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Leap of Faith, Part One: Out of the Darkness	By : laloga13 Category: Comics > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Views: 1560 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all other recognizable characters are property of Mirage Studios and not me, sadly. I'm just playing with them for a while, and am not making any money off of this story. However, any OC's are mine! Ha

Chapter List
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Chapter Two

After several double pecan waffles, Leonardo and Michelangelo adjusted their topside disguises before setting off for the after party. The address they'd been given let them to a studio apartment about nine blocks from the gig. The street and surrounding building were relatively dark and quiet, though a faint glow was emanating from the windows of their destination.

Leo glanced around suspiciously at the pleasant neighborhood. "You're sure this is the place?"

"Yeah, I guess she's running late. Now we play the waiting game." Mikey slipped across the street to the alley next to the building, coming to rest in the shadows. Leo soon joined him, feeling oddly exposed on the empty street.

Mike had pulled an old tabloid from a dumpster, and was casually leafing through it, humming softly and commenting on whatever caught his eye. Minutes ticked by. They both stiffened as a group of five people stumbled out of the building, laughing raucously. Leo only listened for a few moments before making a decision; he was tired of waiting for this woman and wanted only to go back to the lair and practice split kicks. He stood up, feeling confident that he would exit the alley, slip down the street and go home.

"Hey, I'm gonna grab something to drink." He gestured towards the only open business nearby, the HurryGo market across the street. So much for that idea. Mike nodded, still humming, glancing up only to say, "Grab me some Chiclets, will ya? I forgot to brush my teeth again."

Leo stepped onto the sidewalk, again the thought crossed his mind that he could still slip down an alley and go home, but the memory of Miranda's voice was still too near; he could still hear her say his name....

"Leonardo, is that you?"

And there she was, holding her instrument cases, tired but smiling. She approached and greeted him, effortlessly at ease in a way he did not understand and didn't think he could ever be. And still he smiled back.

"Miranda? I was just thinking about you.....your show."

She pushed back a strand of dark hair that had escaped her bandanna and they turned to walk back towards the alley. "I take it you guys made it here okay?" Miranda said as Mikey stood up to greet her.

Leonardo considered a few instances from his and his family's past where getting anywhere safely seemed impossible. He shrugged. "Yep. We made it alright."

She glanced at him, slightly bemused before facing both of them. "Let me see what's going on, it looks pretty calm." She pointed towards a window six levels above them on the top story. "That's the one, I'll signal if it's clear."

"Hey Miranda! Thanks again, we appreciate this," Mike said as she walked inside.

As soon as the door closed, Leonardo's better sense kicked in and he sighed and shook his head. "I swear little brother, if we get jumped or captured while we're on this inane-and highly illegal-errand of yours...."

"Relax, bro," Mikey said, picking up the tabloid again. "Everything will be fine. Miranda is straight up."

At that moment, a small whistle sounded above them, and they looked up to see Miranda waving from the open window. Moments later they slipped carefully through, Mikey grinning at Miranda's surprise, and found themselves in a large studio apartment.

"It's alright, everyone's gone except Hannah, and she's still messing around with her keyboards," she whispered as she ushered them into the living area to a small futon beside the street-facing window. She then pulled a small baggie out of her purse, handed it to Mike, and accepted his cash with a nod, all of which Leonardo pretended not to notice as his brother removed a small piece of herb and stuck the remainder in his coat pocket.

"Nice pad, Miranda," he said, handing her the nugget.

She pulled out a glass pipe from her bag and packed the bowl as she spoke. "I wish! It's Hannah's. She really lucked out when she inherited this place. The walls are even soundproofed, so she never gets any noise complaints. I lived here a while when I first moved here, about seven years ago."

"From Florida, right?" Mikey said, clicking the lighter.

"A little town in North Florida. Green River. You've probably never heard of it. My parents moved down there from New York before I was born. My father commuted to the university where he taught, but our house was in virtually the middle of nowhere. My mom taught music at the local grade school."

