Brotherly Bonding on the Cusp of Adulthood
Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, & the NYTBA is fictitious.
Warning: Contains violence, coarse language, and possible sexual content.
A/N: These are mostly 2K14 Turtles with other bits thrown in as the mood takes me. No Tcest. Turtles are 19 (Leo), 19 (Raph & Donnie), & 17 (Mikey) respectively.
I decided to break the preparations chapter into parts to make it easier to read.
Friday 10 April (...Continued)
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Letty's POV
'Donald has gone mad!' I thought to myself, as I prepared myself for an all night effort to prepare Jayne for her wedding.
I drag out her mother's wedding dress from the attic, and my sewing workbox, as I cut down the dress to fit Jayne.
The wedding dress fits Jayne well from the waist up, as her mother was quite petite, but was much taller, at 5'0". I reshape the dress using one of Jayne's existing ball gowns as a template, before carefully cleaning all the bridal accessories.
I lay everything out in a guest room, before checking the supply cupboard for suitable toiletries.
Once everything is prepared for her to be dressed, it is 3:00am in the morning, so I track down her travelling cases, and pack a suitable Travelling Trousseaux for the soon-to-be-bride.
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Saturday 11th April
Hamato Clan Wedding Day
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Letty's POV
I wake my son Daniel, and send him to fetch some items for me, before settling down to make a cup of tea for Doris, who is in a flurry of baking.
She has produced a large multi-tiered, purple-coloured, red velvet Wedding cake. She has harassed, poor Thomas and Gerald, into mixing the royal icing for her, while she spreads the cakes with White Chocolate Ganache.
"Doris, drink your tea while it's hot. I can spread the rest of the Ganache, I've done it before." I tell her, as I take a paper-towel to wipe her forehead.
"I've started, and I'm going to finish this." She responds taking a hasty sip, while she battles with the ganache.
I shake my head at her, as I take the royal icing from Thomas, and begin to pipe the flowers for her, onto a sheet of baking paper.
"Mom, I've called the Hamato's to let them know that you're making Jayne's wedding cake. Mikey's having a bit of a meltdown at home, as all his brothers and father are all getting married on the same day, so he's expected to make the five wedding cakes, plus all the wedding food.
He's almost hysterical." Thomas told Doris, as he holds the phone to his ear.
"Well, tell him I can make the Cakes, if he focuses on the Wedding Party Food." Doris tells her son, finishing the last cake, and taking the royal icing from Gerald ready to pipe the leaves.
Thomas relays the messages, and then decides to put the phone on speaker. Doris and Mikey soon work out a plan of attack, and Doris orders her son, and husband, to prepare the ingredients for the next cake.
I remind Doris that Jayne is a 'tree-hugging leaf muncher', and that whatever cake is designated as hers, should be vegan, and I'm fairly sure chocolate is a no-no for vegans.
Jayne's decision to become a vegan doesn't sit well with us, but since it's her wedding day, we'll make allowances for her odd habit, just this once.
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Doris's POV
'Getting married in less than a day, the Judge has gone mad!' I grumble inwardly as I wrestle the cakes into submission.
I've decided if the Judge wants breakfast, Duncan can make it, as I've up since I heard the news, making the bonbons, and the wedding cake.
Gerald caused the first one to sink, after he slammed the kitchen door, so I've had him making it up to me all morning, as I bake the cake a second time. Thomas has been helping as he can, but he'll be busy later, and he's already had to wash and groom the limousine, for the wedding.
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Thomas calls the Hamato household, only to find Jayne's future brother-in-law having a nervous breakdown, over the amount of cooking required for the multiple wedding. After a quick chat, I'm able to calm the teenage boy down, and together we work out the best plan of attack.
I've told Mikey, what I've already done, and we agree that I will work on the wedding cakes and he and Tina will work on the party food. Thomas has already promised his wife Karen, and his daughter Daisy, to assist with the preparations.
It will be a finger food wedding reception, as they do not have enough table seating for a sit down meal. This simplifies things, and we decide that fifteen savoury and fifteen sweet things per head are the maximum needed for a group of about thirty-five.
When Thomas delivers the first cake, he will take my party cookery book with him for Mikey to photocopy the relevant recipes. That solved, I start on piping the decorations.
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Letty's POV
Daniel returns with the needed supplies, just as I've finished handing Doris the last of the icing sugar flowers to arrange. Jayne contacts Thomas, to fetch something from her fiancé, so Thomas takes the first, now completed, cake with him.
