A/N: Here we are, the end of Fixing Tim. Finally. I gotta admit, I wasn't really sure where I wanted to end this one, but I kind of like how it turned out. . . don't know if you guys will though (evil laugh). Here's to healing.

Chapter 12: Healing

Red and white flashed across the buildings and the high pitched wailing echoed down the empty street. The turtles watched the ambulance tare down the asphalt towards the nearest hospital at top speed, carrying their friend, alone, to those who could save her life.

They had completed their mission; they destroyed the virus and destroyed the Kraang database. . . but at what cost. Would their friend wake up? Would she win in the battle against her wounds?

Raph grimaced and clenched his fists as the ambulance disappeared around a corner. Why couldn't I protect her? She was right behind me, but I . . . I . . .

"Come on," Leo placed a hand on his tense shoulder. "Let's go home."

Raph didn't move and continued to stare straight ahead. "Are we just supposed to leave her?" he demanded fiercely.

"It's better this way," Donnie said quietly. He didn't like the situation any better than his brother, but Donnie knew that the hospital's equipment was better than the half baked machines he'd managed to salvage and restore.

"We'll get April to check in on her," Leo assured Raph. "She can keep us updated."

With his regret still firmly twisting in his gut, Raph gave in and the turtles headed home.

Oo0oO

April breathed in the smell of sanitizer and bad hospital food, as she navigated the twists and turns of the hospital wing early the next morning.

315 . . . 317 . . . 319 . . . April came to a stop in front of room 321 and gingerly pushed the door open. A large window let in warm light from the morning sun, shining on the monitoring equipment set up beside the lone bed in the room.

"Are you a relative?" April started at the voice, recognizing a nurse in blue scrubs standing beside the bed with a clipboard. The soft beeping of the heart monitor was a constant cacophony in the background.

"A friend," April replied softly and the nurse nodded. April looked down on the bed at the girl she had quickly becomes friends with. Laura was lying on her stomach, so as not to disturb the carefully wrapped wounds on her back. Electrodes were attached to monitor her vitals, and a small IV tube ran along her arm, keeping her hydrated. "How is she?"

"It was touch and go for awhile," the nurse admitted. "She lost a lot of blood, but none of the shards pierced her lungs or any other vital organs. The surgery was successful and there were only a few complications. It was pretty close, but she's a fighter."

April nodded and smiled slightly, agreeing whole heartedly with the nurse. She'd only known Laura a short period of time, but April knew that she was being lead by a determination that wouldn't let up, no matter the cost. No flesh wound would keep her down for long . . . she hoped.

The nurse left and April sat down in the chair beside the bed. It was a school day but she'd opted to skip out. The turtles had called her last night and told her what had happened. She had wanted to leave for the hospital right then and there, but it was almost four in the morning, and Leo convinced her to wait until morning. So morning came around and here she was, playing the waiting game, wondering how long it would take for the stubborn girl to wake up.

Oo0oO

"She gave me this," Raph had said the night before, handing Donnie the flower and USB drive. "She said to 'Fix Tim'."

Donatello had since spent a sleepless night in the lab sifting through the files that Laura had saved to the little stick. He'd been at it for a few hours when he noticed that Raph hadn't left, despite the late hour. He was barely awake, propped up on the work bench, nodding every now and then, only to snap his head up when he nearly drifted off.

"You can go to sleep, you know," Donnie said after he almost fell off the stool.

"Shad up," he grumbled back, shaking his head to clear away the grogginess. "Whas on tha thing anyways," he slurred his words as he tried to stay awake.

"In short, a way to fix Tim," Donnie said. Raph perked up a bit and Donnie continued. "That giant tree in the lab was capable of breaking down mutagen and absorbing it as nutrients by secreting a mixture on enzymes from its roots to—"

"I'm really tired right now," Raph interrupted, "so can you please give me the version that won't put me to sleep."

Donnie rolled his eyes, "By using a substance that the tree makes, we could potentially de-thaw the Pulveriser."

"That's good, right?"

"It would be," Donnie sighed, "if the Kraang hadn't destroyed the tree. There's no way to re-create the breakdown process of the mutagen without it."

"Whabout the flower," Raph said, fingering the object in question. The delicate pink and purple flower was starting to wilt after spending too much time without a source of water.

"That's where Laura is almost as much of a genius than I am," Donnie smiled. "According to the reports, the tree mutated from an already mutant plant that grew fruits before flowering."

"What does that matter?" Raph asked, pretending to understand what Donnie was getting at.

"It matters because the flower has the seeds, not the fruit."

"So we have seeds?"

"And with seeds, we can grow a new tree."

"So problem solved right? Why are we still awake?"

