Hey y'all!
I'm disappointed in you fans! IceCreamPopStar and I haven't been getting ANY reviews for these lightning fast updates we've been doing!
Reward the authors!
Leave reviews!
WE ENJOY IT! (cuz we have nothing better to do with our lives…)
Chapter 9
Raph's POV
We raced across the rooftops in the cool night air. As we headed toward the heart of the city where the Purple Dragon punks had been spotted, my mind was spinning with thoughts; all of them concerning Eleana.
First off, I couldn't believe how Donnie had been acting around her lately. It was hard to admit that he did act like myself during his season, but with Eleana around, it was a whole different story. He was being a total smartass with his remarks, and I couldn't stand the way he'd get close to her in front of me just to be douche. In fact, I still couldn't get my head around the fact that Donnie even liked Eleana at all. I mean, there was no reason not to…she was smart, beautiful, funny, sweet…
I wanted to kick myself. Who wouldn't have fallen for her? Those were all the reasons I felt the way I did. I couldn't help but be overprotective. I wanted her to be mine and only mine. I was lucky though, had Bre not been around, Leo would've probably been into her too. Mikey…well he wasn't mature enough. End of story.
Then there were Master Splinter's visions. Something in my gut told me that Eleana was in trouble, and whatever she'd dreamt about had been a premonition, and not just any old nightmare. What scared me even more was not the fact that she was in danger, something that killed me enough as it was, but the fact that I was just as much as risk as getting hurt as she was. Something was coming, and according to the screaming in Eleana's nightmare, I might die trying to protect her…
"…So how's the research coming, Don?" Leo asked as we ran. I tuned back into the real world to hear Donnie's smug response.
"Eleana and I haven't come up with much yet, but I have to say, she's amazed me with her level of intelligence." I glanced at Don out of the corner of my eye and found him glaring at me. "And I'm sure she could amaze me with a lot of other things."
"Don that's not what I—"
I didn't give Leo a chance to finish. Donnie's crude remark had pushed me over the edge and I charged him, pinning him against an air conditioning unit by the throat.
"Alright, asswipe, that took a lot of balls!" I hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't ya dare talk about Eleana like that!"
"Ooh looks like I struck a nerve with that one didn't I?" Don teased cruelly. "What, Raphael, afraid I got somewhere with her before you did?"
"THAT'S IT!" I shouted and wound up to punch in square in the face. I felt Leo's strong grip on both my arms as he pulled me off of Don. Then he grabbed us both by the backs of our necks and shoved us toward the glass steeple protruding from the center of the building.
"WOULD YOU BOTH KNOCK IT OFF?" He yelled angrily. "LOOK AT YOURSELVES!" Leo shoved us at our reflections again so we could see all three pairs of hormonally darkened eyes. "Our seasons are getting the best of us. We can't do this. We might hurt one of the girls!"
Shockingly, Don broke free of Leo's grasp and shoved him hard. "Shut the FUCK up, Leo! You've got Bre ALL to yourself! If only you knew what it was like to have to fight someone off for a girl!" He gave me another hard shove and I restrained from knocking his lights out.
"GUYS!" Mikey yelled. The three of us glanced at him, who looked just about ready to jump in and tear us off of one another. "Maybe I haven't been hit with a dose of the wants yet, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's obvious who likes who, but we can't let the dudettes come between us. I see Bre and Eleana as lil' sisters and I'm fine with that, but you gotta control yourselves! Dating 101, you let the girl choose who she wants to be with, and don't come on too strong…or so I've heard…"
Leo, Donnie, and I all took deep breaths before straightening from our attack positions. Leo slapped Mikey's back in a kind of big-brotherly-love way and smirked. "Once again you've straightened us out, Mikey. I'm proud of you." Mikey grinned the cheesiest grin I'd ever seen and beamed at Leo.
I turned to Don. "Look Don, it's clear we both got feelings for Eleana, but Mikey's right. We gotta let her choose and we definitely can't kill each other over her. I'm sorry for attacking ya. But come on man, enough with the behind my back shit and the comments."
Don sighed and ran his hand over the back of his neck. I could see his eyes clearing. "I know I know, I'm sorry, too. It's just the season. This isn't me. Alright, Eleana's fair game. We let her choose."
"And for all we know it, Bre and Eleana might not even be ready for relationships. It's too soon after they ended things with their fiancés."
