The days quickly fell into a rhythm. Leo woke himself just before sunrise with his foolproof internal alarm clock, then woke Donnie and took him downstairs for some private tai chi lessons. Mike lazed around a while longer, spreading out across the generously-sized bed, enjoying the morning light in his face and annoying Raph by recapping his dreams and speculating on what they meant.
Everyone found their own breakfast as their part in the rhythm allowed, and then it was time for training. Donnie rested and watched while Leo put the experienced ninjas through their paces. It was a little weird to have an audience who wasn't their master, but Mike had never been shy. In fact, his efforts to show off even more than usual probably contributed to him losing sparring matches he should have won.
"Mikey," Leo reprimanded him for the umpteenth time, when he missed an easy opening because he was busy mugging at Donnie to call attention to his last move. "Focus."
"I am!" Mike whined.
"On your training," Leo suggested, but Donnie kept sneaking him little signals that he was thoroughly entertained by Mike's antics and Leo's ensuing pissiness, and so losing matches was totally worth it.
After training they spent an hour or so engaging in their own pursuits, which for Mike usually meant wandering the farm, sketching the early fall landscape, or preparing a more elaborate lunch. In the afternoon Raph would order Don out of the house, take him for as long of a run as he could stand, and then let him cruise around the lake for a while. Leo would nag Mike about his own basic conditioning exercise, Mike would demonstrate that he was faster than Leo and stronger and pretty much better in every way, and then he would give in and go for a serious run through the woods because it was fun anyway.
In the evening, they'd share a meal and tell stories, and then it was time to curl up in bed again.
It wasn't a bad way to live.
And then, every day had its own special adventures.
"Hey, D," Mike said, one day at lunch. "You wanted to go see the barn?"
"Oh, maybe," D said. "Are there animals in it?"
"Nah," said Mike. "But there's a tractor and stuff."
D's eyes lit up. "There's a tractor? Does it work?"
Mike shrugged. "I dunno. You wanna find out?"
"Do I ever." D inhaled the rest of his food and brought his plate to the sink, leaving it there without rinsing it. He'd learned quick that Leo actually liked cleaning. "I've always wanted to drive a tractor."
"Do you know how to drive?" Leo asked.
"Not a clue," said Donatello cheerfully. "But if we were normal and didn't live in Manhattan, we'd be in driver's ed right now. Homeschool farmstay driving lessons. Who's with me?"
Mike and Raph were in immediately, and Leo mumbled something that involved the words responsible and supervise, and then they were heading out to the barn.
Mike hauled the huge door open, and D went in, staring around in wonder. "Are we sure we can't stay here forever?" he asked. "I love this place."
Raph made a beeline for the tractor seat, tried to start the machine, and got not so much as a rumble of life from the old diesel engine. "Aw, come on." He stood up on the footboard and heel-kicked the hood. "Turn over!"
"I don't think that's going to work." D had circled the tractor, taking in everything, and then laid his hands gently on the grille, as though he were befriending a large animal. "Come help me with this."
Raph jumped down, and in a minute the two of them were puzzling over the motor.
"Okay," said D. "I've looked at a lot of diagrams, but I've never actually seen an engine."
Mike lost interest at that point, and headed off to entertain himself climbing in the rafters. The barn was not in great shape, but it was sturdy enough for a ninja Turtle to use as his personal playground, and maybe jumping around up there would keep Leo off his back about exercise for the rest of the day.
He eventually made it out an upper window and onto the roof, an achievement that left him literally with nowhere to go from there. The house was too far away to jump to, and there wasn't another building in sight.
He did handstands and flips on the peak of the roof for a while, and then there was a loud growling noise from below, and the tractor came bouncing out through the big doors, Donnie driving while Raph straddled the casing behind him.
"Go faster!" Raph shouted.
"It doesn't go faster!" Don shouted back. "It's a tractor, not a Ferrari!"
They went around and around the house, arguing over whose turn it was to steer, and then they let Mike drive for a while, and then the ancient machine ran out of gas.
"Aw," Mike said, as his ride sputtered to a halt. "Sorry, Leo."
"That's okay," said Leo, who was trying to sound mature, but who Mike suspected was secretly relieved to not have to interact with the modern technology.
After dinner, Donnie wanted to talk about something a little different. "Where do you all stand on politics?" he asked.
"Uh," said Mike. "We're not old enough to vote."
"Oh, I know," said D. "But what do you think about the issues? The war in Iraq, for example?"
He was met with a round of blank looks.
"The economy?" D tried. "Education. Health care. Gay marriage." Still he was getting nothing. "The environment?"
"Oh," said Leo. "We're glad there's so much garbage in New York."
Now it was Donnie's turn to look baffled.
"Well, we live off it," Leo explained. "We get everything we need out of dumpsters and landfills."
"Okay, no," said D.
"Whaddya mean, no?" Raph poked D's skinny arm. "You won't believe what humans throw away. We eat better than you do."
"But isn't it contaminated?" asked D, who was obviously appalled by the idea of eating food from the trash.
"It's all wrapped in plastic," Mike said. "Then we cook it. No big deal."
