1Honestly I can't tell you what was going through my mind when I first saw Donatello. It was a mixture of emotions. First shock, and then complete sadness and then anger. Finally came fear. I was so afraid that I had lost him. I saw Leo lay Don's limp, bloody body on the couch. I wanted to run over to him, but I felt like my body was paralyzed. It was as if my feet were planted onto the floor and I could do nothing, but just stare at him. I saw Lea walk over to me, but no, I didn't want her to pull me away! I knew she would try to pull me away so I wouldn't have to see Don, but I wanted to get to him! He couldn't leave me! I pushed against my body and finally my feet were unglued. I rushed over to Donatello. He was just there not moving! He couldn't be dead! I just looked at all the blood that covered his body and it made me feel even worse! "Donnie, what happened? Who did this to you?" I heard Don let out a slight groan so I knew he was not dead, but still he was barely awake. I leaned up and gently kissed him on the forehead, but then when I pulled back, I noticed that some of his blood had gotten on my hand where I had rested it on his chest to lean in for the kiss. I cringed as I looked at my hand; I felt my breathing become sharper. Don's blood was on my hand! I let out a tiny soft cry as I looked at my hand. I could hear Michelangelo somewhere in the room panicking as well saying things like, "What happened to Donnie?" Then I heard Raphael growling and yelling at him.
Suddenly I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, it was Master Splinter. "My child, please go with Lea while we treat him." I hesitated for a moment; I was still looking at my hand.
"Sensei…his blood is on my hand…" I choked; I felt my body going numb…I started to tremble more. Suddenly the sound of Don's voice made me look over at him.
His voice was so soft; I don't know how I could have heard it. "Sensei…" He let out a slight groan again as he tried to lift his head up again. His voice was filled with fear, I felt so bad for him that I just wanted to hug him.
Master Splinter got up and gently put his hand over onto Don's head. "Shh, don't talk, my son. Everything will be okay…" He then looked over at me. "Please, Melinda. Go with, Lea." His voice was filled with urgency. Leonardo walked over and handed me a cloth to wipe my hand off with then I felt a touch on my arm.
"Come on, Mel," Lea spoke softly. I looked at Don once again worriedly and then got up to follow my friend. I stopped when I heard Leonardo speak.
"Mikey, go with them," he said.
I followed Lea and Mikey back into Leonardo's room. I tried my best to hold in my tears. I never liked to express emotion in front of people, I don't know why. It always bugged me. When my cousin, April, had passed on about 2 years ago, I went to her funeral and I was the only person who didn't cry. Believe me, I felt like crying, but I always like not to show too much emotion in front of others. I sat there on Leo's bed with Lea beside me; Mikey sat on the floor and looked up at us. I looked down at my hands in my lap and tried my best to not think about this. The room was quiet; I didn't want to look at Lea or Mikey. I could hear distance voices from the lair's main area, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I then heard Don let out a sharp cry. Immediately I looked up and I felt my body start to lift up some from the bed naturally, but Lea reached over and stopped me. She put her hand over mine and squeezed softly. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started to cry, not just a few tears, but a lot of tears. Immediately I turned my head and buried my face against Lea's shoulder and cried so hard. I gripped her shirt tightly. "Please, not Donnie…" I choked as I continued to cry. I felt the hot tears going down my face. I then felt another touch on my shoulder, I knew it was Mikey.
"It will be okay, Don's strong. He can make it," He said gently. This was the first time I ever heard Mike speak so softly. It was soothing and comforting. Soon after I felt myself stop crying, but I kept my face pressed against Lea's shoulder. Just the closeness of my friend comforted me. I felt her patting me gently on the back and then stroking my hair some to calm me down.
"It's okay, sis. He'll be okay," She said.
I am not sure how long I was in that room, but later on, Raphael came to the room's entrance. "Hey, Mike, we need your help to move Don," he said. Raphael looked so hurt that I felt like I wanted to go over and give him a hug. I never knew how close Don's brothers were to each other till now.
I looked at Raph and sniffed. "Is he alright?"
"Yeah, Master Splinter thinks he'll be okay. Leo had to give him some blood though so Leo can't be moving around for a while. He's going to stay and rest on some blankets in the main area for now. Sensei gave Don herbs to help the pain. Don's still suffering though," He sighed and then looked away. I could see his face twisted in hurt. "After we get Don to his room you can come and see him." He walked off with Mike following him.
Minutes later, I walked out of the room with Lea down to the main area. There was no sign of Splinter, Raph or Mike. I figured that they were in Don's room still. Leo was sitting on some blankets in the main area and holding a pillow against him. He looked up at us and smiled softly.
"I think Don will be alright now, Melinda," He said softly to me.
"Leo, I'm sorry…"I choked some.
