A/N: Henlo! Thankyou to the first person who followed and favourited this story! I truly appreciate you! I hope you enjoy this chapter :D And to anyone reading this, please do review and let me know what you think! ALSO, to all ARMYs, HAPPY BUTTER DAY! LET'S STREAM AND GET IT TO AS MANY VIEWS AS WE CAN WOOHOO!

As always, I do not own TMNT!

I hope you guys are safe and well~

A Little Love Never Hurt No One

It had been three weeks since she'd learned the names of all of the turtles, two weeks after Donnie had nearly blasted her balcony door off its hinges with a laser gun, and a week after Raph nearly crushed her under his shell in his attempt to get away from a cockroach.

Needless to say, Ella was overwhelmed after all that had happened the past few weeks.

She collapsed onto her bed, bag sliding off down the side and hitting her carpeted floor with a loud thud. Her mind began to drift as she gazed up at the ceiling, painted to mimic the night sky and all its constellations. At least, Jade had tried her best. Her eyes roved over each one before coming to rest on the constellation of Cassiopeia. She remembered the story—her mother had told her countless of times. After all, her mother had been named after the vain queen from the Greek myths herself.

She'd boasted about her daughter's beauty, claiming that she was even more beautiful than the Nereids, her mother's voice rang out in her head so vividly that for a moment, Ella thought that she was actually sitting at her side, telling her story all over again. She brought Poseidon's wrath down upon their heads, chaining her daughter, Andromeda, onto a rock. Cassiopeia was then chained to a throne in the heavens, made to circle a celestial pole forevermore.

Ella opened her eyes, momentarily blinded by the light streaming in from her window. The memory floated in the air above her for a while before it vanished, tucked back into the folds of her mind. As a child, she'd been regaled by her mother with Greek, Roman and Egyptian myths, all stemmed from her mother's love for their art, especially since she specialized in them at the Met. She grew up with an appreciation for history and art, though she never really viewed them as more than interests.

Turning onto her side, her eyes caught the picture frame displayed on her writing desk. It was of Lia and her; one girl with hair as bright as the sun, the other with hair as dark as the night sky. Both girls stared out the picture with huge grins on their faces, standing in front of the Met. Their stormy grey eyes gleamed in delight, and the brunette was caught halfway through her laugh.

It was amazing how different your life could become within just a few weeks, especially after discovering the existence of giant turtles and becoming near-friends with them, and yet there were some things that would always be a constant. Her mother, her sister, Jade. They would always be there.

Ella sat up, swinging her legs over the bed. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she glanced at the clock. It was almost eight at night, and she needed to start on her school homework. She pried the last remnants of her thoughts off her and stretched as she stood up, crossing to her closet to find much more comfortable clothes.

It was after she had changed and was digging through her school bag when she heard a loud tapping noise. She frowned, searching for the sound, before seeing a dark figure outside her window. Raising an eyebrow, Ella went over to slide the window open, and was greeted with a cheerful smile from Mikey, who was hanging upside down.

"Heya, Mikey," she grinned at him as she moved aside to let him in, the freckled turtle somersaulting over the window ledge and landing soundlessly on the carpeted floor. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Hey, dudette! I haven't seen you for so long, so I thought I'd come visit!" His ever blinding grin was on full force, but Ella could tell that it didn't quite reach his eyes. You saw me last week, Mike. She said nothing, however, instead letting him "ooh" and "aah" over her room. He was flitting to and fro, poking the spines of the books on her shelves, squishing a couple of her stuffed toys and gawking at the painting on her ceiling.

"Whoa! That's awesome, man!" She watched in amusement as he tilted back further and further in order to be able to fully see the painting, and then falling backwards and crashing onto the floor in a loud yelp.

Ella laughed, but instead of helping him up, she joined him the floor, sitting cross-legged beside him. Mikey grinned up at her, rocking back on his shell, and Ella had to resist the urge to pinch his cheeks affectionately at the sight.

"Pretty sweet place you've got," he commented, bright blue eyes blinking up at the swirl of constellations above them.

"Do you like the painting?" Ella asked, leaning back on her hands. Mikey nodded enthusiastically, and that was the cue for her to tell the story of how her ceiling came to be.

"My best friend, Jade, she painted that when I was twelve. Took her nearly six months to do, but she kept insisting all the time that she was happy to do it for me. She said that it was a way for me to always be looking up at the stars, even when I couldn't see them," Ella raised her eyes up, lost in memory. "I used to have a huge obsession with constellations, y'know. It kinda faded away, but I never really stopped being so fascinated with them."

Mikey was staring wide eyed and open-mouthed at the different constellations that glittered above them. "Jade's your best friend? What's she like?"

Ella hummed, easing back from her position to sit up straight. "Well, she's a year older than me, and she's really pretty, too. She's amazingly talented, if only she could see that for herself. I've known her for, what, nearly seven years? She can be really straightforward, so I guess I'm there to act as the somewhat responsible one. Most of the time, though, I see her as more of an older sister, other than Lia."

Mikey was quiet at that, mouth turning slightly down at the sides. Ella watched, slightly worried, but didn't say anything. She had a feeling that there was more he wanted to ask.

"And Lia's your older sister? What's she like, is she nice to you?"

