Chapter 15 yay! Hope everyone is enjoying so far!
Chapter 15
Raphael felt as if the whole world had gone crazy, or if not the whole world at least Leonardo. He had been watching his brother the last few days, after Leonardo and Katherine had had it out in the library after dinner. All he knew was that he had never seen Leonardo look so pale, pulled, and miserable. He wondered what the hell she had said to him, especially after Leonardo had come up to him and apologized for always lecturing him. He had nearly fallen over from absolute and utter shock.
Raphael walked into Donatello's room. Donatello had wanted to talk to him and he was pretty sure it was going to be regarding Leonardo, so he was completely surprised when Donatello said he wanted to talk about Katherine.
"Aren't you worried about Leo?" He asked his brother.
"I'm less worried about Leo and more worried about Kitten. She hasn't slept in three days Raph, three days." Donatello stressed.
Raphael closed his eyes. "I know." He said softly. He knew because he had planted himself outside her room for the last three nights and knew she had left her room after he had finally fallen asleep. He had woken up each night to find a blanket draped over himself and Michelangelo telling him that Kitten wasn't in her room anymore and that she was wandering around the house, or she was in the library, or she was in the theatre room, or the art room.
Hell, he'd been having problems sleeping, only managing a few hours here and there, worrying that when she and if she slept, she would have another hellish nightmare.
"So if you knew she wasn't sleeping why didn't you tell me?" Donatello growled angrily. Raphael remained silent. Donatello's eyes narrowed. "Mikey says something happened the night I woke up. He said you wouldn't talk about it, and Kitten won't talk about it. All he knows is that you washed all of her sheets and when she walked out of the room in the morning she was wearing nothing but your shirt. You want to tell me what happened?"
Raphael shook his head. "Nope." He said to his younger brother.
"Raph." Donatello growled.
"Donny, it's not my story to tell. If Kitten doesn't want anyone to know what happened I'm not going to tell you. Hell, her and I have never discussed what happened that night, and I was there." He said with exasperation.
"Well do you know why she isn't sleeping?" He asked him.
Raphael nodded. Yeah, he knew, it was the same reason he couldn't sleep.
"Fine, then maybe you can get her to sleep, and if she won't just go to bed, give her these." He said handing him two white pills.
"Sleeping meds Donny?" He asked as Donatello nodded. "She'll hate me." He said to his brother. That is if she actually survived sleeping through the night.
"Better she hate you than she just finally collapses. She needs to sleep." Donatello insisted.
"Fine." He grumbled as he closed his hands around the pills.
He walked to the door and looked back at his brother. "You know what's wrong with Leo?" He asked worried.
"If Leo wants to tell us, then we will know, now get going." He said to him. Raphael nodded and went to find Katherine.
How the hell was he supposed to convince Katherine to sleep when the last time
she slept not only had she been dragged through a horrible nightmare, but it had almost, no had, killed her? He wondered to himself.
He strode through the house looking for her. Leonardo was already in bed and Michelangelo was sleeping as well, which wasn't surprising since it seemed he had been the one keeping her company when she was awake during the night.
He just hoped he would be able to find her. It was strange, he knew it was a big house, but sometimes it was almost like she just disappeared.
He finally managed to find her in the theatre room. She had just put in a movie and was in the process of sitting down. "You want some company?" He asked her. She turned and looked at him in surprise.
She shrugged. "Make yourself comfortable." She said as she sat down on one of the reclining leather theatre seats.
Michelangelo had spent quite a bit of time in the theatre room, but Raphael hadn't had a chance yet. The screen was huge, there were two rows of reclining chairs, four in each row. Each chair had cup holders in each armrest. Katherine curled up in her seat and cuddled into a blanket. He studied her tired, pale face. Dark circles had formed beneath her eyes and she looked as if she were going to collapse. "So what are you watching?" He asked as he sat down beside her. He looked at the cup holder that held a bottle of pop.
"Beauty and the Beast." She said with a wan smile.
"Wait, the Disney one with all the dancing furniture and the singing?" He asked in horror.
She laughed. "Yes, that one. It's my favourite."
Raphael grabbed Katherine's bottle of pop, opened the cap, took a swig and slipped the pills in.
