I do not own Dr. Elder, nor any characters from the TMNT universe. Dr. Elders belongs to Cheshire Dreaming... pity her.

Don't forget to check out CheshireDreaming's account at; CheshireDreaming dot deviantart dot com -She's the co-author and the person who really deserves the credit for anything good coming out of this story.

Again, a slight language warning but when you find out why, can you really blame the girl?

Chapter twenty-one; Quinn

It was hours later when Tammy showed up again. And I'd been awake the whole time (unlike Thatcher, asleep beside me on the couch), thanks to my new best friend, coffee, and a few tapes of Heroes episodes that I'd found lying around (there was also Star Trek, which I made a mental note to watch later). The guys were all doing their own things around the lair, so I kept the volume low. Which thankfully wasn't a problem for my new ears.

I needed a distraction from the world right now. A really big one. And really, when there's that much badass, superpowers and hot guys on screen, you can count on me being very, very distracted. The epitome of these three I found in Sylar, played by Zachary Quinto, one of my favorite actors.

So, yes, I was drowning my stress and bad dreams in coffee and Quinto. Both very steamy and delicious.

But I digress.

The volume on the TV was so low that when the door to the lair clanked open, I jumped, which in turn woke up the sleeping Thatcher. He freaked out, fell onto the floor, scrambled to his feet, and hid under the table. I twisted around to watch Mikey loudly announcing his arrival for all to hear as he and Tammy reentered the lair. With a bunch of shopping bags. Hmm. That was a lot of groceries. I could smell bread, eggs, and a whole lot of other stuff that my newly-awesome nose wasn't fully acquainted with yet.

I did a quick check to make sure that Thatcher was okay before vaulting over the back of the couch (now made much easier thanks to a very flexible spine and awesome leg muscles) to be nosy.

"That's a lot of groceries," I said by way of greeting. Nice, Quinn.

"Yeah," Mikey whined. "I kept telling her we just eat pizza anyway, but she wouldn't listeeeeennn," he moaned.

Tammy looked really worn out. I couldn't blame her. Mikey was sweet and fun, but even so, his level of activity could not be easy to put up with for so many hours on end. And without video games with which to vent it, he must've released the energy through sheer jaw movement. Dear god.

"And I keep telling you, Quinn and Thatcher should not be eating so much junk food," she responded flatly, in a tone that indicated this was not the first time they'd had this conversation. "You shouldn't, either, but you're a hopeless case."

Mikey grinned and held up his hands, despite the weight of the bags he carried. "Got me there. I'd die without m&m's and Doritos. And pizza."

She sighed good-naturedly and shook her head. "Unhealthy reptile."

"Healthy human." He stuck out his tongue, making Tammy smile. She shifted her gaze to me.

"I, um, got some stuff for you." She handed me one of the smaller bags, and I peeked inside. My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. When I looked back up at her, it was with worship. I gave the surprised Tammy a quick, hard hug.

"A Sylar poster. You didn't."

She smiled a little, shrugged. "I kind of owed you."

I frowned. "For what…?" Realization hit me. Casey. "Oh." Huh. I guess not everyone considered it a bad thing that I'd nearly mauled one of the turtle's closest friends. "Uh, you're welcome, I guess. And thanks."

Tammy smiled again. "No problem."

I was flat out grinning. Screw freaking people out, I was ecstatic. A poster and some basic feminine necessities weren't typically something to get so excited over, but I was happy out of my mind. Must've been the coffee. And lack of sleep. And general weirdness of my life at present.

Well, whatever, I was going to get that poster up now. It occurred to me I would need thumbtacks or putty or something to keep on the wall, so I set out to find such things.

"DONNIE," I yelled down into the lab. "DO YOU HAVE THUMBTACKS? OR THAT WEIRD PUTTY STUFF?"

There was an affirmative grunt—Donnie was likely in the process of working on a computer or doing repair work to the turtles' other tech, hence the lack of proper speech—and a pack of thumbtacks was tossed my way. I called down my thanks and left with a skip in my step. The poster was up in minutes, looking Sylar-y and overall very…normal on the wall in my new room.

It was both comforting and eerie at the same time. A reminder that this world was almost identical to the one I was from, minus mutie-me, the turtles and their sensei (and possibly Leatherhead), the Shredder, the Foot, other ninja, various supernatural beings…Okay, so maybe it was more than a little different. But it still had Heroes, and a lot of other stuff I was familiar with. Like GameCube and Pizza Hut.

And the ninja turtles, but here they were alive.

I busied myself with rearranging my room a little, mostly just moving items and putting stuff into drawers. There was a towel-wrapped bundle on the dresser, and when I opened it, it was my clothes.

Oh, right. I'd left them in the bathroom. Oops. One of the turtles had probably found the mess I left and wrapped them up in the blanket they were on in order for transport. I giggled at the thoughtfulness and at the same time, shyness of the act, since they hadn't just brought in the clothes without the towel or opened the towel after bringing the bundle in.

Judging by the neatness and style of the packaging, which reminded me of bentō, it had probably been Leonardo, who had no doubt found the clothes during an attempt to shower after the training session I'd seen. Hmm. I would have to thank him for that later. And that reminded me; Splinter had said we should meditate together. I'd work on that.

In the meantime, I was in need of some more coffee, so I headed for the kitchen with the intention of refilling my mug only to find Don polishing off what had, the last time I'd seen it, been a half-full pot. He'd drank half the pot? And hadn't left me any? Oh, I was going to be in a good mood when the current caffeine dosage wore off.

