"Knock-knock. Anybody home?"

Allison poked her head out from underneath her comforter. Looking up, she caught sight of the one person that she had expressly asked to stay away from her. "Raphael," she muttered, sinking back under the covers, "when are you going to learn that, just because a girl's window is open, it doesn't mean that she wants visitors?"

Tearing the comforter away, Raphael remarked, "And when are you gonna learn that I don't really care what you want?" His eyes widened slightly when he saw her bare legs. As she angrily snatched her comforter back from him and covered herself once more, he asked, "So, when'd you stop wearing pajamas to bed?"

"A tank top and underwear are perfectly acceptable pajamas," she growled at him. She looked up at him, meaning to tell him to leave, but stopped when she saw that he had a small plastic container in his hand. "What's that?"

Raphael looked down at it before awkwardly offering it to her. "You know how Donnie gets," he explained. "Once he heard you were sick, he started guilt trippin' me to come 'n bring ya something. I told him you didn't want to see me, but he forced me. Nearly took my shell off, callin' me insensitive 'n junk." As she took it, he said, "It's chicken noodle soup, minus the chicken. Donnie said he didn't trust me to actually know anything about cooking meat. Funny guy, ain't he?"

Allison couldn't help but crack a smile. She knew that Donatello probably put the idea in Raphael's head, but the latter turtle was most likely the one who took the initiative. Not that he would ever admit to such a thing, of course. "Thanks, Raphael," she told him warmly. "I'm trying to go vegetarian, anyway."

Raphael smiled with relief when he saw that Allison wasn't angry with him, as he had feared. Seeing the turtle's relief, Allison's smile grew. This only made Raphael break into a grin, and he knew he had to get away before things got sickeningly cheesy. "Right. A spoon. You need one. I'll go get one. Kitchen's still in the same place, right?"

"It didn't go anywhere," she called after him as he left the room. Looking down at the plastic container of soup, Allison sat up and brushed her tangled hair out of her face. Out of all of the boyfriends I've had, she realized, this is the first one that actually cooks for me. Wow, I should've turned my back on human men ages ago.

She still felt a hot blush rise up to her cheeks whenever she thought of the turtle as her "boyfriend." Allison was thankful that she didn't have very many friends, so she didn't have an abundance of questions to answer about who she was dating and how she met him. Yup, just your typical case of a mutant turtle getting shot in an alleyway while protecting you, thus leading you off into an adventure where you temporarily mutated into an evil giant rat and nearly became the property of a black ops government agency before everything turned back to normal. It's only natural that romantic feelings would blossom.

Even after nearly half a year, Allison found it difficult to believe that she was dating a turtle. She hardly thought about it in that way at all, except when her best friend Robert kept pestering her about when he was going to meet the "new boy." She had had to lie about Raphael's age, profession, and… well, pretty much his entire identity. The best part of the entire thing was, Raphael still had no idea. At least, he didn't have any idea yet.

She took a deep breath as she saw him come back in, a spoon and napkin in one hand. "Here," Raphael said, offering them to her. "You ain't contagious or nuthin', are ya?" Smiling absently, she shook her head as she moved over, giving him room to sit besides her. As he did so, he regarded her with narrowed eyes. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"Kid, any other time I'd ask ya somethin' like that, you'd mutter some backhanded comment about chivalry being dead or somethin'." Leaning back against the headboard without removing his eyes from her, he told her, "Ya didn't turn down the chance to be rich 'n famous in Hollywood just to come back to New York and hold out on me, did you?"

She looked at him carefully. After writing a surprisingly successful film based on her experiences with Raphael and his brothers, Allison had realized that staying in the spotlight would make it harder and harder for her to spend time with the friends who helped inspire the movie in the first place. As such, she packed up her belongings and moved back to New York, deciding to fall into relative obscurity by writing comic books that were illustrated by Robert.

"No," she answered, looking down. "I, um… it's nothing. I've just been thinking about Robert a lot lately." Knowing how close the two of them were, Raphael asked if he was all right. Allison replied that he was. Thinking for a moment, Raphael inquired after Rosalind, Robert's two-year-old daughter. "Yeah, yeah, they're okay. Really. I'm… well…."

Motioning towards the container in Allison's hand, Raphael told her, "Eat your soup. Your voice sounds all congested." He was already moving to get up when he added that he was going to get her a couple of Sudafed.

