A/N I got nothin', read on fellow fanfictioneers! :D
Well, as Leo had put it earlier today, what a "great" Christmas this turned out to be. It started off good, then Leo pulled his muscle, Splinter refused to talk to me and confined himself in his new dojo, Raph and I got into a small fight; yeah went great. The holiday breakfast was fantastic at least with Mikey and I handling the kitchen. We "invented" cinnamon toast crunch-French toast, where once you dip the bread in the egg you cover it in crushed toast crunch cereal and fry it, that I have to say was pretty damn good. Then we also made a french toast pizza, it was like a large round piece of french toast covered in strawberries, which my brothers both found delicious. I do have to say, Mikey and I are geniuses... in the kitchen anyway. We all spent the rest of the day doing our own thing, currently April, Karai and I were cleaning up my brothers, we got them to take baths then we worked at cutting their hair and stealing some of Jones's clothes for them, we also discussed that after New Years, April, Casey and Kirby would return to the city because the two teens had school, they would visit every weekend though to bring food to the farmhouse and hang out.
I was just glad we weren't going back to the city anytime soon, I hated that metal jungle, I prefer the wilderness with considerable distance between me and a stranger if there were one. Not to mention it was probably incredibly dangerous to return there right now.
I went to Vance sitting on the stool and ran my hand through his hair to remove any remaining clippings, he wore a small smile as I messed his hair up.
"Gotta hand it to ya April and Karai, you made 'em look less ugly." I chuckled, getting a silent laugh from the two of my brothers. April looked to me releasing the towels off my brothers' shoulders with a smirk.
"Yeah, to bad I couldn't fix you." She snickered getting a stifled laugh from Karai and a soft joking glare from me.
"You two are all set to go." Karai said and my two brothers got off the stools they had been sitting on for almost an hour. I smiled, they seemed in higher spirits and looked a lot better than earlier, I'd just wish they'd quit being so silent. A few moments later while we were cleaning up, Donnie came in and tossed me the ice pack, which I slipped into the freezer. Donnie had been switching between an ice pack and a heating pad with Leo, trying to create comfort for him, he tried to keep the swelling down and also keep the muscle relaxed, every half hour or so he would come in and either grab the ice or drop it off.
"How's he doing, Donnie?" I asked grabbing a bag of chips for Donnie as he sat by the table, Karai and April joining us, he propped his elbows on its surface and rubbed his face.
"Alright, I guess. He refuses to take any pain medication or let me move him from the chair. It's got to be uncomfortable to sit like he is." Donnie said grabbing the bag as I slid it onto the table. "Not to mention he's only putting further stress on that muscle by sitting." Donnie commented with a sigh.
"It probably hurts more to move." April suggested taking a seat across from him. My brothers had earlier discovered ice cream kitty and were currently messing with it, I heard it meow which just creeped me out, food should not do that, I don't care what happened to it.
"You two, get away from that thing. It's disturbing." I ordered them quietly, furrowing my brow as the frozen dairy creature stare back at me, it hissed so I stuck my tongue out at it. That thing and I did not get along, my brothers took a step back obeying. Mikey had entered by then and glared at me with his nose held high.
"Ice cream kitty is not a thing, she's my pet." Mikey said putting one hand on his hip and petting the cat with his other hand.
"Michelangelo, it's frozen milk that purrs and hisses, there is something wrong with that." I said getting up and shutting the freezer door, I didn't want to keep looking at it.
"Awe, don't make her upset." Karai said with a chuckle.
"I'm not against it- er her, but it's freaky, I'm sorry." I stated.
"Do you fear her like Raph fears bugs?" Mikey queried getting in my face with a smug grin. I squinted my eyes at his closeness and skeptical at what he was getting at.
"Most certainly not. If it's anything I'm afraid of it's getting stuck in a dark place alone." I retorted absent minded, defending I no fear of that little vanilla flavored blob, but I quickly covered my mouth as Mikey's grin got larger. "Mikey, you use that for anything I'll hurt you." I threatened jabbing a finger at his chest. He put his hands up.
"Hey, who said I was scheming?" He defended. "Could be Donnie boy over here." He continued, jabbing his thumb Don's way. I quickly glared daggers into Donnie's soul, his eyes went wide and he shook his head fervently.
