Quick Note: First, this character does have the same name as the girl in my other fic. I haven't decided whether that is going to be a side (eventual) story, or if it will be totally different. If it ends up not being connected, I will just rename the character in the other fic. I had started writing this one first and had to get the desire to write smut/lemons out of my system so I can actually develop this story. Please consider reviewing. I know this is in rough shape and could use some idea on if it is readable or if I need to cut some stuff out, be less detailed and more general (specifics at end), etc. I plan on explaining their reaction to the cold later in the story, but if I forget... yell at me.

Leo's POV

In a detached sort of way, Leo noticed the blood spreading across the snow. The bleeding was the least of his worries right now anyway.

So cold... He couldn't tell if his shivering had gotten that bad, or if another round of muscle spasms from the poison was coming on. It was becoming more difficult to breathe and as he took another gasping breath, the cold seared his lungs causing him to cough and lose what precious oxygen he had drawn in. He tried again to push himself up, but his muscles seemed to have lost the ability to support him.

How long had it been since he had been poisoned, and how long would he have? Leo knew his brothers would start searching for him if he didn't make it to the meeting spot, but he wondered if they would be able to find him in time... or if they would be able to find him at all. The heavy snow was quickly obscuring his tracks. He cast his mind back, trying to figure out how long it had been.

Earlier...

The four brothers crouched on the rooftop, watching as the Foot Clan thugs loaded crates into the backs of the three waiting trucks. Impatient, Raphael shifted, flexing his muscles to help stave off the cold and keep them from getting stiff, "C'mon, Fearless, let's take 'em out already and get out of this damn cold.

Leonardo resisted rolling his eyes, "Be patient, Raph. We don't even know what it is they are moving or where they're taking it."

"Ya really think we are going to be able to track them in this weather. This storm is supposed to dump a couple of feet of snow on us. And I ain't freezing my ass of all night when we could just stop them here.

"Yeah, bro. I'm freezing my shell off. I'd be down for some cocoa right about now," Mikey whined.

Leo pinched the bridge of his snout in frustration, but before he could open his mouth to reply, Donnie cleared his throat. "What, Donnie?"

"Well, I could place trackers on the trucks and we could keep tabs on them that way until this storm dies down. They might also have a point. Even though we are not strictly cold blooded, this drastic of temperature is rather more dangerous for us than it would be to the humans..."

His words trailed off rather uncertainly at the glare from Leo, but finally Leo pushed a breath out through his nose and conceded. "Fine. Go ahead and do it- but as soon as the weather clears, we go after them. The Shredder might still be missing, but we still need to figure out what the Foot and Karai are planning." He gave them their instructions and they dropped down to attach Donnie's trackers.

However, as the leader stood poised to make the dash to the truck, a loud clatter of metal pipes broke the relative quiet of the winter night. His gaze darted toward the sound to see a guilty looking Michelangelo give a sheepish grin. Somehow he had caught the edge of one and brought the whole pile down. The alarm went up and Foot soldiers scattered. Doors slammed and the engines roared to life as the trucks took off. Each of them heading in different directions.

"Split up! Mikey, stay here. Make sure they don't take anymore of this stuff and try to find out what it is. Donnie, try and get a tracker on one of those trucks. Raph and I will tail the other two until you get there!" They all took off across the rooftops after their respective trucks.

For Leo's piece of mind, they had set up an emergency meeting spot before they even started recon on this place. So if anything went wrong and they couldn't get one another on the radio, they were to meet there.

Leo had been following his truck for close to 15 minutes and was starting to notice the effects from the cold slowing him down, and the temperature was still dropping. His brothers had had a point, he thought ruefully. He had been so focused on the Foot and worrying about what they were up to, that he hadn't been thinking as clearly as he should have. The only good thing about this snow was that it was slowing the Foot's truck down as well.

Perhaps it was the cold making his thoughts and reflexes slower, or simply that his mind was elsewhere, but he didn't see or sense the shadowy figure hurtling towards him until it was too late. Thankfully, his training saved him for serious injury and he twisted with the blow to roll back to his feet.

Standing across from him was Shredder's right hand woman, Karai. After his disappearance, she had stepped forward to take control of the clan. The new fighters that Karai had been recruiting were better trained in hand-to-hand combat and relied less on guns. As their enemies had found out, the brothers' shells were resistant to all but the armor piercing bullets.

Some of these new recruits fanned out across the roof to surround him. Karai gave an almost imperceptible hand signal and they all leapt to attack.

