I don't own the TMNT

A/N: Let us all give a give thanks and oorah to the incredible Lexifer666 for her superb beta reading skills! (and for putting up with me, of course!) Hope that you like the chapter!

Also, THANK YOU to everyone who supported me the last few weeks! And to all the reviewers! They are so appreciated!

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I was operating in a state of slight panic for the rest of the day, hence the reason for my full on sprint across the rooftops right now.

It all started out fine, I sent her a text, once again she miraculously responded. We even made plans for another dinner date. Fuck yeah. What an awesome response. I was ecstatic.

Only she didn't answer my next text.

Not only that, but my text got kicked back with a message that said that her phone was no longer receiving messages. I tried again. And again, and again and again. For a few hours. More of the same. Finally, I broke the unspoken rule and tried to give her a call. It went straight to voice mail. I hung up without leaving one, unsure what to do.

Everyone noticed my tension, apparently. They all inquired about it, being gently curious, caring, wanting to know what was troubling their little baby brother. Only Raph seemed to have a true idea of what it was. Angrily he yanked me aside at the earliest opportunity.

"What did she do to you?" He practically snarled the words. I could hear the menace in him.

I was so shaken by her direct lack of contact that I didn't handle it with the flawless aplomb that I usually do. I just shrugged and told the truth. I had no idea.

Such a bad idea. It put him on a hair trigger for the rest of the day. He seemed just as itchy to get out once night fell, though his reasons probably had more to do with kicking Jack's ass. For once I wasn't sure how to deal with it, partly because I had no idea what was going on. I don't remember the last time that I felt so out of control of the emotions of my family. Normally I can play their tune pretty well.

Turns out that particular problem solved itself. Leo said something innocent that didn't come out that way, and with Raph's mood the way it was, it didn't surprise me how he went straight to blows. Needless to say, Raph was grounded, at least for the night. With Splinter doing his weird 'fear of empty nest' thing, he was actually a lot better at actually enforcing it than he had been in the past.

But even I found it difficult to behave in my normal-ish manner for the rest of the day. The worry ate at me. I barely dodged Splinter's inquiring questions unscathed, but it was all for the best. By the time night settled securely over the streets of New York, I was still in everyone's good graces (except for Raph, of course) and at the first opportunity I bolted.

I normally ran to her place when I visited her. I couldn't help it, I was always so excited at the prospect of seeing her, but a healthy dose of fear was a real speed booster. I made the route in half the time.

Things went from bad to worse when I got to her apartment and found the lights off. It was almost as if my heart crept in my throat as I scrambled to the window, only to find a sticky note barely clinging to it. On it was a simple, scrawled message.

'Meet me where I tied you up. Take the note with you.'

The first sensation was swamping relief. She was alright. My knees were almost weak with the knowledge. Then a new fear crept in. Why did she leave the note? Why did she seal off her phone? Why didn't she want me in her apartment anymore? Maybe she changed her mind. Maybe she didn't want to see me after all. Maybe she realized that I was a giant mutated freak and wanted me to go away. Maybe she was going to tell me to never see her again. Maybe she-

Snap out of it, Mike! You're not going to find out anything else sitting at her fire escape, guessing. For a second I considered picking the lock (and Don thinks that I don't pay attention!) but decided against it. Still, I had to take a full, deep breath before I could steady myself enough to step away from the window and slowly make my way across the rooftops once more.

Of course I knew where she was talking about. My last night of stalking, which ended up with me getting my head caved in, where she rescued me. The empty, furnished apartment where she fended off Karai and the Foot Clan.

For the first time it occurred to me that this might be a trap. The thought stole all the heat from my heart, plummeting it into the icy depths. Was this all a ploy by Karai, and maybe the not-dead Shredder to capture me? Maybe use me as bait for my brothers or something? If that was the case, they had her. My body quivered at the thought. If they had her, she'd fight back. Hard. They would probably treat her rougher than they should because of it. They might hurt her.

I realized that I was already moving. No, not moving. I was flying. Flying to the rescue. I palmed my phone on the way, briefly considering calling my brothers. But the apartment in question was almost on the opposite side of the city, even if they tore through the rooftops it might take them half an hour to get there. And it might not be a trap. I still wasn't sure how she felt about meeting them, so I decided to hold off. I would scout out the situation first.

After half an hour of surveying the area, I determined that at least the outside of the building was clear. Entering the apartment was more tricky. It took me another fifteen minutes to do it in a way that would avoid all detection.

No Foot, no Karai. Only sweet Jack.

I was stealthy enough in my approach that she didn't see me coming. I was even able to be completely silent when I picked the lock on the adjacent room, going through the joining door. She was pacing, her arms tightly crossed, head bent down slightly, brow furrowed with angry worry. Every time she stopped, her leg would bounce in agitation. Nervous anxiety.

