A/N: This will be a longer chapter because of some descriptions, so just bear with me. I hope it will help the whole process of reading... thank you for understanding. And more than likely I will be updating another chapter along with this one. Hold on to your hats people, I am almost done.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Blessings

Delaney hesitantly knocked on Splinter's door, making sure to knock on the wooden portion and not on the fragile paper. She took a step back and waited for a few moments. Slowly, the shuffling of feet could be heard and the door slid open. Splinter stood on the other side and smiled once he saw the girls.

'Well, at least he is still smiling at us,' Delaney thought and gave him a smile back.

"Hello Delaney, girls," he bowed to them as a group and motioned for them to come inside. Near Splinter's own pillow were four others reserved for Delaney and her friends. They each took a seat and heard Splinter close the door to the room. He walked over to his pillow and settled in, lighting a few incense and candles around the group. He turned to the girls and took a deep breath. Whatever he had to tell them may not be very bad news, but it was difficult for him to talk about.

"Master Splinter?" Delaney asked and looked into his eyes, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just feel as if what I need to say is important," he took another deep breath, "I will not be here for very much longer. The sunset is coming to my lifetime, as you all know. For the past few years I have worried about my sons because of this fact."

"They care for you a lot," Eros nodded and lowered her head.

"We all do," Delaney gave a faint smile to him and then bit the side of her lip.

He gave his own smile to the group, "I am glad to know that I am so well loved by many," he paused, "Now getting back to my concern... I have always wondered how my sons would react to my death. For the exception of Miss O'Neal and Casey Jones they have no one but one another. They have only been alone a few times in life. I was afraid that they would separate. Go separate ways. Then one day... all of you girls came into our lives quite abruptly. And you have indeed made it much better for all of us down here."

"Not to mention a bit more exciting and complicated," Callista added.

"And for the first time in their lives I believe that they completely understand the term of love and the difference between the love of a family and the love that can be forever lasting. All of you have shown them this. I am grateful for it. And... I bless you and my sons on the journey through life."

Delaney began to smile wider and broke from her discipline, launching herself toward Splinter. She hugged her new mentor around his neck and tried not to knock the poor guy over. He was a bit surprised, but welcomed the sign of affection all the same from the young woman. After a few seconds she leaned back and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. She grinned again, trying to compose herself and get over her sudden out burst.

"Thank you, Splinter," she bowed her head and looked back up at him with a sorry kind of face, "Sorry about the outburst, it's just that-"

"You have feelings for Michelangelo. It is understandable."

"So, this means that you are okay with us having relationships with your sons?" Eros asked trying to clear up the situation.

"Exactly Eros," Delaney nodded, "But not only that he has given us his blessing and good luck. He has given us everything he could. No one could ask for more."

"Wow," Callista said and looked down at her hands, "Delaney was right to be over joyed."

"What, like you?" Eros looked at her in her calm demeanor.

"I like to show it differently."

"Do the guys know?" Amity asked with a slight blush.

"I have had a talk with them, yes," Splinter bowed his head, "I think they each will have a talk with each of you in time."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to us about?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, it just seemed that it was very difficult for you to start the conversation is all," Callista said from the far side.

"It is always hard for a parent to let go of their children and take the news that they are grown and can make their own decisions. Although, they always know that the day will come," he smiled and looked into one of his candles.

Delaney took a deep breath and again leaned toward Splinter to give him another hug. She gently squeezed the older being and closed her eyes, "You will never have to let go. They never will. I never will."

As she leaned back she saw a small tear forming in his eye until he wiped it away. She grinned and leaned back into her pillow.

"Now," Splinter started again, "If you girls want to leave, you can. I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of all of you."

Callista and Eros got up and left a little quickly toward their rooms, probably to look for something. Or to look for their guys so that they can see how long the guys wait to tell them. Delaney began to get up after placing a light touch on Splinter's hand, but noticed that Amity was lingering behind. She slowly made her way to the door and closed it behind her. It seemed as if Amity as in need of some advice and she knew better then anyone that Splinter was one of the only people to go to for it. After she closed the door she heard Splinter's reassuring voice ask Amity way she lingered, but that was all she heard. She stepped away from the door and made her way to her room to she what Callista was up to. Amity needed her time and her space. Whatever she wished to share with Splinter were between them. And them only.

