It wasn't often that the fearless leader got more than an hour of quiet time to himself to meditate in peace. And since it was Friday night, he was really hoping that he could have some time to himself, to relax and meditate without the stress of his brothers bothering him.
He sat cross legged on the raised platform in the lair and closed his ocean coloured orbs, breathing deeply and feeling the stress start to melt off his shoulders. The candles he had lit made the air around him smell warm and comforting, and he quickly found himself slipping deep into a meditative trance.
Until his phone rang, destroying the silence and his focus.
Leonardo groaned as he peeked an eye open to check his phone that he had sat beside him. He frowned and opened both eyes when he saw Raphs contact show up on the screen. He picked up his phone and pressed talk, completely unprepared for the phone call to come.
"Hell-..."
"LEO!" Jasmine yelled into the phone. Leo shot up and paced around the platform with a concerned frown taking over his features.
"Jasmine? Why do you have Raph's phone? Is everything okay?"
"NO! Everything is NOT OKAY!"
"Jasmine, I need you to calm down and tell me what happened," he said, trying to calm the frantic girl down as he ran towards Donnie's lab and put his phone on speaker.
"Okay, okay. Raphs hurt, he's unconscious on a rooftop. I need your help," she said with a shaky voice. Leo burst into Donnie's lab, not even bothering to knock. Donnie let out a shout of protest until he saw the look on Leo's face.
"Where are you?" Leo asked. Donnie ran to his computer, snatching Leo's phone from him and plugging it in.
"I-I don't know. We were on our way to the lair. Raph realized we were being followed and he took a different route. I don't know where we are." She replied quickly. Donnie's fingers were rapidly tapping away at his keyboard, trying to trace Raphs phone signal.
"Gotcha. They're on a roof near 12th and Washington," he said. Leo nodded and ran out of the lab, Donnie hot on his heels.
"Leo, please hurry," Jasmine whimpered into the line.
"Just stay on the line, okay? We'll be there soon," he replied. "Mikey! We're moving out, let's go!" He yelled as he sheathed his katanas and ran out of the entrance.
<<{}>>
Jasmine gripped the knife tighter as she cradled Raph's head in her lap. She was still on the line with Leo; could hear the pounding of their feet running across the rooftops.
Raphs breathing was still fairly ragged, but his condition hadn't worsened since he passed out.
"A small victory," Jasmine thought to herself. A loud thud behind her made her jump and spin her head around, brandishing the knife. Leo held his hands up in surrender as the other two landed on the roof behind him.
"Oh thank god it's you," Jasmine breathed out. Donnie ran over to where Raph was laying, checking his pulse and scanning him with his goggles.
"Are you okay Jasmine?" Leo asked as she stood up to let Donnie work. She wrapped her arms around herself slightly and nodded shakily.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit shaken is all," she gave a tightly forced smile and Leo nodded, glancing over at his unconscious brother.
"What happened here?" He asked. Jasmine let out a shaky sigh and looked at Raph.
"He was bringing me to the lair. On the way there he realized someone was tailing us, so he started running away from the lair and tried to get away. It didn't work. Someone in a mask and cloak dropped down in front of us, called themself Blackout."
"Thats a cool name," Mikey hummed. Jasmine and Leo both looked at him and he chuckled nervously. "Sorry. Not the time."
Jasmine chuckled softly before she stopped and looked at Leo seriously. "It's the same person who keeps trying to get me. That's what his goal was. To capture me."
"Shit. Did you get a look at anything? Eyes, face, anything?" He pushed her for info but she just shook her head.
"Whoever it was didn't want us to know their identity." Leo watched Jasmine bite at her lip nervously. "He fought Raph, stabbed him in the neck with a syringe and injected him with something. I hid and Raph passed out. Blackout came looking for me, so I stabbed him in the shoulder and he ran off." She sighed when she finished explaining. Leo was about to say something else when Donnie interrupted.
"Leo! He's alive, vitals are stable for now. But I really need to get him back to the lair for some tests. I don't know why he isn't waking up," Donnie said. Leo nodded and looked at Mikey.
"Grab Jasmine and we'll go back to the lair," he ordered and the youngest at turtle nodded before scooping Jasmine up. He gave her a smile and a quick hug when he picked her up bridal style and looked down at her.
"It'll be okay Jazzy Bear. Raphs been hurt worse before. He'll be okay," Mikey tried to comfort her. She hugged him back as they started running, glancing over his bicep to look at Leo and Donnie who were struggling to carry the muscular turtle.
"I hope so Mikey."
"I hope so."
<<{}>>
"So..." Donnie started slowly as he spun his computer chair slowly around to face her. Jasmine raised an eyebrow from her spot beside Raphael's still unconscious form.
"So..." she repeated with a smirk. He chuckled as he stood up from his stool and walked over to her. Jasmine curled her back and lifted her arms above her head, feeling the satisfying snap of her sore back cracking from sitting in one position for so long. It had been three hours since they had gotten back to the lair, putting the time now at 2am.