For a second I could only watch her. For one thing, even when she was as happy as a caged tigress with a thorn in her paw she was beautiful. Radiant. Stunning. But also, I didn't want to break the spell, the unknown that had been plaguing me all day. If I said something to her now, she might tell me to get lost and never see her again. Dare I risk it? That weird fear kept me rooted to the spot.

Then she turned and somehow saw me standing in the bedroom doorway. She jumped about a foot in the air. "FUCK!" shaking herself, she smoothed over her ponytail and glared at me. "You scared the shit out of me, Mike! Don't do that!"

I gave her a tremulous smile. "Sorry. It's a ninja thing, I guess."

Something in her relaxed and her face blossomed into a freakishly beautiful smile that warmed my soul. Surely she couldn't smile at me like that if she was going to 'break up' with the turtle who was pretending to be her boyfriend, right?

Sure enough, she looked down with an expression of worried guilt. "Sorry about cutting you off, Mike. I had to be sure that they wouldn't track you."

Something new spiked within me. "What? Who?"

Turning on her heel, she resumed her pacing. "The government. The FBI. The fucking NSA for all I know. That email I got a couple weeks ago? The one from the cryptozoologist? Well, he showed up. And he's working with the fucking FBI. Some source told him that I was lying through my teeth about you guys, and for some fucking reason he's zeroed me out. Going to 'interview' me in six days to see what I know about you guys, then he's going to open a more thorough investigation through me or some shit."

She looked up at me, her eyes meeting mine before she crossed the room and touched my hand. The motion seemed to sear into my flesh. Other than her grabbing my face the other night, this was the first time that she had purposely touched me. My hand worked on its own accord as it intertwined a few fingers with hers. It felt marvelously romantic. My first hand holding! I stifled the urge to giggle.

Wait…Mike, focus. The cryptozoologist. The government.

Sigh…

She hardly seemed to notice that I had her hand. Instead she was deadly serious. "I didn't want to risk the NSA tracing your texts to your location. I don't know if they've been in my apartment or not, and not a lot of people know the significance of this empty apartment, so I thought that it would be safe enough to talk without risk of being bugged or some shit."

Everything she said made such perfect sense. Relief washed over me like warm water. Yeah, the government was on our trail, sent an agent specializing in 'imaginary' animals to investigate us, but she wasn't breaking up with me! It was all I could do to suppress my grin. Somehow I didn't think she'd appreciate it, given the current situation.

She must've seen it anyway. Somehow. Yeesh, how does she see those things? She glowered. "Are you fucking happy? Are you high?"

I couldn't help it. A snort of laughter escaped. "Am I what?" Grinning, I allowed my eyes to close halfway, mimicking the look of buzzed people I've seen. "Duuuuuuuude, why would you say that?"

Sharp and intense, her eyes searched mine for an instant before giving me an unladylike snort. A grin slashed her face. "Fuck, Mike. Here I am all anxious, and you make me fucking laugh. I don't know how you do it."

My grin widened. "It's a gift! One I gladly bestow upon you!" Then my face dropped slightly as the moment of levity came to an end. "But seriously…that's a lot."

She growled in a very Raph-like manner before plopping herself on the bed, fingering the threadbare comforter.

I couldn't help but stare. Her leaning, her back arched slightly backwards so that she was almost hunched over, her eyes contemplative as they stared into the distance. Her loose t-shirt was worse than it would have been if it were skin tight. Now it hinted at the curvature of her spine, her breasts beneath the fabric and her taught stomach.

It would have been a beautiful moment if the subject being discussed wasn't so damned serious.

Blowing air out of her lips, she looked pointedly away. "There's only one solution I can see here. We have to break all contact."

The same feeling that I had earlier returned with a vengeance, only now it was worse because it had been spoken aloud by her. My gut plummeted into the depths of my soul and my mouth hung open. Furiously my mind worked. Logically, what she said made sense. After all, they were using her as the link to us.

But I couldn't do it.

There had to be another way.

Frantically my thoughts struggled to connect themselves. I needed to find a logical reason, one that she would go along with. Instinctively I knew that relying on feelings wouldn't work on her. "But we don't have to do that!" Still, I mentally scrambled.

She gave me a look that was almost angry. "Of course we do. We probably never should've started this shit in the first place. It was one big mistake."

She was emotional, I could tell. She didn't mean all of what she said, but still it all made me scared. I licked my lips. "No, it wasn't and you know it." Then my mind seized on an idea. I tried to formulate my words carefully. "And even if we do have to break contact, now would be too soon."

