This is the longest chapter in the story so far, but I kind of like it. It's a bonding chapter. I hope it's as pleasant to read as it was to write.

Big shout-out to my beta-readers, especially Colonel Pop who's stayed with me through the writer's block and the actual writing.

TMNT is not mine. If it were, there'd be more Irma.

Chapter Six

April led me to a bathroom with a tub that was shielded from general viewing by two large paneled room dividers painted with birds sitting on blossoming trees, leaving only a small gap through which I managed to squeeze in to get to the tub. I didn't bother asking how they managed to hook it up to a water source- I was just glad they did. On the floor next to the tub was a bar of soap in a plastic holder and a bottle of shampoo and conditioner. April had grabbed a chair from somewhere and put it against the wall divider so she could talk to me through it while sitting in comfort.

"There's no razor," I noted as I started to pull off my clothes.

"I can get you one if you like," offered April quietly.

"No, thank you," I replied, kicking out of my shorts and undies. I turned on the water and waited for it to get to the perfect temperature before I clambered into the tub. Normally I would not be getting into a tub that was located underground in a sewer system, but the water that came out was clean and hot and I felt disgusting, so I happily let my hair down and sunk down into the water with a contented sigh. April let me start running soap over my body before she started talking to me.

"Irma, I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, as I noted with disgust the rivulets of dirty water that ran off my arms and legs. "You mean for lying to me for years? For keeping me in the dark about what you actually do on those nights you aren't working? For not telling me where you really were all those times you just disappeared? Or perhaps for not trusting me enough to think that I could handle something like this?"

"All of it. I'm sorry for all of it."

"Good." Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, me because I was angry and hurt and taking a bath, and April because she was trying to think of something else to say. Finally, as I was washing my hair I sighed and sat back in the tub. "Look, I can't really blame you for not telling me at first. It's a pretty big shock, and you were right in wanting to keep it a secret. But really, it would have been nice to know how you and Casey actually met. Plus, you've known this for years, April. Years. I can't believe that you didn't trust me after that long."

"I wanted to tell you, Irma, honest! But no matter how I thought about telling you, I couldn't think of a good way, and plus I had to think of the guys, too. I mean, look at it from their perspective. They don't know you. They've never met you. Outside of Casey and myself, they've never even had any human friends before. I couldn't just suddenly throw you into their midst. What if you guys didn't get along or something like that?"

With a grumble I sunk down into the water, blowing bubbles of irritation. I knew she was right, but I hated being kept out of the loop. "But you told them about me."

April snorted from behind the screen. "Irma, we call each other about three times a week and leave goofy messages on each other's answering machines. Of course I told them about you."

I suddenly remembered the time I called her phone pretending to be a representative from an erotic toy company calling about an order April had supposedly made. I completely submerged myself in the bathwater from mortification.

The redhead guessed why I was suddenly silent. "They actually think it's fun. Mikey gave me a few ideas himself."

"So I've really been the odd one out," I grumbled.

"No, not really," April said comfortingly. "I'm sure you guys would have met each other sooner or later."

"Hmm… How much do they know about me anyway?"

"Just what you look like from pictures and what you sound like from the phone calls. Oh, and I'm sure they've learned by now that you could shatter glass with how loud you are."

"I was angry!" I said defensively.

"Yeah, we could tell."

We both sighed at once then, sinking down into our respective seating arrangements, lost in our own thoughts. "So… How long are we gonna be down here?"

"Who knows," said April. "I was once down here a whole month before they'd let me go up top again."

"A MONTH?" I sat up quickly, making water slosh out of the sides of the tub. "I can't stay here a month! You're your own boss so you can work where you want, but I've got superiors! I've got people to answer to! I can't just disappear for a-"

"Irma! Calm down! I was telling you a story, not saying that's how long we'd be here this time!"

"Oh…" Considerably calmer, I began to rinse my hair and apply the conditioner. "So what do you think this time?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe a week or two."

Weighing out my options, I realized that there was really nothing else that I could do. Except freak out a bit. But I didn't think that this would help matters too much, so I opted to go for the High Road and just grumble about it under my breath for a bit.

"Are you mumbling?" April's tone was more accusatory than questioning since she was used my habits by now.

