that up,” Raph said, cracking a smile despite his voice slightly warbling. He came over and knelt down to pick up the toast and fruit and put it back on the dish, trying to play this off as an accident. Getting upset with Donnie seemed unfair right now, and Raph could never bring himself to feel that way towards him, either. “Must’ve slipped… We’ll get one of those bedside rolling desks or something… Sorry about that, bro…”Donnie didn’t respond, and Raph couldn’t bring himself to look at his injured brother. He gripped the edge of the plate as sadness and guilt started to creep back into his mind. Unable to deal with the silence, he founds the words spilling out, “I’m… I’m r-really sorry… I’m trying so hard to do the right thing, you know? I screwed up... I screwed up really bad back there… It’s my fault, a-and I just want you to feel better. I feel ridiculous, you’re the one who’s actually hurt… But man, this all… this is all on me…”As he sadly confided his feelings, Donnie looked over to him with a hint of surprise. Now it was his turn to feel bad. Hearing how much all his brothers worried about him only made him feel like a childish jerk for wasting the rest of his breakfast. Before Raphael could stand up, Donnie reached over and grabbed a slice of toast. He quickly took a big bite of it, much to the shock of his bigger brother.“Dude! The floor’s dirty! You can have the rest of my pizza or something,” Raph hurriedly said, unsure of how to even react to what was going on by this point. “.... Five second rule,” Donnie mumbled through a mouthful of bread and peanut butter.Raph paused for a moment before letting out a chuckle of amusement and solace. “Okay… Again, I’m sorry… I’ll make it up to you, okay?” Raph said.Donnie swallowed what was in his mouth before quietly replying, “You’re fine…. Thanks, bro.”Raphael resisted the urge to repeatedly apologize, instead smiling and nodding in response. Luckily enough, any remaining awkwardness was interrupted by Leo coming to join them with Mikey not too far behind. This wasn’t an easy situation, but at least they were mostly handling it all together. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Receiving instructions was easy. Following them was a whole other struggle.“Okay, Donnie’s really not a fan of trivia right now,” Leo huffed, as he sat on the floor of the skate ramp area in a sort-of circle with Mikey and Raph. It was time for their impromptu daily meeting of the ‘Donnie Support Squad’, it now being the day after Donnie got upset about his own breakfast. Raphael hadn’t told the rest of his family about that incident, mainly due to how bad he felt about his less-than-positive small conversation with his brother. Despite that, everyone could clearly see by now that trying to keep Donnie awake more often was making him fairly cranky.“Any other word games we could try?” Raph offered.They thought for a moment before Leo eventually pointed out, “None that us ‘dumb-dumbs’ could keep him entertained with.” The other two turtles sighed and nodded in agreement. It was difficult for Donnie to be completely mentally sharp through the fatigue and the painkillers, but most of the games they could think of were still too basic and easy.“Wait, how about this…” Mikey excitedly started to propose, “We bring stuff to him to fix. But like, easy stuff. So it’s not too exhausting or difficult with tiny little details. It sort of like puzzles, except useful.”“Mikey…. That’s genius,” Raph happily replied, liking this idea a lot.“We don’t have a lot of things to fix, I think, but we could totally break some stuff,” Leo declared, punching his palm with a first in optimistic determination.“Okay, okay… Also good idea, but let’s make sure we check with each other before breaking anything important,” Raph said, suddenly a little fearful for some of his personal possessions. They could all agree on that at least.“First, we could do my skateboard. I’ve been putting off replacing the wheels anyways,” Leo offered.With this new plan to be put in action, the three of them came up with a list of things that could be broken or were in need of improvement anyways.That afternoon, Leo hauled his old skateboard and new pieces into the living room. Mikey had already started working on keeping Donnie awake, with Raph watching TV nearby. They all tried to keep it natural and cool, as if they hadn’t planned out this entire scenario. Leo sighed, “Ugh, Donnie… You’re awake right?”Already pulled into a sitting up position again, Donnie turned his head to give his brother a patented ‘are you serious?’ look. He was wearing his purple bandana, having made it clear a while ago that he liked to wear it during the day. It made him feel a little more comfortable and normal at least.Leo hopped over the back of the couch and plopped down next to his brother, earning a glare from Splinter as Donnie grimaced from being bounced a little. “Crud, sorry,” Leo nervously apologized. “So uh… I need your help replacing the wheels on my board. You always get this perfect for me. Please help me out!”Donnie looked to Leo with a little bit of apprehension. This was a first, since his injury. It wasn’t unusual for his brothers, along with their dad, asking him to fix and upgrade all their things until recently. He had grown used to mostly being left alone to rest and sleep.Seeing the look on Donnie’s face, Leo sighed, “I mean, if you’re not really up to it right now, that’s fine… I just broke the old wheels-”Before he could finish that thought, the purple-masked turtle reached over to grab the board and parts from his brother. Leo glanced to Mikey and Raph, as they all felt really good about this. They let Donnie work, occasionally running off to get a tool or anything he might need. This sort of thing took him little to no time or effort when he wasn’t recovering from debilitating bodily trauma, but for now it wasn’t too easy.His family could see him occasionally struggling a bit with the finer tools and pieces, his hands getting shaky on and off.“If you need to take a break… Or uh, you need me to do anything, you know,” Leo tactfully tried to put out there at one point.“I’m fine, Leo,” Donnie curtly responded without looking at him. There it was. That stubborn and fierce independence when it came to building and fixing their gear. He would never accept help, and it felt a little silly to take comfort in the fact that he hadn’t changed in that way lately. But it was something.Finally, Donnie managed to finish replacing the wheels and gear. His handiwork was reliable and efficient, even if it took a little longer this time. Plus, all that time kept him awake and engaged for a while. It seemed like this new idea would be a hit.Over the next few days, Mikey, Raph, and Leo kept ‘finding’ things that needed to suddenly be fixed. Raph had his brother set up an app on his phone that would help him track his workout sessions. Mikey detached a few wires from small appliances that wouldn’t be missed too incredibly much if they couldn’t be repaired. They all made sure not to overwhelm him with projects, and let him rest and watch TV instead occasionally. This bout of productivity seemed to be really lifting everyone’s moods though, bringing new optimism to the household. Or maybe rather, sewer-hold? Whatever.That was suddenly tested in the evening when Donnie actually voiced a request. His brother had let him just watch TV this time, so the suggestion came up on their brother’s own volition.“Can I see my battle shell?” he suddenly asked, directing the question to his brothers. They all glanced to each other, able to tell that they all shared uncertainty over how to handle this.“Uh, which one? You have several,” Mikey said in a joking tone.“... The broken one,” Donnie sighed. He was met with more silence at first, before Leo took a turn to reply. “Like… that recently broken one? There’s no other broken ones, right?”Donnie was starting to catch on to their discomfort at the moment, but it didn’t deter him. “It’s not smashed, is it?”“No, no,” Raph replied, “It um… it held up well and all when all that…. happened….. But I guess we hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe you should just build a new one.”“..... Then let me see it… So I can see how to make the next one better,” Donnie pointed out. He was starting to get grumpy again, as he hated being redirected like this lately. Splinter decided to chime in at this point, saying, “Tomorrow. It’s getting too late for a big project like that.”Donnie opened his mouth, intending to voice his irritation. Though, he couldn’t bring himself to reply to his father. He knew anything he might say next would be laced with attitude. “Maybe we should get ready for bed. You look tired, bro,” Leo added. Donnie looked down at the covers and muttered, “I know I do.” It wasn’t that he had seen himself in a mirror lately, other than using his phone’s front-facing camera, but he could feel how tired he felt. His eyelids always seemed a bit heavy, and he seemed to be perpetually more or less woozy. The painkillers helped, but his leg and side still ached and throbbed when he tried to move too much. Donatello was exhausted.He hated it.There wasn’t much anyone could do to relieve the tension now without it feeling forced and fake. The short remainder of the night awkwardly passed as the show on TV finished up. After that, everyone except Donnie scattered to start their nightly bedtime routines. Leo was spending the night with Donnie this time, though he was intercepted by Splinter outside the living room.The rat approached Leo, without making eye contact. He quietly requested, “Tomorrow morning… please put the battle shell in my bathroom. I will clean the blood off of it.”And with that, Splinter left Leo standing there. Leo could practically feel his stomach twist at the reminder of how mangled both the machinery and his brother’s side had been that night of the accident… He didn’t like the thought of this at all, and wished he could have said something smarter to distract Donnie from this idea. There was no changing it now. For all he knew, maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal.Hopefully.[ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ]Donnie sat there in bed the next afternoon, knowing all eyes were on him no matter how subtle his family was trying to be. His fingers traced the damage to his Battle Shell, the jagged edge of the hole almost having a cold yet angry feel to it. Strangely to him, it was fairly clean for what it had endured…He grabbed his cell phone nearby and opened up the flashlight app for it so he could get a better look inside the machinery. As he illuminated the hole, he felt his stomach twist a little more than it already had. There was debris inside, the expected dirt particles and loose circuitry… Along with remnants of dried blood in the cracks.Though the medications muddled his thought processes, it wasn’t hard to figure out that his shell must have been washed before it was given back to him. The intricacy of the inside of his creation was too difficult for the average person to adequately clean, not without the right tools and delicate touch. If this is what it looked like after being cleaned…….Donnie was silent as he worked everything out bit by bit, his brothers only pretending to pay attention to the TV. They could swear that he wasn’t looking very well, possibly growing a bit pale. With how poorly he looked in general lately, unfortunately it was hard to tell if they weren’t just imagining things.“So, uh, how’s it lookin’?” Mikey asked with a nervous chuckle. “It’s not that bad at all, right? You can totally fix that.”Leo saw what he was doing and chimed in, “Right? That’s so easy for you, no problem.”“I mean there’s barely anything wrong with it,” Raph added.They stopped heaping on the obvious lies as their father passed a glare to them. Except for the low volume of the TV, a silence fell over the family yet again. They had thought it was difficult to watch their brother sleep the days away, practically comatose right after the accident happened. But this….. this was almost more unbearable.“Bro… what do you think?” Leo asked, a seemingly simple question that really just begged Donnie to say something. To say anything.“.... It’s… going to take work,” Donnie mumbled, not even looking at any of them. “I’ll have to run diagnostics in the lab... later….” He took his trembling hands away from his Battle Shell, done with it for now.“I’ll put it in the lab for you, okay?” Raphael offered, standing up and coming over to take it away. Donnie nodded in permission, looking towards the floor.Raph carried the Battle Shell out of the living room, trying to think of some way to turn this around. Fixing and improving things really seemed to be getting their brother back on track, slowly yet surely. They couldn’t let this small setback reset all the progress they were making. He figured that for now, they could leave this be and maybe just order some pizza. Raph brought the shell into the lab and set it down on one of the least-cluttered desks, trying not to let his gaze linger on it. While walking back, Raph took out his phone to open its notepad app. Everyone’s cravings in pizza toppings varied from day to day, so typing down the requests helped him keep the order straight.As he entered the living room again, his well-meaning optimistic smile dropped a bit. No one else in the room had noticed that Donnie was touching his wounded side again while Raph was gone.“Hey! Donnie, don’t,” Raph scolded him, rushing forward and pocketing his phone again. Though as he got closer, and drew everyone else’s attention, they saw that Donnie wasn’t just grasping at it like usual. He was quietly and carefully pulling the bandages away.His brothers leapt into action, clustering around him on the bed and gently holding him back while Splinter immediately came to take his son’s hand away from the injury. He was surprised by Donnie trying to yank his hand back while going back at the bandages with his other hand.“I just… want to see!” he growled as his family protested his curiosity.“Listen to me, my son, it will not heal properly if you don’t leave it alone,” Splinter reprimanded him. “It’s taken care of, so stop this.”Frustration and desperation crossed Donnie’s face as his Leo and Mikey pulled back his arms a bit and Raph gently held him down by the shoulders to the pillows stacked behind him. “Stop it! You’re all ridiculous,” he spat, weakly struggling against them. “I just want to look at it! This is my body! Let me go!”Splinter tried to hold his hands in an attempt to soothe him, saying, “I know, and perhaps later. You’re upset right now.” Luckily the stitches had mostly healed to where only small spots might get irritated enough to bleed now, but there was no telling how much longer the internal damage needed. His ribs needed at least another few weeks before being subjected to prodding and movement.“I’m always upset! You think I’m enjoying any of this?” Donnie complained, his raised voice and harder breathing starting to make him wheeze. “I’m upset now, and I’ll be upset later, I’ll keep being upset until I’m not being treated like some stupid baby made out of glass!”Donnie’s complaints gave way to some coughing and more wheezing, as his brothers looked like they were in pain as well. This was emotionally painful. Splinter looked at his nearly fully grown sons, and thought about what led up to this moment. Never could he have imagined that he’d have to handle something like this. Scrapes, bruises, hurt feelings… He had bandaids and hugs for those. What did this need?Splinter grimaced and climbed up on the edge of fold out bed so that he could firmly take hold of Donnie’s head, a hand on each of his cheeks so he’d be forced to look at his father. Donnie struggled to meet his gaze at first, but eventually sourly glared at Splinter as they were face to face. Splinter took a deep breath and exhaled a heavy sigh. “My son, you almost died,” he calmly and quietly said. The rest of his sons looked to him in absolute shock. That was something that none of them had expected to hear, or dared to say. The words left enough of an impact on Donnie that he went completely still, no longer straining against his brothers.Splinter sighed and continued, “This was serious. We could not ever understand the pain you are feeling right now. But also you will never see everything we have seen, as we have watched over you.”Donnie’s gaze fell downwards as the bitterness completely melted from his expression. It wasn’t like he hadn’t understood just how hurt he had been from the accident… However, having someone else actually acknowledge out loud that this was all real…It was difficult.Hot tears spilled from Donnie’s eyes, running down his cheeks and his fathers’ hands. He was pulled into a hug first by Splinter, and the rest of his brothers were fast, yet gentle, to follow. They remained in that pile of strange yet close-knit family, letting Donnie ride out his feelings of sadness, frustration, and fear.Bandages and medicines were the best treatment for his wounds. But it was the light sobbing while being held by those who loved him that would start to treat his emotions.
