Chapter Nine:

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She watched in fascination as the man in tight white garbs, easily flew across the starlit sky as if he were a bird, grabbed the big thingamabob with the whirring noise, and spun it around a few times before sending it flying towards the moon. It went 'Boom!' in pretty orange, red and yellow clouds with big bold red text to emphasize the loud explosion.

"You're not getting away this time, Malignus! Your rein of terror ends here!" her brother said in a funny voice, seeing he had gently perched his chin on the top of her head where they cuddled, flipped the page and then pointed to a skinny bug-like man-creature, who ran towards a big spider net thing in the wall.

"Ha! You won't get me that easily, Sentry! You may have destroyed my Cyber whirl-bot, but you haven't defeated me yet!" the red bug laughed; or Mike did, since he was reading the speech bubbles for her. "Eat this!" the bug man shouted in big red text as he threw an apple-like object towards the man in white garbs.

Dew thought that this Malignus fellow has some really long arms, kinda like daddy long legs. Would that make him daddy long arms instead?

Sentry stopped and gasped, his face shocked and surprised at the sight of the apple thing. The apple object fell to the floor with a loud 'clank!' noise, and then split in half from the harsh impact against the hard concrete floor, before a glowing purple stone started pulsating within.

The page wriggled with the effects of some sort of water-like ripples made the picture frames squiggly and funny looking. As the frames danced with what her brother explained as ultra sonic waves, the man in white garbs clutched his head and bent backwards with a loud cry, before he slowly lowered himself to the floor, then collapsed to his knees and held his head tighter, groaning as more pain hurt his head.

"I- I can't move!" Sentry gasped, groaned again and then fell to the floor, unmoving.

A part of her wondered why these books had so many colors, or why they had to state obvious things like the sound effects- some of them sounded real silly for some reason. She didn't mind, she loved the pretty colors, but there were just so many of them, she didn't know what she was supposed to look at exactly. It was exciting, albeit confusing.

"Interrupting transmission, mama bear," a voice that wasn't Mike called from afar, and she turned from the pretty book to the doorway. There stood Raphael, he didn't have his gear on and looked a little tired, but otherwise he was okay. She grinned at him in greeting, but he didn't seem to notice her. "can I have a word with you?" he said to Mike, then sent her a strange look.

Mike blinked at his brother, a bit taken back by the approach. "Um, sure, what do you wanna talk about?" he smiled in that charming fashion.

Raph stared for a moment before continuing, "I mean just you and me, Mike." He stated, and added nothing more.

"It's not like she'd be telling anybody." The orange masked sibling argued.

"Well, regardless, I really don't want her to hear it." Raphael grumped, not really angry.

Dew wasn't sure what to do after that, because her two brothers muttered at each other and she couldn't understand what they were saying. A moment passed before Mike goaded her, gently apologizing for the interruption of their cuddle time, he asked her to go play with Donny till he and Raph were done with whatever it was his brother wanted.

Confused, but willing to comply she nodded and left the room, and they watched her till she shut the door after she left.

A part of her felt upset, though she couldn't quite understand why.

Sure the comic was pretty and the colors were real nifty, and she was really comfy in Mike's lap and warm and such, and she also kinda wanted to know what happened after Sentry fell down, but that wasn't it.

It was this… not-so-nice feeling in her chest again, it hurt, and she couldn't explain it. Disregarding the discomfort, she drew in a deep breath and sighed, before she made her way to the den, where she remembered Leo and Don were at.

As she made her way towards the den, she wasn't too comfortable being there with that pale skinned person they called April, her bright skin and head-fur looked weird. She, herself, had funny head-fur that Raphie called blonde, but hers looked a bit greener in some spots, it didn't look like it was a different color than the rest of her body like the human.

But then again, she never understood why she had head-fur while her brothers didn't.

Her grandpa had grey body fur, but her brothers had no hair at all, and yet these humans had hair only on their heads; why was that?

She stopped half way down the ward, and settled on her tail with her shell against the wall, thinking back at what Raph and Mike wanted to talk about. She wondered if maybe Raphie was mad at her and wanted to talk to Mikey about it? She didn't think that was it, she was sure she was good today, so she couldn't think of anything that would have made Raphie bro mad at her.

