"Do you really think it's safe to be doing this now?" Ant asked as he taped closed the box of electronics in front of him.
Jack sighed. "I… don't know." She chewed on her lip. "But I think Leo needs this right now, he needs something kind of monotonous and laborious to keep his mind busy."
Ant nodded. "I get that but shouldn't we be worrying about the foot? This move is making us vulnerable and with us all scattered about, an attack right now would be so easy."
The woman chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
She paused and looked up at him. "You sound just like them."
"Like who?"
"Like all of them. You worry like Donnie, you plan and think tactics like Leo, you have a temper like Raph and then you have the energy and quirks of Mikey." She grinned.
His features flushed. "Uh… is that a good thing?"
"It's a great thing." Jack turned back to packing things into the box beside her.
"Do you think Casey and Raph are having any luck with the construction?" Ant changed the topic.
Jack shrugged. "They have been doing work on the warehouse for almost two weeks now. Donnie wouldn't have told us to start packing if it wasn't at least livable. I mean… you are right about one thing, we do need to get out of here. Besides with them taking so long making the place up, it means we can actually pack up just about everything we have."
"True." Ant picked up his box and took it over to the stack by the front door. Donatello's room was packed up and virtually all already at the warehouse. Some of the large furniture, tables, couches, chairs, beds and training equipment were already at the warehouse so the place seemed pretty empty now as Ant and Jack packed up what was left.
"So what's left?" Ant put his hands on his hips and looked around.
Jack brushed her bangs out of her face. "Well, my room is done, Donnie's is done… So are Leo's and Mikey's. Why don't you double check your room and then the training room. I'll check Raph's room."
He nodded and they parted ways. Jack wondered back to Raphael's room and made her way inside. Like all the other rooms it was pretty much empty. She pulled his trench coat off the hook on the wall and slung it over her arm before picking up his old guitar amp from the corner. What happened to the guitar she could only guess but she had never seen it. She figured it had probably ended up breaking it in one of his fits. Maybe she'd get him a new one as a present one day… Carrying the last few items out to the pile of boxes in the living room she met up with Ant.
"You got everything?" He asked as he came and took the amp from her.
She nodded.
"Good." He put her in a head lock. The woman squealed in protest and squirmed as his knuckles dug into her head. "Now we wait for a ride to the new place."
"You little…!" Jack hit a pressure point in his arm and got him to release her.
"Ow!" He grinned. "Hey! That wasn't fair!" He laughed.
"Oh I'll show you fair!" Jack launched herself at him, her arms circling his waist as she tried to tackle him.
Under normal circumstances, they both knew there was no way she'd never be able to take him down. But they all had rough housed enough, the guys always gave her some leeway and conceded to some of her attacks. The turtle let himself get knocked over and pinned to the ground. The pair rolled around and tried out an assortment of different restraints and techniques that they had been taught recently.
"Having fun?"
They both froze when there was a camera flash, Ant had Jack pinned face down on the floor.
"Mikey!" Ant jumped off Jack and then pulled her to her feet. "How's there warehouse coming?"
"Good." He crossed his arms with a smirk as he dropped Jack's camera into the nearest box. "How's the packing?"
"All finished." Jack smiled.
The turtle shook his head. "Good. April is waiting up in the alley with the van to take some more boxes over. Once we get these last boxes out of here we can close up shop."
"Alright let's go." Ant grinned and grabbed a box. He went to pick up another one but his hand couldn't grip it and it tumbled to the ground. "Shit." He mumbled as the contents scattered on the floor. Luckily nothing breakable.
"Don't worry I got this." Jack knelt down and started to gather things up.
Mikey grabbed a pair of boxes and elbowed Ant. Come on, I'll show you where April is parked." He said when he saw the sad look on Ant's face.
Once the things were secure in the box once more, Jack picked it up and walked out into the sewer. "Guys?" She looked around and started towards the nearest storm drain. Jack stumbled a bit a looked down. Her shoe was untied. Muttering a curse, she walked a bit oddly to avoid stepping on the lace, keeping an eye on her feet as she rounded the corner to the ladder to the surface.
She smacked right into someone and nearly fell over. But a strong hand on her arm kept her from falling over.
She looked up. "Oh! Thanks…" The smile faded from her face as she stared up at the orange hairy face of a mutant cat. Her eyes shifted from his eye patch and missing whiskers to his one eye. She swallowed hard. "W-who are you?"
His grip on her arm tightened to the point of pain. "What's a human doing…" A clawed finger reached up and moved her hair. His eye widened at the sight of the green skin around her eye. "You aren't completely human are you?"
Jack stayed silent.
"Who are you girl?"
"You're hurting me." She said through gritted teeth.
The cat smirked and squeezed harder.
Jack dropped the box as he body cringed. She didn't have her weapons, they were in a box with the training stuff. How stupid could she have been? But up until now she had never been alone…
"You're down here with them aren't you?"
