So from what I've seen about our turtle boys (which isn't much), their enemies have died in an accident, so I inferred that they didn't kill people, they just strung them up and let the police have them. But then I saw this clip on YouTube of one of the TV shows, (Fast Forward, I think) where Leo cuts the Shredder's head off, and I was very disturbed! I just couldn't stand to see my heroes as killers, and I don't think A.J. can either, so I've twisted the story around a little because this is fanfiction and I can do that.
Also, to anyone who's confused, Donny's face-matching program comes from something I saw in a James Bond movie. For Your Eyes Only, to be exact, and I'll explain exactly what it does in this chapter, so just a heads up on that.
Disclaimer: Do we really have to go over this again? Don't own the turtles or Master Splinter, never have and never will, and the face-matching program doesn't belong to me either.
When it came to the technology department, his brother Donatello certainly took the prize.
He had developed a computer program that created faces based on descriptions given to him, and by entering certain commands into the computer, could come up with an almost accurate match. The pictures were never perfect, of course, because there were always certain factors that went into the margin of error, such as the witness's inability to recall exactly what the suspect looked like, but most the most part, the faces they came up with were correct.
Leo sat with the printed pictures of the four men who had abused A.J. The first three were very much like she had described to them, men who had reached the end of their prime and were preparing to enter old age. Men whose children were probably in high school or college. Men with graying hair, who were getting ready to retire and enjoy a warm fire in the winter and a glass of cool lemonade in the summer, with a book in their hands and a dog at their feet. Their faces were beginning to soften with age, their jowls beginning to droop like those of a bloodhound, and their eyes had a tired look in them as though they were done with their careers, whatever those may be, and ready to move onto a more comfortable chapter in their lives. They were the faces of men you would never suspect would torture and rape little girls for the sheer pleasure of it.
But the last face, the one that Donny had pointed out as the leader, was the face of a killer. He was much younger than his compatriots, probably around thirty or so, with the beginnings of crow's feet in the corners of his eyes. He had long, curly dark hair slicked back into a ponytail, dark brown eyes, and a goatee the same color of his hair. He probably could be considered extremely handsome, but his eyes betrayed him. Even with a computer, Donny had captured the inhuman look in them, a look that was hardened and cruel. This was the man A.J. had said was responsible for all the humiliation and shame she had felt in her time with them. More than the others, who had just done whatever he said, he had made her feel worthless and unwanted, like no one cared about her and no one would come to her rescue. He was the one who had inspired the fear in her, the one who had made her wish she were dead.
Leo wished this guy was dead. Looking at his picture, his calm, cool face, made Leo wish for nothing more than to run him through with his katanas, burying both of them to the hilt in his heart. But, in all his years of crime-fighting, as well as the one he had spent in South America, he had never killed anyone. He had beaten several people severely, but he had never taken a life. Master Splinter had always taught them to avoid killing anyone if they could help it, and all four of them had managed to stick to that rule. But now, with the most horrific crime they had ever faced on their hands, Leo wasn't sure he would be able to control himself if he ever came face to face with A.J.'s tormentor. It would be sinking to their level of course, but any man who would do such horrific things to a defenseless young girl did not deserve to live, even if that life was rotting in prison for the rest of his days.
Which, given the way the human's justice system worked, was probably what would happen.
Leo scoffed and left Donny's lab. The justice system may be more humane today, but their system of punishment was insufficient. If it were up to him, anyone who had the guts to take someone else's life on purpose and feel no regret for what they had done would lose their own, no questions asked.
It had been about two weeks since they had taken A.J. back home. It that time, the bond between brothers began to knit back together again, except for Raf. Still stubborn and resentful, he continued to take to vanishing for hours at a time on the nights when they stayed in, either to take a rest or to train a little more. Whatever he was doing when he went out on those nights was taking its toll on him. Even though he had a mask on, they could tell he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and when he did show up, he was so exhausted he didn't even stop to eat before crashing into his bed, only to spend the day tossing and turning, troubled by nightmares only he could see. Leo had tried to approach his brother many times, and then he was sent packing as though he'd been bitten by a snake. Actually, it was Raf's spiteful words that hurt more than the most painful snake bite, especially when they were aimed at Leo. He picked on his other brothers as well, often giving Mikey the most sound beating he'd ever had in his life, but when he faced Leo, one could feel the hatred coming off him in waves that scorched even the toughest of barriers.
