The rest of the week passed by without any excitement for April. She had not been allowed out of the house, except for school, and she had had limited contact with Holly. She was fine, as far as she could tell. Apparently, the school had gotten a hold of her in Paris and she had yelled herself hoarse over the phone. She was threatening to come home just so she could punish Holly in person if she tried skipping school again.
Donatello had stopped by to see her a couple of times, but he hadn't fallen asleep next to her again. April was a little disappointed, but she loved the time she got with him. They would talk about more personal things and were really getting more comfortable around each other. She told him about her mother, what she could remember, and about her aunt and the rest of her family. Donnie didn't have as much to share, since she knew all of his family, but he did tell her stories about himself and his brothers from when they were younger. Like how Mikey used to climb the tree in the training room and it had driven Splinter crazy.
Saturday rolled through and brought with it the threat of rain. April awoke to find a note from her aunt saying that she was at the farmers market and would be home later in the day. So, while she waited, she did what little homework she had, and spent the day watching the clouds roll by out of the bay window of the apartment while texting her friends.
As evening fell, the clouds turned a sinister shade of gray and a few droplets of rain were spattering the window. Karen was sipping tea and reading a book she had picked up at the library while April sat watching the people on the street hurry by, trying to beat the rain.
Aprils' phone buzzed in her pocket. She dug it out and checked the screen. It was a text from Holly, and it read, 'Can you come out today?'
'I doubt it. Aren't you still grounded?' She sent back frowning at her phone.
'Well yes, but I just needed to get out of the house." April just frowned harder at her phone, she wasn't sure what was going on here, so she asked.
'You know what, it's fine. I'll call you later.' April just stared at her phone with a confused look on her face.
"Is everything ok?" Karen asked from behind her book.
"I'm not sure." April replied. She immediately started texting Raph and Donnie to see if they had any idea what was going on.
Holly was having the worst day of her life. She had gotten into a huge argument with her mother over something completely stupid. She couldn't even remember what it had been about any more. All she knew was it had ended up turning into their usual back and forth about how she wanted her mother to come home more often, and how she was crushing her mothers' creativity with all her negativity. She just couldn't take it and had hung-up on her mother and threw the tablet onto the couch. Her mom had tried calling her back about a hundred times and she couldn't take it anymore and needed an escape.
The clouds had been looming ominously overhead throughout the morning. It had already started to drizzle and it was probably going to downpour any moment, but Holly didn't care. She had hoped April would be able to come out and meet her, but she knew it wasn't likely since they were both still grounded. She walked to the local park and sat on the swings by herself. For a while, she watched the braver families around her playing until the distant rumble of a summer storm forced them all to pack up their strollers and return to their homes.
The rain soaked into her shorts and dripped off her hair as Holly walked aimlessly around the city. She didn't want to go home, she couldn't go to Aprils', and she really didn't feel like turning up at the lair looking like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. They would all fuss over her, and she didn't feel like being mollycoddled. What she really wanted to do was punch something; that would help her feel much better. She stopped walking for a moment as she realized where her feet had brought her. Holly stepped into the little sushi restaurant, dripping onto the aged linoleum floor. The other patrons gave her weird looks as she took a seat in the back corner and tried to clean off her glasses with a napkin.
Mr. Murakami was busy preparing fresh meals for another couple who were glancing nervously in her direction, and after they had been served, the aged chef shuffled his way over to her table. "I was not expecting any soggy guests tonight. I can only assume you were in need of somewhere dry to go that was not with your other friends."
"How do you do that?" Holly asked amazed.
"I may be blind, but there are other things that give people away." He placed a rough, old hand over hers and lowered his voice. "It also helps that I have a waitress that lets me know when someone walks in that makes everyone else nervous." Holly let out a chuckle, she supposed she probably did look odd. "I'll tell you what, you can stay here and dry off. But you have to join me for dinner."
Holly smiled, "Deal."
Mr. Murakami walked into his kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a towel. He threw it across the restaurant to her and continued to help the other customers.
The waitress came over and brought her something to drink. "Do you like tea?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you." Holly replied.
The waitress poured a cup and set the pot on the table before disappearing back into the kitchen. She returned a moment later with a phone on an enormous red cord that she tucked between Mr. Murakamis' ear and shoulder so he could talk and work at the same time.
Holly didn't know what he was saying, he was speaking Japanese to whoever was on the other end of the line, but it sounded like a pleasant conversation. She thought it would be nice to speak another language, as she toweled her hair dry and did what she could about her clothes.
