To say that Amy was disappointed was a huge understatement. Morally devastated came closer. The 15 year old girl had been looking forward to the father/daughter dance at school. She had spent almost a month looking for the perfect dress, and almost as long for the right pair of shoes. Endured lessons from her mother, who took ballroom classes when she was a teen herself, so Amy would at least know the basic steps and not look like a complete idiot out on the dancefloor in front of her classmates.

Gramps was going to take her, and be her date, but it seemed that his work decided otherwise. With only a few hours left until the start of the dance his work had called him in. The stubborn old man had tried to talk his way out of it but the end result still ended up with him having to go in. He grumbled a lot over it, but he really didn't have a choice. It did pay his bills after all.

Amy understood that. She was mature enough not to fall into the entitled, pompous, selfrightoues attitude most of her generations females seemed to come equipped with. She knew the man worked hard for everything they have, and still had to do so to maintain it all. Didn't mean she was happy about it though. Not to mention she had spent the last few hours sitting in a beauty parlor to get that perfect hairstyle she had picked out months in advance and had her makeup professionally done because neither she nor her mother really were good at it, only to come home to find out she wasn't going after all. She had worked as many shifts as she could at her after school job to afford all of this, and it was now apparently all for nothing. Yeah...life sucked sometimes.

She had gone to her room and flopped herself onto her bed. It wasn't a large room, most mobile home rooms weren't, but she was fine with it. Leo had asked her if she wanted a larger room in the lair when they expanded it out but she had declined. She liked her snug little room, filled with stuffed animals her mother had passed down to her along with new ones she had collected over the years. Boy bands didn't decorate her walls, cherished mementos did. She took comfort in her little private haven when things went...well...went to shit.

It also had her old blankets both of her grandmothers had made her hanging on the walls as little tapestries. It was strange if you thought about it, her dad didn't care enough to call, but his mother was still very much a part of her life, which became interesting when that set of grandparents came to visit. Mom and Donnie had to scramble to play 'hide the turtles' every time they came up. They both by now had perfected that art and Amy was glad Mom took the time to figure out how to deal with that dilemma, because her Memaw could make some beautiful blankets and most of them hung now on her walls, bringing her a lot of comfort when she needed it. Not to mention photos of her unusual family decorated her nightstand and what free spaces the blankets left on the walls. Yes, she loved her little room, because this little room reflected everything she loved the most.

There was a quiet knock at the door and she gave permission to enter and her mother quietly opened the door. "Hey. I really like that style, looks good on you."

Amy absently touched the half up half down locks. "Yeah, well, no point in having it this way now." She mumbled and she moved to take out the hair pins.

"Hold on before you do that." Mom told her. "Was wondering if you would mind if I took some pictures of you in the dress."

"What on earth for?"

"Well, you did spend a decent amount of time and effort trying to save up for it, not to mention trying to find the right dress. Seems a bit of a shame for you to just it hang in your closet and completely forget about it."

"Yeah, I guess. Give me a few minutes."

"Shoes too." Mom smiled.

"Really? Oh, good lord. Fine..." Not even practical Amy was immune to the eye rolls teens always seemed to give their mothers.

"Thank you sweety." She said as she closed the door back.

Sighing, Amy got up off of her bed and moved across the small space to her closet. She pulled out the pale pink dress and looked it over with another disappointed sigh. It really was pretty. It was an off the shoulder style with the sleeve straps hanging loose across her upper arm. It had just enough petticoat underneath the ankle length skirt to give it a little poof, but nothing outrageous. It was sleek, simple, fitted her perfectly and she really did love it. Maybe a few pictures of her in it wouldn't be a bad thing after all.

She slipped into it, getting around the zipper issue with a simple trick her mother taught her, an old wire clothes hanger slipped into the zipper hole that she pulled up on, then easily unhooked when she had it zipped up. She smiled at the reason she could reach behind her so easily to accomplish that task. Ninjas had to be flexible after all. Then she slid into her closed toe pumps she had dyed to match her dress before looking at her jewelry box. "Ah, what the heck. Might as well go all out." She mumbled to herself as she slipped the earrings and necklace out. After adorning herself with the small diamond pieces, a present from her mother and Leo last Christmas, she looked herself over in the mirror for a moment. The normally tomboyish teen had to admit, she liked the way it all came together. Not bad for a girl who spent her time tumbling around on training mats while most other girls went to the mall.

Amy stepped out of her room, honestly feeling a little self conscious about her get up. She was used to running around in torn jeans and t-shirts, dresses were a rarity for her. Heels clicking on the linoleum floor, she walked into the living room only to find it and the kitchen empty.

A little shocked at that, she had been expecting her mother here after all, she turned and walked to the back of the house where her mother's room was. Amy knocked a few times and when she didn't get an answer she carefully opened the door. She found the clothes her mother had been wearing just fifteen minutes before thrown messily on the bed, but no Mom. "Huh. Must be in the lair." She quietly told herself before she turned around and went towards the hallway closet door that hid the other half of her home.

