Title: Family and Fireworks

Author: vashsunglasses

Rating: K+

Fandom: Ninja Turtles

Disclaimer: TMNT belongs to Mirage.

Summary: Independence Day. One Shot. Post TMNT Movie. The Turtles and their closest family members watch the fireworks from April's roof and do some much needed family bonding.

Note: This is an Alternate version of the story in chapter one. It starts out the same but it ends entirely differently… Umm… I really couldn't help myself. I had to write it! The muses made me! Please don't throw any rotten fruit or vegetables at me!
It was Independence Day and April had invited the gang to join her in watching the fireworks from the roof of her building. She had been worried that they wouldn't accept her invitation, but the bright smiles that appeared on their faces told her that her fear had been in vain. Even Raphael had smiled a bit before remembering himself and covering his smile over with a scowl. She didn't have the heart to tell him that his smile still shone pure and true from his eyes.

It was chaos now, with turtles running around everywhere and herself trying to direct the chaos into some sort of movement towards bringing everything they needed to the rooftop. Despite the chaos, she couldn't help but grin. Finally, after everything having been so crazy over the past few years Leo was back, and it was safe enough to risk a party.

She had never felt happier, though it would be nice if Casey would actually help out a bit instead of sitting there like an oaf. "Casey!" she yelled, "Get off your lazy butt and take these chairs to the roof!"

Casey Jones rolled his eyes and stood up slowly, stretching out his muscles and turning off the television. "Hey Raph, help me with these chairs would ya?" Casey said, grabbing a heavy old metal folding chair under each arm and carrying them up the stairs to the roof of Second Time Around.

Raphael picked up the remaining five chairs, hooking them over his arms, and stomped up the stairs after him. Casey rolled his eyes when he saw him, "Show off!" he muttered.

"Pansy," Raph snapped in return. "It's not my fault you're such a wuss Case."

Casey unfolded his chairs and carefully positioned them towards where the fireworks would be going off. As he did so he thought that maybe wearing the Nightwatcher armor had given Raph the strength to carry so many chairs at once…

"Geeze, you're taking forever," Raph snapped, lowering his arms and allowing all the chairs he held to fall to the ground with a clatter.

"Hey jackass, you're a ninja! Stealth, remember?" Casey growled. Obviously being the Nightwatcher hadn't helped his best friend's patience any.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Raph said dismissively as he walked back to the stairwell.

"We've got the rest, Raph," Leo said as the two of them met at the head of the stairs. Leonardo was carrying a heavy cooler full of soft drinks and water.

"Let me help with that," Raph said, eyeballing the large cooler.

"I've got it," Leo replied.

"Let me help already!" Raph snapped, watching his brother's muscles twitch from the strain.

"I said I've got it," Leo replied coldly.

Raph opened his mouth to say something harsh, but the hurt look on Leo's face after he had broken his Ninjakin flashed through his mind, and he pulled back at the last moment. "Nevermind," he muttered, turning his back on his older brother and moving forward to claim a seat for himself.

Leonardo's eye ridge rose as he contemplated his retreating brother's shell. 'Since when does the thorn in my side, Hamato Raphael himself, back down from a challenge like that?' he thought pensively.

"Yo! Dude, you're holding up the line!" Michelangelo's frustrated whine floated up from behind him.

"Sorry!" Leonardo replied, moving out of the doorway to the stairwell and carrying the cooler to where the chairs were arranged. His muscles quivered and he wondered, 'Was this thing this heavy when I first picked it up?' He dropped it to the ground with a loud thump and glanced over towards where Raphael was sitting, sure he'd see him smirking back at him with that 'I told you so!' look on his face. But his brother hadn't even glanced in his direction.

He walked over to the chairs and stood in front of the chair next to Raph, "Is this seat taken?" he asked, looking into his brother's eyes.

Raphael stared at him coolly for a moment, then smirked slightly, "I was saving it for you, Fearless," he replied, waving his hand over the empty seat, "second best seat in the house."

"With yours being the first I take it?" Leonardo said dryly as he sat down.

"Nah, I saved the best seat for Master Splinter," he pointed to the chair on the other side of him that had a cushion placed upon it.

"And what makes my seat better than yours?" Leo asked curiously.

Raph rocked his chair back and forth, showing how wobbly it was. "Mine's missing a few of the rubber thingies on the legs," he said.

"Oh," Leo replied, momentarily taken aback, "Um thanks…"

Raph just shrugged.

"It's nice to see you two getting along!" Michelangelo exclaimed from behind them, leaning his head in between them with a grin, and slinging an arm around their shoulders.

"It's about time…" Donatello muttered icily as he walked past.

Michelangelo's grin slipped a little and he gave his purple wearing brother a calculating look. "Um, sorry to run off on you two like this," he said looking back at his two older brothers with his most innocent face, "but I've got… umm… very important and totally un-Donatello related things to do!" He pulled back and wandered over to where Don was setting up the card table.

"Hey Don!" Michelangelo said cheerfully.

"Hello Michelangelo," Donatello muttered as he kicked the one leg that just refused to straighten all the way.

"Umm, well I kind of-" Michelangelo started.

With one particularly vicious kick, the leg snapped into place and his brother flipped the table over so that it was upright. Then he leaned on it and leveled a glare at his little brother, "I thought you had, and I quote, 'very important and totally un-Donatello related things to do'."

"I do!" Michelangelo squeaked, fidgeting with his hands, "But I need your help to do them."

Donatello gave his brother a sardonic look, "Yeah, sure you do"

Mikey clasped his hands in front of his plastron and gave his best puppy dog face, "Please?"

Donatello gritted his teeth for a moment, showing the anger that had been more and more frequent lately, "You're going to keep bugging me until I say yes, aren't you?"

"Yeah, probably…" Mikey nodded firmly, though he had the decency to blush a bit at his stubbornness.

"Fine I'll help you," Donatello hissed in a way that made his brother jump. "And let me guess, these 'very important and totally un-Donatello related things to do' need to be done in the basement where it's out of earshot of everybody else. Am I right?"

Mikey's eyes widened and he laughed nervously.

"I thought so," Donatello said, walking around the table. "Well, we might as well get what this over with so we don't miss the fireworks."

The sun had almost set as the two brothers walked back across the roof and down into the stairwell. A few curious glances watched them as they went but neither one of them said a word as they disappeared from view. The trip down to the basement almost silent, with one brother seething and the other one humming nervously to himself.

The basement was dark when they entered it and Donatello fumbled with the light switch before flicking it on. The anger on his face quickly drained away into horror at what he saw. Before him lay several green organic looking pods containing April, Casey and… Michelangelo! He whipped around to see the thing that wore his brother's form grinning maliciously at him.

"You will be replaced, and your likeness will be used to further the purposes of my people," the thing that wasn't Michelangelo said in a strange echoing voice. It's hand shot out and grasped his arm and Donatello gasped as claws shot out of the fingertips and ripped through the flesh of his arm.

"No! he yelled out, struggling to pull away but already he felt himself weakening, fading.

"Resistance is futile, turtle. My claws contain a neurotoxin which is paralyzing your nervous system as we speak," it said with a sneer.

Donatello fell to his knees and his vision tilted and faded out as he fell, paralyzed but still conscious, to the floor.

Several minutes later two beings who wore the forms of turtles walked back out onto the roof just as the fireworks began. They smiled knowingly at the two beings who wore the forms of humans, and then grinned innocently at the two turtles and rat who looked over at them with questions in their eyes.

Note: Pod People! Bwahahahahahahaha!