It took everyone a while to recover from the events in the Technodrome. Holly, who hadn't slept much prior to the excitement, spent a full day asleep, and had been moved so that the others could be in the living area without disturbing her. April had to go home to try and explain everything to Carol. As hard as she tried to understand, Carol was just not cut out for Alien invasions and mutants, but whoever April was hanging out with were obviously capably of saving her niece from the trouble she kept getting into.
Donnie had already remade a phone to replace Raphs trashed one, Mikey was completely over the events of the last few days and was engrossed in a video game, while Leo was already contemplating their next moves.
April came back to the lair to check in on everyone and to make sure Holly wasn't dead. Raph had moved her into his room once they realized she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, and had taken her spot on the couch for the last night.
"Has she woken up yet?" April asked.
"Yes, I am fine." Holly said emerging from the kitchen with wet hair and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Oh good, call your mom. She's worried about you." April said with narrowed eyes.
Holly saluted April and turned around to go back into the kitchen for some privacy.

April flopped down heavily on the couch and let out a long sigh.

"So, how did your Aunt take all the news?" Donnie asked tentatively.

"About as well as I expected."April admitted.

"I'm guessing you still didn't tell her about us then." Leo added with a knowing smirk.

"No," April admitted. "At least, not completely."

"That's probably for the best anyway," Leo said with a shrug.

"Yeah I know." April leaned forward and put her head in her hands.

Donnie placed a comforting hand on her shoulder when Holly returned from the kitchen with her phone in her hand. "So apparently y'all are coming on vacation with me."

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked with one hairless eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, my mom said she was going to take a vacation once all that mess with the Krang was over, and she already booked a place for this weekend." Holly said, a bemused look on her face.

"We can't just dip out for a vacation." Leo exclaimed, "We have a job to do here."

"Leonardo," Splinter had emerged from his room, "A good leader should know when it is time to take a break."

"Yeah Leo." Mikey agreed, "We've been working our butts off, and we've never had a vacation before! Where are we going?" He turned his attention to Holly.

"Apparently she decided to book a super secluded cabin up state. She said its big enough for all of us, if you wanted to go." Holly looked at Splinter.

"Of course the boys can go." Splinter said. "Your mother has proven a trustworthy ally to my sons."
"Actually, she wanted you to come too." Holly said.

"FAMILY VACATION!" Mikey yelled and started to run around the lair. He bumped into Raph who stood up at just the wrong time.

"Splinter? On a vacation?" Leo said with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"And why should I not come?" Splinter asked with a grin. Donnie and April snickered at Leo's discomfort.

"I didn't mean it like that" Leo tried to back track.

"Provided I can verify our safety, I would be honored to join you." Splinter said with a slight bow in Holly's direction.

"You catch all that?" Holly said into her phone.
"Sure did!" Stacey's voice came over the speaker. "I will rent a nice big vehicle and bring all the pizza and snacks you could want." She ended the call, and Holly shrugged when Leo shot her an annoyed look.

Stacey sent an attachment to Holly with the address of the place they were going to stay and she pulled it up on one of the rental websites. Everyone crowded around her to get a look at the place they were going to be staying. There was a collective "Whoa," Uttered as Holly navigated through the pictures.
"Oh, I want to be in that room!" Mikey yelled an jabbed the screen.

Holly shoved him back with her shoulder, "You'll get what you get and be happy." Splinter let out a bark of laughter, but he too was interested to see where they were going.

"We'll have to bring a sweeper to make sure there are no hidden cameras." Donnie said and scratched his chin. "And an audio jammer in case there's any recording devices."

"Its just a rental cabin, Donnie" April said.

"Actually, I agree. People these days are weird." Holly said.

"WHAT IS THAT!" Mikey shouted in everyone's ear as Holly swiped to the next page.

"Mikey!" Everyone yelled, and Raph gave him another shove for good measure.

"Its a lake" Holly said sarcastically.

"No, not that." He pointed at a picture of people jumping into the lake. "That!"

"I would guess the owners had an artificial wall put in." Holly said. "To make it look as natural as possible"

"The trees are probably already turning up state." April mused aloud. "I bet its beautiful."
"Cool. This is going to be amazing!" Mikey said and ran off to start packing

The next few days passed far too slowly for Michelangelo's liking. All the schools had closed for the week after all the 'Alien Invasion' stuff had been all over the news. The city was still cleaning up the last of the debris that had fallen into the River, and the streets were being repaved where the Technodrome had trashed them. All he could talk about was the food he wanted to try roasting over a bonfire.

"I wonder if you can roast pizza?" Mikey asked.

"Oh my god, will you stop talking. For five minutes" Raph said and dumped a bag on the ground.

"What is that?" April asked when she saw the bag, "You don't have clothes, or do you?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"No!" He shouted embarrassed, "Its my punching bag. If I have to spend the next 5 hours in a van with you guys, I'll need something to take my frustration out on."

