Just wanted to thank Forgottenforever13 for the wonderful review! It makes writing totally worth it!=) Hope everyone enjoys this next chapter. (It's kinda long,but I just can't seem to write short ones!)

Chapter 8

Leonardo looked around the lair. Donatello was in the kitchen making some breakfast. "Morning." He said as he walked to the kettle to make a cup of tea.

"Morning Leo." Donatello said half heartedly.

Donatello was staring at the half eaten plate of pumpkin shaped sugar cookies. Leonardo felt a wave of gloom pass over him.

"Kitten up yet?" He asked. They had all adopted Raphael's nickname for her. They really couldn't help it. Besides, if they all called her Kitten then Raphael didn't have a special name only he got to call her.

"No one is. They will probably all sleep pretty late today. Knowing Michelangelo they probably pulled an all nighter."

Leonardo nodded his head yawning.

Michelangelo emerged from his bedroom about an hour later. "Morning." He said yawning and stretching his arms over his head. "Kitten isn't leaving today." He said happily. Leonardo and Donatello looked at him in surprise. "Made her watch a ghost movie last night, totally freaked her out, said she wasn't going to be able to go to her dead Uncle's house today, but she's still going to go tomorrow." He frowned. "How do we get her to stay?" He asked his brothers.

"She can't stay Mikey." Leonardo said as he made himself another cup of tea and cleaned up his breakfast dishes.

"But why not?" He asked desperately.

Leonardo sighed. He had fought with the same question, but the answer was always the same. "Because we aren't and can never be a part of her world Mikey. She's not a stray kitten, we can't just keep her. She's got a life Mikey, responsibilities, and so do we. We have been neglecting all of our duties since she came here." He told his brother firmly. He looked around the kitchen. "Where's Raphael?" He asked.

"Still sleepin' probably." Michelangelo said gloomily as he got himself a bowl of cereal.

Leonardo walked into the living room. He looked at the empty couch and frowned. "It was Raph's turn to sleep on the couch wasn't it?" He asked Michelangelo.

Michelangelo yawned. "Something like that. Kitten was supposed to crash in his room, unless, you don't think Kitten left do you?" Michelangelo asked putting down his spoon, cereal uneaten.

"Her stuff's still here." Donatello said lifting his head from the magazine he was reading and pointed to the basket of laundry that still needed to be folded.

"Then where...?" Leonardo asked in confusion as his eyes strayed to Raphael's closed door.

Michelangelo's eyes widened in shock and Donatello put his magazine down. Leonardo walked to Raphael's door.

"Uh, you sure you want to do that bro?" Michelangelo questioned.

Leonardo looked at the doorknob. Did he want to know? He felt himself pale, then flush, as the jealous rage that had been simmering since Raphael had had his hands all over Katherine last night began to boil over.

"Are you okay Leonardo?" Katherine's voice asked from behind him.

Relief washed through him. He turned around slowly. Katherine stood with his jacket on holding a fancy frappa something, or cappuccino latte something from one of those fancy coffee shops. "Hot chocolate." She said as he stared at her hand. "Want some?" She asked holding it out for him.

"No, um..." He coughed. "I'm fine."

"Raphael still sleeping?" She asked.

"Must be." He said.

She nodded taking a sip of hot chocolate. "Are you sure you're okay, you look a little flushed." She asked uncertainly.

"No, it's fine, I'm fine." He managed to say, trying to calm his heartbeat. She was standing way too close to him.

"I told Michelangelo that I would stay another night, but I think I should get going today." She said softly. "I'm just going to pack all of my stuff up." She said awkwardly. "Thank you Leonardo." She said, his name rolling from her lips like an invitation. She touched the side of his face softly, then turned to go and gather her things.

It took all of Leonardo's willpower not to beg her to stay. But she needed to go. The sooner she was out of their lives the sooner he would stop longing for something he could never have. The sooner he would remember where his place was in the world; on the outside, always looking in.

