A Christmas Wish.
Summary:
It's December. It's nearly Christmas! But what Ari wants more than anything is not expensive items or fancy clothes. What she truly wants is to see Leonardo in the light. Will Arienne Lyn get her Christmas Wish?
Author's Note:
Hello everyone!
I hope you guys like this; companion with "A puck his girl!"
Another thing that I would like to point out is that the Series never really did flush out Ruffington. True he is a smuggler and works on weapons but what else? How did he get so rich? These questions have got me curious so this is my own spin on his character and how Ari's family is connected to Ruffington and possibly to Nobody.
I also raised the rating of this fanfic series to Rated: MATURE. It's not for sexual situations between Ari and Leo but, for the battle that Leo and them, between Ruffington.
Please read and review, thank you!
Alonia143.
A Christmas Wish:
He kept pacing around in his bedroom. He didn't like not knowing what he could get for her, but he knew that he had to think of something.
Glancing at the picture frame on his nightstand, Leo sighed. The girl in the picture was that of his girlfriend.
He got a lot of teasing from Raph, Mikey and respectfully from Donny. Master Splinter would just smile on telling his other sons to leave their oldest brother alone on his love life.
It was very strange for Leo to call Ari his girlfriend because he didn't see her like that. He saw her as his best friend first. The love part was something that he was still trying to figure out on where that born from.
Leonardo had gotten Ari a lot of dark chocolate, flowers of all kinds and rarely went on a date with her. The only reason why he couldn't take her out on proper dates was because he couldn't show himself.
It has had worked for a couple of reasons but now, it's starting to become a problem. Starting to drive a wedge between the two of them. A lot of bickering and some arguments but making up awkwardly the next night.
"Uhg!" he gruffed, lying on his bed.
"You okay, Leo?" Donny asked from his bedroom door.
"You can come in Donny. Though, maybe you can help me with this?" Leo replied back, sitting up and sighing.
Donny walked in and saw that his oldest brother had the weight of the world on his hunched shoulders.
"What's wrong?" He asked him again, sitting next to him on his bed.
"It has to do with my relationship with Arienne and well…She and I have been arguing on me showing myself to her. Also I don't know what to get her for Christmas, since it's just a couple of weeks away," Leo explained a bit.
Donny thought on this for a good couple of minutes and then said to him "Hm...Well from what I can see, Leo, is to show what you really look like to her. For close to a year now, you two have been well together from the very start. And if you need some help, I can help you along,"
"You would Donny?" Leo asked in shocked.
"Yes. She's going to be around you a lot and should get to know what we all look like. Besides how will Cody take to us being who we are when he's an adult?" Donny stated back, smiling.
"Cody? What?" Leo asked confusedly.
Donny just pointed to the smaller picture frame that had Cody's name on it.
"Oh. Well…uh…I don't know," Leo replied, trying to make sense of all of this.
"Might as well get him use to us before adulthood. Besides, Papa Leo, he is your son," Donny teased him.
Suddenly it hit Leonardo like a ton of bricks.
"I am a Father!" he said loudly, jumping up and freaking out.
"Leo. Leo!" Donny tried to calm his oldest brother down.
Leo wasn't hearing him; he was nearly going into a panic attack.
WHACK!
"Ah! Don, that hurt," Leo complained, rubbing his forehead.
"Sorry, but, you were freaking out. And it worked. Now, we've all had time to think this over. Master Splinter is nearly tickled pink that he's a grandfather. Why else do you think he's so gentle with you and Ari?" Donny replied back.
"I guess so. It's just that I never saw it that way, just …I want to be with Ari like …well like Casey and April," Leo expressed stressfully.
Donny chuckled and then said "For you two to get to that point, is maybe to give Arienne what she has been asking for? To show yourself to her?"
"And what if she doesn't like what she sees, Don? You know how the groups of people across the nation are joining up against the "aliens" in New York City. Didn't H.A.T.E. teach any of us that?"
"One, Arienne has been with you before the Triceratons invaded earth that they were looking for Professor Honeycut. Two, she has been asking this from you for how long now? A couple of weeks?"
