Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

A/N:

Chapter 4

Home Cooked Meal

The breath blew out of my nostrils as I took a second to relax. After three quick pants I gritted my teeth and tried again.

Heaving with my arms, I slowly lifted myself up to the crutches. Slowly I worked myself into the proper positioning, being kinda gangly on the thin crutches limbs. I rested for another moment, my armpits putting my weight against the top of the crutch. Feeling that that was enough rest I finally pulled myself into a more comfortable position.

"You all right?"

I looked up and grinned at Donatello. He was in here helping me up. I don't know if I could've made it all the way to the crutches, which were propped up on the other side of the room, so he brought them to me. He also fixed my pants, er, lack thereof. It figures that during the fight with the gang members, well I guess that my legs took a bigger beating than I thought. Most of the legs of my pants would have been pointless to remain, they were so full of holes, rips and tears that they would have been a bigger hindrance than a help. Don had to cut them, making them into a makeshift pair of shorts. I didn't mind, except the fact that my stump would be showing, but for some reason I didn't feel as uncomfortable about that around these guys as I normally am.

That attitude really helped me out, because the only shirts they had were some left in their lair by a man named 'Casey.' This guy apparently loved his muscle shirts which is just fine, only that it showed my scarred arm to it's full hideous glory. I'd never go out in public like this but with these guys...it was alright.

"You really shouldn't excert yourself like that, you know." He was leaning over me like a mother hen.

"Yes, mother."

He made a face at me and I grinned. Maybe it was because he was the one who treated my injuries and that we share the same medical interest, I was most comfortable around Donatello than the others. He hated that I refused help in getting to my crutches. He reminded me of a nurse (yes, there are male nurses and no they're not gay or fruity or anything!) I remember that at the military hospital the nurses would call me an example of 'stupid male macho-ism!' They were great.

Donatello walked across the room and opened the door for me, grinning. "At least I can do this for you!"

I just chuckled at him and moved across the floor, pendulum style with my legs swinging at once while being supported by the crutches. A lot of people make the mistake that you are supported on the portion that your armpit touches, but that isn't true. Yes, it should come close to the armpits for when you need to shift or something, but other than that you support your weight on your hands that are gripping the center handle.

I know, blah blah blah. I'll shut up now.

Once I went through the door, I couldn't believe it. Their home was huge. There were two stories, luckily I was on a ground floor. The entire room was circular, the second story being accentuated by a walkway and supported by pillars. Strange crystals jutted out here and there. There was a pool in the middle that Don said led to the river with a small arch bridge over it. In one area was the entertainment center, with a patched up couch, laun chairs, and probably about twenty repaired TV's stacked on each other. In another was a broken railcar that was obviously transformed into a makeshift lab. Then there was a more formal looking area in front of what I could only guess by the ricepaper doors to be Splinter's room. There was what looked like a workout area and another room that I surmised to be the much talked-about dojo.

Then there was the table, which was already being set. Raphael and Splinter were already sitting at the table with Leonardo setting out the dishes. "Where's Michelangelo?" I asked Don.

"Finishing up dinner."

Remembering how he acted in the room earlier I grinned at the thought about the 'class clown' making edible food. Still grinning, I stopped in my tracks and mad a 'show' about turning around, pretending to have a sore stomach. Don laughed and gently pulled on my arm.

"Aw, c'mon! He's not that bad once you get to know him! And none of us have died eating his cooking yet! Then again, today..."

Chuckling I had just made it to the table when Mikey came out of the kitchen, plates stacked with food were lined from hand to hand, over his arms and across his shoulders. Despite his cheeky grin, his eyes were lit with concentration as he walked to the table, balancing all the plates, food and cutlery. With a merry chuckle, he tossed them all in the air with a 'HA!'

I couldn't help but cover my eyes. I wasn't in the mood for food all over me! Then I heard the resounding 'click' of plate hitting wood. Daring to peek betwen my fingers I saw that each plate was sitting neatly in front of everyone with the main dish bowls laying unbroken and unspilled in the center of the table.

Raphael guffawed laughter and clapped his hands as Michelangelo bowed theatrically, saying 'thank you, thank you!'

