The next morning, Sophie woke up to an odd sound. It seemed to be a hissing. She had thought she had heard the same noise yesterday, but it seemed to be louder now than it was then. Her mind quickly considered that maybe there was a snake in the room, but that didn't make sense. Standing up, she waited a moment for the room to stop spinning, but she was taken aback a bit when the room didn't revolve. That was right, she ate last night.

She'd worry about that later. Going over to Thomas, she found the source of the hissing. It was him. "Thomas, what are you doing?" Sophie asked gently as he continued to hiss, even louder than before. She wondered what was wrong. Not knowing what to do next, she decided to ask for help. Going across the lair to her purple clad uncle's room, she knocked. "Yeah, what is it?" The voice on the other end answered, a bit angry.

She stood there for a moment, angry wasn't her Uncle Don's thing. She decided not to disturb him and went back to her room to check on Thomas again. Looking at the schedule she'd posted above his crib, she saw it was time to get him up and check his nappy. It was dry, but changed it anyway, she figured the small boy wanted to feel clean.

Bringing him out to the kitchen for breakfast, she quickly assembled him a meal, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Sitting down next to the boy, who was looking off into space, she had to get him to eat. "Thomas, look here. I've got some apple." She said, trying to get his attention. He didn't look at first, until he heard a new sound enter the kitchen.

"Hey kid, what's up?" Raph asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee, as he sat by the pair. He looked at Thomas, who had started hissing again, this time rocking his head back and forth while covering his ears with his hands. "What's up with him?"

"I am so confused, I don't know how to get him to eat or pay attention, he won't even look when I say his name." Sophie grumbled, taking a sip of her coffee. "I don't know how Sensei thinks he's gonna help me. I mean, he's cute, but this hissing is driving me nuts. I know he can't help it." Sophie grumbled, feeling a bit guilty, Talking about Thomas as if he wasn't there.

"You'll find a way Soph, you're a smart gal." Raph said, picking up his mug and leaving. Sophie got the feeling he couldn't stand the hissing anymore than she could. Unfortunately, someone had to get the boy to eat. Looking back at Thomas, she saw he was now slowly chewing a slice of apple happily, his hissing absent for a moment.

"Good boy Thomas!" She cheered, as she picked up a slice from his plate and sticking it in her mouth, not even thinking. She then stopped, taking the unbitten apple slice from her mouth, what was she doing? She had eaten last night, she couldn't eat again for a few days, she decided. Looking lustfully at the apples on Thomas's plate, she let her eyes do all the eating for her stomach.

After breakfast, she went to the next activity on the list. Her Uncle Don had suggested trying to get Thomas to respond to his name. Sophie had noticed the other day that Thomas liked not only buttons, but anything that was a circle. A cheerio, buttons, wheels especially. He loved anything that could spin. Using a pack of tennis balls her uncle found at the junkyard, she started the little game.

First, she let him see the balls. Of course, he wanted to play with them. But after taking them away, Thomas started to fuss. She then took a tennis ball and held it up by her eyes. "Thomas." She said clearly as she tapped his arm. At first, he didn't look and started hissing. She was about to give up when he somehow noticed the ball. He reached to take it, but Sophie held it back. He started pouting, but Sophie soon gave him the chance to try again. "Thomas." She said again. This time, his eyes followed up her arm to the ball, and looked right in her eyes.

In that moment Sophie smiled, she had actually made a breakthrough. Smiling, she gave him the ball. Together they rolled it around for a minute before she picked up the next ball and started the whole process again. The second time wasn't as easy, but after a while she got the small boy to look at her nearly every time she said his name.

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That night, after putting Thomas to bed, she went and told her dad all about it. "When he finally looked at me, I saw a spark in his eye, like he had come out of his world for a minute to join mine. It was so incredible dad!" Sophie said as Mikey sat across her on his bed. He was smiling, Sophie hadn't been this happy for a long time, and Mikey was enjoying every minute of it. Then, he heard Sophie's stomach loudly roar.

She blushed in embarrassment, the loud growl interrupting her talking. "Sophie, did you eat today?" Mikey asked, his eyes becoming concerned. She looked at the floor, not wanting to face her father. Mikey sighed, shaking his head slowly in disappointment. Although Sophie didn't want to look, she finally made herself look up and saw her father's disappointment, her mood changing in an instant.

"You're not gonna tell Uncle Don, are you?" She asked quickly.

"Why?" Mikey looked at her, wondering what she was thinking.

"Because if you do, he'll take Thomas away and hook me up to the IV machine again." Sophie said, a bit of desperation in her voice. Mikey thought about Sophie, and what losing Jasmine had done to her, but he also was concerned about his daughter and Thomas for that matter.

"Don won't take Thomas away. But how do you expect to take care of him if you can't even stand up, huh?" Sophie thought about this. He did have a point, but she couldn't just break down and eat, in fear it would turn into a purging session. She wouldn't be able to do that tonight, her whole family keeping a sharp eye on her. "I'm ok dad, really."

But this time, Mikey wasn't taking no for an answer. "Ok, we either go to the kitchen and I watch you eat, or we go to Don's lab and have him hook you up to the machine. I don't care which, but you aren't gonna starve yourself, not today." Sophie gulped, it wasn't like her father to be that strict, that was usually Uncle Leo's territory. She sighed in defeat. At least if she ate and needed to purge, she could, but she also knew her dad wouldn't let her binge on any food.