She held out her hand for the pop and took a swig. She put it back and curled up further into the blanket. Raphael glared at the arm rest between them. He studied the row of seats. He pulled out the pop and pulled the armrest up. He smiled and pulled Katherine closer to him, putting the pop into his cup holder. If she was bothered by him tucking her into his side, she didn't protest, just arranged the blanket over them both and snuggled in closer to him.
The movie started. He took a swig of the pop offering her another drink, which she took. If he were lucky maybe she would fall asleep within the first 15 minutes then he could follow her so he wouldn't have to watch the movie.
"You've never watched it?" She asked him.
He looked at her. "When would I have watched this?" He asked her. They were already singing.
She rolled her eyes. "I don't know, I would have to assume you were little once." She said pointing at the screen.
"Just cause we were little didn't mean we watched this stuff." He said pointing to the screen.
She shook her head. "You missed out."
"No, pretty sure I didn't."
Katherine fell silent as he realized he was dissing her movie sight unseen. "So what makes this movie so great?" He asked her.
She looked up at him. "A few things. Normally I'm not a fan of it when they change a fairytale, but in this case, it is so much better than the original. Anyway, I like the songs and the characters are really good. Oh, and the Beast is sexy."
"What?" Raphael asked in surprise.
"The Beast is hot." She repeated.
He looked at the screen as the Beast came on. "But he's a big hairy beast, how can the Beast be hot?"
She paused the movie. "Okay the bad guy in this is Gaston."
"Singing guy at the beginning, I got that." Raphael said waiting for her to get to the point.
"So he is athletic, good looking and rich, everything a girl should want in a guy, but he just wants to marry Belle cause she's hot. He doesn't really care about her personality. Not cool. So here is the Beast and he is..."
"Scary as hell. I'm mean he's in a rage most of the time, and he is a big hairy beast." Raphael said pointing at the movie.
She pressed the play button. "Yes, but he likes that she's pretty, but he also likes her." She pointed out. "And he's just all pissed off because he figures that no woman is ever going to look at him as anything more than an animal. He figures he's going to be a beast and alone forever. But Belle sees him for who he really is, and she loves him despite what he looks like." She said pointing at the screen.
Raphael glared at the screen. Great, his life was a Disney movie. "But he turns into a human at the end right?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She sighed. "They just had to ruin it by making him human." She said shaking her head sadly.
"But...isn't that a good thing?" He asked confused.
She shrugged. "He was way hotter as the Beast. Besides what's the point of preaching 'it's what's on the inside that counts' and then make him the handsome prince in the end, I call boo." She said crossing her arms. "It's like them ruining Shrek."
"What's wrong with Shrek? They didn't make Fiona a human, they made her an Ogre." He said in confusion.
Katherine yawned taking another swig of pop. "Okay, but she falls in love with Shrek right?" She said to him.
"Yes." He said slowly wondering where the hell her brain was going.
"Well, for one thing, when she turned into an Ogre at night, she was all 'oh no I'm a horrible ugly beast'. This makes no sense, I mean wouldn't she have met Shrek and been like, 'Oh I turn into an Ogre.' She thinks Shrek only loves her because she's pretty as a human." She shook her head. "Then she ends up an Ogre which is exactly like what he is, like it's not okay for her to love him being human." She huffed out. "Oh but I know a good one. Hellboy. That is a good movie. Hellboy is hot and he is in love with Liz who is human, and they don't try to make him human."
"But he's a giant red walking devil, with horns and a tail." Raphael said numbly.
She shrugged. "Doesn't matter, he's still hot."
He looked over at her in shock. She was staring straight ahead watching the movie. He felt a little lost, no he was a lot lost, he was so far lost, a GPS unit couldn't help him find his way back. "Have you always thought that way?" He asked his voice a little unsteady.
"Yep, why?" She asked him curiously.
"No reason." He managed to get out. Raphael closed his eyes. What were the chances that he had managed to stab, probably the only woman on the planet ,who thought it ruined a movie if both of the people falling in love were human? "You watched a lot of Star Trek when you were little didn't you?" He questioned.
"I loved Next Generation." She said sleepily.
"You played D&D in high school didn't you?"
