(A/N): Omigod, Omigod, Omigod! I am SO happy with how good this story is doing so far! However, it wouldn't be going anywhere without my fabulous reviewers! So biiiiiiig big, big, big thank you to the following awesome people: IceColdFever, Jessie the Ninja, I Love Kittens Too, AliceStar, oxCuteKataraox, WolfAssassin369 and LivAngel16, who I would also like for helping me out with the romance in this chapter! I would also like to thank anyone who is following or has added this story to his or her favorites list. You all make me so happy! ;-)
April sat on Trinity's couch with a reminiscent smile on her face as she waited for Trinity to put on the outfit she planned to wear for her "not a date" with Leo. The moment she was told about it while the two women were walking out of the lair, she became full of excitement and dragged her to the store to pick up something up for her serve for dinner, before taking her home and helping her get ready. She had always wanted to help a younger girl get ready for a date but never got the opportunity, part of why she tried so long to set Angel up with Raph once upon a time. This went on for about a week but she stopped when Raph threatened to strangle her with the scarf she was wearing that day. The guys always called her their big sister, and she was honored by that, but she felt that she couldn't take that title until she helped a younger woman get ready for a date. She heard Trinity's door open and immediately perked up. She looked over at the young woman and squealed. "Trinity you look gorgeous!"
Trinity entered the living room dressed in a short-sleeved, teal, cowl neck sweater that stretched down to her waist and hugged her body tightly, showing off her curves. She was wearing black dress pants and teal flats. The hair band that was in her hair was the same color as her sweater and shoes. "You think?" She asked looking down at herself.
"Of course! Leo will too!" April said smoothing Trinity's hair down an adjusting it around her shoulders with a smile.
Trinity thanked her with a smile, but her smile faded when she winced suddenly and rubbed her neck.
"Everything ok?" April asked with concern.
"Yeah everything's fine. Guess I slept wrong when I took nap on the couch earlier." Trinity said as she continued rubbing her neck. "But it's no big deal. I'll be fine." She reassured.
The timer for the oven went and off and Trinity rushed into the kitchen to remove the Stouffers Family Sized Chicken Alfredo Dinner, she re-called Leo mentioning somewhere on his profile that he liked Italian food.
Sliding oven mitts on to her hands, she opened the oven and retrieved the entrée, setting in the stove top to cool off. The smell of the creamy sauce made her mouth water as the delectable aroma filled the small kitchen. She opened the cabinet, took down two wine glasses, and filled them with Apple cider. She had already pored one glass and was pouring the other when she froze. She looked down at her attire and over at the fancy China she only used when she had guest over and gasped.
"Oh God…"She said suddenly.
"What is it?" April asked sounding concerned.
"I'm trying too hard aren't I?" She said back with a look of horror on her face. "I mean, all of this isn't necessary. It's only dinner, and I just wanna find out more about him! He's gonna think that were a date and feel too much pressure!" Trinity said slapping her hands on her face. She ran out of the kitchen and into her room.
"Where are you going?!" April asked looking after her with wide green eyes.
"I have to make myself look disgusting! I can't come on to strong! This isn't a date or anything. " Trinity called back from her room.
"What are you talking about Trinity? Of course it's a date." April said walking into Trinity's room where she found her trying to take her sweater off. "No it's not!" Her muffled voice called from under it. We're only hanging out as friends." She said. "Now help me get this thing off, I'm stuck."
April sighs and pulls Trinity's sweater back down over her head to reveal a frown on her face and a head of fuzzy hair. "Come on, the outfits it perfect. Not to snobbish, not to slobbish." She said smoothing Trinity's hair down. "Don't worry about putting too much pressure much on him, just relax and everything will be fine."
"Okay, fine. The outfit can stay, as long you promise to shut up about this being a date." Trinity said pointing a finger at April sternly.
"Fine, it's a deal. I won't say it's a date again. Oh, speaking of which I'm meeting Casey at the movies later." April said looking at her watch.
