So next chapter is up! Thank you Liz for the review I very much appreciated it! You are awesome=) Hope you all enjoy this next chapter! (it's kinda long)=S

Chapter 10

Katherine looked at Donatello's pale unconscious form. She sat down at the edge of the bed. "Donatello, wake up." She said softly to him. "I need you to sleep, not be unconscious." She gently stroked his cheek. Pain filled dark brown eyes opened and looked at her.

"You are safe Donatello. I'll stay with you okay." She said to him. He closed his eyes without acknowledging that she had spoken to him. She slid beneath the covers and snuggled into his side. He was cold, but she tried to warm him with her body. His body was no longer in danger.

She wondered if his brothers knew how close to death he had been. Donatello had been mere minutes away from death. She placed her hand lightly over the pulse at his throat.

She knew the fight for Donatello's life was not over, not yet. Death was a tricky opponent and Donatello had suffered a great shock. She firmly believed that such things not only affected the mind and body, but also the soul.

She closed her eyes. The male presence was still in the room, somehow this was oddly comforting. She began to talk. She told Donatello stories of her childhood, her life, her dreams, everything she could think of. She thought maybe her voice would keep him anchored, keep his soul from wandering, because sometimes, even when the body was healing, the soul was still susceptible to the siren call of Death.

Donatello felt as if he was floating in some sort of nothingness. No, it wasn't nothingness, it was more, he felt as if he was gently drifting in swaying boat somewhere in the middle of a calm lake.

He knew he had been shot, and somehow Katherine was there. He knew he was out of danger, he knew Katherine had somehow pulled him through, so why did he feel so...disconnected? He felt as if he was drifting further and further away. He knew it would be so much easier just let go, let himself drift into the sweet nothingness of death.

"Don't you dare even think of it Donatello!" Katherine's angry voice broke through the calm.

He frowned. It had been peaceful and quiet. "But it is so much less complicated here." He told her. "I finally have peace from all of the fighting, the sadness, the loneliness, the fear and pain. I am finally free from being who and what I am." He told her in a tortured voice.

"Death is so easy Donatello, living is the hard part, I never would have thought you would take the easy way out." She accused. "If you let go now, you will never know what might have been." She said in a voice that was hard and angry, yet tinged with fear and misery.

"A life of bitter loneliness." He said with conviction.

"You can't leave your brothers." She said heatedly.

He paused. How had he forgotten about his brothers? He asked himself. It felt as if he just remembered that they existed.

"You can't leave me." She said in a soft shattered voice.

He was letting go, he knew he was, but, he couldn't let his brother's go, couldn't let her go. He had to find her. The lake was no longer calm, death no longer appealed to him, but he was frightened because he didn't know how to find his way back.

"I can't do this alone Donatello, you have to help me!" Katherine's strained voice said to him.

"I don't know what to do!" He yelled at her.

"Find me!" She yelled at him. "Hurry!"

He stood up in the shaky boat he was standing in. He was surrounded by nothing but dark churning water. There was no sign of land and he couldn't see her anywhere.

"Donatello!" She yelled angrily. He reached out his hand in the direction of her voice. "Donatello. 'I won't let you go gently into that good night'." Katherine said with determination.

He saw her then, determined, frightened, angry and exhausted. The scent of flowers drifted in on the wind. She reached out her hand. He placed his hand in hers. "I have you. I will never let you go Donatello, I promise, I will never let go." And he knew she wouldn't. He saw a flash of silver, and warmth filled him.

Katherine stumbled and her hand began to fade. "Katherine!" He shouted. He looked at her, her teeth were clenched together in either pain or with strained effort.

"I see" She said, but he had the impression that she wasn't talking to him. She looked at her fading form. "I'll take you back Donatello, but I can't come with you." She whispered.

"Don't you dare!" Donatello said to her as he pulled her against him.

"Donatello...There is always a price for everything." She said to him, willing him to understand.

"Find a different price. I will not let you do this alone. I will help you however I can. I promise I will protect you, I will always protect you, I will not let you die!" He said fiercely.

