I know it's been about a month since I last updated, but here is another chapter that will help move things along. Please review when you're finished reading! 3

Chapter Thirteen

The following day was rather quiet around the lair. Raphael did not wake early to go and train in the dojo, Michelangelo did not dash to the living room in order to watch his favourite cartoon. Instead of immediately going to his computer station when he woke, Donatello picked up a book that he had been reading and quietly made his way to the armchair in the living room while Leonardo slept in far later than he normally would and didn't appear to his brothers until well after ten o'clock. The normal patterns of behaviour for the four brothers had been disrupted by the presence of the young woman who continued to sleep soundly on their couch, snuggled tightly against the blanket that kept out the chill of the sewers. And though they were all awake, it seemed that each of them was strangely content to do something different with their time that would make as little noise as possible. None of them wanted to be the one that woke her.

Food was quietly taken from the kitchen during the early hours of the morning as they tip-toed around her, constantly coming into the area with one excuse or another so that they could check up on her and see that she was still breathing. Raph and Leo were by far the worst though, Donatello observed from his chair as he peered over the top of his book as their comings and goings. It seemed that almost every hour, despite the fact that he was sitting in the room and keeping an eye on her himself, they were sneaking by to look over the back of the couch, pausing long enough to see the gentle rise and fall of her body with each intake of air. Only then were they satisfied for a short while and continued on their way, only to repeat the process again several times throughout the morning.

And though he wished to comment, Donatello just rolled his eyes and returned to his book.

Finally, at almost two in the afternoon, she began to stir. Her gentle moan was what alerted the purple masked turtle to her conscious state and forced his eyes away from the pages of his book, but he was more than happy to put it aside so that he could lean forward and rest his elbows against his thighs as he watched her wake. She already looked noticeably better, he thought. The bruises on her face had lightened up considerably since the night before, and the cuts that she had been forced to bear looked almost to have scabbed over already. The process was a little too quick for his liking, but he could only assume that it was something else that made the young woman rather unique. He had completely forgotten about her semi-naked state until the blanket slipped from her shoulder and exposed the flesh of her stomach to his eyes, which made Donatello turn his head away in order to preserve a little modesty for her.

"How do you feel?" he asked her quietly, not wanting to startle her or yet alert the others that she was awake.

"Better," she told him, slowly pushing her body into a seated position as she rubbed at her neck with her good hand. "Though I'm feeling really stiff from being on one side all night."

Donatello nodded in understanding. "You look better," he commented, slowly turning his eyes back to her when he saw her shift the blanket around her skin again. "Do you normally heal quickly?"

"For the most part," Destiny said with a small nod of her own. "My ability to heal comes from my own health and energy levels. I can't really heal myself, per-say, but I seem to have a much easier time at it than your average human being."

"But you can heal other people?"

"As long as they're not already dead," she added in a lower tone of voice. "Once they're gone, I can't do anything to help them. But the night that Leo and I met, I was strong enough to make keep him from dying."

"Dying?"

Lifting her head, Destiny blinked at the olive green turtle in confusion. But then came a moment of understanding. Leo hadn't told him about the night that they had met, of course. Why would he when he had spent all of his time up until that point trying to find her and stop her? And considering the situation she had walked into with all four of the brothers seemingly having a connection to her, it wasn't much of a shock to hear the question and the slight twang of fear that crept into Donatello's words.

"It's a long story," she said dismissively, not wanting to worry him over the past. "There was some trouble the night that I met Leo, and when things got worse I knew I couldn't leave him. I guess that's where this whole mess started."

Or at least, where things really started to move forward, she reminded herself. Her calls to Don had happened long before she had met Leonardo, and there was something about Raphael that made her feel a little strange…like he was familiar to her in some way. In reality she knew that meant that Mikey had been the last brother to come into her life, but that only confused her a little more as she continued to think about it. Then again, there had to be some kind of reason for their paths to have crossed, right? Because if the world were a perfect place then neither of them would have existed to begin with, and so this would never have happened.

