One Hand Clapping

by Stormy1x2

Caseycentric. Our favorite vigilante learns not all battles can be fought with a baseball bat, and that accepting a helping hand can be the hardest thing of all to do. Implied Casey and April. Long fic, angst, turtle friendship and more.

5. Chapter 5

Title: One Hand Clapping

Author: Stormy1x2 (travelingstorm)

Words (fic portion) for chapter 5: 4731 (approx 12 OpenOffice pages) --okay, I thought it would be longer, but it was at the perfect cut-off point.

Rating: PG13 for language

Pairing: Mention of April/Casey, Casey's mom/dad

Summary: Book 1. Casey learns not all battles can be won with a hockey stick, and April, and the TMNT learn there's more to their so-called 'simple' friend then they ever dreamed.

Notes: Once again beta'd by Red Rebel to whom I owe a million thank you's. The guys do appear in the final third of the fic. :)

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Casy sat down hard on the sofa, still staring at the Shell Cell out in the open. Ever since the day his mother had told him she'd seen Leo and Splinter in the barn, he'd known this day would eventually come. He just wasn't planning on that time being now.

Like I don't have enough stress in my life as it is, he thought a tad bitterly. It seemed like things wanted to start snowballing on him, piling up, one on top of the other until he couldn't see. Which is when I'll trip and fall flat on my ass.

It seemed taboo to even consider mentioning the guys. He'd been lectured and admonished about secrecy and stealth and fading into the bloody shadows without a trace so many times he could probably deliver Splinter's favorite speech verbatim. And did he even have the right to tell his mother anything? It wasn't his story- well, except the bits that starred him personally, but then, telling those wouldn't make much sense if she didn't have the back story that went with it.

He wondered if telling the story in place of Master Splinter made him a usurper. The elderly rat did not want his sons actively advertising their existence, but when up-worlders did learn of them, he had always been the one to speak of their origin- such as they themselves knew it. Casey blew out a breath. There had been a lot of revelations- a lot of changes to the turtles origin story since Casey had first heard the abridged version nearly two years ago. Half of the changes he himself only heard about in stories himself- the guys had a habit of falling into adventures too quick to even fire off a call for additional backup.

He was drifting off into his mind again. He wasn't sure how that was possible with the guarded entry standing watch. His mother was still sitting there, waiting for him to start rattling off everything he knew, as he always had as a kid. There was absolutely no defense for one of his mother's patented tell-me-now looks. Even at that very moment, her blue eyes were like twin lasers, pinning him in place and refusing to let him escape. He glanced at her quickly, wondering if she was seriously going to force him to metaphorically spill his guts right then and there. Adelina's chin lifted at his gaze, and the light from the table lamp glinted off the metal fames of her glasses, giving her a particularly foreboding look.

"Arnold?"

Oh yes. She was definitely serious. Casey sighed again, rolling his shoulders, trying to ease some of the tenseness from his muscles. It's not fair, he pouted to himself. The guys discovered me and I'm the one in the hotseat!

"It's..kinda a long story ma," he muttered. Still stiff, he brought one hand up in an attempt to massage out the clumps of granite masquerading as muscles in his neck. It was like trying to mold solid steel. "Honest, I ain't exactly sure where to start."

"Try the beginning, dear," she advised dryly. "I find it tends to help keep things in order."

Casey gave her a mild glare which didn't phase her in the slightest, and then returned his eyes to the floor, still mulling over how- and precisely what- to tell her. "Ease off a bit ma- it's not an easy story to tell!" Maybe I can buy some time...Stalling was an art form he used to have mastered as a child. She might cut him some slack.

Adelina shrugged, and tilted her head to the side. "Then I'll help start you off. I did see a large turtle and a giant rat in the barn last year?"

Then again, maybe not. Obviously there would be no coddling of the Case-man that eveningCasey nodded hesitantly. "Leonardo and Master Splinter."

"Huh?"

"Their names," Casey clarified, raising his voice. "The turtle wearing the blue bandanna was Leo, and the rat was his master, Splinter."

His mother arched an eyebrow. "Master?"

"Ninja Master. Leo's his star student. And his son," Casey thought to add on.

