Donnie watched as Red fell to the ground with a steel girder sticking through him and blood oozing from his mouth. “Red!” Donnie rushed over in time to cradle Red as he fell. “Red. Red, please.”
“Raph,” Dee rounded the corner with his dark brothers. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Raph rushed over to Dee. “But your brother.”
“Help,” Donnie pleaded, looking up at the Dark Turtles. “I need to get him back to my lab but I can’t pick him up.”
“Is he even still breathing?” Dark Mikey asked kneeling down next to Donnie.
“Yes,” Donnie sobbed. “Barely. Are you gonna help or not?”
“I have some things in my room,” Dee offered. “The structure seems to have settled again. I will collect what I need and meet you back at your lair.” He looked at Raph, “Stay here so you can guide me there.”
“Alright,” Raph nodded.
“Okay,” Dark Leo moved over to Red’s head. “I’ll get his upper half. Angel, you grab his legs.”
“Did you just call my evil clone ‘Angel’?” Mikey asked
“Not now, Mikey,” Leo sighed. “We need to get Red back to the lair. Maybe there is a chance to save him.”
The two Dark Turtles lifted their brother and followed the Turtles back to their lair. Donnie fretted over Red the whole way, making sure that they didn’t jostle him too much but urging them to move faster. When they got to the lair, he led them to his lab and they placed Red plastron down on the warped exam table.
“Stay with me, Red,” Donnie whispered as he looked the large clone over. There was a gash on his head that ran down the back of his skull. The blood in his mouth looked to be caused by Red biting through his tongue. And a steel girder had pierced him at his left shoulder to come out just under his left arm.
Donnie pulled out an old stethoscope and placed it under Red’s arm to listen to his lungs. He was relieved to hear that it was clear, meaning that the girder managed to miss it. His heart was also still strong with no irregularities.
Feeling around the girder, Donnie felt the muscle and fat deposits that supported the large, crab like carapace and assessed that was the main location of the damage. “I don’t think it hit anything vital,” Donnie sighed in relief. “I need your help getting it out,” he looked up at Dark Leo. “You’re going to need to be careful. One wrong move and you could cause damage to his lungs or heart.”
“No pressure then,” Dark Leo sighed and moved to stand at Red’s head.
“Don’t let it tilt one way or another,” Donnie instructed. “Just pull it straight out and hopefully you won’t do any damage.” While Dark Leo slowly pulled the girder from Red, Donnie gathered what he had by way of medical supplies.
Red grunted and jerked in reaction to the pain. “No,” Donnie rushed to his head. “You have to hold still or you could hurt yourself.” He didn’t know if Red could hear him but Donnie’s hand on the Dark Turtle’s cheek seemed to calm him enough for Dark Leo to remove the girder.
“Now we have to stop the bleeding,” Donnie handed Dark Leo a stack of towels. “Press that against the wound and hold it with a steady pressure. Whatever you do, don’t let up.”
Dark Leo nodded and held the towels to the gaping hole. “I don’t know if this is doing much to hold off the flow.”
“Just hold it,” Donnie fought back the urge to cry. “I’m working as fast as I can.” With blood slicked fingers, Donnie worked on stitching up the wound, using floss.
Cutting off the blood loss was Donnie’s first priority but he knew it would be all for not if Red developed and infection. Donnie’s eyes took in how filthy the area around the wound was but he didn’t have the time to properly clean it.
“I’m here,” Dee announced as he entered the lab. “How is he?”
“I’m trying to stop the bleeding,” Donnie answered.
“That’s not gonna do you a lot of good if he gets an infection,” Dee pointed out what Donnie was already struggling with.
“He’s not gonna live long enough to get an infection if he bleeds to death,” Donnie snapped back.
“I called Leatherhead,” Mikey announced from the door. “He’s on his way.”
“Good,” Dee acknowledged. “I can use the help.” He then opened a kit of medical supplies and started to set up an I.V.
“Where did you get that?” Donnie asked, stealing a quick glance in the medical bag.
“I stole it all,” Dee answered flatly. “Don’t worry. I stole it all from the future before coming back to your time. So the medical supplies are more advanced than what you would have if you stole it.”
“I don’t steal,” Donnie pulled the floss to try and close the wound but it snapped. “Damn it.”
“That’s not gonna hold,” Dee placed his hand over Donnie’s. “Move. I have something better than floss.”
Reluctantly, Donnie stepped back and let Dee take over closing the wound. “I don’t have many medical supplies. I’m not equipped to deal with this.”
“It’s a good thing that I am,” Dee started to work on Red. “You should have waited for me to arrive before pulling the girder out.”
Leatherhead rushed into the lab, “I came as quickly as I could.” He looked around taking in the scene. “What can I do?”
