A Ninja's Dance
Chapter 37
Raph glared at the elevator floor, adjusting the itchy scarf around his neck in the vain hope it wouldn't make him want to sneeze any more than he already did.
Up until tonight he'd never really understood when Casey said things like: 'Women man, they're impossible to say no to sometimes.'
He'd never fumbled his way into a situation where a woman was making him do something he didn't want to. Probably partly because he didn't have a lot of women in his life, but even for April it was tough and required some serious jibing.
Now, though, he thought he might be kind of getting it.
When they'd gotten back to the Liar all Raph had wanted to do was take a hot shower, eat the double peperoni pizza calling his name and slump into bed.
It had been a tough night full of tough shit that none of them wanted to deal with on an empty stomach and a body full of aching muscles.
He'd kind of figured his plans would get the thumbs up from everyone. In fact Don had basically mumbled out the same sort of idea on the elevator ride down from the garage. Yet somehow, somewhere between them stepping out into the lair and now, everything had changed.
The look on Jay's face when she'd seen them had yanked hard at Raph's gut and he'd very suddenly found himself on uneven ground. Because really, how often did people have to deal with girls they cared about latching onto them and struggling back tears.
He seriously hoped not often.
So he'd told her it was all ok. He'd told her it'd be fine and when she'd pulled back he found himself biting the inside of his cheek to stop from saying he was just fucking glad she was crying.
Cause that was, well, you know, not the greatest thing to say to a crying girl.
What he meant was that he was glad she wasn't all wrong inside. Like she had been. He was glad she wasn't hurt and that she was back to being more Jay-like. But that was all too many words so he stuck with 'its fine' and cut the sentimental moment short by directing her at Don.
Which was about the time that Raph noticed something pretty damn interesting.
Don had been on edge recently. Hell, they had all be on edge recently but Don had gotten that pinchy face look that he got when he wasn't sleeping right and had too much stuff to do. It was the 'life is shit and the world is shit and I would like to quit now please' Donnie face that they all knew and could commiserate with. Usually it was accompanied with a face palm at something stupid someone had done.
That look didn't go away easily. It took time for Don to unwind. It took time for him to work out the kinks from the long nights in the lab and Raph was pretty sure it took ages for his brain to stop firing in every direction at everything.
Which was why when Jay wrapped him up in a hug and Don just melted, Raph had raised an eyeridge.
It was like someone had reached inside his brother and flipped the big switch labelled 'It's all gonna be ok', and Don had believed it. He'd gathered Jay up to him and buried his face in her hair and held onto her so tight Raph was sure the girl couldn't breathe.
When they'd both let go of each other, Don had smiled this completely honest smile and wasn't making the pinchy face anymore.
It caught Raph off guard.
So much so that when Jay had asked quietly if they could eat together, Raph had found himself unable to say no.
…Which was why he was standing in the god damn elevator in full winter gear, glaring at the floor.
Apparently, sometime in the five minutes extra that Raph had spent in a hot shower, conversations had been had and a decision had been reached that they were going to eat together topside.
Which was just...Stupid.
Raph had gone to argue, gone to declare that the idea was insane when Mikey intercepted him and bundled him into his jacket and scarf while the others headed back to the elevator.
"Jay-bird's afraid of going topside." He'd said, when no one else was in earshot, fixing Raph with a look. "She joked that whenever she went outside something bad happened, then I asked if she was willing to make a bet on it trying to be, you know, uplifting, and she was obviously working to keep with the happy vibe going so she said yes, and I said we should eat topside, like, now, and she got this look on her face like she was gonna be sick." He'd glanced over his shoulder, making doubley sure no one could hear him as he nudged Raph to start walking. "Seriously dude, all the colour drained from her face and she started getting all shaky. Leo said we had to fix this before it became a thing, yeah?"
Raph had wanted to explain, loudly, why this was still a stupid idea. Because of course she was scared after what had just happened and they were all tired and it was cold and why would Leo suggest that we handle Jay's fear now?
Then he'd looked over and seen Jay standing in the elevator.
She was just standing there. Not moving. Her eyes wide and her arms tight around herself as Leo and Don flanked her like guards.
He'd seen fear like that on peoples face before. It was a deep inside fear that was new and odd and uncomfortable and made you sick and shivery because it wasn't something that you thought you should be afraid of, but you just were.
So he hadn't been able to say no.
Raph sneered at himself, trying to clear his frustration and finding it a bit hard to do as the elevator jolted like it always did when it neared the top. Something bumped against his shoulder and he looked down, surprised to find that Jay had edged across to round space and was standing next him.
She looked up when she noticed his eyes on her and smiled hesitantly.
"Sorry." She muttered.
Raph frowned, not sure if she was apologising for bumping into him or something else entirely.
"For what?" He asked, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
Jay fidgeted, going stiff when the elevator groaned to a halt.
"That's a big question." She said quietly. "At this moment specifically? I didn't mean to drag you up here. I'm not sure I even want to be here. I didn't…"
Raph grunted, bumping his shoulder against hers quite deliberately to stop her mumbling things she didn't need to mumble.
"S'good Jay." He said simply, shrugging. "I'll be in a betta mood when I've eaten."
Jay nodded, shuffling closer to him again when the elevator hissed and the doors began to open.
"Hopefully I will be too." She muttered over the clunking as the door hit the ground and the garage above their home came into view.
Mikey was the first to hurry out, setting the pizza boxes down on one of the many benches as he made for the light switches and flicked them on, illuminating the garage in all its oil stained, vehicle laden glory.
Raph was halfway through taking a deep breath of the familiar smell of grease and machine when a little squeak from Jay made him jump.
"Is that an armoured truck?"
Everyone turned to look at her, then looked to the looming shape of the Battle Shell. Mikey waltzed back into view and jabbed a thumb towards the vehicle.
