*Last, but certainly not least. Ya'll didn't think I forgot about Leo and Calley, did you? ;)
Leonardo shifted his position on the couch in the Lounge, so he could peek over the top of his book at Calley again. The blond woman was bent over her own set of pages, but she looked up the instant his eyes fell on her. The blue-masked turtle hadn't been obvious about it, but Calley's sensitivity was difficult to bypass sometimes.
"Leonardo, what is it? You keep acting like you want to say something. Why don't you just come out with it? You'd feel better," she said amiably.
Leonardo cracked a smile, and shut the book he hadn't been reading with a flourish. "There's no getting anything past you, is there?"
"You're subtle, Leo, but that doesn't mean you can hide everything. What's up with you? Why are you so nervous?"
Leonardo rubbed the back of his head self-consciously, a feeling that the woman alone had the power to produce in him. "I talked to your dad while we were staying with him," he said matter-of-factly. "Maybe it's time that we talked too."
Calley gave him a pensive look, but didn't say anything.
"I've been doing some thinking, Calley..." When he broke off, she smiled.
"No, you?"
Leonardo tried hard to repress his own smile. He needed to be serious, so she'd understand where he was coming from.
"Calley, I've loved you for the better part of a year, without really knowing what I was doing. Sometimes it felt like I was tiptoeing around at a snail's pace, trying to cut myself off from doing anything rash. I'm not usually impulsive like that, but the way I feel about you could have allowed my actions to run away with me several times.
I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, or pressure you into something you weren't ready for. I came to realize that I couldn't convince you that you're worthy of being loved. It was something you were going to have to accept on your own. As much as I tried to show you in actions or words...I finally understood that it wasn't about me. It was about making peace with yourself. And over these last few weeks...it feels like a major part of you has."
The young woman's brown eyes fluttered, and he was sure he saw tears in them.
"I had some help in that department."
"Do you forgive yourself, Calley? Can you honestly say you've done that?"
"I may have to remind myself a million times, Leo - but I had to do it. There was no other way to hold onto what we have or my sanity, unless I let it go." Tears became a steady stream as she continued talking, tearing at Leonardo's heart until he finally reached both arms out to draw her in. "I'm sorry I let this burden come between us, that I've been so centered on myself, and what I was facing. I'm trying to make up for that now, and put a stronger focus on the rest of the family. I want to be the person I know I can be."
"You already are that person," he said firmly. "You see so much of what's going on around you, more deeply than most people could. You don't need to make up for the past, and that's not what I want to talk to you about. I need to find out where you want to go from here."
"What? Go from...where am I supposed to be going?"
Leonardo stifled a chuckle at her confusion. "That didn't come out clear enough. It's where we want to go from here. I was wondering if you'd like to make this official."
"Official, like you're asking me to marry you?"
Now that it came to it, he felt calmer than he'd expected to. "Do you want to? I mean, I'm not thinking of right away. What with the baby and everything, I thought we could wait a couple of months for Spring, give things time to settle down. Not that I'm trying to plan everything in advance or tell you what to do, it was just a thought. We don't have to do it unless you're sure you're ready, it doesn't have to happen quickly. It's been on my mind for awhile, and it was getting harder to hold in, so I was...Am I saying too much?"
The nod she gave him was so solemn he was lost for what to say next. "Can you rephrase all that in about four words?"
He chuckled softly, intentionally gripping the back of the couch so that he wouldn't be caught rubbing his head again. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes." There was more certainty in her voice than he could ever remember hearing before.
Calley extended both arms over his shoulders, kissing him once and then twice more without breaking the original contact. Goose bumps reigned supreme as she lingered in his personal space, and he hardly dared to breathe. It was an exhilarating and almost frightening feeling to know that someone had this kind of power over him, by his own submission.
"I think Spring is perfect," she told him. "I won't let you regret this, Leo."
"I find that easy to believe, Calley."
Raphael bolted up from the couch in the living area when he heard the knock at the door, grateful for the distraction from the headline news that had been buzzing in the background for two hours. He'd gotten sick of it in about five minutes, but there would be no arguing with Donny, who was in sole possession of the remote. The red-masked turtle heaved the door open, grinning widely when he saw Greg and Brandon on the other side.
"Hey, guys. Congrats on making International headlines, Heff. Donny's been making us watch non-stop ever since the thing broke."
Greg gave him a scathing glare. "Not funny. You don't have a clue what I went through with those morons, trying to accuse me of being in league with a terrorist! Who isn't a terrorist, I have to add! We can't even go home, there are still Media camped around our building!"
"Sorry, man," Raphael said swiftly. "You're not like in trouble, are you?"
"If they could prove one shred of it, I'd already be in custody, Raph. They don't mess around with this stuff. So because I won't talk about anything, they're trying to flush me out with this Media circus. I know those Japanese Agents are the ones who called it in!"
"Greg, seriously, you need to calm down," Brandon said carefully.
"Yeah, come sit down, stay awhile. Donny, can you turn this junk off now?" Raphael called over his shoulder.
