Zoe
"You are wastin' time, Sleepin' Beauty."
My eyes fly open to early morning light, a travel pillow under my head, a familiar red sleeping bag wrapped around me, the scent of cedarwood oil wafting up from the corner I'm clutching against my cheek. A small fire pops and cracks, just a few feet away.
Raph sits on the bed of leaves surrounding me, staring into the flames. Flickers of red dance around in his eyes, they're glossy, and bloodshot. Tiny wrinkles have creased his face, intertwining with the scars of battles fought long ago. He breathes in through his nose, out through his nose, and the sound is soft, although the mass of him is great. It never fails to soothe me.
I roll to my side facing him, prop my head up on my hand. He came back. I want to reach for him, feel his mouth against mine, drink him in, smother him with my love. He came back.
But he left on his own, and as he returns on his own he must make the first move. I don't know what he thinks, where we stand. He could've come back just for Anton. I should've known he would. He'll always be there for his kids, whether they curse him, run from us, or get themselves into something that could rain hell down on us all. And if Antonello has gotten this girl pregnant, that could very well be the case.
He presses his lips together, glances at me in his peripheral. "You were out cold, curled up and shivering like a dying animal," he snorts, "it was kinda pathetic."
Is he teasing me? I feel my mouth fall open, close it and sit upright, trying to read him. Or is he trying to pick a fight? "Well if you're still mad, Raphael, why'd you go through all the trouble of making me comfortable?"
His gaze shifts from the flames to me. "Because I have to. We've got five kids." He shrugs and I stare at him, know there's more. And wait.
He grumbles, shakes his head. "Look, I've seen you almost die, I don't want to count how many times," his eyes close and he takes a breath, "Hell I've seen you fight, when the odds are stupid against us. And you've been hurt so bad I didn't think you'd see the next day. And for three months you didn't remember. You didn't remember me. How we met, our kids, our family, you gaining control, you finding a place to call home, none of it. And when you finally remembered, I swore I'd never let you go again. And I won't. You— you changed me, my life. Made me better, whole, as close to a real man as I'm ever gonna get" tears threaten him, and I want to stop him. His jaw shifts, "you are my best friend, Zoe." He grabs me, yanks me to him, presses his mouth to my forehead. "Don't ever keep anything from me ever again. I don't care what it is, I trust you more than anyone and I can't— I can't be without that."
I wrap my arms around his neck, bury my face there, feel his cool, leathery skin against my cheek, and breathe in the wild scent of him. "You are wrong about one thing, Raphael."
"What?" he hums into my hair.
I pull away, look in his gorgeous green eyes, feel my soul reach for him and his greet me with arms open. "You shouldn't compare yourself to man. You surpass that. Man has nothing on you, or your brothers. Don't want that for yourself. That's not what you should measure yourself against. The human race, whether you know it or not, it can't touch who you are. Any man would be lucky to have a fraction of the heart you four do."
Karai's voice cuts the air, "I couldn't agree, more."
Raph is staring at me as I look at my sister, and find our blue-clad brother right beside her, a smirk plastered on his face.
"She wasn't staying behind," Leo shrugs then points to the radio resting on top of my bag. "Good thing Donnie has a tracker on those that doesn't depend on them being turned on."
I open my mouth to reply, but find Raph's lips there. Part of my brain says we're being watched and should stop. But he tastes like honey, my heart is pounding, my fingers find his pebbled cheeks and his slide through my hair. He came back. And I love him—will never, ever stop.
"Ugh! Stop that!" Karai snaps, kicking the sleeping bag.
Raph and I part, only to stare at each other. He flashes me a half-hearted version of his lop-sided grin.
"Ahem," Karai clears her throat, "We've got news."
"We found Andrea, last night," Leo begins, and I look closer at him and Karai, trying to gauge if it's going to be good or bad news. He's been going non-stop, same as Raph, and the rest of our family, for three days now. No wonder I finally passed out. Streaks of red lace Leo's blue eyes, Karai, beside him has black circles under hers, and her hair, tied back in a loose ponytail has wild fly-away strands sticking up everywhere.
I try to see past the exhaustion, to sense the state of their emotional being. My heart jerks to life, picking up an irregular beat, one with great reservation, slightly suppressing hope.
"Is she, okay?" I know she's alive, I can feel that. What I can't determine is her state of being.
Karai grabs Leo's hand, gives it a squeeze then steps towards me and I slink back into Raph's plastron. She opens her mouth but Leo speaks first. "She's a little banged up, abrasions, a sprained wrist," Leo looks to Raph then swallows, "She had a run in with a guy—"
Raph seems to grow three sizes right beside me, his hands slipping from around me into fists at his sides.