As she passed the halls walking toward the room she shared with Callista she found that there were some lights and shadows coming from the dojo. She knew that Leonardo had a habit of practicing for hours straight, but he already had a one to one practice with Splinter, and she knew for experience that one of those could wear anybody out, even Leonardo. She slowly approached the dojo hoping that it was the boys doing something or discussing what ever Leonardo learned from Splinter that day. As she slowly neared the doorway she accidentally tipped over Donatello's bo staff that was leaning on the wall next tot he dojo. She heard some feet shift and after a few moments Michelangelo's head popped out from the dojo's door way.

"Hey babe," he smiled and stepped away from the entrance, "What's the haps?" "Nothing, I heard something. Are you guys having a group practice or something in there?" she tried to peek around his shoulder, but he held her back from looking into the room.

"Now would we have a group practice without you?"

"Maybe," she teased, "Come on, Mikey. I can keep a secret. What are you guys doing in there?"

"Nothing," he leaned on the wall and put on a nervous smile.

"You know, you are a horrible liar. Especially when you lie to me," she smirked, "All right, I'll leave it alone. But I'll figure it out."

"You won't have to figure it out, we'll show you girls tonight," she kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear, "I would ask the girls to put on something nice tonight."

"Like what?"

"Like what you were wearing earlier. I just hope all of you girls have nice dresses like that."

"Why?"

"I might be giving the secret away, but you guys will need them for tonight."

"At least you give us some forewarning," she smiled and turned to walk away, but then quickly turned around and gave Michelangelo a kiss on his cheek, "Almost forgot."

"Glad you didn't," he said and she turned to walk toward her room to tell the others that they had to get their dresses back on and quick, "We'll come to get you in about three hours or so."

Delaney waved back to him to tell him that she heard.

"Do you know that you two are quite sickening when you flirt with one another?" Raphael asked his brother while leaning on the doorframe of the dojo.

"If you think that we're sickening, I can only wonder what you think of you and Callista," he grinned and ran back into the dojo before his brother could pound him to the ground.

"Okay, so what exactly did he say?" Eros asked as she slid the dress over her head and began to reorganize the pearl straps on the side of her shoulder.

"He said that it was a surprise and that we should all be wearing formal wear. They would show us something really big tonight in the dojo. It almost sounded like they were trying to build something," Delaney said as she tied part of her dress closed.

"Whatever it is, I'm glad that it gives us a reason to actually use these dresses," Callista smiled and smoothed out the fabric on her dress.

Delaney opened the door and peered out to see Amity finally coming out of Splinter's room. She walked toward her room, almost completely passing Delaney in the process until Delaney dragged her into the room, "Time to get dressed."

"What?" Amity was so confused as her dress was shoved toward her, "I thought we were going to postpone the fashion shoot."

"It's not a shoot anymore, the guys have something planned for us and Delaney said that they would like us to be in formal wear," Eros explained as she walked over to Callista to help her with one of the back straps.

"Actually it was Mikey who asked if we could all be in formal wear, but none the less, you got to get ready," Delaney helped her change fast and get her dress together.

"Okay, well the dresses are good, but we really could use some major hair products," Callista looked each of them over, "I mean all we use anymore is shampoo."

"Not all of us," Eros held her hand up and walked toward the doorway, "Follow me."

The others followed her to her room to find a few bottles of moose and hair spray covering a desk and a little bit of hair ties and other hair styling supplies.

"Where did you get this?" Delaney asked as Callista picked up a bottle of moose, opened it up and smelled it.

"Well, April did let me borrow some hair spray, but when Callista told me to pack the essentials I had to bring some hair accessories, which I was grateful were all ready in my bag," Eros smiled and looked at each one of them, "I even have a curling iron, if you guys need it."

"My God," Callista shook her head amused, "If we aren't prepared for anything and everything I don't know who is."

"So who's ready for a hair do?" Eros held the curling iron in her hand and plugged it in.

"What about makeup?" Delaney asked looking around the table.

"All I have is lipstick," she shrugged, "I couldn't plan that far. Sorry."

"No problem," she smiled, "I always like going natural."

"Do you think that three hours were long enough for them to get ready?" Michelangelo asked Raphael as they made their way to Delaney and Callista's room.