As for the others, they were getting used to the idea that Leo was now in charge, and were beginning to accept it. For Donny and Mikey, they were just glad to be a whole family again, and hoped that someday, they could work out their problems.
"I don't know why he hates me so much," Leo confessed to Donny one evening as the two were practicing on sandbags together. "I mean, I know he's sore at not being chosen for leader and all, but really…"
"I know," his purple masked brother agreed, slamming his fist into the sandbag so hard his knuckles cracked. "You'd think that wound would have healed by now. It's been a whole year."
"I just wish I could talk to him, find out what's hurting him. Can't he see that it hurts me, too?"
"It hurts all of us," Donny corrected him. "And Mikey's got the bruises to show for it. Well, he just needs to grow up and get over himself. You can't have everything you want in life."
"Especially us," said Leo. He aimed a kick, missed, lost his footing and fell. The slap of his hand against the mat to break his fall was a comforting sound, and his thoughts turned, as they usually did, to A.J. What Donny had said was true, you couldn't have everything you wanted in life, especially when you were a mutant turtle and forced to hide your face from the light of day and only come out at night like some monster in a fairy tale. But, somehow, he had managed to find a girl who didn't scream when she'd first seen them, who didn't shrink from his touch, and who smiled at him as though he were just a regular human boy. He had fallen in love with her from the moment he'd seen her, and now, that she'd agreed to go out with him, he liked to think she'd fallen in love with him, too. He had been working up the courage to go see her again, see her smile and hear her laugh, but he'd either been too busy with his brothers fighting crime, or trying to deal with Raf's insubordinate nature. Often, when he had decided to go out to talk to her, he had been forced to stay in because he'd had to help Donny pull Raf off Mikey again. Usually, if they were just wrestling, Mikey could be a tough opponent to beat, but when Raf attacked him like this, for no reason except sheer petulance, he never retaliated. He just threw his hands up over his head and waited for Raf to finish venting his spleen and slouch off. Neither Leo nor Donny could figure out why their brother could not or would not defend himself, though they had asked him once or twice. He never answered them, and finally they narrowed it down to two reasons: either he was struck absolutely numb with terror to see Raf so mad, or he couldn't bring himself to hit his brother back.
Leo stood up, and dusted himself off. There was nothing like a brisk workout to start the night, and now he was ready to search for something to eat. Looking over at Donny, he saw he had the same thing on his mind, and they were just preparing to leave the dojo when Mikey's urgent voice took them from a leisurely stroll to a run.
"Leo! Donny! Raf! Come look at this!"
He didn't sound like he was calling them to look at a new skateboard trick. For a split second, Leo and Donny looked at each other, then they flew across the room, pulled open the door, and burst into the living room.
"What's up, Mikey?" asked Donny.
Their brother was sitting on the couch, staring at the television with widened eyes.
"Check it out," he told them, pointing to the screen.
There was a picture of a cute little girl with dark brown hair and blue eyes, and a voice was telling them that her name was Julia Parkin, and she was eleven years old. Her body had been found in a back alleyway near the corner of 5th and Issacs, bruised and bloody. There were also signs of sexual abuse, and cause of death had been determined as a loss of blood through two gunshot wounds in the shoulder.
Their interest now snagged, Leo and Donny came to sit on the couch on either side of their brother. Just then, Raf stumbled in, bleary-eyed and sluggish from sleep.
"What's goin' on?" he grumbled.
"They've found another body like A.J.'s, except she was dead," said Mikey. Raf gave his head a shake, and opened his eyes wider. Suddenly, he was wide awake.
"Really? Where?" he asked, but Leo spoke before anyone else could.
