Forever and Always

Sneaking Out and Punishments

Emily sipped on a cup of tea, leaning further into the chair.

Sounds of metal clashing rang into the room from the dojo. Her wounds had long since healed, but she hadn't gone back. After fixing her laptop, with help from Donatello of course, she emailed April, giving her an overview of what happened. She didn't mention anything about the boys or Splinter, knowing that her overzealous little cousin wouldn't hesitate to run down to the sewers to videotape the mysterious vigilantes that have helping the city. Instead, Emily had simply told April that a man is looking for her, so she was lying low for a little while. April had responded with a simple 'Be safe. I love you'.

After that, Emily had really settled into life with Splinter and his sons.

Leonardo had taken over the role of her sensei, teaching her Ninjutsu. He didn't have much of his work, cut out for him. Since she had been taking it a lot longer than he had. However, he was much more proficient at it, so it was an equal tradeoff.

Raphael was the overprotective one. He didn't overtly show it like the others, but if anyone was keeping tabs on Emily, making sure she was alright, it was him. Emily had caught sight of his shadow hanging around the outside of the dojo more than once. She never mentioned it to him, or any of the others, but she was sure that they knew.

Donatello was an absolute lifesaver, in more ways than one. First of all, he was the one who had patched her patched her up after she was attacked. Secondly, he was able to hack into her work and submit a email telling them she'll be out of commission for a few months. Evidently, they had heard about her attack, so they were very generous in allowing her to lay low until he was caught again.

Michelangelo... was Michelangelo. Crazy, excitable, always wanting to be around Emily... He was inseparable from her. He acted like a little kid, to be perfect honest. And, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she didn't mind.

Over the past few months, Emily had become like a mother to all the turtles. Splinter was thrilled at the revelation of his sons taking so well to Emily. He had been worried that they, namely Raphael, would be hostile towards her. However, it seemed that they, even though they were still young at the time, remembered her from the lab. If he was honest with himself... He mind the prospect of her staying their mother.

Emily has been going though something troubling. She felt the love of a parent towards the boys, but what she felt for Splinter... it was another love entirely.

She did not know what to do...

One night...

Emily was sleeping on the couch in the lair, she normally shared the room with Splinter, but she was so tired that she could not help herself. She was woken up by the sound of voices. She pretended to be asleep to continue listening in.

"Sh" Raph said. "You're gonna get us caught."

"No, if anyone gets caught, it'll be you," Leo countered.

"I don't wanna go to the hashi guys," Mikey spoke up.

"If we don't keep our voices down, there's a 99.97 percent chance, sensai will hear us," Donnie added.

"Let's go" Leo ordered.

Emily waited for their footsteps to disappear before she got up. She went to her and Splinter's room, gently opened the door and spotted Splinter underneath the blankets. She walked to him, bent down, and gently shook his shoulder. "Splinter?" No answer. "Splinter?"

He woke up, sat up straight, stretched his arms, rubbed his eyes of sleep, and turned to her. "Emily?, What is the matter?," He asked her, wanting to go back to sleep.

Emily looked at the floor for a moment, and then back at him. "The boys left the liar." Splinter's eyes widened. "To go to the surface." He was fully awake.

"I told them not to do so!" He stood up and walked out of the room with Emily following. "They know it is not safe." He planted himself on the couch, and lowered his head in his hands.

Emily was thinking what to do, when a idea come to her, and she chuckled, grabbing Splinter's attention as he looked at her. "I know what to do. We are going to give them the regular punishment and demand them to tell us, why they went up."

"But, what if they do not tells us?. Sometimes they can lie to me and get away with it." Splinter stated looking at her with a curious face. To answer his question, Emily held up a certain item in her hand. Splinter saw it and smirked

They waited for the boys to return and when they did, they were put in their designated places.

Raphael was knitting while standing on one foot on a tricycle, Donatello bouncing a ball back and forth on a spinning table, Leonardo was balancing eggs on chopsticks while doing the splits, and Michelangelo doing a handstand on a rotating chair. Splinter was talking to them, while Emily watched from the steps.

'I wonder, what happened this time'

Splinter threw the secret weapon down in front of the boys: Pizza. Michelangelo immediately began to shake. As Splinter walked towards him, agonizingly counting off the cheeses, Michelangelo broke, spilling everything that had happened while they were gone. Her heart dropped into her feet at what she said.

'April... no.'

"Our worst fears have been realized." Splinter went up to Emily and held her.

"Don't worry about it." Leo told them. "Donnie erased the picture. We're not in danger."

"No" Splinter started.

"It's April who's in danger." Emily said. "We have to do something." Emily looked towards Splinter.

"Yes." He nodded. "Find the girl. Bring here."

"But, Sensei. You and Emily said not to go..." Donnie Started.

"Find the girl!" Splinter repeated.

"And, please for the love of everything holy, try not to freak her out too much!" Emily added.