Yay! New chapter! Okay so, you all still have time to vote on whether or not you think Arinna should have some 'Special someone' or not. Right now the results are pretty close and could go either way :D

Also, I apologize for any spelling and/or grammar errors that you might find in this chapter!

Dinner had been… awkward.

I had to explain to Splinter where Donatello had been and would wait for him to get back before I made him a plate.

However, his brothers on the other hand had been quiet the whole time. From time to time they would steal small glances towards me, but ultimately they were silent.

It was freaking me out.

Michelangelo especially seemed the most shocking. He had this sort of guilty look every time he glanced at me.

…Could it be that… he was feeling bad about before? About asking if I was lonely? He doesn't have to feel guilty about that. It was just a question.

Though I could definitely see some sort of anger between my two oldest sons and my youngest. Were Raphael and Leo really mad with Mikey?

Why?
I wasn't sure.

Finishing up my own dinner and placing the plate away, I glanced at the clock.

It had been almost an hour since Donatello ran of with April to investigate Dr. Rockwell's office. I was starting to feel a little worried about them.

What if they had been spotted by police or something? They should be back by now. Maybe I should go look for them-

Moving out of the kitchen, I was horrified to watch April slowly helping lead Donatello down the steps at the front of the lair.

Donnie was beaten and bruised, limping along slowly.

Oh my gosh! What happened?!

"Donatello!' I gasped at the sight of my babies wounds. Rushing forward I took Donatello's other arm and placed it around my shoulder to help him.

He glanced at me thankfully, groaning in pain.

Oh…. Honey. Who could have done this?! I was going to kill them!

"What happened?" Leo stepped forward, worried.

"Donnie got beat up by a lab monkey." April explained.

A lab monkey? Jeez, that thing must have been super strong to beat Donatello. Had that Dr. Rockwell guy been experimenting on animals?

Glancing at each other, the boys blinked a few times before rushing to get pillows and help Donatello to the couch.

"April can you get an ice pack?" Leo asked softly. Nodding, she rushed off. Pausing, she looked back to us.

"Wait, were are the ice packs?!" she sounded panicked.

"Here-" I handed Donatello to Leonardo. "I'll show you." Rushing into the kitchen I grabbed the ice pack and filled it to the top with ice. "There." I said. "April, how in the world-?" I glanced at her, wanting answers.
"I'm not sure." She sighed. "This monkey… it definitely wasn't your average primate."

Frowning I nodded and moved back into the living room. I swear I though I heard laughter when I entered. Were the boys… laughing?! Why were they laughing?

Seeing April and me return, Raphael signaled to the other to stay quiet. "No more Monkey puns." I heard him mutter.

Monkey puns? What monkey puns?

Pushing through the boys, April gave them a hardened glare. Looking away, they hummed innocently, letting her through.

Moving towards the couch, she gently placed Donatello's head on her lap and placed the ice pack on his forehead.

Stunned, his looked up at her, embarrassed. "…Hehe." He chuckled dreamily.

"Are you laughing at him because he is hurt?!" April growled at them.

….They are what?

"No." Mikey announced. "We were laughing at him because he was hurt… by a monkey!" falling backwards, Mikey and his brothers began to laugh.

….Oh, really now?

Rising, I glared at my sons. "Oh, you find that funny?" I hissed.

Freezing, all three of them grew pale.

"Uh… I-I mean-" Mikey stammered, seeing my 'you are all grounded for life' look.

Grabbing Michelangelo's wrist, I fell backwards and flipped him over me, making him ram straight into his brothers. Falling into a pile of limbs, the boys groaned, not expecting me to do that.

"There." I growled. "Now all three of you were beat up by a girl."
"We… see your point…" Leo mumbled painfully.

"Good." Turning back to Donatello, I gently patted his head. "What happened?" I asked.

"We went to Dr. Rockwell's lab, where we met Dr. Falco." April began to explain.

"He told us… Dr. Rockwell was experimenting with mutagen… and was mainly using a monkey for testing." Donatello winced through his injuries.

Lifting his head, Leo's eyes widened. "Mutagen?" he asked, getting back to the serious track.

"Yeah." April nodded. "Dr. Falco said the monkey Dr. Rockwell was using escaped. We thought maybe it was the monkey that took Dr. Rockwell."

