Disclaimer: Don't, wish, Gwen's mine.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay folks! But thanks for the reviews that kept coming in! Woo! I've been happy reading those. Anyways...sadly I fear my beloved story only has about two or three chapters left to it. :( But fear not! I've got plans in the works for TWO more Gwen and Mikey stories! WOOHOO!! Anyways, this is a unique chapter in that the end has a Point Of View from the Brainiac Turtle...Donatello! YAY!! So enjoy everyone! And remember to keep those reviews rolling in!
Chapter Ten:: "Not my boyfriend"
::Gwen's POV::'
When I woke up the next morning I looked around thinking I was still on the couch next to Mikey. How the Hell did I get upstairs and onto the futon? The last thing I actually remembered was being curled up against Mikey watching "Lethal Weapon" and then…well…I could have sworn it was a dream but maybe it wasn't. I thought he picked me up and brought me upstairs and then kissed me…I thought maybe even told me he loved me. I was still too tired to try and figure it all out though. All I wanted was to get up, go for my morning jog, and then eat breakfast. I had thought about going grocery shopping too, but quickly knocked that thought out of my head. We had enough to get by a few more days, or at least until my next paycheck.
Getting up, I shuffled down the stairs, expecting to see Mikey making breakfast already. Giving a small smile, I walked in and stopped. The kitchen was empty and looked like it had been for quite a while. Must not have been awake yet, yeah, that's what it was. Mikey was still knocked out on the couch. I moved from the kitchen to the living room in hopes of waking him up. He wasn't there either. Frowning, I began to search the lower levels of my house. Nothing, not even a note. I was starting to get a little concerned as I moved back up the stairs to get changed for my jog. He had to have been around there somewhere. I mean, a turtle that size doesn't just disappear—he wasn't like my Hermes was. One day Hermes was in the bathtub swimming, the next no one seemed to know where he went. I always had my suspicions though that my dad had thrown him out. He always hated my poor little turtle.
Digging through my dresser drawer, I found my jogging clothes and tossed them onto the futon. Moving to the closet, I pulled out my ratty old sneakers and a light weight jacket. I couldn't remember when it was I had finally taken up jogging, or at least, attempted to take it up. I would jog every day for awhile and then it turned to every other day…then every few days…every couple of weeks….a couple times a month….then it just became whenever I felt like doing that much movement early in the morning. So it didn't happen very often anymore. I moved back to my futon and grabbed my shirt.
"I'd wait 'till I got downstairs again to do that if I were you, dudette." I jumped when I heard the groggy voice above my head. Stepping back and looking up, I saw Mikey reach for his bandana that was hanging on the rail to my loft bed and then retie it around his head. So that's where he was! Putting hand over my heart, I smiled and shook my head.
"You scared the snot outta me!" I laughed, still smiling as he slowly made his way down the ladder. So it hadn't been a dream? He really did carry me up the stairs and put me to bed. I felt myself blush a little and smile just a little bit more as he turned to face me. He still looked so tired that I had to wonder how much sleep he had actually gotten the night before.
"Sorry…" he said softly, moving for the stairs. I knitted my eyebrows together and my smile was gone. What? No good morning, babe? I sighed and looked back at my jogging clothes. Something had changed with him again. I had thought for sure that I had gotten him back again. I suddenly didn't have the energy to go jogging that morning. Leaving my clothes where they were, I went back down stairs to talk to Mikey, or at least try to.
"I'm gonna go practice, I'll be back later." I heard him call as I got to the bottom step. So much for talking. I felt my shoulders slump along with my spirits as I went and sat down in the living room to watch him head off into the woods. I smiled a little as I saw Howie go bounding off after him and sighed wistfully. Picking up my phone, I quickly called the one person I could always talk to no matter what.
"Ugh…hello?"
"Angie?"
