Chapter Twelve: Bad Choices

All four turtles made a beeline for the space behind the counter, their shells conking together loudly as they did. Casey and Karai sat themselves closer together, shielding the counter from people's vision as best as they could. Mr. Murakami had come back from food shopping just in time and the Hamatos cursed themselves for neglecting their watch-keeping.

"I am very sorry," they heard Murakami-san say to the mystery person. "We are closed."

"It's quite alright. I'm just here to pick something up." The speaker had a thick Manchester accent, obviously female.

Casey and Karai immediately spun round in their seats, greeted by Paige's warm smile. She waved one small hand at them. She was still wearing her usual white dress and bulky beige trench coat, her dark blonde hair cascading brown her back.

"Mr. Murakami, it's cool," Casey told him. "She's a friend."

The blind man turned to Paige and was surprised as she said, in his native tongue, she was sorry for intruding. He gave a nervous chuckle and said it was alright before welcoming her in and returned to sweeping the front of the diner. She walked over to where her boy and Karai were seated.

"Evening, all," she greeted.

"'Sup, P?" Casey returned.

"Paige, you speak Japanese?" Karai asked.

"Yes," she said. "Me mentor from the British Library was Japanese. And I'd be a poor excuse for an international spy if I couldn't speak more than ten languages."

"Ten?" Casey mouthed.

"So this is your new hang-out," Paige observed.

"Yeah," Casey confirmed. "It's small but homey. And wait 'till you try the Pizza Gyouza." He suddenly remembered the state his friends were still in. He knocked on the counter. "Guys, it's cool, you can come out."

Leo was the first to resurface, sucking in a welcomed breath. "Mikey, when was the last time you washed your feet?"

Mikey stood up from behind the counter, Raph and Donnie behind him and glaring daggers at their youngest brother's shell. He stroked his chin in thought. "Um…When did that whole giant worm thing happen again?" He fell silent when he saw Paige, suddenly embarrassed at having said something like that in front of a lady. He giggled nervously.

"You must be Michelangelo," Paige said, extending a hand to him. "Nice to meet you."

He took her hand in both of his and shook it vigorously. "The one and only," he said proudly. "And likewise. Wow. When my brothers told me you were English and Casey's nanny, I kinda thought you'd look more like Mary Poppins."

Paige gave a warm laugh. "No, dear. But I sound enough like her, I suppose…Could you let go of me hand?"

He hadn't realized that he was still shaking it. "Oh, sorry."

"Quite alright. Now, are you feeling better? I heard you were ill."

Mikey waved it off. "Pssshhh. I'm great." He looked down, shifting on his feet. He remembered what his brothers had reported regarding Paige. "By the way, um…I heard…you know, from my brothers…that you could do stuff with paper and-"

"Say no more," Paige said, her smile growing. She reached for one of the disposable napkins on the table. She pinched it between two fingers and flicked it into the air, where it immediately folded itself into a paper crane. For a while, as everyone watched in awe, the crane hovered in the air and then started to sail away.

"That is epic!" Mikey exclaimed before proceeding to chase the crane around the diner.

"It still surprises me that you can do that," Leo told Paige.

Raph's gaze was glued to Mikey. "Look at him go," Raph observed. "Kinda reminds me of a puppy with a laser pen."

Donnie leaned towards her. "You do realize he's gonna make you do that every time he sees you, right?"

Paige shook her head, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't mind," she said honestly as she watched Mikey try to shoot the crane down with rubber bands. She held a look of pure adoration. For all the world, she looked like a proud mother watching her child at graduation. A loud crash resounded through the diner as Mikey tripped over a chair and fell flat on his stomach, groaning. Before any of his siblings could react, Paige rushed to Mikey's side.

She helped him stand, keeping a steady hand on his shell. "Michelangelo," she admonished. "Please take it easy. You're still recovering." She held her hand aloft and willed the crane to nestle itself into her palm. Once she had it, she gave it to an excited and grateful Michelangelo.

"Aw, don't sweat it, Paige," he assured. "I'm feelin' great! Matter of fact, I'm here 'cuz I wanted to celebrate. To the karaoke machine!" He sauntered off to the corner of the diner where the new karaoke machine now stood.

"I'll help you turn it on, Mikey," Karai offered before following.

Mikey scoffed. "Yeah right. You just wanna hog it again."

"Hey," Karai defended. "It's your fault for getting me started on it in the first place."

Paige leaned towards Leonardo. "Is he always so chipper?"she asked. "That must be nice." Behind her back, Mikey's siblings exchanged frowns as if to say: "She has no idea, does she?" Remembering what she came here for, she turned back to the turtles. "Boys, I was wondering if I could talk to Casey for a minute."

Leonardo nodded and ushered his siblings away from the counter and towards the karaoke machine, where Mikey and Karai had begun a tug of war with the songbook and mic. They were arguing about what language of song to play.

"So" Paige began, seating herself in the stool beside Casey. "I talked to your father. He's agreed to go through with the physical therapy."

Casey's shoulders sank in relief. "Finally!" he sighed. "Oh, but good luck trying to find a…a therapist-is that what they're called?"

Paige nodded. "Yes. And I know it won't be easy. I know how your father feels about strangers in the house. That's why I -"

Charming reggae music cut her sentence off. Mikey had clearly lost the fight for the remote because it was a female voice who had started singing. "Taisetsu ni shite ita mono wa itsumo koboreochite yuku. Demo kimi to no omoide dake wa kono mune no oku ni tsuyoku aru…"

"My, that's a lovely voice," Paige commented.