But in a perfect world, Destiny would have been left to live and long and happy life with her family.

The brunette gave her head a little bit of a shake when she realized that Don was studying her face rather intently, and offered him a small smile to try and set his mind at ease. "It all worked itself out," she assured him. "There's nothing to worry about."

He didn't look entirely convinced, but nor did he continue to pursue the issue, for which Destiny was rather grateful. In her groggy state of mind she was still dealing with a vast amount of discomfort in her body that kept making it harder for her to move, even just to shift her weight back and forth between her hips. At least her face didn't hurt so badly though. Hun had smacked her pretty good the night before, and she had expected to be feeling it when she woke up. Maybe that was one of the first things to start healing. Not that she minded at all, but she would much rather have dealt with the cuts and bruises from the night before than the dislocated shoulder and burning ache that still had control of her left side.

It seemed that the two of them were thinking along the same lines, however, as that was the moment that Donatello rose from his chair and slowly crossed the distance until he was able to kneel down before her, his eyes looking up at her face for silent permission. With a small nod of her head, Destiny released the hold that she had on the blanket covering her upper body and watched as he gently moved it aside to begin examining the bandage. It had been a good thing that Leo had changed it sometime early that morning when they had spoken, because again she could see touches of red seeping through to the other side to demonstrate just how nasty this injury had become. A shiver shot up her spine and caused the girl to straighten a little from the chill, earning her a sheepish look from Donatello.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"It's alright," she responded slowly as her body sank back into a more relaxed state. "It's just cold, that's all."

Nodding in understanding, Don shifted back on his heels a little and picked up the little box of medical supplies that he had already put together for the moment that she woke, having opted not to produce the much larger one for fear of startling her further. Last night that equipment had been necessary, but today he was simply checking up on things and changing her bandages. There was no need for the monstrous kit he kept within the lair for other emergencies.

His fingers moved smoothly and quickly against her skin to remove the soiled gauze and replace it with something fresh and sterile. And as soon as he was finished he lifted the edges of the blanket to wrap them around shoulders once more, regretting the fact that her injuries had ruined the shirt she had formerly been wearing and that they had nothing else they could provide for her. But they were turtles after all, and so the use of clothing, save for the trench coat, gloves and hat they seemed to be a favoured disguise for when they did go topside, was completely unnecessary for them. Never mind the fact that they were all certainly larger than she was, so anything they might have had would have drowned the poor girl in fabric as well.

"There," he announced as he finished tucking the blanket back around her. "All good, for now."

Destiny smiled at him. "Thanks, Don. I really appreciate it."

"Hey! You're awake!"

Both heads turned in time to see the smallest of the four turtles strolling into the room with his customary grin upon his face. Mikey seemed rather pleased to find her conscious now, though it felt like Donatello had given him some kind of look to make him drop his voice just a touch. Swarming her with turtles who were anxious for news on her well-being was perhaps not the wisest idea just yet.

He gave his older brother a slightly sheepish shrug of his shoulders before turning back to Destiny. "You look better," he commented.

"So I've heard," she replied, a smile forming on her lips once more.

"Man, it's been so weird around here today with you here," Mikey told her, leaping over the back of the couch to sit beside her. "Raph and Leo kept wandering back and forth to make sure you hadn't died on them in the middle of the night."

At this, Destiny glanced over toward Don, who was once again shooting his brother a look that desperately wanted him to stop speaking. "Really?"

Mikey nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, they've been super protective since Raph brought you home – almost like they'd compete with one another over who gets to keep you safe first or something."

The groan that sounded from the turtle behind her was all that she needed to hear to realize that there was something else going on without her knowledge, and that idea didn't sit well in the pit of her stomach. But rather than question it now she knew that she needed to sit and observe a little longer to truly get to the bottom of things. And so she turned to look at Michelangelo, letting forth a laugh that was bright with energy in contrast to the way that she actually looked and felt at the moment.

