"Mikey!" a high-pitched voice squealed in laughter when the young turtle stuck a red bow on the little girl's head and ran away.
Kayla giggled and got up to run after him. Leo and Don looked up from where they were looking through a large box and smiled.
Mikey ran around a corner to get away from the little three year-old, and she followed after him. However, when Kayla turned the corner she slammed into something hard and fell back on her butt. She made a pouty face as she looked up to see who she had run into.
Raph looked down at her for a moment before picking her up off the ground and placing her on his shoulders. He carried her back into the main room and placed her on their old, brown sofa. He looked down at her for a moment, looking between her face and the bow on her head. He tapped it with one of his large fingers.
"We wrappin' ya up for Christmas or somethin'?" he asked in his youthful voice.
Kayla giggled and looked up at her six year-old brother. "No! Mikey put it on my head! I was chasing him and YOU got in the way!"
Raph smirked down at her. "Oh really, I got in the way? Ya sure 'bout that, munchkin?"
Kayla scowled up at him a moment before leaning over to look behind him where her other two brothers were looking through the box of Christmas decorations. "Leo! Raph called me 'muns-kin' again!"
Leo and Don smiled at each other before Leo looked over his shoulder at her. "Why don't you help me and Donny decorate the tree?" he offered, playing the peacekeeper. Kayla beamed at him before hopping off the couch and bouncing over to the box. She helped Donny pull out the tinsel and they carried it over to the short, plastic Christmas tree Master Splinter had found in a dumpster. Don held one end while Kayla hurried around the tree, wrapping the tinsel around it as she went.
When she was done she stumbled back, slightly dizzy from going in circles, and landed in someone's arms. She tilted her head back to see Leo smiling down at her, shaking his head. He helped her stand straight up when Master Splinter came in.
"Father!" Kayla shouted in greeting as she raced up to him and threw her arms around his legs in a hug. Her father rested his hand around her back and smiled down at her. He then looked at the bow on her head and raised one furry eyebrow. He plucked it off her head and smiled knowingly, shaking his head in amusement.
"Michelangelo." he called. Mikey peaked out of the doorway of the bedroom all five siblings shared. Sensei held up the bow and looked pointedly at his youngest son. Mikey chuckled nervously.
"Sorry." he called. Kayla giggled as her brother joined the rest of the family near the Christmas tree.
They gathered in a small circle and ate the food Master Splinter had managed to find. When they were finished they placed a plate of cookies by the Christmas tree and then Sensei went to meditate for a bit, leaving the four turtle tots and their little sister alone at the foot of the couch.
Mikey inched closer to the tree and reached towards the plate. A small, five-fingered hand smacked his arm. He pulled it back.
"Ow!" he shouted, rubbing his arm and scowling at the little human.
"Serves ya right." Raph lifted Kayla into his lap and pointed at his orange-masked brother. "Those are for Santa."
"Yeah!" Kayla agreed, holding one of Raph's large hands in her two smaller ones on her lap. "If you eat Santa's cookies he'll put you on the Naughty list and take away ALL your presents!"
The three older brothers laughed while Mikey looked absolutely terrified.
"I wasn't really gonna eat them! I swear! I was just, um, uh, testing you guys! Yeah, that's it. I was testing you." Mikey shouted, defending himself.
Leo and Don looked at each other from where they sat leaning back on their hands with their legs crossed. Neither one believing their little brother.
Splinter came in then. "My children, it is time for you to go to bed. You will need your sleep if you want to wake up tomorrow morning and open your presents."
All five siblings 'Aaaww'ed at the same time before standing up. Kayla yawned and rubbed her eyes with the back of her tiny fist. Two furry, clawed hands picked her up and carried her into the room after her brothers.
The four turtles climbed into their moderate sized bed, snuggling in under the blanket. Splinter placed Kayla in with them between Leo and Mikey, so it was Leo, Kayla, Mikey, Donny, and finally Raph by the wall on the end. Kayla had a small basket that used to be her bed when she was a baby, but her brothers moved her into their bed so many times that it was just easier for her to sleep in their bed with them.
The fatherly rat kissed them all on the head, turned off the light, and left the room for the night.
Kayla was curled up in Leo's side, his arm around her like they usually slept. Kayla tried to fall asleep, but she was just too excited! It was Christmas Eve! Santa Claus was coming tonight with their presents! How was she supposed to sleep knowing that?!
Kayla turned a couple times, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, but she simply couldn't. She turned over for about the fifth time so that she could face Mikey, who had his shell to her.
"Mikey? Are you asleep?" she whispered, afraid she'd wake up her other brothers. She heard an impatient sigh before Mikey turned over to face her.
"Heck no!" he whispered back at her, "How am I supposed to sleep knowing Santa's coming?"
"I can't sleep either." Kayla whispered back.
"Maybe we can go out there and see if he came yet." Mikey suggested with an excited smile. Kayla smiled back just as excitedly, but before she could say anything-
"You two should be asleep." a sleepy voice grumbled from behind Kayla. Kayla turned and looked over her shoulder to see Leo looking at her with a scolding look.
