"You're way tense Mikey." Leonardo remarked, as his younger brother clearly forced his way through an exercise. "What happened this morning?"
"Nothing." He answered shortly, and tried to plow ahead with the form he was already in the middle of.
"Don't be like that Mike. Why don't you just tell me what's bothering you?"
"Pick a category." He replied ironically. "Do you realize that Thanksgiving is in two days?"
"It's been on the calender all year." Leonardo said, hoping to elicit some kind of smile from him.
Michelangelo's expression didn't change, and he dropped suddenly flat on the mat, leaning both arms behind his head. "This sucks." He proclaimed fiercely.
Leonardo lowered himself into a cross-legged position beside him. "I know it's disappointing."
"That doesn't even begin to describe it Leo. How many links can this chain afford to lose before it breaks entirely?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know what I mean. The only reason we survived losing Sensei is 'cause we stuck together. Now Raph is off in 'La La Land', and only God knows if we'll get him back. And don't get me started on Donatello."
The minute the last words left his mouth, he instantly regretted them. Mike knew all too well the fragile balance Leonardo still lived with concerning guilt over Donatello's initial injury from years ago.
His brother didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Raph is still in there Mikey, I know he is. His instincts are still operating, to the point that he didn't kill Marcus, even though I'm sure he wanted to. And he even apologized to him yesterday."
"He's still treating Donnie and Tiger like crap." Mike said.
"We have to be patient with him. None of us really know what he went through, or how he feels right now. I'm not willing to give up on him this easily, and I know you aren't either. As for Donnie...we don't have any idea how long of a recovery could be ahead of him yet. But he's been through this awful stuff already, and come out the other side. And this time, we know what he'll need, and we can be prepared to help him in advance."
"You're okay Leo?" Mike asked carefully.
He nodded after a second. "I am for right now. If Marc gets in there and discovers that the complications could be worse than before...I can't guarantee anything Mikey. I'll do my best to hold it together on my end."
Neither turtle said anything for a minute.
"Have you thought about Thanksgiving at all?" Leonardo asked him.
"Victoria and I had all these plans weeks ago, but I don't see any of that coming together. I doubt anyone's in the mood anyway Leo."
"We're still a family." Leonardo said stubbornly. "It won't be a normal holiday by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think we should ignore it either. We ought be drawing together right now."
"It would be so much easier if Master were here." Mike mumbled. "I betcha he could snap Raph right out of this."
"Maybe he could have Mike, but it doesn't help anything to think that way. We're here, in this time and place...and we should try to focus on what we can do to help this situation."
"Like what Fearless?"
"Like remembering what we still have to be grateful for Mike. Raphael is alive, and in one piece. We're all still here, and we have a couple of great new friends. And we've almost made it through a rather interesting year."
Mike snorted. "That's one word for it Leo."
"C'mon Mikey, what do you say? I know it won't be like other years, but I don't want to surrender it entirely. I don't think that's the right thing to do."
"Well...we'd have to move fast." Mike said a little forced. "And our girls would have to do some crazy shopping."
"They're pretty tough Mike, I bet they're up for the challenge." Leo offered.
"Oh alright...I'll talk to Jenna. Between her, Victoria, April...they can probably come up with what we need."
"What about Katherine and her sister? I'm sure they'd like something to do."
Michelangelo tried not to laugh again. "Kat is a fire hazard, she can't go anywhere near the cooking. But if all the girls went shopping together, they could cover more ground, sort of like divide and conquer."
"Okay Mike, let's get on it already. We're burning daylight."
Raphael came back around mid-afternoon, feeling rather light-headed, and more cold than he had before. He was a little startled to find Marc in such close proximity with him.
"Sorry Raph, I was just trying to get your temperature."
"What for?"
"You don't look right." The man replied, while staring at the monitor on his scanner. "Yeah, I thought so. You're running a fever."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you need a new IV. I'll be back in a second."
Raphael glanced over at Donatello, while Marcus was retrieving what he needed. It wasn't hard to notice a marked difference in Donatello's countenance than he'd seen previously.
Boy, he looks like somebody just died. What's eating him?
Marcus came back to switch out an IV solution for a bag of something entirely new. "I'll be back in a minute Raph. You can stay put, can't you?" The man asked pointedly.
"I'm not moving." Raphael answered, never looking away from Donatello.
If the purple-banded turtle knew he was watching him, he gave no indication of it.
"Hey," Raphael said curiously at last. "What's up with you? Are you finally mad at me?"
The turtle turned his head to face the other direction, and said nothing in reply. Raphael peered at him a few seconds longer, brow furrowing.
Why is this even bugging me at all? What do I care if he wants to pout?
After another beat of silence, he figured he knew exactly why.
She said you aggravated it moron. If he's hurt worse 'cause of me, of course he's mad. And all I've been doing this whole time is trying to goad some kinda reaction out of him. Have I always been this big of an idiot, or is this a recent development?
Raphael sat up carefully, bracing both arms against the mattress to steady himself as the room spun slightly. "Donatello?"
"What?" Came the less than cordial reply from across the room.
"What happened to you? Your knee I mean."
"I don't wanna talk about it." He replied, without looking his direction.
"Why? Has it got something to do with me?"
"I just don't want to, alright? Leave it alone." Donatello answered sharply.
"I ain't trying to upset you here, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."
"Raph, I'm not getting into this!" The turtle said more forcefully, finally getting a little louder. "Just leave me alone."
Luke stuck his head in the door a second later. "Hey. What's going on in here?"
"Doc! I want to get out of here, I want out right now. Can you help me please?" Donatello said the instant he saw him.
"Uh...yeah Donnie, give me a second. I'll get your brothers to help move you back to your room."
After helping Leonardo and Mike get Donnie settled back in his and Jenna's room, Luke swiftly returned to the Lab. He gave Raphael a sharp look, while he checked the flow of the new formula he was getting to combat the fever.
"What did you say to him?" He finally demanded.
"I didn't say anything!" Raphael said defensively. "Look, I'll admit I've been picking at him, but that's not what just happened!"
"Then what was it Raph? I'm not going to let you get away with mistreating him. He doesn't deserve it, and he's dealing with enough here!"
"I just asked him about his knee, that was all. He didn't wanna talk about it."
"And you kept pushing?" Luke replied a little softer. "There's a lot of history behind this injury Raph. Let him bring it up if he wants to talk about it for right now. Otherwise, you're better off leaving it alone."