Chapter 16

Michelangelo was absolutely horrified when Leonardo collapsed after Raphael and Donatello called out Bria's name. However he was extremely glad that he just fainted and that he'd come around soon. He didn't know what to think though. Why did Leo faint? It out of character for Leo to be so worked up. He was usually always standing, always there. To see him collapse like that…

Mikey shook his head. No need for those kinds of thoughts. What horrified him was when the group came back. Donatello holding Bria, Andrew and Matt looking like hell. Rachel looked as if she had been kicked around to many times to count. Rachel and Bria were his concern; they were part of the family. Older sisters…

"What the shell happened Donny?" He demanded.

"Explosion," Donatello said, "Got nearly all of us down. Thank goddess Raphael and Matt were out."

Andrew rolled his eyes good naturedly and said to Nao, "Can you heal up Nao? I can take Rae."

Nao bit her lip, "I can only heal Minorities…like you, Matt, and Rachel. However, I cannot heal Bria. Most of my power was used healing my own men who showed up throughout the time since you left. The last one just left. Only Ryuu stayed."

"Alright," Andrew nodded, "That's fine." He looked over at Bria and then said, "I can stitch up her back, maybe do a check to see if she got a concussion." He nodded as he thought out his plan. "Don, can you bring her to the lab table?" He asked. Donatello nodded and the two men left.

"You don't look too great, either, Raph," Lily noted, "I can help you with your arm."

Raphael shifted. He wasn't too bad off. It was just his arm. Matt noticed his reluctance and then shook her head. "I can take Rae and get her fixed. You go accept Lily's help."

Lily watched Raph sigh and hand Rachel over to Matt. She took his good arm and led him to the Living Room and set him down on the free couch since Leo still had the other one. "Hold still, I don't know how well this is going to work," she warned and started working her hands in a kneading motion, her fingertips glowing blue-green.

Matt watched them for a bit before setting Rachel down. She looked at Rachel's face and clicked her tongue, standing up she went and left to find towels. Andrew rubbed his forehead. The stitching didn't look like it was going to do much; he was sure that Brianna was going to take them out and possibly try to heal them herself. Andrew didn't know if she had a concussion or not, but didn't dare do any

Rach: tests. He would rather wait for her to be awake. Then he'd know what steps to take.

Nao had healed Andrew up before he'd started his work, and now went to Mikey, "Come on, Mikesters, let's go see how Rachel is," she said to the orange-clad turtle.

Michelangelo nodded. He was closer to Rachel than he was Bria, and from what she looked like, Rachel wasn't doing so great. He followed Nao out to the living room to see Matt washing the blood off of her. Matt's lips were sucked in as she placed the towel down. Rachel's lip was cut deep, her nose wasn't broken. She sighed. She couldn't do very much. She wasn't a doctor.

Nao sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, "How bad is she?" she asked as she knelt down next to Rachel.

"Eh, if your thinking about healing her, don't." Matt said as he gestured. "I mean the face was an easy fix, but I prefer letting Andrew look at her. I think she broke something, but I don't know what."

"If she's not too badly injured, then I will do as you say and not heal her," Nao told her, "I can always do it tomorrow, in any case."

"Yeah," Matt nodded and Andrew came out, "Andy! Andy!"

"Calm down!" Andrew stared at her, "How on earth are you all energetic after nearly killing us…if not trying to murder us?"

"Oh come on," Matt huffed, "That was so an hour ago. I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell," She gestured to Rachel.

"At least you washed the blood off her," Andrew knelt down and gently took her chin in his hand and looked, "So far, so good," He murmured as he gently brought his hands to her shoulders. He carefully pushed her into a lying down position before checking her arms. From her arms he went to her ribs, and then down her legs. "Nothing broken… I think she was limping because someone kicked her in the back of the leg. There's going to be a bruise right there." He pointed at her right leg.

"Karai must have known she favors that leg," He gently stood up, "The lip should heal and so should her nose. Everything else looks fine. Just a few bruises here and there, that's to be expected."

"How about you, Matt?" Nao asked, "I have just enough healing power to heal you up if you need me to."

"I'm dandy," Matt waved, "Just a sprained ankle and a few cuts, but I'll manage."

Nao nodded and then looked up as Lily came bouncing over calling; "Nao, Nao! I was able to heal Raph's arm!" Lily grinned.

"You mean you never done it before?" Andrew and Matt asked together.

"I've healed only a couple times before, and if it's a bad enough wound, only one person a day," Lily admitted, "Mostly only minor cuts and bruises. Leo and Bria got lots of those…and then there was that time after the first month when the Elite showed up. Since I healed quickly enough I was able to heal Donny. Other than that, not really…"

"Has any noticed how often you must be the lab rat in this?" Matt sounded amused. A weak laugh made Andrew and Matt turn to see Rachel covering her eyes with her arm.

"That is amusing when you think about it," Rachel said.

Raphael chuckled lightly as he joined them, "Yes, well, I don't mind too much," he said and folded his arms over the arm of the chair, "How ya feelin'?" He asked.

"Honestly or dishonest?" Rachel asked back.

"Honestly," Raph smiled.

"Honestly I feel like I got ran over," Rachel admitted.

"You got really beat up, I don't doubt it," Raph leaned down and kissed her forehead

"Romance," Matt sing-songed.

Rachel smiled at the kiss before glaring at Matt, "Be glad I'm down."

"I am." Matt grinned.

Raph easily got a light smack in for Rachel. "Better?" he asked Rach.

