A/N: WHEEEEE! TT3! FINALLY!
Thank you very much to artykidd, Shorty0908 and The REAL Cheese Monkey for the ultra fast reviews for the Epilogue for Celebrations and Revelations. Thank you too to anyone else who leaves a comment on that chapter after I uploaded this one! Hope y'all like this story too.
Many thanks as well to artykidd (thanks for the tip re: the brawl; figured a way for Raphie to get the good hit in! Hope you like it.) and CPQ for beta-reading and supplying bunnies. Believe it or not CPQ was helping me with some of the finer details for this one over a year ago now! Gees I need to write faster, LOL!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the TMNT, or any related characters (much to their relief, I'm sure!) If there is anything else in this story you recognise from somewhere else, then I don't own that either.
------- -------
The moonlight glinted off the calm sea. Only the slightest breeze stirred to ruffle the hair of the old woman as she crouched on the edge of the rocks above the lapping water. Carefully she floated the miniature canoe and its precious cargo, giving it a light push out into the deeper water. The tide was running, creating a strong current past the island. The woman could feel it in her aged bones; her many years living in harmony with the sea giving her an innate sense of its' ways.
It wasn't long before the tiny canoe was caught in the tow of the water, swiftly getting drawn away towards the horizon. The old woman sent her hopes with it. She felt this was the last chance for her people, and she wasn't even sure if this was the answer. After all, the gods had allowed her tribe to dwindle, and she could not see how such an odd offering would bring them the help they so desperately needed.
It also wasn't their way to keep any part of a sacrifice, and she pondered on that as she glanced at the shard of pearl still in her hand. But who was she to question the dream Ayotl had sent her? She could only hope she had interpreted it correctly; and that in three days' time, the help would come.
She watched the canoe on its journey. She kept her vigil even after she was no longer sure if she could see it or if it was just her eyes playing tricks, making her think she could catch a glimpse of it as it crested the rolling waves in the distance. Finally, content the little canoe was well on its' way; she turned to scale the rocks and head back to her village. Reaching the top of the stony ridge, she glanced back, bringing her hand up to her brow to help her focus her sight. She thought she saw something on the horizon in the direction she expected the canoe to be.
Realising what it was, she sighed in disappointment. It was only one of the 'pale man' ships; the tall, bare masts looking like three skeletal fingers clawing at the night sky as the ship rode the current against the breeze. Such a vessel wasn't a new or unusual sight to her. They had become so common since the first time she had run screaming from the shore as a child; terrified by the huge, billowing white apparition that had floated into their waters. But they still sent a shiver of apprehension down her spine…
---------- ----------
It was Wednesday. That meant it was new comic day; the first of the year! Last Wednesday, all the shops had been closed for the New Year public holiday. So Mike had tagged along with Leo and Raph to help watch over Tau while she worked, and duck into a comic store as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
At first it seemed like his chance would never come, Leo quickly setting them to stealthy exercises on the roof tops surrounding Valentino's Bakery. The exertion and their long-coats making them sweat, despite the chill in the air. But then his bossy brother had made the mistake of starting a game of 'Hide and Seek'… It had taken Leo and Raph well over an hour to find him again. Which wouldn't have been too much of a problem except they managed to catch him almost unawares; engrossed as he was in the latest adventures of Spiderman.
Mike wasn't too sure about the existence of deities, but something must've listened to his silent prayers to stop the lecture he was
receiving; a Shell-cell sounding to interrupt the tirade. Leo held up a stern finger for quiet as he answered his phone.
"Hello? --- Hi Casey. --- --- --- Uh huh, I'm sure Mike and Raph won't mind helping you out with that. --- Yep, the alley beside Valentino's. --- In ten minutes? Not a problem. Bye."
"What the heck was that all about?" demanded Raph. Mike wasn't too impressed at being volunteered for something without being asked first as well. But, from the threatening glint in his hot-headed brothers' eye, he decided he'd be better off just watching this brouhaha for now.