"Months really. Well before we became a couple. She's really curious when it comes to me or my family and friends,"
"Well, there you go. If she has been asking for this, then I would say that is killing two birds with one stone. Her Christmas gift and revealing how you really look. Also like I said before, I'll be there if you need me," Donny told him, smiling.
Heavily sighing Leonardo nodded.
"Just, where are you planning to do this?" Donatello asked him curiously.
"That I don't know. She really liked Casey's farm house," Leo replied back thinking it over.
"Well, that wouldn't be a bad place to start," Donny encourage his brother.
"Alright, I need to go out to April's anyway," Leonardo said, having that thoughtful look to him.
Don nodded as he got up and left his oldest brother alone.
Leonardo grabbed his shell cell and headed out of the lair.
When Leo had walked into April's apartment and stayed standing, he saw her walked up the spiral staircase.
"Hello Leo. It's a surprise to see you," April greeted him, hugging him when she was in reach.
He returned the hug and replied "Yeah. I uh…I need your help with something. It's…uh…well… it's a present for my…uh…my son,"
"What?" she asked him, cleaned out her ears with her fingers and looked at him again.
It was so weird for Leo to have said that Cody was his son.
"My girlfriend adopted a kid when the Triceratons invaded Earth looking for Professor Honeycut. The boy's parents were killed by looters. I just wanted to get him something about Japan?" Leo explained, looking at the floor.
April smiled and then said "I'm very happy for you, Leo. And I have a lot of books and such from or about Japan. Let me go downstairs and get the box, okay?"
Leonardo waited as April went back downstairs to get the stuff. He would have gone with her, but the people of New York City were starting to put two and two together that he was from the Triceraton invasion.
April came back up with two boxes instead of one.
"Here you are," she said after he took the first one from her.
"Thank you April. I uh…I hope that one day I can repay you," he told her, gently walking over to the dining table and looking through the box.
"Don't worry about it, Leo. Besides maybe I can help you out with whatever you have planned?" she asked him with a smile.
"Well uh…what do you have in mind April?" Leo replied, not sure where this was going.
April put the other box next to the other one and dug into them both. Leo stepped back and out of the way.
The frost that made the ground crunch under her feet, all of the branches were bare of leaves, the temperatures dropping from scorching 80's and 90's to nearly down to where snow could appear at any given storm system. And the hours of the sun were shortening.
Walking down the drive way to the main road, Arienne was bundled up as the cold of winter was vastly approaching.
Every afternoon, she would wait for Cody to get home from school. He had transferred into a private schooling since Ari's father had harassed her to do it. She only caved in because she wanted him to stop bullying her and Cody.
The fighting between Cody and his classmates were still there, but less when Cody had come home with a black eye and Ari's father was visiting at the time. Let's just say that he was not "OK" with it.
Sitting on the boulder where their mail box was, Ari waited patiently.
In her pocket, she pulled out an old picture. It was the only picture of Leonardo and his brothers. She had taken it from the farm house back when she and Cody were safe from the invasion of New York City from those aliens. And it was the first time that she and Cody were getting to know one another.
Looking at the person with the blue mask, Ari heavily sighed. She hasn't heard from Leo in a couple of days. She knew it was normal for him but, she missed him so much.
Ari heard the diesel sound of the school bus heading down the road. Quickly putting her picture away, she saw the bus driver slowly crawl to a stop and then open the doors outward.
Cody walked down the steps and walked past her.
"Cody," she said, waving to the bus driver as it rolled on by.
"Leave me alone," he muttered back.
Ari walked after her son and kept in step with him. She knew that something had happened today.
"Who is Carl, Air?" Cody asked, stopping at once.
Ari replied back "I don't know who he is. Why do you ask?"
"Because he said that he knew you and uh…our family," Cody said.
She got her son into the house first and then asked him "What did he look like and did you get his full name?"
"I did. Carl P. Ruffington. He looked like …well like one of those rich financers, dirty blonde hair style from the 90's and had black framed glasses with gray or black eyes. He also wore a vest over a work shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and office slacks. He said that he would be dropping by," Cody explained more to her.
