Chapter Ten

As the weeks went by, spring turned into summer, and the Turtle household now held an uneasy tension in the air as the brothers reached an unspoken agreement: Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo never spoke of Linda to Leonardo, who they all continued to see on a regular basis, nor did they interfere with his relationship with Christina. Leonardo in turn kept more to himself and lived his life as if nothing was wrong. His relationship with Raphael had crumbled, and they had gone back to fighting rather than talking out their problems, which in turn drew Raphael's repressed aggression back out, and Michelangelo often found himself to be his brothers' target. Donatello stayed out of everyone's way, not wanting to get caught up in the hostile environment of the house, and spent most of his time with Angie. But none of them could see the hurt that was held in the eyes of their father, who would watch silently from a distance the self destruction his sons were bringing upon themselves, and he would pray every day that Leonardo would make peace with himself and bring everyone back together.

Donatello and Raphael were sitting out on the back porch enjoying the warm air that was blowing off of the ocean when the sliding glass door opened.

"Da dada da DA!" Michelangelo sung out triumphantly as he carried a large cardboard box in his hands and set it down on the porch floor. Leonardo and Taylor followed him, each carrying a similar box. Leonardo sat his down on Michelangelo's, while Taylor strained his muscles to keep his box from falling out of his hands. Leonardo laughed at the boy and helped Taylor place the box neatly on top of the stack. Michelangelo then cleared his throat and threw out his arms.

" Fellow mutant turtles! This is a glorious day for all of us! Behold!" He shoved his open palm toward the stack of boxes. " The future of our legacy is held within these walls of cardboard!"

Raphael wrinkled his forehead. "What the Hell are you talkin about?"

"Leo, if you don't mind," Michelangelo took a step backwards as Leonardo took a box cutter out of his back pocket and carefully opened the top box. He reached in, and handed a flimsy object to his brother. Michelangelo's face exploded into a smile as he proudly held up the comic book he had been working on for the past three years. Raphael and Donatello both stood up to get a closer look of the cover.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1" Raphael read out loud as he took the comic from Michelangelo's hand.

"I thought of that myself!" Michelangelo said as his smile grew bigger.

Raphael looked over Michelangelo's artwork on the cover, which was of the four of them wearing their masks and holding their respected weapons as they stood on the rooftop of a building with the Manhattan skyline in the background. He passed the comic to Donatello so he could get a better look. After he was done, Donatello and Raphael looked at each other as smiles crept across their faces.

"Well? What do you guys think?" Michelangelo asked as his excitement was becoming hard to contain. But instead of giving Michelangelo a straight answer, Donatello and Raphael burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter and fell onto each other.

"You're kiddin me right?" Raphael managed out through his laughter. " That's a good one, Mikey."

"Yeah," Donatello held onto his now aching stomach. " It's a few months past April Fools Day but you have defiantly made up for it!"

"Come on, guys." Leonardo sighed as he grabbed the comic back from Donatello. " It's not a joke. You should be happy that Mikey finally did something with himself. He's been working really hard on this."

Raphael slowed down his laughter as he saw the hurt that reflected in Michelangelo's eyes. " You mean ta tell me the whole time you were layin around the house, you workin on a comic book?"

Michelangelo reached into the box and pulled out another copy. " I'm sorry if its not up to your expectations, Raph, but this is something I've had my heart set on for years, and if it wasn't for Leo, I never would have gotten it done."

Donatello stopped his laughter and wiped at the tears that clouded his eyes. "How did you help him, Leo?"

Leonardo shrugged as he handed the comic to Taylor. " I gave him a loan."

"How much of a loan?" Raphael raised an eyebrow at Leonardo. " Publishing shit like this ain't cheap."

" I gave him a thousand."

"What!" Raphael and Donatello yelled in unison.

"Calm down." Leonardo held his hands up in defense. " I took it out of my own savings, not our bank account, and Mikey's paying me back so don't get all bent out of shape about it."

Raphael grumbled under his breath as he grabbed the book out of Michelangelo's hands.

" And just where do you expect to sell these things at?"

" I've already made a deal with the owners of the comic book store I work in, and they said I could sell it there." Michelangelo replied as he felt his excitement return.

"And how much are they getting from it?" Donatello asked as he sat back down on one of the patio chairs. " I'm sure they expect to get some sort of commission from the sales."

"Sales?" Raphael scoffed. " You think people are goin to by this? No offense Mikey but who would wanna read about us?"

