The turtle boys had gone to bed hours ago, and April was breathing deeply at the other end of the sofa, but Holly just couldn't sleep. She had been having troubling dreams since April and Mikey had forced her through another two horror movies earlier that night. Leonardo had at least enjoyed the second one they had watched as it was supposedly more believable, but she had spent those two hours trying not to run away. Every time she had closed her eyes, she had seen herself and the others trying to fight off hoards of machete-wielding zombies. It wasn't the zombies themselves that scared her, it was seeing the fear in her friends' eyes and knowing that she couldn't do anything to help them.
April mumbled in her sleep, something about Donatello. At least someone was having pleasant dreams. Holly stood up and wrapped herself in her blanket, she walked over to her bag of clothes and books and pulled out her tablet. If she couldn't sleep she may as well be entertained at the same time. She walked out of the living room and into the little kitchen, there was no need to wake up April just because she couldn't sleep. After finding something to drink, Holly sat on one of the chairs and loaded one of her favorite movies from her library, and settled in for a long night.
Splinter woke up later than he usually would. His boys and the girls had been making quite a racket the previous night, but he didn't really mind. He was just happy that his sons got the opportunity to feel like normal teenagers for a while. He left his room and made his way silently through the living area, a quick glance at the sofa revealed that there was only one sleeping form laying there. As he rounded the pillar to the kitchen, he saw Holly hunched over the table. She was breathing softly resting her head on her arms, beside her a black tablet was propped up on its stand.
Splinter carefully moved around the sleeping girl and started his usual morning routine. After setting his kettle on the stovetop, he fished out the coffee grounds and filters from a cabinet. He poured himself some tea and made himself some breakfast and sat in one of the empty chairs on the opposite side of the table from Holly. She twitched and groaned as she started to wake up.
"Good morning, I didn't think our kitchen table was that comfortable." Splinter said, he took a sip of tea and waited for the girl to fully awaken.
"Oh god, is it really morning?" Holly peeked out over her arm with just one eye. She slowly raised her head off of the table and sat up straight, her neck and back were stiff from being hunched over for the last four hours. Her cheek had an imprint of the grain of the wooden table and her hair was sticking out at some wired angles.
Splinter chuckled as she stretched again and wrapped herself back in the blanket. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat back in the chair she had slept in, and after she had taken her first sip she let a smile creep across her face.
"I take it you didn't sleep well last night?" Splinter asked the girl.
"No, not really. I kept, uh, waking up." She finished lamely.
Splinter just nodded, he didn't want to force an explanation out of Holly. If she wanted to talk, she would talk.
"Oh, I hope we weren't too loud last night?" Holly took another sip of coffee.
"It's perfectly fine, it's nice to see them acting like normal teens for a change." Splinter smiled at her.
"They are normal," Holly said innocently, Splinter raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, as normal as mutated turtles can be." Splinter laughed heartily, it was weird to hear since he didn't laugh much, but the sound made Holly laugh with him.
"What's so funny?" Leonardo walked into the kitchen looking a little groggy himself.
"Wow, you look almost as bad as I do." Holly said.
"I dunno', you look pretty rough." Leo said as he poured himself some coffee.
"Oh, you're such a charmer." She replied, voice dripping in sarcasm.
"So? Why do you look like you got dragged through a bush backwards?" He asked.
"I didn't sleep much." Holly tugged the blankets closer around her shoulders. At least she didn't have to worry about going to school on so little sleep. "Oh, and I don't recommend using the table as a pillow." She motioned to her face, which was still a little pink on one side.
"I was wondering what had happened to your face. Luckily for me, I have a nice soft bed to sleep in." Leo said smugly.
"I do have a nice soft bed. Mine is half way across town." She blinked at him over her mug. He chuckled at her and settled himself in an empty chair. "Alright, we've laughed at me, now it's your turn. Why didn't you sleep?"
"I was just reading, I lost track of time." He shrugged and sat beside her. "Why couldn't you sleep?"
Holly smiled at the oldest of the turtle boys, he stared her down waiting for an answer. She sighed to herself and decided to just give in, she was too tired to argue. "Fine, I couldn't sleep because I kept having pretty bad dreams." She looked embarrassed and her cheeks flushed slightly.
"What about?" Leo asked, apparently unfazed by this revelation.
"Us, all of us. Everyone was dying and I couldn't do anything to stop it." Holly took another deep breath, she was still a little disturbed by her own imagination.
"That is nothing you should be ashamed of, it simply means you care about your friends." Splinter said calmly.
"Maybe so, but It doesn't help me sleep any better." Holly stated simply.
"I suppose that is true." Splinter said after a moments' pause.
Holly smiled into her coffee, it was nice to have people around to talk to about random things. The little group talked for a while about whatever popped into their heads, mostly Splinter and Leo talked while Holly tried to keep her head off the table. After a little while, April stumbled into the kitchen rubbing her eyes and yawning widely.
"Did none of you sleep last night?" Splinter asked as April sat at the table heavily.
"I slept fine, I just wasn't quite ready to wake up." April said through another enormous yawn.
"I'll say. Just so you know, you talk in your sleep." Holly said with a malicious grin.
April stopped rubbing her face and let her hands fall to the table. "What was I saying?"
"I didn't catch all of it, but it was defiantly something to do with Donatello." Holly waggled her eyebrows at her friend. April blushed slightly and just smiled. Holly couldn't help but laugh.
