*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Special Note: The beautiful artwork for this chapter was created by my wonderful friend, CorolineThePheonix. I just love the moonlight creeping in through the window. So gorgeous.
*Author's Notes: I've finally returned with a new chapter of 'Slash's Revenge.' So sorry for making everyone wait an extra week on this, but as some of you already know, last week marked the one-year anniversary of me posting the epilogue of my story 'Lost in the Fight.' In honor of the milestone, I decided to post a bonus chapter for that story and hold off on my 'Slash's Revenge' update for a few days.
I hope this chapter is worth the little extra wait...
Shout outs to my creative consultant, Captain Vegeta, and my beta reader, Joanne N. Grey. They're the peanut butter to my jelly. I love them both with all my heart.
Thanks so much for reading, everyone! ;) CJ
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Chapter 11 – Darkness Falls
Donnie would've found the mental picture amusing if he wasn't one hundred percent certain Slash would take his anger out on him. Instead, it was just one more thing for the kidnapped turtle to stress over...
While he once again listened to Slash's thunderous, apartment-shaking snoring, Donnie curled up on the bottom of his prison cell in a futile attempt to get comfortable. The confines of his cage didn't allow him the liberty to stretch his long legs all the way out and his numerous injuries made it impossible to find a position where at least some part of him wasn't in pain.
Sleep never came easy, if at all...
Donnie's first night there had actually been his most restful one. Of course, that was only because he had slipped in and out of consciousness all night long, and even into part of the following morning. Slash 'treating' his injuries that first night had taken a serious toll on Donatello's body. The bigger mutant's bedside manner definitely left something to be desired, but Donnie had to give him a little bit of credit. Slash had somehow managed to pop the brainy turtle's left arm back into its socket.
Once Slash had finished yanking on Donatello's arm, he had made quick, agonizing work of treating the genius turtle's other wounds. Ironically, Donnie had gained several additional injuries during Slash's ministrations, but none of these wounds were quite as severe as the grave shoulder or leg injury that continued to plague the brainiac turtle.
The next two nights had been slightly less painful. Heavy emphasis on the word 'slightly.' After Slash put him to 'bed' for the evening, Donnie had laid on the floor, wide awake, right up until the time he was violently dragged out of his cage for his mandated morning 'training' sessions. Donatello had come to cynically think of these sessions as 'whack-a-turtle time.' The strange need to put a name to his daily torture regimen must have been Mikey's bad influence rubbing off on him.
On the fourth night, Donnie had been kicked into the cage rather than thrown; a noticeably unpleasant change of pace. Upon his rather rough landing, Donatello had just laid there, staring at the wall, too injured to move. Eventually – and mercifully – he had passed out from exhaustion, and perhaps, one too many blows to the head that day.
This was his fifth night of living in captivity and sleep was eluding him once again. He was currently lying on his side with his head nestled up against his uninjured shoulder. Well, his less injured shoulder. At this point, he was pretty sure there wasn't a body part on him that didn't have some type of injury from his many beatings. Even his toes were bruised...
Still, despite the continued brutal treatment, the worst of Donnie's injuries were showing some signs of improvement. He was able to almost move his left shoulder without searing, white-hot pain tearing through his whole body and his mauled thigh was starting to look a little better. The leg wound wasn't bleeding any longer and the swelling had gone down some, but not nearly as much as he would've liked to have seen after five days. Much to his dismay, the wound was beginning to exhibit symptoms of infection. If he developed sepsis –
Don't think about that!
Swallowing past the thick lump forming in his throat, Donnie did his best to shut off the clinical part of his brain. His knowledge of medicine only seemed to be making things even bleaker than they already were.
The wounded turtle wearily turned his head so he could peer up at the lone window in the living room. The moonlight was trickling in through the raggedy curtains, bathing the small space in a pale, yellowish glow. It reminded him of how the radiant moonbeams would sometimes come filtering down into the lair at night.
Sealing his lips together, Donnie suppressed a sorrowful sigh that was hard-set on sneaking out. Even though Slash currently appeared to be dead to the world, the genius turtle wasn't about to take any chances. He was deathly afraid of what the penalty would be if he were to wake the vicious beast from his slumber.
Donatello pulled his broken body into a fetal position and clenched his eyes tightly shut, wanting so much to just disappear into the anesthetized darkness that sleep would deliver.