But then abruptly it happened again; her body stung with sharp buzzing pain.

She winced and curled over herself for a moment, hugging her knees tight, waiting for the pain to pass just as it had done the last time. When the buzzing stopped, she whimpered a bit as the stinging sensation prickled uncomfortably throughout her body, and her fingertips hurt as if she had stubbed them at something sharp; it hurt to move them.

Looking at her hands, she felt her eyes widen as she saw them go all fuzzy again- like when her grandpa turned off the television or changed the channels, except that this lasted longer. A flickering motion, she remembered Donny bro saying. She was scared, she didn't like this feeling; she wanted to go hug Raphie again, he made things better last time, but… he said he wanted to talk to Mikey bro, alone, and he didn't want her there, would he be mad at her if she went back? He didn't look too happy, and she wasn't too sure she wanted to make him mad.

Then, there was some noise distracting her from her tingly fingers.

She glanced at the direction of the noise, only to spot the feline who stood a distance away, eyeing her with its creepy bright yellow-green eyes. Dew noticed that- it could have just been her, but she could have sworn the kitty's eyes were yellow, but sometimes they turned green, it was very weird and it really scared her. She didn't like it when they were green, somehow they looked real scary, and she didn't like it at all!

But then the cat came closer. With a silent whine she pushed to her feet and bolted off as far as she could, momentarily forgetting all about the ache tingling her fingers and toes.

She thought she was heading towards the den, but her feet led her elsewhere. It didn't matter where she went, as long as the kitty was out of the way, she felt better and much safer; she never could understand why Mikey bro liked the creepy thing.

But then her body hurt in a burst of raw stabbing ache again, and while she ran in a sudden shock, she tripped and fell to the floor, and her snout hit the floor so hard she mutely screamed as she felt a horrible stab slam against her head.

But there were no echoes to be heard. There was no audible indication of pain or agony, her screams went unheard.

She cried and whimpered, clutching her face in agony. The pain buzzing through her face put her eyes under uncomfortable and sizzling heat, tears welled and dribbled down her face as she cried. The feel of her heartbeats thudding violently against her snout and front teeth, pulsating loudly in a deafening beat against her ears, and even against her chest, it all hurt horribly.

To make things worse, the return of the painful sharp tingles on her fingers and toes was starting to really upset her.

What was going on? Why did it have to hurt so much?

She felt terrified, everything hurt, and she felt so alone.

"Dew?" a voice suddenly called, followed by the loud mewing of the cat and hasty footsteps on the floor, "Dew! Sweetie, are you alright?" Leo bro appeared nearly out of nowhere, and scooped her into his arms into a tight comforting embrace. His fingers gingerly touched her sore snout to inspect her injury, and she winced and sharply jerked back in pain- it hurt!

He hugged her closer and tighter, squeezing her just a bit as he smoothed down her hair, a gentle hand brushed away the tears that still latched onto her cheeks. With a gentle kiss to her temple, he shushed her and started to move, taking her back towards the ward of which he came. "You'll be alright, sweetie, calm down, it is okay now." He hugged her tightly again, stroked her hair and cuddled her in his arms.

"Leo? What- ?" another voice came, it sounded like Donny bro.

"I'm not sure," Leonardo replied, "But- I think Klunk freaked her out again; she ran off, tripped and bruised her snout." He explained, and then stroked down her hair again, a thumb tenderly pressed to her temple and cheeks, softly he brushed away the renewed tears.

She wasn't sure if it was just the cat, she wanted to tell him that her body hurt cause of the strange buzzing, this strange pain that kept biting her fingertips, but now her snout hurt too much she couldn't stop crying, and her vision was all blurry, but also she was upset because she knew no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to say anything, simply because she couldn't talk.

Why couldn't she talk? It was something that bothered her, but it just made no sense why she couldn't talk like everyone else. Donny bro had once told her that her 'voice box' was fine, and she should have been able to talk like the rest of them, so why couldn't she?

Was she not trying hard enough, or was there just- something wrong with her?