"Good, tell him I said hi. Now get out; Leo's gonna be here soon." Trinity said shooing April towards the door. But before April could leave there was a tapping on the window and Trinity looked over to see Leo sitting outside. She hurried over and opened it for him, before stepping back and allowing him to climb inside the apartment. They greeted each other and for a moment held each other's gaze in silence as April awkwardly stood off to the side watching them.
"Right," She said making her way to the door leaving her adopted little brother and his "friend" behind. "Not a date all." She muttered with a smirk as she left the room. When she closed the door behind her the two, snapped their heads away from each other and laughed nervously. Trinity felt her cheeks become hot again and prayed that Leo did not notice.
"So," Leo said breaking the silence and stealing the attention she was directing at the floor. "You look nice."
Trinity laughed and said, "Thanks. April made me wear it."
Leo rolled his eyes and chuckled. "That doesn't surprise me." He says. "So what smells good?" He asked sniffing the air as the scent of the pasta snaked its way into the living room.
"Oh that's right! I made food for us! Why don't you go ahead and sit down? I'll bring the food in and then we can get started on my "catching up" Trinity said with a wink. She hurried off the kitchen leaving Leo in the living room alone to watch as she walked away. When she walked past him, he caught a whiff of her perfume and inhaled it. Vanilla. He thought to himself as he recognized the scent. He watched Trinity from his spot in the living room as she transferred the food from the pan onto the plate. She looked up and caught him staring giggled as she brushed her hair behind her ear and gave him a kind smile.
A few moments later, she entered the living room balancing two plates on either of her fore arms and had a glass of Apple Cider in her hands. Leo took one of each with a few words of appreciation and the two began eating.
"So," Trinity asked sipping her drink and turning towards Leo. "About me getting caught up." She asked.
"Where do I start? You'd be surprised how chaotic life can get for someone who lives in a sewer and can't be seen in daylight."
Trinity laughed and said, "Well, since your dad didn't like you talking about your family and spreading details about them online, let's start there."
"Well if you wanna get to know Raph, go look in a mirror." Leo says a grin.
"Oh, shut up. I know I can be a little upset sometimes but I don't wrestle people whenever I get upset. How did you put up with him when you were kids?" Trinity asked before taking another bite of Alfredo. She was glad that she was finally getting to know more about Leo. She had dreamed of doing this ever since, shortly after meeting him online. Sure, this was not nearly what she expected but, nevertheless it felt good to be spending one on one time with him. Despite how different they are, the two seem to connect very well when they communicated, whether it was online or in person.
"Dealt with it? Put up with it is a better way to say it. We use to fight all the time when we were kids. Nonstop. Anytime we were in the same room, we would find something to want to kill each other over. I remember this one time we both wanted the last blueberry pop tart when we were nine. Biggest. Fight. We ever. Had."
"Really? Over a pop tart?" Trinity asked trying to contain her laughter.
"A blueberry pop tart." Leo corrected sternly.
Trinity held her hands up surrender. "Well then excuse the hell out of me! I didn't realize how much was on the line!" She joked. "What about now? I would imagine that now that you two are older and professional ninjas that you would've ripped each other to shreds."
"Nah, that's what everyone thinks. We…actually get along pretty well. You know what they say…opposites attract." He said quietly looking at Trinity. She looked up at Leo and their eyes met (Supposedly. She could never tell with that mask). "Yeah…they do don't they?" Trinity whispered back.
Leo nodded and once again the two sat in silence eating until Trinity spoke up. "Okay, next question." She said setting her empty plate down and wiping her mouth with a napkin. "How long have you guys been training in "ninjitsu"" Trinity asked annunciating the word ninjitsu.
Leo laughed and a reminiscent smile crept onto his face. "Master Splinter started training us the second we could walk. While other human kids out age were learning how to ride a bike without training wheels, we were learning how to do nerve blows." Leo said with a small laugh.
"Wow. Having your dad as your Sensei. That must've been one strict dad." Trinity said shaking her head with a smile.