"That's what I thought." I smiled taking a seat next James and Vance who seemed to be enjoying the conversation as they wore smiles. They looked kind of goofy with Casey's large clothing on them, the shirts were way over sized and the pants we had them put on were held on with belts that were down to the smallest holes. We would have to get that fixed before Winter's end.
"Welp. I'm going to my lab for a bit." Donnie announced standing. "Do you guys mind helping Leo with the ice packs?" Don asked.
I shook my head. "I don't mind, as long as he actually lets me put on the ice pack." I stated, knowing Leo kept giving Don trouble for it.
"Nope, no problem." April replied standing as well.
"Looks like Leo will be the center of attention." Karai chuckled. "He'll hate us after today." She muttered standing and going with April out of the room. Before Don left with the bag of chips and a cup of coffee I got up and caught him by his arm. He looked down to me curiously.
"What kind of stuff you doing in that barn? You've been spending a lot of time in there lately." I asked gripping his arm a little harder as I felt him pull away.
"Nothing much really, just working out some kinks on things, making sure everyone's injuries are healing." He replied taking a sip of coffee, I released his arm, I knew Donnie had been feeling down lately but I didn't want to address it. "Also lecturing Raph on why he needs to keep the cast on his wrist for another two weeks." He added slyly.
I looked back towards Vance, my family's genius. "You mind if Vance tags along?" I asked gesturing him to come over which he did so with enthusiasm.
"No, I mean, as long as you think he'll be okay out there with me. Casey's making a lot of noise and there may be small fires and explosions involved." He said looking over at Vance. "I don't know if right now he could handle that. They both have PTSD, I don't want to stress him out." Donnie said worriedly looking back to me.
"I think he'll be okay. Vance?" I asked glancing at him for a response, to which surprisingly he gave a confident nod. "He's good." I answered Donnie.
"Alright, well, if anything goes wrong I'll bring him back." Donnie says going towards the door. "Follow me Vance, you'll need a jacket." He added sliding the kitchen door open and leading Vance out of the kitchen. He poked his head back in looked to me as he gripped the door frame. "Also, make sure Leo eats something and if the heat pad gets to hot, take it off and give it a few minutes before putting the ice pack back on." Donnie said before finally leaving, of course he'd dump making Leo eat, up to me. I watched them both disappear into the other room, I turned my gaze to Mikey and James, who at the moment were playing with that damn creepy cat again. I shuddered before standing to leave.
"Mike, can you keep an eye on James for a bit?" I asked not wanting to have any part in interacting with that thing.
"Sure. Don't mind if we mess with Raphie a little do ya?" He replied spraying whipped cream over the bowl of ice creamed cat.
I rolled my eyes with a knowing smile. "Don't get yourselves in trouble, I can't save you from Satan himself." I scolded with a chuckle as I left to go check on Leo.
I went over by the couch just as the front door shut behind Vance and Don, I took a seat and flicked on the tv, surprised Leo hadn't already turned it on himself. April and Karai were by the fire talking over something I couldn't quiet hear, I was about to decide to go join their conversation but Leo needed attention at the moment. I looked to the terrapin with the kimono still sloppily draped over him, who was in the same seat next to the sofa he'd been in for the secret Santa. The poor guy just looked exhausted, he sat back against the chair with his legs sprawled out in front of him, one hand holding his side with the heating pad tucked underneath and the other holding up his head with his elbow on the chair arm. He seemed as if he were sleeping, but I knew he wasn't, I could sense he was wide awake. Leo must of felt my staring as he cracked his eyes half open and looked to me tiredly, before going back to his false slumber he gave a weak, flat smile. I wish I could just make him feel better, get the Leo I met in the city back. All I could do was try to help make him comfortable and get him back on his feet as soon as possible.
"You feel any better, Leo?" I asked softly, he slightly shook his head against his hand without opening his eyes to look at me.
