And here we are at the last chapter! If you are reading this, thank you! Thank you so much for sticking with me! I hope that it has been worth it. I know how precious time is; trust me. I really do hope that you've been enjoying your time here so far. The B team definitely have a few moments in this chapter.
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Michelangelo groaned sleepily as his eyes fluttered open for the day. A glance at his bedroom clock told him that it was almost seven in the morning. He made several, slow blinks as his groggy mind tried to process this information. Once it had, he surged out of bed as though it had turned into a fire pit.
He started throwing on his gear, thinking he was late for practice until he remembered that it was Christmas: one of the few days of the year that Splinter would let them skip morning practice. Mikey was usually such a morning person that he didn't need to take advantage of that sleep-in treat. Of course, considering how late he'd gone to bed, it was no wonder that he hadn't woken up at his usual time.
Once he'd tucked the triplets into bed for the night, Mikey returned to the living room so he could wait for Donatello to come home. He wanted to apologize for what had happened…for what he'd said. Not because he'd made Donnie mad. His genius brother got mad at him all the time. It was because of the sorrow that flickered over Donnie's face just before anger took over. Mikey hadn't seen that expression for nearly five years. He had dared to hope that he would never see it again. Knowing that he'd been the one to pull that look out of Donnie after all this time hurt. And it made him realize just how stupid their fight had been.
When Leonardo and Raphael strolled into the lair at about midnight, they'd been surprised to find Mikey still up. Even more surprised to discover that Donnie was still out in that bitter cold. Leo immediately called their brother, worry tainting his normally composed voice and blue eyes. Donnie hadn't been answering Mikey's texts, so he was relieved when Leo reached their brainy brother just fine. He watched as the purple banded turtle managed to appease their blue clad leader. Once the call ended, Leo told them that Donnie was safe and on his way home.
Mikey was all set to meet Donnie halfway, but his eldest brother took one look at his bloodshot eyes and herded him off to bed. Once there, he stubbornly took his time getting undressed. He hoped to catch Donnie walking down the hallway. Even after he'd crawled into bed, he lay there, listening…straining for some sign that the other half of the B team was home safe. Exhaustion eventually won out and pulled his heavy eyelids shut, guiding him into dreamland. Now that he was all rested, Mikey planned to make his genius brother a cup of coffee and stalk his bedroom until the tall turtle made his appearance for the day.
He had just finished wrapping his feet when there was a knock at his bedroom door. Before he could acknowledge his visitor, the door opened to reveal both Leonardo and Raphael on the other side. "Morning, dudes," Michelangelo said with a merry grin. His cheerfulness fell the moment he saw the stress in Leo's eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Have you seen Donatello yet?" Leo asked, trying to keep his unease from reaching his voice.
Mikey's eyes widened and he rushed to his feet. "He's not in his room!?"
Leo shook his head and Mikey could see his brother's concern starting to grow. "I just checked. The kids are the only ones in there." The eldest of the four brothers shook his head and crushed his eyes closed. "I should have waited up for him."
Raph rested a hand on Leo's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, quieting the other turtle. "Slow your roll, Leo. I'm sure he's fine." He waited for Leo to swallow down his building dread before continuing. "Look, I'll go check the lab. Knowing Donnie, he probably fell asleep while he was tinkering with something." Once Leo gave him an acknowledging nod, Raph headed for the living room.
"Are the mini-Donnies up yet?" Mikey nervously asked as he finished tying his mask around his head and adjusted his belt.
"They're getting dressed right now," Leo answered with a distracted nod.
Mikey swallowed hard. If the worst had happened, the last thing he wanted was the triplets finding out that Donnie was missing before they had something to tell them.
"What the-"
Raph's squawk barely had enough time to leave him before Leo was bolting down the hall towards him, his swords drawn. Meanwhile, Mikey began to tear his room apart in a frantic search for his nunchucks. Leo could see their red banded brother standing at the top of the bedroom hall stairs as he gawked out at the living room. When he looked past Raph to see what had the other turtle so shocked, his eyes went wide and he came to a sliding stop beside him. "Holy…" was all Leonardo managed to breathe out before being caught up in the same awe as Raphael.
