A Chance of Safety
Later That Day, 3:36 pm…
The whole day, April and Casey had been at school while the turtles stayed at the lair, not allowed to go outside or even willing to from being so tired. But one young ninja turtle had been up periodically during the day, disappearing into the dojo for a minute before coming back out, not taking anything or coming out with anything. It made the other turtles curious, and Raph actually demanded to know what the younger brother had been up to. But he'd only reply with a "Nothing" or a "Just restless".
"Hey, come to think of it," Raph was saying as he conversed with his brothers in the living room. "Did that squirrel-girl ever come down from that tree at all today?"
Leo shrugged. "I don't think so. Splinter's been in there all day, too, as usual. He hasn't spoken, so I know he hasn't talked to her."
"Can she even talk at all?" Raph scoffed as he took another bite of his pizza slice, chewing it over a few times before swallowing it.
Donnie shrugged as he fingered his slice. "I can't be for sure. Mutations include a variety of changes, and that may include speech impediment. Maybe her mutation cut off her ability to speak."
"It couldn't have." Leo countered. "She was screaming when we found her, hissing too and chattering like an actual squirrel."
"Like I said, mutation comes in a variety of changes. You never know, maybe her human features are covered by animal instincts. Maybe that's why she hasn't come down from the tree. Squirrels feel much happier in high places such as trees. But still… It makes me wonder if she's eaten recently…"
"Well, we know that she robbed that store of food, so she had eaten recently." Leo pointed out as he chewed.
"Yeah, but she hasn't eaten all day today," Donnie reminded thoughtfully. "I think Mikey's been in there back and forth to check on her. Maybe he knows if she's eaten. Hey, Mikey!"
The young turtle, who was in the kitchen getting himself more pizza, poked his head out from the kitchen entrance. "What?"
"Has squirrel-girl eaten today?" Raph asked, looking over his shoulder with a mouth full of cheese and pizza crust.
Mikey's curious face suddenly faded into an annoyed look. "Stop calling her that! And no, she hasn't eaten. She hasn't even talked. Maybe it's because she's scared of you!"
Raph blinked in a questioning fashion as he raised his shoulders. "Why would she be scared of me?" When Mikey disappeared back into the kitchen and Raph looked to the other two brothers, who were staring at him expectantly with amused expressions, he was silent for a moment before he frowned. "Ah, c'mon, I can't be that bad, can I?"
Leo snorted before he took another bite of his pizza. "Oh yeah…"
"You're terrifying." Donnie clarified as he took a bite of his own pizza.
Raph stared quizzically at them before shaking his head while rolling his eyes, shoving the rest of the crust in his mouth and chewing silently. Mikey entered the living room and plopped down onto the seat beside Raph, taking a loud bite of his cheese pizza and chewing in deep thought. He wondered if the girl was hungry, actually. Then he felt a little guilty for eating without considering that she might be up in that tree, too scared to come down and very hungry from haven't eaten all day. Immediately he stopped chewing, swallowed his only partially chewed bite, almost choking before Raph gave him a hard slap in the shell.
"Thanks…" the younger turtle wheezed, clearing his throat and swallowing before taking a drink of his soda and standing back up.
"Where ya goin'?" Raph demanded as he watched his brother leave.
Mikey started off into the kitchen. "I'm gonna see if she's hungry."
The brothers watched as the younger turtle disappeared for a while into the kitchen, heard a bit of shuffling, and then saw as he reappeared from the kitchen with a pizza box in hand and a brand new soda can in the other. He walked casually into the dojo, now starting to feel excited that he got to see her again. It was like… getting a new puppy and coming home after school after wanting to see it again all day. He looked up at the tree, smiling as he jumped up into the air and into the branches, pulling himself into the branches and sitting himself down on the branches where he'd sat earlier that morning when he'd first checked on her. He was pleased to see that she was using the blanket and pillow he'd given her, curled up with her tail once again covering her face. He smiled at her as he sat with his legs crossed on the branch.
"Hi," he said softly. Just like that morning, she raised her head instantly at the sound of his voice and her eyes locked onto him, her ears perking up. He smiled brightly at her, trying to look as non-threatening as he could. "I brought you some pizza, ya know, in case you were hungry. And soda, I also have some soda, in case you're thirsty."
She eyed the pizza box in his hand and the soda in his other suspiciously. He took a deep breath, and then he carefully sat the box down on group of smaller branches. He then opened the box, showing her that it was indeed pizza, and he turned the can over slowly in his hand as to not shake it up but to also show her that it wasn't penetrated.
