Jack finished her shower and made the short distance to Raph's room. The turtle didn't hear her enter, he was rather preoccupied with punching the crap out of a heavy bag. The worn material split.

"Shit." Raphael mumbled as he clamped a hand over the split and tried to stop the falling sand. He struggled to reach over to a nearby shelf and grabbed a roll of duct tape. Quickly wrapping the bag in a few rows of the tape, he swore again and tossed the tape aside before turning around and freezing. His eye went wide. "Jacquelyn!"

The woman was wobbly on her feet and managed to fall to a seat on top of his guitar amp near the door. "Hey Raph." She smiled at him as she struggled to hold her towel over her and not move her shoulder too much.

"What's wrong?" He moved across the room and knelt down before her.

With a red face, Jack let Raph adjust the towel to cover more of her. She could see the hints of red touching his own features but she said nothing about it. "I didn't realize how weak I was. I haven't really eaten much and moving around here and standing in the shower so long, I just….."

"You still need to rest Jack." He said quietly. A large hand moved up and brushed a wet strand out of her face. "You should have stayed in the hospital. But… I'm glad you are home." A smile crossed his features. It was nice to see something besides anger on his face. "I'll go grab you some clothes. But first…" As he got to his feet, he slid his arms around and under her, carefully lifting her. He carried her across the room to a more suitable chair. Then he grabbed the blanket out his hammock and wrapped it around her to help cover her. "Stay put." He said firmly and then he got up and walked out of the room.

As Raph crossed the house Mikey perked up from the living room couch. "What's up Raph?"

"Jack needs clothes." He said simply.

Leo looked up from the kitchen and silently watched as Raphael entered Jack's room. He had patched and cleaned things up as best he could. But it wouldn't meet Raph's standards and he knew it. A few minutes later, Raph came out with a small pile of neatly folded clothes in his hand. He shot Leo a glare as he passed.

"You forgot to re-paint the wall." He growled before walking down the other hall and went to his room. He found Jack in the chair where he had left her. He crossed the room and set the clothes on the night stand beside her. "I didn't know what you wanted so I just grabbed something that looked like they'd be comfortable."

Jack smiled at him. "Thanks Raph, that's all I wanted."

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Raph?"

He glanced back at her. "Yeah?"

Her features darkened as heat rushed her face. "I barely got dressed at the hospital. I couldn't pull things on or zip them, moving my shoulder hurts and I have to be careful about bending my side at the same time." She paused. "I could use some help."

Raph's mouth fell open as he looked at her. His own embarrassment showed on his face as he turned around and walked back to her. "I uh… Okay. I'll do my best to uh… not look." He fumbled to find the right words.

"Thanks." She said softly. Reaching over she grabbed the pair of underwear Raphael had hidden in the middle of the clothing and offered them to him.

Raph knelt down in front of her and held them out to help her step in. Once the woman's feet were in the proper holes, Jack stood, her hand on Raphael's shoulder to help her keep balance. Raph started to pull the small material up her shapely legs and paused as he had t start spreading the edges of the towel to reveal more of her body. The turtle swallowed hard and closed his eye and looked away as he pulled them up further. He could feel the warm skin of her thighs against his fingers as he carefully crept them up further to cover her. How long had he been wondering what it'd be like to touch her skin in other ways. The turtle had to shake his head to get rid of the thoughts.

"That's good." Jack said quietly as she adjusted the towel to cover her chest. Raphael slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her before he took her hand off his shoulder and got to his feet. "Bra's next." She glanced down at it.

After picking it up and looking at it a moment he offered it to her. Jack however only took one side out of his hand. Back to him, Jacquelyn stepped between him and the bra. She adjust the front over her chest before she dropped the towel and held the material over her.

"Can you latch it please?"

Raph obeyed and then watched her slid one of the arm straps over her good shoulder, choosing to let the other one hang under her arm. After a few adjustments of the garment she turned back around. By now the redness on her face had crept down her neck as well. The turtle standing just a foot away from her couldn't keep his eye from traveling down her figure, her gentle curves and fair skin. He did take note of the old scars and the massive new one on her side but she was beautiful.

Jack was talking again. "Can I have my shorts now?"

The turtle had picked a loose tee shirt and some draw string gym shorts from her drawers. Kneeling down once again, Raph held her shorts open so she could put her legs in the proper holes and then he brought it up to her waist, tying them just tight enough that they stayed on her hips. Without instruction, Raph grabbed her tee shirt and helped maneuver her sore arm into the sleeve before pulling the rest on for her.

"Thanks Raph." She gave him a soft smile, but only looked up at him for a moment. "I should go talk to Donnie." She moved with wobbly steps to head towards the door.

"Jacquelyn wait, please!" His hand grabbed ahold of her wrist and stopped her. Slowly he moved around to stand before her once more. "I… I know I messed up. I did terrible things. I'm sorry." There was a sad note in his voice. "I just… I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you. Just the thought makes me terrified and furious all at the same time." He looked down at himself. "I have never had such confusing emotions, no one has ever made me feel this way." His hand tightened on hers as he looked her in the face. "I don't want to lose you. You mean more to me than anything. Tell me what I have to do to make this right!"