I knew he was hurting, in attempt to understand his pain I connected my energy with his and I instantly felt an intense burning sensation in my side, it felt like a bear had gotten hold of my side and dug it's claws into me, the heat from the heat pad was barely sensible. My breath caught in my throat as I exhaled, my side throbbed along with the burning each time I took a breath. Now it felt like having a broken rib on lit fire, then have some one tapping it with a hammer every time I needed air. The world around me blurred out and I wanted curl up in a ball and never move again. I felt a wave of nausea come over me from the pain and as fast as I could I drew my energy away from Leo with a rough shaking of my head to rid the feeling of pain and throwing up. I looked up from the floor back at Leo, realizing I was clutching the edges of the sofa hard and even had a few drops of sweat on my forehead. I wiped them off, is this really what Leo was feeling? Jesus I don't know how he hasn't passed out, I would've after too long experiencing pain to that extent. It took a while for my nerves to settle after that and my hands to stop shaking.
With a final shake of my body to rid the feeling completely, reality came back to me as my senses tuned back in. I watched Leo breathe, he was taking very small shallow breaths and he held his breath for a few seconds each time as if he were trying to avoid having to breathe all together. Every time he inhaled his face twisted and he tensed.
"Do you need anything?" I asked only getting another small shake of his head in response. "Why don't you lay down? It'll probably be a lot easier on that muscle." I suggested, twiddling my thumbs together in boredom.
"I don't... want... to move." Leo stated faintly between breaths still with his eyes closed. I nodded in understanding not saying anymore, I didn't want to bother Leo I decided it was better he got some rest.
I sat on the couch by Leo for a good majority of an hour before he did actually pass out and was now fast asleep. I got up and took the few steps over to Leo, seeing a good time to swap the heat for ice, I gently lifted his hand away to take the heat off his side. I then retrieved the ice pack and placed it cautiously on his side, even though I was doing it as softly as possible, Leo still grunted in his sleep as I lay it against his side. I whispered an apology knowing in his unconscious state he did not hear it, I set his hand back over the ice pack and gave it a soft pat. Then I made my way over to Karai and April by the fire and joined in on their conversation. Later we all made dinner and the night ended quietly with out incident, except Don and Raph shifted Leo over to the couch, since Don gave Leo an anesthetic while he was out, Leonardo the light sleeper, didn't wake up surprisingly enough.
This Christmas wasn't exactly the best, but it was something. Now I just had to get master Splinter talk to me, I knew he blamed this on himself and at this point it seemed up to me to get him to see otherwise. I personally thought, it was time for a family meeting, we all had some things to sort out with each other and events that had happened, we'd all pushed it aside and the dam had leaks in it.
I barely slept that night, I couldn't stop wondering where my family was, when we could go back to my dimension. I pondered endless scenarios on what we would do to save them and my home. What would I do after we saved my dimension? What would I do if we lost? I wanted to be back in my woods, my house, at my farm with my family my pets. I was just beginning a new era of my own life, I was growing up and had to deal with the stress of that and face the fear of actually growing up and going out on my own. Then my world crashed down around me, leaving me with a whole new challenge, growing up was hard enough. Now I had a world to save and my dimension's very survival depended on me going back and defeating the Kraang when the time was right.
By the time I started to fall asleep I thought about Dovie, I hadn't had a lot of time to mourn over her passing, the dandelions sweeping over her was all that played in my head.
I don't recall much but I think I fell asleep with tears staining my cheeks that night because when I woke up the next morning, with Raph the only one up as early as four, he hugged me for a long time and we went on a hike out in the snow. He kept telling me everything would be okay in the end, this was a Raph I hadn't seen before, so I knew he too must have been pondering the thought of bringing me back home and he saw I was scared about it all.
Raph was becoming my rock like he already was to everyone else, like John was for me and my brothers before the invasion. For me and like everyone else, he would let his tough side go in order to console one of us if we needed it, he would deny it, that's why when he was willing to talk you would not question him. That's why I let Raphael be my rock, he was strong enough to take what you said, yet he had the moss covered side that took every drop of worry you had.
Before long it was New Years, nothing much happened in between Christmas and then, the air concealed in the farmhouse was thick and no one spoke much, the mood was rather glum. Kirby, Casey and April went home soon after and I remained with Splinter, Karai, my brothers and the turtles. I had no idea how the week were to turn out, but I was stuck with it, no matter how it went.
A/N Sorry to have a sad moment but this chapter had some happy parts too. I'm trying to speed things up a bit because it's been moving kind of slow, so my chapters might get a little longer as I go, let me know if they get over overwhelmingly long. XD
Peace!