"How the Hell should I know?" he tugged at the tie around his neck, "I hate this stupid thing. Do we really have to wear these things, Leo?"

Leonardo walked next to Donatello behind Raphael and Michelangelo, "It would be nice, I just wish that you didn't have to wear your leather jacket. Do you have any idea how beat up that thing is?"

"It works on so many levels," Raphael smiled and tugged on his jacket to flatten it against his shell, "And besides, I wasn't going to wear 'formal' jackets. Where did you guys find those?"

"One short notice, you find anything at the good will," Donatello said.

"No wonder," Michelangelo looked disappointed at his orange tinted jacket. He and Raphael knocked on the door to the girl's room and got no answer after a few minutes.

"You did tell them three hours, right?" Raphael looked at Michelangelo.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did," he scratched his head and looked over at the other door to find Delaney poking her head out to find out where all the racket was coming from.

"Oh, hey guys," she smiled, "Just a second. We're almost ready, we just got to finish Amity's hair. Might as well go back to the dojo. We'll be there as soon as possible."

She closed the door and let the guys stand dumbfounded. They all looked at one another and Raphael shrugged. He turned from the doors and began to walk back toward the dojo.

"Hey, where are you going?" Michelangelo asked his brother.

"Back to the dojo," he said and let the others follow him. They made it back to the dojo and began to get some of the music started. Raphael was over by the table that they set up to hold some drinks and cookies that Michelangelo miraculously made without incident. He took a deep breath and took another sip of his drink, "Just like girls to be late."

"Personally, I think it is worth it," Michelangelo looked at the doorway to find all four of the girls in the doorway with their own original dress and color on.

Eros stood on the far left with a light violet dress that reached mid-shin. It would have been described as strapless if it weren't for the strings of pearls that started from one point from one of her shoulders and crisscrossed down the back of her dress. There was another string of pearls around her waist with a small amethyst in the middle of the string. She was wearing purple high-heeled sandals that had two strings of pearls around her ankles to act as straps for the shoes. Her choker was the same violet as her dress with an amethyst in the middle. Her hair was tied up in a large violet clip that let any loose hair flow over the top.

Delaney was standing next to her in a long orange dress that flowed down to her ankles. The top was a halter style and had an open back down to the small of her back. She had gloves that tapered to her fingers and were the same color as the dress. The front of the dress had a golden corset design with an orange tie to close the front of the corset. She had a long necklace with a small orange gem in the middle. She had modest mid heeled sandals. Her hair was up as well, but it was like she put it in a bun and let some stray pieces fly from the bun itself. Her long bangs framed her face perfectly and the whole affect made it work, even if some people would consider it messy.

Callista had her hair slicked back with what looked like moose and let the rest of her hair fall down her back. Her neckline seemed to be in three different layers. She had a short necklace around the base of her neck just above her clavicle bone made of ruby like gems and dark beads. Connected to the necklace was a u shaped neckline and a low v- neck design that fell all the way down to her navel. The area in between the low v-neck and the u shaped neckline was covered by a sheer black material that covered anything that may be deemed inappropriate. Around her waist was a string of the same rubies and dark beads that were on her necklace. Her skirt reached below her knees in a slimming, but not tight fit. She wore red low heels with no specific design.

And on the far right Amity stood a little behind the group. Her brown hair was loose, but curled in various ways to give it some volume and to frame her face. She had a black bracelet around her left wrist and a ring on her right hand. Her dress had spaghetti straps that continued to crisscross in the back. Her dress had a layering affect on her bust and skirt. The dress only reached to her knees since she was tall enough. Her waist area was smoothed out to show the difference in layer in the bust and skirt areas. Around her waist was another chain of long black beads, pearls and blue sapphires. She had low-heeled shoes with a few dozen strands of blue material that wrapped around her ankles.

The boys stood there for a moment until they could shake themselves out from their gaze. Michelangelo was the first one to approach the girls and bowed slightly before taking Delaney's hand and leading her to the 'floor'. The dojo was decorated from top to bottom with some colorful streamers that April had left over from a party she threw a few weeks ago. They had some lights covered with some light paper to give the room a colorful affect. At the front of the room Michelangelo had his boom box sitting on the steps playing some music from a radio station.

Delaney smiled and rested her arms on his shoulders and around his neck. He put his arms around her waist and rested them on her hips, "Doesn't that corset hurt your wound."