"Casey has an urgent job; he wants a couple of us to help out with…" Leo attempted to explain levelly, before being cut off.
"There's no way in hell I'm goin'!" growled Raph, crossing his arms and planting his feet square on the concrete. "If you're so happy to have us desert Tau, why don't you go instead?"
"If I could trust you to be sensible, I would." assured Leo, trying to keep his tone level. "But I'm not going to risk you and her having…any time alone together."
Mike took a small step back.
"What?" ground out Raph, his muscles bunching as he clenched his fists, still tucked under his arms. "Since that's all you seem to think about; I don't like you havin' any time alone with her either!" he snarled.
Leo worked his jaw in stunned silence for a moment, before his own eyes narrowed in anger. Mike took another small step backwards.
"Just what are you implying by that?" asked Leo, his voice soft but carrying a dangerous edge. "If you think I'd ever be so dishonourable, as to…"
"Guys! Guys!" Mike placated, just in time to distract his brothers from coming to blows. "I have the perfect solution! Why don't you two go, and I'll stay here and keep watch? That way, neither of ya will have ta worry about the other!" he grinned beguilingly. "Huh?" he tried to encourage a response as his brothers continued to stare at him in a scary kinda way.
"You have got to be kidding!" exclaimed Raph. "I bet the 'Dragons' could come an' torch the fuckin' joint, with Tau inside! And you
wouldn't notice a damn thing; too caught-up with your beak shoved in one of these!"
"HEY!" protested Mike as Raph roughly snatched the comics from his brothers' hand and leapt backwards. Leo stopped Mike going after their red
clad brother with a firm hand to his chest.
"Raph has a point Mike. You can consider this work part of your punishment for sneaking off, into a public area, during daylight, when you
should have been training. Part." Leo reiterated with a lecturing finger. "I'm sure Splinter will have something more for you once he hears about what you did."
"Awww, it wasn't real training!" complained Mike, glancing desperately between the brother restraining him, and the one taunting him; dangling his comics just out of his reach. "Give 'em back!" Mike cried, giving Leo the slip to leap towards Raph, making a grab for his precious comic books. Laughing, Raph held them up over his head; making Mike jump after them futilely as he kept shifting them away from his brothers' grasping hands.
Leo watched them for a few moments until he decided it had gone far enough, Mike starting to get truly upset.
"Alright, you've had your fun now Raph, give 'em back." he directed. Neither of his brothers' paid him any heed. "Raph, give them back. Now!" he tried again, stricter this time.
"Bite me!" was Raphs' antagonistic reply.
Leo clenched his fists, his eyes mere slits as he tried to calm himself. He failed. Seeing an opening for a blow to Raphs' midriff, he lunged at it; determined to teach his brother to have a bit of respect for his authority. Mike stood stunned for a moment after Raph was suddenly downed right in front of him; watching his brothers pummel each other as they rolled away across the roof top.
A flash of colour reminded Mike what Raph had in his hand; crushed in the fist currently making none too gentle contact with Leos' face.
"HEY! Watch the damn comics!" he yelled irately. Realising his warning was falling on deaf ears; Mike launched himself into the fray with a
cry fierce enough to earn a look of shock from each of his brothers before he landed atop them. Fists flying, each of the brothers vented their frustrations upon the other two. There were no alliances in this scuffle…
The beeping of a car horn, echoing up from the alley that yawned between the roof-top the turtles were on and Valentino's Bakery, interrupted the three way brawl shortly after it started. All of the turtles froze where they lay, to perk their heads up at the sound.
"That'll be Casey now!" snapped Leo, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth to confirm his now swollen lip wasn't bleeding. "Get going
you two." he ordered as he got to his feet. "He's expecting you."
"Shit!" cursed Raph, glancing towards the alley as he released Mike from a head-lock. "Why don't we call Donnie and get him to go instead
o' me?" he asked Leo, as he and Mike stood.
