Author's note: thanks for the all reviews so far! Keep them coming!
"Ow…ow…ow…"
"I warned you."
"Shut up!"
Hellcat laughed as Liz limped into the meeting room. Hellcat's brother Damon and Gonzo were already there. Both men looked up and smiled at Liz as she grumbled.
"Not…one…word." Liz warned the two men and then sat down.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Gonzo assured her, holding his hands up in the air.
"She worked out too hard yesterday."
Liz glared at her friend. "You just had to tell."
Hellcat only laughed at Liz's childish response.
Damon laughed too, which earned him a glare from Liz. That didn't deter him however; it only made him laugh harder.
Once they were all calm again, Gonzo started the meeting.
"With the information you've gathered so far," Gonzo looked at Liz, "we've been able to plan a fairly risk-free retrieval."
Liz felt her heart drop to her feet.
"First, I want Liz to lure them out of their lair and into a designated area." Gonzo rattled off the location of a nearby alley. "From there, Damon and Hellcat will make sure they're properly sedated. Lastly, all of you will load them into the van that'll be waiting for you. That van will take them where they need to go."
"So when is this all going down?" Damon asked.
"One week from now." Gonzo answered. "In the meantime, Liz, keep gathering information. Anything and everything about them is valuable to learn."
Liz nodded, feeling more and more horrible for what was going to happen.
I'm so sorry, Raph…I'm so sorry…
Gonzo dismissed them shortly afterwards. Liz walked to her truck, her heart heavy.
How could she have ever wanted these turtles to end up in the hands of those men? What possessed her to think that it was fair to trade them to some of the most vicious terrorists in the world in exchange for her uncle's freedom?
There had to be another way…
Liz gripped her steering wheel tighter as she remembered the only other thing they would want beside those turtles…her.
She shuddered at that thought. After all, she had seen first hand what those bastards could do to people…
Now I just have one week to think of an alternative. Liz admitted that it didn't look good, not at all…
Still, she would try anyway.
"Hey, Liz!" Mikey called cheerfully when he saw Liz enter the lair.
Liz smiled and shouted a hello back at him. The aroma of freshly baked pizza was in the air, making her hungry.
"Say…that pizza better be ready, Mikey…" she teased.
Mikey laughed. "Yeah, it is…better grab a slice before my bros come and eat them all!"
"Or before you eat them all?"
Mikey shrugged, not the least bit offended by her comment. It was then that the rest of the turtle came into the room. Each offered a hello then went to grab pizza.
"Here's one for you, kid." Liz turned and saw Raph holding out a plate with a rather large slice of pepperoni pizza on it.
"Thanks, Raph." Liz said, taking the plate from him. She took a tentative bite of the slice.
"This is really good." Liz commented.
Raph grinned. "Yeah, Mikey is a really good cook."
Liz twirled some of the cheese around her finger and then gently used her teeth to get it off. Raph was mesmerized by her actions. Who would have thought eating pizza could be sensual?
It certainly is when she does it… Raph thought to himself.
Liz saw the heat in Raph's eyes as he watched her with the cheese. So, her feelings weren't one-sided…the turtle felt something for her too.
Grinning, she wrapped more of it around the same finger, only this time she offered said finger to Raph. The red-masked turtle stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before he gently laid his teeth on her finger. Slowly, he drew the cheese off just as he'd seen her do.
Watching her lick her lips undid Raphael. With a swift motion, he drew her against him and kissed her.
Liz felt her body come to life, as if someone had flicked a switch. Thought was impossible. All Liz could do was feeling the heat and the passion roaring through her. Liz threw her arms around his neck, desperate to be as close to Raph as she could.
The woman was like a drug…he couldn't get enough…he kissed her with all the bottled lust he'd had since he had first seen her picture in that magazine. Raph felt her sag against him, obviously feeling just as much as he was.
When the kiss finally ended, both Raph and Liz were panting as if they'd run a marathon.
"Wow…" Liz said finally, breathless.
"Yeah…" Raph agreed, stroking her hair.
Now, if I could just get my brain to function again... Liz thought happily.
"Pizza is officially my favourite food." Liz muttered, leaning against Raph's plastron.
Raphael couldn't help but laugh at that. "Mine too, babe." He said.
It was the sound of Liz's cellular phone ringing that broke the moment. Grumbling, Liz dug it out of her back pocket and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Ah, there you are Liz. It's Damon…"
"Hey, what's up?"