If only it were that simple...
To just close his eyes and escape the ceaseless pain...
Every night it had been like this. Whenever he squeezed his eyes shut, he would be overwhelmed by this same feeling of suffocating despair.
Logically, one would've thought that nighttime would be the least insufferable part of the day for the genius turtle, but such was not the case. He had actually come to dread the sun going down.
Yes, Slash's bedtime did provide Donatello with a welcome respite from his constant thrashings, but the quietness and inactivity also gave the wounded turtle more time to think about what he was missing. His overactive brain became his worst enemy. Hence, the reason he couldn't sleep. The thoughts and memories of his family would hurt him even more than the physical abuse. At least when Slash was pounding on him, he was too preoccupied to think about all that he had lost.
His loved ones...
His freedom...
His self-worth...
And now, he was losing his hope...
Each night was harder than the one before. Once the sun set, the bars and shadows that were fencing him in felt as though they were coming closer, making his already tiny prison cell seem even smaller. Lying on the stark, hard floor of his cage made him feel utterly alone. He didn't want to feel sorry for himself, but he couldn't help it. He had been reduced to a nothing more than Slash's mistreated 'pet,' constantly kept in a cage or dragged around by a leash.
The wounded turtle hadn't showered or bathed in days. Everything had to be done under the scrutinizing eyes of Slash. Donnie had flat-out refused to do so at first, but he had been severely punished for his disobedience, resulting in several cracked ribs. After that savage mauling, Donatello had resigned to his fate. Whenever it was time for his daily rations, he would get down on his hands and knees to slurp the water up from a dog dish, but only because he realized he couldn't survive many more beatings like that. Plus, he knew he couldn't go for more than a few days without water.
But of all the awful things Donatello had endured, the most humiliating of them had to be when Slash would place a muzzle over his face to silence him.
It was then that the genius turtle truly felt worthless...
Fortunately, this had been the first day since Donatello's capture that Slash hadn't strapped that damn muzzle on him. Maybe that's because Donnie's ability to fight back was nearly nonexistent at this point. He was so exhausted, he could barely move. Instead of trying to defend himself anymore, Donnie would just lie on the floor, silently praying for an end to his suffering.
He was ashamed for being so weak. If his family saw him like this, they would surely think he was nothing but a disgrace to the Hamato name.
They would've been right.
He was a disgrace...
Blinking back his tears, Donnie coiled himself up tighter, in an effort to conserve his body heat and try to stop himself from shivering. When the sun went down each night, the apartment would get cold enough that he feared he might get hypothermia or shake right out of his shell. This only added to his sleeping troubles, as well as to his misery.
Never before had Donnie longed so much for the comfort of his own home. Never before had he realized just how much he had taken the simple things in life for granted, such as being in his soft, cozy bed, tucked underneath the warmth of his blanket. What he wouldn't give to feel the comfort of a mattress and a downy pillow underneath him rather than the stark, hard bottom of a cage?
There were so many things Donatello ached for now that he was without them, but there was one obvious thing he missed the most.
He closed his eyes and his thoughts returned to his family.
Just as they did every night...
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"Donnie! Dawwwwww-neeeeeeeeeeee!" Came the screechy voice of his baby brother from the other side of the lab walls. Four seconds later, the pounding started, making it nearly impossible for Donatello to concentrate on the experiment he had been trying to work on prior to Mikey assaulting the doors.
"What is it this time, Mikey?" Though Donnie had used his most uninviting tone, Mikey entered the lab, regardless. The youngest turtle had never been one to take a hint.
"Are you gonna be in here all day again?" As soon as Mikey strolled up beside Donnie, he started fiddling around with the various objects on his big brother's worktable. The orange-masked ninja didn't have a clue what half the items were, but that had never stopped him from touching stuff before.
"Mikey! Don't mess with that!" Donnie was quick to bat his baby brother's hand away from his project, like it was second nature to him. Maybe that's because the youngest turtle was constantly meddling with things he shouldn't be meddling with. He just couldn't help himself...
"So whatcha workin' on, D?" Somehow restraining himself from touching any more of Donnie's things, Mikey simply pointed a stubby forefinger at the cluttered tabletop.
"I'm still trying to find a cure for April's dad." The air of defeat in Donnie's voice was glaringly obvious. He massaged his fingertips into his temples, attempting to ease his steadily worsening tension headache.