Leo shakes his head. "Relax Raph, beyond a black-eye and busted lip, as bad as that sounds—"
Karai talks over him, "She laid the guy out! Had him tied up with his own shoestrings. He was still unconscious when we found her. She said something about never giving her dad grief about going out in the woods alone, ever again." Her dark brows lift, as she crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm proud as hell of her."
Leo looks at Raph. "She broke her bo-staff on this dude. And don't ask me how she managed that. The guy wasn't small, at least three times her size."
Karai laughs, "She was so upset about losing her weapon. Donnie kept promising her it was okay, he can make her another."
There's a glint in Raph's eye, as he gives a nod of approval. "Good girl, Drea'."
"She really wants to see you both. But I told her, you had to find Antonello, then you'd be home." Leo points to the bags, "And we're ready to go, hiked all night to get here. Donnie and Mikey are taking Drea home. All that's left to do is catch up to Anton."
Raph looks at me, and I give him a nod. I'm ready.
He looks at our sister and brother.
"Let's do this."
Zoe
We've been walking for hours. I can sense him, but so far that's all we've had to go on. Leo and Raph keep pace with one another, like they're teenagers in competition. Not that I think that part of their relationship has ever changed much. Karai is planting one foot before the other in deliberate motions, her eyes heavy, shoulders beginning to slump. If I hadn't had three hours of sleep, I'd be just as bad right now.
I'm hanging back with her, the boys stopping to ask me which way ever so often. I've never been so grateful for my ability, as to finding our children. Karai leans against a tree, stopping for a drink. She lifts the bottle to her lips and I look around us. No, if I wasn't an empath, Antonello hasn't left any kind of indication as to where he or Ellie have been. He's been covering her tracks too. God, I'm grateful they've been trained so well, if they hadn't Andrea could've been seriously hurt or worse, but at the same time it makes Antonello damn near invisible.
Raph and Leo stop at the top of the hill, looking to where Karai and I are halfway up. He forces a grim smile, and I wish we were out here playing around, not hunting a stray child. Something on the trunk of the tree by his shoulder catches my eye.
"Raph, what is that?" I point behind him and he turns.
His fingers dab at the red smear.
"Blood, and it's fresh." As Raph's gaze falls to the ground around him, Leo mimics the action. Karai and I scramble up the hill.
As I reach the top Leo points. "It goes that way. What do your senses tell you, Zoe?"
I don't have to touch those scarlet drips, don't have to reach out and feel the life surrounding me, my heart is slamming against my sternum, feet stepping into a run. Trees whiz by, a blur of golds, reds, and oranges, the sky is a clear brilliant azure. My gaze drifts as I run, falls to the leaves underfoot, sienna, coffee, taupe, black in places, tiny clusters of violets, all the colors of my life. But there is one that is off season right now, and as I round the fourth turn I catch a glimpse of it, emerald and flawless, unmarred by the scars born by his mother or father.
"ANTONELLO!" I hear myself scream, digging into the earth beneath my feet, pushing it hard away from me, feel my lungs burn, the edges of my vision starting to blur. I'm a sprinter. I know the risks.
The forest edge is just a head, the sound of a train thundering through the valley below. A train. A train. Oh, no. No! Just beyond the tree line he vanishes. And he'd hid her so well I never saw so much as a blonde hair. I slide to a stop at the edge of a cliff, look to the hazy, long black train rolling into the station below.
One hour. That's all the time I've got, to stop him from making it to that train and running away with Ellie to New York City.
I stand panting, eyes scanning the perimeter. My fingers are tingling, as I slip my bag from my back, fumble around the pockets for my inhaler, never looking away from the field grass, the trees, the ground. I'm searching, hope for another smudge of blood, a broken blade of grass, the rustle of anything not made by wind. But as I tell my lungs to pull air in, they collapse, my world pitches to the right and my knees give. I sway hard, the world spiraling into blackness as I lose my balance and roll back. Only there's no ground beneath me.
"MOM!" I hear Antonello scream, as I look through blind eyes in the direction of his voice, feeling the air rushing around me.
A/N: Real quick, does everyone remember Ellie? If you read the one shot Unexpected Turns, you know who she is. I've been wondering if you guys remembered her or not. This story is so woven, I'm hoping you catch all the little details. There's another mention from one of the one shots coming up soon. :). Hope you guys are enjoying this!