She didn't know, and the thumping of her heartbeats against her ears wasn't helping.

. o 0 o 0 o .

Cuddling the small body close, Leo listened to her breathing against his throat, her head resting on his shoulder.

She had whimpered and fought back as Don tried to nurse her split lip, unusual for someone so usually well behaved and quiet to fuss a storm, it almost put her in the same level of annoyance as Raph on a bad day after a fight with some punks.

But Leo knew not to get mad at her, she was hurt and for some reason she was also emotionally upset, not to mention that her unintended nosedive probably hurt her front teeth; Don assumed she would lose her apatite for a few days cause their nerves were hurt, but at least they weren't fractured or broken.

She was so small and precious, and seeing her crying her eyes out with having to endure so much pain almost tore his heart out; literally! The poor child ended up crying herself to sleep.

And yet, there always seemed to be something amiss about her that he couldn't pinpoint.

Latching onto his bandanna tails where she curled in the comfort of a snuggly blanket, Leo refused to put her to bed and figured it would be better if she woke up to find him there, because he thought it would relieve her to know she wasn't alone.

But the thought remained; there was something a miss about her, and he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Physically she hadn't changed, emotionally she seemed- unstable? It was almost as if there was something bothering her, but she didn't share it for some reason. He thought that if she wanted to tell them something, then she was a smart girl, she'd figure out a way to get the point across, right?

One of the obvious things was her dislike of Klunk. The tabby just wanted to be friends, but she just didn't like him, not since he scratched her hand on their first meeting. First impressions do count for something, especially for children.

He had to admit, she had been awful quiet the past few days as well. How long had it been since she came to the lair? About two weeks? Probably less, but more than ten days, he was sure.

"Hey," came the soft greeting, and the hotheaded sibling nestled slowly into the free space besides the leader, "she okay?" he inquired, a slight furrow knit hit brows across that otherwise placid facial.

"She's fine. Don thinks her lip should heal in another day or two." He simply replied.

Raphael nodded, satisfied with the answer for the moment, and then leaned back casually against the couch's backrest; he stared at the television screen where their father watched his soaps.

Leo merely joined his father at the den, because he wanted a comfortable position to sit and keep Dew comfy in his arms, and also to have enough noise around him to keep his mind off things. The soaps seemed like a good choice of background music while he meditated, a better choice than Mike's videogame racket, he was sure.

But of course, the commercial break cut through the transmission and their father huffed, patiently waiting for the show to return. Cody and Donna had finally settled their differences, and he wanted to know if they were going to stick to their words this time, or have their distrust rip them apart again!

"I was just thinking," Raphael murmured, eyes fixed to the colorfully commercial-rotating screen, "maybe it would be a good experience to go to the farmhouse?" he somewhat reluctantly, and hesitantly, glanced at his brother; a suggestion.

Leonardo glanced at him after a commercial ended, smiling rather oddly, "Sure, sounds like a plan." He grinned.

The forest green brother blinked, frowned a bit and eyed his brother a bit more confidently, "Funny, with the Foot and those freakazoids running amok, I thought you'd say no." he commented.

"Truth be told, the Foot had been rather inactive as they as well had been occupied with the mutants running around, and the Outbreak virus seems to have taken a curb for now," he said at first, "I think the temporarily gas Don and Leatherhead spread across the sewers is doing some effect, for the time being. Its not stopping them, but it's making them not want to come out to the surface, so it's somewhat affective." He concluded, and then glanced at the child sleeping in his arms, "I think Dew could use a little sunshine and fresh air, she'd never been out of the lair before." He stroked her head.

Raphael did not reply and merely nodded, though his brother could tell there was a hint of guilt that crept across Raph's features. The hothead had been informed about Dew and Klunk's mishap earlier, one part on him wanted to blame the cat, but the other part felt guilty for asking her out of the room in the first place. If he didn't insist on her leaving the room, if he had listened to Mike and just let her stay, she wouldn't have come across Klunk, and the cat wouldn't have unintentionally freaked her out.

If she had a voice, he would have heard her cry, and he would have come running.