"Because Don is busy overhauling the Sewer Slider, and it'd hold Casey up if he had to head all the way over to the Lair now. Besides, I don't
think Don would be to keen to…whatever; I told Casey you would help him out, Raph." Leo reasoned; his patience quickly wearing thin.
Mike took the opportunity, whilst Leo and Raph were talking, to make a grab for his crumpled property; Raph managing to whip the comics out of his reach at the last moment.
"Give those back, they're mine!" pouted Mike in annoyance. Raph glared at him briefly, then at the alley and finally back at Leo. With a low growl he realised he was out of options, short of beating Leo to a pulp. And as much as that idea appealed right now, he knew that would take a fair bit of time, and Casey was honking his damn horn again.
"No-way nimrod!" he snarled at Mike, tucking the comic books he held captive inside his coat. "This is my insurance you'll do your fair share!"
"You know you can trust me to keep her safe, right?" asked Leo softly. If looks could kill he would've become a steamy pool of goop with a blue bandanna floating in it. But then Raph gave a begrudging nod and led the way for a grumbling Mike down to their impatient friend below.
---------- ----------
'Attica Handyman Services' was a totally legitimate business; at first glance. It was a one-man enterprise that provided services as varied as vehicle maintenance, building renovations and repairs, and occasionally basic security work. There were many such operators in the city of New York. What set this particular company apart from its rivals was the 'cash jobs' an exclusive circle of trusted clients could call upon.
If these clients needed something done quickly and, often more importantly, discreetly; 'Attica' was the company they could trust with it. So long as they didn't ask too many questions; like how one man could do a complete re-fit of an entire apartment in one night, or could persuade any groups of troublemakers insisting on terrorising their buildings to stop the abuse with surprisingly little fuss.
Of course, many of these clients suspected the handyman actually had help; more than likely illegal immigrants or the like, hence the need for the cash payment and the secrecy. However, they were never pushed to provide more of these kinds of jobs, and even had their requests for such work turned down on occasion. On top of that, even though the 'cash jobs' attracted fees anything up twice as much as those charged by the same company for works 'above board', they still worked out much cheaper than any other company would charge to do the same quality work in the same time-frame. So that begged the question; how could any additional workers, skilled ones at that, be retained on such meagre and sporadic wages? And how could they be called upon so swiftly at times as well?
This afternoon Mr Grayson, the elderly owner of a large brown-stone apartment building in one of the seedier parts of town, wasn't concerning himself with such enigmas. He was just glad he was able to rely on such great service from 'Attica'.
'WHOMP!' The wooden door didn't stand a chance against the kick that assaulted it, splintering down the middle to allow half to swing back on its hinges, the other side still held in place by the numerous bolts and locks that usually secured it closed. The stench of rotten food and stale pot fumes billowed into the hallway, making the two men standing there quickly step back and cover their mouths.
"Oh well done, Mr Jones!" exclaimed Mr Grayson, his voice muffled behind his hand. "Here, this should be the key for the windows. But if not…"
Casey nodded and took the small key offered to him.
"Yeah, thanks. I'll try not to break anythin' I don't have ta." he assured, before pushing his way through the damaged door into the dim apartment.
"Thankyou!" Mr Grayson called through the door after him. "You should have an hour or so before he comes back, I'll keep watch and warn you if he comes back early." Casey gave a thumbs-up to show he understood, before he disappeared into one of the back rooms as he did a quick survey of the apartment.
Happy he was finally about to get rid of his worst tenant, Mr Grayson pulled the fractured door closed and attempted to seal it shut with some duct tape before he left to keep watch from his own apartment window. He had no idea if the key he'd given to Mr Jones would work since the tenant had breached the terms of his lease –not that there were many such terms the scumbag hadn't broken– by adding the extra unauthorised locks to his door. However, considering how much more than the bond he was going to have to outlay before he could rent that apartment again, he certainly wasn't about to worry over the possible cost of an additional window pane. That was a good thing too.
