“How the shell did this happen?”

Dani winced at the sound of Michelangelo’s frantic question.  He was worried, and he got overbearing when he was worried.

“I’ll telling you, I don’t know!” she said, getting increasingly agitated, but not necessarily at the turtles trying to help her.  “One second, I’m in a consignment shop.  The next, I was on my way back to my apartment and I slipped on something in the alleyway.  Grrr, the city should really do something about toxic waste just festering around the city!”

A low growl rumbled in her chest when she thought about how careless people could be.  She didn’t calm down until a hand began to stroke the back of her head.  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the contact, letting out a content purr-like groan.

“… Donnie.  Don’t tell me it’s what I think it is,” Leonardo said.

“Yeah, cos I dunno if the landlord allows pets,” Raphael quipped, continuing to scritch the back of Dani’s head.

“I’m afraid so.”  After a few clicks, Donatello brought diagrams of three strands of DNA up on his many monitors.  “This is a sample strand of human DNA; the other is… canis lupus.”  He paused, inhaling deeply before continuing.  “AKA… a grey wolf.  In the middle is Dani’s DNA, and it contains matches of both.”

All the turtles exchanged a glance of disbelief, and Dani’s eyes shot open

“A wolf?” she exclaimed. 

“Where the shell did she come into contact with a wolf in New York City?” asked Raphael.  “It’s not like they’re running the streets!”

Donatello turned to Dani, leaning down in front of her to meet her eyes.  Her facial structure had started to change.  Her nose had grown longer, the tip was darker.  Her eyes had changed from their natural green to a stunning amber.  He took her hand in both of his, trying to ignore the growing claws as he held it.

“Dani, can you think of anything you may have touched in the shop?” he asked.  “Anything that might explain this?”

“I…  Well, I had been admiring this expensive fur mantle,” she admitted.  “… Donnie, am I… a mutant?”

Donatello closed his eyes as he nodded in confirmation, only opening them when he heard a soft thumping.  He looked up and behind her to notice her new tail was wagging between the bars of the chair she sat in.

“Really?  That’s so fucking cool!” she exclaimed.  “I’m really a wolf girl!”

“Wait,” he said, stunned by her optimism.  “… You’re not going to ask me about a cure or anything?”

“I mean, by all means, go ahead and see if you can fix me… But if it is permanent, I can’t say I mind the cards I was dealt,” she laughed.

“Donnie, have I ever told you your girlfriend is weird?” said Raphael.

Dani growled at Raphael, who put his hands up in defense.  She then burst into laughter at his reaction.  Michelangelo pulled Dani into a hug and scratched her between the ears.  “Aww, can we keep her?  Pleeease?”

Donatello shook his head and turned around to look at his computer again.

“Go ask Splinter,” he said.  “I’m going to see if there’s anything we can do for her.”

💚💜💚

After hours in the lab, Donatello walked out to find his girlfriend laying her head in Michelangelo’s lap, who continued to pet her while he watched TV.  The transformation had progressed, and she was now covered in fur.  It was an amusing sight, and he was a little relieved that she had taken this so well.

“Up, girl,” Mikey whispered, patting her back. 

Dani drowsily lifted her head and looked around.  The moment she spotted Donatello, her tail began to wag again.  He had to admit that the visual proof of her happiness to see him was pretty darn cute.  He shook those thoughts out of his head and cleared his throat, prepared to talk business.

“Well, Dani,” he said.  “There’s, uh… Good news and bad news…  Maybe?  Depending on how attached you are to this mutation.”

Dani’s ears fell back and she tilted her head.  “What is it?”

“Frankly, I don’t know which is which, so I’ll tell you both,” he started.  “The mutagen that contaminated you was pretty weak compared to the type of ooze I’m used to seeing.  While the effects have permanently altered your DNA, the mutation itself isn’t permanent… if that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t,” she admitted.

“I figured… I can’t make heads or tails of it, scientifically speaking.”  He sighed, rubbing his eyes before proceeding.  “You know that ‘there are two wolves inside you’ meme you always send me?”

Dani let out a bark of a laugh at the unexpected reference.  “… Yeah?”

“Basically, there are two Danis inside of you,” he said.  “The human one and the lupine one.  The state of your mutation is… fluid, I suppose.”

Donatello’s words hung in the air before Michelangelo finally spoke up.

“Whoa!  You mean she’s a werewolf?”

“I’m a werewolf?!” she repeated excitedly.

“Eh, kind of, but a shape-shifter would be the more accurate terminology, as the mutation isn’t driven by lunar cycles.  Depending on your emotional state and stress level, you can change between them.”

“You hear that, girl?”  Michelangelo exclaimed.  He pulled Dani in and began snuggling her face.  “A human girl to go to the surface and pick up pizzas for us and a wolf girl to party with!”

Donatello rolled his eyes.  “It isn’t a flip of a switch, Mikey.  Each shift is going to take a tremendous amount of energy on a cellular level,” he said.  “Even if it is as simple as choosing when to shift at will, she’d have to get plenty of rest afterwards.”

His explanation seemed to fall on deaf ears, as Michelangelo and Dani were too excited by the prospect that she was a living, breathing werewolf to care about the nuances.  Truly, they watched too much TV.  Donatello sighed and walked over to flop down on the couch with them, exhausted after a long night in the lab trying to make sense of this.  Within seconds, Dani was on top of him, rubbing her head against his and licking his cheek.  He let out a huff of a laugh and began to rub her neck.  After a moment, her tail quit wagging, and she eased off him.

“Wait, you don’t mind this…  Do you, Donnie?”

If she had pleading puppy dog eyes before, the term was literal now.  The situation was complicated.  It wasn’t that he had any issues with her wolf form.  In fact, he kind of thought it suited her.  He’d known her for years, and there was always this sort of… disconnect, for lack of better words, between her and the world around her.  He could understand that this was new and exciting to her, but being a mutant wasn’t all fun and games like she and his brother made it out to be.  He had a feeling that once the new wore off, this permanent alteration of her life would hit her hard.  He felt disappointed that he wasn’t able to stop this and that he couldn’t spare her from the trials and alienation that he knew all too well.  Yet when he looked at her, into those big golden eyes so full of love, he knew he needed to put those fears behind him.  If it did come to that, he'd support her.  In the meantime, he’d be happy for her.  He pulled her closer, scratching behind her ears as he kissed the top of her head.

“Not at all, Dan-Dan.”