First Night
She smiled and watched her hatchlings run about the open field; each one busy picking various colorful flora that littered the Shellri-Lan meadow.
However, the Queen was not at all too enthusiastic about stepping out of the castle grounds; unaccompanied and unprotected at that. But she couldn't say 'no' to them - they had been insisting on going out for several suns now. Even she was not used to being kept indoors for so long.
She just had to sneak them out.
"Mother, look what I got you!" "No, look at mine!" "Mine are more prettier!"
Her brood's excited voices snapped her out of her reverie and she smiled once again. It was a much welcomed sight to behold: her three younglings so full of life.
Three?!
Her head shot upwards and her eyes scoured the field then fell into a panic.
"Where is your sister?" she asked, diverting her attention back to the hatchlings before her.
"Over there." One said, as she pointed to her right. Her expression changed when she realized that there was no one there. Her two younger siblings seemed to have realized that their sister was nowhere in sight as well.
She ran towards the open space that her daughter had pointed to, hoping to find any clue about her eldest's whereabouts. She immediately spotted several plucked flowers scattered on the ground.
"Lorishelle!" she screamed. "Lori, where are you?"
Several moments passed and there was no answer.
The young princess was missing.
. ' .
She stood idly at the entrance that led to the turtles' individual rooms, hesitating to proceed.
Everyone in the household was asleep, she knew, as it was already past midnight.
She wouldn't want to be called insensitive for intruding at such a late hour.
It was a bad idea in the first place. She scolded herself, as she turned to take her leave. But she stopped when she realized that she was no longer alone.
The light switched on.
"Lori."
She forced a smile before she lowered her hood and turned, once again, so that she would face him. "Leonardo." She greeted. "I apologize, did I wake you?"
He stifled a yawn. "No, you hardly made any noise."
She looked at him skeptically. "Then how did you know I was here?"
He shrugged and smiled. "Call it strange, but I had a feeling it was you."
A genuine smile now replaced the earlier one as she looked down, slightly self-conscious by his remark. "Again, I am sorry for waking you."
"You didn't wake me." He assured her as he walked towards her. "Although I am surprised to find you here." He stopped right in front of her. "I'm not complaining though." He sheepishly said. "Things okay on Shellri-La?"
She finally looked up before answering, "Yes. Just quite busy."
"We were wondering when you girls were going to visit us."
"I would have brought my sisters, but it is quite late. No one knows that I left."
"You sneaked out?"
"Yes."
It was his turn to give her a disbelieving look. "It's not like you to do something like that. Is there something wrong?"
"I can't sleep." She answered truthfully, the exhaustion evident in her features. "I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight."
Leonardo felt blood rise to his cheeks. Get your head out of the gutter! He scolded himself as he watched his girlfriend fidget from where she stood. And with that, he groaned. Much, much louder than he had intended.
"I didn't realize that the idea would be so unappealing to you." He could see the hurt on her face.
"Lori, I just need to clear something with you, okay?" Leonardo gulped, not really sure how to begin. "Here on Earth ,when you say that you want to sleep with someone, it kind of means that you want to, uhm, you know…" he took a deep breath and nervously blurted out: "…mate."
"Oh." Blood rose to her cheeks, unable to look at him. "That's, that's not what I meant."
He offered her a smile and felt himself blushing as well. "I thought so."
Though in the inside he was cursing a blue streak. It would be an utter lie if he were to say that he hadn't thought about it.
But he wasn't the type to ask her for it, either.
"I simply would like to be able to share the bed with you as we sleep. " The blush on her face remained.
"Yes, of course, if you want to." He felt quite flushed at that point; very embarrassed at what he was thinking.
"But if it would be an inconvenience to you…"
"Never."
"If you're sure."
"Very."
He smiled again then extended his arm out. "May I escort you to your quarters for the night, princess?"
She giggled as took his offered arm and allowed herself to be led towards his room. The snoring that erupted from behind the three entryways they walked past validated her concern that she had arrived at an ungodly hour.
"Hey," Leonardo nudged her lightly to get her attention. "Don't worry about it. I really, really don't mind the late visit. I missed you, you know."
"I missed you, too." She replied as she leaned onto him; her cheek gently brushing against his arm as they walked.
Leonardo then ushered her inside his room. It was as she remembered: neat and clutter-free. He had insisted that she use his room while she and her sisters salvaged the remainder of their vacation on Earth a while back. It was then that they first met, under unusual and unlikely circumstances.
