Chapter 16 - The Sting of Hurt

The temperature of her bedroom seemed to plummet and the lamp in the corner flickered to a dim. It was if all the warmth and light had parted with April's hasty exit. Donatello looked down at the cold concrete he was kneeling on. He couldn't remember when he had slumped to the floor, nor could he guess how long he had sat there. He wasn't sure why he hadn't moved, why he hadn't chased after her when she'd left, but now that he hadn't, the simple effort of getting up seemed too much.

He glanced around and noticed a printed out photo taped to the wall. It was a selfie, he and April had taken with the camera on her laptop. The two of them were smiling as their cheeks pressed together, his snout flushed with the ever present pink that he couldn't avoid whenever she was near him. The photo had been from just the week before and they looked so happy. He recalled the night they had taken it, as they snuggled up together in her room to watch a movie. It was one of the many days featuring the redhead, that had pushed their way up to his top 10.

What the hell had just happened? He wondered to himself. What could have possibly transpired over the last 24 hours that had made April turn such a drastic 180? And then he saw it. Raphael's tonfas that she had been using during their sparring sessions. Raphael had brought on this sudden change of heart. That conniving snake had wormed his way into their lives and freaked her out. Donatello could feel the surge of anger from before reemerging. How could his own brother do this to him? How could he make his moves on the woman he knew that he cared so much about? Sure, they hadn't actually told anyone they were dating, but from the sounds of it Raphael had already known something was going on. And even if he hadn't, the entire group had shamelessly teased him about his crush on April since day one, there was no way he could even pretend not to know.

As if on cue, a sound from his lab across the hall alerted Donatello to the return of the two elder brother's in the ShellRaiser. He was on his feet and out of the room in an instant. He could feel his anger boiling to the top as he entered the lab, and spotted his traitorous brother exiting the vehicle they had parked in the back. The cool-headed, logical side of his brain, the one that always thought everything through to the point of over planning, was gone. His eyes could only see red, and the fury at his brother was managing to dampen the pain of April's departure.

"YOU!" He shouted. Finger pointed at Raphael, as he stormed across the garage. "Couldn't find your own girl, so you went after mine?!"

Raphael stood beside the large transport, seemingly waiting for Leo to exit. He glanced up at his taller brother as he approached, caught unexpectedly by his questioning.

"What are you talking abou–?" Before he could even get the last word out of his mouth, Donatello tackled him and knocked him to the ground, swinging a few empty punches, connecting mostly with this arms and sides.

"How could you!" Donatello roared. "You know I how I feel about her! How COULD you?!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Leo shouted, stepping out of the back of the ShellRaiser to find his usually calm-demeanor brother attacking the sour-tempered one.

"Whoah, I can hear you guys shouting over the TV–" Mikey entered the room from the other end, and was quickly halted by the sight of his brothers fighting. Honestly, not a rare sight in their household, but the fact that his mild-mannered brother seemed to be throwing the punches was definitely a new thing.

Don was pinning Raphael to the ground, having caught him off guard. He looked up at Leo, his voice angry and strained. "April just broke up with me and apparently this guy's been making his moves on her!"

"What?!" Both Raphael and Leonardo shouted in unison.

"Wait- you guys have been dating?" Leo asked aloud, completely blown away by this bit of information.

"Pfffffft, I coulda' told you that." Mikey commented, but his grin quickly faded at his leader's scowl.

Completely ignoring his brothers, Donnie continued to direct his attention to Raph. "You knew that I liked her, why couldn't you just leave her alone?" The taller turtle leaned back off of Raph, balancing on his knees, allowing the other to sit up. He held his head in his hand, furious and sad and torn about what to do next.

"I would never try to steal her Don, I just told her that I liked her, that's all." Raph's voice was apologetic and full of guilt.

"Whaoh, back up. You DO have feelings for her?" Leonardo asked, looking at Raphael with a judgmental glare.

"Look– I didn't mean to ok. I was going to keep it a secret, I never wanted to come between the two of you."

Donnie's hand slid down from over his eyes and his facade was ablaze with fury. His reticulated membrane had slid over his eyes and he was in full battle mode. Without thinking, he took a swing, his right hand connecting with Raphael's chin. The blow knocked him back again, his shell making a loud thunk as it hit the cement floor.

"Donatello!" Leo shouted, having never seen his peaceful brother be so aggressive towards one of them. Somewhere deep down, Donatello registered the shock on his brother's faces, but there was no stopping his outburst now, he swung a few more punches, though each one with less and less steam. Raphael shielded his face from the blows, but made no move to fight back.