"It seems he got injected with a mix of-... elephant and horse tranquilizers, with a small amount of chloroform added in there," he read off a paper. Jasmines eyebrows shot up.
"Wow. They really didn't want him to wake up anytime soon, did they?" Jasmine asked. Donnie shook his head with an amused smirk before setting down the paper and going to Raph's other side and sitting down. Jasmine placed her palm back on her cheek and sighed. Donnie rubbed under his glasses and looked at her.
"It looks like the tranquilizer was designed specifically for us. Not enough to kill us though. I'm surprised he was able to stay conscious long enough to tell you his phone password," he admitted. "That was a really strong dose of tranquilizer."
"Yeah well, maybe that's a good thing. He's not awake to feel any pain," she said angrily. Donnie stared deeply at her, waiting for her to talk and not wanting to push her. Her dark eyes looked up at him and he saw pain and anger flash through them as well as guilt.
"He'll be okay. He just needs rest and time to heal." He said gently. She nodded and bit her lip before sighing.
"How bad?" She whispered. Donnie sighed and rested his chin in his hand, brown eyes watchful and tired under his glasses.
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"Donnie-... I have to know." She replied.
"Well, it's definitely not as bad as it looks. He has a minor concussion, a few cuts, two of which were deep and needed stitches, a few bruises here and there. The worst thing is the three broken ribs on his one side. He'll have some difficulty moving for a while cause of the pain but other than that, he's fine. Just needs rest and painkillers and he'll be fine," Donnie shrugged and kept his chin resting in his hand. Jasmines wide eyes stared at him, incredulous.
"You make that sound like peanuts," she shook her head. Donnie shrugged again and yawned.
"Honestly it's not too bad. We've all had way worse than this. And knowing Raph, he'll insist on going back to training within a few days," Donnie gave a small smile, remembering the times where Leo would force the stubborn Raph to go rest if he was hurt., despite the adamant protests. Jasmine leaned back farther in her chair and Donnie recognized the guilt written in her features again.
"Jasmine." He snapped her out of her brooding thoughts and tilted his head a bit. "Are you okay?"
"I just-... this is my fault and I feel bad that I couldn't help him. Watching him get hurt was just-..." she shivered slightly. "It's something I don't want to see again."
"You can't blame yourself. Raph wouldn't want that. He did it to protect you. Besides, if something ever happened to you, I don't think he'd ever let himself live it down." Donnie replied. Jasmine bit at her lip more and Donnie looked at the time.
"Well, I think it's time to head to bed for the night. Do you want me to take you home?" He offered. She thought about it for a moment before looking at him.
"Is it okay if I stay here tonight? It's Friday, I don't have school tomorrow. And honestly, I'm not a hundred percent sure I'm comfortable going back to my apartment alone tonight." Donnie nodded in agreement.
"That's probably for the best. That way we know you're safe and can keep an eye on both you and your apartment cameras." Then he looked at the outfit she was currently wearing, a t-shirt and jeans that she changed into after school so she looked decent for when Raph came and gave a half grimace, knowing that would be uncomfortable. "We have some spare clothes for times when April or Casey come over, do you want something to change into?" Jasmine nodded thankfully and he left to go get the clothes.
"How in the shit did I get dragged into this mess?" She asked herself that question over and over again, and every time getting the same answer...
No answer at all.
"Hey, these are all I could find right now," Donnie came back with a huge red hoodie and sweats. "April must've taken the rest to wash. The hoodie is probably going to be too big, but I think the sweats are April's. They should fit okay." He handed them to her and she thanked him while he glanced around. "We should probably find you somewhere to sleep," he mused. Jasmine glanced up at him and he muttered something to himself before she spoke.
"I can just sleep here. Or on the couch," she said. He shook his head.
"You're a guest. You shouldn't have to sleep on an uncomfortable hospital chair," he said. "But since Raph is in here, you can take his bed for now." Jasmines eyes went as wide as plates.
"Uhh. N-no that's okay. I'll just-..."
"Come on." He said and she sighed; knowing she wasn't getting out of this one. She followed him across the lair and down the hall to a door. When he pushed it open and gestured her inside, he smiled softly. "Thanks again, Jasmine. Without you, he still might be on that rooftop and we would have no idea where he is." She sighed.
"I just wish I could've done more."
"You've already done more than enough," Donnie said quietly, now noticing the faded writing on her wrist, and matching it up to the writing on Raph. He nodded goodnight before closing the door and leaving her to her thoughts.
She stood in his room for a long while until finally she got changed into the borrowed clothes from the turtles. Donnie was right, the hoodie went all the way past her knees. As she drew back the blankets on his bed and got in, she couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort surrounded by his family, his home, and oddly enough, his scent.
Jasmine slipped into a dreamless sleep, her last thoughts being about Raph, and hoping that he would wake up soon.
___________________________
Now we getting interesting😝
Tell me what ya think!!
XX Shadow
(Unedited)