Unraveled
Vanessa swiped her rag over the counter of the all-night fifties diner where she worked and wrinkled her nose at the vinegary smell.
Time for a new one.
She glanced around the rest of her workspace to see if there was another available. Nothing but clean glassware and hot fresh coffee met her gaze. Washing up was her last real task of the evening. In a half-hour, the morning openers arrived and she would be out the door.
Thank god. I'm so tired I can barely stand.
As the only waitress on duty, she shouldn't leave her post. But at this hour the diner operated on minimal staff, with not even a cook in sight through the tiny pass-through window.
Vanessa straightened her short pink uniform dress with the crisp white apron and leaned over the divider to check the lobby. Tonight no one lingered over a hot cup of coffee while staring at their phone.
Guess since no one's here I can get another myself.
But first, she took a moment to gingerly rub her puffy eyes.
I need more rest. Maybe I ought to try that new sleep aid.
The bell over the door rang, announcing a new customer, and Vanessa quickly dropped her hands. She plastered on a bright fake smile as she looked up. The smile froze morphing into gritted teeth.
Three Purple Dragon's slithered in.
She had never met anyone from this particular group, but it wasn't hard to identify them. Smug gang machismo rolled off their shoulders. And they made no effort to conceal their affiliations, sporting obvious tats.
Act normal. Just act normal.
Casting down her eyes, Vanessa picked up the dirty rag and forced herself to keep wiping. This wasn't her first close encounter with the Dragons since she moved out of the turtle's lair. But the truth was, they probably weren't specifically seeking her at the moment. They could hardly have expected to find her serving hash at 2 AM.
And since their last run-in, she had dyed her hair a vivid red, cutting it shoulder length. She used enough 'glamour' make-up to have practically painted her face, and platform shoes changed her height.
Plus, her name tag read, "Tilly."
That alone is probably enough to throw them off the scent. These guys aren't the brightest crayons in the box.
If she didn't do anything to draw attention to herself, she could feasibly skate by unnoticed.
Still, Vanessa suppressed a shudder. Rumor had it the whole underbelly of New York knew about her defection from the Hamato brothers by now. And, as she feared, she was a danger to her former family. The last year had been spent ducking dozens of bad guys as she tried to carve out a new life.
As the Dragons slid into position on stools in front of her counter, she picked up the pot full of coffee, set out some mugs, and started to pour.
"What can I get ya'?" She asked to distract them from her shaking hands.
Her disguise worked. They ordered and teased her a bit, but she knew better than to respond negatively. Instead, she flashed them several insanely large smiles as she brought their food and played dumb. She was perhaps a little too convincing in her role as a clueless waitress.
"So, when do you get off, baby?" one asked as she refilled their coffee.
Vanessa shook her head and laughed but didn't raise her eyes from the hot flowing liquid.
"Not soon enough for you, honey," she simpered.
She didn't see him move in time to stop his hand from clamping down on her arm.
"Then I guess you have to take a little break," he said with a leer, yanking her bodily half-way across the counter. His fist clenched painfully in her hair and he smashed his mouth to hers so hard her teeth cut the inside of her lip.
It happened so fast Vanessa froze up in surprise. When his tongue invaded, the glass pot slipped from numb fingers. It shattered with an ear-splitting crash on the formerly spotless stainless steel; splashing hot liquid everywhere.
All three Purple Dragons shot to their feet, swiping at their clothes.
Vanessa's apron offered little protection. The scorching drops seared her skin where they splashed her bare legs. She shrieked and the delinquent holding her let go. At that point, she did the only logical thing left and escaped through the swing door to the relative safety of the kitchen.
In a normal community, she might have expected help from her boss, but this was a gang neighborhood. The Dragon's OWNED this territory. When this type of 'accident' happened, nobody showed the perpetrator mercy for fear of retribution.
The moment Vanessa cleared the galley door the owner cruelly grabbed her arm above the elbow and threw her out the back exit—firing her as loudly as possible for the benefit of the Dragons out front.
"GET OUTTA HERE AN' DON'T COME BACK, YA' CRAZY BITCH!"
