First, I would like to thank Jess Marylin, clementine-rose, ElvenShadows, AmberLostAngel, and TubaChick101 for reviewing the last chapter and getting this story to 30 reviews! You guys are awesome!

Also, if anyone has read any of my other Ninja Turtle stories I have an announcement. The stories "Everything Changes" and "From the Ashes" are currently on hiatus. After looking at those stories I decided to redo every chapter of those two stories as well as my first Ninja Turtle story "A New Face". While this story is still a priority, updates will occur once a month at most since I'm also working on updating and revamping earlier chapters of my Naruto story.

Furthermore, on my profile there are links to pictures of what my OC's look like as well as the dresses the girls decided to buy. :)

Alrighty, with that out of the way I present to you the next chappie (a more Raph-centric one this time!). Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the canon characters, only my OC's and the plot.

Once her grandmother walked out of sight, Ava turned back towards the cupboard and opened the door before grabbing two glasses. She filled the two containers with water before padding back over towards her bedroom. Her blue eyes took a quick gander at her window, wondering if he was already there. Upon being met with empty space, she turned on her heel and walked back towards the living room and hurriedly grabbed her shopping bags from the floor and proceeded to head back towards her room, closing the door behind her.

Walking over towards her desk, she leaned over and opened her laptop before pressing the power button, humming the piece of machinery to life. As she waited for the computer to finish starting up, Ava moved in the direction of her bathroom, grabbing a pair of sweats and a tee shirt on her way. Just in case Raphael showed up soon, Ava softly closed the door behind her before scraping her hair back into a ponytail. She brushed a few strands that managed to escape the elastic's hold behind her ears before turning on the faucet, allowing the rushing sound of the water to wash over her.

Looking up at her reflection, Ava lightly touched her left cheek, her fingers tracing the cut on her pale skin. She began to wonder why her grandmother said nothing about the mark… it was clearly visible. Perhaps it was better that she said nothing, the last thing that Ava wanted to do was worry her grandmother more than she had managed to do already, it would be better that way.

Shaking her head slightly, Ava splashed water on her face before squeezing some face-cleanser into her palm. Rubbing her hands together until the substance began to lather, Ava proceeded to clean her face, wincing slightly once the suds encountered the cut. A few moments later, she splashed more water onto her skin, the cool water clearing any trances of soap off her face and leaving her feeling refreshed. Blindly, she reached to her side, her hand moving about in search of a towel. Feeling a soft substance, her thin fingers curled around it and brought it up towards her face, patting the expanse of skin dry. Her blue eyes looked up at her reflection once more; hopefully Raphael wouldn't say anything about the mark on her face. Somehow, she doubted that would be the case.

The faint sound of tapping against her window caused Ava to jump slightly. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth a second later. She hurriedly pulled off the jeans and shirt she wore that day before replacing them with the sweats and shirt she grabbed just a few moments earlier. Grabbing the discarded pieces of clothing, Ava quickly threw them into the hamper located in the corner of her bathroom. Leaving her hair pulled back, the brunette opened the bathroom door and stepped into her bedroom. Quickly gazing over at the window, Ava's smile grew a fraction of an inch as she strode over towards the other side of the room. She quickly unlocked the window and slid it open, allowing Raphael to come inside and away from the October air.

"Hey there," she greeted with a small smile, shutting the window behind her visitor. "Was wondering when you would show up."

Raphael offered a small smile in return as he grabbed his sais, placing them on their usual place on Ava's shelf. "Hey, I said I was comin' ta'nite."

"Yeah, I remember," Ava replied while grabbing her glass of water and motioned towards the other one sitting on her desk. She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table; the glowing red numbers informed Ava that it was half-past eleven. She turned back to face the turtle, "You normally don't pop over this late."

Raphael quickly accepted the offered beverage, "Somethin' came up at home." He shrugged, hoping that he wouldn't have to delve much further into the issue; he didn't want to have to lie to her. "Nothin' ta worry about."

"That's fine," Ava replied before sitting down on the edge of her bed. "I actually just got home no more than fifteen minutes ago."

"Really?" he questioned while grabbing the chair that was placed beside Ava's desk, sitting in it so his elbows rested upon the back of the wooden piece of furniture. Looking towards the brunette, he was answered with a small nod. "Whatcha do taday then?"

Ava nodded in the direction of the shopping bags clumped together at the foot of her bed. "Went shopping with some friends and then went to work."

While the brunette wasn't sure if her helping April out at her store could be considered a job, Ava figured it was easier than telling the turtle in front of her about her current predicament. As far as he knew, her mother passed away and she was now living with her worrisome grandmother. The blue-eyed girl never decided if she would tell him the situation with her father… she was still trying to figure it out herself… and she figured there was no need to bring him into the complexities of her life. He did not need to be subjected to that, not now. Perhaps when things with her father and his girlfriend became more certain to the young girl would she tell him about her current situation… maybe.