I head upstairs to check on Jayne, and to take her some fruit salad for breakfast.
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Thomas's POV
I have to feel for Mikey this morning. As the family's cook, he's stuck with all the catering. His soon-to-be stepmother usually helps, but since it's her wedding day, she's going to be too busy.
Once I'm released from the kitchen, I head over to the Hamato's with the first wedding cake, the bonbons, and my Mom's cookbook.
I swing by my house, to collect my wife, and my teenage daughter, whom I know I can trust with the Hamato/Reynolds secret. Both worked at the Reynolds's house in the past, and I've already cleared it with the Reynolds, and the Hamato's so they can help with the preparations.
My eight-year-old son is not impressed at being woken so early, but I drop him at his friend's house, and the rest of us head to the Hamato's home.
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Once we get there, Tina shows us the kitchen they will be using, and sets my wife and daughter to work making vol au vent cases. I deliver the cake to a different apartment, and Mikey gives me a grateful look.
Donnie gives me an engagement ring, that he made for Jayne, but can't give her in person, since he didn't finish it until this morning. It's beautiful, and I've known her long enough, to know she'll love it.
I ask if there's anything that they need me to do, before I head back to the house, and they get me to collect some extra crockery and stemware that they have ordered, along with some extra cutlery.
I deliver that, before heading back to the Reynolds' to deliver the engagement ring.
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Gerald's POV
I should have remembered not to slam that door. Doris nearly had my guts for garters. Her wedding cake in the oven had sunk in the middle, and it was entirely my fault.
Forty-two years of marriage, has taught me to agree with the wife, when she's that cross, so I make icing for her. It seems a waste really, as Jayne won't even eat this cake, but there's no point telling Doris, when her mind is made up.
Once I can escape the heat of the kitchen, I get my essential chores done, and then I start looking for the right flowers for our little Jayne.
She's so bright; I want it to make her shine. Letty's told me that she's wearing her mother's wedding dress, so I look for colours to match that.
Once I've decided what needs to be done, I ask Tommy to call the Hamato's, and ask how many buttonholes are needed, for the gents and the ladies. I ask about the table sprays and the ceremonial decorations, before I set to work.
I send Tommy out to the Hamato's with the table sprays and the ceremonial decorations first, then the buttonholes, and all but Jayne's bridal bouquet and Crystal's bridesmaids' bouquet.
Little Miss 'Ant's in her Pant's' Crystal comes back for the wedding, and is told under no uncertain terms that she's not to make a scene about the Hamato family, nor is she allowed to talk to any outsiders about them, or she'll be cut off without a penny by the Judge.
Letty dolls up Crystal, and orders her to be her sister's bridesmaid. Crystal huffs, and asks if Mikey's getting married too. Jayne says no, because his father says he's a bit too young. The lad has to wait until next year.
Foolish Crystal, let that Mikey slip right through her fingers, now she's regretting it. He treated her real good, not like her usual man-trash. She ruined it, by sleeping around behind his back.
I don't know if he truly loves Tina, but I hope she holds onto him. That kid is gold. I saw that at Jayne's party. He stopped some obnoxious brats wrecking my roses, without getting back chatted, or, belted with those foam weapons.
Jayne's man is all right by me too, he stopped to chat to me, about the copper deficiency in the front hedge for a minute, when he came to meet the Judge. He knows his plants that lad.
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Letty's POV
Jayne is practicing her martial arts in earnest, when I arrive with her breakfast, so I take a moment to watch her as she glides around the room, in a world of her own. Being such a little thing, her father insisted she learn some form of self-defence as a child.
I watch her now, and remember when she was born, so frail that they didn't believe she would live. The doctor's had already suggested abortion, before she was even born, then they had recommended turning off the life-support, as she fought for her life in that hospital incubator.
The doctors had made such dire predictions about her development, that when she exceeded their expectations, they almost wanted to dissect her! Fortunately, having a city Judge for a father, meant that these ridiculous men were thwarted, in their plans to study her miraculous survival.
She had been such a bright little girl, mad on her pet turtles, Rub and Dub, to the point where she preferred their company, to any human contact.
I make a mental note to myself to find some nice ribbons for Rub and Dub to wear to the Wedding Ceremony.
Her inclusion in the Turtle Breeder's Association enabled her, to finally make human friends, though I had my misgivings, when she first brought that orphan girl Tina, who was fostering with City Councillor Nathan Journeyman, home with her. Still, I don't mind being wrong this time. They had become best friends, and Tina had been loyal to her through every trial and crisis.
