Did Ya Miss Me?

Disclaimer: I own Rowan, and Charlie. Touch without permission and pay. Simple as that. The turtles are not mine On with the story!

Her plan had been going perfectly until she reached the ladder to the den. Trying to juggle the packages and keep a hold of the old ladder rungs was tougher than she first thought. But after some careful maneuvering she made it down.

"Hey guys, did ya miss me?" As she stepped down onto solid ground she paused at the multitude of looks she got. "Hey, what happened?"

Charlie, seeing his mother safe and sound, bolted out from behind Raphael and hugged Rowan.

"Hey look, I'm sorry I took off but did you honestly think you'd have let me go up there otherwise?"

Yea well, there's a reason for that, or did you want to end up dead at the hands of that bastard?!"

She stared in shock as Raphael stormed off, having said his piece.

"You'll have to forgive Raph, but he does have a point. You know how dangerous it is for you to go up there alone."

She set her bags down to pick up Charlie and sighed. "I know Leo, and I'm sorry, but I felt that this was the least I could do for you guys." She motioned to the bags, "Can you three help me carry these to the tree?"

"Ut, what'd ya buy? A ton of bricks?"

Laughing at Michaelangelos' lopsided walk, she giggled and shook her head, "Uh no, those would be for Raph. Hey! No peeking!"

She swatted Donatello away and finished pushing them under the faux tree done up in reds, purples, blues and oranges since each turtle wanted their color on the tree, and topped of with a plastic turtle courtesy of Casey.

"We really appreciate this, but it's still dangerous up there, and until you go to the police - "

"NO! Leo I told you I can't go to the police." She shook her head violently, fear very evident on her face. He's a cop, and cops stick together. They're like brothers.

"But if you'd just tell us why, maybe we could help you." Donatello pleaded.

"You wanna help? Then teach me to fight. Teach me to defend myself." But please, please don't ask me to go to the cops. She looked down at Charlie, who was clinging to her leg, looking worried by his mothers frightened tone, and then to Mike, who was fiddling with the chain of his nunchucks.

"Mikey, can you take Charlie for me? I need to go talk to Raph."

"No prob. The little dude an' I can practice our yo-yo tricks." He said lightly, eliciting a small smile from the boy.

Turning on her heel, she started toward Raphael's bedroom. Hearing heavy rocker music pouring out. How is he not deaf yet? Pounding on the door to be heard over the loud music, she paused and tried again enough to hurt her knuckles before getting a response. She heard the music turned down and grumbles from the other side.

"Who is it?"

" 'S me, can I come in?" She waited. Fine, don't answer me you overgrown amphibian!

"Come in."

Opening the door, her first thought was tiny, tiny, cramped and cluttered. Raphael was sitting cross-legged on a large bed, and a magazine lay open on his lap. He wouldn't meet her gaze.

"All right, straight to the point, what did you mean by that out there?"

He closed the magazine and set it aside, and she noticed with some distaste that it looked like a skin magazine.

"I didn't mean anythin' by it."

"Oh bull! You know damned well what you meant. Look, I'm sorry I worried you, but I've been down here for ten days, Christmas is coming up and I refuse to have Charlie spend it without at least one gift."

"But you could've told us, we could've had April go with you, or Casey." Hell, I would've gone with you. "And what if he would have found you? Are a few presents more important than being alive for your son?"

She opened her mouth to justify her actions again, and promptly shut it. Shaking her head she let the music wash over her, giving her a reason to keep silent. Finally though, she spoke.

"I just wanted to go out, needed to go out."

Suddenly brightening up with an idea, he stood and moved beside her, grabbing his jacket off a chair.

"You want to go out? Fine, go get Charlie and ask him what movie he'd like to see, and we can leave after supper."

It was a great idea, but remembering her maxed out credit cards she shook her head. "I can't, for the time being anyway, I'm broke."

He shrugged, "My treat, come on, dinner, a movie and who knows, maybe we'll get lucky."

She stared at him as the hidden meaning clicked, "You're a pervert, you know that?"

~*~*~

Sitting on a fire escape, Jake watched the alley that he had last seen Rowan in. He knew people didn't just disappear, they liked to think they could, but anybody stupid enough to think they needed to hide was stupid enough to allow themselves to get caught. And he knew that it was dumb luck that she had gotten this far, because after all, Rowan was just a woman. And Jake knew that not only were they the weaker sex, but they were also the less intelligent. Grounding his teeth until spark of pain seared through his jaw, Jake rubbed his hands together to bring back their feeling. He stood completely still as he watched a sewer cover scrape onto the wet pavement and a fat man in a trenchcoat and fedora hat climb out, followed by a woman in a dark blue coat and a small boy. The woman turned enough so that her face was in his peripheral vision, and he had to restrain himself from lunging at her as she linked arms with the man. Her laughter floating up as they left for the streets.

Oh how far the mighty have fallen. He laughed silently to himself. Oh yes, I can see how well those bitches at Haven prepared you for the world. His eyes turned to the guy who was ruffling his son, his sons' hair. And where did you pick him up? The local beer barn? Waiting for them to turn the corner before climbing down, he allowed himself a smile. A feral savage thing that had always told Rowan she had done something wrong and that she needed to be punished.

TBC