"Raphael, wait." He stopped at the sound of her voice. Allison had put the container down on the night table and was sitting a little more straight. "Actually, I've got something I want to talk to you about." Raphael looked at her levelly before telling her that it could wait until she had some medicine. Before Allison could say anything else, he was gone.

Leaning back, she wondered what would be the best way to phrase this. Telling him flat-out that Robert knew that she was in a relationship with someone named Raphael would get him a little testy. Adding that Robert believes that this Raphael was a twenty-six year old fight choreographer that she met on the set of her film might get him a little more annoyed. However, adding that Robert had vowed never to speak to her again if she didn't introduce him to her "new boy" before the big comic convention the following week might just influence Raphael to skip town for a while.

"So what's eatin' you?" Allison looked up as Raphael came back into the room, a glass of water in one hand and two Sudafed in the other. He sat back next to her as he dropped the aspirin in her hand. "And speakin' of eatin', I didn't make that soup just so you could let it get cold."

Though she was still worried about Raphael's reaction to Robert wanting to meet him, Allison couldn't help but be amused by Raphael's uncharacteristically nurturing behavior. "Easy, Raphael," she joked. "It's only a mild sinus infection; the way you're treating me, you'd think I was dying or something."

"Kid, it's okay for me to change the subject. You, not so much."

"Why's that?"

"Because I said so. Now eat your soup and tell me what's botherin' ya."

She gave him a wry look as she reached over for the soup. "I'm not bothered," she said. She put a spoonful of soup in her mouth and was glad that she had a good deal of acting training. The noodles weren't fully cooked. Raphael, she thought, doing a grand job at covering it up. Impatient as always. "I just… I guess I'm in a little bit of a funk, that's all."

Raphael asked her why, and she decided that there was only one way to go about this. Make something up and string him along. It worked well enough in her stories. "Well, I've been sick for two days and even before then, I hadn't seen your brothers for nearly a week. I know that you guys are busy saving the world and everything, and I don't want to seem like the stupidly possessive girlfriend, but I miss you. And not just you. I haven't gone for training with Leonardo in weeks."

"Yeah, about that," Raphael interrupted, "Leo says he hopes you're still doing your daily katas. And don't expect him to take it easy on you when you get back. He didn't say that last bit; I'm just speakin' from experience."

"Thanks for the warning," Allison replied with a small laugh. "Anyway, I was thinking… next weekend, Robert and I managed to get a table at the New York Comic Convention. I know how much Mike likes comics and everything, and I'm sure there's plenty of stuff there to keep Leonardo and Donatello entertained… so maybe a little excursion is in order for us to all get back together. A little quality time with the buds, you know?"

Raphael raised an eye ridge at the suggestion, and Allison had another mouthful of undercooked noodle soup. "Right," Raphael answered, "that sounds like a grand ol' time. Exceptin' that you forgot one thing. If my brothers and I go out there, we're bound to stick out like, I dunno, mutant turtles in Times Square!"

"Actually," Allison brought up with a weak smile, "it's in the Jacob Javits Center." Raphael was about to argue about it, but she dropped her spoon and put a hand on his arm. "Come on, Raphael, please? I'm stuck there all weekend, and Rob already told me to expect a bunch of fans of The Sewer Dwellers to harass me, whining about why I'm not making a sequel. If I have to put up with that, then I at least want to be amused with seeing you guys pop in and out of the crowd. Come on, most of the people who go to these conventions wear weird, elaborate costumes anyway. You could just say that you're cosplaying as the turtle creatures from Sewer Dwellers."

"I'm what-playing?"

Allison sighed. "Talk it over with Mikey. I'm sure he'd love it. I can buy you guys passes to get in and everything. Have Donatello pull up a review from previous conventions, and you'll see; this'll be great fun."

Raphael had his arms crossed over his chest, looking away. After a while, he mentioned, "I'll consider it… but this better not be the stage in the game where you're tryin' to go about introducin' me to your friends." Allison almost choked on another spoonful of soup. Raphael gazed at her from the corner of his eye. "Bingo."

"Raph, what did you expect?" Allison put the soup down again, her head pounding. This was going to turn into an argument. She just knew it. "We've been sorta kinda 'official' for a long time and Rob's been wondering why I don't date anyone anymore and… well… it kinda slipped out one night."

