Kait was pulled out of her sleep by an incessant beeping sound. As her eyes lazily blinked open, she was flooded by the blinding morning light. "Don, can you turn that off?" she grumbled, her voice just a jumble of syllables.
No answer. She tried to stand from the couch, but her legs were tangled up in something. That something was her jersey sheets on her bed. But she was positive she had fallen asleep on her sheet-less couch. She swung her hand out and found the alarm clock like she would every other weekday. She smacked it and the beeping stopped.
Don…
He must have carried her into bed, much like the other night, and tucked her in. Most likely before leaving in the pouring rain.
Bleary eyed and tired, she disentangled herself from the sheets and trudged into the bathroom. As she washed her face in the sink in an attempt to drag herself from the cobwebs of sleep, she saw a neon sticky-note attached to the mirror.
Good morning, sleepy head.
I'll be back tonight, but if you need one of us desperately, 212-555-4670.
-Don
P.S. I didn't leave till it stopped raining, promise.
Kait smiled as she grabbed the sheet, looking at Don's clean and calculated handwriting, almost like a computer font. Quickly, she started getting ready. Wide leg, high waisted trousers; replicated from a 1940s era pattern. A soft—and most importantly, high necked—sweater was tucked under it. A pair of nude pumps was fished out from under the bed, where she had kicked them the night before.
1940s eyeliner, lipstick, and up-do later and she was out the door with her bag swung over one shoulder and her keys jingling loudly in one hand.
At the exit to the building, she stepped to the curb, waiting for a taxi to get close enough for her to flag over.
"Kait Daws?" A husky voice called from a few feet away.
Quickly, she turned to look, a little startled. A tall, thin man with shaggy black hair and brown eyes was slowly, cautiously approaching her. He had a lopsided, kind smile painted across his square jaw. "Yes." She responded cautiously. Lots of people recognized her from gallery openings and interviews, but she was being extremely cautious of late. "And you would be?"
"Casey Jones." He extended a large, calloused hand to her. "April sent me to see if you wanted a ride, and to introduce myself." Kait met his hand tentatively. "Because of the guys, uh, condition, you'll see either April or I during the day. Figured it'd help if you knew who you were supposed to know."
"You're April's fiancé, aren't you?" Kait smiled up at him, the clues finally clicking into place.
He nodded with a smirk, holding out his cell phone. The background image was a sweet shot of them together.
Kait suddenly remembered that she did in fact own a cell phone and she should probably look at it for Milo's sake. Sure enough, there was a text message.
electric gis came 2da. closed. c ya tmro
With a heavy sigh, she threw the phone back into her bag. "As much as I appreciate your offer of a drive, turns out the gallery is closed today." She hoped her look was as apologetic as she felt.
Casey nodded, chewing slightly on the inside of his cheek. "Well," he quickly checked the time on his phone. "The guys should be awake." He looked almost hesitantly up at Kait, as if he was about to make a call that wasn't really his to make. "Honestly, I think you deserve to know the people watchin' your back. I'll take you to the guy's place if you want. That way you can meet them all at the same time, for real this time."
"What are you suggesting, Mr. Jones?" Kait asked a little shyly.
His smirk was quick but large. "Casey, please. And I'm talkin' about bringing you by the lair, where the brothers live with their father, Master Splinter. You haven't even met him yet." He started leading Kait towards his pick-up.
"But I don't want to intrude on…"
"Don't worry about it, doll face. You're one of us now. Besides, Splinter would love to meet you and I bet Don will love to see you." He chuckled slyly as he opened the door for Kait, shutting it after she hopped into the cab.
"Are you sure?" Kait asked quietly after Casey had joined her inside.
He nodded as he put the truck in gear and turned into the street. After several quiet, tense minutes, Casey parked the truck in front of another apartment complex, a little more modern than Kait's but still built up and urbane. Casey hopped out of the parked truck and started towards the alley next to the building. "Come on, doll." Casey called back to the truck.
Kait hopped out as well, grabbing her messenger bag and walking quickly after Casey. "Why did we come here?" she asked curiously, looking around her.
Casey shrugged, pointing to a fire landing a few floors up. "That's April's and my apartment. It's easiest for me to get to the guys' place from here."
