A Ninja's Dance

Chapter 4

April was drinking wine. It had been a hard day and she was worried, and when she was worried she tended to have a glass of wine to calm her nerves.

As far as she had known when she had left for work everything was fine. Raph was going to come over and hang out with Casey for a while, they were going to have a few beers and if Raph was convincing enough the two of them would go out looking for some trouble.

April didn't like that bit but Casey thought she didn't know and that was fine by her. Partly because she knew Casey could look after himself, partly because Raph was with him and despite his temper he would keep Casey safe and partly because she liked watching him squirm when he was caught out and had to tell her about his jaunts into the big wide world of street combat.

There was also the fact that she knew she would never be able to stop him. The argument to try and make him quit would be never ending and leave him with a hole in his life she wasn't sure would be easily healed. Despite herself she loved him too much for that.

But back to the glass of wine. It was half way done now and she was indeed feeling a little better, still worried, but better. When she had gotten home Casey had told her about Raph's sudden departure. He'd gotten a call from his brother and had left without much of an explanation, looking grim. None of them had done anything like that for a long time. Not since Winters tower.

So what new threat had arisen? What fresh batch of bastards were trying to hurt her friends now?

Casey was doing his best to calm her down, rubbing her shoulders and insisting it was all fine, that Mikey had probably just messed something up in Donnie's lab again and everyone was annoyed about it. But April wasn't convinced. It had been too quiet lately, what with the Foot on the downward spiral to nothingness and the Purple Dragons buying up everything they could.

Maybe she was just being paranoid.

"I'm telling ya babe, stop stressing! Its totally cool. You know the guys can handle whatever the problem is, if it's a problem at all. We don't know anythin's even wrong!" Casey smiled and patted the couch next to him, shuffling back to allow room for her. April nodded after a second and joined him with a slight sigh.

"You're right. I'm just overreacting. Its work, after the Winters fiasco everyone is desperate to get their hands on his finances and we're getting dragged into it waiting for his payment to clear. I just don't like dealing with lawyers to get paid. Plus I'm waiting for the shoe to drop for the boys and some new…bad thing…to come creeping out of the woodwork"

"Ya don't know for sure some 'bad thing' will come up." Casey chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.

April snorted and took another sip of her wine.

"When has it ever not? Those boys are like trouble magnets, anything even slightly out of the ordinary or dangerous finds them like…like…" April made a whistling noise and mimed a bomb going off when she couldn't find the words.

Casey laughed.

April went to ask if he thought any differently but was cut short when the home phone rang. She sighed again, pecked Casey on the lips and stood to answer it, setting her wine down on the table as she went.

"Hello?"

Casey got up from the couch to wander into the kitchen and April heard the fridge door open, followed by the clank of a beer bottle being withdrawn. She smiled, pressing the phone to her ear.

"Hey April, s'Raph" Raphaels voice was unmistakable, he had a gravely tone that wasn't particularly normal and seemed to come from deeper in his chest than any of his brothers. April noticed it more because of his accent though. When she had first met the turtle boys she had been fascinated as to how a single brother, who had been raised the same as the other three, could sound so different in every way.

"Oh, hey!" She waved at Casey as he re-entered the room and pointed at the phone, miming 'Its Raph' a little too dramatically. "Hang on, I'm going to put you on speaker" She pushed the little button on the phone and set it back on the hook "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. Loud and clear."

April retrieved her wine and had another few sips as Casey took over the conversation.

"So what happened today bro? Got me a little worried when you left like that"

Ah-huh! So he had been worried. April made a face at him and Casey shrugged innocently, popping the top off his beer. Raph was his best mate, what sort of friend would he be if he wasn't just the slightest tad bit worried?

"Mikey found a girl in the sewers all shot up and broken. I hadta get an IV. S'why I'm callin' actually." He paused just long enough for the information to sink in before continuing. "April, ya still got that bag o' clothes by ya door ya keep meanin' to donate?"