"What about everything else?" D asked. "Furniture? Books? Bedsheets? Dishes? Household appliances?"
"We find them used, or we don't use them," Leo said simply.
"You live in poverty," D said.
"Not at all," Leo said, with a sincere smile. "Most of the time we feel like the wealthiest people in New York."
"But you live off of other people's garbage," D said, as though Leo had lost track of the topic. "Doesn't that bother you?"
"Where do your food and books and household appliances come from?" Leo asked.
"My mom takes care of people's pets," D replied, "and rents space in her building, and that way she earns money, and then she can buy the things we need."
"And that doesn't bother you?" Leo asked. "That your mom has to sell her time and space so you can eat?"
"It's how the economy works," D said.
"Ah." Leo settled back in his chair. "Then I guess we're opposed to the economy."
"I don't think you understand the point of the exercise," Don said, when he had recovered from a moment of speechlessness.
"But more importantly," said Mike, who was getting bored of the conversation, "are we going out?"
D blinked at him. "It's dark," he said.
"I know," Mike said. "It's a new moon night."
"Yes," D said. "It's dark. Why would you want to go out? You can't see anything."
"We can," Leo said.
"I'm absolutely certain I can't see in the dark," D informed him.
"I know," said Leo, who in fact seemed a little disappointed by that piece of information, though not surprised. He repeated his earlier words, with even a little more emphasis. "We can. Because of our training."
"You can't increase the sensitivity of your rods through training," Don snapped.
Raph, who'd kept quiet for a while, leaned towards Mikey. "Did he just say something dirty?"
"The rods in your eyes," Don said, totally ruining the moment. "The structures that detect light. You can't learn to see in the dark."
"We got you through that cave, didn't we?" Raph said.
"That was imaginary," Don replied.
"Okay, well, I ain't gonna argue if it was or not," Raph said, pre-empting Leo's lecture about what exactly the astral plane was. He pushed his chair back and swatted at Don. "Get up. We're going out."
"But -"
"You heard the sensei," Mike said, just to irritate Leo further and get a big grin out of Raph. "Move your shell."
"Who even talks like that," Don muttered, but he got up and let Raph push him towards the door.
Within minutes they were away from the house, their path lit only by starlight. "Go towards the woods," Raph said.
"Why?" Don demanded, though his anger was only covering for fear, and nobody was fooled. "Is it not dark enough over here?"
"No backtalk," Raph ordered, and Mike knew he was congratulating himself on the inside for finally getting to say that.
They led Donnie under the shelter of the trees, and then his pace slowed even further. "Guys, I am honestly terrified," he said, his voice shaking. "I can't see a thing." The slightest pause, then: "Are you even still there? I can't hear you. Please tell me this isn't a prank."
"Donatello." Leo's measured tones. "We will never, ever leave you."
"You are such a sap," Raph muttered.
"Yeah," Mike agreed. "And so obviously not true. I mean, eventually we are gonna take him home and then go back to the Lair."
"I don't know which of you I hate the most right now," Don said.
"Can't be me," Mike said. He slid around Raph and unerringly found Don's hand in the dark. "Come on. This is what you do." And he taught Donnie to walk in the deep shadow, to use echoes and air currents and the slope of the ground to find his way. Their bro wouldn't become a ninja overnight. But when the sun rose in the morning, he'd be a little less dependent on its light.
They made a loop through the woods, slowly, not going too far. Don walked alone, a little, near the end, feeling his way forward while his brothers spread out around him, forming a protective circle, giving subtle signals to guide his steps. Mike didn't think he had ever felt so focused. The part of him that always wanted to go bounding off in all directions was finally quiet, while he devoted all his attention and skill to making his brother feel safe and protected, independent and free, all at the same time.
With the help of his unseen escort, Don found the edge of the woods again, where he could just pick out the path back to the house. There he stopped, not afraid of what might lie ahead of him, but contemplating what lay behind. Mike gave him a moment to reflect on what he had just experienced before approaching, careful to telegraph his presence.
"Something you want to do again?" he asked.
"I don't know," Don said. "But I can kind of see the appeal." He reached out uncertainly, and found Mike's shoulder. "You're a weird family. But not such a bad one."
"We're here for you," Mike said. "I mean, none of that sappy stuff. Just, for real. If you need anything, just let us know."
"Actually," Don said, and Mike's heart lifted in eager anticipation, "I'd kind of like to be alone for a little while. It's nothing about you," he added quickly, at Mike's obvious disappointment. "I just need a lot of time by myself."
"No, it's cool," Mike said, and as if on cue they all began moving towards the house. "We respect that."
"I think I'll go sit on the porch swing for a while," Don said, as they approached the kitchen door.
"Don't stay out too long," Leo said. "It's getting chilly."
"I'm learning my limits," Don said quietly.
"Oyasumi," Leo said, a word he had taught Don a few nights ago, and Don echoed it back, and then he followed his own path around the side of the house.
He came up to the bedroom about an hour later, took a spoonful of the brown medicine in the dark, and climbed under the blankets next to Mikey. As they fell asleep together, Mike couldn't decide which part of these rhythmic days was his favorite. He wished the snow would never come.