Oh look, a new Falling! I realize the old one was getting a bit unwieldy, so while I'll continue updating that one with Season 1 stories, this is the new place for Falling: Season 2!

This interlude takes place immediately after Slash and Destroy, and covers a little bit of where April was during this episode.

Picking up the Pieces (an interlude)

Donnie stared down at the letter in his hand, and for a rare moment, all other thoughts in his head were silent as he attempted to process exactly what it was that he was looking at. "Is… is this for real?"

April's feet swung gently as she perched on his desk, her blue eyes unusually serious. "Yeah. I mean, I had to use my name on the forms, and my aunt doesn't really know what to think, but… it's for real. It's happening."

"What is happening?"

Donnie looked over as the soft voice drifted from the doorway, sighing as Splinter entered with Leo in tow. Wordlessly, he held up the letter to his father, and watched the confusion on the rat's features as he scanned the letter. Splinter looked up at Donnie with a question in his eyes. "I do not understand."

"Donnie…" Leo's glanced shifted from Donnie to April. "What's going on?"

With a quiet groan, Donnie sagged back in his chair, resting his arm against the desk next to April, and it was a measure of his tangled thoughts that it only brought a small smile to his face when April moved her hand to his arm in silent support.

"It's the equipment I invented to monitor Timothy." He glanced over at monitors surrounding the frozen form in the corner as a pang of guilt shot through him. April's hand tightened on his arm, and he brought up his free hand to cover hers. "I was doing some reading through medical journals, seeing if I could get any ideas on how to improve it, and I kinda realized that what I'd made could do things that current tech can't. So I sorta… patented it."

"You what?" Leo exclaimed, staring at him in disbelief.

Donnie frowned at him. "Well, not me. I can't exactly walk into the patent office looking like this." He blinked, biting his lip a little, and peeped up at his sensei, who was still staring incredulously at the letter. "April did."

"I filled out all the paperwork, but Donnie's co-credited on the patent," April clarified. "The ideas are all Donnie's. I just did the legwork."

"And as it turns out… they want it." Donnie shifted again, lowering his hands to his lap so he could fidget with the tape around his fingers. "Apparently the medical community could… what were the words?"

"Benefit greatly from this contribution to humanity," April said.

"Yeah." Donnie looked up again. "I'm getting paid for it. A lot, as it turns out."

"It's coming to my account, but of course it's all yours." A wry grin touched April's face. "At least they've stopped complaining about my grades in trig. My aunt was kind of confused, but I am a Science Olympian."

With a soft sound of concern, Splinter passed the letter to Leo. Donnie watched Leo's eyes widen as he skimmed the letter, and a small squeak burst from him as he reached the part with all the zeroes.

"This is an event of monumental importance, and it is true that this will be of great help to our family." Splinter paused, and Donnie closed his eyes momentarily as Splinter rested his hand on Donnie's shoulder, the familiar feeling of comfort and support from his sensei washing through him and easing some of the conflict within him. "But I do not understand why so fortuitous an event seems to trouble you so."

Donnie opened his eyes again, letting his gaze drift toward the monster in the corner who had once been a lost and somewhat clueless kid who'd looked up to him. "It just feels like I'm profiting off what we did to Timothy and I'm not… I'm not sure how to handle that. I mean, that money'll buy a few things that will help with my research, but it's not like it's gonna bring him back."

"Hmm." Splinter folded his hands behind his back, regarding Donatello with patient thoughtfulness. "It is indeed an ethical dilemma. But if you cannot use it to help Timothy, perhaps there is another issue in which we share responsibility that might benefit from this sudden affluence?"

"Umm," Leo lowered the letter, holding up a tentative hand. "Can I make a suggestion?"

It was really cold out. She shivered, holding Ruffles McBearington closer. It had been snowing a little bit earlier, but that had stopped now, which was good. The snow was getting in the holes in her room, and she didn't want it snowing on her things. They'd only been able to take a few things with them to the place they were staying while their house was broken, and she was worried about her other toys. Her nose wrinkled a little as she thought about that other place. It was really crowded, and it smelled kind of funny sometimes, and she didn't like how they had to eat and share the TV with a whole bunch of other families.