April blinked, a little stunned by this new development but recovered quickly and managed to respond.

"Ah, yeah, yeah I do" The bag of clothes had been there for weeks now, she had been motivated to clear out her closet and had yet to be motivated enough to move the clothes out of the house. "Wait wait Raph, back up. Did you just say Mikey found a girl? In the sewers? Is she Foot? PD?"

"Nah, not as far as Donnie can see she ain't. She saw a trade go bad and ran for it. Got chased and ended up in the sewers to get away. Donnie recon's she'll live. Anyway, the clothes. Mind bringin' a few down here when ya have a chance? All her stuff has been torn up pretty bad and we ain't got nothin' to fit her."

April stared at the phone.

"Yeah, of course, I can drop them to you tomorrow before work. So she's just some girl? That's horrible! How badly is she hurt?" There was a pause on the other end of the line as Raph seemed to consider how to answer that before he spoke.

"Bad" That was it, one word and it told both Casey and April everything they needed to know.

"That's terrible dude. Got any idea who did it?" Casey grunted out the question, putting a comforting hand on Aprils shoulder.

Raph made an odd whistling noise through what April imagined was gritted teeth and his voice took on a harder edge.

"Fukin' Purple Dragons. They…hang on, hang on." The phone muffled as Raph pulled it away from his ear to deal with whatever mysterious event was happening in the lair before he came back on the line "Look, I gotta go. Masta Splinters back and we gotta walk him through what happened. Bring the clothes round in the mornin' yeah? We'll talk more then."

Then he hung up without saying goodbye.

There was a long pause as April and Casey processed what they'd just been told before April sighed loudly. She finished her wine and pressed the disconnect button on the phone.

"Well. I guess that's not the worst news we've ever had from them. Certainly not the best, but we've had world disasters before" She said finally after another moment's pause. Casey nodded from beside her.

"True that. It coulda been worse I suppose. Don't know what to think about the PD attackin' people in the street, but at least she's safe with the boys for now."

April mimicked his nod and set down her glass.

"Yeah. Though she's probably terrified if she was anything like me when I first met them. She might not be feeling so safe"

Casey 'hmmm'ed and sat back down on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"Maybe it would be best if ya hung around there tomorrow you know? So she can see a pretty face instead of Raphs ugly mug first thing?"

April had crossed the room and was busy digging through the clothes next to the door to find something suitably comfortable for an injured woman or unknown size and shape to wear while re-cooping.

She was surprised how upset she was about what Raph had said. It wasn't obvious but she had known him long enough to pick up when he was stressed about something as opposed to just angry, and this whole thing had him twitching by the sounds. If he was that tied in knots about this there had to be a lot more to the story that he hadn't told them, and April didn't like the idea of Purple Dragons heading back to their old street thug roots.

Especially if it meant it endangered the lives of innocent people and making the situation bad enough that the boys felt the need to handle the situation themselves instead of discreetly dropping the girl at a hospital.

"Maybe. I'll have to ask them tomorrow if they want me around. You're coming along too right?" She set aside some old sweat pants and some baggy t-shirts from the pile and looked up at her fiancé as he sipped his beer.

"Yeah, fo' sure. If the Dragons are hurtin' innocent girls I think it's time I put a little beat on them" Casey responded firmly with his brow furrowed. He was serious about doing some baseball bat swinging.

For once April didn't think that was so bad of an idea.

Donatello had gone over the video more times than he would have ever liked too after all his brothers had seen it and left him to his work.

He had split it up into vocals, picture and ambient background noises. Using these different noise signatures, along with the starting location and final destination where Judith ended up Donnie had managed to estimate the path Judith had taken before she had fallen into the sewers. He had tried to do the same thing using the GPS in the phone, but for some reason it hadn't been activated during the attack and he couldn't trace the phones movements before it buzzed into existence on the ride back to the lair in the sewer slider.

