Donnie's P.O.V:
I hold up the vial triumphantly. The light shines through the murky blue liquid. I quickly and carefully pour it into the needle, hoping she doesn't mind injections. I shoved away from my desk and jogged my way out of the lab grinning to myself. I hoped so desperately that it worked. It seemed stable. Having made so many medicinal drugs of all sorts over the years with my brothers, I was confident it would work out.
Mikey's in the kitchen making breakfast. I am relieved to see he is making pancakes that are normal for once. Normally he insists on coming up with odd new flavors for his meals. Perhaps he is making them edible for Gracie. I look into the living room, and Gracie is sleeping. I sigh. I can wait. I walk over to the living room and jump onto one of the couches. The weather channel is on TV, A forecast of rain later tonight.
"Morning, Donnie." I look over, surprised. Instead of sleeping, as I thought she was, Gracie was just lying on her side watching the television. She looked over at me, her misty eyes appearing more silver today. "Oh, Good-morning. I didn't think you were awake." She shrugged. The TV blared, announcing the news coming on. Her eyes snapped back to it. "Do you want me to change the channel? The news can be ind of boring." I ask. She looked back to me. "I'm waiting for something." She said. A bit direct for her. "Okay then." I said, watching it with her.
Just the usual things: thievery stopped by unknown heroes -hmm, I wonder who- and the likes of it. Suddenly it changed, a huge picture of a girl popped up. She had straight yellow-y blonde hair and misty blue eyes. Her face was covered in freckles. I could tell it was Gracie, she looked just like her. I guessed this is what Gracie had wanted to see. She sat up quickly in her seat, wincing with pain. That reminded me why I came out here. "Gracie-" She shushed me. I was a bit taken back with this, not seeming like Gracie at all, but I let it slide. I decided to wait until she was done with the TV.
"Her family called in this morning with a message for the missing girl." I heard once I tuned into the news. Suddenly the audio turned scratchy, playing a recorded phone call. The voice sounded like a young woman.
"Gracie, it's Sarah. If you are getting this message, I just want you to know that I love you. I hope you are safe. If you're gone of your own free will, I'm begging you, please come back. If you're not, if something happened to you, please try. But don't get yourself into trouble. I want you to be okay more then anything. Be careful and please come home. Here, Ethan wants to talk to you." There was a slight rustling, then a young child's voice could be heard, louder then it needed to be as kids had a habit of yelling into phones.
"Grace? Can you hear me? Hello?" In the background you could hear the girl telling him that Gracie wasn't actually there, that this was just a message for her. "Oh." The boy breathed heavily into the phone. "Grace, I am saying a message for you, okay? I really miss you, and you need to come home. It's not the same without you. I love you. Please come home soon. Sarah's not a good cook." The innocence in that message was enough to make my heart ache.
"Oh, Ethan!" Gracie chokes out. I look to her, and she is crying into her blanket. She smiles at it for a moment, then dissolves into tears. Suddenly a new voice comes into the recording. Once she hears it, Gracie goes completely silent.
"Hey, Grace." It's a male voice. He sounds young, like a teenager. "It's Alex, but, you probably knew that. You know, Ethan's right, well, about the 'it's not the same without you' part. I happen to think Sarah's a pretty good cook." He lowers his voice down to a whisper. "I'm just saying that, she could probably burn cereal, if she made it." Gracie laughs at this, tears still running down her cheeks. I smile as well. His voice goes back to normal. "But, really, Grace. Everything is so different now. Now, I know all of the school is probably listening to this, but I don't care. They'll just think that all of their lame jokes are true now. They don't bother me. But, I love you Gracie, we all do. We need you back." He sighs. "Please come back to us, to me." The recording is over. Gracie stares at the TV, her eyes dry but her face tear stained.
