Family is Forever

Donnie's Gifts: Part 1

Aria's POV:

Right now, Donnie & I, along with our brothers, are fighting a group of mutant silverfish. While the rest of us had our own troubles with this fight, Raph's troubles were admittedly brought on by his lack of strategic thinking.

Raph: "Ok, mutant silverfish, you've eaten people's laundry for the last time!"

As Raph strikes his blow to the silverfish, it drops the laundry basket it was holding and splits into two separate silverfish. He pauses for a brief moment in confusion before he strikes the both of them again. Once again, their numbers double to produce four silverfish. Donnie flies to him with his battle shell, while I watch them and fight off two silverfish. Knowing them, I'll have to be ready to intervene before an argument erupts between them. That could take their minds off the task at hand, that being the battle we're currently fighting.

Donnie: "Hey, Raph! Every time you smash them, they just split in two!"

Raph: "I know. Isn't it cool?"

I can see my love growing more annoyed and impatient by the second, so I leap to land between the two of them.

Me: "Easy, Don. Let me handle this."

Donnie gives me a warm smile as he nods in gratitude, his annoyance gradually melting away. I then turn to face Raph with a calm, understanding smile.

Me: "Think about it, Raph. The more you hit them...?"

Raph: "Oh, I guess it does double the problem."

Just when I think he has the right idea, he continues his statement with an idea that is not ideal to the situation.

Raph: "Which means double the smashing!!"

He then starts hitting silverfish left & right, resulting in an exponential increase in the number of opponents we now have to face. Then, said opponents jump onto him and begin to hit him. Mikey and Leo then leap to his side, their hearts in the right place, but their minds are quite the opposite. The more they try to fight against him, the more emphatically the silverfish try to do the same. Leo slices through a fire hydrant, spraying the silverfish with a blast of water.

Leo: "Looks like these fish are-*chuckles*-Wait for it, you're gonna love this all washed up."

Raph & Mikey: "Boo!"

Leo: "Ok, ok, ok, how 'bout this? Those bugs are so wet..."

The silverfish then pounce on all three of them. I let out a sigh of annoyance & disappointment at the idea that I've failed in my endeavor. Donnie turns to me with a warm smile in an effort to reassure me that what I did was honorable.

Donnie: "Don't worry, my dear. Braver men have tried and failed at trying to sway my brothers from their blissful ignorance. However,  I doubt that Dad, April, or myself could've done a better job than you did."

I smile at him in return, grateful for his reassurance. I then give him a quick kiss to further convince him of my gratitude.

Me: "Much appreciated, love. Well, their 'ignorance' is getting old. Think you could wrap this up with one of your brilliant inventions?"

His smile morphs into a smirk.

Donnie: "You flatter me, my Aphrodite. Nonetheless, my lady's wish is my command."

He then turns to face our brothers' plight, and presses a button on his bo staff to transform it into a weapon mounted on his chest that shoots tennis balls. As the balls hit the silverfish, they leap off the others and run away. His weapon then changes back into a staff.

Mikey: "Mission accomplished!"

Raph: "Whew! Nice hustle, Donnie. I knew we could deal with this as a team."

My patience runs out once I hear that remark. Before I can voice my objection, Donnie puts an arm around my waist, and kisses my forehead in reassurance.

Donnie: "It's not worth it, Aria. You & I both know it's better to roll with the punches rather than start a fight."

I know that he's serious by the use of my full name, rather than one of his loving terms of endearment for me. I nod as we turn to face our stubborn leader.

Donnie: "Well actually, it was more Aria & I. But, segue, I think I have a little something to kick our skills into high gear."

He then presses a button on his watch as a drill rises through the ground in response.

Mikey: "What the what?"

Leo: "Whoa!"

Raph: "Jumpin' Jack Flash!"

Mikey rolls across the ground to hug it.

Mikey: "It's beautiful."

Me: "Yeah! Nice work, babe."

Donnie turns to me with a grateful smile.

Donnie: "Thanks, beautiful. But that's not what I wanted to show you guys. It's still in beta."

Leo: "What do you mean? That should totally be what you wanted to show us."

Don: "Don't worry about it. The real thing is much more personal & thoughtful, and I really hope you like it. 'Cause if you don't, I will just be crushed!"

Raph: "Donnie, just show it to us. I'm sure we'll love it."

I give Donnie a quick kiss to ease his nerves.

Me: "I know I will."

He gives me a warm smile before turning to the drill with a determined look as he presses another button on his watch.

Leo: "Ok, so we're just moving past the drill?"

The drill opens to reveal four shelves, each with an item in each of our signature colors. For Leo, Donnie invented some sort of collar, for reasons unknown to me as of yet. For Mikey, some sort of inflatable suit. I have an idea as to why he made that. Mikey has a tendency to jump into things without considering whether or not it was safe. That's one of the things I love about Donnie. Say what you will about him, but he cares about his family. For Raph, a helmet similar to that of a biker's. I looked to the final shelf to see my kunais. Nothing was different about them except, just as he promised when we met Draxum, he changed their color from black to grey, my signature color.

Mikey: "You even got my life colors right!"

Leo: "Oh-ho-ho, wow! I don't know what this is but it has got a lot of blinkity-blinks."

Raph: "Whoa, jazzy headgear!"

Me: "Wow, you weren't kidding! Awesome color scheme, and you added our family signet to the handles. You really are a genius, Handsome."

The four of us then pose with our treasures, both old & new. Donnie gives all of us a grateful smile.

Donnie: "I'm so glad you like 'em! Now let me show you how they work."

Before he has time to do so, we hear a group of silverfish screeching from afar.

Turtles & I: "Huh?"

Raph: "What was that?"

We run to follow the sound to find that it was coming from beside an abandoned restaurant.

TO BE CONTINUED