Attention Apritello fans, I hope you like this installment! Enjoy! :)
(April's POV)
"Thanks Kirby, are you sure you're okay with taking the girls? You really don't…" "Don, it is completely not a problem. I just want to help you two out. Besides, I'm not doing anything." My dad assures as we saw him drive off in his car with Marie and Roz.
Well, we had to practically pry Roz out of her lab, again showing how much she's like her father.
But, my dad has been doing this a lot on the weekends with our older two so we only have to look after Edith.
Donnie and I started to walk back inside from the driveway. I saw Donnie still have a strange expression on his face. "What's wrong?" I ask. "I just feel like we're still taking advantage of your dad. He does this way too often and it makes me guilty." He explains.
I knew what he meant because I used to feel like that too, but I knew the reason why I no longer feel guilty about it… and I realized it years ago.
It can all be traced back to when Donnie and I first got married soon after my college graduation.
Okay, it is obvious to anyone that everyone in our circle had completely different situations. Well, mainly with just the 6 of us in relationships who had completely different circumstances for marriage.
It all started when Mona came to my dad and I's apartment about 6 weeks after the invasion, looking almost insane and telling me about how she was late.
She then explained what happened between her and Raph when they fell down that elevator shaft during the invasion and thought they were going to die… well then it was confirmed when she found out she was pregnant with Molly and she was still panicking about what she was going to do and eventually I was able to calm her down and everything turned out completely fine.
Then about 8 and a half months into her pregnancy she gave me a call and told me that her and Raph were getting married and she wanted me to come as a witness. I was surprised but I said of course without hesitation. It was a really small and quick thing. It was basically just Leo and I there with them in this room off of a courthouse in Brooklyn, so you could say Leo and I were the unofficial best man and maid of honor.
But they were happy and it wasn't long after, 8 days actually, that Molly was also born.
Which for me it is still weird to think of Raph, the guy who I used to see not care about really anything, being Mona's boyfriend and then transitioning to being a husband and father. That and I was eating when Mona called to ask me and I almost choked on my food when she said it was Raph's idea.
Like I said, as surprising as it was, I had to admit I always knew Raph had a soft side in him somewhere. Especially after the time when Donnie got hurt and Raph carried me over his shoulder to Donnie's room to make me go to sleep. That especially was how I knew how good of a guy he was deep down
Then in that time since I was going to college locally and my Freshman year wasn't entirely too insane with my classes… I volunteered to help watch Molly a lot and… I really enjoyed babysitting her actually. I still consider Molly like my fourth daughter.
Through that experience it made me really come to the decision that I did want a family of my own at the right place and time.
Especially when Donnie proposed to me in my junior year of college and put that whole picture into perspective for me. He even, to my complete shock, actually got me a ring. When I asked him how he got it, he told me that he'd been doing a job on the side repairing machines at this auto shop to get the money for it.
Donnie even asked my dad before he asked me so we had all the approval we could need. Even at a young age.
A 19 and 20 year old engaged may have seemed young, but we really didn't care. We've been dating for four years and been friends even before that, and we were in love… and still are.
Then a year after that Donnie was with me in my dorm room, we had a lot of space to be with each other because my roommate went home for the weekend. But, it wasn't until afterward that Donnie told me something.
Donnie told me how he went to a job interview for a company that specialized in medical machinery and prosthetics.
He told me have gave them his semi-false yet well thought out backstory of his education. That he was home schooled due to the bad school systems where he grew up and received his high school diploma through his doctorate in mechanical engineering online. Then to make up for his lack of experience in an actual job, since Donnie never had a real job ever and being only 20 years old, he brought some of his inventions with him.
His boss who interviewed him was apparently totally blown away by Donnie's doctorate at his young age and his skill as a scientist as well as an inventor that he gave Donnie a position at their new research and development facility out in the suburbs. He told me that he was going to start there once the facility was completed a month after my graduation.
I was so proud of him and Donnie was completely out of his mind psyched about doing a job that he's always wanted.
That was when he asked me what I thought about getting married and finding an apartment out in the suburbs after I graduated in several weeks. I was completely for it and I thought that things literally could not have been any better.
