Stuff is finally happening you guys! And much more to come!

Also Apriltello is beginning to slowly unfold at last. Leorai too, of course (and Rasey coff-coff) but April really has been a bit enigmatic these past few chapters, right? Thank you for your patience! XD

As always, a huge thank you to Queequegg for her beta reading!

Even after verifying that the signal had been lost, Donnie remained fixed to his desk, gaping at the words on the screen until he saw spots. The half pop-tart had been long forsaken on the cold surface of the table.

Did that really happen? Did he really just maintain a dialogue with his future self? This… this was most assuredly the best thing ever.

He felt the urgent need to tell someone about this. But who? Obviously if they'd just been contacted by their future selves this had to be a matter of utmost importance and it was imperative that the others knew. But would anyone even believe this without some real proof? He wasn't sure even he believed it himself, still. The safest course of action would probably be to keep quiet about it until he could find out more. But how could he possibly keep quiet about this?

There was no way. He'd just made contact with the future! Their future selves had just confirmed that they'd be coming over and who knows with what purpose!

He had to tell someone!

He thought about calling April first. She always listened to him. But then he remembered she had been busy with her dad. Better leave them alone then.

Raph would likely laugh in his face, so he would be the last to know, the meathead. Same went for Casey; those two were twins in all but species.

Mikey… forget Mikey. Once he managed to make his excitable little brother understand what was going on, he'd want to be all up in it for sure. And any laboratory equipped with a hyperactive Mikey was a danger zone as he'd proven on more than one occasion. The longer he could postpone the giggling -and the hopping around, and the breaking of things- the better.

He wouldn't even know what to tell Master Splinter. It was too soon. He never went to Master Splinter without anything less than a detailed project proposal, and then only when they needed his assistance, or his approval. Not that he never approved -so far he'd been pretty open to just about any crazy invention Donnie had hatched as long as it didn't affect him. But if he happened to declare it safer to ignore and block these messages, even to the point where he'd confiscate his electronic devices... Then he would never be able to talk to future Donatello again.

And that was the reason Leonardo was the best choice. He often was; he and Donatello had always understood each other best of all the brothers, and he was also the perfect intermediary for dealing with Splinter.

That settled it: he would tell cautious, collected, reasonable Leonardo first and see what he thought about it. A second opinion would be great right about now.

Oh man, this was so exciting he could barely contain himself!

He made a quick copy of the text, lest it suddenly disappeared along with all evidence of the conversation, and with one last glance at the screen, Donatello pranced out the lab doors towards Leo's room. Not even wondering why his door would be closed so early, he swung it open and entered like a typhoon.

"Leo! You won't bel…"

Donatello's words caught in his mouth at the sight of his brother in the lotus position, his eyes closed, his vacant expression a picture of peace under the dim light of a dozen candles.

Oh, right. Meditation hour.

Leonardo hadn't moved a single micrometer as the candles flickered and the orange light shimmied at the gust of air Donatello's entrance had provoked. What time is it? he wondered, impatient, quietly closing the door behind him and sitting cross-legged on the carpet facing his brother. Gathering all his composure, he waited for him to come back down to Earth.

Five minutes in, he was already tapping his foot and sighing every other second, too eager to tell him all about this new wondrous development.

Finally Leonardo exhaled deeply and slowly opened his eyes. Donatello was on him in a heartbeat.

"Leo!" he shrieked.

"What, Donnie," Leonardo said levelly before his brother pounced and started shaking his shoulders.

"Something happened!"

"What? What?" Leo demanded, shrugging out of the other turtle's grip.

"Something amazing! Something of cosmic proportions! Improbable in all logical and scientific terms, it's- it's more science fiction than science, almost, and even I would laugh at me, but I am ninety-nine percent convinced-!"

"Cut to the chase, Donnie, I just came out of meditation and you're already wearing out the effects."

Donnie paused but for a split second, enough to take in just the air necessary to keep talking.

"I have made contact with- get this- future me! Me from the future!"

"Wh- Huh?"

"Future Donatello hacked into our internal network and started talking to me! Come look at this!"

