This particular chapter holds some interesting memories for me. I had already written most of it once before- 11 out of 15 pages- and then I somehow managed to be stupid enough to delete the whole thing. I was so furious I couldn't work on it for over a week. Luckily I got over it and have learned my lesson the hard way.

Special thanks to beta readers Colonel Pop and GoodSmileGirl.

I STILL don't own TMNT. If you haven't figured that out by now, you might need to get your memory checked.

SPECIAL NOTE: Due to the fact that I have two other weddings in the next couple of weeks, there will NOT be an update next Monday. There's just not enough time to get writing in while I'm running around doing things for the bride. However, the week after should be right on track. Hopefully this chapter is enough to tide you over until then. Sorry about the delay!

Chapter Fifteen

I didn't see much of the turtles for the next couple weeks. Actually, I saw nothing of them. Instead, Casey came over on their and April's behalf to make sure I was alright. I had just come home from work and had kicked off my shoes when he walked in, casual as you please, an icee in either hand. He handed me one and went to sit on the sofa. "So, how's things, Germ?"

Scowling at the back of his head I went to sit in the armchair next to the sofa. "It was great until you came along. Now what do you want?"

"So grouchy," he smirked at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he tossed a pillow at my head. "So how's the arm? Feeling any better?"

"Yes, actually," I said, rubbing where the stitches still were. They were dissolving as medical threads did, but it was somewhat itchy*. "They don't hurt much anymore, just pretty sore."

"Well, that's good." Casey took a loud slurp of his icee and then gave me a long look. "I hear the guys almost got into a fight here when they brought you home."

I sighed and slumped down in my chair, not caring that my skirt slid up my legs a bit and took a long drink from my own icee. "Yeeeeep."

"Hmm." He was quiet for a moment. "What'd Raph say to get everyone so worked up anyway?"

I waved a hand in the air to imply something unimportant. "It was along the lines of letting a loser put his tongue down my throat."

He choked on his drink. "No wonder they got pissed at him."

"I'm just trying to figure out what I did to piss him off."

"You didn't do anything, Germ. I'm betting it was one of three things," He lifted a finger for each idea. "First- he's started to see you as something like a sister, so if he disapproves of someone you're bringing home, he gets insulting because he's not smart enough to just tell you that the guy's beneath you and you deserve better."

"Second," he paused briefly to take another sip of his drink. "Second, he was trying to get someone else to say something."

"What do you mean?" I asked, now curious.

Casey shifted in his seat a little uncomfortably. "Well… Now, don't get mad at me, Irma, but there's been some scuttlebutt that you and Donny… Anyway, a couple of the guys are saying he's got a thing for you. So I'm betting Raph was insulting you to try to get him to react, so, y'know, something would happen between you two."

I leaned back in the armchair again with a quizzical expression. "Something happen? How'd he figure that insulting me would do that?"

"I don't know, I never said he thought the things through."

"Hmm… Wait, you said there were three ideas. What's the third one?"

"That it's some kinda mix of the two. Maybe both. You're like a sister and he wants his brother to admit he likes you."

I would totally have bought his explanation if he hadn't cleared his throat and looked around. My eyes instantly narrowed. "Caaaaseeeeey…"

"Oh, I hate it when you say my name like that," he grumbled.

"What's the REAL third thought, Casey?"

He gave an exasperated groan and stared up at the ceiling. "The other idea is that he likes you himself and he's jealous that you're dating someone else."

My jaw dropped. "WHAT?"

Throwing his hands up in the air he groaned. "Nothing, never mind."

I stood up and walked right over to him. "You explain yourself right now, buster!"

"Fine," he snapped. "Look, maybe Raph thinks of you as a sister, maybe he thinks of you as something more. Either way, he sees Donny with a chance to be with a girl, something that none of the other brothers got and to his way of thinking probably never will. Don't you get it? You're the second chick they've ever met besides April, and I ain't sharing her! If Raph does think of you as something more, then maybe he figures it's better that at least one brother be happy."

I straightened up. "Well that doesn't sound like Raphael at all."

He sighed. "Course it doesn't. He doesn't like to advertise his soft side. Truth is, he's probably got more feelings than the rest of them put together, but he hates it, so..." He shrugged.

"He acts like a badass," I said slowly. "Alright, yeah, that does make sense. But Casey, I don't think of him like that!"

"Yeah. He knows."

Casey and I watched each other, both lost in our own thoughts. "Am I a horrible person?" I asked finally.

Casey shook his head. "No, Germ, you're not. It's just a shame that of all the guys you picked the one that over thinks things too much."

