When Raphael burst through the door the turtle pinning Jacquelyn to the wall released her and took a step away. The woman fell to the floor, coughing and rubbing her throat as she tried to breathe again. Raphael crossed the room and glared down at the smaller turtle. "You don't ever touch her." He breathed, barely loud enough for anyone but him to hear. "It's because of her that you are alive. Now, sit your ass down." He snapped as he pointed to the table.
As the turtle obeyed, Raphael hunched down in front of Jack and tilted her chin up gently. He frowned at the bruises he saw forming on her fair skin. "You gonna be okay?" He asked softly.
"It's not that bad." She coughed, and tried to smile, but Raphael could see it hurt, and he just hoped there was no long term damage done to her neck. Gently taking her arms he helped her to her feet before turning and facing the turtle and his brothers.
"You. You will sit here and let him fix your injuries. Do you understand?" He bit of the words as he glared at the turtle sitting on the table.
The one on the table nodded, a hint of fear in his eyes.
Raphael swallowed down a frustrated growl before he walked over to the table and leaned on it beside him. "You aren't doing a good job with first impressions." He pointed around the room. "Mikey. Don. Shadow. Jack. Raph. I'm in charge of you so try not to piss me off." He turned back towards Jack but glanced towards the purple wearing one. "Let me know when he's patched up. I'll… come back when I'm not ready to deck him."
"Good call." Donnie snorted.
Raphael escorted Jacquelyn out of the lab and towards the kitchen. He flicked on the lights and gestured towards the table for her to sit. With his back to her, he frowned, angry at himself for leaving her alone with their unknown guest. "I'm sorry." He mumbled as he reached around and tried to find the pot to make some tea. "I shouldn't have left you alone in there."
She shook her head. "It's not your fault. You didn't know he was going to wake up and do that."
"I should have." He dropped a cup and it shattered on the counter and floor. Raphael swore.
Getting to her feet, Jacquelyn knelt down and started to pick up the pieces of broken glass. "You put a lot of pressure on yourself."
He shrugged as he helped pick up the broken cup. When a piece sliced his finger, he just sighed and ignored it. Rolling her eyes, Jacquelyn grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. After discarding all the broken glass they had collected, she put his hand under the faucet and ran some warm water over the fresh cut. Delicate pale fingers hand to pull a sliver of glass from the cut before she smiled up at him.
"Another scar for you." She grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around his finger, holding pressure on it.
"Thanks." He mumbled, still mad at himself, she was still able to do something for him when he couldn't do anything for her.
"So what do you plan on doing with him?" Jacquelyn asked about the other turtle. "I mean… What exactly is going to happen with him now I guess…"
Raphael rubbed the back of his head and glanced around. "Well I was planning on training him like my father trained us. We used to train for hours a day… it was our life. Our father lived and breathed the ancient ways."
"You miss him." Jack smiled softly, she could see it, and hear it clear as day in the way he spoke.
"We all do. When Master Splinter died, we all just… we all kinda lost it. I mean, he wasn't killed, he was just old. We fell apart instead of coming together. As a family we have been through so much shi-" He stopped himself. "Stuff. I just… I really think that if we have someone to train, someone that we can all focus on and pour our time into… We might start acting like a family again." He pulled her hand away and looked at the cut. It had stopped bleeding so He set the towel aside and pulled his hands away from the woman awkwardly. "We need to set up a room for him though…" He moved around to the other side of the table and picked up Jack's thing's. Motioning with his head he got her to follow him.
He led her towards the other side of what had become their home. Passing a few doors he commented. "That's Mikey's room. Leo's room. That's the meditation room. The training room. Laundry and storage is at the end of the hall. Bathroom is to the left. And this is my room." He pushed the door open with his foot and led the way inside.
Jacquelyn took a look around as she was given a brief tour of the place. But once inside Raph's room she looked around the most. It wasn't really decorated. Just a simple night stand under a mirror on a wall, a hammock hanging against the opposing wall. She could see a few patched holes here and there from his undoubted temper flares. A few dumb bells sat in the corner at the bottom of a coat rack that held a trench coat and a hat. She was surprised to see the few articles of clothing. But it had a nice feel to the room, it definitely suited him. Even though it was his room, he still didn't want to show too much of himself in it.