It had been four days since they had accidently caused the mutation of Mr. O'Neil and Donatello had spent the majority of those past four days feverishly working on creating a retro mutagen that might make April's father human again.
The genius turtle internally sighed when he thought about the night of Kirby's transformation and how hurt and angry April had been. She had looked right at the four brothers and told them she never wanted to see their faces ever again. Those awful words were still ringing inside Donnie's brain.
They hadn't heard from April since that night and Donatello was afraid she'd never forgive them for what happened.
That was why he had been working so hard to come up with an antidote for April's father. In the intellectual turtle's mind, it was the only way to get April back.
"Dude, you've been working on that for days. You totally deserve a break. And you said you were gonna hang out with us today." Mikey's bright-blue eyes nearly doubled in size in a blatant ploy to make Donnie feel guilty, but the turtle in purple wasn't about to fall for that old trick again.
"I did hang out with you, Mikey." The highly erroneous claim came out rushed and detached, as if Donatello was distracted by something. The genius turtle was currently pushing his more fragile equipment away from the edge of his workstation, not wanting a repeat of the last time his baby brother had been inside the lab. Mikey had nearly destroyed all of Donnie's microscope slides, and things like that were hard to come by when you were forced to gather most of your supplies from the local scrap yards.
"When was that?" There was a baffled expression on the younger turtle's face that Donatello never actually saw. He was still too busy Mikey-proofing his workspace.
"I had breakfast with you this morning. Remember?"
Michelangelo placed his hands on his hips and turned his mouth down into a scowl, clearly offended by his brother's answer.
"What? That soooooo doesn't count as hanging out, bro! Hanging out is like playing games or skateboarding or watching TV or pulling pranks!" Voice taking on a shrill quality, Mikey used far more noise than seemed necessary. Sometimes, Donnie found himself wishing his little brother came with a volume adjustment knob.
"I don't have time for any of that stuff right now, Mikey! I need to work on this cure." Glancing up for just a fleeting moment, the smartest turtle gave Michelangelo an exasperated expression before his bloodshot eyes trailed back down to his experiment once again.
"But you said, D!" The youngest brother's bottom lip jutted out into a classic pout. The kind of pout that usually got him his way...
"I said 'maybe,' Mikey, and that was just to get you to stop bugging me about it. Now, could you please leave me to my experiment?" It was painfully evident that Donatello had no intention of discussing the matter any further. His little brother just didn't understand the kind of pressure that the genius was under. Mikey's idea of pressure was getting up to certain level on a video game or choosing between pepperonis or anchovies on a pizza.
"You can't just keep locking yourself up in your lab all day, Donnie! I'm not gonna let you! It's time to call in backup."
The instant he heard the word 'backup,' Donatello's weary gaze quickly shot up to meet his younger brother's devilish one.
"You wouldn't dare!" Eyes narrowing into slits, Donnie gave Mikey an intimidating glare, but it had no effect on the smaller turtle.
"Oh, you know I would, bruh. You. Know. I. Would."
There was an unusually smug expression on Mikey's face that Donnie immediately recognized as trouble.
"Mikey, b – be reasonable! You know how important this cure is! I can't afford to waste any more time!" Donnie tried to argue, but his little brother just shook his head from side to side like a stubborn child refusing to give in.
"Sorry, bro, but a turtle's gotta do what a turtle's gotta do." A brief pause followed this statement. Just long enough for Mikey to suck in a deep breath so that his lungs were full when he shouted out, "Raph! Leo! Guys! GUYS!"
It took all of three seconds for the two oldest turtles to burst into the lab with their weapons drawn. It then took less than two seconds for Raph to blow his top.
"Mikey! What the heck were you screaming about? You made it sound like the freakin' Kraang had invaded!" Angrily tossing an arm up in the air to better demonstrate his frustration, Raphael nearly stabbed himself in the face with one of his sais.
Seeing that there was no immediate danger to either of his two youngest brothers, Leonardo sheathed his weapons and let his defensive posture soften into a regular stance. He then tried to approach the situation with much more self-control than Raph just had, but his tone still carried his slight irritation over his baby brother's classic case of overacting.
"So, why'd you call us in here, Mikey?"
"Okay, okay! Remember, last night on patrol when Donnie said he was gonna hang out with us today?"
