Chapter 28

"John! Hurry up!" I shouted back to him. We were walking in the sewers and Lily had no trouble keeping up with me but John was holding onto the little side railing in the sewer tunnels for dear life.

" Sorry if I'm a little slow in this germ filled place!" John screamed and it echoed through out the tunnels.

Lily let out a sigh of annoyance and walked back to John. She picked him up and was carrying him over her shoulders. If there's one thing about Lily's personality that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of her is that shes freakishly strong and shes not afraid to get dirty.

We arrived at the lair and I told them to wait outside. I wanted to go warn the turtles before I bring someone in. And to my luck, all of them were sitting on the couch watching TV.

" Umm, guys?" I began nervously.

" Yeah?" They replied simultaneously. All looking back over their shoulders to talk to me. By the tone of my voice, they knew something was up.

" Well...uh...I kind br-" I got cut off by Lily's voice, coming from behind me.

" Taylor who are you-" Lily and John had entered the room and were frozen with shock. They didn't scream like I did when I first saw the turtles, they were to shocked.

" Taylor," Raph was the first to speak, " Who the shell is that?" he said in a surprisingly calm tone. He didn't want to startle the people standing in their home.

It didn't work because Lily and John both started screaming and hugging each other. I walked slowly over to them.

" Guys it's okay. These are the friends that I've been living with." I tried to explain to them.

After a few more seconds of screaming, they did calm down.

" Your trying to tell me. That you've. Been living...with...with dragons!" Lily exclaimed.

" First of all we're turtles, not dragons." Leo answered for me, " And second, Taylor, what are they doing here!?" Leo started shouting.

" Look, these are my best friends. And I trust them. I needed their help and the only way I could get them to help me is if I showed them the lair. And I promise, they won't tell anyone!" I explained as calmly as I could.

All the turtles answers were different.

" What the heck were you thinking?" Leo shouted.

" Have you gone insane?" Raph scolded.

" Whoa, more people." Said the memorized Mikey.

But it was Donnie answer that shocked me most of all.

" Okay." replied Donnie.

" What?" Leo and Raph turned to Donnie while Mikey just kept on staring at Lily and John.

" Okay." Donnie repeated his answer then walked over to me, " Guys, we've known Taylor for how long now? I think we should trust her, and if she trust them, then I do to."

I smiled up at Donnie and mouthed the words thank you to him, he smiled back at me. We both looked back at Leo, Raph and Mikey. Raph and Leo sighed and Mikey walked slowly over to Lily and John and lifted a finger to poke them. But before he could Donnie gave him a whack on the back on the head.

" Fine. Let's start over." Leo suggested, " So Taylor, who are your friends?"

" Well." I smiled, " This is Lily," She put up a hand to wave and an un-assuring smile on her face, "And this it John." I continued. John just stood still and gave a small shy smile to all of the turtles.

"Lily, John, meet the turtles. This is Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo." I told them and jester to each of the turtles as I said their names. Leo raised his hand to wave, Raph did nothing, Donnie quickly put up then back down a shy wave of his hand and Mikey went right up to them and shook each of Lily's and John's hands and said hello.

Lily got use to the turtles very quickly while it took John a bit longer.

" Well hello there." Lily responded to Mikey's hand shake and hello.

" Uh, hi." John look at Mikey nervously has the giant turtle shook his hand.

After the introductions were done with, Lily and John decided that they wanted a tour of the lair. I gave them a quick tour and on the way the turtles were explaining to their new human friends how they were ninja's. And how I came to live with them. The turtles, once that they saw they could trust my friends, became rather fond of them. After all, John and Lily were two of the few humans the turtles have seen and actually got to talk to. So they were all excited and they wanted to impress them.

" Well that's basically the whole lair." I told Lily and John after we came back to the living room.

" Wow." They said simultaneously. All day dream like.

" So, do you guys like comic books?" Mikey's asked my friends.

John instantly came out his daze and stared at Mikey.

" Yes. Why, do you like comic books?" John wondered.

" I love comic books!" Mikey started to get even more excited.

" I love comic books too! Did you know that I work at a comic book store?" John started to walk off with Mikey as they continued their comic book conversation.

Lily on the other hand, actually went off talking with Raph. They didn't have much in common, so I guess that they would have plenty of stuff to argue about. So that left Donnie, Leo and I.

" So, your friends are an interesting bunch." Leo concluded.

" Yeah. Their a bit much, but their all I've got. You know, for human friends anyway. I'm glad we made up." I told Leo and Donnie.

" So what did you need their help with?" Leo wondered.

" Oh, nothing." I sighed. Deciding that if I told them what I needed Lily's help with, they would probably be mad at me.

