Well, it took me several months and lots of time, but I have gotten to Chapter Fourteen. We are now at the Halfway Point… give or take. I think. I'll let y'all know if that's the case.

Thank you, my wonderful beta-readers! Colonel Pop, GoodSmileGirl and Pita Fish! Hugs and kisses to all of you! Also, thanks to all my fantastic reviewers! Your support is wonderful!

And now, without further ado… Chapter Fourteen.

Chapter Fourteen

I'm not sure how long I slept. It was kind of like the first time I had been brought down to the Lair; I saw flashes of light and color, and felt myself being carried. "Déjà vu," I said at one point, and I heard Michelangelo laugh before it all faded out again.

The first thing I sensed for certain when awoke some time later was the smell of incense. "Hmm…" I said.

"Hmm," echoed a voice next to me. I sluggishly opened my eyes and found myself in a bed in the Nurse's Office in the Lair. Master Splinter was sitting in a chair beside me, surgical needle and thread in hand. A small table was next to him, a bowl with medicines of various sorts and a bowl with water and a cloth. His hand was moving smoothly, pulling a string in and out, and I turned to see that he was sewing up my left shoulder. "Ugh," I said, making a face. "It seems much bigger than I recall."

The rat chuckled and paused in his work to pat the hand that was resting on my stomach. "Wounds often feel worse than they may be. The cut is very clean," he continued. "No infection has set in, and my sons managed to stop the blood flow. I am afraid, however, that your clothes could not be salvaged."

Instantly I used my good hand to lift up the blankets that were on me. I was mercifully still dressed in my underwear at least. My black bra and panties seemed no worse for wear, which I supposed was something. Suddenly I realized that in order for me to be wearing just underwear and have no blood covering me, someone else would have had to strip me, and it would have had to be either one of the boys or Splinter. Instantly I turned red from head to toe, and if Splinter hadn't been patching me up I would have thrown the blankets over my head and never looked up again.

As if reading my thoughts, Splinter chuckled again. "Do not worry, Miss Irma. Miss O'Neil undressed you before she and Mr. Jones had to leave."

"Oh! Phew. Oh, not, not that it'd be horrible for you guys to, y'know, do it, but it's just… well, strange men- I-I mean, an unfamiliar- No! I mean-!"

Master Splinter laughed this time, although it was very soft laughter. "There is no need to explain, Miss Irma, I understand exactly what you mean."

"Thank you. Um, what… What clothes are available for when I get up?"

Splinter kept his focus on my shoulder, making neat, even stitches. "I have sent Leonardo and Raphael to your apartment to get some of your apparel."

The thought of Raphael and Leonardo rifling through my underwear sent another flush of red up my face. "The pain medications that Donatello administered to you seem to be working quite well." I was thankful for the distraction and looked back at my wound. I felt the needle sliding through my skin, but it didn't hurt. "Must be some very strong stuff," I said.

"I recall you saying as you were brought in here, 'I want painkilling drugs. I want lots of painkilling drugs. I want the maximum legal amount of painkilling drugs.' I assume that Donatello did his best to accommodate your request."

"Oh. Well, that was very thoughtful of him." My head fell back onto the pillows and I sighed, breathing in the scent of the incense. A thought occurred to me. "Is Michelangelo alright?"

"Yes, quite. He had a sprained wrist; easily cared for. Your injuries, however, were much more serious. Donatello was very agitated when they arrived with you. And I admit," he said, glancing up at me from under his eyebrows, "that with all the blood on you, I was fairly certain that your injuries were fatal at first. They had to explain the occurrences to me before I understood why you were covered."

"They sure felt fatal," I said with a slight grin.

"Donatello certainly behaved as though they were. He managed to work the other three into fits as well. He and Leonardo almost came to blows, which surprised me. He is usually the most peaceful out of all four of them."

I remembered Donny as he held me after I had been injured, the look of stark horror on his face when he saw me laying on the ground covered in blood, the way he had looked at me as we danced. I felt my heart squeeze in my chest and I had to turn away from Splinter. "Where… Where's Donny? And Mikey, where's Mikey?"

He didn't say anything, so I turned back to look at him. Splinter was watching me with a guarded expression, but it seemed that he had the slightest upturning of the corner of his mouth. "I sent them both to bed," he said, a smile in his voice. "Michelangelo was exhausted and in some pain and Donatello was attempting to sew your wound up before I stopped him. His hands were shaking too badly to be of any use. It would have done more harm than good."

