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Splinter slowly poked his head out of the sewer hole, scanning the busy streets of New York with a careful eye. He then carefully removed the cover and scurried out of the sewer hole, blending in the crowd and disappearing in a blur. He quickly dodged and maneuvered people’s legs and shoes, covering his mouth to muffle his cry of pain when a passerby accidentally stepped on his tail. He managed to dive into the alley on the other side of the avenue, keeping in the shadows. He rubbed his throbbing tail and gritted his teeth, his heart beating a mile a minute. He only had a few more minutes to find what he needs, he cannot be delayed. He then stealthily crawled across the smelly darkness of the filthy alley way, cursing when his hand swashed something wet and slimy. He shuddered in disgust, wiping his hand against the wall and kept going.
“For the boys, for the boys, for my boys.”
He finally reached his destination. He ripped the dirty navy blue tarp from the corner, revealing a plastic baby blue bathtub, with bright yellow duckies decorating the sides. He had found it last night while scavenging for dinner, discarded and abandoned in the alleyway, probably thrown out. His hands were too full to carry it home then, so he just hid it as best as he could with some tarp that he found slung on the side of a dumpster. An added bonus was when he looked inside, there were some toys in the tub; a yellow rubber duck, a pink rubber starfish, a red and blue plastic boat and a lavender rubber octopus. It was perfect for them. He just needed to keep it safe until he can come back to it. Now he pushed it from the corner, gripping the bottom and holding it over his head, his feet nearly caving in from the weight. He looked at his shrunken feet and legs in disgust, wishing for the hundredth time that day that he had his human legs. He grunted under the pressure and scurried away, his tail flicking in the sunlight.
-000-
He quickly navigated his way across the maze of the sewers, holding the tub in the water so it doesn’t drift away. He nearly lost grip, but he grabbed it at the last second, wiping his brow in relief. He carefully extracted the tub from the water and lifted it on his back again. He turned the corner and stopped, hearing various amounts of sounds coming from the entrance of the lair.
“I don’t think this’s a good idea guys. What if Papa comes back?”
“We’re hungry Dee Dee, and peanut butter is the next best thing to pizza. Right Raphie?”
Peanut butter?, he thought. But that’s on the top shelf, what the...? Yoshi’s eyes widen in panic and he felt a sharp drop in his stomach, his chest constricting, making it hard to breath. He quickly dropped the tub on the stone platform, scrambling to the entrance and dashed to the kitchen.
“Boys! What are you doing?!”
Startled by the sudden noise, the tall turtle ladder collapsed, sending Raph, Donnie and Mikey to the floor. Mikey had the hardest landing, since he was the highest on Donnie’s shoulders. His head made a nasty sound against the floor, and he unleashed a deafening howl, holding his head and kicking the air in pain. Raph was hurt, but he landed on his back, so his shell took the brunt of the fall. He had held onto Donnie out of reflex, protecting his soft shell, so he was mostly unscathed. He still cried out of shock though. Leo was at the bottom to the far left, standing as if he was waiting for something. Splinter guessed that he was supposed to catch the jar of peanut butter, but he missed, the broken jar and the peanut butter globs in front of him. He didn’t cry, but he had a petrified expression on his face, staring at the sharp glass at his feet. Splinter immediately dragged Leo away from the danger and went to one of his crying sons.
“Orange? Orange look at me. That’s it. Look at Daddy okay? Now take deep breaths with me. One two three. That’s it! One two three.”
Splinter knelt down and put his youngest in his lap, gently holding his face and prodding his head for any injuries. Mikey calmed down a bit, but was still hiccuping and sniffling loudly, cradling his father’s hand and snuggling his face into his palm, his watery eyes showing a pitiful sight. He cried out at a specific spot, squeezing Splinter’s hand tighter.
“Okay, just a bump, how do you treat bumps again? Ice! Yeah ice. Okay, I need ice.”
