I know this is soooo much later than I wanted to put it out. I wanted it out on Thanksgiving, but i got sooooo stuck with writing it. There were soooo many ways I could have had it go that I couldn't figure it out exactly, but I'm happy with what I've decided on, hope you do to.
I'm also sorry for how short this chapter is. Anywho! Hope you like it and please review.

Thanks go to the following to the following for their reviews:
dream lighting - Not as soon as you'd like, but sooner than you may think. Trust me, her brohers shall come soon enough.
erica. phoenix16 - No problem, sorry for how long it's been.
StillDoll13 - I don't know where that story came from, who knows. ;) Cool, I love it when they get nicknames. Anywho, what would you like to see you do with the Detective Duo or the Triplets? I need ideas. (Don't think I've forgotten about what you asked for help with. I will get to that right after this, if you still want it. I'm sorry for how long it's been. I've been so budy. I'm exhausted!)
Kat093 - I'm glad you liked it and ALEO (That's what we've started callig it...I tihnk...) And if you liked that, wait until the next chapter! ;)
NYCelt - I love writing thier flirts. It's so much fun!
TMG4899 - There shall be more John to come, you'll see in this chapter and the next.

Chapter 11
"Thanks"

"You need to relax," April said from the kitchen. She had just taken the turkey out of the oven and was letting it rest. As it did so, she moved on to finishing the final touches of dinner. Alex was leaning against the counter, finishing up mashing the potatoes rather aggressively. "You're starting to make me uneasy."

"I can't help it!" Alex explained dropping the finished bowl of potatoes on the counter. "They seriously had to pick Thanksgiving to do this? Family dinners are normally semi-uncomfortable to begin with; they just had to do this now?"

"Perhaps there could have been a better time and place to do this, but this is what we were given. Remember, we're playing by Master Splinter's rules here. The guys trust us, but they don't know anything about John. They're taking a big risk by revealing themselves to him."

"But they trust us," Alex emphasized. "They should trust my judgment as much as I trust theirs."

"You're not being reasonable, Alexandra," April scolded.

Alex groaned and slumped to the ground, banging her head repeatedly against the cabinet behind her. "I know," she sighed. "I just- I'm worry and nervous and don't like this. I care about the guys and I care about John. What if neither side like one another? Where does that leave me? What am I supposed to do? Pick sides? I can't do that, April."

"You don't know what's going to happen so there's no use in thinking like that," April told the girl, taking her hands to pull her up off of the ground. "Now, go set the table. They should be here soon."

Alex set the table trying desperately to get her nerves under control. She couldn't recall a time where she had been that nervous, or at least, not for quite some time. There had been fears about battles, but this kind of scared was different. When she was in battle, she couldn't let anything bother her. It could get her or others killed, but here nobody was getting hurt, except for maybe Alex if things didn't go well.

The girl, despite being the very capable ninja that she was, jumped ten feet when someone knocked on the door. April raised an eye brow at the younger redhead before walking over to the door and opening it to great whoever was on the other side. She almost broke a glass she was clenching from the anxiety.

As the Terrapins, Master Splinter and Casey all walked in, Alex let out a breathe she hadn't known she was holding. For some reason, seeing the guys there first made her a little less nervous. If it had been John, he would have been pacing around; just as nervous as Alex. That wouldn't help Alex or April.

"Hey guys," Alex greeted as she finished setting the table. "Happy Thanksgiving."

"It's the thir-no, fourth best day of the year!" Mikey said.

"Fourth?" Don asked.

"Yeah, Christmas, Birthday, Halloween and then Thanksgiving," Mikey explained.

"Your birthday isn't a holiday," April pointed out.

"No, but it should be!"

"You are such a geek!" Alex laughed.

Her mood instantly changed the moment another knock at the door came. She turned her head towards the door with a frown, sighed and told April that she would get it. Alex didn't let him in right away though, she slipped out into the hallways to get in a little alone time with John before having him go in to meet the ninja turtles and the master rat.

"Hey," Alex greeted, leaning against the closed door behind her.

"Hi Alex," he said, nodding his head. His hands were shoved into his pockets, indicating that he was uncomfortable. "They here already?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "That's why I to talk to you first.

