The turtles filed out of the office building and into the street. Once there, Michelangelo turned to the others. "You all have time for coffee or something?"
Leonardo shrugged. "Sure. I'm done for the day."
"They can survive without me for a bit," said Raphael.
There was a pause as they all looked at Donatello, who finally smiled a bit. "All right, fine" he said. "Work can wait."
Michelangelo tilted his head towards the coffee shop on the corner. A minute or so later, they brought they drinks over and attempted to get comfortable in the tall chairs around the only empty table in the shop.
Raphael took a sip of his black coffee before starting the conversation. "So?"
"So, what?" asked Michelangelo in turn.
"So what'd you think?"
"I don't know. I didn't really know what to expect. I've never been to one of these things before."
Donatello smiled a bit. "His will was really...well, really Sensei, wasn't it?"
Michelangelo nodded. "Yeah, it was. It was almost like hearing him again. But I was...well, a bit surprised by some things."
"Like what?"
Michelangelo paused, so Raphael picked it up. "Well, I know what I thought was screwy. Sensei gave the suit of armor to me." Splinter didn't own much in the way of possessions, but one of his most cherished items was a full suit of traditional Japanese samurai armor. It had been given to him by his own Sensei before Splinter had left for America, and it had always occupied a place of honor in Splinter's home - be it in the sewers, Mr Samuel's house, or his apartment. "I thought that was going to you, Leo." Raphael couldn't quite make out Leonardo's expression, but he quietly added, "Look, I think maybe you should have it."
"No," said Leonardo quickly. "No, it's yours. Sensei...he wanted you to have it. And I'm sure he had a good reason for giving it to you."
Raphael smirked. "So you can't figure it out, either, huh?"
Leonardo stared at his brother, then smiled back. "OK, no. I can't. But that's OK."
Donatello added, "And he gave me his black and green kimono. I kinda assumed that was for you, as well."
Shrugging slightly and sighing, Leonardo said, "Honestly, yeah, I thought he'd give that to me. But like I said, Splinter probably had a good reason for giving us what he did."
Michelangelo, attempting to shift the conversation slightly, said, "It was nice, actually. He gave something to pretty much everybody."
"Yeah," agreed Donatello. "His landlady, the gallery...heck, even Rocky got something."
Raphael grinned. "It's kinda funny to think of Rocksteady reading The Art of War, though."
"Hey, you never know," said Michelangelo. "He's come a long way." Turning to Leonardo, he continued, "So what did that bit mean in your section, Leo?"
"What bit?"
"After he left you all his art supplies, it said, 'He will know what to do' or something like that."
Leonardo nodded. "Yeah. Something else I don't understand."
Donatello frowned. "You mean, you didn't understand that, either?"
"No, actually. I don't have any idea what to do with his art supplies. And I feel pretty stupid about it. Sensei seemed to think I'd know."
"No idea at all?" Raphael asked.
"Are you kidding? Since Mr Tanaka said that, I keep thinking of it. Now I've got too many ideas."
"Like what?"
"Like...donating them to the youth center? Getting the kids into art, maybe? But if he wanted to do that, why not do it direct? Why go through me?" Leonardo shook his head. "I'll meditate about it later."
"You know what I was most surprised by?" offered Raphael. "The money."
"You didn't think he'd leave us any?" Donatello asked.
"Oh, no, not that. The bequest for the youth center was really nice, and I wasn't too shocked to find out he wanted to split the rest between the four of us. But when Mr Tanaka said how much that added up to..."
Michelangelo nodded. "It was more than I was expecting."
"A lot more," argued Raphael. "Where'd Splinter get all that money?"
"Selling his paintings," said Leonardo, perhaps even a bit quicker to defend Splinter than normal. "You know how in demand they were getting at the gallery."
"Yeah," added Michelangelo. "People were asking months in advance if they could get a sneak peak at his new stuff."
Leonardo nodded. "Plus, it's not like Sensei had expensive tastes. Anything he didn't spend he just put in the bank."