"Wait a minute. What's this?"
"Parkin's body was the third found under such circumstances," the TV anchor was saying. He went on to say that the little girl had been a victim of an operation the authorities were beginning to call The Orphan Train, named for the first two women who had been killed, thirty and thirty-two year old sisters who had been discovered together in an alley behind a restaurant on L Street. They had both been single mothers, and the children they left behind were now orphans. Pictures of the two sisters appeared on the television screen. They were both black.
"That's strange," said Donny, as the program ended to a commercial break.
"What is?" asked Leo.
"The descriptions A.J. gave us were of white men. The fact that they would prey on women of other races surprises me. Serial killers tend to hunt within their own ethnic groups."
Raf yawned.
"At least they don't discriminate."
"On race or age, either," said Donny. "We've got victims from all over the spectrum here."
"Except they're all women," Leo put in.
"True."
"Speaking of which," Mikey spoke up suddenly. "How are you and A.J doing? It's been two weeks. Don't you think you two ought to go out on a date or something by now?"
"Yeah, I probably should," said Leo. "I've been kind of ignoring her. I haven't been a very nice boyfriend, have I?"
"No, you just sound like an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing," said Mikey, and he, Leo and Donny laughed.
"And I suppose Dr. Love over here can give me the answers?" he shot back, eagerly joining the fun.
They laughed harder as Mikey put on a mischievous grin and said, "To whatever question you have in mind. I know it all."
"No you don't!" Donny gasped out. "You've been cooped up down here just like the rest of us, you loser!"
It was a while before they could all catch their breaths. Raf didn't join in. He just glared, puffy-eyed at them over a bowl of cereal. As they began to calm down, he shook his head, and said, "You guys are stupid."
"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine this evening," said Donny, plopping down with a bowl and the milk carton. He picked up the box of cereal and poured the contents into the bowl, adding the milk after it. Raf just scowled and stuck his spoon into his mouth.
Mikey joined them, and they proceeded to duke it out over the last of the cereal. Leo put the tea kettle on the stove. A pot of green tea was usually enough for him in the beginnings of the evenings, not being a huge breakfast person himself. He tuned out his brothers' squabbling, and thought about his new girlfriend again. He would go see her tonight, but they had been staying in for the past few days, and it was probably time they went out and kicked some serious behind. As Master Splinter had instructed them, it was business before pleasure, and his little redhead would have to wait until tomorrow. He would drop by, maybe sneak off to a quiet little corner where they could be by themselves, and while he was at it, tell Donny and Mikey to make sure Raf stayed in and got some sleep. It could only do him good, and it would make life easier for the rest of them as well. They'd actually be able to get on with life without his snapping at them at every given opportunity.
He contemplated calling her to let her know he was coming, but he decided he would surprise her, and just drop in unexpectedly. There were a whole bunch of reasons why he shouldn't, but hey, you only live once. Life was meant to be enjoyed, not wasted.
Breaking out of his reverie, he broke up his brothers' quarrel.
"Hurry up, boys. We're gonna go out tonight, so get it together."
"Why are we goin' out tonight?" asked Raf stubbornly.
"Because I said so," Leo stated firmly. He didn't want to argue with him, because it would only make matters worse. "Unless you wanna stay inside and sleep."
It was one thing he knew would snap his brother into action. To have to stay behind while everyone else was out having fun was absolute torture for Raf, so no matter how tired he was, he got up to retrieve his sai from where he had left them last: next to his bed.
A.J. sat on her bed, in front of which her miniature television sat. She had been drawn by one word she had heard the news anchor speak: Nightwatcher. There was a picture, which she was staring at now. There wasn't much to see: he was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed completely in black body armor. A motorcycle helmet on his head hid his face, and he was wearing gloves and huge, heavy boots. A.J. was wondering if he ever got hot in all that equipment, although it was probably nice in the New York winters. Mikey was right: he did look pretty cool, though somewhat frightening and rather sinister. She would hate to be the idiot who crossed his path and made him mad.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound broke her thoughts. She switched off the TV, wondering where the noise had come from, and why it was there, and then it struck her. There was only one reason why someone would be tapping on her window at this time of night.
