A/N: Hey everyone sorry for the long delay for this next chapter. I didn't mean to take so long with this next chapter but things have been really crazy in RL for me lately. Fortunately it has been with happy things instead of horrible things for a change so that has been very nice. Between getting and starting a new job that I love but completely and utterly exhausts me, my sister having her baby, and trying to finish a couple cross stitches one for my sister and her baby and one for my parents now that they are new grandparents I've had my hands tied. On top of that this chapter really gave me trouble in getting it finished I just wasn't sure how I wanted it to progress. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.
Thank you for those who took the time to review I really appreciate it guys and I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter. But it probably won't be for a couple weeks. I might get some writing in tomorrow but I work for 10 hours on Saturday and I work all day Monday and Tuesday. If I have time I'll get more writing done Sunday but my writing will probably be limited until next Wednesday. Hopefully it won't take me so long next time.
Chapter 11
Graham Cooper glared at his reflection, running his fingers down the tender flesh around the long thin cut on his face just below his left eye. His usually well slicked hair was uncombed and his tie was loose around his neck. His secretary hadn't dared to ask about his appearance, he had a feeling she was ready to turn in her resignation any day, despite the large salary he was paying her. Every time he called her name she'd flinch as if an electric shock had run through her body. Graham didn't care… secretaries were a dime a dozen there would be another one out there who would want this job.
"Mrs. Bell!" Graham snapped into the intercom as he set down his hand mirror. He saw her jump through the glass window adjoining his door.
"Yes, Mr. Cooper?" Jamie Bell asked in a small timid voice.
"Come into my office!"
"Right away, Mr. Cooper," Jamie said at once.
It took Jamie a couple minutes but while Graham waited impatiently the door slowly opened and a short very timid looking woman stepped in. She was a big improvement on Graham's last secretary, who had been short and fat with raven colored hair that had been coiled in tight curls. Jamie was much younger, and more attractive. She was tall – and had been slim but now her baby bump was beginning to show, her stomach made her pale pink dress bulge slightly and her enlarged breasts filled out the dress nicely. Her red hair was tied up in an elegant twist on her neck, and her pale blue eyes were very wide as she stared at him. Graham leered at her and Jamie's face went white. But still he had to give her credit as she made her way across his office and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of his desk.
"I want you to cancel my afternoon meeting and hold all my calls," Graham barked, and Jamie hurried to scribble his orders down on a pad of paper she'd brought in with her. "Then I want you to get a hold of this man." Graham slid a piece of paper with a name and a number scribbled on it. "Tell him it is of the utmost importance that I speak with him and that his time will be well compensated for."
Jamie picked up the piece of paper with trembling fingers. "Yes, Mr. Cooper. Will there be anything else, sir?"
"As a matter of fact there is," Graham said pulling out a piece of paper from the top drawer a long with another list of numbers. "I need you to fax this to these numbers for me."
Jamie picked up the piece of paper, recognize Graham's wife from the picture sitting on his desk. Below it her picture in bold letters were the words.
Elizabeth Cooper – Missing
$50,000 reward for her safe return.
Jamie slipped the flyer and list of numbers underneath her pad and cleared her throat. "Will that be all, Mr. Cooper?"
"That's all, Mrs. Bell," Graham said waving her away as if she were a fly.
Jamie stood up and hurried out of the office, much faster than she had entered it. Graham leaned back in his chair, tenting his fingers together and smiling at the ceiling.
"Soon, my dear sweet wife, there will be nowhere in the city for you to hide. I will get you back… and when I do I will see you breathe your last and your little green friends are next." He fingered the cut on his face again and his face darkened. "They caught me off guard last time, and I can't wait to return the favor."
"Have you finished rolling out the dough yet, Mikey?" Elizabeth asked from where she stood at the stove stirring the contents in a small pot.
Michelangelo, who was standing on the other side of the kitchen, looked up from the rolled out pizza dough on the cookie sheet. "Sure have, Elizabeth. And you have to give me the recipe for this pizza!"
