Dreams

by BronzeParadox

Whoever wantted to be just normal? Me, that's who. Now I think I'm losing my mind just as things are looking up for me... finally (one shot, human au... or is it? remember nothing is as it seems )

2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

(Sunday)

So. The beach when it's cold. Maybe not the brightest idea... "Myles!" I shriek as he pushes me off the boat into the supper chilled water. Nope, not a good idea. I flail about trying to get my bearings but end up smashing my head into the boat. In shock I gasp out and choke on water filling up my lungs. I panic and attempt to spit the water out. This of course does not work. My vision blurs and lungs burn as I sink closer to the darkness. The never ending darkness that's clawing up to meet me half way. Reaching for me, it wants me to join it. To rest. It's a lie. I'm terrified of that darkness. I fight, I resist, I can't go to it, I WON'T go to it. Leo said don't die, it was an order and a plea. So I scream and kick up as a pair of strong arms wrap around me, pulling me as a second pair help push me up My world spins and grows dark as I break the surface of the water. Lenny has me pinned to his chest as Roland fallows us up helping us both to the boat side. Deacon haul me up as Myles helps a pissed off Lenny and irate Roland on board.

"She's a strong swimmer what gives?" Rachel is right there beside me turning my head to the side as I upchuck the water in my lungs.

"It'll be from the head injury, going over rattled her brain around again. Underwater she would have been disoriented" Deacon is shinning a light in my eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Wet" I answer choking on some left over water.

"Ok" Deacon shakes his head chucking at me. "I'll check back later, but I think you'll be ok" he sits back on his hunches and signals up to Isolda to head back to shore.

Myles shrinks in on himself, knees and hands twisted up. His eyes are down cast and voice is uncharacteristically quiet. 'Sorry"

I cough once more "Its ok Myles" Lenny pulls me up into a sitting position slowly. "I panicked and swallowed water, if I hadn't done that I would have been fine" Myles smiles weakly at me but stays in his spot as I caught a bit more. "When did you realize that I was in trouble?" I look over at Lenny.

"Between the loud thump of something hitting the boat and the sudden bubbles coming up from under water" Lenny stands there shaking in wet clothing, Roland shivers as he takes a seat. "We will need to dry our clothes when we get back" he has to shout over the sound of the engine gunning it again as Maya helps him stay on his feet with the jerky start.

Isolda knew how to drive a boat, had her license and everything, but it had been a while and she wasn't use to this new a model. She had complained it was like being a noob all over again. Sometimes she was all smooth with the take off's and stopping sometimes she sent everyone on board for a ride. However she was getting better. I look over at her blushing while Deacon talks about something. Maya flashes a grin at me, she see's it too. Rachel is content in her world chatting away with a mostly still quite with embarrassment Myles. I pat the seat beside me as Lenny nearly goes over board on us again, this time thanks to a quake caused by another boat, he sits down as we slow down and come to a stop. Deacon yells at the guy that I went over board and now where headed back to go dry off, he gets a list of things to be worried about and how to make sure we don't hurt ourselves trying to warm up too fast after a dip in such cold waters. Next we're told to be more careful and sent on our way. This time Isolda takes off much slower and smoothly. Lenny nods as we pass by them.

Back on shore I gingerly walk into the massive second house pretending to be a cabin. No really, this thing has two floors, plus a basement and a functioning attic. The so called attic functions as a reading nook, comfortable seats most of us… the second floor has 6, read it again SIX bedrooms, three bathrooms and a study/ library combo. Who's cabin has its own library? Why the heck is Myles not in some kind of private school system? The main floor has a sprawling kitchen with dinning table that we all fit at, before you add any extra chairs, it opens up to the living room. That has a lovely real wood Fireplace. There's plenty of polished to a gleaming shine all dark wood end tables nestled between the supper soft and luxurious dark brown leather couches and love seats. This whole area is sunk in leaving a clear shot out into the breath stealing view of the great out doors and the beach. The front entrance is bigger than my bedroom, I'm sure there's more closet space by that front door then there is in my house. I feel sorry for the maid that has to clean that much glass whenever someone comes over. The basement is mostly wide open, the den has the movie room seat up, there's a wet bar at the other end with a pool table between it all. Fyi a wet bar means theirs running water, and the booze is on tape, which means behind one of those closed doors is a cellar with barrels full of booze that comes to you. Behind the first door at the bottom of the stairs is the laundry room. The middle door leads to the bathroom, there's a spare bedroom down here… wtf do they need another spare bedroom for? … another door leads to a storage space, that leaves two other doors with unknown purpose and hidden content.

"Oh Vivian dear what happened?" Mrs. Eldren swoops down to see my trying not to drip water all over her hardwood flooring.

"Vivian fell off the boat, we jumped in to help her back on" Lenny answers for us, also trying not to drip water over everything.

"Oh dear, Ok Vivian come with me, I'll get a warm shower going, you boys go get ready for yours, Dean honey? We need some towels warmed up in the dryer" Mrs. Eldren calls out to her husband, who just gets up from his spot on the couch to do as instructed. "This way dears, Myles get some blankets ok"

"Yes mom" Myles pivots on his feet and heads for the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Oh well Lunch is almost ready why don't the rest of you just take a seat and watch some tv while I help your friends, you know how to work the system right Deacon?"

"Yes mom" Deacon answers helping Isolda down into the sunken living room. It was weird at first but they got use to calling Mrs. Eldren mom after a while. She liked it that way, and it made them feel all welcomed right off the hop.

She guides Vivian up the stairs and into the master bathroom dropping each boy off in a different room with a bathroom attached to it along the way. Turns on the shower and tests the water before gathering up the wet clothing on the floor. "I'll get your clothes in the dryer and be up with a warmed towel in a moment ok dear?"

"Thank you Mrs. Eldren" Vivian nods slightly shaking from the cold.

"Call me mom dear, everyone else does" once more Mrs. Eldren smiles at her before disappearing out the door.

"Ok mom" Vivian calls out to the empty room. She steps inside the shower and lets the warm water run down her cold body.

At some point in time "mom" came back and placed some temporary clothing and a warm towel on the chair. I step out and wrap myself up in the still warm towel. Scrub at my hair with a corner and sigh. This doesn't feel real. Something is off. I try to dismiss the feeling, maybe it's this supper fancy house and surreal surroundings but it won't be shaken so easily. I turn around and scream at the top of my lungs. I do a double take to see me looking back at me… just with green skin. I blink and it's gone, but I am shaken by this, so much so that I'm clutching the edge of the sink when Mrs. Eldren burst through the doors with Lenny hot on her heels.

"Vivian?" they both look, trying to find what set me off.

"I'm sorry, I slipped and almost feel on my head again" I lie. They'd think I was crazy if I told them I saw me, only not me looking back at me in the mirror.

"Ok dear just be careful" Mrs. Eldren pushes everyone back out as Lenny looks at the floor then up at me. I think he knows I lied but how can I tell him about seeing me as a mutant turtle in the mirror?

Back down stairs Deacon checks me over again to make sure I'm ok. Then we sit down to watch the second movie while Mrs. Eldren hands us food. Mr. Eldren joins us with this movie too, I think he gets sucked in the same way we do. We binge and watch the third movie right after as one large family while Myles has to explain a few details to his mom about what's going on.

Normally I would toss popcorn at the tv screen when the bad guys come on but my mind keeps going back over today. Leo said don't die? Yaa he would say something like that, at the time I didn't think much of it but now I'm confused by what my own head was telling me, then my reflection? I decided to toss the idea out there as the last movie comes to an end. "Hey guys" I have most of their attention. "What do you think of there being a female turtle?" I get a few blank stares at this.

"The story has always been just the four of them. Are you referring to the ill fated live action tv series where they introduce a female?" Deacon asks first.

"The what?" I am confused by this.

"It's not worth the time. Her intro was totally unbelievable, and it flopped because of its incredibly low budget and not so good acting" Myles waves it away. "Kinda a waste of time, the core idea was cool enough they just didn't do a very good job with it"

"The next mutation did several things wrong. Introducing a female that only Leo suddenly remembered was just the first of offenses" Lenny shakes his head. He throws his hand over his eyebrow dramatically before giving himself a bad Shakespeare accent "Wait I do'ith recall a fifth turtle in the tank with us" Everyone chuckles with him. "Not that a female turtle couldn't have found some left over mutagen but they base so much on it just being the four brothers, to add a female means she would most likely be a sister and any romantic ideas go out the drain, no tv producer is going to air anything even close to resembling incest"

"Depends on the story line, it's currently 50/50 odds that their siblings by blood or not. In the next mutation they were not, so she wasn't either. This I'm sure is mostly done for ease of writing but still, a cop out" Roland rolls his eyes

"Low budget dudes. The costumes were terrible, the acting not much better. The intro and exit songs half baked at best"

"What was her name?" Vivian almost wants to look it up to see if it's as bad as they say it is. She gets a blank look from them.

"You know I don't remember what it was…" Lenny pauses in though.

"I couldn't be bothered to remember, I was trying to pretend it never happened. Much like the musical, we talk about it simply to state that it was a monumental money grabbing, evil and vile heretic thing to do and that we don't disuse it beyond that" Deacon rolls his eyes.

"Don't forgot the fallow up musical, or the Christmas special" Myles evil smile spreads across his face with a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Aaa dude, no!" I cover my ears trying to block the sounds out

"And then there was turtle tunes!" Myles keeps going despite our complaints. "Or their appearances on tv shows"

"MYLES!" Everyone yells at him and I start to forget about this morning's events.

After supper we pack up, it'll be a two plus hours ride back into town. And despite everything today was totally worth it

… … … … … ... ... … … … … … …

( NYC, some random hospital)

"You sure about this Donny?" Raph pulls his sai's out.

"Nope. But Venus needs it so we're getting it" Donny nods at him. "You don't have to come in, shell you can turn back and pretend you have no idea what I am about to do" he offers up.

"No turtle left behind, she saved fearless, scaring the crap out of some humans is a small price to pay to help her out" Raph figured it was just a matter of time before Donny offered that up.

"And the whole breaking and entering, theft under 500 and willful destruction of government property doesn't bother you?" Donny grimace at this, he will be cutting some of the power and shutting down the security tapes as they went but humans would spot them, this was a hospital with 6 flights of stairs to get down first then back up after. About a dozen guards, some 200 civilians. "Leo will be furious that we broke cover, it'll be all over the news. This is top of the line medical we're taking" there would be no getting around it, even if they did this without being spotted it would be all over the news, this new drug was worth a small fortune if it did what they say it could.

"Yaa, cuz my record is squawky clean and I ain't never been in trouble with him or the law before?"

"Night watcher days had you covered head to toe, there's no mistaking us for anything beside not human" Donny jump down onto the roof and could feel Raph following him.

"Can you do the geek thing while this high strung?" Raph watched the near robotic stride in his normally smooth brother. Watched him jab at his tablet in jerky back and forth movements when normally his fingers nearly danced across the screen, it looked like he was trying to stab a hole in it this time.

"I'll be fine once we get in motion." Donny paused with the last button. "One way or another we maybe exposing our family, putting them at great risk. I'm not sure who will be more pissed. Sensei for breaking that rule, Leo for breaking his trust or Venus for taking the risk" his hand hovered over the button. 21 years of training to stay in the shadows fighting his need to help Leo at any cost. Raph's hand slapped down on the screen and set everything into motion

(Monday)

Homeroom sucks. Teach is mad about something, throwing my paper down in front of me with a big red D- on the front. Roland is beside me and frowns at it, he got the same mark, yet we both know my paper was at least a B+. Roland sneers at him but doesn't say anything as the girl beside us get's an A despite their only being half a page of the 3,000 word essay on the paper. Looks like she copied and pasted from the book and added a few extra words. I try to not let it bother me but my grades in his class are effecting my over all mark, I should be at least qualifying for honor roll but can't because he refuses to give me any other mark. I doubt he even reads anything I hand in and just slaps that D- on the top right corner. I put it away and pull out my book for class patting Roland's arm to help him calm down. We receive a few looks but don't think nothing of it, by now everyone knows he's with Maya after the party and that I'm with Lenny. Why wouldn't we be hanging out? All our friends know each other. Literally. All our friends are hooking up with each other. It's straight out of some cheesy romance movie.

After class Roland takes me to second then shows up to take me to third, normally it's Myles but I guess he's off doing something. Then again at Lunch time Roland finds me first and walks me to the cafeteria. There we meet up with the rest but scoot off to the students lounge to use its free microwave instead of waiting in that line up. I keep spotting hints of green skin everywhere and it's getting annoying. I'll mention it to the doc after school today when I go in for my post head smashing into a wall check up. I don't feel right yet after that dip, I hope nothing is permanently broken, Myles was just joking when he pushed me into the water. He'd feel so bad if it hurt me at all. He's a good kid, a little loopy and needs to take things a little more seriously but a good kid over all. Rachel is like a kid in a candy store, she's excited by everything and seems to be under the impression that we're all 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Sweet, but one day her head will come down from the clouds and she'll totally freak out with understanding. Isolda is smart, like Deacon, both need to stop thinking with their heads and just say what their feeling already. It's painfully obviously that they like each other, they way they always reach for each other at the party, then at the beach. It's a purely physical reaction to each other and their over sized brains are getting in the way. Maya and Roland are not having that problem. Nope, they are pawing at each other and everyone knows what their building it up too after school… maybe somewhere in the school at this rate.

"Roland" Lenny pokes him in the arm. "Dude really?"

Roland doesn't like being interrupted, his face twists up before growling out "What?"

"Keep it pg rated we have younger students in this school too you know" I think Lenny's reminder drops an ice bucket on Maya's head. She stiffens up and pulls back with a blush. Roland's really not impressed with this but backs off as well and they seem content to just sit especially close to each other. I keep nudging Isolda but either she's ignoring me or deliberately being obtuse about the hints. Lenny's doing the same but not having any luck with Deacon. So we stop and just do that awkward moment thing where we clearly have something to say but can't form the right words so... we just sit beside each other and eat. Something doesn't feel right about this whole thing either. I can't shake it off, it's there at the tip of my tongue. Like a barley remembered idea, you know it's about something important but you just can't recall anything after that. Something I guess I'll have to bring up with the doc later on.

I sense a tension in the air as I head off to fourth. Roland meeting me up just before Lenny does to take me to fifth makes the walk very … unsettling. I'm not sure what it is, yet. Finally at the door I can't keep my mouth shut anymore. "That was awkward. Roland is there something you want to get off your chest?" he seems to take a second to think about this but Lenny steps up first.

"Is there any reason why you bumped everyone else off the watch list?" Lenny looks unhappy about this, he sounds defensive and puts himself between us. "Myles said you told him to not worry about it anymore, same with Deacon and Maya, but I know you've been walking her to every class today, dispute the fact that Ricky and Bryon aren't in school today"

"They're not?" I didn't even realize it. Guess today has been hassle free now that I think about it.

Roland shifts on his feet before finally blurring out "Its my fault she got hurt. Maya asked me to keep an eye on her, you told me to keep her safe and I failed" we both stop him there.

"You where sick Roland" I start off.

"No one could have predicted that they would react like that simply because they couldn't tease her for a few days" Lenny steps off to the side, I realized that he may have been jealous and trying to give a visual clue that he doesn't want Roland getting so chummy with me. I swoon on the inside at this. He was worried about his best friend stealing me away from him?

"Roland" that also explains the looks we've been getting. "That was very sweet of you, but I'm sure it's fine now. I pressed the charges, they can't come near me unless it's passing by me in the halls, they can't look at me or talk to me at all without making it worse on themselves. Even they aren't that stupid"

He shifts again with a ruefully smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Yaa I guess you're right. I just felt so bad when I heard about it, then I saw the marks and it's been eating at me ever since, if I'd just been here…" he leaves it at that.

"Thanks Roland" Lenny gives him the guys one sided hug. " But no one's blaming you for being sick and not being everywhere 24/7. I should have made her come to the dojo to get some lessons knowing that they were bugging her so much. If anyone failed, it was me for not spotting the potential danger in this whole mess and making sure she had a tool to deal with it. Speaking of…" the bell goes off and he stops us from both dashing off in opposite directions. "Both of you need to come to the dojo after school…"

"Team meeting…"

"Fallow up appointment…" we both mutter out at the same time.

"… as soon as possible, so I can show her the steps and moves to take so it doesn't happen again. I can drive her to the appointment, can you pick her up for me? I need to get to the dojo to help so classes can continue this Wednesday"

"Oh! there almost done rebuilding the dojo already?" Roland looks excited by this idea.

"It was a lot of smoke damage so it's been easier to fix then we first feared, mostly replacing stuff and some minor repairs.." he nods off to my teacher walking towards us. "I'll hand her over in a minute Mrs. Cody" she smiles and waves and like so I'm off the hook for being way late again. "You'll come and try right? Roland won't stop beating himself up until he knows you got some basics and I don't want to have to tell the girls that you're not both going behind my back because everyone is getting the wrong idea about why you're walking everywhere together suddenly" Roland goes stiff at this idea.

"Oh Lenny man I wouldn't! Not that you're not pretty and all Viv but Maya…" he's stumbling over his words and I feel my eyes grow big at how adorable it is.

"Its ok" Lenny and I both stop him this time.

Lenny smiles at us. "I figured it was you being over protective again. Just don't forgot that the others want to help too and if the charges hold we won't have to worry about it much longer anyway" he finally wraps his arm around me, placing a kiss on my forehead and I almost swoon in real life.

"I thought the others were busy and that poor Roland was having to cover a lot of ground today. I didn't think anyone would make something of it. Thank you for not believing the other girls and trusting us to not do something like that" I feel my knees twist into each other as my fingers pull at themselves. Awkward.

"I know Roland, I trust him with my life. He'd never do something like that to me. Not after he went to all the trouble of finding out your answer first." We both blink at him in shock. "Yaa I know you went to talked to her beforehand, I also know that you got uppity with her when you thought she might have said no. I maybe new to this dating game but I have eyes and ears all over this school buddy" Roland goes a few shades red at this as I try not to laugh about it. "I like to think that I'm a good judge of character, plus all my eyes and ears let me know enough about you to know that wouldn't be your style either." He turns me around to face the door. "Go we can talk more later I've kept you long enough" I grin as I walk into class apologizing for taking so long. I watched Lenny and Roland walking away and wonder what they're talking about.

After fifth I collect my stuff and hop into the beat up truck with Lenny. There's plenty of small chit chat and easy banter and it gets a little heated by the time we get to the hospital. He walks me in and makes sure that I'm taken into a room before leaving and sending a text off to Roland to let him know he's got about a half. He could wait but he's already late and I think he's trying to prove to the world that there's nothing going on between Roland and me, that he trusts us.

"Any questions or concerns?" The doc isn't looking at me, I ring my hands again lazily kicking my feet off the side of this examination table like a little kid. Do I really tell him about what I've been seeing?

"A few" I start, it grabs his attention. He sits up and waits for me to finish chewing on my lip. He probably thought I would play it cool and not say anything like most people would, to avoid any new medication or extra exams. "After the hit, as I lay on the floor I got these ghostly after images of these tv characters shadowed over other people, like a badly photo shopped video." He nods to keep me going. "My friends kind of remind me of the tv characters so I didn't think too much of it at the time, just figured it was my brain doing something funny to help me process what was going on around me"

He nods again tapping his pen on the table. "It's common after a head injury such as yours to have the brain, do funny things, such hallucinations is a sign of brain fog and confusion, was there a headache before or after seeing the fictional characters?"

"A little, nothing some water didn't take care of" I answer. "Nothing strange happened on Saturday, but Sunday I was at a friend's private beach house and as we took a spin in the motor boat I went over board. I hit my head against the boat and thought the water was trying to get me, two friends helped me up after I swallowed some water. I fallowed the instructions given to us by the guards to bring my body temp back up to normal after a dip in cold water. Well after the shower I looked in the mirror and saw me, only I wasn't me, I was like one of the tv characters but there are no females like them. Then I was seeing non-human coloring and shapes, green skin, colored masked around eyes, weapons hanging off their backs, three fingers instead of two"

"Teenage mutant ninja turtles characters?" I look up at him in shock. "My son loves the show, so your friends remind you of the brothers and your brain supplied an after image of you as a female version?" I nod at this "Brains are funny, fickle things. At best we barley understand them and guess at what they are really capably of doing."

"They're like computers and mine is just resetting itself" I startle at this, I've heard someone say that before but who?

"Correct. But we still don't understand them. Chances are good that your brain was trying to make sense of what was going on and to help you to understand it supplied an image. You knew it was a bad idea to move, maybe you thought about moving, anyway. A very typically flight or fight response when we know we are in danger, so your brain convinced you to stay still because the boys had the situation under control until help could arrive. That's what they do, defend the weak, protect the innocent. So keeping you from inflicting more damage to you, it showed you what it knew would be a soothing, calming image of the turtles defending you until it knew it was safe to move again. The brain can do some extraordinary things, I think what your brain was trying to tell you with the female turtle image was that you don't need the boys to defend you, that you can do that by yourself. Maybe it's trying to tell you to be more like them, have you ever thought about joining a self defense program for woman? Maybe some other kind of martial arts that look interesting? Maybe then your brain will stop giving you after images" He's so sweet and there was no judgment in his voice.

"My friends suggested the same thing. Maybe I need to lay off the show for a bit" he laughs with me.

"Oh not at all! I love the show too, grew up with it when I was younger. It's got some great cheesy ideas and notions in it. Sounds like you got some amazing friends if you think they take after hero's like that"

"Yaa their personalities are similar too"

"You got a good head on your shoulders, take it easy for a bit more, try to avoid any more hits to the head, even underwater ones. Take pain killers as needed to keep the headache at bay, ginger ale for your stomach and by the end of the week you should be good to go for all activities again" he smiles kindly at me opening the door for me. "You should think about the self defense classes at least, crime against females is on the rise and one as small as you maybe seen as an easy target." He try's one more time.

"My boyfriend won't let me not learn a few things after this" I point to my brain making the doctor laugh at me some more.