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Donatello woke up from a long nap feeling a bit foggy and disoriented, as was usual lately. Was it a nap? Or had he fallen asleep over the night? He didn’t remember much of what happened after he had broken down in front of his whole family (or even what time in the day that had happened for that matter), only that the crying had worn him out so much that he had fallen asleep soon after. Now he was awake.Aching pain in his side at every deep breath? Check.Heavy and hot sensation wrapped around his elevated left leg? Check.Heaviness and slight soreness throughout the rest of his weakened body? Check.Severely injured and fragile sense of current self worth? ….. Check.Donatello sighed after trying and failing to stifle a yawn, looking around the room. There didn’t appear to be anyone else there, the TV off and the other seats empty. He couldn’t hear noises from elsewhere in their underground lair, leaving him to wonder if he was completely alone. The chances of Splinter ever venturing out of the sewer were extremely slim, but the TV being off was a good indicator that he was indeed out, or maybe asleep in his room. An inner debate raged on in Donnie’s head for a minute or two, as he couldn’t decide if he wanted to yell for someone or not. He really didn’t want to, after how humiliated he felt for his last outburst. But he also really had to go to the bathroom. This sucked. Donnie let out an annoyed groan as he went to swing his legs off the side of the bed. The solid ‘thunk’ of the cast tapping the concrete floor should have been a good enough reminder that he really should be calling for help at the moment. But he ignored it and reached for his hoodie draped over the back of the fold-out couch. It was a bit of a slow process, but Donnie managed to pull it on and straighten it out while cringing at the sweaty smell of it. He sincerely hoped that only the sweater smelled bad, and not himself. It was hard to tell, honestly. Taking some encouragement in the small success of dressing himself with one article of clothing, Donnie got a good grip on the furniture around him. He felt like a giant robot from a movie creaking and groaning to life as it powered up and got to its feet. It took what felt like forever to come to a standing position and gain some semblance of balance. Keeping the weight off of his broken leg by leaning on the back of his father’s chair, Donnie took a few tentative hobbling steps to better angle himself towards the door. So far, so good. At least, ignoring the stiffness in his joints and the throbbing in his injuries. He hadn’t fallen flat on his face yet at least. The hardest part was making it from the gap between the chair and the doorway. The last few times he had needed to go to the bathroom, his brother-nurses had oh-so-graciously allowed him to walk with their physical support. Day by day, he was rewarded with just a bit more dignity again. Keeping the grander scheme of things in mind, Donatello could at least be happy to be alive after that serious accident. Perhaps. Maybe.Taking a deep breath, Donnie stepped away from the chair and headed for the door. The few steps he took on his broken leg were incredibly light and fast as he tried to put minimal weight on it. Which turned out to be way more difficult than he had anticipated. The last few steps almost ended in him tripping and faceplanting, but fortunately he was close enough to the door to fall forward onto the hard frame. Donnie grabbed at it and gripped it tightly, biting back a curse at the sharp pain from the awkward movement. Not on the floor… Still standing….. Small victories.The riskiest part was over, now it was just the physically taxing part of walking the rest of the way to the bathroom. He now had the walls to lean on though, which he proceeded to do as he made his way down the hall. It was difficult to tell if a crutch would make things easier or more difficult without testing it himself, but he couldn’t help but wonder if that would put an uncomfortable strain on the damaged muscles in his side. Donatello’s mental testing and theorizing was interrupted by Leonardo rounding the corner and spotting him. He wasn’t sure whether to feel annoyed or relieved. He decided on mostly relieved, realistically realizing that he would have most likely collapsed before making it to his destination.“Bro! Hey, what are you doing?” Leo hastily let out, rushing forward to help support his ailing brother. “You shouldn’t be trying to walk on your own, not with that cast and stuff!”Donnie sighed and responded, “Where were you?”Leo looked hesitant to answer, but finally replied, “... Out.”“All four of you?”“Welllllll…. No… Just me, Mikey, and Raph. But if Splinter isn’t with you, maybe he went out on his own?” Leonardo slowly said.Donnie could tell that he was obviously trying to hide something, but honestly whatever that was was the lowest of his priorities at the moment. “I really gotta go, so….” “Go where?” Leo scoffed, as if he had anywhere he needed to be at the moment.Narrowing his eyes at his incredibly dense yet well-meaning sibling, Donnie replied, “To the facilities.”Leo stared at him dumbly, his stupid face only inches away as he continued to stand there and carefully hold up his brother in the middle of the hallway. “........ Your… lab?”“To the bathroom, Leo!” Donnie snapped, eager to end this talk and get back on his way to his intended destination.“Oh! Oh…..” Leo let out, mentally facepalming as he went to help his brother continue in the right direction. They reached the bathroom in an awkward silence. Donnie tried to separate from him once they arrived. “I’m fine from here,” Donnie huffed, weakly pushing away Leo’s arms.“Are you sure? You’re not going to fall or anything?” he responded, looking concerned yet still awkward.Donatello glared at him a little before going to close the door. He had tried to slam it, but the energy just wasn’t in him today. With a sigh, he did what he came to this room to do, expecting Leonardo to be hovering right outside the door still. This all didn’t feel right. Being hovered over. Worried over. Of course the brothers all cared about each other, no matter how frustrating they could all be at times. Though, this felt so suffocating. Donnie felt limited enough in his capabilities without the smothering attention of his entire family at all times. As he went to wash his hands, the dread of opening the door again started creeping in.Looking in the mirror, Donnie felt the urge again. He left the water in the sink running, to cover up any slight sound he might make as he pulled off the hoodie. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do while maintaining balance, but the solid counter in front of him helped him steady himself. With the sweater off, he very carefully reached for the bandages next. Using the mirror to properly see everything he was doing, he pulled the wrapped bandage down a little. That just left the taped-on gauze. After taking in a shaky breath, he peeled the tape edging away to reveal the wound.The room was spinning. Or was his head spinning? Maybe the entire world was tilting. This didn’t feel right. This couldn’t be right.It was like everything around him had gone silent, including the rushing water in the sink as Donnie fully took in the sight of his side. It was… repulsive.Most of the damage was to the more vulnerable cartilage-like connection between his shell and his front. But even those harder portions suffered damage at the edges. Because they were ‘harder’ not actually hard. Not like his brothers’ shells.Looking at the stitches, including the thicker ones for his leathery shell areas, he could only imagine what it had looked over the past two and a half weeks. It was still swollen and red, but wasn’t actively bleeding anymore. It must have been more red and inflamed, and raw… back when it was still bleeding… And before that….Donnie’s stomach flip-flopped as his thoughts turned to how the wound must have looked before it had even been treated. He saw the damage to his protective Battle Shell. But this?He didn’t know how long ago he had eaten, but if there was anything in his stomach at the moment, it was on the verge of coming up. He hunched over the edge of the sink, unable to look in the mirror anymore as he tried to steady his breathing. It was only at the sound of Leo knocking on the door that he realized he had impulsively reached to touch the jagged tear in his flesh being held together by medical string. Donnie could feel himself start to retch, breaking out into a sweat as he forced himself to pull his fingers away from the injured area.“Donnie! You okay in there?” Leo called out through the door. “You still washing your hands or something? The water’s been going a while now…”Donatello didn’t reply, hastily going to smooth the tape-edged gauze over his side again. He was done. He didn’t want to see that again. With it covered, he chanced a look in the mirror to see how shaken he looked. He was pale and sweating, and felt like he had no control over his disturbed facial expression at the moment. There was no way Leo would leave him alone about this. Looking to the sweater on the floor and wrinkling his nose at the thought of the smell again, he managed to reply, “I-I’m fine… I’m going to take a shower… or a bath… or something.”That only prompted more concerned knocking on the door from his blue-masked brother. “No! Wait! You can’t get your cast wet! Or the bandages! When dad gets back, he can help you wash up like before,” he argued.Donnie ignored him and went to turn on the water in the bathtub, his heart still pounding in his chest. All he focused on at the moment was the throbbing in his side. With each throb, his mind flashed back to the image of what lay under the bandages. It was covered… but that didn’t mean it was gone.He lowered himself to sit on the floor beside the tub, his hands trembling as he sloppily readjusted the wrapped bandages around his middle. The gushing water of the tub and the complaints of his brother through the bathroom door felt so far away to him as he felt hot tears sting at the corners of his eyes again. Donnie leaned against the cool edge of the tub, the sensation a bit soothing to the pain. Like an ice pack that had been sitting outside the freezer for a bit. Cold, but without the frozen bite.He wrapped his arms around himself and leaned his head to the side, against the tiled edging of the bathtub, watching the steam rise up from the water that was only flowing right back into the drain pipes. Of course Donnie knew he needed to plug the drain to take a bath, or pull the lever to turn it into a shower. But he also knew that he wasn’t going to actually do either of those things. Like Leo said, the cast couldn’t get wet. For the obvious fact that it would get damaged… but also it would wreck the signatures and artwork that decorated it. There was a really cool dragon Mikey painted on there for him. He never got to fully appreciate it lately, since it was covered in a blanket almost at all times. And he slept. A lot.As soon as Donatello started feeling familiar, warm gratitude for his brothers, his breathing evening out and his anxiety settling down, the door was kicked in by one of those said brothers.There it was again. Three pairs of eyes looking down on him like some poor, crippled baby bird. Leo wasn’t alone anymore, it seemed. Raph, the living, breathing battering ram was responsible for the door barely hanging onto its hinges now.“... I didn’t lock it you know,” Donnie quietly pointed out. He didn’t feel bad at the worried and sheepish expression that immediately grew across his largest brother’s face.Leo immediately knelt down beside Donnie and started scolding him. “Bro, you need to chill, okay? If you want to wash up or something, let us know. This kind of stuff like getting out of bed on your own and deciding to go completely silent behind closed doors thing is totally not going to fly,” he lightly snapped.“He was out of bed on his own?” Mikey asked, going to turn off the water for the tub. “Not cool bro.” Raph and Mikey hadn’t been updated on that fact, assuming that Leo had split off from them and met Donnie in the living room.Feeling frustrated and embarrassed yet again, Donatello leaned forward and went to turn the water back on. His family looked a bit shocked and concerned over this small act of defiance. Mikey hesitantly reached for the knob again. “I didn’t say you could turn it off,” Donnie snapped, making his youngest brother flinch.The atmosphere was now heavy with feelings of frustration and awkwardness, Donatello turning his gaze downwards at the floor.“... Let’s wait until dad gets home before doing anything serious, okay?” Raph quietly said, trying to defuse the situation.“Where were you?” Donnie quietly asked. Leonardo sighed, sitting down a bit more comfortably along with his other two brothers before answering, “We had to go out for a bit. We weren’t gone for long.”“Where? Why?” he responded, needing to know.