The crackling of the fire was so relaxing, it was making Leonardo somewhat drowsy. He was propped up on his side in the room he shared with Calley, waiting as patiently as he could for the young woman to arrive. Calley had looked as tired as he felt, but she had gotten caught up in one last task before she could come to bed. The blue-masked turtle felt himself drifting a couple of times, but shook his head to fight sleep from overtaking him. It had been a stressful and emotionally draining couple of days. He was ready for a little peace and quiet; a small retreat from the anxiety.
Leo raised his head when he heard the door creak quietly, and saw Calley enter the room.
"Hey," he called softly, his tone muffled under the influence of the environment. "There you are."
"Sorry I took so long, Leo. Becky needed help, and getting her to accept it took longer than I anticipated."
"You don't have to explain. C'mere," he invited her.
Calley lingered by the side of the bed, and gave him a wry smile. "You look comfortable."
"I'm tired. The bed feels good."
"You worked out really hard this afternoon. You and Don went at it for a long time."
"Yeah," he allowed. "We probably pushed it harder than we should have, but it was needed, I think. We have so much built up stress, and exercise takes some of it away. Being with you in this room doesn't hurt either."
Calley relaxed on her side of the bed, curling up to face him. "We don't have to talk if you're tired," she said. "You should get some rest."
"I will, but I've been waiting for the chance to have you to myself too."
"Uh huh. And what exactly were you planning on doing when you got me?"
He gave her a half grin. "Whatever you wanted. I surrender to your power in this department, remember?"
"I do remember."
The young woman scooted closer to him, giving him one of the gazes that made goose bumps rise across his arms. The blue-masked turtle held up a finger to stop her, and sat up to turn off the lamp beside him. When the bulb had been extinguished, the room was bathed in the shadowy glow of their small fireplace.
Leonardo settled down on the bed, opening his arms so Calley could snuggle against the crook in his elbow.
"I think we'll fare just fine here for the winter," she offered.
"Long as you're going to keep me warm."
The woman rested her cheek against his shoulder and sighed contentedly. "What a difference a couple of years make," she whispered.
"Hm?"
"I'm just happy to be here, Leo. I'm glad the past is behind me. I wouldn't wish those circumstances on anyone, but it least they help me appreciate you more. I had too many cold nights when there was nothing but heroin to numb the pain...and all the drug did was drag me deeper into darkness." Calley raised her head to look him in the eye. "Does it bother you when I talk about things this way? It doesn't hold me down anymore, Leo."
"But it's still something you lived through," he returned. "I don't mind listening, as long as rehashing it doesn't affect you negatively."
"I didn't have it as bad as some of those girls did," she mused. "After all, I only had one 'owner', while the rest of the sureibu were used by a number of men before being sold off, one by one. I can remember hearing or seeing them sometimes, and in the back of my mind, I felt sorry for them. Their futures were so uncertain, whereas I knew exactly what the rest of my life was going to consist of. Escaping Shirou never occurred to me. I thought he would either kill me when he got bored with me, or I'd die from the heroin use. To wake up every day to the life I actually have is still astounding sometimes." Calley blinked away tears from her dark eyes. "I only hope the other enslaved girls that you freed from the Akiudo have found a fraction of the happiness that I have."
The arm he had around Calley tightened unconsciously, as he smoothed blond hair from her forehead with his free hand. "I hope you realize how happy you make me," he replied. "You're so much better than the Akiudo was, Calley, better than Shirou. If you hadn't wanted to recover, you wouldn't have made it, koishii. No matter how much help you had, you still needed your own desire to escape it. You have to be one of the strongest people I've ever known, and I'm never going to let you forget it."
Leonardo covered her mouth with his, and she returned the kiss with a fervency that left him breathless. He smiled when she let go, enjoying the tingling feeling she left behind on his skin. "I love you."
"Ai shiteru," she answered perfectly.
"Your accent is getting really good."
"I won't pick up Japanese as fast as Becky did, that's for sure. But since over half this family will end up speaking the language, it makes sense to learn it from the best teacher."
Leonardo nuzzled her forehead as she lay down on his shoulder once more. "You're doing well, and I have even more time to teach you than before."
Her laughter pealed like a small bell. "I'm honestly looking forward to it, Leo. I'd love to be able to share this with you. The language was instilled in you at such a young age, and you speak it to this day. I want to pay some honor to that."
"You've given me so much already," he whispered. "I still don't think you see it sometimes."
Calley shook her head. "When you're broken down completely, it's always going to take longer, Leo. But I feel like I'm getting warmer."
The blue-masked turtle wasn't in a hurry to get up the next morning. Something about being in the secluded wilderness with the ability to see the day from beginning to end made time slow down for Leonardo. He didn't even stir on the mattress until he felt Calley shifting beside him. Leo turned his head to see her sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Good morning," she greeted him.