Lorishelle watched as he straightened the sheets on his bed. It was only then did she notice that he was not clad in his ninja gear. In fact, he was not wearing anything at all - no mask, no belt, nothing. Her eyes darted towards his bare arms as he fluffed the pillows; the strong, muscular arms that she so enjoyed being enclosed in.
She didn't realize that she was such in a daze until he walked up to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Lori, are you okay?"
"I can't sleep." She suddenly spoke, though he wondered why she was telling him that again. "I have…" she paused, as if considering if she were to proceed or not. "I've been…"
Lori suddenly felt his hand tilt her head up and she saw the concern in his eyes. It was only then did she realize that she was crying.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he reached out to wipe her tears away with the back of his fingers.
She sniffed and pulled herself to him crying quietly into his chest. "I thought that maybe by being with you, I can finally get some sleep."
He didn't understand how he could possibly help her in that aspect.
"I feel at ease when you're around." She continued, as if she read his mind. "I feel safe when you hold me."
He smiled at her bold declaration and wrapped her in a tight embrace. "Hey," he assured her, "it's all right. I'm here." He reached with one of his hands to stroke the back of her neck. "Do you want to tell me what it's about?"
He felt her hesitate and her long silence was the answer he got. "Okay, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to." He pulled slightly away from her to look her in the eyes. "But whatever it is, I'll try to make it go away."
She gave him a small, grateful smile.
"Come on. You need to rest."
He reluctantly let her go as she tugged at the cord that held her robe in place. He turned his back to her as she did, but before he was able to do so, she noticed the blush returning to his face.
She, too, was now in the same state of undress as he was. Now her face was burning as well.
She tapped his shoulder to hand him her garment and he made himself busy by putting it away, without turning to look at her.
Lorishelle headed for his bed and eased herself slowly under the blanket then waited for him. When he finally stopped tripping over seemingly invisible objects on his bedroom floor, he made his way to the bed and joined her under the sheets.
They laid motionless, side by side at first, until Leonardo managed to muster the courage to turn to his side and face her. He placed an arm over her abdomen and gently pulled her towards him.
She turned to face him. Her eyes searched his before she slid herself closer towards him. Leonardo expected a bit of awkwardness between them, since this was the first time they were doing this. But to his surprise, and surely to hers as well, there was none. Their bodies seemed to know what they were doing. She snuggled closer to him, immediately finding a comfortable position.
"I could get used to this." He said, as he rested the side of his face on top of her head.
She murmured something incoherent, which made him chuckle. "I'll take that as a 'me too.'"
Lorishelle was soon asleep in his arms; the sleepless nights finally taking their toll on her.
It worried the ninja turtle what it was that could possibly be causing his beloved to have dreams that frightened her. There was something she was not telling him and he wondered what it could be.
It crossed his mind that maybe she didn't trust him enough with that secret.
He continued to mull over it for a while before sleep found him. But before dosing-off, he decided that he wasn't going to pry; he knew that she would tell him when she was ready.
It didn't occur to him that her so-called nightmare was, in fact, a resurfaced memory.
And that it was a forewarning; that she would soon be forced to face her past.
No, none of these entered his mind.
This was a moment he chose to take pleasure in; a moment he will cherish.
Since this was their first night together.
- END -
Author's Notes
This story was meant for two things:
1) It gives us a glimpse of (my OC) Lori's past; an idea of something that has happened to her and continues to haunt her. For those who have asked me for a backgrounder for why Lorishelle would say 'no' to Leonardo when he proposes to her in my story, What He Doesn't Know, this is the reason why. There is something about her that she hasn't told him yet. And as I've said to some readers, she believes it's not fair to Leo if he doesn't know everything about her.
2) I wrote this bit of fiction between these two characters because I was inspired by a personal experience. There are a lot of things that I would like to forget about a past relationship but there are some, as much as I would hate to admit, that are worth remembering. I wrote this guy a love letter in 2006 and one of the things I told him was how safe I felt when I was in his arms #I will not bore you with the details). Things, unfortunately, didn't work out between us but everything I wrote in that letter about how I felt when I was with him and about him were true.
*Ahem.*
So anyway, after years of banging my head on the wall, I finally managed to finish another TMNT fan fiction.
Please forgive the sloppiness. I'm a terrible proofreader.