Alana opened her eyes a little to see a blurred vision of the light above her. She turned her eyes to the left where she heard Janet talking to one of the turtles. Alana blinked a few times and groaned in pain when she tried to move.
" Alana?" Mike called gently. Alana's eyes were open now and she looked around the room, but avoided eye contact with everyone. She was not in the mood to deal with anymore stress than she had already gone through. She pushed herself up and sat upright, but flinched at the burning sensation she felt on her side.
" Be careful, Alana, you got beat up pretty badly when you fell. It's a good thing Casey and Raph were there." Donatello said who was sitting next too Leonardo.
" Alana, what happened?" April asked. Janet seemed almost frightened to talk to her, so she remained quiet. Alana looked down and narrowed her eyes, trying to remember. Janet reached into her pocket and pulled out the glittering gold watch and showed it to her.
" Where did this come from?" She asked. Alana looked at it and then all the memories flooded back to her. She started to tremble as she remembered the horrible expression on her fathers face, wrapped in plastic.
" I saw them!! Me and Azul went to the woods that dad used to take me to see birds and stuff. I was sitting on my bike......Azul....she was sniffing the ground and then she picked that up. I thought it was glass so I went to take it away, and it turned out to be moms watch." Alana felt the tears in her eyes as she went on.
" We heard a noise so we walked over to where it was. Behind some trees, there was two men, they had mom and dad!" Alana was crying now and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
" My God......" April whispered. Janet felt her own tears and looked at the watch.
" I saw dad in one of them. I saw his face! Those men threw them into the back of the truck, but Azul barked at them so they came after us. I got on my bike and took off and came back into town, cause I thought that it would be easier for me to cut through cars than them. But the truck......he cut a corner and came up along side me and hit me. I just remember falling off........I don't remember much else." She said and looked at her sister.
" You guys said you saw the truck, did you get the plates?" Leo asked Casey and Raph.
" No....it had one in the back covered in mud, but not in the front. All I can tell you is that it's glossy black, almost new looking. It's an extended cab. I think it was a Ford 150." Casey said.
" It's got a dent in the front. It's on the passenger side. The bumper tilts down and inward." Raph added.
" Damn, that's not much help without plates. I've seen lots of people with trucks like that and more than likely, this person isn't going to use it again, unless he gets it fixed up and repainted." Donatello stated. Janet looked at Alana.
" Why did you leave?" She asked. Alana looked at her and bit her lip.
" Cause I didn't want to be here by myself after Raphael left. I don't like dark places." She said. Janet gave her a look, but didn't argue with her.
" Well, you're going to be hurting for a while, so I suggest you take it easy." Mike said. Alana nodded, but had been hoping to go to ballet practice tomorrow, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. She also didn't want the other dancers and teachers to see her cuts and bruises. Donatello was talking to Leo, long enough for Alana to divert her attention to Raphael who was sitting next to Casey. She ran her eyes over him, but he turned to face her and she found herself eye to eye with him. She stared into his dark, gleaming eyes for a moment, but had a sudden feeling of discomfort and turned away. Alana could feel his eyes still on her, but she didn't dare turn to look at him again. Donatello and Mike got up and stretched, before looking down at Alana.
" I think that, where ever you go, you need to be supervised. It doesn't matter if it's ballet, the park, or to get gas in those vehicles. Anytime, you come up top, one of us needs to be with you at all times." Donatello said. Janet looked at her and nodded her agreement. Alana couldn't argue with them. She seemed to get herself into trouble more often than not.
" Alright." She whispered. Alana carefully lifted herself off the bed and limped out of the room behind Mike. Azul jumped off the couch and greeted Alana, happily.
" Hey girl." She whispered and rubbed her head.
" Alana, I think you need to eat something." April said.
" I'm not that hungry." She replied kindly.
" You haven't eaten in what? Three days? You need to eat or we're gonna have to hold you down and make you, before you make yourself sick." Leo said and sat at the table. Alana looked at him, but knew that she was in no condition to put up a fight, so she walked over to the table and sat down next to April. Splinter was still asleep and no one wanted to bother him.
" Do you want pizza, like the rest of the guys?" April asked.
" No.....do you have any vegetables?"
" Yeah, plenty, but not even Casey will touch them." She said, gesturing to Casey who had a bear in one hand and a pizza slice in the other and just smiled innocently at her.
" I can cook them myself." Alana suggested.
" Naw that's ok, I got it. I need to move around anyway." She said, gesturing to her pregnant stomach.