I squirmed slightly under his gaze. "I just… they were very sweet to me."

"Ah." He continued working and I went back to watching him. Some blood came to the surface and I let out a little whimper. He stopped for a moment. "Sorry," I apologized. "Blood makes me faint sometimes."

He smiled at me and took the wet cloth and dabbed the blood away. "It seems that an unfortunate pattern has developed whenever you come to the Lair. First a head injury, and now this. I regret say that you'll have to stay here for a few days while you recover."

"Oh, that's alright," I said. "I can call work and take off some more time. Worst they can do is fire me," I muttered the last part to myself. He patted my hand again. "Don't worry," he told me. "I'm certain everything will work out for the best. Now, if you will allow me to work just a few more moments, this will be finished and I can let you rest."

I nodded and rested back as the needle moved in and out of my skin carefully. After a few minutes, Splinter neatly tied off the thread and cut off what was left, putting the needle aside. "And now," he said, "I believe I will get you some soup. You will need energy to heal yourself."

"What kind of soup?" I asked, examining the precise job he had done.

"Potato and leek. I was told it was one of your favorites."

I smiled happily. "It is. Thank you." He left and came back a moment later with a bowl of hot soup and helped me to sit up, carefully putting the bowl in my lap and watching while I ate it. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I started eating, and soon the bowl was completely empty. "Master Splinter, that was delicious!" I exclaimed. "Thank you so much. And not just for the soup. I mean for letting me stay here and taking care of me. I know I've been an awful amount of trouble, but once I'm better I'll try to make it up to you. I'll clean up the Lair again and-"

"Irma," Splinter said, laying a paw lightly on the shoulder he had just patched up. "You saved the lives of two of my sons. No repayment is needed. And now, I believe it is time for you to sleep."

As soon as he finished speaking, I felt myself start to get tired. I frowned a little and looked up at him in a slightly reproachful manner. "You put sleeping pills in my soup, didn't you?"

The old rat simply smiled again and pulled the blankets up over me, like he was tucking me in. "Sleep well, Irma. I am sure my sons will wish to see you once you are awake."

I did sleep well, and deeply, and when I woke up I felt much better than I had before. My shoulder, which I couldn't feel before, was now sore and sent jabs of pain up my arm when I moved it too much. This probably was a good thing, but I couldn't help but wish for the numbness I had felt earlier. I was still wearing only my underwear and I had no idea what time it was.

I stayed snuggled in the blankets and wondered how difficult it would be to try to head to the bathroom. I knew there was one not too far away. Weighing the options, I decided that it would be better to risk it than to sit still while needing to use the facilities. With a blanket wrapped securely around me and being careful not to upset my wound, I crept to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. After taking care of everything and washing my hands, I looked in the mirror to see if my appearance was as awful as I thought it was.

"Hmm… Not too bad." I turned my head back and forth. Not much bruising. In fact, I looked pretty good considering what I'd been through. I took a look at my shoulder. It was still very red and when I touched it I winced, but the stitches had been done with a steady hand and it looked clean. With a satisfied nod, I wrapped the blanket around myself again and went back to my cot. As I approached, I heard the sound of the Sonic Boom alarm clock go off and jogged back to the cot, ignoring the pain shooting up my arm. As quickly as I could, I got back into the bed and arranged the blankets to look as though I hadn't moved. Leonardo and Splinter hadn't been in the main room when I stepped outside, so I was going with the assumption that I was safe.

"Think Sleeping Beauty," I said to myself. "Think Sleeping Beauty."

I was surprised how quiet the guys were once they were awake. I supposed they were too tired to be loud today. None of them came near the Nurse's Office, not that I was really surprised. It was full of needles and other painful things. Besides, I could always use more rest. A stab wound gave me a good excuse to lounge around in bed. Snuggling back into the blankets, I decided that if they were too busy to come say Hi, I'd just relax and then get up to eat breakfast.

Planning was unnecessary though. Within thirty seconds of them getting to the kitchen, something fell crashing to the floor and heard Mikey shouting. "RAPH! I told you leave that alone!"

"You're taking too long! I was going to hurry it up!"

"Don't touch it! I'm cooking and I'll take as long as I want!"

Leo's voice broke through the arguing. "If you put gummy bears in the batter again, I'm going to throw you off a building!"

"You guys have no sense of imagination. I was trying to be a creative culinary person."

"Oh, you learned a big word," I heard Donatello say in an overly sarcastic tone. "We're so proud of you, Mikey."

