Leo was on her fire escape now and then he knocked.

Marla knew Leo's knock signal.

"Come in." she said.

Leo opened the window and climbed in, making sure he wasn't being watched, then closed the window and curtains.

"Hi, Leo. I see you got my message." Marla said.

"Yes. Mikey told me you wanted to see me." Leo replied.

"Leo, we have to get this sorted out. If you'll let me explain."

"Yes, I know. I have been missing you, but I just needed some time to think. That just hurt me when it felt like you abandoned me on our wedding night." Leo said.

"I know. It felt wrong to do it, but there is something I need to confess." Marla said. "I know you'll be upset when you hear it, but you have to hear me out."

"Alright." Leo said and took a seat on her couch.

Marla went and sat down on her chair across from the couch. She knew he was at odds with her at the moment.

"Okay, here's what really happened. I know I lied about my mom being sick, but my brother and I did go spend time with her. There was a once in a lifetime offer for a cruise and we couldn't afford to miss it. And the leaving time had been the same day as our wedding day. We went on a cruise from New York to Florida for that week. But also I wanted to go on it as some payback too." Marla explained.

Leo had listened intently until he heard that. "Payback? For what?"

"You remember all those times when I tried to get you to make love to me and you wouldn't because of that marriage rule? Well, some people can't always afford that rule. But I know we could have, but it just disappointed me so much. Going away was also to disappoint you when you felt you finally wanted to do it and the other party didn't want to. I guess I just wasn't ready that night. It felt more like a party day and didn't want to do it that night anyway after all the partying had worn me out. I just wanted to get away. But I still do wear my ring, at least when I'm not around my mom."

"She would ask me who I was married to and be mad she wasn't invited, but it has to be a secret from her. She wouldn't understand that I wasn't married to a human man. She was never married before she had me and Carlos and that's why I was up for sex before marriage." Marla explained. "And after all the disappointing times I tried, I wanted to get back at you for that. It's not something I want to do again, but I just felt I had to this time."

"And while you were on that cruise, you never hooked up with anyone, did you?" Leo asked.

"No. I just stuck with my family. We were there for the adventure and family time. I wish you could have been there to see it, but I knew you couldn't."

"I've seen a nice adventure down in Central America and that was the loneliest time of my life. But, back to that, I just felt it would have been better to wait until after our wedding. We didn't have to do it that night, if you didn't want to. I was worn out too from the day's events, but I was willing to give it a go if you had been. You had seemed like you wanted to and I tried hard to make myself ready for you, but when I found you weren't there when I came to spend time with you, that really hurt. I thought you would be back soon, but you never came back at all, at least not while I was there and now I know why. I didn't do much other than my usual habits while I was there and didn't feel like eating much. I only truly ate when I was brought back home by April a week later." Leo explained.

"I was an emotional wreck. I was worried about you and us. I knew we were close before the wedding, but then, you pulled that stunt. You stood me up on our honeymoon. And now, you're back at work and who knows when we'll head back to the farmhouse. But you could have told me about the cruise and we could have moved the wedding until afterward."

"I know what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry, Leo, but like I said, it's just, someone like me can only stand so many disappointments. It was just that one thing though that I was mad about. Everything else is just fine about you. I'm willing to make it up to you and we can have our own little honeymoon right here, if you're willing?" Marla asked.

"I don't know. You have neighbors above and below."

"It's better than being at the lair with your brothers to spy on us. It couldn't be better than right here."

"Marla, I'm glad you finally talked to me and told me the truth about where you were, and I still love you, but right now just isn't a good time for me. You are going to have to earn back my trust from what you did." Leo said.

"I'll do anything, Leo. But can I ask, you do still wear your wedding ring, right?"

"Yes, when I'm not training and not out of the lair."

"You do still think of me as your wife right, and not just a friend?"