“There were some news reports about the Foot Clan stealing more stuff. I guess they’re on the hunt for more paper again,” Mikey answered, though he spotting the subtle warning glances from Leo and Raph. “B-but as soon as we got there and they saw you weren’t with us, they said they’d leave and come back in a few weeks when you’d be ready to fight them! Confrontation postponed!”Donnie only kept his half glare focused at Mikey as Leo facepalmed. The youngest realized how stupid that sounded and resignedly sighed, “Okay… I lied… So, we actually kicked their butts…”Raph gently added, “But it was much harder without you. We’re a team missing a vital member, you know?”“Stop it,” Donnie found himself saying, as he hugged himself a little tighter. The sensation of anxiety started resurfacing, after he had spent the last few minutes trying to calm down. He looked down at the tiled bathroom floor, locking his gaze on that instead of the three turtles desperately trying to help and reassure him.“Stop what?” Leo asked, looking confused and a bit hurt. “Just… everything…. Stop,” Donnie demanded, his breath hitching in his throat as he resisted the urge to cry again.Leo gently yet firmly went to take hold of his brothers arms and pull them away from his body. “Donnie, look at me!”Raph and Mikey weren’t sure whether they should do something or not. They hadn’t seen Donnie upset quite like this ever before, and it was unclear whether Leo was helping or potentially making things worse. Mikey chimed in, “Come on, let’s just go and watch some TV. Okay?” He just wanted this whole upsetting scene to end. He wanted their lives to go back to what it was before. “Let go,” Donnie demanded, trying to pull away from Leo. He failed to though, his pitiful lack of strength not helping him in any way.“No, not until you look at me,” Leo responded.“You’re gonna hurt him, dude,” Raph sharply said to Leo. “Knock it off.”“Not yet, he needs to look me right in the eyes first!”Donnie tried to plant his good leg on Leonardo’s stomach so that he could kick him away. But Leo managed to pull Donnie’s arms away from himself. He succeeded in that, yet still couldn’t get his ailing brother to shift his gaze up from the floor. Instead, he let go of one arm so he could grab Donnie by the top of the head and try to get him to look up. This was the final straw, as Raph went to pull them apart, Mikey trying to get into the tangle so he could hug Donnie. It was near impossible to do at this moment though.“What do you think you’re doing? Are y’all crazy, actin’ like this?” Raph scolded them both, but mostly Leo.“I know I don’t understand everything that you’re going through Donnie, but you can’t just be a jerk to us,” Leo angrily said. “I don’t need you to play these little passive aggressive games of ignoring us trying to help, and snapping at us for just doing what we need to do.”“I didn’t do anything like that,” Donnie shot back, started to wheeze a bit from the exertion of their small struggle. “I just don’t want to hear about how you’re doing just fine without me.”“We didn’t say anything like that,” Leo argued, parroting what his brother just said. “We went out to fight the Foot. We missed you being out there with us, Donnie! We miss when you were all healthy and stuff!”“Well I’m not anymore, and maybe I won’t ever be again,” Donnie worried aloud, unable to stop a tear from escaping his eye.Mikey jumped into the argument, quietly saying, “You looked under the bandages, didn’t you?”This put a complete pause in the conflict, Donnie tensing up despite his difficulty breathing as the two other turtles looked over the disheveled bandage area. “I thought maybe it just got messed up in the walk over,” Mikey continued. “But it looks too messy and loose. Dad’s been really good at wrapping all that up. Which means you undid it to look at it. Right?”Donnie didn’t answer. At least, not vocally. He painstakingly managed to pull his gaze off the floor and met Mikey’s eyes. That was all the youngest brother needed. He stood up to more effectively shove away Leo and Raph, who were too surprised and confused to really resist. With them out of the way, Mikey knelt down again and wrapped Donatello up in a firm yet gentle hug of reassurance. “You’re gonna heal up, okay? We got you, bro,” Mikey soothingly said. “I’m gonna keep hugging you and hugging you even when you get mad at us… and you just have to put up with us being annoying… Because us being annoying is what’s gonna help you get better. Then you can go back to closing yourself up in your lab and ignoring us for days at a time if you want…. Okay?”It took a few seconds, but Donnie finally mumbled in response, “... Okay…”Giving him a firm squeeze, Mikey then released his older brother so he could turn to Leo and point a finger at him. “Fight’s over! No more picking on Donnie today, even though he did a bunch of things he really wasn’t supposed to.”Donnie rolled his eyes a little at that, but was grateful for the fact that he didn’t resort to fully crying like he had before. He felt a bit calm again.“Alright… Moving on…” Raph said, letting out a cleansing sigh as Leo did the same. “Let’s go order some pizza or something, and wait for Splinter to come home. Then he can help you take a bath if you still want to.”Donnie nodded a bit in reply, then accepted his oldest brother’s help into a supported, standing-up position. They all stood up again, though Leo made sure to grab the hoodie nearby for his brother first. “... I don’t want to wear that right now… It reeks…” Donnie sighed at Leo, looking a little sheepish after the argument they just had. Of course, as if it was some sort of dare, Leo had to smell it. “Dude….. It totally does…”
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It would be a lie to say that the “bathroom incident” wasn’t cathartic for Donnie, giving him a chance to process everything and improve his mood just a bit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t bound to last in any reliable way. Over the next week, his family felt a lot less frustration being vented directly their way, though they could still tell that he still wasn’t feeling quite himself. When he wasn’t sleeping, there was a certain level of tenseness to his demeanor along with rapidly fluctuating levels of grumpiness.Splinter had to scold him over not eating a few meals. It was difficult to do when the teen turtle had the solid enough excuse that he had just been tired and “accidentally” fell asleep. But it was a pattern of behavior that worried them all. Whenever the three un-injured brothers had to go out on errands or fight some baddies, no matter how quietly they tried to leave or arrive, Donatello knew. And that meant a sour atmosphere for a while. “We can’t just like, stop fighting crime and stuff,” Mikey said, sitting at the top of the skate ramp with Leo and Raph. Leo heaved a sigh in response, looking like he wanted to say something. His brothers looked at him expectantly, but he didn’t speak up. Mikey continued, “I mean, I think he understands that. I hope.”“But he’s not acting like it,” Leo finally said. “Give him a break, this has been rough on him,” Raph responded. “How would you feel if you were stuck in bed all day, feeling achy?”“I know… but…” Leo said, but trailed off, biting his lip in restraint.Mikey sighed, knowing they all felt the same way even though it felt bad to feel it. “Dude, just say it…”Leo took a deep breath and finally spat out, “What does he want us to do? Sit around the couch and just snuggle him all day? Avoid fighting mutants out there? Let our groceries and stuff run out so we all starve? We can’t just sit around here and put everything single thing we do on hold, just waiting for him to get better so then we can start up our lives again! I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been keeping an eye out for signs of that dude who caused all of this, and if we pump the breaks on that, the trail could go cold! Does he want that to happen?”The other two went quiet after his rant. If they expected to feel less weight in the atmosphere from having those common grievances finally aired out, they were mistaken. They didn’t feel any better.“... I didn’t know you were doing that,” Raph quietly said. “I know that mutant guy was the start of all of this, but I’ve…. kind of forgotten about him…. and honestly… blamed myself for all of this.”“What?!” Mikey let out in surprise. “How would this all be your fault? I was the one who needed to be shoved out of the way of danger, it would have been me if Donnie didn’t rescue me!”“Mikey, I appreciate your sense of grown-up responsibility,” Raph started to say, being the diplomatic big brother, “But it was my plan, and I screwed up building the trap.”“Leo, what do you think? It’s my fault, right?” Mikey huffed, getting frustrated and wanting to win these impromptu ‘Guilt Games’.Leo just looked at the two of them for a moment, seeming a little pale. “... You guys weren’t the one who made the whole thing come crashing down. If I hadn’t made him swerve the bulldozer into the pillars… none of this would have happened,” he quietly said, looking away. A silence settled over them for a minute, as they all came to realize how much this had been hurting everyone. Not just Donnie. There was a lot to unpack, but it didn’t really feel like the right time to do that yet. Everyone’s mutual feelings of guilt wasn’t something they had been completely oblivious to, but each brother putting into words a solid reason to each blame themselves for the accident really hit hard.“This doesn’t matter right now,” Raph said, even though he knew that was untrue. “We got off topic. What can we do to make him less cranky when we go out?”Squashing down the feelings of negativity that had just been stirred up, they took a moment to brainstorm.Mikey was the first one to offer a suggestion. “How about presents? Every time we go out, we bring back something just for him.”“I dunno, isn’t that kind of like giving out vacation souvenirs that just remind people ‘hey, we had fun without you’?” Leo pointed out a bit pessimistically. “Well then Mr. Downer, what do you suggest?” Mikey asked, glaring at Leo a little.He said in response, “We text or face chat over the phone with him a few times while we’re out. So he still feels included in what’s going on, even if he can’t be there.”“Oh, and that’s not the same thing, like ‘look at the fun we’re currently having without you?’,” Mikey said, raising an eyebrow.“Guys, guys, those aren’t bad ideas,” Raph said, trying to prevent a fight. “We can try both of them and see how they go. I think combined with my idea, we will really be onto something!”“And your idea… is?” Leo scoffed. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo carefully started to put the turtle tank in gear, heading into the tunnel with promises of calls and gifts being shouted out the window as they departed. Leaving Donnie sitting in a wheelchair nearby with April O’Neil standing beside him, enthusiastically waving goodbye hard enough for the both of them. “They got me a babysitter,” Donnie bluntly said in disbelief.“Hey, babysitters get paid, “April pointed out. “I’m here just because I like you. I guess.”Donnie groaned and pulled on the cords of his hoodie to cover his face in embarrassment, April laughing as she started pushing him out of the garage. Instead of heading right back to the tv room with his temporary bed, she brought him to the lab.“How about we see what trouble we can get into here today,” she suggested, looking around as she pushed him inside. “Have you been here at all lately? Looks a little… dusty.”Donnie mumbled something in reply, his hoodie still mostly scrunched up around his face. April immediately went to pull it back open and down off his head, not intending to cave in to any of his grumpiness today. “What was that? Couldn’t hear you,” she pointed out.“NO. Not since… this whole situation,” Donnie replied, motioning to his side and broken leg. He glanced around at all the projects he had going on simultaneously, now on pause. What was once engaging and inspiring to him now just felt overwhelming. Half the stuff in here needed to be reached with the help of the hovering mechanism on his Battle Shell. It required a level of mobility that he just didn’t have right now.His Battle Shell…. There it was, casually dropped off by his own father on the main work table in his workshop. It hadn’t been touched since Donnie had demanded to see it over a week ago. It was still messed up and hard to look at. April, however, pushed him right up to the table so it was within arms reach, and went to grab the shell and inspect it. “Yikes… They really did a number on you, huh D?“... Yeah… It was bad,” he quietly said, keeping his gaze averted. April suddenly hucked the Battle Shell off the table and into some corner nearby, surprising him. She said, “None of that depressing nonsense for now. We’re here to do something else that only you can do. Something fun. What can I grab for us to work on?”