Chapter Eleven:

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Raphael stretched his arms to pop some uncomfortably stiff bones, yawned and then rubbed the back of his somewhat sore neck.

They had been at the park for a very long time, and after a long winded chase after Michelangelo, he had managed to pin him to the floor three out of five times. The red masked turtle declared victory, how he had won the bet which meant his impish brother will not pull a prank on him for a month. Michelangelo obeyed, though the look in his eyes at the time promised immense horrors to the unknowing larger turtle.

Raphael could not possibly fathom the evil plan brewing within Mike’s mastermind; he wouldn’t know what hit him!

“Man, I’m beat. I think I’m ready for bed now.” The hothead groggily murmured as they all made their way back to the gates, and then rubbed his eyes to emphasize how sleepy he was.

“Me too,” Michelangelo yawned, his maw open wide. “I could sleep like a rock right now.”

“Well, it is past three in the morning.” Leonardo informed as he stifled a yawn as well, “And we had been here for a long time, I’m getting kind of tired myself.” He confessed tiredly, clearly looking sleepy.

“Aww, you pigeons wanna go beddy by already?” Casey grumped and crossed his arms, looking awake and as alert as ever. “And here I was hoping to go bash some skulls before bed.” He complained.

“We have a life, Case; and counting sheep jumping over a fence never sounded so good.” Raphael mildly grumped in reply, good naturally teasing his friend. His eyes closed for a drowsy moment, the hothead paused as his head nodded slightly, but then stiffened and slightly jerked up and forced his eyes open, he nervously glanced around, “Hey, where’s Dew?” he inquired, looking more awake and a tad bit alarmed.

At that, the rat master smiled, “I believe Dewdrop is with Donatello, Raphael. There is no need to worry.” He said evenly, though the glint in his eyes looked teasing.

Michelangelo sniggered, but the hothead was too tired to swat his brother, so he mildly scowled with a sheepish look, “In that case, where is Donny?”

“I think I saw him at the merry-go-round earlier when you tried to shove Mike into the duck pond.” Leonardo commented. “I think the ducks weren’t very amused you woke them up, though.” He added.

“Well they ought to be glad I didn’t decide to have them for dinner.” Raphael snorted.

“Ya know, you guys do look awful tired,” Casey interrupted, “why don’t you go to the van, I’ll fetch Donny and the squirt and meet you there?” he offered.

“I shall accompany you, Mr. Jones.” The elder rat said and already made his way back towards the park.

The four boys who stared at him had the impression that was not a suggestion, but actually a statement the human was not allowed to disagree with.

Casey knew Splinter probably wanted to talk to Don; the olive green turtle seemed to have gotten himself into trouble recently, and his father felt entitled to keep an eye on him, especially since now there was a little girl in the mix. He didn’t quite understand what the brainy turtle could have done to earn such treatment, but whatever it was, it must’ve been real bad.

He didn’t remember seeing Splinter so stern, yet so troubled, it was- worrying.

Also, the human wasn’t sure what to think of Dewdrop, yet, though.

Sure she was a cute and shy little plump kid, (Mike probably spoiled her rotten, she looked a bit overweight,) but she avoided him as if he was the bogyman and was out to get her.

He wasn’t even wearing his night-job gear; he dressed as a janitor to look like a maintenance worker. April had informed him that the child was very shy, and Leo did say she seemed uncomfortable around people who didn’t at least look like her, so maybe it was a phase and she’d grow out of it. Or at least, he hoped she would, he kinda hoped to get to know her better since she was part of the family now.

Splinter and Casey went to look for Dew and Donatello, while the others went to check the van, just in case the missing members were already there.

Leonardo figured it was really late, so perhaps Dew had already fallen asleep on Donny by now, and since his brother was sore and tired, they could have bunked in the van while the others weren’t looking, but upon checking the vehicle, it turned out that the missing turtles weren’t there.

Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo split up to search the park, while Splinter and Casey backtracked to search. The rat master used his keen sense of smell to keep track of his son, while Casey followed quietly for the sake of back up.

Their first stop was the merry go round, but there was no one there.

Dew’s scent then drifted off towards a nearby toy shop. The rat master could not hide a smile. He could tell the child was drawn to all the toys and wanted to take some – if not all of them home, and he had hoped Donatello had dealt with the situation accordingly. He wasn’t sure if they had brought that much money with them, buying her toys didn’t cross the rat’s mind and in a sense, he felt guilty.

When his sons were little, he couldn’t provide them with the luxuries of toys and entertainment, he barely could save up the money to buy them fresh products and food. As the boys grew, they became more independent and aided him with small errands, from the shadows, that got them paid enough to buy their own things.

