Okay so this chapter is very looooong, and I apologize for that. But there just didn't seem to be any good place to stop it any earlier, so...enjoy:)
A giant thank you to Amonraphoenix who beta read this chapter for me, you are awesome, and I can't tell you enough how much your input and mad editing skills mean to me. :)
Also a big thank you to SleepingSeeker for your awesome words of encouragement and praise. It is greatly appreciated!
And a big thank you to all of my other reviewers as well!
So now...on with the show.
Chapter 17
Raphael walked from the training room, pulling his shirt up and over his head, throwing it over his shoulder and hanging onto it with his finger. It was dripping with sweat after having gone a few rounds with his heavy bag to deal with his frustration and anger. His cast had finally come off and he wasn't taking it easy. Donatello would probably yell at him if he knew what he had been doing, but Raphael didn't care, he had to get rid of some of his rage before he took it out on someone else.
He was also avoiding Michelangelo and Leonardo like the plague. He didn't want to listen to any more of Michelangelo's schemes to stop the two women from leaving New York, and he was tired of Leonardo looking at him with suspicious eyes.
He clenched his hand into an angry fist. He needed to find a way to talk to Katherine. He didn't want to stop her from pursuing her dream, but he couldn't let her just walk out of his life, not after everything they had been through. He had just got her back and he refused to let her go.
He caught a glimpse of a feminine form in white out of the corner of his eye as he passed the entrance of the garage. He stopped and turned, following the figure in confusion.
"Katherine?" he breathed out her name in shock. The familiar crushing weight of guilt assaulted him as Katherine turned and looked at him over her shoulder. He tried to swallow down his guilt, but choked on it instead. He had not only stolen Donatello's girlfriend, but he had also failed to save Katherine when she had been trapped in the basement.
Although he had seen her several times in the hospital -had felt it his palpable culpability each and every single time- he had been unable to ask her if she hated him for failing her. Michelangelo had saved her, pulling her from her icy grave, but Raphael had refused to let her die, even after Donatello had called her death, Raphael had refused to give up and she had come back to him. But he wondered if she blamed him as he blamed himself, and wondered if this was part of the reason she had wished to take the job in Canada. She hadn't acted like she hated him or blamed him, but with Michelangelo in the room, had been in considerable pain and on heavy pain medication, it had been hard to tell. But now that she was recovered, he wasn't sure what her feelings towards him would be. He had been so anxious to talk to her, but now, confronted with her, alone, he nearly lost his nerve, but he had to know if she still wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.
Her expression however stopped him in his tracks. Her eyes were full of tears and as blue as the depths of the Mediterranean. She was frighteningly pale, twin trails of dampness glistening on her cheeks in the artificial light. She brushed the wetness away quickly as she turned to face him.
He felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach, a trickle of dread slid across his skin which prickled with fresh perspiration that beaded under his arms and across his neck and forehead.
His shirt slid from his finger to land on the floor behind him. He closed his eyes as he realized the answer to all of his questions. She was leaving him. He had seen it in her eyes, the agony of a weighty decision crushing her with sorrow.
He opened his eyes, teeth grinding against each other as he fought down his sudden grief filled anger. He couldn't stand in her way. If it was the job, not loving him, or being unable to forgive him, whatever the reason he had to let her go.
He stepped towards her and stopped, another emotion flashed across her face that had his feet suddenly rooting to the floor in stark disbelief. Katherine looked stricken, but more than that, she looked guilty.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, taking in her slightly mussed hair, swollen lips and rumpled dress.
She took a step back as he suddenly advanced towards her, rage nearly consuming him. He backed her up until she was pressed up and trapped against the far wall.
His nostrils flared as he breathed in her sent. "You smell like sweat, desire and... my younger brother," he snarled lowly placing a hand against the wall by her head and leaning in close. He was trying to control both his fury and his feelings of heart wrenching betrayal. He took a deep breath, taking in both his brother's scent as well as that of his fiancé. He clenched his jaw tightly closed, knowing that the only reason he was still standing in front of her right now and not charging out of the garage, up the stairs, down the hall, and storming through his brother's bedroom door -probably to do him serious physical harm- was because of the woman standing in front of him.
He couldn't be that monster, no matter how much Donatello deserved the monster's wrath, because he could never be that monster in front of her; never again in front of her.
He took another deep breath and counted to ten. This didn't help so he balled his hand into a fist and punched the rough stone by her head hard. The sharp, biting pain managed to cut through some of his fury, but not much.
