Growing Pains

Chapter 2

At first, no one really noticed anything different. Between April and Casey's departure and Michelangelo's milestone, Raphael went around in a perpetual sulk that left his head retracted slightly in his shell and his posture slouched. It wasn't until Master Splinter was after him to straighten his form while sparring against Leonardo that a tiny flicker of thought registered that Raphael could see more clearly into Leonardo's eyes. Yet, in the flurry of combat, the thought was gone as soon as it came, and forgotten altogether.

June rolled into July and with it came one of the worst flus to hit the Lair since the turtles were tots. All four of them were down for the count. Master Splinter was run ragged as he tended to his ailing sons whose fevers left them delirious and dehydrated. Thankfully, the worst of the symptoms were over by the end of the first week for three of the four turtles; alas Raphael headed into his second week little better than he had been the week before.

With Splinter aided by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo, the final turtle received the utmost of care, and although he was profusely ill for the better part of two weeks, finally come the start of the third, Raphael began to regain his colour. He also recovered his cantankerous attitude, which was much displayed when his family insisted on keeping him in bed that last week. Their coddling behaviour was understandable though, for the red-clad turtle had left his family more than a little nervous for his health.

Still, that did not mean Raphael had to be graceful about accepting his family's efforts to nurse him back to health. Understandably, by the end of the third week, they were all a little on edge and after one particularly aggravating evening, the family decided that come morning, Raphael would be left to his own devices and allowed to leave his room.

It would be that following morning when the change would become more than apparent. After being detained to bed rest for the last three weeks, Raphael was essentially ecstatic to awaken without someone bending over his face to determine if he had made it through another night. As he stood, he was also belatedly relieved that not only could he stand without sinking back down with a bout of dizziness, but he could walk and even go about his business in the washroom without the risk of passing out.

Upon finishing his necessary business, he sauntered into the kitchen with a grin on his face, which his brothers' returned even if theirs was due to the relief of no longer being forced to act as Raphael's twenty-four hour nursing squad. After digging around in the fridge and procuring orange juice, Raphael happily leaned against the counter thrilled to be handling the glass on his own and not having to rely on someone to hold it to his parched lips. With the cool sweet liquid in his gut, he rolled his neck before stretching out his arms, enjoying the creaks being worked out from what he presumed to be too much time stuck in bed. It wasn't until he noticed Leonardo's penetrating stare on him that he suddenly grew self-conscious, "What?!"

Up until this point, both Michelangelo and Donatello had been focused on their cereal trying to awaken their brains sufficiently before training commenced, but at Leonardo's pregnant pause, the two youngest turtles glanced up to see the eldest's brow furrowed and head slightly tilted. Michelangelo, sitting next to Leonardo, elbowed him gently, "Earth to Leo, you there bro?"

Finally Leonardo spoke, "I cannot be the only one who sees the difference."

"Huh?" Michelangelo and Donatello both turned in confusion to where Raphael stood, arms folded over his plastron obviously less than pleased at whatever the hell Leonardo was getting at. When the two youngest began to stare, Raphael snapped, "What is it?!"

"Dude…" Michelangelo's eyes were wide, "Just dude…"

"Agreed." Donatello continued to stare.

"What is with you guys?" Raphael bristled, "If you've got something to say, quit your gawking and spit it out!"

Calmly, Donatello stood. Retrieving a pen from the counter, he grabbed Raphael's hand and led him to the measurement wall, "Stand straight." There was no room for argument in the younger's tone and although still thoroughly confused, with his brother so close the pieces finally began clicking together. After several agonizing seconds, Donatello made a mark, "Look."

Raphael pulled away from the wall and found his eyes bugging out, "No way…" It couldn't be true. Yet there it was clear as mud. Raphael's newest tick sat nestled right on par with Michelangelo's at the five foot ten mark. One month. In one month Raphael had grown nearly five inches. That meant he was slightly taller than Donatello and had two inches on Leonardo, but most importantly, he was no longer the shortest! "This is amazing!"

Leonardo turned on Donatello, "How is that even possible? Is it possible?"

"It's not unheard of Leo," Donatello shrugged, "And obviously Raph is proof that it is possible."

"What Leo?" Raphael groused as he wrapped an arm over Leonardo's shoulders, "Not enjoying being at the bottom?"

"No!" Leonardo fumbled under Raphael's smirk, "I mean… No, I don't care about that! I care about how this happened and if you're normal."

"Uh Leo," Michelangelo tittered, "Hate to break it to you, but none of us are really what is considered "normal.""

"You know what I mean!" Leonardo huffed.

"Yeah I do." Raphael's smile only grew smugger, "It means I'm no longer the short stack on the team. You are."

