Without pause Raphael rushed at the small woman, not stopping for even an instant to catch his breath as he charged toward her slight frame. With the agility born of a lifetime's worth of training, Stella was easily able to dodge his straightforward attack.

Raphael wasn't necessarily known for being the most agile or creative of fighters. Instead he chose to rely more on his strength and endurance to help him win his fights the vast majority of the time, something Stella was well aware of. She was slightly surprised that he was choosing to rush at her headfirst, apparently he had decided to grapple with her knowing that he stood a better chance of overwhelming her with his superior size than he did in a battle of actual skill, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

Lithely, she dodged each of his attacks, not even defending herself just taunting him by always being just out of reach while he allowed his anger consume him and eek away at his energy stores.

"What is wrong with you?" He demanded. "Are you fuckin' suicidal?" He ground out as they circled one another.

Stella scoffed. "Hardly."

"Then what the hell were you thinkin'?" He demanded, eyeing her angrily.

"Gosh Raphael I don't know. I guess I was thinking; gee, all this fighting seems to be getting us nowhere. Hum, I wonder if there's a more effective way I can stop these bastards without everyone almost getting blown up over and over again." She answered sarcastically. "Turns out, there is."

Raphael didn't seem happy with her belittling tone and made another go. "Goddamn it Stella! Fuckin' fight me already!" He demanded as he dove at her and missed his target once again when she danced right out of his reach.

"You don't know what you're asking me for," Stella warned as she jumped out of the way just in the nick of time. In response she received only an enraged roar as he began to speed up his attacks. "Fine," she relented finally, "but it's your ass."

Realizing he was going to get the fight he so desperately sought, Raphael gave her the cocky sneer she recognized well. It was the look he had so often worn whenever he was certain he had a fight in the bag. She couldn't wait to wipe it off of his face.

With a series of movements that left him reeling, Stella managed not only to land several hits on Raphael's much larger form she also completely evaded his crushing grip each time. "What the hell?" He demanded, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Rather than answer, Stella merely shrugged and settled into a defensive stance before mockingly waving him forward to attack her. Without mercy, Stella used everything she knew about Raphael's fighting ability to her advantage. He may have grown in muscle mass over the past few years but his fighting style was relatively unchanged and at the moment she wasn't above preying on every one of his weaknesses in order to win the fight.

For years Leonardo and Master Splinter had harped on Raphael to better defend his right side but he had always gotten away with having Stella there to guard his weakest side when it really mattered. Now Stella used that knowledge against him as she landed hit after hit on his quickly tiring form.

Her father had once taught them that fighting fair wasn't the most important thing, doing whatever it took to survive the fight was so long as you could live with yourself afterward. And as she had no plans to kill or seriously maim her opponent at the moment, there weren't many things Stella wasn't willing to do in order to win.

It was obvious to Stella that her opponent was tiring quickly. The adrenaline that had fueled his earlier burst of energy was all but depleted after his swim and his fruitless rage driven attacks and judging by his slowing movements and weakening attacks it wouldn't be long before he dropped completely. At his best he would have been able to fight for much longer but after being bed ridden for so long, his muscles just weren't responding the way he needed them to in order to take her on in a fight.

"Fuck!" He screamed as Stella landed a blow to his head, just left of his stitches. Gripping his head, he staggered to the side before regaining his footing and preparing to defend again.

"Do you yield?" She asked, her breathing still even and her voice clear while he panted heavily.

"No," he grunted as he lunged and missed once again, receiving a well-placed foot to the shell for his troubles which sent him tumbling forward onto the beach and earned him a face full of sand.

"I'll ask you again," Stella repeated as she watched him struggle to his feet, "do you yield?"

"Ugh!" He shouted with frustration and slammed his good hand into the sand. "Fine, I yield goddamn it!"

"Good," she replied before dropping her arms and stepping forward, her demeanor instantly changing now that the threat of being crushed by the enraged male had passed. "Look for what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said while offering him a hand up.

Ignoring the proffered hand, the large turtle clambered to his feet and tried to brush himself off. "For fightin' dirty?"

"No," she shook her head and scoffed. "I'm not going to apologize for your sloppy form and gross ability to underestimate me," she replied snappily. "Dad and Leo have been telling you to guard your right side for years. It's not my fault you don't take criticism well enough to actually listen to good advice rather than storm off pissed every time you're told you've made a mistake. What I meant is that I'm sorry you had to find out about my infiltrating the Foot this way, I was planning on revealing that a little bit better and hoping everyone would be more supportive but if your response is anything to go by, I'm going to have one hell of a brawl on my hands when I get back to New York and everyone finds out about my ghosting."

