Eventually the two did manage to disentangle themselves for long enough to collect enough drift wood to build a roaring fire that kept them warm into the night. Even though they were on an island near the equator it was still liable to get chilly at night and they were glad for the extra warmth. Dawn the next day came early and found them curled up together near the burnt out remains of their fire.

"Ugh," Stella groaned as she tried to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. Raphael shifted beside her and tried to hide his face in her hair. Rolling her eyes, she stretched before disentangling herself from his hold and clambering to her feet. After cracking her back she strode off into the jungle to take care of business before stepping back out onto the beach.

Raphael hadn't moved much, he was still just where she had left him but he had his head between his knees and seemed to be having some trouble actually waking up which was no surprise since he had never been an early riser, not even as a child.

Rolling her head across her shoulders, Stella began her morning stretches while she waited for him to wake up more fully. She had just begun some warm ups when she heard him approaching from behind.

"Morning," she greeted him as she performed a few basic moves.

"Mornin'," he grunted, his voice still laced with sleep. "Whatcha doin'?" He asked curiously.

Stella never paused instead she transitioned into the next series of movements. "Just a warm up," she replied.

He scratched his head lazily as he continued to watch her. "Doesn' look like any warm up I've eva' seen you do before."

"Cause it's not," she answered smoothly. "I've picked up a few new things over the years," she explained.

"Yeah I noticed," he grunted as he subconsciously rubbed at the sore spot on the side of his head where she had hit him the night before. "Your fightin' styles changed."

She shrugged. "Some. I needed to learn some new things, you know to make me less recognizable if I were to get into a fight or somethin'. Having a choice of different fighting styles was a good way for me to do that, plus it makes my next move more unpredictable to my opponent."

"You ah, you get into a lot of fights?" Raphael asked trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

Stella shrugged her shoulders again. "Probably less than however many you're imaginin'," she replied while watching him out of the corner of her eye. "I've tried to keep my head down as much as possible remember? Ghosting don' work if everybody's lookin' for ya cause ya beat the piss outta them."

"Oh yeah," Raphael rubbed his head again, "right. So uh about last night…" he trailed off.

"Yeah?" Stella finished her warm up and placed her hands on her hips.

"I uh-" he rubbed his good hand over his face. "We're uh okay right? I mean now that, you know- I mean it's a new day an all, you're not-"

Stella smiled crookedly and shook her head before striding forward until she was standing right in front of the large turtle. "Are you tryin' to ask me if I regret last night?"

"Uh yeah," he shrugged sheepishly and refused to meet her eyes, "yeah I guess I am. So ya know, do ya?"

"Do you?"

"Stella," he pleaded looking completely pathetic.

"No I don't regret it. Well I don't regret the end of the night. You findin' out about what I've been doin' all this time and the fight and shit I could have done without. But no I don't regret the rest."

Raphael threw his head back and visibly relaxed. "Thank fuck!" He exclaimed. "I don' know what I woulda done if ya had."

"Well you probably wouldn't 've done this," Stella said before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to meet hers while she rose up on her tiptoes. Raphael grinned before wrapping a steadying hand around her waist and leaning down to meet her lips with his own. It wasn't long before things once again began to get heated and they were forced to break apart for air.

"So you think those sharks are gone?" he asked as he warily regarded the slightly choppy expanse of water that lay between them and the small ship.

"Probably. At least most of them anyway," Stella replied disentangling herself from his arms. "I'm not real worried, I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. Just let me find my," she searched the sand for a moment before jogging over and snatching up a piece of cloth. "Got it!" she called as she slipped her bikini top back on under her shirt and deftly retied it.

"Damn, I was really hopin' you'd leave that off," Raphael laughed before coming over to join her. "You think I can get my bandanna back any time soon?" He asked as he pulled at the loose ends of her makeshift hair piece.

"Eh maybe later," Stella said. "Besides, I like you without it on. It makes you look-" she paused for a second as she regarded him, "I don't know, different somehow. Younger maybe? Anyway whatever it is I like it. A lot," she emphasized the last part before leaning in to kiss his jawline earning her a contented growl. "You ready to get back to the ship?"

"Stel I've been ready since you told me you didn' want to do it on the beach," he growled before scooping her up and rushing into the waves. Stella squealed as the first of the waves washed over them but quickly began laughing as Raphael dragged them farther from shore before releasing her to swim on her own.

The swim back to the ship took much longer than the one the night before but Stella decided that was probably due to the fact that the first time she had been swimming for her life and hadn't found herself stopping every few meters to kiss her swimming companion.

By the time they reached the ship they were both panting and completely on edge. Heaving herself out of the water and onto the deck of the boat Stella had only a moment to catch her breath before she found herself pinned up against a wall by Raphael.

"God Stel," he breathed heavily into her neck as he kissed his way around her collarbone, his good hand holding both of hers captive above her head.

Gasping slightly Stella closed her eyes to the feeling of him nipping at her jaw. "I- I need," she stuttered.

"Yeah?" He rumbled, now working his way over to her jugular.

"I need- a shower," she sighed causing him to straighten up suddenly.

"A shower?" He repeated dumbly, letting her arms drop. "Are ya- are ya serious right now?"