"...I assume you mean his adopted son, yes?" Adelina asked, a tad faintly. Casey nodded. "I see. But the...turtle, I saw on your--" she stopped, and waved at the communicator sitting on Casey's bag.

"Shell Cell."

"--Shell Cell. Okay. The turtle I saw on the screen had a red bandanna."

It was just like her to be so observant.

"That's my pal, Raphael. He's Leo's brother- the two of them don't get on so good sometimes, but they come through in a pinch." Casey was breathing very slowly and evenly. A quiet kind of calm had settled over the living room, covering the two of them, and Casey was waiting for the bomb to drop. His mother continued to sit there, staring at him. Her glasses were still reflecting part of the light, which made it very hard for Casey to see her eyes.

"Brothers?"

"Yeah. There's actually four of them." Casey waited another minute, and then gave up. The only option left would be to lie, and his mother would see through him faster then Mikey could scarf down a deluxe pizza combo. "Leo's the leader, Raph's kinda like the second-in-command. Well, he would be if he controlled his temper more- heh, look at me," Casey chuckled. He certainly was one to talk about tempers. "Anyway, they got two other brothers. Donatello's the smart guy- you should see the stuff this guy whips up! He's got the purple bandanna. Mikey's the one in orange. I think they're all around the same age but Raph keeps telling me Mikey's the baby of the group. He's a real goof, but in a cute, little kid kinda way, ya know?" Casey couldn't stop a smile from playing over his face as he spoke of the four warriors he was proud to call brothers, as they did him. "They used to be regular little pet-store turtles until they fell down the sewers. Some green ooze got all over them and they mutated. Made 'em bigger, smarter, stronger."

"And the rat?" Adelina's voice was still calm, even.

"Splinter, he was a pet of this ninja master and learned how to to fight. His master was killed, and Splinter wound up in the sewers. He found the turtles, got slime on himself and then mutated too. He taught the guys how to fight to defend themselves."

Adelina stared at him, digesting what he'd rattled off in a fit of nervousness. Casey stared right back, hoping that the spartan explanation he'd given her would be enough to let him off the hook. Then she leaned forward, an interested gleam in her eyes, and Casey gave an internal groan, knowing he was completely and totally stuck. He really should have known better.

"So how did you meet them? How does April know them? Why were they here at the farmhouse? Did they have something to do with the alien invasion?" She reached out and poked her son in the chest. Hard. "Start talking kiddo."

Casey winced and rubbed the spot. It was going to be a very long night.

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Splinter didn't say anything.

Raphael swallowed nervously. Okay, so maybe his voice wasn't talking, but the elderly rats body language was screaming volumes at him. His arms were folded, one clawed finger rapping against his kimono-clad arm. His tail was tapping out a steady rhythm against the cemented floors of the lair. Raphael had tried to meet his master's eyes and had been beaten down by the intensity of his gaze.

Crud.

"How was I s'posed to know that Casey'd leave his Shell Cell just lying around?" he burst out suddenly, still glaring at the floor. His hands tightened into fists, an automatic defensive response. "He's always been real careful before!"

Splinter raised one furry eyebrow at his son. "Why were you calling Mr Jones?" He asked mildly.

Raphael sighed, and seemed to slump inwards, just a bit. "Nothing. No reason." His fingers twitched in agitation, and he ran a finger along one of his sai, drawing comfort from the cool steel.

"Raphael."

He winced at the commanding tone in Splinter's voice. It was the tone that said, 'do as I say', a tone Splinter did not use very often, unless he was concerned for their safety. Either way, Raphael was conditioned to respond to it, as all his brothers were.

"It's stupid," he muttered. "That idiot hasn't checked in with us in days, and I was just...I was..."

"Concerned?"

Raphael blinked as his master came forward two steps, bridging the distance between the. He rested a wrinkled hand on his shoulder. Raphael met Splinter's eyes. "Huh?"

"You are worried for your friend," Splinter said quietly, a small smile creasing his face. His eyes were warm and full of pride. "It is admirable for you to show such concern for his well-being."

