His True Love

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

Chapter Seven – Seeking Clan Approval

DONATELLO:

  I figured with Leo and Karena gone for a whole week alone that Leo ought to be in a much better frame of mind on his return.

While he was gone I did my best to finish off the last bit of work that needed doing to make our new home a real home. What had seemed like a never ending supply of mundane chores was now down to a few simple tasks that almost prompted me to believe that there was, indeed a dawn to the dark I'd been going through.

Of course it didn't help matters much that we had moved into a much bigger place which automatically meant I had a lot more mundane chores to go with this move then ever before.

Mike was busy looking after all three children his own and Leo's two while Raph kept a watch over Sara going to and from her school and of course working her night shifts.

Sara hadn't been too fond of the fact that she would be kept under surveillance by any of us.

In fact she had tried her best to convince us that it wasn't our problem and we didn't have to get involved with the whole mess. We pointed out to her that we were in essence all ready involved and none of us cared for what Red was doing and if we could put a stop to Red's plans by helping her we were going to do it.

I had told her rather bluntly that I had not bothered to save her life for it to be thrown needlessly away in another, more successful, attack by Red's people when they found out she was still alive and it wouldn't take much for someone to fill him in on that little detail.

Sara grumbled and complained but finally accepted it when she realized that we were truly concerned for her and this wasn't a choice we were going watch over her and protect her with or without her permission.

Her one condition was that we could not scare her clients away. After all she still had bills to pay and she doubted we could finance her schooling.

While Leo was gone Sara managed to cut herself back to one cigarette a day, it was her morning fix and she claimed that once the pack she was on was finished that would be it for her.

Since we didn't allow smoking in our home, yeah we might live in a sewer next to all kinds of foul smells but that doesn't necessarily mean we like those smells to begin with and we didn't want to have to deal with second hand smoke in our home, Sara was forced to have her morning fix outside our front door in the main part of the sewer.

However shortly after Leo and Karena returned home Mike threw my plans of getting to Leo, while he was in a good mood, right out the window.

Seemed Mike had somehow gone to some meeting with Melody. He had called a family meeting to explain that Melody now felt sorry for the way she had acted towards all of us, but she was also concerned for Jessie who was acting up and misbehaving all over the place after being separated from his good friend Rama.

As a family we decided to risk letting Melody and Jessie into our lives. If Melody was indeed starting to see the errors of her ways then being around us might only make it easier for her to get over the prejudice she had for us.

Plus we planned on helping Jessie out a bit by teaching him some basic self defense moves, tutoring him in his school work but most of all letting Ramiela work her own brand of magic by getting Jessie to talk more, she would be helping him gain confidence in talking.

Mike figured he would make it a surprise for Rama who had been moping around even before we moved but it was getting much worse now that we had been in our new home for almost a month now.

Of course that meant Melody might cause us some more problems but both Raph and Mike felt her apology had been sincere and her concern for Jessie just might be enough to ease things between all of us.

Leo might be a little concerned but if all went well then we'd soon all be able to relax. I figured that it was now time or past time to bring Jen down.

Before I did that however, there was one more thing that I would have to do and that would be to get clan approval to bring an outsider into our realm.

It was one thing to bring in people who were hurt and desperately needed our help or assistance in some way shape or form. By helping people they would know that we owed a favour of some kind in return and therefore might be more willing to keep our secret.

It was quite another thing bringing down an outsider just for a visit and expecting them to be quiet about what they saw down here.

We didn't normally just go and bring some one down here for the sake of doing so. We lived down here and were trained in ninjitsu for a reason after all and the average person could be a major threat to all of us, and our very existence. So no human was permitted in our home unless they desperately needed our help, were all ready considered our friends or we had clan approval to do so.

Much as I hated to do this to Leo I was going to go over his head and ask for Splinter's approval.

I was nervous about it but I also figured Splinter would probably grant an approval for Jen to come down here faster then Leo would and of course if the Jonin of the clan approved then Leo wouldn't have much of a chance of arguing against it.

I entered the meditation room where Splinter was relaxing with a cup of tea.

" Ah Donatello would you care to join me my son?" Splinter smiled at me.

I bowed low " I'd be honoured Master. I was hoping to talk with you any ways and I didn't wish to disturb your meditation time" I replied solemnly accepting his invitation before taking a seat.

Splinter eyed me from under his bushy brows " So tell me does wisdom seek wisdom my son?"

I smiled as I considered a reply " A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood."

Splinter nodded accepting my words " Very good Donatello. So what truly brings you here my son?"

" I have come to ask your approval Jonin."

An ear twitched a bit and his nose wrinkled ever so slightly for the briefest of moments " My approval for what?"
 " To bring an outsider into our home. She is no stranger to me and I know she will do us no harm Master," I explained.

" You are sure of this Donatello?"

 " I have known her for two years now Master. I have only really filled her in on the rest of the family recently. I would like Jennifer to meet my family and for you to know her as well." I answered.

I saw Splinter's tail slash suddenly as if surprised by my announcement. " You have known her these past two years and she has caused you no harm. Do you care for this woman my son?"

" I do Sensei. You know what they say about a friend being someone who knows who you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you become but still invites you to grow?"

I watched as Splinter nodded ever so slightly his sharp penetrating dark eyes locked on me " People often don't care how much you know about them once they find out how much you care about them" he countered.

" Jennifer is very much like that Master she knows what I once was, she knows what I am now and she accepts it. We understand each other but at the same time she can make me rethink stuff that I only thought I knew."

Splinter raised and lowered his bushy brows a few times and I saw his tail tap the floor ever so slowly as he seemed to consider what I had said. " Tell me more about this Jennifer that you are friends with" he put a peculiar emphasis on the word friends as if he thought what I had with Jen was more then that.

So while we sat and sipped tea I told him all I could about Jennifer, about our meeting, how we became friends what I had learned from her and so much more besides.

" If she can keep our secret for so long my son then I have no fear of her causing harm to us. I would be greatly interested in meeting this young lady whom you seem so taken with my Son."

I blew out a sigh of relief at his words " Then I can bring Jen down to meet the family."

" By all means Donatello. I would be honoured to meet her. I do not know why you have waited this long" with that Splinter narrowed his gaze, " Unless you wanted to be very sure of the young lady first."

" I was just trying to be careful Master. I didn't want to endanger the family needlessly," I stated simply.

" Did you seek to be sure of her intentions towards us or your intentions towards her?" Splinter inquired keeping his shrewd gaze on me as he spoke.

" I don't know…" I ended up stammering a bit as I spoke.

Splinter chuckled " Donatello, search your heart and you might realize that you feel more for her, then you are willing to admit, even to yourself. Remember that advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't." Splinter paused for a moment and sipped at his tea. " I sense that you feel strongly for this Jennifer my son. I am glad that you have found someone to care for and about.

However you should not be afraid to admit to the truth of your feelings. Be truthful with yourself for then you can be truthful with others too."

" Yes Sensei" I agreed.

Splinter smiled " I looked forward to meeting her and I hope you don't put it off any longer my son."

I grinned a bit at his words. I knew I would be thinking about this talk for some time to come as Splinter was usually quite adept with certain sayings that needed some amount of reflection paid to them, but at the moment I was far too elated with the thought that Splinter had approved of Jen visiting our home.

TBC