Turning Back The Clock
a/n: I really don't know where this idea came from, but one of the turtles are turned into a child and the others have to learn how to adapt to the tot. I had to check, but I really don't own the turtles, wait, no, no. I don't own them. Damnit. The word for this chapter is hiccup. Enjoy ! :)
Chapter 1
It was patrol time again, which the turtles didn't mind as it meant time spent on the surface. They climbed into the battle-shell each of them hoping for a different outcome. Raph was hoping that there would be lots of action. Leo was hoping to protect his family. Mikey was hoping that not much of anything would happen so he could have fun with his bros. Samie was hoping that nobody got hurt. And Donnie was hoping that he wouldn't need to fix up the battle-shell again.
Half an hour later they ran into an old enemy. Baxter Stockman. He was holding something that looked like a ray gun in his hand. He aimed for Leo and pressed the trigger. Sam then done something she shouldn't have and jumped in front of it. She fell to the ground. The brothers attacked Stockman for hurting her. And he ran off like the coward he was leaving time for the four boys to check on their sister.
They took her home and put her in the infirmary area of the lair. Donnie said to let her sleep and check on her in the morning. Before leaving to pack for the trip to the farmhouse they were taking the next day.
In the morning Donnie went to check on Samie and he found a f turtle tot with brown hair and a too big yellow mask on her face. "Samie, is that you?"
"Donnie. I want daddy." Was all she said as she became more alert.
"Okay baby, I will get daddy for you." He paused for a second. "Samie, can you tell me how old you are?" Don asked. Sam held up four fingers.
"This many. Almost as many as my fingers." She said. Don asked her to stay where she was and went to find Master Splinter and the others.
He ran out into the practice area. "Guys we have a massive problem." He said. "Let me rephrase that. We have a massive four year old problem."
"What do you mean Donnie?" Leo asked his younger brother.
"Come into the infirmary and check it out." Don said. The others followed Donnie into the infirmary where Samie had slept the night before.
"Daddy. You're here now!" Sam cried out and jumped off the bed and over to him and cuddled into his fur.
"Yes child I am here. Are you hungry? We have a long trip today." He told her.
"Sensei, what are we going to do?" Asked Mikey who looked at his now younger sister in a weird way, like he hardly knew her.
"We will wait and see if an opportunity to reverse this comes up. And until then Samantha will be treated her age. Understand." Splinter turned and looked at Donnie. "Donatello, do you think you can reverse this?" He asked the resident genius.
"I will think of something at the farmhouse. Come on sis let's get you something to eat." Sam didn't let go of Splinter's leg. Do splinter lifted her up and carried her to the training area. He was beginning to remember how clingy Sam had been as a child.
"Leonardo, go and pack for your sister. Michelangelo you can make the breakfast. Raphael, Donatello help me train her."
"Yay, I get to train." Sam cried out excited. "Can I use sai like Raphie's?" She asked innocently.
"Absolutely not." Splinter responsibly answered.
By the end of the training session Splinter had figured out that Sam was still learning the basics. And couldn't do anything to complicated. By this time the little girl was very hungry. And the smell of Mikey's cooking drifted through the lair and drew her toward the kitchen.
"Here you pipsqueak." Mikey said giving her two pancakes on a plate with strawberries, syrup and apple juice because Sam never liked orange juice. The others came in.
"Hey sissy, you have syrup on your nose." Raph said putting his finger on it. Sam laughed at this and continued eating. When Sam went to pick up her glass, she had dropped it again because it was too heavy for her. "I'm sorry daddy." She said as Leo picked her up so that she wouldn't stand on the tiny glass shards that were now all over the floor.
"It's okay, you didn't mean it. Do you want to see if I forgot anything when I was packing for you?" Sam put her small hand up to her face.
"Yeah, can we?" She asked. Leo told her that it was okay and left not putting her down until they had reached the sofa.