That was until an hour after my graduation ceremony when I was approached by a recruiter from channel 6.
I did an internering spurt there a couple months back when one of their field reporters sprained their ankle and I had the chance to fill in as a temp. They really liked my presence and subtle directness on camera and once they got a look at my grades, they offered me a permanent position that I could start whenever I wanted.
I then had to tell them I was going to get married within a couple days, just to give them fair warning that I was not going to be April O'Neil for much longer. Also, Donnie of course was so proud of me for getting that job opportunity.
Then the day came and it was just what Donnie and I wanted, something quiet.
Since my family literally only consisted of my dad and my aunt, who wasn't able to make it due to her being on an extended business trip, I thought it would be better to have something small with just our immediate circle. Donnie's brothers, Irma, Mona, Hazel, Splinter, and of course my dad.
Unlike a lot of girls who seem to fantasize about their perfect wedding day… to be honest, I really never cared about all that ever.
My thoughts on marriage were always about rather having the right husband than the right wedding.
Because sure you have this insanely great day, ONE day… but then you realize the marriage itself isn't going to work? I just never saw the sense in that and the fact that the family I had was virtually nonexistent made me not care about having a real wedding that much more.
Well… going back to how my dad works in to all this.
Well, it was about 3 weeks before Donnie and I planned to get married and we were visiting my dad at our old house where I grew up that he moved back into after the invasion. We were talking about the wedding plan and everything and how Donnie had a job lined up.
That was when we told him how we were apartment hunting out here for a place to stay and my dad immediately said that would be ridiculous and that he thought it would be a better idea if we moved in with him.
Look… Donnie and I are the furthest thing from moochers and we wanted to establish our independence.
But then my dad brought up the point that dumping our newly acquired money into an apartment would be a poor investment and put us into a hole and that if we stayed with him, we could save up to buy something that would last and be our own, like a condo or a house.
That was when Donnie and I really talked it over more and we did eventually decide that my dad was right and it seemed more logical to save up.
So, Donnie and I got married and after that we came home with my dad and saw that upon getting to the house that my dad got us a wedding present, it was a car. Kind of an older and borderline crappy car, but it was more than we had before with nothing. But Donnie fixed it up really well and was able to use it to drive to work once his job started. I had Verne picking me up in the channel 6 van so I didn't need it.
Anyway, we got inside the house and had dinner with my dad and that was when my dad showed us our room. It was the old guest bedroom next to my old room. It actually looked nicer than I remembered because my dad remodeled the house using some saved up money he had.
It had warm light green and white walls and it still had the old antique brass bed frame on the bed. Also we had a really nice set up with a small bathroom connected to our room. Donnie even brought the TV from his lab to set up in our room so we could watch TV together like we used to in the privacy of his lab.
It almost instantly felt like a really great situation for us.
Then we started to watch TV, cuddle, and relax… then we started to get closer and slowly getting more into the… wedding night situation.
This was something I actually did think about a lot with us when it came to the day of our wedding… it was something that sort of made me nervous, but not like it usually does with people. Mainly when it came to sex, but sex itself was not the factor whatsoever for us.
Donnie and I have had sex together for the last four years and seen each other naked many times before that, so we were not awkward around each other in that situation at all.
But this time, I just didn't want it to be just us having sex like we usually did and I wanted there to be something special about tonight, being joined together officially, as life partners… as a married couple.
That's the one and only problem with sex prior to marriage for me atleast from my thinking. You already know each other in every way possible that there is no surprise the night of the wedding.
Our first time when we made love was special, sure it had a little hiccup thrown in to fluster us to no end, but it was special and I wanted our wedding night to have a special quality too.
I love Donnie and Donnie loved me, and I wanted it to be something to show him how much I was happy that we got to this point in our relationship, that we were now husband and wife.
So about a week before I graduated, I decided to do something to push me outside of my comfort zone.
Okay, long story short I decided to do something I have never done before and actually bought lingerie.
It wasn't anything over the top, but it was different and a little... risque for me. But that's what lingerie is supposed to be like and it was an area I have never delved into before that moment.
