Ricky cried on endlessly as Raph tried to comfort his son. It was 12:30am, Ricky had already been crying for 15 minutes nonstop. Raph tried everything and franking he felt like losing his damn mind. A week had gone by and Caitlyn only returned once when Raph was at work. April said she came to get the rest of her stuff. At first Raph thought she had taken Ricky, but April quickly confirmed that she never asked to see Ricky. It made Raph angry, more so than when she had left on that day. Raph tried not to think about it as he rocked and patted Ricky.
"Come on Ricky, your Pa needs sleep too" Raph said as he continued to comfort his son. 10 more minutes passed and Ricky finally gave in, however so did Raph. He had fallen asleep in the chair of his son's nursery.
A hand had awoken him, he looked over to see Mikey, he had on the human clothes he wore when they went stop side.
"Dude you should get to bed, its 1:30 in the morning" Mikey whispered
Raph rubbed his eyes and looked to see Ricky had been put in his crib by Mikey. He left the nursery leaving the door open just a crack. He went into the kitchen and saw Mikey already there, he had a pizza waiting to be stored in the fridge.
"Where you been? You just get home?" Raph asked as he got a glass of milk.
"Yeah, around 1:00 o clock, as for where I been, I'm afraid that is exclusive my friend." Mikey grinned, unaware that Raph saw the dark purple hickies sporting Mikey's neck. Raph huffed at his answer as he smirked at his brother, the dweeb wasn't very good at hiding the obvious. The idiot forgot to cover up his little dirty dealings.
"Whatever you say, bro" Raph said as he finished his milk and went to put his glass in the sink. As he passed Mikey, he pinched his neck where his hickies were, causing Mikey to yelp.
"You should probably wear a turtle neck, you chucklehead" Raph laughed as he left a flushed Mikey in the kitchen. Raph checked in on Ricky one last time before he went off to bed himself.
Suddenly the mood changed when Raph entered his room, the very room he shared with Caitlyn for 3 years. Of course it had changed a lot from when he was 15 to 21 to 24. Up until he meet Caitlyn and she moved in. Her living here had changed from the bachelor turtle pad, to a couple sharing a space. Caitlyn loved Ikea furniture. Everything in here was changed to her liking, with of course some of his own taste.
It looked so lonely and empty now, even though the room was fully furnished. The fact that where her clothes once hung, was now empty, the pretty feminine candles that light the room and gave it a warm sweet smell has faded into the brick walls of the reservoir station. Raph just stared at his bed, he couldn't believe it, but he really didn't want to sleep in it alone. Opening the closest storage in his room he pulled out his old hammock and hung it up. He grabbed his pillow along with his blankets and slept there for the rest of the night.
Donnie lounged in the living room as David watched Mickey's playhouse on the tele. He kept Ricky close by in his swing as the baby slept. April had already fed him and went to surface this morning, grocery shopping was her little alone time for herself and the best part about it is that she had the huge turtle truck to haul all the groceries in. He sipped his morning coffee as he read 'Science Today'. He heard a door close and saw Raph coming out of his room, he could clearly see the tired look on his face. Don had heard Ricky crying last night but when he was about to go check on him Raph had already beaten him to it.
"Geez, what time is it?" Raph sighed as he fell into the lazy boy.
"Its 10:30am already," Don implied from behind the magazine.
"Ricky wouldn't sleep last night, can't wait until he finally sleeps through the night completely". Raph yawned
Donnie laughed, "Yeah, that won't be for a while, still you should enjoy this stage it'll be the last time he is this small" Donnie implied as he went back to reading his journal and drinking his coffee.
Raph replayed what Donnie said in his head. He agreed with himself that Don did make a good point. Ricky will probably be his only child now that Caitlyn left. All he could think about was how she had no idea what she was going to miss out on if she really did stay up there on the surface, Ricky growing up, getting strong, learning new things, and talking. Raph shook his head as he tried to think of something else other than Caitlyn. He looked towards the digital clock on the television set and noticed he had 2 hours before going into to work.
"I better get something to eat before I head to the shop. Else I get too cranky"
Raph saw that Ricky was asleep and headed to the kitchen. Donnie shook his head, "what is he talking about, he is always cranky..." saying it to no one in particular.
April drove down the busy streets of New York as she headed to the shopping center, it was cold, Halloween was getting close and it excited her very much. It was the one time out of the year that her and Don could walk around on surface without Don having to hide in the shadows. Plus it will be David's first Halloween and she was dressing him up in the cutest costume she could find. She parked the truck and the first thing to get was a warm cup of that delicious Starbucks coffee.
Reaching the café, she immediately wasted no time and went inside. The smell of coffee made her feel warm and toasty, it had been a while since she had a drink from the café. Being a new mom, and running a shop, the woman had been nothing but busy. Grocery days were her favorite times. She was able to leave the lair, just relax and take her time. Not that she didn't like her life, sometimes a wife just has to breathe from outside of the home.
Everything was fine and peaceful in the coffee shop until a couple of thugs walked into the building. A few people decided to leave the Starbucks quickly. April was too busy looking at the menu to notice the thugs walking up to her. The barista behind the counter paled and stood there silent and in a loss of words, unsure of the situation.