"You are not bringing that." April said with a laugh.

Donatello had packed a huge bag full of tech that he thought they might need. While Mikey had tried to hide a bunch of stuff from the kitchen in his bag.

"You're all acting like we're leaving for a month." April said exasperatedly. She had a backpack of clothes and that was about it.

"We've never been on a vacation before, we don't know what to bring." Mikey said.

"Just pack some stuff to keep you entertained. Stacey said she would bring everything else." April reminded them.

Holly called them to let them know that she and Stacey were on their way. Stacey had rented a passenger van with tinted windows, but she did bring some extra sheets to hang up, just in case the turtles and Splinter wanted some extra privacy.

"We're pulling up to the alley. I can come down and help you with any bags you may have." Holly said.

"We really don't have anything, We can be there in a few minutes." Donnie replied as April had handed over her phone so she could help Mikey put back all the stuff in their fridge.

"Alright, We'll wait here." Holly said and hung up the call. She blew out a deep breath.

"Are you OK?" Stacey asked.

"Yeah, I'm nervous for some reason." Holly admitted.

"What for? Are you excited to spend time with Raphael?" Stacey elbowed her daughter playfully.

"Yes," Holly said blushing, she cleared her throat before continuing. "I don't know, I think its the first time any of them have been out of the city. I just hope they all have a nice time."

"Oh you worry too much. They're going to have a blast." They backed into the alley way and waited for a quick message from Raph that they were ready.

Stacey hopped out of the van and opened the back door wide to block most of the view from the street. April climbed up first and threw her backpack into the back of the van. The turtles followed suit and with a quick wave to Stacey, hopped in the van. Splinter climbed up last and before he seated himself in the back of the van, he inclined his head to Stacey and Holly. "I thank you for inviting my family to join you this weekend."

"Its not a problem at all." Stacey said beaming, "They saved me, and they're my daughters friends. Its the least I can do."

Splinter hopped into the van, and everyone got themselves settled for the journey ahead of them.

The drive up state was long, but the Turtles had a blast watching the scenery change from inner city, to suburbs to countryside. Even Splinter seemed perfectly content just watching the world pass by through the heavy tint.

"Are we there yet?" Mikey started complaining after he got bored, which was much sooner than anyone expected.

"If we were there, we wouldn't still be driving." Donnie said.

"Why don't you read something to pass the time?" April offered, "Didn't you pack any of your comic books?"

"No, but Raph did." Mikey said, eyeing Raphs small bag greedily.

"No way Mikey. You're not touching my comics." Raph said and pushed his stuff further out of reach.

"Awe!" Mikey groaned.

"Why don't you guys play some car games?" Stacey said.

"Whats a car game?" Mikey asked, interest piqued.

"You know, like the alphabet game? Or the license plate game?" Stacey replied.

Holly explained the rules, and it kept Mikey happy for almost thirty minutes. But he was soon complaining again.

"I'll give you something to complain about if you don't stop." Raph threatened from behind his own comics.

"But this is boring." Mikey whined.

"Don't you have your phone?" April asked getting irritated herself.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey said and pulled out his t-phone to play games.

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, although it was a fairly hot day and the vans measly air conditioner was not cut out for the entire vehicle. Stacey pulled off the highway and started to wind through some back roads. They saw fewer and fewer vehicles and soon they passed through the last town before they were on a lonely dirt road heading up to their rental.
April was right, the leaves were beginning to turn up north, and the forest was a patchwork of varying shades of green, red and orange. Everyone hopped out of the Van and stretched, they hadn't stopped on the way for fear that someone might see them, so everyone was restless and hot.

"Before you guys go in, let me go check for cameras." Holly said.

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Donnie said smugly, "here, take this." He tossed her a little handheld device. "This should help you find anything that's transmitting any kind of signal.

"Sweet." Holly said,

"Oh Mikey, I'm gonna call dibs on your favorite room!" April teased him and ran into the cabin after Stacey had unlocked the door.

"NO FAIR!" He shouted back and sat on the ground pouting.

Holly came back a few minutes later, with an all clear. "We should check for trail cams too before we go out into the woods." She started off into the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing to worry about, and Donnie followed her with another gadget.

Mikey was already sprinting into the place to try and find a room to claim, and Raph was right behind him.

"Sorry about them," Leo tried to say to Stacey, but she just laughed.

"Oh don't worry about it, I grew up with two brothers myself, so I am quite familiar with this behavior."
Leo and April helped Stacey bring in the bags of groceries, and as soon as Holly and Donnie were satisfied that there was nothing they could get caught by, they returned and grabbed the last couple of bags.

"This place is beautiful," Holly said and opened a cold bag to a dozen frozen pizzas, "Really?"
"You said it was their favorite." Stacey shrugged at her daughter, "I have plenty of other stuff too."