"Used to be, till Don modified it." He said, voice dripping in pride.
Jay blinked at him then turned her wide eyed stare to Don, who smiled a little sheepishly and rubbed his neck.
"You built this?" She asked, pointing as she took a few cautious steps out of the elevator to get a better look at the hulking truck. "I mean, I shouldn't be surprised, you built a freaking hovercraft, but seriously this is amazing Don. Absolutely amazing." She held out a hand and traced the curve of the bumper with her finger, all doe eyed and awed.
Don smiled another of those creepily relaxed happy smiles as he watched her and Raph raised an eyeridge again.
Jeeze. Did Don know he did that when he looked at Jay? Probably not. Raph wondered how long it would take for the lightbulb to go off above his genius brother's head.
"But, why are all the corners smoothed off?" Jay's question was called from near the back of the Battle Shell and it wiped the smile off Don's face super-fast. Mikey barked a laugh, Leo coughed to hide his chuckle and Raph smirked.
Don shot them all withering looks and cleared his throat.
"Aerodynamics." He said firmly, stepping out of the elevator and hurrying to Jay's side. Raph continued smirking.
Obviously his brother was unwilling to talk about his weeklong caffeine binge.
"Oh." Jay looked like she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not but nodded slowly anyway, obviously not willing to press the issue as Don headed around the Battle Shell and hauled the back doors open.
There was a pause and some stomping around inside the truck before the engine rolled over and the garage doors began their creaking, lumbering way to being open.
Raph shot Leo and Mikey an incredulous look.
"I thought we were just eating topside." He grumbled, his gaze turning steely. "Why the hell is Don prepping the Battle Shell? Where we goin'?"
Leo frowned and shook his head, making his way over to the bench where Mikey had left the pizza boxes and hefting them up. He snagged a piece from the top pie and took a bite of the gooey cheesy deliciousness before he answered.
"We're not going anywhere Raph. We're eating in the Battle Shell." He said matter of factly as he rounded to the back of the truck and disappeared inside.
Like it was obvious, like that explained everything.
Raph glared, stomping his way around the corner with every intention of giving Leo a piece of his mind before he was cut off pre-rant when he saw the little set up his brothers had obviously completed somewhere in the extra time he was cooking himself under the shower head.
Seriously, had he taken longer than five minutes or something?
A few thick blankets had been laid out over the cold metal of the trucks floor and a bunch of cushions had been scattered around haphazardly. Jay had seated herself near the back and was hugging a cushion, looking significantly more comfortable now that Don had tucked another blanket around her shoulders and taken a seat at her side. It probably also helped that she was surrounded by a couple inches of steel in an armoured truck.
That would make a lot of people feel safer.
The heater in the truck had been cranked up to full and Raph could feel the little puffs of warmth bleeding out into the cold. He glanced over his shoulder through the now fully open garage doors and finally understood what in the nine hells was going on.
They had a straight shot view into the deserted street outside no problem, and while they were opening themselves up to be seen by anyone wandering past, Raph had no doubt Don would have the surrounding sensors turned to max to give them plenty of warning.
Not that it was really an issue. There hadn't ever been that many people in this area, it was more industrial warehouses for storage and Raph couldn't remember a single time they'd had an issue with being spotted coming and going from here.
So basically what they had done was create a defensible version of outside.
Raph looked back to the inside of the truck, smiling slightly as Leo shuffled through the pizza boxes with Jay, trying to find the one she wanted before he made himself comfortable. He had to admit, this was actually kind of a decent plan. It was still cold and he was still tired and everything ached, but it wasn't a completely stupid idea.
"Awww. That a smile bro?" Mikey's voice ruined Raphs rising mood and he turned to glare at his younger brother, smacking him upside the head and ignoring the indignant yelp he got in return.
"Shut it Mikey." He grumbled, climbing into the truck and settling himself on the blanket next to Leo. Mikey clambered in after him and all of them took a moment to get comfortable.
Then the pizza devouring began.
It took a couple of slices before anyone was willing to talk and the turtle to do it was the ever observant Don, who was looking at Jay as though he kept expecting her to just…fall over or something.
"You doing ok Jay?" Don asked quietly after he had swallowed his latest mouthful of peperoni and mushrooms.
Jay looked up at the question, her eyes drifting outside as though she wouldn't be able answer without considering the street very thoroughly.
"I'm ok." She offered up eventually, going back to her food with a slight shiver and a tight smile.
Raph noticed, and Raph noticed that Don noticed. Not that that should have surprised him, Don noticed everything. But right now Don was especially notice-y, to the point that he could have passed as a turtle microscope.
"Are you cold?" Don put a hand on Jay's shoulder, trying to catch her eye as she worked to focus all of her attention on a single piece of pineapple on her pizza.
Raph frowned. What was it with pineapple on pizza? Seriously, you thought you knew a person and then they go and do something stupid like that.
"Kind of, yeah." Jay admitted, shaking Raph out of his mental pineapple mumblings as Don nodded and propped himself up onto his knees to unzip his coat.
For a second Raph was sure his brother was about to pull a seriously gentleman smooth move and offer Jay his jacket, which would have resulted in an epic opportunity to tease the shell off him. True to techno genius form though, Don shot down Raph's hopes of attack and instead produced five long looped strings, a small glowing crystal hanging from the end of each.
"Are those…?" Leo was sitting up straight now, eyeing the small blue shards as they hummed and swung slightly in the still cool air of the truck. "How did you get them that size? And why do you have them?"
Don smiled and ignored Leo's question, turning to talk to Jay instead.
"You remember the crystals that power the elevator and the slider?" He asked, sitting back down and carefully separating out the strings of each necklace. Jay nodded and Don's smile got a little prouder. "Well, they generate a nominal amount of heat when they are active. Not enough to burn anyone, but against or close to skin they're remarkably pleasant."
