The turtles were lounging around the lair, but Donnie was the only one who seemed a bit tense, or was really more energized, lately and he's been pacing around his lab.
"What's eating him?" Raph asked.
"I don't know" Mikey answered, then called out to his brother, "Hey Donnie, what's wrong?"
"I'm waiting for someone" Donnie answered as he continued to pace, "But she's late, where could she be?"
"Who are you waiting for?" Leo asked.
Just as he said that, they heard a noise and they looked over to see that someone was using the elevator and when the doors opened, they saw Phoebe walking out and she had her hands full of magazines.
"Hey Phoebe!" Mikey said excitedly as he rushed over to her, but she just passed right by him, "You, uh, want some help?"
"Thanks, but no!" Phoebe rejected quickly as she rushed over to Donnie, "I'm so sorry I'm late, but I had to pick up a few things"
"What'd you have to pick up?" Donnie asked as she walked into his lab and set the stack of magazines on his table.
"Just some suggestions about your plan" Phoebe said as she shifted through the magazines.
"What plan?" Leo asked.
Phoebe looked between Donnie and his brothers, "You haven't told them?"
"I... didn't have time" Donnie said vaguely and Phoebe just leaned her hand on the table and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I don't know why you're so embarrassed about it, I think it's really romantic"
"What is?" Raph asked.
"He's planning a surprise dinner date for Winter" Donnie's brothers gave a bit of a sarcastic 'aww' as he blushed a deep red, "Don't mock him, I mean you guys would do the same thing if it was with the person you like" The turtles then became a little embarrassed as they knew she was right about that.
"So why'd you bring so many magazines?" Mikey asked, changing the subject from them.
"For me and Donnie pick out what I can make for date" Phoebe said and picked up a magazine and flipped through it, "So do you want it to be like the classical romantic date where there's an appetizer before the main course and there's candles and rose petals" The others snickered at the idea, "Ok, if you boys aren't going to help, then please leave because we have a lot of planning to do and I don't need you distracting me"
"Calm down Phoebs" Raph said.
"Yeah, we're happy that he's got a date, but that doesn't mean we can't tease him about it" Mikey said.
"...I guess you're right, it's just that I'm kind of an only child, so I don't know what it's like to be teased about this kind of stuff" Phoebe said, "But enough about me, we're talking about Donnie's date preparations"
"There anything we can do to help?" Leo asked.
"You guys really want to help?"
"Yeah, just because we tease him about it, doesn't mean we don't want him to have a good first date" Raph added.
"Ok, then maybe you can help set the scenery" Phoebe said.
Later that night
"Phoebe, we've been searching for hours" Winter sighed tiredly as she shined her flashlight through another alleyway, "I didn't even know Sara owned a cat"
"She kind of has to hide it because her apartment doesn't allow pets and it was a stray, she couldn't just leave it by itself" Phoebe argued.
"Well it's dark and it's getting colder by the minute, maybe the cat was found by someone else"
Just as Winter said that, Phoebe's phone beeped and when she took it out and looked at the message she received, she smiled.
"Sara just texted me that her cat returned"
"Ok, let's head home before we catch pneumonia" Winter said and began to walk home.
"I'll walk with you" Phoebe offered and followed after her.
"Ok"
They walked through the streets and made it back to Winter's apartment building; when they made it to her apartment and Winter opened the door, she was completely surprised, but ecstatic when she saw what was waiting for her.
The light was out, but the room was lit with a few candles, the table in her kitchen had a red cloth over it, rose petals scattered on top and a small three candle holder with candles lit and she saw Donnie standing near the table as well. Winter let out a small puff of laughter before she turned to look at Phoebe, who had her hands behind her back and a smile on her face.
"Sara never had a cat, did she?" Winter questioned.
Phoebe shrugged her shoulders and soon left, closing the door behind her.
"So this whole cat story was a scheme, wasn't it?" Winter asked as she walked towards Donnie.
"I wanted it to be a surprise" Donnie told, then pulled out a bouquet of red tulips from behind her back.