"You can stay in here."
"W-what?" She stuttered, caught off guard by his comments as he set her bags down beside his weights.
His features flushed some as he took his weapons off and set them on his night stand. "I'm not going to make you stay on the couch while we sort out people's sleeping arrangements." Not to mention Mikey is up playing those stupid games at all hours. He thought. "So you can stay in here, I'll sleep out there with the new kid till we get his room added and… whatever."
Jack shook her head, blonde hair swishing about her face. "No I can't just take your room from you." Her features were red as she looked up at the Turtle that almost towered over her.
"You are not sleeping on the couch." Raph said with a note of finality. "I'm not having that." He folded his arms across his chest waiting for her to just concede and agree with him.
Instead Jacquelyn put her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm not going to take your room away from you." She couldn't help the smile that was trying to come onto her playfully stern face.
After they stared at each other for a few long moments Raph snorted, unsure of what to do.
"Look, I have that mattress in my van. If you don't want me sleeping in the living room I can throw my mattress in the corner of your room and just sleep there."
That mattress was a piece of crap, Raphael knew it. But if it would get this argument to end for now he'd agree. Then he could work on her actually getting a good place to sleep. "Fine." He turned towards the door. "If you want to take some of your clothes and toss them into the washer while I get your mattress, you can. We only ever use it for blankets and stuff… sometimes Shadow's clothes so there shouldn't be anything in there."
"Okay, thanks." She gave him a smile before he left.
Raphael left her alone and went back through the home towards where he had left the van. After pulling the door open and grabbing the side of the thin mattress he frowned. It was old, and the springs were poking through in some spots. It wasn't really all the good for sleeping on, or good for keeping in fact. It should have been in the trash. Raph wasn't a fan of Mattresses to begin with, hence the hammock, but this, this was just terrible. Still though, he carried it inside and back towards his room.
He froze when he pushed the door open though. Kneeling on the floor in front of her bags, Jack was sitting there with her back to him, topless. She had taken off her dirty shirt to add to the small pile of things that needed to be washed.
Before she noticed he was standing there, Raphael caught a glimpse of the scar across her shoulder and the fresh bruises, as well as the small butterfly tattoo on her lower hip.
The mattress slipped from his hands and thunked to the floor as his face burned a bright red. Jack glanced over her shoulder, wide eyed. "Crap!" She grabbed the closest article of clothing and held it up over her black bra to try and cover herself. "I… I-I didn't hear you come in." She quickly scrounged around for another shirt and pulled it on before turning around to face him.
Raph didn't look her in the face, instead he looked down at his feet. "I uh, I didn't mean to uh…. Walk in while you…." He swallowed hard. "I'm… I'm sorry."
Her face was flushed, clearly embarrassed, but she was smiling. "No harm done. I know you didn't mean it." She tucked her long hair behind her ears as she moved to help him with the mattress.
For now Raphael stayed silent and let her just help him as they positioned the mattress against the wall in the corner of the room he used to use to exercise when he couldn't sleep.
"Perfect!" She beamed up at Raph. "Now I'm going to go put the rest of this stuff in the wash."
He nodded. "I'm going to go check on our guest." He needed to, but more than that he wanted to distract himself. Not only from the image of her half naked body, but, from the marks and scars on it. He had to shake the image from his mind as he walked down the hall and headed towards the lab on the other side of their home.
Crossing the living room he wasn't surprised to find Mikey and Shadow playing games once more. He paused. "Mike, you are in charge of dinner."
"Dinner? Are you serious?" Mikey paused the game and looked back at him as he crossed behind the couch.
"Yes I'm serious. We have two new mouths to feed and I'm not sure when the last time they ate was." When he saw the unsure look on his brother's face he rolled his eyes. "You can order pizza, just make sure there is enough and that it gets done."
There was a small noise of triumph as Raph disappeared into the lab. The other turtle was lying down, until Raph came in. Sitting up the turtle looked at him, hanging his head a bit. Donatello was checking out something under a microscope, he didn't look up when his brother entered.