"I would!" Taylor looked up from the comic. " I've read it ten times already! It's great! You guys must have had quite a life!"

"See, Raph?" Michelangelo nodded toward Taylor. " We've been in so many adventures! We've got tons of stories to tell! I'm telling you, people are going to eat this up!"

"Well, pass me the Pepto because I think I'm getting indigestion from it." Donatello leaned forward and grabbed his glass of ice tea from the table. Michelangelo looked at him in a confused way, and Donatello continued.

" I mean that these things you are planning to write about are our private lives, which as ninjas, we're not supposed to talk about. We've done a lot of things that would scare people, Mikey, and I don't know if bringing it out into the open like this is going to be good for us."

"Former ninja, Don," Leonardo spoke up in Michelangelo's defense. " And, yes, I do agree that some things we have done in the past won't make us into good roll models, but Mike can also create fictional stories to cover up the things we don't anyone to know. He's already got it under control."

Raphael blew out the breath he had been holding. " So, is it any good?"

Michelangelo smiled as he walked around the table and pulled Raphael to the wicker couch. Taylor crawled up beside of them and read along as Michelangelo showed Raphael his masterpiece. Donatello leaned back into the chair and Leonardo moved to the chair beside of him.

"Is everything ready for tomorrow?" Leonardo asked.

"Yep. Raph and I went to the store and bought the charcoal, the hamburger meat and the steaks. April and Casey are bringing some side dishes, as is Vanessa. I invited Angie to come over too, if that's okay."

Leonardo nodded as a yawn escaped from his mouth and he stretched his arms up in the air, bringing them back down around his head. He blinked his eyes a few times, and tried to push back the feeling of falling asleep. Then he got a sudden feeling from Donatello, as if there was something else his brother wanted to say. Leonardo turned his head toward him and stared.

" Who else is coming?" he asked, shocking his brother who was in quiet thought.

Donatello turned his eyes to Leonardo. " Would you stop doing that? Good grief!"

"Donnie?" Leonardo pressed on, knowing that Donatello was holding back.

Donatello sighed heavily and shifted his body around. " Alright! Mikey invited you- know-who, okay? There I said it! Now turn off your Jedi mind control!"

Leonardo mouthed a silent 'thank you' and turned his eyes back to the ocean. Donatello continued to look at Leonardo, wondering why his brother didn't even get the least bit upset at the fact that Linda was coming to their house.

"Doesn't that bother you, Leo?"

Leonardo kept his eyes on the rising ocean waves. " Why should it? She's Mikey's guest. If he wants her to come, its fine with me."

Donatello turned back around, feeling a little out of sorts with the energy that Leonardo was putting out. He once again looked at Leonardo, noticing the smug smile on his face, then stood up, grabbed his glass from the table and walked back into the house.

Donatello walked into the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel from the rack that hung on the cabinet beside of the sink. As he wiped the condensation from his glass of tea, Donatello started to think about Leonardo, and how strange he had been behaving the past few months. The sound of a ringing phone snapped Donatello out of his thoughts and he followed the sound into the living room. He picked up the white cordless phone and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Donnie? Hey! How are you doing?"

" Fine, April."

A pause then came over the phone. " You don't sound fine, Don. What's wrong?"

Donatello sighed, knowing that telling his old friend nothing would not be acceptable with her. " It's a long story, April."

"Go ahead. I have all of the time in the world."

"Linda, are you home, hon?"

Linda and Angie turned their heads toward the front door of the apartment as Christina came shuffling in, her arms weighed down in various shopping bags.

"I thought you were going out to buy a swimsuit for tomorrow?" Linda asked, raising an eyebrow as her cousin dropped the bags down on the opposite side of the couch.

"I did." Christina said as she sighed heavily, then fell into the couch as she caught her breath.

"Then what is all of that?" Angie pointed, counting at least ten bags.

Christina looked over at her parcels. " Macy's was having a sale. Can't pass something like that up!" She then turned her head back to Linda. " You should have come with me. I found this great two piece that would have looked awesome on you!"

Linda shook her head. " I have a suit, thank you."

Christina leaned over one of the bags, then pulled out a red and black bikini top with a matching pair of boy shorts, then threw it to Linda. " Well, I already bought it for you, so you better wear it!" As she collapsed back into the couch, Christina finally noticed the girl sitting next to Linda.

