Chapter 8

-Captive-

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock itself wasn't what woke him, in fact he found the continuous sound to be soothing. No, what woke him was that its sound served as a reminder that he wasn't at home. It was a reminder that he was no longer on the grassy road side where he'd passed out. Actually, the place in which he found himself was soft and downy, it smelled fresh like a meadow after a rain storm. He was definitely not where he was supposed to be. Which meant that April woke before him and managed to bring him somewhere.

Donatello tested his body by wiggling a bit, he didn't seem to be restrained, which was good, but his body felt like it weighed a ton. The accident must have done more damage than he'd calculated, luckily he was only off by a bit or he could be waking up on the roadside with April lying dead next to him. He shook off that vision from his mind but began to wonder where she was anyway.

The purple clad turtled sat up, his head was spinning but he pushed through the dizziness and nausea and took in his surroundings. Though it was dark he could tell that he was in a fully furnished bedroom. Whose? He didn't know. He kicked off the quilt that covered him and a soft blue glow illuminated the room.

He discovered as he looked down at his leg that the blue glow belonged to a small ankle monitor. That explained why he wasn't tied up. There wasn't much he could do about his new accessory so he settled on finding April. Somehow he had to convince her to go back home with him.

Donatello slipped out of the bed making his way to the door, it complained as it peeled away from the door jamb, and he peeked his head out. Light from a room at the end of a short hallway told him that a television was playing. The light of which bounced through the hallway, illuminating the pictures that hung on the wall. From the pictures he could tell that this home belonged to an elderly couple.

Following the light to the living room, Donatello saw that the news was on so he caught the date and time. It had been a day and a half since the chase! Where were his brothers? No way they would have stopped trying to find him… unless, something happened to them. A feeling of dread washed over him.

A small sound caused him finally notice the occupant sleeping on the couch. It was April and her face was scrunched up in pain. Donatello could tell that it wasn't too much pain, he knew almost every face she made. This particular face told him that she was merely uncomfortable. Making his way around to the front of the couch he knelt down next to her.

Donatello tilted his head to the side, she looked more fragile than the last time he'd seen her like this. But even like this, in her darkest time he found her to be stunning. Her long eyelashes rested against her skin, skirting the edges of her freckle dusted cheeks. He smiled, remembering the way her nose would wrinkle when she didn't understand something he said and the way her eyes lit up when she did.

April sensed his presence and her eyes snapped open causing Donatello to lose he balance, his shell grinding hard against the coffee table behind him. Items on the table clattered and fell while the color on his cheeks reddened as much as it could against his green skin. "Oh… um." He rubbed the back of his head. "Morning?"

April let out a sigh, her eyebrows knitted in anger. Whether her anger came from being woken up or just her general predicament, Donatello couldn't tell. She pushed herself up into a sitting position wincing all the while. Donatello assumed that the injuries she'd sustained during the accident were screaming at her.

The moment he saw her in pain, his protective instincts kicked in, being that he was the healer of the team he couldn't help himself. "Are you hurt?" he asked, "let me have a look." He reached forward to touch her arm and she yanked away, the act caused her to let out a small pained sound.

"Don't pretend you care." She said, finally pushing herself up off the couch into a standing position. Donatello followed her up to meet her gaze, "nice try back there, with the van."

"I admit that it could have gone better." He said sheepishly, "I had to stop you somehow. I didn't want to hurt you." He added, it was true although, had his calculations been even minutely off… the vision of her lying dead next to him flooded his mind again.

"Are you serious? You tried to kill me." She said.

"Tried to kill you?" he had to smile in spite of himself, were it anyone else, an attempt might've been the right word. No, Donatello knew exactly what he was doing. "Interesting, I rarely do anything without intent behind it."

April bristled, how could he be so smug? "It doesn't matter anyway. Point is that you were unsuccessful and I have you trapped here."

He glanced down at the lovely accessory around his ankle and shook his leg, it didn't even move, just kept on glowing. "I see that."