Once he was sure Mr Grayson had left, Casey shoved a small cabinet across the front door, just for good measure. Finding the key wouldn't even slot into the lock on the window, he grabbed some of the old newspapers lying around and spread them on the floor beneath the sill, wincing at the sound of metal scratching glass as he did so. At his ready signal, his two friends that were now stood out on the fire escape landing shoved against the glass, the pane breaking neatly where it had been scored by the point of a sai to topple onto the paper below.
"Oh man!" exclaimed Mike, slapping a hand over his face as he climbed through the window. "How can anyone live like this? And I thought the sewers smelt bad!"
"C'mon guys." urged Casey. "We only got about an hour to get all this junk outta here. Usual drill; chuck anything 'suspicious' by the front door, the rest goes down in the alley."
"'Suspicious'?" questioned Mike. "Does that include, like, any dead bodies we find?"
"Sure smells like somethin's died in here." grumbled Raph in agreement. "You don't pay us enough to deal with this kinda shit, Case." he teased.
"I don't get paid enough to deal with this shit." Casey countered. "But it's better'n not gettin' paid at all!"
One of the benefits Casey had found in working with the turtles was the banter they shared made the unpleasant jobs seem to go faster. Checking his watch after he tossed the last bag of crud down to Mike waiting below, he realised they had manage to empty the apartment of almost all the evicted tenants' belongings well within an hour. They had piled up the dismantled furniture and bags of clothes and stuff a few feet away from the dumpsters in the alley below, in-case their owner wanted to collect them. The only exceptions were the mattress that wouldn't fit through the window, and all of the drug paraphernalia they had found as they gathered everything; now stacked beside the front door.
"Well; that's that then!" nodded Raph, dusting off his hands as he surveyed the empty rooms. "You need us for anythin' else, Case? I wanna get goin'."
"Nah, don't think so. I'll probably hang here a while to head off any trouble; so yer good to go, if ya want. Oh, an' thanks gu…" Casey was interrupted by a frantic knocking at the door. Glancing behind him as he went, he made sure Raph had vanished before he opened the door. "Mr Grayson…?"
"Mr Jones!" his employer anxiously cut him off "He's here, he's back! He's on his way up now!"
"Alright, chill. I c'n take this loser if needs be. You got nothin' ta worry 'bout." assured Casey.
The two turtles spied on the scene from their hiding place on the fire escape as the evictee arrived at his former home.
"What the hell? What've you done; old man?" demanded a young, dishevelled looking guy who shouldered his way roughly through the broken door. He wasn't heavily built, but he was tall; and he quickly drew a wicked looking switchblade as he realised all his stuff was gone. "I warned ya what it would cost ya if ya did this!" he snarled.
"A…and I warned y…you what would happen if you didn't pay your rent. I…it's been three months!" stammered the elderly gentlemen in fear, though he stood his ground.
"Don't do anythin' stupid now." Casey warned the youth, having to make a quick jump backwards as the switchblade sliced through the air where his abdomen had been a split-second before.
"Tch! That was stupid." lectured Casey briefly before he made his move, quick as a flash. Grasping his attackers wrist above the handle of the knife, he savagely twisted it outwards. The hoodlum didn't drop the blade, but it dangled limply from his fingers as Casey turned under his arm, using his impetus and the strong hold he had to pull his opponent over his shoulder to make him land heavily, flat on his back on the wooden floorboards.
"Way to go Case!" whispered Mike as they watched the young ruffian get unsteadily to his feet; winded but looking keen to go another round. Unfortunately for him, so was Casey.
"Yeah." agreed Raph, under his breath. "Case c'n handle this, we better get going."
"Aww, but…"
"No 'buts' Mike." Raph scowled, already making his way down the fire escape, Mike reluctantly in tow. "Case can handle himself; we gotta long walk home and Tau woulda finished work ages ago."