Raphael raised an eye-ridge, "Work? Since when do ya work?"

"Starting today," Ava replied with a grin and a firm nod of her head. "I just started working at this little shop on Bleecker."

"Ah…" was the turtle's response before he took a large gulp of his water. He took a quick glance over at her desk, seeing that her laptop was emitting a soft glow upon the room. Beside the computer, he noticed the familiar shape of a DVD case lying atop the wooden surface. "Wha' movie's that?"

Ava glanced over at the desk, "Oh yeah… I managed to get the new X-men movie." She looked back towards Raph, "Have you seen it yet?"

"No," he responded with a shake of his head before walking towards the desk. His three-fingered hand lifted the case and turned it so the description on the back was facing his amber gaze. "Looks good."

"That's what I thought too." Ava responded while placing her now-empty glass on her nightstand. "I loved the original trilogy."

Raph nodded, "Yeah, me too." He turned towards Ava, case extended towards her. She reached forward to grab the object. As her fingers wrapped around the edge of the plastic casing, she noticed Raph stiffen slightly. His grip loosened as his hand quickly made its way towards her chin. He turned her head until her left cheek was facing him.

"Wha' 'appened?" he questioned while his amber eyes narrowed upon the mark on her cheek.

Ava darted her gaze away, shaking her chin free from his grasp. "Nothing…"

Raph grabbed her chin again, forcing her to face him. "That doesn't look like nuthin'. Who did this ta ya?" he questioned again. Ava was certain that she heard an underlying growl in his voice. She darted her gaze away again and bit down on her lower lip before sighing.

"I was jumped while walking home…"

"Ya were walkin' home alone?"

Ava nodded and closed her eyes, "Yeah… but I'm fine. I promise. It's just a scrape."

"That ain't tha point…" Raph sighed. "Wha if ya got hurt… bad. It's… it's dangerous out there. 'Specially at night."

Ava sighed and slightly hung her head, waves of brown hair obscuring her face. "I'm sorry… I didn't think it would be a big deal… It's only a… twenty minute walk…"

"Still, twenty minutes is enough time fer somethin' ta happen." Raph hesitantly placed a large hand upon her back, causing her to look up at him. "Just be careful. There has ta be someone who could walk home wit' ya… right?"

Ava nodded, "Someone offered to give me a ride today…"

"Good," Raph responded with a small nod of his own. He gestured towards the DVD case.

"Oh yeah, we were gonna watch this," Ava said with a small chuckle, the tension from before suddenly gone.

Raph smiled, "That was tha plan."

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Ava slid forward off her bed. She quickly padded over towards her television and plopped herself onto the ground in front of it. After turning the needed pieces of machinery on, she opened the plastic case with a snap and pulled the disc free from its plastic bindings. Soon she placed it into the player and stood up, her head turning around to face Raphael as she smiled.

"Origin story here we come…"

Following the conclusion of the movie, Raphael had hesitantly left Ava's company. As his feet pounded against the rough concrete of the buildings below him, the red-clad turtle began to think once more about what had happened to Ava earlier that night… The thought of someone daring to lay a hand intentionally trying to hurt the petite girl made his blood boil. If only he could always be around to protect her… ensure that nothing like that would ever happen to her again. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to always be there…

Or was it?

Removing a manhole cover, an idea slowly began to form in Raphael's mind. As he leapt into the sewer below, making sure to put the cover back in its rightful place, he began to ponder a possible way to give Ava a way to contact him if the need ever arose. Though he could not let his brothers know exactly what he was doing. Mikey would bombard him with a long string of questions and he was certain that if Leo or Splinter found out what he was doing that he would be undergrounded for weeks. Aside from Casey and April, contact with humans has always been off-limits to the four of them in order to ensure that their existence be kept secret. The red-banded turtle knew that no matter what he could say, they would not be able to understand or believe him if he said she was trustworthy.

Pushing those thoughts away, Raphael began to concentrate more on the idea that he had just thought up, quickly hiding an item in a small nook in the wall. Soon he had reached the lair and swiftly made his way inside. The sounds from the television told him that Mikey was still up… or asleep in front of the television again. No one could ever be too sure. Redirecting his attention, Raphael turned on his heel in the direction of Donnie's lab. Seeing the glowing light coming from the crack between the door and the ground, Raph assumed that his geeky brother was still up. While normally it was unheard of to see all of the Hamato brothers up this late, Splinter had informed them that their morning training session for tomorrow would be canceled. All of the turtles had taken this opportunity to indulge themselves in their various pursuits.

Walking towards the door, Raphael turned the knob and quickly entered the room.