He just wish it didn't hurt so much.

Raphael was woken up by a quiet knocking at his door. He glared at the door, rolled out of bed and stomped over to it. He opened it quickly hoping to yell at whoever was bothering him. He looked down at Katherine who's eyes were round with surprise.

"Good afternoon Raphael. " She said with a smile. Raphael had learned Katherine was a morning person. It meant she was as bright and chipper first thing in the morning as she was throughout the rest of the day. He however, was not a morning person. He knew he was growly until he managed to wake up, preferably sometime after noon. He remembered then, her rolling softly out of bed, and thanking him for keeping all of the nightmares away.

"You were up early." He growled at her. He had wanted to wake up with her in his arms this morning. On the other hand maybe it was better she hadn't stayed until he was fully awake. He may not have been able to resist touching her, and kissing her, and then he would be even more miserable than he was right now because he would know what she felt like, know what she tasted like, and then she would be gone and he would know what he was missing.

He glared back at his clock. "It's 12:00pm." He growled.

"I know, I'm not a sleepyhead like you." She smiled. " I just wanted to give you back your clothes and say thank you before I left." She said handing him a bundle of clothes that all smelled like her.

Her announcement hit him like a bucket of cold water. "Left?" He asked in surprise. "But you said you were going to wait another day." He said desperately.

She shrugged. "I know, but my Uncle's house isn't getting dealt with and it is already into November. I can't be putting it off any longer. I need to find a car rental place, a map ,and get moving."

He glared down at her. "We'll give you a ride. Leo said that he would make sure you got to your Uncle's so we'll get you to your Uncle's."

She looked like she was going to protest, changed her mind, then nodded. "Okay, but it is a two hour drive, are you sure you are okay with that?"

Raphael nodded his head. Two hours. That was it. Two hours was all the time he was going to have left with her. Anger roared through him. She couldn't just walk out of their lives. She touched his shoulder gently her hand warm against his bare skin. "Are you okay Raphael?" She asked him.

No he damn well was not okay! She was going to leave. His shoulders slumped. It wasn't like she had given any indication that she thought of him as anything more than just a friend. He looked into her concerned moss green eyes and wondered if he should tell her how he felt. He wondered if she would change her mind. "Kitten..." He said reaching out and brushing her cheek with his hand. She looked at him. "I'll get dressed." He said through a throat that was too tight.

She nodded.

Michelangelo watched her pack with a heavy heart. Leonardo had made it clear to him that he was not supposed to try to make her stay. It hadn't taken her very long to pack. She looked around the lair making sure she had everything. She then pronounced she was ready as she would ever be and they all piled into the modified armoured truck they had stolen from the Red Dragons. Donatello was driving, while Leonardo was riding shotgun, Leaving Raphael, himself and Katherine to sit on the bench in the back. The truck was filled with a depressing silence.

Katherine was currently curled up and sleeping, her head leaning against his shoulder, hand clasped tightly in his. Michelangelo admitted to himself he was still tired as well. He lay his head on hers and went to sleep. Sleeping was by far better than having to deal with the oppressive silence of the truck.

Katherine opened her eyes as Raphael shook her awake. "Hey Kitten, we're here. I think." He said to her as she groggily sat up. Michelangelo's head slid off of her own, waking him up.

"Are we here?" Michelangelo asked sleepily.

She looked down at herself. She was curled into Michelangelo her hand clasped in his. She closed her eyes. Even when she was sleeping she couldn't help but seek out their touch. She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed forward so she could see out the window.

There was a well kept iron gate that was currently closed and locked. Beyond that was a winding driveway that led to a mansion. She looked at the house in shock.

"You're sure this is the right address?" She asked in shock.

"Yup." Donatello said looking at the address she had given him.

"How rich did you say your family was?" Michelangelo asked peeking over her shoulder.

