Mike was already awakened by the door swinging open, but he was still startled by the bang it made as it crashed into the wall.
"Shell, I'm up! You don't have to take the door off the hinges," he complained when he saw Raphael.
"Hurry and get downstairs, Chucklehead," his brother returned. "There's some kind of weirdness going on, and Leo wants to make sure we both see it."
The orange-masked turtle didn't even bother repressing a yawn, rubbing one eye tiredly as he picked himself up. He trotted down the steps after Raphael, and paused at the edge of the living area when he realized that everyone else was already huddled around the TV.
"What's going on?" Mike asked. "Is it the end of the world as we know it again? How many times will that make for one year?"
"Shh," Leo ordered. "We're trying to find out, Mike; we just turned it on."
Mike noticed Rebecca giving him a sidelong glance, and he came up to join the woman. He wrapped both arms around her waist from behind and silently focused on the screen.
"…Officials have yet to release any numbers, but the stories coming from witnesses outside the Station have been discouraging so far. What started out as a normal afternoon on the subway has become a living nightmare for crew and passengers, and undoubtedly for the families left behind.
"All we currently have available from the situation underground are still images, photos taken by those witnesses who filled the station before being evacuated by the Authorities. We have heard nothing from the passengers who survived the trip, which was clearly anything but a typical journey…"
Michelangelo stared cluelessly at the pictures. He'd expected to see fire indicating some kind of explosion or accident that could explain several deaths on the subway. Instead he saw subway cars that looked completely unscathed, like a normal train.
"Shaken passengers weren't given the opportunity to do anything except depart the carts according to witnesses, after which they were immediately escorted into seclusion. As of yet, we haven't received reports of any of the individuals being released from official custody.
"Police have already indicated that there was no measurable amount of carbon monoxide, but they haven't offered any other explanation for the death toll across four of the cars. The Transit Authority has halted all current operations, while a thorough investigation is being carried out…"
"Okay, so what'd we miss?" Raphael asked. "They got a bunch of people dead on the subway, and they don't know why?"
"Not according to the breaking news that Don saw on the Internet," Leo replied. "No sign of injuries or fire, no outward reason to immediately expect foul play, except for the selective method by which the people were affected. The word on the Internet is that the deaths were localized to specific cars."
Mike cocked his head. "And no one knows what happened to them?"
Raphael made a scoffing sound. "People don't just up and die for no reason. There's gotta be something they're not telling us."
"They're investigating the potential reasons, Raph. It's possible that…" Leonardo trailed off as the screen they were watching shifted to another frame, with a new update.
"This just in, we are currently receiving breaking reports of a second train which is suffering similar conditions to that of our original story. No word on a death toll or number of cars that were affected, but we'll keep you updated as the word continues to come in.
"If you're just joining us, we're receiving news that there are now two trains at separate locations with deaths that appear to be related, if for nothing other than their apparent lack of an explanation. Stay with us while we bring you live coverage from the street, and news as it breaks."
"Now there are two?" Brandon murmured. "It's multiplying, whatever it is."
"What could go wrong on the subway?" Karina wondered out loud. "What could cause something like this?"
The blue-masked turtle shook his head. "I'm not sure, other than the obvious things that have been ruled out. I'm going to talk to Don and see what he thinks."
As Leonardo left the room, Mike nudged Becky in the direction of the couch.
"It's never a slow day in New York City, is it?" Mike offered weakly.
"Not for long," Rebecca said dryly, resisting his efforts to get her to sit down. "I'm not sure that I want to watch this, Mike, not when they don't have any information for us. It's like being slowly tortured with a meal you can't possibly eat, because they don't even have real food yet. They're only telling you what it smells like from where they are."
Mike's eye ridges rose. "Are you trying to make me hungry?" He gave her a half grin, but it faded as he looked back at the screen for another beat. "Nothing's really funny right now, is it? Not with a bunch of people being dead and no one knows why." The orange-masked turtle looked around as he realized something. "Where's Nate?"
"He fell asleep in his playpen, and I decided not to move him," Rebecca replied.
"You could have brought him upstairs, Beck. He wouldn't have bothered me."
"Nate is perfectly satisfied, and so were you." The young woman winked at him. "Do you want to watch this?" Rebecca motioned to the television.
"Not really," he said.
"Would you rather help me in the kitchen?"
Mike nodded and trotted after her as she started into the next room. "What were you working on? A late lunch?"
"More like getting an early start on dinner. I was bored, so I figured I could get the casserole ready, and it would only need to bake later on."
He took one look at the plastic package of egg noodles waiting on the counter and smiled. "Chicken Noodle?"
"It seems to be one of the few things Greg and Brandon have never teased me about."
