"Hey, April. Hold on." Donatello asked the caller as he turned their payphone on speaker for the others in the room. "It's April." She heard him yell.
"Hey April!" A mass boom of welcoming voices struggled for a place to speak beside the phone. The power struggle for dominance lasted for a few seconds.
"Hi guys. How are you?" April called from her shop downstairs. The old antique store wasn't in business at the moment, but was in transition to do so. After April lost her job as a reporter, she turned to the possibility of reopening her Uncle Augie's store. Yet, due to the given circumstances and situations she's been put into, she looked into the option of renting the space to someone to run the store for her.
"Fine." Leonardo replied. April began to head upstairs to her apartment.
"Do you need anything? I can bring groceries by."
"Yass, bring us some food! I'm starving!" Her laughter carried on when she inserted the key into the keyhole to her apartment. She tiptoed inside to reduce the amount of noise going into the phone. Silently, she greeted Angel, Vern, and Taylor. The three of them sat at the table in leisure, possibly helping Angel with the homework pile.
"When are you ever not, Mikey?" Vern mouthed to ask if she was talking to the turtles. April nodded her head with a smile.
"Don't know, never been full."
"Is Venus there?" A shuffle of bodies came through the other line.
"Hi April." The sweet yet shy voice answered.
"Hi, honey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess." Her voice dropped even more. "Still on the band-aids."
"Well, it's been about a couple days." The phone was given a change of hands. The sound of pushing and whines from Michelangelo indicated it was Raphael.
"We're just cleanin' up the mess and bulking up."
"I didn't think that could get any more so with you guys." April snickered.
"Not us, the turtle from China. She's got the body of the gymnast and the intimidation of a rabbit."
"I do not!" Venus retorted distantly.
"Raph, don't make fun of her."
"Oh, no! I think my bunny slippers ran for cover!" He chuckled as he raised the phone up high to keep it out of her reach. The five mutants fought with one another until a Whoosh! Silenced them all.
"Oh my gosh!" Mikey screamed.
"We gotta run April, Shego just bust in our house." Raphael referred to the glow of Venus' hands. They were only a mock-scare for them all to quiet down.
"Oh-! No, guys! I love you! Venus, I love you!" April called.
"Love you!" They all answered back, and then hung up the phone.
"Who was that?"
"Hmm?" April turned to Angel.
"Mikey, Venus, and Raph. Who are they?"
"They're good friends of April's and Vern." Taylor leaned on the table, answering with some degree of jealously.
"I eva' gonna meet 'em? You pretty attached the way you was talkin' to 'em."
"Yeah, when are you going to introduce me to them? I mean, you met them like a year ago doing… what was it again?" Taylor looked over to Vern. The cameraman was unprepared to partake in the conversation, but he sat up nicely in his chair.
"It was a reporting job on the Foot. They were great contributors to end the clan." He explained, looking at April with her approval.
"Maybe you'll catch them someday." April assured her as she opened the refrigerator.
"Ok, Math, I can do. Science, kinda easy, but History… heck no!" Angel dropped her pencil on the table. It began to roll for a while, creating that annoying sound that comes with it. "Why do I gotta learn about the Crusaders? They dead and killed a bunch of people." Out of frustration, she brought her feet up to the side of the table. The soles pushed against the side of the not at all expensive piece of furniture. The adults in the room watched her do this, putting most of their attention on her shoes. "And they was Christians. What's up with that?"
"My teachers told me that we learn history so we don't repeat their mistakes. Well, he's a teacher. There are a whole lot of mistakes down that road." Taylor joked. April shook her head at her uninspiring roommate.
"Nice shoes. Those new sneakers?" Vern asked, pointing at them as well. Angel glowed instantly.
"Yass, sista gotta look good. My converse were good to me, but them Jordan's flow like the river. Now I take the Jordan's wherever I go." She giggled. April looked at them critically as she continued. "Ya'll see what I did there?" April took out some red grapes and put them on the counter. She bent down to get a small bowl out of the cabinet.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get those?" Her voice was muffled behind the island.
"You think just 'cause I'm enrolled in this program means my family don't got money?" Angel answered, sounding rather offended.
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" April apologized when she brought the yellow bowl onto the counter. "Did your grandma buy you those?" Despite the recent insult, Angel relaxed.
"Nah, Granma ain't got no money." She confessed in monotone. "Sonny hooked me up with their work experience program."
"Who's Sonny?" It only took record time for Angel to solidify her lie to Taylor.
"He works in the program. Thought I could work with them and help promote their program to other disadvantaged kids."
"Oh, that was nice of him." Score!
"Yep. Used my first paycheck on these babies." Her grey, yellow, and green Jordan's were caressed with Angel's dark hands on the side of them. April had the group of grapes in the bowl and was washing them in the sink. Angel's choice to buy shoes didn't sit well with her.
"Is that a really smart idea to use your money on shoes? If you needed shoes, I would've got some for you." April offered the shoes when she offered the freshly rinsed grapes on the table. Angel looked up to her with reassurance.
