The party was just as boring as she'd expected it to be. Oh, the place itself was magnificent. A house from the early 1800, restored to its full glory, complete with the wooden decorations, high ceiling and the shimmering crystal lamps. Candace walked around on the upper floor when Ronald Fairfax caught up with her.

"Candy! What are you doing all the way up her?" he said and his tanned aristocratic face beamed a perfect smile at her. The jacketcrowns in his teeth was perfectly sculpted. It even looked like his real teeth.

"Just avoiding being caught up in a boring discussion " she stated and sipped the red wine she had brought with her upstairs. Ronald's tan face smiled again and gently steered her towards the stairs. He was dressed in a black suit with a startling red shirt. Ronald, the everlasting fashion crazies man. Ronald himself was a rather eccentric man, dressing just as awkward as ever. And he loved to toy around with his Scottish decent. So a kilt was his choice this evening.

"Well, seems like we both have dresses tonight!" Candace whispered as they entered the main room again. She didn't like Ronals calling her candy. Only her Mum had been allowed to do that so far.

"Yes my dear Candyl, both are red as well You look marvellous!" he said and the grip around her waist tightened again.

"To some extent maybe." she murmured and freed herself. Ronald looked disappointed to see the blonde woman being engulfed by the other guests. She ended up in the other end of the room, discussing the importance of a balanced budget when it came to the stockmarket rumours. Candace usually avoided that kind of conversations. But it could teach her something about it. She had some really good stockbrokers that usually took care of all her market business.

"Candace?" said a voice behind her and she looked over her shoulder.

"April? What are you doing here?" she chirped and the two shook hands.

"The TV station got an exclusive to film the people arriving. We aren't allowed to shoot in here, but we did get invited to attend."

"That's great! May I introduce you to some persons then?"

April grinned. Insider information at its best. She followed the elegant, beautiful young woman as they surfed the society waves.  

"I can drive you home. My car is just around the corner "

April nodded. She'd had some drinks and she needed to get home. She looked at the bag she was carrying. It was some really neat desserts to Shadow and Casey. She could just see Shadows face as she opened the bag. That girl was nuts about marzipan. Casey would most likely eat the fudge and cream desserts until he could not stand any more.

"Aha.... Here it is."

April felt her jaw drop as a sparkling white Limousine came around the corner. It stopped carefully and a driver, dressed in a perfect suit, came out.

"The car is here, Miss Hamilton."

Candace smiled at him. "Thank you, Jeeves. April?"

They entered the Limousine and took off.

"Wow... I have never seen anything like this before " she almost whispered.

"I have. I think I sometimes grew up in one. " said Candace and opened the window to the Driver. April told him her address and he carefully turned up on the highway to downtown New York.

"This has been a wonderful evening "

"I am glad you liked it Are our lunchappointment still alright?"

April nodded and leaned back in the seat opposite of Candace.  

As April was about to enter the apartment she heard the voices of others, the sounds from a TV game and loud shouts. The unmistakable scent of pizza hit her like a wall when she entered the hall.

"Not like Russian caviar "

"Ape!" howled Michelangelo from the TV room.

"Yeah?!" she called back and took off the highheeled shoes. She'd obtained quite a few blisters from them. As she walked over to the TV room, she smiled. It had been a good idea to purchase this house. They had the Antique store on the groundfloor. In the basement they had the Turtles apartments, two actually, but better then nothing. They still had the lair ofcouse, but it was neat to have a second home if that was needed.

"Hi " she said as she entered the room. The big 30" screen was blaring out sounds and light over the gang assembled on the floor and surrounding furniture. She saw Donatello and Michaelangelo howling and screaming at the characters they manoeuvred with the remote controls. It was some kind of beatemup game. As if they didn't get enough of that in real life. Leonardo was sitting in the sofa, with Casey in the middle, and Shadow curled up next to him. Raphael was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor, reading some kind of tabloids. He looked up and waved hello.

"Where's Venus?"

"Practising. She'd come by later "

"Later?! Thankgod it's Friday then "mumbled April. She walked around, saying hello to all of the turtles. The past seven years had changed them. Mick and Don still had some of the boyish charm; Leo was calm and centred as most of the time. Even if he was chewing on a handful of popcorn. Now and then he and Casey took a popcorn each and tossed it into the air. Then caught it with the mouth.

"High three!" laughed Casey and they slapped the hands together.

"Great!" giggled Shadow. She was Casey's daughter from an earlier relationship. Now at 5 years of age, she had a promise of great beauty. She had her father's face and thick brown hair. A lovely child. April loved beingher mother now, and to have uncles like Leo, Mike, Don and Raph was an amazing thing for the little girl. She still was getting used to Venus, but was loosing her shyness for the turtle woman as time went by.

"What are you reading?" said April as she sat down on the thick plush carpet next to Raphael. He handed her a glossy tabloidpaper.

"This is the same woman that Venus and I saved right before Christmas. I didn't know who she was actually until I read this..."

"That is Candace Hamilton. I just got a ride home with her. In a Limo!" Raphael hmm-ed as an answer and took the paper back. He sat still for a moment, looking down at the picture.

"Good to put a name to the face."

April glanced at him and nodded. He kept on browsing thru the tabloids.

"So...what's been going on tonight?" she asked the others.

Mick suddenly howled and slammed his fist into the floor. "Dammit! I fall for that every time"

"Sucker " Donnie said and proceeded to finished off his opponent. A big red The End flashed and Donnie howled loud. "I am THE king!"

Even if Mick tried to look sullen, Donnie just had to challenge him again and the game started all over. April rose and joined Shadow in the sofa. Leo moved over to a big mid1800's chair.

"I did great today!" proclaimed Shadow and climbed into April's lap. Then she proceeded to explain all the things she'd done that day.  

Amadeus made a graceful jump up in the broad bed. Candace smiled and carefully stroke the soft reddish fur.

"Hi sorry I didn't bring any of the caviar back to you. They had several kilos left I believe... Maybe I can call Ronald tomorrow and ask him "

She sat in the middle of the bed and went over the latest news. Fanny had been by and dropped the notes to the maid. Candace read them just shortly before she shoved them into the briefcase. "Tomorrow." she said and stretched her arms. Suddenly she felt as if someone watched her She got up and walked over to the big French doors in the bedroom and pulled the curtain aside. Outside the doors she had the penthouse garden. It was a large roomy garden. The house she owned was not the highest, so she could see several others tower up above her own. She opened the doors and went out. Maybe someone had used the fireescape, or climbed over from another roof? But when she walked around, she found nothing out of the normal. Amadeus ran around, then climbed up in a slim cherrytree. He sniffed in the chilly nightair, tail all alert and straight up.

"Come on Amadeus! Let's go inside. Time to feed the turtle "