Katherine looked at him. "Okay. Then we will do this together." She said softly. He saw flashes of gold and he felt something warm pulling through his body. She was pulling something from within him. He closed his eyes as the world went too bright for him to see.

Raphael opened his eyes. Light was streaming into his room. He sat bolt upright as the events of the night before came crashing down upon him. He leapt out of bed. He had taken his bloody clothes and thrown them on the floor. He looked at his clothing and decided he would rather walk around in his underwear than put on the clothing that now had Donatello's life blood spilt upon them. He looked at Michelangelo who was still snoring on the bed. He decided to let him sleep. He strode from the room almost running into Leonardo. Leonardo looked panicked.

Raphael's heart skipped a beat as he realized that something was wrong. "Is Donny...?" He asked Leonardo anxiously.

Leonardo shook his head. "I don't know, I just woke up. I didn't mean to sleep, I shouldn't have slept." Leonardo said angrily shaking his head with regret.

Raphael was still furious with his brother. He blamed Leonardo for pushing them so hard, for not warning them when he first saw them pull the guns. Raphael tried to stamp out his anger, but he couldn't. Instead he reached for the doorknob and quietly opened the door. Light streamed in through the windows. The room looked like a sickroom. There were bloody pads, empty saline bags, and discarded bandages littering the floor.

Katherine was curled up under the covers next to Donatello. She was holding his hand tightly, but she seemed to be awake. Donatello looked to be sleeping soundly. Donatello's colour seemed to have returned, he was no longer pale and grey.

He felt the tension in his shoulders ease as he breathed a sigh of relief. Katherine turned towards them. She sat up slowly as if the movement were painful. It was then he realized she must have been curled in the same position for most of the night and into the morning if the clock on the nightstand was any indication. It was noon. They had slept for nearly eight hours straight.

She slid out of the bed and faced them. She was pale, so incredibly pale that there was absolutely no colour in her cheeks. "He's going to be fine." She said in a hoarse voice. She closed her eyes and collapsed boneless to the ground.

"Shit." He swore as he reached her before Leonardo. He picked her up gently.

"She's exhausted." Leonardo whispered looking at her worried and guilt stricken.

Raphael felt guilt wash over him. They should have been here, they should have been the ones looking after their brother, not her. Raphael closed his eyes as he got angry at himself. "You watch Donny, I'll take her to bed." He said striding from the room.

He went back to the room he had shared with Michelangelo. "Mikey wake up." He said to his sleeping brother as he lay Katherine's sleeping form down on the bed.

Michelangelo woke up at his brothers words. His eyes snapped open as Raphael lay Katherine down on the bed beside him.

He sat up in shock. "She's exhausted, Donny's fine. She needs some rest." Raphael said softly as he pulled the covers over her body. Raphael reached out and gently ran his fingers over her cheek. "I'm sorry." He said to her.

Michelangelo climbed out of the bed. He did a double take at Raphael standing in his boxer-briefs. Raphael looked down at himself. "I need to get some laundry done. My clothes are covered in Donny's blood, and I just can't wear them like that." He said softly.

Michelangelo nodded. "We nearly lost him, didn't we?" He asked looking down at Katherine's sleeping form.

"Yeah." Raphael said with a terse nod.

"How did she know Raph? It is like she just knew, like she was waiting for us." Raphael looked at Katherine and frowned.

He shook his head. 'I'm not sure Mikey. We can ask her when she wakes up, till then, we should go check on Donny."

Michelangelo nodded. "Raph, I don't ever want to feel that way again." He said seriously to his brother. "I felt so helpless and useless. I never want to feel that scared for anyone ever again."

Raphael stopped in front of the door to Donatello's room. He closed his eyes. "Me neither Mikey, but the only way to never feel that way again, is to never feel anything for anybody ever again." He opened the door as Michelangelo acknowledged the truth of his words.

Leonardo was gripping Donatello's hand. Donatello was still sleeping.

"How's he doing Leo?" Michelangelo asked him.

Leonardo looked at him his eyes flicking to Raphael then quickly looking away. He shook his head. "He looks better, his pulse is good, he's sleeping soundly, but he hasn't woken up yet."

