mnt_raph | (no subject)

The smallest of moans sounded at the back of April's throat as she stirred, just a subtle rustle of bed linens. It was almost a whimper, as the first sensation to begin to filter through the thick blackness was that of pain. The second was panic.

April tensed, fingers curling into white-knuckled fists around the bedsheets at her sides. She sucked in an abrupt breath, but didn't wake, not yet.

*Raph stills. There have been a lot of these. These false starts.
He looks over towards Leo. Nothing. His brother is silent.
He looks back towards April.

Maybe it was his imagination. Maybe he only thought he heard it.
Maybe....but, wait...her hands are moving. Aren't they?

Carefully, he drops his weapon to the floor and inches his way towards the bed.*

The door the door the door the door-

One moment, she was still, breath caught in her throat. The next, April's hands had jerked up in front of her defensively, ellicting a strangled cry as the pain of moving wracked her battered body.

*The scene is so close to that from a horror movie, that Raph very nearly jumps back in surprise.

It's April.
It's only April.

Raph sits on the edge of the bed, and reaches out for her hands.
Too warm and have too many fingers, but they're still his hands.
His voice is low.*

shhh. it's okay april. you're safe. it's okay.

She initially struggled against his grip, her gritted teeth only barely suppressing her pained whimper. But then, from somewhere in the dark, she heard his voice, the voice she knew, the one that was always there for her, the one that watched over her, and it edged out some of the terror.

Not alone-

April's eyes flew open, and she gaped, wide-eyed with fear. She tried to shift away, but was stopped immediately by the pain radiating from her shoulder and sides.

It hadn't been the face she was expecting to see.

*The room is mostly dark, due to the shades being drawn. Can't be too careful what with the foot potentially on their trail, and the simple fact that Leo was still a giant turtle.

In the gloom he Raph could very easily have been mistaken form his former self. That mistake gets harder and harder to make as he inches towards her, his features coming into sharper focus in the soft redlight from the alarmclock on the bedside table.*

try not to move.

*His concern quickly melts into a smirk.*

welcome back.

It all came back to her in a rush; the previous two weeks, the bar, him, herself, and confessions from both. Leaving, Marcy and the blur of the backyard fight. The trepidation in her expression fell into awed relief, and April half-sobbed.

"You came," she managed, chin trembling.

*Raph nods*

that we did.

*He nods in the direction of Leo sleeping in the next bed. Then the concern comes back.*

oh no. don't start leakin' now.

*Raph reaches across to the nightstand, and picks up a box of tissues that happened to be resting there.*

"'M sorry," April replied, her voice rough from sleep. She cast a glance over to Leo's slumbering figure and squeezed her eyes closed with a low sigh. When she opened them again, she turned back to Raph and accepted a tissue with the hand it didn't hurt her to lift, wiping at her eyes.

"Shit," was all she said, and she wasn't looking at him.

I tried. But E for effort just doesn't count, does it?

you ain't done nothin' to be sorry for.

*He doesn't say whether he's referring to her flight from her home, or to the distance now between them.*

you're safe now. 's all that matters.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Still not looking at him, and she reached a timid hand to touch against her face. It hurt quite a bit to talk. Slowly, she rotated her jaw, wincing visably with the act.

yeah well, 'm sorry i didn't come lookin' for your sooner.

*Quietly, he watches her investigate her wounds. Cringing as she discovers her broken jaw.*

try not to move, if you can. i know it's a lot to ask, but we couldn't give you nothin' until you woke up, so. yeah.

*Raph is transported back to the day April fell through the ice in NoHo. How his stomach bottomed out when he saw Leo carrying her up the embankment. Aside from almost losing Splinter that one time, Raph had never lost a friend before.*

jus'...let me know what you need.

You.

Wordlessly, April's hand fell to the closest of Raph's, her fingers curling in over his tightly. She laid there, unmoving and eyes still averted, for a long moment. She didn't think the silence awkward; it just kind of was, and wasn't that always how they'd done it?

At length, April lifted her gaze to his. It appeared steady, confident, but beneath it, in a place that few would be able to recognize, there was raw vulnerability. In her, it was astounding. Breath-taking. Maybe even heart-wrenching.

*He doesn't look away. He wants to, but he doesn't. Instead he squeezes her hand just enough so she knows he's there.

She's not going to take you from us. Not on my watch.*

it's goin' to be okay. all of it. i promise.

Slowly, April lifted his hand to her mouth, and she kissed the backs of his knuckles with a sigh before she allowed it to fall back to the bed again.

I love you. I believe you.

"I need something for the pain," she admitted, her eyes falling closed. "It's- it's bad."

*He nods, even though he knows her eyes are shut and she can't see it. Carfully, he pulls his hand back, and stands up from the bed, moving towards the table where they'd assembled a minipharmacy.

When Raph returns, he's carrying an ice bag, a container of numbing dentist's gel, as well as a bottle of anti-imflamatories.*

open.

*He says as he readies four pills and a glass of water.*

April obliged, as much as she was able, reaching to steady the glass as she drank, her fingers over his. Swallowing the pills, she sighed, as if just knowing some degree of relief was forthcoming was enough to make her feel better.

"I got one," she murmurred, glancing up at him. She wasn't smirking or even trying to. She was proud of it, and wanted him to be proud, too. "There were a lot."

*He hands her the bag of ice for her jaw.*

i know, i saw. you did good. you did real good.

April accepted it, pressing it against her cheek with a wince and a full-body shiver. "I was stupid."

For thinking she could take them all long enough to make it out. Most importantly, for leaving in the first place.

She shifted a bit so that her cheek was turned in against the pillow, the ice held between them, and April slipped her hand under the covers to feel gingerly at her ribs. Oh, she had definitely broken some. That must be why it felt more difficult than normal to breathe-

April blinked. She lifted the edge of the blanket and peered underneath it, consequently losing her bag of ice to slide down to her bare side, making her suck in an abrupt breath. To her credit, she didn't jerk away, although she did immediately pull the blanket back up under her chin.

Okay, yeah... cue the awkward, because she was naked under there.

*Raph looks away, blushes, and mutters something about wounds that needed tending and tiny bikinis.*

April fumbled for the ice pack because her side was starting to go numb, tossing it atop the blanket for a moment while she got properly situated and attempted to get over her utter horror. She cast a wary glance to Raph, and had to smile in spite of herself, because him blushing wasn't exactly typical. Part of her wanted to ask if he saw everything, and if it was just him or Leo, too, but then she realized she probably didn't want to know the answers to that.

"We, uh-" she began, and then stopped, clearing her throat daintily as a fresh flush rose to her own cheeks. Suddenly, she laughed, although it was tempered by the occasional wince. "I am so glad Mikey and Don didn't come right now."

ain't nothin' they ain't seen before.....

*Word travels fast.*

April gaped.

"That little..." She floundered for a moment, and then spit out, "PERVERT!" She sunk further down against her pillows with a soft whimper. "Wonderful," she muttered. "Now that you've all seen me naked, I can just stop worrying about clothes. Splinter's on my schedule to flash next week."

*Raph cringes into his already bright blush. He's nearly glowing in the dark at this point.*

okay, that's an image i just didn't need.

"It's always good to know that I'm that frightening to look at," April mumbled. She had worked herself a bit further down, and tugged the covers up so that only her eyes were peering out.