Chapter 11:

Casey had driven like a madman from the junkyard to the steel mill. Now with Haley in a makeshift stretcher in the back of his truck, he swerved his truck as fast as he dared to go. Raphael had been silent throughout the whole ride, his eyes never leaving Haley's face.

Donnie knocked on the barrier between the driver's seat and the cargo hold.

"Hey Case, can you ease up on the GTA-crap? You're making me queasy, and you might make Haley too." Donnie yelled over the roar of the truck's engine.

"Sorry Don, tryn'na getcha to April's as fast as possible." Casey yelled back.

Raphael and Donatello had agreed to transport Haley to April's for treatment, so that Donnie could look after both her and Mr O'Neil at the same time, without the need to rush between two different locations. Once Donnie had explained everything to April over the phone, she had sportingly agreed to let her spare room for Haley.

Skidding to a halt, Casey killed the engine and hollered,"We're here!",before rushing to open the door of the cargo hold.

"Come on,let's get her upstairs!" Donnie called to Raphael. Nodding briefly, he grabbed the head end of the stretcher,while Donnie took the rear,and together they eased their way out of the truck. April was waiting for them, and had already opened the doors for them.

The four of them hot-footed the stretcher to the spare room, which was the room right beside Donnie's 'lab'; since their relationship began, Donnie had set up a second lab in one of April's spare rooms, so that he could continue his work there if necessary. It had certainly been good foresight, as, shortly after curing Mr O'Neil's second mutation(Donnie preferred the term 'relapse'), he started having unusual symptoms and side effects, something Donnie hadn't anticipated. After all, the first time they cured him,he made a full recovery.

"Set her on the bed." Donnie said. Raphael picked Haley off the stretcher and laid her on the bed. As soon as he set her down, April wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her right arm. As the machine pumped air into the cuff, she stuck a thermometer into Haley's ear,and took her temperature.

"Temperature's 104.5 degrees, and blood pressure is 141 over 97. Pulse is 143 a minute, and SpO2 is 98%." she called.

"Thanks April." Donnie said. He made notes on some clinical charts, and prepared a cold compress while readying a syringe and cannulation set.

"What are you doing?" Raphael croaked, eyeing the cannulation set.

"I need to set up an intravenous access for her to keep her hydrated and give her some medication. I also need a blood sample to try and find out what's causing this." Donnie replied tersely.

Raphael's lip twitched, as though he was having an argument in his mind. "Fine, but be very careful that ya don't hurt her." he said imperiously.

"I'll be extra careful."

Casey piped up. "Raph, come on, cut Donnie some slack. Let's leave him to work. We can wait downstairs."

"There's some soda in the fridge guys. Go help yourselves." April added.

Holding him by his shoulders, she steered Raphael out of the room.

Raphael gulped down the last of his coke, tossing the bottle aside with the others. That was his fifth bottle. "What's taking them so damn long? It's been 3 hours." he grumbled.

Casey was lounging on the armchair, sipping his coke and flipping through channels on the TV. He sighed. "Let 'em do their job, bro. Have a lil' faith in Donnie, would ya? Haley's in good hands."

Raphael got up and started pacing up and down the hallway. It was infuriating, to be so helpless while the one girl he loved so dearly was practically comatose, and having to rely on someone else to look after her.

Casey grimaced and looked at his best friend. The last time he had seen Raphael behaving like this was after they rescued Leo from Shredder's last attack,while Donnie worked tirelessly to save him. He may not show it,but Raph cared a great deal about the people around him.

Donnie squinted his eyes, rubbing his temples before looking into the microscope again. He had run a full diagnostics test on her,based on what her symptoms indicated. There just didn't seem to be anything wrong with Haley.

Peering into the microscope, he observed that all the cells seemed to be in their proper forms and numbers,save for the white blood cell count; they were much higher than average, indicating some kind of infection. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any pathogenic material in her. Her immunoglobulin levels were also normal, ruling out autoimmune disease.

"How are things going?" April had returned after giving Haley a sponge bath, pulling Donnie out of his zone.

"Nothing yet. I still can't find anything wrong with her!" he replied in anguish.

April gave him a peck on the cheek. "You'll find something soon. You always do." she kneaded his tense shoulders.

"Hmmmm.." Donnie cooed. "how is she?"

"Her vital signs are stabilizing. Her fever's gone down to 102 degrees, and her pulse is 127. Still unconscious though." April replied. "Raph's going nuts downstairs."

"Hmmmm. You can let him stay with her for now. Let's at least ease his suffering a little." Donnie mused.

"I already did. He was waiting outside the door while I was sponging her. Errr, Donnie?" April looked at him curiously.

"Yeah?"

"you don't suppose...that Mikey..." April said slowly.

"That Mikey was right, and that Haley and Raph have a...thing?" Donnie finished for her, his tone mild.

"Well...yeah." April blushed.

"It did occur to me, yeah. But that's not exactly our business." Donnie replied nonchalantly.

April gave him a skeptical look. "Come on,you're not even a little intrigued by who your brother is dating?"

"Of course I am, but right now I just wanna make sure she actually survives to date my brother." Donnie said simply.

April sighed.

Suddenly, Raphael's hoarse voice boomed,"DONNIE! GET IN HERE! SHE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!"

Wow, things are really getting tense. Update coming soon!