Disclaimer: I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or its characters. I only own my OC.

A/N: Hi everyone! It's so lovely to see more favourites, followers, readers and reviewers of this story! It's amazing! I'm currently working on chapter eleven, so I am continuing to update as promised. I'm not sure how long the story will be, but I really do hope that you continue to enjoy it!

DaLadyofSouls: Thanks so much for your continued support and reviews! It really does mean a lot to me, and I'm also glad that you're enjoying the story.

The Silvernote: Again, thanks so much for the continued reviews and support! It brightens my day to see new reviews, and I'm pleased that you like Amelia's character and the pairing too.

Happy reading!

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~ Secrets ~

{ Chapter Four: Invitations }

"Wow... You are tidy." Amelia said as she stood in the doorway of Raphael's room.

Everything seemed to have its own place, and there wasn't really any clutter in there. It wasn't excessively tidy, but it was neat and it was clean, which was more than could be said for Michelangelo's room. There was a large bed in the far corner next to the wall, with four plump pillows on it and a thick looking duvet with a Batman cover on it. Amelia smiled to herself, because while Raphael seemed so mature and so manly, the teenage side of him was very apparent as she looked around the various posters that he'd pinned up haphazardly around the walls.

"My head's enough of a cluster fuck without my sanctuary being the same." Raphael answered, beckoning her inside, "Take a seat."

Rubbing her arms as she tried to settle her nerves, Amelia stepped forward and gingerly lowered herself onto the mattress, sitting on the edge of the bed with an anxious smile. She watched the handsome turtle as he moved around his room, as though looking for something. She'd been astounded when his father had asked her what her intentions were towards his son. What Raphael didn't know was that Master Splinter had been able to see right through her smiles and the looks that she'd been giving the red-clad turtle. The wise rat had openly asked her if she had any feelings of a more romantic nature towards his son, and she had said yes.

Regardless of the fact that they were different species, Amelia had found herself falling rather hard for Raphael. His very presence made her feel safer and happier than she'd felt in years. She'd had a relationship before and she had men like her father and brothers in her life, but none of them could compare to Raphael in any way, shape or form. The thing that upset her the most was that she figured he wouldn't want to be with her. It made sense to her that their physical differences would put him off wanting to have a relationship with her.

She didn't want to make the first move because she thought that Raphael might feel threatened or pressured by that, and she would rather it come from his mouth if he wanted to be with her. She knew that she could be heading for a world of disappointment, but the way that they'd been flirting lately made her wonder if there was something there between them. She just didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Everything okay?" He asked her as he turned back to her, causing to smile and nod at him gently, "You sure?"

"I'm fine. I'm just enjoying this comfortable seat." She said warmly as he sat beside her, "So, this is your sanctuary?"

"Yeah." Raphael replied, ducking his head a little, "When I get angry or stressed, I come here and either listen to music or watch a movie."

He pointed to the square television that sat on a rickety looking stand in the opposite corner of the room to his bed. Amelia nodded and turned back to him, looking into those lovely green eyes of his as he turned his gaze back to her again.

"Then, if my brothers follow me and continue to piss me off, I head out for a while to clear my head."

"At least you have an outlet." She told him, "My outlet is either music or dance. Or art. Or writing. Depending on what mood I'm in."

"That's a lot of outlets." Raphael chuckled.

"Yeah, but sometimes they all come in handy." Amelia explained, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Like, when I'm really angry, I'll go to the studio that I rent out and dance out the anger. Or, when I feel sad, I might play my guitar to soothe myself. It all helps."

"I didn't know you danced." Raphael breathed, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Really?" She asked him with a frown, "I could've sworn I told you. I learned how to do all kinds of dances as I was growing up. Ballroom, tap, ballet... I just had my last pole dancing class on Tuesday."

"Wait... You pole dance?" Raphael asked, stunned.

"Yeah." Amelia answered with a half smile, "I don't do it for money, though. I just do it for the exercise. I could do it for money if I wanted to, and I'd earn a fair amount of money doing it, but I don't feel comfortable dancing naked or in my underwear for perverted men."

"Don't tell Mikey you pole dance, or he'll never leave you alone." The turtle warned her, earning a sweet giggle from the eighteen year old.

Oh, no... Was she blushing? She felt the burning in her face as she looked back at the large turtle, and judging by the look on his face, her blush was visible. Since he'd walked into her life six months previously, he had been the best part of her week. On a Thursday night, he would go to her apartment, they would hang out, and she never actually wanted him to go home. She cared about him so much now that she couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

"You know, I'd really like it if you could spend more time here." Raphael admitted quietly, "You're a breath of fresh air. When you do everything and share everything with the same four people your whole life, it gets kinda stale."