His purple-masked brother didn't respond, but the incessant sound of the newscaster finally went dead. Greg didn't say anything either as he stalked into the room, but the way the man was clenching his jaw told Raphael he was fuming underneath.
"Wanna go hit something?" Raph offered.
"Going at it with your punching bag won't make me feel better about this. I don't understand how this happened, or why she couldn't have called me!"
"Is this you relaxing, Heff?" Donatello asked, as the man dropped into a recliner.
"Where do they get off coming into my territory, and interrogating me like some kind of war criminal?"
Raphael exchanged glances with Brandon, and the man shook his head.
"He doesn't have an 'off' button, Raph, I already checked."
"That's real cute, guys, laugh it up, okay? Forget the fact that my reputation just got royally trashed in front of my boss, and now the world at large!"
"Greg." Donatello's quiet tone was serious enough to capture his attention. "They're only trying to help. Why don't you take a few minutes, and breathe. Don't say anything at all. Just try it."
The sandy-haired man leaned back further in the chair, and flipped the lever to release the foot-rest. Raphael could hear him deliberately trying to control his breathing, a technique they'd gone over in training together. A self defense expert Greg wasn't - but he had enough experience to get himself out of situations in which an Agent could get caught up.
Michelangelo popped into the room, promptly breaking the stoic silence that had set in. "Hope you guys are hungry; I've got about a zillion teriyaki chicken skewers getting ready to come out."
Greg raised his head a few inches. "Not really, Mike - maybe later."
"I'll keep some warm for you, Heff; guy's gotta eat." The orange-masked turtle winked at Greg, and turned to the rest of the room. "Any other takers?"
"I'm starving," Brandon confessed. "We never did get lunch today." At Greg's sharp look, he ducked his head slightly. "Lead the way, Mikey."
"Donny, you want me to bring you some?" Mike offered.
"As I've stated, I'm perfectly capable of walking," Donatello managed to say without sounding annoyed this time.
As Brandon and Don followed Mike, Raphael threw another glance at Greg. "Sure you don't want anything right now, Heff?"
"No," he said stiffly. "I'd like to go to sleep, and call this day a nightmare. You don't think there's a chance it is, do you?"
Raphael opened his mouth to respond, but the buzz of Greg's cell-phone cut him off. The man barely glanced at the facing, but then gave it a double-take in what seemed like confusion. "Can you hang on a second, Raph?"
"Sure, man, it's your phone."
Greg tapped a button, and brought it to his ear. "Hello?" The quality of his tone indicated that he didn't know who was waiting for him on the other side. His expression remained intact for about three seconds, before he jumped so high Raphael swore he could have hit the ceiling.
"No, hold on! Hold on just a minute." Greg covered the receiver swiftly. "Raph, you go. I have to take this."
Greg's heart was racing about a mile a minute, as he dashed into Donny's Lab to gain some privacy.
"Sayuri, what the heck?"
"I am sorry, Gregory-san, truly sorry. I never meant for you to be caught up inside this!"
The Asian woman spoke English so well that he'd always had an easy time understanding her, even through the accent.
"This should not have happened at all, but I suppose I...I trusted someone too much," she went on.
"That doesn't answer my question. What in the world is going on? How did you become an internationally known terrorist in the span of three weeks?"
"It is not true what they are saying, Gregory-san! I did not do any of those things!"
Greg exhaled deeply to calm down. "I know it isn't true, Sayuri. Did you get set up? Make a deal with the wrong person? Just talk to me, please!"
"I cannot involve you in this anymore; the stakes have become too high. My life is as good as over, and I am not going to let that happen to you."
"I'm already involved; your dang government tracked me all the way to my Agency!"
"I know, and I am sorry for that, Gregory-san. I tried to be careful with my records, thorough in deleting information. I did not think they would trace you."
"Well...my recent e-mails to you probably didn't help any matters. What are you doing right now? Why haven't you contacted me before this?"
"I already told you. If you are implicated, you will not escape any more than I can. There is only one course of action left for me, and I swear I am going to see it through."
"See what through? Is this still about your investigation with the Akiudo? How can you be stuck on that when you're being accused of terrorism?"
"Who do you think is setting me up, Gregory-san? My dilemmas are all tied up in that gang, and that is why I have to finish this."
"Finish it how? You don't really believe you can take them on single-handedly."
"I will do what I must, even if I have to die trying. There is nothing else left for me to do."
"Yes there is, Sayuri! Go to the Police, hand over the evidence you have concerning them! Surely something can be worked out."
"I do not have enough."
"But I thought-"
"It could be interpreted many ways, Gregory-san, it is not conclusive. I only called you now to apologize, and because I do not expect to speak to you again. I have enjoyed our exchanges, and I wish that this were turning out differently."
"Are you about to do something suicidal?"
"I will do what I have to, to get the information I need."
"Where are you, Sayuri?"
"I am not going to tell you that. I am sorry for everything, and I wish you nothing but the best."
"You can't be considering going after them on your own!"
"It is the way it has to be. Do not try and dissuade me. Let it go."
