"How long do you think she's gonna sleep?" Michelangelo asked as he stared inquisitively at the small bundle of female buried under a pile of blankets on their couch.
Donatello replied with a brief shrug, "I don't know. I don't think we should wake her though. She probably needs as much of it as she can get." He laughed as Mikeglanced anxiously between Alex and the TV set. The laughter immediately died away though when he saw his younger brother grab the remote. "Mikey-," he started to warn.
"Do you think she'd wake up if we kept the volume low?" His finger hovered above the power button.
"I don't know. I wouldn't try it if I were you."
Mike smirked. "Well Donnie, you're not me."
The TV came on with a burst of loud sound, startling the two turtles.
"Turn it down!" Don hissed, grabbing for the remote.
Mike yanked it out of his reach. "I'm trying dude!" He hit the mute button and they both whipped around to see if they had disturbed Alex's sleep. The blankets shifted. They held their breath. A sleepy, muffled sound arose from the thick blankets and then everything was quiet once again.
Don released his breath and lightly smacked Mike upside the head. "Way to go."
"Hey. It wasn't me! I don't even listen to TV that loud!" the younger turtle protested in a low voice.
"What's going on guys?"
Hearing Leonardo's voice, he dropped the remote on the table and smiled innocently. "Nothing."
Leonardo looked at the TV then back at Michelangelo, raising a brow in disbelieve. "Nothing huh? You didn't wake her up, did you?"
"Nope. The girls out cold."
"Let her keep sleeping then."
Raphael walked into the room carrying two trench coats. Sparing the pile of blankets an amused glance, he handed one to Leo. "Ready?" he asked, pulling his own worn coat on.
"Yeah. Let's go."
"Where are you two going?" Don asked.
Leo grabbed a fedora from the back of a nearby chair. "We're going to go see April and ask her if she's heard anything. We'll probably check out Alex's apartment too and make sure everything's okay. Did you want to come?"
"Sure."
Don left the room to get his coat and Leo turned to his youngest brother. "What about you Mikey?"
"Nah, that's cool. I'll just ahhh…" He nodded to Alex. "Stay here in case she wakes up."
Both Raph and Leo gave him skeptical looks but said nothing.
"Alright. I'm ready," Don said as he rejoined them, hastily pulling on his coat and hat.
"Bye guys!" Mike called, waving them off. "Tell April I say hi! Bring me back somethin' nice!" Once they were gone he whipped around and grabbed the remote off the table, quickly turning down the volume and flipping through the channels. He stopped, finding the one he wanted and sighed in relief. "Just in time."
He looked down at the couch where Alex lay, the blankets raising and falling with each gentle breath she took. Michelangelo had no clue who she was or what she was even like but he still felt horrible. No woman deserved to be treated the way she had been. As carefully as he could he sat down next to her, taking up the space her huddled body had allowed. He could only hope that she wouldn't decide to spread out.
Watching her for a reaction, he slowly started to turn up the volume on the TV until he could clearly hear the theme song of one of his favorite shows playing. "Passions." One last nervous glance at Alex confirmed that she was still asleep so Mikey settled in; loosing himself in the over dramatized daytime soap. Ten minutes passed. On screen the actress named Beth chewed her bottom lip nervously as she became precariously close to being busted once again for plotting to kill off Sheridan Crane.
"God, haven't they killed that conniving bitch off yet?"
Michelangelo jumped at the sound of a groggy voice beside him, immediately reaching for the remote.
"Too late honey," Alex murmured, chuckling softly. "You were busted about five minutes ago." The blankets were thrown aside and Alex emerged looking much better then the last time he had seen her. Her cheeks were flushed from sleep and her eyes sparkled warmly, holding in their depths the life they had lacked the previous night. She looked around for a moment, her expression slightly disorientated as if she was trying very hard to remember what had happened to bring her here, then her brow smoothed she started to look more relaxed. "You know what I love about this show?"
"The overkill of insanity?" Mike suggested, feeling strangely comfortable in her presence.
