Four Green and Speckled Turtles.
Splinter grunted as he held his three year old green eyed son firm in the bath tub. He angrily grumbled to himself as he reached for the soap and began scrubbing the turtle's shell.
"This would go faster, Raphael if you would stop squirming so much." He told the small tot.
"NO WANNA BATH!" The small turtle yelled out as he tried to fight his way out of his Sensei's grip. "NO GO NIGHT NIGHT" Raph cried out.
"You are not going night night." Splinter told him gentlly as he continued to scrub. "I am trying to get you clean of this paint." Splinter shook his head as the small child continued to fight against the gentle scrub brush.
He had thought it would be something fun for his sons to try when he came across the paint supplies at the junk yard on one of his supply runs. He had no idea it would come to this. He sighed deeply and finally took Raphael out of the bath water. After drying him and sending him off to his room, he drained the strange reddish orange water and began to refill the tub. As he walked out of the bathroom, he looked into his sons' room and saw Raphael playing with some toys.
"No no Raphael." He scolded. "You are still in time out till your brothers have all been cleaned." He told him as he walked over and took the toys gently out of his son's hands. He then put all the toys that were laying out and place them in a toy chest. "Sit on your chair till then."
The little turtle tot huffed and crossed his little chubby arms. He sat in his red chair and faced the wall as he stuck out his bottom lip and forced himself not to cry. Splinter shook his head and then handed his son a small cardboard book. "You may read." He told him. The turtle reluctantly took the book and Splinter continued to the dojo where his other sons were currently facing the wall and in a time out.
He walked over to Michelangelo who was softly crying. "It is your turn my son." He said as he bent down to pick up the smallest turtle.
As splinter was leaving the dojo with the crying turtle, a small voice called to him. "Daddy?" It was Leonardo. "No punish them."He told him. "It all my fault." His little voice was trying so hard to sound grown up but it was hard for him to mask the fear as his voice shook.
Splinter turned and smiled at his son. "We will all discuss what happened after I am done cleaning all of you." He told him softly and left the room with a still crying Michelangelo.
He had taken Raphael first as he was a very difficult turtle to bathe. Even if turtles were suppose to love water, his second oldest tended to give him a hard time if he thought it was a bath and not just swimming for fun. Mikey had to go second as he tended to always wanted to play, and while Splinter did not mind this too much, now was not the time for play since he had to get the paint off their shells and continue with making supper.
Easier said then done with this particular turtle as he had practically rolled in the paint turning the entire water to a strange brownish black color. But Splinter was pleasantly surprised to see his son was behaving and allowing him to scrub him clean and the bath was done in less time then it had taken with the first child and soon he had Mikey dried and, after giving him a kiss on the forehead to show he was not as mad as Mikey thought he was, lee him to his room where he found Raphael had fallen asleep in his chair. He placed Mikey in his orange chair and gave him the book that had fallen on the floor, then he placed Raphael in his bed.
"Do not wake your brother." He instructed. "Sit quietly and play with your book." Mikey nodded, still a little teary eyed, and looked half heartedly though the little book while facing the corner of the wall. Splinter left to go get the next turtle. But before he left, Mikey called out to him.
"Daddy?" Splinter turned to look at him. "I sworry." He said, his head hung low and lower lip still trembling. Splinter smiled and continued on his way to the dojo.
As he walked, he thought about who should be next. He had taken Raph first because he was the most difficult and getting him done first ensured the cleaning would get easier and he would still have the energy to get through the next three. He had taken Mikey next because out of all of them, he had the most paint on him. But who should be next? Neither Donatello or Leonardo were as bad off as Mikey and both did well when it came to taking a bath unlike Raphael, but who should stay in their time out corner longer.
The paint set seemed like a good idea at the time, the boys had been very excited when he set them up for their play time. But when he had put the paints away, he had not expected them to disobey his request of taking a nap and leaving the paints alone. So when he left to go to the kitchen to make lunch, he had no idea that the four three year old turtle tots had crept out of their beds and made their way to the closet in his room and, very ingeniously he might add, used a chair along with themselves as a ladder getting on top of one another, reached the top shelves. As they did not know where to get the paper, they ended up painting their shells, but somehow Michelangelo had gotten it, not just on his shell but also on his arms, legs, plastron and head.
Splinter shook his head as he wondered when his sons had gotten so devious. He also had to laugh at their shocked little faces when he had discovered their escapade. He knew one day he would be laughing at this, sometime in the future, very distant future, he thought to himself as he was reminded of the mess in his room.
As he walked into the dojo, he decided he would call for Donatello. While Donatello had been the one to figured out how to open the lock, it had been Leonardo to encourage his brother's to paint their shells, so he should endure the time out longer. Donatello was swinging his feet as he waited to be called. Leonardo had his head hanging low and Splinter wondered if he was feeling that ashamed.
He brought his son into the bath and as he had done twice before, spent the next several minutes scrubbing his son's shell. Donnie sat quietly, not moving as he usually did when he was in the bath. This was the son that was so curious he had to constantly explore everything no matter how many times he has checked it before, he was determined to figure it out. But now he just sat there in sulky silence, only occasionally tapping the water to make a small splash. Finally done, Splinter dried the little turtle, drained the bathtub and brought him into his room. There, Raph was still asleep as was now Mikey. He place Donnie in his purple chair with the little book that had fallen onto the floor, and placed Mikey in his bed.
"You may read if you wish." He told Donaltello. The chocolate eyed turtle looked up at him and pointed to his other brothers. "I lay down on my bed too Sensei?" Splinter nodded at the slightly taller turtle tot and watched as he made his way into the bed and under the covers. Within moments, he was sound asleep. Now it was time to get Leonardo.
He walked into the dojo, and found his son in the same position he had left him in, head down and not moving, he walked over to him and was just about to call his name when he noticed his son's chest was moving up and down very slowly and in a gentle rhythm. Leonardo had fallen asleep while waiting for his father to give him his bath.
Splinter couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips and he debated weather or not to wake him. It had been a long day for all of them, and because of their added playtime, none of them had taken their naps. He decided to leave him for the time being and to go clean his room of the paint splatter. He knew he could be thankful for one thing, the paint was at least water based and was not too difficult to clean.
As he was leaving the dojo, he looked back at his son's shell and, with a smile and light chuckle, shook his head at the variety of colors that decorated the dark green 'canvas' and he did have to admit to himself that his sons were very artistic, it wasn't everyday a turtle could look like a speckled Easter egg.