::Author's Note::

This story was a gamble, a big one. It was encouraged via another idea that was song inspired. Trust me when I say blood, sweat and tears (lots of tears) went into this story. It was almost never born because of them, but we assure you that it's a story you don't want to hear. Still, it was finally created and here for us to share.

We know that OCs and romances are rather taboo in this genre, but we do hope you'll give this piece a chance. It's not your typical 'romance'. We tried for a realistic angle, that was the intention. We are hopeful for the success of this goal.

Please, any words you have would be greatly appreciated. We would love to hear what you think. Thank you for reading.

You've Got So Far to Go

I didn't expect it to be Mikey...

Michelangelo didn't have time to tell her what he wanted or how he wanted it because he was too busy feelingit. Her skin was smooth under his calloused hands, worn from years of physical exertion with all sort of weapons and training. In fact, everything about her seemed softer in that moment. It may have been an illusion but Mikey didn't care as she was entertaining his mouth with fierce kisses that tasted surprisingly good. He always wondered what it would feel like to kiss as they did in the movies. His head structure wasn't designed to accommodate kisses the way hers was, but she managed making it work as their tongues danced generously across one another.

He was an optimist, there was no question about that. Though earlier when she'd sat beside the tub and poured water over his bruised and lacerated turtle skin, he wondered where this might lead. Part of him hoped to the very bed they were in as his hands inched up her back under the fabric of her shirt. In fact, the very idea was appealing to Mikey and in his hopeful mind, he saw nothing standing in the way of him and that fantasy. Often his internal musings were inhibited by nothing but died in a dissipating thought, much like the steam rising up into the air from the hot water of his bath. Never did he imagine his daydreaming and realty would collide in a shower of explosive, yet magnetic physical interactions.

The fight had been rough and he'd only stumbled to her apartment because it was close and he knew the way. She was a safe friend - 'friend', like April; only with more liberties and less sister-like qualities. He'd asked for a band aid, with a bright grin though his voice was worn and his shoulders slumped in tired defeat. Penny had frowned, grabbing his arm and insisting that he come in so she could clean his wounds.

"You're not a doctor," Mikey had playfully protested, his eyes widening as he watched her draw the warm bath for him.

"Nope, but I play a good one on TV," she jaunted back, jokingly trying to keep his spirits up.

Mikey had let her clean him, though part of him wanted to protest. Something about his upbringing and Splinter's tough rules made him think that there was something gluttonous about relishing in the fact that he was being cared for so liberally. Surely sensei wouldn't approve of what he was doing, or rather, let being done. She washed every inch of him and Mikey, despite his wary arrival, stepped from the tub revitalized.

They had always had chemistry, but Mikey figured it was his personality being overly zealous that had him believe she might be interested in him. Actions spoke louder than words and Mikey couldn't quite define how she'd ended up in his lap, connected at the mouth.

"I don't...know how this'll work," Mikey managed breaking the kiss. His face was flush and he could have kicked himself for how retarded he felt admitting to the somewhat nerdy blond that he was so inexperienced he didn't even know what to do with her.

She smiled down on him and Mikey was sure there was an angel on his lap for how her hair seemed to glow and her wide smile was perfect in its shape. He wondered if his new found adoration for her kiss was why he was as fascinated with her lips as he was. Perhaps. Her hand stroked the hairless swell of his head. "Oh Mikey...that's okay. I say we just do what feels right, how about it? I'd really like it if we didn't stop though. Are you okay with that?" She tipped her head to the side briefly. He couldn't say 'YES!' fast enough.

I figured it would be Don...

"No one cares, Ms. Dixon. No one," the city commissioner, leading official to boot, spouted. His dark, penetrating eyes bore down at the woman who was scrambling to gather up the rolled up blue prints and other unwrapped versions of their brothers splayed out on the table. His voice was patient, yet professional; like a condescending parent scolding a child for playing pretend far passed the pretend playing age.

"But sir!" Penny Dixon was busy trying to keep the suit's attention while she fumbled with the mismatched array of large city maps, some ancient - some recent, all sticking out at weird angles from her arms. One slipped from under her elbow and it was the beginning of the end and she knew it. If she stopped to gather up her evidence she would surly lose the commissioner as he would not wait for her to pick it up, but if she didn't stop...she'd lose her evidence.

"Damn!" she swore under her breath, turning back to see the office manager, on his way out of the building, collecting the escapee map. He was a kind hearted man and, she figured, was taking pity on her.