“You can start by getting him out of here,” Dee pointed to Donnie.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Donnie argued.
“You are emotionally compromised and of no use to me,” Dee glared down at him. “I’ve studied anatomy, have you? I know how to use the equipment I brought and I’m strong enough to lift Red. You are just getting in the way.”
Leatherhead started to usher Donnie out and Don looked up at his friend, “You’re kicking me out? You’re siding with him?”
“He has a point,” Leatherhead nodded. “You are in no condition to help. You are obviously in shock and your head isn’t clear. You will only get in the way. I promise I will do all that I can to help your friend.”
“Please,” Donnie begged. “Leatherhead, let me stay.”
“The longer I’m here, convincing you to leave the longer I am away from the patient,” Leatherhead stated. “Please leave so we can save him.”
Donnie felt hands on him and turned to see Raph pulling him away. “I don’t want to leave him,” Donnie cried.
“Let them save him,” Raph pulled Donnie into a warm embrace. Donnie held on to Raph and finally let himself cry as Raph led him to the sofa. They sat together and Donnie leaned on Raph while he cried himself out.
Eventually his eyes fixed on the clock and watched the time creep by.
Leatherhead took Dark Leo’s place at Red’s head and started to work on cleaning and closing the top wound while Dee continued to work on the bottom one. “His lungs are bruised and he has lost a lot of blood,” Dee stated while he worked to close the wound. “Who knows what kind of filth was carried in on that girder.”
“He looks wan,” Leatherhead observed.
“He is normally a more vibrant crimson,” Dee stated as a matter of fact. “I don’t like the way this looks. He’s in bad shape.”
“We have to try,” Leatherhead looked up from his work. “Donatello will never forgive us if we just gave up.”
“I could care less about Donatello’s forgiveness,” Dee replied. “I care about saving my brother.”
They worked quickly, stopping once to resuscitate Red when he stopped breathing. Leatherhead did the chest compressions while Dee preformed mouth to mouth. Thirty seconds was a long time when the life of another is on the line but it only took thirty seconds to get him breathing again.
After a few hours, they managed to stop the bleeding and stabilize Red. Dee ran another bag of saline and added one of his few bags of antibiotics. “Now we wait and see if he succumbs to infection or shock,” Dee went to the sink and washed the blood from his hands. “I guess we can let Donatello back in now.”
“I’ll get him,” Leatherhead headed for the door. “I doubt your bedside manner will do much for Donatello’s mental wellbeing.”
“That is not my concern,” Dee checked Leatherhead’s work.
“My point exactly,” Leatherhead opened the door. “Just do me a favor and keep quiet when I bring Donatello in.”
“I won’t be in here,” Dee collected his supplies. “I’m done. I’ll check on him again later.”
Leatherhead opened the door then walked over to where Donatello rested his head on Raph’s plastron while Raph had his arm around Donnie’s shoulders.
Dee hissed lightly as he took in the sight when he exited the lab, “We’re done. Go to him.”
“Come on Donnie,” Raph helped Donnie stand. “I’ll go in with you.”
Leatherhead walked over to where Dee stood, watching Raph lead Donnie into the lab. “What happened to you keeping quiet?”
“I wanted him away from Raph,” Dee hissed. “Why is he still with him?”
“Because Raphael cares for his brother and his wellbeing,” Leatherhead explained. “He’s not about to leave his brother’s side until he knows that he is alright.”
“You claimed that he loved you, Dee,” Angel taunted. “Now I guess we’re gonna see if that’s true.”
“He does love me,” Dee growled. “I give him what he wants, what he desires, what Donatello doesn’t have the stomach for.”
Angel opened his mouth to say something but Dark Leo stopped him, “That’s enough.”
Dee moved away from the others to sit in a chair and wait. Leo walked over to stand in front of him. “If Raph said that he loves you, then he does. He’s not the kind of guy to throw that word around when he doesn’t mean it. You don’t need to feel threatened by Donnie, he loves Red.”
“This is my fault,” Dee kept his eyes on the ground. “I just couldn’t love him. He turned soft and didn’t like the abuse so I called him ugly and rejected him. If I had just accepted him then we wouldn’t have come to the past and he wouldn’t be in there now fighting for his life. If he dies, it will be because of me.”
“You’ve done all that you could do,” Splinter soothed. “There is no use living in the past.” He looked over at Dark Leo and Dark Mikey, “You are free to stay here as long as you like. There is plenty of room for all of you.”
“Thank you,” Dark Leo bowed. “We would like to stay close to our brother while he recovers.”
“So,” Mikey walked up to Dark Leo. “What should we call you?”
“We decided on Leon,” Raph answered, stepping out of the lab. “It was something we talked about a few days ago when we were discussing coming here. We didn’t know that Red was staying with you, or that you called him Red. It’s better than the name we came up with.”
