Title: Moth and Flame – The sequel to the 'Cat and Mouse' series

Author: Jayde

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Seven years have passed since the events of 'Rest in Peace'.

Credits: Thanks to Sassy, once again, for the excellent and timely beta.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the turtles. I borrow them only for entertainment purposes. No profit or harm intended.

Author's Notes: Half way point folks. This sequel is ten chapters.

Chapter 5:

Seven years earlier …

"Mike, stop!"

He moved back quickly, but kept his arms around her, trying to sooth her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, adjusting the blanket to try and make her more comfortable.

"No, I'm sorry," Juliet said, her eyes starting to tear up. She balled up her fist and hit the mattress – hard. "It just … it reminds me of other things, and I panic. And it's not fair …," she choked a little on her words as the tears spilled over. "It's not fair to you, because it's not your fault."

"Hey, it's okay," Mike insisted, brushing her tears away with gentle fingers. He absolutely hated to see her cry. "I want to, and everything, but we'll do it at whatever pace you need. Okay?" He shifted closer very carefully, wanting to comfort her, but not frighten her any more than he had already. "You do what you want, and I'll follow your lead. Go ahead," he offered, giving her a grin. "Take advantage of me."

Juliet giggled through her tears, and placed a trembling kiss to the corner of his smiling mouth. "You have no idea how much that means to me," she responded. Mike wrapped her up in his arms, and hugged her. It was frustrating, sure. But he could wait for her, and it would be worth it. When you loved someone, you sometimes had to give her time.


Sam leaned back in her chair, one foot up on the seat and her knee bent to rest her newspaper against as she perused the headlines. She reached around the paper to snag a piece of toast, and crunched contentedly.

"Don't you want anything on that?"

She leaned around the side of the morning news, and peered at her guest. Don was slathering jelly on his toast.

"No," she replied, and then grinned. "I'm sweet enough as it is." Don argued that with a raised eye ridge and a snort of amusement. He bent his head and returned his attention to his book. Sam shifted back to her newspaper, still smiling. It had been a week since their impromptu reunion at the police station, and she knew it was too early to call this bliss. But what the hell. She took a hold of the caution in her heart and mentally tossed it away.

Don sighed and closed his book with an audible snap. "I have to get home."

"So soon?" Sam complained, folding down her newspaper to look at him.

"I need to change before work," he noted, glancing down at himself significantly. His shirt was a little wrinkled. That was probably her fault.

"We should just live together," Sam murmured. Don's head shot up, and he looked at her with surprise. "Did I say that out loud?" she asked a little sheepishly. Don nodded briefly. "It's just … you're here all the time, and I want you here all the time," Sam explained. "If you don't like this place," she added, waving a hand at the apartment around them. "Then we could look for something else."

"In New York City? Good luck," Don replied. Housing was at a premium, and he knew that not every landlord accepted 'aliens' on the property. He had been living with Leo and Raph at a house they had bought.

"And I'm not sharing a home with Raph," Sam noted darkly, nearly reading his mind and Don agreed silently. Even after all these years, they still didn't really get along with each other.

"You don't think it's too soon?" Don asked, but he knew how he felt about it.

"I don't think we need to follow the normal courtship rituals," Sam noted blithely. She set her newspaper down on the table, and continued in a more serious tone. "I know that I love you. I don't need to wait."

"I'll move in," Don agreed, rising to his feet. He crossed to the other side of the table, and leaned down to press a tender kiss to Sam's lips. "And I love you, too."


"Fifteen minutes!"

Shouts of 'Dad' and 'That's not fair' sounded from the direction of the girls' bedrooms, but Mike held the line.

"Rachel, you have enough makeup on already, and Noelle you're just stalling to avoid your math test," he roared back. His assessment was met with silence, and he gave himself a little pat on the back. They would be ready, or he would go back there to find out why. He was a ninja – and he was not afraid of 'girl stuff'.

He returned to the kitchen counter to put together a sandwich for Noelle. Rachel refused to take a bag lunch, but Noelle still enjoyed a treat from home. He finished the mayo with a flourish, and settled the sandwich, cut neatly in triangles, into a plastic container to keep it from squishing. "Martha Stewart, look out," he murmured to himself.

The front door opened, startling him a little. Juliet arrived in the kitchen, bags under her eyes revealing her lack of sleep.

"Are you just getting home?" Mike questioned sharply, and Juliet nodded vaguely in his direction. She headed straight for the coffee maker, but he cut her off by stepping in the way.

"Mike, I need a little caffeine here," Juliet groused, trying to step around him. He put out his arm to block her, and she finally looked at his face. She nearly reared back at his furious expression.

"No, you need sleep," he stated, his jaw starting to tense. Juliet's eyes moved away from his, and Mike tried not to feel the ache inside as she avoided him.

"Mike …," Juliet began tiredly. She was exhausted, and she didn't want to argue with him. She didn't have the energy for his emotion right now. Later, when things were more settled …

"Are you coming to Noelle's recital?" Mike asked, his question seeming to come out of the blue to his wife who was nearly weaving on her feet.

"What?" she responded weakly, wracking her brain to come up with the right information. Recital?

"Noelle's piano recital," Mike retorted, enunciating very carefully each and every syllable.