She shivered as she looked up at the house again. Daddy was close by, arguing with the man who was supposed to fix their house. She wasn't sure why the man wasn't fixing it, or what an insurance was, or why whatever insurance was wouldn't fit over their house -– why would you want to cover a house, anyway? -– but whatever it was, it was making Daddy really sad, so she didn't like it. Daddy had told her the other day that Santa might not be able to find them this year if there was a hole in their house, but she wasn't sure she believed him. She was used to not having as many toys and things as her friends, and instead of going to the big stores like her friends did, they usually got her things from little places like the man who had sold them the lamp full of green tea. But Santa was magic. Even if there was a hole in her house, Santa should still be able to find them. That's what Santa was for.

She looked up again, and frowned. Daddy looked like he was going to cry. He'd cried a few times since the big turtles made the holes in her room and the other parts of the house fell down and the men with the bills had come. Setting her jaw, she pushed herself off the front stoop and marched toward where Daddy and the bad insurance man were fighting. She was going to give him a piece of her mind. If the insurance man didn't start being good, Santa wouldn't be visiting anyone this year.

But before she could reach Daddy, someone else did.

The lady had pretty red hair, and was wearing a fancy suit like office ladies wore, even though she was kind of tippy in her fancy shoes, and she was talking to herself a little, like she had an imaginary friend. But she stopped talking to herself once she saw Daddy, straightening up and clearing her throat as she pulled an envelope out of a bag she was carrying.

"Oh, there you are," she said, but stopped and put a hand up to her ear, turning to make a face at the rooftop across the road. "This is your lucky day, sir! I represent - I know - a corporation called - ow!" She glanced up again, glaring as something from the rooftop hit the back of her head. "A corporation called O'NEIL TECH!" She looked back at Daddy and cleared her throat. "And I'm very pleased to inform you that you are the recipient of this year's Holiday Endorsement Bursary Foundation Endowment Appreciation Award."

Daddy stared at the nice lady, who kicked at the thing that had hit her head. It looked like a chestnut, but that was silly. There weren't any chestnut trees around. Just the man down the street who sold them out of a cart, but he went home ages ago.

One of Daddy's eyebrows lifted. "Aren't you a little young to represent a corporation?"

"I get that a lot," the lady said. "But when you're representing a corporation as large as ours, it's important to look your best. Whoa!"She teetered for a minute in her shoes before she steadied herself and gave Daddy a big smile.

"I don't understand," Daddy told the nice lady.

"Every year at this time, O'Neil Tech- ow!" She kicked away another chestnut. "-gives an endorsement to a family in need, and this year we picked you. Congratulations!" She passed the envelope to Daddy.

Daddy opened the envelope slowly, pulling out a piece of paper, and his face went white as he covered his mouth with his hand. She hugged Ruffles closer, not sure what was going on as Daddy's eyes filled with tears again. But now he was yelling, and hugging the nice lady so hard that she was off the ground, and one of her fancy shoes fell off as Daddy jumped around with her.

"Sir, that's- oof - I'm very glad you're - urk - I can't breathe!"

Daddy let out a yelp as a chestnut hit him this time, and put the nice lady back on her feet. The nice lady stumbled over to where her shoe had fallen, and stuck her tongue out at it before putting it back on her foot. The nice lady saw that she was watching, and reached out to tousle her hair and pat Ruffles McBearington. "This is a bad time of year to have a hole in your house," she said, struggling back to her feet and wobbling before she caught her balance. "Hopefully, this should cover it."

"It will," Daddy said, wiping his eyes. "And then some."

After the nice lady gave them the envelope with the paper in it, the men didn't fight with Daddy anymore. The holes in their house were fixed really fast, and the place where they were staying until the work was done was much nicer this time, with big comfy beds and a TV in their room and room service that brought good food to them. Even so, it was nice to be back in her own bed. She lay there, long after Daddy had tucked her in and kissed her good night, she wondered how the nice lady had known that their house had holes in it, and whether the bad turtles would come back to make more.

There was a soft sound from the darkness, and she opened her eyes. There was a new nightlight on her bedside table - she'd been missing one since the green tea lamp that was supposed to have replaced her old broken one disappeared - and in the soft pink light, she could see a funny little squashed teapot on her tea table with a bright red bow around the handle. Two cups sat next to the pot, steam rising from the warm tea inside them. She smiled, burying her head against the pillow, and blinked sleepily.

"Thank you, Mr. Turtle."

And out of the shadows by her window came a soft, whispered, "you're welcome."

She snuggled deeper beneath the cover as her window slid closed. She could sleep now. No more worrying about bad turtles making holes in her room. She had a good turtle now to take care of her.