* For anyone wondering, this is not a story about me, and it's the only chapter with this much "alone" time. As to why did I choose to even go this direction? I thought it would be an interesting experiment into what happens when the extraordinary touches the ordinary, and how a real person might cope with certain circumstances, they're not prepared for, or suited to deal with.
Everyone pretty much slept that night wherever they fell. Forcing themselves to wind down had been hard enough. Sarah had simply curled up in her own regular chair, waking up about thirty times over the course of seven hours - at least, that was what it felt like. When she sat up again, she noticed that the two other turtles in the room were stirring too. Mike was the first to sit up further in the recliner, and cast a look toward the kitchen.
"Do you mind if I..."
"Use whatever you can find in there." She immediately filled in for the turtle, and he rose as quietly as possible, to start rifling through the kitchen.
Raphael was carefully maneuvering on the sectional, trying not to wake up Karina. Sarah noticed him pressing a finger against his temple.
"Does your head still bother you?" She asked softly.
"It comes and goes," He answered. "Most days though, I'm just glad to be here."
Sarah got up silently, to see if she could help Michelangelo, who was just selecting a couple of things from the fridge.
"Bread?" He asked when he saw her.
"Yeah, hang on, it's in a drawer." She told him.
"And where do you keep your pans?"
"It's kind of a mess, the cupboard's not really big enough. Let me grab one for you. What are you thinking here?"
"French Toast is easy, and it won't take me very long."
"Should I wake the others?"
Leonardo and Luke had crashed in the Office, and Donatello and Jenna were still back in the bedroom where Sarah had left them.
"Nah, my brothers will come around when they smell food. They're pretty good about that." He replied, and nodded when the woman held up a pan for him. "Yeah, that'll work."
"There should be a package of bacon in the second drawer."
"Found it already." He answered with a grin.
"I could start cooking it off in the microwave, if you want." She offered.
He tossed her the package, and gave her another glance out of the corner of his eye as he started cracking eggs. "You sure about today? You're the one who admitted to bein' a little shy."
"This is different, I get to play someone other than myself." She said a little mischievously. "It'll be fine, trust me."
"I do," He said quickly. "I just want to make sure that you'll be okay."
It was after one in the afternoon, by the time that Sarah made her way downtown with Jenna, who'd insisted on at least coming along for the ride. As she pulled the orange Cavalier onto the property of the Technology Center, Jenna took note of the lone guards' booth.
"Looks like there's only one source of security on the outside."Jenna said to herself more or less, as Sarah uncranked the window to retrieve a visitor's pass from the man.
When she'd found somewhere to park, Jenna reached for her arm to get her attention.
"Alright, call me if you have any problems. I can be in there really quickly."
"What do you think is going to happen?" Sarah asked, as she reached for the basket in the back seat.
"Expect anything Sarah."
Since she already had a visitor pass in hand, Sarah intentionally bypassed the front desk without asking for help, and headed for the closest bank of elevators. The first one she approached required key card access, and it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to use it. The one across from it just had a normal button , so she moved toward it instead. A couple more people came to wait with her while the elevator was on it's way. Once inside, she held back from hitting a floor level herself, waiting to see what the others would select.
She made eye contact with the woman closest to her, and when the stranger smiled easily, went ahead with her question.
"I'm bringing a delivery to Lilah Stone - can you tell me what floor she's on?"
"Her office is on the Fourth," The woman replied. "You work for Dorothy Lane Market? I hope there aren't any Killer Brownies in that basket. I might have to stop the elevator myself."
Sarah only chuckled in return. "You'll have to fight her for them."
Sarah wandered around the fourth floor slowly, taking her time like Donatello had told her she would have to. He'd outfitted her name tag with a tiny lens from his own kit in the van, so she could take real footage from inside. She walked around for as long as she felt she could without attracting unnecessary attention, before heading down toward the office she'd been directed toward.
Sarah met a woman who was obviously her assistant, sitting outside a desk by the private office.
"Good afternoon - I have a delivery for Lilah Stone?" She said officially to the woman.
"Do I need to sign anything?" The woman asked a little boredly.
"No Ma'am, I can just leave it here with you." Sarah replied, and was on her way seconds later.
When she got back to the elevators, she nearly ran directly into a man who'd dropped an entire file folder. He was struggling to keep his glasses up on his nose, as he grabbed for papers that were scattered both inside and outside of the elevator. Sarah moved to help, stepping through the doors to retrieve a few herself.
The man smiled sheepishly. "I'm in a huge hurry. Thanks."
As he dashed away, Sarah walked the rest of the way through the elevator doors she'd been blocking. As the doors closed behind her, she suddenly realized she was in the wrong elevator. There were additional buttons that she knew nothing about, and it appeared once again that a key card was required to even go anywhere.
As she was about to hit the button to at least try and re-open the doors, the elevator started moving, as if on it's own accord. She held her breath slightly as it traveled down, past the Lobby floor she'd entered on to begin with. When the doors opened on a level beneath it, two individuals were waiting on the other side, as if they'd just called for it.
They were both surprised to see her there, but the blond woman recovered quickly.
"What are you doing in here?" She demanded at once. "This is private access."
"I'm sorry, it was an accident." Sarah squeaked. "I didn't know what I was doing."
She searched the stranger's face for an instant, immediately recognizing her from the Press Conference.
"You're going back where you came from." Lilah stated firmly. "Isaac, c'mon."
Sarah ducked into the corner of the elevator, as far away from the two of them as she could possibly get. She stared almost unabashedly at the man, until he jerked around to face her. She fought down the shudder coursing through her body, swiftly looking away from him.
Oh my God. Oh my God!
She couldn't fight the trembling off completely, as the ride up one floor seemed to take about ten times longer than it should have. It stopped at the Lobby, and Lilah stepped off first, motioning severely for Sarah to follow her. She couldn't get off of the elevator (or away from Stolle) fast enough. Lilah walked briskly to the desk, and summoned security to escort Sarah back outside.
The escort wasn't really necessary, she would have willingly run from the building screaming, if she hadn't been afraid of attracting further attention. Jenna sat up in the passenger seat, staring at Sarah questioningly as she approached the car with a guard. The woman struggled to even unlatch her driver's side door, her eyes still as big as saucers as she ducked inside the car.
"What happened?" Jenna demanded.
Sarah didn't say anything, a soft cry escaping her as she lowered her forehead against the steering wheel. Tears of pent-up emotion and fear that had been boiling just under the surface, were now released at once.
"Sarah?" Jenna said anxiously. "What happened?"
"They...they're together." She answered shakily. "Stolle and that woman, they're both in there."
Lilah was still steaming inwardly as she returned to the elevator, where Isaac was waiting.
"Is it that hard to get good help?" She demanded. "Someone had to have let her in."
Isaac was obviously less concerned about it. "She's gone now, isn't she?"
"But what was she doing?"
"She said it was an accident. C'mon Lilah, I've seen my share of operatives, and that girl was anything but professional."
"No, clearly not. But I don't think she was entirely honest about why she was here either." Lilah replied. "No matter. I've done everything I came here for today, and we should probably get back out of the city."
Isaac smiled. "Yes, it would be nice to get back to our Agents."
"I think we ought be keeping a closer eye with our secondary teams." Lilah mentioned.
"This isn't like you darling," Isaac chuckled. "What's got you so worried?"
"You're the one who told me not to underestimate them." She reminded him.
He couldn't help laughing again. "This is a reversal, isn't it? Stop worrying. Everything is under control."
Lilah met his gaze steadily. "Maybe you should be a little more worried for a change. They've gotten the drop on you twice. I don't want to go through a repeat of past history."