I crossed my arms. "I didn't 'pick' anyone!"

"Yeah, that was a bad choice of words. Sorry."

I rested my hand in my chin, thinking. "What should I do? I mean, the only thing that Don and I have done together is dance. It's not like we've been having passionate make-out sessions in the corner. I didn't mean to do anything to get any of them to like me." Casey started laughing and I scowled at him. "I fail to see the humor in this situation, Casey!"

"Germ, you didn't have to do anything. Let me put it like this: four guys without any single girls around for years. Then one shows up. They're probably going to be interested unless you help them think of you as just a friend. And Raph never takes things like you'd want him to."

With a groan I stood up and started walking around, sucking the ice through the straw furiously. "God, he probably hates me! They must think I'm a home wrecker!"

Casey shrugged and kept drinking his icee. "Well, they all know you gotta guy up here who's interested. Probably they'll back off now, figure they don't have a chance against a good-lookin' human guy."

I thought about this for a moment and crossed my arms in thought. "You think so?"

He nodded. "I'm willing to bet they'll leave you alone now unless you flat out say you're not interested in the dude. They wouldn't mess with 'taken' girls even if they had access to them. They got too much of that ninja honor or whatever."

This was a new development, and not one that I minded. I sat down again, my mind churning. Casey watched me, still lounging on the couch. "You wanna share those thoughts you're having?"

"Just considering ways to make it less awkward the next time I see the turtles."

Casey shrugged. "Just be yourself."

"Being myself is what got me into this mess in the first place."

He stood and stretched his arms out in front of him. "Too bad that's the only advice I got then."

I shot a sour glance at him. "Thanks, Casey. You're a world of help."

"That's what I'm here for."

"But what am I supposed to do? Stop saying anything they could interpret as being flirty? Because that could be hard. I say a lot of flirty things, even when I don't mean to."

Casey shrugged and stood up, heading towards the door. "I still say you should just keep acting normal around them. Best way to keep things from getting weird in my opinion. If you wanna keep things calm, just don't treat any one of them different than the others." He stopped in his tracks when he had one hand on the doorknob and turned to look back at me, his face serious. "Irma, I've known you for a couple years now, and I'm gonna just say what I've seen. You're pretty great, all things considered, but every time you go out with a guy, it's like you deliberately sabotage it. You always pick guys who either end up boring you, so you leave them, or they're jerks, and they leave you. You need to stop chasing men around who you know are idiots and wait for someone who's worth your time, even if you don't find him right away."

I laughed bitterly. "So, what, just stop dating completely and wait for Mr. Right to find me? That's worked so well for me in the past. Let's see, there was Prince Charming number one, who gave me these," I lifted my arm and pointed out the faint, circular scars of cigarette burns, "and then there's number two, who apparently slept with anyone who looked his way while we were married. Yeah, I have a great record of nice guys finding me."

He face-palmed, looking for a moment like he'd love nothing more than to grab and shake me. "I know you got some bad luck. I ain't sayin' you should stop trying to find a guy on your own too. I'm just sayin' you should be more picky. Not that I'm a shining example or anything, but April didn't go out with me until she saw that I wasn't gonna bail on her when things got tough."

Considering that they had met while the Foot were trying to kill them, I figured that was fair enough, despite the brevity of their friendship before going out together. As if you can talk, said my mind starkly. "Who said I'm not picky with the guys I go out with?"

"But you're picking morons still," he pointed out to me. "I dunno, maybe you think you can't do any better, which is complete bull, or maybe you're just scared. Either way, you're not gonna find some perfect guy in most of the bar scenes you hang out in."

I scowled at him but conceded that he probably had a point. But I wasn't willing to admit it, so I just drank my icee, making sure to make loud slurping noises while I was at it. Casey grinned at me, knowing it was a sign of defeat. He took his hand off the knob and walked towards me, giving' me a one-armed hug and kissing me on the forehead in a brotherly way. "I'm glad you're okay, Germ."

Still not willing to admit my downfall, but appreciating the rare display of affection, I hugged him back and said "Thanks, Casey," trying to sound grumbly without being bitchy.

He chuckled and headed out the door, saying "Don't worry too much; these things work out on their own. Later!"

After he left, I went to my sofa and contemplated what he said to me. As much as I hated to admit it, Casey was right. I did have a habit of picking out guys that weren't the best of the bunch. I guess deep down inside, there was a part of me that was just afraid of finding a guy who I actually felt good about. The last two guys I had gotten that feeling about were… well, that song had been sung. No need to keep harping at it.

