Alternative Ending

It took April O'Neil approximately fifteen seconds to figure out that the young so-called time mistress was hiding something.

And it only took about another fifteen to figure out just what she was hiding.

Although she would have liked to think she was just unusually perceptive, April suspected that the real reason had more to do with Renet's utter lack of subtlety. As the entire family—the turtles, Splinter, and Casey—sat in April's living room, eating pizza and laughing and catching up, Renet stood a little to the side. Every time Donatello said something, she'd smile. Every time she thought no one was looking, she'd stare at Don as though she was dying of thirst and he was a tall cool drink of water.

Keeping an eye on everything from the kitchen, April decided to test her hypothesis. She was a scientist, after all. Grabbing another pizza from the oven, April carried it into the living room and set it down on the coffee table.

Michelangelo snatched up the first slice. "April, you are a goddess," he said appreciatively.

Immediately the other guys dug in with murmurs of agreement. April beamed happily. They'd only been gone a month, but she had missed them so much during that time. Not to mention all the worrying over what could have possibly happened to them.

After letting them eat for a few moments, April walked over to where Don sat and, while watching Renet out of the corner of her eye, wrapped her arms around the turtle. "I missed you, Donny," April said.

Don grinned up at her. "I missed you too. We, uh, we all did."

And sure enough, as April glanced over, she saw Renet frown darkly in her direction. Hypothesis proved. April let go of Don. No use torturing the poor girl. Thinking quickly she took a paper plate and a slice of pizza. Then she headed over to Renet, pausing as she walked by Casey's chair to give her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

When she reached Renet's corner, April held out the pizza. "Here. You should eat something."

Renet's eyes narrowed. "I'm not hungry."

April just nodded in response. If the girl wanted to be difficult, so be it. Together the two women watched the boys eat and chat. April watched Raphael and Casey, who were already happily trading jabs at one another, as though they'd never been apart. She smiled. Though he hadn't talked about it much, she knew Casey had been just as worried as she had been. April glanced over at Renet. Who was, once again, looking at Don.

"You should tell him how you feel," April said softly.

"What?" Renet's head whipped around. With a mock-innocent expression, she asked, "Who?"

April raised an eyebrow. Just how dumb was this girl? There was no way Donatello would ever get involved with her, but even so, April couldn't help feeling for her a little. "Even if he doesn't feel the same way, you'll be glad you said something," April continued. "You don't want to look back on your past and wonder 'what if.'"

Renet laughed. "What makes me think you're speaking from experience here?" she teased good-naturedly, cutting her eyes in Donatello's direction to drive home the point.

Perhaps Renet wasn't as dumb as April had thought. Interesting. April placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and gave a friendly squeeze. "Just consider it. Okay?"

---

Eyes glittering with excitement, Mikey leaned forward. "And you'll never believe this, but Cody is the—"

"Michelangelo!" Leo shot his brother a disapproving look. "What did Renet tell you about the timeline?"

"Um." Mike scratched his head. "Not to say stuff that'll screw it up?"

Don nodded. "And talking about the future will … "

"Screw up the timeline?" Mikey suggested helpfully.

Raph smacked his youngest brother on the back of the head. "Exactly, you idiot. So keep yer yap shut."

Don sighed and shook his head. He understood Mikey's temptation. Heck, he wanted to talk about the future as much as anyone of them. Not just to prattle on about all the cool technology but, more importantly, to warn April and Casey about certain of their descendants. But they had to protect the timeline. Even the famously impulsive Renet could keep a lid on things because she knew how vital the timeline was. Speaking of Renet …

He glanced over towards the corner and wondered what on earth April and Renet could be talking about. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. He hoped that Renet at least had enough sense to keep quiet about her theories on how he was "hung up" on April. But that might be too optimistic to hope for. Don shook his head again. It was out of his hands—no use worrying about it.

Returning his attention to his brothers, Don noticed that Raph had begun wrestling with Mikey over the last slice of pizza. This left open the chair next to Casey, who was laughing and enthusiastically egging on the two wrestlers. Opportunity knocks, thought Don, as he quietly made his way over and slid into Raph's abdicated seat. He glanced at Casey out of the corner of his eye. He knew he should bite his tongue. Knew he shouldn't interfere. Knew he was coming dangerously close to interfering with the timeline. But then, Casey glanced over at April and stopped laughing. His blue eyes softened, almost imperceptibly, and Don heard a soft, happy sigh.

Before Don could think better of it, he blurted out, "Ask her to marry you."

Casey jumped a little. "Don!" he exclaimed, chuckling nervously and shaking his head. "Youse guys have gotta stop going all ninja and sneakin' up on me like that."

Don smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, Casey."

"S'okay." Casey glanced at April then turned back to look at Don. "You really think I should pop the question?"

"Yeah. I really do." Don was surprised at how much he meant it.

A thoughtful look came over Casey's face as he scratched at his chin. "Not a bad idea. Time will tell, huh?" Then he frowned. "First I need some dough for a ring, though. No way would I cheap out on my April."

"I think I might have your solution for that," Don replied without missing a beat. "Have you ever thought of starting up a tech company?"

Casey laughed. "Me? And technology? You gotta be kiddin'."

"Nope. Me and April could take care of the tech side of things, while you could handle the business side." For good measure, Don threw in, "We'd need someone tough to take care of all the things like marketing and subcontracting and deal-making."

Leaning back in his chair, looking thoughtful again, Casey asked, "And what'd we call it? Casey's Computers? Donny's Digital?"

"Well, I was thinking of something more like … O'Neil Tech."

For a moment Casey pondered over this in silence. Then he grinned and slapped Don on the back. "I like it!"

---

Cody Jones awoke with a start. Peering through the dark, he saw a tall, oddly-dressed girl at the foot of his bed. For a moment all he could do was stare, mouth agape.

The intruder gave a little wave. "Hi!"

"Who the heck are you?" Cody demanded. He looked around nervously. "And how did you get past security?"

"Oh! Sorry," said the girl said, gently slapping her forehead. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Renet. I'm a time mistress."

Cody frowned. Then, in a soft whisper, he said, "You're the one who took the turtles away."

Renet sighed. "No. I took them home." Slowly she approached the bed and sat on its edge. "They couldn't stay here, Cody. This isn't their time. They didn't belong."

He wondered how she knew his name but decided that was perhaps the least strange thing about this very strange visit. Instead, Cody glared at her for a moment before turning to stare out the window. "Now he's going to ruin everything," he muttered.

"Don?"

Cody's head snapped around. "How did you—"

"—know that you're worried about Don?" The girl laughed and rolled her eyes. "Um, hello? I'm a time mistress?"

Utterly nonplussed, Cody just stared.

She hopped off the bed. "Anyways," she continued, heading towards the bedroom door, "I just dropped by to let you know that you don't have to worry. As time mistress, it's my job to keep timelines running nice and smooth."

"Oh, really?" Cody couldn't hide the skeptical tone in his voice.

"Yes. Really." Just before disappearing, Renet turned back and favored the boy with a small, mysterious smile. "Besides, I've made it something of a … personal mission … to make sure that April and Don never get together."

And then she winked.

----

Author's Notes: This is the alternate ending to "Time's Prisoners." Chapter 4 has the new ending that I thought better suited this story. After I wrote this, I felt that it just wrapped up all the loose ends too neatly. Thanks for reading!