Changes -- Love and Tears Part 6

The park... a small island of nature among a sea of city. The city seemed to lap at its edges at times, but this deep in Central Park, this late at night, the city seemed to disappear. It was peaceful, almost removed from the city.
Raph was such a sweetheart. He had brought me here for a picnic. Here... to this special place. This was the place where we had first kissed. I looked over at Raph, he seemed nervous, I wondered why.
I took his hand in mine, it was clammy, he was sweating, I wondered what was wrong. Raph turned and looked at me, his eyes were fearful, skittish, nervous. I was starting to get worried.
"Raphy, what's wrong?" I asked, voicing my concern.
"Mona, I.. I don't know exactly how to say this" Raph said "I've been thinking about what you said about marriage, and I think you are right."
"You do?" I asked, surprised, Raph had very strong opinions. I rarely changed his mind about a subject.
"Yes" he continued "I think marriage is an important bond between two souls." he pulled a small box out of his belt and dropped to his knee in front of me on the blanket. I gasped... was he going to say what I thought he was?!
"And I would be honored if you share that bond with me... Mona, will you marry me?" He opened the box to reveal the sparkle of diamond.
I jumped up and wrapped my arms excitedly around his neck "Yes! Yes! Yes! A million times Yes!" I said happily, my euphoria over filling me as I hugged him. I could almost feel his relief and happiness as he hugged me back.
We broke out of the embrace and Raph took my hand and slipped a diamond bracelet around my wrist and latched it.
"Oh Raphy" I said, still feeling intoxicated with happiness "It's so beautiful! However did you afford it?"
"I sold one of my paintings Mona." He said. I gasped... he worked so hard on his paintings, he pored his heart and soul into each one. Often taking months to complete them. I was stunned that he had parted with one of them. 'For me?!' He had done it for ME!!
"Oh Raph!" I said, wrapping my arms around him once again. "I love you!"
Raphael wrapped his arms around me and pressed me against him. "I love you too, Mona" he whispered into my ear "with all my heart."

***

[Mica's Farm, SD]
I looked out the window and over the field. I watched a red-tail circle around and around. It was the hawk that Rose and Don had found. It had taken up residence in the field next to the farmhouse. That was what a red tailed hawk liked, a nice meadow with lot of little scurrying animals to prey on. It was odd that the hawk had been out and about in the cold weather, most of the time they migrated south in the winter, but this one had stayed behind...
Something had delayed it, maybe that was the reason it's wing had gotten broke, or maybe it's broken wing had been the delay. Either way, it seemed to be doing fine now. Spring was starting to peek it's muddy face up through the snow, and the hawk's prey was reappearing.
I had gotten a phone call a few days back from Leo, of all people, and he had told me that Rose was a turtle now. At first I thought he was joking, but it was true. Also he had told me that Rose and Don had kinda hooked up as a couple. That didn't surprise me, Don and Rose had always been good friends, Rose had always known what to say to Don, and vice-versa.
I sighed, why couldn't my relationship with Mike be like that? I was kinda jealous of Rose and Don... I guess I was jealous of Raph and Mona too. Why did they get to have such perfect relationships, while Mike and I struggled to even make the slightest move towards one?
I watched as the hawk spilled the air from it's wings and swooped down with amazing speed towards the ground. It came up with some small unfortunate animal in it's talons, more than likely a mouse or shrew, then it landed and began to eat.
Would that mouse still be alive if I hadn't interfered and saved that hawk? No, it wouldn't, said the sensible part of my brain. Mice had so many predators, if that hawk wouldn't have got it, another predator would have before long. But another part of my brain, my conscience maybe, screamed YES YES YES I killed that mouse by interfering! I was causing murder, which made me just as bad as that hawk.
I shook my head violently, as if to shake out all the bad thoughts. I had to stop it, my thoughts were beginning to scare me.

