Chapter 11

"Damn, Donnie, you using lobster claws to cut those things off or what?" I cringed as the purple brother tried using the small scissors to snip the stiches from my shoulder. It probably didn't help that they were itchy as hell and all I wanted to do was take a pad of sandpaper to them. He had already snipped the couple of stitches in the back of my head and all I could think about was how glorious it was going to be to get a proper shower soon.

"You see the size of these fingers?" he joked, "If you would hold still it would make this easier."

I huffed in exasperation. I had been forced to stay in bed almost all week by everyone and I was ready to move around more.

"Here, lemme try and do it," I snatched the scissors from the surprised turtle's grasp before grabbing a nearby mirror and tilting my head down to get a good look.

"Damn, son," I whistled a bit as I saw the handiwork, "I can tell you don't cross stitch in your spare time." I heard a snort of disproval from his direction as I concentrated and carefully snipped each and every one of the stitches that ran up the front part of my shoulder.

"Well, we tend to have a bit thicker skin that humans, and again," he wiggled his fingers for emphasis, "You see these?"

A giggle escaped my mouth as I dabbed at the wound with some gauze and tried desperately not to scratch at it. "True enough, Donnie…True enough. But hey, think of it being a new hobby you could try."

Almost a week had passed since the incident with the purple dragons, and I was healing pretty well. All of the swelling in my face had left, and the bruising was on its way to disappearing. It had just started changing from the angry blues and purples to the sickly greens and yellow. I had probably another good week until it cleared up totally.

I hopped off the table and semi paid attention to his instructions about how to take care of my shoulder and head. I would cover the shoulder wound a bit when I wanted to get a shower, but immediately uncover it afterwards so it wouldn't stay damp. But the small laceration to the back of my head shouldn't prevent me from getting a shower. So long as I wasn't going to soak myself forever it should be fine.

YES. A shower. That's all I wanted right now. One of the guys had gone to my house to grab basic toiletries and some clothes for me to get by the days I had already been here. I waved bye to my pseudo doctor and almost skipped happily to the bathroom.

Oh. My. God. I never truly appreciated the healing aspect that a hot shower could provide to the core of one's very soul. My muscles were still incredibly sore, but with each drop of hot water that hit them it seemed to penetrate deep down and massage each muscle fiber. I made sure to lift and bend my shoulder under the hot water, though not letting it stay underneath too terribly long for fear of the bandage getting super soaked and then hearing the wrath of Dr. Don.

I didn't want to get out, but knew I needed to. Sighing inwardly, I regretfully turned off the shower and stepped out into the steamy bathroom. I tossed my hair up in a towel before quickly taking the bandage off my shoulder and patting around the area, ensuring it was sufficiently dry. I wrapped myself in another towel and ran my palm across the steamed up mirror, getting a good look at myself.

I looked like hell. I mean, yeah, I was just punched by a semi truck into a brick building and choked so I knew I wasn't going to win Miss America anytime soon. But I guess I could see why I had been avoided for a couple days now.

All four brothers visited me often the first few days; even Master Splinter came and spent a decent amount of time with me. He saw me as a daughter just as he saw the turtles as his sons, so I could understand his worry.

Leo and Donnie would bring books and activities to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn't be bored out of my mind. Mikey was constantly in and out of my room, waiting on me hand and foot for any food or drink I could want, though truth be told I wasn't overly fond of anything having to go down my throat that first day or two. I drew the line at him trying to wheel in the big screen TV so we could play video games together, but settled on him snatching one of Donnie's laptops and us watching cat videos on YouTube. Heh, those never got old.

Raph came and went those first couple of days. I did have trouble sleeping, my dreams always going back to the alleyway in the warehouse district, so there were times he came and just sat with me; the comfortable silence able to lull me to sleep.

But these last three days I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. I asked Leo what was going on, and with a frown on his face he said there had been a few disagreements on a course of action to figure out what exactly was going on with the medical equipment we saw the purple dragons transporting. He wanted to take some time to gather as much intel as possible before just barging in anywhere half-cocked.

Apparently Raphael had a difference of opinion. Shocker. The last time I had seen him I could tell he still felt a huge amount of guilt for the events that led up to my injuries, but no matter how many times I told him it wasn't his fault he just seemed to withdraw into himself more. So I quit mentioning it.

I realized I was frowning in the mirror. I don't know why it bugged me that he was so upset and guilt ridden over this. It's not like we were besties before any of this started. Hell, I was surprised he didn't light into me and start blaming me for not paying attention, or that I did this wrong, or that wrong. I was wholeheartedly expecting that conversation to pop up between us.

