Amaurotic
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon and its creators. I make no monetary profit from this work it is only for entertainment.
Author's Note: 2014/2016 Movie-Verse - Rated M for a reason! This work contains sexual content, violence, and at times dark themes that will become more developed as the story continues- you have been warned.
Author's Note: These chapters may go back and forth between actually plot development chapters and drabbles. This started off as just a little brainstorming session meant to help me get over some writer's block on my other stories. It worked well for that, but it also turned into this…
There is always a glimmer in those
Who have been through the dark.
~ Atticus
Chapter 2: Pinch Me
Evening slowly crept over the city with the songs of birds and insects rising up the concrete raftors. Donatello was particularly anxious to go to his task that evening. When they rose that afternoon April had asked Don to look in on Charlie to both check her wrist, and see what she had found on a case she was looking at. Now that the cat was out of the bag they might as well work together. Leo must have been looking to make up for some ruffled feathers after his argument with April the night before because he agreed and suggested that the brothers collect him after patrol.
For Don it was unnerving. Things usually only went this smoothly when the actual task ahead was going to end up the hardest. His mumbled to himself as he moved over the shadowed city trying to think of how to bring up the subject of his question, or questions rather. He didn't find a satisfying one before he found himself on Charlie's fire escape. He gulped, and knocked on the window.
He held his breath for a moment before the curtain moved aside and there she stood. His atempts to recall any movie or sitcom that would be a decent reference for how a young man might behave in a similar situation flew from his mind at the sight of her. She was in black yoga pants that hugged every curve, and a white hello kitty tank top. When she leaned down to open the window it gave him a glorious and undeserved view of her cleavage. Round, full and with a tantalizing jiggle at her effort to push up the window.
"Donatello?" Charlie was staring at him. Panic filled him as he realized he had no idea when she had even gotten the window open due to the distraction.
He managed a swallow, his adam's apple bobbing, "Sorry."
Charlie shrugged, and he was grateful that she either didn't catch his ogling or didn't care. She only motioned him in, and offered. "I made coffee."
Her small kitchen offered only one good countertop and it had a french press waiting with a fragrant curl of steam rising from it. There was also an ever so temptingly familiar box next to it. He watched her pour a cup for each of them and open the box offering a selection of sweet and savory confections. He picked up his cup and breathed in the aroma of cocoa and orange. It was not flavored or overly acidic, but a very high quality and brewed correctly. He normally only got treats like this when April brought it for him. Now, he knew where it was from.
"You don't like it?" Charlie lifted a brow at his lengthy examination of her brew.
He snorted almost spilling the coffee, "No, I am just used to Folgers."
Charlie's face twisted and she teased, "You don't say that name in my home. I am a respectable barista damn it."
He chuckled, and watched her take the box of goodies to the living room and set it down on the coffee table next to her open laptop. She sank onto the worn carpet with her cup cradled in her hand.
"I normally work here", she noted to him.
He shrugged off the pack that normally covered his shell. There would not be room for it, and there were several things that might damage her couch if they accidentally were engaged while he sat there. It left him feeling a little exposed though he tried to ignore it and selected a doughnut heaped with icing out of the box. It hung in his mouth as he reaching into his pack for his laptop, and moved to sit near her. Charlie for her part was unfazed and seemed to still be waking up, and was most concerned with nursing her coffee.
Her hair was drawn into a high ponytail and small tendrils of her chestnut hair danced about the nap of her neck and some longer escaped pieces were tucked behind her ears. It drew his eye to her delicate neck and collar bones. She was just so ferocious for such a petite thing. She might have been April's hight, who boasted all of five foot three. She moved to take one of the treats for herself, but paused. He noted she then switched hands, and set down her cup to use her good arm to get a scone.
"How is your wrist?" He murmured, attempting to hid his eagerness to check her injury. He knew he could be very good at deception, but at the moment he felt about as obvious as labrador who had just spotted a tennis ball.
She frowned while she chewed and rolled her eyes as she swallowed. "I think I overdid it at work this morning. I dropped a steaming pitcher and they sent me back up to bed."
At this information Don wiggled his fingers to motion her to give him the injured arm. She got the message, and scooted closer not caring that she settled in so close in fact that her thighs were pressed flush next to his. Probably nothing for her, but for the reptile it made his heart hammer.
No big deal he was just checking her. She was hurt. That was all. His distraction faded when he pulled away the wrapping. Her wrist was a dark shade of plum. He gingerly tried to manipulate it and regretted it from the sharp gasp Charlie drew.
"Do you have an ice pack?" he asked standing already moving toward her freezer.
"Yah, I iced it before work", Charlie watched him find it on his own, and snag a kitchen towel.
"You need to ice it as often as you can stand it and wrap it the rest of the time." He urged gently pressing the ice pack to her tender wrist and wrapping it in a towel.
"And how am I supposed to type like this?" she snickered trying to ignore the cold on her skin.
Donatello took up his place next to her again, and pulled her laptop to be flush with his. "I will type, you just fill me in."
Charlie huffed, but again scooted oh so close again, and began walking him to the files in question. "See these guys that have been stirring up issues again seem to be called the Purple Dragons, but I think they are just lackies for the Foot Clan."