"See? Yummy cheese pizza and soda. No poison! I promise! You want me to take a bite to prove it? 'Cuz I will die to prove that it isn't!" he smiled, picking up one of the six slices of cheese pizza and wiggling it at her temptingly. He was surprised to hear a small, but audible giggle from her direction and he could see a smile quivering on her face. He blinked in curiosity for a second, but then he smiled in happiness. If she could giggle, that must mean that she could speak.
"Here," he pushed the box towards her, careful to not knock it over.
She stared at the box for a minute or two, contemplating whether or not to take the food that he was giving her. She let her eyes wander to his, to search for any suspicious expression such as mischief or planning. She saw hope and concern, but nothing negative as far as she could tell. She was uneasy about taking food from a stranger, but her growling stomach was begging her to at least take one slice, even if it meant that it could be her last. Hesitantly, she uncurled her tail and slowly reached a hand towards the waiting box, letting her claws touch a slice before she hurriedly took it and lean back into her spot against the tree's center. She took a few sniffs of it, her nose twitching a bit before she timidly took a small bite. Her pupils widened as the bite hit her ravaging stomach, and before she knew it she was shoving the pizza slice piece by piece into her mouth.
Mikey smiled. "There ya go. I knew that ya had to be hungry!" He watched as she gobbled up the first slice, and then already snatched up another piece and was chewing on it. "So… ya got a name?"
She perked her ears and stared at him as she chewed. He then chuckled bashfully. "I mean… 'Cuz Raph keeps calling you 'squirrel-girl', so I thought that it'd be nicer to call you by your actual name…"
She was silent for a long while, her cheeks chubby from unconsciously storing her food like a chipmunk before swallowing it all, coughing and swallowing bits that still remained in her mouth. Licking her two front, buck teeth, she held the rest of her slice in her hands close to her chest.
"Abigale…"
Mikey's eyes suddenly widened and he slightly tilted his head. "Huh?"
She swallowed again, clearing her throat and flattening her ears. For a moment her eyes were glossy as she struggled with trying to make her voice come out. When she did speak, her voice was cracked, and she coughed after she finished. "Abigale… Johnson…"
"Abigale…" he repeated, and then he smiled brightly at her in happiness that he finally got her to speak, and get a name out of her. "Well, nice to meet ya, Abigale! Can I just call you 'Abby' for short?" She nodded slowly, taking another bite of her pizza. He grinned. "Awesome! Well… I'm sorry that my brother had to… tranquilize you… We were afraid that you might hurt us and we didn't want to hurt you, so… Yeah."
Abigale swallowed the last bite of her second slice, putting a hand to her flank where the dart had penetrated her skin as if to check on it. Mikey felt guilty for a moment, noticing that the area was swollen a little from the penetration of the dart's needle. But she turned her head and nodded at him.
"It's… okay…" she breathed. She still wasn't used to speaking to other people yet, and to make this moment even more awkward, this boy wasn't even human at all. She stared at him again, trying to picture him as his former human self. It was so sad that he and all of his companions had been turned into turtles. Even that guy that was a rat.
"So… where's your folks?" Mikey asked, placing his elbows on his knees.
She paused in mid-reach for another slice of pizza, and he then regretted asking when he saw a depressed dimness accompany her formerly shiny eyes. She then brought her arms and wrapped them around herself in a hug, curling her tail around her as she shielded herself. Her heart felt as though it was sinking in her chest, and she slowly turned away from him and leaned against the tree's center. He felt his stomach forming a knot as his head shrunk into his shoulders, hating that he had brought up what he assumed was a painful subject for her.
"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
She blinked slowly as she remained silent, only her breathing and slowly blinking eyes showing that she was alive at the moment. Images of her mother and father floated around in her mind, and past memories of her former human life. Tears pricked at her eyes when she remembered her parents' happy faces when they had been together, and she suddenly gritted her teeth in anger when she knew that if they had never divorced, this would have never happened. She wouldn't have ever had come to New York with her mother, and she would never had been turned into… this… thing! She would have been happy, had a home, had her parents, and had her boyfriend! Everything would have still been the same!
