So, I'm toying with the idea of having a "playlist" for this story. One song for each chapter (cuz music makes my world turn :D ). I have a few ideas, but I would love to hear what my readers have to say ^-^. PM/review the story and tell me your ideas! Anywho, this chapter is kinda long because it...kinda got away from me and didn't want to stop O.o...that, and the caffine didn't help either. But, enjoy it! Thanks to my lovely reviewers Jess Marylin, Ravenhearst, and Linzerj (and Forky the Pitchfork ^^) Thanks for it guys, you rock!

~21~21~21~21~

He found her huddled in an alleyway. The rain had returned, and was beating a relentless tattoo on the ground. She looked awful; her hair hung limply around her and she hugged her knees. She'd run out of the palace in her shorts and t-shirt from before, and they were now soaked through. It seemed like years since he'd taken her to meet his brothers; that had only been this morning. He sighed and made his way to her.

"Hannah?"

She tensed at the sound of her name, trying to curl into a smaller ball. Raphael knelt beside her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She tried to move away, but he held her fast.

"Hang on, hear me out." When she didn't pull away, Raph took it as a sign for him to continue. "Listen, that guy–"

"Freakin' Apollo," she cut him off, her voice emotionless. "He's such a coward. All he had to do was claim Micah. Hell, I'm sure even the kid knew deep down that Apollo was his dad. But now, its too late. Micah...he's..." Her voice broke, and she rested her forehead on her bare knees. Without another word, Raph slid his arm around her shoulders and brought his other arm under her knees. She silently reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.

He could feel her silent tears hitting his skin, and they seemed to burn him where they fell. He carried her out of the alley and toward her apartment. He knew all her companions were at the Daimyo's palace, along with his brothers and his master, explaining to the ruler what had happened. Raph also knew she had no desire to be around them at the moment. He took her to her apartment, not even bothering to set her down when they got inside. He closed the door behind them with his foot and carried Hannah into her room. He closed that door and sat on her bed, keeping her in his arms. He held her close, with her sitting on his lap. He could feel her shaking against him, and he held her tighter until she calmed down.

"Do you want to change?" he asked softly after a long while. "Your clothes are soaked."

She moved to get off his lap, and he let her. She grabbed a pile of clothes from the foot of her bed and made her way wordlessly to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Left to himself, Raphael began thinking. He started hatching a plan that he could hopefully put into motion soon. He quietly exited Hannah's room to grab a few things. On his way back from the kitchen, he felt his phone vibrate in his belt. Hannah still hadn't exited the bathroom, so Raph set his supplies down and opened the "shell-cell."

How long are you staying? Leo's text read. Raph began to type out a reply, when the phone buzzed again and a new message from Donny popped up.

Stay with Hannah tonight. I'm worried about her, and I don't want her to do something stupid in her grief. I'll cover for you with Leo, just stay with her. And try not to leave her alone for too long.

Raph replied with a quick Ok thanks and turned the phone off. He didn't want to have to deal with Leo bothering him all night. Remembering what Don had said about Hannah doing something stupid, he went to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Hey, you okay?"

He heard a sniff from within. "Fine. Be out in a second."

"Huh-uh. Better let me in, I gotta look at that cut on your neck."

"It'll be fine," she answered, opening the door. "I have to take care of all the other cuts first."

Raphael caught his breath. She stood there in pajama shorts and a sports bra, and he couldn't help but notice how much skin she was showing. Then, his eyes found the numerous nicks and cuts and bruises all over her body. There were more than he had originally thought, and there were a surprising number across her abdomen.

Which was incredibly toned and smooth, Raph noticed, his cheeks turning red.

Behind her, an open bottle of peroxide and a mound of fluffy cotton balls sat on the bathroom counter. He turned and grabbed the small bowl of hot water and the cloth he'd found in the kitchen and entered the small bathroom.

"I can take care of myself, Raph, I'm not helpless," Hannah told him.