"Actually no. He knew where to draw the line between being a father and being our teacher. After we fell asleep, he would always come in and make sure we were all tucked in. He let us sleep with him when we had nightmares; he read us bedtime stories, kept us from murdering each other."
Trinity laughed at the last reason and at the sound of it, Leo couldn't help smile. "But all jokes set aside, Master Splinter is a great Sensei but an even better father. Casey and April even came down to the lair one day and asked him to adopt them." Leo said with a laugh.
"I would imagine he would've been a good father, I mean; having to raise four boys on your own and have them turn out as good as you guys?" Trinity said kicking off her shoes and tucking her legs in beside her. "Sounds like you had a pretty good childhood. No offense but…it's pretty sad when four mutants raised in a sewer can be more humane then, actual people raised in the city." Trinity said with a harsh tone. "You have any idea how rare guys like you are, Leo? I mean of course you're rare as far as your appearance goes, but I'm talking about guys with your personality."
"Really? Tell me more about this "rare personality" of mine." Leo said jokingly as he turned so the two were face to face.
"Well let's see." Trinity said rubbing her chin thought. "You're kind, honest, noble, smart, funny, protective, a total gentlemen." Trinity sighed and her dropped head before she picked it up again to look at Leo.
Leo looked her hard for a second before saying, "Look. I'm flattered. But you're not getting out of your training session that easily." He said pointing a finger at her.
Trinity just smiled and slapped him on the arm. "As much as I don't wanna do that-
Leo raised his hands and formed a claw before eyeing Trinity's waist with an evil smile.
"I mean as much as I'm looking forward to it." She said nervously raising her hands in surrender. Leo nodded in satisfaction as he set his hand back down beside him.
"I meant every word, you're awesome. You know; for someone who beat me up in a sparring match I wasn't ready for, tried to tickle me death, and is forcing me to train in ninjitsu against my will."
"Oh, BS. You lost a bet. You bought this on yourself." Leo said with a shrug.
"I know, but my story makes you sound like more of a jerk, and me sound like less of a dumbass so I'm sticking with it." Trinity said proudly.
"Hey, I warned you, besides whatever happened to "Dance is just like Martial arts." Leo said in a high-pitched voice. Trinity rolled her eyes and grimaced at him set their dirty dishes on the counter.
"First of all," Trinity said shooting a glare at Leo, "I don't talk like that and second of all, I said you can apply martial arts to dance not the other way around. I only made the stupid bet because I didn't think you'd actually attack me, seeing as how I'm a girl and I was looking forward to putting you in a tutu and making you dance to Beyoncé's Single Ladies."
"Who would've wanted to have seen that?" Leo asked with a snort.
"I could probably give you a pretty long list." Trinity said with laugh. Her laughter was cut short, when she suddenly winced causing Leo to look over at her in concern. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"What? Oh nothing, my neck just got a little stiff from a nap I took on the couch earlier. I guess sleeping on two couches in the span of 32 hours isn't very good for your body." Trinity said as she rubbed her neck with a frown on her face
"I'll see if I can help." Leo offered.
Trinity raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Oh so you're a free runner, a ninja and a masseuse? There is simply no end to your talents is there?" Trinity said with a smile.
"I'd hate to brag but, no there is not." Leo said with mock arrogance.
"Okay, then well in that case by all means work your magic. Anything to get these damn knots out." Trinity said turning around so that her back was facing Leo.
A few moments later Trinity felt firm, yet gentle hands rubbing her shoulders. Immediately she feels the pain in her neck fade away and releases a pleasured moan as she closes her eyes and sighs happily. "Damn," She says moans pleasantly. "Is this one of those "ninja tricks" of yours?" Trinity asks.
Leo chuckles. "As a matter of fact, yes. We had to learn a lot about pressure points. If you find one in the right spot," Leo places on of his hands Trinity's neck and his breath hitches slightly as his calloused hands make contact with her warm, smooth skin. "And put the right amount of pressure on it," He pressed down slightly on a certain spot and a tingling feeling arose in Trinity's neck causing her to release another pleasured moan at the relaxed feeling that was spreading through her body. "You'll do a lot more good than you will harm." He says as goes back to rubbing the young woman's shoulders.
