Work Text:
"Hi Don-Don!"
Donatello looked down from his work to see Samantha standing by his chair. She was hugging a frog plush that was almost as big as she was around its neck. He could still hear his brothers and the other girls laughing at something on the TV in the next room.
"Hello, Samantha."
"Whatcha doin'?"
Don gestured to the radio parts strewn across the table. "I'm fixing your Grandma's old radio."
Samantha grabs the edge of the table and stands on her tiptoes to see. "Why?"
"It's not working right."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "Not sure yet. That's why I'm taking it apart, so I can try to find what's broken."
Samantha dropped back down onto her feet so she can instead scramble up on the chair next to him. When she's settled her frog plush is between her and the table, and she leans her chin on its head. "Can I watch?"
"Of course." Don smiles at her before turning back to the old radio. He points out each piece as he takes it apart and explains their functions in simple terms for her to understand. The young girl watches him with rapt attention.
He cleans off each tube and inspects them for any damage. "Before transistors were widely used, old electronics used vacuum tubes like these to control the electric current. They can last a really long time, and these still look like they're in good shape, but we should still test them just to be safe."
"Why?"
"Because if they're broken and we try to run electricity through them it could wreck the radio even more, or even shock someone."
Samantha's eyes widened slightly. "Oooohhh."
Don pulls out his multimeter from the tool bag he brought to test the current of each tube.
"Yep, these are still good." He set them aside with the other parts. "So we have to keep looking for the problem."
Sammy stares in wonder as he works. "Do you know everything?"
Don chuckled. "No, not everything. I just like to learn as much as I can."
The inside of the radio had accumulated a fair amount of dust over time, so he's sure to clean it out as he works.
"I've always been curious about how things work, so I would find things in the dumpsters or junkyard and bring them back home. I'd take them apart and figure out what everything did and how they worked together to make a radio turn on, or a toaster heat up. It was fun!" He glances at Samantha and wags a finger at her. "That doesn't mean you can take a screwdriver to your toaster at home, ok? It can also be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I shocked and cut myself more than a few times back then."
The little girl nods seriously, but leans in closer to better see what he was doing.
"Ah, I think I found the problem!"
One of the wires connecting to the speaker was worn and fraying at one end. That was an easy enough fix, he always kept some spare wire in his bag just in case. Don explained everything he was doing as he clipped away the old wire and measured the new length.
He sat back in his chair once the new wire was in place. "Alright, that should do it! Let's put it back together and see how it works."
Samantha leaned against her frog plush and watched with interest as Donatello put all of the parts back into their place, making sure everything was clean and intact.
"What if it doesn't work?" She asked as Don slid the chassis back into place.
Don shrugged. "Then we'll just open it up again and see what we missed. Ok, now let's see…"
He plugged in the radio and static came through the speaker. Promising, but that didn't exactly mean it was fixed. Turning the knob brought more channels of static until–
–home, in the mornin' light
My mother says, "When you gonna live your life right?"
Oh momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones
And girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have fun!
"You fixed it! You fixed it!" Samantha jumped to her feet, bouncing and clapping her hands.
The little girl hopped off her chair and started dancing with her frog plush, swinging it around by the arms.
She cheered like he invented electricity, rather than just fix up an old radio from the 50s. Her joy was infectious, however. And it was nice to appreciate the little things, he thought.
"Dance with me, Don-Don!" She tugs at Donny's hand with the biggest grin on her face.
How could he possibly say no to that?
He stands, holding her little hands in his, and dances around the kitchen with her. She squeals in joy as he swings her off the ground, and he can't help but laugh too.
When the workin' day is done
Oh, when the workin' day is done
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun!