Chapter Thirteen: Breakfast

Amity opened her eyes as she felt heat above her head, as if there was a window and the sun was shining light into her room. She found Eros leaning over her with a lamp shining in her face. Amity grumbled and put her head back into the pillow.

"What do you want?" Amity mumbled into the pillow.

"What do you say to waking up Callista, picking up Delaney and watching the boys practice this morning, huh?" Eros put the lamp back on the table and waited for Amity to give her an answer.

"You just want to distract Donatello," Amity turned her head back toward Eros still half asleep, "Leave the guy alone. I mean, you heard what happened to Michelangelo when Delaney spied on them and he saw her."

"Yeah, he hit the ground, so what? Donnie's more coordinated," she smiled with pride, "Come on… please?"

"How about this?" Amity sat up in bed and stretched, "You let me get changed and then we could fix breakfast for the guys when they get out of training? Sound good?"

"All right, I can live with that," she shrugged her shoulders and began to rummage through her clothes to find something to wear.

"Then you can flirt and mingle with your turtle all you want," Amity fluttered her eyes in an attempt to tease Eros and found a nice sundress to wear.

"Oh shut up," Eros stuck her tongue out at her and found a nice outfit to wear.

The girls changed quickly and went to the next door over to get Callista up and then head for the kitchen before the boys had time to get moving. They knocked on the door and heard a huge thud on the floor.

"Callista, are you okay?" Amity called from outside the door.

Eros put her ear to the door and heard some scrambling of feet and Callista's voice sounding a surprised, "Shit!" She kept her ear to the door trying to hear what was happening, but couldn't catch anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments Callista opened the door to see her friends smiling on the other side.

"You guys, it is about six in the morning, what you want?" she grumbled and leaned on the partially open door.

"We were wondering if you wanted to help make breakfast this morning," Amity offered as Eros looked over Callista's appearance.

She was wearing a different large nightshirt that was wrinkled beyond recognition and some long sweat pants that she wasn't even wearing the night before. Her hair was atrocious and she looked overall like she was put through the spin cycle dry for a few times over. She brushed some of her hair back with her hand and looked at her two friends.

"You two know perfectly well, that neither Delaney nor I can cook worth anything. And you should know that I never get up early unless I totally have to!" she shut the door in their faces and made her friends jump.

"Well, someone's cranky," Amity rolled her eyes as they began to make their way to the kitchen. At the stove they found Delaney stirring something, and the sink was filled with a few of her failed attempts.

"Delaney?" Eros asked.

"Oh, hey guys," she turned off the stove and pushed what looked like clumps macaroni and cheese into a bowl to her right, "I can't talk now. Mikey asked if I could get him something to eat, and you know this is the best I could do, and I need to hurry if I do actually want to make it to the dojo today."

"All right, but whose going to clean this up?"

"I will as soon as training's over," she picked up the bowl of macaroni and cheese and grabbed a spoon, "See you guys later."

They watched her head toward Mikey's recuperating room and then looked back at the mess, "Callista was right. She can't cook worth crap."

"Eros," Amity gave her a harsh and disapproving look then looked at the mess, "Okay, well…. I'll have to give you some leeway on that comment."

They took a deep breath and then began to clean up the mess before them. If they were going to keep to their word and make breakfast for the guys then they would have to get going.

After Callista shut the door she placed her forehead against it and waited until she heard her friend's voices fade a little. She let out a breath of air and turned to her side where Raphael was hiding behind the door.

"So they gone?"

"You owe me big," she said, leaned her back against the door and slid to the floor.

"I'm also going to be late to training if I don't get out of here soon," he said and kissed her softly, pulling her from the door.

"It was your choice to follow me to my room last night," she reminded him, "And I don't want to give my friend's the wrong impression of why."

"What wrong impression?" he smiled.

"We didn't do anything except sleep and fixing your bandage because your were complaining about it," she received a glare from him because of the comment, but continued, "They're going to think other wise with their imaginative minds, so be careful getting out of here, huh?"

"You forget," he put up a hand, "My brothers will never let me live it down either. Besides, I'm a ninja. I practice the art of invisibility."

"Right," she gave him another kiss and watched him walk out of the room, careful not to be seen. Callista shook her head and climbed back into bed with a yawn.

"What the hell did I get myself into with him?" she asked herself.

"Probably more than you asked for," she heard him whisper to her. She opened an eye and saw him by the door.

"I thought you went to go train."

"I forgot my sais. Sue me," he held them up and then left the room. She rolled her eyes and tried desperately to get back to sleep.

Delaney shut the door to Michelangelo's room, careful not to disturb him. He fell back to sleep probably waiting for her to come back with something to eat. He needed his sleep and she didn't want to wake him up just because she finally succeeded in making macaroni and cheese. She set the bowl on the side table and left the room to go to training. She turned around to see Raphael starting to jog toward the dojo. It looked like he was running late as well. Delaney picked up the pace and ran after him.