Which would have been suspicious, if he hadn't also seen and listened to the huge log of files with Judith trying to convince the phone company she had signed up too that something was wrong with her phone.

As far as Donnie could track, Judith had run panicked from the park he had placed just near her listed address, which correlated with her story. She had run into the back streets and must have gotten lost or disorientated because she had missed several alleys that lead straight onto more major street fronts. When she had eventually gone towards a more populated area she had been jumped again by Purple Dragons and turned back into the rabbit warren. He couldn't imagine how scared and cornered she must have been to think hauling herself into the sewers was her best escape.

Combining that information with the visuals on the tape Don could quite happily confirm Judith was being 100% honest with all of them. Which was a relief. He could say to Master Splinter with absolute certainty that Judith wasn't a threat. He knew in the back of his mind Master Splinter would probably just take his word for it, but he had always been one to gather more proof than needed.

He leant back in his chair and looked up to the top right hand screen of his set up. One of his search engines was beeping urgently to inform him it had finished it requested data search. Donnie clicked on it and scanned over the files containing records of Judith's life.

Which…wasn't a lot.

She had had two speeding tickets, her financial records were pretty standard for a single working woman. All of her Australian paperwork seemed to be in perfect order, he had record of her birth certificate and her medical records showed she was up to date with all her vaccinations. She was here on a green card lottery win, and as far as Donnie could tell with the piles and piles of files sighed and dated everything was in order there too.

Judith was about as damn close to normal as it got. Which made this whole thing even more depressing. From normal to shell shocked in one life threatening chase through New York. Great. Just great.

Don rubbed his eyes and checked over his other screens. He was running a facial recognition scan on the man Hun had killed in the park when the trade had gone bad but so far he hadn't turned anything up. It didn't surprise him. The film wasn't the best quality and he didn't have any vocals of the mystery man to help the process along. He also couldn't figure out what they were trading. Initially it looked a lot like a package of explosives, but with a few nifty programs of his own design Don had managed to figure out it was a wrapped cylinder of some kind. Of what kind he had no idea.

He leant back in his chair and sighed, staring at the ceiling for a moment and trying to figure out a course of action. He got nothing, and was about to throw himself back into his searches when Leo's head appeared in his peripheral vision and his older brother entered his lab.

"Master Splinter is back, he wants to see us all in the Dojo" He said simply, hands on hips and eyes slightly downcast. Don's heartbeat picked up and he let out a shaky breath.

"Ok" The two brothers looked at each other for a long beat before Don stood and followed Leo out of his lab, making a beeline for the dojo on the other side of the lair.

"Mikey and Raph are already in there." Leo warned before they walked through the two huge sliding doors. Don just nodded.

Inside the Dojo Mikey and Raph were kneeling in their customary positions in front of Master Splinter, who was seated before them looking meditative. Don and Leo walked forward quickly and took their places in the line up, bowing before kneeling like their other brothers.

There was silence. Raph started twitching.

More silence. Mikey was glancing at his brothers in what he probably thought was a conspiratorial fashion but was in fact more obvious than the tension building in the room.

Leo took a breath through his nose, released it through his mouth, raised his head and started to speak out.

"Master Splin…" He didn't even get through their fathers respectful title before the cacophony raised itself up and the other three turtles all cut him off at once in what came out as an almost indistinguishable mash of sentences.

Master Splinter held up a hand and everyone once again fell silent, dropping back into their proper positions.

"What is her name?" He asked after a moment. The brothers glanced at each other and Leo took the initiative.

"Her name is Judith Carter Master." He started formally "Mickey found her when he went out today"

"In the far east tunnel close to the old Lair." Mikey interjected, leaning forward with the force of the words. Don picked it up from there and rushed to explain his part.

"She was shot, it was bad Sensei. She wouldn't have made it to a hospital in time. I thought we could fix the worst of it and take her to a hospital when she was stabilised…"

"But then she woke up, kinda, Don used too much morphine." Raph interrupted. Don winced here but didn't say anything or stop Raph from continuing. "Told us this story about Hun and the Purple Dragons chasin' her. She was really scared Masta Splinta"

All the brothers nodded in agreement to what Raphael had said.