"Probably something that was left over from when we were in the sewer," said Donatello thoughtfully. "Back when we weren't entirely sure when the next check would come. He was never one to spend money if he could help it." Donatello sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "It was really nice of Sensei to do split it four ways, but I can't take the money. I'll see if Mr Tanaka can just get them to split it three ways for you guys."
"What? No." Leonardo shook his head. "No, Don, I can't let you do that."
"Leo, I'm honored that Sensei gave me the kimono, the weapons, and all the other things. I'll treasure that stuff forever. But the money doesn't mean anything to me."
"Don..." Raphael started.
"No, Raph, forget it. You can't talk me out of it, either. My job pays me plenty. I don't need the extra cash."
Leonardo said, "Don, take the money. You and Jamie take a vacation or something."
"We'll take a vacation when we're good 'n' ready, Leo, and not before." Donatello smiled. "And when we do, we've already got the money for it. Look, after we finished school, we all went out and did what we wanted to after school, but you two..." He pointed at Leonardo and Raphael. "You two took the noble route. You did what...well, what I always thought I should be doing."
Raphael frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you loved your job."
"I do. Every single high-paying second of it. But you guys...bust your tails, get down in the trenches, make a difference, and you don't get paid anywhere near enough."
"I'm not suffering, Don," said Raphael, a bit miffed. "I can't speak for Leo or nothing, but I didn't get a job at the youth center 'cause I felt like I had to. I did it 'cause I wanted to."
"I know," said Donatello. "I didn't mean it like that. But if the money comes to me, I'll just toss it in the bank or something. You guys will probably at least get some use out of it. Please - take it."
Michelangelo nodded. "Don's right. Take the money. Heck, I'd give you my share, too, but..." He trailed off.
"But what?" asked Leonardo, concerned.
Donatello looked equally perturbed. "You're not in any trouble, are you?"
"Oh, no," Michelangelo said quickly. "Nothing like that. It's just..." He stopped and shrugged. "Well, I guess you'll find out soon enough. Me and Danielle were talking last week, and we kinda decided..." His voice trailed off.
Leonardo looked grim. "Is everything OK?"
Raphael's eyes got wide. "Better'n OK," he said. "You're gonna get married, aintcha?"
Michelangelo nodded, but didn't smile. "Well, that's pretty much what we decided. I was gonna talk it over with Sensei, y'know, on Tuesday." He sighed. "Danielle and I talked last night. We're gonna have to put that on hold for awhile, of course, and she's cool with that. Still, may as well start beefin' up the bank account, right?"
"Still. Congratulations," said Donatello.
"Michelangelo, Danielle's a great woman," said Leonardo, with a lot more sincerity than one would expect. "You're both very lucky you found each other."
"Hear, hear," said Raphael.
"Well, we haven't set a date or anything yet," said Michelangelo, smiling at Raphael, "but I may as well ask this now. Whenever it is, will you be my best man?"
"You bet!" Raphael grinned. "But don't think I haven't forgotten the bachelor party you threw for me. Just remember - payback's a bitch."
Michelangelo laughed a bit, then grew more serious. "It's not gonna be the same, though," he said, shaking his head. "I always assumed that Sensei would be there to preside over it." He nodded at Raphael. "He was so good at your wedding."
Raphael nodded. "Yeah. It's been almost four years, and I still have friends telling me how great it was." He smirked and added, "Makes it hard trying to make the marriage live up to the wedding."
Turning to Donatello, Michelangelo said, "He was great at your thing, too." He sighed. "I'm really going to miss that."
There was a pause before Donatello said, "You know who you should get to do your wedding?" Michelangelo looked over at him questioningly, and Donatello rolled his eyes over towards Leonardo.
Michelangelo thought for a second, then nodded. "Leo? Would you?"
"Me?" Leonardo looked completely baffled. "I...I'm honored, Mike, but...I'm not a minister."
Raphael smirked again. "That won't fly, FL. Splinter wasn't one until I asked him to do my wedding."
Leonardo considered again, longer this time. "You...you sure you want me?"
"Definitely," said Michelangelo. "And I know Danielle'd love to have you do it, too."