But when I wore it, I kind of felt… empowered...confident in a way. It was kind of exciting for me that I was thinking of trying something like this so I knew I was on the right track when I found one that I knew would get Donnie's complete and total undivided attention.
It was a light purple, almost lavender, color with a dark purple silk trim on the edges of the articles of the ensemble.
Right when I saw it, I knew it was that or nothing. If that didn't make his jaw drop, I don't know what would. At first I felt a little awkward about going up to register to buy it, thinking the clerk would look at me weird, until I instantly realized that thought was completely stupid and ridiculous.
I mean seriously, I was a 21 year old woman and there was no reason why I should feel awkward about something like that.
So I went into the bathroom and changed and I felt a little bit of nerves, but I liked it. I felt some sort of rush going into some new territory for us and I was almost anxious to see his reaction when I walked back into the room.
In the back of my mind I was hoping that we wouldn't disturb my dad and if he could possibly hear us, but Donnie and I are pretty discreet in intimate situations… that and my dad's room was on the other side of the house so I felt confident that we wouldn't disturb him.
That was when I smiled and opened the door. I tried to look slightly provocative as I leaned in the doorway and said his name to call his attention. Needless to say the expression on his face was even better than I pictured.
I was so satisfied that I achieved my goal in making tonight special for us and Donnie was all over me and I don't think I had even seen him take off his clothes as fast as he did in that moment than I ever remembered from the past and I barely moved an inch as he swiftly got up, made his way over to me to kiss me and even carried me to the bed, something we hadn't done in a while.
It was really romantic and I could tell Donnie was completely loving what I was wearing, but I think he had a little more fun taking it off me. But so did I and I wasn't going to stop myself from being totally enthralled in this particular situation.
Everything leading up to it as well as the actual act of being intimate was absolutely amazing… but of course, it couldn't all go as planned with our luck. Then we got, well… to the end and as if to punctuate the moment the bed frame at the foot of the bed broke and came down with and extremely loud crash.
Even though Donnie and I were still slightly in a haze, we both looked at each other totally mortified and in shock.
Then we both became paranoid about if my dad heard that, which we were sure he did.
Look, if we had our own place and it was just us and something like this happened, we'd both probably laugh about it.
But we were in my dad's house, with him being just down the hall and there is something even as two legal adults sleeping together when you are in the same household as a parent who is in very close proximity… it's totally awkward to think about, let's face it.
But the next morning Donnie and I were practically jumping out of our skins and avoiding stepping on eggshells when my dad came down for breakfast.
But my dad was acting as if nothing even happened, even when he did see what happened to our bed. He didn't even look like he really even cared, but it was at that moment Donnie went out and he came home with a completely new bed frame, and I knew he didn't want that to happen again.
But I was completely in agreement with Donnie's overly panicked/high strung behavior for once and was glad he chose to do that too.
Besides, I would rather not have my dad know whenever Donnie and I were being intimate with each other.
Well a couple months past and Donnie and I were still living with my dad. Even though we deep down wanted our own place… we were comfortable living with my dad. But, Donnie and I were also talking a little more about one thing in particular… starting a family.
It was something that was definitely and thuroughly dicussed between us, but we eventually were able to settle on a plan… we weren't really going to do any set plan to start our family.
One, was because of Donnie and I's mentality to plan everything.
We knew that if we waited and held off too long that we'd end up like Mona's parents and make it harder to have our children later in life due to older age. Also, we knew that if we did plan that we'd be too eager and anxious to have kids then either.
So, I went off birth control and we decided to just see where it went… and I eventually found out I was pregnant with Marie. I just remembered the look on Donnie's face when he found out and it being the next milestone we reached together.
My dad especially was completely excited about it and at first Donnie and I felt that guilt again like we were mooching off my dad or something, especially when Marie was born. Not only did Donnie and I feel like we were encroching on my dad's generosity… but we also brought a baby into the house on top of it.
Donnie and I did feel guilty thinking we were literally being the biggest parasites and annoyances to my dad's life ever, though he never said anything. Then one day Donnie and I went into my old room that we converted into a nursery for Marie to get her after my dad volunteered to watch her, but we couldn't find her.
