Melanie woke the next morning still huddled in Leo's bed. Leo was not next to her or anywhere else in his room. He was probably in the dojo. She quickly made his bed and stumbled to her room. She found an old t-shirt and a pair of her favorite faded jeans. The bathroom was empty, so they all must be training. She took a quick shower and threw her wet hair into a pony tail. By the time she was ready for the day, there was still no one in sight, so she headed to the kitchen and began to make crepes and fruit sauce, one of her favorites. She had a large stack by the time she heard the door to the dojo open and the smell of sweaty bodies drafted in.
"You guys smell lovely." She grimaced as they all came in and plopped into the wooden chairs at the table. Mikey hopped up and teasingly threatened to bury her face under his arm, but she kicked him in the stomach and he stumbled back a few steps.
Raph laughed. "The feline is feisty this mornin'"
"I'm always feisty." She snickered.
"That smells…Achoo! Wonderful." Donnie whimpered.
"Donnie, when did you go to bed last night?" Melanie asked, setting the piles of food on the table. She looked at him sternly as she put a palm on his forehead.
"It must have been midnight." He said. She gave him a piercing glance. "Okay it was 3." He muttered.
"Ugh, what am I gonna do with you? No wonder you don't feel good. You have a fever. Leo, grab the Motrin, Mikey put some broth on the stove, Raph get some blankets." After a few moments, she looked up and saw them all standing, watching her. "Ahem?" They all darted off in different directions. "Come on Don, come sit on the couch."
Splinter appeared out of the dojo as Don sat in the recliner and she tucked pillows under his shell. He was laughing lightly.
"What, Master?" she puzzled.
"If only I could get them to obey me as they do you." He laughed.
Melanie smiled. "They're just scared I won't feed them if they don't do what I ask."
"Damn right." Raph said, throwing a blanket to Melanie. "We'd all starve."
Leo appeared with a glass of water and the bottle of pills and handed them to her. She shook out a few and handed them and the glass to Donnie. "Alright, close your eyes and I'll bring you the soup when it's done."
Donnie shut his eyes and shifted deeper into the chair. "Thanks, Mel."
She smiled and they all walked back to the kitchen, finally sitting down to eat. The food was soon gone, and the boys did the dishes before she had the chance to even stand up. She had tried to catch Leo's eye and ask him about what he had been talking about last night, but he discreetly managed to avoid her gaze.
"So, what are we gonna do today?" Mikey pestered as Melanie took the steaming broth off of the stove and poured it into a bowl.
"Mel, do you have anything?" Leo asked.
"Nope, I'm free all today and tomorrow."
"You know what this means." Mikey said mysteriously, tip toeing towards her. She ignored and walked past him, grabbing a spoon and taking it to her brother. "X-men Marathon!" He yelled. Raph and Leo got up and bopped him on the head.
"Actually Mike, I was gonna do some meditation with Leo for a while, but after I'll kick your butt at Mario Kart." She said smugly.
"Yeah, right. Come on Raph, we need to practice so we can slaughter her." Mikey grabbed his brother's hand and tugged him into the living room. Leo walked towards the dojo without a word, and Melanie followed. Once Leo had turned the lights down after lighting a few candles, he knelt across from her and sighed.
"When we found you and brought you here eight years ago, Master Splinter decided that it would best not to tell you how we found you. When you woke up, you had trouble remembering what had happened. Donnie said it was because your young mind didn't want to process the trauma you had gone through and had basically buried that information. We, thinking it best to shield you from that pain, created the story that you know now and hiding the truth. Master Splinter knew it would come back one day, that your memories would emerge, and I took it upon myself to tell you, since I was the one that found you."
Melanie's face twisted in confusion, and Leo sighed. "Melanie, I found you the night your parents died." An unconscious tear slipped down her cheek, glinting in the yellow light.
"The guys and I had been playing ninja tag, and I was running across roofs near the apartment when I heard the gunshots. By the time I got to the window, they were both dead. I snuck in to see if their attacker was still there, but I hear a noise. It was you. You had hidden yourself in a closet and you grabbed a coat and shoes and climbed out the window. You got onto the roof and started walking away. I followed you, but eventually you came to an alley gap and you collapsed in the rain." Leo's voice was soft and sad, remembering the fear in the girl's eyes when she had awoken in the lair.