"Alex..." She whispers. She seems frozen. I get up and go to her quickly. She doesn't seem to notice me. I feel awkward, having never really been good at comforting upset people. I kneel down in front of her. "Uh, Gracie. I made something for you." No response. "It's a medicine, because I know you haven't been feeling very good lately." No response. "I hope you don't mind needles." No response. "Okay, I guess I'm just going to do that, then, so try not to flinch." I get out the things I need. I carefully take hold of her smooth, cool arm. I feel my face heat up slightly. I keep my face downward and prepare her arm quickly. I take the needle out from the pouch at my side and position it above her vein. I slide it in gently, pushing the medicine into her bloodstream.
"Ow." I look up briefly. Her eyes are watching what I am doing. "Sorry." I said as I pulled the needle out of her arm. She shrugs. "It's okay. Thank you." She smiles at me, but the smile doesn't make it to her eyes. I smile back.
"I'm sorry about your family. I know it must be hard." I put away my stuff and finish it off with a small band-aid decorated with silly smiley faces. Her smile falls. "Yeah." She says. I wait for her to say more, but she doesn't. There is silence for an awkward moment.
"Breakfast!" Mikey yells. Right on time. I stand up quickly, looking down at Gracie.
"I'll bring you some." I tell her. She shakes her head. "I think I can try to get up. It will help me get walking faster. Thank you for the medicine, by the way. That's amazing hw you made that. You must be very smart." I grin with pride. She holds onto the arm of the couch she was on and lifts herself up slowly. She wobbles a little, but manages to stand. She holds her arms out for balance and takes a few shaky steps toward me. I offer her my arm, and she grabs it eagerly. She smiles sheepishly at me, her face darkening. I feel mine heat as well at the hold she had on my arm. "Still better than before." She said. I smiled and agreed with her.
We walked to the kitchen together and ate. She had about three helpings, eating ravenously. I guess it had been at least three days since she last ate. When Raph commented on the amount she had eaten, her face reddened. She blushes a lot. I think it's funny when she does, kind of cute. Did I really just say that? Fine, I can admit that she is pretty and cute when she blushes, but this doesn't mean anything.
Just keep telling yourself that. A part of my mind taunts me. I brush it off.
3rd Person:
The day passes smoothly, Gracie's health improves rapidly and she is walking well by the end of the day. The four brothers watch her intently, a certain fire in the hearts blazing with every glimpse or thought of her. They were uncertain what was happening, why they felt this way. All of them felt their own attachment to her, wanting to be around her, to please her, to feel sympathy for her pain. They all hid it and suspected nothing of their other brothers. All four filled her simple needs, at the same time trying to resume their day. They found it hard to do anything other then be with her, but they forced themselves away. Raphael isolated himself in his room as often as he possibly could, trying to clear his mind by beating his punching bag or reading comics. Out of the four brothers he was around her least, not liking the alien feeling he felt around her. Leonardo to the dojo, Donatello to his lab. Mikey fought it the least, spending almost his whole day around her. His brothers secretly envied how he delt with his emotions, seeming non-bothered. Michelangelo did have to get away sometimes, though, and chose to go topside for the pizza he never managed to pick up. The day passed in a hurry, nighttime coming on sooner then one would think. April called around dinner time. Donnie picked up his T-phone.
"April, what's up?" He said. "Really?... Oh, okay... Yeah, sure, absolutely... Okay, bye." Everyone else watched him expectantly. "April says she's been picking up strange signals coming from somewhere in the sewers. She wanted us to go and check it out. She's coming over in about half an hour." He explained.
"Who's April?" Gracie asked in a shy voice. Mikey was the first to answer. "She's a good friend of ours. She's a totally cool chick! She has like, this strange connection with those weird squishy alien dudes we told you about and she can hear things that have to do with them with her mind. Oh, and she's cool with... you know, us." He took a breath. "Did we tell April about Gracie yet?" Leo asked his brothers. "Nope." Donnie said, shaking his head. "I guess we'll have to surprise her." Mikey grinned. "Or we can pull off a super awesome prank! We wouldn't need much, maybe jut just a disguise for Gracie...Oh! And some egg bombs...and maybe even-"
"No, Mikey." All three of his brothers answered in unison. "Fine!" Mikey pouted. Gracie gave him a small amused smile. He winked at her. She looked away shyly.
