A/N: Wow, an update so quickly. 00; The world must be coming to an end or something.

Nothing in Common

For a whole week Donatello had been up in April's shop, looking about as miserable as he felt. Throughout the time April has given the young turtle his space, trying her best not to pry. But try as she might, she could not ignore the notion that something was troubling him and that she wanted to find out what.

"Okay, spill it." The young woman finally said in an ordering tone. "Why have you been moping around up here?"

Donatello put the tips of his middle finger and thumb into his mouth. "I'd rather not say. It makes me out to be such a jerk."

April smacked his hand away so she could understand him better. "I'll determine that as soon as you tell me what bothering you."

"It's…it's…Flik." Donatello answered with some hesitation.

"What about him?" April inquired with great interest. "He's seems to be a great kid and Racqel is ecstatic to have found him."

Again Donatello put the tip of his thumb into mouth and again it was smacked away. "I'm glad that she found him and all, but…." He bit his lower lip, because he just didn't want to say what was on his mind. "But ever since then I've found it hard to get some alone time with Racqel."

"Well…" April rested a hand on the back of her head. "You have to understand that the two of them hadn't seen each other for almost ten years. They have a lot of catching up to do, so they're going to want to hang out."

"They're practically inseparable." Donatello exclaimed. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that Racqel has her brother back, cause now she has someone backing her up when Raphie picks on her out of spite or fun. And she was kinda getting depressed not having any other family around besides Casey. So having Flik show up like he did made her feel better." The purple clad turtle gave a deep sigh. "But they spend almost every minute together. Even when they are apart they're still together." He had to restraining himself from getting into the young woman's face. "Do you know what it's like making out with someone, only to have them start giggling cause they were told a joke through telepathy? Or having to repeat yourself cause they were busy listening to what someone else was saying in their head while you were talking to them?"

April shook her head. "No, not really."

"Well it's absolutely annoying." Donatello retorted. "And that's not all. Around the lair Racqel is not known as Racqel any more than Flik is know as Flik. I mean why waste time asking about Racqel and Flik when it is much easier saying 'twins this' and 'twins that'. 'Where are the twins?' or 'What are the twins making for dinner?'. Plus they've started to dress so almost alike, it not even cute."

"I can't believe you jealous." April laughed.

"I knew it." Donatello said while slamming a fist on his knee. "I knew I was coming out like a jerk."

"No you're not. You're just frustrated, that's all." April put a comforting hand on the distraught turtle's shoulder. "I have a feeling that there is something more, isn't there?"

Donatello pressed his two fingers together, making an arch with them. "…yeah." He cleared his throat. "Seeing them together made me realize that Racqel and I have absolutely nothing in common. And if we don't have anything in common, how in the world is this relationship going to work out."

"What are you talking about?" April exclaimed. "Of course it will work out if you want it to. It doesn't matter on if you have anything common or not. Don't you know of the saying, 'Opposites attract'?"

"But we're so opposite that if we were magnets, we would be repelling each other." Donatello said with a sigh in his voice. "She's into fairytales and fiction, while I'm in to sci-fi and non fiction. She can do things that defy the laws of logic and I need logic to explain everything. While I'm making scientific breakthroughs, she off messing with black magic that shouldn't even exist. I can calculate the square root of pi in my head and she…can at least use a calculator." The young turtle flopped down into his seat and put his head on the counter. "I bet Jason had a lot of things in common with her and he didn't make her feel inferior or anything."

"You can't go comparing yourself to her last boyfriend." April scolded.

"That's what Racqel said." Donatello replied. "I keep asking her to tell me about her and Jason so I can get a few notes on what I could do. But she won't tell me. Says she doesn't want me to copy him and that I should come up with things on my own."

"And she is absolutely right." April said with the nod of her head. "It's no secret that we girls are always comparing old boyfriends with the new ones. So you don't want to do the same thing her last one did, cause then she'll be thinking about him and not you. You get what I'm saying?"

"I guess so." Donatello answered. "It's just that I have not experience in this. I don't know what to do."

"Nobody has any experience in this." April informed him. "True that Racqel has had a prior relationship, but it doesn't mean that she's experienced." Don picked his head up and cocked an eyebrow at the young woman. "You know what I mean."

Donatello crossed his arms behind his head. "I guess I could learn to like something she likes. Than at least we could have something in common."

"Why you?" April asked.

"Cause it's only fair." Donatello answered. "I mean Racqel has been learning how to live with us. She was the one who had to make thing work with my brothers."