"But you couldn't keep your big mouth shut could you?" Donnie yelled between swings. "Don't you get it? She thinks the only reason I like her, is because I don't know anybody else! Just like you told her, 'she's the only girl you know', so of course you're crushing on her!"

"Donnie, I didn't mean…" Raph stumbled for words. "I'm sure she'll realize that you care about her more than that."

Donatello paused his outburst and used Raph's chest to push himself back away from him.

"I LOVE her Raphael! She's the first decent thing that has EVER happened to me and you had to come along and screw it up!" He finished and hung his head. He had nothing left to say. He slumped back to sit on the floor, Raphael still sprawled out in front of him.

A weird silence engulfed the group. Leonardo walked over to place a comforting hand on Donatello's shoulder. But, he did not move a muscle and kept his eyes trained to the ground.

Raphael cautiously sat back up, before moving his jaw to click back into place. He caught the judgmental eyes of his older brother as he got to his feet.

"Can it Leo." He muttered, passing him by to crouch down beside his brother in purple. "Donnie, I swear to you, I never meant to hurt you." His words seemed to fall on deaf ears. "I've seen the way she looks at you, Donnie. I, I didn't think it was possible for a human to see beyond what we are."

"Yeah well, thanks for ruining that."

"We'll find a way to help her see that you feel that same way too."

A low "grumpfh" was his only response.

Not one to do well with awkward situations, Mikey stepped in and placed himself between the two brothers, wrapping an arm around the neck of each of them. "Aww Donnie, I'm sure she'll come around." He pulled in tight, causing them to both be part of a hug neither was excited about. "You too bro, get in here." He gestured to Leo standing over them.

Leo smiled and moved towards them before letting out a grunt and falling forward a step and collapsing onto his knees. "Unggh!"

The group hugging on the floor all turned in unison. "Leo?!"

Donnie was quick to his feet and was at his side instantly. "What is it?"

Leo had one hand on the floor in front of him and his head hanging. He held up his other hand towards Donnie, in a gesture that clearly said, 'give me a second'. "I'm OK." He mumbled towards the floor.

"Like hell you are." Raphael exclaimed coming around to his other side as he and Donnie cautiously helped him back to his feet.

"What's this?" Donatello questioned, noticing a large red welt on Leo's upper arm.

The immediate response that Raphael had wanted to snap back, was that they were about to tell him about it when Don had knocked him to the ground. But for the sake of avoiding another argument when Leo obviously needed help, he held his tongue.

"We found that Kraang lab you had been tracking the other day. From the looks of it, they had been running some kind of weird experiments with insects and mutagen. We fought this giant wasp looking thing, but it stung Leo in the process." Raphael explained, a slight worry in his voice. "He said, he was fine."

"Well, that obviously doesn't seem to be the case." Donnie grumbled, though his focus on Leo's welfare was enough for him to put aside his anger at the red-banded brother for now.

"No really, I mean, it stung. But I felt fine." Leo spoke up between the glare of his two brothers. "And just now, a weird wave of nausea and dizziness hit me out of nowhere." He eased himself onto the end of the cot that they had lead him over to. Mikey hopping around behind them looking worried. "I feel fine now, I'm sure it was nothing"

Donnie picked up a pen light from his drawer of supplies and shone them into his brother's eyes, testing the way they reacted. Seemingly happy with the results, he rolled over a large lighted magnifying glass on a stand, to get a better look at his brother's injury. "You said it looked like a giant wasp?"

"Yeah. It was weird." Raph answered for him. "It sorta exploded when we fought it off, but I have the stinger we pulled out of his arm. I'll go get it."

"You do that." Donatello grumbled without looking away from the wound he was inspecting.

"Donnie." Leo spoke softly, once he knew that Raphael was out of earshot. "Will you please listen to me for a second?"

He paused in his examination of his oldest brother's arm and reluctantly looked up to meet his eyes. He wasn't really sure if Leo was going to be angry about his secret relationship or what. And judging by the nervous look on Mikey's face hovering behind him, he wasn't sure either.

"If it makes you feel any better, I really think he was telling the truth just now." Leo offered, not needing to specify what or whom he was referring to. "I know how much April means to all of us. I can only imagine how much this must hurt for you."

Donnie's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting his tough 'the clan is everything', rule-following brother to ever take his side.

"There's still hope. Give April some time, I'm sure she will come around." He reached up with his good arm and placed it gently on his younger brother's shoulder. "And if there's anything I can do, you just say the word."

