Me: When you see the authors note, be prepared to play the song "We Are Ninjas" by Pentatonix.;)
Freezing
Part 2
By: Soniclover28
"Remind me why we're doing this, again," Casey whined, plucking the umpteenth strip of tape out of his hair.
"Because the guys haven't had Christmas in forever, that's why," April snapped, snatching the tape from Casey and taping the last of the wrapping paper to the brand new book she'd bought. She smacked a sticker on the gift, and, using an ink pen, wrote the letters M-I-K-E-Y on the sticker.
"Didn't you say something comes up every year that stops Christmas? Wonder if that'll happen again this year," Casey pondered, sloppily wrapping another box that had a wrestling logo on the front.
April rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah," Casey replied, his dark brown eyes tearing from the complicated form of wrapping he was attempting. "I mean, what if Mikey burns the lair down trying to make Christmas dinner, or somethin'?"
"Casey!" April snapped, glaring at the boy.
"What? Just sayin'."
"No, I'm not talking about that—don't think I forgot it, but—you're doing a horrible job at wrapping. What is that?" April gestured to the mass of Christmas wrapping paper that currently made the box she'd bought look like a sphere.
"Um… Misdirection…?" Casey chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
April just shook her head and moved on to the next gift.
"Wow, Red, you sure bought 'em a lot of stuff," Casey commented, glancing at the five different piles of goodies that were currently inhabiting April's living room.
"Most of its clothes; they're freezing down there. I want them to stay warm."
Casey smirked. "What about me? I wanna stay warm, too," He said, raising his eyebrows slyly.
"Dream on, Jones," April said, rolling her eyes. "Now hand me the tape."
Raphael poked his head into the kitchen, breathing deeply through his nose, and inviting the delicious smell of Christmas dinner into his senses.
"Wow, Mikey, it smells good in here," He commented.
"Thanks," Mikey mumbled, not even tearing his eyes from the bubbling and sizzling pots on the stove as he peeked into each one. "Oh, where did I put the… Ah, here it is!"
Raphael chuckled; he hadn't seen his little brother so busily focused in a long time.
'Maybe we should have him make Christmas Dinner more often,' he thought.
"Need some help?" The emerald-eyed turtle offered, walking deeper into the kitchen.
At this, Mikey's head snapped up. Maybe it was the thought of Raphael actually offering to help him. Or, maybe it was that the thought of help was totally throwing Mikey off of his game.
"What? No!"
The latter seemed to be the logical reason.
"I-I mean, thanks for offering, but you're not exactly a master chef in the kitchen, Raph," Mikey smirked, turning back to his pots and pans.
"Oh, and you are?" The red-banded turtle snorted.
Mikey glanced at him with a sly smile on his freckled face.
"Least I don't impale oranges with my sai."
"Hey, that was only because you wouldn't get up and make breakfast!" Raphael snapped, though the playfulness in his eyes let Mikey continue.
"I was sick!"
"Yeah, but it was your own fault, ding-dong!" Raphael smiled.
Mikey laughed.
Man, Raphael loved it when Mikey laughed.
"I'm glad it's Christmas," Mikey suddenly commented, "It's when you're in your best mood—and everybody else, actually."
"Can't argue with that, little brother," Raph chuckled. "Seriously, though, you're slaving away in here; what do you need me to do?"
Mikey hummed in thought as he checked on the turkey in the oven. He glanced at Raph and suddenly giggled.
"You can help with Christmas decorations; you already started on yourself. Maybe you can add a Santa hat," Mikey said, stirring something in a pot on the stove.
When Raphael got the obvious insult at his choice in bandanna color, he rolled his eyes and replied, "Har-dee-har, Mike."
"More like 'ho-ho-ho'."
"Shut up."
With that, Raphael left the kitchen smiling in search of Leo and Donnie to help them with the Christmas decorations.
"Almost got it…" Donnie muttered, brushing the ball of his Santa hat out of his face for the umpteenth time. After a few seconds, the lights flickered, and flashed to life. "Yes!" The purple-clad turtle smiled, showing off the gap in his teeth.