"I didn't, and we're not. I have to work three jobs during the summer just to pay for my tuition." She said still in shock. She pulled out the keys that had come to her. She fingered through them and found the one that looked like it would open the gate. She climbed over Leonardo and opened the door. She hopped down, walked to the gate and inserted the key. It opened which meant they were in the right place. She swallowed and climbed back in the truck. Leonardo pulled her down into his lap as Donatello drove up the slightly overgrown driveway.

"When you said you have to deal with your Uncle's estate I didn't think you meant Estate" Raphael said to her.

She felt pale and a little overwhelmed. "I was expecting a bungalow, not...this." She said looking at the Victorian style mansion. Actually for all she knew it was built during the Victorian era. It was painted a powder blue with white trim. There was a white wraparound porch, a turret, and even a gabled roof. It was well taken care of, the Grounds looked pristine, and she thought Grounds because the place must have been sitting on at least 10 acres of partially forested land.

Donatello pulled up to the front door. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled away from an embrace that she wanted to stay in forever.

She got out of the truck and looked at the massive structure. "I'll be lucky to get out of here before Christmas." She said to herself numbly.

The brothers had all climbed out of the truck and were looking at the house in shock. Raphael whistled. She walked up the steps to the front door. She put the key in the lock and it turned easily. She swung the door opened and looked at the grand entryway. The flooring was dark hardwood, the walls tastefully painted a pale yellow with white trim. There were crown mouldings, plaster ceilings, a chandelier, and a dark wood staircase that led to the second floor. Rich oriental rugs covered the floors, paintings and tapestries adorned the walls.

She swallowed. And this was just the entryway. SHe thought to herself. "Your Uncle Carin didn't happen to leave you any money did he?" Michelangelo asked.

"There is a safe. I don't think Uncle Carin liked banks. All they said in the Will was the house, property and all of its contents was left to me. An envelope with all of the legal documents as well as a list of all the contents and any money was supposed to be left in the desk in his office."

"Well it looks like you are now a very rich woman." Leonardo said softly as he put a hand on her shoulder. "It looks like you have a lot to do. Good luck Katherine."

She blinked and looked at Leonardo. Somehow the sound of her name on his lips was uncomfortable. He was smiling but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Goodbye Leonardo. Thank you for everything." She said as she gave him a hug. She breathed in his musky scent that always reminded her of a mountain spring.

She gave each of the brothers a hug and struggled with an overwhelming sense of loss. Donatello gave her a card. She looked at it in surprise. "That's the number of your lawyer. April said that he is very good. I have talked to him a few times and he has begun all of the legal paperwork regarding the inheritance and taxes on the property."

She looked at Donatello in shock. "You mean you actually hired a lawyer?"

"I didn't want you to have to worry about any of this until you were recovered enough to worry about it." He said softly as he took her hand and began absently tracing something in her palm.

"Thank you, so much." She whispered pulling him into an embrace that she had a hard time breaking.

They filed out of the door which she closed softly behind them. The image of Raphael looking back at her struck her through the heart. She walked over to the stairs and sat down numbly looking at the door. She looked into her palm, where Donatello had unknowingly drawn a heart.

She tried to calm and sort through the emotions that were running through her. She was overwhelmed by the amount of work she was going to have to do to get her Uncle's estate in order, but this didn't bother her. She filed that emotion away under 'not important'. It would get done eventually. She poked and prodded at her other feelings. She wasn't an overly emotional person in general. She had never worried about anyone, she had never missed anyone, and had never had any stronger feelings than friendship for anyone outside her family, until now.

She ran a hand through her hair as she examined the feelings she had known were there, but hadn't had the courage to examine. She had worried about them when they had been out on patrol. She looked at the closed door. They had only been gone a few minutes and yet if felt like it had been days and all she wanted was to see them, hear them, and touch them again.

It had hurt her heart when she had walked into the lair and found Leonardo telling Michelangelo that they could never be a part of her life, that she had responsibilities and so did they. She had decided then that he was right, and that she had to leave.

