Donatello was not a person built on patience.
It was two months after the gang had met Juniper for the first time. Their friendship with the woman had escalated before their eyes and now she was well on her way to becoming a permanent, and much needed, staple in their lives. She brought a new air to the lair, a new person to hang out with and learn about. Her stories were endless much like their own, albeit hers were not as much about life threatening situations and mutant battles but more about poorly executed plans and embarrassing social interactions. In a way, it gave them all a welcome feeling of normalcy amongst the chaos that constantly chased them.
Currently, Juniper's insistent tapping on the mousepad of her laptop was about to drive him up the wall.
"I hate to break it to you, but refreshing the screen every five seconds is not gonna bring you results any faster."
The blonde woman rolled her eyes as she clicked the refresh button once more, just for good measure before she stood up to refill her coffee cup for the third time. "I know that, Donnie. I just don't understand why they haven't been posted yet. The results for my finals should've been up an hour ago."
She was nervous about her math test, for sure.
In a moment of weakness, she had called him one night 2 weeks prior. Donnie had listened as she ranted about her problems with math and how she wasn't sure if she could pass this final in particular. His chest had clenched when he heard her sniffle pitifully over the phone, "Don, I really need your help with this. I don't know what to do."
Of course, the genius within him bragged proudly about someone asking for his help for once.
He was at her shared apartment with April within about 15 minutes. April was quick to start brewing a pot of coffee, knowing her caffeine addicted friends would be itching for it. Donnie sat with Juniper at the kitchen bar going over different equations on her timed test, prompting her and hinting answers. The way her eyes lightened up delightfully each time he told her she had gotten the right answer was almost as satisfying as the feeling he got when finishing one of his own projects.
Donnie watched as she set her laptop aside and stood up from her seat. She stretched her legs out, sighing afterwards.
"Don't stress yourself out. I'm sure you did fine, you had a certified genius to help you out after all." He boasted to get a reaction out her. Peeking one eye open, he saw her dark blue eyes giving him a blank stare.
"See this face?" Her slender hand drew a circle in the air around her face, "Not amused. In the slightest."
As the group grew closer over the past couple of weeks, Juniper and Donnie had slowly gravitated towards one another. Their shared love of intellect and research drew them together, something that April loved to point out to them constantly since she did indeed, call it from the beginning. They were like two peas in a pod and Juniper relished in the fact that she finally had someone that could keep up with her, even if she sometimes had a difficult time keeping up with Donnie himself. They could go back and forth for hours, as Juniper had said herself, there is a science to good conversation.
"Surprising, considering I'm the funniest one in this room." He'd never admit it, but his bad boy poker face was a lot harder to keep up with her around.
"Being funnier than me? Hah! You wish!" She waggled a finger at him as she waltzed out of his lab and to the kitchen. "More of your conversation would infect my brain."
He was quick to call out another Shakespearean insult in return wiggling his fingers with emphasis, "I'll beat thee but I would infect thy hands." His satisfaction derived from the offended gasp that burst from her mouth just before his lab door shut behind her.
Donnie turned around to continue working on his bo, tweaking a few things here and there. As he fidgeted with different parts, he began mulling over the past couple of weeks. Juniper had definitely taken a liking to his lab. Was it a good thing? Yes and no.
On one hand, he had decent company to chatter away with as he worked. He never had to worry about the woman meddling with his projects or touching some of the more dangerous products of his lab like Mikey. She didn't pester him down to his last nerve like Leo did. April had too short of an attention span to keep him company for long. And Raph would distract him with the questions, oh so many questions. For the most part Juniper just kept to herself. Typing away at her laptop and sipping her coffee. Other times he found he couldn't finish a single project because he would just become so enraptured in conversation that the time would fly by without him noticing. This was a new concept to him, but it was not as unpleasant as he figured it would've been.
With his back turned, he heard the lab door open and shut. A smirk crept onto his lips as he slowly swiveled around in his chair, "I am sick when I do look upon thee-"
"Excuse me?" His face paled when he saw April standing there with a hand on her hip, definitely not the literature obsessed human he was expecting.
"Oh uh, April. I thought you were Lee." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"So the insult was intended for my friend instead?"
"Uhhh"
He suddenly realized that that did not sound any better. Before he could stress himself out with an over explanation, his newest blonde friend burst through the door triumphantly with a coffee in each hand.
"Villain! I have done thy mother."