From the other side of the room, Donatello swiveled around in his chair to face Raph, becoming slightly annoyed that he had not bothered to knock. Though such a thing was common, the only ones who would ever consider such an apparently insignificant thing as knocking was Leo or Master Splinter. Oftentimes the purple-clad turtle would find himself chastising Raphael and Michelangelo for entering his lab without asking permission.

Sighing, Donnie crossed his arms over his plastron. "What do you want Raph?" he asked, plainly showing his annoyance with his older brother.

Leaning against one of the several tables in the room, Raph sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. If this was going to work he had to make this performance seem believable, which shouldn't be too hard to do… he hoped.

"I broke my Shell Cell," he said bluntly, dropping his arm back to his side.

"Again?" Donnie questioned, exasperated. He could not count how many times that he had to fix that poor piece of equipment… However, it was nowhere near as close to how often the brainy turtle had to repair that poor toaster in the kitchen… Sighing, the turtle held out his hand to accept the piece of equipment. Upon receiving nothing, his brown eyes glanced up at Raph again. "Well? You need me to fix it right?"

Raph shrugged, feigning indifference. "I chucked it."

"You what?" Donnie replied as he dropped his arm, bringing the other one up to rub his forehead. "Why would you do such a thing?" he questioned.

Again, the red-clad turtle shrugged. "It was pretty banged up; I didn't think it could be fixed."

"Did it even occur to you to at least bring it back so I could look at it?" Don questioned. Upon the absence of a response, he sighed before turning around in his chair again. "I guess I'll start making a new one."

"Thanks bro," Raph said as he walked towards the exit.

Don waved his hand, trying to tell Raph to leave him be. "Sure."

Sensing that his brother wanted him to leave, Raphael quickly exited the brainy turtle's lab. His wide mouth curved upwards into a smile, glad that his plan had worked. Though he would have to remember to collect his Shell Cell sometime tomorrow from a small hole he found near their lair. The red-clad turtle didn't want to risk Casey calling him in the middle of his conversation with Donnie, completely ruining his plans. Now all he had to do was wait until Don finished with that phone… all the while hoping Ava wouldn't manage to get herself into trouble beforehand.

… Five Days Later…

After tugging on a baggy tee-shirt, Ava opened the door leading from her small bathroom to her bedroom. Once her room came into view, she smiled upon seeing Raphael lying atop the mattress lazily. His amber eyes were shut as his head rested atop the large pillow at the head of her bed. In all honesty, Ava was unsure if the turtle was sleeping or not. He looked so peaceful just lying there and the sight made the corners of Ava's mouth curve upwards into a large grin. Quietly dropping her towel into her hamper, the brunette silently padded over towards her desk. Stealing a glance behind her, she could now assume he was fast asleep. Normally, even with tightly shut eyes, the turtle could always detect when she was on the move. It was an ability that constantly spiked her curiosity and a part of her wondered how he had honed such techniques… she would have to ask someday…

Turning back towards her desk, Ava reached forward and grabbed her camera. Once the piece of machinery turned on, the teenager silently walked around the slumbering turtle until she happened upon an angle that she found acceptable. Crouching down slightly, she brought the camera up towards her face and quickly snapped a picture. Smiling, she quickly readjusted her position and took several more photos of Raph's sleeping form from several spots around her room.

Upon seeing him begin to stir, the brunette quickly shuffled over towards her desk. She gently placed her camera upon the wooden surface and sat on the nearby chair, turning so she was gazing in Raphael's general direction as he slowly woke.

"Good evening," Ava greeted with a smile. "Sleep well?"

As he sat up, Raph stretched his arms up into the air before reaching down to rub at his eyes. "God… how long was I out?"

"Not long, maybe fifteen minutes," she replied with a small chuckle.

"Whatcha laughin' at?" Raph questioned, his amber eyes quickly seeking out Ava's form.

Ava shook her head, a smile still playing upon her lips. "Nothing, I swear."

Raph slightly raised an eyeridge in questioning, causing Ava to hold her hands up. She quickly stuck her tongue out, causing the turtle to chuckle slightly. Sliding to the edge of the bed, he firmly placed his feet upon the floor. He reached into his belt, stealing a quick glance in Ava's direction.

"I got somethin' fer ya…" he said while pulling out his old Shell Cell.

Tilting her head to the side, Ava held out her hand to accept the item. Her blue eyes began to slowly look over it before looking back up at Raphael. "Um… I don't mean to sound rude but…" she held up the device. "What's this?"

Raph smiled as he leaned forward. "It's somethin' ya can use ta call me if ya can't find anyone to walk wit' ya after dark." He pointed at one of the buttons, "If ya press that you should see my name. Just select it and it'll call me on mine."

"Okay," Ava said with a small nod. Her gaze quickly went back to inspecting the item in her hand, soon she found herself smiling at the device's shape. "It looks like a turtle shell…" she mused aloud.

Smiling, Raph nodded. "Yeah, it does."