"Why are you still awake," Donnie insisted. "There're still other files that Laura got from the Kraang database, including all of Alice Kennington's work that she thought she lost! With this, I've got a solid lead on how to create a retro . . ." Donnie left his sentence hanging when he realized that he'd lost his audience. Raph had finally lost the battle against his fatigue, and was sleeping in a pile on the workbench.

Donnie smiled at his sleeping brother before returning his attention to his computer and the files Laura had collected. He finally had a decent lead on retro mutagen, a way to fix all the wrongs that had happened. He could bring back April's dad, fix Timothy, and hopefully put a stop to the Kraang once and for all.

Oo0oO

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

Damn, that's annoying.

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

Oh god, make it stop.

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

I said stop.

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep. . .

Stop! Ow. Man, that hurts. Wait, what happened?

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

Oh yeah. Stupid Kraang blew up my tree, and I got hurt. . .

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

Guess that makes that a heart monitor, or something. Guess it's not gonna stop.

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep. . .

Should I open my eyes? Naw, sleep sounds much better.

" . . ."

Hmm? Is someone here?

". . . she okay? . . ."

Or more than one person.

". . .se said it was close, but she should pu. . ."

Talk louder, I can't hear you.

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep . . .

Shut up, stupid monitor. I'm trying to listen.

". . .should have been watching more clo. . ."

". . . middle of a battle . . . not your fault. . ."

Thump!

"I couldn't protect her!"

The loud sound near her head finally snapped Laura out of her state of half consciousness and her eyes flew open. The first thing she was a green fist planted firmly beside her head, and way too close for comfort.

"That's my face," Laura rasped out and the hand was snatched away at the sudden sound of her voice.

"Laura!" a barrage of voice bounced painfully around her head. She groaned in protest and buried her face into the mattress she lay on in an attempt to get away from it.

"Sh!" someone scolded, "A nurse will hear you and visiting hours ended a while ago."

"Laura," someone else said, mush closer. "Are you okay?"

She groaned again at the question and tried to lifted her head. She was lying on her stomach and her neck was a little sore, but it was nothing compared to the ache in her back. She managed to focus her eyes after a few seconds and looked up into the face of a worried Grape. She could see Red right behind him. Blue and Sunshine were there, too.

"Just dandy," she replied, closing her eyes again. "What happened?"

"You were hurt pretty bad," Grape explained.

"Yeah, I can feel," Laura replied.

"We called an ambulance," Grape continued, "you're in the hospital."

"I'm in a hospital?" That didn't sound right. "Your in a hospital?! They let you in?"

"Naw, we ninja'd our way in," Sunshine called out.

"Which means we have to keep quiet," the only female voice said.

"Spring?" Laura asked as the red head stepped out from behind the mob of green. "What are you doing here?"

"Well the guys needed someone to stay here during the day," she explained with a smile. "They couldn't very well come themselves."

"Yeah. Thanks, Spring." Laura moved her arms, feeling the pain and stiffness that had settled in. "How long have I been out?"

"A day," Grape reported.

"The doctors said you would be waking up tomorrow morning," Spring said, "but one of the nurses said you would probably wake up earlier."

"And why's that?" Laura groaned, working the stiffness out of her arms.

"Because you're a fighter," Red said smirking.

"Yeah? You think so?" She tried to push herself up but didn't get too far before hot spikes of pain assaulted her back, making her vision flicker.

"Don't get up," Grape urged her back down, "You'll rip your stiches."

"Not the only thing imma rip," she groaned as the spikes returned to their horrible aching. She closed her eyes and rested her cheek back on the mattress with another groan.

"You should get some sleep," Blue spoke up. "We'll check in again tomorrow."

"Wait," Laura said, "what about the tree? What happened after I went down?"

The guys all exchanged looks before Grape responded. "The tree was destroyed. While Raph called the ambulance, we set charges and destroyed the rest of the labs. There's nothing left of the Kraang facility."

Laura groaned again, closing here eyes, suddenly tired. "Guess it's for the best. What about the flower?"

Grape smiled at that, "The flower's dead, but the seeds it made are just fine. Do you really think they'll grow into something that can digest mutagen?"

"It better," Laura said, starting to drift off, "I can fix Tim with it. . . process the enzyme digestion . . . breakdown of chemical bonds . . . Timmy's . . . better. . . Zzz."

"Heh," Raphael chuckled, "couldn't even wait until we were gone."

"I think she's gonna be just fine," Leo smiled at the resting form.

"She's a fighter, alright," April agreed.

"Are we really gonna leave again?" Mikey asked.

Leo rolled his eyes and opened the large window, "Come on guys, let's go home."

Oo0oO

"Germinating. Grape! It's germinating!" Laura exclaimed the following week. She'd just gotten out of the hospital that morning, and was already back to work. Her back was still sore, and she was on all kinds of pain killers, but she was so close to being able to talk with her brother. Even if it was through some crappy voice box, Tim would finally be conscious again and Laura couldn't wait to give him the tongue lashing of the century, then laugh at him for getting turned into an organ monster.