"It's not your fault, Melinda. The Foot probably jumped him, but it has nothing to do with you. Sensei said he is slightly running a fever, but Raph will watch over him tonight. He's in good hands now. You should get some rest yourself after you go visit him," He smiled softly at him.
I smiled back and bowed slightly to him before I walked up to Don's room. Lea stayed behind with Leonardo I think. As I was walking inside the room, Master Splinter and Michelangelo were walking out. Splinter gave me a warm smile and then walked past me, Mike followed him. I walked in the darkened room. Raphael was sitting in a chair near Don's bed, his eyes never leaving his brother. I stood there for a moment and just looked at Raphael. Raph's face looked so pained, I could hardly describe it. It was like as if a part of him wanted to go out and kill who ever did this to Don while the other half demanded that he watch over his him. I approached closer and finally Raph realized that I was there. I smiled at him softly and then looked at Don resting in his bed. The blood on Don's body had been washed off and bandages and wrappings covered all his wounds. There was a damp cloth over his forehead. He slept so peacefully as if the pain was gone for a while. I looked at Raphael once again. "May I go to him?"
Raphael gave me a warm smile and then motioned with his hand. I smiled back and then walked closer to Don on his bed. I lifted my hand up gently and touched his arm softly. I gently caressed it with my fingertips. My fingertips touching some of the cloth wrappings. Some of the wrappings were already showing red from the wounds. I figured the wounds were not deep enough to call for stitching.
"Don't worry, Melinda. I'll watch over him tonight," Raph said gently to me.
"Raph, may I watch over him tonight?" I asked. I knew that I didn't want to intrude into the bond that they had and I already told myself that if Raph declined, then I wouldn't press the matter.
"You sure?" He looked at me. "You should get rest."
"No, I won't sleep tonight," I sighed sadly.
"I don't think any of us will," Raph replied and let out a sigh of frustration.
"I want to, Raph, if it's okay with you," I said gently, my eyes never leaving Don. But there was no answer then I felt Raph's hand on my shoulder.
"Alright, but you call me if need me ok?" He asked, his eyes were fixed on me.
I nodded my head. I watched him walk out of the room and then sat down in the chair that he was sitting in. I looked at Donatello and just stared at him, my mind clouded with thoughts. I sat there and stared at him all during the night. I knew at some point during the early break of the morning I had dozed off. I was awaken to the sound of Don's soft groans of pain. I looked up and saw that he was not awake, but he was shivering violently. I immediately walked up to him and touched his arm again and felt his skin to be hot! He was running a fever! I panicked and ran quickly over to the table to where Master Splinter had set a basin bowl filled with water to damp his cloth. I picked up the bowl and tucked it closely to my body, then walked over to the ladder that led up to Don's bed. I knew he was too high up for me to reach his head. I stepped slowly up the ladder trying my best not to spill the water, but yet I wanted to hurry to get up there and get to him! Damnit! Why did I HAVE to doze off? How LONG was he running the fever without me knowing? I set the bowl down and picked the cloth off from his forehead. It was burning hot! I shoved it into the bowl and squeezed it to get the water out of it and then caressed Don's face with it. I did this several times, wiping his face and his neck. I almost ringed the cloth out over his face. "Come on, Don…Come on, please…" I begged. I was so scared! I kept doing this and told myself that if Don continued, then I would call for his brothers. Soon he began to tremble less. I smiled some and almost squealed seeing that his temperature had subsided. I let out a few tears of happiness and then kissed him on the forehead. "I love you, Don…you can make it…." I placed the cloth on his head once more and then retreated back down to the floor. I set the bowl back onto the table and made my way back to the chair.
I knew I must have slept again because I felt someone touch my shoulder and I nearly jumped. I looked to see it was Leonardo. He smiled at me softly. "How's he doing?" He asked. I was happy that Leo was walking around some, but I could tell he was still kind of weak.
"Better…he did run a fever, but I think I calmed it down," I said tiredly.
"Good," Leo said, nodding his head approvingly as he took a glance over at his brother. "Listen, go back to my room where Lea is and get some rest. I'll watch over him now."
"Are you sure? I can stay up longer," I said, feeling bad that I had dozed off for the second time!
"I am sure. Thank you for your help. It means a lot to me and to Don…" He said warmly to me. I got up and slightly bowed to him, then walked over to where his room was.
I am not too sure how long I slept because it seemed soon after I had fallen asleep, I felt someone nudging me to wake up. I groaned some and lifted my head up. What happened that night felt like a nightmare, I think even for a moment I thought that maybe it wasn't really real. I looked up and saw Lea looking down at me. "Mel, Don woke up. They are going to try to talk to him about what happened," she said.