"Wait, don't tell me!" Christina tapped her chin with her finger. " It's Angie, right?"

Angie exchanged a glance with Linda, then nodded.

"Yeah, I remember you! You read my palm the last time you were here." Christina then opened up her left hand. " I still don't get how you can do that, but it's not like it's real or anything."

Angie's mouth dropped, and she began to object when Linda grabbed her shoulder and shook her head.

"Is she going tomorrow, too?" Christina then asked as she pointed at Angie.

"You know, you can ask her yourself. She does speak English." Linda responded, fighting back the urge to get up and smack her cousin.

"Geesh, you don't have to be bitchy about it!" Christina jumped up from the couch, grabbed her bags and headed for her bedroom. When the door slammed shut, Angie finally spoke up.

" God, how can you put with her? I'd have her cursed in a day!" Angie growled as she looked down the hallway. " Has it been like this all the time?"

"Yes," Linda said as she held up the swimsuit to look it over. " She goes through this two- faced faze all the time. She's my best friend one minute, then she hates my guts the next."

" Are you still going tomorrow?" Angie asked as she pulled on her anklet.

Linda nodded. " I don't want to let down Michelangelo. He really wants me there."

" Mike is so sweet, isn't he?" Angie smiled remembering the day she had meet Dontallo's brother. " I think it's great that they put behind everything that happened and embrace you as their friend."

"Not all of them." Linda added as she pulled the price tags off of the bottom part of the swim suit.

" Can I ask you something?" Angie asked after a long pause. " Does it bother you that Leo is dating your cousin?"

Linda's eyes grew at her friend's question, but she then sighed and relaxed. " You know, it did at first, but I just told myself, things have changed, and I have to face it."

Angie crossed her arms. " Yeah, okay. Just like that, you let it go."

"Well, when he comes over, I leave." Linda confessed with a small smile. Angie laughed as she stood up.

"I have to get going. Don's meeting me in the park again."

Linda jumped up and walked Angie to the door. " I'd say you and Donatello are hitting it off really good."

Angie blushed a little as Linda opened the door and let her into the hallway. " It's been hard though. If I see him at school, we have to completely ignore each other. Don can't risked getting fired, and my mom would kill me if I got kicked out! She's paying my tuition!" A sly smile then spread across Angie's face. " But we have messed around in the elevators!"

Linda's mouth dropped as she began to laugh. " Oh, you are evil! What about the security cameras?"

" Don disconnects the wiring. He's really good at stuff like that."

Linda shook her head as she smiled. " Yes I know. See you tomorrow!"

Angie turned and waved. Linda waited until Angie had disappeared around the corner before she closed the door. She laughed a little, but it faded fast as she thought back to what Angie had asked her, and how she had lied saying she was fine. Linda didn't want her best friend to see how hurt she actually was. Linda had avoided the same question with the Turtles also. She wanted to forget Leonardo, forget everything that had happened, and she wanted nothing more than to move on with her life. But that little inner voice she had refused to be silenced, and Linda knew that all of that was impossible to do.

Linda rubbed her temples with her fingers, feeling a slight headache coming on. She looked at the stereo near the kitchen and figured maybe a little music would help calm her nerves. She grabbed the remote that sat on one of the huge speakers and sat down crossed legged on the floor. As soon as she pushed the ON button, the strands of an all too familiar song began. The lyrics were about a couple who had just broken up, and the man was out on his own, living his life and having a good time. The girl in the song told everyone that she was over the guy, but deep down she still was still in love with him, and was heartbroken that he had gotten over so fast.

"Oh, no. Not again! Why does this song haunt me?" Linda buried her face into her hands as a female voice forced her words into Linda's brain.She felt the tears that had begun to fill her eyes fall down her face in continuous streams. She stared at the stereo is disbelief, thinking back to the first time she had heard this song, which had been the same day that Leonardo had chosen Christina over her, and every day after that, every time Linda turned on a radio or passed by one, the same song would play, as it was playing at that very moment.

"Hey, Lin. I'm sorry I yelled at you like that."

Linda turned, and looked at her cousin with her tear filled eyes, then her sobs became stronger.

"Oh my God, Linda! What's wrong?" Christina fell to her knees and grabbed onto Linda, holding her tightly as her body shook. "Oh, honey! What is going on?"

"It's-I-I" Linda stuttered, not really knowing how to find the words to say.She pulled back from her cousin and held onto Christina's hands. " I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Christina asked, and Linda could hear the genuine concern in her voice that Christina hardly ever felt.

