The Silent Partner

Falling Slowly

Disclaimer: I do not own the two songs I used in this chapter they belong to whoever they belong to not me.

Something was moving. It was the middle of the night and Raph was, most of the way, asleep. But...something was moving. Something inside of his room was moving. And that bothered him. Spike used to move around in the nighttime, but he didn't have Spike anymore. So what was—

Whatever it was that had been moving around the room suddenly pounced on him and rolled him over. Whoever it was put a hand over his mouth.

Raph struggled for a few moments before his eyes focused on the nimble form of Mona Lisa standing by his bedside. She brought a finger to her lips in a 'sh' gesture and lifted her hand away.

"Mona what—"

Again, Raph found his mouth muffled by her hand.

'Shhhhh!' She gestured more demandingly.

Mona Lisa grabbed Raph's hand and yanked at it. When Raphael made no move to get up she frowned and put her hands on her hips. The second time the lizard mutant grabbed his hand and pulled, Raph stood. Emerald green hands grabbed his mask off the table by his bed and tied on it automatically.

She smiled at him and raised a hand to brush his cheek affectionately with her fingers. Raph went beet red.

He was so flustered that Mona Lisa was actually able to grab his hand and drag him out of the room. He let out a small cry of protest making Mona frown. She pressed a finger to his lips gently and Raph stared wide-eyed.

The hotheaded turtle allowed Mona Lisa to lead him down the hall and through the lair...towards the door. As soon as Raph realized where they were headed he ground to a sudden halt. Mona turned and glared at him. She tried to pull him forward, but the turtle wouldn't budge.

Raph's glower spoke for him: he didn't want Mona going topside. She wasn't ready. There were humans everywhere. Besides, she didn't really know how to defend herself and if something happened to her...Raph would never forgive himself.

The turtle's hot green gaze cooled a little as she gave him the puppy face. He sighed and rolled his eyes, desperately trying to look away. But Mona was having none of it. She held his gaze and refused to look away. That proved to be very difficult, so in the end she settled for just reaching out pulling his face down to plant a soft kiss on his cheeks. Raph blushed and Mona giggled. She grabbed both of the turtle's hands and stared sweetly at him, pulling him gently towards the door.

Raph deflated a little and gave in. He just couldn't say no to that face. But that didn't mean he would go unarmed. That would be just stupid. So he quickly fetched his sais from the dojo.

Mona smiled happily at Raph's change of mind and jovially dragged him out the lair door and down the sewer tunnels. It didn't take the hotheaded turtle long to figure out that they were heading for the nearest manhole. Leery as he was about this whole thing, he didn't want to upset Mona Lisa by saying no.

She obviously had something in mind. As they proceeded down the tunnels Raph's gaze fell to their joined hands. He couldn't stop the heat from rising in his cheeks. Raphael's mind was reeling. Where are we going? Why is so urgent? Is there something wrong? No, she wouldn't be cheerful if there was something wrong...Then what—

His thoughts were cut short as they reached the manhole in question. Mona Lisa led the way.

Raphael raised an eye-ridge. Doesn't she realize how dangerous it is up there? There are humans and mutants and...the Foot. No! I won't let anything hurt her! The hotheaded turtle sprang up and tugged lightly on Mona's tail. He accidently startled her and she let go of the ladder and fell down. Raph wasted no time in rushing forward and catching her.