Trinity mumbled something Leo wasn't make out. "What was that?" He asked as he stopped.
"I said, that feels amazing. I'm gonna have make you into my personal masseuse, Leo." She said. She tossed her head back so that she was looking at him and smiled. "Thanks Leo." She said with a wink. "Hold on a sec, I'll be right back." She stood up and left the living room without another word, before going into her room and closing the door behind her.
Once she was gone, Leo collapsed onto the sofa with a loud sigh. Something felt very wrong with him, and he had no idea why. It is not as if he had never been around girls before. There have plenty of times when he spent one on one time with April and he never felt like this. Not during the phase, he went through when he thought he had a small crush on her shortly after they had just met her. With Trinity, it was different. Stronger is probably the best way to describe it. It went beyond him simply finding her attractive. He would feel his knees go a little weak when her heard her laugh, and felt he could look at her bright smile all day.
Trinity's door opens again and she comes back out wearing violet camisole, black sweatpants and fuzzy socks. He looks up when hears her walking over, but instead of awkwardly looking away a few seconds later like he had been doing all night, he keeps his eyes on her as she walks over to him smiling brightly. She plops back down on the couch and says with a content sigh, "Aah, much better. April had good intentions, but I had to get into something more comfortable." She ran her hand through her hair and looked up at the clock. She gasped when she saw the time, "It's 8 o'clock!" She said as if she'd forgotten something important. She grabbed the remote off the coffee table turned on the small TV, just as "So You Think You Can Dance, "was starting.
"Aah, well, guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Leo said stand up.
"What do you mean? You don't have to leave you should watch it with me." She said looking up at him and patting the empty cushion next to her. Leo just looked at her and raised an eye ridge.
"Come on, please? You might like it." She begged. She poked her bottom lip up and gave Leo the best puppy dog eyes she could manage. Leo gave in with a sigh and sat back down on the couch "Okay, why not...who knows, I might even pick up some new combat moves." He says with a smile.
"That's the spirt!" Trinity says raising her fist in the air with a laugh.
Looking down at her, Leo could not help but smile at Trinity as she watched the dance show with a look of awe and amusement in her face. "I take it you enjoy this show?" He asked with a small laugh.
"Enjoy is an understatement. I love this show. The dancers on here are so professional, and talented. Once I get out of Julliard, I actually plan on going on there. It's been a dream of mine ever since the very first time I saw it when I was 11." She said reminiscently. "I would actually spend a lot of time in my room pretending to audition for the judges." She and Leo laughed a little before Trinity said, "Leo, if you were able to live on the surface…what would you wanna do with your life?"
Leo did not have to think very long before answering, it was a question that had kept him up many nights before. "I've always picturing myself with a wife, two kids; a boy and a girl, and owning a small dojo somewhere in the city." He said with a smile.
"Aww, that's so sweet. I can't imagine being your daughter though. I bet she wouldn't be able to date until she's 30." Trinity said laughing and slapping Leo in the arm. "
"I wouldn't be that bad. I'd let her date when she turned 25." Leo said defensively. Trinity laughed at him and he held up his hands and said, "Okay, all kidding aside; of course I would protect her, and cherish her, but…I'd also give her space. I wouldn't her to hate me. I would make sure that she knows I do what I do because I love her not hate the world."
"And your son?" Trinity asked wanting to hear more.
"I'd make sure he grow up to be respectful to those around him. I'd want him to noble, brave honorable
"So…a mini you right?" Trinity interrupted with a smile.
"As, arrogant as it sounds, yeah…I'd want him to like me." Leo admitted to her.
"That's not arrogant." Trinity said shaking her head. "Wanting your son to be like you is a good thing. Like I said earlier, you're a great guy."
