What Could Go Wrong?

About this story: Based on a dream I had on 6-23-2006. In my storylines of the TMNT, I'll say it happens in the late summer and early fall of 2005. In case you were wondering, I did watch the "Fast Forward" and "Back to the Sewers" seasons of the 2k3 cartoon, but I didn't like them as much as I liked the regular 2k3 series. I also watched (and liked!) the 2007 movie. I may have included most of the elements from 2k3 cartoon and 2007 movie, but possibly left out stuff from the FF and BTTS series, and instead put in my own stuff. And I'm sure you're still wondering about why I mentioned the timeline to my storyline? Well, since the TMNT started (as a comic book series by Mirage Studios) in 1984, I'm going to "assume" that in that year in my storyline, that's when the TMNT were born/hatched/mutated, so this would mean that in 2005, the TMNT would be 21 years old. Rated T (PG-13), since drinking is mentioned, and some medical descriptions (not too graphic!).

Warnings about this chapter: None really, this chapter is more of a family moment on the G to PG level.

Pairings: Raph/Leo

Chapter 5: Splinter Returns

About 10 weeks later…

"My sons?" Splinter poked his head around the corner to peer into the kitchen.

Mike and Don both dropped their cooking utensils while their heads popped up like two meerkats, "Master Splinter? ...Master Splinter!" They both ran to him, enveloping him in a hug.

Klunk purred and rubbed up against Splinter's ankles, almost tripping him. Mike picked him up before he could be too much of a trip hazard for his father.

Splinter nodded behind his shoulder, "I also brought company."

"Kumquats!" Ancient One hobbled into the kitchen using a single crutch under his right arm.

Mike and Don gently hugged Ancient One as well.

"I trust you two have been staying out of trouble?" He chuckled.

"Yeah," Mikey nodded, "I've actually been acing my college classes, thanks to Donnie's study sessions, Leo's heckling me to study, and Raph's relaxing massages."

"Good to hear, Michelangelo!" Ancient One applauded.

Don asked, "How is your leg doing, Ancient One?"

Ancient One leaned against the crutch on his right side, and used his left hand to lift the hem of his dogi robe to reveal a walking cast on his right leg. "I can get around on it better than I could when Splinter first arrived. I just don't heal the way I used to when I was much younger. But thank you, Donatello, for the vitamins and the other pills for the pain. I used them once I weaned off the stronger pain pills the doctor in Japan gave me."

Splinter glanced around. "And where are Leonardo and Raphael?"

Mikey shrugged, "Oh, they should soon be coming back from Raph's three-month follow-up doctor's appointment after a surgery."

Splinter's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Raphael had surgery? Are you joking?"

Don looked at Mikey, then back at Splinter and Ancient One. "Maybe you should sit down to hear this story…" He motioned to the kitchen table, where the others followed him.

Mikey pulled out a chair and motioned for Ancient One to sit.

"Thank you, Michelangelo." He said as he sat down next to Splinter.

Don sat across the table from Splinter, with his hands folded on the table. Mike sat down next to him, across from Ancient One. He patted Don's shoulder as Don took a deep breath, looking down at his hands.

"It was within a day of when you left, Master Splinter," began Don; "Raph started vomiting in the dojo at three in the morning, curled up and clutching his right hip in pain."

"What were you all doing in the dojo at that time of night?" Splinter asked, concerned.

"The rest of us were either on our way to bed or already in bed, like Donnie." Mikey stated. "Raph went to the dojo by himself to hit the heavy bag, after getting home from Casey's house. Donnie woke up and joined the rest of us in the dojo. After he took a good look at Raph, he thought Raph's appendix might have ruptured."

Don continued, "If that was the case, he needed medical attention. We called April, disguised ourselves in scrubs and skullcaps, and took Raph to the teaching hospital so we could get some pain meds and antibiotics. While there, April and I flagged down a med student who was on call that night, and swore her to secrecy so she could help us out. It turned out that she was someone we rescued several years ago in the underground city! She was happy to see us again, and be able to help us. She ran some tests, found that Raph's appendix ruptured, and we got him an emergency appendectomy. But April and I were with him the whole time, and we kept his face and most of his body covered so that the surgical team couldn't see that he was a turtle. They've made the appendectomy cuts much smaller nowadays than they used to, so they didn't seem to notice his shell."

Mikey added, "Leo and I…uh…'kept watch' in the waiting room while this was going on. When Raph woke up from the surgery, just people in our family, and our med-student-doctor-friend came into our room. Once in a while, Casey or Angel came in to relieve April as the 'designated human family member'. And Donnie and I occasionally needed to leave for class or work, or to come home to feed Klunk," He petted the orange fur-ball in his lap. "But we made sure at least one human and one turtle was with him at all times."