Now it was April's turn to cock an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Well…yeah." Donatello replied. "Racqel had to get Mikey over losing his second room, earn Leon's trust, and put up with Raphie's taunts."

"So what are you going to do?" April asked.

"Um…I was thinking about learning to play an instrument." Donatello answered sheepishly. "Racqel really likes music, especially playing it. When they're not playing or training, Flik and she play their chosen instruments. They're really good too. I figure that if I could learn to play something, I could join in with them or maybe just play with her."

A smile slid across April's face. "That sounds really nice. But what do you want to learn to play."

"Hmmm…" Donatello put a finger to his cheek. "Something that goes well with a trumpet and a flute."

"How about a violin?" Casey asked. He had entered the shop just as Don was thinking out loud. "I could teach ya how ta play one."

"You!" April cried.

"Yes me." Casey answered in an insulted tone. "Ya don't think I can't play one?"

"You are the clumsiest man I know." April joshed. "So yeah, it would be kind of hard for me to imagine you playing something as delicate and beautiful as a violin."

"Well I'll show ya." Casey retorted. "Ya got one in stock? Mine's at home."

"I'm sure it is." April strolled around the counter in order to get into the backroom. "In about a million pieces I bet." She said in a lowered voice and Don covered his mouth to hide his snickering smile.

"Keep it up turtle boy and I just may take back my offer." Casey warned.

"That may be a good thing." April teased as she came out with a violin and bow in her hands. "Now I want you to be extremely careful with this. It's not super expensive, but I think I could get a great price on it."

Casey took of his gloves and tossed them to the side before snatching the instrument from the red haired woman. "Yeah, yeah." He plucked the strings, one at a time, to test their durability. "They'll need to be changed, but they'll do for right now." Then he ran the bow across them. "Needs a bit of tunin'. Got a tunin' fork?"

"Aren't we acting all professional." April joshed as she crouched down behind the counter. "Luckily for you I do." She came back up holding the U-shape tool.

"Just give it a ring der and I'll have dis thing tuned up." Casey told her. April couldn't help rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders at the big man, but she did as she was told. After a few minutes, the dark haired was ready play. "Alright lady and mutant, prepare yerselves." Casey told them and Don jokingly put his hands over his ears. "Yer really pushin' it, ya know dat?"

"Sorry." Donatello said sheepishly while taking his hands down. "Please go ahead."

Casey tucked the violin under his chin and closed his eyes. "I hope I remember how dis went."

April and Don squinted their eyes and bit their lower lips, so as not to say anything rude while the dark haired man would be playing. With nervous anticipation they waited to hear something that might resemble a screeching cat. But to their amazement, that wasn't what came out of the violin. Instead it was the beautiful, sorrowful, soothing tune of 'Ave Maria' that flowed from the strings of the instrument.

Donatello and April opened their eyes to see Casey standing intelligently erected. A complete opposite to the young man's usual slouching stature. His face showed that he was deeply focused on what he played, so as not to make any errors in the piece. Throughout the piece April and Don were afraid to breathe, because they didn't want to break Casey's concentration.

"That…that was amazing." April stuttered.

"That'll make ya think twice before pokein' fun at someone before knowin' what dey could do." Casey said while giving a sharp nod.

"But…but why do you know how to play?" April questioned.

"What? A man can't just learn sumpthin' fer da fun of it?" Casey asked in an insulted tone. No one dared to answer his question. "Alright. If ya must know, my old man wanted me ta."

"I don't get it." Donatello piped. "You said that your dad wanted you to act like a man. Playing something like the violin wouldn't fit into his way of thinking."

"It was another Jones's tradition fer da eldest boy ta learn and my dad was all about traditions." Casey answered. "My dad learned how ta play and his dad before him and his dad before him. I ferget how that tradition started, maybe I'll ask ma to remind me."

"So wouldn't your brother have learned to play rather than you?" Donatello inquired. "This sounds like something more up his alley."

"I told you, dad made me number one." Casey said in a heated tone. "So everythin' dat Severus was supposed ta know went down ta me."

"So you said that you'll teach me to play, right?" Donatello reminded. "You will still teach me."

"Yeah, I'll teach ya." Casey answered. "It's gonna be difficult though, cause ya only got three fingers and dis instrument kinda requires five. But I think we can get around dat little problem." The young man gave his chin a rub. "You'll have to learn how ta flatten you fingers on strings and not rest 'em on others." He said in a thoughtful tone. "Yeah, dat's what were gonna have ta do."

