My bad for taking a break again. Hope everyone had a happy holiday! I don't like making excuses on why I take my time, but I do like keeping you guys in the loop just cuz, it's nice to talk about problems. My mother had arm surgery (no big deal) and my dad was diagnosed with cancer so I've been taking care of them. I'm sure you all can understand (plus I have a job and school to juggle)

I really want to finish this fanfic as fast as possible so I get all the others out of my head and onto this website.

starrat: I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review! Keep them coming!

lashayluv: if you think this hurts just wait till you read-nvm. Thanks for your review.

Thanks for the favorite and follow too - Yeniffer Walker

Hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll try to get the other in as fast as I can. :)

Song for this chapter - 2009 ~ Mac Miller

Avoidance

Weeks Later…

~Lilly's POV~

It had been too long since anyone had held a conversation that wasn't about the invasion or that wasn't longer than 5 minutes. My mother ate and watched the news even if everyone protested due to the stress, while Christine and Ian were in and out of the house, going to shop or out to eat. I stayed in my bed most of the time, next to my phone just waiting for a call that never came. The more I slept the faster the days went by.

My mother was constantly arguing with Barry's mother over the stupidest thing, like how much my mother was eating. In reality, she wasn't even eating as much as she should be. Barry's was obsessed with image as if my mom was married to a star or something. I mean, yeah, sometimes when we would leave the house, there would be reporters asking my mother if there was any news regarding Barry like we were in constant contact, but that annoyance was occasional.

Barry used to call my mother just to check on her as often as Raphael called me. Barely… It was breaking my mom's heart as much as mine.

Right now, my mom was reading a magazine while I painted her nails. I had my phone off to the side just in case as I always did. My mom handed me some of the fruit she was eating, "Have some, you look horrible."

I shook my head, "I'm not hungry."

"Bullshit," my mother spat. "You haven't eaten today or yesterday."

"I had some food." I scrapped the residue of the nail polish off of my mom's finger with my nail.

She sighed, "I know." She took another piece of fruit and shoved it in her mouth. "I can't stop eating, but what's weirder is that I'm not puking as much as I did when I was pregnant with you."

I smiled and nodded.

My mother leaned in, "You know before you were even born I knew you were going to be a girl." She smiled. "I wanted a boy, but I knew you were a girl because every time your father would talk, you'd move around and kick the shit of out me."

I chuckled, "I was a daddy's girl."

"Yeah, you were." I finished my mother's nails and sighed, staring at my phone. My mother checked her nails, "Who needs a nail salon?"

Christine suddenly walked into the room with bags upon bags in her hands. She took off her sunglasses and sighed, "We're back." She handed me two bags then gave two to my mother. "Here. You're welcome."

My mother blinked, "What's this for?"

"I don't know. I thought you might like them. I shop when I'm stressed. Eases my muscles." She sighed.

Ian rushed into the room, tucking his shirt into his pants and fixing his messed up hair. "Hello," He huffed.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "Jesus,"

My mother chuckled, "That's not the only thing you do when stressed."

I stood up and headed for my room, "I'm going to take a nap."

"But you just woke up from…" My mother began before she realized there was no use.

As soon as I got to my room, I threw myself onto the bed and waited patiently as the sleep began to set in. Before I could sleep, I decided to send Raph a text message. Just to tell him that I miss him.

~Raph's POV~

How are you feeling?" I asked Leo, as he sat down next to me on the porch.

"Better. Much better. Iced it, took some pills that Casey was able to snatch from that store. Feeling much better." He said.

"What kind?"

"Nothing major. Some ibuprofen." He asked, I just nodded. "What about you? How are you feeling?"

"Me? Besides nearly dying because of mystical dream beavers, I'm okay." I joked.

Leo chuckled before he shook his head. "Are you really?"

I blinked for a moment, then I shrugged knowing what he was talking about. "I'm as okay as I can be."

"Have you talked to her?"

I shook my head.