He tossed one of the gems to each of his brothers, keeping two on his lap as Jay watched on, curiously.
"When they come into close contact they sort of charge." He explained, pressing the two remaining crystals together and smiling when they hummed happily to life and their glow intensified. "The science behind it is amazing. They're harder than almost any substance known to man but they react to friction and sound in a way that is just baffling. When you hit one of these babies with an ultrasound frequency of about 70, 000Hz it reacts the same way ice would when exposed to intense heat."
"It melts." Jay supplied, eyeing the crystals in wonderment. Don nodded.
"Right, and when in liquid form it can be used for entirely different purposes, like a lubricant that doesn't wear or corrupt, or in this case it can be shaped into smaller crystals."
"Dude, that is so awesome!" Mikey interrupted, tying the necklace around his neck and tucking it under his bulky jacket without a moment's hesitation.
"Why don't we have these for runs?" Leo asked, eyeing the crystal before following Mikey's lead when he obviously wasn't going to explode or melt or something equally gruesome. Raph waited until Leo had tucked his crystal away before he tied his own around his neck and dropped it down under his jacket.
Almost instantly a small blob of warmth started in his chest, fanning our along his plastron and making him sigh happily without really meaning to.
"They glow." Don answered Leo's question belatedly, seemingly a little distracted as Jay turned and pulled her hair out of the way so he could fasted a necklace around her neck. "They only stop glowing when they're not powered and any fabric capable of hiding the light dampens the warmth until it is practically null."
Raph smirked, glancing around at everyone and noting that they now had some pretty awesome mood lighting going on.
Blue, under the chin and out of the chest mood lighting.
"Yea." Raph grunted, going back to his pizza. "Not the stealthiest."
"No-pe." Mikey popped his lips and shook his head. "Back to square one in the battle of stealth versus frostbite."
Jay laughed softly at that, glancing around at all of them.
"Yeah, Iron man was never very stealthy." She quipped, picking up another slice of pizza and chewing on the crust.
Raph blinked at her, then did a double take of the occupants of the van, noting that everyone else was doing the same thing as what she had just said sunk in.
"Holy shit!" Mikey exploded first, bouncing in his sudden excitement. "We look like Iron Man! That is so mundo cool dudes!" He thrust a hand out in front of him, miming firing an energy blast at the opposing wall. "Don, I'm gonna need another, like, ton of these for this year's comic con."
Jay started laughing again. For real this time, an infectious sound that swept over the truck and pulled everyone to join in.
"What? I'd make an awesome Iron Man!" Mikey got out through his laughter, glancing around and daring anyone to debate him. Raph took that as his que to do exactly that.
"Like hell! If anyone's gonna be Iron Man, it's gonna be me." He declared, still chuckling.
"Oh come on, it's gotta be Don, he's the only one with the brains for it." Leo interjected, jabbing his thumb in Don's direction with a sly grin.
"Hang on, hang on!" Jay sat up a little straighter, holding her hands up to get their attention and looking offended. "Let's face facts gents, out of everyone here I'm the only one who'd seriously rock that goatee."
There was a pause, a moment of silence as everyone considered this before the Battle Shell exploded in roars of laughter.
It really shouldn't have been as funny as it was, certainly shouldn't have been funny enough to have Raph in stitches as he gasped for breath. But eventually, around the time his cheeks began to hurt, Raph realised that at some point they'd stopped laughing about the image of Jay with fantastic facial hair and just started laughing because it felt good.
Sometimes when the world turned to hell, you just had to laugh.
And laugh they did, until Leo was wincing with each breath, Jay had tears in her eyes and Mikey had tipped slightly so he was far more horizontal than vertical.
Slowly though, the laughter faded to giggles, and when they all managed to simmer down Raph could feel the change in the truck. Like someone had just sucked out all the stagnant air and replaced it with ok-ness.
Or something…
Whatever it was, it still felt good.
"You know," Leo said glancing around at his brothers. "It's times like these when I realise what a superhero I am."
There were a few collective nods and chuckled affirmatives as everyone decided that they agreed and Raph tipped his head to Leo for the well timed Iron Man quote. Leo gave a slight shrug, still smiling.
Jay let out a long sigh, leaning back against the bench chairs and tilting her head to look at the ceiling.
"I need a drink." She giggled quietly after a moment, closing her eyes and relaxing completely.
Raph clapped his hands. That, right there, was a fucking great sentiment.
"Sweetness, that's gotta be one of the greatest ideas of the night." He said gruffly, ignoring the series of odd looks he got as he shuffled his way out of the truck and jumped down into the garage.
Unbeknownst to anyone but Casey and himself, Raph had commandeered and stashed a pretty decent amount of beer up here in the garage. He kept it hidden, not really willing to answer the questions about where he got it and how often he drank and if he drank to excess and yada-yada-yada.
But tonight he didn't think anyone would have the energy to question it. So Raph disappeared into its depths of the garage, remerging moments later with a six pack of beer swinging from his fingers. They were promptly dropped in the middle of their picnic circle before he reclaimed his place.
"Where did you get that?" Leo's leaderish tone nearly spoiled the mood but his beginning attempts at interrogation were interrupted when Jay reached in to grab one of the beers, cracking it open and taking a long gulp.
She sighed and slumped down into her pillow.
"That my friends, is terrible, terrible beer." She said it with a smile, raising the can as though she was saluting this fact before taking another swig despite it.
Raph shot her a sceptical look and selected a beer for himself.
"Oh, an' I suppose Australians do it betta then?" He shot back, taking a drink and deciding as soon as the fizz hit his tongue that she was actually pretty right. This stuff wasn't the best.
Jay raised an eyebrow and snorted as though he'd just said something stupid.
"Not really, no. Only Aussie bogans will come right out and say we do beer well. But anyone who knows anything knows that the Germans do it best."