"That's Karai singing," said Casey. "You know, she hated the karaoke thing at first. Then one day, Mikey got super-bored and convinced her to sing with him. She ended up loving it."

Paige beamed. He was speaking so fondly of her. "You really like that girl, don't you, Casey?"

Casey hesitated only for a moment. He nodded. "Yeah. But, you know, just as a friend. She's a good friend. And she has her eye on someone else…and so do I." He flashed her one of his signature smug grins.

Paige ruffled his hair affectionately. "I understand," she told him, a nostalgic twinkle in her eyes. "I had a friend like that once. We were inseparable."

"He's back in England?"

The light from her eyes dimmed slightly. "No, sadly. We drifted apart in college. He's long gone now."

Casey's smile melted; he recalled his own broken friendship. "It happens," he said comfortingly. "Remember Nick? We're not friends anymore, either."

She laid her hand on his. "I'm sorry, sweetheart…It's like what your mum told me once: some things are just out of our control."

"…Ima ni mo kikoete kisou na ano waraigoe. Futari dake no natsu no owari oboete iru yo…"

As soon as the final verse ended, Mikey and Karai were scrambling for the mic yet again. Raphael excused himself to get some more drinks and was not happy to see Paige still at the counter with Casey. Still, he proceeded to the cooler behind the counter.

Paige turned to the red-banded turtle. "Raphael, I can't help but think that we got off rather on the wrong foot."

Raphael didn't bother looking up. "Ya think?" he sassed.

Keeping her face neutral, Paige nodded. "Yes. And perhaps it didn't help, me givin' you cheek right back…But Casey is very important to me and, by extension, so is your opinion of me…I'm willing to do what I have to do to earn your trust."

Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "Okay. Then, can you go jump into the East River?"

Casey visibly paled at the blatant way Raph was speaking to her; in his head, he was already imagining Paige using Raph's shell as a decorative bowl.

Paige flashed Raphael an admonishing look. "No, young man. Something else."

Raph honestly considered walking away and saying this wasn't worth his time. And then something on the counter caught his eye: the jar of chili pepper mash Casey had brought with him. He took the jar and handed it to Paige. "Okay, then," he began as Paige turned the jar over in her hands, inspecting it. "Spice-Off. Whoever lasts the longest wins."

A smirk crept onto Paige's face, one that Casey had never before seen her wear and chilled him to the bone.

"Alright," she agreed. "Let's give it a bash. If you win, you can have your pick of any of my antique weapons back home…But if I win, you stop giving me cheek and behave yourself around me…And, you help me organize my whole apartment building-from the floors to the fixtures."

The red-clad turtle narrowed his eyes in thought.

Casey could see what was happening and tapped a finger on his green friend's shoulder. "Uh, Raph?"

Raph brushed his hand away. "Casey, I'm thinking." Thinking, indeed. About how nice that push-dagger of hers would look on his wall.

"No," Casey persisted. "Raph, seriously-"

"Shh. Not now, Casey." Raphael thrust out one green hand. "Deal."

They shook hands.

Paige, the jar in her hands, then went over to Mikey and asked him if he was willing to try his hand at making curry. A proud grin cracked Raphael's face in half. He was super stoked. But as Casey placed a hand on his shoulder in what he assumed would be a wish of good luck, he made a horrifying realization. It was enough to wipe the smirk off his face.

"You just challenged an Indian person to a spice-off," Casey told him.

Raph nodded. "Yeah, this may have been a mistake."

Author's Note and References:

I think we can all safely assume who won that battle. Oh well.

Oh, Raph. You and your hubris…*shakes head*

Paige, you and your sneakiness. Heh heh

I honestly want to know: did anyone miss Paige?

Regarding the last chapter, did anyone else sense the sexual tension between Shred-head and the Bish? No one? Jut me? Okay, well I just made everything awkward, didn't I?

*Paige's mentor - Paige is referring to the Read Or Die protagonist Yomiko Readman, who is in fact Half-Japanese and Half-English. She was the 19th holder of the codename "Agent Paper" and the greatest Papermaster in the world. And yes, I know the whole "I speak more than ten languages" thing is very Sue-ish, but hey! At least Paige has a legitimate reason.

I am on a roll, aren't I? One update per day, baby! Sadly, that'll have to end with this chapter, sorry 'bout that.

Karai's song:

The song Karai is singing is Moments In The Sun by Kazami. Please look it up, it's really good. It's a nice relaxing reggae song and, most importantly, it's the end credits theme to the 26-episode Read Or Die TV series.

The first verse translates to: The things I treasured are always spilling over. But the memories of my time with you remain strong in my heart.

And the ending verse: Even now I feel like I can hear your laugh. I remember the end of that summer we spent, just the two of us.

As you can tell, it's a song about nostalgia and lost loved ones. Losing a friend, no matter what the circumstances that led to their loss may be, is never easy. Very fitting that it should be playing at the same time that Casey and Paige are talking about the friends they've lost, eh? The fact that this song is actually from ROD and the fact that it lends itself well to that scene is a complete coincidence-one that makes me very happy. A Happy Coincidence!

See you all soon. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to review.