Epilogue

Three months after Exodus

The leaves were dry and rustled loudly as Raphael wandered through the cemetery. What he was doing was dangerous, doubly so since he brought a little burden with him. He knew he had to bring Michelle back home before her mother arrived, but he'd been dying to do this ever since they got back from the Utrom home world.

He took the snuglie off him, almost laughing at the thought. If someone told me a year ago I'd be willing to put one of these things on, I'd have had their head examined. He cuddled Michelle into his arms and settled down against the tombstone. The grass had recently been cut and the two rose bushes that flanked the grave made the air smell sweet and fresh. After a moment of struggling with the contraption, Raphael managed to free Michelle from the snugli. The little baby was wide-awake and watching him as she always did when they were alone together. Even Casey and Marie were surprised that Michelle never cried when Raphael was holding her. Even if she were sick, she would whimper but never cry, as if right from the start she was positive that Raphael was the answer to every problem she would ever have.

Raphael settled her in his left arm and fished her juice bottle out of his pocket with his right hand. The moment she saw it, her little hands reached for the bottle. "Uh huh, I thought you'd be wanting this," he smiled gently as he watched the baby suck down the juice with gusto.

"Oh man," Raphael laughed as he watched her "There is no way I'm ever letting you learn about booze if that's the way you drink your bottles," he teased. Michelle stopped drinking long enough to give him a look that Raphael mentally translated as "Get real," and went back to her bottle.

Once he had taken care of Michelle, Raphael realized that he had to start. He took in a deep breath and said quietly to the earth next to him, "Hey Maggie. I've been meaning to come on by and say hi, but things got a little crazy the last few months. I'm guessing you know about most of it through your Angel hotline or something. We nailed the guy who killed Master Yoshi by the way. His people don't kill of course, but where he is, he'll never hurt anyone ever again. We . . . we don't know what happened to Hun though. I mean we know he and a bud of ours, Leatherhead, went over the side of the rocket silo when it went off. April and Casey found Leatherhead and nursed him back to health while we was in outer space, but we don't know what happened to Hun. Heck you probably know better than us what happened to him. I know you won't tell us, but if one of your other invisible buds up there could swing by and give us a warning, we'd appreciate it."

That was something Leonardo told him about a week after Maggie died. He didn't know how Leonardo found out, but he knew that, secretly, Raphael was sneaking into the house to try to find out if Maggie was still around. If Master Yoshi was still watching them, even after being freed, why not her? Leonardo patiently explained to him that most of the time, unless it was really important, sensitives never heard from people they knew in life. None of them ever knew Master Yoshi, when he was alive, but they did know Maggie. Still Raphael tried until one night he got an answer, but not what he was expecting. He felt something near him and the strongest image flashed through his mind that he should stop trying. He still wasn't satisfied until he heard Leonardo and Michelangelo complain together that Mikey's little fortune telling abilities seemed to have stalled out. All he was seeing was the present. Splinter told them both, "One should not force gifts such as Michelangelo's into a harness and make it obey your rules. Gifts such as these have rules of their own, regardless about what you might wish. Continue with the crystal gazing from your sorceress friend, but simply allow things to happen. Do not force them."

Somehow, Raphael felt that the message was meant for him as well, and he tried to put reaching Maggie out of his mind and filled it with ordinary things. A week after that, he was rewarded not with a dream but sort of a half dream, half memory of Maggie's goodbye to him. He didn't get any new information, just a reminder that he knew that, wherever Maggie was, she was now happy. He knew, then, that he should just take one day at a time and not worry about Maggie anymore.

But it didn't mean that he wouldn't miss her. He wished he could talk more about it to Leonardo, but two weeks after that dream, Master Splinter had received his vision, and their world took a life-altering turn.

Michelle had finished her bottle and now pushed it away. Absently, Raphael put Michelle on his shoulder and began to burp her. "Maggie," he continued. "I don't know what to think about Hun. Before I knew about him and you, I always thought it would be easy to take him down. Well, maybe not easy, but I wouldn't think twice about it. I mean, I know he's your grandson and everything, but he's a crud. He's a bully at best and a murderer at worst. You know that. I haven't seen him since that night at the Shredder's place and we didn't really have to go toe to toe, but what am I going to do now? " Raphael sighed and began to shift Michelle back into her snuglie. "I guess I shouldn't worry about that, right? I mean, it's not like I'm gonna get a cosmic answer or anything. I guess I have to work things out on my own."

Once Michelle was back in her snuglie, it was time for Raphael to struggle into it. "Okay, Maggie, I've got to be getting back to Marie's place. I mean, I am babysitting but she hates for me to keep Michie here out past dark. If she found out I brought her here, she'd probably want my shell for a new planter."

"Then we'd better get the little munchkin home, don't you think Raph?" Michelangelo's voice came from right behind him. With one hand on Michelle, Raphael spun around and drew his sai. Once he saw that it really was Michelangelo, he relaxed.

"Geeze, Mikey, what are you trying to do, scare me to death? What if I dropped Michelle?"