"Really?" She asked him, stunned, "You want me to come here more often?"

"Yeah." He answered, ducking his head again, "If you want to."

"I'd love to." Amelia said with another bright grin, "Thank you."


A couple of weeks after she met Raphael's family, Amelia found herself in regular contact with the turtles as they texted her through the day, and she visited them a couple of times a week. She got on well with all of them, even Leonardo, who still seemed a little tense and closed off around her. On this particular Friday morning, Amelia had woken up to find two texts that were full of emoticons from Michelangelo, and a text from Donatello thanking her for cooking dinner for them the previous evening.

After answering their messages, she happily got herself showered, had breakfast and put on a comfortable dark blue, long-sleeved top, her black work pants, and her even more comfortable black pumps for her five hour shift at the book store. It was only a few blocks away, so she walked to work, and often stopped to pick up a coffee on the way.

As winter was now falling on the city, Amelia had taken to wearing her short, thick, dark-grey winter coat with a white, faux fur trimmed hood. She wore a lovely, light-grey crochet scarf with a matching beanie hat, and a pair of cosy black gloves to keep herself warm in the ever declining temperatures. She left her apartment with her iPod playing in her ears, her black work bag slung over her shoulder, and her hands in her pockets.

She got her morning coffee and headed to work with a smile on her face as she continued to read and answer texts on her T-Phone from the brothers. Leonardo wasn't particularly talkative. Donatello was slightly more talkative, sort of on the same level as Raphael, but Michelangelo was a quick responder and continued to plaster his messages with emoticons. When she arrived at the book store, she put the T-Phone on silent, hid it away in her bag, and headed inside to start her shift.

There were only two other people who worked there. Lillian Myers was the owner and manager, and then there was Ethan Black, who had the only full time position available at the store. Lillian's store was only relatively small, but it was well loved by the people in the neighbourhood, especially the kids. She had a designated story corner for the children to go and read in, and her books were fairly priced, unlike some of the rival book stores in the city.

As Amelia stepped inside, she was met with Ethan, who was approaching with that usual awkward body language that made her feel rather nervous. She had a feeling that the brunette liked her but he was too scared to ask her out, and she'd been trying to figure out a way to reject him if he did ask her out, or to at least talk about his behaviour when he was around her. The guy gave her the creeps, if she was honest. He just seemed to try too hard, and Amelia had always been wary of people like that.

"Hey, Mia."

God. The sound of him saying the nickname he'd given her just sent shivers down her spine, and not pleasant ones. Forcing a smile, she slipped past him awkwardly and headed over to the back room to hang up her bag and coat, trying not to gag on the overwhelming scent of his aftershave.

"Morning, Ethan." She said quietly, "Is Lillian in?"

"No, she's not coming in 'til ten." He replied with an eerie smile, causing dread to fall into the pit of Amelia's stomach, "So, I was wondering if I could maybe take you out to dinner one night next week? Maybe Thursday?"

Oh, the relief! She definitely wouldn't be able to go on Thursday because that was her night with Raphael. She had a feeling that now would be a good time to just all out reject him, considering that she was mad about Raphael, and not only that, but she just wanted him to know once and for all that she wasn't interested in him, in any way, shape or form.

"Ah..." She said quietly, taking a deep breath as she turned to face him, "I'm really sorry, but you know that my Thursday nights are taken already. And, I don't want to lead you on when I have feelings for someone else."

"I see." Ethan answered, looking rather hurt, "Sorry."

Now, Amelia felt quite bad. She bit her lip and approached him carefully, reaching out to gently rub his arm to comfort him. She'd tried to be as sensitive about it as she could be, while making the situation perfectly clear to him at the same time. She didn't want to lead him on and hurt him later.

"No, I'm sorry." She said softly, "It's not that you're not a nice guy, Ethan. It's just that I wouldn't want to go out for dinner and let you think that..."

"No, I understand." Ethan interrupted her with a sad smile, "Uh... I'll man the cash register if you wouldn't mind taking inventory."

"Sure." Amelia answered, biting her lip as he went to turn the 'Closed' sign to 'Open'.


