"Lexi. Get up; it's Christmas!" A voice whispers from beside me.

I pry my eyes open and see Rose crouching next to my bed, shaking me lightly. I smile and sit up, yawning.

"Merry Christmas, little sis," I mumble.

Rose's pearly white teeth glisten in the light. "Merry Christmas, Lexi. Brush your teeth and get ready."

I snort and head to the bathroom. "Oh please. I'll brush my teeth. That's it. It's Christmas morning! Why would I dress up?"

In the mirror, my plain express looks back at me. My blue-gray eyes stare at me. I had a decent amount of sleep last night, so the dark circles under my eyes are nonexistent. I wear checkered pajama pants and a black long sleeve with a jersey with the name KING on the back of it.

As I put on deodorant, I hear my sister sigh in frustration.

"You're seriously going to go down there with all those people with all those cameras looking like you just woke up from bed?" Rose asks.

I raise my eyebrows. "News flash, Rosie: I did just wake up." I strike a pose. "And what do you mean? I think I look like a model."

Rose's dark brown hair is smooth and brushed out. She has mascara and some lip-gloss on. She wears a long-sleeved white shirt with gems down the neckline, and her skinny jeans and hoop earrings.

I snatch my phone and head out the door. As soon as I walk out, I'm lifted into the air. When I try to turn, I see that it's Mikey.

"Mikey," I laugh, whacking his shoulder. "Put me down!"

"Merry Christmas!" He shouts and I grin.

"Merry Christmas!" I shout back.

He drops me onto a beanbag chair. I stand up and knock on Benj and Leo's door. A few seconds later, the door opens and Benj is standing there. Despite the fact that Rose never joins in, Benj and I never do anything but brush our teeth on Christmas morning. He wears his basketball shorts and a short sleeve black shirt with his KING jersey as well.

"Merry Christmas, Benjy!" I exclaim, as he responds with, "Merry Christmas, Lexi!"

After a few minutes, everyone is down by the Christmas tree. We begin opening presents after everyone is settled. Mom makes sure she announces the rule our family has about Christmas.

"Everyone must watch and listen when someone is opening a present. One at a time," Mom explains.

I glance over at Leo. "May I sit here?"

"No, Lexi, you're forbidden from sitting next to me," he says sarcastically. I grin at his response. "Yes, of course you can sit here."

April, Casey, Mom and Splinter take seats on the chairs and Don and Rose share an extra large beanbag. Raph leans against the way nearby, but eventually takes a seat on the carpet. I lean back on the base of the fireplace, but it's rock-hard. I snatch a pillow and use it as a back rest.

"We'll have Splinter go first, since he's the one who raised you animals. No pun intended," I say.

"That wasn't a pun, that was an offensive remark," Donnie says.

Leo helps me gather all of Splinter's gifts. Once we place them in front of the old rat, he smiles. He gives each of his sons a hug and a "thank you". I see tears in his eyes when he reads the card from Raph.

After he opened all his gifts, my siblings open theirs. I had gotten Rose some new makeup and jewelry. Benj opens his gifts and grins.

He pulls out a picture frame of the two of us. The frame has exactly fifteen slots for each picture to be put in. I filled each slot except the fifteenth one. Each picture is each year with the two of us since he was born. The last one isn't filled yet.

The first picture is when I held him as a baby, and it ascends through the years. There is one when he's three and I'm seven and we're leaning forward on the carpet, watching Animal Planet. Another is when I was fifteen and he was eleven. We had hiked up a mountain in Utah and he and I stood on the top of the mountain, striking dumb poses.

"Aw, Lexi, this is awesome! Thank you!" He hugs me, and I laugh.

"I'm glad you don't think it's too cheesy."

"Of course it's too cheesy," Benj says, laughing. "That's why I like it."

Now it's a very eager-looking Mikey's turn.

"You and Benj are really close, aren't you?" Leo whispers, leaning over so that only I can hear.

I smile. "Yeah. Despite the four year difference."

"I wish my brothers and I were like that..."

"You are. You just don't see it," I say simply. I look over at him and we lock eyes. For a few moments, we just stare at each other. When my heart begins to race, I look away. I'm grateful that Leo hasn't brought up the kiss.

The orange clad turtle rips open his presents like it's his last moment on earth. He squeezes practically everybody who gets him a present and can't stop going on and on about how excited he is to play his new video games and use all his gifts. He's a literally a little kid on Christmas.

Donnie begins to open his presents next. He's pretty excited when he opens all the presents that his brothers got him. Apparently, little chemical jars are very important to him. He opens my gift, which is meant to be a real gift as well as a joke. It's a big book that I had found in the science section. I taped a paper to it that says: BOOK OF SMART STUFF DEDICATED TO DONATELLO

"Is this for real? This is the book I've been looking for forever! It's got scientific revisions and theories that were just released! Thank you, Lexi!" He's way too excited about this.