Until Ms. O’Neil and Mr. Jones came into their lives, Splinter couldn’t think how much harder their struggle would have been, if the humans had not been there to help his sons with their needs.

But now he had a granddaughter, a child he wanted to spoil rotten and watch how his sons would handle it. Being a parent was a lot of responsibility, and the fact Michelangelo was the first one willing to carry the burden encouraged him to test his energetic son’s dedication. He wanted to spoil his daughter, but somehow felt that it might be counterproductive.

Disregarding that line of thought for a moment, he wondered since Dewdrop was merely a shy little girl, what type of toy she would feel drawn to. Would she go to the boy toys of bikes and trucks, or something more her age like dolls and kitchen play sets?

Somehow, the mental image of her convincing Michelangelo to play the mother in a frilly pink apron, along with the makeup, and Raphael in a business suite with inch thick glasses and a huge briefcase, in order to play house with her, abruptly made him stop in his tracks…

Oh… the horror!

Thankfully Mr. Jones was aware of the rat’s sudden pause and did not bump into him, “You okay, master Splinter?” he asked, unaware of the mental image that invaded the rat’s mind.

“Yes! I am fine.” Splinter curtly replied, mentally he calmed himself and tried to bleach the image from his mind. “This way,” he said, desperately needing a distraction.

He might need to bring out the sake bottle when they got back, he figured he needed a drink to help him forget.

Yes, sake sounded like a good idea. A very good idea.

. o 0 o 0 o .

A soft breeze blew by, and he felt the cool air brush against his cheek.

The soft rustling of the tree leaves above inwardly made him smile, it felt so peaceful, so serene. He didn’t want to move.

But Donatello knew he had to get up, hence he forced his heavy eyelids open, and groggily looked at the starlit sky above.

He blinked slowly as a deep yawn threatened to dislodge his jaw, he acknowledged he was so very sleepy, but knew this place was not fit to turn in for the night, he had to move. And yet, he really had no intention whatsoever to even twitch a finger. His location was so snug and warm and so comfortable, he could curl there and sleep till morning, but he knew he had to get up, the others were probably looking for them and were getting worried; he could feel it.

Shifting a tad bit to see if his body would comply, the small being curled in his arms moved. He looked down at the child peacefully asleep in his embrace, and smiled at how adorable she was.

He had to admit, whenever April started fawning over babies and calling them all sorts of baby names and such, he had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes and groaning, and then making a comment about how sentimentally girly it was, to the point if being sappy enough for him to wish he was somewhere else, where there was some sort of danger threatening his life and a man pointing a gun to his head.

But now? He could relate to his human sister’s antics, to an extent.

He didn’t know how to explain it, but Dew seemed to make the least effort to be cute, yet her general behavior dubbed her as the most adorable creature he and his family had ever laid eyes on. For a moment, he wondered what Raph was thinking when he came up with her idea, and if Mike had anything to do with her being so attractive.

In a sense, he felt like he was stuck in some highly accurate novel where there was a Mary Su in the plot, and he knowledge her for being a Mary Su, yet found himself falling for her anyway, except in this case, she was a neice-daughter-sister complex, and he adored her for being the sweet little angel that she is.

Though he wondered if he’d still think that when she hit her teen years. She would probably look ten times more beautiful.

Boy, his brothers are going to chew his head off if- or when - she would disappear. That thought always haunted him…

Dew shifted and snuggled closer to his chest. He had unzipped his jacket and allowed her to press herself to his plastron as much as she could, then hug her close to keep her warm. He nuzzled her head and settled into the barren cave-like depression in a huge willow tree that graced the far side of the duck pond. There were leaves dangling like a giant curtain just a short distance off, his brothers won’t see him here unless they came looking.

Although Don wondered if Mike would catch a cold after the ducks rebelled against him and Raph, he had no intention of moving. He’ll just let Leo handle it.

Dew shifted again, and he felt the rough fabric of her doll brush against his skin.

Earlier, in the toy shop, Dew was persistent to take a toy with her. She had her heart dead-set on having a fair-sized Kermit© plushy from the third shelf, and no matter how he tried to convince her that he wasn’t supposed to take the toy before playing the game, she refused to budge and leave the shop.

Heck! She surprised him when he tried to tug her out, but she firmly latched onto the nearest pole, that kept the toy stand upright, and was in near tears when he tried to forcefully pluck her off.

Frustrated, the angry voice in the back of his mind told him to just smack her tail a good one and yank her out, but he knew it was just her determination and his bad mood making things worse. He drew in a deep, calming breath, eyed the shop with all the lined up toys once more, and decided he will just have to buy her the damn toy and get out.