Michelangelo giggled at that. "You? Drop her? You practically need a crowbar to separate you two, as it is, Raph." Instantly Michelangelo reached out for Michelle, plucked her out of her snuglie, and raised her over his head.

Two more sets of footsteps came up next to Raphael. "You left your shell cell at Marie's house," Donatello chided gently, "When we saw that you took some of her stuff, we figured you might come out here."

Raphael couldn't look Leonardo in the eye. They had had this discussion before. "I just wanted to drop by and say hi to Maggie," he said, as if that was normal. "I haven't gotten the chance since we got back to Earth."

Leonardo didn't scold or lecture. He just glared. Ever since they returned from the Utrom homeworld, that was all Leonardo did.

To break up the tension, Donatello said, "we had a feeling you've been thinking about Maggie lately. That's why we thought to look for you here. Come on, we brought The Battle Shell. The temperature is dropping lately, and we don't want the baby to catch a cold."

Michelangelo was still holding Michelle over his head when, suddenly, Raphael remembered the bottle. "Mikey don't…I just - "

Almost right away, a yellow white liquid spewed from the baby's mouth, hitting Michelangelo in the face with surprising accuracy.

"…gave her some juice," Raphael finished between laughs. Donatello laughed too.

Annoyed, Michelangelo used Raphael's sweater for a rag. "What is it about this kid that every time I pick her up, she nails me like this?" he complained.

Raphael retrieved Michelle from Michelangelo and gently cleaned her face with a spare diaper from his pocket. "Maybe cuz you're the only one to treat her like she's a milkshake. Geeze, Mikey you're making a wreck out of my sweater."

"We have to go," Leonardo said sternly. Without waiting for the others, he marched back to where he had parked the Battle Shell.

The three watched Leonardo leave, all giving a collective sigh. Very gently, Michelangelo took Michelle again from Raphael. "Here I'll take her and try to cheer Leo up."

Raphael watched Michelangelo follow in Leonardo's tracks. "Good luck cheering Mister Personality up," he muttered.

"Easy, Raph," Donatello chided gently. "Leo's going through a tough time right now."

"I know. It was just that he was so calm about things right after Maggie died, and now it's like he's forgotten all that positive stuff he told the three of us." Just then an odd thought occurred to him. "Don, do you think Leo forgot about all that stuff he told Maggie? You know, about when he was poisoned and stuff?"

Donatello frowned in thought. "It is possible. Remember what he told us about his near death experiences? He said he had to work at not forgetting the Battle Nexus, and that's what made him remember the first time. It could be that he stopped doing whatever it was that helped him hang onto the memories." Donatello coughed uncomfortably and said, "Come on, we'd better get going."

Together, both Raphael and Donatello bowed to Maggie's grave in respect. Just as they began to turn away something brightly colored caught Donatello's eye, "Raph, what color of rose bushes did Casey get for Maggie?"

"White and pink, I think," Raphael said. "At least that's what I told him to get. Why?"

"Check this out," Donatello pointed to the pink rosebush. Nestled among the pink blossoms were two tiny yellow buds. "It's got to be a graft," Donatello said.

Raphael noticed that the two buds were so far apart, that it would have to be two grafts. He couldn't help himself. Raphael smiled warmly. "Maybe," he said. "Or, maybe somebody is trying to tell us something." He resisted the urge to pick the two yellow blooms. "Come on," he pulled Donatello away from his examination of the rose bush. "We've got to get Michelle home, or Marie is going to have four new planters, not one."

Donatello reluctantly allowed Raphael to pull him away from the bush. Together they found and climbed into the Battle shell. Once inside, Raphael threw the soiled sweater at Michelangelo, making Michelle, sitting in her car seat, laugh and clap her hands.

"Eww, Raph you gotta take this to the dry cleaners!" Michelangelo complained.

Raphael laughed, "Oh no, Mikey, you got it dirty, you're cleaning it."

Leonardo was already in the driver's seat. When he saw them all settled in their chairs, he turned the engine on. As they drove away from the cemetery, Raphael took Michelle's tiny hand in his own and stared out his window and thought about those two yellow roses among the pink ones.

I still miss you, Maggie. We all do. But, we don't know what to do about Leo, now. He needs you or one of your friends to smack him upside the head or something. Watch over us, Maggie, let us know you're still out there. Raphael knew that Maggie had done that with the flowers, but he knew that the others would need much more proof than a few odd colored roses. Right now, Leonardo would need a smack between the eyes by a paranormal experience for it to have any affect.

"Ahhh," A small voice and a tiny touch on his arm alerted Raphael to Michelle in her car seat next to him. He looked down into her deep green eyes and couldn't help but smile. As long as she had her food and the comfort of others around her, she would be fine. Somehow, staring into Michelle's eyes always calmed Raphael. Suddenly he was sure that everything would be fine in the end. Whatever Leonardo's problems were, they would work out eventually. All he had to do was to wait and be patient with his brother and everything would turn out fine.

A warm sleepy sensation washed over Raphael. He yawned again and laughed to see the baby yawning as well. There was nothing he had to worry about now, so with one hand on his goddaughter, Raphael closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into a deep and peaceful sleep.