"Tulips?" Winter said in surprise happiness and took them, "I love tulips"
"Yeah, Phoebe told me you did"
"And they're red tulips; you know that red tulips means a declaration of love?"
"Yeah, which is why I got the red"
Winter blushed a deep red and she smelled the flowers; Donnie walked over and pulled out a chair for Winter and she placed the flowers on the kitchen counter and walked over to sit down in the chair. Donnie then quickly rushed to the kitchen and brought two glasses of water to place them on the table, then he rushed back into the kitchen once more and had a small bowl filled with dip and a plate of vegetables and placed them on the table as well before sitting down in the chair across from Winter.
Winter picked up a celery stick, dipped it in the dip and tasted it, "Hummus, my favorite; how do you know all the things I like?"
"Phoebe kind of told me"
"Did anyone else have a hand in this?"
"My brothers helped me with this setting and Sara and Phoebe did the cooking; Phoebe told me to start with an appetizer while the main course is still cooking"
Winter chuckled as she blushed again, "You are so romantic Donnie; remind me to thank the others"
They two continued to eat the appetizer for a bit.
"So, where exactly did you learn to kick box?" Donnie asked.
"My aunt taught me when I was seven and she's been training me ever since, says something to living up to my potential"
"What does she mean by that?"
"I don't know, but I overheard my mom and her arguing about me training with her, it got real intense, then my mom said that I wasn't ready and that I shouldn't be aware of the situation; I didn't know what she meant by that and I confronted them about the fight, they said that I just wasn't ready to hear the story yet and to not ask me again. So I made a deal with them, if they promised to stop arguing about whatever it was they were arguing about, I wouldn't ask them about the argument"
"So you still train in kickboxing?"
"Yeah, but not as often as I used to"
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Just a seven year old brother, but other than that, I have a huge family on my parents side; he's homeschooled, so he travels with my parents all the time, which is why you don't see him here"
After that, a ding was heard in the room and Donnie stood up from his chair and walked back into the kitchen. Winter heard clattering noises for a while before Donnie came back in with plates in his hands and on his arms and he set the three plates in front of Winter before he set his plates on his side. Winter saw that it was ravioli, a salad and baked salmon.
"Wow, this looks good" Winter said as she took a napkin and set it in her lap.
"Yeah, the girls sure know how to cook" Donnie said.
They soon began to eat the dinner, making small talk about their lives, having a few laughs; they even started to talk about scientific stuff and trading a few ideas that they had. After they finished dinner and cleaned the table, the two went into the living room to sit on the couch and had ice cream for dessert and continued their conversation. But as the night progressed, Winter glanced up at the clock and saw that it was nearly midnight.
"Whoa, time sure flies fast" Winter said and she stood up, "We should call it a night, I have school in the morning"
"Ok, maybe we can do this again sometime soon" Donnie suggested as he stood up as well and they placed their bowls in the sink and they walked towards the window so Donnie could sneak out, "Are you sure you don't want me to help you with the dishes?"
"It's cool, I'll make Phoebe wash them up" Winter said and they laughed, "Thanks for tonight, it was the most romantic thing a boy has ever done for me; I'm really glad I met you Donnie, you're like the perfect boy, both smart and sweet, which I don't see all that often"
"I'm really glad I met you too, it's nice to meet someone with the same intellectual level as me; though April is pretty smart, I feel like our conversations would be more interesting"
Winter laughed a bit and they both leaned into each other and gave each other a small kiss goodnight before Donnie soon left and Winter walked back into the living room. Winter grabbed the tulips and placed them in a decorative clay jar, then she grabbed the jar, walked into her room and placed the jar on her nightstand, smiling dreamily at the flowers before she laid down in her bed and fell into a peaceful sleep after a wonderful night.
Yay! Donnie and Winter finally had their first date! Ok, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter because, sadly, I have to say that I'm going to put this story on hold for a while and hopefully post another TMNT story and work on that one for a bit, but don't worry, I'll be back soon, just have a little patience; thank you.