"Who the hell are you?"
Jacquelyn bolted upright in the hammock, the swinging bed almost toppling over. "Huh?" was the only word she managed to mutter as she brushed her tangled locks out of her face and tried to focus on the feminine face glaring at her.
Pale green skin, dark brown eyes and matching brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. The female was clearly not a human, but also clearly not a turtle. "I'll ask you again. Who the hell are you? And why are you in Raphael's bed?" Her hand lashed out and flipped the smaller human out of the hammock.
Landing in a heap on the floor, Jack let out a small cry when her weight landed on her sore wrist. She shifted to a seated position and stared up at what she realized was a mutated lizard. "My name is Jack. Who are you?"
"Why are you in Raph's room?" Mona asked instead of answering the question. Her long tail twitched as she put her hands on her hips.
Getting to her feet she brushed her pants off and looked up at the other female. "Why are you?" If this chick was going to play hardball, Jack could play it right back.
Mona Lisa's eyebrow twitched. "Stop being a bitch and just answer the question." She took a step forward, smirking when the human backed up into the wall.
Her features burned red as she crossed her arms. "I'm staying here." She answered. "This is where I've been sleeping the past few nights."
She rolled her eyes. "Gawd, what the hell is he thinking." She whirled around and stormed out. "Raph! Raphael! Where the Hell are yo-" her words died in her throat when she caught sight of the green turtle passed out on the couch. "Leo!" Without a second thought she vaulted herself over the back of the sofa and landed on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting her lips on his.
Antonello's eyes snapped open as a burst of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He nearly shouted when his mouth was covered by someone else's. Their brown eyes locked and Mona scrambled away from Ant, both of their faces now red. She jumped to her feet, stammering as she pointed at him. "What the hell?!" She nearly screamed. "You aren't Leo!"
"uh…. No." He said simply.
She slapped him leaving a nice red hand print on his cheek. "How dare you trick me like that!" She blamed him, even though it was her fault.
Raphael was rubbing his face as he walked into the living room. "What the hell is going on in here?" He yawned.
"Who the hell is this?" Mona pointed at the turtle she had just assaulted. "And that girl in your room?"
"That's none of your business Mona. Now stop molesting the kid and tell me what ya want." He smirked, it wasn't often she was in such a fluster.
She stomped over to him, her face still red and angry. "Where is Leo?" She demanded, brown bangs falling into her face.
"He's still down south doing his thing."
"I told you to bring him home!"
Raphael frowned. "I'm not your errand boy." He snapped. "I went down there and found him. We talked. I left. He will come home when he damn well pleases." His eyes shifted and he saw Jacquelyn slowly walking out of his bedroom, holding his splinted arm awkwardly. He pointed, his eyes snapping back to Mona Lisa. "What the hell happened to her?"
She scoffed. "Nothing."
In an instant Raphael was in her face. "What. Did. You. Do." He bit off every word, his body twitching to grab hold of the weapons not on his belt but across the room on the table. Instead he would have to make due with some other form of injury; not a problem. But he restrained himself for now.
His brothers were finally waking and walking into the room to see the situation. "Raph! What are you doing man?" Mikey ran over and tried to get between them, one hand on his brother's chest, the other on Mona's shoulder.
"She needs to leave." He grunted and turned to walk away.
"Fuck you." The lizard snapped back. "Soon you won't be able to just send me away Raphael!"
That stopped him. Eyes ablaze he turned back around and looked her hard in the eye. "There is no way in hell I'm letting ya move in here. No. Fucking. Way." His still bandaged arm shot up and pointed to the door. "Now out!"
She flipped her hair and stormed out, pausing briefly at the door. "Tell leo that I need to talk to him when he gets back."
"OUT!"
The door slammed and the room fell silent. Raphael stood there his chest heaving as he tried to swallow down his anger. He wanted to check on Jacquelyn and see what more had happened to her arm, but his anger at Mona Lisa could make him testy to say the least. He didn't want to say anything wrong to her.
Mikey just shook his head and joined Donnie in the kitchen as the smartest one in the room prepared breakfast. Antonello slowly scooted off the couch, where he had been frozen and hurried over to the kitchen. "Who was that chick?" he whispered. "And why did she kiss me?"
"We will explain it later." Donatello told him as he started to burn some pancakes.
Raphael closed his eyes briefly as he took a deep breath. Keep it together… He opened his eyes and walked over to the human still standing in the hall looking at him. "Are you okay?" He asked, each word came out with direct intent, carefully spoken.
The woman nodded. "It's fine really. I just landed on it weird."
He nodded, looking down at her and the splint. "You should ice it. Do some stretches. I'd help you but, I'm still helping the guys build the new rooms for ya- you… And the kid." He almost slipped up. Raphael didn't like to let the others know. It was his little secret with April. When Casey had left and gone to California she had taken it pretty hard, so did he. They spent a lot of time together and April would practice her broadcasts, Raph of course, the clumsy cameraman. But after hearing himself on camera one day, and hearing how… uneducated he sounded. He wanted to change it a bit. It wasn't that he was stupid. He just used a lot of slang, and his thick accent didn't help it. So April tutored him. It was slow and a lot harder than the physical training he was used to, but eventually he got it down to where he was used to speaking like a normal being. But when he was tired or angry he tended to slip up.
