The girls had to leave the turtles the following afternoon. April had to go home as her aunt had started asking too many questions, and she had stopped believing that she was only with Holly. Holly didn't really want to go home since she would be alone, but she missed being able to sleep in her own bed and really didn't want to spend another night on a couch.

The turtles, along with Splinter, we're not thrilled that April had to go back above ground. They would have much preferred for her to stay with them, where it was safe and they could take care of her. However, they knew they couldn't just hide her down in the sewers, it may work for them, but they didn't have family on the surface to answer to.

"You guys need to relax, I'll be fine." April waved off their concern, she appreciated that they worried about her, but sometimes it was too much.

"Text us when your home, and call us if you need anything." Donnie was trying to stay calm, but after the close call the girls had had yesterday, it was proving difficult.

"Enough. We'll be fine already." April gave him a stern look. Donnie nodded and looked at his feet. April felt awful, he was just trying to look out for her and she had overreacted. She pulled him into a quick hug, making sure to give him a good squeeze. "I'm sorry, I will let you know when I'm home. I promise." He gave her a weak smile as he let her go.

Holly, Raph, Leo, and Splinter were all standing by the entrance to the lair. Holly was going through all her belongings making sure she had everything she needed while chatting with the rest of the group.

"I don't think we'll have too many problems. The Purple Dragon is after April but the only lead they have right now is where she lives. As long as were careful we shouldn't run into anyone until we get close to her apartment." Holly rummaged through her bag, double-checking that she had her toothbrush.

"Either way, you guys should be on the lookout for the whole journey." Leo said, like it wasn't the obvious thing to do.

"She lives like nine blocks away. I'm sure we'll be just fine." Holly said.

"The fact that she lives as close as she dose is enough to cause concern. The Purple Dragon are going to be looking in the surrounding neighborhood for April, and the closer we are the more likely you are to run into them." Splinter said, his face was very serious.

Holly didn't dare get sarcastic with him right now. "Your right, of course. We'll be careful."

"Just take care of yourselves." Splinter placed a hand on Holly shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned. In truth, she wasn't particularly happy about taking April home either, but there wasn't much of an option.

"Ok, let's go." April said turning around. She grabbed her bag off the floor and walked over to Holly and the others.

"Sure, let's get this over with." Holly picked up her belongings and the two girls started towards the exit. "See you guys later."

All the turtles waved and said their goodbyes to the girls, all except Raph. He was standing just behind his big brother with his arms folded, he had been unusually quiet all morning, and everyone had noticed. He had woken up and gone straight for the coffee, which was normal, but after that, he had refused to sit down with the others for breakfast and then had retreated back into his room and hadn't come out until the girls were getting ready to leave.

Leo elbowed Raph to try and get him to act more social. "Stop sulking." he hissed at his brother.

"Hey!" Raph scowled at Leo, he then glanced at the girls briefly. "Later." He stalked off towards the training room, Leo shook his head disapprovingly.

"What is up with him today?" April asked no one in particular. Holly shook her head and shrugged, this was the first time that she wasn't really sure what was going on. "Oh well, let's go already. I'm not getting in any more trouble."

The girls left and quickly made it to the surface. They slipped onto the street unnoticed by the passersby and set off towards Aprils apartment. After a few minutes of walking, both the girls couldn't help but notice the lack of Purple Dragon members around. They had expected to see at least one since the Fortune Cookie Factory was in this neighborhood, but there wasn't any of them mingled in with the rest of the crowd.

The red-head and the brunette looked at each other with matching expressions of confusion. "I don't understand." Holly said, "We should have seen someone by now."

"Hey, I'm not complaining." April laughed.

They continued walking along the streets, still expecting to run into someone who was out to get them. But still, there was nothing, all the way to Aprils home they didn't see a single gang member.

"Ok, what is going on?" Holly asked as they climbed the few steps up to Aprils' front door.

"I don't know, but I'm actually more concerned now than I was when they were following us." April raised her eyebrows at her friend, Holly couldn't agree more.

"Let's go upstairs, I'm going to call a cab to take me home today." Holly didn't feel comfortable walking by herself. April unlocked the door and the two girls hurried upstairs. Aprils' aunt was home and was baking in the kitchen. April ran straight to the front window and peered out looking for any signs of trouble.

Holly walked over and stood beside April at the window. They both looked up and down the street once before looking at each other. They turned back to the street and kept watch in silence, the only sound in the apartments came from the little radio Aprils aunt was listening to while she banged around with the bowels and pans while she was making the cookies.

"Do you have binoculars?" Holly asked suddenly, she was squinting at one of the buildings just down the street from where they were.

"I have no idea. Why?"

"The blinds on that window keep opening and closing, I want to know who's watching the street as closely as we are." Holly shook her head, she was almost certain it was one of the Purple Dragon members. After managing to ditch the guy yesterday, they must be trying to attempt a much more subtle approach. Fortunately, subtlety was not something the gang was famous for. After all, they were usually caught doing whatever criminal act they were working on, and rarely made off with anything worthwhile when they did manage to steal something.

"Nice." April said, "I feel better knowing where they are. If we were to lead those morons to the boys I would never forgive myself."

"Oh god, I know. But I bet there's more somewhere." Holly said

"Probably, but don't worry about it right now, your cab is here." April pointed at the yellow car that had just pulled up outside her apartment.