"Yeah," she reached up and pulled a piece of loose seaweed out of her hair before throwing it back overboard. "I really am." She scooted under his arm while he stood frozen. Stopping a few feet away she turned and gave him a suggestive look over her shoulder. "I never said I didn' want you ta join me."

Immediately, Raphael's bewildered look morphed into one far more devilish as he quickly caught back up to her and tossed her over his shoulder before heading inside.

It was a miracle they ever made it into the small bathroom let alone got the water started. The shower wasn't large but it was big enough to hold the two of them. Without bothering to strip out of her now sodden clothing, Stella pulled Raphael under the stream with her only to pick up where they had left off.

It wasn't long before Stella's shirt was back on the ground in a wet heap with her bikini top and his mask following soon after. As the steam of the shower engulfed the pair, they took the time to begin fully exploring one another's bodies in ways they had never thought possible.

Before too long, Stella felt a hand working at the button on her shorts and couldn't help but laugh at the growl of frustration she could hear rumbling though her partner's chest.

"Need some help chief?" She teased while nipping at the underside of his jaw.

"No." He grumped before leaning back against the shower wall with a sigh. "Alright, yeah." He admitted sounding slightly defeated. "I feel like fuckin Westley tryin' to get into Buttercup's pants."

"Don' worry," Stella reached up with her left hand and patted his face patronizingly while reaching down with her right hand and unbuttoning her pants with a small twist of her fingers, "I'm positive you're keys gonna open this lock."

As soon as her button was undone, she felt her shorts and bikini bottoms being slid off of her hips and onto the ground into an unceremonious heap.

"Fuck," Raphael breathed as the last barrier between them hit the floor.

Stella couldn't help but laugh. "Well that is the idea."

Raising himself up to his full height, Raphael tilted his head back and breathed in deeply before reaching behind her and turning off the water leaving them in a cloud of misty steam.

"Raph?" Stella asked.

"I don' wanna-," he paused for a moment before leaning down to look her square in the eye. "What I mean is I wanna do right by ya Stel, I don' just wanna," he waved his hand around in the air but she got his gist.

She smiled shyly back at him before stepping out of the shower and grabbing a nearby towel, "I know, me either." Patting herself dry quickly she bit her lip and offered him the towel.

"I jus- I wanna," he was stumbling over his words and it sent a feeling of warmth flooding through her veins. "I mean this is supposed ta be special for ya and all and I feel like I'm jus- I don' know, fuckin' this up." He ran his hand over his head and stared down at her.

Stella smiled back up at him until a thought hit her and the smile slid right off of her face only to be replaced just as quickly with a look of slight uneasiness.

'Shit, shit, shit!' Stella thought to herself. 'He thinks, oh fuck.' Until that moment she had never considered the possibility that she would ever need to have this particular discussion with him, ever, but there was no avoiding it now.

"Raph," she winced slightly, "I'm not-," she inhaled deeply before meeting his amber eyes with her own smoldering brown ones. She wasn't ashamed of herself but saying it just felt wrong in so many ways, "I'm not a virgin." She blurted out.

For a moment the only sounds were the drip of the shower behind them combined with the muffled crash of waves against the hull of the ship as neither one was breathing. Stella watched as the giant turtle in front of her tensed his shoulders before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Stel-" he choked out before snapping his mouth shut, seeming to consider his words. "I- neither am I." He admitted after a moment.

Stella knew it was completely unfair but she couldn't stop the surge of jealousy that shot though her. "You're not a-" she stopped short when she realized Raphael seemed to be experiencing the same range of emotions she was and knew he was most likely hanging tenuously onto his anger by a thread. "You know what. I don't care," she reached out for him again, pulling him down to her by the towel currently draped around his neck.

Without hesitation he joined her in a blistering kiss. "So aftawards we gonna fight about who needs ta die?" He muttered against her lips.

"Oh, fuck yeah," she mumbled back while reaching back to turn the doorknob, releasing them out into the small hallway leading to the only bedroom.

Stumbling backwards, Stella allowed herself to be steered toward the large bed before climbing backwards onto it while dragging a willing Raphael right along with her.

In one swift movement, she felt her knees swept out from under her and found herself on her back with Raphael hovering over her looking quite pleased with himself.

"Smooth," she complimented him.

"Yeah," he replied as he trailed his good hand and his eyes down her body. "Yeah I am."

Stella couldn't hold back the moan that escaped her lips as his hand found her most tender spot.

"God Stel," he moaned as he rubbed her gently feeling her body responding to his touch.

"Raph, please," she moaned out again, "don'. Any more foreplay will fuckin' kill me. I just want-."

"Oh thank fuck," he chuckled moving back up her body before catching her swollen lips again, "there's no way I can hold on much longer." Without any more words exchanged, he allowed himself to dropdown before lining himself up between her thighs and pressing experimentally forward with a groan and earning himself an appreciative moan in response.

Urged forward by Stella's pleasured sounds and her insistent hands, he pressed himself forward until he was fully sheathed inside her. Surrounded by her crushing warmth he forced himself to stop and allow her to adjust.

Stella bit her lip and tried to focus in remembering to breathe. Reaching up she ran her fingers over Raphael's brow and down his face before leaning up to kiss him lightly. "I love you," she admitted for the first time.

"I've always loved ya Stella," he breathed as he began to move inside of her, effectively ending all conversation as they went rushing headfirst down a mountaintop toward ecstasy.