The next thing I knew there were sounds of fighting and more clanging of pots and pans. The shouts from the scuffle were very amusing and all jumbled up. Everyone was shouting at once.

"Get off me!'

"I can't breathe!"

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Let go a' my leg!"

I couldn't keep the grin off my face, but I tried to stifle my laughter in the pillows. The sounds kept coming and it became harder to hide my amusement. Then I heard Master Splinter shout. "BOOOOOOOOOOOOYS!" Instantly everything was quiet. I decided that I didn't want to hide in the room anymore. I got up again, drawing the blankets around me and tucked them in so that I looked like I was wearing a thick toga or something. Walking out of the room I was greeted with the sight of the brothers trying to put the kitchen back together while glaring daggers at each other. I couldn't help it and started laughing at the sight.

Their heads all shot up as I came in the room and all ran to me when I tripped over a step. "I'm alright, guys," I said as Leo and Don rushed to my side to help me up. "I just seem to have misplaced my glasses."

"Well, alright then," Leo said. "Come and eat breakfast with us."

"Oh, goody." But instead of going to the table I threw my good arm around Leo and kissed his cheek. "You're wonderful, Leo. Thank you for saving me when I needed it." He hugged me back smiling. "You're welcome."

Suddenly it occurred to me that if it hadn't been for them, I might not even be alive. And then I remembered seeing Mikey and Raph about to be killed the night before and instantly I burst into tears and went over to Raphael and hugged and kissed him as well.

"Hey! What's all this about?" He put his arms around me too, but looked completely confused as to why I was so upset.

I slapped his plastron. "You almost died, you big mass of feeling-less shell!"

"Well, so much for the hugs," he said. "I don't get girls. One second you're crying over me, and the next second you're-"

"Be quiet, Raph," Mikey said, and I ran over and threw my arm around him too. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I said to him, and kissed his cheek too. "I'm so glad you're okay, Mikey," I sniffed. "I was so scared when I saw you hurt and both of you cornered, and I didn't know what to do."

"You did alright, Irms," he said grinning, and he kissed my cheek back. "You saved our lives probably. You came to chew gum and kick ass, and you were all out of gum."

We both started laughing, and then I turned around to see Donatello smiling at the sight of all his brothers flustered over the attention. I checked to make sure that my blanket was still tucked tightly and securely around me, and I threw both arms around him and kissed his cheek twice. "You're the most- you're just terrific, Don."

He protested, trying to gently pull away. "Irma, your shoulder! You're going to mess up the stitches!"

"Stop whining about the stitches and hug her, you idiot!" shouted Raph. Don blushed and then did just that.

When we were done hugging I wiped my eyes and giggled a little. "You guys must think I'm completely hormonal, getting all emotional like that all of a sudden."

"Naw," Raph grinned at me. "But stop crying now and come eat breakfast. I think Splinter's got your glasses."

"Oh, good, because I have no depth perception without them."

"Irma," Leo said suddenly, "we have some clothes for you. We put them in my room because we didn't want to wake you up."

Raph threw down his fork disgustedly. "Damn it, Leo. Why would you tell her that? She's almost naked and you have to go ruin it with clothes."

Without a word, Donatello stood up and shoved Raphael's face in his bacon and eggs. "Shut up, jackass."

I'm sure Raph would have retaliated had Master Splinter not come out of his meditation chamber. "Well, I see you all are getting along as usual." I was never sure if he was very skilled at being sarcastic or just trying to pretend his sons weren't about to tear each other to pieces again. The rat poured himself a cup of tea and joined us at the table. "Miss O'Neil said that she would be down to visit you later this afternoon, Miss Irma. Also, here are your glasses." He handed them to me and I took them gratefully, putting them on immediately.

"Yaaaaaay." Suddenly the pain in my shoulder started flaring up and I winced.

Don noticed instantly of course. "Your arm hurting? Should I grab you some painkillers?"

"A bit," I admitted. "But I'm good until after breakfast." I started poking at my eggs and then I stopped and turned suspicious eyes to Splinter. He chuckled. "There are no pills in this, I assure you."

"Also-" I turned to Leo and he pulled out from under the table the key that had been given to me by the dying man. "I think this is yours. You were holding onto it for dear life."