"Thanks Trinity. It's always been something I picture in my head; a life like that. Then dawns on me that…it's never gonna happen." Leo said in a sudden somber tone that it pained Trinity to hear. She suddenly felt bad for asking the question and bringing the harsh reminder back to him. She looked at him with pity evident on her face.
Without thinking she slowly stretched her hand and placed in on top of his, and squeezed in a comforting manner. Leo stiffened before looking up at Trinity who was giving him a small smile. "Don't say that." She whispered running her thumb over the back of his hand.
"Trinity you don't get it, I'm never gonna-
"Did you think I ever expected to meet you? Do think Casey or April ever expected to meet you? Anything, can happen Leo. Heck, as of now, you and I are a living breathing example of that. A few weeks ago if someone told me that I was gonna find out that the guy I was chatting online with was going to turn out to be a six foot, talking, intelligent, katana wielding, free running, sewer dwelling, mutant turtle I wouldn't have believed them. But it happened didn't it?"
Leo nodded and Trinity continued. "So I don't see why if I tell you now, that you're gonna, get married to a beautiful woman, and have the life you want…that it won't happen."
She smiled at him warmly still hold his hand in hers and Leo sat there not saying a word as he once again felt Trinity's warm skin on his own, but instead staring at the girl in front of him, who all of a sudden seemed much more alluring to him than she had earlier.
They looked down at their hands, which were now intertwined and quickly released each other as they turned their attention back towards the television. Neither of them spoke to each other as they sat watching TV together, the only interaction between them being the occasional glances they each stole from each other while one of them wasn't looking.
By this point, So You Think You Can Dance, had long gone off and some paid program advertising a house cleaning product was on. Leo felt something tickle his shoulder and looked down to see Trinity had dozed off and had let her head drop onto Leo's shoulder.
Leo sighed, not wanting to be the one having to wake Trinity up and risk being slapped again. So he did what he thought would be safest for him gently lifted her into his arms. Trinity stirred a little as he lifted her, but calmed down once she was in his arms, and snuggled up against his plastron on her sleep with a content sigh.
Once again, he finds himself staring at the young woman, as she lies asleep in his arms. He shakes his head and resumes making his way into Trinity's bedroom. He nearly trips over a pile of clothing in front of the door and curses as he does the same a few seconds later.
He finally set's Trinity down on her bed. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched as she slept in the same angelic way she did back at the lair just a night ago. Before he realized what he was doing, he stretched his hand out, gently taking a lock of her hair in it, and running his hand through it.
He never knew why, but hair had always been something fascinated him for some reason. He did not know why. It is not as if he had never seen it before. Still, it amused him. He wanted to touch Trinity's hair since the day he saw it, and now that he finally did, it was different from what he had expected. It wasn't silky or wispy April's, or thin like Master Splinter's but was instead thick, and rather than touching silk, it felt he was touching a large ball of cotton. He continued to run his hands through Trinity's hair as he watched her sleep peacefully. As he sat there running his hands through her brown locks, he felt content, more than content actually. Bliss was probably a better word. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear smiles. The moonlight that was illuminating the small bedroom hit her just right, and making it seem as if she was glowing.
Leo checked the time on the clock by her bed and was surprised by how late it had gotten. He and his brothers get up early every morning for their training session with Master Splinter, so it is always wise for them to get as much sleep as possible. Standing up, he tucks the covers tightly under Trinity's chin, before leaving her room. He turns the TV off and even puts the dirty dishes in the washer for her before leaving through the living room window and beginning his journey home by the rooftops, all the while with a smile on his face.
He had enjoyed the time he spent with Trinity that night, and was hoping that there would be many more nights like it to come.
(A/N): Sorry if the ending seemed a little forced, it seems like that to me at least. But you liked it that's all that matters! So please, leave a review in the box below. Don't be shy. ;-) Comments, complaints, constructive criticism, compliments and suggestions are always welcome. Until next time lovely readers.
Aster Sapphire out. PEACE!
