Banoffee Pie
Takes place between chapters 10 and 11 in I Fear: Fear.
The wind snaked between the branches, gently tugging at the leaves and occasionally freeing them from their binds. Golden brown flakes drifted and danced, riding the steady flow of the air currents. The majority of the trees in Central Park were naked and were no longer granted the fortune of baring the magnificent colored leaves. The cold had turned the wood a dull grey, a grey dark enough to match the winter sky.
There was one tree though, one little tree surrounded by the taller ones, hidden amongst its elders. It still bore the beautiful autumn colored leaves. On the rare occasion that the sun would peek through the thick clouds, the rays would create a spotlight for the lonely little tree and would make its leaves gleam. The yellow beams would highlight the coppers, golds and bronzes in the leaves, making it seem as if glitter had been sprinkled upon the tree. The whole thing seemed to glow under the sun's light.
This tree had captured the attention of a young woman, a young woman who had been innocently meandering through the park on her way back from school. When she had come across the tree, she hadn't been able to resist the temptation of absorbing every single detail, trying to capture the stunning memory and lock it in the back of her mind forever. She had returned many times to that tree and on one occasion she had brought her family there for a picnic. It was one of the few places that were pure in her mind. No bad memories shrouded the goodness that it possessed.
The young woman was currently there with her brother, both trying to overcome recent bad memories that had frightened them both immensely.
"Do you like it?" the young woman asked.
"I love it!" her brother exclaimed through a mouthful, sending a shower of crumbs and saliva over the woodland floor. They both drove their forks into the pie and scooped up two abnormally large pieces. They sighed in content when the pieces entered their mouths not caring for the extra crumbs and cream that was smeared on their chins and cheeks. The toffee melted in their mouths, mixing with the delicious whipped cream and making their taste buds tingle with delight. The sweetness dance on their tongues, every time they chewed a burst of flavour exploded in their mouths.
"I love it, too," the young woman finally said after she'd swallowed her mouthful. "That pie place down the street from April's is incredible. Who knew there were so many types of pie?"
"Kara, there is only one flavour of pie," her brother scolded.
"Oh, yeah?" Kara said sceptically. "And what's that, Alex?
"Pie flavour," he stated with a grin. She rolled her eyes.
"Funny," she said sarcastically. "Smartass."
They sat in a comfortable silence, using their fingers to swipe whipped cream off the top of the pie. After the incident at the docks when Alex was unconscious, Kara had promised him that she would take him some place nice and get him to try banoffee pie – her favourite.
"Why did you bring me here? Of all places," Alex asked after he had sucked away the cream from his fingers.
"When we came here last time with Momma and Papa, you seemed to love it."She remembered Alex when he was about ten years old asking to borrow her pen knife. She cautiously handed to him as she and her parents curiously watched as he began to carve all of their initials into the bark at the base of the tree. Moss had covered it over the years, but the indents were still visible.
"Besides," she continued without thinking. "I figured it was better than the docks, right?" She immediately cursed herself and bit her tongue.
He fell into a silence, a frown settled on his features. He was deep in thought, and that worried Kara immensely.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."
He shook his head. "No, Kara, it's not that. It's just that… Donnie said that the injury on my stomach was serious, and when I fell in the water I was unconscious. We were under for a long time so… How the heck did I survive all that?"
She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair.
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that too. Honestly, I have no idea how you survived. It's a horrible thought so don't dwell on it but, any eleven year old with an injury as serious as yours should've died, let alone being thrown into a freezing cold stormy sea at night. You may've spent two weeks unconscious but not once did you get a fever or fall ill. The water was dirty so you should've at least had an infection. But you didn't."
The more she spoke the more she realised the significance of his survival and his current health. He shouldn't be there sitting with her underneath the golden tree, living, breathing and conversing about how he should've died. She hated to think about it. Her life would be an endless pit of misery if Alex hadn't survived that night.
They almost took him from her. They almost succeeded in killing her beloved brother. Had Alex been weaker than he was at the time, he would've died right then and there. The mere thought of his potential death made her blood boil. It made her want to scream, made her heart beat with a determination stronger than she had ever known, a determination to annihilate the ones who almost took his life.
Angry tears made their way down her cheeks, a scarce amount but enough for Alex to wrap his arms around her. She responded immediately and buried her head in his shoulder.
He never seized to amaze her with his maturity. She was constantly reminding herself to let him have his independence, that, honestly, he could manage without her if he really needed to. She couldn't manage without him though. He was what kept her grounded when she was losing it, what kept her focused when she lost sight of everything around her.
Her protectiveness sometimes clouded her sight of his freedom and she had to stop herself from locking him in a room to keep him from harm. Her determination to protect him had worsened since the disappearance of their parents. His health was her responsibility now. Their parents weren't around to remove some of the weight of the heavy burden. Of course, the Hamato family was an immense help and she could trust them with Alex's life, but it did little to ease the thought that she was so heavily relied upon. But, her stubbornness and protectiveness was improving. He was helping her get better, reminding her of when to release her tight hold.
They both knew Leonardo was similar to Kara in that way. She sometimes called him "Mother Hen" when really, she was just as bad. She admired him for many things but his determination to protect his family was probably the main source of her admiration. She had one eleven year old kid to keep safe when he had two other teenage mutant ninja turtles and a Michelangelo to look out for.
"I suppose you're just stronger than you or I ever imagined. Besides, Donnie's a genius isn't he? He can fix anybody," Kara said through a sniffle.
She pulled back from him and wiped away her tears. It was her turn to do the comforting.
"Alex, don't worry about what happened there. It's all in the past. They'll never hurt you again. I promise."
"You still worry about it though don't you? You still wonder about what would've happened if Raph hadn't shown up or if Donnie wasn't there to fix me," he said.
"We owe the guys a great deal. And, yes. I do," she said with a sad smile but she soon shook her head. "But I'm just overreacting. I'm your sister. What else do you expect me to do?"
Alex grinned. "Knowing you? Nothing."
She chuckled. "Let's not talk about this anymore. This place is supposed to bring back good memories. We should take the guys here on a picnic when things cool down, like when we brought Momma and Papa here. Who knows? Maybe one day Momma, Papa, Master Splinter and the guys will be able to come on a picnic with us."
"If we can get them back," Alex mumbled.
Kara grasped his chin between her fingers and turned his head towards her.
"When we get them back. I have no doubt in my mind that one day everyone we care about will sit under this tree with us, having the greatest picnic of our lives." She smiled. "When that day comes, we'll know that we've succeeded. We'll know that we've survived our struggles and that we've won. How much do you want that day to come?"
He looked at her without hesitation. "I want it more than my life."
"Then nothing can stop us, can it? Whenever you have any doubts of our parents returning or have any worries and I'm not there to help you, remember today. Today will be a good memory of a promise that we've made to each other. We promise that one day, after we're reunited with our parents, we'll have a picnic with the people we love in a place free of worries," she said. "This is our tree of purity."
He smiled and nodded with a new sense of determination that made her heart swell with pride. And so, with the promise made, they discussed the events of their future picnic, laughing at the image of their parents' reactions to their new friends. They remained under their tree until dusk and finished their pie save for the last slither that they'd saved for Michelangelo. They wandered back to the manhole they came from where said turtle was waiting and he immediately grabbed the remaining slice when they were safely down in the sewers. Giggles and laughter echoed throughout the tunnels as Alex chased after the hyperactive turtle, leaving Kara to smile at the scene before her.
That day new, good memories were made that shrouded the bad ones. Though the incident at the docks would never leave their minds, positive events like today helped them see that they were still capable of being happy, that not all hope was lost. New memories full of laughs, cries and banoffee pie.