"Ah, yes. Thank you." I took the key and debated with myself whether or not to talk about where I had gotten it from. As I ate I considered the pros and cons. If I told them now, without any clue as to what it was for and who it was from, it'd be just one more piece of useless information that they'd have. The key was pretty much worthless until I knew why it was so valuable. A man had been killed over it, for goodness sakes. I knew whatever it was, it was for storage, but that wasn't much to go on really. There had to be at least a hundred storage facilities in half of New York alone.

So instead of saying anything I just finished my breakfast and went with Don to the Nurse's Office. He gave me some pain killers and then when to fetch my clothes while I was taking them. He wasn't gone more than a minute before he was back. I started to pick out clothes and he began to leave before I stopped him. "Hey, um, Donny?"

He looked back at me "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just need… Well, I can get the pants on pretty easily, but it hurts the shoulder to raise my arms too high up. Could you… um…" I blushed a little, fumbling for words. "Could you help me put my shirt on?"

"Oh. Oh!" We both stood there awkwardly for a moment and I shifted to one foot, gripping the blankets tightly to myself. Suddenly I felt completely embarrassed at even thinking that he'd be okay with it. "I mean, if it's too awkward I can manage, I'm sure."

"No, no, it's not that, it's just…" He stopped talking and turned around. "Just tell me when you need my help, I guess."

"Well… Okay." I held the blanket with my teeth while I pulled a pair of shorts on and then I grabbed a t-shirt, letting the blanket fall onto the cot. I managed to pull it onto my arms, but I couldn't reach up with my bad arm to pull it over my head. "Alright. You can turn around now."

He did, and I felt even more self-conscious than I had before. The shirt was covering my bra, but I still felt half naked in front of him. "I, ah, I just need to help me pull the shirt over my head."

Without a word he moved to my side and gently pulled the shirt over my arms, my head, and then down my back. His hands were gentle and his skin, though slightly alien in texture, was smooth and cool. He pulled my hair out from under my shirt, and then stood still for a moment as he held it in his hands. "Your hair is really soft, Irma," he said quietly.

I didn't move. I didn't think I could. "Thank you," I breathed. His hands ran over the length of my hair (it went a little past my shoulders) and then let it fall.

He wouldn't look me in the eye."I… I'm going to go work on something in the lab." And then he was gone.

I probably would have followed after him, but the painkillers kicked in then, and the world started swimming. I decided it was better to go to sleep than to follow and risk falling over my own two feet.

I stayed in the Lair for the next couple of days under the watchful eyes of Splinter and all the brothers. I called work and told them that I'd been in an accident in a club and wasn't surprised at all to hear that the incident had been on the news. I was fine with that. It gave my story credibility. When they asked what happened I just told them a sprained shoulder after being shoved to the floor in the panic. It was kind of true. I didn't call Ken. I was too angry with him to bother.

April came down to visit just as promised to make sure that I was alright and that the boys were remembering to feed me. After the incident with the drugged soup, I was slightly leery of the food offered, but I ate nonetheless. We watched the news together and saw the club on fire and then the shootout down at the warehouse. No suspects as of yet, and there hadn't been any DNA taken. Mostly because shortly after the police got there and managed to remove the painting, the entire warehouse had gone up in flames. Someone managed to sneak in and light it up like a fly in a bug-zapper.

"Well," I said, sitting between Leo and Mikey on the couch, "At least now they won't have a reason to start looking into recent genetic experiments in the last twenty years or so, give or take."

"Actually, we weren't an experiment." Leo explained.

"Right, right," I remembered the Ooze story.

"Freaks a' nature, that's us," Raph said cheerily.

"My favorite ones." Mikey snuggled closer to me, giving me the puppy eyes. "But I'm your favorite favorite, right?"

"Well, of course!"

Donny said nothing. He hadn't said much to me after the incident with my hair other than asking if I was alright. I always said yes. That was the extent of our interaction. I was somewhat hurt by it, but I guess I understood what he was going through. I had been having thoughts about our… well, whatever it was that we had. I wasn't going to lie to myself. He was special to me, maybe in more than a platonic way. It wasn't like I planned it or anything; he was a giant turtle for god's sake! But he was funny, and kind, and sweet, and he treated me so nicely. He also didn't ditch me in the middle of a date (not that we'd had any of those, but going with the general direction of his actions, I was betting he wouldn't). But that didn't block out the fact that he was a turtle and I was a human. Not only that, but I was a woman who had been married twice and had a rather sordid romantic past. I wasn't exactly known for my flawless record in that department. Donatello, although he was a terrific guy, had exactly zero experience when it came to women before I started flirting with him. It made sense that he would start to like my company when I thought about it. It was at least partially my fault.