Donatello pulled a quizzical Leonardo to his feet and started hauling him down the hall to the lab. Mikey barely diverted his eyes from the screen to see them go past, too engaged in his game.

A small part of Donatello feared it had all been his imagination and that the chat wouldn't be there. But when they entered, there it was on the screen, and he signalled Leo towards it.

"See? This is what I meant!"

Leonardo approached the computer, not before giving Donnie a wary once-over.

"Read it, read it! Here!" Donatello sat his brother on the office chair with a defying smile on his face. Leo indulged him, even when what seemed most probable was that Donnie had finally suffered a breakdown from caffeine overdose, if the swarm of empty mugs on the desk was any indication.

Still Leonardo read, and all the while Donnie's head hanged above his shoulder bouncing up and down like a pirate's cockatoo.

"The Ship of the Imagination?"

"Keep reading," Donnie ordered in a dangerous voice before his brother could make any jokes.

And Leo kept reading, and the more Leo read the more unlikely it all seemed. Line by line, his smile of derision grew.

"You guys really thought I could fall for this? You gotta step up your game, Donnie, this is lame."

"It's not a joke!" Donnie protested and he seemed deeply annoyed by Leo's condescendence.

"Wait… You're serious?"

Donnie nodded vigorously, and Leo only chuckled.

"So…" he glanced back at the conversation and finished reading the last few entries. "So you really believe this?"

"Oh, I didn't at first!"

"Uh, Don, how can I say this? If you're not in on it, then you're the victim. This could be any of the guys claiming to be… uh, future you."

"Leo, I told you. This guy hacked into my system. Do you know who can do that besides me?"

Donnie paused for Leo's response, but his brother only gave him an unimpressed glare.

"That's right. No one."

"If someone hacked into your computer," Leo said, completely ignoring Donnie's last statement, "it could be noteworthy, but for very different reasons. There could be someone out there trying to lay a trap for us. We should be careful. I'm telling Master Splinter."

"Leo, you're not listening to me," Donnie griped wearily, pulling Leo's arm back down to keep him from running off. "If you tell Master Splinter that there's someone out there trying to hack into our network, he'll want to confiscate all my stuff! We've got to see where this goes."

"How can you be so sure of this?"

"Really? Brain aliens from another dimension, sure, but this is too much? This guy said things only I could know. I'm telling you, Leo, this is me from the future!"

"You realize magicians do that all the time and it turns out it's just a trick every time, right?"

A loud groan escaped Donnie in his exasperation.

"Okay, Leo, first of all, that would make him a mentalist, not a magician. And second of all…" Donatello lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "This could be the most incredible thing I've ever done, or I…will ever do in the future... I don't think you're appreciating the- the magnitude of this! I haven't had the chance to locate the source of the signal, but if what future Donatello says is true, then that signal has breached the barriers of space-time, travelling between worlds just so that two people from two separate universes could have a conversation! Think about it! We're going to talk to ourselves, some years into the future! Whatever they have to say to us, Leo… it's gotta be big."

Donnie held Leo in his gaze -his eager, slightly deranged gaze- as he panted for air. He had finally caused an impression on Leo and that obviously filled him with an exhilarating sense of satisfaction and hope. Leo looked at Donnie, then at the screen, then back at Donnie. His intelligent brother was frantic like spinner fireworks. If what he said was true, then… he had a right to be.

"S-so you really think it's possible?"

"Oh, it's possible! Highly improbable, but most certainly possible!"

"How can be you sure that this is not some kind of evil scheme?"

"I'm pretty sure! And how many times have I been wrong?"

The only proper way to respond to that, Leonardo knew, was with a stone-faced silence.

Donnie slumped only slightly.

"Okay, so I'm not entirely infallible, but we gotta at least see where this goes, right?"

His brother in blue sighed through his nose in contemplation.

"It just… sounds so much like something out of Space Heroes, Donnie."

"You think I don't know that? Space Heroes almost seems likelier than this, to be honest."

"I mean how is it even possible?"