We were looking everywhere until we looked out the window and saw my dad, grinning ear to ear, holding Marie and pointing out the chickens in the pen out back to her and having the time of his life making his granddaughter smile.
At that moment, I finally had the epiphany. My dad was lonely.
All that time I thought we were being huge burdens and pestilences that I didn't even realize the small service we did for him everyday and it was something that I still knew was true now with our older girls especially.
I always keep forgetting that my dad has been a widower all this time since my mom died and when I stayed in the city to go to college… my dad was out here, in a big farmhouse, all alone.
That was when I also realized the other reason why he wanted Donnie and I to move in with him when we got married.
He liked having company with him.
My dad never remarried and I always thought it was a little strange. My dad is a very nice and intelligent man and I didn't want him to feel like he couldn't get remarried. I wanted my dad to be happy.
But… my dad just doesn't mind being single and I think in his mind, unlike Splinter who was able to move on and accept his first wife's passing, he still wasn't free of my mom and he just never met the right woman I guess.
But at the same time, I knew my dad didn't want to just marry some woman out of loneliness, that wouldn't be fair.
But I could tell that he wasn't unhappy. We try to visit often with each other and he enjoys spending time and having overnights with his granddaughters on the weekends, not to seem bias but my dad is a really cool grandpa and the girls love him so much.
I looked to Donnie again.
"You know why Donnie. He likes the company and seeing the girls." I reply with a slight smile as we go to the kitchen.
(Donnie's POV)
Edith was finally sleeping for the night so April and I decided to go to bed and watch TV.
As we climbed into bed and April snuggled up closer to me… I still can't get over how my life has turned out. I never thought I would have had a life like this 17 years ago. I'm married to the woman I love more than anyone in the world, we have three beautiful daughters, and I have the job I've always wanted.
I heard heard vibrating coming from the table and I immediately heard April groan as she saw who the message was from.
"Ugh, I don't care Verne." She groans out. "What's going on now?" I ask. She let out an annoyed sigh as she replied, "He's been on me all week. He's trying to convince me to do coverage of a flower show two towns over."
Vernon Fenwick is April's co-worker and cameraman at channel 6. It's not that April hates him… but I know she finds him annoying and irritating with him usually siding with their boss Burne Thompson over the stories April covers.
I know April doesn't hate her job, but I know she feels taken for granite as a reporter.
April is an extremely intelligent investigative reporter that wants to seek out the most interesting, cutting edge stories and that she is always feeling degraded when she is being coerced into covering something in her mind as pointless and useless as a flower show.
I tried to think of something to get her mind off it and then I remembered what I brought home.
"Hey, want to see what I'm doing at work right now?" I say, just wanting to make her forget about being forced to cover a flower show. "What is it?" She asks curiously. "Just come with me." I say, smiling at her, as I grabbed her hand and led her downstairs to my workshop, which is a huge step up from my old lab down in the lair.
I kept glancing back and smiling as I took out the carrying case and set it on the table. I took out the neural sensors and walked over to her.
I sat her down on a stool as I smiled and said, "Just hold still."
(April's POV)
I gave Donnie a weary look.
Look, not that I don't trust my husband… but I just felt him stick something to the back of my neck with short wires coming off it and I have no idea what's going on.
"Nothing's going to electrocute me is it?" I ask, just making sure he isn't using me for some neurological experiment like the rats from my dad's old work. No offense to my ex-mutant rat father-in-law.
He gave me a knowing look before letting out a short laugh as he replied, "April, c'mon. When have I ever steered you wrong with my inventions?" I crossed my arms and gave him a knowing look as I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, don't answer that." He immediately defends and we both laughed.
"But seriously what is this?" I ask after I stopped laughing.
He lifted a finger as if to motion for me to wait as he lifted something out. "I give you the Automated Reinforcement Mediary, or A.R.M." He says as he pulled out this crazy looking device that I now saw resembled a metallic arm.
"A.R.M. as in arm?" I ask for clarification as I studied it. "Before I explain, just see how it works. Just let me set up the interface here…" He says and then flipped a switch on this small box.