"Thanks Leo." He all but whispered in reply before switching back into his caregiver mode. "But we have more important things to worry about right now; we need to make sure that you're OK."

X

X

The smoke from the incense filled the room with the heavy scent. April inhaled long and slow, feeling the rich woody air fill her lungs. The steady cadence of breathing, both her's and her sensei's, the only sound in the otherwise silent room. She shifted a little, feeling the discomfort in her legs from having sat for so long on the hard cement floor, cushioned by only the worn rug beneath them.

They had walked for a good hour or so to get to Splinter's secret place. Winding down dark twisting tunnels and abandoned pathways. They had taken so many turns and climbed ladders both in descent and ascent, she had even lost track of whether they were at the same elevation as the lair. He had made her promise that she would not reveal the location of his secret sanctuary, but she doubted she could find her way again, no less direct someone else.

When Splinter announced that they had arrived, she had looked around, unsure of what exactly he meant, since they seemed to be standing in yet another endless tunnel. But then he had approached a gated drainpipe and unlocked the grate that covered its rusted opening. He crawled in first, and April reluctantly followed. Never feeling confident about entering a dark place in the sewers head-first, but trusted in her mentor. When she exited the other end, she discovered Splinter had already begun lighting candles about a rather large room. It was just smaller than the dojo back home, and much like that space, there were several old battered rugs collected at one end to provide cushion for training. A small table with incense holders and a tea set sat along the opposite wall. A minuscule stream ran over a stack of flat rocks meticulously placed to form a fountain of sorts in one corner, trickling softly and providing a calming ambiance.

"Please. Set down your things while I make us some tea."

April carried her bags over to an unoccupied corner of the room and placed them softly on the hard ground. She shook out of her oversized jacket, surprised at the warm steam that seemed to hang in the dimly lit cavern.

Looking around, she observed a collection of hand-made scrolls hanging along one wall. Each appeared to be crafted with much care and detail. And while she was not able to read any of the Japanese symbols that marked the pages, she did recognize Master Splinter's fine calligraphic talent.

"These are beautiful." She commented in a soft voice, not wanting to break the near silence in the room.

"Thank you." Splinter approached her side to view one of the many scrolls. "But they are hardly art-worthy. Merely journal entries of sorts, one for each year with my new family. Much like a way for me to recollect the events that happened that year." He turned and gave her a quick wink before adding, "And practice my brushwork at the same time."

April smiled in reply and looked back over the wall again, noting that there was in fact 15 scrolls, one for each year they had been down there. Splinter walked further down the wall to the last scroll that appeared to be unfinished. He pointed to a column of markings, "Right here is where you came into our lives."

Turning away from the beautiful script, she looked up to catch her mentor's eyes. "You wrote about me?"

"My dear, whether you realize it or not, you have now been intertwined into our family history."

April considered this and the impact it suggested. While she had known that meeting their family had forever changed the course of her life, she wasn't sure why she hadn't put together that it went both ways.

"Come child," Her sensei gestured over to the small tea table. "let us relax after our long journey, with some hot tea."

X

X

"I've got it!" Raphael shouted as he raced across the lab towards them, a beat up cardboard box filled with a bundle of rags under his arm.

Donatello perked up from the examination of his eldest brother. Hiding a worried look on his face as he read the results on the thermometer.

"Bring it over here." He ordered, placing a sterile tray on the counter beside them and redirecting the light.

There was a moment where they all seemed to hold their breath while watching Raph unwrap the "weapon" from the soiled rags and place it gently on the tray.

"Whoah." Mikey commented from behind Donnie's shoulder. "You weren't kidding about the size of that thing!"

Donatello picked up nearby tweezers to prod and roll the stinger over and examine both ends. He was in full science mode now, having pushed aside his anger to focus. "Judging by the size of this stinger, I'd say the insect itself was a good meter and a half."

"That sounds about right." Leonardo confirmed from the cot.

"We can safely presume the Kraang were conducting experiments on these insects." Donnie spoke mostly to himself as he turned the stinger over again. "But why would they be doing that? They've never used the mutagen in such ways before."

"Maybe because they're a bunch of crazed aliens." Raphael growled out what he thought was the obvious answer.

"What's this?" Mikey asked, leaning over the counter and poking at a strange blueish object cocooned in the rags of the box.

"We found that in the lab," Raphael answered. "Leo thought we should bring it back. But I don't know, it looks like it might be an egg."