Once all the food was put away, everyone ran upstairs to claim any of the free beds. Raph and Mikey had chosen rooms and Leo got to the last one which left Donnie to choose who he was bunking with. Holly and April got the last room with twin beds and they closed themselves in to get changed.

Splinter came into the house after a quick meditation and seated himself at the kitchen counter.

"Tea?" Stacey asked and held up a box of his favorite.

Once April and Holly were ready, they all went outside to explore the lake front. It was just down a gentle slope to from the house and had an artificial sand beach with a volleyball net set up. As the waterfront curved around to form a bay, the owner had built up one side to create a natural looking rock wall that people could jump off into the water. April and Holly smiled at the beautiful scene. Dragon flies swooped lazily around them landing on the reeds in the shore line, and fish jumped out of the water with a splash and the ripples moved across the glassy surface.
"Its so beautiful." April said, but her admiration was immediately interrupted by Mike's loud whooping and him charging onto the beach.

"I'm gonna build the best sand castle ever!" Mikey shouted.

"You know there's still miles of trails to explore?" Holly said, but she was already kicking off her shoes and wading out into the water.

"We came all the way out here, and you want to play in the sand?" Raph said irritably.

"Would you relax," Holly said, "We're out here to have some fun."

"This is not my idea of..." Raph started, but Holly had pulled off her shirt to reveal a teal bikini top. His throat immediately dried up and he spluttered the rest of his sentence.

"Not so easy to talk when there's...ahhh" Donnie had tried to tease his brother, but April too was revealing a skimpy bathing suit. They both stood there, mouths agape, for more than a few moments.

"Go check that shed, I bet there's more stuff in there we can use." April said, and threw her towel at them to get their attention. Donnie immediately hurried off blushing, while Raph crossed his arms and looked off in any other direction. April and Holly both giggled to themselves.

Mikey raced over to the shed and started digging through the sporting supplies that were available. Donnie, April, and Leo joined in while Raph decided he was far too cool to build sand castles and went to relax in the shade of the trees.

As they rummaged, they did find a few volleyballs, some buckets and sand sculpting equipment, an inflatable with a hole in it, and a water skiing handle.
"Whats this for?" Mikey asked holding up the handle, "there's no other stuff that goes with this."

"There's a tag here, 'For Rope Swing'" Donnie read aloud.

"A rope swing?!" Mikey asked, his eyes growing wide again. "We need to find it, now!" He snatched the handle from his brother and rushed out onto the beach. "Where would a rope swing be?" He shouted Holly who was now knee deep in the water.

She blinked at him slightly, "If I had to guess? Up there." She pointed at the mad made rock wall, and Mikey sprinted as fast as he could to find it.

"Wait for me!" Holly yelled, and ran after him.
"What about the sand castle?" Leo shouted after them holding up the bucket he had found.

Donnie shrugged and they dropped the bucket and other stuff on the beach and ran after Mikey.
By the time they had caught up with him, Mikey had located the rope swing and was attaching the handle to it. He didn't even wait to hear Leo cautioning him about the depth of the water, when he yelled "COWABUNGA!" and launched himself off the rocks.

Holly, Leo, Donnie and April all watched as he splashed into the lake and came up laughing.
"Whats the temperature like?" Holly asked him.
"Perfect, come on!" He said.
They all looked at each other skeptically, for a moment. Holly shrugged first, took off her glasses and set them to the side, and grabbed the rope as it swung back towards her and followed Mikey into the water.

She resurfaced gasping, "You liar! Its freezing!" She shouted and began splashing Mikey and the two of them began roaring with laughter.

"So its cold then?" April asked backing away from the edge.

"No, its totally fine." Holly lied.

"Come on guys, its not that bad!" Mikey was already swimming back over to the rocks to climb up for another go.

"It does get better the longer you're in" Holly admitted and swam after Mikey.

The others soon followed, and eventually they were all laughing and scoring each others jumps as if they were at the Olympics.

Mikey was up top again, and he decided to strike a ninja pose as he crashed into the water.

Leo put on a terrible fake English accent "What do you say? An Eight I think."

April answered with an equally terrible accent, "Oh yes, I quite agree".

Stacey and Splinter were sat on the deck, each with a cup of tea beside them watching the kids having fun.

"Why doesn't Raphael join in?" Stacey asked splinter. He was laid back just off the beach with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed.

"He believes that he needs to be strong at all times." Splinter said. "But your daughter knows just how to push his buttons so he joins in."

As they spoke, Holly was creeping up to Raph with a bucket of water in her arms. The others were making enough noise so he wouldn't notice, then she dumped the whole thing over his torso.

He sat up and yelled at her, "What did you do that for?"

"Pay back's a bitch!" She yelled at him as she ran up the hill to the rocks. He chased her and picked her up throwing her over his shoulders. He carried her to the top of the rocks and threw her into the water. She let out a shriek as she fell. Leo, Donnie and April were all laughing, and when she resurfaced, Holly let out a laugh as she wiped the hair out of her face.