"I think someone has an overactive imagination and a love of drama," she said, turning her head to wink at Donatello.

Her reaction seemed to help him relax a little, but the tension in his shoulders was still rather visible as he looked back and forth between the two to gauge the response from his brother. But Mikey was taking it all in stride, laughing along with her as if he were in on the joke. He leaned back on the couch and flung one arm along the back of it, watching as Destiny settled herself comfortably against the back to rest her body a little and release the strain she was placing on her side.

A glance in his direction assured the brunette that Donatello was still a little on edge over the comments that had been made, for reasons she didn't entirely understand. But addressing them with Michelangelo so close by was perhaps not a wise idea, and so the girl decided to let the matter drop for the time being. Still, she couldn't ignore the intense amount of anxiety that was radiating off of his body and poking at her mind. It was almost like taking the point of a fingernail and repeatedly pressing the same spot over and over again…and now it was actually beginning to hurt. Blinking a couple of times to try and clear her head she focused entirely on Donatello, giving him a gentle nudge with her mind until he lifted his head and their eyes met.

"You don't need to hover," she offered with a small smile. "I'll be fine if you go and take care of yourself for a little while."

He was about to protest when he saw the gentle tilt of her head and the look she shot back over her shoulder to silently shoo him away. But when he once again caught the smile on her lips he couldn't help but sigh softly and push himself up from the chair in which he had sat after finishing with her side. There wasn't a way for him to really argue with her, not when she was right. He knew that sitting around the living room watching her wasn't going to help either one of them, and so the only option was to do as suggested and just let the matter rest.

God, he just hoped that Mikey didn't say anything like that around Raph and Leo.

"I'll be around if you need me," he told her, looking down at her smaller form with a more serious gaze. "Just…reach out, okay?"

Destiny nodded, still wearing her smile. "You'll be the first to know. I promise."

With a small nod and a steady look toward his brother, Donatello finally removed himself from the room and wandered off to busy his hands with something else. It didn't take a genius to sense that something else had begun to plague his mind, though Destiny had not reached that far to read any of his thoughts. Yet another one of her little quirks, she thought to herself as her eyes watched him go. But the instant she sensed him disappear around the corner, the brunette rounded on Mikey and looked at him with a slightly narrowed gaze.

"Look, if you want to joke around me then fine," she started, turning her head quickly again to make sure they were not being overheard. "But apparently your chosen topic is a bit of an issue….so we should just keep it between us, okay?"

The youngest turtle shrugged, giving her a bit of a grin. "Dude, I'm not dumb enough to be the one to bring that up around the others," he assured her. "Raph would kick my shell before I knew what was going on."

There was a strange ease with the way that he talked about being beaten by his older and much bigger brother. And Destiny could only attribute it to the way that the four of them had been brought up. Down in the sewers of New York City they had had no one except for their sensei and one another for company, so she supposed it wasn't all that surprising that Michelangelo had been picked on a bit – though she felt like it wasn't only because of his size. If her last few encounters with him were even remotely close to his usual personality then she could see how that might eventually begin to wear thin on those who spent all of their time with him. Not that he was a bad guy by any means, but he was certainly unique among his brothers.

They all were, for that matter.

It hadn't escaped her noticed that each of them had demonstrated distinctly different personalities that only overlapped in a handful of places. Leonardo had proven rather early on to be a responsible figure who took his lifestyle very seriously, so much so that he had come to the surface with the intention of stopping a human vigilante from doing the very same work that he did. The intelligent one of the group was certainly Donatello, and he had proven that a long time before he had met in person with his natural gift for technology. And even now that she had been brought into their lair he was the one who had demonstrated the skills required to bandage her up and prevent any of her wounds from being infected. Even Michelangelo had his comic wit and sense of fun that really made him stand out, perhaps the purest of the four in some odd sense of the word. Only he seemed to be undisturbed with the fact that they had welcomed a human with unnatural abilities into their midst.