"Yes," I snapped and flicked some water in her direction. "How am I supposed to get my own clothes? Where am I going to sleep? I'm never going to get off for Christmas now. And I'll have to cancel my date!" I was silent for a moment and then with a small screech I sat straight up with almost comically wide eyes. "Oh my god, MY DATE! KEN!"

I quickly rinsed my hair out again, jumped out of the tub and almost left the shelter of the screens when I realized that unless I wanted to put my dirty clothes on again, I was about to run out naked. Not the best impression to make on the temporary roommates- especially male ones. I covered my chest with my arms and said "April, I need some clothes please. Now would be good."

"Oh! Right… Sorry, I wasn't thinking earlier. I'll go grab some for you." With that, she stood up and left the room. I stood there waiting for her to come back and began to unconsciously rub my arms. I did this whenever I was uneasy about something. Normally it calmed me down, but as I ran my hands over my skin I felt the faint burn marks that had been left there by my first husband, Henry, who had a delightful habit of putting out his cigarettes on my skin. He had been such a charming fellow- a shame to have been lost so young. Yeah, right. The marks started to bring back memories of past misery, which only increased my discomfort in the present. I started chewing on my lip nervously while waiting for April to come back and took to pacing back and forth behind the screen. I had flung my clothes up over the top of the screen so they didn't get wet on the floor, but I really didn't want to put on my dirty clothes from before. They smelled like vomit.

The door opened suddenly and I heard someone come in. "April?" I called from behind the screen.

I heard a sound of surprise and then what sounded like someone falling to the floor. "Oh, geeze, I didn't know you were in here! I saw April walking into her room and so I thought that you were gone too and I'm really sorry and-"

"Donny?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm super sorry!" The poor guy sounded like he was blushing down to his toes. Wait… Could turtles blush? I found myself curious about it and I cautiously crept to the edge of the screen and peeked out from behind it to see him standing there, and he did indeed have a large blush on his face. When he saw me with my wet hair looking at him it got even worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned towards the door. "I'll go right now, I'm-"

"Donny, you didn't see anything. Calm down." His awkwardness was almost cute. And it was true. While we both knew that I was naked behind the divider, all he could see of me was my face, neck, and shoulders. Don't get the wrong idea- I'm as private as the next girl when it comes to waltzing around naked in front of total strangers- but I knew that nothing could be seen and I was safely hidden away, as it were, so I didn't see much of a problem. As long as he stayed on his side and I stayed on mine, I was fine with it. "I didn't really get to thank you properly before. For saving April and I, I mean. It was very brave and kind of you, and you could have left me but you didn't." He still wasn't turned towards me, but I could see him nod his head. I guess he was too embarrassed to say anything. "Anyway…. Thank you." I pulled my head back. "So… I guess you can leave now if you like."

I heard a mumbled "You're welcome," and then the door closed. I shook my head with a little grin on my face but then I realized something. He had probably never seen another human girl before besides April, and I was technically naked in the same room with him. I suddenly felt bad, like I had taken advantage of him or something.

The door opened again a moment later and I heard April say "It's just me. Got some clothes for you." She stuck her arm through the gap between the two dividers and I reached out to take them from her. "Awesome. Thanks."

"I regret to tell you, Irma, that although our pants are the same size, our chests are not, so I have no bra for you. But feel free to keep the underwear," she said in a joking tone. "I don't think that's something we should be sharing between us."

"Seconded," I said and began to get dressed. "So should I just walk around loose 'n free as it were? I only have the one bra myself. I'm gonna have to wash it eventually."

"Well, I got you one of Casey's shirts, and they're pretty big, so…"

"Got it. Thanks for getting a big one," I said. When there's nothing else available, go with big 'n baggy. Hides everything. Putting my glasses on, I stepped out from behind the screen and noticed that she had also brought a comb with her. "God bless you," I said. "But what do I do about toothbrush and deodorant and all that?"

April waved her good hand dismissively. "The guys stockpile most things. Saves having to sneak into stores and stuff."

"Is that what they do?" I asked as I combed the rat's nests out of my hair.

"Well, they don't really have much other choice. Me and Casey buy stuff for them when we can, but we can only do so much, y'know?"

"Casey and I," I muttered to myself as I followed her out the door, still combing my hair. "So, where's a phone in this place?"

I followed my redheaded companion through the narrow hallway until we got to the main room of the lair. Michelangelo was playing video games on a wide-screen TV that they had somehow managed to sneak down there. Raph was sitting next to him lifting weights and watching him play, occasionally giving a comment like "Give him a left hook," or "There's one on your right."