“I… don’t know,” he sighed after some thought, leaning on the table. It all still felt overwhelming to him.April started strolling around the room, turning on a few more lights while checking out stuff. Of course a lot of his projects were a little too big to be carried to the table, but she was determined to find something. Being responsible for Donnie and trying to keep him occupied made her feel a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t easy figuring out how to interact with someone who was going through so many things physically and emotionally. However, her friend was worth the discomfort that this unfamiliar situation brought. Realistically, with the kind of conflicts that the turtles tended to get into, April wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the last injury she’d be called to help with. With how much she cared about them, she was okay with that.On that thought, April pulled down what looked like a giant laptop and brought it over to the table. She dropped it rather unceremoniously in front of Donatello while saying, “Aren’t laptops supposed to be easy to carry around? That’s like their whole point. This definitely needs work.”Donnie looked it over before explaining, “It’s not exactly a laptop. It’s…. you carry it as a briefcase, then pop it open when you’re in danger and it puts out a forcefield for instant protection.”“Oh! So what, you like, pop it open with the button?” April asked, going to press the latch button. Unable to intercept her, Donnie instead shoved the contraption off the table as soon as her finger touched the button. It sprang open and a purple forcefield erupted from it, expanding enough to fit maybe two to three people. Several chairs and pieces of junk were forcefully shoved across the room as the field zapped them, but fortunately he pushed it far enough to where it didn’t hit the table. Or them.“So yeah, I haven’t worked out the part where the device realizes that you need to be in the forcefield. My first test of it successfully protected the immediate perimeter of the briefcase… while Leo was sent flying across the room,” Donnie sighed as April looked a little sheepish.“You had Leo test it?” April asked, raising an eyebrow.“Measuring results is much easier if you’re at a suitable distance to observe,” he said.“Well duh, I’m just surprised he was a willing test subject,” she pointed out.Donnie let out a short, genuine laugh, though he had to hold his achy side injury in discomfort from that. He chuckled, “It’s funny you think he was willing.”With a bit of work, they were able to disarm the force field and get the laptop-looking briefcase back onto the table. Together they started thinking of a way to make the user capable of safely phasing through the forcefield so that it could expand and form around them. There were projects and experiments Donnie had been way more excited to work on before the accident, but this one was well-enough sized for now. It was something he could more easily wrap his head around at the moment.They wrote down ideas and started checking on the programming codes when Donnie’s phone started ringing. He sighed and put down his pencil, looking at the vibrating phone nearby his elbow. The look on his face clearly showed how much he didn’t want to answer it.“They mean well,” April quietly said, trying to reassure him. “You can always hang up on them, too.”“Yeah…” he half heartedly agreed before picking up the annoying device and pressing ‘answer’.Before he could say hello, Leo immediately and loudly spoke up, “Hey, bro! How’s it going?!” In the background was the interior of the tank, Raph in the middle of intensely driving it while Mikey hung on to the front console. They seemed to be in the middle of a chase.“... Fine,” Donnie replied.“Cool! That’s cool!” Leo replied. “Whatcha’ working on?” He asked this question trying to show interest in what his brother was doing, even though what they had going on was way more interesting. “A project,” Donnie vaguely said.“Oh nice! Dude, are you in your lab?” Leo asked, realizing that fact. He turned to look at Raph and Mikey and shouted to them, “Donnie’s in his lab you guys! Isn’t that awesome?!”“Hang on, I’m going to try to shake off the repo hook!” Raph yelled, insinuating they were in a high speed entanglement with Repo Mantis. Shortly after that warning, Leo was flung around the inside of the tank like a rag doll, losing the grip on his phone.Donatello didn’t wait for his brother to regain control or show signs of being okay, hanging up the phone himself and setting it back aside. He felt a little less interested in what he and April had been working on now. She could easily see it on his face. “... It’s funny,” April started saying, “...how you always seem to want to be left undisturbed while working in your lab. They really annoy you sometimes and have to drag you away from your projects…. But you really want to be out there with them right now, huh?”Donnie was silent, letting his head sag a little. “... Yeah.”“That sucks,” April said, without trying to push down and invalidate his negative feelings. Sometimes all someone needed was to be sympathized with for a bit. She then lightly patted his shoulder. “... How about we get out of here for a bit?”“What like, outside?” Donatello responded, looking confused and concerned.“Yeah! We could go to the park, get some pizza and ice cream, or stop by my school before the computer lab closes,” April suggested.Donnie sighed and looked away again. “Thanks but I’m still kind of sore… and that sounds humiliating,” he said.“Then we give you an extra pillow or two and take it easy. And it’s only humiliating if you run into people you know who might make fun of you later. How many people do you know out there in that big ol’ city?” April enthusiastically said with a smile.“... Dad won’t let me. And the guys might not be happy,” Donnie added.“So we sneak out while Splints is still asleep in his chair and get back before your brothers return. Honestly, when has stuff like that gotten in your way before?” April pointed out, a rebellious hint to her tone.He paused to ponder this a little, a small grin crossing his face.“No more excuses for me? Okay, let’s do this,” April determinedly said, standing back up so she could take the handlebars of the wheelchair. First stop, pillows. Next stop, big city! [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] An hour later, they were sitting in the park, enjoying some ice cream cones as the sun was mostly setting over the horizon. They had decided to go easy this time on their outing. Plus Donnie didn’t want any of April’s classmates to see that famed genius Othello von Ryan had mortal weaknesses that could be exploited. That prompted an exaggerated eyeroll, but she humored him this time.Donnie felt a little more comfortable with a small extra pillow cushioning his injured side, getting some fresh city park air. He licked his soft serve methodically so that nothing dripped on his hand, glad that his grip wasn’t as shaky as it was over a week ago. This was still a bit tiring to him, and maybe a bit too much activity at this early-ish level of recovery, but he was incredibly thankful for the change in scenery.“Just make sure you rate me ten stars as a babysitter,” April joked, poking fun at his grumpy mood earlier. “You’re sitting at a firm 7.5 right now, all you have to do is keep up the pampering and you’ll work your way up to finishing at 8,” he teased right back.“Only 8? Are you kidding me?” April huffed, lightly shoving his shoulder in protest.“No one is perfect. If I gave you 10, I’d be lying and you know it,” he shot back with a smirk. “That’s rough, man. Thanks a lot,” she sighed, then quickly went to lick at some of her own melting ice cream. “Seriously though… I’m glad to see you feeling a bit more like yourself again.”Donnie chuckled at that, though he seemed to look a little somber all of a sudden.“What is it? You can talk to me,” April said, worrying about the change in mood.“... I feel more myself right now…. But I’m not sure if I’ll be the same from now on. I’ll be me… but you know…” he tried to explain, though he was having a difficult time with it. “Besides the obvious scars…”April took a minute to think about what he said, wanting to be very careful with how she reacted to him. Her first instinct would be to lightly smack him upside the head and reassure him that he was stronger than that, but it just didn’t seem appropriate. If anything, it could be patronizing. This felt like one of those life simulation games where the wrong answer could result in a ‘Game Over’ screen. Obviously it would take more than that to end their friendship, but she didn’t want to hurt Donnie or ignore the struggle he was going through.“Maybe not. It’s difficult to say what big things will change us until it already happens, I guess,” she finally sighed. “I’m never going to pretend it wasn’t a big deal, and your family won’t, either…”“... I have nightmares about it,” Donnie admitted. “Everything gets really loud in my dreams, then I swear I’ve woken up. And I can’t move. It’s dark, and I’m pinned in bed, because the lair has caved in all around me…”“Have you talked to your family about this?” April quietly asked.Donnie paused, gazing down at his lap and mostly-eaten ice cream cone. He then finally replied, “No. I haven’t. Because if I think about it when I’m actually, truly awake… all I can hear is their screams… because they’re trapped in the wreckage too somewhere. In my dream.”This was heavy stuff, and April wasn’t sure if she was equipped with the experience to actually handle this. But Donatello was her friend, along with the rest of the dysfunctional mutant family. And she’d try her hardest to help.“I hope the dreams stop. If they don’t really soon, you should still tell your family about it,” April said. “It sounds like you still feel trapped, figuratively.”“Yeah…” Donnie mumbled, looking so vulnerable and tired in his wheelchair in the middle of the park. There was no denying that he was physically recovering, even though that wasn’t all the healing he had to worry about.April wrapped an arm around his shoulders, faintly smiling at him as she said, “If you do change, I’ll still be here. Maybe you will be a bit different after surviving this. It’ll just be a different version of awesome, nerdy, weird Donnie, though.”He snorted a bit at that and said, “I suppose so. I can still be me. Just a little different.”“More experienced,” April reassured him. She worried a lot about these emotional ups and downs Donnie was going through, as it almost seemed like there was no end to them. The one thing she felt good about though was that he was still alive, and that he had a great family plus one friend to support him. They sat there for a while, finishing up their cones as the sun completely left the sky. Donnie had started to fall asleep while sitting up, marking it as the right time to start heading home. After, of course, some light ribbing on how he was still falling asleep everywhere. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Of course, they arrived to see the remaining four members of the sewer family standing in formation, arms crossed over their chests or hands on their hips. Splinter seemed a little less concerned, but had no doubt been roped into sending a clear message.That they were busted.“Well, I hope it was worth it, because we’re never going to hear the end of this,” April sighed, still gripping the handlebars to the wheelchair as they approached.“8.5 stars,” Donnie said with a shrug.“Oh haha, very funny inside joke I’m sure you guys have now,” Leo said in frustration. “You left the lair! Not only that, you left your phone in the lab, so you weren’t answering it! We were worried! Right, Dad?”Splinter was trying hard not to roll his eyes at these antics. He’d still be in his chair if Raph hadn’t taken the remote and told him to stand around waiting here. “He’s fine! Look at him!” he complained.“He looks tired and uncomfortable,” Raph replied in worry. “And that’s just supposed to be okay?”“Well to be fair… he kind of always looks that way lately,” Mikey butted in, uncrossing his arms.“Not helping!” both Raph and Leo shouted in unison.“He’s well enough to go out a little, especially if it’s to avoid you three smothering him,” Splinter asserted while Mikey pouted. “Don’t get mad at him for being mad at you for going out, only for you to get mad at him for going out!”There was a short silence after that total twister of a sentence settled and processed through their heads. It took a moment, but Leo, Raph, and Mikey realized he was sort of right. In terms of reason, not grammar.“Okay, just next time let us know before you go out while you’re still healing up, okay?” Raph requested Donnie. Their injured brother started at them, completely unamused. “... Maybe. April, I tire of this and desire a nap. Please roll me to my temporary quarters.”“You got it. Sorry, guys,” she apologized to the rest of the turtles, though it didn’t sound incredibly genuine. After Donnie was turned away and started being pushed towards the living room, he leaned over the side of the chair to look back at his brothers to give them the stink eye. He then relaxed back into the chair, looking a bit more satisfied.Despite the small scare of coming home and finding their brother missing, they all couldn’t help but smile a bit at that rude gesture. That was the Donnie they knew.“Oh… we forgot to give him his present,” Mikey whined, looking at the slightly smashed-up radio taken from Repo Mantis’ truck that they shoved into a corner nearby.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Can’t see… anything. Completely dark.