"You know you can, right? Don may have been the only one who brought a charger, but we all have working phones." He pressed. "If yours dies then you can use mine."

"I'm good," I said, my anger suddenly bubbling up inside my stomach at the tone he had. It seemed suspicious.

"When's the last time you talked to her?"

"I don't know. A couple of weeks ago. What does it matter?"

His eyes widened, "Raph, did something happen? Between you and her I mean."

"No." Why is he asking so many questions? "Why do you care?"

"Because..." Leo sighed. "She texted me asking how you were if you were okay."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion at first before standing up. I was about to yell at him but then I thought to myself...it's Lillian. She's probably texting everybody to get to me. I took a deep breath and shrugged, "Hearing her...hurts. So I've been...avoiding her I guess. I know that sounds bad and it is but maybe it's for her own good."

Leo raised an eye ridge in confusion, "I get why it would hurt you. But-"

"You're purposely avoiding Lillian?" Mikey suddenly said as he exited the house and walked into our conversation. Oh, here we go. Now I'm going to be the bad guy because Mikey always takes Lilly's side. "Is that why she's always texting me about you?"

I rolled my eyes, "You know how she is. If she's texting you, it's because she wants to know how you are."

"Yeah. She also checks on us. But when she asks about why you aren't answering her texts what am I supposed to say?" Leo said. "I mean, you're my bro but I'm not lying for you when it comes to Lillian."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "No one is asking you to."

"Then I'll just tell her you're avoiding her." Leo threatened.

I narrowed my eyes, "Leo, you-"

"No, I'll tell her," Mikey said taking out his phone. "I got a full battery anyways." As soon as he put the phone to his ear, I lunged for him. Unfortunately, Mikey is like wet soap, he just slips right out of your hands.

"Mikey, mind your damn business," I growled.

"You don't get to avoid her knowing that it's hurting her. Not while I'm here." He snapped, pushing me away by kicking me in the chest. Now he was really getting on my nerves.

"Mikey!" I yelled. "I'm not supposed to-"

"Hey, sis! How are you?…" Mikey suddenly said, making his way off the porch. Great, now he has more space to roam and he's talking to Lillian. Ian is so going to kill me.

~Lilly's POV~

"Hey, babe? We're going to grab a bite to eat. Do you want to come?" Ian asked, poking his head into the room.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, "Huh…?" I sat up from my bed and sighed. "Oh…um, no… I'm not hungry."

Ian sighed, "Babe, you've slept all day, you haven't eaten either. I asked nicely, but now I'm ordering you to get ready and come with us to at least fill up on bread." He came over and kneeled in front of me. "I am not going to let you wallow in here. We are all sad, but you have to fight that sadness or it becomes you." He kissed my forehead.

I smiled sadly, "Let me get ready." I said softly.

"That's my girl. Take your time." He said as he left the room.

I sighed, standing up and stretching my sleepy muscles. I looked at the clock on the nightstand and frowned. It wasn't even that late. 5:35. How long was I asleep? Couldn't have been more than an hour or so.

I walked into the bathroom and began to rinse my face. It's been so long since I put on makeup or at least tried to make myself look presentable enough to go outside. I really need to stop this. "Look at yourself Lillian, you're horrible," I said at my reflection. Dark circles, messy bed hair, my eyes were dark and sunken in just a bit, I guess that's because of the food I am not eating. Yeah, probably.

After washing my face, I went to turn the light on in the room...the lighting will help my mood. Totally...

Suddenly, my phone began to ring. I ran to it, it was Michelangelo. I sighed before answering. "Hi, Mikey,"

"Hey, sis! How are you?" He asked happily.

"I'm as good as I'll ever be. How's everything over there? Everything is okay?" I asked.

"Yeah yeah, everything is fine. I just...I just wanted to call and say 'hi' also let you know..." Mikey's voice was going in and out, almost like he was running while he talked.

"What's the matter, Mikey? You sound weird." I asked.

"That's because…Raph…"

"Raph? Is he okay? What happened?" I asked quickly.

