Author's Comments: After logging into my account for the first time in years, I was both ashamed and happy at the comments this story had received. I think an apology doesn't quite cut it but I am motivated to see that right up to 2008 this story is still being read and reviewed. And thank you for that. Thank you so much…
-- CHAPTER 12B --
Irene had thankfully forgone the usual habit of getting out biscuits to go with their cocoa and after nearly an hour of standing leaning against the bench her 'old bones' complained so much she had decided to head back to her own apartment. Madeline felt rude not offering to go into the living room and sit on the couch, but doing so would only have thwarted her agenda of clearing the old woman from her flat.
She did walk Mrs Tomkins to the door, however, and before she managed to shut and lock it the girl had found herself promising to go down to the local precinct the next day to file an official report. Anything just to have Irene leave.
Finally the deadlock clacked shut and Madeline found the chain hanging on its fixture by the threshold, slipping it into the slide on the panel with practiced ease. The young woman then promptly collapsed against the wood, leaning her forehead there and letting out a long exhale…
Two footfalls on her carpet told Madeline that Leon had deemed it safe enough to come out of his retreat. The sound was probably a courtesy for the ninja, but she appreciated it all the same.
Turning, her back still against the door, Madeline smiled for him. Her lips were unsteady and her cheeks flushed: the brush of the wood-grain against her back had reminded her at the most inopportune moment of the last time she had been there…
By the distant glow of the light still on in the kitchen, the turtle could make out her body there in the dark alcove of the doorway. The dimness gave her figure a kind of mystery and sensuality his brain could not quite grasp but nevertheless made his heart start hammering in his ears louder then before.
"Leonardo…" she breathed softly. The sound of it made his blood heat up.
"Who's Warren?" the mutant found himself blurting out.
He saw her move away a half step from the threshold, emerging out onto the edge of the light where it spilled across the floor. Its garish luminance touched the corner of a cheekbone, lit up the fine strands of her hair and showed the crease which formed on her brow.
"….What?" she asked, sounding as puzzled as she looked by the sudden question.
"She mentioned the guy, Warren…" he elaborated, even as some part of his brain was asking him why he wanted to know so badly. "You sounded upset…"
And she had: he heard her. The subject of the 'nice, shy young man's injuries continued for a few minutes, long enough that Leonardo had heard the response from Madeline about sending him a 'get well' card.
And for some reason, he had wanted to give the male another bruise to go with his collection...
Now he watched her replay her own words in her mind, the flitting changes of expression subtle in the dark, but there. When the girl seemed to reach her own conclusion, she wrapped her arms around her body tightly and frowned, shaking her head.
"I was just… I was only being polite." Madeline explained, a defensive edge coming to her voice. She did not like the feeling which had sprung up from no where, as if she was being accused of something. "Leo, what…?"
The change in her tone had an effect on the thoughts running through the turtle's brain. He heard that appealing quality and from there his mind snowballed. In a matter of seconds he was asking himself the question: did Madeline like this Warren? Like him 'that way'?
He felt angry and it frightened him that he didn't know why. Sighing, Leonardo forced the tension out of his body and let the line drop. He should have left when she was finishing her coffee with the elderly neighbor, not stayed around to eavesdrop on her life. Her human life. Above ground.
"I… I'm just going to go home…" he said at last, his shoulders slumping. The turtle crossed the room and began to pass her on his way for the door, adding: "It's probably better I don't come around anymore. It was nice meeting you…"
Madeline went straight-backed like she had been slapped and whirled around on the spot, reaching out to snatch at the air until she caught him by his parka sleeve. He was surprised by her grip, actually stopping short of the door handle to turn and look at her. Back-lit by the kitchen light down the hall, she was little more than a silhouette, but her voice told him everything he needed to know of her expression.
"It was nice meeting me?! Leon, what… what has gotten into you?!" she asked, the words quivering as if she might be close to tears.
Indeed, Madeline was. Hot saltwater had already traced a burning path down her cheek as her mind screamed. What had suddenly gone wrong so very quickly in the past minute that he was about to walk right out of her flat and her life like this? Over an hour ago he had held her close in the rain and when they had come inside…
"Are you angry with me?" she asked, knowing she sounded distressed but unable to stop her throat tightening around the hard lump rising there. "Did I say anything to--?"
"I'm not angry!" Leonardo retorted, his own voice growing heated. He was angry, angry at himself for the tangle of emotions that had decided to constrict his heart inside his chest. Most of all he felt jealous and he felt like an idiot. "I'm just…"
"Just what? Leonardo, please, don't…"
He cut her off with a frustrated sound and then, before either of them had the chance to go on, he kissed her.
Madeline found herself grabbed firmly by her shoulder and pulled tight into his body, hard enough she felt the unyielding warmth of his plastron under the nylon coat. Her breath fled out of her chest, her lips dropping open in a wordless gasp and a second later his mouth was pressed against her own.
The kiss was awkward and rushed at first: Leonardo had bumped his snout against her nose and pursed his lips as much as he was able to. That contact was all that became the gesture until her small hands reached up between them and took his face in her hold. Gently the young woman tilted her head just so, breathing out a heady little noise that made him shiver and then they fit like two pieces of the same puzzle. Her cheek slid against the underside of his curved face and the press of her mouth became perfectly centered exactly where he wanted her.
His lungs demanded breath but the ninja defied the need in favor of the sensation of her lips parting, the tip of her tongue skimming his bottom swell. He needed no further encouragement to deepen the contact and finally, finally he knew what Madeline Breckin tasted like.
Sweet, like the faintest hint of chocolate that still lingered on her. Beneath that was an indescribable palate that he could only call feminine and inviting.
With a whimper Madeline pulled away, gasping and clutching at him. He too fought to regain his breath, wrapping her completely in his arms and burying his face in her dark hair, puffing great heaves of warm air onto her neck.
"Don't leave," she was saying next to his ear. "Please, don't leave."
"I won't." he promised her, not certain his body would even obey the command to let go of her right then.
Leonardo found himself kissing her a second and a third time before he could release her. His brain was positively spinning inside his skull and his lips tingled to the point it was unbearable. He could have done it again and again too, the swordmaster knew and it was that fact which forced him to break his promise in a sense, to leave for the brother's lair.
He told her he would come back tomorrow night --and damn what the rest of them thought about that-- asking her if she needed anything. The question sparked off a blush to her pale face that nearly made him shut the window and come back inside. Madeline assured him she would be alright and that she would wait for him to return. She did kiss him goodnight, but this time on his cheek. It felt so different to the brush of her lips that morning in the dojo, making a jolt of sensation spark through him.
Grinning, he shut the pane behind him and felt like shouting a cry the entire city would hear!