" How do you want them?"
" Fried."
" Do you want some shrimp scampi with them?" April asked.
" Hmmm......yeah, it sounds alright." She said.
" Sounds good to me, I might eat some myself." April said and began to get everything that she was going to need.
" Ewww! I hate vegetables." Mike exclaimed. Alana looked at him.
" You eat them on your supreme pizza."
" Yeah, but that's different. They taste good on the pizza." Mike said and smiled. Alana gave a small grin, but that was all she could muster. Raphael came and sat right across from Alana and leaned back in his chair. Alana glanced up at him, but looked back down when she saw his eyes on her.
" What you do with my motorcycle, Casey?" She asked, turning to look at him.
" We had to put it in the back of the truck. That motorcycle is in pretty bad shape. Besides needing a new paint job, it needs a new muffler, shocks, brakes, possible new handle bars. There's dents all over the tank and the fenders, so if you want to get it fixed, you've got your work cut out for you." He said.
" Great.....I ruined another motorcycle." She mumbled and drank some of the water April had put in front of her.
" You still have your car." Raph said gruffly.
" God forbid that I damage that. I don't even want to try driving it now." She said and continued to stare out the window.
" What are we going to do? Obviously, these men are going to want Janet and Alana dead and they can't be confined to the sewers for the rest of their lives. We're gonna have to do something about them. We need to find them." Leo stated bitterly, as he held Janet's hand. It wasn't so strange to see them together all the time, now. Alana listened to them and thought that moving away would be the best thing. She wished now, that she could go back to Spain with her grandparents, but then a part of her didn't and she wasn't so sure why. It could be a hundred reasons and she couldn't focus on one.
April served Alana the plate full of vegetables and shrimp and then served herself a plate too. Alana picked up the fork and began to eat her food slowly. April sat down next to Casey and did the same, while listening to what everyone had to say.
" You know, in order to help solve the case, we need the files and we need to know exactly what happened that night." Donatello said. They looked at Alana.
" I'm not going back to that house." She said coolly and continued to eat.
" Alana, you might have to."
" No. There has to be another way to solve it, without going back." She said and Leo signaled them not to argue with her. Raphael was no longer looking at her, but instead listening intently to what everyone was talking about.
Two hours had past and it was already late and Alana was getting worn out. She looked at Raphael who got to his feet and went out the door. No one noticed when Alana went after him.
" Raphael!" She called down the hall. He turned sharply to look at her.
" Where are you going?" She asked.
" Why does it matter?" He retorted.
" I just want to know."
" Home." He replied tonelessly. Alana sucked in a deep breath and then looked back at him.
" Can I come with you?" She asked. Raphael seemed almost surprised by her question, but after a moment of consideration, he shrugged.
" As long as you don't bother me." He stated. Alana nodded and then went back to the room to tell Janet. When she came back out, she had Azul on a leash by her side.
" Awe man, not that dog...." He grumbled.
" She's not going to do anything." Alana said. Raphael looked, narrow eyed at her and then relented and started to go down the steps. Alana followed as quickly as her aching body would let her. Raphael peeked out the back door and then went out, with Alana close behind him. Alana didn't have the faintest clue why she asked if she could go with him. Raphael was the one that she fought with the most and he was the most dangerous of them all. Maybe that's why she chose him. Maybe she felt better with him being by her side, because of his ability to fight.
Alana looked around every corner, feeling paranoid about everything. She was afraid of the outside world now and unlike before, all she wanted to do was get to the turtles lair. Raphael walked over to a manhole in the alley and lifted the top. He lowered himself down and then looked back up. This one didn't have a ladder to help them down.
" Alright.....throw the dog." He called.
" What?! Are you crazy? Catch her." Alana called.
" Man, I do not want to touch that hairball." Raphael growled feeling agitated already.
" Raphael! She isn't going to bite you or anything."
" I don't care! I don't like her!" She heard him call.
" Alright, then I guess I'll have to walk all the way to the reservoir." She said.
" Alright! Alright dammit! Give me the stupid dog." He grumbled and Alana gentle lifted Azul and lowered her down. She felt Raphael's hands on the dogs side and let go. Alana looked down at him, only to see his gleaming eyes in the moonlight.
" Do you want me to throw myself down there too?" She asked sarcastically.
