Several hours later, Leo and Kara escaped to the back of the house to take a walk in the gardens. The sounds of the party going on grew more faint as they made their way through the paths, hands intertwined. Kara looked up at the sky, amazed at how bright the stars and moon were––it was a beautiful night. A chuckle from Leo brought Kara’s attention to him.

   “I think Raph is going to kill us both tomorrow.” It took Kara a moment to realize what Leo was talking about. She laughed.

   “I am telling him that it was your idea!” Leo gaped at her in mock horror. “Well, it was! I just conveniently kept quiet…” Leo shook his head.

   “I wouldn’t have even suggested it if I had known how clingly that girl would be! Did you see Raph’s face when she latched onto him after the dance number was over? It was priceless!” The two burst into laughter. One of the guests at the party was the governor’s daughter, who was well known for her obsessive nature, especially when it came to guys. Unfortunately, Leo hadn’t known this and suggested that Raph ask her to dance. Kara, wanting to see what would happen, had remained silent, fighting back her laughter. The dance had gone well enough, but when it had finished, the girl had latched onto Raph’s arm, declaring loud enough for the entire room to hear that Raph was now off limits to all the other girls and would only be dancing with her the rest of the evening; Raph had been spending the last few hours trying to get away from the girl. Kara wiped away the tears of mirth.

   “He doesn’t have anything to worry about. There’s a rich politican’s son that’s coming into the city tomorrow who is going to be on the receiving end of all that girl’s attention. Raph will be free.” The two finally reached the end of the garden. From where they were standing, they could see a good bit of New York, lit up with lights. The sounds from the house had all but disappeared. Leo moved over to a bench and sat, Kara sitting down beside him.

   “So, how does it feel, being human?” Kara asked after several moments of silence. Leo shrugged, running his fingers gently over the back of her hand, which was still clasped in his.

   “Honestly, it’s not all that different from being a turtle. Minus the shell and the green skin, of couse. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the clothes.” Kara chuckled at that statement. Leo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

   “April told me about when you came out of the chamber.” Leo felt his face turn red. When the door had opened and the four had stumbled out, none of them had realized that change that had happened––or the fact that all of them were stark naked. Leo remembered how red April had become, and how red HE had become when he finally saw what had happened to him. Kara laughed as Leo slapped his forhead with his free hand.

   “She’s never going to let me forget that, is she?” Kara shook her head.

   “Probably not. She still wishes that she had a camera for the moment when you realized that you weren’t a turtle anymore and that you weren’t wearing anything.” Leo weakly waved a hand in defeat.

   “Okay! Time to change the subject! What about you? What do you think about us being human?” Kara grew silent and thoughtful; Leo watched her carefully. Finally, she spoke.

   “I love it. I really love it. Don’t get me wrong––I loved you all as turtles, but it’s nice with you like this. It just feels like a whole knew realm of opportunities has opened up. There’s so much more that you can do, so much more that you can experience, so may more people that you can ---“ Kara stopped in mid-sentence and suddenly stood, releasing Leo’s hand in the process. She took several steps away, her head down. Leo looked at her, worried. He stood and walked up behind her.

   “What’s wrong?” he asked softly, reaching out to touch Kara’s shoulder; to his shock, she flinched away from him, taking another step forward. “Kara?”

   “I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before.” Leo could hear the emotion that filled Kara’s voice. What’s going on? There was a moments pause before Kara continued talking, now to Leo. “You are a new you. You’re human. You have so many things to experience, so many things that you weren’t able to do before. And you’ll be meeting so many new people, there are bound to be some that you want to get to know even more.” Realization of where Kara was going began to dawn on Leo. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kara continued to talk. “I don’t have any right to stand in the way of that. You’re all going to have girls flocking all over you. It won’t be fair for me to keep you from experiencing that. But,” she reached up with a hand, wiping away the tears that had started to fall, “it’s going to be hard to see you go. I –“ Two strong arms encricling her shoulders from the back silenced Kara’s tiny speech. Leo squeezed her tightly, his cheek resting against the side of her head.