"Hi. You leaving already?"
"I told Karina I was giving her a break today, and I feel like getting some breakfast started. You hungry?"
Leonardo rolled over on his side. "I could eat."
"Good. You can come keep me company."
The blue-masked turtle remained where he was to watch the young woman finish getting dressed, and tousle her hair so that the short cut would fall correctly. As they headed downstairs, Leonardo heard the sound of someone already in the kitchen.
Calley folded her arms when she saw Karina in the room. "I know you're not working in here, right?"
"No, hermana," Karina said casually, and motioned to Olivia in the high chair. "My little girl isn't patient."
The baby turtle was trying to take the spoon that the woman had been using to feed her.
"Easy, angelito. You still want to eat, don't you? Mama needs the spoon."
Olivia squealed in protest when she held it out of her hand's reach.
"C'mon, baby girl, you've only got a little bit more. Let's try and finish it."
Leonardo stood to the side while Calley began rifling through the fridge.
"French Toast sounds good, doesn't it?" Calley suggested.
"It's been a while. I won't be in the way if I get some tea started, will I?"
Calley shook her head, granting him a meaningful glance over her shoulder before she returned to selecting ingredients. Leonardo had a calm, comfortable feeling come over him as he prepared the familiar brew, and fixed a couple of cups for Calley and himself. The smell of bacon hit him strongly when he sat down at the table across from Karina.
"It's a nice feeling to be taken care of, huh, Leo?" Karina nodded toward Calley.
"You girls are really good to us. If I only had myself to rely on, I don't know what I'd live off of. It would all be pre-packaged probably."
Leonardo was happy when Calley sat down to eat with them, instead of only serving them. The blue-masked turtle took his time eating, and was close to finishing when Karina caught his eye.
"Are you following your normal morning routine?" she asked.
Leonardo looked outside. The day does look promising, but it would be better to wait for Don.
"I think I'll get some quiet time in now like usual," he replied. "After I clean some stuff up."
"Don't bother, hermano," Karina said quickly. "Others will be up soon, and it makes more sense to me to clean things all at once. It will get done, you just go ahead downstairs."
"Well...okay," he said slowly. Leonardo kissed the back of Calley's head. "Thank you koishii."
"Leo, would you mind throwing up one of those baskets from the utility room real quick?" Karina requested.
He shook his head. "Hang on and I'll grab one."
Leonardo trotted down the stairs to the finished basement, reveling in the shafts of light filtering in through the windows. We're going to have to get a run in today, no doubt.
He walked down the connecting hallway that branched to the right and went inside the tiled utility room. As he took a couple of steps to find the light switch something inexplicably tripped up his feet, and he went down on one knee before he could correct his balance. A deluge came down so quickly from above, he barely had time to duck his head. The strange flood only lasted seconds, but he felt like he'd gained about five pounds of weight as he slogged around on his knees to find a stable enough surface from which to rise.
The light came on with a snap, and Leonardo wasn't surprised to hear Mike's snickering. He was shocked by the bright yellow color of the substance that was covering him. Leo hurried to wipe off the excess traveling down his forehead and fixed his brother with a glare.
"Really, Mike? Attacking anyone this early is just plain cruel."
"It's not early for you, Fearless. You're late." He snorted.
Leonardo grunted as he got up carefully, now noticing the thin tripwire inside the door. "What am I, Raph's stand-in?"
"You didn't think I could wait that long before having some fun again, did you? It's been weeks as it is!"
"Yes, glorious weeks. What have you done to me?"
"Aw, it's only batter, Leo. It washes off, and it tastes good. I know how much you favor blue, bro, but yellow really suits you."
"You think so?"
Heedless of the possible consequences of his actions, Leonardo launched at his youngest brother, wrestling him to the floor in a giant bear hug. Once he had him down he pulled him across the tile to a point at which more of the flood had pooled after landing. Leonardo grinned in satisfaction as he pinned the orange-masked turtle, doing his best to get him saturated.
"It looks good on you too, Mikey," Leo said smugly.
Michelangelo's laugh was winded, and it made Leonardo jump off of him in a flash.
"Are you okay, Mike?"
His brother nodded, using the back of his hand to wipe batter off his cheek. "Yeah," he said a moment later. "I feel alive. Thanks for being a good sport, Leo."
The older turtle rolled his eyes. "Why do you have to be such a pain in the shell? Who's gonna clean this up?"
"I've got volunteers upstairs. Turns out everybody wanted to see me have a good time."
Leonardo shook his head, but he couldn't be angry with his little brother. He wanted Mike to act like himself, and this was absolutely true to form for him. "You are one of a kind, Mikey."
"And you love me for it."