May woke up to a delicious smell.
"What's that?" May asked, sitting up.
Raphael suddenly appeared, holding what looked like a makeshift pair of crutches.
"What's what?" He asked, sitting on the couch next to her.
"That smell. It smells delicious." May replied.
Raphael raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you ever had waffles before?"
"My parents don't bother making me breakfast. I usually grab some toast or a muffin or something, like, hours before they wake up." May replied. Seriously? Girl, shut up! May thought, wanting to kick herself.
"Anyway, here." Raphael handed May the wooden crutches. "Donnie figured it's better if you could move around yourself rather than one of us carrying you everywhere."
"Oh... Okay. Thanks." May used the crutches to steady herself.
Hobbling after Raphael, May emerged into a kitchen-like area where there were plates piled high with bacon, waffles, pancakes, and so on.
"What do you want to eat?" Raphael asked her.
A little later, as May gulped down some bacon, she thought about how weird the past day had been. Not so much the turtles-living-in-the-sewers thing, but the fact that she had been defended three times, accepted and trusted without question, and now how the turtles were taking care of her, making her food and actually letting her eat it, without contradicting her manners at the table, or silently judging everything she did and later telling her it was wrong.
After breakfast, Raphael turned to May. "Ready to go home yet?" He asked.
"No way." May crossed her arms.
"You sure? Your parents might get worried."
May laughed. "Worried? MY parents? Yeah, right. I'm not going home. Not for a long time." She glared at Raphael.
"If you're sure, then whatever." Raphael rolled his eyes.
May rolled her eyes right back and scoffed. Nobody else could ever get the last word around her. She never let them.
Later that night, after the sun went down, Raphael asked again whether May was ready to go home.
"NO! Quit asking me! I don't want to go home! EVER!" May screamed at him. She was not, in any way, ready to go back home to parents who didn't care whether or not she was in jail or locked in her room.
"I was just asking, because right now, it's either came up to the surface for a while or go home." Raphael growled, clearly ticked.
"Why?" May's curiosity just kind of popped out.
"Because I'm going up for a run, and your parents told me to keep a tight leash on you." Raphael really sounded like he would rather do anything but keep May around.
"Must everything I do be affected by my stupid parents!?" May shouted, more to herself than anybody else.
"Yes. Yes, it must." Raphael replied. Without warning, he picked May up in his arms and started to carry her into the sewers.
May cursed herself. Great. Now the little trust trip was over. Raphael was going to take her home, back to a dad who wished she were somebody completely different, and a mom who would rather be talking about criminal activity on television than worry about whether or not her daughter would end up going to jail, or something like that.
In fact, I'll bet they would rather pretend I didn't even exist than actually go to the trial, anyway. May thought, as Raphael set her down to open the manhole cover.
Once they got to the rooftops, Raphael stopped at May's apartment building. Gunshots echoed nearby.
Raphael put May down on the overturned crate and disappeared down the side of the building for a moment.
When he reappeared, he picked May up, brought her down to her window, carried her inside, and set her down on her bed.
"Listen, I'm going to check out those gunshots. Both of your parents are in bed, and the door to your room is locked. Make as little noise as you can. I'll be right back."
"You aren't going to leave me here, are you?" May asked, her eyes widening. She could just imagine the lecture and the yelling that Casey Jones was probably itching to dish out on her.
"No. I promise, I'll be right back." Raphael climbed out the window and closed it quietly.
May waited for what felt like hours for Raphael to return. Suddenly, something fell onto the fire escape just outside her window. May turned to look out the window.
"Raphael!" She whispered, as the huge turtle climbed into her room.
"Can you lock this window?" Raphael asked, not turning around.
May nodded. "Yeah, that little white latch there."
After Raphael had locked the window, he closed the curtains tightly, so nobody on the outside could look in.
When he finally did turn around, May gasped. He had cuts on his face that were bleeding quite a lot, and his arm had a wound that was bleeding heavily enough that May couldn't see where the actual wound was.
"Y-you're hurt!" May gasped, as Raphael stumbled onto the bed.
"Smart conclusion." He replied sarcastically.
May grabbed a shirt that she never wore and pressed it to Raphael's arm, trying to control the bleeding a little bit, at least. Raphael eyed her curiously as she tied the shirt around his arm like a bandage.
"Why... Why are you doing that?" He asked suddenly.
"Huh?" May was slightly startled by the question.
"Why are you doing that? Helping me?" Raphael repeated.
May shrugged. "Because... B-because... Because you're my... My friend." The word surprised even herself. May had never had a real friend before. Ever.
Raphael smiled weakly. "R-really?" He asked.
