Midori: Chapter Seventeen: Epilogue
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~One year later...~
Midori groaned as she was awakened from her nap. Leonardo leaned down and kissed her. "Time to get up."
Midori slowly opened her eyes. She was still tired and turned onto her back to look up at Leo. She looked into his dark brown eyes, eyes she got lost in so often. Something about the way he smiled at her told her something was off. "What's wrong?"
Leo's smile only widened. "Oh, nothing. Just dinner."
Midori furrowed her brow, thinking. The tone of his voice told her that the simple statement was important, but she couldn't remember since her brain was still foggy from sleep. "Dinner?" She was wiping the sleep out of her eyes when it hit her. "Oh, we were supposed to go to April and Casey's for dinner!"
"The others have left already, let's get going."
Midori grabbed her coat. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"
Leo kissed her forehead as he pretended to hold the door open. "You looked so peaceful, I didn't have the heart to wake you."
"Okay, now I know something's up, what is it?" Leo never let anyone oversleep, not even her. Something was going on.
"Nothing!" Leo told her again.
***
By the time they reached April and Casey's place, Midori was no closer to finding out what was going on than when they had left the lair. She and Leo had gotten very close since they'd met, and she could tell that he wasn't acting quite like himself. He had an excited look in his eyes that she usually only saw in Michaelangelo.
Leo went in the open window first. It was dark inside, like no one was home. But they had to be home, they had dinner planned, and Leo said the others would be here by now. She hoped nothing was wrong.
Leo left her side and a second later the lights came on.
"Surprise!"
Midori forced a smile. A surprise party... for her... great. But why? She searched her mind for a reason but they all escaped her.
April came over and gave her a hug. Casey waved to her from where he stood over by Raph and Don. Casey had never been really comfortable around her, but he was nice.
Mike came over and led her to the chair at the head of the table. Splinter was sitting to her right. He smiled at her confused look. "Child, do you realize that you have been with us an entire year?"
Now Midori was surprised. Had it really been an entire year? She thought back on everything that had happened. Yes, it had been a year. It seemed so strange. They were all approaching eighteen now. They hadn't had any contact with the Foot in all that time, except for a few pickpockets. They'd started to relax a little, but not too much because they still knew they were in danger of being discovered.
Mike brought a huge cake out from the kitchen. Midori smirked at the sight of the little birthday candles sitting across the top of the cake.
"Mike!" Raphael snapped. "We told you no candles! It ain't her birthday."
"I know that, but I thought it would be a nice touch. I mean, what's the point of a cake without candles? She can still make a wish, you know."
Midori chuckled. "It's very pretty, Mike."
Mike smiled and stuck his tongue out at Raph before borrowing Casey's lighter to light the candles. There were five in all, in a crescent shape. As she took a breath, she could only hope that they weren't those trick candles that re-lit themselves. He'd done that to Raph, and while it had been amusing to watch Raph try and blow it out, Mike wasn't laughing when Raph snuffed the candle out on his shell.
All the candles went out on the first blow but Midori waited to see if they would re-light. They didn't. Don took the picture out of his instant camera and waved it around before setting it on the counter.
After the cake was cut, they all settled in for a comfortable celebration. Mike appeared in front of Midori with a large wrapped gift. "Oh, Mike, you shouldn't have."
"It's kinda from everybody. Open it."
Everyone watched as she slipped the ribbon off and tore the paper. It was a photo album. She opened the cover and smiled when she saw the first picture. It was a Polaroid of all of them sitting around Splinter in his chair. It was taken a couple weeks after their last fight with Taro. Don had just found the camera and they had reluctantly went along with his pleas for them to pose for pictures. Photography became a new hobby for him, although it had caused some problems.
Midori heard someone say her name and looked up just in time to be blinded by a flash. Don smiled apologetically at her as he removed the picture from the camera. Leo sat beside her and watched as she flipped through a year's worth of memories.
Every now and then, someone would point out a picture and go, "Remember this?" A story would follow, usually to someone's embarrassment. There were a couple "surprise" photos that Mike had taken candidly, like one of Raph posing in front of the mirror, and another of Leo and Midori in a heated embrace. Raph started chasing Mike around the room while Leo and Midori blushed as she quickly turned the page.
"Stop running so I can pound you, Mike!"
Memories flashed by with the pages.
Her first cooking lesson from Mike, which didn't go quite as planned. The cookies had turned out fine, but the two cooks looked a little worse for wear, covered in flour and various other ingredients. She was surprised Donnie had managed to keep the camera still, he was laughing so hard along with the others.
Her ninjutsu lessons. There were several pictures of her practicing alone and some of her sparring with the others. While she knew she would probably never be at the same level as the guys, given they had fifteen years practice on her, she could hold her own now.
Their seventeenth birthday. Midori had felt strange about being included since she'd never celebrated her birthday before, and in truth hadn't even known when it was. Splinter told her that it was actually the day they had all been mutated, or as close as he could remember. By that time, she was very much a part of the family and they insisted that it was her day too.
April and Casey's wedding. It wasn't the real wedding, which had been earlier that day, it was a mock wedding Mike had set up since they couldn't go to the real one. There was a picture of Splinter giving away the bride, and one of Mike standing in front of the couple holding an open book. Midori had been the maid of honor, while Leo had been the best man. Don carried the rings, which Mike had gotten from a toy machine for a quarter each, and even Raph got into it, although he refused to play the flower girl, as Mike had suggested.
