Raphael slowly opened his eye in the morning, grumbling to himself as he tried to stretch his achy muscles. This mattress was not nice to sleep on. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes Raphael looked over at the hammock. When it was empty his heart about stopped. Instantly on his feet he rushed over.
"Jacquelyn?" He asked to the empty room, picking the blanket he felt an odd sting he didn't recognize surging into his chest. Was that… Panic? Rushing out of his bedroom he grabbed his sai and headed towards the main room of his home to gather his brothers and their new turtle guest. They needed to find her!
But the sight that greeted his eyes froze Raphael in his tracks. Mikey and Donatello were sitting at the dining table beside Antonello eating a proper breakfast from actual dishware on a set table. Shadow was clean, her hair brushed and a new outfit on her as she climbed on top of Donnie's lap.
Mikey looked over when he heard Raph approach. "Dude! I don't know where you found this chick, but can we keep her?" He laughed, he had asked the same thing when they first met April.
Hearing the refrigerator door close, Raphael's eye looked across the room to find Jack moving about the kitchen and pulling fresh drinks out for the boys. She smiled across the room at him and he felt that panic vanish.
"I was wondering when you would wake up." She nodded to the last empty seat. "I'll get you a plate."
Almost cautiously, Raphael sat down as she put a plate of eggs and bacon before him. "What is all this?" He asked softly.
She grinned. "It's breakfast, silly." She got him a glass but paused. "Milk or orange juice?"
"Orange Juice." Raph picked up a fork and looked down at his plate and then around at the table at the other people all eating to their heart's content. He took a bite as she set the glass down, surprised something that good could come from their kitchen. But about half way through his plate he realized there was nowhere for the woman to sit and eat. Abruptly standing, the rest of the group paused in their meal, Jack paused in her half cooking, half cleaning of the kitchen, to stare at him. "Have you eaten?" His eye was set on her.
Everyone else's' gaze followed, expecting an answer.
Her face turned red under the pressure. "Well I… No, I haven't."
Clearing his plate away and moving from his spot he pointed. "Sit." He left little room to argue and the woman obeyed. Setting his things aside, Raphael grabbed a plate, made sure it was clean and set it before her and added food to it. Only then did he start to eat again as he leaned against the counter. Jacquelyn stared down at the plate before her as the others started to eat once more. She poked at the yellow substance, frowning a bit before she took a small bite. Raphael watched her, concerned as she ate unusually slowly, her bites abnormally small.
For the moment he wouldn't say anything, but he wasn't going to ignore it. The family members at the table scarfed down their breakfast. Mikey and Shadow jumped to their feet to rush off towards the couch.
"Ah! You two!" Jack's voice stopped the room. The two culprits frozen mid-stride. "Plates in the sink." They turned around and willingly obeyed, much to Donnie and Raphael's surprise.
"Wow. I've never seen someone have such instant control over him." Donatello looked at the woman. "Good for you. He just may have some hope yet." He excused himself and deposited his own dish into the sink before returning to his room.
With seats empty now, Raph sat down beside Jacquelyn. He glanced at her once before looking across the table at Antonello. The younger turtle still had a few bandages strapped to him, and Raphael could see him favoring his weak hand rather than his strong hand. He grunted. "Take another few days to rest up. You are going to need it before we start."
Antonello nodded before he pushed himself to his feet and limped over to the sink before heading over towards Donatello's door.
"Ant! Come play with us!" Shadow waved him over towards the couch.
"Hold on!" He waved a hand before disappearing into Donnie's room, for more meds most likely.
With the others gone Raph turned back to the girl at his side still poking at her food. "Not hungry?" He asked before he shoved another bite in his own mouth.
She shrugged. "I'm starving… I just can't eat. Not a lot anyway."
Raphael paused and shifted in his seat to face her. Setting his fork down, he propped his head up. "Why exactly, can't you eat the perfectly good eggs and bacon you've made us?"
Bright eyes looked up at him. "I haven't eaten real food in over a week." She admitted.
He nearly choked on the orange juice he was trying to drink. "What?" He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "How could you not have eaten in over a week?" He pursed his lips together, trying not to get angry with her, but it was frustrating. She had starved herself? For what reason?! He let out a long breath and looked at her, trying to let the tension ease from the tight muscles in his shoulders.
