The Silent Partner

Countdown Pt. 1

                 

Basically, this chapter follows its name and counts down. So just know that the number of hours refers to approximately how much time they have left before zero. So close! We are getting so close! I am so excited!

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Seventy-two hours

By the time they had all gathered and settled down in the main room it was nearly ten o'clock at night. The turtles, Raphael included, where all rather startled by the gravity of Mona Lisa's statement. The hothead leaned over her shoulder and looked down at the picture in her hand, sizing up the human man thoughtfully.

"Why the shell does your father know her?!" He asked, sounding a little bit offended.

Mona Lisa frowned and stared more introspectively at the image. "I'm not sure."

The answering growl made her straighten and glare warmly at the hothead seated beside her. Despite his reluctance to do so, Leonardo felt that he had no choice but to intervene. "Now is not the time for this."

"I can think of no better time." Raph countered, smoothly.

Mona's tail twitched the way it always did when someone had gone too far. Leo grimaced and took a step back feeling like a melting candle trapped between two opposing flames. The lizard mutant's hand slowly lowered the image and she dealt the green-eyed turtle a glare that might have put even Master Splinter to shame. Shockingly enough, Raphael met it with a glare of his own and managed not to falter.

"Just what is your problem, Raphael?" She asked, that hurtful edge returning to her voice once again.

Michelangelo whimpered a little and clung to Donatello's arm. While Don had every desire to comfort his little brother, the current position would not allow him to step in if this little flare of attitudes turned into a row and that made him uncomfortable.

Raph tilted his head and Don couldn't help but notice the rather spiteful gleam in his brother's green eyes. He raised an eye-ridge. Whatever was going on here, they were all missing something. Raphael was never intentionally cruel unless something or someone had hurt him.

"Maybe I just want to make sure that you aren't hiding anything else that might be important information to one or all of us." The red-masked turtle growled lowly. The tension in the air was palpable, so thick you could slice it with a knife. Though Mona Lisa already seemed quite capable of slicing it with her fiery glare.

"Back off, Raphael, it's none of your concern!"

"Then who's concern is it?! Leo's?! I'm your boyfriend I have a right to be concerned!" He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but she jerked away and hissed at him, her tail swishing between them warningly as though she were prepared to knock him off his feet. Raphael blinked, surprised, though it was obvious he was about to explode.

Leonardo took a deep breath and once again stepped between them, placing a hand on Raphael's chest to hold the hothead back.

"That's enough, both of you." He said, but the words that came out of Mona Lisa's mouth took it yet one step further.

"Maybe I'm not prepared to call you that anymore."

Any ounce of warmth in Raphael's aura evaporated. His body went ridged. He bowed his head and turned his carapace to her. Leo stared in shock, willing her to take back the words she had just uttered, but Mona Lisa wasn't looking at Leonardo, she was looking at Raphael.

"Call me whatever you like." Raph said slowly, some of his anger returning even though his voice was surprisingly calm and level.

Slash desperately hoped that Mona Lisa would say something, anything to rescind her earlier statement. The large, spiky turtle had seen that look of utter betrayal upon Raphael's face once before. He had hoped never to see it again. It was the same expression Raphael had worn the night that Slash tried to kill his brothers. Though Slash knew that this time it was so much more, he knew that deep down, at the most basic of basic levels...Raphael had once again lost a best friend. Only this time, that loss would ache more deeply and sting more fiercely than anything the young turtle might have experienced prior.