"I have a meeting with a senator tonight," Juliet noted, her forehead puckered into a frown as she remembered the appointment. At the very end of his rope, Mike swept the coffee maker off the counter with one swipe of his hand. The glass, metal and plastic hit the floor like a bomb, sending fragments shooting everywhere.

"Mike!" Juliet shrieked, diving back and away from him. Her heart hammered in her chest as she nearly gagged on her sudden terror. Never had he been violent. Never. What was …?

"Noelle needs you," he growled at her, his voice tight and angry.

"I have a meeting," Juliet replied faintly, and when Mike stepped towards her she staggered back … away from him. He froze, finally reading the stark fear in her eyes.

"Jules …," Mike said, his tone gentle now. He reached out a hand, but Juliet looked at it as though it was a coiled snake. After a moment, he let his arm drop to his side.

"I'm going … upstairs," Juliet reported solemnly. She backed out of the room carefully, and hurried up to the bedroom. Mike listened to the door slam shut, and then the sound of furniture being propped against it. He hung his head, leaning his right hip against the counter, and let the sense of defeat and shame wash over him.


Screwdriver in hand, Leo stepped back to admire his handiwork. He didn't think Don could have done any better.

"This is a death bolt lock?" a feminine voice inquired from behind him, and Leo turned to view Sen's puzzled expression.

"Dead bolt," he corrected. "And it is just one line of defense. The new security system will help, too," he added, nodding to the small plastic panel mounted on the wall near the front door.

Sen nodded, but she still had her arms crossed over her torso as though chilled. "All these things – just to feel safe," she noted unhappily. "Never did I know such fear on my home world."

"Well, New York is a little rougher," Leo responded, bending down to tuck the screwdriver back into his toolbox. He had come over this morning to do some final security changes to Sen's bookstore. "I think you're all set."

She glanced around at the changes to her store. Bars over the windows, and a gate of metal to pull in front of her door, a new security system, and deadly locks on her doors – she straightened up and forced her arms down.

"Thank you for all of your advice and kind assistance," Sen said, offering Leo a slight bow.

Leo smiled a little, and bowed in response. He had done what he could. Both he and Raph had watched the store for the past few nights, and they had managed to prevent most of the damage, but he had to sleep some time. He hoped these precautions would make his neighbor feel somewhat safer.

Moving over to a little hotplate behind the counter, Sen lifted up a bright yellow kettle. "Tea?" she offered, and Leo nodded. Leaning against the counter a few minutes later with a cup of fragrant tea in his hands, Leo decided it was now or never.

"I thought perhaps you might like to join me at my niece's piano recital," he said nervously, toying with the delicate cup. Sen looked up from her tea, and tilted her head at his request. "It's tonight," he added, and then internally kicked himself. She would be busy, or completely uninterested …

"Yes, I would like to go," Sen answered. Leo glanced up at her, a little surprised at her quick acceptance. She bowed her head forward, her braids hiding her profile for a moment. "I should like to meet your family," she noted with a small smile. "To see if they are all as kind as you are."

Then he wouldn't introduce her to Raph, he thought, smiling back.


"You're late," Raphael snarled as soon as she walked in.

"I had to take the bus," Rachel shot back, her mood rapidly deteriorating. Mike hadn't been able to drive her today because it was Noelle's performance tonight. She had wanted to talk to her mom, but Juliet hadn't been there after school – surprise, surprise.

And now here she was with Raph, who would call her a kid repeatedly for an hour as he tossed her to the mat.

"Don't lip off to me," Raph ground out, rounding on her in the training room. "I'm your sensei, and you will show a little respect." He shoved her – hard. Seeing red, Rachel threw herself at him, taking Raph by surprise with her furious assault. She swept at his legs with a vicious kick, and when he went down, she went with him.

Raph waited a moment, his shell on the floor and Rachel's weight on his plastron. He just needed his air back, and then he would deal with this crazy kid. "Have you lost your mind?" he breathed, just a little shocked.

"Yes, I'm nuts!" she shouted down into his face. Her hair was in wild disarray, and tears were beginning to track down her face causing her makeup to run in strange lines over her pale cheeks. "And Mike and Mom aren't talking, and Noelle cries all the time, and you always," she punctuated the word by slamming a fist into his right shoulder. "Always call me a kid!"

Having taken enough abuse for now, Raph rolled them over and pinned the girl to the floor, his hands around her slight wrists.

"What the hell …?" Raph started, feeling like the world had tilted. He stared down into her face, and tried to get a handle on where this was coming from.

"I'm fifteen," she said, her anger starting to waver away under the weight of pain. "You were fighting the Foot clan at fifteen. You want me to train like a warrior, then stop treating me like a child," she sobbed. She turned her head to the side, knowing that she had just lost that argument by weeping like a baby in front of him. Raph eased up his grip, and moved off of her. He sat up, and gathered the girl into his arms.

He wished, very sincerely, that Leo were here. Somehow Leo knew how to handle this shit better than he did. He rubbed a hand over Rachel's back and let her cry on his t-shirt. That, at least, he knew how to do.

"It's okay," Raph offered, holding her tightly.

"No it's not. It's not okay," she argued in a watery voice. Raph nodded his head against her soft hair, and inside he kind of had to agree with her.