He felt like he was stealing, when he picked up the toy from the shelf, since they were required to toss the rings into the hoops in order to win the prizes, but he didn’t really feel like playing the dumb game to win, especially since there was no shop keeper to perform for. So going ‘what the heck,’ he bought the toy for her and left the money where the shopkeeper would find it.

He put a weight on the money bills so any possible breeze wouldn’t blow them away.

The little girl refused to let go of her new fluffy friend since.

Now, cuddled in his arms sleeping like a baby, Donatello sensed movement drawing near. He didn’t panic, he figured it was one of his brothers, so when Raphael appeared past the curtain of leaves, the hothead heaved a relived sigh when they made eye contact before approaching.

“Hey, we were looking all over for you,” the hothead gently chided, blinked and then quirked a brow, “Hey, where’d ya get that doll?”

“She saw it in a toyshop and flat out refused to walk out of there before I buy it for her.” He replied, voice near a whisper, barely a grump. “Never thought she could be so stubborn,” He commented with a tired laugh, “She apparently got it from her dad.” He teased.

Raphael seemed to just stare at them for a moment, seemingly ignoring the comment, before an oddly pleasant smile crossed his features. After a moment of, apparently, treasuring the sigh before him, Raphael informed his brother that they were leaving. Picking the child into his own arms to give the olive green turtle the ability to walk without tripping on his own feet from exhaustion, the three made their way back to the van.

Half way back towards the van, they came across Casey and Splinter, after a silent conversation between the rat master and the brainy turtle, the group made their way back to the gates.

Casey used Raphael’s shell-cell to contact Mike and Leo, and soon they reunited at the entrance of the park. So while Casey drove, since Leo and Mike had soon fell asleep during the ride, Raphael and Donatello leaned against each other, while Dew was cuddled in the larger turtle’s arms. Splinter dosed off for a bit, but would open his eyes to look at his sons every now and then, before resting in his seat once more.

Casey knew once they got back to the lair, Leo would wake up and help him tuck the others in bed.

But he had to admit, with the way the hothead protectively kept the child close, he did look like he would make a really cool dad.

As someone who lost his father at a young age, Casey smiled, nostalgic. He knew Raph would be a great dad.

. o 0 o 0 o .

Next morning, Dew was the first to wake up, soon followed by Leo.

About an hour later, Raphael arose but later exist the lair to go grocery shopping. The hothead only excuse was that there was nothing good enough to eat.

A short while after that Donatello arrived at the kitchen. He groggily stretched his arms high and tall, yawned his mighty jaw wide, before he dropped himself onto the wooden chair, droopily he greeted his little sister and brother from over the scent of green tea.

“G‘morning.” He half slurred, half gurgled, and then promptly face-planted the table as if he had fell asleep suddenly.

Dew jumped and awkwardly staring at the olive green turtle, while Leonardo gaped in start, but upon hearing his brother softly groan, he chuckled and shook his head, “Did you even get any decent sleep last night, Donny?” he inquired out of concern. The brainy turtle looked better than yesterday, yet the bags under his eyes, despite the mask, made him look a little like he hadn’t slept at all.

Don didn’t answer verbally at first, he just hummed in confirmation. A yawn threatened to dislodge his jaw and have his lunge expand beyond their capacity, so a little more awake the olive green turtle pushed himself on the chair, yet slouched back and let his head hang back on the backrest. “I slept like a rock,” he groaned, “but I woke up feeling sore as if I hadn’t slept enough.” He sighed.

“Give it time, Don. Your sleep cycle’s been more out of whack than Raph’s as of late, so it’ll need a few mode days of restful sleep before you’ll feel energized again.” The leader comforted.

Dew glanced from her jigsaw puzzle pieces to the purple marked turtle, half wondering why he looked like he was about to fall off the chair. Absently she turned to her new friend, mister Frog, who she personally sat on the chair next to her. Mister Frog didn’t want any tea, but that was okay, she was going to take him to her room to meat mister teddy; not her brother, but the other teddy she got when she came here.

But then she always did wonder how she got here in the first place, she couldn’t really remember anything. After a moment, she wondered: Where do babies come from, anyway?

“I guess,” Don replied, unintentionally distracting the girl from her thoughts. “Speaking of Raph,” Don forced his head up and rubbed his face, trying to stay awake, “I’m surprised he’s not up yet.”

