A/N: Next Chapter! Yea! I hope you guys like and review. Have fun.

Chapter Twelve: Injured In More Ways Than One

"What do you mean that he proved that he would do anything?" Amity asked Casey as she sat down next to Delaney. They were still waiting to hear from Donatello and Callista on Michelangelo's condition. They were in the middle of the den with the girls on the couch and Casey, Leo and Raphael in the surrounding chairs.

"We saw him," Leonardo spoke up. He was looking on the floor tracing designs on the floor with one of his katanas. Raphael had his head in his hands focused on the ground beneath his feet.

"Saw who?" Eros asked.

"Your ol' pal, Yukio," Raphael growled and without warning threw a sai across the room and into the wall.

"Yukio?" Delaney picked her head up and looked at Raphael that still had his enraged face showing, "He was there?"

"Oh he was there all right," Raphael walked over to the wall and took out his sai from the wall, "And good Mikey went after him."

"What?" Delaney leaned forward, "Yukio did that to him?"

"You didn't tell us that he was so skilled in the art," Raphael walked back over the chair and leaned back, "He wiped the floor with Mikey. It was as if he's been training for a good ten years or more with the moves that he was taking against Mikey."

"I didn't know that he was skilled in anything other than police training," Delaney said to Raphael and turned to Leonardo, "Why did Mikey go after him? How did he even know what he looked like?"

"We heard someone call him," Casey came back into the conversation, "He is part of the purple dragons too apparently. He was boastin' 'bout your parent's death and Mikey went after him. Especially after he told the group what he was goin' to do with you after he got ya. They seemed to think it was funny or somethin'."

"And what was that?" Eros asked a little apprehensive and wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

"Let's just say that you should be glad you have these guys protectin' you," he put his last weapon back in his bag, now clean.

"That bad, huh?"

"Can we just drop the whole Yukio thing?" Delaney said and stood up, "All I have to say is that he will pay for everything that he has done to me and others. And if Mikey is seriously hurt… if he doesn't make it, I'll make sure that neither does Yukio."

"Yeah?" Raphael stepped up to her, "and just how are you going to do that?"

"She has her ways, No brain. So calm down all ready," Callista walked out from the room and was walking toward the group, "I'm a little rusty on my turtle anatomy, but think he is going to be okay. He will have a limp for quite a while, though."

"How long we talkin'?" Casey looked at Callista and at Donatello who came up behind her.

"Probably a couple of weeks. He has quite a few bruises and cuts, but he'll be okay. He's still out. He got quite a beating," Donatello looked at his brothers and gave them an exhausted smile. He turned to Delaney, "You can see him if you want. He's still out like a light, but it's still good for him hear someone's voice."

"Thank you, Donnie," Delaney gave him a hug as she passed him and gave the biggest bear hug to Callista before she went back into the room.

Callista turned toward the guy sitting in the chair and lifted an eyebrow, "And who is this?"

"Casey Jones," he held out a hand and she took it. They shook hands and Raphael got a little tense and clenched his teeth. Donatello and Leonardo saw and started to snicker at their brother, "A friend."

"And does this friend-"

"How's April doing, Casey? I forgot to ask," Raphael stepped in before she finished her question.

"She's doin' okay," Casey smiled and picked up his bag, "Speaking of April, I should get back to her. She'll be wondering about the three word letter I left on the refrigerator."

"What was that?" Leonardo crossed his arms over his plastron.

"'Went out, later'," he smiled at his green friends, "I'll see you guys later. Glad to hear Mikey will be all right. Keep us updated, huh?"

"Yeah, no problem," Donatello said.

They watched as Casey climbed the ladder to the topside. Callista let out a breath of disappointment and started to pick up some things around the couch. The girls looked at the other two other turtles and everyone saw what was happening. Eros and Donatello went back over to his lab to get their attention on anything other than the fight that was looming in the distance. They began to unload some of the equipment and materials from his bag of tricks to go over any other malfunctions. Leonardo came over to Amity's side and looked at Raphael approaching Callista.

"Um, Amity, you want to help me spruce up the dojo?"

"No problem," she and Leonardo hurried down the tunnel to the dojo, hoping to be out of range by the time the fireworks started.

"What the hell was that?" Raphael pointed to where Casey was sitting a few moments ago.

"He said his name was Casey," Callista picked up the bag of popcorn at the side of the couch with a few candy bags and went over to the trashcan.

"Yeah, I know his name, he is one of my best friends. I meant, why the hell were you about to ask him out?"

"Why would you think that I would be doing that?" Callista asked innocently trying to stay intently on the task at hand. Which, unfortunately was picking up garbage left behind from the girl's night out on the couch watching movies.

"You were about to ask him if he was seeing anybody."

"You had no idea what I was going to ask him," she rolled her eyes and kept cleaning up the room.