She nodded and followed him as he walked a few more feet down the alley. After he looked around suspiciously, and finding the alley and streets sufficiently clear, he hoisted up the manhole in the middle of the alley. Ostentatiously, he waved his hands towards the opening in the street.
"They live in there?!" Kait exclaimed quietly, her hands tightening on the strap of her bag.
Casey nodded, sliding his feet into the hole as he sat on the street. "Yeah, kinda. But it's not that bad. These are storm drains, really. Just lots of water and leaves." He hopped down into the hole and Kait heard the muffled thud. "Trust me." He called out from the black.
Kait slid her feet over the edge, just like Casey had done, before she as well slid down. Strong arms caught her around the waist before she hit the ground, easing her down.
"I swear you're as light as the other one." Casey mumbled as he fished out his keychain, a small flashlight coming to life in his hands.
"Emily, right?" Kait asked curiously. Sure, Don had told her a bit about the other woman, but she still didn't really understand how Emily had fallen in with the brothers.
Casey stopped short as he nodded. "Don told me that you found out. Now, Raph will not be so understanding that you found out. I don't suggest bringing her up while you're there. I don't want Raph to go off on you. I kinda want the guys to keep you around. We need some diversity in the group. With Em how she is, we are missin' some of the character we got used to enjoying."
She nodded courteously as she followed Casey. Much to her surprise, it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought. Like Casey had claimed, it was mostly water and leaves. Even in four and a half inch heels, the large cobblestone floor of the tunnels was smooth and easy to walk on. After walking for about twenty minutes, Casey arrived at a large steel door. Knocking on it loudly, he turned to Kait as they waited. "This used to be an outsourcing office back when the sewer system was first built. Plenty of room for all the brothers, their father, room for training, they even have a room for Em and a spare room. Pretty good place to live for these guys."
Just as he finished, the door was opened. Mikey was behind it, a cautious smile on his face. "Hey, Casey." He gave the man a high-five. "And hello, Kait. Welcome to the lair." He was nervously rambling now. "Sorry it's such a mess. We didn't expect anybody coming over that wasn't used to it and…"
"Mikey, it's ok." Kait reassured, reaching out to gently touch his arm. She relied on Don's summary of his family to know which one was which. She also relied on an inner strength she rarely ever found to keep her from curling in on herself in shyness. "I lived with a guy throughout graduate school. I understand the mess completely." She saw Mikey and Casey give her odd looks as she walked in. Immediately in front of her was a small living space. Several older and worn out couches faced a mosaic of televisions. Behind that was a raised dining room and kitchen. A small hallway reached to the left and another small hallway reached to the right. Beside the televisions was a staircase leading up to another level with a railed walkway leading to several doors all around the space.
Upon hearing the voices from the main room, Don walked out of the hallway from the right, goggles over his eyes. "Kait!" his voice hitched up nearly half an octave as he quickly pulled the goggles off his face, attempting to hide them behind him. "What, what are you doing here?" he asked as he strode quickly across the room towards the three others.
"I thought she'd like to see you guys in your natural habitat." Casey joked as he started walking towards the short hallway to the left.
"He's upstairs." Don mumbled quietly once he reached the others. Casey changed his course towards the stairs. Don looked from the man to the woman with a shy smile. "If we'd known you were coming we would have cleaned up a little. We just had breakfast and…"
"Don, I lived with Milo for three years. I understand the male living situation." Kait murmured quietly as she smiled up at Don.
He gave her the same odd look that his younger brother and Casey had given her, but nodded all the same. "Do you want to see my lab?" he asked, a childish excitement working into his voice
Kait nodded slightly as she followed close behind Don.
He walked her back down the hallways to the right and into a small-ish room. There was a large array of computers around a swiveling chair in one corner, a whole wall of bookcases, an examining bed, and a desk full of loose papers and electrical equipment. Kait admired it all as Don sat down in the swivel chair.
"Impressive." She murmured quietly as she sat down on the examination bed.
"You should have seen the one at the old place." Don laughed, spinning in his chair. "I had to downsize during the move here. My room's smaller, too." With a sigh, Don stopped spinning. "Oh well. Price we pay to stay safe." Kait nodded silently, her eyes darting every which way. "Kait, are you okay?" Don's voice dipped into the notes of true concern, pulling Kait's gaze to him.
