Title: Tuesday Morning Espresso

Fandoms: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)

By: ChibiEarth

Genre: Humor

Summary: One of the turtles has a fun morning of espresso and brothers…

A/N: – This can be read probably as a "general" TMNT fanfic though as I've hinted to the 1987 series as well. This was my first actual oneshot written in about eight years that I did not scrap completely before writing it halfway through. Yes, I am back to writing and no, please do not ask "when am I going to update fanfic here!"

This is also based on my recent speeding ticket I got in May 2022 and it has been driving me insane trying to the consequences of having to rush to the hospital for work and still getting a ticket for being the on-call person for the hospital in my position for the OR. I dropped my entire coffee on me while waiting on the officer to finishing writing the ticket. It was a rather good Tuesday!

x-x

It had started out normal day for Donatello, at least up until he went into the kitchen. His alarm going off could have been the beginning of his Tuesday going bad as well. Honestly, he could not even remember why karma decided to fight against him on a particular Tuesday. First, he been woken up and went straight for the coffee.

His mission for this Tuesday morning had been simple: Enjoy a cup of coffee and get a stronger version of medications for Leonardo.

Despite a late evening of dealing with a sick Leonardo and Raphael rushing out with the Battle Shell without his permission and staying up way too late to assemble his newfound friend: a new Keurig coffee maker.

Raphael had brought one home as a "gift" to bribe Donatello that it was necessary for the family and to apologize for taking the Battle Shell without permission. (In some ways, it probably was considered for Donatello, but Raphael knew it would help Leonardo and Master Splinter try some of the new teas that were becoming popular in the grocery stores nowadays.)

Donnie did not even question where Raph had found the coffee pot and was just glad to have something that would make one small step in his life simpler.

The Keurig coffee pot had all of the fancy features Donatello loved while he got to simply stand there and compile the list of medications, he was going to need to grab for his sick brother this morning and focus on his morning breakfast. Leonardo had developed bronchitis and pneumonia over the last couple of days. The common everyday antibiotic was not fighting the illness well enough, so Donatello had done some basic lab tests to check his brother's state of illness. Stronger but more expensive antibiotics were needed including a couple dosages of muscle relaxers, nebulizer treatments, and a couple of anti-anxiety meds.

The later were going to simply used to make sure Leonardo slept without climbing out of bed at least for two or three days while the new antibiotics kicked in. Donnie had planned to even hook them up with an IV if it meant Leonardo would get better and less stress on his place. He could compound the drugs if necessary or find a way to make sure they were given to his brother. It all depended on how well his brother decided to stay on bed and how much Donatello was going to enjoy that single cup of coffee.

He did not like playing doctor, lab professional, and pharmacist all in one morning without a good dose of that beloved dark espresso Mikey had been bragging about seeing on television. Master Splinter and Michelangelo were having a training session early and Raphael was still asleep (most likely from staying out late). The coffee pot finished spurting to life the rest of that new espresso and Donatello sighed happily as he grabbed the cup.

Master Splinter had excused Donatello from morning training that so he could take the Battle Shell early enough when the pharmacy opened to grab the medications and so Leonardo would not have to wait until the evening to get the doses he needed. The purple masked turtle also secretly thought Master Splinter knew Donatello's patience had been spread very then the last few days taking care of Leonardo.

Taking comforting grip of coffee mug in hand, Donatello took a sip. Ahhh….sweet relief.

Now that was totally worth the single Keurig maker. Moving away from the coffee pot, Donatello reached for the bagels and scowled. He had forgotten that the toaster was once again, broke. He could grab a late breakfast and get on the road faster in the Battle Shell if he just drank his wonderful espresso and on getting all the supplies he needed.

He was not going to let a broken toaster and a sick brother ruin his morning.

Going into his laboratory, Donatello nursed the cup of espresso to his lips and enjoyed the flavor. He peaked over to his sick brother and smiled. His oldest brother was still sound asleep. His breathing was off, more than likely because the turtle would rest easier with the antibiotics helping fight his illness and the nebulizer medications to help open his lungs.

Maybe karma was not totally being rude to Donatello. Leonardo was starting to wake up again. Walking over without much thought, Donnie decided to check on his brother one more time before going to grab his duffel bag, the money spare money the turtles kept for occasions like this and grabbed his coffee.