***

[Sewer Lair, NY]
I sat on the couch in the lair, staring at my brother in disbelief. "What?!"
"Mona and I are getting married, Leo" Raph repeated. I still wasn't sure I had heard correctly, but the annoyed look on Raph's face told me not to ask again.
"Jeesh, Leo, don't get too excited or anything" Raph said. I quickly closed my mouth and tried not to look so shocked.
"I.. I'm happy for you, really, it's... it's just so shocking! Have you thought about the preparations at all? When is it going to happen? Who is-"
"Whoa there, Leo!" Mona said with a large smile "Don't get ahead of us, okay? We'll figure it out in due time, we just wanted you to know."
"Oh." I replied, still feeling quite bewildered and surprised at what Raph had told me. "Well, congratulations."
"Thanks, Leo. We're gonna go now."
"Okay. Bye." They left.
I was amazed. My brother... MARRIED? Raphael?! It was just too weird! I would have never thought in a million years. Then there was the added oddity of two mutants getting married. What would they do? Would they do it legally? Could they do it legally? Would they use a priest? A rabbi? A shaman? What religion would they use? Would they have a religion at all?
I hmphed, Raphael married. Wow, never thought it. Never even expected that my hot-headed, quarrelsome, short-fused little brother was capable of giving his eternal love to a woman, and by the looks of it, earning her eternal love as well.
I frowned as thoughts of Marai started to surface in my head. Did I love Marai? No, probably not the way Raph did Mona. I didn't even know her. It was more like a longing... I wanted to get to know her. To know her and to know my child. To be a "father" my child.
Father... again that confusing title. I still wasn't sure what it meant, and it was starting to eat at me. Did I have a child out there that expected me to be its father? What was I supposed to do?
I sighed, I had never felt so confused in my whole life. Emotions were confusing, I tended to bottle them up and hide them as well as I could most of the time. The incident with Marai had broken those bottles, these emotions now were swirling around me, confusing me, and I didn't like it one bit.

***

I lay on my bunk, curled up tightly in the covers, trying to shut out life as I was doing to the light. But still life ran on in my head. I thought about Mica. I thought about what Raph had said. Was it true? Was fear what was keeping me from going back to Mica?
... Maybe ... Yea, it was part fear, but I think it was more pride. I was too proud to admit that I'd been wrong and treated the one I loved like crap as a result.
I sighed... what was I supposed to do? Man, things like this never happen in the movies.
Suddenly, light flooded my eyes as the door to the car shrieked open and Raphael pulled the covers off my head. I looked up at Raphael's excited face, feeling the weight of my own depressed expression.
"She said yes, Mikey! She said YES!" He practically yelled, grinning like an idiot.
"Cool" I said, putting a small smile on for him "Congrats, dude."
Raph gave me a skeptical look. I could tell that he could see right through my phony smile. I could also tell that he wasn't gonna let it slide.
"Oh, come on, Mike! At least smile for me, quit being such a grouch!"
I groaned, he was going into lecture mode. Everyone seemed to be doing that around me a lot lately.
"Don't you groan at me, Mikey." Raph snapped "I want you to be my best man. I need you to be my best man. I mean, you have to be, you're not only my brother, you're my best friend. But if you're gonna be miserable and whiney the whole time, then I'm not even sure I want you to be there."
"Whoever said I wanted to be there in the first place." I muttered to myself. I saw the fierce fire of anger flash in Raphael's eyes and immediately regretted saying it.
But Raph spoke to me with more a pain in his voice than an anger. "Mikey, I've watched you slip deeper and deeper into depression these last few weeks. You need to pull yourself outta it, Mike! If it's Mica, then fine, the answers simple enough damn it, just go see her! If it's not Mica, then you gotta resolve whatever it is."
'What if I'm not sure what it exactly is?' I thought, but I said, "How do you know that I'll be any better when I come back from Mica's?"
"Well, Mona said yes, I'm sure you'll have the same luck with Mica." Once again, a big sappy grin covered his face and he repeated in a low happy voice "She said yes" as if he couldn't quite believe himself. I looked at him, it was amazing, it was as if our roles had been completely reversed.
"Well, thank you for your blessing, Lord Raphael." I said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, if I was to play Raph's role and him mine, I wasn't gonna let him outperform me "But, I'm going back to sleep." I pulled the covers over my head.
"NO YOU ARE NOT!" Raph said hotly, taking on his normal attitude, and pulling the covers off me. "You get yer lazy ass outta that bed right now!" he ordered.
I sat up and looked at him, he was mad at me, the sad thing was, I didn't care. I simply didn't care. It was getting so I didn't care about much now. I didn't care that my brother was getting married, and I certainly didn't care that he was mad at me for not caring.

END PART 6

<~~ "Changes -- Love & Tears", part 5 Series art The Mica Series Profiles "Changes -- Love & Tears", part 7 ~~>

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