Waiting On Santa

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Part Two.

" Up the chimney he rose…"

  " Daddy?"
   " Yeah Rama?" Mike paused in his nightly reading of the night before Christmas.

  " What chimee?" Rama asked her small round face very earnest.

  " A chimney Rama. Some homes have a place to have a fire to help warm up the house and the smoke from the fire goes out of the house by going up a chimney."

 " We got chimey daddy?"

  " No honey, we don't have a fire place so we don't have a chimney but don't worry Santa, he has a whole bunch of magic, that magic helps him know where all the good kids are and it also helps Santa get into all the homes where good kids wait for him" Mike explained gently.

 " Daddy?"

 " Yeah."

  " I see Sana?"

  " No Rama, Santa is very busy getting ready to make his trip to deliver all of his presents. He can't see you and you aren't suppose to see him because Santa can only come when you are sleeping. Like that song right" Mike started to sing " He knows if you are sleeping, he knows if you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake."

Rama's face scrunched up a bit " I wants to see Sana Daddy" she whimpered.

Mike looked at his daughter's unhappy face and he hugged her close to him " Listen Rama, I know Santa personally, he's an old friend of mine. I'll see if maybe he can visit with you for a bit one night, but Santa is very busy at this time of year so I don't think he can baby."

 " Sana visit Rama" Rama insisted sniffing a bit as she fought back tears.

 " I'll see what I can do Rama but like I said Santa might not be able to visit with you." Mike kissed her forehead and cuddled her close.

~*~

By December sixteenth Rama was very tired of being good. It was hard to be good for so long and it seemed to her that Santa would NEVER come. She had heard so much about Santa but he hadn't come yet.

She peeked around the corner of the dojo watching her Uncle Raphael spin his sais expertly in his hands, then balance a sai tip on his finger.

Rama glanced down at her own fingers wiggling them a bit then sighed miserably.

" Raphie?"

 Raph turned and smiled at her " Hi Rama want to come play with me?" He asked sheathing his sais.

Rama nodded eagerly leaping full strength at her uncle in hopes of tackling him to the ground. Raph obliged falling back onto the mats and rolling over with her. If there was one thing he loved about this kid was right from the start she seemed to love being roughhoused with. The harder you played with Rama the more she seemed to enjoy it of course with all the energy she had inherited from her father it seemed to insure all the more that she would be a rough and rowdy tomboy.

Raph was not opposed to grooming her for this role either.

As they played Rama kept her eyes focused on one thing Raph's weapons, her hand reached out snatching a sai, a trick she had tried many times before but only on rare occasions had she managed to actually get a hold of the weapon.

This was one of those lucky times, she had been extra sneaky and she had the weapon now. Her eyes glowed with delight until Raph snatched the weapon from out of her hand.

Rama whirled on her Uncle stomping her foot and yelling " Mine!"

" You're not suppose to touch weapons kid" Raph insisted sharply.

 " MINE!" Rama howled as if by saying it louder would make it true.

 Mike hearing the commotion looked in " What is going on here Raph?"

 " She took my sai, snatched it right out of my belt while we were playing. I don't think she meant anything by it."

Mike glowered at his daughter " Rama that is BAD! You are NOT supposed to touch weapons. You have to respect weapons all right?"

 " Mine" Rama sniffed sulkily.

 " No! You want me to tell Santa to skip you this year because you are being a bad girl?"

Rama shook her head no in silent reply to Mike's question she wanted to see Santa.

" No touching weapons then Rama they can hurt you all right?"
 Rama gave a wearied sigh looking at her fingers, a scowl on her face.

" Okay daddy" She gave in reluctantly on that one for the time being at any rate.

~*~

Mike phoned up Casey that night " Casey, I was wondering if you would be willing to do a favour for me and for your favourite turtle child Rama. It won't take much just a half hour to an hour of your time on Christmas Eve, somewhere between oh nine and midnight ought to be about right.

Well you see Case, it's like this Rama wants to see Santa…"

It took a lot of begging pleading, blackmailing and bribery before Casey agreed to do it. Rama might have been his favourite turtle child but Casey did have an image to keep up, even if he was married to April now.

~*~

Mike saw Rama sitting colouring in one of her books she was singing softly as she coloured " Ruolf da frosty no man had a jingle bell bring Sana to own play armonica. ALVIN!"

Mike did his best not to crack up laughing right there, knowing that Rama probably wouldn't appreciate him laughing at her Christmas song. At least she was starting to learn them but he hadn't been expecting a jumble of songs mixed up all together.

Mike grinned, that a girl Rama you are getting the Christmas spirit aren't you? He thought to himself.

~*~

Rama sat with Splinter silently watching her dad and Uncles practice growing bored of watching she slipped quietly out of the dojo to go get a toy to play with but as she neared the Christmas tree she paused.

The lights were off, Rama liked the lights on the tree looked so pretty with the coloured lights blinking and flashing, she wanted the lights on all the time. Maybe as a present to her daddy and Uncles she would put the lights on and make it pretty for them.