Reaching up to rub my chin, I hummed in thought. "Where would he have taken him though?"
"I don't know." April sighed. "But that monkey, was super strong. It was like he could see what Donatello was going to do before he even knew himself."
"Yeah." Donnie pouted, not looking too pleased that he lost.

It must have been such a blow to his ego. Especially with April there!

Though thankfully, it didn't take too long for Donatello to heal. My sons had always been fast healers, ever since they were babies. I suppose it was a plus to having mutant DNA.

That didn't stop Donatello from sulking on his failure against the monkey though. I tried to tell him not to blame himself, but he wouldn't listen. He was too upset to have lost.

I would have gone and tried to talk to him more… but my mind was sort of caught up with what Michelangelo said before. For some reason it really bugged me that my sons thought I was lonely.

Did I seem lonely? I never really thought of myself as lonely, but did I look like I was?

I wonder if I look sad whenever I space out? I hope I don't. Cause trust me, I am definitely not thinking sad thoughts when I space out. Well I mean, sometimes I do, but that doesn't happen often.

I sighed, leaning against the couch. "Hey April?" I asked.

Pausing, she looked up from her laptop. Currently she was going through Rockwell's old data, trying to figure out just what he was up to with the mutagen.

I needed a girl's opinion on this.

"Yeah Mrs. A?" she asked.

Hesitant, I turned to face her, my legs crossed. "…Do I look like a lonely person?"
Surprised, she looked at me with wide eyes. "Uh… why would you think that?" she inquired.

"Good question." I huffed, pouting at my ankles. "I just want your opinion on it though."

Reaching up, April scratched her head. "Well… no, not really. I mean, you seem like you are really happy with your life. I never really heard you complain about it, and you always look so happy."
Feeling relived, I beamed at her. "You really think so?"
Hah, see! I don't look lonely!

"Of course." She chuckled. "I mean, you have loving kids and a strong husband, what else could you want? Though I guess living in the sewers must be pretty weird, but you probably got use to that by now."

"Yeah, it took a while but-" I froze mid sentence.

Wait a second… back up.

"…Repeat what you just said?" I felt my smile become plastered on my face, but I didn't feel happy.

"Though I guess living in the sewers-"
"Before that." I moved my finger in a circular motion as if I wanted her to rewind.

Blinking, April frowned at me, confused. "You have loving kids and a strong husband, what else could you want?" she asked.

…Hahaha….

Lunging forward I grabbed April by the shoulders, making her squeak. Shaking her, I gave her a wild stare. "What... did you just say?"

Eye's wide, she stammered, "W-What is the problem Mrs. A?"
…Mrs? MRS?! Shouldn't she be saying MS?

"I… don't have… a husband." I mumbled.

Suddenly relaxing, April laughed. "Oh yeah, Leo told me about that. Splinter and you aren't actually married and stuff." She beamed. "Well don't worry, even if you can't actually get married to him legally you are basically already married."
"…HUH?!" My grip tightened.

W-Wha… what was she talking about?! Splinter and… m-me? MARRIED?! WHAT?!

Completely baffled, I struggled to comprehend what April was attempting to tell me.

"Yeah, you know, common law marriage and stuff." She lifted her finger up as if her explanation should be obvious by now. "Where a man and women are basically married if they have lived together for a long time or if they intend to be married."

"…." Stunned, I stared at April with wide eyes.

…Common law marriage? I think I've heard of that before but… but….b-but….

"…AHHHHHHH!" I screamed, shaking April roughly.

Crying out in shock, April struggled to pull free. "W-What is wrong Mrs. A?!"

"AHHH!" I screamed louder. "No! No!" I snapped at her. "Ms! Not Mrs!"

Pausing, April slowly started to frown. "What?" she asked.
"A-April how… how could you?" I whimpered, letting go of her to hug myself. "I'm not… we're not… ahhh!" I wailed pitifully.

Reaching out slowly, April placed a hand on my shoulder, looking unsure. "Wait, what is with that reaction? Splinter and you are a couple…" she paused. "…Right?"

Snapping my attention to her I wailed again. "NO! Please… please don't tell me you thought Splinter and me were married this whole time!" I pleaded.

"Ah…" April gave me a sheepish smile, only then realizing that we in fact were not married. "S-Sort of?"

She did! AHHH! That just… that just ruined my whole day! I don't think of Splinter that way! He is my friend and he is like… 20 years older than me for Pete's sake! If anything you would think people might think of us as a Father and Daughter or something.