The door slammed behind her and Venessa slumped to the pavement of the dark alley, catching her breath with a great ragged gulp; stifling a sob.
Crazy. Right.
Since she left the lair, it seemed like the whole world had gone mad. She was constantly looking over her shoulder anyway, and now the gang had another reason to hunt her down.
I'm gonna have to change my persona again.
Blinking back the threatening tears Vanessa slowly gathered herself up.
And find another job.
She wiped the blood from her lips and inhaled deeply, bending to check her knees in the dim light. There was nothing she could do for the burns until she got home.
At least he threw me out the back. It'll take those idiots a while to work out how to find this alley.
As she began to walk, her eyes automatically scanned the rooftops of the nearby buildings for movement. No matter what she did, no matter where she went, she couldn't stop the useless habit of watching for the members of her lost clan.
For him.
More than a year had elapsed, yet she still craved Leonardo so much it frightened her.
He was the reason she lacked sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, his deep steely blue ones haunted her. Her body would tremble at the remembered caress of his hands, and her breath would quicken as the words she longed to hear flowed like liquid gold off his tongue.
"I love you. Then and now, always and forever."
Vanessa shuddered and came back to earth.
Those words were so impossible, she didn't know why she ever believed them.
Loving Leonardo was always my escape. But for him, I was simply an infatuation. A passing fancy, soon forgotten.
"I lied through my teeth to get her off that roof!"
The bitterness in Leonardo's voice chided her once more for her naivety and voided any possible truth in his previous words. Vanessa choked off another sob and crossed her arms over her chest.
That's all in the past.
If she repeated it often enough, someday she might believe it.
As she shook her head and hurried her steps, her scalp prickled. Someone was watching her. She scanned the roofline again through blurry eyes. There was no one there.
And there won't be, stupid. Stop letting your hopes run away with you.
Vanessa knew their routes through the city, their patterns, their lives. If she lingered outside of their perimeter and kept a constant eye out, they would never find her—at least that's what she told herself.
It's better this way.
Scrubbing at her eyes, she left the alley and turned on a more defined street. The night pressed in on every side and she attempted to walk with purpose, striding briskly down the sidewalk. Hoping the near-do-wells who plagued these streets wouldn't see her as easy prey.
This was the same path she took every night, but tonight, the road appeared gloomier than ever before. Without warning, she tensed, muscles winding tight in sudden apprehension. Vanessa tried to gauge her surroundings warily, using only her peripheral vision. She couldn't see anyone, but she refused to look directly over her shoulder in case it escalated matters.
Holding her breath, she listened intently. The sound of feet lightly scuffing the pavement made her eyes widen.
She was most definitely being followed.
It's got to be the aggressive Dragon from the diner. Maybe all three of them.
She had very few options. There were no open shops for her to seek refuge in. Her temporary residence was still several blocks away. And aside from her stalkers, she was alone on the street.
Another alleyway broke off up ahead however, and Vanessa wasn't half bad at stealth. It might offer places to hide. She was also armed. Unobtrusively, she slid a hand down her thigh over her skirt, feeling the comforting bulge of the small blue knife she carried.
The alley it is then.
She wouldn't try this if they were Foot, but she was pretty sure these were just teenagers. Street thugs. Hide from them, scare them, or if necessary poke them a little and they would run.
Unless they're teenagers of the ninja variety...
Ruthlessly she quashed the warning of that quiet inner voice.
The Hamatos were the exception, not the norm.
Increasing her walking pace the slightest bit, she drew away from her pursuers far enough to let her slip into the shadows of the narrow backstreet while they were still 30 feet away. Vanessa's heart pounded in her ears as she made her move. Shouts of consternation and running feet echoed from behind.
She vetoed the obvious hiding places beside the dumpsters, rushing instead to crouch between two smaller steel barrels further down the alley. Quieting her breathing, she shrank back into the darkest recess and drew the knife from its sheath.
The first guy rounded the corner at a run and stopped dead to peer around. The second almost ran him over, with the third close behind.
Shit! It is all three.