Don shrugged, "He got to leave the hospital after three nights, and April let him recover at her place for another week. We sure had to rearrange our chore schedule for the next few days!"

"Our training time in the dojo was more like Raph's 'physical therapy' session at first." Mikey cut in, "But he soon got his strength back, and was able to go back to work at the stadium with Casey, for the remainder of baseball season—and just in time for hockey season at Madison Square Gardens. And he was even kicking our shells in the dojo. I was blown away by how well he handled everything."

Splinter's hands covered his mouth. "And no one tried to call and tell me?"

Mikey replied, "I tried calling several times, but I got sent straight to voice mail every time. Was your phone even on?" He got up to finish the rest of the cooking, with Klunk trailing behind him, eager to "help".

Splinter paused for a moment, and then retrieved his shell-cell from his pocket. "Donatello, when I was leaving, I assumed my shell-cell was already on. I was just preoccupied thinking about Ancient One's injury and the trip. I hope I remembered to charge it enough."

He turned it on once he set it on the table. "You have thirty-eight new messages," the digital voice stated.

One by one, Splinter played the missed messages; the first fifteen of them were from Mikey. They mostly began, "Uh, Master Splinter, something is wrong with Raph…" or "It's me again, your favorite son Michelangelo, just letting you know that Raph needs medical attention…" [beep] "Yeah, Raph's appendix ruptured, and he needs it taken out. We snuck him into the teaching hospital with some help from April. We also ran into a friend who's in med school. She says Raph needs an 'appen-dotta-me', or something like—oh yeah—his appendix taken out. Since we couldn't get a hold of you in time to make sure it's OK, Leo gave the OK for sending Raph to surgery…" [beep] "If you get this message, Sensei, I just wanna let you know that Raph is outta surgery OK."

Some of the later ones were from Leo, "Master Splinter, just so you know, since we couldn't reach you in time, Raphael had to have his appendix surgically removed. He's recovering well right now. I would've tried telling you myself sooner, but I've been looking out for Raphael, and my other brothers. I hope you and Ancient One are otherwise doing well." [beep] "Here's Raphael, if you'd like to hear from him…"

Raph's voice was heard a little further away from the receiver, "Master Splinter…[cough]…is that you? [cough, cough]" Then there was a slapping sound. "Ow! OK, just kidding, I'm fine. Maybe I'll be a better ninja next time you see me, and I'll be a lot swifter without my appendix weighing me down. Ha! All-righty then, Leo is giving me that look, so I guess I'll wrap this up. I just wanted you to hear from me how I've been doing, since I know the others are giving you their updates about me. Well, take care! Oh, and here's Leo again…"

There were other messages of Leo or one of the others giving an update every few days to a week.

Splinter was still confused, "But I didn't hear the shell-cell tell me I had any calls or messages?"

Don thought about it, "Well, it may be some glitch that causes our shell-cells to not work as well out of the country. I'll have to work on that…"

Mike put a basket of garlic bread in the middle of the table. "I may have to make some more, since I only thought I was cooking for myself and my brothers."

"I'm sorry, Michelangelo," Splinter got up to help his son with the food preparation, "I know I didn't give you much warning that I would be home for dinner tonight, or that Ancient One would be staying with us."

"That's fine, Sensei, it's just great to have you back. Welcome home!" Mike patted Splinter's shoulder before leaning onto it for a brief hug.

"I trust you didn't just eat junk food the entire time I was gone?"

Mike laughed, "Of course not. We took turns, and since Donnie and I were limited by our class schedules, Raph and Leo spent more time cooking. Well, Leo cooked a lot more while Raph was still recovering, so we ate lots of healthy stuff then. Was I relieved when Raph got better and started cooking again! Raph even learned some new recipes. We were back to our real Turtle-food instead of Leo's rabbit-food. Tonight I promised Raph some of my cooking; to celebrate what I hope is the end of his happy recovery. And now we also get to celebrate your homecoming."

"Oh, my son…" Splinter chuckled and patted Mike's shell.

There was the sound of the Lair's door opening and some footsteps approaching at a running pace.

Before those in the kitchen could even see them, Leo's voice proclaimed, "Guess who's got a clean bill of health?" He briefly appeared in the kitchen doorway holding Raph's waving arm up in the air as if he were announcing an Olympic champion.

"Master Splinter!" Raph broke away from Leo to run and bear-hug his father.

Leo looked a little shocked, but decided to let Raph enjoy a one-on-one hug with Splinter. "Oh, Ancient One!" Leo turned to the table to hug his "grandfather".

"Leonardo, Kumquat! I heard you've been keeping busy taking care of your brothers?" Ancient One returned the hug.

"How have you been, Ancient One?" Leo asked.