"Hey Grace." Mikey said. She looked at him. "How about a video game contest until April gets here, huh?" She smiled, her white teeth standing out from her green skin. "Sounds fun." She said. "Really?" He asked, his smile growing larger. Her shoulders lifted the tiniest bit then lay themselves back down in a barely visible shrug. "Sure." She said. "Yes! I finally found myself a player!" He shouted, pumping the air with his fist. He ran to the couch. His brothers groaned at their brother's nonsense. Gracie just smiled.
"Ahhh!" April heard Mikey's distressed sound as she walked into the lair. "How are you so good at this game?" He whined loudly. Who is he talking to? April wondered. She assumed it was just one of his brothers beating him at a new game or something, but then she heard a girl's laugh. "Sorry, Mikey. Back at my house video games were pretty much the only thing that kept me occupied." The girl's voice said. Now April was extremely confused; Who was this girl in their house? She walked forward.
"I know what you mean." Mikey was saying just as April walked into the room. She stopped short once she saw Gracie. Donnie, who was standing behind the couch watching them play, saw April and turned and sprinted toward her. "April! How's it going?" He asked as he walked up to her. He held his arms out to take the bag of food she brought with her. "Um, good. But, uh... who is that?" She asked, nodding her head in Gracie's direction as she handed the bag over to Don. He looked over to see who April was talking about. "Oh, Right!" He said. "We have someone we wanted you to meet." He looked at April, who waited. "Mikey!" Donnie yelled. "April's here!"
He shut the video game off and turned his head, smiling once he saw April. "Hey, April!" April waved at him. The other turtle sitting next to him turned her head and looked at April shyly, remaining silent. Mikey jumped up and motioned to the female to come with him. She hesitated, so he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. He dragged her over to April. "See Grace, this is April! She's totally cool, right?" Mikey said. Grace remained silent, not averting her eyes from the floor.
"Oh." April said. "I guess the guy's told you about me. I'm sorry to say I can't really say the same about you." She said, casting an accusing glance at Donnie, who flinched away, turning to put the food in the Kitchen. April sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Sorry about that, April." Said Leo who had just walked into the room. "Yeah, It was kind of short notice." Mikey said, poking Grace in the shoulder. She looked at him and gave him a small smile, not moving other than that. April held out a hand to Gracie.
"Well, I'm sure you already know, but I'm April." She said. Gracie didn't respond, acting even more shy than usual. Mikey crouched down and looked up at her so her could meet her lowered eyes. "Come on, Grace! Stop being so shy!" He said, smiling up at her. She turned her head quickly, hiding from his eyes. Then she suddenly turned around and ran. Everyone in the room stared after her.
"What's her deal?" April asked, completely confused. Mikey shrugged. "Was it something I said?"
Hey all of my amazing readers! It's been a really long time! I'm so sorry about that, really. There is so much going on in my life right now. In the past week I've been juggled between three houses in three different states (Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New York! . ). My parents are getting divorced and trying to get custody of us kids, and there's just a lot of drama. And besides that only one house has internet now and my laptop pretty much has only half a screen since my dog stepped on it and it's just really hard for me to be able to write between time, space, and internet... Sorry to make it a guilt treatment and about the fact that I haven't been updating often, I just want you guys to know that I am trying and even if it takes forever, another chapter should be up sooner or later. ANYWAY... I know it seems like a strange place to leave off but don't worry, I have the next chapter planned and even though I can't say it will be out soon, please be patient with me and I will get it up. Thank you all so much for reading, nobody knows that I can-do write and these stories are like my secret life and it makes me extremely happy to know you read it and like it. Thank you and please review!
Jeez I wrote a lot of extra junk. Phew!