Michelangelo looked at Donatello's sleeping form. Raphael put his hand on his shoulder. "He'll wake up Mikey, don't you worry. He's been through a lot. Look how long we slept and we weren't the ones who got shot. He just needs some sleep."

"How's Kitten?" Leonardo asked quietly.

Anger raced through Raphael's eyes, and yet somehow Michelangelo felt that Raphael was angry with himself. "Sleeping." He said curtly.

Leonardo nodded. He stood up and grabbed a book from the nightstand. "I'll be back in a bit." Leonardo said as he strode quickly from the room.

"What's wrong with Leo?" Michelangelo asked Raphael.

Raphael just shook his head. "You going to look after Donny? I want to find the machine and wash my clothes."

Michelangelo nodded.

Raphael turned and left the room. Michelangelo walked over to Donatello's bedside and sat on the chair that Leonardo had just vacated.

He watched his brother sleep for a few hours with no change and no sign that he was any closer to waking up.

Raphael stormed in a few hours later, half dressed, covered in sweat and in an obvious rage. Michelangelo sighed inwardly. He and Leonardo had obviously been fighting again.

"I am..." Raphael began, then lowered his voice as he looked at Donatello's sleeping form. "So pissed off!" He snarled. "Leo screwed up, he screwed up so bad and he is being an ass!"

"Raph, Leo knows he screwed up, he already blames himself for what happened, poking at him and yelling at him isn't going to do any good." Michelangelo pointed out. "Why are you sweating so much?" He asked trying to distract his brother.

Raphael clutched his shirt tightly, his knuckles turning white. "There's a training room with a heavy bag. I went a few rounds with it to try to cool off and it didn't help." Raphael growled. "Leo wants to leave tomorrow, tomorrow can you believe it?" He asked angrily.

Michelangelo's eye ridges lifted in shock. "Tomorrow? Donny almost died last night!"

"I know. If Donny wakes up today and as long as Kitten's okay, Leo wants to leave tomorrow. I told him he was being an ass." Raphael said, beginning to work himself into an even deeper, all consuming rage.

"Have you checked on Kitten?" He asked with worry, switching the subject to distract him.

Raphael's anger evaporated as he shook his head. "I want to , I want to make sure she's alright, but she's such a light sleeper that I know if I go in, she'll wake up, and she's too damn stubborn to just rest when we tell her to rest, so if I wake her up she'll try to get up and look after Donny, then she'll try to look after us as well." He said looking at the door, a mixture of tenderness and frustration lacing his words.

It struck him then that Raphael had fallen hard for Katherine. He had known Raphael was in love with her, but he hadn't realized how badly in love with her he was. The fact that Raphael's rage had evaporated was surprising, but even more surprising was the way he actually cared about her.

Raphael and caring didn't generally go together. He tended to be self centered, egotistical, and didn't tend to care about the feelings or well being of others. This wasn't to say that Raphael didn't care about him and his brothers, he did. He loved them and was ferociously protective of them when they were in danger. But Raphael's care only extended so far. He cared about April and Casey, but beyond that Raphael had let no one else in. Raphael was aloof and tended to use his anger like a shield to keep everyone, including his brothers, at a distance, and yet somehow Katherine had slipped right past all of his barriers and lodged herself firmly into his brother's heart.

Michelangelo nodded in acknowledgment of Raphael's words. "You really love her, don't you Raph?" He asked quietly. He didn't know why he said it, didn't know why he wanted to broach the subject with the least forthcoming of his brothers, but somehow he felt they needed to talk.

Raphael's head whipped around fast enough to give him whiplash. He looked at Raphael steadily as he watched denial leap to his lips and embarrassment climb up his brother's cheeks.

Raphael was silent for so long he didn't think he was going to answer him. Finally Raphael gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. Raphael's shoulders slumped as he grabbed another chair that was positioned against the wall. He picked it up and moved it close to where Michelangelo was sitting.

Raphael dragged his hands down his face. "You probably think I'm an idiot, don't you?" He questioned.

Michelangelo shook his head looking at Donatello. He knew that Raphael had really not been expecting a reply. "She's smart, funny, beautiful, sweet, and a blast to be around, why would I think you were an idiot?" Michelangelo asked him gently.