"Whatever. I'm ready to learn." Donatello said eagerly. But then a troubled look came onto his face. "I just realize that I have one little problem."

"What's dat?" Casey asked.

"I don't own a violin and I don't have the money to get one." Donatello answered.

"You can have the one I have." April told the young turtle.

"But I can't pay you for it." Donatello replied.

April waved a hand at him. "Don't worry about it. You've done a ton of repairs around here."

"And I'll help ya get some new string fer it." Casey added. "In no time, ya'll be sweepin' Racqel off her feet with your playin'."

Weeks later, and to Casey's surprise, the young turtle was playing at what would be considered 'concert material'. "It's like yer one of dem prodigies." He praised. "If Julliard took in mutants, ya'd be at da top of der list."

"Well once I got my fingering down and made it all into a science, it wasn't all that hard to learn the pieces." Donatello replied. "I think I might be ready to play."

Down in the lair…

Flik counted as he brushed his twin sister's hair long brown hair. "85…86…87…"

Michelangelo had been doing his best to mess him up. "10…56…39…"

The twins were sitting on the couch in the T.V. area and Michelangelo was sitting in his beach chair. No longer in punk clothes Flik was dressed in a white t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and wore light blue hightop shoes. Thinking that he would look so handsome in this fashion, Racqel had his brown hair was cut short (almost close to the neck) and a blue bandanna was tied around his head.

Racqel was reading a book. "Every night you've bush my hair." The young girl said at one point. She was dressed in a white t-shirt, dark red jeans, and red lowtop shoes. "Why and why a hundred strokes?"

"Because it would make your hair silkier and shinier, or so dad says." Flik answered. "I kinda remember watching him do this to you ever night. He would say what pretty hair you had and that it should be shown to its greatest potential."

"But a hundred times? It seems so tedious and stuff." Racqel replied. "I don't see why it couldn't look just the same after running a comb through it a couple of times and I don't see you doing it for your own hair."

"I'm a guy. I don't need to worry about that kind of thing." Flik told her. "Besides, you want to look your best for you-know-who, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Racqel practically exclaimed. "But still, all this brushing?"

"Relax, I'm done now." Flik said as he tossed the brush onto the coffee table.

"No you're not." Michelangelo piped. "You still have ten more strokes to go."

"You can't make me lose count." Flik told the orange clad turtle. "Ever time I sit down to brush, you try that tiresome joke. When are you going to get it that you can't mess me up?"

"There's always a chance." Michelangelo replied.

Flik rolled his eyes. "I suppose."

"Now that you brought up Donnie, it's got me thinking." Racqel put her book down on the coffee table. "He's been acting awfully strangely of late. For weeks now he's been leaving the lair to go…who knows where. And he's hardly talking to me." She looked over at Mike. "You don't think he mad at me or anything, do you?"

"Nah." Michelangelo waved a hand at the young girl. "You've done nothing wrong to make him mad at you. But I do think that he might be a little frustrated."

"Frustrated?" Racqel questioned. "About what?"

"I don't know." Michelangelo said with a shrug. "But I can recognize the look of frustration on his face. I've seen it before when he's working on something."

A thoughtful look came onto Racqel's face. "I should do something for him." Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "I got it and it will be perfect." A giant smile took over the thoughtful look. "Come on." She grabbed her brother's hand.

"Where are we going?" Flik asked as his sister dragged him towards the front door. "What are we getting?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." Racqel replied.

Just as the two humans leave through the front door, Donatello came in to the lair by way of the elevator with a case under his arm. "Where's Racqel?" He asked Mike.

"You just missed her." Michelangelo told him. "She left a couple of seconds ago with Flik."

"Da two were holdin' hands." Raphael piped. He was in the kitchen doorway.

"But…but she promised that she was going to be here when I got back." Donatello stammered.

"Well it looks like she broke her promise now, doesn't it?" Raphael snapped. "I swear da why da twins are actin', it ain't natural."

"It's Racqel and Flik!" Donatello shouted. "They are two different people!"

"Not by da way der actin'." Raphael retorted. "Face it. She'd rather spend time with dat boy den with ya anymore. Perhaps ya should suggest dey date each other."

Donatello went to say something in defense of Racqel and/or her brother, but couldn't come up anything. The reason why he couldn't up with anything was because Raph's last comment got him thinking. What if Racqel was in love with her brother? She's has been awfully affection with him. Her taking his hand sometimes and he brushing her hair. "I…I'm going up to my room." Don finally said. "I think I need some time to think."