"You started-"

"To ask if he wanted a drink," she turned to him with hands on her hips, "He was helping you guys put a stop to this nightmare we are all included in! I thought that it would be nice if someone offered him some water. How's it your business anyway what I wanted to ask him?"

"Well, I…" he rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, he is my friend. I wanted to look out for him."

"Uh huh," she nodded, picked up more candy wrappers and walked past him bumping into his shoulder on her way, "By the way you're now out of Baby Ruth bars."

Raphael let her walk into the kitchen, drop off the garbage and walked back to her room. After he heard the door shut he took out a sai and threw into the wall once again. He went over and pulled it out, making an even bigger hole in the wall. He put the sai back in his belt and looked over at Donatello and Eros who were in the subway car looking out one of the broken windows. Once he saw them they looked at each other and began to get busy with their scientific research. He grumbled something and headed up to his room.

After Raphael reached his room, Eros turned to her side at Donatello, "Can you say jealous much?"

"Ah young love," Donatello smiled and then looked over at the room where Michelangelo was in bed recovering. Delaney walked out and leaned back against the wall and slid down. She lifted her head up to the ceiling and closed her eyes.

"She's going to beat herself up about this, too," Eros said quietly and began to try and occupy herself with something else.

"Aren't you going to tell her she's not at fault?"

"It doesn't help. She brushes that off and keeps going. She takes on too much, she's going to burn herself out."

"She shouldn't beat herself about it. It was never her fault, it was Yukio's."

"She doesn't see it that way," Eros put her chin on his shoulder from behind, trying to avoid his shell, "She always finds a way to blame herself."

Delaney put her head in her hands and got up, she couldn't break down again. Twice in one day wasn't in her plans. She trudged back to her room to get some sleep. It had been a long day. After a few moments, Splinter came out of the room and caught up with her. Donatello and Eros watched him tell her something and she nodded. Slowly she made her way back to the room while Splinter went to his room.

"He must have asked her to watch him tonight," Donatello said.

"Is he in bad shape?"

"He'll survive and will be okay in time, but he had a good beating. He was really fighting for her."

"This may sound bad, but I'm glad that isn't you in there. I was worried that it would be," she walked in front of him and gave him a hug. He hugged her back and buried his beck in her hair.

"I told you I would come back all right."

"Mikey told Delaney the same thing," she said with a sad tone in her voice, "I'm going to bed. It's been a long day."

"Would you mind if I escorted you?" he put out his arm.

"Not at all," she took his arm and they began to walk toward the girl's rooms. As they neared the rooms they found Callista walking back out with a determined look on her face.

"Oh no," Eros said as Callista passed them, "She's going to talk to him."

"Who?"

"Raphael," Eros gave Donatello a fake scared look and they both laughed a little, "He's in for it by the look on her face."

"You don't know Raph."

"Okay, they're both in for it," she smiled and finally reached the room she shared with Amity, "If you see Amity tell her I'm already asleep and would much appreciate it if she didn't turn on the light when she's done talking with Leonardo."

"No problem," he let go of her arm and they stood facing each other for a moment or two. He scratched the back of his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot, unable to decide what to do next. She gave him a smile and kissed his lips softly. She had to go on her tiptoes to do it, but she did it all the same.

"Thank you for walking me to my room. It was very sweet."

"Yeah… sweet…" he murmured and she went into her room. He watched her close the door and started walking down the tunnel. Amity passed him as she made her way back to her room. She saw he was in daze and smirked at him.

"Hey Donnie, you okay in there?" she waved a hand in front of his face.

"Um… no lights… Eros sleep…" he said and walked on towards his room.

Amity nodded her head and then immediately shook it in amusement, "Boy, does she have that boy going."

She went into the room, but didn't turn on the lights since that is what she thought Donatello was trying to tell her and climbed into her bed. She heard Eros sigh and knew that she wasn't asleep yet.

"So what'd you do to our poor resident genius?"

"You really want to get into gossip this late at night?" Eros tried to sound like she was surprised.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's only a little after midnight," Amity chirped up, "Besides, when else do we get to talk about stuff like this?"

"Oh… all right, you dragged it out of me," Eros turned her head toward Amity's way even though she couldn't see her and began to tell her about the first relationship that she actually felt will work. No 'might's about it.

Delaney sat by Michelangelo's bedside forgetting about the extra pillows and blankets that Splinter set out for her. By the look of things neither she nor Michelangelo were expected to be at training tomorrow morning. She leaned her upper body on the side of his bed and took hold of one of his hands. His head was wrapped in a white bandage and covered some of his bandana. There were dark green bruises everywhere and there were some cuts on his face and arms, none of them showed the Japanese symbol that was imprinted on the shuriken. She looked down at the leg that was left uncovered by Donatello and Callista. It was bandaged up tight and she could see it stained with some of his blood. Yukio did do a job on him, but… why didn't he kill him?

