Walking up to the lairs entrance layers beneath the city Leonardo held up his large hand, making a fist as his brother's, April, Casey and Alex all stopped. Donnie held his arm out to stop Eliza from walking towards. Leonardo nodded Michelangelo forward as the youngest pulled down a pipe that was set in the concrete. The brick doors slid apart opening the large, familiar room to all of them, except one. It was quiet and dark with faint colorful lights bouncing along the walls from the various gaming machines.
"You think it's alright?" Mikey asked looking over at the eldest as he shrugged. The still unconscious young woman draped over his strong arms.
"I don't know but, we go together." Leo said looking over his shoulder at Casey. "Take her. Donnie on me." He said as Donnie made his way to the front of the group while Leonardo passed Hayley to Casey's arms. "Invisible." He said softly to his brothers as they both nodded.
Mikey went first with Leonardo following behind and Donatello behind him. Casey stayed in the large doorway, waiting to hear anything from down the stairs into the darkness of the lair. He was ready to hand Hayley over April if any noise was made. April eyed her husband carefully, watching his tense posture as she looked back at Raphael, looking him over once more in the minimal light.
His wrists had already stopped bleeding, but needed to be wrapped and cleaned. His face didn't look as bad as she thought, both eyes opened and no swelling which was good. Alex on the other hand, her face was a bloodied mess. April kept looking up at her every so often but, she paid no attention keeping her one good eye on Raphael, keeping him as steady as she could in her arms.
"How ya holdin' up?" Alex asked softly as Raphael grunted a bitter laugh in response.
"Peachy." He said as Alex let out a soft sigh.
"He'll be fine." April said with a smile. "It's you I'm worried about." She sighed as Alex shook her head.
"I'm good... A little rest and cold compress is all I need." She said with a shrug as April nodded her head looking over towards her husband once more. The similarities in himself and his sister were uncanny in that moment. Their postures both tense, same blackened eye and same uncaring attitude towards their own well being in comparison to others around them. She smiled at him slowly turning into a furrowed brow as she watched him braced himself hearing the sound of feet running up the stairs. Leonardo came into view at the top of the stairs, as Michelangelo turned on the lights of the lair.
"It's fine." He said with a shrug, sliding his katana back into his scabbard. "I don't think they've come yet. Just means we have to take shifts at the door in case they decide to come over for an unwelcome visit." He said with a sigh, walking over to his brother as Alex tried to adjust him on her shoulder.
"Splinter?" He asked, looking over at Leonardo as he took Raphael's other arm, helping Alex get him into their home.
"He's asleep. I plan on waking him once we get you and Hayley in bed." He said as Raphael nodded. Alex and Leo walked him into his room.
Alex started moving things off the bed and pulled down the sheets as Raph sighed, leaning heavily against Leonardo's side. Alex smiled at her strong red banded boyfriend, slipping herself back under his strong arm, and helping him to his bed. Leonardo patted his brother's shoulder as Raph finally laid back.
"Sleep good little brother." Leonardo said with a soft smile as he laid Raph down on his bed. Raph sighed, rolling his eyes.
"You're like a day older than me." He said as Alex chuckled a little, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Still older." Leo said, leaving the room.
"It's good to be home." Raph sighed, closing his eyes as Alex laid down beside him. It was silent for a moment between them as Raphael looked over at Alex noticing her face in the right light for the first time. "They are gonna pay for that." He sighed as she looked up from his chest, where she was watching it raise and fall with each breath as a reassurance to herself that he was OK.
"They'll pay for this." She said, rubbing her thumb lightly over his wrist. "I feel like we go one step forward and three steps back." She sighed. "Nothin' eva' seems enough, ya know?" She asked as he nodded.
"We've got someone that was on the inside now, maybe she'll give us some information that'll help." He shrugged as Alex nodded her head slowly, gliding her fingers back and forth over Raphael's rough palm. "Go get yourself cleaned up." He said nodding his head towards the door. "I need to sleep." She nodded her head, kissing his forehead before heading out of his room.