Raphael asked her how much Robert knew, and Allison told him every detail of the situation, from the fake birthday she had given him to the supposed panic attacks that kept him from meeting too many people. Raphael put his head in his hands. "Jeez, kid, did ya have to make me nearly ten years older than what I actually am?"

"Of course not," she replied sarcastically. "I'm sure Robert would have taken the fact that I'm dating a seventeen-year-old very well." Raphael muttered something about it being legal in some countries and Allison couldn't keep back a laugh. "Yeah, but most aspects of our relationship are only legal in some countries."

Raphael said nothing for a while. Allison tensed up, waiting for the explosion. It was bound to happen. She had told someone about Raphael's existence, which in itself could be seen as a form of betrayal. And though it didn't feel as though she had done anything wrong, at the same time… it did.

"Okay," Raphael finally relented, standing up. Allison blinked up at him in surprise as he turned to face her. "Why not? Seems like fun. But the minute Rob decides that he wants to see me without my 'mask' on, I'm drop kickin' the both of ya and stormin' outta there. I'll go home and run the idea past the guys. I'll give ya a call later with the rundown, okay?"

"O… okay," Allison answered quietly. Clearing her throat, she remarked, "You're taking this rather well. I kind of expected to be screamed at over how stupid and irresponsible I was." It only made her the more uncomfortable when Raphael grinned.

"Why would I go and do a thing like that," he asked, "when I can leave that to Leo?" Allison uttered a small, scared sound. She realized that it was true. Though Raphael was probably miffed at having a persona made up for him and having to live a lie for a while, Leonardo was definitely more likely to get on her case when he found out. Maybe she could hide behind Michelangelo's shell for the weekend.

"Have some pleasant dreams thinkin' about that," Raphael smirked, noting her reaction. He reached down and squeezed her shoulder. "It'll be nice to see Leo yellin' at someone that ain't me, for a change." Turning, he waved at her over his shoulder as he said, "Expect a call from me later, kid. Take care 'a yourself."

Still puzzled as to why Raphael would submit himself to a comic convention, Allison watched as he leapt out of the window.

"Ha! In your face, Donnie!"

Donatello put down the controller and gaped at the screen. This was the third game of Soul Caliber in a row that he lost to Michelangelo, an unprecedented record. "I don't get it," he murmured as Michelangelo commenced a "victory dance" in front of the screen. "You don't even know what you're doing half the time. You just come at me and press buttons at random!"

Michelangelo ceased his jig and looked at Donatello reproachfully. "That's not true! Totally not true! I beat ya fair and square with Maxi's pure soul loop! You can't just stand there blocking all day and expect to not lose HP! C'mon, you're smarter than that, Donnie! Just because you know how to put up a good block doesn't mean the game's yours!"

Donatello calmly stood up and turned off the game and television. "You're calling me too passive, huh? Saying I should instigate an attack every once and a while?" Michelangelo, oblivious as he was, passionately agreed. Without warning, Donatello unsheathed his bo staff and jabbed Michelangelo in the stomach. "Like that?"

"Oof!" Michelangelo put an arm around his stomach, then raised an eye ridge at his brother. "So that's how it is, huh? Wanna bring the Maxi versus Kilik fight out into the real world?" As Donatello twirled his bo with a smirk, Michelangelo withdrew his nunchucks. "All right, smart guy. Can you say, "Mortal Kombat?'"

Donatello easily evaded a lunge from Michelangelo, using his bo as a javelin to swing him towards Michelangelo's back. Using his momentum, he kicked Michelangelo in the shell, forcing him into a stumble. "Heh," Donatello remarked after landed agilely on his feet. "You were right, Mikey. It is fun to attack once in a while."

Annoyed by his brother's flippant attitude, Michelangelo turned back to face him. "Okay, buddy boy. You're aiming to get a glimpse at Mikey's pure soul loop. Get ready for-"

"Michelangelo!" Both turtles put their weapons down at the sound of their sensei's voice. Splinter was standing behind the sofa, staring at them sternly. "What exactly is it that Donatello should be getting ready for?"

Not wanting to get in trouble, Michelangelo put his weapons away as he said, "Uh… not sure, Sensei." With an exaggerated yawn, he said, "But man, I know I should be getting ready for bed. Yup. Nice, calm, peaceful bed." Splinter was clearly unconvinced, so Michelangelo offered him a wide grin and a wave as the turtle headed towards his bedroom.