"I... I don't really know. I don't even know what a friend really is." May admitted. Some part of her wanted somebody to slap her back to her senses. She was opening up to Raphael, to somebody who was in close contact with her parents, but, at the same time, she enjoyed Raphael's trust, and his company.
What the heck is wrong with me?! May thought, confused.
Raphael lay down on the bed. He looked really tired.
"Hey, are you okay?" May asked, noticing the shirt wrapped around his arm was slowly turning dark crimson.
"I... Y-yeah... I'm g-good." Raphael groaned.
May grabbed a big blue bath towel that had been in her room for awhile. Moving along on the bed, she handed Raphael the towel, instructing him to clean the blood from his face. Raphael moaned in reply.
When he handed the towel back, May then unwrapped the shirt from around his arm. Taking a look at it, she gasped.
The cut was huge and really deep, deep enough that May almost swore she could see bone, just before it started to bleed heavily again. Quickly, May wrapped and tied the bath towel around Raphael's arm.
"We need to get you to Donatello! Right now!" May started to panic.
"H-how? You... You can't w-walk, and I... I can't move v-very well." Raphael mumbled.
Oh my God, he's getting worse! What do I do?! May worried.
"Your... Your p-parents..." Raphael stuttered quietly, as though he could hear her thoughts.
"My... My parents?" May gulped. Did she dare wake them? Would they really understand?
Raphael was their ally first. He said that Mom used to be like part of his family. May sighed. She had no choice. She couldn't let Raphael die. Not when he had done so much for her. Trusted her with almost no question. Taken care of her when she was injured. Defended her from his own brother. And saved her life.
That was the thought that kept repeating. He had saved my life. That was all she could think about.
May sighed, and decided to swallow her pride. Somehow dragging herself to the door and unlocking it, May started to yell.
"Mom! MOM! DAD! HELP! Help us!" May slowly counted to 60, before yelling again.
"MOMMY! DADDY!" Tears started to fall as she screamed for her parents. As, for the first time in a very, very long time, she asked her mother and father, two people she trusted the least, for help.
Two excruciatingly long minutes later, Casey Jones and April O'Neil-Jones finally appeared in her doorway. Her mother gasped as she saw the giant turtle laying on May's bed.
"Raphael!" She cried rushing to his side, as Casey turned to May. Helping her stand, Casey gently brought her to the chair that sat in front of May's disastrously messy desk.
"May, what happened?" Her father asked. May gulped as she tried to control her crying.
"He... he just put me down f-for a minute to go check out some gunshots... And when he came back he locked the window and closed the curtains. H-he... He was bleeding, and... And I tried to help, b-but I couldn't do anything." May watched as her mother gently removed the bath towel to check out Raphael's arm.
"That's really deep." April sounded extremely worried as she rewrapped the towel around his arm.
"We need to get him to Donatello, ASAP." May tried to keep the panic out of her voice.
"Casey, take May and go start the car. I'll take Raphael down." April put a hand on the unconscious turtle's forehead.
May wasn't sure how her mother did it, but somehow she did. A little while later, Casey was driving the sleek black Chrysler down the street to the manhole cover closest to the turtles' lair, where April had phoned Raphael's family to meet them.
May sat in the back seat, Raphael's head on her lap. Please be okay. Please, please, please be okay. May thought, worry being the only thing that was on her mind.
May suddenly realized. She was actually worried. I don't understand... I've never been worried. Not like this. May shook Raphael gently. He groaned, but otherwise, nothing.
"Dad, drive faster!" May shouted to the front seat.
"I can only drive the speed limit! Getting pulled over would be costing us more than an extra twenty minutes!" Casey shouted back.
"Not now!" April yelled at Casey.
May ignored them both. A million thoughts were running through her head as her father finally pulled up to the alleyway.
"Raphael!"
"Oh, God, what happened?!"
Raphael's worried family gently pulled him out of the car.
"Thank you, April. And Casey." Donatello nodded solemnly.
"Don't thank us." April smiled. "May's the one who told us what had happened."
May shivered as the turtles thanked her.
"Please... Make sure he's okay." May squeaked, surprising both of her parents, who had never heard May care about anybody besides herself.
"I'll do my best." Donatello called as Casey drove April and May home.
All through the drive, May just stared straight ahead. She hoped beyond all hope that Raphael was okay, or at least alive. She could feel her parents watching her, but she didn't care.
Once they got home, Casey helped May back up to her room, leaving her on her bed.
As soon as her father left, May turned to the calendar. That hearing was in about 4 days. A nauseous feeling grew in her stomach. What if Raphael found out about that hearing? What if he already knew?
Would he still want to be my friend? May thought, the nauseous feeling getting worse.