Master Splinter sat in an arm chair reading a newspaper and drinking what I suspected was tea out of a coffee mug. There was a brief pause as they turned their eyes to the two of us, but then went back to what they were doing before. Splinter put his paper down and smiled at me. "Are you feeling better now, child?"

I smiled back. "Yes, thank you. Um… Sorry for that little freak out earlier. I didn't mean to…"

He held up a hand and said "It is understandable. Think no more on it. But," he said, giving me what I thought was a polite Look, "please remember that it does echo in here. Perhaps next time you feel upset, if you wouldn't mind…"

I got the hint immediately. "Inside voice, got it."

"Master Splinter, where's Casey?" April asked.

The elderly rodent nodded towards to a pair of doors on the other side of the room. "I believe that Casey and Leonardo are sparring."

"I offered to help him work it out, April, but he just wants someone to pummel," Raphael said over his shoulder from the couch. "I guess he thought I'd go easy on him."

April sighed and shifted in her chair. "Don't worry about it. I wanna go talk to him anyway." She set off for the doorway from which there were noises coming like someone was killing something. I thought it best if I stayed put. The two turtles on the couch were doing whatever they were doing, but I had the faintest idea that could see me out of the corner of their eye. I took a breath and turned to Splinter. "Excuse me, uh, sir, but do you have a phone available that I might use? I don't think that my cell phone was brought down with me, you see, and I need to call someone."

"Of course, Miss Langin-"

"You can call me Irma if you like," I interrupted him. "I know my last name is a bit of a mouthful."

"Very well, Miss Irma, the phone is over by the kitchen."

"Thank you, Master Splinter," I said. I turned to go but looked back at him. "And, um, you don't have to call me Miss Irma. Just Irma is fine." For some reason I found the idea of such a seemingly wise creature addressing me so formally to be wrong.

He smiled at me, which was a little strange seeing as how he was a rat. His whiskers twitched too. That was new. But he didn't say anything, which I assumed meant he was going to pay no attention to my statement at all.

But I had other things to worry about at that very moment- my Prince Sexy was waiting for me! I sighed to myself as I thought about the no-doubt awesome date I was cancelling. Nonetheless, it had to be done. I had the sinking feeling that even if I did try to escape, April herself would hunt me down and kill me. I was almost as scared of her wrath as I was losing my job. Which I also had to call.

With resignation I picked up the phone and started dialing. I decided to call the library first. When the other librarian, Kelly picked up, the conversation went something like this:

"Hey, Kelly, it's Irma- No… No, I-I'm fine. No, really, I'm fine. Oh… Oh, you heard about the hospital thing, huh? Yeah, it was, uh, uhm… What? On the news? Right now? Hold on a second, Kelly." Without another word I rushed over to the TV and picked up the remote. "What channel is the news?" I started flicking through the channels to the chagrin of Mikey.

"Hey!" he protested. "I'm trying to break a record here!"

Raph tried to grab the remote from me. "You're already eatin' our food, you can't take the remote too!"

But I had already managed to find the news coverage of the hospital. The voice of the reporter droned about how there seemed to be a strange attack on the hospital and that a ward of the hospital and a visiting friend were now missing. "Oh, sssss-" Raph and Mikey both hissed at me to get my attention and jerked their heads in Splinter's direction. "sssshoot…" I finished lamely.

The news gave a close up of the hospital room where I saw the chaos that had been created. I gave a gulp of nervousness and pulled my attention back to the phone. "Oh, yeah, the news… Uh…" I tried to make my voice lighthearted and cheery as I spoke to Kelly. "Oh, those reporters, they exaggerate so much. I mean, it wasn't even that big of a deal."

I walked away from the TV and Michelangelo and Raphael's gaze followed me as I paced back and forth slowly trying to come up with a creative lie. "The window? Uh, yeah, you see, there was a… a bird," I heard a snigger behind me and I turned to see Raph smirking at me. I stuck my tongue out at him before turning back to the phone. "Well, you know those birds. They get it into their mind to come in and they just do it." I heard stifled laughter behind me but decided to ignore it. "What do you mean they couldn't find any birds? Oh, um, well, I, ah…" I looked at Raph and Mikey hopelessly. Mikey immediately began pantomiming picking something up and tossing it out the window. I decided to run with it. "I tossed the birds out the window! Yeah, and they were really aggressive, and that's what broke the window. Very scary, let me tell you, those things were vicious."