"Come with me." April said as she stood outside Raphael's bedroom. "Your face is a mess and you're not going to sleep until I know you don't have a concussion." She said, storming off towards the bathroom as Alex lifted a brow, watching her sister-in law stomp ahead of her.
She followed behind her as April rounded the corner to the bathroom, opening the door and pointing her finger inside. Alex walked by her slowly, waiting for a smack to come at the back of her head like her mother had done to her so many times before when she came home to this same scenario.
"You and your brother are idiots..." April sighed, shaking her head as she took out the large medical kit. Turning towards Alex, April placed her hands on her shoulders sitting her down on the toilet seat. "Can you even tell that your eye is swollen shut or is your head to swollen from your ego?" She asked as Alex sighed.
"I.."
"Save it for when you're better and I don't feel like I'm scolding you like a ten year old." April said, taking out a gauze dripping in an antiseptic.
"Master..." Leonardo said softly, kneeling before his father's makeshift bed. It was an old cot mattress with about ten to fifteen blankets along the top and a mountain of pillows. Leonardo sighed, putting his hand on the old Rat's shoulder giving it a light shake. "Father, we're home." He said again a little louder as Splinter's eyes started to blink away.
"My son..." He sighed, putting his furry hand against Leonardo's green face. "Are you alright, is anyone harmed?" He asked as Leo shook his head. "Mentally?" He asked again as Leo sighed, nodding his head. "Alexandra." Splinter sighed as Leo nodded once more.
"She was very quiet on the way back here. She of course if worried about Raph, but... She seems..."
"Broke." Splinter added as Leonardo made a noise in agreement. "She will be. Her spirit is something that has been tested time and time again. She is a strong woman however, she has a large heart and it is now heavy with worry. Worry for her family, our family, Miss William's family."
"I actually needed to talk to you about Hayley..." Leo sighed as Splinter nodded his head with a small smile.
"I am well aware of you two being involved and I think it's a wonderful match my son."
"No, thank you but... That's not what I meant. She um, was interrogated several nights before this all happened..."
"Oh..." Splinter said sitting up from his bed and turning towards his son. "She disclosed the location of our home to them." He sighed as Leonardo hung his head with a nod. "Was she harmed?"
"She was tossed around a bit, but mostly it was them attacking her mentally more than anything. She feels horrible for what she has done, I know that but..."
"You have worked so hard to keep this families secret kept. She has been through a lot Leonardo, she is not used to our way of living like Alexandra is. She is not trained to fight like Alexandra is and does not have the mental endurance. Was she threatened?" He asked as Leonardo rose his head to his father's.
"Yes, they told her that if she did not tell them they would kill her mother."
"She would have done what we all would have then, for family."
"Yes, but father I trusted her..."
"And you have no reason now not to. She was scared Leonardo. Her mother, someone she loves very much, possibly more than anything in this world was threatened to be killed. Think of yourself in this situation. What if one of your brother's have been threatened, or Miss O'Neil, or even myself? How much would it have taken you to disclose what she had that night?"
"Not very much... But, I still would have fought..."
"Because you have a warriors heart my son. She is nothing but a girl who was scared. She knows our family and our past but, she did not live it. She has not been trained as you and your brothers have. She does not know how to fight, how to take beatings, how to prepare herself for the days she had just endured. You need to be aware of that as her friend and possibly something more."
"So, I shouldn't be mad at her for what she did, what she could have done. If they had captured you and..."
"Then the blame would been on my captors, not on Miss Williams. Are all your brother's safe?" He asked, ending the subject of Hayley. Leonardo sighed, nodding his head as the thought of the new woman with Donatello crossed his mind. He furrowed his brow, looking back up at his father as Splinter smiled once more, placing a furry paw on Leo's head. "We have discussed enough tonight. You need your rest. Any new visitors in this home will be dealt with tomorrow. Go now, get some sleep." He said, as Leonardo nodded getting to his feet.
"Good night Father."
"Good night my son."
"This is an impressive laboratory you have." Eliza said as she walked slowly around Donatello's lab, taking everything in. She stopped here and there, reading files or picking up vials with labels on them of different serums.
