Disclaimer: Day and Lenni don't own the Ninja Turtles. How many times have we said this so far? I don't wanna say it anymore, it's depressing. :o(
Michelangelo's heart wrenched when he heard his little sister scream his name. He hated seeing any of his siblings in pain or fear. Mily was already scrambling down from his back, yanking her tessen fan from her belt. He shook his head at her.
"Stay here," he ordered and swung down over the side of the building, landing on a fire escape. He jumped off the fire escape and landed in the middle of the street gang. With lightening quick punches, he knocked the two guys holding Lenni backwards, breaking their hold on the youngest turtle.
"Mikey!" Lenni exclaimed, blinking her tear-filled eyes as her rescuer snatched her up into his arms. "You came, you came!" His hard gaze softened for a moment as he glanced down at her already bruising face.
"This wasn't your smartest plan, munchkin," Mikey said with only half his usual teasing nature. Lenni whimpered and buried herself into his arms. She just wanted to be safe. Turning back to the thugs, Mikey sized them up. There were about seven of them, not too bad odds for a ninja but he also had his little sisters to worry about. Pulling out a nunchuck, he swung it above his head, warding off any fresh attacks.
"Wha'zat?" asked one of the thugs, scratching his head with the hilt of a knife.
"A nunchuck?" Mikey supplied, whirling it faster. "It's a ninja's best friend!"
"No, that," the thug said. He pointed the knife point at Mikey. "I was wonderin' what you were."
"Oh, me?" Mikey asked, keeping up an air of friendly conversation. Maybe if he just confused them, they'd just run off or something. "I'm just your everyday, average, five foot three turtle man."
Another guy bobbed up and down as he tried to catch a good sight of Michelangelo.
"Looks like another freaky thing but it moves too fast, I can't tell," he said.
"You bet I move fast!" Michelangelo said with a cocky grin. "They don't call me Mikey Fastfeet for nothing."
"No one calls you Mikey Fastfeet," Mily rebuked. She was standing on the fire escape, her tessen fan unfolded at her side. Mikey gave her an exasperated look.
"I told you to stay on the roof!"
"I was bored," Mily complained, tapping the fan against her hip.
"What is this, the invasion of the little green people?" cried one of the thugs. With a shout, he took a swing at Mikey who easily sidestepped him, avoiding the punch completely. Mily jumped down to join her brother. Smaller, she could maneuver through the gang with greater ease. There were a couple cries of pain as the razor edge of Mily's fan cut across exposed skin.
"Get over here!" Mikey shouted, waving his free hand at Mily. His other arm was wrapped around Lenni, keeping her close. The pink-wearing turtle squealed as a thug lunged for her. He fell on his face as she raced out of the way. She used his back as a springboard, running then landing on him before jumping into the air. Doing a couple more twisting back flips through the gang, she managed to end up right next to Mikey, her shell pressed up against his.
"Now what?" she asked him, holding her fan out in front of her. She was tired but she was going to protect her brother and sister until the very end. The thugs were about five feet away, pausing while they tried to come up with a good idea as well.
"This is usually when Leonardo pops up and goes 'I have a plan!'," Mikey said with a dry chuckle. He was not used to being in a leadership position and he was pretty sure that he did not like it. He looked down at Lenni. "Hey, Lenni, do you think you can stand? I can fight better if I can use both my hands."
She bit her lip and then nodded slowly. "I think so. Mm-hmm."
"There you go," he said. Giving her an encouraging smile, Mikey put her down on her feet. She wobbled a bit and then sat down on the ground in the corner. They had been backed up to the end of the alley and there was no clear path of escape.
"Mily, I need you to watch Lenni for me," Mikey said quickly, looking his pink-wearing sister right in the eye. She nodded and raised her tessen fan up near her face.
"I can do that," she said. Mikey smiled; he would have to tell her how proud he was of her when they got back to the lair. He pulled his other nunchuck from his belt and blocked a high kick from one of the gang members.
"Tsk, tsk, attacking a guy when his back is turned," Mikey scolded. He swung a nunchuck around and hit the guy in the stomach, putting him on the ground. The others started to close in on the three turtles, getting closer each time they made a move. Mikey was doing everything he could to keep them back but the numbers were against them.
