Chapter 45

Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers I really appreciate it. Here's the next chapter so review, favorite, and follow!

When the turtles headed to the barn for the night, the first thing they noticed was a small stable and a fenced-in corral. Two huge horses were eating grass while a tiny baby foal was prancing around.

"Those things are huge!" Leonardo said walking over.

The male, a deep black color, noticed the strange newcomers and walked over. His mate, a reddish-brown horse, stayed back a little bit before coming in. The baby, with his father's coloring, had no interest in the new faces and simply wanted to run around.

Donatello carefully held his hand out to the male and let him sniff it.

"Wow, they're a lot bigger than I thought a horse was."

"They're Shire horses. The only problem is they are both very skittish."

Mikey was shaking behind Raphael.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Those things are huge! They could eat us!"

Donna Hicks couldn't help but go over and hug Mikey.

"Mikey, they are herbivores: plant-eaters. Turtles don't sound very appealing to them."

Michelangelo felt safer and nodded. Claire's mom was so nice to them...kind of like how he thought a mom always was.

"Thanks, Mom!" he said smiling.

Her mom blinked a few times and laughed nervously.

"I want to see the puppies!" Claire said taking Raphael's hand. "Come on!"

When the barn door opened, four little pit bull puppies rushed over and greeted their guests.

All four turtles sat on the ground and picked one up.

"These guys are awesome!" Mikey said holding his as it licked his face.

"I see some got adopted already?"

"Yep, and Mr. Hobbs in town is planning on getting one tomorrow. He's getting a little older and I think he's a bit lonely since his wife passed. I warned him they are strong dogs but his son is building a strong fence in their backyard. Now you lot and your father will stay here-"

"I call top floor!" Mikey shouted jumping up there.

Donna was first surprised to see the turtle jump that high but then screamed.

"Mikey! Watch for-"

Cats yowling and Mikey's screaming made it sounds like Mikey startled the cats.

Mr. Hicks and Master Splinter were inside the stables, changing the hay and refilling the water troughs.

"I gotta say, you're a very strong man...er rat? You know what I mean."

Master Splinter watched the father carefully, noting a trace of sadness in the man's eyes.

"Able to raise four boys by yourself? In a sewer? It's incredible. And they all seem like good boys. They are, right?"

"Yes, I am very proud of my sons. Just as proud as you are of your daughter."

"And for you to just find out your daughter is alive? I'd go insane if I was in your-"

Kevin noticed the rat wasn't wearing shoes.

"Your position. If anything happened to Claire, I'm not sure I could go on."

The two men sat down on a close by bench.

"Claire might not remember it, but a few years ago, a few high school students died. At first, people thought they were all suicides, because the kids were found hanging in their bedrooms. It was by accident that they found a website on the one girl's computer for a "fainting game." It really shook everyone."

"What is this game?"

"It's not actually a game so much as a way for kids to get high without using drugs or alcohol. Some of them hang themselves until they lose consciousness because it gives them a sense of euphoria. The problem was that some of these kids didn't understand the risks. That their hearts could shut down and their brains damaged."

Kevin's eyes watered up and he sniffed loudly.

"Ever since then, I've always tried watching out for Claire. But there's this virtual world they can go in and who knows who she could get in contact with. And since she moved to New York-"

Master Splinter put his hand on Kevin's shoulder.

"When she started talking about all of you...I was terrified. God knows I didn't expect you to be mutants...but I was scared this Raphael guy would get her into drinking or drugs."

"If it helps any, my sons have been instructed to understand the dangers of drugs and alcohol, especially with our condition. While the boys seem like human boys, I still fear that a single beer or sake could kill them if their livers cannot process it."

Kevin sighed.

"Really wish there was just a manual that came with each child. All those books out there couldn't prepare me for this stuff."

The first night was rough for the turtles and their sensei. The turtles and Splinter were now accustomed to sleeping with some type of noise, whether it was busy subways, construction, or traffic, but the Hicks household was isolated and quiet. While the barn was nice and warm, the dogs nearly demanded to sleep in Leonardo's space and wouldn't let him move without protesting whimpers. The cats were at first annoyed that Michelangelo and Raphael were invading their hiding places but were soon focused on this giant rat that was in their domain.

Eventually, the cats gave up when they couldn't take down their prey but not until early morning.

"Morning, guys," Claire said opening the door.

The puppies woke up and staggered over sleepily to the girl.

Donatello cracked his shoulder.

"Maybe we could talk about some extra padding? Hay isn't exactly comfortable."

"Don't worry, Mom is going to the Salvation Army when school lets out later to get some better blankets."

Master Splinter went over to Claire.

"We are simply thankful we had a safe place to rest. Thank you."

"What time is it?" Mikey groaned as he and Raph jumped down.

"Six in the morning. We have chores. There's a lot of animals to take care of. Mikey, you're going to clean out Harley's space."

"Who's Harley?"

Claire went over to the side of the garage and pulled back the blanket to reveal the bear cub.

"I need to go in there?! He'll definitely eat me!"

"But you're personality will calm him down. Besides, Dad wants Raphael to help him in the stables. My dad has a meeting with a client at 9 so he needs to get everything done fast this morning."

There was a smile on Claire's face. Her father was going to try to get to know Raphael! It was going to be great!

Raphael, on the other hand, was never more scared in all his life.

"Leonardo, you're going to take the puppies out into the grass and let them do their business. Donatello, Mom wants you to help her get the snow plow hooked onto Dad's truck. Something may be going on with the wires so I thought you would be able to fix it. We might be getting snow soon so it's better to be safe than sorry. And Master Splinter, if you could try to round up the cats, we're going to need to change their flea and tick collars."

Splinter groaned but nodded. Her family was giving them sanctuary, if it meant he needed to find those cats and actually capture them, he would.

"And don't forget that Mr. Hobbs is coming today so try to stay alert."

Mikey couldn't breathe when he was done with his chore. Harley kept sniffing him and it seemed like the bear cub wanted to make a chew toy out of him. Plus the bear's droppings stunk to high heaven!

And he wasn't the only turtle having trouble.

"Guys! This way!" Leonardo scolded as the puppies all tried to go in different directions.

Each puppy had a unique coloring to it. There was one girl, who was black with a white face, and three boys, one was entirely brown, another was brown on its back but had white on its paws and face, and the last one was mainly white with a large black spot on its back and on its face.

"Heel! Heel!"

Donatello was hooking up the snow blow to Mr. Hicks truck. While he didn't mind helping Claire's family, he really wished he would be allowed to take some of them apart to check them out. Especially the Wii system he saw in the living room.

Raphael was trying his best to keep up with Mr. Hicks and his chores but it wasn't easy. The man wanted to fix any problems with the wood, metal, or broken parts before the snowstorm came. Getting the man to talk to him was the hard part. Raphael tried to start small conversations, but he was a mutant turtle trying to talk to a normal human father. Wasn't very much he thought they would have in common.

"All right, we need to fix up the stallion's stall but he hasn't been cooperative much. I'll try to keep him calm while you check the floor for holes. After this, I'm running to town for hay."

Mr. Hicks went over to the large horse but the massive creature was already pacing back and forth in its stall.

"Back up," Kevin warned as he put a hand in front of Raphael.

Raphael nodded and the pair stepped back. The horse stared but kept pacing.

"I'll have to get my wife out here. She's the animal-whisperer. Thanks for the help, boy."

Kevin had a small smile on his face. The boy was a tough worker, being able to carry anything Kevin told him to and followed instructions...but that still didn't mean he was going to hand over his daughter to this boy-turtle-guy!