A - ANATOMY

Summary: April and Casey have still got a lot to learn about their mutant comrades, after all, they were never human to begin with!

From the time April and Casey had spent down in the sewers, they learnt a view, well...interesting things about their friends. It started with the shedding. Not long after came the sounds and finally interesting discoveries about the skeletal features of a turtle.

It was a long afternoon in Channel 6 news. April had to run all around New York running covers on the most recent 'flying alien spaceship in the sky' saga. She would of enjoyed talking about her favourite brothers (well, only brothers!) if it weren't for the fact that there was so much to cover.

Meanwhile Casey was basking in his new position as a detective at NYPD, but it wasn't easy doing so. Chief Vincent had finally come to realize his magnificent detective skills!...but it came at a price. He was put onto almost every case, at the current time, involving the latest street gang, the Purple Dragons.

Both couldn't wait to grab some pizza and crash out in the sewers. However when they got there, it was, well, quiet. Sure there were some noises coming from the dojo, weights room and Mikey's drum-set but no usual clanking from the lab. After announcing themselves rather loudly, Mikey landed with a thump from behind them, saying "Ooh! Pizza!"

"Jesus Mikey! You need to stop doing that!" April exclaimed, while Casey was keeled over in shock. Hearing the ruckus coming from the living room, both Leo and Raph emerged from their respected places and joined the 3. Donnie, however, was making a no show.

Casey was looking around the immense lair. Sure it had been a month, but he still couldn't believe what his live had now come to. Something glinted out of the corner of his eyes and he reached over to pick up a hexagonal, flexible chip. He ran his fingers over the indented lines that created a beautiful pattern. Confused as to what it was he turned around and asked the brothers standing in front of him, "Hey guys, what's this?"

Mikey began sniggering. Raph and Leo exchanged glances before Mikey said, "That's one of Donnie's scutes." He attempted to do this with a straight face but ended up bursting out laughing.

"You might want to put that down Casey," Leo said in a calm tone, yet it was obvious that he was trying not to laugh. Raph just grinned.

Refusing to back down, Casey continued on with, "Why should I? What is it anyway?" April glared at her boyfriends obnoxious behavior when she said,

"Hey wheres Donnie?"

Leo sighed, not wanting to continue this conversation but ended up anyway, "That is a scute, Casey. They come of our shells every time we finish growing for a while. It's like a new layer of skin, which now mentioning it, I'm surprised you haven't seen all the dead skin everywhere." April and Casey glanced around, the looks on their faces made it obvious that they saw the big clumps of grey scales. Leo went on, "Raph and I have already had our last shedding, meaning we are not growing anymore. This is Donnie's final shedding while Mikey still has a long way to go. That explains Donnie's disappearance. We are often very placid during this time."

Mikey, standing at shoulder height to his older brothers grinned.

"Probably doesn't want you to see his ugly self!" Mikey sniggered while Raph smacked him 'round the back of the head, glaring out how outright his youngest brother was.

"No, Raph it's okay. He's right ya know." A voice came from the shadows. Slowly, Donatello stepped out from the shadows, lets make this clear, it wasn't a pretty sight. April smiled sympathetically at Donnie while Casey let out a not-so-manly scream and ran to hide behind Mikey's small shell, yet it covered him all.

"IT'S A ZOMBIE!" Casey shrieked from behind Mikey. That was partially true, except for the whole dead-want-brains part of a zombie. Big, dead clumps of skin clung to Donnie as he walked towards them, while there were multiple sharp edges on his shell from where scutes were peeling.

"I am NOT a zombie Jones!" Donnie boomed before tearing after Casey around the lair. Everyone else laughed and continued with what was considered their everyday life.

The next time April and Casey experienced something weird was actually from their command without them realizing it.

April was strolling through the layer, when she walked past Mikey, who REEKED! This was the same for Casey, except in his case in was Raph. The both stank to high heavens.

"MIKEY/RAPH YOU NEED A BATH!" both April and Casey shrieked in unison. Mikey smiled sheepishly, while Raph just glared. At that time Leo had come out from his room before agreeing with the two humans.