"Fuck you. Who the hell are you?" Jack glared at him. So far he had done nothing but make weird conversation and bruise her arm, she didn't want to start an unneeded fight if she didn't have to and ruin their move.
"Hob?!" The sound of Mikey's horrified voice startled her. "But… you died!"
The cat let out something that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a yowl. "Apparently not. Does this belong to you?" He jerked Jack around.
"Let her go!" Ant took a step forward but Mikey held an arm out to block him.
"Oh what do we have here? Another new one?"
The youngest one glared, his fist clenching. "Let her go."
The cat adjusted his grip and put an arm around her neck. " Now what if-"
Before he could finish, Jack twisted her legs around his and grabbed his arm. She broke the choke hold and flipped herself around him and out of his grip.
"What the hell?!" The cat hissed in frustration. "You… you're one of them!?"
"That's right…" She rubbed her arm as she slowly backed away from him and went towards her family.
As soon as she was within reach, Michelangelo grabbed her and put her behind him. "Get out of here Hob… we beat you once…. We can do it again."
The cat glared. "We will see about that." He pounced over to a ladder and scurried up it and out of sight.
"Care to explain?" Ant asked once he was sure they were all alone.
Mikey continued to stare at the ladder where the cat mutant had been. It was only a few tense moments later that he finally spoke. "Old Hob was the first mutant we ever fought. First… thing we ever fought really. When we were teenagers, he hunted us down with a gang of street thugs. They later formed the Purple Dragons." He scratched his head and mumbled something about Raphael.
Jack put her hand on Mikey's arm. "Let's not tell Raph… about him grabbing me anyway."
The turtle looked at her. "Good idea." He put a hand on her back and turned her towards the other tunnel. "Let's get to the warehouse." He grabbed the box she dropped and then followed her and Ant to the van up in the alley.
Raphael dropped the hammer into the toolbox and fell to a seat at the dining room table beside Casey. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a long drink.
"So, I think we got everything done." Casey grinned. "Besides the vanity stuff like paintin' and decorating."
The turtle looked around. Over the past few weeks the pair of them had cleared out the old machinery from the warehouse, erected new walls and constructed rooms for everyone as well as the common rooms. They tapped into the existing plumbing system and set up a bathroom and a half bath. On the walkways upstairs, they established a stable floor and set up rooms enough for two bedrooms. It was just about done.
"I think we got it all." Raph leaned back in his seat. He heard giggling coming from the largest bedroom on the opposite side of the warehouse. It was Donatello's room. They had given him the largest area to accommodate not only his bedroom but also all his lab and computer equipment. A smiling woman with dark curls came waltzing out of his room. She paused, her features flushing when she caught Casey and Raph staring at her.
Arionna cleared her throat. "Can I help you with something?"
"Not a thing princess." Casey smirked.
Raph kicked him under the table.
The woman snorted and went to the fridge to grab a drink. With bottle in hand she returned to Donatello's room and closed the door behind her.
"I never saw that coming."
Raph looked over at Casey and raised a brow.
"Don and Arionna." He gestured to the door. "Didn't really think the girl the cut off his leg would stick around and get all cozy with him."
Raph kicked him again. "Let him be happy." He thought about the conversation with Leo.
Casey held his hands up, seeing he needed to drop the topic. "So…" He moved onto something else. "What did you and Jack do for Valentine's day?"
"What?"
"You know… Feburary 14th? It was last month. That stupid couple's holiday…. Did you do anything for it?"
Raph scratched his head. "I didn't even realize that had passed."
Casey leaned on the table. "Tell me you at least got her something for Christmas when that was around."
The turtle shook his head slowly.
"Damn it Raph!" Casey ran his hands over his face. "You have to be more considerate of stuff like that."
"What for?" Raph looked at him. "The family hasn't celebrated anything in years."
"But Jack is different." Casey stared hard at him. "She is your girlfriend. She means more to you doesn't she? You have to show her that. I know gifts seem petty and I'm not saying buy her a bunch of shit, but you have to do something that shows her you care and at least want to show her that."
Raph ran a hand over his face. "I'm not good at this…"
"You'll get better. It just takes effort." Casey got to his feet and stretched.
"I don't even know when her birthday is and she's been here for almost two years." Raph admitted, ashamed.
That's when the garage door started to move on the side of the building and illuminate the corner of the warehouse with the evening light. The guys at the table moved across the room as they watched the beat up van pull in and park. Slowly April, Mikey, Ant and Jack all climbed out of the van with a few boxes of things from the sewer.
Jack smiled as she crossed their new house. She hadn't been there since the day they officially purchased it and made it theirs. She had yet to see any of the renovations. "Wow! The place looks great! You guys have really out done yourselves." She stopped in front of Raphael and stood on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.
As she pulled away the turtle turned his head and kissed her temple. But he caught sight of something strange as his brother's and April approached the dining area. Taking Jack's arm he lifted it to get a better look at the dirty hand print on fabric of her shirt. When he touched it, Jack winced and he frowned, scowling a bit.