Mily was in a half panic. She was running on adrenaline now, trying to help Mikey but obey his wishes at the same time. She regretted ever coming down off that rooftop.
"Mily, I don't wanna be here!" cried Lenni. The youngest turtle was curled up in a ball in the corner, her arms over her head.
"Mikey's gonna take us home, don't worry," Mily said, trying to calm herself and her sister. She wished desperately that she had a shell cell but Donatello had not made enough for everyone so only the guys carried them all the time.
Mily screamed as a large man in baggy pants and a sweatshirt got past Mikey and lashed out at her. She did not block in time and his fist caught her jaw. It hurt more than a stray punch from her siblings ever did. She darted out with her tessen fan and sliced him across the wrist, making him recoil with a curse. Mikey saw him and delivered a blow to the thug's head, knocking him out.
"Mily, take Lenni and get out of here!" Mikey yelled without any of his normal jovial nature in his tone. He took a swing at another gang member, trying to force them away.
Mily grabbed Lenni's arm. "Can you stand up? C'mon Lenni, we gotta go, please, c'mon," she pleaded, tugging on her sister's arm. Lenni stumbled to her feet, tears falling down her cheeks. "That's great," Mily said. While Mikey covered for them, Mily led Lenni over to the fire escape. Lenni started to climb but stopped halfway up, clinging to the cold metal rungs.
"I don't think I can, Mily," she said fearfully, blinking down at her sister. Mily grimaced.
"You have to!" she demanded and tried to shove the other turtle up the next few rungs. She looked down, frightened, as one of the men grabbed onto the end on the ladder. She swiped at him with the tessen fan but he leaned away, avoiding her weary strikes. He grabbed her by the leg and yanked.
"Gotcha now, ya little freak!" he exclaimed. Lenni cried out as Mily was pulled down to the ground and held in the stranger's arms. She kicked and screamed but her actions were futile.
"Let my sister go!" she screeched but in her state, she was helpless to do anything. "Mikey!" she called out to her brother, trying to alert him to Mily's plight. He saw what she was screaming about and tried to reach his little sisters. He felt that everything was falling apart and he could not do anything to stop it.
Suddenly a brown blur streaked down from the rooftops, landing amidst the gang with a flurry of soft robes.
"Do not touch my daughter," Master Splinter snapped as he landed a few good licks on the man who had grabbed Mily. The pink-wearing turtle dropped to the ground and quickly flipped away from her captor. She gave her father a grateful smile before hurrying back to help Lenni. The youngest turtle was just staring, amazed that he had found them. Mily snapped her out of her amazement and they made it up to the first landing of the fire escape.
"Master Splinter!" Michelangelo shouted, never happier to see the mutant that he called father and teacher. The ninja sensei gave his son a silent nod before attacking the people who had dared to harm his children.
"Is that a rat?" one of the thugs cried out.
"Ugh! What kind of monsters are there in Manhattan?" another one spat. Master Splinter knocked him backwards with a well-aimed kick.
"The ninja variety!" Mikey supplied the quick-thinking quip.
Master Splinter's stick landed heavily on the thugs. He showed no mercy as he leapt and twisted around the criminals, laying injury upon injury to them. His skill combined with Michelangelo's renewed energy, they quickly gave the gang a good reason to turn around and hightail it out of that alley.
"I'm outta here!"
"Yeah, you can keep the little freak!" one of them shouted back as he flew towards the end of the alley. The rest of the gang was quick to follow, not wanting to face the continuing wrath of the ninja master and his son.
"You better get out of here!" Michelangelo yelled after their retreating forms. As the last of them disappeared off into the streets, Mikey turned to look at his sensei. "You got skills, Sensei! And how'd you find us?" he asked, rather confused.
Master Splinter shook his head, his gaze rising upward until it caught Mily's frightened eyes, shining in the dark. It was past sunset now and time for everyone to be in bed. "I will explain when we are better concealed, Michelangelo. We must worry about our safety now."
Michelangelo saw what he was looking at and quickly nodded. "Gotcha, Sensei." He motioned for Master Splinter to take the lead and the rat immediately climbed up the fire escape. Mily was there when he reached the landing. She flung her arms about her father's waist and buried her head in his robes. Making shushing noises, he brushed his hand along her head.
"You were very brave, little one," Master Splinter said. He kissed her forehead lightly. "You make me proud."