"Thank you." Donnie said watching her every move as carefully as he could. His stomach was twisting and turn with nervousness. For one, he had a woman in his lab. A very attractive, good looking, beautiful woman. One that was smart, and interested in what he actually does. Maybe too interested. Maybe this was just apart of the plan to plant something in his lab to have the Foot down here in minuets. His emotions kept yo-yoing back and forth making his heart race with anticipation. He was either aroused, or mad. He couldn't decipher between the two.
"...From the papers that Dr. Smoot went over in his dissertation." She said as Donnie snapped himself out of his head, looking over at the large book she was holding, thumbing through the pages.
"Oh, oh that yes. It was rather interesting." He said, walking over to her to look at what she was referring to. She smiled up at him, looking back at the formula she had been talking about. "So, the chemical that they were to use on my friends... Did you have anything..."
"No. I was mortified when Chaplin was talking about such a thing. He is the one that you need to be careful of. He follows Karai around like a little lost puppy. No brain in that red head of his." She growled, slapping the large book shut and placing it back where it was. She sighed, sitting heavily in one on Donnie's computer chairs. Her tight pencil skirt making her knees close together. "Do you mind?" She asked, leaning down as she went to unbuckle her Mary-Jane shoes. Donnie shook his head, his eyes linger a little longer than he would have liked on her smooth, milky skin of her long legs. "I cannot stand these dreadful things anymore." She said, slipping them off her feet and letting her sore soles rest against the cold concrete.
"So, what does the chemical contain?" He asked, leaning against his desk as she looked up at him, fixing her long blonde hair back from her face. She shrugged, covering her mouth from a large yawn and moving her glasses from her face. "I'm sorry, you must be exhausted..." He sighed, shaking his head at his manners.
"No, no that's alright. I mean, I am an unexpected guest and your brother's aren't exactly very welcoming of me..." She sighed, looking over towards the laboratory entrance. Donnie went to speak on behave of his brother's and she shook her head. "Not that they don't have any reason not to be. I am a stranger that works for your enemy. Worked for..." She correctly, looking down at her ID badge still clipped to her blouse. She sighed, snapping it from her clothing and tossing it into the nearest trash bin. "Disgusting." She sighed. "I should have listen to my mother. She said nothing good ever comes from this city. I should have just stayed in England." She sighed, putting her head in her hands.
"Well, not all things that come out of this city are bad." Donnie said with a shrug and small smile as Eliza looked up at him from her hands with a smile as well. "C'mon, I'll show you to my room. I don't sleep in there often anyways so, you're not putting me out." He said as she nodded, getting to her feet. She grabbed her shoes from the floor and followed the large turtle up the cement stairs case to the turtle's bedrooms.
Leonardo watched the light bounce off Hayley's face from the candles he had light around the room. It was bruised and broken, He needed to clear his mind before he could sleep. He wasn't going to be able to share a bed with her knowing what she had done regardless of what his father had said.
He still loved her, that was more than obvious. But, what she had done was more than unforgivable. Yes, she didn't have the same upbringing as he did but neither did Alex and she would have known better than to tell anyone the location of their home.
Closing his eyes he took in a slow steady breath, letting it out and having his mind clear of the past several days events.
He could have been sitting there for seconds or hours he didn't know but he felt a soft, small hand on his shoulder. Looking up her face still swollen and red from crying and the harsh slap she received from Karai he sighed once her eyes fell on him.
"You should be in bed." He said, his voice husky in the darkness of the room sent shivers up her spine.
"I can't sleep." She shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed. Leonardo turned, still sitting on the floor in front of her as she smirked a little, sadly. "I know saying I'm sorry isn't enough." She shrugged, starting to feel her sore eyes fill with tears once more.
"Hayley we do not need to do this now. You are tired and emotionally exhausted. We should wait until tomorrow." He said getting to his feet and placing his hands on her shoulders. She sighed, standing up and moving away from his touch.
"I cannot wait for the morning and I can't stay in this room knowing that you're disgusted with me."