"Because what chance do I stand?" He growled.

Michelangelo shrugged. "As much chance as the rest of us I suppose." Raphael frowned. "She isn't indifferent to us Raph. She's attracted to us, it's why she blushed so much." Michelangelo told him as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. He opened an eye and looked at his brother wondering if he was going to have to spell it out for him.

Raphael looked confused. Michelangelo sighed inwardly. And they all thought he was the dumb one.

"How do you think Leo feels about Kitten?" He asked his brother, looking at him.

Raphael shrugged. "I'd say he can't stand her. He avoided her like the plague when she was with us." Raphael frowned as he was searching his memory. "He was polite but distant." Raphael's frown deepened. "But..."

"How 'bout Donny?" Michelangelo asked breaking his brother's concentration.

Raphael thought about the question. "He seemed to avoid her too, but with Donny there would be times when he would sit and listen to her. Then there was the time he freaked out after Kitten was hurt, I've never seen Donny so angry." Confusion flashed across his face. "But Leo always looked angry when I got too close to her, and when Kitten was almost hit by that car, she told him she was 'fine', and he growled at her the 'he wasn't'." He frowned in thought again. "They were very protective of her, almost...possessive." Raphael grimaced as the little light bulb went off in his head. "So you're tellin' me that Leo and Donny are in love with her." He asked him. Raphael's honey brown eyes searched his desperately. "You too, huh Mikey?" He said almost bleakly.

Michelangelo gave a regretful half smile. "Me too Raph." He said softly looking at Donatello.

He looked back at Raphael who seemed deep in thought. "So what now Mikey?" He asked.

Michelangelo shrugged blowing out a breath. "I don't know Raph. This last month has been hell. I hate feeling as if someone has ripped out my heart. I hate feeling like I am missing something, as if the best thing ever to come into my life had been taken away." He said seriously. "And yet...I get what Leo's doing. I get Leo's point of view. I don't say I agree with it, but I understand it." He motioned to the bed. "Our lives are dangerous, we would be pulling her into the middle of a gang war. She would have to give up all of her dreams if she wanted to be with one of us. And what happens to the brothers she doesn't choose, if she ever chose?" He shook his head. "Leo would rather run away than be hurt. He would rather break his heart himself than have her break it for him."

"So Leo thinks it's easier to never try, than to try and fail." Raphael growled angrily.

Michelangelo shrugged. Raphael looked as if he was assessing him. "What?" He asked.

"Since when did you get so smart?" Raphael asked.

Michelangelo smiled wryly. "I'm not just another pretty face you know."

Raphael nodded in acknowledgement. "So if you're so smart, who does she like better?" Raphael asked off-handily as if the answer did not matter, but Michelangelo could see the naked need in his brother's eyes.

He sighed. "I don't know Raph. I mean I know she's attracted to us, I know she feels more than friendship for us, but I can't tell if there is any one of us that she prefers. That's the frustrating thing." He said frowning. "The problem is that if I were to guess, I would say Donny or Leo. She has the most in common with them." He watched as Raphael paled. "Her and Donny talk for hours about all that history stuff and dinosaurs. But she isn't good with technology and is only a little interested in science. Her and Leo talk endlessly about books. They talk about all those old books like Shakespeare and stuff, she even got him reading comics Raph. She got Leo to read some of her manga and I've caught him playing video games with her. He hates video games, but there they were in the middle of the night playing an RPG, and Leo was having fun." Michelangelo said, shaking his head in amazement.

"You tellin me she's managed to pry the stick out of Leo's ass?" Raphael asked shocked.

Michelangelo shrugged. "Something like that."

"And she watches cartoons and reads comics with you. Plays video games with you, laughs at all of your really bad jokes." Raphael said softly. He closed his eyes. "But we've got nothing in common." He said quietly. "She can talk a good game about sports, but she isn't interested in them, she isn't a fighter, and I have no interest in comics, or history or any of that stuff."

Michelangelo looked at his shattered brother. "Raph I'm not going to pretend to understand women. The only woman I know is April, and she's with Casey. I wouldn't think those two had anything in common, but they love each other, and always seem to talk about things." He said with a shake of his head.

