Authors Notes: Alright already, guess who finally updated? Sorry it took so long guys. The holiday has been major busy so far and last week I came down with a horrible cold that took me out of the writing game for quite some time. Then of course I had to wait on my editor who's so busy soaking up the sun in Hawaii that she forgets how miserable I am here in the 10 degree snowy cold. That's right Kristi! Live it up while you can! But I do have to thank her because she does amazing things for me and I don't know what I would do without her. Now…who wants to be thanked?
Echo (Kristi): You know how much I worship you and love your sorry ass already so I don't think I need to say much more then I've already told you. Okay fine, you're the best…I'm not worthy!
Meathead: Glad you're still loving it! And hopefully I'll be able to heat it up even further. We'll see how creative my imagination can get when it comes to pairings that are not human/human. So far it's iffy but I'm sure Echo will talk me into it.
Lone Wolfette: If you were hyperventilating then…maybe you best keep a paper sack in hand…just in case! Thank you for the review!
April: Honey, it was perfectly fine that you vented. I fully understand where you are coming from. Been down that road several times myself. Anytime you need to talk I'll be here to listen. I've been told I'm good at it and will offer any advice I can.
Ramica: Good lord do I owe you a ton of reviews. But thank you for continuing to review mine. It means a lot to me!
Okay, now without further ado the story…and I promise you the next update will be up a lot sooner.
Disclaimer: Own nothing but my own character.
Chapter Seven
Morning dawned particularly early, bringing with it the chill of early winter. People took to wearing slightly thicker coats as they left their apartments to join the growing mass of bodies clogging the wide New York sidewalks.
Below the city, underneath those sidewalks where people walked with hurried steps, passing through the fog of their own breath to escape the cold and get to work on time, Raphael was forced to a groggy state of consciousness when something pressed up against him. He slowly opened his eyes and reached an arm back to turn on the lamp perched on the bedside table. The warm glow of muted light filled the room, revealing to him the beautiful woman that slept beside him. Alex's brows lowered and she moved closer to him still. It was almost as if she was trying to curl herself into him. Goosebumps rose on her arms as she made a tiny sound of protest, snuggling her head into the crook of his neck and shoulder.
Must be cold, Raph thought, chuckling softly. Moving carefully so as not to disturb Alex from her sleep, he sat up and grabbed a thick blanket from the stash he kept under his bed. He pulled it over both himself and Alex, tucking it under her chin. When that was done he twisted around to check the time. 6:48. Well, this was different. He usually never got up before 8 if he could help it. Even his brothers never got up this early. Which meant they were still asleep and probably wouldn't notice if he went topside for a bit.
Struck with a sudden idea Raph carefully slid out of bed. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Alex's temple, whispering that he'd be back soon as he pulled the covers up around her and then left.
The lair was cold and quiet, the only sound being the muffled slap of his feet as he crossed the living room floor. Donnie better rig up some kind of heating system soon or we'll freeze our asses off before winter even gets here, he thought, grabbing his coat from the table beside the wall and putting it on. Somewhere in the lair a door creaked open. Raph went still and waited, holding his breath. Seconds later another door closed and the shower came on, the sound of hot water rushing through the old pipes faintly audible in the living room. Raph breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to run into any of his brothers, not right now. Too many questions he didn't want to answer, especially since none of them knew what had happened with him and Alex last night.
Just the thought of the beautiful woman now sleeping in his bed put a smile on his face. Knowing he didn't have much time before all of his brothers were up he turned on his heel and left.
His journey topside took him to a vacant alley behind several small shops. The place had been pointed out to him by Mikey one morning while they were searching for a gift to give April for her birthday. Leave it to Mikey to find the perfect place; a floral shop that received shipments of fresh flowers every three days. Lucky for Raph today was one of those days. The off white floral truck sat in the alley, exhaust spilling from the muffler, it's back door wide open. Timing it perfectly, Raph waited for the delivery guy to disappear inside and made his move. Since he and Mikey had been using this place for years now they had figured out that the delivery guy was a real talker. He would normally go into the shop and not come back out for a good five or ten minutes which was more than enough time to get what you wanted and take off without being noticed. Raph took less time than that, snatching a long stemmed red rose from a bucket towards the door. He was gone before the deliveryman inside had even given thought to returning to his truck.
