Hi everyone! Quite on time today, don't ya think? I'm pretty proud of myself.
Before I'll continue, I have a little announcement. I've been doing this for quite a while now and this 'story' has grown pretty well since the beginning. Where I started with a simple one-pager, the stories now are mostly multi-chaptered. I love writing one-shots, but I guess my heart belongs to the latter. So I have decided to write until chapter 50, and than I will stop uploading every week. Maybe I'll pull the plug of The Things I Do and leave it like it is, or maybe I will upload something every now and then. I'm not sure yet. But before that will happen, there are still 14 more chapters to go after this one, that means still 14 more weeks of The Things I Do.
For all my loyal readers: Yes, this is the continuation of the Leo-story. I hope you guys like it.
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Fallen
Snapping open his eyes, Raph looked around his room wondering where the uneasy feeling came from that woke him up. Reaching over, he turned on the light next to his hammock and let his eyes adjust to the brightness. Just when he wanted to stretch his arms, a weird thudding sound caught his attention. He stifled a yawn and he got out. Opening his bedroom door, he immediately noticed his younger brother's room was empty, meaning the genius was still in his lab. Still feeling a little uneasy, Raph walked out of their small hallway and entered the living room. The moment he wanted to walk over to Don's workplace, which was the most logical place to search for weird noises, he felt a cold streak of air, giving him shivers. His gaze went to the front door of the lair, which was open to his surprise. "That's weird…" he muttered and walked towards the door to shut out the cold sewer air. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw made his breath stuck in his chest. Leo was laying on his side on the floor in an awkward position, eyes closed and wounded heavily. For a moment Raph could only look in horror, until he bolted towards his fallen brother. Immediately he bend down and shook Leo's shoulders. "Leo!" There was no response, not even a hitch in breath. "C'mon, Fearless!" With trembling fingers Raph checked for a pulse. After a couple of agonising seconds he felt it - a fast, but steady heartbeat. "Leo! Wake up, bro!" he said, shaking the oldest' again, but this time a little bit harder. There was a moaning exhalation and suddenly Leo's breathing got worse. Deep, ragged breaths seemed to take a lot of effort and Raph's hands flew off his brother, not knowing what to do. "What tha shell? Leo?"
Suddenly he realised he had to take action. "Don!" he yelled, not wanting to leave his brother. "Donnie!"
A couple of seconds later the very tired face of the purple-banded turtle peeked out of the lab entrance. "What?" Don said during a large yawn, his eyes shifting to the open door, not really progressing what was going on.
"Get yer shell in 'ere!" The urgency in Raph's voice instantly woke up the genius and he rushed out of his lab. "Why's the door open? What's goin -" Seeing his oldest brother sprawled out unmoving on the floor, breathing harshly, he stopped his sentence. In a moment he was crouched down next to Raph, eyes wide in fear. "What happened?" he asked as calm as he could, checking Leo's vitals quickly. Raph shook his head. "I-I dunno. I found him like this."
With an unsatisfied frown on his face, Don shifted his position. "Help me get him properly on his back," he said curtly. "Be careful though." Together they moved their brother, being careful not to make matters worse.
"What's wrong with him?" Raph asked as Don was still checking up on Leo. Don didn't answer immediately. "I don't know," he said in all honesty. "But it seems like he got attacked or ambushed and through a miracle made it back home, only to collapse here."
Raph's eyes narrowed. "The ones who did this are gonna pay!" He wanted to get up, but Don put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't! I really need you here right now."
"But -"
"Please, Raph." Don sounded desperate. Looking longing at the lair's entrance, Raph huffed and got down again. "What can I do?"
Don gave a small sigh. "Keep watch while I get some supplies." He got up and swiftly walked back to his lab. Surprised Raph watched him and shifted his gaze to the large closet next to him where a first aid kit was laying on top of one of the shelves. "Don! There's a kit right 'ere!" he called after his brother. Not getting a response, he let it go and watched his only older brother again. He put his hand on Leo's chest, eyes narrowed in concern. "What happened, bro?" he asked softly. He didn't even noticed Don came back, until he sat down next to him. Raph didn't see a first aid box. "Ya fergot tha medical kit. Shall I -"
"Don't need it now," Don cut in as he took the sterile plastic off a syringe. "His external injuries aren't life threatening and can be addressed later. I'm more concerned about his extremely high heart rate." He pushed the needle in one of the veins in Leo's arm and drew some blood. "And his irregular breathing…"
"How bad is it?" Raph called out alarmed. He looked at Leo and saw the uneven rise and fall of his brother's chest. His gaze went up and saw Leo's face. From what he could see his only older brother was in pain, and he hated it. He hated the fact it happened, he hated the fact he didn't know what it was and he hated he couldn't do anything about it.