"You done freaking out?" Raph snorted.
The other nodded.
"Good." He leaned against a counter and looked him over. He had a few bandages around injuries and an IV in one arm. "You remember a name yet?"
This time a shake.
Raphael ran a hand over his face. He and his brothers had all been named after renaissance artists. The only other one he could really remember was Antonello. "Well, until you do, you're gonna be Antonello. Just like the rest of us, it's a renaissance artist. Something our dad was big on." He shrugged. "As soon as Donnie here gives the 'ok' you are going to start training."
"Traingin for what?" He asked.
"Survival." Raphael said simply. "And inner peace and discipline, and that kind of stuff. If you haven't noticed, we are giant frickin' turtles. We aren't exactly normal. We tend to have problems so we are always prepared."
The other turtle swallowed hard.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine kid. We won't let anything happen to ya."
There was a small knock on the door that took the attention of all three. Jack stepped in with a nervous smile. "Sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting." She gave Antonello a small wave before stepping up next to Raph. "I couldn't help but notice how our new friend here is kind of… naked."
All three boys looked at him and then down at themselves. "Uh… we don't really wear clothes if you hadn't noticed." Raph informed her.
She shook her head with a grin and reached up and tugged on his mask. "Uh, yeah you do." Her splinted hand held up a thing strip of yellow fabric. "I found this in my suit case. After making some alterations I thought it'd make him feel a bit more at home."
Raph took the new mask from her, letting his fingers brush against hers as he picked it up. He looked from the mask to the new turtle and then back. Then he tied the mask around his own belt. "You are going to earn this mask. Just like we had to."
Donnie cleared his throat. "Raph he can't do anything for at least another day. And even then, he won't be able to do your work outs." He came over and checked on his guests drip. "Antonello here is dehydrated and has quite a few bumps and bruises. The sprained ankle is what will affect the training the most though."
Grunting Raph turned away. "Well that gives me a few more days to sort out a room for him."
Jacquelyn looked around at the boys and then followed Raphael out. She yawned as she met him behind the sofa in the living room. Raphael was annoyed with his little brother when he discovered there wasn't any dinner.
"Dude, it's like one in the morning, no one's going to deliver anymore." Mikey told him. "Food will have to wait till the morning."
Raph grumbled but when he heard Jack yawning he sighed and put a hand on her back gently. "Why don't you head to bed." He started to usher her back towards the bed room, removing his hand from her shoulder blades. But the contact brought with it the thoughts of the skin he had glimpsed earlier. Once she was inside his room he couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Jacquelyn, I have to know…" He gently stopped her. One hand hesitantly tugged up the back of her shirt, revealing the scars and bruises on her back for him to really look at.
The woman pulled away, pulling her shirt down. Face an extreme red, she didn't look at him as she turned to face him. "You shouldn't do that you know."
"What happened to you?" He asked her. "Really. Where did the splint come from, the scars, the bruises… "
He watched her take a deep shaky breath. "Please Raphael. Please, don't ask me that." Her eyes were closed a moment as she tried to fight back some painful memory.
Raphael reached for her hand, trying his best to be comforting, but she pulled away. He saw a tear drip down her cheek. For the first time since meeting her, it looked like she was scared of him. The sight sent a sharp pain through his chest. He couldn't rationalize the feeling. She wasn't the first person to be afraid of him, but seeing her recoil hurt more than most. "Jacquelyn, come on." He took a small step towards her, his big hand slowly moving up to wipe the tear off her face.
The tension in his muscles eased when she leaned into his hand, her own small ones reaching up to grasp his. "I'm sorry, It's not a nice story." She tried to give him a smile. "It's not a very nice thing to talk about and… It tends to scare people away."
Raphael could see her shoulder's shuddering. "You can trust me. I am not going anywhere." His clumsy hand moved and brushed her hair out of her face, er, tried to unsuccessfully.
The woman half laughed as she fixed her hair herself and looked up at him, face wet. "Alright, but I warned you."