As Raph returned home he grinned to himself. If only his brothers could see him now. They would probably doubt his sanity. Mikey would make some joking comment about how their hotheaded Raph had gotten a personality transplant. For once though, he didn't care what his brothers thought.
*~*~*
Alex turned over in bed, her dreamy smile turning into a puckered frown when she realized there was no one beside her. She felt around blindly and then slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the light coming from the small lamp on the bedside table. Now why was that on? Propping herself up on her elbows, Alex rubbed the heel of her palm against her eye, attempting to clear the lingering fog of sleep. She was stretching her arms above her head and working the kinks in her neck out when she saw it. A single blood red rose lying beside the lamp.
A gasp caught in her throat as she reached over and picked it up, handling the thorny stem with care. "No wonder he left the light on," she murmured to herself, holding the tight bud to her nose and deeply inhaling the heady scent. A smile tugged at her lips and soon she was grinning like a lovesick teenager. The need to see Raphael hit her so hard that she was almost floored by it. Maybe she would have been had she actually been standing and not still in his bed, covered by his blankets, surrounded by his unique, masculine scent. Her smile widened and she looked around with eager eyes.
His room was fairly simple, not nearly as complex as its owner. Aside from the bed there was a bookcase, sitting against the wall beside the door. On its three shelves sat books, a CD player much like her own and an assortment of magazines and CD's. Above it, taking up much of the wall was a Pink Floyd poster. Weights and various exercise equipment lay scattered beside the wall opposite the bed. Above those was a long scroll running across the wall with Japanese writing scrawled artfully upon it. Alex wondered very briefly what it said then decided she couldn't stand another moment of being away from Raph and shoved the blankets aside, jumping out of bed.
The moment her feet hit the floor she gave a startled yelp. Had it been this cold yesterday? She couldn't remember really but she didn't think it had. Scampering into her room Alex slipped out of her pants and tank top that she was still wearing from the previous night, shivering the entire time. She pulled a pair of jeans, socks and a thick gray and white knit sweater with long sleeves that almost covered her hands. After brushing her hair and lovingly placing her rose in a bottle of water at her bedside table she left her room in search of Raphael.
*~*~*
Raph was in the kitchen sitting at the table and watching Michelangelo dig through the refrigerator, his thoughts on one thing…Alex. He wondered if she was awake yet and enjoying the gift he had left for her. Or maybe she was still sleeping, her expression one of peace, her hair spread across his pillow like soft liquid gold. He'd sat beside her for a while after he had returned, watching her sleep, thinking about how he had never seen anything so beautiful or peaceful looking in his life.
"Ya think Alex is still in her room?" Mike asked, closing the fridge door and walking to the table with a carton of orange juice.
"Nope, she's in mine," Raph replied without thinking. The moment the words left his mouth it took him a full twenty seconds to realize what he had said and when he did his gaze jerked up to meet Mike's. The younger turtle stared at him in disbelief; the carton of juice paused in mid-air. "What did you say?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"It was nothing, Mikey," Raph muttered as he dropped his head.
"Bullshit it was nothing!" Rounding the table Mike pulled up a seat next to Raph and set the orange juice down. "Alex spent the night with you? I want details dude! Did you guys…"
He didn't have to finish the question for Raph to understand what he was implying. Out of habit the red masked turtle reached over and smacked his little brother upside the head. "Jeez Mikey, pull your head outta the gutter, would ya? Nothing like that happened."
"Well what did happen then?" Mike asked, too interested in an answer to act as if Raph's little "tap" had actually hurt like he normally would. "Come on! Tell me!"
Raph chuckled softly and shook his head. Sometimes Mike was just too damn eager for his own good. "Alright. I'll tell ya. Alex just came to my room last night to tell me that she…understood and that she wasn't mad at me, that's all."
"And," Mike prompted, not buying Raph's short explanation.
"And," Raph paused and drew a deep breath. What would it hurt to tell Michelangelo? He'd find out anyway. "And she told me how she felt…about me. And I…well I told her how I felt. There, that enough for ya?"
Mike shook his head. "You guys made out, didn't you?"
Raph gave him a slow grin and Mike laughed. "I knew it!" He leaned back in his seat and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Kinda makes you wonder why it took you guys so long to figure shit out, huh?"