She gave him a watery smile and backed away, letting him go to Lenni. Lenni let out a sob as she saw Master Splinter coming towards her.
"I'm sorry!" she cried, shaking her head, sending her dirty bandanna tails back and forth. "I didn't mean to, I didn't think they cared. Punker and Splinter and Hex said…" She broke down into wracking sobs. Master Splinter sighed as he bent down and wiped away her tears with his furry hand.
"My child, no one was trying to get rid of you. We love you so much; you are an integral part of our family."
Lenni blinked up at him, hearing his kind words but not quite believing them. She looked at Mikey who nodded, smiling at her.
"We always want you, Lenni, no matter what we say sometimes," he told her. Master Splinter helped Lenni to her feet and she fell against him, emotionally and physically spent. As he hugged her, Michelangelo put a hand on Mily's shoulder.
"Do you think you can make it back to the lair on your own two feet?" he asked. Since the girls had gotten bigger, he couldn't carry two of them around any more. It had been easier to haul them around when they were eight and nine. Mily nodded silently and Mikey gave her one of his thousand watt smiles. "You're such a good kid, Mily," he said, giving her a squeezing hug. She laughed a bit.
"That's what they all say."
Mikey went over to Lenni and swung her up into his arms, cuddling her against his plastron. Master Splinter went back down the fire escape first with Mily right behind him. Together, the two managed to pull the manhole cover in the alley off.
"Descend first, Michelangelo," Master Splinter said and the orange-wearing turtle went down the ladder one-handed. When he got to the bottom, he shook his head at the nearly-sleeping girl resting against him.
"You're going to give me grey hairs, you know that?" he teased her, just happy to have all his sisters back and safe again. Lenni giggled.
"You don't have hair," she told him, shaking her head.
"You're bad enough that I'll grow some to go grey just for you," he said, shifting her in his arms. "Don't do it again," he said in a begging tone. She nodded sleepily.
"I won't."
Mily popped up at Michelangelo's side and grinned at Lenni and Mikey. "Can we go home now?" she asked, ready to drop with exhaustion. Master Splinter nodded as he joined them; he had just finished replacing the manhole cover.
"Let us go home."
Back at the lair, the Princess Bride had ended but no one had left the living room. Donatello and Leonardo did not have the heart to force their worried little sisters into bed. Donnie was sitting on the couch in between Danceingfae and Daydream. Danceingfae was trying to read a cooking magazine, borrowing some of the light from the lamp Leonardo was using to read by. He was sitting in an armchair, not really focusing but thinking about what he could have been doing to help with the search.
Donatello had one arm resting on Daydream who was curled up tightly into his side. She was asleep with her head resting on her bandaged hands that were folded over his knee. Beside her, Arista was sitting with her legs propped up on the coffee table. She was trying to watch the show that was on TV but it wasn't very interesting. Laying on the floor in front of her was Reiko. Hexadecimal was beside Arista, leaning against the end of the couch. Normally she would complain about her squished up position, but she did not feel like it at the moment.
"Wonder how it's going," Splinter said, looking towards the hallway. As if on cue, they heard the door open.
"We're back!" Ziptango yelled as the search team clomped back into the lair. In the living room, Donatello and Leonardo shared a wince as they heard Raphael throwing stuff around. Machias, Ziptango, Raphiella, and Tyger all trudged into the living room, looking dejected.
"Did you find her?" Danceingfae asked as she looked over the back of the couch. Tyger shook her head and flopped down on the floor.
"We looked everywhere," Raphiella said hopelessly as she came in. "No sign of her at all."
"Raph thinks she went Up Top," Machias put in.
"Why would she do that? It's dangerous," Leonardo said, shaking his head slowly.
Machias shrugged and stretched her arms above her head. "I dunno, It's Lenni. I'm going to bed. I'll see you all in the morning."
"How can you possibly go to bed?" demanded Punker. "Your sister's still out there, alone!"
"I'm no good to her drop dead tired," said Machias with a notion of common sense. "Besides, I didn't see you heading up a search team."
Punker scowled horribly but she did not have a good comeback for that. She and Splinter were sitting at the card table, still trying to amuse themselves with games. They had gone onto chess now but the pieces had not been moved in a while.
