***Trigger/ just because warnings: Alcohol and Cussing***
Meanwhile...
Leo and Don both watched in anticipation as Raph started to wake slowly. "Wha...the shell..."
Raph rubbed at his head in anger as he gathered his thoughts of what had happened. "That little shit..."
Don sat beside Raph carefully as the red clad turtle sat up. "Raph, Leo and I have some questions for you, are you well enough to ans-"
"Don. M'fine just ask already."
Don nodded, "first off, do you feel nauseous or hear any ringing sounds at all?"
Raph shook his head, "no. And I don't have a fever and I remember everything in the past 24 hours cept for the obvious period of time I was out. There. I've had concussions before Don I know what to look out for! M'fine. Now, where's Mikey?"
Leo folded his arms and huffed, "we were hoping you could tell us that."
Raph shrugged and looked down in an instant, "I dunno, how am I supposed to know where he runs off to?"
"Raph, we both know that you know more about what's going on with Mikey then we do. So spill."
"I dunno nothin guys."
Don stepped in this time, "Raph, we're worried about Mikey. He has lost weight and is the lowest I've ever seen him energy wise, he just seems...too distant. We just noticed that you didn't really seem too concerned, and you are ALWAYS concerned when it comes to any of us acting weird. So please...let us in on what's going on, Splinter doesn't have to know unless it's catastrophic."
Raph gulped, "you both have to promise me that ya won't tell Splinta bout this. Mikey doesn't need that on his shoulders right now. Got it?"
Leo and Don nodded already eager to just know what's been happening to their baby brother.
Raph shook his head as he tried to find the words, he didn't want to tell them but at this point he needed someone else's help just to keep himself sane. It was like everything he said to Mikey went in one ear and out the other, he just couldn't take it anymore. "Guys...you remember about three weeks ago? How Mikey saved that kid, an ya know...how he got a rough punishment out of it?"
Only silent nods were meet with Raphs nervous gaze.
"Well, the night that we had that huge falling out with Mikey about it he decided to go out and...well he got drunk guys...I dunno where he found the alcohol that night but he did and alot of it."
Leo and Don had expressions of both pain and disappointment as Raph continued, "the following weeks after I kept finding the squirt late at night topside completely drunk. Sometimes he would be crying and smashing the bottle he had drank out of or he would just be laying on a rooftop completely blank but somehow happy. Occasionally he would try to punch and kick me as I helped him, he would mumble about everything from training to how he really felt about how we treated him. From how unfair the ending of his latest comic was to how unfair it was that he always got counted out.
It was almost every night he would get drunk and not a single night did I not go after him. I made sure he was safe all that time no matter what he said or did to me. M'sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I honestly wanted him to confess instead of me doing it for him."
Don broke the solemn silence that followed Raphs explanation. "Shell...I mean...I didn't- I never thought he'd go off and do that, how did he get all this alcohol?"
Raph shrugged, "I've been trying to get that answer myself, I think he has some dealer because I've been watching all of his money slowly disappear."
"Shell Raph...you should have told us sooner! We could have helped!" Leo said growing more and more angry by the second.
"I didn't wanna risk any sudden changes- gah honestly I don't know why I kept it all in. I just wanted to help him."
Hearing the rare shutter in Raphs voice Don put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "well none of that matters now because you told us, now it's time for all of us to help him."
Leo stood, "are you well enough to come help us find him?"
"Course I am! I'm comin' either way!" Raph jumped up and tested himself to make sure he wasn't under the effect of the concussion anymore. He lied as Don did some mini tests on him.
"Raph...you still seem sluggish-"
"I don't care Donnie. I'm goin' an that's final, lemme go grab my sais!" Raph left before any more argument could carry on.
Leo shrugged and also went to his own room to retrieve some ninja smoke bombs just in case things went wrong.
As the two charged into their rooms however they both stopped short.
Raph eyed the childhood relic now busted on his floor along with his remaining money scattered about. "What...the shell? My money jar is busted- no this was on purpose...Mikey...no way. It had to be though! It was freakin' Mikey!"
As Raph went through and found his seventy dollars missing he heard a familiar shout from Leo's room, as he ran in he saw Leo counting out his money.
"How much he take from you?"
Leo glared at the wad of money, "fifty five dollars...did he steal from you too?!"
"Yea. Try seventy."
"Why the shell would he do this?!"
Don then appeared in the door way taking in the scene of the two angry teens clenching their money. "He's definitely addicted...once we find him I will have to do more research but I know enough to know that he is hooked bad. He knows just as much as we do how disrespectful it is to go into any other family members room without consent first."
Raph growled and put his money on Leo's small dresser. "Let's just go get him. I gatta bad feeling."
"Hmm...I'll try to track him on our way up topside. Are we going to tell Splinter? I mean..we are still grounded."
The two looked at Leo expectantly, the eldest sighed. "Let's just go...he'll find out. We can't risk waiting."
With that the three took off, they soon approached the nearest manhole then up to the all too familiar rooftops. "Find anything Don?" Raph grumbled still struggling with the fact that Mikey had stolen from him even after all he had done for him.
"Nothing...his signals out but I can track it to where it was last active before being ended...it looks like it's on...East side?!"
"What's he doing there?!" Leo exclaimed.
Raph shrugged. "Eh, he likes it over there. Less likely to get spotted, unfortunately it's where all his hiding spots are too. Is that tracker thing any more detailed on the location?"
Don nodded, "Its near a water source...it's not much looks to be a stream? Maybe a small bridge? Should we try it?"
Leo cut in immediately, "any sort of lead we have needs to be seen, it's better then running around with nothing! Besides, Its raining really bad out here! He probably went to seek coverage or something."
"Good point...shell, Mikey stole alot of money...surely he didn't buy everything all at once tonight...surely not." Raph stomach then twisted as he realized what could be happening. "Let's go to the bridge."