"Okay, shoot," he said.

"Just remember that these people are my friends," Alex said. "You may not like it, but try and be nice. For me, please," she begged.

"I'll try," he said.

Alex nodded her head and with one last sigh, opened the door to let John in.

The ninjas and their master were hidden when Alex and John came in. Alex ushered him to the couch and had him sit. She sat beside him and waited for the rat to come out. Before he did so, he spoke, causing John to jump and look around the room for the voice.

"Dear Alexandra has become quite trustful of you, Detective Jonathan Blake," Master Splinter said. "And it has been brought to our attention that you, and she, wish for our introduction."

There was a soft clicking of Master Splinter's cane and without much warning; he was in front of John and Alex. Leo and Raph came out right behind him while Don and Mikey followed suit.

"My name is Splinter," he introduced. "We are trusting in Alexandra and her judgment of you, Detective. Please, do not make us, or Alexandra, regret this decision."

"Sir," he said, nodding his head, without breaking eye contact with Master Splinter.

Things were tense. Master Splinter was accessing John while John was trying to look more intimidating. Alex saw this as a sign of things to come. There was no good coming from this, but what was she supposed to do? Maybe things would be okay? Maybe everyone would control themselves.

"Why don't we all sit down for dinner?" April said, breaking the tension every so slightly. Alex looked over at her in silent thanks. "Please, take a seat. Alex why don't you help me bring in the food?"

"Of course," Alex said.

Once inside the kitchen, Alex hit her head against the fridge and whispered harshly towards April, "This is going swimmingly."

"Give them a chance," April suggested, handing her the basket of rolls and the bowl of potatoes. "Things can still play out okay."

It seemed like Alex was taking in a lot of deep breathes and sighing that day. She sighed and nodded her head. She had to go back out into the other room at some point and deal with this whole meeting. She may not have wanted, but it was something she couldn't avoid.

Most of the dinner was spent in awkward silence. The loudest thing was either Mikey shoveling the turkey into his mouth or the scraping of silverware on the plates. It was debatable, but Mikey would have most likely won that.

The first bit of conversation was brought up by April. "What are you going to do with the rest of your break, Alex?"

"Probably finish up some homework, hang out with some of my friends from school one day, and train the rest," Alex admitted. She took a sip of her water and set it back down on the table. Almost everyone was done with their food, Alex was one of the last people to finish. She found she had lost her appetite.

"Training?" John asked. "Does that involve more running on rooftops and getting involved in the crossfire of gang fights or police?"

"John," Alex warned, hesitantly.

"Sometimes things get complicated," Leo said. "That's not a factor we can control."

"No, but that doesn't mean she has to put herself into that sort of situation in the first place," John said. "By inviting her to go out, all of you are endangering not only your lives, but hers as well."

"It's her decision," Raph said. "She can make her own choices."

"But if it w-"

"John," Alex said sharply, but quietly. "Can I have a word with you in the hall for a moment?"

"I'm not done talking," John said. He opened his mouth to continue, but Alex slammed her open palm onto the table, shaking it and making the majority of the people in the room jump. "Jonathan Andrew Blake, in the hall, now!"

Oh, I'm in for it now, he thought. The grown detective gulped and slowly stood up. He sluggishly pushed himself towards the door, and almost stumbled when she pushed him out into the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

She took several deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She wasn't doing such a great job though. "If you have something to say about my methods of training, you bring that to me, not them.

He would have said something to that, but by the evenness of the beginning of her sentence and the transition into shear angry surprised, if not frightened him. He had seen Alex in several states of emotion in the time that he met the girl, but he had never, not once, ever seen Alex as frustrated and angry as she was in that moment.

"I would be doing this even if they weren't with me, Blake. My life was complicated before I met them. They didn't cause this. Hell, my family didn't even cause this. This is all my doing. If you have a problem with that, talk to me. Talk to me, John. You always have before, why can't you do that now?"

"Look at them, Alex!" he finally managed to say. "What good can come from hanging around those freaky mutant ninja things?"

"A lot of good, that's what!" she nearly screamed in frustration. "You don't know what they've done for me, Blake. You don't know how much they've saved me, or how much they've come to mean to me.

