★☆★☆★☆
𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐢—𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐
★☆★☆★☆

    "𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙆𝙉𝙊𝙒, 𝙆𝙄𝘿 — when I was your age, I was quite the cherry bomb," Stevie laughed as Casey gagged.

"Ew gross, I did not need to know that at all..."

"But it's true—" Stevie's words were cut off by Leo popping up out of nowhere.

"But me," the ninja turtle master slicked his bald head back as though he had the glossiest of locks, "now, I had people flinging themselves at me left and right. Stevie's lucky I even gave her the time of day—"

"Jesus Christ, get out of here, you idiot," Stevie said annoyed although there was an undertone of love in her voice as she flipped off the fool she called husband.

The fool that Casey Jones referred to as Master.

★☆★☆★☆

"So Casey Jones..." Stevie sighed while clicking her tongue, prancing forward, the girl easily took a seat on the ground, resting her head casually on her knee, "I know you have a whole speech so begin..." she motioned toward him.

Casey was only staring at her in sadness. The turtles cast glances at each other, an unsure look written across each of their faces.

"Your mom named you after the best rock artist to ever live—"

"That's a given, you don't run into too many Stevie's this day and age not named after Stevie Nicks—" she interrupted with a shrug.

"Your mother's name was Harlow Carter—"

"Enough research and you could easily find that one out—" Stevie said with a smirk seeing the frustration in Casey's gaze.

"YOU ARE HALF-HUMAN, HALF-KREE—!"

"Bingo! That's what I was looking for, so what can I — the humble Wanheda-Andromeda — do for you, Casey Jones?" She said her voice nothing but playful with a smile brighter than the sun itself.

Casey did not hesitate in answering, "You already know — you read minds and emotions with just a touch. You read my mind when I hugged you at Galaxy Con...!" Casey said his voice almost desperate and Stevie felt bad.

She looked at him with remorse in her gaze.

"That is true, Casey Jones, but you know better than me that this is not the world nor the reality that you came from. I'm sorry, I am not the Stevie that you knew," the girl pursed her lips at the boy.

Casey shook his head with a deep breath, and Raph put a supporting hand on his shoulder. The turtles were oddly quiet, especially considering the circumstances, but they knew Casey needed this.

"I know that," Casey said, his voice laced with pain, "but that doesn't mean..." he trailed off taking another deep breath, willing the tears away, "it doesn't mean—"

"Yes it does," Stevie stopped him gently, being hyper-aware of his emotions, "I am sorry Casey, but it is the experiences that someone goes through that makes a person who they are. I have gone through nothing that the Stevie you knew did — I may be the same in some aspects, but I am still not her. And at this moment in time — in this new timeline — there have already been major changes from the one you know, I am a danger, you should not be around me I will only put you all in danger. I thank you for your kindness toward me and healing, all of you are in my debt if there is ever anything you need..."

"What?" Casey said desperately, he had been so close and her words sounded oddly like a goodbye (AKA her telling them that they would never see her again). He had been so close to having his full family back, he could not let her go that easily. "No, you can't go!"

The others seemed very apprehensive of this as well. While they would not keep her here against her will, she was hurt and it did not seem like she had a place to stay.

Leo, in particular, felt especially sad at the aspect of this cool space girl leaving. And he had already saved her: he felt as though it was simply his moral obligation to offer housing and assistance. Not to mention he should make up for that intense misunderstanding s̶n̶o̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ they had just before.

In all honesty, the dude was definitely NOT complaining about it but he figured he should at least make good on his promise and take her out to pizza. He doubted she had Señor Hueso's pizza before and it was simply a crime for someone to not enjoy the delicacies of the mutant pizza place.

"Casey—all of you guys: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo," the mutants blinked in surprise, all their faces twisting at the use of their full names.

"Woah — you know our names?!" Miguel questioned with wide eyes and a smile spread over the alien girl's face.

"Why, of course, how could I not know the names of the great heroes of the city? Of my saviors?" She said teasingly and the four started blushing and freaking out over the compliment. "However, it is a shame that our paths cannot cross in the same way that once was written in the stars. That is a true tragedy," she sighed while standing up.

Okay, now Leonardo could absolutely not let her go. Neither could Donatello, but that was more for scientific purposes than anything.

Casey opened his mouth but Leo beat him to the punch line.

"And what, Amor, may I ask is so different this time around. Why are you suddenly so dangerous that you can't even stay for a nice cup of tea?" The slider tilted his head, his voice smooth as he stepped forward. "And I do make fantastic tea!"

Stevie found herself captivated by his blue irises and his easy-going demeanor.

"I thought you were offering pizza, not tea?" Was Stevie's reply followed by a sharp raise of her brow.

