Reading key

bold means thoughts

bold and italisized means song lyrics

* means time goes by *

~ Means beginning of new pov ~

~* Means Beginning of new chapter *~

Alright! I'm pretty sure that all of the faithful readers that I had have now decided to start plotting revenge because of my inability to continue the story that I have dubbed my baby, so without further adue i have decided to present a new and improved version of what was once called "A Midwinter NYC Adventure" and is now called "A Voice In Midwinter"

Please enjoy and refrain from judging me to harshly if you do not approve of me, my story, or my writing styles. That said, And I will quote the saying " If you have nothing good to say then don't say anything ", I will now present...

The Voice In Midwinter

" Up next is little miss Delilah Winters, Give her a round of applause ladies and boys! " Our boss, McGregor, Says to the audience at the over crowded bar. I take a deep breathe and step on stage, followed by the clapping of a few random people from the bar and tables, I smile to McGregor and he steps away from the microphone, his brown eyes traveling over me as I take his place. I suppress a shudder when he gives me a condescending smile and walks off stage. I glance around and see Marie behind the coffee bar, She gives me a quick thumbs up and then looks over to a man who was trying to tell her his order. With further investigation I notice Lily by the door and Lisa expertly weaving between people and tables with trays, plates, and coffees in her hands. The applause dies just as quickly and faintly as it had begun and I start the beginning song for each night at Daniel McGregor's Jazz/ Poetry slam club. I look up to the sound booth where Samiel sits and nod for the accompaniment, the music bleeds into the room like a drug and I start to sing.

You can be the peanut butter to my jelly
You can be the butterflies I feel in my belly
You can be the captain
And I can be your first mate
You can be the chills that I feel on our first date
You can be the hero
And I can be your sidekick
You can be the tear That I cry if we ever split
You can be the rain from the cloud when it's stormin'
Or u can be the sun when it shines in the mornin'

I start to sway a little and close my eyes, letting the song take over as I continue.

Don't know if I could ever be Without you
'Cause boy you complete me
And in time I know that we'll both see That we're all we need
Cause you're the apple to my pie
You're the straw to my berry
You're the smoke to my high
And you're the one I wanna marry

Cause you're the one for me (for me)
And I'm the one for you (for you)
You take the both of us (of us)
And we're the perfect two
We're the perfect two
We're the perfect two
Baby me and you
We're the perfect two

I give an unconscious smile as I go into my favorite part of the song and begin to tap my foot to the beat, not noticing in the least the silence of the audience as they listen intently.

You can be the prince and I can be your princess
You can be the sweet tooth I can be the dentist
You can be the shoes and I can be the laces
You can be the heart that I spill on the pages
You can be the vodka and I can be the chaser
You can be the pencil and I can be the paper
You can be as cold as the winter weather
But I don't care as long as were together

I smile into the words and let myself get comfortable in the song, feeling the urge to laugh but not wanting to ruin the song.

Don't know if I could ever be
Without you 'cause boy you complete me
And in time I know that we'll both see
That we're all we need
Cause you're the apple to my pie
You're the straw to my berry
You're the smoke to my high
And you're the one I wanna marry

Cause your the one for me (for me)
And I'm the one for you (for you)
You take the both of us (of us)
And we're the perfect two
We're the perfect two
We're the perfect two
Baby me and you
We're the perfect two

I open my eyes and smile at the crowd, almost blushing at the intent stares I'm getting from most of them.

You know that I'll never doubt ya
And you know that I think about ya
And you know I can't live without ya
I love the way that you smile
And maybe in just a while
I can see me walk down the aisle

Cause you're the apple to my pie

You're the straw to my berry
You're the smoke to my high
And you're the one I wanna marry
Cause your the one for me (for me)
And I'm the one for you (for you)
ya take the both of us (of us)
And were the perfect two
Were the perfect two
Were the perfect two
Baby me and you
We're the perfect two(yeah, yeah)

As I end the song I take a small bow and the crowd applauds my effort, sliding the microphone back to its original place I waves to everyone and step quickly off stage, my long honey blonde hair falling over my shoulder to veil the blush on my cheek bones. I push my bangs behind my left ear and sigh,

" Mental note, get rid of stage fright" I think to myself as I round the corner to the main part of the bar, another girl already taking my place onstage.

