Good morning, my peoples! I apologize for the delay in posting! Work is amazingly stressful right now, and it's been a little time consuming.

Special shout-out to Discovery7, who inspired me to believe that I was NOT crazy for trying my had at writing a little romance. Many thanks Ramen Noodles... what?


.

.

.

The other address was right in the middle of the six block search-zone that Donnie had claimed was the most likely area to find Mikey.

"So how do we play this?" He asked Leo as they approached the building. "It's not like we can go in weapons drawn."

"That would just make Mikey react badly," Leonardo agreed, "So we go in quiet. "He looked at Raph, "This requires stealth, not brute force."

"Fine. Just tell me when we need to break something." Raph grumbled in response.

They reached the location, checking as well as they could for any sign of movement inside. It looked as though no one was home and Don went to work on the alarm system. After the lax security on the other apartment, the extremely complex system was a surprise.

After 15 minutes, Donnie spoke up. "Guys? You might want to get comfy. This circuitry isn't even on the market yet."

"Meaning?" Raphael looked at him with incomprehension.

"Meaning that this system is a royal bitch!" Don snapped, "And it means it'll take a while, so STOP hovering, and let me work!"

Donatello rarely cursed, so when he did both brothers backed off. Don flexed his fingers, rolled his neck, and got to work.

They where in a clearing in the forested area of Central park. There was a blanket spread out on the grass, and a half-dozen candles lit and placed on rocks. The smell of pizza filled her nose as Mike reached into a large bag he'd carried from the apartment.

"I wasn't sure what kind of food to bring," He glanced up, and stammered at the look on her face. "Oh crud. I messed up, didn't I? I thought this'd be nice, I didn't mean to..."

His self-hating rant was cut off when Phoenix turned sharply and crushed a kiss to his surprised mouth. His free arm came up instinctively, pulling her against his chest, increasing the pressure between their mouths. Suddenly the night didn't seem so cold. After another moment, she pulled back, leaving them both breathing hard. This 'being-a-teenager-in-Love' was almost overwhelming...

"This is beautiful." She looked around the clearing again. "Romantic."

A half-smile made it to Mikey's face. "Yeah?" He knelt down and unpacked the rest of the items from his mystery bag. There was pizza, but not the delivery kind. "I made pizza while you where at the gallery." He motioned to it shyly.

"Home made pizza?" She sat next to him on the blanket, and took the cans of soda from him as he pulled them out. "And Coke... and... oh my." She looked at the white cardboard box with wide eyes. "Cannoli's?"

"I know the owner of a great bakery." Mikey shrugged sweetly, sat down, and opened the Tupper-ware container full of pizza. "So..." He looked at her. "Tell me something about yourself that no one else knows."

Two hours. That's how long it took Donnie to get the security system deactivated.

TWO freaking HOURS.

Raph was going stir-crazy. Yes, the apartment looked dark, but that wasn't a guarantee that Mikey wasn't right there. He prowled the roof, jumping at the slightest noises, waiting for something, anything, to happen. It wasn't until he heard Donnie call out "Yatze!" That he felt like he could breath again.

Leo quickly stood from his meditation pose he'd sat in for the last hour-and-a-half, and followed Don to the roof door. Donnie made short work of the lock, and they entered.

They hadn't expected to walk into part of a Japanese rainforest... or at least, that's what the room looked like. Between the trees and the water, it didn't seem like any pool they'd seen before.

"Huh... very high-quality one-way polymer." Don muttered. "You could stick your face up against it outside and not realize it's glass."

"Yeah, thanks' professor boring. " Raph snarked under his breath.

"Shut it, both of you!" Leo stager-whispered. "Stealth, remember?"

They began another systematic search of the apartment. After about 15 minutes, Leo opened the door leading to one of the bedrooms. There was nothing unusual about it, except... He saw the corner of something poking out from underneath the pillow.

A 'Justice Force' comic book. Leo felt a wide grin spread over his face at the sight. This was the place. He carefully placed the pillow back where it was and went on to check the next room.

Raph had come across the dojo attached to the pool area. He looked at the weapons racks and punching bag enviously. He wouldn't mind training in there he admitted.

Donatello allowed himself to drool over the high-end electronics in the living room before attempting to pick the lock on the one door that was sealed. After a few minutes, it opened, and he looked in. Surprise jolted through him at the room. It wasn't very large, but it was well used. An artist's studio. Blank canvases where stacked on a rack against one wall, and shelves filled with jars and tubes of paint where above a sink along the other. The far wall was almost completely windows, from the floor the ceiling. And the view...In the darkness, the city was ablaze with light.

A half-finished painting sat on the easel in the center of the room, near a stool. Don looked at it curiously. He had no idea what it was suppose to be. The colors where... happy.

Don shook his head, and left the room. He didn't try to understand art.

The night was freezing to most Non-New Yorkers as they hurried home, their breath streaming out before them like wisps of clouds. Some where, a clock began to chime three. The sky was clear, each star as brilliant as a cut diamond on black velvet.

"OK, your turn. "A female voice came from the thicket of trees in Central Park. "Something you've never told anyone; Not your brothers, not April... no one." Phoenix stretched out next to Michelangelo on the blanket they'd brought with them. The remnants of a 'pizza picnic' where strewn about: Paper plates, soda cans, and a empty cannoli box. The candles had burned down to almost nothing, barely glowing.

"Alright. I never even put this in my journal," Mikey flushed, but continued, "I always wanted a kitten." She looked at him in surprise. "A orange one, with green eyes."

"And what would you call him?" She asked with a smile.

He flashed a quick grin. "Klunk!" Mike announced. "I'd call him Klunk."

"I happen to think 'Klunk' is a great name for a kitten." She replied, and let out a quiet, happy sigh. It was a wondrous thing, she decided, being happy. No, not just happy, she corrected herself, being in Love, and having that Love returned. When she was with him, it was so easy to let go of the past; The Foot, her guilt, the journeys. With him she was just a 19-year-old girl, in Love with her boyfriend.

"What'cha dreaming about?" Mikey pushed himself up on one elbow to look down at her, and gently brushed a strand of hair from her face with one fingertip. Somehow, he always knew when she'd gone a million miles away in her mind.

"I was thinking about people stupid enough to try and 'get over' being in Love." She confessed. "Why would you want to get over the thing you look for from the moment you're born, and never forget 'till the day you die?" The very idea puzzled her.

"I dunno." Mikey gave a one shouldered shrug. "I could stand up right now and yell to the sky how I feel about you!"

She rolled her eyes, and playfully punched him in the arm. "Sure, just don't attract the cops!" Phoenix joked.

"Ah! Do I hear doubt?" He leapt to his feet, and grinned down at her. He cupped his hands around his mouth like a bull-horn, and took a deep breath.

"MIKE!" She sat up and yanked on his elbow. "Don't you dare!"

His response was to smile even wider, and yell at the top of his lungs: "MY NAME IS MICHELANGELO SPLINTER-SAN, AND I LOVE PHOENIX

KAZOKU-NASHI!"