"EX-fiancés." Don and I said together, exchanging an awkward glance.
"Dudes, I'm sure there's a lot of junk we're all not ready for… Look…" Mikey said from the edge of the rooftop and simply pointed. Rushing over, Leo, Donnie, and I joined him to find the NYC Museum of History crawling with Foot Ninjas. Around the doorways and main entrances were clearly Purple Dragon punks breaking and entering.
"Well boys, their playing our song." I snickered and took a dive off of the ledge of the building.
"Don't quote Hellboy just 'cause you're the one in red!" Mikey called after me as the rest followed close behind.
We watched the museum silently from the rooftop of a department store building across the street.
"What are they up to now…" Leo mumbled as we watched Foot diving in through windows and Purple Dragons entering the building in packs.
"It looks like they're looting the place," Don replied. "Not an out-of-the-ordinary thing for them."
"Yeah but why the hell are the Purple Dragons and Foot workin' togetha?" I asked. I strained my eyes to look at the activity at the front doors of the museum. Another pack of Purple Dragons stalked inside carrying chains and lead pipes. Jeez, for wanted to rob a museum, they weren't being very discrete.
I almost didn't notice as a man stepped through the doors, staring out into the night; a tall, lean, good looking man with messy brown hair wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket. He looked strangely…familiar.
"Ho-ly shit…"
"Raph, what?" Leo snapped, obviously sick of my language.
"That's Eleana's ex-fiancé,"
"WHAT?" the three of them gasped and squeezed in around me to get a good view of the guy. At this point, another man had joined him. This one wore all black and had spikey, gelled black hair.
"Son of a bitch…" Leo breathed.
"Don't tell me," Don said flatly. "That one's Bre's ex-fiancé."
"You guessed it," Leo replied.
"Boys, were are in a deep load of cow shit." Mikey said emotionlessly, staring intently at the two men having a calm conversation across the street.
"That we are, Mikey, that we are." Don answered. I got up and began to move toward the museum.
"Raph, where do you think you're going?" Leo shot at me, ready to chase after me. I ignored him and continued on my way.
"I got a date with the douche across the street. Last time I saw him I forgot to knock out all of his teeth."
Within seconds I'd managed to reach the rooftop of the cathedral-like museum and wasn't surprise to find my brothers close behind me.
"You didn't think you were gonna kick ass alone, did ya bro?" Mikey smiled before the four of eyes left through an open glass panel in the skylight and landed in the museum below. Immediately, there were shouts of alarm from the thugs and ninjas and we fought them off easily as the attempted to beat us down. I almost smiled as I fought, finally happy to relieve some stress by knocking some heads.
"STOP!" came a loud shout and immediately the Purple Dragons and Foot jumped back, forming a silent circle around us.
"The Hell?" I blurted, wondering who had given the order that made our enemies jump like puppets on strings.
Suddenly the two men we saw earlier outside—the ex-fiancés—had entered the circle and stood before us like cocky punks. Realization of who me and Leo were hit both of them like a brick wall as their eyes widened in shock.
"YOU!" they both shouted, ready to pounce on me and Leo.
"You're the fuckin' freak who stole Bre," the spikey haired one directly at Leo as he whipped a=out a hand gun, ready to open fire.
"WAIT!" the other one yelled and wrapped his hand around the gun, preventing the trigger from going off.
"Well I don't need much of an introduction, do I?" I sneered gesturing toward the bandaged hand at his side. The brown haired man moved his wounded hand behind his back and glared at me. Then he addressed the other man with the gun. "Let's not waste our time, we have what we need."
After a second, the gunman lowered his weapon and tucked it back into the waistband of his black jeans. "You're right, Shredder has plans for them anyway."
"SHREDDER?!" the four of us yelled, wide eyed. The two men smirked.
"Oh yeah," the one with the gun snickered. "He's got big plans for you four and the little bitches, so you better watch 'em carefully." The two turned to leave when Leo stepped forward.
"I hope you don't think you can just walk out with whatever you've stolen,"
The gunman turned back to him, grabbed something from his pocket and raised his fist in the air.
"Dickhead, you ain't got a choice," and with that he threw whatever he had concealed in his fist onto the ground, smoke exploding up around us all and concealing the entire room in a murky darkness.