::Mikey's POV::
Ok, so I was bein' childish. I didn't care. I didn't want Gwen to have a boyfriend—well—at least not one who wasn't me. So what if that sounded selfish? It was true! I had thought maybe finally I'd found someone who saw past me bein' a turtle and saw me for who I was; Michelangelo a 21 year old guy who only wanted someone to love and be loved by—oh and uh, heh, eat pizza, skateboard, and have fun of course.
I ended up spending most of the rest of the day outta the house. I didn't wanna be there. Well, yeah, ok so I did, but…I didn't wanna see Gwen gettin' ready for her date and all. I knew if I was there, I woulda make both of us super uncomfortable and I didn't want that. So I stayed out in the woods and down by the creek all day. It was a nice day out, nice and warm which made for awesome swimming weather. The creek wasn't exactly big enough for me to swim in though, so I just sat on a rock and dangled my feet in it instead. I watched the fish come up and check my toes out and laughed as I swished them around to scare 'em off. I glanced over at one point and saw a rock start to move extremely slowly towards the water. At first I thought I'd finally lost my mind. No way could rocks move. Then I saw a head and four little limbs stickin' out of it. Wow was I slow.
I got up and headed over to the turtle. He was pretty big, well, for a normal turtle anyways. Definitely the slowest movin' relative I'd ever met. I smiled a little as I reached down to pick him up. The old guy slowly pulled his head back into his shell and started to bring his arms and legs in to.
"Don't worry, dude…I'm on your side. Trust me, I wish I could pull into my shell right now too. Ya headin' for the water? Yeah, I bet ya are. Wish I could go for a swim with ya." I said, looking down at the shell I held. He looked like he was pretty old, but I wasn't really too sure. Donnie woulda known. I sighed heavily as I set him down on the edge of the water.
"There ya go. From one turtle to another." I joked, giving a little smile as I moved back to my seat on the rock. Sittin' back down, I turned to watch him slowly poke his head back out, followed by his arms and legs, then slooooooooowly pull himself into the water. That had to be nice. Take your time gettin' there cuz ya know it's gonna be there. I was just about to look away when I saw him go zooming off through the water. Whoa! That little guy was quick in the water. I couldn't help but wonder if he had been Hermes, Gwen's old pet turtle.
I was sittin' there thinkin' about it for awhile before I heard some russlin' in the bushes near by. Gettin' up, I was about to go hide when Howie came runnin' out carryin' a piece of cloth in his mouth. I laughed a little as he came boundin' over to me lookin' proud of himself. That mutt was always findin' things out here in the woods and bringin' them over to me. I sat back down and held my hand out for it. When he got closer, I saw that it wasn't just a piece of cloth, well, I mean, it was but…it looked like part of a sleeve to a shirt…and it had blood on it. I gulped quiet and took the sleeve from him.
"Thanks dude…" I said softly, quickly scannin' the woods. That creepy dude had come back, I knew he had and suddenly my heart stopped. Howie and I were out there in the woods and Gwen was back at her house…alone. I seriously don't think I've ever run so fast in my life. It was gettin' closer to the time that she'd be leavin' on her date and I had to make sure she was still ok.
By the time I came bustin' through the backdoor, Gwen was standin' in her entryway lookin' out the front window. I skidded to a halt when I saw her. She'd tugged her hair up into a clip and had on a black tight T-shirt and well…niiiice lookin' black jeans. She really cleaned up nice. And it made me hate that Carson dude even more. I tried to play cool though when she turned and gave me a small smile.
"Hey, I was starting to think that you'd gotten lost or abducted by aliens or something." I frowned and shook my head as I moved towards her. She had even put make up on. Which yeah sure made her look a little nicer, but, well I didn't like it much. To me, she looked better without it. I got a bit closer to her and as I did I heard the car pull up. My heart started goin' a mile a minute and I really had to stop myself from takin' hold of her hand and not lettin' go.
"Oh uh…that's Carson, a um…a friend from work. We're gonna go for some drinks. I'll be back later."