"Anxious to see your 'girlfriend', huh?" jibed Mike as they dropped the last couple of feet to the alley floor. Raph shot him a filthy look as they swiftly headed into the deeper shadows to find a secluded man hole.
"What?" shrugged Mike with a cheeky grin. "You do like her, you can't tell me you don't! She likes you too, though I can't see why… So what's the problem, huh?"
"Shove it Mike, it's…difficult. And none o' your damn business anyway." answered Raph, grunting as he pulled back a sewer cover. They both waited until they were safely underground to continue their conversation unabated.
"It is so my 'damn business'! You're my bro! And she would make a great sister…" argued Mike. Raph rolled his eyes;
"Don't be a moron. It's not like she's gonna live with us for ever or anythin'."
"She might!" whined Mike. "If you…you know. Then she'd have to stay! I mean, how could she leave? Unless…of course…you're no good in the bedroom."
Mike managed to duck the punch despite his sudden fit of giggles, sprinting away down the tunnel with Raph in hot pursuit. After ten minutes of hard running, and having lost his brother for the moment, Mike stopped to take a breather. Leaning on his knees to catch his breath, he thought he spotted something glimmering in the shallow stream of filth running through the wide channel cut into the floor of the tunnel. Curious, he bent over for a closer look when a brief glimpse of red reflected from the dark waters' surface was all the warning he got of a kick to his back side.
Raph watched in smug satisfaction as Mike yelped, pin-wheeled his arms frantically for a second then inexorably toppled forward into the sludge with a wail to land on his hands and knees.
"That was rotten Raph!" cried Mike. He straightened to pull his hands out, flicking off the muck that almost reached his elbows towards his chuckling brother; Raph easily dodging the spray.
"You're just damn lucky you've still got my comics. If they'd gotten wet…" Mike threatened his sibling with a grubby fist. His weight shifted as he moved to stand up, and Mike felt something digging into his shin. Remembering the shiny thing he'd been investigating prior to his dip, he reached back down into the water to retrieve it before he clambered out of the run-off.
"What's that ya got?" asked Raph, being careful not to get too close in order to avoid any sudden reprisals, or getting his own feet wet in the grimy water pooling about Mikes' feet as it dribbled off his trench-coat and pants. Mike ignored him, busy rubbing away the muck encrusted on the pearl necklace he'd found. All the gems were irregularly shaped and coloured, with the smallest and darkest set near the clasp.
In the middle of the strand was a pink teardrop shaped pearl that looked like it might almost be the size of the end of his thumb. The centre-piece was half-covered with a clump of something –Mike didn't want to dwell on what– and he gave a little groan in disappointment as he cleaned it off to reveal the bottom section of the pearl was missing; leaving a ragged, dull flat section where the bottom of the teardrop should have been.
"Oh well." he shrugged. "'spose there's gotta be some reason you'd find something like this tossed down here. It'll still be pretty though, once it's cleaned up. Hey, you know what? You should give it to Tau!" enthused Mike, holding out the necklace for his brother. Raph jerked his head away from the sodden necklace to avoid it hitting his beak.
"Ugh! No way! She hates girly crap like that. Give it to Ape if ya want, just make sure you disinfect it first! Twice!" he exclaimed, grimacing in distaste at the smell that wafted from it. A little crestfallen, Mike cupped the strand in his hands to study it in the meagre light for a moment. Raph started to move away, and Mike shoved the pearls into his coat pocket and quickly caught up to walk behind his brother.
"I reckon you should give it to Tau." Mike pressed again. Raph rolled his eyes.
"Why?" he asked shortly. "She only ever wears that dolphin necklace for the tracker on it, an' never any of her fancy stuff. And she's said plenty of times she doesn't like dressing up and all that crud. So why give it to her if she's never gonna wear it? Huh?"
