A/N: Well folks, it looks like the voting has ended and the victor will be made public in this chapter. I hope that you all are still enjoying the fiction and will continue.

Disclaimer: I do not own the song "As the World Falls Down" or the lyrics that I borrowed for this chapter. That would be all David Bowie.

Chapter 16:

Two figures sat in the back of the theater, one in a trench coat and the other in a light jacket and jeans. Through the movie they laughed at the bad acting and sad looking graphics and they both ended up screaming whenever something jumped out, even when the music foretold of the inevitable. At one point she gripped his closest arm and didn't let go for fifteen minutes. Eventually, he took his arm from her grip only to wrap it over her shoulders. She straightened in her seat at first, but then relaxed against him where they both found a comfortable position.

He smiled to himself and smelt her shampoo from where her hair sat under his chin. It had to have some kind of citrus in it.

"That is so cheesy," Analise chuckled a little and pointed to the 'hero' and the 'heroine' as they tried to tell each other how they really felt before the bad CG killer came back for them, "That doesn't really happen."

"What doesn't?"

"Falling in love while there is a killer on the loose."

"You'd be surprised, babe," he squeezed her shoulders.

One of the other theater goers leaned over the back of their chair and hushed them.

"Did he just shush us?" Analise laughed quietly.

"Rude, right?" Michelangelo pulled at one of his eyes to mock the person in front of them even though he had already turned around to watch the movie again.

Once the movie's credits began to roll Analise and Michelangelo watched the rest of the people file out before they moved. Before the cleaning crew came in they both disappeared out the side ventilation of the building. They didn't want to use the boring exit.

"That was awesome," Analise laughed and held on tightly to his hand.

"There is more is store," he stopped them at the end of the building ventilation, stepped out on the ledge and carefully picked her up in his arms, "You didn't think that I'd just stop at a movie, did you?"

"So what next?" she asked just before he jumped off the ledge and to the next building. She wound her arms around his neck and kept her eyes on him since she still wasn't over the height situation yet. He hopped over quite a few before he set her down and turned her toward him.

"I need you to close your eyes," he said excitedly.

"Why?" she quirked an eyebrow. She was surprised on how easily she felt relaxed despite the height of the building they were currently on. She knew that if she ever did slip, he would be there to catch her.

"You'd ruin the surprise. I've worked really hard on it."

"You just asked me tonight," she smiled and took a careful step toward him, "How'd you know I'd say yes?"

"I didn't," he shrugged and blushed, "I just hoped you would."

"Okay, you have me interested," she closed her eyes and felt his hand find hers again. She gripped it tighter once they began to walk along the top of the building again.

"Are they still closed?" Michelangelo called back to Analise who had a death grip on his hand.

"Shut tight," she smiled and laughed in nervousness, "I hope you are not planning on leading me on slanted rooftops."

"Nah, in fact we're here," he pulled her in front of him, "Don't open them yet though."

"Okay," she smiled a bit wider. She heard him shift around and she saw a few lights turn on from the other side of her eyelids. She turned her head from side to side trying to follow his movements. She thought she heard what sounded like a refrigerator door open a close and a couple of plates being placed on the floor. She felt him behind her again and put his hands over her eyes. He repositioned her toward the middle of a room where she knew she was surrounded by lights.

He took a deep breath and lowered his hands, "Open."

She bit her lip and opened her eyes slowly. A loud gasp escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hands.

They were in some kind of large tent made of different materials, probably things that Michelangelo had gathered from around the city. The support beams holding the material up was wrapped in small white and gold lights, some dropping down like icicles or what reminded Analise of willow branches. To her side was a blanket laid out with a couple of pizzas with new flavors and a couple of glasses for him and her. On her other side was a large area with a small CD player in the corner. All together it was as if they weren't even in New York any more. They were in their own world that he created.

"So… what do you think?" he asked nervously from behind her as he closed the flap that he walked her through.

She looked around the tent again and then back at him. He had taken off his trench coat and stood waiting for her answer.

"It's amazing. No one has ever done something like this before," she whispered and took everything in before she looked back at him, "You did this all for me?"

He smiled and took her hands in his, "Any dudette who could smell out pizza toppings and draws cartoons is at the top of my book. But you're more than that. I can't explain it; I just felt that I needed to do this. Like there is a connection between the two of us that's hard to explain. No one has ever made me feel that way before."

She hugged him around the neck and felt his arms wrap around her waist. She put her lips to the side of his head, "Ditto, dude."

He hugged her tighter and then stepped back to look down at her, "Are you hungry?"

"Not quite yet," she shook her head and then took in a breath of air through her nose, "But that macaroni pizza smells good."