Soon everyone was ready to leave for the farmhouse. So Donnie took Sam up to the battle-shell. And was spinning her in one of the swivel chairs. Sam couldn't stop laughing, but did when she began to feel sick. "Donnie. Stop." She cried out. Don stopped the chair. "I feel sick." It was that moment that Donnie realised that he shouldn't have done that so soon after breakfast. He quickly gave her a bucket as April and Casey came into the warehouse.
"I thought we were picking you up at your place." Don said.
"I thought we were supposed to meet up here." April replied. She looked at Donnie who was holding a bucket for a turtle tot in one hand and her hair back with the other. "Is that your sister?" April asked. Donnie nodded. "She is so cute. Is she feeling okay?"
"I shouldn't have spun her in the chair so soon after breakfast." Donnie explained. The others came up. Leo had sandwiches and juice and water for the journey in a bag. And they all put the suitcases in the back of the truck before climbing in. Sam sat on Splinters knee the entire journey sipping water slowly.
They made it to the farmhouse which was good enough for everyone. So they went to unpack. Sam dragged April to her room after about half an hour to show her what she had done. Her stuff was everywhere. Only there were hardly any toys, it was mainly books that she had and the only toys were stuffed animals that Leo had found in her room before they left. The stuffed animals were all on top of the bed at the pillow, apart from one which she held in her arms. "Do you like it April?" Sam asked.
"Of course I do sweetie. It is very you." April replied. Sam smiled proudly at the compliment. "Do you think that Mikey will like it? And Raph, and Donnie and Leo?" She asked.
"They will like because you did it." April told her. Come on honey let's go and get your father." April took Sam's hand and led her outside to where Splinter was training with Leo. Casey then asked her if she would like to go for a walk. April gladly accepted and walked away with Casey.
"Daddy, where is the others?" Sam asked.
"They are in the orchard, Donnie wanted to pick apples and Mikey and Raph said something about settling a bet." Leo responded.
"Leonardo concentrate. I'm sure your brothers will be back soon Hime."
"Then Mikey can tell me a story. He's the best at that." Sam said.
"Yes he is quite imaginative." Splinter stopped what he was doing and told Leo to pick up his sister. She had left her doggy toy sitting on the porch step and a car had just rolled up the driveway. "Daddy. I want Percy." Sam said. Leo shushed her. And had to hold her back because she was ready to go and get the toy. Leo picked her up.
"Listen Samie we are going to play a game. It's called stay here and hide, okay." Sam nodded and Leo put her down. The woman that got out of the car went inside the house.
Splinter and Leo went to help her bring all the apples inside the barn. Sam seen the opportunity to go and collect her Percy only to find that the husky was gone. She ran over to the barn as the others slipped inside. "Daddy Percy's gone." She said.
"Maybe he went to somewhere colder, husky's like snow and ice. It's where they live."
"No he wouldn't leave me here." Sam said innocently.
"Quick Leonardo hide yourself and your sister." Splinter said as Mrs Jones came into the barn.
"There you go, all neatly stacked." April commented.
"Good now you can peel them. Be sure not to bruise them up too much." Mrs Jones handed April a peeler and left the barn again. Leo and Splinter walked over, Sam was right behind them.
"There is just no pleasing that woman." April said. Leo unsheathed his swords and scraped them together.
"I wanna help."
"No these tools are sharp and you do not touch sharp things." Splinter told her. April placed Sam on her knee and handed her something. It was a juicy red apple.
"Here you go, I'm sure Mrs Jones isn't going to miss one apple."
"And apples are better for you than any candy bar." Splinter added. "You have to remember that parents just want what is best for their children, Mrs Jones is like any other parent. And parents will do anything to protect their children."
"Tell me about it." Leo said as he began to peel apples with his katana.
Later on as the sun was setting everyone had returned to the farmhouse for a good meal. When Casey decided to introduce his mother to his friends. "I get that you ain't aliens, but how do you know my Arnold?" Asked Mrs Jones. Raph sniggered. He had never heard Casey be called Arnold before.
"Let's just say that Arnold here was more concerned about knocking my head off my shoulders with a baseball bat than actually what I looked like." Raph said. "The rest they say is history."
"Mikey tell me a story, please." Sam said following him in from the kitchen. "Pretty please."