Elizabeth laughed as she dipped a spoon into the mixture. She lifted the spoon to her mouth, tasted it and seemed to be satisfied with it because she then turned off the burner and removed the pot from the stove.
"Sure, Mikey – that's not a problem. Grab the chicken will you?"
Michelangelo quickly crossed the kitchen and grabbed the pan with the grilled chicken in it. Elizabeth stirred the thick concoction in the pot she was holding thoroughly before she poured the contents onto the uncooked pizza crust. A thick creamy white sauce quickly covered the entire crust, only stopped by the upturned edges.
"Put the chicken on top, Mikey, and even it out with this," Elizabeth handed him a rubber spatula. Michelangelo did as she told him and when he finished Elizabeth sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top and stuck the whole thing into the hot oven.
"Anything else you need help with, dudette?" Michelangelo asked enthusiastically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Elizabeth couldn't help but smile a little at the Michelangelo's enthusiasm. She had no idea where Michelangelo got all his energy but she'd quickly realized that the others tended to ignore their brother when he was so full of energy. Donatello would always find something in his lab to occupy him and when Michelangelo ignored Donatello's hints about leaving him alone eventually he'd firmly, though kindly, boot him out. Leonardo seemed the hardest for Michelangelo to get to, Leonardo seemed to have endless patience when it came to his brothers. Though Elizabeth had seen a bit of weariness cross the blue-banded turtles face when even he'd had too much of his brother's constant badgering. Often times when that happened he'd wander off to his room to meditate. Elizabeth figured that was the easiest way for Leonardo to keep control of his temper and not lose his patience with his brother. Raphael on the other hand seemed to be the complete opposite of his brothers. If Michelangelo was lucky Raphael would simply ignore him and go off to the dojo to get in more practice. If he wasn't… well Raphael would help his brother burn off some of that energy by chasing him around the lair.
Elizabeth had learned that it was best to just stay out of the brothers' way when they got like that. Though she couldn't help but be amused by Michelangelo's antics, and the lengths he'd go to to get his brothers to pay attention to him. Whenever that failed Michelangelo would seek her out wherever she was and would entertain her for hours with his adventure stories. Which always starred the Turtle Titan. And even though all of Michelangelo's story had a common theme, Elizabeth loved hearing about the adventures he'd spin for her.
"Hey, head case! Da city ain't been da same without ya!" Raphael's voice boomed enthusiastically from the other room.
"April! Casey!" Michelangelo bounded out of the room without a second thought for dinner.
Elizabeth hesitated, not sure if she should intrude on this reunion. Or if she wanted to.
The truth was she was terrified about meeting April and Casey. She'd heard the brothers talking enthusiastically about their friends' return, but Elizabeth's stomach muscles had always cramped uncomfortably when she thought about meeting these two people. She knew that anyone who cared about the turtles as much as she did would be very protective of them. She knew she would do anything to keep their secret safe – and to do anything in her power that she could to keep them safe. She knew if April and Casey felt the same way that they might not be very enthusiastic to meet her. Not that she'd blame them – she had almost gotten Donatello killed.
Michelangelo had reassured her that April and Casey would be very happy to meet her, but Elizabeth hadn't really believed him. She'd nodded slightly then had usually wandered off to be alone in her bedroom or pretended she'd had to use the bathroom.
But to do either now she'd have to go through the main area of the lair – which was where Casey and April were. So instead Elizabeth pulled a head of lettuce, a couple cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots from the refrigerator and opted to start on the salad instead. After she rinsed the head of lettuce under faucet she began to tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces and place them in a large ceramic bowl.
"Need some help?"
Elizabeth jumped and turned around wildly, crouching down to make herself as small a target as possible.
