Part of the family.
Part I
Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT, or any recognised entity in this fanfiction. No money is being made from this piece of fanfic.
Beta II is mine.
She followed close behind them, sloshing her way through the sewers. Raphael had told her that they were going home, idly she wondered what home was. She didn't even notice when she started to lag behind. Michelangelo glanced back in her direction.
"Yo, Raph. Someone's getting tired." He said. Raphael didn't even turn around.
"Yeah, and what's that got to do with me?" He growled. Michelangelo rolled his eyes.
"I don't know whether you noticed or not but you're the only one of us she seems to trust." He replied. Raphael didn't move for a moment, then with another growl he walked back to her, crouching down he scooped her into his arms. As first she struggled against him, muttering something about leaving her alone, then she seemed to relax, closing her eyes and burrowing her head in his neck. Raphael turned back to his brothers.
"Not a word." He said. Just as Michelangelo was opening his mouth to say something.
"I was just going to say how-" Michelangelo started.
"I know you were, don't bother. Let's go." Raphael snapped, following Splinter. Splinter was actually smiling; this child was just what his angry son needed. While his sons didn't realise what was happening, he could see exactly how this story was going to end. It might need a little help along the way and Splinter was willing to give it that extra nudge if needs be. As soon as they arrived back at the lair Raphael tried to put her down on the couch, but she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and held on tightly. Eventually Raphael gave up trying to loosen her grip on him and sat down, cradling her gently against his plastron.
"Aww, you'd make a great father, Raph. I'll go get the camera." Michelangelo crowed. Raphael grabbed one of the cushions and threw it at his brother.
"I mean a blanket. Don't want you two getting cold tonight do we?" Michelangelo disappeared into his own room and returned moments later with a quilt covered in bright yellow smiley faces. Raphael made a face, but took the blanket anyway, pulling it tightly around himself and the child in his arms.
"Now go and find something else to do." He said to his brothers. Donatello had already disappeared to do some work with something or other; Leonardo walked with Splinter to the dojo and Michelangelo; totally ignoring what his brother had said, threw himself down in another chair and grinned evilly at Raphael. Raphael groaned inwardly, he could not move with the child in his arms and he knew that threats would make no difference to Mikey. Michelangelo reached for the TV remote and turned on the television. Bright light flashed across their faces and noise blared. II shoved against Raphael eyes wide and fearful, as she came to full wakefulness.
"Damn you, Mikey. Turn it off." Raphael hissed. Not quite knowing what to do he then started to make shushing noises at II, which just seemed to heighten her fear. Michelangelo hit a button on the remote and loud music joined with that of the television to blast through the room. II jerked away from Raphael and ran so fast that she was gone from the room before he had even gotten to his feet. Raphael took off after her, smacking Michelangelo on the head on his way.
"Fucking idiot." He snapped at his brother. Michelangelo was to busy trying to shut the noise of to retort. Raphael ran into the dojo after her, she stood in the middle of the dojo, as though afraid to going any further. Donatello had come out of his lab at the sound of her voice.
"Off, off, off. Get out…out…leave me out, noise off…off, off, OFF!" Her voice rose in pitch as she went on. Raphael hurried over to her, but she moved away from him, she ran to one of the shadowy corners and sat rocking back and forth, her hands over her ears.
"Off, off, off, off." She continued, but now her voice had lowered to barely above a whisper. Raphael turned his head slightly towards Splinter, Leonardo and Donatello, who were watching intently.
"Get out." He said quietly. Leonardo and Donatello nodded and Splinter placed his hand on his sons shoulder, letting Raphael know that he was nearby if needed and then followed his other sons. Raphael then turned his attention back to II.
"It's okay, he's gone now. It's just you and me." Raphael didn't know what he was supposed to say or do.
"No, no he comes back him. Won't let go, come back for me, him." She mumbled. It took Raphael a few moments to realise that she wasn't talking about Donatello.
"He can't come back, he's dead, remember? Leo killed him."
"Not understand you. Not gone, never gone. He come back, not let me go. Not this way. Understand?" Her eyes pleaded with him to understand what she was saying.
"I understand. But he is dead; there isn't any coming back from the dead. You're safe here, with us. We won't let anyone hurt you again; I won't let anyone hurt you." He promised. She shook her head, tears running from her eyes.
"Yes, dead…but he still come for me, I know." She made no attempt to stop crying and Raphael reached for her but she shrank back from him, terrified eyes wide.
