CHAPTER 2
AUTHOURS NOTE:
This chapter contains descriptions of medical procedures and mentions needles, if these things cause you any discomfort please don't read!
Hey!
I'm back with another chapter! I was planning on uploading a lot earlier than I have-
Anywho! Please leave any constructive criticism you have below! ^^
Master Splinter came out of his meditation as he heard his son's groan of pain from beside, he gave the hand he was holding a soft squeeze as he watched his son open his eyes slowly.
He gently dropped the hand he was holding and stood up, going to tell his son's that their brother had finally woken up. He opened the doors of the lab and turned down the lights slightly, knowing from experience that bright lights can cause irritation to the eyes of someone who has been resting for a good amount of time.
"Donatello, your brother has awoken. I think it would be best if you came in and talked to him." He spoke in a gentle tone as he watched his tallest son stand up and rush into the lab, soon followed by Mikey and Leo.
Donnie stopped at the side of the cot and looked down at Raph as he watched his older brother come out of his unconscious state. He couldn't stop the excited look that spread across his face as he placed a gentle hand on his brother's forehead, he was checking for any signs of a fever.
"How are you feeling, Raph?" his voice came out as nothing more than a whisper as he spoke to his brother.
Raph looked at his brother through hooded eyes as he grunted softly, his eyes looking glazed over from pain and tiredness. His face was paled to a greyish green as he was still waking up from his deep deep slumber.
"Shit, over it," his voice sounded weak and foreign to his ears, and according to the faces of his family, his voice sounded weird to them too.
He ignored the stern look his father gave him from his cursing and turned his sights towards his genius brother, his hands turning to slight fists as he shifted slightly on the cot, causing a sharp pain to shoot in his side and up his spine almost as if he had been electrocuted.
The fast jolt of pain caused him to let out a pain filled whimper, his eyes closing tightly as he tried to will the pain away, though it wasn't just for that reason as with his eyes closed he could ignore the panicked looks on his family's faces.
Donnie quickly went into doctor mode as he watched this happen, praying that his brother would explain everything he couldn't understand. "Raph, I need you to tell me if you've had this pain before and if so how long it's been going on. I gave you an ultrasound but couldn't find anything, you're the only one who can bring light to this situation."
He kept his eyes on his brother as he waited for him to answer his questions, chewing nervously on his bottom lip and wringing his hands slightly as they began to sweat. He rubbed the palms of his hands on his legs as he noticed his brother getting ready to speak.
"I've had this pain for a while at this stage, probably a few months give or take. At first I thought I'd just strained a muscle in training so I didn't want to go to any of you since they usually fix themselves after you take it easy, and that's what I did!" Raph looked down at his knees as he spoke, scrunching up some of the soft blanket that had been laid upon him.
"After the first month it started to get a bit worse but I still didn't want to bother you so I ignored it, after all I was still able to walk around so to me I was perfectly fine. It wasn't until two weeks ago when it started to keep from sleeping when I finally thought that I should say something. I never got around to that though," he slowly lifted his head to look into the eyes of his family.
He couldn't stop the slight flinch that painted itself across his features as he looked at the anger flash slightly in Donnie's eyes, the genius was obviously mad that he hadn't spoken to him about it. Raphael knew how Donatello took all of their health's extremely seriously and the fact that Raph didn't go to him really upset the young genius.
Donnie took a deep breath to calm himself before he finally opened his mouth to speak. "I can't believe you wouldn't come and talk to me! Whenever something is wrong, even if it's something as insignificant as a sniffle, you come to me!"
The genius grit his teeth together tightly before he continued. "You know how seriously I take all of your immune systems, especially yours Raph! You have a weak immune system and that's why I just can't believe you!" He growled slightly and crossed his arms.
Raph could only look down at his knees again as he listened to his younger brother speak, the guilt slowly building up more and more and causing a small lump to form within his chest, making it hard for the anger driven turtle to breath.
"I-I'm sorry, Donnie. I should have spoken about it earlier," he looked up at his family once more, a look of guilt melting onto his face.
Donnie could only sigh as he listened to his brother's apology, he knew that Raph felt extremely guilty about it and didn't see any point of making his guilt any worse than it already was, and so with that thought in mind he put a gentle hand on his brothers knee as he looked into his eyes.
"It's okay. You told us now and that's all that matters, I'm just upset that I had to learn about it this way. But, now that I know I'm going to run a few blood tests and maybe even do a full body scan, hopefully I can see something out of the ordinary in one."
He watched Raphael nod before nodding back himself and turning to get the supplies he would need for the blood tests, he would do the scan tomorrow as Raph needed the rest badly today. He had no doubts in his mind that the blood tests would make him even more tired than he already was.
"Do you want any help, Don?" The genius looked over to his eldest brother and nodded his head slowly.
"Please, I need you to grab me some gloves and prepare a sterilised cotton ball with tape for afterwards," he waited until his leader nodded before he turned back around and began to prep Raphael's arm for the blood test.
Donnie took out a strap with a clip attached at the end of it to help him find a prominent vein to use, he then wrapped it around the upper part of his brothers arm before he tightened it and began to press around gently to look for the right vein, once he found one he thought was suitable he reached over for the needles that Leo had prepared and began the process.