Raphael stormed into the living room and flung himself down onto the smaller couch. He glared at everyone as if it was their entire fault.
"Where's Mily and Mikey?" Leonardo asked, looking at him carefully.
"Hell if I know," Raphael snarled crossing his arms over his plastron. "Together and Up Top wherever they are."
"Hmm…did they find her?" Daydream asked, opening one eye to look up at Donnie. He shook his head and patted her arm.
"No, but we're going to," he said. She smiled a bit and snuggled back down into him.
"I know you will," she said with absolute certainty. Donnie smiled but he wished he had her certainty. Leonardo stood up.
"I'm going to look for her," he said firmly. Raphael got to his feet and leveled his gaze at Leonardo.
"I'm goin' with ya," he said, daring Leo to say no.
"You just got back. You need to rest," Leonardo said but Raphael just scowled.
"I'm going-"
The door opened and the two of them stopped talking and turned their heads towards the noise. The girls looked at each other, waiting anxiously to see if Mikey and Mily were going to come in empty-handed too.
Michaelangelo shuffled into the lair, holding a sleeping young turtle. She'd fallen asleep about five minutes or so ago, finally having calmed down enough to do so.
Everyone in the lair gasped, upon seeing the state of their baby sister. They couldn't believe all the bruises and cuts she had on her, making them start to regret their harsh words from earlier.
"What happened?" Leonardo demanded, still on his feet.
Michaelangelo shook his head." She went up top," he replied. "She got jumped by a bunch of thugs. Mily and I found her just in time."
"Where is Mily?" Raphael asked.
"She's coming," Michaelangelo replied calmly.
Mily walked in then, sort of being supported by Master Splinter. She was completely spent and more than ready to collapse into her bed for a good night's sleep.
"Sensei?" Everyone said, completely confused.
"Donatello," Master Splinter began calmly. "Do take care of them, so that they can get some rest."
"Yes, Sensei," Donatello replied, quickly taking Mily from him and leading the way to the infirmary.
Michaelangelo followed, though he was stopped briefly by a herd of girls coming to check on their sister.
"Is she gonna be okay, Mikey?" Daydream asked in a small childlike voice, after having had gotten up off the couch finally.
Michaelangelo nodded at them. "She'll be fine, once Donnie patches her up. I promise."
The girls all gave a huge sigh of relief, then let their orange clad brother pass. They all returned to the spots they'd been sitting or lying, as to wait for the two who had been injured.
"I'ma beat those punks to a bloody pulp!" Raphael exclaimed. "How dare they attack her like that! See how they like somebody their own size to put a beating on 'em!"
"Raphael!" Master Splinter snapped slightly. "There is no need for that. Michaelangelo and I took care of them. They shall hopefully think twice about attacking anyone in this family again."
Raphael flopped down on a couch, his arms crossed over his plastron angrily, though he looked more like he was pouting. "They damned well better stay away! 'Cause next time I'ma kill 'em!"
"Raphael! Enough!" Master Splinter ordered.
Raphael muttered under his breath, daring to glance at Leonardo, who shared his look. Both of them knew, should this happen again they would personally go hunt the idiots down again.
"Now, we must discuss some things, before you all go off to bed," Master Splinter told them. "Until further notice all of you are restricted to the lair. The only times you may leave are to go on patrol, but only those who have passed the Trials are allowed to go on patrol."
"Hey! That's not fair!" The girls who had yet to take the Trials exclaimed.
"Was it fair to me, when you all lied to me about their whereabouts?" Master Splinter retorted.
Leonardo looked down at his feet, as Danceingfae blushed. HexAdecimal, TygeroftheWynd, and Splinter all looked uncomfortable as well.
"Also, I do not need any more of my daughters getting injured. Yes, I know it is apart of our life, but I will not stand for my children to get hurt because of foolish things. I want you all to be safe. I must be sure that you will be able to handle yourselves well enough, so that when attacked you will be able to fend them off and escape to safety. I can not bare to lose any of you! You are my children, and I must keep your best interests in mind. So for these reasons, you are all restricted and will be required to practice your ninjitsu a little longer each day than what we have done thus far. Now, I bid you all a goodnight and suggest you get some rest."
"Night Sensei," they all mumbled softly, none to happy with themselves or the circumstances at the moment.