"I think that's exactly what it is." The scientist remarked as he removed it from the box and placed it on another tray next to the stinger. Picking up a scalpel from his table, he rolled the egg over with his other hand before holding it in place, prepared to dissect. Raph and Mikey stood at rapt attention waiting to see what might come out of it.

"Don't do that!" Leo shouted. The three boys jolted in surprise, having not noticed Leo leave his cot to step up right behind them.

"I'm just going to examine it, see what kind of information I can find out from it." Donnie responded, looking quizzically at his brother. "It's not fully developed yet, it can't hurt us." He moved his arm again to start slicing, but was halted.

"No!" Leo repeated his early tone and grabbed Donnie's hand with the blade, prohibiting him from moving. "I said don't do that."

"You wanta' explain your reasonings for that?" Raph asked.

"Just–trust me with this." Leo responded. He calmly pushed his tallest brother aside and stood right in front of the strange bean shaped object.

"Leo, I don't think that's a good idea, I mean eventually it will hatch." Donnie began to ramble. "And what if you start feeling worse, any answers to the toxins that thing might have injected you with are in that egg."

"I said LEAVE IT!" Leonardo shouted.

The three brothers stood motionless, completely taken off guard by their brothers strange behavior.

"I'll keep an eye on it. You don't need to worry." The eldest of the bunch, carefully scooped up the egg and cradled it in his arm with all the care one would give an infant.

Off to the side where Leonardo had ushered him, Donatello stood with his mouth agape, utterly confused as to what was happening. He silently locked eyes with Raphael who stood across with him and sent him a look clearly asking what was going on. Also bewildered by their brother's behavior, Raph shrugged in reply.

"Can I at least bandage your arm?" Donatello asked, but the Leo had already started to exit the room, tossing a wave over his shoulder.

"I'm fine."

The three remaining stood around the counter and watched him leave. They all stood so silent and still that to an outside observer it would have been comical to find this statuesque group of baffled turtles.

The door slammed shut behind his retreating figure and with it the group sprang to life again.

"What the hell was that all about?" Raph's deep growl rolled out.

"You guys, that was super weird." Mikey all but shuttered as he spoke. "It's like he was a different person all of the sudden. Donnie, do you think it's some kind of poison?"

"I don't know you guys, but I think we should go back that lab and see what else we can find out."

"C'mon I'll show you where we found it." Raph was ready to head towards the ShellRaiser.

"Mikey, you're still out of commission with your injured arm; Can you keep an eye on Leo while we are gone?" Donnie asked.

Looking a little freaked out at first, Mikey held his chin high and nodded in response. "I'll go tell Sensei what's going on." He added.

"He's not here." Donatello's tone turned dark again. "He took April with him. Said they'd be back in a couple days."

Raph noted the dark look that crossed his brother's features at this reply and could only assume this went along with his fight with April he had mentioned earlier. His heart twisted again, knowing that he had been the cause of that trouble. But knowing there was nothing they could do about it now, and that they had to focus on Leo, he pushed past it. "Ok, we'll be back as soon as we can. Whatever you do, don't let him leave."

"Got it." Mikey gave a smile and a thumbs up before adding as a playful after thought, "You guys be careful and try not to attack each other while you're out."

"I'm not making any promises." This time, it was Dontello's turn to growl.

X

X

End Chapter 16 - The Sting of Hurt

A/N Hi everyone! So sorry for the delay, but you know how the holidays go. Luckily, it also means that I have some time off of work, so now that Christmas is out of the way, I can actually do the things I want to do in my down time (Like write!). This is a tad on the short side, but I'm not quite ready for the section after it, and since you've all been waiting so very patiently I figured I'd at least post this bit.

And of course, I can't help myself and have had a couple new plot bunnies pop into my head that I just can't ignore. Is anyone interested in brainstorming about some story ideas (TMNT2k12 Apriltello stuff)? Sometimes I've got this great idea for a scene or two, but I wish I had someone to chat with about details and stuff. And seriously is there a place out there on the internet somewhere for plot bunnies that need a good home? I had another idea I was kicking around that I think could be cool - but I don't think I could do it justice. Anyways, if you have any suggestions or what not, you can PM me.

As always, reviews are highly encouraged! Do you think Raph and Don were in-character for what is happening to them? I wanted to Donnie to almost be "out-of-character" in his reaction, since these feelings are so new and overwhelming for him. And while Raph can be an asshole, I really think deep-down he's so damn protective of his family, and knowing that he was the one causing Donatello's pain - well, I just don't think he'd fight back. Somewhere in his mind, I think he feels he deserved it. Anyways - good? Bad? Whatdidya think?

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEARS!