Dark Leonardo's thoughts were racing through his mind all through the night. When he awoke, he found that he wasn't in the bar anymore, nor was he in the warehouse where he and his brothers resided. Slowly, he arose and dragged his feet into the living room. From there he saw someone in the kitchen. He saw that the figure was cooking something. "Where am I?" he lazily asked.
Lindsey turned around. "Oh good, you're up," she responded.
"Lindsey Jones?" he asked confusedly. "Where am I?"
"My apartment building atop of O'Neil Tech," Lindsey answered.
"Why am I here, and why do I ache?" Dark Leonardo questioned.
"You got into a fight last night with the other Dark Turtles. You were the only one that got beat up pretty badly. So I took the liberty of healing you up," Lindsey explained.
Dark Leonardo looked down at his bandages. "Where're my weapons and gauntlets at?"
"They're hidden for now. You will get them back when your stay here is finished," Lindsey replied. She turned off her stove and put whatever she was cooking onto a plate. "Do you want some food?"
It had been two days since Dark Leonardo remembered he'd eaten. "Yes," he said.
"Alright," Lindsey agreed. "I'll make you something, but first I have to help you sit down."
"Why?" Dark Leonardo asked narrowing his eyebrows.
"You've been put on strong medication that makes it to where you can barely even walk," Lindsey notified.
"I can do it," Dark Leonardo promised. He took one step and felt like falling.
Luckily, Lindsey was there to help him before he hit the ground. "You were saying?" Lindsey asked helping him to the table.
"Shut up," Dark Leonardo muttered.
"What do you want to eat?" Lindsey asked.
"I'll eat whatever you got," Dark Leonardo answered.
"Do you want some eggs and bacon?" Lindsey suggested. Dark Leonardo nodded.
"Alright, how many strips of bacon do you want?"
"Twelve," he stated.
Lindsey looked at him for a second, but then nodded. "Okay, how many eggs can you eat?"
"A whole carton," Dark Leonardo said.
"Okay, so you want a dozen strips of bacon and a dozen large eggs?" Lindsey tried to make sure.
Dark Leonardo nodded. "Alrighty well I'll start making your breakfast, and do you want anything to drink while you wait?" she asked.
"Milk," he requested.
"I think I have some," Lindsey responded going over to her refrigerator. She pulled out a whole jug of milk, got a glass, and gave both of them to the Dark Turtle. "There you go."
"Thanks," he muttered. Lindsey turned on the TV and saw that the news was on.
"'In other news, the O'Neil Tech Board of Directors will have a meeting today on whether or not to let former executive Darius Dunn back in. Dunn had been fired after CEO Cody Jones and he had gotten into a heated argument,'" the anchor informed.
Dark Leonardo remembered that night and smashed the glass in his hand. Milk splattered all over the table and floor. Lindsey turned around. "Ah dang," she said as she called in the servitron unit to clean up the glass and milk.
"Sorry about that," Dark Leonardo said folding his hands.
"It's fine," Lindsey promised. She went over to him. "Let me see."
Dark Leonardo laid his hands flat on the table. Lindsey took one and turned it over to where she could see his palm. It had a few cuts on it. Lindsey gently rubbed the Dark Turtle's skin with a washcloth. Dark Leonardo felt nervous. He'd never before had touched anyone without meaning to hurt them. And vice versa.
And now here she was, one of his enemies' friends cleaning his wounds for him. "There you go," Lindsey stated as she got his cut hand clean.
"Thanks," Dark Leonardo grunted trying not to express any emotion.
Finally, Lindsey gave him his food, and sat down across the table from him. She watched as the hungry Dark Turtle devoured the food in a fast manner. "I guess you're really hungry," she figured.
When he took a breath, he replied "Haven't eaten in two days."
"Is food scarce where you live?" Lindsey questioned.
Dark Leonardo chewed and nodded. "My brothers and I usually compete over who gets to eat what. The last one standing gets it," he explained.
"Is that what your fight the other night was about?"
"No, we were fighting over who was to take the blame for a failed mission, and to be the one to tell Darius," Dark Leonardo said.
"Is Uncle Darius mean to you guys?" Lindsey questioned.
Dark Leonardo stopped eating. He swallowed hard. But then he knew that he couldn't show her any emotion, so he asked in a stern voice "What's it matter to you how he treats us?"
"Because if he does I understand," Lindsey answered. Dark Leonardo stared at her. "Uncle Darius can't find a healthy way to control his temper, so he takes it out on other people."
Dark Leonardo narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't you sit there and act like you know what goes on in my life. Compared to your life, mine is Hell," he stated. He stood up slowly and dragged his feet to the guest bedroom. Dark Leonardo shut the door behind him, and lay down on the bed. As he lay there, he clenched the sheets of the bed in his fists.
There was a knock on the door. "Here, you need to take your pills," Lindsey said walking in holding a glass of water and two orange pills.
Dark Leonardo downed them in record time. "Remember to take these after every meal okay?" Lindsey reminded. "You need to rest now. The medication will make you drowsy."