"Okay now just look at the A.R.M. and I want you to think about curling your fingers like you were making a fist." He instructs.
I gave him a weird look and he just kept urging me to do it. "Okay… fine." I say, doing what he said.
I stared at the arm and thought about what he said and… No way. I watched as the fingers on the robotic arm curled inward as smoothly as the real thing.
"Donnie, this is incredible." I say, completely amazed.
"Yeah, my colleague Craig and I came up with the idea. You see we used this new fiber optic, wireless neural interface sensor that is able to pick up signals in the neurons of the brainstem and transfer those signals to the motor units in the arm. In other words, someone born without or who lost an arm in an accident can now be equipped with an A.R.M. and have their style of living virtually unaltered. Fascinating, right?" He says, looking totally proud of his work.
I just smiled at him. Seriously, I have known Donnie for 17 years, and he still never ceases to amaze me with his mind. I am and will always be so proud of Donnie for how far he has come. He went from being a mutant who lives in a sewer to this incredible man that does what he loves and knows best for a living.
"Donnie, this is incredible. You see this is the kind of stuff we should be covering and not some stupid flower show." I say, completely honestly. I'm completely serious. Don't get me wrong, flowers are nice, but something just looking pretty has never done anything to benefit society usually.
"Really?" Donnie says, quirking an eyebrow up at me. "Donnie, I mean it. This is completely fascinating. This is what human interest should be about." I say, still thinking that Burne is totally insane for persisting to get Verne to convince me to do a flower show report.
"Well… if you like, I could get you guys a time slot in to cover it. My boss would probably like the coverage for the company and Craig and I would really appreciate a way to promote the product for potential buyers." Donnie says.
I shot a look at him and replied, "You think you could pull it off? Really?" I ask, not believing the opportunity my husband was offering me.
"Sure, it would be great to have you there to help us get our product out there." He says and then his expression shifted as he smiled and walked over to me in slow steps.
"Besides, it's the least I can do for the prettiest reporter in the entire channel 6 line up." He says giving me a slightly flirting smile as he slowly took the sensors off the back of my neck and set them aside. I rolled my eyes slightly as I grinned and stood up.
I wrapped my arms slowly around his neck and replied, playfully teasing, "Are you flirting with me, Donatello?"
He grinned and let out a nervous laugh as he shifted his eyebrows up at me as he replied, "Possibly… But why can't I flirt with my wife? Too nostalgic?"
I started to run my hand through his short hair slightly. "No… why? What else do you have to express?" I reply, trying to keep up the mood. He shrugged and let out a laugh as I felt his thumb brush over my cheek.
"I have a lot I could say. But there is too much to say about my wife who has it all." He says, still flirting with me, something he's gotten so much better at since we were younger.
"Donnie, c'mon." I reply, keeping up the banter, as I playfully rolled my eyes.
"You've always been way too modest, April. You do have it all for me. You are beauty, brains, and spunk all in one and all the more reason to have you come in. I want to show off my famous and amazing wife to all my colleagues. You wouldn't deny me that would you?" He says, still grinning at me.
"Sounds like you're using me again?" I reply, remembering that comment I made in his lab to him when I was helping him with repairing the shellraiser before we even started dating. I could tell he picked up on it too as he shot back, "Sounds like you are a fan of nostalgia to me. Why? Are you thinking… what I'm thinking?" He asks as he leans in closer to me.
I smirked demurely as I slipped the straps of my nightgown off my shoulders and said, "You tell me, Don?" I saw him pull out something from his drawer and saw it was the spare baby monitor speaker so we could still hear Edith if she woke up. I grinned at his forward thinking as I sat on one of his empty workbenches and saw him take off his t-shirt as he walked over to me.
He got close enough to me and pulled me in for a kiss as I simultaneously pulled him on top of me. Look, we may be adults now, but some things never get old and when you've been married the amount of time that we have now… it's always nice to keep things interesting.
Besides, if the our older two are away and our youngest is asleep, I think we are entitled to have a little space for romance every now and then.
Hope you liked the look into Apritello's married life. Don't worry though… the story is definitely going to pick up soon and I promise you will not be disappointed.
