April looked at the row of chairs across from her and her dad, where Casey and his foster parents now sat. They were even more worked up than April thought they were going to be. She had respectfully looked away when they asked Casey to take the breathalyzer test – for some reason, April thought that they would at least wait until they weren't in public anymore. She was embarrassed on Casey's behalf. He'd risked a lot to come help them on this mission, and now, as he sat between his foster parents, his face was pink with embarrassment.
Sean, whom April had never met, sat with his arms folded and kept shooting mistrustful looks at her. Meanwhile, Jen kept asking Casey a stream of questions, asking for a detailed description of his whereabouts that evening, and why, for goodness sake, had he spray-painted his hockey mask to look like a skull.
"The police have everything they need, Jen," Sean said. "We should take Casey home."
"Sean, I just want to know if that girl makes it or not," Casey replied. "I kinda got a little beat up rescuing her – is it too much to ask?"
Jen looked at April. "Are you staying to find out?"
"Absolutely," April said, folding her arms. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep unless I know what happens."
"Then she can call Casey when she finds out," Sean said impatiently.
"Sean," Casey said, a note of pleading in his voice. "Dad. Please."
Both Sean's and Jen's eyes widened. The hardened expression on Sean's face softened. He exchanged a glance with Jen, who nodded.
"We can stay, Casey," Jen said, gently patting Casey on the shoulder.
Casey made eye contact with April, giving her a sad smile. April smiled back, not completely sure what had just happened. Was that the first time Casey had called Sean 'Dad'? If so, had he just done it to get his way, or was there some genuineness behind it? She wanted to think better of Casey than thinking he was manipulative, but she had personally experienced what a smooth-talker he could be.
But the sadness in his smile made her think that maybe he was for real. After all, he had said that Sean and Jen were the only foster parents who'd stuck with him for this long.
Casey and April were mostly quiet for the next hour or so. April's Dad made polite conversation with Jen and Sean. Apparently, Sean worked in the headquarters for some company that had just opened a new manufacturing center in South Dakota. April tuned out most of the conversation, nauseous with worry about Karai, Leo, and Mei. It wasn't until sometime after three when a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Excuse me, are you the people waiting to hear about that young Asian woman?" The voice belonged to a woman in a doctor's coat.
"Yes," April and Casey said simultaneously.
The doctor nodded. "Well, you'll be glad to hear that the prognosis looks good. We have her stabilized, and she should even be back on her feet in a few days. She'll need some physical therapy for the muscles that got damaged, but she'll come through it just fine."
April nearly fainted with relief. "That's wonderful."
"Well, she's lucky you brought her in when you did," the doctor continued. "She flatlined within a minute of getting her to the OR. We honestly didn't know if we could save her…but I guess somebody was watching out for her tonight, because she managed to pull through. We gave her significant transfusions, and she'll be on fluids for a couple of days…but like I said, she'll be okay. And don't worry, the police will look for her parents and make sure she's taken care of, okay? You guys helped save a life tonight. You should be proud of that."
"Thank you so much," Kirby said, standing up and shaking the doctor's hand. "It means a lot."
The doctor nodded and then walked back through the triage doors.
"Well, I guess we'd better get going, Case," Jen said. "April, Kirby, you have a good night."
Casey stood up to go with his foster parents. "See ya, Red. Give me a call later, will you?"
April drew her lip into her mouth. Something about Casey going made her feel like crying. He'd offered her so much support tonight, and the thought of him leaving now left her feeling deflated. She leapt up from her chair and threw her arms around Casey, hugging him tightly. "Thanks for everything, Casey."
When she finally let go of him, Casey was red in the face. "Yeah, sure. Anytime. Call me, though?"
April nodded. Casey deserved to know as soon as the found out anything about Leo and Mei. That reminded her that she had promised to call the others as soon as they knew anything.
Once Casey and his foster parents were gone, Kirby turned to April. "You have a lot to tell me." He lowered his voice. "Did everyone make it out?"
April felt herself tearing up. "We shouldn't talk about it here. Let's go…well, you know where."
Kirby put an arm around April and they walked out of the hospital together. April pulled out her phone and dialed Raph. While she waited for him to pick up, she wondered whether he wasn't hurt, too.
"Hello?" Raph's voice was hoarse.
"Raph, she's okay. She made it."
Raph let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Dad and I are on our way – we'll tell you more when we get there. Any word on Leo and Mei?"
There was a moment of silence. "No."
April's heart fell. "Oh. Okay. Well, we'll be there soon."
Kirby hailed a cab, and soon they were driving back to the area of town with what April considered 'her' manhole cover. Once the cab had departed, April and Kirby headed for the manhole cover and surreptitiously climbed down.
"Okay. Now tell me everything that happened," Kirby said.
As they walked the rest of the way to the lair, April filled Kirby in on the night's events.
"…and then the explosion went off. We waited as long as we could, but Karai was bleeding so badly, we had to go. We still haven't heard anything from Mei and Leo."
Kirby paused and gave April a big hug. "I'm really, really sorry sweetie." He sniffed, and his eyes were watery. "I know how close you were with Mei and Leo. I – I've gotten pretty attached, myself. We'll just have to hope for the best." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm just so glad that you made it out okay."
"Thanks, Dad," April replied, swiping tears away from her eyes. "We're almost there. We should keep moving."
They walked in through the turnstiles to find Mikey, Raph, and Splinter all huddled together on the couch. As soon as Raph noticed them, he pulled away from Splinter and folded his arms, as if he hadn't just been leaning his head on Splinter's shoulder.
At the motion, Splinter looked up. "April! Raphael said that the news was good."
"Yeah." April walked into the den and plopped down on the second couch. "They said they'd keep her on fluids for a while, and that she's going to need P.T., but that she was going to come through it just fine."