"Yes." She answered with a yawn.
"Of course you did." He said with a smile. She was a total nerd, yet somehow it was endearing. He reached for the control and turned the movie off. She frowned up at him. "Well I don't want you being all disappointed at the end when he turns back into a human." He said huskily.
"But I'll miss the best part." She complained.
"And what's that?" He asked her, turning so he could look at her better. He put his hand on the side of her cheek leaning in closer to her.
"The kiss." She said a little breathlessly.
"Oh, I think I can help you out with that one." He leaned into her and kissed her.
Her lips were soft and warm. He technically didn't have lips and his mouth was bigger than hers, but somehow they made it work. Her arms had wrapped themselves around his neck and twined themselves through the ties of his mask that she had given back to him. He hungrily kissed her. Kissing her felt so right as if he had finally found where he belonged. He pushed her down into the couch moving the other chair's armrest out of the way. He lay on top of her kissing her with a need that threatened to overwhelm him.
Her lips started to slow as did his. He pulled away and looked at her. She was frowning in confusion. "I'm tired." She whispered.
Raphael frowned and looked at the pop bottle at his feet. He closed his eyes as a wave of tiredness rode over him. Damn you Donny! He cursed at his injured brother in his head.
"I feel like I've been drugged." She slurred out. Her eyes narrowed. "You drugged me." She accused.
He closed his eyes in resignation. Now she was going to hate him, or at least be really, really pissed off at him.
"Raphael." She said, hurt in her voice. Crap and damn. Her being angry he could take, the hurt in her voice struck him through to his heart.
"We need to sleep Kitten." He said with resignation softly stroking the side of her face.
"But..." She said, fear lacing the word. She clutched the trailing ties of his mask more tightly.
"I'm here, if I can't stop it, at least I'll be there with you." He promised her.
"Stay?" She asked, eyes already closed.
"Forever." He whispered, sleep beginning to drag him down.
She was silent, sleep having claimed her. Raphael shifted so he was no longer laying on her. Her face was buried in his chest. She was going to hate him in the morning. He thought as he closed his eyes and slept.
Michelangelo walked down the hall. He had just finished breakfast, seen to it that Donatello had eaten and was now checking on Katherine and Raphael. Donatello had wanted him to check on Katherine, since he had apparently gotten Raphael to drug her last night.
He stood outside Katherine's door and turned the knob. He stuck his head in and found light streaming into the room, and a bed that hadn't been slept in. Michelangelo frowned. He pulled his head out and looked down the hall to the room Raphael had been using, but not actually sleeping in. He walked up to his older brother's door. He slowly turned the knob and stuck his head in, afraid he was going to find them both asleep in the bed together...or worse not sleeping, but in the bed together. He pulled his head out and frowned. Raphael's bed hadn't been slept in at all either. So where were they? He wondered ignoring the relief that flooded through him at not finding his brother in bed with the woman he loved.
He wandered around the house until he finally stumbled upon them in the Theatre room.
Katherine was wrapped in Raphael's arms, both sound asleep. He took in the single bottle of pop still sitting in the armrest at their feet. It looked like they had fallen asleep right where they fell. Raphael had obviously drugged them both.
He frowned. He was worried about both of them. He tended to be more the night owl of any of his brothers, but when he stumbled upon Raphael sitting outside Katherine's door the last three nights in a row, he had grown worried. Especially after seeing Katherine just wandering around, or watching movies with him and not going to bed after he had finally called it a night. He had thought that Raphael sitting outside her door was strange until he realized she had been slipping past him when he fell asleep for a few minutes, and not returning to her room, which meant Raphael was guarding an empty room. But he didn't know why Raph was sleeping outside her room. This also meant Raphael was only catching snatches of sleep as well, as if he was afraid to go to sleep.
Michelangelo wasn't sure what had happened that night, all he knew was that whatever had happened had scared Raphael to death, so much so that he was afraid to sleep.
Michelangelo watched the two forms sleep for a few moments then quietly retreated back into the hallway. He gently closed the door behind him.
"You seen Raph, Mikey?" Leonardo asked him as he turned around.
"He's still sleeping." He answered slowly.
"Kitten?" He asked.