Vanessa sucked in a frightened breath, her eyes huge, as a fourth and fifth joined them.
They called in backup!
The group broke up and began searching. Poking the bags of trash and bashing the metal cans with bats. Clearly, no one cared about the noise attracting undue attention. It took them mere minutes to flush her out. The moment one advanced towards her hiding place, Vanessa fled.
She hadn't counted on him being so fast. He caught up to her quickly, snagged her arm, and yanked her closer. Vanessa yelped and struck out with her knife, slicing him across the bicep, but it was too late to escape. The others caught up.
While the one she cut cursed and shrieked, another grabbed her knife hand and slammed it into the wall. The weapon dropped from her grasp. A punch connected with her right eye, smashing her head forcefully against the brick. A second to the stomach had her doubling over, gasping for air.
She forced herself upright, refusing to give in; slashing out with fingernails and teeth—shrieking wildly. Blood from a slice on her scalp obscured her eyes, but continued angry shouts implied at least some of her blows found their mark.
Abruptly, the guy grappling with her lurched away.
There was a loud shout and the alley became deathly quiet.
What happened to everybody?
Vanessa stumbled away from the bricks into the open, her panting now the only sound. A moan issued from her throat as she identified a shadowy lump on the ground as a body. One of her attackers. She counted: one, two, three, four, five—motionless shapes.
No, no, no, no, no... You're not supposed to come this far North.
There was only one possible explanation for the devastation all around her.
Please, please, please be alone!
While she didn't think anyone had come close enough during the fight to catch her scent, she sank to her knees in the puddles of filth to obscure her smell further, just in case.
Be Donnie, or Mikey, or Casey, or even Raph!
With one of them, she could fly under the radar if she played the frightened victim—sitting still, hiding her face, and nodding her head. They would follow protocol and not try to speak to her, even if they were suspicious.
But Leonardo would rapidly see through her charade. He always did.
Please... Don't be him.
The unfortunate girl sat in the center of the mud and the trash with her head hanging low, panting heavily. She cradled her hand and held so still he worried she was injured in the short clash.
As Leonardo watched, a long thin rivulet of red crept down the side of her face. It skirted her brows and crossed her pale cheek; confirming his fears.
Damn it! I should have interfered sooner! I knew they were after her. If I had intercepted them, she could have escaped unscathed.
Guilt and concern drove Leo to do something against his better judgment—break his own rules. He swallowed anxiously and spoke from the shadows.
"Miss, uh... 'Tilly?'" he asked gruffly, spying her name tag on the ground. Her struggle had been worse than he thought if the badge had torn from her clothes.
"Are you hurt badly? Would you like me to call an ambulance?"
The young woman flinched at the sound of his voice and she started shaking. Her fearful reaction made Leo grimace in regret, but he tried not to take it personally. She didn't know who—or where—he was, and after being mugged she might be expected to startle at any noise.
She must be so frightened...
"I'm sure the police will be here soon," he reassured her, smoothing all the rough edges from his voice. He hadn't alerted them yet, but with her injuries, she needed some kind of help. "Would you like me to stay until they come?"
"Miss?" he asked again, hoping she would raise her head so he could assess the extent of the wound.
The woman didn't appear at all soothed by his presence. Her shoulders hunched lower as if he struck her. She whimpered, covering her face with her hands as her bright red hair slid forward—hiding the rest of her expression.
Inwardly, Leo sighed. He honestly didn't want to sit around all night coddling a stranger, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to simply notify the cops and leave her alone either.
He paced silently as his muscles twitched restlessly, reminding him what he was supposed to be doing. He needed to get back to the rooftops and continue his run; his search. Constant motion was the only thing that eased the pain of the hole in his heart.
The hole Nessa tore when she disappeared without a word.
During the intervening year, Leonardo had covered every patrol route they ever designed—desperately seeking signs of her. When he found nothing, he started investigating further afield.
Truly, she could be anywhere in the world by now.
But something, some... instinct kept him roaming NYC.