The smoke stung my eyes and I couldn't help but cough. "Dammit!" I yelled when the smoke cleared and the entire museum was empty except for us four turtles.
"I hate it when they do that!" Mikey whined, wiping his burning and tearing eyes.
"Hey," Don said quietly. "Everything looks fine here, it's like nothing was stolen."
"So they definitely weren't looting randomly," Leo replied, stepping into the next room to look around. "Wait a minute, look over here." We followed Leo into an exhibit filed with ancient artifacts. There were huge statues of snake and bird heads hissing with open mouths, idols of flat-nosed people, and engraved pottery centered around a single glass case that had been smashed open.
"This is the Aztec Empire exhibit," Donnie noted, reading off a fancy designed sign that hung above the doorway. "Looks like whatever was in this case was the only thing they were after."
"Question is: what was in here?" I said and headed toward the case, stepping over shards of broken glass. I read the small sign that hung from an empty pedestal inside the case. "Diadem of Mia-hua-somethin' somethin'." I read, unable to pronounce the last word. Don came to stand next to me.
"Hmm, a diadem. That's odd. What would they Foot and Purple Dragons want with a diadem?"
"You mean what would Shredder want with a diadem…" Leo corrected grimly. We all shuddered at the thought of our worst enemy having returned.
"I need to get back to the lab ASAP, Leo." Don said as we all headed to the back exit. In the distance I could hear police sirens and I knew we needed to get out of there before being seen. "Eleana and I need to figure out what this is all about about…and I'm dreading what we'll find…"
Later that Night…
Eleana's POV
"I've got it!" Don yelled triumphantly, slamming his hands down on a large open book. The book looked ancient, the pages yellowed parchment with hand written ink text. I could see the front and back covers were made from thick flaps of dark red leather. One of Donnie's ancient myth books, I assumed.
"What?" I asked nervously. I was scared to hear what the connection was between me and my nightmares, Bre, the stolen artifact from the museum…and Jake and Dirk was. I still couldn't believe that Dirk had once again popped into my life, and this time on the side of the turtles' worst enemies, the Foot and Purple Dragons.
The Purple Dragons were a notorious gang; NYC's most dangerous, so I'd heard of them before. But the Foot? Ninjas? And who was Shredder? I didn't understand any of it. It all sounded like some bad comic book plot line. I was anxious to know what Jake and Dirk were doing with the Foot and Purple Dragons, and what it had to do with me and Bre.
Donnie grabbed the book in one hand and my arm in the other. "Come on!" he barked and dragged me into the living room where Raph, Bre, Leo, Mikey, and Master Splinter stood in frantic conversation. Bre was obviously shaken by the guys' account of running into him, Dirk, the Foot, and Purple Dragons at the museum. Leo stood protectively close to her, making me smirk. That's when Raph's gaze caught my eye, and we stared at each other as Donnie and I entered the room. He was obviously concerned for me, and when Donnie and I came close enough, he was at my side in a second.
"Ya ok?" he whispered into my ear as Donnie began frantically explaining that he'd found a connection to the stolen artifact and Bre and I. I nodded faintly.
"Si," I breathed and slipped my hand into his. It instantly tightened around my own and he nuzzled my ear warmly. I couldn't help but lean my head toward him. Something big was going to happen, and with Dirk involved, I felt more vulnerable than ever. It was obvious now that Raph and I had feelings for each other, and with this crisis at bay, I might've needed him more than I wanted to admit.
"Donnie, Donnie, slow down. What's all this about some ancient legend?" Leo broke the quiet murmur to silence as he sat down on the couch, closely followed by Bre. Master Splinter sat stiffly in the recliner, Raph and I took the loveseat where he still held my hand, and Mikey sat on the floor. Donnie stood in the middle of the living room, reopening the book. Before he began to speak, I could see him glaring at my hand being cradled in Raph's as he fumbled with the pages of the book. From across the room, I could see Master Splinter doing the same, eyeing Raph and I carefully. I had a feeling in my gut that he and Raph's would definitely be having words that night…
"So, based on the artifact that was stolen from the museum by Bre and Eleana's ex-fiancés, I was able to find an ancient Aztec legend that seems to fit our rising conflict. Eleana's been having nightmares, Master Splinter's been having visions that something big is coming our way that involves both Eleana and Bre, the Foot and Purple Dragons are mobile and definitely up to something, and then there's the artifacts that were stolen tonight by…uh…"
"Jake,"
"And Dirk," Bre and I replied solemnly. Raph squeezed my hand and I noticed that Leo cautiously wrapped his arm around Bre to console her. She accepted it openly and scooted closer to him.
