Miracle on New York Hills (Part 1 of New York Hills)

We're all mad here

Finding Donnie is a difficult task, but not impossible. If you find two of someone and they aren't twins, it's safe to assume one of them is Donnie and, since the entire village know about the Clan, they are more than willing to point Mikey in the right direction. April, on the other hand, is asked to help by the villagers, so Mikey is forced to hug his sister goodbye and let her get on with her duties for the day.

He finds Leo sat under the new bridge Raph placed just the other day, feet dipped into the river. Mikey sighs and sits down, his shell knocking into his brother's shell. He hears a metallic ting and watches him pop back into Donnie. They sit there for awhile and Mikey listens to Donnie fiddle with a toaster. Mikey assumes someone wanted Donnie to fix it.

It's peaceful, but Mikey gets bored easily.

"Soooooooo watcha doing Donald?" Mikey asks.

Mikey moves to sit next to his brother instead of behind him and grabs his arm. He pulls it towards him, giving him a better view of the toaster. Donnie doesn't protest. Instead, a mechanical arm moves out of his battleshell and rubs Mikey's head.

"Coming up with improvements, Micheal," Donnie replies, "The design is basic and breaks easily. I could-"

Mikey smiles softly as Donnie goes into speech mode. This will keep Donnie occupied for a few hours until he's ready to face the world again. Mikey's disappointed in himself for not realising he was overwhelming Donnie, but Donnie doesn't seem to mind. It's that comforting thought that allows Mikey to drift off to his older brother's rambling.

He wakes up to Donnie moving to stand up. They walk back to Gram-Gram to help with preparations for the engagement dinner. There's a lot of unresolved tension in the air, but there's less than there used to be and Mikey's glad. Donnie's not good with emotions, but Mikey knows his older brother and he's just glad to have had company today. It's okay, for now.

"You know I can't keep secrets, especially from the family," Donnie breaks the silence, much to Mikey's surprise, "Secrets only hurt in the end."

"But you don't want to ruin Leo's engagement, right?" Mikey asks, pulling out the trustworthy puppy dog eyes, "Surely you can wait until after the engagement?"

Donnie doesn't answer. Mikey thinks it's because the answer is obvious and Donnie doesn't want to waste his breath.

Later that evening, he finds out that he is wrong.

Donnie is sat across from Mikey and Mikey watches his brother stiffen as he sits down. He can see April stiffen next to him out of the corner of his eye and he knows that the same thought has passed through her head. Sunita offers a bowl of avocado down the table, interrupting Mikey and Donnie's staring competition of wills. Mikey moves the bowl, but he's too late to stop Donnie who is whispering to Casey. The storm cloud catches the table's attention. Grandpa Sho distracts Mr. Frankie Smush with some more alcohol.

"Clear skies, CC," Milo whispers, holding his sister's hand.

She takes a deep breath and smiles. Her eyes lock with Mikey's. Leo offers water, blocking his view again. Milo's kitten friend spits out his water all over Sunita. Grandpa Sho asks for the cream which Mikey asks for from April, distracting the Smushes.

Only Milo whispers it to the last person on the other side of the table, Raph, who just looks at Mikey. Mikey sips his drink, focusing on not looking at Raph, and sees the cracks under his seat, sparks preparing to set alight. He ducks under the table, only for Sunita to call for him, worried. April covers for him.

Frankie admits that Sunita wants to sing a song and Raph leaves in badly hidden tears to retrieve the piano.

"No!" April calls out, making everyone look at her.