"So what're we s'pose to do? We're gonna be stuck in the lair all day for who knows how long! That'll get boring!" TygeroftheWynd whined. "An' when we get bored, we get in trouble!"
Machias smirked. "Well, least that means we usually find some excitement."
Splinter laughed softly. "Yeah, even if the excitement makes Sensei mad, it's still fun."
HexAdecimal yawned. "I think I'm going to bed now. If we gotta practice longer, we're gonna need the sleep."
Ziptango nodded. "Yeah…I'm not looking forward to that."
"Me neither," Daydream agreed sleepily.
They all heard snoring then, and laughed when they realized Raphiella had fallen asleep with her head in Raphael's lap.
"Only Ella could sleep through Sensei's lectures," Leonardo commented.
Raphael shook his head. "I'll get her to bed," he said, carefully scooping her up into his arms, and padding his way down towards the bedrooms once on his feet.
"I suggest you all follow her lead," Leonardo stated, once their laughter had died down some.
"Night, Leo," they all chorused, each taking a turn to give him a hug and/or kiss. Soon, all but Daydream had left the den.
"Day, don't you think you should get some sleep?" Leonardo asked.
"I'm waiting for Lenni," Daydream said stubbornly, stifling a yawn. "I wanna see that she's okay for myself."
"Alright," Leonardo sighed, sitting down next to her. "If you fall asleep, I'll wake you up, alright?"
Daydream nodded, snuggling into her eldest brother. She was glad he was being nice tonight, as she probably would've cried long ago otherwise. Tonight was crazy enough as it was, and having a breakdown wouldn't help matters much.
Meanwhile in the infirmary, Donatello was busy patching Mily up. He'd decided to leave Lenore until later, as she was more bruised and beaten that Mily was.
Mily winced as Donatello checked her face out as gently as it could. She was starting to bruise from where the one thug had hit her, and it hurt!
"Well, you're going to have a nice bruise," Donatello told her.
"Obviously," Mily muttered, none too pleased. "I shoulda been able to block him!"
Michaelangelo shook his head. "You weren't ready for battle. You should have never come down off the rooftop. You should have done as told and stayed put."
Mily hung her head, Sensei's praise leaving her as Michaelangelo of all people admonished her for her decisions.
"You're just lucky he only hit you once and one bruise is all you're gonna get," Michaelangelo went out. "He could've killed you, Mily! Bad enough I had to fight to save Lenni, but then to have you come down after being told not too, and making me hafta worry about both of you – that was just wrong. I was worried about you enough as it was. I didn't need more worry to add on top of it! We're just lucky Sensei came when he did, otherwise, I don't know what would've happened!"
Mily blinked back her unwanted tears. She'd only wanted to help and make him proud, but it seemed to have backfired on her immensely.
Michaelangelo sighed, running his free hand over his face. "But other than that, I'm glad you're okay. I felt proud of you tonight, Mily – even if you didn't do as told. If you hadn't have come down, Lenni might not have gotten out of harm's way when she did. She might've been hurt even more than she already was. So for that, I'm grateful. Just promise me, you won't scare me like that again! Don't purposely put yourself in harm's way, okay?"
Mily nodded slightly, her head still hung as Donatello made sure she had no other injuries.
Michaelangelo lifted her chin up with his finger once Donatello had stepped out of the way briefly. He smiled warmly at his little sister. "I love yah, Kid. I'm proud of yah too. I just don't want nothin' bad to happen to yah, okay?"
Mily smiled some as she nodded once more. "Okay, Mikey."
"Thank-you," Michaelangelo said, kissing her forehead affectionately. "Now, if Donnie's done pokin' yah, scat onto bed, alright?"
Donatello nodded. "I'm done."
Mily hopped down off the table, hugging her brothers tight and patting Lenore's leg. "Don't keep her too long, okay? I'ma get lonely otherwise."
Donatello smiled. "I promise to try and not keep her too long. It just depends on how badly she's hurt, is all."
Mily nodded again, then hurried off out of the infirmary. She smiled more when she spotted Daydream and Leonardo sitting on the couch, the television still on, but much lower than it had been when she'd come in. "Night!"
Leonardo looked up and smiled. "Night, Mily."
"How's Lenni?" Daydream asked, her eyes closed.
