Anticipation, Final Chapter

Title: Anticipation, Final Chapter
Author: becky016
Warnings: None (That I can think of)
Note: I will be using these (---) to divide my story as some scenes, may, jump back and forth to one another.
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT

Waiting at the end of the isle alongside his brothers Leo and Mikey as well as best man Casey Jones. The whole dilemma felt like a distant dream for the red banded turtle.

Of course Charlotte said yes to Raph’s, unorthodox proposal, but only after she had asked if he had struck his head whilst being in the sewers.

the mutant had to come clean about the jewellery store ordeal, and both parents had grounded Ashley for three months for disobeying the rules as well as stealing and lying to them.
After throwing a major sulk, the girl eventually came around.

Now three months later, the wedding day had arrived.

Three months was not long enough to plan a large ceremony, but Both Raph and Charlotte wanted to be married by the time their baby was born, Charlotte especially didn’t want to get too big since it would be the main attraction in all the wedding photos.

So instead the main witnesses would be the family of course, plus the Jones’s and a few close friends. Such as Usagi, Traximus and his partner, Leatherhead, Professor Honeycutt and sadly Gen.

They were having the ceremony at the Jones cottage, just a few yards away from the barn, in front of the apple forest.

A small wedding gazebo was the main embellishment, decorated with white roses with a few red thrown in, along with a 10 metre long carpet leading up to it.
It was your basic stuff; chairs were laid out side by side with the guests seated accordingly. There was no piano or fancy form of music aside from an old cassette in a cd player.

It was plainer than Raph had anticipated; he pictured something… diviner, like from what he’d previously seen in wedding shows on TV.

Splinter was seated down in the front row wondering where some of the turtles were. Kotaro was seated beside him fidgeting away in his seat, behind them Zack and Kyle were yanking away their collar and ties.
“Urgh! Kyle sit still!” Zack ordered.
“But I gotta go” the toddler winged.
“Well you just gotta hold it!”

Leo could see the ruckus going on and could see that everyone was getting impatient.
“Where’s Donatello?” Leo whispered towards the youngest brother.
“Chillax dude you know what it’s like chasing down the twins, especially with those cool hover boards… you think Donnie would upgrade mine?” his question was answered with a whack against the back of his head.

At that moment Donatello appeared, clasping who mutant turtles under him arms and their hover boards in his hands. Only thing was each of those turtles including himself, was caked in mud.

Leaving the family stunned as well as the guests. The turtle stepped forward and unfortunately leaving a muddy trail behind him. Almost everyone did their best to hold back their laughs, aside from the children, they didn’t know any better.

“Oh my…”
“Donatello?” Leatherhead questioned. Traximus couldn’t help but unleash a heckle and Usagi approached Splinter with a question to ask.
“Tell me sensei, is it a custom for misfortunes to take place at earth weddings” the rodent heaved a sigh, having no answer for the rabbit. Although no wedding ever went according to plan.

“Donnie!”
“My son” the family members charged over, in hopes that he’d stop, which he did.
“Sorry we’re late…” the genius mumbled, he spotted two free seats and placed the children there. Noah and Iris’s faces showed pouting under all that mud. With the inside of his jacket still clean Don reached into his inner pocket and did his best to wipe his children’s faces as well as his own.

“Don wha-what happened to ya?” flicking his wrists, and spitting out what mud he had around his lips he eventually got the chance to explain.
“I followed the twins through the forest, past the clearing, where we reached the marshland…” he started, his voice was stern, but no one could blame him.
“Unfortunately as I tried stopping them I wasn’t able to prevent myself from falling into the sludge, taking them down with me” he finished.

Looking at his dirty children he then glanced behind him, noticing the footprints he’d left.
“Sorry Raph” the older turtle heaved a sigh; as there wasn’t much they could do now.
“Could you not head back to the cottage and change?” Leatherhead suggested.
“There’s no time, besides I don’t have anything for me and the kids to change into” Don replied.

By this point April emerged from around the bend, making the situation even more complicated. The woman happily walked down the aisle, dressed in a similar gown to Robyn’s with her hair tide back and decorated with hair beads.
“We all ready?” the woman said. Her attention turned to her reptilian friend, taking the moment to glance him over as well as his children.
“Donnie?!... w-wha…”

Donatello didn’t feel like explaining it all again, he was too embarrassed with himself and his children. He decided it best to sit at the back of the crowd, not wanting to cause a fuss and he didn’t want to miss his brother’s wedding.
“Do you want me to stall?” April asked in hopes is might give them more time to prepare themselves. Looking over the mess, Mikey was already working on clearing the grime from the carpet, although it did leave some markings.

Slapping his forehead with a growl, Raph turned away as he didn’t have time to deal with this. Or rather he didn’t want to have to deal with it.
“Not a lot we can do now” Leo shrugged, following the hot head. He was hoping his brother would have a better attitude about it. But it was Raphael and to be honest, neither one of them really answered April’s question.