It’s not night.
Vision blocked… covered by a blanket. No… something heavier than a blanket. It’s hard… rough…
So heavy…
Donnie can hear his brothers looking for them. It’s muffled… distant, but the panic in their voices is clear as day. Something’s wrong. Terribly wrong.
He tries to move, gain his bearings.
He can’t. Can’t move. Slowly gaining his bearings… He’s on his stomach. Not really flat lying down, not quite upright.
He still can’t move. Is it because he’s pinned? Or does he lack the strength?
Pain.
So.
Much.
Pain.
Moving is no good. The more he tries to move, the more it hurts. He’s never felt the kind of pain that his side is feeling right now. It’s worse than anything he’s experienced. Everything hurts. But that spot… It’s torture. He’s able to reach an arm towards his side. In contrast to the rough and dusty rubble encasing him, it feels slick and wet…
This is bad.
Donnie can’t get out on his own. He tries to yell to his brothers. He can still hear them calling for him. But his throat is clogged with dust, his mouth gritty with dirt. He builds up what little saliva he can in his dry mouth to spit out the dirt and dust. He coughs.
More pain.
Is that his chest rattling? Or his broken battle shell?
Finally, Donnie is able to let out some sound. Strained, quiet… but there. Is it words?
It’s not. He can only groan.
Leo is close. Donnie can hear his voice. He needs to speak. He needs to get out of here.
They need to hear him.
He takes a breath as deeply as he can, and manages to call out for them. He’s stuck. His voice is barely above talking volume, but it works. The effects are sudden, and drastically good.
Everything lifts up. One by one, the piece of rubble lift into the air high above him. All that he had needed was to be heard. It was as if by magic, he was no longer trapped and buried. He was free. He did it.
His brothers could see him as he sat up, the pain now gone. They were beside themselves in happiness, practically stumbling and tripping over what rubble remained to try to get to him.
Donnie smiled, relieved and…
Everything was slow. The closer his brothers got, it was as though time slowed down.
April…. Dad? They were there too. Running towards him in painstakingly slow motion.
Were they there? Back then?
No. Wait…
They’re here.
This isn’t right. Everything is practically slowed to a halt, Donnie goes to stand as he feels a chill settle over him. He looks up. The rubble is still there. Hovering.
They’re so close, he can almost touch them. His family. He reaches for them as they are frozen in place, trying to run towards him.
Donnie tries to speak again.
Wait. Wait you guys. Stop! STOP! RUN AWAY!
Dirt and dust in his mouth. Nothing comes out.
He looks up.
As the concrete and rebar come crashing back down.
[ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Donnie woke with a start in his own bed. He was covered in sweat, his side aching as he panted heavily. He looked around at his familiar surroundings, most of his computer monitors dimmed so that he could sleep better. His bed had also been forcibly lowered by Raph so that Donnie could get in and out of it easier. One of the several conditions he had to agree to in order to regain some semblance of normalcy.But this wasn’t normal. None of it was. Donnie struggled to pull himself into a sitting-up position on his own. Instead, he rolled onto his uninjured side and slipped his legs off the edge of his tube bed. He could admit to himself that he was glad his bed was lower at this moment, but he wouldn’t admit it to Raph. While careful of his broken leg, he stood a little and then positioned himself into his wheelchair with a sigh.His mouth felt gritty. And dry.Donatello shook the sleepy weakness out of his arms a little, then started wheeling himself out of his room. He looked both ways as he emerged, expecting to see at least one of his brothers sleeping on the floor, around the corner and out of sight of his bed. It wasn’t part of the conditions, but he was still surprised that he was actually left alone.Being as quiet as he possibly could, Donnie wheeled himself to the kitchen for a glass of water. It took a little while to maneuver himself in this clunky thing. If he had better mobility and flexibility, he’d motorize it in his lab as soon as he could. But that wasn’t really doable at this moment. He couldn’t even manage crutches yet, with how much it strained his ribs. He had tried already. Despite all this scientific knowledge, Donnie couldn’t even begin to hypothesize whether his leg or his ribs would heal first. Or at least not be incredibly uncomfortable to live with when moving around.The few dims kitchen lights he chose to switch on flickered, almost as if in protest to how late it was. His eyes and head hurt a little too at this very late hour, but he knew he couldn’t rest without getting a drink first. With a perturbed sigh, Donnie remembered now that all the clean dishes were put away in the cabinets above his reach. It seemed like second nature to retrieve things from their usual places when you weren’t injured, but when you were, everything was another mini brick wall to run into.Locking the brakes on the chair’s wheels, the injured turtle gripped the edge of the counter to pull himself into standing. The effort hurt the muscles in his side, and it was difficult to balance on one leg. But he was triumphant in this small endeavor. He set his clean glass on the counter so he could sit down again, unlocking the brakes. As Donnie set the glass in his lap and wheeled himself towards the sink, he considered it a small miracle that he hadn’t woken anybody up. It felt like his brothers had now suddenly become light sleepers lately. Even Raphael, who could probably sleep through a subway train running by his room, wasn’t rushing around in a panic over Donnie being out of bed. Donnie appreciated just how softhearted and helpful the biggest of his brothers always was, but if Donnie was picked up one more time without warning or permission, he was going to scream.Sipping at his cold and satisfying prize after filling up the glass, Donnie considered his options. He was tired, no doubt of that. He wanted to sleep more. Yet… he didn’t…Mentally, Donnie desperately wanted to go back to his own room and his own bed to continue reclaiming bits of normalcy. Emotionally… he knew it was too tight in there right now. He felt surrounded and suffocated by the intact concrete that constructed their underground home. He needed it far away from him.He shoved down his first impulse to throw the half-empty glass across the room in frustration with himself. The noise could wake everyone, and breaking stuff wouldn’t actually make him feel better. Donnie went to refill the glass then set it between his legs so he could leave the kitchen. He headed back towards the living room, where the pull-out couch was still set up. Donatello hesitated in the doorway as he heard the quiet sounds of the TV. Was Splinter still awake? Donnie weighed out the options again of returning to his room versus continuing into the living room. April’s advice on talking to his family about these nightmares echoed in his head… If Splinter was still awake, then he would talk about the dream that disturbed him so much tonight. He tried to push the foggy dream memory of his father getting crushed under the concrete and rebar out of his mind as he wheeled into the room.The rat was indeed still in his chair with the TV on, but he was asleep. Donnie really didn’t know whether he felt relieved that he didn’t have to talk about an uncomfortable subject, or upset that he would have to bottle it up longer. Either way, he didn’t attempt to wake up Splinter as he positioned his wheelchair by the pull-out couch and locked the brakes. The teen turtle didn’t make any extra effort trying to be as quiet, a small part of him hoping that his father would wake up.Unfortunately, he continued to lightly snore as Donnie got settled into bed. The pillows and blankets were all still where they had been left, and the fresh glass of water now rested on the small side table between the bed and Splinter’s recliner. Donnie glanced over to him, watching his father peacefully sleep, and quietly envied him. He turned his attention to the TV, which was now on infomercials, already feeling himself drift off. Maybe he would talk about the nightmare tomorrow. Maybe.Possibly…… [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Raph and Leo stood outside the living room door as Donnie ate his breakfast inside, watching TV alone.“Trust me, it’s been working,” Leo quietly asserted.“I don’t know…” Raph sighed. “He already has the injury as a badguy, I don’t think you need to be a badguy too.”Leo snorted and rolled his eyes at his bigger brother. “You don’t get it. I’m not really a badguy. But if I am one, I’m one who can sass back and work off that stress. It’s very… what’s it called… ‘Cat-arth-ic’? You said he’s grumpy this morning.”“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s right, though…”“Oh whatever, the word is close enough, you get what I mean!”“No, I didn’t mean the word, I mean your whole idea of…” Raph couldn’t finish that sentence though as Leo had already walked past him to enter the living room. He had a prideful gait to his walk and a gloating look on his face as he approached his brother.Donnie glared at him as he remained sitting on the pull-out couch, propped up by pillows again with a mostly empty plate on his lap. “Don’t you start.”Leo scoffed at his brother’s instant defensiveness, leaning on the back of Splinter’s empty chair and asking, “Start what? What, pray tell, dearest injured brother of mine?”“That look on your face. That tone to your voice. That swagger in your lean,” Donnie listed off.“Oh, I have all that? I’m sorry, I failed to notice… But I HAVE noticed where you woke up this morning,” Leo said. “Mr. ‘I want to be back in my room again’.”“Mind your own business,” Donnie huffed, glancing back to the TV. “Oh it is my business! We had to listen to so much whining about how much it mattered to you! We made the effort to make your room more accessible and comfortable for you. Even when we recommended you sleep here a while longer. What happened?” Leo asked with a smug look on his face.“I just wanted a little more space. That’s it,” Donnie said, refusing to look at his brother.“So what you're saying is you want a bigger bed in your room? You want us to go through all the trouble of pulling this bed into your room and dragging your techno-junk out to make room for you?” “How did you jump to that conclusion?!”They continued bickering and bantering for another five to ten minutes as Raph worriedly watched from the doorway. He knew it helped to blow off steam, but this just didn’t feel productive. Finally, it came to a close with Donnie’s exasperated and exaggerated exclamation, “This why Dad doesn’t love you!!” He then gave a frustrated groan and sunk into the pillows, less tense than before. Leo over-acted as the wounded loser, removing the smug look from his face as he sunk into Splinter’s chair. This was the sort-of cue for Raph to come in, which he did.“Uh… all set with breakfast, Donnie?” he nervously chuckled, offering to take the plate.Donnie went to hand it to him, saying, “Yeah. Thanks, bro.”Gratitude and a less grumpy demeanor. Maybe Leo was right. Possibly.Splinter meandered into the room as Raph took the plate, and Leo scampered out of his chair as fast as he could. As the rat plopped himself down into his usual throne, Leo melodramatically cried to him, “Daddy, Donnie said you didn’t love me! How could he be so cruel?”“... Maybe try being less… you,” Splinter said in a deadpan tone, the impact of his words sending Leo into a distraught heap on the floor. Donnie snickered at that.“But then… who would I be if not me?” Leo poetically sighed, rolling around on the floor a little. “Be Purple. He fixes things and knows how to set up my electronics in less than two minutes,” Splinter laughed. Joining in on the ribbing of his blue son was something he’d gladly do to get on Donnie’s good side. Or to make him feel less left out lately.Leo groaned, “All he is is a big nerd who thinks he’s better than everyone else. That’s easy.”Raph was about to leave the room with the plate, but he stopped dead in his tracks at hearing that. “Oh no…”“Wait a second,” Donnie said, looking grumpy again. “Easy? You think it’s easy being me right now?”Leo sat up, stuttering as he tried to think of a reply to that. He glanced at Raph, who was making the ‘cut it out’ motion across his own neck. The fool didn’t heed his charaded advice. “Uh, um, y-yeah? I mean like, you sit around all day and get to relax and watch TV… play on your tablet… That’s…….. easy,” he replied, his voice getting quieter and more strained the more words that came out of his mouth.Donnie looked livid as Splinter glared at Leo. “This whole situation is anything but easy!” Donnie yelled at him, while motioning to his own body. “I can’t stand up too long without everything hurting, I’m constantly changing positions because I easily get uncomfortable, I have to take that nasty medicine every day that makes me woozy, I can’t sleep one night without horrible nightmares, I get to listen to descriptions of all the missions you guys go on without me, and I can’t use even two-thirds of my lab because I never thought of making it ‘accessible’ because I never thought this sort of thing would happen to me! And that’s not even half of it! And you dare suggest that I have it easy?!”