Megan just stared at him, her jaw open, her mind racing with a thousand different thoughts all at once. Was this for real? Did he really just propose to her? Was this all a dream? And if so, when would she wake up?
Raph grabbed her hand and stared up at her helplessly. His heart was still pounding, and the doubt had started to creep in. When was she going to answer him? It seemed like an eternity had passed since he'd asked the question, and all she was doing was sitting there, breathing heavily, almost gasping for air. Suddenly, he wondered if she was alright, but his worry for her faded as she began to speak.
"Raph, I..." He stared up at her, still clutching the ring in his free hand, not deeming it safe or respectful to put it on her finger until she accepted. It was a simple ring, nothing fancy, just a band with a small solitare diamond on it, but he had bought it with his own hard money from all the various chores he'd done for April over the last couple of months. He had originally planned to use the money for things they'd needed around the house, but now all of that had changed.
He could hardly believe it himself when he had offered to help April with her dishes, and to mop the kitchen floor and run various errands. But he knew that she needed a break being pregnant, and after Christian was born, she had been so busy. He had made her promise not to tell anyone, even Casey, and vowed to himself that he would do this for Megan, to give her back a small part of all she'd done for him. Now that small sacrifice had turned into a big one, giving his entire being to her, all that he used to be, all that he was now, all that he hoped to become.
"A...are you sure you wanna do th--"
"Megan, I'm sure." Raph swallowed again. "I'm more sure than anything I've ever done before in my life. I love you Megan, and I know now that I could never live without you." For once in his life, Raphael forgot about his pride, his tough exterior, and opened up, letting her see deep inside his soul.
She stared at him some more, her mouth trying to form words, but no sound escaped her lips. Finally, she spoke again, and her voice came out quiet and small. "I don't know what to say."
He stared at her pleadingly, knowing that if she said no, his heart would be forever torn. "Just say yes." God, please say yes...
Gulping down some of her nervousness, Megan's eyes began to fill with tears. The whole impact of the moment finally engulfed her. This was for real. Raphael was asking her to spend the rest of her life with him. As the tears rolled down her cheeks, the turtle rose a little, to balance on the balls of his feet. Why was she crying?
Oh god...this can't be good.
Megan took her hand from his grasp and wiped at the tears, drying her face as best she could. Then, moving closer to him, she slowly extended her left hand out in his direction. "Yes." she smiled excitedly. "Yes, Raphael, I'll marry you!"
"He's gonna ask her to marry him." Don said casually as he continued to clean up the work area.
"He's what!?!?!?!?" Mike nearly dropped the vial he was holding.
Don grabbed it from his hand. "Geeze Mike, be careful with this, huh?"
Mike narrowed his eyes and stared at Don in disbelief. "Wait a minute...is this some kinda joke? I mean, you guys have pulled some pranks before, but this just isn't funny."
Don smiled at him and casually got back to work, placing the filled vials in their holders. "It's no joke, Mike. He's up there right now. In fact, he probably already asked her by now."
Mike just stared at him dumbfounded. "W...how do you know this?"
Don finished stacking the vials and looked up at him. "Because he told me."
Again, Mike was speechless for a moment. "Wait up Don. This is Raph we're talking about. You expect me to believe that he told you how he feels about Megan? That he would actually tell you or any of us about something like this?"
"Nope." Don said matter-of-factly. "But he did."
Mike scratched his head. "I just don't get it..."
"Look Mike, there's a lot of things going on right now that might be a shock for you. For instance, there's this matter with our DNA..." He looked up at his brother who was staring at him rather pathetically. "I think you should sit down for this."
"Yes?!?" he could hardly believe it. Had he heard her right?
She giggled. "Yes."
Raph jumped to his feet and ran to the edge of the mountain cliff. He lifted his hands high in the air and shouted at the top of his lungs for all the world to hear. "She said yes!"
Megan covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed and tried not to cry again. But these weren't tears of sadness as had been present so many times in the recent past. These were tears of joy and excitement, and as Raphael screamed in glory, she knew she had made the right decision.
He almost dropped the box in his excitement, and realized he hadn't even given her the ring yet. Rushing back over to her, he knelt down again and took her hand, kissing it gently before carefully sliding the ring on her finger. As they stared into eachother's eyes, he could feel the love and devotion emanating from her. His heart was still pounding, but this time it wasn't from nerves. This was the happiest day of his life, and he wanted to tell the world that he had done it. Nothing could ever hurt them now.
Somehow, Megan felt...different. She couldn't quite explain it, she just knew that everything in her life was going to be okay. She still could hardly believe that he'd asked her to be his wife. She had never expected that from him in a million years. But here he was, slipping that ring on her finger, and it just felt right. It didn't matter that he was a turtle. She knew that together, there was nothing they couldn't accomplish.
Suddenly, without warning, he scooped her up into his arms and began to carry her down the mountain side toward the river. Screaming in surprise, she threw her arms around his neck and burried her forehead into his shoulder.
Mike was still having trouble believing all of this. "So you mean...we can get girls pregnant?" he whispered loudly.
"Yes." Don smiled. "But don't get any funny ideas."
Mike punched him lightly in the arm. "This is so...weird."
Don nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in all at once, that's for sure. But just think about it. We can almost live a normal life."
Mike thought about that for a moment. He had always wished he could live like the humans. How he longed to be part of the world above, to see the sights, to visit the stores and restaurants in broad daylight, without disguises, to actually work for a living...
Don interrupted his thoughts. "I hope Leo gets here soon. We're all supposed to meet them up there before sunset."
"At the mountain?" Talk of that place brought horrible memories to Michaelangelo's mind. He remembered the torture, could almost feel the poison tearing up his body again. Yet, when he pushed that aside, the thought of being up there with his family and close friends, of looking down on the rubble of that god-forsaken fortress, of seeing a sunset again, made him smile.
Don nodded. "Yeah, he wants us all there. Now, just keep your fingers crossed that she said yes."
Raph splashed at her, and she fell back into the water, giggling. He pulled her bra from the surface of the water and tossed it out on the surrounding grass.
"Raph...maybe we shouldn't be doing this. I mean, what if someone sees us?"
He smirked at her as he pulled off his elbow pads. "Out here? Aw, no one's gonna catch us out here. We're out in the middle of nowhere. No one even knew about the fortress until Karai blew it up."
She smiled at him. "I guess you're right. I just figured it would be pretty hard to explain why a naked human girl and a big giant turtle were getting it on in the river."
He smirked at her and pulled her close. "Well, we'd just tell them that you were drawn to my animal magnetism."
She laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and stared her in the eyes, that familiar passion returning to them. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered his head to kiss her.
As they kissed, he led her deeper into the water, until the surface of it reached to below her shoulder, just above her breasts. The water grew a little colder as the desended, and he could feel her shiver just a little.
"Cold?" he asked gently.
"Just a little." she admitted.
He held her even closer, and wrapped his legs around her, and hung there weightless in the water. "Better?"
"Yeah." she smiled. "A little. But you know what would be even better?"
A sly look spread across his face. "This?" He began to kiss her again, running his hands down her body. As he did so, a lone figure became visible in the distance. He opened his eyes for a brief moment, catching sight of him, and let out a gasp. Pulling away quickly, he whispered anxiously to her. "My god! It's Leo!"
Mike grabbed his coat and headed up through the grating to the outside world. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky, but he stuck to the shade, his hands in his pockets, the hat pulled down low over his eyes, and no one seemed to notice him.
He had to get away for a little while. He needed time to think. We can have children... After all this time, all the days he sat alone, thinking about the idea of never being able to have a family of his own, this was a big deal. He felt like crying and shouting at the same time, the idea was so overwhelming.
He knew Megan would be extremely happy about this. She had been wanting to be able to have kids for a long time. He wondered how Raphael had taken the news. He still couldn't believe that he was up there, at the mountain right now, asking her to marry him. He secretly wondered if he would back out at the last minute.
As he neared the corner, his thoughts faded for a moment. He glanced across the street toward the Don't Walk sign and pressed the button on the pole next to him, waiting patiently for it to change. He hoped that no one would spot him standing here like this. He felt a little vulnerable out in the open.
The light changed, and he saw a beautiful young woman step off the curb next to him, hurrying across the street. It looked like she was in a rush. Probably off to see her boyfriend, he thought a little bitterly. As the girl approached the middle of the street, just a few feet ahead of Michaelangelo, a car suddenly came speeding toward her from out of nowhere.