Raphael had the distinct feeling that if he could blush, he'd be cherry-red right about then. "Geez, Master Splinter, you make me sound like a freakin' pansy or somethin'."

His master's smile grew slightly larger. "You are not a ...pansy, my son. I have always known the caring side of you to exist, even when you denied it to the very best of your ability. These recent years have shown an improvement in your temper, and a considerable lowering of your walls, my son. I believe Miss O'Neil and Mr Jones have played a large role in this."

If Mikey was listening outside Master Splinter's bedroom, Raphael was going to have to drown him in the pool. He would not be able to live knowing Mikey had heard Splinter talking about him softening up.

"Yeah, okay," he muttered uncomfortably. "So you're not mad that I got caught by his mother?"

Splinter sighed, and tugged absently on the tuft of fur at the end of his muzzle, an act he often did when he was thinking over the various situations his sons seemed to get into. "I am not mad, Raphael. It was an unforeseen event. I am just trying to decide on the best course of action."

Raph snorted. "If she's as on the ball as you and Leo say she is, then she's gonna figure out what she saw real quick. After that, Donnie says any hope of us remaining undiscovered will depend on Casey's ability to lie to his mother."

Splinter's widened at that, and then one hand came up to cover his face, massaging the point right between his eyes. "If that is the case, then I suspect we had best prepare ourselves for an eventual introduction."

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Casey's throat hurt.

I want to go and get a glass of water, he thought reasonably to himself. All I have to do is stand up, walk to the kitchen. Get a glass and pour myself some from the Britta in the fridge. Simple.

It was a simple task, well-thought out and planned in his mind. The only thing that remained was for him to get up and execute it.

Uh-uh, no no no way, no how.

He sat there, perched on the edge of the sofa. The silence that had fallen over the room earlier was now like lead weight pressing down on him. He was afraid to move, to shatter the stillness. His mother was still sitting across from him on the sofa, staring at him blankly.

Maybe I broke her?

His story about the guys had been a long one. Casey hadn't bothered keeping track of the time, but he did know that it was very late and that he had been talking for a very, very long time. His throat was an aching testament to that.

His mother initially had a hundred questions, but once Casey had started speaking, she had stopped asking them, instead focusing on him with one hundred percent concentration. It had been... unnerving, to say the least. Casey shifted uncomfortably in his seat, freezing as his mother absently tracked the movement, before returning to her silent contemplation of his words.

Maybe I shouldn'a told her about nearly getting drowned by the invisible ninjas, he thought anxiously. Or maybe getting caught in that tidal wave and nearly drowning the time me an' April an' Splinter were trying to find the guys. The thought hit him that he'd had a lot of near-drowning experiences since meeting the turtles. He figured it must be because they were turtles. If they were half-human and half-monkeys, I'd probably have concussions from falling out of trees.

Then of course, there was the stories about the fact that there had been aliens among them even before the Triceratons had invaded, looking exactly like typical humans, but actually being robots with talking brains in their stomachs. That was enough to unsettle anyone.

Maybe he had been right with his very first thought, and that was that he should have let Master Splinter handle it. Sure, people had a habit of fainting the first time he revealed himself, but then they all seemed fine. Besides, I didn't faint, and Ma's tougher then I'll ever be.

Slightly nervous, he aimed another look towards his mother- and squawked as she suddenly loomed in his field of vision. One of her hands shot out with the speed of an attacking cobra and latched on to the front of his tank top, twisting, and yanking him closer to her.

"You are the vigilante they talked about on T.V?" she growled ominously.

Casey swallowed hard as he noticed the detailed muscles of her arms flexing. This does not bode well, he decided. "Uh...yes?"

The hand gripping his short suddenly let go, but before he could sigh in relief, the hand came back, this time backhanding across the face with the sound of a whip crack echoing throughout the living room. A faint sound of surprise escaped him as he fell back against the sofa cushion, one hand pressed against his jaw.

"MA?" He spluttered in shock. "What the heck was that for?"

"I've seen the news reports," she snarled. "I've seen how many of those Dragon guys you've apparently taken on. And now I suddenly know why our hospital insurance is taking such a beating. How many times have you been hurt, Arnold? Nearly killed?"