"No sprog I'm busy." Mikey said, he wasn't really busy. He just didn't want to tell her a story from the book she was holding up.
"Hey Samie, how about I tell you a story that isn't in that book." Raph said. Sam dropped the book and forgot all about Mikey telling her a story.
"Yeah, is it about a princess?" Sam asked.
"No but it is about a turtle." Raph commented. "It started earlier on out in the apple orchard. With me and Mike firing arrows at Donnie's head.,," Raph told her the story of what had happened to them that day and how close they had been to a nuclear explosion. By the end of the story Samie had fallen asleep in Raph's lap. Don took the camera and snapped a picture of the two of them. Before Raph stood up and carried her up to bed.
The next afternoon Samie was watching Cinderella on video and playing with a spider. "The Incy wincy spider walked up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.-"
"Hey sis, you like spiders?" Mikey asked coming in. Casey had brought a movie for him to watch from town. "Do you want to watch a movie all about spiders?" Sam nodded.
"Is it a documentary?" She asked. Mikey really wanted to watch his horror film, so he lied and said that it was.
Fifteen minutes later Sam was engrossed in the T.V screen. A giant spider was eating a person. Sam screamed and ran out of the farmhouse. Mikey paused the movie the second she began to scream. That was one of the scarier bits and the screen was filled up with the face of the giant arachnid. "Samie where are you?" He called out into the wilderness as he followed her outside. He seen her head into the forest.
Mikey ran back inside. "Sam's ran off out, to the forest." Mikey said.
"What, why would she do that?" Donnie asked. "We explained to her not to when we first got here." Leo stood in the doorway, listening to the conversation. He sighed before speaking.
"I think I know why." He flung the casing for the movie on the kitchen table where Donnie was sitting. "What kind of idiot let's a four year old watch a horror flick. Especially one with giant spiders." Leo went back into the living room. She hadn't lifted Percy as she ran off. "Raph's in the barn. We can get him as we go and find her."
The three left the house and went to get Raph before heading over to the forest. "Are you stupid or something?" Raph asked rhetorically as the others explained the situation.
"How was I supposed to know that she wouldn't like it." Mikey defended.
"What four year old does like horror films. If she gets hurt in anyway then I am personally going to hurt you." Raph threatened.
"Guys enough, our reverted sister is out here lost, scared and alone. Can you stop fighting and try to find her." Leo told them, there was enough authority in his voice to get them to listen to him.
Meanwhile Sam had stopped running because she tripped up over the roots of a tree. Her ankle was really sore and it was starting to get a little chilly outside. She turned around and went to walk back to the farmhouse but couldn't walk and couldn't remember the way. "Daddy, Leo, Donnie, Raphie, Mikey!" Sam called out to the trees. She waited for an answer and none came. "Guys, I want to come home now. I didn't mean to run away. I was scared." By the time she finished her sentence her voice was barely a whisper and she began to cry. After half an hour of crying Sam fell asleep, and by this time it was bitter cold.
"We have to be getting close by now. I'm freezing." Mikey said.
"How do you think a tiny little turtle is feeling then. If she isn't hurt that is." Raph commented. Leo stopped Mikey from responding to this.
"Guys. I found her tracks. We have to hurry it will be dark soon." Leo said going in the direction of the tracks.
"Yeah we have to teach her how to cover her tracks." Raph said.
"No, her inability to cover her tracks could be the difference between us finding her alive or-" Leo didn't want to finish that thought. The other possible outcome wasn't something he wanted to think about.
They stopped at a very small clearing. At one end sat a very cold sleeping turtle that was caked in mud and had a swollen ankle. Don walked over to her. "Guys, she's freezing cold and her ankle isn't sitting right. We have to get her back." Don lifter her up bridal style and carried her back to the farmhouse.
When they got back to farmhouse Splinter was sitting out on the porch, he seen his five kids come out of the forest. "My children where have you been?" He asked.
"Samie got a fright and ran into the woods. We found her but she is freezing cold and has a bad ankle." Leo explained, leaving out exactly why she had run off in the first place.