Katherine flinched but didn't seem frightened of him or his rage. Instead she looked away, head bowed in guilty shame.
"I know," she agreed. Her voice was soft and wavered slightly, but there were no denials or stammered excuses, only the cold, hard truth in reply to his accusation.
Raphael closed his eyes in devastation, his anger flaring hotly within him, replacing his desolation.
A low growl rumbled from deep within his chest. Too many thoughts and questions burned through his mind, but he was only able to force one word out through his clenched jaw.
"Why?" The word was more feral snarl than actual speech. Of course the word contained the question of why to so many different questions; why did she go and see his brother first before seeing him? Why did she sleep with Donatello? And why did she agree to marry him if it was Donatello that she had wanted all along?
Katherine seemed to be able to tell that his question was not as simple as it seemed and collected herself before she spoke. "It was never..." She stopped herself, swallowed and began again after taking in a shuddering breath. "I saw you, Raphael. I knew you were okay and I know you said that he was okay, but...I needed to see for myself that he was. I needed to touch him and know that he was still alive and well. He nearly died and the thought that I almost lost him has been tearing me apart for these past few weeks," she admitted miserably.
"Katherine, you did die, remember?" he growled angrily, the sharp catch of wretchedness entering his voice. "I almost lost you and you..." his voice caught on the lump of hurt and betrayal that lodged in his throat.
"I didn't know that he would..." She stopped herself before she continued more firmly. "That we-" she emphasized the word, her eyes the colour of a storm ravaged sea.
He leaned forward, her words halting abruptly as his lips hovered just over the quickly beating pulse in her throat. He blew out a puff of air and she shivered as his hot breath caressed her cool delicate skin.
He wondered if she was afraid of him, and if that was why she shook slightly; if she was just that upset; or if it was some other deeper, more carnal reason.
"Did you have sex with Donny?" he asked, needing to hear the words of guilt and acknowledgement from her. He was done making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. He knew Katherine would never lie to him, and so he braced himself for the brutal, hurtful truth he had no doubt that he was about to hear.
"No," she answered softly and Raphael nearly collapsed with relief before she spoke her next words. "But-"
"I'm guessin' it was a pretty damn close thing," he interrupted, not wanting to hear the details.
She bit her lip and nodded, avoiding his eyes as she did so.
Raphael closed his own eyes. "So you're leaving me," he stated softly, opening his eyes as he pulled away from her intoxicating scent, even laced as it was with his treacherous brother's.
She looked at him her eyes filled with misery as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Yes," she choked out.
Raphael closed his eyes in despair. "So you chose Donny," he ground out bitterly, his eyes sliding open to gaze back at her.
Her eyes widened slightly and shifted away. "No," she answered quietly and Raphael felt his own eyes widen in shock. "I'm going home," she murmured trying to step past him.
Raphael frowned in confusion, reaching out and placing his hand on her chest, pinning her back against the wall. "As in back to Canada?" he asked.
She nodded.
"So you're leaving both of us?" he asked, trying to understand what was going on.
She nodded again, her voice having apparently abandoned her.
"Why?" he asked, completely mystified. He was still furious, but his anger had been tempered with confusion.
"Because I can't-" Raphael ground his teeth together and Katherine cut herself off, eyes wide with trepidation as he leaned into her. He narrowed his eyes and studied her, putting the pieces of what had happened between his brother and Katherine together in his mind. He didn't know the details, but he had an inkling of what had happened in his brother's bedroom and why.
"So before Donny did whatever the hell he did, were you going to stay?" he asked in a surprisingly level voice.
She paused as if she was actually unsure of the answer before confirming his suspicions by giving a shrug.
"Were you planning on leaving me?" he wondered as he crushed her between his plastron and the cold stone wall at her back.
She didn't answer him, looking intently at his throat.
"Yes or no, Katherine?" he growled her name as he placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face up so that she had no choice but to look him in the eyes.
"Raph-" she whispered as she looked at him with desperation, but the answer was there, in her eyes, but he needed to hear it from her own lips.
"Before my...brother," the word dripped with disgust and the impression that this particular relationship was in serious contention for validity, "Decided to kiss you breathless -and who knows what else- were you going to leave me?"
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath as if bracing herself before she opened her still blue eyes, shaking her head back and forth. He felt some of the tension leave his body. She hadn't planned on leaving him, that's all he cared about right now. Which meant he was going to do his damndest to fix whatever the hell it was that Donatello had broken.
