Chapter Four: Meet the Family

April and Donatello's brothers were all bunched together, peeking out from the side of a nearby tunnel, watching in fascination as Donatello helped Aria to set up a small picnic in the sewers. Which was strange in itself. Stranger still, this girl looked even more out of place in person than she had on the monitors. Everything she was wearing looked expensive. They all stared intently at the girls face. She was beaming so happily as she unpacked the food she had prepared for Donatello. They were dumbfounded. A little hesitant to come out now. They had initially planned to show themselves, but it looked too much like a date now and they felt awkward.

April was confused as well and the strange pain in her gut began to grow. She suddenly felt a little under dressed. They were in the sewer, but that girl was dressed so nicely and her hair was done so well. April wasn't very feminine when it came to clothes and such, but that had never been an issue. However, for some reason, she felt slightly shabby in comparison.

"Do you think they're really going out?" whispered Leonardo

"No way," April answered quickly, "I mean, I doubt it."
Even as she said it, she wondered if she were telling the truth or not. Donatello couldn't have gotten a girlfriend, could he?

They all watched closely as Aria blissfully made Donatello a plate of food. It certainly smelled good. They were not trying very hard to conceal themselves; in fact, they were each struggling to get a better look and pushing one another to be in front. April seemed to be the only one that didn't care to see it. She certainly wasn't going out of her way to fight off the others in order to look.

While his brothers all struggled to get a better look, Donatello was slowly tensing up. Aria may not have noticed them, but Donatello could see them from the corner of his eye. Kneeling down on the blanket and holding the plate that Aria had given him, he was praying she wouldn't see his nosy family behind him as they peeked out from the tunnel.

"Is something the matter?" Aria asked Donatello when she noticed he wasn't eating. Did he not like the food?

Donatello flinched a bit and quickly looked down at his food in a panic.
"N-nothing! I was just thinking…about how good everything smelled!"

Aria blushed and another smile laced her lips. "Oh, I'm glad. I tried making everything that you liked best…and what I couldn't make…I bought," admitted Aria.

"So what did you make yourself, then?" Donatello asked curiously, trying to ignore the eyes on them. Especially the blue eyes of the redhead he had fallen in love with. A part of him worried about April seeing this and getting the wrong idea, but there was another part that wondered if maybe it would make her a little jealous.

Aria looked a little more embarrassed than before, "…to be honest, I was only able to make those little pizza bagels. I'm afraid I'm not very good at cooking just yet. I never had the time, but look, I made sure to buy some of the best chocolate cake you will ever have. I know how much you love chocolate."

Donatello's nerves were beginning to ease when he noticed how awkward Aria seemed to feel. Though he wondered for a moment when he had ever mentioned that he liked chocolate. Did he tell her through a text?

"Would you like to try some?" Aria asked, pulling out a box containing a large slice of chocolate cake. When she opened the box, the smell of chocolate reached him and Donatello smiled. He couldn't remember the last time he had chocolate that smelled so nice.

Donatello placed his plate down on the blanket, "I would, thank you," he replied. However, when he looked back up after setting down his food, Aria was holding out a small bite of the cake for him with a fork. Did she want to feed him? He didn't want to assume anything like that. He must have been mistaken.

"Say 'ahhh,'" Aria began happily.

He was not mistaken. All of the alarms in his head began to go off and he felt his cheeks burn, his body tensing up once again.
"U—uh, a-are you sure?!" He asked, his voice pitching a bit.

Aria's smile only grew and though a blush laced her cheeks as well, she didn't pull back. Instead, she brought the tasty treat a little closer, meeting his maroon colored eyes with her emerald hues.
Everything went completely silent and for a moment or two, Donatello was too nervous to move, but once he finally began to lean in, his brothers gasped and all fell forward from their corner.

Aria and Donatello flinched, the bit of chocolate cake falling into the girls lap when she jumped in surprise. Donatello quickly got to his feet and turned to glare at his brothers, who hadn't bothered to pick themselves up yet.