"Get her inside and get her warm. Donatello look at her ankle more closely. And one of you three will tell me exactly why your sister ran away." Splinter looked furious, what had happened to make his daughter run off.
Don took her up to her bed and wrapped her ankle. Before coming back downstairs. Splinter had waited for him coming back down to yell at all four of them. "I want answers. What happened today?" He questioned. Mikey gulped. "Michelangelo?"
"It was all my fault sensei. Sam was watching a Cinderella and I seen her play with a spider. I thought that she could handle it. It turns out that lying to her and telling her it was a documentary so that I could watch a film was a bad idea."
"And why would that be?" Splinter asked, even though he knew the answer.
"Because she got scared and ran off." Mikey answered. "I will wait on her hand and foot until she is better, even if Donnie finds a way to fix her."
"Speaking of, how is that going?" Leo asked.
"I am not finished Leonardo." Splinter said. "You followed her into the forest yourselves and never told me about it until now. Why not?"
"There wasn't any time to. If we had she could have frozen to death. We are sorry we never told you before hand father." Don said. "When she wakes up, then we will have to keep her entertained in her bed. I think that she might have slight hypothermia from the cold. And with her ankle, I don't think that Samie is going to be on her feet for a while."
Sam woke up two days later wondering why she was in bed. Don came into the room. "Hey sissy. You're awake. I brought you some soup."
"Donnie, my foot hurts." She said weakly.
"I know baby, don't worry. The soup will make you feel better." Sam opened her mouth and Donnie spooned some into her mouth. He was mainly feeding her because he didn't want her to spill and partly because Sam was too weak to feed herself.
Don remembered back ten years before, when they had all been growing up. Sam had gotten sick and Splinter had kept her in bed back then too. He remembered wanting to play with her and going in to see her lying in bed sleeping. At first he had tried to wake her, but it didn't work. He had thought the worst and gotten really scared. Splinter had spent the next half hour of his life trying to console Don and get him to calm down.
By the time Sam had finished her soup she was ready for a story. "Once upon a time in a land far, far away there was a baby princess." Donnie read. It was the story of Rapunzel. Sam had said to make sure that there were no spiders in the story. Don obliged, cursing Mikey in his mind for scaring her so badly. He found the book and ensured that there was no spiders in the story. Five minutes in and Samie was asleep. Her body couldn't handle too much.
It took Sam a week before she was able to come back down stairs. And even then she needed help. This was possibly the first time that they were glad that she had reverted. And Mikey kept his promise to her and waited on her hand and foot. All this time Percy never left the turtle tot's side. At least Casey's mother had left the farmhouse, leaving the family alone. "Auntie April?" Samie asked.
"What's wrong honey?" April responded.
"Can we go for a walk?" Sam asked. April hesitated, the last time she was outside she ran directly for the woods and got lost and nearly died of the cold.
"If you promise to stay beside me. I might take you into town." April said. The little girl had really perked up. By the time she had finished breakfast her father allowed her to go with April to town provided she wear a disguise.
In town April had to carry her because of her foot. The supermarket was easy because Sam easily fit in the shopping cart, despite her shell. "Samie you have been a very good girl today. Do you want to have a look at the toys?" Sam smiled and nodded vigorously. They looked at the toys and seen that Sam was really liking a certain barbie doll. April took it off her and put it in the cart. "You will get it back in the car."
"Really?" Sam asked.
"Yes, you have been good and you are poorly. You deserve to be cheered up." Sam clapped her little green hands. One of the sales assistants smiled at this.
"She is adorable. Aww did you hurt your foot?" Asked the guy that was serving them.
"My brother scared me and I ran outside and tripped up. It's okay because daddy yelled at him and he is really sorry." Sam explained.
"As long as he is sorry." The guy said. "Your daughter is sweet."
"She's my niece. I'm watching her for a few hours. Can't take your eyes off her for a seconds."
"I know, my little brother is the same age as her and he is always getting into trouble. Drives my mother crazy." The guy smiled.
