Soothing

It was raining. She had to hurry. She knew that they were waiting for her. She reached the door and opened it, a smile on her face. "I'm home!" She called out into the empty darkness. Her face changed from happy to shock right down to horror. Everyone in the house was gone besides a bed. On the bed was a woman sleeping on it. Right next to it was a man.

"Father?" she asked delicately, "Why are you trying to wake up mom?" She reached out to touch him when she felt something slit her cheek. Blood...she looked at him to see that he was holding a knife. On the bed……didn't even look like her mother.

"NO!" She screamed, "NOT HER." She wanted to run to the bed, but he held the knife to her throat. She looked up and the man wasn't her father anymore.

"No…" She said weakly, "Not you…" She reached out to touch the person, but the sai came down quickly. She wasn't sure if she screamed the name, or if she screamed something else. Her whole body trembled as she ran. She found a dark closet and hid there. She could hear the footsteps creaking. They were coming nearer. They were coming closer.

"Not you…" She murmured, "Anyone but you." She wanted to beg. Why?

The answer came swiftly, "Because you're worthless." She heard these words before. "You See the Future, but you couldn't see that I was going to get fired. You couldn't see if your mother was going to be alive. You can't do anything right anyway. I don't know why she kept you alive. Devil Child. You're the reason why she's dead."

"I'm sorry," She whimpered as she brought her legs up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." The footsteps were coming closer. They stopped and her heart continued to race. "I didn't mean to kill her. I swear." Tears continued to leak, "I don't want to lose anyone anymore."

Outside in the Real World, Raphael had heard the screams and came to Rachel's room. He opened the door and went to her side, feeling her whole body was as hot as could be, "Rae? Rae! Wake up, Rae!" he called shaking her and getting her untangled from the blankets.

Her eyes snapped open, but it didn't help any. The same face…fear washed over her and she quickly swung her leg around. She felt it make contact, but it didn't matter. She heard something crack and it only freaked her out more. She rushed to the door and flung it open. She didn't remember this place. It was so bright. It was so……scary. How could something so bright, that looks so innocent, be so scary? Her heart thudded harder in her chest. She felt trapped. Instinct told her to run. She had to run.

'Where do I go?' She thought as she looked around frantically. Shadows…there were lots of shadows……How could a place be so bright hold so many shadows. She felt herself push against the wall. The coolness did nothing to help her. Her whole throat constricted. She couldn't scream. She was cornered…she was completely surrounded by shadows.

"I didn't mean to!" She screamed. "I didn't do anything wrong! She just collapsed! Why do you have to blame me for everything?!" She knew that didn't help any. They paused…but they were coming closer, "Stay away from me!"

"Shiori, Illuminate!" Brianna called out and let her pearl ring flash towards Rachel and blind her long enough she could get to her sister, "Rae! Rachel, Esu, hush now!" she held her close as the turtles went into the room where there were agonizing groans, "Rae, you're safe!"

Rachel just started crying hysterically as she gripped onto whoever was hugging her. "I didn't do anything wrong." She repeated as she cried, gripping onto this person tightly. She couldn't do anything anymore. Donatello had slipped back into his lab and got a first-aid kit. He went over to Bria and handed her a pill. "She'll calm down after she takes this. Just be prepared, she'll probably fall asleep," He whispered as he walked back up the stairs to see Raph on the ground.

"Geeze bro, what did you do to make her freak out like that?" Michelangelo asked as he poked his brother in the arm, "Hey Donny, I think he cracked some ribs."

"No fucking shit, she hit me square in the chest, ya dimbo!" Raph cursed and saw Don, knowingly rolling over onto his back, "I didn't do anything, either! She was having a nightmare, so I tried getting her out of it…"

Bria held onto Rachel after giving her the pill and looked at Leo who was watching them, "Help me get her to the couch?" she asked when Rae passed out in her arms.

"Sure." Leo agreed as he picked Rae up. He wondered what she had been talking about. She looked so frightened when she looked at them. "I wonder what she had been dreaming to get stuck like that."

"I have a pretty good guess, but I'd rather not jump to conclusions, Lionheart," Bria sighed as she went to the kitchen and came back with an ice cold washcloth and started dabbing the sweat away on Rae's face.

Her eyes opened. Her body felt sluggish and her eyes were still burning for some reason. Her chest hurt, her body was sore…but what was worse was that she felt freezing. She looked down to see that Bria or someone had put five or so blankets on her……but this was not her room. 'Okay, how did I get here?' When she shifted, she felt something heavy on her arm and a weight was on the couch that wasn't her own. Her eyes trialed up and saw who it was. "What the hell?" She murmured. His torso was wrapped in bandages. "Hey!" She pronounced on him, "What happened to you? Get up! Get up! Why am I on the couch?! And why are you injured?!"

"Ow…" Raph wheezed, "That…hurts…"

"Oh my god!" Rachel clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I didn't……" She scrambled to get to his level; concern was in her eyes as well as apologetic. "But…how did you get these wounds?"

"You…" Raph smiled weakly and leaned against the couch, "Ugh…Last night, you hit me square in the chest."

Rachel looked at him with a blink. "I did this?" She asked. "How did I wind up here in the living room?"

"You had a nightmare, and I tried to wake you, and you freaked out…Bria finally had to stop you," Raph explained.