"Then we found her phone, and it has a video of what happened, and we realised if Hun had gotten a good look at her she would be in real danger topside" Leo spoke up again. The conversation was getting rushed now, each brother piling on more facts when there was a moment of silence.

"All of her information checks out, I've looked through everything I could find and she's not a threat to us." Donatello assured his Master. "She needed our help."

"If Hun was willin' ta risk his new power cause o' whatever he was tradin' he's gonna come afta her if he thinks she's gonna talk" Raphael was leaning forward now, they all were, eyes fixed on their father.

"Hun's been that determined before, and he knows she's hurt. If we take her to a hospital now there are bound to be PD's staking the place out to see if she shows up." It was Leonardo who finished the rush of words from the four turtle brothers and they fell back into silence, waiting for their father to respond.

Master Splinter closed his eyes slowly and 'hmmmed', hands closing around the walking stick sitting across his knees. There was more silence as their Master meditated on what he had just been told before his eyes opened and he looked over his sons.

"You have shown great compassion my sons. I am very proud of you all." He said softly. There was a collective expulsion of held breaths as the turtles relaxed back on their heels, smiles appearing on their faces. Master Splinter's whiskers twitched, he wasn't finished. "However, are her injuries manageable? Are you positive she will not suffer without proper medical attention?"

The brothers stilled and Donatello cleared his throat.

"I believe we are able to supply the needed medical aid. She has stabilised now and is resting in Leonardo's room" Master Splinter frowned at Donatello's words and looked over his boys.

"How do you know she is well if there is no one with her?"

The Dojo went deathly still before Michelangelo made a high pitched 'eep' noise. Master Splinter sighed and stood, scratching a spot behind his ear as he tapped his walking stick against the Dojo floor.

"If Miss Carter is to stay we must be as diligent as possible. We must also allow her to be comfortable. If her injuries are as severe as you say she will be fragile until her spirit has healed. It would be wise not to reveal ourselves again to her until she is more recovered" He nodded to himself and the turtles stood and bowed, agreeing with their father with a chorus of 'Yes Master Splinter'.

Mikey was itching to be dismissed and check on Judith but year of training stopped him for leaving without his Masters permission. Master Splinter noticed this and couldn't help the small smile that inched onto his face.

"Michelangelo. Please go and check on out new guest" No sooner had Master Splinter spoken those words, Mikey was out of the Dojo. If it had been a cartoon there would have been a Mikey shaped cloud of dust left in his wake. Master Splinter turned his attention back to his remaining sons with a slight shake of his head. "Perhaps you should request and extended visit from Miss O'Neil?" He suggested, looking to Raphael when the red turtle stepped forward.

"I've already called Casey 'n April. They're comin' round tomorrow ta bring her some clothes. I'll ask her then."

Master Splinter nodded and tapped his walking stick again, posing another question.

"Will she remain asleep until Miss O'Neil arrives?"

"Yes" Donatello offered quickly "The medication I've used should keep her asleep for quite a while Sensei. At least the next six to eight hours." Don knew how long she would be out this time. He'd checked his calculations five times before he'd given her anything else.

"Very well. Then I believe I would be best for me to see this young woman you have saved my sons. Let us go and check on her…and you're brother." Master Splinter walked calmly to the exit of the Dojo, sliding the door open and stepping through into the lair. "Then I think perhaps I will have a nice cup of tea."

Casey pulled the van into the abandoned warehouse above the turtles lair and cut the engine, pausing for a moment to pull out his cell phone and dial Raphs number.

April hopped out of the car, hearing Casey tell Raph they were upstairs as she fetched the bag of clothes from the back of the van. There was a rumble from somewhere beneath them and the ground began to shake, signalling the elevator was being sent up to fetch them.