As the three jumped from dimly lit alley way to the next they finally set their sights on a tiny old abandoned bridge that now looked like a piece of street art, one side of it was busted down a bit making it impassable for cars to travel on.
Raph stomach twisted even more as he saw how high the water had gotten underneath it, what had been a small stream going through now looked to be a forming rushing river. "Let's hurry! If he is under there he's in some trouble!"
Raph rushed ahead not even hearing Don or Leo's replies, he slid down into the murky water below and saw that it almost reached to his knees. "Mikey?! Mike, bro!" Raph searched frantically around the bridge as Don and Leo searched under it, it wasn't but thirty seconds later Raph heard Leo shout.
"RAPH! We found him! We need your help though!"
Raph was confused now, the two of them couldn't pick Mikey up? "Comin'!"
As Raph trudged through the water he finally saw as to why they couldn't just get him up. Mikey was leaned up against the bridges wall pinned by what looked to be a very recently fallen concrete part of the bridge, it had fallen on his left arm. As if that wasn't bad enough the apparent liquor bottle Mikey had been holding was smashed into his arm due to the heavy slab of concrete falling on it.
Don looked like he was about to puke everywhere at the scene of it, the bottle had been smashed into mostly large bits which had impaled Mikeys arm and hand completely. "I checked his vitals and I think he has major alcohol poisoning as well. We...we have to get him home now."
Leo and Raph nodded then worked together to lift the fairly large slab of concrete off of Mikey who hadn't even flinched throughout the process. Raph took the liberty of lifting Mikey up off the ground and into his arms where he tried to steady Mikey as comfortably as possible. The young turtle looked horribly pale even in the dim lighting of the street lights as the three of them ran back towards the lair, Leo shook his head, he still couldn't believe what was happening, my baby brother, an alcoholic? No...I can't believe this.
Upon entering the lair Leo reported to Master Splinters room to quickly inform him of the situation at hand, Splinters reaction was silent but Leo could tell he was strongly disappointed.
"This is grave news my son, I shall check on Michelangelo a little while after Donatello is finished. Until then I will have to meditate on this, If I approach Michelangelo with such rage it may encourage further... addiction for him. Do you and your brothers have this under control?"
Leo nodded shocked, he had told of the gruesome details of Mikeys state but Splinter had froze up when he had heard they found Mikey passed out drunk. He gulped knowing they could use all the help they could get, "yes Sensei we have it under control."
Splinter nodded and Leo took his last bow, upon entering the lab Raph looked up surprised at not seeing Splinter. "He...didn't come?"
Leo shook his head and sighed, "ok Donnie you have me and Raph. What do we need to do?"
Don rubbed at his face furiously as he typed away on his computer and looked up reference books and reliable sights. "Ok! Make sure he stays laid on his side, I need you two to remove the broken glass."
"Gatcha." Leo snatched two pairs of tweezers and quickly sterilized them, after doing this he handed a pair to Raph and the two began their job.
Raph held back a gag as he pulled out a particularly larger piece of glass from Mikeys forearm, it appeared the vein was somehow not damaged but Mikeys arm would definitely need stitches. It was only one of his arms thankfully but it appeared his hand took most of the hit. Leo eyed the heart monitor anxiously as he removed the small bits of glass in Mikeys hand.
Meanwhile Don read quickly and sighed, "ok, thankfully their is no special treatment needed but I will perform some blood samples to see how much alcohol is in his system. Until then let me stitch him up, thank you both for your help. Could you get some extra pillows and blankets please?"
As Leo and Raph left to retrieve the few requested things Donnie paced trying to clear his head before he began to clean and stitch Mikeys hand and arm. Twenty stitches in all. Don shook his head, honestly Mikey was very lucky to be alive given the state he was found in. Although his pulse was still too weak for Dons liking.
After Don completed the stitches and put extra blankets over Mikey he gave Leo and Raph the small chore of looking over their baby brother as he took Mikeys blood and went to go test it to see just what the blood alcohol level in his system was.
Don was beyond astonished as the results came out: 0.40. Don looked up the charts of blood alcohol levels and saw the risks at being of this level of intoxication, he gulped as his stomach turned. Mikey had really ruined himself this time, they would have to watch him 24/7. Don decided to then insert an I.V. drip containing all of the nutrients and hydration Mikey would need to flush out the alcohol.
He collapsed back into his lab chair and eyed the sleeping turtle, "Raph...how long did you say he has been at this?"
"About three weeks now."
"That's plenty of time to get addicted...jeez..."
Leo rubbed at his arms anxiously, "so what now Donnie?"
"Well...we wait till he wakes up and ask questions...then he's ganna go through detox which to be honest will be a living hell for all of us. Then...he's going to recover and we will watch over him better. That's the intended plan anyways."
Raph grunted, "what's so complicated about this plan? Sounds straight forward to me."
"Its not that simple...with alcoholic detox he will experience some serious withdraw symptoms. I would like to look more into it before saying much more but it won't be easy."
"Doesn't matter, either way Mikey will be taken care of, we will help him." Leo said confidently.
"Lets hope so...how did Master Splinter take the news? Clearly not well...He hadn't been in here to check on Mikey once and we have been here for about two hours now."
"He...didn't say much, he's very disappointed."
"We can't let him get to Mike guys. I know it's dishonorable for him to have been doing all this but the squirt is fighting demons that we just don't see yet. I think if we coax him enough he will spill, he's never told me everything, not even on his worse alcohol nights."
Leo and Don nodded, "we'll take care of Mikey. We have to."
Little did any of them know that the road ahead wasn't as 'straight forward' as all of them hoped it would be, because with great change came great conflict.
Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter is already underway so please be patient. ^-^