The Donnie Christmas Caper

Investigating

December 12

One Week And Six Days Until Christmas...

Mikey rubbed his eyes as he made his way out to the kitchen, the youngest stretching out his stiff muscles as he walked into the kitchen for a late-day snack before he headed back to bed.

He knew that it was still very early and he should have just waited until breakfast to eat, but when he got a pizza craving, he had no choice but to satisfy it.

What could he say? He was weak when it came to the temptation of the pizza.

He paused when he realized the kitchen light was on. Walking into the room, he realized that a half-awake Leo was sitting at the table, a full teacup to his left and his T-phone to his right.

"What are you doing up this early?" Mikey asked curiously, wondering if he'd gotten up for a late-night tea break.

Leo jumped at the sound of his youngest brother's voice, looking up with wide eyes at the scare he was given before relaxing back onto his chair. "Mikey! Shell, don't scare a turtle like that."

"Sorry," Mikey replied honestly. "Got some pizza cravings I had to fix. You know how it is." Leo rolled his eyes in response and Mikey repeated his earlier question. "What are you doing up?"

Leo took a sip of his tea and glanced own at his t-phone before replying. "Waiting."

"For what?" Mikey questioned, pulling leftover pizza from the fridge and making his way to the table.

Leo watched as he pulled up a chair, clearly not planning on going anywhere until he got answers, so the leader replied. "Donnie. Went out scavenging over an hour ago, still waiting for him to get back."

"What, did he just wake you up and leave?" Mikey joked as he began eating a slice, partly choking on it when Leo gave a completely serious nod. "Wait, dude, seriously?"

"Yep." Leo replied sounding tired, the oldest running a hand along his face. "Just came into my room and announced he was leaving. Wouldn't even let me talk him into going tomorrow, kept saying that it was past dusk and he needed some new parts as soon as possible. Apparently, it couldn't wait till a decent time."

"You could have ordered him to stay home." Mikey suggested, trying to be helpful.

Shooting him a disapproving look that said his comment was anything but helpful, Leo replied. "No, I couldn't. If I had, next time he went out he wouldn't have bothered to tell me he was leaving."

Mikey considered this as he began eating his second slice, realizing that Donnie might have had that exact reaction to being told he couldn't. His immediate older brother could be stubborn at times.

The T-phone suddenly dinged and Leo glanced down, tapping on it and staring for a couple seconds before turning back to his tea and taking a sip.

"You waiting for a pizza delivery?" Mikey asked hopefully, knowing that they had this new app that sent you messages that told you how close your pizza was to being delivered.

He loved them because he didn't have to rush out to the sewers and wait impatiently until the pizza arrived. He could chill and do whatever he felt like doing until the pizza was close enough that he could leave the moment he needed to and catch the pizza man right on time.

"No." Leo stated, eyeing him with disapproval as the youngest started on his third slice. "I'm having Donnie check in with me every ten minutes. He wouldn't let me come with, so I had to find some way to make sure he was alright."