Not liking the sound of this, Ari knew she had to contact Leo at once.
In a very old memory, Arienne knew who Ruffington was. He always came over to her parent's house; never knowing why he did but always gave her gifts and toys.
SMASH!
"AH!" Cody yelled out of fright as Ari pulled them into the half bathroom.
Windows in the front of the house were broken in. Ari had opened the half bathroom window there and pushed Cody and his backpack through it.
WHAM!
"Cody, run!" Arienne told him fearfully.
"No! I'm staying!" He said back.
"I need you to get in contact with Leo," she whispered low handing to him the shell cell and the old picture, as strangers within black outfits and black ski masks over their faces started to walk into the home.
Cody nodded as he took the shell cell and then was handed the picture from Air.
"He's the one in the blue mask. Go to the Antique shop that has April O'Neil or Casey Jones. I will find you, I promise that I will. I love you, always," she told him, urging him away from the house, with a zipped lock bag full of cash.
Cody didn't like leaving his mother behind, he never did. He ran away from the house as his mother screamed from being tasered unconscious inside.
"Oh whoa, these are like brand new books," Leo had said, looking into the box of stuff that April had brought up.
"Yeah, someone just left them at our door step and I couldn't quite place them anywhere in the shop. I collect antiques, not modern stuff," April told him.
From the corner of her eye she saw Leo flinched.
"Leo?" She asked him curiously.
The sharp pain that passed through his body was on his right side. He doubled over his stomach and knelt on the ground.
And just as suddenly it had appeared, it was gone.
"Ari," He whispered, knowing that only his girlfriend could get that from him.
The dragon within Leo and his brothers never fully "disappeared". It lay "dormant" and only awoken accordingly to each turtle brother.
Ring-Ring! Ring-Ring!
Leo took out his shell cell and answered "Hello?"
"LEO! LEO!" Cody's frightened voice greeted him.
"Cody, what…where's Ari?" he asked him, standing up.
"They got Air! They got Air!" Cody told him.
"Who's got Arienne, Cody? And where are you?" Leo asked of him.
"I'm heading to the antique shop. Air told me to go there. Leo, you have to get my mother back!" Cody replied, desperate.
"Okay, I'm already at the shop. Just go up the metal spiral stair case. Deep breathes for me OK? You are safe," Leo instructed him.
Walking over to the window, he saw a cab pull up.
"April, can you go downstairs and pay for the cab fare please?" Leo asked of her.
She nodded and hurriedly downstairs as frantic small footsteps came up.
Leo was flattened on his back as he saw the quivering body of Cody.
"Cody!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arm around the terrified little boy.
"They got her! They got Air, Leo!" he said, snuggling into the plastron plates.
"Easy. Deep breathes. You're alright now. I'm here," Leo soothingly told him, rubbing his back.
Cody looked up into his face and Leo tried not to let it get to him. However his major fear had finally come true: Ari was in fatal danger because of him. April came back up and looked at the two.
"Who's got Arienne?" she asked Cody.
"Carl P. Ruffington," he replied, getting up and off of Leo.
Leo gasped and said "Ruffington!"
"Yeah, he stopped me before I could get onto the bus. I almost missed it at my new school," Cody told him.
Leo stood and then pulled out his shell cell.
"Mikey, call Nobody and the Justice Force. Ruffington has Ari and Cody just escaped Ruffington getting him. We're at April's, come stat," Leo ordered his youngest brother and hung up.
Cody pulled out the picture and looked at it, looked at Leo and then looked at the picture again.
"Where did you get that Cody?" Leo asked him.
"Air has had it since we were at that farm house. She gave it for me to know what you look like, so I could easily find you," Cody explained, handing it to Leo.
"You're not afraid of what I am?" Leonardo asked him, finally giving into his worry.
"Why should I? You're not a bad guy, Leo," Cody honestly told him back.
"But I'm a mutated-"
"Doesn't matter to us," Cody interrupted him, smiling.
"Us? You mean, Ari doesn't care either?" Leo asked him curiously.
Cody was about reply when he saw other mutated turtles and the Justice Force all come up into the apartment.