Her indigo eyes narrowed mischievously on him. She just looked so damn proud of herself. He feigned insult. The back of his hand pressed against his face dramatically, monotone speech not quite matching his actions. "Oh no, an insult against my mother whom I've never met and have no attachment to whatsoever, how dare you? How will I ever recover from this?"
Juniper snickered and handed him one of the coffees, satisfied with his reaction. April rolled her eyes at their verbal antics and turned around, making her way out of the lab she had just entered. "I'm starting to regret letting you two hang out alone together like this. It's giving-" she contemplated, waving a hand in the air,"-nerds on steroids."
Juniper turned to Donnie with the most serious expression she could muster, "You're on steroids? Maybe that's why your ego is so inflated."
"Two insults in under two minutes? Honestly, I'm devastated." He replied sardonically.
A chime from her laptop halted their friendly bickering and she practically dove for the device. Donnie followed, watching over her shoulder as her nimble fingers typed the passcode to unlock her laptop with ease, it was muscle memory at that point. Clicking on the results tab, she held her breath until the page loaded and showed her final grades.
She passed all her finals, top student of her classes with the exception of one.
"Hell yes!" She exclaimed, holding her fist up. Donnie smirked and bumped his fist against her small one.
"Told you."
As her head turned to him, the sweetest smile graced her lips, "Seriously, Don. Thanks. I really owe you one."
He waved her off, while trying to hide the small blush on his cheeks, "Don't mention it."
The moment was ruined by her phone ringing.
Donnie's interest piqued when she groaned in frustration. She had actually paused to collect herself for a few seconds. She then picked the device up with trembling pale hands, declining the call, and slowly setting it back down. Her small hands brushed through her hair, harshly detangling the knots within the strands before quickly wrapping her golden locks into a bun atop her head.
"Who was that?" He asked casually, trying not to sound too interested.
She shook her head, a frown ruining her features for a moment, "Just another scam call."
"Oh." He inquired, "April had that problem too. I can actually program your phone to automatically block the calls for you if you want-?"
She was quick to interrupt him, holding her hands up in front of her with a nervous smile.
"No, no." She laughed nervously. "It's no big deal, I've got it handled."
Her phone began ringing again and Donnie watched her brows furrow together as her face scrunched up in irritation once again.
"Hello?" She answered in an abnormally soft tone, walking to the other end of the lab for a bit more privacy. She either severely underestimated Donnie's hearing or just thought he wouldn't be listening.
"I'm not ready to talk about this right now."
...
"I don't know."
...
"Look, I'm sorry. I just-"
...
"Okay."
Donnie had turned to his work with his headphones on his head, giving the impression that he wasn't listening. He knew she didn't want him to hear the conversation, but something about her reaction to a simple 'scam call' didn't sit right with him.
Something's not adding up.
He heard her sigh heavily at something the caller said. The little 'beep' on her phone came shortly after signaling that she had hung up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her approach while still fidgeting with her phone. She had muttered something about 'hate this' before turning her phone off and pocketing it.
Not wanting her to know that he was indeed eavesdropping, he continued tinkering at his work table.
"Sorry, some of those callers can be really persistent ya know?"
Liar.
The smell of adrenaline rolled off of her in waves, heightening his own senses much like the numerous battles he'd been in. But she wouldn't know that.
He had nearly rolled his eyes at the fake laugh she forced but played along anyways.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure they can be very inconvenient." He didn't mean for his tone to be so sarcastic, but to be fair, he wasn't good at pretending or faking his feelings either. For the most part, he had no filter.
He would let it slide though, for her sake. Obviously, she didn't want him to know. For all he knew, it could be something extremely embarrassing for her. Or something else that was, to be honest, really not any of his business.
Butttttt
His mind saw the loophole as soon as it appeared.
It did happen in my lab so technically it is my business now.
He carefully thought over her phone call and mentally filed away every bit of information he could recall. He wouldn't approach her on the matter today, but if it continued? Oh yeah, he would definitely be on it.
Donatello could be a patience turtle when he wanted.
"Lee, are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"
I waved April off, starting the coffee pot and getting the ingredients in my cup ready for when it finished brewing the hot caffeine. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Go have fun with your mom for the weekend, I know with everything going on you haven't been able to spend much time together. Plus, I'm a grown woman you know."
She walked around the counter, gently grabbing my wrist to stop me from moving. "I know. It's just, well... you've been kind of jumpy lately. If there's something going on, I want you to know that you can trust me, okay? That's what best friends do, right? Trust each other." I nodded, avoiding eye contact knowing it would give me away.
