April sat outside for her lunch break. There was a stiff, chilly wind, but she needed to get outside of the school building for a while. She had found a certain solace in solitude; after she had scarfed down her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she sat cross-legged on the bench and meditated. The cold air numbed the tip of her nose and her ears, but it felt good—as though it were numbing her to the distracting temporal happenings around her.
Suddenly, however, she had the feeling that she was being watched. She opened her eyes and looked around—there, across the campus, a woman she had never seen stood looking at her. Immediately, April became cautious. She felt for her tessen—which Mei had miraculously been able to retrieve for her—and watched carefully.
After a moment, the woman approached her. "It's kind of cold out here. Why don't you go inside?"
"I needed some air," April replied.
"Are you April O'Neil, by any chance?"
April's insides suddenly felt as cold as the ambient temperature. "Why do you ask?" She immediately remembered Ms. Campbell—who turned out to be a Kraang robot.
"I'm Jen Remington, Casey Jones' foster parent. I thought you might be the girl who was tutoring him in trigonometry."
April relaxed, but only slightly. What if Karai had somehow managed to manipulate Jen as well? "That's me. But we had a falling out, so I stopped."
Jen nodded solemnly. "He's had a rough life. He has a hard time keeping friends. I'm sorry to hear he pushed you away."
You don't know the half of it, lady, April thought. "Why are you here at lunch hour?"
"Casey's in trouble. Again." Jen sighed. "I haven't ever seen him as happy as he was when he was hanging out with you and your friends, April. I understand if you don't—but if you would think about giving him a second chance, he really is trying."
"I will think about it," April replied, her tone indicating that she was only saying this to be polite.
Jen pressed her lips together and nodded again. "Thanks," she said. "Well, see you." With that, she turned and left.
Yet again, another week went by for April. Everything seemed like a blurred painting; one day bled into the next like watercolor. Every morning, she woke because Donnie pulled her out of bed. She ate because it was necessary. She went to school because she was sure her father would want her to. She trained because it distracted her. She practiced meditation because it soothed her.
All in all, she felt numb. However, there were those moments she felt like herself again—during a covert kiss with Donnie, after mastering a particularly hard kata, listening to Master Splinter and Tang Mei tell stories about their childhood in Japan. But as soon as the moments passed, the numbness swallowed her up again.
Her heart ached for her father. Even though she knew that he would have no miraculous cure for her, she also knew that he might be able to help her more than anyone else could. Every day after training, she went to visit him.
This particular day, Donnie accompanied her.
"Hi, Daddy," April said as they walked into the cave. Her father's distorted face smiled broadly; his smiles gave her hope that perhaps her father was still in there. She ran to him and hugged him, which he returned in his own awkward way.
"Hey, Mr. O'Neil," Donnie said with a wave. He opened up a shoebox full of her dad's favorite snacks and set them loose in the cave. Happily, her dad bounded after the small creatures.
April and Donnie sat down next to each other on a rock and watched as her dad ran about pouncing on his prey. "Thanks for everything you do, Donnie," April said.
Donnie put his arm around April. "Of course." He sighed. "Hey, I've got some bad news."
"What's that?" April asked, her stomach flipping.
"Well, we've got to pull some tissue samples from your dad for my research. It might hurt him a little, but not too much. We're going to have to restrain him."
"Oh. You had me scared for a minute, Donnie."
"Well, just wait until you hear the good news," Donnie said with a grin.
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise."
That evening, after eating an excellent supper prepared by Mikey and Mei, Donnie stood up from the table. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make," he said, a huge grin adorning his face. "Please follow me into my lab." Once everyone had moved to the lab, Donnie stood up straight with a pleased expression on his face.
"Well, don't keep us waiting, dude!" Mikey said.
"Yeah! What's this about?" snapped Raph.
"Aunt Mei, would you like to do the honors?" Donnie asked.
Smiling, Mei walked over to Donnie's desk, which was covered with a tarp. "Donatello and I are proud to unveil our latest collaboration," she said. "The only supercomputer in the world capable of the advanced molecular analysis of extra-dimensional elements!" She whipped the tarp away, revealing underneath a massive computer.
April stared at the computer and burst into applause with everyone else. To the eye, it was little more than a jumble of electronics—but to her heart, it was a beacon of hope and promise. If Donnie had made it this far, maybe there was a chance that he would really succeed.
"What do you call it?" Leonardo asked.
Donnie put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Well…"
"Unmutatron 3000!" shouted Mikey, bobbing up and down. "Why? Cause you're gonna un-mutate stuff with it, and 3000 is an awesome number!"
"It already has a name, shellbrain! We're not calling it the 'Unmutatron 3000.'"
