A/N. Man, I hope this didn't feel late. I started a new story in the 'Animaniacs' fanfiction section, and I've been gearing up to publish that one since January. I found that it was taking up quite a bit of my time. However, that won't stop me from updating any of my stories, whatsoever! You can count on that. Now, this next chapter involves more travel (boy, they need a rest from traveling), and introduces some new characters, including the woman who worked at the pet store where the turtles were born, and is also Donnie's last hope. But will she be willing to lend her aid? Well, we're about to find out. Also, I wanted to point out that the title of this chapter was inspired by something Splinter said about Donnie at the end of the Season Five episode 'Lone Rat And Cubs', which is one of my favorite episodes of all time. When my sister and I watch it, we basically squeal with happiness the whole time. I feel like this line will definitely fit with the chapter. Now, how about we get to the chapter, shall we? And once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always… Enjoy! Chapter Eleven.
Hi everyone!
A Peaceful Heart.
"How's Donnie?" I asked.
"That's partially what I was calling about. Tomorrow it will have been three days. Should we just let him-""Are you nuts?!" I asked, shocked by such a question. "I'm literally states away, what if one of you gets hurt when he attacks you again?! I won't be there to help you!"
"But April will," Casey argued. "She's done it before, she's certain she can do it again.""That was just a stroke of luck! It could take a huge toll on April!" I answered, still not convinced this was a good idea.
"Look, I know Donnie said he would hold out as long as he could, but it's really straining him, I can tell. I'm pretty sure it'll get easier for him and April once we find-.""Please don't use her first name so casually again, it's rude and kinda creepy." I said quickly, before he could finish. "Fine. The donations from her will help. Tell Donnie I'll talk to him later, okay? I'll call once I get to Indiana, and then when I'm on my way back from Michigan."
"Okay. Stay safe, Karai. Talk to you later.""Goodbye." I said, listening to the phone on the other end hang up, before I leaned back in my seat to clear my head. I took a deep breath, carefully balancing my emotions. I could do this. This would help Donnie. But still, it didn't make me any less nervous about what I was about to do in a few hours. Trying to soothe my nerves, I calmly turned around, and got back out onto the highway. I still had a few more hours to go…
(Yesterday...)
Sure enough, Donnie was not happy with the plan.
It took almost an hour of debating, persuading, and convincing for him to finally side with us, and even as April typed out the information out for him on the keyboard, he was quietly grumbling to himself about us being reckless with this entire idea. Good thing we had been entirely prepared for this reaction, otherwise I don't know how we would have dealt with it.
"How long does it normally take to hack something?" Casey asked from behind me.
"Normally for me, not long," Donnie said, not looking away from the screen. "I am hoping for some sort of records, but we could just run my DNA through the system and see if we find any matches if that doesn't give us information. I'm not sure if we'll find anything even if we do that, but who knows? We'll figure something out if we don't."
Searching for the location of the pet store was harder than we had anticipated, and it took nearly an hour before we spotted it. Clearly, it had been closed for a while from the look of the pictures. Grime, dust and even mold, were everywhere. There were holes in the wall, and parts of the floorboards looked rotten. It wouldn't have surprised me if it had closed because it had so many health code violations.
The more we looked at pictures, the paler Donnie looked. "Man, this place was a dump." April muttered, echoing my thoughts. I couldn't imagine my brothers being born in such a disgusting place. No wonder they were so sickly at birth. And it made sense that Father wouldn't have understood that this was a nasty place until later, being new to the country.
Nothing. Not a single record even close to what we were looking for.
When we ran his DNA however, we almost found what we were looking for. Matches came up for the Hamato family, which included me, much to my surprise, but we were focusing on the other side. A lot of results came up, and we scrolled through them, taking in every name, and seeing if there were any options that matched.
"Donnie, these are your ancestors." April said. "Isn't this cool?!" He didn't respond. He was probably in shock. Plus, he probably felt weird about hacking into people's information like this. I felt a similar feeling nagging at the back of my head, but we had to find the woman we were looking for.
