Fix Me, Fix You: A Jesse Pinkman Story

Chapter Fifteen

Lucy stared at her reflection in the tall mirror, smiling ever so slightly with satisfaction. It was Halloween night, and she was covered in a green jumpsuit, with blue bands wrapped around her knees and elbows, and a plastic turtle breastplate hung over her chest. On her back, a plastic turtle shell hung proudly, and she had a blue eye mask tied around her head. She was thrilled. She was Leonardo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. And in her eyes, nothing was cooler.

Lia walked into the room, dressed nearly identical, except her colors were purple, as she was Donatello. It wasn't her first choice for a costume, but when she saw her sister dressed as a ninja turtle, she thought it would be cool to dress like one too. Jolie was pleased about that, as it was cheaper to buy the four ninja turtle costumes together in bulk, despite the fact that they only needed two.

"Are you girls almost ready?" Jolie asked as she walked into the girls' bedroom.

"I am," Lia replied, nodding.

"What about you, Luce?"

With anticipation written all over her face, the little girl raised her clutched fist, holding an orange eye mask up to her aunt.

"Aw, do you want me to be the orange turtle?" Jolie asked.

Lucy nodded, causing Jolie to smile.

"I'll go change shirts then," Jolie smirked as she went back into her bedroom.

A few minutes later, in supportive fashion, she walked back into the girls' room dressed as Michaelangelo, the orange ninja turtle. The child's costume didn't fit her, of course, but she wore a green t-shirt with the shell on her back and the orange eye mask tied around her head.

"Alright, let's go to Grandma Lin and Grandpa Coop's cause you know they're going to want to take pictures," Jolie stated with a laugh.

As the girls walked out the front door and down the steps, Jolie noticed Lucy was especially in a hurry. She figured she was just excited, but when Lucy reached the bottom step, she took off in a mad dash toward the shop, not her grandparents' house.

Inside the shop, Jesse was sanding a few boards that would eventually be put together for a bookshelf. He immediately turned off the sander when he saw Lucy running into the shop.

"Whoa, look at you, Leonardo!" Jesse enthused as he walked over to the girl.

"Luce, what are you doing in here?" Jolie asked as she and Lia walked into the shop behind her.

Lucy raised her clutched fist, holding a red eye mask up to Jesse. Her eyes glittered behind her own blue mask.

Immediately, Jolie knew what her niece was doing. "Oh, Luce... Jesse has work to do. He doesn't have time to go trick or treating with us." Though she adored her niece's sentiment, she didn't want Jesse to feel obligated to do something so silly when he was busy.

Jesse's eyes beamed down at Lucy. "You want me to go trick or treating with you?"

The little girl held up the mask even closer to him.

"She wants you to wear the red mask," Jolie explained.

Jesse took the mask and smiled then kneeled down to Lucy's level. "You saved the Raphael mask for me?"

Lucy smiled and nodded.

Jesse's heart melted in his chest. She was the sweetest little girl he had ever met. Which wasn't surprising since she came from the sweetest family he had ever met. But there was something about the genuine soul of a child that made him feel so humbled.

He looked down at the red mask in his hands then looked at Lucy and said, "Give me fifteen minutes to shower and get ready."

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