Frustrated she grabbed all of the emotions that were jumbled inside of her and shoved them in a box. She would look at them later. She didn't have time to be sitting around thinking about the hole that seemed to have suddenly opened up within her heart.

She would examine all of those feelings and emotions another time. She stood up and walked to the door of the house. There had been a tingling sensation the moment she had entered the house that was making her skin crawl. She had been telling Raphael the truth, she did not like ghosts, and it didn't matter if he didn't believe in them, she did. She hadn't really been able to see them but she could feel them and right now she knew that she wasn't alone in the house.

She sighed and sat down. For all of her logical reasoning this one bit of her personality was so far out of the realm of logic it wasn't even funny. They would all think she was insane for doing what she was about to do. It was the one piece of herself she didn't like sharing with others because people thought you were strange when you started talking about ghosts being able to 'sense' them.

She sat cross legged on the floor, closed her eyes and let her senses roam throughout the house. She didn't have to know what the house looked like, or know how big it was, she was essentially just fishing in a lake. All she had to do was find the sweet spot, or spots as the case may be. She scanned the upper level, which seemed clear, only the faint trace of a presence, and moved down to the main floor. She got the impression of something male and something aware. She travelled down into the basement and found nothing but the faint trace of the male presence. She opened her eyes and stood up. One ghost. At least she had to assume it was a ghost. The male presence seemed unusually strong, and although it seemed to be centered at the moment on the main floor, she got the impression of him being able to roam the entire house. "Goody." She said to herself. It was better when they were confined to a single spot, then she could have just avoided that particular room.

Katherine sighed and massaged the knots that had formed in her shoulders. She was going to have a hard time sleeping here. She could do it of course, but it would bother her. She had been grateful for Raphael's presence the night before. His skin had been cool to the touch, but her body had warmed it. His arms had pulled her in tightly against his body, and awareness had blazed through her. She had wanted...She stopped that line of thought. She had felt safe and warm and she had felt like she was right where she belonged.

When she had woken up. Raphael was partially laying on his back, she had been facing him, head laying on his shoulder, arm across his chest, leg threaded through his. Desire had raced fast and strong through her as she looked into his sleeping face. She had slowly gotten out of bed, thanked him and went outside for some air and to get her head back on straight. She hadn't known what had come over her, but all she knew was that had not been the first instance of a flash of desire rolling through her when it came to any of the brothers. There was something about them that seemed to attract her. The problem was that there didn't seem to be one brother in particular that her body reacted to any more or less than the others, which meant that her hormones must be having a freak out or something. At least that is what she kept trying to tell herself.

She shook herself free of her ruminations and began systematically exploring the house. She started with the office. She felt the male presence strongly in this room. She ignored him and began looking around the room. She found the legal documents as well as the list of everything that was included in the Will. She left the envelope unopened because she wasn't quite ready for that particular can of worms.

She had looked over the office which was more of a study or a library. The shelves were filled with books. It made her drool just looking at all of the books, most were old and bound in leather. It had taken all of her willpower to not sit and look through all of the shelves. She knew she had time enough for that later. There was a laptop on the desk so her Uncle hadn't been one of those older people who had hated technology. This assessment had been further confirmed by the theatre room, complete with step seating, theatre sized screen, and even a popcorn machine.

She explored the house which was a strange mix between the opulently rich and formal, with sumptuous furniture, antiques, plush carpets, and decadent window coverings; and modern and informal, with its theatre room, state of the art kitchen and beautifully modern bathrooms.

There was a room dedicated to a collection of antiques which should have belonged in a museum. The items ranged from furniture, to weaponry, to clay pots and bowls. She had a hard time leaving this room as well. She also found a training room filled with training dummies, and martial arts weapons. On one wall was a mirror and the floor had been padded. A heavy bag hung from the ceiling in the corner.