"Morning Raph," she greeted and stepped in time with him, "Sleep in?"

"You could say that," he smiled at the secret he was hiding and looked at the new bandage that Callista put on his arm after he got to her room last night, "What's your excuse?"

"Had to make macaroni and cheese for Mikey. He fell back to sleep before I got back."

"His favorite dish besides pizza. How'd you guess?"

"I'm not his best friend for nothing, Raph," she looked at him, "Besides, it's the only thing that I actually can cook."

He chuckled and smiled, "How's he doing?"

"Just fine from what I can see. His same charming self," she smiled to herself.

"I… kinda want to say I'm sorry about gettin' on your case last night."

Delaney looked up at him surprised, "Well… thank you."

"Callista and I had… a talk, of sorts last night," he chuckled a bit and then looked down at Delaney. She raised an eyebrow and decided to talk to Callista later about the talk.

"Well, minus what happen to Mikey, how did the mission go last night?" she looked toward the dojo and saw that they weren't that far away from Donatello and Leonardo.

"Let's just say that the dragons ain't goin' to make weapons for quite a while with the job that Casey did on the equipment."

"Good, it gives us some time."

"Us?" he looked down at her, "What do you mean us?"

"I don't want to sit back on the side lines. I want to be with you guys when you go after Yukio and his clan."

"No way, this is-"

"My fight as well as yours," she said as they neared the dojo, "I'm not going to let any of you get hurt again. Not because of me."

He took a breath. Callista was right. She was blaming herself for too much, "It isn't your fault."

"I wish I could believe that," she lowered her head and went into the dojo and headed toward meditation. She could escape reality for a few minutes before she started to practice basics. Raphael soon shook his head and followed her in.

After a few hours of practice the boys and Delaney filed out of the dojo covered in sweat and tired out of their minds. Delaney swiped her forehead with her towel and smiled. She got a lot of her built up emotions out in that work out. She doubted that the punching bag that Raphael had set in there had a beating like that in quite a while. Splinter had her work on her kicks and hits that Michelangelo taught her the day before instead of sparring with the others. She didn't have the detailed training. She wasn't ready to learn, she wasn't allowing herself to.

"That bag got some good hits, Delaney," Leonardo complemented her as they walked toward the kitchen, "You're catching on pretty fast for a beginner."

"Well, Mikey is a pretty good tutor, surprising as that sounds," she turned to the kitchen to see all three of her friends dishing out breakfast.

"Hey guys, grab a seat," Eros waved at them as they came from the tunnel.

Delaney looked at the seating arrangements in the den and saw Michelangelo sitting on the couch. He still had the bandage around his head and his leg, but his small cuts and bruises looked much better. He held the same goofy smile as always as he greeted his brothers, Splinter and Delaney to the den. She threw her towel to the side and ran toward him.

"Mikey!" she hugged him around the neck and laughed, "It's good to see you out of bed."

"Yeah, but be careful. My head's still in bad shape," he smiled and lightly hugged her back.

"Really? And here I thought you were born that way," Raphael sat in one of the beach chairs.

"Raph, cut him some slack, will ya?" Leo sat in the other beach chair sitting next to Splinter's large pillow.

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his hand and leaned back in his chair.

Donatello took the beanbag next to Michelangelo's side of the couch. Splinter took his normal place on the large pillow on the floor as Callista came out from the kitchen and sat next to Delaney, taking the last seat on the couch.

"I'm surprised to see you up this early," Delaney commented.

"After the two 'cooks' woke me up, I couldn't get back to sleep," she grumbled and folded her arms, "I guess there were too many things on my mind, too."

"Like what?" Delaney grinned and poked her friend in the side.

"Like… stuff," she shrugged her shoulders and took a chance and glanced over at Raphael who had one of his sais at the side of his mouth looking back at her. He grinned and she quickly turned away, diverting her attention to her two friend's coming toward them with some plates.

Eros had about a year of experience as a waitress and dared to carry four plates at once. She started with Splinter and moved around to the couch, giving each person on the couch a plate and then going back for hers and Donatello's. Amity gave Leonardo and Raphael their plates and then went back for her own as well. As soon as they were settled, and everyone was served, Eros settled on the floor leaning back on Donatello in the beanbag and Amity found the lazy boy recliner that they dragged back to the den.

Everyone stared at the plates and found scrambled eggs, bacon and two pancakes on each of their plates. Delaney looked at the food and then at her two friends.

"How did you guys get all this food?"

"We asked April a couple of days ago if she could spare some pancake mix and bacon," Eros popped up and pushed a piece of bacon in her mouth and swallowed after chewing, "She complied as long as it kept the guys out of her refrigerator for the day."

"Well, might as well keep the promise, huh?" Donatello said and began to slice into the pancakes on his plate.