" You did great kid! " I get a hearty slap between the shoulder blades and almost fall forward as an overly compensated man with blonde hair and grey eyes congratulates me. I smile and thank him, then hurriedly scurry to my place next to Marie, The pretty blonde smiles as I approach her.

" Another fine job Lilah, you know you really should try out for that musical next month you'd be a shoe in for the female lead! " She slides a mug of coffee to a woman three stools down and I grab a cup from the dishwasher below the counter and start to unload it. I hear a commotion by the entrance of the shop and look up to see Lily man handling a man who looks to be a head taller then she is out the door. I wonder sometimes where a woman so petit gets the ability and know how to handle men taller and stronger than her, The man swears at her as she give him the boot and slams the door in his face.

"Sometimes I wonder how she does that " I just about scream when Lisa's voice brings life to my thoughts. I put a hand on my pounding heart and groan.

"Can't you ever make a noise when you walk up behind me?! " I say breathlessly as I turn to look into a pair of innocent blue eyes and naturally curly red hair. She gives me a small frown but it disappears behind an excited grin.

"But where's the fun in that? You're so jumpy all the time! It's not my fault you're so easy to scare! " She says, sticking her tongue out at me. I roll my eyes and sigh.

" alright you two quit it, her shift's done in ten minutes Dona can you make it until then without scaring Delilah?" Marie says, her tone is more of an order then a question and Lisa's hand snap up like she has a gun pointed at her.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh! " She says with a laugh, grabbing a plate of fries and a burger from the delivery sill behind the bar, trading it out for a slip of paper that had an order for table 18, and going out again to the floor.

Once I've finished the dishwasher I grab my apron from below the counter and go out to take an order from three teenagers who just sat down, all but one were guys who looked to be around 16 to 18 and the one girl there looked like she'd stuck her hair under a faucet of ty-dyed water, They all had the same tattoo of a dragon in an unflattering shade of purple. As I pull my notepad from the pocket of the apron one of the older boys looks at me and grins, his expression giving me the feeling he's about to make a fool of himself.

"Hey cutie, Come here often?" He says, I roll my eyes.

" Well what do you know, I was right " I hold the notebook up for him to see and his friends start to laugh at him " Do you know what your order is yet or do you need more time? "

" yeah we know, three beers and make it fast " The other boy says with a smirk, sliding a hand over his bald head, I sigh.

"ID's?" I say, already knowing what the answer will be to this. The boy who just spoke narrows his eyes for a second but then leans back in his seat with a cocky look on his pasty white face.

" Well wouldn't ya know we forgot them in our other pants, Now why don't ya just go and get our beers sweetheart " He says annoyingly overconfident, I glance around and make sure lily's near by if I need her and see her over by the door, watching the table I'm at intently. She gives me a small nod and pushes her pitch black bangs behind her ear, I take a deep breathe to calm myself and let my eyes wander back to the boys face.

" I can't get you anything if you don't have ID " I say quietly, Sounding almost nervous due to my natural tone. The boy who spoke first looks up at me when he hears my voice get quiet and smirks standing up so that he's almost plastered against me, I take a step back and when he moves to follow I see a delicate olive toned fist slam into his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

"you got a reason ta be walkin' up on her bub?" Lily asks from my left, something about her unnerves the brown haired boy in front of me and he turns back to his friends.

" Come on guys, Lets beat it! this place sucks! " He says, giving me a sleazy look up and down as he leaves with his friends and I let loose a deep breathe I hadn't known I was holding. Lily slides in front of me and I look into her Greenish blue ocean colored eyes, she's always been a tall person at 5'8' but at the moment she seems to be towering over me.