"That's because of The Reinheitsgebot." Don said offhandedly, eyeing the beer as though he was deciding if this was a good idea or not.
"The wha?" Mikey piped up, oblivious to Don's contemplating as he selected one of the remaining cans and downed half of it in one go.
Evidently that was all the encouragement Don needed because he took a beer for himself before he answered.
"The Reinheitsgebot." He repeated, snapping the tab back and taking a sip. He made a face. Not a big drinker was their Don. "It's one of the oldest food-quality regulations in the world. It was a law passed somewhere around the 1500's that dictated beer was only to be brewed with hops, barley, water and yeast." He shrugged. "It was repealed in 1987, but a lot of the big name German brewers still follow it."
Jay's face broke out in a smile and she quite indiscreetly caught Leo's eye, gesturing to Don with a dramatic flourish of her hand.
"Doogle." She announced simply, nodding as though that single word explained everything. Raph didn't know what in all hell that meant, but whatever it was seemed to be funny because Leo actually laughed.
"Ok, someone want to let me in on the joke?" Don asked, glancing between his brother and Jay with a frown. Jay grinned.
"Doogle." She repeated, selecting a slice of pizza and taking a bite. "As in, Donatello-Google."
Leo jumped in here to try and help explain a little better, still smiling despite obviously trying to curb it.
"We were talking about what the plural for Yeti is and I mentioned that you would probably know. So Jay decided that your knowledge base is on par with Google."
Jay nodded her agreement, bumping her shoulder against Dons in what Raph figured was her way of saying it was all in good fun.
"Hence, Doogle." She said with a smile that had Don going a little darker around the cheeks.
"That's terrible." Mikey interjected with a snicker, not doing a great job of looking insulted on Don's behalf. Jay nodded her agreement.
"Yes, yes it is. Leo and I already covered that." She assured him, glancing again to Leo who took a sip from his beer and shrugged with a smile.
Raph did a double take. When the shell had Leo taken a beer?
That sneaky bastard.
"So, wait, what's a bogan?" Mikey asked, distracting Raph from Leo's beer-ninja skills and changing the subject as he eyed Jay curiously.
Actually, that was a good question. The word sounded vaguely familiar, but Raph couldn't think where he'd heard it before. Was it some sort of Australian slang? Jay seemed to come out with those types of words a lot, random ones that made all of them head tilt and squint as they tried to figure out what she meant.
Jay frowned, going quiet for a while as she worked out how to answer.
"A bogan is…huh, well. It's a person who's kind of…" She paused, pushing her hair off her face and chewing at her lip. "It's actually really hard to explain." She admitted, giving a little laugh before trying again. "I supposed it's a stereotype of really lower class people. The ones who drink Victorian Bitter and spend all their time doing donuts in their Holden's and saying 'Maaaattteeeeeee' while wearing flannel shirts and tiny shorts with ugg boots."
Silence. If it had been the time of year and place for it there would have been crickets. Eventually Mikey huffed.
"Nothing you just said made sense to me." He said bluntly, shaking his head and reaching for his pizza. Raph snorted, giving his little brother a semi-playful shove.
"Nothin' anyone says makes sense to ya Mike." He teased, smirking wide when Mikey levelled him with an indignant look and jabbed a finger in his direction.
"Hey, that was both mean and uncalled for."
Raph raised an eyeridge, his smirking turning to an almost evil grin as he eyed his charming little brother and his still extended, accusatory finger.
"Mean and uncalled for huh?" Raph snickered out, grabbing at Mikey's arm whiplash fast and dragging his brother into a headlock that had Mikey screaming like a girl. "I'll show ya mean an' uncalled for!"
Never had a noogie been so thoroughly given to an unwilling family member and despite the fact that Raph's grip was looser that usual to prevent Mikey tearing any stitches, Mikey's struggles were in vain.
"Ah, brotherly love." Leo chimed in from across the Battle Shell, taking another bite of his pizza. Raph rolled his eyes and went to answer Leo's oh-so-clever sarcasm, but was cut off when his distraction allowed Mikey to wiggle free.
"Truly it is the real eternal suffering." Don piped up, nodding sagely in agreement as Mikey gathered up his pizza and moved to the other side of the Battle Shell to sit by Jay, throwing a halfhearted glare in Raph's direction and poking out his tongue for good measure.
Raph snickered.
"I commiserate." Jay said, patting Mikey on his good shoulder as a show of support that had Raph rolling his eyes again. "Brothers can be great though." She added, tilting her head and staring off into the distance for a second with a smile that probably meant she was remembering something funny.
Don had mentioned that Jay had two brothers. Twins, wasn't it? Raph shuddered, wondering what fresh hell having two twin Mikey's around would bring upon the world.
Probably the apocalypse.
"True." Mikey agreed with Jay, opening his pizza box again and scarfing down another piece before continuing with his mouth full. "Remember the time Leo saved Raph from the great white alligator?"
Raph groaned, slumping down against the bench seats and hiding his face with his hand.
"Jeez, can we not?" He grumbled out, trying to ignore the chuckles starting up from his brother and failing. He ended up for just narrowing his eyes at all of them, hoping they would get the message and just shut up.
"Great White Alligator?!"
No such luck. As soon as Jay's wide eyes locked on them all there was no way Mikey could keep his damn big mouth shut.
"Yeah, some idiot flushed an albino alligator into the sewers. This thing was massive." He exclaimed, shoving his pizza in his mouth so he could wave his arms around and demonstrate just how big the alligator was.
"It wasn't that big." Raphs shot back, narrowed eyes becoming an outright glare. Mikey stopped waving his arms around, removing the pizza from his mouth and waving the crust at Raph instead.
"Dude, it nearly ate you in one bite." He said flatly, looking as I-am-not-amused as Mikey could managed.