New York City truly was an amazing sight to see at six in the morning. The early sunrise peaking through across the skyscrapers was a scene Donatello would never get tired of seeing. Normally, none of the turtles would risk being out when the city was just beginning their day. Too many humans and too many risk factors.

However, at least being in the Battle Shell and a trench coat, Donatello could at least attempt to blend in with the various vehicles in New York City and get to the pharmacy when they opened at 6:30 AM. The pharmacy he had chosen was unique in its hours that they opened early and closed early but the pharmacy also had a drive-thru window that could accommodate the Battle Shell's size. He could survive several city blocks enjoying the drive and enjoy his cup of espresso.

Cars were already coming onto the streets and more than once, Donatello had to swerve to avoid people hitting the Battle Shell. Apparently, the morning drivers were still waking up or just already starting to get impatient for their day. The turtle decided at that moment it may be best to speed up to avoid another driver hitting him. He did not want to spill his cup and the sooner he got to the pharmacy, the sooner he could simply park the Battle Shell at the pharmacy's drive-thru while waiting for the pharmacy to open.

He had already received an alert the prescriptions were ready, so Donatello hoped that was the case. He did hate to be that one person to arrive before a business was open but that would give him a few minutes to really enjoy that cup of coffee. Grinning with his new mission in mind, the turtle did not really think about lowering his speed and decided to go with the flow of traffic. He really did need to get out more often than usually did.

Of course, the motorcycle cop would be out this gorgeous morning after about a minute of passing the block. Don slowed his speed down with the flow of traffic on the street. The last thing he needed was to get the police on his tail. Plus, perhaps the police officer would go after the other speeding drivers. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Donatello grabbed for coffee cup. He already knew the espresso had lost some of its heat, but he decided one sip would not hurt.

What he was not prepared for the sounds of the motorcycle's siren. Startled, Donatello looked in the mirror and saw the blue and red flashing lights. Yep, turtle luck was once again working true to form this Tuesday. The cop had decided to follow him and get him to pull over. Sighing, he set the coffee cup back into the drink holder he installed just only two weeks ago into the Battle Shell.

Pulling over and off to a side road that had less traffic, Donatello adjusted the trench coat around his body and scrambled for the fake license and registration documents he had made for the Battle Shell. It was already going to look suspicious of someone in an armored car van, wearing a trench coat, and speeding down the street for the officer to be on edge. It already had Donnie on edge too. He also groaned that now the extra time he had was going to be lost dealing with the officer while Leo's medications were mere minutes away and plus…the espresso was going to keep getting cold.

Rolling down the driver's side window, Donatello counted to ten before turning to the officer and dealing with his speeding issue. Hopefully this was not going to take too long…

x-x

Forty-five minutes later, Donatello was finally back on the road from the officer. The exchange was tense, considering the officer cited him for going three miles over the speed limit and tint on the car's windows were too dark. The officer had reprimanded him for speeding so early at the beginning of rush hour traffic and driving while drinking his coffee.

His shell cell had already gone off twice, indicating that one of his brothers had grown worried about him not being back before the sun had risen higher in the sky. Plus, Donatello knew that when he got to the pharmacy at 7:00 AM, there was going to be more people out on the streets. This would also set him back on Leonardo's medications. Sighing, he waited on the side road until the officer pulled off and went about to get the next traffic offender.

Setting the ticket on the passenger seat, Donatello reached for the cup of espresso. He might as well try and drink the cold now. Gripping the mug's handle, Donnie took drink of the espresso. It was cold but the turtle needed the caffeine. He could already feel a headache and his stress coming back without having the caffeine. The cup had been so good too.

Placing the cup back into the drink holder, Donnie glanced around before starting the Battle Shell up and proceeding to the pharmacy. Within few minutes, he already knew the pharmacy was open. There were a couple of other cars in line and Donatello resisted the urge to drive away completely. More sunlight meant more humans.

'No', he thought, 'I had to sign for a speeding ticket and tinted windows because Leonardo got sick and cannot resist the urge to get out of bed. He needs these medications more than my bad Tuesday morning.'