Despite the cold slowing him down, he was able to dodge most of the first attacks; dancing between them and cutting them down. When he turned to engage Karai however, he was blinded by a thick white powder that was thrown at his face. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. Master Splinter had trained them to fight blindfolded, so they would be forced to use their other senses; but even with this training, the Foot soldiers scored several deep hits with their blades. The powder burned Leo's eyes, but finally he was able to blink enough of it away to mostly clear his vision. Even as he readied himself to turn and fight, he felt muscles along his jaw and neck suddenly clench and tighten.

"Ah, good. It is taking effect," Karai sneered at hims with a malicious twist to her mouth, "I was worried that with your mutated systems, the poison might now affect you."

Poison. Crap, he needed to retreat and find Donatello before it circulated through the rest of his system. Hopefully his brother would be able to figure out what it was and how to cure it.

Leo darted through his enemies, now seeking to wound or slow them down. He just needed a small opening to make his escape. As he and his swords danced among them, another spasm went down his neck, now affecting his upper body. He felt several more of the soldiers hits find their marks, causing him to stagger to his knees. Two of his enemies went in for the killing blow, thinking him finished and stupidly letting their guard down. This gave him the opening he needed and he surged to his feet, slashing them and shoving them back into their comrades to slow them down.

The blue-banded turtle took off across the rooftops with the enemy on his heels. Luckily, he finally found a gap that they were unable to traverse, losing them in the swirling snow. Not so luckily, another wave of intense cramps hit; that coupled with the injuries and effects from the cold, caused his legs to buckle as he prepared to leap to the next rooftop. It was too late to stop his plummet off the building, but he did manage to briefly catch ahold of the fire escape on his way down, which helped break his fall.

He plummeted the last feet to the alley and desperately tried to stay conscious so he could drag himself towards the dumpster to take shelters in its shadows. The need to stay out of sight helping him stay focused enough to stave off the darkness clouding his vision. His hand lifted to where he kept his radio strapped on, only to find it gone. Somehow it must have gotten cut off in the fight. Shit. With a groan, he let his head fall back against the building.

Terra's POV

"Ugh, I hate the snow!" Terra smacked the top of the steering wheel as she peered up into the swirling snowy sky.

Up ahead was the main source of her frustration, a small pile-up of cars that was blocking traffic. One had gotten stuck at a stoplight, their tires unable to get enough traction, and another car coming up behind them had slid right into them. Of course several other vehicles following a bit too close and going a bit too fast, soon found themselves in a similar situation. In the storm, who knew how long it would be before everyone was cleared out.

She looked around in desperation, hoping she would have enough space to turn around. She was boxed in pretty effectively; but as she looked around, she spotted an alleyway she thought she might be able to cut through. The snow was drifting across the entrance quite badly. This wasn't something she would have ever tried in a car, but she thought her truck just might make it.

Terra backed up as far as she was able, trying to get up as much speed as she could, then put it in 4-wheel and plowed through the drifts. Looking behind her, she couldn't help a snort of laughter. One of the other cars had thought it was a good idea to try and follow her example. They must have thought her truck would push enough of the snow out of the way. What they didn't account for was the fact that their car sat about a foot or so lower than her truck.

For once since she had moved to New York, she was glad she hadn't traded her farm truck in for a car. This storm almost made up for all the expensive fill ups at the gas station and the endless frustration of finding a parking spot her truck would fit into... almost.

Glancing back again, she was tempted to try and go back to help them get it out. The only things that stopped her were the fact that they were already almost out as the passengers had gotten out and were pushing it backwards; that and the fact that there were just too many people. If she stopped to help all of them, it would be a never ending process. The emergency services and tow trucks would be by anyway.

She was nearing the other end of the alleyway when a flash of red at the edge of her headlights caught her eye. Was that blood!? The truck skidded to a halt as she hit the brakes. It was difficult to see in the shadows, but it looked like someone was leaning against the wall by the dumpster. Someone must be hurt!

Terra leapt out of the truck to go help, but as she got nearer, she could see it was a very large someone... or something. Maybe this wasn't the smartest idea. She didn't know who this was, how they got hurt, or if they would lash out at her when she tried to help. Heck, if someone else had done this to them, they might still be lurking about. Her steps faltered as she glanced around, but her hesitation only lasted a moment. If someone was hurt, she couldn't just leave them.

The blood glistened darkly where the light hit it and the dark pool past the light seemed to merge with the shadows, swallowing up the person at its center. Laying a gloved hand gingerly on their shoulder, she could feel them shivering violently and then felt their muscles clench under her hand. They shifted and let out a pained groan.

"Hey, hold still. How bad are you injured?" She fumbled with her phone, intent on turning on her flashlight so she could see their injuries. As the light hit them though, she froze.