Michelangelo stood up and looked at him. "Guess I'll go get us something to eat, find Leo and try to talk some sense into him." He said as he walked to the door. He opened it to leave but paused looking back at his older brother.

Raphael looked at his sleeping brother, his thoughts chaotic and dark.

"Thing is Raph," Michelangelo said softly. He looked ain shock at the door. He had thought Michelangelo had already left, but his brother had paused halfway through the door. Michelangelo wasn't looking at him but he continued quietly. "She's managed to do what none of the rest of us has ever been able to." He said softly.

"Yeah, what's that?" Raphael asked gloomily.

"Understand you." He said with a shrug. Raphael looked at him in shock.

His brother turned slightly to look at him."Thing is Raph, you are stubborn, selfish, loud, reckless, and those are your good qualities." He said only partially joking. "But you can be intimidating, aggressive and scary as hell. I'm your my brother and I get scared of you when you go into one of your rages. And think back to the way you were when Katherine was around, you were at your worst. You were angry and combative. How many fights did you pick with her because you were tired and in pain?" Raphael opened his mouth but Michelangelo cut him off. "Too many to count. She's small, Raph, by human standards we're short, but she's even shorter than us, and we are built. We weigh almost double what she weighs, and you are the biggest and bulkiest of all of us, she should have been scared of you when you were in your rages, but she wasn't. She stood up to you when you were angry, she even managed to talk you right out of most of your rages."

Michelangelo shook his head. "I hate to say this Raph, but I've seen what you are capable of. I've seen you try to take a pipe to my head, I've seen you shatter Leo's swords, you hauled a half dead woman into the lair after storming out in an uncontrollable fury. The point is, that when you fly into a rage you are completely and absolutely out of control." Michelangelo said to him. Raphael cringed at every word, the problem was, that what Michelangelo was saying was absolute truth.

"Remember the incident with the bike?" Michelangelo asked him.

He cringed inwardly.

It was just over a week that Katherine had been with them and he had been angry, so very angry. He was frustrated about his slow recovery, he was angry with himself for almost killing an innocent woman, he was angry because Leonardo hadn't chewed a strip off him, and he was angry he had to retreat from the damn Red Dragons in the first place.

"You had worked yourself into such a rage that you took a baseball bat to your bike. You love your bike and you completely trashed it. We tried to stop you, but you were so far gone that you couldn't even hear us anymore. Then Katherine walks in to see what all the noise is, she can barely stand on her own yet there she is walking right between you and your bike. My heart nearly stopped beating in my chest when I saw you raise that bat against her Raph." Michelangelo said softly to him.

Raphael closed his eyes in shame. He remembered that moment well. It was emblazoned in his memory.

She stood there, he couldn't even see her, all he could see was red, but her voice broke through to him. "You're holding your bat wrong." She pointed out to him.

He had been so shocked at the comment that it managed to break through his rage. "What!" He had roared at her.

"The way you are holding the bat is creating more work for you to achieve maximum force when hitting something. You need to move your hands lower on the handle so that gravity helps you." She said to him gently taking a hold of his hands which had been tightly clenched on the handle of the bat.

He looked at her in shock. "Oh and by the way Ice Cold is totally getting his ass kicked by The Freemason." She told him referring to his favourite wrestler and his arch nemesis.

"He is not." He growled at her, his hands loosening their grip on the bat. She gently took the bat from his hands. She leaned it against a chair, and twined her fingers through his leading him away from the destruction he had caused.

"Am I such a monster Mikey?" Raphael asked, fear and hurt radiating off every line of his tense body. Michelangelo was silent. Raphael felt himself pale at the truth of Michelangelo's silence. He closed his eyes. "So you're saying I don't deserve her?" He questioned.

Michelangelo's shoulders slumped letting out a breath as if what he was about to say hurt him to speak. "My point is, that we, your own brothers, didn't believe in you." He said softly.