Alex smiled at him, revealing a dazzling row of straight white teeth and the tiniest dimple on her right cheek. "Close, but no." She moved closer to him, crossing her legs beneath her and situating the blankets around her. "I love how you can miss a week of it and still know what's going on. I swear it takes them a minimum of two weeks to actually do anything." Mike laughed and her smile deepened. "I'm sorry but I don't remember much from last night. What was your name again?"
"Michelangelo."
"Mikey, right-I remember now. It's nice to meet you."
He smiled at her, mostly because it was such an easy thing to do. Take away all the angst and pain she had suffered and you had a friendly, easygoing woman with a beautiful smile and gorgeous deep blue eyes. Yup, she was a total babe alright! Granted he could still see the fear. It lingered on the edge of the happiness she was displaying, lurking in the shadows of her eyes. She was trying hard to suppress it. He could tell. And he wasn't the kind of guy to force her to deal with what had happened. Let Leo or Raph be the ones to make her come to terms with what had happened. He would be the one to keep her happy. "You hungry?" he asked when a commercial came on.
Alex's blue eyes went wide and she nodded enthusiastically. "God yes! I actually think my stomach is starting to eat itself." As if to agree with her, her stomach growled loudly.
"I get the point," Mike said, laughing as he got up and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned minutes later with a jug of grape juice and a plate full of left over pizza. "Breakfast is served!" He gave the plate a dejected look and shrugged. "It's kind of all we have right now," he said, handing her the plate and sitting down. "I think the guys are bringing back more food."
Alex dug in, eating with fervor. She wasn't picky about food, not right now. As long as it was edible it was good enough for her. Five minutes later the plate was almost empty. Holding out the last slice to Mike, she nodded to the juice and said, "Trade ya?"
"Deal," he agreed, taking the plate and handing her the jug.
They sat in silence, Michelangelo munching happily at his pizza, Alex taking occasional sips of juice, both watching the semi-horrid plot unfold onscreen.
"So," Alex said after a while. "What happened to you?" At his inquisitive look she went on. "What made you and your brothers the way you are?"
"You mean ruggedly handsome and charming?"
She laughed, elbowing him lightly. "Come on. Tell me."
Mike chuckled. He knew this story by heart. The credit rolled on the TV and he turned to face her, slinging an arm over the back of the couch and pulling one of his legs up in front of him. "Okay, it all started 19 years ago…."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Two hours and forty-five minutes after they had left, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael trudged through the dark tunnels leading to their home, disappointed that they had found nothing that explained the sudden return of the Foot or what they wanted from Alex. There had been no recent rise in crime, no disappearing teenagers, and after a quick scan of Alex's record, courtesy of Donatello, they had found it was relatively clean. So they returned home with a big amount of nothing.
"If I could get a better look at the um…mark on her side maybe I could look it up online," Don thought out loud.
Leo shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea. Not now anyway. We should let her get used to us first."
A sudden cry echoed through the silent tunnels. All three turtles heads snapped up in alarm.
"That came from the lair," Leo murmured, his hands already reaching for his katana's.
"That was Mikey," Raph added. "Let's go."
They ran hard for the lair, almost stumbling down the short flight of stairs I their haste.
Two heads were visible over the top of the couch, unmoving and completely silent. On the television Steve Irwin chased yet another frighteningly huge crocodile around. The three approached the couch slowly, coming around the side and staring with a mixture of shock and confusion at the two TV watchers. Was Alex actually smiling? Did Michelangelo seriously have his arm around her?!
Irritated by the false alarm, Leo loudly and quite obviously cleared his throat. Both Alex and Mikey jumped and turned their heads to look up at him. Alex gasped, fearfully moving closer to the orange masked turtle beside her.
"Crikey, they look angry!" Mike exclaimed softly, pulling a perfect Australian accent.
Alex spoke next, surprising even her couch companion with her choice of words. "Danger, danger, danger." She and Mike burst out laughing, Alex falling back against him as he pulled her into a loose headlock, careful to avoid her injury.
The three older turtles were stunned by the sudden turn in her attitude. She was acting as if nothing had even happened to her last night!
"Welcome back guys. Did you find anything?" Mike asked, relinquishing his hold on the beautiful young woman.
"No," Leo answered distractedly, his wary gaze focused on Alex.
