Evangeline sat quietly on the couch, having become deeply enthralled in the book she was currently reading. Michelangelo had returned some time ago, but rather than playing the game like he normally did, the turtle was pacing behind the sofa.
"Mikey, you're going to wear my carpet down if you keep pacing" she commented, flipping a page, "What are you so nervous about?"
"I guess I'm just hoping they make a good impression. They're good dudes, but they're a little different" Mikey replied, practically forcing himself to take a seat on the recliner arm.
Evangeline's eyebrow rose, her fingers letting the book in her hands gently flap closed.
"Different as in..?"
Michelangelo fidgeted with his fingers, attempting to phrase his sentence in a way that wouldn't be alarming.
"As in like us, except, you know, bigger" he anxiously replied with a guilty laugh. Evangeline thought about this for a split second. Most likely his friends were mutants considering what he had just said. Bigger though?
"Wait, Mikey, how much bigger are we-" Evangeline started to question, however, a heavy knock came thudding through the monitor from the front door before she could finish. Evangeline gave a single glance over to Michelangelo who looked even more terrified, before standing and heading down the stairs. Unfortunately, the only thing Eva was prepared for was the mutant half of the surprise on the other side of the door.
Standing on her front step, was an enormous warthog, and behind him, an even bigger Rhinoceros. Eva had to take a second to reel herself in from the initial shock.
"Um, hi, is uh, Mikey here?" the warthog asked, nervously running his hand over his head which was bald save for a small strip of purple in the middle.
"Y-yes" Evangeline cleared her throat, taking a step to the side in invite them in, "You must be the friends he was telling me about"
"Yea, the name's Anton" the swine-like male replied, his voice having a very slight snort to it as he jetted a thumb to the other african mutant behind him, "That's Ivan."
The rhino gave what Eva could only interpret as his best polite smile and a little wave. She returned the gesture.
"Mikey is upstairs, come on in, just mind the enclosures" she instructed, leading the way through the downstairs shop. Even though they were being careful, Evangeline could still hear the creeks and moans of protest the floorboards made from the two mutants' weight as they traveled up the stairs.
'Note to self: Ask Donnie about reinforcing the floors.'
By the time the three of them made it up to the apartment Eva was debating on whether concrete or steel beams would be more suitable.
"Dudes you made it!" Mikey waved from the couch, giving on of his signature grins. As always, the youngest brother's smile was enough to completely disperse any doubt or heaviness in the room.
"Mikey! My man!" Anton laughed, fist bumping with the turtle.
"'Sup brother. How's it been?" Ivan chimed, mirroring the actions of his companion.
"Not much dude, just the usual. Kickin' ass and chillin" Michelangelo chuckled, though remembered at that moment that there were a pair of hawk-like eyes watching them, "Ah, you guys met Evangeline"
"Ah, yea man" Anton said, turning with a bit of an embarrassed look on his face, "Sorry we forgot to ask your name before"
Evangeline gave a very slight smile, stepping forward with a hand outstretched.
"Its fine. If Mikey says you're ok, there's no worries"
Both enormous mutants visibly lit up, each of them taking a turn shaking her tiny hand, being sure to be aware of their strength. It was at that moment, however, that something occurred to the young woman.
"So," she spoke up, turning her attention to the orange-masked turtle, "Anton and Ivan?"
Mikey, for a few seconds, looked utterly bewildered until the names finally seemed to click.
"OH! Yea..Anton is Bebop...and Rocksteady is Ivan...and...yea.." the younger brother trailed off, continuing to fidget with whatever lay in reach.
"You forgot to tell me" Eva softly chided.
"I forgot to tell you..." he mumbled.
"I'll get us something to drink if you two want to have a seat" she offered, turning toward the kitchen. Obvious sounds of pain from both the recliner and the couch made Evangeline cringe on the inside. Maybe Donnie could rebuild those too? She had a feeling she would be owing Donatello a lot of coffee.