The red head in the doorway looked a bit startled by Elizabeth's reaction, her wide green eyes filled with concern and her ruby red lips were tight against her teeth. A few strands of her hair had fallen out of her bun and hung in wisps around her face, though she didn't seem to notice them. She was wearing a ruby red shirt that was cut just over her midriff exposing her pale skin and tiny waist. Her jeans clung tightly to her hips and shaped out her legs nicely. Elizabeth thought she was very attractive.
"You're Elizabeth right?" The red head asked, stepping further into the kitchen.
Elizabeth nodded and smiled weakly.
"I'm April," April said smiling in return, revealing very nice white teeth. She brushed aside a few locks of hair and tucked them behind her ear.
"Uh – yeah, I know, Mikey told me all about you and Casey," Elizabeth said quickly feeling heat rise in her cheeks.
April didn't seem surprised, instead her smile warmed up a lot more as she took in Elizabeth's appearance. Elizabeth wished she'd changed out of her green checkered pajama bottoms and tight dark green t-shirt. She also wished she hadn't just pulled her hair up into a loose bun held in place by two pencils on her neck. She could feel the ends of her hair tickling her neck, and was very conscious of the smudge of flour on her cheek. But April didn't seem to notice those things. Her eyes, so similar in color to Elizabeth's eyes, had been studying her thoughtfully for a long minute before some of the tension in her shoulders seemed to fade away. She gestured to the remaining ingredients that needed to be sliced into the salad.
"So you want some help?"
"That'd be great, thanks," Elizabeth turned back to finish tearing apart the lettuce leaves.
April pulled out a cutting board and began to chop up the tomatoes and when she finished she started in on the cucumbers.
"Hey, April?" Elizabeth asked after several long minutes of silence between them.
April paused and looked up from the cucumber she had been slicing.
Elizabeth didn't look at her, she was biting her lip and concentrating very hard on the carrot she had in her hand.
"What is it, Elizabeth?"
"I uh, I was just wondering if you knew what happened to Leo's shell? I saw that there was a piece that looked… well what could cause something like that?"
April frowned a little. "Haven't you asked the guys?"
Elizabeth blushed. "Well, Leo is always so guarded and Mikey seems to get upset whenever I mention it. All Donny told me was that it was a long story and Raph… well he doesn't seem to be around much."
April set down her cucumber and the knife she'd been using to slice it. "Don't take it personally, Elizabeth. Raphael likes to go topside to burn off energy, he patrols the streets at night – usually he goes out with Casey but he'll go out alone too, he finds it helps him to keep control of his temper with his brothers if he burns off some excess energy patrolling the streets."
Elizabeth nodded. "Like the night he found me," she muttered.
April's expression softened a little. "I'm just glad that Raph was there for you, Elizabeth. Donny told me what happened that night."
"And did he tell you I almost got him killed?" Elizabeth asked in a soft whisper.
April didn't reply for a few seconds and then Elizabeth found herself swept up into the red head's arms. Startled her first reaction was to pull away, and April let her go, but she kept her grip on Elizabeth's arms, forcing her to face her.
"Elizabeth, it wasn't your fault."
"Graham would have never gone after them if it wasn't for me. He knew that they had me – somehow he knew. If he had killed Donny… "
"The others never would have let that happen, Elizabeth. They look out for each other. They've gotten into tight spots before and they always come through for each other."
"But if they hadn't… they could have been… "
"Elizabeth, they followed you to Cooper Enterprises. They weren't going to let anything happen to Donny – and if Leo had known what you were going to do he would have done whatever he could have to protect you."
Elizabeth wasn't convinced. "I heard him that night, April. He was going to hand me over to save his brother. He was willing to do whatever it took to get his brother back."