"'cos that's not the point!" argued Mike. "Girls like to know that you're thinkin' about 'em, even if the stuff you give 'em isn't what they want or anything. I read that some of them even say they don't want stuff, when really they do! It's like a test or something; that you'll still go out of your way for her, despite her telling you not to."
Raph stopped dead to turn around and quirk a sceptical eye-ridge at his brother.
"Since when are you such a know-it-all 'bout women? And where the hell did you read a pile of bullshit like that?" he gave a disparaging chuckle. Mike pursed his lips in annoyance.
"There was an article on it in that last issue of 'Men's Health' Leo got a couple of months ago. You should read it, those mags have heaps of info on how to deal with girls." he advised sincerely with a nod. Raph burst out laughing.
"Yeah right! Whatever Mikey, I doubt Leo reads anything with 'how to deal with girls' in it!" he scoffed, setting off walking again.
"True." agreed Mike, his tone dripping sarcasm. "He probably only gets it for the work out tips or recipes, nothing to do with all the pics of
hot chicks in each issue at all!"
"I'm not falling for it, Mikey." warned Raph. "I've seen those mags, if they had girls in 'em there'd be a babe on the cover. All the ones I've seen have some dude on the front…"
"Yeah," countered Mike. "But they're not like a 'Playboy' or anythin', they have all sorts of stuff in 'em, and lots of real info on how to understand women an'… make 'em happy. One of the things they always say is you just have to be confident with 'em. You know, don't be afraid to make the first move. Chicks dig that kinda stuff…" he petered out under the glare his brother shot him over his shoulder.
"What the hell d'ya mean by that?" demanded Raph, irately.
"Uh, well, have you tried letting her know how you feel?" queried Mike. "If you don't wanna talk about it with her, maybe just try giving her a kiss; I'm sure she'll get the message."
They trudged along in silence for a moment as Mike waited for a response from Raph.
"Helloooo? C'mon, what would one little kiss hurt, huh? I'm surprised you haven't tried to already!" pestered Mike.
"What makes ya think I haven't?" muttered Raph, stoically looking ahead. Mike's jaw dropped.
"Nah! Ya haven't. She woulda told me! Or you'd 've bragged about it. Or something! You wouldn't be able to keep something like that a secret!"
Mike scrutinized the back of his brothers' head as they walked, wondering if he was telling the truth.
"If you did, then why aren't ya together already?" he probed.
"'cos every time I think we're gettin' somewhere, she says she just wants ta stay friends. She's made it pretty clear that her lips are out of bounds." Raph grumbled. Mike cocked his head in consideration.
"I can't believe I'm tellin' you this, but maybe you should push it a little bit…"
"No." Raph cut him off tersely.
"Why not?" pouted Mike.
"Because I… If I push it any harder…, I might loose control. I don't want her to…hate me. I couldn't stand that." he admitted quietly, Mike only just managing to catch what he was saying.
After contemplating his brothers' words with a befuzzled look on his face, Mike gave a little scoff.
"I still don't believe you've kissed her, not properly anyway. And I'm certainly not just gonna take your word for it! And I reckon you gotta give 'er the necklace; if only to let 'er know you do like her. You don't want to loose her to some other guy, who might be willing to get her attention by givin' her a trinket or two, do ya?"
"Tau's not that shallow!" snapped Raph.
"Fine." shrugged Mike nonchalantly. "I'll give it to her then."
"Fine! You do that bone-head. It'll be a laugh when she tells ya where to shove it!" Raph retorted.
"I'll bet ya anything she will like it!" challenged Mike with a cheeky grin. Raph huffed out a breath before he stopped again to face his annoying brother.
"Alright. You're on! If she hates it; you do all my chores for a month." he punted tersely. That gave Mike pause for a moment; Raph could get
assigned a heck of a lot of extra chores over the course of a month. But, then again, he was probably looking at a few extra jobs coming his own way soon. He took it as a given that Leo would have marched straight to Splinter to report his little excursion from earlier.
"Deal!" nodded Mike. "And if she likes it; you do mine!"
