Title: Rest in Peace (Book 4 from 'Cat and Mouse')
Author: Jayde
Rating: PG-13 for stuff
Summary: The final book in this series.
Disclaimer: I do not own the turtles, Casey, April, or Splinter. I do own several pairs of knitting needles.
Pacphys: You don't like the title of this book? You think it might be foreshadowing something? Leo and Raph and sweet … But yeah, I wanted to give Raph a nice scene or two in this book.
Rizzle: I'm hurrying! I'm glad you liked the series, but it has to end eventually. As for a sequel … I'll talk about that in the final chapter.
Reinbeauchaser: When I get chapter 4 up, I'm going to add a little something at the end about how this story changed from the original outline. I thought you all might be amused at what the original was going to be like. But as for the speed of updates – it's faster when everything is laid out, and then I'm just filling in the blank spots.
Fallen Hikari: Well, I guess the end of this chapter is a minor cliffie. So, maybe an evil snicker.
Chapter 3:
One week later …
Free at last. Sam glanced down ruefully at her oversized NYPD sweatshirt – brought by Dan the day before so she would have something to wear that wasn't bloodstained. He had also brought a pair of his wife's jeans – again a little too big and too long, but Sam wasn't about to complain.
Dan had offered to go to the lair and pick up her clothes, but Sam could only imagine Raphael's response to that. She would be there soon enough, and then she could get her own clothes. That is, if she was still welcome. If only she had her phone … But the things she needed to say to Don couldn't be said over a phone. It would have to wait until she could see him in person.
A nurse finally showed up at the desk with Sam's personal effects. There, inside the bag, was her missing phone. She cradled it in her palm, and noted that there was voice mail. It rang, suddenly; startling her so much she almost dropped it.
"Hi," she answered it a little shakily.
"Sam!" Juliet said loudly and cheerfully in her ear. Sam grimaced, but she was also smiling. "Where are you?"
"I'm just leaving the hospital," Sam replied. In the sleepless nights in her hospital bed she had wondered if she had done the right thing in shooting Sanders. But here was the proof that maybe it was karmic justice after all.
"I wanted to invite you … Noelle, stop teasing your sister! I wanted to invite you to my wedding," Juliet said. Sam rested against the admitting desk, feeling suddenly a little dizzy.
"Wedding?" she parroted blankly.
"Yeah!" Juliet enthused. "Well, not a 'wedding' wedding, but I want you to come. It's tonight. Will you be able to make it?"
"Yes," Sam responded, starting to recover from her shock. "Of course. I'll be there." She paused, feeling a little unreal. "Should I bring anything?"
"Just yourself, and dress up," Juliet instructed. Sam glanced down at her clothes again, and then at the clock behind the desk. It was just barely 4 p.m. She could maybe get Dan to stop at a store or something.
"How dressed up?" Sam questioned. Juliet's bright laughter in her ear brought Sam all the way over. She was back in the land of the living again. She hung up a moment later as her discharge papers arrived. Sam signed on each line that she would not sue the doctor or the hospital, and that she could in fact look after herself and take her medication. That business complete, Sam moved over to the waiting area. Dan was picking her up in a few minutes, and the voice mail on her phone beckoned.
She listened to the first message, and each of the following nine messages, and her brief moment of happiness melted away. A pain welled up inside her that was far worse than that of her gunshot wound. And no surgery could cut this out of her.
"You look like a moron in that tie," Raphael noted from his spot on Mike's bed. He was lounging, and poking fun at the groom. As was his right as 'best turtle'.
"No he doesn't," Rachel shot back defensively. "Now stay still," she said, directing this instruction to Mike, who was trying to look down at the tie she was attempting to affix around his neck. "You have to wear a tie." Mike attempted to remain unmoving, sitting on the floor of his room. Soon, this would be 'their' room. That decision had been made after Rachel expressed an interest in having her own space away from her little sister.
"Make it tighter," Raph suggested, but he couldn't keep a straight face.
"Uncle Raph, would you be quiet?" Rachel asked snottily. Raph chuckled, and hauled himself up off the bed.
"You want a drink, bro?" he asked Mike. The groom shook his head a little bit, earning a glare from Rachel as he knocked her knot askew. Raph left the room, and shut the door behind him.
"Rach, you sure this is okay with you?" Mike questioned. Everything was happening very quickly, and Rachel had been uncharacteristically quiet on the subject of this ceremony.
The girl shrugged, and let go of the stubborn garment. "It's still weird, you know?" Mike nodded, and started tying the tie himself. "But I think you're okay." Mike kept his head down, and smiled a little at that. It was quite a compliment, coming from Rachel. He started straightening the ends of the tie. "I'm not going to call you Dad," she said, and he looked up to meet her eyes. "I'm just not going to, but Noelle will." Rachel shrugged a little self-consciously. "She needs a Dad."
"You can just call me 'Mike'," he said, finished with his tie. Rachel touched it briefly, and gave him a real smile of welcome.
"Did you write your vows and stuff?" Rachel queried, abruptly ending the moment.
"Damn!" Mike exclaimed, jumping to his feet.
"You didn't! But it's almost time!" Rachel scolded, running over to the desk for a piece of paper. Mike dug up a pencil, and they sat on the bed to start writing. "You have to say something about loyalty and love and being sick and stuff," Rachel said.
"Yeah?" Mike replied, starting to make notes.
Huddled on the rooftop of the warehouse, Casey and April shared an umbrella. Master Splinter and Mike also stood under an umbrella only a couple of feet away.
"Doesn't rain mean something on your wedding day?" Casey asked. Mike peeked up at the sky, and shook his head. At least it wasn't cold, but maybe they should have done this in the lair.