" What's in the bag?" Donnie asked.

I looked down at the back that contained my dress in. I was still holding it. I never put it down yet.

" Hmm, I can't say. It's a surprise." I told Donnie, smiling sweetly yet suspiciously at him.

Before out conversation could proceed, John, Mikey, Lily and Raph all came back.

" Well," I cocked an eyebrow at both Lily and John, " Satisfied?"

" Okay, you were right. We've shouldn't have worried so much about you, and we shouldn't have gotten mad." Admitted John.

I gave a satisfied nod and asked them if they were ready to leave. They didn't want to but John figured that he had to go back to work and Lily should have been home around 20 minutes ago. So it would be best if they left. I began walking them back to the man hole cover we came in.

"So you said something about a date?" Lily started the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm going on a date." I told. Not revealing any more information.

" Is it with one of the turtles?" Lily asked, "Is it the red one?"

" Who Raph? No, it's uh...Donnie, the purple one." I told them shyly. Afraid of what they would think.

" Is that the really tall one?" John wondered, " How tall is he anyway?"

I was a little surprised at his question. Not that it was a weird question, it's just that they didn't seem to think that me going on a date with a mutant turtle was weird.

" First off, yes he is the really tall one. And second, I don't know how tall he is." I explained.

We arrived at the man hole.

" So this is it." John sighed.

" Yeah. This is goodbye. Lily sounded almost like she was going to cry.

" Will be able to visit again?" John wondered.

" Well," I began, "I don't know if Master Splinter would like that. But I'm going to try to convince the turtles if I could go on weekly visits to my parents house every Friday. So you could just go there at ten every Friday night and see me there."

" Okay." They both agreed.

" Goodbye for now." Lily said and hugged me. John joined in shortly after.

After our hug, I lifted up the cover for them and they climbed out. I whispered good bye to them as they walked away. I was sad to see them go. I really did miss the surface world, I guess you could call it.

Am I really having second thoughts about living with the turtles? I thought to myself, Nah, I really do enjoy living down here in the sewers. Down here I'm happy, I'm away from all the troubles up on the surface. Plus I get to train as a ninja! What could be more exciting? I'll feel better once I go on my date with Donnie.

I had almost forgot that I had a date with Donnie. But once I did remember, I didn't feel so sad anymore. I stared up at the man hole cover for a bit longer. Half wishing I could go up there and half wishing that I could telleport back to the lair. I really didn't feel like walking. But wishes don't tend to come true for me. So I sighed and started heading back towards the lair.

It was 6:20pm and my date with Donnie was at seven so I decided to go get ready. I took a quick 15minute shower and headed towards my room. I shut my curtains behind me and got the bag that held my dress. Still soaking went in my towel, with water droplets dripping down my leg, I sat down on my bed. I breathed in and out very slowly. I never thought that I would be this nervous.

Normally before people go on real first dates they go out for a cup of coffee or something. Donnie and I had lots of those kinds of moments before. For example, I would eat supper in his lab with him or we would eat breakfast together, away from his brothers. But this time it was an actual date. The one thing that scares me is that I never found it weird that I kept calling this a date. Normally I would be shy or nervous to say the word date at all, even to myself, but this, it just feels natural. Heck, even Donnie's brothers know that this is an actual date.

I got up off of my bed and got the bag that contained my dress out of my closet. I got my strapless bra on and underwear. I carefully pulled my dress out of the bag. I slipped it on with ease and look at myself in my long mirror.

My dress was a light blue, almost teal colour. It was strapless and the top of it was that fold over pattern. Like the turtles bandages on their ankles and stuff but it was much neater. Around my wast line was a black silk ribbon that tied in the back. I couldn't get it in a bow so I figured I would ask one of the turtles for help later. The bottom of my dress was flowy and went down to my knees. I used the blow-dryer to dry my hair then I had curled my hair a little bit, just at the bottom to give it some life. I had never wore my hair down in a very long time but I thought this would be a nice occasion to do so.

I didn't have any makeup except for some strawberry lip gloss to make my lips shiny. So I put some of that on. I stepped back and looked myself up and down in the mirror again. I know I'm not the prettiest person in the world but tonight, I looked the best that I've ever did, if you ignored all the scrapes and bruises. I don't usually get dressed up like this, in fact I hate it, but since I would be with Donnie tonight. I knew it would be worth it.

I tried once again to tie my ribbon but I just couldn't get it. I heard a slight knock at my door and I prayed that it wasn't Donnie. It was five minutes to seven but I since I wasn't finished getting ready, I didn't want him to see me. I ever so slightly peeked through the curtains. Luckily it was just Leo.

