A/N: Hello again (or if you've stumbled upon this story unknowingly, hello for the first time!). Welcome to Book 2 of "The Call" series, My TMNT fanfiction(: if you haven't read the first book, I recommend reading it, though no one can stop you from doing otherwise(': I'll try to update as often as I can.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the TMNT, and this Disclaimer goes throughout the entire story. I do own my OCs though(:

"Do you need anything else?" I ask, sliding my purse over my shoulder. "Is that all that's on the list?"

"Is that all?" Benj asks, flabbergasted. "That list is like three pages long!"

"That's it," Mom says. She shoots me a smile. "I don't want you to be too late for work."

"Why does Lexi always get to be late for work," Benj begins, crossing his arms, "but if we're late, we get in trouble?"

"Lexi's the oldest," Mom responds. "Come on, children. Let's go." She pushes my brother and sister out of the apartment.

They've taken the car, so I take the fifteen minute journey by foot.

In the beautiful May afternoon, flowers are blooming and birds sing to each other. I head through the park, which is a scenic route I like to take.

"Lexi!" Noah.

I smile and turn towards the call. My brown haired friend is jogging over towards me, wearing jeans and a striped dark purple and red collar shirt.

I laugh. "Are you stalking me?"

"No." He pauses. "I was taking a walk and I saw you. So what are you doing out here on a lovely spring afternoon with nothing but your purse and that grocery list to keep you company?" he asks.

I snort. "You basically just answered your own question." I show him the list.

"Can I shop with you?" he asks. I laugh. Noah wants to do the most boring task in the world with me: grocery shopping. He hasn't changed a bit.

"Knock yourself out," I say.

"Literally or figuratively?" he asks, and we both shake our heads politely to a table with two Girl Scouts behind it.

"You choose," I respond, looking down at the grocery list.

"You really think I'd choose literally?" he exclaims. I don't even glance up at him before I head for the fruit section.

"To prove a point, probably." I pick up a few apples. I turn to get a bag for them, but my eyes widen to see Noah holding out a hat for me. "Overachiever..." I drop them in anyway.

"So how've things been? What's California like nowadays?" I ask.

"Nothing's really changed much. Yet at the same time, everything has."

"Okay well start with what hasn't changed," I say.

"Well, the sun still comes up everyday. It's still super hot in the summer and chilly in the winter. There's still a beach just down the street and that beach still has an ocean and a lifeguard-"

"Okay," I laugh. "Is there anything besides the geographic expectations that haven't changed?"

"Not really," he admits sheepishly.

He tells me about the people back home, and old friends of ours. I ask him about his family, and his face lights up when he talks about his sisters and how proud of them he is.

I smile. I love it when guys love to talk about their family. That's one of the reasons I love Leo.

Shoot. Leo. He was going to tell me something!

I inwardly groan, and try not to show that my mind is somewhere else. He must think I'm the biggest jerk out there! He had started to tell me something like four times, and got interrupted each time. And to be honest, the only reason I really, really wanted to know was because a small, desperate part of me really hopes that he was going to tell me that he feels the exact same way that I feel about him.

But why would he feel the same way? Especially after what happened last night? I remember that I haven't read his letter either.

After we finish shopping, I realize that it's going to be difficult to get home with all these things, walking.

An angel of a car horn gets our attention. I turn and see that it's April.

"Need a ride?" she asks, looking amused. "You look lost."

"Yes please." Noah and I both get in the car. He's not a complete stranger to her. I mean, April was at the party so she witnessed Noah's surprise visit.

She drives us to the apartment complex, and then just because I'm afraid of being even more late to work, I trust Noah with the key to the apartment so he can bring the groceries in. While April drives me to my work, she asks me a question that catches me off guard.

"Were you and Noah ever in a relationship?"

"No," I sputter, almost quick enough to seem guilty. "Just friends."

"Did you ever have a crush on him?"

"Nope."

"Did he ever like you?"

"Nah."

