)O(*
If you got past that last chapter, I applaud you. Here's something that isn't so hard to swallow.
)O(*
Leo woke up to his phone buzzing next to him. Hey, thanks for coming over yesterday. Sorry I fell asleep on you. Tabitha-Lynn He looked at the text and smiled. It must have still been early for him, but it didn't matter now. He was awake and had no intention of going back to bed now. His fingers itched. He wanted to reply. It was the polite thing to do, anyway. There couldn't be anything derived from it, just being polite. Inside he knew what it would mean if he did. He would coax the feelings inside of himself.
Once upon a time he'd watched as Donnie had struggled against his feelings for April. Everyone else had known that it wasn't possible. April's attentions on Casey had been clear to them, even if it wasn't clear to Donnie. That might not have been true, though. Donnie had known but tried, regardless. Something inside of his brother had called out, demanding that he at least make his feelings known. Still, the pain that had caused his younger brother had been massive at the time. It had only been after a polite rejection that Donnie had finally tried to stop caring.
Leo had to stop caring now. If Raph wouldn't have cornered him a while ago then maybe he wouldn't have had to think about these things. However, now he was forced to look at it head on.
'She doesn't want me, ain't even looking at me. I give up, do whatever, but just know, if you fuck this up, Fearless, I'll be there to help her.' Raph had snarled and stomped about for the rest of the day.
Leo shook his head and looked back down at the phone. "It's okay, how do you feel/" He typed out quickly, only noticing his typo once the text was sent.
I'm good, thanks to you... and Mikey's soup. I'm still surprised he can cook so well. Tabitha-Lynn
"Yeah... I'm glad you'er feeling better."
Leo glared at the phone, annoyed at his mistakes.
Well, since I AM feeling better, would you guys like to come over tonight? I would like to see you again. Tabitha-Lynn
I have to get into work real quick, I'll text back on break :) Tabitha-Lynn
Leo read the messages again. Then one more time. A third time just to be sure. Maybe it was just him taking the text in a different way than she'd meant to send it, but it still pulled at his heart. She wanted to see him.
No, no, she'd said she wanted them to come over. So that was it. Not just him. Nope, nothing to worry about. Still, his heart pulled, wanting the message to be for him and him alone.
She was at work now. No reason to rush to reply. He still had to talk to the others about it. He rose from his bed and went about getting ready for the day. Usually he would meditate, but he knew that would be out of his reach right now.
As he went down stairs he heard the babies waking up, fussing. They were old enough now that they were getting cereal mixed with fruits for breakfast before Sara would feed them. He decided to help and went and started to heat up some water in the kettle. He pulled the jars down from the cabinet and set them on the table.
He'd learned his lesson on giving them the prune or apple baby food pretty soon and instead set out the banana. The fussing had stopped and he knew that Sara and Donnie were already up and changing diapers. Mikey stumbled his way down the stairs and nodded to him. He pulled out eggs and milk from the fridge, checking it to make sure it wasn't expired. He'd start breakfast here soon. Leo set the things for Sara and Donnie on the table then went to move out of the way.
"Hey, how did Tasha like the soup?" Mikey asked, yawning.
"She said it was good. It looked like it was the first thing she'd eaten. Thank you for making it for her."
"It's cool, dude. It was nice making something simple. Hey, are we going over today or is she still sick?"
"Her text said she was fine. She wants us to come over, actually." Leo relayed the details while trying to stay unattatched. He should have known that it wouldn't have worked with the mini mind reader that was his brother. "Did she say she wants us to come over, or you?" Mikey nudged him with an elbow and Leo could feel the blush that was going up his neck. "Us." He coughed and tried to leave the kitchen again.
"Hey, I could use some help with breakfast," Mikey laughed. Leo stopped dead in his tracks. No one ever asked for his help in the kitchen. It was like asking a tornado to help. "Don't worry, I'll do the cooking. Just stir this for me." Mikey handed him a bowl with a whisk sticking in what looked like pancake mix.
A light clicked on in Leo's head and he wanted to curse his youngest brother's coniving ways. He couldn't not help, but if he did he'd be trapped in this room with his nosy brother until the task was done. He wanted to curse himself for not being able to tell him no.
Agitated, he took the bowl. He could do this much. He started mixing, breaking up the large clumps of mix that started to form. "It seems like Raph has backed off of her, why do you think that is?" Mikey started to talk. "Becca thinks it's because Raph noticed she liked someone already. Raph's not like Donnie was way back when. He doesn't seem to like competion for a girl... I wonder who it is that she likes..."
"Done!" Leo announced and shoved the bowl onto the counter, nearly running away from the kitchen in his haste to get away from his brother. He almost ran into Sara who was zombie walking with Donald and Jordan. The elder of the two looked to be biting Sara, even though she showed no signs of noticing. Donnie was behind her with Jillian. The little princess, who had been content up until then, took one look at Leo and started to scream, her arms reaching for him. Damn it, he couldn't just not hold her. How full of double negatives was this morning going to be? He asked himself as he rolled his eyes and took his niece from her dad and nearly stomped his way back into the kitchen. A smug look on Mikey's face ground against Leo's nerves as he suddenly wished he'd just meditated instead.
