Chapter 6

"Hey Mike, guess what?"

The sudden voice startles me from my peaceful sleeping. Wiping the morning grogginess from the corners of my eyes, I turn to look at my intruder expectantly through the dimness of the bedroom.

"Oh," Raph remarks with a frown. "Didn't mean to wake you. Sorry."

I let out a playful huff of irritated air as I begin to pull myself into a shaky sitting position. My small happiness is lost, though, as my legs refuse to move with me. Sheesh, they feel so heavy. It's like someone tied weights to the bottom of my feet or something.

"Here, lemme help you." Flicking on the bedroom lights, he sets something down onto my dresser and begins towards me. Before I recognize it, genuine irritation abruptly rips through me like a flash of lightning.

"No, I got it," I hastily mutter with a hint of a warning attached to it. I can practically feel his smirk of disapproval boring into me as I pull my body up the last few inches with much struggle involved. However, I seem to manage and heave out a contented sigh as I settle further into the mattress. Ah, that's better. See, I don't need him babying me! I can still do stuff on my own. My legs aren't cut off; they are just… erm… sleeping for a while. We all need breaks, don't we?

I nearly choke on my barely-suppressed bitter laughter. I wish they were just sleeping. Although I don't have all the scientific, smart-people terms that Don has, I know that it's a bunch more complicated than my legs just taking a simple nap. I guess I can think of it that way to keep my mind at rest.

"What's the time?" I question as I shift on the bed for a second time. I grimace as the new position isn't any better than the last. I guess your mattress can only take so much before it becomes permanently lumpy and tight. Completely oblivious to my uncomfortable situation, Raph fumbles around for his T-Phone before responding.

"'Bout twelve."

"Twelve?!" I repeat incredulously. Why the shell am I sleeping in so late these past few days? If we were in any other circumstance, Splinter would chew my head off and spit it back out (that is, after Leo did the same. I swear they are, like, the same exact person at times.)

Raph chuckles a bit, and for some unknown reason, it makes me frown. "Yeah, you've been knocked out cold. You didn't even eat breakfast. You feelin' okay?"

I follow his line of sight to the untouched meal of pancakes that lies on the floor next to my bed. Great. They're all cold and mushy now. Pancakes are one of my favorites…

"Yeah, I'm fine," I manage to fib past my inward cries of despair from the wasted food. Food should never go uneaten. Do you know how many poor, starving sewer rats would kill for those pancakes? Or maybe even that creepy homeless guy that uses the newspaper as blankets? I swear, I think he's gone off the deep end.

As if he can see right through my lie, Raph backs up a few feet and reaches for the object he had placed down. My utter delight at the sight of the Triangle of Heaven on the small plate escapes through the wide smile stretching across my face. Sure, pancakes are good, but it'll never compare to –

"Don said that maybe pizza will make ya feel better," Raph explains as he sets the warm plate down onto my lap. I think I'm actually shaking from joy. Who cares! As long as I have pizza, everything is going to be okay.

And it's even pepperoni – my favorite!

"Mmm…" I murmur happily before swallowing the heavenly pizza. Shooting a wide grin to Raph, I add, "What'dya have to threaten in order to get Leo to agree to pepperoni?"

Leo always likes plain ol' cheese. It's completely boring and tasteless. The rest of us always have to add our own homemade toppings after we order the pizza because Leo always insists that it's "easier to put the pepperoni on than to peel it off." If you ask me, I think he's just too lazy to do it himself.

Raph lets out a huff of amused air and flashes a small smile. "Actually, this time I didn't have to pin him to the floor. He, gasp, didn't even whine to Splinter!"

I laugh through the thick slice of pizza that's occupying my mouth. "Are you sure that's our Leo?" I tease as I swallow in delight. "Did D check for a Leo-Clone or something?"

"Nah," he denies with a faint smile, sitting lazily on the edge of my bed as he watches me eat. "He really seemed okay with it this time. I think he's just all up-tight and guilty about what happened earlier."

My chewing slows considerably at the mention of the confusing situation which has been incessantly eating my (limited amount of) common sense away. I still don't understand what happened. I try to ignore it, to brush it off as a stupid misunderstanding, but it comes back every time to haunt me. It's just –

No, don't think about it. Just enjoy this scrumptious little piece of triangular blessing that you're holding in your hands… mm, pizza…

"So, Mike…"

And there goes my moment of rare peace. Reluctantly lowering the pizza from my eager mouth, I force my eyes to look in Raph's. I instantly wish I didn't. He looks so… lost? Is that the term I'm looking for? Maybe a more suitable word is 'concerned'. I have a hard time picking out and defining his emotions most of the time; he usually bottles them all away and instead uses his fists to show what he's feeling. Trust me; I'm usually his targeted punching bag.

"The guys wanted me to ask you, uh, if you, you know, remember anything?"

Remember anything?

"You mean, what happened?" I ask, raising a dubious eye ridge. He solemnly nods and shifts uncomfortably on the bed. What's his deal?

Slightly nodding for a second time, he adds, "Yeah. Like, do you remember who was there and what happened?"

At this, I don't even feel the comforting weight of the pizza in my hand anymore. The truth is, I… I don't remember a single detail. If I had to guess, we were most likely on a patrol since we hardly ever go up to the surface without keeping an eye out for all the bad guys. Unless, of course, I was torn to shreds in my own home. That would be weird.

"No," I finally say after a few moments of thought. Then something strikes me. "D-Do you?"

I can tell by the way he's avoiding eye contact that he does. I can tell by the way he drums his fingertips against the side of the bed that he does. I can tell by the way he suddenly stands, stretching out his limbs as if eager to leave the room but not wanting to make it suspicious that he does. Well, he certainly did a crappy job of hiding all those obvious signs.

"I, uh, will be right back, okay?" he mutters, and I frown at him but manage to keep my mouth shut. Something isn't right, and even worse, something else is telling me now is not the best time or place to accuse him of whatever is going on. Sparing a second glance down at me, he continues, "Try to get some rest; I'll see you when you wake up."

Something odd strikes me straight in the chest at that final sentence, and I bite the inside of my cheek as he disappears through the doorway, gently shutting the door behind him.

I'm not so sure I want to fall asleep. Weird things happen when I do and… and it's starting to creep me out. It's almost like…

"Stop being stupid," I mumble to myself as I begin to slide back down in my bed. Nothing's wrong except for the fact that I'm being some paranoid, twitchy little three-year-old. Maybe I'm spending too much time around Leo; I'm overthinking things way too much.

But maybe thinking isn't such a bad thing.

Because if I were paying attention, I would have noticed that the heart monitor wasn't there. Not one trace of it in the room at all. The plate of half-eaten pizza that was previously sitting in my lap disappeared into thin air as well. But did I notice? No. Instead, I fell asleep.

And Raph never came back.

A/N

Plot twist...?