Mikey offered the pipe to Leo, who just looked at him. "Sounds nice. I like going out to the country, which we don't get to do enough. It's always so peaceful."

"Sometimes I miss it," she admitted, "But I came here primarily for my music-albeit alone and jobless-because there's just so many opportunities here. I believe that in this city, anything is possible." She handed the bowl to Mike again and leaned back and stretching her legs out in front of her.

"It was pure luck or fate or whatever that caused me and Hannah to meet one day when we both happened to be busking in Central Park; we became friends, and she helped me find a job and a place. I owe her so much."

"That's pretty sweet," Mikey said, nudging Leo, who nodded mutely in agreement.

"My music gigs have even begun to pay for basic living expenses. Not a bad existence, if not the most lucrative." She regarded Leo and Mike. "So what's your story, guys? Mikey was pretty vague when we met, although not without good reason I guess."

The turtles glanced at each other before Mikey shrugged as if to say, go on and tell her, you're the leader. Sighing, Leonardo launched into their origins and basic history, albeit leaving out some of the more sordid parts. If she's not running away screaming by now, there may be hope for us all yet. When he finished, Miranda's eyes were wide with amazement.

"Wow," she said at last, looking at him with a new appreciation. "That's incredible. You guys are practically super-heroes!"

"All we need is our own comic book series!" Mikey interjected.

"Needless to say, Miranda," Leo replied, "we don't have many 'normal' friends. Most people who meet us consider us to be anything from a bizarre dream to dangerous monsters." He met her eyes, his voice deadly serious. "We have to be careful about who we can trust."

She did not look away, matching his gaze and nodding solemnly. "I understand, Leonardo. I promise not to say anything-not that anyone would believe me anyway!-but I'm not exactly about to run to the cops."

"And I'm the one who made first contact," Mikey said, "You took all that really well, by the way."

Leonardo sighed again and clasped his hands together. "I know, Mikey. And Miranda, I'm sorry to be so...."

"Hard-assed?"

"Thanks, little brother." He looked at her intently again. "We just have to be careful, that's all. We cannot afford to let our attention slip."

"But Raph had that girlfriend, Megan, a few years ago," Mike retorted.

Miranda grinned at him, the tension in the room was broken. "What? You haven't had as string of ladies left in your wake? I thought you were a player!"

"Awww, you know...." Mikey chuckled. "A few trysts here and there. Now, Leo here," he slapped his brother's shell again, "Leo just needs to lighten up, and he'll have the ladies lining up around the block."

Miranda was careful not to look at Leonardo as she readjusted on her pillow. "It's hard to imagine that you haven't had much luck in the romantic department, what with all the heroics. I mean, I'd....." She trailed off, flushing slightly, and Leo felt his own cheeks heat a bit as he replied.

"Well, it's harder for a five-foot tall mutant turtle to find a date than you might imagine."

"Can't guess why," Mikey said through a yawn before he passed out, snoring deeply.

Leo and Miranda sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Leo decided to go for broke and attempt to continue a conversation with her.

"That was pretty impressive back there. How long have you been playing music?"

"Ever since I can remember. My mom gave me a fiddle when I was about five or six....to tell the truth, I can't ever not making music."

Leo nodded. “That's how I feel about ninjitsu. Although, sometimes I wish I'd learned to do something other than swing a sword around.”

Miranda smiled softly. “Well, I can teach you, if you like: guitar, violin, some dobro. Though if you want to learn the piano, Hannah will have to help you out. I'm better with strings.”

“Maybe.” Leo tried to imagine himself strumming an acoustic guitar and singing in a coffee shop downtown. Incongruous, to say the least. "Why'd you leave home?"

She frowned. "A lot of reasons, I guess....Can we talk about that when I know you a little better?"

"You know about my existence. How much better can it get?" He made an effort to keep his tone light, and she seemed to notice.