"Can you describe the artifact that was stolen, Donatello?" Splinter asked. Donnie nodded.
"Well it was something called the Diadem of Miahuaxochitl—"
"Mia-hua-WHAT?" Mikey blurted out. Splinter gave him a fierce stink eye that actually surprised me before Donnie sighed and continued.
"Miahuaxochitl," he repeated. "She was the queen of the Aztec emperor Montezuma. They lived around approximately 1440 to 1469 AD. Now, the diadem was obviously a sort of crown that belonged to Miahuaxochitl while she reigned as queen with Montezuma."
"Okay, Don, but what does any of this have to do with us?" I asked, almost shaking with anxiety.
"I'm getting there. Trust me, this gets interesting." Don reassured me before returning to his explanation. "If any one of us were to go online, we'd find lists of the gods and goddesses worshipped by the Aztec people. Among them, we'd find Mictlancihuatl."
"Mictlancihuatl?" Bre asked.
"Yes,"
"What is it with all these jacked up names?" Mikey blurted once again. He received a prompt smack from Splinter.
"Who is he the god of?" Raph asked grimly. Donnie took a breath.
"She. And she's the one and only goddess of the Aztec Underworld."
My heart skipped a beat. "Shit…"
"According to Aztec religious ceremonies, Mictlancihuatl was offered numerous sacrifices of gold, fine food and drink, lots of different things. But it turns out that when Queen Miahuaxochitl came into power, she stopped the offerings to Mictlancihuatl and all the other female goddesses out of jealousy.
The legend states that when Queen Miahuaxochitl ordered this, the goddess Mictlancihuatl became enraged, and came upon the queen and possessed her by cursing her diadem."
"Oh my God…" Bre gasped.
"The goddess first appeared to Montezuma in a dream warning him of the consequences his wife would face for her actions. BUT! According to my book of Aztec legends here, she also left him with a riddle: He who is to find what has been lost shall be cursed, and through him, he shall bring about the beginning of the end, and the end of his world, and the beginning of the next. Now, apart from that riddle, what happened was the queen of course was possessed by Mictlancihuatl, and in attempt to free her from the curse, he killed her."
But instead of the possession ending right there and then, Montezuma's line of daughters were cursed as well, and he was forced to kill them too, from oldest to youngest. From then on, it spread like a disease. The daughters of Montezuma's oldest daughters were possessed as well, and when those were killed, the second oldest's daughters were killed too. You can guess how the rest goes. Obviously there would've been too much killing to do to finally stop the possessions, so Montezuma's female blood line still carries the curse. And the blood line DOES still exist to this day."
"So how does this connect to me and Bre?" I asked quietly. Donnie cleared his throat.
"Well…don't get mad, but I did a little snooping on …"
"Donnie…you're joking right…" I choked. He solemnly shook his head.
"I wish I was…Eleana, with you being of Hispanic descent, it only made sense. You're not Mexican, you're Aztec, and you're of Montezuma's blood line. Meaning…you're an Aztec Queen…and…"
"I'm cursed…" I breathed. No one spoke for a good minute. I stared into Raph's amber eyes, tears pooling in my own. "I'm gonna be possessed by the Goddess of Hell…the wife of the goddamn devil…"
"Is there any way of knowing when this will happen?" Splinter asked gravely.
"If my approximations are correct, the nightmare was a warning. It certainly wasn't the last of those dreams, and they're going to get more numerous. Whatever you saw was the Other Side trying to break the barrier between our worlds." Donnie explained. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I felt dead, completely lifeless. Raph pulled me into his arms.
"I'm gonna protect ya," he whispered.
"What about Bre?" Leo asked. Donnie hesitated before continuing.
"I did some more research on the museum's history, the history of the diadem, and Bre's family tree. It turns out that Bre's great-grandfather was a paleontologist."
"Fuck," Bre said flatly.
"As you may have guessed, he found the diadem in a dig while excavating the Aztec Temples and had it curated at the museum. This is where that riddle comes in."