Mike shook his head. "They just don't get someone who cooks as creatively as you do."
She gave him a withering smile. "It's a safer bet to go with you or Karina to get the mass crowd appeal. But I can count on this one dish, as long as people will pick up the right noodles."
Mike snickered. Rebecca had given Jenna a thorough lecture the last time the raven-haired woman had gone to the store and picked up a bag of cheap egg noodles, instead of the home-style Amish variety that his wife preferred.
"I thought we had everything I need, except I can't find the onion. I was sure we still had one," Becky said distractedly, as she began searching through the refrigerator.
"Bottom drawer, Beck. There's at least half of one left."
' "That ought to do it." Rebecca found the plastic container of the leftover vegetable, and began gathering up a few more things.
Mike spun a skillet in his hands as he pulled it out from the cabinet. "Do you want me to get some garlic going?" he asked.
"You can go ahead and put some oil in the skillet too, just don't turn the heat on yet."
Mike cast her a lingering glance as she came over to the cutting board. "I'll do all the chopping if you want. Just leave the onion and celery over here. The onion and garlic start off alone, right?"
She smiled. "You know the recipe almost as well as I do."
Michelangelo focused on dicing the first two ingredients, while Rebecca was assembling things in the background. He was getting ready to throw the onion and garlic into the pan, when he noticed a small shudder run through the woman's shoulders.
"Becky? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said softly. "There are just so many so uncertainties, y'know? You don't get a chance to see things like this coming. I bet none of those people who got on the subway today expected to die before they got off at their stop. We didn't expect anything other than a normal night weeks ago, when we almost lost Don and Brandon.
"There's no way to predict these kinds of events, not even when they're huge enough to turn the entire world upside down. Do you believe that it's been about a year since the earthquake?"
Mike shook his head. "With everything that's happened since then, sometimes it feels like it's been longer."
"But it hasn't been," she said. "I didn't even know I was pregnant this time last year. Now Nate's here and suddenly…I'm feeling more apprehensive about the unknowns than ever. I've never liked giving into fear, Mike, but it's hard."
He was surprised to realize that she was on the verge of tears. Mike reached to turn the heat off on the stovetop so that the oil wouldn't smoke, and set his attention on the young woman. "What are you afraid of?"
"It's probably silly, Mike."
"Coming from you? Yeah, right. What are you thinking about?"
"You guys haven't had it easy, not by any stretch of the imagination," Rebecca said slowly. "When I think about Nate and the hardships that are ahead of him, sometimes I want to bang my head against the wall. There's part of me that wants to rant, because I don't think it's fair.
"Nathaniel is blessed to have been born into this family, and to have you for a father. I just wish that things didn't have to be this hard and dangerous for him, the way I know they will be."
Mike shifted awkwardly. "It doesn't have to be as hard for him as my brothers and I have had it. I mean…we go out looking for trouble," he tried to say lightly.
Rebecca shook her head. "You go out to fix trouble, Mikey. There's a big difference. What you do is important, even though many people will never realize it."
"I'm trying to say that…if the time comes, Nate doesn't have to get into this lifestyle, not just because we did. That was our choice all the way. He doesn't have to follow in our footsteps. When I really think about the risks that we take and have taken so many times, I almost hope that he doesn't."
"You don't regret it though," Rebecca pointed out.
"No, I don't regret it on our part. But maybe there's something better for him and Liv. Maybe they don't need to put their lives on the line like we have. These thoughts have crossed my mind, Beck, and I know you've probably had them too."
She nodded. "But I also think it's too soon to try to make any decisions for them. I mean, you guys were raised under these streets, and look how you turned out."
He caressed her cheek with his hand, drawing her face closer to him. "We made it because we had each other. And for the record, Nate is blessed to have you for a Mom too."
Rebecca relaxed into his arms, and he felt like he was drawing just as much warmth from her presence as he was trying to project to her.
"You're such a good girl," he said. "How'd I end up with you?"
"The process of elimination helped," she teased. "You, me, the rainforest. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't been stuck out there with me?"
"What, like you could have ended up with someone else? Nu uh, I'd have fought for you."
"You won me over just by being you."
Mike shook his head. "I don't think there are a lot of girls that would say that about me, Beck."
"That's because they're blind," she replied. "I wouldn't trade you for anything, Mike, not for a normal life, not for all the money and security in the world. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."
His arms tightened by reflex as she kissed him. He could have stayed happily that way for an hour, but the sound of nearby fussing caught his ear. Rebecca was the first to let go with a parting smile.
"Go get your son," she told him. "The two of you can keep me company while I cook."
"Sounds good to me, babe." Mike grinned. He's the only thing that was missing from this picture.