"It's a special ankle monitor." She said. "If you take one step out of this house it will administer a shock powerful enough to knock you out." She smiled, she seemed to be particularly proud of being able to capture him. "So I wouldn't try escaping."

Donatello cocked his head to the side, a small smile danced on his lips, "I'm not going to escape; I don't need to." He said, "in fact, not only will you let me go of your own accord, you'll come back home with me."

His gaze bore into her and her heart skipped a beat, he was steadfast in his resolve. April managed to tear her glance away, this had to be a trick. "How can you be so sure?"

"I have faith in you, April" He said. The silence that surrounded them after his comment was palpable. April clenched her hands into fists, she couldn't let him toy with her like this. He would say anything to get free. She knew the truth, she knew how they really felt about her. "The only way we'll be leaving together is when I hand you over to them."

"Hand me over to whom? I assume it's not the lovely couple who owns this house, where are they by the way?" he asked.

April took offence to his tone, "I don't like what you're insinuating." She said. Did Donatello really think she'd hurt an old couple? "The owners are snowbirds. They headed down south for the winter a few days ago according to the calendar in the kitchen." She said.

"I see, and the reason we are staying in their home would be?"

"To lie low until the heat from the car chase dies down." She said. "Your brothers got too close." The way she said brothers, as if the word was acid in her mouth, made Donatello cringe.

"Speaking of attempted murder." He muttered, fighting against the urge to grab April and shake some sense into her.

"Relax." She said. "I was only trying to buy time." She turned her attention to the newscaster on the television. "The only body found at the scene was that of Overkill."

Donatello saw a small flash in her eyes, anyone else would have missed it but he knew April better than anyone, it was a flash of relief. She was keeping an eye on the news to make sure his brothers were alright. And just like that Donatello's faith in April was restored. He'd convincer her to return yet.

It was nearing lunch time when Donatello walked in from the garage, he'd decided to busy himself with fixing little things around the house. April watched as he dropped a tool box on the table, she got the feeling he was being overly obnoxious on purpose.

"You aren't a very good captor." He said, but his tone told her that he was in a playful mood.

"Excuse me?"

"Well I mean, it's kind of boring."

"I'm not here to entertain you. I thought you were fixing things." She said

"I'm taking a break, I'm pretty hungry." He said. "Aren't you?"

"No." April said and her stomach betrayed her by letting out a small growl. She blushed. Damn it.

Donatello didn't laugh or tease her, instead his face dropped in concern. "When was the last time you had a decent meal? I've noticed even before you went rouge that you've lost a lot of weight. I'm worried about you."

"You're worried about me?"

"Yeah, it's called friendship."

"No, it's called Stockholm Syndrome." She said.

"Not technically since I've felt this way befo… you know what, never mind. Point is you are my friend and I want to help." He said, crap, he'd almost let his true feelings show. Oh god, she was staring at him, what now? He had to say something. "It is almost lunch time and we have time to kill. A small meal wouldn't kill anyone right?" why was he using the word kill so much. "It's not as if…"

April held up a hand to stop him, "You aren't going to shut up until I eat, are you?"

"No." he blushed, thankful that she'd finally said something.

"Fine…" she said, "should've gagged you." She said under her breath, he had to agree to that sentiment. God, he was so lame.

April searched, what looked to be the pantry, "Awesome, looks like they have everything needed to make ramen." April's stomach seared at the prospect of homemade ramen.

"That sounds really good, actually." He said. "Hey, remember when Murakami-san taught Mikey that recipe for Pizza Ramen?" catching a glimpse of her smile, he continued. "We never got to try it because he ate it all."

"And he left the recipe too close to the burner and it caught fire. Then we couldn't figure out how to make it again." She finished the story, that time felt like so long ago. What she wouldn't give to go back to those days. When she was living with them temporarily, dangerous as those days were, and as much as she missed her dad, they were the best of her life.

"That's right." He said. His smile bore into her.

