Chapter 2

Raph called ahead as soon as the rest got home. After informing them of the visit he led the sibs down through the sewers.

"Ewwww, this is so gross," said Lily as they followed after Raph.

"Aw hush Lily. It won't kill ya," said Ruby as she walked beside the turtle. In no time they found themselves at the ladder down into the turtles lair. Raph watched as First Ruby then Lily, Willow, Dante and Demetra descended into the lair. Inside Mikey was sitting on the couch watching TV. Raph came down just in time to see Lily take a flying leap right into Mikey's lap with a squeal.

"Mikey!" she squealed as she landed. There was a muffled oomph and then Lily's high pitched giggles.

"Hey Lily," Mikey said a little dazed. He had known they were coming down, but he hadn't expected something like this. Although he should have known Lily would do something. He looked up as Leo and Donnie came in. Leo raised an eye ridge at his lapful of giggling girl. Mikey blushed, but didn't say anything.

"Hey Leo. Hey Donnie," greeted Demetra as she came over to hug both of them.

"Hey Demetra," greeted Leo as Splinter and Venus came in to see what was going on.

Introductions were made as they all arranged themselves around the living area of the lair. "So what brings you down here my child?" Splinter asked Demetra. Lily was still ensconced in Mikey's lap and she now sported a bright blue lollipop. Raph was sitting beside Mikey while Ruby perched on the arm of the couch. Splinter sat in his overstuffed chair and Venus knelt beside him on a cushion. Leo had taken the other chair while Donnie and Willow sat beside it. Dante had taken up residence on another cushion to one side of Venus with his twin perched in his lap.

"Well, we mostly came just to visit, but I came because I need to check Leo's stitches and see if I should take them out. I don't want them to tear," she said as she got up and produced a small kit from her jacket pocket. She knelt beside the chair Leo was in as she studied the healing wound. They watched as she tentatively probed the length of the wound. "Well I need to take a couple out now cause they're drawing a bit, but you got a couple more days before the other's can come out. I'll come back down then and take them out. Now hold still for me." Leo complied as she took out a pair of surgical scissors and clipped two stitches. When they were out she smiled as the edges of the wound held. "Okay there we go. Now take it easy for a few more days. You're going to need to ease yourself back into training. Don't push your arm too far too fast or else I'm gonna have to stitch it again. Got me?"

"Of course don't worry," Leo said with a smile. He really liked her and her gentle bedside manner had set him at ease. He really didn't want to take it easy, but he knew she was right. The knife wound had been deep and long and due to her help it was healing nicely.

She smiled that beautiful dazzling smile she had and his heart leaped. "Great. Now, how have you guys been?" she asked them.

"We have been fine my child," Splinter answered. "May I ask how you and your sibling's have been?"

"We've been doing great," she said as she plopped back down in her twins lap. "Lily's been getting good grades in school, works been going good for all of us and Willow just got some of her pieces published in an art magazine."

"You are an artist my child?"

Willow smiled shyly, "Yeah sort of. It's not the best work in the world but it's fun anyway."

"So what got published?" asked Donnie.

"Um, some of my sketches and a couple portraits I did. One was of Demetra and Dante in period clothing. We go to renaissance faires occasionally. And the other was of Ruby showing off her tattoos."

"Yeah I really had to contort for that one. It's a good thing I'm flexible," Ruby said as Lily giggled.

"I remember that. She had you hold that pose for a good two hours and you uh fussed the whole time," Lily said smiling.

Ruby snorted, "I did more than fuss. Anyway you might want to update that picture. I'm getting another done pretty soon."

"What are you getting this time?" asked Raph. He couldn't believe this girl. She had just gotten one finished and was getting another done.

"I think this one will be a dragon and I'm gonna put it between the wings and the tribal pattern."

"Wings?" asked Leo. The other guys hadn't known about her tattoos so she turned around and showed them. Because of her halter top they could see the wings and the tribal pattern clearly.

"Wow that's amazing work," commented Donnie.

"Thanks. My boss did the actual tattooing but Willow's the one who designed them. She designed my Phoenix too," Ruby said as she reached down and rolled up her pants leg. The guys couldn't see the whole thing but what they could see was amazingly detailed.

"I'm impressed. The detail in that is amazing Willow."