She looked at the room in confusion. The brothers had a room like this one. She remembered watching them train, well except Raphael who had been banned from physical activity. Raphael and her had sat and watched his brother's practice their techniques. She watched as muscles moved, bunched and released. Sweat coursed down toned bodies as they moved to a rhythm that was smooth and graceful. Each movement was perfectly controlled, each muscle moving with absolute control.

The remembrance of those strong arms wrapping around her brought a flush to her face. She shook her head. Each brother had taken her into his arms at some point.

She remembered Michelangelo looking at her so seriously one night as he cornered her before she went into his room to sleep. He had touched her cheek and she had been surprised by the awareness that had blazed through her.

She knew his brothers thought of Michelangelo as the 'baby' brother, and the laid back goofball of the group, but she had found that he was unusually astute. Behind all of his laughter and all of his jokes he was the one who worried about his brothers the most. He didn't worry so much about their physical well being, that was more Leonardo's thing, but their emotional well being was what he helped with, even if his brothers never realized it. He laughed and tried to keep everyone's spirits up and keep the group happy and positive. She admired this about him.

It had been strange seeing such a serious expression on his face. "I like you Kitten." He had whispered to her in the quiet of the lair that night. "I think you need to sort some things out, but I think, you belong with us." He had pulled her into a strong embrace, briefly kissed her cheek and left her to stare after him in shock as he settled onto the couch for the night.

She shook her head. She didn't have time to be thinking about them. She moved onto the second floor where there were eight bedrooms, each containing a private bath. She had never seen a house that was so large. The upstairs must have been remodelled. She thought to herself, because with what she knew about Victorian architecture, there should not have been a modern private bath in each room. There may have been a 'water closet' of some sort, in the master bedroom, but not in every single bedroom.

She was impressed though at whoever had done the remodel, because everything looked as if it was original to the house.

She decided she would leave the basement until later. She was going to check the Kitchen and make a list of food she was going to need, as well as check out the garage and hope there was a vehicle she could use to get to the nearest town to buy some supplies.

She went through the back door to into the yard. There was a garage that was actually attached to the house. She frowned. That must have been an addition. At home everything would be covered in snow by now, here the trees were bare of leaves and the grass had turned brown long ago. It was in the depressing stage between the painted splendour of fall and white sparkling beauty of winter.

She turned and walked into the house, rummaged through the cupboards which were all bare, and breathed a small sigh of relief that the fridge was bare as well. She hadn't relished the thought of having to clean out a fridge full of rotten food.

The good news was she didn't need a list, because the list would only say everything. She found the entrance to the garage through the kitchen. In the garage was a black crotch rocket, a sleek black Porsche Cayman, and a Hummer. The third bay of the garage was taken up by all manner of tools, a work bench and shelving. Along one wall there was a computer as well as a bunch of scientific equipment similar as to what she had seen in Donatello's lab.

Katherine frowned backing away from the garage. Her Uncle must have been one very strange man. She thought to herself. Although now that she thought about it she didn't recall seeing any pictures throughout the house of anybody.

She walked through the kitchen in thought. She walked back to the office where the male presence was still present. She looked at the envelope, ripping it open and pulling out its contents.

There was a stack of legal documents, the deed to the house, a listing of the contents of the house, and a listing of monies left to her. She felt herself fall into the leather chair behind her as she stared at the sum of money left in a safe behind the picture of the 'Man and Dog' according to the instructions.. She would never have to worry about money again. She could pay off her parent's mortgage and send both her brothers to school. And yet somehow, she really didn't care about the money for herself. It was nice, but...She shook her head.

She stared at the sum of money and wondered why her Uncle Carin had left it all to her. There was no letter of explanation and nothing in the stack of papers that would enlighten her. She lifted up the papers and watched as something fell to the ground. Curious she picked it up. She looked at the card in confusion. She knew what it was, but she didn't understand how it would have managed to get in with the papers and legal documents. She looked at the back but nothing was written there so she turned the oversized card back around and stared at the image of the Hanged Man.

