A/N Thank you guys for the reviews! When I see them I get so happy! I found a lot of free time to write lately, which surprises me that there is any. So I'll write two or three more chapters after this one before hibernating until I get used to this freezing weather. I love winter but it literally was seventy degrees here then the next day it was twenty degrees and snowing, and that's no joke. That legitly happened, I am seriously not kidding.:( Any who... Read on fellow fanfic lovers! :D
Chapter Twenty Eight
It had been a rather uneventful drive so far, Donnie working diligently on his X-ray, everyone else sleeping, and I was just watching over Leo. I ran my fingers through Mark's ears, they were so soft compared to the rest of his fur which was more rough and dry. He lay sleeping, snugged tightly next to Leo, his snout at an upward angle on Leo's shoulder and his tail wrapped around Leo's hand.
Pete and Neeko, were playing a small game of chase, Pete flew around and Neeko tried to hide from the diving owl, even though Neeko was bigger than Pete. I looked over to Donnie who nearly had his machine finished, he'd been working on it non stop. I tried to help him but the technology thing was not my best subject. Mark whimpered and coming out of his slumber turned to lick Leo's face.
"What's wrong buddy?" I asked quietly, petting his head. "He'll be alright Mark." That did nothing for the fox as he continued to whimper softly, there was nothing I could do so I got up and sat next Don. "How's it going?"
"Alright, just gotta connect a few more wires." He replied hardly looking up. I looked at the pile in front of us, I saw the half empty vial of the chemical Don gave to Leo, lying on top of the med kit. I picked it up and read the label trying to figure out what it said, it was Spanish, how helpful...
"So Don, what is this stuff?" I asked continuously turning it, hoping to spot some English on there.
"It's similar to morphine like I said. It doesn't specifically have a name, it's a new kind of pain treatment, it's safer and less addictive than other drugs used in the past. Because soldiers often got addicted to other drugs they use for pain, so they came out with that." Donnie said holding up the device so he could get a different view of it.
"Cool." I took a slip of paper attached to the bottle's top and flipped it so I could read the label. This was handwritten, and it said;
"Pain relief drug.
Raided from the old lab on 34, Angel street.
July, 17th, 2015."
So they got this two and half months before they found me?
"Hey Don?" I questioned almost irritably.
"Yes?" He responded not looking up from his criss cross position on the floor.
"So you've had this pain relief drug since July?" I asked staring at him
"Mmmhmm." He half replied, I continued to try and burn my glare into his head. He paid no attention to the question for several moments then it seemed to have dawned on him as he snapped his head up. He slowly turned to look at me, he gave me a half smile. "Hehehehe. I uh, forgot... that we had that. Hehe." He chuckled nervously.
"Oh you don't say?" I sarcastically mocked, cocking my head at him. I gave him a small innocent smack to the back of his head. He rubbed the back of his head before returning to the project. I set the vial down and shook my head, 'thanks Donnie.'
Mark suddenly barked, Donnie and I both almost let out a scream, and jumped back a bit. Mark barked again, I rushed at him and quickly clamped my hand around his snout gently, before he could do it again.
"Shush, you little fuzzball." I begged him, trying my best to whisper. I released his snout, he let out half a bark before I stopped him and held his snout again.
"What's his problem?" Donnie asked curiously getting up.
"I don't know. I don't speak fox." I said confused, trying to find a cause for Mark barking. I quickly found it though once I brushed my free hand over Leo's forehead, he was warm. I planted my hand on Leo's forehead, then felt his cheek also finding it warm. "Leo's got a fever." I stated. Don came over and planted his hand Leo's forehead.
"Yeah. I'm not surprised." He said walking for the med kit, he popped it open and took out the thermometer and one of those ice packs that work once you shake it. He came over shaking the ice pack and turning on the thermometer, handing me the ice pack and placing the device in Leo's mouth. I put the ice pack on Leo's forehead and watched the digits on the thermometer climb, I let go of Mark sensing he no longer felt the urge to tell us something was wrong. Once the stupid thing beeped, Don took it and held it close so he could read it.
Donnie sighed rubbing his tired eyes. "Ugh. Leo." Don muttered, getting another ice pack.
"How high was it?" I asked taking the other ice pack from him.
"A hundred and three point five." He said going back to his project.
"Are you kidding?" I asked concerned and surprised.
"Well let's see. My brother's gravely injured, just spent my day fighting the Shredder, got buried in rubble, I'm trying to build a highly advanced x-ray in the back of a moving vehicle with one hand and I'm exhausted. Does it sound like I'm trying to crack a joke?!" He yelled in a whisper, he huffed sitting back down.
"Jeez sorry." I apologized, putting the ice packs on Leo's shoulder's and neck trying to alter them so they wouldn't cool down just a single area. I looked over Leo, his left eye was bruised and swollen, his right leg had a large bruise all over it and was swollen as well. The bandage around his torso was stained red where it covered the gash in his side, and looking at his collar bone, that looked broken too with a bruise and some swelling on it. Nothing I could do, but just sit there and hope Leo was going to be okay, and try to make him more comfortable.