"He's fine. Hang on a sec," He said. Soon after that, it sounded like there was a scuffle, then suddenly a door slammed and then Mikey sighed. "Okay, sorry about that. I just called to let you know that there's a reason why Raphael hasn't called you and it's because he's been avoiding you."

I frowned, "Avoiding? Why?"

"I don't know. But I know that he's able to text and call but he won't." He explained.

"W-What? Why?" My heart began to pound in my chest with fear. "D-Did I do something?"

"I don't know. He was telling Leo that he's been purposely avoiding you meanwhile you're probably sad about not being able to talk to him."

"Are you…" I pulled the phone away and cursed to myself. I can't believe he would do something like that. Why would he do something like that? How could he do- "I've been sitting in my room crying and sleeping and…" I stopped myself. "Where is he?"

"Outside of the bathroom banging on the door. Wanna talk to him?"

"Put him on the phone. And thank you for telling me." I growled.

"I'm always here for you." He said.

"I appreciate it. Love you."

"Love you too." There was a small pause before I heard Mikey say "It's your girlfriend."

"Gimme that!"

"Ow!"

"Get outta here. Hello?"

I waited a moment to compose myself. I was really happy to hear him but the fact that I haven't heard from him because he was purposely ignoring my calls and texts... This reason better be fucking good. I took a few breaths, "Explain yourself." I said almost too calmly.

"Hi babe..." he chuckled nervously. "Uh... I don't know what Mikey told you but-"

"You're purposely avoiding me."

"I..." he sighed. "Listen, babe... I-"

"No actually, let me talk," I said, pacing in front of my bed. "All I do is sleep all day, I don't eat, I don't go anywhere. I'm by my phone waiting for a text and a call. And I always think 'Raph isn't talking to me because he's probably busy saving the world or some shit' but turns out, nope. Just being a fucking dick." I felt tears well up in my eyes out of pure anger. "I miss you every time we're not talking. Just fucking getting a text makes me think 'he's alive; he's fine' but I can't even get that. Because...because... Why?"

"Babe calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down! I fucking miss you dammit, you don't get to just..." I pressed two fingers into my eyes when an uncontrollable amount of tears spilled from them. I sat on the edge of my bed and began to sob softly to myself.

"Lillian," Raph sighed heavily. "Oh please don't cry. You know I miss you too but... I mean..." he groaned. "Lilly, I have to be honest with you. But I... Okay, the reason I haven't called you is that...every time I call you I want to tell you everything. Everything! And I can't because...I promised him I wouldn't tell you anything dangerous about my life. And that involves...most things."

"I don't understand..." I sobbed, wiping tears from my eyes. I had to calm down, this is just a ridiculous amount of tears that are coming out of my eyes right now. I began to take deep breathes, just trying to calm down.

"There are things that I don't tell you in order to keep you safe. Like stuff about the Shredder and Leo or how we all...knew about the invasion before it started."

"I'm... How? What happened to Leo?"

"One: we went into a different dimension where we learned about the invasion and prepared for it beforehand Two: the shredder almost killed Leo. Busted up his leg real bad, he was out for days."

"W... Raph," I stuttered, confused as to why the hell he would keep this from me. "Keep...Keep me safe? Are we still on that stupid argument? Are we honestly still talking about this?"

"I know but he made me promise and I didn't want to-"

"Who?" Raph's silence gave me time to think. I mean, it would make sense if Leo told him to leave me out of his business. To be honest, I knew Raph was either pushing me away from something or hiding something from me. I fucking knew it! Always trust your gut. "I told Leo to leave that shit alone."

"Leo hasn't said anything."

"Then who?" I stopped for a moment. "Wait… Nonononono…. You're telling me…?" I wiped my tears away, finally running dry. "IAN!" I yelled standing up from the bed and running out of the room.

Ian was rushing up the stairs with a worried look on his face, probably because I was yelling for him. "What? What? What's wrong?"

"You!" When he got to the top of the stairs I pushed him as hard as I can, unfortunately, that wasn't much. He just let out a small noise, before grabbing my hands.