"I kinda like 'Unmutatron,'" Raph said.
"No! That's a stupid name."
"So what brilliant name did you come up with, Professor Brainioff?" Raph countered, folding his arms.
Donnie turned red. "That doesn't matter. It's just a computer."
"'April's Hope,'" said Mei abruptly.
"What?" said Leonardo, confused.
"Obasan!" Donnie cried, in scandalized tones.
"It's called 'April's Hope,'" Mei continued, ignoring Donnie's protests. "It's the name he put on the first blueprints for it, about four months ago."
April looked into Donnie's eyes. She wanted to ask, "This whole time? Even before we…?" but she could not find her voice. Still blushing brilliantly, he gave her a tiny embarrassed smile.
"Awwww…" said Michelangelo, snickering. "That's so cute, Donnie!"
Raphael was shaking with repressed laughter. Leonardo, trying to be above his other brothers, covered his smile with his hand. Meanwhile, Splinter was shooting darts out of his eyes at the three turtles.
However, April had ceased to notice Donnie's brothers. All she saw were Donnie's brown eyes, filled with questions: Do you like it? Are you happy? Am I trying hard enough?
At that moment, she and Donnie were the only ones in the room. Donnie had burst in to rescue her yet again—to rescue her from despair, to give her hope. Hardly aware of what she was doing, she broke into a run, leapt into Donnie's arms, grabbed both sides of his face, and kissed him more passionately than she ever had before.
At first, Donnie's eyes opened wide in surprise, but then he shut them and got lost in their kiss, locking his arms tightly around her. When April finally pulled away, she whispered, "I love you, Donnie."
Her soft whisper was the loudest thing in the lab. Suddenly, she became aware of the silence around her. Whirling around, she saw just about the funniest thing she had ever seen.
Raphael had gone totally slack-jawed; Leonardo's eyes were so big that they looked ready to fall out; Michelangelo held a hand over his mouth in pure shock. Even though she hadn't really wanted them to find out yet, their expressions were so comical that April burst out laughing.
Donnie, though smiling, was not laughing. He stood tall, giving his brothers a smug, superior look. "Come on, April," he said. "Let me show you how it works."
While the three brothers stood in stunned silence, Splinter and Mei, who had shown no indication of surprise whatsoever, walked over to the computer to watch the demonstration.
"You remember those tissue samples we took?" Donnie said. "I dissolved them into this solution. Now, I put the specimens into the molecular centrifuge…" He inserted several test tubes into the equipment. "…which will feed information that the computer then interprets."
April had no clue as to what was really happening, but when data started popping up on the screen, she cheered. "Donnie, you are amazing!" she shouted, kissing him on the cheek.
Raph finally found his voice. "Okay, what is going on here? Donnie, April just…and why aren't you freaking out?"
Donnie grinned smugly. "Recover from your shell shock there, did you?"
"You've been hiding it from us, haven't you?" Leonardo said, shaking his head in disbelief. "How long have you guys been together?"
"A few weeks now," Donnie replied, his tone filled with vindication
When Mikey finally spoke, his face was filled with genuine hurt. "Why didn't you tell us? Did you think we wouldn't be happy for you?"
April suddenly felt as though she had been punched in the gut. She had been the only reason Donnie hadn't told his brothers; he had asked her over and over again if he could. Now that the truth was out, she would have to try to explain to all of them what she couldn't even explain to Donnie.
As she fumbled for something to say, Donnie spoke up. "That wasn't it at all, Mikey."
April cringed, bracing herself for Donnie to blame her.
"You see—I was afraid that you'd think I was being a jerk for dating her so soon after she broke up. I thought you'd be mad."
Once again, Donnie had saved April—this time, from embarrassment.
"Mad?" Leo shouted. "Donnie—how could we be mad?"
"Well, we're mad at you now," Raph said.
"Sorry, guys," Donnie said.
"C'mere, dude," said Mikey. "High three!"
As April watched the three congratulate Donnie, all she could think about how much she didn't deserve him. But when they swarmed in and scooped her up in a group hug, she found herself remembering something that Mei had said to her once:
"Nobody earns or deserves love."
As April looked around her, she saw lots of things she didn't deserve. Her caring, mother-like friend; her wise, loving sensei; her sweet, brilliant boyfriend; her three dedicated, awesome brothers; a safe place to live, and so much more.
Nobody deserves gifts, she thought. Nobody deserves anything. All we can do is accept what is given to us and be glad.
With that thought, April lost herself in the celebration of the moment: a bright, colorful moment that stood out brilliantly in the dark, blurred watercolor of her emotional distress.