ECHOES OF APRIL

It was a place of many moods, this Lair.

Sometimes, at night, it was an oasis of peace and restfulness. Leo would creep to the door of his room, look out into the dark main chamber, and sense warmth in the darkness; latent, vibrant life in the silence. It was a comforting sensation, and one that he cherished. It meant that he could sleep without anxiety, because his family was safe.

It was then that he felt most strongly that their home had a benign, watchful presence of its own.

A little later on, the place would stir into drowsy wakefulness. Turtles tumbled out of bunks and doorways, yawning and stretching and scuffling good-naturedly. Two would make breakfast; two would wash up. The clatter of dishes might blend with the whistling of Sensei's tea pot until both were drowned by a noisy debate over bathroom rights which, often as not, ended in an impromptu wrestling match.

The atmosphere it adopted next was in deference to Master Splinter; one of orderly and disciplined instruction. The brothers might engage in weapons practice or barehanded defense under their sensei's watchful eye, or perhaps he would teach them balance and footwork. It was a time of stern mental focus and strenuous physical effort, and Leo reveled in it.

And sometimes -- like right now -- the Lair was a place of complete and utter chaos.

If this particular mood bore anyone's stamp, it was Mikey's. Today the world's one and only perpetual motion ninja had somehow coaxed Donnie away from his half-disassembled sewer slider and into a makeshift game of hockey, complete with a 'net' made from a pair of bedsheets safety-pinned at the corners and stretched between two pillars. Raphael and Leo had objected to having their sheets drafted for a second net, so the two players had simply tweaked the rules a bit until the game looked more like a cross between relay racing and monkey-in-the-middle than a self-respecting game of hockey. The biggest similarity was the noise level.

Leonardo had long since given up trying to read and, unwilling to be upstairs by himself, had accepted Raphael's invitation to spar instead. Claiming an area opposite Mikey and Donnie to avoid any mishaps with the fast-moving puck, they danced to and fro across the tiles, sweat dripping as they exchanged mock cries and blows carefully calculated to impact but not injure.

Sensei, faced with the no-win choice of either going bonkers from the noise or dealing with the explosive combination of a bored Mikey and cooped-up Raphael, had sensibly retreated to his room when the racket started.

The challenge of dueling with his fiercest brother aside, Leo was enjoying the chance to have Raph all to himself for a bit. And despite Raph's scowl of concentration, he could tell that the feeling was mutual. Right now there was no competitiveness between them; only the stern testing of friend against friend as they prepared together for the attacks of a hostile world.

And for an instant, as Leo signaled a pause to wipe the sweat from his eyes, he felt that the Lair was looking on fondly, amused by all their noisy antics and content to wait until the night to be itself again.

Just a moment, and the sensation passed. His eyes cleared, Raphael charged, and there was no time to think of anything but defense.

"If only I had two of me!" Mikey backpedaled hastily to catch Donatello's forceful serve, nearly tripping over his hockey stick out of inattention. He was starting to regret interrupting Donnie's maintenance project; the game was actually tipping in the braniac's favor. "I'd vape this game in no time flat."

Raph spared enough attention from Leo to shoot Mikey a look of wry amusement. "No thanks, bro. One of you is too many already."

The distraction cost him a rap on the skull and a grinning "Gotcha!" from Leo. He growled, rubbed his head and charged back into the fray.

"Yeah, Mikey." Donatello fielded the puck with an easy grace. Engineer or not, he was also a tough opponent, and Michaelangelo's incessant pestering just might have provoked some latent competitiveness. "We never get any pizza as it is."

Mikey scrambled after it, and Don took advantage of the respite to tap his chin thoughtfully. "Now another one of April -- that would be swell!"

Mikey slid to a stop close beside his brother, pouncing on the opening with a grin. "Oooo, another one of -- OOF!"

Don elbowed him nonchalantly in the stomach and slammed the puck into the net. "Three to one, goofball!" He patted his hockey stick good-naturedly. "I win."