"Do you love me-?" he asked voice intense, almost harsh. He knew she did, but he couldn't seem to ask her the part that was really important, '-more than Donny?' because he was afraid of the answer.
"Yes," she replied her eyes still filled with misery. "But-"
"I don't give a shit about your 'buts'," he snarled as he tilted her head up, kissing her passionately before pulling away. "You weren't gonna leave me, that's all that matters."
"Raphael," she pleaded, her eyes filling again with tears. "I wasn't going to, but-"
He ignored her words because they were just an excuse. "I'm gonna fix what Donny broke," he promised as he interrupted her.
"You can't 'fix' this," she said exasperated, eyes pleading for him to understand.
But he didn't understand, and he didn't care. She was trying to get him to understand something that she thought was important, but as far as he was concerned, wasn't. His entire focus was concentrated on undoing whatever Donatello had done by making her realize that she loved him too damn much to leave.
"Do you know why I ain't tearin' Donny limb from limb right now?" he asked pulling back slightly to give her room to breathe.
She studied him for a moment seeming to understand that the question was important. She searched his eyes, learning every single secret that he kept hidden; even the ones he hid from himself. Her eyes stripped him bare and pierced his soul, laying waste to every barrier and every wall he had ever erected to keep anyone and everyone out; except her.
"Yes. But Raphael, that's not-" she began, her words turning into a gasp as he buried his beak in her neck, his teeth scraping over her franticly beating pulse. He gave a small grin of triumph. Donatello had tried and failed to seduce her, but Raphael was damn well going to succeed. She wanted him, he was sure of it, desire riding just below the misery that rode on the surface of sea coloured eyes.
"Answer me," he demanded in a low whisper. "Why ain't Donny dead yet?" he asked pulling away enough that he could read the expression in her eyes.
She ground her teeth together in frustration. He was purposefully distracting her and she knew it. He was not going to let her drag the conversation back to where she wanted it to be. However, at the mention of Donatello's name her face filled with concern and hurt.
She broke eye contact. "Raphael, you don't understand, I can't-"
"Just answer the question," he snapped with irritation.
"No," she snapped back, anger replacing her sadness -which was good- because Raphael knew all about anger, and Katherine's anger was easier to deal with than her sadness. "Stop trying to distract me. I'm trying to-"
"Break up with me, yeah I got that, and I am ignoring the hell outta that fact," he shot back.
"Why are you being so stubborn and pigheaded?!"
"Because you're being difficult!" he barked back. She glared at him angrily and he narrowed his eyes in return, grabbing her chin between his fingers. "My younger brother just tried to take my girl," he snarled, "and just fucked everything up-"
"Donatello wasn't trying to 'take' me, and he didn't intentionally 'F' everything up!" she defended, cutting him off from what was about to become an angry tirade. "He was grabbing for some small bit of sanity and reassurance that I was alive and that he was alive and that we had both made it through hell and back and survived." She looked at him intently, a challenge in her eyes. "And if your positions were reversed, you would have done exactly the same thing!"
He grunted before giving her a condescending smile. "I wouldn't have done exactly the same thing," he refuted. "I would have succeeded where Donny failed," he boasted smoothly.
Katherine leveled a look of irritated disbelief at him before pushing him back; or at least she tried to. She might as well have been trying to move a brick wall for all her efforts were able to move him.
But Katherine was right and had answered his question about why Donatello wasn't in a world of hurt at the moment. He understood his brother's motives for trying to have seduce Katherine. If their positions had been reversed -if Katherine had chosen Donatello instead- and if Raphael had been unable to save Katherine's life -trapped and on the brink of death and only receiving updates of her condition from his brothers when he began to recover- he would have been half driven from his mind. The need to see and to feel for himself that she was alive and well would have been too strong to fight. He wouldn't have given a shit if she was Donatello's fiancé, the moment he saw her he would have taken her, just to reaffirm that he was alive, that she was alive, and that they had both had managed to live through something that was so horrific and terrifying, that he didn't ever want to experience it ever again.
"No, you wouldn't have," she ground out.
"You wouldn't have had a choice," he answered back with a low growl. "You would have felt the same damn thing for me as you just felt for Donny, and I am a hell of a lot more persuasive than he is."
"He-" Katherine stopped talking as if debating whether she wanted to continue. "He was beyond reason," she whispered, looking away and Raphael suddenly felt his blood run cold. "All he wanted was for me to save him; to banish all of his fears and the dark and to prove to him that we were both alive. I think he actually forgot that we weren't together anymore, maybe... I don't know, I don't think he cared. His world had narrowed into such a small pinpoint of existence, that only he and I existed within it," she finished miserably.