"So Mikey's been telling me he's been hanging around you guys a lot. How did you meet?" Eva asked, pulling out a big pitcher of lemonade. She had a feeling if the conversation started light, there was a possibility of finding out why Leo wouldn't approve of them. Her best guess was that they had criminal records, but that was merely a thought. An uneasy look on both of their faces, however, wasn't the ideal sign Evangeline was looking for.
"Well, actually we met a few years ago" Rocksteady answered, rubbing the back of his head. Eva shot them a raised eyebrow while putting the pitcher and a trey of glasses on the coffee table. Maybe those answers would happen sooner or later.
"I'm guessing it wasn't a very nice meeting?" she questioned, handing them each a full glass.
"Like, remember Master Splinter mentioning me and my bros fighting shredder and his goons?" Mikey chimed in, gesturing toward the two, "Meet two of the goons!"
"You two use to be in league with the shredder?" the young woman asked, hardly missing a beat much to the surprise of the two mutants who glanced at one another. It was a silent thought between them, wanting to be absolutely sure.
"Yea, but see, after Mikey and his brothers defeated the tin man for good, and Rocksteady and me got thrown in the slammer again, the judge was threatening to throw away the key" Bebop started to explain, taking a solemn sip of his drink.
"For a while we thought about breakin' out, ya know? Doin' what we usually do, but then, one of the guys that was serving a life sentence asked us why. Why we got into doin' all the bad stuff" Rocksteady continued the explanation, shifting slightly on the couch. Eva looked to the both of them curiously.
"What did you say?" she asked, resting back in her seat. The two large males looked to one another once again, something they seemed to do often. Evangeline could only assume how long the pair had been friends considering the silent conversations the two were passing back and forth.
"We didn't have an answer" Bebop uttered while tracing his glass rim, "We'd been doin' all this bad stuff for so long I guess we forgot why we did it in the first place. I mean, the money was good but that was about it"
"Because we became all this" Rocksteady chimed in, thumping a massive hand on his chest twice to make a point at his mutated body, "We can't walk the town or anything like we use to. So after he asked us that, we started thinkin' hard about everything and decided to try and turn things around"
"It took a while but we were able to have an early release on good behavior with probation" the warthog stated, setting his empty glass on the table.
"That's amazing that you decided to turn your lives around" Eva complimented with a kind smile, ",but I have to ask how you ended up hanging around Mikey since he and his brothers were the reason you ended up in jail"
Mikey's expression quickly went from calm, to a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, long story short, I was kinda out on my own one night and thought they had broke out again" the youngest terrapin chuckled with embarrassment.
"Eh, no hard feelins. Its all in the past" Bebop reassured, waving a hand in the air.
"Admittedly its nice to see Mikey with actual friends to keep an eye on him" Eva stated, turning her attention to the younger brother, "Personally I think you did a good thing giving them the benefit of a doubt. Leo could really learn a couple things from his little brother"
Michelangelo gave Eva a thankful smile.
"That means a lot Eva, seriously dudette"
Bebop and Rocksteady exchanged what seemed to be relieved smiles of their own before the two of them stood from their seats.
"We had better be going. It was cool meeting you Miz Evangeline" Bebop said, offering a large hand to the small human female.
"You can just call me Eva. It was amazing getting to meet you guys" She replied, standing and taking his hand.
"Oh! Before we forget!" the mutant rhino blurted out, fetching his wallet where he produced a card "If you ever need anything, just give us a call"
"Are you sure?" Evangeline asked, gingerly taking the card.
"Definitely. You gave us a chance and treated us like regular joes when you didn't have to" Bebop reassured, "On top of that, you mean a lot to Mikey here. He filled us in on all the stuff that's been going on and despite what his big bro thinks, we wanna make sure you guys have some backup"
Evangeline couldn't help but smile down at the little card. A blanket of relief washed over her. It felt nice knowing there were people, though very few, wanting to look out for them. She knew the boys could handle themselves, but they weren't invincible.
"Thank you. Both of you are always welcome, just give me a heads up so I can make sure the others aren't around" she stated, receiving approving grins from the two mutants. Mikey stood with his own relieved smile, watching Evangeline walk his two friends toward the stairs. Now if only Leo and the others would be as accepting.