Pairings: none

A/N: Okay, so I will start publishing at night and if I don't update at night, I'll at least type out the story at night and then publish it in the morning. I don't really have a set time to upload anything because I have a busy schedule, so…Anyway, this is the second part to the last chapter because I was really tired when I wrote that and it got a little short. So, this chapter will be longer and it will just continue from where I left it off last time. But, it will be in Leo's point of view because I can't remember the last time I've written from his point of view and he'll be following Donnie around all chapter, so you know what's going on.


Chapter 7: Decorating Pt. 2

POV: Leo's

I got up bright and early this morning. I'm just not sure why. Normally, every morning, I don't wake up until later. I could tell that it was still very early because I couldn't hear much from the surface. Normally, when I wake up, it's because some noise on the surface was too loud and I just couldn't sleep through it. So, I wasn't sure what caused me to wake up.

But, knowing Donnie, he would want me to do something as to not bother anyone. But, he did say that if I wanted to, I could go bother him for something to do. But…I wouldn't call my visit to him "bothering" him. I was just simply going to wake him up.

I wandered into his room, the only door in the hallway that was painted a different color. April's door was up, as Donnie had put it up last night before we went to bed. But, Donnie's door was clearly his as his was painted purple. I had to admit, the color purple was cool. But, I had spent time looking at each color of paint Donnie had brought back, and blue looked cool.

I winced as I knocked softly, hoping he hadn't heard it. When no one responded, I pushed the door open slowly, freezing as it made a soft little noise. I mean, normally Donnie would be on edge if he heard even the slightest noise. I wonder how he hadn't heard me. Then I looked inside and I knew instantly why he hadn't heard anything.

Donnie was out. I mean it. He probably wouldn't be waking up for the world. His right arm draped off the side of the bed that wasn't against the wall, and his other arm was wrapped around April, who was curled up tight against his plastron. I had to admit, it was cute seeing Donnie sleep. From the time I had known him, he hadn't really slept, so much as rested. I had never seen Donnie so deep into sleep. It was nice knowing that Donnie was giving himself a break and actually sleeping. Good. I feel as though he pushes himself too much that he never gives himself a break from constantly watching us.

I slowly climbed onto the bed at the end and sat by his feet. I would stay in here until he woke up. Briefly, my eyes flashed to the alarm clock by his bed. Wow, three in the morning. That's a new one. Not even Donnie wakes up at three. And it seems like he never sleeps.

An hour later, Donnie began to stir, careful as to not move April in any way. He must have fallen asleep knowing she was there or he had woken up throughout the night and noticed her before falling back asleep. Donnie slowly sat up, not moving April. He saw me sitting by his feet before looking at his clock.

"Leo, what are you doing up at four in the morning?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"I'd ask you the same thing. You normally don't wake up until at least six," I murmured.

"I can get up earlier if I want to. But, did you have a nightmare?" Donnie wondered, looking at me with his piercing red eyes. They were filled with worry.

"No. I just woke up early and you said not to bother anyone if we wake up early, so I came in here. I knew I wouldn't bother anyone if I came in here, because you don't normally get bothered when we come in your room," I explained.

He sighed. "You should've gone back to bed. It's way too early for you to be up," he muttered.

"I couldn't sleep after that. I laid in bed for about ten minutes, the normal time it takes me to fall asleep, and I just couldn't," I sighed.

He slowly stood, and leaped off the bed, landing on the floor silently. And April didn't even notice. "So, what do you want to do? You know you have at least three hours before anyone else wakes up," Donnie said cheerfully, as if it wasn't four in the morning and he was just waking up. I was impressed by how little sleep he could get and still function perfectly fine. It boggles the mind.

"Uh, I can't think of anything we can do without waking someone up," I mumbled.

"I could show you my lab," he offered.

"Okay," I said. I saw Donnie's eyes flash back to where April was sleeping. He sighed before acting like nothing had ever happened.

I've heard Raph, Casey, and Mikey say that they think that Donnie has a crush on April, although that would be weird for three reasons. One, Donnie's a turtle and April's a human. Two, April is so much younger than Donnie. By at least fourteen years, if not more. Three, April is his daughter. You can't date your child. That'd be wrong. But, even I was starting to think about it. I've noticed that Donnie always seems to be watching out for April more than us. Not that he doesn't watch over us, because he does it a lot. No, he just watches her more than he watches us.

I honestly think it's because April's the only girl in the family and he feels he needs to watch her 24/7 to make sure she's not feeling left out. And I'm sure she feels that way sometimes. I mean, yesterday, Donnie told me to watch April for a while, and I watched her the same way Donnie sort of does it. And he got weirded out by it, like it was wrong for me to do that. I'm not quite sure why that is, though.

Donnie's lab was absolutely mind-blowing. There were finished projects, unfinished projects, and half-finished projects laying around, but I swear, it was super neat in here. His tools were neatly lined up on one of his several desks. The other desks were reserved for computers and notebooks, along with what seemed to be hundreds of books. There were pencils, pens, blueprints, books, notebooks, paper with sketches on them, and whatever else I could name in there. I wasn't sure how he keeps track of anything in here, but I had to say, when it came to his work space, although the desks could be loaded with stuff, it was all neat.

