A/N: I'm surprised at how fast this story is starting to come out. I just hope I can keep up the steady pace. (Kncock on wood)


Chapter Three

Marcus was a man in his late twenties with fairly light skin and had brown shoulder length hair. He usually wore the typical uniform for a veterinarian: white business shirt, black dress pants, and dress shoes. The only unusual bit about his outfit was his strangely colored necktie with words '#1 Dad' on it.

"Belinda I need you to reschedule all what appointments I have left." The young man said into his intercom while removing his doctor's coat. "I have to go home to right away." He put the coat onto a wire hanger so he could put it into his small closet he had in the office.

"It's that bully isn't it?" Belinda answered. "He's after Chrissie isn't he?"

"Uh…yes." Marcus lied. Like he could tell her what his daughter told him. Not that he was entirely sure that he believed what his little Cherish had said.

"I'll get on it right away doctor." Belinda answered.

Quickly Marcus adjusted his shoulder bag across him and dashed out of building without say 'bye' to anyone. From the sidewalk outside the office he flagged down a cab. Usually he'd take the subway home, but seeing as this was an emergency he saw no reason to spare any expense or time.

"Kids of great fashion senses, don't they mac?" The cabbie said while the young man climbed into the vehicle.

"They sure do." Marcus replied while noting the driver's brightly colored checkered hat with the phrase 'Greatest Dad' sewn onto it.

While he rode, the young man thought about what his daughter had told him. 'Human sized turtles…boy human size turtles.' It was like he couldn't wrap his mind around the idea. But he knew his daughter wouldn't call him at the office just to tell some kind of fairytale or to lie.

Fortunately traffic was light and the driver knew how to make good time, so Marcus was actually able to make it home earlier than usual. He was just exiting the cab as his daughter was coming out of the apartment building. When she saw him the young girl immediately ran to him and jumped up into his open arms.

"Her name means grace and she my ace. Parish the thought of why I call her Cherish." Marcus said before blowing in to her cheek.

"Daddy stop it." Cherise giggled. "I'm so glad your home." She gave her father's neck a squeeze.

Marcus put his daughter down and noticed that she had his cloak. "What you doing with that?"

"It's so you can go get you-know-who." Cherise whispered. "You can't walk out with them for everyone to see right? Cause then someone might call the cops and something bad could happen to them."

"Smart girl." Marcus said while giving the young girl a rub on the head. "So where are they?"

"Downstairs of that old abandoned building down the block." Cherise told him. "I got Darren to leave them alone."

Marcus looked surprised. "How did you manage to do that?"

"I told him I thought his mom was looking for him and he believed me." Cherise replied. "He got himself into a lot of trouble with her and now he's going to boot camp."

"Bout time that kid got what's coming to him." Marcus muttered under his breath. His daughter cocked her head at him and he put on a nervous smile. "Well then, give me the cloak and I'll go to them."

"Here you go daddy." Cherise said as she hand the cloak to him.

"Thank you." Marcus tucked the cape into the crook of his arm. "Now you get yourself up stairs." He gave the young girl a love swat on the bottom as a way of ushering her up the stoop. "I'll be home as soon as I get them home."

"Ok." Cherise said while going up into the building.

Marcus made his way down to the abandon building and started down the stairs when he got there. Before going all the way down the stairs, the young man stopped at the window to take peek inside. There he saw the two turtle boys Cherise told him about press up as far against the wall as they could be. Each one was rubbing their eyes to get the paint out of them while they cried. He felt so sorry for them and made his way down the rest of the stairs.

When Marcus tried to open the door he found that it was lock. "Of course it would be." He grumbled to himself. After looking around to see if anyone was coming or going by, the young man gave the door a sharp shove with is shoulder and it opened with a bang. This caused the two turtle boys to squeal with fear.

Marcus put an index finger to his lips. "Shh." But that only made the two turtle boys sob louder. "It's ok. It's ok." He said quickly while waving a hand at them. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to get you out of here." This made the two young turtles soften their sobs to sniffles. "That's better."