"No," both Leo and Raph responded flatly. Neither one of them recalled their brainy brother having said those actual words at any point during the evening. They figured it was just another one of Mikey's made-up stories. Like the time he had claimed they had taken down a cottage cheese demon or the time he had tried to convince them that he had played Shrek in an off-Broadway production.
"Well, he did! And now, he won't make good on his promise." With the way Mikey made it sound, every galaxy in the known universe was going to rip apart because Donnie had broken this alleged promise.
"That's why you screamed?" A low, menacing growl rumbled in the back of Raphael's throat as he cracked his knuckles in disapproval.
Seemingly undaunted by his hotheaded brother's intimidation tactics, Mikey continued on with his rather theatric pleading. "Come on, guys! I need your help here! Donnie needs a break from all this 'sciency' stuff. He's been cooped up in his lab for days now!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, maybe there's a reason for that. Did you ever think he might be coming in here to get away from you, Einstein?" Came Raph's extremely snarky reply.
"Hey!" Not the least bit amused by his red-masked brother's comment, Mikey crossed his arms in a huff.
"Thank you, Raphael." A small smirk followed Donatello's expression of gratitude.
"Don't mention it."
"Leo, you're the leader! Can't you make Donnie take a day off or something?" Always the picture of innocence, Mikey held his hands together as if in prayer. He then peered up at his oldest brother with big, watery eyes and excessively dilated pupils.
Leonardo had never understood how Mikey was able to get his eyes to do that on cue...
It wasn't normal, nor was it fair.
"Pleassssssssssssssse." Somehow, Mikey managed to turn his 'please' into a six-syllable word.
Most annoying sound ever!
Yet again, the leader in blue was about to let his baby brother manipulate him into doing something, but only because Leo didn't want to listen to Mikey whine for the rest of the day.
"Ah, fine! Donnie, I order you to spend some time with Mikey." The order was accompanied by a facepalm, as though Leo couldn't believe what he had just commanded.
"What?! You're actually taking Mikey's side on this? I can't afford to take a whole day off from my work! What about my experiment? What about April's dad?" There was no question that Donatello was upset. If his high-pitched tone didn't give it away, his arms waving hysterically about did.
The overly dramatic reaction wasn't enough to make Leonardo take back his order. If anything, it just made him all the more determined to stick to his guns. After all, his smartest brother was acting as though being forced to hang out with them was a fate worse than death. "It's just one day, Donnie. It wouldn't hurt for you to spend a little time with us, would it?"
"Are we being honest here?" Never before had a single statement held such pure sarcasm. Donatello just stood there, stock still, so as not to take away from the glorious cynical tone he had just set.
Leonardo placed his fists on his hips and struck one of those cheesy heroic poses that made all three of his brothers simultaneously roll their eyes, but it did nothing to dissuade the oldest turtle. Part of being in charge was learning how to deflect his siblings' constant ridicule.
"Hamato Donatello, as leader of this team, I am hereby ordering you to take the day off."
Two out of Leo's three brothers rolled their eyes up in their heads, once again, while the youngest brother applauded his appreciation.
"Oh, come on, Donnie. It'll be fun. We could watch a movie, play a board game, go for a walk – " Leo started to list off the seemingly endless possibilities of how they could all spend the time together, but Raph's abrasive voice stopped him cold.
"Yeah, and then, we could bake cookies and make friendship bracelets."
"I'm being serious, Raph!"
"Are you saying I'm not?" Raphael pretended to be offended by Leo's comment, but they all knew better.
"Okay, if I promise to do something with you guys for like an hour or two, will you promise to leave me alone for the rest of the day?" This was Donatello's shameless attempt to find a reasonable compromise that didn't result in him having to give up nearly an entire day of work, but it was all in vain.
Leo folded his arms over his plastron in almost arrogant fashion and shook his head before denying his intellectual brother's request.
"Nope. You're gonna hang out with us whether you like it or not, because I'm banishing you from the lab for the rest of the day."
"Oh, for the love of... " The remainder of the sentence came out in the form of a disgusted groan.
Finding his genius brother's reaction rather amusing, Raph draped an arm across Donnie's slender shoulders and lightly jostled him around. All the while, the temperamental turtle wore a huge smirk on his face. "Hey! If it makes you feel any better, it'll be sheer torture for me, too."
