The Donnie Christmas Caper

Mystery Solved!

December 25

Christmas Arrives

Donnie pulled himself out of bed and let out a soft groan, the exhaustion from the past month of almost nonstop  working catching up to him. All he wanted to do was sleep for the next day or two, but he knew what night it was and didn't want to upset his brothers by staying in the room all day.

He pulled himself upright and stretched, glancing at his homemade alarm clock to check the time, eyes widening when he realized it was nearly midnight.

Surprised that his alarm hadn't gone off when he set it, Donnie jumped out of his bed and dashed out of the room, well aware that he was probably going to be lectured big-time for sleeping in on today of all days. He skitted to a stop when he spotted his brothers in the main room, freezing nervously when they all glanced up to look at him.

"Hey, D! Bout time you got up!" Mikey greeted, his response sounding a lot less annoyed then Donnie expected.

"Uh, sorry, my- uh- my alarm didn't go off..." Donnie stated, glancing unsurely over at Splinter who was sitting on the couch nearby, the purple-clad turtle not noticing the knowing smirks that passed between his brothers.

"No biggy." Mikey replied brightly. "The gang haven't gotten here yet, so you haven't missed anything."

"Oh."

Donnie made his way to Mikey's side, sitting down next to his brother and glancing at Raph and Leo, who seemed to have continued their conversation about a - tea party?

Donnie glanced at Mikey, who's gaze was on the tv, the youngest momentarily looking up to grin at him and pass him the nearby box of pizza. Suddenly realizing how hungry he was, Donnie accepted and began eating, his eyes traveling in between the very animate "Grinch" and his older brothers, their conversation getting louder as they spoke.

"-wouldn't even have had to move if it wasn't for the fact there was a giant gaping hole in her roof and wall."

"It's not like I chose to interrupted your teaparty, fearless. I was fighting for my life!"

"I never said you weren't. Besides, I wasn't like I was there for fun, I was retrieving the mutation."

"And then you went back."

"Of course I did. The kid knows about us and wanted me to come back. I was simply appeasing her."

"Sure you were. You guys seemed pretty chummy while she was telling you all about the Christmas Elf."

Donnie choked on his pizza, the piece getting lodged in his throat and he had to hit his upper plastron to get it out. By then, he had the attention of the entire room, all of whom were looking at him concerned.

"Everything alright, Donatello?" Splinter asked, noting the suddenly guilty look on Raph's face.

"Yep... Yep, everything's... Good. Fine." He forced a fake smile and glanced back over at Raph, the hothead's peering back silently. Trying to keep his voice unconcerned he said. "I was just listening to you guys and heard something about a... Christmas Elf?"

"Uh, yah, a friend of Leo's told him about it." Raph said slowly, glancing at the others unsurely.

"Leo has friends?" The offended look on Leo's face causing him to rethink his comment.

"Sorry, sorry, I meant that in a far less crude manner." Donnie added quickly. "I was just wondering who that might be other then all the obvious ones."