Casey walked over and asked "Who's got Ari, Leo?"
"I told you, Ruffington does!" Mikey argued to him.
"Ruffington!" Nobody snarled.
"I don't know how she got into his snarls, but, Nobody, I am getting my girlfriend back," Leo vowed.
"What is her last name?" Nobody asked him curiously.
"Arienne Lynn," Leo gave to him.
Nobody gasped and knelt on his right knee.
"Nobody?" Donny asked.
"She was just a little girl when her father took out a loan. A loan that he couldn't pay off. Not without a hard sacrifice to show him who was in charge of the stock markets," Nobody explained to them all.
"You knew Ari when she was a child?" Leo asked him, wanting the full story.
"Yes I did. She was always giving me daisies whenever I did my patrol in her neighborhood and when the neighbors would call in, because her father would be arguing loudly with her worried mother. Always smiling and laughing and being a kid," Nobody explained further.
"What did her father do to owe so much?" Donny asked him.
"Close to what today's money would be: a Billion and half dollars. Ruffington is a cruel and sly villain. He always had them stay at around 25,000 dollars in the bank's checking. I know this because it was then that Miss Lynn's father came to me. Stating how some things didn't add up and what he had done for Ruffington. It was my start on Ruffington's trail and my career at an end as a cop," Nobody explained more and more.
"I don't care!" Cody snapped at him "I want my mother back! NOW!"
Raph walked over to him and said "You will get her back, Cody. No one goes after our family and gets away with it,"
Leo knelt and told his son "I will bring her back home, Cody. I promise,"
"You better, Leonardo. She loves you," Cody said back, stubbornly.
Leo sighed and nodded.
"So, how do we go about rescuing your girlfriend, Leonardo?" Silver Sentry asked him.
"I don't know where they are keeping her. Cody do you?" Leo said, looking at him.
"Warehouse 71, downtown area, close to the docks," Cody replied after he closed his eyes and thought on it.
"How do you know that?" Casey asked him curiously.
"Ruffington was on his cell phone before I got on the bus. He didn't sound happy," Cody replied, looking at the purple masked turtle, which was on the computer.
"I found her location, Leo," Donny said after several minutes of searching.
"I need half of you to watch Cody," Leo informed them.
"What! No!" Cody protested.
Kneeling down once more, Leo then stated "IF you go with us, they can and will use you as bate. Ari and I don't want you hurt or worse, killed because they wanted to use you as leverage over something that happened years ago. If that happened, the guilt would eat at us both, but mostly with Ari, Cody. You have to stay here and be strong for her,"
"Besides, her knowing that you are safe and sound, brings her some kind of peace of mind," Raph chimed in too.
Cody glared at the ground and said "I can help too,"
"We know you can Cody," Nobody then spoke up, kneeling to the little boy "But, like Leo has told you: Ruffington plays dirty. The safest place is here, where I know that waiting will not be kind but, it is for the best,"
"After this, the Justice Force can make you a member of our team," Silver Sentry said, smiling.
"I will stay with you Cody," Nanobot spoke up.
"Why?" Cody snapped.
"Because I too was in your place. However, I am made out of nanos and I acted like a kid, wanting a family. Leonardo and his brothers, helped me," Nanobot replied calmly back.
Cody nodded, still not giving up.
"April, Casey, Nanobot, Michelangelo and Raphael, you guys stay here," Leonardo ordered them. "Nobody, Silver Sentry, Donatello, Tsunami, Chrysalis and I will go to the warehouse and rescue Ari,"
"But Leo!" Mike protested now.
"Michelangelo, I don't have time for this. You, stay here, with my son," Leo snapped back. "I am trusting you to protect him with your life, if plan A doesn't work out,"
A heavy silence fell in the room as Leo swallowed nervously.
Cody looked at Leo.
"Don't worry, Leo, we got Plan B covered," Raph affirmed it with a glare at Mikey.
Cody walked over to Leo and asked softly "You really see me as your son, Leo?"
"Of course I do. My father, Master Splinter, no matter how much he is a mutated rat, he is still my father. And he adopted me and my brothers," Leo explained, getting to Cody's eye level once more.