On instinct, Mike rushed into the street and tumbled into her, knocking her to the ground, just out of the way of the car. The vehicle continued to speed down the street as if nothing ever happened.
Mike stared down at the frightened girl. Her blond hair fell down over her face as she shook in terror. He realized he was laying on top of her. Carefully, he rose to his knees and studied her intently.
"Are you okay?"
The girl rose her eyes to meet his. They widened in surprise. Such a beautiful shade of blue.
That's when Mike realized that part of his disguise had been knocked off in the comotion. Quickly, he crawled over and picked up his hat, replacing it on his head once again.
She stared at him in awe. "W...what are you?"
He glanced down at the street for a moment, and then back up into her face. "I'm...a turtle."
The girl stared at him in wonder, but didn't try to run away. "What's your name?"
"Huh?" That wasn't what he expected from her. "I'm Michaelangelo." He forced a smile and offered her his hand. "What's your name?"
The girl stared down at the green fingers for a moment before reluctantly taking his hand. "I'm Amber."
"Nice to meet you Amber." He pulled her to her feet and glanced around. He hadn't noticed the little crowd that had gathered around them. He wondered if they had seen him without his hat. He couldn't worry about that now though.
The contents of her purse had been scattered all over the ground. Being a gentleman, he began to gather it up, hoping that nothing had blown away. He handed her purse to her and looked her over one more time. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine." she smiled. "Thank you for saving my life."
Mike blushed a little. "Aw, it was nothing."
The crowd was getting bigger around them. He figured he better get out of here quick before too many people saw him. "I gotta go now." he said quickly. He turned and ran down the street, hoping no one would follow him. He stopped for a moment to pick something up from off the ground. It was a small photo album. He opened it carefully and was greeted with several pictures of Amber and her friends. God, she was beautiful.
He turned around to make his way back toward her, but she was already gone, and so was the crowd. As he stood there alone in the street, he flipped the pages eagerly, staring at each of the pictures for a few moments before turning to the next, until he got to the back cover. He was about to close the book when he spotted some writing.
He closed the book and smiled to himself. There is a God!
"Take that! And that!" Don swung the hockey stick at Casey, who was just able to block each swing as they came dangerously close to his head.
"Hey, you know, you're getting pretty good at that." Casey noted.
Don smiled. "Yeah, who would've ever thought I'd be like you?"
Casey nodded and smiled. "Yeah...hey, wait a minute! What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don just grinned at him. "Oh...nothing."
As they continued to practice, Robyn came and stood in the doorway, watching them intently. It was good to see Donatello back to his normal self again. Joy rushed through her as she thought about all the possiblities the future might hold.
Don noticed her standing there and halted the practice.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Oh, I just thought I'd come see how you two were doing."
He narrowed his eyes and stared at her curiously. "There's more."
It never ceased to amaze her how Don could read her so well. "Well...yeah..."
He looked at her intently, into those shimmering green pools, and could almost see joy emanating from them.
"I found a place to live." she said quietly, so Casey wouldn't hear.
"Wow, that's great!" Don gave her a quick hug. "So...when do we move in?"
Megan blushed and stared out ahead of her at the distant horizon. She could feel his eyes on her, looking her over, scrutinizing her. She shivered slightly at the attention. What did he think of her now?
"Look Leo, you know--"
Leo silenced Raphael. "Raph, you don't have to explain. You two are grown adults. You have to know I suspected..."
Megan could feel her face growing hotter. It was bad enough that Leo had caught them in the river together, did he have to bring up the other stuff too? She brought her knees up and rested her chin on them, focusing on the strokes of orange and pink that had already begun to paint the sky. Her clothes were still a little wet, and the chilly breeze made her shiver a little.
Raph changed the subject quickly. "The others will be here soon."
Leo and Megan both looked at him curiously.
"Why? What's going on?" Leo asked worried.
Raph smiled over at Megan. "Oh nothing...I just...asked Megan to marry me, that's all..."
Leo stared at him in shock. "W...what? Wait a minute...I don't think I heard you right. Did you say you asked Megan to marry you!?!?"
Raph just smiled at him and took her hand. She laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying his warmth. Leo stared from his face to hers, not fully believing the situation yet.
Megan smiled as Raphael moved her hand toward Leo to show off the ring.
