Chapter 30: Apologies
Everything was semi normal in the lair. Mikey and Leo were watching TV while Karai read on another part of the couch. Raph was beating up a punching bag and little Donnie was currently underneath the couch, his new favorite place to be, beside the little heat lamp they had set up. The door to the dojo opened suddenly as Master Splinter walked out.
"We have guests." All heads turned to the entrance as Casey and April walked through the turnstiles.
"What are you doing here?" Raph growled, stepping away from the punching bag. "It's been weeks!"
Casey flinched at the words as April glared back, placing her hands on her hips. "It's not like you guys have made any effort."
"Effort? Like hell!"
"Raphael, enough," Master Splinter ordered.
"What are you guys doing here?" Leo calmly asked, walking around the couch to see them properly. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw Mikey duck down, obviously trying to get Donnie in case something were to happen.
Casey stepped forward, making sure April didn't say anything. "I wanted to come down here to apologize."
"Apologize?" Karai asked, sitting up and leaning on the back of the couch. "I think you should have done it sooner."
"I know," Casey began. "I was angry and I just didn't understand. I didn't understand how you guys could have so much hope. All of this shit has been happening for so long and all I wanted was for everything to go back to normal."
"I don't think it's going to get normal anytime soon, Jones," Karai seethed, glaring at him.
"Like you're one to talk," April blurted out. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"How is this my fault?" Karai shouted.
"You got yourself mutated!"
"Enough!" Splinter shouted, slamming his cane onto the ground. "April, calm yourself. This is no one's fault except for the Shredder. Why are you saying such things?"
"Why didn't you let us visit when you first got Donnie back?"
Splinter's eyes softened. "April, you must realize we did that with your safety and Donatello's in mind. You remember how you reacted when you first saw him in his mutated form? You immediately attacked. I saw the effects of fear on him first hand and I didn't want either of you to get hurt. Is that why you're hurting?"
April paused for a moment, her anger melting into tears. "I….. I just want him back. I want my best friend back."
"It's okay, April," Leo spoke up. "We understand."
"Anyways," Casey cleared his throat. "Like I said, I said some pretty horrible things. I realize that now. I'm so sorry, guys. I just….. I want so hard to believe he'll be back."
"He will," Mikey said happily, peeking out from the couch, holding a turtle in his hands. "We have to keep hope."
Casey nodded, raising a hand to his face to catch tears he didn't want the others to see. "I've always been so hard on him. I want to make it up to him. I'm sorry I said those things."
"All is forgiven, Casey," Splinter said calmly, before any of his children could speak up. "Even the best of us will say things we don't mean in times of great strife. But you do owe something a bit more personal apology."
"Who?" Casey asked.
"Donnie," Mikey declared walking around the couch to bring the turtle over to the boy. Casey looked confused as Mikey held up Donnie to eye level, a childish look on his face.
Casey sighed, raising a finger to run over the small head. "I'm sorry, Donnie. I know you're in there somewhere. We'll find a way to fix this." April took a few steps forward to get a good look at the turtle. Who knew how long it would take, but she vowed to help any way she could.
Mikey was laying on his stomach, having another staring contest with Donnie. The little turtle was surprisingly hard to beat. Mikey sighed and blinked. "Looks like you win, D. Man, sometimes I miss your big form. Well, I miss the original you a lot more but your big form always wanted to play. Now, you just want to eat and sleep."
"Master Splinter!" Mikey looked up to see Rockwell vault over the turnstiles, running over to the dojo where the rat had opened the door. "I must speak with you!"
"Of course," Splinter held the door open and shut it, leaving the lair in confusion.
"What's going on?" Leo asked.
"Rockwell thinks he has something," Slash said as he entered the lair with Leatherhead and Pete.
"Really?" Mikey asked hopefully, scoping Donnie up.
Karai walked over from the kitchen with Raph close by. "What is something?"
"He wouldn't tell us too many details," Leatherhead admitted, walking over to Mikey. "How's he doing?"
"As best of a little turtle can," Leo said, watching as Leatherhead ran a claw over the shell. Donnie had immediately tucked himself in at the giant crocodile's approach and it didn't look like he was coming out.
"Well I think the Doc's got something good!" Pete announced, flying over to Raph and Karai. "Everything was quiet and Doc was doing a test and practically screamed in joy. Next thing we knew, he was saying something about talking to Splinter, and just was gone. We raced to catch up and make sure he didn't get himself into any trouble."
Slash nodded. "He wasn't even paying attention to anything. He just wanted to get here."
"Hopefully it's something good," Leo said, turning to look at the closed dojo doors.
Master Splinter shut the door and turned back to Rockwell, pausing for a moment to make sure there were no ears at his door. "You wished to speak with me?"
Rockwell nodded and pulled his bag forward, pulling out several papers. "I've been working hard ever since Donatello's mutation and unmutation and like I've predicted, I'm making a lot faster progress with replicating the original mutation."
"That's good news," Splinter said, walking forward to look at the papers. They were actually several different picture of cells. He didn't really understand but he recognized the pictures from some of Donatello's research when he'd get so excited about something and needed to share, even if they didn't understand what he was talking about.
"This is the cellular structure of Donatello's current form, the regular turtle," Rockwell said, pointing to the first picture he had laid out. "The one next to it and from the blood sample Donatello was able to retrieve from Stockman." He had pointed at the next picture in the lineup. "I've been working on trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between the two. After all, there is a sixteen year difference between when he was a regular turtle and now."
"What about the other pictures?" Splinter asked, pointing to the three other laying on the floor.
"These are the bridge between the gap," Rockwell stated, putting the three pictures in between the normal cell and the final mutated one.
Splinter looked at each picture, trying to find the difference. "They each are just slightly different from each other."
Rockwell nodded. "They are. That is because they represent the different ages of Donatello."
"His age?"
"Yes. If I were to give the cure to him directly, his system would fail and Donatello wouldn't survive," Rockwell said. "But, if I give it to him in stages, Donatello will be just fine."
"What are the stages?" Splinter asked.
"It has to do with the ages I was talking about. The cure has to be given in four stages, basically four different ages, the final being his current age and he'll be cured."
Splinter blinked, trying to understand his words. "So, Donatello would have to go through….."
"The first shot would bring him to infancy," Rockwell started, knowing Splinter was having a hard time understanding. "The second would bring him to about age four or five. The third would be around age ten and the final one would bring him to his current age."
"To cure him, Donatello will have to through some parts of his childhood again?" Splinter asked, just to make sure he was understanding him.
"Correct," Rockwell said. "But with each shot, there needs to be time for his body to adjust. If they are given too soon, his body will react badly and will shut down."
"How long does he need to adjust?" Splinter asked.
"It will depend. I'll have to do some tests to make sure the cells are stable but I'd say between two to three weeks for each shot," Rockwell answered. "I know it isn't ideal but…"
"I'm going to have my son back."
Author's Note: The long awaited cure! So, the alternate option will be posted later today so keep your eye out for it! Special thanks to Fever To Write, Pilyartquitect, CuriousHeather, Bipper Cipher3, Sonic155, and Andraia452 for the reviews. You guys have followed this story since practically the beginning and I want to thank everyone for reading!