the lazarus job - tmnt (2)

five

CHAPTER 5 

WE HAVE TO GO 

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NADIA WASN'T SURE WHEN SHE'D GO HOME. 

Her wound had healed quicker than she thought, but she found herself hating the idea of leaving. Not only had she gotten closer to everyone in just the span of four days, but she had this bond with each of them that made it hard for her to decide on leaving. 

Florence and Nadia, being the only two girls in the sewer home, had gotten closer than before with Nadia usually listening to Florence's rants about Donnie, science, and a kitten playing chopsticks with chopsticks. 

Alongside this, Nadia found herself sticking with Mikey more than before. She found his giddiness nostalgic and although he was quite a hassle to handle, she realized that she enjoying his company very much. 

Mostly because he reminded her of her sister, Avi, who was back on Terranova; her home planet. 

Now while Donnie and Nadia kept their conversations to a minimum, the two still conversed like old friends. Nadia would usually linger around in the lab when Florence and him were working; usually just to see what they were working on and all of the techy things in the room that Nadia had never seen before. 

Leonardo was another situation.  

He kept his distance, the conversations only ranging from 'hi' to 'bye' and done. Nadia knew he didn't trust her, but she didn't understand why. In four days, she had proven her friendship, but still he didn't trust her as if she was a spawn of Satan. 

So, while Nadia and the other turtles all became closer friends, Leonardo kept his distance from the girl and continued to study her to try and find out who she really was. 

Now, Raphael was a completely different story. 

It had become their tradition to sneak into the dojo around midnight and spar one another until they were drop dead tired and even though it left them sluggish and sore in the morning, neither one of the two minded it. 

Nadia realized that she liked his company much more than the others. 

He was sarcastic, occasionally funny, and never hesitated to speak his mind which she respected. In her opinion, bluntness was always better than sugar-coating the truth. 

It was just four days later that everything seemed to be setting into place. 

The pink layers of skin around her wound were now nothing but faint markings, something that she greatly appreciated when she would spar against Raph around one in the morning. Instead of having to worry about splitting the so called "stitches" she could easily just swing and kick. 

The pain was still there, lingering as if it would never leave her hip. 

The morning of the fourth day was a busy one; everyone was sitting at the table but Donnie, Florence, and Mikey. Mikey was whistling a tune as he made the food while Florence was dressed and ready for work with Donnie giving her the usual 'stay safe' speech. 

She wore jeans and a white blouse with black flats and her hair pinned up into a bun that left her side burns to curl around her ears. With a smile on her freckle-covered face, she simply listened as Donatello did his morning ritual of telling her how much he loved her. 

"You'll call as soon as you get on break," he instructed as he pushed up her glasses with a finger. "And don't forget to tell your boss about that vacation-"