"Thanks Dave," Penny mumbled, pushing her glasses up on her nose as three more slipped free and bounced on the floor, echoing their dismay in the hollows of the tubes. She could laugh for how ridiculous it felt, like something out of an old cartoon as nothing seemed to go right. In fact, Penny herself was in disarray, it was a wonder which turned the congressmen off more - her disorganized and scrambling maps or the mop of blond curls on her head and the glasses that seemed slightly too large for her thinned faced. "I almost called him your eminence," she half laughed nervously, "I think I had his attention for about one point two milliseconds, and it takes one point three to make a difference. I'm glad I didn't say that eminence thing because that surely would have gotten his attention. Just not the right way...like I needed something else to go wrong."

Dave, the office manager, smiled at her kindly, listening as he gathered up the other fallen documents. "Here, let me have some of those."

Penny pushed her glasses up again and offered him a little nod. "Than you," she paused, "I need it huh?" she asked pathetically, her eyes sheepish as she looked up at him. "God Dave, I swear if someone in this so called 'leadership' would just hear me out, they'd see that something's not right. Ya know, wrong. Forget politics and just listen for a second! That's all I ask, just one measly second!"

"You've got my ear."

"What about your feet...?"

The two looked at each other and Dave's puzzled expression peaked in curiosity. After a moment, he responded with a slow tone to his voice. "Um, sure. You can have my feet too."

"GREAT!" Penny exclaimed, catching his wrist, from where they were crouched down, and jerked him to his a standing position. The mild protest she received fell on deaf ears as she hurried him from the building, blinded by the fact that someone would hear her cause. They left the glass doors into the bustling city, Penny weaving in and out of people expertly as she moved, clearly a child of concrete jungle and now working citizen of that same place to which she paid homage through her youth. Two of the maps were still in her hand, rolled up tightly. "There." She pointed to the sewer lid excitedly.

"What? No way am I going in there. I work behind a desk for a reason, bad back you know. And plus...it's gross down there. And you're an engineer, not a serviceworker."

Penny pointed to the map in her hand and tapped it lightly with her fingernail, her pile of blond disheveled locks hung from a loose bun that was tied up with a pencil stuck through it. "I know my way around and if the commissioner won't get a survey crew to do it, then I will personally. Someone has to prove to him that he's wrong. All these politicians are all smoke, mirrors, and magic. Or...he's hiding something."

"You never struck me as a conspiracy theorist, Pen." Dave was fumbling for an excuse to back away from the sewer lid that the somewhat flighty woman seemed hell bent on peeling back.

"It's not about conspiracy. It's about fact and I can prove that the city is losing thousands of dollars a year on electric. It doesn't come from one source but it's all being channeled into one location. It's being siphoned off for something, by someone. People don't just accidentally use power. Here, look," she grabbed Dave's arm and pulled him to the curb, tugging the rubber band loose from the map in her hand. With one push, she unrolled the map and pointed to it. "All of it's coming from government buildings, little bits. Here, the courthouse, City Hall, the Police Station, Public Works, four fire stations. Their reported power usage is different than what the city is being charged and then the meter even reads different for the reported activities of these offices. We're paying for energy they don't account for! And it's all going here instead." she pointed to the center of the map she had on a dusty blue background.

"That's...not right. The main city sewage junction is here. There's no way anything can be there but water and grimy pipes, and a lonely apple core." Dave rebuttaled. He was clearly buying time from the strange girl's apparent mission as it did not sound sanitary, or fun, for either of them.

"I thought so too, but the maps aren't right. There are discrepancy - altered, maybe? But maps before 1960 show a bubble in the city's plan. An empty space. Maybe they planned to put a pumping station there or maybe they were just reserving it for future use. It's massive though and its just poof, gone. The lines don't intersect here, there's something else there. Something we're not seeing because no one will look at it. And for some reasons tax dollars are being poured into this place. I doubt their saving current electricity for future use; never mind that that's impossible unless they're harboroing some weird alien fuel tank that can trap such a force."

"Maybe they did put a pumping station there." Dave argued realisitcally.

"Maybe," Penny agreed. "But maybe not. Most likely not as I have searched all the records to see if I could find work orders for one in this location. I found - nothing! Besides, most of the current pumping stations run on minimal fuel...the amount we are losing per year exceeds the amount it uses greatly. It's not like the old days were it takes twelve Clydesdales and a troupe of oxen to power one of these monsters for a day. Now it's like running a mini fridge. There's something there, I'm sure of it." She was determined, if nothing else.

"And you really want to know what that is?"

Penny's eyebrows lifted. "Consider it my Loch Ness. You're not going to let me go alone, are you?" she challenged.