"Oh…ok. Do you want me to make dinner for when you get back?"
"No, that's ok. I'll see you tomorrow Mikey." She said as she hurried out the door. I watched the door close and felt my shoulders fall. This was seriously unfair. I heard the car go squealin' off down the driveway and really wanted to throw one of my chucks against the door. Maybe I still had a chance though. Maybe they really were just friends from work. That still didn't make me feel much better about it all though. And what made me feel even worse was the nutso feelin' that that guy wasn't really right in the head. And I don't mean like Raph isn't right in the head, I mean like crazy stalker guy not right. I had to think of some way to tell Gwen how I felt. My dinner backfired so I couldn't try that again…but maybe…
My eyes widened and I smiled. Turning, I ran up the stairs and signed onto her computer. Thank God I just happened to know about Donnie's secrete bank account he had April open for him and I just happened to know all that personal stuff I needed to know in order to get things off line. I knew just what to get Gwen. One of the nights we'd been gettin' to know each other she mentioned that she had two favorite kinds of roses; Sterling roses which were thornless and these really bright pink ones that always smelled sooooo good. Maybe if I got her a dozen of each, then she'd forget about that Carson dude and go out with me! Yeah…that's what I was gonna do.
::Gwen's POV::
I have to admit, I was scared out of my mind getting into that car with Carson. When I got out there, there was a bouquet of red roses sitting on my seat…and not the cheap kind from Sampson's either, these were twelve long stem roses from a professional floral shop. I inwardly rolled my eyes when I saw them. I seriously hated just plain red roses…especially ones with the thorns still intact…like these were. What did he think this was, a date? Yeah right. I wouldn't have dated him if he were the last thing on the face of this planet. Harsh, I know, but true none the less.
While he was driving, and talking about anything and everything that popped into his head it seemed, my mind kept drifting back to Mikey and the conversation I'd had with Angela. I hadn't told her exactly everything about him but, I told her enough to try and get some advice about what to do about him. Though, she probably would have changed her advice had she have known he's a turtle, not a human. What she basically told me though was to just act like I always do and to not be afraid to approach him first. Yeah right, the last time I approached a guy first I ended up with my heart being ripped to shreds before my eyes. I wasn't about to go through that sort of pain again.
I hadn't even realized it when we got to the bar that we were there. I felt kinda dumb when he opened the door for me and I nearly fell out. Thank God for seatbelts, huh? I followed him inside and was nearly deafened by the noise and cheers that erupted once we entered the room. I had the very distinct feeling that Carson was a regular in that bar and for some reason that frightened me pretty good. And of course we sat at what I assumed was his regular table, right in front of the speakers and right next to all the drunks at the bar. Granted, yeah, I was twenty-two and all but, I had a very low tolerance for drunks.
"Hey Cars! Long time no see, buddy! Where ya been hiding?" One of the aforementioned drunks called from his perch on the bar stool. It was obvious he'd been there for awhile, either that or the man just couldn't hold his liquor because he nearly fell off his bar stool when he called out to Carson.
"Yeah! No kidding! No body 'round to buy us rounds anymore. 'Ey! 'Ey is that Gwen!?" Another one called. Oh boy did I have a bad feeling about this place. Not to mention an even worse feeling about Carson. Did I even dare to ask what he'd told these people about me? I glanced at Carson who was smiling brightly and my feeling of dread just worsened even more.
"Yup, this is Gwen. Didn't I tell you guys she was a beauty?" Never in my life did I feel sicker to my stomach than I did in that moment. Coming from any other guy I would have felt flattered and probably would have blushed, but this just weirded me out even more.
"Beauty?! Va-Va-Voom is more like it! Hey Sugar, how'd you get messed up with a loser like him, huh? What, did you lose a bet?"