This comment instantly caused Leo to fire a homicidal glare in his red-clad brother's direction.
"Not helping, Raph."
"Wasn't trying to, Fearless." Raphael purposely used the same vocal intonation as his older brother, clearly poking fun at him. The hotheaded turtle then removed his arm from Donnie's shoulders so that he could strike an indifferent pose as he stared blankly at Leonardo. A silent challenge of sorts.
It was at this point that Mikey took his turn at wooing the brainiac turtle.
"Will you please hang out with us today, D? I know you're super busy and stuff, but ever since April's dad got mutated, we barely see you anymore. I miss you, bro. And I just wanna spend a little time with you. Is that so bad? Pretty, pretty please, Donnie." If his groveling didn't work, certainly the 'there's no possible way you can say no to me' look on Mikey's freckled face would.
Sure enough...
"All right, Mikey," Donnie quietly submitted, forcing his lips into a thin smile that no one but Michelangelo actually believed.
In response, the turtle in orange elatedly threw his arms around Donnie's middle and hoisted his big brother up into a shell-crushing embrace.
"Oh, D! You won't regret it! We're gonna have so much fun together! This is gonna be super sweet!"
After about fifteen seconds of what seemed like an attempt to squeeze Donnie right out of his shell, Mikey finally set his big brother back down and released his hold on him.
"I'm gonna go get everything set up! I'm thinking a 'SRMFF' marathon. Then, maybe a little Monster Hockey, followed by some Mazes & Mutants. Oooh, and we should totally make it a pizza party! Aw, yeah!" Mikey started to hum a nameless tune while he pranced out of the lab.
"Would one of you please just put me out of my misery now?" Staring up at the ceiling for no particular reason, Donatello let his shoulders sag in defeat.
"Aw, don't be like that, Donnie boy. We're only forcing you to do something you don't want to do because we care, little brother." Yet another smirk spread across Raph's face as he slapped Donnie's carapace hard enough to make the genius turtle stumble forward a step. The hothead then strutted out of the lab.
Turning towards his oldest brother, Donnie used his big, reddish-brown eyes to beg Leonardo to reconsider his decision.
The leader flashed a boyish grin before speaking in a kind, yet teasing voice. "You know, we're not so bad if you just give us a chance. Is it really so awful that your brothers just want to spend a little time with you?"
Donnie instantly blushed at the question.
"No, no, of course not. It's just... I seriously need to work on this cure for April's father, because if I don't find one – Well, she might not ever come back." Gaze suddenly unable to meet Leo's, Donnie turned his head away and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"You will work on that cure." As soon as these words left Leonardo's mouth, Donnie's eyes lit up and locked on his oldest brother's once again.
"Really?" The intellectual turtle's voice was suddenly filled with Mikey-like enthusiasm at the prospect of being allowed to continue his work, but his oldest brother was quick to burst his proverbial bubble.
"After you take a day off and have a little fun with your brothers. I know you wanna get April back, Donnie, but I won't let you sacrifice your health. You deserve a break every now and then. Besides, one day with us isn't gonna kill you."
Donatello rolled his eyes, seemingly in disgust, but a small smile revealed otherwise. "You don't know that."
"No, but I do know that if you don't drag your shell out of this lab within the next thirty seconds, I'm gonna send Raph in here to get you. Is that how you want this to go down?" Leo hated having to resort to threatening the possible 'Raph-percussions' in order to get his genius brother to follow his orders, but sometimes, being the leader meant you had to practice a little tough love.
Hanging his head down in obvious surrender, Donnie resentfully snorted out the word "fine" and twisted his face into a scowl, like a little kid who didn't get his way.
The leader in blue couldn't help but to laugh, making Donnie lift his head back up just so he could give his older brother an owlish glare.
Another laugh sounded out and Leonardo hooked an arm around his little brother's neck before smugly saying, "You made the right choice, Donnie."
The purple-masked turtle playfully jabbed an elbow into his big brother's side; a silent signal that all was forgiven between them. The two brothers then headed for the main living space of the lair, where Mikey and Raph were already impatiently waiting for them.
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Despite Donnie's eyes being tightly sealed shut, several fat tears still managed to escape and make their gradual descent to the hard floor beneath him.
Another memory, another round of tears...
