A/N: Alright, someone asked me to do a picture of Leo as he was in "TDSHW". I did; and I posted it online. It's at , under the search "Kavara-Leo" or "The Dragon Spreads His Wings". It's pretty good, I think. Leave a review if you do see it, but leave it here. I don't check my reviews – or whatever – on there. I just joined so I could post the pictures I'll do of the four mutant-mutant turtles. Hope you like it. :-)
"Raph, Mikey, Don!" Leo called when he opened the door, peering into the dark house. He walked in, closing the door firmly before putting his trench coat and hat in the closet and heading deeper into the house. "Ha ha, guys. Come on out!"
"SURPRISE!" Mikey cried, jumping from behind the couch. Leo eyed him, and the youngest knew he was in trouble. "Um… Happy Birthday?"
"It's not my birthday, Mikey," Leo sighed. "Where are Raph and Don?"
"Um… Out…" Mikey squeaked as Leonardo took a step forward, his tail thrashing.
"What?! Where?" Leo demanded.
"Um… They're on the roof… I think…"
"It's broad daylight," the leader nearly screamed, amazed at their stupidity. "What the shell are they doing?"
"You cursed," Mikey giggled, though he silenced when Leo ran past him towards Beth's room and the easiest route to the roof. "Hey- No! Leo, come back here!" He set off after his Kavara, hoping he stopped the big turtle in time.
However, Leo threw open the door to Beth's room to find Raph and Don hanging banners that said, "Welcome to the Family" and "Thank You" on them in bright, block letters. Stopping, Leo stared, his jaw dropping.
"Leo!" Raph cried in surprise, falling off the chair he was standing on in his shock. "Um… I… We thought you'd be gone longer!"
"Obviously. What is the meaning of this?" Leonardo demanded, crossing his arms. "Why are you in Bethantha's room without her permission?"
"Because… Um… Well…" Don fidgeted as he put the scissors down on the table.
"BecausewereallythinkyouandBetharereallycutetogetherandwewantedtomakeitreallycoolinhereforwhenshegetsback," Mikey blurted.
"Andwethinkyouneedashoveintherightdirectiontoaskheroutlikeahumanshould," Don continued in just the Bethe manner.
"Say what?" Leo's jaw dropped further, if that was possible. "Why did you want to make her room "cool"?"
"Because we think you two should go out together," Raph explained patiently. "Leo, Beth's gonna be the best thing that's ever happened to you. You need to take what ya can, bro."
"Guys, you don't understand. We've been out together. We've been going steady for about a year now." Leo chuckled at their expressions. "She knows I love her, and I know she loves me. We're well on our own path, thank you. Now, help me clean this up. If Beth sees this-"
"If I see what?" a sweet voice asked from behind the winged turtle. Beth was standing there, blue eyes twinkling.
"Beth!" Leo cried, spreading his wings to hide her room from her view. "Um… Welcome home?"
"Too late, Fisae, I saw," she laughed, touching his wings. He closed them obediently and stepped aside so she could scold his brothers. To all of their surprise, though, she merely smiled at them. "Thanks for your help."
"W-What? I thought you'd be mad," Don stammered.
"Nah, I've had worse done for me. Like Lincoln's little trick of putting up some pictures he's got that he knows I don't like." She snorted. "Little brothers are the most annoying things in the world."
"I agree with you there," Leo murmured, drawing her into his plastron. "Little bros. Humph!"
"Hey!" Raph, Don, and Mikey protested. "We're not that bad."
"Uh huh. Of course not," Leo assured them sarcastically, rolling his eyes and running a hand down Beth's hair. "You agree with me, right, Eiladar?"
"Of course," she giggled, flicking his nose with a finger. "Let me go, now. I've got to scan one of these and send it to some of my friends. I'm sure some would love to come."
"Alright." Leo handed her a piece of paper he had in his wing and she put it face-down on the scanner as she sat at a computer.
"Leo, boot Computer 5 up and let's see if you still remember that trick I showed you. I want you to send this to some of the organizations around town. Try some news channels, too. The more the merrier." Beth was busy trying to get a page from the scanner as Leo cleared a chair and knelt on the floor, seeing as the chair wouldn't hold him.
Don watched as he quickly logged on under "Fisae" and used a few pencils easily to type. Even Donnie had trouble with human keyboards, and he had the nimblest fingers of the family! Except maybe Raph…
Mikey and Raph looked at each other, sighed, and started taking down the banners and cleaning up the floor from spare confetti Mikey had dropped accidentally. Don was trying to get Leo to see what he was sending all over the Internet, posting it online at sites even Donnie hadn't heard of, which was incredible! Beth was working diligently, and as she spun past Leonardo to grab something off another desk – a black book called "Passwords" – she looked over the sites he'd posted the thing on and nodded, giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Great. That's enough; that conference room is only big enough for about three hundred people. We'll have to ask them to contact us somehow."
