A/N: Hope everyone had a great Friday the 13th! :D

Chapter 37

'Yasuo, we can't do that.' I told him sadly.

'Why not?'

'Because we can't trust that they will understand.'

The rest of the party went on with eating as Yasuo and I "talked".

'But, momma, they're family, and family is supposed to love each other no matter what.' He took a spoonful of his ice cream cake. 'If they don't understand, it's not going to be long before they love us again.' He stopped eating and looked up at me. 'Kiyo, Yoshi, and I are happy about ourselves. You always tell us not to be discouraged about being different. You said different is beautiful and special.'

I smiled at the way he stumbled over 'discourage' and by the fact that he was right. I nodded at him and took in everyone smiling and carrying on with each other, turtle to human. It was nice, but Yasuo was right, we were hiding what we are and it's the completely opposite of what I want to teach the kids. Besides, Jim's kids have been with us since, well, since Jim came into our lives when I was in middle school, and they would treat me and Taylor as siblings. They'd tease us, tell secrets to us, and joke around. It doesn't change the fact that I was incredibly nervous about telling them. More importantly though, we shouldn't have to lie to our family because they are our number one priority. I was the only one standing and I cleared my throat to gain everyone's attention. Here goes nothing.

"Zack, Heidi, there's something you need to know." I spoke and Yasuo smiled.

"Lexa, what are you doing?" Don asked standing up slowly.

I received confused faces from Zack, Heidi, Don, and Raph. Leo looked at me and I saw the understanding and support in his eyes, he trusted my decision.

"I'm doing what we should've done before this party started." I told Don before returning my attention to my stepsiblings. "The guys aren't named after the ninja turtles,"

"What are you going to say they ARE them?" Heidi laughed.

I hesitated, but nodded. "Yasuo, Kiyomi, Yoshi, and I are like them too."

"Lexi, you don't have a shell." Meg said.

"Yes, I do. Watch," I deactivated my bracelet and I returned to my turtle form. "These bracelets just disguise us." The kids quickly turned theirs off, smiling. Slowly, the guys turned theirs off too. Jack jumped out of his chair and started cheering.

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"Jack, what are you talking about?" Zack asked his son.

"He helped keep them hidden when they first came here." I answered for him.

"And you didn't tell me?" He looked surprised.

"Because I promised not to."

Zack shook his head before smiling. Zack's wife, Katelyn, couldn't come because she had this teacher meeting. Heidi is a single mother, with the mentality of a twelve year old. She came up and poked me. Scratch that, two year old.

"Really? You're seriously going to stand there and poke me?" I couldn't help, but laugh.

"Sorry." She backup and smiled.

"Anyway how did you get these devices?" Zack asked as I handed him mine so he could study it.

"It was pretty simple after you get the right numbers and material." Donnie started rambling other sciencey things and Zack would say something else smart. Raph covered his ears with his hands.

"Great now we have TWO Donnie's." He whined.

Leo came over and sat next to me. "Since when do you let anyone call you, Lexi?"

I've always hated it when people call me Lexi because it sounded so girly and a LOT of mean "popular" girls from my school were named that.

"Meg's always called me that, and when I told her not to it sounded weird. So she's the only one who can call me Lexi." I explained.

"Oh and this is Vern and April. I don't think I introduced you guys to them." I mentally slapped myself for forgetting. They shook hands.

"Daddy, mommy, can we open our presents?" Yoshi asked as he, his siblings, and cousins sat around him.

"Sure," I looked at Raph and Vern, "you two got the presents? I have to go find the camera."

"Got it." Jim walked in with Ethan in one arm and the camera in the other. Vern and Raph were carrying the presents to the triplets and the rest of us gathered around. I picked up a present and read the tag.

"Ok this is from Uncle Zack, Anna, Jack, Ethan, and Aunt Katelyn." Then I handed it to Kiyomi because it was her present then found her brothers' present from Zack.

They tore at the wrapping the wrapping. Kiyomi squealed when her present was revealed. It was a bright red plush dog. Yoshi and Yasuo got toy ninja weapons. Leo quickly confiscated them until after we could tell them the rules and so they'll open the rest of their presents.

"Thank you, Uncle Zack!" The trio literally tackled Zack.

"You're welcome." He laughed.

Heidi got them coloring books and April and Vern got them new plush turtles. The turtles had something extra on the turtles; sown on ninja masks. The guys got them MORE toys! The kids were running around again and Zack and Donnie went to the lair. The two geniuses had an idea; most likely about the bracelets. I nudged my mom with my elbow.

"Hey mom?"

"Yeah?" She nudged me back.

"My computer is still in my room, right?"

"Yup."

"Cool." I got up to get it. "Thanks."

I went up to my room, grabbed my computer, and went back downstairs. I got comfortable on the couch and logged into my computer than going onto fan fiction. Mikey sat next to me, and peaked at my computer.

"Whatcha doing?" He asked.

"Well I'm about to start reading a Fan fiction." I clicked on a random one and started reading it.

"What's that?" He asked.