" You okay kiddo?" She asks, her tone worried, I smile and nod to appease her though still rattled I would prefer not to let her know that. Lily sighs, obviously not believing me but then again not really having the time to drag the information out of me. She puts a small hand on my shoulder and pulls me into a quick hug, " I'm looking out for you kiddo, if you ever need me just call "

" I will, don't worry okay?" I say with a laugh, returning the hug and glancing at the clock, It's just after 2:00 am which means I get to go home and deal with Cain. She looks up at the clock and scowls, probably knowing exactly what I'm thinking.

" You can always come live with me, you know that " She says hopefully, I release her and pull the sleeves of my bright purple turtle neck down over my hands, It's size easily letting it drape over me all the way to my knees which I have covered with black leggings, I adjust the belt around my waist and sigh.

" You know what Cain would do to you Lily, Not to mention what he would do to Marie and Lisa if he even thought they'd helped me leave " I say quietly, Lily stares at me intently.

" I'm more afraid of what he would do to you Kid " She says with finality, I give her one more quick hug and then I walk back to the bar saying my goodbyes to Marie and Lisa. Both have no idea about my home situation, only Lily knows about my father and it's taken me hours every time a new bruise rears its ugly head to convince her not to go beat him to a pulp. I sigh as I step outside into the cold early winter night, a light coating of snow lays on the ground and I smile.

" At least I'll have this to enjoy before I have to deal with him " I think to myself as I start the walk to my fathers studio apartment, I wrap my arms around myself to keep the cold out and shiver a little. I hadn't expected it to snow so I hadn't brought a coat to work, I've only made it about a block from the coffee bar when a familiar voice sounds at my back.

" Ay Sweetheart, fancy seeing you here? " I gasp and turn around, unfortunately just in time to receive a hard right hook to the jaw, the ground rushes up to meet me and I groan as I lay on the pavement. I push myself up to my hands and knees and try to look up at the one who'd hit me. It's the same boy from the bar except the bald one and the girl are gone. He gets down on one knee and grabs my arm in a vise. " I'm gonna teach you a lesson in manners, But don't worry we'll have some fun with it "

" Get off me! " I shout at him, ripping my arm away and backhanding him, I scramble away and run. I don't get far because in a matter of moments an arm slides around my waist and I'm lifted off the ground.

" And where do you think your going baby? " He asks with a slightly maniacal laugh as he half carries, half drags me into an alley way between two buildings. I start to scream but his hand clamps over my mouth and I resort to aiming my kicks at every sensitive spot on his body, which isn't easily done seeing as he stands behind me.

I thank god when I hear him swear loudly over and over again and we fall onto the ground but I then curse my luckless life when he lands on top of me. I push myself onto my back and lash out angrily but he grabs my wrists in his free hand and pins me beneath him, giving another maniacal laugh. I frown when I realize that the constant swearing isn't coming from my attacker, opening my mouth, I bite down on his hand hard. When he rips his hand away I have a metallic taste in my mouth but I ignore it as I start to scream to grab the attention of whoever it is that's swearing. The boy rears up and grabs me by the throat, terror coursing through me as his hand tightens, cutting off my screams along with my air supply as flashbacks of my life play across my vision, tears start to course down my cheeks when all I see are the scenes of drunken beatings from my father.

" Hey punk! " A man says from somewhere to my left, my lungs begin to burn and I try to pry his hand loose I also try to turn my head but I can already feel myself getting weaker and weaker, the boy's hand loosens a bit and he looks around apparently not seeing anything. " Ya picked the wrong night ta mess with someone "

" W-whose there?! " The boy shouts, letting go of my throat, I gasp for a breathe. My chest heaves as I try to alleviate the burning sensation through putting more air in my lungs, but my throat still feels a bit tight and I can't get as much air as I need. I feel myself crying in both relief and terror when the there's no answer to the boys question.