"Hey!" She yelped as April was shoved by one the thugs.
"Watch it lady!" said one of the big bulky ones, the one with the Mohawk who looked like the leader and went towards the counter. "Alright girly you listen here we want your boss. Bring her out here and no one out here gets hurt.
The young girl nodded and quickly went to get her supervisor. Nadia was currently go over some documents when the barista barged in looking scared.
"Nadia! The there is a group outside threaten the customers if you don't come out and talk to one of them! What do we do?! I'm scared!"
Nadia was shocked by her outburst but kept her cool, she sighed and went towards the front. There she saw a skinny guy with a Mohawk and two brawly looking men. One of the brawly men was flinging a butterfly knife as he repeatedly caught it in his hand.
"There she is, Ms. Store manager"
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Now my boss is a very decent business man and like all business somethings come at a price, for example, your store is in his territory. Last thing the big man wants is letting you operate for free, think of it as a studio that your renting. You have to start paying"
Nadia scuffed and that made the leader grunt with agitation. "This is a franchised business; you need to leave the premises or I will call the police" Nadia said with a glare towards the leader.
The leader smirked and gave a hand signal. Everything happened so fast, April was grabbed by one of the brawly men, while the other had already had the exit blocked wielding a sawed off shotgun. Everyone including the young barista hide under tables and counters not wanting to be shot at.
Nadia gasped as they held April, and held a knife to her throat.
"What do you say now…Nadia?" the leader said as he read her name tag, he grinned showing off his yellow teeth. Nadia was scared for everyone's safety especially the woman they held hostage now.
"No no no! Look I'll give you the money just don't hurt anyone please" Nadia. Before she knew it Nadia had a gun pointed to her head as the leader forcefully grabbed Nadia forcefully shoved her to the back office.
"Hurry up!" He yelled as he pushed her towards the safe and kept the gun pointed at her. "And no funny business!"
While the leader went in the back, April remained calm and thought of her own plan, she could take these two thugs, she just had to do it with care, the last thing she wanted was for someone to get shot. She analyzed her cover spots and eyed her targets. They were big, but she was kuniochi.
"Hey what's that?"
"Haha very funny, but I'm not dumb enough to fall for that old trick lady"
"That's too bad, I was beginning to think you were that guy's dogs, since you know, follow commands so well." She said with a snarky attitude.
"Why I oughta! Ohff—!" April elbowed him in his gut, and twisted his arm making him release his knife. She pushed him into the other guy with the gun preventing him from shooting her at least. The two doofuses stumbled and were confused on what just happened. The gun flew a little ways, just as he was about the grab it April throws her tessen, knocking the gun further away across the room. She eyes them both as she gets in a stance.
In the office the leader heard the commotion, "What's going on out there!?"
Nadia flinched as he yelled causing her to drop some of the money. The leader grunted, "I said hurry up! Stop getting distracted bitch!" He hit her across the face making her stumble and fall to the floor. Her face burned from the slap as tears ran down her eyes. She was now frightened for her life, shakingly she began picking up the scattered money.
April was jumping around fighting the two brawly men. They were clumsy in their attacks and slow. This gave April the advantage, as she tricked them into punching each other as she slipped away in between. They were both dazed, grabbing her tessen she knocked one guy out, and faced the other one who regained himself.
"Heh! You slippery squirrel, you're going to regret that"
They circled each other in the now empty café. Just as she was about to attack the lights shut off around the whole area. She smirked knowing exactly who arrived.
The leader was not happy, "What the fuck! Can't you guys do anyth—Ohfoo—Ah!" Nadia heard a sickening smack and struggling in the front, before silenced was reached. The lights came back on quickly, all Nadia saw was the leader tied up and bruised pretty bad. She panicked a little and decided to go check out the front. She looked around and saw the same thing, both men tied up and beaten to a pulp. Then there was the red hair woman helping her young barista stand up from behind the counter.
The police had arrived within minutes, the red haired woman was questioned and then let go. Nadia was being looked at by EMT's. She could see off to the distance that the news was starting to show and set up camera's.
"Great, the news showed up" she sighed with annoyance, last thing she needed was to be on the news, she was tired, her face hurt like no tomorrow, and now had a long week ahead of her knowing full well corporate will be breathing down her neck. All that paper work to do now. Police had already taken her full report and now were assessing the evidence inside the store.
"You okay?" Nadia looked up and saw it was the red hair woman from earlier.
"Oh yea, I'm fine just swelling, are you okay? I mean they had you hostage"
"Heh, I'm fine, but they had you hostage too, don't forget"
"I'm just glad to be alive, my face will heal in time"
"April" she held out her hand
Nadia looked at her curiously then smiled, "Nadia" she says as they exchange handshakes.
"Well I'm glad you're okay, I just wanted to come and make sure"
"Thanks for your concern, really, I appreciate it"
A beep was heard and April pulled out her phone, "I better get going, my husband is starting to freak out. Take care Nadia"
"You too April"