"Wow..." April mumbles. "Impressive."

I laugh. "Believe me, when you've watched each other go through puberty and get hit in the face with dodge balls, it's hard to be attracted to them like that."

"So there was a malfunction?" I ask, investigating the bottle full of bluish-green substance.

"It wasn't really a malfunction. Just a mistake. I don't know how but we accidentally poured the wrong reverse substance into it. Now, it's a larger, more hazardous chemical," Dr. Faulkner explains. He looks ashamed.

"Do we know who it was?" Rose asks. Whoever it was had ruined all chances of finding a cure, and caused us to start over the entire process. We now need to go out and wait for another bit of substance to be transported. The lab workers had mailed out the results to the public labs around NYC but the papers were lost and never reached the labs.

"No," Dr. Faulkner says. "We have no idea."

"We need to find them!" I exclaim, shaking my head. "There's no other option."

"There are other options," Mom disagrees, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Whoever did this isn't going to quit. We need to focus on working hard to get another cure now."

"But all the papers were lost in the mail," Benj reminds, crossing his arms. "We'll have to start all over."

Mom nods once. "Then that's what we'll do. We aren't going to give up just because we lost the results. Now I want you to go back to your desks. We'll figure it out." That's our dismissal. I bite my lip and watch my mom leave, composed.

"Lexi?" Rose asks, and I turn towards my younger sister. "Why do you think someone would do something like that?"

I pause all my movement. I don't know. But I can't tell her that. I'm sick and tired of hearing "I don't know". Aren't adults supposed to have all the answers? Then the thought hits me.

I am the adult now. I'm eighteen. My siblings and younger students are going to be asking me for the answers, expecting me to know. But I don't know.

"Sometimes people don't want to see us help people. They don't want others to be happy," I explain quietly.

"But we worked so hard..." she mumbles, shaking her head. "I don't understand."

"Bad people do bad things." But the scary part is that I don't know that this person is bad. It could be someone we love. And someone we think loves us.

"So...what was he like? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's alright," I say, but it isn't really. I've always found it difficult to talk abut Tristan. "He was probably one of the best boyfriends ever. Which is kind of stupid to say since he was my only boyfriend."

"I'm still surprised about that," April admits, as we approach the sewer lid.

"I'm not," I snort, shaking my head. "Guys are usually attracted to my sister more than they are to me."

"That's not true," April points out. "I think Rose attracts different kinds of guys." I'm about to disagree with her, but then I realize she's right. The kinds of guys who like Rose are a lot different than the ones who like me.

"I guess," I agree slowly. "But Rose pretty much attracts a variety of guys. It's hard not to stop and stare. She's gorgeous." Through the darkness, I see April give me a look. "Don't worry, no self-deprecation here. Just stating facts."

"What kind of guys do you attract?"

I laugh. "Typically nerds, term loosely used. Or sometimes I get the ones that are really close friends. Like guy friends."

"And you're sure Noah wasn't one of them?"

I sigh. "April, Noah isn't into me like that. And I'm not into Noah. Simple."

"When was the last time you verified on his part?" When I don't say anything, she nudges me and through the dim light, I can see a smile on her face. "Come on, Lexi. When was the last time you two actually talked about possible feelings?"

After a long, hesitant pause, I let out a sigh and shrug.

"7th grade..."

"Things can change in a space of six years," April warns. "Don't be surprised if he asks you out."

"We've been on dates before..." I inform, crossing my arms. "We used to see movies together when we were kids."

"It that kind of date," she says. "I mean 'fancy dinner and a kiss' kind of date."

I roll my eyes. "Not gonna happen."

"Are you seriously telling me you've never had romantic feelings for him? Not ever?" April verifies. "Ever?"

I bite my lip as we near the end of the sewer.

"He was my first kiss. That's it. It wasn't even really a kiss," I add quickly, reaching over to pull the pipe to open the wall. But before I can, April stops me.

"He was your first kiss?" she exclaims. "That's the kind of romantic thing I'm talking about! You've been denying it!"

