December 20th, 2012

Raph had set up a punching bag in the back yard when they first moved in, and that's where he was at three in the morning. It was stupid to be out in the freezing cold, he told himself, but it was better than lying awake in bed staring at the ceiling. His fist slammed into the bag, followed by his foot. Why couldn't they just stay well enough away, he thought, hitting harder. It didn't matter anyway; he hit harder. They'd be leaving as soon as they had a battle plan; she and her family would stay behind.

He spun when he heard footsteps behind him. Leo stood in the snow, holding two cups of chamomile tea. He extended one of them to Raph, who stood in mute disbelief for a moment before he grudgingly turned his back to the bag and took it, following his older brother to the porch. "Couldn't sleep?" Leo asked, as they went into the kitchen.

"What do you think?" Raph asked, plopping down at the kitchen table.

"I think you like Val," he said bluntly, watching his brother's face, which flashed disbelief for a moment.

"You're crazy," Raph grumbled, but he didn't make a move to leave.

"Whatever you say," Leo said, taking a sip of tea and setting the mug down on the table. "She seems like a sweet girl."

"Says the guy in love with a Foot assassin," Raph scoffed. "You see the way she looked at Casey, all blushy like? Even if I did like her, which I don't, she'd be a whole lot better off with him. Plus, hey, it would distract Jones from April which would make Donnie happy. See, everybody would be happy."

"Except you," Leo said softly, searching his brother's eyes. He could see the hurt there, even if Raph wouldn't admit it.

"I'm plenty happy," Raph muttered, putting the mug down a bit too hard. The tea splashed on the white tablecloth, contradicting him.

Leo didn't even answer that, but let the silence speak for itself. For a while they sat without saying anything. The ticking of the clock was almost overwhelming.

"We probably won't even see her again," Raph said finally. "I mean, she was pretty ticked when she left."

"You want to see her again?" he asked.

Raph grumbled; he hated it when Leo tried to act like Splinter. "Nah, she's just some crazy broad that lives in the woods."

"Sure," Leo said, finishing off his mug of tea and standing up. "But, you know, if you did want to see her again, at least you know where she lives. Just a thought."

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December 21st, 2012

A fresh layer of snow had fallen the night before, and even though his feet were wider than a human's Raph kept sliding down into the snow as he trudged along uphill. Of all the dumb things he'd ever done, he grumbled to himself. After training that morning, April had cornered him in the hallway, "Hey, you know where Val and Brice live, right?"

"Um, yeah," he said, trying to sidestep her, but she stood in front of him again.

"Can you go bring this to them?" April asked, thrusting an envelope in his hand.

"What is it?" he asked, examining the paper as though it were a bomb.

"An invitation," she said, "you know, seeing as we're kind of neighbors and we haven't exactly got off on the right foot yet. I was hoping they could come for supper tonight."

"You know her dad threatened to kill me if I go back there, right?" he said, looking for a way out, as he tried to hand her the invitation back.

"But Brice said they wouldn't be back for several more days now, come on, please Raph, pretty please," she pushed the envelope back in his hands.

So he knew how he got roped into this lunacy, but still... Ugh, he could have hit himself. Standing at the edge of the forest he looked towards the house. There was no movement in it, but he could hear something from the backyard. Carefully staying in the shadows, he went around and found Brice chopping wood near a smoke house. Scanning the surroundings he called softly, "Hey kid."

The ax stopped mid-swing and Brice looked around, "Mikey?"

"Raph," the turtle corrected him, fighting back a groan. He'd never been mistaken for his baby brother before. "Are your parent's home?"

"Nah," Brice said, planting the ax in the chopping block and gliding towards the sound of Raph's voice. "You want to come in the house?"

Raph stepped out, and shook his head, shoving the envelope towards him. "April wanted to invite you guys to the house for supper, or something," he said.

"Sweet," he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, you think I've got a shot with her?"

"Not a snowball's chance in hell. Sorry, kid," Raph said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Brice looked momentarily downtrodden, but instantly perked back up when he opened the note. "Be right back," he said, and in a flash turned and flew back to the house. After several minutes there was the sound of shouting from inside the house. Without even knowing why, Raph took a few steps closer, listening.

"No, absolutely not and that's final!" Val said loudly.

"Casey will be there," Brice sing-songed. It felt like someone kicked Raph in the chest, even though he didn't understand exactly why. He'd been completely right. She was probably blushing like crazy.

There was a pause. "I don't care who will be there," Val said. "We can't go. Don't you understand that? Dad's..."

"Not here!" Brice shouted back. "Come on, Val, please! I promise, I'll do all your chores for a month if you'll just go and cut loose for one night. One single night to act like a normal person, please!"

Raph could see Val pacing through the opened curtains, and he looked away, hoping she hadn't spotted him. She must have agreed, he assumed, because in a minute Brice let out a triumphant whoop.