He watched in triumph as the lights hanging above the turnstiles twinkled and flashed merrily, and Donnie couldn't help but smirk to himself.
"Nice job, Donnie," Leo commented as he walked by with a box of Christmas decorations.
"Thanks," Donatello replied, and then glanced at his own box that consisted of nothing but Christmas lights. "Now I only have about five-hundred more lights to put up…"
"Maybe we can help with that."
Donnie looked up from his box to see April and Casey walking through the turnstiles, loaded with Christmas presents. April wore a Santa hat on her head, and a red coat that was obviously meant to compliment Santa Claus'.
"Hey, guys! Nice outfit, April," Donnie greeted, and offered to take some of the presents off of their hands. He led them to the mutant family's Christmas tree, and placed them against the wall of the sewer.
April's breath got caught in her throat.
Instead of a real tree—or even a store-bought one—there was a painting of a large pine tree on the wall. Glued to the wall were what April supposed were the decorations—bottle caps, red birthday streamers, and the occasional string of popcorn. Christmas lights were nailed to the wall to illuminate the tree, and the topper of the tree was a simple, five-pointed star that had yellow and white Christmas lights fed through it.
"Donnie—this is—wow…" April gaped, carefully placing the gifts down against the wall, but never taking her eyes off of the work of art.
"I know. Mikey did it a few nights ago; the little guy fell asleep with his hand in paint. The guys and I helped decorate it early this morning," Donnie explained. "We would've gotten one of those fake Christmas trees, but Sensei ran out of time to find one, and Mikey was itching to decorate a tree, so, here it is."
"Little dude must be crazy excited about Christmas, then," Casey smiled.
"What, him singing 'Jingle Bells' at the top of his lungs didn't give it away?" Donnie chuckled, gesturing to the kitchen. Casey laughed and nodded his head in agreement.
April was floored.
Did Donnie just make a joke with Casey…?
She blinked.
Maybe Christmas Miracles were real.
Suddenly, the turtle accused of singing burst from the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, and, after he spotted Casey and April, his eyes lit up.
"I thought I heard you guys! Sorry, I know its last minute, but I need this from the store!" Mikey explained quickly, shoving a piece of paper into April's hands. "Okaythanksbye!"
And just like that, Michelangelo bolted back into the kitchen.
"Um… Okay…?" April blinked again, and looked at the list Mikey had given her. "Huh; doesn't seem too hard. We'll be back in about a half hour, Donnie. Then we'll help with the lights."
"Oh, don't rush; Mikey needs time to catch his breath, anyways. I swear, that little bone-head's energy holds no bounds," Donnie said.
"You got that right," Raphael commented as he walked up to the group.
Casey suddenly snorted in laughter. "What's the matter, Raph? Got tired of people seeing your bald head?"
Raphael rolled his eyes. "Laugh all you want, Casey, but when Mikey finds out that you're obviously the only one without a Santa hat, he's gonna flip," He said, adjusting said accessory atop his head.
"You ought to pick one up while you and April run to the store," Donnie piped.
Casey shrugged, "Maybe."
"You guys are still here?!" Mikey called from the kitchen. "I need that stuff!"
"Alright, Alright! We're going!" Casey shouted back.
"Thank you!" Mikey snapped in a higher tone.
"You're welcome!" Casey yelled louder.
"Oh, will you just come on?" April rolled her eyes and tugged Casey out of the lair.
"I don't know about you, Red, but that Christmas tree painting-thing… it's kind of… sad, y'know…?" Casey said quietly as they roamed the aisles of the small grocery store.
"Yeah… I was kind of thinking the same thing… I just wish…" April saw a nice box of strawberries, and, after making sure none of the fruits were bruised or rotten, placed them in her basket. "I just wish they didn't have to live in the sewers, away from the outside world…"
"I feel ya'," Casey replied, and a container of whipped cream caught his eye, and he grabbed it out of the built in fridge of the store and placed it into April's basket.
"I mean, what if they could go to school? Donnie would probably have already graduated, and I bet Mikey would probably be the captain of the track team. Leo could be class president, and Raph could…" April actually smirked to herself at this, "Raph could be the 'you mess with my bros, you mess with me,' type of guy."