Splinter gave a sigh and got up saying something about needing to meditate for a while. I figured that my mental battle to get Kelly to lay off was wearing on him. Heck, it was wearing on me too.

"What kind of bird? I don't know! I wasn't paying attention to the pinfeathers!"

"Vulture!" said Raph in a helpful tone.

"Pelican!" said Mikey.

"I'm not gonna say a vulture and a pelican flew into the hospital room!" I hissed back at them. Kelly's confused voice came back over the phone. "No, no, I said there wasn't a pelican or a vulture! … Um… well…" I started getting nervous. "It's important to make a distinction that there wasn't anything like that in the roo- You know what, Kelly? The line is breaking up, I have to go. I just have to take care of some stuff so I won't be coming to work for a week or two. Unpaid. Yes. You can ask Helen and Ben to come into work for me. Yes, I will. You take care. Bye." With that, I hung up the phone and flopped down onto the couch in between the two laughing turtles with a "Wumph!"

Raph's shoulders were shaking with laughter as he tried to imitate my voice in a terrible falsetto tone. "Those birds are very dangerous you know! Wipe out every window if they can"

Mikey hooted with mirth and took a turn at imitation too. "Frightfully dreadful, I do declare! Simply horrendous, my dear girl!" For some reason he decided to use a British accent. To this day I still have no idea why, but it was the last straw and they both fell out laughing all over themselves. I sat between them stewing.

"Okay, firstly, I did not sound that bad." This was met with even louder chortles and guffaws. "Secondly," I continued with a raised tone of voice, "I do not have an English accent!"

They paid no attention to me and continued to laugh around from the hilarity of the situation. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" gasped Mikey.

"Quick! Go find a vulture!" responded Raph.

The hoots and hollers multiplied and I soon found myself sitting alone on the couch while the two brothers rolled around on the floor, clutching their sides.

With a growl of irritation I stood up to see if I could find anyone sane to talk to in the Lair, as it was apparently called. As I walked away I heard the laughter fade away momentarily, followed by Mikey calling to me. "Aw, come on Irma! We were laughing at you- I mean with you!" He and Raph instantly dissolved back into the chaos of giggles. I rolled my eyes and continued walking. I first walked over to the area where I had seen April go- but then I heard shouting coming from inside the doors. That's a big, fat no. Turning down another hallway, I walked towards a large room where I could hear the sound of a screwdriver. Wondering what was going on, I walked into what was possibly the coolest room I had ever seen. Well, almost the coolest. The coolest room ever was the kitchen of my favorite bakery out on 17th Avenue* where I got to see them icing the cakes. I love cake, by the way. It's on the top of my Most Awesome Things list.

But this room, which I instantly dubbed "The La-Bor-A-Tory" was pretty neat too. There were things hanging from the ceiling that made weird shapes in shadows across the wall. There were tanks full of pieces of scrap metal, and a pile of what looked like engines shoved to one side. But perhaps the most impressive sight was that of the massive computer sitting in the corner. It had what looked like twenty screens, four keyboards, and a pair of subwoofers or something. I walked closer to see Donny typing away at three of the keyboards at once, staring intently at the screens in front of me.

"This is a pretty awesome setup you've got here," I said casually. I was kind of hoping he'd jump up or give a little scream of surprise, but the only visible change in him that I saw was the corner of his mouth curling up. "Thanks," he said.

"You knew I was in here?" I asked surprised.

"Well, when you're trained to listen up on a person's heartbeat during battle, you tend to pick up smaller things as well. You weren't quiet enough for me to not hear you coming," he explained as he typed away.

"You guys are trained to pick up on people's heartbeats?" My voice held a tone of incredulity.

"Something like that."

"Huh… Nifty." I leaned on his computer chair and he looked up at me curiously. I grinned down at him. "By the way, sorry if I embarrassed you in the bathroom earlier. I guess my concussion left me inconsiderate of what others might think about things that I do."

"It's okay," Donny assured me. "I mean, you had a point. I didn't see anything. But I've never been in the same room as a naked woman who was fine with it. New situation for me."

"Look at it this way then," I said, "You can tell your brothers that you were in the same room as a naked woman who was fine with it." I waited for Donny to look up at me and winked mischievously. "The details you can leave up to their imagination."

