Okay, THIS CHAPTER right here… I have been WAITING for this chapter since I started this story. Actually, I've waited for a lot of chapters since I started this story, but this IS THE SECOND REALLY, REALLY BIG ONE. Hopefully the capitol letters fully convey the depth of my excitement. Cause it's pretty dang exciting. Just sayin'.

I want to thank my beta-readers, Colonel Pop and GoodSmileGirl for their dedication and wonderful input. This story's awesomeness has increased by 28% due to their hard work. Also thanks to all my loyal reviewers who give me such great feedback. I appreciate it, really.

I don't own TMNT in any way, shape or form. If I did, there might be a few changes. I'm sure you can guess what they would be by now.

WARNING: LOTS of strong language in this chapter. Be prepared.

Chapter Nineteen

It was the end of June, Donatello and I had been together for three months, my hair had only grown out to my chin, and I still hadn't found a job. My funds were dwindling by the day, and I had taken to eating peanut butter sandwiches as my primary source of food. I still bought milk though, because peanut butter without milk was just barbaric and nothing would ever convince me otherwise. I had started pawning things off to help make ends meet until I could find a cheaper apartment, or, preferably, another job.

Oh, and Don and I hadn't had sex yet. That didn't help my mood any.

Nonetheless, I did my best to maintain a positive outlook on things. Despite my current hardships, I wasn't starving, I still had a place to sleep, I had supportive friends, a somewhat begrudging but still loyal family, and a boyfriend who, despite the limitations, did his best to help and sustain me as best he could. Usually that involved massages and making me occasionally eat something besides peanut butter sandwiches. Like pizza.

We had made decent progress on the Puzzle Box, at least from what we could tell. It was usually me trying to figure it out; Don spent most of the time trying to scan or probe it to see what was inside. Something in the metal (which he could not identify; this delighted him to no end) prevented a successful examination of the contents, but I didn't mind. It made it easier to open, not knowing that I might very well be opening an egg from the Alien franchise. The thought of a face hugger* jumping out of the box and attaching itself to my face was not a pleasant one, and not knowing what was in there allowed me to pretend it was marshmallow peeps or something.

Neither hide nor hair had been seen of Ken either, not that I was at all depressed by this. Leonardo was convinced that this was a bad sign, and everyone excluding myself and Michelangelo were inclined to agree. I didn't pay attention to it because I was too happy not having a creepy guy around, and Mikey didn't pay attention because his attention and interest span for something didn't last longer than a week.

Nonetheless, despite their concerns about Ken and his whereabouts, the boys had begun turning their interest to other things, such as beating up muggers, thieves, rapists, the usual lowlife criminal element. This wasn't upsetting to me; the old adage that says "Out of sight, out of mind" held true in this case. Because of this, what happened next was an unpleasant shock to say the least.

I had spent the day with the boys down in the Lair rather than looking for a job, because I had gotten depressed over the fact that I hadn't found one yet. In an attempt to cheer me up, I was invited down for a series of board games and pizza, as well as witnessing a true ninja fight between the brothers in the Great Room. They were really just playing around, but it was enough to make me unwilling to ever go up against any sort of ninja in real life. At least, not without a machine gun, because that was the only chance I would have in that situation. Regardless of realizing that my own physical ability would never in a hundred years match up to those of the boys, I had a pretty stupendous day. They quickly buoyed up my flagging spirits and by the time they went to escort me home, I was feeling pretty darned good.

All four of them were coming with me because during what I charitably called my "Dead Woman Walking Phase" right after the library had burned down, I had purchased a superfluous amount of ice cream and needed to get rid of it. That's where they came in. Although they were technically turtles, and therefore should not have been able to consume dairy products without getting seriously ill, they ate all manner of milk-related foodstuffs with a frightening heartiness.

It was somewhat late at night, about eleven, and most of them had all their windows closed and were asleep or getting ready for bed (I lived in an apartment filled mostly with older people or young families). The five of us climbed up the fire escape to my apartment, and I opened my window to climb, saying as I did "Now, I don't have any toppings, but really, you don't need any with Moose Tracks." And then it happened. I turned around from the window to face my apartment and froze.

There, sitting on my sofa looking calm as you please was Ken Shinobu. He was wearing a black suit and didn't appear to be perturbed in the least by the sight of four massive turtles hauling themselves through my apartment window. I should have warned the guys, told them to run away, I know, but when I saw him, all the memories of the fire came back and I stood stock still, an old, now familiar terror clutching at my throat, making it impossible to speak.

