AN: This is a gift for RavenshellRorschach on deviantart.

I don't own the turtles.

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Great Night

Donnie laughed. This was a great night.

"Nice jump, April!" He praised the red-haired kunoichi who was following him across New York City's rooftops.

The teenage girl wanted to practice her roof-jumping, and of course he had suggested helping her before anyone else could. She had smiled at him when he had volunteered, in the fond way she reserved for him, and he had felt his heart melt. The two of them spent a lot of time together these days – which was saying something, considering they had always been close. As friends.

Sometimes, Donnie wondered if April wanted to take it one step further, but he hadn't dared to pry. He didn't want to ruin what they had with unwelcomed attentions. He had learned from his past mistakes.

Donnie ran faster and made his next jump, a backward somersault that highlighted his strength and agility. He fully appreciated the physical exercise. It kept him warm – they were well into winter and the temperature was cold, especially at night.

He smiled at April's admiring exclamation, and added a small bow to his somersault. He prepared himself to land gracefully, as usual, and to turn to watch her back while she jumped. You never knew what could happen.

Donnie had the time to think about that when he saw the patch of ice that had been hidden by the shadows. Unfortunately for him, it was too late to avoid it. His graceful landing turned to an awkward fall as he slipped on it and was thrown over the edge of the building.

"Donnie!" April yelled.

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Donnie stifled a sigh. This was totally humiliating.

He had managed to slow down his fall, but he hadn't been able to avoid another painful landing. He had misplaced his center of gravity and put too much pressure at a too weird angle on muscles unable to take it.

In other words, he had sprained his ankles. Both of them.

Of course, he had immediately called his brothers for help; it was the sensible thing to do when you were a mutant now unable to walk in a city full of humans. They would pick them up with the Shellraiser.

In the meantime, April had decreed that they would be safer in the sewers and refused to let Donnie crawl to the closest manhole cover.

No, she had decided that she would carry him instead. Piggy-back style.

Donnie strengthened his hold on her shoulders as she shifted dangerously.

"April, are you sure about that?" He asked for the fourth time. "I can crawl. Really, I don't mind."

"It would still be painful, not to mention that the ground is ice cold," April answered through gritted teeth. "So yes, I'm sure about that. You're not that heavy anyway."

Donnie let out a disbelieving little laugh that April chose to ignore. There was no way she would acknowledge that he was a bit too heavy, more than she had expected. He looked so slender. She wondered idly if it was because of his musculature or because of his big brain – two things she really appreciated in him – and she blushed at the thought. Good thing that Donnie couldn't see it.

Although maybe she should let him see it. He had stopped flirting with her lately, exactly at the time her own feelings had evolved into something that would have welcomed seduction games.

She couldn't blame him; she hadn't exactly been encouraging his feelings until then, and…

A presence nearby. Danger.

April came to a sudden halt, and Donnie let out a small cry of pain as his ankles bumped against her hips.

In the shadows, a dozen red eyes alighted.

"Footbots," Donnie whispered, his pain forgotten thanks to the sudden surge of adrenaline in his veins. "I thought we had a truce with the Foot."

The ninja turtle grasped his bō staff, careful not to knock out April.

"Put me down, April."

"You can't walk and you want to fight?" April said, shaking her head fiercely. "Don't you dare move. I'll handle this."

She touched her forearm with three of her fingers, focusing her power and ready to unleash a wave of energy to knock the Footbots out.

A flash of green light made her double over in pain, and Donnie slid from her shoulders and fell to the ground.

"Footbots and the incredible, the mighty, the powerful Baxter Stockman!" A well-known voice shouted gleefully. "Your powers won't help you this time, girl!"

"Stockman? Aren't you supposed to be on the run?" April exclaimed, straightening up and grasping her tessen.

If she couldn't use her powers, she would fight the good old way. She was a trained kunoichi, after all.

She glanced at Donnie to make sure he was okay, and he offered her a determined smile in spite of his condition.

"I've come back to haunt you, turtles," the voice growled. It seemed distant, as if it was on speaker. It paused for a while, its owner thinking. "You will pay for de-mutating me! For tearing me apart from my mutant fly condition! For… Where are the other turtles, by the way?"

"Perfect. This is just perfect," Donnie sighed, right before the Footbots attacked.

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Donnie calculated the trajectories of his shuriken, using every nook and corner to make them come at the robots from improbable angles. He was still sitting on the ground, with April standing protectively over him.

The Footbots were coming at them from every direction, but between his shuriken and April's tessen, they were managing to take them down.

Until Donnie fell short of throwing stars.

"So, Stockman," Donnie began, determined to make his enemy talk before he noticed it and took advantage of the situation. "How does it feel to be human again? Do you want to show us in person?"

"I'm not that stupid, turtle," Stockman spat. "No, I'll watch these improved Footbots destroy you, comfortably settled in my chair."