Roland locates me before I see him in the waiting room. I give him the low down on the way to the dojo.

I feel like I'm stepping into my home. I automatically kick my shoes off at the door and remove my socks without needing a prompt or reminder. I scan the boxes containing awards and metals the dojo has won, certificates of authenticity, higher Dan levels complete by the instructors and some of the students, and finally the coup de grâce, two pieces of paper, signed, sealed, dated, certifying the owners as bonifided masters of the arts. I'm in awed at it all, Mr. Sheppard will qualify for grand master status soon. A very impressive goal for one as young as him. And while he maybe closes in on sixty five and not at all young in body, his mind is just as sharp as ever.

"Thank you child for removing your out door shoes. Who taught you to remove your socks as well?" Mr. Sheppard smiles at me.

I smile back at him warmly "Hello Mr. Sheppard"

"Technical right now I am master Sheppard, but close enough. Thank you for coming down, Shian Lenny said you would be stopping by after your doctor's appointment, how did it go?" He try's another question.

"Another week of light stuff and I should be good to go, so long as I can avoid anymore hits to it. I have never been in a dojo before, so I'm not sure what prompted me to take my socks off"

"The guys never wear shoes or socks when their training in the TV show, maybe you just picked it up?" Lenny walks in already to go.

"The guys don't own any shoes or socks. Cute uniform" I giggle at him poking at the large black belt holding the shirt in place

"It's called a GI, this is called the obi, or the belt of the uniform" he corrects me without batting an eye at this. I don't take offense, it's simply training kicking in.

"That's good to know, do I need one of those and if I do how much is that going to cost?" I hope I have enough on me.

"There are samples you can try, then we will order one just for you, about $120 after taxes, but until you decide that you want to join up for some lesson with a regular class your gym stuff will do" I have a feeling he's letting me off the hook.

"If you're not going to die then can we please get this over with already?" Maya complains as she walks into the dojo behind me. Isolda and Rachel following in behind her.

"Hey girl how's your head?" Rachel stops to talk.

"Doc says I'll live" I give two thumbs up as Isolda smiles at me, then I realized she's not looking at me but behind me. I turn around and forget to breathe. All four boys are standing around chatting, I see Mikey laughing it up with a scowling Donny as Leo goes off on Raph about something. I blink really hard and when I open my eyes again, it's Roland getting up in Lenny's face about his Obi being tied tight enough while Myles jokes about it and Deacon pulls at his belt to make sure it's done right. I guess Isolda was looking at Deacon, his GI pants are hanging off his hips in a fabulous way. Even I can admit that and I don't find him attractive. Sure it must be great to have a highly intelligent conversation that doesn't involve sports, cars or swim suit models but there's not enough meat on the boy.

"Earth to Vivian" Rachel waves a hand in front of my face. "Stop drooling…"

I take a light swing at her. "RACHEL!" She breaks off into a run crackling in delight as my face turns a dark shade of red, I can see Lenny trying not to laugh at me. It's good to know the boy has some survival instincts. Roland… not so much. Deacon is doing his best to hide it and Myles is too quite to be a good thing. He's plotting something, I just know it.

"Ok" Lenny flags us all down. "Let's get this started" it's going to be long night but here goes nothing.

… … … … … … … …

(NYC, Turtles lair)

"Mikey" Leo puts Venus's hand down interrupting him mid story. "Where did Donny and Raph go?"

"Aaa. Ha aaa what you talkin' about bro?" Mikey slumped back faking a relaxed posture.

"You're trying to distract me, so where did they go and how much trouble are they going to get into helping her?"

"You, there helping you" Mikey lunges forwards, tackling Leo as an alarm goes off. "And you gotta stay here!" he manages to keep Leo pinned for a few minutes. They struggle, they argue and eventually Leo pulls a Raph and strong arms Mikey into submission.

Leo takes off to the monitors to see who pulled an alarm. Just short of his destination Mikey comes flying at him. "I said you gotta stay here!"

"Someone's robbing a hospit… they didn't" Leo stops to stare at Mikey in growing horror. "They wouldn't!" Mikey gives up trying to stop him, slumping to the ground in defeat. "How could they! This goes against EVERYTHING we have been taught. Why would they ruin the family honor like that?"

"Because it doesn't mean much to us. We just…"

Leo screams "It's one of the few things we do have!"

Mikey's head drops, his shoulders curl in. "Not anymore"

Leo racks his brain for a solution. "If they stop right now, we can fix this…"

"No. I mean we lost our honor when we let Venus take a hit for you. It should have been one of us, not her, not the only female of our species" Mikey throws back his head into the wall, exposing the tears. "She threw herself in harms way while we all stopped and stared. I saw the moment, I saw that sword getting closer to your neck and knew I wouldn't make it. I froze up man"

(Tuesday)

"Honey I hurt" I try to stretch out my back but it's not working.

"it'll get better with regular practice" Lenny shuffles in closer to me.

Maya folds herself over the table "It better for the price of regular classes"

"You signed up already?" I haven't even looked at the prices yet.

"Yaa, it's pricy but my parents didn't bat an eyelash at it when I told them what it was for, just signed and paid for it in full online" Maya arches her back and makes some pained noises.

"So did mine" Rachel wiggles in beside Myles

My phone buzzes startling me out of my thoughts. It's a text message from Isolda

-Can I talk to you in private?

Intrigued, I say sure when and where. I haven't even taken my finger off the send button when a reply comes back, damn she's fast.

-ur haunting ground, 5 minutes?

I send a K back at her and excuse myself from the table. Making my way there I get stopped by some girls.

"Vivian right?" Blondie waves at me.

"Yes, can I help you at all?" I think she maybe new or something I've never seen her before, maybe she's lost? The school is a funky maze at first with random dead ends here and there. My old haunting spot is around the corner I shouldn't be late to meet up with Isolda

"I was wondering if you knew where Roland is?" pink hair beside her is smirking and I'm not sure why.

"Tuesday at lunch he'll be in the gym for practice, if he owes you lunch for doing his homework you'll be waiting a while fyi" Maybe not new, maybe just looking for him.

Pink hair's eyes narrow at this. "You even do his homework for him?"

"He asked for a favor, I didn't mind so yes I've helped him with his homework" by now I'm confused. "Practice and tournaments can take up a lot of time, so when he starts to fall behind he gets the odd person to help him out. I get the rough draft done and hand it over, he goes through and finishes it up, hands it in an no one is the wiser" well hopefully no one is.

"So do you help him with any other favors?" Blondie gets up in my face.

"Ummm. No…"

"She's not cheating on Lenny with his best friend , fuck off" Isolda hauls me off and away. "Vivian" she plunks down into the tight corner pulling me down with her. "So, I like this guy…"

"Deacon?" I raise my eyebrows at this, everyone knows it, probably even him.

She shots me a peeved look. "Anyway" what did I do wrong? "He asked me out on a date and I kinda … maybe … said no…"

"What? Why? Why not?" I rapid fire at her. "Like a no, no? Or like a not this weekend kinda no?"

"Like I freaked out half yelled no and ran away like a big dork! He's so smart and witty and I'm not!"

"Isolda" I square our shoulders up. "You get A's across the board, you have a full scholarship to basically any school you want to attend. Yule accepted you. You are a very bright woman… minus 2 glasses of wine."

"Oh my god! I told him how hot he was at that party!" she pulls a scream face at this. "I drabbled on about him like a groupie would!" I pat her shoulder trying not to laugh at her. "Don't sass me! I made a fool of myself…"

"And yet he still asked you out" this grabs her attention. "He was by your side all Sunday. Literally, right there, all Sunday. He cuddled up to you, he got you water and snacks so you wouldn't have to get up. He walked around with you and the conversation was almost none stop between the two of you. I thought you were already a thing? What gives?" I need more details.

"He's an A plus student and that's only because they don't grade any higher. He is on the honor roll. He can attend any university he wants, he's almost got enough scholarships to get his doctorate. I am not smart enough for that man…"

"Don't droll on me. I get it you think he's all that and a bag of chips. I don't think he will think any less of you simply because his IQ score is a bit higher. He's a good guy right?" she nods yes at this. "You think he's smokin' hot too?" again she agrees with me. "You'd do him"

She pulls a face at me. "Crass much?"

"Yep you'd do him" I mock her agitated outcry. "he's basically seen you fall over drunk and rendered stupid but still likes you. He didn't ditch when he could have. He clearly enjoys spending time with you." She's still agreeing with me so that's a good sign. "You obviously enjoy his company, he's smart enough to keep up with you in scientific talk, even if you have some trouble keeping up with him…" I cut the complaint off before it can start again. "And he's ok with that, he gets to flex his brainy muscles and make you droll while you get to learn something new. I don't see any problems here"

"But…" She starts up again. "I'm not smart enough, what if he gets board of me? Board with my lack of understanding or lower educational standards? What if he finds someone smarter? Or prettier than me? What if…" Someone clears their throat behind me and as her eyes go wide and face flushes, I know who it is?

"Hypothetical words. What if implies an endless supply of possibilities?" Deacon holds a hand out to help her up. "Theory work can get boring after some time. Why not try some practical instead, say yes and find the answers with me?" he pulls her up and she stutters before I shove her into his arms.

"Oh!" she goes to back up and I shove her back in. "Stop it!" she hisses at me. "Ok, yes" she turns back to him with a smile on her face and cheeks a bright red.

"Tonight at 7 then? I'll pick you up"

I dash out the side to leave them to it hearing her timid reply.

Look at me playing match maker. I bet Rachel would be happy with my meddling ways, I'm sure Maya would just roll her eyes but I got a spring in my step. I helped the big brains figure something out for a change. I might not know much about dating but I knew enough to help them. As Mikey would say cowabunga dudes.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, some random hospital)

"Raph!" Donny jumps forwards and reefs the door open, they scurry inside and it closes behind them with a defining crash.

"Well were here, we're inside, lets get this over with" He grins at the bewildered Donny before walking down the stairs. "How far down do we gotta go, anyway?"

"All six flights, These stairs only take us to the top floor, from there we need to cross to the other side of the building, it's a straight shot down to the basement, back to this side of the building and through a bullet proof, finger print required locked door. Then we get to make our way back up and out that door" Donny pauses at the door leading into the hospital. "If we trip an alarm or someone else signals it we got 15 minutes tops before this place is crawling with cops"

"Ok, so Let's make this fast then, cut the lights" Raph peeks out and only spots a few nurses walking about.

"Lights and security tapes will be cut in 3…2.." Donny didn't need to say the last number, startled screams echoed around them as the lights went out, as if they were suffering from a power out. Donny thought about cutting all the power but they have elderly, sick and tiny little babies here on life support. He wouldn't risk any of their lives if he didn't have too. They dashed around the two nurses huddled together as they shimmied down the wall trying to locate something. He was daring to hope for an all clear floor when one of the woman shone a flashlight right at him and started freaking out. She was screaming and crying while pointing at them even as they disappeared into the stairwell.

"Why they gotta scream like that?" Raph grunts out opting to jump down the stairs all at once instead of running down them. He pivoted and jumped down the next set, Donny following his lead.