She stared back, aware of the suspicion banked in his speculative gaze, aware of the tension that slowly started to fill the room. A part of her wanted to leave, to get away before any of them had the chance to throw more questions at her. Another part of her wanted to stay locked in this stare down with who she had assumed to be the leader of the four. If he was, then he was the guy she wanted to prove herself to. She would not be intimidated. She would answer their questions when she wanted to. Spending one day completely helpless was enough.
She narrowed her eyes slightly and his widened at the obvious show of subtle defiance. She could actually tell how antsy he was to get some answers! Well, that was just too bad.
A hand squeezed her elbow and she almost smiled. Michelangelo. She would never have to worry about him pushing her for information. In the two hours they had spent together he had carefully avoided the subject of last night. He had shown her that she could trust him and for the most part she did. It was the other three she had to worry about.
Deciding to put an end to her and Leo's little competition, she stopped glaring and arched a delicate brow questioningly. Blushing, Leo dropped his gaze and the victory went to Alex. "I'll be back in a bit," she murmured to Mike, getting up and leaving the room.
The four mutants watched her go and then three sets of eyes settled on Michelangelo. "Mind tellin' us what that was all about?" Raph asked, shrugging out of his coat and tossing it over the back of the couch.
"What?"
"We leave for two hours, come back and you and the prophecy are all buddy-buddy."
Mike smiled, getting up and clearing the dishes from the coffee table. "What can I say? The girl totally fell for me. And she has a name Raph."
"Come on Mikey, be serious for a minute," Don scolded lightly. "Did she tell you anything?"
"No."
"Well did you ask her about last night?"
"No." He held his hands up in front of him to stop any further questions from coming. "Look, I'm not gonna be the bad guy here. Alex has had a rough couple of days and if she doesn't want to talk about it I'm not going to be the one to make her. Oh, and if you dudes didn't notice, she was smiling before you showed up."
'What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Raph more or less demanded, switching into his usual defensive mode.
"It means you guys scare the shit out of her," Mike bit out, uncharacteristically standing up to his older brother.
"Come on guys, don't start this," Don muttered, getting in between the two, knowing full well it was a bad idea.
"Stay out of it Donnie. This is between me and the girl's boyfriend."
"Has anyone ever told you how much of an asshole you are Raph?"
As the argument progressed, growing more intense, Leo slipped away unnoticed. He turned down a hallway that led to his and Don's rooms and the bathroom, running into the one person he had been looking for. Alex stumbled back, clearly taken off guard by his unexpected appearance, and her foot caught on a raised piece of concrete. His instincts kicking in automatically, Leo reached forward, wrapping an arm tightly around her slender waist to stop her fall. "Donnie was supposed to fix that," he stated vaguely, unaware of how close he was holding her.
Alex started up at him, her heart beating swiftly. "Did you want a rematch?" she asked, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
"No," he answered, keeping his arm around her. It was important that she heard him out. In the dim light of the hallway he could see the emotions playing through her deep blue eyes, emotions she was trying to hide, the ones she was using to hide them. She didn't trust him.
"Alex, I'm sorry."
"Do you even know what you're sorry for?" she asked, now sounding very much tired. "Do you Leonardo?"
She reminded him of Splinter when she spoke like that. "I'm not sure," he said honestly, his hand dropping from below her shoulder blade to the small of her back. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did out there…for acting suspicious. It's that prophecy thing. I don't know what to expect from you or even how to treat you for that matter."
Anger flared in her eyes and he knew right away that he had picked the wrong choice of words. "Try treating me like a normal human being. No one's ever done that before," she hissed, pulling free of his hold and disappearing around the corner. His honor told him to follow her and make things right. His common sense told him that may have been one of the stupidest idea's he'd ever had. Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and let her go.
Alex stormed into the living room, fighting a loosing battle with her fury. How dare he say those things to her! He didn't know how to treat her because she was a damn prophecy? The last time she checked she was just as human as anyone else. Why was she the only one who saw this? She sighed loudly. Thankfully the only one to hear it was Michelangelo. He sat on the couch, watching her with sympathetic brown eyes. "You wanna get out of here?"
