Leonardo let out his breath in a long and controlled sigh. He had just finished his bi-daily workout, and was preparing to meditate.

And then the phone rang.

He gritted his teeth. I do not have to get it. Someone else will. Mikey has that phone in his room, and I saw Raph this morning. He'll get it. Or Master Splinter. But Sensei doesn't like being disturbed… or answering the phone at all for that matter… and it's still ringing…

He groaned and gracefully rose to his feet and padded over the phone, just as the answering machine kicked in.

"Hello lover… You've reached the Lair of Michelangelo, Sex God. Leave a message and I promise to call you back and make all your naughtiest dreams come true."

Leo rolled his eyes at the message. One of these days Splinter is going to hear that and have a heart attack…

His thoughts were interrupted by April's voice coming out of the speaker. "… Um… Interesting message ya got there… Anyway, it's April. Listen, um, I have Donatello here… Damn, I meant to call you guys about that earlier, but I, uh, got distracted… He spent the night over here, sorry if you guys got worried. Oh, he's going to be mad at me… Wait. That's not the point." She sighed, recollecting herself. "Just… get over here as soon as you can- Don and I… well, Don, really, needs to talk to you three about something that's really important… so when you get this message…" She was quiet for a moment before she continued. "Right. Hope y'all aren't out getting yourselves killed… Again… See you in a bit. Bye."

Leonardo did not wait hear the end of the message before he was running out of the room at top speed to find Mike and Raph.

"What d' ya mean they have 'something important t' tell us?' What the hell izzat supposed t' mean?"

"How should I know? I just heard the damn message, I know just as much as you do!" The three turtles were hurtling over the rooftops at top speed, gracefully leaping from building to building.

"Maybe its nothing. Maybe they're eloping!"

At Mikey's comment, Raph and Leo skidded to a stop. They then turned as one to give their little brother the look.

"What?" Mikey held his hands up in a helpless gesture. "They HAVE been spending a lot of time together lately…" Raph and Leo shared a glance, then shook their heads.

"Nah, it couldn't be." They then all paused for a long moment, really giving the matter some thought, and finding more truth in the statement then any of them really wanted to admit. Finally Leo shook himself out of the semi-trance in which he was in.

"Come on, we don't have time for this. Let's get there before we make any more conclusions otherwise."

And off they ran into the semi-darkness of the city that never really sleeps.

"Well, I called them, but I only got the answering machine."

Don lifted his head from the desk with a serious look on his face. "Well, that could mean a variety of things… They could be out, they could be at the lair and just not answering…"

"Or they could be right outside my window." April was staring out her office window, where Mikey was hanging upside down and motioning at her to open it.

"…Or they could be right outside your window." Don grinned at April's dumbstruck expression.

She quickly walked over and opened the window. Michaelangelo elegantly swung into the room, landing with only the barest noise. "How the heck did you get here so fast!" April said while walking back towards Donatello, to give the two remaining turtles outside room in which they could maneuver.

"Its amazing how fast one can run when a mysterious message is left on one's answering machine." Leo dropped through the window, closely followed by Raphael.

April blushed. "Sorry about that. It's been a long day. Days, actually."

A silence fell over the room as Mikey jabbed Leo in the ribs with an elbow. "Look how close they're standing together, dude!" He hissed, low enough for only Leo to hear. Leo's eyes widened.

Finally, Raph couldn't take the silence anymore. "So what was so important that we drop everything and run over here?" He leaned casually against a wall, a calculating look in his eyes. He, as well as Mike and Leo were all breathing harder then usual, testament to their mad dash through the city.

April looked away from his glance. "Well… It's not really my place to say. Don?"

Donatello turned his swivel chair around with a sigh and faced his brothers. "Better take a seat, you guys. This is going to take a while."

"So you guys aren't getting married after all?"

Raph swatted his younger brother's head. "After Donny tells us that we don' know what the flamin' hell we are anymore, ya' crack a damn joke! What the hell is the matter wit' you?"

MIkey rubbed his head ruefully. "Jesh, sorry. The tension was getting to me. Sorry for trying to lift everyone's spirits!"

April looked at Don with a flabbergasted look on her face and mouthed, 'married!' He shrugged, looking equally as confused.

"Guys, come on, stop fighting. We need to figure out what to do next." Leonardo was perched on a desk next to April. He looked at Mike and Raph cautiously, ready to jump in if the two came to blows.

"I'LL tell ya' what we need ta do next! We need to go to Splinter and find out what REALLY happened and why the frikin' hell he lied to us all these years!"

"Raph!" Leo hopped off the desk. "He's still our sensei, have some respect! Maybe he had a good reason…"

"No reason can be good enough to hide information from us for twenty years, Leo. Besides, he lost MY respect when he made YOU th' leader!" Raph snarled.

At that, Leo reached for his katanas. Raph's hands dropped to the sais at his waist.

"ENOUGH!" Donatello leapt from his chair to stand between his two older brothers. "You two are acting like children!" He turned to Leo. "I agree with Raph. We need to talk to Splinter about this, and the sooner the better." Raph smirked at Leo from behind Don's back. Leo frowned. Then Don turned back to face Raph. "And YOU need to get over this damn inferiority complex of yours! Leo's the best at being leader out of all of us, and somewhere in that thick head of yours, you know it too!"

Raph growled low in his chest. Don stared at him, keeping eye contact and wordlessly challenging him. After a few tense moments, Raph looked away, fingertips rubbing the pommels of his sai furiously. Don gave a small triumphant smile.

"So what do we do now?" Mikey asked, a little nervously.

Don replied, a serious expression on his face. "We go find Splinter and make him tell us the truth, once and for all."

Well, it's been longer since I've updated then I would have liked… Things got just a mite hectic around here… But finals are over on Tuesday, and then I will be able to finish this fic!

Shout-Outs

The REAL Cheese Monkey: Your review made me grin… lol

Misterfooch: Lucky! Yeah, getting colds stinks. But now I'm healed through the magical power of the eminent end of school!

Shadowflame611: New Reviewer, Yay! - Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you're so interested in my fic!

Pacphys: I thought it was a cute chapter too. : ) And you're probably right about the plural form of 'analysis'- there's a reason I got a low grade in grammar, you know! Lol!

Lunar-Ninja: Now THAT is a threat that I have to remember. Shudder All I could think of when I first read it was that scene from A Christmas Story when Ralphie had to eat soap as a punishment for saying the 'naughty swear word'… ; ) Though, I'm not quite sure what she's doing to warrant having soap poured down her throat for… lol!

FF Demon-Angel: Wow! Another new reviewer! Cool! Thanks for reviewing, and hoped you liked this chapter!