Author's comments: Ohmigosh! So many reviews! How am I going to name everyone in this little blurb? Well, you all seemed to love chapters 5 or 6 or both! Heh, I must be doing something right! Woohoo! And even the ever- eagled eye Reinbeauchaser could not fault it! I have peaked! [does happy dance] Oh dear, does anyone have a straw to let some of this hot air out of my head now? Prepare4trouble, you mentioned the chapters are too short? Well as I've been writing I kind of noticed that myself. The first was simply short in itself and to keep them all about the same I stayed within the 4 to 4 and a half page limit per chapter. Though I might be able to sneak a page in at a time until I have you all reading 12 page long chapters! Mwahaha! Then my plan for world domination shall be complete!

achem

Disclaimer: I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any names, characters, places or events therein covered by the copyright. My only claim to this is my OC 'Madeline'. (See comment above Disclaimer in chapter 1 for why not to sue me)

-- CHAPTER 7 --

Bless the lord for hot cocoa. It was creamy, smooth and sweet, driving away the aftershocks of her nasty fright. Her hands still trembled when she took them away from their fettered grip wrapped tightly around the mug. But no one had said anything of it, so Madeline assumed it may have simply still been in her head.

Another of Leo's brothers, this one called 'Raphael', had offered her coffee instead of cocoa. But she had politely explained that she didn't drink the high caffine substance, nor alcohol. 'Raph' as he had told her to call him, had made some disgusted noise and muttered something about 'that being no ----ing fun'. To which a loud SMACK!, followed by a grunt had sounded, when Leonardo told him to watch his manners.

Someone had brought a blanket from the bed in what she now knew to be Leonardo's room, and draped it around her shoulders. She felt horribly guilty for kicking him out of his domain, but when she had tried to apologize, Leo would hear none of it.

As trivial things were put out of the way, the old wizened voice of Master Splinter, their somewhat surrogate father and mentor, had called about more important discussions. Patiently, and clearly, the old rat --she still found it quite unbelievable she was sitting there listening to a rat talk-- had explained just how they all came to be. Leonardo's other brother, the aforementioned 'Donnie' or Donatello as he properly introduced himself, had interjected when the subject of the mysterious ooze and TGRI company came up. Splinter let him, and it soon became apparent Donatello was a very intelligent mutant; his vocabulary contained words Madeline had never even considered to be listed in the dictionary.

Next, Michaelangelo, who didn't seem to hold a grudge at all once his arm had been bandaged up, added in extreme abstract terms, just what it was they did night after night in the shadows of New York city. Helping the helpless, rescuing 'hot babes' and giving the bad guys a good kick in the--

"You get the idea?" Leonardo quickly cut his younger sibling off in an attempt to prevent more cussing in the lady's presence.

"I think so...." Madeline murmured quietly. She clenched and unclenched her hands cupped tightly against the cooling ceramic of the mug and thought a moment to find the right word. "You're ....turtle/human hybrid vigilantes trained in the use of martial arts ....and you have a fetish for pizza..."

She couldn't believe she had just said that, and let out a shaky exhale.

"Yeah, uh, except you forgot 'handsome'..." Mikey snickered.

That made her smile, despite the situation. "Oh, I'm very sorry... HANDSOME turtle/human hybrid vigilantes trained in the use of martial arts who have a fetish for pizza..."

The tension in the air cleared significantly with her light humour. Someone gave a dry chuckle, she thought it was Splinter, but couldn't be certain.

"Yeah!" the youngest of the brothers whooped, "Y'hear THAT, huh?! She thinks I'm HANDSOME! --- ow..."

His short sound of pain, obviously caused by the drastic movements she could hear him thrashing around, was enough to return Madeline's guilt and make her wince. "Michael... I'm very sorry... about your arm... "she apologized for the second time.

"Nyah, don't sweat it!" he snorted. "It didn't hurt."

"You're full of it." Raph's gruff voice retorted from somewhere behind her. "You were crying like a little bitch... Heh heh."