As he made his way over to them, Marcus pulled his shoulder bag in front of him and opened it up to bring out some moisten wipes. Then he took hold of the chin belonging to the turtle boy wearing a purple mask. The young turtle shut his eyes tight while his lips trembled in the attempt to stop the urge to cry out loud.

"That's it big boy." Marcus praised while he wiped the young turtles mouth and cheeks, removing as much of the paint as he could. "So what your names?" He asked as he went to clean the young turtle's hands.

"D…D…Donatello." The young turtle hiccupped. "A…and my brother's name is…is…Mic…Michelangelo."

"I see." Marcus replied as he moved over to the orange masked turtle and began cleaning him off. "So where are you parents?"

"Our…our father is out…out scavenging." Michelangelo said while his face was being cleaned. "He's…he's a rat."

"A rat?" Marcus almost let out a laugh, because he wasn't expect that. "So where do you live?"

"In the sewers." Donatello answered, now a bit calmer than before. "But…but we don't know how to get back there cause we don't know where we are right now."

"I see." Marcus looked down at the chain wrapped around the young turtles' ankles when he was done with Michelangelo. "Do you know where they kept the keys?" The two turtles shook their head. "Great." He blew an air of frustration out of the corner of his mouth before looking around for something to cut the locks with. To his great fortunate he managed to find a pair of rust cover, yet functional, bolt cutters in the milk crate.

Seeing the human with the oddly shape tool scared the two little turtles. The end of it looked like a beak from a large bird that would eat things like them for breakfast. So when Marcus came over to them with it out in front of him, aimed for the locks near their ankles, the two let out a high pitched scream as they hugged each other close.

Marcus let released a one of the cutter's hands so that he could run a hand down his face while letting out a sigh. Knowing that no amount of explain was going to calm them down now, the young man kneeled down in front of them, put the cutters down, and guided the two frightened turtles into a seated position. Next he took hold of Donatello's ankle and placed it on his bended knee so he could cut the lock off. Once the lock was cut, the purpled masked turtle kick the chain off.

Immediately Michelangelo put his chained ankle on the man's knee. "Me next."

Marcus smirked at this movement and quickly cut the lock. "There you go."

With Michelangelo free too, Donatello grabbed his hand. "Thankyougottogo." He said while trying to make a run for the door with his brother in tow. Through the human was nice, he didn't want to stay around to see what he was really going to do next.

"Now just hold on there you two." Marcus said while grabbing Michelangelo's other hand as the little turtle was going by him.

Donatello almost fell on his shell when he felt the sudden resistance. The young turtle turned around and glared at the human. "Let go." He ordered while pulling on Michelangelo, who didn't look too comfortable being pulled two different ways.

"Stop that, your hurting your brother." Marcus scolded and Donatello immediately did as he was told, (which was a surprise to him). "Now I know you want to go home and I'll be more than happy to take you there. But if you go out into the open you might get captured again. Do you want that to happen?" Both turtles looked at him and shook their heads. "Well alright then."

The young man released Michelangelo's hand so that he could unfold the cloak he had in the crook of his arm. At first he was going to drape it over the two turtle and carry them out onto the street. But after thinking about it he realized that wasn't a very good idea. For one they were two big to be carried at the same time; furthermore it would look just as weird then if he didn't use the cloak at all. His next idea was to still drape it on and usher them along, but this also proved to be impossible to be done. Anything could pull the cloak off them along as well as make very hard for them to see or move.

In the end the young man put the dark green velvet cloak on, the bottom of it was about a centimeter from touching the ground, and was going to have the young turtles walk with him underneath it. It would be hard to maneuver with them so close to his legs, but really what choice did he have?

"Alright you two, I'm going to have to ask you boys to trust me on this, ok?" Marcus told them somewhat sternly and the young turtles nodded timidly. "And you guys are going to have to be quiet while we walk, alright?" Again the turtles nodded. "Good. Now give me your hands." Michelangelo fearfully took the young man's left hand while Donatello took the right. "Ok now pull the ends of the cloak around you and stay close to me." Though they did look a little bulky, it was not enough to draw much attention from anyone passing by them or them passing anyone else.