Maybe I just needed to take the plunge and get over my fears. I picked up my cell phone to check the date. It was a couple of days until my rendezvous with Ken. I wasn't expecting much; honestly, I was kind of hoping he'd run out on me again so I could break it off and tell the guys so they'd stop being so angry with each other. But at the same time, I was running Casey's comments through my head. Ken did come after me… and he was nice… and sweet… albeit seemed to be somewhat undependable…

Oh, what the hell. I resolved the next day to go out and buy a dress for the date.

I could go into details about how the date went, but… to be honest, there isn't much to say. It was pretty much a perfect date. That's what made it so ridiculously unremarkable.

Ken had called to tell me to dress up a bit since he planned to take me someplace nice, and so I had bought a black dress. The material below the bust was sleek, black velvet, and above was white with small ruffles. I wore black heels and, because it was special, my pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet. As usual, my hair was pulled up into a bun. My pink glasses were sadly throwing off the outfit, but I consoled myself with the thought that they were small and it was unlikely to be noticed.

He picked me up in his porche again, and I couldn't help but run my hands over the beautiful leather seats before I sat down. We bantered all the way to the restaurant, which turned out to be a ritzy, expensive place with crystal wine glasses and food with French sounding names. Ken ordered lobster, and I ordered some sort of venison dish. We did the whole flirty-lovey-dovey thing over hors d'oeuvres and made toasts to a fantastic evening with the wine he ordered as a surprise. Then he pulled me onto the dance floor with the dim lights and slow jazz, holding me close to him while we swayed back and forth.

It was a lovely night, and what came next should have made it perfect. "Irma," Ken whispered into my ear as he rested his head on my shoulder and gently swung me around, "would you mind making it official and being my girlfriend?"

Had I not been so incredibly relaxed at that point, I think I would have faked a stomach flu and run out of the room. But as it was, the alcohol was stirring around nicely in my blood, and the excellent meal, the slow music, the dim lights, the feel of another warm body against mine… I thought of Casey's parting words as he had left the other day. You need to stop chasing men around who you know are idiots and wait for someone who's worth your time.

Was Ken worth my time? He was sweet to me, kind, treated me well, didn't want to give up on me, and had a stable job as a professor… He was utterly boring and normal. I closed my eyes and rested my own head against his shoulder, as he was doing to me. Maybe it was time that I tried to do something with someone worthwhile, instead of willingly putting up with half-assed relationships and idiots. A flash of purple went through my head and when my eyes shot open I could still see it imprinted in my mind.

Ken must have sensed my sudden tensing because he pulled back to look at me concernedly. "Irma?"

I looked right into his eyes, and suddenly my mind was completely made up. It was time to act like an adult, and make a responsible choice for once. After another brief moment's thought, I came to my decision and kissed him. "Yes, I would love to be your girlfriend," I said.

I tried very hard to ignore the sporadic memories of Donatello smiling at me, watching me, and talking with me as Ken pressed his lips to mine and we whirled around in a dance.

Three days later, I was sitting in my apartment dangling the key that had been given to me from the dead man in my hand, and I was wearing thick flannel pajamas and big fuzzy slippers to guard against the cold of outside. Being from a much warmer part of the nation originally, I still had trouble adjusting to the snow and ice that came every winter, and liked to spend as much time as possible indoors due to getting the sniffles easily.

I was trying to figure out what to do with the damn thing. I remembered what he had told me- Storage room D12- but that was pathetically little to go on, especially since I wanted very badly to see what had been so important for the man to get killed over.

The names of the bodies found in the warehouse still hadn't been released, not that I was really surprised. For all I knew, they were members of an international group of crazed assassins who put smiley faces on their victim's foreheads. Finally frustrated with my lack of progress, I groaned and tossed the key into one of the empty puzzle boxes lying around the place. Deciding that I should brave the weather in favor of exercise and fresh air, I went to my bedroom and changed into some winter clothes. I had no idea how I managed to keep my hair back in a neat bun while pulling everything over my head, but somehow I succeeded.

After managing to drape on about four layers of clothing, scarves, gloves, jackets, boots, and then finding a purse that matched the ridiculous ensemble, I headed down the stairs to the lobby, trying to decide if I wanted to take an extra long walk as a way to burn off calories, or spend about half an hour outside and then come back to my apartment to warm up with fresh chocolate chip cookies and milk.

Still in the midst of a violent mental debate (Exercise? Over cookies? Health was overrated anyway.) I arrived at the lobby, trying my best not to look like a human marshmallow dyed multiple colors. I was slightly annoyed. I may have been in perfect attire for outside, but I was inside, and was starting to sweat. Ew. Sweat. While it seemed sexy enough on guys, on myself it was something I did not tolerate.