"It ain't as bad as you're making this out to be," Casey protested, still pressing himself into the cushions in an attempt to keep some distance between them. It didn't seem to be working his mother seemed to have filled his entire range of vision, glowering malevolently at him while she did so. "I'm still here, ain't I?"

"Yes. By the grace of God and who knows what else!" she snapped.

"Well, if by 'God', you mean 'turtles', then I guess you have a point." Casey rubbed his jaw, feeling a pout starting to form on his face. He hadn't had his face smacked like that in years- well, unless one counted the beating Hun gave him way back when he'd kept Angel out of the Dragon gang. Which he didn't. Hun was a chump. "I know how to handle myself, Ma."

"You could have been killed!" she insisted, still glaring at him. "You could have been killed, and I would have been the one the cops called to tell me that my son was beaten to death in some alley--" she stopped suddenly, her face draining of color so quickly it was like someone had pulled her biological plug.

Alarmed, Casey leaned forward, one hand reaching out to her. "Ma?"

She grabbed his outstretched hand and yanked him forward. Casey had a brief moment of, "Huh?" before she let go and her arms suddenly shot out, wrapping around his neck with the strength of a python subduing its prey. Unsure of what to do, Casey awkwardly returned the embrace, hugging her gently. Of all the reactions he had expected to be confronted with, this wasn't entirely what he'd expected.

"Ma..."

"You could have been killed," she repeated quietly. No dramatic sobs, no melodrama for his mother. Casey was eternally thankful for that. "Do you have any idea what that would do to me, Arnold Casey Jones? To be told my son was killed by Dragon gang members just like his father?" She pulled back and looked him straight in the face, eyes burning with something old and painful that was hard for Casey to look at. "It would have killed me. Forget this damned disease, I'd already be dead."

Her hands were still gripping his shoulders. Casey brought his up to cover them, and then brought them back down in between them, feeling the tense stiffness to them -extra stress she didn't need, caused by him. He took a minute to compose himself, and then returned her searching gaze.

"I know," he said finally, just as quietly as she had spoken. "I know Ma. I knew then, but I couldn't make myself stop. I was so angry that I couldn't focus on anything but paying the Dragons back for what they did. I couldn't move past Dad's death- couldn't feel anything except anger." He sighed, and then despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't stop a small smile from forming. "That's when I met Raphael."

"The red one." Short. Curt.

Casey grinned. "Yeah, the 'red one'. Raph had a temper that could rival mine- still does, actually. We both do." The grin disappeared, leaving behind a somber, thoughtful expression. "His family have helped him get control of it over the years, and he was the one who made me see what my actions were doing to myself. I owe a lot to him and his family. They've gotten me out of a few situations where I would have been seriously hurt without them."

"Like the invisible ninjas."

"Yeah." Casey rubbed his face tiredly. "Like the invisible ninjas. And the Triceratons. And the Foot. And every other situation New York's come under and survived through."

His mother was still staring at him, still pale, faint traces of some emotion Casey couldn't quite pinpoint flashing through her eyes. He was still gripping her hands, he noticed, and made to let go, but she stopped him, holding on tightly. Her thumb rubbed roughly over the faint remnant of a particularly nasty scar Hun had left as a present on Casey's hand. It was just one of many, and he could see her eyes moving past his hands, up his arms, where even more scars littered his skin, fading with age, but not quite disappearing altogether.

"'That's quite the story you told me," she said at last. "Mutants, and aliens, and villains, battles and duels. And you and April, right in the middle of it all."

"We try to help, but me, I'm not so good at the whole ninja stealth thing," Casey shrugged. "April's picking it up pretty quick though."

"But you still...stick your neck out," she said, tracing a deep slicing wound near his shoulder with her eyes. "You could back out at any time. Why didn't you?" She tilted her head, looking at him, as though searching for something. "You could have come home."

