Chapter Four

Once in the bathroom Cherise jumped up onto seat cover of the toilet to sit. She watched as her dad ushered the young turtles over to the large white tub, remove their painted cover bandannas and belts, and put those itemsinto the sink. Next the young man loosened his tie enough so he could toss the ends of it behind him. While kneeling next to the tub, he unbuttoned his shirtsleeves and rolled them up pass his elbow.

"Who wants to be first?" Both turtles pointed to each other. "Ok then...I'll just have to let Cherish pick one of you." Both turtles looked at the young girl.

Cherise put a finger in her mouth. "Um…" She took it out so she could point at the turtle that formally wore an orange mask. "I pick him."

Michelangelo looked shocked when Marcus picked him up and placed him into the tub. "It'll be fine." The young man took out a scrub cloth. "It's just a scrub down to get the paint off." He wet the cloth and lathered it with liquid soap. "Hold still now."

Michelangelo not only held still, he froze as the human scrubbed him down. This was the first time someone other than his sensei touched him in such a fatherly way and it made him a bit nervous. Stranger still to the young turtle was the fact that a sweet smell came from the scrub cloth. "Stop."

"What's the matter?" Marcus asked with mild surprise.

"Why are you covering me with honey?" Michelangelo question with a bit of fear. "Are you gonna eat me?"

Marcus laughed a little. "No, of course not. This is baby soap that's made to smell like honey."

"Oh…" Michelangelo replied with a nod before looking a little angry. "I'm not a baby. I'm nine-years-old."

"This soap isn't made just for babies. It's made for kids of any age." Marcus explained. "It's called baby soap, because it's soft enough to use on young skin and make it feel nice."

Once the little turtle was covered head to toe with soap, the young man took up the removable showerhead laying the tub. After test the temperature of the water he hosed down Michelangelo. While he was doing that, Cherise jumped off the toilet and ran out of the bathroom.

Marcus smiled when she came back with two white fluffy towels. "Read my mind." The young man took one off the top and gave it a shake to unfold it so he could wrap it around Michelangelo before lifting him out of the tub. "There you go." He said while setting the wet turtle down on a bath mat. "Now you dry yourself while I take care of your brother."

"Ok." Little Michelangelo said while giving a thumb up. "I bet I can get myself dry faster than Donnie can."

"Cannot." Donatello protested.

"Can too." Michelangelo replied before sticking tongue out. "You count while I dry." He told Cherise.

Cherise was caught by surprised. "…ok." She started counting while the young turtle started rubbing the towel all over him vigorously. "Um…one…two…"

Donatello reached up to the young man. "Hurry, me next." He said while bouncing up and down. "I have to show Mikey that I'm faster."

Marcus gave a chuckling sigh. "So this is what it's like to have more than one kid." He picked up the antsy turtle and placed him the tub.

"All dry." Michelangelo announced as he threw the towel onto the floor. "What's my time?"

"Um…twenty-five seconds." Cherise told him.

"Ha! Beat that." Michelangelo dared.

"Bah, I'll be done in half that time." Donatello replied.

"Hold still or I'll get soap in your eyes." Marcus scolded while holding the slipper turtle still. "I think I liked it better when you two were afraid." He picked up the showerhead once again and hosed down the soaped turtle.

When he was done, Marcus took the other towel from Cherise. He was about to lean over to pick up Donatello, but the young turtle was too eager to wait and jumped up at the young man. Through Marcus was not ready for this move he was able to catch Donatello within the towel, preventing him from getting wet. "Shouldn't do something like that in the bathroom." The young man scolded while placing the young turtle down on the mat. "Someone could get hurt."

"Sorry." Donatello apologized while gather up the towel around him. "Count me?" He asked innocently.

"Alright." Marcus laughed. "Go."

Donatello quickly rubbed himself down. "Done." He declared while holding up the damped towel. "How did I do?"