As she entered her apartment that afternoon, Amelia took off her coat and bag, hanging them on the back of her door before retrieving her two cell phones from the bag and heading straight for another shower. Two showers a day weren't uncommon for her if her shifts had involved shifting boxes of books around the store since that particular job always made her sweat like crazy. She always liked to have a shower before work, and after lugging heavy boxes for several hours, she'd need a second shower by the time she got home.

Just as she was getting out of this second shower, her T-Phone started ringing. Brushing her now wet locks out of her face, she wrapped a towel around herself and picked up the phone, smiling broadly when she saw Raphael's name on the caller ID. She swiped her thumb to answer it, bringing the unusual device to her ear.

"Hey, you." She answered with a grin, holding up the towel, "You've got excellent timing. I was just getting out of the shower when you called."

She heard the distinct sound of coughing on the other end of the line, and she grimaced as she gripped the phone a little tighter. Worry swept over her as she continued to the hold the towel around herself to stop it sliding down while speaking anxiously into the phone.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Fine." He choked, clearing his throat, "You were showering?"

"Yeah, I just got home from work." Amelia answered, "I like to shower after my shift."

"Oh, yeah..." Raphael chuckled nervously, "Uh, I was calling because we were wondering if you wanted to stay with us for the weekend."

Amelia stilled for a moment. They wanted her to stay with them all weekend? They'd only known her for a couple of weeks. A whole weekend with Raphael wasn't something to turn down, was it? The only thing she worried about was being able to keep her growing desires under control. Then, she thought about what had transpired today with Ethan, and she knew that a weekend with her friends would be much better than spending it alone in her apartment receiving clingy text messages from her incredibly creepy colleague.

"I'd love to." She said with a melodic laugh as a rush of excitement flooded through her veins, "I'll pack a bag."

"Awesome. Donnie and I will be by to pick you up when it gets dark." Raphael explained, clearing his throat again as his voice sounded raw from the coughing fit, "See you later."

"Bye, Raph." Amelia replied, hanging up the phone and letting out an excited giggle.

She moved both cell phones into her bedroom, dried herself off and then dried her hair. After twenty minutes, she pulled her dry hair up into a loose bun, and then started packing a bag for the weekend. She packed three sets of pyjamas, clean underwear and socks, clean tops and bottoms and a pair of shoes for walking around the lair in. After dressing herself in her dark blue skinny jeans and a pale orange crew-neck t-shirt, she slipped on her grey and white sneaks before heading to the bathroom to hang up her towel and get a clean one, as well as her toothbrush and toothpaste. She packed her birth control pill, her hairbrush and some deodorant and perfume.

Then, she went around looking for her workout gear, since she was hoping to get some exercise in that weekend, and she packed that along with her iPod and speakers. Trying to contain her excitement, she left the bag by the front door of the apartment, and settled down to watch some TV while she waited for darkness to fall over the city. Within ninety minutes, the city was falling dark, and as she put her now cool hair dryer in the duffel bag and zipped it up, she grabbed her phones, her keys and got herself wrapped up in her winter gear.

Before long, she received a text from Raphael saying that they were waiting for her in the alleyway next to her building. Trying not to skip with joy as she left the apartment, she locked it up and headed down stairs to the street below. When she got outside, she disappeared into the alleyway next to the building and the shine of Donatello's glasses caught her eye in the headlights of a passing car. With a beaming smile, she walked towards them quickly, and wrapped her arms around Donatello's lanky form in a warm hug, before turning to Raphael. She didn't see the knowing grin on Donatello's face as she held onto Raphael for a little longer and even gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Let me take your bag." Raphael offered, taking the duffel from her with an amused smile, "Wow... How much do you need for a weekend?"

"You'd be amazed." Amelia laughed, watching Raphael hop down the manhole, leaving her with Donatello.

"Ready?" He asked her, opening his arms to her.

"Oh, sir, you're too kind." Amelia joked, putting her arms around Donatello's neck as the turtle scooped her up with one arm before beginning his descent into the sewer below.

Once at the bottom of the ladder, he placed her on the floor and then climbed back up to secure the manhole cover, joining his brother and friend once again. The group talked excitedly as they headed towards the entrance of the lair, and once they were inside, Amelia was assaulted by Michelangelo, who was whooping and swinging her around in his arms like he usually did.

"Oh, baby-doll! I'm so excited for this weekend!" He cried, squeezing her to him, "I missed you!"

"Mikey, you saw me yesterday!" Amelia laughed, squeezing him back.

"Yeah, but we like having you here, dudette!" He exclaimed, letting her go and looking at her with his big baby-blue eyes, "And now, you're gonna be here all weekend!"