Holly have April a quick hug and yelled goodbye to her aunt as she ran out the door and down the stairs. She scanned the street one last time and checked out the window of the other building before she dipped into the cab and Let the cabbie drive her home.

April watched Holly go, and once the cab was out of sight she pulled out her phone to let the boys she was home. A few seconds passed and she received a message from Donnie. It was just a simple "I'm glad you're safe." But it made her smile nonetheless.

"April, could you come and help me for a minute?" Aprils' aunt called from the other room.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." April put her phone in her pocket and rushed into the kitchen.

Fong was tired of having his men calling up day after day saying they kept losing the red-headed girl. So, he decided to go on stake-out himself.

He had been sitting across the street from the girls home waiting for her and her friend to come back, but they had been gone all night and half of the day. He couldn't stay awake much longer, and the idiot who was with him was pressing on his last nerve. Fong peered out of the shutters into the street below. If those two chicks didn't show up in the next half an hour, he was done.

"Hey, boss? Why are we trying to get these kids anyway?" The moronic gang member asked.

"Because Stockman and Bradford want them, and I rather like my head where it is." Fong replied shortly.

"But they're just kids! What use are they?" The goon asked, he was playing with a deck of cards, shuffling them over and over again. A vein in Fongs' temple pulsed in annoyance.

"They can lead us to those freaks, and if you do that one more time I will break both your hands." Fong sounded calm, but he was deadly serious. The other man stopped fidgeting instantly and sat on his hands to protect them from his boss.

Not two minutes later, two girls rounded the corner at the end of the block. They were still a little far away for him to be sure, but he would be willing to make a bet that the red-headed one was the one they were looking for. He rubbed his hands together excitedly as he watched them walking down the street cautiously.

"The boys said these two girls are always together, right?" Fong asked with amusement in his voice.

"The brown haired girl with the glasses right?" The other gang member asked hesitantly. "Umm, yeah."

"Interesting." Fong continued watching the girls. They walked up the stairs and through the front door of the apartment complex. Fong relaxed for a moment, he had been worried for a while there that he would have to go back to his employers with bad news. He allowed himself a second to breathe, before peeking back out at the street. "Has anyone followed the other girl home?" Fong turned to his companion.

"No, we're we supposed to?"

"No, but I already know where she lives." Fong peered out at the street again, a cab was pulling up outside the apartment and the brunette girl hurried out to it. She looked around, and her gaze landed on his window for a moment before she ducked into the cab and pulled away.

"She knows we're here." Fong said to himself. "That one's in on it all too." Fong stood swiftly and rushed to the door of the storage room.

"Wait! Where are you going?" The dumb gang member asked.

"I'm going home, you stay here and watch the red-head. If she leaves, follow her." Fong left his confused partner feeling much better than he had thought he could. After some rest, he would let the others know what he had found out, and they would be able to formulate a plan of action. Although he already had a plan swirling in his head. Tomorrow would be a good day to be a criminal.

Raphael had been avoiding everyone else in the lair all day. He knew they would want to grill him about his weird behavior, and if he was honest, he didn't much feel like talking just yet. For a while he abused the training dummy, letting all his anger out with every punch or kick he threw. After that he had hidden in his room, trying to read his mountain of comics to keep his mind occupied. But that had only worked for so long.

Raph cracked open his door and peeked out to see what everyone else was doing. His brothers were all goofing around in the living room, playing games together and having fun. He couldn't see Splinter which meant he was either in the kitchen or in the training room, and he was hoping for the latter. He crept out of his room and tiptoed over to the training rooms sliding door, which he opened just enough for him to slip inside.

"I was wondering if you would come to me today." Splinter was sat meditating in the center of the room, his eyes were closed and he had a pot of tea by one of his knees. He opened his eyes and reached for his cup, sipping at his tea while watching his son closely.

"I need your advice, and I'm just going to cut straight to the point." Raph wrung his hands together, he didn't usually confront his issues face-on, but this was important. "I nearly did something really stupid yesterday, and I don't know how to fix it."

"How can you fix something if it was never broken?" Splinter asked.

Raph let out an irked sigh, he had a feeling Splinter would miss the point here. "Alright, yes, I didn't actually do anything wrong. But what if I had? What kind of trouble would we be in if I had gone running around above ground in board daylight?"

"Raphael, there are some things in life you have to learn on your own. Finding the balance between caring enough for someone to risk yourself, and knowing when they are capable enough to not need your help, is one of them." Master Splinter set his cup back down, and when he looked back up Raph was staring at him with his arms folded in front of him. The old rat let out a little chuckle.

"Really? That's all I get." Raph huffed.

"I will say that you did act foolishly yesterday. However, if you learn something from your foolishness you will become a stronger person because of it." Splinter rose from the mats and walked over to his son. He placed his hands on Raphaels' shoulders and smiled down at him. "You know what they say.'No harm, no foul.'"

"Where do you hear these things?" Raph asked shaking his head at his father.

"I am an old man, I have experienced many things in life, and I have a lot of free time to watch the television." Splinter chuckled lightly as he saw a grin sneak onto Raphs face.

"Sometimes I worry you're going senile." Raph said cheekily.

"Even if I were, I could still teach you a thing or two." Splinter dug his finger under Raphs jaw and walked him over to the door. "Now if you excuse me, you did interrupt my meditation." He dropped Raph just outside of the door.

Raph rubbed his jaw, but he had a small smile on his face. It never failed, Splinter always knew just what to say to make him feel better.