"Come on Samie, say goodbye. Donnie might have something interesting for you to do."
"Yesterday that meant algebra." Sam commented.
"Don't you like math honey?" April asked.
"Yes, but Don can be pushy. I would rather play doctor with Percy." Sam held up her husky. April left the supermarket.
"Samie, your big brother just wants to see you reach your full potential. He knows that you are capable of so much. Even when you aren't feeling well."
"Then do you think he will teach me how to build things?" Sam asked hope rising within her.
"I think he might." April lifted her out of the cart and placed her in the car they had brought with them. "Stay here and don't talk to anyone or open that door." April put the shopping cart back and came back to the car. April helped her with her seatbelt, seeing as the young turtle currently had a barbie and a stuffed dog in her hands and was refusing to let go for anything.
Back at the farmhouse Splinter was training the boys on blind fighting again. So far the only one who was succeeding was Leonardo. Sam wanted to run out of the car but couldn't. Donnie came over to her. "Hey little sister." He greeted. Sam smiled.
"I got a new barbie." She cried out as he lifted her out of the car.
"Donatello. Get back here for your training." Splinter called out.
"Hey we can hang out when I'm done training with the guys okay sis. I won't be very long." He told her. Sam nodded sadly. As Don passed her over to April who took her inside the house.
Training wasn't finished for another hour. Sam and April passed the time by watching pocahontas. Sam loved the movie, but was really happy when her brothers came out of training. "Hey kiddo." Donnie said, sam smiled at him from across the room. He remember pictures of the two of them smiling like that together, before they found out that they are technically twins. He wondered if they were still biologically identical. "Do you want to help me with a project?" Donnie asked. Sam looked at April and then to her brother before lifting her arms up. Don picked her up. "Okay then go and have fun you two. And Donnie bring her back in for dinner, or at least when it is time for her to go to bed." April warned. Don agreed and took her to the barn.
Sam sat on a small bail of straw by the furnace. "I know you probably won't understand this but, I have a feeling that our DNA is the very thing that can bring you back to normal." He told her. Sam was confused.
"How come, I am normal already." She asked.
'Oh shit' Don thought. "Well Samie, this is very difficult to explain and even harder to understand but you and me we are closer than just a brother and sister are. Do you know why?" He explained before asking. Sam shook her head at the question. "I'll tell you then. Samie baby we are twins."
"Twins are babies born at the same time. And you are old and I am not."
"Samie I am only 16."
"See that is old." Don had to laugh, it was pure innocence that made his sister believe that her true age was old, in the way that only a child could.
Now all he had to do was figure a way to get it to work. He brought out a needle. "Samie I need you to stay very still for me, this isn't going to hurt you much. Do you think you can be brave?" Sam nodded slightly scared. Don steadied his hand and pressed the needle against one of her veins. He pushed it in and collected the blood sample in a test tube to use on a later date. Samie had started to cry. "Come on baby, why don't we go and fetch a lollipop before dinner." Sam cheered up as Don lifted her into the house.
April and Mikey were in the kitchen making dinner as Donnie handed her the lollipop. "Don what are you giving her that for? Can't you see that we are making dinner?" Mikey moaned.
"I took some of her blood and the lollipop is only to raise her blood sugar levels and stop her crying." Don explained as he popped one in his mouth. Mikey gave him a look. "What. I like the lemon ones." He said. The sort-of-twins left the room again.
A week later they left the farmhouse for the lair. Sam was happy to be home. But found that her room was different. She didn't remember half of the things there from when she was older and her toys were missing. So her brothers called Casey and told him to bring paints and some paint brushes. While they were waiting they found a box of old toys that belonged to their sister. So they called Casey again and asked him to bring some colouring books and crayons before he came down. Leo promised that they would put their cash together and pay him back.
It took them all day to finish it and Sam had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching cartoons. The boys decided it was time to leave for patrol. It wasn't even a serious mission just a routine patrol of the city, but even so it didn't feel right for them to do so without their sister. But on the bright side, Don had at least managed to think of a theory of how to turn her back. He just hadn't developed the exact science of it all.