"I don't...I don't believe this." The reality of his brother...of Raphael ever doing something even remotely close to this was overwhelming to Leonardo. There were things in this life that Leonardo knew early on Raphael would never ever do. Getting married was one of them. But as he stared at the two of them, saw the devotion in their eyes, the way they touched one another, some of the disbelief slowly began to fade, and he realized that Raphael had changed in ways that even he still couldn't fully understand.
Megan broke the silence once again. "So...I was thinking...when I get married, people are gonna ask me what my new name is. You know, I can't be Megan Jones forever..."
Raph smiled at her and squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Y' know, I was thinking about that myself, and I decided our last name should be Hamato. You know, after him..." he stared up at the sky. "And his master Yoshi."
She smiled at him. "Megan Hamato. Hmmm...you know, I kinda like the sound of that."
Raph met Leo's gaze and they sat there for a moment in silence, just staring at eachother. Finally, a grin broke out on Leo's face.
"You know, Raph" he said, "I think you're finally starting to see what life is all about."
Raph grinned back, and Leo wrapped his arms around him. "Congratulations, brother."
"...And she had the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen! I mean, this girl had it going on! You know, I think she likes me. I mean, why else would she smile at me that way...?"
Donatello rolled his eyes, and took Robyn's hand, as he lead her to the place where it all began. For some reason, the mountains looked healthier now under the green blanket of foliage. He reflected back to the time when they had first met, when he'd awoken and heard her voice for the first time. He remembered how he saved her life in the fortress, how she almost died from hyperthermia, how she kissed him on April's couch...
Casey carried Christain in a pack on his back, and held onto Shadow's hand, keeping his other arm wrapped tightly around April's shoulders. This was a hard place for all of them to come back to. It brought back such horrible memories.
April thought back to the horrible feast she and Megan had been forced to eat, and the nausea returned to her once again. She could almost feel the texture of the meat in her mouth, see the eyeballs staring up at her. She burried her face in Casey's shoulder for a moment, trying to push all of the negative thoughts away. Why had they been asked to return here? Why here of all places?
Don finally spotted the others far in the distance. "There they are." he told Mike. "Now, don't blow it, okay? I think Raph would like to keep this a surprise for at least some of us.
Mike nodded, but Don could see the energy explode inside of him. He couldn't wait to find out what the outcome had been. Did she say yes? The tension was almost unbearable.
Mike ran off ahead and the others quickly followed. They were surprised to see Leonardo already there.
"Leo?" Mike just stared at him for a moment. "Where were you? We thought you weren't gonna come. How did you know we'd be here?"
Leo smiled lightly. "I didn't. I came here myself to be alone for a while. Then I ran into these two."
Megan could feel her face heat up a little in embarassment.
"So, why are we all here anyway?" Casey came up from behind Mike.
"Raph has something important to say." Mike grinned. He could hardly contain his excitement. He wanted to rush over to Raph and Megan and throw his arms around them in congratulation, but he knew Donatello would kill him if he ruined the surprise. Besides, he didn't even know what her answer was yet.
Raphael motioned for everyone to take a seat. April eyed him warily as she sat down on a log next to Casey. This had to be something big. Raphael never called meetings. Why was this place always filled with hurt and despair? I wonder who's dying now, she caught herself thinking.
Robyn gave Don a curious look. She was sure he knew something, but he had held it back all the way here. Whatever it was must've been important, she decided. She had never seen Don's face this alive.
Casey took the backpack off carefully as Raphael cleared his throat. He handed the baby to April, and watched as Shadow scampered off to sit in Mike's lap.
Megan could tell that Raphael was a little nervous, confronting his friends and family with the news. He had always been so reluctant to let them into his life. This was so new to him. She squeezed his hand lightly in reassurance.
Raph grabbed a stick and began to drawn little patterns with it in the dirt. He suddenly remembered doing this so long ago in the dark sewer tunnels, hoping that Casey hadn't seen the heart he'd drawn. He tossed the stick away, cleared his throat once again and spoke.
"Most of you probably know why I've asked you here by now." He glanced at Donatello, who looked back at him innocently, then at all the eager faces. "For those of you who don't...I..." he glanced at Megan again for that reassurance she always seemed to provide. She smiled at him and nodded. "I asked Megan to marry me."
Robyn gasped, April's eyes grew a mile wide, and Casey let out a shocked "What!?!?"
Mike couldn't take it any longer. "So, what did she say???"