"I'm not..."
"Please Leo, I know you and I know you're 'I'm disappointed' face."
"So, I'm disappointed I'm not disgusted." He sighed, taking her seat on the edge of the bed.
"Well, I am. Coming into this relationship, even friendship I knew what to do and what not to do an what I did was definitely what not to do. It's like number one." She said, pushing her hair back from her face. "Leo, I love you. I love your family and Alex, all of you but... It was my mother. My mum. She gave me life, she..." Hayley's eyes started to fill with tears again, and she pushed them down as best she could. "I don't want to keep crying over this like some scared little girl. I am in love with you and I know that you hate me, or at least... Whatever. But, I cannot stand here with you looking at me like that and just brush it off for another day." She said as he sighed, getting to his feet.
"I... Need time." He said as she nodded, sniffing back tears.
"I-I understand... But..."
"No Hails... I can't. Not tonight. I'm going to go sleep in the Dojo. Please get some rest." He said, kissing the top of her head as he passed her, opening his bedroom door and closing it softly behind him.
Hayley stood for a moment, her lips pressed together tightly trying to keep her emotions from exploding as best she could. She needed to wait until he was at least down the stairs. She couldn't let him feel bad for her, hearing her sobs that were well deserved. She deserved his cold shoulder. Doing what she did was the biggest mistake she could have possibly made. Telling anyone about the turtles, about their home, was the worst kind of wrong. She wouldn't blame him if he never excepted her apologies. If he never forgave her.
Going back to his bed, she felt tears bubble and crawl down her cheeks at a faster pace. Pulling the sheets down and wafting in the scent of him, her shoulders shook as sobs ranked through her body. She laid her head on his pillow, her tears being soaked into the case as she closed her sore, tired eyes.
Maybe in the morning it would be better. Maybe he really just needed a night to think, meditate on everything. He had been captured too, maybe he needed some time to make himself feel better. Lying to herself made at least the tears stop. She knew he was disappointed in her and she was in herself but, her crying herself to sleep wasn't doing to solve anything. She brushed the tears from her face, shaking her head at her pathetic self.
"It might as well be over..." She sniffed, burying her head into his pillow tormenting herself with his scent.
Alex let the hot water from the shower beat down on her back as she stood underneath the spray. She sighed, running hands through her ebony hair and putting her head back as the hot water cascaded over her face.
She couldn't sleep as well and as deep as she wanted to. She needed to relax. She needed to let her mind rest, stop for just one moment but, it wouldn't. It ran with continuous thoughts over the previous evening, weeks, months. All the different threats, even under the roof she once thought to be the safest place she knew. No one would ever find them down here and now at any moment, someone could.
She thought of the new woman sleeping in one of the brother's rooms as Donnie took first watch at the lair's entrance. Her best friend since they were children betraying her and her family. The love of her life laying in the bed she left nearly an hour ago physically and emotionally tried from being in a holding cell while his brothers where somewhere he didn't know, worried and beaten.
All because she had to come back for some stupid vendetta against Hun and his useless excuse for human beings, the purple dragons.
Maybe she should have stayed in Cali. Maybe she should have just ignored them all in the cell that night she came back and got captured. None of this would have happened.
She also, probably would be dead. Raphael would have definitely hated her and all the progress she's made in training would be for nothing.
She sighed, shutting off the hot water and stepping out of the large shower. She wiped off the mirror covered in steam and looked at her beaten reflection. April was right to be mad at her. She wasn't worrying about herself at all, she was too focused on Raphael. She could have been stuck with that vial and been something completely different by now. A brainless freak fighting against the ones she loved.
Putting her hands tightly on the cool ceramic of the sink, she let her shoulders relax as her head fell between them. She needed to think, but her mind was too foggy. Her thoughts clouded with regret and anxiousness. She knew she couldn't get a good nights sleep this way.
Putting on a new pair of jeans and tank top she started for the entrance of the liar where Donnie stood, watching the closed brick doors like a hawk.
"Hey." She sighed as he looked up at her with a small smile.