It was only about an hour before the sushi restaurant closed, and Hollys' mother had been blowing up her phone the whole time. She knew she'd have to go home soon, it was already dark because of the storm and she shouldn't be out alone, not after this last week, but she intended to keep her promise and stay and have dinner with Mr. Murakami.
The elderly man walked over to her and sat down on the other side of the table. "So, why are you out in the rain all alone?"
Holly fidgeted, "I got in an argument with my mom."
"Oh, yes." He sighed heavily, "Being a teenager is hard. You are trying to find your own way, while your parents want to pretend you're still a child."
"I suppose, but she's never home. I don't know why she gets so worked up about me when I take care of myself anyway." Holly said.
"Just because she isn't there, doesn't mean she doesn't care." Mr. Murakami said.
"Oh very clever." Holly had to chuckle. "I see you're also a poet, who didn't know it."
The elderly mad laughed heartily. "I assure you that was unintentional. But it was pretty good, wasn't it?" He stood up and went over to his workstation. "How about I make some noodles for us tonight?"
"Whatever you like. But I am going to pay you this time." Holly said defiantly.
Holly picked up her tea and moved to the bar so she could talk with Mr. Murakami while he boiled up noodles in a pot of broth and added all kinds of vegetables to it. His waitress left them shortly after he had begun cooking. She drew the blinds and locked the door behind her so no one would think the restaurant was still open. However, Holly noticed that he was cooking up an unusually large amount of food for just two people, and couldn't help but wonder what was going on.
Just as he pulled the pot off the heat, there was a soft knocking at the front door. "Could you get that for me?" He asked her sweetly. Too sweetly.
"What are you playing at?" She asked him with whimsical suspicion.
He just chuckled to himself and grabbed a stack of bowels as she pulled open the door. Leonardo was standing on the other side wearing a self-satisfied grin. Holly stepped aside and let him in, and not a moment later the other three turtles dropped to the street and tumbled into the restaurant. They all smiled at Holly
"Are you alright?" Mikey asked her
Holly shrugged. "I don't know, I have practically been on a video call with mom for the last week solid, I got sick of her yelling at me so I needed to get away. Her phone lit up again on the counter behind them. No doubt it was her mom calling again.
"Either way, Mr. Murakami called us as soon as you showed up. He said you might need an escort home." Leo interjected.
"You're not going anywhere until I feed the poor girl." Mr. Murakami said from his counter. There were six bowls of delicious smelling noodles, with veggies and ham laid out. "Please, come and eat."
Mikey whooped and leapt into a chair before anyone else had even moved. He didn't even bother with a spoon and just lifted the bowl to his mouth and started slurping happily.
"Have you spoken to April about this?" Donnie asked.
"Not really, I didn't want to go to her place, and I thought it would probably be better to actually talk to someone. You know, in person." Holly replied a little more stiffly than she meant to.
"And you didn't want to talk to us?" Raph asked, he folded his arms across his chest and frowned at her. He didn't hide the hurt in his voice.
"It's not like that. I just needed the fresh air." Holly said tightly. She had spent all day defending herself to her mother, she didn't need this right now.
"And after everything that's happened, you still though it was smart to go off, in the open, on your own?" Raph muttered.
Leo and Donnie just stood side by side feeling awkward. They were doing their best not to intervene, but this was going to blow up soon if they didn't do something. They knew about Raph's temper, and it seemed that all his emotions became more intense when they had something to do with this particular brunette.
"Alright, look. Let's just eat and we can get you home so you can make up with your mom." Leo finally offered hopefully.
"Fine." Holly turned and threw herself into a chair. She had been starving earlier, now her appetite had vanished.
"Fine." Raph mimicked, he sat himself on the other end of the table, next to Mikey, and pushed the noodles around his bowl with some chop sticks.
"How have you been Mr. Murakami?" Donnie said trying to lighten the mood as he sat next to Holly.
"Oh, fairly well. I have been busy, business has been good for a change." He replied.
"Nice! You haven't had any more trouble with the Purple Dragons, have you?" Leo asked.
"No, not since Raphael scared them off the last time." He jabbed a thumb in Raphs direction.
"Hopefully they just leave you alone from now on." Mikey commented, before slurping down the last of the juices from his bowl.
"Yes, it would certainly be nice to have those trouble makers out of our neighborhood." Mr. Murakami sighed to himself. "But, if they're weren't here, I would never have made such wonderful friends."
Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Mr. Murakami spoke and laughed together as they ate, while Holly and Raph sat sullenly at opposite ends of the table. Mikey ended up eating Raphs noodles as he had maybe taken two bites before pushing it away, and Holly forced herself to eat. It was delicious, and she felt awful for not being able to really appreciate it.
Holly paid for all of their meals, as promised, and Mr. Murakami threw an arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug before the group left the restaurant. They boys agreed to let her walk at street level, on her own, if they could follow her along the roof tops. She was glad for the solitude.
She had been walking along at a fairly quick pace and was just starting to calm down again when her phone rang in her pocket. She fished it out and checked the screen. It was Raph. Of course it was. "Hello." She sighed into the phone.
"You shouldn't have gone out on you own like that." He said obviously annoyed. "Especially after what happened to April."
"I realize that, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of any of those gang members all week, and I had to leave." She tried to remain calm as she continued walking along the street. It was still raining, so few people were out, and those who were seemed to be giving her a wide berth.
"Just because you haven't seen them, doesn't mean they're gone. They could have jumped you at any moment." Raph hissed. He had dropped back from his brothers to place the call. He really didn't feel like having them eaves drop on this particular conversation.
"I'm sorry, alright?" Holly was losing her temper now. She had argued enough today to last a lifetime. "But you just don't get it."
"No? And I suppose April would have?"
"You know what?" Holly stopped in the middle of the street and started yelling into her phone. "I am allowed to talk to other people about things, before I come rushing to you. I know what I did was stupid, but I am quite capable of taking care of myself every once in a while. I have been doing it for a few years now already, thank you very much!" She hung up on his and stomped off down the road, fuming to herself.
Raphael blanched, then clenched his fists and growled angrily to himself. "God, she is stubborn!" He wanted to throw something, but just settled for some angry mumbling and flailing.
"So? How'd it go?" Leo asked happily as his angry little brother rejoined the group.
"Don't." was all he could manage before his blood started boiling again.
"Now you know how we feel." Mikey said from his perch on the ledge. Donnie and Leo just nodded their agreement.
Raph said nothing. He was furious at Holly, and at himself. Surely she must know he was worried about her when they got the call for Murakami. She shouldn't be allowed to get mad at him for that.
Holly went into her building. The lights came on in her apartment, but she didn't appear on her balcony. Raph's phone dinged once with a notification "I'm safe now, you can go home." He wanted to text her back, to yell at her, or apologize. Instead he growled in frustration and thrust his phone into its pocket. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Give it a day and maybe you'll both have calmed down." Donnie said. Raphael didn't respond. He just turned away and went home with his brothers.
The following day Holly was still pretty mad. She hadn't slept and her when she finally answered her moms calls, she was in the airport getting ready to board a plane back to Manhattan. Holly knew she was going to be in so much trouble. She had never really rebelled against her parents before, but she was at the end of her rope. How could she possibly explain what had been going on? Her mom would never understand. She got up and started to get ready for school. Her mom would be home before she was today, although hopefully she would be jet-lagged and would be asleep already.
She and April had a chance to talk during the day. Holly told her everything that had been going on, and what had happened, and April was sympathetic to her dismay. Not that she could offer any solutions to her problems, but she could commiserate with her friend and try to cheer her up.
When the last bell rang, Holly bid April a good evening and prepared herself for what she was about to walk into. She ran through a while bunch of possible explanations, but none of them seemed even remotely plausible. As she rounded the block to her building, she ran into the back of a crowd that was blocking her way. She pushed through the crowd until she was at the front standing behing police tape.
There was a few squad cars and an ambulance outside Hollys' apartment, and the glass in the front doors was shattered all across the street. The door man was sat on the step talking to a police officer as a paramedic was dabbing at a nasty cut just over his eyebrow.
"Bud." Holly whispered to herself and dove beneath the tape, glass crunching underfoot. An officer grabbed her across the shoulders, making sure she wasn't just some by stander who wanted a closer look. Bud waved her over and she rushed to his side. "Oh my god, what happened?"
"I don't know. That shady-looking guy was back, he barged into the building and knocked me out before I could hit the silent alarm. I hope everyone is ok. I don't remember anything." Bud looked shaken up, but he was being looked after by one of the policemen, so Holly knew he would be ok.
"Who called the cops?" Holly asked looking around at the officers.
"One of the other tenants. They said they heard the glass smash, but didn't see who did it. They stayed with Bud until we got here." An officer with a large mustache replied.
"So what did he want?" She asked, fearing the answer.
"Don't know. As far as we can tell they guy was looking for something to steal, and gave up once he realized there was nothing of value in the lobby."