Rama smiled forgetting everything else as she started to work on turning on the lights by crawling under the tree in search of the switch. As she moved around the base of the tree it started to shake a bit, then it started to tip ever so slowly the resulting crash was inevitable. Rama's terrified shriek split the air as the tree crashed down around and about her.

The boys hearing the crash and Rama's terrorized scream automatically dived towards the doorway of the dojo, Mike who felt for sure his daughter was being murdered was the first out the door followed closely by Leo.

Leo grabbed Mike before he went running ahead too far " Watch out for broken glass Mike there is bound to be some of it around here. Raph help me pick the tree up and Mike can grab Rama clear."
Raph hastened to obey sure that his niece had to be hurt from the toppled tree and soon Mike was able to haul Rama out from under the tree.

All though she was far too big to completely fit tucked into her shell she had managed to tuck all of her head and most of her arms and legs in by some strange miracle, and her high pitched terrorized howls resonated out of her shell.

Mike cuddled her onto his lap watching as some of her legs came out but the rest of her remained in hiding. " It's all right now Rama your safe now baby, I have you now. Daddy's right here. Come out of your shell baby" Mike crooned softly as he rocked her.

Slowly and ever so carefully she emerged from her shell immediately throwing her thin arms about Mike's neck and clinging to him desperately while trembling and crying.

Don came and looked her over as she clung to her dad " I don't see any cuts on her, I think her instinctive reaction to tuck into her shell probably saved her a lot of damage. She is scared but I think she's all right otherwise" he declared.

" Bad ree daddy. Ree crash Rama." Rama explained sniffing.

" Yeah I saw that what were you doing under the tree baby?"

 " I do lights. Make pree."

 " Oh you wanted to put the lights on and make it pretty and then it crashed huh?"

Rama nodded sobbing as she tucked her face into her dad's plastron.

" I'm sorry Michaelangelo I should have been watching her closer" Splinter apologized " I didn't think any thing of it when she left the dojo. I forgot how quickly a little one can get into trouble."

 " It's not your fault Master. Rama could have done this to any of us at any given time. I guess it's just one of those things, the main thing is she is all right." Mike was grateful enough for that, he wasn't going to hold his Master accountable for the accident in any way.

Only a few of the tree ornaments had broken and they put the tree back up. Don with all the wisdom of hindsight secured the tree to the wall by putting metal rings into the concrete walls and then stringing thick metal wire through the rings and around the tree trunk. Don even did a great job of hiding and disguising the wires so that it was hardly noticeable.

Luckily for all of them Christmas was only two short days away now.

Raph chuckled " It is a good thing too or Santa might have to pass over this year if Rama had to wait too much longer for him. Then again he could leave her coal."

Rama sniffed " Sana come?" she asked in a trembling voice.

 " Raph is teasing you baby, he is going come and he knows this was just an accident. You weren't really bad this time" Mike comforted her.

~*~

It was finally the big night and Rama had been extremely excited all day knowing that tonight Santa was FINALLY going come and leave her presents. She was now jumping up and down on her bed her short hair bobbing up and down with each jump as she sang out " Sana come Sana come."

" Santa isn't going to come until you lay down and go to sleep baby," Mike informed her gently.

" Wants to see Sana daddy" Rama insisted stopping her jumping.

Mike reached out and knocked her gently down on to her bed so she was lying on top of it instead of standing and jumping on it " Its not allowed Rama. You have to be sleeping for Santa to come. Don't you know Rama Santa he is a bit of a ninja that's why no one sees him" Mike explained.

It took awhile to get her fully settled down and tucked in for the night before Mike was sure that Rama would go to sleep. He had purposely put her to bed earlier then usual because he knew that Rama wouldn't be going to sleep right away, plus the family needed time to haul out all the gifts and put them under the tree, they had put off putting the presents under the tree afraid that Rama might decide to get into them early. Then of course sometime tonight Rama would get her special visit with Santa.

Mike sighed in contentment pleased with himself, he had it all figured out.

~*~

" Rama wake up baby. Santa is here and he wants to see you" Mike nudged Rama gently, before picking up his sleepy eyed daughter and carrying her out of the room.

Mike had to admit Casey had done an incredible job of dressing up like Santa he must have found the best Santa suit available for it was a thick, dark red almost burgundy coloured suit with what looked to be real fur trim, the black boots were dusty and the Santa suit a little smudged with dark marks as if marked from traveling down chimneys, the padding for the belly was hardly noticeable and the thick bushy medium length beard covered Casey's face so well it was hard to know, that it was him under it.

Santa gave a deep merry " Ho, ho, ho" laugh upon seeing Rama, his belly shaking.

Rama came instantly awake in Mike's arms " Sana?" she asked her voice filled with wonder her eyes growing large with joy.

" Hello Ramiela I knew it would be very difficult to visit with me this year, so I decided to stop on my rounds and visit with you. Have you been a good girl for your daddy?" Santa asked tenderly holding out his arms.