The last bit was phrased as a statement but Casey knew his mother, and could hear the unspoken, 'why didn't you?' Luckily, he had an answer for that. "I couldn't run out on the guys," Casey said immediately. It was something he didn't need to to think twice about. "I may not be a ninja, but I got my own skills. I've taken on Shredder's elite ninja and got a few shots in. I helped Splinter and April find Bishop's hideout. I've fought beside them, I've laughed with them, I've cried with them and god damn it, I'll keep doing it." His fists clenched. "There's always something Ma. It's like this friggin' city is cursed- all the bad stuff centers here and the guys are always the ones who jump to its defense, without backup. No National Guard, no cops, not even the freakin' Justice Force gives 'em a hand, and they have their pretty, government-sponsored base right in the middle of the city!" He took a deep breath. "I'm not much more then a petty thug with an armory of sports equipment." His head snapped up suddenly, and gave his mother a look loaded with all the intensity he could muster. "But I'll back 'em up and protect my city until the day some punk gets lucky and knocks me off. And that's that."

He was breathing rather heavily, he noticed with some surprise. His fists were still clenched, and he relaxed them with some difficulty. His gaze dropped away from his mother's face, and he flinched slightly as she reached out again, awaiting the fallout from his little outburst.

He was completely flabbergasted when her hand gripped his jaw very gently, and turned his face to meet hers again. She was still pale, and looked almost as tired as he did, but there was a tiny smile on her face.

"I'm very proud of you, Arnold. Casey." The smile grew. "My son. You are every bit the man your father was, and then some."

Casey choked, and suddenly his arms were wrapped around her shoulders, squeezing her almost as tightly as she had him, but she didn't make him loosen up. Dry sobs escaped his throat as he trembled in her arms, not wanting to let go.

He hadn't realized what a big deal it was to hide a secret like his from his mother- until he no longer had to hide it. The weight on his shoulders he'd been carrying had been almost invisible- something he'd become so accustomed to that it had been second nature to him. In telling her the story- every detail, every hardship, every victory and every defeat- he had slowly revealed the heavy weight of his secret to himself, sinking further and further beneath it with every sentence out of his mouth.

Her words were simple. Basic. Things he theoretically already knew, as every child deep down knows on some level that their parents love them and are proud of them. But hearing them is a lot different from simply knowing, and they put wings on Casey's burdensome lies and whisked the strain away, leaving Casey feeling lighter then he had in a very long time.

He snuffled a bit, and drew back, wiping his arm across his face. "I can't believe you're taking this so well," he said roughly, trying to achieve some semblance of normal.

Hos mother smiled at him. "Son, I didn't freak out the first time I saw your...friends. Since then, I've seen at least one of the alien invasions myself first hand. I sat down to watch the evening news and saw the city of Beijing fly off the freaking planet." She cocked her head to one side, smirking a bit. "What made you think I'd start panicking now?"

Casey blinked. "I...I don't know. 'Cause most people would?"

"I am not most people," she sniffed, a hint of her old arrogance coming out. "Thank your lucky stars for that too, kiddo."

Casey nodded fervently.

Suddenly his mother blinked comically, and Casey sat up, concerned that maybe the shock was starting to hit her all of a sudden. "Ma?"

"You mean there are green Sasquatches living in our backyard?"

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"Casey's mother saw you," April repeated. Still rubbing her head with a towel- Mikey's idea of a post-spar cool down involved dunking the participants in the pool- she poked her face out to meet Raph's sheepish gaze. "'Attila the Mum' saw you, and knows for sure you exist?"

Raph snickered at her choice of words for Casey's mother, but nodded again. "Yep."

"And we're not all panicking becaaaaaaauuuusse...?"

"Because there is no point," Leonardo said, walking up to them, with Mikey in tow. Actually, with Mikey in a headlock. April wasn't the only one who had been surprise dunked. "After all, she already saw me and Splinter. It was a matter of time before she found out everything- I mean, it's Casey."

"Watch it bro," Raph said, a tad defensively. Leo's tone was bordering on insulting.

Leo held up a placating hand. "Sorry. I just mean, did we really expect Casey to lie to his mother? Convincingly lie? I don't think he can, nor do I believe he would want to."

"So whatta we do now?" Mikey asked. Wiggling his fingers, he drove them into Leo's side, making his leader yelp at the ticklish feeling, and let go of his head. Mikey zipped away, and reappeared on the other side of Raphael, apparently counting on his big brother to protect him from the Wrath of the Redhead and the Fearless One. "Do we do anything about this?"