"Well, we didn't have that much time to talk. What you read is what he told me. As far as I could gather, he must have been using a very faint broadcast of radio wavelengths to penetrate the wormhole, and…" And this was the moment when the genius showered Leo with the usual onslaught of technical terms and other generally big words that were making Leo dizzy. He was talking about satellites, and servers, and proxies and... hell if he knew.

"Okay, I get the essentials," Leo said, putting an end to the verbal bombardment. "So what does future Donatello want? Is he planning to give you next year's sports almanac?"

Donatello regarded him with a look of deep vexation on his face, and Leo shook his hands in an apology, promising to take it seriously from now on.

"Alright, alright… Kidding."

He signalled his brother to continue.

"Like I said, we didn't have that much time to talk, but apparently-"

"Wait, I remember reading they were coming here? To this... time?" Leo leaned in to scroll through the chat, suddenly remembering something from the chat that he hadn't taken seriously up to now.

"That's what he said! I don't know how they plan to do that, but Donatello's definitely got a plan, and I can't wait to hear it" Donnie said, and there was a very obvious shimmer of pride in his eyes.

"Who would be coming, exactly?"

"He didn't say!" Donnie repeated, irritably motioning towards the open chat. "I thought you'd read it!"

"Well when are they planning on telling us all this?" Leonardo groused, already infected with Donatello's excitement. The thought of seeing the older version of himself filled him with an uncomfortable cocktail of anticipation and foreboding. So many things can happen in ten years. What was the world like ten years from now? What did future them look like? And Splinter? And Karai? He tried to suppress a blush at the possibility that he and Karai might have gotten together. It wasn't all that crazy, right?

Secretly, Donnie's thoughts were parallel to Leo's. Future Donatello hadn't even mentioned anyone besides Mikey, who had pretty much mentioned himself in a slip-up anyway. Only now did he pick up on the amount of secrecy that future Donatello had wrapped around the whole thing.

"They said they'd contact me again, I just don't know when. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out, he can only maintain the connection for a few minutes, apparently," Donatello explained.

"You do that. And then you call me. I want to be present next time you talk to them."

"I was going to offer just that," Donnie said with the confidant's smirk. "What about the others? Should we tell them?"

"We could wait until we know something for certain."

"And Splinter?"

"We'll tell him… eventually."

"I love it when we coincide," Donnie said with an fiendish grin. He held out his hand and Leo smacked his palm into his in a power handshake.

"Gear up. Patrol in 10," Leonardo said then, turning around to leave at his brother's nod of confirmation.

Saying that the quality was crap would have been an understatement. The first movie had a decent enough definition seeing as though it had been on DVD for a while, but the sequel...

The pixels on screen were the size of lego pieces and the audio wasn't always synchronized. Not to mention all the furtive coughs and sneezes from the audience, and the occasional silhouette getting up from its seat and blocking the view. The video offered just enough information for them to loosely follow the plot and April would've gladly just stopped watching, but she had the distinct feeling that Casey was actually more excited about the idea of them both sitting together on the couch in a dimly-lit room.

"Chapati. Stupid name for a guy. Catmint's hot, though," he commented as the aforementioned character and the protagonist shared a tender scene.

Moreover he went on to explain his opinion on why the guy had no real chance with Catmint, from the way she behaved. It was obvious she would ultimately settle for Hale. Or she should, at least.

April made a little agreeing sound, even when she wasn't sure she agreed… Granted Chapati wasn't the most handsome or the most obvious match, but he was intelligent, easy to talk to, and he and the protagonist had been through so much together. It kinda felt to her like the movie was slowly turning the scales, or maybe that's what she was being mislead to believe. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't completely sure who she would choose if she were in this Catmint girl's shoes, and the situation was all too familiar. Hang in there, girl.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a slight pressure on her knee.

She needn't look away from the screen to know it was Casey's hand being… adventurous. The expectancy must have been killing him all afternoon, she thought. Knowing him, she was surprised he'd waited so long to try something.

"Listen, Red."

She turned her head and met his eyes, his hand still rubbing tentative circles on her leg.

"I'm sorry we had to miss that movie because of me. I didn't mean to ruin our first official date."

Well, not that she was gonna let that pass, but at least he was finally admitting some responsibility.