Cody nodded and said "Please bring her back,"
Gently wrapping his arms around his son, Leo suddenly felt that emotion that Master Splinter had told him long ago: the feeling of complete peace within family.
"I vow to bring us all back," Leo whispered into his boy's hair.
"Come on, we need to get to that warehouse," Nobody told them all.
"Raph, if Plan A fails, call Plan C," Leo told him before they left the apartment.
"Plan C?" Casey asked Raph.
"Master Splinter. Which I am calling him now, just in case Plan A does fail and we can just go into action," Raph replied and called up Master Splinter.
Her throat was dry and hoarse. Her muscles spasmed from being tortured from the tasered too much. Her mind wasn't taking in the pain at the moment but, later she knew she would be sore. Her arms were tied behind her to a wooden chair; her feet tied to the front legs of it.
"So will you tell me the pin number?" the collected charmed voice asked her.
"I don't know it!" Ari argued back; her voice breaking.
"Petty. I wonder how your son would feel if he sees you like this?" Ruffington bated her.
Arienne didn't fall for it.
"I wonder, how he would feel when his mother is cold dead?" Ruffington asked tauntingly.
Not giving up, Ari struggled to get free.
"Now, tell me the pin code and I can make your family's debt zero once more," Ruffington ordered her.
"I don't know it you moron!" she told him once more.
Suddenly you could hear a broken woman's voice screaming loudly within the warehouse. It made Leo sick to his stomach.
After another couple of minutes of painful torture of the taser, Ari rested against the chair; panting heavily.
"Pin code," Ruffington stated, smiling.
WHAMP!
"AH!" Ruffington yelled as he kicked in the chest as Leonardo glared at him.
"I got your pin code!" Leonardo snarled at Ruffington.
Hazily looking up at the back of Leo, Ari twitched and breathed oddly.
"What…what are you?" Ruffington demanded.
"Your worst nightmare," Leo hissed low.
Ruffington then pulled out a gun from inside his shirt, took aim and shot at Leo. Leo jumped up and dodged the laser bullets.
Plan A had fallen apart fast when Leo had heard Ari screaming like that. He knew that he would never get her screaming out his soul.
The others spread out within warehouse 71. Nobody jumped down and started to help with Leonardo of getting Ari out of the firing line of the bullets.
Donatello was searching for the power grid; Silver Sentry was watching above the warehouse, Tsunami and Chrysalis were also fighting the members of the foot that suddenly appeared.
"Leonardo! The Foot," Silver Sentry informed him as more Foot Clan arrived.
"No," he whispered as he pulled out his double katanas and jumped into the air.
He landed next to Ruffington and sliced the gun in half and jumped away.
KABOOM!
"AAH!" Ruffington yelled in pain.
"Ruffington, what is going on with that order!" an all familiar deep voice greeted Leo's ears.
"Sentry!" Leo ordered to him.
Before they had entered the warehouse, Leonardo had given a very intense warning to not use Arienne's name. Leo already felt bad that 1 bad guy had gotten to her; he didn't need every villain to know that they were connected.
Silver Sentry swooped down and picked up Ari as she had been watching Leo fight.
"Leo," she whispered low.
"Ah-ah. Save that strength. They'll be fine," Silver told her as he flew away from the warehouse.
Back inside, it was like a gun and fighting war had gone off. Leonardo was battling Hun, Donatello was fighting with the foot ninjas, Tsunami and Chrysalis were still fighting against the Foot ninjas but working their way towards Donny and Nobody was battling it out with Ruffington.
Leo was getting tired of this. Ari was safe now; they no longer needed to be here.
Giving Hun a good kick in the stomach and slicing his katana through his long hair, Leo then did a round house kick and sent Hun flying.
"AAH!" he screamed and smacked his head against some stone, knocking him out.
The Foot ninjas were being defeated too as Nobody and Ruffington were still firing guns at one another.
"Nobody! Come on!" Leo ordered him.
"I'll stay behind, go without me!" he yelled back.
"What? No!" Leo said, holding out his hand towards his friend and ally.
One laser bullet had hit Ruffington and Nobody.