Raphael looked at him in confusion. "We believed you had hit Kitten when we walked into Donny's workroom. I've seen you raise your fist to her when she would gently touch your shoulder, when you were beyond reason, and all she would do is take your white knuckled fist and lead you away, talking excitedly about something, and you would let her, and your rage would evaporate as if it had never been there. She, a stranger, believes you would never hurt her, and the night we believed you had, she stood up for you. She is the reason Leo agreed that he didn't think you could hurt her, because she believes with absolute certainty that you never would"

"You've changed for her Raph. After the incident with the bike your temper is just as bad, but it is like you have more control over it. Even now when I tried to distract you by asking why you were sweating you hung onto your anger, but with the mention of Kitten your anger completely died. She never yelled at you about your temper, never tried to change you, but for her, you have changed. And it's not just your temper that you've changed. You listen to what she has to say, even if it doesn't interest you. You care about her and her feelings, even taking her out of the lair so she could get some fresh air. You love her Raph, and she knows you and understands you, probably better than you know and understand yourself, better than we know and understand you, and that is a very...humbling thing to see." Michelangelo finished quietly.

Raphael looked at him in surprise. "She cares for you Raph, she cares for all of us." He said softly as he walked out of the room. Raphael watched his brother quietly close the door behind him. It had taken a lot for Michelangelo to say what he had said to him. He frowned. When had Michelangelo grown up? He asked himself.

Raphael looked at Donatello. He moved to the spot Michelangelo had vacated. "So you are in love with her too, huh Donny?" He asked his sleeping brother. "Well don't think that just because you're all injured and almost kicked the bucket, that I'm going to let you have her, if she'll even have me." He said, acknowledging the very slim chance he had with her.

He closed his eyes and wondered if the moment with the bike was the moment when he fell in love with her. He shook his head. It wasn't. But he remembered how she had looked at him as she held the bat in her hands. He saw neither anger, nor fear, only knowledge. The absolute knowledge that she had been a hairs breath away from being injured, he knew it, she knew it, and at that moment he had felt as if she had understood all of his anger, all of his fears and every secret hidden within his soul. She had ripped his soul open and examined every single hidden part of it, every shameful secret, every terrible fear, and then gently put them all gently back.

Michelangelo was right. She knew him down to the very deepest darkest depths of his soul, and he couldn't lose that. He wondered when he had fallen in love with her. If not that moment then when? He searched his memory. When was the moment that he felt as if his whole world had narrowed to existing only for her? He questioned himself. His world tipped when he realized it was the moment she had first looked at him with shock filled eyes as his sai buried itself in her soft flesh. It had been that moment that his whole world existed only for her. He felt as if he couldn't get enough air. He closed his eyes shaking his head slightly to rid himself of the shock as he threw the feeling and thought aside in disbelief.

He opened his eyes.

He didn't deserve her. He looked back at his sleeping brother. She deserved someone like Donatello. Someone she would never have to fear, someone she could talk endlessly about everything that she enjoyed and have what she was talking about appreciated.

He wasn't smart like Donatello. He couldn't talk to her for hours about dinosaurs or all of that anthropology stuff. He wasn't funny like Michelangelo. He made her laugh and they shared an interest in comic books and cartoons. Even Leonardo had shared her interest in books.

His shoulders slumped. What the hell chance did he have with her? He was short tempered, angry, and had growled at her most of the time she had been with them.

She was as Michelangelo said, smart, funny, beautiful, sweet, and a blast to be around. He called her image to mind, replayed all of the time he spent with her. He remembered as she looked at him intently as he explained something to her. She wasn't faking interest, she was genuinely interested in what he had to say. He liked the way she would use her hands to excitedly talk to him about something. He frowned in thought. But he did talk with her. He listened to what she had to say and she made everything she talked about interesting.

He liked the way her face would light up when she saw him. He liked that she never treated him as anything different. She never shied away at his touch, never pulled away in disgust or horror. And he liked to touch her. Her skin was like the softest pale velvet, her hair was like golden silk, and her scent drove him insane. He felt as if he could bury himself in her scent forever and be content.

He sighed. Michelangelo was right, he really loved her, and the thought that she might choose one of his brothers, if she decided to choose any of them, made his heart ache.

Things are starting to get interesting I think! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I know it was long but I couldn't really cut it down. Reveiws are always welcome and appreciated!=)