"That's alright," she conceded, hesitating to acknowledge the touch of his hand.

The movie went silent all of a sudden and they both turned towards the laptop, thinking maybe the battery had died. But it had nothing to do with the device because the video was still going, only no sound was playing. This is what they got for trying to watch a movie online when it was still in theaters.

The silence was thick like tar between them and suddenly they were both very aware of each other's presence sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch, alone. And April was all too aware of Casey's hand slowly crawling its way up her thigh.

Casey glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, unable to read her expression, wondering what she'd think if he…

He went for it.

"You look really pretty tonight."

April's eyebrows quirked upwards a tad at Casey's crude attempt at setting a romantic mood, and she smiled in bemusement.

"Thanks, Casey." She was about to make a joke on how she couldn't say the same thing about him given that he looked like he'd been hit by a bus -eye bruised, smelling of antiseptic and three band-aids on his face alone- but managed to bite her tongue in time. That might've broken the mood a bit.

Casey ventured forth, shifting towards her.

"I really like you, April."

She felt heat rising to her cheeks and looked away with a tiny smile. Back when they'd met, she had had her braces removed relatively recently and had replaced the dorky glasses for contacts, so she was not used to that kind of attention. The idea that one of the cool kids from school had actually noticed her was an exciting development, even when he'd been less than delicate about it. Funny how it still managed to maker her blush.

And now she was starting to feel a little panicky. He was very close and she could feel his warm breath on her face, a spicy touch of the mustard from those hotdogs they had for dinner.

It was happening.

Casey leaned in and waited for her to turn her face to him. Their eyelids slowly fell shut as he leaned in the rest of the way, planting one tentative peck on her receptive lips. His face hovered over hers then for a couple seconds, the tips of their noses touching. Ice broken, consent given, more kisses followed the first, soft and cautious, but slowly gaining in confidence.

Okay. This is… interesting, she mused at the warm, slick feel of Casey's mouth on hers.

"I really like your hair," he muttered randomly between kisses. "And your freckles."

April snickered.

"Really."

"Oh yeah. And those green eyes drive me crazy."

She froze.

"Uh, I have blue eyes, Casey," she giggled.

She allowed him to lean her away, holding her at arm's length in order to look at her face not without a bit of alarm.

"What the heck. I knew this, how did I get that wrong?"

"You must have hit your head harder than we thought."

For a moment there he had been truly convinced. April with pretty green eyes, obviously. A momentary lapse. It was probably for the best that she hadn't seen his drawings of Raphael that on more than one occasion had centered around his eyes. Nothing special about those drawings, the dude's eyes were just unrealistically green, and it was kind of fascinating. But he knew others would probably see it differently, so no way he'd be showing that around. Luckily she didn't seem to read too much into the situation and did not ask questions.

He cleared his throat.

"Anyway, where were we?" he said, his voice husky and back to business, and this time he was hungry.

He pressed his lips to hers, one hand coming up to rest at her cheek, guiding her, and she shifted on her seat to face him, allowing him better access. His mouth battled against hers as the hand that had been rubbing soft circles on her leg ventured backwards. A little too far back, actually. Her hands, until then idly resting on the couch, sprung upwards to grip Casey's arms in a reflex, snatching them away from her glutes, the kiss broken.

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself there, Case."

"Sorry, it slipped," Casey said through his gap-toothed grin before shoving himself forward, drowning her exasperated groan in his mouth, and a small part of her was glad their mouths were closed. To be honest, she was a little insecure about being able to feel the gap of his missing teeth with her tongue.

What had started off cautious and slow had become greedy, yearning. Both his hands came up to cup her cheeks, holding her face like... a sub sandwich. Yes, thought April, fighting the urge to laugh. He's eating my face like a sub sandwich.

A little disoriented, April tried to follow his rhythm. He'd clearly done this before. She, on the other hand, couldn't help worrying that she wasn't doing this right. Was it weird that she couldn't stop noticing his nose awkwardly rubbing against her face?

She forced herself to focus on the right sensations as she conjured up the things she'd seen being done in movies. She slid her hands up along the side of his sleeves to rest them on his shoulders and he responded in kind, bringing her closer.