Leonardo made a face. "I wish you wouldn't do that every time we have a guest at the table."

Mike looked hurt. "What, you don't want me to show off Master Splinter's superb ninja training? Leonardo! And here I thought you cared!"

I hid a chuckle as Leo was taken aback. His mouth worked at what to say, then with a slight pout he turned away muttering. "Of course I care! Just not so...so...flamboyantly."

The moment he sat down he and Raphael began to tear into their food as if it was going to dissappear within seconds if they didn't eat it in time. Leo wasted no time in raising complaint, trying to tell them about table manners. Don immediately just sighed in defeat and slowly ate his food; with the use of utensils unlike his brothers. Splinter glared at all of them, trying to ignore him. But his patience seemed to be thin at the moment. Finally his tail thwapped against the floor and he huffed "Enough!"

Without a second's hesitation everyone froze and stared in his direction. Once again, I must comment on the discipline of these folks! Looking at me, he said "I apologize for my sons rude behavior" he glared in their direction. Everyone shrank in their seats. " with a guest at the table." he finished. "I have been trying to break them of the habit ever since we stayed at a friends apartment several years ago." with that he added with resignation "I'm afraid that they still have a lot to learn." The turtles grinned shyly.

I grinned. "That's alright! You should see how chaotic it gets at the boarding house, or at boot camp! Trust me, when you are real hungry and only have fifteen minutes to serve yourself, sit down and eat that's when things really get messy!"

Mikey chuckled and Raphael smirked. "You enjoyed it though. I can tell by your voice."

I nodded. "Yeah. You form a lot of tight bonds like that." I remembered boot camp well. Being locked in a room with about fifty other men...well, you get kinda close to each other. I grinned at a thought. "You know we had communal showers," I began "and understandably it was kinda crowded when we took them because we had a time limit on how long the showers were open. So it was packed with wet, naked men." All the turtles grimaced. I smiled. "Men being men, we liked to, uh, not touch, er that is 'brush' up against anyone. Whenever we went to the place in the showers where we changed to the showers themselves, we'd scrunch up ourselves real tight to avoid touching everyone while singing a song with the tune of the wizard of oz." The looks that they gave me almost made me burst out laughing. "Don't worry, the only verse was 'Naked man, coming through! Don't touch me and I won't touch you!"

That brought snickers out of them, though I could see more than one shift in their seat uncomfortably. Luckily, someone broke that.

Leaning forward eagerly Mikey grinned, tidbits of food spilling out of his mouth. "So, did you blow anything up! Huh? Didja didja! Big boom?"

"Nope. I wasn't in that field. Not my job." I was enjoying myself very much.

From the look on his face Leo didn't seem to think that explosions were the right kind of table talk. Couple that with the bathroom story earlier...When Mikey opened his mouth to ask another question he interrupted. "How are you feeling, Joseph?"

"Alright."

Don perked up. "We're planning on fitting him for another prosthesis tomorrow!"

I swallowed another mouthful of food, nodding towards Donny. "Yup. He said that he's studied up on the subject before and apparently, coupled with his knowledge of mechanics he's confident that he can come up with another one."

"So you've decided to stay, Mr. Ransom?" Splinter inquired.

I nodded. "As long as it's alright with you guys, I sure as hel-" I stopped and looked at Splinter. He didn't seem like the type to accept swear words. "Um. I sure would appreaciate it!" He smiled warmly, shaking his head slightly.

Raphael shoveled a big spoonful of food into his mouth and looked at me. "So what're you in New York for anyway?" He spoke through mouthfuls of food.

"Just looking for someone."

"Emily?"

My gaze swung at the speaker. Mikey shrank under everyone's stares. Twiddling his fingers nervously he shrugged. "What? You were saying it in you're sleep!"

All eyes were on me and I sighed in resignation. After all, I knew that the question was coming."Yeah. Her."

"What is she to you?"

"My fiance. Er, actually, my former fiance."

Leonardo eyeballed me. "Former? What happened?"