It was happening again. She had to put a stop to it. "I know what you're doing. It won't work. Those memories mean nothing to me." She huffed and turned her attention to searching for a pot.

Donatello was taken aback, meant nothing to her? Suddenly he was reminded of the time she'd told them to stay away from her. He couldn't go through that feeling again. His heart twisted and he had to turn away before she could see his heart breaking. He grabbed up the tool box and hurried back to the garage.

Unaware of how her comment hurt Donatello, April continued to gather everything she needed to make ramen. She could hear him tinkering around in the garage, fixing yet another trinket. It was a sound she'd heard so often in the lair that it was almost comforting to hear it now.

Sometime later, the water began to boil and April quickly added a few ingredients to the pot. She was acutely aware of the lack of sound coming from the garage. Had Donatello managed to escape? April leaned back slightly, her place at the stove gave her a pretty good view of the inside of the garage.

Expecting to see evidence of his escape, April was unprepared for what she saw. Donatello sat against the far wall, tools scattered all around him, with his head in his hands. His body was shaking ever so slightly and April knew he was crying. The sight nearly broke her heart.

April leaned back a bit more, there was no way he was really crying, if so, why? With her hand still on the pot it began to slide forward. Before April could stop it, the pot teetered in her direction. She jumped back, out of the way, in time to avoid a serious injury but the boiling water still managed to splash onto her right hand.

"Son of a… OW!" the pan fell to the ground with a loud: Clank. Clang. Clang. It rolled off to the side, spilling what was left of the water all over the linoleum floor, where it lie forgotten.

Donatello was there in an instant. "April!" he hurried to her side, after taking in the scene he knew she'd burned herself. "We need to run cold water over it." He said and pulled her to the sink and did just that. "How did this happen?"

"I was just…." She looked up at him, his eyes still carried so much sadness yet he had room to hold worry for her in them. It was then that she noticed just how beautiful his eyes were. Soft and kind but still passionate and blazing, kind of like tiger's eye stones.

He blushed at her intense gaze, what exactly had gone through her mind just then? He decided to save that question for later. He pulled her hand from the cool tap water and studied it. "We better treat that or it'll leave a major scar." He ran his fingers over the wound slowly, he hated to see his April in such pain.

Donatello helped April to the chair and searched for the first aid kit, he found one underneath the sink and wasted no time digging through it until he found what he was looking for. "This should help draw the heat out." He said, returning to her side with a burn salve in hand.

April watch him unscrew the cap and apply some of the salve to his fingers, every move was calculated and perfect. She held out her hand to him and he took it in his careful hands. He spread the salve over her tender skin so lightly that she hardly felt any pain. His gentleness was making her whole body tingle, she liked it, and she didn't want it to stop. But just as she had that thought, he finished and wrapped her hand in gauze for good measure.

"There, good as new, well you might have a tiny scar but you should be fine otherwise." He smiled. He was still holding her hand, realizing that he shouldn't be he let go and began putting the first aid kit back together.

April began to think about all the times he had been there for her… if he didn't care about her like she though then… why. Then it struck her, "Wow," April said. "You're very good at this."

Donatello froze, April's demeanor suddenly looked unnatural, dangerous, like back at the dojo. He took a step back. "G-good at what?"

"You almost had me believing that you and the others actually care about me. As if you understand anything. You know nothing about the way I feel."

That was it, he'd had enough of this. "How can you say that?" his face was tight with anger, "There isn't anything I don't know about you, there's nothing I don't understand." He paused, "I should've just told you that you are important, that we need you, and that you make us better."

Getting lost in the heat of the moment, he took a step back toward her. "Every day I should have let you know that there's no reason to feel empty because you still have your heart, your beautiful, strong, brave heart." He placed his hand over her heart.

At that moment her walls came crashing down, all that she'd done and said came rushing back to her. She fell to her knees. She couldn't breathe. Everything was sinking in on her, dragging her down into darkness. She clawed at her throat, trying to find air but there was none. She grabbed fistfuls of her hair and pulled hard, she need to focus on something else, she settled for pain.