She nodded and shrugged simultaneously, confusing Don. "This was all Casey's idea. And he's thrown me headfirst into a very startling situation." She too sighed, but she began to fidget. "I don't do so well with people." She mumbled, one hand reaching to play with the clasp of her bag.
Don took his turn to nod, standing from his chair and sitting next to her on the bed. "Well, that works out great for us because we aren't exactly people." He smiled down at her as Kait smiled slightly up at him. "Come on." He murmured quietly, hopping off the bed. "Come meet my father." He gently guided Kait by her elbow farther down the hallway to the room at the end.
Warm candle light filled the spacious room. A bamboo mat covered the floor that was not part of the raised border that made up about three feet on all sides of the room. In one corner, a rack of swords. In another, shelves full of helmets and trophies. In another, a bedroll. Against the back wall, a low table with floor cushions. Behind the table, an overgrown rat in brown robes, his head leaned over the table.
"Master, I brought Kait here to see you." Don called out to the rat with a clear yet respectful voice.
The rat looked up at the two with wise old brown eyes and a chunk missing out of one of his ears. The brown fur on his face was beginning to turn to grey in a few places. "Good morning, child." His thick accent allowed Kait to understand Don's joke about being Japanese-American the night before. If this Japanese rat was Don's father, then the profile certainly fit. "Come, sit. Let me have a look at you."
Don gently guided Kait to one of the floor cushions on the other side of the table from Splinter. "So you're the boys' father?" Kait asked kindly.
He nodded, motioning to Don. "Donatello is the third of my sons."
"Donatello?" she laughed to herself, her eyes flashing up to Don, who was blushing a little with embarrassment.
He and Splinter nodded together. "Leonardo hatched first, and then Raphael, Donatello, and finally Michelangelo." Splinter smiled at his son.
"The renaissance artists." Kait smiled almost fully. "I loved them in school. I used to try to paint like Raphael, but I could never get the shadows right." Like Mikey, nerves caused her to ramble slightly.
"Kait is an artist." Don added in for her, looking to his father for his reaction.
Splinter nodded, a slight smile on his long face. "We attract the strangest mix of people, don't we?" He joked kindly to the two. "First, a reporter, then a fighter, and now, an artist. It certainly makes our family all the better to include such people."
"Thank you." Kait murmured quietly with a shy smile.
Splinter nodded again. "Our home is yours, child. If you ever feel unsafe in your home or desire companionship, our door is open." He nodded to Don that his paternal obligations had been completed and Don could take Kait to other places in the lair.
He showed her the dojo, with its bamboo mats, punching bags, and weapons. He even took her upstairs and pointed out which room belonged to which person, including the bathroom. As they were about to head back down the stairs, Don saw Kait's eyes lingering on Emily's door.
"Raph's in there with her." Don murmured quietly, a three-fingered hand gently pressed against the small of her back. "Otherwise, I'd let you meet her. She was an amazing young woman. I think you two will get along once she wakes up."
Kait looked back at him with a small smile. "You guys are so open, you know that?" she relented and allowed Don to guide her down the stairs.
Don chuckled slightly. "We didn't used to be. Em opened our eyes. And we're going out on a limb with you."
When they reached the foot of the stairs, the kitchen had a new addition, Leo. Sweating, he stood in front of the sink, filling a tea kettle. Having heard his brother's chuckle, he looked over his shoulder, a cautious smile on his face. "Good morning, Kait." He called across the room.
"Good morning, Leo." Kait called back, also smiling slightly.
She could sense the tense atmosphere caused by her unexpected presence. Kait was an unnaturally shy person when she was out of her element. And there, in the lair under the city, she was miles away from her element. The one thing she could do was try to bring some of her element into the alien world.
Sitting on the couch next to Don as he began flipping through channels on the television, she pulled her large sketchbook and a few drawing pencils out of her bag. Trying to be as covert as possible, she looked over a Mikey, who was playing an old arcade game. Making sure not to look too long at him at any one time, she began to sketch his face and upper torso, finding the gentle curves of his face and body pleasing to the eye on paper. She brought her colored pencils out and began adding the barest hints of color, used in her style of sketches as only accents in a piece that relied heavily on black and white values.