It took a moment, but the huge strangely decorated dome rose out of the floor of the warehouse and the door hissed down and open, allowing Casey and April to step inside.

"You know, I've been friends wit da guys for years now and I don't know if I'll evera get used to this…thing. I keep expectin' it to stop somewhere in the ground or suddenly start glowin' and turn us into monsters or somethin'" April laughed as the elevator rumbled and began its decent into the lair.

"I know, but it's certainly better than trudging through the sewer" She didn't go into details about being stuck in it, she didn't want to think about it too much.

The 'elevator' (a word which had been picked to describe it because nothing else really fit) was a large rounded room that the boys had discovered when they had moved into their current lair after Baxter Stockmans mousers chewed through their previous home. It was alien, something long ago forgotten and left hidden until Mikey had tried to put up a 'Sewer Sweet Sewer' sign and managed to destroy the brick wall built over its entrance.

It ran directly up from the lair to street level, opening in an abandoned warehouse on the corner of Eastman and Laird downtown and despite their grievances about its origins April was exceptionally glad she didn't need to walk into a sewer to visit her friends.

The elevator slowed and hummed to a stop, opening again so its passengers could disembark into the familiar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lair. Aka, Home.

The lair was strangely silent, eerily so for the home that housed four rumbustious brothers and their ever-patient father. April was used to having her ears assaulted as soon as she walked through the 'front' door, so entering to find the place completely silent was like walking into the beginnings of a horror movie.

"Hello? Guys?" Casey called out over the din, frowning as his voice echoed over the concrete walls. For a moment there was no response and Casey was winding up to out yell himself, before he was cut short with a smack to the back of the head.

"Keep it down bone head. Whadid I tell ya?"

Casey winced and glared at Raph, who rolled his eyes and dropped his hands to his hips. Casey went to say something but stopped short when Raph gave him a look he usually reserved for the bad guys.

"Sorry man. How's the girl?"

Raph's jaw tightened and he scowled a little.

"Yeah, she's…whats the word Don used? 'stable', but other than that its bad news, we figured out what happened from the vid she got on her phone. It was bad." His eyes narrowed and he rubbed at his jaw. "Purple Dragons for sure. And her names Judith. Just so's ya know"

"So. What actually happened? To…to Judith?" April asked, stepping closer to Casey unconsciously and linking her arm through his.

Raph gave a non-committal shrug at Aprils question and started walking towards the kitchen, gesturing for the new arrivals to follow.

"She saw a trade go down, and Hun…"

"Hun? As in mountai' of man Hun? He ain't been on the streets for months!" Casey cut Raph off before he could finish his sentence, shoulders squaring up.

Raph huffed and tossed Casey another look.

"Yeah Case, that Hun. We dunno why he was there, but we figure it musta been important. Don's still pourin' over the vid. You want coffee?" Having made it to the kitchen Raph poured himself a mug of black coffee and leant against the counter, holding out the still half full jug out to April and Casey.

"No thanks." April said quietly, dropping the bag of clothes onto the table as Casey passed her to fetch himself a mug and partake in the Black Death the Turtles liked to call 'coffee'. That explained why she, Judith, wasn't in a hospital. If Hun was involved she was in some serious trouble. "Where is everyone?"

"Don's in his lab, Leo's on watch for Judith, only just managed to convince Mikey to get to bed and Masta Splita's meditating." Raph took a long sip of his coffee and shrugged. "I've just gotten back from a pharmacy run. They're missing a bit o' stock from the back room but I left cash ta cover it." He smirked "Got ninja bout it."

Casey gave him a high five over his coffee mug and the two shared a smile before Raph's face fell a little.

"So…ah. April, I kinda got a fava ta ask." Raph rubbed his neck and stared into his coffee as April took a seat at the table and 'hmmmed'. "Me and the guys, and Masta Splinta, kinda figured it would be better if Judith woke up to a friendly face ya know?" Raph looked up after a moment's pause, taking another sip of coffee. "A friendly…human face. Casey here can't do it cause she's prolly gonna see him as a PD or somethin'"

Casey made a noise of protest, but Raph shut him down.