To at least start somewhere, we were looking for features similar to Leo, Raph, and Mikey. Clearly, Donnie had inherited more of Splinter's genes than whoever is his mother, so we were guessing they came from her side of the family, and it would help us in our search. For a while, we were coming to dead ends. Then, it started narrowing down the further we went. The answer was coming closer.
April leaned forward to read the last name. "Baltimore." she said. "She may have married since Donnie was born, but this is definitely her maiden name at least."
We were nearly at the end of the page. At the bottom, the matches were lining up with four people. Four sisters, actually. And one of them was the woman we were looking for.
"Alright, it could be any one of them. Let's take a look and see which one it might be." Casey said. We all leaned even closer. I took one last look at Donnie, who's eyes were impossibly wide, before looking back at the pictures. They were official, drivers' licence photos, probably. All four of them seemed to be in their early forties, except for the first one, who seemed to be about fifty and, while they didn't look alike, they all had features that all four of the boys inherited. Yes, now we were even seeing some resemblances to Donnie, though not in all of them, which would help narrow the field somewhat.
The oldest sister had that wide, confident grin that Leo would get when he won in a sparring match, and a hazel-ish mix of blue and green eyes that had the same placement apart from each other as Donnie's. Her hair had been pulled away from her face into a smooth, tight bun on the back of her head, and it was so dark that I couldn't tell if it was brown or black. The name underneath the photo said 'Lilah Baltimore'. She clearly didn't marry.
The second looked almost entirely different from her sister. Her face was framed by long waves of honey-colored hair, and her eyes were blue, a medium between Leo and Mikey's hues. She had a smaller, quieter smile like Donnie's, and if you looked closely, you could see tiny freckles, like Mikey. The name supplied under her picture was 'Tina Houston nee Baltimore'.
The third sister was giving a huge smile for the camera, and she instantly reminded me of Mikey, just because of how cheerful she looked. She had braided her long coppery red-brown hair down her back, and her eyes were shiny, but dark in color at the same time. There were freckles literally all over her face. It didn't look like she had any features Donnie could have inherited but, if I had to guess, she probably had a similar head shape. Underneath, the name read 'Hailey Lairdman nee Baltimore'.
The youngest sister was also smiling confidently, like the first, but with more of an arrogant look, like Raph's. Her spiky hair was a darker sandy blonde, and only went down to her shoulders. Like her immediately older sister, she also had dark eyes. She was the only one who had no traits that matched his, but that didn't mean she was out of the search. The final name under her picture said 'Alyssa East nee Baltimore.'
Casey was right. It could have been any one of them. We had no idea of knowing which one of these four sisters was Donnie's mother just by looking at pictures. "I'm getting nowhere just by looking. There must be some better way we can pinpoint which one we need to find." I said. "Otherwise we're stuck."
"I've got nothing." Donnie whispered. He was too captivated by the photos on the screen. I understood why. One of these women was his mother, the one who unknowingly gave her DNA, and helped in his creation. And the others were family, too. Flesh and blood that he never knew existed. He was in too deep to even think about the fact that one of them would soon be his savior.
Right now, she was just his mother.
"Do you need a minute?" I asked. He nodded. "I'll take him out." I said to the others. Slowly, I helped him out of the chair, and supported him as we went out into the hallway. I let him slide down to the floor, where he slumped exhaustedly against the wall. I quietly sat down with him, and his head rested on my shoulder.
"I'll be fine," he said. "It's just a lot, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. That was a lot of information in a short time." I answered. 'I can actually relate.' I thought to myself, remembering Leo's attempt to tell me the truth on the rooftop, and not believing him. Then, almost two weeks later, that rainy night asking questions in the throne room, standing in the dojo while looking at those photographs, and of course… hearing the confession from Shredder himself.
Those had all happened in one night. And then, spending a week imprisoned in that dungeon, feeling regret for what I had done. They had forgiven me then. I hadn't known. This time however…
No. Now was not the time to be pondering on such thoughts. I had to be there for Donnie. "I haven't had time to ask how you're feeling, are you okay?" I asked.