"They don' know?" He winced as he clutched his now unbandaged left hand to his plastron. "I thought ya said you was in contact with Splinta' and Mikey."

Sheepishly Stella bit her lip and swept her tangled wet hair out of her face before turning her attention toward trying to wring out her saltwater drenched clothing. "I am but they don't actually know what I've been doing, exactly. Dad has some idea that I've been keeping things from him but other than that no, you're uh, the only one who knows so far. It's not exactly something I can go shouting from the rooftops you know? If I want this to work I have to play this thing close to the vest. And as for Mikey we just talk about you know, Mikey type things. Unlike some people I know, he trusts me to make my own decisions and doesn't pry."

"I don' like it," Raphael mumbled as Stella gave up on her clothes and stepped closer to inspect his stitches for any new damage.

"You don't have to like it," she replied as she pulled his head down closer to hers so that she could get a closer look at the damage in the waning light, "you just have to accept it and trust that I'm strong enough to handle myself."

"It's not your ability to handle yourself that I'm worried about," he muttered as he flicked his eyes up to meet hers. "I'm worried that I'm not strong enough." He admitted quietly.

Stella took a small step back and cocked her head to the side. Squinting, she warily regarded the large turtle in front of her. "What are you-," she began as she dropped her hands away from his head only to have them immediately caught back up in his much larger hands.

"I can' do it again Stella, I'm just, I'm not strong enough." He admitted quietly while locking eyes with hers and closing the gap between their bodies. "Ya broke me when ya left and I couldn', I can', go through that shit again."

She forced her gaze away from his as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Raphael-,"

He shook his head while moving closer still until their foreheads were pressed firmly together and it seemed to Stella that they were sharing the same breath. She could hear her heart beating so loudly that she was almost certain Raphael could hear it as well. The feel of having him so close to her was so foreign yet so familiar that she felt emotions being stirred up that she had been struggling to suppress every day for what felt like an eternity. She knew it was wrong, he was in love with someone else but she was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had more masochistic tendencies than she had been previously aware of.

On one hand she was terrified by the sudden rush of feeling his presence was evoking yet at the same time she finally felt somehow more, well just more right than she had in a very long time. Inhaling deeply, she forced her brown eyes back up to meet his expressive amber orbs.

"Stel, I'm a hotheaded asshole who doesn' know when ta shut the hell up but that doesn' mean I don' have feelins. That's why I'm here really," he admitted, swallowing thickly. "There's somethin' I needed to tell ya. Stel I-"

She held up her hand to stop him, she knew what was coming and she couldn't bear to hear him tell her about the girl he had left behind. This was the part where he told her about how in love he was and how her fucking up the family had messed his relationship up so much because of the strain. Hell, if Stella was really unlucky he was probably going to tell her about how poorly she compared to his new love. So, in the interest of self-preservation, she decided to lessen the blow and beat him to the punch.

"It's cool Raphael, I know about you being in love you don't have to get all awkward about telling me. I'm happy for you, you found someone and that's great," With great difficulty, Stella managed to paste a convincing smile on her face. "I'm just sorry you had to be separated from her because you felt guilty about what happened between us. I know it's hard to be so far away from someone you love. I promise, you won't have to do anything like this again."

"Wha- what?" He jerked back in surprise. "I- what're ya-," he sputtered.

"With the Foot under control you won't have to worry about being separated from each other again, you'll finally be able to have a sense of balance in your life. I promise, I'll do everything in my power to make things better for you so you can have a normal relationship." She assured him, meaning every word even though it was killing her on the inside. "If everything works out you won't have to make choices like this again."

"Are you on crack or some shit?" He demanded, trying to peer into her eyes. "Where the fuck you getting' this shit about me and this girl from? Did Mikey feed ya this load a crap?"

"No I'm not on crack," she recoiled from his penetrating stare. "And Mikey didn't tell me anything, not about you anyway. He and Splinter never bring you up to me and I don't ask," she admitted. "Anyway, you're the one who told me about this girl."

"I told ya?"

"Yeah."

"When the fuck did this little heart ta heart take place 'cause I sure as hell don' remember this shit."

"When you were delirious," she explained, finally managing to wriggle free of his grip. "You told me-," she closed her eyes as she remembered the hurt she had felt at his confession, "you told me you were in love, that she was the only one you'd ever love. You were pretty serious about the whole thing."