Don't get her wrong, she was elated that he was alive, but if he beat him up this bad, why didn't he finish the job?

"Hey you," she heard a hoarse voice greet her from the top of the bed. She turned her head and let out a sigh of relief when she saw his eyes were open and he was awake.

"Hey," she breathed, "You had me quite worried."

He squeezed her hand and picked up the chain with the ring on it, "My good luck charm."

"Why do you say that?" she smiled.

"When he saw this, he stopped fighting and ran off, taking some of his buddies with him," he looked up at her, "You know who I'm talking about right?"

"Yeah… I'll never forgive him. He probably recognized it," she touched the ring, "You know what this means don't you?"

"I have to give you the ring back?"

"No, you have to train harder," she poked his beak and squeezed his hand back, "I told you I had a bad feeling about tonight."

"Yeah, but you know me. Fight to the death because I am the great defender."

"I never said you had to fight to the death," she said a little worried, "And I never wanted you to end up like this. Not because you were trying to defend me."

"I'll do anything to protect you," he said and surprised Delaney.

"Except die," she added.

"Even that-"

"Except die," she repeated and touched his plastron, "I don't want you to die because of me. Call me stupid or a worry wart, but I don't want you to be in this state again."

He smiled and cupped her face in his uninjured hand, "I'll try, but I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Live… eat pizza, a mountain of pizza just so you can get what I miss," she smiled, "Just promise me you won't go to extremes anymore. Please?"

"I'll try," he said and watched her eyes plead with him, "Okay, I promise I'll try."

"Thank you," she leaned back in the chair and started to get the pillow and the blanket. She felt a tug on her hand that was holding his and saw that he wouldn't let go, "Mikey, I need to get a pillow and a blanket if I am going to stay the night with you."

"No you don't," he pulled her over to him and motioned for her to climb in with him, "Just for tonight?"

She looked into his face to see the puppy dog stare and crumbled, "All right."

She laid down next to him, careful not to touch his injured leg or any bad bruising and put her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her and put his head on hers since she was laying a little lower than he was.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Delaney asked as she closed her eyes.

He thought for a moment and then shook his head slightly, "No, I'm actually feeling a lot better. You're a miracle worker."

He felt her smile and slowly he heard her breathing become rhythmic as she fell into a deep sleep. He looked up at the ceiling and wondered what he was doing. It could never work, but it was already too late. He has fallen for her and still hasn't hit the bottom. He turned his head to look down on her and brushed some of her hair out of her face. How could he ever tell her?

'How do you tell someone that you love them?' he thought and put his cheek to the top of her head. He slowly fell asleep with Delaney safely in his arms.

Callista walked up the stairs and stopped right outside of Raphael's room. She took a few deep breaths and began to concentrate. Unknowingly she attracted some attention from the other two turtles who poked their heads out of their room to see who was breathing so hard outside the bedrooms. She looked over at them and gave them a scowl.

"Do you two mind?"

The two brothers put up their hands in their defense and went back into their rooms trying their best to block out the yelling that will probably result from the fight at hand. She turned back to Raphael's door, surprised to see that it was all ready open and an annoyed looking Raphael leaning on the door frame.

"Now what do you want, Oprah?"

"Oprah? Haven't heard that one before," she commented crossing her arms.

"Fine, you've insulted me before you went bed. Can I go to sleep now?" he pointed to the hammock at the side of his room.

"Why were you so upset when you thought I was going to ask Casey a question? The real reason, if you don't mind."

"I already told you my reasoning," he threw up his hands in the air and walked back into his room, not having enough mind to shut the door, "Geeze women think that we all have an alternate motive for everything."

She followed him and shut the door herself, hopeful to save the others from the noise, "No, you told me about how you wanted to protect Casey, what you really meant is that you wanted to protect yourself."

"What?"

"You have feelings going on inside of you that you have no idea what to do about, and you're scared," she nodded her head.

"Oh yeah, name the reasons I'm feeling them."

"One could be from Mikey. He is in a bed recuperating because he was beaten good tonight. So you were scared for his safety, didn't mean that you had to blow up in my face about it."

"Yeah, okay, I was worried about my brother, thank you, doctor obvious. You got any other diagnosis?"

"No, I just wanted you to know that every time you have a feeling that you don't understand, you don't need to beat up on everyone else about it! You had no right to go after Delaney like that and you know it!"

"I had no- She is the reason we're swimming waist deep in trouble with these ninjas!"

"No! You would have been swimming even with out Delaney because the Purple Dragons are in on it too. And they are a constant enemy, aren't they?"

"Yeah so what?"

"So she isn't to blame!"