Raph smiled smugly down at them all, arms crossed triumphantly. "Now what are you gonna' do?" He said "You can't mess with me!" He struck a pose and flexed to show who was the king of the rock.

"I'm not going to do anything" Holly shouted, she began to swim out of the way as Mikey launched himself out from behind a tree to tackle Raph into the lake.

Splinter chuckled to himself, "You see?"

"She has always enjoyed getting into trouble." Stacey admitted.

"All young adults have to decide who they want to be, but its good when they have others around to remind them to not take themselves too seriously." Splinter said. Raph and Mikey resurfaced, and Raph immediately started to shove Mikey back under the water.

"Now who's king of the rock?" Mikey said and scrambled away from his big brother as fast as he could.

"It feels like they grow up so fast." Stacey sighed and watched as the group swam back to shore. "I suppose I should start fixing some food for everyone."

"Please, allow me." Splinter said, and he made his way into the kitchen.

"If you insist." Stacey said to herself, and settled back into her recliner to enjoy the last of the days sun.

Once everyone had eaten and the dishes were done, they lit the bonfire as it was the only thing Mikey would talk about.

"Jeez, we'll lite it just to shut you up." Raph said irritably, and he lit some kindling while Mikey danced around him with a giant bag of marshmallows.

"Don't stay up too late kids!" Stacey called to them as they went down to the lake side. "And no telling ghost stories, Holly doesn't like them"

"MOM!" Holly shouted absolutely mortified.

"Don't worry, we already know she's a fraidy-cat." Leo jested and elbowed Holly as they all sat down.

Holly shoved Leo back, but he just laughed and rolled over on the sand by the fire.

"Yeah, remember when we watched movies and she was all snuggled up to Raph 'cuz they were scared?" Mikey added, voice getting higher and higher with each syllable.
"MIKEY!" Raph shouted, equally mortified.

Donnie, April, and Leo burst out into further laughter while Raph shot eye daggers at his brother and Holly just held her head in her hands and smiled.

They all enjoyed roasting marshmallows and making s'mores until they couldn't eat anymore. Mikey lay on his back groaning as he had eaten far too many himself. He let out a loud belch and everyone made various exclamations of "Gross" and "Eww".

"There are ladies present." Donnie tried to say, but then April also let out a much daintier belch, and shrugged when they all looked at her.

"Being 'Lady-like' is overrated." April said with air quotes.

"Its all social constructs anyway," Holly said, but when no one except Donnie knew what she was talking about, she said, "never mind, just tell your ghost stories. I know you want to."
Mikey immediately regained his energy and launched straight into a tale. Holly let her fingers brush against Raphs and she smiled when he returned the gesture. Once Mikey was done with his story, Donnie had a go at telling a creepy story. But he was met with a series of 'boos' as he was more a details guy than an ambiance guy. Leo's story was much creepier and everyone was engrossed by it when Holly suddenly had a great idea, she casually leaned into Raph so she would whisper her plan to him.
"I'm so in." He whispered back, and they waited for Leo to finish so she could start her turn.

"One night, a father was putting his sons to bed," She started and stood up and walked to the other side of the fire to draw away attention from Raph. She continued her story, which she had read on a creepy pasta website the moment her mom had told her she was taking them to a cabin, lowing her voice so that the others had to listen harder to hear her until she got to the last line, "The father stopped at his last sons room. His boy, was sat in bed and asked, 'Daddy, will you check the closet for monsters?' The father checked in the closet, only to find his real son shivering between his clothes. The father turned around and saw..."

Just as she was about to tell them, Raph emerged from the lake covered in sea weed and sticks and was making a horrible gurgling noise. Donnie and April clung to each other and screamed. Leo and Mikey we're likewise gripping onto each others arms and were wide eyed for a moment.
Then Raph lost it and began laughing uncontrollably. "Oh, you should see your faces." He said and dropped all the weeds and stuff back into the lake.

The others were stunned for a moment, until Mikey broke the tension, "That... Was... EPIC!"

"Raph, you jerk!" April shouted, but Raph just pointed at Holly who was also doubled up.

"I nearly had a heart attack." Donnie said, less thrilled, and he disentangled himself from April.

"It was so worth it though." Holly said wiping the tears away from under her glasses.

"OK, I think that's enough scary stories for one night." April said, as Raph and Holly fist bumped and continued laughing to themselves as they sat back down on the sand.
The remainder of their evening was spent chatting around the campfire and admiring all the stars they could see as the night drew on. They all lay on the ground in a circle, heads together so that Donnie could point out some of the constellations to the group and Holly could tell them some of the ancient myths that explained them.

Soon Mikey got bored though and they decided to call it a night. They all brushed themselves off, poured a bucket of water onto the fire and made their way back up to the house.