Rama surprisingly dived right into Santa's arms and hugging him around the neck rubbing her face against his beard. Mike smiled he had been expecting Rama to play strange, or shy with Santa as Rama wasn't used to humans in the first place, and Mike usually did his best to keep her away from the occasional guest with the exceptions of April and Casey of course.

" I good girl Sana" Rama insisted nodding her head vigouroulsy.

Santa laughed again " Or as good as we can expect Mike's daughter to be hmm? I know you tried to be a very good girl for your daddy. I remember your dad at your age. It's a good thing Santa is always willing to give a little leeway. I know how hard it is to be good for so long." Santa winked at Rama tickling her a little.

Mike ducked his head hiding a smile behind his hand, Casey was really getting into this and Mike hadn't expected that of him.

" Santa do you have time to sit down for some eggnog and cookies?" Mike asked.

 " Of course especially since I know it is your cookies can't miss out on them. I can always make a bit time up on the run, the reindeer aren't about to get too anxious they know this stop might take a bit" Santa agreed packing Rama to the rocking chair.

" Great and before you go I'd like to get some pictures of you and Rama."

 " I should hope so." Santa chuckled.

 When Mike returned with Santa's treats he saw Rama tugging sharply on Santa's beard and Mike thought for sure she would pull it off but Casey had applied it well for it didn't come loose at all.

As Mike snapped a few pictures with the Polaroid camera Santa talked to Rama.

" I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want from me for Christmas but I better see if I got it right. What present do you want from me this year Ramiela?"

" Fankin" Rama said quickly not even hesitating in her reply.

"Oh, ho, ho you do like turtles don't you? I was right after all. I told my elves that they would have to make something extra special for you" Santa stated with a knowing nod.

" All right Rama, it is a busy night for Santa and he still has lots of work to do so I want you to say thank you and good night now," Mike decided.

" I go with Sana daddy?" Rama asked quickly.

Santa laughed at that remark " Sorry not this time child, you have to go back to bed and to sleep. Merry Christmas Ramiela."

" Ank you Sana, loves you. Merry Kissmas" Rama said as she hugged and kissed Santa, " Nigh Sana."

 " Good night child."

 Mike got Rama back to her bed and tucked in " Now you be a good girl and stay in your bed and go back to sleep" he whispered to her.

" Kay daddy."

On the way back to the living room the phone rang and Mike went to grab it he picked it up and greeted the caller.

" Mike is that you? It's Casey I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it tonight after all…"

 " Real funny Casey you were just here. How did you get topside so fast? After all these years you are finally learning some ninjitsu from us huh?

You know Rama just loved you Casey. I could hardly believe that it was you man. A pity the others decided to go out on a late night run and didn't get to see it."

" Mike I am telling you I don't know who was there but it wasn't me. I got called out of town at the last minute I was hoping to be back by now but the roads are sheer ice and it is dangerous driving. I can't make it" Casey insisted.

Mike shook his head, and all this time he thought that HE was the practical joker " Sure Casey you nut. Nice try though I'll see you for Christmas dinner and Merry Christmas" Mike hung up the phone and chuckling slightly at Casey trying to pull a fast one on him, walked into the living room to turn off the lights.

Rama sure is going to remember this Christmas that is for sure. What a nut case. Gotta love Casey he pulled it off real good he did.

Mike's eyes fell on Rama's Christmas stocking, it looked much fuller then before as if something had been added to it, instinctively he glanced towards the tree where all the presents waited for morning piled up around and under the tree.

He noticed two new presents that hadn't been there before.

One of the new presents was a stuffed sea turtle, with a baby turtle between its front flippers. Mike went and tugged gently on the baby turtle and it pulled away from the adult a thin string connecting the adult from the baby. A lullaby began to play and as the music played the string went back inside the adult turtle pulling the baby back until it rested once again between the adult's flippers.

The other present was one that was wrapped up in paper with Santa Claus picture on it and a large tag that read: To Ramiela, the most special child I've had the privilege of delivering to for a long time. Santa Claus.

Mike turned and headed out of the lair and straight to the nearest manhole as fast as his legs could carry him.

Once out of the manhole he climbed the fire exit to the rooftop high above the back alley.

In the snow, he noticed booted footprints on the rooftop but also numerous hoof prints of some animal with a split hoof, and two long marks that looked like ski prints only much longer and wider then most skis were made.  Could it possibly be reindeer and a sleigh that had made these unusual marks in the snow high above the city streets?

Mike paused listening very carefully to the stillness of the night around him and swore that he heard the jingling of bells somewhere in the night sky up above.

" Santa?" Mike whispered quizzically. He had to wonder about that now. He had believed Santa was real long after his brothers had given up on the myth. But it had been many years since he last believed a being such as Santa actually existed in the flesh.

Then again if mutant turtles could exist in this world why not a being as wonderful and special as Santa himself?

Thanks a bunch Santa for making Rama's dreams come true this night of all nights. Merry Christmas to you and have a safe flight" Mike called out into the clear cold night sky before returning home.

The End.

Ramiela: Hi every body I just thought I'd say Merry Christmas to all of you from the turtle family. I hope Santa treats you good!