"Oh-uh…hey, Donnie," greeted Leonardo, stuck at the bottom of the pile and trying to act casual. "We just…um, stopped by…to uh…meet your new friend."

"It's your brothers?!" Aria began in a panic as she got to her feet and tried to wipe the cake off. "It-it's nice to meet you." She greeted nervously, still attempting to clean herself a bit to make a good impression. She hadn't expected to meet them all so soon, but she was happy all the same.

The turtles all pushed the others to get to their feet, though Leo tried to keep them from frightening off the girl. The turtles leader smiled at Aria and tried to ignore Donatello's disapproving gaze.
"My name is Leonardo, this is Mikey, Raphael, and our friend April." He greeted, gesturing at them all, stopping at April as she only now began to walk over.

Aria was happy to meet his brothers, but was surprised to see a girl there. It wouldn't have been a problem, if it hadn't been for what she saw when April walked out. A glance at Donatello's face told her all she needed to know. His eyes followed April as she moved and he looked anxious, but not in the same way he did when he was with her. She didn't like it.
Turning her attention back to Leonardo, Aria tried to remain calm. With her best smile, she addressed them again.
"My name is Aria Dawn, it's a pleasure to meet all of you, finally."

His brothers smirked a bit, their eyes finding Donatello once again.
"So, are you and Donnie…special friends?" Raphael asked

"Raph!" Donatello interrupted at once. "that's enough, come on Aria, I'll walk you out." He added, placing his hand on Aria's shoulder and turning her away from the others.

"Aw, don't be like that, Don. We just wanted to say hi!" Mikey tried.

April was surprisingly quiet, holding one of her arms with her hand. She was usually friendly with others, but something about Aria seemed to rub her the wrong way and she wasn't sure why. After all, they hadn't exchanged any words and she didn't know her at all. There was just…something about her that bothered April.

Though Donatello was trying to lead her out, Aria stopped on her heel and glanced back to see his brothers.
"U-Um! This was a terrible setting for a first meeting," she began, "I would love for your whole family to come and visit me. I could introduce myself properly and I promise to provide delicious food."

"Yeah, I'll talk to them about it, come on now," Donatello said hastily, leading Aria further down the tunnel. He felt a little rude, but having April and Aria in the same room made his stomach ache. He felt guilty. After all, he could tell that Aria liked him, but he was in love with April, and he didn't want to upset April.

Aria allowed Donatello to lead her away, reaching a ladder at the end and stopping just short of it.
She was quiet all the while, but something bugged her.
"…You…never mentioned a girl named April. Or…any girls at all," Aria began.

"W-well, I was going to, but you only asked about family and April is more of a—well she's…"

"You like her." Aria finished for him, her smile faded now as she stared down at the chocolate stain on her dress.

Donatello tensed once more. She could tell already? Was he that obvious? He glanced away and wasn't sure how to respond.
In his silence, Aria looked up at him now, a serious look in her eyes.

"Are you two…a couple?" she asked finally.

That question didn't make him nervous, it made him sad.
"No…" he answered, clearly sullen by the fact.

Aria's face seemed to perk a bit, though she didn't care for the look on his face.
"Then I won't give up."

Donatello flinched a bit and looked back at her with concern, "whoa, wait a sec, you could see that I like—"

"—but you're not a couple," Aria finished for him, stepping closer to him. "I wasn't planning on moving so quickly…but after seeing your face when she appeared…"

"Aria…" Donatello tried quietly.

"—but it's okay!" she insisted, determination in her eyes. "I've waited a very long time to meet you again. So I'm not about to lose. One day…I'm sure I can make you look at me the same way you look at her. I know that I can make you happy."

Donatello felt a little backed into a corner. Aria was certainly straight forward with her feelings. He was actually a little touched. He still didn't even have the courage to tell April he was in love with her, and yet, here Aria was, laying it all out face to face.
He opened his mouth to reply, but Aria stopped him by taking his hand.