"It's definitely not good, but could be worse," Don said to him, storing away the now full syringe. "But before that happens we need to get that heart beat under control. At this rate it's putting too much stress on his body."
"And how are we gonna do that, genius?" Raph said angrily. He didn't want stories, he wanted to do something. To help his brother.
"For now I need everyone present. Can you wake up Mikey?" Don asked. Suddenly Raph turned to Don, an annoyed expression on his face. "How can ya be so friggin' calm, Don?" Raph suddenly fell out. "Someone attacked yer brother an' yer so damn calm about it. Aren't you -"
"Of course I am, Raph!" Don interjected fiercely. "I can also see the situation and I can see it's not good. Yes, deep inside I am panicking and I am angry, but we can't lose our heads now. That's not what Leo need right now! He needs medical attention and no one can give that while distraught. So get your head in the game and help me."
Taking in Don's outburst, Raph nodded. "Yer right. I'm sorry," he apologised as he stood up. "I'll get Mike." Quickly he walked to the front door and closed it before the cold would make matters worse. "Jus' watch Leo." With that he ripped his eyes off his brother and hurried towards Mikey's bedroom.
Watching his brother walking away in a swift pace, Don bit his lip and looked at Leo again. "Come on, bro. Wake up," he said quietly, knowing very well that was not going to happen any time soon. Although he had no clue what happened exactly, he had a pretty good guess. When they'd turned Leo on his back earlier, he had noticed a weird looking bruise on the back of Leo's upper arm, way darker than his other bruises. After that he was occupied by the syringe, so he didn't have time to look at it, but examining the bruise now, he noticed it was something way different. The almost black mark looked rather painful, but the thing that worried him the most was the tiny speck in the middle. Giving a defeated sigh, he knew there was only one explanation: His brother had to be injected with some fluid or something to take him out. According to the round bruising around the mark, probably a dart from a gun. Problem was… He had no idea what was in it. He picked up the vial with Leo's blood and looked at it, hoping a microscopic research would give him some fast results.
Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, seeing the worried frown of his red-banded brother. Right behind him was his youngest sibling, who was looking very concerned at Leo.
"Shall I move him to tha infirmary?" Raph asked, already kneeling down. Don nodded glumly. "Yes, that would be best."
Very carefully Raph slid his arms under Leo's shoulders and the back of his knees. "Jeez, he's freezin'," he mumbled and proceed to stand up, which was rather difficult with 220 pounds of muscle in his arms. Quickly he regained his balance and followed Don towards the infirmary, with Mikey trailing behind.
Once inside the infirmary, Don pointed at the cot. "Lay him down, please." He walked further towards the small desk in the corner and took some supplies from the shelves, laying it down next to the microscope which was in one of the corners of the desk. "Mike, can you get some blankets from the pantry?"
Mikey gave a distracted nod without looking away from the prone form of his oldest brother who was struggling just to take a breath. The brother who was in his eyes unbeatable, who was always there for him and who -
"Mikey!"
In an instant Mikey whipped up his head, looking up into the gentle eyes of Don and restored himself. "I'm going, I'm going," he mumbled quickly before running off.
Seeing the youngest exiting the room, Raph shook his head as if regretting something. "Maybe we should've let 'im sleep." He looked back at his older brother and made sure he couldn't fall off the cot. Reaching out, he took a pillow from the only non-folding chair in the room. Gently he lifted Leo's head and placed the soft cushion underneath it.
Don gave a soft snort. "Are you serious? Really, the last thing I want is a seriously angered Mikey for shutting him out." He hold up the small glass slides with a drop of Leo's blood in between it in front of the artificial light. Carefully he laid it under the objectives of the microscope and modified the lens. "Remember when I dislocated my shoulder a couple of years back, when I wanted to install that weather station on the top of the drainage system? Both you and Mikey were extremely pissed off when we didn't wake you when that happened and heard about it the next day," he continued as he peered into the eyepiece, simultaneously turning the knobs to adjust the focus. "You kept cursing and yelling against Leo and Splinter, while Mikey gave them the angry silent treatment."
"Fine, whateva'," Raph gave in. Curiously he looked at Don, who was sitting on his stool with his back towards him. "Whatcha doin' by tha way?"
Don gave a humm. "Examine Leo's blood," he said distractically as he turned the fine adjustment knob. "And there is something in here, but I can't place it."