"Cool," I gasped as I walked in. I liked how there was close to nothing on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Okay, so this is where I used to spend all my free time before I found you guys. I haven't been in here for a while, since I guess I didn't want to be seen coming in here and having you guys follow me in. But, Casey, Raph, and Mikey aren't up, so I think I was safe with bringing you in here. This big open space in the middle of the room is where I normally work on projects. I drag absolutely everything I need onto the floor and it looks like a nuclear fall out zone. I can't even walk around without tripping on something and I never trip. So…it says a lot. But, normally, when I'm working, I don't have to worry about anyone else tripping on something, so I can do whatever I want. I'll have to get used to keeping my work area somewhat clean while I work with you guys around, since I need to set up security alarms around the lair. For safety reasons, because I don't want any of you guys to get hurt by someone sneaking in here," Donnie explained. I nodded.

"So, this is my main computer desk, where I do most of my research and planning out," he continued, gesturing to the desk—one of the desks—that had a lot of computers and papers on it. "I have other desks, but I don't use them as much. And the desk that doesn't have any computers on it is my tool table. And you see that door?" He pointed at the door leading somewhere in the lair. I nodded eagerly. "That is my little library. Well, it's not so little anymore. It's jam-packed with every single book I've ever read, every note I've ever taken from each text-book, and every notebook I've written in. It's pretty impressive."

"Can I see it?" I asked eagerly. He smiled down at me.

"Of course," Donnie told me and brought me into the room. My jaw dropped when I saw all the books and notebooks and paper stuffed onto shelves in the room. There were more books here than in an actual library. I'm almost certain of it. I've never been in an actual library, but still…Donnie sure does like to read.

He led me to a shelf full of books. "This is where I keep all the books I read to you guys. Before I read to you, I come in here and pick out a book to read. You know, if you want to, you can come in here and read. Almost nobody knows this door is here. It-it blends in so no one can really find it all that easily unless it's pointed out. So, it would be quiet in there. And you can search everywhere in here. If you need a book, I'm pretty sure I have it. So don't ever tell me you don't have anything to do. Come in here and read," Donnie explained, chuckling a bit. I nodded. This was awesome. I would definitely be coming in here to read or just relax without the noise of the other six—four because Splinter and April really don't make all that much noise—playing around. I'm sure it stays quiet in here and I was looking forward to hiding out in here and reading.

We went back upstairs after just wandering around the lair, looking at stuff that I hadn't seen before. Donnie even showed me some demonstrations of some of his creations. They were pretty cool, like the robot he made. It was a head taller than me, which says a lot about how tall I am because that thing is short.

Raph and Mikey were up and they were arguing. Again. About the room. Didn't Donnie set them straight yesterday? Apparently not.

"Guys, keep it down. You're going to wake someone up," I hissed at them as Donnie disappeared into his room.

"Who are we going to wake up? Casey? Yeah, he won't mind because he wants the room, too. Whether Donnie likes it or not, we're getting this room one way or another," Raph growled. Mikey glared at Raph.

"Donnie," I whined, hoping not to start a fight with my brother or brothers. I don't know if Mikey's mad at me or not.

Donnie came walking out casually with a box of tools in one hand. He was holding something behind him as he walked and as he passed me, moving to the two other turtles, I saw it was a tool of some sort. I think everyone freaked out except for him when the thing turned on.

"No one's switching rooms for a while," Donnie said calmly after we all stopped worrying. That thing looked scary and Mikey and Raph didn't even know what it was. I think knowing what it was is scarier. "Not until I decide if you get along with the person you're rooming with. Just one rule. No one gets the room next to mine unless I decide I can't take it anymore and I split one of the groups up."

"But then where would April go?" I asked, knowing that was April's room. Who would she room with because if there were two people with their own rooms, she'd have to pair up with someone.

"She'd go with me," Donnie answered as he grabbed the door that was leaning against the wall next to Raph and Casey's room. "She spends almost every night in my room anyway. I don't mind, though. I would make it work if I had to. And I think she'd be more comfortable with me in the first place."

He pulled out the tool he had used to scare all of us and we freaked out again. Donnie chuckled. "I have a ton of interesting stuff that can and will be used against you if you get on my bad side, which none of you have luckily done. So, you're safe," Donnie smiled then turned to the door with a smirk. "For now."

I wasn't sure I heard him right. Did he really just say that? Did he expect that we were going to get on his bad side? I know I really don't want to. He had spent ten minutes showing me all the tools in his lab, and most of them looked like they could be used to stop an attacker or punish someone. And then he spent another twenty minutes showing me all the weapons he owns. It scared me.

Donnie put in the door and I'm surprised no one woke up at that. He tested it and apparently deemed it working. "You're good to go for now, Raph," Donnie said happily. Raph smiled, not wanting to say anything to get on Donnie's bad side.

He quickly did all the doors just fine and then did all of our bedframes, since we were up and he could move the mattress wherever he wanted to. He left the beds for people who were still sleeping alone for the moment.