Ella blinked, already beginning to understand what Mikey was getting at. "Yep, three years older. She can be a real mom sometimes, more so than our own mom, but she really cares for me a lot. Sure, there are times when I kinda want to strangle her for nagging so much, but I guess that's just what big sisters do."

Mikey wasn't looking at her now. In fact, he wasn't looking at anywhere. Instead he sat up and fixed his gaze onto the floor, blue eyes sad as his fingers began to draw circles in the carpet.

"Mikey," she asked gently, reaching out to tip the younger turtle's chin up so that he would meet her eyes. "Are you alright?"

That seemed to be enough for the other. He threw himself into her arms, nearly bringing her down to the floor had she not thrown out an arm to steady herself.

"It's my brothers!" He cried out, arms wound around her waist tightly. "They can be so mean sometimes, and I just don't like that until now they order me around and protect me so much, as if I can't take care of myself!"

Ella patted the younger turtle's head, doing her best to soothe him.

"And after all the stuff that'd happened to us, the Kraang alien invasion, the Earth being sucked by a black hole, and even us going into outer space and going back in time, it's like they still don't think I'm capable of doing much! They still side-line me on some missions!"

Black hole? Outer space? Going back in time? The hell—? She knew about the alien invasion and the threat of the alien dinosaurs, considering she lived through them, but the others were lost on her. The questions were on the tip of her tongue, but she diligently kept them away. It wasn't the time for her to ask questions, she could do that later. Right after she comforted Mikey.

"Hey, hey," she crooned, pulling back away to see his teary gaze. Her heart broke a bit at the sight, but she pushed on. "What makes you think your brothers are only doing this to undermine you?"

He sniffled, raising up an arm to wipe his tears away. "W-what?"

"I meant, Mikey," she took his face gently between her hands, meeting his sad gaze. "That you are their little brother, and they are your older brothers. Whatever they do, it isn't to intentionally hurt you, it's to protect you."

"But I don't need protecting!" Mikey protested, throwing his arms up in the air. "I've survived countless of battles, and saved the earth more than that! So why do they keep acting as though I can't take care of myself?"

Ella searched for the right words, finally, truly understanding what Mikey's main issue was. "Oh, Mikey. It's not that they don't think that you can't protect yourself, you know. They do that, because they would rather something bad happen to them than to you. It's like... like the way Lia used to go after the children who bullied me in middle school, and then when they blamed me, she'd step in and take the blame, explaining everything to the teachers and Principal. It used to annoy me lots, too, that she thought I couldn't fight my own battles. But as I grew up, I understood that what she was doing wasn't because she didn't trust in my ability to take care of myself, but because she loved me, and would rather take the hurt than watch me get hurt."

"Really?" Mikey asked hopefully.

"Really," she repeated firmly, smiling at him tenderly. There was something about the youngest turtle that disarmed you, made you want to comfort him and take care of him. Ella understood immediately why his older brothers seemed to be so protective over him; the kind of innocence that he had, the compassion and joy that he displayed—it was to be protected.

No harm should ever befall sweet Mikey.

"But why don't they tell me that?" He whined, crossing his arms, mouth set into a pout. Ella nearly laughed aloud at that.

"Mikey, you guys are teenage boys. What makes you think your brothers would want to tell you emotional stuff like this, hm?"

He paused, eye ridges scrunching in deep thought as he stared determinedly onto her carpet. Ella was mildly surprised that it didn't set on fire at his gaze.

Finally, he sighed, relaxing and leaning back onto the side of her bed. He looked much happier, gone were the teariness of his baby blue eyes and the disappointment that had been reflected in them. Instead, a sort of contentedness radiated from him, evident in the slow, easy smile he had on now.

Ella grinned to herself, mentally patting her back. Good job, Grace. He'd just needed reassurance, to be reminded that his brother's actions were borne out of love and not of their underestimation of him.

He beamed down at her, before scooping her up again into his arms in a much gentler hug than he usually gave her. "Thanks, Ella. I guess I needed that."

She squeezed his shoulders, thoroughly pleased that the younger turtle's troubles were no more. "Anything, Mikey. Anything at all."

He said goodbye to her afterwards, stating that his brothers were probably looking for him by now. He gave her one last tight hug before leaping out her bedroom window, his silhouette highlighted by the light of the moon.

Ella smiled after him, lost in thought at how well she'd comforted Mikey. For some reason, she felt much lighter around the youngest, as though she'd known Mikey for nearly her whole entire life. He reminded her entirely of someone else she used to have, another little brother, but she pushed the thought away before she could dwell on it too much.

Mikey... she would do with him what she couldn't then. Even if he wasn't blood related to her, she promised herself that with him, she would protect him as much as she could.

All of that, no matter how different he was.

She smiled at that, heart full and merry. Glancing around her room with a ridiculously huge grin, she began to clean up the mess Mikey had made, humming a tune. She moved to her desk, where her school bag was laying open and her papers were scattered—

Her eyes widened immediately and she sucked in a loud breath, staring in horror at her forgotten schoolwork. Eyes frantically searching, she found was she was looking for and let out a little cry at the time the clock was showing.

It was nearly eleven.

Groaning, her head dropped in her hands, the papers fluttering in the slight breeze from the window as if it were mocking her.

Guess I won't be sleeping tonight.