*Just have to take a moment to say how touched I am by all the support for Luke out there. I know how I feel about my original characters, but I had no clue that others cared about them so much. In writing a fic, one of my goals is write things in a realistic manner, and in life, people die. But as someone put so eloquently a couple of days ago, sometimes I just don't care about realism.
Donatello settled into the back seat of Marc's Avalanche with a heavy sigh, and pressed an arm around Jenna as the woman slid in beside him. He buried his head against hers, breathing in her familiar fragrance.
"How does your hair always smell so good?" he murmured.
"I think you must be hallucinating, Donny."
"Mmm...I don't think so."
Jenna twisted her neck so she could kiss him, and everything that had gone wrong in the last 24 hours momentarily buzzed into the background.
Leonardo's persistence in trying to reach Calley had paid off, and they'd found out that Tim had retrieved the two missing women about an hour beforehand. The turtles had been considering their next move, when Greg had shown up at Blockhouse completely unannounced. Donny's nerves shot through the roof when he saw the man, but Greg only had good news to convey, with the exception that Luke was injured.
The purple-masked turtle hated being separated from his good friend, especially if he was hurt. But there was no doubt that Luke needed to stay in Triage, at least for the time being. Katherine had stayed behind to be with him, and had held on to Reina as well.
The rest of the group that had been in contact with each other was already converging on Marc and April's apartment from two directions. April was leading in the Avalanche with Greg following in his Jeep, and Tim was on his way with Calley and Karina from the Lower West Side. They'd considered splitting up, but no one seemed inclined to let each other out of their sight.
"Is Marcus getting any breaks at all?" Donatello called to April.
"He should be asleep now," April returned from behind the wheel. "Though I'm sure they had to pry him away from the medical action with a crow bar. Marc told me he was going to try and crash at the hospital so he'd be more available when things came up. Honestly, he and I live so close to St. Joseph's, it's not a big deal to get there anyway. Not like hiking to meet you guys," she teased.
Leonardo leaned forward on the seat in front of Donatello. "Thank you for coming for us, April. We really appreciate your help, and you letting us stay with you. It's going to be temporary, I mean...none of us want to intrude." The blue-masked turtle looked back at Donatello uncertainly with the last phrase.
"You're not intruding," April said. "Don't you dare think of it that way."
Leonardo maintained his mute glance with Donatello, and the purple-masked turtle could read the question in his mind.
"Will we be able to go home?"
Donatello knew that they couldn't risk it for the foreseeable future, but couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud. With the instability of the soil and the likelihood of aftershocks, the safety of their home had been severely compromised.
It wouldn't be feasible to go back, not for weeks, at least...If it's even still standing.
"Donny?" Leo said questioningly. "What do you think? What are the chances of us getting home soon?"
Don was annoyed with him for asking the question in front of the women, and didn't mind showing it. "I'm not a crystal ball, Leo. I don't know what the conditions of the sewer are, or whether we'll have serious aftershocks. I couldn't recommend that we try to return right now."
Leonardo nodded, as if he'd assumed that eventuality all along.
Then why the shell did he have to make me say it?
Donatello shook off his irritation with his older brother, and directed his voice toward April. "So we know about everyone, except for Brandon?"
Relief had flooded his mind now that he knew Luke was stable, but the question of their missing friend's location lay heavy in the air.
"Bran's gonna be fine, Don," Leonardo said confidently. "You heard Greg. Brandon's been moving around in the same neighborhood as the Civic Center, and Greg's going to go pick up his trail as soon as we get settled in at the apartment."
"Maybe I should go with him," Donatello mentioned.
Jenna's hand immediately drew his chin toward her. "No, Don. I'm putting my foot down. It's still daylight, and Greg doesn't need you to hold his hand. He knows how to handle the scanner; he's been using it all day!"
"That isn't the point, Jen. Greg hasn't even had any sleep."
"Say what you want, Donny. You're not going," she replied matter-of-factly.
Donatello shrugged half-heartedly. "I just want to help."
"There are plenty of ways you can help, that don't involve exposing yourself to hundreds of people in the process."
"When have I ever exposed myself to hundreds of people, Jen?"
"You've come close a couple of times."
Donatello couldn't think of a suitable answer for that, so he glanced at Leonardo instead. The older turtle was shifting on the seat, looking uncharacteristically antsy, although one hand was resting on the orange and white cat stretched out beside him.
He's anxious to see Calley. She's the only one who can get him riled up like this, he thought with amusement.
When Donny's gaze traveled to the window, his smile faded. Seeing the damage that had been inflicted upon the city up close was painful.
It could have been worse, he surmised. But it's still changed a lot of people's lives, including ours...Luke and Kat are going to have to move again, and start over completely. They lost everything. As bad as that seems, though, it's nothing compared to any of them losing their lives.
Donatello swallowed as he recalled Greg telling them about the mistake the Triage Center made in declaring Luke dead.
I'm glad he didn't tell us right away.
He spied Greg's Jeep through the back window, and randomly wondered if Raphael and Mike were already getting on the man's nerves. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Jenna staring at the debris outside.