"Nobody!" Donny exclaimed.
The gun fighting was to a halt. The Foot Ninjas were actually running away from the warehouse as two bodies had hit the concrete floor.
Leonardo ran towards Nobody; slipping his finger under the gloves and searching for his pulse.
"He's alive," Leo informed Donny as he looked where that bullet had hit their friend.
"But not for long, we have to get out of here Leo," Don informed him.
"Let me take him to the hospital," Chrysalis requested as she picked him up and flew out of the warehouse.
Leonardo had looked over to where the body of Carl P. Ruffington laid with a pool of red blood surrounding him.
"To make sure that no one gets to these and to remember to never mess with my family, burn this place to the ground," Leonardo ordered the others.
Donny and the others nodded. Leo looked back to where Hun had fallen, but had found out that he was missing with the blood trail marks leading away from the warehouse.
"Let's go," Leo ordered and they ran out of there.
While they ran, Donny brought out a detonator and pressed the red button on it.
BOOM!
KABOOM!
BOOM!
All over the warehouse, the explosives were set off.
Leonardo watched as all of it went up in smoke and ash.
"Come on Leo. Let's go home," Don told him, gently pulling him back to April's.
When Leo had walked up the metal spiral stair case, he was awfully nervous.
No one said anything as he stayed in the shadows. He noticed that Ari was on the couch, it was dark in April's apartment and Cody was probably in the guest bedroom.
April walked over to him, tapped his arm and pulled him into the kitchen.
"I had a doctor come and check her out. She's in a bad way Leo but, will heal given two weeks. She kept asking about you. I couldn't tell her and so I gave her a sedative that will keep her out of pain until morning. How did it go at the warehouse?" April informed him.
Leo nodded and then whispered back "She won't have to worry about Ruffington coming after her or her family anymore. We ran into Hun and the Foot. Most of them ran away, including Hun,"
April nodded and then whispered "Whenever you give her, her Christmas present just make sure it's from your heart,"
Scraping his foot against the tile of the kitchen floor, Leo nodded. He didn't like doing this. Wasn't tonight enough for Arienne to know that he leads a dangerous life?
April had walked to the master bedroom, leaving her friend to his thoughts. She knew he would do the right thing.
Across the room, into the living room, Ari had witnessed and heard the whole thing. She didn't take her sedative until she saw with her own eyes that Leonardo and the others were safe. She was in severe pain but she had to put her worries to rest.
Putting the pill in her mouth and gently drinking her glass of water, she swallowed the horrid thing. Very soon, she snuggled into the pillow and was fast asleep.
Mikey walked over to Leo whispered "What are you going to do now?"
"Let her heal. We all need the rest and I will come back in two weeks. Mikey, I may need you to help me from seeing her, until Christmas Eve night turning into Christmas," Leo whispered back, his eyes set on the sleeping form.
Rubbing his neck, Mike then replied low "I don't know Leo. You can be very stubborn when you focus on something. But I will help in any way that I can. Come on; let's go back to lair,"
Leo walked through the kitchen, across the living room and towards the couch. He knelt down, fixed Air's blankets and leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"I will return, Ari. Don't be upset with me, please?" he whispered low above her ear.
"Mmm…No," she mumbled back to him.
He couldn't help the smile that formed and kissed her once more and then left.
In the morning, Ari didn't ask for Leo. She didn't ask for anything as Cody had started to take care of her with April and Casey's help.
Two weeks had passed and even though that were slow and hellish, Leonardo finally was allowed out of the lair. He carried a big sack of presents and ran across the rooftops.
April had given him Ari's new address. Strangely enough, it was the same house that she first had when she had moved out of her parent's home.
Leo sneaked his way into her bedroom and tipped toed down the stairs, hallway and stairs once more. He could hear Christmas music softly playing as it was night out. The shadows jumped out at you; making things look scary then need be.
Gently putting the sack down, he walked over to the couch and smiled. Ari was lying there with a blanket over her.
"Ari?" he asked carefully.
She opened her warm brown eyes and looked up at him.
The only light that was on was from the fireplace.
"Leo?" she asked in returned.