She stepped through the portal to an empty lab. Now that was unusual, Donnie was almost always in here working on something or other. She just shrugged and kept going, Mom wanted her pictures after all. Amy clicked her way across the lab and opened the closed door, another rarity, Donnie usually left it open. But all thoughts of the odd lab moments literally disappeared as she stood in open mouthed shock at what she saw.

All the furniture had been taken out of the living area and the lights had been dimmed. Streamers and buntings hung from the walls and an old disco ball of Mikey's had been brought out, polished and hung up. The floor had been not only swept and mopped, but also waxed until it reflected the dim light that came from Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. Mikey was in the corner of the room with his CD player and Donnie was just finishing hooking it up to the elaborate speaker set up. Raph was setting the last platters of finger food on what appeared to be a hastily set up buffet table, adorned with Granny's best tablecloth. She finally found her Mom as she placed the punch bowl on the table. But what caught her eye was Leo standing in the middle of the room under the disco ball. He wasn't wearing his usual get up, but wore instead a modified tux he had only, as far as Amy knew, worn once for a very special occasion. It took Amy's stunned eyes a moment to noticed all the others were also decked out in their best clothes.

Leo's calm blue eyes watched her from under his mask as she stood stunned in the doorway before a warm smile found it's way onto his face. He then held out his hand towards her. Amy actually found her legs trembling a little as she walked across the shiny floor towards him, holding an equally shaky hand to her mouth.

Once she was in front of him he gently took her hand as the first notes of Rascal Flatts "My Wish" began to softly fill the room. "Couldn't let all that hard work you put in go to waste." He told her gently as he pulled her into the first steps of the dance. He smiled down at her again as he confidently led her across the floor. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." Amy somehow managed to choke out. She smiled up at the turtle that had filled a spot that her dad left vacant those years ago. Leo had more than stepped up to the task, as what was happening now proved. Her eyes filled with tears as they moved across the room, his steady, sure steps guiding her.

They passed Mom who was watching them with a small smile of her own. Then Mikey who was blowing his nose in a handkerchief...that he stuffed back into his own tux pocket. Raph's eyes were also a little moist as they passed him, an arm wrapped around Cris. Amy noticed none of it. She was lost in this dance with the being who had originally deserved the right to escort her to the father/daughter dance, but couldn't. Suddenly she was glad she couldn't go to the school dance. This more than made up for it, and it meant more to her too. The effort it must have taken to throw all of this together in just a few short hours...

The tears finally spilled out of her eyes as she laid her head on his chest. Without missing a step he tightened his arm around her as they kept dancing. "Thank you." She said again after she got herself somewhat under control. "This is...wow..." She took a deep breath as she lifted her head up to look at him again. "You didn't have to do this."

"I know." Leo calmly replied. "But I wanted too. We might not be of the same blood, or the same species for that matter, but I fully consider you my daughter and I love you just as much as I love Lavi." He smiled again. "Besides, I was jealous that Gramps was going to take you, so when I found out he got called into work I jumped at the chance to do this."

Amy laughed as he winked at her then put her head on his chest again. "I love you too Leo."

By then the others began to step into their own dances. Dennis with Mom, Raph and Cris, Donnie and Marina, Mikey and Caitlin. Even the smaller turtles were swirling and twirling in their little dresses and modified suits. Ari and Lavi taking turns dancing with Ty, Thane and Dante.

Leo made every effort to keep her happy and dancing and she enjoyed herself enormously. Not even the quick brawl between Raph and Mikey that happened when the younger somehow managed to spill a whole cup of punch on the elder could ruin the mood. Leo just grinned and shook his head while Mom and Cris broke up the fight. Tonight his attention was on Amy and he let her know time and time again that this special night belonged to her. He did dance with Lavi a few times, and Mom, but he always came back to her. It was well after midnight when things finally started to wind down and by then the love she had for this turtle had finally pushed her to say something she had never really said before. It was the last dance and she had flipped her shoes off already after Mom got her pictures. She was stepping barefoot across the floor with Leo before she finally looked up at him again. "I love you Daddy." She told him quietly.

His eyes took on a shocked look. She had never called him that before, for reasons of her own that they both knew. Daddy before had been the man who had sired her, then walked out on her family. Daddy had been the man that broke two little hearts when he moved away without taking the time to come and say goodbye. Leo understood that, understood that she was more than a little hesitant to tack that Daddy on him because she associated the word with someone who had done nothing but hurt her. To her it was almost an insult to call him that. But she rethought the meaning of the word and decided that if anyone deserved the name...it was Leo and it was past time to let him know that.

The effect of it when she finally did for the first time was more than even she expected. His blue eyes moistened up and a single tear slipped down the front of his mask before he was able to reply. "I love you too pumpkin." He pulled her into a hug and they finished the rest of the dance in silence, neither one of them needing to say anything else. That night turned out to be one of the most meaningful nights in her entire life and she never would forget a single detail of it. She couldn't even if she wanted too, it was forever buried in her heart and soul and would forever stay there. This strange creature she originally knew as a fictional character had more than earned the right to be her father. And her father is what he will always be to her.