How To Be Yourself When You're Not Yourself

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By: plus2-minus1-brilliance

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Chapter Six - And Not Much Else

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As she descended the ladder into the sewer, April's sense of unease grew. A nervous sounding Leonardo had called, asking to borrow some of Casey's clothes. When asked why, the blue-clad turtle had merely replied, "You'll see," in slightly disgruntled tone. So she'd grabbed the requested garments, pulled Casey away from his television show, and had hurried off.

"So he really didn't give you any hints?" Casey asked, steadying her as she reached the sewer floor.

"Nope, nothing. He sounded…irritated, though," April replied as she sidestepped some floating rubbish.

"Wonder what it'll be this time," Casey mused, "ninja gangs, evil scientists, other mutants…"

"Why can't they ever have a normal problem? Like, their house flooded or something," April wondered, a pout forming on her lips as she tried to remember why she continued to associate with them.

"Did you miss the bit where they're mutant turtle ninjas?" Casey asked.

April sighed deeply. "Just pray that whatever it is, no one tries to kill us this time."

Casey laughed.

"I'm serious! I have had my fill of near-death experiences for the rest of my life. A life that I pray will be long, despite all evidence to the contrary."

"No, I don't doubt that, but you do love the excitement and danger. You thrive on it. Otherwise, I doubt you would be friends with them; or me, for that matter…"

"Still…I think I'll take a vacation soon. Maybe the Bahamas?"

"Ooh, hot chicks in bikinis! I'm in." Casey waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

April rolled her eyes. "Who said you'd be invited?"

"Ouch!" Casey replied, looking a little hurt. "C'mon, you know you'd miss me."

"We'll see. Depends on just what the boys get us into this time."

As she said this, they reached the door to the Lair and so, let themselves in. It was unusually quiet, and neither human could see anyone about.

"Hello?" April called out, walking further in. "Leo, we're here!"

"Hey guys; thanks for coming so quickly," came Leonardo's voice.

April and Casey looked towards where the voice had come from. April gasped in shock, taking a step back. Casey stepped in front of her, getting into an attack position, ready to strike down…whoever that was.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked, glaring at the strange boy, who was naked, save for a towel that he had wrapped around his waist.

The someone sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's me, guys, Leonardo."

"Uh, no…Leonardo is a giant turtle," Casey said, now looking a little confused, but not breaking his stance.

"Yeah, well, not anymore." Leonardo knew he really should explain the situation to them, but he was just too tired, and had too much on his mind. "Did you bring the clothes?" He walked slowly over to them, stopping just out of Casey's reach. If the older man tried something, he wanted to be able to get out of the way. In this new form, there was no way he could take Casey on.

April stepped around her boyfriend and stopped right in front of Leonardo, hands on her hips, squinting at him. "If you're really Leo, tell me something only he would know."

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "If it's something only I know, then you wouldn't know it, and therefore, it would be a waste of time to tell you."

April blinked and stepped back a bit, still staring at the young man before her. "I don't believe it…"

"What?" Casey asked, looking even more confused. "Is it really Leo?"

"It is! Leo, how did this happen?"

"Long story short, there was a mix-up in the lab - Donnie can explain it better. So did you bring the clothes?"

"Oh, yes, of course!" April said, handing over the tote bag she'd been carrying. "Two pairs of jeans, two tee shirts, and two pairs of boxers. I hope they fit all right…Guess this explains why you need them…Have only two of you turned human? Where is everyone else, anyway?"

Leonardo sighed again. "No, it's all of us that turned. Donnie's in his lab, trying to find a way to fake adoption papers, and Raph and Mikey are in the custody of Child Services. Master Splinter is in that cage on the coffee table."

"What?" April and Casey exclaimed simultaneously.

Slightly ignoring them, Leonardo started looking through the clothes April had brought. He pulled out one of the tee shirts, a plain white one, and slipped it on. The shirt was loose, of course, but he expected that.

"Leo, you've got to tell us more! How did this happen? Why didn't you call us sooner? Do you -" April began, but was cut off when a frustrated yell came from the direction of Donnie's lab.

Leonardo sighed as he slipped on a pair of boxers on under the towel. "Guess Don's not having any luck…"

"Why do you need adoption papers, anyway?" Casey asked, looking away as Leonardo removed the towel to put on a pair of blue jeans.

"To get Mikey and Raph back from Child Services, right?" answered April.

"Yeah, although I'm not sure what good they'll do, since Hamato Yoshi is the one who needs to present them. Don't suppose you know any old Japanese guys that owe you a favor?" Leonardo asked with a bit of a smirk.