"Nope. It's almost healed and besides, the corset is only a decoration in the front," she turned around and back to him to show off her whole dress, "What do you think?"

"I think that it's perfect."

"Good, because I wasn't going to go back and change," she looked over at the others and noticed that the other guys haven't moved since they came in, "Aren't they going to invite my friends to dance?"

Michelangelo rolled his eyes and yelled at his brothers, "Yo! Dudes! This is the part where you ask the girl to dance."

Donatello finally snapped out of it after that and walked up to Eros held out his arm. She took it with a smile and joined Delaney and Michelangelo out on the floor. Raphael fixed his jacket and walked up to Callista.

"So, we going to dance or what?" he asked her.

"What a gentleman," she shook her head amusingly, "I didn't think that you would like this kind of a thing."

"You have no idea how much I want to tear this tie off."

"Do it, you look better without one," she smiled and started to untie it for him, "But keep the jacket. It looks great."

He smiled and walked with her out to the floor tossing the red tie to the side of the room, "And when I doubt, you remind me why I like you so much."

"Just like?" she smirked up at him and they both leaned in toward each other and kissed in front of everybody else.

Amity was the last one in the doorway and slowly made her way down the three steps to where Leonardo was waiting for her. When she reached him she saw him shake his head to clear his mind and then took her hand in his and kissed the top of it.

"You look beautiful tonight," he said softly.

She began to blush and lowered her head, "Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself."

He smiled and led her out to the floor. Michelangelo picked up the microphone that he had connected to the boom box and began to narrate the dance.

"All right ladies and turtles, get together with your partner and get ready for some fun dancing!" he looked at the boom box and turned up the music.

"Get off the stage!" Raphael yelled from the side of the room with an arm around Callista's waist.

"You want to get kicked out?" Michelangelo asked over the microphone.

"You want to get knocked out?" Raphael asked back.

Michelangelo put his hands up in defeat and jumped off the platform back toward Delaney and began to dance as well as he could, which Delaney didn't care how well or how bad. She never was good at dancing a fast song anyway. At one point the song 'Tequila' started to play and Michelangelo and Donatello caught each other's glances and walked next to each other and began to dance with one another like they used to do when they were suppose to be meditating. Delaney and Eros laughed as their boyfriends made fools of themselves all for the heck of it.

All at once a slow song began to come on over the radio and Michelangelo and Donatello, now nicknamed the 'dancing fiends', went back to their girlfriends and started to slow dance. Delaney put her arms around his neck as he put his hand on her hips and began to sway to the music. Soon enough their foreheads were touching and they were talking quietly to one another and kissing lightly every once in a while during their dance. Donatello and Eros held each other in a similar fashion except that Eros rested her head on his shoulder and stayed close to him as much as possible. Raphael and Callista actually got out on the dance floor and began to slow dance which surprised everybody since neither Raphael or Callista were really much dancers as far as anyone knew.

Amity and Leonardo looked at each other and tried to find a way to escape the anxious feeling in their stomachs. Amity finally put her arms lightly around his neck and stood closer to him. He seemed to tense up a little and she had to take hold of his arms and wrap them around her waist. She put her arms back around his neck and gave him a reassuring smile. She was probably as nervous as he was, but she wasn't going to let it ruin the moment. Sure, there were over a hundred things bouncing around in her stomach, but she stood strong and began to sway with the music. After a few minutes she felt Leonardo relax under her arms and she looked him in the eyes and gave a friendly smile. He returned it and they both began to dance a little better.

"So who set this all up?" Amity tried to get some conversation going between them.

"Donatello saw one of these dresses and got the idea to give you girls a surprise. I doubt that you guys get to do this very often anyways."

"Not recently," she smiled and laughed a little, "My school is starting next week. I was hoping to go to one of the dances, but since you guys did this it is so much better."

"I doubt that."

"Why?"

"Your school would have better decorations and lights. They would have a DJ instead of Mikey's boom box and you would have all of your friends around you."

Amity looked around the dojo quickly, "You know, I like these lights. They aren't as bright and it sets a better mood in the room. The DJs that our school hires are very full of themselves from what I hear from Delaney. I have my friends around me, maybe not all of them, but I have the ones I'm closest to and well..." she looked back at him in the eyes, "I much rather like your company instead of one of the guys from my school."