Whatever this was, wasn't human. What she had taken for a backpack or something similar in the dark, was in fact a shell. The shoulder her hand was resting on was covered in green scaly skin. By all appearances, this was a turtle?

Her mind immediately jumped back to the incident a few years before of the alien ship that had appeared over New York. It was before she had moved here, but the story had been covered by every news station across the world. People still hadn't stopped speculating about it.

Perhaps this turtle was actually an alien? Her curious gaze soon found the sources of the blood. There were several deep gashes that were seeping blood. The cold actually seemed to have helped slow the bleeding. As her light moved up, his head turned towards her. Or at least she assumed it was a he, maybe alien turtle things didn't even have genders? This slightly hysterical thought was interrupted when she noticed him wincing away from the light. She turned the flashlight downwards to avoid blinding him, but it was still enough to see his face. Part of his face was covered in a slightly ragged blue mask, but striking blue eyes peered up at her. He seemed dazed and in pain, but a sharp intelligence still sparked his gaze. Suddenly his whole body shuddered and his eyes closed as his face contorted in pain. This finally jolted Terra out of her shock and she fumbled with her phone again, "Don't worry, I'll call an ambulance and get you some help."

She had to stifle a yelp as a giant three fingered hand enclosed her wrist. Despite still obviously being in pain, he managed to grit out, "No. No, hospitals."

"But-" she tried to protest, but was cut off.

"No hospitals," he repeated, "Please."

She reluctantly nodded and he released her wrist. Another spasm of pain crossed his face and she could see the corded muscle tighten and jump around his neck. His breathing also seemed to be becoming more labored from the effort of talking and from the muscle contracting so often. "At least tell me what is causing this?" She gestured to the knotted muscle, "Maybe I can help."

For a bit it didn't seem like he would, or could, answer her. Finally she did hear him say, "Poison."

"Do you know what kind?" she asked, but he just shook his head. "Well, first things first, lets bandage these up and get you out of the cold." She ran to her truck to grab the first aid kit, silently thanking her dad for always teaching them to be prepared.

When the bandages ran out before his injuries did, she tore some strips from her coat for the rest. "Come on, I've got the heat on in the truck, but I'm not going to be able to get you there by myself. You're going to have to try and walk." For a moment there was no response and she briefly wondered if she would be able to pull him over to the truck if she used his shell like a sled. It certainly wouldn't be the ideal route since she didn't want to move him any more than necessary and risk jolting him and making his injuries also still didn't help the whole actually getting him in the truck issue.

"Hey, can you hear me?" She knelt down so she could see his face. He finally turned his disoriented gaze towards her and nodded. As she helped pull him up to his feet and tucked herself under his arm to offer what support she could, she wondered whether his confusion was due to the poison or if hypothermia was setting it. Her job had provided several courses and yearly refreshers in first aid, so she knew some basics, but this was definitely beyond her comfort zone.

It seemed to take forever, but finally they got him maneuvered in to the back of the truck so he could lay down. This seemed to take the last of his energy though, because before she could even get the blanket draped over him, his eyes had dropped shut.

Seeing him contrasted against such a normal background really brought the reality of the situation crashing down. "You don't have time to freak out. You can freak out later. Help now, freak out later," she muttered to herself. Terra kept up this mantra as she climbed into the driver's seat. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to bring home a stranger, but what choice did she have?

It was a long drive back in the snow and she found her glancing back in the rearview to reassure herself that he was still breathing, laboured though it was.

Pulling up to the townhouse, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief that the street seemed deserted. Everyone had taken shelter from the storm inside.

The townhouse itself was split into two apartments and thankfully she had her own entrance. The problem arose from the fact that hers was the top apartment and the only way up was the stairs.

Before she tried to rouse him, she did a quick once over of his other injuries. Several had soaked through the bandages and were going to leave some very hard to explain stains on the seat. "If you survive this, you are definitely going to help me clean all these bloodstains out. I can't explain these to a detailing place. I'm going to look like a very incompetent serial killer," she grumbled without any real annoyance behind it.

It took a lot of effort and quite a bit of time, but eventually they made it up the stairs. Though she would have to remember to go clean the blood off the steps, since he had needed to stop often to rest.

Their first detour was to the bathroom to clean his cuts and get him stitched up. If he had been a bit more cognizant, he probably would have been a bit surprised by the sheer amount of medical supplies her bathroom contained. She was a bit... accident prone. Between the fact that she had shot up in height when she hit her growth spurt, which ruined any coordination she had; she also just seemed to attract bad luck. After an incident on one of her backpacking trips, her brother and sister had bought her an actual suture kit. They had done it partially as a joke and partially out of real concern. She also had some zip stitches for smaller wounds to go with the kit, but she didn't have nearly enough for all of his.