"Aw, come on, bro." Mikey whined from on Kayla's other side. "We can't sleep. We wanna see Santa."
"Sensei said we need to sleep. If we don't we won't be able to wake up in the morning to open presents." Leo pointed out.
"Sensei don't need ta know." a fourth voice spoke from near the wall. Raph propped himself up on his elbow to look over at his other siblings. "We'll keep quiet. He won't eva' know."
Leo propped himself up on his elbow to face Raph over his siblings' heads. "If Sensei finds out about this we'll all be in huge trouble. And keep quiet! You'll wake up Donny!" Leo whispered.
Don's hand lifted up into the air. "I'm up. I never fell asleep. I'm too excited." he admitted quietly.
"Well, waddya know." Raph smirked over at his older brother, "We're all up an' thinkin' the same thing."
Leo sighed in exasperation and fell back onto the pillow. Mikey nudged Donny before crawling out of the covers.
When Leo looked back over at his siblings they were all lined up beside him, on their knees with their hands clasped together, and making adorable puppy pouting faces. He sighed again and closed his eyes.
"Okay, okay, fine!" he agreed. His younger siblings immediately pounced on him in a group hug, making him laugh. "But we have to be quiet. If Master Splinter catches us we're in big trouble." he reminded them. They all nodded with huge smiles before following Leo quietly out of the room.
They all hid around the corner that lead into the living room. Being almost a foot shorter than her brothers, Kayla couldn't see anything with them in the way. So she slipped between them and scurried into the living room, barely dodging Leo's hand trying to grab her shirt.
Kayla slid around the couch and stopped, her excited smile dropping from her face. The cookies were still there. She turned around and looked at her brothers, who were all waiting curiously with their heads peaking around the corner. She pouted and shuffled her feet back to them.
Leo patted her back and hugged her with one arm. "Well, he hasn't come yet, so we might as well go back to bed.
Kayla looked up at him, his arm still holding her close. "Couldn't we sit here and wait for him?" she begged hopefully.
Leo shook his head at her. "If we're awake he won't even come. Plus, Sensei won't be very happy with us if we do that." he pointed out gently.
"But Sensei's training us to be ninjas. So Santa won't see. He won't even know we're here." Mikey pointed out, clasping his hands in a begging posture.
Leo looked uncomfortable. "Well…"
"Please Leo?" Don begged with them. "I really want to see him, too."
"Oh…okay." Leo finally gave in and sat on the ground, his younger siblings following suit. Raph and Leo leaned back against the wall just out of sight of the Christmas tree, Don sat facing them, and Kayla sat next to Mikey just around the corner.
As Kayla waited, staring across the room at the plate of cookies, she began to hear the sound of the clock ticking, echoing through the lair and sounding almost musical. Mikey seemed to notice this too, because he started humming quietly for a few moments before he began singing.
Mikey: "Waiting, and watching for Santa to appear."
Kayla: "Hoping and wishing that he is getting near."
Leo: "Our Master Splinter told us to be so good all year."
Raph: "And now it's almost Christmas. We can feel that Santa's near
So we are"
All: "waiting and hoping that he is on his way.
Santa and reindeer are coming with his sleigh."
Kayla slowly began to nod off and her body dropped into Mikey's lap, her waist on down rested on the floor while the rest of her was in his lap.
Mikey's head lowered and he forced it back up but then his body dropped back onto the ground as he fell asleep too.
Donny: "Our Master Splinter told us to be so good all year
And now it's almost Christmas. We can feel that Santa's near."
Donny's head drooped as his body lowered to the ground and he soon fell asleep on his side. Raph started nodding off on Leo's shoulder.
Leo: "So we are…Sleepy…so sleepy, but want to stay up too
If we sleep, dear Santa, please remember we love you."
Leo's head rested on Raph's head as his eyes closed, just like his siblings. Within moments the five curious siblings were sound asleep.
About half an hour later a large figure appeared in the living room. He ate the cookies and straightened up as he ate the last one, crumbs landing in his white beard. His eyes fell on the four sleeping turtles and the little girl, making him chuckle.
He reached into his large, red bag; and pulled out several presents, one at a time.
The first one was wrapped in purple wrapping paper and was signed 'To: Donatello From: Santa' The second one was wrapped in red and signed 'To: Raphael From: Santa'. The third one was orange and signed 'To: Michelangelo From: Santa'. The fourth one was wrapped in green and signed 'To: Kayla From: Santa'. The last one was blue and signed 'To: Leonardo From: Santa'.
The man placed all the presents under the tree before looking back at the little ones. He smiled gently before pulling a large, colorful quilt out of his bag and gently placing it over all of them.
He took one last look at them before he blew some golden dust out of his palm, effectively making him disappear.
XXX
I know the whole song part was corny, but that was sort of my inspiration to write this story. Also, if you recognize the movie that song's from you had an awesome childhood!
Merry Christmas!