“Oh he’s awake,” Leo chuckled, earning a quirked brow from the olive green turtle, “It’s just that the fridge was kind of empty and he- indirectly, fussed about Dew not having a proper breakfast, so he went grocery shopping.” Leo replied, an amused smile played on his lips as he took a sip from his tea. He glanced at the child who shyly smiled back, and then looked at the tired turtle sitting opposite of him, “Mike, on the other hand, is still sleeping like a rock. He’s not up yet.” He shrugged a shoulder.

Don stared at the leader for a few seconds before he erupted in a small chuckle, that soon died down cause it was giving him a headache, “And Raph keeps complaining we were the ones who started dibbing him as the mom,” he snorted and shook his head.

Leo grinned, “Yeah, but I have to admit I kinda like Raph this way. It’s not often he’d actually be more open with himself, and us; not this much.” He commented, looking a bit wistful. He leaned his elbow on the table and pressed his cheek to his fist, nursing his tea cup with a free hand, “I just wonder how long it would take before he breaks the ice and starts calling her baby names like a real parent.” He smiled just a tad bit wider, “Mike is already calling her his little baby.” He briefly glanced at the half distracted girl.

Dew glanced up at her brother, aware of being the topic of the conversation, but not fully comprehending the subject of matter itself- or how anyone could break ice; didn’t that hurt? Quizzically, she tilted her head and eyed him confusedly.

Leo merely grinned and ruffled her hair in a playful manner, before he smoothed it back. She ducked her head and gave a mute giggle, and then coyly went back to her puzzle, keeping herself happily occupied.

Don’s smile wavered just a bit, a sad caress came to his features, but he quickly shook it off before the leader noticed, “Give him time, I’m sure Mr. Teddy would show his true colors soon.” He sat upright and stretched his arms, before he pushed off the chair; he needed coffee.

Leo, with a gentle smile, guided Dew with her puzzle pieces. She had solved much of it on her own, but it was one of those boards with over two hundred pieces. They were small and they were a lot, so it took her a while and a lot of concentration to figure out which piece fit where. Every time the leader tried to help her she’d puff her cheeks, as if impersonating a blowfish and huff at him, silently telling him not to hint or help her- she could do this! Leo would chuckle and do as she wanted, but would offer her a hint every now and then, just because he could. She was cute when she was annoyed.

But then the leader blinked, perked his senses and then turned around to watch Donatello stand in front of the coffee machine, listening to it whirr to life. Arms crossed, the olive green turtle murmured a song to himself, a bit distracted.

“Donny?” Leo began, humored yet a little uneasy, “Why are you singing mother-goose rhymes?”

The standing turtle blinked at his brother, frowned and looked generally confused, “What?” he asked.

“You were singing the cat and the fiddle,” Leo replied, and then leaned his arm on the back of his chair, a growing smile stretched across his lips.

Donatello blinked, sheepishly smiled and then shrugged a shoulder. Seeing the machine still needed a moment to brew his much needed drink, he drew in a deep breath before admitting, “I had a dream last night, about an orange dish with a smiley face drawn in it rolling down the street, with an angry red fork chasing after it. And- it just got stuck in my head.” He shrugged.

Dew stared, she remembered that song, Mikey sang it to her once or twice before bed, but she didn’t remember the words.

She patted her brother’s arm and gestured in confusion, hoping he would understand her request. Leo looked at her for a moment, not sure what she wanted and thinking she probably needed a hint with the puzzle. When he asked her about it she shook her head, and then pointed at Don, who turned to the machine to pour himself a drink.

Leonardo, acknowledging her request by then, asked if she meant the song and she nodded with a hopefully grin. He asked her if she knew the words and she shook her head, so he began the rhyme slowly, so she could remember it.

As bizarrely ridiculous as he felt in the back of his mind, he seriously hoped it wouldn’t be something Don would hold against him, in case the brainy turtle needed blackmailing materials.

“It goes like this: Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon,” he softly sing-sang the nursery rhyme, feeling less childish as Dew grinned, her head moving lightly with the tune.

“The little dog laughed to see such fun,” Don’s mellow voice joined after he took a sip from his hot drink.

“And the dish ran away with the spoon.” The two brothers sang along, and then burst into laugher.

“Damn, thank you, Leo! Now I just realized how silly I looked while singing that.” The brainy turtle laughed sheepishly, “And it’s stuck in my head now; damn, you got a nice voice.” He absently complimented his brother.

Leo stared, a somewhat embarrassed smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, “Er, thanks?”

Don smiled, took a seat, and the two started talking about other nursery rhymed. Jigsaw puzzle forgotten, Dew enjoyed listening to them sing her the tunes.

Donny bro was right, though; Leo bro did have a really pretty voice!

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A/N: Constructive critique welcomed.