Raphael recoiled at the image conjured in his mind of Donatello forcing himself on Katherine. "I'm going to kill him," he hissed dangerously, changing his mind about letting his brother live.
She clutched at his arms, nails digging into his flesh, holding him in place. "Don't," she whispered. "I should have stopped him sooner, but…but I didn't want to stop him." She looked up at him, eyes bright with fresh tears. "Do you understand now? I didn't want him to stop."
Raphael flinched at her words. He wanted to say something; yell, rage, do anything but stand there and listen to her words, but he was unable to talk through the lump of heartbreak that had formed in his throat. She loved him, but it was obvious that Katherine loved Donatello more.
"I was so worried about him, I was suffocated by the feeling. He opened his door and he had this look on his face, full of shock, surprise, and disbelief, but it was more than that. He looked so lost, as if he was out at sea, drifting aimlessly around and had finally found land. He pulled me into his room and dragged me onto his bed and I was consumed by the same needs and desires as he was. I realized then how much I still loved him and that I wanted to take away that lost, need filled look in his eyes so badly, that I would have gone against everything I believed in to do it," she answered in a voice full of remorse.
Raphael growled at her words, slamming his eyes shut so that he wouldn't have to gaze into her agonized eyes. Rage burned through him at his brother actions, but because he understood them his anger died a swift, violent death, leaving him stricken, broken and empty. He should have known that Katherine could never love him more than she loved Donatello. His brother was so much better for her than he could ever be. Donatello was smarter than he was, listened intently to everything she said and was able to offer his own opinions on things that Raphael didn't even understand. Donatello was thoughtful, attentive and gentle. Katherine didn't have to worry about Donatello flying into a rage, or being in a foul mood and taking his frustrations out on her. Compared to his brother, even Raphael had to admit that he hadn't stood a chance.
He knew that Katherine had only agreed to be with him to save his life, and he had tried to make her understand that she had no obligation to him to keep her deathbed promise, but she had apparently -up to this point- been too honourable to go against her promise to him.
"But cheating is something I would never do to someone I love," she said fiercely. "So you can tell yourself that you would have succeeded in seducing me, but I wouldn't have had sex with you because I could no more betray him than I could you. You don't hurt the ones you love like that. You don't destroy their trust, because once that trust is lost, it is almost impossible to win back."
Raphael nodded in understanding, his heart sinking into the pit of his stomach like a heavy piece of lead at the word 'trust'. He wanted what Donatello had, but he could never have it because he had betrayed Katherine's trust when he had lashed out at her and struck her. He had fought hard to win her trust back, and he truly believed he had, but he understood now that it hadn't been enough.
He realized then that he needed to let her go; even though he knew he never could, but she didn't need to know that. He beat back the bitter, jealous, spiteful, selfish, hateful part of his personality that rose up to consume him and did the right thing. "You don't have to leave, Katherine," he murmured softly as he touched his cheek to hers, just so he wouldn't have to see the look of thankfulness in her eyes; because it would probably break him. "Don't think that you have to leave Donny 'cause you think you owe me something or that you'd be breaking your promise to me."
"Raphael, you don't understand-"
"I understand, Katherine," he interrupted as he pulled away enough to brave the look in her eyes. "I get it. You love Donny more than you love me, so that's fine. The better turtle won." He couldn't stop the thread of bitterness that laced his last words, so he tried to counter this with a smile that probably looked as forced as it felt.
"Raphael-"
He interrupted her again, because he didn't want to hear any words of apology or tearful denials. "You'd better go tell him that you're staying and that you love him the most. He's probably crying into a math equation or somethin', and you know how hard it is to watch Donny cry." He stepped back freeing her so that she could go and be with his brother.
"Raph-"
"Just go, okay," he snapped in angry frustration. "You don't have to apologize or-"
Fury rolled across Katherine's features, her eyes shifting from blue-green to such a light leaf green that Raphael's words abruptly caught in his throat. She advanced on him slamming her hands into his plastron and giving him a hard enough shove that he stumbled back a step.
"Stop talking!" she shouted angrily. "And stop interrupting me! I've been trying to…to tell you t-that…I can't be with Donatello!" She cried out.
"Why the hell not?!" he barked back, furious that she wasn't jumping at the chance he had given her.
"Because I love you too much!" she yelled at him, her chest heaving, eyes still glittering with furious anger. "Don't you understand?! I love you too much!"