Leonardo smiled, but couldn't hide the blush forming on his face, "Thank you."

"Your welcome," she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then leaned her head on his shoulder during the slow song.

Michelangelo and Delaney gave Leonardo a cheesy smile that seemed to say 'I told you so' as the danced their way past him. As the music began to get faster Michelangelo spun Delaney around and dipped her with one arm. She began laughing and smiled bigger. The girls started to gather together and dance with one another, except that they noticed that Amity had not joined their circle yet. Delaney looked over in the corner to see Amity kissing Leonardo. Eros stood next to her and saw the same thing.

"Man, she works fast, doesn't she?" Eros asked looking at the two in the corner.

"I guess so."

"Come on, let's get her," Eros and Delaney walked over to her and Leonardo after they separated, "Come on lover girl. Time for the girl's dance together."

"Wha-" Amity was jerked away and was being dragged by Eros.

Delaney turned to Leonardo, "We're just going to borrow her for a few minutes."

He smirked at her and nodded his head. They girls got together in a tight circle as they listened to the music and began to formulate something to do.

"Hey, Brandeen," Delaney looked over at Callista, "Should we do the dance?"

"Definitely."

After a couple of hours of dancing and laughing Splinter walked into the room surprised on how relatively clean it stayed and went over to Leonardo and Amity. Delaney tapped Michelangelo on the shoulder as she noticed their mentor crossing the room and they both turned to watch the others. He reached the youngest girl and whispered something in her ear. Delaney watched as Amity's eyes widened and she let go of Leonardo's grasp. He looked confused at her. She started to shake her head and made a quick exit out the doorway. Leonardo began to walk after her until Splinter stopped him and explained it to him. He nodded his head and leaned against the wall.

"What do you think is happening?" Michelangelo asked quietly.

"There is only one thing in the world that would cause someone to look like that," Delaney said sadly and turned to him, "Do you mind if I went to go talk to her?"

"No problemo. I need to rest my feet anyway," he gave her a small smile, "I'll be by the beverages if you come back before this thing is over."

"I doubt I will, but come by my room later, okay? I have a feeling that everyone will need some comfort," she gave him a kiss on the cheek and began to walk out of the room, "Thanks again for all this. It was sweet."

"Love you," he called after her.

She smiled and walked toward the rooms where Amity more than likely went. As she approached the rooms she heard the music cut off and Splinter's voice replacing the notes. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but if it was what she thought it was, she didn't want to hear it. She made it to Amity's room and knocked on the door. After a few knocks it opened and Amity stood with her shoulders slumped over and her hair a mess.

"Amity…" Delaney started, but ironically didn't know what to say. She had been through the same situation, the same pain, and the same growing void, "Did you want some comfort? Or to be left alone? I can let Eros sleep in my room if you want tonight."

"I… I… want them back…" Amity shook her head and sniffed. She slowly lifted her head and looked Delaney in the eyes, "Oh Delaney!"

She suddenly launched herself toward Delaney and suffocated her in a deadly squeeze. Delaney put her head on top of her friend's, even though Amity was taller than her. She slowly guided her friend back into the room and sat her down on what she thought was her bed.

"Shh…" she cooed. She couldn't say that it was going to be okay, because she knew it wasn't going to be. It was going to hurt for a while. She still hurt from her experience. Nothing was going to be the same, but… "I'm still here. I'm going to stay here. I'm not leaving until you tell me to. If everything seems to be changing around you, everything seems to be passing by so fast and you can't find anything to latch on to, just know that I will always be stable. We all will. We're still family. And you know what… I think Leonardo will also be a solid base too. We're all here for you. And we're not changing."

"Delaney…" she whispered through her sobs, "I… I know that."

Delaney smiled and petted her head like a mother with a child, "That's good."

"But… I want him dead."

Delaney took a deep breath, "You're going to feel that for a while yet. Then it will pass and you'll learn to forgive a part of it. Then you will know they deserve to rot behind bars knowing that is where they are going to die. He will get his. I am so sorry, Amity. I am so sorry this had to get to you."

"It's not your fault. It's his… all of it…" she buried her head into Delaney's dress again as she began to sob again. Delaney took a deep breath and gave her a reassuring hug.

"Yeah…" she looked at her friend and then at the far wall, "It's his…"