"She said we could go, man," Brice said, flying out to meet Raph. "Come on inside. I gotta go grab some stuff and we can all go down there together. That's okay, right? I mean, if we're kinda early? No one'll mind?"

"Sure," Raph said, reluctantly following him up the back stairs and into a long hallway that led to the front of the house. All the windows were opened, letting the faint winter sunlight stream in, giving a warm look to the rustic house. Everything in the house looked either old or homemade which gave it gave it a very homey look that he felt a twang of nostalgia for the lair.

"Hey, make yourself at home. We got cider in the jug on the kitchen counter, and water's at the sink," Brice said, spinning around trying to find something. "Oh, here it is," he said holding up the Game Boy and tossing it to Raph. "There's only one game, but it's pretty fun. I'll be back in a minute." He raced out the room, leaving Raph standing between the living room and kitchen holding the game system and looking around. They had a wood-burning stove and hand pump at the sink, but also a small electric refrigerator. In the living room there was a small TV with rabbit ears and a spinning wheel.

He had just sat on the soft couch when Val came in the room. Her hair was down, and she was wearing a thin t-shirt with jeans. Her narrow feet were bare. "Hey," she said with a nod as she padded over to the kitchen and opened the doors to the pantry. "You guys like cookies?" she asked over her shoulder.

It took a second for him to register that she'd just asked him something. "Yeah, yeah, they're okay," he said. She pulled out a large pickle jar that was filled with cookies and set it on the table, then went rummaging for a platter. Setting that on the table to she started laying the cookies out on the platter without saying anything.

"What are you doing?" Raph asked watching as she put the last cookie on the platter and then tied the whole thing up in a large, clean dish cloth.

Val looked up, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "This is what people do when they go over for supper, right?" she asked haltingly. "Bring something to eat?" She vaguely remembered her mom doing that when she was a little girl. Of course, Mom had always wrapped the dish in tin foil, she thought regretfully. She hadn't seen foil in years.

Raph shrugged, "Dunno." He had even less experience than she did with normal social graces. Watching her look at the wrapped plate as though it would speak, he quickly added, "But hey, everybody likes cookies, right?"

She smiled, and chuckled. "Everybody I know."

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A half hour later they were walking out the front door. She had snow-shoes strapped to her boots, and several heavy layers over the t-shirt. "You sure you don't want anything else to wear?" she asked, looking skeptically at Raph's hooded cape. "Dad's stuff would probably fit you."

"I'm fine," he said, watching her lock the door and slip the key over her head, tucking it into her shirt.

"Suit yourself," she said, adjusting the bow and quiver on her shoulder.

When they got to the edge of the woods, Brice called out, "Meet you guys there!" In a flash of blue he was out of sight, racing ahead of them.

Val shook her head, "It's amazing someone so fast can be so slow."

Raph snorted, "I'm pretty sure there's one of those in every family."

"Let me guess. Mikey," she grinned sideways at him.

"It that obvious?" He laughed.

"Yeah, it is," she said, looking ahead of them. They fell into silence as they walked for quite some time. "It was sweet of her, April I mean," Val said. "Inviting us and all."

He shrugged, "That's April; she's into sweet."

"Guess that's why she likes Donnie," Val said, carefully stepping over a small patch of ice.

Raph looked at the girl in bewilderment. "I think you got that wrong," he said gruffly. "Donnie's gaga for her, but she's not interested in him at all."

Val shrugged, "She looks at him a lot."

Raph froze for a second watching her walk ahead of him a couple paces before he raced to catch up. "Nah, trust me. He's not her type."

"Well, you know them better than me," she conceded.

He walked in silence. He knew Donnie better than she did, but who knew, maybe because she was a chick she knew things, he thought. The last thing they needed, though, was some crazy broad filling Donnie's head full of false hope. Because he'd trust Val as an ultimate authority on human females, Raph thought, resisting the urge to shake his head as he walked. April and her dumb ideas; they should have just left these bumpkins out in the woods.

They were walking in silence when Val stretched her hand out in front of him, stopping him. She put her finger to her lips, and pointed out to a small patch of weeds about ten yards ahead of them. They ducked behind a tree, waiting. A few moments later a red fox emerged, carrying a rabbit in its teeth. Val grinned, watching as the animal trod off with it's kill. When it faded out of sight she started walking again, wordlessly.

As they got to the edge of the woods, Raph asked, "So you like foxes?"

"I like foxes that aren't eating my chickens," she corrected with a faint hint of a smile. Her hands were visibly shaking.

"You cold?" he asked.

She considered telling him 'no,' after all she wasn't cold, not really. The alternative, though, was admitting that she was terrified about going back into the house, so she nodded.

"I'm sure it's plenty warm in there," Raph said, pushing a tree limb out of their way. He watched her walk a few paces in front of him, thinking about how little they'd said on the long hike. It wasn't uncomfortable, though. She didn't seem to be the type of person who said much, and he appreciated that. Perhaps they could be friends; after all he was friends with Casey and April. She wasn't all that much different than them. Was she?