"What are you doing?"

I snatched my hands out of his grip, "Get the hell off me. You're an asshole!" I yelled.

"Lillian-"

"Guess what I just found out from Raphael, Ian?" I snapped. Ian opened his mouth to say something before immediately closing it. "You told him to keep shit from me? Do you realize all the things he's kept from me? The invasion? His brother almost dying? You are not my father, you are not his father. You don't get to tell him anything! Stop meddling in my life! In my relationship! If you wanna act like a dad, have a child of your own." I yelled without even thinking, I just said what I was feeling without even checking to see if it would hurt him. I didn't care, he was the reason Raphael wasn't talking to me. "Eat without me."

I turned on my heel and stomped back to my room.

"Lillian what's-" I heard my mother begin before I slammed the door behind me.

I didn't even notice my phone was still in my hands, "Raphael,"

"Lillian, why did you do that?" He asked.

"This is the second time you've kept something this big from me, Raphael. You do this again and we are over. Do you understand?" I shouted and I meant it.

"Over? Lil', babe… Come on-" He said nervously.

"We are done. Don't hide anything from me, don't lie to me and do not avoid me knowing that I'm dying over here without you. Got it?"

Raphael took a moment before I heard him sigh. This is the second time I bring up breaking up with Raphael. The first time was different because I didn't want to but now? Hiding things from me? I will not tolerate that at all. How can you keep something like knowing about an invasion of the earth to yourself? I just…I tell him everything but he doesn't tell me everything, that is not fair. "Ok. I'm sorry."

I sighed, "Why do you this? I tell you everything and you… Are you okay with not talking to me or something?"

Raph scoffed at this, "You're joking right? Of course not. I wasn't calling you because I knew I was gonna come right out and say everything to you. That's not what Ian wanted-"

I groaned, "Ian is not in this relationship, Raphael. We are. You and me. No secrets, no hiding. If I were to listen to anyone else I wouldn't be your girlfriend. Stop listening to Ian."

"You're right. I just didn't want to piss him off I guess."

I rolled my eyes, "So you'd rather piss me off?" Jesus, I love him but…what an idiot.

"I don't want to piss off anyone. But…obviously, I did the opposite so…"

I sighed, staying silent in order to compose myself. I was experiencing a wave of emotions at the moment. I was angry at Raph, but I was happy he was talking to me. I'm sad because I miss him, but I'm also relieved that he was okay—that everyone was okay. I wiped any more tears that threatened to fall from my eyes and just took three deep breaths.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

I shook my head, "I'm trying to be."

"Are we okay?"

I rubbed my forehead, "Yes, we are." I sighed.

"I love you."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah whatever."

Raph chuckled, "I mean it. I do and I miss you."

I couldn't help but smile just a little bit, "I miss you too."

Hours later…

After that, I couldn't get Raphael to shut up. I didn't want to. His voice calmed me down. He told me everything, about him mutating into goo, about Leo and his leg, about them finding Bigfoot and how he was actually a she and how she fell in love with Donnie. He kept so much from me it almost felt like he had a second life that he was just revealing to me for the first time. Jesus…

"Okay, I'm the only one talking… How's your mom?" Raph suddenly asked.

"She's eating a lot. She says she's constantly hungry. She's also sad because Barry stopped calling. We have no idea what's going on…"

"Neither do we. The news coming from New York is completely fake. It's all the Krang propaganda. Don't believe a word of it. New York is not good. There's a reason why Barry isn't calling, and it's the Krang."

I sighed, "If I'm being honest, I miss him too."

"That's okay. I'm sure he misses you."

"I miss you."

"I miss you too. For the hundredth time."

"Is there a problem?"

"Absolutely not. Do you know how long I've been waiting for the roles to be reversed so that you'd be clingy for like five seconds instead of me? It feels nice to take a break."

I smiled, "I'm just telling the truth."

"I'm not complaining." He yawned.