Raph looks really happy about the motorcycle grips and music that his brothers have gotten him. After he's opened them all, I motion for Raph to come outside. I swing the front door open.

In front of us sits a dark red and black motorcycle. He stands there, shocked for a few moments but then runs towards the vehicle.

"You did not get me a motorcycle!" he shouts, but I can see excitement seeping from his eyes. "Thank you!" He inspects every bit of it and then crushes me in a hug.

"Man, why can't my own family show this much appreciation when I give them gifts?" I ask, laughing.

Once we manage to drag Raph back into the house, I stick all of Leo's presents onto the bench. He smiles appreciatively and I notice most of the presents don't have a card. I feel slightly embarrassed when I notice I had given everyone a card.

Leo opens up the sketch pad from Mikey and grins. He thanks his youngest brother with a hug and continues to open the presents. He thanks Donnie for the meditation mat, and then looks confused and surprised when he sees that the biggest present for him was from Raph. His mouth drops open when he sees the katana sharpener and sheath.

"Bro hug, bro hug, bro hug," I chant with Benj.

Raph rolls his eyes. "Come here, man."

They share a little hug.

Leo picks up the last present: the one from me. When he opens it up, he finds the sketch pad. I tell him to turn the page and he does. On the first free page of the notepad, I wrote him a note.

"You don't have to read that note now..."

"Thanks, Lexi." He smiles at me, and holds the notepad tight.

I look around at the presents Mikey has placed in front of me. I tilt my head and wonder why I have so many. My eyes widen when I look at the names. I look at the turtles. "You guys didn't have to get me anything! How did you get me anything?"

Splinter chuckles. "My sons have taken it upon them to find things they can do to earn money, such as helping April and Mr. Jones around their apartment, or getting confidential jobs. They were determined to get you gifts, Alexandra."

I feel a happiness and gratitude within me that can't be described with words.

I open the first gift, which happens to be from Mikey (I say 'happens to be' loosely, since Mikey was shoving the bag towards me and pushing the other ones back). I pull out a video game and smile.

"Look deeper..." he prompts.

I look deeper in the bag and find a green shirt that says, 'Mikey's my favorite'.

I laugh. "I am never wearing this."

"Come on, Lexi. I ever made myself one that says 'I'm Lexi's favorite' and one that says, 'Lexi's my favorite'. We can be buddies!"

I put my arm around Mikey. "Mikey, you already are my buddy."

He sighs. "No, I'm not. I'm your pal...Leo's your buddy."

Leo snorts. "What's the difference?"

"Pals are like...friends. But buddies are like...best friends," Mikey explains sadly.

I laugh and put my head on Leo's shoulder. "But Leo's so...buddy-material."

Mikey groans.

I laugh. "Okay, okay. I'll wear it."

I open up Raph's and Donnie's, and then when I get to Leo's, I freeze. Sticking out of the tissue paper, is my childhood.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I grab the Goodnight Moon book and crush Leo in a hug.

Finally, it's Mom's turn to open gifts. Rose gives her makeup and earrings. When she opens my gift of the Family Home videos, the turtles insist on watching some of them.

We watch them and I'm amazed at how quickly we had grown up. There's one video of when I was thirteen and Benj was nine. We were at a cabin for the holidays and we were having a snowball fight.

April and Casey head off to have Christmas Date. Everyone else goes to put their gifts away, and Donnie fixes the oven (it's always a kitchen utensil). Benj offers to bring my presents up into my room, so it's just Raph and I. Master Splinter is still here, but he's wrapped up in his Soap Operas.

The red-clad turtle turns and smirks. "So I see you and Leo are still close."

I groan.

"I'm not mockin' ya, I'm just sayin'. So you seriously ain't gonna tell him that you like him?" Raph asks.

I don't really want to talk about this with Splinter in the room. But he won't drop it and I know it.

"No. I don't know. Probably never. What's the point, Raph?"

"The point? The point is...I've gathered my information."

I roll my eyes. "And I'm guessing you found nothing."

"I didn't get him to admit anythin', but I know that he likes ya. This is Leo we're talkin' about. Old Fearless one. He likes ya, and I can tell."

I'm sure by now that Splinter is silently listening.

I just shrug and shake my head.

"Look," he says. "I guess just keep doin' what you're doin'. It seems to be workin'. But just remember that any guy would be lucky to have you."

"Thanks, Raph."

"Welcome. And uh...thanks for the motor bike."

"I knew you'd love it."

Benj and I sit in our room, talking and putting the gifts away. A head pops through the door: Mikey.

"Hey Leo..." he sings, holding up the video camera.