Mikey cringed when he heard her sniffle and start to sob quietly to herself. Feeling that maybe he had asked too much of her, and that now as the time to let her be, he slowly backed up and climbed down from the tree. Turning to leave the dojo, he put his hand on the doorway and looked back at the tree, hearing her sniffles amongst the branches above. He sighed, and he turned away to rejoin with his brothers to watch some TV. Maybe a few hours would give her enough time to cool off.
Later That Afternoon, 5:58 pm…
"Captain, what are we going to do?!" SLAP!
"Get a hold of yourself, you moron!"
Leo couldn't contain an amused chuckle as he rested his cheeks against his propped up hands on his knees, smiling a little as he watched his favorite show Space Heroes. Donnie had fallen asleep on the bench, snoring quietly with his head hanging backwards and drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. Raph was quietly returning from the kitchen, a shaker of pepper in hand as he grinned evilly back and forth at Mikey and the sleeping Donnie, waving the bottle of pepper in sight. Mikey grinned in amusement as Raph crept over to the sleeping turtle, putting a finger to his lips to hush Mikey, who was struggling to contain his giggles. Mikey tapped Leo on the shoulder, and when Leo saw his other two brothers and began to predict the situation, he grinned and turned around to watch the scene begin to play out.
Slowly with a wide smirk across his face, he brought the shaker of pepper and began to sprinkle pepper flakes all over Donnie's mouth and nose, biting his lower lip to keep from bursting into a fit of laughter as Donnie sniffled, wiggled his nose, and began to coughing. Opening his eyes and squinting, Donnie gasped and he suddenly sat up and let out a great big sneeze, and continued to sneeze and cough as he jumped from his seat and scrambled to his lab, leaving Raph, Mikey, and Leo to roll on the floor laughing.
"I'm so gonna kill you guys before this day's over with!" Donnie shouted between sneezes, and Raph wiped a tear from his eyes.
"You're gonna have to quit sneezing first, dork!" he cackled.
A noise was heard from the lair entrance and the remaining three turtles turned their attention to the red-haired girl and the taller black-haired boy entering the lair, backpacks in hand as they were returning from late studies at school.
"I still don't get it with these science formulas. When will chemistry play a role in my life anyway? It's not like it's gonna save my life or anything, especially since I have no freakin' clue what I'm doin'." Casey was saying to April, securing his hockey stick over his shoulder and wiping his nose of an itch.
April smiled in amusement at him. "Well, that's the whole reason we're having these study sessions now, isn't it?"
Casey rolled his eyes and smiled at Raph, seeing the grin that was displayed on his face and giving his red-masked friend a high-five. "Hey, man, what's up?"
"AAAHHH-CHOOO!" April jumped in surprise and her eyes snapped to the lab doors, hearing sniffling, coughing, and periodic sneezing from an all too familiar turtle.
"Is he okay?" she asked, and the turtle boys all began laughing again, but when she frowned, Mikey answered for his hysteric older brothers.
"Raph put pepper in Donnie's face!" he giggled.
April smiled and rolled her eyes in a knowing fashion. She should have guessed that the brothers had pulled something on their purple-masked sibling. Soon enough, Donnie stepped out of the lab with a wet rag placed over his nose and mouth, only taking it off to wave and greet April with a bashful smile before his eyes widened and he sneezed again.
"Bless you!" she chuckled, and he groaned before nodding and returning to his lab to come up with something to get rid of the pepper. When he left, she then frowned and looked to Leo. "How is she?"
"Who?" Leo blinked, but then he shook his head and nodded. "Oh! Uh, I don't know, actually. Mikey's been the only one who's actually tried to talk to her. Splinter told us that we shouldn't train in the dojo until she has completely calmed down and all."
"But she hasn't come down from the tree ever since she got here." Raph informed as he hopped back into his seat, having calmed down from his hysteric laughing.
Casey huffed, smiling in obvious relief. "Well, as long as that thing is away from me, I am perfectly happy!"
April then frowned at the boy. "Casey! That mutant is a poor girl! She needs help, and she needs friends. Maybe I can talk to her?"
Mikey shrugged. "I dunno, she's pretty high up in the tree… But… maybe I can try to talk to her and see if she wants to come down."
The girl smiled and nodded in excitement. "Yes, please! I want to see her."
He shrugged. "Okay. But… wait in here!"
With that, he jumped up from the floor and walked toward the dojo, disappearing behind the wall and leaving them to wait for him. Mikey looked behind the wall to make sure that nobody was following, and he then returned to see Abigale. He walked to the base of the tree and looked up at the branches, wondering if she was feeling any better from the talk they had earlier. Should he bother her? He could just tell April and the others that she was still unwilling to come down or speak. But then he felt a little bad, and he knew that he would have to apologize to her anyway.