But it was the elusive Raphael who really made the young woman question things, for though she had seen a level of aggression displayed toward the Foot clan down on the docks she hadn't yet spent more than a few minutes in his company. She might have said that he was stubborn though, based on how their last conversation had gone. It might have been brief but he certainly hadn't been willing to let her navigate her way to the couch on her own. But that was about all that she had gotten from him, save for the odd lingering feeling that she knew him from somewhere else…

"You've been living down here for a while, huh?"

Mikey grinned, nodding enthusiastically. "For as long as any of us can remember, really. But Sensei says that we lived somewhere else before the mutagen started messing with our bodies."

Destiny frowned. "You guys were experimented on?"

Again, the turtle in orange nodded. "Something about finding a way to expand life or improve it or something. I don't know. I wasn't paying attention."

Well, that didn't sound overly surprising. If he had as short an attention span as she thought he did, he would likely keep up with today's average teenager. Beyond that it seemed that seriousness and responsibility were somewhat wasted on the younger turtle at this point in his life. But he had three older brothers to keep him in line, so it couldn't be that bad. At least he wouldn't have to grow up as quickly as she did.

"Does he always pick on you?" she asked.

"Raph? Yeah," Mikey nodded. "But sometimes I deserve it. Just don't tell Raph I said so- OWWW!"

"Don't tell me what, knucklehead?"

Well, he wasn't shy about announcing his arrival, she'd give him that. The smack had come out of nowhere, giving poor Michelangelo no time to defend himself before he felt the blow land and his body instantly reacted to it. But Raphael seemed rather unconcerned with the quiet grumblings of his younger brother and instead lifted his dark gaze to stare down at Destiny with a frown that she thought might actually be a permanent fixture on his face. And for the first time since arriving Destiny grew rather self-conscious of the fact that she was half-naked beneath the soft scratch of the blanket that had been placed around her shoulders, pulling it a little tighter as if that alone might be enough to force the feeling away. It didn't do anything to help though.

"You're already gonna be in trouble for not tellin' Master Splinter that she's awake," Raph continued, turning his head to glare down at his brother. "So maybe you should get goin'."

There was no mistaking the dismissal in his voice. Michelangelo quickly scrambled to get off of the couch and get to his feet, still rubbing the back of his head as he turned to go and locate their sensei. That left Destiny alone with the bigger turtle for the first time since he had rescued her in the park. And she had to confess, she was a little unsure of what to do.

He continued to glare after his younger brother for a moment, even as he disappeared out of sight, before he finally directed his attention to Destiny. But as soon as he did his gaze seemed to soften considerably. All of a sudden there was a vulnerability to him that she hadn't seen before. Though she supposed that the only real instances where the two had been thrown together were when he had saved her in the park, when he had protected her on the docks and when he had helped to hold her still on the table afterward. She knew less about him than she cared to admit, and yet felt oddly familiar with him at the same time.

How was that for confusing?

"How do you feel?" he asked her.

Destiny could only blink up at him. "Better," she murmured softly, watching as his slow footsteps began to move him around to the front of the couch. "I don't feel quite so broken."

The answer didn't seem to quite satisfy him though and a frown slowly began to appear on his face as he knelt his body down to her level and looked her up and down. Again she found herself feeling a little self-conscious under his gaze, shifting her weight back a little between her hips so that she was sitting up straighter and could better meet his eye. Now she was aware of the marks that her face still bore from the way that she had been handled by both Hun and the Shredder, she felt rather…self-conscious. It was an uncomfortable feeling that she very seldom ever experienced because she was so preoccupied with other things to bother concerning herself with the impressions of other people, but somehow his gaze seemed to stare right through the walls that she had carefully built over the years and saw right through to the things that she strived to protect the most.

And she had to admit, she really didn't like it.

"You took quite a beatin' the other night," he told her.

At this, Destiny simply looked at him. "And it probably won't be the last."