Raphael opened his mouth before snapping it closed, overcome by enough confusion that she had actually rendered him speechless. Her words of "I love you too much," rang loudly in his head as he slowly took a step towards her. He attempted to brush away a tear that had trickled down her cheek during her vehement tirade, but she flinched back, arms wrapping around to hug herself tightly.
"I don't know how long I was in the basement for, watching as the water slowly rose up, inch by inch, and I was determined that I wasn't going to sit around and wait to die. I came up with a plan and kept myself alive long enough for Michelangelo to find me, but," she hugged herself more tightly. He wanted to reach out to her but knew she would only avoid his comfort, so let his had drop back down to his side. "But as I struggled to survive, all I could think about was you and Donatello. You were free but Donatello was trapped, and neither of us knew how badly hurt he was. I begged for you to save him as he begged for you to save me, and all I could do was hope that you both made it, even if I didn't, because the thought of losing one or both of you was something I couldn't bear."
"I knew you blamed me, and you should. I failed you both," he bit out brokenly, tears pricking his eyes as his guilt ripped and tore through him flaying him and leaving his heart a mangled bloody mess of muscle.
"You tried, Raphael. No one is blaming you or thinking that you failed; not me, not Donatello, not anyone."
"But-"
She waved off his protest with a slight movement of her hand as she continued to hug herself tightly. "I just...I was so relieved that you were both okay. But when I was in the hospital you hid our relationship and I wondered if you were having second thoughts or if the guilt was eating you up alive-"
He interrupted her. "I was scared that you hated me, or that you changed your mind about marrying me, so I…having Donny hate me is better than having my whole family hating me for stealing you back."
She shook her head at his words, dismissing his fears with this simple motion . "I thought of Donatello constantly as I recovered, and I thought that it was because I was just worried about him. But as soon as I saw him I realized that this wasn't the reason." She looked at him, her face full of sadness and regret. She let go of herself reaching out placing something in his hand. He looked down at his hand in confusion and saw her engagement ring lying in his palm.
"Please don't," he begged.
"I love you, Raphael, I do, but...I still love Donatello," she explained regretfully.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he tried to swallow down the lump of hurt that was closing off his throat, making it hard to breathe.
He frowned in sudden confusion when he remembered that she had told him earlier that she couldn't be with Donatello either. She hadn't said that she loved Donatello more, only that she still loved his brother, and that was something he already knew.
"So if you love Donny, why can't you-
"I don't love Donatello more," she quickly interjected.
Hope flared somewhere in the black hole in his chest where his shattered heart used to be. "Then what the hell is the problem?" he snapped as he closed his fist over the ring he had given her before jamming it into his pants pocket. "I know you still love Donny, so what?"
She blinked at him in shock. "What do you mean 'so what'?" she asked incredulous. "My heart is betraying you because it doesn't fully and completely love you. I love you both equally and my heart is being torn in two. It isn't fair to any of us."
He narrowed his eyes in angry speculation. "This where you're gonna give me the 'it's better if I leave' and the 'you'll find someone else' speech cause if you are then I don't wanna hear it, because I call bullshit," he snarled into her face.
Her eyes widened, jumping a bit in surprise as he brushed his thumbs gently across her cheeks. "I don't give a shit if half your heart is all I get," he growled fervently. "Because even having half your heart is a hell of a lot more that I deserve."
He traced the scar across her cheek -his scar- the physical manifestation of his violence towards her emblazoned forever into her flesh. "I never thought I deserved you, hell, I still don't, but I always wanted you anyway. You always made me better; believed that I could be better than I was. And after what I had done to you," he shook his head, "I didn't think I would ever have even a small piece of your heart let alone half of it."
"Raphael-"
"No!" he snapped. "I messed things up with you by punching you in the face. You could have lost your eye. Hell, I could have killed you!" his voice broke miserably. "I promised myself that I would do anything to make you happy. I would leave you the hell alone and never see you again if that's what you needed to be happy again." He dropped his hands to her shoulders and pulled her away from the wall, wrapping her in his arms and clutching her close as he gazed down into her blue-green eyes. "I would let you date my younger brother because I saw how damn happy he made you, and I could only hope that you were half as happy with me as you were with him." He stroked the scar across her cheek again. "I would do anything for you if it made you happy, and if I make you happy now, then I ain't gonna let you go, not over this." He swallowed roughly, leaning into kiss her.
"Stop!" she shouted, shoving him away and slapping him hard across the face, the crack of flesh striking flesh reverberated around the room.