A devious smirk to match my own impish grin grew on his face. "I never thought of that before. Thank you. I can so use that next time we play a game of One-Up-Manship." He turned his chair around to face me as I stood back, illuminated by the computer screens. "You know, you've adjusted to this situation remarkably well. I'm a bit surprised."

I shrugged. "Well, I guess I figured out that you weren't exactly human when those thugs were attacking April and I. And then when you guys carried me here, and when I woke up and you were there." I considered something for a moment. "Maybe it's good that we met while I couldn't think straight."

Donny chuckled. "Maybe so. Actually," he turned back to his computer. "I've kind of wanted to meet you since I heard you leave that prank message on April's phone."

"Oh, yeah? Which one?"

"The erotic toy one." He didn't so much as snort but I could practically FEEL the chuckles radiating off of him.

I did a face palm and groaned. "I swear, you do something like that one time and that's all anyone remembers."

"Oh, that's not all we remember. We also remember the time April put you on speaker phone and you had a talk about your aunt's funeral with your parents."

Now THAT I wasn't expecting. "April let you LISTEN to that?" I demanded. I felt a sudden sense of outrage. Donny, sensing my mood shift instantly rectified his statement.

"No, no, no, she didn't let us listen to it. But we had kind of poked the metaphorical hornet's nest with Casey and he didn't want her getting into trouble, but he didn't want her to know either, so he got us to do recon around her apartment to make sure nothing happened. She was getting dinner ready while she was talking to you and had no idea we were even there."

"Oh." I felt a little better about it. Still… "That's still kinda weird and stalkeri-sh though."

"Yeah, we know. But in our defense, we really had no idea who you were other than April's friend. Plus, your stories were funny."

"Yes, having my parents tell me that I was a lackluster branch on the family tree and then getting drunk to have the courage to tell them that they suck is simply hilarious," I said sarcastically.

"It was the WAY you said it though," said Donny.

I thought about it for a moment and then grinned. "It WAS pretty ingenious to write it down in a sonnet and then tape it up all over the funeral parlor. I made family gossip for months with that one." A thought occurred to me. "So you guys basically know all about my family life. That's… a bit worrisome."

The purple wearing turtle shook his head. "Nah, I was the only one who heard the whole thing. The other guys had to run off to make sure that a sound on the roof wasn't someone coming to set April on fire. It happens more than you'd think."

"What, April being set on fire or people trying to set her on fire?"

"Trying to set her on fire. No one's actually succeeded yet. We sometimes form a betting pool on the interesting days."

I was silent for a moment. Then I said "I've got a lot to catch up on I think."

Suddenly another voice came from the entrance of the La-Bor-A-Tory. "Don? Dinner's here." The voice was Leonardo, the blue one. I hadn't noticed until just then that he carried himself differently than the others did. I couldn't quite pin my finger on what it was though.

"Alright, Leo, just let me finish this thing." Donny tapped a few keys and after a second several of the screens turned dark. He got up out of his chair and stretched. "Good thing that chair is comfy."

Leo walked closer and nodded his head at me. I raised my hand and gave him a little wave. "Yo."

The three of us started to walk towards the kitchen and living room area and I asked "So… What's for dinner?"

"Pizza," answered Leo. "I should warn you now you'll get a lot of that here."

"Really? Well, it's a good thing I like pizza then."

Donatello chuckled. "Casey used to say the same thing before Mikey got him to do the All-Pizza Diet Dare."

"The all pizza…" My eyes widened as I remembered. "Oh! I know what you're talking about! So you're the friends that were daring Casey!"

"Not all of us, just Mikey," Leo said.

"Raph and I had a betting pool over whether or not it was going to work. I bet against."

"What'd you bet for, Leo?" I asked.

"I don't gamble," was all he said.

Mental note to self: Leo doesn't talk.

The table was already set when we got there. Two boxes of pizza sat in the middle of the table with an assortment of chairs pulled around with a paper plate and napkin accompanying each. Mikey was already seated, and the look he was giving the boxes was akin to the look predators get when they're about to pounce on their unwary victim and rip them to pieces. Casey and April were sitting down as well, and they kept looking at each other like at any second they were going to go for each other's throats. Either that or engage in very angry and violent sex on the dining table. I was really hoping that wasn't the case.

