Perseverance

I'm not making any money off this, nor do I own the Ninja Turtles - I'm just borrowing them for a while.
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The stranger pulled open his coat and took off the fedora. “Hey, it’s ok”, he smiled.

“Donatello!”

“Hey Charlie... Sorry I scared you. I didn’t mean to”. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him. He was hoping that he’d be able to stand as close to her as he did yesterday.

Charlotte sighed heavily and put the phone down. Her pulse was racing. “That’s ok, Donatello. I thought you were... well... I guess I should have locked the door... How‘s Mikey?” She smiled weakly and went to turn off the coffee pot in the back room.

She felt very shaky.

Don felt like an idiot. What was he thinking, walking in on her like that? She’d probably thought he was some kind of pervert!

“He’s doing pretty well. He ate a bit of stuff earlier this afternoon”. Don followed her to the back of the store and leaned against the doorjamb of her little office.

“Charlie... I really am sorry”. He hung his head. “It was unthinking of me. You had a nasty scare the other night and It should have occurred to me that I might frighten you. I’ll call next time so you know I’m coming, ok?” He looked up hopefully.

She smiled at him and picked her jacket up from the back of a chair. She put her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, mentally noting that he had the same big muscles she’d felt on Mike while she was putting him back together. “You’re forgiven”. Don smiled down at her. He wanted to tell her how good she looked in that outfit.

“How did you know this was my store, anyway?” Charlie asked.

Don shrugged, “Only bookstore in the area." He glanced at some of the shelves. "Do you have anything on pyrotechnic wiring?”

“Maybe as a chapter in another book, but I could order something more specialized, if you like. You interested in gadgets?”

“Yeah. I like machines. I invent stuff in my spare time - my inventions don’t always work out though”. He held out his Turtle Com. “I made these. They’re communicators. The reception’s so strong, we get almost perfect signals on the surface from up to fifty feet underground! Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For bragging. Not very ninja-like of me”.

Charlie smiled again. Don was a comfortable person to be around. Don pulled on his hat and coat before stepping out into the street.

“What did you mean about being 50 feet underground? Why would you need to be 50 feet down?”

“We live in the sewer” Don said simply.

They walked along silently for a minute before Charlie said, “Makes sense, I guess. I mean, where else are four humanoid turtles going to get any privacy?”

Don laughed. “Exactly! Actually, it’s not bad, considering. It’s just like a big apartment with no windows. We even have cable”.

“Thanks to you?”

“Thanks to me.”

Don snuck a few sidelong glances at Charlie. She kept smiling and laughing. He liked knowing that it was because of him. They came up to Charlotte’s apartment building. She pulled her key out of her purse and unlocked the front door.

“You coming in?”

He smiled and held the door for her. They climbed the stairs quickly and quietly, wanting to get inside before any nosy old ladies started asking who Charlie’s friend was.

When they finally got in the door of Charlotte’s apartment, she asked “Did you come to say hi or to walk me home?”

“A bit of both” Don admitted. We thought you might be a bit nervous. Master Splinter also wanted one of us to help you clean up your apartment. Mikey feels bad for bleeding on everything”.

Charlie chuckled, “Poor Mikey... wait, who’s this Splinter person?”