This is a sort-of dry run, pre-TMNT fanfic short story. I was originally going to wait and use this scene in the actual fan fiction series I will be working on, but decided to go ahead and write the story out and post it while it is still fresh in my mind. This scene came into my mind at work the other day and has been occupying my mind ever since. This scene comes into play a long way from where it's original story will start. I want to thank Nala162024 for encouraging me to start writing fan fiction, and for her replies to my requests for her input in regards to Don's nickname for Tori.

Obviously I don't own the TMNT.

Eve, Yoshi, and Tori, are all my original OC's.

Now without further ado...here's "Tori's Bandanna"...

...

It was just about time to put Yoshi and Tori to bed for the night when Don realized he hadn't seen Tori anywhere within the last hour or so. This caused him to worry, and he began searching through the various rooms of the house for his little girl. Finally, to Don's relief as he reached the living room, he caught sight of his 5 year old daughter. She was sitting on the floor in the far corner of the room, and all but facing the wall. Don knew right away that something was wrong.

"Hey Sweetie," Don said as he went over and knelt beside her, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied solemnly.

"Come on Wildflower," Don said gently, "Daddy won't be able to get any sleep tonight if you don't tell Daddy what's bothering you."

Tori just sat there quietly for a brief moment. Then, deciding she didn't want to be the reason for her daddy loosing any sleep, she slowly looked up at him and held out her left hand. As Don looked at her hand, he noticed that in it she held a lavender colored ribbon. A ribbon that had in fact had become a customary part of Tori's attire when she was 2 years old. It was so rare to see Tori without that ribbon tied in her hair that until that moment, Don hadn't even notice she wasn't wearing it. Don took the ribbon and looked it over. It wasn't torn. In fact, it appeared to be just fine. He couldn't make any connection between the ribbon and why his little girl would be so sad.

Puzzled, Don asked, "What's wrong with your ribbon?"

Tori didn't answer him. She just lowered her gaze back down to the floor.

"Tori?" he prodded gently trying to get her to answer his question. Again there was a lapse of silence. During that time of silence, Don thought about how much Tori resembled her mother. She shared a lot of the same physical characteristics as her mother, right down to her golden brown hair. However, from the looks on Tori's face as she tried to avoid his gaze, her facial expressions were mostly the same as his.

Then finally, though hesitantly she said, "Yoshi say ninjas not wear ribbins." Don couldn't help but half smile at her pronunciation of ribbons. Tori was obviously picking up her mother's slightly different dialect and using it in some of her own speech. Dutchified Eve would call it. Realizing his mind was getting off track, he quickly refocused his thoughts on Tori's response. For a moment, Don still couldn't make the connection of what the ribbon had to do with Tori's downhearted mood. Then suddenly it hit him. Earlier in the day Yoshi—Tori's twin brother—had been given his first bandanna. Don had never really given much thought to giving Tori a bandanna of her own. It is not that Tori didn't deserve one, but he just never really saw his little girl as the mask wearing type of kid.

"Well," he began, unsure of what to say, "It's true that none of the ninjas in our family wear ribbons, but none of them are little girls like you either." Again Tori's gaze returned to the floor. "Is that why you took the ribbon out of your hair, because Yoshi told you that ninjas don't wear ribbons?" Don asked hoping he had figured out what was bothering Tori. She nodded her head. Don had his answer, but he wasn't sure where to go from there. He sighed and said, "Tell you what Sweetheart, I'll talk to mommy about getting you a bandanna of your own. Would you like that?" Tori's face lit up slightly as she quickly nodded. "Okay, but in the mean time, what do you say we put this ribbon back in your hair?" Again Tori nodded, smiling brightly for the first time since this conversation began. Don did his best to tie the ribbon in a bow the way he usually saw it in Tori's hair, Eve usually tied the ribbons. It didn't look quite right when he finished tying the bow, but it was the best he could do. "Come on Sweetie," Don said as he picked her up, "mommy is going to wonder where we are if we don't get you to bed soon."

Don was just starting to head for Tori's room when Eve entered the doorway of the living room. "There you two are. " Eve said slightly exasperated, "Yoshi is already fast asleep in his bed, and I was starting to think you two had wandered off somewhere."

"Not a chance." Don said with a smile as he looked down at Tori. "We just had a little matter to sort out that's all."

"Oh." Eve said realizing that there must have been something wrong. "Is everything alright then?"

"We'll talk about it later." Don said signaling to Eve that he wanted to talk about it after the twins were both asleep. "Right now I think someone is ready for her bedtime song."

Eve smiled. "Of course, it is time for this little one to drift off to dreamland isn't it?"

Don just smiled in response as he looked at Tori. Tori's head was already resting against his shoulder. She seemed to be drifting off to sleep fast after their little conversation only moments ago. When they reached Tori's room, Don kissed her on the forehead, and gently placed her down on the bed. Eve then began to tuck her in as she softly sang the lullaby that had become a nightly tradition in the twins' bedtime routine. As the song came to an end, Eve reached up to gently remove the ribbon from Tori's hair. Just before her hand reached the ribbon, Don touched her shoulder, and silently signaled her to let it be. Puzzled, Eve let him take her by the hand and lead her out of Tori's room, quietly turning out the light and closing the door behind them. He then led her to their room. Once there she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Okay Don, what's going on?"

He sat down beside her. "Well, Tori is upset because Yoshi told her that ninjas don't where ribbons."

"And?" she prodded, though was sure she already knew where this was leading.