Dave sighed and gave a roll of his eyes. "Fine. I'll go, but only to prove that there's nothing there. The Loch Ness doesn't hang out in New York."

Thirty minutes, a ruined business suit, and two damp blue prints later, Penny and Dave were deep in the guts of the city's underground. It wasn't without complaint as Dave's less pleasant side peaked through. He'd whined about how humid it was, how it smelled, the conditions, the way the lights flicked off and on in the parts that even had lights...

"Well," Penny hummed, leading the way down a dank passage that dripped with the sounds of musty condensation, "it's no more humid than summer nor smelly really - you do know you live in the city right? There's more garbage on the streets up there than there is under your feet now. Good thing I brought a flash light huh? I figured he wouldn't listen," she grinned a spooky sort of smile under the glow of the flashlight as if they were actually seated around a campfire.

"Are you sure you're not a ten year old boy?"

"You're scared!" Penny laughed can clapped him on the shoulder. "Good thing I'm not pompous enough to make you call me doctor what with that pretty piece of expensive paper that hangs on my wall and says I'm something like edumakated. But not in the medical way. I'm a numbers doctor. Ten year old boys are more into the blood and guts, not the measurements and physics."

"Yeah," Dave remarked bitterly. "This is disgusting. Not to sound like I'm your matching ten year old sibling but - are we there yet?"

Penny glanced over her shoulder and turned the flashlight in a quick sweep. "Yeah," her voice was mystified as they came on a hearty brick wall. "Some junction huh?" Penny arched her eyebrows and casually glanced over her shoulder, sideways, at her companion. "Looks like a wall to me," she cursed under her breath and leaned forward touching it, "Something's gotta be on the other side. But the maps...the ones that show this accurately are so outdated...God only knows what could be going on behind there. That's definitely where the stolen power is going." Her eyes trailed up the ceiling looking for lines or cables of some sort as she thought outloud.

She took the flashlight between her teeth and fumbled with one of the pockets of her coat, fishing for a pen. It was, as she did so, with blueprint in one hand and the other diving for a writing utensils, that she heard Dave scream. The flashlight fell from her mouth as she whipped around. She'd never, in the whole of her life, heard a man scream like that.

"DAVID!" she barked but all she could hear were his feet beating the ground off in some other direction. "DAVE!" she screamed again, after him. She'd scrambled to grab her flashlight. The blueprint drifted to the ground as the golden colored beam burned through the darkness and the only sound heard was that of Penny's knees knocking together as she shook. Dave had screamed for a reason and she wasn't sure she wanted to know why.

The light cast a yellow glow on green legs and she stopped there, hunched over, biting her tongue to keep from a repeat of Dave's vocal outburst.

My brothers always surprise me, but so does humanity...

"You were scared!" Mikey ribbed Penny as she leaned over the makeshift kitchen table in the lair some months later.

"I was not!" she elbowed him out of the way so she could loop around the table and circle a spot on one of her maps. It was a lie, and they both knew it. The smile on her face corroborated that fact. But the parts of her that were scared the first night they met had long since been covered over by dozens of memories for the better.

"It's weird having more human friends," Leonardo remarked from a quiet and safe distance to Raph as Mikey harassed the playful engineer who did, for some reason, entertain him.

"At least we keep making useful ones," Don interjected as he squeezed between Leo and Raph, as he was not a direct participant of the conversation but felt the need to add his own comment. He was carrying a few scraps of untainted pieces of paper, ones that weren't influenced by their living conditions. "Here Penny, show me what you're thinking." He said pushing Mikey out of the way.

The orange clad turtle protested with a groan of displeasure. "Doooooon," he whined. "It's my turn. Quit using all her brains, I want to play with her now."

Mikey's playful and energetic nature kept him engaged in new communication, even some time after it was still 'new', simply for his opinion that the more attention he could get, the better. It helped that Penny's sort of spastic spirit spoke to his energetic one. She never got bored with him, the way April sometimes did. She never dismissed him for Raph, the way Casey did. She even smiled at him...sometimes.

"Mikey, this is serious." Don scolded in passing, shaking his head. "I didn't realize we were effecting things enough to be noticed and if Penny's willing to find a way that might never happen again then, well, then it is myturn. There are more important things than play right now."

Penny turned to see Mikey's head dip down and his shoulder's slump a little. He often got the 'grown ups' are talking now treatment and it came in the form of a dejected Mikey right then.

