My lovely readers, thank you so, so much for 150 favorites! You are the best! *hugs you all*
Moth165 asked if Mr. Dearing and Splinter are going to meet soon. I can't see that happening yet, sorry. He has just met the Turtles and still needs to get used to it, so meeting another mutant may be a little bit too much for him right now. As for Splinter being remotely OOC when he said, "when it is time", it actually implicated that Splinter meant that Leo is going to wake up when he has healed, thus when it is time for him to wake up. ;)
Ollie989 asked if Karai is ever going to meet Madelyn. Well, we don't know what's going to happen to Karai in the show yet, and I try to keep this story as canon as possible, so I have to wait for what Nick has planned for Karai before I can decide that. ;)
Panda told me that it didn't make any sense that the Purple Dragons would have poisoned knives. Well, I never said the kidnappers were Purple Dragons in the first place, because they weren't. Just because the Purple Dragons are the only street gang in the show doesn't mean there can't be other street gangs or bad guys, right? As for the poisoned knives, let me answer this with another question: Why wouldn't some random guy have a poisoned knife? Maybe he's interested in poisons, and maybe he knows that, when it comes to street gangs, no one would think of poisons right away. So it would make perfect sense, because no one would expect that in the first place.
Chapter 51: Feverish Dreams
Fire, fire everywhere! Leo squirmed and struggled, but the flames were still licking at his skin, making it hurt and burn. He tried to gasp for air, breathed in desperately, again and again, but it didn't really help. The heat seemed to have eaten up all the oxygen in the air.
And then he saw her again, surrounded by flames, her eyes looking down on him.
"Karai!" he addressed her once more, fighting against the flames, shouting her name, although all that seemed to be able to leave his mouth was a whisper.
"He's your father," he croaked, his throat being too dry to talk properly. "Splinter is your true father. You have to believe me! Karai!"
But she just stared down at him, her eyes cold as ice, and he shivered, all the heat suddenly disappeared and was replaced by pure coldness, flames turning into ice and snow.
His whole body felt like it was frozen. But he tried to shake it off. She had to hear what he had to say, she had to believe!
"K-Karai," he said with chattering teeth. "Please!"
But there was no sign of understanding in her eyes, she just continued staring down on him.
"P-please!" he tried again. "It…it's the truth!"
Still no sign she understood, and when he opened his mouth again, when he wanted to tell her the truth once more, she disappeared – and everything around him fell into darkness.
Raph was watching his brother closely, how he winced and groaned, shaken by a terrible fever – he had been watching him for the past two days, and he would have done it non-stop if Splinter hadn't dragged him out of Leo's room and forced him to get some rest. But after three hours of sleep Raph had been back at Leo's side. He even refused to leave the room when it was someone else's turn to watch over Leo. Donnie managed to shove him out of the room, though, insisting that he needed peace and quiet to look over Leo and someone looking over his shoulder with bloodshot eyes and the angriest look on his face one could think of would only distract him.
So this made Raph stay out of Leo's room when it was Donnie's shift. But he usually stayed in the corridor, cowering on the floor with his back against the wall, and waited until Donnie's shift was over again. He only left for the kitchen when his stomach was growling so loud he couldn't ignore the fact that he was hungry any longer.
When it was Mikey's shift, Raph stayed inside Leo's room and they both watched over him.
On Splinter's turn Raph was either dragged out of the room and forced to rest in his own room, or Splinter allowed him to stay, but he had to lie down in a sleeping bag and at least pretend that he was trying to get some rest.
At the moment, Raph was alone with Leo again, wiping off the sweat from his brother's face with a damp cloth.
And Raph couldn't help, but wonder what his brother was seeing in his dreams. He was moving his lips as if he was talking, but no words were escaping his mouth, and unfortunately, Raph had never figured out how to read lips.
He let out a loud breath. He had to do something. Maybe talking to him would help. And Raph winced a little when he realized there was something he should have told his brother long ago. So maybe he should tell him now.