"Say Donnie, what's in the case?" Michelangelo asked as he saw his brother head upstairs.

"Hmmm?" Donatello looked down at the case. "Nothing." The young turtle said with a sigh. "Just something I was going…nothing." He entered his room and closed the door behind him.

Leonardo entered the main room from the dojo. "I can't believe you said something like that about Racqel, let alone say it to Donnie." He scolded. "You know shelling well that Racqel took Flik with her to go get something for him."

"Dat's what she wants us ta think." Raphael replied angrily. "Fer der past weeks she's been makin' Donnie feel bad, cause she spends so much time with her brother. And I am gonna give her a piece of my mind about dat when she gets back here."

"Sure ya could spare it?" Michelangelo teased. An empty soda can sailed across the room and ricochets off his head. "Ow. Geez, can't anyone take a joke anymore."

"Insults aren't jokes." Raphael groused before storming off back into the kitchen.

Sometime later…

Racqel and Flik came walking into the lair. The young girl hugged something that was black and folded in her arms. "He is so going to love this." She practically squealed.

"After what you went through to get it, he better." Flik stated sternly.

"It wasn't that much trouble." Racqel said as she looked around the room.

Michelangelo was still sitting in front of the many televisions, Leonardo must have either went to his own room or back into the dojo, and Raphael was still fuming in the kitchen.

With no knowledge of what happen just after she left, Racqel glided over to the couch. "Hey Mikey, Donnie isn't home yet is he?" The young girl asked.

"Yup." Michelangelo answered. "He's up in his room, sulking."

"Sulking?" Racqel questioned. "Why?"

"Apparently you were suppose to be here when he go back." Michelangelo answered.

"But I didn't know when he was going to back when I left." Racqel told the orange clad turtle. "I was hoping to be back before him, but I guess it took longer than I thought." The young girl looked up towards Don's room. "I better go talk to him." She flew up to the young turtle's door and knocked on it. "Donnie? I'm back."

"That's great." Donatello's muffled voice said through the door. "Ya want a medal or something?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you got back, honest." Racqel told him. "I just had to go out and do something really important."

"Sure, with your brother." Donatello's voice, still muffled, started to become a bit louder as footsteps came to the door.

"I took Flik with me so he could help." Racqel replied. "And I knew he wouldn't want me to leave him alone."

"Of course you wouldn't want to leave him alone." Donatello threw open the door. "You're so in love with your brother."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Means you should be dating him since you like spending so much time with him."

"Don't be that way." Racqel begged. "I'm sorry I've been spending so much time with him. Really."

"Save it." Donatello snapped. "Just…just leave me alone." He slammed the door in her face.

"But…but…" Tears welled up in Racqel's eyes. "I…I…" She dashed from the second level down to the first and into her room.

Flik glared up at Don's door. "He had no right to do that to her." He stated angrily and flew up to the purple clad turtle's door. "I'm coming in."

"Not without my permission." Donatello retorted.

Flik kicked open the door. "I don't need your stinkin' permission." He told Don angrily. "Where do you get off treating my sister like that?"

"Where did she get off dumping?"

"Just cause she isn't spending every waking minute with you doesn't mean she dumping you."

"Of course she isn't spending every minute with me, that because she's spending it with you."

"You're jealous."

"Maybe I am, but she's my girlfriend. I think I deserve to spend some time with her and without you." The 'you' came out quite venomously.

"You don't know what it's like to lose a family member that you are really close to. Of course I hope you never have to know what it feels like to lose one of your brothers, but you can't understand what I'm going through until you do. Now I'm sorry that I'm a bit clinging and I'm trying my best not to be. But you have got to be patient. Taking your frustration out on Racqel isn't going to make anyone feel any better, especially you."

"What you mean by that?"

"Well…it's a secret, but Racqel got you something really special. Something that she's sure you're going to like a lot and she went to a lot of trouble to get it. So I'm sure you're going to feel like a complete heel when she finally gives it to you. That is…if she's still going to give it to you."

"What is it?"

Flik turned his back on the tech-knowing turtle. "I'm not telling." He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Don alone with his thoughts.

Back down on the first level Flik went into the room he now shared with his sister. A bed was added to the room for him, on the opposite wall of Racqel's. Of course there had to be some rearranging, some reorganizing, and vanity dresser and display case shelves had to be moved back into storage in order to make room.

The young boy spied his sister, asleep on the bed. "Looks like she cried herself to sleep."

The black fabric that his sister hugged when she first entered the lair was now a crumpled mess on the desk. Apparently she tossed it there when she was running to flop onto her bed to cry. Seeing Racqel shiver, Flik picked up the black item and it unfolded fully.