When she left, Dark Leonardo thought how she could be so nice to him, even after the way he'd been treating her, by yelling at her and eating her food. He fell asleep pondering these thoughts.
When he awoke, it was about two thirty in the afternoon. He slowly got up, went into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. He despised what he saw in his reflection. Dark Leonardo ran water in the sink and splashed some onto his face.
The cool water sank into his flushed reptile skin. Dark Leonardo dragged his feet into the living room where he found Lindsey watching TV on the couch. "You're not with the shellheads?" he asked.
"You mean the Turtles? No not today. Sundays are their days of whole meditation. Splinter specifically told me and Donatello both that I can't come over on Sundays," Lindsey explained. "Do you want some lunch?"
He grunted. Lindsey hopped up and skipped into the kitchen. "I went out for lunch earlier with Cody and brought home leftovers, do you want any?" she asked the Dark Turtle.
"Sure," he responded. "What is it?"
"Uh, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit," Lindsey listed.
"Sounds good," Dark Leonardo said.
Lindsey popped the food into the microwave and got Dark Leonardo something to drink. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's tea. Sweet tea, try it; it's really good," Lindsey persuaded.
Dark Leonardo raised the glass to his lips and swallowed the sweet liquid.
"It is good," Dark Leonardo agreed.
"Glad you like it," Lindsey said as she poured herself a glass.
"Did you make this?" he asked.
"Yeah, I like cooking different things. It's like my work, it involves a lot of experimentation," she stated smiling.
Dark Leonardo smirked at her remark. Then he watched as Lindsey got his food out of the microwave and handed it to him. "Be careful, it's kinda hot," she precautioned.
When Dark Leonardo had finished, Lindsey gave him his medication. "You can watch TV in the living room if you don't wanna go back to bed. I've got some paperwork to do for work," Lindsey notified as she helped Dark Leonardo to the couch in the living room.
"Why do you work? You own a billion dollar company," he questioned.
"I guess I like it because inventing things to help people was always a dream of mine. I invented a lot of useful things," Lindsey explained.
"Like what?" Dark Leonardo asked as Lindsey handed him a blanket and the remote control.
"The temporary air shield pack," Lindsey stated.
"You made that?" Dark Leonardo asked.
"Yeah, that was one of my very first inventions," Lindsey explained.
"Is your job hard?"
"Not really. Except for paperwork, that's about it," Lindsey informed.
She worked for three hours on her paperwork before rubbing her eyes. Dark Leonardo could tell that she was getting tired. He watched as she picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Yes hello, I'd like to place an order for delivery. Lindsey Jones . . . the O'Neil Tech Apartment . . . okay I'd like two large pizzas with pepperoni and extra cheese. Thank you . . . all right . . . bye-bye."
She turned to Dark Leonardo. "I ordered us pizza for dinner, because I really don't feel like cooking tonight," she said.
"Do you need some sleep?" he asked starting to stand up.
"I do need a little sleep, so I might turn in early tonight. If you wanna stay up, you can," Lindsey said.
"You trust me?" Dark Leonardo asked confused.
"Of course I do. I've trusted you ever since yesterday when I brought you into my home. I know that if you want to leave, then you can, but I strongly urge you not to go until your wounds are completely healed," Lindsey explained.
"How long will that take?" Dark Leonardo asked feeling his bandages.
"A few weeks at the least," Lindsey said. "But that's off of assumption. I might call tomorrow and have Cody bring me the auto-docs so that they can tell us for sure."
"The four shellheads can't find me here," Dark Leonardo stated.
"They won't. I'll have Cody drop off the equipment and leave," Lindsey promised.
After they had eaten dinner, Dark Leonardo took his medication and then went and rested in his room. He heard Lindsey move all through her house. Dark Leonardo learned what she was doing by the sound of her movements.
He heard her walk through the living room, into the kitchen to pour herself a drink, and then he counted how many steps she took as she walked up the stairs to her room. Listening carefully, Dark Leonardo heard Lindsey turn on the water for the shower. He softly heard Lindsey hum a song while she was showering.
Closing his eyes, Dark Leonardo thought of what it would be like to be in there with her. But he quickly dropped the thought. He hated himself for thinking that. She deserved way better than him. He was a genetic mishap who had to live in an abandoned warehouse, and go two days without food. She was a wealthy multi-billionaire who owned one of the best technologically advanced companies in the world. He figured that there was no way he had a chance with her.
Still, he had his dreams. That was the one place where he controlled everything. In his mind, she wanted to be with him, but in the real world, Lindsey was with his doppelganger's brother.
Finally, he heard the water shut off. He wanted to picture the water sliding down her body, of what she looked like in just her skin. But just like the last thought, Dark Leonardo dropped this thought as well.
When he slept, he dreamed of Lindsey. The Dark Turtle thought of her lying underneath him, writhing in ecstasy, and heard her scream out his name as he went into the climax of his dream. He didn't know why he felt this sudden attraction to her, but it was swallowing him.