"It's only natural for them to fear what they don't know" Donny huffed out at the third jump. He Springs forward and almost takes out a security guard at the next landing. Raph rotates and pushes the yelling guard back through the door before they leap to the next floor. "They may figure out where we're going shortly if they haven't by now" Donny nods at the patient they pass pressed into the wall muttering about never taking those meds again. This was going too smoothly for them. Turtles luck was going to hold out sooner or later.

"So you got a plan on how to get past that fancy door you were talking about?" Raph holds a door closed so Donny can take lead. Two floors to go.

"Yes" Donny answers kicking the next door they pass closed before anyone could walk out of it.

"Care to fill me in?" Raph knows that tone. Donny doesn't have a plan… yet… it's the same one fearless uses when he wants everyone to just fallow his lead without questions.

"Not yet" Donny even uses the same excuses as fearless. Raph shakes his head at this. So far Donny could have done this on his own, he said he needed Raph's help. Now he questioned if he really needed it or just knew Raph would force his hand and push that first button for him. Sometimes Raph got the feeling that they all used him as a scape goat, him and his rebellious side anyway.

Getting into the secure area was easier than anticipated, then again these basic security guards really couldn't do much against some powerful mutants such as themselves. With the advantages of their superior size, speed, strength and agility plus 10 years of intense training from a world class master… well it all boiled down to, and he loathed to admit this but brawn over brains … this time, he'd let it go just this one time. He picked Raph to help for more than one reason. His willingness to cause trouble and to look the other way at some of the unsavory sides of being a ninja was at the top, but by no means the only things. He knew about this high tech gear long before they got here, he also knew he could hack the system… in about 7 minutes, that would be 4 minutes too long. So here he was, about to admit out loud that sheer stubborn will power and brut force would do the trick faster. This pill may hurt going down, he swallowed the lump in his throat as Raph took out the last guard. "I can't get past this security system in our way in time. I needed you here because these hinges are weak, a few hits should make the whole thing buckle"

"Should? Last time you said should do the trick we ended up at swimming for our lives while dumber and dumbest taking pot shots at us with a tank. As I recalled they nearly blow you up with said tank"

"Well had that shell hit me it would have been more like a splat rather than a boom…"

"Seriously?"

"Just hit the door here two, three times tops, if you get it to crack I'll let brawns win this one" Donny tossed it out there hoping to speed this up. Just like he figured Raph took a few steps back and charged, a pone contact red lights started flashing, a bell was shrieking and mostly covering up the sounds of copious amounts of people running towards them. Third hit was the charm. Raph shook his head out and traded places with Donny holding the last door shut keeping the humans out for now. Sooner or later they would have to open that door if they hoped to escape. It only took Donny 2 minutes to find what he was looking for. Aaaa, the joys of a systematic, logical order and OCD habits of labeling the shell out of everything. He happily plucked up two of the syringes and safely tucked them away in a mini cooler of his own making for just this occasion.

Now, to get back out

(Wednesday)

"What did you do?" Maya grabs me by the face, squashing my lips up into a duck impersonation. I grabble out out an answer knowing it won't make sense but hope she will release me faster. "Isolda was up crying last night for an hour and I couldn't get a straight answer out of her" with that I rip my face away.

"Oh no! But the date… it started off with so much promise!"

"Aaaa!" Rachel screams at me, finger pointing at me. "You played match maker without me!"

"He asked her out, why would he…" I pause seeing Deacon strolling through the halls. All eyes narrow in on our target, who senses danger and try's locating it. Spotting us, he takes a weary step back and looks for an exit. He's saved by Roland who questions us with a raised eyebrow. Maya huffs at the universal sign for wait a minute. We glare daggers into Deacon's twitching back while he talks with Roland. After some nods and some words one response has Roland howling at something. "A mistake perhaps?"

"A breakdown in communications?" Rachel offers up next.

"An apology maybe in order" Maya flicks two fingers at her eyes then stabs them in Deacon's direction. Who looks worried about the implied message and thinly veiled threat. Knowing Maya it will be directed at his manhood to boot.

"I'm not getting an answer from Isolda…" Rachel has her phone out and is frantically typically away at it, toes tapping and fingers twitching. My phone gets the answer as her text message ring tone goes off. I stare down at the message unsure what to do with it. "Well what did she say?" I flip my phone around and watch their eyes dart across the screen.

"I'm gonna kill him" Maya turns on a dime and Deacon jumps behind Roland.

"Hold on" Rachel sends off another message while blocking Maya's path. "It sounds like a communications breakdown to me" Sure enough my phone goes off again. I'm in trouble for sharing the first answer. "See she's just embarrassed about her actions" Rachel finishes reading it first. Sounds like it to me so I double check and her reply has us laughing at her. "Silly girl, you always let the guy make the first move"

"Deacon moves slower than molasses in January, it was probably a good idea on her part, what'd I'd miss?" Lenny folds himself around me in a hug. I let him read the text messages once done I think he has to bite his own cheek to stop himself from laughing at it as well. With the good sign Deacon and Roland come over, Roland in front so he can distract Maya first. "Next time make the first move"

"I didn't think…"

"Dude the girls agree to dates for that first kiss" Roland shakes his head "It sets everything up for the next one, unless you don't want a second one" Roland tightens his grip on Maya for a second while Deacon blinks at him in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I want a second date?"

"Good, just tell her that now" I jab him in the shoulder. "Now" I try again he pulls his phone out but stops when everyone clears their throat at him. "Call, she's embarrassed so now you gotta stick your neck out" he sighs at us but hits the call button.

"Good morning Isolda" he starts off rather stiffly to me but his posture relaxes with her answer. "Yes it would seem I am in trouble and missed a social cue again" I feel my eyebrow go up at this, poor girl is fixing as she goes I guess. "My apologies for the bad ending last night… no its quite alright, it was my fault" his face flares up red at something and I can feel Rachel bounce a little wanting to know more. Thank goodness Myles isn't here right now… spoke too soon. I see him walk around the corner, spot us, zone in on Deacon's rosy appearance and bee line it over. "Umm yes, about that… no no… no really…. Yes fine… I was just about to ask you… I think that sounds like a lovely idea for a second date" he smiles like we're not even there, completely absorbed into the conversation with Isolda, I do a happy little dance seeing this unfold and hear Lenny chuckle in my ear.

"Speaking of second dates" he whispers in my ear next. "The theater is switching up what it's playing, want to see if there's anything good playing this weekend?"

"I bet they would love that idea, let me ask" Deacon pats my arm to get our attention. "Isolda swung us a pair of advanced tickets to the new tmnt movie release Thursday night, she was thinking we could all go to see it together if everyone's up to it?"

"Aa hell yaa" Myles answers first.

"I'm game" I look over at Lenny agreeing with me.

"I'll switch shifts with someone" Maya answers.

"I just dropped mine for anyone to pick up" Rachel answers.

"Sure, practice won't take long after school" Roland nods at us.

"Everyone's game" Deacon answers finally. "Show starts at 9" he informs us. "Dinner first?" he throws it out there last minute.

"I'm not going to the salad bar" Roland grumbles out.

"Its not.. no I was thinking the pizza joint by the theater" he gets a resounding yes at this idea from everyone. "So supper at 7 then?" another round of yes's later we got us a large group date set up.

"I'm not counting this as our second date, fyi. I want to take you to the park Friday if that's ok with you?" Lenny leans in closer and I find it hard to breathe.

"Sure, what time?" I hope I didn't sound as breathless as I think I did.

"9?" He answers, wow that's getting late.

"Ok" why am I so excited by this idea? I don't even know what he has planned, just a time and generalize area, my heart rate has picked up its pace too as I spot him bitting the corner of is lip. Oh god what does he have planned? "So what will we be doing?"

"It's a secret for now" He answers as he starts walking us away from the others. "Class starts soon" I pout at this idea as his fingers dance across my hip bone pulling at my shirt edges. I forgot to breathe for a moment as every single cell in my body is focused in on the new sensation.

I know I sound breathless but answer, anyway. "Ok, Friday, nine, park"

"I'll pick you up at 8:30 then?" he pushes his luck and slips a hand into my pocket.

"Ok" I've been rendered stupid with a simple gesture.

"Perfect, I'll see you at lunch then? Just meet me at the students councils room ok?"

"Ok" I can't even think of a none single syllable answer.

"See you then" he removes his hand from the pocket and I can breathe again.

I half stumble into class and take my seat, one of the first here. Damn it, he distracted me to make sure that I got to class ahead of time, to be fair he won't be late this way. But I'm still grumbling about it when Roland walks in just before the bell goes off. He sits down beside me and starts laughing. To my face, in my face. I am not impressed as I turn a million and one shades of red. Mr. Stanford doesn't say anything just waits for Roland to gain his composure again before starting class up. A few are looking at us trying to figure out what happened but I choose to ignore them.

At lunch time I knock on the door with my lunch kit in hand, I don't see the others around but I'm sure they will be here soon enough. "Hey, where are the others?"

"Hey" Lenny opens the door then promptly shutting it behind me. "We've been hanging out as a group a lot lately so I thought it might be nice to have some time to ourselves"

"Oh the students council room, how private" I giggle at this.

"Today yes" he answers me. "Roland and Maya are keeping the others busy and I told the rest to steer clear of here for now" he grins at me.

"My, you certainly went out of your way for just lil ol' me" I feel the flush start in my neck. He has made sure we wouldn't be disturbed for an hour. Alone. In a locked room… Something feels off about this. I don't feel like I'm in any danger but it's a terrible cheese thing to do, like straight out of a girly romance novel thing to do. It's a bit over the top but I won't complain, he's trying to be romantic, even at school so I'll give him some points for that, he's working with what he's got… and candles. How did he get candles in here? Is that safe? Is that allowed?

"No trouble at all" Lenny helps me sit down and the flush creeps up my face a bit more. He keeps looking at me and It's not at all romantic like I thought it would be. It's kinda creepy after a while. I smile pulling stuff out of my lunch kit. He finally gets the idea and starts eating too. This silence is heavy like he wants to say something but can't. Again all the times I thought about it, wrote about something like this I thought it would be supper romantic and leave me with butterflies in my stomach. Nope. I kinda wanna bail out the door, it gets unnerving fast. Like he's drunk and can't focus, or like when the evil witch puts someone under a spell. Like it's not real.

"You're amazing" Lenny pulls me from my thoughts and my first instinct is to go gooey eyes at this, but that's just a generalized statement. I don't want to be picky but if someone is going to compliment me, then they should be a little more specific. What about me is so special, what action did I take that stood out to him? He keeps looking at me and I wonder if their playing a trick on me. It sounds like something they would do. "You put up with so much from Ricky and Bryon without complaint, then fearlessly mop the floor with them when they cross the line" … Is he a mind reader? He chuckles at nothing before turning his attention to his lunch and the creepy factor gets dialed way down. "They come back to school tomorrow, ready to face them?"

At last the conversation starts up. "I should be fine, we don't have any classes together and they can't even talk to me, let alone look in my direction or approach me. I just need to ignore them for another week and then be done with them."

"A plan of attack, nice" he takes to big a bite out of his sandwich and gets sauce on the side of his mouth. I have this urge to lick it off for him but control myself since it seems a bit random.