"Hi," he greeted, walking over and kneeling before her.
"What…this has to be a dream," she said, not quite believing it.
He reached out and gently took her hand into his, rubbing her skin and then kissing the top of her hand.
"Not dreaming. It's really happening," he told her, smiling softly.
Shock flooded through Ari's body, her eyes zeroed in on him. Leo waited patiently for her to snap out of her shock.
She blinked and then started to eye scan him from head to toe.
"The picture has no justice to the real thing," She mumbled mostly to herself.
"You're…you're not upset on how I look?" Leo asked her, not sure on what she had said.
"No? I saw a giant mutant, walking and talking, rat while I was being tended to at April's," she reminded him.
Swallowing thickly, Leonardo blushed and looked down.
"Master Splinter," he corrected her.
He felt a tug on his right arm, his eyes glided up to hers.
"Lay next to me?" she asked him.
"Are you sure? The doctors have said that-"
"Please?" she cut him off.
Sighing, Leo stood up, gently maneuvered his body around hers and snuggled into her body as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Better?" he whispered into her ear.
"Yes, and you're not that bad," she teased him.
Thankfully it was still night out or Raph would tease him for well forever on how deep he blushed.
His dragon within his soul was content for now.
"How are you?" he asked her again.
"Have you ever had nightmares from the events of your life?" she asked him instead.
"Of course I have. It is only through meditation and working out and learning to cope with it have I ever found peace. I can teach you some of it," he replied, snuggling and finding her neck.
"I would like that because Cody hasn't been getting that much sleep whenever I scream in my nightmares," she told Leo, which halted his movements.
"It is normal for people to relive the traumatic events in their dreams. It is the way of the human mind working itself out. Now, you need to help it along even more, with working out," Leo replied back.
Ari turned onto her back, looking up at him. For the longest time, she wondered what he looked liked without his mask on. Reaching up, she untied it and it fell away from his face.
Leonardo held very still. This was all a part of her gift. Even if he didn't like it, he was doing this for her.
The fire light had a soft touch to his face as she ran her thumb across his cheek.
"Relax, please? We're not doing anything but cuddling into one another," she said to him.
Leo heavily sighed and rested against her body lightly.
"You know, I always wanted a turtle," she said with a warm smile.
"Ha, ha. I'm not a pet," Leo protested.
"I never said 'pet' Leo," she teased him and smiled more.
"Uh huh," he winked at her.
It was then that Leo had leaned down, cupped her face with his hands and softly pressed his lips to hers. It was a hesitant and a bit awkward, first tender kiss.
Leo pulled back and rested his forehead against Ari's, breathing deeply to collect his thoughts. Her hands ran up and down on his sides slowly.
Suddenly and a high sounding squeak escaped his lips. He gazed into Ari's eyes in panic.
"It's okay," She calmly told him.
"H-how could that be OK?" he squeaked again.
Her hands stilled, leaned up and kissed him once more on the lips.
"Because male turtles chirp when they are horny," she whispered against his lips and kissed him again.
He followed after her lips, pressing his lips once more to hers. Lingering, soft, exploring. This was all very new to Leonardo and he didn't want to rush it.
Leo made sure to come back to that information that she had stored away, but he was content with just kissing. Ari hummed softly, nibbling his lower lip when he pulled back again.
Putting all of his body weight on her, he rested his right ear on top of her beating heart.
"Ari…" He panted.
"Yes?" she breathed deeply.
"Have you done this before?" he asked her.
"With guys who I thought I loved. For now, rest," she replied, leaning up and kissing his forehead.
Shivers raced up and down his back, his breathing shortened and he tried to keep his legs together.
Arienne pulled a blanket over them both. When she heard the soft snoring that Leo was making, she pulled out his shell cell.
"Yes?" Donny asked curiously.
"Leo will be staying at my place. He's fast asleep," Ari replied back.
"OK, just make sure you don't hurt him," Don warned her.
"And why would I be like Karai?" Ari asked in return.
"We just don't like to see him hurt," Don expressed.
"And neither do I. He will see you some time tomorrow. Good night," Ari told Donny and hung up.