As she took out the supplies, she noticed the turtle eyeing the needle in her hands rather warily, though he seemed too exhausted to protest. She tried to reassure him, "Lucky for you, I have some experience stitching up cuts." She decided to leave out the fact that her only actual experience was stitching up a couple animals on the farm. He couldn't be that different, right? That information could be a surprise for later if he asked. No need to give him even less confidence in her abilities right now.

Digging around in the back of the cabinet, she also managed to find some painkillers she had leftover from her car accident a couple years ago. The accident resulted in a back injury and they had sent her home the pills to manage the pain. She had hated being dependent on them though and so had quit taking them as soon as she was able. Now she offered him the pills along with a glass of water, though he didn't acquiesce until he had been able to double check the bottle. Couldn't really blame him, she supposed. Terra trusted he would know what dose he would need and simply went about cleaning and stitching him up as best she could. All of this was made that much more difficult by the continued cramps that caused his whole body to tense up and by the shivers that still wracked his body, lessened though they were.

He was still wrapped in the blanket from her car, but she wouldn't be happy until she was able to get him under an electric blanket. She lamented that this place didn't have a tub of some sort that she could have ran him a hot bath to warm up... though she would need a giant jacuzzi just to fit him in it.

To break the silence and try to distract him from the pain, she started talking while she stitched. "My name is Terra," she offered.

He was silent for a moment before he seemed to decide something. "Leonardo," he answered.

"Leonardo, huh? Hmm, I like it. It's not a name I hear often," she said with a smile. After another moment she spoke again, "I know you said you don't know what poison was used on you, but can you describe it or how it was given to you?" She hated to keep questioning him, especially since he couldn't seem to catch him breath, but she didn't even know how to begin to help otherwise.

With an effort he told her what he remembered. "White powder... in my eyes..." he said between pants.

She nodded. She would have to try and look up what she could after she got him settled.

Soon enough she had his wounds stitched and bandaged back up and they made their way to her bedroom so she could get him in the bed. There was a guest bedroom on the floor above, but more stairs just seemed a bit too daunting at the moment. Leonardo seemed to be reaching his limits, and she was rather surprised he had made it this far.

After turning the blanket on low, a quick trip to the kitchen to get him something warm to drink was in order. After digging through her kitchen, all she could come up with was hot cocoa or tea, so she made both, figuring she would drink whichever he didn't want. Something occurred to her as she was setting the cups on the nightstand though, so she ran back to the bathroom quickly and returned bearing more pills. Leonardo looked at her questioningly.

"Muscle relaxants," she explained. Another set of pills they had sent home with her from the same accident. This time he simply took them from her without checking the bottle. Seemed she had earned a bit more of his trust. When offered the two drinks, he weakly gestured to the tea. Terra ended up needing to help him steady his cup when his muscles chose the inopportune moment to lock up, but he managed to down some of it.

Either the pills kicked in fast, or he was simply that exhausted, but he soon slipped into what seemed like a fitful sleep.

Using the opportunity to see what she could find on the poison, she hopped on her laptop. The best she could do was a search of all his symptoms and the little description he had been able to give. Finally though, she hit on one that seemed to fit. Strychnine.

In humans, even small amounts could be fatal. Muscle spasms from the poison could turn into convulsions and the person could suffocate from their respiratory muscles being paralyzed for too long. She glanced over at him in horror, afraid she would see some tell-tale signs of this starting. More research gave her hope though; larger animals could survive larger doses and usually the life-threatening convulsions appeared within a couple hours. They had already reached that two hour mark and his breathing seemed about the same, possibly even better, though that could be wishful thinking on her part. "Most should be metabolized within 6 hours and should be completely gone within 48 hours," she read. It would be awhile before he was out of the woods.

Crap. What did I get myself into? With nothing else she could find or think of to do, she pulled one of her comfy chairs into the bedroom so she could keep an eye on him. She was more than a little frustrated that this was all she could do to help, essentially nothing but waiting it out.

It had been an all around long and stressful day, so when she found herself dozing off, she had enough presence of mind to set herself some alarms on vibrate so she could wake up to check on him without disturbing him. Afterwards, she settled in with a sigh; it was going to be a long night. At least with this storm she wouldn't have to worry about work for a few days.

Notes:

I think Terra's POV is very rough and I have been tempted to delete part of it. I was using some for explanation, some for setting up plot points down the road, and some just so you can get a look into how she thinks. Don't get too attached to this chapter, it will likely get edited based on (hopeful) feedback. (P.S. if anyone wants to be a beta of sorts for conversation, plot, structure, punctuation/grammar, etc., let me know. It would be much appreciated.)Leo's POV