I shake my head at myself. Hopefully these strange wrongness feeling go away soon, I'd like to get back to my life.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"Honey I'm home" Raph didn't think about the words coming out of his mouth and instantly regretted it. Venus wasn't sitting on the couch watching some tv show with Leo, which means she wasn't about to answer with her trade mark snippy come back -well it's about time dear- the way her voice could drip with sarcasm always made him smile. The fact that she could get Leo to voluntarily leave the dojo and his meditation matt behind long enough to be a brother was a god sent. Now Leo barley did any of it, he just sat by her side and that left an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of Raph's stomach.

"What did you do!" speak of the devil. Leo stormed up to them, finger shaking in disapproval already with a scornful tone.

"It was nothing Leo, go get some rest" Donny try's calming him down, but this only seems to set something off in Leo

"It's all over the news!" Leo huffs out for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Two giant monsters were seen fleeing the scene of the crime? A real crime? You two just robbed a hospital that isn't nothing in my books" Leo turns on Donny first.

Raph waits until Leo isn't facing him before jumping on his back. "I got him" cowboy style he covers Leo's eyes up temporally blinding him. "Hurry up and try it man"

Donny doesn't waste any time, he shouts at Mikey as he races by. "Help Raph keep Leo away from Venus for like 5 minutes" Mikey takes off to help his brother as Donny slams through the door into the med room.

(Thursday)

"I'm so excited!" Rachel bounce on her feet waiting in line.

"Chill dudette" Myles wraps his arms around her trying to contain the energy. "Just another half hour till show time"

I look at the long line up and hope we got here fast enough. A few dozen ahead of us, a few dozen behind and more coming all the time. Mainly little kids but a fair amount of older people too. I spot Lenny, Roland and Deacon finally getting to the front of the line and begin to order our snacks. I gotta admit this system of splitting up works well. Half stands in one line with everyone's orders while the other half holds everyone's place in line to get the best seats. Our line moves closer to the front as the others finish up and walk our way.

Finally inside and seated I can't help but bounce a bit in excitement.

"So predictions?" Lenny laughs at me.

"Yaa cuz it's hard to know what's going to happen" Roland beside me smirks at this. "Bad guys are aliens"

"Nope, bad guys are mutants this time" Myles try's next.

"I think they are aliens from a different dimension." I throw out there.

"Risky but I like it, I'm gonna say a power hungry human" Lenny looks at the other girls who just shake their heads, they got nothing. "Plot twist? Guys not really evil just trying to set something right, it's a seemingly side character that try's taking over the world"

"Straight up bad mutants" Myles sticks to his guns.

"Straight up evil alien dudes, almost wins too" Roland nods once at this.

"Of course the bad guys almost win, but that's only because no one listens to Leo and messes up the plan. Plot twist is they get help from the humans, then thanked for all they did" I raise my eyebrows daring someone to say otherwise.

"Oh that's risky, the guys never get help and the humans always run away screaming" Myles probably thinks I'm crazy. "What you willing to bet on that mad man's idea?"

"Lunch for a week" I throw it out there and get a few looks.

"That's steep…" Lenny sizes this up rubbing at his chin. "I'll take it, the ideas too far fetched I like my odds. Lunch for a week. You're crazy upside down world vs my rational one." We shake hands as the lights go down.

Big grin in place we face off on the theater app, Myles wins by a land slide with Rachel just 5 points behind him. Isolda beats us at the trivial and by beat I mean slaughters us all by getting everything right. Show time at last.

I walk out with a pleased as peaches smirk, Myles is laughing so hard he can't breathe right. Roland and Deacon will never let Lenny live this down.

"Lunch for a week then I guess" Lenny trys to hide the smile but it's not working. "What would my lady like for lunch tomorrow?"

"The little Chinese palace" Maya tosses the idea out.

"No go for wok box" Isolda goes steep, it's a pricy little place.

"She'd be better getting a home made meal, Lenny does a mean chicken stir fry" Deacon offers his arm for Isolda who blushes taking it. Hook line and sinker, she's a gonner for him.

"That'll keep him up late tonight making that" I point out to them.

"Worth it" they all answer back.

"Then I guess its home made stir fry then"

"You're letting him off too easily" Maya shakes her head at me.

"It's just day one, I got 6 more to go" I smile at her.

"Ok, lets get everyone home" Lenny ignores the protesting. "We still got school in the morning and I gotta make stir fry before bed, lets go" he shakes his head. "dads gonna think I've lost it, cooking at midnight"

"We could always do pizza tomorrow and stir fry Saturday" I offer up.

"Naa" he shrugs it off. "it'll be fine, just a little tired tomorrow, what could go wrong?" he grins as I feel my stomach drop out on me for some reason.

I finally get my goodnight kiss at the door without anyone interrupting it. I hope Isolda got hers too.

… … ...

Leo dashes across the rooftops, he's tired tonight. Of all nights to loss some sleep, he chooses tonight. He's a little slower than normal, if we can see it so can our enemies. He swears he's fine, but I can see the worry in the others eyes. Slower is bad for us. We depend too much on our speed and agility to fight and out maneuver to not be worried about him.

A flash of sliver grabs my eyes, I see Leo react but he's too slow…

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"What did you do Donatello?" Leo blasts through the med room doors as Donny pulls a syringe out of the IV drip.

Donny startles at the use of his full name, Leo never uses the full name unless he's wicked pissed about something. "I'm ending this. One way or another" Donny leaps Out of the Way from the half hearted attempt to grab him. "Either she'll wake up soon or she'll … " he can't bring himself to finish the thought.

"What did you do bro? I thought that was going to help her" Mikey half turns towards Donny with creased eyebrows and a sour lip look walking through the doors with a new shinny starting on his left eye. Leo wasn't playing around or being nice this time. Raph comes in rubbing at his jaw.

"You said it would help them both" Raph pushes Leo to the left standing with crossed arms while starting down at his brother.

"This is experimental ok. Either it'll help her wake up or fry the last of the brain function. By morning she'll be better or we can put her to rest" Donny won't back down. "I won't have her on life support for ever because you won't say goodbye. If she's coming back, then lets get this over with, if she's brain dead from lack of oxygen and blood loss then let her pass already"

"She was getting better…"

"NO!" Donny pounds a fist on the table. "No she was not getting better, she barely registers as alive on these machines when I hooker her up, her brain activity hasn't changed in months. You, YOU showed improvement as the weeks went on she has not! And I'm not going to let her waste away on this table because you refuse to let her go" he doesn't remember when he started to cry but it happened all the same and there was no taking it back. "You haven't been a brother for months. You haven't been a leader since that night. Someone had to do something about this"

"That seems harsh Dee. Couldn't you just pretend that she was going to be ok soon for a bit longer?" Mikey walked out.

"So much for being one of us. Whatever happened to no turtle left behind?" Raph storms out after Mikey.

"Get out" Leo points to the door.

"Leo…"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Leo cracks around the edges as Donny leaves him alone again. She was getting better, she said something to him! That had to mean she was getting better, right?

(Friday)

I wake up screaming like the hounds of hell are after me. All I see is red. Red blood soaking my sheets, pouring over my face, coating my hands, arms and chest as an intense burning sensation rips through me, I let another scream out. I hear Amanda and Curt running down the halls calling out for me as red bleeds through my walls scrawling a message for me. I said get out. I'm confused as Amanda burst through my door and comes to a crashing halt in front of me. She grabs my face and wipes away the tears as Curt heads for the window baseball bat in hand looking for intruders or some threat. His feet leaves marks on the blood covered floor at first but it all clears up by the time he's across from me. I'm left staring at my room like I have never seen it before. What the shell was that!

"Vivian sweetie what was it? Did you see someone?" Amanda try's grabbing my attention. I feel terror lingering in me, I'm slow to speak and sound scared.

"Just a bad dream. There was blood everywhere…" I look at the wall but it's the same as it has been for the last four years. A pale blue with water lily's dancing across it. No blood dripping down, no scary messages, no anger radiating from around me. No sense of malice or fear. It's just a room once more. I feel the tears fall one by one clinging to Amanda but wishing it was someone else. A certain strong turtle who would make everything better from sheer will power alone.

"Another bad dream?" Curt looks outside but stops to look back at me. "Guess we're going back to the doctor, you've had a bad dream every night this week that anti right" Curt double checks that no one's outside my room before heading back down stairs.

"At least make it for after school!" I yell down to him. I stop crying and hobble out of bed. "I need a shower"

"Ok dear, I can always call you in sick for the day if you like" Amanda is the sweeties thing at times.

"I have a date at lunch time, I would like to try. You know I always feel better after a shower" I slip down the hallway and into the bathroom and watch the show that has greeted me every morning this week. Blood oozing down the walls, falling off the ceiling in great big wet globs that splat onto the tile floor that seems to be seeping up blood as well. If I were to try to touch any of it, it wouldn't be there. Dry and safe cheesy wallpaper would meet my fingers, the floor isn't wet and nothing hits my head. The blood disappears as I walk by it. Still unnerving but doable. After the longest shower the blood disappears from all the walls, nothing squishy between my back to normal five toes. It was weird balancing on two toes at first. My face no longer looks back at me looking green and hairless. Still nothing seems real to me anymore. Not this soft carpet that I'm walking on. Not the feel of the bag on my back. The food doesn't even have any taste anymore. But I smile and say thank you because I love French toast for breakfast and Curt risked burning this house that feels empty down to make it this fast.

The van jostles the whole way to school but I can't feel it when my shoulder connects with the cloth covered metal. Mr. Stanford looks more and more like the shredder every day but it no longer bothers me. I wasn't surprised seeing rocksteady and bee bop hustle away from me like Ricky and Bryon did yesterday. Of course my mind would mark the bullies from school as the trouble makers of my favorite show. Either way their mostly harmless. Raph walking into class ahead of me doesn't shock me anymore when he turns around and I see Roland instead. They both have anger management issues, no surprise there. Lenny walking around with Leo's swords throws me for a loop. A sense of impending doom washes over me. He's tired, I can see it in his sluggish movements, his half steps but this is school nothing bad is going to happen here.

Lenny walks out the door with a smile on his face and I return it. That doesn't even feel right anymore. I still care, I can feel it, but it's like something is pulling me away from everyone here, as if this isn't where I belong anymore.

I try to remind myself school will be finished in another month, everything is wrapping up and coming to an end soon. That's all my brain is trying to tell me, that I'm about to enter a new world, a very scary adult world were my boss could be a bully. Where a co-worker could be the new thorn in my side. Where I don't get a do over if I mess something up. There's no retaking the test of life. I decided to take a year off to go abroad and explore the world. I didn't apply for any university, maybe I am doubting myself and my move. Is it too late to apply? Did I just ruin my future? I smile all day like nothing is wrong, even as this world goes grey and surreal. I hope that by night time it brightens up again.

Deacon was right, Lenny makes one mean stir fry. If nothing else that was tasty and now my favorite meal.

.

"Where are you leading me?" I grip Lenny's arm to resist ripping the blind fold off.

