Short chapter- and NOW it's a four-parter. But I do not intend it to go past Part Four. Thanks for the kind words.

Kyabetsu is practically a co-writer I've borrowed a few expressions of hers that she keeps putting in her emails to help me out! Anyway, Many thanks Kya!

"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is in the public domain. TMNT belong to Mirage and are NOT in the public domain.

"The Gift of the Magi-angelo" Part Three

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.

O. Henry

"Lemme get this straight," Casey said- for the fifth time. "Ya want me ta take this freakin' fantastic comic to a comic shop an' sell it for two hundred dollars."

Mike, exhibiting such patience as would have put Job to shame, carefully drew in a breath.

"No, I want you to take it to a reputable comic shop and sell it for nothing LESS than two hundred dollars."

Casey sat there, scratching his head, gazing at this unexpected request.

"Ya know you'd get more on eBay," he pointed out- for the fourth time.

"I know," Mike replied, smile on his face and murder in his heart. "I know. Believe me, I know. But, as I so carefully explained to you- repeatedly- I really really need this money before Christmas. Like Yesterday."

Casey nodded thoughtfully, still looking at the carefully protected in its double layer of polyethylene first ever appearance of freaking Wolverine for God's sake Mike are you out of your mind comic. For a few moments he contemplated the mission before him.

"So... what yer sayin' is... ya want me to-"

"Casey I really need you to do this for me!" Mike nearly screamed, startling the older man. "I can't go to April! She's the one who gave it to me! And even if I did go to her, she'd offer to buy it! She'd buy it, and then give it back to me as a gift! You KNOW she would! You KNOW how she is!"

Casey blinked in surprise at the outburst. He'd rarely seen such emotion from Mikey. From Raph, yes- but Mike?

"I'm sorry, Mike," he finally found his voice, as he looked at the heavily breathing turtle. "It's just I don't wanna do somethin' that you're gonna regret later! Tell ya what, let me LOAN ya the two hundred-"

If he thought the outburst before was something, he was surprised by what followed this generous, heartfelt offer. Raphael would have shed tears of pride at the hot language, the raw emotion, the popping vein in the forehead that was Michelangelo.

Though the part about "not having any hair to sell" made no sense to Casey- but Mike, in full rant about "quilt" and "money" and "sacrifice" and "NO CHARITY", did not look like he would have cared to explain the follicle thing to him.

After several minutes Mike wound down, and Casey, partly in shock, partly in understanding, picked up the comic as carefully as it had been presented to him at the beginning of Mike's arrival.

"I'll do my best," he said quietly. "I promise. And I won't buy it myself. I promise that as well."

"And NO April!" Mike ordered, suddenly seeing in his mind the tall man going straight to her with this tale under the mistaken belief that he was doing Mike a favor.

"No April," Casey promised, getting his coat and hat. " 'Sides, we ain't exactly talkin' at the moment."

Mike nodded, muttering a thoughtless "good"... then his eyes lit up with yet another imagined scenario.

"And NO going to SENSEI!" he added sternly.

Casey managed to keep an innocent face.

"I swear, Mike. I'll do what you want," he said, and managed to get out of his apartment without further ado.

"Though it would have been the right thing ta do, goin' ta Splinter," he muttered, as he made his way to his bike. The weather was freezing and snowy, otherwise he'd have taken a trip up north to his favorite comic shop, and have enlisted the help of Steve. But unfortunately that trip would have been possible even in a warm car.

Meanwhile, Mike, alone in Casey's apartment, belatedly realized that he hadn't said a proper goodbye to the comic.

"Just as well," he said aloud with a deep, emotional sigh. "I'd of probably started crying, and then Casey would NEVER have agreed to help me..."

He'd practically did cartwheels around the lair for WEEKS over that find. He drove his family crazy that first day when he'd come home with THE COMIC!

"It's MINE, it's MINE, it's ALL MINE!" he kept singing- they'd heard him coming, his voice was so loud in his joy. Before they could rush out to investigate the noise, he was in the living area, dancing, singing, and waving something around- carefully, but still...

"What's that?" Leo asked, trying to make sense of the entire spectacle. He reached out to relieve his brother of what he was holding- and nearly was smacked down by Mike!

"NO NO NO! Are you CRAZY!?" he shouted, his joy momentarily put on hold. "This is MINE! It's mine, and not yours, and only I can touch it!"

"But it looks like just a comic book," Don said, earning a HUGE look of Disdain for his comment.

"This is not 'just a comic book'," he informed his brainy brother. "This is 'The Incredible Hulk' issue #181, with the very first ever appearance of WOLVERINE!"

Blank stares met this most Awesome News.

Raph was the only one who seemed to understand.

"No way! Well, c'mon then, let's get a look at it! I always wanted to read that one."

Mike flipped out as if his brother had suggested something shocking, like drowning kittens or marrying Karai.

"This can't be opened HERE! And NO you can't touch it! You haven't washed your HANDS, and you don't have GLOVES! " Mike clutched the comic to his plastron protectively, careful not to damage it with crushing.

"Jeeze, Mike, what's your problem?" Raph responded, up for a game of "Snatch the comic from Mike and run like hell. "It's a comic! "

"NOOO! It's worth HUNDREDS of dollars! Seriously, I thought you'd understand that," came the reply, and he held the comic up so he could look at it once again. "April could have sold it, but she gave it to ME! To ME, do you hear? NOT you, or Leo, or even Don- not even to Casey!"