"Sleeping." He said to his older brother who just nodded and proceeded to walk into the library. He frowned looking after his oldest brother. There was something wrong with Leonardo as well. After his talk with Katherine it was almost as if he was avoiding her, and yet...not. It was almost as if he tried to avoid her, and yet for some reason he couldn't.
He walked upstairs to Donatello's room. Donatello looked up from typing on the laptop Katherine had given him. "Hey Donny." He said to his brother.
Donatello frowned. "That took a while."
"Yeah well I had to actually find them." He said taking the chair next to his bed.
"What do you mean find them?" Donatello asked eyes narrowing.
"I checked Kitten's room and she wasn't there." He said with a shrug, but watching his brother's face carefully.
He watched his brother's face as jealousy ripped across it at the implication that Raphael and Katherine had slept together. It was interesting to know that his brother was still in love with Katherine. He put his brother out of his misery. "I checked Raph's room and he wasn't in his room either."
"So you're telling me that Raph couldn't get Kitten to go to sleep last night." Donatello said with frustration.
"Well I don't think either of them had much of a choice since my guess is that Raphael drugged Kitten, and himself." He said to his brother. "I found them both sleeping in the Theatre room."
Donatello looked shocked. "Raphael wasn't sleeping either was he?" He asked softly. Michelangelo shook his head.
"He'd get a few hours here and there, but no, he wasn't really sleeping either." He said softly. "Donny, did Raph tell you what happened?" He asked.
Donatello shook his head.
"Something's been bugging me Donny, but I can't quite figure out what it is." He said frowning.
"You'll figure it out Mikey." Donatello said to him.
"You get yourself hooked up to our security system in the lair?" He asked changing the subject.
"Just finished patching myself through. This way we can keep an eye on what is going on back home." Donatello said with a smile.
Michelangelo frowned. "How are you feeling Donny. I know it's only been a few days..." He let the sentence hang.
Donatello looked at him. "I feel surprisingly good Mikey. My shoulder is still pretty sore, and itchy, but I feel really good, as long as I don't overdo it." He said with a smile.
He smiled at his older brother relieved. He had been worried, but Donatello seemed to be recovering really well.
Donatello looked up from the laptop a few hours later as Leonardo strode angrily into his room. Donatello closed his eyes in resignation as he closed the laptop. "What's up Leo?"
"Where is Raph! Mikey said he was still sleeping and it's 2:00 in the afternoon!" He said angrily.
"Why do you care, just let him sleep Leo." Donatello said giving his brother an assessing look.
"We were supposed to be sparring this morning and he never showed up." He growled. "But I checked his room and he's not there."
"Raphael didn't sleep in his room." Donatello said opening up his laptop. He looked at his brother under hooded lids. He had been trying to figure out what had happened between Leonardo and Katherine and couldn't figure it out. Donatello had asked Katherine if she was still mad at Leonardo, but she said they were good, so if they were good, then why did Leonardo look so utterly destroyed?
"You seen Kitten yet today?" He asked his brother to gage his reaction.
"No." He said with a shake of his head. "Mikey says she's still...sleeping." Leonardo finished his sentence as realization struck him. Leonardo went pale, swallowed and clenched his fists together as a jealous rage ripped through his brother's eyes. Well that answered that question, Leonardo was in love with Katherine, but he was no closer to figuring out what was wrong with him.
"You haven't noticed?" He asked his brother in shock.
"No." Leonardo growled. "I haven't noticed that Raphael has been...been..." Leonardo couldn't even finished the sentence. "I wasn't aware that Katherine was...that they were..."
"Not sleeping." Donatello supplied.
"Yes, not sleeping." Leonardo ground out through clenched teeth.
Donatello closed his eyes. "What happened between the two of you that you haven't noticed that Kitten and Raphael haven't been sleeping?" He asked his brother angrily hoping to goad him into revealing what had been bothering him.
Leonardo looked at him angrily. "That is none of your business Donny. I'm sorry if I didn't realize that Raphael was fu..."
"Don't even finish that word Leo." Donatello growled cutting his brother off. Leonardo glared at him.
