Santa's Little Helper

Summary: "Christmas is a holiday you spent surrounded by the warmth of your family and friends. Sadly not everyone gets to enjoy the luxury. For some the city of over eight million people seems the loneliest place on Earth this time a year, and Mikey just can't stand that."

Mikey jumped over the ledge of the rooftop, being especially careful with his landing in the slippery snow on the next side. His feet were freezing on the chilled ground and he was thanking the warm-blooded human part of him he doesn't just freeze like any coldblooded creature would.

April had celebrated Christmas Eve with her father and aunt, and didn't get to meet up with the Hamatos. But Mikey wouldn't be Mikey if he hadn't run over to her apartment in the middle of the freezing cold night just to sneak a small present under her Christmas tree. He was all about small gestures and he knew April will appreciate it in the morning.

The warm blanket and cocoa at home will make up for the biting cold, Mikey told himself as he neared the last roof before he would descend into the sewer system. He could have gone underground earlier, it was surprisingly warmer down there, but he just loved the seasonal lights that decorated the whole city on the magical night. He was counting all the beautiful Christmas trees he saw through the windows of different homes as he ran through the freshly fallen snow that surprised everyone earlier in the day.

He stared at the sky, having a silly wish of actually seeing the good man in red flying through it with his sleigh pulled by magical reindeer. He was a kid at heart, and even though he knew Santa Claus wasn't real, he still pretended to believe in him at times.

While he wasn't paying much attention to where he ran, his foot caught something under the snow, and he fell forward, managing two somersaults in the soft layer of snow, before stopping on his butt. The tails of his scarf fell over and slapped him across the face through the process.

He pulled them off and looked at the snow covered wool. A light frown caught the edges of his mouth. It's going to get wet and he won't be able to wear it on Christmas morning when they all open their presents. He liked this scarf. Raph knitted the warm item for him a few Christmas' ago. It was even in his favorite orange color.

Oh, well. Nothing can be done about it now.

Pulling the wet ends over his shoulder he stood up when… Thump! Something pulled his feet from under him and he landed in the snow again.

"What the…"

Mikey looked, only to see a strand of Christmas lights forcefully pulled from under the snow from somewhere behind the brick wall to his left.

Okay, time to scram! Mikey thought as he jumped to his feet and prepared to sprint away from the place. He only made two steps, hadn't even turned his head forward, when he already hit something hard and fell back.

He didn't get a chance to get a look at what he hit when a snowball already hit his face. So it was someone. He would have thought it was one of his brothers but none of them were that big and unmovable. Danger alerts were going off in the back of his head.

He quickly rubbed his sore face and opened his eyes. He was already breathless from all the falls yet his breath still got caught in his lungs over the giant figure towering over his small frame. It was no other than the giant mutant rhino, Rocksteady.

"Privyet, malen'kaya cherepashka," he saluted.

No, no, no, no, no! Mikey was already up and ready to run away when he got yanked back by his scarf.

"Where are you going?" Rocksteady lifted him up by his shell while Mikey kicked around uselessly. "Night is young and snow is still soft. Great for building snegovyik and snezhniy angel."

Mikey was scared to death. Rocksteady was like a bulldozer and could tear him apart any minute if he wanted to. And he was using WAY too many Russian words for the little fella to keep up and was confusing him even more. What was the mutant even doing here in the first place! It's Christmas Eve …and he went out to cause trouble? Doesn't he have anything better to do over the holidays…

This was the opposite of how Mikey wanted to spend the Christmas night. No one knew he was gone from home, and he didn't even have his nunchuks or T-phone with him. Wasn't he just lucky? –And pretty stupid to leave the lair like that, too!

"Let go!" He tried to pry Rocksteady's thick fingers off his shell but it was no use.

Until the large hand let go on its own. "Like this?"

Mikey fell back down into the snow that has after so many falls already turned into dirty wet slush. He scrambled to get away but got stomped down to the ground with Rocksteady's wide foot on his shell. "Uff!"

He felt like a play thing and the laugh that came from the mutant rhino only confirmed it.

"No need for running. I didn't come to hunt for enemy. It's first snow, and I couldn't go outside until humans were sleeping."

Mikey was freezing by then, completely wet and on a verge of tears that were an offspring of fear. He was completely alone without his brothers to jump in to aid him. And it's Christmas! This shouldn't be happening to him on Christmas!

He dug around with his arms, trying to get a grip on something so he could pull himself from underneath the rhino.

"What's wrong, cherepashechka?" I thought you liked swimming." Rocksteady pushed Mikey forward with his leg, making the little turtle scrape his plastron over the concrete, and dig into the wet slush.

"Hrrn…" Mikey finally managed to wiggle free from under the suffocating weight and scrambled away.

He tried to regain some air while leaning on the wall of the roof entrance and keeping a sharp eye on the rhino a few feet away. "Have a heart! It's Christmas!" He scowled breathlessly.

