TRIGGER: SWEARING, SURGERY

Damien arrived at Amanda's mansion eight minutes later. Raphael was unconscious and Damien feared the worst. He left Raphael on the front passenger seat, jumped out of the car and raced up the steps to the front door. Pressing the doorbell, he prayed that someone was home. Raphael's life depended upon it. The door opened a minute later and a stunning blonde appeared and said, "Can I help you?"
"You Amanda?"
"Yes, why?"
"No time to explain. I'll be back now." Leaving a puzzled Amanda on her doorstep, Damien rushed to the car, lifted Raphael up into his arms and hurried back to Amanda. Her eyes flew wide when she saw a bloody and collared Raphael. "Raphael?" she said in astonishment. "Raphael? Is he dead." She started to sob.
"Can we go inside? I need somewhere to put him."
"My room. Is he dead? Please don't say he's dead!"

They hastened to Amanda's room and set him down in her bed. "So, is he dead?" Amanda asked fearfully.
"I don't know," Damien admitted. "But he asked to come here. Said his dying wish was to see you one last time."
"Oh, Raphael." Amanda bent down and whispered into his ear slit. "If you hear me, open your eyes."

"What's going on?" a female voice said, entering the room.
"Sarah?" Amanda said, gazing at her cousin.
"I just arrived and the front door was open. I followed the sound of your voices here. What is that?" Sarah pointed at Raphael. "And who is this?" she added, looking at Damien. "I don't know, but this guy is my very good friend, Raphael. He's a turtle. You're a doctor, Sarah. Please help him."
"I'm a doctor. Not a vet. Honestly, Amanda..."
"He's essentially the same as a human. Please. At least try."

Raphael's eyes opened and he muttered weakly, "Amanda."
"I'm here," Amanda said, turning to him and squeezing his hand. "I'm here. Raphael, what happened?"
"Now I've seen ya I can go," Raphael said, smiling. "That's all I wanted. Ta see ya one last time."
"No, Raphael. You hold on," Amanda screamed. Raphael's eyes shut. "Sarah, help him!"

"Okay," Sarah said. "I need towels. Lots of them. Alcohol. A knife. Scissors, needle and thread. Go get them, Amanda and ?"
"Damien."
"Get the stuff. I'll check his injuries."

Amanda and Damien got what Sarah needed and she began to clean his wound, sterilizing it with the alcohol. "Is he going to be okay?" Amanda asked, biting her lower lip nervously. "Looks like he's been shot," Sarah said, making an incision in Raphael's plastron with the knife and digging around for the bullet. "And he's lost a lot of blood."
"But he's going to be fine, isn't he?"
"I don't know," Sarah said, finding the bullet and extracting it. "Got it. He's very lucky it wasn't any closer to his heart, otherwise he'd have died immediately. Now I need to stitch him up, sterilize the wound again. Then I can look at his other injuries."

"Poor Raphael," Amanda said, tears trickling down her face. "It's my fault if he hadn't..."
"Blaming yourself is pointless," Damien said. "It won't help Raphael. You need to be strong for him. You believe in prayer?"
"Yes."
"Then pray with me. Take my hand."

Damien and Amanda prayed together, while Sarah finished stitching up Raphael's wound and sterilizing it with the alcohol. Then she did the same to his wound in his lower plastron. Sarah then ran her hands along Raphael's body, checking for other injuries, pausing when she felt a small bulge underneath his tail. Recalling a lecture she'd had on reptiles and their reproductive systems, she winced internally. Poor thing's gravid, she thought. A boy and he's gravid. Or is he a boy? Must be with a name like Raphael. No way to check if the egg's okay. I'll have to do that when he's better. She removed Raphael's collar and then studied his mangled legs. "Amanda," she said. "I'm going to have to splint his legs together. They've been broken. I need thick sticks, a hiking pole or walking stick. If you don't have that, anything rigid will do."
Amanda grabbed the hiking poles near her closet and handed it to her cousin. "What else, Sarah?"
"Damien, I want you to hold Raphael's legs in case he wakes up and struggles." Sarah checked for a pulse. "Looks like we got to him in time and he still has a pulse. 'Great. Now Amanda, lay those poles against his legs. Do you have any scarves I can use to bind these splints?"
"In my closet."
Sarah rummaged in the closet, came back with a few scarves and began to get the scarves in position to tie. When she'd done that, she placed the splints on either side of his legs on top of the tying scarves and began to tie the splints to his legs. "Is he going to be okay?" Amanda asked.
"Well, he has an open airway," Sarah said, examining Raphael again. "And he's breathing. He also has a pulse and isn't bleeding. But I do need sterile gauze if you have it, so I can prevent infection setting in."
"In the bathroom. I'll get it." Amanda returned a couple of minutes later with the gauze and handed it to Sarah, who covered Raphael's legs with it and secured the wrapping with another scarf. Finally, she was done and said, "I've done all I could."
"But he is alive? And he'll make it?" Amanda asked hopefully.
"He's unconscious and despite losing a lot of blood, I reckon he'll be okay. Like I said if the wound had been any closer to his heart he'd have..."
"I get it," Amanda said, shuddering at the thought. "What sick person would do this to Raphael?" she added, her eyes flashing angrily.

"John Bishop," Damien said.
Amanda stared at him and her jaw dropped in shock. "No way. My uncle would never do that."
"Your uncle?"
"No, has to be a different John Bishop. My uncle's a good man, isn't he, Sarah?"