"Katherine had not slept in three days. Three days because she has been too damn afraid to go to sleep, same with Raph, something happened and neither of them is willing to talk about it. But whatever it was, it scared Raph so bad that he ended up downing three glasses of scotch before he could stop shaking in fear, and Raph doesn't scare easy." He said in a low anger tinged voice.
Leonardo's brow furrowed. "Raph hates hard liquor." Leonardo said in confusion.
"Exactly. I gave Raph some sleeping meds last night. He drugged her and himself. Mikey says they are still sleeping in the theatre room." Leonardo nodded and turned on his heel. "Don't you dare wake either of them up Leo." He growled.
"Donny I..." He began as Michelangelo burst into the room.
"Salt." Michelangelo said triumphantly. Donatello and Leonardo looked at Michelangelo in confusion.
"What?" Donatello asked his proud brother.
"Remember I said something was bothering me about the night something happened with Raph and Kitten." Michelangelo asked. Donatello nodded as Leonardo looked at Michelangelo with confusion.
"Mikey bumped into Raph in the hallway carrying all of Katherine's clothes and bedding." Donatello explained.
Michelangelo nodded. "Raph looked like he'd seen a ghost. He was all pale and shaking. He handed me a pile of sheets and he went back for the rest. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn't tell."
Donatello looked at his brothers."I asked Raph about it yesterday and Raph said it wasn't his story to tell, and that if Kitten wasn't willing to share, then neither was he. He also said whatever had happened he and Katherine hadn't talked about it either."
"So how do you know they didn't..." Leonardo began.
Michelangelo cut him off. "Cause Raph said he was tired of this 'supernatural, spiritual crap'. And besides, if Kitten rejected Raph, Raph would have been beyond embarrassed and pissed, instead of scared beyond all reason." Michelangelo pointed out.
"So salt?" Donatello asked his younger brother.
Michelangelo brightened. "Right, well, when Raph shoved the bedding in my face, it smelled funny and I really couldn't figure out what it smelled like, but then I figured out that the smell I couldn't figure out was salt.
Donatello frowned. "So her bedding was drenched in...sweat?" He asked.
Michelangelo shook his head. "I thought it was sweat at first too, but like I said, her bedding was drenched, like someone had thrown buckets of water on the sheets, same with her clothes, soaked. Then I figured it out. It smelled like the ocean. You know the ocean smells like salt and water and seaweed and a little fishy. That is what it smelled like. It smelled like her sheets had been drenched in sea water, but the sheets also smelled like horses and blood. Lots and lots of blood." He said softly.
"Horses and blood?" Leonardo asked in confusion. "Are you sure Mikey?"
Michelangelo nodded emphatically. "I know the smell of horses, there are enough of them in Central park, and I remember what it smelled like when Donatello was shot." He finished softly. "But there wasn't any blood on the sheets, and I can't figure out why they would smell like horses and the sea." Michelangelo said in frustrated confusion.
"Well I don't think we will figure it out unless Kitten decides to tell us." Donatello said slowly. "You want to go check on Raph and Kitten?" He asked Michelangelo.
"Sure Donny." Michelangelo said shaking himself out of his worried gloom.
Leonardo went to follow him out. "Hey Leo?" He asked. His brother stopped and looked at him. "If you ever talk that way about Kitten again, I will personally kick your ass the first chance I get." He threatened. "I don't know what your problem is, but you aren't allowed to throw yourself into a jealous rage if Kitten decides to actually start dating Raph, or any one of us she may be interested in. If you aren't going to date her, then you have no right to get angry."
Leonardo turned a strained, pale face towards him. "Stay away from her Donny." He said in a soft threatening voice.
Donatello glared. "No." He said to his older brother.
Leonardo walked to the door. "If you love her Donny, you will stay the hell away from her." He said as he walked out the door.
Leonardo was sitting and staring at his sleeping brother and Katherine who was firmly encircled in Raphael's arms. Tt had been a few hours after his confrontation with Donatello and he had finally decided to look in on the pair. His eyes narrowed. He had wanted to move them, put Katherine in her room, Raphael in his, but he knew if he moved them they would wake up and even he recognized that this would not be a good idea.
He was going to have to talk to his brothers the first chance he got. He stood up, took one last look at the sleeping pair and walked out of the room.