"Abby?" he called softly, looking up at the branches, and when he didn't hear anything for a moment, he leapt up into the tree and climbed up into the branches.
When he got up into the branches, he saw her sitting up with her back against the pillow against the tree's center. She was fiddling with the soda can in her hands, plucking at the tab of the empty can with her index claw. When his feet touched the branches, her ears twitched and she turned her head to look at him.
"… Mikey?" she croaked, setting the can down on the branch beside her.
He smiled timidly at her, kneeling down on the branch and using his hand to steady himself against the tree's center. "Hey! Um… Hey, I just… I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry, if I… you know… made ya upset earlier." He raised his shoulders and began expecting the worst, the possibility that she would fall silent again and cry.
But she didn't turn away or start crying. Instead she smiled bashfully and rested her hands in her lap. "It's… okay…" she paused for a minute to consider her next words, and then she sighed. "This is all just so… weird… sudden… How do you cope with it?"
He blinked in confusion. "With what?"
She batted her eyes at him in her own way of confusion. "Being turned into an animal mutant?"
He took a moment to let her words sink in, frowning in thought. But then he smiled and nodded slowly, his mouth open in an 'ohh' motion. "OOHHH…. Oh no, no, no! I wasn't a human before I was mutated."
She tilted her head, her ears going erect in alarm as she gawked at him. "Wait… what?"
He nodded to confirm his point. "Yeah, me and my brothers were actually turtles before we were mutated. I mean… legit, actual, tiny baby turtles. Splinter was human, though. We were all mutated together!"
She stared at him in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open slightly. She began looking him up and down. How could something with such… 'human' qualities used to be something with such a simple and… noncomplex mind? She looked to his eyes, searching for answers that she supposed that she would never receive. His eyes were such a bright blue, surely to belong to a being that was once human! No turtle had eyes like that. And his face, of course turtles could have unique features in their facial structures but surely not such a variety of emotional, expressive facial expressions. It was hard to believe that he had been a simple turtle at all!
But as she expected this to be a joke and she studied his face, she began to slowly, painfully realize that there was no trickery there, and no mockery either. He only stared back with a simple but expectant smile, which slowly faded into a curious perk of his lips as he raised his mask ridges.
"You… aren't kidding… are you?" she murmured, her small pointed ears drooping back against her head as she lowered her shoulders, her too front buck teeth showing more obviously as she felt her jaw hang open.
He shook his head, smiling brightly. "Nope. But hey, I see your reason for misunderstanding. I'm obviously WAY much better looking that a normal turtle!" He slid a hand across the top of his head and smiled crookedly at her in a charming but meant to be funny way.
This statement earned a small giggle out of her as she put her hands to her mouth, smiling in disbelief at him. He laughed, happy to see that she was feeling better and now even smiling. But then he offered her a soft and curious look as he tilted his head, slumping his shoulders as he glanced back and forth from her to the ground below them.
"Don't you want to come down from the tree?" he asked in a worried tone.
She curiously looked down at the base of the tree over the limb she was sitting on, and instantly realization struck her and she scooted back up against the trunk of the tree with her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes wide. He frowned and looked down at the ground, and then back to her. For a long minute he pondered over her reaction, and then he snapped his fingers.
"You're scared of heights, aren't you?" he inquired, a look of realization washing over his face as he watched her nod. "And you got yourself stuck up here?! Why didn't you tell me?"
She took a shallow and shaky breath. "I… I was scared."
He smiled. "Scared of what? Me laughing at you?" When she didn't reply, he sighed and smiled at her. "Hey, I'll help ya get down if ya want."
The idea of getting down from this tree sounded quite nice to her at this moment. She was tired of sitting on the tree's bark, and she wanted to get down from this height. But when she glanced down at the ground again, she gulped in fright at the sight of how high she had actually gotten herself. How did she even get up here anyway? She remembered that when she had woken up in this strange place in the first place, her animal instincts took control and all she could think about was getting to a safe place. She guessed that she blindly just climbed up the best place she saw, and it had to be the place a squirrel would choose… She mentally slapped herself in the face.
But then she watched as he slowly held out his hand to her, studying the green skin of his palm. Her eyes traveled up to his, searching for something, but not quite sure what. She saw the sincerity in his blue orbs as he smiled at her, shifting his hand towards her.