"I wasn't that big at the time either!" Raph snapped, realizing too late he was throwing his arms around as well and crossing them over his chest to stop it happening again.
Jay was laughing, trying to smother it with her hand as she looked between the brothers. It was too bad neither Leo or Don were trying to cover the fact that they were outright giggling at him.
Raph 'humphed', eyes locking on Don with a suddenly smooth smirk as he plotted his revenge.
"Remember tha time Don made a remote controlled car outta a cereal box an' a bunch of loose wires? You nearly set yourself on fire." He accused, grinning when Don's eyes widened and he groaned.
"I did set myself on fire." Don moaned out, a small smile quirking on his lips despite his wincing. "I still have the burn scars behind my knees."
"How did you get burnt behind you knees?" Jay asked, her voice a little higher pitched and her gaze falling to Don's legs as though she was just now discovering something remarkable.
Leo shook his head, leaning past Don to grip Jays shoulder.
"Don't ask." He mutter conspiratorially, making a face that turned into a cheeky smile as he settled back into his seat.
"Oh! Remember when the sewer tunnel collapsed and we had to rough it topside for a while?" Mikey cut in, chewing on his pizza crust and taking another long drink from his beer. "We got separated from Master Splinter, that was some scary shit."
Don 'hmmmed', nodding as he settled back against the bench seats, his pizza done and dusted.
"I remember that." He said with a small smile. "Man, we were so lucky Kitty found us."
Jay looked up.
"Kitty?" She asked, finishing her beer and selecting another from the dwindling collection in the middle of the blanket. Raph took the que to answer her question, unfolding his arms and stretching.
"Yeah, we were really, crazy little at the time, camped out in a hollowed out den thing and she was havin' a picnic with her nieces at the park." He said, summing up a very long story in as simple of a sentence as he could manage. "She found us an' took us in."
Mikey made a noise of disagreement, cutting in before Raph could get any further into the memory.
"Not just took us in," He corrected, shaking his head and waggling a finger at Raph. "She took care of us. She fed us and clothed us and Raph luuuuved her." Here Mikey took the time to make kissy faces, puckering his lips and battering his eyes.
Raph leant forward and took a swipe at him, narrowly missing when Mikey flattened himself back against the seats. Raph debated moving to get close enough for another hit, then decided he was too warm and comfortable to be bothered, so he settled for baring his teeth at Mikey across the truck.
"Shut up." He shot out, getting an eye roll in return.
Leo chuckled, shaking his head and sipping at his beer.
"Kitty was the reason Master Splinter found us in the end." He added to the story, turning to speak directly to Jay who was still listening avidly.
"She made the best blueberry muffins." Don piped up. Raph raised an eyeridge at the random fact. Of everything that Don could have added in he'd thought of the stupid blueberry muffins?
"Dude, blueberry muffins sound so good right now." Mikey cooed out, licking his lips as though he could just about taste them. Knowing Mikey's imagination, Raph wouldn't put it past his brother's brain to actually manage it.
"So what happened to this Kitty?" Jay asked, pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders as she waited for the tale to be finished.
There was silence for a moment as everyone no doubt though about how to answer that. Mikey sighed, deciding to be the first to talk again.
"Ah, this is where the story turns sad mon chien." He said sadly, looking surprised when Don snorted back a chuckle. "Dude, laughing? Now?" He scolded, frowning. Don shook his head.
"You realise you just called her your dog, right?" Don explained, still smiling. Mikey looked confused.
"What?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Mon chien is my dog." Don said simply. "You mean Ma Chere. My dear."
Mikey blinked, realization dawning amidst the snickering and chuckling from his brothers.
"Oh, my bad." He grinned, turning to face Jay and bowing his head dramatically. "Ma Chere."
Jay bowed her head back as though accepting his formal apology, smiling as she did. Raph took this moment to burst the bubble with a quick sigh.
"We lost contact with the girl." He said simply, finishing the story. "Don't think Masta Splinter was too keen on havin' eyes on us when we were little and I'm pretty sure she moved away."
Don mimicked Raphs sigh, looking a little crestfallen.
"Yeah, we didn't have a lot of ways to keep in contact back then either." He admitted, looking at his beer.
There was a moment of silence in the van before Mikey seemed to decide the somber mood was way too much of a buzz kill and piped up with an enthusiastic smile.
"But we do now, so, you know, you're stuck with us." He informed Jay, wrapping his good arm around her shoulders and giving her a sideways hug. Jay grinned.
"Couldn't have found a better selection of gentlemen to be stuck with." She said, hooking her arm up under his to return the embrace.
Everyone smiled again as the easy, cool-calm kind of atmosphere trickled back.
Then Mikey sighed heavily and spoiled the quiet.
"And on that note, this gentleman thinks we need music…" He declared, releasing Jay and getting to his feet only to stand and stare at them. Or more specifically, stare at the very sad looking remainders of the beer Raph had brought to the party. "And more beer."
Don let out a content sigh, resting his chin on his hand and staring out at the garage floor as Mikey laughed his way through the moves Jay was showing him. He wasn't sure if it had been Mikey's plan to get Jay dancing all along, but his insistence that they 'pump some tunes' had proved to be a very, very good idea.
Mikey had spent a good ten minutes carefully working Jay out of the Battle Shell, offering encouragement and musical bait as he pick and switched songs on his Ipod. Eventually he'd found a track that Jay simply couldn't resist moving to and he'd egged her on until she'd hesitantly gone to step down onto the garage floor.
Don was happy about this, even more so when he saw the mostly excited smile that blossomed on Jay's face as Mikey did a little jig on the spot.
It helped to take his mind of the dark alley and the gun and the horrible smile stretched tight over a blank face.
Don shuddered.
He was dreading that conversation with his family. He was dreading having to explain what the biosites had done and he was dreading having to remember Jay that way.