Twisting around, Avariella placed the device upon her desk before facing Raphael once more. "So, do tell what hath caused thee to be so weary?"

Raph quirked an eyeridge in confusion, "Come again?"

"We're reading Shakespeare in my English class," she explained with a small chuckle. "I asked why you were so tired."

"Oh…" Raph shook his head. "It's nothin'… Just need ta get some more sleep is all."

"Alright," Ava responded as she got out of her chair and padded towards the foot of her bed. "So… Whatcha wanna do today?" she questioned. "Though I should warn you, I still have some homework to do. This math stuff really has me stumped."

Raph leaned forward slightly, as if readying himself to stand up and leave. "If ya still 'ave homework I don't wanna bother ya. I can just come back tomorrow er somethin'."

"Nah, it shouldn't take me too long," Ava replied while kneeling down to retrieve her algebra book and notebook. "I just have to factor some equations…" She shrugged, "The hard part is just figuring out how to factor them…"

"Um… alright…" Raph responded, slowly nodding his head and acting as if he understood.

Ava chuckled. "It's okay. I don't really understand it either."

Raph smiled in return as he slid back onto the bed, resting his shell on the headboard as he reached for the remote. "Anythin' ya wanna watch?"

"Nothing I can think of," Ava shook her head as she started to walk towards her desk. "Whatever you want is fine with me."

Nodding, Raph redirected his attention towards the glowing screen. His amber eyes watched as he scanned through the various channels before settling on a rerun of a Burn Notice episode. Mere seconds later the show took a commercial break, causing Raphael to sigh as an advertisement for a set of workout DVDs. Rolling his eyes, the turtle wondered why women so often starved themselves to be a stick. Why did they think they looked good when they were just skin and bones? Thankfully, April wasn't someone who cared about being stick-like. Glancing over at Ava, Raph hoped the same was true with her. He would hate to learn that she starved herself or even forced what she did eat back up afterwards. The red-clad turtle highly doubted that was the case. After all, she didn't have a reason to worry about such things…

Drawing her eyebrows together, Ava sighed as she dropped her head onto the desk. She hated math with a passion. Her mind missed those days of simple mathematics where the only challenging thing was long division. The brunette even had troubles with that. She would much rather spend her time on other pursuits… her photography or perhaps reading a good book, not this. Unfortunately, her school required everyone to complete at least four years of mathematics, meaning she still had another year to complete. The idea made her head want to explode…

Her phone vibrating next to her caused Ava jump suddenly at the sudden noise. Glancing over, Ava noticed that Carrie was calling her. Deciding to abandon her homework for the time being, Ava quickly reached out for her cell and answered the call.

"Hey Carrie," Ava said after placing the device towards her ear. She turned around to face Raphael who gave her a questioning gaze. Covering the phone's receiver, Ava smiled. "Sorry," she quickly muttered to her guest. Raphael quickly responded with a wave of his hand, knowing that Ava got very few chances to speak with her friend from Vermont.

"Heeeeeyyyy Ava!" Carrie sang. "How are you?"

Ava smiled, "I'm good. Working on my math…" she sighed while shaking her head. "What about you?"

"Ewwwwww," Carrie whined. "That sucks girlie… I'm just watchin' some TV. Vampire Dairies is on!" she squealed with glee.

Ava rolled her eyes. "Sounds delightful," she said dryly. Her gaze glanced up at Raphael again as she shook her head and smiled. "Please don't ruin it for me."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you'd rather watch House or even one of those crime shows with those gross autopsies." Carrie responded with an audible shudder. "Still have no idea how you watch that stuff… it's gross."

"And I don't understand how you can watch stuff like Jersey Shore," the brunette responded.

"Hey I just like it okay? Nice to know I'm not that crazy."

"And I just like watching my 'gross' shows." Rolling her eyes slightly Ava leaned back in her chair. "And if you think they're so gross how can you play those video games you're always telling me to try?"

Carrie remained silent for several moments. "That's different!" she cried.

"Oh? Please, enlighten me. I would love to know how television autopsies are worse than those games where the object is to kill people."

"Um… I dunno… It just is!" She replied, obviously flustered at the question.

Ava chuckled. "I'll take your word for it then."

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Ava glanced up at Raph. He gestured towards the window. Not wanting to risk Carrie hearing him, Ava covered the mouthpiece again.

"I'm gonna head back home," he said. "It looks like ya got some catchin' up ta do wit' yer friend. I'll see ya tomorra'."

Ava nodded, "Okay, see ya."

"Helloo! Ava?! You there?!"

Upon registering that she was being yelled at, Ava quickly removed her hand from the receiver. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Carrie sighed dramatically. "I was asking you if you met any cute guys yet. Come on girlie! Any lucky guys yet?"

Watching as Raphael crawled out her window and ran up the fire escape, Ava smiled slightly while waving good-bye once more before he vanished from sight. "Maybe…"