In the morning, Leonardo had woken up. He looked around for his mask but had found it was back on his face.
Was all of last night, was that of a dream?
Getting up, he walked towards the kitchen.
"Leo!" Cody greeted him happily.
"Good morning, Cody," Leo replied back.
"What kind of tea do you like?" Ari's sweet voice washed over Leo.
He turned and looked at her. There casually leaning against the corner of her kitchen was Arienne. Leo looked her over as she was wearing jeans, a soft looking cozy long sleeved sweater with her hair down. In her hands she was holding a coffee mug with what looked liked to be coffee.
"Green tea would be nice," Leo replied back to her.
And suddenly, like before, Leo panicked. It was daylight out, he was hanging in the doorway and Ari could plainly see him.
"Deep breathes," She told him, getting his filled mug with water in it, heated up in the microwave.
"I…." Leo tried to speak but his throat closed up.
"April and some man named Casey Johns? Stopped by and gave us these two boxes filled with Japanese stuff!" Cody expressed excitedly to Leonardo.
"It's Casey Jones, not Johns, Cody. And I was going to look through it to give to you and Ari," Leo corrected his son.
"Oh I know, just like giving him a hard time," Cody replied smiling.
"Cody," Ari warned him.
"Sorry Mom. I will stop teasing Mr. Jones," Cody recited back to her.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Ari got out Leo's mug filled with hot steamy water and pulled out a green tea bag.
"What do you put in it? Sugar, milk?" she asked him curiously.
"Uh may I do it?" Leo asked her back.
"Sure," She replied and got out of his way.
Leo walked towards the corner and started to fix his tea. He didn't know how he felt about Arienne finally knowing what he looked like now.
"Did you sleep well last night?" she softly asked him.
"I did, thank you. I hope I wasn't too …loud of a snorer," he replied, blushing heavily.
"You weren't. Though, you ready to open up the presents?" she asked Leonardo, smiling at him.
"Presents? What are you talking about? Isn't Christmas"
"-Today. Christmas is today, Leo," she interrupted him.
"TODAY?" He exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah. I had asked Cody to be patient on opening them up because you were still sleeping. He didn't like it," she explained pointing to the now empty chair in the kitchen and Cody was gone.
After Leo had fixed his tea, he sipped it and it was good. He looked over at Arienne and walked over to her.
Leaning down and softly pressing his lips to hers, he kissed her.
"Good Morning and Merry Christmas Ari," he mumbled against her lips.
She smiled and kissed him back.
"Good morning and Merry Christmas, Leonardo," she whispered back.
"Air? May I PLEASE open my presents now?" Cody complained from the living room.
"You may, Cody," both Leo and Ari told him.
"YAAAY!" He cheered and there was shredding of paper sounds.
"What do you think?" Leo whispered to Ari.
"What do you mean?"
"On how I look? I'm not human, Arienne. I never was, even before the alien ooze fell on my brothers and I,"
"I am still getting use to seeing you in person and not on a picture,"
"Yes it is different in person," he said, settling them both on the couch now.
Arienne smiled as she snuggled and leaned against him. Cody was still opening his presents.
"Do we have any presents?" Leo whispered next to her ear.
"Yes, but I think we opened a lot of them last night," She whispered back, smiling.
Leonardo blushed hard.
Cody got up and brought over a large pile that had Leo's name on the presents and then got his mother's.
"Open them! Open them!" he demanded smiling.
Ari got up and then walked over to an empty space as she sat down there. Leo followed her example and they both started to open their presents too.
"Where did these come from?" Leo asked, seeing some of the writing look familiar.
"Your family and friends. April was in here putting them under the tree while you slept," Cody replied, trying out his new remote controlled airplanes from World War I and World War II.
"Merry Christmas Cody," Ari said smiling to him.
He walked over and hugged her with "Merry Christmas Mom,"
Leo watched the two.
Ari and Cody smirked as they then got up and tackled Leo to the ground.
"AAH!" he shouted in surprise but started to laugh.
"Merry Christmas Leonardo," They both told him.
Smiling at his new family, Leo then replied back "Merry Christmas,"
FIN.