Diversity

Part 6

It had now been a week since Raph's abduction and subsequent rescue from Bishop. He still had pain in his lower abdomen, but it had dulled down over the past few days. Don still kept him on pain medication, which kept the worst of the remaining pain at bay. But today, Don was finally going to remove him from his IV. Raph was thankful for this small mercy, because being hooked up to that damn pole and having to drag it to the bathroom with him had really started to piss him off.

Raph was able to eat normally again -at least in small quantities- and Don seemed to be satisfied with his progress, as well as his vitals being normal. It still bothered Don not knowing or understanding Bishop's reasons for sawing open his plastron and cutting him open, but Raph didn't care. Bishop was a sick Fuck, there was no understanding him. The important part was that he would be able to get out of this damn bed soon.

The bandages that had been wrapped around Leo's arms had been removed. The still healing lacerations giving testament to the brutal battle fought with Bishop during his rescue. Leo had of course, shrugged off his injuries, believing they were nothing in comparison to what Raph had suffered in Bishop's hands.

Raph sighed in boredom. Leo and his other brothers were back in training, and Raph had to suffer listening to their training sessions, unable to participate. He was getting so stir crazy that he was beginning to daydream about training.

He imagined that Mikey was picking on him and he was able to kick his brother's ass. He craved the ability to test his own skills against Leo's more rigid fighting style, as well as giving Don tips on perfecting his own passive style, and making him tougher. But that was not going to happen for a couple of months. Raph sighed heavily to himself. He just hoped he wouldn't go crazy by then.

Unfortunately for him, unlike Leo's injuries, which had only taken a little over a week to heal, his plastron was going to take months to heal enough so that there would be no danger of cracking, or separation of the now, delicate scutes. It was going to be a long while before he was allowed to go topside again, this time due to an injury as opposed to a punishment. It was too bad that both felt the same.

Raph could already feel the stirrings of boredom and anxiousness that he usually felt when he was unable to get fresh air, blow off some steam, or exercise. He could only hope that Donnie let him out of this damn bed and at least let him wander around the lair soon. He wanted to be fully healed yesterday, but even Raph realized that it was an unrealistic goal.

..........

Three weeks passed, and Raph was now allowed out of his bed, but he still wasn't allowed any physical activity, which included anything more strenuous than a walk from his bed to the couch, and the couch to the kitchen, and the kitchen to the bathroom, or any combination of the three. His plastron was still healing and the thick swath of bandages wrapped around his torso served as a constant reminder that he was still not completely healed.

Though Raph was beginning to feel a little more like himself. Don had offered up a strict set of exercises that he could begin, but they were more leg and arm exercises, nothing that involved his torso in any way. And although Raph found these exercises to be unsatisfying, he knew they were better than nothing.

Don was testing Raph's reflexes daily, as well as taking various blood samples to run, in case Bishop had done something that Donnie was unable to see, though so far, every test had come back normal.

Unbeknownst to Raph, his brothers had begun noticing certain temperamental changes within their hotheaded brother, but none of them were overly concerned at the moment, attributing the change to Raph's run-in with Bishop and his subsequent injury.

Of course, having Raph out of commission for so long was also having an adverse effect on the youngest turtle. Mikey was getting a bit restless and annoyed that one of his best friends couldn't't train with him.