The following morning, everyone woke up in a great mood. Even Raph was less cranky than usual before his coffee. Everyone sat around the island in the kitchen while April and Donnie cooked up some breakfast. When they had all eaten, Holly and Mikey agreed to do the dishes while the others hung out and relaxed.

Splinter, who had been sipping tea and watching the wildlife outside, said "I believe today would be a nice day for..."

"Some training?" Leo interrupted.

"I was going to say 'a walk', but we can train if that is what you would like." Splinter smiled over his shoulder at the group of teens who were now all groaning and complaining loudly. Mikey threw the wet wash cloth as Leonardo's face, but he caught it and set it down with a guilty grin.

"I thought you were here to relax?" Stacey asked as she poured herself a mug of coffee from the pot.

"We will, but there is always time for a little training." Splinter smiled. "I will meet you outside in fifteen minutes."

"Well, we'll just see you guys later?" Holly tried to sneak off, but Splinter caught her by the shoulder and wheeled her around.

"You too, it will give me a chance to see how much practice you had bee doing." Splinter said.

Holly pulled a face,"C'mon then, lets get this over with." She said and dragged April off to change.

They met Splinter out by the beach area and they all knelt behind him. Stacey made her self comfortable on the deck to watch.

"Today's exercise will be a simple one." Splinter said, "All you have to do, is refill my tea cup."

"That's it, refill the cup?" Donnie asked narrowing his eyes.

"Yes. See, simple." Splinter said and revealed his cup.

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Holly asked.

"You're not." Splinter said with a twinkle in his eyes, "You and April will be trying to stop them."

"Excuse me?" April said shocked and she and Holly exchanged a look.

"You may all use whatever you find in the forest to aid you, but you two will have to protect me and my tea." Splinter set off without another word.

April and Holly looked at the guys, they had evil grins on their faces. "We're going to die." Holly said.

April and Holly rushed to catch up with Splinter, "How are we supposed to deal with them?" April asked, "They're much more experienced than us."

"True, but we shall all work together." Splinter assured them, "What are your strengths, and what are their weaknesses?"

The girls through about it for a moment. "Well, Raph is going to try to force his way through with as much subtlety as a rhino." Holly said.

"Leo will for sure try to 'meld into the shadows'" April added with air quotes for mocking emphasis.

"Mikey could be distracted with a rock, most likely." Holly said. Splinter gave her a frown so she shrugged and continued, "listen, I love the guy, but he has the attention span of a goldfish."

"You have told me a lot about the turtles, but what are your strengths?" Splinter reminded them.

Holly and April exchanged another worried look.

Leo held his brothers back for a few minutes to let Splinter and the ladies get ahead of them before launching into planning mode. "OK guys, lets get this done quickly."
"Whats the rush?" Mikey asked, playing in the sand already, "This will be a cake walk."

"Yeah," Donnie agreed, "I don't want to show off in front of April," and then quietly to himself, "too much."

Raph kept his thought to himself for once, he had been sparring with Holly for months now and she was getting much better than the others realized.

"Donnie and Mikey, you guys take the flank and create a distraction. Raph, you act like you're going in for the cup to get them all off their guard and I'll sneak in when the moment is right to close the deal." Leo jabbed himself with his thumb, triumphantly.

"They're going to see that coming from a mile away." Donnie said deadpanned.

"No they wont!" Leo's voice broke as he defended his plan. He cleared his throat before he spoke again, "What do you suggest then?"

April and Holly scoured the edges of the trail for anything they could use as weapons. April came up with a nice long stick that felt fairly sturdy, while Holly found one that was shorter that she could use like one of the training swords.

"Alright, what else do we got?" April asked.

"We can use the forest its self too," Holly said, "Keep an eye on the birds, if they suddenly lift off we know where one of the guys is."

Splinter smiled to himself. He had been paying attention to how much practice the girls had been doing.

Leonardo led the turtles into the forest after splinter and the girls. They were no longer visible on the path ahead, but the path did wind through the woods so it was not a complete surprise. Mikey and Raph split up and headed off to the flanks. They had convinced Leo that he should be the distraction and Donnie should carry the flask. That way it was less predictable than Leo's original plan and hopefully they could get this over with and get back to relaxing.

Mikey and Raph kept each other in their sight as the moved up the path, and soon they spotted Splinter, but he was alone. He walked at a leisurely pace with his cane tapping gently on the gravel as he went. Raph frowned and signaled to Mikey. 'Where are the girls?'

Mikey just shrugged and moved closer to their master.

April heard a snap of a twig and ducked down into the roots of a nearby tree. She looked around her and spotted Mikey swinging from one of the tree limbs a few yards away. She picked up a rock that was by her feet and threw it deeper into the trees. Mikey stopped and looked in that direction, long enough for her to slip away and jump from tree root to tree root to get further ahead of him.