Master Splinter sat down before the turtles did. I figured it was a respect thing. I stood awkwardly in the back of the group until I saw what chair was empty. It was pretty obvious that they all had their own places at the table, and I didn't want to intrude. I felt awkward enough as it was. The last seat open was between Raph and Donny. I gave myself a mental confidence boost and sat down in the chair, only to have it suddenly go down a few inches. I gave a squeak of surprise and Mikey started laughing.

"The heck…" I noticed then that the chair was the kind where if you held up a lever under the seat, you could adjust the height. Someone had cleverly taped it up. My face was now level with the table and I looked up to see Raph grinning widely at me. "I know that I can be intimidating, but really."

I gave him what I hoped was a scary look, but judging from Mikey's continued chortles and Raph's lingering grin, I gathered that I was failing miserably. "It's the pink glasses," I muttered. "No one takes the pink glasses seriously."

As I pulled the tape off the chair and got back up to a normal height, Splinter whacked Mikey over the head with his cane. "That is no way to treat our guest, my son," he admonished. Mikey gave a mumbled "Sorry, Sensei" and then Splinter pulled the boxes to him and opened the one on top. As soon as the aroma hit me I realized that I hadn't eaten in hours. My stomach gave out a huge rumble of protest and I instantly covered my stomach with my arms and blushed hard in embarrassment.

April was of course upset, but not at me. "Oh, gosh, Irma, I'm so sorry! I totally forgot to feed you!"

"I'm not a cat, April, don't worry," I replied curtly, my mortification at sounding like a jet engine still strong. I stared down at my plate resolutely, not letting anyone see the red on my cheeks.

"I am afraid that we have failed our duties as good hosts, Miss Irma," Splinter said. "I myself should have noticed your hunger."

I guess this was his way of saying Boys, why weren't you taking care of her? because all four of them suddenly stiffened a little. I was surprised to suddenly find the box of pizza offered to me first by Splinter. "Please take what you would like first," said Splinter.

I looked up at him and then back down at the box and had to keep myself from drooling as I looked at the box which contained a pizza with pepperoni and Italian sausage. I probably could have eaten the whole thing, but I restricted myself to two slices. "Which way should I pass it?" I asked, picking up the box to hand off.

"Our other guests will pick next," said Splinter, and I handed it to Casey and April, who looked less than happy at the prospect of eating pizza yet again. But I suppose a bet is a bet because Casey put on a brave face as he picked out his slices. Master Splinter went next, then to Leo, who sat next to him, then to Donny, Raph and Mikey.

I waited until everyone was served before I picked up my first slice. I closed my eyes and took a deep bite out of the deliciousness and let a moan of satisfaction pass my lips. "It's like God on bread!" I took another massive bite out of the pizza, not bothering to chew my first bite. I didn't really notice the coughing fit that Leo got when he choked on his water, or that Donny was staring at me with an open mouth before he shut it, or that Raph got an even bigger, but different grin on his face, all at the same time I moaned. Mikey was too absorbed in his own pizza to really pay attention to me.

Splinter smiled at me as the pitcher of ice water was passed my direction. "A woman with a healthy appetite is a beautiful thing." For a moment I thought that maybe he was trying to make a comment about my eating habits, but he looked and sounded sincere, so I smiled back at him.

"Alright, I think we've avoided it long enough," said Casey. "Irma, do you remember anything about what happened last night when those guys attacked you? What they looked like or anything? April was too drugged up to really be in a good position for it I guess."

There was a moment's pause during which I began to chew slowly, as though I was trying to remember. April was staring at Casey like she was going to slap him. He probably shouldn't have excluded her from his previous statement, seeing as how she was injured, emotionally wrought, and had no eyebrows.

I finally swallowed, put my pizza down, and took a deep breath.

"Well, there was a giant condor you see-" And the rest of my statement was completely drowned out by Raphael and Michelangelo bursting into hysterics, which I gladly joined.

*This street is completely fictional- if there IS a 17th Street in New York City with a bakery on it, I might just go and check it out, after I get myself examined in case I have mind-powers of some kind.

I had planned the interactions here a bit differently in my mind. It seems, however, that the characters decided to change things around; I got no cooperation from them at all. I love them anyway though.

If you liked the chapter, please review, and if you didn't, tell me why. I could always use improvement. (Note that this does not mean flames, it means polite criticism.)