Melanie was silent, realizing that the boys hadn't simply taken her in because they had found her roaming the streets and found her adorable. "Leo," she whispered. "How did they die?"
Leo cringed at the question. He knew he couldn't lie to her. She was strong enough to take the truth now, but he didn't want to. She was his little sister that he had to protect against the nightmares and bad things of the world. As he had watched her grow up with them and turn into a beautiful young girl, each day she had become more fragile and delicate, a beauty to protect in his eyes. The day they had decided that she needed to go out in the world and become a human had been the hardest day for him. She had spent six years living like them; being an invisible protector of the city. The day he had watched her clamber to the surface alone had torn his heart. It had taken all of his strength not to follow her in the broad daylight. April had been there and had stayed by her side as she had walked the surface for the first time as a normal person. But that hadn't stopped Leo from pacing every minute until she had gotten back. Even though Melanie was tough and strong, she was different from his brothers, not only in the human vs. turtle sense. It had become easy to see her as one of them, so he didn't see her as an outsider. She was family, and his need to protect her was greater than with his brothers. Leo had seen what the outside world could do to a woman, especially pretty, delicate ones like Melanie, and he fought against that every day of his life. Though Melanie was tough around them, Leo had seen her soft side. She was very good at hiding when she was hurt, just like Leo, and he was proud of her for that. But he knew that she would try to hide the pain in what he needed to tell her, but he would be able to see through it. He would see the fear and pain that came with the real world. He didn't want to be the one to crack the tough shell of innocence surrounding her.
"I don't know." Leo muttered.
"Yes you do." She said sternly. "Tell me."
He sighed and it felt like a punch in the gut as he said, "Your father."
Melanie didn't move. She didn't make a sound, but when Leo looked up he could see the pain in her eyes. "Oh." She said after a moment.
Leo didn't know what to do. He had just shattered her perfect world by bringing up the past. "Melanie…" he whispered, but she shook her head.
She stood up and ran to the door. "I need some air." She whispered as she slipped out the door.
Leo buried his face in his hands. He had just destroyed the innocence and naivety of the person he fought hardest to protect. Every time he would find an innocent woman out in the streets with gang members, especially Purple Dragons, he would always see Melanie in the frightened face of the woman as the rough men would close in on her. Leo had lost count of how many times this had happened, and he didn't want to know.
Leo sighed and blew out the candles, stood up, and walked out of the dojo. He had to follow Melanie to make sure she was safe. He knew that she wasn't mad at him, just what he had told her. He knew she needed some comfort, and he knew that she would want him. She had last night, and she would today. Last night had reminded him of a night eight years ago.
It had been about a week after they had rescued Mel, and she hadn't said a word yet, but she had smiled a few times which had been a good sign. Leo and his brothers had been fifteen at the time, and Splinter had had to make sure that the curious turtles didn't smother or frighten her. She hadn't seemed to mind the attention though and any time she could she wandered around the lair, and being the curious ten year old that she was, investigated every inch of the place. She had slept on the couch, with all the lights on because they were still working on getting a room of rubble cleared out for her.
It had been close to midnight when he had heard his door open. He had fought the urge to move, knowing it would frighten her. He slowly turned to his other side and looked right into her big brown eyes.
"Leo?" she had whispered, and Leo couldn't stop his jaw from dropping a little bit.
"Hi," he whispered with a smile.
"Hi," she whispered back.
"What's up?" He said, sitting up.
"I had a nightmare." She sniffled. He instantly pulled aside the covers and scooted over. She hesitantly hopped onto the bed and laid down. Leo draped the covers over her small body, and laid down next to her. After a few moment of silence, she carefully scooted over and laid on his arm. He smiled and tucked her under his arm, with her face resting against his shoulder.
That adorable ten year old had won his heart, and now he needed to go fix the one he had just hurt.