Holly had reappeared on the path, a little further up that Splinter was now, she held a stick in her hands and was brushing some dirt off her hands. She waited patiently for Splinter to catch up with her and then she let him pass her, watching the path behind them.

Leo and Donnie caught up to their brothers, keeping to the tree line for cover.

"Where are they?" Leo signaled to the others.
Raph responded that Holly was on the path, but April was a no show. Leo and Donnie moved in closer to Splinter for a run at the tea cup.

Holly was following Splinter, she was paying attention to any sounds that were not the sounds of her and splinters feet on the path. She had heard April a moment ago, she had seen her friend using the tree roots to avoid walking on the crunchy leaves, probably avoiding one of the turtles.

A rustle of leaves to her left drew her attention, but what caused it did not show its self. No need to panic until they saw one of the guys. There was a snap of a branch and a flash of orange off the the right. Then a rustle of leaves off to the left.

Mikey threw himself off of one of the branches when Holly turned to look for Raph, he dashed out of the trees to try to catch Holly, but April was crouched behind another tree and tripped him up with her stick. "Waah, oof" He said as he collided with the forest floor.

"Gotcha," April whispered to him before rushing out to help Holly.

Leonardo decided it was his time to make his showy entrance. He leapt from tree branch to tree branch and launched himself into the air at Holly. "Yaaah!" He cried as she spun to face him.

Holly side stepped him as he landed, but used her stick to block his way. "Oh, so you're the distraction this time?" She said and let April swing at Leo from the side.

He hopped backwards out of their reach and swung again with his own stick. "Are you sure about that?"

Holly and April took turns at swinging at Leo. April using all the tricks she had learned from Donnie and his bo staff, keeping her stick moving around her body to keep the momentum going. Striking high and low to keep Leo moving.
Holly was doing her best to pay attention to Leo and Mikey, while trying to figure out where Raph and Donnie were, and she caught a swift rap on the back of her hand when she wasn't paying 100% attention.

"Ah ah ah," Leo taunted, "you should be paying attention to me."
She glared at him, but didn't let his words get to her.

Mikey was on his feet again and moving towards splinter.

April saw him coming, "Oh no you don't." She stepped between him and Splinter and swung her makeshift bo staff at him. Raph decided this was his time to get involved and lunged at April from his hiding spot, but April casually ducked down low and threw her hip into his leg and toppled him into his brother. He and Mikey let out a yell before they collided, and wound up in a pile of leaves. April chuckled to herself. "C'mon guys, you have to be better than that."

Leo swung his 'sword' down at Holly, who blocked it with an He kept the pressure applied so she couldn't retaliate. He thought she was out of ideas when the corner of her mouth turned up. She let go of her stick with one hand and grabbed his, giving it a hearty tug towards herself, pulling him forward. At the same time she jumped at him and drove a knee into his plastron. It drove the wind out of him and he flew back onto his shell into the gravel. She stood over him, sticks slung over her shoulders.

"No hard feelings?" She said and winked at him. He just sat there stunned for a moment.

She rushed over to help April with Raph and Mikey, now dual-wielding the sticks.

Holly rushed at Raph, but he blocked her attack. Mikey then vaulted over his brother to assist in the attack.

Donatello was holding back watching the sparring. He was so thrilled to see April using all the skills he had shown her. He was shocked to see Holly get the better of Leo, he hadn't thought she was that competitive, but apparently he was wrong. As he was lost in thought, Leo hissed his name.

"Get over there!" Leo said. He was on his feet again and was going to try to keep the girls busy so that Donnie could refill Splinters cup and they could win the game.

"Right." He said and dashed out to get involved.

Holly was now fighting off Raph and Leo, and they pretty much had her pinned back from helping at all. She was blocking attacks from all sides, although she did have to back step with every kick or punch. She watched as Donnie ran out from his hiding spot and shouted face, "April!"

April spun to see Donnie coming and had to think fast. She looked around for anything that she could use, but there was nothing that spoke to her. She though about what weakness she could exploit, and came up with a plan.
She threw her stick at Mikey, who caught it but was taken aback by the sudden change in tactics, spun around and shouted, "Hey, Donnie!" She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it up.

Donnie looked over to April and his brain immediately shut down. His legs tried to stop moving, but his momentum carried him forwards. He fell hard and slammed into the ground. The Thermos went flying spraying its contents all over the ground, and he lay twitching on the floor at splinters feet.

Holly's face went from gritty resolution to wide eyed with shock. "Did you just..?" She then burst out laughing and dropped to her knees as she couldn't take the hilarity.

"WOAH, DUDE!" Mikey yelled and joined Holly rolling on the floor with hysterics.

"What?" Leo asked and he and Raph swung around to see what had happened. "Donnie!" He yelled irritably, but then saw April adjusting her clothes back into their proper place. "Oh, that's just cheating."