Although it pained me to leave our relationship like it was, I decided not to make it any more uncomfortable. And so, a couple of days later, with my arm in a sling and carefully bandaged, I said goodbye to Master Splinter and left for my apartment.

All the boys came with me again, although I told them that it wasn't necessary. "I think I'm perfectly capable of walking into my own building," I said irritably. Their concern was touching, but I was getting tired of being treated with kid gloves, so to speak. Leonardo, of course, had given a foolproof explanation for it. "Anyone could have seen you, Irma. All it takes is some salvaged security footage, someone who's good at putting names to faces, and you'd be gone in a heartbeat."

It was about eight at night when we got to my place, and I went through the front door while they all went up the fire escape again. The doorman greeted me when he saw me coming, as did some of my neighbors in the hall.

Mrs. Lewis was there and as I passed she called out "Do say hello to the nice young man outside your apartment for me, dear!"

I froze on the way to the elevator and turned around slowly. "Young man?" I asked in what I hoped was a calm voice. "I wasn't expecting anyone."

"Oh, I know, dear. He said he was waiting for you for a chance to apologize. Something about an emergency the other day?"

Ah. That could only be Ken. "Thank you for telling me, Mrs. Lewis. Could have been an incident if I had found some guy sitting outside my door."

"Well, there almost was! Mr. Lewis-"

But then the elevator door opened and I jumped in. I apologized for rushing off, she said no worries, and then I was on my way up. I took my cell phone out from my pocket and punched in a number that the boys had given me for something like this.

guy i know outside door. might come in. hide.

I stepped off the elevator and looked down the hallway to the door to my apartment. Sure enough, there was Ken. With a dozen red roses no less. Well, it was going to take more than that to get on my good side. I sauntered down the hall towards him. When he saw me, a relieved but nervous look came on his face and he stood up from the floor where he had been sitting. "Irma!"

"Hello, Ken." I responded coolly, and proceeded to unlock the door to my apartment.

"I heard you called in sick to work. Your shoulder- is it okay?"

I opened the door and stepped inside, not bothering to invite him in. He followed after me anyway. I didn't see any sign of the turtles, and my apartment looked the same as it had the night I left to meet Ken. "My shoulder is just fine, thank you. Some very nice guys helped me out and stuck around to make sure I was okay. SOME people don't have a problem with staying with a girl for more than an hour, unlike SOME people I could mention."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as I turned the kitchen lights on. "Look, I know I screwed up. I'm sorry, I really am. There was an emergency-"

I rounded on him furiously and came towards him, making no attempt to hide the incredulous anger I was feeling. "Ken, if you think for one minute that I'm going to put up with you walking in here thinking you can charm your way back into my life after abandoning me and leaving me to fend for myself, you've got another thing coming, and it'll be MY FIST heading towards YOUR MOUTH!"

He put the flowers down on the table and put his hands up in a 'don't-kill-me-I'm-unarmed' kind of way and came towards me with an apologetic look on his face. "I understand completely why you're angry and I don't blame you at all. You have every right to be upset-"

"Upset? I'm furious! I'm livid."

"And I understand and I have nothing to say to defend myself, and if you punched me right now I wouldn't mind."

I went to the kitchen and pulled a frying pan out from under the sink. "Oh, yeah?"

His eyes widened a bit when he saw the frying pan. "Well… I-I would prefer if you didn't use that, but I suppose if you did you'd be justified. I guess."

I didn't say anything but I put the pan away. Ken used this momentary lull to try to ingratiate himself to me. He came up to me and wrapped his arms around me just under my shoulder. "I'm sorry. Truly, completely and fully apologetic. My actions towards you have been inexcusable and wrong and I've taken advantage of your good nature. I don't deserve a second chance from you, but if you could find it in your big, beautiful, generous heart to forgive me and give me just one more chance-"

"If you would please be kind enough to remove your hands from me and take a long walk off a short pier, I'd appreciate it."

I moved around him and walked over to the living area and he followed me, falling to his knees in front of me. "Please, Irma. Just one more chance, and if I screw up, you'll never have to talk to me again. I won't ever bother you, ever. Ever, ever, ever."

I stared down my nose at him, trying to look imperious and disdainful. "Uh-huh. Sure you will."