Don smirked, and swapped to his own set up. Much like his mobile gear his laptop offered pop up displays that he could manipulate and utilize as screens when ever needed. It created a floating halo around them of translucent digital screens. He preened a bit at her coo of wonder before he launched into all the information he had on the Purple Dragons, along with a picture of Karai's personal symbol on one of their recent "deliveries".
After a marathon of pooling their information Donatello was exhilarated. Charlie was not just clever with her banter. She was down right masterful at manipulating various outlets into giving her information. She had faked survey calls and several other scams for this info, and was happy to take on more work. She moved to shift the ice pack and take a sip of coffee, and he gathered up his courage.
"Charlie", he urged only to be rewarded with the full weight of her unflinching attention.
"Hmmm", she hummed.
"I don't want to pry, but I want to ask something personal." He managed hating how his voice seemed to squak.
Charlie lifted a brow, and set her cup back down. "Ok, but I get something in return."
It was the reptile's turn to be skeptical, "What would you like?"
"Depends on what you ask", she turned back to him letting her frame relax into the base of the couch at their backs.
He paused for a moment weighing the option, and trying not to contemplate how snuggly her clothing fit. "Deal", he mumbled.
She only nodded for him to continue.
"I want to know more about your illness. I know it's not just vertigo", Donatello frowned.
Charlie gaped, but recovered with a forlorn smile that he did not like one bit. She whispered, "Nothing gets past you, huh?"
He chuffed at the remark, and watched her meet his gaze as she found her voice again. "I have scar tissue wrapped around my spine like a spider web, and it does a number of annoying things, but mainly it causes the fluid to back up against my brain since it can't drain down the spine as in a normal case. Which causes vertigo, vision issues, and some really award winning migraines."
He forced a smile at her intended joke. "Vision symptoms?"
"It is slowly killing my optic nerves, but for now I just have random blindness. Sometimes with the migraines, and sometimes that is just a fun surprise all by itself", she snickered.
"Is there nothing more they can do?" He curled his hands into fists.
She shrugged, "There is a surgery but because of the specifics of my case I haven't found a neurosurgeon who would do it, and even if I did I have no idea how I would pay for it."
"So, you are just slowly going blind?" He grunted.
Charlie gave a nod, and he felt helpless for the first time in a long time. This was not missed the brunette who gave him a smile and reached out to cup his cheek. The touch caught him by surprise, and she gazed up at him with those jade eyes boring into him.
"Easy champ, but you can't ride in on a white horse a fix this one. My wrist you can, but my brain is a bit of a lost cause. And that's ok. It's not going to kill me, and I could have years before I go totally blind", she whispered to him smoothing her thumb over his scaled cheek.
She intended to make him feel better, but her words only made him feel more frantic. Her actions however, did wonders. She continued to stroke his cheek and he blushed, but dared not pull away. He had never been touched like that before and her feather soft fingertips over his muzzle and onto the scales of his cheeks was delightful and sweet. He ventured to open his eyes to find her observing him, but then those kind gentle fingertips delivered a pinch to his cheek.
"Back to work", she chirped deviously.
He grunted from the sudden attack, and pushed his glasses back to their proper place to glare at her. "What about your end of the deal?"
She sent him a smirk and toyed with her ponytail, "I'll wait till I need it."
"You are manipulative", he grumbled and snatched her laptop tired of its lagging system. That he could fix, "And your laptop is crap."
She giggled at the barb and nibbled on another treat sipping her cold coffee. "You're bossy and adorable."
He gaped at her attempting some form of retort for a moment or two, but it totaled to a series of sputters and some babbling. He felt the heat on his cheeks, and settled for scoffing at her and focusing on her slow laptop. Charlie meanwhile took the moment to rewrap her wrist obedient to his previous instructions.
His thoughts was a minefield. Was this normal? Was she flirting or was this just her sense of humor? That first notion left quickly, why would she flirt with him?! Was this how women were with their male friends?
Hours passed, and the pair continued their work. Donatello ever so aware of those subtle brushes when she reached past him or edged closer to read from his screen. It was delightful torture, and Charlie for her part played oblivious. For all he knew she was. His scales might have been different, but the notion of sharing personal space with someone seemed normal to her.
For him it was all but fantasy to have a pretty girl so close. When she swung around to make a comment her mane trussed up in its ponytail would ghost over his arm eliciting a tickle over his scales. He could only imagine how soft those long fragrant tresses were. She also smiled sweetly at him often holding his gaze when he did something helpful. This was rather rare for him, since he and Raphael had amber eyes. Humans often found his blue eyed brothers easier to hold gazes with while he and Raph were decidedly more inhuman in that area. That said, he worked throughout the evening for those smiles.
Author's note-
So, first thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and I will update it soon. On a personal note, the neurological disorder that Charlie has is something as a catharsis for me. I have this condition for the sake of plot it may get a little more interesting and more bleek than my own situation. I hope you guys like the personal touch :)
This has now been put through its paces by my darling Dragon!
Reviews are incredibly important to me because they are my only real way to gauge the audience. I welcome all feedback, so please let me know how I did! Thank you so much for reading!
Love,
Violet Blak