"Actually," Penny said pushing her fine point sharpie into Don's hand, her eyes still on Mikey, "not so much. You work on the prints, Don. See if we can't spread more of your energy source throughout the city. Mikey and I are going for some field work." she beamed. "If I could just harness all of Mikey's energy - you wouldn't need to steal power from the city. Too bad that would kill him." She patted Mikey's cheek affectionately, though she was dryly teasing him. She pointed to the door. "Secret public service workers deserve to be medaled in honor and have a five star breakfasts served to them in bed. Not live in some sewer but hey, if you guys like it and it has all the accommodations, who am I to argue? Besides...the commissioner wouldn't listen to me. So I'll help those who will. Come on Mike, lets go dig up some service lines."

"YEAH?" He squealed excitedly, jumping up and looking briefly at Don. There was a moment he stuck his tongue out at his brother, rather proudly, but Don didn't seem to notice as he was already uncapping the marker to draw.

"Yep! You could hide even more of that usage with newer cable," she glanced at Don, juggling the brothers at once.

"Sweet." Mikey spoke in a low draw, but immediately flipped on his gleeful and hyper mannerisms. "Lets go!"

She wasn't trying to dismiss Don in anyway. On the contrary, keeping her on one task at a time was near impossible and as her brain took in new ideas for how to better tackle a project, she would shoot off in that direction before they were written down on paper. As the cable line quality came to mind, she decided it took precedent and Mikey, who had enough energy to spare, was the most likely candidate to take along. Mikey just liked the attention of anyone that would give it to him.

"If I was scared I would have screamed," she told him as she pointed up to a series of running pipes overhead. "See these here? My kinda mechanisms, coils of copper and other metals to transport electricity and regulate electrical flow. Kinda simple for a big call to duty." Mikey's eyes were drawn up to the cables as he admired them while she spoke. It was a diversionary tactic as she suddenly swiftly swung around and gave him a hearty shove so he fell into the running water next to them. The splash that came sloshed against the sides of the walk way, echoing over the sounds of the running and dripping water throughout the sewer cavity.

It didn't occur to her that it wasn't normal water. But it also wasn't the first time Mikey fell into the underground waste rivers.

He barely had time to hiss out a 'WHA-?" before he was entirely submerged. April never would have done it. Casey might have done it to Raph. Mikey might have done it to Raph. Even Don was known to have playfully pushed him in before. But never did he imagine she would have. Of course, she often did things unexpected and therefore Mikey should have anticipated the unexpected. But that's what made it special, in its spontaneity - he could never figure out what came next and he liked that. She was difficult to keep up with, that's why she was fun for him.

And she was fun for him.

"HELP!" He garbled falsely, pretending to drown. He batted at the water, sinking under the surface for effect. Nevermind that his knees barely scrapped the bottom of the 'river', Mikey flailed and whimpered to his hearts content. What he didn't expect was to feel her grab his arm. She was trying to pull him out of his dangerous state and, in turn, managed to fall in herself. He jumped a little in his surprise but his concern instantly went to her. A human shouldn't be in these waters, that was the thought crossed his mind first. They were disgusting and riddled with germs and all sorts of microorganisms that Don might take the time to test and research. Mikey just knew they were bad. He caught her around the waist and jerked her up, above the surface of the water and pushed her onto the walk space unceremoniously. A moment later, he hoisted his body back up next to her.

As they both sat on the brick path, dripping in the disgusting mess, they both realized how each had been at fault for the current situation. Had Penny never pushed Mikey in, he wouldn't have faked drowning. "I'm so gross!" Penny exclaimed finally, her words bouncing off the walls back at them. Their eyes met and both broke into wide smiles followed by echoing laughter.

Mikey liked her.

It's a shame what happened, I told him so even though I didn't want to...

"You've got so far to go."

Mikey looked up to Leo when his brother's voice entered the room, which was more like a hollow tomb for the silence that seemed to seep into the walls. Mikey's room was rarely quiet and it seemed eerie for its stillness. His glassy eyes didn't stay trained on Leo for more than a few seconds. "Don't know what I was thinking, bro." Mikey mumbled. "That maybe it could work? That maybe we'd get married and live here and she'd make me dinner - us dinner - while we save the city from big scary monsters? And I'd come home and she'd be here, like some 1950s TV sitcom. That we'd get old and disgusting together? That we'd...aw shell it doesn't much matter, does it? None of it'll happen now. Ever. But I always did love Leave it to Beaver."

Leo sighed. He didn't know how to fix this...how to fix Mikey. Eventually he would heal but Leo didn't like seeing him as he was. "What happened?"

"I slept with her. I gave myself to her." Mikey said, that part hurt more than anything. Fat tears welled in his eyes. Where most men were comfortable and confident having as many partners as possible, it somehow felt wrong to Mikey. The fact that he had been with her somehow heightened their feelings for one another and attached them more. Attached him more.