By the time Michelangelo got out of his room, both of his older brothers looked as though they'd been hit with some kind of stun ray. He charged over to them, gripped them by the shoulders, and started shaking them in a desperate attempt to snap them out of whatever held them. "Speak to me, bros!" Neither answered him, but Raph took hold of Mikey's arms and spun the youngest brother around so that they all faced the same way. Mikey felt his eyes become the size of dinner plates. "Whoa!"
Gold and silver tinsel along with twinkling multicolored lights coiled their way up the spiral staircase above the living room pit. More lights were woven around the support pillar in the middle of the turnstiles and spread out from there to adorn the lair's main exit. Each of the turnstiles' arms were wrapped in more tinsel, only this time the colors were red and green. Smaller, but no less colorful lights trimmed the half circles of the dojo, the living room pit itself, and the workshop's entrance. The practice dummy had been stripped of its usual Shredder guise and instead wore a full Santa suit, complete with an enormous white beard.
In the corner of the living room, just between the workshop's steps and the main exit, sat the final touch to the festive bomb that had struck the lair: a six-foot tall tree that flickered with a kaleidoscope of lights. From its branches hung an odd assortment of traditional glass ball ornaments, origami animals and flowers, and stars that looked like they'd been cut out of soda cans. Underneath the tree's lowest branches sat a modest collection of boxes wrapped in newspaper.
"Dudes," Mikey whispered in hushed awe. He turned to look at his older brothers with sparkling eyes. "We've got elves!" He yelped in pain and gripped his head as Raph smacked him.
"There's no such thing!" the red clad turtle growled.
"Then where did all this stuff come from? Huh?!"
Raph opened his mouth but ended up struggling for a response. He was just about to slap Mikey again when the heavy metal doors to the workshop clattered open.
"Well! Good morning, sleepyheads!" a familiar voice lilted. The three turtles looked to find their missing brother walking down his workshop's staircase with another newspaper-wrapped box in his hands.
The annoyance on Raph's face vanished. "Donnie!"
"I was beginning to think you guys had gone into torpor," Donatello teased as he put the box under the tree before making his way over to his brothers. "Seriously, I expected to see you two hours ago!" he continued while pointing at Leo.
A flush colored the blue banded turtle's face. "Well, I, um," Leo stammered as he, Raph, and Mikey moved to meet Donnie at the bottom of the steps. "I decided to meditate in my room for a bit before coming out."
"Ahhh, that certainly explains it."
Leo cleared his throat and tried to ignore the smirk on Raph's face. The brawny turtle was clearly enjoying an 'I told you so' moment at his expense. "So…you-you've been out here this whole time?"
"Since I got home."
Leo nodded acceptingly, still feeling pretty foolish for getting all worked up over nothing before his eyes snapped back to Donnie. "Wait. You've been up all night?!"
"Never would've finished getting everything ready if I hadn't."
"How many cups of coffee have you had?" Leo demanded and reached out to push up Donnie's mask so he could see how bad the dark circles under his brother's eyes were. The genius' latest upgrade to the Shellraiser had been keeping him up late for the past several days. Now that Donnie had added an all-nighter to his sleep deprivation tally, Leo knew his little brother had to have them!
"Lost count, "Donnie chuckled while pulling his head out of range and gently deflecting Leo's hand. "Don't really care either."
"What is all this stuff?" Raph asked, heading Leo off before he could start fussing more at Donnie. The red clad turtle watched his purple banded brother half-lid his eyes while the smile on his face turned impish. He could tell that he only had a few seconds before Donnie let loose with some smart-mouthed answer. "I mean, aren't you the one who was worried that we would confuse the squirts by celebrating Christmas because Splinter is Shinto and, technically, so are we?"
