I do not own Dr. Elder, nor any characters from the TMNT universe. Dr. Elders belongs to Cheshire Dreaming... pity her.

Disclaimer; Meditation can be dangerous... in general I really don't recommend experimenting with it.

Don't forget to check out CheshireDreaming's account at; CheshireDreaming dot deviantart dot com -She's the co-author and the person who really deserves the credit for this story ever getting started.

Chapter Thirty-six; Tammy

Master Splinter has raised four boys into their teenage years and instructed them in the ways of the mystical art of ninjitsu. He has somehow managed to be a single father, great teacher and wise confident to the most unusual family history will likely never see and throughout all this he remains calm and caring. He is possibly one of the most impressive individuals I have ever had the honor to meet.

Even he can't teach me how to use chopsticks.

By the time the little clan had admitted defeat and given me a fork I was starving and not a little embarrassed.

It has taken some convincing, some begging and a majority vote, but we'd finally talked Mikey into ordering Chinese food rather than pizza. Once the food arrived Master Splinter emerged from his quarters. Personally; I don't think he likes pizza. This makes me wonder if he has some kind of stash in his room. There's a thought, what would Master Splinter hoard away from his sons?

As what had started as a veritable mountain of food dwindled into a few scraps Quinn and Raph became increasingly competitive. (I noticed Quinn can use chopsticks… is there anything this girl can't do?) The climax of their silent aggression came when both sets of chopsticks reached for the last dumpling. Clearly they had noticed each other's interest in this particular food and had been competing for them throughout the entire meal.

… some people are just weird.

Soon their chopsticks were dueling, Quinn trying to get at the dumpling and Raph blocking her attack. A hand snaked out and tried to grab the dumpling but Raph once again blocked Quinn's attempts by seizing her wrist. After struggling to reach the dumpling with outstretched fingers Quinn changed tactics and twisted her hand around so that her claws just indented the skin on Raph's hand. It was a stalemate; Raph's bulk, strength and ninjitsu training against Quinn's sheer determination and claws.

The stalemate ended when an outside force took the dumpling.

"What?!" "Hey!" Leo, Don, and I had to laugh while Mikey chewed the stolen prize.

When the last of the take-out had been eaten I stood up and started collecting the containers while Leo grabbed the rest of the trash. Everything was gone. Every last crumb, even as we started cleaning up Thatcher came out of the kitchen with a look that said he'd polished off his own dinner too. Looking in what used to be a full carton of chow mien I found myself thinking out loud. "At my house we always had tons of leftovers, I'm going to have to find a way to ask Mom how she did it."

"And that would be my queue." Donnie announced with a grin. He pulled out what looked like a couple of cell phones and tossed one to Quinn before handing the other one to me. "With Quinn's help I was able to finish the modifications in record time. Go ahead, give it a try."

I glanced from Donnie and Quinn back to the phone. "Um… the only numbers I know are all long distance."

"Even better. Go ahead." The poor guy looked like he was ready to start hopping from foot to foot. Nothing like taking an enthusiastic approach to your work.

I flipped the phone open and struggled to figure out how the thing worked; technology is not my strong suit. Finally I dialed ten very familiar numbers and held the phone up to my ear. After a moment of listening to the line connect and ring I heard possibly my favorite voice ask; "Hello?"

"Dad!"

"Tammy! How are you? Is everything alright?"

"Yes Dad, everything's fine." I assured him. For the most part, that was the truth… just leave out the bit about my boss being a psycho.

"That's great! You taking care of the gun?" He asked. There was humor in his voice, he knew how much I'd admired that thing and had no doubt I would.

Leo was taking Raph's trash so I was able to glare at both turtles at once. "Yeah Dad, just finished cleaning it actually." Okay, now that was a lie.

After that was the longest telephone conversation I'd ever had with my father, I think it lasted eight minutes. It was a good thing Mom was out shopping or this call would have lasted over an hour easy While I was catching up with Dad the guys finished cleaning the trash up. Another dumpling turned up and Quinn ran off with it followed in hot pursuit by Raph. Leo followed the both of them to make sure this didn't turn violent. Master Splinter seemed content to sit at the head of the table with a fresh cup of tea. I half wondered if he was eaves dropping.