Raph sealed the deal with a curt nod before he swiftly stalked away down the tunnel, ignoring Mike continuing to prattle on behind him to mull over what his brother had said. He was certain Tau liked him, and he was sure she realised how he felt about her. So why did she always insist on them being only friends? Oh, she had her reasons, he knew. She'd told him many a time. But then, she hadn't done anything to stop him kissing her at Christmas.
He supposed he could just pass that off as her following the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe, since she hadn't let him do it again since. Not on the lips anyway, though her 'cheek' now included anything else above her collarbone. He had thought to point out to her that he didn't think that was particularly correct, anatomically speaking. But then, he wasn't about to complain or risk losing the ground he'd gained with her either! Though in some ways it just frustrated him even more; made him think of what he wasn't allowed to do with her as opposed to being satisfied with what he could.
Maybe Mike was right, as improbable as that might seem; but maybe if he did do something more to let her know how he felt... Was she testing him, waiting on him to buy her chocolates or some such crud? What would happen if some other guy started to pay her some real attention with all that clichéd stuff? Raph shook his head in denial. No, he knew her better than Mike, better than just about anyone really. He was sure she wouldn't be impressed by the necklace at all, and would say as much… Yeah…
"Raph? Hey, Raph! Are you even listening to me?" Mike interrupted his musings by tugging on his sleeve. Remembering what Mikes' hands had been dunked in; Raph brusquely pulled his coat out of his grip.
"No." he admitted bluntly.
"Thanks bro." levelled Mike in sarcasm. "But ya gotta pay more attention to me! You're about to walk past the way home." he pointed out as he pushed open one of the many false walls that made up part of their security system. With a ghost of a sheepish smile Raph followed Mike into the new tunnel, making sure to close the entrance way again once they had passed through.
Five minutes later found them scrubbing down Mike and his clothes with the little hand-held shower-head Don had set up outside the door to Lair, to ensure a minimum amount of sewer water got tracked into their home. They were tying to be quiet, wanting to get cleaned up before they let everyone else know they were home. Still, Splinter opened the door as they were finishing up, to request an explanation regarding how Mike had gotten into such a state.
Their father listened to their account, such as it was. He suspected the tale his sons gave him omitted many of the finer details. Then he sent them both directly to their bathroom upstairs; Mike to get properly scrubbed up, and Raph to set his brothers clothes to soak in sanitizer.
"You will also do all the Laundry for the next two weeks." Splinter instructed Raph. "You know better than to push your brother into the dirty water." The Sensei spotted the odd look that passed between his sons before they headed up the stairs; but suspected it might be best he didn't know why it was Michelangelo that had looked more perturbed than Raphael, despite not being the one issued with the extra chores.
A short while later the two brothers, Mike now thoroughly cleaned, descended to the main floor. They wandered over to stand by Leo and Splinter who were sitting watching the evening news on the bank of monitors.
"So, can we get pizza tonight? It's a bit late for me to start cooking now…" asked Mike hopefully.
"Nope." answered Leo. "I've made a start on dinner, it'll be ready soon."
"Awww." moaned Mike, not looking forward to his brothers' inevitably very healthy and incredibly plain fare. "I hope you've actually used some meat this time, a dressing on the salad would be nice too…" he grumbled. Raph ignored him to ask,
"Where's Tau?"
Leo tipped his head towards the lab.
"In there. Safe and sound." he emphasised. "You might as well go fetch them; I'll be serving out in around five minutes." Raph didn't bother with a reply, heading straight for the door to his brainy brothers' sanctuary. Mike decided to tag along too.
Stepping into the lab, they both spotted the Sewer Slider parked a short distance away, the back end of the vehicle angled towards them. Its'
bonnet was up and a loud clatter sounded from the other side where Don and Tau were working, shielded from sight.