   “It’s true. I am going to be experiencing new things and meeting new people. But I’m never going to leave you. Never. I don’t care how many girls flock around me, they will never pull me away. You’re too important to me. You’re my special someone.” Leo heard Kara sniffle softly. He turned his head ever so slightly, brushing his lips lightly agaist Kara’s ear. “I love you, Kara. I only want to be with you. I want to stay by your side forever.” He suddenly released her, taking a step back, while reaching in a pulling something out of his pocket.

   Kara turned, her head still reeling from what Leo had said and the feel of his lips and breath on her ear. As her eyes fell on Leo, her breath caught, as her hands flew up to her mouth.

   “Kara,” Leo said, from where he was kneeling on one knee. He help up an opened ring box, where a beautiful diamond ring sparkled in the faint light. “I really do want to stay by your side forever. Will you marry me?” Kara stared at Leo, then at the ring, her brain spinning out of control. The tears began to fall all over again as she nodded, a smile forming on her face.

   “Yes,” she managed to say. “Yes, yes, yes.” Leo took her left hand and slipped the ring onto the fourth finger, where it fit perfectly. He stood and was almost knocked over as Kara flung her arms around his neck, hugging him, crying, and laughing all at the same time. Leo wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, spinning around and laughing with her. When he set her down, she pulled away slightly, keeping her arms around his neck. Bright blue eyes met deep green eyes for several seconds before Leo did something that he had been wanting to do for a very long time.

   He kissed Kara.

   As their lips met, an electrical shock seemed to pass through their bodies. Leo moved his hand up to the base of Kara’s neck as the kiss became more intense. Both were being drowned in the other, and nothing else mattered. They probably would have continued kissing for the rest of the night if a flash and the dog bark associated with Mikey’s digital camera taking a picture hadn’t interrupted. The two pulled away in surprise, both turning to look at a grinning Mikey.

   “That is so going in the scrapbook.”

   “Micky,” Leo said slowly, releasing Kara and moving towards his younger brother. Mikey saw the look on Leo’s face and turned to Raph, Don, and Splinter, all who had moved up next to him; Kara noted that Raph had managed to get rid of Miss Clingy.

   “Uh-oh. I’m outta here!” Mikey turned and began running, Leo hot on his heels. The others laughed, watching the two chase each others. Kara moved up to stand with the rest of the group.

   “Looks like he did it.” Kara looked at Raph, who motioned at her hand with the glittering ring. “He wasn’t sure when he was going to ask you. Said he was waiting for the right moment.” A small smile played on Kara’s lips.

   “You could say that he asked at the perfect moment.” Don moved next to her and draped an arm around her shoulders.

   “You really sure you want to be shackled to that brother of ours? He can be pretty crazy.” Kara gave Don’s hand a squeeze.

   “I wouldn’t have said yes it I wasn’t sure.”

   “Raph! Don! Help meeeeeeeee!!!!!!!” Mikey’s cry cut through the air, followed by Leo yelling “Gotcha!” Don removed his arm.

   “We should proably go save that camera of his. It was expensive.” Raph just shrugged, but followed Don into the garden. Splinter moved up next to Kara and leaned on his walking stick.

   “Some things will never change. Turtle or human, they are the same sons they have always been.” Kara laughed, nodding in agreement. “However,” Splinter looked down at himself and ran an aged hand over the front of his tux, “I am grateful that some things do change.” Kara looked at Splinter, looked at where Leo was returning, clutching Mickey’s camera and with his three brothers behind him, Don and Raph laughing at Mikey’s defeated expression. She held up her left hand, looking at the diamond winking back at her, before looking one more at Leo; he caught her eye and grinned, holding up the camera in triumph. She smiled with happiness.

   “So am I, Master Splinter. So am I.”