"I know what he did to you was bad, but he can't get you now." Raphael was quickly running out of things to say. She shook her head frantically.
"No! See him still. Smell him…don't want that." She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, and Raphael saw such pain and misery there that he wanted to run away, but he didn't.
"Not understand, you can never understand." She finally allowed him to hold her and she laid her head against his plastron.
"Can't understand. His hands on me, can't stop him. I told him not to, but he wouldn't stop." She sniffled against him. And for the first time Raphael finally understood what she was trying to say and he froze, his fists clenched in rage. He looked down at her after a moment when she said no more and saw that she had fallen asleep again. He walked quietly out of the dojo and found his brothers talking quietly amongst themselves. Leonardo was the first to say anything.
"What happened? Is she alright?" He asked. Raphael took a moment to try and calm himself, then realised that it was pointless as they would probably see right through that. He turned bleak eyes on Leonardo.
"I'm glad that you killed Shredder, because after what he did to her I would have killed him in a way that no one would want." He said.
"We know that Shredder did terrible things to her, but that's what usually happens with experiments." Leonardo said.
"Do you include sexual abuse of a child in that, Leo?" Raphael asked. Leonardo stared after him as Raphael continued past him. He made a move to go after his brother, but Donatello stopped him.
"This is something he needs to do, Leo." He said quietly. Leonardo watched as Raphael carried II into his own room.
"Alright, I'll talk to him later." He said, before returning to the dojo. Michelangelo shrugged his shoulders, for the clown of the groups he looked unusually subdued.
"Don't look at me, I agree with you." He dropped down into a chair and started reading a comic book. Donatello sighed; he had this sinking feeling that he was going to get stuck between Leo and Raph.
The next morning Leonardo came out of his room and found the child sitting on the couch. Of Raphael he saw no sign. What he didn't know is that she had been having nightmares all night long, every time she went back to sleep she'd start thrashing around on the bed. As a result Raphael had woken each time and have to calm her down enough that she could fall asleep again, now that she was awoke Raphael was getting some much needed sleep of his own. She watched Leonardo as he walked right past her into the kitchen and returned with some breakfast. He sat down in a chair and started to eat, trying to ignore her. Her stomach rumbled. Leonardo continued eating and her stomach continued to rumble. Finally he gave up on trying to eat and looked at her.
"Are you hungry?" He asked. She nodded once and he gestured to the kitchen
"There's food in there." He said. She looked in the direction he was pointing in, but didn't move. Her stomach rumbled some more.
"You can find food in there." He added. She looked at him.
"When was the last time you had something to eat?" She shrugged at the question, it wasn't yesterday, maybe the day before, she wasn't sure. But she didn't know how to put that into words.
"Well there's some cereal in there that Mikey likes, he won't mind if you have some." She still wasn't moving. What the hell's wrong with her? Leonardo wondered. He picked up a piece of toast and held it out to her. She stared at it for a long moment and then at him, as if unsure what he was doing. She reached out snatched the piece of toast from his outstretched hand and sat back in the couch holding the piece of toast close to her, watching him closely for another moment before wolfing down the toast in three quick bites.
"Okay, so we know you're hungry. Why don't you get some more food in there?" Leonardo nodded at the kitchen. He wasn't all that surprised when she didn't move off the couch.
"Fine, go hungry." He muttered, standing up to bring the now empty plate back into the kitchen. But a moment later he returned with two more pieces of toast which he gave to her. They disappeared into her mouth as fast as the first piece had. Then she returned to staring at the floor. She didn't look at him again, or say anything. Strange child, Leonardo thought. Of course he hadn't ever met a human child before so he didn't really know how the behaved, but he had a feeling that they might be a little more animated than she was. He left to do his morning exercises in the dojo. When he returned two hours later she was sitting in the same position, still staring at the floor. Michelangelo had finally dragged himself out of his own bed and was sitting in a chair reading a comic book, occasionally his eyes flicked over to her. As soon as he saw Leonardo come in he leaped to his feet.
"I was just about to start." He said before Leonardo could tell him to do his exercises. He tossed to comic down on the chair he had just vacated and hurried into the dojo, dragging Donatello; who had just joined them, along with him, Leonardo followed. As soon as they were out of earshot of her, Michelangelo let go of his brothers' arm and turned to him.
"What's with her? She just sits there. She doesn't talk or move. It's weird." He said.
"I don't know. Maybe she's just shy." Donatello replied.