Leonardo grinned, "why, madam, pizza is always on the table. Especially for you..." he added the last part suggestively.

"So I am being offered tea and pizza?"

"But, of course! We'll make it a tea party! We can even dress up real fancy if you want, ángel..."

Okay, Stevie is slightly confused. She thought these dudes were of Japanese descent, not Spanish, was she wrong?

It's not uncommon that she interprets some memories wrong at times. But no — Hamato is Japanese.

Casey and the other's groaned at Leo's bad flirting, the human boy running a hand down his face.

"Damn, this is exactly like the future," Casey muttered to himself, but he was secretly happy.

Even though they were younger — watching Leo flirt with Stevie was not any less gross than it had ever been.

Stevie appeared to be considering Leo's invite for just a second before snapping herself out of it. Her eyes hardened and she pursed her lips.

NO!

They may have been married in some alternate reality future but that did not mean she was some... starry-eyed bitch who is captivated by every male she comes across!

"Look," she had pinched the bridge of her nose, "Casey — in your timeline, what month did I originally come to Earth and get stuck here?"

Casey rose a brow not quite seeing the point of her question but answering anyway.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Uhm, I wasn't around yet, but I think..." he desperately tried to recall when his Stevie told him she crash landed, "it was May — yeah, May because it was right at the start of what was supposed to be summer for the Earth!"

"Well, now it's three months later, it's August," Stevie deadpanned, "and this time around I did end up taking that trip to Earth in May, to visit my mother's grave. There were no bumps — I was on Earth for no longer than two hours..."

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Casey sputtered in confusion, the others nodding along with him. "So what if that version of your trip was successful? I'm glad you did not end up getting shot down again, it was terrible enough the first time it happened! But you're here now and you're meeting us now — surely that can't just be a coincidence!"

"Uhm whether meeting these dudes is or is not a fixed point in reality, this time around it definitely cannot be anything more than a friendly meet-and-greet... sorry..." she shrugged.

"Why not?" It was Mikey who spoke with a pout.

"Well," she puffed out her cheeks dramatically, blowing a strand of hair from her face, "now that is a long and complicated story that I really don't feel like delving into—"

"It's the quintessence, isn't it?" Casey cut her off staring at her with hard eyes.

Stevie paused, her mouth open as she stared at the teen in shock. Her fingers twitched, her vision flashing with POWER.

"How do you know about that?" She immediately questions, extremely on guard.

The turtles looked at each other in confusion. Leo met Donnie's gaze, the turtle in purple only shrugging at him as though to prove he also did not know.

Casey had never mentioned anything about a 'quintessence' to any of them.

"In the future, you told me about it. It seemed only natural that is what the blue and pink energy that seems to randomly swirl throughout your body is..." Casey shrugged, a small smile tilting his lips as he knew he had caught her off-guard.

Her eyes were hard. "I may not have seen the finer details of your memories, but I know enough to know that in the original timeline, the quintessence was not an issue for that version of me," she said in an accusatory tone, crossing her arms.

Leonardo slid over, smoothly placing an arm around Casey's shoulder. "Casey, my buddy ole pal, mind educating the rest of the class," he motioned to his brothers, "as to what exactly you are talking about?" He smiled.

"Yeah, what is a quintessence?!" Donnie popped up on his other side, his voice was more serious and curious than Leon's.

Quintessence sounded quite sciency.

"I don't know, why don't you ask her? Stevie is the current bearer of it if I'm not mistaken. That is what you mean by being a danger, correct?" Casey smirked, staring at Stevie knowingly.

"I demand an answer," Stevie could not help herself by stamping her foot and pouting her lips, although there was still a fierce glare on her face.

Leon smirked at this, his gaze portraying mischief — now this he could work with.

"You want answers from, mi amigo here? Then you answer some of our questions and we'll answer some of yours, gorgeous..." his eyes glittered and Stevie was biting her lip in thought.

Even Leo had to admit he was being much more flirty than usual. But how could he not? Firstly, this girl is an alien from space. Secondly, she is an inexplicably HOT alien from space. Third, she is an inexplicably HOT alien from space who MARRIES HIM!

Stevie could not believe that she managed to skip over such important information in Casey's mind. But there was no way that he would know about the quintessence unless the future version of herself told him.

"Fine," she begrudgingly agreed, "what do you want to know?"

"What is the quintessence?" Donald was the one to speak up, his thirst for knowledge at an all-time high. Leo scowled at his twin as he had wanted to be the one to ask that.

"And how did you manage to become its newest host?" Casey questioned, already knowing what the quintessence is.

Stevie smirked, turning her back to the people in the room.