His brothers helped at first. And Casey or April would occasionally join the hunt. But their involvement didn't last. After six months or so, the team fell apart when the others gave up on finding Vanessa.
Donatello still checked each morning's 'Jane Doe' reports for every borough—with a sick sort of morbid fascination. Something Leonardo could not bear to do. And Michelangelo spoke mournfully of his 'Ness-monster' often, but neither of them were putting in the prodigious effort required to search the city.
Raphael was of no use to anyone. He had descended into a cloud of grief and usually disappeared from the lair. If he was out looking for Vanessa—he was searching for a body; for such sorrow implied an undeniable end. To Raph, she was irrevocably gone.
The emotion that drove Leonardo wasn't as clear-cut as grief, but there was a great deal of pain involved. Guilt, desperation, and desire combined to form a hellish sense of loss—a feeling perhaps akin to intense withdrawal.
I crave Nessa. Her presence, her voice, her soul.
But unlike an addict, Leonardo could never recover without her. His life held no light and his actions no meaning if she were really gone.
I have to believe wherever Nessa is, she's holding true to her promise to stay alive.
To think otherwise was to court insanity.
Live just one second more, my love. One minute, then another... Hold on. I'm coming.
This oft-repeated mantra was the only way he survived forced confinement during the day. It powered hours upon hours of training, of planning, of meditation. Until nightfall set him free and he could run again.
But running isn't actually helping all that much tonight.
Leo felt distracted—like he should be doing something else.
When he first spied this stranger getting thrown out of the diner, his muscles had twisted tight. And an illogical wave of anger swept him as he watched her weep soundlessly. When she stumbled to the main road, anger became unfathomable rage. A group of Purple Dragons compounded her bad night, chasing the poor girl into the dark alleyway.
The intensity of his fury confused him. He held back—trying to analyze the emotion, hesitating to act until the girl screamed.
He wanted to punch himself now for that bit of stupidity.
It's totally my fault she got hurt.
Leonardo sighed and slipped closer for a better look, drifting like a ghost between the moon cast shadow of a water tower and the near side of a garbage bin. He darted forward again and crouched behind a piece of scaffolding that jutted proud of the building at the alley's entrance. From this perspective, the streetlamp threw a wider arc of light across her body.
His brow ridges furrowed into a frown as a powerful surge of déjà vu sent an unpleasant tingle over his skin. Leo's heart rate spiked out of the blue. Something about her posture, hunched and defeated, felt familiar—and dangerous.
Have we met before?
He leaned in slightly and inhaled—seeking her scent. The overwhelming odor of blood permeated the alley and the rank trash around them obscured everything else. He would have to move too close to identify anything underneath it.
The girl shifted uncomfortably, sensing his nearness. She sat back, wrapping her arms across pulled-up knees, and hiding her face.
Frustrated, Leonardo rose and prowled behind her, trying to either shake off the odd panicky sensation or pinpoint its cause. His gaze was so laser-focused on her he nearly stepped on the discarded weapon at his feet.
Nearly. His subconscious noted it and set off all kinds of crazy alarm bells in his mind.
She used this during the fight.
Leo prodded it from under a bit of cardboard with his toe and his breath caught. He swiftly scooped the dagger off the ground. Its balance and weight were so well known to his palm his heart clenched and his throat closed—along with his fist.
Its mine! The one Vanessa took the night she left.
"Miss? MISS!"
Leonardo raised his voice when she still wouldn't look up. It took all his collected willpower from years of training not to stalk into plain sight and shake the girl until her teeth rattled.
"Where did you get this?" Leo growled, no longer the least bit concerned about scaring her. "Tell me!" he roared.
"Where is the woman you took this from? Where is Vanessa?!"
In exasperation, he threw the weapon at her feet. The point plunged in between the cobblestone paving leaving the handle vibrating a scant inch from her toes.
Leo expected her to fold immediately at this violent outburst; spilling the information he so desperately needed. Instead, her shoulders rose and fell in a resigned sigh. She rested one hand on the knife to quiet the quivering pommel.
Gently, she wiggled the blade free.
