*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April O'Neil, or Casey Jones.  The rest of them are mine; please don't borrow them without permission.  Thanks!

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Chapter 13

Raphael:

"Are we almost done here?"

"Yes, Raphael, almost.  Of course, things would go a lot faster if you'd stop squirming every time I touch you.  I know that shot wore off, and I don't want to give you another one."

"Well, it tickles now."

"Well, this won't tickle, but I still need you to hold still.  You're not a very cooperative patient."

"I'm not a very cooperative anything."

I flashed her one of my best grins and she rolled her eyes.

"You know, Athena, Mikey and Donnie are going to start to get jealous if I don't leave this room pretty soon.  You didn't spend this much time with them."

"Raphael, will you quit worrying about your brothers and hold still?"

She ran her hands along my spine for about the tenth time.  It was hard not to get a chill when she did that.  That part of my body had never been open to touch before and it was a strange sensation, to say the least.  Her hands stopped near the base of my neck and she worked her thumbs across one vertebrae.  It actually felt kind of good.

Crack!

"Ow!"

"Sorry, Raphael, you were a little out of alignment there.  All better now."

"Ow!"

"Oh, stop being such a baby.  At least I'm done with you now!"

"Aw, and it was just starting to get good!"  I glared at her to let her know I was being completely sarcastic, just in case she didn't catch it in my tone of voice.

"You know, you could have just kept going with that massage…"

"Raphael, are you…?"

"I'm leaving."

"That's what I thought."

I grinned at her again before turning to leave.

"Hey Raphael, could you send Leonardo in?"

"Is he going to get his back cracked?"

"Well, I don't know until I see him."

"Are you going to stick a needle in his arm?"

"Yes."

"Well, as long as he's going to get something painful, I'll send him right in."

"You're terrible, Raphael."

"Yeah, I know.  Oh, and Athena…"

"Yeah?"

"It's just Raph."

"Raph it is then.  Go get your brother."

"Sure thing."

Athena:

I watched him leave the room.  I could spot him from his brothers a mile away with that walk.  I was pretty sure he had always had that distinct stride, even before he lost his shell.  It had a lot of attitude in it, which was appropriate for him.

All in all, the boys were looking pretty good.  Of course, I had saved the worst for last.  Leonardo really wasn't even supposed to be out of bed right now.  Panaceia and I had tried to at least confine him to bed rest when he wasn't visiting with Splinter, but he just wasn't having that.  It wasn't that he was trying to be a jerk about it; he just wasn't going to go lay down with everything that was going on.  He spent just about every waking hour at Splinter's bedside, talking with him if he was awake, or meditating if he wasn't.  I hated to do it, but it was about time to get a little stricter with that boy.

"Hey Athena, Raph said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Leonardo.  I'm just checking on everyone's progress while Panaceia is looking after your sensei."

"Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be resting, but you understand.  That's just not realistic right now."

"Oh, I see, but permanently damaging your spine is?"

He gave me a stern look.  "You're not going to be nice about this, are you?"

"No, I have to say I wasn't really planning on it.  Now, lay down on the bed please.  The sooner we get started, the sooner it will be over."

Leonardo:

I got down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.  I was pretty sure I didn't like playing the role of patient, but I would try to be cooperative.  It was the least I could do, seeing as I'd been blatantly disobeying their instructions ever since we left their house.

"I need you to take your shirt off, Leonardo."

"Oh, sure."  Duh.

She was over on the other side of the room, fiddling with something.  I unbuttoned the shirt and threw it down near my feet.  It was strange; we'd basically walked around naked our whole lives and yet sitting on that bed with no shirt I felt more naked than I'd ever felt.

"Okay, just lay back and relax.  I'm going to give you a shot first to relax your muscles a little and dampen your nerves.  Don't worry because it will wear off pretty quickly."

I did as she said and she gave me the shot in my arm.  Oddly enough, it really didn't hurt at all.  It wasn't like I'd really ever had any shots in my life, but I thought they were supposed to hurt.

"Alright, just take a few deep breaths in and out."

I breathed deeply and noticed my arms start to feel rather tingly.  Athena placed her left hand at the base of my rib cage and ran her right hand along my arm, poking and prodding along the way.  I could feel her hand moving, but not very well.  She moved to the other side and did the same.  I wasn't sure exactly what she was doing, but I tried to just lie there and relax.  I closed my eyes and continued my deep breathing.  Her hands moved down my torso very methodically.  It was like she was trying to map out my entire body just from touch.  I was suddenly very glad she'd given me that shot.  I didn't think I wanted to be able to feel this any more than I already could.

"Not bad from the front, really.  You're progressing better than I thought.  Of course, your back is bound to be the worse of the two.  Can you roll over for me?"

"Sure."

I rolled over onto my stomach and brought my arms up under my head.  She got up and walked to the head of the bed.  I couldn't see her and she didn't do anything for a minute or so.  When she finally did touch one hand to my neck, it made me jump.

"Sorry."

"No problem."

She proceeded to run her hands over my spine in about six different directions.  She sighed a couple of times and finally ended with a "Hmmm…"

"What?"