"It's a secret" Lenny answers with a laugh in his voice. His happiness is contagious so I feel a real smile seep into my face this time. I can feel the soft grass underfoot give way to unyielding concrete. "We're almost there" he slips, but it doesn't affect me. "And…" something creeks to my left. "Just…a little… bit… longer" I feel his fingers glide up my face, caressing my cheeks as he goes, slowly wrapping his fingers around the light blue scarf he brought with him to be used as my blind fold. It's a very soft material and I like it a lot. Aggravating slow he pulls the blind fold off and at first I'm greeted by blood covered walls again, they rapidly go away to be replaced by some creepid looking wood planks. "Surprise!" Lenny mimics a cheerleader move. "It's not much to look at, but the view can't be beat" Lenny moves a board off to the side and it steals my breath away. The window hole in the side of the run down building shows off the high and bright white moon, a few stars show up as well to twinkle away.

"Wow" I sit down with his help, just starting at it all. "Beautiful"

"Yep" I turn to see him looking at me, a blush is across my cheeks before I can help it. "Views not bad either" he turns to look out the window hole finally making me laugh at him. He turns around and lights a small candle. Again with the fire hazards? "Perfect weather and everything" he leans in close and I hold my breath. I can feel things again with him so close… or maybe I can feel things normally he's just so intense. He's alive, very much alive in so many ways that maybe the world feels dead compared to him. I let that sink in as the moment passes, and he sits back up. He looks out the window hole and chatters on for a while, it's a nervous energy like he wants to say something but isn't. It's right there on the tip of our tongue's but no one is admitting it. A few more close calls and my mind can't take it anymore just make your move buddy! I grow frustrated and understand Isolda's crass move, he's taking too long and I'm about to explode. I move a little closer pretending to be cold, he just wraps me in tighter to him I watched his eyes dart across my face, land on my lips but move away again and I feel like pounding his chest in. I lower my eyes, push my chin forward, take the kiss I know you want it. I'm offering it up just take it!

Grrr!

A crash sounds to our left and my heart ends up in my throat and I almost choking on it. He's up in a defensive stance, crouched down low, left side back a bit for a powerful kick or punch if he needs it. A faint ouch reaches my ears and Lenny goes supper nova on Myles, yelling at him even as he pulls him up from the rubble Myles seems to have pulled down on his own head.

The nights ruined, we all know it, Lenny shoves Myles in the right direction to get out and pulls a hand down his face grumbling about everything. "Sorry" he ruefully smiles at me.

"Its ok," I pause seeing the others outside the window. "Guess everyone was just checking in on us" his head pops out the window and one look down has Deacon scattering for safety while Roland stands definitely.

"Extra kata's for all of you!" Lenny's threat makes Roland back down as Myles complaints can be heard back up here. Even Deacon's shoulders drop in protest at this. My girls are laughing at the guys until Roland points out that Lenny's in charge of their class too. Isolda looks horrified by this idea, Rachel looks worried and Maya looks ready to die at the idea. "Back home, all of you!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Maya yells up at us, even I know that wasn't a smart move, Roland panics and starts pushing her away but it's too late.

"We will see about that come Monday practice and I need a volunteer" watching Maya visible pale at the idea in the dark is a nifty trick. "I should be getting you back home anyway" Lenny helps me navigate my way out of the abounded building before taking me home for the night, leaving me with a simple sweet kiss on my cheek and wanting a lot more. Fuckers are gonna get a six am wake up call for that!

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"Remember that night?" Leo brushes his thumb across her cheek, wishing he had said something, if he had just said what he was feeling sooner could all of this been avoided? Or would it have only made it worse?

"Leo" Raph knocks on the door. "Suppers ready, can I get you something to eat?" he knows better than ask him to come out. More so with what has happened, Leo is unlikely to leave her side until one of the two things happens.

"No thanks Raph, I'm not hungry right now "

"You sure? It's her favorite" it was the only way to guarantee that Leo would eat ever few days, he wasn't too fond of it anymore. Maybe Donny had a point when would this madness end otherwise? Either when Venus woke up and Leo could rest better, or when she died and Leo would need their help to get over it.

"… Maybe just a small plate, maybe it'll help her feel better"

Leo wouldn't turn around to face him so Raph just left to get it for him. He also got a full plate knowing only half of it would be eaten "Maybe she'll wake up and want some too" Leo nodded at this still sitting by the bed gently rubbing small soothing circles across her knuckles. Though who it was soothing for was up for debate. Raph walked away unable to bear listening to the one sided conversation Leo was starting up again. He should have told her that when she was awake to hear it.

Mikey came by an hour later to pick up the plate, ecstatic to see most of the food gone and Leo sleeping for a change. So he gently placed a blanket over Leo's shoulders and stuffed a small pillow under his head. That should keep him comfortable for a bit. Poor dude needed the sleep but mostly he needed the food. Mikey hoped Venus would wake up so she could yell at Leo for letting his health go like this.

(Saturday)

I wake up without screaming this time and blink at my alarm clock going off… 6 am what the shell… oh right. I'm not even awake, I'm just auto dialing Rachel first. I get some sounds of life on the other side before screaming good morning sun shine into her ears. I promptly hang up before she can do anything beside fall out of bed, at least I think that's what happen based on the sudden high pitched squeal and crash. Next is Isolda. She sounds like a zombie this earlier in the day. It's mostly a grunt of an answer. So I yell wordless at her, I get a surprising shriek back but hang up before she can yell at me. Next is the beast. I'm taking my own life into my hands revenge calling her but I hit the button before I chicken out. I holler morning sweetie after she picks up but don't hang up fast enough to not hear the first part of the threat. Then I shut my phone off and roll back over to sleep a little longer.

"Do I wanna know?" Amanda rubs at her eyes from my door way.

"They had it coming, wrecking last night" I answer cuddling deeper into my blankets.

"Right I won't let them in till afternoon then" She stumbles back to bed.

That was too much fun.

.

"VIVIAN!" Maya yells at me, I run. No I flee, at least one hound of hell is after me right now. I'm running for my life in a mall after agreeing to meet them here. After what I pulled this morning, I know my name and picture now sits in the Oxford dictionary beside the worlds "Stupid" and 'Doomed"

"This way" Lenny pulls me into a store that I would never go into. He shuffles us behind a display and I hear the angry stomp of Maya race past us.

"Dead woman walking" Roland looks at me over a ridiculous pair of shades.

"Worth it" I snap a pic before he can say anything and next thing I know Lenny's moving us out the door as Roland goes postal on me as well.

"Send it to Myles quick!" Lenny keeps me from running into anything as I type as fast as I can.

"Working on it, honey!" I hit the send button as Roland barges out the door on his cell, crap! He called Maya to let her know where I am.

"This way" Lenny steers me around a planter and towards the stairs.

"No!" I point down to see Isolda waiting for us. "Crap I started a man hunt!"

"Psst" Deacon waves us into another store.

"Bad idea, no exit!" Lenny realizes to late that we're trapped as Maya and Roland saunter into the opening. Deacons phone goes off and he looks down.

"Damn, a minute later and I would have told you it was a trap" Deacon looks up to see Roland pulling his phone out of his back pocket. "Less than a% 5 chance is about to expire" he nods and we take it. Slipping past a fuming Roland while Maya hollers at whatever she's looking at.

We make it to the middle of the mall, but we're surrounded and we know it.

"Think fast" I urge him.

"Working on it dear" his head snaps around before dragging me in one direction only to pull up short and back us up again. "Odds are not good this many on just us two"

"Then we shall go out in a blaze of glory" I link my arm with his nodding to the nearest exit.

"Will never make it" he spots Roland closing in on us.

"Now or never!" I take off and forced him to come along for the ride. Roland looks pleased as peach and try's cutting us off. I scream as I feel arms wrap around my waist.

"Got her!" Roland declares as Maya advances on us.

"Good…" Maya can't even keep a straight face. We all break down laughing at ourselves. She ruffles my hair, but that's it.

"Smooth" Myles jumps into a chair beside us. "Now to forward this to everyone on my contact list…" Roland literally growls at him. "Oh too late… JK! JK!" Myles reaches for the phone Roland snatched out of his hands.

"You better be" Roland deletes the picture before handing the phone back. "Hand em over" he waves a big hand in front of my face and I hand my phone over. No need to tell him I sent one off to Amanda as well, she'll send it back to me as I need it. I'll tell Lenny about it later.

I never thought the mall would be fun, but here I am enjoying myself. Eating ice-cream and a few shopping bags at my feet. The fireplace to my left and Lenny to my right. The world feels right again. The nagging feeling lingering in the back my mind with its plaguing thoughts of wrongness can't be felt right now. Just a lightness that's been missing all week. I relish in the light as I feel it won't last much longer. Soon the darkness will be back, with a vengeance to claim me once more. But till then I smile and laugh with my friends. Smear my shinny lip loss across a distracted Deacons cheeks to see Isolda bit her tongue too hard to avoid laughing at his face and making herself bleed. No one points out that Deacon still has some sparkly gloss on the side of his face while he tents to Isolda. Rachel gets Myles to sit still for a whole hour, it leaves the guys dumbfounded. Something about it being a miracle. Maya keeps her hands to herself and Roland is relaxed even as other guys check her out. Secure in what they have made already. It's a good day to be alive.

At 4 an alarm goes off, time for us girls go get ready for the wrestling matches happening tonight. The cheerleading squad will be splitting up to cover multiple matches happening at once. This should be interesting.

Of course Roland wins all his matches, a perfect score for the day, he credits his lady luck Maya for his intensity of the night. We hit up the pizza place just down the street and chat for two more hours while chipping away at too many pizzas and far too much pop to be healthy.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

Donny approached the med room with extreme caution. He heard that Leo was asleep, so he hoped to grab something when it was relatively safe to do so. Raph shook his head no at Donny but he really needed that part. So he tipped toe past the out cold Leo, grabbed his part, adjusted the blanket and walked back out to face his enraged sensei. If he's lucky, it'll be locked away from his gadgets for 24 hours and all the house hold chores for the rest of his life… from the frown on his sensei's face his turtle luck just ran out.

"Oh dude, Donny's gonna get an ear full" Mikey whapped at Raph's arm to get his attention.

"He's gonna get a lot more than just an ear full" Raph nods at Donny knowing he'd be next. "But knowing that by morning this shell fest will be over might be worth it"

"That cold dude, didn't you use to like her?"

"I still care numb nuts. But Leo wasn't letting her go, she wasn't getting better, and this family was falling apart. You're right, it's damn cold but holding onto a breathing body because yaa don't wanna let go is colder. Her soul can't pass on this way with the anchor still breathing, she deserves that peaceful rest if she's not needed here anymore"

"From the look on Leo's face I'd say she's still needed here"

"As much as I want her to get better, I want Leo back more. Think of it this way mik's, if she's not here she's with her mentor that passed three years. She'll be waiting for us, shell she'll be there to greet sensei when it's his time too" Raph hated the idea but something had to give, he patted Mikey on the shoulder as his face dropped with the idea. "Sooner or later everyone dies Mikey, whether we're ready for it or not"

(Sunday)

I feel so weird. I'm dizzy and debate with myself if I should stay home or not. Surly the squad will be ok without me for the day. The wrestling team just has four matches left, then (lets be real here) someone *cough, Roland, cough* will battle for a bit to take first place and win another trophy for the school. Do I really need to be there for that? Do I need to watch Isolda fumble with things while Deacon of all guys plays it smoothly. Rachel will keep Myles from bouncing around too much and Maya will practically drool on herself watching Roland too closely, probably mess up a step again. Lenny will be there, I debate with myself, I have like four hours to get better. I shot off a text to Rachel to let her know I'm not feeling the best at the moment. She doesn't response and I figure she's sleeping in again. That's a good idea, I bet some extra sleep will help. I chew some toast before putting some pain killers and cough syrup in me just to be safe, my throat feels like a desert with a long tub shoved down it. I can't shake the feeling that something bad is happening so I shoot a text off to Maya and Lenny as well.