She knew what a Tarot card was, and had even played with a deck in High School, but she was not familiar enough with the 78 cards to know exactly what the card meant, but she knew it was one of the Major Arcana.

She shuffled through the papers again looking for any other cards but found none. She opened her Uncle's desk and sorted through it, finding no other cards. She frowned as she tapped the card on the desk. She shrugged and put it back on the desk. She stood up. She had to get to the store before it got dark and make her way back here. She rummaged through the desk and was thankful when she managed to find a map. She looked around the room was thankful that the place actually had heat and power. She pulled Leonardo's trench coat closed and stopped. She looked down at the coat and realized she had never bought a new one, and he had never asked for it back. It still smelled like him.

She shook her head, walked back to the kitchen, grabbed the keys for the Porsche she had seen hanging on the hallway wall that went to the garage. She looked at the Porsche turned around and walked back into the hallway. She traded the Porsche keys for the Hummer. It was cold and she figured it would be better on the back roads.

"So what that's it Leo, we just going to walk away and leave her in that great big house all alone in the middle of nowhere?" Raphael asked him, his voice angry and rough.

He closed his eyes against the urge that flowed through him to turn around and march back to the house. The startled look of surprise that they were leaving and the hurt that he had seen in her eyes had nearly unmanned him. He had been so close to grabbing her and begging her, pleading with her to stay with him. He had been so close to telling her he loved her, but he knew that she was now free to pursue all of her dreams. She would have enough money to go to school, take her Masters in mortuary archaeology, perhaps find a great guy, settle down, have kids and be happy. He just had to ignore the feeling of his heart shattering and the pain bubbling up threatening to choke him.

"Yes Raph, that is it. We walk out of her life because we don't belong in it." He said to his angry brother.

"We don't belong in it, huh Leo?" Raphael growled.

"No we don't." He turned around and faced Raphael, anger and hurt roaring through him like a tidal wave. "We can't belong in her world Raph, which means we would be forcing her into ours!" He yelled at his brother.

"What's so wrong with our world Leo?" He roared at him.

"Look behind you Raph." He yelled pointing at the house behind them. "That is her world, we live in a sewer. We would be asking her to give up everything, to do what? Stay with us? Why would she stay with us Raph, why would she stay here? She has a life back home, she is going to England in two months! All of her family and all of her friends, her entire life is in Canada, not here! Our lives are dangerous Raph, or have you forgotten that? We would be putting her in danger!"

"We could protect her!" Raphael snarled at him.

"Raph," Leonardo said calmly. "She didn't ask for us to stay." He said quietly.

Leonardo watched as his brother's face paled. He closed his eyes and nodded. They climbed into their truck, took one last look at the house that almost seemed to shimmer in the daylight, and drove away.

Katherine stomped back into the house. The silence startled her. She enjoyed silence, she enjoyed being alone more than anything else, but for some reason the silence that greeted her was oppressive. When had she become used to the constant noise of others? When had constant noise, constant movement become comforting rather than irritating? She wondered.

She put the bag of groceries down on the kitchen counter. She had been glad she had grabbed the Hummer. It had started snowing on the way home and the roads had become slick unusually quickly. She had hit a patch of black ice which had caused her to slide into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately for her there had been a semi heading directly towards her; Luckily for her the Hummer had great traction and she had been driving the much more treacherous roads in Canada for years. She knew how to drive in winter. She had managed to pull herself out of the slide and get back into her own lane.

The snow had stopped by the time she had gotten back to the house. She felt as if the universe had it in for her. She looked down on the countertop and saw the Hanged Man sitting there. She picked the card up. A feeling of trepidation and foreboding crawled down her spine.

Wow that was a long chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! After reading this chapter I realized I had everyone's thoughts and feelings except for Donatello's. But he has a starring role in the next chapeter Please read and reveiw!