Casey and April just shook their heads, each trying to make sense of this new bit of weirdness in their lives.

"Huh…" Leonardo said, having to hold the jeans up for their looseness. "Maybe we should have asked for some of your clothes instead, April."

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At five o'clock on the dot, Carol had put them in the car and taken them on an hour-long car ride to the group home. It wasn't a bad looking place, having a large yard, two stories, and a wraparound porch. A large sign over the door told them they were at St. Bernard's Home for Boys.

At the door, they were introduced to the director of the home, Mr. Richardson. He was a middle-aged gentleman, hair just starting to gray, with a kind smile. Carol had shaken his hand, and then got back in her car and left, wishing Michelangelo and Raphael good luck.

They had then been taken into the office, told the rules, introduced to a few caretakers, and were given two pairs of clothes each. Currently, Mr. Richardson was giving them a short tour of the place.

"And here is where you'll be sleeping," said Mr. Richardson, pushing open a door.

It was a decent sized room that held six beds, each with a night stand, but not much else. There were two other boys in this room - they were playing some sort of card game on one of the beds. Both looked up to see the new arrivals, though.

"Well, that's everything," Mr. Richardson said, turning to them with a smile. "Any questions?"

Raphael and Michelangelo just shook their heads.

"Very good. I'll let you get settled in, then. You've missed dinner, but if you're hungry, head down to the kitchen before eight and the cook should be able to fix you up something. All right?"

"Um, yeah, thanks," Michelangelo said, trying to muster up a smile of his own and failing.

Mr. Richardson left, closing the door behind him. Michelangelo and Raphael exchanged a look with each other before turning their gazes upon the other two boys in the room, who had gone back to their card game.

"Hey," Raphael called to them.

"Hey," replied on of the boys, not looking up from his cards, but pointing to one side of the room. "Those two beds over there are free."

"Thanks," Raphael said, going over to one of the beds mentioned.

Michelangelo followed, dropping his new clothes on the bed. "I am hungry, Raph. Can we go get dinner?"

"Let's get changed first, okay? Then we can go get as much dinner as we can find, cook be damned," was Raphael's reply.

"Don't start trouble here, Raph! Please? Leo and Donnie will come up with something, and then we'll go home, all right?" Michelangelo pleaded.

Raphael rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway, not wanting to upset Michelangelo further; he felt guilty enough as it was.

"You brothers, or somethin'?" asked the boy who has spoke earlier.

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" Raphael answered.

The boy shrugged. "You're gonna have a bitch of time gettin' adopted."

"We don't need to get adopted," Michelangelo spoke up. "We already have a home and a family. We just can't prove it."

"I'm Jake, by the way. And this is Bobby," he pointed to the other boy, who just waved. "He doesn't talk."

"I'm Michelangelo, and this is Raphael. Nice to meet you, I guess."

Jake snorted. "Yeah, a real pleasure." And he went back to playing cards with Bobby.

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"Well, I can't do it. It's impossible. Mikey and Raph are just screwed," Donatello said, turning off the screen of his computer.

He'd been sitting there for nearly seven hours - he was hungry, tired, sore all over, and very upset. At some point, Leonardo, Casey, and April had come in to bring him clothes and ask him about the anti-mutagen; he'd taken a very short break to change and explain the situation to them. Every so often after that, one of them would return to check on his progress and bring him more coffee. Now, they were all in the room, and all looking very nervous.

"You're sure you tried everything?" Leonardo asked.

"As sure as," replied Donatello.

"We can't just leave them there!" April exclaimed.

"Of course we're not going to leave them," Leonardo said, glaring at her for even thinking they might.

"So then what are we gonna do?" asked Casey.

"The only other thing we can do. We're going to break them out," Leonardo said, a certain gleam in his eyes.

Donatello looked back with trepidation. April frowned but nodded. Casey grinned.

"This is gonna be good."

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Author's Note: No way! An update? Really, truly? It can't be! But it is. Woo! Ahem. Seriously, I am so sorry for the wait. I got horribly stuck! I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere. It was a sad time. But now I've gotten somewhere, and it's much happier! Unfortunately, it's quite a bit shorter than the last two chapters. Sorry!

I make no promises or assumptions about when chapter seven will be out. It could be tomorrow, it could be five months from now. You just never know. I, of course, pray for closer to tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope you love it. Please review! Thanks to everyone who already has, and to all the people who put me on either their alerts or favorites lists (if you're one of those people, and haven't already, I'd really appreciate your review. Pretty please with caramel filled chocolate turtles on top?) You rock!