"He who is to find what has been lost shall be cursed, and through him, he shall bring about the beginning of the end, and the end of his world, and the beginning of the next." Bre said, looking just as pale as I felt. "So what does that mean I am?"
"According to these Aztec rituals I found, your grandfather was cursed to be the portal needed to bring Mictlancihuatl's Underworld into this world."
"Meaning I'm the portal." Bre whispered. She looked at me and gave me a sad smile, a single tear falling down her check. "I knew we met for a reason…"
"So what does this all mean Donnie," Leo demanded.
"We're not gonna lose our girls." Raph said strongly.
"Eleana is eventually going to be possessed by the Aztec Goddess of the Underworld. In order to bring the Underworld to this world, Bre has to become the portal through some kind of ancient ritual. Your ex-fiancés are obviously working with the Foot and Purple Dragons to ensure that this all happens, and—"
"Shredder's back," Mikey gasped.
"And I think what he's looking for is the power of a Goddess, a world of chaos in his control…" Don looked at me grimly. "…And a queen."
I could only let out a sharp breath of shock. I looked at Raph to Bre, to Donnie to Leo, to Mikey and to Splinter. They were my family now, and they would all die because of me. I stood up, shaking violently. Not out of fear, but out of anger.
"I don't care what that bitch on the Other Side wants. She can't have my body, she can't have Bre. She can't have the earth, and she definitely can't take any of you from me." I walked to Bre and took her by the hands, standing her up and pulling her into my arms. Despite my anger, and definitely out of her fear, we couldn't help but crying into each other's shoulders. "I promise I'll fight it as long as I can."
"Ditto," Bre sobbing and squeezed me tighter. Around us, I felt Raph at my back, Leo holding Bre with his hand squeezing my arm, Donnie in between Raph and Leo, Mikey squished in somewhere trying to get in on the hug and Splinter's gently hands on mine and Bre's heads.
"We are a family, and we will protect one another from this evil that is to come. I must meditate for guidance now, and I suggest all get much rest. We will not be broken by fear and anxiety. We will continue to live with happiness guiding our hearts. Above all, we will fight this." Splinter spoke strongly, his words empowering all of us and me feel invincible. Our hug broke apart and we bowed before Splinter. We all needed sleep.
"Goodnight Master," Leo said as the six of us headed for the stairs.
"Goodnight my sons and daughters," Splinter said. "Raphael, I would like to speak with you privately."
Raph gave me a reassuring smirk before squeezing my hands a last time and heading the opposite direction towards Splinter's dojo. I stood at the foot of the stairs, watching him for a moment before continuing upstairs towards the bed rooms. I had some thinking to do too… and quite a bold move up my sleeve.
Meanwhile…
Raph's POV
I walked into the dojo where Master Splinter stood with his back to me, lighting candles for meditation. I slid the door closed gently and approached him, kneeling and bowing my head.
"Ya wanted to talk to me?" Splinter said nothing and continued to light candles. I bit my lip. "This is about me and Eleana ain't it?" Splinter's hand froze in the middle of lighting a candle, and he turned to me quickly, blowing out the flame at the end of the long wooden match.
"Raphael we must discuss this matter thoroughly—"
"I already know what ya gonna say." I cut him off and stood up, a little agitated and not wanting to argue with him too about Eleana. "Ya gonna tell me it ain't gonna work out and that I can't be with her, is that it? Masta Splinta I'm sorry but for once, I can't follow the orders ya gonna give me. I like Eleana. I really really like her. And don't say I just got feelin's and urges 'cause of my season. That ain't it. Nobody's ever made me feel this way. It's like I'm findin' this part of me I never knew and it's all 'cause of her. I mean, she makes me smile; genuinely smile! Nobody's ever done that to me before! And I ain't never been happy for more than an hour. The whole time she's been here I've been nothin' but happy! All I wanta do is protect her and take care of her. I don't want anythin' bad to happen to her. I feel like if she leaves, or she gets hurt…my hearts just gonna burst and I'll never be the same. I'm sorry Fatha, ya know I love ya and I'll do anythin' you tell me to, but if ya tell me not to like Eleana…I just can't obey ya this time…"
Splinter stood there and stared at me, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. I prepared for him to yell at me, disown me and tell me to leave and never come back. I waited and waited until finally, he simply smiled at me, tears forming in his eyes.