"I don't know," Mily admitted. "Donnie hasn't checked her over yet."
"Oh…okay," Daydream sighed. She didn't like not knowing how her sister was.
"But I'm sure she'll be okay," Mily assured her. "Mikey brought her home just like I said he would. An' Donnie promised to try an' not keep her too long. But she's gonna be awful sore for a few days. I know, 'cause my bruise already hurts an' she gots tons more."
Leonardo smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll manage, especially with all the attention you're going to be getting."
Mily beamed. "I'm gonna like that!" She giggled some, then hurried off to bed.
Back in the infirmary, Michaelangelo had gently waken Lenore and set her upon the examining table.
Lenore whimpered softly as she was set down. Not so much because it hurt, but because she didn't want to leave the safety of her brother's arms. She felt like she was eight-years-old again and desperately needed to be cuddled.
Michaelangelo gently ran a hand over her head to calm her some. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised. "Donnie's just gonna patch yah up some, then yah can go back to sleep."
Lenore eyed her purple clad brother warily. "No needles," she told him.
Donatello just sighed, not having the heart to tell her that she probably would need stitches for some of her wounds. "Just let me check you over and get you cleaned up, alright?"
Lenore nodded quietly. She winced and squirmed some when he cleaned her wounds. It stung like the dickens, but she kept quiet, though lone tears streamed down her face. She felt like such a fool for taking off and going up top. She knew only an idiot would do what she had done, and that just made her feel even worse. She had proven to her family just how stupid she truly was.
Michaelangelo stayed rooted next to her, though he made sure to stay out of Donatello's way, as he held the youngest turtle's hand.
Donatello gently poked and prodded her, wanting to make sure that nothing was broken. After a short while, he smiled softly. "Well, nothing seems to be broken. You've got a couple bruised ribs, a black eye, and a fat lip, but nothing that can't be cured within time."
Michaelangelo watched his brother carefully, sensing what eh was going to say next.
"But, you do have some wounds that need stitching," Donatello went on carefully. "There's no way around it. We can't just leave them gaping open. We do and they could get infected and you might end up losing a limb."
Lenore's eyes went wide, and she immediately squirmed away, reaching for her brother in orange. She was seeking protection, as she hated needles with a passion!
Michaelangelo sighed and rubbed her head some more. "Munchkin, you gotta let Donnie fix yah up. You know I won't leave yah, I never do."
Lenore shook her head, her dirty yellow and blue bandana tails whipping about furiously.
Donatello sighed and left the room a moment. He felt relieved when he found Daydream still up. He knew the girls could talk sense into her better than they could at times, now probably being one of them.
"Day, are you still up, Honey?"
Daydream squirmed some, then sat up with Leonardo's help. "Wha?"
"I need you to come help me with Lenni," Donatello told her. "I've got to stitch her up, and so far she's not going to let me."
Leonardo helped the girl up, and ushered her to the infirmary, as Donatello headed back.
Daydream stumbled about, following her brother in purple, wanting to help. "Lenni?" She mumbled.
Lenore looked over at her sister in tears. "Don't let him stick me, Day!" She cried. "Please!"
Daydream frowned some. "But he's gotta fix yah up, Lenni. I can't have yah without limbs, silly."
Lenore pouted, not looking one bit happy as Donatello got his stuff prepared. "Please Day!" She begged. "I'll do anything!"
"Not 'less you let Donnie stitch yah up," Daydream replied, using the same tactics on Lenore that her sisters had used on her earlier. "I let Donnie fix my hands up earlier, an' yanno how much I hate that."
"But – But – " Lenni tried to reason.
Daydream shook her head. "Wanna know what made Sensei go lookin' for yah?"
"What?" Lenore asked curiously, Michaelangelo cocking his head to the side as well.
"They told him y'all were lookin' for frogs," Daydream replied.
Michaelangelo eyed Leonardo who was still standing in the doorway, and watched him nod.
"But I don't like frogs!" Lenore protested, jerking her arm away as Donatello neared her with the needle and thread.
Donatello nodded his head to his brother, who immediately took his hint. He waited as Michaelangelo tightened his grip on her left hand, and Leonardo took hold of her right.
Lenore squeezed their hands, not realizing she'd now technically been captured by her brothers.