"We may be married, but right now, the phrase of that just doesn't seem to comply. Like I said, we'll work back up to it." Leo said. "Well, it's nice we worked this out, but I think I have to go now. I'll call you up and we'll get together again soon."

Leo went over to the curtains and opened them. Marla followed him.

"Leo, wait." She said.

He turned.

"Can I at least get a hug? I did miss you too."

"Alright."

Marla went over and hugged him. He put his arms around her to let her know that he still loved her. But they had to work their trust back to each other.

Before they pulled apart, Marla kissed him on the cheek.

Leo gave a little smile. "I'll see you later."

"Am I still allowed in the lair for training?"

"Yes. You can still come and do that, but just be aware that the others are still upset at you." Leo said.

"Well, I still want to be around your family too. Facing them is the only way we'll all get past this." she said.

"True, but just watch yourself right now, especially with Raph."

"I know how to stand up to him, Leo. I'm not afraid of him."

"Well, he took it pretty hard that you had hurt me that way. He thought you had betrayed us."

"I didn't outright betray you. It was some payback, but I would never betray your secret or anything."

"I know. Well, you can come by when you feel like training again. And we'll have to work on our relationship some more before we try to head down that road again." Leo said and left through the window. "Just call before you come."

"You know I do." Marla said, then she closed the window and curtains, then locked it.

Then she went into her room and destroyed her romantic setting by hitting the candles everywhere. She cleaned off the rose buds off her bed onto the floor and flung herself on the bed. She couldn't help the crying that started. She had hoped she could get him to forgive her and though he had seemed to, it still didn't seem like it to her.

She seemed to cry until she had nothing left to cry out. She cried herself to sleep that night.

…

She didn't go to the lair for the next two days. Leo never called her. She was at least hoping for that.

But on the third day, she did call so she could come down and train with him and his bros. Leo approved.

Don and Raph were still quite disappointed in her. Mikey was alright with being around her. Leo was still a little elusive being around her.

Leo assigned Marla to work out with Mikey. Don and Raph faced off. Leo then faced off against Raph.

For the next several days, Leo avoided sparring with Marla and always had his brothers sparring with her. He was still barely talking to her.

At one point, when not sparring, she was going to stay for dinner, and she got curious about the bedroom and went up to see what it looked like now. When she entered Leo's room while he was with his father, she saw the new bed in his room that was now their room, with the double bed.

Marla had been shocked that she hadn't been told of this. But she was sure she knew why. She went over and laid down on it to test it for comfort.

When she was on the bed, she felt it was quite comfortable and she found Leo's scent on it. It made her snuggle his pillow. It made her want to have him all the more, but him wanting her was up to him.

But she didn't stay in the bed long. She was going to wait for Leo to say she could be in there with him. She went home to her own lonely bed.

At her apartment, she had a dream of her and Leo making love and snuggling and kissing and doing what they should be doing as lovers. But when she woke up, she found it was too good to be true.

…..

Not long after that, one night, when Marla got home from her job, she found some burglars had broken in and were still in the process of taking her things out, but stopped when she saw them.

Marla saw the evil intentions in their eyes. She had to remember her training to avoid their trouble.

There were four advancing on her and though they were bigger and stronger than her, she managed to beat them, but not before the strongest one who got a hold of her left arm and when she had kicked him away, he had managed to snap a bone in her left arm.

The robbers went packing, but now, Marla was left with a serious injury, leaving her crying and in pain. She thought about calling the turtles, but then, she didn't know if they cared about her anymore.

She had her neighbor, a woman, drive her to the emergency room to have the bone fixed.

When she got home the next morning, her left arm was in a cast and sling. She wasn't going to be training in that condition. She was glad her neighbor had been there for her.

But now, preparing for work and all was a big problem with only one good arm. But she didn't dare call the turtles, their allies, or her family to help her. She felt she didn't deserve it and knew they would ask uncomfortable questions about what happened.

She went to work and explained to them what happened, but she was fine on her own.