“Wait, I’m sorry! I-I wasn’t thinking,” Leo hurriedly apologized as even Raph was shaking his head at him. Mikey had come to join them, peeking around the corner of the living room doorway to check out the commotion.“Let’s make a bet! Right now. You couldn’t handle thirty minutes of being me,” Donnie seriously said, still angry.Leo got himself into this mess. If he had decided to create the job of being an antagonist in Donnie’s recovery story, then he would commit. “You know what, fine. You’re on. I’ll show you that you’re being a whiner. What do you want me to do?”Donnie actually smirked, a familiar maniacal look on his face. “It’s not what I expect you to do… It’s what I expect you to be subjected to. You will be entering the gauntlet… of Donnie Simulator 1.0”Surprisingly, Raph suddenly jumped into the middle of this feud. “I want in too! I’ll do the Donnie simulator or whatever, I’ll even help you set up,” he declared, as Donnie raised a drawn-on eyebrow at him. “N-not because I think you’re a whiner or anything… I just think I want to see what it feels like to go through this too. I want to understand.”There was one thing that stood out to Splinter in the argument that had just happened, but he kept his mouth shut. He only thought back to waking up several hours ago and finding his son in the bed nearby again, and at that time wondering what had led to that. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] It took a good part of the afternoon, but the main area of the sewer lair had been set up to Donnie’s specifications. Their skateboarding area was filled with random furniture, from the pull-out couch to folding tables with all sorts of items stacked on them. It was like several rooms of the lair all crammed into one small area. While Raph and Leo had worked to set that up, according to a crudely drawn map of the layout Donnie wanted them to assemble, Donnie had spent that time in his lab, working on his end of this haphazard simulator. When everything had come together, the four boys reconvened amongst all the furniture. Mikey helped Donnie by carrying a box of stuff for his wheelchair-stuck brother, dropping it unceremoniously on the ground as Donnie started speaking to Leo and Raph. “Terms and Conditions,” he said first. “You go along with all of my rules of physical limitations, or else I win. You will not complain or whine at all, or else I win. If you need to end the simulator, you use the safeword “Donnie Rules”, which means you lose. Yes Mikey, I know that’s technically two words. You understand?”Leo and Raph nodded, looking determined. With that, Mikey and Donnie started gearing them up. Their youngest brother secured 3-D printed plastic casts around his brothers’ left legs while Donnie went to slap some sticky pads on their bodies, mostly focused around their right ribcage areas. Raph looked a little confused. Of course Leo knew what these pads were, and was already starting to regret his own big mouth.They were finally set up, looking very awkward. Mikey spoke up, “Should I do this too, bro?”Donnie shook his head and responded, “No, no. You are too sweet and innocent for this Michael. You have not slighted me as someone else has.” He then motioned to a beanbag chair on the floor nearby, which Mikey happily took a seat on. Donnie rolled over next to him and locked the brakes before starting up his iPad. “Places, boys!”Raph and Leo shrugged, going to relax on the pull-out couch, side by side. The digital clock nearby started its timer of thirty minutes.His theatrical flair starting to emerge again from this excitement, Donnie said, “So… there I am. I’ve had a pretty nice nap, I have to admit. Maybe this whole bedrest thing isn’t too bad, maybe my brothers… are right…” That last bit was difficult for him to say, even though it was theoretical.“Get on with it!” Leo groaned. Donnie narrowed his eyes at them and continued, “Oh! But suddenly, I am thirsty. Oh what I’d give for a glass of cool, refreshing water.”“Want me to get that for you?” Mikey obliviously offered.He received a pat on the head from Donnie, who replied, “No, thank you sweet, well-intentioned Michael, but this is the simulation me, not actual me.”“He’s right though,” Raph spoke up with a smile. “Donnie has three helpful brothers who’d love to help him get whatever he needs.”Donnie tapped a button on his iPad, and Leo got zapped a little harshly.“Ow! What the heck dude?! I didn’t say anything, he did!” Leo complained, gesturing to a now nervous Raph.“I know,” Donnie simply answered. “Anyways! My three helpful brothers are not home right now. Alas, they’re out galavanting in the streets of Manhattan without me! Getting into fun hijinks and finding some sort of odd, useless gift to get me each time. Which is appreciated, mind you, but still useless. So now I’m all on my own if I want a drink.”“Or you could just wait. Or what about Splinter-” Leo started to say before being cut off. “Splinter is out getting cake and milk, and what did I specifically say in the terms and conditions about whining?!” Donnie shouted. He hissed a bit in pain and gripped his side from the exertion, doubling over a little. Raph elbowed Leo with a concerned look that just said ‘Shut up and go along with it.’ Leo sighed at that.“Sorry… what next?” he asked.Donnie regained his composure and breathing again, taking his hand away from his side. “Okay… so water is in the kitchen. I have to get up out of bed and get into my chair.”Leo and Raph looked to their respective sides of the bed, where a regular chair had been set up on top of skateboards for each of them. There was only one wheelchair in their home at the moment, and Donnie wasn’t giving it up. They started shifting to get out of bed, careful of their hard plastic-wrapped legs. As they moved and started to each stand on one leg, Donnie very lightly zapped both of them.“Seriously dude?” Leo asked, looking a little frustrated. Though he noticed Raph was clutching his own side, where most of the zap pads were. It was really simulator time at this point.“Seriously,” Donnie said, his tone even and low, nothing vindictive or maniacal about it. He didn’t remind Leo not to complain.Leo was already starting to understand why Donnie was so grumpy all the time, and this had barely started.“Now remember, I can only use one leg, and I can’t stand all that long because… I’m kind of weak lately,” Donnie continued. “Hurry up and get in the chair.”As Leo muttered something snide about Donnie always being weak, Raph slipped and fell to the floor before he could plant his butt in the makeshift wheelchair. Donnie instantly zapped him a bit harder than he had a few seconds ago.“Wait, wait! That doesn’t count! I messed up,” Raph complained.Donnie motioned to Mikey to go fix the chair and skateboards for Raph, while saying, “Yeah, when I mess up, it hurts. Doesn’t matter whether or not I meant to fall. It hurts anyways.”It took a minute, but Mikey had the chair set back up so Raph could sit in it. Once he was situated and their little brother returned to his beanbag, it continued.“Now I know you can’t use your arms to move those janky ‘wheelchairs’, so I give you permission to use your feet and make the arm motions like you’re actually in a real one,” Donnie instructed. “So… I’m in my chair and I have to wheel myself to the kitchen. Keeping in mind that the distance “I” am wheeling to right now is much shorter than if it was actually going from the real living room to the real kitchen.”Leo rolled his eyes a little at that, but he and Raph went through the motions, skittering themselves fifteen feet away to their respective kitchen counters. In this case being the folded tables with some glasses stacked up high on crates on top. Donnie set the zapping to a low throb as they moved, and this time they remained silent. “Oh darn!” Donnie exclaimed dramatically. “The glasses are so high up! I won’t be able to reach them from my seated position, even though I try to anyway.”His two brothers stared at him blankly, not understanding the cue. “Even though…. I try to anyway,” Donnie slowly said.They understood this time, feeling silly as they tried to reach the glasses while remaining seated. Their comprehension and acting was rewarded with another zap of pain. It took so much restraint for Leo not to make another smart remark.“So I guess I have to stand up on my own one foot and get it myself,” Donnie said.Leo and Raph spent the next minute or two struggling to stand up on one leg without letting the chairs roll away from them. Donnie didn’t have time to even try to set up any sort of brakes for them like his wheelchair had. He figured it added to the struggle.“Remember! Can’t take too long! Standing is really tiring still!” Donnie called out, zapping them a little. They each managed to get their glasses and plop back down into their chairs without rolling away. With Donnie’s instructions and narration, they pretended to fill their glasses, and then put them between their thighs so they could roll back to bed. Raph accidentally broke his glass with his legs. After checking to make sure he wasn’t hurt and that the glass was out of the way, Mikey gave him a new one.The two brothers were guided back towards the bed, now halfway through the simulation time. They got back in, while Donnie still zapped them at certain moments.“Oof, I don’t know what muscle it was that I used there, but moving it that way really hurt. Better not do that again,” Donnie said to Leo after pushing his button. “Now that I’m settled again… I forgot my iPad! I don’t feel like napping again, but I’m bored! Now I have to get back into my chair and go to my room to retrieve my iPad.”“Wait,” Raph said, speaking up, “My… uh, Donnie’s medicine is nearby! Donnie almost forgot that taking that makes the pain go away. Maybe it hurts Donnie so much because it’s time for his dose?” He asked this hopefully, wondering if there was some way to solve this puzzle.Donnie sighed, looking down for a moment as he thought that they would never really understand what he was going through. “Donnie… I.. had tested the electric zap of the pads when creating this simulator,” he said, still using his narration voice albeit a little more sullen. “I made sure not to go even close to full voltage, because I wanted this experimental simulator to be as close to what I feel day to day. I tested a range of voltages on my good rib side. Just to make sure I got it right and accurate.”Raph paled a little at that, as Leo looked down at the floor. “Yes! Indeed, I bet I could take more medicine. But I know that it would make me feel more tired and groggy. So I stick to my prescribed dose, and cope with the remainder of whatever pain the medicine doesn’t touch, because I don’t want to risk messing myself up on painkillers,” Donnie continued, clearly having thought this out before. “But in the back of my mind, I still know that this doesn’t even come close to how much the area around my stitches aches and burns when the medicine wears off. How much the muscles throb and strain if I move even a little…”He paused for a little bit as Mikey could see the despair growing across Donnie’s face. But the youngest brother couldn’t bring himself to get up and hug him. It felt like this was something hugs couldn’t help.Donnie finally looked up at Leo and Raph again, looking more serious as he un-theatrically asked them, “Do you want to feel what it’s like at its worst?” His hand hovered over the iPad controls. The tension was unbearable, until Raph got up and started taking off his own pads. Leo realized just how frozen and afraid he had felt as he reclined there in bed, just listening to his brother for once. Instead of being the wiseguy trying to lighten the mood for once.“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Raph said, stifling a sob. “You win. ‘Donnie Rules’. You win one thousand times. I lose.”Donnie looked a little surprised and ashamed at the reality that he pretty much made their oldest brother cry. He couldn’t bring himself to apologize though, as he felt that maybe Raph understood a little more. However, he was relieved when Raph came to sit beside Donnie’s wheelchair, cross-legged and pouting on the floor. He was glad Raph didn’t walk out on him.This left Leo in the simulator area. He looked to the clock, which had about six minutes left on it. He then looked at everything around him, and came to realize… that he didn’t want to win. There was no winning this. This “simulator” was Donnie trying to actually be understood. He didn’t need some antagonist to be angry with and win fights against. And even if he did, Leo wasn’t going to be the one who provided that. It wasn’t right of him.Leonardo stood up and took off the shock pads and fake cast too. “I can’t do this anymore, either. You win, Donnie. It is really hard to be you right now,” he sighed. “I’m sorry we… or maybe mainly I… tease you so much… or get frustrated with you when you’re feeling upset. You deserve to feel upset sometimes.”“... Thanks,” Donnie quietly said, though he looked away. He felt like he had taken this too far when even Leo wasn’t gung-ho about winning a challenge.