Once Mikey had finished clearing the mess, Splinter sent April on her way. The mutants had gotten used to doing things a little differently.

------

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was in place. Professor Honeycutt played the role of the vicar, as he had done for all the weddings.
Casey was up front alongside Raph, Mikey and Leo. Kotaro was given the task of being the ring bearer, when given the signal he would join his father’s side with the small cushion and jewels in hand.

Once again April appeared in the distance, waving a signal to the guys, to whom Mikey leant down, switching the classic wedding tune on. Except it wasn’t the tune. Instead the famous ‘Barbie girl’ by ‘Aqua’ began beaming from the speakers.

Puzzling and awkward glances circled the group, and Splinter could only sigh whilst shaking his head.
Leo and Raph’s glares instantly veered towards their younger brother.
“Um, ah!... come on…” The youngest panicked doing his best to stop the song. Which included smacking the stop and eject button a number of times, until it did so.

Eventually the player popped open with the tape inside, and a very clumsy Michelangelo had the task of switching the cassette round the other way, in hopes of getting the right music.
In the end before Raph pummelled his brother to the ground, Mikey had managed to sort it and with relief swiped his forehead as well as giving his bro’s a thumbs up. In truth he was glad to be out of trouble.

In that moment, the aura changed. As the music played, it was the girls’ cue to make their way down the aisle.
April was first soon followed by Robyn. Mikey and Casey unleashed loud wolf whistles for the girls. The crowd only glared at them both.
“Eww…”
“Daaad” Zack and Kyle felt so embarrassed sinking more and more into their chairs, including their mother and Robyn.

Mia was next, carrying little Yumi in her arms. The child was a flower girl and had gotten into the custom of crawling, although if given the task of going down the aisle herself, she would have happily have crawled away or at least around the seating area. So instead it was a mother and child routine.

The woman shared a smile with her husband. But before she sat herself down, Yumi made a sudden uproar for some reason it was only when Mia glanced over her shoulder, to see what had distracted her daughter. Mia quickly noticed her brother in law, along with her niece and nephew at the back. She nearly gasped at the sight of them, but she did not want to make a seen.Instead she sat alongside her boy and Splinter, but before she could question what had happened. Splinter advised her not to concern herself over it.

Shortly after Ashley made her way down the red carpet, happily throwing her flower petals either side of her. When she reached the end she mischievously poked her tongue out towards her cousin, who gladly shared it back.
“Taro!” Mia hushed, hoping her son would know better.
“But! Urgh…” the boy frowned and pouted as it seemed he was always the one to end up in trouble.

Now with only one mutant due to make her appearance, everyone stood to behold the bride, putting Raph on edge. By this point Leo signalled his son, and Kotaro climbed to his feet and stood by his uncle’s side.
Casey nudged his friends arm, letting him come to terms that this was the real deal no backing out, though it would be tricky if he was to run scares now.

All of a sudden the crowd fell silent as Charlotte made her entrance. The turtlette was clothed in a traditional, but moderate wedding gown.

The dress itself was of short length, hanging just below her knees. Thin spaghetti style straps, around her chest a tulle material was used for a crimped look with a central piece drooping downward. Though the remainder was completed of silk, all in the customary white.

The rear side however, had been altered to make room for Charlotte’s shell and to give her extra comfort for her bulge. However thanks to April’s handiwork, her bump only slightly revealed itself from underneath the fabric. Making it all in all look more or less like a summer beach dress. Although April had done a majority of the work, Charlotte had helped.

She had accessorized by adding the remainder of the tulle material to a hair comb, which she neatly placed at the back of her hair, making some sort of a veil and wore a pair of doll shoes to finalise the outfit.  

She kept her face down towards her feet, counting each of the steps she took, holding a bouquet of blossoms between her hands. She had gotten cold feet all week and even when she had managed to pull herself together beforehand, she still didn’t have the nerve to look her fiancé in the eye.

“Dude why’s she got her head down?” Casey asked Leo.
“How should I know?”
“Maybe she’s having second thoughts” Mikey chuckled.
“Shh!”

Charlotte proceeded to count to fifteen steps, and in the end forced herself to gradually lift her head from the gutters. That was the moment, the moment when nothing else mattered, when she ignored those around her and saw only Raphael. Without knowing it, a smile emerged across her face. Which is exactly what each of them wanted to see.

To be honest it wasn’t the wedding dress Charlotte pictured herself in, and Raph certainly wasn’t the man she always envisioned spending the rest of her life with. But these were her thoughts from long ago, when she was human.

Now things were different. No, they are different.

This was just another step in what would be a brighter future. With any luck.

Raphael was sure his heart nearly skipped a beat. He too was counting his partners steps that is till she reached his side. He took the opportunity to gaze over her once more as he just about muttered the word ‘Shell’ under his breath.
“Hey to you too” she gleamed feeling pretty proud that she had caught him off guard.