"Come on man, you know we're buds, but ya look like a street thug and she ain't gonna see the difference"

April nodded.

"He's right Casey. If she's already scared and confused, it might be easier for her to cope if it's a friendly face she wakes up too."

"Babe, you sayin' this face ain't friendly?" Casey pointed to himself and tried to look hurt. He failed and April responded with a snort and a shake of her head.

"To a young girl who's just been attacked? Not really honey." She smiled a little and tilted her head, resting her chin on her hand "But you're still a very friendly face to me"

Casey just blushed in response. Raph made a disgusted noise. All three fell into silence until Raph cleared his throat.

"So. Ah. Do ya think ya can take some time off April? Just ta sit with Judith till she comes too? 'Splain things till she's…calm bout it?"

April stared down at her hands for a moment before sighing and pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Sure, if I can help I will. I don't have a lot of jobs pending I can't take care of over the phone and Casey can watch the shop for a while. I'll do what I can."

Casey seemed to want to object but glanced at the other two occupants of the room and took a long gulp of his coffee instead. He wasn't that keen on 'looking after the shop', but he'd had to do it more and more while April was away antique hunting for their more affluent clients. Plus, in this case, Casey wasn't sure he could argue without looking like a complete ass.

Raph let out a woosh of breath and smiled slightly

"Thanks April. You ok to go sit wit her now? Don recons she'll be out another couple'o hours, but he ain't sure how long the drugs will keep her down."

April nodded, standing up from the table and bringing the bag with her.

"Sure, where is she?"

"In Leo's room." Raph inclined his head towards the huge stairs leading to the upper level of the lair.

Casey finished his coffee quickly and rocked on his heels, clearing his throat.

"Guess that's my que to leave, nearly 9am. I'll go open the shop. Be back later tonight yea?" He leant down and pressed a kiss to Aprils lips before giving a mock salute to Raph.

"Tell all ya bro's I say hi, and if ya need to go crack some heads, ya let me know. Pretty sure I can sneak a lunch break." He grinned at Aprils disapproving look and sauntered out of kitchen, whistling as he took the elevator back to the warehouse.

It wasn't until he'd started the van that Casey took a moment's pause to put it together in his head. April had been right. This was a fresh batch of crazy staring down at them through the barrel of a high powered rifle. Now, Casey wasn't one to back away from a fight, ever, but he hadn't seen the guys so sombre in a while. It freaked him out. The last time they'd been like this was when Leo had left.

Casey shook himself out of his thoughts and huffed to himself. He supposed he'd just have to wait until Don worked his magic to figure this out a bit more, then he could get the jitters out of his blood by cracking some heads.

Back in the lair April watched her fiancé go and let out a long breath.

"Ok. I guess its time I meet Judith" She said eventually, looking over at Raph with a slight smile. Raph mimicked her look and nodded, finishing his mug of coffee and leading the way out into the lair as they headed up the stairs to Leo's bedroom. Raph paused outside the door and stared at it for a moment.

He remembered the argument he and Leo had had about this room. About who got it, who got to live in the room with the only door in the whole damn place. Originally Raphael was meant to have it, he'd drawn the long straw when they'd found their new home and he'd revelled in his glory. Revelled a little too much actually. So much that Master Splinter decided his son needed to learn a lesson in humility and grace and confiscated the room. It was given to Leonardo a short while later, and that made Raph see red.

It was still something he griped about, especially since Leo rarely closed the door anyway…

But it was defiantly closed now.

"I should warn ya, she's a little bit…broken lookin'" Raph said carefully putting a hand on the doorknob and settling his eyes to April.

April took a deep breath and nodded, keeping her smile in place.

"Don't worry Raph. I'll be fine" She assured. Raph gave a sort of off kilter shrug and pushed the door open half way, gesturing for April to go in ahead of him.