“But I will say one thing,” Leo couldn’t stop himself from putting out there. “We don’t want you to never be grumpy. I don’t like that Term and Condition of this simulator. You don’t have to have a huge smile on your face all day, every day. Just…. Please keep in mind that while you’re doing your best day to day… we’re doing our best too. We’re really trying to help you…”Donnie glanced at Mikey and Raph. Raph was trying to wipe away his tears and be strong. Mikey looked like he was in desperate need of a hug, even though he wasn’t even really a part of this. The rubble was suspended above them, threatening to come crashing down. In his dream.Donnie’s family was desperately running at him, wanting him to be okay.And when he spoke…It crushed everyone. Not just Donnie.He was so afraid. This accident was a pit that he was struggling to crawl out of, through all the mental and physical pain. He was afraid that he was only dragging them down with him. Maybe part of him wanted them to hurt too, so he wouldn’t feel so alone and left behind.Well, now he felt like they understood better than they ever had over the past few weeks. But it didn’t make him feel any better, strangely.They were all being crushed under the fallout of the accident, even if he had gotten the worst of it. Maybe his dreams were telling him it was his turn to make an effort to escape, instead of only waiting for everyone else to figure out how to pull him out of it. Metaphorically, of course. “I’m…. sorry,” Donnie quietly said. “Thank you for going along with this though… I think you guys get it enough… I’ll try to be less mean about it…”At that, he was suddenly and gently wrapped in hugs from his brothers.“You can be mean to me if it helps you feel better!” Mikey cried. “I just want you to get better, inside and outside!”“You’re always a nerdy jerk to a certain degree, and that’s okay! I’m sorry I’m being demanding when you’re going through this! I shouldn’t have said all that,” Leo apologized, also tearing up. “We love you, bro!” Raph sniffled, the waterworks starting again.Donatello teared up a bit too, and felt himself smiling as he was surrounded by support. “Love you guys, too…”Splinter stood out of their sight, sighing a little. He was glad that another resolution seemed to have been reached among the brothers. But he still wanted to talk to his son about the nightmares he mentioned earlier. Now was not the time, of course…But he knew from experience that sometimes you needed more than hugs to fix something that took over your mind that much. Maybe it was time for some rehabilitative training.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
There were many things that Donatello liked to do way less than his brothers did. He could list them alphabetically. But if there was one thing he really didn’t like doing at all, it was training. Today, he found out that he could possibly hate training even more than he already did.Only about fifteen minutes into sitting up on a stool in the training room, Donnie was already grumpy and ticked off. His hands trembled a little as he held the training Bo Staff, as his brothers stood to the sidelines and watched Splinter have him deflect very soft blows from a training sword. More to help him stretch and boost his energy again than to actually teach blocking maneuvers.Another thing he really didn’t like, although this was technically part of the “training category”... His family taking it easy on him. It was obvious when Raph was holding back on his strength, or pretending that Donnie was hitting much harder than he could. They all knew his real strength resided in his inventions and tech, and especially his cleverness. Even though he had grown accustomed to the baby play “training” his brother did with him, he still couldn’t find a way to enjoy it.As Donnie raised the Bo to block another featherweight thrust thrown at him by his father, he felt his frustration building again. His side ached. His back ached. His arms felt weak. And his brothers staring at him as if he was going to shatter into pieces wasn’t helping.“I’m done,” Donnie said, tossing his Bo aside and crossing his arms.Splinter lightly tapped him on the forehead with the wooden training sword and responded, “We are not done.” He reached for the Bo with his tail and deftly lifted it up to grab it. Donnie refused to comply as his father tried to shove it back into his hands. “Dad, maybe he could use a break,” Mikey hesitantly chimed in.Splinter lightly glared at him in warning, and replied, “This is the new regimen. Lying around in bed all day won’t help him anymore. We’ve worked our way up from one minute to fifteen over the last few days, and we will continue to improve stamina with this schedule.” Splinter turned back to Donatello, who aggressively avoided eye contact, and continued, “I will not hurt you, but I will not baby you. A few more minutes.”Donnie reluctantly took the Bo staff back, but still didn’t look at his father.“Yeah, Donnie! Work those noodly little techie arms!” Leo cheered him on, trying to be positive in his own antagonistically brotherly way. Of course he was rewarded with glares all around.Splinter continued to exercise his son a while longer, careful not to make him stretch or strain the side with stitches too much. He kept a careful eye out for signs of fatigue and weakness. Donnie had been used to sitting up with something supporting his back for the past four to five weeks, so the stool was sure to help him regain his core strength. But he wouldn’t let his son fall. Even if he could easily catch him, it could still undo the mental workout he was trying to encourage too.Finally, he could see Donnie’s energy really running out. “We’re done,” he calmly said, going to take the staff back before Donnie would throw it down in frustration again. “You did well, my son.” End on a good note.“I hate this! Training is boring, and it’s stupid to do this while I’m still recovering. It’s not like I’m going to fight anytime soon!” Donnie let out, his angered tone betrayed by his voice breaking a little bit. But he was soon gently swept up in hugs from his brothers, allowing him to relax his back from sitting up on his own. The physical and emotional relief was almost instant.“You did so good, bro,” Raph praised him.“It’s really hard to do what you’re doing. That’s super cool kind of strong,” Mikey added. “No one can keep you down for long!”Leo ruffled Donnie’s bandana a little and said, “Let’s order some pizza for lunch from Run of the Mill! Whatever toppings you want!”Donnie couldn’t stop the stress from melting away, as he felt a small smile grace his mouth. Splinter smiled as well and respectfully bowed to him. Donnie nodded his head in return, then allowed his brothers to help him get situated in the wheelchair again. It felt good to be supported and rewarded like this, instead of having everyone shrink away in nervousness whenever he was visibly and vocally upset.He still hated training, though. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] After a good lunch, the family relaxed in the living room together for a bit. Donnie was relieved not to be falling asleep as easily anymore, even if he was in a comfortably reclined position and a little tired. He would be loathe to admit out loud that physical training could be helping him, but it did perhaps seem to be making a difference in regaining his energy.Their TV viewing was suddenly interrupted by what looked like a green bird flying into the room. The boys were shocked at the odd sight, though Splinter seemed unphased by it, as it flitted about the room and seemed focused on Donnie.“It’s fine, it’s just a message,” Splinter said, remaining solidly parked in his chair which Leo and Mikey took turns trying to swing at it with their weapons. As soon they settled down with their destructive attempts, the bird found a place to land and perch on the arm of the fold-out couch. It looked expectantly at Donnie, as they all realized that it was gracefully made out of leaves and sticks. Before they could get a closer look at it though, the magic holding it together fell apart.It dissolved into a pile of leaves, revealing a small folded bit of paper. Donnie carefully pulled out the paper and unfolded it, his brothers anxiously crowding around him to see what it said. Despite the beautiful intricacy of the leaf bird, the handwriting contrasted it in a familiar chicken-scratch.
‘It’s about time I removed your stitches, providing you’ve been healing adequately. Please drop by at your earliest convenience.’
Although it was unsigned, Donnie’s brothers knew exactly who it was, based on the written instructions they had been sent home with weeks ago. Instructions they had read so many times, the penmanship and contents were practically memorized. Also, based on the obvious context.“I’m guessing this is the Doctor,” Donnie said, looking a little nervous all of a sudden.“Yeah. You remember her?,” Leo responded, thinking more of the time he had to rush Donnie back to her for help, rather than the first time they met. Donnie frowned a bit, and said, “A little. I was kind of out of it both times…” His image of her was a little fuzzy, other than the distinct memory of a looming figure and large antlers hovering over him.A short silence settled over them before Mikey said, “So… should we head over now?”“... Maybe in a bit,” Donnie replied.“We’re not really busy or anything,” Raph reminded him. “After this episode,” Donnie said, nodding to the TV as he shoved the message away. His brothers looked a little unsure of what to do or say, but decided not to press the issue right away. They settled back in for now, and tried to relax again.“... Is anyone going to clean that up while we wait for Purple to stop stalling on his doctor’s appointment?” Splinter lightly snapped as he gestured to the small mess of leaves and twigs on the couch and floor. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] The rest of the day passed with excuse after excuse.“One more episode of this show.”“Let me take a nap first.”“I have to wash up before I go anywhere.”“My side hurts from moving around too much. Let me wait for the medicine to kick in.”“I’m too drowsy, I think the medicine worked too well.”“It’s close to dinner, and I’m hungry.”As much as the three boys loved their injured brother, they were ready to wring his neck at this point. It was frustrating how masterfully he had figured out how to emotionally manipulate his brothers. Obviously, as their father said, he was stalling. But it wasn’t like they could force him to want to go. They could, in fact, physically force him to go. But that would undo so much trust and goodwill built up over the past few weeks. So they continued to submit to having their heartstrings tugged by well-formulated small complaints and excuses, until it was too late to go. Of course they were given instructions and support that left them feeling like they could show up on the Doctor’s doorstep in the middle of the night if they needed help… But it seemed rude to arrive for a non-emergency after sunset. Even if they were expected. Yokai world business hours were probably similar to human world business hours, after all.“We’ll go get it over with first thing in the morning,” Raph announced to Donnie when he helped his younger brother get settled into his bed for the night. Fortunately, he was having an easier time sleeping in his room at this point. He still woke up from the occasional nightmare, but Leo was good at checking on him quickly whenever that happened. Leo knew what it was like to have difficulty sleeping too, after all.“After breakfast?” Donnie replied.“..... After breakfast,” Raph sighed. “But after that, no more excuses. We’ll just get it over with, then I promise you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want.” That last bit he hoped he wouldn’t regret promising. It seemed unlikely that Splinter would want Donnie to train after a minor medical procedure, but still...“Okay,” Donnie quietly said. “Can you get my tablet for me? I want to listen to some music for a little bit.” He pointed to the tablet hooked up to the charger nearby.“Of course,” Raph said with a smile, going to fetch the tablet for his brother before leaving the room.Little did he know that doing so was a big mistake.Donatello spent several hours watching videos about removing stitches and reading articles, instead of sleeping like he should have been. He found it much harder to sleep after that, as he desperately tried to resist resorting back to his old habit of touching his injured side. Every time he reassured himself that it was better to just get it done and over with, he would go back to thinking about what it might feel like. Especially when it came to the area of his soft shell. True, their skin was perhaps a bit rougher and thicker than the average human’s skin, but the shell was definitely thicker. That would most likely not be like the “painless” videos that humans posted online about getting their stitches removed.When his brothers came to fetch him in the morning, he still looked very tired and a lot more nervous. As Leo and Mikey helped get him into the wheelchair again, Donnie ventured a pained look at Raphael.Despite the sympathetic pain it caused Raph, he shook his head a little. He had to stick to his guns. They were still going to the Doctor.And that was that. Donnie didn’t complain anymore, as his brothers helped him pull on his hoodie and he was taken to the kitchen to tiredly eat breakfast. As odd as it was, he felt a little reassured by his brothers seeming a little on edge too. He didn’t feel alone in his worry, even though he knew they didn’t stay up watching gross videos and reading detailed firsthand accounts.When they were done, Leo went to set up the portal coin. Mikey worried a little about the wheels getting stuck on the cobblestones outside the building in the yokai world, but Raph reassured him that he could carry Donnie and the chair if he really needed to. As ready to go as they could be, they stepped through the portal, Leo leading the way.All seemed calm on the other side. Raph had to take it slow pushing Donnie across the short bit of rough road, as to not make the ride too bumpy and painful. If it had been two weeks ago, Donnie knew he’d be in much more pain way more quickly. They soon made it inside onto the much smoother wooden floor, Mikey opening the door for them.Aeshlan Iman’Aerian of the Verdant sat at her desk in her empty apothecary clinic, greeting them with a curt, “I expected you all to pay me a visit yesterday.” By this point, it was clear that pleasantries were not her forte.