Risen from Ashes

Act one, Part Nineteen: The Fuzzy Feeling

Four days later

Raph carried a vast pine tree and placed it inside a small stand that fit perfectly. The turtles are in the living room, opening boxes with Christmas lights and ornaments. Christmas is just ten days away, and the turtles are setting things up since this will be the new turtle's first Christmas with them.

Mikey carried the ornaments in his hands. "Yeah, baby! It's almost Christmas time!!"

"Phew!" Raph huffed out, securing the tree in place in the corner of the living room. The tree was massive enough to reach past the projector screen. He looks up and sees Donnie using his jet pack to put up the lights around the lair. "D, you got the lights ready?"

"Almost," Donnie replied back, placing one last light on the ceiling. "And...voila!" With one press on his wrist, the lights all lift and feel the lair with lights of white. "Thank you. Hold your applause." He grinned, setting himself down, and deactivated his jet pack.

Judi pulls out a tangled mess of Christmas lights. She gasped at this and let out a groan. She set it down and worked on untangling them, yet she only made another tangled-up mess.

On the other hand, Nina managed to get another set of lights untangled.

"How did you do that?" Judi asked her, amazed at how she did it without stress.

"The key is not to push far," Nina answered. "Just got to unlink them." She showed her her little trick. She pulls them away, getting them separate from the lights.

"Ooo. I got you." Judi nodded, following her movement, and got them untangled. It worked, Judi let out a smile. She continued untangling the lights till she got a line of neat rows.

While Raph and Donnie started putting the lights around their tree, Ginny watched them from the shadows. She saw how happy they looked and how much fun they were having. Her face showed a sad expression, opposite from what they were feeling. Most of her Christmas was only getting one present each and working two jobs to save more money to buy a roast and dessert, but giving her little siblings a happy Christmas was worth it. This year will be a Christmas that she won't spend with her family. She sniffed as tears fell from her eyes.

Leo pulled out a string of ribbons from the box. He looked to his left and saw Ginny alone in the shadow. As soon he saw the tears running down her cheek, he knew something was wrong. And it worried him badly.

He set the ribbons down back inside the box. "Hey, Nina. Can you help put the ornaments on the tree?" He asked her.

Nina stopped untangling the lights and looked up at him with surprise. "What? But what if I dropped them?" She asked, nervous.

"They're unbreakable." He informed her. "You got this; I'll be back." he left the living room and headed to Ginny's location. He tapped her shoulder, getting her attention and making her look at him with teary eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked her.

She looked away. "I'm fine," she responded.

"You're not fine. You're crying." He can clearly see she is not okay, judging by her position. He took her hand gently and led her to the kitchen, sitting on the high seats as he helped her up and sat with her. Once settled, he looked at her eyes. "Come on, Ginny. What's wrong?"

Ginny let out a sigh, clearly she had no way out of his attempt to talk to her. "Christmas is coming and...I can't go to my family for the holiday with.." she gestures to herself. "This whole situation." she frowned sadly. "I guess I'm feeling a little homesick."

Leo can see what she is saying. "Oh... I'm really sorry, Ginny." Since this is her first Christmas with them, it would mean her last Christmas with her family.