He closed his eyes and sat breathing quietly for a moment, before answering. "I really don't know. This whole plan has me on edge, so many things could go wrong,…" Three seconds passed before he sighed heavily, opened his eyes, and continued earnestly, "I'm honestly terrified of what will happen when we find this lady."
"You're worried she'll freak out if she finds out the truth?" I questioned.
"No, it's not that." he said, shaking his head. "I'm just weirded out by the whole thing in general. I just found out that I have a mother, of all things, and a human mother at that. She's the only person who can help me, which leaves all of us no choice but to have her come here. Just looking at those pictures only made it more real, and vivid, and frightening. I don't know how I'll be able to handle having her here. What will I do if she's here long enough for us to get to know her?"
Oh. That was it. Of course, why didn't I think of it? He's her son. He can't tell her that, but knowing him, he would want to make a connection, the kind of connection someone should have with their mother. But he's not used to the idea of even having one yet. And we don't know how long she'll be here, if it would even be long enough for us to really get to know her. He might be tempted to tell her the truth about why we singled her out. How on earth would she react? Would she be stunned? Horrified? I don't know if Donnie could handle that on top of everything else.
Still, there must be some way to get through to him. Some way to keep him calm enough for us to move forward. I racked my brain for ideas, when I had a realization. Didn't I just realize that I was biologically his sister, for real? How was I dealing with that?
"Well, if she doesn't react well, she's missing out." I said. "I mean, I just found out we were biologically brother and sister, and I think that's amazing."
"Half siblings, technically." Donnie corrected, his face going red. "To be honest, I kinda forgot about that. Sorry."
"It's fine." I said. "We haven't had much time to focus on that."
Silence. I took a minute to close my own eyes, thinking hard about what I was going to say. Then, slowly, I felt a pair of arms enclose around my shoulders. "I'm so happy that that's true. I couldn't ask for a better sister." he whispered.
I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around him either. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by a ferocious surge of emotion. It was true, we didn't have much time to focus on our findings. Donnie was my actual little brother, by blood. And so were Leo, Raph and Mikey. They had no idea. Father had no idea they were his biological sons. What on earth would we tell them? The others might be disappointed that I ended up related to them after all. But Donnie was happy about it. Maybe once they see that he is, they could change.
Family. Finally, I had a real family. Not the false front that Shredder projected, but genuine, kind, wonderful people, as my family.
I would make them all proud. I will do what I can to reunite us.
Donnie and I stayed like this for a while, glad for the other's presence. The need to protect him had been coursing through my veins for days, and showed no signs of going away. It would only grow when we saw the rest of our brothers again, once this madness was all over. Then, there could be peace.
Suddenly, the door next to us opened slowly, and I saw April quietly step out. "You two okay out here?" she asked.
"Yeah, we're fine." Donnie mumbled in a sleepy, but happy tone. "Do you need anything?"
She knelt down next to us. I saw Casey poke his head out the doorway to watch, fascinated. "Casey and I thought of something that could help," April explained, not noticing Casey in the doorway. "If one of these four was the last one to come into contact with you, you must have gotten some glimpse of her, you just don't remember it because you were basically the youngest you could be. Maybe if I tapped in, I could see that glimpse, and we can identify her."
Once she was done explaining, I took a moment to think. I was intrigued by this plan, but it definitely made me nervous. Something could go wrong at any time. I looked down at Donnie, wanting him to have the final say on whether we should attempt it. He nodded. "Okay. It's better than nothing." he said slowly.
She went to work at once. Donnie bowed his head forward slightly, and she placed her hands on his temples, closing her eyes and concentrating. For a moment, nothing. Then, underneath her eyelids, I saw her eyes start to twitch. She drew in sharp breaths, and gritted her teeth. Donnie began to do the same. I gasped, ready to pry them apart in case something went wrong, but it was over just as quickly as it began. Both of them fell back with a yelp, startled.
"What did you see?" I asked, helping Donnie sit up again. "What happened?"
At the same time, Casey was helping April regain her balance. When she was steady, she looked up and said, "I know which one it is. I saw her clear as day."