Jack recoiled a bit, easily seeing the near anger in his face. "I… I couldn't help it!" She tried to explain. "I would see these kids in the shelters or on the streets… and what little money I did have I'd spend on them, or I'd end up giving all my food away to them." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "I used my last few bucks on gas to get us up here. The tank's empty now and I'm out of cash so… I'm pretty much stuck." She shrugged.
Raphael sighed and shook his head. "You aren't stuck." He reached over and put a hand on hers for a moment before he pulled his back. "We are going to take care of you, don't worry. And… Take your time with the uh… food thing. That's one problem, I'm not really sure how to deal with." He admitted, color tinting his cheeks.
The woman smiled. "Thanks." She said softly.
"You don't have to be so nervous. You did good this morning with the whole breakfast thing, but don't feel like you have to do that all the time. We don't expect you to do that… or anything really." He pushed himself to his feet and took his plate to the sink. "I have some things I need to do and then… well, feel free to just do whatever you want. Explore the house, hang out, or something." He stopped. "Just don't leave." He said a bit sharply. Honestly, he was scared for the woman if she was to leave. Who knew when the Shreader was going to return and if he did, Raph didn't want Jacquelyn to get hurt.
She took another bite and slowly nodded. "Okay." Her brow was creased, a bit concerned by his stipulation but she said nothing.
Raphael nodded and left, glancing once at the living room where Antonello had joined Shadow and Mikey on the sofa to play their video games. The trio was hooting and hollering at the screen and yelling at one another as they played and Raph disappeared down the hall. He went to the very last door and carefully slid open the old Japanese style entry before stepping inside. He took a deep nervous breath and slid the door closed behind him.
The room was dark, small, on the wall opposite him hung two small rice paper scrolls in a mirror of Japanese art. One was simply a few kanji written down the length of paper that read Hamato Yoshi. The other piece of paper was an artistic rendition of Master Splinter that April had drawn after the rat had passed away. A small table, low to the floor was under the hanging scrolls, atop it sat a small tray and a long stick of incense.
Kneeling down, Raphael pulled off his mask and laid it beside his legs as he leaned over and struck a match to light the incense. As the small orange light died and the thin trail of smoke twisted up into the air Raphael closed his eyes and hung his head. Fists clenched on his knees as his nostrils flared. "Master Splinter… I know… I know Leo is normally the one that does this, the one that come to you and talks and asks for things. But I… I don't know what I am doing right now. I just..." He ran a hand over his face. "I feel like a kid again. I'm lost and confused and I just want to do what's right. You always said to do what was right… But i…"He beat his hand against his head. "I always just act, jump in feet first, I never think. That's Leo's job but he's not here. All I want to do is make you proud." Raph nodded and grabbed his mask. "I will make you proud dad." He sat there silently for a long moment, memories of long ago conversations with the rat coming back to his mind. His eyes burned and he felt his chest ache as his grip on the mask in his hand tightened. "I know I've always tried to face things on my own. I don't like seeking help, but… Our family is breaking. I can't let our family fall apart and do nothing. It means everything to me. I just hope I don't screw this up." Grabbing the stick of incense he snuffed it out on the plate and stood before exiting the small room.
He could hear the water running in the kitchen and when he rounded the corner he wasn't surprised to find Jacquelyn standing at the sink doing the dishes. The trio was still on the couch and that could only leave Donnie to be in his room. Walking over to the couch Raphael smacked his little brother on the back of the head. "Mike, come 'ere."
"Ow!" Mikey grabbed his head as he looked up at his brother. "What gives?" He rubbed the lump forming on his skull.
Raph yanked the controller from his hand and tossed it to Antonello. "I need your help with something." He glanced at the child. "Entertain the new guy Babyface." He mussed up her hair before smacking Mikey once more.
"Yes sir!" "Ouch! Okay!" Shadow and Michelangelo rang out in unison.
The brothers walked down one of the halls in their home that led to just some closet space and Raphael stopped. He scratched his head and then put his hand against the wall feeling along the cold bricks and cinder blocks.
"What are you doing?" Mikey asked with a pout.