"Then we should work up an appetite," he turned to the CD player and turned it on. After a few seconds a fast paced song began to play. He held out his hand to her, "Would you care for a dance?"

"I will embarrass myself ten times over by the end of the night," she gave him her hand anyway.

"That's part of the adventure and fun of it all," he pulled her toward him, "Besides it's only me up here. And believe me; you cannot be embarrassing to me."

"You'd be surprised."

He began to lead her through the jitterbug and she in turn taught him the electric slide. She laughed along with him when they both took turns falling on their back sides as they stumbled over one another's feet.

"Where did you get this CD?" she asked as they free styled.

"I made it," he said proudly and then shrugged, "...with Donnie's help. He thought that it was the weirdest grouping of songs on the planet."

At the end of the song another came on, but was much slower. Analise stopped in her movements and looked at the CD player.

"You didn't think that I would go through all this and not have a slow dance with the lady, did you?" Michelangelo took both of her hands. He placed one on his shoulder and held the other one. She smirked up at him when he put his other hand on her hip.

After the first song Analise began to listen to the music of the second and caught the familiar notes.

"I know this song," she looked up into his eyes.

"It's from one of my favorite movies as a kid," he mentioned and began to hum with the beginning notes. He began to sweep her around in time to the music and then sang along with the artist, "There's such as sad love, deep in your eyes. A kind of pale jewel, open and close within your eyes… I'll place the sky within your eyes."

"How did you know?" she asked a little taken back by the song.

"Know what?" he asked between lyrics, "There's such a fooled heart, beating so fast. In search of new dreams, a love that will last…"

"Did you tell Deidra about this?"

"I didn't even tell Donnie about this," he chuckled a bit, "As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you-"

"Then how?" she made him miss a few lines.

"Just stop thinking about the how, and enjoy the now," he put a finger to her lips, "But I'll be there for you…"

She smiled against his finger as she pushed his hand away and joined him for the next words.

"As the world falls down."

He smiled back as she caught on and put his forehead to hers, "…Falling in love."

They both closed their eyes and swayed to the music before it sped up a little more and they spun gently around the small room in the tent. Both laughed lightly with each other. Toward the end of the song, Analise laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. She remembered what she told Deidra while watching Labyrinth on a movie night after they first met.

'If a man ever sung me 'As the world falls down' to me and meant it, I would be his completely,' she heard herself in her mind's memory.

'I'll show you man that will do that when you show me one that actually wants to be with me and not just in my pants,' Deidra's voice answered back.

'He's out there somewhere. Just waiting for me, like I'm waiting for him.'

Analise fell back into the present moment and nuzzled her cheek against Michelangelo's plastron, 'Finally done waiting. He's right here.'

The pair continued to dance to a couple more songs before they got to dinner, they were too content in one another's embrace and the beating of the other's heart against their own to think of being anywhere else.

Deidra sat a little stunned at Leonardo's blunt question. It seemed a bit sudden, but something that she knew they needed to discuss. She thought to herself, looked at her hands and then looked to his eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you," she started and already saw his eyes lose a little of their focus on her, "You're an awesome guy, a great teacher and a dedicated expert. But I just haven't felt that passion between the two of us. There is a connection, sure, but I don't think that it is in a romantic sense. I-"

As she took a breath to continue, Leonardo took the opportunity and leaned forward. He cupped the back of her head and kissed her with all the passion he could muster. Her eyes grew wide and she was more shocked than anything else. She had to hand it to him; he was pretty good at kissing too. Leonardo leaned back and they both looked at one another in the eyes. Seconds passed by like hours as they both thought over what they had just experienced.

Leonardo let a heavy sigh pass, "You're right… it isn't there, is it?"

"Nope," she shook her head and then shrugged, "Sorry."

"So now what?" he asked and leaned back in his chair.

"Well, I say we stay friends and you stay my teacher," she proposed, "And I'm not just staying your friend to learn those crazy back kicks."

He chuckled and nodded, "And I'm not staying friends to watch you fall on your ass."

"I've only done it twice," she defended herself. She looked at the leader turtle and sighed, "Sorry it didn't work. You'll find that lucky girl one day."

"Let's just hope she doesn't run away in fear," Leonardo said as he stood up.

"Then you got me to track her down," she stood up after him and they walked out toward the front room. She stopped before she got too far from her bedroom, "Oh! Leo, we got another abduction."

"Another one?" he asked as she nodded, "Did he kill Miss Velmont?"

"We don't know," she shook her head, "We are still hoping for the best, but it doesn't look good."

"Do you have any information on the last one?"

