Leap of Faith, Part One: Out of the Darkness

Chapter Six

After Miranda's performance, which lasted about two hours, they had made their way back to the Idle Rose, and were presently standing together in the empty alley, saying their goodbyes. Leo figured that his chances of getting a goodnight kiss were about fifty-fifty. She'd laughed and talked a lot, he'd listened well....but he was a five-foot tall, green mutant turtle. That probably wouldn't go over well with most women. As they stood before the door of the Inn, Miranda fished inside her bag for a moment before extracting a small bundle of keys. She unlocked the door and they brought the musical equipment upstairs, leaving it in the hallway.

When they had finished, it was the moment of truth; she turned to him and smiled nervously. He returned the smile, hopeful, and trying not to be too obvious about it.

A few awkward moments passed before she broke the silence. "I don't know why I feel so....discombobulated and fluttery. It's not like I'm in grade school or anything!"

"I know what you mean," Leo replied, taking a deep breath.

“I want to see you again, soon,” she said suddenly. “Is that something you'd like?”

“Very much. This time I can take you somewhere...special.”

“I'd like that,” she whispered, leaning forward. They were about to make contact when....

“Is that your phone or mine?” Miranda asked, fumbling through her purse at the chirruping melody.

Leo gritted his teeth. “Mine. Excuse me a moment.” He flipped open the shell cell and turned aside. “This had better be good.”

“Hey bro, you gonna be home soon” Mikey's voice was supremely chipper as he began babbling in Leo's ear. “It's just, we were thinking about getting some Chinese food, maybe a video, and wanted to know if you were coming home soon, so you could pick it up. Of course, if you're not coming home, then we can just go now....So how IS it going, anyway?”

Miranda lifted her eyebrows inquiringly. Leo rolled his eyes and mouthed his brother's name. She grinned held out her hand for the phone. “Hey Mikey, it's Miranda. Yeah, I know. Listen, Leonardo will call you back in a flash, I promise. Goodnight to you too, you big lug.” She closed the phone and handed it back to Leo. “I hope that was okay,” she said. “I take it he just called to mess with you?”

“Brothers.” Leo shook his head, and they laughed. She leaned forward and embraced him tightly, lightly brushing her lips across his, much to his delight.

“I had a fantastic time tonight, Leonardo. I hope you weren't too bored with sound check. When did you say can I see you again?”

The kiss and the question took him off guard, and he shook his head. “I don't know. We have to patrol tomorrow and the next night, maybe after that?”

"That works. Goodnight, Leonardo."

"Can I call you?"

"Of course. Unless you plan on doing that bogus three-day waiting thing."

"How about when I get home?"

They laughed and she embraced him again, removing his hat and looking at him once more before disappearing inside. Leonardo stood motionless for a moment, still a bit dazed, before he replied "goodnight, Miranda," to the empty night air. He exhaled slowly and smiled to himself, allowing the contentment to wash over him for a moment before turning to head home. As he walked, he thought that he heard a soft tattoo of footsteps behind him, but when he looked he saw only the empty sidewalk and the night. He was alone, and full of joy.

Two days later, Leonardo stood in the kitchen, running a sharpening stone down the length of one of his katana. As he examined the blade closely, ensuring the evenness of the edges, the phone rang, causing a jolt of excitement at the prospect that Miranda might be on the other end. Since he was closest to the phone-a purely random coincidence of course-it was natural that he beat Mikey to it, even as his younger brother burst in from the living area.

"Hello?"

"Leo, hi, it's Miranda."

Leo couldn't hide his grin as Mikey flashed him thumbs-up, followed by another, more explicit hand gesture

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I need to take a rain check on our date. I'm stuck at work.....my co-worker is a no-show, and the boss asked me to cover for him."

Leo's face fell, and Mike lowered his hands and stepped closer to the receiver, but Leo pulled away, shaking his head. "Oh, okay. Do you want to reschedule for tomorrow?"

She sighed, her voice wavering slightly over the line. "Not really. Honestly Leonardo, I was really looking forward to our date tonight...." She trailed off in thought. "Unless, you want to stop by when I get off work? It won't be until about 9:30 or 10, after I can close up, so we won't be able to do much, just hang out and order some pizza or something."

"Did she say pizza?" Mikey mouthed hopefully.

Leo turned from his brother as he replied. "That sounds good. I was looking forward to tonight as well."

"Great. Then, I guess I'll see you around, say, 9:45?"

After saying goodbye, Leo grinned into the phone and hung up.

Mikey immediately let out a whoop of joy as Leo reached for his sword and sharpening stone. "So, you're gonna just hang out at her place? How romantic, Leo! At least you'll be near a bed if things get frisky," he chuckled.

Silently, Leonardo ran the stone against the gleaming steel a few times before holding the blade up to the light as he spoke. "Is that all you think about, Mikey? Sex and food?"

"Well, what else is there?"