She shrugged. "Fair enough, but can we step outside for a minute? I need a cigarette.” She absently picked up her acoustic guitar case, and led the way through the apartment until they were standing on the roof in the cool of the night. Leonardo took a minute to marvel at the fact that though this was hardly the last place he would have expected to spend his evening, the company was certainly unexpected. Miranda stood facing the doorway they'd come out of, and lit a cigarette, making sure to blow the smoke away from Leo so that it slipped away unnoticed with the gentle breeze. She was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again.

“I'm trying to quit, but sometimes you just need a cigarette. Anyway, I had to get away from my parents, so I came to the one place on earth I knew they'd never follow."

“Your folks didn't like the city?” Though he didn't care for the smoking, he was glad that they were outside in the fresh air.

“I'm not sure what happened; from what they said, it sounded as if they liked it just fine until...I really don't know. My dad refused to talk about it, and my mom just said that 'they didn't want to raise a child here.' They moved to the south when I was a baby.” She paused, and blew a stream of smoke into the night. “They were killed in a car crash six months after I left.”

Though her voice was casual, her words had a sense of finality to them, and he could tell that she did not want to discuss this anymore. As a seasoned warrior, Leo knew when to retreat. "How did your band, Nautilus, come about?"

"Hannah and I started it, then Ashton and the others joined later.” She began counting the members off on her fingers. “Besides Hannah on keys and Ashton on bass, there's Harry on the sax or any other woodwind that you could imagine-including the melodica-plus Eddie on the drums and Sam on lead guitar. And me,” she added as an afterthought. “They're all amazing musicians....I'm very lucky to be part of such a talented group.”

"I know the feeling. Mikey said you write your own stuff."

At this she smiled fondly and brightened, and stubbed the cigarette out, placing the end in her pocket before opening her guitar case as she spoke.

"I don't know what I would do without my music! Yeah, I write some of the things we play, as do Hannah and the others. We don't do all originals, of course, but sometimes I do a solo act at the Blue Moon. Actually, I have one tomorrow-you should come. Here, let me play something for you. I don't think a guitar is going to wake anyone up," she smiled as he glanced around cautiously. She tuned the instrument for a moment, before breaking into a quiet melody that seemed to glide over his skin like wind in the trees. Her voice was slightly hoarse from the long night, but still resonated with a smoky sweetness that filled his senses.

“I want you between me and the feeling I get when I miss you,
but everything here's telling me I should be fine,
so why is it so, it bothers below that I'm missing you every time?

I got used to you whispering things to me into the evening,
we followed the sun, and it's colors, and left this world,
it seems to me, that I'm definitely, hearing the best that I've heard.

So throw me a rope, to hold me in place,
Show me a clock, for counting my days, down,
'cause everything's easier when you're beside me,
come back and find me,
'cause I feel alone.

And whenever you go it's like holding my breath under water,
I have to admit that I kinda like it when I do,
oh but I've got to be, unconditionally,
unafraid of my days without you.

So throw me a rope, to hold me in place,
show me a clock, for counting my days, down.
'cause everything easier when you're beside me,
come back and find me,
whenever I'm falling, you're always behind me,
come back and find me.
Everything's easier when you're beside me,
come back and find me,
'cause i feel alone.”

Lyrics reprinted without permission; KT Tunstall, Acoustic Extravaganza, “Throw Me A Rope.”

The final chord faded and she remained still for a moment, eyes closed and smiling. Leonardo applauded softly.

"That was.....beautiful," he said at last. Her eyes opened and they looked at each other for a heartbeat before she nodded in a businesslike manner.

"Thank you."

Leo stood and stretched a moment before stepping to the edge of the rooftop to study the night. "Nice view."

"I'll take your word for it," Miranda said curtly as she continued to strum the guitar softly. "I'm not really a heights person."

A sudden movement in the street caught Leo's eye, but he saw nothing upon closer inspection. "Why not?"

She laughed ruefully and he turned to regard her. "Not sure really. I guess it's one of those weird things about yourself that you can't explain. I think a psychotherapist might say that any phobia is the outward manifestation of something wrong inside." Her mouth twisted into a wry smile. "But I suppose it has more to do with the fact that when I was ten, a carnival fortune teller told me that I would die by falling from a great height. I'm not a licensed therapist, mind you, so that's pure speculation."