“What was that?” Mikey asked.
“Draph,” Angel answered. “Dark Raph mushed together,” he stated, smashing his hands together. “Red’s a little less sinister sounding.”
“How’s Donnie?” Leo changed the subject.
“He cried himself to sleep with his head on Red’s chest, listening to his heart,” Raph answered. “So I left him in there.” Raph flushed and had a hard time keeping eye contact with his brothers. “Did you wanna talk about what you saw?”
“Not particularly,” Leo answered with Mikey over lapping.
“No.”
“Good,” Raph nodded. “Good.”
“I would like it if someone would explain what is going on,” Splinter insisted. “From what little I could gather, Raphael is in a relationship with Dee and has been with him for a while now. What happened to Ninjara?”
“She broke up with me. It was her plan the whole time. It was why she had me take her home,” Raph was looking everywhere but at Splinter. “Dee found me hiding out in one of our old lairs, feeling sorry for myself and getting ready to face you guys, and… uh… one thing led to another and we started dating.”
“One thing led to another?” Angel blurted. “You left a big chunk of the story out.”
“My father doesn’t need to know the seedy details,” Raph yelled, gesturing to Splinter. “So I glossed a little of it over. The important part is that I’m with Dee now.” He looked at Splinter, “I know it’s weird and that we are both guys, but we work.”
Splinter held up his hand. “You are an adult and are free to make your own choices. If you are truly happy then I fully support you being together.”
Angel made a move to say more, but Leon stopped him. “It’s not your place.”
“Something tells me that you keep him quiet a lot,” Mikey observed.
“Yes,” Leon sighed. “I do.”
“Yeah,” Mikey smiled. “Leo has learned to keep me quiet too.” He looked between Leon and Angel, “So you two are together?”
“Yes,” Angel answered.
“And you’re not gonna come after us?” Mikey moved closer to Leo.
“No,” Leon answered. “You have nothing to worry about, I am happy with Angel.”
“I don’t know,” Angel moved closer to Leo. “Seeing him up close like this again has me all excited.”
“Uh,” Leo stepped back and Mikey let out a nervous squeak.
Leon grabbed Angel by the carapace and lifted him from the ground to hold him at eye level, “Knock it off.”
Angel squealed in delight and licked up Leon’s face, “You got jealous. I could never choose Leo over you. You’re my handsome, blue lover.”
Leon nipped at Angel’s jaw before placing him back on his own two feet, “I’ll deal with you later.” Angel giggled in response and Leon looked at Leo. “I took what you taught me to heart and my brothers and I have been working to better ourselves. We looked for Red when he ran but couldn’t find him, I’m glad to know that he was here for most of that time.”
“Like my father said, you and your brothers are welcome here,” Leo looked over at the lab. “Donnie really loves Red. It took us a while to accept that but now I want nothing more than for them to be together.”
Raph walked over and offered Dee his hand. “Let’s go up to my room and try to get some sleep. There’s not much more we can do now. If something happens, Donnie will let us know.”
“Okay,” Dee accepted Raph’s help up. “I could use some sleep.”
Raph had Dee wait outside the door while he went in to clear away everything that was left from Ninjara. Dee peered into the room and watched as Raph tucked a few pictures into a drawer. “You don’t have to hide the fact that you were in a relationship before me,” Dee chucked.
“I know,” Raph grumbled, throwing a stuffed bear in the trash. “I just don’t want to be reminded of her right now.”
Dee walked over to Raph, cupped his face in his hands, and then brought him in for a kiss. Opening his mouth, Raph let the long tongue of his lover in to tickle the roof of his mouth. After a few seconds Dee pulled away and looked towards the hammock. “That has the potential of being fun.”
“I’m sure you can come up with inventive was of using it,” Raph smiled. “But for now, I just want sleep.”
“I understand,” Dee pulled away and threw himself into the hammock. “I’m not in the mood either but that’s not gonna keep me from coming up with fun new ways to use this thing.”
“I just hope it’s strong enough to hold us both,” Raph teased as he climbed in with Dee. “You’re heavy.” Dee snorted and Raph kissed him along his jaw before settling into his arms. “Everything is going to be okay, right?”
“I’ve done all I can,” Dee wrapped himself around Raph, looping his tail around Raph’s leg. “Red’s strong and as long as he doesn’t get an infection, he should pull through.”
“For Donnie’s sake, I hope he makes it,” Raph curled into Dee’s arms. They found comfort in each other, knowing that it could have just as easily been one of them fighting for their life. The silence and the chance to wind down had Raph’s mind rushing with the possibilities. He cried gently in Dee’s arms, neither able to settle their minds enough to sleep.
