TMNT does not belong to me. Just Annie & Co. Big thanks to The Silent Hunter, syzygy101, and TMNTluckygirl for reviewing!

"Absolutely not, Leo!" I almost yell at my blue-masked brother. "No way is she going out again. Not after the last time!"

"Last time was a freak thing Raph," my eldest brother answers, his voice completely calm. "And Annie wasn't the only one to get shot. If she hadn't acted, we would have lost you," Fearless almost winces at the memory.

"We now what to look out for now. It won't happen again."

"You can't be sure of that! They could've all decided to carry guns" I clench my fists. I will not put Annaleigh (my girl) in danger.

That's when Annaleigh literally materializes out of nowhere. "I don't think so babe," her voice suddenly speaks at my side, nearly scaring me out of my shell. She wraps her arm around my waist. "Sorry."

"That's okay," I say, meeting her eyes.

"Ahem." Both of us turn guiltily to Leo, who's smirking. "I thought we were discussing the patrol tonight. Unless you want me to leave you two alone?"

Annaleigh blushes. I've never seen her go this red before. I really want to kiss her. But, Fearless is right.

My girl clears her throat, "As I was saying. You're right, Leo. We know that they'll be carrying guns. But not as much as Raphael thinks," she gives me a sidelong glance. "And now that we know what to look for, I'll be able to pinpoint the gunmen before they even pull their weapons out."

"And how the shell are you going to do that, Wildcat?" I pull away from her and fold my arms over my chest, just glaring at her.

Annaleigh rolls her eyes at me. "I'm a mutant too, Brooklyn-Boy." She must be really irritated with me. She hasn't called me that in ages. "My sense of smell is very acute. That's how I knew that PD had the gun before I even saw the Glock. I could smell the gunpowder," she winces, scrunching her noise like she's smelled something awful.

I stand my ground, "That doesn't matter. You're still not going out there. And that's that."

She tenses and glares daggers at me. Uh oh. I've really done it this time. But I really don't care. Annaleigh is not going on patrol. Over my dead body.

"On second thought, Leo, I actually think it would be best if you did give us some space," she says, looking at my brother and ignoring my frown.

Fearless looks just a little bit uncomfortable, "Um, okay. We won't leave until you've... figured this out."

Annaleigh nods and, without even looking at me, marches straight toward the elevator. And she doesn't look at me until we're in the garage and she's leaning against my bike.

She sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose, all trace of her anger gone. I'll never understand how she does that. It's like she's got some kind of switch for her emotions.

"Di hi."

"Yeah, Wildcat?"

She finally meets my eyes, "Why are you so against me going?"

I unfold my arms and lean against my bike next to her. "I don't want you to get shot again. You're my girl. I don't want to see you in a hospital bed again."

She leans against me and I wrap my arm around her. "I know that, babe. But you also know that I can protect myself. That what happened was just a freak thing." She puts her hand on my cheek, making me look at her, "I don't want you to go out either. But I'm not going to stop you. Why are you trying to stop me?"

Here we go... Here's the dilemma. If I tell her now... I know she likes me. But... Oh shell. Might as well get it over with.

"If anything happened to you... I don't know what I'd do. I love you too much." There. I said it. Whatever happens now...

Annaleigh kisses me. Totally catching me by surprise like she had that first time. "I love you too, Raph." Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realize that this is the first time that she's called me 'Raph.' The rest of me is too caught up in the fact that she actually just said what I thought she just said.

"But, you need to understand something. It's never going to be safe for me here. I won't be able to stay. Not until we've stopped the FOH and their new friends. And I need to be there. They're my enemies, after all," she ends in a whisper.

"They hurt my girl. That makes them my enemies too, sweetheart."

She smiles, and kisses my cheek. "We'll just have to face them together, then." Her smile turns playful, "If it makes you feel better, I won't leave your side. That's a promise."

"I can live with that."

Then Annaleigh giggles, like she's remembered something. She pulls something out of her jacket pocket. My girl is always wearing long sleeves and pants. No matter how many times I've told her not to be ashamed of her scars, she still tries to hide them.

I recognize what's in her hand, "Isn't that Mikey's camera? How the shell did you get it?"

Annaleigh giggles harder, flipping her long, beautiful hair over her shoulder. She'd better not cut it. Ever.

"I plucked it off his belt when I pinned him." She dangles it in front of me. "And I must say, Mikey takes good pictures," she says coyly. Aw shell. I'm gonna kill him!

"What of?"

She snorts, "You know very well what. You and me hanging out. And the last one is when I kissed you right before we left the farm."

She laughs even harder at my irritated expression, taking a few minutes to catch her breath. "Don't worry. He doesn't have any copies. And the only reason why I haven't deleted them is that I wanted some pictures to keep of us. Of you."

Did I mention that I have the best girlfriend in the whole entire world?

Annaleigh must have picked up on my mood. "So I take it that I have your permission to go tonight, di hi?"

I roll my eyes, muttering under my breath. "Yeah, you do, Wildcat. But I still don't like it."

Yeah, I know. I went really sappy with this one. Don't worry, though. The action's coming soon!

Please R&R.