"And I told her we'd talk about giving her a bandanna of her own." he stated.

Eve chuckled.

Not seeing how this could possibly be humorous he asked, "And how is this funny?"

Eve stood up and walked over to the closet where she pulled out her small sewing basket. She then walked back to the bed and handed it to Don. "Look inside."

With a questioning look on his face he opened up the basket. When he saw what was in it, he looked up at Eve completely stunned. Then looking back in the basket, he pulled out a small lavender bandanna covered in butterfly print and asked, "How did you know Tori would want a bandanna?"

"I didn't know for sure. I made it just in case." she replied as she sat back down on the bed. "Actually, when you said to me about making Yoshi's bandanna, I was surprised that you didn't ask me make one for Tori, too."

"I just never saw it coming." Don stated still stunned.

Eve smiled, "That's because you see her as your darling baby girl who should be gussied up in ribbons and other frills—not ninja masks. But you forget that our little Tori is also very much a tom-boy. So, she's going to want to wear masks and do other things just like Yoshi will do. More than likely this is just a phase she needs to go through."

"I suppose." Don stated absently, not convinced that this was going to be 'just a phase.'

Eve leaned in towards him and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll see…by this time next week she'll probably be back to just wearing ribbins in her hair." Don half smiled. "Besides," Eve continued, "even if it's not just a phase, she'll still be wearing a ribbin."

Confused, Don asked, "What do you mean?"

"You mean you didn't see it?" Eve asked surprised that Don hadn't noticed. "It's there on her mask just as plain as day."

Don looked back at the mask. Sewn into the mask was a lavender ribbon that was tied into a bow at the top just where it would be if Tori wore her ribbon as a headband. He chuckled. "I guess you've thought of everything."

"Pretty much…this time at least." Eve said with a grin.

Don put his arms around her and pulled her close. "I guess that's part of why I love you so much." Then he kissed her.

"Come on, Don." Eve said smiling as she stood, and then took Don's hand to pull him to his feet. "Let's check on the twins one more time and then head for the rooftops. It's a beautiful clear night, and you owe me a romantic evening of star gazing."

Don simply grinned.

The next morning, Eve got the twins up and ready for the day so that they could have a bit of play time while she made breakfast in the kitchen. When she had finished with Yoshi and Tor's breakfast she called them to the table. Yoshi got there first. He climbed up into his chair and started to eat. Tori entered the room not long after. She was headed for her chair when she looked up at Yoshi and noticed that he was wearing his bandanna. She stopped dead in her tracks, and stared at him. Her eyes completely focused on his blue colored bandanna with orange flame print.

Looking over her shoulder as she continued to work on making breakfast for Don and herself, Eve noticed that Tori had yet to finish making her way to the table. "Tori honey, you need to hurry up and eat your breakfast. Your uncle Leo will be here any minute to take you and Yoshi to the dojo for your ninjitsu lesson." Tori didn't move her focus still on Yoshi's bandanna. "Tori?" Eve prodded, this time turning all the way around to watch her daughter. Still Tori didn't move or even acknowledge that she heard her mother. She was so focused on Yoshi's bandanna that she never even heard someone come up behind her, and she jumped when she felt someone's hand touch the top of her head.

When she looked up her father was standing there smiling at her. "Better do as mommy says Wildflower."

"Yes, Daddy." She replied before scurrying to her chair to do as she was told.

Don helped Tori into her chair and kissed her on the cheek. As he made his way toward where Eve was working on breakfast, he gently ruffled his son's bandanna, which caused Yoshi to giggle.

They were all just about finished eating breakfast when Leo arrived to take the twins for their daily ninjitsu lesson. Yoshi dashed to his uncle, excited to show Leo his bandanna. Tori slid down off her chair, and solemnly started making her way towards Leo.

She had only taken about five steps when her mother called to her. "Tori honey, come here a minute…we need to fix your bow." She glanced at Don, which was his cue to get the box that was currently on the kitchen counter. Tori walked back to her mother. Eve had just taken the ribbon out of Tori's hair when Don made it back to her side with the box. "You know, Tori…I don't think this ribbin is quite right for wearing during ninjitsu lessons." Eve said with small smile.

Tori gave her parents a look of near devastation. Then Don knelt down beside her, "Mommy's right Wildflower, this will be much better for you to wear during your ninjitsu lessons." He opened the box and took out the bandanna. Tori's face lit up as she squealed with delight at seeing her mask. Don then took the bandanna and put it on Tori. "There…a perfect fit." Don said as he finished tying the knot at the back of her mask.

"Thank you Daddy!" Tori said excitedly as she hugged her father.

"You're welcome Wildflower." Don said returning the hug. "Don't forget to thank mommy, too."

"Thank you Mommy." Tori said as she moved to her mother to hug her as well.

"You're welcome Sweetheart." Eve replied with a smile as she hugged her daughter.

"Okay Wildflower," Don said smiling. "It's time to get a move on…uncle Leo won't wait for much longer."

Tori grinned at her parents before scurrying off to where Leo and Yoshi were. Leo waved to Don and Eve before leading the twins to the dojo for their lesson.

"You know Don," Eve said with a chuckle. "It's a good thing the twins are to young to spar with each other."

"Why do you say that?" Don asked.

Eve smiled. "Because when those two are older, and Yoshi says something to Tori that upsets her…she'll probably use the sparring matches in their training as an opportunity to wax his little shell faster than Mikey can scarf down a pizza…just to make her point."

Don laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right." he said, pulling Eve close. "You're probably right."