"Calming His Storm" ~Book 1: Gathering Clouds~ (TMNT 2012 Fanfiction; RaphxOC )

Chapter 03: Secured

It didn't take long for Raph's brothers to find the window.

Jamie had hoped that they would take their time, that maybe they'd go to the wrong window or get delayed or something. Anything to give her mind a little more time to process the rapid-fire questions and best-guess answers that were shooting across her brain.

There are mutants... in the city.... There are mutants coming to my bedroom...

Raph shifted his legs again, probably to keep them from getting stiff. Jamie recognized this motion. She would do the same thing after a long day of working out with Colton. After his lessons in self-defense, her muscles would be burning for days afterward and she always felt like finding a comfortable position was impossible.

And he's been bleeding out for so long too...

Jamie was so captivated in her thoughts that the rapping on her window almost made her jump out of her skin. The same panic that she'd been experiencing most of the night made its return and Jamie felt her legs become stuck in place from it.

Raph looked over to her and saw her scared expression.

"Hey, don't worry about them. If you can handle me, my brothers will be a piece of cake." He said softly, giving her an encouraging look.

"What do you mean? I could barely comprehend one of you. Now there's..." Jamie trailed off, not knowing how many mutant creatures waited for her on the other side of the window.

"Four of us." Raph finished.

"Four of you..." Jamie whispered and shook her head in bewilderment.

Another more urgent knocking on the window broke into the room's atmosphere. Jamie took a deep breath of acceptance and stood up, facing the window.

They won't hurt me.... They won't hurt me...

She quickly glanced at Raph who nodded in encouragement. Setting her jaw, she nodded back, realizing he knew how hard this was for her. Somehow, that made her feel more assured and she found herself walking forwards, breathing evenly, and feeling less afraid.

Raph won't let them hurt me.

She approached the window and looked out. A shadowy, blank fire-escape greeted her.

"There's no one out there, Raph." She said looking over her shoulder.

He smiled again.

"They're there. Just unlock it."

She turned, her hand hovering above the latch, and hesitated.

No going back.

She unlocked the window, the golden hinge of the lock clacking against the white wood of the frame. She stumbled backward as three black forms seemed to appear out of the shadows on the fire-escape. They pushed the window open and smoothly dropped into her room, their feet thudding against her carpeted floor. Jamie retreated further to her bedside, the innate fear of strangers in her room pushing confidence out of the driver's seat. They froze there for a moment and Jamie gaped in response until one stepped forward into the light of the window.

He was shaking his head and smiling.

"What the heck did you get yourself into here, Raph?" He said, looking very amused at the whole situation. 

"Shut up, Leo"

Jamie felt herself relax a little at the familiar name. So, this was Leo. The one who was yelling at him on the phone. He looked so much like Raph, but so different at the same time. Jamie had expected them to all look like carbon copies of each other, like the mutants in movies and tv shows. Leo was more streamlined and thinner but just as toned as his brother. His face fully displayed the kindness Jamie had only glimpsed in Raph's eyes. The blue of his mask reflected the bright glow of the moon's light.