"Yes," Sarah said. "I can't believe it. He adores animals. You have to be kidding?"
"Is your uncle about six foot three, a scientist and lives at..." Damien gave the address.
"Yes. Maybe we should have some tea and talk?"

"I'm not leaving Raphael," Amanda said firmly, sitting down by Raphael's bedside and grabbing his hand. "You guys go talk. I'm staying put."
"I'll bring the tea here," Sarah said.

"Is it true?" Amanda asked, glancing at Damien, who'd sat down on a chair nearby. "About my uncle. He's not Sarah's uncle. He's mine on my father's side. She's my cousin from my mother's side. "True," Damien said. "I think he tortured Raphael."
"You poor angel," Amanda said, tears running down her cheeks. "You didn't deserve that, Raphael. It's all my fault. I wish I'd never hurt you. Then you wouldn't have gotten into a fight with Leo, been banished and hurt like this."

Sarah appeared with the tea, setting a tray of sandwiches and cups down on the desk and handing a plate and cup to Damien. "Thanks," he said,
"Amanda," Sarah said. "You have to eat."

"I'll do that when Raphael wakes up," Amanda said. "In the meantime, Damien, please tell us what happened and how my uncle's involved."

Damien told them the long story and when he was done, the horrified girls stared at one another in amazement. "I can't believe this," Amanda said sadly. "My uncle's a sicko. He's always been so awesome and caring. I find it hard to believe."
"Believe it," Damien said. "When I first met Raphael, he couldn't talk. All he did was eat and crawl around his cage. He seemed afraid of Bishop, but we bonded immediately and became friends. I looked on the Web to see where he came from, but found nothing."
"You wouldn't. His brothers and family are very discreet."
"He has brothers?"
"Biologically, he has an elder brother and two others who were raised as brothers with him. Long story."
"They must be missing him."
Amanda nodded. "I'll call them later. What else did my uncle do?"
"I've told you all I know."
"You've done a lot bringing him here and saving his life. I appreciate it. I'll pay you."
"No," Damien said, offended. "I didn't do it for money. I like Raphael and he's a friend. All I want is for him to recover."
Amanda nodded. "Thank you, Damien, and thanks, Sarah."

"I think it's time you filled me in, Mandy," Sarah said. "Just who exactly is this Raphael and who are his brothers you mentioned?"
"It stays in this room," Amanda said. "It gets out and they could be captured, experimented on, like poor Raphael here. Understand?"
"Yes," Sarah said, nodding. "You can trust me, cousin." Amanda filled her in. "So you're telling me," Sarah said, when Amanda had finished her story. "That you're engaged to his brother, but you love Raphael? They're reptiles, Mandy. Do you get that?"
"Yes. But they're also human like us. I mean, they have feelings, thoughts. They're good people. Uh, turtles. You know what I mean. Raphael's a sweetheart. He and Leo both are, but Raphael won my heart. Took him to leave for me to realize that."
"What a mess. You know your mom and dad won't approve."
"Don't care."

"Amanda," Raphael said, stirring and blinking his eyes in confusion.
"Leave us alone, will you?" Amanda asked, her eyes shining with joy. "I'm here, Raphael. I'm here."

"We'll be outside," Sarah said, clucking her tongue and thinking, I don't approve of what Mandy's doing. Reptiles. Really? She's making a huge mistake.

"Amanda," Raphael said again. "Am I dead or yer really here?"
"I'm here, sweetheart," Amanda said, squeezing his hand. "I'm here and you're alive. Oh, Raphael. You gave me such a huge fright. I thought you were going to die."
Raphael coughed and winced as pain coursed through him. "You want a pain pill?" Amanda asked.
"No, I hate pills. I'll be fine. Where are we?"
"At my place. Damien said you wanted to come here."
"Yeah. My dyin' wish, but I'm alive, ya say?"
"Yes and Sarah says you're going to be okay."
"Damien. He's okay? Who's Sarah?"
"He's fine and Sarah's my cousin. She's cool and she operated on you. You want to call your brothers and your dad?"
"Ain't got no dad and no. I'll call them when I want ta. All I want is ya." Raphael suddenly noticed the sapphire ring on her ring finger. "I guess shitface proposed, huh?" he said, spitting out the last word. "Congratulations! Ya pregnant, too? He couldn't wait ta ask ya, could he? Ya goin' ta rub it in my face too. When's the weddin'? Or ya had it already?"
"The twelfth of July."
"I'm leavin'. I ain't gonna stay here."
"No, Raphael. You can't leave. You're injured and need to rest. Please."
He tried to sit up, but the pain got to him and he grimaced again. "I'll stay till I'm better and then I'm goin'. And I want ya ta stay away from me."
"Raphael, please. I thought you'd gone forever."
"I held on ta see ya and then I make it and find out yer engaged? How the fuck do ya think I feel?" Raphael roared. "Fuck ya. Fuck, Fearless. Get out. I hate ya for makin' me feel like maybe I had a chance when I opened my eyes and saw ya again."
"Raphael, I..." Amanda started to cry.
He picked up a glass by the bedside and raised it threateningly, his golden eyes flashing. "NOW! FUCK OFF."
Amanda looked at him sadly and left.

Raphael lay down, tears running down his face. I survived Bishop, he thought despondently. And when I saw her again I thought maybe I had a chance with her, but she played me again. I'm done with her. I'm done with Leo. Fuckin' asshole. When I'm better, I'm gonna go far away. And I know I ain't gonna love again. It hurts ta much. Love ain't supposed ta hurt like this