We raced back into the room. As Casey pulled up the pictures again, I looked at Donnie and asked, "Did you see her?" He shook his head. "No, only April did." There was a clear pallor on his face. His nerves must have been skyrocketing. The four pictures appeared on screen, and April wasted no time. She simply pointed, and said firmly, "This is her."
She was pointing to the second picture.
Tina Houston.
Even my heart skipped a beat looking at her. The photo was unchanged from minutes ago, she still had the light honey-colored hair, the same pleasant blue eyes, the same soft, lightly freckled smile. But the difference between looking when she was still anonymous, and looking when we knew she was the key to my brother's recovery, spoke volumes. We all had to put our trust and faith in her now.
(Present…)"Don't think I'm not scared. I really am."The words from the conversation I had partaken in a few hours ago over the phone was still fresh on my mind as I passed the fields. Tina Houston, as we learned from the Internet after we searched her name, lived on the very edge of Michigan, just twenty minutes away from the welcoming sign. The clock told me it was just after 3:00 p.m. I was five minutes away.
"I understand. We'll make this work, I promise. Nothing else will happen to you under my watch."My answer hadn't just been a promise. It had been a vow. I would uphold this vow with my life.
"Just… stay safe, okay?""I promise Donnie. I've been through enough trouble to let anything take me down now. I'll see you real soon. April and Casey will help you with anything you need until I get back.""Okay… I'll see you when you get back with her.""You too."That was one part that I couldn't stop repeating. When you get back with her. Well, to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure how far into the part I would get. I was just as scared as my brother was.
Finally, with my heart hammering, I pulled off onto a long driveway covered in gravel. The house was hidden behind a few trees, but once those were out of the way, I saw that it was about an average size, and looked very nice. It was made of some sort of dark wood, and was deep brown in color. I saw a large bay window on the front of the house, and there were plants all around the front door. And two small cars were in the driveway. At least they were home.
It was now or never.
Cautiously, I stepped out of the Party Wagon, and began quietly making my way to the front door. Dread was starting to rise inside of me and I began to realize just how crazy I might sound when asking Mrs. Houston to do what I requested of her. How on earth was I going to convince her I wasn't completely insane?! Had she seen what story Shredder put on the news and wouldn't believe me?
Somehow, I found myself knocking on the door. It wouldn't do to just stand there and weigh the possibilities. Inside, I heard footsteps, and braced myself for the following conversation. Then, the door opened.
A small, thin man was standing in the doorway. And by small, I meant small. He was about Raph's height (definitely shorter than me), and had chestnut colored hair, with just a slightly receding hairline. His eyes were small and a light slate gray. I wouldn't have been surprised if this man turned out to be a total geek.
"Umm… can I help you?" he asked in an uncertain, slightly nasally tone.
"Hi. Does a woman named Tina Houston live here?" I asked, as suddenly, something hit me. I hadn't even thought about the fact that this man might have been her...
"Uh, yes. I'm her husband." he answered.
Of course. Of course she was married. I couldn't believe I hadn't remembered that. Not only would I have to convince her to come with us, now there was a husband to get on our side as well. And what if they had children? Could we possibly bring them all, or would they have to be separated? My heart sank as I weighed these possibilities, but I had a job to do. This could not be avoided.
"I need to see her… if that's okay with you?" I asked.
The man pondered over my request for a moment, carefully studying my face. I had changed into some more normal looking clothes, but it registered in my mind that I had no idea if this man had seen my face before, on Shredder's news report. For a moment, I silently panicked, but at the exact same time, it seemed as if he decided that he trusted me. "Alright. You can come in." he said, stepping aside so I could enter. The house was neat and tidy, the very symbol of normalcy, which I was glad for after this last, hectic week.
"I'm sorry about the short notice." I said apologetically as the man closed the door behind us. "I know you weren't expecting company."
"That's perfectly fine," he said. "You didn't interrupt anything at all." Then, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled up the stairs, "Tina!"
What we heard were footsteps. Then, a small boy who couldn't have been more than eight appeared at the top of the stairs.
I felt my stomach drop. They do have children.