"It's just that so much has happened lately, I guess I'm still trying to process everything. You know?"
It's not a complete lie.
She removed her grip on my arm and took a step back, "Yeah, I get it. Just remember that I got two ears ready to listen at any time. Promise me you'll come to me or the guys if you need help with anything."
"I promise, April. Now get going, you're gonna be late." I insisted, plastering a smile on my face to ease her worries. I reached out to give Mayhem a quick goodbye pat, and then began pushing April toward the door. She rolled her eyes, a smirk on her own face.
"Okay, okay! Call me if you need anything."
"Will do. Have fun!"
As soon as the door clicked shut, I let the smile fall off my face and turned to grip the counter. In all seriousness? I was scared to be alone. But I was fine.
I had half a mind to just spend the weekend at the lair. But alas, I had only known the guys a total of four months and I felt like that was still too soon to ask if I could stay for a weekend. Hell, I'd feel awkward even asking to stay for one night. Would it be even more awkward without April there with all her weirdness to break the tension too? Yeah, of course it would.
But it was okay. It was just a normal Friday afternoon, nothing crazy happening. I would just spend the weekend at home alone while April and Mayhem were visiting April's mom...
Everything was just, fine.
I strolled over to the couch with my fresh coffee, quickly wrapping myself up in my ultra soft blanket, as Mikey called it, and scrambled around for the Roku remote. I couldn't go 5 minutes without losing it. Finally, I huffed and stood up. I grasped the blanket and gave it an aggressive shake, smiling in triumph when the remote clattered onto the floor.
With the remote in one hand, and my coffee in the other, I spent the next couple of afternoon hours dozing off to random drama shows.
When I woke, it was dark in the living room. There was no more light drifting in from the windows signaling that it was at least past 7. The tv had long ago gone silent with 'Are you still watching?' displayed across the dimly lit screen. I wiped my face and cringed at the drool that had crusted there. My eyes blinked drearily as I sat up slowing from my nest of blankets.
I must've needed that sleep more than I thought.
I slowly made my way to the kitchen to rinse out my coffee mug, gently setting in on the drying rack when I was finished. I took my time wiping down the counters and clearing up any kitchen clutter. There were not many things that I enjoyed more than waking up to a pristine kitchen where I could calmly enjoy a cup of my cherished cold brew.
I grabbed the rest of the coffee in the pot, putting it in a large mason jar and setting it in the fridge beside a matching jar of home mixed sweet cream. After I finished piddling around the kitchen, I finally made my way back to the living to declutter it also.
I hummed to myself as I folded the blankets and set them in the designated blanket basket. One of the blankets in particular, a thick king sized sage green blanket with a cute mushroom pattern across it, was Leo's favorite. He would always come into our apartment, and lazily sprawl out on one of the couches with the blanket tucked around him cozily.
I was mid stretch when I heard the door, my senses that were still slowly coming back to me were now heightened with sudden anxiety. I froze and strained my ears to listen to the sound of metal tapping metal near the door, hands still up in the air.
The telltale sound of someone messing with the lock. Someone was trying to break in.
'Shit' I mouthed to myself before ducking down and looking for a place to hide.
The only place I could think of was under the couch.
Now, normally, you would look at the space between the floor and the couch and think 'No way anyone can fit under there', which is exactly why it was a great hiding spot. The actual underside part of the couch had more space than its edges that nearly touched the floor, just for the looks.
I laid on my back, carefully pushing up the couch just enough so I could slip under it, and setting it back down with minimal noise, rolling over silently so I had a better view from under the couch. My next move was to alert the guys and get help as fast as possible.
My heart thumped rapidly against my sternum as I slid my phone out of my back pocket, double checking that it was on silent and dimming the screen before texting the guys in a group without April. I didn't want to worry her and cause her to cancel her trip over one little mishap. I told her I'd be fine, and I meant it.
JuniperJim: SOS
DONT tell April.
Their response was almost immediate.
NeonLeon: Is this like a fr sos or like I'm doing a surprise party behind April's back sos?
MagicMike: Surprise party????
DonTron: Rate this emergency on a scale of 1-10.
I nearly facepalmed. They really could be a pain in the ass sometimes.
JuniperJim: REAL SOS. 10/10. INTRUDER ALERT. APRIL'S NOT HERE.
Within seconds, a new reply popped up.
MadRaph: Hang tight, on our way.
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they would be here within a matter of minutes or less. They could be a playful bunch, but when things got serious they knew how to kick it into gear.
