~Hey all! Its Jezzie and Aprie here to give you another chap of The Rings. So I hope you enjoy the reading material. Chapter 5 should be up shortly. Also…I do NOT own the TMNT. They own themselves.

I avoided her for the most part. I kind of have a phobia when it comes to children. I had the perfect excuse to get away from the sewers for a while- tuning up the battle shell. I spent my time in the aboveground garage, keeping the street entrance chained and padlocked so no one could sneak up on me. I was lying on my shell under the van, about to give her a good old oil change when I heard a scratching on the concrete floor a few feet in front of me. Shocked at the sudden noise, I jerked and the oil cap spun around the last time and came off before it slipped out of my hand and landed into the pan I had put down to catch the dirty oil. When I tried desperately to get the cap out of the pan before it was too full, I got soaked in oil from my elbow to forearm.
"Aw man, you gotta be kidding me!"
I replaced the container and slid out from under the hulking green van.
"What's the big idea?!"
The tiny girl stood in front of me, looking up. Her small childish frame shivered slightly at my abrasive words. Her tail fell to the dusty floor and her liquid eyes turned dejected.
"I'm thirsty, Mr. Turtle..."
She looked down at the empty red plastic cup in her hand and her eyes filled with tears. Now I felt really bad not to mention awkward.
"Hey, hey hey! Don't start crying, it's okay! I thought you were one of my doofus brothers. You didn't know."
I rubbed at my arm with a rag, but to no avail. The thick, pungent stain had already taken residence on my pebbly skin. I sighed.
"Speaking of my doofus brothers, why aren't they taking care of you? They should have got you more water when you wanted it. Come on."
I returned back to the sewers where Mikey was watching a sitcom and Leo was arguing with Raphael about the perfect method of throwing stars. And all this time I thought they were more capable of taking care of this girl than I was. Feeling a sudden paternal instinct I refilled the girls cup and tousled her fur with my clean hand.
"You wanna learn how to change the oil in a car, sweets?"
She looked up at me, reflective eyes filled with wonder and acceptance. I didn't know what I was getting into at the time. But let me tell you... in retrospect, Kids can be quite a handful.

By five thirty that evening I had Brodie in a tub of soapy warm water trying desperately to scrub away the oil that had been matted into her soft reddish brown fur. We didn't exactly need shampoo in the lair, so we didn't have any. I started cursing softly under my breath as the sticky substance refused to cooperate. Apparently overhearing my anathemas, she looked up at me with wet fur hanging in her eyes.
"What's shit, Mr. Turtle?"
It was just about that time that Leo came strolling into the bathroom to see how I was faring.
"Teaching her the ways of the world already, Donatello?."
"Uh... L-Leo!"
I blushed and released a nervous chuckle, as he walked over to the tub.
"Motor oil? We can get that out easily with a little vinegar and lemon."
Now I had to wonder why he hadn't told me this when I first approached him with the greasy kid. I also wanted to ask him why he hadn't just been taking care of her in the first place. I kept quiet, of course, like I always do. I know that it's more beneficial to just keep these thoughts to yourself.
The vinegar and lemon smelled awful, but it stripped the oil away like magic. By this time, Leo had already left. I pulled the small girl out of the tub and dried her off as best I could with a huge fluffy towel, then we went to the living room to watch TV. My brothers had apparently gone for their evening rounds through the sewers to exercise. I sat on the old beat up couch and she curled up beside me.
We watched old cartoons until she eventually dozed off with her head in my lap.
But one last mutter that I will never forget escaped her snout before she went to sleep.
"I love you Donny-tello."
I covered her up with a blanket and shut my eyes. Maybe kids weren't really so bad after all.

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R E V I E W !!!!!!!!

Shredder: Or elsssssseeeee