"The damn house is too small. We need more rooms." He grunted as started to get frustrated, unable to think of how to construct the actual rooms. "Fuck." He punched the wall, scrapping skin off his knuckles and cracking some of the bricks.
"Is there a reason you are destroying the wall?"
Raphael whipped around and looked at his other brother. "Donnie… I uh. We need to make more rooms." He blurted.
"Of course we do. But you can't punch your way to them." He waved them over to his room where he already had the floor plans for their home laid out on his table. The tech-head started spitting out words Raphael barely comprehended. Things about where they needed to knock down a wall, build new ones, construct another bathroom potentially, gather materials, and get more furniture. By the time Raphael and Mikey were done with their barrage of questions and they had an actual game plan down, it was well into the evening.
As the three walked out into the living room Raphael barked out the last order. "Alright, you guys go get the materials from the surface, I'll start knocking things down."
Donnie and Mike looked at one another. It wasn't like him to give up the chance to go top side but they shrugged and grabbed their weapons before soundlessly slipping out. Turning to the room, Raphael found Ant and Shadow still at their game but Jack was nowhere to be found. He walked over to the couch, about to say something but shut his mouth instead. Across the room on the love seat he saw the woman curled up on her side, sleeping. Crossing the room Raphael stared down at her for a moment before he carefully scooped her up into his solid green arms. Jacquelyn didn't stir as she turned into the mutant turtle, curling into him as he carried her down the hall. Raphael swallowed hard as he felt heat creeping up his neck and face while the sleeping woman moved in his grip. He tried not to make his hold on her seem like it was anything but him trying to be helpful. Nudging his bedroom door open with his foot he walked in the dark and easily found his hammock. Laying her down with care he pulled the sheet up over her and turned to leave.
A small hand found his and stopped him.
"Where are you going?" Her small sleepy voice asked as she rubbed at her eyes with her free hand.
Raphael closed his eye for a moment and tried to fight the heat that he couldn't stop from spreading through his chest. Turning he looked back down at her. "I'm going to fix the place up. Get you and the kid rooms."
She yawned. "I don't need a room. I like it here." She mumbled.
That made his heart nearly stop. He looked at her and blinked a few times, his mouth going dry. It was nice that she liked staying with him, he liked hearing that. But… "I don't uh, want you to feel trapped in here. I'll make you a room. And you can use it if you want. If not, that's up to you."
Her hand slipped off of his as she started to drift back to sleep. "I don't feel trapped with you. I like being…"
He stood there, waiting for her to say something else but she was already asleep. Sighing, Raphael lifted her hand and put it under the blanket before walking out of his room and shutting the door. What are you thinking? He asked himself You are acting like a child. She is just a woman, you shouldn't be getting so worked up about every little thing… Yet he found himself staring at the door.
Grunting he shook his head and walked across the living room to where they planned on building the other hallway extension. There was another abandoned part of the subway station over there so it was a perfect area to add more. Raphael took a few breaths and grabbed the sledge hammer from the stack of tools Donnie had provided. In Raphael's hands it made quick work of the first part of the wall. Bricks and rebar crumbled as Raphael knocked down the wall that would eventually be refined and stabilized. He looked around the dark dank area and frowned. This was a lot more work than he was expecting. But he was determined, he kept at the work until he brothers returned with wood and other materials they had salvaged from the surface as well as other materials they had to get Casey to go buy for them.
"Casey says Hi by the way." Mikey told him as he set down his arm full of bags.
Raph glared over. "Tch." Was all he managed to say, still bitter about the last thing the man had said to him.
"I forgot to mention why we were building the new rooms though so he doesn't know about your girlfriend." Mikey went on. "He'd probably be all excited to hear about her if he knew you had a chika living with you."
"Jacquelyn is not my girlfriend." Raph snapped. "I'm just helping her out."
The orange wearing one held up his hands. "Yeah sure. Whatever." He teased.
The three brothers worked all through the night. Donnie instructed them on how things should go as much as he could until Raphael would get pissed and just do it his way. Mikey helped between his playing. Of course Raphael just did most of the work himself and prayed it was right. They passed out on the floor amongst the tools and supplies, their job not even half way done around dawn. Raphael was exhausted and didn't really care where he slept at that point.