"I don't need…or want an answer right now. I don't want to pressure you. Just know…that I am here…and that I do love you. I'll do whatever it takes…to make our promise come true."

"Promise?" Donatello repeated, more curious now than embarrassed. She had mentioned a promise before, but never went into detail.

"You don't have to remember that either. Look, I'll send you an address on where to meet me. You can bring your whole family and I promise it will be secret and safe for all of you. I want to do this right."

"I still don't really know what you mean," Donatello admitted with a nervous smile, "but—um…I appreciate…your feelings." He ended finally. He couldn't think of another way to put it without hurting her.

"That will do for now," Aria said with a smile, gripping his hand a little and leaning up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

Donatello felt his cheeks burn again and he watched in mild amazement as Aria pulled back to turn towards the ladder. He was not used to this, but it felt nice. He shook himself mentally before stepping forward to help her up onto the ladder.

"I'll uh—talk to Sensei about going to meet with you…" he agreed, trying to make her see that he wasn't going to blow off.

"I look forward to it," Aria said happily as she climbed the ladder. Once she was at the top, she could see that Donatello was half covering his eyes. Most likely to keep from looking up her dress as she climbed.
She got to the surface and stared down into the manhole.
"I'll see you soon, Donatello." She said before the manhole cover began to recover the entrance, watching Donatello wave at her until it was completely closed.

"Did you have a good time, Miss?" A young man asked, dressed in a drivers uniform, all black and with a strange insignia on his lapel. A car was waiting next to the manhole, as if he had been waiting there the entire time.

"I'm a little late…" Aria began sadly.

"Not at all, young Miss. You're early, in fact. I didn't expect you back until—"

"Not to meet you," Aria snapped irately. "He has someone he likes."

The driver seemed shocked by the news and his shoulders dropped a bit. However, he still smiled and reached over to place his hand on her shoulder.
"What will you do?"

"I'm not going to give up. I'm running out of time. …I just…got here a little late."

"Well than, we should go home and prepare. You need to recoup after all this and we'll get you washed up," he suggested calmly.

Aria nodded her head a little. "Yes. …I'll do that, but in the meantime, I want to find out everything I can about this girl, April."

"Understood," answered the driver simply as Aria turned to head for the car. He followed after her, opening the door and allowing her to slip into the back of the black vehicle.

Back in the tunnels, Donatello had returned to his brothers, only to find that they were busily chatting and eating the food that Aria had brought with her. Except for April and Leonardo, who both seemed annoyed at the other two.
Once Leonardo spotted Donatello return, he quickly rushed over to him.
"I tried to stop them," he said quickly.

Donatello was honestly still a little dumbfounded and found he cared very little about the food. However, once he saw Mikey reaching for the chocolate cake, a quick flash of Aria's embarrassed face came to mind, offering to feed him a bite. Without thinking, Donatello dashed over and snatched the cake away from Mikey.
"You guys are unbelievable," he huffed.

"Hey! It's not like we planned on interrupting." Raphael stated evenly.

"Yeah, Mikey pushed us out." Leonardo added.

"Did not!" protested Michelangelo, "April shoved me."

"I didn't shove you! I-I tripped is all. It was an accident." April insisted awkwardly. Admittedly, when she saw Aria about to feed Donatello as if they were lovers, that terrible feeling in her gut grew larger and before she knew it, April had pushed Mikey's back to cause a distraction and stop them. Not that she was planning to admit that to the others.

Donatello held the cake box in his hands as he glanced at April.
"Well...just…try not to scare her off," started Donatello, "she's a friend."

"Of course, a friend…" chimed his brothers in unison, each with a knowing smirk on their face.

A/N: So my update is late. What else is new, right? Lol
Well I hope you like this one. Keep reading and posting comments please. I hope to see you all next time. Love you!