Turtles' Big Sister Oneshots

First Night--Pepper and Leo

Summary: Pepper's very first night in the lair after Splinter finds her. She wakes to Leonardo having a nightmare, and after she wakes him up, she gets an unexpected result to trying to leave.

Pepper is 4, Leo is 1. 

Pepper woke to soft whimpers in the night. Her ears twitched, but she simply screwed her eyes shut tighter and rolled over. Distantly, she was aware of something soft and warm under her instead of the hard stone she'd recently gotten used to. The whimpers came again, a little louder this time. 

What is that? 

Confused, she opened her eyes, startled to realize she wasn't in an alleyway as she'd expected. Sitting up sharply, she peered around the darkened space. She was laying on a rather soft couch in a shallow pit in the floor. Opposite her was a battered stand and TV. Gazing around, her sharp eyes adjusted to the lack of light and she made out what looked like an old, rundown, long-abandoned subway station, judging by the turnstiles at the entrance. There must be railroad tracks outside, meaning she was in the sewers somewhere. That explained the rancid smell. An old curtain hung over the entrance to a small room, and the smell of food came from it. The kitchen, maybe? What looked like a ninjutsu dojo was on the other side of the room, doors closed. The soft whimpers came from there.

Everything flooded back in an instant. Yesterday, as she'd been searching for food in the New York alleyway, a rat mutant had found her. He'd offered for her to come with him if she was hungry, and she'd followed warily as he'd led her to the sewers. He'd taken her to this station--the lair, he called it--and she'd barely stepped through the turnstiles when there'd been excited squeals and she'd nearly been tackled by four tiny baby turtles. The rat, Splinter, had introduced them as his sons--the youngest, Michelangelo, with pale green skin, freckles, and light blue eyes, Donatello, the tallest, with a gap tooth and reddish-brown eyes, Raphael, with green eyes several shades darker than Pepper's own and a lightning-shaped chip in his plastron, and the eldest, Leonardo, with darker blue eyes than Michelangelo. After Pepper had eaten, she'd expected to be kicked out, but was pleasantly surprised when Splinter had offered to let her stay the night. She'd accepted, sure she'd be leaving in the morning, and had taken up temporary residence on the couch. She'd declined the blanket Splinter had offered her; she had a habit of shifting around a lot in her sleep, and knew she was likely to either unconsciously unsheathe her claws and tear the blanket to shreds, or kick it to the ground in the night and ruin the nice, fluffy object. So she'd let the turtle babies have it instead. She'd been warm enough without a blanket, anyway, even in her sleeveless vest, leggings, and bare feet. Her fur kept her plenty warm, and the sewers were hotter than she'd imagined.

Her ears twitched again at the whimpering, soft and distressed, growing slightly louder. Her ears swiveled, turning toward the sound, and she looked toward the dojo. One of the babies must be having a nightmare. 

For a moment, she contemplated just putting on the headphones she'd brought from Barcelona, turning on her music, and going back to sleep, leaving the nightmare for Splinter to deal with. Then the baby cried out, and the distress and fear in the tone made her choice for her. She slipped off the couch and out of the pit, heading for the dojo. She softly opened the door, padding over on bare paws to where the babies slept on their futon. Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo were curled up in a small pile of green, shelled bodies, sleeping peacefully, wrapped in the fluffy blanket. But Leonardo was twisting and turning on the mat, eyes screwed shut, face twisted in discomfort. He'd kicked the blanket as far from him as possible and looked on the verge of tumbling off the futon.

Pepper crouched beside him, reached out a hand, then hesitated. She had no experience with little kids. Well, littler than her. The babies were barely a year old, and they were so small, and looked so easy to hurt. She didn't want to do something wrong. Then Leonardo whimpered again, and once again, it made her choice. Cautiously, she reached out and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.