Hi and welcome to my second main TMNT fanfiction, sequel to It's Within Us All. It's set a week or so after IWUA. I decided to try to write the first chapter in first person, to see how it turned out. I didn't like it too much, so the rest is in third person. :/ Yeah... I can't be bothered to rewrite this chapter in third person. By the way, in case you can't figure it out (but you're readng a TMNT fanfiction, meaning you are smart), it's in Donatello's POV. ENJOY! :D

EDIT: THIS SITE REMOVED ALL THE ASTERISKS (THE LITTLE STARS) FROM FANFICTIONS (OR AT LEAST MINE) SO IF THERE ARE ANY WEIRD TIME/SETTING JUMPS, IT'S BECAUSE THEY WERE REMOVED. SO PLEASE, USE YOUR COMMON SENSE BECAUSE I AM NOT SCANNING THIS FANFICTION FOR WHERE THEY SHOULD BE AND ADDING THEM.

THANK YOU.

PS While I'm here, may I add that my writing improves drastically at a later point. So please, don't base me on what you read here. This was written LONG before I posted it here.

I leaned across my desk, keeping my hand steady. One false move and I would have wasted the day doing absolutely nothing. If I applied too much pressure, the appliance would fail and it would be even more awkward to repair. I pushed my tongue against the inside of my cheek as I replaced the fuse, not daring to breathe. After approximately six seconds, I lowered my hand and wiped my sweaty brow. I leaned back on my chair, breathing out slowly.

It was fixed.

"Dude." Mikey rested his hands on my shoulders, leaning over me to see what I was doing. "You spent all day fixing the kettle's plug?"

"Someone needs to fix it, and I'm the handyturtle around here," I explained to him, gently prising his hands off me. "Do you know how annoying it is, not having a working kettle? Anyway, do you have anything else to do, other than bug me? I have other stuff that needs doing…"

I mean, I couldn't get anything done if I kept being interrupted. He had been flitting in and out of my lab as he pleased for the past week or so.

"You and your babies," Mikey mumbled, most likely referring to my empty cups of coffee, which stood at one end of my desk. He rolled his eyes, grinning. "You live off that stuff, bro. It can't be good for you."

"I don't live off it. It's just my preferred drink," I snapped, getting annoyed. If it wasn't Mikey commenting on my taste for coffee, then it was Master Splinter or April. I stood up, realizing I wasn't going to get any work done. "I'm going to see what's on TV."

"Actually," Mikey said, "April wants to tell us something. She says it's important. That's why I came here in the first place."

Typical Mikey, coming into my workplace and forgetting why he was there in the first place until the last minute. I rolled my eyes at him playfully, receiving a goofy smile in response.

"Mike, I'm sorry if I'm snappy," I told him suddenly, having briefly gone over our recent conversation. "It's just..."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I get ya."

I followed Mikey out of my lab, wondering what April could want. I could see her as I went through my door, perched on the arm of one of the sofas, chewing on her lip nervously. She was looking at her fingers, which were interlinked with one another. Raph sat next to her, looking bored. "Come on, April. The Crusher is wrestlin' the Detonator in a minute."

"I need to tell you guys something." April gazed at me. "Where's Leo?"

"In his room," Mikey answered for me, sitting down next to Raph. "Sensei says not to bother him."

"Oh," April sighed, looking more worried than before.

She had the right to be anxious about his behaviour- we all were. Ever since we had returned from the warehouse, and our battle with what we called the 'Darkness', Leo had remained in his room, rarely coming out. Soon after I had stitched up his wound from where he had stabbed himself, he had woken up and had taken to staying in his room.

At first, we had tried to coax him out; Mikey had even offered to join him on his morning runs, but Leo still didn't come out. Mikey was quite relieved at this. After a week or so, we got used to it and left Leo to do whatever he was doing. Even Sensei, who had been extremely concerned about Leonardo and had made many attempts to talk to him, admitted that he would come out when he wanted to. I was near certain that Leo did indeed leave his room; however, he did it very discreetly. Anyway, we were all far too busy to take too much notice, as we were all recovering from the battle and had our own lives to fret about.

"Well." Mikey raised his brow, his eyes drifting away from April and towards the kitchen. "What do you need to tell us?" His stomach rumbled, putting a goofy smile onto his face. "My stomach is hungry and it can't eat by itself."

"Okay." April tore her eyes away from Leo's closed door and faced the three of us. "Me and Casey are going on holiday, and we won't be back for a few weeks."

"That's important?" Raph asked her, annoyed. "That's more important than watchin' the wrestlin' match of the century? You and Case are goin' somewhere?"

"Where are you two off to?" I asked April, throwing Raph an irritated look. Sometimes, I wondered whether he thought of anyone except himself. I knew he cared about us, deep down, but sometimes I wished he'd show it more.

"England," April replied. "They have so many sights and wonders there. London will be an absolute blast! But that's not really why I'm here." She avoided our eyes, choosing to look at her hands, which were now clenched into fists. "Betty is out of hospital."

"Really?" I smiled. Betty Arnold was a dear friend of ours, who we had met a couple of weeks ago when we had been investigating the New York Murders. She was an intelligent woman who had been of great help to us. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Mikey was looking at me, snickering, but I was too happy to be annoyed with him. Raph was trying to look as though he didn't care, but I knew he was grateful. He was the one who had got her put into hospital in the first place, and for that I hadn't totally forgiven him. "How is she?"

"Fine, but…" My blood ran cold as I waited for her to answer. I didn't like the way she said 'but'. "She… said it was best that we didn't have contact with her. She said that she thought she was ripping your family apart and…"

"She wasn't ripping our family apart," I said, bewildered.