"Hang on, I should be able to… just let me get this off." Taus' voice reached Raph and Mike, both of them stopping in their tracks as one of her baggy shirts got tossed into view to land on a nearby bench.
"Are you sure? I don't know if you can." Don sounded a little fretful.
"It's a bit of a tight fit, but if I just… ugh." Tau grunted lightly.
"Wait! Here, use some of this; it'll give you some lubrication."
"Oh! That's cold!" she gasped.
"Heh, sorry!"
"Much better though, now I should be able to…"
Mike risked a surreptitious glance at Raph as the sound of someone shifting about for a moment reached them. He'd leapt to a pretty shocking guess regarding what was happening on the other side of that hood; and from the way his brothers' face had drained of colour, his jaw hanging lax, he figured Raph had done the same. It couldn't be though…, could it? Don would never…
"That's it! Keep going! You're so close now!" they heard Don encouraging.
"Yeah!" gasped Tau. "If I c'n just… nearly there!"
"Just a little further…"
"Damn it!" she cursed quietly.
"Stop if you want, I don't want you to hurt yourself! I can always…"
"No! It's alright. I c'n do it. If I can, uh, twist a bit and get the angle right… I should be able to fit…ngh."
"Yep! That's it, you got it!" they shared a little, relieved chuckle. "Be careful now…ease it slowly." Don warned, though his brothers could hear the delight in his voice.
Mike gave up being secretive about his watch on Raph. His brother obviously didn't even notice him looking, and Mike was very concerned about the way his hands were starting to twitch, his right eye-ridge too.
"Yeah... Yeah!" came Dons' voice, starting to get excited.
"Ta-DAH!" sang Tau.
"OH! THANK YOU! Thank you so much!" Don enthused, stepping out from behind the hood with a little spanner clutched tight in both hands, too enamoured with the tool to notice his audience.
"Not a problem at all!" Tau assured him breezily as she also came into view. She had her back to Raph and Mike as she headed to the nearby bench, grabbed a rag and started to wipe the streaks of grease, mingled with a clear gel, off her arm. The muck almost reached up to her shoulder.
"No, really! Thank you!" beamed Don, as he moved to join her at the bench. "I know it's a bit silly, it's only a spanner, but it was one of the first tools I ever got. It'd break my heart to lose it. And I would've had to dismantle half the engine block to get it back out again myself. I certainly owe you one!"
"Well, in that case, I'm hoping you have a way I can save this!" she exclaimed, tugging on the front of the grey singlet she was wearing; assessing a large grease stain she'd just spotted on it. Don turned to examine the mark briefly, after placing his rescued spanner carefully into his tool box.
"That shouldn't pose a problem at all. I have this great degreaser I formulated a few years ago. It should make short work of that!" he assured her.
"Oh good! S'pose I should go change before din… Oh! Hi guys!" she smiled as she spotted the two stood behind the Sewer Slider. "You ok?" she asked, her face quickly clouding with concern at their expressions.
"You do look a little pale." added Don as they made their way over to his brothers.
"It's nuthin'. I'm fine." snapped Raph, turning his head away from Tau as she stopped in front of him. She wasn't daunted, until he took a quick half-step back as she tried to reach for his face.
"I said 'I'm fine!'" he reiterated sharply as he shot a glare at the floor at her feet. Then he turned and stalked swiftly out of the lab.
Mike grinned sheepishly in the face of the worried looks he got from Tau and Don.
"Uh, he's just tired. Yeah. You know, 'workin' for th' man' and all that? I'm sure he'll be fine after dinner. Really!" he tried to assure them. Unconvinced, the two shared a concerned glance.
"Well, c'mon!" Mike tried to grin encouragingly. "Dinner'll be on the table by now! After you!" he invited them past him with a dramatic sweeping bow. Don gripped Taus' shoulder in consolation as they wandered out of the lab.
"I'm sure it is nothing; he'll be okay." he murmured, as much to convince himself as her; getting a small nod and an uncertain crooked smile from the girl in return.