" Oh, it's just you." I spoke to Leo in a relived voice but kept my curtain closed.

" Can I come in?" Leo wondered. He didn't sound like himself, it sounded like he was sad or worried.

"Uh, yeah sure. I actually need your help." I told him and opened my curtain wide enough so he could come in.

I took a few steps back and looked at the ground. Playing with a curl from my hair. I felt very self-conscious that Leo was seeing me like this. I never ever got dressed up before in front of them.

" Whoa." Was Leo's first reaction. He said it in a hushed voiced.

" What?" I looked up at him nervously.

" You-uh-you look nice." he told me, "So," Leo cleared his throat, " You needed my help with something?"

"Umm, I need you to tie this." I explained while holding up the black ribbon.

"Sure." he said and walked over to me.

I turned around and he tied the silk ribbon into a bow. When he finished I turned back around to face him. Our eyes met and I saw sadness in his.

" Taylor?" Leo looked away.

" Yeah Leo?" I almost whispered to him.

" Please be careful." he said this while sitting on my bed. I knew that something was bothering Leo.

"What do you mean?" I asked in a caring voice and sat next to him.

"Well, I'm just nervous. This is Donnie's first real date. But your not the first girl he liked. And ever since April...turned over to Shredder. He's just hasn't been the same. He does his best to try and hide it, but sometimes, I can just tell. So be careful with what you say and do. Let's just say Donnie is very high strung." Leo finished explaining. He had started off his explanation while looking at me but he finished with looking at the ground. No matter how much Leo acted like a leader, he still had a soft side to him.

" Leo." I paused and waited for him to look up at me. When he did I continued my sentence, " You know that April is.."

" Dead? Yeah, I know." Leo sighed.

"Are you sad?" I asked him, practically already knowing the answer.

" Yeah I'm sad, but not as sad as I thought I would be. I mean she use to be a good friend of mine. But after she turned over, I just kind forget about her."

" Yeah." I said absentmindedly.

" There's something else too." Leo started talking again.

" Yeah?"

" Do you think there's hope?" he asked, staring at the wall.

" Hope for what?" Now I was really wondering what he was talking about.

" Hope for the rest of us. Do you think we'll ever find a girl? Who will like us for us? And not care what we look like?" Leo asked, now staring at me with the most hopeful look in his eyes I have ever seen.

" Uh..." I was at lost for words. Leo's ocean blue eyes were so distracting. His eyes locked dead with mine. It was almost haunting.

" Yes." I managed to answer him, " There's plenty of girls out there that don't give a fudge about what someone looks like. True, half of them might be crazy but the other half is sweet, and kind." I encouraged him. Or at least tried to.

Leo smiled up at me and I knew then that my encouraging words had work. I decided I was on a role and that I wanted to keep going.

" Plus, you can't help with who you fall in love with." I added on but as soon as I said those words I regretted it.

"What?" Leo asked, sound a bit stunned.

" Nothing." I said a bit to quickly and I looked down at the ground. I didn't want to meet Leo's gaze.

" Do you love him?"

" Huh?" I looked up at Leo, surprised that he asked that question.

" Do you love Donnie?" the way that he said it didn't sound mocking and he didn't sound disgusted at all. He sounded caring and almost hopeful.

" Yes." I laughed at my own answer. I couldn't believe it. No matter how many times I said it out loud, " I know it sounds crazy and that I shouldn't know what love feels like at the age of 15 but yes. I do love Donnie."

By this time Leo and I were staring at each other again. He smiled a thanks to me and I returned his smile with a smile of my own. Leo got up and walked out of my room. It was now seven and I knew that Donnie's been doing his research on human dates and he wanted it to go perfectly perfect. That includes arriving exactly on time. When Leo did exited my room I heard him whisper to Donnie.

" Go get her." Leo whispered and walked away.

Knock Knock Knock.

I knew now that it was Donnie knocking at my door this time. I took a deep breath and got up off of my bed. I walked slowly towards my curtain. I knew that there was no turning back now. If this thing that Donnie and I have didn't work out, we could never go back to just being friends. If it didn't work out, Donnie and mine's connection could never be the same. But, if it did work out. I would be the happiest person on earth. I would feel that my life is complete, Donnie is all I need to be happy. I opened my curtain and stood in the door way. I knew now that my date with Donnie was about to begin.


Yes! Two chapters in one day! And this one is longer then the last two, so that makes me happy! What also makes me happy is seeing all my reviews/favourites/followers, so I just want to say thanks to everyone who did one or all of those three things, you guys are awesome! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!