Turtle Love

Back at the Lair

*Jewel's POV*

I was sitting on the couch, bored out of my mind. The guys had refused to take me out on patrol with them until they were 100% sure they could trust me. Mikey and Leo trusted me, and Donnie was getting there. Raph on the other hand... Didn't trust me at all. He avoided me as much as he could. Honestly, I didn't care. He scared me. Leo trained with me sometimes and Donnie said hi occasionally, but Mikey was always hanging out with me. To be completely honest, I kinda like him. I don't think he likes me back though. I heard voices and looked towards the entrance. Raph, Mikey, and Leo were back. Donnie had returned earlier with a girl he introduced as Ava.

"Hey guys," I said, standing.

"Jewel!" Mikey shouted in excitement, rushing up to me and giving me a hug.

I giggled. "How was-" I stopped when I saw Leo was holding a girl in his arms. "Who's that?"

Raph pushed passed me. "Leo's new toy," he growled as he headed for his room, where Katelyn was. They were kind of a thing now, but I was the only one who knew. Raph made me swear not to tell his brothers.

Mikey leaned over to me. "His girlfriend."

I suddenly got more curious as I watched Leo take the girl into Donnie's lab.

"You wanna play video games?" I asked Mikey.

He smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."

We walked over to the couch and Mikey put in some weird ninja game that I had never heard of before. He sat next to me and handed me a controller. I took it and we started the game.

****le time skip****

After a few hours of playing games, we decided to watch a movie. He put in some horror movie. It seemed like an old movie, but looked scary nonetheless. I was doing really good at not freaking out, up until about halfway through the movie. I squealed and hid my face behind Mikey's arm. I heard him laugh.

"You okay, Jewel?"

I managed a nod. "Sure. I- I guess so." I had to say, I sounded pretty convincing. Until I squealed again.

Mikey laughed once more before wrapping his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. I was shocked, but I relaxed and snuggled into his plastron, finding comfort in his warmth. By the time the movie was over, I had fallen asleep in Mikey's arms.

*Katelyn's POV*

I sat bolt upright, sweating and shaking. I looked over and saw Raph looking at me, his eyes full of worry.

"Are you okay, Katelyn?" He asked.

I managed a shaky nod. "I- I think so."

It had been three months since Raph rescued me from the Shredder and my bruises and scratches still haven't healed. It was understandable since I had been locked up and beaten for 14 years. I'm 17 now.

Raph gave me a weird look like, 'you're not okay.'

"Are you sure?" He asked.

This time I didn't respond. I just collapsed in his arms, crying and shaking. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me, running his fingers through my brown hair.

"It's okay, Baby Girl. You're safe now, you know that right?" He gently rocked me back and forth while whispering soothing things to me.

I nodded. "I- I know. I- I just had a- a nightmare."

"What about?" Raph asked, pulling apart enough so he could look me in the eyes.

I took a shaky breath so I could talk normally. "I had to relive my past. The whole thing. It was horrible."

Raph moved me onto his lap. "You've never told me about your past."

"It's a long story," I said.

"I've got time," Raph replied.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. "I never had much of a childhood," I started. "The Shredder kidnapped me and my family when I was three. He knew I was special. He only kidnapped my family because he needed leverage."

"Leverage for what?"

"To make me talk. There's this ability that runs through my family's bloodline. It stays in two generations, then skips one. That's why my mom didn't have it. The ability was... Uncontrollable at the time I was captured. I'm able to change the shape and size of anything. This ability is called Shifting. The other one I have is called Pushing. As long as I'm looking in the person's eyes, I can make any lie I come up with seem like the truth, like it's actually happening. When I was 6, Shredder tried to get information about my powers. When I didn't cooperate, he killed my father right in front of me. A six year old child who didn't even know about her powers yet witnessed her father's death." I stopped, on the verge of tears.

"You okay?" Raph asked.

I nodded. "Yeah." I took a deep breath before continuing my story. "After my father was killed, my mother isolated herself from me. She always stayed in the corner of our cell. My older brother was the only comfort I had. My mom blamed me for my father's death. I couldn't even go near her. Every time I did, she would attack me. She would hit me. She would cut me with a stray piece of wire we found on the floor. One time, my brother came back from an interrogation and saw my mother beating me. He came between us before she hurt me too bad, but..." I pulled up my shirt, revealing a long white scar on my hip.

"You're mother did that to you?!" Raph sounded shocked.

I nodded. "When I was 11, my brother and I escaped. We broke out of our cell and ran. We managed to grab a vile on the way out. It was obviously very important to the Shredder. I didn't know what it was, but I hid it. When we got out, it wasn't long before he found me again. I gave my brother the vile and told him to hide it. I told him where and told him never to take it out of hiding unless its position had been compromised. Shredder searched for two years but couldn't find the vile or my brother. When he brought me back, he told me there would be consequences for running off. So, he killed my mother. Right in front of me. He killed her a year after I escaped with my brother, so I was 12. When I was 14, I escaped again. I tracked down my brother and made sure the vile was safe. Once I was sure of that, I got as far away as possible. But he found me again. The day after I turned 15, I was captured again. They had these shocking sticks and..."

I pulled my shirt off my shoulder and pointed out a scar running next to my shoulder blade. Raph reached one three-fingered hand up and traced a finger along the scar, making me shudder.

I turned my head away. "Then, two years later, two days after I turned 17, you came. I had been stuck in the darkness, left to my own horrible thoughts and pain, until you showed up. The first light I had seen since my brother."

Raph grabbed my hand. "Is the vile still safe?"

I shrugged. "If Shredder was still interrogating me about it, I would assume so. But my brother... For all I know, he's still alive. I don't know where he is, but I like to think he's still alive. I've lost everyone else."

Raph suddenly pulled me close to him. "You haven't lost me," he whispered in my ear.

I snuggled closer. "Promise me you'll never leave."

"I promise."

He kissed my forehead. "I'll never leave you."