Pretty soon, everyone had stumbled into the little kitchen, and after a couple rounds of coffee and two boxes of cereal, the room was full of vibrant chatter and laughing. Mikey was arguing with Leo about which of the movies they had watched last night was the best. While April, Raph and Donnie were discussing their plans for the rest of the day.
"I hope your plans include training today?" Master Splinter said when there was a lull in their conversation.
"But of course." April said to splinter, she cringed slightly as she turned back to the two turtle boys, she hadn't even thought about training. Donnie and Raph sniggered behind their hands.
The group of teenagers made their way back into the living room, April cleaned up the blanket and pillows she had used the night before and grabbed some clean clothes out of her back pack. As she went to find a quiet place to change, Holly fell back onto the couch, still clutching her blanket tightly. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes.
"If you wanted to sleep, you should have done it last night." Raph said from above her with his arms crossed.
Holly didn't even open her eyes, "If I wanted to sleep, I never would have agreed to watch those stupid movies."
"Did you have some bad dreams?" Raph was mocking her.
"Don't start with me tough guy, you might just get more than you can handle." She peeked up at him through one eye and wagged a finger at him from between the folds of her blanket. He shook his head at her, then he gestured that she should sit up with a nod of his head. She groaned but complied. He took his usual seat at the end of the couch and settled back to watch TV. Holly leaned against him and closed her eyes again, she didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed that she was being so forward.
Splinter walked through the living room on the way to his own room and saw that the teenagers were all slouching on the couch watching television. "Leonardo." He said to his oldest son, "Why don't you lead training today? You are going to have to learn to motivate an exhausted team at some point."
"Hai sensei." Leo replied to his master. "When do you guys want to start?" He asked the room rubbing his hands together.
"You heard him, motivate me." Holly said from Raphs shoulder, she had a grin on her face but kept her eyes closed. Raphael chuckled, he loved that she liked being just as difficult as he did every once in a while.
"Think of it this way; the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done." Leo tried to convince her.
"Or, the later we start, the longer I get to try sleeping again." Again, Holly didn't open her eyes, and Raph laughed. It wasn't very often he got to watch his brother get annoyed with someone, usually, it was him driving up Leo's blood pressure. She cracked one eye open to see Leo giving her a very disapproving look. "Alright, alright, Keep your bandana on, I'll go change." Holly stood and wrapped the blankets even tighter around herself, she yawned as she picked up her belongings.
Training was brutal, Holly was barely able to stay upright, let alone try to block the wooden sword Leo had been swinging at her. April fared better against Donnie, and even managed to crack him on the knuckles a couple of times. Leo decided after a couple of hours that, given everyone's mood, they should call it quits for today.
Holly fell face-first into the couch and just lay there perfectly still for a while. April on the other hand was busying herself gathering up her belongings and making sure all the DVDs were in their correct cases.
"What are you doing?" Holly asked, voice muffled by the cushions.
"I have to head home today, and I don't want to have to pay for these again so I'm going to bring them back to the store." She grabbed the cases and stuffed them into her bag.
"I suppose I should at least go get some clean clothes." Holly propped herself up on her elbows. "I am wearing the last clean set I had."
"You guys are leaving us?" Mikey said from the floor
"I have to go home and spend some time with my aunt." April replied.
"I'll come back later, once I shower and take a nap." Holly pushed herself into a seated position, it took more effort than it should have. "It's not like there's anyone for me there, and I'd rather have your company even if there was."
"Really, even after Leo just got done trying to kill you?" Raph said with a smirk.
"Meh, it's ok. No one ever said it would be easy." Holly shrugged. "Besides, if I leave with April, there will be someone to drag me home should my legs give out."
"Yeah right, if you go down you're on your own." April scoffed.
The girls made slow progress getting home, their legs dragged and their backpacks were heavier than they remembered them being. As they walked, they had some good old-fashioned girl talk. They gossiped about the turtles and training, and they laughed at all the strangely dressed people who were out that day. They rounded one corner, about three blocks from Aprils' apartment, and stopped in their tracks. There were two Purple Dragon members leaning against the wall of the convenience store.
The girls looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. "They can't be up to anything good." April said it aloud.
"They can't be planning on robbing that place right now, can they? It's the middle of the day." Holly said with disbelief. She knew that this particular gang was stupid, but they couldn't be that dumb, could they?
"It's not like they're doing anything wrong right now, let's go. You should let the boys know when you see them later though." April and Holly continued on their way, and they kept an eye on the men as they walked by on the opposite side of the road. One of the men pulled out a cell phone and placed a call, and just as the girls rounded the corner to Aprils' street, the men pushed off the wall and crossed the road.
Holly waved to her friend as she continued on to her own apartment, but before April actually went inside, she checked up and down the street. Something was off, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Yeah, she saw the occasional Purple Dragon member out during the day, but the two she had just seen were up to no good, she just knew it.
The two Gang members stood at the end of April road, they had been instructed earlier to keep an eye out for the red-headed girl and find out where she lived, where she went to school, and places she liked going. Stockman had handed out copies of a picture that proved she was in cahoots with the turtles, and had told all the lower-ranking members to spread out around the area and find her. They had called Fong to let him know that had found her already, but that she was with a friend, and he told them to wait until she was alone. If they were lucky, they'd get a promotion for finding her so quickly.