If nothing else, what happened the other night proved to me just how out of my league all of this stuff was. I cringed at the thought of me proclaiming I was totally safe because I carried pepper spray. Jeez was I stupid.

The problem with this is what happened that night ignited a burning in my stomach, a want to learn more on how to protect myself and others. A need. But the brothers had said in the beginning that I was only going to learn some simple self-defense techniques, nothing major. I felt like I wanted to learn everything I could, but I had a feeling they would veto it…especially after all this.

Damn. Who could have thought that getting my ass handed to me would push me to want to wade further in the sea of martial arts? Most people would be like well fuck this and walk away. But I couldn't do that. I'd have to figure out a plan of attack to bring this up to Leo. If anyone would have to be convinced, it'd be him. Especially since I kind of knowingly went along with a rather reckless plan that ended poorly.

I got myself dressed in a simple tank top and boxer shorts that I would usually sleep in but kept my hair up in the towel so it could soak up some more of the water. The guys insisted I stay down here another night or two, and had even gotten a bed to set up in one of the spare rooms so I wouldn't have to lay on the harder gurney longer than I had to.

Mikey's voice rang through the lair, stating that dinner had been served. Or brought in. Someone had ordered sushi for dinner, and I for one was starving. Grabbing all of my toiletries I exited the bathroom to head to stow away my clothes and stuff.

"Woah, look at that," Mikey said as he made some sort of wolf whistle to me when I exited my room. I smiled and walked over to the array of take out boxes that littered the kitchen counter. I found my order and quickly yanked it away from him as he pretended to go for my food with his chopsticks.

"Touch this and you die, turtle," I growled playfully at him, batting him away and taking a seat at the table. "My stomach feels like it's ready to start shredding itself into pieces."

I could see everyone else begin to filter into the kitchen, the announcement of food arriving dragging them from their various activities. Shocker again, no Raphael. I frowned even as I popped a delicious morsel into my mouth; just where had he gone?

As if on cue, though, the large red turtle appeared in the doorway to the lair's entrance and silently began the walk over to his bedroom. His face showed signs of fatigue and weariness to the point that I wonder if he had even slept over the past few days. He had obviously been in some sort of fight, but most likely whoever he had gotten into it with was faring much worse than him.

"Hey, there he is!" Mikey said cheerfully as he plopped down in a chair next to me, opening his own box of sushi, "Dude, didn't know if you were going to show up, but I got your favorite right over there."

Raph stopped his ascent up the stairs and looked over in our direction, his eyes locked onto mine instantly. I guess he must've not expected me to be up and walking around because he looked somewhat surprised to see me sitting there. His mouth set in a straight line as he replied simply before continuing up the stairs, "Not hungry."

I looked around to see everyone else glance back and forth between one another before going back to their food. "You know, you guys need to work on your communication skills…seriously."

"There are some times where you just let him do his thing," Leo said pensively after a moment. Taking a bite he waved up towards Raph's room with his chopsticks, "There's no getting through to him when he's like that. We just give him a few days and he'll come around."

"Elena," Splinter said quietly. It was weird hearing my name; he only started using it after I got injured, "Raphael has many internal demons he is dealing with, guilt being among the largest."

An irritated sigh escaped my lips. This seriously needed to stop. The four in front of me looked confused as I closed my box of food before gathering his box and a pair of chopsticks from the counter and marched up towards his room.

His door was closed, but I didn't care and walked in anyway. He was sitting on his bed but leaning against the wall; his legs were bent with both his hands and head resting down on his knees. At the noise of the door opening he quickly lifted his head up with a look of irritation on his face. He started an expletive towards what I guess he thought was one of his brothers, but stopped midway when he saw it was just me in the doorway.

"What do you want?" he growled out as he sat up straighter, "Aren't ya supposed to knock or something?"

"Yeah, if I wanted to be ignored, but I don't, so here," I shoved the box of food in his face. "Eat. Now."

His eyes narrowed, and had I been younger I would have run away in fear, but I didn't care anymore. "I'm not hungry, now get out of my room."

"I'm sorry, did that sound like a request?" I said super sarcastically back at him before walking over and sat the box on the bed next to him. "I said eat." I walked over and plopped my happy butt in the only other chair in his room, opening my own box and beginning to eat again. I wasn't going to let his attitude keep me from enjoying my own damn food.

