Disclaimer & Warnings:
I do not own the Turtles, as much as I would love to.
Eventual romantic pairings include 'turtlecest': OCxDonnie; LeoxRaph.
Rated T currently for mild language; later chapters will be rated M for adult content.
Summary:
Splinter brings home the daughter of his old friend to help cope with her mother's death. As she befriends each of the Turtles, they deal with their own awakening feelings for her... and possibly each other.
Chapter Twelve
"I'm not completely sure Raph wants company right now," Leo said quietly, leading her down past the training dojo.
She looked up at him hesitantly. "Maybe we shouldn't bother him? He seemed upset earlier."
"Yeah, I saw him stomp past me earlier. But trust me; he'd be even angrier if he was excluded from showing you around today."
She gestured helplessly. "I don't have to be entertained. I don't want him to feel like he has to do something."
Leo slowed his steps, giving her a serious glance. "Look. Sometimes, Raph gives mixed signals-,"
"Donnie mentioned that."
"-And even though he acts like he wants to be alone, he really doesn't."
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So, he's just one contradiction after another."
"Just be around him for a week or so. You'll pick up on his patterns soon enough." Leo leaned down, whispering conspiratorially. "If you want my opinion, he wants to act like a badass, but he's really a softie inside."
She giggled behind a hand.
"Not to say that he isn't a badass. He really can be," Leo added.
"I'll watch myself, then," she said, amused.
He pointed at the steel door in front of them. "He should be in there. I'll let you go in alone. If he saw me, he'd probably just blow up."
"Mikey said you guys fight a lot?"
Leo took a deep breath. "I'm his emotional punching bag, yes. And sometimes his actual punching bag. But that's only because I can take it." He smiled fondly at the door, eyes unfocused. "We were inseparable as children. And as teenagers… Well, we still are, in a way."
"Who's the softie now?" she grinned, and he blushed slightly, turning back to the hallway.
"Have fun," he called over his shoulder as he walked away.
She looked at the door, wondering if she should knock first. Hesitating, she finally banged her fist on the door a few times, then opened it. A radio was blaring, and she heard metal striking metal from beyond her immediate sight. She walked in and slammed the door behind her purposefully.
The music dimmed. "Whateva is it, I don't wanna talk to you," Raphael shouted over the radio.
"Sorry," Alex said, peeking around the corner. "I just wanted to sit with you for a bit. I'll go if you want."
"Oh. You," he grunted, looking up from where he was bent over a van's engine. He studied her for a moment, then shrugged. "Whateva you want."
"Hey, I like personal space as much as the next guy. If you want some peace, I'll leave."
"Nah." He kicked a wooden stool toward her. "'Sides, I wanna ask you somethin'."
"The answer is 42," she laughed, squatting on the stool.
"Wha'?"
"Reference from a novel. Sorry. Go ahead."
He rolled his eyes, burying his head in the engine again. He reached over his head to gesture back at the door vaguely. "So, whaddya think?"
"You guys have a sweet setup here," she said, grinning. "It's one hundred percent more awesome than my house. Although the library isn't really a library, per se. It needs some major straightening."
He lifted his head up enough to look at her, his expression amused. "Thanks. But I meant my brothas."
"Y-your brothers?"
"Yeah. Whaddya think of 'em?" He returned to the engine, but tilted his head to listen.
"You want to grill me on what I think of your brothers?" she laughed, leaning forward to put her elbows on her knees, resting her chin in her hands.
"Ch'yeah," Raph snorted.
She smiled. "Well. Mikey is… well…" she paused, thinking.
"Good in small doses?"
She put her hands over her face, giggling. "Kinda. He's very sweet. And earnest. He has a childlike wonder that he will never lose."
He worked in silence for a moment, then looked over at her. "And?"
She shrugged. "And I think he uses humour as a defense mechanism."
"Say what?"
"He uses jokes to mask how he's really feeling," she explained. "He's kinda down right now."
Raphael smiled at her, and she blinked in surprise. "Pretty astute." He ducked his head again.
"Leo reminds me of my mother," she said, putting her chin back in her hands as she watched him.
"Huh? How?"
"Wise, but too concerned with how he conducts himself."
Raphael leaned his head back and laughed. "You got that right, sista."
She scooted her stool closer to him and lowered her voice. "Don't tell him what I'm about to tell you."
"My lips are sealed." He gave her a malicious grin.
"I understand the value of wisdom," she said slowly, "but the wise people I've known are also constrained by what they know. It's like they also have this instinctive drive to be perfect. They need to be needed. They place their personal value in other people's hands. For all their wisdom, they can't see who they really are. It's the 'can't see the forest for the trees' idea." She looked up at him, her eyes sad. "My mother was just like that."