My eyes widened as I heard the lock on the door finally give in. My sweaty palm slammed itself over my mouth to keep any noises from escaping. Ice flooded my veins as I saw a pair of familiar shoes quietly stride across the floor from my position beneath the couch. The Moody's uniform logo was imprinted on the side of the worn blue and white sneakers. The laces were not tied, and instead stuffed inside the shoes. I tried not to gasp from the horrid realization.
Would he really do this? Would he go that far?
I wanted to know. No, I needed to know. I had to make sure.
I removed my hand from my face, licking my chapped lips as I slowly picked up my phone, not daring to make a sound. With as much tact as I could muster, I waited for those shoes to turn the other way so that I could snap a quick picture of him.
I slid my phone out from under the couch and used my hand to snap a quick picture of him. I pulled my hand back and inspected the photo before realizing the angle was all wrong and all I had was an image of his left shoulder and legs. I tried again, this time trembling more than before, but now I had a better idea of what angle to snap from. I finally got the picture just as his feet abruptly turned in my direction.
I jumped in fear, dropping my phone in the process and mentally cursing myself. My heart stuttered as it made a loud 'thump' on the floor. Both of my hands flew to cover my mouth and I could only stare at my phone in dumb horror.
How could I be so stupid?
I knew that whoever it was could hear my heart hamming ferociously against my ribcage. A huge part of me was hoping that this was a stranger, and not who I thought it was.
They picked up the phone.
Everything was at a standstill for all of 60 seconds. Whoever picked that phone up, saw the picture on the phone. That means that they also knew that I was hiding somewhere nearby.
Ever so slowly, they set the phone back down onto the floor. With a flick of the wrist, they slid the phone under the couch and right in front of my face. My breathing had all but stopped at this point and my watery eyes widened even more at the new photo in front of me.
It was Ross.
He stood beside the couch, a smile on his face with the other hand forming a peace sign in front of him. With the angle of the photo it seemed as though he would've taken a picture with someone sitting on the couch. Nothing about the picture seemed off without the context behind it. But he knew. I was underneath it.
He was toying with me.
The door to the balcony suddenly slammed open, the cold night air sweeping over me instantly, but nearly as icy as the chills already shooting up my spine. When I looked up, those uniform shoes were long gone. I heard the guys quickly scope the place out within a matter of seconds. I nearly sobbed in relief when they called out, telling me it was safe to come out.
"June! It's us! You're safe, you can come out now!" Raph called out. Leo and Mikey immediately joined.
"Juniperrr! Your saviors are here!"
"Donnie's fake eyebrows scared away the intruder!"
Donnie scoffed at Mikey, but didn't get a chance to retort when a small voice interrupted them. They look to the source of the noise and saw a hand peeking out.
"I'm under h-here guys! I-I can't get out!" Her voice gave indication of rising panic, and Raph wasted no time lifting the couch up while Leo quickly lifted her out from underneath it.
Immediately, their concern grew as she latched onto Leo, blue eyes wide and glassy with unshed tears, "I-I thought- I was-"
The guys shared looks of bewilderment until Leo decided to sit on the couch, pulling her down beside him as well. "Hey hey, look at me." He finally said, speaking to her as if she were a child. He pulled back and brushed the blonde hairs that stuck to the silent tears now streaming down her face. "We're here, alright? You're okay."
Donnie, feeling that his input would help, kneeled down in front of her with a comforting hand placed on her knee. "Tomorrow we're installing new locks for this apartment. I've been thinking of it for a while, but tonight just reinforces my idea for it."
"And we're gonna get stronger doors and windows too." Raph insisted, smacking his right fist against his left palm.
"Yeah!" Mikey piped up. "This place is gonna be like a total fortress when we're done with it!"
She sniffled, taking a few moments to recollect herself before she peered up at each of the turtles with her watery blue eyes. "Really? You guys would do that?"
"Of course!" Leo responded, still clumsily trying to smooth her hair down. If only he had hair. Hmph.
"We care about you and April, and the safety of you both comes before anything else." Raph said with a note of finality to it.
"Do you want us to sleepover at the apartment tonight?" Mikey asked, but Juniper quickly shook her head. Her eyes darted to the now closed door nervously. "No- I mean. Not here. I don't wanna be here tonight."
"Sleepover at the lair? Even better!" She chuckled quietly at his enthusiasm. It was not easy to put a dent in Mikey's mood, that was for sure. Luckily for him, it nearly always worked in brightening her own mood.