A couple of shivers went down her spine, and a faint scattering of goosebumps skittered across her skin. After two weeks that had seemed to last forever, when her terrible ordeal had begun to fade into the deep recesses of her subconscious like the memory of a bad dream, he was here.
The tapping came again, and she jerked back into the present. She crossed the room, pulled back the curtains, and opened the window. Sure enough, Leo was perched outside on the windowsill.
"Hey!" she said happily.
"Hey," he answered, grinning widely. He was pleased at her reaction; he had been afraid she was going to yell at him for not coming sooner.
"Come in. Where have you been?" she asked, mock displeasure on her face. It still couldn't hide the fact that she was glad to see him, though.
"Busy," he said as she stood back to let him in. He squeezed through the tiny space, amazed that he'd managed to get through when he set his feet on the carpet. "Raf's been causing problems. I would have come sooner, but he's been beating up on Mikey lately, and I've had to stay behind to break it up."
"Oh no," she said, concern furrowing her brows. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. She had to stand on her tiptoes to do it, and he had to bend over slightly to return it as he put his arms around her tiny waist.
"What's up with him anyway?" she asked when he released her.
"I think it has something to do with me," he confessed. He had been through all this before with his brothers, but it would be interesting to see what she made of the whole situation. "He really wanted to be leader, but Master Splinter picked me instead. I guess he never really got over it."
"How sad," she said, shaking her head.
"I know. And the worst part of it is, none of us can talk to him. He lashes out whenever we get too close, and Mikey gets the worst of it, because he won't fight back. I don't know why."
"Maybe he doesn't want to make it worse."
"Maybe. Anyway, I don't know what we're going to do about it."
"Just give it time. He'll come around, you'll see."
"I wish I had your optimism. So," he said briskly, looking around. "This is your room?"
"Yep," she said, waving her hand around in a haphazardly manner. "This is where I live. Inside these four walls."
"Hmm."
"What? What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," he said quickly, realizing that he had just sounded insulting. "Nothing at all. It looks cozy."
She shrugged.
"Well, I make do."
"Why do you have two beds?"
"Huh? Oh." She noticed where he was pointing. "My sister and I used to share this room. She left for college this summer, and there's nowhere else to put the bed, so it just stays here. Plus, it's a great place to dump stuff if I don't feel like putting it away."
"I see that," he agreed, looking at the assortment of objects on the bed: her backpack, papers, her jacket, a brush, a lunchbox, and a couple of textbooks as well as regular books. Probably school reading material.
"Here. There's someone I want you to meet."
She bent over her own bed and turned back around, holding something he had not noticed before. In her arms was a huge black tomcat who, if he was stretched out all the way, might have been at least half as tall as A.J. herself. He had his furry black paws wrapped around her neck, his back to Leo, and he was grumbling softly because she had disturbed his nap.
"Midnight, this is my new boyfriend, Leo. Leo, this is my cat Midnight."
"He's cute," said Leo, reaching out to pet the cat. Most of the animals he had run across were mangy, starved creatures who had tempers as bad as their appearances and for that reason, Master Splinter had never allowed them to have any pets. Midnight's fur was soft, almost as soft as his owner's hair.
The cat twisted his head around to locate the source of the petting, saw Leo, and immediately began to squirm in A.J.'s arms, hissing and spitting in mad terror. A.J did a good job of holding onto him, even though his back claws were digging into her arms. He finally wormed out of her grip and bounded under the other bed, his greenish-yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Midnight!" she scolded, but let him be. "Sorry about him."
"It's okay," Leo answered. "I don't blame him, really. I mean, look at me."
