Tripping Over Me, Over You
A/N: Thanks to my two reviewers! I love you both dearly for the reviews. Anyhow, this story is flowing very well. I'm not having any trouble with seeing the stories future, which is great!
Chapter Two,
Brotherly Love? Cheay' right!
It didn't take Raph long to explain everything to his brothers. Leo yelled at him for being so careless, but Raph did the same thing he always did when Leo started ranting: he yelled back so loud that he drowned Leo out.
"Well I don't care how careless I was, fearless leader," Raph yelled, "you get your shell down here and bring Don with you! Why? Because she's cut to pieces that's why! No, no one cut her, it's just some broken glass. Well, I sorta threw a guy through the store's window and—"
Raph held the phone away from his face as Leo's shouting grew louder. He vaguely heard: We'll be there in five, before the dull buzz of a dead line cut through the silence. He sighed and tucked the phone away, looking up at the nights sky for some hint of stars. He remembered how shocking it was when they were all out at Casey's grandma's house. He was so used to the sky being black, with the occasional flicker of a satellite or a star; but out in the country it had been nothing short of breath taking. He missed the stars now, he'd never felt there absence until he knew they were out there and he just couldn't see them.
He tucked his thumbs into the front of his belt and went back inside. George was in the kitchen, carefully trying to make something. He called out that his brothers were on there way, and Don was going to fix her up when he got there. She said she was fine, and didn't need to be looked after, but continued rooting around in fridge.
"Whatcha' doin'?" He asked.
George didn't turn around, it wasn't because she was being rude, it was just that the pain in her side had gotten so bad that it hurt to turn. "Trying to get a glass of sweet tea," she explained, trying to reach a glass from the top cabinet. "You want some?"
Raph came up beside her, he could see through her pained expression that she was having a tough time. The bruise was beginning to darken and grow, it looked like it was going to run the length of her side. George noticed him looking at the bruise.
"It doesn't hurt a lot," she lied. "Ten bucks says he was wearing steel-toed ninja shoes."
Something squirmed inside of Raph, he couldn't quite place what it was, but it felt like some twisted mixture of anger and regret. "I shoulda been faster, shoulda dropped what I was doin' and stopped that guy from kickin' ya!"
This outburst surprised George so much that she stopped reaching for the glass. "Hey there, Nancy, the only thing you're gonna regret is not getting me down a glass so I can get us some tea, alright? Don't worry about it, I've had worse."
Good save, she thought.
Raph did as he was told, and George poured them both some tea. The amber liquid filled each glass, tiny scraps of tea leaves floated around, signifying that she was almost out.
"Sweet tea is a gamble," she said, swirling the tea around, the ice ticked against the glass. At Raph raised eyebrow she continued, "Sometime it comes out right, but sometimes you follow the directions perfectly but it still sucks." She took a sip from the glass and smile, "I win this round."
Raph drank his silently, he wasn't thirsty, but thought that it would be rude (even for him) to turn it down. It turned out to be delicious. "That makes two a' us."
Suddenly there came a knock…at the balcony window.
"Shit," George hissed, whirling around.
"Relax," Raph said, "It's just my brothers."
One by one they three filed in; blue, purple and orange. The one with the blue mask had his eyes narrowed at Raph, the purple was carrying a box with a red-cross over a turtle shell on it, and the orange was wide-eyed and looking around the apartment like a child at Christmas.
Such an odd bunch, George thought. "Alright," she said, holding up one had to halt them. The procession stopped. "Who's who?"
"I'm Leonardo," the blue said, still looking at Raph. "And I'm sorry for any trouble my brother's cause you."
Raph started to shout, but George laid the hand holding the glass on his chest, the condensation running down the grooves in his front shell. "Save it," she said. He crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling. If looks could kill, the building would have collapsed under the pressure of his gaze.
The purple one settled the box on the coffee table, and opened it, taking out its contents carefully. "I'm Donatello, but you can call me Don, or Donnie. Now could you please set down on the couch so I can have a look at you?"
George, for once, did as she was told. Don unwrapped the bandages on her arm and began to examine the cuts. Leo and Raph started a glaring competition.
"What about you, slick?" George asked the orange.
He snapped to attention, seeming to notice her for the first time. "I, pretty lady, am Mikey, the most handsome, and single turtle on the market," he announced waggling his eyebrows.
George rolled her eyes.
"Geez, Mikey," Don said, shaking the can of disinfectant spray. "You just met the gal, cut down on the charm okay?"