"Mikey, calm down." Leonardo said gently, walking over to Amelia and placing a gentle hand on her back, "Hi, Amelia."

"Hey, Leo." The eighteen year old answered, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face before taking her bag from Raphael, "Uh, where do you want me to put this?"

"I'll take it to my room." Raphael told her, taking it back from her, "Be right back."

The sound of the door to the dojo closing caused Amelia to look towards it, and she was met with the sight of Master Splinter, who was walking towards her with a cup of tea in his hands. She smiled headed over to him, bowing to him respectfully before opening her arms to hug him.

"Good evening, Amelia." He said quietly, embracing her warmly.

"Good evening, Master Splinter." She replied, releasing the ageing rat as he nursed the almost empty cup, "Thank you for inviting me to stay."

"You are most welcome." He told her with a nod, "Have my sons discussed the sleeping arrangements with you yet?"

"No, sir." Amelia shook her head.

"Luckily, Raphael has kindly made up a space in his bedroom for you." Splinter said softly, "If there is anything you need, Raphael will deal with it for you."

Amelia's face lost some of its colour momentarily as she considered what Splinter had just told her. She'd be staying with Raphael during the night, all weekend and Splinter was happy with that, despite him knowing how Amelia felt about his son? To say he was a parent who believed in discipline, he seemed to be quite lax about them sharing a room. Raphael's room was plenty big enough for the two of them, but she didn't want to make things awkward between them, especially since she liked him so much. Unfortunately, though, right now, just looking at him was causing her legs to almost turn to jelly.

"Oh..." She replied, quickly flashing Splinter a grin, "Thank you, Master Splinter."

"So, do you need anything?"

Raphael's voice startled Amelia so much that she physically jolted, causing the others to chuckle around her as she turned back to look at the red-clad turtle with a rather playful glare. Resting her hand on her chest, she let out a shocked laugh and nodded at him in response to his question.

"First of all, don't ever do that to me again." She told him, "And secondly, I was wondering if there was anywhere that I might be able to do my dancing and exercises at some point this weekend?"

"We have a dojo, baby-doll." Michelangelo piped up, "You can work out in there if you want."

"Thanks. I just didn't want to impose." Amelia said softly, casting a quick look at Master Splinter who shook his head and gave her a kind smile.

"My dear, we wish for you to treat our home as your own. If you wish to use the dojo for your own exercises, you are more than welcome to." He said in a gentle voice, taking a deep breath, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall retire to my room to meditate. Goodnight."

Everyone said goodnight to Splinter as he headed away to his room, and once he'd gone, Amelia turned to Raphael, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she put her hands in her pockets. She looked at him expectantly and then licked her lips briefly to wet them before clearing her throat. She didn't want to sound like she was unhappy with the arrangement, but she wanted to just deal with what she considered to be the current elephant in the room.

"So, Master Splinter says we're sharing a room." She said, trying to control her nerves.

"Uh, yeah..." Raphael replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "I mean, I hope that's okay... I just figured..."

"No, it's okay." Amelia reassured him with a smile, "I was just wondering if you were okay with it."

"Yeah, of course." Raphael said with a huff of laughter, moving the toothpick in his mouth from one side to the other, "I wouldn't have agreed otherwise."

As Amelia nodded in response, she tried to quell her growing nerves at the thought of sharing his sanctuary with him for the weekend. She found it really sweet of him to offer her a bed in a space that was so personal to him. She didn't want to disrupt the peaceful balance that his bedroom offered him, and she didn't want to make an ass of herself during their time together either. Trying, to push the horrid thoughts out of her, she let out a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"So... Since this is a slumber party of sorts..." She began, looking at the brothers, "What would you like to do?"

When Michelangelo pulled out the board game Twister from under the old couch, Amelia felt her heart sink in her chest. Oh, these poor boys... They were about to have the ass kicking of their lives. When a wicked grin appeared on her face, everyone looked at her rather nervously. Raphael didn't like the thought of Twister. Amelia could easily get hurt during that game if she slipped and fell. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if she got hurt. Her next words, however, seemed to give him a change of heart about the game.

"Before we start..." She said, clearing her throat again, "I'm gonna have to slip into something more comfortable. Be right back."

She waggled her eyebrows and headed up the stairs towards Raphael's room, leaving four very stunned turtles behind. Raphael smiled. One little game wouldn't hurt if it meant he got to see her in 'something more comfortable', would it?

~ To Be Continued ~


Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading so far!

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