Yep. There she was, sharing her first kiss with Casey.

And somehow all she could think about suddenly was how this wasn't technically her first kiss.

Just like that, she was spirited away back to the farmhouse. The sky was a bright blue and spring was in full force, assaulting her nose with a thousand different types of pollen. The weather was warm, the landscape a radiant green, and there was dirt from the firewood on her hands.

And she was kissing Donnie.

It had lasted but a couple of heartbeats, but during that span she'd felt a jolt. Electricity. It might as well have been a ripple in the fabric of the universe, enveloping them both in their own little cocoon where time made no sense and a single millisecond could stretch into a lifetime. Her mind had raced with a thousand sudden realizations that had made her head spin. It was all over so fast, and yet so much had happened that she had been unable to wrap her head around it all. To this day, she still didn't quite know what to do with it.

Something shifted, and she came stumbling back to reality.

What happened was that Casey's lips had suddenly left hers and he was leaning back, giving her a questioning look.

"Uh, was that okay?"

Her reply leaped forth like a spring.

"Yeah!"

Casey's face didn't show much conviction, so she thought she'd help it along, taking the initiative and leaning forward to practically slam her lips against his so they could continue. Anything to keep him from asking. Anything to keep her own mind distracted from the sudden bombardment of pictures and sounds and smells that were so very far away from this couch.

Excellent timing, April, she thought. She could not have picked a worse moment to suddenly ask herself what it would be like to do this with Donnie, to be sitting next to each other, his oversized, three-fingered hand on her cheek, so strange yet so familiar; she wondered what her fingertips would feel like over the distinct texture of his skin, tracing along the fibrous muscles on his neck and shoulders, their foreheads touching, exploring each other's…

Goddamn it.

She was doing it again. Casey paused, unable to ignore her blatant lack of participation any longer.

"What?" he asked, and he hadn't meant to make it sound so much like a complaint rather than an actual question.

"What?" she echoed, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Seriously, are you okay? I've had more passionate kisses with my grandma."

April looked at her own hands and realized they had not moved from Casey's shoulders since she had consciously put them there. They were pretty much just glued to his shirt, stiff as shoulderguards, and her pose wasn't all too avid either, merely indulging Casey's ministrations with aloof consent.

She gave a slow exhale, shifting away from Casey and the embrace of his arms.

"I... I guess I'm not up for it tonight," she muttered apologetically, glancing sideways at Casey's face of dejection. His hands fell to his sides as he struggled to form words.

"Is this about Donnie?" he managed to ask, unable to hide his tone of resentment.

"No!" Yes, thought April. "Why does everything have to be about Donnie?!" No, really, tell me. I'd love an answer.

"Okay, sorry..." he apologized, beaten, throwing his hands in the air as he too sat back on the couch, hitting the backrest with a defeated poof. Her shoulders curved forward in shame.

"No, I'm sorry, Casey. It's just that… I'm dealing with a lot of things right now, and… I'm just a little tired."

The kid appraised her carefully, gauging her words. She always had too much on her mind, she was always dealing with too many things. There was always something bigger than all of them. It seemed to be her go-to response for everything. But he just couldn't reproach her when she looked even more beaten up than he was, somehow. Even when the evening might not have ended the way he wanted, he couldn't bring himself to be angry.

"Look, don't worry about it, April," he said reassuringly. "We got time for all that. I promise next date I won't voluntarily engage in any street brawls until after the movie."

"Hmm," she mused, somewhat appeased by his words, but still feeling the stabs of guilt for having ruined what was supposed to have been a magical moment. At least she could console herself with the thought of having been granted a reprieve. Another chance at procrastination, a little voice said in her head, and she battled with the urge to hide her face in her hands.

A sudden gust of epic music startled her, and they turned towards the laptop.

"Oh look," Casey said cheerfully. "The sound's back. We can finish watching."

If the movie had been hard to follow before, she doubted either of them could focus on it at all now, but still April rewarded his patience with a grateful smile.

He slid one arm across her shoulders, watching for any sign of disapproval. But she let her head rest on him, and he moved to accommodate himself against her as well. They were just friends tonight, apparently.

