December 31st, 2012

"Hey, Mom and April want you back at the house," Brice said flippantly watching as his sister pulled herself into another chin-up.

She dropped into the snow, "I didn't know April was coming this early. You know what they want?"

He shrugged, then turned and walked off. She rolled her eyes; very helpful, little brat. Wiping the sweat off her forehead with her arm, she pulled the hood back around her ears. Behind the house they'd set up another bonfire, and rumor was Casey had scored some fireworks.

"Oh wow, I can see what you meant," April laughed to Lydia when Val shuffled into the kitchen. She'd left the wet boots on the back porch and was looking between both of them, sweaty, frazzle haired, and beginning to be afraid.

"What?" she asked, watching them exchange looks that she didn't understand.

"Well, honey," Lydia said, walking up to her daughter and taking her by the hands. "Tonight's kind of a special occasion, and we thought it would be fun to make you over."

Val's eyes opened wide and she took a step back. "No way," she said, reaching behind her for the doorknob. "I'll just take a shower and I'll be fine."

"A shower's a good start," Lydia said. "We'll be ready when you get back."

Val groaned, but went to her bedroom and grabbed a fresh set of clothes before she went to the shower. Leaning into the stream of water she grumbled, "I'm fine just the way I am. What's their problem?" Over the years she'd come to expect this kind of craziness from her mom, but April? Ugh.

She thought of just sneaking out the back door; she could run to the farm. If she wrapped her wet hair, it shouldn't be too bad. Raph would probably have a good laugh about her dodging their shenanigans, but April caught her in the hallway and grabbed her arm, leading her back to the kitchen. The table was laid out with all kinds of beauty supplies. "Dad fixed the hair dryer?" Val shook her head. Was he in on this insanity too? Probably not.

Lydia took one look at her ratty sweater and sweat pants and sighed. "Clothes, first," she said pointedly.

April went into the living room and pulled several pieces off the sofa. "Red, I think," she said, holding a red dress up to her.

"I'm going to freeze to death in that!" Val objected as she looked at the short, sleeveless dress.

"Oh, it's just for supper, you can change before we go outside," her mom said with a smile. "It's really pretty."

She took the garment and held it against her. The hemline fell four inches above her knees. She looked hard at her mother and best friend. "You've got to be joking."

Despite her protests, she consented to try it on. It was April's, so it was a little too short, with a few tailored curves she couldn't fill, but even she had to admit (to herself) that it looked okay on her. "Oh, I wish we had a set of heels that would fit you," Lydia lamented. They didn't have anything that even closely resembled a set of dress shoes in her size.

"Yeah, because what I really need is to be a whole foot taller than my boyfriend," Val griped.

"It's fine, we'll just use these," April said, grabbing Val's set of knee high leather boots. "You could pull off the whole punk look." She unlaced the boots halfway and turned down the tops, standing back and examining her handiwork. "What do you think?"

Val wrinkled up her nose. "I don't guess it would do any good to complain?"

"None at all," April laughed, sitting her down at the table. Val tried to block out much of what they asked her as the dried and curled her hair, bickering over how it ought to be styled, then started on her face. They polished nails, put rouge on her cheeks, curled her lashes, and sprayed her with perfume. In the end she sat staring into a mirror at a complete stranger; a pretty stranger, but a stranger none the less.

"You two going to make yourselves look ridiculous too, or is it just me?" she grumbled as April put a set of long dangle earrings on her ears.

April rolled her eyes, "Raph's going to be speechless. And yes, we're both about to get ready. Don't you dare get messed up! Don't touch anything until your fingernails dry."

She plopped down on the couch, obediently holding her fingers out so that the red polish could dry. Her stomach seemed to dance with an anxiety that she hadn't felt when she'd woken up that morning. This, she though to herself, was exactly why she hated doing this kind of thing.

From the doorway there was a peal of laughter. "Oh my God," Brice gasped, "you look like a girl!"

Val shot him an evil look, "I am a girl, you idiot!"

"Yeah, but you look like one," he continued to chuckle.

Well, she thought, at least he didn't say I look like a clown. Which is sort of what she'd been feeling like. If "girl" was the worst insult he could think of it may not look all that bad.

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Raph froze in the doorway. When his eyes met hers Val blushed almost as scarlet as her dress. "Wow," he mouthed silently, pulling her into a hug he whispered, "You look... god, you're hot."

Pulling back a little, she teased him, "It's the boots, isn't it?"

"Definitely," he chuckled. Actually, the boots were a nice touch. They were enough of the Val he knew to make the whole thing really irresistible. It took all his strength to keep from staring at her all through supper. He was still on kind of rocky terms with Gerald, and he doubted that ogling his daughter would help matters.

When supper was over she hurried upstairs to slid into a pair of jeans and sweater. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror she sighed. Back to reality, Cinderella, she thought, looking at her bland apparel. She kept her hair down in its cascading curls, though, sliding the half-laced boots back on.

When she joined them in the yard, Raph came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, giving her a small kiss on her neck. "Still the hottest girl I know," he whispered into her hair, sending shivers down her spine.

"You know," Lydia said with a sly grin as she walked past them. "Whatever you're doing at midnight on New Year's is what you're supposed to spend the rest of the year doing."

"Mom!" Val objected as she and Raph moved a bit further from each other.

"I'm just saying; it's an important thing to know," she added as she walked away to meet her husband. Gerald looked torn between being happy that his little girl was happy and angry that the punk kid had the gall to kiss her in front of him.

"Out of everyone she could have picked, she had to go with the hothead," he grumbled.

Lydia laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist as she gently kissed his cheek and whispered into his ear, "I don't know. He kind of reminds me of this crazy, young Private that just wouldn't leave me alone back in the day."

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11:50 pm

Val was leaning against Raph's shoulder watching the rather impressive fireworks display Casey and Leo were putting on. "So you got any big plans for 2013?" Raph asked looking down at the beautiful girl in his arms.

She chuckled. "I don't make big plans," she said softly. "What about you?"

"We're gonna re-take the city," his voice was low and serious. He knew what that meant. He'd have to leave her. For the first time, the thought of going back to NYC brought him a twinge of pain.

She nodded. "I want to go with you," she said without looking at him.

"Whoa now, that's way too dangerous for you..." he started.

"April's going," she argued, turning her gaze up to him. "I can fight at least as well as she can."

"Yeah, but she's got chips in the game," he said.

She looked at him flatly for a moment, letting the stupidity of that statement seep in, "Oh, yeah, the Kraang haven't screwed up my life at all," she muttered.

He pulled her closer. There wasn't any guarantee he could keep her safe, and he knew her well enough to know she'd want to be in the thick of battle. "We'll talk about it later," he said.

"One minute to midnight!" Mikey called out.

"So what do you want to be doing at midnight?" Val laughed.

"I'm doing it," he said, lacing his broad fingers with hers. As the others started counting down he leaned down and kissed her lips. Overhead the fireworks exploded into brilliant blossoms, like a celestial springtime. He wished he could keep doing this for the rest of the year, for the rest of forever. He'd never been one for hope or wishes, but maybe, just maybe, this time they'd work out.

Fini

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A/N- Thank you so much for all of your support on this story! I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I'm thinking of doing at least one sequel later. (Plot bunnies spawn like... well... bunnies.) Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited! Until next time ^_^

Much love,

CaCadeA

P.S.- The song on repeat for this chapter was Guardian-Alanis Morissette.