Jacquelyn nodded. "I'll be fine on my own. No worries." She shifted her weight to her other foot, her pale hair falling loose from behind her ears. "I feel bad, you guys doing all this work, just for me."
"Don't." He shook his head. "This is good for us."
She offered him a small smile. "Okay."
Raphael turned away from her and looked at his brothers. "Alright you two. Enough with the gossip… Back to work." They walked back to the hole they had knocked in the wall and within a few moments the home was filled with the sound of banging and arguing as they worked out what they were doing yet again.
Jack made her way to the fridge and opened the freezer, pulling out some ice and wrapping it in a towel before resting it on her splint as she leaned on the counter.
"So what are you going to do all day?"
She jumped, eyes looking over to the turtle left sitting at the table. Somehow she hadn't noticed him sitting there. "Oh… I uh, was going to go to the training room I guess." She said quietly.
"You do this ninja stuff too?" He looked surprised, his features a little red. The pair hadn't really spoken much since he nearly choked her when he first woke up.
Shaking her head she laughed a bit. "No not that. I um, did a bit of gymnastics back in the day. I figured it wouldn't hurt to get back into some practice if I wanted Raphael to train me."
"Mind if I tag along? I can't do much but… the uh… Shadow? She isn't here so I can't get the game working."
Jack looked around and was surprised to not find the girl around anywhere. It was possible she was still sleeping. "Yeah, you can come I guess…" She started to walk back towards the hall. She gestured towards the training room. "I need to change." She said before slipping back into Raph's room. After rummaging through her things, she found a pair of tight athletic pants and a sports bra, but she was out of clean shirts. Nothing but one spare clean one to wear afterwards. Changing into the workout pants and sports bra, she looked down at herself, red faced and sighed. Back in the day when she practiced gymnastics at the gym, she was used to dressing like this. But then she was surrounded by woman, in a gym full of other women. Here, she was the only female. And she was still self-conscious being so exposed.
There wasn't much of a choice so she walked back over to the training room where she found Antonello trying to do some stretches and push-ups but failing when he pushed himself too far. She winced when he fell. But when the turtle looked up at her he froze. "Wow."
She paused. "What?" She stopped and looked down at herself.
"Nothing you just look good."
Jack wrinkled her nose and shook her head. She didn't really want to think about how she looked. Reaching up she pulled her long hair back into a pony tail before she tossed the ice bag aside. The woman started out with some basic stretches, arms, legs, back… but the more she moved and the more she loosened up the more her body started to remember its training. Her body could fold in half, her nose touched her shins and when she bent the opposite way, she could grab her ankles and pull her head towards her feet and nearly do the same thing. Her splits her flawless in all directions. She mixed in some unique yoga poses to help strengthen her balance as she practiced.
All Ant could do was stare. As he watched her move the woman contorted her body and stretched it, pressing herself into odd poses that almost seemed inhuman.
After a while her skin was coated in a glisten of sweat as she pushed her muscles to work. The last thing she wanted to try again was her handstands and her handstand pushups. But with her wrist…
"Screw this." She ripped off the splint and tossed it to the floor. Looking down at her hand, it wasn't swollen any more, but she could still see the old scars she had inflicted on herself across her pale skin. She frowned but ignored them. She couldn't erase them anyway. Jack rolled her wrist a few times gently to try and get the bone and ligaments moving again. It didn't hurt. So she'd give it a go. Putting her hands on the ground she found a sturdy base and carefully kicked her legs up into the air. So far so good.
But it didn't last long. Jacquelyn felt a twinge of pain in her wrist that made her body waiver just as the door opened.
"Whoa…" Mikey's voice reached her ears.
Her elbow buckled and the woman started to fall over. But before she even had a chance to hurt herself further, there was a strong hand on her side and arm under her, supporting her as she was caught. Jack opened her eyes and looked up at Raphael. He was in a near split holding her a few inches off the ground.
She smiled a bit nervously, her features turning red. "Nice catch."
"Nice hand stand." He eased her up to her feet as he stood as well. "You didn't tell me you could stuff like this." He went to the corner and grabbed her a bottle of water.
Shrugging Jack wiped off her forehead. "It is nothing special and I haven't done it in a while. I was never that good anyway."
"You shouldn't say that!" Mikey interjected as he rushed over. "Master Splinter always said that, no one is good or bad at something, we all just have our own skills. Our dedication and heart is what makes us great." He scratched his head. "I think that came out wrong…." But his eyes found the stripes on her wrist and he gently took her small hand and pulled it away from her stomach, flipping her palm up to examine the skin that had been previously hidden under the splint. "What's this?" He asked innocently.