Yes. Donnie had already come to the conclusion that Stockman was nowhere near them, but it was always good to be proved right. Now if he paid close attention to the way Stockman's voice reflected on the buildings, he would say that the evil scientist had put an emitter on that particular Footbot, here in the corner. If only he could reach him…

In a swift move, he coiled his arms and legs around his bō staff, briefly leaned on April – who was now fighting in close combat with her short blade - to gain momentum and began bouncing to the Footbot he had in mind, the end of his staff replacing his temporarily useless feet.

It wasn't very convenient, but it would do.

"Donnie! What are you doing?" April shouted. "You're injured! Stay still!"

"Sorry, April," Donnie shouted back. "I'll be right back!"

He ignored her protestations and went on bouncing, his teeth gritted because of the effort and the pain that was beginning to make itself known again. Fortunately for him, the Footbot wasn't far, and he was soon able to jump on him.

After using the blade of his bō staff turned naginata to cut it to pieces, it was child's play for the genius to reach the wires and microchip he needed to send a message to Stockman. A painful one.

"Donnie!" April shouted again. She was slowly coming closer.

"Hmm-hmm," Donnie answered distractedly, his tongue stuck out as he focused on his task.

Then, with a satisfied growl, he connected two wires. The new programming of the emitter sent a wave of deafening noise right into Stockman's ears, who shouted and lost his control over the Footbots. The robots went dead, and April quickly finished them.

Donnie beamed at her, and blinked when she glared back at him.

Uh-oh.

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"That was completely stupid," April repeated, arms crossed and a furious expression on her beautiful face.

Donnie shrugged with a stubborn expression on his own features. He was sitting against the wall, in a position that allowed him not to put weight on his ankles, and couldn't help admiring how beautiful her fury was.

"You could have injured yourself further," April went on, her voice quieter. Worried.

Donnie's heart swelled. She was concerned about him, wasn't she?

"You couldn't have done it on your own," he remarked, quite reasonably. "And it's good to know I can still prote- uh…" He caught April's glare and quickly amended his words. "…help you, even if I'm just an injured mutant."

"You're not just an injured mutant, Donnie," April said, leaning forward while her heart beat faster. It was now or never. If anything happened to this idiot before she had a chance to tell him how important he was to her, she would never forgive herself. "You're my injured mutant."

As her mouth connected with his face, Donnie's brain shut down. Was she kissing him on the lips? She was totally kissing him on the lips.

She was warm. Her lips were soft. Now she was cuddling against him, her arms around his neck…

It was paradise.

"Guys! Are you alr-uh…"

April broke their kiss and both she and Donnie turned to look at Mikey with sheepish expressions.

To be honest, Donnie was also feeling irritated. Couldn't his brothers have waited a few more minutes? Or hours, for that matter?

His injuries were of no importance in comparison to what had just happened.

Mikey blinked.

"Sorry. Go on. Don't mind me. I'm just here because I received an emergency distress call from my brother who was apparently at the gates of Death, but I can see that he's feeling way better now. The Shellraiser is parked right behind the corner, when you'll be done here."

Mikey pretended to leave on light feet, and Donnie rolled his eyes, knowing that the moment had passed. He exchanged a wistful look with April.

Raph and Leo were arriving anyways.

"Wow! What happened here?" Raph exclaimed, looking at the remnants of the Footbots.

"It looks like you two have been pretty busy," Leo remarked more calmly. "How are you feeling, Donnie?"

Then the blue-clad turtle looked upon the pair, noticing their position, and his eyes widened slightly.

"Busy fighting, I mean," he added, trying to repress a smile.

Donnie blushed. This was even more humiliating than being carried by the girl he loved. Or having sprained both ankles on a patch of ice while showing off during a jump to impress said girl.

Behind Leo, Raph gave Donnie a thumbs-up with a huge grin. A thumbs-up that April happened to notice. She raised an eyebrow at the sai wielder.

Donnie face-palmed, his normally green cheeks now a deep red. He really, really regretted having called his brothers right now.

"It's not what you think, guys," he tried to say. When he caught April's offended glance, he lifted an eye ridge, barely daring to hope. She didn't mind that his brothers had seen them like that? She wanted them to know that they were… what… a couple?

Had April's move been more than the expression of her relief? Had she already thought this through?

The injured turtle felt his heart beat faster as he tilted his head, clearly asking a silent question.

April smiled and looked at Donnie's brothers with a serious yet slightly mischievous expression.

"On the contrary, it's exactly what you think," she whispered before leaning forward to kiss Donnie again.

Donnie's brain shut down for the second time that night.

"So," he vaguely heard Mikey say. "Are we supposed to carry both of them back to the Shellraiser?"

Donnie didn't hear Leo's answer, and he didn't care. He would be fine as long as he didn't have to let go of the girl in his arms.

His first impression had been the right one. This was a great night.