I'm so excited for this!

---

This one was shy. It was obvious by the way they immediately curled into themselves when they finally opened their eyes. Hope didn't know what to do. Her life had been filled with loud, unafraid-to-speak-their-opinion kind of people and now a shy one suddenly shows up?

"I'm not good with shy people." She deflected when everyone in the room turned to her.

"Sure, but she's a girl!" Leo got behind her and pushed her forward.

She cast a glare over her shoulder at him but reached to gently put her hand on the new mutant's shoulder. The ferret startled. Hope yanked her hand away just in case.

"It's okay." she whispered. "What's your name?"

The mutant didn't answer for a second, but was flicking their eyes over her face as if searching for something. She clearly didn't find it.

"D-dawn." she replied timidly.

Hope forced a smile and backed away. "Great, we got Dawn's name, so now I can stay far away and keep my suspicions of both of them to myself."

"Raph seconds that." The snapper agreed, nodding.

Dawn notices Leo and uncurls. The ferret's eyes sparkle with something Hope knew too well. She steps in front of him to block Dawn's view.

"This Leo's mine." Hope snapped. "Save your feelings for your Leo."

The slider's face flushed. Mikey nudged him playfully with a smile. Dawn quickly looked away.

"Hey! Dawn!" Charlie suddenly exclaimed. He must've been hiding his eyes or something, how did he not notice her drop in? "You're here!"

Dawn turned her head at his familiar voice. "Charlie? I was looking for you! Then this weird portal opened beneath my feet..." she trailed off.

"The same thing happened to me!" The fruit bat told her.

Hope couldn't help but roll her eyes and pulled Raph away into the living room.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We really need to find a way to get these two back home." She sighed. "Sure, they're friendly, but Leo might get too attached and I can't have that."

"Raph senses jealousy." He chuckled.

"I am not jealous!" she protested. "Look, can you help me convince Leo to send them home or not?"

"Sure, I'll try. But as his girlfriend, you should know how stubborn he can be." He warned.

"Yeah yeah, I know. But I also know he can't resist it when I pull the 'damsel in distress' card." She smirked.

"Raph forgets you were in the Foot sometimes." the terrapin shook his head with a sigh.

"Why thank you, I'll be taking that as a compliment." She bowed low.

They headed back to the kitchen. Donnie had come back from his lab and was showing Charlie whatever he had drawn while also continuing his inspection of the bat's wings.

"Hope, you can't tell me she's not adorable." Leo yanked her over to see Dawn.

"She's not." Hope said, straightfaced.

Leo sighed. "You can't be this closed-minded. That's not the Hope I know or got married to."

"Right, and this Leo that seems to be on anyone's side but mine isn't the one I know or got married to either." She raised a brow purposefully.

"This is the first time we've had visitors in forever and you're acting like this?" his voice got a little higher pitched.

"Excuse me?" she laughed. "I'm being unreasonable when these two literally showed out of nowhere from a different dimension—no, actually not out of nowhere, the first one came out of _your_ portal."

Leo straightened his back and turned his head to the side to stare at the floor. "Maybe parts of the Foot Clan never truly leave someone."

She gasped. "W-what?"

She stood frozen for a second. Leo kept his gaze on the floor—clearly he knew he had messed up. Raph slowly walked forward and led Leo away. Hope still didn't move. Donnie, Mikey, Charlie and Dawn glanced at each other, unsure what to say or do.

Mikey eventually cleared his throat. "You, uh, okay?"

"I-I'm fine." she wiped the single tear away. "He didn't mean it. I know him better than that. When he comes back tell him I'm in his room, will you?"

Without waiting for an answer, she ran out of the kitchen and slammed Leo's train car door behind her.

_He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it. He didn't. mean it. He didn't mean it._

She repeated that over and over and over while pacing in a circle. She took deep breaths and eventually calmed down. She wanted to curl into his bed or somewhere and sleep, but knew her buzzing brain wouldn't allow her to right now.

"Can I come in...?" Leo's hesitant, muffled voice asked.

"No." she answered, going over to sit in front of the door. "Just talk through the door."

She heard him sigh and sit. They stayed like that for a minute or two.

"I didn't–" he started.

"I know, Leo." she interrupted. "I know you better than that."

"Raph told me you two wanted me to try to send them home." he said. "We can do it tomorrow, I promise. Okay?"

She took a final deep breath, got up and opened the door. Leo nearly fell back into her legs, but pulled himself to his feet in time. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"I trust you, Nardo." she pulled away and looked deep into his eyes. "You know that, right?"

"More than anyone." he smiled.

---

Aahhh, it's done now

Sorry for the wait, I got distracted writing a Hope and Leo winter scene and Hope and Leo's wedding for a bit there😭

And Leo truly didn't mean that, I wouldn't do Hope like that, I swear🙏