Perseverance

I'm not making any money from this, nor do I own the Ninja Turtles - I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Please R and R! I live for it! :)
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Charlie stiffened momentarily when Donatello wrapped his arms around her. “It’s ok”, he whispered. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He was very warm and she relaxed and rested her head against his hard plastron. She thought it would be cold, but it was surprisingly warm as well.

“I just... I feel... they were going to...” she choked out between sobs. Don’s big hand rubbed circles over her back. He could feel her bra through her shirt. They stayed like that for several long minutes while she cried. She felt small next to him, but found this comforting.

“She’s been in shock”, Don mentally kicked himself for not realizing it earlier, although he was relieved that he wasn’t repulsing or frightening her. “I guess we’re so used to dealing with the Foot and getting into fights, it didn’t occurred to us that she might not know how to deal with it” he thought.

Charlie gradually calmed down and relax against his shell. “Would they have raped me?” she asked quietly.

Don sighed and was quiet for a moment before answering, “More than likely, yeah”.

Charlie nodded, beginning to process what had nearly happened. “They would have killed me too”. It wasn’t a question.

“Probably”, Don said.

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Yes. Just the Foot though, and only when they attack us”.

Charlie sighed and nodded again. “I don’t know how to feel about anything, just now. I feel like the rug’s been yanked out from under me. Everything’s different. I feel different. I’m scared and I never used to be. I’m supposed to be competent and independent and I just feel like a big baby. You guys must think I’m pretty pathetic”.

Don had to laugh. “Pathetic? No way! We’re impressed!” Charlie pulled back to look at him. Don pulled a tissue out of the box on the counter and passed it to her to dry her eyes. “You didn’t panic when they ran over Mikey. You could have left him there, but you didn’t. You got him up and off the street before anyone saw him. You got him all the way up here and patched him up.”

Charlie smiled and blushed a bit. “Oh well, it wouldn’t have been very nice to leave him there after he’d saved me twice in ten minutes.” She pulled out a fresh tissue and wiped her tears off his plastron. Don hoped she didn’t notice that he stiffened as her fingers brushed the sensitive grooves.

He picked up the roll of bandages. “Let’s get you patched up, ok?”

“Ok... thank you... I guess I didn’t realize how bad my leg was...I hope it doesn’t scar much”, she said looking down at it.

“Sometimes when people are in shock they can’t process pain very well. I think only the two or three deepest will leave a scar, and even then they‘ll be fairly faint. The rest will disappear”. Don began wrapping the bandage around her ankle, slowly moving up her leg. “You hungry?”

Charlie’s stomach growled loudly in response. She put her hand over it and giggled. “I had a glass of juice this morning. I was too busy for anything else.”

Don grinned. “Do you like pizza?”