"Yeah, really honey. Dump him and I can show ya a real good time. Hey Cars? How much it cost ya to take this one out? Babe, whatever he's payin' ya, I'll double." Even over the roar of the music I could hear their drunken remarks just as clear as if they were sitting next to me. Truthfully it was a good thing they weren't sitting next to me other wise I would have socked both of them in the mouth. I seriously felt so sick to my stomach right then. And I really wanted to kick Carson in the groin.
I tried to ignore all the drunken slurs coming from either direction of me, and really tried hard to ignore all the pick up lines and come on's from the idiots quickly surrounding us. A real gentleman would have put an end to all of the things being fired at me, but Carson just laughed and edged them on. Why did I ever agree to going out for a drink with him? I could have been at home watching movies with Howie or Mikey. The onslaught of comments continued to flood through my ears when suddenly I heard one voice I never wanted to hear again.
"Yeah sure…she looks good but trust me Carson…she's like a limp rag doll in bed." My eyes shot wide open as I heard jeers and cheers from around the table. Spinning my head around, I stared at the hazel green eyes of the devil himself. Ok so he wasn't quite the devil, but close enough in my opinion.
"Oh yeah, that's right, you two use to go out. What's happenin' Jake man?"
"Not much Carson, not much. So tell me…How often has she nagged you not to drink? Cuz that's all she ever did with me." I could feel my cheeks start to burn but it wasn't from embarrassment, it was from anger. I'd been sitting there for nearly an hour already putting up with everything those jerks had been saying, but I wasn't going to just sit there any longer and let the biggest idiot of them all berate me.
"She hasn't. She's a great girl."
"I haven't because I'm not your girlfriend. I never have been and I never will be. So I don't know where you got your delusions but you better drop them and quick or else I'll file sexual harassment on you so fast your head will spin." I finally spat out. The words left my mouth so quickly that I hardly had time to even think about them first. I saw the look of surprise in Carson's face before a fire erupted in them that reminded me of Jake in so many ways.
"Don't mind her, boys…she's just being modest. Plus, she's had a guy friend from out of town staying with her so…she must not be too right in the head right now."
"She never was right in the head, man. She's a crazy bitch. Honestly though, I don't see how she could possibly have a guy staying with her. She's one of the biggest prudes I've ever met. Ya know it took me nearly four months to finally get her to give me some?"
"Oh fuck off, Jake. I can't help it I have morals, ok?" I snipped before looking back at Carson once again. "And trust me; I've never been more in my right mind than I am right now. I am not, have not, will not be your girlfriend and Mikey has nothing to do with that decision."
I could see the fire increasing in Carson's eyes and my first thought was to run, run as far away as I could. Of course my mind ran faster than my feet which were at the moment frozen to the floor in fear. Gulping, I noticed that the roar of the bar had dampened some and all eyes had turned to us for the most part. Jake and Carson were starting to get a little too close to me for comfort and I was quickly beginning to feel as if my personal space was being violated.
"Who is this Mikey guy that's staying with you Gwen? Huh? Who is he?! Is he your boyfriend? An internet lover who moved in with you? Tell me!" Carson ordered through clentched teeth. I wasn't going to tell him shit! He didn't need to know about Mikey. And plus I wasn't sure what I could tell him.
"He's not my boyfriend. Just like you're not my boyfriend. He's just a friend passing through. A friend who I never should have left in the first place." I answered. Getting up, I quickly headed for the door and hailed a cab. Thank God he'd taken me into a town that actually had cabs other wise I would have been royally screwed. I knew I had to get out of there and quick. My only hope was this cabby was faster than Carson…and that Mikey was still at home in case Carson wanted to start any trouble.
::Donnie's POV::
It'd been well over a month since Michelangelo's disappearance. Boy was Master Splinter upset when he found out. Leo thought for sure he was going to disown us and toss us out into the city. It's kind of funny really, to think that our so-called "Fearless Leader" could be so scared of not having Master Splinter's blessings anymore. Normally it would have been Mikey who was scared of Sensei's wrath. After a few hours of meditation though, Splinter seemed to mellow out and even told us that "Before a chick can learn to fly on their own, it must first leave its nest behind." That didn't really help Raph cool down any; in fact he still wanted to strangle Mikey once he got back. Though it was starting to look as though he never would.