"Twenty-five seconds." Marcus answered. "It's a tie."

"You really didn't count." Donatello accused.

"Of course I did." Marcus replied.

"I find it unlikely that Mikey and I would get dried in the same amount of time." Donatello stated.

"It's not nice to fight with the judge." Marcus warned jokingly. "Now why don't the three of you go play while I clean up in here."

"I'll show you where the playroom is." Cherise announced while running out of the bathroom.

"Wait for us." The two little turtles cried as they chased after her.

"In here." Cherise pointed to a doorway. "This where I keep all my toys and stuff."

"Wow…" The two turtles breathed when they saw the room.

It was small area, like a bedroom. Opposite the door was a large toy box filled to burst with action figures, playhouses, and dolls. There was a shelf on each side of the wall that held fairytale books, coloring books, and a couple boxes of crayons. There were also some other things on the shelves which surprised the young turtles. It was a couple of electronic devices that had buttons in the looking like the alphabet, shapes, and numbers on it.

Cherise saw them staring at devices and ran over to one of them. "You want to play with this?" She offered while holding it out to them.

Donatello and Michelangelo were confused. They had one similar to it at home, but they never thought to play with given that Master Splinter wouldn't let them. He always said things like that were important learning tools and not something to play with. The main reason he would not let his sons play with electronic devices, was because it was so hard to come by batteries to make them work. Plus if gadget broke it would be hard to find some more working ones to replace them.

"Are you really allowed to play with that?" Donatello questioned skeptically.

"Of course I am, cause it's my toy." Cherise answered. "Here." She pushed the device into Donatello's hands.

"It's a toy. Wait till we tell Master Splinter that he's been teach us with a toy." Michelangelo giggled. "Go on, make it talk."

Donatello was afraid to push a button. When he messed with the one they had at home without permission had earned him a spanking from Master Splinter. He was also scared that if it broke while he did something he would get in trouble with the young girl's father and maybe get a spanking from him.

Cherise noticed that look of fear on the young turtle's face. "It's ok." The young girl flipped a switch to turn it on. "You won't get in trouble so long as you try to be careful with it." She then ran over and gotanother electronic device for the other turtle to play with. "Here you go."

Michelangelo took the toy, but he was surprised by the gesture. Not only was he given a toy in somewhat mint condition, but also that it was given to him free and with out any pouting. He was use to having to fight his older brothers, wait until they were bored with play, or until Master Splinter ordered them to share. The only time his older brothers would share with him andDonatello freely was when they had thoroughly trashed the toy.

With such precious bounty in their hot little hands, Donatello and Michelangelo had a seat on the floor to play. After a while they go tried of playing with the electronic toys, so they moved over to playing with the things in the toy box with Cherise. While they played, the two turtles were starting to enjoy this freedom without older brothers. There was no name-calling, no fight over who got what, or who had to share what. Everyone was kind to one another and thing was offered with a smile.

But as the young turtles continued to play the novelty of not having their brothers around started to wear off. At one point they were coming across toys that they knew their brothers would have wanted to play with and soon two turtles were wishing they were there play with them. This made them feel so sad that they no longer wanted to play. Donatello and Michelangelo just sat in the middle of the room, staring at the toys they had brought out.

Cherise suddenly noticed that she was the only one playing. "What's the matter?" She asked curiously, but neither turtle answered. "Daddy!" The little girl ran out of the room towards the kitchen. "Daddy something's the matter with the turtles."

"Oh?" Marcus was in front of the stove cooking. "Do they look sad?"

"Yeah…"

"Then they're probably homesick."

"They are? Why?"

"Wouldn't you be if you were away from home and couldn't come back? Wouldn't you miss me?"

"Yeah…. So what do we do to make them feel better until they can go home?"

"Make them comfortable. Like giving them something to eat." Marcus took a pot of the stove andput it on a counter. "Go tell them dinner is ready."

"Ok." Cherise ran back into the playroom. "Come on. It's time to eat."