I made my way huffing and puffing towards the lobby door, not paying attention to anything around me- until there was a sudden wall of black in front of me. Blinking, I looked up and saw that the wall of black was a man wearing nothing but that color. He didn't look happy, and he was definitely Japanese.

"Well, shit," I said.

A rather satisfied smile appeared on his face. "Miss Langinstein," he said, his voice sounding definitely Asian, "we would appreciate it very much if you would kindly come with us."

"Uh…" I began weakly, "us?"

And then three other equally large Asian men came out of nowhere and surrounded me. "Sure, sounds

great," I told them. "I was planning on dying sometime anyway."

The Cheshire Cat grins they cast at me were not at all reassuring.

The four of them guided me outside and down the street to a parked limo with darkened windows. One of them opened the door for me and tried to look as non-threatening as possible as he gestured for me to slide in. He didn't succeed very well.

"Feel free to help yourself to any of the refreshments inside," the first man said. He was the apparent leader, and waited for me to get in before closing the door behind me. I was pretty relieved that I was alone. I didn't feel particularly safe with four Asian giants surrounding me. I wasn't sure where they were sitting, but I guessed it was in the compartment up front. Suddenly, the door opened again and he stuck his head inside. "Also, if you would like to remove your jackets, don't hesitate to do so. It will be warm with the heater on." And with that, he was gone again. I sat very still waiting to see if he'd pop back in, but when the limo started moving, I figured it was safe to assume that I wasn't going to be interrupted any more.

The interior of the limo was very luxurious. It had leather seats, lighting on the ceiling that changed colors, and next to me on the mini-bar was a platter of petit fours and a chilled bottle of what looked to be very expensive champagne. I checked the bottle. It was very expensive. Next to the bottle was a crystal champagne flute that looked like it might be worth more than me. I was almost afraid to pick it up, but then I remembered that I was kind of being kidnapped, so I stopped worrying about it and poured myself a glass.

It was good stuff.

I tried to look out the window as we went along, but they were darkened on the inside as well as the outside. It was possible to make out blurry shapes of buildings and trees, but not nearly clear enough to read street signs or notice any recognizable landmarks. I tried to close my eyes and count how many turns we made so I could backtrack from my apartment, but eventually I just gave up and decided to enjoy the ride. I downed about three glasses of champagne and had four of the petite fours before the limo stopped. By that point I had stripped down to my jeans and blue v-neck t-shirt, so I wasn't looking forward to putting all the layers back on again. Besides, they were lying in a pile at my feet and it would have taken at least five minutes to separate the scarves from the sweaters alone. With a sigh of resignation, I decided it was better to just let it be and waited for what I was sure was my inevitable doom.

The limo door opened any my escort leaned in. He stared briefly at the pile of clothes on the floor and then turned to me. "If you would follow us. Your things will remain safe here."

"Yeah, but what about me?" I asked.

He smiled. Somehow, it didn't reassure me as much as I think he was hoping it would. Realizing that sticking behind would probably just make him upset at me, and that might prompt him to pull out a gun or pointy object, I decided that it might be best to just go along with it. If I was going to die, I could at least do it with some dignity.

The car had been parked in a garage of some sort, and it was filled with shelves of things in round containers and boxes, all looking remarkably similar. I was led through a door in the garage which brought us into a dimly lit hallway and past a few doors. One of them was open, and I looked inside to see a large kitchen. Utterly surprised, I stopped dead in my tracks and stared inside. They were making what looked to be sushi and other Japanese looking foods. I was nudged gently but firmly in the back by one of the guards and I continued walking on, suddenly struck with the fear that they would chop me up and make Irma Tempura. With any luck, someone would eat a piece of me and I'd get lodged in their throat and make them choke to death, and the autopsy would reveal my toe in someone's esophagus. Then everyone in the business would get shut down and sent to prison for the next five hundred years.

"It could be worse," I said aloud to myself. "I could be turned into fish food instead. Irma Langin-Flakes."

The two men in front of me turned and stared as though I'd grown a second head, but made no comment.

At the end of the hall was an elevator, and they pressed a button which allowed the doors to open to reveal a surprisingly lovely elevator with mirrors and wooden panels inlaid with what looked like gold paint. The leader swept his hand out into the elevator and stepped back so that I could get in, which I did. He followed shortly after, but the other three men remained behind. He pressed a button and the elevator began to vibrate with movement. I had the sudden urge to vomit from fear and had to use all my willpower to hold it back.