On his way out, Michelangelo crashed in Raphael. "Well, look here," Raphael muttered, pushing Michelangelo back into the room. "Just the bonehead I wanted to talk to." Michelangelo widened his eyes and proclaimed that he was innocent, he swore! "Nuthin' like that, shell-for-brains. Just sit down and tell me what you know about the New York Comic Convention."

"NYCC?" Michelangelo asked, confused but still excited. "Only that it's the most awesome convention in the history of ever. They air some of it on TV every year. Should be coming up in the next couple of weeks or so, I think. Why?"

Raphael crossed his arms over his chest as Michelangelo acquiesced to sit down on the sofa. Having put his bo away, Donatello sat besides Michelangelo, their prior spat forgotten after the unexpected question from Raphael. "Well," Raphael finally replied, "turns out that Allison and Rob have some kinda table over there-"

"Allison's gonna be at the New York Comic Con?!" Michelangelo asked incredulously. "What, is she a panelist? Does that mean that Rob's gonna be on the Artist's Alley, drawing pictures of us? Cuz, I mean, he did do the graphic novelization of The Sewer Dwellers and Allison gave him some pretty specific details-"

"That's kinda the point, chowderhead," Raphael broke in gruffly. "She wants us to go. All of us." Michelangelo and Donatello stared at him blankly. Splinter asked why she would want them to go along to such a crowded event. Deciding against stating the real reason while Splinter was in the room, Raphael shrugged. "I dunno. She says she hasn't seen us in a while and really doesn't wanna be stuck answering stupid questions at a table all weekend. She figured we'd enjoy it, and we'd help break up the monotony or somethin'."

"Dude," Michelangelo breathed after processing all of this. "I am so cosplaying as Maxi! And Donnie could cosplay Kilik and we could finish off this battle in front of witnesses so you can't fudge the facts, bro."

"What the shell is cosplaying?" Raphael asked.

"Right Mikey," Donatello answered, ignoring Raphael's question. "Because there's an alternate dimension in the Soul Caliber universe in which all of the characters temporarily turn into turtles." Michelangelo looked at him with surprise before recognizing the sarcasm in his brother's voice. "If we end up going," Donatello continued as Michelangelo became disappointed, "then we'd already be dressed up. As the 'fictional characters' from Allison's movie. It'd be a heck of a risk, Raph. Are you sure she wants us to go?"

"Where are we going?" Raphael looked back to see Leonardo enter the room, having just finished cleaning his blades. "I could have sworn I heard something about that silly video game just a little bit ago. Don't tell me they came out with another sequel that Mikey just 'has' to get the day it comes out?"

His arms still crossed defensively over his chest, Raphael explained that Allison had invited the group of them to a comic convention. "I guess that sounds like fun," Leonardo said after a moment's deliberation. Catching sight of his brothers gawking at him in shock, Leonardo widened his eyes. "What? It is supposed to be fun, right?"

"Michelangelo," Splinter spoke up, "what happens at these 'comic conventions?'" Michelangelo explained that the premise was pretty simple: you can talk to artists, writers, actors, or other people along that vein, attend informative panels, buy comics and related merchandise, and just hang around and admire the costumes that people made. Splinter thought about this for a moment, but offered no argument.

The turtles were silent for a while, considering the option. Judging by what he knew from television, Leonardo didn't consider this to be a major danger. From what he's seen, people do come up with some amazing costumes at these conventions, sometimes dedicating months just to show off their talents during this one weekend. Given the characters from Allison's movie and Robert's comic book, they surely wouldn't be looked at as anything more than your average convention goers… right? "Well," Michelangelo finally spoke up, "I guess it'd be kinda unfair for us to enter the cosplay contest, huh?"

Aggravated, Raphael barked, "Will someone please explain what the heck cosplay is?"

"Hey."

Raphael looked up from the bench press to see Leonardo approaching him. "Hey," Raphael returned. "If you're offerin' to spot me, I'm just about wrappin' up here." Leonardo shook his head as Raphael set the weight back on its rest, sitting up.

"Have you called Allison yet?" Raphael looked up at Leonardo guardedly before replying that he hadn't. Sitting besides his brother on the bench, Leonardo seemed to think about this. Finally, he asked, "Raph… is she planning on introducing us to Robert at the convention?"

