Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all property belongs to Laird and Eastman, Mirage Comics, Mirage Studios and 4Kids Entertainment.

Setting: Takes place after Turtles Forever in the 03 verse.

The Guardian Angel Saga

Story 1: The Protector

Prologue

One Year Ago

Another long day had come to an end for Peter. He along with a few of the security guards was the only members of staff left at the gym. There were also not any customers save for the one lone woman who was finishing up her phone call as she walked out of the building.

The customer was not a regular and she said she was from out of town. She had apologized for spending a little longer in the whirlpool and mentioned she was dealing with a bit of stress involving her job.

Peter shrugged it off. They did close at nine thirty after all and she was not a bit stressed. She was a hell of a lot of stressed. He was able to see it in her eyes and how rigid her spine was. He told her to take as much time as she needed to relax.

"Hey Peter," the voice came through the two-way he carried. "Im about to do a final sweep through the building."

"I dont think there are any more stragglers", Peter said after he picked up the box and pressed the button. "There was just one woman and she left."

"Are you certain?" The security guard asked. "I could have sworn I saw someone else.""

Someone else?" Peter blinked. "Kevin, please tell me what did you see?"

"I thought I saw some guy walk around."

"Why didn't you alert me to him?"

"He didn't come off as suspicious," Kevin answered.

"At this hour everyone is suspicious. Where did you see him?"

"Near the front entrance."

"I'm going to see if he is still there, Peter said. For all he knew the mystery man might be a relation or friend of the woman was here to give her a ride back home. Keep communication on." He clipped the two way back onto his belt.

"Will do", Kevin said.

Peter sped walked towards the front entrance. He had to make certain the mystery man was not here to cause trouble. He could be an acquaintance of the woman as he thought before, but he was not about to take any chances.

A loud splash came from the direction of the pool. Nobody should be in there. He doubted it was the woman and certainly not Kevin or the other security guard, Ralphie. That left the mystery man. He had no idea what the guy was doing, but he knew it couldnt be good.

He ran as fast as he could into the room that held the three large pools as a man in a dirty sports jacket ran through the doors at the opposite end of the room. Hey! He would have ran after him if there wasn't for the fact there were waves in one of the pools along with bubbles anda chill ran down his spine. There was a body sinking.

Without a second thought Peter tore off the two-way and dove head first into the water. This was not new to him. He had been trained as a lifeguard and he had lost count of the times he had dove in to rescue a drowning victim. He had saved several lives before, but every time he leapt in his heartbeat was running a marathon.

He grabbed an arm and pulled the victim up until he could place his arm under his chest before he swam up. The second his head breached the surface he let out his breathe and he made his way to the side of the pool.

"Peter what is going on?" Ralphie's voice came through. "Kevin saw someone racing to the parking lot and alerted the police."

Peter will answer later. He had to check the vitals of the victim. He blinked. It was the same woman who was on her way out. "Miss?" Peter asked and clapped his hands.

There was no response.

He tilted her head back and opened her mouth. And placed a few fingers against her neck. She still had a pulse but was not breathing. He made a tight seal with his own mouth into hers and breathed in while keeping an eye on her chest to see if it rose or not. It did. He breathed in a few more times.

"Come on stay with me," he whispered in between breaths. He ignored the two-way and concentrated on the rescue.

After the sixth breath the woman made a coughing sputtering sound. Peter gently held her up so she could cough up any water. After the coughing sounded more like coughing and less like gurgling she gasped.

"Easy," Peter said in a soft tone. He did not look up at the sound of the doors being slammed open or the heavy footsteps that came with it. "Just breath easy."

The woman gasped a few more times before she took a few steady breaths.

"Ralphie is calling an ambulance," Kevin said in a soft voice.

"Good." Peter nodded.

Cops should be here soon, Kevin said.

Peter just nodded again. There was no doubt that foul play was involved. He will chew out Kevin later for not altering him to the mystery man earlier, but now his eyes were on the woman he had just rescued.

The woman opened her blue-gray eyes. "Where am I?"

"Shhh," Peter held up a finger. "You are safe."