She realized immediately this was a sad alternative to what he probably had in mind when she had offered him a date, and the blunt, persistent knives of guilt were back with a vengeance.

Apparently she'd been foolish to think that once here, things would flow naturally. Casey and her having fun was nothing at all new. They had gone out plenty of times and they got along just fine. Most of the times...

And not counting Casey playing tough guy -and getting his ass kicked, and them missing the show-, today had run relatively easy.

Right up until the moment of truth.

What had gone wrong? She liked Casey, right? She'd go so far as to say she'd had a little crush on him. He had made her giggle and bat her eyelashes on more than one occasion; she had to like him. At times, however, she had asked herself why, and when she did she could never come up with a clear answer. It wasn't like they had all that much in common, really. And yes, he could benefit from a good dental plan… As well as a dip in a barrel of detergent, clothes and all.

But he was also the cool kid, charming in his own way. The high school version of an outlaw. His casual disregard for the rules made him every sixteen-year-old girl's rebel fantasy. And back then she couldn't help being that sixteen-year-old girl…

Of course, since then she had had plenty of time to get to really know Casey, and with time that initial excitement had faded somewhat. Getting to know Casey meant also learning a few things in the process; the good… and the insufferable.

What happened at the park was only the tip of the iceberg. April had lost count of all the times she had felt the need to evacuate the premises and take a breather after trying to reason with his thick skull. But that didn't mean they weren't close. And Casey had never stopped asking. Every other night he would drop the same old question. After all this time, it had become a habit for the two of them. An inside joke; their way of saying goodnight. "How about a date?" "Nope." "'Kay, see ya!"

So much so that at one point it became hard to tell whether it even meant anything at all to either of them. The word 'date' seemed to have lost all meaning. And then not even a week ago, the very same word was suddenly squirming around in her tummy like koi trapped in a washbowl.

Because when Casey had asked for the umpteenth time, she had thought to herself "what the heck, I could give him a chance, maybe it's just what we all need right now". And that's when the consequent faceplant against reality had rendered her absolutely catatonic. Even after deciding to go for it next time he asked, it had still taken her six whole days to act on this decision. Even though Casey kept asking.

Finally, last night at Murakami's, she had gathered all her courage to give Casey a chance. And then after Casey's routine question, she had said yes.

Call it a field test. Trial by fire.

But how was she supposed to tell Casey the real reason she didn't want to tell anybody was because she wasn't all that confident that this would work out, that she was pretty much just testing the waters? As much as she hoped, she didn't know if this date business was going to go horribly, and if that were the case, then letting everybody know -letting Donnie know- would be the cause for much unnecessary pain. It was better if this stayed between Casey and her in case it went sideways, and then maybe afterwards she could come clean. When she was sure.

But not now, not when there were so many things she just didn't know.

It didn't help that she'd only recently started feeling… stuff. For Donnie. Not even the usual where she secretly might want to kiss him. This was new stuff that confused her just a bit, especially because she had already discarded the possibility of even trying something with him.

She looked back, not two weeks ago, just when these things were starting to click together nicely in her head and she was finally starting to figure everything out. Finally she was getting to where she wanted to be, and dad had been feeling much better.

That was before that one fight which, to her consternation, had ended in her father's worst anxiety attack in months. Usually April avoided any kind of argument with her father. He was, after all, still recovering from not just one traumatic experience, but a myriad of them. She just hadn't expected him to bring the turtles into it. And Donnie. And she hadn't hesitated to come to their defense.

It was just a fight. All he said was that he was worried about me. Besides, people say stupid things when they're upset, she kept telling herself. But hard as she tried, his words still resonated in her mind.

April stole a sideways glance at Casey's profile, the cold light of the laptop outlining his crooked hockey nose, and tried to concentrate on being here with him, the warmth of his arm around her shoulders. She sighed, softly so he wouldn't notice, and gathered her thoughts.

Let's not be hasty. Like Casey said, you'll get more chances to start something. You guys like each other, you have fun together.

It's all going to work out. You'll see. One way or the other.