I couldn't tell if it was more irritation or surprise that ran through him, but after a few moments he opened his box and adjusted his lap so he could eat his sushi slowly. We ate in complete silence for a few minutes; I didn't want to give him a reason to get pissy and stop eating to argue.

Both of us finished our food after a bit, and I sat back contentedly in the armchair, relishing the feeling of a full belly. I closed the box and pushed it over onto the top of the desk next to me.

"So, why are you looking like hell?" The sound of my voice cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter.

I was surprised when I heard a slight grunt come from him, "What's so funny?"

A small smile crossed his face, "Well, you're one to tell me I look like shit. You look in the mirror lately?"

Speaking of mirrors, I remembered I still had the towel on my head. I took the towel off and began rubbing it against the still damp strands, "Actually yeah. Mikey's called me an honorary turtle sister because I match his shade of green now." I laughed at the memory.

His smiled faded at the joke. "I'm sorry about that again, by the wa-"

"Ah ah ah, I don't want to hear any of that anymore," I waggled my finger at him like a grade school teacher admonishing one of her students. "I've been over this with you how many times? Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Now, answer my question…what have you been doing? Because you look exhausted."

He frowned, and I could tell he was debating on how much to tell me. I cleared my throat after he paused a few seconds, indicating that I wasn't going to wait around. He finally rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine. Casey and I have been going out looking for other purple dragon activity to see if we could get any leads on what they're doing."

"Well, from how you look it seems you two have been doing a lot more than just looking," I replied to his confession. "You ever thought to bring in your brothers in on this idea? More people to watch your back?"

"Leo just wants to sit around while they're out there doing who knows what," the red turtle spat out in anger.

"I don't think Leo 'just wants to sit around' and do nothing Raph," I said gently, in order to calm him down. "It makes sense to get as much info as you can before barging in guns blazing." A thought crossed my mind and I frowned at the realization of the situation.

"This isn't just because of the medical equipment, is it…" I stated flatly. He didn't even have to say anything for me to know I was right.

"Hey, look at me." I called over to him. He was stubborn and kept his eyes solidly down into his lap. OK fine, I can be just as friggin stubborn. I stood up and went to sit down on the bed next to him, leaning back against the wall as well with my hands clasped together in my lap. I saw him at least glance over at me slightly before drawing his eyes to the floor once again.

"Don't just give me a fuckin side eye, Raph. Look at me."

His eyes came up to mine, and I could tell he was uncomfortable looking at my face. Yup, I was right. I made sure to keep silent for a moment, letting him look at every bruise and mark on my face and neck. I could make out of the corner of my eye that his hands had clenched his knees.

"I don't blame you, so you shouldn't blame yourself," my voice came out in barely a whisper.

Silence once again surrounded us, and I truthfully didn't know what he was going to do or say.

"I was a cocky asshole and trying to one-up Leo, and that almost got you killed," his knuckles would be turning white if they could. "I don't know what I would have done had that happened."

I sucked in a surprised breath and felt my cheeks flush; I had always assumed he was just this huge tough guy, but he had such tenderness in his admission just then. I'd never heard him talk like this before. A memory popped in my head, and I barely caught myself from laughing.

"Hey, move your arm," I said hesitantly. This worked when I was younger, so who knows how this turtle would take it. Raphael raised an eye ridge in question, but did as he was asked. I scooted a tiny bit closer to him and put his arm over and around the back of my head, nestling myself next to him. I could tell he was confused and wanted to pull away at first, but he stayed put. Minutes passed as we sat in comfortable silence, and I could feel him begin to relax with our position.

"Mind telling me what you're doing?" he questioned finally.

"Well, when we were younger and had deep talks me and Mikey would sit like this, and it would always make both of us feel better," I explained. I had my fair share of heart felt moments with the other two brothers as well, but I always had a special connection with the orange clad turtle. Raph and I never talked much when we were younger, so this was all new to him.

"You know that was probably because he was trying to flirt with you, right?" a chuckle came from him. A small victory. Laughter always meant someone was feeling better.

I nodded a bit, "Yeah, but we both knew it would never work between us. I love Mikey; I love all of y'all, but he and I dating would never have worked…We're too much alike."

I didn't hear any responses to that, so I lifted my head a bit to see him looking at me with those light eyes of his, "What?" I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Nothing," he quickly answered, and cleared his throat in an attempt to change the subject, "Just promise not to die on us anytime soon."

I laughed and laid my head against his shoulder, "Don't worry, that's not on my to-do list. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

His chin slowly and cautiously lowered itself on top of my head before he relaxed when I didn't move away, "You better not."