The first thing Marie became aware as she woke up was that she was cold, as she opened her eyes she realised why. She was sitting on the balcony slouched against the doorframe, still in yesterday's clothes. For a moment her mind couldn't quite figure out why she was here and then suddenly everything came rushing back to her, the gunshot, the men in the alley and the mutant turtle, who was sleeping on her sofa. Slowly she turned her head towards him, he was still passed out, covered in the blanket she had draped over him the previous night, and it seemed he hadn't moved an inch. The longer she stared at him the more frightened she became, what on earth had she been thinking?! Letting this stranger stay in her home, and not just any stranger, some sort of mutant experiment gone wrong or something. He was probably dangerous, looking at the size of him and the rather obvious muscles he was sporting; he could easily snap her in two. He had climbed in her 3rd story apartment from the balcony like it was nothing and that was while he was severely injured! She dreaded to think of what he would be capable of while at full health. Why hadn't she just screamed bloody murder to those men in the alley who were looking for him anyway?

The last thought made her pause, that niggling voice at the back of her mind making itself known again. He really was injured wasn't he? She had spent a good hour or two cleaning all those wounds up and digging a bullet out of his shoulder. Those men in the alley were the ones who had done that to him he had said, she could remember the fear in his eyes as he had tensed up at their voices, how could she even think about turning him over to them after that when she knew it would only lead to him being hurt more or perhaps shot dead. No, she had done the right thing she was sure of it. Marie glanced at the clock, 08:35am. She supposed she should get freshened up and check on the turtle, Leo he had said his name was. Yes, she should check on Leo first and then get changed into something clean and then maybe make some breakfast.

Pushing her stiff body up off the floor she headed inside, gently closing the glass doors behind her and moving towards the sleeping figure on the sofa. Giving him a quick glance over she noticed that his breathing seemed a little raspy, though it wasn't shallow or particularly uneven so perhaps he was snoring lightly, if turtles could even snore. Marie leaned over and very gently touched his arm,

"Leo?" she whispered, prodding slightly as she spoke before pulling back to watch him from a safer distance. She knew he was injured and that he had been nothing but a gentleman last night but that didn't mean much when she had only just met him last night, people were far too unpredictable this early on. A slight grunt followed by a grimace let her know that Leo was awake, and so she gave him space but called his name again. The turtle forced his eyes open at that and seemed a little disoriented which was to be expected but he made no move to attack or even glare at her, instead once he realised where he was and turned his attention to the dark haired woman before him, he gave a half smile though it didn't last long before he grimaced again.

"How are you feeling?" asked Marie, crossing her arms in front of her and hugging the brown kimono to her still chilled body,

"Like I've been hit by a train", Leo groaned out. His eyes squeezed shut, he hadn't seemed as sore last night but she supposed he was likely running on adrenaline and now that it had worn off he was feeling it all. Plus he had passed out as soon as she had finished cleaning the bullet wound and she hadn't given him any pain killers,

"Do you want some ibuprofen and aspirin? I can make you something light to eat with them" she said softly as she came forward again, reaching a hand out to feel his brow which ended up being worrying cold. She frowned, turning her hand over and pressing her warm palm across his forehead. Leo let out a hum as she did, closing his eyes.

"Yes please, if it's not too much trouble" he said in a whisper, eyes still closed. Marie smiled at him sadly, he seemed so sweet and yet someone had hurt him so badly that he was now lying on her sofa barely staying conscious. Marie's plan to freshen up was immediately put on hold as she decided that taking care of Leo was much more important than her comfort.

"It's no trouble at all, is toast and scrambled eggs ok?" she smiled brightly at him, petting his head absentmindedly. He nodded with a hum of approval; his eyes still shut, and let out a deep sigh. Marie moved off to get things ready for him, grabbing a hot water bottle on the way and boiling the kettle before making a start on his breakfast. Once everything was cooked she grabbed a glass of water and the painkillers, setting everything out on a tray before heading back to him.

Marie helped Leo into a sitting position before setting the tray on his lap. He thanked her and dug in, Marie smiled at his eagerness to eat and excused herself, heading to the bedroom to change quickly. Once she was freshened up and now sporting a black, knitted, knee length dress that was at least 2 sizes too big but drawn in at the waist with a belt, she grabbed another thicker blanket off her bed and headed back through. She turned to her living room and froze, Leo was not on the sofa. For a split second she worried someone had broken in and stole him until she heard a clink from the kitchen, rushing forward to the doorway she spotted her guest hunched over the sink attempting to wash the dishes. His head snapped up as he noticed her and he looked terrified for a moment,

"I'm so sorry, I won't be long they're almost done" he stuttered out in a rush as he began to shakily lift the cloth to continue. Marie crossed the small kitchen in two large steps, and grabbed the cloth before he could put it back in the water, he looked at her like she would hurt him but she simply gave him a stern look, gently pulling the cloth from his still shaking hands. Leo hung his head as she set it back on the counter,

"What are you doing up, you should be resting, Leo you got shot less than 12 hours ago" she reminded him, voice as soft as it could be while still holding enough sway to make him listen.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to help. You shouldn't have to do the dishes, or make me breakfast, or patch me up. I should be strong enough to do those things myself", he said rather dejectedly, his head still low though Marie wasn't sure whether it was from the situation or his rather obvious exhaustion. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head with a smile,

"You're really something you know that? Leo I appreciate that you want to help but honestly at this point the best way to help me is to help me help you. And that means resting for now", she said as kindly as she could while still having a slight humour to her tone. This guy was nuts, he was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises, burns and bullet wounds and he was still up on his feet trying to help even while he could barely stand. Marie helped him back to the couch and draped the first blanket over him before grabbing the hot water bottle and second blanket, bringing him those as well. Leo murmured a quick thank you as she wrapped him up in the cosy couch before sitting next to him, her legs tucked up beneath her.

"So anyways, you're probably gonna be here a while so I guess we should get to know each other huh?" Marie said, beaming at the now contented turtle next to her.

"Where are you from?" she asked, hugging a cushion to her as she got more comfortable on the sofa, Leo gave her a small smile,

"It's a long story", he warned but Marie simply motioned to the clock with a grin,

"Luckily we have time for one of those", she replied and so Leo began to tell her about how he had came to be…

Ok, so that's chapter 2 done and dusted. Marie having a little trouble with her common sense disagreeing with her choice but she's very good at ignoring common sense (much like me) so it looks like Leo will be there for a while. I didn't want to go into detail about Leo's backstory as its one we all know by now so you don't need me to retell it. I decided to go with 2003 version as that's what I grew up with. Again, I'm hoping to update this by next Thursday night as this week I was in London for a couple days and didn't have my crusty dusty old laptop with me to type on and even if I did I literally didn't have the time between running to shows and museums and dungeons and whatever else. Please leave a review if you enjoyed this, or if you hated it I'm not fussy.