It was that time of year again. The time that everyone always seemed to forget about, mainly because I never advertise it or really expect to get anything out of it. Not that I really cared. By that point it was just another day to me, never really asked for anything and wasn't disappointed if I ended up empty handed. Too much. I'm talking about my birthday.

I never really did have much, even as a kid. So I never fell into that trap of I saw, I pleaded and I got it. I knew even as a child that the money just wasn't there. So when I reached adulthood I had learned just to take what I got with a smile, even if it meant nothing by this point. That and the added fact of motherhood pretty much made me ignore my own special day but I had a bad habit of going all out for theirs. Oh well.

Yes, I suppose you could say I'm one of those martyr type mothers, alway neglecting myself so my kids could always have a decent birthday or Christmas or just to make sure they have what they need. I just never gave any thought about what I wanted anymore.

So it was with a fair amount of surprise when my door banged open on that morning hard enough to bounce back off of the wall as two widely grinning children stormed through it. Leo's hand reached out from behind them to stop the door as it came on the back bounce before it slammed into the kids. Was a tricky feat considering he had a try in his hands along with a smile as he followed them into the room. The kids went airborne and landed in the bed as he chose the land route and walked over.

"Happy Birthday Mommy!" Dennis and Amy chimed as they grinned at me. "We made you breakfast!" Dennis added with his missing tooth smile.

Startled awake by the sudden surprise, that took a minute to sink in. "Huh?"

"We made you breakfast!" Amy said that time as I groggily sat up.

"You did?"

"Yuppers!" Dennis chirped. "I did the Eggos!"

"I put the syrup on them!" Amy excitedly told me, and sure enough the Eggos were covered in enough syrup to drown a horse. "I wanted to do the eggs, but Leo wouldn't let me near the fryer. He did them for us."

"I decided that would be better after she tried to hit him with it." Leo chuckled as he set the tray on my lap.

"But we got to put the sausage in the pan!"

"You let them cook and my kitchen is still in one piece?" I smiled up at him.

"Barely." He grinned wryly back.

I looked down at my plate at shook my head at the amount of food I found there. I wasn't sure Mikey could even finish this. "How am I supposed to eat all this?" I laughed.

"One bite at a time." Came the helpful answer. Smartass.

Needless to say I shared my breakfast with my family, I even fed Leo some bites to the amusement of my kids. "Look, Mommy feeding Leo like a baby." Amy snickered. The plate did get emptied after all. Had all these helpers.

After eating we just chilled on the bed for awhile until the small occupants in the crib wanted their attention. Leo walked over and got the few week old babies and they joined us as we goofed around. Was a lot of tickling going on. It was when the jumping started on the bed that we decided to move everyone out of the bedroom. Twins were getting hungry anyway.

The rest of the day I wasn't sure if I should be irritated or touched. I wasn't allowed to do anything that resembled work. Only exception to that was feeding the twins. Leo wouldn't even let me change a diaper for crying out loud. I have to admit it was nice being pampered, I just wasn't used to it.

Another thing was that I was banned from the lair. Couldn't go there. Everytime I tried one of those four sneaky ass ninjas ambushed me and shooed me back home. I knew something was up, that much was pretty obvious, just wasn't quite sure what. I guess I was just stuck having to wait and find out what they were up too.

That didn't mean I spent the day alone. Leo was there a lot and the others popped in from time to time. I got the usual Happy Birthday from all of them and endured the "you're getting old" jokes. You know, the lame ass ones everybody tells you every single birthday. No? Hasn't happened to you? Huh...must be just my weird family then.

It was evening when I was finally allowed into the lair, was actually dragged by the arm by a very excited Mikey with Dennis and Amy practically pushing me as a chuckling Leo walked behind us holding Ty while a smiling Donnie carried Lavi.

I walked into the living area and into the fully expected shindig, but I was still touched by what I saw. Balloons were everywhere, as were streamers. An obviously handmade banner was hanging against the far wall with 'Happy Birthday Mommy' scribbled and colored on it along with a whole bunch of other, smaller pictures. This was obviously what had kept my kids occupied today I noticed with a smile. There was also presents on the coffee table, and the cake was already waiting. By the looks of it homemade and my favorite, German Chocolate. Ok...the idiot who put fifty fucking candles on it was going to get slapped though. I wasn't that old.

Cris was already lighting the candles as I was drug in and of course I was told "Blow them out Mommy!" and "Make a wish!" after everyone singing Happy Birthday. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed over it all. I'm really not used to that kind of attention and it felt awkward getting it. I decided to bury my discomfort in a big slice of cake though. I loooove German Chocolate...

The gifts came next and they were things you would normally expect. A lot of handmade stuff from the kids, stupid funny cards, even a couple of trinkets that I gushed over because I loved them. But there was one present that actually brought me to tears.

Not many of you know this, because I am a very tomboyish type of person and that mentality shines through the most, but I do have one small girly side. I love unicorns. I adore them. Even had a large collection of them at one time. Someone had ratted that secret out on me.

I opened a decent sized, unassuming box. "Careful." Leo murmured as I began to pull out the styrofoam packed object that was inside. I got the styrofoam out of the way and stared in awe at what was now sitting in my lap...then I started crying.

It was a crystal statue of not one of those fantasy creatures, but three. Two adults with a foal. The mother was gently nuzzling the small one while the stallion watched protectively over them both. My hands were shaking so hard I almost dropped it until Mikey came and took it from me. "Happy Birthday Vic." Mikey winked. "We thought you might like it."