He would never admit it, but he knew if she was in danger and called, he would have dropped everything he was doing to come to her aid. A part of him felt odd at the thought, but the other part of him agreed with the first; he really cared about her, but he just- didn't know why he kept avoiding her. He didn't want her to get hurt, yet he didn't want to get attached, and only after she got hurt did he realize he had done those already.

Earlier when he had to talk to Mike, he had to confess to his brother, the same thing he had accidentally blurted to Leo that earlier night. He felt like Dew was his child, but he was rejecting her, he felt bad about her coming out the way she did, mute and smaller than she should have been, and somehow he felt like it was his fault.

He had no idea why he had to tell Mike; hell! He thought Mike would laugh his ass off at him for even spouting such nonsense, but- he didn't, not quite. Sure Mike chuckled a bit and teased him about it, but then simply told him that he was thinking too much about it. Mike didn't mind being called a mommy, (well, just as long as Raph didn't make him dress as one!) cause he enjoyed pampering the little girl.

'Dude, I read about this in books, I'm not dumb.' Mike softly told him back then, arms crossed with a concerned smile, 'Parents always feel intimidated when they have their first baby, so it's only natural you feel this way. Besides, I kinda like to think that since we're turtles, normally wild females just lay the eggs and swim away, they don't do any actual parenting, so they miss out on the awesome part of seeing their kid grow.' He shrugged.

When the hothead became quiet and didn't reply, he continued, 'Or maybe you really want to be a daddy, but you're scared?' he hinted, and when the bigger turtle snapped his head at the younger turtle in attention, looking a bit like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the smaller turtle grinned wider, 'Trust me, I talked to sensei, being a dad aint easy; you're not alone in this, Raph.' he added with a comforting smile.

'Well you sure act like it is,' the hothead muttered.

'Because I'm not trying to be her parent, I'm just being her big, loveable and cuddly brother.' He flashed a huge grin, 'So just be yourself, Raphie boy, trust me, there is nothing to it.' He encouraged.

Raphael, at the time, felt absolutely ridiculous; did he just receive parental comforting from his baby brother? Mike was surly going to taunt him and blackmail him about it for the rest of his life!

"Raph?" Leonardo's voice called, a little wary, "Hey, you alright?" he asked, a brow slightly arched in an expression of curiosity and mild concern, "You just zoned out on me back there."

With a small grunt, the hothead palmed his face, "Uh… yeah, sorry; just got thinking." He rubbed his temple for a moment, before looking back at the child in his brother's arms.

Dew was so small, so frail, almost like a literal dewdrop, and that made Raphael wonder if she was going to grow up to be the smallest of them all.

As far as he knew, female turtles are often larger than males, but Dew seemed so tiny compared to their size when they were her age. He thought that, when older, being tiny would give her an advantage if she got stuck in a battle, but the stitch on her lower lip reminded him- she wasn't a teen, she was barely a preteen, she wasn't meant for this life style, she was much too fragile.

He didn't want such a petite rosebud to be marred by bloodstains, not if there was something he could about it.

"I might regret saying this," he said, low and glum, "but a part of me wishes Mikey never used that crystal." He confessed. He noticed Leo's fingers twitch and curl tighter around the blanket wrapped around the child, and Raphael knew he probably stepped on his bothers protective nature.

But he had to say it, he knew it was probably something better not spoken, but he just had to say it, cause he was blunt and insensitive like that…

"What is done is done, my sons." Splinter interrupted; his soaps were interrupted by the weather report, so he paid them more attention. "Little Dewdrop is with us right now, for whatever reason she came to be does not matter, for she is family." He eyed Raphael, a firm but parental look in his eyes, "I understand your hesitation, Raphael, but Michelangelo never would have foreseen this event when he had taken that crystal, so you can not blame him for bringing her to our family."

"I never said it was his fault, sensei." Raphael grunted, strangely feeling his own reply sounded rather rude, so he bowed his head a bit in a silent apology, "I just- I'm sorry sensei, but I feel that she could have been better off if she wasn't here; she's small and helpless and can't even talk! When if she got in trouble? What if she got hurt? She can't even cry for help." He confessed guiltily, and then he sighed heavily, his facials betrayed the need to keep his emotions hidden, "And… it's all because of me."