Shocked, he blinked down into her furious blue-green eyes, his cheek burning hotly and tingling with the sting of the slap.
"Don't you dare," she hissed angrily. "Don't you dare think that a piece of my heart is all you are worthy of having. You deserve to be loved wholly and completely and so does Donatello. But I can't give either of you what you need, want or deserve, so I will walk away and hope that someone else will be able to love-"
He growled, angrily shoving her back up against the wall hard enough that her words were cut off by the air being forced from her lungs. "I ain't worthy of your love, but that don't mean I ain't gonna fight for it," he snarled into her ear. "Donny may have the other half of your heart, but that don't mean he's gonna have it forever."
She looked at him in confusion. "Raphael, you-"
"Katherine," Raphael bit out in frustration. "Sometimes you talk too damn much and think even more." His voice gentled and lowered. "You just told me that I actually still have a snowball's chance in hell of being with you. You still love me and I ain't gonna let you throw everything away cause you feel guilty or torn. You may still love Donny, but I'm gonna dig, scrape and take back all of those little bits and pieces of your heart that Donny stole, even if it takes me the rest of my damn life to do it."
Her eyes widened in shock, seemingly at a loss for words.
He pressed himself up against her, letting her feel his need and his desire. He buried his hands into her hair, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "I'm going to drive Donny from your mind, your heart and your body," he promised, shifting so that he could claim her delectable trembling lips in a kiss that would wipe her mind of all thoughts of his brother.
She placed a restraining hand on his plastron, turning her head away, avoiding his kiss. She glanced back, searching his gaze for something. "Raphael," she began softly. "You can't-"
"Fight for you?" he asked harshly. "I shoulda fought a hell of a lot harder for you," he asserted angrily. "I don't give a shit what just happened between you and Donny," he told her cupping her cheeks gently with his scarred, calloused hands and kissing her, wearing down her resistance.
He brushed his hands down her sides and back up again, his thumbs gently scraping across her cloth covered nipples. She gasped softly in response. He lifted his head enough so that he could glance at her out of the corner if his eyes. Her eyes were wide and she was biting down hard on her bottom lip. He could hear her heart beating in her chest like a frightened bird and he had to fight back the broad smile of victory that threatened to spread across his face. He nipped at her ear and got a groan in response.
"I promised you that I would never let you leave me again, and I intend to keep that promise," he kissed her tenderly, stroking and teasing her lips until their kiss became frenzied and needy, her fingers threading their way through the twin tails of his mask. "I swear to you, Katherine, I will win back the rest of your heart."
She looked at him, her expression uncertain. "And if you can't?" she asked in a shaky whisper.
"I will, but if I can't, we'll cross that bridge when we get there," he answered softly as his eyes slid closed kissing her, his hands running down her ass, cupping it and lifting her up so that she had no choice but to wrap her legs around his waist; her dress hitching up and over her hips. He pressed into her heat as he devoured her honey sweet lips. He noticed then that there was no barrier between them but his own clothing. He knew Katherine well enough to know that she usually never wore dresses, and when she did, she never went without underwear, which meant that his younger brother had divested her of this flimsy garment.
He squeezed his eyes more tightly together, trying to get the image of his brother with Katherine out of his head, but found that he couldn't. His brother had been -moments before- kissing Katherine senseless, hands roving over every beautiful, tempting curve of her body. Raphael dug his fingers into her ass, eliciting a slight protest from her. He pressed against her warmth and she moaned into his mouth. He pulled away burying his beak in her neck. His brother's scent still lay heavily against her skin and he felt a flare of possessiveness fill him; but it was more than that. He felt the adrenaline pumping, heart hammering, breathless rush of rivalry and competitiveness flow over him. He needed Katherine to cry out his name, have her crave his touch, and be wet with need for him and because of him.
"Do you still want his touch, Katherine?" he whispered into her ear.
She tried to turn her head to look at him, but he wouldn't let her.
He held her pressed against the wall and used one hand to pull down the front of his sweat pants, releasing his hardened length.
"What are you doing?" she hissed, trying to pull away.
"I already told you. I'm gonna drive Donny from your heart, your soul, and your body," he replied in a strained voice, panting slightly with need.
"We can't. Someone could see us, and-"
"Let them see," he murmured between light butterfly kisses. The thought of being caught by one of his brothers was as terrifying as it was exhilarating. The thought of watching Donatello's shocked and jealous face while he slammed Katherine up against the wall and drove himself into her flashed briefly through his mind. He then acknowledged to himself that he had some serious issues, but ones that could be examined later.