Soon everyone was back in their seats and as the professor began the service, Charlotte leant in towards Raph.
“Do… I need to know what happened to Don and the twins?” she whispered. Crap, Raph was hoping she wouldn’t have noticed. But his, wife to be, was sharper than she looked.
“Trust me, ya don’t” taking a last minute glance at the mutants, Charlotte took his word for it.

Once the couple had turned their attention to the robot, anxiety began to feel the pair once more.

“Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of this man and this woman in holy matrimony…” Honeycutt continued the proceedings and considering how long the pair had actually known one another, this was the most quiet they had ever been which put nearly all the mutants on edge for some reason.

“So you really ready for this? I mean… It’s a big step you know, for both of us” Charlotte whispered, her eyes glancing back and forth from the turtle.
“Hey give a turtle a lil credit would ya…” he mildly chuckled Raph had to admit he never think he’d make it this far.

That was ten bucks Mikey had lost out on.
“If anyone should know why these two should not be joined, speak now or forever hold their peace…” this was the part everyone dreaded.

Although it was unlikely for anyone to stop the marriage, it wasn’t unlikely for an enemy to come barging in without an invitation. Like the shredder did at April and Casey’s wedding.

Thankfully no such thing occurred and the service proceeded as usual.
“I am, but I’m being realistic here, I know we’re never going to have the whole getting married, buying a house with white picket fences and then start a family routine…” Charlotte said quietly.
“Yeah, we’ve done it the other way round…” Raph grinned, looking back at his little girl who was stood just behind them with a big smile beaming across her face.
“What are you getting at?” he asked.

Even though he thought it rude that they continued to have their conversation Honeycutt still continued.
“Well... with everything starting to quiet down, back in New York… it doesn’t mean that we’re out of the woods just yet or ever for that matter…”
“Ya couldn’t have gone through this with me earlier? cause your timings a little off” Raph groaned.

“Would you kindly face each other” Honeycutt interrupted, with a stern voice in his tone.
“Sorry” the pair replied and did as they were told. Now it was Kotaro’s turn as Leo gave his son a little nudge forward.
“Ow…” the boy held the cushion up and both Raph and Charlotte took the rings.
“Now repeat after me…”

She too glanced back at their daughter.
“I just, need to know that you’ll be ready, when push comes to shove you’ll be more than Raphael Hamato more than the ninja you are” she whispered.
“With this ring I thee wed” the robots voice stated, bring Charlotte back to topic.
“With this ring I thee wed…” she repeated carefully wriggling the jewel onto him.

“This is me we’re talkin’ ‘bout, I’m always ready…” Raph smirked.
“Now you” the professor said to the male.

As Raph aligned the ring to Charlotte’s finger, he halted.
“But when push comes to shove…” and there always would be for the mutants, no denying that.
“Will you be there, next ta me?” there was a hint of worry in the turtles voice, but Charlotte only smiled.
“Aren’t I always?”

Yeah, that was enough for him, and so Raph carefully placed the ring on the girl’s finger. With their hands entwined, the pair waited for the final phrase.

“Do you take each other?”
“I do…”
“I do”

“Then by the power vested in me, I pronounce you Raphael Hamato and you Charlotte Conners, husband and wife… you may now kiss the, whoa!” the bot was suddenly thrown off, as Charlotte had flung her bouquet in his face. She then climbed on her tip toes, wrapping her arms around Raph’s shoulders and pulled herself towards him. Placing both their lips together, sealing the deal.

The audience couldn’t help but chuckle, Raph was a bit thrown off himself but he was happy nonetheless.
When they pulled apart, the crowd cheered and clapped at the joy of it all. In a spontaneous move Raph scooped his, now wife, in his arms and spun around, whilst sharing another kiss.

When placing Charlotte back down on her feet Ashley ran towards her father who lifted her into his arms. The trio shared a warm embrace before making their way back to the cottage for the reception.

Donnie remained quiet alongside his children, but he happily clapped along with the rest of them.
Mikey however seated himself down besides his girlfriend.
“Cough up” she said, holding her palm at ready. The male whined as he reached into his jacket and handed the money to the girl, who smirked stuffing it safely in her clutch bag.

The male then rose to his feet and went to follow his brother and new sister in law with the others.

“What was that all about?” Mia asked, still holding Yumi in her arms, who had managed to fall asleep in all the ruckus.
“We had a little wager to see if the two of them would go through with it… I won, obviously”
“I doubt Charlotte would be pleased to know that her happiness was part of some gamble you made” Mia replied.
“True, and that’s why you’re not going to tell her” Robyn replied as she too joined everyone in the applause.

As her friend wandered away, Leo joined his wife’s side.
“So think they did the right thing?” he questioned.
“Nothing’s set in stone Leo, you should know that more than any of us…” with one look the pair smiled, kissed as they too trailed after them.

THE END.