"Damn," Leo replied, shaking his head. "That's a pretty messed-up thing to tell a kid. Weren't your parents angry?"

"I didn't really talk to them much after I reached double digits," she said with a shrug. "My mom would've worried too much and my dad would have scoffed and told me that I was full of malarkey."

"So you've been afraid of heights almost your whole life? That seems like a long time to live with a fear like that."

She shrugged, and gently set the guitar back in its case. "I think it balances out, in the end. I guess in a way fear keeps you healthy, motivated to live well and grateful for the chance to do so." She cast him a sly grin. "Besides, when you think that you know how you'll die, you kinda stop being afraid of most other things."

Leo considered her words for a moment, then shook his head slowly. "Still, it doesn't seem like the wisest way to live one's life; you'll have to face the fear eventually."

"Leonardo, I am so messing with you." At that, they both laughed. "So," she said finally, "you now know about my big phobia. What about you? What are you afraid of?"

He tilted his head in thought. "Loosing my family," he said at last. "My father Splinter, and my brothers."

Miranda shook her head. "That's not what I mean, everyone has those fears, Leo. I'm talking about silly, irrational fears like spiders, or dogs or something."

"Well, in that case, it'd have to be.....snakes, though my father tells me that I used to have a considerable fear of heights when I was much younger."

She made a noise of disbelief. "Your brother said you're fearless."

He raised his brow. "My brother says lots of things about me. Whether or not any of them are accurate, I leave you to decide."

“How did you get over it?” she asked quietly, risking a glance at the skyline. “The heights thing, I mean.”

Leonardo looked at her, and saw the fear written plain across her features. “My family helped me overcome it, as did my own discipline. It was not instant, mind you, it took a long time for the fear to subside.”

She said nothing for a moment, merely toyed with another cigarette before slipping it back into her pocket. Leo noticed her stricken expression, and felt a strange desire to see her smile again. “Miranda, would you play me something else? That last song was lovely.”

“Really?” She grinned and pulled out her guitar once more, and he pulled up a couple of plastic lawn chairs that had been left on the rooftop. She strummed a chord, and glanced at him again. “Here, you might know this one.....”

Some time later....

“That was great!” Leonardo said, clapping softly. “I've never heard Pink Floyd sound so.....pretty.”

Miranda laughed; as she did so, some stray hairs fell from her bandanna, and into her face. When she looked at him again, he felt a strong urge to brush the hair out of her eyes. Her skin looked soft, and he found himself wondering what it would be like to touch her. She was regarding him as well, her expression unreadable, and he found that he was curious to know what she was thinking.

“What happened to your shell?” The question was unexpected, and took Leo by surprise. He watched her lean forward to look at the jagged, missing piece of his carapace.

“It happened during a battle with one of our most dangerous enemies,” he said, turning so she could see better.

“It looks painful.”

“It was at the time, but it's fine now.”

She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it. Leo was amused; he guessed what she wanted and turned farther. “You can touch it if you want.”

She reached out a hand and tentatively brushed her fingers along the deep gouge. Leonardo had not anticipated the physical sensation that would erupt from her touch; he stiffened involuntarily, and she drew her hand back quickly.

“Sorry! Did I hurt you?” She looked at him with such concern, and he shook his head and smiled.

“Nope. It's just, without the outer shell to cover it, that area's a little more sensitive than I remembered. Not bad, just unexpected.”

She regarded him thoughtfully. “You never noticed this before?”

“I don't have a lot of people lining up to touch my shell.”

“Can I do it again? If you know what's coming, you can prepare yourself.” She was eager to learn about him, he realized, and the thought gave him immense pleasure. His answer was to turn his back again, and allow her to explore his shell fully. She brushed the blue strands of his mask aside, and ran her fingers along the edges of the gash before she turned her attention to the rest of his carapace. She rapped her knuckles against the back. “Can you feel this?”

“Sort of. I feel pressure when you knock, but it's not the same as, say, a hand on my arm.”