Ducking his head, Leonardo said, "Then yes. I'd be honored to do it."
"Cool. Thanks a lot, Leo."
Leonardo smiled a bit, then said, "Well, now that the will's been read, I guess we should move ahead and plan the memorial."
Raphael frowned, trying to remember. "Sensei didn't make any mention of one in the will, did he?"
"No. Just that he'd like to be cremated."
"So we're wide open then?"
"More or less." Leonardo looked at his brothers, each in turn. "What sort of memorial do you think Sensei would like?
Donatello looked thoughtful. "Well, he was always pretty matter-of-fact about death. He always just considered it a fact of life, as it were."
"Right," said Raphael. "So I don't think it should be this sad sort of thing."
"Well, I've been giving this a lot of thought these last few days," said Michelangelo, a bit hesitantly. "And I sort of have this...idea."
"Go on," urged Leonardo.
"Well, like you said, Raph, instead of it being this sad, solemn sort of thing, couldn't we make it sort of a...celebration of his life? I mean, Sensei touched so many people, and I think that's what we should focus on." He paused and looked over at Leonardo. "Did you find out if we can have it at the gallery?"
Leonardo nodded. "Esther said they'd love to have it there, as long as it was on a weekday – they have an exhibition on the weekends."
"OK, great. So we hang a bunch of Sensei's pictures up, have some tea and snacks, play those shakuhachi CDs he loved so much, and just invite people to come and chat."
"Hm," said Donatello.
"And then, at one point, anyone who wants to can get up and talk about how Sensei affected them."
Leonardo nodded. "I like that. Informal and friendly. Sensei might quibble about the speeches, but he always said that memorials are for the living, not the dead."
Raphael said, "Can we ask people...not to wear black?"
After a bit of consideration, Leonardo said, "I don't know if we can demand it, but we can suggest it on the invite."
"OK. I just think that'll help the atmosphere some."
"Hm, you might have a point." Leonardo went on, "It's traditional to tell people on the invite that, instead of flowers, they can make a donation to a charity. Is there a charity that we should suggest? One that Sensei would like?"
"The youth center?" said Michelangelo.
Raphael shook his head. "Nah, Sensei already took care of them in his will."
Leonardo mused for a bit. "What was something Sensei did that a charity does, too?"
Slapping the table, Donatello said, "I got it. Sensei was very good at bringing mutants into the world at large. Sort of bringing mutants and humans together."
Michelangelo picked up the idea. "Hey, yeah! And there's that foundation...what's it called?"
"The Brydge Foundation," said Donatello.
"Right. Their whole thing is trying to help mutants get a foothold into the human world."
Leonardo nodded. "Raph, what do you think?"
"I think we found our charity," Raphael said, smiling.
"Then let's go with that one." Leonardo opened his ubiquitous small notebook and jotted it down. "I'll give them a call this afternoon. I'll also call the gallery and pick a date for the memorial." He wrote those down, then looked up at Donatello. "Can you design the invites? With the information we've got?"
"I think so," said Donatello. "You'll have to tell me the date once you know it..."
"Right."
"But otherwise, yeah, I'll get on it. So we'll be mailing these out?"
"For everybody we've got an address for. We can call or e-mail anyone we don't. Speaking of which, you have your lists?" They all nodded. "Good. Can you do that as well, Don?"
Donatello hesitantly said, "Well, we're on this big project at work..."
Immediately Michelangelo said, "Don't sweat it, Don. I'll take care of the mailing." He held out his hand, and everybody handed their list to him. "Just let me know when the invite's ready."
"Got it."
"And I'll take care of calling and e-mailing everybody we don't have an address for," added Michelangelo.
"Thanks," said Leonardo. "I really appreciate that." He looked around the table. "Anything else?" Nobody spoke, and Raphael shook his head slightly. "All right, then. Thanks, and I'll let you know everything the second I know myself." All the turtles got up and left except Leonardo, who paused and looked down at his notebook. He grabbed his pen firmly and wrote something else. He exhaled loudly, then got up to follow his brothers out.