"I need to tell you the truth about Leonardo and me. About our relationship." Linda's head dropped as the tears ran faster down her face. " It was so much more than I told you it was. We were deeply in love, and- God, there is so much involved with this!"

Christina pulled a hand free and stroked Linda's black hair. " Honey, I may not be that bright, but I knew what your feelings were for Leo. Your eyes told me everything. Your tears told me everything. There is no way someone could get that upset unless it was truly deep."

Linda rose her eyes to meet Christina. " I'm sorry. I just- I just didn't want to get in the way. I wanted to move on! I wanted to forget him! But I can't Christina! I just can't!" Linda then collapsed into another sobbing mess as Christina continued to console her. She lifted Linda back up and wiped the river of tears from her face.

"Now, tell me everything."

Linda took a deep breath, then began her story. Christina listened intently as her cousin described the old friendship of Linda's father and Splinter, how her and Leonardo had made a connection and became great friends. Then Linda's story turned terrible when she told Christina's of her mother's death, how she had become depressed, and how things became good again when Leonardo once again appeared by her side. A smile began to cover Linda's tears as she recalled how their friendship and deep understanding of one another blossomed into love. But the smile soon faded when she had to tell Christina of the day she found her father, and how she had to go against the one she loved to find the answers she needed. Linda then felt the tears return as she remembered the day that had shattered Leonardo's heart when he discovered Linda had been in the company of the Foot. As Linda finished, her tears fell faster as the visions of her father being slain by the Shredder flashed in her head, and the last words Leonardo had said to her before she walked away.

I don't believe in fate...

Linda looked back at Christina, and noticed her cousin was also in tears.

"Oh my God, Linda!" Christina exclaimed as she sobbed. " I had no idea it was like that! I couldn't even imagine what you guys went through!" She got up and walked around the couch, then came back to Linda's side with a box of tissues. " All you wanted to do was help them, and Leo turned his back on you!" Christina then blew her nose. " How could he just let you go like that?"

"He was hurt, Chris, and I didn't realized how hurt he was until I saw him on the balcony the night of your party." Linda took the tissue Christina had shoved in her face and wiped her eyes.

"But, it was like, five years ago!" Christina remarked as she felt her anger rising. " How could he hold onto it that long?" Christina then gasped as she looked into Linda's eyes. " He still loves you!"

"What?" Linda shook her head. " No! After what I did to him? You don't know him like I do! Leonardo does not take betrayal very lightly."

Christina jumped to her feet. " Come on, Lin! Wake up! Leo is still in love with you! That is why he's still hurting! And you're right, I don't know him like you do, but I do know that he is just so angry at himself for letting you go, that he has to tell everyone he's over you! Does that make sense?"

Linda sat in silence for a moment. " I suppose it does. I don't know."

Christina plopped back down on the floor and clasped her hands together. " I'm going to help you."

" Help me what?" Linda said as she grabbed another tissue.

"Okay, I was waiting for the right time to tell you this, but I guess I have to now. Um, well, I'm going back to California!"

Linda dropped the tissue from her eyes. " You are? When?"

" Next weekend. Daddy has a spot for me at his production company and he said I can finish school there too. And, to answer the next question you are going to ask, no, I haven't told Leo yet. I am going to tomorrow after the barbecue thing."

"And how is this helping me?" Linda asked with panic in voice. " I have to find another place to live now. I can't afford this place by myself."

"Go stay with that Angie girl. I'm sure she won't mind." Christina said waving her hand toward the door. " But about the helping part. I can talk to Leo and maybe get you guys back together!"

"Oh no, no, no!" Linda rose to her feet and walked over to the couch. " I don't want that Christina. I need to move on. I can't deal with him anymore. It hurts too much"

Christina raced after Linda and joined her on the couch. " Come on! I need to do something! I fell like I have gotten in the way of everything since I found out about you guys. At least let me try! Please?"

Linda stared into her cousin's blue eyes, and knew that her words were from her heart. Linda then sighed heavily. " Just so you know, Leonardo doesn't like to be forced into things."

"Yeah, I know." Christina said as she sat back into the cushion. " You don't know how many times I've tried to get him to have-" Christina then slapped her hands over her mouth as her eyes grew wide.

Linda sighed as she glared at her cousin. " I'm so glad you're leaving."