"Well, I've been better." He motioned to the walking cast on his right leg. "But I'm also getting better, since Splinter-san has been helping me."

Raph cut in to give Ancient One a hug. "Well, welcome to our home again. I'm glad you're here with us."

While Ancient One and Raph were enjoying a hug, Leo stepped over to hug his father. "Welcome back, Master Splinter! I don't know if you've been here long enough to hear about our…adventure since you've been away. Though we did our best to adjust to your absence, you were missed."

Splinter hugged Leo, "Oh, Leonardo! I heard from Donatello and Michelangelo about how you took care of Raphael after his surgery. I also just heard my messages that you left me during my absence. Donatello says that our signal for the shell-cells may not work as well out of the country." He turned to face the others, "I am so proud of all of you, my sons, to hear how you handled yourselves through a crisis while I was gone."

Mike brought more platters of food to the table and sat down in his previous spot across from Ancient One. "Master Splinter, I'm so glad you didn't take my suggestion and put me in charge."

Leo gave Mike a brief shoulder-pat as he sat down next to him, at the end of the table. "Actually, Mikey looked out for me, and helped me keep from having many a nervous breakdown during our crisis. And Donnie has been sweet and helpful as ever. Raph and I spent plenty of quality time sparring, watching TV, and going to sporting events. I honestly couldn't have learned to lead and be a big brother without the help of all three of them."

Don stated, "It was a learning and bonding experience for all of us."

Splinter walked over to sit across from Don at the table. As Raph walked over to sit between them at the opposite end of the table from Leo, Splinter asked him, "Raphael, how is the scar where you had your appendix removed?"

"Oh, you wanna see the scar?" Raph stepped over so that he was standing between Splinter and Ancient One. "Here, this way you can see, too, Ancient One, without having to get up." He turned to show off a scar right below his right hip, where the skin of his leg met the inguinal portion of his plastron. The scar was just a little over two inches long, and the very bottom edge of Raph's plastron looked as if it had been filed down at one time, but healed over, much like a recovering hang-nail. He had to stretch out his right leg and stand in a slightly twisted pose in order to show it. "Well, this is what's left of the scar, anyway."

"Wow, Raphael, it looks healed over." Ancient One marveled.

Splinter patted Raph's right arm, "I'm glad you're better, my son. Do you notice the difference the surgery made?"

Raph sat down, "Right after the surgery, I definitely noticed I wasn't in pain anymore. But I think that was mostly the pain meds. I just got back from my last follow-up appointment with our friend, the med student, and she said I'm one hundred percent recovered. I don't really notice the difference—at least I don't remember what my body felt like when I had my appendix, at least before it got infected. It's not as big as I thought it was. Just ask Donnie, I let him keep it in a jar in his lab."

"And if you're interested, I could show it to you sometime when we aren't eating." Don stated, "Since it seems everyone other than myself is uncomfortable eating in my lab, with the jar in sight."

"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing it," thought Splinter. "Although I would really like to meet this doctor—or med student, since she may be helpful while Ancient One is staying with us. I would mostly like to thank her for helping take care of my family. I could even treat her to a meal of home-cooked sushi, if she'd like."

Leo said, "Raph and I invited her to Thanksgiving dinner at April's place. You could meet her then."

"Thank you, my sons, that is an excellent suggestion."

"So, Ancient One," Mikey began, "Are you planning to stay with us for just the holidays, or are you going to stay longer?"

"Well, Michelangelo, the five of you are family to me. Of course I at least want to stay for the holidays. Or until my leg heals, whichever comes first. I could stay a few months after that, as long as I do not wear out my welcome."

"Yay!" Mike cheered, "Oh you would never 'wear out your welcome', Ancient One. I mostly just like to keep in mind how many I'm cooking for."

"I'd be happy to help with cooking or any other chores I am able to do." Ancient One chuckled, "Since Splinter-san told me to 'make myself at home'…well, it's what I would be doing in my own home."

Raph piped up, "And while you're here, maybe we could give you the full 'New York Experience'—tour the town, Broadway plays, hot dogs, hockey games!"

"I would enjoy that very much, Raphael." Ancient One smiled.

Don nudged Raph, "So, when and what was the last Broadway play you've seen, Raph?"

"Ha, ha! Never been." Raph shrugged, "But now that we've got a visit from the only grandpa I've ever known, maybe I'll go. But I'm honestly looking forward to taking him to a hockey game even more. Maybe he could enjoy a post-game party with Casey and me."

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" Ancient One laughed.

"Well, Ancient One," Splinter began, "As I mentioned earlier, you may stay as long as you like. How ever you prefer to make yourself feel at home. You may even enjoy a few nights out, and some other cultural or sporting events with my sons and myself as well. After all, what could go wrong?"

The End