The boy had the same brown hair as his father, only curly instead of straight, and his father's eyes. He had a big smile and a gaze that twinkled with curiosity and vibrancy. "Mom's busy with the laundry." His face dropped into one of confusion. "You aren't bringing me a babysitter, are you? I thought we were going to go bowling later!"
"No, Steven, we're not going anywhere."
"Bowling was cancelled?!" The boy's hands flew to his face in an almost comical look of surprise.
"Wha-, no, Steven, we're still going bowling, just not right now. This young lady needs to speak to your mother." The man said with a small smile.
"Oh. Okay. Don't go back on that bowling promise…" he said, eyeing his father dead seriously.
"I won't…" the man said before turning to me. "He's been talking up bowling all week. I did promise him I would take him."
Steven was running down the stairs now, and skidded to a halt in front of us. "Hi. I'm Steven." he said, matter of factly, holding out his hand to shake.
I hesitated for a moment, before shaking. "Miwa." I said. Why not?
The man did a facepalm. "Dang it, how did I forget? I'm George. George Houston." he said, also shaking my hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I came across several states to speak to Tina. It's very urgent." I explained. They both blinked in surprise, before George nodded. "Alright, I'll go get her. Steven, why don't you show her the living room?"
"Sure thing!" Steven answered his father eagerly. George ascended the stairs, while Steven took my hand and led me to the living room. Once we were inside, he led me over to the sofa. "You can sit down here. Mom should be down quick." I sat down on the ivory sofa, which was firm, but made with soft material.
Suddenly, from a room up the stairs, there was a loud yelp, and then a hiss. We watched as a door opened, and an extremely fat cat came wobbling down the stairs as fast as it could go. Following it to the top of the stairs, watching it descend, was a girl who looked to be about twelve who, like Steven, had the same grey eyes and brown hair, which was long and wavy. 'A daughter,' I thought. 'She has a daughter, too.' Great. Just one more person we're dragging into this.
"Act like a normal cat for once, will you?!" she called to the retreating feline. "And stay out of my closet!" The cat didn't pay much attention to her once it got to the bottom of the stairs. It simply flopped over once it was on level ground, proving to be a wonderful tripping hazard for the few seconds it rested before Steven ran over to scoop it up.
"Hera!" he said gleefully, hoisting the huge cat into his arms. She began to hiss and swipe her claws at him, but her stubby legs weren't even long enough to even touch his face. "She's our cat! She's five, but she looks older because she's so big. And she's so big because she gets into everything and eats it, but we've tried to get her to stop-"
"Wait, who is that?!" the girl asked in surprise, finally taking notice of me. Steven looked over at me, back at his sister, and promptly dropped Hera (who yowled angrily) and shouted "Oh! I forgot! She's here to speak to Mom!"
"My name is Miwa." I said quietly behind Steven, trying to ignore Hera, who had grumpily wobbled over and sat down on my shoe. Go figure. The girl stared at me for a moment with a scrutinizing gaze, before she dropped back into a scowl. "Right. Hi, my name is Elle." she said, not sounding very interested. Uh oh. She might be a challenge.
Elle came downstairs and sat in a chair opposite the sofa, and Steven quickly ran to sit next to her, despite her attempt to shove him further to the side. Two young children. I couldn't separate them from their mother, I couldn't even bear the thought. It was quite possible that they would have to come with us. Besides, it would be safer. With the whole world already out to get us, if their mother went missing and they stayed behind, they might be questioned by the police, and then we would be in a whole other world of trouble.
"Hello."
A new voice, soft and careful, now spoke. I instantly looked away from the children, and up at the top of the stairway. Seeing who she was back in New York was already surreal, but seeing her standing, actually standing just a short distance above me…I had no words. But this was definitely her. The same woman I had seen in the picture.
Tina Houston.
She didn't look much different from the photo. She was absolutely tiny, only about an inch shorter than Mikey. Her hair was a little bit longer, and she looked maybe only a year or two older. It was the same face. Same eyes. Only now instead of smiling, she looked a little bit nervous. "My husband told me you came to see me?" She said, asking it more than proclaiming it. It was strange. The way she talked, the way she looked at me, even the way she slightly tilted her head, it was all so familiar somehow.