"Oh Mikey!" I threw my hands around his neck and planted a tear stained kiss on his goofy cheek. "I love it..." Donnie had to come take it away from him before it got knocked out of his hands.

It took me a few minutes to collect myself from that one, I never suspected to get something like that. Never felt like I deserved to get something like that. Then I started questioning how they could afford to get something like that. Along with a few other things, like materials for rings and what not. Never thought about it before, but I did ask this time. "How were you guys able to...get this?"

Suddenly four big turtles looked very sheepish all of a sudden and my brow shot up. "Well..." Mikey started, then looked at Donnie.

"It's very simple really..." Donnie trailed off and looked at Raph.

"Oh for shit's sake!" He grumbled. "We snatch the wallets of every punk we come across on patrols, or Donnie just straight up breaks into Sacks' bank accounts and we take it."

"You what?"

"You heard me. We get it from the low lifes in this city. Consider it our payment for putting up with their stupid asses."

I just stared at them in shock for a long while...then I cracked up. It did make a twisted kind of sense... I looked at Leo and he just shrugged. "Well, it's true. That's how we started anyway. It's grown a bit more complicated than that."

"Only to those who don't understand." Donnie chuckled. "I've just took our, um...acquired funds and spread them out. I've got everything from savings bonds to phoney 401k plans set up all over the place. There's always something there to fall back on if we need it."

Cris tilted her head as she looked at him. "How much are you actually talking about Donnie?"

This time he shrugged. "Oh, a few million by this point. I lost count."

Our eyes grew wide at that bit of info. "Well now..." Cris mumbled.

"Nevermind." Raph told her firmly. "It's just fine where it is."

"Can't use it there anyway Cris." Donnie chuckled. "There's just enough differences in our currencies to where ours would be useless in your world. It'd be like play money."

Cris sighed.

The rest of the evening passed by normally, with us just sitting around and shootin shit back and forth until two kiddos started yawning and getting cranky. Then I knew it was bedtime. It took a little bit to get the cake wound up sugar highs I call children to bed, but we finally managed. Even was able to get the twins settled down.

My birthday present was sitting on top of the dresser, seeming to sparkle in the soft glow of the night light we had in the room. I just placed the finally sleeping Lavi next to her brother with a gentle smile when Leo walked into the bedroom and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Got one last surprise for you." He murmured in my ear before he placed a kiss on my neck.

"Oh?"

He didn't answer, but took my hand and gently pulled me to the bathroom. The soft smell of lavender hit my nose as soon as he opened the door. I loved lavender. Inside I found a candle lit bathroom and a bubble bath waiting for me. I was seriously eyeing that warm bath...

I quickly found out that the bath wasn't the present, not entirely. Door had just closed behind me when he proceeded to strip me, then literally picked me up and carried me to the tub before putting me in it. I closed my eyes and sighed as I felt the warm water surround me. The temperature was perfect...

Leo knelt down next to the tub the he reached out and grabbed my sponge. I just raised a questioning eyebrow at him as he dipped it into the water. "Think you might be overdoing it a bit?"

"Nope." Was the answer as he poured some soap onto the sponge. Then he reached in with the other arm and lifted my leg up and began to gently wash it.

I gave up with that argument before I really even started. He was in that mood and he was going to get his way. I settled instead on leaning my head against the rim of the tub and closing my eyes. The combination of the lavender coming out of the water and his gentle movements on my body was actually very soothing and I let out a content sigh. This had been a pretty decent birthday. Better than the last one...

Even thinking about that one brought a couple of tears to my eyes and they managed to slip down my face before I could stop them. I wasn't the one who wiped them away though. "What's wrong dear heart?" Leo asked quietly.

I opened my eyes to see him watching me. "I...just remembered last years birthday is all." I told him. "It was completely different than today." He didn't say anything, but his eyes held mine.

I had known him around this time last year. We had even started our relationship by then. But we had been separated by other circumstances, because he had already gone home by then and Donnie hadn't come up with the portal yet. He hadn't been here for it. "I missed you so much that day... I missed you everyday."

Suddenly the loneliness I felt back then hit me and I sat up then reached out my wet, soapy arms for him and he answered that silent call. He was against me in a moment and I kissed him, hard, as my arms wrapped around his neck. He pulled me against him just as hard, his arms strong arms holding me close. After a few kisses I pulled my head away and buried my face in his neck, but we still held each other. "I'm here now Vicky." He reassured me. "I'll always be here. There won't be another birthday without me." His lips kissed my hair.

Once that brief episode had been calmed down, he laid me back down and finished what he had started. Every inch of me was thoroughly washed. He even washed my hair for crying out loud. By the time he was done I can honestly say his gentle hands had did their work very well. I was starting to doze off I was so relaxed.

It was with a large amount of regret that I finally climbed out of there and was quickly wrapped in a towel and dried off. I just let him. One reason I was too tired by now to fight it, and another was that he wouldn't listen. He was set on pampering me and he was going to do just that.

Finally, after being washed, dried, redressed and even having my hair brushed then braided, he carried me to bed and slid in right next to me. My eyes were drifting closed before he had even settled down and pulled me close to him. "Thank you..." I managed to mumble out to his amused chuckle "for everything. I love you Leo..."

"I love you too Vicky." He held me a bit tighter. "Happy Birthday."

I just smiled as I drifted off to sleep. Yes...it had been a happy birthday...