Author's comments: I'm back in the swing of it and have everything set out. I put my entire plot into storyboard form last night actually, in a few rough sketches, which usually helps my thinking process. So expect the updates to run more smoothly now. And should I ever neglect a fan fiction like that again, feel free to strangle me with a wet noodle! And I'm so pleased most of you reviewed and liked the new chapter, I was a little dubious as to if I had lost the feel of the whole thing after so long.

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 9 --

After Leonardo had showered the sweat from his skin and removed his pads, the turtle was sitting around the card table out on the platform dressed in only his blue bandana.

Across from him, Michelangelo was discussing the Devil Bear episode of Scooby Doo that Madeline had apparently missed to the woman excitedly. His hands were waving around illustrating certain points of the retelling as if the younger brother had forgotten somewhere along the line he was talking to a blind girl…

Maddy didn't seem to mind, however, a smile on her face so sincere and happy that he almost wanted to change his mind about that kiss. Sitting there, her elbows resting gently on the edge of the tabletop and her pale hands wrapped around a mug of cocoa, she wasn't doing anything extraordinary. She didn't look any different to the hundreds of other girls he'd seen cluttering the cafes up in the streets. And yet, at the same time, Leo couldn't explain why she was suddenly so very different from all of them. He didn't have a reason for why he now found himself noticing the fine mahogany highlights in her dark hair or that small dimple which formed on the left side of her chin when she laughed at his brother.

"And then Shaggy and Scooby were all, like, 'zoinks!' and went running down this tunnel, right? So then this trap door comes out of no where and they both go falling down this really cool slide which just went 'round and 'round and round'…" Mikey coiled his left finger in circles in the air so fast it was a blur, tracing a tight spiral down onto the tabletop. "Then, bang! They both land right on top this fake bear costume! And--…."

The sound of footsteps descending the metal ladder across the station drew the turtle's attention from the antics. He lifted his head and watched as first the hem of the beaten trench coat came into view, and then the pair of green legs beneath it, Raphael coming down onto the platform first.

Leonardo's first thought was one of true elder brother fashion as he flicked a glance at the display of the VCR over the back of the couch and noted the time. The pair had been gone for over five hours! And he had no doubt that Master Splinter would remind them of that absence sternly when he emerged from his den…

Getting up from the table as smoothly as he could, taking care not to scrape the chair or disturb his brother and Madeline's fun, Leonardo stalked his way across the station and up the small flight of stairs to meet his two siblings on their way down to the platform. He crossed his arms over his chest for good measure. "What happened to you two? Did you go to Queens for pizza or something?"

Donatello shifted inside the bulky parka swaddling his body and shell, which drew Leo's attention to a large bulge protruding from under his left arm. Meeting the dark eyes framed by the purple cloth he didn't like the secret which hid there in the other's grim glance.

"…. Leo…. We have to talk, man…" Donny announced promptly, and the conspiratorial hush of his voice only confirmed his brother's fears.

At his side, Raphael shot a glance over Leonardo's shoulder as if to check the conversation was still running smoothly back at the table before latching a grip around his arm which was not to be debated. Together, Don and Raph dragged their brother the first few yards towards the alcove behind the ladder. That was until the fellow ninja had enough of the treatment and broke free of their hold with an exasperated sound. He didn't like the way his brothers had penned him into the shadowed recess, their backs to the stairs and platform, faces somehow alien in the dark.

"What the shell's going on, guys?" he snapped, rattled and masking his fear with anger.

In retort, Donatello pulled a stack of bright pink papers from under the parka-- the wad was as thick as his fist-- and shoved them, all of them, against Leo's plastron ungently.

Most of the papers spilled down around his feet with the dry rasp of parchment before the elder got enough wits about him to grab at a few, clutching them in his hands tightly as he lifted one up to look at it.

The first thing that struck him was the black and white photograph, grainy and a little blurred, standing out in stark contrast against the pink flyer. It was the face of that same young woman who had kissed his cheek this morning. The smiling likeness frozen in a moment out of time which reached into his chest and wrapped merciless claws of horror around his heart, tearing it right out of his chest and onto the floor…

"Madeline…..?" Somewhere in the back of his brain, Leo noticed his voice wasn't steady, but right then, he didn't exactly care either.

"We walked ten blocks collecting those things… They're plastered on every shop front and street light from Central Park to the 57th subway…" Raph growled, his voice hard and clear.

Every page was the same identical copy spat out by some machine, the words at the top of the page big and bold. Madeline's picture was directly under it with a brief, computer-font paragraph beneath and a phone number highlighted by italics at the bottom. It said:

MISSING

Madeline Breckin

20yrs, 5'7ft tall, long dark brown hair, pale complexion, blind.

Last seen wearing dark blue jeans, white t-shirt and navy

corduroy jacket, carrying a white cane. Disappeared in the area

of Central Park, 28/09/05.

Anyone with any information please phone 957-632-811.

Leonardo felt a coolness trickle into his mind, seeming to creep from the back of his skull until it had numbed his thoughts and he was left standing in his brother's shadows holding the paper with nerveless hands.

"She belongs to someone up there, man… She's got to go back," Don was saying in a tone too rational for him right then.

The turtle tore the flyer in his hold in half and then once more out of pure spite and dumped the pieces on the floor with the rest. The sound of the paper shredding was damning and mirrored the feeling suddenly cutting up his chest. It made Raphael glare at his sibling, a long hard glare, and his scrutiny saw deeper into Leonardo in that moment than he had ever understood his brother…

"…. She's not some damn stray puppy we can just bring home and keep, Leo…" he hissed, clapping a hard grip down on the other's shoulder. "Those posters are just the start: sooner or later the cops are gonna come into it and I'm not gonna risk 'em comin' down here looking for some missin' blind chick."

To both their surprises, Leonardo's hand swept away the hold a little too aggressively and the oldest mutant turtle pushed past them, stalking between their bodies forcefully, out of the alcove. The set of his shoulders was rigid. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides as he paused at the top of the stairs, by the ladder…

Below on the platform, Mikey had finally reached the punch line of his story, and the girl let out a laugh which bounced off the high ceilings of the dilapidated subway, as carefree as a bird's song. The sound made that lump lodged in his chest throb.

"I know, okay?……. I know…."

Oh, no, could the spark between Leo and Maddy be snuffed out before it even has a chance to kindle? (That was poetic, wasn't it?) Who put up the missing posters? What's Madeline going to say when the boys tell her? And who's going to watch Scooby Doo with Mikey if she goes home! You'll just have to wait until the next chapter!