I sighed, "I'll let you go to bed, sweetie. It's really late anyway."

"No, I slept a lot today so I'm not really that tired." He sighed. "You, on the other hand..."

"Are you kidding me? All I do is sleep. I sleep more than I eat." I said with a soft chuckle.

"I hope that's just a joke and you're actually eating."

I made the choice to stay silent, knowing that I was gonna say 'yes' so to not upset him. After giving him a big speech about breaking up with him if he wasn't honest with me, I'm not about to be a hypocrite and lie to Raph. So...I'll just change the subject. "You know what I miss the most?"

"If you say me again, I'm going to get diabetes."

"I was gonna say you but...I mean something else."

"What then?" Raph asked before immediately following up with, "Wait, never mind. I got it."

I giggled playfully, "I've...almost forgotten how you feel, it's been so long."

"Don't worry, I'll remind you when this is all over," Raph said, his voice low. Probably because he was hiding from his brothers.

"Really? Don't say things like that. You're making me even sadder that we're apart."

"I know. I've been meditating more and more to push thoughts of you away just so I can go on with my day without stabbing something." He said with a sad chuckle. "Leo thinks I'm just...training my mind or some shit."

"I just sit in my room, sleep and cry."

"I would say 'same' but…I don't cry."

I laughed, "You cried when I left."

"Nobody needs to know that." He joked. There was a small moment of silence, which meant we were all caught up with everything that has happened to us. This is the first time I'm happy I've run out of things to say. "Are you going to talk to Ian?"

I rolled my eyes. Way to ruin the moment, Raph. "Jesus, again? No, I already told you. No. Can you please drop this?"

"No, I won't. You need to talk to him. Don't go to bed mad, because then this will last longer than it needs to." Raph said, his voice stern. "Remember how you said you didn't want to be the reason why my family becomes broken?"

"Will you stop bringing that up?"

"I will. I am. Because the same thing goes for me. I am not going to be the reason why you and Ian aren't talking. Okay?" He said almost angrily.

"What? You gonna break up with me if I don't?" I asked with an amused smile.

His silence caused my smile to fall into a frown. Holy shit, was he serious? "Well...no... But you still should talk to him."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead when I felt it pound with frustration. "Ay Dios mío, dame paciencia..."

"Yeah yeah, just talk to him. For me. I talked to Leo for you, and trust me, that was harder than talking to Ian."

"Fine. Fine. Fine! But I'm not apologizing-"

"Yes, you are. Look he told me not to tell you this but although you act like he is your brother, he thinks of you as his child, his daughter."

"Raph, I am not. I'm not his child. He needs to stop-"

"Lillian, you're being really selfish."

I grunted, "And you keep interrupting me."

He laughed, "Because you need to stop and listen to yourself. Ian is your brother, he raised you and you basically just told him anything and everything that could and did break his heart."

He was right. I did say some shit that hurt him on purpose. I shouldn't have done that. But the part about him meddling in my relationship, that was true. I know Ian can be protective and a little overwhelming sometimes but I know it's because he cares. I just need...space. "Okay...I'll talk to him."

"And?" Raph urged.

I rolled my eyes, "And I'll apologize."

"That's my girl. Okay, I'll let you do that. You also should get to bed. Dream of me."

"I always dream of you that's why I sleep all the time," I admitted with a tiny smile.

Raph gasped playfully, "That is the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me. Look at how the tables have turned."

"Bye, you dick." I chuckled.

"Bye babe, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Will you?"

"Yes. I promise."

"Okay, bye then."

"Bye," I was hesitant to hang up because I wasn't sure if he was lying or not. I'm sure if he doesn't call me tomorrow this time I know for sure he'll have a good reason.

Anyways, I decided to send Mikey a text, 'thank you for telling me. I appreciate your honesty.'

I took a deep breath before exiting my room. There wasn't really any noise, so I just assumed that either everyone was still out or went to bed. I silently crept downstairs and began to search to see if anyone was in the living room, dining room, kitchen, backyard... Nothing. I placed a hand on my stomach when it let out a growl that I could've sworn echoed throughout the house. I skipped over to the refrigerator and began to search for a snack.