Her gaze sharpened. "Why the fuck would you say that? The fucking government is after you guys!"

Giving her a lopsided grin, I shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "It isn't the first time." It was her turn to look surprised. I held up my hand to ward of questions. The last thing I wanted to do was to go down that road with her mood the way it was. "It's a couple of long stories. I'll fill you in later. But, this time is different from any other time, because we've got someone on the inside. Normally we have to guess or try to track down the information ourselves. Wouldn't you be able to tell us what they're planning? How they found out? Who their informant was?"

Part of me felt like I was grasping at straws. Another part felt that this was an actual viable course. The only part that mattered, though, was that she looked like she was seriously contemplating it. Did she look relieved? That sent a little glimmer of hope through me. Maybe she never wanted to break up with me! It was just the situation! I tampered down my sudden surge of glee with a strong hand. Not the time. Not while she was mulling it over.

A decision clearly set, she looked at me, taking a deep, somewhat shaky breath. "Alright, that makes sense, I guess." Again I resisted the urge to do a little dance. "But I think that I will have to meet your family, if that's the plan. From all that you've told me about them, it would probably be necessary."

For some reason that put a damper on my glee. Not that what she said didn't make sense. It would just keep my relationship with Jack from being our little secret. True, Raph knew, but that was different than the entire family. I actually felt real trepidation when I tried to picture Splinter's reaction. He was so against us growing up and apart from the family, and he would see how I felt about Jack in an instant. What would he do? Would he forbid the relationship? What would I do if he did that? It wouldn't matter how old I was. Not only was I the 'baby' of the family, but Splinter didn't see that side, I think he refused to. And how would Leo and Don react? Leo would likely take Splinter's side, though to be honest I wasn't quite sure about his reaction. Don might be resentful, with all the distancing April was doing to us. We haven't even seen her or Casey in two months, and hadn't heard from them in over three weeks. Even then she'd called Raph, not Don, which in turn made him angry, moody and depressed all at once. And I already knew how Raph felt about it, a mixture of over-protectiveness with his own little sprinkle of attraction towards Jack.

Why did this have to be so complicated?

But I looked at Jack with a wide smile on my face. "Of course, you're right. Is there any time that would be good for you?"

Her slender shoulders rolled in a ridiculously sensual shrug. "The sooner the better, I guess."

Hesitating slightly, I crossed the distance and sat next to her. It felt wrong to be standing over her, but of course that was only my own pathetic excuse. I just wanted to be closer to her. She looked at me curiously. After all, I was only a scant six inches from her. We'd sat this close together on the couch before, but the fact that this was a bed seemed to make it freakishly more intimate. For a second I thought she'd either move or tell me to get lost, but instead she just looked ahead once more.

"No more talking by phone, though. I don't want to risk them tracking you. And no more in my apartment. How the fuck will we even communicate?"

Feeling slightly daring at my success, I risked nudging her arm. We needed to release some of the tension here or she'd start to feel worse. Maybe plucking at her would help. "Leave that to me toots. A ninja has his ways."

"Toots?!" A fist swung around and plowed into my plastron. It wasn't hard, even for her I was sure. More playful than anything. Even if she did put in her full strength, my chest was too strong to be injured by human fists, or even a lot of blunt objects and low caliber bullets.

Groaning pitifully, I clutched my chest and collapsed shell-down onto the mattress. "My heart! Ack! I am wounded!"

Something akin to worry crossed her face as she scooted fully on the bed, sitting on her feet as she leaned over me, her eyes searching my face. "You're just being an asshole right now, right?"

For a long moment I didn't answer. I was transfixed by the sight of her leaning over me like that, her hair hanging past her face, framing it. Somehow it made her eyes almost glow in the dim light. A slow smile spread on my face as I took it in. My heart...

Perhaps she realized the more serious mood, because she backed away quickly, though not fully. Instead, she stayed sitting where she was, looking off in the distance, chewing on her lip. Again, the sight of her silhouetted by the moonlight was breathtaking.

I was going to have lots of material for my sketchbook tonight.

"What are you thinking?" I asked her before I even had a chance to consider it, something that was happening more and more often with her.

Turning, she looked at me, surprised. "What?"

Something told me to push. That it was the right time. "What are you thinking?" I asked, my voice low, gentle.

Blinking, she just looked at me for a long second, then looked away, shrugging slightly. "I, I don't really know anymore." She hesitated, as if she couldn't decide if she should continue or not. Luckily my side won out. "I've been so confused. This seems so stupid, I'm taking fucking risks that I probably shouldn't. I'm putting you and your family at risk."