Raph nodded in silent agreement and folded his arms on the table. "So what's for breakfast Mikey?"
"Dunno," Mike said as he absently scratched his shell-covered stomach.
Just then Alex walked in looking slightly flushed and adorable in an oversized gray and white sweater. Her eyes, radiating happiness, met Raph's across the room and a dazzling smile spread across her face.
Mike looked back and forth between the two with obvious amusement. "Maybe Alex could cook for us?" he suggested, wondering if either of them had even heard him. They were so lost in each other that he seriously doubted they had. "Alex, you wanna cook for us?" he repeated, a little louder this time.
Alex finally tore her gaze from his older brother and regarded Mike with a playful smirk. "Cook for you? Gosh Mikey, I'd love to but ever since last night my shoulder has just been killing me."
"Huh, wonder what happened?" Mike said and the two shared a laugh as Raph had the grace to look slightly ashamed.
"Raph hun, I'm kidding. My shoulder feels fine," Alex reassured him. "Besides, you're not that tough. I'll tell you what, how about you two start on breakfast and I'll make coffee. When I'm done I'll help you."
"Sounds like a deal to me," Mike said as he stood and followed Alex to the counter where an old coffee maker sat waiting. "What should we make?"
Alex's features took on a thoughtful look as she went to the sink and filled the coffee pot with water. "Hmm. How about sausage and omelets?"
Several minutes later Mike and Raph were making a complete mess of the kitchen as Alex laughingly attempted to show them how not to slaughter an omelet. Receiving nothing for her efforts she threw up her hands and left the two to finish off their creations while she started the sausage and then went to fill two mugs with coffee, one for herself which she added amaretto creamer to and one for Raph.
"Well…the damage has been done here," Mike claimed triumphantly as Alex handed Raph his coffee and he quietly thanked her. "I'll go get Leo and Don. Be back in a bit."
Alex leaned back against the counter and sipped her coffee as she watched Mike leave, all the while achingly aware of how close Raph was. Once Michelangelo was out of sight her coffee was taken from her hands and she found herself exactly where she wanted to be…in Raph's arm. He kissed her as if it had been weeks rather then hours since the last time he had seen her and she melted against him with a tiny whimper, wrapping her arms around his neck. He hand moved slowly up her spine, pressing her body more fully against his, something of which she had no problem with. The closer she was to him the better.
When they broke apart, each a bit reluctant to end the intimate contact, Alex rested her head on Raph's shoulder and sighed softly.
"Been waitin' almost two hours to do that," he murmured close to her ear.
She smiled. "Really? And here I was worried that you'd start ignoring me again."
"Nah. Kinda hard to do that after you spent the night with me." He dropped his hand to the small of her back and smiled when she made a soft humming noise of pleasure. "So how bad is your shoulder?"
Alex pulled back but remained within the secure circle of his arms, lifting her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "Not too bad."
"Can I see?"
"It's nothing Raph. Really," she insisted, now trying to pull away from him.
His arm tightened around her waist and before she could even think about stopping him he grabbed the collar of her sweater and pulled it back to reveal a large multi colored bruise just below the collarbone on her right shoulder. It was a mass of ugly yellow, dark purple and a red tinted dark blue. There was no way a bruise like that could not be painful. "Jesus Alex! Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, staring in horror at what he'd done to her.
She shrugged his hand off and pulled her shirt back into place, covering up the nasty contusion. "Because it was no big deal. It's not like you dislocated my shoulder or broke my arm."
"Yeah. But still-."
"Raph," Alex said, abruptly cutting him off. She placed her hands on either side of his face and looked directly into his dark eyes. "It's nothing. It doesn't even hurt that much. Just forget about it, okay sweetie?"
His expression quickly changed from troubled to bemused and Alex frowned. "What? What is it?" she asked, not understanding what it was she had said that had provoked such a response.
"You just…called me sweetie."
"Oh. I'm sorry. You don't like being called that?"
With a slow grin he pulled her back up against him. "Actually…I do. Say it again."
Alex laughed softly glad that, for the moment, he was going to forget about what had happened last night. "Sweetie," she murmured, inching closer to him. "Honey, darling, baby." With each endearment so moved forward until their lips were only a breath apart. A mischievous gleam lit her deep blue eyes as she pressed her body to his and lowered her voice to a seductive whisper. "Lover."