"I don't think that's it." Leonardo rubbed his chin thoughtfully before continuing.
"When I got up this morning she was sitting there. She was hungry, but when I told her that there was food in the kitchen she didn't go to get any. It was like she was waiting for something." Michelangelo looked at Donatello and then they both looked back at Leonardo.
"What do you mean?" Donatello asked.
"What Leonardo means is that she was afraid." Splinter had entered the dojo without any of them noticing.
"Afraid? Of us? Why? It's not like we're going to hurt her." Michelangelo said.
"She does not know that. She has been the Shredders prisoner for a long time, maybe even her whole life. Her captor fed her when he wanted to feed her and if she took her own food then she was probably punished for doing so. And knowing who her captor was that punishment was probably very severe." Splinter said.
"Exactly. And for the same reason she won't move from the couch. Raphael probably told her to sit there, thinking that she would entertain herself by watching some TV or something. Even after I told her more than once that she could get some food she didn't go into the kitchen. She must have thought it was some kind of trick, that if she did get her own food then I would reprimand her." Leonardo stopped, only now realising what he himself was saying.
"Now you are beginning to see, my son." Splinter smiled at him.
"Hey where are you guys!" A voice called.
"See? I told you he has very bad timing." Michelangelo said as he followed them out of the dojo.
"Casey, now isn't a good time." Leonardo said.
"Where'd she go?" Donatello asked.
"Where'd who go?" Casey asked.
As soon as she had seen the strange man come into the lair Beta II had run to Raphael's room. And jumped on top of the sleeping turtle. Who had been rudely awakened when she landed on him. He bit back a curse.
"What is it?" He asked. She was watching the doorway to his room, sure that the strange man had been sent by Shredder to bring her back. While she still didn't trust him all that much, she somehow knew that he wouldn't let the man take her.
"What's wrong?" He asked. She pointed at the door.
"Come…man, for me." She eventually got out. Instantly Raphael was out of bed and out the door, when he saw that it was Casey he looked down at the small child who was hiding behind him.
"It's alright he's a friend." He told her. She looked up at him.
"Friend?" She asked uncertainly. Raphael nodded and put a hand on her shoulder, he was a little surprised when she didn't flinch away from him. He looked back at Casey.
"Good job, Case. Give the kid a heart attack why don't you?" He said.
"Where did she come from?" Casey asked.
"Nevermind. What took you so long?" Raphael asked. He was in no mood to be polite to his friend after he had scared II so badly.
"I had some stuff that I needed to do first." Casey said, coming over to Raphael and the child that was doing her very best to appear as small as possible and thus escape notice.
"She got a name?" Casey asked his friend. Splinter and the others were watching this exchange silently.
"I don't know yet." Raphael replied. Casey crouched down so he was almost at eye level with the child.
"What's your name?" He asked. She stared back at him from her position behind Raphael, she didn't reply.
"Yo, Kid! Ya got a name!" He practically yelled at her. Subtlety and patience had never been one of Casey Jones' strong points. She jerked back as if he had slapped her. Her eyes widening, she froze momentarily.
"Hey! What are you doing! Leave her alone!" Raphael snapped at him. The child drew back her small foot she let fly with a kick that connected solidly with his shin. Casey howled as he started hopping around clutching his leg. Raphael crossed his ram across his plastron as he watched Casey.
"You deserved that." He said. Casey stared at him, eventually he stopped hopping around.
"What the hell was that for!" He snapped. With a small squeak the child ducked back behind Raphael. It was almost comical the way she peeked out at the now very irate Casey.
"She's been through enough without having you yelling at her." Raphael told him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Long story. Just don't yell at her again."
"That wasn't yelling, I was talking." Casey said.
"In your own little world maybe." Raphael muttered. The child was looking between him and Casey, she tugged on his hand and he looked down at her.
"Not come me?" She asked.
"No, Casey just came to talk to me about something." He told her. Raphael hoped she believed him; he didn't want her to know that he had asked his friend to come down here. He had only ever met one human child before and that child was nothing like this one. Raphael had no idea what to do with her and that was why he had asked Casey to come down here. He crouched down so that he was eye level with her.
"Why don't you and Mikey go watch some cartoons." He suggested. Mikey probably couldn't look after a goldfish, never mind a child, but he really didn't have much choice, Don had returned to his lab and Leo didn't seem to like her all that much. Besides it was only for a short while and he would be close by in case anything happened.
Her brow furrowed.
"Cartoons?" She asked.
