A/N: omg! An update! FINALLY! I know. I am so sorry guys! lol

Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Mark for being such a dedicated reviewer.

Beauty and the Beast: A Leatherhead Story

Rated: M

Chapter Three:

She was staring at him.

Leatherhead knew that Brooke had her piercing gaze glued to his back.

He could feel those blue eyes piercing through his scales. The back of his neck prickled as he glowered at the blinking cursor waiting for a command. For some reason, he couldn't remember what he'd been about to type. The danged woman was too distracting. He was used to solitude and having another person there was throwing him off.

In a word, it was irritating.

Hunched over the old key board, his claws hovering over the keys, paused in mid motion as the words fled from his mind. Nerves twisted in his gut and he tried to ignore the human girl that he knew was horrified of him. She hadn't said a word and regarded him mostly in silence.

Leatherhead hated humans. They were too curious for their own good; so abhorred by anything not like them. Supposedly a superior species, they were incredibly closed minded and even had cruel views of the strange. It made him grind his teeth.

Why Donatello thought his lair was the best place for this human was beyond him. There was nothing for her to do, but stare. He had no cable, since he couldn't be bothered to fix the antenna he'd broken not too long ago, and any books he had around were either medical or scientific. What had Donatello expected? For them to communicate?

He may as well talk to a sewer wall. At least it wouldn't try to dissect him.

So, with nothing better to do, the girl would monitor him for some ungodly reason and it was driving him insane. Her watchful eyes would follow him around the lair as he moved about, gaze focused and intelligent. He could see that she was visually drawing and quartering him. She did, however, seem to have enough sense to look away whenever he'd turn to face her.

How could he be expected to work with her staring at him like that? Knowing she'd be much happier to have him strapped to a table, guts strewn about? Or worse.

Unable to handle the icy fingers of paranoia tickling his spine, Leatherhead whirled in his chair and burst to his feet to roar into the living room. Unfortunately, in his furious movement, the chair was flung from beneath him, bumped by his knees, and crashed into his desk, knocking over the monitor. A small crash and pop followed and Leatherhead did not need to look to know he'd broken it.

Brooke looked up wide eyed from her spot on the couch where she'd seemingly been inspecting an old, ratty carpet under the coffee table where Lume was busying himself by picking up tiny bits of flint. Leaned forward with her chin resting on her folded arms, her upper body was lying along her legs, even as he bellowed.

His bone shattering roar made her freeze and peer up at him in fear, but it was apparent that before his outburst, she'd been minding her own business. As his roar died, the silence was filled with the soft whir of spinning gears from Lume, who was not bothered by the commotion and continued to pick up.

She hadn't even been looking in his direction, Leatherhead realized with a small twinge of embarrassment. Wasn't even looking… he was going to lose his mind with this human girl here.

Only one night had passed and her scent was every where. Sweet and somewhat musky, it was a thick and stifling scent that seemed to cloak his entire lair. It had been the first thing he'd detected when he woke and he'd even thought it somewhat pleasant until his mind supplied its source. Then, he'd wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Heaving a sigh, he ran a hand over his eyes and down his snout as he willed himself to calm down. Behind him, his sensitive ears could pick up soft sparks still popping in the broken computer screen. It did nothing to help his mood.

To make matters worse, he wouldn't be able to work now and Leonardo had insisted that it was imperative for him to try to get into Bishop's computers and find any information he could on Splinter's whereabouts. In the meantime, Donatello would be working on the Foot's files.

He didn't have a moment to waste. A trip to the dump was in order. He nodded to himself thoughtfully. Plenty of old monitors were thrown away daily. He'd have no problem retrieving one. But, his yellow eyes swiveled to the girl on his couch still watching him warily, what to do with the girl?

"Is everything all right, er… Leatherhead?" She stumbled over his name as she looked shyly up at him, obviously feigning concern and trying to be brave under his glower. His left eye twitched as he noted the gentle flush on her cheeks and he snorted, turning away to ignore her completely. Stupid, deceitful human.