When the doors opened again, we were standing outside a pair of large double doors with dragon head handles made of shiny bronze. Large pots filled with what looked like little palm trees stood on either side of the doors. The two of us stepped from the elevator and the man knocked on the door before opening on and stepping inside, closing it behind him. I heard soft murmurs and then the man stepped back out and moved to the side. "Please, enter," he told me.

The room swam in front of me. Images of me lying at the bottom of the Hudson Bay wearing shoes made of cement flooded my mind and once again, the urge to vomit came back. I somehow managed to stumble through the doors without throwing my breakfast up all over my feet though. My nausea disappeared once I was inside in favor of sheer shock.

The only source of light came from a window in the back of the room, the sunshine spilling over the clean, polished wooden floors. On the walls, also wooden panels, were wall scrolls depicting pictures of samurai fighting and battle scenes. Suits of Japanese armor stood looking clean and immovable, like sentries. Even devoid of men wearing them they looked kind of scary. But the most frightening thing of all in the entire room was a woman sitting in a chair behind a table that was covered in Japanese food, leisurely picking at her meal as though it was all beneath her.

There was an empty chair with an equally empty plate and cup in front of it.

The woman spoke. "Miss Langinstein, please come and sit." I did as she said with slow, mechanical movements and I studied her face as she poked the sushi rolls and hibachi cooked meats with her chopsticks. "Feel free to help yourself," she said. "There are beverages available as well." She glanced up at me as I made no move towards the food or anything else, and I saw a pair of startlingly green eyes. "I assure you, it is perfectly safe. I have no desire to cause you harm in any fashion. When our business is concluded, you will be safely escorted back to your apartment."

I said nothing while she spoke, and then when she was done, I asked "Who are you?"

"My name is Oroku Karai."

All of the blood drained from my face and I visibly swayed in my seat. I knew who she was- Karai, the adopted daughter of the Shredder, their sworn enemy and would-be assassin of the four turtle brothers. If she knew who I was and my connection to them, then I could only be in severe trouble. "Are any of the drinks alcoholic?" She picked up a bottle of saki and held it out for me to take. "Thank you." Without another word I tipped my head back, put the bottle to my lips and began to chug. Once that bottle was done, I put it down and reached for another, drinking all of it as well. Without a further word I began to pile my plate up with fried rice, hibachi chicken and steak and sushi. If they were going to kill me, I was sure as hell going to have a good last meal. And it was delicious stuff.

Karai waited until I had shoveled a good deal into my mouth before speaking again. "Impressive," she said, and pointed to the two bottles. "Again, I do not mean to harm you, despite your connection to the turtles." So she did know. I stuffed three pieces of sushi into my mouth at once with a groan of trepidation. "Despite your… incredulity… about the statement, I speak the truth. The Foot Clan is experiencing a rather…" she seemed to search for an appropriate word before settling on changing her statement. "We are experiencing a difficulty in maintaining command within certain branches of our order. Due to the complexities of the situation, we ourselves cannot deal with it."

"Let me guess," I said, finally swallowing down a mouthful of chicken and sauce. "The people that the turtles have been getting into scrapes with are the ones that won't listen to you."

"Correct."

"And you want to encourage the turtles to continue to piss them off because for some reason that you won't tell me, you can't just kill them."

"Also correct."

"Alright. I understand all that. What I don't understand," I leaned forward to look her in the eyes, "is where I fit into the picture? I mean, I admit that I've hung out with them and gone on an excursion or two," (mostly just recon work with April which always resulted in me sitting around being bored for a few hours) "but if you wanted them to keep on kicking these people around, why not tell them yourself? Or even better, just leave them alone? It's not like they're going to help you willingly. Why bother me at all?"

"Because," and this time it was her turn to lean forward and look at me, "I know that you have a key given to you by a former member of our clan."

There was dead silence. Then- "Oh."

It was all I could really say to the situation. I hadn't expected this at all. I was completely flabbergasted and at a loss for words. Luckily for me, Karai was not and she continued on with what I could only assume was a business proposition. "I will give you the necessary information to find the storage room to which that key belongs if you promise to take whatever is in it and keep it safe."

"Keep it safe? From who?"

"Anyone. Everyone. I can say nothing more except that the contents of the room are not things which can be abused without dire repercussions. I give you this information to use as you will because I myself am unable to act upon it, and someone must. I tell this to you because you are still an unknown. Your connection to the turtles is still thin at best, and you are, respectfully, no threat to anyone."

I sank down in my chair a little, poking at my food. "Well, thanks so much."

Karai gave a derisive snort and waved her hand dismissively. "Whether you like it or not, this is the truth. This is no gift I have for you. The only reason no one will try to kill you for it is because no one will know you have it save for myself, and I will tell no one."