I decided it wasn't worth waiting any longer. "Yes. I've driven a long way to come see you. I need help." I explained. Tina slowly came down the stairs and crossed over to me, looking very concerned, her eyes shifting between her husband and me. George quickly followed, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so.
"What kind of help? Are you in trouble?" She asked. I shrugged. "Of a sort. I came from New York, and-"
"What?! That's a pretty long drive!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. "Probably about twelve, thirteen hours. You must be exhausted. Why in the world would you come so far to see me? I don't even know who you are."
"Well, it's hard to explain," I said, ignoring the sudden pounding of my heart as I had come to the moment I was dreading. 'Come on Karai, spit it out already.' I thought to myself. "Have any of you seen the news about what has been going on in New York City recently?" I then questioned, believing it to be a good place to start.
Tina and George looked at each other for a moment, thinking. Elle and Steven were no longer shoving each other for space, and were eagerly listening for their parents responses.
"Well, lots of things have been going on in New York recently, but if you're talking about that mutant snake incident, then yes, we definitely have heard about it," said George.
"Hasn't the whole world?" Steven piped up from where he was sitting. "Everyone at school is talki-oof!" Was all he could get out next before he was abruptly cut off by his sister elbowing him. I could have sworn I saw her mutter something under her breath. She was getting anxious; I could tell by her hunched posture, and the pallor of her face. I doubted any of them had any idea of what words were about to come out of my mouth soon, but I let them finish.
"Yeah, it seems like everyone is on alert," George continued. "My co-workers and I have been getting all sorts of lectures at work on what to do if we see any mutants. Tina too. You'd think her boss would expect her to already know how to handle herself around mutants, I mean, she's been a zookeeper for the last thirteen years!"
That got my attention. "Really?" I asked. "You work as a zookeeper?"
She blushed. "I've always been told I've been good with animals. And I love them too; their behaviors, how they're so different and yet the same as us. I got a bachelor's degree in Zoology when I graduated college."
I could only imagine how that would go down when I got back with Donnie. It was almost as if I could hear him grumpily saying, "How ironic! She been studying animals for years, and here I am, belonging in a zoo as well." But I pushed that thought aside. Now that I know her profession, her knowledge might actually turn out to be helpful. Besides, with the most recent development in discovering what Donnie can actually do, I doubted he would be able to speak when I returned, and rectifying that was my whole reason for coming here.
"Yes, that was actually why I came. You are the only one who can help me, Tina, and what I'm about to tell you might sound absolutely insane, but it's the truth, okay?" I said.
The concern on Tina and George's faces grew even more, before Tina nodded. "Alright. What do you need me to do to help?"
I took a deep breath, before answering without hesitation. "That mutant snake… he's my little brother."
Immediately as the words left my mouth, Elle leapt to her feet. "I KNEW IT!" she roared. "I recognized you from the news report! You're Karai Oroku, that missing girl that was helping it! She's gonna kill us!" The anxious expression on her face had been replaced by fury. She edged towards her parents, looking to pull them away. "What are you two doing?! She's probably got that thing circling the house right now! Let's try and escape while we still can!"
I was shocked by the sudden outburst from the girl. She couldn't have been more than twelve. Mutant hatred at that age? I couldn't even imagine such a thing. Worried that I would get a similar response from her parents, I reached for the closest thing I could use in replacement for my tanto (I had left it in the car). But to my surprise, Tina held up her hand, not even listening to her daughter. Frightened as she looked, she asked me a question. "What do you mean?" I could imagine her weighing the possible outcomes in her head. Trying to see if this was some sort of trick.
"He's my little brother, Donatello. Well, my little half-brother, actually, but he's my brother all the same. And Oroku Saki is a liar. He's not my father. He's the one who mutated my brother." I explained.
Not a single one of them moved. They were hanging onto my words, waiting to see what I would do next.