In all honesty, I don't want to go apologize to Ian because I don't think I did anything wrong. I honestly think Ian should mind his own business. I get the protectiveness but asking my boyfriend to hide things from me because he thinks they'll endanger me is just annoying. I'm so done with that conversation. I swear the next person to bring up the subject I'm just going to leave the room.

Once I grabbed a piece of fruit, I decided to head to my room. On the way to my room, Ian was heading to the kitchen. Seeing him so suddenly freaked me out so much that I couldn't even make eye contact with him. I was caught off guard, so much so that I ignored him completely.

Ian, being the kind of person that he is, acted as nothing happened. "You're eating?"

I nodded, continuing to my room.

I heard Ian sigh behind me, "Lillian..." I didn't respond. "Lillian." I was already up the stairs and about to enter my room when I heard him yelled, "Lillian Rosario Aguilar, you listen to me when I talking to you."

I turned around and groaned, "What do you want?"

"What do I want? I want you to listen to me."

"I'm listening. What?"

Ian began to climb the stairs, "I know you're mad but-"

"No. I don't want to hear anything about my safety or wellbeing. I'm sick of this conversation. I'm tired of it. I'm done talking about it." I spat, turning on my heel.

Ian grabbed my hand, "Lillian,"

I yanked it out of his grip, "Ian, don't touch me."

"I'm trying to talk to you."

"Then don't touch me."

"I know you're mad."

"Mad! Mad? I almost broke up with Raph over this and you think I'm mad?"

Ian's eyes widened a bit before he sighed, "I didn't know that." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"No, you didn't. I don't like being lied to. And Raph not telling me that Leo got hurt, or that he knew about the invasion is just the same to me as lying." I growled. "I mean, he knew about the invasion. He could have told me and we could've gone home sooner."

Ian narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Why? So then we could be in danger?"

"So that we could..." I stopped when I felt my voice tremble. Tears began to blur my vision. "I don't know. I just know that being away from him…from him and his family and April…I just hate it."

Looking at me with sympathy, like a father would when their child cries. "Lillian..." he reached out for me but I backed away. Ian stopped, "I know it bothers you that I act like your father sometimes, but-"

"No that's not it." I wiped my eyes. "It's fine. I just need some space. If I mess up or something happens then I'll deal with it but I don't want someone else making that decision for me." I wrapped my hands around myself. "I'm old enough to learn from my mistakes."

"You have to understand. I'm doing things for your own good, to keep you safe. Raphael is doing that too. He's only following what I told him to do. When this girl was after you, I just...I didn't want to lose you. I'd rather you be mad than in danger. So if there's anyone to be mad at it's me."

Giving a small nod in agreement before sighed, "Yeah. I am mad at you."

Ian smiled sadly, "I know. I'm sorry if I'm suffocating but I'm not sorry for acting like your father. I'm not sorry for being what your mother couldn't. A parental figure that has rules that you have to follow. No matter how much you hate it, I'm here. I'm all you have. Call me what you want: brother, cousin, father... I'm taking care of you now."

I sort of felt relieved. Ian isn't too proud to beg, to apologize, to admit when he was wrong. He's always been that way with me. But for a second I thought I may have actually hurt him to the point where he wouldn't talk to me. I was afraid he'd ignore me like my mother does when she's mad. To know that he's still here... I don't know where I expected him to go but... I smiled, "I'm sorry too."

Ian nodded before he relaxed his shoulder, "So… Did you break up with him?"

"No. I almost did. I wasn't bluffing either."

Ian smiles, "Okay, good. Don't. He's a good guy. I like him. He's not easy to intimidate, but I know he cares about you."

"I care about him."

"I know." He walked over and gave my head a kiss before wrapping his arms around me tightly. "My little rag doll."

"Stop calling me that…" I groaned before hugging him back.

everyone is okay and happy. See you in the next one ;)