"It's just fans writing stories about their favorite characters from movies, TV shows, or games." I leaned closer to the screen as I read. I always do that when I read Fan Fictions and something gets intense. Then Mikey grabbed my computer and ran. "Michelangelo, get back here!" I chased him outside towards the barn where the portal is. Raph stared at Mikey confused.

"Stop him!" I yelled.

My computer was taken from Mikey and Raph looked at the computer screen, his cheeks turned red and he shoved the computer into Mikey's hands before running into the house.

"Raph!" I threw my arms out and then let them hit my sides as I heard Mikey start laughing.

"He hooked up with Leo!" Mikey fell to the ground rolling.

Great. Why is it that the one story I never wanted the guys to read, was just shown to the main character of the story. Of course, it shows Raph's super soft and flirty side with the one brother he can't stand! I left Mikey with my computer and booked it for the house to find Raph. Heidi and Meg were leaving so I said good-bye before returning to my search. I ran up the stairs, and found him face first on the floor of the guest room. Laughing will only make this situation worse, but he looked so funny laying on the floor.

"Raph?" I inched my way in.

"Go away." He growled.

"No." I crossed my arms and he shifted to look at me.

"Go away, Alexa!" He shouted.

"No, I'm not leaving until you get off the ground." I smirked.

He mumbled and got up still facing away from me. Oh my god, he's so embarrassed! I chuckled and tried to walk in front of him, but we started doing circles. I stopped and blew a stray hair out of my face.

"It couldn't have been that bad."

Raph spun around and exploded. "Not that bad! W-w-why do our FANS write that stuff about us!?" His hands were in front of him shaking.

I couldn't help, but laugh at how he was acting, but quickly covered it with a cough. "The reason why they write that stuff….I don't know the exact reason, but for the ones who read it like to see how you guys will handle it. Like there are a lot about you being… well let's say the opposite of you. Some of them are pretty out there and uh descriptive. These just make you guys seem real. In the movies, you guys win ALL of the battles with little to no effect to you. It's like you guys are invincible or something." I took his wrists to steady them. Again, I had to suppress the urge to laugh. "In the Fan Fictions, writers are able to show your flaws that make you four different from each other, but the same to the humans. I started writing one because it helped calm me down. Plus, when you get reviews, it's the best feeling in the world knowing you're making someone's day." Then the greatest idea hit me. "You should write your own! It doesn't have to be a story or anything it can be like a journal of all your adventures and the dumb things that happen at home! Oh my god that would be awesome!" I started pulling him. "I'll keep it from the guys. This is so exciting!" I heard him groan as I dragged him towards the couch in the spare room. "Wait here." I ran down my stairs and found my laptop with Mikey at the kitchen table. I hit him over the head and grabbed my computer. "Idiot." Raph wasn't here to hit him for embarrassing one of us so I stepped in.

"Hey!" He whined as Jack dragged him away.

I went back to Raph and sat next to him. I logged out of my account and started to make Raph's. He wasn't into this, but he was going to write whether he likes it or not. I made his username 'Hamato Raphael' and surprisingly it worked then I let him put in a password. I shoved the computer into his lap and went to the door.

"Write." I pointed at him and he rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in an hour to see what you got." I shut the door and went to find Leo. I promised Raph I wouldn't tell anyone about him writing this, but Leo wouldn't say anything. I didn't find him in the family room or the basement so I went to check outside. I found his at the bottom of a dogpile of the kids.

"We got him!" Anna squealed.

"Oh no you don't," Leo slowly got up, "RAWRRR!" He yelled and I started laughing and found a seat next to Kristen and April.

"He's great with them." April said.

"Yeah." I smiled.

"He's usually so composed, and to be honest he was a party-pooper."

Kristen and I laughed.

"Yeah, he can be pretty uptight it some movies." I said.

"You've been good for him." Kristen nudged me.

I smiled and watched Leo play with the kids. He did seem to be more relaxed lately. I walked up to him I still had to tell him about Raph writing. Leo stopped as I came over and smiled. The kids were still going at him. I saw Mikey walk out of the house. Payback, begins.

"Hey why don't you guys get Mikey now?" I pointed at Mike and they nodded before sprinting at him. He screamed as they tackled him. I took Leo's hand and we walked away from everyone. It was a nice day for a walk. "So, Mikey found a very uh graphic fan fiction and it involved you and Raph." He gave me a weird look. "Well Raph saw it and he got all moody. It made me think about how writing and reading them helped me when my temper got out of hand, and I set him up with an account. He's going to write a journal sort of thing. There aren't that many stories like that, but people will love it." I continued to explain it to Leo.

"Why didn't you just suggest to write in an actual paperback journal?" Leo asked as we stopped and sat under a tree.

"I thought it would be a cool story, and I want to read it." I laughed nervously.

He laughed. "Wow." He shook his head. "But if it's going to help him, then why not?"

"Exactly." I put my head on his shoulder. "Oh I should probably go see if he wrote anything."

Leo laughed again. "Alright, but if you find your computer broken; don't come crying to me." He got into lotus and started meditating.

I quickly got back to the house and peaked into the spare room. I heard him typing and a small smiled on his face. This was going to be great. I quietly went back down the stairs.