He held Mikey in his arms as he nuzzled in his furry chest while he opened the freezer, quickly getting the cube and wrapped it in some tissue, nearly dropping it on the floor. He then carefully applied the cube on Mikey’s injury, the sweet coolness providing instant relief, quieting his sniffles down. Mikey slowly released Splinter from his vice grip and he slowly set his son down to stand.
“Okay little one, just hold the cube right there and you’ll feel better in no time okay?”
“O-okay.”
He gently rubbed Mikey’s chin affectionately and then turned to Raph, who was trying his best not to cry, but Splinter could easily see the tears gathered around his eyes. Also he could smell his son’s “I’m in pain and I need snuggles” stink.
“Come here Red,” he said gently. He held onto his shoulders, kneeling down on the ground so Raph had easier access to his lap. He crawled onto his legs and snuggled there, holding out his arm towards Splinter.
“It hurts.”
“Where son? Here?” He gently applied pressure against his forearm. Raph shook his head, pointing at his elbow.
“Here Pops, right here.”
Yoshi felt cold fear when he saw Raph’s slightly swollen elbow. He wouldn’t know what to do if it was broken or sprained. He had no type of medical insurance for any of them, no medical expertise and won’t risk sending them to the vet.
“Okay Red, this is going to hurt so hold onto my tail okay?” Splinter saw a small flash of fear in his eyes, but he sniffed and put on a brave face, reaching for his tail. Splinter gently but firmly pressed against his elbow, praying to the gods that he was doing this right. He swallowed a yelp when Raph started to squeeze his tail painfully and continued to examine his arm carefully. He didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, so he guessed it was like Orange’s injury; a bump. He turned to Leo.
“Hey Blue, fetch me a cube of ice will you?”
Leo nodded and toddled to the freezer, sticking out his tongue and carefully fetching a cube of ice. He then went on his tippy toes and ripped a napkin off the rack, nearly causing it to fall. He quickly grabbed it and straightened it, then wrapped the ice in the tissue, with impressive care for a six year old. He then went to Raph’s side and carefully applied the ice to his brother’s elbow. Splinter raised his eyebrow.
“Don’t worry Raph, you’ll feel better soon. I promise.”
He smiled and Raph exchanged a faint smile back, reaching for Leo and enveloping him in a tight hug. Splinter chuckled, his heart softening at the tender scene. He finally turned to Donnie, whose back was turned away from everyone and was quietly rubbing his eyes furiously, turning to glare at Splinter when he felt eyes on him. Splinter sighed and got up, carefully removing Raph from his lap and gently placed his hand on his shell.
“It is okay to cry my son. Preventing something natural will do you no good, especially for someone so young.”
Donnie scrunched his nose, and swiftly buried his face into Splinter’s chest, his fur catching the frightened tears of his second youngest. He gently rubbed the soft leather skin of his shell as Donnie let it all out. He then felt an insistent tug on his robe from both sides. Leo, Raph and Mikey looked at their father expectantly, their arms spread out. He laughed as he gathered the rest of his children in his arms, feeling warm and fuzzy inside when he felt their heads nuzzling against him and hearing their sounds of contentment.
“Someone’s going to help me clean up the mess though. So whose idea was this?”
“Leo’s,” Donnie said. Leo raised his head to glare at him.
“Big Mouth,” he mumbled.
-000-
Splinter didn’t tell them about the tub until the next day, when Raph’s and Mikey’s injuries were healed. While taking their nap after their daily roughhousing routine, he quietly went to the kitchen to warm up some water. He carefully dragged the tub in the middle of the living room, and began to fill it with clean lukewarm water. Then came the hard part. He held two bottles of soap in his hands. One was the original Dawn dishwashing soap that he uses in the kitchen, and the other one was Johnson’s Baby Bubble Bath. On one hand, the Dawn dish soap was the best in theory, but they weren’t ordinary turtles. They’re human too, so their skin would be different and more sensitive, so maybe the Baby Bath instead. But it may be too weak for them to use to clean. Splinter sighed, and shrugged. Why can’t he use both? He poured both soaps into the tub, splashing the water to activate the bubbles and placed the cleaned toys in the water. He smiled proudly at his accomplishment. Now to wake up the boys.