Rachel laughed as Matt looked shock. She hadn't expected that. "Much," she grinned.

"Okay," Rachel smiled.

Matt rolled his eyes teasingly, "Hopeless." Rachel shook her before sighing.

Leonardo groaned and everyone's eyes looked over at him. He sat up and rubbed his forehead. "You guys are back?" He asked, "How's Bria?"

"She's better," Andrew glanced over at him, "She's in the lab."

"You were out for a while," Michelangelo looked over at his big brother, "Are you okay now?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit of shock," Leo admitted.

"A bit of shock?" Mikey asked rolling his eyes.

"Leo, you passed out the same time Bria's name was called out," Nao eyed him; "It's more than shock."

"It is." Andrew said. "It's not uncommon. Bria's name was called out, it could be that Leo imagined the worst, when that happened, he collapsed. Unless you have a better theory, I'd like to hear it." He wasn't being mean or rude. He wanted to know.

Nao did know, but she watched Leo for a moment before waving her hand, "No. I don't," she lied, her throat burning horribly in consequence, but she ignored it.

Andrew raised an eyebrow at her for a while before turning back to Leo, "She's in the Lab if you want to see her. She should be fine…Just a few stitches on her back. I bet she's going to tear them though." He muttered the last part under his breath. He watched Leonardo stand up and went to the lab to check on Bria.

Rachel watched him leave before asking, "How is she really, Andy?"

"Honest?" Andrew looked over at Rachel who looked dead tired. He supposed that since she was tired, she was picking up things that she wouldn't normally would. "The back was the worst thing. It was my luck that she didn't need any surgery. Then again, she did put strain on her back. I wouldn't suggest letting her move around too much. Skin moves more than you think. If she does even try, she's going to tear them." Andrew sighed and then said, "All in all I suppose I should be thanking you."

"For letting Matt get on my nerves and us yelling in the air vent and causing this whole thing when it could be easily avoidable? Yes, I appreciate that." Rachel rolled her eyes. Andrew stuck his tongue out. "So, will she recover?"

"Yes," Andrew nodded, "Hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said, Brianna can't move for a while, Rae. If she does, she'll tear the stitches. She's going to have to be careful if she even does move." Andrew rolled his eyes. "And that's a risk I hope she doesn't take. Stitches are hard to do once. There's only so much you can do with them until stitching just doesn't work!"

"Then live with us," Rachel groaned.

"Can't. I have a job and an apartment," Andrew replied, "No offence, but I sort of like my job and want to keep it as long as I can."

"And we don't have room," Mikey replied.

Nao sighed, "Mikey's right. We can't afford to add any more people to the castle. This is a hideout, after all. If too many start joining, it'll become a problem. I'm starting to think I should leave and join my men so I no longer crowd the place…"

"That could be either the worst thing you ever done or the best thing in your entire one minute alive," Rachel responded. "I don't disagree. You should be with your men. We should, however, come up with a plan to meet at times and places. That way we know what's going on, and you know what's going on and there's no need for confusion at all."

"Informing Messenger again?" Andrew groaned, "Tell me what happened the last time you went off and did something like that."

"Wasn't my fault… Matt wanted to do it and he didn't know that if you say the wrong thing you're gonna do something stupid." Rachel glared at the girl who was playing with her pant leg again.

"I didn't do too bad of a job," Matt protested weakly.

"True," Rachel looked over at Nao and then said, "If you're going to leave, you should do it during the day. I doubt the Foot would even begin to attack at that time."

Nao sighed, "You're right…I'll do just that," she nodded and then looked back behind her toward the lab room where Don was exiting, but Leo wasn't with him, "What's up?" she asked glad for a change of subject.

"They're just having an alone time." Donatello shrugged. "It's nothing bad. I heard your leaving…"

"She doesn't have to," Michelangelo said quickly, "I mean Rachel's moving in with Raph and you and Lily been sharing a room for weeks. So the guest room is free." He shrugged, "As long as you guys do that paper messenger thing, it shouldn't be a problem. We'll just have to be more careful."

"This is going to sound very hypocritical of me seeing how I never really confessed much, but if I didn't know you any better, Michael, I would say you have a crush on Nao," Rachel teased.

Mikey blushed hot red and shook his head, "I just don't want her thinking she's crowding the place up."

"That was hypocritical," Andrew nodded.

"Can you lie for my benefit at least once?" Rachel complained.

"Where would the fun be if I did lie?" Andrew asked, "The truth is more exciting."

Rachel rolled her eyes before letting her arm cover them. Andrew could tell that she was sleeping, or was going to try to sleep. He turned back to Mikey and Nao. Watching to see how the reactions were going to be. Donatello didn't seem to be surprised that Nao and Mikey might have a thing for each other. Although he was smirking…

"Mikey's right, Nao," Don said, "We have room for one more and that person happens to be you."

Nao's ears felt hot when Don mentioned a crush, but she was too confused and unsure to blush. "Do you really want me to stay?" she asked Michelangelo, tilting her head.

"I'd like it if you would consider it," Mikey replied.

Matt sighed as she looked at her watch, "We should get going. It's three."

"Three?" Andrew groaned, "Alright. We'll leave. See you guys whenever."

"BYE!" Matt cried as Andrew walked out towards the door. "Wait up!" She followed Andrew out the door and into the darkness.

Nao smiled and used her wind to shut the door gently after them. She turned back to Mikey and she kissed his cheek, "I'll stay, Mikey, because you want me to."