"I know," Daydream giggled. "Sensei knows that too 'cause you always cry when people chase yah with 'em."
"Well, they're scary!" Lenore insisted, jerking slightly again, only unable to move far. "Hey! Leggo!"
"No can do, Kiddo," Michaelangelo told her. "You keep jerking an' Donnie's gonna end up hurtin' yah."
"He's gonna hurt me anyway," Lenore mumbled miserably.
"Leo said they didn't even know Sensei had left! He was all sneaky and ninja like!" Daydream went on, looking her sister in the face. She wanted to help keep her clam, but she also didn't want to watch Donatello stitch her up. "No wonder he's the Master! He c'n do everything!"
Lenore nodded her head in agreement. "You shoulda seen him jump off the roof!" She exclaimed. "All I saw was a flash of brown an' his robes followin' him down! He kicked their butts real good too! Serves 'em right for attackin' me when I didn't even do nothin'!"
"What were yah doin'?" Daydream wanted to know, seeing her sister wince and tear up as Donatello began to patch her up.
"Lookin' for someplace to sleep," Lenore admitted. "But it was all too dirty an' gross! Yick!"
Daydream smiled, that sounded so like her sister. She hated to get messy, unless she was tackling Raphael – then she didn't care where she landed or what she landed in. That being the case the last time her and Raphael had come trudging in covered in some unexplainable goop.
"They called me a Freak," Lenore frowned then. "I'm not a freak, am I?"
"Nah," Michaelangelo assured her. "I'm the freak, remember?"
"But Raph don't like that word, an' he swears all the time!" Lenore pointed out. "So how can you be a freak, when Raph hates the word but likes you?"
Leonardo sighed. "Raph doesn't like it, because he doesn't look at it like we do. He takes it as a personal insult, just because we're different. But everybody's different in their own way, and that's what makes them special."
"Oh, okay," Lenore nodded, managing to smile once more at her sister. "I'm sorry 'bout earlier, Day. I didn't mean to shove you an' startle Klunk."
"It's okay," Daydream assured her. "An' Klunk's okay too."
Lenore smiled a bit more. She loved Klunk – not just because he was Michaelangelo's, but because Klunk always seemed to follow her around and was always there when she needed to hug somebody.
"All done," Donatello said suddenly, as he finished tying off the last stitch. "Now, all I have to do is bandage you up, and you're all set to go."
Lenore gave a huge sigh of relief, as her brother bandaged her up. She felt glad to be home – for now.
"See you in the morning, Kiddo," Leonardo smiled, as he scooped Daydream up. "We're off to bed."
"Heeey!" Daydream whined, yawning. "I'm not sleepyyy!"
Leonardo shook his head at her. "And even now, she still denies it." He tickled Daydream lightly, making her squirm, then carried her to the room she still shared with Ziptango.
"Thanks, Donnie," Lenore said softly. "I'm not very bright, am I?"
Donatello shook his head, smiling some. "Oh, I've no doubt you're bright," he told her. "You just make some mistakes along the way, that's all."
Lenore gave him a grateful smile and a hug once he was done.
Donatello hugged her back, then set about cleaning up the infirmary. "Now, I suggest you go get some rest. Sensei's probably gonna want to discuss this in the morning."
Lenore groaned as Michaelangelo scooped her back up into his arms. "He better lemme sleep long. I'm so tired!"
Donatello just smiled softly, and nodded as Michaelangelo carried her out of the room. "I hope nobody else sneaks off and gets hurt this week," he thought. "Or I'm going to need more supplies."
Mily cracked an eye open when she heard someone enter the room she and Lenore still shared. She smiled some, upon seeing her brother and sister. "Hey….you better now?"
Lenore yawned, nodding some. "Uh-huh. Donnie patched me all up."
"That's good," Mily said quietly. She gave a small, tired giggle when she saw Michaelangelo lie down with Lenore. "You stayin' Mikey?"
Michaelangelo shrugged. "Not like I got much of a choice," he replied light-heartedly. "Lenni's got a death grip."
Mily giggled a little more, knowing just how true that probably was. "Night, Mikey."
"Night," Michaelangelo replied, before covering himself and the youngest turtle up with her blanket. He cuddled her close and listened to her and Mily both breathe for quite a while, before finally falling asleep himself.