Rubbing his jaw in thought, he knew taking her to the turtle's lair was out of the question since he'd all ready promised that he would keep her a secret for a while and though he was easily double Leonardo's size, he didn't feel particularly up to tackling the turtle's new found rage.

He couldn't very well leave her in his own lair. What if she decided to leave? She could report him to authorities and, assuming they believed her, his lair would be swarming with dangerous armed men in no time at all.

Short of taking her with him, the only other option was the turtle's human friends, April and Casey. He grimaced. These two humans weren't all bad, but he wasn't too keen on asking them for help. He growled to himself because that left…

He turned slowly, eyes narrow and neck tense. She sat upright now and blinked innocently at him. As he regarded her with what he hoped was obvious annoyance, she only cocked her head, brows furrowing slightly and lips curving into a frown.

"Follow me," He demanded irritably, turning sharply to stalk to the door.

He could here her shifting as she got up to follow, but apparently she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

Sighing as he trudged into the damp halls outside of his lair, he begrudgingly responded," the dump."

"For a new screen," She supplied.

"Indeed," He replied shortly.

Brooke wasn't completely stupid. Her mind was able to quickly put two and two together. It was obvious that a mutant like Leatherhead wouldn't have the means to walk into a store and certainly didn't have an address to which online orders could be delivered to, so the city dump was a means to acquire necessary things, such as a new monitor.

The broken computer screen had not gone unnoticed by her. She'd been alarmed by his strange and sudden outburst and had wondered if perhaps the growling of her empty stomach, because all ready it was evening and she hadn't eaten anything all day, was disturbing his work; her father definitely hated any sounds when he was trying to write.

However, even now, her stomach twisted painfully, but she was somewhat shy about asking for food. She was hoping at some point, the crocodile would eat, perhaps putting the idea in his head that she might be hungry, too, but he only diligently worked in his corner, barely moving to do anything at all.

She looked ahead at his lumbering form. He still wore the worn lab coat with the rip on the sleeve. Though she couldn't see now, she knew it hung open in the front and he wore nothing underneath, so she imagined he wore it mostly for the large pockets on the front and perhaps to protect his arms when he worked with the chemicals she'd seen stowed neatly in a dark corner.

Over the course of the day, she was able to deduce that this mutant was nothing like his kin. He was a thinker, for one thing. He had several science books on a damaged book shelf that looked very loved, as their spines were cracked and peeling from use. Also, his eyes, the glimpses she caught while he was working, were intelligent and focused.

Crocodiles, Brooke knew, were naturally incredibly intelligent anyway. More intelligent than the smartest dog, new studies showed. Leatherhead had apparently inherited his kin's intelligence and, in becoming humanoid, gone beyond even most humans.

On the other hand, he was so quiet and seemed more than happy to keep to himself. Sure, he growled, snarled, and in general sent her several dark looks, which she easily attributed to hostility towards humans, not her specifically, but he hadn't shown any signs of actually wanting to hurt her.

Brooke bit her lip as she wondered what his response would be if she asked to go to her apartment. Reptiles typically didn't require a whole lot of attention, but a couple needed feeding or medication. Plus, she'd left her newest addition sitting in pedialyte. He probably soaked up the energy he needed and slithered out, but he'd definitely need some heat since he was so weak.

She had to risk it.

"Leatherhead?" she asked, trotting slightly closer to try to see his face. He grunted in response but stared stiffly ahead. He could probably see much better than she in the dark tunnels. She could make out shadows and dark shapes, but just in case she stayed close enough that every now and then, the tip of his tail, swinging slightly as he walked, would tap her ankles.

At his elbow, she looked uncertainly up at him, nervously tapping her fingertips together," Could we stop at my apartment while we're up there?"

Leatherhead shot her a suspicious glance and said," It's too dangerous."

At the same time, he noted to himself that humans enjoyed changing their clothes on a regular basis and had certain sanitary needs that didn't apply to him. He inwardly groaned to himself. He'd really gotten himself into a mess this time.

It wasn't like they could just go waltzing into her apartment. The Foot could still be there. And he tilted his head to sternly tell her no, but he caught a whiff of a gentle salty scent and the distressed look she gave him made his heart skip a beat. Stopping was obviously quite important to her.