"I can help you." His voice was soft, genuine and friendly as he smiled softly at her.
She nodded slowly, and she carefully lifted her hand and placed it in his own. His warmth seemed to soothe her, and she took a deep breath as he began to slowly lead her towards the opening in the tree's branches, where he'd came up to see her through. She took a glimpse at the ground again and whimpered in dread.
"Oh, it's okay! It's okay!" he said in a soothing tone, easing his legs down and using his free hand to grab onto a lower tree-limb. "Here, grab on."
She closed her eyes tightly, tried to relax her heart, and then slid one arm down his and wrapped her elbow around his neck. He suddenly burst into a fit of giggles and grinned as she clung to him for dear life.
"Your fur tickles!" he giggled, but then he straightened back up and cleared his throat, making sure he had a secure hold on her. She wasn't any larger than himself, now that he was close enough to her to get a better examination of her. She was actually around his height. "Okay, just hold on. We'll be down in a second."
Her eyes widened. "You're not going to jump, are you?"
Instead of answering, he decided to get the action over with as he saw the dread building up in her eyes. So, he grunted as he released the branch and used his once free hand to hold her more securely. She gasped, her voice being lost in her throat as they were suddenly freefalling from the tree but as he said in only a second they were on the ground. She had buried her face against his plastron in a way to shield her eyes from the terrible drop.
"Hey, chillax! Everything's okay!" Mikey chirped.
She slowly opened her eyes, batting her eyelashes as she turned her head and examined her surroundings while Mikey carefully sat her on the ground, letting her use him to balance herself since she hadn't stood in a long while. The feeling of security began to sink in when she felt the ground at her feet, her balance slowly returning to her as she let out a relieved sigh. But she then realized just how stiff she was, too, and she rolled her neck and heard and felt as if popped along with her back when she bent it.
"Hey, there's somebody that wants to see you. You think that you could try to talk to my brothers and friends?"
She pondered over his question for a minute, remembering what she had first met him and his brothers along with that boy. Then she smiled, and nodded slowly as her ears flattened. "Yeah… I can try…"
He smiled and took her hand before leading her towards the door. She gasped when her legs tried to give out, feeling week from the lack of use. Mikey hurried to her side, letting her use his shoulder to wrap her arm around to steady herself. After she took a few minutes to let her feet get settled, she nodded to let him know that she was alright. He let her try to walk on her own, and even though she was wobbly she assured him that she was alright enough to walk on her own. So he took her hand once again, and she let him lead her to the living room where his brothers and the two humans were waiting.
"Oh… my gosh…" April breathed, staring at her in amazement as she raised a hand to her mouth. She and Abigale seemed to lock gazes when the mutant girl turned her attention to the red-head's voice. April could instantly sense the confusion and fear within the mutant's dark eyes, but with Mikey beside her, April could tell that the girl was comforted and more relaxed now that she had a friend, and that now she was showing signs of mostly curiosity.
Mikey smiled brightly, and he motioned a hand toward his companion, who perked her ears and tilted her head in curiosity at them. "Guys, this is Abigale. Abby, these are my brothers, Leo, Raph, and Donnie, and these guys are April and Casey."
Abigale turned her eyes to meet each person he named off, recognizing all but April, and took in the personality that she could get out of them as of the moment. The blue-masked Leo seemed to be the calmest of the four brothers, more focused with his eyes never leaving the subject that was being discussed: her. He held his head high as if with some kind of pride, only moving his head at all when he nodded to her in greeting when his name had been called by Mikey. She assumed that he was the leader of the gang of teenagers. The red-banded turtle, Raph, for some reason put her on edge. His narrowed, keen lime-green eyes locked onto her and made her feel nervous. He was stocky, even a lightning-shaped chip in his plastron on his left side. He had this aggressive look about him. Next was the purple-masked turtle. He was the tallest of the turtle bunch aside from Casey, and his skin was a duller color green than the others. A tissue over his nose, his visible softer brown eyes eased her nerves after her take-in of Raph. He focused on her, but she could see his orbs roam over her, as if he taking in her physical features as well. By the way he studied her, she could tell that he was the thinker of the bunch. Moving to the two humans now, Casey was the first to catch her eye. She recognized him from when she had first met the group of turtles, when he screamed and actually scared her. He stared back at her with slightly troubled eyes, looking her up and down as if he expected her to do something. But he also appeared to have a sloppy look about him, wearing a stained, slightly torn black t-shirt and pants, his greasy-looking black hair slicked back with a black and white bandana. Then finally there was April. She was the only girl of the bunch besides herself, but looked to be the brightest with orange-red hair and blue eyes, yellow shirt with blue-jean shorts, black leggings, and black shoes. She wore a meaningful friendly smile as she waved at Abigale.