Thinking about food made the young turtles forget about their sadness, because they realized that they were very hungry. They jumped up onto their feet and followed the young girl out into the kitchen where four place settings sat on a small kitchen table. In the center of the table were three dishes. One was a salad made of spinach leaves, button mushrooms, and chopped tomatoes. Another dish was a large bowl of cheesy macaroni and the last was a meatloaf.

Donatello and Michelangelo liked the place setting. The plates looked like animals with sections that separate food. The forks were small enough to fit in their hands and had little cartoon prints on them. Back at home they only had plates that had no boarders to section off food so their food would touch, which they didn't really like, and their forks were kind of too big to handle. But the reason they had such things, was because those were only the kind of things Master Splinter could find on his scavenging hunts.

Once everyone was seated at the table, Marcus started to dish out the food. Michelangelo and Donatello looked at the salad that was spooned in front of them. Their faces scrunched up in as they poked at it with their fork.

"What's the matter?" The young man asked.

"Um…I'm allergic to spinach." Donatello said timidly.

Marcus turned a little white. "I should have asked if you two hand any allergies." He started to take the salad back.

"Me too." Michelangelo chimed. "I'm allergic to spinach too." He held his plate up to the young man. "Better take mine back too."

Marcus stopped and eyed them both. "Are you really allergic?" Both turtles shook their head slowly. "You know you should lie about something like that, it's not funny. You had me scared there."

"We did?" Michelangelo questioned. "We didn't mean to. How did we scare you?"

"Bad things happen to people with allergies." Marcus explained. "They can't breathe cause their throats swell up and sometimes they could even die."

"We're sorry." Donatello apologized. "It's just that we don't like spinach."

"I like spinach." Cherise announced. "But I don't like tomatoes or mushrooms."

"I like mushrooms." Donatello replied. "And Mikey likes tomatoes."

"I'll trade you guys for the stuff you don't like for the stuff I don't like." Cherise suggested. "Is that alright daddy?"

"I suppose it would be alright for tonight." Marcus said with a slight sigh. "But you three are eating everything else with no fuss or there will be no dessert."

"Ok." The three children answered while passing their disliked food around to the ones that wanted it.

The rest of dinner went on without complain. After having Mrs. Mason's cookies with milk for dessert, Cherise took the young turtles out into the living room to watch television while Marcus did the dishes. As they flipped through the stations, Michelangelo and Donatello noticed that there seemed to be more than they had back at home.

"How did ya get so many stations?" Michelangelo asked.

"We got cable." Cherise answered. "But even with the many stations we got, there are times when nothing is on."

"You mean like now." Michelangelo said while got through all the stations again. "So now what?"

"Watch a video." Cherise said as she went to put a tape into the VCR that was built into the television.

"Is that what that little slot is for?" Michelangelo questioned.

"I told you all that, but you didn't believe me." Donatello retorted. "You all thought it was some kind of slot for a shelf."

"It doesn't matter, we don't have any tapes anyway." Michelangelo replied.

"You guys want some tapes?" Cherise asked. "I have tapes that are the same and there are some daddy and I don't watch. You can have those, right daddy?"

"Sure they can." Marcus answered from the kitchen. "At least they'll get used."

"Thank you!" Michelangelo and Donatello shrieked together.

Cherise had already pulled out small bunch of videotapes before her dad gave his approval. "We'll have to put them in boxes so that you guys can carry them."

The two young turtles looked through all the tapes. "Hey this was my favorite movie." Michelangelo cried. "And here's one of your favorite shows." He held out a tape to his brother.

"Cool." Donatello picked up another tape. "Here's something Raph and Leo would like."

"Who's are they?" Cherise asked.

"Their our brothers." Michelangelo answered, a little depressed.

"Do you have any more brothers?" Cherise question. "How about sisters?"

"No." Donatello replied just as gloomy as his brother.