Splinter chuckled to himself, "They exploited your weakness, an therefore they win."

Raph had a wide smile on his face, but went over to Donnie to make sure he was OK. "I think you broke him." he said and placed a hand on his brothers shell. Donnie was laying face down in the dirt, slightly dazed.

"While that was not what I had in mind, you certainly used your, ah-hem, assets to your advantage." Splinter said warmly. April was pink in the cheeks, but smiling all the same.

She went to Donatello, and along with Raph helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry Donnie, that was a cheap shot."

"I can die happy" Donnie mumbled and let himself be steered out of the woods back to the house.
Leo went over to Holly and offered her his arm, "That was pretty slick, where'd you learn that?"

Holly let herself be hauled upright, she wiped a tear out from under her glasses. "Thanks! I don't really know, it just seemed like it would catch you off guard."
"It did. Nice one." Leo said and beamed, "It won't work again though."
"Not on you." She said and they both went to help Mikey off the ground.

Back at the house, Stacey was worried about Donatello who was still not walking under his own power. "What on earth happened to him?" She said and hurried to settle him one one of the couches, "I though you guys were just practicing?" She eyed the teens suspiciously as they all began to giggle and snicker in unison.
Aprils cheeks went pink again, "We were." She started, but couldn't quite bring herself to admit what she had done.

"Its fine mom, he just got a bit of a shock." Holly said, and she immediately broke out into another fit of giggles.

Stacey scowled at her daughter, then shot Splinter a look that said, 'and you're OK with this?'

"I promise all is well." Splinter said, "but perhaps a strong cup of tea will help." He busied himself in the kitchen.

Donnie did come back to them after a strong smelling cup was placed by his face. He couldn't quite look anyone in the eye for a while though, so he dug out some of his projects and set up a little workspace on the deck. Mikey and April finally got around to building a sand castle while Leo decided to actually kick back and enjoy the sun.

Holly decided she wanted to actually go and explore some of the woods. So, naturally Raph went with her. Splinter was meditating peacefully while Stacey was doing some sketches in her drawing pad. She decided she wanted to put her skills as a designer to use and see if she could come up with some clothes for the Turtles to wear that would allow them go out in public.

"What exactly are we doing out here?" Raph asked after about twenty minutes of walking. He swatted at a fly that buzzed around his head.

"Walking," Holly scoffed, "and looking at stuff."

"Like what?" Raph asked.

"Anything you like." Holly said, she watched a butterfly land gently on a flower, "See?"

"Its a bug." Raph said unimpressed.

"Yes, but its a beautiful bug that is part of a wider ecosystem." Holly said, the butterfly lifted off the flower and floated away.

"I guess." Raph shrugged.

Holly rolled her eyes at him, "Every animal and plant has a part to play, sometimes its just nice to remember that."

They continued walking, deeper along the trail. "I wonder how far this goes?" Holly mused aloud.
"Check your GPS?" Raph said and pulled out his new phone.

"No! That's cheating" Holly said and gave him a shove, but Raph held his phone at arms length and pulled up his map.

"Looks like it goes pretty far." He said, "But there's a path that leads back to the lake up there."

Holly pulled a face at him, but they took the path to the right that wound them closer to the lake.
The woods opened up to the lake front. Whoever owned the property had cleared a little grassy bank that looked out over the lake. Around the bank to the right, they could see little figures on the shore, splashing into the water and back out to the sand. The cabin they were staying at was nestled in a clearing just behind the figures.

"Whoever did the landscaping here wasn't paid enough," Holly commented. She sat down on the grass and watched the wildlife in the lake.
"So now what?" Raph asked and crouched beside her.

"You are so impatient." She said, and gave him another shove, he tipped over and chuckled. "Just watch, and listen."

He sat, not expecting much, but soon he noticed all the sounds of wildlife around him. Crickets chirped, birds sang, fish splashed in the lake. There was a family of ducks that swam along the top of the water. "It's alright, I guess." He admitted, "But I prefer the city sounds better."

Holly laughed, "The city is much livelier, that's for sure."

Raph leaned back and brought his arms up behind his head. "Its nice to be out in the sun for a change though."

Holly laid back next to him and closed her eyes. "It really is." She let her hand drift over to his plastron and ran her fingers over it.

They spent a couple of hours just laying in the clearing letting the cool breeze rustle the grass around them talking about whatever came to mind. They only sat up when a distant rumble indicated rain was on its way.

"C'mon, we'd better head back." Holly said and stood up. She offered Raph a hand. He took it, and gave her a sharp pull as though he were going to pull her back to the ground.

She raised her eyebrows at him and he let her pull him upright.
They started back to the house and were about half way back when the rain started. The heavens simply opened above them and fat drops of water pelted them as they hurried back. Holly's feet slipped as the trails became muddy ruts, so Raph grabbed her hand to help her along. They got to a particularly slick bit and Holly's legs went out from beneath her. She lay sprawled in the mud, and let out a bark of laughter. When she tried to stand again, she grabbed onto Raphs arm and this time she caused him to go down with her.