"Mmm…not yet," he whispered back, taking it upon himself to close the remaining distance between them.
A shiver of anticipation seized her as she surrendered to him completely. Was he just teasing her by saying "not yet" the way she had been teasing him by calling him lover? As her blood rushed through her veins, hot with desire, she couldn't help but hope that he wasn't.
Shifting her weight to one foot Alex brought her leg up, bending it at the knee and rubbing it against Raphael's. He spun her in a half circle, pressing her to the edge of the counter, his hand falling to her leg right above her knee and then sliding up her thigh in a slow caress.
"Jeez you two! Get a room!" Mike exclaimed, walking into the kitchen with a smug grin.
Releasing a startled yelp Alex jerked back and stared wide-eyed at the orange-masked turtle. God, we are so busted, she thought. She started to loosen her hold on Raph when his voice stopped her.
"He knows."
"What?"
"Mikey knows."
"Oh." Alex leaned back against the counter, enjoying the touch of metal that cooled her heated skin through the fabric of her sweater as she ran her hands down Raph's biceps. "So you're okay with it?" she asked Mike who was now at the counter beside them, dishing up his breakfast.
"Totally cool. And about damn time too," he replied, carelessly tossing sausages onto his plate. "That whole silent treatment thing you guys were pulling on each other was getting really old."
Alex laughed, reaching over to rescue an escaped sausage as it slid from Mike's plate. "Watch it with the food buddy. I slaved over this."
"I'm sure it was incredibly difficult to roll 'em around in the pan," he joked. "By the way, Don and Leo don't have a clue about what's going on between you two."
Releasing Alex, Raph grabbed a plate and helped Mike make the food disappear. "Wanna mess with 'em and act like you still hate me?" he asked, giving her an evil smirk.
Drawn by the smell of good food Alex joined them. "Don't you think you should give them a break after what they did for you last night?"
"You mean how Leo hit me? Yeah, I suppose I should give him a break for that," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
"And besides," she went on, choosing to ignore his last comment, "I never hated you Raph. I may have been mad at you a few times but I've always liked you."
"Aww, that's so sweet!" Mike gushed, adding plenty of faked sniffling or at least enough to earn himself a swift elbow in the side from a slightly redder than usual Raph.
Without waiting for Don and Leo, the three sat down at the oval shaped kitchen table and began eating in silence. At one point Alex got up and turned on the radio, keeping the volume on a low setting so that the music could only faintly be heard above the scraping of silverware against cheap plastic plates.
Finishing at the same time Alex and Mike went to the sink to rinse off their dishes. Before Alex had showed up the guys had never bothered to rinse, let alone actually wash the dishes. The only time they had ever gotten washed was when one of them finally grew sick of looking at dirty dishes. But now not only did they rinse the dishes, they stacked them and took turns washing them as well. Today it was Alex's turn. As she filled the sink with steaming hot water Mike chose to break the silence.
"So how are you guys going to tell Leo and Donnie?" he asked, sitting down at the table again across from Raph.
Alex wiped her hands on a towel that had been looped through the handle of the cabinet below the sink and turned to face Mike. "No worries. I'll take care of it," she said with a careless shrug. "It'll be easy."
Leo and Don walked in only seconds after she had spoke. They were sweaty and looked absolutely exhausted. As they took their seats at the table Leo glanced back and forth between Alex and Raph, tension riding his shoulders and visibly tightening his muscles.
Alex saw his apprehension and felt it as well. She was no stranger at all to this emotion from him. It had become one of the few quirks she had learned to live with in her new home. This time she ignored it, going to the stove to fill two plates and take them to Leo and Don. After that she filled a cup with coffee and went to the table, setting it down before the eldest turtle.
"Thank you," he murmured appreciatively.
Alex smiled and moved past him, making her way around the table to where Raph sat. "No problem Leo," she said, feeling his eyes watching her as she moved towards his brother. Poor guy was probably afraid she'd get attacked again. Little does he know, she thought, smiling a little. Without a word of warning Alex sat on Raph's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. When she felt his strong arms circle her waist she had to suppress a sudden wild urge to straddle his waist and kiss him so deeply that they both forgot where they were. It was a tempting image, almost too tempting and she was having a great amount of difficulty forcing it from her mind but somehow she managed, keeping a watchful eye trained on Leo.