"I know that may not be the right time to tell you this, but I've kicked that down the road for way too long now," he began. "So I guess this is as good a time as anytime." He took another deep breath. "Well, it's like this: I think I've done something I shouldn't have done. I…uhm…sorta snuck into your room after the truth was out about you and Madelyn being pen pals. I thought she could lead you into a trap, that maybe she was fake or the Foot used her to get to you. You've always been too credulous, you know that. And I'm pretty sure, one day, you'll cause us a lot of trouble with your 'always believe in the good in people'-attitude. But anyway, I tried to find some proof that she was fake, and then I found her letters in the drawer of your bedside table, and I read them all. There was no proof for my theory there, so I put them back and acted like nothing had happened. I guess I did that because I knew it had been wrong and that I shouldn't have invaded your personal space like this. When I blabbed what I had done to April and Mikey, they told me that I had been wrong, but they left it to me to tell you about it myself. And that's what I did. Pretty late, I know, but still. I guess I was embarrassed by this whole incident, that's why I couldn't tell you sooner. And I…I'm sorry, okay? I'll take over your cleaning duty for a week to make up for it, okay?" He forced himself to smile at his brother who couldn't see neither hear him, but maybe he could feel it somehow.
"So we're good now, right?" Raph asked after a few moments in which he had tried to keep the weak attempt of a smile on his face and had finally given up. "Just…just wake up first, okay? Please?"
Raph watched his brother even more closely now as if he thought he would miraculously open his eyes immediately after his confession, but Leo didn't move at all.
Raph sighed again as he picked up the damp cloth and washed his brother's face again.
There was a silent knock on April's window at the evening of this day, and moments later the teenage girl opened the window for Donatello.
"Hi, Donnie!" she greeted him, but then frowned suddenly. "You're sure this is okay? Don't they need you at home? Doesn't Leo need you?"
Donnie shook his head as he climbed inside. "There isn't really something I can do. Leo's fighting his way back to consciousness. I checked on him before I left. And when something happens, Master Splinter knows what to do. Besides," – he sighed – "I really needed to get out of there for a while."
April looked at him compassionately. "That bad?"
Donnie sighed again. "Raph's angrier than usual when he is forced to leave Leo's room, and that really means something. Master Splinter barely speaks, and Mikey sits forlornly on the couch and doesn't know how to deal with the situation. I lock myself away in the lab most of the time, but it doesn't really help. I can't concentrate on anything anyway, and I still can feel all their worries and brooding somehow. Plus, I'm brooding and worried myself. So I'm thankful that you asked me for help. It would be good to get my thoughts elsewhere."
"Okay." April nodded. "I hope you're in the mood for history. I need to write an essay on the Cro-Magnons and their influence on the Neanderthals. The essay is due tomorrow and due to the recent events, I didn't have time to work on it."
"I see." Donnie rubbed his hands as he went over to April's desk. "Let's get started."
April followed with a smile.
They had just worked on the essay for half an hour when the doorbell rang. April didn't really pay attention. She was sure her father would get it, and he did. Only when a voice that sounded rather familiar reached her ears, she turned her head to the door. And it was the same moment when Madelyn came running into her room.
"Aaaaaapril!" the little girl called out, but it somehow missed the usual cheerful rang.
"Madelyn!" April replied and got up to hug Madelyn for a welcome.
"Look who's…," she started, but then realized that Donnie was gone. "…here?"
She frowned. But it only seemed natural that Donnie would take off as soon as someone approached April's room if Donnie wasn't one-hundred percent sure the visitor was a friend. And he didn't know Madelyn's footsteps, so hiding had been the only right thing to do, the only right ninja thing to do. He wasn't far, April was sure about that one, probably on the rooftop or the fire escape.
Moments later, Mr. Dearing entered April's room as well.
"Sorry to drop in on you, April," he said. "We were in the neighborhood and Madelyn insisted, we came here. She really wants to speak to Dr. Donnie about Mr. Turtle. And I guess you have his number."