We had searched the lair, sewers, even the entire city trying to find him after he left. All the luck we managed to get was he'd gone to the bus station. The only way we found that out though was because I'd been able to hack into security video and saw him. We just couldn't find out where he went from there. He'd managed to get past all of my security cameras somehow and even managed to trick a motion camera into looking the opposite way as he climbed up a manhole. I smiled at that thought as I shook my head. The kid was a lot smarter than we ever gave him credit for.
Knowing that he'd been able to out smart my security system could have been why I wasn't too worried about his safety. Leo and Raph on the other hand though. Leo would spend hours every night out searching the city in hopes of finding Mikey. It was starting to take its toll on the poor guy. After all, we'd never even gotten so much as an email from him saying he's ok. Then again he probably knew if he had, I would have tracked him and Leo and Raphael would have come after him in a heart beat. And Raph, oy was he starting to get annoying. Constantly pacing the lair and sewers, and mumbling under his breath how he was going to kill Mike. But I knew the truth. I'd seen him on more than one occasion go into Mikey's room, crawl up onto his loft bed and just sit there staring off into space.
It's not that I hadn't done everything I could think of to try and track Michelangelo, because I had. I tried tracing his shell-cell only I couldn't get his signal since he had it turned off. I even tried infrared heat sensors to pick up remnants of his footprints on the streets. Nothing. I had finally pretty much given up. I knew that if Mike wanted us to find him, he'd get a hold of us somehow. Where ever he was, he must have been having a really good time. Of course, I forced myself not to think about the alternative reason for him not contacting us.
I'd been sitting in my lab working on some new gadgets for the Turtle Van and had my computer on to listen to some music. I was enjoying the sounds of Journey and singing along to 'Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore' when I heard the beep beep of a new email coming through. Sighing, I set the gadget down, minimized my music player and opened my email. I had been expecting to see something from the computer service I had been working for, a newsletter or something of that sort; instead I saw a notice from my bank about a new purchase. When I had April set the account up for me, I made sure to have her get the feature to alert me when money was put into or taken out of it for whatever reason. A bit confused, I opened it and sure enough the statement said that I had charged eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents to my account. My eyes went wide and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that. Eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents!? And on what? FLOWERS! I didn't order any flo…I suddenly stopped.
Only two other people knew my information, April and Mikey. And April had her own credit card so why would she need mine? This had to be the work of Mikey. It HAD to be! I quickly grabbed my hands-free phone and slipped it on. Looking up the florist online, I dialed their number and waited for an answer.
"Prescott Brothers Floral, this is Joey, how can I help you?"
"Hi, my name's Don…I had my brother place an order for two dozen roses for me just a little while ago. I just wanted to make sure he got the address to send them to right. Uh…he probably actually placed the order under his name…either under Mikey or just Mike." I said, hoping the guy on the other end wouldn't question me too badly. I heard some clicking on the other end and then silence for a minute before Joey started talking again.
"Uhh…two dozen roses were ordered by an…looks like Angelo…first name Michael. That him?" I snickered a little and nodded even though the man on the other end couldn't see me.
"Yeah, that's him. Could you just read me off the name and address for their delivery. They're for a very dear friend of mine and I want to make sure he got it right."
"No problem Don. They're being delivered to a Ms. Guenevere Masterson at 7789 Plowman Road Wenona, IL. That sound right to you?" I quickly scribbled it all down and nodded again.
"7789 Plowman Road, Wenona, IL…yup, that sure sounds about right. Thank you." I quickly hung up with him before tossing my headset and running into the dojo. Leo and Raph had been sparring most of the morning and when I barged in, they stopped out of surprise.
"I found him!!!"