Casey nodded and chuckled in response, and, after spotting the short-cake mix Mikey seemed to be in desperate need of, he snatched it off of the shelf, and placed it into April's basket.
"Well, that's the last of it," April double-checked the list to make sure, and quickly went to the check-out counter. As Casey trailed behind April, he paused when he passed a small section of Santa hats, and, for spite, grabbed the first one he saw.
"For ninjas, they sure know how to make a lot of noise," Casey commented, and pulled out his phone to record the music currently drifting into the two human's ears.(A/N: This is where the song at the top comes in...)
"We are ninjas;
We are turtles;
We will save the day."
A beat suddenly sounded past the entrance of the lair, and Casey and April had to smash themselves against the wall in order to not be seen. Casey started nodding his head to the beat.
Boom-clap-boom-boom-clap. Boom-clap-boom-boom-clap.
"We are someday gonna
Be the ones who lead the way.
Singin' Whoa-oh-oh
Break out of your shell
And let's go-o-o.
Break out of your shell and let's go."
Suddenly, the other three turtles stopped singing to let just one turtle take home their own part of the song. First was Leo—
"Risin' up like steam from a sewer cap,"
Then Mikey joined in with:
"So mean, so green—"
While Raphael came in at a base note with:
"You better watch your back."
And then the three others again:
"—slow and steady doesn't win the race."
And Raph came in for the last line:
"So quick, so slick;
The thrill of the chase."
And then Leo again as the beat picked up;
"The time has finally come for us to be the greatest,"
And then Mikey started up again;
"'Cause heroes aren't born;
They're created."
And then all the turtles joined in again with words that almost made April want to laugh.
"Before our day beings;
What every hero needs
Is a big o' greasy pi-iza."
And then, Donnie started rapping.
"Now gi'mme that extra large P;
Some pepperoni
With the parmesan cheese—anchovies;
Make a de-livery for everybody—
Come, we're hungry—
Hey, yeah, we're hungry!
Donatello needs a
Masterpiece of pizza.
Fuelin' up the four;
Shredder tries to beat'cha
Splinter, teach us how to bring the thunder."
And then came the best part.
"Kow-a—"
Mikey joined in with a note April didn't even know he possessed.
"—bunga-a-a!"
And then the chorus started right back up, with the only beat an echoed clap.
"We are ninjas;
We are turtles;
We will save the day."
"Whoo!"
"We are someday gonna
Be the ones who lead the way.
Singin' Whoa-oh-oh
Break out of your shell
And let's go-o-o!
Break out of your shell and let's go."
And with that, the song was over, and all that was heard was the laughing of the four brothers.
"Mikey! That note, though!" Raphael called across the lair.
"Thank you, thank you!" Mikey laughed, "I've been working on it!"
Suddenly, Casey couldn't contain himself anymore. He burst out laughing, and April almost felt the eyes of the four turtles swinging towards the turnstiles. She tentatively stepped into view, and when she was met by four turtles standing right in front of the turnstiles with their arms crossed, she gave a nervous smile.
"Um… Cool song, guys…" She chuckled awkwardly.
"How much of it did you hear…?" Donnie asked.
"Well…"
"Enough to know that Mikey sings like a girl!" Casey exploded, and literally fell to the ground laughing.
"Casey!" April glared daggers at him.
Raphael immediately rounded on the teen. "Least he can sing."
"You've never even heard me-"
"Go ahead; hit me with your best shot," Raphael growled.
Casey stopped laughing, and, after his self-conscious seemed to give him a knock on the head, he stood up.
"Did you just challenge me to a sing-off…?" Casey asked, cocking an eyebrow.
April gave herself a face-palm.
"Raph could be the 'you mess with my bros, you mess with me,' type of guy."
"Me and my big mouth…" She muttered.
"Uh, to be fair, Raph, Mikey did say that they could've walked in at any time with his ingredients," Leonardo placed a hand on Raphael's shoulder—a gentle way of saying 'calm the shell down.'