Donatello and Michelangelo snickered at Leonardo's darkening cheeks, and the eldest let it slide in favour of diverting further teasing despite his worry. At Master Splinter's lack of concern – albeit he was decidedly amused by the situation – Leonardo dropped it altogether. Yet, as July melted into August, Raphael's body was clearly not done.

With the shortening days of summer's end, the turtles would see their brother surpass not just Michelangelo, but cross the six foot line. Come month's end, Raphael found himself nestled comfortably past the six foot two mark while his brothers all remained essentially unchanged. His siblings only seemed that much smaller when one considered the red-clad turtle's muscular physique, which had happily grown right along with the teen. It was around then when April and Casey finally returned from their summer adventures up north.

Of course the turtles had kept in touch with the two over the summer as much as they could, but any short conversations they had managed to have were contained to brief phone calls or emails. Raphael and April had managed the most contact, but Raphael hadn't mentioned the changes. At first he had wanted to surprise her, but as time went on and he began to gradually tower over his brothers, Raphael became a little wary of what his girlfriend would think when she finally saw him. In fact, as their return came closer and his nerves increased, he desperately sought a solution on how he could reintroduce himself to their human friends in such a way that they wouldn't be completely blindsided. That hope was demolished come one warm Friday night when the two teens unexpectedly arrived at the Lair.

Originally they were due back in town on the Saturday, but due to some mistaken overbookings and general airport anarchy, Casey and April, as well as a handful or their other classmates, had ended up ahead of the primary group and flown in a day early. Deciding to surprise their friends and not wanting to wait a second longer after a summer apart, the two opted to ditch their bags at home and head straight for the sewers.

It was still early evening and therefore with the sun still out, the turtles were guarantee to be awake but not yet out on patrol. Leonardo had contented himself with Space Heroes while Michelangelo and Donatello went at it on the pinball machine. At the sound of the turnstiles, the three turtles jumped up to see their beloved friends, "April! Casey!"

"Hey guys!"

The five began hugging and high-fiving and it was with the noise that Raphael was drawn from the showers, which had been putting to good use after a serious workout with his weights. Busy retying his mask around his head, Raphael did not immediately realize who was in the Lair until his hands completed the final knot. It was at said point in time his hands froze with the red mask tails taunt in their grasp. Michelangelo unaware of his brother's discomfort loudly proclaimed, "Check it out, Raph! Casey and April are back!"

It was then as the two humans turned their attention to Raphael that said turtle's gut violently flipped at the obvious expressions of shock that took residence on their faces. Ever the master of tact, Casey immediately blurted, "Holy crap Raph! What have they been feeding you?"

Casey, like Donatello had always been tall. By the end of high school he had reached six feet and had finally begun to fill out. Considering the lead he had on the turtles, coming back to see his best friend – once over six inches shorter – now looking down at him understandably was startling. April was even more stunned though because her boyfriend now had nearly a foot on her. A drastic change indeed when they had been so close in height only a few months previous. It didn't help that along with the height, Raphael had bulked up even more and had probably put on a good hundred pounds as a result. Frankly, he was turning into a behemoth of a turtle.

Michelangelo jumped on Casey's remark, "The better question is "what hasn't he been eating?" Raph's appetite has been through the roof all summer!"

That left Raphael even more self-conscious for it was true. He now ate an embarrassing amount daily and consistently was the one who left the kitchen bare after he'd been through. In fact, it was due to his increased caloric intake that the mutant family had found themselves having to supplement their diet with worms and algae – something they had not done for years – simply to keep up with both the expense and the demand.

"Mikey!" Leonardo, sensing the growing unease, elbowed the youngest in the side, "Enough."

"But Leo…" Michelangelo began to whine before cowering into silence at the team leader's icy glare.

Meanwhile, April had taken several steps towards Raphael forcing him to meet her eyes. As soon as hesitant green met blue, the turtle muttered, "I was gonna tell you…"

But he was cut off when April launched herself at his chest. It was laughable how little an impact she made on collision, but the red-head simply wrapped her arms as far as they would go around his abdomen before sighing happily into his plastron, "God I missed you, Raph."

Overcome by her complete dismissal of his "upgrade" Raphael pulled her tightly into an embrace. With her warmth against him, he couldn't help but lift her up allowing her to wrap her arms around his thick neck while leaning her smooth forehead onto his scaled one. Sighing deeply – for even his voice had lowered a bit – Raphael breathed into her hair, "I missed you too, April."

A/N To my lovely reviewer:

Setoangel01: Yay! I have to admit this is going to be a bit of an interesting fic and I'm a little nervous about it. You will be pleased to know though that I actually have the whole thing written (all 30,000 words of it XD). I had a crazy wave of inspiration over the weekend and wrote it all in a mad frenzy. I'm going to post a chapter a day until they're all up (mostly so I can make sure each is edited sufficiently XD). I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!