April and Holly spent most of their weekends together for the next few weeks. Most nights, they would climb up to the Roof of Aprils apartment, and drag up some cushions to sit on while they ate and talked with the four brothers. Holly was really warming up to them. Aside from being green, they were just normal teenagers. They liked to eat junk food, and play games. She would sometimes bring up a textbook and have Donatello help her with some of her advanced science classes. Raphael even started to loosen up and would join in certain conversations. April was ecstatic to have a friend who knew this side of her life. She knew it must be hard for the Turtles to live in the shadows, but she selfishly wanted someone to talk to about stuff when it all got to be too much.
After a handful of meetings, Leo decided it was time for Holly to come home to meet Splinter. Everyone was satisfied that Holly was going to be an ally, but she still needed to pass Splinters test. Plus, spending all this time out in the open was making him anxious. They could only ever stay for an hour or two at the most. Usually Mikey was way too loud and was bound to get them caught. April gasped when they asked if she would bring Holly to them in a few days. That would give them time to clean up and let Splinter prepare anything he may need.
"Of course! What can we bring?" She clapped her hands delightedly.
"Nothing" Leo said.
"Pizza!" Mikey shouted over his brother.
"Shut up man" hissed Raph. "Do you want the whole city block to find us?'
"We'll find something." Holly chuckled. "Is there something special I can bring for Splinter? I don't want to let you guys down." She wrung her hands together nervously. She was starting to get attached to the turtles. It was odd, having friends that no one knew about, but they were her friends nonetheless. It must have been so hard for April to keep them to herself for so long. Especially as they were so kind and considerate. They deserved so much more than hiding in the shadows and sneaking around the city at night.
The few days had passed, and April was practically skipping to the Turtles lair. She and Donatello had been texting all day during classes and finally April had had to call him to tell him to leave her alone. They would be there soon enough, and he would just have to be patient.
"Gees, he's like' a lost puppy or something." Commented Holly once April had calmed down.
"No, Mikey is the puppy dog. Donnie is just..." She didn't really know how to finish that sentence.
"Love sick?" Holly offered, with a smirk.
"What! You're crazy."
"Ok, if you say so." Holly was still grinning stupidly, and turned back to her book bag. She stuffed her note books away and swung it over her shoulder. "Are you almost ready?"
"Yeah just give me a second."
The girls approached the entrance to the sewers with bags full of treats and gifts. April had mentioned that Splinter liked a very specific herbal tea, so she had gone out to find it before they went over. Holly's mother had always told her that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach, and so far that was proving true with turtles too. Hopefully it worked just as well on their father.
As they walked through the winding tunnels, Holly had to ask something. "Do you think he'll like me? I mean, I don't want him to think he can't trust me."
"Don't worry, Splinter is a teddy bear. He will come pretend to be very serious for about a second, then he'll be fine. Unless he doesn't like you, then we're in trouble."
All the color drained from Hollys' face, it was bad enough that April was taking her into the sewers but to be faced with a giant rat that would decide whether or not she would be allowed to continue hanging out with April and the turtles was almost too much to bear. She really wanted him to like her. She had so many questions and so few answers. Now that she was a part of this she couldn't just walk away, she was so fascinated that she was just dying to know everything.
Leonardo was the first one to see them come into their home. He jogged happily over and took some of the bags the girls were carrying, "Welcome to our home." he said with just an ounce of worry creeping into his voice but Holly was simply amazed. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but the spacious, clean place she was standing in was not it.
"This is amazing! How much work did you have to do to get it so livable?" She took in all the space they had converted into a home.
"Quite a lot, but it was worth it." As he turned with the groceries the girls has brought, he called out "They're here" into the rest of the lair.
"April!" Came Donnies voice from behind a large barn door. The lanky turtle appeared with a set of goggles fixed to his brow. He hastily snatched them off and hurled them back into his lab before grinning sheepishly and coming to greet their guests.
Raph was playing the pinball machine in the corner, being rather aggressive and loud in the process, while Mikey wore out his thumbs on an fighting game on an ancient games console.
"If you're not careful you'll break that thing, and I'm not fixing it again if you do." Donnie hissed over his shoulder.
"This thing is rigged, I swear! How come I can never beat Mikey's score?" Raph yelled rocking the machine violently. A loud buzzing rang through the cavernous room as the anti-tilt function locked up the paddles. Raph growled as his last ball rolled out of play.