Leo was next. Sitting at the table reading a magazine, he was an easy target for her to watch. She had to draw in a smile, but she still remembered his small, lopsided grin from when he had greeted her.
After Leo, it had to be Don because Raph was still upstairs. Don, however, caught her looks.
"Can I help you?" he asked, confused.
Kait could only chuckle nervously, showing him the sketch. Don's eyes widened drastically as he looked at the amazing representation of his brothers and the beginning of the drawing of him, standing next to Mikey on the paper. "You could stay still so I can finish you."
Don smiled slightly and stayed still as a statue as Kait finished the drawing, complete with his freckles.
Raph was tougher. She had really only met him once. Thankfully, he looked very similar to Mikey, so she based the drawing around him and then made the necessary changes.
Splinter was the hardest, fur being her arch enemy throughout her college career as an art major. But stroke by stoke with different weight art pencils, the elderly rat took shape, standing between Don and Mikey.
At this point, Don realized she was sketching them a family portrait. He smile widened to the largest Kait had seen on him yet as he watched her work. Soon enough, it was finished and Kait was proud of her hour and a half sketch.
Don of course, was ecstatic and called out his oldest and younger brother, beckoning them to see the sketch. Mikey was bouncing off the walls, which Kait was started to see was a normal thing. Leo nodded and smiled slightly, appreciating her style and thankful for the gesture. Casey, who had been upstairs with Raph but came down, even liked it, although he refused Kait's offers to be added in. With all the hubbub downstairs, Raph trudged out of Emily's room, confused and slightly annoyed that Kait was there in their living room. But he enjoyed the portrait all the same.
Kait was quiet for most of the time, a plan forming in her head. She understood Emily's place in the family, and she appreciated it. She was turning over in her head any way she could think of to get Don to let her up into Emily's room. She didn't want to sneak up there and betray their trust. The plan finally came to her as Casey asked Raph to spar with him in the dojo.
She knew she only needed a few minutes to enact her plan, but she had no time to waste. Grabbing her paper and pencils in one hand, she grabbed Don's wrist in the other, dragging him up to Emily's room.
"I want to put her in the picture." She whispered, looking up at him with a hopeful pleading.
He nodded, opening the door and holding it open for her and shutting it behind them.
Beep…beep…beep…beep…
Kait was shocked at first when she saw Emily on the bed, just laying there. After everything she had heard and read about the woman, she didn't think it would have been possible for her to seem so weak and frail, but here she was, looking just as fragile as Kait. As she began to draw the other woman, she began to feel a pang of self consciousness, Emily appeared years younger than her, and so surely the brothers were as well. Casey and April had looked around her age, but she really had no way of knowing. Kait suddenly felt like the old, helpless bump on the log in a group of young adventurous people with power.
After a few minutes, she slipped back out the door with Don and began walking to the stairs.
"Wait." Don murmured, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her to the door he had told her was his.
Opening it and beckoning her in, he began rifling through a few drawers, looking for something. To Kait, his room looked like a smaller version of his lab. Equipment, papers, and books were strewn about the small space, even on the bed. With a smile, Kait reminisced about Milo's room when they shared an apartment to get through grad school.
After a few minutes, Don surfaced from his dresser with a frame nearly the same size as Kait's drawing. He handed it to her as he yet again guided her out with a hand on the small of her back.
With most of the family around her, Kait slid the drawing into the frame. Silently, she propped the frame up on the desk below their message board and stepped back beside Don. With her one action, the brothers were beginning to accept her, and she was beginning to see them not as turtle, but as men.
And the most tortured of these men, Raphael, nearly ran out of the room, tears in eyes.
In the drawing of the six of them, Kait had drawn Emily beside Raph, her arm wrapped around his waist while Raph held her close, her blue eyes bright and her smile wide, completely awake.
AN: Happy Thanksgiving my darling readers!
For the record, I am thankful for all of you, especially the few of you that have been with me since Chapter 1 of Underdog!
Well, here's the next chapter. I have officially our two leading ladies together.
Don't know when chapter 6 is coming, but I hope it's soon.
As always, reviews and suggestions are very much welcome.
Sincerely,
C M