"I just got a call from Gonzo…something big just went down that wasn't part of our plan…"
Fear shot through Liz at his words. Being a former soldier and professional sniper, not much ever shook Damon, so that meant that whatever did happen was huge.
"What happened?" Liz whispered.
"They found out about and threatened to expose all of our 'indiscretions' to the people we work for…"
Liz couldn't believe her ears…Those 'indiscretions' were all illegal jobs that they'd done to keep America and the world safe. If they were exposed, they could face serious charges and a life sentence in jail…or worse…the government could decide to hand them over their worst enemies…they'd done it before to other agents that had done things they didn't like.
How could they have found out about them? She, Gonzo, Hellcat, and Damon had gone to great lengths to make sure every piece of paperwork and person involved that would expose them was dealt with.
That meant that someone in their agency had leaked the information…but whom?
While Liz thought about that, Raphael was watching the emotions playing across her face. There was curiosity at first, then fear…then puzzlement…
He wondered just what the person on the other end was telling her. Liz ended the phone call a minute or so later. She let out a sigh.
"Crap…"
"What is it?" Raph asked.
Liz hated having to lie to the turtle, but it was necessary. They may have some raw chemistry, but she still couldn't trust him with truth about herself…
"That was my cow-worker Dean…he was telling me that some expensive liquor from the bar had gone missing."
Well, that partially true. It had happened to her before, but that was over two years ago.
Raph shook his head. "That's a bummer."
Liz agreed. It certainly was. This whole situation sucked royally.
But, Liz thought as she leaned against Raph again, I'll do whatever I can to make sure you're safe…
That afternoon, Liz received instructions from Gonzo to set up video surveillance of the turtle's lair.
Biting her lip, Liz decided that this would be her first opportunity to hinder the plan without anyone being none the wiser. Carefully, she installed the cameras where her boss wanted while the boys were training. Instead of providing a constant live feed, she set it so that it would record none of the critical information such as when the boys left the lair, or any training footage. All they would see was daily life, nothing of real value except proving that they did indeed exist, which they already knew anyway.
Thank god Gonzo had wanted to use newer cameras they hadn't used before so that if he did notice the malfunction, he could blame it on the cameras themselves and not her.
Despite years of expertise in this area, Liz felt butterflies in her stomach. After all, there had never been this much at stake on one mission. She knew very well that going behind her boss's back could cost her a lot…her job, her freedom, her life, and most importantly…her uncle's life…
God, she prayed this worked and that she could save him…Liz knew she could never live with herself if her plan failed...doing nothing, however, would have been worse…
Isn't it amazing how one mind-blowing kiss can rearrange a girl's priorities?
Maybe that was the thing that had tipped the scales for her…knowing the passion the two of them could share…
Liz sat down and tried to get her racing heart and her nerves to calm down. She took slow, deep breaths until she felt herself get back to normal. Once she did that, she looked around for something to occupy her. She grinned when she saw a hand-held puzzle game. Liz picked it up and began to play.
She was just finishing what the game considered 'the genius level' when the boys left the dojo.
"Ah, having fun with my puzzle game, eh?" Donny asked, pleased that someone else besides him liked to play it.
"Yes…I just finished the 'genius' level."
Donny's eyes went wide. He'd rigged the game to be ridiculously hard so that it would always prove a challenge to him, and it appeared that Liz had plowed through it.
Mikey leaned over her shoulder. "Wow! She beat your high score!"
Liz nearly laughed when she saw the purple-masked turtle looked ready to faint before a smile broke across his face.
"Yes! I'm not the lone nerd anymore!"
Liz broke out into laughter. "I guess not."
Donny walked by and gave her a high five…well, three in his case.
Soon after, Raph stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't get any ideas about stealin' my girl, eh Donny?"
Donny raised an eye ridge, but smiled. "No, I kind of knew she was yours from the beginning, bro."
Christine walked up and leaned against Mikey. "Welcome to the family." She said and wrapped her arm around Mikey's shoulders.
"Was I really that obvious?" Liz asked Christine sheepishly.
Christine laughed. "Yes, you were! I remember watching you practically drool over him during training…"
Liz narrowed her eyes at Christine, hopefully hiding her embarrassment. This only made her smile.
"Don't worry! The same thing happens to me when I watch Mikey train…" Christine gave said turtle a peck on the cheek. Mikey grinned and kissed her on her neck, making her giggle.
Liz felt her heart warm. Now she was a true member of this truly individual and amazing family.
Now all I have to do is save it…