"Ha!" Rocksteady laughed resoundingly then threw a snowball at Mikey, missing his head only by inches. "Christmas is on January 7th in Mother Russia!" He said it like he was lightly scolding an ignorant child.

"Well, last time I checked New York City isn't in Russia."

Rocksteady ignored Mikey's words but his expression turned serious right after them. "Hm…" he looked lost in thought for a moment. –"When I was only malchik this holiday was forbidden. My family celebrated New Year instead. They still do."

"Yeah, okay," Mikey stood up straight, ready to leave but saw Rocksteady was ready to get in his way, "we have New Year's too. No need to be a jerk."

The small turtle wringed out his soaked scarf to appear like he wasn't planning an escape. "Why don't you go back home and have a happy New Year, huh?"

"You are a silly green man." Rocksteady looked somewhere into the distance his dangerous malevolent composure deflating. –"I cannot go home."

Mikey gave him a suspicious look, not having the slightest idea what to make of the sudden change in atmosphere. Should he make a run for it or was it a trap?

What is Rocksteady even talking about?

"Did Shredder kick you out or something?"

Rocksteady gave him an offended look. "Kakoy?" What was the mutant turtle saying? "Shredder is not my family! Ha! You are mad!"

"Then what?" Mikey started to slowly step away while the mutant wasn't looking.

"I am grown man! I have a wife in Sankt Peterburg. A strong adolescent son and beautiful young daughter."

Mikey stopped after an image of baby rhinos attached his mind . "Are they like little rhinos? Isn't Russia like cold all the time? That's no place for an African animal"-

"No, you idiot!" Rocksteady frowned at Mikey. "They're people."

"Oh… But why don't you just go to them in, uhh, Saint Petersburg?"

"You are very stupid," Rocksteady chuckled while still turned away. "Do your brothers tell you this?"

"Whenever they get the chance," Mikey shrugged his shoulders. Brothers are brothers… What can one do?

He was ready to make a run for it. He had an opening and Rocksteady seemed distracted enough at the moment. But the large mutant no longer looked like he wanted to fight –if what happened before could be called that –he just wanted to talk? And while Mikey loved talking he wasn't really that good at listening. And Rocksteady wasn't really a guy he'd go out for a drink with and chitchat…

"Look at me, cherepashka," the giant rhino spoke up again. "Do I look as if I can go on plane across world?"

Mikey's eyes widened after his words, and then even more after giving a little more thought to it.

"But wait! You've been a mutant for over a year! You haven't seen your family all this time?" Mikey was bewildered! He'd totally die after a week without his family.

"Da."

"That's horrible!" Mikey pushed the fact that Rocksteady was a dangerous scary enemy somewhere to the side of his brain and walked up to the large rhino. He suddenly felt so bad for the person he never gave even a second thought about before.

"Do you at least make calls or something? Maybe video-chat?"

"I don't think they want to see rhinoceros as husband and father. They think I am dead which is best."

"What?!" Mikey shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Be quiet. You will wake up people." Rocksteady shushed.

"That's insane! You need to contact them and tell them you're alive!" Mikey was all arms; throwing them around as he almost panicked at the thought of Rocksteady's family back in Russia falsely thinking he is dead.

"I do not need to do anything. This is my decision. It is better for everyone."

"But not you! You're all alone, Rocksteady!"

"I said be quiet. Yelling at adults shows disrespect. And my mane is Ivan. –'eevan'"

Mikey did lower his voice but he wasn't done talking. "But I'm right," he stressed the statement as a question. He saw pain in the mutants eye that he hadn't noticed before. He didn't even think what it's like to be on the other side of the world from home. It must feel lonely. Especially in times that families gather together.

Rocksteady didn't say anything and turned away from him. The small turtle was right, he was lonely and missed his beautiful family, he missed his home that was so much different from America, but the conversation was becoming too personal for his liking. Why was he even talking to the turtle when he should be crushing him to death. They are the reason he is a mutant in the first place. They are all responsible for this!

"Leave," he warned coldly.

Mikey saw the rhino's shoulders straightening again. The atmosphere around them changed back to its primary aggressive nature. The freezing cold Mikey felt but forgot for a little while doubled and almost hurt.

He backed away in slow careful steps before turning and running off like he should have done in the first place. This whole encounter started feeling more and more like a strange fever dream.

…

On the 26th Mikey stepped into his brother's laboratory with a single thought that has been paining him since Christmas night.

"Donnie?"

"Yeah?" Donnie responded through his protection mask while he blowtorched together two iron pipes. Winter was pretty ruthless with their water system.

"Could I borrow your computer for a little while?"

Donnie put down the blow torch and pulled up his mask. He gave his brother across the room a doubtful look.