"Okay I'm done, finally." Don said standing. He brought the device over and turned it on, a tablet like device lit up, two wires attached it to a mega phone looking thing. "Can I test it on you?" He said pointing the machine at me.
"Sure why not." I agreed, holding my left wrist out in front of him. He held the mega phone shaped device up to my wrist and moved it about while adjusting knobs and buttons on it. Suddenly he stopped.
"What. Did you do. To your wrist?" He asked kind of wide eyed.
"Well I broke this one a little over a year ago." I stated kind of proudly, turning it over and looking at it.
"I don't think the bone ever set right." He said staring at the screen and shaking his head.
"Is that why it does this?" I asked beginning to roll my hand in a fist near his head. It cracked each time and I smiled as Don's face turned to disgust.
"Yes probably. Now stop that." He said moving away from me. "It's weird." He glanced back at me awkwardly still disgusted. "Now let's use it on Leo." He brought his newly made device over to Leo's leg then set it down, hesitating. He planted a hand on the cot and stood still looking over Leo's leg. "I'm afraid to look at his leg." Donnie uttered to himself, leaning against the cot and bringing a hand to his face.
"Why?" I asked concerned, why would Donnie be afraid, it's probably just broken, a cast and and some time off it would fix it. Right?
He took some time to answer, slowly dragging his hand from his face he took a deep breath. "He broke it once before, a year ago now. It gave him a lot of trouble. He couldn't walk without help for months." Donnie choked looking away, I could see tears on the edges of his eyes, I don't think I've ever seen any of them cry. This got tears to form in my eyes too, seeing the Donnie who I thought was strong and could take a lot, like all the others, break down. And Leo, the strong and seemingly invincible Leo, now broken, made me cry. Don took in a deep shaky breath. "I don't think it's gonna heal right this time. If-if it's broken the way I think it is." He said a waver in his voice, a tear slipped down his mask and cheek.
It was my turn to comfort Donnie, he was the one who often was there for me. I reached out for Donnie and pulled him close through a little resistance from him, he wrapped his one good arm around me in the hug. We stood there for a moment, Don let out a few stifled sobs.
"I-I don't know... What we're gonna do." Don sniffled. We stood for a moment longer before I spoke up.
"It'll be alright Donnie. We are still here right? We're all alive." I started. "I'm not going to say it could've been worse, because anything bad that happens to you or any of us, is the worst. The only thing you can do is make the best of it." I said patting his back. "When anything like this does happen, there's always some one there to help make the best of it." I stated pushing some distance between us so we could see eye to eye. "Like you guys. I didn't even know you freaks." I chuckled and so did he. "I lost everything and you guys took me in as family, made sure I healed, and now you are trying your best to get some of my life back. Just because you guys were there, it made a lot of the pain go away and make the best of my situation. We are all in this together now, you guys are doing what you can for me and that's why everything is okay." Don wiped the tears from his face. "What you need to do for Leo now is patch him up, and look at his leg, be there for him and fix him up. That's what he needs, we all need a little fixing sometimes." I said looking at Donnie, who wore a week smile.
"Koda is right." Splinter said coming and joining the hug, holding us both. "Sometimes we need fixing, in this case, all of us. But we need to stay strong for one another Donatello." He said looking from me to Donnie. "Do what you can for Leonardo. That is what will make everything okay." He spoke softly holding up Donnie's head from under his chin.
"Hai. Father." Donnie said hugging Splinter tightly, stuffing his face into Splinter's shoulder.
They hugged a moment longer before Don and Splinter parted, Don picked up the machine, I walked over and he handed me the mega phone looking piece. Splinter came closer and put his paws on both our shoulders, as Don turned the x-ray on. He signaled me to go over Leo's leg and I did so slowly, hovering it in a straight line down Leo's leg.
After I had gone over Leo's entire leg, Don stood, going through the image on the tablet like device. Splinter leaned and looked over Don's shoulder at it, a sliver of concern in his eyes.
"How bad is it Don?" I asked side stepping closer to Don, to get a view of the image myself.
"Pretty bad." He replied putting the device with in my view. "It's shattered. He managed to get a crack in his femur, I can't even make sense of his knee, and his shin has four different splits in it." Don said almost ready to chuck the machine at the ground. "I think his hip's dislocated too." He sighed scrolling through the x-ray.
"What do we have to do my son?" Splinter asked.
"Try and reset his knee, hip, and some of his shin." Don sighed. "Then cast it and fix up the rest of him. Then fix up your tail and every one else." Don said grabbing more stuff from his pile.
I lay half asleep against the heater next to Mikey and Donnie, we had fixed everyone up. Don luckily had no breaks on his shoulder or collar bone where his shell got broken. He had a torn muscle and we had to do some stitching to it, but he was fine other than that. Mikey had a fracture in his cheek bone and Raph's wrist was pretty much just snapped it in half, we fixed up Raph and he yelled at us the whole time. We bandaged Splinter's tail and Don and I bandaged up April and Karai where ever they needed it.
I was almost asleep before a loud screech woke me up, a chilly wind came in the vehicle and I shivered. I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep from them, Casey was at the entrance with Kirby.
"We're here guys." Casey said grabbing some bags and Kirby grabbed some as well.