"I'm a member of the Hamato Clan. My father and the man who raised me fought for the love of my mother, and she chose my father, Yoshi. The other man was Oroku Saki, who murdered my mother and took me away from my father. He thought I was dead. All of this happened before my first birthday, so I was too young to understand any of it. Saki raised me to think that Yoshi, my real father, had killed my mother instead." I swallowed, choking back angry tears. Despite how long this whole endeavor had seemed, in reality, I was still getting over the entire ordeal. It was easy to ignore sometimes, what with all of the chaos going on at the moment, but the pain would come back and hit me like a bullet train at the times I least expected it to.
"But Saki won't stop there. He wants to kill my real father and all of my half brothers, my father's sons. The only reason he would keep me alive is because he still holds a flame for my mother. He has deluded himself to the point that he believes his own lies, all of them. He's a sick, twisted man.
"I only just found out that I'm related to the Hamatos in the first place. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to protect them, they're my only family. I went after Saki one night," I lowered my head as the first half of the story started to come to a close. "I wanted vengeance. I wanted vengeance to be mine for everything he had done to me and my family. But I only caused more pain.
"I caused my younger brother's double mutation."
Tina moved a tiny bit closer, but still had a wary expression on her face. "Double mutation?"
"Yes. My brother, Donatello, was already a mutant beforehand. A mutant turtle. He was mutated only a couple of hours after being hatched, along with his three brothers. There is a cure for a singular mutation, but as a double-mutant, he doesn't have enough human left in him anymore, and we need some help from you, or…"
"…or what?" Tina asked.
The words caught at the back of my throat, I looked up, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. "Or we might lose him forever."
Tina sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Her expression darkened as she started into the distance. She didn't say a word, but in her bright blue eyes, you could read that she was calculating what needed to be done in her brain. There it was again. Maybe it was the face she was making, but it was so similar to something I had seen before, I had no idea why I couldn't put a finger on it. Everyone in the room went silent, waiting for her decision to be announced. Then finally, she turned to me and nodded. "Okay. Where do I come into this?"
I smiled quietly to myself, relieved that she maybe had agreed to help, huge emphasis on the 'maybe'. "We need you to donate blood."
"That's it?" She looked a little confused.
"Yes. We thought if he had a blood transfusion with a human, his mind and body may go back to normal. Back to the way it was before, at least," I corrected myself, remembering that Donnie isn't exactly what most would call normal. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, you're our last hope."
"I-I'll do it. I know that much is true. It's just that…" she trailed off, before getting up and pacing back and forth. "Before I agree, I have to say, something about this just doesn't make sense."
"What is it?" George asked, the fear and concern on his face making him look a million times older.
"You said he needs a blood transfusion with a human, yes?"
I nodded.
"Then why didn't you do it? I'm happy to do it, but...why would you need to drive all the way from New York to Michigan just to get some blood?"
"I didn't have the same blood type as him. You do, though."
"Yeah, AB- is rare, but not that rare, though." Tina said, chewing on the inside of her lip thoughtfully. I clenched the arm of the sofa, knowing what confrontation was possibly about to behold me. But before she could put two and two together, she was distracted.
"This is insane!" Elle cried, throwing her hands in the air and bringing everyone's attention to her. "Mom, you can't do this! Let's just call the cops already!"
"Please!…" I said, leaping to my feet to counter her outburst. "Please! You don't know how much we need this! My family is devastated! They know this is my fault, that's why I drove off by myself to find Donnie! Now he's holed up back in New York, and my friends and I are having the worst trouble taking care of him, and I just know he's running out of time!"
Overwhelmed and out of breath, I sit back down as a wave of despair washes over me. Silent tears begin to fall. This was absolutely impossible. She would never come with me...
"Could you guys give us a moment?"
Confused, I looked up to see Tina facing the rest of her family. They looked startled, and Elle was about to object, when George pointed up the stairs. He quickly took Elle and Steven, and led them up before either could protest, Steven waving dorkily over his shoulder with a big smile. Hera hurried up behind them, struggling to pull herself up each step, before disappearing into a room off the landing.
Now I was alone with Tina. She walked over and sat on the other side of the sofa. "This really means a lot to you. I can see that." She began softly.