I'm so stuck in my musings, that I fail to notice, as Jayne takes the breakfast tray from my hands, and sits down to eat.
"A penny for your thoughts Letty?" She says after she's swallowed the first bite of fruit.
"Huh... Oh, yes... I just wanted you to know, I've put out your wedding dress in the Green Guest Room. Your cases for your honeymoon are packed, and your wedding cake has been delivered. Gerald will cut the flowers for you this afternoon for arranging the bridal bouquet, and I should have the rest of your bridal trousseaux delivered by Monday.
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I have to try, very hard not to cry, as Jayne wraps her tiny arms around me, "Thank you Letty, I know this is short notice, but Daddy pressured Donnie into getting married today, rather than waiting until I finished school. I don't mind it, but I would like to have had time to buy my own bridal trousseaux, as we have a new eight-bedroom apartment."
"Eight bedrooms, oh my, the servants there must have their work cut out for them." I'm shocked that such a nervous young man has such a vast home.
"Oh, there's no servants, everyone in the family has been living together recently, so everyone helps with the cleaning and cooking. This will change, now that the other apartments are finally finished, but Donnie has droids to help him, like in Star Wars." Jayne tells me with a smile.
I'm stunned, as I look at my darling young mistress. "Droids?"
"Oh yes, Donnie is an engineer by trade, and he builds droids when he needs something done. They are really quite cute. But don't worry, Daddy would never replace you, and the others, he's too old fashioned for that. Oh, actually, now that I think of it, Donnie mentioned last night that Amy has a couple of servants, whose family has served hers for centuries. She's only just moved in, so that's new." Jayne blushed, as she remembered last night's conversation.
I'm flummoxed, by the thought of Jayne managing an eight-bedroom household, with only robots to help her. While I have a high opinion of young Mikey, I think that she's going to need more than that to start her married life with. I can understand their wariness of stranger's but maybe Doris can see if Karen will help them out.
Karen's a competent housekeeper, I'm sure she would love to manage a household of that size. She's been looking for a new place, now that her boy, Ruben is older. Young Daisy is a competent housemaid too.
I discuss the idea with Jayne, who seems reluctant to say anything until she has spoken to Donnie.
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Karen's POV
This house is enormous. The brides, and their attendants, have been sequestered, in the apartment where the ceremony will take place, while the grooms are sharing this apartment, until the time of the wedding.
I've been given run of the kitchen in Jayne's future apartment. A gigantic Turtle man called Raph, has been moving heavy furniture, as though it were made of paper this morning. Apparently, he's one of tonight's grooms. He's moving the dining tables down to another level where the ceremony and the reception will take place.
I see an enormous Rat man, saying something harsh in Japanese, to another very tall Turtle man, before throwing his hands in the air, and storming off with a object in his paws.
Daisy does Japanese at school, and translates quietly, that the Turtle man was telling his father, the Rat man, that he should give his fiancé an engagement ring. The Rat man was not pleased, as he says these are not Ninja traditions.
The tall Turtle man introduces himself as Donatello Hamato, Jayne's future husband. He's quite a sight to take in all at once, but then I remember Jayne having a tall man with her at the Building Supply the other day, when we were getting some things for Gerald. That must have been him, in some sort of mask.
"Yes, I think I remember you from the Building Supply Depot, Sir, I was with Thomas helping him get some things for his father." I say politely, trying not to look uncomfortable.
"Yes, you had an eight-year old boy, who spilled the bags of magnesium over the central isle. Oh, and you can call me Donatello or Donnie." Donnie said, smiling at the memory.
I cringed at the memory of Ruben's escapade, he'd been told not to touch, but that boy never listens for more than a couple of minutes at best.
Donnie tells me the foods he likes best, and asks if some of them might find their way into the wedding feast. I tell him honestly, I'm here to take orders, so if that's what he wants, then that is what we will make.
I make the Vol Au Vents, and then make a start on the requested savouries and sweets. Mikey comes to check on me, and enquires why I am making jelly tarts, so I inform him that his brother has requested them. Mikey throws his hands up in the air, and tells me the next few things I need to make for the reception.
Daisy and I are kept busy all day, with making the required finger foods. We manage a good balance of the necessary items and the items specifically requested by Donnie. I also add a few items that I know Jayne likes to the selection.
The turtle men are beginning to try to get dressed, as I finish my work, and ask where my daughter and I can freshen up, as we will be guests at the wedding.
We are given use of the master bathroom, and quickly change into our guest clothes, before I help Donnie, and his brother's as they try to organise themselves.