I looked over at the small wound up clock that Leonardo had resting on his nightstand. It was around 11am. I nodded my head and rose up from the bed. I was still wearing the same clothes that I had on the previous day. Although I am pretty sure I didn't receive that many hours of sleep, my body didn't seem tired at all. I was very eager to see how well Donatello was doing. I followed Lea back to Don's room. Everyone was gathered around his bed. Don was still lying on his back and his eyes were not completely opened, but he was talking amongst his brothers so that was a good sign. Leonardo looked over at Lea and I when he saw us entering. "Ah, here comes, Melinda," He smiled softly. "She watched over you all night."
I blushed some, feeling kind of guilty because I did doze off from time to time. I shyly walked up to his bed, and reached out and gently grabbed his hand that was on the front side of the bed. "Hey, Don…how are you feeling?" I asked softly, kind of nervous because I knew everyone was watching me.
"Doing a little better," Don said as he squeezed my hand back. "Still hurts to move. I never felt so stiff in my life."
"Well don't worry, bro. You'll be up soon once more," Raph replied gently.
"Donnie, I know you are no shape to be talking a lot, but can you tell us what exactly happened yesterday?" Leonardo asked a serious tone entered his voice. I watched as his eyes studied Don.
"I was out yesterday and I heard a girl crying for help…she ran into the junkyard…followed by some Purple Dragon goons…there were only 3 of them. I managed to help her and I asked her what she was doing. She said that she was looking for her friend…I asked her who and she said…she said she was looking for Melinda. I don't know who she was…but then she lifted her hand up and more Purple Dragons came followed by some Foot Ninjas. I figured that there were 13 Purple Dragons and 5 Foot Ninjas. I tried to get out of there, guys…but I couldn't." Don said as he gasped sharply to regain his breath. I knew talking that much was hurting him.
I then felt Leonardo's gaze fall on me as if he was trying to figure out what happened. "Don, what did that girl look like?"
"She was kind of heavyset…glasses…she had blondish hair with maybe hot pink highlights on the tips. Her hair was up as well. I should have known it was a trap, she kind of dressed like the Purple Dragons," He said.
My eyes went wide as Don spoke and I looked down. I couldn't believe it! I KNEW exactly whom he was talking about! It was Tina! But why would she do this? I knew she was doing it as a way to get back at Lea. I was right! I was responsible for this entire mess! She hurt Don because she must have figured out that he was the one who liked me! I knew that both Leo and Lea were looking at me. Lea probably knew exactly who it was as well and Leo knew that something must be up. Without saying anything else, I stormed off quickly to Leo's room to retrieve my jacket and sais. I quickly slipped my jacket on and then stuck my sais in my pockets. I was in rage! I knew I HAD to go back to where Tina was and get her back for doing this! DON ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF ME! I figured that Lea would be out there protesting to me, but instead no one was in the lair, which gave me some relief. I walked over to the warehouse elevator, but suddenly felt someone grab my arm, actually quite roughly. "Where DO you think you're going?"
I turned around and saw Leonardo staring at me. He crossed his arms and his eyes studied me, waiting for an explanation. I looked at him and then turned back around and touched the warehouse door, signaling the elevator. "Where do you think I am going?" I mumbled.
"Well you BETTER just get that thought out of your head," Leonardo said sternly to me. "You ARE not going back there to handle this. We WILL go when we are ready, but right now Donatello needs us."
"Leo, I KNOW what I am doing alright! So will you just leave me the hell alone!" I screamed back at him. I was soo hurt at myself that I knew I had to go back and fix this and I wasn't going to let Leonardo stop me.
"No! You don't know what you are doing!" Leonardo reached out and held my wrist again sharply. I never seen him this way and it kind of scared me. It was actually quite very strong. "You are going to run in there blind and get yourself killed! Don't be stupid, Melinda!" He then sighed as he looked at me. I think he knew he was getting too angry with me. Leonardo must had been under a lot of stress from seeing his brother hurt as badly as he was, which made me feel even worse. I felt him loosen his grip around my wrist. "Listen, please do not do this," his voice almost pleading with me. "I know you're upset about Donatello…so am I. You love him a lot…I know that. Melinda, Don loves you a lot too. Please stay with him, he needs you."
I sighed as I looked at him sadly. I knew that Don needed me, but I also knew that he wouldn't be in his condition if it weren't for me. "I am sorry, Leo…I have to do this…or things may get worse…" I said as I stepped away and got into the elevator. I knew that Tina might do this again. I couldn't put any of them or Lea at risk again. I saw Leonardo had a strong look of disbelief as he watched the doors to the elevator close. I let out a sigh as I rode the elevator up to the warehouse. As soon as I got out, I took fumbled through my jacket and found that I still had my Metro Card. I hurried as fast as I could to a metro station.