Be Brave on Broadway

Chapter 8

"Donnie! Where have you been, bro? Leo still can't keep up with Ralph on bass!"

I sighed as I turned on my soundboard. "Mikey, Leo is still recovering so don't bother him too much".

"It's our 10th anniversary! This has to be one of the best Christmas albums we've ever done", Mikey said, rushing from one side of the room to the other.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, Mikey", I said, playing back the backtrack he had me put together.

It was very much not a conventional Christmas track, with no bells, no whimsical music, no live crescendo of instruments in the background, and no whispers of a fire crackling. It sounded more like a standard pop song with a lot of drum kicks, a hint of Chello thrown in by Avery for the bass, and what sounded like scratches on cardboard put through reverb and reversed.

It was a unique backtrack once it was put together but it didn't sound bad and worked with whatever vision Mikey had.

"I'll do my best", I said and it seemed to appease Mikey since he moved on to lecturing Casey about his "nasally" notes.

"Hey".

I smiled as April came to join me at the soundboard. "Hey. Are you finished for the year?"

April shrugged. "I don't know. I'm doing the countdown on New Year's for Channel 6 so that's exciting at least".

"Hopefully the weather won't be too bad. The data from my scanners tell me the worst of the snowfall is over until the 3rd as long as the wind direction stays southwest in the New York area", I said, pulling up the weather patterns on my hologram.

"Great, I'll pass that on to the weather team. Their predictions have been a bit off the past few weeks", she said, pulling out her phone and texting said, weather team. "Thanks, Donnie".

"All good", I said, turning off my hologram and sending the data to Avery.

If everything went well she would have no trouble getting to DC in a few days. I was worried that she would be driving by herself the entire way but she promised to live share her location with not only her parents but her friends here in New York and myself. Not that I needed her to since I had practically gifted her my very own tracker that only I had access to.

I was getting weird.

"We are going to rock this Christmas Album, guys! Let's stay focused!", I heard Mikey yell from the other side of the kitchen.

I sighed as April went to find Splinter.

"Merry Christmas to us all", I said to myself, restarting the backtrack.

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"How's your leg feeling, Leo?"

"Better than it did yesterday. Thanks, bro", Leo said, hanging onto my shoulder as I helped him out of the kitchen after Christmas dinner so Ralph and Mickey could clean up.

"Just let me know if something feels off and I'll scan it and see how I can help", I said, lowering him down onto the couch next to Splinter.

"Will do", he said, practically collapsing onto Sensei's lap.

Sensei sighed as he stroked Leo's head, babying him for the first time in his life since he was on pain medication. "What movie will we be falling asleep to this year, Donatello?"

I pulled up 5 possible options on the screen. "We've got Home Alone, How the Grinch stole Christmas, Klaus, The Man Who Invented Christmas and The Last Holiday. Which one would you prefer, Sensei?"

"I'm not sure. Let's wait for your brothers and we'll see", he said stroking his beard in time with rubbing Leo's head.

"Ok", I said, walking over to my computer as a notification popped up.