Together As Mutants (Book Six)

Chapter 11: Taylor's New Beginning

The day Taylor gets her ankle monitor off, there are two things taking over every thought in her mind. One, she's free, free as a bird, free to go wherever she wants and stay out as long as she wants and oh my god, she's free.

Two, she can finally return to the lair and surprise Raphael.

That's where she's going right now, praying that she's remembering the route correctly. She went to the lair for their birthday party, but she was with April and Casey and above that, she could only stay for a little while. She didn't want to risk them tracking her to where she was and getting upset.

Turned out, her signal got interrupted and when she returned home well before curfew, the most she had to deal with was her parole officer doing a check on her monitor to make sure it was still functioning correctly. It was. She got away with it.

She wanders for about twenty minutes before she finally sees the lights of the subway station leading into the lair. She grins and bursts into a sprint, hoping that the turtles aren't out on patrol and that she won't scare Destiny bad enough to warrant getting tackled to the ground.

When she approaches the gate, she sees three turtles and Sarina's distinctive white hair on the bench in the living room, so she decides she's safe. No Donatello. No Destiny.

"WHAT'S UP, PUTAS?!" she shouts as she swings herself over the turnstiles.

Raphael, who knows enough Spanish to remember swear words, immediately whirls around in his seat in front of the TV. "Who are you calling a bitc—" He stops, blinks. "Taylor?"

She strolls closer to them as the other two brothers turn around and Sarina's eyes flash. "The one and only!"

Raphael scrambles towards her, grasping her shoulders, and there's a certain panic in his eyes. "Tay, you can't be down here."

"Raph—"

"You have to go before they find you and your probation gets extended. Come on, that's the most basic rule we had!"

"Raph, I—"

"And you're so close to being done, idiot! I know we broke it a little for our birthday party but you got lucky, so—"

She reaches up and places her hand over his mouth. "Raphael. Look at my ankle."

He frowns, his gaze darts down, then his eyes widen. Taylor removes her hand to find that he's gaping, mouth open. Behind him, Michelangelo and Leonardo try to take a look at her ankles while Sarina's lip quirks.

"You're..." Raphael starts.

She smirks and pokes his nose. "I'm free, Raphael. I'm done."

He takes another second to process before he grins and scoops her into his arms. They laugh, hugging each other and spinning, sharing hasty kisses in between their sounds of joy.

Leonardo slowly turns back around, grimacing a little. "Oh, joy..." he mutters.

Michelangelo flicks the side of his head, making Leonardo flinch. "Come on, dude. Don't be mean."

"I'm not."

"It seems that you're incredibly unhappy about Taylor's newfound freedom," Sarina states.

Leonardo frowns at her. "No, I..." He glances at the couple, who have now stopped spinning but are still holding onto each other, grinning and kissing and laughing and talking. "I'm just...ah..."

"Oh, you don't like that she can come back to the lair now," Michelangelo says.

When Leonardo only nods, Sarina exhales. "Well, she was here briefly for your birthday party, but otherwise...the last time she was here was after the Mutacorp rescue."

Leonardo stays silent. He wishes he could get along with Taylor, and to his credit, he's come pretty far from how they were when Raphael first met her. Back then, he could hardly stand the sight of her and could easily say he hated her.

Now, he would describe their relationship as tolerable. He tolerates her. She tolerates him. The only thing the two of them can agree on is that they love Raphael and want him to be happy.

He sneaks another glance at them. Their foreheads are pressed together, eyes closed, and Taylor just runs her hands up and down Raphael's plastron while he caresses her arms. It's warm out, but she still wears a sleeve over her tattoo. Their faces are content, euphoric yet oddly calm.

Leonardo almost smiles at it. If there's one thing he can give Taylor credit for, it's that she makes Raphael intensely happy and incredibly soft. The facial expressions he shows around her are like nothing Leonardo has witnessed, with the only contender being the ones Raphael shows around his pet turtles.

She's going to be around a lot now, he realizes, and that means he's going to have to try to get along with her. For the sake of peace in this family, he will try his best.

Then, Taylor and Raphael hop down onto the bench and Taylor flashes him that bright, teasing smile of hers and he has to stop his eyes from narrowing in suspicion.

"What's up, azul?" she asks.

He frowns, but out of confusion. Nicknames? For a split second, he's reminded of Casey. "Azul?" he repeats. He wonders if it means something rude.

"Blue," Sarina translates, not looking up from the nature documentary on the TV. Lions are currently hunting a herd of wildebeest.

"Oh," Leonardo says. He clears his throat and slowly looks back at the TV. "Things are good. Congrats on...the end of probation."

Taylor smiles. "Gracias."

Raphael's arm loops around her shoulders and she snuggles closer to him, hand falling onto his chest. Leonardo gets the sudden urge to find Destiny, so he stands, excuses himself, and walks as briskly as he can to the dojo.

When he goes inside, Destiny is reading, and he promptly sits down and buries his face against her shoulder. She looks over at him, her tail wagging despite the confusion on her face.

"You okay?" she asks.

"Taylor's off probation. Her and Raph are snuggly. Made me miss you," he mumbles against her.

Her eyebrows lift and she glances at the door. "She's done already?"

"Mhm..."

"How time flies."

He pulls away from her arm, eyes sad. "I...I really want to forgive her, Des, but..."

She strokes his jaw, down his throat to his pulse. "I know."

"I still think about it." He tilts his head towards her hand, stilling it as she cups his cheek. "You get it."

"I do." She leans forward, eyes closing as she tilts their foreheads together. "But...you know, Tay and Raph can't forget either. They're trying to heal too."

Leonardo doesn't respond. In truth, he didn't even think about that. Raphael has been vague about it all, although he did tell them about his nerves back when he first brought up him and Taylor getting back together. Here Leonardo is, assuming that Raphael is blissfully unaware of Taylor's mistakes, when he is probably more aware than any of them.

"I didn't think of that," he admits.

She smiles a little before leaning up to steal a kiss. When she pulls away, she doesn't go far. "You'll be alright. If you can learn to care for Diaval, you can learn to care for her too."

He snorts a little. "I have warmed up to Diaval," he agrees.

"Mhm, you have." She smiles up at him. "I believe in you, Leo."

"Thank you, Des."

She cuddles up to his side and they keep reading, backs against the tree trunk, heads together, his hand rubbing her hip absentmindedly.