"Nothing bad, I promise. You might even like them." He told her. She glanced in Mikey's who was tossing sesame sticks into his mouth, completely oblivious to the fact that he had just been roped into babysitting. After a moment he seemed to noticed her looking at him, he stopped munching.
"What's going on?" He asked Raph suspiciously.
"Congratulations, you just became a babysitter." Raphael told him.
"Hey!" Mikey cried indignantly.
"Cartoons, Mikey?" She tugged on his hand. Mikey glared at Raph.
"You owe me for this." He said.
"Take a seat, you cricket and I shall teach you all you need to know about cartoons." She stared back at him, not understanding the joke. Mikey flicked on the TV to a cartoon channel and sat back.
Raphael shut the door behind them.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the reason you asked me down here is because of her." Casey said.
"You'd be right." Raphael seemed to stare off into space for a moment.
"Where's she come from?" Casey interuppted his daydreaming.
"In Shreadder's building and she isn't exactly what you'd call a human kid either. Let's just say that the Shredder didn't treat her very good." Raphael's hands clenched into fists as he thought about it.
"So whatcha need me for?" Casey asked.
"Advice." Raphael said bluntly.
"Advice?" Casey repeated.
"My advice is that you contact child services and have them take her off your hands."
"You make her sound like object not a person!" Raphael snapped.
"That isn't what I meant," Casey sighed.
"Look, I don't know what exactly it is you mean when you said Shredder didn't treat her right. But child services will know what to do with her, that's why they're there, to help kids like her."
"I don't know if I can just dump on a group of strangers." Raphael murmured.
"Up until when you went into Shredders building you were a stranger to her as well, but she got used to you. Same thing'll happen with those people." Casey told him.
"She ain't gonna like it."
"She'll get used to it. It's the best thing for her, they'll take care of her. Give her something to wear other than that smock you have her wearing."
"Can you do me a favour?" Raphael asked him.
"Sure thing, bro."
"Bring her to these 'child services' for me, obviously I can't."
"Raph-"
"No, I can't do it, you know that. If they saw me then…" Raph trailed off.
"Alright, alright." Casey opened the door and gestured Raph ahead of him. This was something that Raph wasn't looking forward to. They found her watching TV with Mikey and judging by the look on her face she had no idea what it was about.
"It's time to go." Raphael tol her, he wanted to get it over and done with.
"Casey's going to bring you to people who can help you." She looked at him uncomprehendingly for a moment and then she shook her head.
"No…" She shook her head harder still.
"Not come for me, you say!" She shrieked at him.
"No, no, not from the Shredder. He's going to bring you to people who can look after you."
"Don't wan' them, want joo." She said, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.
"I can't," he tried to avoid those eyes.
"Look at me, you and me we're nothing alike."
"Don' like him." She pointed at Casey.
"He's alright, he won't hurt you."
"How you know?"
"He's my friend and he ain't gonna do nothing to you, alright?"
"No, no alright, you say I come home, no with him! You say!" She screeched again, so loudly this time that Raphael could almost see the veins in her neck sticking out and her face getting very red. He crouched down to her, taking her hands in his.
"Look at me," he waited for her to do as he told her before speaking again.
"They won't do what Shredder did to you, you'll be safe there."
"How you know?" She asked again. Indeed, Raphael mused, how could he tell her that he know behind a shadow of a doubt that she would be well looked after, he shook his head.
"Raph-" Casey started, but Raph held his hand up to stall his friend.
"I need a moment." He said. The child shook her head at him.
"Not go, me."
"You have to, I can't look after you. You have to go with Casey." He whispered. She bit her lip and he saw a tear which she angrily wiped away.
"Me look after me, not you. I be good for you. Not make trouble." She pleaded, she refused to let go of his arm.
"I can't." He roughly pulled his hand from hers and turned away. He would be the last person to admit that he was getting second thoughts. He strode away.
"Please, Raphyell. What I do that make you want me go?" She asked. He froze, what made her think think. He turned back to her, a hurt look on her face.
"You didn't do anything wrong. It isn't your fault." He said.
"How me go?" It took him a moment to figure out the question she was asking.
"You're not, you're staying here with me." He finally relented. She looked at him confused and then her face brightened a little.
"I no go?"
"No." He said, hoping like hell he wouldn't regret the decision. He was surpirsed when she threw herself on him, hugging him tightly.
"Raph-" Casey started again.
"She's not going anywhere." Raphael told him.