My eyes narrowed. "And how do I know you'll tell the truth?"

Karai stared at me in such a way as to make me want to sink down into the ground. "I…" she said, her voice solemn and deadly, "am ninja. I do not lie." The last words were hissed through clenched teeth, her eyes full of rage.

I held my hands up to show my defeat. "Alright. Fine. But if I'm putting my life on the line, I want something in return."

She studied my face and took a sip of her saki slowly before cautiously asking "What is it you want?"

"I want a favor, and I want you to leave the turtles alone."

"That is impossible," she responded curtly. "The turtles have made themselves the enemies of the Foot, and they cannot be ignored."

I thought for a moment before asking for a different one. "Okay, um, how about the next time you have the chance to kill them, you don't."

"Would this not count as the favor?" she inquired.

I shook my head adamantly. "No, because I'm saving your ass and the Foot's ass, and if I'm going to betray my friends like that, then I want to know that they'll at least be kept safe."

Karai sat back and considered my offer. Finally she nodded. "Very well. I accept your terms. One chance for each of them to survive, and one favor in return for you taking the object and keeping it safe at your own risk."

"Be warned," she cautioned, "that should you find yourself in jeopardy because of this, the Foot cannot aid you. You are essentially on your own once you take this information."

I thought about what she said. "I'll do it anyway," I told her.

A grin spread across her face. "Bargain struck," she said, and told me what I needed to know. "The man's name was Akutagawa Isamu, and the storage facility is known as King's Point Storage. And now," she stood up, "it is time for you to leave."

"One more thing," I said, holding up my hand in supplication.

She snarled at me. "What?"

I pointed to the food on the table and said "Could I have a Go-Box please?"

Her eye twitched, but she said yes just the same.

Just as promised, I was returned home via the limo that I had been picked up in, my arms full of my winter clothes and food. I had eaten the rest of the petite fours in the limo on the way back and took the bottle of champagne with me as I left. I almost felt bad about it. Then I remembered who they were and I stopped.

I polished off the last of the champagne that night as I contemplated how to proceed. I could ask someone for help… But if Karai was to be trusted, then the fewer people who knew about it, the better for me. An idea came to mind and I (somewhat drunkenly) reached for my cell phone and tried to dial April's number. I frowned as the number pad became blurry and I tried holding it away from my face.

"Well, damn."

"Irma?" I looked up from my lounging spot on the couch to see a familiar purple-clad turtle clambering in through my window, watching me with a bemused and entertained expression.

"Heya, Donaldo!" I greeted, throwing my hands in the air in excitement. "I was just trying to call April, but the numbers are rebelling. I think they're plotting to overthrow me."

"Uh-huh…" He glanced at the empty bottle of champagne on the table and then back at me. "How much have you had today, Irms?"

"Apparently enough to make my phone think it can rebel! Also, I can't dial things right. I can't see anything. The phone hates me."

"Or maybe it's because you aren't wearing your glasses."

I patted my face. "I'm not? Oh, I'm not. Where're those things?" I got up to look around, but wobbled and fell into Don's outstretched arms. I grinned up at him drunkenly. "Seems the room has decided to move to the sea. It's rocking."

"I think it's time for you to go to bed."

"Noooooo! It's too early! I'm not tired! I don't wanna go to bed!"

He ignored my protests and carried me into my bedroom, gently laying me on the bed. I was already wearing my pajamas, so he just pulled off my slippers and managed to let my hair down, carefully pulling out the bobby pins so that he didn't pull my hair. His fingers lingered a little longer than necessary, but I didn't mind. I turned my head and nuzzled my face into his hands contentedly. "Snuggle with me?"

He froze. "Irma, I think that would be a very, very bad idea."

"Whhhhyyyyyy?" I whined, and stared up at him with big puppy eyes. He sighed and lifted his eyes up to the ceiling as if searching for an answer as to why I was so infuriatingly irresistible. Or at least that's how I choose to interpret it. "Pretty, pretty, pretty please?" I begged. "I'm lonesome and you can even use my pillows."

"Such largesse," he said dryly, but he leaned his bo staff in the corner and began to take off his belt and put it on my dresser. I gave a squeak of delight as he crawled onto the bed next to me and let me snuggle against his side. His shell was hard, but I liked tracing the groves in it with my fingers. There were scratches and chips missing from it from weapons, and in my alcohol hazed mind I imagined things such as angry unicorns breaking their horns on his shell. I giggled, which earned me another weird look and I rested my head on his shoulder. "You're comfy," I said with a sigh of approval. He said nothing but let me get comfortable. Before I drifted off I thought how it felt nice when he stroked his hand lightly along the length of my arm.