"Give that back, Mikey!" I say, jumping up and trying to snatch it from him. He backs away and swipes it from my reach.

"I got a video of your little dance with Lexi last night..." he teases and my face reddens.

"Great," I growl, trying to mask my embarrassment. "Congrats. Now hand it over."

He tosses it to me, but continues to grin. "It was cute. Don't delete it though - you'll regret it."

Don and Rose pop up in the doorway.

"Why's everyone in here?" Rose asks, and Donnie has his working goggles on.

"Last night when everyone went to bed, two people stayed up instead. Leo and Lexi slow dancing to Christmas Music and smooching under the mistletoe!" Mikey recites.

Rose's jaw drops. "You kissed under the mistletoe?"

My face reddens even more.

Mikey grins in triumph. "And I got a video of it!"

Even though my face is flushed, I still manage to ask, "You got a video of the kiss?"

"Well...no, not the kiss. But guys, get this: he didn't even kiss back!"

"What?!" Rose exclaims. "Leonardo! The dumbest thing a guy can do is not kiss a girl back when she kisses you under the mistletoe!"

"And it's all true! I watched it from the ceiling!" Mikey claims.

I give him a weary look. "You watched it from the ceiling?"

He shrugs.

"Leo, that's pretty low," Don says.

I groan. "I'm sorry! I was...surprised I forgot! So...she pulled away and rushed upstairs." They'd don't it. They'd made me crack.

Rose whacks my arm. "You idiot!"

"I'm sorry! She seemed totally fine this morning!" I say.

Benj smiles a bit. "She probably was, but also curious. Now guys, we need to be quiet. Raph and Lexi are downstairs and we don't want them to hear us. We don't want to embarrass Leo like that."

Rose grins and puts her hand on her hip. "So do you like her?"

"What? No. Go away," I say.

"He sooo likes her," Mikey teases. I roll my eyes. Why do they get to tease me like this? I'm the oldest! Why can't I torment them?

"No, I don't. Stop saying that. I don't like her like that."

I know I can't lie forever, but I can for now. I've only recently met her, yet I feel like I've known her for years. I don't want to ruin what we have, but is it worth it? To know if she likes me back?

I push the thought out of my mind. That doesn't matter if she likes me back or not. She's beautiful and I'm a freak who can't even go out into public without a trench coat and fedora. She doesn't want me as a boyfriend - why am I even thinking that far ahead?

"Alright, guys, he's had enough. This conversation never happened," Benj says.

Everyone groans but nods. I'm not sure if they're convinced, but they still leave anyway. The only person left is Rose.

"Leo...do you like her?" she asks me.

I sigh, pause and nod once. I don't say anything else.

She smiles and nods. "I won't tell her. Are you afraid? Afraid that she wouldn't want to be with you?"

I nod again, rubbing the back of my neck. "I feel like I'm not good enough for her. I'm positive she'd rather have a...normal boyfriend."

She sighs. "Leo...okay, I'm not telling you to tell her yet. Keep strengthening your bond with her. Honestly, if it were me, I would want the guy to tell me. I have a tendency of rushing things. But I know my sister-she wants the relationship to develop. Keep being her friend. She already trusts you a lot. Just don't do anything to hurt her," she says, smiling.

"I would never."

I run my fingers over the pencil markings.

Leo,

Merry Christmas! I hope you liked what you got. I'm so glad I've been able to spend Christmas Vacation with you and your family. First of all, thank you for saving me. I have no idea where I would be if you guys hadn't have shown up.

You've been such a good friend to me...thank you for that. I've felt really close to you and I hope that will continue. You are hilarious and so sweet. You are kind and really polite. That's really hard to find nowadays, so thanks for that.

I don't know if you know this, but you've made me feel really special. You are always making me feel good about myself and that's one of the best things that a guy can do. You're such a great friend. I don't really know how to express it any other way.

I don't want to bore you to death, so I'm going to end this here. There are so many things that I'd like to thank you for...but that would take forever. I hope you had a great Christmas. I'm really glad that I met you, Leo!

Love,

Lexi

I sigh and place the sketch book hesitantly back into my suitcase. I don't know what I'm going to do. But whatever it is, someone is going to end up hurt.

A/N: Haha sorry to end on Leo the Pessimist. I know the last few chapters have been kind of...uneventful? Sort of? They're on vacation - relaxing from everything else that's going on or the things that are bound to happen. These chapters are to continue character development, which is important to a story. In order to care about your characters, you must know who they are first.

I see views on the story but I don't really feel like I have anyone who really cares about it. But that's okay. If there's a story I want to read, then I'm going to write it, even if I'm the only one who really wants to read it. If you do enjoy the story, I'm glad and want to thank you for reading. If you don't, then that's okay too. I know the chapters are long and can be tedious. But I hope that at least somebody enjoys(: