Hanami – Chapter 13

            'The world is upside-down, and I have to pee.'  Cabbage thought about that for a moment then she changed her mind.  'I'm upside-down, and I don't know where the toilet is.'  Satisfied that she'd straightened that out, she sat up.  She immediately regretted it.  Her whole side was on fire, and that hated sedative had chosen now to give up and go home.  'Right. The abscess.  Shit girl, how'd you forget about that one?'  She rolled onto her hands and knees, got her legs under her, and stood up.    

            She took in her surroundings.  Shima and Frogger – 'Frogger!  God, she wasn't gonna like that one when she woke up.  Heh, I wanna see 'em call her that.'  Cabbage smiled.  'Might as well have called her 'Shelly.'

            'Ok, three options:  the stairs, the door under the stairs, or the room with the voices coming out of it.'  She approached the door under stairs, it was ajar and there was a porcelin shape lurking in the gloom.  "What's behind door number 2?  Bingo!"

            Donatello blinked away the sleep from his eyes as he leaned against the kitchen counter.  The Mr. Java coffee maker perked behind him.  "Finally!"

            "You know bro, you really are an addict."  Mikey had flour on his beak and biscuit dough in his hands.  He was heating the skillet for bacon, and had already set aside the dozen and a half eggs for omelets.  "Hey, Leo, you got that cheese grated yet?  'Cause I need you to chop up those onions.  They should caramelize first, before I can start on the omelets."

            Sighing, Leo looked over at Mikey as he dropped handfuls of doughy biscuit batter onto a cookie sheet.  "If you needed them first, why didn't you say so?"

            Donnie refilled his mug and snorted, "He wasn't thinking about omelets."  Mike shot him a look.  "Well, am I right?" 

            "MIKEY!  Good morning!" Cabbage beamed at him.  She had dimples.  Mike broke into a smile that nearly wrapped around his head. 

"Morning, Cabbage!  You hungry?"

"Am I ever!"

She turned and sighted Donatello, "And Donnie!  You did some amazing work on my side last night.  I flushed it out this morning, and there was no discoloration in the drainage what so ever.  Thank you!"  The dimples moved on again.  Don blinked. 

The dimples were now focused on his brother.  "Hi, my name is Cabbage."  She seemed genuinely thrilled about her nickname, but then again,  she could have said, "Your money or your life," and probably gotten the same goofy grin.  "I know I saw you last night, but I didn't catch your name."  Dimples.  She extended her hand.

            "Leonardo."  He hadn't broken eye contact, and was extending the hand with the block of cheese in it.  Don walked around beside Leo, grabbed his wrist, and removed the lump of cheese from his hand.  "What?  Oh."

            She smiled and shook his hand.  "It's very nice to meet you."

            Mikey put the biscuits in the oven and started the timer.  "So did you sleep well?"

            "Like the dead.  Thank you for working all those kinks out."

            Donatello was trying to figure out it she consciously knew what she was doing.  Mikey had always been a sucker for a pretty face and a smile, but Don knew his brother.  Passing crushes were one thing, but Mikey had melted, reduced to a puddle of goo in a shell by a pair of big brown eyes and a set of dimples.

            She leaned against the counter, "So how do I help?"