" You know....I am starting to question myself on if it was a good idea to tag you along." Raphael said in a sarcastic even tone. Alana gave him a level look and then put her feet in and felt Raphael's hands on her legs, and then up to her waist. She let go and fell the rest of the way into his arms. She found herself with her arms wrapped around his neck and facing him. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between them and then Raphael quickly set her down and silently jumped back up and pull the manhole cover over. Alana lowered her eyes to the ground and couldn't look at him. They had been a little too close for comfort.
Raphael turned and walked down the tunnels with Alana and Azul behind him. She didn't want to look at his face again, after that moment in his arms. She hadn't intended for that. Finally, they were approaching the entrance to the lair and Alana felt relief wash over her. She unleashed Azul and let her go to the den as she made her way to the living room. Raphael went straight to him room without saying another word. Alana looked down and thought about him helping her. She remembered his face looking down at her right before she passed out. She knew that she owed him something. Alana turned and walked over to her dads motorcycle and lifted the sheet half way off of it and then reached under the bike. She felt around for a minute, before she felt the long, cool steel prongs and pulled them loose from the motorcycles frame and walked over to his room door, but felt uncomfortable again and quickly turned in the direction of her own room.
" God! Why do I feel like this? I can't believe that I can't even give him these without having a heart attack." She mumbled to herself. She looked in the mirror and was horrified. Her hair was a mess, she had dried blood in her hair, dirt on her face and her clothes were torn and ugly. She turned up her lip and couldn't believe that everyone had seen her in that condition. She slid the sais underneath her pillow and dug through her night gowns. She didn't want to wear the pajama pants because she was afraid that they would irritate her skin, so she pulled out the nylon night gown dress, that looked similar to the one she wore the night her parents were killed, except this one was red.
" Boy, doesn't that remind me of Raphael." She mumbled to herself and took out the matching panties. She grabbed her red silk robe and went straight to the bathroom. All she wanted to do was get cleaned up and refreshed and then she'd give the sais back if she could muster up the courage.
An hour later, Alana stepped out of the bathroom, feeling cooler and more refreshed than before. She looked around the lair to see that it was still empty. She could hear the speakers of Raphael's television across the den.
" Damn! Is he deaf or what?" Alana asked herself and went to her room and pulled the sais out from under her pillow. She looked at the way they gleamed in the bedroom light and remembered how skilled Raphael was at using them. As she held them, she thought of the men that killed her parents. She wondered what it would feel like to thrust a weapon like that through their hearts. The thought of using such a dangerous weapon had never appealed to her until now. Now she knew what she wanted to do, if she ever had the opportunity. She wanted them to feel what her parents felt and it would be her own secret revenge. Alana walked out of her room and to Raphael's door. She also knew that she would have to learn how to use them and the only that could help her do that was the hot tempered turtle that she had stolen the sais from in the first place. She knocked on the door and waited, only to hear grumbling from the inside. She heard the television turn off and the grouchy voice of Raphael.
" What the hell do you want now?" He asked.
" Well you could certainly be nicer about it." Alana mumbled.
" Whatever! Just come in and tell me what you want." Raph said in a cranky, agitated voice. Alana opened the door and looked in on him. He was laying on his bed with his back against the wall.
" Boy, Raphael, do you ever clean your room?" She asked, stepping over the pile of junk that was on it.
" Hey! Don't come in here talkin shit again!" He growled.
" I didn't mean to offend you." She said.
" That's a surprise." He said sarcastically. Alana rolled her eyes and came over to the side of the bed. He was looking slightly up at her from the slouched position he was in.
" What did you come here for?" He asked. Alana took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.
" To thank you." Raphael's face turned from one of anger to shock. He raised and eye ridge and stared right back into her bright green eyes.
" You must have gotten hit on the head hard." He stated.
" Oh yeah, thanks Raphael. You know I am not as bad as you think!" Alana growled coldly. The giant turtle rolled his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
" I don't think you realize how bad you are." Raph said.
" Well I don't care what you think of me, I came here to say thank you because I know that you were the one there helping me the most." She said.
" What gave you that idea?" Raph asked, pretending like he didn't know what she was talking about.
" I saw your face right before I passed out. I'm not stupid, you know." She said flatly. Raphael only eyed her and then looked back at the blank television. She came closer and then pulled something shiny out of her robe.
" Here....." She said and held them out to Raph. He looked at them and then after a second, realized what they were and reached out for them. He took them into his hands and gripped them firmly in his hands, glad to have the cold steel between his fingers again. He seemed to be examining them and then he looked up at her.
" Thanks." He said softly. It was the softest tone that Raphael had ever used, that she had heard of and she was glad that he was nice about getting them back.