"Raphael," the gentle fatherly tone spoke, a tender hand cupped his son's face and raised the chin to look at him, "It is not your fault, or anyone's fault, that Dewdrop had come to be the way she had. Donatello had assured me that there is a chance she could learn to speak, but when and how is yet to be determined." His thumb brushed his son's cheek, "You need to understand that I fully understand your worries," he lightly smiled, somewhat teasing, "it is an exciting yet intimidating experience to be a parent, but I am sure you and Michelangelo would care for her welfare."

Raphael blinked at first, then his brows arched high and his eyes widened, "Er- please don't tell me you're into this joke about me and Mike being her parents, too, sensei." He wrinkled his snout, not amused.

The elder ninja master chuckled and withdrew his hand back onto his cane, "I would like to think of her as my granddaughter, since I feel I can not fully dedicate myself to be her father," his smile widened, a knowing glint in his eyes, "Michelangelo seems to have taken her as a little sister, but he tends to mother her much to the point of spoiling her with attention, and yet you tend to aid curb his affection when it only tends to spoil her further, like a watchful father should." he then glanced at the sleeping bundle in the arms of Leonardo, "and among the four of you, Raphael, you seem the most passionate regarding her welfare."

Leonardo smothered a grin. The fact that Raphael's face visibly changed color under that mask, before the hothead buried his face into his hands with a loud grumbling growl, was not lost to the leader. The hot head looked so flustered, he found it- kind of amusing.

Splinter chuckled, "There is nothing more admirable than the love of a parent to their child. Do not be embarrassed by your feelings, Raphael, for these feelings ought to be treasured, because they are the most sincere expressions of love people could ever grant each other."

With a evidently embarrassed yet complacent nod, Raphael dare not look at his father; he just felt so inane, (though strangely in a good way,) he just didn't have the courage to look at anyone in the eye yet. "I understand." He softly murmured.

"Ah! My soaps are back on." The elderly rat said cheerfully and hurried back to his seat, relaxed and continued to watch the commercial break message end before his show continued.

Leonardo, highly amused, glanced at the peacefully sleeping child, still latching to his bandanna tails, yet not as tightly as before, and with a mellow smile he caressed her cheek, only barely paying attention to the one marring injury on her bottom lip.

"Seriously," Raph barely whispered, "I just wish I had the brains to remember giving her a voice." He muttered, and annoyed look on his face.

The leader sighed, "Raph, honestly, if my hands weren't full right now, I'd so smack you backside the head." He grumped in a brotherly fashion, "Stop grudging and kicking yourself about it, I'm sure she'll be fine. With time we can teach her sign language, talking isn't going to be an issue."

"Oh yeah? What if she was tied up in some deep dingy hole with no way out? How the hell is she supposed to make it out on her own if she cant even scream?" his brother argues, and Leonardo could not help but catch glimpse of a frightened child in depth of his brother's eyes. "Physically she's too small to start learning ninjutsu, and I don't think she's ready for it mentally, and either way she'll probably need some training to put her into shape before she even starts with the basics." The temperamental turtle argued.

"She's not made of glass, Raph." Leo complained.

"She looks like she is to me." His brother inwardly growled as he shot back.

Leo blinked at the come back, and Raph stiffened in a heartbeat; he did not mean to sound so tense. The brothers stared at each other for only a few seconds, uncomfortable.

Leo, after a moment of clearing his thoughts, quirked a small smile, "You really do act like her father…" he commented.

All he got in reply was a snort and an annoyed scowl. The hothead huffed, scooted to the far side of the couch and crossed his arms, ankle crossed over his knee, he sank back into the recliner and sourly glared at the shiny screen; denial.

The leader chuckled, and then looked back at the sleeping girl.

She was in good hands and a loving family, regardless of the situation, he knew Raphael will watch over her like a hawk; in a good way.

Yes; come what may, they will protect her for she is a part of their family now, and she's here to stay.

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A/N: Yeesh… about time I updated this beast. So sorry for the long wait, I won't go into the boring details. Feedback would be appreciated, as constructive critique is welcomed as well.