"No, that's not it," she said. "He's just not used to you, that's all. He doesn't really like men very much. He hates my dad, and he's hated all my other boyfriends." She sat down on her bed, and Leo had to smile because her feet didn't touch the floor. "He was here when we moved here a year ago. We'd see him skulking around the house, but never leaving the yard, so we decided he must have belonged to the family that lived here before us, and they left him behind when they moved away. Anyway, we came here, and he just sort of adopted us. I think he might have been abused, because he's pretty skittish, and like I said, he really hates men. That," she added with a smile. "And I don't think he likes to share."
"Well," said Leo, sitting down on the bed next to her and pulling her into his arms. "That's just too bad for him."
She burst into a fit of giggles and hugged him back, nuzzling her face into his neck. They cuddled for a minute, then settled down.
"You wanna go anywhere tonight?" he asked.
"No," she said. "Let's just stay here and talk."
"Okay," he said. "What do you want to talk about?"
She was about to answerer, but just then there was a knock on her door and a man's voice yelled. "A.J.!"
"Shoot!" she whispered. "It's my dad! Quick, get out on the roof!"
There was a shelf of roof beneath her windowsill that made it easy to get from her window to the actual roof of the townhouse, and it was on this piece of roof that Leo hid. There was a place out of sight from the inside of the house where one could stand and not be spotted without actually standing on the roof itself. He pressed himself against the wall, listening to the sounds that were coming from inside her room. He heard the door open, and that same male voice say, "A.J., I thought I heard a boy's voice in here."
"I'm on the phone, Dad!" she snapped.
"Who is it!" the man yelled again.
"It's my friend Josh," she said. He heard her say, as though she really was talking to a friend on the phone, "Hang on Josh. Can I call you back in a minute? Cool. Bye." He heard something click, and her voice again, sour with unwelcome. "What, Dad?"
"Was that your boyfriend?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," she growled. "I haven't had a boyfriend since you told Greg that I wasn't allowed to date and shut the door in his face."
"The child was a no-good bastard: you could tell that a mile off!"
"Oh he was not! Your problem is you blow everything out of proportion. You shouldn't judge people by their appearances."
"Don't tell me what to do, young lady!"
"Oh, so you can tell me how to live my life, but I can't ask you to be civil whenever a friend of mine comes to the door?"
"Watch that attitude, Abigail Jessica Lewis!"
She didn't respond, and he began to rant.
"We feed you, clothe you, and make sure there is a roof over your head, and you treat us like we're the meanest parents in the world! It's our job to take care of you, and you would do well to respect those higher than you! That means no talking back, and doing the things we ask of you! Is that clear?"
"Yes sir," she grumbled.
"Why is your window open?"
"It's hot in here."
There was a silence, and Leo could tell that he didn't believe her.
"No it isn't."
"Well," she faltered. "It is to me."
For a moment, Leo was afraid he was going to come out and look to see why she had her window open, but all he said was, "The temperature's fine. Close it!"
He heard the door slam so hard the house shook under his feet, then A.J. poked her head out the window.
"Hey. Sorry about that. My dad's a mean old bag, and he's been even worse now that I'm back. I swear, he goes out of his way to yell at me."
"He's really that bad?"
"Yep. You'd think he'd be nicer to me after what happened, but oh, no." She shook her head. "I guess he thinks that it's my fault, too."
Leo was horrified.
"But it wasn't your fault. It's not like you have any control over when you get raped or not."
She let him back into her room, and they sat down on her bed again.
"Yeah, I know. But he blames me for everything, and when he's not blaming me, he's blaming David, my little brother. We're pretty used to it now, actually. He never was quite the same after Chase died. He was my father's favorite son, you know, like Helen is his favorite daughter."
"Your parents play favorites?" He had never heard of such a thing before. Master Splinter had always loved him and his brothers equally.
"They shouldn't. Maybe playing favorites isn't the proper way to say it. Chase and Helen were closer to him, while David and I were closer to Mom. After Chase died, he just started losing it. And now that Helen's gone, he doesn't know how to cope. He's lost his favorite kids, while Mom still has hers. Maybe he's jealous of her, and so he takes it out on us, especially me because I look a lot like her. I don't know: he's really weird. I don't get him."
Leo took a moment to silently consider himself very lucky to have Master Splinter as a father.