-000-
“A surprise! Oh I love surprises! What kind of a surprise is it Daddy? Is it big? Is it small? Ohhh did you finally get us a kitten? I can’t wait to snuggle it!”
“For the last time Orange, we cannot get a cat of any kind.”
Mikey whined as he followed his big brothers and Splinter outside to the living room.
“This is the surprise.”
Donnie’s eyes widened at the small pool, and he looked up at his father, as if asking for permission.
“Go ahead Purple, it’s for all of you.”
Donnie then carefully walked towards the rim, plunging his hand into the warm water. Deeming it as safe, he squealed with joy and turned to Splinter, bouncing on his toes. Splinter went towards him and carefully lifted him into the pool. He splashed the water in pure childish bliss, gazing in awe at the bubbles that manifested every time he splashed. He managed to capture one in his hands, his curious reflection staring back at him. Before Splinter can stop him, he shoved the bubble into his mouth. The immediate expression of disgust made Leo laugh, and he ran to the tub, scrambling into the water, making a splash and drenching Donnie in the process.
“Hot Soup!”
“Hey!”
“That’s what you get for being a snitch.”
Donnie splashed Leo back, turning it into a small playful fight. They wrestled and ducked each other’s head in the water, having the time of their lives. When they tired themselves out with that game, Leo caught the red and blue tow boat and felt it with his fingers.
“When I grow up, I wanna be a captain of a pirate ship!”
“Why pirates?”
“Because they’re the coolest!”
“Hey guys, wait! I wanna play too-woah!”
“Careful Raph!” Raph tipped over the rim and fell in upside down. He broke the surface immediately after, lifting the starfish in the air.
“Look, I found a star!”
“That’s an asteroidea, aka a starfish.”
“Asterwhodea?” Leo asked, looking at Donnie in confusion. He gave him a deadpanned look in response.
“Never-mind Nardo.”
“Cowabunga!” Raph yelled as he splashed both of his brothers. They looked at each other, then in sync, turned to Raph with a devilish smirk.
“Oh it’s on!” they said at the same time.
Splinter smirked at his sons, mentally patting himself on the back for putting the tub in the living room with the grater floors instead of the skateboard rink. Less to clean up. But one was missing. He glanced at Mikey, who was hiding behind Splinter’s robes.
“What’s wrong my son?” Mikey pouted.
“I don’t like it.”
“Mikey, you are not going to guilt trip me into getting a cat.”
“No, don’t like water.”
“What are you-ohhh.” He forgot. He stupidly forgot. He remembered reading about their species when they needed something to eat and saw a small section on a box turtle’s favorite environment. One of the things that stuck out was that box turtles prefer land and are not natural swimmers. He naïvely thought that the mutation got rid of that natural apprehension, and he was clearly wrong.
“You don’t have to play with them, we can do something else together.”
“No, I wanna play!” Splinter bit his lip, and then he had an idea. He lifted Mikey off the ground and set him on the edge of the pool. He then whistled, catching the other’s attention.
“No more roughhousing. Your brother will stay on the edge of the pool understand? You can play with him, but don’t put him in the water.”
“Yes Dad,” they chorused, wadding towards Mikey. He squealed with joy and started to kick the water, happily clapping his hands. Leo gently tugged at Mikey’s leg.
“You see this boat? When we’re all older, we’re gonna have loads of adventures on a boat just like this. We’ll look for treasure, sing songs...”
“Can I be first mate?!”
“Yeah! Raph can hoist the sails and Donnie can be our look out!”
“I wanted to be first mate!” Donnie pouted.
“We’ll take turns, right Leo?”
“Right Raph!”
Splinter quietly watched his children babble about their fantasy future. He knows that they probably won’t have that dream come true, but he’ll let them have it. They can be anything they want to be, and no one will ever take that away from them. He won’t allow it. Mutant or no mutant, his children deserve the world and he’ll gladly give it to them in a heartbeat.