Again she watched his frown deepen a little more into the dark green skin of his face. Something in her nonchalance was apparently bothering him. For the second time though, Destiny watched as the turtle lifted a hand and started to lean in toward her body before he thought better of his action and slowly retracted it, fingers curling toward his palm in uncertainty.

She reacted purely out of instinct when she released the blanket with her good hand and reached out to touch his green fingers, feeling her stomach jump a little when she did. And it seemed that Raphael was just as startled as she was by the sudden contact between them, for the tension in his body seemed to return almost instantly when he felt her fingers brush the side of his hand.

"I'm not made of glass. You won't break me."

Raphael blinked. "Shouldn't you still be kinda scared?"

A soft sigh passed her lips. "When are you two going to learn?" she started, letting the touch of a smile appear on her lips once more. "The differences on the outside don't always reflect the person on the inside. Just because you don't look human doesn't mean that you're not human where it counts."

He didn't understand.

Where a normal person might have been freaking out about the fact that there were four, life sized turtles and a rat who all possessed the ability to speak English and fight like ninjas living within the sewers of New York City, this girl seemed to handle it all like it was just another day. She had literally experienced two brushes with death in the same twenty-four hour period, and yet she somehow still smiled at him as if the two were old friends. Was he losing his mind, or was this a reality? Master Splinter might have told him the same thing if he had ever confided his true feelings to him, but this girl seemed to know what to say without even really knowing him. How in the world did that happen?

For a moment longer Raphael continued to stare at her until the tingling feeling in his hand reminded him of their contact and forced his mind to connect to the present once more. He gently turned his hand over until the tips of her fingers rested against his palm and his eyes returned to studying the differences that lay between them. His hand was of a dark green shade, hers of a soft pink. There were only three fingers that protruded from his palm and yet there were five slender digits that came from her own. But both bore the markings of use, with scars and cuts that displayed just how aggressively the two attacked the world with closed fists.

"We're so different," he murmured.

"And yet so much the same."

His head shot up again to look at her, noting the growth in her smile. But the voice he had heard was softer…and sounded more like it had been in his head than anything else.

"You're not crazy, I promise." Came the voice again, though her lips never once parted to speak. "It's just another weird thing that I can do."

Raphael blinked at her. "That's…"

"Weird, I know."

But the turtle was quick to shake his head, fingers tightening slightly around her own. "No! No, not weird. Just…different."

Again the two of them continued to sit in a strangely comfortable silence, neither of them over anxious to break the spell that they had been placed under during their brief conversation. As the soft smile remained on her face, she noticed that his eyes were rather fixed on her face, perhaps for a reaction, and after a moment of eye contact Destiny's instinct suddenly told her to look away and lock her eyes onto something else. The choice fell to the connection that they still had in their hands, where Raphael continued to hold tight to her fingers like he was afraid she might let go forever. She could feel it too though, the slight fear that he seemed to have when he was around her. But she knew that it wasn't because of the abilities that she had, for even just touching his mind as lightly as she could manage in her weaker state, she felt that he was almost familiar with them. He wasn't at all afraid of the things that she could do.

No, it was something else…something she couldn't quite read…

From where he stood on the second level of the lair, he had a clear view of what was happening below. And despite any initial thoughts he might have had about the idea of yet another human girl being brought down to discover their world, all of his anxieties seemed to ease away in that single moment. Never before had Raphael taken to someone else like that, seeming to struggle for the correct words that might better display the emotions he was so used to keeping under lock and key. And yet here he was, kneeling before this strange new friend that had abilities he had never before known a human to possess. And there wasn't a single trace of tension in his body anymore.

Master Splinter smiled a little and folded his hands behind his back once more. It seemed that there was much to discuss about this new situation, and a great many more things to discover. But this girl was unlike the one who had come before her. Younger, of course, but there was yet another deep and personal connection to his sons than he had realized before. And now, seeing Raphael in such a calm state with her, only proved it to him.

Perhaps there was a purpose in their meeting after all.