Zelenia did not realize how far the lair was from the safe house when she decided to walk back. But to her this was better than the alternative, the van. She felt sorry for Raph but he kept reassuring her that he loved to walk and he didn't mind. She was hoping this was true because she was actually starting to enjoy his company. To her he had many admirable qualities. He was strong, a great warrior and he was protective of his family. She also did not mind his witty attitude either. They also shared the same type of humor, a little darker than most. He was the longest conversation she has had in a long time and he was easy to open up too.

Raph led her to a manhole located in a dark alley. It was a good thing they would be going underground now since the sun was close to rising. Maybe that was another reason she found herself enjoying his company. They both could not be out during the day. To him this was normal, not weird or strange.

"Well once again I'm sorry, I didn't know the lair was that far." She said kindly. "You didn't have to come with me, you know.

"Safety in numbers." Raph joked. "besides someone had to show you the way back."

The pair continued their trek down the sewer tunnel. It wasn't long before they could hear the voices of the others. They walked through the entrance to the lair and were immediately greeted by Mikey.

"Hey you two, what took you so long." He winked at Raph. Raph grabbed his face and pushed him away from him.

"Get your head out of your ass. We walked back." Raph said angrily. Zelenia snickered and walked over to the couch to sit down.

"Well while you two were "walking back" Mikey said making quotations with his fingers. " We made plans to have a little party Friday to celebrate our newest member." He then pointed at Zelenia.

"Wait, what." Zelenia said with concern in her voice. She had never really been to a party and didn't know what to think about this.

"Yeah, Friday. Me and April both had Saturday off from our jobs so we figured it would be perfect to have a drink together." Said Casey

"Drink? Like alcohol?" Zelenia questioned.

"Yeah, alcohol" He snickered. " Wait have you ever been drunk before? Or even partied?"

"Never really saw the need, to busy training." She stated flatly. "Plus if you haven't noticed am not exactly a social butterfly."

"OH MY GOD!" Mikey shouted. "This is going to be awesome! Dibs on serving her, her first drink!"

"I don't know guys, I mean I have a lot of stuff to do and I need to train." She said quickly trying to get out of this conversation. She got up and then turned to leave before anyone responded but she ran into something. She looked up to see Master Splinter.

"Actually I think you should participate in their fun." He said. "I told you that you needed to get to know everyone. This is how they have fun and you deserve to have a little fun yourself. Life is about balance and you need to learn to balance by adding a little fun into your routine."

"Yes, Master Splinter." Zelenia answered as she bowed her head. Great, she thought, this is going to be interesting. Splinter was definitely a little different from her father.

"WOOHOO! Looks like it's a parrrrtaaaaaay!" Mikey shouted behind her.

"This will be fun, don't worry too much about it." April said as she came to stand beside Zelenia. "It will be nice for a change to have a girl to hang out with, the last chick I was friends with turned out to be a crazy Krang robot and tried to kill us." She laughed.

"Yeah come mon, you aint gonna chicken out on me are ya?" Raph said as he jokingly punched her arm.

"Well when you put it like that, I guess if have too." She smiled at both of her new friends.

"This is going to be epic!" Said Casey. "I know exactly what we are going to do. Ill bring the booze!"

Zelenia spaced out as the others continued talking. She was nervous about Friday night but she was starting to get used to being around them. Maybe it wouldn't be to bad to "let loose" and have a drink or two. Man, how her life has changed in the last few days. It had actually made her tired. Maybe she could finally get a good night's rest…..or well days rest in her case.

Only two days to mentally prepare for Friday.

Thursday

Zelenia found herself needing some much needed alone time. Everyone was wonderful but she still wasn't used to being around others. She found out how socially awkward she was every time she had a conversation. It was a little stressful to worry about what to say and worrying that what you said wasn't right. Luckily the sewers had many tunnels and chambers for her to explore. This almost made up for the smells. They told her that eventually she would go "noise blind" as Mikey put it soon. God, she hoped it was soon. Living in Tokyo she had thought she had smelt it all.

She continued to walk the tunnels as memories of Tokyo ran through her mind. New York City was large but it had nothing on Tokyo which had to be twice as big. She always loved looking at the skyline at night when the building lit up like stars. When she was younger she would walk out to the lake in Chicago just to look at the lights. It was her only escape.

Zelenia came on a clearing in the tunnels and decided to explore. She was in what appeared to be another abandoned subway station, similar to the lair. This was much smaller and had a rusty old subway car in the middle still on the tracks. She wondered how many places like this existed under the city, lost to the world above. She was lost in thought when she sensed a presence, but this one was familiar. "No threat, calm down" she told herself. She then concentrated on the person's energy and knew it was Raph. What was up with him following her around the tunnels?