Holly nodded absently and tried to look like she was calm. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt dizzy from all the blood pumping through her head. After making sure her friend was ok, she dashed to the elevator and jammed the button a few times. She didn't wait for the doors to open all the way before pushing through them and stabbing frantically at the '7' button. The elevator rose slowly up through the floors, and with every passing second Holly felt her blood pressure rise. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her throat felt tight in anticipation of what she might find.
The door to the apartment looked closed at first glance, but Holly pushed on the door and it swung open. The apartment looked ok, but as she stepped into the kitchen there was a single wine glass shattered on the floor, red wine was splattered everywhere.
"Mom?" Holly yelled into the silent apartment. She stepped tentatively around the glass back into the living area. Where she spotted a note attached to the backside of the front door with a switchblade. She crept over to it and ripped it from the door. It was scribbled on a piece of her mother's stationary that she kept by the phone.
'I have your mother. I was hoping to catch you, but I'll take what I can get. Give me those mutant freaks, princess, and I'll give you your mommy back. You have 3 days.'
Holly let her arm fall after she read the note. She looked around her home and suddenly felt very vunreble. This must be how April felt without her father. She grabbed a few things before running out of her home. She made her way to the lair, making sure to double-back on herself, and go through the busiest areas she could find before slipping into the tunnel entrance. Once she was underground, she ran as fast as she could to the lair, her eyes were misty with tears and a few hysterical sobs escaped her lips.
The Turtles were all up and milling around when Holly entered their home. She was sobbing now and walked straight to Raph who stood and opened his arms to her. She collapsed into him crying fully now, the note still clutched in her hands. He looked around at the other in a panic.
"Whats happened?" Splinter asked.
Holly couldn't speak, she was gulping air trying to get herself together. She handed over the note to their sensei and took a few shaky breaths, "He took my mom. That ass hole broke in and took her".
Splinter looked aghast. "I am so sorry".
"What?" Blurted out Leo.
"I thought she was in Paris" Raph said, still patting her on the back,
"She caught a flight early this morning and was supposed to be home when I got there." She wiped her eyes roughly. "I was so horrible to her." She added feeling so ashamed.
"Don't worry about that now. We will get her back and you can apologize as much as you like" Leo offered.
"Someone needs to call April for me." Holly glanced at Donnie.
"I'll do it!" Mikey chirped up.
Donnie shut him down, "No, I'll call her"."Come with me, you need a strong cup of tea." Splinter ushered her into the Kitchen and Raph and Leo followed along. While Donnie called April, and Mikey tried to be on the call with him.
April and her aunt had been watching a movie when her phone rang. She picked it up expecting to hear Donnies happy voice through the speaker. "Hello." She answered.
"Hey, Holly's mom has been taken hostage. She's here with us now, but she's very shaken up"
"Oh my gosh, that's awful!" April knew exactly how her friend felt. Her father was a top scientist and was still missing too. "I thought her mom was out of the country though?"
"Yeah, well she cam home early," Donnie said, "do you think your aunt would let you come over to help her out?"
"I would love to, but I'm still grounded." April said.
"What's going on sweetie?" Karen asked.
"Hang on D." April covered the speaker with her palm, "Holly's, mom is missing. The police are there, but they don't know what happened." She was only half lying
"Oh dear." Karen covered her mouth with her hand. "Does she need a place to stay?"
"No. She's going to one of our other friends place. They have more people home to take care of her." April said.
"People just aren't safe here anymore." Karen shook her head. "First your father, and all those other scientists. Now Holly's mom. Why? It just doesn't make sense." Karen got up and walked around her apartment nervously.
"I'm going to finish this up stairs." April said to her aunt, waving her phone in the air.
Karen stopped pacing and faced her niece, "You know what? I think Holly needs you tonight."
"What?"
"You are so brave and strong, and I think Holly could use some of that tonight. You're off the hook, for now at least." Karen said.
April jumped up and hugged her aunt. "Thank you." She started running upstairs as she spoke into her phone. "Tell Holly I'm on my way. I'll see you in a while."
April rushed to the lair as fast as she dared. She was also careful to make sure she was not followed, but she wanted to be there for Holly right now. As soon as she entered the Turtles home, she ran straight to her friend, and wrapped her arms around her shoulder. Holly let out a little sob, and let her head come to rest against Aprils' shoulder.
"What has happened?" April asked the quiet room.