The crisscrossing marks from a razorblade were ugly reminders of her brother's death. When she had been so depressed and felt so alone she didn't know what to do. And after being attacked, she felt even worse so suicide seemed like the only way out. Of course she knew the ridiculousness of that thought now, but she couldn't erase the memory, or the scars.
"They are scars, Mikey." She tried to pull her arm back before Raphael saw, but it was too late. She looked up at him and saw something in his eyes. A shadow of something that almost looked like pain and fear shifted over his gaze before the normal grumpiness took over.
"Let her be Mike." Raph waved him away. "Go get her some more Ice or somethin' if ya want to be useful." He waited for his brother to leave before he walked out without a word and went to his bed room leaving Jack and Ant alone.
Jack glanced to the other turtle once before she hurried after Raphael. She pushed the bedroom door open to find Raph setting his mask and sai down on the night stand. "Raph? Are you alright?" She asked softly.
"Just peachy." He said a bit harshly.
The woman jumped, and frowned as she let out a breath. "Talk to me Raph." She pressed as she took a step into the room.
The turtle climbed into his hammock and flicked off the lights. "I said I'm fine." He snapped.
Her bare feet carried her around to the other side of the room where she ducked under the hammock to face him. She forced him to look at her, for once her expression serious and stern. "Stop it." She jerked the blanket off of him. "I don't care if you are upset with me. Or in a mood or whatever, but don't you dare lie to me. Tell me what is on your mind. Tell me what I've done to piss you off." Her bright eyes locked on his in the dark.
Raphael sat up and looked her hard in the face. "You know why I'm pissed? Because you would think that killin' yourself is easier than living." He grabbed her hand and flipped it over, making her wince. "That you would want to just give up something so precious as life. That's why I'm pissed." He shoved her hand back at her, his face heated and red with anger, both at her and himself. He knew he didn't want to be treating her like this but he just didn't know how else to say these things to her.
Her brows creased. "I told you about what I went through. I didn't know how to deal with all that alone! Yes… It was stupid. I tried to kill myself because I didn't know how to deal with being abused and violated all on my own." Tears were welling in her eyes. "I know how stupid it was, how angry my brother would be now. I don't need you telling me that! What I really need is a friend who isn't going to be bitter about my past mistakes." She ducked under his hammock and wiped at her eyes as she headed for the door.
Shit. Raphael rolled out of his bed. "Jacquelyn wait!" He called as he groped in the darkness for her. His hand landed on her soft shoulder but she shrugged him off, much to his surprise and hurt. He felt that odd sting of pain in his chest.
"Don't. I really don't need you to criticize me for this…" He could hear her trying to hold back tears as she grabbed a pillow. "I'll go sleep in the living room."
He grabbed her hand and stopped her. "You aren't going anywhere." He said softly. Closing his eye he let out a long breath as he turned her around and struggled with the next words. "I'm sorry. I just didn't like the thought of someone like you ending your life. It's a beautiful thing and it should be put on display, not snuffed out." Raphael pulled her closer, slowly wrapping his arms around her. "I'm not mad at you, just the situation you were put in that led to this. Okay?"
The woman nodded but now she was quietly sniffling, trying to fight off the tears unsuccessfully.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Raphael scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to the hammock. Setting her in the bed he picked the blanket up off the floor and was ready to drape it on her when the woman sat up.
Wiping at her face she grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Will you lay with me?"
Heat burned his cheeks and neck as he looked at her. "What?"
"I'll scoot over or something… just… Lay with me. Please? I feel better when you are here." She asked him.
"I…."Raphael didn't want to deny her request but, it was still new and strange being so close and connected with her. Not that he didn't enjoy the few moments that they shared. Easing himself into a seat beside her, he bit his tongue and just grabbed her, moving Jack as he moved; it was easier than trying to dance and be so shy about it all. He laid down and pulled the woman up onto his chest, his heart was racing, beating against his shell like a hammer he was afraid she'd hear it. This was the easiest way for the both of them to lay in his hammock, he figured so, it'd have to do. He just hoped Jack didn't mind.
Raph made sure the edges of the fabric around them were up high enough to keep her in before he pulled the small blanket up over her and gently started to rock them with his free foot. Jacquelyn rested her head in the crook of his neck, against his warm skin before the parts of his shell formed. For a little while her fingers traced the cuts and gouges and cracks in his plastron but it wasn't long until she fell asleep.
The turtle holding her couldn't fall asleep that easily, his heart was still racing even though he was well aware of her slowed and steady breathing. A big hand reached up and gently moved hair from her face so he could try and see her but it was all moot. She was lying of the side with his missing eye. Yet he found his other hand gently stroking the patch of soft skin it was on top of and he had to force himself to stop. Jack was not his girl. She wasn't going to be. These plagues of emotions and feelings were just torments he had to learn to bear. After all, he was a giant turtle, she'd never share in a similar feeling…right?