The dead, emotionless, doll like version of her was…horrible. Like having a bright light snuffed out right in front of you and not being able to see anything but the hollow darkness left behind.
Don frowned down at his fourth…fourth? Or fifth? Had he had four already? So then, fifth beer, and decided that however many he had drunk, he needed to stop drinking them, because he was getting all poetical. Not something he should be doing.
His eyes found Jay again as he took another drink of his beer despite his previous thought. She looked far too alive to be the person she was in the alley.
What with the pink tinge on her cheeks and nose from the chill and the smile that reached all the way up to her big, pretty eyes…
Wait. What?
Don blinked, coughing and spluttering as the beer he'd just taken a gulp of went down the wrong way and tried to drown him. Leo, who was sitting beside him on the edge of the Battle Shell, smacked him on the shell a few times to try and help.
"You ok?" He asked, looking a little concerned. Don waved him away with a tight smile.
"Yeah, I'm good." He wheezed. Leo's frown became a slight smirk and he nodded, turning back to the garage to watch as Mikey tried to drag Raph into the dance off that was quickly developing.
Don turned back to the scene too, his attention lingering on Jay as he tried to think why he'd just decided to assign the term 'pretty' to her eyes. It must have been the beer.
Well, no, that was a lie. Jay was pretty even without beer. He knew that. They all knew that. She was that classic kind of pretty that wasn't really pretty so much as beautiful.
Wait, no, that wasn't what he meant.
He meant beautiful in the sense that she had features that people would classically notice, but didn't really notice and then noticed really completely when they got to know her because, as was outlined by Kniffin & Wilson in their 2004 publication Evolution and Human Behaviour, the effect of nonphysical traits had a proven effect on the perception of physical attractiveness.
And Jay had a whole lot of attractive nonphysical traits that made her more physically attract…
Don huffed, cutting his own train of thought off before it dug a hole he couldn't climb out of. This was not the time or place to be evaluating his emotional standpoint of Judith Ann Carters attractiveness. It was not appropriate in any way.
Don tried to force himself to think of something else.
It proved to be far less difficult that he would have thought because just as he was trying to shake himself out of his stupor the music thrumming out of the Battle Shell speakers changed, growling out a low, solid beat that shivered through the garage.
Mikey whooped, Raph clapped his hands and barked a laugh and Leo sat up a little straighter, grinning as Missy Elliot's WTF made its first appearance from Mikey's favourites playlist.
"Finally a song we can agree on." Raph goaded, punching Mikey in his good shoulder and jumping away when Mikey went to return the blow.
And thus, the dance off began for real.
Mikey and Raph started moving in that fluid, easy way that all his brothers had, chaining together random movements that came together to make them both look incredibly cool.
Don wished he could move like that.
It required a lack of thought and a natural affinity to movement. Neither were Don's specialty.
Not that he minded particularly. He had never held any preconceptions about his abilities and while it grated on him that he couldn't pick up physical movability at the same pace as his brothers, he knew he brought enough to the table to compensate his shortfalls.
Mikey was a little held back with his arm still in a sling, but it didn't seem to be bothering him much as he and Raph shifted and grooved along to the music. Jay didn't join in at first, watching a bit from the side lines with a smile on her face, but eventually she was pulled into the fray when Mikey and Raph turned and wiggled their fingers at her in a 'come hither' kind of way.
Don smiled, watching as Jay laughed and pushed her hair out off her face before bouncing forward to join his brothers on the garage floor. With a flick of her hip and a quick step backwards she started a display that proved what a life-time trained dancer could really do with a beat.
Don's interest quickly turned to fascination, and without warning he found himself completely enraptured.
He'd only seen Jay dance once before and that had been in the glade. It had been messy and passionate and beautiful in a fevered, energetic kind of way that had literally stopped the white noise in his head.
Despite still stopping the white noise in his head this time, the dance was different. It was less structured, less rehearsed, and she wasn't doing anything overtly athletic this time. No flips or leg raises or fancy jumps, just a seamless compilation of movements that made Don's heart beat a little faster.
Mikey and Raph had paused to watch, both of them breaking out in riotous applause when Jay spun in three tight on-the-spot turns while still looking loose and easy about it.
Like she wasn't even damn trying.
She finished the whole thing off with a body roll and another few flicks of her hips before she laughed again and grabbed at Raph and Mikey's hands, dragging them back into the dance so they could finish the song together.
Don swallowed thickly and decided to hide the rapidly developing blush rising on his cheeks behind another long gulp of his beer. God he hoped no one noticed how weird he was being right now. He didn't need his brothers teasing him about…
About what? What did his brothers have to tease him about?
Nothing, that's what. Absolutely nothing.
The song changed again and Jay's laughter got closer, her pretty face appearing in Don's peripherals as she made for the Battle Shell and propped herself between him and Leo.
"So I know why you're sitting this out," Jay began, bumping her shoulder to Leo's before turning her smile to Don. "But when am I going to get a dance out of your Don?"
Don winced, shaking his head slightly and deliberating how to answer a question like that. Leo beat him to the punch with a slight chuckle.
"Don doesn't really dance." He supplied with a shrug.
"What do you mean?" Jay asked, looking back to Don with a frown. "You don't like dancing?"
Don chewed on his lip, racking his brain for some way out of this conversation.
"No." He started, noting Jay's frown deepen and hurrying to clarify. "No, I like it fine, I guess. I just-"
"What Don here means ta say is that he can't dance." Raph interrupted, throwing a smirk at Don and shoving his way into the back of the Battle Shell to retrieve his drink. Don glared after him, not appreciative of the blunt reality at all.
Jay looked between them all, still frowning.
"I find that hard to believe." She said simply, shaking her head. Mikey chose this moment to lean his shell against the trucks bumper and tilt his head in Jay's direction.