Megan smiled at Mike and held out her hand to show off the ring. "I said yes."
An excited comotion broke out that moment and lasted for the next few minutes, with everyone talking and jumping up and moving around all at once. Mike rushed up and wrapped his arms around Raphael, almost knocking him over.
"Congratulations, bro!"
"Yeah, yeah, Mikey...thanks. Ummm...do you think you could let go now?"
Mike broke away, and wiped at the tear that had begun to trickle down his cheek. Next, he approached Megan, gripping her a little less tightly.
April was next in line. "My god, Raph! This is amazing! I can't believe the two of you..." She glanced from Megan to Raphael, and back to Megan again. "Congratulations." She flung an arm around each of them.
Robyn thought about the conversation she'd had with Megan just a few days previous. She was really happy for them, but she couldn't help feel just a twinge of jealousy. Afterall, her marriage had turned out so bad. But now, she had a new hope. Donatello had promised her that he'd always be there for her, and she believed him. As she extended her congratulations, she knew in her heart that she really meant it.
Another figure approached. Raph lifted his head to meet Don's gaze.
"You did it." Don smirked.
"Yeah...I guess I did."
"Well congratulations, Raph. I always knew you had it in you somewhere." He patted Raphael on the shoulder. As he turned to leave, Raphael stopped him.
"Don?"
"Yeah?"
"Look, I uhhh....I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on a lot of stuff, but...I just wanted to say...thanks, man."
Donatello smiled. "Hey, no problem. We are brothers, after all."
As the sun continued to set over the hills, casting its final rays of orange light, another figure rose from his place and slowly approached the happy couple. Raphael wasn't sure what to say. He just sat there, studying him, searching his face for a reaction. Casey didn't say much, but what he did say said it all.
"Congratulations, man. You take good care of her, or I'll beat the crap outta ya."
Raph stared up at him before a big grin spread across his face.
In the midst of a silent, smokey fog, two figures stood side by side, looking down on the world below. The shorter figure turned to the taller, and said, "Those are my sons."
The taller figure looked down upon the grassy hillside, gazed upon the four green figures dancing in the moonlight and smiled. "Yes, Splinter, I know."
Splinter smiled back at Yoshi before turning to look at them once again. How proud he was of Raphael! He had kept his promise to his master, to the woman he loved, and most of all to himself. Knowing what the future held was very comforting. Sure, there would be hardships along the way, but in the end, everything would turn out for the best.
He watched his other students, each celebrating in their own way, and a smile came to his lips once again. Michaelangelo would soon experience a world all new to him. Like Raphael, he had found someone special, and didn't even fully know the significance to it yet. Leonardo would eventually overcome his fear of failure, but it would be a long hard road. Great things would happen in his life, and this was only the beginning. Donatello and Robyn would have a tough battle ahead of them to regain custody of her child, but in the end, the struggle would have been worth it.
As he gazed into the distant future, he saw a grassy hill, in his home in Chihaya once again, where a lone turtle stood, solemn, and wrinkled slightly with age, at a freshly dug patch of dirt.
"Hello, Master." he said. As he stared down at the grave, the intelligence and life still shone in the maturing eyes. "You told me I'd come to bury you here someday, but I hardly believed it. Guess I was the chosen one after all."
As the figure trudged off down the grassy hill, a lone bo remained in his place, shimmering in the sunlight.
They sat, huddled together by the small campfire, gazing up at the sky.
"It's right up there." Mike pointed.
And as they all stared up at the brightly shining star, they knew he was there watching them, protecting them, and they knew they were safe.
Raphael turned to Megan, and drew her close. He knew that no matter what the future held, the bonds that held them all together would never fail. He laid his hand on her stomach and smiled up at her.
"Maybe some day." he whispered. "Maybe some day."
I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need. I'll love you more with every breath, truly, madly, deeply do. I will be strong, I will be faithful cuz I'm counting on A new beginning A reason for living A deeper meaning... I wanna stand with you on a mountain I wanna bathe with you in the sea I wanna lay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me.
And when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky, I'll make a wish, send it to heaven, and make you want to cry The tears of joy for all the pleasure in the certainty That we're surrounded by the comfort and protection of the Highest powers In lonely hours The tears devour you
I wanna stand with you on a mountain I wanna bathe with you in the sea I wanna lay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me.
-Savage Garden