Chapter 3: Friendly Encounters (Part 1)

Leo could already feel his body getting tensed up, which was usually when he knew he would engage in another fight with Raphael. Seeing his irate younger brother pounding against the bathroom door was one thing, but to have a scared human woman on the other side of it was something else entirely.

"Raph, what are you doing? You're going to scare this girl. I think you shou-"

"I ain't calmin' SHIT down, Leo! Did'ja hear what she called me?! Ya think I'm going to let THAT go?!", Raph stated with anger in his eyes.

"Look, I know you're upset, but breaking down the door isn't going to get this lady in our good graces. Besides, we need to think rationally about this. Now could you PLEASE step away from the door so I can talk to her?"

"RATIONAL?! Ya wanna be RATIONAL right now, Leo?! Don't ya get it? We're NEVER gonna be accepted by people like them. Every time we risk our necks for these damn broads, WE get the short end of the fuckin' stick. Not me. Not this time."

Leo was about to retort until he looked into Raphael's eyes. He saw rage, anger, but more importantly sadness. A sadness of not being accepted, or for fear of being the only one like himself. Many nights Leo stayed awake pondering the same thing, but like Raph, he had his own way of dealing with it. His training sessions and meditation with Master Splinter helped clear his mind of the woes of life in the human world, thus making the blows become softened. Raphael, on the other hand, held onto his emotions, letting them fuel him in either a negative or positive way. The moment with Samantha probably set something off within him.

"Guys, if you're done with your senseless fighting, I would like to try to speak with Sam."

Raphael looked at Donnie with a similarly angry look, almost with that of disdain.

"You know her name? Ya actually talked to this chick? And she WASN'T scared of ya?"

"To be fair, I did have my body concealed. It doesn't really make sense to have it concealed anymore since she's seen you.", Donnie said as he removed his lab coat, slinging it over his shoulder.

Donnie stepped up to the still locked bathroom door, knocking on it gently, yet firmly. Samantha, who had taken refuge in the bathtub earlier, still has yet to move. Fear, denial and a strong sense of what is and isn't real overtook her, and she refused to accept what she saw. A large, talking, irate turtle-man. As she heard the knocking once again, she sank lower and lower into the tub, her mind racing with thoughts of negativity and fear.

"I need to get out of here...", Sam repeated to herself soon after the initial meeting with Raph. "I need to get Karla and I out of here. Fast."

At that moment, the door slowly opened to a slow halt. As Sam tried to physically sink lower into the tub to remain hidden as best as she could, she couldn't help but see the turtle-man entering the medium sized bathroom with a mini tool kit. His skin was a lighter shade of green than that of the previous turtle she had unfortunately laid eyes on, and he was of a slightly less muscular build and frame as well. His soft brown eyes gave her a sense of warmth and fearlessness, which is what kept her from darting out of the bathroom to begin with, and his purple bandana draped effortlessly over his shoulder which housed his lab coat and latex gloves. Samantha sat up in the tub, eying Donnie, but she couldn't help but feel semi-safe. She began to wonder if she was crazy, or possibly drugged. Her mind raced onward at the sight of Donnie, who made no motion toward her for fear of giving her a bigger shock than she initially had with his older brother. Soon, the silence was broken.

"My younger brother locked himself in the bathroom many times, so I've become adept at picking the lock.", Don said as he put the tool kit back in its holster on his belt. "I'm sorry that this had to happen, Sam. I know that this is a bit of a shock, but i-"

"A BIT of a shock? I'm sitting here, naked, in a slightly dingy bathtub, talking to a giant turtle. I'm way past shocked at this point, fella."

Donnie couldn't argue with her words, especially if he was in her position. He did, however, chuckle at her choice of words. It wasn't everyday that someone masked fear with humor.

"Fair enough. I'm Donatello, by the way. The angry guy that you had the slight misfortune of seeing earlier? That was my older brother Raphael. I do apologize for his...less than appealing demeanor. He means well. He does. He's just...well, he's a little bit of a-"

"Rude?", Sam chimed in.

