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Perseverance	By : EvaBrick Category: Comics > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Views: 9920 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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It took Donatello a long time to fall asleep. All he could think about was Charlie. Was she ok? Was she thinking about him? Where could he take her on a date? Boyfriends were supposed to take their girlfriends on dates, weren’t they? Where would she like to go? There weren’t a whole lot of place a mutant turtle could visit without drawing a lot of unwanted attention.

When he finally did doze off, he even dreamed about her.

***********

Charlie’s alarm went off at six and she dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. She needed to find a better courier. One who could deliver during proper business hours and who wouldn’t leave the merchandise sitting on a sidewalk in New York. She was also beginning to suspect that he was transporting stolen goods as well. He was always very careful not to let her see into his van.

“But he’s sooooo cheap!” Charlie argued with herself as hopped out of the shower a few minutes later and towelled herself off. She pulled on a long blue tunic blouse and a pair of jeans, and shoved her feet into a pair of black boots with high heels. She pulled her damp hair into the usual loose bun and took an extra moment to pat some makeup onto the bruise. It was mostly brown and yellow now so it was easier to hide than when it had been blue and black. When she’d finished, it was still visible, but much less so. She knew that observant Lisa would notice, but she doubted her male employees would.

She got to the store just as the delivery van was pulling away. Six huge boxes of books were blocking the door. Charlie leaned down and shoved some of them away so she could unlock the door to get in. She held the door open with her foot and started dragging them in, one by one.

By the time Dave, Mark, and Lisa arrived at ten to eight, Charlie had managed to catalogue and shelves the contents of one and a half of the boxes. Mark and Dave dragged and carried the rest into the back room to get them off the floor so the shop wouldn’t look cluttered if a customer came in, and Lisa put the coffee on. Charlie couldn’t help but notice that Dave and Mark couldn’t heft the big boxes like Donatello had. “In fact,” she remembered, “Donnie made it look easy!”

Lisa brought a cup of coffee over to Charlie who was still logging more books onto the computer. “You alright, Charlotte?” she whispered, looking to see that the men were out of earshot.

“Yeah,” Charlie sighed. “Had a bit of a run in with my dad.” She’d told Lisa a few things about her family before so she knew she didn’t have to explain much.

“What happened?” Lisa said, hugging her. “Did you press charges this time?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, cradling her warm coffee mug in her hands. “He just turned up at my place and he seemed so nice at first. I thought it’d be ok…” She looked up as Mark and Dave came back for the last boxes. “Don’t tell them though, ok?” she whispered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Lisa whispered back with a wink.

*****************

Raphael shook Donatello awake shortly after seven. “Hurry!” he said before he ran out of the bedroom. “Come see the news!”

Don hurried out to the livingroom where stupid Vernon was reading the news on tv.

“…and so for the second time in less than a decade, the zoo has been robbed. Up next is the weather with Susan -”.

Leo snapped the tv off. “This is not good, guys” he said.

“What did they steal?” Donatello asked anxiously.

“Another rhinoceros, an alligator, and a grizzly bear,” Michelangelo answered. “They left all the cuddly stuff behind.”

“The Foot stole enough of that chemical to make more than enough mutagen to complete those mutations” Donatello said, sitting down on the arm of the couch next to Raphael who had his head in his hands. He gave his brother’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Has anyone spoken to April?” Splinter rasped. “She must be protected.”

“I’ve already called her. She should be here in a minute” Leo said. “She’s got a lot of vacation time saved up, so she’s going to take a week off and get out of the city, starting two weeks on Monday. It’s not ideal, but you know how stubborn she is.”

“What do we do sensei?” Raphael asked. “We’ve been looking for the stolen chemical for weeks and haven’t even come close to finding it! We can check out the zoo for clues tonight, but if they’ve loaded the animals into a truck and driven away, which they probably have, we won’t even know where to start looking! They could be out of state by now!”

Splinter opened his mouth to speak but coughed long and hard instead. His frail body trembled as the phlegm bubbled in his chest. The turtles looked worriedly at each other. Splinter was getting worse and they all new it.

“My sons,” he rasped when he could speak again. “Go to the zoo tonight to search for clues, but like Raphael, I rather suspect that you will not find them. I believe that your only course of action is to wait, for I am sure that when the time is right, your enemies will make themselves known to you.”

The turtles didn’t like hearing that, but they knew that their master was right. There was nothing they could do. Donatello made eye contact with Leo who was biting his lip nervously. Leonardo suddenly straightened up like he’d made a decision and knelt down on the floor in front of Splinter.

“Sensei,” he said nervously. “I’ve been talking with April, and… well… you know that we all love you very much, don’t you?”

Splinter patted Leonardo’s head gently. “You must not worry about me, my sons. We must accept each day and what it brings. We can no more change our fates than we can delay the rising of the sun.”

Michelangelo sniffled and sat down on the couch next to Raphael, who put his arm around his shoulders, but didn’t look away from Splinter.

“I know, Master, but… I think you would be healthier if you left the sewer. It’s damp in here and it can’t be good for your chest or your joints.”

“And where else would I go?” asked Splinter, looking slightly amused.

“Yeah?” Raph interjected. “It’s not like he can just rent an apartment.”

“I don’t know,” Leo said sadly. “But April wants to take you with her on vacation. She wants to rent a cottage near Lake Tohimigan.”

“There are hot springs there, aren’t there?” Donatello butted in. “Good thinking April!” he thought. “The hot water will be great for him!”

“Yeah! And you can be out in the sun and the fresh air, Master” Leo continued.

“And you won’t have to worry about the Foot coming after this old man.” Splinter said, looking at his boys.

“Well, Shredder does hate you more than the four of us and April combined,” Mikey mused.

“We’re not trying to get rid of you, Master,” Leo said. “We just love you and we want you to be safe and healthy.”

“Alright,” said Splinter. “I will go with April.”
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Perseverance