They went over all the details again for April, she sat holding Holly, who would occasionally let out a little gasp as she tried to stop crying. When everyone was up to speed with all the events of the last two days, Holly finally sat up. "I am a horrible daughter. This is all my fault"
"No its not." Said splinter firmly. "This is no ones fault, and you will need to be strong if we are to get your mother back". Holly nodded and wiped another tear out from under her glasses. "You must remain here for the next few days. We will make a plan and do everything we can to free her." Splinter turned to leave "I need to meditate on all of this."
The remainder of the daylight hours we spent in almost complete silence. They all just sat around Holly who looked shell-shocked and refused to talk much. They forced a couple more cups of tea into her before she finally came around. "Raph can I talk to you?" She asked.
"Uhh, yeah. Of course" He replied sheepishly. He glanced around at the others, he really didn't want to talk in front of everyone.
"We'll give you some space." April announced and shooed everyone out of the living space.
"Oh come on, the T.V.'s in there" groaned Mikey as April shoved him into the Kitchen.
Neither of the stubborn teens said anything for a while. Holly was picking at her nails nervously trying not to cry while Raph sat a few cushions away with his arms set firmly across his chest.
"I'm sorry Raph. I didn't mean to yell at you yesterday." She looked up for a second, and saw that he had his poker face on, just like when they had first met. "Can you forgive me?"
"Sure." He shrugged.
Holly felt a wave of despair wash over her. She just nodded and lowered her head as she felt her lip wobble uncontrollably. She heard Raph sigh and felt the couch shift as he scooted closer to her.
"I didn't mean it like that. I don't think there's anything you could do that I wouldn't forgive you for." Raph smiled, hoping that Holly would feel better, but she was still examining her fingers. "Ok, I'm sorry too. I know we can't keep you two locked up for the rest of your lives, but we worry about you. Especially since we can't help you if you do get into trouble during the day. These men are dangerous, and I think they've proved that they're willing to do anything to get what they want."
"Your right," Holly said softly. "I should have listened."
"Yeah. but, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have either." Raph replied with a guilty look on his face. To his delight, Holly finally cracked a smile. It was forced, but he would take it. "Besides, only someone as stubborn as I am could put up with me for as long as you have."
"Thanks Raph." She said sarcastically.
"Are you going to be alright?" He asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. If we can get my mom back, I will be." Holly felt ashamed at her behavior over the last few hours. "I don't know how April can be so calm in this situation."
"She knows we're going to get her dad back, it's just taking longer than expected." He leaned back casually on the couch, relieved that they were on speaking terms again.
"I just want today to be over." Holly took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes until little spots appeared. "I will not wallow in self-pity anymore. If I'm going to help my mom I need to be focused."
"And you will be. I've seen you when you're determined. It's pretty scary." Raph shrugged again.
"Thanks." She repeated. Holly took a deep shuddering breath to calm herself down, then leaned back against the couch with Raph. She let herself slide down the couch until she bumped into him, then tipped her head and rested it on his shoulder.
They sat for a while, listening to the hushed conversations happening in other rooms. Neither of them wanted to move, and soon Holly felt her eyes slipping closed. She tried to force herself awake by sitting up, but almost immediately felt herself wobble. Raph gripped her shoulders gently, and stood up behind her.
"Come on, you can sleep in my room again." He slid one hand around her back and swooped up her legs with the other. She moaned softly in protest, but found she was too tired to even pretend to argue with him.
He set her gently in his bed, pulled her glasses off her face, and set them on his side table so they wouldn't get broken. Raph was about to leave when Holly mumbled from the pillow.
"What?" He asked.
"Don't leave me." She said softly.
"I have to. The others..." He tried to leave, but she reached out for him and managed to find his hand.
"I don't care, please?"
Raph sighed again, "Fine, but only until you fall asleep." He sat on the edge of the bed and she inched herself over so that he could sit next to her. Not a moment after he was sat with his legs kicked up, she wrapped an arm around him and buried her face into his side. Raph shook his head to himself, knowing full well that no one could see him pretending not to enjoy this.
"Do you hate me sometimes?" She asked him, her eyes were still closed and she was barely speaking above a whisper
"What? Why would you think that?" He replied frowning.
"I know I make you mad." She said in the same dreamy tone.
"You do drive me nuts sometimes, but I don't hate you." He said to the top of her head.
"That's good. Because I like you a lot." She yawned through the sentence, and he was pretty sure she was out cold before she had even finished talking. He knew he had said that he would leave her once she was asleep, but he just wanted to stay for a few more minutes. It was nice being able to just relax with someone for a change, so he scooted down and grabbed up a comic book to read while Holly slept peacefully beside him.