Pulling into the pharmacy drive-thru and waiting in line, Donatello was determined to finish that cup of espresso. However, while idling, he grabbed his shell cell and called Mikey back. Apparently, Raphael and Master Splinter had started to grow concerned when he did not make the trip to their warehouse at least. Confirming via text he was grabbing the medications and deciding not to mention the speeding ticket (Master Splinter would not be pleased for him speeding nor getting pulled over in the first place), he simply stated there was a line at the pharmacy and it would be a little longer.

Tucking the shell cell back into his trench coat pocket and reaching for the cup again, a car horn behind him honked. Taken by surprise once again within an hour, Donatello noticed that the vehicle in front of him had just moved forward. Glaring into his rearview mirror, apparently someone else had pulled up behind him and honked the horn, assuming Donatello was not paying attention.

Nerves frayed at this point, Donatello slowly released his foot enough from the gas to move forward in the line while still gripping the cup in one hand and used the other hand to control the steering wheel. With one last glance in the rearview window, he could tell the vehicle behind him had started to edge as close as he could to the rear end of the Battle Shell. That it would somehow make the line at the pharmacy go faster.

Sometimes, Donatello wondered if the attitude of all humans were like Raphael or if it was just New Yorkers. Rolling his eyes and focusing on the line in front of him, he paid little attention him over sipping the cold espresso until he felt the drink running down his chin, chest, trench coat, and down into the seat of the Battle Shell.

Eye twitching and still holding the cup, Donatello had to refrain from throwing the cup into park of the beloved armored car and placed the cup into the drink holder. All that beloved espresso was gone and wasted. Now covering him, the trench coat, and the seats. Unsurprisingly, the next car moved forward to pull out of the pharmacy drive-thru and Donatello once again moved forward.

Grabbing the money from the trench coat pocket and carefully lowering the window low enough to able to speak to either the pharmacist, pharmacy technician, or clerk at the window, Donnie felt his eye twitching when he realized all the cash was covered in the espresso and was wet. Privately, the turtle hoped the employee did not think he pulled the cash out of somewhere inappropriate. It further showed his train of thought that he needed more caffeine when he got back home, took care of Leonardo, and cleaned well…everything now.

Funny enough, when pharmacy technician greeted him at the window, she simply raised and eyebrow and simply asked for Donatello to verity the information of the "patient" he was picking up for. Maybe his Tuesday would not be totally ruined after all…

x-x

Thirty minutes later after rush hour traffic and covered in the espresso, Donatello arrived home to find Leonardo in the same position he was, and he set about his tasks to give start to give Leo his medications.

Trying to move quietly as he placed the prescription medications on a table while he wiped himself off with a towel.

His patience already fried he simply overheard wheezed voice and the ruffling of a blanket, "How is the new Keurig, Donnie?"

Red flashed before his eyes at Leonardo for once again trying to get out of bed. Oh he was going to get karma back this Tuesday morning…

When asked about it a few weeks later, Donatello denied any wrong doing and Leonardo had recovered quicker than normal from his pneumonia, even if the bronchitis still lingering. Mikey and Raphael both noted though have restful Leonardo have been during his first week of his illness and how much calmer Donatello was about not fighting with Leonardo. Leonardo had confronted Donatello but how tired he had been after mentioning the new Keurig but did not bring up the topic again when he observed Donnie cleaning out the Battle Shell a week later.

Donatello did make sure to back into the municipal court website and hacked to clear out the ticket on the Battle Shell. He was not paying for the tickets and knew without a proper paper trail…

Leonardo though still winded, held onto the blackmail of what Donnie thought he threw away in the paper trash. That ticket citation would sit in his bedroom drawer behind his katana holders, just in case if Donatello got sick. Hopefully though, it would not happen on a Tuesday morning…

x-x-

The end! This kind of got away from me at the end but I felt it was refreshing to just write something for the first time in years. Oh and yes, I still have that ticket citation sitting on my fridge for a remainder on speeding! My poor hospital scrubs were ruined from my coffee that morning and officer did waive five miles off my ticket. So instead of me going on seven miles per hour, it showed three miles over I was speeding over the limit. It had been a fun summer doing the defensive driving course online too. Good times!