Abigale took all of this in in a minute or two, saving each of their faces in her memory before smiling timidly to them in greeting.
"Hi…" she said softly, her ears flattening as she felt her heart beat faster, feeling bashful amongst this crowd.
April was the first to respond as she approached her and Mikey. "Hi! I'm so glad that I got to meet you. Casey told me that the guys found another mutant, and that they brought you back here. Are you okay? Can you understand me okay?"
Abigale's ears perked for a second before she shrugged. "I'm… living… I guess."
"Abigale, I am so sorry that this had to happen to you…" the girl went on, and the mutant could see that there was something in the human's eyes that resembled grief. "You see, my dad was mutated, too… So I know that it must be hard…"
"I knew that we should have kept searching for mutagen canisters last night…" Leo sighed as his eyes traveled to the ground. "We could have saved you from turning into a mutant…"
Abigale blinked in confusion. "Last night? Oh, no, I wasn't mutated last night. I've… I've been like this for some weeks now…"
Leo's eyes widened at her statement and April gasped as she slapped her hands against her mouth. "Oh my gosh… Abigale, why did you never go to the police?"
She narrowed her eyes, looking down at herself and hugging herself, forcing herself to let go of Mikey, who still stood beside her and also wore a concerned face. "I don't think that the police would believe that this… body used to be human. I… I was..."
"Afraid?"
Her fur bristled and she jumped, clinging to Mikey again and turning around to the source of the new voice. But then she recognized the tall anthropomorphic brown rat. Wearing a red kimono suit and bearing a staff in one hand, his calm red-brown eyes gazing down at her. He was much taller than how she remembered, when she had first ran into him when she'd woken up in this place. But aside from his size, he didn't look like one to be any threat.
She nodded. "Yeah… I guess…"
"Oh, this is Splinter, Abby." Mikey introduced, smiling brightly at her when she settled down, her fur flattening. "He's out teacher, or father."
She studied Splinter for a minute in confusion. Father? But… he was a rat! What relations a rat possibly have with turtles? And teacher? Did he teach these turtles to be much like humans? And if so, how did he learn to become like a human himself?
"But… father?" she tried to ask how it was possible that he was their father.
He shook his head slowly, and began to explain his identity and answer her question, knowing her confusion. "Not biologically. Unlike my sons, I am originated from a human being. My real name is Hamato Yoshi. I used to be a master of martial arts as a human, and these boys were, when I was human, to my pets before we were all changed by mutagen and they began to grow into human-like nature. I have been teaching them martial arts ever since they began to show interest in it. Now, we are a family."
"Yeah," Mikey chirped. "And if ya want, you can be part of it too! I mean… at least until we can figure out how to get you back to your old self."
She then looked back up him, her eyes wide. "You mean that you guys will help me get back to normal?"
Mikey grinned, and he looked back at his sensei, her following her hopeful gaze to meet the older mutant's eyes. He offered her a soft look, nodding slowly as he began to succumb to her pleading eyes.
"Of course. Donatello," when the purple-masked turtle looked to Splinter, he continued. "You are still working on the mutagen solution, are you not?"
Donnie nodded in reply. "Yeah, for April's dad. But I'm sure that I can come up with enough retromutagen for the both of them!"
Splinter nodded. "Then it is settled. If you wish to, Abigale, you may stay here with us under our protection until Donatello can finish his retromutagen."
She suddenly felt as though she was about to cry. She couldn't remember the last time that she was given the choice to be provided protection against the world. Oh yeah, it was before she was mutated, when she was still with her parents. When she had been with her mother and father, she had felt so safe and secure, with no bad thought in the world. But now that she looked at this bunch of people, saw their concerned faces, and looked to Mikey and saw his hopeful smile, she couldn't help but nod in agreement, feeling her heart warm at the thought that they actually cared, that she would be safe with them.
"Yes! I mean… yes. That… that would be nice… Thank you…" she breathed quietly, her ears flattening as her eyes began to tear up in happiness.