“Good morning!” Mikey responded with a smile, always down for sharing pleasantries.“Sorry, yesterday ended up being inconvenient,” Leo nervously chuckled, obviously sort of lying. “But we’re here now.”“So you are,” she said, looking to Donnie.He felt so vulnerable under her gaze. This was someone he knew he owed his life to. She had seen him in his most vulnerable and desperate time, and had the knowledge and confidence to mend him. As he wondered how many other patients she had to clean their blood off her equipment after a difficult day, he realized that he himself really didn’t know her. His brothers sort of knew her, or at least had more social interactions with her.All Donnie’s and Aeshlan’s interactions pretty much had scalpels, medication, and bandages between them. It was awkward to have someone see you through an experience most people wouldn’t have to. His hazy memories grew a little clearer now that he saw her, at least.“You’re looking better. If not a little pale,” the Doc said to Donnie, apparently not completely beyond pleasantries. Even if she sort of was just stating an observation. “Th-thanks... “ Donnie mumbled, feeling incredibly self-conscious.She nodded and continued, “I have enough room for you or you today, the space I have open is a little tight.” She had pointed to Mikey and Leo for that, and then apologized to Raph.They decided Leo should go back with Donnie. He had the most experience with being in the back, and they collectively decided Mikey might be a little young to sit there and watch his brother be worked on while trying to be supportive. Mikey could have definitely done it if needed, but secretly he was little relieved.Before Leo could wheel Donnie to the back, the Doc was nice enough to give some money to Raph and Mikey so they could get some snacks from a small restaurant down the street. And with that, the brothers were temporarily separated again.Leo and Donnie followed her as she ducked her antlers through the small doorframe and headed towards the right. It looked like the bigger examination area to the left, where Donnie had first been worked on a little over a month ago, was curtained off. It was hard to tell if there was someone there or if it was just dirty and unavailable, but the boys made a mental note to try to be respectful just in case.As soon as they were in the small examination cubicle, the Doc closed the curtains while Leo helped Donnie get up onto the cushioned table. Leo noticed his brother shivering just a little, but politely didn’t say anything about it. He knew he would be just as nervous in this situation. He was nervous just being back here, based on past experience.“You should be healed enough for me to remove the stitches. I want to get a good look at the affected area around your shell, though. I would imagine it heals at around the same rate, but you can never be too careful,” she said, breaking the silence as she started grabbing what she needed. “Oh… cool… Okay,” Donnie hesitantly said, unsure of how to respond. “The cast on your leg needs another few weeks, to be safe. And I still want you to be careful with stretching and exerting your side too much. No heavy-lifting or extreme stretching, more for the sake of the muscle and ribs,” she continued. After washing her hands, she came over to inspect the stitches, pulling the bottom of his hoodie away enough. The bandaging around the area was much lighter, more to prevent him from picking at the itchy stitches than to protect the healing wound. She peeled it away and gently started probing the area.It wasn’t alarmingly red or inflamed, but still a little swollen. There would obviously be a scar. Even her expertise and medicines were good enough to remove that deep of a mark, though she kept that to herself. Unless they asked about it or showed concern, now wasn’t the time to bring up a depressing fact that Donnie most likely already realized.“Yes… I can remove the stitches today. I want you to do some stretches a few times a day, and then in about a week, you can ease into using crutches. You’ll feel some strain and soreness, but it will be something to slowly work on. Not to tackle all at once,” the Doc said. “Dad’s having him work out in our training room again already,” Leo said, before he realized that maybe he should have kept that on the down-low.Immediately she looked a bit perturbed and quickly responded, “Well, he went and did something without consulting me first, what a big surprise that is to me.” She heaved a quick and heavy sigh with her ear flicking in frustration, the boys passing an awkward look to each other.“So… you and Splinter…” Donnie hesitantly said, feeling an incredible mix of curiosity and nervousness at the same time as he lay there exposed.She shook her head a little and went to get a bottle of medicine from nearby. “I worked for the Battle Nexus back in the day. For a while. I worked with him, or rather, on him a few times. Today is not the day to talk about that, though. If you would please roll onto your good side, I can start,” she said, regaining her composure.Donnie went to do so, facing away from her and towards Leo, as Leo had pulled up a nearby stool to sit on. They looked at each other as it dawned on them how much more she knew about their father’s past than they did. It only raised more questions, though she made it clear she was not really inclined to elaborate right now.“I’ll be using some numbing gel, so all you should feel is some tugging, along with the occasional pinch,” she warned Donnie, going to apply some of her own herbal concoction to the area of the stitches.Despite having experienced the worst pain he would ever have to feel in his life weeks ago, the idea of what she was saying made his stomach flop. He didn’t reply, just staring into space past Leo.Practically feeling the anxiety radiating off of his brother right now, Leo went to hold his hand without asking if he needed it first. Donnie glanced to him for a moment, still frowning but looking marginally more thankful. When she started, he was happy that he didn’t seem to feel much except for some slight tugging. He wished he didn’t have to hear the occasional sharp clip of her scissors, making him feel like some sewing project on a crafting table. The outer edges of the ‘Y’-shaped injury closer to his stomach didn’t feel like much. As she got to the part where it all intersected, it started to sting more. And she hadn’t even reached his shell yet.Donnie felt himself squeezing his brother’s hand a little more now. Leo tried not to watch the stitches being clipped and removed, but it was grotesquely satisfying in its own way.One particularly big one provoked a small flinch and a whimper from Donnie, as it took a little more pressure and effort to remove.“I’m sorry,” she quietly responded. “Sometimes the flesh and skin heals and clings to it a little more.”“I know,” Donnie lightly whined. “... Watched videos…”“That sounds like a horrible idea,” Leo scoffed. “I guess that’s sort of why you didn’t sleep well last night, huh?”Donnie rewarded him with a pointed glare in reply, before closing his eyes and burying his face a little more in the table cushioning.It grew more and more painful as it got closer to his shell, as the Doc had to put a little more effort into removing those stitches. Leo felt his hand growing more and more sore as Donnie squeezed it and cringed in pain, but he wouldn’t remove it. He considered switching hands, but figured that one really sore hand was better than two sore hands. The numbing gel must not have been working really well for his shell. It was much thicker and clung to the stitching even more so.“You know… there’s dissolving stitches or something that humans made, I dunno if that’s an invention yokai have too,” Leo spoke up to the Doc, lifting his gaze to her.She froze for a moment and glanced pointedly to him for a moment.Leo flinched and quickly replied in one big word jumble, “I’m sorry please don’t toss me across the room I’ll be quiet!”She snorted a little and said, “No… that’s interesting. I’ll have to look into that.”Leo instantly felt relieved at her response, and was happy when his response made his brother give a short chuckle.“I’m at the last few,” the Doc said, and went to take care of the area directly on Donnie’s soft shell. Leo hated seeing his brother partially curled up on his side, making noises of distress as the procedure continued. Though it was better than the fear and uncertainty they faced when this whole problem started.“Almost there,” Leo quietly soothed him, using his own free hand to gently rub Donnie’s shoulder. Something he would never get away with under normal circumstances. He couldn’t watch this part of it himself, feeling his own shell itch at the mere thought of what the Doc was doing. Although, he wondered if his shell was too thick to get stitches, and if it would need something more like staples to fix it.Leo’s stomach turned a little at the thought, but he was distracted again by Donnie squeezing the life out of his hand.It was both the feeling and the thought of what was going on that pained him so much.Fortunately, the last stitch came out. The Doc went to carefully and quickly clean the around scar, where it has started bleeding just a little. Nothing serious, except for the pinpricks where some of the threads had been. Donnie’s grip relaxed as she used a soothing salve and applied some light bandages.“That’s it,” she said when she was finished. “It’s healing nicely. You can tell your father not to train today, if it will help you relax. Doctor’s orders.”“Thank you,” Donnie quietly said, going to lie on his back again with a sigh. “.... For everything.”She didn’t respond to that, though paused a little before going to wash her hands. Finally, as Leo went to help Donnie into the wheelchair again, she said without looking at them, “I prefer you avoid injury and illness, but I’m here if you need me.”“You rock, Doc,” Leo said, pointing finger guns at her with a smile.She sighed and rolled her eyes at that. “I will send a reminder for the cast. Until then, continue to do light stretching through the day and keep the training light. See if you can get ahold of some basic crutches, and start using them in small bouts over the next week. Work your way up. Expect discomfort, but if there is intense pain, come back here.”And with that, their appointment was finished. The boys left the back room to rejoin their oldest and youngest brothers. They had arrived just in time for there to be some dumplings and snacks left that they had yet to eat. After a light argument over almost failing to save some for Leo and Donnie, they went to bid their farewells and thanks to the Doctor. They slowly left while carefully wheeling out Donnie, and Aeshlan returned to her desk. A warm sweet rice cake waited for her, along with a cup of tea. She enjoyed her tea while entertaining the duality of the thought of never wanting to see the boys again due to her line of work, but also wanting to see them more. [ . . . . ./ TMNT \. . . . . ] Raph had said that after going to this appointment, Donnie could do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day. The first thing he wanted to do was take a nap for a few hours, which was easy to comply with. The second thing made Raph more uneasy, but a promise was a promise. And so he found himself and Mikey helping Donnie get settled into the cab of the turtle tank. They had an extra pillow to help him stay comfortable on the bumpy pothole-filled roads of New York City, while ensuring the seatbelt was securely fastened.“I think I can triangulate a few locations where we might be more likely to find crutches. First stops will be dumpsters, while I have the computer metal detect the precise shape. It will take a while for all that to process so we can get accurate readings, but that’s only if we don’t find what we’re looking for at the first few stops,” Donnie said, finishing hooking up a laptop to the console of the turtle tank. Leo’s first impulse was to say that Donnie should stay home to relax and rest while they did the hard work. Especially since it wasn’t unusual to run into enemies while out and about in the tank. But he knew about Raph’s promise, as short-sighted as it might have been to say to Donnie that he could do whatever he wanted.And what Donnie wanted was to go on a ride with his brothers. Secured and comfortable in their seats, they eased out of the sewer garage, going for a ride all together for the first time in what felt like forever.