The Rat man, the turtles call Master Splinter, comes out wearing beautiful traditional Japanese robes, in a rich maroon, with what I now understand, is the Clan's crest on each side of his chest.
All the food is taken down to the floor below, where we set everything up ready to be served.
Despite the tensions of the wedding, there is a feeling of genuine love in this place. It reminds me of before Mrs Reynolds died, when everything felt right in the Reynolds' Estate.
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Daisy's POV
Mom looked stressed when Mikey got mad at her, for making Donnie's favourite foods on top of what he asked her to do. My Mom's tough though, and she held her ground well enough against the seventeen-year-old that he backed down, and just handed her a list of foods to prepare.
It's like a muscles convention in this place. Donnie and his brother's a finely cut, so are the other guys. Raph's plain huge, with forearms the size of my thighs! It's a shame they are all attached really, as I'd happily date some of these guys, if I were a bit older.
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Letty's POV
I get Jayne suitably washed and polished for this evening's wedding, before getting Daniel to take her to have her hair done.
This is her big day, and I promised her mother I would make it special for her.
Crystal eventually comes home, and I bundle her into a suitable gown, before we are ready to leave.
The day maids are overnighting tonight at the house, and they are both grateful for the overtime. Everyone else has been scrubbed and polished within an inch of their lives, even the Judge.
Daniel takes the servants, while Thomas takes the Reynolds' to the wedding.
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A/N: Whoops, just realised an error in the last chapter, it's meant to be Five Weddings and a Runaway Bride, I miss-counted! I forgot the extra engagement ring too, but Donnie did make one for each bride, in case you were worried.
Esme got a eight stone bridge setting, to signify all their combined children. I don't think that Master Splinter was cross that Donnie chose that engagement ring for him to give to Esme, he was just stressed at such a big event. It happens to the best of us.
I've also been told by some readers, (Thanks 'TheWonderfulShoe' and 'Turtlefanforlife1982') that the correct acronym for the nurse anaesthetist is a CRNA (certified REGISTERED nurse anaesthetist). CNA's are Certified Nursing Assistants.
I love reviews, please tell me what you think.
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Brides and Grooms:
Esme Morrison (68 years) and Hamato Hahen Sōke (21 years, 65 years equivalent)
Amy Tang (Hamato Amaya) (21 years) and Vernon Fenwick (45 years)
Karai Orōku (43 years) and Hamato Leonardo (19 years)
April O'Neil (27 years) and Hamato Raphael (19 years)
Jayne Reynolds (16 years) and Hamato Donatello (19 years)
The Wedding Guests:
Judge Donald Reynolds (68 years) - Jayne's father
Crystal Reynolds (18 years) - Jayne's sister
Gerald Carpenter (67 years) - Reynolds' family servant - Groundsman
Mrs Doris Carpenter (64 years) - Gerald's wife - Reynolds' family servant - Cook
Thomas Carpenter (38 years) - Gerald and Doris's son - Reynolds' family servant - Jayne's driver
Mrs Karen Carpenter (37 years) - Thomas's wife - former Reynolds' family servant
Daisy Carpenter (15 years) - Thomas and Karen's daughter -casual Reynolds' family servant
Ruben Carpenter ( 8 years)- Thomas and Karen's son
Duncan Mac Boyce (57 years) - Reynolds' family servant - Butler
Mrs Charlette "Letty" Thompson (67 years) - Reynolds' family servant - Housekeeper
Daniel Thompson (26 years) - Letty's son - Reynolds' family servant - Crystal's driver
The Hamato Clan at the wedding (excluding the Brides and Grooms above):
Jay Hamato (4 years)
Yoshi Hamato-Orōku (2 years)
Hiroshi Akiko (89 years) - Tang family retainer - Nanny
Kaito Mariko (87 years) - Tang family retainer - Nanny
Michelangelo Hamato (17 years)
Tina Córtez (16 years)
Casey Jones (29 years)
Courtney Jones-Rutherford (13 years)
Sgt Dominic "Nobody" Longe (34 years)
Elliot Longe (7 years, almost 8 years)
Tobias Longe (7 years)
Anybody (Raph's Cat)
Lucy (Esme's Cat)
Klunk (Mikey's Cat)
Rub (Jayne's Turtle)
Dub (Jayne's Turtle)
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Any translations are done using Google translate app. I apologise in advance if the translations are a bit weak or wrong.
Japanese Translations:
"Hahen" (means Splinter)
"Sōke" (Means Grandmaster)