The smile on Donnie's face fell to become something much more humble. He lifted a hand to rub the back his neck as he meekly asked, "I'm not allowed to change my mind?"
Raph fought the urge to sigh in exasperation. "Of course you are, Don. I was just-"
"WHOA!" The turtle brothers looked up the bedroom stairs. At the very top stood the three youngest members of the family. Their eyes were wide with wonder.
"Where did all of this come from?" Hikaru asked in awe.
"It's so pretty!" Lewis exclaimed and clasped his hands in front of him while looking all around as though he didn't know what to focus on.
Donnie broadly grinned as he proclaimed, "Merry Christmas!"
"Christmas?" Kaiya asked as she and her siblings descended the stairs. "But isn't that a Christian holiday?"
"You're quite right," Donnie started as he squatted down before settling onto his knees so that he could be more at eye level with them. "However, just because a holiday is of a particular faith, it doesn't mean that we can't celebrate the ideals it stands for."
"What kind of ideals?" his eldest asked.
"The one Christmas is most well known for generosity."
"But!" Lewis interrupted. He glanced at the tree and then turned his distraught eyes back to Donatello. "We don't have anything for you!" His sisters joined him in looking at their mother in dismay at the point he'd just made.
Donnie smiled gently at the three of them and pulled them close. "You don't have to worry about that. It's not like I gave any warning that I was going to do this. Besides," he nuzzled each of them in turn as he murmured, "I already have everything I could ever want."
When Donnie pulled back from them, he blinked rapidly in startled bewilderment. Instead of relaxing, his brood's downcast demeanor had hardened into obstinate determination. Even mild-mannered Lewis looked uncompromising. Once he'd gotten over his shock, he raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok. If it bothers you that much, you can get me something later. Sound fair?" Their stern faces split into bright grins and they gleefully cuddled into him. He shook his head while making a light chuckle. "Alright then. Now, are you guys gonna check out what's under the tree or what?"
"YEAH!" the three of them cried before taking off for the other side of the living room.
As the children left, laughter broke out among Donatello's brothers, making the tallest turtle's face turn red. "I know you totally meant that sappy line of yours," Raphael started in-between laughs. "But when you were their age, you never would have accepted something like that from Splinter. What made you think they'd be fine with it?"
Donnie turned an even deeper crimson. "A constant and severe miscalculation of just how much of my stubborn streak they've inherited," he answered sheepishly.
Raph shook his head amusedly before offering a hand to Donnie. "Speaking of that stubborn streak, think the next time you change your mind on something this big you can let us in on it too? That way you don't have to do everything all by yourself."
Donnie grabbed Raph's hand and allowed his brother help him back to his feet. He then offered the other turtle a cheery smile. "I make no promises!"
Raph's eyes widened before they narrowed into slits. "Donnie," he started with a low growl.
"UNCLE RAPH!"
The red banded turtle forced himself to rein in his temper, though it was obvious that he planned on continuing his rant at Donnie once he found out what his little niece wanted. "What's up, pipsqueak?"
"There's something for you under here!" Hikaru enthusiastically called to him.
Raph snapped his head towards her; his eyes were wide. "What?!"
"You too, Uncle Leonardo and Uncle Michelangelo," Kaiya added as she and Lewis held up a couple of boxes for emphasis.
The red, blue, and orange clad turtles stared in stunned disbelief for several for seconds before they all turned to their purple clad brother. "What?" he asked them innocently.
"You didn't have to do this, Donnie," Leonardo said, concern for his overworked little brother creeping back into his voice.
"I wanted to," Donnie returned with a shrug. "And you know how I get when I want to do something."
"I swear I'm gonna get you back for this."
"Yeah, yeah," Donnie dared to wave off Raph's threat while giving him a knowing smile. "Just keep in mind that I haven't had a chance to fix the Stealth Bike after your last little joyride." Raph's jaw hung open for half a second before he closed it so that he could growl irritably at Donnie. Then the stouter turtle turned to go over to the Christmas tree while mumbling something under his breath. "Language," Donnie sternly called after him. "Little ears hear better than you realize."