"That's not necessary, I'm right here," a voice said and when April turned around, she found Donnie crouching outside on the fire escape and popping his head inside through the open window. He waved at Mr. Dearing cautiously. "Hello, Mr. Dearing."
Well, it was one thing knowing about the Turtles, facing them was still a bit unusual for Mr. Dearing, so all he did, was waving stiffly back at Donnie.
At that moment, Kirby joined them and looked from Mr. Dearing to Donnie and then back to Mr. Dearing. April had told him what had happened and that Mr. Dearing knew about the Turtles now. He had to suppress a smile when he saw Mr. Dearing's reaction to the mutant turtle looking at them. And he could imagine how he felt. It must be sort of overwhelming if you didn't see them on a regular basis.
So Kirby placed a hand on Mr. Dearing's shoulder. "Beer, Joseph?" he asked.
Mr. Dearing turned to look at him.
"Definitely!" he called out and allowed Kirby to lead him out of April's room.
When they were gone, Donnie finally climbed inside, not sure what he should think of Mr. Dearing's reaction. But then Madelyn ran over to him.
"How's Mr. Turtle?" she asked.
"Better," Donnie said, although there hadn't been a real improvement in Leo's condition when he had left, and no one had called him so far, so he was pretty sure that this still was the case. But he wouldn't tell Madelyn that. That was a white lie, anyway.
"I want to see him!" Madelyn said, and the look on her face changed into something Donnie couldn't quite name, but it reminded him a bit of April.
"Well, he's still sleeping, so I'm not sure…," he started, but was interrupted by Madelyn.
"I want to see him!" she repeated with more force now, and Donnie finally could name what the look on her face was – stubbornness. No wonder it had reminded him of April.
"But…," he started again, but didn't know how to continue, so he helplessly looked at April.
The redhead went over to them and placed a hand on Madelyn's shoulder.
"Madelyn, Mr. Turtle is still asleep, and he really needs his sleep to get well soon," she said. "So you can't visit him right now. But why don't you draw a Get Well Soon-picture for him?"
Madelyn nodded.
"Okay," April said. "I'll get you paper and pencils." And with that she left the room.
Madelyn turned to Donnie again, and Donnie gave her an insecure smile.
"Dr. Donnie, can I give Mr. Turtle the picture when he is awake?" Madelyn asked.
"Sure!" he replied. "But it needs to be the most awesome pic you've ever drawn! Really detailed and colorful!"
Madelyn just nodded, and then April came back.
"April!" Madelyn called out. "Dr. Donnie said I can give Mr. Turtle the picture myself when he's awake!"
"Really?" April said, and she managed to prevent her eyes to grow big in shock, she really had to give herself credit for that. "That's…awesome."
"I know!" Madelyn was jumping up and down in joy, and then took paper and pencils from April. "It just needs to be the best pic ever, very detailed and colorful!"
"I see," April said. "You can sit on my bed if you want to. Dr. Donnie and I have work to do."
Madelyn just nodded and skipped over to the bed. She sat down and immediately started drawing.
April watched her for a moment, then looked at Donnie and pointed at her desk with her head. Donnie nodded, and moments later they were seated at April's desk again.
But before they could continue their work, April addressed him in a low voice, so that Madelyn couldn't hear them.
"Do you have the slightest idea what you have done?" she asked without looking up from her books to not make Madelyn suspicious.
"Come one, she's a kid," Donnie whispered back. "She'll forget about it. I always did that to my brothers when we were kids. They wanted to do something I didn't like, so I gave them something to do that really needed to be done before we could get to what they wanted to do, and when they were done, they had forgotten about it or didn't want to do it any longer. Well, Mikey usually had forgotten and Raph and Leo didn't want to do it any longer. So no worries!"
"Much worries!" April replied. "We're talking about Madelyn here! And she would never forget anything when it comes to her Mr. Turtle!"
"There's a first time for everything," Donnie said.
"Yes, Donnie," April retorted. "Even for you being wrong."
"Well, we'll see about that."
"Oh yes, Donnie. We sooooooooo will!"