"Do you think Mikey would have gone out of his way to risk his neck for anyone else? He cares about her a lot! But there is no way that she can give that back to him!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because she is a human, he is a turtle!" he stood right in front of her and looked her in the eyes, "Do you think that any girl would be attracted to a mutated freak?"

Callista took a deep breath, "You guys aren't freaks."

"You've called me a freak once before."

"In the spirit of the game and because I knew it would annoy you!" she reasoned with him, "You say that she can't return his feelings for her. I say you're wrong. I see the way she looks at him and the way she talks about him when he isn't around. She is head over heels for him! Anyone and everyone can see it!"

"Except for the ignoramus, right?" he pointed at himself and turned from her.

She rolled her eyes and pulled on his arm to turn him around, "You want to mope about your brother's condition, all right by me. But don't you ever blame Delaney for Michelangelo's injures! She blames herself enough."

"I blame who and what I want. You got no right telling me what to think," he came back over and poked her in the shoulder, "Ass face."

"You went out of order," she reminded him.

"Does it look like I give a shit about the stupid game? That was a real genuine insult," he looked her in the eyes, "And I want you out of my room."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't."

Raphael was getting past the point of boiling and stood his ground face to face with her, "Yes I do, hag."

"Gack face."

"Loser."

"Jerk off."

"Prick."

"Retard."

"Shrew!"

"Wax brain!"

"Girdle neck!"

"Fish face!"

"Moron!"

"Dipass!"

"Xena!"

"Freak!"

Callista stared back in his face with the greatest determination she could muster. Both of them stared at each other, trying to regain their breath. Raphael looked her up and down looking for a weak point and Callista did the same.

Finally, Raphael blinked.

He took a deep breath and Callista shifted her feet thinking that round two was coming up, but instead he grabbed her gently around her neck and the small of her back and brought her to his lips in a suppressed, emotional kiss. Her eyes went wide with shock as she struggled to get out of his grip. After a few milliseconds of fighting, she couldn't fight it anymore and started to kiss him back. After another moment or two he broke the kiss and let go of her.

She took a step back from him and wiped her lips with the back of her arm. She again was trying to catch her breath from the surprise kiss, "You know that… that that was…"

"What? Horrible… surprising… exhilarating?" he quirked an eye ridge as leaned on the table to his side and tried to catch his breath.

She pointed and waved her finger at him trying to find the right words, but gave up. She ran back up to him and crashed into his mouth again. She had to admit, he wasn't the only one hiding feelings in the room. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him down toward her. He put his arms around her back and lifted her from the ground, careful not to end the kiss. She put her legs around him as well as she could considering his shape and hung on. She felt his tongue on her lips and opened her mouth to give him entrance. He walked over to the side of the room and pushed her against the wall so he had better footing and a better hold on her.

She finally broke the kiss and looked at him in the eyes, trying to stop herself and be reasonable, "You know, Raph… this is going way…way too fast…"

"Yeah, but do you really care?" he asked kissing her neck softly.

"Hell no," she took his lips on hers again. She felt his hands trying to find a spot better to hold her and finally found the small of her back and under her butt. They finally separated partly for air and energy and looked at one another. For the first time Callista actually saw some kind of feeling in Raphael's eyes. Some kind of emotion.

"You weren't talking just about Michelangelo's feelings, were you?" she scanned his face and waited.

"What, are you a doctor now, or something?"

"No, I just want to know if my feelings for you are going to be returned or if I'm wasting my time," she watched him go into shock for a moment and then tried to explain, "You may be a egotistical, self absorbed dick head, but… you have determination and bravery. And even though you try to hide it you do care about other people other than yourself. I respect that. And I find it very attractive in a guy. I don't care what you are, I care who you are. And the fact that you're not that bad of a kisser does help you immensely."

"Same to you, vomit face," he kissed her lightly on the lips and began to let her down from being pressed against the wall, "You know, you are the only person in the world that has called me freak and has not been killed or beaten to a pulp."

"I'll take that as a complement," she let a breath out after they separated and looked at his arm to find a gash that he probably overlooked. She looked back into his eyes and he followed her gaze.

"Just a scratch," she shrugged. She shook her head, tore off a piece of her pajama pants and made a quick bandage.

"I'll be checking on that in the morning," she lightly placed her arms around his neck, "So… where does all this leave us now?"

"I think we're now on the letter p, and it's your turn," she smiled and started to walk out of his room.

"Good night, puke breath," she waved over her head and opened the door. After she got no comeback she turned to look at him, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"You got me on q."

She smirked and whispered, "I'll give you this one. Try queer on the next time around."

He smirked back and watched her shut the door. He fixed his bandana and let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. Looking down at the makeshift bandage, he couldn't help but smile. Oh yeah, he got it all right.