Finally Dad assured me that he'd tell Mom I'd called. "Love you, miss you." He said, just as he always did.

"Love you too, Dad, miss you."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I almost cried when the line went dead. No sooner had I felt that familiar knot in my throat than I lost my ability to breath as the air was crushed out of my lungs from behind. "Aw… you didn't tell Daddy about your new friends." Mikey pretended to pout despite the fact that we all knew why I couldn't. He released me from the hug and I was too busy gasping for air to respond.

Donnie took the phone from my hand and pressed a rapid series of buttons before returning it. "Looks like everything is functional, did you have any problems?" He asked.

"…" I coughed and cleared my throat before trying again. "No. The sound quality was great, the connection was good, that thing's better than a land line." I assured him.

"Great, you know how to text message right?" Before I could answer 'no' Donnie plowed onwards, "Just use the same concept to put in any of our names; Leo, Raph, Mike, you get the idea, and you'll hook up to our own shell cells. Other than that, plug it in for an hour once a day and bring it back once a year for its annual shots and checkup."

I had to laugh at his joke, "That's my line!"

He grinned, something about that look reminded me of Mikey and I found out why as soon as he said, "You plug your animals in once a day? That's unusual." His humor was rewarded with an attempted swing at the head, which he easily dodged.

Leo returned to the table looking entertained. He had hardly sat down again than Master Splinter set his cup down and glanced around at those of us around the table. "I believe that after the events of today some relaxation may be in order before we retire." I blinked, what did he call sitting around the table eating? Strenuous?

"I recommend we conclude this day's events with a period of meditation." He said, something about the tone of his voice told me this wasn't just a recommendation. I didn't like the idea but couldn't find a major reason to object.

Mikey and Donnie led the way to the dojo while Leo went to track down the missing mutants. In the dojo Mikey and Don set up several candles. By the time Master Splinter came in with a lit stick of incense and started lighting the candles Mikey had made me sit down on the floor and was trying to talk me into sitting in an extremely uncomfortable position with both feet resting on the thighs. I didn't bother telling him I'd done some research on the subject and had no intention of trying the mystic (and creepy) meditation that went with that position. Besides being creepy, it was dangerous.

Finally the candles were lit and Leo brought Raph and Quinn into the room. (Quinn sat next to Donnie, I'm beginning to see a potential pattern here.)

Once the main lights were out and the room fell into a comforting dim glow Master Splinter took the space left by the half circle the rest of us were sitting in.

We all sat comfortably with legs crossed and spines straight. Master Splinter started instructing us quietly in controlling our breathing and I did as instructed. When his instructions began to encourage us to clear our minds I slowly tuned his voice out. Empty minds were just asking for trouble and I much preferred a different sort of meditation.

It didn't take a moment's thought to call the card catalogue to mind. The thing had changed over the years, from a poorly stained pine box like the one from my elementary school to a beautiful redwood with smooth finish. I pulled one of the drawers open and looked inside. A moment's consideration and I selected a bright, new card. Across the top in bold font was the word 'Yumi'.

My imaginings were interrupted at a sudden weight in my lap. Glancing down revealed Thatcher had claimed my lap for his nap. I smiled and moved my hands so he could better settle himself. One of his wings pressed lightly against my stomach once he'd relaxed. I set my hands to work rubbing lightly at his scales.

Looking around revealed everyone else was in La-La Land. Quinn and Leo were smiling at what I suppose must have been a very pleasant nothing. Donnie's hands twitched slightly, either from boredom or visualizing something. Raph had a stern look on his face, obviously not having an easy time of this. Mikey was surprisingly calm and relaxed, but his lap was occupied by a certain ginger cat that I didn't see too often, cats had that effect on people. Master Splinter was still murmuring calming words but I'm not sure he was aware of it anymore. He seemed to have left the premises –so to speak.

Closing my eyes again, I continued to pet Thatcher while I found the card again.

Yumi, subtitle; visualization training.

I revived the new memories from training with the bow. The feel, the sound, all of it. After running through what had happened the last time I'd shot I changed tactics, trying to see myself not only shooting, but hitting the mark, dead on.