"Speaking of which," Mikey said, after he was sure the hard blush on his face had faded, "Did you get it?"
"Oh, yeah. Here," April said, handing him the plastic bag of goodies. When Mikey tried to hand her a twenty dollar-bill to pay for the goodies, she said, "No, it's Christmas. Consider this another present from me."
Mikey gave her a small smile and nodded, and took the grocery bag and headed to the kitchen.
"Go and apologize, Jones. Now," April snapped when he left.
Casey groaned and trudged into the kitchen.
"Uh… Hey, Mikey… I just wanted to say-"
"Its fine," Mikey interrupted, as he dug through the grocery bag, pulling out the contents that he needed. "Raph makes fun of me all the time; he's just in a better mood today. If you wanna help though, I need to get started on the Christmas Cake."
"Um… Okay, sure," Casey blinked, and walked deeper into the orange-clad turtle's domain.
Mikey smirked when he came across a Santa hat in the grocery bag. He tossed it to Casey and said, "I see Donnie got you to buy one. Sweet; now we all have one."
"Yeah…" Casey chuckled awkwardly and fit it onto his head. "That song was pretty cool, though. I think it deserves to be on T.V., or somethin'."
Mikey smiled, "Thanks. Now, I need you to cut the strawberries into thin slices. I'm gonna finish up with the casserole, and then we can both bust out the dining table."
"Whatever you say, little dude," Casey said, and picked up a small knife Mikey had supplied him.
Mikey walked out of the kitchen with tray of cookies in his hand a huge grin on his face, and his older brothers, April, and Casey couldn't help but smile with him as he cleared his throat and announced:
"Dinner," He paused for dramatic effect, "is served."
He took a bow, and led everyone into the dojo.
Master Splinter was already seated at the head of the long table set up in the dojo, looking tired, but happy, nonetheless. Everyone took their seat at the table, and April and Casey watched stupidly as the turtles and Splinter thanked Michelangelo for their dinner.
"Itadakimasu," They said in unison, dipping their heads respectively to Mikey.
Michelangelo grinned and replied, "Iie."
Donnie, who was seated beside April, gave her a glance, and gestured for her and Casey to do the same.
"Uh- Ita-daki-mast," April tried, and failed, to pronounce the foreign way of saying thanks. Casey's attempt to pronounce the word was horrible, too.
"Iie," Mikey chuckled, and took a seat at the table between his two oldest siblings.
"I didn't know you guys could speak Japanese," April commented.
"We were raised by a Japanese father, April," Leonardo smirked, "We're gonna pick up a few words here and there."
"Well, as much as I love chatting," Raphael interrupted, already reaching for the bowl of mashed potatoes, "I love hot food even more. Let's dig in!"
Everyone smiled and filled their plates with all that would fit on them: fried chicken and mashed potatoes; steamed rice and vegetables; dumplings and pizza gyoza; soup and salad; corn and—there was just so much food!
"Wow, Mikey," Donatello mumbled around a mouthful of gyoza, "You-" He swallowed, "-really outdid yourself."
"Like a turtle do, D," Mikey smirked, waiting patiently with his head propped up on his hand for everyone to make their plates before he dug in.
Once everyone had finished with the grand meal, Mikey quickly excused himself, and bounded off to fetch something. When he entered the dojo again, everyone's jaw dropped.
Mikey walked in with a three-layered cake in his hands. Whipped cream was smeared all over the cake for the icing, and strawberries lined the sides and top of the cake. Written on the top in the neatest handwriting Michelangelo could have mustered, were the words Merry Christmas.
"Mikey-"
"This is just-"
"Wow."
Mikey's grin was so big, April thought it might've actually been able to split his face in half.
Michelangelo placed the cake in the center of the table, and, after his blush faded away, asked, "Who's got room for dessert?"
"Okay, this one's Raph's," Leo called, squinting his eyes to make out the rough handwriting on the oddly-wrapped present. The blue-clad turtle tossed Raphael the ball-shaped gift, and Raph couldn't help but smirk.
"I needed a new ball to nail Mikey with in the head."
Casey couldn't help but give him a smug look.