Leo's tried to hide his surprise and managed doing a fair job of it. Not that Mikey much noticed anything but his heart aching. "I meant...tonight. What happened tonight?"

"Oh." Mikey's thoughts drifted to it, the painful parts...

"Hey...lady, I got these for you." Mikey said, handing a fistful of flowers to Penny as they stood under a streetlight where the dark of night had befallen the city and much of it was now quiet. He had a smile on his face, half hidden by the collar of his coat but unmistakable for its sincerity. Mikey was covered in baggy clothes to cover his body in their reserved meeting place.

Central Park, almost midnight.

He knew something was amiss the second her hand fumbled for the flowers, her fingers grazing the stems not not actually taking them from him. Those yellow locks of hair were still an array of messy curls poking out at all sorts of angles. One even feel between her eyes. She never hesitated to take whatever trinket he brought for her. Never mind that it was somewhat difficult to bring her anything, but Mikey always did.

"Thank you."

Mikey felt his heart flutter in fear for the absent way she spoke, as if it were automatic; and where was his greeting kiss? Everything seemed so wrong, he felt disconnected from a woman he had found nothing but love for in the passing months. Like she was slipping from his fingers, tiny grains of sand he couldn't keep between the cracks. He started to shake before he knew what was happening. This was terrifying. And painful. Terrifyingly painful.

"You shouldn't have."

"Uh...I'm starting to agree. But why?" He shoved the flowers into her hand, so she had to grip them all the way around.

"We have to stop Mike." She said firmly, so sudden that Mikey felt the sharp point of her words so quickly it was enough to penetrate even the thickness part of his plastron. Right to his heart. "It's been fun and I do love you. Don't mistake that. Tonight, I'm going to raise a glass - to us. For the most spectacular last few months we've had. But we have to stop kidding ourselves, the flame has to run out sometime and... well. Cheers. Because tomorrow, there won't be an will be a you and there will be a me."

"Why?" Mikey choked on the word, his face pale and that glowing smile was gone from his lips. All that was left were two wet and sad eyes.

"Reality," she nodded. "I can't do this forever. You lead a very big life. You have adventure and fighting and more adventure. I can't keep up with you. I'm simple. Where would I fit in with all that? Where would you fit in with my city planning and boring job? I don't want to drag it on and further fuel our disillusion. More than that I don't want to drag you down and stunt your very big existence. It was great while it lasted but it was just a dream, a fantasy...it can't be real. What sort of life could we lead together, you underground and me above? That's not life at all. Separate. I'd rather we not continue to lie to ourselves, it'll only hurt more in the end."

"But-"

"No buts, Mike." Penny's eyes fell to the ground and she took in a shaky breath. "It's already hard enough without a 'but' thrown in."

"BUT!" Mikey wailed. "Yes! YES! Yes, there is a but!" He was already floundering. He'd never felt a punch as painful as this one, and they had no contact whatsoever. She had managed to rip apart his chest would laying a single hand on his body. That might have been what hurt the most. He wanted to reach out and kiss her, so hard, under that streetlight...anything to show her that they were worth while. "But...you can't just walk away! What about...you said you love me! You said you love me before and you - you just said it again." He could already feel the tears cresting his eyelids and the weight of his mask getting heavy with liquid pain coming from his eyes. "You love me! Doesn't that count? It counts Penny! It counts. That counts for something. Let me walk you home, we can talk...I'm...no..."

"Nothing I could have said would have changed her mind. Nothing I did say changed it," Mikey dropped his face into his arms, perched on his knees, where he was huddled against the far wall of his room. "What's wrong with me, Leo? I loved her as best I could, as best I knew how. I was good to her, I cared about her, I did everything you're supposed to do. Right? I just let it...be. I let it be what I felt and I thought we were happy. And it was good. It felt good."

Leo sighed, again.

He couldn't bring himself to tell Mikey that there was nothing wrong with him, except for his perception of the world. If it had been any of them - any of them but Mikey - they would have expected this moment, anticipated it. It crushed Mikey more, Leo was sure, because he believed in the longevity of love and romance. It wasn't about what they were, turtles, mutant turtles, to Mikey - it was about him. What was wrong, specifically, with him and that was where Leo knew Mikey's perception was different.

He could recover, Leo was sure of it - he would personally make ensure that it happened. That moment might not be the best in which to do it. He had no experience with this sort of pain personally, but he was determined to pick Mikey back up and set him on his feet; to fix his broken spirit.

Mikey, my brother, you simply have so far to go.