Work Text:
April had seen Raph take stock of his brothers’ wounds. He had stopped Mikey’s internal bleeding. He had picked the shrapnel out of Donnie’s soft shell with the precision and steady hand of a bomb defusing robot. He had even managed to save Leo’s eye from a shard of glass that had threatened to work its way into the cornea every time the slider blinked.
The mission had been a failure. A bad one. Some oddball mystic artifact had gone critical in the fight, and leveled a whole construction site. The manhunt would be in full force come dawn; the mayor had been unusually persnickety about “magic shenanigans.” They were all going to have to lay low for a while.
And yet, that wasn’t even a blip on April’s radar as she watched the eldest son patch the holes and suture the gashes of his family. She could see the determination in his good eye. That cold, survival-mode glare he got when he seemed to be running on auxiliary power for the good of the team. It was like seeing him in that gross cocoon all over again. He was still, but far from peaceful.
As his cybernetic arm closed around the tool used to cauterize the last wound, he tucked Mikey into bed and hugged him for dear life. The little guy was still heavily sedated, but April hoped he knew how much his brother loved him. He turned away from them, each lying on their own recovery cot. She could see him tremble a little, but he shuddered and seemed to flush it from his system. As he did, two plates of his shell shifted and began bleeding.
“Yo, Raph?” She finally called out. “You good?” She approached him slowly, as one would a stray kitten in the rain.
He had jumped at her voice, but gave no response. She was on the side of his bad eye, and couldn’t tell if he was looking at her yet. She continued forward. “Hey, big guy… you did an A-1 job on ya boys there, but… well, who surgeries the surgeon?” She stopped only to consider the nonsensical nature of what she’d just said before shrugging it off and continuing.
He finally gave his head a half turn to make brief eye contact with her before shaking his head curtly. “‘S’fine,” was all he offered under his breath.
Nonverbal, she thought. Her voice got softer and she changed her tone. “Oh, sweetie, I know it’s not… you got a red river running down your back, and I ain’t gonna let that slide…”
She reached out to gently touch his shoulder. He flinched.
“Baby, it’s ok. It’s ok. Do you mind if I just clean that cut up real quick?”
After what felt like an eternity, he shook his head, giving permission. She grabbed the first aid kit and pulled the Squishbear plush out of her backpack. “Here. Hold my assistant, and he’s gonna make sure it doesn’t sting so much when I put the antiseptic on, ok?”
His mouth flickered into a millisecond smile before nodding and taking the toy. He then leaned against the operating table and shut his eye tight. He whimpered when the cold alcohol first made contact with the split, but he eased up after squeezing his helper as April whispered soothing reassurance.
“There, there, baby, it’s ok… I know how hard today was, you guys were so brave… I’m proud of you, I really am, you have nothing to be ashamed of…”
She continued the routine, surprising even herself with how gentle she was being. After the bandage was applied, she began inspecting the rest of his back for bruises or cuts. There were a few patchwork scrapes, but nothing too serious. Anything on his plastron would have to wait; he was being too protective of it right now.
“Raph? Sweetie? I’m done, you can turn around.”
He turned slowly, finally facing her head-on. Suddenly, it seemed the six hours of nonstop surgery caught up to him at once, and he collapsed to his knees. April did her best to ease him down without succumbing to his full body weight; regressed though he was, he still had a couple hundred pounds over her, and getting squashed seemed like a bad way to end the night. She was finally able to climb into his lap and give him the hug he deserved, and he broke.
“I wasn’t good enough,” he sobbed silently into her shoulder. “I couldn’t stop it…”
“No no no, shhhhhh sh sh shhh…” April countered. “They’re still alive because of you, baby boy… you kept them safer than they would’ve been without you! Donnie can still walk because of you!” She took hold of his face and gently brought his head back to look into her eyes. “You’re the greatest hero the city’s ever seen, ok?”
“Promise?” He whispered as tears streamed from his eye.
“On my mama AND my daddy, bro!” She smiled and planted a fat kiss on his forehead. At that, he finally returned her embrace.
“Can I just… have this for a minute?” He finally spoke.
“As long as you need, big guy.”
They held each other for the next forty-five minutes, healing and crying the pain away.