Leo started to follow Raph, but he stopped short. He turned to Donnie so he could give the taller turtle a meaningful look.
The purple clad genius made a soft sigh at his eldest brother's piercing gaze and raised a hand in an appeasing gesture. "I promise to stick close to the couch," he tried to reassure his leader. "That way, when the caffeine crash finally hits me, I'll fall face first onto it instead of the floor." He could tell by Leo's frown that the other turtle didn't quite appreciate his little joke. However, instead of insisting that Donatello go to bed, Leonardo made a resigned sigh before giving him a single nod.
Donnie blinked in surprise as he watched Leo walk over to the tree. When the children greeted their blue clad uncle by swarming him until he sat down, Donnie had to chuckle. The fact that didn't get an earful from Leo for pushing himself too hard was a Christmas miracle all on its own. A contented smile settled onto his face as he watched his family until he noticed that the group surrounding the tree was one short. He grunted and staggered a bit when Mikey tackled him.
"Dude, I was so worried about you! I sent you like thirty texts, but you never got back to me!"
"You did?" Donnie asked, the surprise in his voice obvious. He squirmed in Mikey's iron grasp until he'd managed to get his T-phone out of his belt. Donnie's eye ridges shot straight up when he saw how many messages waited for him on his phone. Normally, Mikey was the king of hyperbole, but it looked like he'd underestimated himself this time. "Oh wow! I…um…sorry about that Mikey. I had no idea!" His little brother looked up at him through narrowed eyes. "I'm serious! See?" He showed his T-phone to Mikey. "I had it on silent mode all night. It doesn't even vibrate when it's set to that."
"Then how come you answered Leo's call?" Mikey pouted as he let Donnie go.
"I happened to be using it as a flashlight at that moment," Donnie replied with a helpless shrug. "Leo's picture flashed up on the screen so, of course, I answered."
"You mean...you weren't ignoring me?"
"Not on purpose," he consoled his little brother. "I just couldn't safely use the phone where I was."
"Dude," Mikey said, his eyes blinking rapidly. "Where the heck were you?"
Donnie chuckled at his brother's wide eyes. "Nowhere like what you're imagining. Come on. We're missing all the fun."
"Hold up a sec, bro," Mikey said as he grabbed Donnie's arm and pulled his brother to a stop. Donnie looked over his shoulder, his eye ridges drawing together in confusion. "I wanted to say that I'm…sorry about last night."
A gentle smile smoothed the taller turtle's features and he waved off the apology. "Water under the bridge, Mikey."
"Nuh-uh, not under my bridge!" the youngest brother protested. Donnie's eyes widened at this. He turned around so that he was facing Mikey once more. Even though he'd wanted to talk about this all night, now that he had his older brother in front of him Mikey found himself awkwardly grasping for what to say. "I know how much you don't like hiding things from the Mini-Donnies," he started. "And that there are some things that...that you just have to. Things that they're too little to know about right now…and things that you're still not sure you ever want them to know." A trace of the sorrow Mikey had seen on his brother's face last night trickled back, making the other turtle swallow and lower his eyes to their feet. Obviously what Mikey had said hurt more than his brother wanted to let on.
"It wasn't cool of me to use that against you." Mikey brought his hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you over something as silly as Santa Claus." Then he closed the gap between them so he could use his shorter height to make his tallest brother meet his eyes again. "You're an awesome parent, Donnie. I'm sorry I said that you weren't."
Donnie blinked a couple of times before he gave his little brother a bashful smile. "I'm far from an 'awesome parent,' Mikey. But, thank you." Then he smoothed his hand over his own head as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Honestly, I owe you an apology too."
"Really?" His brother nodded even as his smile got a little bigger at the astonishment written all over Mikey's face. "Why?" The shorter turtle then pointed at his brother in warning. "It better not be because you snapped at me. I said 'pretty please with anchovies on top' for that one."
