I know the last couple of chapters were short, but hey, they're chapters! And the next one will most likely be longer. This chapter's mainly Alex and her brothers. Hope you guys like, please review!
Also, for all of the American (or even if you're not) football fans HAPPY SUPERBOWL! I don't want either team to win, I don't like either, but whatever, my team sucks (but they're my team so GO BILLS!). But may your evenings be filled with pizza, wins and funny commercials.
NYCelt- Aw, thank you! Yes! I've been reading The Hobbit, so I figured I'd put it in, that and it was the closest book to me at the time. ;) And I guess you'll just have to wait and see about the love trouble.
Stilldoll13 - Yes, Leo does still love them. There are a couple moments when he's more like his old self, like when he interacts with Mikey after the rematch at the Battle Nexus. But I totally get what you're saying.
Kat093-I'm so glad you liked it!
dream lighting- One of your questions shall be answered! And I can't wait for the 2007 movie. I have so many plans for it!
Erica. phoenix16 - You are very welcome.
TMG4899 - I'm glad you liked it.
Chapter 4
"Family Business"
Alex's vacation in the country didn't last much longer after Fred, and her brothers the day following, woke up. The comatose boys quickly regained their health and their strength. Not too long after waking up, they were up and about, training with the rest of the group, getting to know each other.
The brothers were much more open to getting to know the guys than Alex originally thought they would be. Perhaps it was because of how much Alex trusted them, and how much they realized they helped her through the toughest situations, partially caused by their disappearance, as well as coming to let go of their parents' death.
Fred was another story all together. It wasn't that he was really rude to the guys, it was more like he was just a little bit hesitant to get to know them. He had a hard time accepting the fact that when Alex had been hanging out with them, when they were still in school together, that she was going out to hang with teenage mutant ninja turtles.
She had told her friends that they most likely wouldn't understand her new friends.
It was kind of annoying how much he went out of his way to avoid having to interact with them though. It kind of made her angry and disappointed in him. Even John hadn't been that bad and Alex had seriously blown up on him when he accused them of cause all of Alex's injuries from everything they've been though.
Alex was just trying to calm down though. She had to think of how Fred felt too. He wasn't home. He had been through so much. He had been forced to fight against his best friend, hurting her on many occasions. Now he was hanging with the people had had been forced to fight against? It was a lot to take in.
So when it came time for Alex to leave with her brothers, Fred by ride of Detective John Blake, Alex was rather relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with all of the awkward silences when Fred and everybody had to interact.
Alex left early from their vacation in order to help get the guys back up and integrated into society. Her brothers wanted to reopen their family's dojo, though in a new building seeing as the old one had too many bad memories. Alex didn't blame them for that. So she went along to help her brothers, as well as to support them with the whole death-in-absentia business they had to get taken care of.
Thank heavens John was helping them come up with an excuse. Though now that Oroku Saki was ousted as being a bad guy it wouldn't have been so difficult for anybody to believe that they had been kidnapped by him. They just went with the safer route and came up with another kidnapping story.
John also got along very well with her brothers. When they found out John had been looking out for Alex while they were "gone" they would not stop thanking him, even went as far as to invite him over for dinner once they got a place to live (this took them only several days to find, including a new place for a dojo, which seemed very unrealistic to them with the way the NYC real estate market was).
While she was busy helping her brother set up their business, Alex also ran the shop while April was gone. She figured that since she was already there she may as well earn them some money. They had already been off so much since they were up in the Hampton. April's only employee was Alex so they could use the money.
Alex also stayed in touch with everything that was going on with everybody when she left as well, making sure to call almost every night, which was kind of annoying to April since she was using up most of her minutes. But it eased Alex a little bit to know what was going on. After everything they had gone through, it was the lease April could do to ease her niece's nerves.
Plus, Alex was still extremely worried about Leo. It didn't help when one of the topics that was brought up with April was about Leo.
"You should have heard what Leo told me, Alex," April said. "I feel so bad for him."
"What'd he say?" Alex asked. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Relax, Alex," she said. "And doesn't something always happen? They took care of it. Nothing to worry about. What I'm talking about is that I asked Leo if anything was wrong and he finally said what it was."