)O(*
Oh, dear lord, Becca groaned internally. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a damn spoon. They'd been playing this stupid ass game all night long and she was just about as tired of it as the other two were. Donnie and Mikey were the only two that had come besides Leo. Raph was pouting at home.
Something had happened between Leo and Tabitha and it was frustrating watching it take place now. She wasn't sure when the dynamic had changed, but oh boy was it clear what was going on.
Tabitha would get closer to Leo than was 'normal' and Leo would almost allow it to happen before he pulled away and tried to put space between them. It had been an enjoyable sight to witness... for about the first ten minutes. Now all she wanted to do was just push the giant dumbass into Tabitha and see what happened.
She felt Mikey's hand on her thigh and she turned to look at him. He shook his head at her. Was it that clear or had he been thinking the same thing? "We have to give them time." He whispered so low she wasn't sure she'd heard him for a moment. She frowned and scruched up her face, showing her displeasure. He just chuckeld and nuzzled her neck.
Temporarily removed from the current situation, her mind wandered. Sara had mentioned kids, and not just her own. She'd given Becca the space to worry about her own. The idea had rooted itself in her mind and now more than before, she wanted to know what it would be like to have a child or two of her own.
"Thank you again for cooking for me, Mikey." Tabitha smiled at him.
"No problem, Tasha, Leo was the real hero, bringing it over." Mikey graciously commented. Becca wanted to die. Were they like this too? "I know, he really was my hero last night. As he put it, my brain might have melted." Tabitha teased. Leo looked like the definiton of uncomfortable. He was trying to look anywhere but at Tabitha. Tabitha however seemed to have her eyes glued to him.
"Mikey! Mikey! Mikey!" Sophia chanted as she waved something around in front of Rebecca's face. Becca took the paper and looked it over. Yes, there was her boyfriend drawn across a sheet of construction paper. "Very good," Becca praised. Sophia beamed and then nearly ran the two and a half feet to Leo. "If I make him stronger, it'll be you!" Sophia giggled. Leo laughed with her, surprised. "Hey, not cool!" Mikey protested.
"You sure it wouldn't be Raph?" Tabitha teased Sophia but reached out a hand and nudged Leo's arm. Becca tried to not roll her eyes, really, she did. Sophia took a moment to think and then replied with a smirk, "I said stronger, Aunt Tasha, not grumpier." Becca couldn't help herself as she failed to suppress a cackle.
A while passed as they let the tv drone on. Leo kept touching his arm and shifting about in the chair. Tabitha looked like she was trying to levitate something on the coffee table that she refused to look away from. Donnie seemed blissfully unaware of what was going on around him as he looked at his phone. No doubt in Becca's mind that there were pictures of the triplets sliding across the screen.
)O(*
Tabitha closed the window and facepalmed. That hadn't gone the way she'd planned. She was happy to see everyone again, Sophia had been, too, but she wanted a moment alone with Leo. It had become obvious that he wasn't picking up on her flirting. It had been so long, she wasn't even sure that she was doing it right.
She groaned. Even if she wasn't out of practice was there even a proper way to try to flirt with a turtle? She tried to recall any animal knowledge that she had and came up empty on turtles except for a little anatomy. The reason she knew that sent her stomach to rolling once again at the memory.
Startled out of her downward spiralling thoughts by her cell phone chiming, she nearly threw it before reading the message.
Thanks for having us over. (Rebecca)
No problem, thanks for coming over. (Tabitha-Lynn)
It was short and simple, but it felt familiar now. Text that asked how she was doing. Them letting her know that they made it home safe. It was a kind of endearment that she looked forward to now, more and more.
Sighing, she set the phone down, determined to get some sleep. Maybe she was still tired from her fever. Maybe she was still a bit delierious. Maybe that was why she almost immediately picked her phone back up and opened an incognito tab.
)O(*
Sara had welcomed home her family and then, as had become her habit, she opened her spyware app on her laptop. She still didn't trust Tabitha completely, even if the woman hadn't seemed to harbor any ill will. Yet.
Still, Sara grabbed her cup of coffee and took a drink as she caught up on the recent activity on Tabitha's phone. She noticed that she was actively in incognito mode. Interested, Sara took another long drink from her mug as she bypassed the laughable security of the phone. Seemed like a handful of searches.
She started to scan the list of things searched when her face became hot and she almost spat out her coffee.
Turtle Mating Habits
Turtle Mating Rituals
Turtle Penis Size
What Is A Cloaca
Sara snapped the laptop shut. Oh, how she wished it had just been porn. Why couldn't it have been porn? No. Now she knew that this woman was at least curious in who she could only assume was her brother. Her 'big brother' at that. It set in her stomach and made her regret ever looking. Even after years of compliling the secret of strangers, this just felt... wrong. Her skin felt like it was crawling. Sara shivered to herself. Maybe she'd finally learned a lesson.
)O(*
So I was going to upload the next chapter when I realized that I didn't upload this one. So here's this thrown together thing and the next chapter comes out tonight/ early tomorrow morning. Sorry, y'all.