That evening in the Turtle lair, Splinter was packing some stuff he'd be taking when they went back home; stuff that he'd brought with him in the first place.
Shelly watched him for a moment, then went over to Mikey, who was sitting in front of the television with Raph, Cori, and Ashton. She sat next to him.
"Hey Mikey." said Shelly as she sat down.
"Hey Shelly, what's up?" asked Mikey as he turned to her.
Shelly sighed. "Nothing much really . . ."
Mikey looked at her curiously; she didn't look too happy. "What's wrong?"
"Well, its like, just that, well, now that like, those dragon guys are gonna be leaving or whatever; so are like, you. And I like, really don't like, want you to, and . . . ugh, its like, complicated." said Shelly.
"No, I know what you mean." said Mikey. He then glanced over at Raph, Cori, and Ashton. "Come on, let's go somewhere else and talk. This TV is kinda loud."
"K." said Shelly.
Mikey and Shelly then got up and went to Shelly's room.
Mikey turned to Shelly.
Shelly looked at him for a moment. "What's New York like?" she finally asked.
"Its cool. You've got Central Park, and great pizza shops, and bounty hunters . . . ok maybe that isn't the cool part; but I like it." said Mikey.
"Oh." said Shelly. "What do you like, think of L.A.?"
"Its rad too, I mean, it's a hard choice between here and New York." said Mikey. "The only thing I think NY has got over LA is the skateboarding rink me and the guys go to at night sometimes; its cool there."
"You like, like to skateboard?"
"Definitely!" said Mikey.
Shelly smiled. "Come on, I gotta like, show you something you'll like." She then opened the door to her room, and walked out, followed by Mikey.
Pidgina watched curiously as they left Shelly's room. "What were you two doing in there?!" she exclaimed.
"Nothing." said Mikey.
"We're going out now Pidgina, bye! Be back later!" said Shelly as she and Mikey left the lair.
"Be careful!" Pidgina shouted towards the lair entrance/exit.
In Rita's lab, she and Donny were cleaning up from when they made the explosives.
Rita put something in the trash while Donny took a look around.
"This is a great setup." he thought out loud.
"You should say so; you helped me to set it up." said Rita, walking over to him.
"Yeah." he sighed. "Isn't as great as the one I have at home. I'm constantly competing with the others for space."
"I can imagine." said Rita. She then took a deep breath. "So, when do you think you guys are leaving?"
"I don't know; probably after Leo is assured that the dragons went back to their New York fortress." replied Donny.
"Oh."
They both stood in silence for a while.
"Donny."
Donny turned to her. "Yeah?"
Rita looked up at him for a moment, and found herself at a loss for words. She knew what she wanted to say, but just couldn't find the words. She smiled bashfully as she turned away. "Forget it."
"No, what were you going to say?" asked Donny.
"It was nothing." said Rita, still looking away from Donny.
Donny gently guided her face to look back at him. "No, it was something. Just say it."
Rita looked into his eyes; she'd grown so fond of him in the past weeks she'd known him. She sighed deeply. "I, I . . . I don't want you to go." She then looked away shyly. "I know I shouldn't think that way, but that's just how I feel."
"Who says you shouldn't think that way?" asked Donny. "I feel the same. I don't wanna go."
Rita looked back up at him.
"Not if I have to leave you here anyway." said Donny.
"But what about your duty as a ninja, I mean, you gotta fight those dragon, things, right?" asked Rita.
"Where there's a will, there's a way. If my will is to stay here and be with you, there's a way for the others to go back home and fight the dragons without me; and still be successful." said Donny.
"You'd stay? For me?" asked Rita. "Why?"
Donny softly touched Rita's face with his hand. "Cos, I love you."
Rita felt as if she could melt. "I love you too." she said in a tone close to a whisper.
Donny then leaned in and kissed her.
Outside the lair, and outside the sewer, Shelly took Mikey to a park nearby. They then walked towards a lighted area in the middle of the park.
When they walked past the trees that surrounded it, they came to a big skating area where there was a flat skating rink, some obstacles for the flat area, and various U-shaped skating areas where people often did tricks on, and some benches at the sides for spectators.
"Shelladelic!" exclaimed Mikey.
Shelly giggled. "I like, knew you'd like it."
"Now all I need is a skateboard." said Mikey.
Shelly looked around for a moment, then found one lying on the ground a few feet away. She picked it up and handed it to Mikey. "This like, good enough?"
Mikey looked over at the skateboard. "Perfect!" He then took it from her and put it on the ground. "Is this yours?"
"Nah, I'm more of a roller-skating girl." said Shelly. "Its just one of the skateboards that get forgotten here during the day."
"Cool!" Mikey then took the skateboard over to one the U-shaped skating areas and started skateboarding. "This is great!" he exclaimed.
Shelly smiled as she just sat on a bench watching Mikey have fun.
Back at the lair, Ashton looked around momentarily from TV watching.
"Hey, either of you seen where Venus and Leo went?" she asked.
"Nope." said Raph and Cori.
Ashton then looked back at them. "I'm gonna take a walk; I'm getting cramped just sitting here." She then got up and began leaving the lair.
"Where are you going?" asked Splinter.
"To talk a walk, and probably find Leo and Venus." said Ashton.
"Be careful." said Splinter.
"Always am." said Ashton as she left the lair.
Later on that evening, Mikey and Shelly were walking back from the skating rink in the park.
"That was awesome Shelly! That's better than the one in New York, and we don't have to break into it at night to skateboard!" exclaimed Mikey.
"Break in? Like, wow." said Shelly.
"Don't worry, we put everything back and we never steal." said Mikey.
"K." said Shelly with a smile.
They walked back to the lair hand in hand.
Ashton was still on her walk, and as she walked back to the lair, passed Donny and Rita walking back to the lair, also hand in hand.
"Hey lovebirds." said Ashton with a smile.
Donny and Rita smiled.
"Hey Ash." said Donny.
Ashton continued on in her walk.
Later on, as she took a different route back to the lair, she heard noises. Her ears twitched in different directions and tried to decipher the noises. After she found out what the noises were, she backed up, and began taking the normal route back to the lair.
"I will never again look for Leo and Venus." she said to herself as she walked back to the lair.
Back at the lair, everyone was getting ready for bed.
"Hey Ash, how was the walk?" asked Raph.
"Eh, it was ok." said Ashton.
"Did ya find Leo and Venus?" asked Cori.
"Yes and no." said Ashton.
"Come again?" said Cori.
"Are there any other rooms in this sewer system that you all made?" asked Ashton.
"Well, Leo asked earlier about a room for a dojo and took a mat with him and Venus. So I directed him to one at the other end. Why?" asked Cori.
"They won't be coming home tonight." said Ashton as she went to the couch to sleep.
"Oh my." said Pidgina.
"Why . . ."
Ashton held up her pointer finger. "No more questions, you've all been a lovely audience. Good night." she then turned over on the couch, and went to sleep.
"Hmm . . ." thought Master Splinter.