Mikey wasn't really the type to handle delicate stuff. If any stuff…

Mikey's eyes widened. "I'll be careful! –I swear!"

Donnie rolled his eyes before pulling his mask back down, returning to his work. "Fine. It's on the desk."

Mikey ran off with the device as quickly as he could, before his brother could change his mind, and Donnie didn't even want to know what he was up to as he did.

The little fella closed himself and Ice Cream Kitty in his room and jumped onto the bed with the laptop on his lap.

"Shoo, Kitty," he shooed his cat away when she tried to crawl onto his stomach. "You're sticky and Donnie's going to freak if there's a single germ on his precious laptop."

Ice Cream Kitty only meowed in her offended cat way.

Mikey gave her a pet while he waited for the machine to wake up.

"Okay," he opened up the internet browser, "let's see what we can find out about"-

Mikey absorbed himself with numerous websites, articles, blogs, forums… feeling like April whenever she had to do research for school.

…

"C'mere, Baby Ivan," Bebop called from the small room the mutants of the Foot turned into a makeshift living room. "The Ball's about to drop!"

They were all watching the Times Square Ball on TV drop together with the countdown to the start of a new year.

Steranko sighed from the 'too small' bed where he was reading a novel. The American way of celebrating New Year's was so different from his homeland's, and such an understatement he didn't even wish to participate the little that there was.

"Spasibo."

"Suit yourself, Rockhead," Bebop answered, already understanding some of the Russian words his friend used.

Steranko turned a page in his book, blocking out the sounds of television, when something small but hard hit the window in his room.

He looked at the quiet window from where he lied. There was nothing there at first glance so he dismissed it as wind. But when the sound came again he was positive there was something outside and stepped to check what it was.

He didn't see well in the dark so he opened the window to get a better look. As he leaned outside he almost knocked over a bag that stood on the shallow window shelf. He grabbed it before it would fall down, and just as he did he noticed a quick shadow on the rooftops across the street.

"Chto za…"

He picked up the colorfully decorated gift bag and placed it down in the room after closing the window. He was too curious to be concerned if the contents were of any danger.

Before opening the taped together sides he noticed something written on the note attached to one of the strings. At first glance Ivan was just confused and astonished but after slowly connecting the dots in his head he smiled at the messy way the Cyrillic letters were written over it: 'из Дед Мороз и Снегу́рочка для Ива́н' It wasn't grammatically correct either but he was only marveling at the thoughtful act that he was pretty sure who to associate with.

He sat down and opened his New Year present excitedly but carefully. His giant paws were very klutzy with delicate objects.

"Mandariny," he mouthed at the sight of tangerines decorating the top. Their smell already caught his snout and it made him smile.

He put the fruit to the side and pulled out two plastic food containers tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. There was a stick it note attached: 'Probably not like home cooking but hopefully I came close. Enjoy.'

The larger container was warm to his touch and 'don't spill' was written on top of it. He placed both on a small desk near him and carefully opened them. The warm one revealed to contain a vibrantly red, traditional beet stew, borshch, while the smaller one was filled with a rich traditional salad, Oiliver salad.

Steranko couldn't believe what he was looking at. He hadn't tasted these two dishes since he left home almost two years ago. He was more than eager to try them but refrained himself and rather focused on the last item in the bag.

He pulled out the gift wrapped up in newspaper and peeled it away quicker than he would admit. He came face to face with a small papier-mâché version of himself. He laughed at the messily painted doll but soon noticed a notch around the middle of it.

He instantly understood what it was and was careful in pulling apart the two pieces. In the middle of the nesting doll of himself was another smaller one, painted like a blond smiling woman.

Ivan was in shock and tears caught his eyes. He opened the woman to reveal a smaller blond boy. And the boy opened up a little blond girl. He placed them all in order on the desk and marveled the homemade Russian nesting dolls and cooked meal. He felt like he was seeing his real family behind a New Year dinner before him.

He couldn't get over the shock that the little mutant turtle made him all this… What has gone through his head? They were enemies, not friends…

"Happy New Year, Ivan!" Bebop barged into the room.

He saw the rhino sitting on the floor with a table full of stuff that wasn't there before. –"Yo, what's all this?"

The rhino smiled. "Ded Moroz decided to visit America this year, too. – Come," he got up and grabbed the closed up food containers, "you will try Borshch with me. It is good and healthy. It will be good for your twig arms and legs."

"Hey now!"

"Happy New Year, comrade," Steranko patted his shoulder.

It really was more than happy.

And so was he.

FIN

Hope you enjoyed this oneshot in the holiday spirit. Decided to give around some love just like Mikey did. :)

I'd like to thank my good Russian friend, Ari (arishynya on tumblr), for checking over the Russian phrases. She's an amazing visual artist with quite a collection of fanart over on tumblr. You should check it out. :)

Also don't mind leaving a review. I'm always super happy to recieve those. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!