Everything seemed so deliciously intimate. Not in a physical sense, but on a deeper one. Still lying down, allowing her to be physically higher than me, I moved my hand and brushed her soft skin with my rough fingertips. The difference was so pronounced, yet seemed to meld. It was perfect. My heart welled tight. "It's a risk that we're sharing, isn't it?"

She looked down at my hand over hers, then gently removed it. For an instant I felt bereft at the lack of contact. Then she lifted her hand and looked at it, as if it had changed after I touched it. "What the fuck are we doing, Mike?"

I could hear the indecision, the confusion, and maybe an edge of fear in her voice. As much as I wanted to push more, to hear more, I knew it was time to wind it down. Taking a deep, slightly shaky breath, I smiled at her. "We're helping each other, Jack. It'll be alright." Reluctantly, I heaved myself to a sitting position once more. The action seemed to break the intimate conversation that we were having. It seemed to make my very heart quiver. After another deep breath, I got to my feet. "How about we all meet tomorrow? Everyone?"

For a second I thought that she would push her question again. I could tell that she wanted to, even if it wasn't really for the best right now. Instead, she shook herself slightly. "But you can't text me. How will I know where to go?"

I smiled warmly at her and dared to reach over and grab her shoulder, giving the warm flesh a slight squeeze before letting go. "Just leave that to me." I widened my grin and gave her a wink. "A ninja has his ways."

Returning my smile, she stood and looked up at me. "You're fucking unbelievable, you know that? This whole thing is fucking unbelievable."

Pursing my lips in what I hoped was a very male-modelish manner, I flexed my biceps and gave one a kiss. "I am pretty unbelievable alright!"

Laughing, she punched me lightly in the shoulder. "Asshole."

My grin widened. "Yes, but I'm your asshole."

I immediately regretted it when I spoke it. After all, it implied a relationship that she might not agree with. Instead, she just shook her head with a smile. "That statement is wrong on so many fucking levels."

As much as I wanted to, I didn't push for her meaning behind that. Was my implying our having a deeper relationship the wrong part? Or something else? It would probably bug me to no end, but so be it. I looked at her. She seemed confused to the point that something in her was shaken, but overall in a better mood than when I had come.

Compared to our time in the room, our parting was rather lackluster. Partly because of the thoughts raging in both our heads. But it was cordial and friendly.

Friendly. Not the way I'd like to describe it.

Part of me felt guilty for doing this. After all, I had no business meddling in her life. Especially with a relationship like the one I wanted. She deserved a human, after all. Not some mutated freak.

Yeesh, I'm starting to sound like Raph.

Not that he didn't have a very viable point, of course.

But I couldn't dwell on that too much. Otherwise I'd turn into a brooding, temperamental grouch, and nobody wanted that to happen.

When I got home the tension between my brothers hadn't declined at all. In fact, it might've gotten worse. Leo and Raph were glaring visions of death at each other. When Raph rounded that gaze on me, I couldn't help but wince. He wanted to know what happened. I was hesitant to say in his current mood. Don had locked himself in the lab. Splinter seemed willing to allow all of this to happen. Maybe it was because it was another day where he was sure that everyone was going stay under one roof together with him, I don't know.

I hesitated as I surveyed my family. With everything so tumultuous, was now really the time to tell them about Jack and the FBI thing? If I had to pick a time to deal some emotional news that was sure to set off some fireworks, this wouldn't be my first choice by far. Indecision warred within me. I wanted them to take the news of Jack in the most favorable light possible.

Maybe I should just wait until the morning.

After all, we've been pursued by Bishop and such before. Surely one night wouldn't hurt, right? And maybe all their tempers will have cooled off by then, so when I tell them the news, they won't immediately jump to the worst-case-scenario.

The more I thought about it the better it seemed. Yes. It should be fine. Sighing with relief, I made my way over to my room. After all I had several images in my head that were just dying to get on paper. In another hour or so, if Jack kept her usual routine, she should be getting ready for bed. That would be the perfect time to plant the messages for her. I was confident that if her room was bugged, I'd recognize them. Again another thing that Don didn't realize I actually paid attention to.

Things were all falling into place. I even felt like I got further with Jack tonight.

What could go wrong?

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A/N: So what did you think? Romance can be so hard! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! They ARE such an inspiration! *hint hint wink wink*

Oh, yes. For those of you waiting for my Donatello fic, I am just proofreading the chapter and should have it out by tomorrow!

PS: THE TMNT FANFIC COMPETITION IS HERE! It is hosted by the TMNT fanfic website stealthystories. The link can be found on my profile. All the dates for nominations and the rules can be found on that site. It has been wicked fun in the past, we've been hosting it there for about ten years. Check it out! Hopefully you decide to participate! The more, the merrier!