"Well, just what I thought, you shouldn't be sitting up so much, especially in meditation.  That's too much pressure on your vertebrae while they're still trying to settle.  Hasn't your back been hurting?"

"Only a little…"  That wasn't the whole truth, but I knew I was in trouble anyway so there was no sense in making it worse.

"Leonardo…"

"I know, so what can we do about it?"

"For one, if I catch you sitting up like that again your ass is mine."

"And two?"

"Get up."

I rolled off the bed and stood in front of her.  Damn this naked feeling, I hated it!  She walked behind me and wrapped her left arm around my waist, then pushed my torso forward as she ran her right arm up my spine.  For someone who didn't look very big, she was obviously really strong.  There were a couple of snaps and pops as she ran her hand along, and it actually felt really good.  I hadn't realized how tight my back was.

She brought her right arm around my chest and slowly pulled me back up straight.  I tried to be as relaxed as I could, but it was getting difficult.  That shot seemed to be wearing off.

She placed both hands on my shoulders, still standing behind me.  She ran her hands down my arms and wrapped them around my wrists, pulling them up in front of my chest.  The shot was definitely wearing off.  Out of nowhere she lifted me off the floor and back.  I think every single vertebra cracked.

"You're a lot stronger than you look."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you, and you're not even in your top form."

I smiled at her as she came around in front of me.  Flattery really will get you everywhere.

"Can you put your arms back up across your chest again?"

I did as she instructed, and this time she wrapped her arms around me from the front.  Our faces were about two inches apart.

"Hi."  She smiled.

"Hi." 

"You need to relax."

"I am relaxed."

"No, you're not."

"I'm trying."

"Uh-huh…am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Well, now that you mention it."

She grinned from ear to ear and without warning picked me right up off the floor again and set me back down.

"Ow."

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to start whining like Raphael.  I'm not even done with you yet!"

"Oh great.  What next?"

"Sit down on the rug."

I sat down with my legs out in front of me.

"Good, now arms up over your head and lean forward."

Once again, I did as she told me.

"Good, now hold it right there."

The stretch actually felt really good, especially after her snapping my back around.  I let my head hang down and relaxed.

I heard her step behind me, and she put both hands on either side of my lower back.  To be honest, it was probably a little lower than I was comfortable with her having her hands, but I wasn't about to say anything.  She moved them slowly up along my spine, and I didn't even really know what she was doing but it felt incredible.  I could almost feel my spine lengthening out.  She reached the top of my neck and slid her hands out to the sides of my face, working her thumbs along the back of my skull.

"You should think about a career in massage."

"Ha!  Mere mortals would melt at my touch."

"Yeah, I could see that.  Hey, so what does that make me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well if I'm not a mere mortal…"

"Are you melting?"

"Maybe."  God, she'd better stop soon because I was losing the ability to stop my own flirting.

As if she were reading my mind, she laughed and stood up, offering me a hand.  I took it and stood up, stretching.

"Much better."

"Good."

"So what's the prognosis?"

"Well, all in all you're doing pretty well, considering, but my old rule still stands.  I catch you sitting up like that anymore and you're not going to like the consequences."

"I'll try.  Anything else?"

"Yeah, before you go I need another blood sample from you."

"If you must."

"Just sit back down on the bed."

Athena:

I grabbed the needle and vial.  I felt so dishonest.  I didn't need his blood for any other reason than to run it through the scanner.  They put their trust in us and this is what I was doing with it.  I reminded myself that this had to be done.  We had to know.

"Well, I'll let you pick the arm."

He made a sour face, which made me laugh.

"What?"

"It's not like I'm asking you which arm you want me to hack off!"

"I know…here, take my left one."

I smiled to myself as he held out his arm.  They could be so child-like sometimes, and yet so old at others.  It made me wonder…

"Do you know how old you are, Leonardo?"

"I'll be 20 later this year."

"Wow."

"Wow?"

"Well, that's just older than I thought you were."

I put my thumb over the vein and stuck the needle in.  He made the sour face again.

"How old are you?"

"A lady never tells."  I watched the vial as it filled.

"You've got a needle in my arm and you're leeching blood from my veins—answer the question."

I looked up at him, but he was really serious.  Apparently the burning pain of the needle had caused him to lose his sense of humor, so I had a choice.  I decided to stick with my usual when it came to him; I told him the truth.

"16."

"What?!?"

"I knew you wouldn't believe it."

"Are you all 16?"

"Well, technically Iris is 17 because she just had her birthday three days before you guys came to stay, but the rest of us are all 16."

"Well I guess it's my turn to be wowed."

I capped the vial and slipped the needle back out of his arm, applying pressure with a piece of gauze.  I hated being away from home because we had to do things the old-fashioned way.  Oh well, it worked.

"So are you done torturing me now?"

"Yes, I think so.  Just remember, if you think this is torture it won't compare to what I'm going to do to you if you don't follow my instructions this time."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

"I mean it, Leonardo."

"I know you do."

"Oh, and Leonardo, do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

"Keep my age to yourself."

"Um, okay."

"Thanks."

"Athena?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Leo."

I smiled at him as he left.  There was no mistaking that they were brothers.