"You're face already looks better." He shrugged as she tired to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm ready for my pageant next week. Why don't you take a break, I'll watch for a little bit."
"No, you need rest."
"Tried that, didn't work." She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll just keep you company then." She said as he nodded his head.
"How's Raph?"
"Sleeping like a baby."
"He was worn down. He hates being in restraints."
"Who likes it?" She chuckled as Donnie followed. "But, I mean anyone would get worn down after two days of that shit."
"Why are you up?" Leonardo asked, making up way up the stairs as the two conversed.
"Can't sleep." She sighed, hopping up on the railing to sit.
"I guess that makes three of us." Leo sighed, leaning back against where she sat. "Don, if you're tired go take a break."
"I'm not tried, I just made a full pot of coffee." He said, pointing down towards the kitchen as Leo chuckled.
"Alright. Maybe you and I should meditate." He said looking over at Alex who shook her head.
"I tried that too... Didn't work. My minds too... All over the place." Alex shrugged as Leonardo nodded. "Did you um, talk to Hayley?" She asked softly, looking over at the blue banded brother who's shoulders shagged in defeat.
"Yes."
"Went well then?" She asked with a sarcastic tone as Leo nodded his head. "Let me go talk to her." She said, looking towards the eldest room.
"What are you going to say that I didn't?"
"I'm her best friend. I'm worried more about her and that crazy suicide talk than your pride." She shrugged, hopping down from the railing as Leonardo sighed.
"She wouldn't do something like that."
"No, but she feels like shit."
"She should." Leo said before he could catch himself. He shook his head, going back towards the stairs. "I'm going to meditate." He sighed, going down the stairs and back into the Dojo.
"He'll come around." Donnie said as Alex nodded, heading her way towards Leonardo's room.
Knocking softly on Leonardo's door, Alex opened it slowly. She peeked her head in and noticed the shadow of her friend sitting in the middle of Leonardo's bed.
"Leo?" She heard the broken down voice say in the darkness as Alex sighed.
"No babe, it's me." She said as Hayley sniffed.
"Hi."
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Like... I don't know. Nothing? Can you feel like nothing? Just, a space." She sighed as Alex took a seat next to her on the bed.
"Yeah, I know the feeling well."
"I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want you guys to have to do this, or rescue me or whatever the fuck. I wanted my mother safe. That's all I was thinking about and come to find out, she wasn't even hurt or captured. They used me. They tricked me and used me against all of you." She seethed, fresh tears streaming down her reddened face swiping them away angry. Alex moved closer, rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"That's what they do. They're manipulative and would do anything to get to us, to them. It's nothing that anyone else wouldn't have done Hails."
"I shouldn't have done it. I should have just let them take me and shut my mouth. You kept your mouth shut and looket your face!" She said, leaning over to the night stand and turning on the light. Alex winced her good eye to the sudden bright light.
"Yeah, but I have years of practice taking on big baddies. You've never trained with Leo. Maybe you should?" She shrugged as Hail blew out of puff of air.
"Yeah, because he's so willing to even be in the same room as me right now. He couldn't even stand to look at me earlier. He is just... I would be too. I would be so disgusted! I mean, how can he not? It's everything, literally everything he's trained his whole life to protect and it takes his girlfriend to go and fuck it up for him." She said, putting her head in her hands as she sobbed into them. "I'm just an idiot."
"We all make mistakes, and when it comes to this family if you make a mistake it kinda turns out to be life or death. Leonardo needs time to think, meditate on it. He's already talked to Splinter and if I know Master he'll have said that it's nothing any of us wouldn't have done. You are not to feel bad about this anymore than you need to."
"So then, just another couple years?" She sighed as Alex chuckled. She wrapped her arms about her best friend, laying them both back on Leo's bed.
"Give or take a millennium." She said as Hayley laughed a little. They were quiet for a moment before Hayley looked over her shoulder at her beautiful, beaten best friend.
"He'll forgive me?" She asked softly as Alex smiled, moving Hayley's bangs from her face.
"He loves you more than you think and probably more than he realizes. He'll forgive you."