"What's going to most tricky will be getting her out once she's well," Kirby said, sitting down next to April. "With a wound like that, there's going to be police involvement, and since she's a minor…"
A tiny smile crept into the corner of Splinter's mouth. "I confess that the same thing occurred to me. But she is a kunoichi. I doubt that the police and hospital staff will pose any challenge to her."
"That's a fair point," April said. "Karai can handle herself. Plus, Mei can alter the records like she did for…" She bit her lip. "I mean, if she…"
Splinter hung his head.
"Don't worry," Mikey said. "I'm sure she and Leo will be back any minute."
"They've been gone all night, Mikey," Raph said. "What makes you think – "
"Raphael," Splinter said sharply. "All we can do is wait."
"I'm going to my room." Raph stood up from the couch and headed down the hall in a somewhat uneven line.
"Is he…okay?" April said, gesturing toward Raph with her thumb.
"He's concussified," Mikey said. "Me too."
"You mean you have concussions?" Kirby asked.
"Shyeah, that's what I just said. Weren't you listening?"
Kirby glanced in the direction Raph had gone. "Should he be alone, then?"
"I have managed to keep them both awake for several hours," Splinter said. "He may as well rest now. I shall check on him in a while."
"Does that mean I can go to sleep now, Sensei?" Mikey said.
"Yes."
"Finally." Mikey scooted back and laid his head on the arm of the couch, putting his legs over Splinter's lap. Splinter raised an eyebrow and shook his head, but said nothing.
"What about you, Splinter?" Kirby asked. "April said you'd been hurt, too."
"A superficial wound, at best," Splinter said.
"Superficial?" April said. "Sensei, the front of your robe was all bloody."
"I assure you, April, not all of it was mine. I had been holding Miwa, and some of it…" Splinter closed his eyes for a moment. "Some of it was the Ronin's. He no longer poses a threat to this family."
April gasped. "The Ronin was in there?" It was a wonder that any of them had made it out at all.
"Yeah," Mikey said, not opening his eyes. "Splinter got 'im, though." He yawned and smacked his lips.
Splinter glanced down at Mikey, his face a mixture of sadness and affection.
Somehow, April had a hard time envisioning Splinter killing somebody. Not that Splinter wasn't totally capable of it; it was just that he always talked about killing as the last resort. Of course, it made sense. From what she'd heard, the Ronin was absolutely crazy – there wouldn't have been any reasoning with him. Still, the idea of Splinter killing somebody sent chills down her spine.
"You should probably try to get some sleep too, sweetie," Kirby said, patting April on the back.
April didn't think that she'd be able to sleep at all, but she realized at that point just how very tired her body was. "I'm going to go check in on Donnie first, though." She hopped up from the couch and headed into the lab.
Every time she walked through these doors, she felt like she would start crying. She missed Donnie so badly, and now that she wasn't sure about Mei or Leo, she felt his absence even more keenly. Her heart twisted when she saw him lying on the table, totally dead to the world around him. She went over to his side and saw that he was sleeping.
Good. April always felt better when he was sleeping. Asleep, he gave no indication whatsoever that anything was wrong. He seemed perfectly content, and she could always hope that when he opened his eyes, he'd look at her and smile instead of staring blankly at the ceiling.
She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I miss you so much, Donnie."
Donnie gave a sharp inhale and opened his eyes. Instead of a blank stare, though, he turned his head and fixed his eyes on her.
April's stomach leaped in excitement. "Donnie? Donnie!"
Donnie narrowed his eyes as if he was confused – like he hadn't seen her for a while and was trying to place her.
"Donnie, can you understand me?"
He furrowed his brow and squinted, tilting his head to get a better look at her.
"If you can understand me, blink twice."
Slowly, deliberately, Donnie blinked once.
Then again.
"Guys!" April screamed. "Guys, Donnie's awake! He understands! He – "
As she spoke, Donnie's face glazed over, like a light switch had been turned out.
"Donnie? Donnie, can you understand me?"
But he didn't even look at her.
Splinter, Kirby, and Mikey all burst into the lab together. Splinter ran to Donnie's side immediately, while Kirby and Mikey lingered behind a few paces.
"Donatello?" Splinter said. "My son, can you hear me?"
But Donnie just stared at the ceiling for a few moments, then fell back asleep. Splinter's face fell.
"Master Splinter, I swear," April said. "I swear he looked at me, and I asked him to blink twice, and he did. I swear it. He looked like he recognized me…I don't know what happened…"
"We should all rest," Splinter said, his voice ragged.
"You've got to believe me!"
Splinter sighed. "I have seen it too – right after he first woke, he seemed to recognize me. And then he was gone. I fear it means little."
"No, wait – if this has happened a second time, then there could actually be hope," Kirby said. He had that crazed, excited look he always got when he was explaining some kind of new psycho-babble he'd brought home when he used to work for the university. "This means that, however deep it's buried, he's still in there. It might come and go, but his sentience isn't totally lost!"
Splinter's expression lightened. "Nevertheless, we should all follow his example and rest."
"That I can agree with," Kirby said. "I'll do some more research in the morning – you can help me, April."
April didn't want to leave the lab, but watching Donnie breath peacefully in his sleep, she knew that if he were awake and sentient, he'd tell her to go to sleep. He might even give her a lecture about how the body needs sleep, and explain all of the scientific things behind it. "Okay, Daddy. Just give me a minute alone with him?"
Kirby gave her a sad smile. "Sure, sweetie."
Splinter patted April on the shoulder and turned to leave the lab. Soon, April was alone with Donnie once again. She kissed his forehead, then left the lab, turning out the lights on her way out.
When she finally crawled into the bed in the room they'd set up for her in the lair, she fell asleep almost as soon as she hit the pillow.