Willow blushed a little at the praise, "Thanks Donnie. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"On the contrary my dear you are an amazing artist," said Splinter softly.

Willow smiled. "Thank you Master Splinter."

"Hey did you design Lily's tiger?" asked Mikey as the girl in question lounged against him.

"Yeah I did everyone's tattoos. Ruby did most of the actual tattooing on everyone else though."

"All of you have tattoos?" asked Venus curiously.

"Yeah it's kind of like a family past time. When Ruby first got her license she practiced on us and did a damn good job," said Dante.

Lily bounced in Mikey's lap not realizing what she was doing to him. "Oh show and tell," she squealed.

Dante laughed as he buried his face in his sister's back. "Oh god Lily you sound like your five."

She pouted with her sucker still in her mouth, "Am not."

"How old are you?" asked Venus curiously.

"Just turned eighteen yesterday," she said proudly.

"You mean eight," snickered Ruby. Lily stuck out her now bright blue tongue at her sister. "Yeah real mature."

"Ruby leave her alone," said Demetra. "Do you want to see our tattoo's Splinter?"

"I would like that. I am sure they are true works of art."

"With Willow as the artist I wouldn't be surprised," said Donnie.

"Alright I'll go first. Come on sis get up," Dante said before standing up and taking off his shirt. On his shoulder blades were Raven's wings with red highlights instead of blue. In between them was and intricately done red rose with a single drop of blood on the tip. He pulled down one side of his jeans to show an Ankh on his left hip and a pentagram on his right. "I've had these for a while. They were Ruby's first attempts at tattooing." When he finished he put his shirt back on not noticing the appreciative looks he got from Venus. Luckily no one else noticed either.

Demetra stood up and took off her jacket revealing a backless shirt. It tied at the top and the small of her back but covered her whole front. She had a Phoenix on her back. But this one was larger and a bit more detailed than Ruby's. "This is also one of Ruby's first. Me and Dante got to be her guinea pigs." She knelt down so Splinter could look closer.

"This must have taken much time to do."

"Yeah a week of layering the different colors and outlines," commented Ruby. "I had to do it in layer's because of the detail. About two hours per layer."

"Man that must have hurt," commented Mikey.

Demetra shrugged and put her jacket back on. "Not really. After a couple of minutes you kinda become numb. I was meditating the whole time too so I was kind a little detached. You should see Willow's hers took the longest out of all of ours. Come on show them."

Willow nodded and took off her jacket. She was wearing the same shirt as Demetra had and pants instead of her normal skirt. Spread across the whole of her back except for a tiny patch at the bottom was a picture of the world tree Yggdraisil. Demetra was right. This one was even more detailed. On each side of the tree were runes running up and down along the length of the trunk of the tree. "This is Yggdraisil the world tree. Its part of Norse myth." Just below the tree was a tiny fairy dragon done in purples and blue with little sparkles tattooed around it.

"That's amazing," said Donnie getting up to look at it a little closer. He knew the Norse Myths about the world tree. He sat back down after a brief glance. Maybe he could get her to let him study it a bit more later.

"Yes this is amazing artwork. I am impressed Ruby, Willow. You are both very talented," commented Splinter before she sat down. She didn't bother putting her jacket back on.

"Me next," said Lily as she bounced out of the orange banded turtles lap. Today she had worn a tube top and cargo pants. With a quick zip the leg of her pants came off so they could see her tiger. "This one was done in layers too. Ruby did the outline and then the white. The outline took, mmmm, about two hours and the white actually took four in the space of two day's. The red in the tongue and the blue eyes took about half an hour the next day. Not very long really." She put the leg of her pants back on then turned around. She had a blooming rose on her right shoulder blade. "If you look closer you can actually see dew drops on the petals. Cool huh."

"Very cool," said Mikey as she plopped herself back onto his lap. They continued to talk until Splinter left to go meditate and then sleep. Donnie and Willow got into a discussion about a certain computer program that Donnie had recently gotten. The two went back to his lab leaving the rest in the living room.

Raph snorted at the heated discussion as they left the room. "Nerds."

"Yeah birds of a feather," finished Ruby as glanced at him. With a wicked smile she swung her legs over and slid into his lap.

A/N: Yeah I know cliffie. Now I gotta figure out how to go from here. Hope you liked the story. R&R