While exiting from the building for street level, Marcus noticed that night was falling fast and the sudden gust of wind carried an odor of rain coming their way. He looked up at the darkening sky to see clouds gathering in a storm threatening way. This reminded him of a news report heard in the cabby's car about a rather large thunderstorm coming to their area. If he were to take the boys down into the sewers now and not find their home in time before the storm started, there would be a chance they would get caught in a flood when the underground swelled with rainwater.

"Boys I'm afraid that I can't take you home at this time." Marcus told the two young turtles, glad that nobody was around to think him insane or to be suspicious. In reply Donatello and Michelangelo tried to pull their hands from his, but he held on. "I will take you home, but tonight a storm is coming. It will be too dangerous for us to travel in the sewers during it." The small three fingered hands stopped their tugging and a couple of sniffles were heard. "Don't worry, you will not be alone. My daughter will be happy to keep you company." Brief movement under cloak revealed the little turtles were wiping their nose with their free hand.

Glad that they did not use his pant legs, Marcus quickly walked up the street with the young turtles in tow. Of course he realized that he had to slow down a bit, because their little legs couldn't keep up with his long ones. Just like his daughter liked to do, the young man counted down the house along the way to his building. "4…3…2…"

"Marcus! Oh Marcus!" A voice called out from the last building before his.

"Oh no." Marcus quietly groaned before looking over at the building he was currently in front of. "Good day Mrs. Mason." He said to the elder lady standing on top of the stoop. She looked to be in her fifties with bushy white hair, darken skin, and green eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses. The lady wore a dress with flowery print underneath a checkered apron. "I would love to stay and chat, but I must really get home to Cherish."

"Oh you can spare a couple minutes." Mrs. Mason said while wave her free hand, because she held a platter of cookies in the other. "I have a batch of my famous peanut butter cookies with big chucks of chocolate fresh from the oven and I just know you want some to take home to that little angel of yours."

"Please Mrs. Mason, you spoil her. I swear that you do." Marcus replied with a smirk.

"And why not?" The elder woman semi-snapped. "My children live on the other side of the country and rarely come to visit me. So if I can't spoil my grandchildren, then I'll just have to spoil little Cherise and the other children of the neighborhood."

"Well I do admit that you make a great substitute grandmother for her." Marcus told her. "But I really must insist that I be getting home now."

"Well if you won't have some cookies now, then I insist that you take a bag with you." Mrs. Mason said with persistence while placing the platter onto the stone rail of the stoop and produced a bag from the almost nowhere. "After all, what am I going to do with it all? I can't eat them, they are bad for me."

"Alright." Marcus said with a slight sight. "But I do it for the sake of your health." He added jokingly.

"You certainly don't expect an old woman to come down these steps now do you?" Mrs. Mason scolded. "Especially with how bad the athirst in my legs are."

"Of course not." Marcus replied and looked nervously at the steps. It was going to prove interesting trying to get up the steps while pulling two young turtle children with him. Luckily they were able to keep with him as they went up the few steps of the stoop, so there was no problem.

Once at the top of top, Marcus pulled Donatello's hand up to his pants pocket and hooked it there before letting of it. At first the young turtle was confused as to why the human did this, but he dared not to let go of the pocket.

With his right hand free, the young man was able to take the bag of cookies from Mrs. Mason. "I thank you and my daughter thanks you." Then he did the same thing with Michelangelo's hand as he had done with Donatello's. With both hands free he pulled his shoulder bag in front of him, placed the cookies into, and put it back behind him.

How torturous it was for the two young turtles to be under that cloak, smelling the fresh baked cookies. In fact, Michelangelo wanted the cookies so bad that he let go of the man's pocket so that he could get into bag. But Marcus proved to have lighting fast reflexes by snatching the hand before it got to far away and placing back onto the pocket. Before letting go the young man gave the little turtle hand a slight squeeze with his thumb, as if to say 'Don't let go again' and it surprised the little orange masked turtle. Nobody but his father had ever disciplined him before.

"Is something the matter?" Mrs. Mason asked curiously. "You pulled your hand so quickly into your cape like you were grabbing your leg."