"We're getting nowhere fast." Holly said and wiped a stringy strand of hair out of her face. She was beaming despite being soaked through and covered in mud.

"If we walk off the trail, we can avoid some of the mud." Raph said.

"If you walk off the trail," Holly said and jumped onto his shell for piggyback, "then I can catch a ride."

"Oh, is that how this is going to work." Raph said, but he looped his arms around her legs and set off for the house.

"Onward!" Holly shouted and pointed down the trail.

The others had already headed inside when the rain started. Mikey had put a movie on the television and Stacey had started popping some popcorn for them all to eat.

"Is anyone else worried about Raph and Holly?" Leo asked when they did not return soon after the rain started.

"Not particularly," Stacey said. "Its just some rain, and Holly knows better that to go too far off into the woods."

"Where did they go anyway?" April asked the room.

"Oh, you know. I'm sure they just wanted some privacy." Stacey said.

"What for? We all know they make out already." Mikey said and threw a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Mikey!" Donnie, and April scolded him in unison.

"Please," Stacey scoffed, "I remember being a teenager. All those hormones." She shook her head to herself remembering how tough it was to be a young adult. "It wasn't that long ago, you know."

"Yeah, but we're not exactly... Like... Other teenager." Leo said waving an arm at his brothers. He pulled a face when he looked at Mikey who was shoveling popcorn into his mouth.

"No, but you're all kind, and funny." Stacey said looking at Leonardo. "You're caring and selfless," she turned to Donatello, "and you have been wonderful friends to my daughter." She looked at Michelangelo, and let out a snort of laughter, "What else matters?"

April put a hand on Donnie's arm to show her concurrence.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Splinter added and he felt pride filling his heart.

They were all interrupted by the sound of Holly laughing and shrieking coming from outside. Leo and Mikey jumped up to peer out of the windows to see what was going on. Stacey walked more calmly over to see what was going on.

Holly and Raph emerged from the woods, soaked through, but laughing like lunatics as they slipped on the muddy trails. Holly was on Raphs back, and they all watched as Raph slid slightly and Holly toppled off him onto the ground. Raph held out a hand to help her up, and the two made their way up to the house slowly.

Holly opened the door, panting but before she even set a foot in the house Stacey blocked the doorway, "Oh no you don't, no mud in the house." She looked them up and down. "You're filthy."

"The rain came on quicker than I thought it would" Holly said, and pulled of her glasses which had fogged up anyway. Raph cleared his throat guiltily.

"If you throw us some towels we can get cleaned up first." Holly kicked off her shoes and stood barefoot in the rain. She started to strip off what she could and threw the wet clothes onto the ground. "There's a hose over there can you turn it on for me?" Holly asked Raph who had his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.
He cleared his throat again and mumbled, "Sure" before marching away as fast as he could. He turned on the water, and used it to wash away the mud that was caked on to himself. Before he turned around through Holly was there and took the hose from him.
"Hold still, I can help." She ran the hose over his shell and used her hand to wipe away the worst of the dirt. He felt his heart rate increase and a weird fluttering in his stomach caused his breath in his throat. "Turn around." She ordered him, and he did as she said. She stood in front of him in her underwear which he tried very hard not to notice was light pink. She rubbed down his arms, and over his plastron before holding the hose out to him. "Could you hold this please?" He moved automatically, and held the hose stiffly for her. She flipped her hair over and let the water wash over it pulling out dirt and leaves. She stood straight up again and scrubbed her face, then let the water run down her arms and legs. She turned around and looked at him over her shoulder. "Am I Good?"

There was still a smear of grime on her shoulder blade, so Raph aimed the hose at it hoping that would dislodge the dirt. To his dismay, it did not, so he reached up and gently brushed her goose pimpled skin with his fingers. She turned back around to face him and he just stared at her wide eyed.

"What?" She asked him with a laugh. He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. "Oh, for heavens sake." She said and took the hose from him. "Would you relax? I'm not going to bite you."

"That is not what I am worried about." He finally replied thickly. She smiled at him and touched the side of his face gently, she then slipped a finger under his bandanna and slipped it off his face. "You're still dirty" she said with a laugh and rinsed the strip of cloth under the water.

She reached past him to turn off the water, and she pressed herself against him purposefully. "Come on, before we freeze." Holly pulled away from him again with a laugh and strode back towards the door. Stacey had hung two over sized towels on the coat hooks inside the door. Holly wrapped herself in one and held the other out for Raph. They dried themselves off as best they could in the entry way so they didn't drip water all the way through the house. Holly smiled flirtatiously at him before dashing off to take a shower. Raph went to his own room to replace his soaked bindings and protective pads.