Michelangelo dug into his breakfast, shoveling the food into his mouth. Delaney watched him with a questioning look on her face. He looked over at her and started to slow down in his eating.

"I wouldn't think you would be starving with the bowl of macaroni and cheese I made you."

"Oh yeah," Michelangelo looked toward his room where he hid the clumpy food, "And it was good, but you know my appetite."

"Michelangelo…" Delaney said in a warning tone.

"Okay, okay… it's still in the room."

"Delaney, give the guy a break. I mean, you aren't the best cook," Callista patted her best friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, but I prided myself on being able to at least make macaroni and cheese."

"I didn't eat it because it looked questionable, babe," Michelangelo said with a mouth half full of bacon and then swallowed, "I didn't eat it because it was cold."

"Good cover, Mikey," Donatello whispered up to his brother.

"It wasn't a cover, I'm picky when it comes to Mac and cheese," he sneered at his brother and shoveled some more pancakes into his mouth, "I bet Delaney made great macaroni and cheese, but I woke up too late to enjoy them warm."

"I'll forgive you this time, Mikey. Don't worry about it," Delaney picked up her fork with a huge piece of pancake and put it in her mouth.

The others began to start eating again once the excitement wore down. Some of them began to shout out their thanks for the meal and surprisingly enough when people started to finish both Callista and Raphael offered to do the dishes. Everyone began to go along their routines. Leonardo walked back toward the dojo to work on his concentration, something he has been lacking in for the past few days now. No one understood why, but he would usually brush their comments off and go back to work. Donatello, Eros and Amity went toward his lab to work on a problem he found in one of the turtle goggles and he needed some more insight from Amity. Eros just went along, because it was her favorite place to hang out and she wanted to work on her invention as well. Michelangelo and Delaney stayed on the couch for a little longer with their plates on their laps.

"You know, I really appreciated it, right?" Michelangelo forked around some of the syrup still on his plate.

"I said don't worry about it," Delaney gave him a small smile and turned to him, "And yes, I know you do."

"Good," he nodded and they both got off the couch to take their plates to the kitchen.

Delaney watched Michelangelo limp slightly on his injured leg. She noticed it wasn't as bad as what they originally thought, and he might be able to rejoin his brothers in the dojo in the matter of a few days if he lets it heal properly. It could have been much worse. He'll be on his feet in the matter of days instead of the matter weeks as Donatello had thought. He was lucky. Especially if Yukio did have the abilities that Raphael and the others say he has.

"How is your head and leg feeling?" Delaney asked as they walked the short distance slowly.

"Really good actually," he smiled, "I told you, you were a miracle worker."

She smiled and nudged him gently in the side. They both turned the corner into the kitchen and found Raphael behind Callista who was washing up some of the dishes in the sink. He had his arms wrapped around her midsection and his chin on her shoulder. It looked like he was whispering things in her ear and kissing her neck lightly every few seconds and distracting her from her job with the dishes. Delaney and Michelangelo walked backward out of the kitchen slowly and then took a deep breath.

"I'm never going to be able to get that picture out of my mind," Delaney said still zoned out.

"How do you think I feel?" he asked.

"I know there will be a time that I will look back at this moment and laugh, but now… I don't know what to think."

"These dishes do need cleaning," Michelangelo looked at his plate and then turned to Delaney, "Should we give them some warning?"

"I think we should," she nodded.

"Yeah, my leg is doing great," Michelangelo said a little louder than usual and they both proceeded into the kitchen once they heard some shifting of some feet and some hushed voices.

"Hey, how are the … dishes coming you guys?" Delaney asked throwing her and Michelangelo's plates into the soapy sink.

"Just great," Callista said pushing another plate toward Raphael for him to dry.

"Yeah… stimulating…" Raphael grumbled, obviously disgruntled that they broke the mood.

"Well, we'll be going now," Michelangelo started to push Delaney out the door. As they left Callista looked at Delaney who had an 'I-know-something' look on her face. She took a huge sigh and nodded in her direction telling her there would be a huge talk later.

"So, you think they know?" Raphael asked from the drying.

"Maybe," Callista grabbed another dish and started to scrub, "Maybe not, but Delaney has suspicions."

"Oh great, all we need," he rolled his eyes.

"Why are we keeping this under wraps anyway?" Callista asked handing him one of the last dishes.

"You know how much ridicule I'll get as the first turtle in the four to fall for some one? I'll be the laughing stock."

"You're not the first. Donatello and Michelangelo are coming along nicely."

"Yeah, but they didn't fall for the girl that they constantly argue with day in and day out."

"We don't argue that much, retard," she said sarcastically.

"You want to bet, snail snot?" he shot back.

"Can we just get this job done?" she scrubbed at the last plate with stuck on syrup.

"Ha! I take that as a win for me," Raphael smiled and got back to his drying duty with a smug look on his face.

"You are so immature."