" Raphael....." She started. He looked back at her and waited to hear what she was going to say.
" I want to ask a favor of you." She said.
" It better not be something to do with that dog." He said in his normal deep tone.
" No, no.....it has to do with me." She said and looked at him. He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.
" This is not a woman thing is it? Cause I don't want to have to go out and get you tampax or something." He said. Alana stifled a laugh and shook her head.
" No, that would be the last thing I'd ever ask of you." She said and looked at him. Raphael shrugged.
" Ok then what is it?" He asked casually, and looked back at his sais.
" Teach me how to fight." She said. Raphael raised his head slowly and his eyes met with hers.
" What?"
" I want to learn how to fight." She stated, wondering how he was going to take this.
" Why don't you ask one of my brothers?"
" Because Leonardo has this safety factor thing and Janet wouldn't allow it. Mikey is too playful and probably wouldn't want to take the chance of hurting me, and Donatello is too mellow. I ask you because you're mean." Raphael raised an eye ridge and nodded in agreement.
" I know that if you taught me, you wouldn't be so easy on me. You're more serious about your fighting than the other three seem to be. That and.......I think you fight better than your brothers. You're more aggressive than they are." She said and waited to hear his reply.
" How flattering."
" I wasn't trying to flatter you. I was only telling you what I think." She said. Raphael considered it for a moment and then looked narrowed eyed at her.
" Why do you want to learn it?" He asked. Alana looked at the ground and then back up with a shrug.
" I don't know......I just thought it would be good if I knew how to defend myself." She said. Raphael didn't seem to be buying it.
" You want me to teach you how to use the sais too, don't you?" He asked. Alana straightened and wondered if she should tell him or not.
" Does it matter?" She asked.
" Yeah it does. My ass is always out on a limb and if you were to get hurt, I don't know what my brothers and Master Splinter will do." Alana narrowed her eyes.
" I thought you weren't afraid of them." She taunted.
" Maybe you're not as good as I thought you were." She pressed on. Raphael gave her a dirty look and then with one quick move, threw the sai across the room at the wall. Alana turned to look at the wall and her mouth dropped.
" Oh shit." She whispered softly, as she found herself staring at a cockroach smashed underneath the sais tip. She turned back to face Raphael who was relaxed against the wall looking at her.
" Ok, so I was wrong." She said.
" Please Raphael." She pleaded.
" You want to learn this, because you want to kill the men who murdered your family, don't you?" He asked. Alana knew that it was inevitable. Raphael already seemed to be figuring it out.
" Well, wouldn't you?"
" Yeah, but you're a little girl." He said. That was enough to piss Alana off.
" I am not a little girl!!!" She yelled, angrily.
" Ok! Ok! Sheesh....." He said and shook his head.
" Raphael, if you won't help me, I'll pay some professional to help me, but I'd much rather have you."
" Why? Cause you don't have to pay me?" He asked.
" No, asshole. I would rather have you, because to me you're better. Ok?" There was a moment of silence and then Alana thought of something.
" Maybe we can exchange something. You teach me how to fight and I do something for you?" Alana asked.
" Is this a sexual thing?" He asked, looking into her green eyes. Alana flattened her brows and looked levelly at him.
" No it isn't." Raph smirked at her as if he was trying to joke with her.
" You like my dad's Javelin, don't you?" She asked. Raphael narrowed his eyes and wondered what the hell she was coming up with now.
" Yeah and? Who the hell wouldn't? Besides your sister..." He said.
" What if I offered to teach you how to drive it and I let you take it out sometimes after you learn." She asked, hoping that it would spark his interest.
" So now you're trying to bribe me?" He asked, but Alana could see the gleam in his eyes.
" Yes dammit, I am bribing you. Look, I won't tell anyone if you help me. It'll just be between me and you. Please, Raphael." She pleaded again. Raphael looked at her and seemed to consider it.
" Alright, I'll do it, but you better keep your half of the bargain."
" I will, I promise." She said.
" Alright then. Thursday. Be ready at 5:00 a.m." He said. She looked at him.
" Boy, you're worse than my ballet instructor." She said. Raphael smirked.
" Believe me, this is not going to be any ballet lesson." He said and watched her go out of the room. Alana went over to her room and smiled. She felt the blood rush through her veins with anticipation and she couldn't wait till Thursday. Two more days was all she had to wait. She looked up at the painting she did.
" I'll get them some day. I promise you that." She vowed and got herself ready to go to sleep.