"Stop it," Spike snaps. Raphael stops banging the handcuffs on the desk.
"It might work."
"Yeah, right." She sits on the floor, dragging him with her. "Just let it be. It's only an hour."
"Fine."
They're quiet for a minute.
He glances at her. "No one said anything?"
"About what?"
"Your face." He motions. "That bruise. I punched you the other day."
Spike shrugs. "Well, that's me. No one says anything about the tenth time you come in beat up. I'm Spike, the kid that gets into fistfights with dead parents. I'm also the kid that hangs out with April, who pretty much said I'm alright, so everyone puts up with me."
"She bailed you?"
"If April O'Neil says you're cool, you're cool. She's like a cheerleader popularity status."
"What are you?"
"I don't know. Not jock, not nerd. Somewhere outside that. April lets me hang around her group though. She's all I got."
"Doesn't seem like it," Raphael remarks. "You're down here all the time."
Spike freezes. "Really? I thought that was just her…"
"No, really. You're always hanging around us. Like you got no friends."
"Well….I mean, April, yeah, but no one else. I just feel like I can…..do something with you guys. Something important."
"Do you think April feels left out?"
"Since when do you get philosophical?" Spike shoots at him.
"I just noticed, that's all. It doesn't really seem like you're friends."
"We are," Spike says defensively.
Neither of them say anything.
"Maybe you're right," Spike says quietly. "She said I forgot about her. I didn't, but-"
"You gotta balance," Raphael remarks.
"Yeah."
~Where April Goes~
"Are you guys getting along in there?" April calls.
"We haven't said anything for ten minutes, so I don't know," Spike calls back.
She listens to hushed whispers. April opens the door and approaches them quickly, inserting a key into the handcuffs. She twists it.
Their hands come free. Spike stands and rubs her wrists. "Sorry," she mutters.
"For?" April sounds confused.
Spike scratches her head as Raphael scoots out of the lab. "Have I been a bad friend?"
"No. Ever since the elevator, we've been cool. I mean, you've been hanging out more, and trying to be more normal. I mean you've still hung out with these guys, but that's okay. I get it. They're new and interesting." April pats Spike's shoulder. "And you and I are cool now. So come on, ninja-in-training."
"You know about that?"
"Just got it out of Donnie."
Of course she did.
"You conspired. You conspired with Donnie and Mikey."
"And Leo," April says cheerfully. "It's nice to have them around. They're not giving up about my dad, you know," she says quietly. "I can't wait till we get him back. You're helping right?"
"Wouldn't miss it."