"All we can do is wait for the fallout," Leonardo said, shrugging. April looked like she was about to say something, when all of a sudden, her Shell Cell beeped out from her purse. Everyone froze.

April walked over to her pile of gear and pulled her Shell Cell out of her purse and flipped it open. "Casey?"

"Yo April." Casey's face appeared on the tiny screen, his voice tinny and hollow-sounding. "I interrupting somethin'?" His brow wrinkled in confusion. "You go swimmin'?"

"It hadn't been on the agenda, but yes, Mikey made sure Leo and I enjoyed the pool tonight," she said dryly, shooting the aforementioned turtle a dirty look. Mikey made a 'who, me?' face. "How are you and your mother doing?"

"...better." Casey looked a little embarrassed. "Did you hear what happened? I mean about the Raph and the Shell Cell?"

"About how your mother saw him?" April nodded, a wry grin on her lips. "Oh yes, that's old news on this home front."

The ex-vigilante looked vaguely embarrassed. He had one hand tucked behind his head, rubbing it awkwardly. "Well...I kinda had to do some explaining to my mother."

"How much explaining?" Leo asked, sticking his head around April's shoulder.

Casey blanched at the sight of him. "Well..."

"'Fess up, Case-meister!" Mikey chimed in, peering around April's other side with a grin.

He sighed and gave it to them straight. "...All of it."

"All of it?" Leo blinked, shocked.

"All of it," Casey confirmed.

"All of it?" April repeated in disbelief.

"All of it." Casey nodded his head emphatically.

Mikey grinned mischievously. "All of MMPH?--"

Raph's hand slammed across Mikey's mouth and he used his other one to give him a light whack upside the back of his head. "He said 'all of it', you guys. Can we move past that now?"

"Define 'all of it'," Leo ordered, eyes looking strangely hard and tense. Casey sighed.

"Well...I started with the Dragons, and meeting Raph, and then meeting alla'ya, the foot, the Invisible Ninjas, Shredder, April's place exploding, and then there was the Utrom building we broke into and the Utroms themselves, finding Bishops place, and that whole mess." Casey scowled. "She already knew about the Triceraton invasion--"

"Obviously," Raph said, rolling his eyes. Like there was a way to hide a full-scale invasion by a race of gigantic alien dinosaurs.

"--then there was the Green Man- Ma wants to go find them and see for herself now- and the bird-dudes and--"

"--so basically, everything," Leo said, cutting Casey off in mid-sentence. One hand crept up to rub his bandanna between his eyes.

Casey nodded, looking vaguely apologetic. "I'm sorry Leo," he said with a shrug. "But she's my ma, ya know? I can't lie to her, especially when she already knew about you to a point. Trying to keep a secret from her is like trying to keep a kid from sneaking downstairs to see Santa Claus."

"We know, Casey." Leonardo tried to smile reassuringly at the ex-vigilante. "We knew this would probably happen the minute Raphael told us what happened."

"So how'd she take it?" Raph asked, interested.

Casey rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "The thing is...well, after hearing about all that stuff...well, now, she, uh, wants to meet you." He ducked his head, sheepishly.

Silence ensued, lasting only until Mikey let out an excited whoop, flailing his arms, making April jump and Leo start.

"Roadtrip!"

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Notes: It was brought to me attention that there were a few small details I goofed over in Chapter 2 regarding Adelina's treatment. Moonbeam, from Stealthy Stories, was kind enough to provide me with links to more promising information, and I will try to rectify the errors in future chapters. Until then, please refer to the 'oops' as creative licensing, 'kay? Apparently it wasn't a huge error- one that only people involved in similar situations would really pick up on. If you didn't notice anything wrong, well, disregard this and enjoy the next bit.

Also, if the idea of a road trip seems a little...rushed, well you're right. All I can say is wait and see what happens next chapter - which is finished, and is being beta'd. I promise to avoid as many cliches as possible.

Again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. The more reviews I get, the faster I write because I then feel obligated. Use that as you see fit. :) Especially considering chapter 7 is nothing but an outline right now...heh. ;