"I would be lost without them, John." Alex turned her back to him, whipping her eyes to get the angry tears off her face and out of her eyes. "I was such a mess after my parents died and my brothers went missing. I felt so alone and like such a burden thrown on April. Why do you think I got that internship at Stocktronics? So she wouldn't have to worry about me being alone at home the whole time, or scared that I'd do something stupid and hurt myself, or worse!

"My friends tried to help, but they didn't understand. They tried. I know they did, but I just couldn't. I couldn't. I saw my parents die, John. None of them knew how horrifying that was. Or that the three people I looked up to, no, look up to in the world were suddenly gone and nowhere to be found. Fred was my best friend, but he we didn't have that bond my brothers and I had. My boys were gone and I couldn't do anything. I looked and I looked and got nowhere, John. They were nowhere to be found and I was so alone.

"All I had left was April and I couldn't talk to her about any of this. I wasn't the only one to lose people that night. She lost a brother, her sister-in-law and three nephews! Then she was shoved me and she had to suddenly become a parental figure. I couldn't make her life any harder than I was already making it! What kind of person would I be if I took anything more than what I was already so gifted to have been given after all that?

"And then I almost lost April to those robots and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I was so scared, John, I was scared. And then these 'things.' Those guys come out of nowhere and saved us like it was no big deal. It was just another walk in the park, or sewers, or whatever, for them.

"And they took us to their home, welcomed us in even though they didn't know us. They helped us. Protected us. Told us the truth when we had no right knowing anything of what they revealed to us. They took a chance on us, just like I took a chance at getting close to them.

"They made me feel again, John. They made me laugh and smile and feel happy. I hadn't been happy in so long and they gave that back to me.

"So yeah, they took a chance and so did I. And I made another one when I came to you! When I got to know you and told you the truth and they, once again, took a chance on me in trusting you and now you're blowing that all up, Blake. You're messing this all up.

"I love you like family, Jonathan Blake, and I love them the same way, and you're making loving all of you so difficult right now." Alex sat down on the stairs that led down to the antique store below, arms crossed across her stomach as she looked down into the darkness. "You're making me choose between one family and another and I can't lose any more people in my family, John. I can't.

"So if you love me, you have to love them too. We're a package deal. They are part of me just as much as I am a part of them. We risk our lives for one another. We shed blood, sweat and tears together. We're family. And you can be a part of that too, but you just have to give them a chance. You have to give me a chance. Trust me, John. They're good people. I love them and if you give them that chance you can be a part of that family too.

"And like me, you can't afford to lose anymore family, John." Alex looked up at John to see that the big, strong NYPD Detective with red eyes. She knew he was refusing to cry though. If he allowed himself to do that, he would break down even worse than Alex had.

She was right, John couldn't afford to lose anybody else. Alex was the only family he had. He had no parents, no siblings, no relatives and nobody else as close to him as he had allowed himself to get close to the brother/sister relationship that had formed with the little redheaded teenager with apparent ninja abilities and mutant turtle and rat friends.

John sat down next to her on the stairs and sighed, looking down into the darkness just like she was. How was he going to say this? How could he trust himself to open his mouth and making things better instead of worse, like it normally did? That was why he was so alone. Whenever people got close, he would shut them out, just like he had with Alex just then. He would bring up something that wasn't really a big deal (though in this case, he did have some valid points about the dangers Alex put herself in) and made them a big deal. People couldn't take it and would leave him.

But Alex had stuck around much longer than anybody. And he really wanted her to stay with him. He needed her to be close to him. If she didn't, what else did he have left, like she said? He couldn't afford to lose anymore family.

With one last sigh, John shook his head and said, "The orange one smells funny."

If anybody asked Alex, there was nothing John could have said that would have been more perfect than what he has just said. She burst out laughing, in joy, relief and in pure amusement and truth.

It meant John was willing to listen and let the guys in.

He was willing to stick around and love Alex, embracing her dysfunctional and extremely odd, mutated things called family.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I have some ideas for another fanfic with Alex and the guys. The guys get temporarily turned human and it would just be them doing things they don't normally get to do. Do you think you'd be interested in that? If just be short little fics. Let me know what you think and what you would what Alex and the guys to do together.