Book 2: HomeFront

Needed Me

 It just wasn't sitting right with him. Donnie was spending most of the morning dwelling on the thought. Even with a nice laptop propped up by his stomach and knees as he lay in his bed didn't take him on an internet escapade as he recalled the message Venus had given him last night.

"Mona!" The searching turtle trotted around their home. His first sight was Raphael, who turned around from the couch. It was weird seeing him at this hour in the morning. Usually he'd be up in the earlier hours and continue yawning contagiously until he took a power nap. Strange it was since he'd changed his habits. There was no tired look in his eye, even with such a distance away. Raphael, without a word, threw a thumb out behind him to the left. The seeking turtle bent his torso forward to see where he was directing him to. Sure enough he was right when he saw the lizard girl sitting in the base of the water slide. Without the old tub, the slide was a fun substitute to bathe in (but now they had to take a bath in their swim trunks without a simple curtain for privacy if the girls were to stumble in ((they have to change in one of the empty rooms)).) The turtle's shoes scuffled against the floor. The lizard lady was almost fully submerged. Her back leaned against the wall with her arms outstretched along the rim. Having the water just below her eyes did not alarm her as she relaxed and held her breath. "Mona," she heard Donnie's voice and opened her eyes to see. He advanced towards her, hands shuffling and fiddling with one another as he came closer. "you're decent?" He asked. Yes, the girl was wearing a suit of her own, but she just looked so peaceful that he really didn't want to disturb her. But, he had to. A few bubbles emerged from her about. Mona sat up from the water. The fading sounds of the water slipping down and splashing back into the pool lasted a few seconds.

"As decent as it gets." She shrugged while smiling. Oh, good! She's in a good mood! "What do you want?"

"On the phone, Venus told me some things off the record. Normally, I'd let it slide, but now I think this is a little bigger." His voice was small. He probably didn't want Raphael or a snooping Mikey to overhear their conversation. Mona scooted in closer to him.

"Just tell me." She nearly whispered. The turtle was about to open his mouth, but then stopped. He appeared to be reassessing himself.

"I don't know.." His brown eyes drifted off to the pool. What was he going to do?

"D?"

"'Cause, what if I'm just overreacting?" He whined, not directly to her but more towards himself.

"D?" She sang, very sassily.

"But, what if I'm wrong about the overreacting and it actually ends up true? Then-!" He was cut off, but not with words. A lizard hand gripped his wooden necklace. Pulling it abruptly, it completely crooked his glasses as she kept him close.

"D, I'm gonna snap your Beats of you don't spit it out!" Her words gritted through her teeth. Donnie didn't notice but he was making quite a scene. If it had gone any further, he probably would have gotten a broader audience. Most likely two broad audiences. With an understanding, she released her grip. Donnie, slowly, lifted his torso up. He kept his hands up in a surrender in order to not further lay alarm the submerged lizard lady.

"No need to get hostile!" He half-joked, voice cracking. Mona raised a brow. They spoke 'speak' to him before things could really start getting hostile. Nervously, he swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to regain his thought process to explain. His crooked glasses were readjusted just above the slim bridge of his nose. Deep breath. "She said she found a note from the Foot member she apprehended. If I recall her words correctly, she's inclined to find clues of what may be happening over there. As her sister, I came to you to see what your thoughts on it were." There! Like a bandaid! That wasn't so bad was it? Well, except for that potential choking thing going on, but not too bad. Eagerly, he waited for her answer. She had turned away from him and looked at the slide before her. Her thoughts flowed like the water down the slide until they came to their end in the base, her conclusion. The lizard lady looked him hard in the eye.