Before I had a chance to answer Splinter came to my rescue. "I believe that Mr. Ransom wishes to continue this discussion at a later time." Turning to me he smiled. "Mr. Ransom, please, tell us what you do in the armed services?"

Grateful to be on a change of subject, I smiled. "I was a medic."

Raphael laughed. Smirking, he said "Man! Now I know why Donny was in there so long! Leatherhead and April can talk science with him, but I haven't seen anyone talk 'doc' with him! Hm!"

Mikey slapped the table, this time taking a second to fast forward his chewing and swallow. "Ah! Now I see why you don't 'do' explosions!"

I grinned. "Well, I've treated some pretty unusual cases!" When I looked up every teenage eye in the room was trained on me, expecting a story. Ah, well, if I don't appease them they might turn into a mob! I opted for a more funny story. "Alright. When I was in the Middle East, I was working in the MASH."

"I know that TV show!" Mikey quipped in.

Raphael elbowed him hard. Whining a complaint Mikey pouted at him. "It's not just a TV show, bonehead! It stands for Mobile Army, uh, Surgical...Hospital?" He lost himself in his own explanation, forgetting what it was exactly. His expression was priceless.

Don chuckled at him. "Don't worry, Raph. We're proud of you either way."

I continued. "To start the story off, just know that a lot of people over there smoke. I've given kids rides and they've asked me for a light. Well, with this kid he must've been around 15 or so. He decides to siphon some gasoline out of a vehicle, then afterwards he lights up a cigarrette." The turtles sitting at the table made faces, all picturing in their minds what must've happened. I grinned. "Well, anyway we get this kid into the hospital..."

"You see the natives medically as well?" Leo interrupted.

"Yeah. We see everyone. The natives...they can't help it if their country is at war. They're innocents. A lot of people don't understand that completely."

Splinter nodded solemly. "Yes, Mr. Ransom. I've seen cases of predjeduce against the middle east and the Islamic here in America. People need to realize that when a small group of people act uncivily that doesn't neccessarily mean that they represented a whole."

The table was silent for a moment, then Don looked at me. "He was alright, right?"

I swallowed down a mouthful of food, nodding. "Oh yeah. He just got caught in the heat, not the actual flames. His face was black when we got him in, but it was mostly ash. He was very mildly burned. Kinda like a really bad sunburn."

"Ouch!" Mikey twisted in his seat, grimacing. "That must really hurt!"

I chuckled. "Yeah. He was pretty darn lucky. I saw a lot worse when I had to go out into the field with the company."

By this time, there wasn't a scrap of food left on the table. Splinter somehow got Leo to clear it with Raph and Don with dishwashing duty. Mikey, being the one who cooked this meal, got to go and watch their many televisions, though he did startgushing just a tad bit too loudly how 'nice' it was not having to do anything after dinner, and how 'awesome' it was to have no chores at the moment. This ticked off Raph, who ironically happened to be cleaning a knife at the time, and he came at him. Splinter came to the rescue by reprimanding him in front of his brothers. Close call for him.

For some reason I was already feeling tired by the time that they were done. Actually, I knew that was because I was still healing; sometimes people in thos situations tend to get a little tired. It was pretty amusing, really. At my first yawn Donatello was suddenly at my elbow, looking at me inquiringly. Grinning, I allowed him to help me into the room but refused to let him help any more.

Sometimes a man's gotta do his own thing.

Despite the fact that I was in a strange place yet again, I had all new hurts added to my old ones, my prosthesis was busted and I was even more limited mobility-wise; I felt good. In fact, better than I remember feeling in a long time.

As I lay down on that old, tired mattress I couldn't help but think of my old friend John. I know that hewouldn't be approving of the life that I was living, but somehow I thougth that he would be happy for me now.

With that in my mind I lay down on the pillow, small tears glistening in my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Once again I feel the need to look out for sniper bullets from angry reviewers. Perhaps I'm over reacting.

Alright! Both stories in there are completely true, the one about the boy I heard from a veteran. The one about the men in the showers...the guys in my boot camp division did the same thing so that's kinda first hand experience there! (Sorry guys, but you're wierd!)

Anywho, if you Read it, Review it! Toodles!