"What are we going to do?" Jenna asked quietly. "We can't hang out in our friends' apartments indefinitely. No offense to you, April, but its dangerous."
"No offense taken, Jen," the red-head returned.
Leo and Donny exchanged another glance.
"We're going to have to discuss it with everyone else," Leonardo said. "We'll strategize today, and see what solutions exist."
"The only strategy I want right now is some way to get through this traffic faster," April grumbled.
"Hey, April, you could use the surface-to-air missiles to...Wait, I'm thinking of the Battle Shell," Donatello said impishly.
April shook her head as she glanced at the rear-view mirror to see him. "That's good, Don, because if you installed missiles on the Avalanche without telling anyone, we might have a problem."
Raphael's grin spread from ear to ear when he noticed Tim's Crossover parked about three blocks before Marc and April's building. The Avalanche had already pulled off to the side of the road ahead of it, and Greg drove up right next to Tim. The sandy-haired man put down the passenger side window and stretched to see the other car better. "Hey! Everyone okay over there?"
Tim nodded. "I don't think I'm going to try and get any closer though. You and April should keep going with the guys, don't you think?"
"We'll get them as close to the apartment as we can. Do you have to report back to the Police Station?"
"I need to get some sleep first," Tim replied.
"You and me both, brother."
Raphael carefully peered through the window from the back seat, waving when he saw the women. "See, Liv? There's your Mama. She's fine."
The little turtle smacked the glass with her open palm, babbling nonsensically.
Michelangelo chuckled beside him. "It sounds like she has a lot to say on the matter."
Raphael punched the orange-masked turtle in the arm. It felt so good to see Karina, he found that he could laugh too.
Greg's voice carried through the car once more. "We have to figure out how to get the guys into the building without anyone noticing them, so I'm going to get moving."
"If that's the biggest problem we face today, we're a shell of a lot better off than this time yesterday," Raphael inserted.
"See you in a little while!" Tim responded.
Greg waved one more time before putting the window up. The man flashed his headlights at April, and she pulled the Avalanche back out in front of him.
"As long as no one can see us close up, what's the problem?" Raphael asked. "We've got the clothes to fit in."
Greg's shoulders rose slightly. "We'll see how things look when we get there."
Raphael exhaled deeply as he ran his fingers over Olivia's shell.
Feels so much better to know everybody's okay. I wonder what we're gonna do though. We sure can't all hole up in this building forever.
Olivia bounced up and down on Raphael's lap excitedly, and he jarred when he remembered that he should be keeping her further away from the window.
"You're getting too hyper now, Kouen," he chided.
She giggled as he planted her on the seat in between him and Mike. Michelangelo reached behind the seat for her bag, and immediately produced a plastic container of her cereal.
He sure does come in handy sometimes.
Olivia opened her mouth to accept the food from his brother's hand, and wriggled happily on the seat by the two turtles.
"She's too cute." Rebecca turned around to stare at the three turtles.
Raphael shook his head. Kid should be allowed to be happy, without me having to stifle her 'cause I'm afraid someone will see.
Greg followed April as she drove around to the service entrance of the apartment building. When she parked, he got out to meet her by himself, and they had a short discussion before Greg returned.
"I don't give those two enough credit," Greg muttered. "April got herself on the building committee, just so she could have access to the keys to make 'inspections'. She can get you guys in the service door. If you go up a few flights of the back stairs, and then hop out to the fire escape, you'll avoid notice on almost every front. I think it's a better solution than trying to use the fire escape the whole way up in broad daylight. April and Marc took the time to think things through well before today."
"When you've been with us as long as Ape has, it's only natural." Michelangelo snorted.
Raphael felt bad for covering Olivia's mouth with his hand a few times on their way up through the building, but they didn't need an outburst from her at the wrong moment. The turtles had to climb four sets of stairs before they could exit the building through a window in the communal laundry room, and ascend to the fire escape directly above it.
The entire maneuver only took about fifteen minutes to complete, but Raphael was grateful for the tension that eased out of his muscles as they filed into the apartment from the balcony on the side of the guest room.
It's amazing how much harder it's gotten to stay calm.
He wanted to walk around in the same cocky frame of mind he always had, but the addition of Olivia changed everything, at least as far as her protection was concerned. Keeping her safe had become the ultimate directive.
Raphael put the baby down on the soft carpet in the bedroom, and she started crawling rapidly, as if she were a puppy who'd been held on a leash for too long.
She's her own person, that's for sure, he thought proudly. She still wants to be cuddled and all, but at the end of the day, Liv wants to do her own thing. Kid has more in common with me than her features.
He rolled his eyes as he considered what that might actually mean for the little turtle.
Hope she's not too much like me, or she'll have to learn everything the hard way. You'll be smart enough to learn from us, won't you, Kid?
Olivia had crawled a half circuit around the bed before she turned to look for Raphael. She held out her arms to the red-masked turtle in a gesture to be picked back up.
Stay small as long as you can, Liv.