"Did he really shut the door in your old boyfriend's face?"
She laughed.
"Yep. I shouldn't be laughing, because it wasn't funny at the time, but it is now. That was about a year ago. Greg was the first time I'd dated since my girlfriend died, and my dad got so mad that I'd had the nerve to bring him home that he told him that I couldn't date and slammed the door on him." She paused to take a breath. "That was the last time I brought a boy home. I had another boyfriend after him, but my dad never knew about him." She paused again. "I hated him anyway. He wasn't a very good boyfriend. He ignored me a lot."
Leo felt himself blush as he remembered that was exactly what he'd been doing for the past two weeks. Hopefully, he would be a better boyfriend than those she'd had previously, though.
"Why aren't you allowed to date?"
She shrugged.
"I have no idea. I think my dad thinks I should be asexual or something. But, anyway…"
She stretched her arms and legs out in front of her, touching her toes. Leo took this as a cue to change the subject.
"So, how have you been getting along?"
"Pretty good," she replied, curling back up again. "I got enrolled in school, as you can see." she gestured to the backpack, books and papers on her other bed. "And… drumroll, please…" she said, grinning. "I went to the police station and reported the crime."
Her eyes shone, and Leo's heart seemed to swell as he looked into her glowing face.
"Good for you!" he said, holding his hand up. She slapped it vigorously.
"They say most rapes are never reported. Not this time! I told them everything I told you guys, even the descriptions. I'm gonna make every one of those bastards pay for what they've done to me!"
He smiled at her enthusiasm. She had a face meant to smile, and it was a true blessing not to see it streaked with tears.
"Well, why don't you let us take care of the paying. You did your part in telling the cops about it."
"Yeah."
Suddenly, her face fell for a moment, and there was a flicker of sadness in her gleaming eyes. It was as if something were haunting her in the back of her mind. But then it was gone, and she was smiling again.
"And guess what? I didn't cry this time. It was tough telling them, but at least I didn't cry." Her eyes flashed. "I hope they're good and scared when they find out the cops are onto them."
"If the cops are smart, they won't report to the press what you've told them."
She frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because they want to catch these guys, and they don't want them to know how far along they are in the investigation. If this gets onto the news, there's a good chance that the criminals will see it, and make it harder to catch them."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She was quiet for a minute, thinking about how she had helped the investigation. Leo wondered if he should tell her what he had seen on the news the day before. He decided against it. It would probably upset her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He wanted to see her smile again. Even more, he wanted to see her laugh.
"Are you ticklish?" he asked her.
She looked at him with a shy glitter in her eyes.
"No," she said, but the tone of her voice and the way she was trying hard not to smile told him otherwise. He grabbed her sides, and she let out a squeak.
"Liar!" he cried, tickling harder. She fell out flat on her bed, and he fell with her, his head crashing into her pillow, hers somewhere below it. She squirmed and twisted under his touch, giggling like a little girl, her eyes squeezed shut and her face turning red. Leo had to smile himself as her short little legs kicked at the air and her blankets.
"My dad's gonna hear us," she gasped, and Leo stopped tickling her. They both lay out for a minute, catching their breaths, then Leo's eyes fell on a picture on her nightstand next to her bed. He reached over her and picked it up, sitting up as he did so. She sat up too.
"That's us, about three years ago. That's Helen, that's Chase, me, and David."
Because they were younger, all four kids had hair that was varying shades of blonde. Both Helen and David had a light, almost white color of blonde, but A.J.'s had the beginnings of her flame red, and Chase's was beginning to turn brown. His eyes were brown as well, while Helen's and David's were a pale, ice blue. They all had their arms around each other, smiling as big as they possibly could.
"I think that was one of the few pictures we have where both boys actually smiled. You know, Chase was twelve and David was thirteen, so they were at that age where boys don't smile for anything."
She looked down at her lap, her eyes sad again.
"Your sister Helen's very pretty," he said, his eyes still on the picture.