"Don't…" Jack said quietly looking up at him. "We can talk about it later. Let's just… focus on moving in." She smiled.
The turtle didn't want to but he nodded slowly and looked over at his brothers as they set some boxes on the floor. Casey walked over to his wife and gave her a kiss as the brother all started to plan what they'd do about the last few boxes.
"I'll ride over with you guys." Casey declared. "I'll help load up the last of the boxes so we don't have to make any more trips"
Ant and Mikey nodded.
"Good. Then Raph and I can start unpacking." Jack smiled as she picked up one of the nearest boxes and set it on the table.
"Alright we will be back in a little while!" Mikey hopped back into the van, followed by Ant as Casey and April climbed into the front. The van pulled out of the garage and the door closed behind it leaving Jack and Raph alone.
Jack turned to the table and started to unpack some of Mikey's electronics from the box. She didn't get too far before Raphael stopped her. His hand took hold of hers and pulled her away from the table.
"You don't need to put anything away. There will be plenty of time for that later."
Jack looked at him pointedly. "Oh yeah? If I don't do it now, who exactly is going to do it later?"
He paused. "uh… probably still you, but you just don't need to do it now." He smirked. "I want to show you what we did." Slowly he backed away pulling her with him.
The living room, dining room and kitchen shared an open expanse of area in the central part of the warehouse. Down to one side was Leo's room, Mikey's room, Ant's room and the meditation room, which Leo was currently in. On the other side of the house was Donatello's monstrosity of a room and lab set up, the training room and the full sized bathroom.
"Wow… the training room is double the size of the old one!" Jack grinned.
Raphael nodded. "Hopefully Don and I can build some more equipment to work out for the one side and then of course it gives us more room to actually train with each other."
She turned and looked up at him. "So where are our rooms?"
His features darkened a bit and his eye looked away from hers. Taking her hand he pulled her over to the metal staircase and led her up to the rooms that he had made up there. There were two, side by side with a small metal grated walk way that served as the 'hallway' outside the doors. They passed the first door.
"What's in that room?" Jack asked.
"Nothing." Instead Raph opened the second.
Inside was obviously his room, but it was different. His hammock was hanging in the corner like always, a night stand positioned just within reach. Then just beside it was Jack's dresser. The boxes containing her clothing and personal items were still sitting on the floor by it. The most surprising thing though was Jack's small bed against the far wall where a rusty shuttered window was, currently it was covered in a few more boxes and blankets.
"I hope this is okay…" Raph rubbed the back of his head.
"You put all of our things together." She said quietly, as if she was still digesting the fact and taking it all in.
"Yeah, well… I just figured we spent all of our time together anyway… I like having you close and… well I didn't want to get rid of your bed, I mean I know the hammock can get kind of cramped with the both of us so you might not always want to sleep there with me or anything but I thought you might want to at least stay here…"
Jack turned to face him. "Raph." She put a hand on his cheek. "This is perfect." With her hands on his shoulders she pulled herself up to plant a small kiss on his lips.
His face was a bright red. "I'm glad you like it…" He muttered as she pulled away.
Turning back to the room the woman went to the boxes and started to unpack her clothing. She put them away in the dresser before discarding the boxes out onto the walkway.
"So are you happy with the new place?" Raph asked as he came up beside her to help her put things away.
"Of course! The place is great!" Beaming, she turned and looked at him. Then she moved over to the bed and climbed on top after moving aside the last few boxes. She crawled over to the window and tried to peer out the rested metal slats that marred her vision out into the night sky. A frown crossed her face.
"What's wrong?" Raph asked as he came over and kneeled beside her to mimic her actions and try to look out the window.
"I was just kind of hoping for more of a window… maybe get some real sky at some point. Get some light…" She shrugged.
The turtled moved from the window and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her over to his chest. Turning her to face him he put his forehead against hers. "Once we get everything unpacked I'll see what I can do about fixing the window."
"Won't people be able to see in?"
"I'll frost the glass or something. Fix it up just for you."
She smiled and kissed him. The turtle pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. It was the first time they had any real time together in the past few weeks. Raphael's big hand slipped under the edge of Jack's shirt and felt the warm skin of her back as he held her and his heart started to race as he felt heat surging through his own body.
In an instant he had them flipped over and the woman was on her back beneath him. Her lips were still on his as his hands moved down her form. The turtle could feel the pressure building as he felt her leg slid up alongside of him and suddenly he broke off the kiss and tried to pull away.
A small hand on his shoulder stopped him. Flushed, he looked down at the red face of the woman still pinned beneath him. "Why are you stopping?" She asked quietly as she tried to catch her breath.
Raph closed his eye for a moment. "I… I don't want to hurt you." He admitted. Besides his own nerves about where he knew he wanted to go, he had no idea how it would progress.
Gently, Jacquelyn urged him closer and reconnected their lips. "You won't hurt me."
With her consent, the turtle didn't hold himself back anymore. He showed her everything he felt for her that night, in every way he could.