"I've given them my e-mail," Leo said offhandedly. Don's jaw dropped; Leonardo didn't have an e-mail, he didn't need one. "Stop staring, Donnie. I've got an e-mail. It's for my work with Beth. People contact me with their complaints, and I answer them as best I can. If I can't, I forward them to Beth. It works." Leo shrugged, opening a window for his mail. He had thirteen messages waiting, and he opened the first one before laughing.
"Beth, it's that strange dude from Eastwood. He claims he's got another "mutant roach" specimen. Wanna do the honors or should it?" Leo called across the room, letting Don read the screen quickly. A man was writing to "Mr. Jackson". The purple-banded turtle raised an eye ridge. Well, it seems as though Leo's got his sights set for a wife here soon.
"You can," Beth answered. "Alright. That should be enough. Raph, Mikey, get away from there!" She stopped the two curious turtles from peeking at the sheet of paper under the scanner. "It's a surprise!"
"Oooh, are you getting married?" Mike asked. Everyone was dead silent for a moment.
"Nooooo," Leo sighed, glaring at Mikey. "And if Beth were getting married, you'd be hearing about it!"
"'Cause Leo'd beat the crap outta them," Raph chuckled. "Or it'd be him. So, what's so important anyway."
"Nothing," Leo and Beth answered at the same time. Beth nodded and forcefully pushed the turtles from the room with orders to make them some lunch. Leo replied to he messages he could, forwarding some to Beth and a couple to the trash bin for disposal.
He stood up – careful not to brace himself on her table – and shut down the terminal.
"We make quite the team," he sighed, gathering Beth's small form into his strong arms. "Mmm. You smell like strawberries."
"My shampoo," she mused. "Strawberry Fields."
"I like it. But why not blueberry?"
"Because my heart is stolen by one blue thing and that is you, Fisae," she whispered, putting her hands on his sides. "It's good to have you here with me."
"I feel the same way," Leo assured Beth, kissing her gently along the top of her head, down her nose, and finally her mouth. His tongue explored the inside until they heard a crash of pots and an angry roar from Raph, destroying the moment.
"Aw, nuts," Leo smiled, brushing a lock of her black hair from Beth's eyes. "You're so beautiful."
"And you are my knight in shining armor," she promised, pressing closer. "I can't wait until other humans accept you. Then, maybe… We can have the life we dream of."
"Maybe." Leonardo grinned suddenly. "Why not? My father can make a marriage ceremony. We've got witnesses."
"L-Leo!" Beth gasped. "A-Are you sure? When everything could go into the drains so quickly?"
"I'm sure, Beth. You are my soul mate, Eiladar," Leonardo murmured, hands on her hips as he looked down at her. "You are my love."
"And you, mine," she said quickly. "But… Shouldn't we wait? Wait until you're accepted? Wait until you've gotten human rights?"
"We won't get that anytime soon, Beth. We may never get equal rights. I love you." He bent down and brushed his tongue against her lips. "I want us to be happy. This is going to be very stressful on my brothers and me. I'll need your help. I need you, Beth."
"I need you, too, Leo. I agree, though. We should have someone to lean on. If only you were a human. It would be legal!"
"So what if it isn't? We'll know we're married, my brothers'll know we're married, and the humans will just have to deal with it."
"I wish I had your confidence." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to face him eye-to-eye, legs around his waist to hold her up as well. Nuzzling her face into his neck, she was content to sit there for a moment, loving the feeling of being with her true love.
"Geez, am I stupid!" Leo suddenly cried. "That wasn't a proposal. Beth, love, wait for a few days. I need to call Master Splinter and see if he agrees. And then I have to find a ring."
"We don't need rings, Leo," she protested. He would hear none of it, though.
"We do, and we will, Beth!" he swore. "Just give me a couple days, okay?"
"Okay, if you insist. Should we tell your brothers?"
"No. For now, this'll be our little secret. After all, I wanna see the looks on their faces when I propose! Can you imagine?" Leo looked off into space happily. "Raph's jaw would hit the floor, I'm sure of it. Mikey'd be silent for a moment – a miracle! – and then he'd be all over us, ranting about "Leo juniors" and the food at the marriage ceremony. Don'd just stare, you know, that stare that says, "What the shell just happened?". And the Raph would just smile and start teasing us. He'd probably already be thinking about te consequences. And then Don'd wonder if we could even have babies together. Ah, if only we could tape it all!"
"We can," Beth said micheviously. "But since you need to make it a surprise, we'll have to make do with our memories when we're old and stumbling around. Or will you live to be, like, two hundred years old or something?"
"No, as far as Don can tell, we'll all die around the same time we might if we were human. But maybe not; mutations are not the most widely studied topic in this world, and Don isn't a human scientist with access to resources beyond my wildest dreams!"
"Leo… You're funny." Beth laughed as she spoke, jumping down and stalking to the door. "Let's go get some lunch. I'm hungry." Leo followed his newly-made fiancé outside, smiling brightly to himself.
Could this day get any better?