The woman looked up at him, her lip trembling as her bright eyes searched the scared features of Raphael's face. "Raph… I…" Her own hand squeezed his as she took a breath. "Raph-"

"Jack?" The door flung open and Donatello stood there out of breath.

The red wearing turtle glared up at his brother. Instantly Donnie regretted his decision to search for the woman. "Sorry…"

"No it's okay Donnie." Jack pulled her hand out of Raphael's and moved to follow the smartest of the turtles. "I need to talk to you."

"But Jack-"

She looked back to Raphael and gave him a small smile. "We can talk later." Then she followed Donnie out of the bed room.

Rapheal grunted and punched his heavy bag as hard as he could. Then he turned and left his room to find his brothers and Jack. He might as well see what the news she had was.

In Donatello's lab, Jack was seated in one of his computer chairs, leo and Mikey stood behind Donnie who was seated facing her. Antonello was standing behind Jack, a reassuring hand on her good shoulder. The shell cell on Leo's hip buzzed to life just as Jack was about to talk.

"Sorry." He picked it up and held it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Leo! I'm so glad you answered…"

He sighed. "Mona I'm kind of busy at the moment."

"I don't care I have great news! You just have to see it! I-"

"Mona! I don't have time for this right now." Leo hung up on her and turned back to the others. "Please continue Jack."

The woman nodded. "Well, I didn't really know why they took me at first. It was lots of ambiguous questions and slander." Her eyes looked up at Raph as he quietly entered the room. "I didn't realize what they wanted until they started talking about codes. When my brother worked for Xanus he was part of a project that worked with the mutagen. They had some type of machine that they used to get the mutagen from the canister to the animal they wanted to test on. When my brother was thinking about quitting and turning the company in, he changed all four of the codes needed to access and implement the machine. From what I gathered, they managed to figure out the first two codes, but they haven't figured out the last two."

"So why take you?" Ant asked from behind her.

"My brother told me the codes." She sighed. "I didn't know that's what they were at first, he made it like a game. He gave me different sets of numbers and played memory games. I struggled remembering them on my own I always mixed them up. But my brother had this way of helping my group them correctly and… I don't know. He was the smart one. In the end all I know is that I know the codes they need."

Donnie was on the edge of his seat. "Well what are they?" He practically demanded.

"I…" She hung her head. "I don't know."

The look of disbelief on the other's faces was heart breaking.

"It's not that I don't know them, I do! I just…I have to see them." She ran a hand through her tangled damp hair. "Anthony had this little gadget, I don't know… Maybe it was a mock up of how the keys look at the actual machine. I am not good at just memorizing, so It was like a pattern I memorized instead of just the number."

Donnie leaned back in his chair thinking about what she said. Leo was still looking at her expecting something more. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" Leo asked.

"What?" She looked up at him confused.

"Why didn't you tell us you knew this before." He demanded.

She looked around at all the brothers. "I-I don't know… It didn't seem relevant until I found out that's what they wanted."

"Bullshit!" Leo snapped. "This was important and you should have told us when you first got here."

"Simmer down Leo!" Mikey elbowed him as he saw the distraught look on Jack's face.

Raph shoved his way between his brother's and got in front of the girl. "This conversation's over." He carefully lifted her off the chair into both of his arms and carried her out of the room.

"I'm sorry I just-"

"Don't apologies. You have no reason to." Raph said quietly as he carried her towards her room. As he nudged the door open with his foot he sighed. "Leo had a bit of a meltdown in here. Sorry about your walls."

"They are just walls." Jack said as she looked around at the white patches on her walls.

The turtle set her down on her bed and made sure she had a blanket. Then he turned and headed towards the door.

"Raph… Please wait." Jacquelyn said as she got to her feet.

He turned back around and shook his head. With a hand he eased her back down onto the mattress and he pulled the blanket up over her. "You need to rest." He said softly. He seemed… defeated. There was anger in him still, but looking at her, Raphael just seemed like he had lost some part of himself.

"Stop it Raphael and look at me." He lifted his eye to meet hers. "I hate this… this awkward avoidance of each other. I love your brother's don't get me wrong, but you are the only one I find comfort in. The only one that I think about and want to run to when I'm scared. " She ran a hand through her hair. "I just, I don't know how to come to terms with the fact that you killed someone." Her eyes were pleading, begging him to stay.

Raph sat down on the edge of her bed, facing her. "Jack, Jacquelyn… I …. I killed that man because I didn't want this happening to you." He looked at her. "Seeing you in pain. Watching you struggle to breath and move. It kills me. It makes me so angry I just want to do anything to stop it." He looked at her. "That's who I am. I can't tell you that if the chance to redo it came again, that I wouldn't kill him. I would. Because it protected you… at least for a little while." He got to his feet and turned to the door. When he pulled the handle back he glanced over his shoulder at her. "When I said I loved you, I meant it." He walked out.

