Too late to say I'm sorry: Raphael says something he doesn't mean to Splinter just before Splinter is injured. Raphael centric.

I groaned as I rubbed sleep from my eyes, the sun pouring in from the window had awoken me from the wonderful dream I had been having. But even in my drunken state, it didn't take me long to realized that sun meant that I had been out all night again. I paused for a moment, wondering if it was worth going home and facing the music, or to take the easy way out and stay at Casey's for a little more. While the second of the two sounded better, I knew I couldn't avoid my family forever, so I pulled himself up from the couch and stumbled out the door, on my way home.

The light was on in the dojo, and I slowly snuck past, hoping that Splinter would be too busy teaching to notice that I was so late getting home. I almost felt like celebrating as I snuck into my room and closed the door, until I heard a small, polite cough from behind me. Sitting on the bed was Splinter, and he did not look happy.

"Where have you been my son? I was worried."

"I was out with Casey and I lost track of time, that's all." I sighed, slightly annoyed

"Then how come I smell whiskey on your breath?"

"So I had a couple of drinks! What's it matter to you?"

"It matters to me because liquor clouds your judgement. How can you be prepared for anything if your mind isn't clear!"

"I...I'm sorry master, it won't happen again."

"You are right that it won't happen again my son, because you are grounded for the next week! No trips to the surface, and double duty in the dojo!"

"You can't ground me! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"If you would stop acting like a child then perhaps I would stop treating you like one."

"I don't know why I even bother coming home! I can never make you happy, make you proud! I hate that you can't love me for who I am! I HATE YOU!!"

Splinter was silent for a few seconds, and then "You will report for your duties tomorrow Rapael and we will talk more then."

I was surprised the next morning as he rolled over to see the clock, it was already twelve! "Shit!" I cursed aloud, "Leo's going to kill me!" I jumped out of bed and ran to the dojo, expecting Leo to be there, only to find it empty. "Strange, Leo's always up early." a quick look in every room revealed them all to be empty, including Master Splinter's, "If no one's here to watch me, then no one's here to make sure I serve my time." I said as I walked into the elevator leading to the garage. My bike was still sitting there from last night.

"Did you miss me baby?" I asked, stroking the machine, my eyes lighting up in pure delight as I revved the machine as far up as it would go, zipping down the streets, weaving in and out of trafic. I ignored his shell cell the first time it rang, I was sure it would be Leo on the other end, just waiting to give me another lecture. I growled and revved the engine louder until I couldn't hear the phone ringing anymore. Then, I drove to the park where the setting sun only let in enough light that with my helmet on, no one stared at me. I would never admit it to my brothers, but my favorite place in all of New York is the park. I go there to watch the sun set and feed the birds, it calms me in a way that none of that meditation stuff ever does. I sighed as the shell cell rang again, interrupting my peace. Figuring it was better to answer than to ignore it, I picked up the phone.

"Raphael, you have to come home now!"

"April" I asked, stunned to hear her voice, "what's wrong?"

"I...I can't tell you over the phone...just please come home now."

"I'll be right there."

A thousand thought raced through my mind as I once again revved the engine as far as it would go. Why would April be calling me on the shell cell? What was so important that she couldn't tell me over the phone? As I raced through the door, I saw her face, tears were falling freely, and she was leaning heavily on Leo.

"What happened?"

"It's Master Splinter. He was out buying groceries when someone attacked the store. He was shot."

I didn't even listen to the rest of what Leo said as I burst through the door of Donny's lab, the part of the lair that had always been our temporary hospital when one of us was sick. There he was, lying on the bed, bandages wrapped around his middle.

"The bullet didn't hit any major organs." I heard Donny say "But it's lodged right next to his lung. If I remove it, he'll bleed to death."

I shook my head, trying to deny what my eyes and Donny were telling me.

"Is he going to live?"

"I've done all I can for him, it's all up to him now."

I sat next to the bed, picking up his limp paw "I told him I hated him" I said simply, trying not to think about what would happen if that ended up being the last thing I ever said to him.

Donny merely nodded, then turned out the lights and left the room. For the next week we waited in silence, hoping for a miracle. On the eighth night, I felt him remove his paw from my hand, and barely kept from shouting with joy as he finally opened his eyes.

"Raphael?" he rasped out

and I knew then that everything would be all right.

End

I was going to kill of Splinter so that Raphael couldn't apologize. Could you imagine how devastating that would be if the last thing you said to your father was that you hated him and then he died? But I decided to do this instead. Sorry if Raph is out of character, I really don't know a lot about him, so writing him is a little difficult.