"There it is,"
I was confused beyond belief. What the hell was he talking about? Wasn't he going to yell at me for disrespecting him? Maybe slap me around a bit? "Masta I don't understand."
"Raphael, long I have waited for the day a woman would come into your life and bring forth your other half. I dreaded the woman who could break you and make a fool of my son, and I feared that Eleana was that woman. Instead, she has proven that she the one you need. Like a cherry blossom in the cold spring months, Eleana has brought you warmth and sunlight, and caused you to bloom. I will not separate the two of you; you have both proven yourselves to me. I know you will be happy, my son." Splinter said to me and kissed my forehead. He turned his back to me once more and continued lighting his candles with a newly struck match and began to hum an old Japanese folk song. I breathed a sigh of relief and with a smile, left the dojo and headed to my room.
I felt like a king. I couldn't believe Splinter had approved if me and Eleana. We weren't really even official yet and he still approved. I couldn't help but smile. The world was about to go to Hell, literally, but I felt amazing. I would fight for Eleana from every evil in this world and all the other ones, and I would be able to do it while making her mine. I was in such a good mood; I wasn't even expecting the surprise that awaited me when I got to my room.
As I closed my bedroom door behind me, I turned to see Eleana standing in my bedroom in front of the mirror on my dresser, pulling on a white and red New York Giants jersey over a pair of lacey black panties and a matching bra. I stared in amazement at her perfectly long and tan legs and her mane of long dark hair as she pulled it free from the collar of the jersey. Only then did she notice me standing there.
"Dios! Raph you scared me," she blushed and smiled slightly, looking at the floor as she realized I'd seen her half naked body moment ago. "I thought it would be okay if I stayed in your room again tonight. I mean, after everything we found out, I need someone to protect me while I'm asleep."
I gulped and nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah of course." I managed to choke out.
Unable to stop blushing, Eleana crossed in front of me and sat down on the edge of my bed. I still couldn't get over the fact she was wearing only a Giants football jersey. Without thinking, I went over and sat down next to her, quickly regretting my decision as my face began to burn.
"Raph, I just want to thank you,"
"For what?"
"For taking care of me. I mean, ever since my parents died, I really haven't had anyone to protect me."
"Well, I'll always protect ya, Eleana." I said softly, smirking a bit. She smiled warmly and bit her lip, looking down into her lap as her cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink I'd seen yet. Slowly leaning toward her, I put one hand on top of hers and the other gently on her jaw. She looked at me innocently, her deep brown eyes burning into mine. "I can't help myself around you," I whispered without realizing what I had said. Eleana leaned closer to me as I felt myself doing the same. My heart felt about ready to beat right out of my chest. I could feel her warm sweet breath against my lips. Oh God, oh God, this is happening, this is actually happening…
"Then don't," she whispered. I couldn't hold it any longer and leaned forward, pressing my lips against hers. She tasted so sweet, so amazing, I couldn't describe the warmth and electricity that jolted through my body. She raised her hand to grasp the back of my neck as she parted her lips slightly and allowed mine to join farther with hers. I put both arms around her back and pulled her closer to me so she was up against my chest, and suddenly I felt her stand, her lips still locked with mine, as she straddled me and sat on my lap. I ran a hand through her hair while my subconscious took over and my other hand slipped lower to cup her backside. I heard her gasp as I broke from her lips to kiss her neck.
"Raph," Eleana almost moaned. I fell back onto the sheets and rolled over so that I was crouched over her. I continued to kiss her neck as she arched her warm body against mine. Suddenly I felt like I'd been hit with a zap of electricity and I realized my animal-like desires were taking over. I'd completely forgotten I was in my season.
I gave her neck one last long, gentle kiss before lifting my head back up to stare into her eyes. We were both breathing hard and we softly smiled at each other.
"So I guess it's official," Eleana said and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back.
"Guess so," I kissed her lips one last time before rolling over to lie next to her. She scooted up against me as I pulled the sheets over us and turned off the lamp on the nightstand to my left. In the darkness, I could feel both of our shock, embarrassment, and satisfaction of our make-out session. I smiled into the blackness and closed my eyes.
"G'night, doll."
"Buenos noches, tortugito."
As sleep slowly over took me, I wondered in my mind what tortugito meant.
My Little Turtle.