Rays of Hope chapter 10, recovering Hope
I've been a terrible author, I know. I'm really sorry for not uploading any Hope stories for those of you who have expressed their love with it and who have stuck with it even though I'm really inconsistend with my updating. Here is chapter 10, it's alittle darker than the others and not very long, but I hope you'll enjoy it nontheless. I'll try to update more regularly but I can't promise anything between my study and my social life.

The lair had been uncharacteristically silent this morning. Master Splinter had been relishing in the silence at first but the longer it continued, the more anxious he became. His children were never this quiet, not even in their sleep seeing as how the nights were usually dominated by the sounds of Raphael's snoring, Michelangelo's talking and Donatello's mumbling. This morning, however, his sons voices never went above a whisper. His sons… with a start Splinter realized that he had not heard anything from his daughter yet this morning.

He spotted Leonardo passing by with a glass of water and called him over.

"My son, do you happen to know…" he looked startled as his son cut him off.

"Shhhh, sensei" Leonardo whispered "not so loud, Hope's head hurts."

"Why have you not told me this Leonardo?" he whispered back to the child.

The turtle child looked slightly embarrassed but answered, "we wanted to help Hope get better on our own sensei."

He slightly rubbed the bridge of his snout in exasperation. His children were only 5 and 6, how could his sons hope to take care of their younger sister. The rat stood up and made his way to his children's bedroom together with Leonardo.

Splinter stopped in the doorframe while Leonardo squeezed past him to bring the water to Hope. He observed Michelangelo helping Hope sit up while Donatello took the glass of water from his brother and gently held it against his sister's lips to help her drink. The girl's face looked sickly pale while her cheeks were alight with fever. Beads of sweat pearled on her forehead and she was slightly heaving. Her nose was red and runny and all in all she looked perfectly miserable. Splinter entered the room and gathered his daughter in his arms.

"How do you feel Hope?"

The reply came in the form of a hoarse whisper, "my head, throat, arms and legs hurts sensei… and I'm cold…."

Blue eyes gazed unfocussed up at Splinter as he laid her back down.

"My sons, please look after your sister while I go look up what is wrong with her."

Master Splinter briskly walked towards his own room and, after a little searching, found what he was looking for. In his hands lay a book about modern day diseases and medication. He had found it in an alley behind the hospital not too long after he had found Hope. The book had probably fallen off the truck after being disposed of, it wasn't that old but it was well worn and had probably been replaced by a more modern copy. He had kept the book in anticipation occasions such as this and it actually surprised him that it had taken this long for the young human to get sick. The symptoms described a case of the flu which could be easily helped by bed rest, vitamin C and a lot of drinking. Sighing he shut the book and left for the kitchen.

...

The days and nights that followed had been gruelling for master Splinter. He had moved Hope to his own room to keep the boys from waking when she had a coughing fit or a night terror. Especially that last one was a recurring thing ever since she had fallen ill. He would stay with her until her fear would subside and she would drift back into a fitful sleep. Her temperature caused her to sweat and soak her tatty pyjamas but at the same time she'd lay shivering underneath her small pile of blankets. Each day, master Splinter would change her clothes and give her a bath. He'd make herbal teas and scavenged around the grocery stores in hopes of fallen oranges so he could make her orange juice.

But the nightly interruptions and daily struggles weren't what made it all so hard. No, Hope's fever had seemed to go up each day instead of coming down and he feared that she might come down with pneumonia if this would keep up. If that were to happen he'd have to bring her to a hospital and since she had no known parents topside, she'd be taken to an orphanage. He wouldn't be able to bring her home, the authorities would investigate the disappearance of the child and they might stumble across his little family. No, he did not want to give up his daughter, but he could not risk his sons either. If she wouldn't get better soon he'd have no choice but to give her up and that thought, combined with the sight of his little girl being this sick, was breaking his heart.

Each day before bedtime, the four boys came visiting their sister to tell them about their days and that she should get better soon. They'd go on all sorts of adventures together when she did. The brothers were quiet during the day so they wouldn't wake her and they'd make get well cards for her. Splinter felt his heart swell with pride each time he saw his sons. He was lucky that they understood why he didn't have much time for them, but that didn't mean that they'd have to like it. This was a problem that just kept growing until, one day, he walked in on a scene that actually shocked him. There, on top of the blankets, sat Raphael. He had Hope's pyjama top in his fists and he was shaking her while yelling at her to wake up and to stop hogging all of sensei's attention! None of the other boys were in the room and Splinter started forward to pull Raphael from his sister when the girl woke up. She looked up at him groggily and she tried to get her eyes to focus enough to identify her assailant.

"I's sorry Raphy, I'll be good" she mumbled before falling back to sleep. Raphael looked startled and he gently released the girl before mumbling "sorry sis." Master Splinter had seen enough, he gathered his sons and he explained to them that, though the spend most of his time at Hope's side, that didn't mean that he loved them less than her. She just needed him a little more at that moment. Raphael turned red and started crying. When he calmed down he was punished, of course, but he didn't mind it for once.

...

It took another three days before the tide changed for the better. Hope's fever had broken and she was finally on the road to recovery. Each day that passed after that was full of improvement. She became more alert to her surroundings, her appetite returned and the nightmare seemed to disappear. A week and a half passed until Master Splinter deemed her recovered enough to get out of bed and to re-join her brothers. The first moments were awkward but soon the five went back to their daily routines.

...

Four weeks had passed since Hope had first gotten sick, and three days since he had released her from her bed. Master Splinter sat in his favourite chair reading a worn book, revelling in the loudness of his children and slightly chuckling when an angry shout came from Raphael followed by two squeals and laughter from Michelangelo and Hope. Their joyous sounds were soon joined by the laughter of Leonardo and Donatello, effectively drowning out Raphael's yelling and, undoubtedly, cursing. Whatever the duo had cooked up now, it had brought laughter back to the lair and master Splinter was happy to have his children making a lot of noise. At least it meant that they were all healthy, once again.

Thank you all for reading my story this far and for putting up with my tardy-ass. Do any of you have any ideas, things for Hope to do, discover or learn? of so, please send me a message about it and I'll write a chapter about it.