Turns out that it was a black jacket with a few minor tears and was almost as tall as he was. He brought the jacket over to his sister to lay upon her like a blanket. With it on her, Racqel stop shivering and clutched the jacket around her. Then he brushed a bit of hair out of her face before leaving the room.

Somewhere around midnight…

Racqel was awakened by her ears twitching. Somewhere outside her room someone was playing a radio. It wasn't loud, but it was enough to be heard. The young girl opened her eyes and sits up. The jacket that was on her fell off, revealing to her how cool it really was in the room. Shivering she slipped the jacket on and looks around the dark room. Flik is asleep in his bed, oblivious to the music. Evidently he did not have the sharp hearing the young girl had.

Curious as to why someone would be playing music at this time of night, Racqel slips off her bed and goes out of her room. She follows the sorrowful music, which was getting clearer with every step she takes, till she was at the entrance of the kitchen. From there she peeks around the archway to see that it wasn't a radio playing. Her eyes glisten with awe as she watched Don swaying with his violin.

Never in her life had she seen anyone play the instrument in person. How gracefully the young turtle moved, dipping and rocking. So mesmerized was the young girl at this sight, that she didn't want to even blink for fear that it would all disappear. And the sorrowfulness of the tune flowing into her ears tugged at her heart. Afraid to speak, afraid to breath, Racqel softly entered the kitchen and took a seat in one of the chairs by the table. As she stared, the young girl put her head into her hands and her elbows on the table. Donatello didn't even know she was there, because his back was to the entrance. When he was done, the young turtle let his bow arm go limp and set the violin down on the counter in front of him.

Finding her voice, Racqel says, "That was beautiful." This startled Don and he spun around to see her sitting at the kitchen table. "Is that what you've been doing all this time? Was that what you wanted me here for when you came home?"

Donatello rested his free hand on his head. "…yeah." His cheeks turned a slight pink. "I wanted to learn something you liked and I also knew that you liked classical music too. Plus I wanted to be something that could accompany you and you brother, so you didn't have to leave him out if you didn't want to."

Sadly Racqel looked down at the kitchen table. "I'm sorry that I've been spending so much time with him. It's just that…well…I missed having a family of my own and he…"

Donatello sat down in a chair next to her. "You don't have to explain." He put the violin bow down so he could lift up the young girl head. "I understand."

A smile grew onto Racqel face as she rubbed a few stray tears from her eyes. "Oh that's right." The young girl jumped from her seat suddenly. "I got you something." She whipped the jacket off, ignoring the cold, and held it out to him. "This is for you."

Surprised, Donatello stood up and took the long black jacket from Racqel. With a furrow brow he studied the clothing, noting that the sleeves were too thin for his arms and that it would never go around his shell. Lost at to why the young girl would give him something he could not wear, he looked at her for an answer.

"Don't you recognize it?" Racqel asked eagerly and Don shook his head. "It's from the Matrix." The young girl answered gleefully. "That is one of the actual jackets Neo wore. This was tattered to show wear from one of the fights he was in."

Donatello started at the jacket, he couldn't believe his eyes. "But…but how did you get one of these? You didn't steal it, did you?"

"Of course not." Racqel practically squealed. "See, one of the wardrobe people is a friend of one of the trainers who trained the actors. That trainer is a cousin of the uncle of granddaughter of the guy who trained with Dye Goonya. And the wardrobe person is also a witch. Anyway, I had knowledge of this special magic fabric that I knew she would want. So I went out to get that and traded it for the jacket."

"I'm not going to ask how you knew or to have you repeat all that." Donatello told the young girl with a smile.

"I appreciate that." Racqel laughed. "So do you like it?"

"I love it." Donatello replied.

For a moment there was silence, neither human nor turtle knew what to say next.

"So…have you eaten yet?" Racqel eventually asks. "Cause I haven't."

"I don't suppose a protein bar counts for anything, does it?" Donatello asked.

"I don't think so." Racqel said while shaking her head. "I could whip us up something."

"That would be great." Donatello picked up his violin and bow. "Maybe you'd like me to play while you cook?"

"I would love it."

A/N2: Yup, I gave Casey some class. And before anyone could say I've error, I thought about this in every way and figured that a being with three fingers could play the violin (it be difficult, but they could do it).

As for having a bit of conflict, what's a relationship without some tension here or there to make it grow stronger? I mean I can't always have it be cutesy. Right?