After a few seconds had ticked by in silence she arched a delicate brow and asked, "Are you okay with this?"
A dozen emotions played over Leonardo's face; shock, confusion, understanding and finally relief. He clasped his hands in front of him as if he were going to pray and slowly, over dramatizing the action so much that Alex almost burst out laughing, rolled his eyes towards the heavens. "Thank you," he whispered fervently.
This time Alex did laugh, a small giggle that made her sapphire eyes glow. "I'm going to take that as a yes."
"Jeez Leo, they way you're actin' you'd think you were the one gettin' in all those little fights with her instead of me," Raph muttered.
"They were far from little and if it had been me I would have had the sense to let go of my damn pride a lot sooner."
On any other given day a comment like that would have resulted in a fight but today Raph simply smiled and tightened his hold on Alex. "I'm gonna let that one go. You're lucky I'm in such a good mood."
Smiling, Alex shook her head and tried to change the subject. "Hey, where's Splinter? Didn't you guys let him know breakfast was ready?"
Don nodded, quickly swallowing a mouthful of food. "We did and he was going to come until he found out Mike and Raph were the ones cooking."
"Hey!" the afore mentioned turtles cried in unison, acting insulted.
"He's meditating," Leo said, "But we did tell him."
Alex frowned, chewing on her bottom lip. Splinter had never meditated through breakfast before. Come to think of it he'd been spending more and more time meditating since she had begun practice. "I think I'm going to bring him something," she murmured quietly, standing up. Raph's hand closed around hers and she looked down, meeting his concerned gaze.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
She gave him a warm smile and nodded. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go see if Splinter would like something to eat." Leaning down she kissed him on the cheek and said in a low voice only he could hear, "thank you for the rose. It's beautiful."
"No problem," he whispered back with an arrogant smirk.
Making her way to the counter Alex put whatever was left for food onto a plate and left the kitchen. She approached Splinter's study cautiously even though she knew he was well aware of her presence.
"Enter child," his raspy voice called out, confirming her suspicions.
Smiling, she balanced the plate on one hand and used the free one to slide the door open.
Inside candles lit the room and the heady scent of incense filled the air. Red and brown hues dominated the room from the large rust colored pillows scattered over the floor to the large ornate red and black area rug to the worn leather chair Splinter now occupied. The colors threw the room into darkness yet at the same time gave it a warm, cozy feeling.
"I brought you breakfast," Alex said softly, walking into the room and setting the plate down next to a mug of green tea on the wooden table beside Splinter's chair.
The aged rat studied her, his shining black eyes solemn. "Please, sit," he said as he lifted a hand, motioning to the ground before him. "I wish to speak with you."
Alex nodded and grabbed one of the oversized rust colored pillows. Placing it in front of Splinter she sad down, folding her legs and placing her hands in her lap. "You've…been spending much of your time meditation Sensei. Granted I haven't been with you that long but I get the feeling this isn't something you've done as often as you have been lately."
Making a short humming sound he lowered his head, dropping his troubled gaze to the floor. "Your feelings do not mislead you Alex."
"What is it?" she asked, leaning forward. "Do you sense something?"
"I sense many things," he said thoughtfully. He took his tea from the table and as he sipped he watched Alex over the rim, wondering if she could feel the changes taking place deep within her. She radiated joy and this worried him. It meant she was unaware of what was happening and he would have to warn her. It was going to upset her that was for certain. Deciding to take the long way around he set his tea back on the table and gave Alex a warm smile. "One thing I sense quite strongly is the beginnings of a relationship between yourself and my son. Is this true?"
A blush stained Alex's cheeks and she smiled, holding his gaze. "Yes. I mean…I hope so. I have such strong feeling for Raphael. I'm just…really glad he finally knows."
"You are also glad he returns those feelings."
"Yes." She dropped her head, staring at her hands where they lay folded in her lap. "Yes I am. But Sensei…you're hiding something from me." She looked up at him then, her blue eyes holding a ghost of fear as if she already knew what he was going to say. "What else do you sense?"
Splinter sighed, his shoulders and whiskers drooping sadly. "You will not like what I have to tell you but please keep in mind that my sons and I would never let harm come to you. As long as it is in our power to protect you we shall do so."