Splinter by now had entered the room, and he watched his son with some confusion.

"Am I to understand that April has given you something valuable? You must return it at once."

"No, it's okay, Sensei," Mike assured his father. He told him of the event, and how April, despite his telling her the value of the comic, had insisted that he keep it. "She knows I won't sell it. And I swear, Sensei, I truly tried to get her to keep it to sell, but she insisted."

Splinter did not look happy, but though he shook his head in resignation, he said no more.

"Well?" Raph prodded. "Are you gonna let us have a look at it?" And he reached out to take the comic.

That wound up the turtle once again.

"GET BACK!" he snapped a warning, leaping away from Raph as if he were escaping an enemy. "No one touches it but ME! Only I can handle it! It's awesome. You should see it... but from a distance. It's awesome and it's MINE, all MINE!"

Mike felt a lump forming in his throat as he thought of the comic. It was the most amazing thing he'd ever owned, and he almost began to regret his decision.

But then he took out the picture of the finished quilt from his belt, and looked at it again. And he smiled a real smile.

It had been the right thing to do.

It was quite the experience, shopping around this comic.

At the first store Casey went to, he was nearly mugged by the owner. He'd barely taken the comic from its sturdy, weatherproof carrying case than the owner came from behind his counter so quickly Casey immediately fell back a few steps and got into a defensive pose.

"I- I'm sorry!" the man gasped. "It's just that- ah- I had a charley horse- Yeah, a charley horse, and it took me by surprise, and I had to move quickly before I got all crippled up. Sooo... yer lookin' to sell this old comic, eh?"

"This ain't just 'some old comic'," Casey replied, already knowing how this was going to go down. And he wasn't far wrong.

After a long time of allowing the dude to carefully examine the comic in Casey's presence ("Do NOT let anyone take it away from your sight!" Mike had warned. "You never know if they'll try to say it's damaged and show you a fake copy or something." "Aren't ya bein' just a little bit paranoid, Mike?"), Casey was made the "more than generous" offer of one hundred twenty-seven dollars and fifty-three cents "plus store credit of two hundred seventy-six dollars and forty-seven cents".

Casey had presented his counter-price, nearly causing the man to have a mild stroke.

"Are you serious? I'm running a business here, not handing out charity!"

"I think that you could easily sell this on ebay for three times what I'm askin'," Casey replied.

After a few more minutes of even more ridiculous offers from the man, Casey took his card and said he'd be in touch.

Then he beat it out of there and headed for the next shop on his list.

Things didn't go much better there, either.

The clerk called in the manager, who called the owner, who nearly wrecked his car in the bad weather trying to get there so he could verify that this was what they said it was. The glow of their eyes told Casey that they, indeed, wanted to buy this- but he could also see the wheels turning in their heads as they plotted to expend as LITTLE as possible to get this.

"I don't keep that much cash on hand," the owner lied. "And I just spent what little profit I made this month buying Christmas presents for my wife and seven little children... despite the fact that the oldest needs braces... and the dog is pregnant... and I still have the Christmas bonuses to somehow manage to pay my staff..."

"We're gettin' bonuses this year?" the skeptical voice of the clerk sealed the matter. Casey, with an "I'll be in touch after I talk ta my partner," left as quickly as he could.

"Jeeze... I wonder if Steve could recommend someone to me," he mused.

The next few places looked unpromising from the outside, and Casey didn't even try to go in.

And he was freezing his ass off- the weather was threatening to become blizzard-like.

It was the sign in the window of the next shop that gave him some hope- "visit our shop on eBay".

Casey entered, full of hope.

Twenty minutes later, he was shaking hands with the woman who was managing the store, and left for home.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation-as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value-the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company...

O. Henry

Mike, in full disguise, made his way to the shop of the woman who had made the quilt for him.

The woman did not seem to think that his staying covered up unusual- the weather was storming like crazy, and her shop, though not exactly an ice-box, was definitely not warm. She had been preparing to close up early when Mr. Hamato (as she had known him through his phone-calls, e-mail, and the woman who had brought in the first few payments) had appeared, plopping down the balance of the money- all two hundred twenty-one dollars- and breathlessly requested the quilt.

She displayed it for him to see before wrapping it up against the winter storm raging outside. She couldn't see much of his face, but she could see the tears glistening in his eyes as he barely touched the beautiful quilt with a mittened hand.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful," he said warmly. Then, as she prepared it for him to carry home, he dug out the rest of the money that Casey had managed to get for his comic, and offered it to her "As a token of my gratitude".

The woman blinked in surprise at the amount- it was one hundred fifty dollars.

She shook her head.

"No, I can't accept that!" she firmly stated. "I have been more than compensated for my work!"

Mike kept trying to persuade her to take the money, but she refused steadfastly.

"I appreciate your gratitude, but I can not accept such a gift," she said, and that was that.

Mike bowed in resignation, then gathered up his gift for Splinter and, with one more bow, went out into the weather.

He felt bad- he didn't want to keep any of the money from the comic- he'd not sold it for profit, but for Splinter's gift. Yet Casey had gotten him a pretty good price considering, and had refused to keep the balance as Mike's thanks. Casey had suggested giving it to the woman.

But she, too, had refused the cash.

The tinkling of the bell came faintly. The turtle turned and saw the bell-ringer beginning to pack up as the storm began to grow worse.

Hurrying over, he shoved all the cash into the kettle, wished the ringer a "Merry Christmas", and then headed home as quickly as he could.

(To be continued)