I didn't need to say anything, because as soon as he first turtle (I think it was Leo, but I don't remember because I was experiencing tunnel vision at this point) came through the window, he pulled out his weapons and made to move towards the intruder sitting on my couch. Before I knew it, all four brothers were poised beside me, weapons at the ready, but none of them made a move towards Ken.

That was because Ken was holding my pistol. He was aiming it at my chest. All of us in that room knew that the turtles could try to take him down, and would most likely succeed, but it only took one second for Ken to pull that trigger and kill me.

"Hi, Irma," he said pleasantly. "I think we should have a talk."

"Fuck you!" shouted Raphael, and he looked like he was about to hurl one of his sais at Ken's head when Don grabbed his hand, panic in his voice.

"No, don't!" he said urgently. "Irma!"

He wasn't calling to me, just drawing attention to the fact that I could be lying dead in a pool of my own blood in two seconds. "Oh, good lord," I whispered faintly, and took a step forward to lean against my armchair for support.

"I don't see why we can't be calm about this," said Ken again. "I wouldn't even need this gun if you guys weren't so prone to attacking everything."

"You burned down her library with Irma still in it!" said Michelangelo angrily. "We're not just going to forget that, man. That's not something you do to people you wanna have a calm conversation with."

Ken gave a small shrug. "Perhaps, but I needed Irma to see that I was being serious."

"Message received, now what do you want?" I demanded.

His grin was feral. "I want that box of yours."

I knew immediately what he was talking about, but also that giving it to him would be a very, very bad idea. "What box?"

"You know what box I'm talking about."

I pointed to the door of my mini-office. "I have about five hundred puzzle boxes in there. You'd have to be more specific."

"Halloween night," he responded smoothly. "You went to a warehouse. An old man was shot, and he gave you a key to a storage area that had a box in it, now where… is… the box?"

"How did you know I was there?" I was stalling for time. Maybe the guys would think of something while he was talking to me. The gun pointed at me was making me nervous.

"It's called security footage, dear. We have you and all four of your… friends," here he glanced distastefully at the turtles behind my back, and I had the sudden urge to claw his eyes out. "I saw you skulking around while the others attacked my compatriots. Well," he amended, "former compatriots."

"And," he added, "we have plenty of footage of you four as well." He gestured to the turtles with his free hand. "Enough to get you all into some trouble, should I be so inclined to release it to less friendly peoples. Now," his voice became harsh, "Where is the box?"

"I'm telling you, the only boxes that I found were the ones in crates, and those are in my office. You can look if you want!" I should have been an actress. He looked like he believed it. Almost.

His grip on the gun tightened momentarily, and I could feel Donatello ever so slightly shift into a crouch that would allow him to throw himself in front of me if so needed. I was not going to let that happen. Ken spoke again, his voice now changed to a tone that was used when trying to explain something simple to a small child. If he didn't have my life in his hands, it would have pissed me the hell off. "You were given a key by a Mr. Isamu Akutagawa shortly before he died in front of you. I have the footage of this."

"Yes, he did," I said, trying to keep myself from breaking down. "He gave me the key, and I found out what it was for, and I opened the storage. I brought the crates here and went through them, or as many as I could. There's still a bunch in there, and you can take them all if you want."

He stood up suddenly and the guys would have jumped at him had he not cocked his gun and changed his handle on it so that it was pointed at my head. I felt faint. "You know damn well that those fucking toys are not what I'm after," he hissed at me. "You know what I'm talking about. If you don't give me the box, I'll tell my contact to release all of the footage and photos of your freaks here to the general public. Their jumping tricks will only help them evade the police so long. In fact," his face became predatory, "I'd suggest throwing themselves at the police's mercy in that case. Less likely to resort to dissection."

"I would suggest you change your tune," Leonardo said, his voice cold and controlled. "Despite your boasts, there are still four of us and one of you. We could change your mind if given twelve seconds."

Ken gave a mocking laugh. "Oh, please. You can't imagine that I'm that stupid. I've got people preparing to release all of it if I don't call them within an hour. And I'm much tougher to break than you'd think."

"No one will believe you," countered Donatello. "Four anthropomorphic turtles? On video? You know that's the kind of drivel that only those trashy tabloids would pick up. No self-respecting newspaper companies would pick that up."

"Would you bet your future on it?" Ken asked. No one answered.