Their vacation up at the farm while Casey and April honeymooned someplace. Midori couldn't remember where because it seemed that they had argued about the place until it was time to get on the plane. She laughed at the picture she had taken of the others throwing Leo into the lake when he got a bit too bossy.
All this made her wonder what her life would have been like if she had stayed with the Foot, or even if she was still on the streets. She would have been miserable, she knew. She wouldn't give up this life for anything.
Don helped her put a few pictures from the party into the last pages of the book.
Just as the party started to wind down, April tapped her fork against her glass and cleared her throat. Everyone's attention was on her. "I know this is supposed to be Midori's day, but I hope she won't mind if I steal the spotlight for a minute."
Midori smiled. "Steal away. It's getting a little warm under these lights anyway."
April chuckled. "You all are as close to me as family and you've always been there for us. And I hope you'll be with us through this next step." She showed off a huge smile. "I'm pregnant." That was April for you, blunt and to the point.
"April, that's so-" THUD
They all looked around and saw Casey passed out on the floor. Raph and Mike burst out laughing and Don snapped a picture, of course.
"Hmmm," April considered. "I guess I should have broken the news to him earlier, in private."
"And have us miss this? No way!" Raph said after his laughter had settled down. "Hey Don? Can you make copies of that picture?"
***
"Casey Jones is going to be a father," Raphael said as they walked home. "That is a scary thought."
"Yeah," Don chuckled. "I can just imagine him trying to take care of baby."
They all laughed, and even Splinter smiled. But the truth was that as wild as Casey was, he'd settled down since he'd been with April. He was really a big softy underneath the tough guy act.
As soon as they got home, Leo pulled Midori aside. "Like the party?"
She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I enjoyed myself. That was very sweet of you all. No wonder you all were acting so weird this week."
"Weird? Weird how?"
"Well, Mike and Don were always talking together in hushed whispers, and stopped whenever I got near. All of you have been avoiding my questions about what was going on. And you," she poked him in the beak. "You've barely been around the last few days. I was starting to think you were avoiding me."
"Avoiding you? No, of course not." He took hold of her bandanna and turned it around so that her eyes were covered. "It was for a surprise."
"Hey, aren't you supposed to do this before the surprise?"
She felt Leo move behind her. "I haven't shown you my surprise yet," he whispered in her ear. He took hold of her hand and started leading her somewhere. They didn't go up the ladder, and as far as she could tell, it was down one of the sewer tunnels that branched off from the subway tracks, but they were all blocked off somewhere down the tunnel. They had explored these tunnels before, but she never remembered anything of real significance being down here.
After about five minutes of walking, Leo suddenly stopped and pulled her to the left. He let go of her hand and left her alone. She heard a door close, then a match being lit, and a few seconds later, Leo was behind her again. "Ready?" He took her bandanna off and she blinked to get her eyes adjusted again. She gasped at what she saw.
It wasn't a very big room, but it was obvious that someone had taken a lot of time to set it up. Several candles were scattered around the room, giving them just enough light to see by. There was a small table with two chairs in one corner and a futon covered with several pillows over in the other.
"What-?"
Leo wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Donnie and I found it a couple weeks ago, when he noticed that the wooden wall was starting to rot away. We broke through and found this room. We think it used to be some sort of service room."
"It's beautiful. You redid this?"
"With some help. The biggest problem was cleaning it out. I thought it would be nice to have a place all to ourselves."
"Hmmm... So, this is our place? For just the two of us?" She knew what he was hinting at. Their relationship had taken a physical turn, but the last time they had any real time alone was awhile ago, and they both knew they weren't ready then. And now when they were, it seemed that fate was against them getting any time by themselves.
"Uh huh." Leo ran his hands up her arms as he kissed the back of her neck. Midori smiled, this would be a nice little get away for them, like a home away from home.
Midori gasped as Leo's fingers brushed against the sensitive skin along the edge of her shell. She felt her cheeks flush as she turned in his arms. There was no mistaking the look in his eyes, the desire, she felt it too.
Leo moved and knelt down on the futon mattress. "I love you," Midori whispered as Leo pulled her down with him. Leo returned the sentiment between kisses as he pulled her closer.
***
Taro frowned as he looked out of his hotel room window. He couldn't pin point where his plan had gone wrong, but it had somehow. It took him nearly five months to set up in Japan and gain back the money and men lost when they had left New York. He had the soldiers, he had the resources, and he had the money, he should have easily overpowered those old men. Seven of them had come to meet with Taro, to "talk". Of course, Taro had other ideas. It had been a trap, and he expected to catch the Foot leaders completely off guard.
They'd defeated his men in less than ten minutes. Taro had tried to escape, but they came after him, saying they had to teach him a lesson. He'd barely survived that "lesson". Three months of recovery, and the last four on the run.
He'd failed, and he had nowhere to go now. Instead of just being unwanted, Taro was now marked by the Foot. He shouldn't have been so power hungry. He could have ruled New York, but he wanted more, and now he had lost it all. Tatsu had taken what men hadn't deserted back to the States months ago, he was truly alone now.
Taro moved his focus from the view outside to his reflection in the window. He looked over his face and traced the thin scar over his cheek with his finger. What the hell, he thought. I've got nothing more to lose.
***