Naomi set the table for her and Splinter. It was the evening of the day that the turtle brothers departed and she hadn't made any progress in the matters of her heart.
Her and Master Splinter went through the normal routine, albeit quieter than usual. She cleared the table and washed the dishes before heading upstairs to get ready for bed. She discarded her garments and exchanged them for her favorite satin nightgown.
Pulling back the covers she slid into the comfortable bed. She rolled onto her stomach so she could inhale the scent that inspired her dreams, the kind that were frustrating. You could remember nothing about them, except that you loved them, and it drove her insane to not know who the room first belonged to.
Naomi laid still, enjoying the scent that reminded her of her family. It smelled like the after shave her father's father used to wear, English Leather, with just a little bit of vanilla mixed in with something else she couldn't quite identify.
She knew it wasn't any of the other turtles because Raph smelled like Old Spice and an old Kentucky auto shop. Donnie smelled like disinfectant and Hazelnut coffee, the blend a lot more pleasant to her senses than she would have thought, and Mikey smelled like salted caramel and a scent reminiscent of warm blankets.
Rubbing her face into the pillow, and snuggling into the blankets, she let her mind wander...
Naomi slowly cooked Master Splinter's omelet, contemplating the meaning behind her dream last night. Setting his and her breakfast on the table, Master Splinter must have noticed her tired state.
"Are you alright Naomi? I sense much on your mind child." She stared at him for a minute or two before quietly answering.
"Just a girl problem Master Splinter, I'm sure with just a little more time to think I'll figure at least something out. I'll be okay." Master Splinter noticed that although he finished his breakfast, as Naomi took their plates away, she did not touch her's.
Master Splinter meditated for an hour or so before deciding to call April for assistance. He told her that he was worried about Naomi, that perhaps she simply needed someone to talk to about her "girl" problem.
It wasn't but a half hour later that he heard April trying to get Naomi to head with her topside.
"C'mon, surely with the guys gone you want to go somewhere. With the way they talk about having to keep you here I would have thought you'd be practically begging to leave."
Naomi shook her head. "I don't know, I mean. I know it's been weeks since the kidnapping, but, with the guys gone I just don't feel up to going anywhere. Maybe when they get back we can ask and then plan something."
April's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You said ask, as in get permission. You know that you're not a prisoner here..."
"Yeah I know, I didn't mean to make it sound like that I just feel like..." The sentence was hurried, but trailed off at the end as if she stopped herself from volunteering to much personal information. April realized she was getting close to what was going on.
"Feel like what?" April watched Naomi bite her lip. "With what we've gone through together we've practically gone from barely related, to cousin status now. You can talk to me about whatever, that's what family's for."
April put her hands on Naomi's shoulders and looked into her eyes, trying to convey her sincerity.
"Thanks April, but, I grew up with brothers and their friends, I'm not exactly, girl, savvy."
April nodded in understanding. "That's ok, why don't we just head to one of your shops. You own a diner right? Let's just go there, then we can talk. Friend to friend."
Friend to friend, she could do that.
"Alright, let me just get my jacket."
They entered the diner calmly, April noticed the place was nearly empty.
"It's not lunch hour yet, the place just opened twenty minutes ago." Naomi explained before heading up to the counter.
"Hi, you know, Whispering Death's are allergic to dragon nip." April looked at Naomi oddly.
The girl behind the counters eyes widened before smiling brightly. "Yes ma'am, Gronckles don't like to be scratched under their chin." She gathered two menus. "Right this way please."
The waitress lead them through the restaurant and back through the kitchen before grabbing an extra chair and sitting them at a large oak desk in an office.
"What can I get you to drink Ma'am? Miss?"
"Water for me please, April?"
"Coffee." The waitress nodded before leaving to fill the order.
April raised an eyebrow in question, and gestured to the retreating back of their server. "This room is sound proof, not to mention originally my office."
They sat in silence for barely seconds when their waitress came back with the drinks.
"There anything else you want ma'am?"
"Just privacy please Courtney." Courtney nodded and left again.
April watched as Nay sipped her water. She wondered where to begin the conversation.
"Back at the lair you said that when the guys got back, you would ask permission to leave, why would feel the need to do that?"
Naomi took a deep breath before deciding to trust April. "What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room, please, you have to promise me that at least."
April nodded. "Of course."
Once Naomi started, she found it hard to stop. Every thought and thought process, conclusion and worry poured from her lips, helping to release some tension as she explained.
"I just, I feel like, I shouldn't do something unless they know what's going on just in case something happens. My mom taught that that's what your suppose to do when your with people and I go on auto pilot with them so easily I'm afraid I'm going to start integrating myself as their, like, stay at home wife because I have a really bad habit of doing weird things like that and I'm just afraid that, they'll." She dropped her voice to barely a whisper. "They won't want me around any more. I'm a lot more eccentric then they think, and my boisterousness has been known to drive people away and..." Naomi sighed, and dropped her head with a thud, onto the desk.