"And she said that we were better of without her," finished April, ignoring my last comment.

"What does she… better off without her?" For once, I didn't understand. Whatever made her think we didn't deserve her? I blinked a few times, sitting down in a nearby armchair. I could guess why she left. Raph had stabbed her, and even though it was by accident, it had frightened her away from our family. She was worried Raph would lose his temper again and hurt her. Mikey had stopped laughing and looked nearly as upset as I was. Raph's facial expression did not change, which told me that he was purposely trying to look like he couldn't care less.

"Don." Raph reached a hand towards me after a minute of stunned silence, some emotion now showing on his face. "I'm sorry."

"What?" I glared at him. "Why the shell are you apologizing to me? Though I admit, it is nice you are admitting that you are to blame for once."

"I was tryin' to be understandin'," Raph growled, after looking very surprised. "Ya did have a thing for her, ya know."

"I did not," I said angrily. Usually, I kept level-headed, but Raph was really getting to me for once. Betty had been a really good friend and his usual hotheadedness had led to me losing her. Raph started to say something, but he stopped when Angel walked into our lair, her satchel hanging by her side. Raph turned away from me, his face relaxing considerably.

"Yo Angel." Raph nodded at her. "How are ya?"

"I'm good." Angel opened her satchel and began searching through it for something. "Where did I put it…?"

"Do you require any assistance, madam?" asked Mikey, bowing to her. He went over to her, positioning himself next to her.

"Nah." Angel pulled out a large rectangular card, before smoothing it out slightly. "Is Leo in, or is he still being all emo in his room?"

"Emo?" April frowned. "Who said he was…" She glared at Mikey, who suddenly became interested in one of the lair's walls. April sighed, "I mean, Leo's in his room, and Master Splinter…"

"Yes Angel?" a voice asked from behind me. I twisted my body around and saw Leo was standing outside his bedroom's door, looking extremely tired. I nearly fell off my armchair in surprise. I hadn't seen him for at least a week, and there he was… er… being seen.

"Oh." Angel seemed taken aback, most likely because she had not expected Leo to leave his room. I hadn't, in any case. She gave him the card. "Betty sent this to me, and the note that came with it said to give this to you. It's a Get Well Soon card." Leo held it up to the light, examining it. It was a plain white card with a little cartoon cat with a bandage on its head on the front. Leo read what was inside of it before closing it.

"It's very nice," Leo remarked, smiling slightly. "I take it Betty doesn't want me to send a thank you card back?"

"She doesn't want to keep contact," April said quietly.

Leo nodded before returning to his room. Just before he closed his door properly, Mikey said, "I'm sorry, bro."

I stared at the two of them, puzzled. Leo shook his head slightly, closing his door. I tore my gaze off his door and turned back to Angel. Mikey was trying to steal her shoulder bag, and Angel kept moving it out of his reach, giggling.

Raph got up so he could slap Mikey's head. "Quit makin' yerself look stupider than usual, shell head."

"But whatever I do will always look intelligent when compared to you," teased Mikey. Angel clasped a hand to her mouth, stifling her laughter. Raph, who can rarely take a joke, began chasing him around the room, threatening to kill him. I could see Master Splinter watching from the entrance of the meditation room, a hand resting on his forehead. It was pretty embarrassing when those two acted up, especially when we had visitors.

"Well, I'll leave you two to kill each other," Angel said, closing her satchel and making for the door. She stopped, seeing that Leo was blocking the entrance. I stared at him before looking back at his door. How did he get there without us noticing? I concluded that it was an upside to training and meditating for hours on end.

"Angel," Leo pressed an envelope into her hands, "I need you to post this. But I would be grateful if you didn't read who it was addressed to."

"What? Oh." Leo was already heading to his room. Angel nodded slowly. "Sure… I guess. Whatever you say." She put the envelope into her bag, and waved to us. "See you guys later."

"Bye Angel," I said, while April followed her out. "Bye April."

"Farewell, the both of you." Sensei smiled from where he was standing. "I hope you enjoy your holiday, Ms O'Neil."

Mikey blinked at him, and Raph skidded to a stop. "Dude… I mean, Master Splinter, how long were you standing there for?"

"For long enough." Sensei walked into the room, his walking stick in his right hand. "I do wish that you two wouldn't argue when we have guests over. You are only embarrassing yourselves. A ninja must have pride in how he presents himself."

"But ninjas hide in the shadows,"Mikey whined, "so why should we have to take pride in what we look like?"

"Because you do not hide in the shadows all the time, Michelangelo," Sensei replied, coming to a stop in front of him. "The only times when you try to sink into the shadows is when you should be at your morning training session."

"But he ain't hidin' then," Raph commented. "That's too much work. He just stays in bed, sleepin' like a baby."

"Yeah, well..." Mikey's face reddened. I knew Mikey hated it when he was called a baby. "At least I don't spend all day drinking."

I widened my eyes. The fact didn't surprise me; it was Mikey saying it that did.

Sensei narrowed his eyes at Raphael. "I will discuss this with you later, my son. However, it is time for your afternoon training session. Come." Sensei walked away, and we began following him.

"Master Splinter," Mikey looked over his shoulder, "is… is Leo going to be there?"

We waited for him to answer. One of us asked Master Splinter this everyday, but we always got the same answer. Master paused, glancing at Leo's firmly closed door. After a minute of silence, Sensei said, "Not today, but Leonardo is welcome to join us."

One last thing. At one point, one of the characters pretend to be of the opposite sex.