Raphael tore the wrapping paper off of the gift. Blinking, he realized that there was way too much paper on the present. It was as if someone had just rolled the paper on it—around and around, like duct tape—until it made a sphere-like shape.
Once he finally got to the actual gift, his eyes widened.
"You guys…" Raph gaped, as he opened the lid to the box, and pulled out a pair of studded brass knuckles. "…are the best…!"
"See?" Casey smirked, poking April in the side with his elbow, "Misdirection."
April couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay, next up is…" Leo read, "Donnie."
Donnie opened his gift to find a giant, purple fur coat just his size—well, his size, plus the bulge of his shell.
"Wow, April… Thanks!" Donnie smiled, admiring how soft the fabric of the coat was.
"Oh, here's yours, Master Splinter," Leonardo said, handing his father a small, wrapped rectangle.
"April, my student…" Splinter smiled weakly but softly. "Thank you." He gazed fondly down at the framed photo of himself and his sons.
"Aye-Aye," April said slowly.
The turtles corrected her; "Iie."
"What they said," April gestured to the four brothers and smiled.
"And now we have… me," Leo smiled, and opened his present to find a coat similar to Donnie's, but it was blue and had the words Born to Lead printed on the back.
"Hey, thanks, April," He grinned, and actually slipped the coat on. "It fits perfectly. Next up… we have… Mikey."
April gave Mikey a knowing smile as he excitedly opened his present. The orange-clad turtle froze when he found a book inside of the wrapping paper.
At first, Mikey's older brothers thought that he'd frozen in disappointment, but after he looked up from the cover of the book and crushed April in a bear-hug, the three older turtles couldn't help but smile.
"Wha'd'ja' get, Mike?" Raph asked.
"A cook book!" Mikey squealed, and did a fangirl-ish dance in place. "A real, live, in mint-condition cook book!"
"That's great, Mikey; now you can make a seven-course-meal every night," Raphael smirked.
Michelangelo turned excitedly to his father. "Can I, sensei?! Can I please?!"
"Perhaps," Splinter said, "After you learn to clean the kitchen up once you have finished preparing a meal."
"Heh… Right," Mikey rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Leonardo suddenly walked up with two presents in hand. He gave them to Casey and April, who looked up in surprise.
"What, you didn't think we'd get you two something? After all you've done for us?" Donatello asked.
"Well- I-I mean…"
"Just tear 'em open," Raphael snapped, rolling his eyes playfully.
The two teenagers did, and, upon revealing their gifts, let their eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.
They each held a small picture book with the word Memories printed on the front—pink for April, and Black for Casey. They flipped through the album, stopping occasionally when something interesting caught their eye.
"You guys…" April gaped, and her eyes started to grow misty.
"How did you guys even…" Casey started, and was unable to finish.
"We're ninjas, dude. All we needed was a no-flash camera," Mikey smirked.
The small photo album both teenagers held consisted of a photo of each adventure they'd had. It ranged from the battle with Snakeweed, to the most previous encounter they'd had with the Shredder.
"And the best part of it is-" Donnie said, flipping April's book to some of the last pages, which were, surprisingly, blank, "-there's room for more."
"Donnie—guys—this is…" April felt a lump form in her throat. She turned and wrapped Donatello into her arms, who gladly returned the hug.
April lifted her head from Donnie's plastron, and gazed at the small family gathered around her—a family she realized she truly was part of; a family that had changed her life forever; a family that loved her just as much as she loved them, even if she was just dead-weight sometimes.
"Thank you… Thank you guys so much," April sniffled, and whipped her bright blue eyes.
"Ditto," Casey smiled.
"Dudes, thank you," Mikey beamed, "You gave us the best Christmas ever! You even got Raph to lighten up."
"Har-dee-har, Mike."
Mikey's grin grew two sizes larger.
"More like 'ho-ho-ho'."
It really was the best Christmas they'd ever had. They never needed the Christmas tree, or the presents, or even the superb dinner. All they'd wanted was each other.
And that's all they'd ever need.
Fin
Me: That's all, folks! Would you be a doll and give me a review for Christmas? Thanks! Merry Christmas! :D