It had been a couple of months since Donatello had essentially been forced to spend some quality time with his brothers. The three of them had just wanted the genius turtle to do something with them and he had done everything in his power to get out of it.
What kind of brother am I?
Ever since he and his siblings had inadvertently caused April's dad's mutation, Donnie had been so caught up in trying to find a cure for Mr. O'Neil, he hadn't even made time for his own brothers. It was just another thing that he had taken for granted.
He had just assumed that there would always be more time.
That they would always be there...
But now, he was faced with the awful reality that he might not ever see them again.
Prying his puffy, waterlogged eyelids apart, Donatello stared blearily out the window once more. If this was a normal night, he and his brothers would be out on patrol for the evening, but there was nothing normal about his life anymore.
He wondered what his family was doing right now. Were they desperately scouring the city in search of him? Was Master Splinter trying to contact him via meditation, looking for his presence somewhere on the astral plane? Was Leo doing everything he could to keep the family together, while at the same time, pushing them beyond their limits because he couldn't accept failure? Was Mikey driving his two older brothers crazy with his goofy antics and his nonstop jabbering? Was Raph making them all miserable with his bad attitude and foul temper?
Raph...
Every time his second oldest brother crossed his mind, Donnie couldn't help but to think back to that night in the lab.
The night when Raph had told him how he really felt...
"You're always sorry! I've had it up to here with your excuses, Donnie! What? It wasn't enough that you almost killed Spike? Now, you almost killed all of us with another one of your crazy experiments!"
"Raph... I – I didn't mean to..."
"I don't want to hear it anymore! You're always screwing everything up, Donnie! How many times have you nearly killed us now? How many times, huh?"
"Raph, please..."
"Raph, that's enough!"
"No! It's not enough! All you ever do is put everyone in danger, Donnie! You're supposed to be the smart one, but you ruin everything you touch! You're the reason Spike's gone! I lost my best friend because of you! It was all your fault! If you weren't such a walking disaster, he'd still be here!"
Pinching his lips together, Donnie swallowed back a sob.
Everything his hotheaded brother had said was true...
If it hadn't been for Donnie, Spike would've never been mutated and none of them would've ever been hurt. If it hadn't been for Donnie, Spike would still be 'Spike' and none of this would've ever come to pass.
"All you ever do is put everyone in danger, Donnie! You're supposed to be the smart one, but you ruin everything you touch!"
Raph had been right all along...
Donatello was a nothing but a hopeless screw up. It was no wonder his own brother hated him.
Maybe that's why they hadn't come for him...
Why would they?
All he ever did was mess things up...
All he ever did was put their lives in danger...
Why should they come for him?
He was useless...
He wasn't worth saving...
NO!
Stop thinking like that! It's only been a few days! They're coming for you! They would never just leave you!
Donatello was desperately clinging to what little hope remained inside him. The hope that his family would soon rescue him and all this would be over. That little bit of hope was the one thing he had left to keep him going while he endured this living nightmare, but with each passing moment, that hope faded more and more.
Maybe it was already gone...
The tremors racking Donnie's body started to get noticeably worse. He rolled himself up into an even tighter ball in a vain attempt to control the shaking. He had a bad feeling that the cold was no longer the only thing making him shiver. It was yet another sign that his leg wound was getting infected.
If Slash didn't kill him, an untreated infection certainly would.
Could you be any more depressing?
You seriously need to think about something else...
The problem was, no matter what he tried to think about – be it quantum mechanics, molecular biology, the theory of relativity, or even, how to fix the toaster – his thoughts always came back to his family.
He had never in a million years believed that five days could feel like a lifetime, but that's how long it seemed like since he had last seen his brothers.
He wondered if they were missing him the way that he was missing them.
As he let out a shuddered breath, he sealed his eyes shut once again, even though he knew sleep wouldn't come.
It was going to be another long, cold, painful night...
To be continued...
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*More Author's Notes: This chapter was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. It breaks my heart every time I read it. Poor, poor Donnie. He could really use a hug. Me, too...
As always, please take a quick moment to vote and/or comment if you're enjoying 'Slash's Revenge' and want to see more. Your feedback is very, very much appreciated. I always look forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks for reading and for being so supportive of me, my friends. You're all awesome! ;) CJ
**PS - Thanks so much for the amazing feedback for the new bonus chapter of 'LITF.' I appreciate it more than words can say. *hugs*