"That doesn't mean that Leo wanted Graham to kill you. I know that Leo can seem a bit calloused but he's just very protective of his brothers. Leo's been through a lot, they all have, but Leo bears the most scars from their battles because he's always throwing himself between his brothers and whatever is trying to hurt them. He doesn't have anything against you, Elizabeth. He just worries about his brothers' safety. When Graham took Donny Leo was scared that they wouldn't get there in time… but when he came out and saw you were gone he realized where you'd gone and he knew then that you were willing to turn yourself in to protect his family and it changed the way he saw you. You weren't a liability anymore but an ally. And with that you won his protection and respect, he'd do anything now to make sure you are safe."
"But he still seems guarded," Elizabeth said confused. If all April said was true why did Leo still seem distant with her? It was true that he wasn't as cold to her and his eyes were much softer when he looked at her but he never went out of his way to talk to her.
April sighed. "Elizabeth, you asked if I knew what happened to Leo's shell. Why that piece was missing."
Elizabeth nodded.
"Elizabeth, the turtles had an enemy named Oroku Saki or the Shredder- he was an alien creature called an Utrom who had killed Master Splinter's Master Yoshi. The turtles had been fighting him for years, in many battles, some of them they won and others they didn't… " April's eyes hardened for a moment as if she was remembering something very unpleasant. Elizabeth waited, not wanting to interrupt now that she was finally getting some answers.
"The night Shredder tried to return to the stars so he could return to the Utrom home world and destroy the Utrom race the guys tried to stop him. All of them were very badly injured… Casey and I weren't there but Donny told me later that Shredder's daughter Karai, who had once called herself Leo's friend, had stabbed him with his own katana."
Elizabeth gasped, shocked.
"Leo wasn't the same turtle when they came home. He was very distant, even from his brothers. He was always so angry – it wasn't like him. His brothers didn't understand his sudden personality change – he was acting more like an angry Raphael than himself. He was cold and distant for months, training even more than he normally did, pushing himself to the breaking point. And then one day there was an accident in the lair and Splinter knew that Leo was beyond his help. He sent him to Japan to get some help from his Master Yoshi's sensei – and when Leo returned a couple months later he was his old self again. The hardness had left his eyes and he was more relaxed. I don't know exactly what it was that made Leo come back to us, he's never talked about it. But whatever it was it worked."
Elizabeth was very quiet after April finished her story, she could feel her hands trembling but could do nothing to hide the horror she felt from the story. To imagine such a thing – to even try to picture Leonardo's own katana being forced through his flesh by someone he had once called a friend… how could she possibly have done that to him? The betrayal Leonardo must have felt in that moment – Elizabeth wasn't surprised that he would be so angry. Still she felt like April was holding something back from her, but she wasn't going to press her for more. April seemed hesitant to tell her whatever else it was and considering the fact that April had told her more than Donatello had she wasn't going to force her to tell her more.
"Elizabeth, you ok?" April asked moving a hand to Elizabeth's shoulder and squeezing gently.
Elizabeth swallowed hard and nodded. "We'd better get the salad done. The pizza will be ready in five minutes."
"Mikey seems pretty excited about this pizza you're making," April said trying to lighten up the tone in the kitchen.
It worked. Elizabeth smiled.
"A friend gave me the idea but she uses the alfredo sauce in the jar and I use homemade sauce."
"You can make your own alfredo sauce?" April asked, she sounded surprised.
"It's actually quite easy," Elizabeth said with a laugh.
April smiled when she heard Elizabeth's light tinkling laugh. It was such a pleasant sound. "Well it smells great."
Elizabeth's smile widened as she chopped up the carrot she'd been holding earlier. "It tastes even better than it smells," she promised.
"Well, in that case, I hope you made a lot," April said seriously as she sliced the last of the cucumber and placed it on top of the torn lettuce leaves and diced tomatoes.
"Why's that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Because Mikey will eat all of it if that's true."
Elizabeth and April stared at each other for several seconds then started to laugh.