"N…no." Marcus replied nervously. "I had a sudden itch, that's all." He pulled his hands out to show no problem.

"Since you're up here." Mrs. Mason quickly gathered up her platter of cookies. "Have one to go."

Marcus rolled his eyes while he took two in a way for trying to make it like he took one. "Thank you." He laughed.

"Why you little sneak." Mrs. Mason chuckled. "Just cause I wear glasses does not mean I can't see."

"These maybe the only two cookies I'll ever get." Marcus said in defense while pulling his hands back under the cloak. He took a cookie into each hand and held them in front of the young turtles.

At first neither turtle knew what to make of it, but smelling the delicious cookies made it hard to resist. After wiping the drool from their mouth with their free hand, they took the cookie from the human hands and scarf them down.

Marcus stifled a chuckle, because if he laughed Mrs. Mason would probably wonder why. "Well I should be getting home now to Cherish before she gets into any trouble." He knew that soon the two little turtles would start to get antsy, like all children do, if he didn't get moving soon.

"Of course dear." Mrs. Mason replied. "Give that little girl of yours a kiss for me and don't hesitate to come over with her to visit."

"Thanks for the cookies again." Marcus took the young turtles' hands again and with some strange maneuvering managed to get them back down to the sidewalk. Lucky for him Mrs. Mason had already gone back inside her building while the young man fumbled down the stoop.

From Mrs. Mason's place to his, Marcus did not run into any more people that wanted to talk to him. Once inside his apartment complex the young man decided that the three of them should take the elevator rather than tackle three flights of stairs. But he didn't count on the fact that this was the first time Michelangelo and Donatello had ever seen an elevator. When they saw doors opening for them, it looked like a monster opening his mouth to gobble them up.

"NO!" Donatello said sternly while both he and Michelangelo halted before the double doors, refusing to move another inch.

"It's alright." Marcus said calmly. "The elevator is just going to take us up. It'll be better then having to walk up all those stairs."

"Scary." Michelangelo whimpered.

"What's so scary about it?" Marcus asked. "You can make the doors open and close." He quickly hooked Donatello's hand into his pocket and parted the cloak to reveal the two little turtles with his newly freed hand after looking around to see if anyone was walking by. "To show you what I mean, I want you to press that button with arrow point up on it Donatello."

Donatello looked at the button cautiously before looking up at the young man. Marcus nodded his head in encouragement and the little purple masked turtle shyly pushed the button. Immediately the doors opened before them. "I did that?"

"Yes you did." Marcus answered. "Come on." He took Donatello's hand and everyone walked into the elevator. "Now Michelangelo I want you to push that button with the number three on it."

"Me?" Michelangelo questioned and Marcus nodded. "Ok." Gleefully he pushed the button and the doors closed. "I did that." He stated proudly.

Marcus gave a laugh. "Yes you did." Suddenly the elevator car shook before moving up and it terrified the two little turtles. They grasped the young man's pant legs in fear as they felt the floor pushing them up. "You did that too."

"How do I make it stop?" Michelangelo cried. "I don't like the floor moving."

"It'll stop when we get to our destination." Marcus replied. "Hear that dinging sound? That counts off the number of floor we're going." Three dings later the elevator doors opened and the two turtles couldn't get out fast enough. They pushed on the young man's legs to usher him quickly out of the lift. "Alright, alright." Marcus laughed while being pushed. "We're on steady ground now."

"Daddy!" Cherise cried from up the hallway. Then she clasped her hands over her mouth as soon as she saw Donatello and Michelangelo. "What are they doing here?" She whispered when he got to the apartment with them. "I thought you were going to take them home."

"There's a storm coming and it late." Marcus told his daughter. "I thought it better to take them home when there is light and when the storm is gone."

"They are going to stay with us?" Cherise question with excitement. "Is that ok? Are they ok?"

"I'm sure it's ok." Marcus answered. "And their ok too. Just a little dirty. So lets get them into the bathroom so we can get this paint of them."

"Ok. I'll show you where it is." Cherise said cheerfully as she grabbed the two little turtles' hands and pulled them along. "You're my new friends and I'm going to help take care of you. We'll have lots of fun and stuff."