the curse - 1 - [rottmnt - COMPLETED]

#15

"And then Raph gave one last swing and through the hole Donnie and the girl slid! We thought she was dead, Pops! DEAD!" Splinter held onto his chair, it was always a roller coaster listening to Mikey talk about an adventure, "and Donnie was a complete mess - he was totally spaced out! And so we just stood there shocked! It was bad! I thought he was going to cry! REALLY CRY! But fortunately she wasn't dead after all - and now she will hopefully be well cared for by April's friends in the hospital..."

"And who do you have to thank for that? MOI!" Leo exclaimed as he entered the room where they always watched their series.

Raph, Splinter and Mikey turned their heads towards him and the red one rolled his eyes.

"Where's Donnie? And April? Is everything ok?" Mikey asked, still worried about Donnie. His condition had frightened him greatly.

"Yes, yes. Everything okay. La chica misteriosa is fine. Donnie puts her somewhere where she can sleep. April's doctor guy said she will make it - we should keep her warm and feed her pain pills. Whoa. THAT was a night, I tell you! I'm hungry! Let me know when Donnie shows up, and he clears up all this mess! I don't want to miss ANYTHING of this story!" and he threw his swords aside and started looking for some food.

Mikey and Raph looked at each other and got up to look for Donnie and give him his Bo. Splinter picked up the remote and started his series - the story was wild, but hadn't the boys seen wilder ones...?

-

Donnie went into his room, followed by April. He briefly wished back his old room, where his bed was a giant heat pod. She wouldn't freeze in that one. Unfortunately, it was completely destroyed by Shredder at the time. But all in all, he liked his subway train room better.

He went straight to his bed and carefully laid her down. She moved slightly, but didn't wake up. After briefly reassuring himself that she was still asleep, he raised his left arm and activated his gauntlet. He tapped, and a hologram appeared, which formed into a flat, round capsule and manifested in the air. The turtle grabbed it without hesitation. It was cool and smooth and the size of his palm. April stood half behind him and watched with interest. The boys have gotten older, and their skills have continued to develop.

Donnie now took the capsule between his fingers and held it over the young woman's chest. Now the little thing came back to life, shining transparently again and changing its shape, which lay like a second, glowing skin around the woman's chest, and disappeared under the hoodie. After that, several semi-transparent displays appeared in the air at the level of Donnie's head. They showed pulse, body temperature, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and a few other parameters that April didn't know. Satisfied, Donnie studied the medical values. They were stable. Then he swiped the big displays into his gauntlet, where they now hovered over his wrist, much smaller, before disappearing inside.
He felt the flame and secretly knows, that perhaps there was no need to monitor her. The flame seemed to be a reliable indicator as well, if he was able to pay attention to it.

But for now, so does his mystic tech and better safe than sorry.

April was impressed and knew: Gathering data was one of Donnie's ways of calming down.

"Neat." she said. He smiled. He was always pleased to receive compliments about his work.

"Thanks. Now I can keep an eye on her vitals and be alerted immediately if anything unusual occurs. It's a really ingenious system that works with electrical impulses through the skin. The skin is really a fascinating organ, which presumably tells us everything about our bodily functions. I will..."

He stopped his oversharing outburst and looked down at her. Then he grabbed the blanket at the foot end and covered her over. She stirred and pulled her right hand out from under the blanket and let it rest next to her head. Her very wavy hair had dried and was now lying wildly on the pillow and framing her face. She breathed calmly and evenly.

April and Donnie stood there looking down at her.

"She is beautiful." April said through an impulse without thinking.

"Yes." Donnie replied quietly and swallowed, "she is."

It was only now that he fully realized that she was saved. That he hadn't lost her and that she was safe here. With him. He felt the emotions of the past few hours surging, and his legs suddenly gave out. He slowly slumped to the floor next to the bed and grabbed the edge of the mattress. Head bowed, Donatello fought back tears.

"Oh, Donnie!" whispered April, surprised by the unexpected outburst of emotion. She squatted down next to him and put her hand gently on his arm.

"She saved my life, April." he whispered as he stared at the floor, "and she was willing to sacrifice her own life for mine and almost... almost..." his voice broke.

April looked again at the sleeping young woman, who was nearly face leveled now, and remembered the scars on her body. The two different tattoos. Who was she?

"What's her Name?" she asked carefully.

"I... I don't know." the turtle answered with a sudden pain in his voice. "She could have died today for me, and I didn't even know her name."

The memory of her lying lifeless in his arms and he was unable to call her name ripped him apart, and he began to tremble.

"Donnie..."

April looked at the door where Mikey and Raph were standing. Their faces full of compassion. How long have they been there?

They came in, and let the Bo stayed in the doorway. Mikeys knelt beside his brother and Raph behind him, and they hugged him tightly. Donnie crumpled up the covers, and his tense body only allowed him to breathe shakily. He didn't say anything, but after a few moments, he calmed down and grabbed his brother's arms to squeezed them in return.

"I think we should start collecting data." said April and looked over at the plastic bag she had placed on the floor by the door. Raph and Mikey let go of Donnie, who sent a faint smile to April.

"Okay."

"First I'll make Donnie a sandwich, though!" Mikey blurted out, and Donnie's smile became bigger.