Chapter Three

Raphael awoke, groaning at the catch in his neck. He hadn't done anything overly strenuous the day before (for him, anyway). He was afraid, and highly suspicious, that it was due to stress.

Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his head.

Last night had been rough. He didn't know what Casey was quite thinking, wanting to take Lindy.

He stopped at that thought. He knew Casey was generally, deep down, a good guy. But he still didn't want him taking Lindy away from them.

And he'd yet to be able to talk to him about it. He sat up in bed, moving to put his feet on the floor.

He needed to find Casey and talk to him.

Mike looked up when April came into the kitchen. "Good morning!" He said, as cheerfully as he could muster.

"Morning, Mikey." April answered smiling weakly.

It was silent for a few minutes, until April began talking again.

"Mikey, you know… I feel really bad about Casey yesterday. Upsetting everyone wasn't our intent."

Mike seemed to stiffen for a moment, before turning back and looking at April. "It was just a shock, you know? He hasn't been around for years, and now he wants to take her…"

"He doesn't want to take her, Mikey." She shifted. "Just… visit with her."

"But, why now?" Mike turned a chair around and straddled it.

"He's trying to turn some things around." April answered.

There was a moment of silence again. "And you?"

April shifted uncomfortably again. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for second chances."

Mike paused. "For how long?"

"A few months now." April answered. Mike sighed.

"Have you told Donnie yet?" He asked.

"No." She said. "I… couldn't."

"Well you better… and soon."

"I know, Mikey." She said, her voice going down to a whisper. "I know."

Finding Casey was no real feat by any means. Especially when you were a ninja. The loud grunts and the sounds of fists hitting something could be heard almost all the way at the house. The man was not what one would call 'stealthy'.

Raphael watched his friend fiercely using the punching bag for a few minutes before he moved forward.

"Casey." He called, a bit more gruffly than he had originally intended.

Casey jumped a little, looking up. He relaxed when he saw his friend walkoing towards him.

"Jeez Raph… Don't surprise me like that."

"You mean how you surprised all us last night?" Raph said, almost surprising himself with the question. He noted his friend's eyes narrow at that.

"Come on, Raph. Don't tell me they got you actin' all cautious now, too." He waved a hand dismissively.

Raph grunted at that. "They don't got me doin' nothin'."

"Then what seems to be the problem, bud?"

"Well…" Raphael stopped. "Casey, man… Ya can't just… do what you did."

"What did I do?" Casey asked, annoyance growing in his voice.

"Ya can't just… Come on, you know how things ended all those years ago! And then ya just come waltzin' right back in and try and take away the one thing we… that Don has! Things're gonna get tense!"

It was silent for a long moment. Casey stared at Raph.

"You better watch it. Living up here with a kid… at the farm. Yer getting' soft, Raphie boy. All thoughtful and crap." Casey sighed, frustrated.

"Look," He continued. "I didn't mean to come up and cause trouble, okay?" Raph threw him a look at this and he sighed again. "Alright, alright." He continued, throwing his hands up in the air. "Maybe I wanted to shake things up a little."

"Mmm hmm." Raph agreed, crossing his arms in what he realized was a scarily 'Leo' pose.

"C'mon, Raph," Casey began. "I'm sorry, I just… you know how I get!"

"Yea, Case. And I'm sayin' that you need to not do that. Rosie is four now. You've been gone for years…" He stopped, and looked around before continuing, his voice a harsh whisper, even though he knew there was no one around them.

"You can't come in here and… mess with her like that. I won't let you, even if Don's too… Don to say anything about it!"

It was silent for another moment.

"What's going on with you and April?" Raph blurted out.

Casey looked over at his friend and Raph could swear he saw a sheepish glint in Casey's eye. His heart sank.

Raph sighed. "When?"

Casey let a bit of a grin slip onto his face. "Few months." His grin faded, however, as he watched Raph's shoulders fall.

"Ya coulda told me, though." Raph said, his voice a near whisper. "Given us some warning before showing up here with her." He hissed.