The next morning I woke up to find myself tucked in with my blankets pulled up to my chin and my glasses on my bedside table along with a glass of water and some pills. I reached out for the glasses and gave a moan of pain. "Ooooh, too much champagne." I put the glasses on and read "For your headache. Try not to operate any heavy machinery for a few hours after taking these." It was signed Donatello, and since his bo staff and belt were gone I could only assume that he had left long before I woke up.

I managed to take the pills and drink some water without somehow killing myself, and then afterwards went back to sleep for a few hours. I woke up later at around noon feeling much better. As I lay in bed, I tried to decide what I should do that day. My first instinct was to go see Donatello, but I didn't want to open that can of worms. With a huge stab of guilt, I realized that I had cuddled with him and let him lay in my bed, and I hadn't even thought of Ken at the time. I may have been a lot of things, but never a two-timer, as some would call it. I pulled a pillow over my face with a groan of misery when I realized that I liked cuddling with Donny more than I did with my own boyfriend. I remained in this position of self-loathing (or something similar) for a few minutes until I decided that it would be better to get up and do something instead of wallowing in self pity.

I jumped up and right away and knew what I needed to do. I quickly pulled on a pair of pink shorts and a white and pink t-shirt to match my glasses, which of course necessitated the proper choice of makeup and shoes. About fifteen minutes later with my hair tied back and my eyes properly mascara-d, I took the Death Key and my car keys and headed down to Gary the Camrey.

The night before I had looked up directions to the storage facility that Karai had told me about, so I knew how to get there. I had also cleaned out my car just in case the thing I was getting was somehow sentient and had a thing about cleanliness. Also I had noticed a smell in there a few days before, so it needed doing anyway.

I arrived at the storage facility within a half hour with little confusion from the directions. I had told the woman at the counter that I was Mr. Akutagawa's secretary and was here to pick up his things. She hadn't seemed too interested in me to begin with, so she had no problem directing me straight to the storage room. It was on the third floor and the door was remarkably normal looking despite the item of destruction and chaos that was supposed to be inside. I stood outside of it for a minute fingering the key, trying to figure out a way get my courage up to open the door. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting- a portal to a dimension filled with gigantic girl-eating Minotaurs maybe. Eventually though I decided that it would just be best to get it over with.

"Like ripping off a bandaid," I told myself. "Or like when you get waxed. Always better to just rip it off and get it over with."

With that, I stuck the key in the door and opened it up expecting something large with big teeth to come for my throat. Instead I was greeted with the sight of several crates and boxes stacked up against the walls.

"Well, this is just the very definition of anti-climactic," I grumbled, and went into count the boxes. There were five of them, and big enough that I could only carry them one at a time. There was nothing provided to help move things out, so I was left with just my own womanpower.

Several trips, swearing jags and with two strained arms later, I arrived back at my apartment and got to take all five of them all the way back up to my place- one at a time. By the time I had everything out of my car and in my office, I was ready to just torch the damn things and be done with it. I rewarded myself with the last of the food that I had taken from Karai's place and stared at the crates, wondering which one I should open first.

Eventually I threw my hands in the air and just cracked them open one after another. And, surprise, surprise, they were all filled with puzzle boxes. Every single goddamned crate was full of the things. Once again, the idea of setting them all on fire came to mind. But then I remembered there were cool things inside so eventually I settled on smashing them open and taking out the prizes. I would be getting rid of frustration and still get the stuff. Win-Win. I had the weekend off, so I decided to spend the rest of the day doing just that and throwing out the shattered boxes.

I won't bore you with the details. I'll summarize and just say that I got through two of the crates that day and had a pile of shattered wood on one side and random shiny crap on the other. I was this close to tossing it all out the window when I got to the third crate. The boxes in this one were really big, because they were the most difficult, and so the prizes were much bigger and valuable in nature. Picking one at random, I pulled it into my arms, went back to the living room, picked up my baseball bat and swung it at the box expecting it to go flying across the room and splinter into a thousand pieces like the others.

Instead, I heard a loud CRACK, my arms flew back from the shockwave sent through them from the resistance of the box, and my bat broke. Or rather, a huge crack ran through it, rendering it useless. My jaw dropped as I looked from my bat to the box, and then back again. Suddenly I froze. I knew what this was.

The wooden cover was a ploy. It had broken, and as I knelt to pull it away, a metal surface revealed itself to me. Once I had it completely clear of debris, I sat back, my eyes wide with shock.