Carefully, she unfolded enough to wipe the blood off it meticulously on the remains of her apron. Then raised one knee to slide it into the matching sheath.
A sheath she has strapped to her inner thigh of all places!
Outrage tinged Leo's anger. How dare some stranger wear his blade so intimately? He ground his teeth as she took her sweet time arranging the skirt of her very short pink dress over the weapon. Finally, she turned her head and peered unerringly at him, deterred not at all by the shadows.
Their gazes locked, steely blue-grey to chocolate brown. Her eyes—Vanessa's eyes—blazed; full of secrets and pain. They scorched him to the core.
"I'm right here Leo," she whispered, "I'm alive. What more do you want?"
Leonardo came unraveled when she spoke his name. His mouth dropped open. His lower lip trembled violently. The first disbelieving step towards her made him stagger and he narrowly kept himself upright with the edge of the dumpster.
"Nessa?"
He couldn't breathe. His head was spinning. Her name came out choked with a sob.
"NESSA?!"
This was what his instincts had been trying to tell him all along. The reason for his senseless anger. Why he felt compelled to follow her, and couldn't merely leave after he beat those thugs. Why his heart panicked when she knelt in the center of the alley.
She sat that way on the rooftop, right before she tried to jump...
His body knew her instantly from a thousand little signs—even though his eyes were blind.
Strength flooded back to Leo's muscles in a rush of adrenaline. In two steps he was on his knees beside Nessa in the filth, cradling her cheeks in both palms. His eyes frantically scanned her face in the dim light, devouring her features.
Vanessa wore heavy makeup, smeared from the battle, coating her porcelain skin. The abnormally red hair, completely at odds with her natural soft tones, was matted with congealing blood. Her lips were split and swollen. Her eyes bloodshot from crying.
She's never looked more beautiful...
In the next second, her scent hit him and destroyed all remaining self-control.
Leonardo lunged for her like a drowning man offered oxygen, capturing the tender petals of her lips in a rough kiss. One hand slid through her hair to cup the base of her neck, tilting her head for greater access, while the other pulled her tight against his chest.
Vanessa tensed under his amorous attack for all of a half-second, then threw her arms around him and opened her mouth. Leonardo moaned, slipping his tongue in to caress hers. She whimpered as he ravaged her mouth; tasting peppermint, green tea, and honey—a perfect combination marred somewhat by traces of blood, and the salty tears streaming from his own eyes.
Closer... god, I can't get close enough.
Leonardo didn't realize he'd stood, lifting her from the pavement to straddle his waist, until the hard leather sheath of his knife—still strapped to her leg—bit into the soft pads of his fingers supporting her muscled thighs.
It could have been a bare blade and he wouldn't have let go.
Suddenly the intimate placement of the knife which so offended him a few moments before became a major turn-on. Nessa had chosen to wear a ninja master's weapon, an item that was by definition an extension of Leonardo himself, inches from the secret heat of her core the entire time she was gone.
In an instant, the emotional weight, all the fear and guilt he carried on his shoulders for leaving a lethal blade within her reach, melted away. He was glad she took it. That she kept it.
At least some small part of me protected her.
He broke from her lips with a groan as Vanessa ground herself against him.
"Nessa," he breathed, over and over as he nipped and sucked his way down her neck, wallowing in her scent. With each repetition, he took a step until he backed her against the wall for a full-body press. His hands, his eyes, and his mouth roamed over every bit of her he could reach.
And his soul soared.
"I want you, Nessa," he whispered, answering her original demand. He nuzzled his cheek against her. "Nothing and no one else. Just you. Please tell me you feel it too?" He pulled back a few inches to examine her face, eyes blazing hungrily.
Vanessa's face contorted through a wide range of emotions. Her expression wavered back and forth between uncertain hope and complete disbelief.
"Really?" she asked, voice wavering.
He took her hand tenderly, entwining their fingers.
"Really."
The electric spark that flared in her eyes turned Leonardo to flames.
Vanessa thrust forward this time for the kiss. He pressed back hard, every cell in his being yearning to be near her.
Her cry of pain hurled him right back into hell...