Grape had decided to wait until Laura was well enough before attempting to grow the tree. The flower had produced five seeds, and usual 'just add water' tactic wasn't quite working. Laura theorized that maybe, since the mother tree had grown in a tank of mutagen, maybe it became dependant on the stuff.

Grape had been reluctant at first, it was never a good idea to purposely drop something into a beaker of mutagen, but Laura persisted and it was paying off. Shortly after being exposed to the elixir, a small shoot sprouted out, and soon a sapling about a foot tall had sucked the small beaker dry. The little leaves were the telltale metallic blue, but the shoot wasn't old enough to glow yet.

"Holly chaloopa," Grape breathed, "I can't believe that worked."

"Through continuous mutation," Laura explained, waving a finger in the air, "the tree has gained a resistance to the elixir. I mean, come on, it wouldn't work very well if kept mutating every time it needed to feed off of it."

"I guess so," Grape agreed, bending down so the sapling was at eye level. "So what? We water it with mutagen?"

"Seems like it. Good thing you guys found a good supply last week. What was it, like, ten or so canisters?" Laura picked the baby tree out of the beaker and held it gingerly in her hands, "You think it'll grow in soil?"

"Don't see why not. It is a tree."

Laura giggled as she spun with the small tree, "Look Kenny! I got myself a baby tree." Laura held up the small miracle to Alice Kennington as she entered the small room. Ben Torst had set a makeshift lab in one of his many safe houses for the team of scientists to use. Laura had insisted in coming here directly after being released from the hospital. She hadn't met the man, but she was impressed at Benjamin Torst's set up.

"It's beautiful," Alice exclaimed, examining the metallic blue leaves and oddly coloured trunk.

"You should see it when it starts to glow," Laura smiled, "The light from the trunk reflects off the leaves and its just breath taking."

"Then let's hope it matures fast," Alice said with an excited smile. She moved over to her work station and continued with her work. Alice had been ecstatic when Donatello showed up with a copy of all her work. Thanks to Laura, she could continue where she left off. But this time, she had the help of the genius turtle and well tuned Assistant to help her along.

"Got any pots around here," Laura looked around distracted then spotted a very large beaker. "Close enough." She picked it up and looked around again. "Any soil? No, never mind. Guess I'm stopping by the garden store on my way home."

"Or you could just go home and sleep, like the doctors told you to," Donnie reminded her as she started to gather her bag.

"Who needs sleep when you've got science!" Laura exclaimed, tucking the beaker that contained her precious sapling under her arm. "See ya tomorrow, Grape. Bye Kenny." She waved at her two lab partners before turning to the door.

Before she could reach for the knob, the door swung open. Laura looked up at the stocky man, taking in the dark brown hair with streaks of grey, the round glasses. . . She back away as Benjamin Torst started in surprise at the new face.

It can't be, Laura thought as she tightened her grip of the beaker, staring at this man who she never thought she'd see again, her heart beating strongly in her chest and a myriad of emotions passed through her.

"Ben," Alice greeted the man, "I didn't know you were coming today."

"Just checking in," Ben smiled at Alice, then turned to Laura. "You must be Laura. It's good to finally meet you. I'm Benjamin Torst." He extended his hand.

She didn't move to accept it. She just stared up at the man in front of her and a new wave of emotions replaced the old ones as she realized what was happening.

He doesn't recognize me. . .

"Laura? Something wrong?" Grape asked when she didn't grasp Mr. Torst's outstretched hand.

She snapped out of her shock and looked down at the hand. Might as well play along. She gingerly clasped his hand is a short shake, managing a forced smile behind eyes that were beginning to get hot.

"Sorry," Laura managed to keep her voice semi-steady, "but I've got to go." She quickly left the room before starting to run. She ran, until hot tears overflowed from her eyes and her wounds burned in protest. She came to a stop beside a light post, breathing heavily and fighting back the pain.

What the hell! Why is he here? He left! Why's he back?

The questions assaulted her mind and she felt emotions she had long since tried to bury. For fifteen years Laura lived with the pain of knowing that her father left, and now he just appears out of no where. But that wasn't the thing that put her off the most. The gut wrenching icing on top of the cake that had her crying over more than the pain in her back made it all the more unforgivable.

He didn't recognize me.

A/N: And thus end another tale of Laura Whitten and the fight for her brother. But what will the appearance of her long lost father so to her mental stability? Find out next time in . . . actually I don't know what I'm gonna call the next one :P And speaking of the next one, it's probably not gonna happen for a while. I started another story that I am wanting to finish before continuing with my Laura Whitten series (which is looking like there will be another two or three stories to it). So bear with me, and check out Hyper Reality. At this point, there's only really the prologue but I can assure you, it's gonna epic :D