"Alright then," Mikey said, bouncing back immediately. "Got anything to eat around here?"
"MIKEY!"
"What?" He asked innocently, holding his empty hands out.
George interrupted what promised to be another fight by saying, "There's some cake in the fridge, help yourself."
"You don't know what you've just done," Don groaned.
Mikey let out a whoop of happiness and bolted to the fridge.
"I'm not going to lie to you," Don said, holding the can of disinfectant a few inches from her arm. "This is going to hurt."
"I'm live—SONOFVABITCH!" George's fist clenched, as her arms spasmed from the spray. "What've you got in there, sand!"
"Calm down…?"
"George," she supplied.
Mikey snorted from somewhere in the kitchen.
"It's short for Georgia."
"Can I call you Georgie?"
"Not if you wanna live to see the sun again."
This actually got a chuckled from Raph, who'd given up the glaring match and settled himself into the chair. Leo stood at the other end of the couch, and watch Don work.
"Miss. Georgia—" he began.
"You got a death wish too?" She asked through gritted teeth, Don had found another piece of glass and dug it out.
"George," he amended. "What exactly happened tonight?"
Don had finished and began rewrapping her arm, George sighed in relief. "Well, I closed the shop early to clean the second story…but I guess now I'm gonna have to clean the first story again. Anyway, then this guy came to the door dressed like a ninja, and told me to let him in."
"What'd you tell him?" Mikey asked, settling himself in front of the coffee table with his chocolate cake.
"I told him to fuck off, it'd my shop, no one tells me what to do."
"You sound like Raph," Mikey said through a mouthful of cake.
"And you sound like a slob with your mouth full."
"Point to you," he designated, flicking a check mark in the air.
George smiled before continuing, "Then I asked him what he wanted, and he said that I had something his master wanted and that it would be in my best interest to let him have it because he had the shop surrounded." She shuddered remembering the fear that the threat had caused her. Leo nodded along with her, and Mikey watched intently from the floor. Don continued his work, and Raph had taken interest in the ceiling again.
"I told him I didn't have anything he'd want in my shop and that if he didn't leave I was going to wipe the floor with his ass. Then someone grabbed me from behind, that's when this guy showed up," she finished, nodding to Raph.
Raph just shrugged and said, "I saw them earlier and followed 'em. When the jumped her I jus' had to do somethin'."
"Yeah, well you didn't have to smash my window," she argued, point her newly bandaged arm at him.
"What? Look, lady, if it wasn't for me you'd be dead by now!"
"I know and I said 'thank you'!"
Mikey followed the fight like a ping-pong match, his head whipping to face whoever spoke. Don just sigh and said, "George, hold still for a minute, I gotta check how bad this bruise is…now tell me does this hurt."
"MOTHER FUCKER!" She howled. "Could you try not to burst liver when you're poking around down there!"
Raph laughed, "Quite being such a baby."
"I will if you quit being such a girl about all this."
"Girl? Girl!"
George pointed at him, "See, there you go, queering the deal up."
Mikey was howling with laughter at this point, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "George I love you!"
By this time Raph face had gotten beat red from fury. "Look, the next time you're crummy shop gets attacked by the Foot, I'm not gonna save ya'!"
"Foot? What the hell is the Foot? What kind of stupid as name is that for a crime ring?" She struggled to get up, but Don put a firm hand on her shoulder.
"You need to calm down, George, all this blood rushing through your system is just making it worse. From what I can tell, you've bruised a rib or two, and the lining on your organs has swelled up. You need to take it easy."
"I'll take it easy when Captain Beef-Head over there cleans the glass from my shop floor," she said, settling down, "and someone here answers my damn question!"
Leo spoke up, "The Foot are an group of ninjas who work for own sworn enemy—"
George mouthed the words 'Sworn Enemy?' to Mikey.
"The Shredder, he's like the baddest of the bad, babe. He's tried to kill us like a dozen times."
"Why?"
"Because he's jealous of our good-looks and animal magnetism—"
Leo cut in, "—we don't really know why. He just hates us. He obviously wants something you have…do you know anything that might be of any interest him?"
George thought for a moment, "To a crime lord? No, not really…but to a ninja…hell, I don't know. I don't think I've got a whole lot of ninja books."
Leo seemed to mull this over for a long while before saying, "Do you mind if we look around your shop?"
"No, not at all, you guys can have the run of it anytime you want." Then like lighting an idea suddenly struck her, it was a wonderful idea…a wonderful idea indeed.