" Did the man leave? Am I going to die anyway? " Suddenly a brown clothed arm shoots around the boys neck and yanks him up off his feet and onto the pavement few feet away. I look at the man in the darkened alley and realize that, due to his height, he can't be older then I am. The newcomer grabs the boy by the collar and lifts him up over his head, walking to an open dumpster as I begin to feel lightheaded again and drops him in solidly. I lay there slowly fading out of consciousness and feel a splash of pain across the back of my head as falls back against the concrete.

The last thing I hear is an angry curse. but then I'm being lifted up off the ground.

~ Raph POV~

* Three hours later *

Three hours after I left her at the hospital I find myself sitting on the fire escape to the window of the room I dropped her off in, I know that the sun will come up soon but for some reason I want to make sure she wakes up, just to see if I wasn't to late to save her. I mean when I got there the guy was this close to becoming a murderer and then she passed out and I brought her here, Twenty minutes ago some guy with white blonde hair walked in with a brunette. He's been sitting there holding the girls hand along with jane doe on the bed but now a few other people are coming in, one is a strawberry blonde with slate grey eyes mocha colored skin who looks like she could tame lions with just a reprimand then theres a pretty pale red head with blue eyes and cork screw curls and I have to think that if don had a crush on april he'd fall hard for this chick, she looks like a tiny ball of hyper though. Then there's an olive toned black haired chick with ocean green eyes who hasn't moved from the wall beside the bed since she got there. I start to wonder if it's creepy to just sit here and watch her sleep but I just can't make myself leave. A doctor walks in and speaks for a minute or two and everyone leaves, the guy brushes the jane doe's bangs off her face and the black haired chick grabs her hand and gives it a squeeze. The doctor fiddles with the IV and leaves, setting a clipboard on the bed before he does, the room goes dark and curiosity takes over.

" I'm gonna do somethin stupid ain't I? " I ask myself as I open the window again and step into the room, walking over to the bed and picking up the clipboard.

" You waited an awful long time to come in, you must be cold " A small hoarse voice says from my right, I flinch and turn to stare. The Jane doe's sitting there staring at me and I can help but stare back. Her eyes can't seem to decide if they want to emerald green or bright brown and it's a strange combination that catches my eye. She raises an eyebrow at me and gives me a curious look. " So did you read what you needed to know? "

" Uh yeah sorry.. I just wanted ta make sure ya made it out okay " I say to myself all the while asking myself why in the hell of it I'm staying here when I should have high tailed it out the window. She smiles and tilts her head a little bit, a concerned look on her face.

" More like you wanted to see if you weren't to late " She says, causing me to flinch again. I narrow my eyes a little bit and she laughs nervously.

" Sorry I.. I just get a feeling about stuff sometimes " She says, rubbing the back of her neck, flinching when she touches the dark purple bruises on it. I shake my head and walk to the side of the bed almost on instinct and gently pull her hand from her neck.

" Don't mess with it, it'll just linger longer if ya do " I say, I drop her hand onto the bed and take a few steps back.

" How do you know? " She asks me, actually sounding slightly curious. I raise an eyebrow at her.

" I think by the way we met you can pretty much geuss that I know a lot about takin a hit " I say, chuckling a bit. She looks at me for a minute then gets a curious glint in her eyes, which I have yet to look away from, I mean seriously, it's like they can't decide what color they want to be.

" How did you get this way? I mean well, were you human first or what? " she asks, I sigh and grab a chair, figuring that if she already knew me then what was the problem with telling her the rest of the story. We sat there for hours, Me explaining and her asking questions every once in while, It amazed me that while I had to fidget in order to stay sitting and stay still she seemed to have no trouble at all with that. she reminds me of Don to be completely honest, I can tell she's one smart cookie and herdemeanor is kind of like his except without the random spouting of uninteresting facts. When it comes time for me to leave I feel bad for leaving her there but I know I have to in order to not get caught, man would that suck. I drop down to the street from the fire escape ladder and look up at the balcony that belongs to her hospital room and I'm surprised that she's standing there waving to me, I give her a little salute and pull open the sewer grate, dropping in and closing it behind me.