"Yeah," he answered, not looking up from the bowl he set on the counter. "But, there are some cuts there that you can't get to real well, okay?"

She crossed her arms and stared back at him defiantly. Trying his hardest to keep his eyes on her face, he grinned. "Come on, lemme help you."

She stared him down for what seemed like a whole minute, then plopped down on the lid of the toilet with a huff and held out her more injured leg to him. Chuckling, he leaned against the bathroom counter and rested her foot on his thigh. He forwent the cloth and hot water and instead grabbed the peroxide and a cotton ball. He saturated the fluffy thing and set to work dabbing it at the cuts that hadn't already scabbed over.

"Y'know," she said quietly. "If I'd worn my shin bracers, I wouldn't have so many of these."

"Yeah," he answered. "But then you'd just be hurting your feet more." He pointed at the scab on the top of her foot.

She shrugged and fell quiet, watching him work. He shifted and placed a hand under her knee to support her leg, and she jerked back slightly.

"Careful," she told him, a slight giggle in her voice.

"Ah, so you're ticklish?" He rubbed a finger lightly over the smooth skin behind her knee, and she jerked again, this time slightly more violently.

"Stop!" she laughed. "What happened to cleaning my wounds?"

"Sorry. But at least I now know one thing about you. You're ticklish behind your knees." He smiled.

"Get to doctoring, Red," Hannah told him with a smirk.

His grin widened, and he went back to dabbing at her leg. Finished with the first one, he made quick work of the second, as there were much fewer cuts on this one. He made Hannah stand after that, and he tended to the cuts on her back and one particularly nasty one on her side, right above her hip bone. She hissed as the peroxide burned away the bacteria, bracing her arms against the bathroom wall.

"Sorry." Raphael looked up from where he was sitting on the toilet seat, so he could reach the cut without putting himself in an awkward position. And yet, here he was, tending to a beautiful girl who was showing a lot of skin. She'd even had to roll her shorts down below the cut, exposing her entire hip. This had turned into an awkward situation when she'd first opened the bathroom door.

"Not your fault," she answered through clenched teeth. "The pain's clearing my head, so it's kinda welcome."

The red-masked turtle placed a piece of gauze over the cut and taped it into place. He stood, and she turned to face him. His eyes found the ugly, thin cut on her neck, and he soon found that it was much larger than he'd originally thought. It travelled down below her collar bone and stopped on one side of her...chest.

His eyes snapped back up to hers, his face almost matching his mask. He'd looked, and she knew it. Oh, he was gonna get it now.

She smiled and laughed slightly at the shocked expression on his face, then grabbed his arm and turned him towards the door.

"I can handle this last one myself, Red. Don't worry."

"But," he protested. "Donny told me not to leave you alone." It wasn't the entire truth, but he really didn't want to let her out of his sight. She released his arm, and he turned to face her again.

She sighed. "Fine." She reached for another cotton ball, but Raph quickly scooped up the warm cloth and began dabbing it at the cut. It came away slightly red, meaning the cut was deeper than he thought if it was still bleeding. He placed his free hand on the other side of Hannah's neck, mainly for support, and concentrated on getting the cut as clean as possible.

Suddenly something jolted him out of his concentration. Hannah had turned her head to rest against Raph's hand, and she'd taken it in both of hers. Silent tears fell down her cheeks, but she met Raph's gaze anyway. Tears clung to her lashes, standing out like rain on a spiderweb. The redness around her eyes only emphasized the green in them, and Raphael couldn't remember ever seeing anything so beautiful. He felt her other hand come up and rest against the left side of his plastron, right over his heart. He pressed the cloth against the cut, but kept his hands at her neck. He bent and rested his forehead against hers.

"It'll be okay," he told her softly. "I'm here. It's okay."

She reached up and twined her arms around his neck, silently crying onto his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her in turn, then picked her up and carried her out of the bathroom and back to her bed.

A/N: Tee hee hee this chapter was fun to write :) Reviews are always welcome! Thanks for reading!