The kitchen was really too small to accommodate four giant turtles, three humans, and a rat. So while April had been busy with Elizabeth in the kitchen the turtles and Casey had set up a long table with chairs in the main area of the lair. Elizabeth had gone to call everyone in for dinner a few minutes after some joyous laughter had broken out in the kitchen, and her eyes had popped in surprise when she saw the table set up and with the dishes in place. The turtles had grinned at her and the tall dark-haired man with baby blue eyes that had stood close to Raphael had nudged the red-banded turtle with his elbow. Much to Elizabeth's amusement Raphael had elbowed him back hard enough to make the man flinch and rub at his sore ribs.
Elizabeth returned to the kitchen to get the pizza while April carried out the large bowl of salad before she sat down next to Casey. Splinter sat at the head of the table, with Leonardo on one side and Raphael on the other. Casey sat next to Raphael with April beside him and Donatello sat on the other side. Elizabeth figured that her seat was the one between Leonardo and Michelangelo because that was the only seat left. She set the hot cookie sheet on the table and sat down between the two turtles.
"Mmm… " Michelangelo said taking an appreciative sniff.
"Pull yer tongue in, Mikey, before ya drool all over da table," Raphael said with a roll of his eyes.
"It looks great, Elizabeth," Donatello said as he helped himself to the salad.
Michelangelo had taken charge of the pizza and was cutting large slices for everyone. Elizabeth was having a hard time not laughing at the way his eyes eagerly followed each piece and his tongue kept poking out of his mouth.
When everyone had a slice of pizza and the salad had been passed around the table everyone began to eat.
"Wow!" Casey said as he took a bite of pizza. "What's da sauce ya put on dis, 'Lizbeth?"
"Uh, homemade alfredo sauce," Elizabeth said as she poked a cucumber onto the prongs of her fork. Her own pizza was still untouched but she had had a few bites of salad.
Michelangelo, who had inhaled his own first slice helped himself to another.
"So what movie did ya pick dis time, bone head?" Raphael asked as he bit into his own slice of pizza.
Casey smirked but didn't answer. Elizabeth wasn't sure if that was because Casey wanted to keep the movie a surprise or because his mouth was so full of pizza.
Michelangelo reached for another piece of pizza. Elizabeth looked at his plate surprised, he had just reached for a new slice a minute ago, but his plate was empty. It was if the pizza had never existed.
Elizabeth took a small bite of her own pizza, chewing it slowly. Her stomach churned angrily and lurched in protest as the pizza joined the small portion of salad she'd already eaten. Elizabeth paused, not sure how much more she'd be able to eat, but from the expression on Donatello's face on the other side of the table she knew he wouldn't be satisfied with what she'd eaten, reluctantly she took another bite of pizza.
No one else seemed to be paying much attention to her. Leonardo and Splinter were talking in hushed tones, muttering in a language that Elizabeth couldn't understand. If she were to guess she'd have thought it was Japanese. Michelangelo was concentrating on his pizza and Casey and Raphael seemed to be engaged in a fierce but silent battle of wills on the other side of the table. Elizabeth wasn't sure what brought that on but she had a feeling that it was nothing new for those two.
"Hey, Donny, would you mind coming by later? I need your help with something," April asked drawing Donatello's attention away from Elizabeth.
Donatello nodded." Sure, April."
Elizabeth took another bite of pizza and suddenly her stomach lurched violently. Elizabeth swallowed hard, but her mouth was watering quickly. She ground her jaw, tossed her napkin onto the table and bolted towards the bathroom. She heard someone yelling after her but she couldn't make out who it was through the ringing in her ears.
She just barely made it. She heaved over the toilet, feeling hot tears prick the corners of her eyes before they ran down her cheeks and joined the contents in the toilet bowl. She coughed and spat into the toilet, her back heaving heavily with suppressed sobs while her stomach lurched again, though she had nothing else to get rid of.
She sat by the toilet for several long seconds, and only lifted her head when someone knocked quietly on the door. She got shakily to her feet and flushed the toilet, before lowering the lid and sitting down on the closed lid, too worn out to even try and move.
"Elizabeth, its April can I come in?"