"Aww, man!" Mikey objected, promptly forgetting why he was rubbing his stomach. "Let's make it five rounds. Come on -- why not?"

Mikey would have protested further had Leo's shell cell not chosen that moment to ring. Amazingly, Leo heard it. He motioned Raph to hang on as he dug the phone from his belt. Raph pretended not to notice, leaning forward instead to flick the cell out of Leo's hands with the tip of one sai. Perhaps it was his way of objecting to the interruption.

"Hey, Mikey!" Raph called over Leo's protests. "Keep-away!"

Mikey caught the shell cell with a deft backhand, running like mad to stay ahead of Leo. "Yo, Donnie! Heads-up!"

He threw the phone and then hopped on his hoverboard, just in case Leo was mad enough to keep chasing him instead of veering after Donnie. Donnie made the catch, then walked over and calmly handed the phone to Leo.

"Third ring," he commented.

"Awww!" Mikey complained, then found himself compelled to pay attention to where he was going. He quickly forgot about keep-away from Leo since it was now necessary to keep away from the wall and pillars.

"Spoilsport." Raph sheathed his sais.

Leo smiled at him apologetically as he opened the phone; he was sorry to have the session interrupted too. "Hello?"

"Hi, Leo," April's voice came back. "I hope I didn't wake you all up or anything."

Leo had to smile again. Raph was quietly going through forms while he waited for Leo to finish talking, and Donnie had parked himself within earshot to fiddle with a brake disc, both occupying themselves with the air of people waiting to learn what the call was about.

Mikey, naturally, had returned his undivided attention to hoverboarding and was pretty much oblivious to everything else.

"No, we're definitely all awake," he assured her. "What's up?"

"Well..."

He sensed the unease in her voice instantly, and felt his protective big-brother instincts kick in. "What is it, April?"

The redhead lifted her curtain fractionally and peered through the sliver of bared glass. He was still there, all right; just loafing out in the open while he stared at her storefront. It was almost as though he wanted to be seen. She backed away instinctively, the unconscious reaction of an animal more wary than frightened.

"I hate to sound like a fraidy-cat," she told Leo apologetically. "But there's this creep who's been watching my shop all morning, and it's starting to freak me out."

"We'll be right there," his voice came back immediately, and she had a sudden mental image of his katanas slamming home into their sheaths. "Stay inside for now."

"I locked the shop for lunch and didn't reopen. Uh, Leo...?"

He caught himself halfway through hanging up. "Yeah?"

Her hesitation was almost palpable, as though she were casting about for words she was reluctant to say. "Tell me, April."

"I just... be careful, okay?" She peeked out the window again, at the loiterer who didn't seem to care who saw him. "I have a bad feeling about this."

The others were already moving.

Donnie grabbed his duffel bag while Raphael ran to get Master Splinter. While none of them tried to eavesdrop according to the dictionary definition of the word, conversations not deliberately 'sound-proofed' were considered fair game; in fact, Splinter had always encouraged them to pay attention to anything they could overhear, both on general ninjitsu principles and because it saved him from multiple explanations should one of his sons be too lazy to listen the first time around.

And often, this benign type of eavesdropping was simply the most efficient way to communicate collectively in a family whose members kept very few secrets from each other anyways. That was especially evident now.

"Was it the comic shop?" Mikey called hopefully, still zooming around his imaginary eight-track. "Do they have my back-ordered issues?"

Of course, there was always someone who was completely out of the loop.

"What is it, my son?"

Leo shook his head at Mikey, then turned to address his sensei. "There's an, ah, unsavory character hanging around April's place. Will you be okay while we drop by and make sure she's safe?"

"I think I can bear the silence with equanimity," the old rat said dryly as a boisterously yodeling Mikey tore past, mask tails and kimono edges flapping wildly in his wake. Sensei inclined his furry head slightly to indicate their maniac of a youngest brother. "Just be sure to take him with you."