Cori woke up. She looked around. She was in the dojo. So it wasn't just a demented dream after all. Only Donatello was awake. Splinter was nowhere in sight but most likely in his room meditating. Donnie was scribbling on a piece of paper. Cori shoved her blanket off of her. Her back was sore from sitting on the floor. Donnie looked up and smiled. He gestured for her to come over. Cori, as quietly as she could, walked over Mikey and Raph.
She never realized Raph snored but then again, how would she know. She sat down next to Donnie and hugged her knees close to her chest. She looked over at the paper Donnie was holding. It was full of complex equations. She gave him a quizzical look. "Formulas for retro-mutagen," he whispered. "And thanks for asking me," he continued. "I see you have gotten better about rummaging through people's minds. Now I need to ask you some questions." "What questions," Cori whispered. Although it wasn't really whispering. It was more like silent yelling. Raph stirred in his sleep. "We need to work on that," he silently chuckled.
Donnie stood up along with Cori. They opened the door to find Leo sitting in the same spot as before. He turned his head slightly but not enough to see them clearly. "What time is it," Leonardo whispered. Donnie pulled out his phone and looked at it. "Almost nine." Leo turned his gaze back at the entrance. He clutched his katanas as if ready for an ambush. Cori felt pity for him having stayed up all night. Then she felt inspired by him. He stayed up the whole night to protect his brothers. She was going to say something to him but Donnie was already dragging her away. "Don't worry, he wouldn't have left until everyone was awake," he said.
Donatello opened the doors to his laboratory. He pulled out a seat for Cori to sit in and sat himself at his computer desk. Cori sat herself down. Donnie started to chew on a pencil. "So, what exactly did you see last night," he said. "Or earlier today," he corrected. Cori rubbed her arms. It was cold in the lab. "Well, I went to get some milk because I had a bad dream and then I heard footsteps. Then Slash was standing there oozing." "What was he oozing," asked Donnie. "Well, green stuff. I don't really know what it was but it came from his spikes on his back. Then he looked around and saw me and started running at me. He was about to hit me with his mace but then he just disappeared. Like one of those special effects whenever something fades away." Donnie was engrossed in his computer screen. He was typing as fast as she was saying the words. "Uh huh, then what? When did he disappear?"
Cori scratched her head. "When you came in the room I guess. Maybe a bit earlier." Donnie said nothing. Finally he said "I think, I think you were seeing my dreams." "What," asked Cori confused. "Well, you know that we are connected mentally. And that you feel my pain, which you forgot to mention the first time you were here, and you could read my thoughts. I don't know how you do it but I think you can see my dreams too. For example, today you saw Slash because I was dreaming about him attacking me. I don't think you see my dreams when you're asleep because your mind is 'resting' so you have a weaker connection with me. This means that you must have the same connection with April."
Cori was still confused. "But I never saw you or April's dreams before until now! How could I see them all of a sudden?" "That's because you were always sleeping in. April never sleeps over that much anymore and I usually stay up all night." Cori thought over what he said. All of it was true but one detail stood out the most. "But what about my mom? I don't think I've ever saw her dreams before." Donnie thought for a while before he said anything. "Well, you're mom's a security guard but she's always awake when you go to school, right? Mothers usually wake up early by habit. And maybe you did see her dreams before when you were littler and thought it was just a nightmare." Cori never thought of that before.
She never realized that her mother devoted herself to her daughter like that. Suddenly a memory popped inside her head. It was when Donnie, Leo, and Raph came home yesterday. She looked back at Donnie who was typing something on the computer. "Alright, but I have a question for you," she said. Donnie turned to her. "You can hear my thoughts, can't you?"