"Why?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"You're ninjas." Jay said bluntly, as though that should be plenty enough of an explanation. Don chewed on his lip some more and rolled his empty beer can between his hands, staring fixedly at it as Jay locked her eyes on him. "I've seen you climb a wall like it was nothing." She said, knocking her knee against his to get his attention.
Don grunted, crushing the can and leaning around to drop it inside the Battle Shell.
"I'm just not great at it." He admitted a little bitterly, wishing desperately they could just change the subject.
Apparently that wasn't going to happen though, because Mikey laughed.
"He looks like a demented worm." He grinned, stepping back from the truck to do his best imitation of Don dancing. Despite how terrible it looked, Don was sad to say it was pretty accurate, lots of not quite matching movements and wiggling.
He was blushing again. Damn it. And Leo and Raph were laughing.
Usually this wouldn't phase him. He couldn't blame his brothers for this, they did this all the time and it didn't usually upset him.
But tonight, right now, in front of professional dancer who was also Jay. God, or whatever deity was listening, he wanted to disappear now please.
"Cut it out." Jay scolded, flicking her foot out at Mikey. "You're terrible at impersonations."
Mikey staggered in mock hurt, grabbing at his heart and choking as though she had just stabbed him. Jay laughed and stuck out her tongue before turning back to Don.
"So you really don't think you can dance?" She asked, leaning in closer to him and lowering her voice as though this was a conversation just for the two of them. Don sighed heavily.
"I just don't have that sense of rhythm." He said, shaking his head. "Ninjitsu has Kata, steps, you can practice them, train in them. When you learn them well enough you can act without thinking and react with what is necessary. Dancing is-"
"Exactly the same." Jay cut him off, smiling and giving a very soft little laugh. Don frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked, confused as to how Ninjitsu was exactly the same as the type of dance he'd seen Jay do. Well, he could kind of get it, both were fluid uses of the physical form that required exceptional physical training and strength, but their base training was on different ends of the scale. He could understand Kata, he couldn't understand the hip hop Mikey was so good at.
Jay jumped down from the bumper of the Battle Shell, turning to look at him with her hands on her hips.
"Steps and training and muscle memory." She explained. "Come on, I'll show you." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder towards the open garage floor, still smiling.
Don looked at Jay, then over her shoulder where she was indicating before back to her again. It took him a moment to realise what she was suggesting but when he worked it out he shook his head fiercely.
"Ah, no, Jay. That's….that's fine. I'm just-"
Jay cut Don off quickly and in the most unusual of ways, stepping in front of him and resting her hands on his knees so she could lock her eyes on his and hold his gaze.
Don froze, his breath catching in his throat as he realised that he could feel the warmth of her fingers through his custom winter pants and she was close enough that he could see the different flecks of colour in her eyes.
"Let me show you." Jay said quietly, an intensity in her tone that made Don's mouth go a little dry. He found that all he could make himself do as he stared at her was nod mutely in answer.
Jay's face broke out in a smile.
"Ok." She said, tapping his knees with her fingers before stepping back and pointing at Mikey. "Mikey, find me something with three four timing." She instructed, heading for the middle of the garage floor and motioning for Don to follow.
He did, though he was ashamed to say that his knees were a little weak when he jumped down from the trucks bumper. If anyone asked he would blame the beer.
"What's that?" Mikey called out after Jay, tilting his head with a frown and looking every bit the confused music lover. Jay grinned at him.
"Three four time, you know." She said, waving a hand in the air to draw out a three pointed triangle shape as she counted. "One-two-three, one-two-three. Like a waltz."
Realisation dawned on Mikey's face and he gave a thumbs up.
"Oh, right. I knew that." He nodded, ignoring Raph and Leo's eye rolls and suggestions to the contrary as he disappeared into the Battle Shell to scroll through his vast and untold music selection.
Don watched him go, suddenly glad he was wearing his leather bindings so no one would be able to tell his palms were sweating.
Why was this happening? He was tired, and sore, and a little tipsy and Jay was going to try and teach him to dance in front of his brothers and he was goingtomakeafoolofhimselfandhewouldneverlivethisdownsolongashedrewbreathand-
Jay had taken his hand.
Don jumped, looking down at her fingers curled around his before glancing up at her in surprise. She just smiled, moving to stand next to him so their shoulders were nearly touching.
"We're going to start with the basic box step." She informed him. "You're going to step forward with your left foot, then to the side with your right, then bring your feet together. I'll show you first."
Don nodded jerkily, swallowing and trying to concentrate on what she'd just said as she demonstrated. It didn't look too hard. Just three steps. He could do that couldn't he? Of course he could.
...It felt nice holding Jay's hand.
No! Focus. Steps. Forward on the left, side with the right, together.
"Now you try with me." Jay instructed, coming back so their shoulders were nearly pressed together again. Don took a breath and stepped when she did, managing to do it without the world exploding. He thought that was a pretty stellar achievement.
"Perfect." Jay praised, grinning at him. "Now we're going to do the same in reverse. Back on you right foot, to the side with your left and feet together."
Again, Don followed her instructions and succeeded in not falling over or making a fool of himself right at the beginning. Jay whooped, bumping against him as she did a little victory shimmy.
"There! You just waltzed." She informed him, turning to stand in front of him now and scooping up his other hand.
Don blinked at her.
"I…did?" He asked, looking down at his feet. He knew enough about the waltz's history to be able to tell someone about the dance. He knew it was recorded as early as the 16th century by the printer H.S Beheim, and that Montaigne, the French philosopher had written of the 'gliding dance where the people held each other so closely that their faces touched'. He knew that it could be performed to three four, three eight and six eight time, and he knew when people danced it they often went in circles. "That can't be it. There has to be more than that." He mumbled, going over the steps again and wondering when the cruel reality was going to kick in.