"Well," she leaned her head toward them before spinning back around (what? she had a thing for theatrics!) "it all started up your ass," she deadpanned.

Leo's eyes widened at this, his mouth falling open as did everyone else's. He leaned back a bit as she glared at him, staring into his blue eyes up through her lashes. Her full lips were drawn into a pout, and she was crossing her arms stubbornly.

Ever the one to come up with quick-witted replies, the red-eared-slider held up his hands taking a step nearer to the pouting girl.

Huh, slightly adorable.

"Listen, Stevie, is it? How about I just call you gorgeous-face—?"

"No," Stevie narrowed her eyes even more.

Leo only ignored her, pretending as though he had not heard her speak. "I think we may have got off on the wrong foot here..."

"No," Stevie once again interrupted him, "you were indeed a fantastic kisser,"

"Oh-ho-ho," Leo could not stop himself from flushing, but an incredibly cocky smile was written across his face. He turned to his brothers with that look only to be met with annoyed glares.

Donnie muttered something about Leon being a walking STD.

"However, while you all truly do seem like kind people, I sorta..." she awkwardly started scooting toward the exit, "need to head out..."

Admittedly, Stevie did not move even an inch. She blinked and Leo blinked back.

Another cocky grin unfurled over Leo's being, the terrapin crossing his arms over his plastron as though waiting.

The others shared nervous looks from behind. Raph opened his mouth, but Leo held up a hand to him shaking his head. The turtle in blue smirked.

"No, no, no, if Stevie wants to leave we're not going to stop her," Leo said, causing everyone to huff and puff in an upset manner, but he was quick to say more, "but, and correct me if I'm wrong," he got even closer to her, the stupid all-knowing grin on his face, "I don't think you really want to leave — if everything we know about you is true, then you do not exactly have a place to stay at the moment, do you?" Leo said smartly, his eyes nearly challenging her.

"Now, hold on a second—" she was cut off by Leo.

"Not to mention," Leo huffed a chuckle, clicking his tongue, "you are currently hurt," he motioned to her side, "and I highly doubt that you are in any condition—" the cocky slider was cut off by a heavy accent.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone jumped in surprise, including Stevie. The girl's eyes widened, leaving the form of Leonardo and moving to whoever had shouted.

Out of the shadows emerged a small stout figure. Stevie was taken off-guard but not too shocked to see a short pudgy rat-man who perhaps came just above her waist. After traveling the universe for over ten years she understood diversity more than most.

"What is all the commotion about?! You have woken me from a great slumber, I was dreaming of Uma Thurman when she starred with me in Lou Jitsu v. The Bride!" He cried to his sons.

No words were spoken as Splinter suddenly met gazes with Stevie. The alien female shyly smiled and awkwardly waved at the ratman. His seemed to simply just light up.

He rushed forward all but shoving Leo out of the way, the turtle releasing a loud cry and "oof" as he hit the floor. Splinter cared not, only taking the girl's hand in his own and shaking it up and down quickly.

Stevie had to focus on remaining disconnected in order to not be bombarded with memories and emotions from the rat creature.

"Hello Stevie, I am Splinter, it brings me the utmost joy to meet you!" He cheered and she found herself smiling back despite everything.

"Nice to meet you, Splinter," she smiled brighter than the sun, and Splinter was immediately fawning over the child.

Yes; indeed, she would make a fine daughter-in-law. A good match for his son. The old rat could sense it.

"Ouch — dad!" Leo complained upon standing up and staring at his father in annoyance.

Stevie rose a brow looking back and forth from Leo to Splinter in amazement. Donnie must have read her thoughts for he was answering the unasked question for her.

"Long story," is all he was able to say before Splinter was waving them all off.

"Please, forgive my sons for acting so disrespectful—"

"Whaa—" Leo's complaints and the rest of the murmurs were again waved away by the rat as he led Stevie by the hand away from them.

"They were never taught traditional Hamato discipline, I promise they are not a reflection of the Hamato family..." each of the turtles took care in looking personally insulted by that, "please ignore them, follow me to Leonardo's room — you may take his bed to rest in for the night..." Splinter's voice was but a murmur as he disappeared down the hall with Stevie laughing.

The others simply stood around looking shocked. Leo, in particular, appeared as though he had just been slapped.

"Wow," Raph was scratching the back of his head, "well that just happened..."

Leo was a blubbering mess, the normally smooth and quick-witted turtle at a loss for words. He stood knees bent, his mouth opening and closing.

"Mmm," Donnie shrugged, "looks like Leo's on the couch tonight," he snickered before turning away, "I have more blood tests to run in my lab..."

And that was how the night went.