"Sure. You can say that. But he's also a bit o-"

"Doesn't know how to talk to ladies?"

"Valid. Bu-"

"Too many roids in his corn flakes?"

Donnie couldn't take it anymore. He let out a loud laugh, seemingly laughing harder than he's ever laughed in the past nine years. Samantha looked at him with a semi-confused look on her face, wondering why he lost his marbles after that particular statement.

"I thank you for making my ribs hurt. But, no, no steroids in the corn flakes. He's just hotheaded, is all. I think your calling him a 'freak' kind of set him off. He doesn't really like being called that word, especially since he did something nice to begin with."

"What do you mean? What did he do for me?"

"Well, if it weren't for Raph's defiance of my other brother's word, you and your sister would've been murdered in the alley that night. He was the one who saw what went down, and he led the charge on the attack."

Samantha's eyes practically popped out of her head, in addition to a strong wave of regret coming over her. She called Raphael a 'freak', yet he was the one to lay down the groundwork for her and Karla's survival. She felt like a heel, and there was nothing she could do to remedy the situation yet. Looking up at Donnie again, she couldn't help but feel the fear and uncertainty escape her, leaving her with more awe than questions. Then again, she got the same feeling from Twilight Zone marathons and endless hours of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so this seemingly fit into her world, so to speak.

"So...the police weren't involved that night...were they?", Sam asked as she looked Donatello square in the eyes.

"No", Don said honestly. "My brothers and I took matters into our own hands to not only ensure you and your sister's survival, but ours as well."

Sam slightly hesitated before asking her final question, but Donatello's eyes, demeanor and overall attitude made it so she wouldn't feel afraid or ridiculous for feeling the way she did.

"Are they dead?", Sam blurted out.

"...Would you deem it wrong if I said yes?", Don said with an almost unsure tinge to his voice, totally unsure as to how Samantha would react to his answer.

Samantha stood up, stepped out of the tub and approached Donnie. Her mind was blank, and every thought she had up to that point vanished; every thought except for that night. The near rape stayed with her, and she knew that the nightmares would come, but her heroes, at least one of them, was standing directly in front of her. He looked so calm, so wise, yet strong and determined. Sam did what she knew how to do: she embraced Donnie in a tight hug, the tears beginning to flow from her eyes. Emotion had taken her over, and she could finally express it without a gun being pointed to her head or without her body being grabbed and pulled like a prison inmate. Donatello, on the other hand, was unsure if he should return the hug, having only had April as a hugging partner, as far as humans go. Deciding against his overbearing thoughts, he returned the hug without question.

"Thank you, Don. You saved my life, and I don't know how to repay you.", Sam said with a shaky voice.

"You don't have to thank me for doing the right thing, Sam. I'm just glad you're okay."

Sam looked down at Don, not having far to look down, seeing as how she was roughly 5' 2". She smiled at him, wiping away her tears, almost feeling silly for having cried in front of him. After a few brief seconds of emotion, she began to revert back to her old self.

"So...you got anything to eat around here? I'm kind of hungry."

"Sure thing. In fact, I could call my friend and have her bring something if you didn't want anything other than cold pizza or leftover chinese food."

"Are you kidding? Cold pizza is pretty much amazing.", Sam said with a toothy grin on her face.

"I suppose so.", Don said with a chuckle. "However, there are some...matters we need to discuss with you. Perhaps we can take this to the living room area so we can get comfortable."

"Okay. But, just who is 'we' exactly?"

"Myself, my brothers and our closest friends. Since you've seen us, and you know what we are, there are some rules, so to speak, that we need to bestow upon you."

"Rules?", Sam said as she cocked her head to the side somewhat.

Don led Sam out of the bathroom and into the living room area. As they got closer to the couches, Sam saw Raph and Leo sitting down on one of the couches, looking dead at her and Donnie. She began to feel slightly awkward, especially since she engaged in a verbal war of misunderstanding with Raphael some time ago. Don and Sam sat down on the other couch, looking at Raph and Leo. It was time to let it all out in the open yet again, just as their master had done many times before.