The room was dark, lit only by a flickering candle that sat on Leo's bedside table. It took a while for her eyes to adjust from the fluorescent lights of the outside lair to the practically black insides of the room but after a minute she could see well enough to make out the turtle figure sitting by the bed and the long lump of blankets that must have been Judith.

Raph slipped in behind April but left the door open enough to let a line of light in, so it was easier for April to see. He crossed the room to Leo's side, landing what would pass as an affectionate punch on his brother's shoulder as Leo stood from his chair to greet them.

"April. Hi" Even in the din April could make out the smile on Leo's face as he relinquished his post to Raph and crossed the room to stand by her, clasping a hand on her elbow and looking quite relieved. Leo's voice was hushed, barely above a whisper and April kept her voice low as she whispered back.

"Hey Leo." She returned the gesture by touching his forearm with her hand before diverting her attention to the girl on the bed. "How is she?"

Leo shrugged and released her elbow, dropping his hands to his hips. His classic 'I am displeased' pose.

"Honestly? I have no idea. I think she's going to be ok, but we're all counting on Don. He's not a doctor, he's an engineer. I mean, he's brilliant but…" Leo trailed off and rubbed his face. "None of us have had to do this before and we're all a little on edge. Its good you're here."

April patted his shoulder and tried to look reassuring.

"She's lucky you guys found her. Go get some sleep. Raph said you've been up since yesterday morning."

Leo paused to think about this, staring down at the bundle of blankets on the bed before taking a long breath and rolling his shoulders.

"Yeah. You're right." He decided finally. Leo touched her elbow again and turned, heading for the door with a slow gait she only ever saw on him when he was worried. April was sure that if Leo wore pants his hands would be stuck deep in his pockets right now. He didn't seem to know what to do with them as he pulled the door open further so he could slip out of the room. She watched him go then turned as Raph walked up beside her and went to follow his brother out.

"We'll be checkin' in every fifteen minutes or so. If somethin' happens just yell out yea? I'll bring ya up some water and some of them books you keep leavin' here when ya visit. Pretty sure there's one of those clip light things somewhere round the lair." Raph rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke and hooked his free hand into the tied band they all wore around their waists. April gave him a one armed hug.

"Thanks Raph."

Raph just grunted and headed for the door. He got all the way there before he paused and spoke again.

"If ya need anytin' else just yell." He drummed his fingers on the door frame and looked over at her. "And April…thanks…for this"

"No problem Raph. It's what we do" April just smiled and waved him away, watching as he nodded and disappeared out into the lair.

April stood in the dark room for a moment before letting out a long breath and turning on the spot to look back at the bed. In the candlelight she couldn't see a lot of the girl carefully laid out under the doona, but she steeled herself for the worst and moved forward, dropping the bag of clothes near the bedside table and taking the seat Leo had been sitting in by the bed.

From this vantage point April got her first good look and Judith. It wasn't that pleasant of a picture, but it wasn't as bad as she was expecting. Then again, she couldn't see anything below the blankets pulled up to Judith's chin.

She looked pale, even in the lack of light, and there was a purple black bruise spreading out from under a series of butterfly bandages pinning together a nasty long cut on her forehead.

April considered the girl for a moment before making up her mind and leaning forward, carefully pulling the blanket away from her to see the extent of her injuries beneath the cover of the duvet.

She had been wrong. It was as bad as she was expecting.

April replaced the covers and sat back into her chair, rubbing the bridge of her nose and letting out a very long breath to calm the sudden shot of nerves. No wonder the guys had all looked so tense. This wasn't just the usual cuts and bruises bad. This was broken bones and bleeding out bad.

"Poor thing" April muttered, leaning her elbows on her knees and resting her chin on her hands as she settled into what she suspected was going to be quite a long wait.

End Note: I'm re watching all the 2003 cartoons of TMNT and the movie...its fun...