"Yeah, bad luck," Raph quipped. He grunted when his master's walking stick struck the middle of his plastron.
"It means fertility," Don noted from near the ledge. He stood without an umbrella, and he was watching the street. Casey's face flushed, and Raph laughed out loud.
"Great. More kids," Raph said, earning a second hit from Master Splinter. "Master Splinter, what?"
"Quiet. They are coming," Splinter said tersely. The door to the roof opened slowly, and a large green umbrella opened. Leo stepped out first, and he paused to take Juliet's arm while sheltering her from the light rain. Once the pair was clear of the door, April sighed to see the little girls under a Hello Kitty umbrella coming out next. Rachel held the umbrella as Noelle was too taken with watching her patent leather shoes splashing in the puddles of water that had gathered on the rooftop.
April had spent nearly an entire day searching for the wedding clothes. She had lucked into two matched dresses at a thrift shop for the girls, but her true find had been Juliet's dress. April put a hand on her husband's arm, and smiled up at him. He had run around like a madman during the day to get three bouquets. It was their small gift to the couple.
Walking slowly, and trying to keep the hem of her dress out of the water, Juliet headed over to where Mike was waiting. Leo took her right hand, and placed it in Mike's without any cue. He also handed over the umbrella before stepping back to wait with the others. Rachel and Noelle stood near their mother, and Noelle dropped her bouquet to start tussling with Rachel for control of the small umbrella.
"Girls," Master Splinter admonished, shaking his head. Noelle, cowed for the moment, stood quietly.
"Thank you," Mike began. "Thank you for braving the rain to hang out with us up here." Juliet wrinkled up her nose, and smiled.
"We'll make it brief. We promise," Juliet added. "Um, I'll start." Mike nodded, and took the umbrella from her to make it easier. She took a deep breath, and began. "It seems like we haven't been together that long."
"That's because you haven't," Raph was heard to mutter, but he was further away from Master Splinter this time.
"Okay, so we haven't," Juliet agreed, unruffled. "But it doesn't change how I feel. I've never been so happy," she admitted, and Mike beamed. "I think that someone was watching over us, and that we were brought here for a reason – so I could meet you, Mike, and I could love you." Noelle started splashing again, but Rachel was watching her mother's face. "I promise I will always love you, and that this is only the beginning." Juliet's voice started to waver a little with emotion. "I promise to stick by you, and listen to you, and laugh at your jokes."
"That's love," Casey whispered, and April elbowed him in the side.
"My turn?" Mike questioned, as Juliet wiped at her eyes with her free hand. She nodded silently. "I can't make you a lot of promises," he said, and Splinter nearly dropped his umbrella in surprise. "I don't have anything to offer other than what I've already been doing. I promise I'll be here for you, no matter what," Mike said softly, and Juliet's eyes started to well with tears again. "I'll look after you, and Rachel and Noelle."
Don turned away, and looked out at the rainy street, his heart heavy.
"I love you, Juliet."
"Can we go in now? My socks are wet!" Noelle complained.
In a black car, on a silent street where the rain had just let up, two people were having a minor disagreement.
"Come back to the house, and I'll bring you here in the morning," Dan protested, but Sam just shook her head and stared out the windshield at the dark trees. They had buried her father without her – just followed his last wishes. She had missed the whole thing.
Sam opened the passenger door of the car, and climbed out.
"Sam …," Dan started.
"Go home," Sam instructed gently. "Say hi to Beth for me, and tell her thanks for the clothes." The words had no feeling behind them at all. It was said by rote. She shut the car door, and started across the damp grass, stepping carefully around the headstones.
The other car door opened, and Dan stepped out.
"Sam, don't do this right now."
Sam stopped, her shoulders hunched. She had to do it now. If she didn't do it now, then she didn't know if she would ever have it in her again to face this. "I'm supposed to be at a wedding right now," she whispered, but she didn't think Dan could hear her. "I need to be alone," she said more loudly. After a moment, the car door shut. He didn't drive away, though. He would wait as long as needed. Sam continued through the shadowed cemetery, her eyes on the ground.
It had been a while since their home had seemed so filled with sound and movement. Everyone was gathered to have cake. The little girls sat at the kitchen table, and Noelle had managed to get frosting on her nose. Juliet was wiping it off, when she saw Don enter the room.
"Hey," she called. "Have you heard from Sam?" Don shook his head, and opened the fridge. Juliet straightened up from her task, and watched the turtle until he had the fridge door closed again. "I'm worried."
Don toyed with the soda can for a moment"So am I," he admitted.
"She left the hospital this afternoon. She wouldn't have missed this, Don," Juliet continued. Setting down the can on the counter, Don retrieved his phone from his belt. He checked back through his incoming calls until he found the number.
It rang an agonizing three times before it was picked up.
"Dan Wa." The words sounded very distant, and very sad.
"Detective Wa? This is Don." The turtle picked up his soda again, and fingered the tab top. "I'm trying to find Sam …"
"She's here," Dan replied, his tone still heavy. "We're … We're at Gethsemane Cemetery." Don's eyes widened, and Juliet watched anxiously, trying to interpret his expression. "Could you come out here? I think someone needs to be with her right now, and I've got to go back in to work soon."
"Of … of course," Don stammered. "Who was it?"
"Her father," Dan said. "Do you think I could tell you on your way here? It's a long story."
"Yes," Don responded, setting down the soda and starting across the kitchen. "I'm leaving right now."
"Don," Juliet called. Don spun, and tried to give her a reassuring look.
"I have to go," Don stated. "I'll explain when I get back." Juliet nodded helplessly, and Don didn't say anything further. He moved through the lair quickly, only pausing to say something briefly to Leo before vanishing into the elevator.