Together As Mutants (Book Six)

XCIX. Leonardo's Proposal

"Leo? Can I look yet?" Destiny asks.

"Almost..." Leonardo smirks at her eagerness.

The blue-masked turtle leads her carefully, his hands covering her eyes. He looks around, hoping that he got the spot right. He slowly pulls his hands from her eyes, restoring her sight. She looks around, her face confused.

"A rooftop? Why a rooftop?" she asks.

"Don't you recognize it?" He raises an eye-ridge.

She waits, sniffing the air lightly as she scans the area completely. Her eyes travel to one spot, where there's a pile of old wood. It's changed over the years, changed materials and size and shape, but it's always been there. That's why she picked the spot in the first place. The people always kept their junk in that spot.

"This...this is where we met," she whispers.

"Yep! You were hiding inside that little hut of your own making and we discovered you." He smiles. "Did I ever tell you about the first thoughts I had when I saw you?"

"Once or twice." She smirks, her eyes glinting.

"I'll remind you," he offers, winking. "My first thought was of complete wonder. As soon as I saw your face for the first time, I was entranced. You were so beautiful, at least to me, and that hasn't changed."

She blushes. "You really have a way with words, don't you?"

He grabs her hand. "This way."

She follows him until they reach an alleyway near Murikami's noodle shop. She looks to him, her expression contemplative.

"This is...where I was first attacked?" she guesses.

"Indeed. This is exactly where we saw a hulking black wolf taking down Foot," he reminisces. They hop down, and he touches one spot with his hand. "Right here is where I picked you up and carried you away, worried for your survival. You were bleeding, unconscious, and your foot was sprained badly, so my brothers and I took you back to the lair."

"Is that where we're going next down memory lane?" she asks, laughing.

He nods. They start heading back again, heading down into the sewers and moving towards the lair.

As they walk, he continues the nostalgic story. "All the way through these tunnels, we ran. I remember just hoping that you wouldn't die on the way, although Donnie assured me the chance was slim. I didn't want to miss out on, hopefully, getting to know you."

She stops, her smile awed. "You couldn't have had that great of a first impression, could you?"

He also comes to a stop, glancing sideways at her. He never told her about how his future self met her when she was only a little girl. He never told her that Chris Bradford had been heading her way, that the man's intentions couldn't have been good. He never told her that he feels this was the reason they seemed to click so well when they first met.

He laughs softly and pecks her cheek. "Call it a hunch." He takes her hand again as they reach the lair. "Now, we took you into the spare bedroom, where Donnie cleaned you up and put your foot in a splint. Raph wanted you gone as soon as you woke up, but the rest of us were all for you staying...at least for a little bit. Splinter, although hesitant, allowed it."

"I heard you talking. Mikey said that the three reasons I should stay were because I'm a girl, I'm part wolf, and because I like pizza." She laughs.

He takes her to the dojo, still completely giddy and almost shaking with nerves. She finds that she can't stop smiling as he tells her of the story she already knows.

"We got to know you, little by little, but the one night I always remember you sneaking out was the night you fought Karai." He pauses to look back at her. "Every time you left, I waited or intervened. I didn't want you to go, not understanding just how in love with you I already was."

"I suppose I didn't understand either." She brushes the streak of black in her bangs back behind one human ear. "We were on the same boat."

"I waited on the bench for you to return, but ended up falling asleep. I woke again when I heard you returning, and you draped a blanket over me before limping to bed. That's when I realized that I definitely liked you."

"You were awake when I did that?" she asks.

"Partially." He winks.

He moves to one spot on the dojo floor with her in tow. He sits down, urging her to join him. She does, and he takes her hands gently in his as they face each other.

"This is where we were training when you kicked me in the jaw. Not gonna lie, it did hurt." He smirks. "Nevertheless, you stopped to look it over, and I remember just watching you, completely lost in your touch and voice and...everything about you. To me, you were and are the most beautiful mutant I've ever seen."

She blushes, her tail wagging slightly. "That's the moment I knew that I liked you."

His cheeks become dusted with a happy pink. "You dropped your hands from my face, and your strange but...pretty green eyes met mine. You just stared, but I didn't mind. We leaned closer and closer, not even realizing it. Looking back on it now, if I had had the courage, I would've kissed you right there."

"Except Master Splinter walked in," she points out.

"You didn't have these..." His hand traces the scars across her eye. "...or these..." They trail down the nearly invisible marks on her arms and the ones hidden under her shirt. "...and you definitely didn't have these." She smirks as he strokes her wings. "But you're still Destiny. You're still the girl I fell in love with." He looks to the floor for a moment. "Once, we were sitting here as new acquaintances, now..." He pulls something from his belt, and her eyes widen. "Now, I want you to be with me forever. We've fought, we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, but we've always come back to each other, because I know we have something special and I'm sorry that it's taken me almost seven years to realize that."

She gasps, her hands flying to her mouth and her eyes growing moist. "Leo..."

"Destiny, will you marry me?"

She nods, tears filling her eyes as she leans forwards and pulls him into a long kiss.

"It's about time you asked," she whispers against his lips.

He slips the simple ring onto her finger, kissing her scars gently as his hand finds her waist. She scoots closer and leans into his embrace, pressing herself against him.

They're together again, just like they should be.