100 Theme Challenge
21. Vacation
The sound of the pinball machine drew Don directly to where he could find Raphael.
From the corner of his eye he could see Leo seated on the floor in front of the television and Mikey sprawled upside down on the couch, an open comic book in front of his face. With a fervent wish that both of them would stay where they were, he went over to stand next to the backbox.
"Hey," Don said cautiously, watching Raph's facial expressions closely.
"Back at you," Raph said without looking up. His body rocked from side to side as he practically punched the flipper buttons.
"Good score," Don said, peeking at the number on the display panel.
"Blasted past Leo's best ten minutes ago," Raph said with a satisfied smirk.
Don breathed an inward sigh of relief. Beating Leo at anything always put the hot head in a better frame of mind.
He waited a couple of minutes, his eyes more on Raph's face than on the game. Finally Don said, "So, um, I need you to help me with something."
"Grab Mikey or Leo, they ain't doing anything," Raph said with only a hint of aggravation. "Better yet, just go drag Leo away from that brain rotting show he's stuck on."
"I can't," Don said. "It has to be you and it sort of needs to be a secret."
That got Raph's attention. He looked up at Don, losing his pinball in the process. The sound made his head jerk down, his lips tightening when he saw his game was over.
"This better be good Einstein," Raph said, his tone menacing.
"Casey said he's been gone from home for too long and his mom's going to start worrying about him," Don said in a rush. "He can't go running around yet and anyway he doesn't want her to know he's hurt, which she'd see if he went home."
"So tell him to call her," Raph said. "How hard was that to figure out?"
"He also needs some clothes," Don explained. "His own clothes, so his mom doesn't start asking questions when she does see him."
"What am I supposed to do about that, play fetch?" Raph asked, starting to get belligerent.
"Yes, sort of," Don said. "I mean, he told me what to get and where to find things, but he says you know where his room is and how to get inside without being seen. I've got to have someone watch my shell since I'm not supposed to go anywhere alone."
Raph had begun to look like he was going to say no, but at the words 'watch my shell' his eyes started to gleam instead.
"I guess that's better than sitting around here all night," Raph said in an off-hand manner.
"Straight there and back," Don reminded him. "We don't know how many spies the Kraang have created and I've only got the one signal jamming device."
"Yeah, yeah, no fights, no fun," Raph said impatiently. "How are we gonna sneak out of here?"
"Through the side door in my lab," Don said. "Everyone will think you're paying Casey a visit and that I'm still working on making more signal jammers. Casey said he'll cover for us."
Raph stared at him, his expression flat. "'Casey said this, Casey asked that'," he said in a mocking tone. "You're getting kind of tight there with my friend, ain't you Donnie?"
Don's eyes widened and he glanced over at his other brothers to make sure they hadn't heard Raph's slightly elevated voice. Neither of them was looking in their direction.
"The guy's in my lab where I'm working," Don answered, being distinctly clear. "He woke up worried about his mother and since I was the only one in the room, I was the one he talked to about it. If you want him to ask you things, then I suggest you come in there and give him his sponge baths. It isn't as though taking care of him is a vacation."
"Okay, don't get your shell in a bunch," Raph said, looking over at Master Splinter's door.
Don knew exactly what he was thinking; their father would sense any discord between them and come out to see what was wrong. That would be the end of their excursion.
"It's dark enough to go out now," Don said in a lower voice. "Let's get it over with."
"Fine by me," Raph said. "We can finish our talk once we're out of here."
Raph stepped away from the pinball machine and crossed the lair with Don, both of them behaving as normally as possible. As they were passing through the lab door, Donnie thought he caught a glimpse of some movement by his younger brother. When he looked back though, Mikey was in exactly the same position as before.
Casey was dozing when they came in but his eyes snapped open as soon as the brother's drew near.
"Don told me what you needed," Raph said. "We're gonna go take care of that right now."
"Thanks pal," Casey told him. "Don't get into anything without me."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Raph said with a grin.
Casey lifted a hand towards Don, a folded piece of paper between his fingers. "Here, put this under a magnet on the fridge door. It'll keep Ma off my case for a couple of days."
Don took the note and tucked it into his belt. "If anyone comes in and sees we aren't here, tell them we took a walk along the tracks to look for a loose rail."
"No problem," Casey said.
Raph preceded Don out of the side door. When Don turned to push the door closed behind them, he saw April come into the lab and Casey lift his hand in greeting.
It was then Don wondered if he was falling for an elaborate trick designed to get him out of the way.