Alex nodded weakly. Standing, Mike grabbed the trench coat Raphael had left hanging over the back of the couch. He waited as Alex pulled a sweatshirt out of her bag and put it on. Then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a gesture of comfort and led her out of the lair.
*~*~*~*
"Better?" Mike asked, sitting across from Alex in the booth of a poorly lit restaurant. They had been gone for almost an hour and Alex had been silent the entire time. Her somber gaze reflected only a deep, heartbreaking sadness that seemed, for the most part, untouchable. She poked a spoon at her ice cream, which was rapidly melting, the vanilla a chocolate syrup swirling together. Mike had watched April go for the ice cream several times when she was upset but it didn't seem like Alex was anything like his other female friend. "Come on Alex. You can talk to me." He reached across the table, placing a three-fingered hand over hers.
Alex looked up. "Mikey…I look normal to you, don't I?"
"Depends on what you consider normal. I'd rather be abnormal myself." A small smile flashed across her face and Michelangelo silently congratulated himself. "Yeah, you look normal."
Her shoulders slumped and she dropped her spoon unceremoniously into her bowel. It landed with a loud clatter, startling a few of the quiet restaurant's patrons. "But I'm not," she murmured dolefully. "I never will be."
"Alex." Mike placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her head so that he could look at her, gaze into her deep blue eyes that sparkled with unshed tears. "Being normal is overrated. I mean…look who you're shacked up with." He lowered his voice. "Four mutant turtles and a rat. There's nothing normal about us…but that's never bothered me. Does it bother you?"
She looked taken aback by his question. "N-no."
"Look, I know you're having a hard time right now and I know you're scared but we're not the bad guys. We're going to help you. All this normal/not normal stuff…don't worry about it. You're normal enough to me." He dropped his hand and went back to eating his own hot fudge sundae. "Plus…you're totally hot," he added with a teasing smirk before taking a bite of fudge covered ice cream.
Alex stared at him with her mouth hanging open for several seconds before laughter burst from her parted lips. Mike smiled. He loved to hear her laugh. It was one of the most beautiful and unique sounds he had ever heard, husky and soft and, in a way, seductive. Her laughter drew the attention of a stuck up looking couple a few table away. Mike tipped his hat up and winked at the woman who, he thought, looked as if she had over dosed on botox. She, in turn gave him a disgusted look, sticking her aristocratic nose in the air. "Frigid bitch," he intoned. He jerked his thumb in the snob's direction. "See what being normal does for ya?"
Alex sobered and leaned across the seat, peering around the booth and giving an involuntary shudder when she saw the couple Mike had pointed at. Moving back in her seat she graced her escort with one of her rare, heart melting smiles. "I see what you mean."
"What brought on that question anyway?"
Alex shrugged unconvincingly. She reached for a napkin and began to nervously shred it into little pieces. "I don't know," she said after a while. "Leonardo said he didn't know what to expect from me or how to treat me because-."
Mike looked up, waiting for her to finish. It soon became apparent that she wasn't going to and probably didn't want to. "No one's making you talk babe."
"I know."
"And in Leo's defense…that's just the way he is. He didn't mean anything by it."
Alex thought about that for a moment. He had seemed genuinely sorry for treating her the way he had. But throwing the prophecy thing in her face had cost him. She hated being reminded of what she was. It was like a black cloud constantly hanging over her head and reminding her that she was not like most people and no matter how hard she ran or how far…she would never be able to escape what she was.
"Alex."
She looked up into deep brown eyes filled with concern. Real concern. She had never seen that before. Michelangelo's hand closed over hers and his thumb brushed gently over her knuckles. "Trust us."
Trust. Did she know how to do that? She couldn't remember the last time she had actually allowed herself to fully trust someone. Hell, even with Danny she'd had reservations. There was something about Mikey and his brothers though. She wanted to trust them. They were different…like her. She swallowed hard. "O-okay."
She turned her hand over, curling her fingers around Mike's. He gave her hand a light squeeze and smiled. "Alright. Lets eat and get back before mom starts to worry."
"Mom?"
"Leo."
Alex chuckled as Michelangelo winked at her and went back to eating. 'Life sure is going to be interesting from now on,' she thought. If only she knew exactly how right she was.