Disclaimer & Warnings:

I do not own the Turtles, as much as I would love to.

Eventual romantic pairings include 'turtlecest': OCxDonnie; LeoxRaph.

Rated T currently for mild language; later chapters will be rated M for adult content.

Summary:

Splinter brings home the daughter of his old friend to help cope with her mother's death. As she befriends each of the Turtles, they deal with their own awakening feelings for her... and possibly each other.

Chapter Four

By that afternoon, the lair was in order again, although the couch looked lonely facing a blank wall where the TV had been. They had taken all the trash up to the dumpster that was near the sewer exit, and the kitchen was finally sparkling. As lunch had been abandoned and ruined, Mikey had gotten down an old slow cooker and thrown a chicken and vegetables in it.

They were joking over their late lunch, trying to tempt each other into a friendly food fight, when the main entrance door clicked. Silence fell over the kitchen, and Donnie's back stiffened with anger.

Odd scraping noises came from the entrance hall, and reluctant curiosity got the better of them. They stood and walked over to see what Raphael was doing.

Raphael was dragging a large and obviously heavy cardboard box into the lair. He looked up as he struggled with the box, his expression sheepish as his brothers rounded the corner.

"Uh, hey guys," he said, his voice strained. "Could I get some help here?"

As one, they crossed their arms and just stared, and Raph cringed.

"Hey, look," he said, gingerly dropping the edge of the box to the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Donnie said, his eyes flashing angrily. "I've seen you in rages before but this…" He motioned to where the TV had sat for years. "This is mindblowingly stupid."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry," Raph repeated, rolling his eyes. "It was an accident, Don-"

"Accident or no accident, you need to learn to control your temper!" Donnie cut him off, pointing a finger at him.

"Okay, Don, geez." Raphael bent down and picked up the box again with difficulty.

Donatello stepped up to him, now close enough to jab him with his finger. "Don't think 'sorry' is going to get you out of this mess, Raphael. And don't dismiss me when I'm talk… talking to… What is this?" He stared at the side of the box.

Raphael grimaced, sliding the box toward the living area. "Can't you read?"

"It's a TV!" Mikey screamed, jumping up and down and pointing. "A brand new TV!"

"Where did you get this, Raphael?" Leo asked, his brow furrowed.

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're implying," Raphael grunted, still wrestling with the weight of the TV.

"Just answer the question, please."

Raphael stopped for a moment, looking embarrassed again. "I had some money saved up. For a rainy day an' all that." He ventured to smile at Donnie, who was still standing frozen. "I gave Casey the money and he went in and got it for me." He shrugged awkwardly. "It's refurbished, which I'm pretty sure that means it was used at some point, but I was able to get more features with this kind. And it's bigger than our old one."

"22inches!" Mikey shrieked with joy, hugging the box. "Let's get it out and see it!"

"Its high definition, too," Raph said, backing away as Mikey began violently tearing into the tape on the box. He walked back over to Donnie and Leo. "Hey, I really am sorry. I hope this helps a little." He looked down at his feet, shuffling them nervously. "It really was an accident, and I knew I had to fix it. Not you, Don. Me." He turned to Leo, who still wore a formidable expression. "And hey, buddy, you watch the news anytime you want. I'll even watch it with ya, too. Without an argument."

Donnie was trying to read the price tag, but it had been conveniently ripped down the middle, and he wondered just how expensive this TV was.

"You should apologize to Mikey, as well," Leo said in a low voice, his face relaxing into a soft smile. "I was angry when you left, and I ended up breaking the toaster… again."

"Again?" Raphael leaned back and laughed. "Leo, you are a riot! What, ya got lasers for eyes? You can't even look at anything in the kitchen without it blowing up!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Leo muttered, though with a grin. "So, ah, Mikey and I got into a heated debate and poor Donnie here," he threw an arm around his brother, "lost his temper at both of us, for good reason."

Raphael's brows waggled. "You lost your temper? Geez. I'm really sorry, Don." His face fell, knowing full well that Donnie almost never got visibly upset.

"Just, please… Please don't do that again," Donatello begged.

Raphael snapped off a salute with a serious expression. "Never again. Instead of the remote, I'll just toss Leo at a wall. That'd probably make me feel better, anyway."

Leo traded a few half-hearted punches with Raph in response, stopping when they saw Mikey finally lift the new TV out of the box.

"It's gorgeous," Donnie breathed. "I can't remember the last time we had something this nice, Raph." He nodded, finally smiling at his younger brother. "You did well."

Raphael puffed his chest slightly, proud of himself.

"But don't think you're getting off quite so easily," Donnie added, frowning. "Master Splinter is highly displeased with you, as well."

Raphael shrugged. "Meh, I don't care, as long as you guys are happy again." He chuckled as he watched Mikey and Leo carefully dragging the TV over to the wall, treating it as if it were made of glass. "And as long as you guys can forgive me," he added more softly.

Donnie patted his arm. "I think we've all been cooped up in here for too long. We've got lair fever." He tilted his head, remembering Splinter's conversation earlier. "And that's about to change. We're going to have a visitor for a while."

"We are?" Raph asked, startled.

"Yeah. C'mon, help me set this up while I tell you."