"Please?" She begged, clasping her hands at her chest," It means a lot to me. I left my kids there and no one will take care of them if I don't stop."

Leatherhead stopped, turning to fully face her," You left your kids in that apartment?"

When the Foot were attacking? How could someone be so cowardly? This was a new low that Leatherhead never thought humans could sink to. After all, they were supposed to have strong parental instinct, much like crocodiles. Evidently, this particular human lacked it.

"Well, everything happened so fast and some of their cages are kind of bulky…" She sighed, still staring pleadingly up at him.

Cages? This was new. He'd never heard of humans keeping their children in cages. It seemed… wrong. Very wrong.

He snarled at her in disgust, but she held up her hands defensively.

"It's not what you think!" Brooke chuckled, knowing exactly what her words sounded like, but she also wasn't sure how he would feel about keeping his distant relatives in glass tanks all over her living room. At least until he got there and saw them, she didn't want him to see. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too offended.

Brooke was walking on alien ground, here. She wasn't sure what could possibly offend a mutant crocodile, but judging by the many documentaries on them she'd seen, she didn't want to push her limit. He could very well feel indignant towards her keeping reptiles, even if it was for their sake. She'd have to risk it when they got there.

Still, he was giving her a rather reproachful look, but seemed to be waiting for a better explanation as to why she would keep children in cages.

"Well, they're not exactly my children. They were abandoned and sick. I've been caring for them," Still the only response she got was yellow eyes narrowing more, so she fervently added," I work at an animal shelter!"

"You do?" Leatherhead asked.

He strongly disliked humans, but those who loved animals were slightly better in his book. They tended to be patient, loving, and tender people. So he saw from distant observation.

"Well, yes… I'm actually their resident…um…" Brooke laughed nervously and ran a hand through her hair," Heh, I'm the local reptile lady."

Brooke smiled shyly up at the giant crocodile, hoping she hadn't in some way offended him. His eye ridges raised a fraction and he didn't look quite so fierce, so she took that as a good sign.

"Y-yeah. Most of the workers don't know much about the reptiles dropped off there, so I take them in, rehabilitate them, and try to find new, more suitable homes, though more often than not I bond so much I end up keeping them. I'm ah… actually studying to be a reptile vet since I love them so much. I'm actually a bit obsessed, really…" Brooke trailed off when an unreadable look crossed Leatherhead's face.

She paused, but reasoned to herself that, whatever expression he was giving her, at least it wasn't anger or disgust, which she could quickly pick out.

His features were exotic and unusual in the way they seemed to be a meld of human and crocodile; and his snout and broad mouth were formidable looking at best, but his eyes, an unearthly yellow were incredibly expressive.

The day she'd spent with him so far, those very eyes had only narrowed hatefully at her, but now they seemed to regard her as if he hadn't quite looked at her before.

She felt somewhat uncomfortable under his silent stared and squirmed a little," I took home a juvenile ball python yesterday just before the attack. He was very sick, so uh… it would mean a lot if we could… you know, stop?"

Leatherhead didn't know what to say. A human who loved soft furry animals that they would cuddle with, like dogs and cats, were one thing. This girl apparently liked cold, scaly critters. Heck, she was studying them to help them professionally!

It occurred to him that she probably all ready knew a great deal about reptiles; perhaps even extending to wild ones, such as crocodiles. Suddenly, he felt a little uncomfortable wondering what she thought about him; if she was comparing him to his kin. Or worse, how many similarities she noticed.

"Dark, danky sewer to Leatherhead… Come in, Leatherhead!" Small pale fingers snapped at his snout and he blinked owlishly at her.

"Uh…" Was his brilliant response.

Her lips spread in a crooked, amused smiled and she shook her head," Well? What do you think? Can we stop to feed my kids or not? Not to rush or anything, but a couple can get quite snap happy when starved. Plus… it's rather chilly down here…"

"E-er, yes. We can-should stop to check on you're um…children," Leatherhead felt embarrassed heat rising up his neck and looked away from the petite girl chuckling to herself.