That one might make some sense but that other one… no!

Jumping to my feet, I sniffled. This was too much…

"Mrs- I mean uh, Ms. A I uh-" April stammered, looking guilty and completely humiliated. "I didn't know. It is just that since Master Splinter and you are the guys parents I just though… I assumed that you…" she trailed off.

….Nope, can't do it!

With a cry I turned and fled for my room, leaving a baffled April alone on the couch with her laptop. Scrambling across the lair, I momentarily saw the fleeting image of Splinter and Donatello talking.

They had paused to stare at me, confused to what I was doing.

"NO!" I screamed, halting and jabbing my finger at Splinter. "We are not married!" I screamed at him.

Blinking, Splinter titled his head. "Excuse me?"
"It is weird!" I cried. "April… April said- I can't even say it!" I hiccupped, turning and fleeing to my room, leaving Donatello and Splinter standing in the middle of the lair, confused.

Ever so slowly they looked to April, who shrunk under their gaze. "S…Sorry." She stammered honestly.

And after that… well, I'm not really sure. I locked myself in my room for a few hours, unable to face the world.

Today was just getting worse and worse. First the boys thought I was lonely for not having a love life, then April though I was fine because I had a relationship with Spl-Spl- I can't even finish that sentence.

Ugh.

Today was awful.

And you know what made it worse? I kept getting texts from Nicole wanting me to come over and help her cook. I didn't mind, but I really couldn't think of cooking right now.

I mean, there is some crazy monkey going around the city right now, and I am sort of in emotional turmoil at the moment… yeah, things are pretty intense right now.

With a heavy sigh I slowly exited the room and trudged into the living room. April was still in her spot on the couch and the boys were all playing video games.

As if sensing my arrival, Leo glanced at me, straightening. "Mom." He blinked. The boys all paused to stare at me. "How… are you feeling?"

"Fine." I mumbled. Glancing at April, she flinched slightly. Deciding to distract myself at the moment, I tilted my head at her. "Have you figured out anything about the monkey?"

Blinking a few times, she relaxed. "Uh… yeah." She nodded, motioning for everyone to get closer. "These notes were hard to follow at first, but it looks like Rockwell was able to modify the Mutagen."

Intrigued, I frowned and moved to sit beside her with the boys.

"Why would he do that?" Leo inquired

"He thought he could use it as a Neuro-Chemical to temporarily give a person psychic abilities." She explained.

Whoa. That… is awesome! That would be so cool!

"So that monkey was physic?" Raphael asked.

That explains how he was able to beat Donatello so easily. No offense to my son of course.

"It is more like he could read people's emotions." April corrected. "After all, he was only hostile when Donnie was hostile."

Oh! So that Monkey didn't mean to attack Donatello and April. It must have thought they were some sort of threat and attack them back!

"Well next time I'll make sure to think friendly thoughts the next time I beat him into the ground." Donatello grumbled.

"Donnie." I scolded. "Think about it, this Monkey might just be scared and alone. He probably just thought you were trying to hurt it." I tried to reason.

"Yeah, I was trying to hurt it when it was smacking me around like a piñata." He grumbled.

I sighed, shacking my head.

"Okay." Leo spoke up. "We need to track him down before he attacks someone else. Lets go up to the surface, spread out and search."

"How are we going to stay in contact?" Raphael frowned.

"I have a little something that might help." Donatello smirked, leaping to his feet. Strolling in front of us, he cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentleman, allow me to introduce, the T-Phone!" Whipping out a phone, that looked very similar to a Turtle's shell, he waved it dramatically in front of our faces.

I giggled when a familiar sounding ring tone rang out from the R-Phone.

That is wicked! It is so cute too! Look at it, it looks like a little baby turtle.

"Dude!" Mikey whined. "I'm in charge of naming stuff. I would have called it… The T-Phone!"

"But I did call it the T-Phone." Donnie glanced at his creation with confusion.

"Yeah." Mikey deflated. "But I would have named it the T-phone." He whimpered. Aww, Mikey.

Behind him Raphael slapped his head.

Shacking my head at my second oldest, I patted Mikey's head. "If you want Michelangelo, you can name my phone."
"Name it?" he question.

"Yeah. I always name my new phones. I named my last one Janice." I grinned.

