We All Make Mistakes
A heavy weight of knowledge rested on Donatello's shoulders. It was more than the yoke of responsibility that Leonardo carried. It was worse than the plethora of untamable emotions that Raphael housed under his thick chest. It was bigger and so very unbearable in comparison to Michelangelo's lack of focus in anything serious. This one was Donatello's burden to bear and he hated that he had it - that he knew what he did.
He sighed as he stood silently at the railing that overlooked their living room below. He had had good intentions begin with. He was trying to be helpful when he started on his trek. It was through April's contact, whom she assured him was a safe source for his needs, that Donatello had been returned the documentation he requested and had looked at the results. What he saw was not what he expected or wanted to see. He had been stunned and disappointed that he hadn't seen it coming for what his request had been.
Lately he'd been concerned with what might happen should one of them fall sicker than a simple cold or mild break. Tea worked wonders for a sore throat and Don was rather efficient with a splint, for the rare instances that one of them actually broke something. Leo was adept in minor treatments as well and where they hadn't had something so big they couldn't handle Donatello worried for when the day came. Did cancer effect them? Could it? What if they needed a surgery of some sort for something routine in the human world? Would their blood be compatible with typical anesthetics? Could something simple kill them because they weren't made of the same basic fabrics as their softer human counterparts - yet not like their shell bound animal halves? Don wanted to be sure. When he asked for a full blood panel and genetic foundation he hadn't anticipated, though he should have figured it to be the case had he truly put his mind to it, such an exploratory and invasive background check.
He trusted April and therefore figured her contact would never expose any abnormalities he found in the blood itself. It was, as far as Don was concerned, abnormal. They were different from any other blood sample on the planet. The scientist who provided these results would have noticed for sure, if he dealt only in human factors and subjects. Don assumed April defused any strange situations that might have arisen from those questions. Donatello had grater problems to face.
A smile fluttered across his face as he watched Raph whack Mickey in the back of the head. The more energetic turtle immediately rubbed at his cranium and squinted one eye shut. It was endearing to Don for the comfort and familiarity of the exchange. "What was that for?" Mikey moaned.
"Good measure." Raph retorted snidely with a half cocked off grin and Mikey retaliated by pitching a bit of day-old pizza crust in Raph's direction.
"Really?" Leo asked, peeking up from the book that was spread out in front of him. He was tucked up close to the makeshift coffee table, having previously been completely consumed in whatever he was reading. His words weren't scolding or authoritative, instead they were in a playful taunt. Whether that be directed at Mikey's lame attempt at revenge for Raph's attack or for Raph's initial attack to begin with was unclear. A crusty piece of rock hard bread, from the same crust, plinked Leo in the head and bounced off landing on his book. The result made Mikey bellow in laugher as Leo blinked and hadn't stopped the 'attack'.
"Yea really!" He managed getting out through teary eyed laughter that rumbled him so hard he rolled around on his back, entertained by his victory.
"Lets put him out of his misery. Clearly retardation of that intensity is painful. If it ain't for him - it is for me." Raph said to Leo who had launched himself over the couch, ready to attack Mikey in playful boyish antics. "Or we could just disown him. That's it Mikey - you're just Mikey now, no more Hamato for you." Raph jeered playfully.
Prior to that moment Donatello had been watching with a sad look of uncertainty on his face, a tear even weighed down his mask from the way his family's interaction tore at his soul. He loved them, and for all their strange antics he was sure they loved him too. But Raph's comment struck a chord in him that reverberated off his brain and set an uncontrollable sense of defense to the normally mellow turtle. He launched himself off from the upper flight of stairs, his bo staff having been drawn from it's spot on his back. He landed gracefully between Mikey and Raph.
"Don't!' He growled lowly, but had already landed the first hit into the unsuspecting Raph. Leo stepped back in surprise and Mikey sat up - unfazed by Raph's taunting but shocked by his purple wearing brother's attack. Mike's eye were wide as Raph narrowly missed a second swing but Don had swept at his feet and managed knocking Raph off balance. "Say!" Donnie growled as he moved forward more aggressively - attacking wildly. "Things!" Raph had managed gathering his baring and his weapons too came out as he deflected Don as best he could. It was clear that he too was surprised by the sudden and unprompted attack. "Like!" Don's voice was shaking with the sheer amount of emotion radiating through him. "THAT!"
Don's bow came up under Raph's chin and he pinned his usually more aggressive brother to the dank, brick sewer wall. He was heaving in his chest and his eyes were narrowed in on Raph.
"Donnie..." Leo took a small step forward.
"I was just messin'." Raph said but the last word choked a little as Don's staff bore into his larynx cutting off the ability to speak. Shock and surprise radiated through Raph and he wasn't sure what to do. Normally he would bite back but this situation baffled him to the point that he was entirely stumped by the sudden lashing.
"SHUT UP!" Donnie barked, uncharacteristically. In fact everything about him was uncharacteristic right then. But in the defense of his family, even against his other family members, he would do what was necessary. Raph, sometimes, needed this sort of act to understand his value in among his brothers. His brute force and aggression had to be met in kind, and - as a result - he was wholly listening to Don. Even still he seemed surprised to have been bested by Don, who was very obviously angry. Don rarely lashed out physically and he even less often got hotly angry.
"We're all we've got!" He snapped at Raph, but it was directed at Leo and Mikey too. "This is it! Once in awhile we could treat each other like...a family! With love and respect." Later Don would realize that his hot headed brother's expression of love was exactly how he'd been treating Mikey, but in that moment the words - blasphemous words - cut right into Don's heart. Raph nodded a little and Leo's hand came down on his brother's shoulder.
"Don. Are you okay?" Leo asked softly, reaching up and placing his other hand on Donatello's wrist. He gingerly pressed his arm downward so his bo released Raph. The weapon clattered to the ground between he and Raph as Don's fingers gave out on the item.
He looked over to Leo sharply. "No." He snapped. "We're all Hamatos. Period." He said firmly and Leo nodded.
"Yeah Don. I know. We know."
"Mikey too. All of us." He said again sharply and scowled at Raph. "And you. You too." Raph was staring at his brother, rubbing his throat. He had half a mind to pummel Don right there but with Leo in the way he figured it would be a bad idea.
"No shit." Raph hissed bitterly. "That ain't news to any of us Don."
The brainy turtle shrugged Leo's hand off from his shoulder. He marched directly to his lab and gathered up the paperwork he'd just received; bits of it important to him but it was so tainted that Don couldn't bare to look at it. He shuffled it all off the desk into his metal waste basket. With a match and serious conviction he lit fire to everything that could have been useful and everything that hurt him. The fact that they didn't all share the same genetic parents shouldn't matter as much as it seemed to hit Donatello like a sucker punch to the gut.
He would never tell them - he would never admit outwardly that they didn't all share same genes. They didn't come from the wild where they were all born in the same clutch, they were from a pet shop where a breeder probably sold a few dozen turtles to various shops from a number of parents. But it didn't matter. They would always be family. Any scientific evidence to say otherwise would remain as ash in the bottom of his trash.
They would always be brothers...where it mattered.
::Author's Note::
This is a fragment of a subject we wanted to tackle in Nose Over Tail. We discussed it a good deal yesterday in our adventures away from the 'intarwebs' and technology. It seemed to fit a one-shot prior to our full exploration of the topic. When Harley suggested this possibility Stoic looked at her and asked, 'Who do you think is related?' As if blasphemy had been uttered. To this Harley humbly answered: 'Does it matter...' It's like that moment a child learns they're adopted.