Donatello sank down next to her. "Stop it, April." He untangled her fingers from her hair and drew her against him. "It's alright, April." Donatello said. "I've got you."

April crawled into his arms and hugged him tightly as he pulled them up off of the ground. His smell filled her senses, it was refreshing like the ocean but cozy like home. "Let's go home, D." They broke the hug and April snapped her fingers causing his ankle monitor fell to the ground.

Donatello smiled at her and it was then that April could see herself reflected in his eyes. Her true self, the way he saw her and it made her feel valuable, she'd never felt that way. Ever. Her body acted of its own accord, her hands reached out, landing softly on his plastron.

He stiffened, unprepared as her slender fingers slid up and around his neck, she toyed with the bands of his mask, pulling her body up against his. He swallowed hard, she was going to kiss him. He felt warm and cold at the same time, it was an irrational feeling but he liked it all the same. All the ways he'd imagined this moment going never even came close to the real thing.

April's lips brushed against his for a second before the sound of something crashing through the window tore them apart. Donatello shoved April behind him and turned to face the interruption. A thick puddle of inky darkness dripped in through the remains of the window and pooled on the ground in front of them. The puddle began to rise up only to take on a humanoid shape. "What is that?" Donatello asked.

"It's Evixus." April said. "We have to get out of here."

"I knew you couldn't be trusted, Girl." An inky tentacle sprouted from Evixus' back and slithered along the ground before it wrapped around April's ankle. With one swift yank she was ripped away from Donatello.

"Let her go!" Donatello ordered, grabbing a knife from the cutting board where April had been cutting vegetables for their lunch.

"As you wish." April let out a scream as her body was flung into the garage, her body crashed into a large tool chest causing it to topple down on top of her. She tried to move out of the way but she was too slow and the chest pinned her leg to the ground. White hot pain flooded through her and she wanted to puke but fought against it.

"April!" Donatello hurried toward the garage but Evixus used one of his tentacles to sweep Donatello's legs out from under him and he fell to the ground.

"You are the one we are looking for." Evixus' tentacle slithered up Donatello's leg and coiled around his body until it was wrapped around his neck. The tentacle slithered around his arms preventing him from using the knife in his hand.

April jammed her good leg against the tool chest but it wouldn't move. She could see Donatello struggling to shake the tentacles off of him. He let out a scream when the tentacle shocked him.

April yanked harder, the pain finally numbing to a constant cold sensation, she didn't care, she yanked harder and harder, the chest wouldn't move.

Donatello ignored the stinging sensation coming from the tentacle and managed to gather enough power to stab at the base of the tentacle. It slithered back where it came from and Donatello pushed himself up off the ground, but before he could even gather his thoughts Evixus rammed his fist into Donatello's head, sending back to the ground.

"Donnie!" April let out a scream of frustration and her power prickled to life filling her. The tool chest flew out through the roof along with April as her power caused her to levitate.

"I don't think so, little girl." She turned back to find Evixus hovering behind her. He was fast. "You are mine now. This power you have has been tainted by my influence." Evixus snapped his fingers, the world seemed to implode, swirling around and around toward a central point: April. Suddenly her mind shut down, her body fell head first toward the ruins of the house beneath her.

Her body landed next to Donatello, he saw that vision again only this time it felt real. Donatello scooted himself as close to her as he could. He placed a hand on her cheek. "The world can fall apart around us and I will always find a way to save you." He said tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "I love you, April." He said before his body finally gave in to the weight of fatigue.

A/N:

Once again, I want to say thanks to my lovely reviewers, hopefully sending them personal Thank-You's wasn't too much. (This is my thirtieth story and I want to interact with my readers a little more).

In the next chapter our sweet, sweet Mikey wakes up. Raph and Leo are more than a little upset about the way things are going. We learn about Slash and what he and the other Mutanimals know about all of this.