-Going for a nap, hopefully will feel better by tonight –

No response from them either, but again it's 7 on a Sunday morning I bet they're all still sleeping. I just get the blankets warmed up and am about to fall asleep when my phone buzzes at me.

-Hope you feel better soon dear, can't wait to see you tonight.- Lenny gets back to me first, making me smile.

-Will do my best, something happening after the matches?-

-It's a secret- I'm gitty again, butterflies are back and I pull my phone under the covers with me

-A better kept one then the last one I hope?-

-Oh yaa, no one knows about this one, not even Roland, get some rest, you'll need some extra energy for after. XOXO – Oh I got hugs and kisses. Now my interest is peeked. Not even Roland knows about this?

-sounds exciting :D XOXO – I wait for a few but don't get anything back, guess I should try for that sleep now.

Phone back on the night stand my eyes drift close

… … …

"Did we get him?" Mikey looks around, he can't find the shredders body and that never bolds well for them. A missing body can be mended and brought back to cause more trouble

"God I hope so" April does a sweep with her eyes across the roof top, she holds Leo up as best as she can, Mikey still has to help Renet as well, Raph's arms are full and Casey wobbles on his feet. She try's to remind herself that they have been in sticker situation before. All things considered they seem to be faring well, no one's dying at least.

Donny's doing a little field work on himself, he got cut somewhere along the line, he doesn't want to lead anyone back to the lair by dripping blood everywhere. He reefs on his eye mask being used as a temporary splint and bandage for his leg that should hold for a while. His leg started to feel the loss of blood pressure right away… maybe he tied that too tight? He spots the flash, but it doesn't register fast enough. He watches Mikey freeze turning around, he could drop Renet but he won't get to his chucks fast enough. He sees Raph throw a sai but it won't stop the attack. He takes note of Casey and April's fear cloud their judgment. No one's close enough. How did Shredder survive the fall? How is he still in motion? How could he get the drop on them like that? He's moving forwards, they all are racing time and light to get there on time. Leo can't stand on his own, never mind fight he's too tired. He was too damn tired when the left the lair tonight. He watches Venus appear like a gift from the gods just in the nick of time, he sees her sword arm come up but it's a useless gesture, she pushed herself to be there to take the hit, favouring speed over self defense. He sees the resolution burn in her eyes, she knows what's about to happen, they all do. Shredder is committed to the move, even he can't change his momentum, he may be about to a kill a turtle but not the one he really wants, his rage is all consuming, bursting forth from the twisted mask in a wordless rush. Donny watches Leo see it all in a slow blink of an eye. Donny feels his blood stop in his veins, Leo's scared. Leo's never scared.

She doesn't even cry out, she glares at the Shredder. Mocking him, denying him the kill he wants. The blade cleaves throw shell, the Sai hits it target a Nano second to late. Blood flows, a plea for life rings out. Two bodies fall but only one is cared for. Only one gets scooped up.

"Venus?" Leo holds her up off the dirty rooftop. Somehow finding strength to hold her up when he was unable to help himself a moment ago.

"We gotta get her back to the lair" April pulls on his arm. "Donny can fix it but we gotta go now"

Donny doesn't know if he can fix that, a broken shell piece crunches under his foot as his Bo swings up high over his head. His rage at this man finally boiling over brings it crashing back down. A nun chuck not to far behind him connects on a skull. The crack is defining. Liquid and brains spill out, but before either can take a second swing Raph is pulling them both along.

"He's dead lets go" Raph picks them both up for a few steps before placing them back down. He handed Mona Lisa over to Casey, April has Renet. Mikey's damn near foaming at the mouth and Donny slipped over an edge none of them knew he had. They might not remember splattering the shredders brains across this roof coming morning but he didn't want the mental image of his two baby brothers losing control like that haunting him for the rest of his life. He never wanted to see them like that ever again. They maybe soft compared to him, but they sure as shell were uncharacteristically cold about that last act. His only soleus in all this is knowing it was his Sai that killed the shredder, they need not deal with the darkness that comes with taking a life. Not yet, not today. He hoped they blacked out and he can clean the evidence up before they come too, or hide it until he can get to it later. Leo's just following them, trying to get Venus to talk to him. April and Casey have their hands full, terror in their eyes. Mikey and Donny where still lashing out at their target. "make sure everyone gets home" Leo always said that, since the others didn't regularly deal with this much rage coursing through them he figured it was up to him. Half pulling Donny and Mikey along, Leo fell into line trusting in Raph. Casey seems to be helping April along and his Lisa was starting to wake up. Renet wouldn't be out for much longer. While he detested their shinny happy self's he wasn't going to let them see this grey world either. "Ok everyone into the van" Raph tossed Mikey and Donny in, they were starting to come around so he took their weapons. Leo stumble in next and doc mood took over in Donny, he called on Mikey's aid to help with the blood flow issues, Casey and April snuggled in tight with Mona moaning about pain while Renet grabbed for her head. He jumps into the drivers seat and guns it. They lost valuable time up there, traffic laws where just gonna be ignored right now to make up for it.

It took all night and day, but Donny stopped the bleeding, he got Venus all hooked up, Mona Lisa and Renet were looked after by Splinter, April cared to Casey and herself. In the early morning light he cleaned up weapons and put them away just as their owners normally would. He makes breakfast and handed it out. Not in the least bit offended by the lack of interest in it, just happy that each ate a little. In a rare instant his dad beamed with pride at him and he tried to pretend it didn't mean that much. Fearless was out, Donny was preoccupied and Mikey could sleep for days after a battle like that. Renet was ordered home, the time lord would see to her well being. Mona was helpless in bed, out for the count with six stable fractures and one compounded fracture. Leather head is helping where he can, even Spike and his gang promise to drop by with supplies as we need them. Leo won't talk to anyone right now.

He knew it was going to be a long recovery, it always is when Leo's out of it. He would do his part to keep the family going, he always did and normally without complaint. Hey, it's just part of his job, one of the perks of being part of family. So as instructed by Donny he took a seat in this chair and started talking to Venus as she slept through the worst of her injuries.

"Donny says you can hear me." He resisted the urge to tape her on the forehead. "Listen up Venus you need to wake up ok, I can't keep them going forever. Take your time, I get it you're in pain, but we need you back hear alright" He scratches at his head, face twisted up as thoughts raced behind his eyes. "Donny says I should tell you a story to remind you about us, but I think I know something better, about a time before you joined us. It may sound far fetched, but it's the truth. Leo's not perfect. I know it sounds crazy, but he almost got tagged on us one day, taking on more than he should, not that he had much of a say in this. He ended up in a coma, just like you, but if his dumb ass can make it out of that, I bet you can too"

... … …

Vivian jolts awake with tears in her eyes, Raph was always being blamed for most of the tension in the family. His temper and recklessness a source of contentment amongst them. But Leo didn't help any if anything he made it worse by always pushing Raph's buttons. Many would blame Mikey of that, but he made them smile more often than not. And Raph had to fight his smiles while chasing Mikey around the lair, his threats thinly veiled and half hearted at best. Unless Mike caught him in a truly awful mood. Donny was the residential peace maker but he could be as cold as the machines he clung too, often forgetting to be apart of the family he was working so hard to protect in his own way. Leo took charge, he was the first to raise his sword to defend them, Donny built everything they could need or want to keep them safer and connected, Mikey made sure they remembered what they were fighting for. Raph used himself as a shield, a personal mobile fleshy shield. They would all die for each other, sure they might go down yelling at one another but that wouldn't change a thing. She missed that.

Vivian or is it Venus? Who was she? What was she? Where did she belong? She felt her world begin to crash around her, felt it shift on its access. Surely tides would come to wash her away, the Earth would open up wide and swallow her whole. The sun would burn out, something would explode.

This was wrong, this was fake. She could see it around the edges now. The way everything seemed to be just as she wanted or thought it should be for a normal teenage girl. It was too perfect. Her life had been playing out in front of her like a script had been fallowed. Every T crossed, every I dotted. Players dashing about to make the production just right in every way. She finally turned her computer on, first time in over a week. There was a message waiting for her, from battlewisdom, but signed with just an L at the end. She figured that L was for Leo and not Lenny. Was Lenny her minds version of Leo as human? There was so many questions she needed answers.

The mind is like a computer…

Odd, she stopped from replying, instead she shut the screen down and found the Internet browser. She looked up her favorite episodes from her favorite show. She studied them closer. Skipping past her usual notes she took a closer look at it. These all looked familiar, and the way she could tell what was going to happen before it happened. The guys getting away when it defied all logically reasoning. It made sense really, this shout, the way they angled this view, it wasn't for dramatic flair. No if one looked at it right, this wasn't some random camera placement, this was from someones pov that was there. The guys have been getting help from someone off camera, the extra weapons that always showed up, that one thing they need to solve the problem just landing in their laps like that? Oh no, they were getting help. This Email telling Venus to wake up sent to her wasn't a bad joke, she was in the wrong place, now she just needed to figure out how to get back to where she belonged. For fun she sent the question out to the very active forums under the ruse of needing to brain storm a new story idea. A love interest caught up in coma realizes it, what are the different ways she could try to wake herself up to the with the one she loved? There's plenty of response within the hour. I think Donny would call this hacking the system on a whole new level. Little snip its of half heard conversation come to mind, she thought she dreams it, but maybe she was just remembering. Ok, idea number one: crash her car into a building to jolt herself out of the dream world… yaa gonna pass on that, it didn't work in freaky Friday and almost dying while in a coma sounded like a terrible thing to do. Next. Idea number two: get on a train going back to her hometown, she can wake up in the real world when her dream self falls sleep on the train. Not a bad idea, except that I live in NYC and am currently in NYC… unless I am supposed to go to China then come back here. That would bring everything full circle again. I'll put a note down on the idea. Last ditched effort if I can't get anything else to work because airfare is pricy and Amanda would think I'm crazy if it didn't work. Next…. Two hours later I'm pulling my hand down my face. I tried going to sleep and telling myself to just wake up back in my real life that failed. I tried writing a very short one shot with me as the character waking up, failed again. I tried willing myself to wake up. Fail. I tried imaging a doorway to reality opening up. Obviously still here. I blink looking at my alarm clock. It's almost time to go watch Roland cream noobs again.

Hmmmm….

Well I know him as Roland but he is clearly the human version of Raph, so maybe if I can figure out who is really who my mind will wake up? It's worth a shot. And if anyone asks I'll just say I'm working on a new story idea.