"In my room," she nodded her head back to the rooms.

"Go get it; I will round up everyone else."

"Maybe a street sweep?" she asked before she walked toward the rooms, "Maybe presence on the streets will stir something up."

"Sounds like a good plan," he nodded.

She turned from him and jogged back toward her room for the briefs. Leonardo walked back toward Donatello's room to get him away from his lab. Raphael sat on the ledge of the upper level and carefully watched the dynamic between Deidra and his brother. Something had changed. Not in the way he was expecting, but maybe it could work in his favor.

"So really, I need to know otherwise I will go insane- I mean, more than what I already am," Analise said and poked the side of her head, "How did you know to play that song?"

"It was one of my favorites from the movie. It felt like it fit," Michelangelo shrugged and swung his arm around her waist, "Glad I wasn't the only one that thought so."

She hugged him as they walked side by side into the lair. Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael sat by the screens with Deidra and a file under her arm. The group looked up at the two of them and blinked in a bit of surprise. Deidra looked at both of their faces to see the blush and smirked in her friend's direction, but didn't say anything yet.

"About time you two got back," Raphael smirked also and made a pointed look in Michelangelo's direction.

Michelangelo shrugged it off and only hugged Analise closer to him as they walked to the screens, "What's the haps, dudes and dudette?"

"He took another one," Deidra said off and pointed to the screen where another young girl was pictured. She was a little younger than her or Analise, but had the same color hair as Analise, but bright green eyes like Deidra.

"She looks like a mixture of you two," Michelangelo noticed and pointed at the picture as well.

"Creepy," Analise shivered, "Leave it to Alfred."

"Her name is Stephanie Witers, age 22, last seen leaving campus of her university where she's a Biology Major," Deidra said with a sigh, "Some of her friends and professors said that she was having problems with Chemistry and had found a tutor. She went to meet him, but didn't say where."

"How do we know it's our guy, doesn't sound like 'em," Raphael asked.

"I didn't think so at first either," she shrugged and turned to the keyboard to fish out a few more documents and reports, "But then we got this in."

"What is it?" Leonardo looked at the picture of a sweatshirt, headband and a crumpled looking note.

"It was delivered to the department, addressed to me specifically," Deidra explained, "The headband belonged to Miss Witers. It was identified by her mother who had hand sewn it for her last birthday. The sweatshirt was the one that Miss Velmont wore mostly around her home and one of the last things that she was seen wearing."

"And the note?" Leonardo tried to look at the hand writing.

"Said 'Catch me if you can, agent'," Deidra growled at it. She turned to Donatello, "I was wondering if I could use your brain."

"Always up for a puzzle," he nodded.

"There were some substances on the note," she grabbed the note from her bag wrapped in a plastic bag to preserve it.

"How'd you get that out of the department?" Analise asked.

"I found it before anyone else," she shrugged, "Do you think you can find something from it?"

"I can try," he smiled at the new challenge, "Maybe I could match it to some of the chemical deposits I found in the blood from the beast we keep coming into contact with."

"Were you able to identify some of them?" Deidra asked excited on some leeway.

"A couple, I will go over it with you a little later," he nodded.

"Great, we are getting close to getting this guy. Can we track down where he got some of the chemicals?"

"One of them is extremely rare, so I think so."

"Yes!" Deidra jumped from her chair and began to dance in place. Analise laughed and jumped over next to her friend to join in.

"Victory dance!" she shouted and danced in place.

Michelangelo folded his arms over his plastron as he looked on the two girls. He had a fond smile on his face and reveled in Analise's and Deidra's excitement. He looked to his side and saw Raphael with nearly the same expression. He quirked an eyeridge at his brother and smirked evilly. Raphael looked at him finally and frowned.

"What?"

"Hehe, nothing," Michelangelo shook his head.

"Deidra had a good idea earlier," Leonardo reported to his brothers, "Street patrol may open some more leads on where Miss Witers may have been heading. The closer we get to pinning this guy and his pets, the closer that we get to the two women he has trapped out."

"What do you have in mind, fearless leader?" Raphael asked in all seriousness.

"You, Mikey and I are going to check out the last places she was and see if we can track down any leads on the beast," Leonardo pointed to his brothers and then turned to the girls, "You two are going to stick with Don. He'll stay in the Battleshell and record any info that he can get while you question some witnesses. Your detective may have missed something."

"Sounds good."

"Let's get going turtles," Leonardo shifted his katanas on his back.

"Ahem," Analise looked pointedly at Leonardo. He looked back at the two of them who had their arms crossed.

"…And ladies."

"Better," Deidra nodded.