Chapter 2 – Recollection
"She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"
Donatello, "Rise of the Turtles"
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"OHshellohshellohshellohshellohSHELL."
Donatello was officially awake.
He had missed training.
He had. MISSED. TRAINING.
Donnie had opened his sleep-filled amber eyes to witness the last of dusk's apricot glow glide up the walls and ebb through the ceiling grates as the setting sun shift-changed with the rising moon. Darkness silently soaked into the subterranean hall.
He'd blinked slowly, confused as to what he was doing lying on the floor. Traffic and subway sounds rumbled through concrete and metal. Recollection had dawned.
April.
The Ninja Turtle had shot up to a seated position, looking around the great room so frantically that his head should have whipped off to land among his many piles of books. Forcing himself to calm down and sit still, Donnie strained to hear any signs that April was still there with him.
The silence was physically painful. He yearned to gather the adorable teen in his arms again, and kiss her long and deep and sweet. How long ago had she left?
Exactly how long had hebeen here?
Woozily, Donnie dragged himself to his feet, and trudged through cushions like a kid wading in deep snow. He didn't know what to stress about more: April's departure or missing afternoon training.
For the moment, he settled on training; Splinter would have his shell, not only for bailing on practice but, even worse, for going off-grid all day.
He'd turned his T-phone off as per usual when he took an hour or two for himself in his refuge. He'd never in a million alternate dimensions anticipated the love-a-thon that April had initiated – let alone how to handle what came after it. Yet he'd been totally unreachable, and no one had known where he was.
Mikey or Raph might do stupid crap like that, but it wasn't Donnie's style. What on Earth was he going to tell his sensei, his father? With the Kraang and the Foot Clan both keen on eating turtle soup lately, he was betting that his family had assumed the worst and would be in full panic mode by now.
Grim-faced, Donnie flipped on his T-phone to check his messages:
"Where r u D? Training soon…" – Leo
"Where R U? Training NOW" – Leo
"L's bein even more of an (_*_) cos of u. Get back soon." – Raph
"bring pizza Δ" – Mikey
"If Splinter knew how 2 text he'd text 'U R L8 4 training'" – Leo
"We're training" – Leo
"U missed training" – Leo
"leo and raph kicked my butt in training. bring apology pizza {:l Δ " – Mikey
"Splinters on the Cheez Fone BAHAHA. U R toast." – Raph
"Where's April? I hope you guys are training" – Leo
"r u with aaaapriiiiillll? :-*** " – Mikey
"can april bring pizza? ~Δ~ " – Mikey
"R U OK?" – Leo
"Seriously where are ya Don?" – Raph
"we're gonna scout for you D don't worry help's coming!" – Leo
"U better be in trouble cos otherwise you're in bigger trouble" – Raph
"u owe us pizza bigtime bro :-( ΔΔΔΔΔΔ" – Mikey
.
Shell.
No texts from April. What did that mean? Why had she left without a word?
April had instigated this day of lovemaking that was so precious to him. After everything, had she changed her mind? Just before she'd…she'd explored him, then brought him, she'd said she wanted him to let go, to be exposed, vulnerable with her…
Was leaving him here part of that? Surely not; surely not after what they'd just shared…
Suppressing the ill-blossoming seed of unease, he rapidly mass-texted his family:
"Im safe home soon dont worry [SORRYSORRYSORRY]+-8!"
No matter how he worked it, he had to get back to the Lair now.
Except first he had to wash off all the sex.
Even though, in a slightly gross way, Donatello wanted to keep April's musk on his skin, he acknowledged that he desperately needed to bathe. The scent would be a dead give-away to his brothers and father than he and April had been, erm, excessively friendly with each other. The teasing would be more brutal and merciless than a 12-hour "Space Heroes" marathon. He needed to figure out what to tell them instead. He wasn't at all ready to have that discussion with his family.
Ever.
Also, he wanted to have that discussion with April first.
Donnie hurtled towards the copper faucet just inside the room's entrance door and cranked on the water. Splashing and scrubbing his arms, legs, plastron and shell like a crazed bird in a garden bath, he thought about how he felt. He'd not only been intimate with someone else for the first time in his life, but with the woman of his dreams, a human woman.
Never in a million alternate dimensions….
His lower body washed, he rinsed his shoulders, neck and face – which is when he noticed: his mask! April had worn his purple mask (and only his mask) as part of her seduction of him – the same mask that he'd then blindfolded her with to do unspeakably wonderful sex-things to her…
As torrid memories and florid technical jargon started deluging his mind, Donnie felt a heat build in his groin. "YUNNHH! Not Now!" He had to keep moving, get home.
Where the shell was his mask? No way could he leave here without it! Donnie dove back into the cushions, searching for the long strip of thick amethyst cloth. Panicking, he came up empty handed.
Then, from his kneeling position, he could see purple dripping over the side of his bureau, where he'd originally tossed the mask that morning. Quickly, he reached up and snatched the fabric off the desk, scattering a bunch of papers onto the floor – including April's love note to him.
"Got it!" Air-punching victoriously, Donnie tied the band around his head, leapt up and raced back to the door to reinstate his carefully stored wraps and pads, leathers and bo staff, around his body.
Even while harried, his mind wouldn't let go of the past several hours. Donnie reflected on how out of his head he was for April's feel, her scent, her taste (oh Sweet Reason, he totally had to brush his teeth soon, too!). Despite his rush he realized that he felt looser, more relaxed than he ever had; as though he'd unknowingly spent his whole life coiled tight like a spring. He felt that he'd tapped more deeply into the well of personal power he carried inside of himself (as well as stumbled upon a whole new fun way to accrue emotional baggage!, chided the anxious side of his mind).
Anyway: If this was love, he was all in.
The door to Donnie's sanctuary quickly and silently wheeled open and shut behind him. The racing Ninja Turtle was but a flash of bottle green in the dimly lit sewer tunnels funneling towards the Lair.
No matter what happened next, no matter how many push-ups and toilet cleanings and whatever-elses Splinter punished him with, all of this was worth it, a thousand times over.
Donatello just hoped that April felt the same way.
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A/N: Donnie's text, "[SORRY...SORRY]+-8", is my geeky futile FF way of trying to insert the mathematical symbol for infinity, in both positive and negative directions. True infinity, man. Totally underused maths symbol :)