For the first time all week there's no blood dripping down the bathroom walls or squishing between my toes as I walk into a room for the first time. It's a huge relief. So I shower in peace and don't protest my green skinned face in the mirror. I eat food that doesn't taste like anything and get dressed.

So if Roland is Raph, that means Deacon is Donny, Myles is clearly Mikey. That makes Lenny Leo and where you find Leo practicing you find his sensei. So Mr. Sheppard is Master splinter, oh what was his wife's name again? Oh right that makes Mrs. Sheppard Tang Shen.

…. I look around me, guess just figuring out the good guys was too easy. There's more here, so… bad guys next I guess?

Hmmmm…. Well Mr. Stanford is the shredder for sure. Rocksteady and Bebop is clearly my two tormentors Ricky and Bryon. Both pairs of men are equally stupid and incapable of doing anything right.

I look around but nothings changing. Who am I missing? I hop online. Who else have I faced off? I get a list for the next mutation characters and concluded that my parents dying here four years ago in a crash must represent Venus losing her mentor in the show… I mean me losing my mentor before traveling to NYC to save Master splinter. I guess that means all the mean police I had to deal with were the dragons from the sacred mirror, rotten police force, gang of interdimensional supper beings, tomato tamato? … Well that makes the lawyer's the vampires obviously, both are blood sucking fiends.

I'm running out of ideas and still nothing is happening so I'm still missing something. I shot off a text message then hit up the forums.

I am a tempting to compile a complete list of every character in the tmnt versus. Lend me your aid fellow fans! I open a blank document as answers come pouring in. They think this is a brilliant idea and only a fan such as myself would be able to handle. I copy and paste as much as I can before dashing down the stairs to get a ride over to the school. I know school on a Sunday, but cheerleading duty calls and I need a break from my screen, besides watching Roland… oops I mean Raph beat up people is funny.

"That's a crazy idea" Myles races to my side. "Really think you can gather all that Intel into one spot?"

"She'll need a large document file folder, it'll take some time as well" Deacon walks up next, he's flipping through pages on a tablet, I don't make any comments about the turtles walking beside me. If it's all in my head, then nobody will say anything. I spot squishy looking brains in some mechanical bodies.

"Krang, and the species also know as Krang or the utroms" Lenny answers my unasked questions. "They were huge in another tv series, you should split this all up into sub groups based on individual time lines, then make an over all list after you have gathered everything bringing it all into one comprehensive detailed register of sorts" he too is flipping through web pages on his phone. "I got three pages marked already for all three tv series"

"I found a list of comic books" Roland waves at someone as he walks with us for a moment. "There's a lot out there, were you thinking any and all alternative world's, including fan fiction too or just the official stuff?"

"All of it, every possible character and O/C out there. It's gonna be massive amounts of work but I think it will be worth it to try to get the what's what and who's who all sorted out. Story lines, plot twist, if it has tmnt attached to it then I want it" my head is spinning trying to think of how long this may take. That's a lot of history to wad through. It would be faster to travel to China and back again, possibly cheaper too.

"My parents sent off an email to the studio, maybe they can help, yeah for contacts!" Isolda grins at Deacon and I falter for a step. I can't recall Donny ever having a love interest in anything official. If I wake up and this is just a dream what does that mean for all the budding love growing in all my friends eyes? It's not far if Leo and I are the only ones in real life to find this kind of happiness. Then again I may never wake up, this could be my reality, if it's not, who knows what could have changed while I was out of it. Who knows what could change after I get back. "What brought this all on, anyway?"

"I got a story idea, a real brain twister of an idea and just need as much info on tmnt as I can get my hands on to make it work" I answer them.

"I bet it's going to be awesome" Rachel pops up beside me. "But for now, I need you over there" she twists my upper body in the right direction and off I go.

Watching Raph smear the new guy into the mat was humorous. Watching Raph cream his opponents is always a high light to any day. Something is so satisfying about watching the bad guys hit the ground really hard. I cheer loudly with Maya beside me, somewhat savagely but it spurs the guys on, even the bad ones to fight harder. Macho crap, sure, but it gets the crowds going too.

Final match, Raph (that's a shocker… not) vs. Some big white guy named Homer… is he even a student? He's like 7 feet and wider then I am tall, and I thought Raph was a walking steroids commercial! I watch some apprehensions cross his face, this guy is like twice his size, he's clearly out matched and out muscled. Homer's a mountain in motion, but he's not slow like I first thought he would be! The bell goes off and he jumps at Raph causing the crowd to scream with some fear. It's intense, every move Raph try's this guy out right blocks, I can see the gears in motion he's this close to a perfect run this tournament, if he can win this it's a shot out for him and great way for him to end his high school wrestling career. Lenny's watching closely, he clearly wants to help but can't. Deacon has an answer but keeps his mouth closed. I spot it, mountain in motion has a weak left knee, he's favoring it heavily right now. Breathing in ragged in that ring, there almost out of time and a point win will go in Homer's direction so Raph has to tag him to get the necessary points, it'll be close. If Raph can land a blow on that knee and pin him on that side it might be too weak for Homer to dead lift him up again. Raph sees Deacon, Lenny and me staring at the same knee. I hope it's enough. A hail marry move but he goes for it with his final timer warning. He huffs out and launches himself for the wrong knee, Homer grins but at the last second he pivots and tackles the right knee cap, Homer goes over and a dust cloud goes up with the impact. It settles on Raph reefing on the right knee and using his whole body to semi keep Homer pinned. One count, Homer bucks up but his left knee won't hold him up. Two count he panics and shoves at Raph who curls in to protect his head from the slaps. Three count, bells signal the end and Raph jumps up with a victory war cry. I wait to see if he pounds his own chest like a caveman. No dice, it would have been funny thou. The crowd goes wild, Maya screams from her spot before ditching it to jump on Raph, she plants a kiss right there. Guess someone likes extreme displays of physical prowess.

"So" I approached Deacon after the games. "If my main character in my new story ends up in a coma, realize she's in a coma, how would she go about waking herself up?" I know, this is just my minds version of Donny and I shouldn't expect some brilliant answer that will magically work because this isn't the real deal and there forth he can only be as smart as me but it was worth a try... right?

"Sounds complicated. I suppose she could jolt herself awake"

I already heard this idea "Freaky Friday"

He stops thinking to look at me. "Oh yaa... hmmm. Ok how about traveling to her hometown?"

"It doesn't work" this is getting me no where.

"Solve a problem to wake up?"

"That has potential, what kind of problem?" I feel like pulling out my notebook.

"Finding key players real names and calling them by it?" I nod to in courage more ideas. "Maybe she needs to 'die' in her coma world to wake up in the real world?" I really dislike that idea. "Does she even want to wake up? Maybe her dream world is better than her real one, and she's content to stay there, maybe she can't wake up"

My hands fly up into my hair "I could be stuck here forever!"

"That could be an excellent line for her when she realizes it" Deacon is looking at me oddly. "Maybe she just needs to be patient and wait for herself to wake up?"

"Wait!" I feel an amazing idea coming on. "Maybe her world is too good to be true, so she doesn't want to leave it even though she knows it's not real..." I snap my fingers once before he takes over to finish up my thoughts.

"So until she fully believes AND wants it she can't leave" I'd call him a mind reader but he's apart of my imagination so I don't think that counts. "Something will have to happen to make her want to leave it, something drastic" I suddenly get a bad a feeling about this.

"What would be drastic enough to make someone want to leave a perfect world behind?" I don't want this answer but I need it at the same time.

"Something physical, mental and probably emotional will need to happen to send her over an edge, a desire to start over again. So something mind boggling and nearly catastrophic in nature"

Ok I've endure mental crap at this school for years now, I've been put through the physical pain of being used as a punching bag, that leaves the emotional upheaval. My eyes dart across to Lenny. No it's Leo. I believe in this being just a dream, I need him to shock me with something to upset me. I can't imagine being any happier then I am with him, so it needs to be him to hurt me. "Three strikes and you're out kinda thing. I can't write what I've never experienced" Donny looks at me watching Leo. "So I need Lenny to do something that would cause intense emotional pain, knowing it's not real will help me not blow it up but good enough for me to grasp the kind of pain that I'll be writing about. Think you can set something up with him so I don't know when it's going to hit me?" I know it's coming but to see it before it happens could wreak it.

"You writers do the strangest things for your craft" he's shaking his head at me as he walks back to Leo. "I'll set it up to happen later on encase you temporarily loss it ok" I watched a short exchange between them before they turn to look at me, a nod from Leo lets me know he's game for it. Then again they don't really have a choose in the matter do they.

We hit up the bugger joint, chill for a few hours and then go our separate ways for the night, I half throw myself on dream Leo, this could be the last time I see him, who knows what it'll be like back in the real world, he could have moved on by now. Fear course through me, I rub at my head, dig my nails into the palm of my hands. Adjust my clothes again. Sit down only to stand up and pace the room. My phone buzzes at me, an unknown number is texting me. I don't have the time or the energy to deal with jealous fake girls complaining about my fake boyfriend, I reach for it about to go postal on one more chic telling me how I don't deserve him, I already know this, it's why I don't want to leave, I may not have a shot with the real deal. I stab at the screen and rake my hand across, a picture is waiting for me. I click it to see what is going on only to gasp out and drop my phone. I blink rapidly trying to clear the image away but it won't leave me. I thought they would 'break up' with me... but... no. Instead they send me a picture of what looks like Leo kissing my best friend.

It's not real. I know none of this is real but I can't breathe. I shake all over, my knees give out and I sink to the floor. Great big nerve wracking sobs escape me, small and pathetic at first then they turn big and loud and I'm left clutching my sheets between my fingers. I let a scream out but not because of the picture, but because my widow shatters above my head. The wallpaper peels back to display rotting body parts, blood spills over onto me as the roof starts to collapse. I look out to see nothing happening on the street. It's just here in my room. I get tossed around and slammed into my bed and dresser before the computer screen falls on my head. Everything goes black as I fall face first into a pool of my own blood.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, The turtles lair)

In the middle of the night, a hand twitches. The one holding on reflexively grips tighter, begging with mind, body and soul as he subconsciously pulls her back and closer to him.

Past the witching hour two pairs of eye lids flutter as they try to wake up, sensing that the other one needs them.

In the middle of the night, the world is darkest just before dawn. Light blue eyes lock onto the storm grey ones looking back. He dares to hope as she dares to believe that this is wear she truly belongs.

The end

So just encase you got lost

I will admit that my light brain twister turned out to be a bit crazy ... and somewhat morbid at the end there ...

:/

Venus is Vivian . Vivian is Venus.

Venus was morality wounded and fell into a coma.

So this means Venus is dreaming about what her life would be like as a human girl named Vivian. Vivian is remembering her real life as Venus .

Venus took a sword to the chest and fell into a coma protecting Leo (Lenny)

Vivian took a hit to her head (her brain starting it's reboot process) and started seeing her life for what it was. A dream.

If you figured it out on your own fantastic!

If not that's ok. My thought process confuses me too

If you stuck with me and the story till the end, then whoraa! My apologies for my terrible grammar. I will keep looking for a beta tester to help improve this.