"Hey," I greeted, surprised to see him out of the lab. Then again, the smell of coffee had probably lured him out. Note to self: make coffee more often.

He glanced up at me, then refocused his attention on the coffee. "Hey."

It was weird. We were suddenly alone. Don and I. Alone. And he wasn't occupied with a computer. I felt butterflies rise in my stomach. Ugh, I'd over thought it. He's just getting coffee, stupid.

He turned to me and the amount of butterflies increased exponentially. I wasn't even annoyed about the coffee anymore.

"Mikey makes coffee for me sometimes," he said.

Wait, what?

…Oh.

I almost laughed. He thought Mikey had made the coffee. Hah.

"Yeah, and sometimes I make it for myself," I replied, allowing myself a smirk. He looked confused, then realization dawned on him. He looked from his mug, to me, to the coffee machine.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, looking a little too apologetic. "I'm sorry. I'll make another pot."

I smiled. "Thanks. It's not that big of a deal, but…yeah. I was kind of counting on that coffee still being there. Not that I mind sharing, I just…kind of need more coffee," I finished lamely. Replaying the words in my head, I sounded like an addict. Damn.

To my surprise, he nodded. "Yeah, I haven't gotten much sleep either." Okay, maybe I hadn't sounded so bad after all.

And then he got that worried look and I knew what was coming.

"Speaking of sleep," he began, treading cautiously. He knew he was on thin ice. It didn't matter though; I could never be mad at Donnie. Well, not for very long anyway. "Would you like to talk about...it?"

Oh, god. Yes, Donnie. Yes I do. But if I do it will not be pretty. I'll probably start bawling again. And who knows if I might let slip the fact that I had known the turtles as cartoon characters.

I wanted to trust him, though. So badly.

And really, spilling the beans couldn't be that bad, could it? And besides, Donnie was a good secret keeper. I should be fine. Right?

But then again…

"I'm fine," I lied, with what I hoped was a sincere smile. "Thanks, though."

He still looked worried—and totally unconvinced—but nodded and turned away to make another pot of coffee.

The silence was heavy and very, very awkward. I broke away from the kitchen and wandered around the first floor of the lair, indulging my senses by memorizing the more detailed traits of my surroundings. The cement floor, brick-covered walls and ceiling. The number of ceiling fixtures, VHS tapes on the floor, video games, broken controllers. The smell of Leo, Raph, Mikey, Don and Splinter, the weaker but still prominent smells of Tammy and I, the hint of sewer-smell that was easily ignored.

My mind drifted off as I stared at the vein-like cracks in the ceiling. I was so far off into my own thoughts that it took Splinter's hand on my shoulder to snap me out of it. I shook my head, blinking, and looked down at the old rat.

"There is a very important matter we wish to discuss with you," he said quietly, although there was no one around to hear. I followed him into the dojo, where Tammy and the turtles were all seat criss-cross-applesauce on the floor in circle formation. Uh oh.

Mikey patted the ground next to him, smiling, and I took the seat with a feeling of apprehension. What was going on that called for an all-in meeting?

"As you all know, there is a man, Dr. Elder, who created both Quinn and Thatcher. Through…"

"Gene splicing," Donatello supplied, and his sensei continued without missing a beat.

"…and it has been made clear that he may attempt to kidnap Quinn and Thatcher, or…something similar." A chill ran down my spine. Yup, it was official now. There would be no sleep for me any time soon. "They are part of our lives now, part of our family, and we protect family."

Wow. This was big. I was part of the turtles' "family". This would be squealing, hugging and jumping-up-and-down-worthy news if not for the circumstances. As it was, I felt a rush of adrenaline for an entirely different reason. I was scared out of my mind.

"I have thought long and hard on this matter, and I have decided that Quinn and Tammy could both better protect themselves if they received training."

Okay, now I allowed myself a smile. This truly was the best day ever. Even if it hadn't been so long after the worst day of my life.

Splinter was looking back and forth between Tammy and I. "Would either of you object to the training?"

"No, no," I said quickly, and Tammy voiced similar sentiments.

And then Splinter said Tammy and I could both select whatever weapon we wanted from the dojo's arsenal for our training.

All I could think was holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit I'M GETTING A NINJA WEAPON holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit

"Really?" I squeaked, at the same time Tammy asked, "Really?"

I looked at her, grinning ridiculously. Tammy had a similar expression on her face. Like we were kids in a candy store.

Splinter led us to the accumulated weapons, and while Tammy eyed the arsenal briefly before walking over to the staffs and what looked like giant bows, I headed directly for the shorter, more slash-attack weapons, like knives and daggers and a more ninja-ey weapon that looked like Wolverine's claws. Cool. I wondered if they had something like that, but more handheld, not fitting over the hand. I felt like if I wore those, they would slip off. Besides, I already had claws.

Five seconds later, I discovered they did have something similar.

The pair was very simple, like many of the other weapons, basically just two simple metal crescents melded together with a pointed oval-shape in the middle and four prongs sticking out where the crescents overlapped. I picked them up carefully, gripping the sides that were wrapped in what was probably leather, and feeling the weight of them in my hands. They were sturdy, metal, and had sharp tips that could probably slash or stab if necessary.

Oh, man.

This was going to be fun.

Two fangirls writing one story; who didn't see this coming? XD