Raph's eyes widened a bit. "There's somethin' in his blood?" he exclaimed. Quickly he turned back to Leo, who was breathing harshly on the cot, his face pale.
"There's what?" Mikey's anxious voice came from behind a pile of blankets. He dropped them on the floor, revealing his frightened face. "He's going to be okay, right?" he asked, looking from Leo to Don, to Raph and back to Don. Quickly he jumped over the blankets and went to the cot just to see his big brother up close. Almost instantly he regretted it and he hated the way Leo was laying there. It just wasn't right.
"Of course he will. It's Leo we're talking about," Don reassured his brothers in a most calm tone, standing up from his stool. He took the glass slides from between the stage clips of the microscope and grabbed the vial with Leo's blood. He also moved towards the bed and did a quick check, noticing nothing had changed much in the few minutes they were in the infirmary. "I need to do some research in the lab to figure out what we're dealing with. Can you guys stay and make sure he will be alright?"
Mikey's eyes went big. "You're leaving? But what if he gets sicker? Or what if he wakes up? Or what if he stops breathing? He can't, can he? Please tell me -" In the midst of his rambling he got smacked up the head by Raph. "Quit it, numbskull. Yer not helpin'."
Rubbing his head with a half-scowl, Mikey gave a pout. "I'm just worried," he said softly. Don put a soothing hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Mikey. I'm two doors away. But when anything changes, call me immediately."
"Sure," Raph answered, as Mikey just nodded despondent. Giving Mikey's shoulder a firm comforting squeeze, Don turned around and left the infirmary, leaving his three brothers in silence. Suddenly Mikey looked up in light panic. "Blankets!" he called out and scrambled back to the pile he had dropped on the floor earlier. "How much does he need? I've got like twelve!" he said as he collected all the covers back in his arms, practically ready to drop them all on Leo. Raph gave a grunt. "Stop panickin', dipstick! He's gonna be fine," he fell out, although he wasn't convinced himself. Seeing his little brother with big, sad eyes looking at him from behind the blankets, he softened up. "Just two will be fine." He stood up and grabbed two sheets from the top. "Throw tha rest in tha corner an' help me cover him up."
Quickly Mikey disposed himself of the pile and followed Raph back to the bed, who had already spread out one of the covers over Leo's still body. Together they made sure Leo was tucked in.
"Do you know what happened?" Mikey asked in a small voice once they were satisfied. Raph gave a small shrug. "No. But whoever did it is gonna pay," he said threateningly. Not really hearing the last part, Mikey gave a sigh. "It's not fair."
Right before Raph wanted to make a sarcastic remark, Mikey continued. "Leo's been badly hurt more than once, it's not suppose to happen again."
Raph casted his eyes down and understood they way Mikey was thinking. Yes, it wasn't fair. But still… Since when did the things that happen to them were ever fair? He looked up when Mikey started talking again. "He's always there for us, you know. He's the one who brings comfort, who stays calm. The man with the plan. The one who keeps his head cool in desperate times. The bro we all need. And now he's -" Mikeys searched for words. "Now he's not there."
Although Raph would never would say it out loud, Mikey was right. He also needed the level-headed leader, the bossy know-it-all whom he could argue with without question, but above all… He needed his big brother who could bring console through simple words and gestures. Thinking Mikey's words over again, he realised his little brother actually needed that kind of comfort. Inwardly he gave a small sigh, because it really wasn't his style, and moved a bit closer to his little brother. Gently he wrapped his arm around the youngest shoulder and gave him a tight one-armed hug. "It's gonna be okay, bro. Don's workin' on it an' will find a cure or a solution or somethin'." He felt Mikey's shoulders relaxing and he knew he was doing well. "Leo's gonna be fine. Like always. This is nothin' in comparison to that Christmas night, so don't worry."
Mikey nodded. "Yeah, you're right… Thanks, Raph."
Flashing a quick smile, Raph removed his arm, but not before giving Mikey a playful rub over his head.
He walked away and grabbed a first aid kit from one of the shelves. "Now help me ta patch 'im up a bit. Tha last thing we need is an infection or anythin'," he said as he put the kit on the table Don had used earlier. He threw some rubbing alcohol over his shoulder, which was caught deftly by his younger brother. With his hands full of supplies he walked back and disposed them on the unused parts of the bed. His gaze went to his unconscious brother, who had an uncomfortable frown on his face and was still breathing oddly. Reaching out, Raph put an unsteady hand on Leo's shoulder. Ya betta be okay, bro. I need ya...
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I hope you liked it! Please leave a review - They really make me happy :)