Raphael could feel her pulse racing beneath his lips as he trailed kisses down her throat. He shifted. "Raphael-" her protest came out as more of a groan as he rubbed himself against her heat.
"Do you still want Donny, Katherine?" he asked huskily, voice low and sensual.
Her breath hitched in her throat and she quivered slightly, from lust, fear, excitement, anger, he wasn't sure, but he was curious if she was going to answer him. He needed her to answer, though he didn't know why the answer was so important.
"Yes," she answered breathlessly.
"Good," he asserted as he pushed himself into her, stretching her wide enough to accommodate him.
She gasped in pain, nails digging into the well-muscled flesh of his shoulders hard enough to break through skin and draw blood.
"I'm sorry," he apologized softly stilling himself for a moment so that she could recover from his sudden and forceful invasion. She had been wet and ready, but he was so damn big and she was so small. And even though he knew he was going to hurt her, he had plunged himself into her without any preparation or foreplay anyway, because he had needed to. A primal need to claim her as his and his alone had risen within his breast; and by sheathing himself completely within her, possessed her.
He kissed her gently revelling in the fact that he was the one who was now slowly sliding himself from her wetness only to drive himself back into her again and again, gradually building that coiling pleasure that burned and thrummed low in both of their bellies. Her focus was now completely and utterly consumed by him. His pace increased as he kissed her passionately, desperately, her fingers again entwined within his mask tails. His lips left hers, lavishing soft, biting, licking kisses, teasingly down her throat until he opened his eyes and noticed the fresh red bite mark, emblazoned upon her shoulder, where her coat had slipped just enough to expose the marred flesh.
That Bastard, he thought to himself angrily. Donatello had tried to mark Katherine as his own. He growled under his breath as he felt his body's pleasure coiling tightly, almost pushing him over the edge. He felt Katherine's body tense and he couldn't hold back any longer, his pace increased as he slammed himself into her over and over again until he bit the same shoulder Donatello had, muffling his cry of pleasure as he came.
Panting with spent exertion he pulled his face up and away from her shoulder he kissed her lovingly, pulling himself from her warm depths, and letting her slide back down to the floor. His fingers trailed down her sides, pulling her dress down before adjusting his own clothing.
"Are you okay?" he gently asked her, hoping he hadn't hurt her too badly.
She nodded her eyes still dark with desire but rapidly filling with uncertainty.
"You are mine, Katherine," he whispered to her fiercely, pulling the ring from his pocket and slipping it onto her finger. "Now and forever," he vowed his voice heavy with sated lust as he tried to banish the doubt in her eyes.
She looked at her hand for a moment, the diamond ring sparkling slightly before she looked up at him searchingly; delving into his eyes and soul seeking something. She must have found it because she nodded slowly. "Okay," she whispered.
He placed his forehead against hers for a moment, breathing in a slow breath of relief. She wasn't going to leave him and was still going to marry him. He looked deeply into her eyes, the love she felt for him shinning clearly outwards. He moved kissing her forehead before leaning down and claiming her lips once again. She tasted so good that it was hard to pull away. The smell of sweat, sex and his own musky scent strong upon her skin. In fact, just breathing in her scent now mixed with his own was making him hard again.
"I have to go," Katherine murmured reluctantly as she pulled away. "I've still got some packing to do and Holly is distracting my mom from wondering where I've gone. Now it's my turn since I know Holly wants to see Michelangelo before we go."
Reality slammed back into him as he remembered that Donatello wasn't the only one trying to tear them apart. His mind rapidly flew to their earlier conversation, the one where she had shrugged when he had asked her if she was staying here, or going back to Canada.
"How long do we have until your mother drags you back home?" he asked his voice shaking slightly as he tried to stomp down on the rising anger laced with panic that was trying to consume him.
"I don't know. Mom wanted us to leave tomorrow, but apparently a movie producer is interested in doing a movie about my ordeal on the island, and I guess my mother is seriously entertaining his offer. Normally I would have said 'hell no' to the idea, but it's keeping her busy and off my back, which is what I need right now. In fact, I even managed to get my mom to agree to let me and Holly stay at my uncle's house, rather than having to stay at the penthouse with her."
He breathed out a small sigh of relief when he realized she was just going back to her uncle's house near Hunter, which was still two hours away from New York, but better than two time zones away.
She continued to look at him seriously. "So I don't know when I'll be leaving. My mom doesn't seem to be in a rush to leave anymore, but I still need to fly back to Canada to set up the department for the following school year, since there's not enough time to get it up and running for this year. But I do have a solution," she said as she touched his cheek gently.