Donnie sighed and slumped down to the ground against the wall after Mikey and Raph had disappeared into their rooms, most likely to jump on the bed, like I had heard them talk about. But I did notice Donnie's smile.

"What did you do?" I asked him warily as I sat down, folding my legs beneath me.

Donnie chuckled and shook his head. "I haven't done it yet since they were watching me, but I'm going to install microphones hooked up to speakers in my room, so that way I can hear who's still up without ever leaving the comfort of my room. I can also scare people that way because they will be able to hear me talk through it, but they won't be able to see me. This also helps me because if someone has a bad dream or something and they start to cry, I can hear that and I can go help. I just didn't want them to know that I was doing that because then it would ruin the surprise. Because if they're up late at night when they shouldn't be, I'm going to yell into the speaker so they'll freak out and go to bed without even realizing that it was me who talked to them. I won't yell at you or Splinter, or Mikey or Timothy. But, Raph and Casey worry me," Donnie told me. I smiled.

"You're so evil sometimes, aren't you?" I laughed.

"Eh, I was raised by an evil person. Habits rub off on people," Donnie muttered, casting his gaze down.

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"The guy who sort of adopted me, he wasn't a very good guy. He wasn't all that nice. I mean, the first few weeks that he brought me in, since I was two days old when he found me, they were nice. He gave me a bed to sleep on, food to eat, water to drink. Then…I don't know what happened. As soon as I could walk, he started training me to be the best. That meant that there were no more of life's comforts. I had to earn those by training hard. I would go weeks without sleep because I didn't want to sleep on the ground. I learned early on that if I slept on the floor, I'd most likely wake up with a big bruise in my arm or leg. I went days without eating and drinking water. Okay, I drank water every few hours because he knew that if I didn't get enough water that I would pass out. That's a long story that I don't feel like talking about. But, I starved for a while. He wouldn't read me bedtime stories. I didn't get a bed to sleep on every night. I didn't get fed when I was hungry. I was beaten when I didn't get something done right," Donnie sighed, folding his hands. "I ran a few months ago and I was just getting into New York again after living in Japan for four years when I found you guys. I'm not even sure how I had time to read all those books. I don't think I ever got enough time to do anything. I was watched under 24/7 security so I didn't get loose. And I only ran because he was trying to force me to marry his daughter, Karai. I-I just couldn't. You guys are lucky. I don't do any of those things to you."

"Is that why you watch over April? Because you know that no one's ever going to force you to marry her and so you can trust her and not worry about anything happening?" I whispered.

"You know, Leo, for such a little guy, you're pretty smart," Donnie laughed, standing up. "April's up. I can hear her moving."

Donnie rushed into his room before April could realize that he wasn't there. I smiled.

After we all had a big breakfast, Donnie finished up with the bedframes before pulling out the fun stuff, meaning pillows and blankets. Sure, we had stuff last night, but it wasn't much. Donnie had probably been wanting to surprise us with the extra blankets and pillows.

He dumped everything in the middle of the floor. "Guys, you should choose which color you want your bed sheets and pillows to be. It'll be more fun if you have colors you like," Donnie said. "Leo first."

I looked through the pile, looking for blue pillows and sheets and blankets. "I want blue," I said. Donnie nodded, pulling a pencil out of somewhere. He wrote something down on a sheet of paper that he had on his clipboard. Hmm.

"Raph, you're next," Donnie murmured.

"Red," he said immediately.

"I thought you would say that," Donnie chuckled, writing it down. "Mikey."

"I want orange," he finally answered after looking through the pile. Donnie smiled.

This went on for a while. Casey had picked dark red, instead of the bright red that Raph had picked. Splinter chose reddish-brown, which was a cool color. Almost like his eyes, but darker. Timothy had chosen green. And, last but not least, April had chosen yellow. I thought it was cute and I'm sure Donnie thought so, too, since Donnie was a genius. You had to admit, yellow and purple complement each other.

Donnie took the time to make all of our beds for us, choosing the pillow and blankets of our choice. He started at Raph and Casey's end of the hallway and made his way down to his. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, which was nice, because I just wanted to jump in my nicely made bed and sleep for a while, since I woke up too early.

But, Donnie took a lot of time on April's room, and I was curious. So, instead of going back to sleep, I peeked into April's room.

Okay, so Donnie was done with her room now, and he and April were playing with stuffed toys on her bed. I stood in the doorway, smiling. This was just too cute. I like seeing Donnie so soft towards at least one of us. Sure, he's a soft person in general, but he's very gentle and calm towards April, no matter what she did. It was nice seeing him like this, just like it was nice seeing Donnie sleep this morning.

Donnie's eyes flashed up to where I was standing. "Do you want to come join us, Leo?" Donnie wondered, smiling. April looked up at me and smiled, too.

"Yeah," I said and wandered in towards the bed. I sat down on it and they handed me toys to play with. I smiled and chose one as we all spread out on the bed and played with the stuffed animals like it was the last time we'd be able to do this together. And I'm sure it might be. But, for now, who cares? I'm happy, Donnie's happy, everyone else is happy as far as I know. That's good enough for me.