"You're sad again." Cherise observed. "Why?"

"Cause we miss our brothers." Michelangelo sniffled. "But I bet they don't miss us."

"Why wouldn't they miss you?" Marcus questioned as he came over to join them. "It seems that you love each other very much."

"Cause we told them we didn't wanna be their brothers anymore and they said the same thing to us." Donatello answered while wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "They probably like not having us around just like we did and I bet they're not tired of it."

"Aw, I sure that neither one of you meant what you said." Marcus handed the little turtle a tissue. "And I'm sure that they are miss you just as much as you are missing them."

"You really think so?" Michelangelo asked. "I can't believe that."

Marcus picked up Michelangelo and tossed him into the air. "Believe what you want, but I still think they're missing you."

"Me next daddy. Me next." Cherise cried.

"And me too." Donatello yelled. "Please, me too."

Marcus gave a sigh. "Alright, one apiece and than it's time to get ready for bed."

"Aw…but we're not tired." The three children cried.

"Bed." Marcus ordered while tossing Donatello into the air. "It's getting late and if you don't go to sleep you all will be fussy." Next he tossed Cherise. "Now go get ready." Then he ushered the three of them into the bathroom where brought out spare toothbrushes for the little turtles to use.

After all bathroom routines were done, Marcus had the two little turtles go sit out on the couch while he took Cherise to her room to get her in to pajamas. Once the little girl was tucked into bed the young man came out with blankets and pillows so he could set up the couch.

When he was done, Marcus picked up Donatello and put him down on one side of the couch. "There you go." Next he put Michelangelo on the other side of the couch. "Now I want you to go right to sleep with no noise." The young man said while tucking them in.

"Ok." Donatello and Michelangelo replied as they snuggled their heads into the pillows and pretending to snore.

Marcus let out a small groan. 'Please let tonight go smoothly.' He pleaded while heading for his own room so that he could go to bed himself.

Not long after everyone had fallen asleep, a loud crack sound happened. It was enough to make Marcus wake sitting up straight. He looked outside his window in time to see a flash of light bright enough to make it looked like day outside for a second. The thunderstorm was about to began, which meant that there was going to frightened little children in need of comforting.

The young man groaned as he prepare to get out of bed while another loud crack went off outside. But before he could set a foot on the floor his bedroom door flew open to reveal three little shadows. And as fast as the flash of light was, so were the children as they went from door to the full size bed. Donatello clambered onto the left side of the bed, Michelangelo climbed on the right side, and Cherise crawled from the end of the bed. Three pairs of hands grasped the white t-shirt the man wore to sleep, pulling it in different directions.

Marcus leaned to his left to the night table that was by the bed and touch the glass shade of his lamp to turn it on. "It's just Mother Nature showing off what she could do." Marcus told them calmly while touching the shade two more times to make the light even brighter. "You all have nothing to worry about so long as we're inside." Both Donatello and Michelangelo briefly forgot their fear when they saw how the light turned on without a switch. To them it was like Marcus was using magic to make the lamp work.

"I wanna try." Donatello said as he touched the lamp, making it turn off. "Aw." He touched it again and it turned on. "Cool." The young turtle continued to touch the lamp, turning it on and off.

"My turn." Michelangelo said eagerly. "I wanna make the light come on with my touch." But Cherise and Donatello made it hard for him to reach the light. "Hmmm…" He happened looked next to him to see another table with lamp. "Ah." Happily he touched the light continuously like his brother.

"Alright, that's enough of that." Marcus said. "Let us all go back to our beds now." Of course the young man was unintentionally ignored, because the lights were so fascinating.

It wasn't until another crack sound, another flash of light, and the lamps suddenly shutting of without being touched that got the two turtles to stop. Frighten all three children buried their little faces into Marcus's chest. This made the young man realize that there were no going back to own beds. For tonight, he was going to be stuck with three children instead of one and it was going to prove to be an interesting night's sleep.