"Y… yes," Elizabeth croaked.
The door opened and April entered, closing the door behind her. She stared anxiously at Elizabeth for a few seconds before crossing the small room and crouching down in front of her. "Are you ok?"
More tears sprang to Elizabeth's eyes and she shook her head.
April bit her lip while the tears ran down Elizabeth's cheeks and off her chin where they disappeared into her pajama bottoms. A few strands of hair had come loose from Elizabeth's make-shift bun and hung around her face in long wisps, almost like spider web strands.
"Elizabeth," April said quietly, keeping her voice low – although Elizabeth had no trouble hearing her she knew that there was no way her voice would carry to the next room even if Donatello was hovering outside the bathroom door. "Donny said you've been sick a lot lately – that you can't keep anything down."
Elizabeth sniffed and wiped uselessly at her eyes. She stared into April's concerned eyes and felt more tears prick her eyes.
"Elizabeth, we need to know if we should take you to the hospital. If something is making you this sick than it is more than Donny can handle. Casey and I can take you – we'll stay with you. We'll be in touch with the turtles. Graham won't be able to get his hands on you."
"No," Elizabeth said her voice tight with her distress. "No hospital."
"Elizabeth, you are going to get really sick if you can't keep anything down." April insisted.
"I… I need something from home. I know what… I know what's wrong." Elizabeth began to sob again and leaned forward to bury her face in her hands.
April didn't speak for a few minutes, letting Elizabeth sob herself into quiet once again, but when Elizabeth looked up she saw the expression on April's face and knew from the stunned and worried expression that April already knew.
"You're sure?" April asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "I went the day Raph saved me from those men in the park."
April's expression was very stressed. "Elizabeth, you need to tell them."
"But they'll – won't they make me go home?"
"Elizabeth, they aren't going to make you do anything. But you are going to get really sick if you don't get help and soon. This isn't something Donny can help you with. You need a doctor."
"If I just got my pills from home I'd be better,"
"Casey and I can get them. Or one of the guys could."
"No!" Elizabeth insisted grabbing April's wrist. "I don't want them going back there. I don't want Graham to get his hands on them again."
"The guys can handle themselves, Elizabeth," April said but her voice was resigned. "But Casey or I could get them. Where are they?"
"In the medicine cabinet above the sink in the bathroom."
"Elizabeth, did you… "
Elizabeth shook her head anticipating April's question. April nodded, seeming satisfied with her answer. "You need to tell them, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth began to cry again, this time more violently than before.
"Do you want to go lie down, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth nodded through her tears. April gently helped her up and helped her across the room. A concerned Donatello was standing just outside the bathroom. April merely shook her head at him stopping his questions before he could ask them. Donatello didn't look happy but he allowed April to walk Elizabeth towards her bedroom, though he followed them at a distance. Elizabeth and April disappeared inside the bedroom and after a few minutes April reappeared alone, closing the door quietly behind her.
"April," Donatello said torn between concern and irritation. "She needs to eat something – she's barely touched anything since she's gotten here."
"I know that, Don. But right now it won't help her. She won't be able to keep anything down."
"Then we should get her on an IV – if she doesn't… "
"Don, she needs something from home. She gave me her key," April held up a small key ring with two keys on it. "I'll pick it up and bring it back to her. She should be able to keep food down when she's taking it."
"Isn't there something here that I can give her for that?" Donatello asked clearly annoyed now.
April shook her head. "No, Don, it has to be what she has at home."
"April, you can't go there – you don't know what Graham is… "
"Don!" April interrupted before Donatello could lecture her. "I don't have a choice. The stuff you have here won't help her! Elizabeth isn't sick! She's pregnant."
A/N Continued: I'm sure that wasn't something you guys had expected, but I had planned this from the beginning. It might not seem fair that Elizabeth kept this from the guys but she had her reasons on why she wasn't telling them. Which will be revealed later I promise. So no hate mail please. :D See you guys again soon.