Raphael's grin faded as he listened. He sat back in his chair, staring at Alex with renewed interest. "Don't take offense, but you're smarter than you look."
It was Alex's turn to burst out laughing, and Raph looked a bit nervous until she shook her head through the last of her giggles. "I love how honest you are, Raphael. It's refreshing."
"Usually pisses people off," he said, slightly confused.
"It's a rare quality these days," she smiled. "Although you could probably do with a filter between your thoughts and your mouth sometimes."
"Probably," he admitted, smiling back.
She chuckled one more time, then shifted to lean against the van's bumper.
"So, I saw you getting cuddly with our genius earlier," he ventured, raising an eyebrow at her.
She shuddered. "That was a horrific sound the generator made. Scared the crap outta me."
"Me too, almost fell off the couch." He shot a quick glance at her. "So that's what happened?"
She smiled, remembering. "Yes, then he was so absorbed by it actually working, we just stood there." Her smile grew. "He has… Has…" She bent over to look at the engine, at a loss for words.
"He has a few screws loose, if you ask me," Raph said, his voice teasing.
"All brilliant people do," she said fondly.
"You think he's brilliant?"
"Could you build an Electromagnetic Pulse generator?"
"…No."
"I rest my case." She put her chin comfortably in her hands yet again, giving him a smug look.
Raphael just gave her a smile back. "No one is prouder of Don than me. I could never do what he does. I just like giving him a hard time."
"You know how I mentioned Mikey has a childlike wonder?"
Raph nodded.
"Take that and multiply it by ten. That's Donnie," she said happily. "There's such a sweet innocence there."
Raphael watched her curiously, until she looked up at him in question. "What?"
"Nothin'," he said, hiding his face behind the engine again.
"You don't agree?"
"I agree completely," he said, his voice so quiet she could barely hear him over the music.
"And then there's you," she said, and he jerked his eyes back to her face.
"No no, we ain't discussing me."
"Why not?"
"I don't wanna."
"Well I do."
Raphael gave her an irritated stare. "I don't need you to tell me who I am."
"I didn't want to," she said, giving him an identical glare.
He blinked at her. "Then what?"
She relaxed, dropping her glower and giving him another smile. "I like you, Raphael. That's all."
He flushed, unable to maintain his anger. "W-why?"
"You're honest. Direct. Matter of fact." She leaned forward, putting a hand on his shoulder shyly. "Raphael, my mother was a woman of no small means. She had people kissing her ass just to try to get handouts. As her daughter, I got the same treatment." Her emerald eyes flashed. "I had people I thought were my friends dump me when they realized I wouldn't buy shit for them. I had not one, but two guys date me for my mother's money. They broke my heart. People lie to me just to get what they want." She tightened her grip, pulling him closer. "But you aren't like that. At all." She squeezed his shoulder again, hard. "Do you know how much that means to me?"
"I do now," he replied softly.
"Good." She released her hold, leaning back to the bumper again. "That's what I wanted to say about you."
"Thanks," he mumbled, unsure of what else to say.
She combed a hand through her hair, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Okay, so tell me what you're doing to this van here."
"Just giving it a tune-up," he said quickly, happy to change the subject. "We haven't taken it out in a while; I just wanna make sure it's good to go."
"Ah, okay. I don't know anything about engines," she said. "If it's not too boring, tell me what you're checking on?"
"That ain't boring," he snorted. "I love cars. And motorcycles." He looked up at the hood of the van, eyes dreamy. "One day, I'm gonna own a motorcycle."
"I'm scared of motorcycles," she admitted.
"Hey, you ride with me when I get mine. You'll be completely safe," he said, winking at her. "You'll love it!"
"I dunno…."
"Promise me one ride, that's all. I'll change your mind!"
She hesitated, and he frowned at her, looking disappointed. She stared back and neither moved for a full minute.
"Okay, okay. I promise." She threw her hands in the air in defeat. "Just one. A short ride."
"Whateva you say," he said slyly, then pointed at a block on the engine. "Okay, this is the carburetor here…"
Raphael was so engrossed in his lesson that he and Alex were startled when Mikey burst into the garage, asking if they were ever going to come for lunch.
[Author's Note]
Whew, last of the four chapters involving intense Alex and Turtle bonding time. Now the plot can move forward. :P
Also, I wanted to mention, if you haven't noticed, this story is set a year or so before the 2007 TMNT movie. In my mind, there's a gap between the Turtles III movie and the '07 TMNT movie, and floating in that time period is this story. No, I do not watch any of the non-original Turtles cartoons, so if there is story already established in that time period, I'm ignorant of it. Inconsistencies in my story related to the published world is due to my own lack of knowledge of the "new" Turtles.