"And who the fuck did you think I was talkin' about?" He demanded.

"I don't know!" Stella replied, her exasperation lacing her every word. "As you've reminded me numerous times, I haven't exactly been around in a while. All I know is that whoever she is she's definitely a better person than I am."

"Seriously Stel, what're ya talkin' about?"

"I'm just repeating what you told me," she slumped in defeat and couldn't keep the emotion out of her voice as she turned her head away embarrassed. "You said I was like her but I'm not her and that I should just stop tryin' 'cause you'll only love her which is cool because I wasn't trying to get you to fall in love with me or anything," she began to babble while she found herself trying to convince herself that what she was saying was the truth. There was no way she wanted Raphael to be in love with her. Right?

"So I suppose when I was pourin' my heart out to ya while I was delirious with a feva' you didn't think to uh, oh I don' know, question just how with it I was?"

"Well no," she admitted. "I mean I guess you were pretty out of it but-"

"So you're tellin' me that I was totally out of it and spoutin' nonsense and you decided to, to wha? Take every word comin' outta my mouth and consider it absolute like I was the fuckin' Pope or some shit? You do rememba' that when I woke up yesterday I didn' even recognize ya at first don't ya? I mean have ya looked in a mirror lately Stel? You're not exactly the same lil' girl who ran off three years ago."

"Don't," Stella pleaded suddenly trying to separate herself from the situation before things got even more out of hand. "Just stop being such a dick okay. It's not funny. Alright," she admitted, "so maybe I was giving what you were saying a little too much credit but I know what I heard and no amount of delirium would have you waxing poetic about a girl unless it was at least partially true."

"Hey I'm not denyin' that I said those things, I'm jus' tellin ya that you've got it all wrong."

"Look Raphael, you don't need to explain yourself to me. I'm happy for you alright. Why can't you just let this go? What's the big deal? Why are you being such an asshat about this whole thing?"

"I'm not bein' an asshat!" He argued back, his amber eyes flashing in the fading light.

"You are!"

"God Stella!" He muttered turning his angry gaze toward the sky. "Why do you have to be such a hard headed know it all? Why can' you just listen and admit you're wrong for once?"

"I'm not!"

Raphael shook his head in disgust. "How can you be so fuckin' sure of yourself?"

"I just-," she foundered for a moment, "I just am. I know I'm right about this, you're in love with some girl but for some reason you're being a real dick about admitting it. Why the fuck are you so angry all the time?"

"Oh yeah, I'm bein' the dick," he muttered under his breath while rolling his eyes. "You know this is just like when we was kids and you always had to be right, no matta' what. It's just like ya knew, without a doubt, that there was a secret underground entrance into FAO Schwartz? Mikey and I wasted three whole months lookin' for tha' shit and guess what, it didn't fuckin' exist! But were you willin' to admit you were wrong. Hell no, not you 'cause you're neva' wrong about nothin'!" He spat.

"That's not the same," she argued back half-heartedly.

"Like hell it isn't!" He shouted, building up a head of steam again. "Why can't you accept that maybe for once in your fuckin' life you don' know everythin'? Huh? Am I that fuckin' awful that you actually believe that I can' feel nothin' but angry all the goddamn time?"

By now he was breathing heavily and he had begun to pace the damp sand like a caged animal and Stella could do nothing but watch, her eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. "Well newsflash Princess," he threw his arms up into the air, "I was talkin' about you! I fuckin' love you. In fact I've been in fuckin' love with ya since the first time I eva saw ya and yeah, that makes me angry 'cause you fuckin' left me with no problem but there's nothin' I can' do about that now."

"Raphael just stop, please." She begged backing away from him. Her head was beginning to swim from the violent back and forth and she needed this conversation to end, now before, well before it all became too much for her to handle. "You may think you mean these things but I know you don't know what you're saying."

"Like hell I don't," he seethed, his emotions rolling off him in waves as he stalked forward, never letting her increase the gap between them. "Don' you dare tell me what I do an' don' feel Stella! Without waiting for a response from a stunned looking Stella, Raphael took several long strides across the beach before coming to stand directly in front of her yet again. "I love you Stella," he repeated, much more calmly this time although with no less conviction. "I've neva' loved anyone else and guess wha? I neva' will. Whetha' you like it or not, you're it for me."

Stella's brain was working overtime to try to process all of this new information and it had almost caught up when suddenly her mind melted completely as she felt Raphael pull her forcefully into his arms and press his mouth to her own.