The tall turtle laughed and shook his head. "No, not at all."
"Then what for?"
Donatello glanced to the side briefly and brought his hand up to rub at the upper part of his other arm as he became self-conscious all over again. "For underestimating the value of believing in Santa Claus."
Michelangelo jerked his head back as though the other turtle had just grown a second head right before his eyes. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," Donnie murmured. "I've..." He paused to sigh heavily before continuing, almost sounding ashamed as he did so, "...I've always thought of Santa Claus as a way for parents to bribe, even blackmail, good behavior out of their children, at best. And a marketing ploy for businesses to manipulate their customers into spending more money than they should, at worst." His eyes slide closed. "But last night I learned that, while he may be those things, he's also something else. Something far more important."
Mikey stared at Donnie as he spoke. It wasn't every day that his genius brother admitted to being wrong about something. After Donnie trailed off, he waited with bated breath for him to continue. When he didn't, Mikey whispered as though they were sharing some big secret. "So…what is he, dude? What is Santa Claus?"
A delighted squeal startled the two turtles and pulled their attention over to the rest of the family. Hikaru had just finished opening her present and discovered that it was a ballerina costume, complete with fairy wings and a glittery pink tutu. Mikey chuckled when his little niece couldn't put the outfit on fast enough.
Donnie tenderly smiled while he watched their family and then softly stated, "He's Hope." Mikey blinked as he tried to process what Donnie had just said before staring up at his big brother with his mouth hanging open. "And Heaven knows we could all use a little more of that," he continued as he turned to look down at his dumbfounded baby brother. It made his gentle smile grow until the gap in his teeth was visible. He put an arm around Mikey's shoulders and pulled him close to his side. "Come on, little bro. Let's get over to the tree before we miss everything."
Mikey continued to stare at his brother as the taller turtle moved away to join the family. He watched his nieces and nephew crowd around their mother. Donnie chuckled as he plunked himself down on the floor and hugged his children close so he could lovingly nuzzle each of them in turn. Then Kaiya knelt on Donnie's right and Hikaru on his left. Lewis beamed in delight before immediately clambering into his mother's lap. Donnie chuckled, hugged the boy close with one arm, and then used his free hand to vigorously tickle his son.
Lewis' laughter helped Mikey finally shake off his astonishment. Ever so slowly, a broad smile spread across the orange banded turtle's face. He didn't know what made Donnie change his mind so drastically, but this take on Santa Claus was something he could totally get behind! Of course, Mikey had always felt that a certain big brother was the embodiment of hope. His grin got even bigger as an idea popped into his head.
Mikey jogged over to the practice dummy. He snagged the Santa hat off its head and then he bolted over to where Donnie sat. Donnie never saw him coming. The purple clad turtle let out a startled squeak when his impish little brother shoved the hat onto his head so far that it covered his eyes. His mischief complete, the smaller turtle chuckled while he leapfrogged over his tall brother.
Everyone else stared at Donnie in stunned silence as he struggled to pull the hat off. Suddenly, Raph made a snorting sound before bursting out laughing. Soon the whole family was laughing. Well, everyone but Donnie.
The moment he had worked the hat up enough so that he could see again, Donnie shot his little brother an annoyed glare. "The heck, Mikey!"
Mikey folded his hands together and put them behind his head. His enormous grin never left his face as he said, "Santa Claus needs his hat, bro!" His little brother's forthright answer took the wind out of Donnie's irritation and left him staring at the other turtle.
"Besides, Momma," Hikaru suddenly said. She stretched up so she could adjust her mother's hat. Donatello closed the eye closest to her to keep the hat's faux-fur trim from inadvertently poking him in the eye. "It suits you!" she announced with a grin.
Kaiya and Lewis both covered their mouths in an attempt to suppress their giggles even as they nodded in agreement with their sister. Meanwhile, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo enjoyed a good laugh at their brother's bewilderment. As he watched his beloved family, Donnie sighed and allowed his face to settle into his usual indulgent smile.