The color drained from Alex's cheeks. "What….what are you talking about?" she managed to whisper, her throat and mouth suddenly very dry. So dry that it took a great effort to force the words out.
"Come closer my child."
Unfolding her legs, Alex did as he asked, crawling like a baby across the floor to him. Once she reached his chair she tucked her legs beneath her and laid her hand on his knee. Understanding that she was frightened he placed his own gnarled, furry hand over hers. "They call to you."
Alex closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "I know," she muttered.
"And yet you have not told us?"
"They…well…the feelings just stared yesterday. Same with the voices. But they weren't so bad. They've been much worse before. So I just tried to brush them off."
"Feelings?" Splinter asked, cocking his head slightly to the side.
Alex cast a nervous glance at the door to make sure she had closed it. "Don't tell them okay? I don't want them to worry."
He nodded his agreement, patting her hand reassuringly. "If they are to know, it will be when you are ready to tell them."
"Thank you." Collecting her thoughts and forcing herself to stay calm, Alex started to explain to the wisest being she had ever known things she could hardly understand herself. "I think Danny found something…a spell. I guess you could call it that. It was made to summon a prophecy. Since it was given human form and free to do pretty much whatever it pleased, the prophecy isn't exactly easy to find. You have to use the spell in order to do it."
"And how is it that you know this?"
"Because," she said quietly, giving him a smile so sad it almost broke his heart. "I am the prophecy. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
"Yes. Although you denied it when you came here I knew. You bear the mark."
Alex pulled her hand from his lap and rubbed her face with it muttering, "don't remind me."
"Perhaps we should eat something before we continue." He picked up the plate from the table and offered it to Alex.
"Thank you," she said, taking a piece of sausage. Sitting back she nibbled away, waiting for Splinter to finish so she could answer more questions.
"In what way is this…spell connected to what you are feeling?" he asked after the omelet and sausages were gone.
"Well…when used right it would more or less force me to the person. And it causes this really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I can't even explain it. It's like…fear and pain…and this horrible deep longing and…and I hate it so much because it makes me want to do what they summon me for."
Splinter regarded the young woman with slight pity, laying a hand on her trembling shoulder. "This has happened to you before."
Her body jerked beneath his hand. "Once. I don't want to talk about it though," she whispered, hanging her head and pulling her knees to her chest.
"Then I will not make you. But I would like to ask you one question. If you feel such strong things when someone is summoning you…why is it that you do not feel them now?"
Alex turned her head to look at him, keeping it rested on her up drawn knees. "Danny's not doing it right. He must be missing something in the translation." She released a humorless bark of laughter and shook her head. "No one can translate shit right now a days." Realizing what she had said her head snapped up and she stared in mortification at her mentor. "Oh…I'm so sorry."
Splinter chuckled softly. "You forget who my son is Alex."
"I would never forget your son," she murmured, a slow wistful smile transforming her face.
Even in his old age, when he thought he had seen it all, Splinter was pleasantly surprised. He would have never guessed that his most restless son, the one who's anger he had feared would soon overcome him, would be the first to win a woman's heart. Yet here was the proof sitting right before him. There was no doubt this woman's heart belonged to Raphael. "If I may suggest my child…that for now you put this troublesome situation from your mind. If Danny is unsuccessful in summoning you then you have nothing to fear. For now focus on enjoying your time here. As for Danny…we shall cross that bridge when and if we ever come upon it."
"I think that would be a very good idea," Alex said, straightening.
"And much easier now that you and Raphael have come to an understanding,"
"Much," Alex agreed, laughing as she got to her feet. On impulse she gently wrapped her arms around Splinter's frail body. "Thank you. I can't find the words to explain how grateful I am that I have someone to talk to about this."
Splinter lifted and arm and patted her back softly. "I may have one ear but it is always open should you choose to use it."
"I'm going to hold you to that," she said, pulling back and smiling down at him. "But right now I'm going to make sure your kids didn't destroy the kitchen."
Splinter watched her retreating form and as soon as the door slid shut his smile faltered. A deep sigh ruffled his whiskers and once again his shoulders sagged. He remembered the last troubled youth he'd offered his ear to. It was greatly depressing to know that it was that youth who was now a danger to them. One that was far stronger then any of them even realized.