He made sure to fill three vials with blood before taking off the strap and then looked over at Leo. "I need that cotton ball and tape now please Leo," he held out his gloved hand expectantly.
Once the cotton ball and tape was given to him he nodded his head in a silent thanks before pressing it on the tip of the needle, he then took the needle out and placed it in the small metal tin he had placed beside him, before adding pressure onto the cotton and adding the tape onto it.
"Keep some pressure on that for a few minutes and then you can head off to bed for the night, Raph, be sure to keep it there tonight though. I don't want to risk an infection getting into the small opening especially since we live in the sewer, so that means that keeping it on is far more important than it would be for April."
He waited for the sign of agreement from his brother before nodding to himself and turning around to put the used utensils away, once that was done he could begin to test the bloods he had just taken. Making a mental list of everything he wanted to look for, and what each result he came up with would mean.
After about ten minutes of sitting on the cot and adding pressure onto the small wound at his inner elbow, he slowly pushed himself to the side of the bed and placed his feet onto the cold tiles. The change of temperature causing him to shiver slightly.
He looked around and spotted Donnie sitting at one of the counters placed in his lab, he was obviously looking over the blood tests he had just taken from Raph a while before. "Hey Don, I'm gonna head out now, okay?"
Raphael waited for a sign of acknowledgement before he slowly made his way out of the lab, the pain in his side having gone down into a slight sting so it was much easier for him to move than before.
Once he was in the general sitting area of the lair he made his way over to Leo and Mikey who were watching some cartoon on the telly, sure he had been tired but after having some bloods taken he found himself too nervous to settle down into bed, and what better way to get rid of his nerves than to hang out and watch a movie with his other two bros.
"Hey Mike, can you move down a bit?" he stood at the end of the small benches they used as their couch.
His younger brother squirmed forwards slightly as he had been laying down on his stomach, his head turned towards the telly placed in the middle of the room. He let out a small grunt of thanks before he settled down beside him, nodding his head as a great towards his only older brother.
The cartoon ended pretty much as soon as he had sat down causing him to frown slightly, he almost wished he had seen it from the start as it seemed pretty good. Although, the storyline itself seemed to be one of a cliche variety as it had your everyday hero fighting to save a princess.
He couldn't stop his eyes from rolling as he kept them trained on the screen, wondering what his brothers would put on next. In honesty he didn't really care what they watched as he was beginning to feel more and more tired the longer he sat with them, their presence being enough to calm his nerves.
"You wanna pick out a movie to watch, Raph?" The sleepy turtle turned his head to his brother and shook his head slightly, a yawn leaving from between his lips.
"Nah, you guys pick one out, I'm not bothered about what we watch as long as it's not something dumb," he had pulled a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around himself as he spoke, making himself that much more comfortable and that much more at peace.
The turtle clad in a blue mask nodded his head slightly, seeing how sleepy his younger brother was. He then looked over at Mikey and asked the same question to which he got a shrug as the answer, it was obvious they were all tired after the long day they'd had.
"I'll just see what's on, on the movie channels then. There has to be something we all enjoy showing on one of them," he pressed a few buttons as he moved over to the section where the movies were.
He looked through a few of them before his eyes lit up, Transformers flashed across the screen in front of them as the eldest clicked on it. Leo breathed a soft sigh of relief as he realised it was just starting, he had never enjoyed these movies but knew that Raphael always found them fun to watch when he was sick or hurt .
Leo smiled as he heard the somewhat excited hum that left Raph as soon as he had clicked on the film, no matter how much the hothead tried to seem like he didn't get excited, it was always easy to see that it was a facade when one of his favourite movies came on.
The three brothers continued to watch movies as they sat or lay on the couch beside each other, the presence of their other brothers easing their stressed out spirits and helping them to fall asleep together.
It was on this exact moment that their father walked in and saw them, a loving smile moving onto his face as he placed two blankets on Lweo and Mikey before he turned off the telly.
"Goodnight, my sons." He pressed a soft whiskery kiss on each of his three son's heads, smiling gently as they each gave him a sleepy reaction.
After each son was looked after he decided to head into the lab to see how his final son was doing, and found himself surprised as he noticed Donnie had fallen asleep at his work bench while he waited for the test results.
The old rat picked up another blanket and wrapped it around his son before placing a kiss on his head and wishing him a goodnight, he then left the lab and headed for the kitchen to make himself a cup of chamomile tea. He hummed softly as he waited for the teapot to boil.
"I think perhaps a rest from training is in need for tomorrow, after all it has been a long day for my sons." with that thought in mind he poured the freshly boiled water into his cup with a few tea leaves.
He took a sip humming in satisfaction at the test before he made his way back over to his room in the dojo, hoping he could get in some more meditation before he finally settled down for the night. He knew that he would regret it if he didn't take advantage of the much rare quietness of his home.
Yoshi lit a few candles and placed them around his meditating mat before he settled himself down and got into his meditation position, he breathed out a sigh of content and let them smell of lavender and chamomile help drift him off to the astral plane, finding his inner peace quickly with the help of the scent from his tea and candles.