"Yeah, what's that?" he grumbled, wondering how the hell he was supposed to win back her heart if she was thousands of miles away. They had done the long distance relationship before, and it had not worked out well.
"Come with me," she said, looking at him earnestly.
Raphael looked at her in shock as his mind tried to process her words. "I can't leave," he protested. "I can't leave my brothers, this city. Kitten, this is my home," he insisted.
"I know, and I'm not saying that it is my only solution, but... just think about it, okay?" She said as her hand dropped to his shoulder. "I think maybe... maybe it would be best if I stayed away from Donatello." She looked down and away. "At least for a while."
Raphael felt his heart clench with a moment of jealous anger, but stomped down on the feeling. Katherine was his, they were going to work things out.
He nodded in agreement before responding to her earlier words. "I'll think about goin' with you, Kitten," he whispered hoarsely, tipping her head up and giving her a slow, loving kiss before he let her go. "I love you," Raphael said as he brushed his thumb across her scarred cheek, the three small words unable to truly express the depths of his feelings for her.
"I love you too, Raphael," she replied before she pulled her hand away from his cheek, turned and walked reluctantly from the lair.
Raphael took in a deep breath, Katherine's flowery scent mixed with his own still hanging pleasantly in the air.
He shook himself and turned, cracking his knuckles.
He needed to go and talk to Donatello, but if he did so right now, his younger brother would not walk away unscathed. And since Raphael was determined not to kill him, he thought it would be best if he waited a while before confronting him.
Leonardo walked past the entrance of the garage and stopped dead in his tracks. For a moment he thought that his eyes were deceiving him. He pulled back in shock, shaking his head in disbelief as he glanced back into the garage again, his eyes falling upon the same scene he had just witnessed. Raphael stood with his carapace facing him, Katherine pressed up against the wall; her legs wrapped around Raphael's waist, arms draped around his neck as Raphael moved into her over and over again, their moans of pleasure filling the garage.
Leonardo stepped back again, the blood rushing through his ears so loudly that he could no longer hear his brother and his lover. He was too shocked to do anything more than just stand there, frozen in place, and unable to act.
"I love you." Raphael said to her, his brother's words managing to seep through the rushing of blood that hummed through his ears.
Leonardo stepped away from the doorway, his shock replaced by both horror and anger. He shook his head in denial at Raphael's betrayal of Donatello.
Leonardo had encountered Katherine as she had entered the lair nearly an hour ago.
He hadn't known quite what emotions to feel as there were too many rolling through him at that moment, but he felt both relieved and disappointed at the same time. He was relieved that she was okay, but disappointed that she was leaving, both Donatello and their family.
Katherine had smiled at him; giving him an understanding look, as if she were able to read his thoughts. She had walked towards him and stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his chest in a comforting hug that he found himself returning.
"I'm sorry to hear about you and Karai," she had whispered softly into his ear as he felt his arms tighten around her by her unexpected embrace and words. He hadn't thought about Karai and their relationship for a few weeks, but in a way he was glad that he hadn't loved Karai. Going through what Donatello and Michelangelo were going through at the moment was too painful to watch let alone endure.
Leonardo had then pulled away and studied Katherine's pale face intently. "Thank you," he said sincerely, because Katherine always had a way of making him feel better.
Katherine had smiled and lightly touched his cheek. "It will be okay, Leonardo"
Leonardo had reached out and touched her cheek, feeling the velvety softness under his fingertips. He had never realized that her skin was so soft. He wondered then if he had ever touched her face in the way he was now, and he realized that he hadn't.
He had shaken himself out of his strange, abstracted thoughts, and stepped back, giving an embarrassed cough. "You and Donny need to talk," he told her softly. The smile she had been wearing fell from her face.
"We will." She gave him a strained smile, face falling into heavy lines of worry as she turned away, walking towards Donatello's room.
Not too long after he had caught a quick glimpse of Katherine leaving Donatello's room. He hadn't gotten a good look at her face, but her hair and clothes had been suspiciously rumpled. He had believed that things between them had been worked out, and maybe they had been, but it was now apparent that Raphael and Katherine had been and still were sneaking around behind Donatello's back.
Leonardo balled his fists together tightly, not even knowing how he was going to break the news to Donatello. But he knew one thing for sure; Raphael was going to pay dearly for what he had done.
Okay, you all had to have seen this coming.
Thoughts and opinions are welcome:)