He always was the sharp one, Raphael thought. Stretching his arms, Raphael replied, "Oh sure. We're just walkin', talkin' CG images, and she's gonna take the time to introduce us 'round to her friends. Get real, Leo."

"You're not looking me in the eye," Leonardo observed. Raphael froze before peering at him. "I figured it'd only be a matter of time before she'd want Rob to meet us," Leonardo said, using his exceptional ability to read his brother. "I'm only concerned about what Rob knows about us already… and how much he knows about you and Allison."

"There's nuthin' to know," Raphael quickly cleared up. "I told ya… there's no reason to put labels on the fact that I spend a lot 'a time with her."

Leonardo gazed at him levelly. It hadn't escaped Leonardo's notice that Raphael had never referred to Allison as his "girlfriend," nor did he make use of the word "relationship." Leonardo had attributed it to the fact that he didn't want Michelangelo and Donatello teasing him about it, but it's been almost six months. It was common knowledge that they were more than friends. The only one who still joked about it was Casey, and those jests were light-hearted enough.

"We had this talk, Raph," Leonardo told him. Raphael tried to interject, but Leonardo simply spoke over him. "I don't care how you view your bond with Allison. The point is, it seems to be following the standard model of a monogamous relationship, and I'm pretty sure she's made that much clear to you. If she wants to be with you after everything that's happened and everything she knows, then she's a truly remarkable person. And let me tell you this, Raphael: if you don't realize that, someone else will."

Raphael stared after his brother as Leonardo rose to his feet. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?" Raphael asked, suddenly defensive. "You're sayin' I don't treat her right or somethin'? That she deserves better than me, is that it?" Leonardo wondered if Raphael wasn't simply voicing his own fears. He found himself surprised, then, when Raphael stood up and heatedly asked, "You sayin' that you realize it, Leo? That you wanna go and be the prince charmin' that no one thinks I can be?"

"What?" Leonardo took a step back, shocked by the accusation. "Raph, how can you even think that? You're my brother, and she's your… whatever you want to call it. Not to mention, she's my student." Realizing even in his anger that his words were uncalled for, Raphael turned away. Leonardo grabbed his arm. "Look, just by that little outburst, I can see that the two of you need to have a serious talk, and soon. You know I'm always willing to help you when I can, but this is something you need to decide for yourself. Allison cares about you, and if she wants to lead you into her social life by showing you off to her friends, then that's only natural. But you have to ask yourself, what do you want? If you're not ready to let Robert see who you really are-"

"That's the thing, Leo," Raphael said. "I'm not. And I don't know if I ever will be." Leonardo was about to continue with his lecture, but Raphael steamrollered on. "But she told me that Rob wants to know, Leo. He's tired 'a gettin' excuses about why he can't meet his best friend's 'new boy,' like he calls me. And she's gettin' tired 'a coverin' up. She hasn't said so, but I can see it in her eyes. She's tired 'a the lies and 'a the secrets. And hey, when it comes right down to it, who can blame her? Who am I to tell a girl that, after gettin' used to her own skin, she's gotta hide in it?"

Leonardo listened to all of this intently. He let it sink in before quietly proclaiming, "Raph… this is something you need to talk to her about. If you're getting uncomfortable with how close the relationship's gotten, then you need to tell Allison to tell Robert that you're sick, or that you can't show to the convention, or something-"

"He gave her an ultimatum, Leo," Raphael told him, rather forlornly. "If there's somethin' about me that she don't want him to know, then maybe there are other things about her that she's hidin' from him. Maybe I don't even exist. Maybe I'm just an excuse for her to keep away from him. Whatever the case, if he don't see me at or before the convention… then their friendship just isn't worth it."

"He… he's making her choose?" Leonardo inquired, appalled. "Robert's making Allison decide between their friendship or her relationship? And she's just allowing that to happen? I can't believe that! That's… that's despicable."

"Don't I know it," Raphael stated with a grim smile. "It ain't the way I woulda chose to meet her pals, but Rob's leavin' me no other choice. Because as bad as it is, he made the ultimatum first. If I refuse to meet him, then I'm forcin' Allison to choose between us, too. And that'll make me just as despicable as him."

With a shrug, Raphael walked away as he finished, "And I may be a lotta things, but despicable ain't one 'a them."