"My family means everything to me. I haven't known them long, but I would do anything for them. That news story was a lie, I promise." I answered, unable to look at her, and risk seeing doubt in her expression. Carefully, I began to speak again, hoping this would finally help her agree.
"Donnie has spent his whole life hidden from a world that would never accept him. He had never even been allowed outside his home until his most recent birthday," I started. "Imagine if you grew up knowing there was a whole world out there, full of possibilities for everyone, except you, because if they saw you…"
"...They wouldn't understand." She said, starting to grasp what I was saying. "They would say you were dangerous just because of your appearance."
I nodded. "But what they don't know, is that he's utterly intelligent. He's an inventor, and a scientist, and nothing would make him happier than to help the world. He wants to do great things someday when he's an adult, make the world better. He's a peacemaker; gentle, caring, devoted. He can't stand seeing people in pain. I swear, he'll help everyone around him, and most of the time, it will be a thankless job, but he'll still help."
Taking a moment, I swallowed, and continued. "But I don't know what we'll do if he's gone. He may loose his mind. All of that will go away, and we'll never be able to get him back. He doesn't deserve that kind of fate. He's only fifteen, he's still got so much of his life ahead of him. I can't just leave him to suffer like that for the rest of it. We need this. It's the only way we'll get him back."
I felt more tears fall, and pleaded one last time. "I would be grateful to you for the rest of my life. He's depending on you. Please, will you help?" Finally, I looked up, and my breath caught in my throat. Tina was also crying.
"He's a child. An innocent child." she said, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth.
"When I was younger, I couldn't help but want to contribute, too. Make things better for those around me. They called me 'soft', and 'weak', but I never listened. I knew what was right." She stood.
"When I started working with animals, my only intent was to help give them a better life. But I've never gotten the chance to help a person in that way. No matter what he looks like, your brother is a person, too. You are absolutely right. It would be cruel to leave him to a lifetime of misery."
My eyes widened. "Are you saying?-"
"I'll help?" she finished. "It's the only right thing to do. I'll help as much as I possibly can, and I won't ask for anything in return. I promise."
Before I could catch myself, I leapt up and found myself crying. "Thank you, thank you!" I sobbed, before I felt her arms encircle me.
"It's the least I could do. Don't cry," she said. "Everything will be okay. I will help you, I promise. I won't go back on that, no matter what."
The realization struck me hard. The cautious, gentle personality, the calculating mind, the way she reassured me… it was shockingly like Donnie's. She was acting exactly like he always acts. You may have heard that personalities can't be passed down, but if you had seen Tina in that moment, you would think that was a lie.
"Here, sit back down." she said. A moment later, after I had sat back down, she was bringing a box of tissues over. "Thank you." I muttered, taking one and blowing my nose. "You know, you're family can come with us. I don't know how long it would take, but they would probably be safer if the whole thing was done in secrecy, and if Saki finds out you're involved, they won't be targets."
"Thank you," she said, smiling wide. "I'll bet Steven will love being pulled out of school, but I'm worried about Elle. Her behavior earlier was troubling."
"We'll think of something. But they would all be safer if they came with, even the cat." I said, which resulted in both of us starting to laugh. "Don't worry, we'll keep Hera out of trouble," Tina assured. "I guess I should tell them to start packing."
"Go ahead." I said. "We should leave as soon as possible."
As she started up the stairs, I silently thanked my lucky stars that this actually worked, and that we would be on our way back soon. Donnie was one step closer to being back to normal. Hopefully, I would be back in New York by tomorrow night.
Speaking of which…
I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed. When he picked up, I immediately asked, "Casey, are we prepared to house a cat?
A/N. Next chapter, they arrive back in New York, and it's a Other than that, a lot of this chapter was written with the help of TheRealDreadPirateRoberts, my sister. Thank you so much for your input and suggestions. This chapter wouldn't have even looked half as good without you. Well, that's just about it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Sissy, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always… Stay tuned! ;)
This chapter was extremely fun to write, and I've been excited to introduce Tina and the rest of her family for quite some time. She is an awesome character, and my sister and I have been having fun fleshing out her personality. She'll only get better from here.