"You really should relax a little, you'll bust a blood vessel if you're not careful." Holly said as she placed her belongings on a chair and settled on the couch.
Raph scowled at her, but didn't snap back like he usually would. Instead he followed her and threw himself into a beanbag. "You know, if you keep buying food, Mikey won't let you leave."
"Oh, so we're talking to me today? It's nice to know you can talk." Holly peered at him over her glasses.
"What are you talking about? I spoke to you before." Raph muttered.
"Oh yeah I remember it so well. You said 'I'm the handsome one.' when we first met, and have said about a total of 100 words since then" Holly shot back.
"Hey, don't get sarcastic with me! I'm the sarcastic one." Raphael leaned back and closed his eyes nonchalantly.
"Funnily enough, I couldn't tell." Holly laughed as he peeked out at her and huffed in annoyance.
"So." Came a hushed raspy voice. "This is the young lady who managed to get the better of one of my highly trained sons. Would you be so kind, could you tell me what happened?" Master Splinter had emerged from his meditation space and was standing behind the group of teens.
Holly swallowed hard, this rat looked strong and capable even if he did have gray streaks of fur. "Well, sir." she was sure to add the sir to show her respect, "I was brushing my teeth and when I came out of the bathroom I saw Donatello," she looked at April to make sure she had the right name, "standing in Aprils room. I didn't know what he wanted so I grabbed a floor lamp. When he stepped toward me I swung." She paused for a moment, looking for some kind of reaction. Was he angry at her? Or angry at Donnie for letting himself be caught?
"Continue, if you please."
"Ok, well he got the lamp from me when I swung and when he heard footsteps he bolted for the window. So, just for good measure I threw a stapler at his head. You know, to make sure he didn't come back." Holly grimaced slightly now that she had finished her story. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching the interaction. They knew if their master was not happy, she would have to go.
Splinter stroked his chin thoughtfully, and then chuckled to himself. He looked over at his son who wore purple and smiled at him. "You're lucky she is not fully trained or I feel you would have suffered a humiliating defeat."
Mikey laughed as Donatello blushed hard. Leo was smirking behind him too, but was at least trying to hide the fact that he found his brothers misfortune funny. Raphael was stoic.
"Don't worry my sons, I think this young lady is not a threat to us. However I would like to learn more about you, since you now know so much about us."
Holly let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and relaxed back into the couch.
"Dude you suck at this!" Mickey laughed as his video game killed Donnies again.
"That's because I have more important things to do than wear my thumbs out on some game!" Donnie yelled as he mashed the buttons as fast as he could. "I give up, here you play him!" He threw the controller at Raph.
"Not a chance." he said and passed the controller on to April.
"Alright, I'll give it a go." She said cheerfully.
An hour later, April and Mikey were tied in kills. They were both absolutely determined to destroy the other.
"Next kill wins?" April offered hopefully, her eyes were stinging from staring at the screen.
"Next kill wins." Agreed Mikey.
"Ready? Fight!" the television announced.
The characters on the screen rushed toward each other and as they smashed into each other, the group of teenagers in the room started yelling at the top of their lungs. Donnie was naturally cheering for April, as was Holly.
Raph and Leo were shouting for Mikey to "Get her!"
April and Mikey were yelling at each other and wincing along with their characters as their health bars dropped lower and lower.
April jumped up off the couch and yelled, "Try this on for size!" Her thumbs tapped out a combo that dealt so much damage.
"K.O.!"
Everyone stood stunned for a moment, no one had every beaten Mikey before. April broke the silence by jumping up and down whooping it up. She high fived Holly and Donnie then turned to Mikey, who was staring blankly at the screen.
"That... Was... Awesome!" He yelled. "That was the best game ever! How'd you do that?"
April shrugged. "I've played before, this game is quite old."
The girls and the turtles just talked for a while after all the excitement. They ate snacks and drank some soda until April looked at the time and announced that it was probably time to go. Since she and Holly had school the next day they had to be home early, or they we they'd both be in trouble.
"But it's only 7." Whined Mikey, "Why do you have to go so soon?" He pouted, trying to look as cute as possible.
"Well, I promised my aunt I'd be home early so we can hang out." April said "Were gonna' do some girly stuff, I'm kind of excited."
