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 this story ever getting started

Chapter twenty-six; Tammy

Donatello's purple mask loomed in front of me. "Ready?" He asked.

"uh-huh." I muttered, cringing when I remembered that probably wasn't the best response, even if he was more casual that the instructors in the movies.

"Good, now tell me how many fingers I'm holdin' up."

"Hahn?" I asked, completely confused.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Something poked my nose and I jerked awake. At my feet Thatcher made a slight confused noise and looked up from his bone. In front of me were Raphael and Michelangelo, both smirking and looking smug.

"Did I…? Oh crap." I never fall asleep by accident, never! It usually takes a lot of effort if you can believe it and here I was sleeping on the cleared dinner table. It would probably be best if I waited till tomorrow to ask Leo about those extra lessons…

Mikey, the owner of the nose-poking finger, tilted his head and grinned in a way that made me wonder if he hadn't been about to draw on my face or something. "Dream of a certain handsome ninja turtle?" He asked suggestively and teasingly, wiggling his eye ridges like some kind of Marx comedian.

I could feel the heat rushing to my face. It wasn't fair, I knew perfectly well that it was just a memory impression from my day, but I had sort of dreamed of a turtle and I had no control over capillary dilation in my face. "She's blushing!" Mikey crowed. Raph snickered and I pushed my chair away from the table and stood up. Then, with all the dignity and poise I could muster I marched to the bathroom and shut them out.

While trying to wait them out I glanced in the mirror and flinched. One cheek was bright red and shiny from resting against my hand and the rest was just painfully red to look at until my face could cool down. On one cheek I sported a long, thin scab and a butterfly bandage on my jaw brought attention to the still healing cut there. I looked like a mess and the loose skin under my eyes wasn't helping the impression.

But strangely, under the very red skin was a smile. Things were wacked out and totally crazy, but I was having fun. The world is insane and apparently; so am I.

Once I'd killed enough time in the bathroom I slowly stepped out. Looking around I saw neither Raph nor Mikey. In fact, the only turtle I did see was Donnie, who seemed to be erecting some kind of gate at the entrance to his lab. I think an explanation for this might be provided by the way Thatch was now sitting next to the bathroom door looking to me for some sympathy. I frowned at him. "Don't look at me like that. I'm the wicked old witch that has to start training you." I told him. He expressed his terror by pressing a paw against my leg, begging for scratches.

The wicked old witch gave in. After giving his head and neck a good scratch I started across the lair, passing the dojo where I could hear Leo and Quinn talking about something; maybe she wasn't too tired to ask for extra lessons. I however; should have napped longer this morning.

Once in the monitoring area I shifted through some of the cassettes on the floor until I found one labeled 'ST;TNG' and popped it into the cassette.

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the end of the episode before I was brought back to wakefulness by Thatcher trying to crawl over me and sniff at something. I followed his path of interest and found Michelangelo grinning sheepishly with camera in hand.

"Mikey." Said I.

"Yeah?" He asked innocently.

"DIE!" I jumped over the arm of the couch, but naturally the turtle was faster. I gave chase as fast as I could and behind me I could hear Thatcher also joining in.

"Mad human! Mad human!" Mikey called, his voice filled with false terror and real amusement. I'm trying to kill him and he's having a blast, dang him.

He ran into the kitchen where I thought I'd have him cornered but he easily hopped around like some giant cat with a shell and next thing I know he's going over my head and heading right back out of the kitchen.

The guy was fast, but I wasn't a slowpoke myself when I put my mind to it. I was close enough to see the whites of his eyes when he giggled and turned to see how far behind him I was, with a squeak he faced forward again and put on an extra burst of speed. By now my lungs were beginning to hint that they would start hurting soon. I was on the verge of being forced to slow down by my own unfitness when Mikey came to a stop so suddenly I literally crashed into him, knocking both of us to the floor and giving Thatcher enough time to jump on us yapping a doggy lecture.

While Thatch's lecture probably consisted of not stopping, I had little doubt that Leo's would have something to do with not starting.

I was right. After very sternly chastising us for causing a 'ruckus' this late, Leo had Mikey quickly instruct me on the position of attention to be used in the dojo while he carried Quinn up to bed. When Leo returned he had me stand at attention while he made Mikey recite something long and by the sound of it; boring, in Japanese. Unfortunately he didn't have the thing memorized very well so it took a while. Once Mikey had finished Leo revised his speech on the evils of impromptu bouts of noise and released us while he returned to the dojo.

Mikey darted off to the monitoring area to play some video games while I took Thatcher outside the main entrance and down one of the little side tunnels that I doubted the turtles used much. After Thatch had done his thing I took him back to the lair with the intention of crashing on the dinner table if need be, I was going to get some sleep.

Fortunately I discovered what Raph had been up to. He walked past me and grunted that I should follow him. Being fluent in reclusive grump, I did as I was told and he led me to another room that had been partially cleared and a cot set up with blankets and a pillow.

"Yeah, you can crash there." He said.

I managed a grin. "Thanks Raph, I owe you one."

"Forget about it." Raph brushed my thanks off and I had to grin, that accent of his was so cool.

After he'd left and I'd retrieve my things I tried the cot and nearly melted with content; I love a good army cot.

Slowly my eyes drifted shut until a sudden weight fell on my gut like a CPR thrust. I grunted and glanced down at Thatcher. The dragon seemed more than pleased with himself as he turned around and settled down with me as his literal body pillow. "I'm getting you a collar." I told him. "With a bell, just like a cat collar." Naturally he didn't reply.

Sighing, I lay back again and started to drift. My thoughts were like little fireflies dancing behind my eyes until one of them came to the forefront and announce it would be keeping me up for a while.

I opened my eyes and stared through the darkness at the ceiling. Somewhere in the lair I could hear Mikey's game playing and Thatcher gave a doggy sigh but other than that all was still as I focused on my single pressing thought. "How the heck does one member of a five member family pick up such a strong accent?"