Jack was left sitting there, her mind still racing. She didn't know what to do. Did she have the guts to confess her feelings to him? She couldn't even tell Arionna when the woman had no idea who he was. But then there was that fear that Raphael would lose control of his rage again. She sat there thinking for hours, late into the night. The home was still, the sounds of gentle snoring coming from the bedrooms as the turtles all slept. Jack quietly slipped out of her bed and made her way across the living room to the hall that held Raphael's room.

She stood standing at his door for a long while before carefully opening it and slipping inside. The room was dark and it took her a few minutes to let her eyes adjust. She found Raph's outline in the gently rocking hammock. She went to the edge and still the hammock with a hand. Raph said nothing, but Jack wasn't sure if that was because he was asleep or upset, she couldn't see his face. She stood there trembling as she stared at the dark mass that was Raphael.

"I love you Raphael." She whispered. Then she turned away to walk towards the door.

A strong hand landed on her shoulder and stopped her. Heart racing, the woman was spun around.

"Jacquelyn, you're trembling." Raph's voice was soft but deep as he pulled her towards the hammock. He stepped out of the hanging fabric and moved around her.

"Raph, I-I'm sorry I-"

"Shh." He hushed her. "I know I'm not the easiest to talk to. I'm kind of dumb and bull headed. None of that should make you feel bad." He wrapped an arm around her and let the other lift up her feet. "You need to get some rest." With her in his arms he climbed back into his hammock and situated the woman beside him. "Are you okay?"

Jack's heart was still pounding as she laid there with Raph like they used to. She had to adjust her position a few times to avoid any pressure or strain on her injuries. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt the warmth of the turtle beside her. It was just like how they used to sleep. Only now, Jack had said something to him. But it didn't seem like he had reacted…. Just like she didn't when he confessed it to her.

With her head on his shoulder, Jack couldn't manage to go to sleep. After a while she sat up and ran a hand over her face. The hammock swung a bit as Raphael sat up as well. He moved a bit to help center the weight hanging in his bed before he spoke.

"You okay?" He asked as he peered down at her.

"I don't know…" She sighed. "I feel like I have messed everything up. I finally found a home and a place that makes me happy but I have still ruined everything. No one trusts me anymore."

"That's not true." Raph put a hand on her back when he felt her start to shake. "Leo is just scared. We …we all are. You crashed into our lives but changed it for the better. All of us are afraid of losing you to something terrible."

She pushed him pathetically. "I don't care about what the others think, I care about what you think!" Her lower lip was trembling as she looked at him. "Just you."

A big hand found her cheek, his thumb gently rubbing against the warm skin.

Raphael didn't know what to do. He could still feel the fury bubbling in his core when he thought about what happened to her and the people after her. He just wanted to go back to when he could train her, and they both smiled and she was happy and unafraid. Jack finally said she loved him. The amount of pressure that lifted off his shoulders was unimaginable. To hear she shared his feelings, it made him beyond happy but… did he want to do anything about it and risk hurting their relationship further? He didn't want to scare her away…

His hand on her cheek turned her to face him and he leaned down. He hesitated for only a second before her leaned just a little bit further and pressed his lips against hers. His heart was hammering in his chest. Part of him wanted to pull away, scared of her reaction, but the other part just wanted to kiss her more.

Jack, kissed him back. He hadn't thought of that reaction as a possibility but her lips moved against his in a small needy kiss. Raphael had to pull away. If he kept going, he wasn't sure where it would end up, as heat was already flooding through his body.

"Jacquelyn, I… I'm-"

"If you say you're sorry for that I am going to punch you." Jack cut him off with a smile.

Raphael managed to chuckle. "Okay then I'm not sorry."

The woman curled up in his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She drifted off to sleep shortly after. Raph eased her down in the hammock as he climbed out. His energy was all a buzz now so he wouldn't be able to sleep. After pulling a light blanket over her, Raph slipped out of his room. He was grinning like a fool as he ran a hand over his smooth head. He never realized how much a simple kiss could affect his mood and change the whole course of where he thought he'd end up with Jack. Perhaps there was really some potential there. He never thought he'd be able to say that.

There was a clatter in the kitchen that stole his attention. Raph rounded the corner and froze. There was someone hunched over behind the fridge door but it wasn't a turtle. Instinctively his hand went to his belt, but it wasn't there, his weapons were sitting on his nightstand. Clenching a fist, he snuck up behind the person and yanked the door away from them.

When a pretty woman stood up straight, Raph stopped mid swing. He took a step back, his eyes wide, and tripped over the leg of one of the dining room chairs. Falling to the floor he looked up at the human. Long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and her dark eyes stared down at him from behind her bangs. Her body was covered by a pale pink dress that matched the scarf around her neck. The woman was smirking at him.

"Hello Raph."

"M-Mona?" He stuttered in a mix of horror and disbelief. "What the hell happened to you?"