"Why do you feel the need to follow me like a lost puppy?" She shouted at him. "Raph"

"How do you do that, its amazingly creepy." Raph said walking into the abandoned station.

"I have control over my energy and can sense others. I have memorized everyone's energy signature." She stated. "Now why are you following me?". Her voice now sounded more hostile.

"Am I not allowed to walk around the sewers." He spat. "I fucking live here you know."

"There are miles of other tunnels, the odds that you just ended up following me by accident is impossible" She glared at him. She wondered how this had taken a wrong turn so fast.

"Whatever." He growled. "I'm not a lost puppy! And I'm not stalking ya either!" He then turned to leave.

"I never said you were stalking me." She glared, she hated when people put words in her mouth. "But if the shoe fits Cindy."

He turned and growled at her.

Zelenia felt bad about how their conversation was ending. This is not how she wanted to start out with anyone here. She was used to pushing people away and being alone out of fear. She did not have to do that anymore but it was almost second nature. Her attitude problem didn't help matters much either.

"Wait." She said just loud enough to hear. " Im sorry, I just don't like being followed or having someone behind me." Hopefully that would smooth things over.

"I didn't mean to follow you." He turned to face her. "Well….. I did …but I didn't."

Silence

"You see I need some me time." He continued. " I love my family but stay here long enough and you will see why I need a break. I was roaming around and I saw you. I was curious and wanted to see where you are going."

"That's still stalking." She smiled hoping he knew she was joking. "And I know you're not a puppy, they are way cuter."

"Yeah I see ya point. I guess my people skills aint the greatest either." He said.

There was another awkward silence. Zelenia did not know what to do or say. She hadn't had a casual conversation in a long time. She didn't know what to talk about, but she knew this silence was getting to her.

"So, Friday." She said. She then gave herself an internal palm slap to the face. "Really, Zelenia? Friday? That's the best you got." She yelled at herself, god she was failing miserably. Raph must have saw that she was having some sort of argument with herself.

"You still nervous about drinking." He said trying to continue the conversation she started, hoping it would ease her obvious embarrassment.

"Its kinda sad you know, 24 years old and never had a drink." She said. "You must think I'm a boring prude."

"Oh, your definitely not boring." He smiled. "Not many women can kick some serious ass!"

"Still, kinda got me thinking about everything else I have missed out on." She then began walking around the rusted old subway car. She ran her hand against the rough texture, thinking about all the things she wished she could have done.

"I know how that feels." He followed her as she continued to walk. "Can't do much as a giant talking turtle."

"True" she stated.

"So any hobbies besides giving pavement facials" Raph inquired

"I used to sketch and play the guitar." She continued. " My father introduced them to me when I was younger to help me cope with what happened to me. It helped and I was able to deal with everything and move on." She couldn't believe she was once again spilling her guts to this person. "But having a nomadic lifestyle it is hard to carry around those things."

"And poetry?" he asked. " I heard you the first night we talked in the tunnels, before you about stabbed me."

"I read but not write. I'm not that sappy."

"Fair enough"

"So what about you?" she then stopped and walked around him to get a better look. Man he was a sight to behold, his arms were huge. "No let me guess, working out?"

"Yeah pretty much, and riding my motorcycle." He smirked. "and I have been known to draw a thing or two."

"Nice! I like motorcycles." She said excitingly. "No confined spaces."

"Well I'll take you…." Raph was cut short by his phone vibrating.

Zelenia waited patiently as he got out his phone to check it. Hopefully nothing was wrong.

"That was Mikey, time for dinner." He said, sounding a little disappointment. "Splinter wants to make sure your there. Something about eating family dinner builds a bond, blah blah blah."

"Well we better get back then." She said walking out of the old station and back into the sewer tunnels.

Friday afternoon.

Raph looked at his clock. It was only 3 pm, three more hours until Casey and April got here. He could hold off having a drink till then. He stared at the whisky bottle on his desk. He really wanted a drink, had he become an alcoholic? He had been drinking every day for almost two years. It was the only thing that numbed the painful reality that he was going to be alone forever.

"No." he thought. " I can wait."

It would be weird if he showed up to the "party" already drunk and smelling like booze. He had been hiding the severity of his problem well up until now. Plus he worried what Zelenia would think, hell she's never drank before.

"Why do I care what she thinks." He thought to himself. "I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks, what makes her special."

Maybe it was because they both knew about loneliness. Yeah he had his brothers but it wasn't the same as what he had before…..she left.

He looked at the clock again. 3:15 pm.

2 hours and 45 minutes

Raph then flopped down on his bed. He realized that he was an alcoholic and it bothered him. Being a ninja is about discipline and control.

"Great" he thought. "Now I'm not even a good ninja anymore, fuck my life."

He looked at the clock

3:20 pm

Damn…