"Ken," I whispered, and his attention swung back to me. I swallowed, deciding to try one last gamble before things went too far. Everyone in the room was poised to do something, and if it kept up someone was going to be seriously hurt, maybe killed, and it would likely, from the position of the gun, be me. I lowered my voice in an attempt to sound composed, but there was a harsh, panicked undertone. "Ken, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. You can have the boxes if you want, you can take them all, anything at all, but I swear I don't know what you're talking about. If there's one in particular you want, take it, and I won't stop you, but I really don't know what you're trying to ask for. Nothing in there stood out to me, I swear to you. Please, Ken," and here I slowly stood up from the arm chair, my hands held before me in a beseeching position. "Please, just leave them alone."

There was absolute silence in the room. No one said anything, and no one moved. I was too afraid to look at any of the turtles, too petrified to glance anywhere but at Ken's face. I searched desperately for any sign, and flicker that my plea had gone through to him, but he was carefully guarded and gave nothing away. Had I not been so completely terrified, I would have been envious.

"You have no idea of what I'm talking about, do you?" he said finally, his tone making a statement of fact rather than a question.

I swallowed, biting my lip nervously. "I don't know about the box you're referring to. I can go look if you want me to, but I don't know about the specific one you're talking about."

Ken said nothing but narrowed his eyes. "You'd know if you had seen it." He paced slowly back and forth, his gun pointed at me still. I held my breath.

"Alright," he said finally. "Maybe you don't know about it." A huge breath of relief left my lungs, and I closed my eyes briefly. He continued to speak, but to himself and no longer to us. "It's possible it was moved. Maybe the key was switched before that."

I was about to wave the guys out the window behind my back when he stopped and turned to me so suddenly it made me take a step back. A slow, rapacious, almost vile grin spread across his face. "I'll let them be. But I still want something for it."

I swallowed. The boys behind me shifted again. "W-what do you want?"

"I'll call my contacts and tell them to forget about releasing the evidence…" he let the words trail off, keeping us in suspense while his eyes were focused on me, "if you'll spend the night with me."

The boys immediately exploded behind me while the blood drained completely from my face.

"YOU FUCKER!" bellowed Raphael, hardly being able to keep himself from wrapping his hands around Ken's neck. "You god-damned, motherfucking bastard!"

"I will ram this sword down your throat in a heartbeat if you even make a move towards her!" shouted Leonardo, pulling his katana out and pointing it at Ken.

Michelangelo said nothing, but moved to shield me protectively, all humor and cheeriness gone from his face to be replaced by a fearsome mask, the face of an impassive protector.

Donatello also said nothing; he stood stock still, completely stunned for about three seconds, and then with a wild shout tried to throw himself at Ken, his hands bare, fully intending to rip him to shreds with his fingers.

I sat there as they shouted, as Ken waved his gun towards Donatello, and I saw in my mind's eye bodies strewn across the ground, blood leaking out from the corner of Donatello's mouth-

"I'LL DO IT!" I shouted above the din. There was instant silence and five pairs of eyes stared at me. The image of all of my friends, of my turtle, dead from bullet wounds on the floor pounded in my mind as I stepped towards Ken and said quietly, "If you promise to leave them alone and destroy all evidence of them, I'll sleep with you tonight."

"Irma, no!" shouted Don, running up next to me. "How can you even consider this?! Absolutely not!"

"There's no goddamn way in hell I'm letting him anywhere near you," snarled Raph, and his sentiment was emphasized with him pointing his sais at Ken's throat.

Don turned me towards him, his hands gripping my shoulders. "Irma, you cannot do this. You can't believe he's telling the truth. You can't… you can't just let him use you like this!" He stared at me in desperation, and then cupped my cheek in his hand. "Don't do it. This is not an option. This is not right."

I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning into his hand. Ken's voice came from the side, his distaste made clear. "This is my only offer. As entertaining as this drama is, I'm not interested in watching unfold any further than it has. One night with me verses a lifetime spent on the run or in labs. Seems like an easy choice to me."

"Not when you're a slimy scum-sucker!" Mikey hissed at him.

"I've been called worse," the other human said in a lofty tone.

Leonardo came and stood beside Donatello and pulled me towards him with one hand. "Irma, he could be lying," he said earnestly. "Allowing him to… to use you like this won't save any of us."

"I'm a man of my word," Ken responded to the accusation smoothly. "One phone call and this can disappear forever. But you need to act fast. This offer expires in," he checked his watch, "I'd saaaay… one minute."

"I'm going to kill you," Donatello swore, rounding on Ken. "I will kill you with my own two hands."

"And if he doesn't, I will!" Raphael was enthusiastic in his response. Michelangelo and Leonardo didn't have to say anything, but the unspoken threats in their eyes made their message perfectly clear.