"Come to think of it, we all need a good bath. My shell has started getting itchy." Leo stated.

April pinched her nose while saying, "Is there anyway you can have a bath all at once?!" Now all turtles were in the same room.

"Actually April that's a good idea," Donnie said, smiling at April's confusion, before continuing, "Its been a long time since we have had a bath together."

"OOH OOH OOH! We can wash each others shells! Come on Raph you love getting your shell washed!" Mikey exclaimed, noticing Raph's discomfort, when he went rushing out to get his loofa and lotions.

TIME SKIP-

All four brothers, including the 2 humans, went to the nearest concealed freshwater river all kitted out for a bath/swim. Together they plonked into it, sun bearing down on them, making it quite pleasurable. April and Casey removed their towels, revealing themselves in bathing suits, while the turtles turned to each other to do their partners shell. Mikey was dealing to Leo while Raph was tending to Donnie. Leo's shell was faced towards Mikey, when he began to scrape over it with a steel sponge. Both April and Casey smiled at this, as for once they weren't arguing. It was actually quite cute to be honest. That was until Leo let out a string of noises that baffled them. A series of clicks and low growling came from Leo, while Mikey responded with a low hum, which obviously calmed Leo rather dramatically. The same was with Donnie and Raph.

"Umm, Leo. What is that sound your making?" April quietly asked, seriously confused. Almost automatically, Donnie very drowsily replied with,

" We're turtles April. It is how we communicate.." All went back to making the sounds they were, leaving Casey and April dumbfounded. Never the less, they left them to it, enjoying the sun while it lasted.

Finally, one Saturday afternoon, April and Casey were both wandering around the vast lair, looking for anything to do. A low moaning was heard coming from the couch, which was taken by a very pale Michelangelo. Curious and concerned April walked over before crouching over Mikey's huddled form.

"Mikey. Mikey.. MIKEY!" April practically screamed. No response. Terrified, April shrieked for Leo, who came rushing out thinking there was an injury. However when his eyes landed on April leaning form and Mikey's cocoon, and he visibly relaxed.

"He's alright April. Its just his shell. He's, from what I can assume, having his final large growth spurt. The shell always goes first, and he is going to be TALL." Leo said calmly, smiling at his Hogo-sha's concern. April glanced over at Mikey's shell, which was WAY too big for his body right now. It was actually slightly larger than Raph's shell now.

"But, but why is he in pain?" Leo laughed at April's complete obliviousness.

"April, our shells are connected to our body, it's like ripping our skin apart slowly." April had then relaxed.

Meanwhile, Casey was SOOOO bored. Raph was lifting his weights quite easily, which Casey couldn't lift at all. His only bet for some fun was Donnie. However when he entered the lab, Donnie was asleep in his bed, all his gear stripped from him. Casey thought this was weird, after all he had only seen Donnie with the tech pack on his back and the solar panels around his waist and shorts. But everything was gone. Casey looked at the shell that was facing him, rising slowly with each breath, and noticed a long, green...thing hanging between his legs. .GOD! HE IS JACKING OF INFRONT OF ME.

Casey ran out of the lab shrieking colourful curses, waking Donnie at the same time. He ran out in to the living room, where Leo and April were talking around Mikey. Casey screamed,

"DONNIES JACKING OF INFRONT OF ME!"

At that point Donnie was standing there nothing wrong with him, except for the he was blushing furiously.

"HIS PENIS WAS HUGE GROSS AN-" Casey shrieked when Mikey was snapped out of his painful daze and burst out laughing.

"CASEY! What you saw was NOT my penis... It was my tail." Seriously confused, Casey looked at Donnie's tail before turning to Leo and Mikey who just laughed.

"What do you mean? You guys don't have tails!"

"Yeah we do!" Mikey said who showed him his tail and wagged it in circles. He was completely stripped of his gear as well since is was just going to rip. Casey, seriously embarrassed stalked out of the lair, leaving a hysterical family..

THE END

A/N Hope you guys enjoy! This is the first of 26. Please check out my first story! See you guys on B!