Beaming at me, Mikey bounced excitedly. "Really!?" he giggled. "Then I'll name it…" he paused to think. "Super Turtle Efficient Virtual Extension!"

Uh… Okay, definitely wasn't expecting that sort of name.

"Why would she name it that?" Raphael question, swatting Mikey on the head.

"Why not?" he whined.

Super Turtle Efficient Virtual Extension?

…. S, T, E, V, E?

"Steve?" I mumbled.

"Yeah!" Mikey pointed to me. "Steve for short!"

"That… was actually pretty well thought out." Donnie commented in shock.

"Yeah." Leo nodded in agreement. "And you thought of that all by yourself?" he turned to his baby brother.
"Yes!" Mikey folded his arms in victory, before slouching, looking confused. "Thought of what?"
With a chuckle, I shook my head. "Steve. I like it. Thanks Mikey." I kissed his forehead.

Beaming with joy, he looked up at me. As if remembering something, he looked at his feet, looking guilty.

Again with this! He doesn't have anything to feel guilty about!

I wanted to ask him what was bothering him, but Donnie's cuteness distracted me when he went up to April.

"April if you give me your cell number I can patch you into our network." He smiled sheepishly.

"Sure." She smiled, taking the phone to add her cell number.

Turning about, he pumped his fist in victory. "Ah, see that." He whispered to us. "I got her number!"

Oh my gosh… he is so cute.

"Her number is on the fridge you dork." Raphael shook his head.

He is a dork! But he is a super cute and sweet dork that I love so much!

Chuckling, I grabbed my bow and arrows and turned back to the boys. "Okay, so-"

"Oh! Oh! I wanna say it!" Mikey jumped into the air, his hands raised high. Laughing, I nodded to him.

Grinning in victory, he turned to his brothers with a serious look. "Lets go, Monkey Hunting." He smirked.

Sighing at his brother, the others pushed passed him and out of the lair.
"Aww, come on dudes!" Mikey whined, running after them.

With a laugh I followed. I admit that Monkey hunting wasn't exactly on my list of things to do today.

Helping Nicole bake would have to wait. This was important.

And it wasn't like it was very hard to find a Monkey in New York. It oddly enough only took a few minutes.

Though chasing a monkey through New York was definitely difficult.

We couldn't keep track of him! It was like he new where we were trying to cut him off and would change directions!

Was he… reading our minds? April said he could read emotions, so maybe he was figuring out where we would try to catch him by our emotions?

That is so cool? A little annoying, especially if you are trying to catch someone with that ability, but definitely cool.

Until, you know, you lose them. Like we just did.

"Where did he go?" Leo gasped, looking around for were the Monkey had run off to.

"I thought he ran that way?" Donnie pointed to the right.

"Well I thought he ran that way." Raphael pointed to the other direction.

"Here Monkey, monkey!" Mikey called into the air.

Oh boy. This is getting us no where.

"Where do you think he went April?" I inquired, over my shoulder to where she was standing. When she didn't answer, I turned around to see her walking towards a dumpster.

Frowning, I tilted my head as she opened it and smiled. Gently, she reached out, as if she wanted to help someone out of it.

What was she- Oh!
My eyes widened when the monkey suddenly stepped out of the dumpster, looking around wildly.
It didn't seem to think of April as a threat… and she didn't see the monkey as one either.

How… did she know it was in the dumpster?
Before I could even think another thought Mikey had managed to capture the monkey, wrapping chains tightly around its body.

Surprised at first, April turned back to look at the monkey, who was screeching wildly.

I know… this monkey might have been a threat. But there was something about him that just didn't feel right. I couldn't explain it, but maybe it was because of the way he looked at April.

He had this sort of… pleading look for help. He was scared.

"Great, we got the Monkey." Raphael grumbled. "We got the Monkey, but we aren't any closer to finding Rockwell."

As Raphael spoke, April carefully approached the Monkey. Titling her head, she watched him closely. The closer April seemed to get, the calmer the Monkey seemed to appear.

"Actually…" she said softly, catching out attention. "I think we are closer than we think."
Huh?

"What?" Donnie questioned. "How?"
"I think that this is Dr. Rockwell!" she motioned to the Monkey, who blinked at us wearily.

Oh…Oh no

Dun dun dun!

And yeah. A lot of things happening in this chapter XD Poor Arinna. So much to handle all at once. XD