The box on the inside was made of pure metal. I didn't know what kind it was, and it didn't matter. It was more intricate than any other box I had seen before. Each panel was different from the other, but there were just so many, all different sizes and shapes, and I couldn't even see if there was a lid to it. Whoever had made this thing had been a genius, and I found myself wondering how long it must have taken to build it.

Finally, once my awe had gone down, I reached out to run my hand along the surface, and a jolt when through me. It wasn't like a static charge or anything- it was a hum of power. It was a power that I had never experienced before. It was as though whatever was in the box was alive and it was waiting. I pulled my hand back and rubbed it with my other, eyes wide behind my glasses.

Whatever was inside that box was not meant to be touched by human hands, or at least not my hands. And yet I couldn't help myself. I had to know… I had to see… I reached out once more with both hands, and this time the hum didn't bother me as much. My fingers slid across the surface curiously, feeling the ridges and the groves on it until finally-

I pressed down on one panel and I heard a faint 'click'. I moved around and saw that another panel was open. I let a shaky breath that I didn't know I was holding escape, and I sat back on the floor. Now I knew I could do it. I was satisfied.

With that settled, I immediately pushed it back into my office and covered it up with random crap. Then I went back to the living room and threw away all of the wood and put the prizes in my room to sort through when I felt like it.

After it was all done, I flopped down onto my bed and sighed. Once again I found myself in the debate of telling the others or keeping it to myself. No doubt they'd be interested to know what was going on… but at the same time, I had serious doubts that they would understand my interactions and trust of Karai. In fact, they'd probably be completely furious at me. I was torn even more now; I wanted very badly to share this with everyone, especially the guys, but the fact that I had kept it a secret for so long couldn't possibly go over well, or help them to see my case any more favorably than they would have had I told them before. At best, they'd be very upset with me. At worst… I had a sudden image of Donatello looking at me with fury and disgust, and I shut my eyes against it, pushing my glasses up my forehead while pressing my palms against my eyes, willing the thoughts to go away and leave me be.

Mercifully, my cell phone started ringing at this point. I snatched it up, praying that it was something to distract me from my thoughts. "Hello?"

"Hey, babydoll."

I felt a smile come across my face. I may have had a hard time handling my emotions around Donny, but I genuinely did like and care for Ken. "Hey, handsome. How are you?"

"I'm alright. I just wanted to call my girl and tell her I think she's fantastic."

"Thanks, babe. I think you're wonderful too."

"Oh, good. I was worried for a moment there." I could hear the grin in his voice and it made me smile more. "Whatcha need, hun?"

"Nothing, just wondering what you're doing tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Nothing. You inviting me to do something?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me during your break tomorrow. We could do a mini-picnic or something."

"That's so sweet."

"So yes?"

"Of course, yes."

The two of us spent the next hour or so just chatting about our days and how things were and just joking and saying sweet, flirty things to each other. And for a few minutes, I forgot about all of the horrible things that had happened lately. I forgot about the confusion I felt in my affections towards two different guys, one not even human. I forgot about the fact that people out there would kill me if they had the chance. I forgot that I had been kidnapped practically the day before, and I forgot that I had a huge gash in my shoulder that would always remain as a scar. For a just a little while I could pretend that I was a normal girl dating a normal guy, and that we were slowly starting to fall for each other.

It was just a dream, but it was a good dream.

*As someone who has had surgical stitches, I can personally vouch for the itchiness factor.

So, there's chapter 15. Took me ages, but I finally managed to hammer it all out. It's a little shorter than my original chapter was going to be- in the first version I had Irma and Karai almost get into a catfight because Karai threatened to kill April and Casey right then if Irma didn't cooperate, but I edited that out in the second draft because the two girls seemed very OOC.

For those of you who don't know who Karai is, she was introduced into TV with the 2003 cartoon series (she had been in comics before then) as the adopted daughter of the Shredder and his second-in-command. I first knew her from the 2007 movie myself, but I gave her green eyes from the cartoon. This is really her only big spot in this story, but she may come up again later.

This is also the LONGEST chapter that I have written so far. This might change though, as this isn't the most important chapter by any means. This section could be considered the beginning of Part Two, I suppose. From here on out, it's a lot more action, a lot more ineptness, A LOT of explosions, and a healthy heaping of awkward, occasionally romantic moments. I look forward to writing it and I hope you look forward to reading it.

As always, reviews and constructive criticism are wonderful and greatly appreciated. If you're going to favorite my story and put it on your alert list, leave me a review as to why. They really do help a lot with motivation and help improve my writing with helpful comments. Thank you all very much.