"I vote we smash this ass-hat's face in and break his fingers. Like to see him make that damn call then," snarled the red-clad brother.

Ken laughed, a loud, mocking laugh. "Oh, you're priceless. But I am no longer amused." His face took on a dark, threatening appearance. "I'll keep my end of the bargain as long as you agree to it," he motioned towards me. "I'll burn every copy of every picture and piece of footage. But you have five seconds to answer."

There was no question of what I was going to do. These four brothers and their father had grown so near and dear to my heart were my family, and I cared deeply about all of them. And Donatello… I stared into his eyes for just a few brief seconds, and rested my hands on either side of his face, his hands reaching up to cover mine. His eyes were asking what he already had with words, a silent plead, as close to begging as he would ever come, and I appreciated it more than I could say. But the thought of him, of any of them, but especially him, trapped in some lab, a science experiment behind bars… I almost wanted to cry because of it. And so, gazing into my turtle's eyes, I said "Yes, Ken," without hesitation, praying that my own eyes were conveying all my own feelings to Donatello just as his were.

Immediately, his face fell, betrayal and disappointment etching itself into his features. I couldn't say a word before Ken dragged me away by the arm and said mockingly, "You boys heard her. Get lost." And with that he lowered his face to mine, pressing his lips against my own and shoving his tongue into my mouth. I almost gagged but managed to pull back. Ken let me get away with this as he began to bite down the side of my neck.

"Guys, get out of here," I told them. I couldn't look them in the eyes, staring at the ground instead. They protested, Donatello being the loudest until Ken pulled his gun up and aimed it at one of their heads. I didn't think, I just acted by dragging his face back to mine and kissing him hard to distract him. He gave an appreciative growl and kissed me back. I shoved down my revulsion and motioned my hand at the boys to go away. Ken started pulling at my shirt, ignoring our audience and the turtles were about to turn on him when I cried out, "Please, just LEAVE!" When Ken pressed his tongue and mouth against the pulse on my neck, my breath hitched and I let him put his arms under my legs and pick me up as I wrapped my legs around him instinctively. When I opened my eyes to see if the boys had gone, all I saw was Donatello give me on last heart-wrenching look before Leo, who also sent a regretful glance in my direction, pulled him gently out the window. As Donatello crawled through and disappeared into the darkness with the others, I buried my face in the crook of Ken's neck and let my tears fall. The last thing I heard was the sound of my bedroom door slamming behind us and the click of the light switch turning off before I was tossed onto the bed.

As Ken began to pull of my clothes, I kept my eyes tightly shut and tried to force down the bile I could feel rising up in my throat, along with a healthy dose of self loathing. I let my eyes open to see Ken leaning over me, shirtless, and resignedly thought that it was going to be a long night before he kissed me again, this time his lips surprisingly gentle. I slowly twined my arms around his shoulders and decided that if I was going to do this, I might as well get what I could out of it. Although I knew in the morning I would hate myself, I had no desire to go through a rape. Ken was pleasantly surprised and gave an approving groan as I ran my hands along his chest down to his belt and my last intelligent thought that night was a prayer that somehow the boys would understand… and that, most importantly, Donatello would be able to forgive me.

*If you don't know what a facehugger is, it's from the Alien franchise and it basically shoves something down your throat so a man-eating monster will incubate in your stomach and when it's ready it eats its way out of you. Lovely.

DRAMAAAAAAAA!

OMG, can I just say how pumped I was about writing this chapter? I know y'all probably hated it because of what happened, but it was just exciting to write. I mean, really exciting. I have to say though, I'm not sure I got the inner turmoil of our favorite couple completely right in this particular part. But it was hard to get down everything they'd be feeling I think. I did my best, though. Hopefully it was enough.

I realize that it might seem out of character for the guys to just leave Irma the way they did, HOWEVER, in a situation like that, most likely that's how it would have played out, in my own opinion. They wouldn't kill Ken (at this point) because that's not what they do, and they'd probably realize that Ken wasn't bluffing when it came to the evidence. If they beat him up, he'd definitely put his pictures in newspapers and magazines. If Irma slept with him, there was a chance that he wouldn't. Leo would, in all likelihood, bow to Irma's request that they leave, and Mikey would have gone with him. Raph would have had to be dragged out, and poor Donny would be too stunned and heartbroken to do anything. The turtles (not to mention Irma) are put in a "between a rock and a hard place" in this chapter. That's what makes the world go 'round.

I really, really appreciate your support and reviews. Especially the reviews. Reviews, reviews…