"Say it again, pecker-head!" Mikey yelped, the scraping sound of a chair being pushed back quickly punctuating his threat.

"Guys!" Leo tried in vain to stop the impending fight. "Knock it off! We've got company..."

To which Raphael gave no notice and continued to torment his younger brother by making typical crying baby sounds such as 'waaaahhh' and 'boo hoo'.

"You're dead!" came the shriek before she felt something rush by her shoulder, followed by a hard THUMP like someone rolling off a couch. The various sounds of grunting and fists on flesh ensued as Raphael and Michaelangelo obviously tussled. Donatello left the table, his voice growing fainter as he drew closer to the pair in an effort to break them up.

"Come on, you two..."

"Hmph, kids...." was all Master Splinter grumbled as he slowly got up, his feet scraping over the concrete floor as the chair was pushed back. The retreating tap...tap...tap of his walking stick told her the old rat was leaving. She sat there, wondering how he could just turn his back on the fight like that; wasn't he supposed to be their father figure?

"Wait, where is he going?" Madeline asked, not sure there was anyone left at the table to hear her question. "What if they hurt each other?"

"Sensei prefers to let us work out our own differences." came Leonardo's soothing baritone just above her head-- sometime during the fuss he had gotten up and placed himself directly behind her chair as if ready to pull it out for her when she got up. The eldest of the unique brotherhood was nothing less then a gentleman far more mature then his adolescent age. Already, the young woman was beginning to find it a nice quality.

"Well I suppose you're all old enough to take responsibility for your own actions..." Madeline mused aloud, craning her head back to lift her face upward. Her head bumped against the back of something hard, but warm, which she assumed was Leo's chest. It was firmer then muscle could ever be, like armour, and now that she had been informed of what they were, the fact made her more curious then afraid to discover exactly what the anatomy of a bipedal turtle was like.

Carefully, timidly, she turned her head to the side to press her cheek against him. Leonardo didn't seem to move, nor back away, so she took it to mean he didn't mind. Rubbing the sensitive skin of her face against the smooth, enamel-like surface, she felt the bumps and ridges to it just like the plastron of a normal turtle. But it wasn't cool and slimy as she thought it might be, instead it was dry and warm as her own flesh; she was very surprised to find she could hear the drumbeat of his heart through the shell. It was also beating rapidly.

A pair of large hands settled on her shoulders, engulfing the entire curve in their touch from the deltoid to the collar-bone. Gently they squeezed, and just the sensation where her body was the most tense made her legs relax bonelessly.

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Leonardo felt her body slump with just a simple squeeze to the shoulders, and at first he worried perhaps he might had hurt her: pinched a nerve or something? After all, his hands had been trained to automatically seek out points on an opponents body to immobilize them almost on muscle memory reflex.

But when he leant forward a little to peek at her expression, her lips were turned up at the corners in a small, content smile, and her chest rose and fell with deep, calm breaths. She seemed to be enjoying it. He had never given a girl a massage before-- sure he worked the kinks out of his sore muscles every day after training-- but never before had he actually experienced soft, supple flesh under his hands or had the pleasure of feeling her lean her head back just below his chest like that.

There was something intimate enough about it all to make him nervous about trying it infront of everyone. Not matter how much he wanted to let his hands roam and discover what she felt like in other places.

"Yeah, we've got to handle our own problems..." he replied finally, slipping his hands away and taking a large step back from her chair. She shifted in her seat a little to turn part way, her unfocused gaze flitting around as if searching for the sound of his voice.

A look of disappointment flashed across her pale face when she realized he wasn't going to continue, which was enough to make him feel guilty.

Turning away, hiding her from his view, he found all three of his brothers now engaged in the Rumble Royale taking place infront of the television: not one of them had noticed the moment which had passed between the two.

Leonardo at least, found that to be a small blessing as he left her sitting at the table to go break it up.

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Update ahoy! I hope I haven't let anyone down with that chapter. Thought it might be about time to develop something between the two since this IS a romance fiction after all! And look! It's only taken me 6 chapters of procrastinating to do it in!