"What's your excuse?" Raph nodded at Holly.
She narrowed her eyes at him briefly, "I have a long way to go to get home. So I have to set off now or I'll never get home before my mom and I'll get in trouble."
"What do you mean?" Asked Leo.
"My mom works most days, as long as I'm home before she is, I get to do whatever I want." She said with a shrug.
"Don't you get lonely?" Mikey asked.
"Sometimes." She was a pause as everyone looked at her.
April knew how she felt, since her father had gone missing, she had spent much more time alone. That was why was always hanging out at the lair, it made her feel less lonesome.
"Anyway, I really do have to go. I have a couple of miles to walk to get back home." Holly turned to retrieve her bag. "Ready to go?"
April nodded and they both bid their mutant friends goodbye.
Holly walked through the door to her and her mother's home, she kicked off her shoes and listened for any sign of life. "Hello? Mom?" No answer. Holly sighed and continued through to her bedroom stopping briefly in the kitchen for a glass of water.
Raph found that he was disturbed to find out that Holly lived mostly alone. Yes, on occasion he wanted some space to himself, but he really did like having his brothers around. He would never admit it to them of course. He admired Leonardo, he was so strong and sure of himself, and always seemed to know what to do when things got tough. Donatello was so smart, he was always coming up with new equipment and now he was designing those go karts and who knew what else. Mikey was so spirited, he lived life in the moment and always saw the bright side of life. Raph couldn't imagine life without his brothers, or Master Splinter. Maybe someone should have gone with the girls, to make sure they got home safe.
April showed up to the lair over the next week alone. She told the boys that Hollys' mother had gone out of town for the week and had told her to stay at home when she wasn't at school.
"Why doesn't she just go out anyway? I thought she went out all the time?" Mikey asked.
"Not when her mom is gone completely. She calls at night to make sure everything's ok."
"That seems a little unnecessary." Donnie added
"Well, most parents don't trust their kids when they're our age. It's surprising Hollys' mom leaves her completely alone for a few days." April shrugged. She knew her dad wouldn't leave her alone for more than a day.
"Why didn't she tell us?" Mikey looked up from his comic.
"She didn't want to you guys to worry." April stated simply.
"I guess"
April shook her head and rolled her eyes, "I was going to go over later today and keep her company for a while, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you all too."
Mikey hopped up, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go rescue Holly from the evil clutches of boredom!" Mikey waggled his fingers and did his best bad guys laugh. Raphael threw a cushion at his head. "Hey! Why do you have to be such a kill joy?"
Raph just grinned maliciously, "You wanna' have some fun? I'll show you some fun?" He dove across the room at his little brother and they began to wrestle across the floor. April pulled her feet up onto the couch to avoid any squished toes. She chuckled as the boys roughed each other up. Typically it ended up with Raph pinning Mikey, who would tap out, but dive right back in for more punishment.
"Alright you guys, cut it out." Leo shook his head at his brothers, and grabbed Raph by the shell to pull him off Mikey.
"Where exactly does Holly live? I want to make sure that we would have access to her apartment without running the risk of getting caught." Donnie turned to ask April.
"She lives in one of those swanky apartment blocks, on the top floor." April pulled up a map on Donnie's laptop. "She has a big concrete balcony leading out of their living room, you won't have an issue with access."
"Why does she live there?" asked Raph, "I wouldn't have pegged her as one of the snobs that typically live there."
"It's not like it was her choice, her mom picked the apartment, she just lives there." April said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm going to head over there now, you guys should probably wait until its dark." She grabbed her belongings and set off out of the lair. "See you guys in a while."
"Are you going to ask her if she wants us to come over? I would understand if she didn't want Mikey in her home." Raph shoved Mikey playfully.
"Why wouldn't she want to see me?" Mikey pouted.
All of the boys, and even April, shot him a questioning look. "Mikey, you're always breaking stuff. Why would you be any different at someone else's house?" Donnie stated blankly.
"I don't always break stuff." Mikey folded his arms across his chest and continued sulking.
"Well anyway, I'm going now before I get sucked into this. See you later guys." April walked out of the lair, cell phone ready to call and let her aunt know she was going to Hollys'. If it started to get too late she would need a ride, she wasn't going to walk home after dark with the purple dragons out and about. That would just be asking for trouble.