"There were no romantic feelings!"

"Then why did you two kiss?" she asks quizzically, putting a hand on her hip.

"It was my last day in Malibu. I know we were like, twelve, but where I lived, a lot of our friends had already had their first kiss. He and I both knew we'd never kissed anyone so we decided to be each other's. It wasn't a big deal. It was like two seconds. Not even as long as my mistletoe kiss with Leo."

"But it's still a kiss!" she exclaims. "And you haven't spoken to him since that day?" I shake my head. "Then something could've happened with his feelings!"

"It doesn't matter, April. You know I love Leo." I finally pull the pipe before she can object. I walk through, wanting to be done with the conversation.

But April isn't.

"I know that," she presses. "But you need to at least confront him about something that you may be denying."

"I'm not going to confront him about something that isn't even true! This is what you want!"

"This isn't what I want; it's what he wants!"

I groan. "Well it isn't what I want!" I slouch into the cushion of the couch.

"What're ya arguin' about? Ya usually get along just fine," Raph starts, taking a seat by me.

"We're not fighting. We're just...arguing about something," I say, starting into the television.

"It's obvious Noah likes Lexi but she's too stubborn to admit it," April explains.

I groan.

Mikey pauses his video game and turns to the rest of us. He props himself up on his elbows and grins.

"Ooh...are we talkin' about love?" he coos. "I wanna join!"

"He doesn't like me! He and I have been over this!" I groan.

"Yeah, six years ago!"

I flip through the channels, and find Animal Planet. Monsters Inside Me is on. I lean forward slightly as I listen to the terrifying stories of the viruses and bugs that have managed to attack. After about fifteen minutes of watching it, Mikey is covering his eyes and whining.

"Turn it off...turn it off..." he whimpers, squeezing his eyes shut.

I laugh. "Alright, ya big baby." I switch the channel to Investigation Discovery.

"Of course..." Raph mutters.

"Hey," I warn. "You can leave if you want."

"This is my home! I can leave whenever I want," he defends, crossing his arms.

I stare at him. "That's what I just said."

He's silent. A pillow comes flying through the air at me.

I laugh. We watch tv for a little while, until their father appears in the doorway.

"My son," Master Splinter says. "It is time to be off to bed. You will be having training earlier tomorrow than usual." He smiles at April and I. "We have been delighted to have you over."

We say goodnight to the turtles. I try to find Leo's eyes, but he simply gives me a wave and heads off to his room. I try not to show my hurt when he doesn't even look back. April doesn't seem to notice.

"Let's get you home, girlie."

"Right," I say, following April out of the lair, leaving behind the life that has gone to bed.

My hands take hold of a long, well-written paper: Leo's letter.

Dear Lexi,

First off, I would just like to tell you happy 18th birthday. I remember my 18th birthday. April and Casey had gone the extra mile and gotten us a really good cake and everything. Of course, Mikey being, well, Mikey, he managed to knock the cake over. It landed on my Splinter and let's say that didn't end so well. So I'm hoping he won't do that to your birthday cake.

You always somehow make everyone feel included. And I guess sometimes I feel upset that I have to share my friendship with you with my brothers. You aren't going to spend your time with one single person (even though obviously I am your best friend... Just saying). You always manage to spend equal time with everyone and make everyone feel included.

I know this is probably really awkwardly written and I'm sorry. Next time will be better. There are so many things I'd like to tell you, but I guess that can wait. Because I promise that this friendship will be a long lasting friendship. You're too amazing of a girl to pass up an opportunity to know. You're too special to me.

I hope you have the best 18th birthday ever. Remember how smart, thoughtful and beautiful you are. You've been the best friend to me and I hope I've been able to return the favor.

Love,

Leo

A/N: Welcome to chapter one of the second book of the series! Things might be confusing if you haven't read the first, so again, i recommend reading that ^.^' thank you so much for reading this!(: I always appreciate it so much!