"I don't remember any of this." Rachel said with a frown. "I'm sorry if I did that though. I wonder what I was dreaming about that could have tossed me into a frenzy." She mused this over for a bit, but nothing was popping up. She shrugged, "Probably just a fever dream."

"That's what Don said," Raph smiled at her, "It's alright, though, I only broke 3 ribs."

"You only broke three ribs? I broke three of your ribs?! Raph!" She cried out. Her chest constricted and she started coughing. "I'm sorry." She whimpered as her coughing eased up, "Geez. You make this sound like it's not a big deal."

"It's not…because it could've been worse. Leo nearly killed me from a nightmare…Don nearly strangled me…Mikey…I won't talk about that," Raphael shrugged.

Rachel bit her lip and looked a little upset as she touched the bandages that wrapped around him. She did this. She had done this and she didn't have a memory of it. She remembered one thing about her dream…she knew that she didn't want him to hate her. She hugged him tightly, mindful of his ribs.

Raph blinked in surprise, but smiled and hugged her in return, "Don drugged you with something, so that might be why," he offered for an explanation.

Rachel didn't respond as she held on to him. His scent was so soothing. It was nothing like the dream. He didn't hold his sai to her neck. He didn't try to chase her down. He wasn't the one that "murdered" the woman in her dream. How long though until he did? She didn't want to let him go, she didn't want to let this new family leave her behind too. She pulled away as a violent cough racked her body. "I hate being sick." She said grumpily. "I still can't believe I fell into a pond."

"You jerked away from me and tripped," Raph chuckled but then stopped quickly and winced.

Rachel bit her lip as she looked at his ribs. She swallowed thickly as she gently put her arms around him and took a breath. "I'm sorry." She sighed, "About the argument. I already…I'm kind of envious of you and your family. But I wanted to try to help you…and protect everyone. Having me around…will hurt you." She coughed lightly, "But. If you're willing to put up with the danger I'm undoubtedly going to bring…I'll stay."

"Thank you, Rae," Raph smiled and hugged her back as best as possible, "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Rachel said as she pulled away to look up, "What is it?"

Raph nodded over to the kitchen where done was sitting and laughing freely with Mikey and Leo, Lily standing behind him with her arms around his neck as she laughed with him, "By any chance was the kitten you gave Don, Lily?"

Rachel blinked in surprise and then smiled. "When did you figure that out?"

"Mm…Yesterday morning, when Don went out and you said 'too much fun'," Raphael grinned.

"Oh god I said all of that aloud?!" Rachel asked as she looked surprised. "Well…looks like you won on that. I'm surprised you didn't ask me when you heard it."

"I was too comfortable holding you. I was afraid you might storm off or something," Raph shrugged and then gritted his teeth when he had to stop.

"If moving is going to be a difficult thing for you to do then you're the one who should be lying down. Why weren't you in your room anyway?" She demanded as she pulled him back on to the couch and forced him to lie down on it. She gathered the blankets and tossed them on him.

"I was worried about you, and I'm fine enough to at least sit up," Raph said defiantly and attempted to do so when she shoved him back down, "Hey! I went passed Don's "no" to sleep by your side last night, missy."

"And I appreciate that. Now will you please lie down?" She told him. She turned her head to the side as she started coughing. Being stubborn she put the blankets on him and sat on the side of the couch. "You're so stubborn. Don't you know that you're not going to get any better if you keep hurting your ribs?"

Raph raised an eyebrow at her and threw the blankets off, "Okay, let's settle this," he grabbed her hand and dragged her coughing form through the lair and to his room. He opened the door and left it open as he dragged her to the bed, "I brought you to my room because I know you'd kill me if I went to yours and saw your stuff," he grabbed her arms and forced her to sit on one side, and he went over to his side, closest to the window, "Happy?" he asked.

Rachel just blinked. "Okay." She replied. "I'm guessing you...want me to sleep here too?"

"Yup," Raph grinned, "I'm sure a bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch...even though the couch is plenty comfy, too," he got on the bed and pulled her down and nuzzled her shoulder like he would a stuffed animal, "I hope you don't mind?"

Her cheeks heated up quickly. "N-no," She squeaked. "Not at all…glad I could help…I mean stay!" 'Oh man…' She thought to herself, 'This is embarrassing.'

"If it didn't hurt to laugh, I'd do so…" Raph muttered with a smirk against her back.

Rachel blushed deeper, "Sorry if you think me sleeping with a guy is that funny." She said as she buried her face in the covers. That wasn't true. She had slept with Matt and with Andy, but this for some reason, didn't feel like any of those times, which was what caused her embarrassment, "Besides why aren't you turning all hot and red?"

"Why…should it…matter?" Raphael yawned and held her a bit tighter, "We're friends…"

'Friends…' Rachel thought as she went in deeper to the blankets. 'Well, what was I hoping for? This makes it a whole lot easier.' She told herself with a slight nod, "Because I'm a girl?" She decided to tease.

Raph didn't hear her, but his response was a soft rumble for a snore.

She groaned. 'Then again…' she thought as her eye closed lazily, maybe that's why she was able to sleep in her guest room for so long. The noise he made was comforting. It was as if she had heard it before. It was her last thought when her eyes closed and a dreamless sleep followed.