"She's a knockout," she replied. "She looks even better now, because she's all grown up and she doesn't have an acne problem anymore."
"She can't be prettier than you," he said, turning to her, then he saw the look in her eyes. "What's wrong? Did I say something?"
"No," she said quickly, shaking her head and smiling. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about Chase, that's all. I really miss him."
She took the picture away from him and set it back on the nightstand.
"I wish my family could be like yours. You guys get along, and you don't blame each other for everything."
"We have our problems," said Leo, stretching out onto his stomach.
"You're thinking about Raf," she said, stretching out next to him, pressing her side into his. He nodded.
"There's so much I want to tell him, but I know he wouldn't believe me if I did."
"Like what?"
"Like…how it hurts me to see him like this, and how I wish he would tell me what's wrong, and how much…" he swallowed, choking on the words caught in his throat. "How much he means to me: how much I love him."
Hot tears burned his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He was too old to cry, and she would probably laugh at him if she saw. He turned away, trying to hold them back.
She propped her chin up with one hand and put her arm around his neck, rubbing his shoulder with her hand.
"It's okay," she whispered, rolling over onto her side. "You can cry in front of me."
He sniffed, and tried to pull himself together.
"I should be stronger than this."
"It's the strongest who cry the most," she said. "Come on. Drop the tough guy act. Your brothers may make fun of you, but I won't. And I won't tell anyone about it. Nothing that happens here tonight will leave my room, I promise." She sat up on her knees and pulled his head to her chest. "Come on. You held me, now it's my turn to hold you."
Leo closed his eyes, letting the tears run down his face. He put his arm around her waist and pressed his cheek against the soft pillow of her breasts, listening to the sound of her heartbeat in his ear. Though the pain inside him was great, he tried not to sob, tried to retain at least a little self-control. He could feel her small hands caressing his shell, and he lifted his own to rub her arm. Her skin was cool and smooth beneath his palm, and as the feelings of sadness subsided, another took their place: a strange, hot sort of longing that he had felt before, on that rooftop when he'd first heard her sing, as well as on many nights afterwards when all he could think about was her. But what was it? What was this feeling that he could not identify, but seemed to feel only for her?
At last, there were no more tears to cry.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do," he said, sitting up and wiping his eyes. "I want to help him but…"
"You can't help those who don't want to be helped," she said softly. "If Raf doesn't want your help, then there's nothing you can do. Like I said, give it time. He'll realize his mistake soon enough. One day, he'll figure out just how much you love him, and how important he really is to you. He'll understand, you'll see."
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was no peck, either. She held for a long time, long enough for the feel of her lips to burn themselves into his memory forever. When she finally did draw back, he could still feel them there, his skin tingling as though he'd been shocked.
He stared at her, and she gave him a shy smile. Why he didn't smack her on the lips then and there he would never know. Instead, he pulled her small body into a gentle hug, holding her as softly as he possibly could. She hugged back, only her grip was much tighter than his.
"You always handle me so gently," she said when she pulled away, but she didn't leave his arms.
"I'm scared I'm going to break you," he confessed. "I don't know the first thing about handling girls."
"You won't break me; I'm not a doll."
"I know, but you're so small, and I'm a lot stronger than you are. I'm scared I'll hurt you."
She smiled, and snuggled close to him again.
"You could never hurt me," she said, sliding her arms under his so she could grip his shoulders. "Your strength makes me feel safe, and that's a feeling that, unfortunately, I am a stranger to."
He wrapped his arms around her and leaned close, inhaling the scent of her hair.
"How do you like it so far?"
"I love it. It feels great."
"Well then, on my honor, I vow to familiarize you to this feeling, and I will see to it that it is no longer a stranger to you."
"Hmmm, thanks Leo."
They lay down on the pillow together and spent the night with their faces inches apart, staring into each other's eyes and whispering and giggling about things only young love can understand, secrets unknown to the rest of the world outside.
Now that we're more than halfway through the story, I think now is a good time to sit back and hear your predictions. What do you all think is going to happen? What questions might you have thus far? Do let me know...