"Don't sweat. I just wanted to spend my own cash on me for once, not on survival mode or nothin', just treatin'." The Latina explained. April wasn't sure what to say next for the decision wasn't just a treat to her, but it hurt her to hear that Angel had previously been in survival mode at some point of her life. She was only thirteen and it hurt her even more. After a moment of silence, Angel felt the low vibes and chose to rebrighten the room. "You wanna help me with this?" She asked her "Big Sister". April snapped out of her short depression and gave the bright girl with an equally bright smile as she went to sit beside her.
The lair was quiet at night. Everyone was sleeping around the 2 o'clock time frame, but not easily. Venus began to stir. Soft mutters escaped her lips as she began to thrash in her space. Earlier in the day when the guys were up to watch the lair while Venus and Splinter slept, Donatello took the initiative to grant Michelangelo his bed back and created a hammock out of tarp, blankets, and rope for Venus in their room. She slept on the lower hammock, hoping one day the top hammock would cradle her sister if she came back. Her noisemaking woke Michelangelo up. Fat fingers rubbed his head in slight annoyance as he woke. He looked up to see little Venus thrashing in her sleep. His first instinct was to wake up Donatello who was resting beside him.
"Yo Donnie! Donnie!" his harsh whispers woke Donatello with a start. Seeing his youngest brother, he wished he'd never woken up.
"What happened Mikey?" he asked so routinely. In slight fear, Mikey pointed to Venus. Donatello peeked over at the disturbed female terrapin. He picked himself up and crept over to her to check on her condition. She continued to stir as if she was fighting something off.
"Should we wake her and see if she's okay?" Donnie extended his arm across Mikey.
"No, hold on." Donnie demanded. Mikey sat back lower and observed her with Donnie. Her thrashing became sharper with turns of her head and hips. She muttered again.
"M- Mikey!" she mumbled softly. Her tone of voice was desperate and breathless.
"Must be dreaming about me. I knew she wanted me." The terrapin blew onto his fingers as if he'd accomplished something.
"Shh!" Donatello spat harshly. If only his gear was in reach, he'd begin to analyze the problem. If he went to go get them, he'd wake up his other brothers. Too late. Leo began to wake up. His leg somehow got under Raphael's shell and woke him up too when he tried to release it. It was stiff and asleep, just great. Sloth, both looked over to see Donnie and Mikey watching over Venus.
"Raph! Leo! Donnie!" They all took in surprise as she desperately called out their names.
"Freaky turtle." Michelangelo snickered. Donatello put his hand up as a warning. Quick to act, Mikey shielded his head from any slaps.
"Mona! Don't- don't leave me! No! No! No!" Now it was scary. Venus grabbed her pillow and rocked back and fourth ferociously. Donatello grabbed her shoulders and tried to settle her down. Calming down was not in her favor tonight.
"Mei Pei Chi! Venus! Venus wake up!" he cried out to her. An escaped breath was followed with her eyes shooting open. Terror rest into them as tears began to flow. Her first sight was Donatello watching over her. Immediately, she leapt in relief.
"Donnie! You're alive!" the terrified turtle girl latched onto the nerd's neck. He took it by surprise, nearly falling onto her when she did. His hand pushed onto the wall supported him as he tried to comfort her as she began to sob.
"Shh… it was only a nightmare." He hugged her back with his other hand. The others watched speechlessly as they saw Venus' soft face explode with tears. It was too much to take after waking up. Almost worse than the other night.
"It, it just felt so real… I…" her voice trailed off. She just couldn't explain otherwise she'd sob even more. Her tears choked her and kept her from continuing.
"You're fine Venus." He began to pull away. "Go back to sle-." His heart jumped when Venus violently grabbed his arm once he stood. Looking down at her, he saw the horrors beyond her eyes.
"Please, stay with me. Stay with me Donnie. Please!" She pleaded.
"Okay, okay. Me, Raph, Mikey and Leo are right here, just a few feet away."
"No, no! I need you here!" "No, with me! Wǒ de xiōngdì. My brother." Her pleas became more and more desperate, as if they could be. The purple clad terrapin sighed.
"Okay, Venus." Donatello offered his hand to her, knowing well that his makeshift hammock could not hold them both. Mikey went to go sit in his bed, mesmerized by Venus' behavior. After some quick thinking, he looked back at the staring Leonardo, who watched Donnie climb in his bed and offer Venus a spot beside him. He could have sworn he saw his lip twitch when Venus lay down with her shell against his plastron. Not able to continue, Leo sternly turned the other way. His body bounced as he pulled his blanket over himself sternly.
Donatello's elbow touched the corner of the bed as his hand supported his head.
"I'm here for you." His other arm was presented to her. She took it gratefully and hugged it for further comfort. The female turtle began to calm down and tried to get back to sleep knowing someone was there to protect her. It wasn't Mona, but it was someone. Donnie took his gaze off of now peaceful Venus and towards his two brothers. Raphel looked in confusion and worry, not sure what to do with Venus' newly found weak spot. Michelangelo seemed unsure of himself and guided more of his attention on Donatello than Venus herself. After a couple glances, everyone settled back down to sleep and Donnie continued to stay with Venus.