Then he looked up at me with those big, beautiful, green eyes and he used the greatest Puppy Dog Look that I had ever seen in my entire life. He took my hand and kissed it gently, first on the top, then on my palm, and then on the tips of each of my fingers, all the while keeping those eyes on mine. I felt my resolve starting to waver, and damn it, he knew it.

"Irma," he said softly. "I truly am sorry. Truly and utterly. You've been a perfect sweetheart about everything and I haven't shown you how much I appreciate it. You're the most wonderful girl I've met in a really long time and I want to try to make it work. I know I've put you through a lot. I promise though, that if you just try me one more time, I'll make it up to you. I swear it."

I gave a groan and let my head flop back so I was staring up at the ceiling and rubbed my eyes under my glasses. "Fiiiiiiiine," I told him. "But this the absolute, final and inclusive time. You screw this one up and I will never, ever talk to you again."

Ken jumped up with a joyful and victorious look on his face. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me full on the mouth. I would have struggled, but he surprised me. Also, he was a really good kisser. Very good. Exceptional.

"Mmmmm…" I said. Finally he pulled back with a huge grin on his face. "I'll make it really special, I promise. I'll call you tomorrow." He started heading towards the door, but then rushed back and kissed me again. Then he went back to the door and waved goodbye as he walked out.

I waited until he was gone, and then I gave a groan and flopped down on my couch. This jostled my shoulder again and made me gasp with the stabs of pain. "Oh, damnit all."

Suddenly Donatello was there, lightly running his fingers over my stitches. I gasped again, this time in surprise. "Where the heck did you come from?"

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," he said, and kept gently prodding. "That moron probably tore one of them open.

"Wow," I heard Mikey say behind me, and I looked back to see him examining the roses. "These are nice."

"I like orchids better- Ow!"

"Sorry," murmured Don.

I heard someone rustling around in my freezer and I heard Raph say "There's no beer in here! Why is there no beer?"

"I don't like beer," I called back to him.

"Huh. Weirdo. But then again, you got bigger problems to worry about."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He laughed depreciatively. "That loser idiot that was just throwing himself all over you. You were a total carpet with him."

"Shut up, Raphael," Leo's authoritative voice barked at him. "It's not your place to act as her big brother. Leave her alone."

Mikey came over and sat next to me. "How come you gave him another chance?" he asked.

I sighed. "I don't know. I just wanted him to get lost."

"So you let him stick his tongue down your throat." Leonardo punched Raphael in the snout, knocking him backwards. "I told you to leave her alone!" he said angrily. Raph responded by jumping up and punching Leo back.

Donny straightened up. "Both of you, knock it off!" They looked up at him. He was wearing an expression I hadn't seen on his face before. It was angry. More than angry. "Irma is sick and hurt and tired and it's none of our business who she spends her time with. Now get up and act like you both have some semblance of honor."

Mikey and I stared at Donny in shock, then at each other, then back at Donny. He turned to me with a carefully neutral look. His fingers kept curling and uncurling as though he wanted to take his bo staff and kill someone with it. "Sorry for that, Irma," he said stiffly.

"It's alright, Don," I replied quietly.

Raph picked himself up and rubbed his jaw, staring balefully at Leo, who was studiously ignoring his brother. Mikey stood up and stretched. "Well, it's probably time for us to head out." He leaned down and hugged me. "Hope you feel better soon, Irms. We'll come back to visit sometime soon."

"I'd like that. I'll order pizza for you."

He gave me a grin and two thumbs up and went to the window. The other three followed him, all saying goodbye on their way out. Donny was the last one to leave, and I moved to close the window as he was leaving. He had one foot out of the window and the rest of him was inside. We stood next to each other and I remembered how I had told myself before that I would stop putting myself with him in this position. "Shut up, Sensible Irma," said the Emotional Romantic side of my brain. And Sensible Irma did.

"Bye, Don," I said.

"Bye, Irma," he responded. His eyes were darker now that I was blocking the light, but there was still one pinpoint of light in the black depths. Kind of like a single star. I bit my lip a little and the previously stern features of his face vanished. "I'll see you later," he said, and then without another word, he slipped out from the window and into the darkness.

I didn't see any of them after that. Either they were too quick or I was too slow or both, but either way, after I closed the window I stood looking outside for what felt like ages, contemplating the mess I was getting myself into. "Go to bed, Irma," I finally whispered, and this time I listened to my own good advice.

A little more romance here for those of you who like it. This ended up being much longer than I had anticipated. This was going to be two chapters, but I like it like this. It's worked out well.

Reviews and constructive criticism are loved!