Alex interrupted her before she could tell her what he really said. "He told you?" she asked. "Why wouldn't he tell me? We tell each other everything."
"Alex, he feels responsible for the fact you guys almost blew yourselves up," she said. "He believes that he wasn't a good enough leader, that he failed all of you."
"What?" Alex asked in disbelief. "No, but that's not right. Nothing we could have done would have changed what happened. It wasn't his fault that was our only option. We all knew the risks. We all agreed that was what had to be done."
"But put yourself in his position," April said. "I don't blame him for thinking that way. I would if I were him. How would you feel if you sent your brothers to their deaths?"
Alex sighed. She hadn't sent her brothers to their deaths, but they had given up their freedom in order for her to keep her's. If Leo felt a fraction of how bad Alex had felt, he had to be completely shattered and in so much pain. It explained his resent change in character. She understood it all now. She didn't necessarily agree or approved of this thinking, but she understood. Maybe it would allow her to better figure out a way to help him see that it wasn't really his fault.
"He seemed particularly upset that you would have died too," April pointed out. "I mean, killing his family was tormenting enough, but someone that wasn't blood? Someone that may or may not have had to be there at all?"
"My God," Alex sighed.
"Hey, Alex!" Marcus called from the back closet of the new dojo. "Can you come give us a hand with this?"
"Be right there!" Alex called back, placing her hand over the receiver to prevent the volume of her voice from defining April. She then put the phone back to her ear and said, "I've got to go, but thanks for telling me this, April. I really appreciate it."
"Don't mention it," April said. "Really, don't tell Leo I told you. I just figured you of all people would be able to help him feel better."
"Right," she said. "I'll see you when you guys get back next week."
"Are you talking to April?" Zack asked.
"Yes," Alex answered.
"Tell her we all say hello," Nathan said.
"The guys say hello," Alex told her.
April laughed. "Tell them hi and that I love them. Now goodbye, Alex. I love you."
"Love you too," Alex replied. Alex hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket as she went to help her brothers carry out a large training dummy. "April sends her love," she told them.
"How is everybody?" Nathan asked.
"Fine," Alex said. "Everything's normal. Or as normal as it gets with us."
"We've definitely got interesting lives," Marcus said.
"Yup," Zack said. "What were the chances all of this stuff happened to just us?"
"Don't say things like that!" Alex scolded. "It's a jinx."
"But things are settling down now," Nathan said. "Things can't get more hectic than what's already happened."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Alex said. "I mean, my best friends are teenage mutant ninja turtles. I'm basically a vigilante. And we're opening up a martial arts dojo at the ages of sixteen and nineteen."
"Well, I hope it stays relatively normal," Nathan said. "Once we get enough money with this business, I want to go to college."
"And I want to go to California," Zack said.
"Why?" Alex asked the youngest triplet.
"I don't know," he answered. "California's happening!"
"You are so weird," Alex muttered, shaking her head.
"Not as weird as you," Zack retorted.
"How am I weird?" Alex asked.
"Uh, I don't know," Nathan started sarcastically, "you're a teenage ninja that hangs out with mutant turtles more than you do humans."
Alex just shrugged. It was true. She did hang out with the guys more than she did humans. "Okay, maybe you have a point."
"Maybe?" Marcus joked. "Little Sis, you're the weirdest O'Neil there is!"
Alex just stuck her tongue out at her oldest brother.
"Oh, that's mature," Nathan said.
"Fine, you want mature?" Alex asked. "Let's talk business."
"Business?" Zack asked. "What kind of business?"
"Our business," Alex clarified. "Obviously we're going to be teaching martial arts, but I think we should have other classes for different things too."
"That's a good idea," Marcus said.
"Like what?" Zack asked.
"I don't know," Alex thought. "Maybe a yoga class to appeal to a larger clientele?"
"Or kickboxing," Marcus added.
"Yeah," Alex said.
"That's a really good idea," Nathan said. "A smart business plan."
"Thank you," Alex said.
"Hey," Zack said, "can we get pizza for dinner?"
Also, there is now a twitter page to let you know when I update if you're into that thing. It's RJNorth_Fanfics.