Jay laughed, shaking her head.
"Of course there's a lot more to it than just the basic step." She said with a grin, "But the basic is really the foundation, once you learn that everything else is just building blocks." She ignored his mild disbelief and glanced to the truck where his brothers were all muttering amongst each other. A few bars of music blared out before being changed, a new song taking its place only to be shut off just as quickly by Leo, who was shaking his head.
Jay squeezed Don's hands. "One more time while they keep arguing about music." She said, nodding to herself and shuffling so they were just slightly off centre of each other but still face to face. "So I'm going to do my steps this time ok? I'll count and squeeze the hand that corresponds to the foot you're moving."
Don nodded, eyes dropping straight to his feet and brow furrowing in concentration. Jay chuckled, letting go of his hand long enough to gently bring his face back up to hers by his chin.
"Eyes up, or you'll get used to looking down." She said seriously, smiling despite herself.
Don could feel himself blushing again, heat flooding his face hard and fast as her fingers left his jaw and found their way back into his hand.
She'd touched his face.
Like it was nothing.
Don didn't really have much time to think about this startling event before Jay started counting, doing as she promised and leading him through the still unfamiliar steps by squeezing and gently pulling on his hands.
"One, two, three. One, two, three. Again, one, two, three. One, two, three. One more time. One, two, three, one, two three."
He only stumbled once and it was because Miley had blared a single bar of music that had thrown his counting right off, and pretty soon Jay stopped muttering numbers and guiding him by his hands.
"Look at you go!" She cheered, stopping them after they'd done the little box step four times without a single mistake. Don grinned, surprised at how proud of himself he was for something so simple.
Master Splinter would have a field day if he knew his lifelong trained son had been so dubious of such a simple sequence of movements. Hell, his brothers were probably already having a field day.
Don glanced over to the truck, expecting his hypothesis to be proved correct but surprised to find that Mikey was just waiting, excitedly, for them to pause long enough for him to interject.
"I got one Jay." He announced, bouncing a little and ignoring Leo, who sighed and shook his head.
"We found one Mikey." He said patiently. Mikey waved Leo away with a shrug and pressed play on his IPod, settling himself on the bumper of the Battle Shell as the slow, rolling beat of Jon Brions Here We Go began to hum through the garage.
"Great, thanks." Jay smiled, turning her attention back to Don. "Ok, so it's the same thing to a song, we just count to the beat that's playing." She said simply, counting out loud for the first few beats.
Don nodded, listening to the music and counting the one-two-three's in his head. He was focusing so intently that he almost missed what Jay said next.
"We also don't waltz standing this far apart." So saying, Jay took a step towards him, bringing one of his arms around her so his hand rested just under her shoulder blade before trailing her fingers up to settle on his shoulder. Her other hand stayed tight in his as she raised their arms up and out.
Very suddenly there was no space between them.
Don could feel her, her warmth, could smell the vanilla shampoo she used, could see each individual eyelash framing her eyes. The world slowed down and something akin to electricity sizzled along Don's nerves as he started down at the woman now in his arms.
He took a sharp intake of breath, the movement just enough to make his chest bump hers and send the crystals hidden beneath their clothes singing out joyously as they found a partner.
Don jolted away as the blue light intensified, eyes wide as the shock of the sudden humming made him startlingly aware that he was very, very warm, and they had been very, very close.
"Sorry." He mumbled, eyes locked on the oil stained floor. Damn it, why was he being so jumpy? He shouldn't be, they were just dancing, this was no big deal. He was just overthinking everything, he needed to calm down.
Except now Don wasn't quite sure what to say, so it was almost a relief when Jay's beat up sneakers appeared in his downcast field of view.
"No need to be sorry." She said gently, ducking down a bit so she could get into his line of sight. "Are you alright?"
Don's eyes traced her features, all the way from the soft smile that made him feel better without him really understanding why to the loose flicks of hair framing her face.
He nodded. He wasn't sure if he was alright, but maybe he was. Maybe this was just a different kind of alright. An electric, fidgety, warm, confusing alright.
Jay's smile widened.
"So, would you still like to dance with me?" She asked, holding out her hand.
Don took a breath, looking at her slim fingers before he nodded again and placed his hand in hers.
"Yes." He said a little more firmly.
Jay stepped in close to him for the second time, shifting his arms back into the right position before resting her hand on his shoulder.
"Ok then. Here we go." She said it almost under her breath, smiling up at him as the gems beneath their jackets bumped and shivered back to life, both of them humming happily at the closeness.
"Here we go." Don repeated just as quietly, feeling the ball of warmth swelling somewhere deep in his chest and knowing as he looked down into Jay's pretty, pretty eyes that it wasn't from the crystal.
Author's Notes: My computer died. As in, swimming with the fishes. As in, they guy I took it to went: "Welp, what you have here miss, is a very expensive paperweight."
So I borrowed a friend's laptop to finish this chapter because my work hours are stupid and being kind of the boss I am not allowed to be just chillin' using work computers for TMNT fanfiction. No matter how much I want to.
To the lovely people reading this chapter: please give the songs mentioned in here a listen, the first one because someone awesome recommended it to me (TatteredAngel) and the second one because I think the song is beautiful and suits this scene really well.
Also, Treeni. This is why I was weird and couldn't tell you things. It's not exact, I know I tweaked it to make it fit with my world, but I hope it lends enough love to a story I love and a writer I adore. Everyone reading this needs to go check Treeni out. She's an awesome TMNT author who will melt your heart.
This chapter may need some editing, if it does, I am sorry. I wanted to post it so badly that tomorrow when I read it I might end up tweaking basic stuff... but until then beautiful people,
Read and Review, it makes me smile.
P.S Big thanks to Sparkles of Youthfulness for correcting my French, you're awesome Sparkles, thank you!