“Hmmmm.” She continued to run her hands along his shell, before growing more curious. He shuddered as her fingers slid below the bony ridge and along his side. Again she pulled back. “Sorry, that was inappropriate. You just look so cool! I don't think that I can stop....” She trailed off, a blush creeping up her face.

They were silent for a moment before Leo cleared his throat. “I can't say that I mind, Miranda. It's just....strange to have someone like you be so interested in me. It's still hard for me to accept that you won't run away screaming at the mere sight of me, let alone show any interest in my.....physical form.”

“Oh, no,” she said quietly. “Leonardo, I think you...and your brother....are extraordinary. And your shell is beautiful.”

He was pleased, and decided to let it show. “Really? That's not something I thought I'd ever be called.”

“Well, I think you are. All these intricate patterns, these whorls and layers. And this gash,” her voice was quiet as she ran her hands along his shell again. “It's a mark of honor. I mean, it's a scar, yes, but it's also a reminder of how lucky you are, to be alive.” She placed her hand completely over the old wound, and he felt the heat of her skin. “It makes you even more special.”

He had no response to that, and they sat in silence for a few more minutes. Light was beginning to crack through the eastern sky, and he realized that dawn was coming. He also realized that Miranda was shivering in the chilly morning air, and he put an arm around her awkwardly. She stiffened at first, but leaned into him before he could draw his arm back. Together, they watched the sun rise from the roof of the apartment building.

The sudden sound of the door opening made them both whirl around in shock, but it was only Leo's brother, yawning hugely and scratching his plastron. "Leo? Can we get some marshmallows on our way home?" Mikey said drowsily. Miranda smiled at his sibling, and turned to Leo, still beneath his arm.

"You should probably get Cinderella home," she said. "Want me to make sure the coast is clear?"

"No problem, we can show ourselves out from here." Leo said, and he helped her to her feet. Mikey waved a groggy farewell to Miranda before doing a perfect back flip off the roof to head home. Leonardo caught her gaping at this move, and he felt an odd desire to show off as well. He suppressed it for the moment, instead focusing his inner strength on taking her small hand in his own.

“Is it weird to say that I had a really great time tonight, Miranda?” He tried not to think about how foolish he probably sounded to her.

“Well, I was about to say the same thing, so it may have been strange if we said it at the same time!” She gave a nervous laugh, and he glanced around to make sure that she wasn't too close to the edge.

"Are you okay, Miranda?"

"Yeah," she replied, shaking her head, "I'm just trying to work up the moxie to ask you out," she said after a slight pause.

Leonardo was simultaneously stunned and amused, and neither one of them said a word for a few breaths.

"If it makes it any easier," he said at last, "no one's ever done it before, so I wouldn't know if you screw up." Raph would be proud.

She smiled at him, the tension dissipated. "Thanks for the show of support. Leonardo, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow, after my show? It would mean, of course, that you'd have to actually go to the show, in addition to dinner. Just so that's clear. You look like you need to hear more live music.”

"It would be my pleasure, Miranda," he replied with a wide grin. “Where is this Blue Moon place? Can I get in without being, you know, seen?”

She thought for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Yes! You can help me carry some equipment in through the back. I wanted to bring some of my pedals, and my monitor, but didn't know how I could get all that down there. Of course, that's only if you don't mind being put to work on our first....date?” She looked at him tentatively.

“I'd be glad to help you, Miranda,” he replied, watching a smile blossom across her face. She could have asked me to help her steal a car, and I would've said the same thing, he thought. I just really like it when she smiles at me.

She scribbled an address and phone number on an old envelope that she had in her pocket. The Idle Rose Inn. "Meet me here at about six? The show's not until nine, but we need to set up and do a sound check. I'm on the left side, if you're facing the building. Second window from the left-just look for the wind chime.”

"It's a date." He did an extra-complicated back flip off of the roof as he left, and was satisfied to hear her gasp at the sight of his descent, his coat floating behind him like wings in the breaking dawn.
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Leap of Faith, Part One: Out of the Darkness