"Sorry, Raph, really…"

"No you're not" Raph interrupted. "You're as much a hothead as me. Ya did it on purpose, because I would have." He paused. "Or, I woulda thought about it, at least. That was low, Casey…"

April stood in her bedroom. She wasn't really sure if she could go to lunch this afternoon. If she did, then she'd have to face everyone, and she knew after last night it wouldn't be pretty. She'd gotten lucky only seeing Mike this morning. That thought saddened her suddenly. Lucky not seeing them? She sighed. He'd had so many questions, and rightfully so. But last night still bothered her. Before then,she'd never seen Don look so sad before, and Leo so unsure.

"April?"

April whipped around at the voice. She stopped, when she saw who was in the doorway. She'd been dreading this moment all night, but knew that it had to happen.

"Hey, Don."

Don stood in the doorway, staring at her, his arms crossed.

"You can come in, if you want."

"I'm not sure if I want to, yet." Don said curtly.

April blinked. There was something different in Don's demeanor nowadays. She couldn't quite place what it was, though. It had emerged soon after acquiring Lindy, she noted, but now it was fairly evident. Whether it was the passage of years, or being a parent, she wasn't sure. He was… more confident, maybe… more decisive. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Right now, though, she knew he was not at all happy.

Don looked at her for a few more minutes before she sighed audibly. "I'm sorry, Don, okay? He wanted to come. I couldn't just say 'no', could I?"

There was a pause at that, and she turned away a bit. "Alright, fine. I could have, technically, said no."

"Then why didn't you?" Don asked suddenly. April could hear a sudden pleading tone enter his voice.

"It's… complicated, Donnie." She answered.

"Is it?"

April sighed again. "You're not making this easy for me, you know."

"You thinkthis is easy for me?" Don hissed. "For Lindy? For any of us? You know how things went down when you guys left." Don walked farther into the room as he spoke.

"I'm sorry, Don. I never meant to make things harder for you… but I wanted to see Lindy, and… and you know that Casey and I are giving it another go… and he wanted to come…" She stopped at the look on his face at that. Had he known?

"To watch over me, I presume." Don stated flatly.

April's cheeks flushed. "Why would you ever assume that."

"Because I know Casey." Don said. "Why else?" He was starting to get worked up now. "You can't try and tell me it was because he missed us. It's been years, April."

He moved up in the room again. "And, suddenly, the first time you come up in months, and he has to come too? And he wants to take Lindy…"

"He doesn't want to 'take' her, Don. He just wants to spend some time with her."

"I don't know that." He looked at her pointedly.

"Are you saying I have something to do with this?" April cried. "You need a reality check, buddy, because if you think, for one second, that I brought Casey up here for the sole purpose of taking Lindy away from you…" She paused a moment, taking a breath. "Or that he came just to watch over you? Come on, Don. You're smarter than that. You never even gave him a reason to watch over you, anyway."

"Never stopped him before." Don retorted.

"Because maybe, in his own way, he cared."

"Are you saying that I didn't?" Don's eye ridge rose inquisitively.

"Well… you sure never gave me any straight forward signs." April said. "In that way, you were worse than he'll ever be. At least with him, I know how he feels. With you, I only know what to expect…"

Her words broke off as Don moved forward suddenly, standing only inches from her. She could feel his breath on her neck.

"I can't change who I am, April."

No," She said. "And neither can he."

"You can't keep comparing us."

"Then what can I do?" She cried. "You two are what I know. The only… slight part of a relationship I ever desired, or wanted. Total opposites, but both what I wanted. He just knew when to make a move, and not just sit back and watch from the sideli-"

Before he knew what he was doing, before she did, Don had closed the gap between them, soundly kissing April on the lips.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still, seconds and milliseconds becoming minutes and hours.

Suddenly the door opened, breaking them apart. They stared, wide eyed, at the figure doing the same to them.

"Oh my God…"

Author's Notes –

My deepest apologies. I have no real excuse for myself other than an inability to write this. That and some real life stuff that, as usual, got in my way. For the record, the end of this chapter surprised me as much as you, I'm sure. It wasn't meant to end that way. But I can't fight what HAS to be written, if you get what I mean.

Thanks for the support, and reviews…They mean a lot to me, really. The next chapter will be coming sooner than this one did, I hope.