For the first time in longer than Raph could even remember...he was nervous. Very fucking nervous. So nervous his hands were shaking as he crossed the rooftops. And it wasn't because he was doing it in broad daylight either. It was the reason he was out here on this day, this very special day. Special to him anyway. Might not be so momentous for a lot of other saps out there.

He tried to keep his nervousness under control as he leapt and ran along, tried to focus on the task at hand, but his body wasn't wanting to cooperate with him as he tripped on the parapet of the building he just landed on, then fell forward, flat on his face on the roof.

"Fucking idiot..." He mumbled to himself as he stood back up, more than a little grateful he chose to come out here alone to do this. If any of the others had seen him do that he'd never hear the end of it.

After brushing himself off he continued on his way, more carefully this time. But he wouldn't stop shaking! Ugh! Why was this so damn difficult for him? He never got nervous, so why was he now? Because of what he was feeling, that's why...

Raph sighed as he finally came to a stop over his intended target and looked down at the street below. A street that was full of New Yorkers going about their business, never even knowing he was there. He didn't care about any of them. The only thing that caught his now narrowed in thought eyes was the silly looking man in a bowtie, and the wares he was selling in his little cart. Raph was determined to get something from said little cart. He just had to figure out how to do it without making himself known and sending the whole street running away in fear. Maybe he should have just had Casey do this...

He shook his head. No. This was something he had to do himself. He could not, would not, ask his human friends for help. He took a deep breath, he could do this. He could go toe to toe with numerous foes, smacked Shredder around a few times, busted up countless of Bishop's labs...he could buy one single bouquet of flowers. Then why the hell was he so fucking jittery about it!

"Snap outta it you fucking moron." Great, now he was talking to himself. He was beginning to wonder if he was going crazy. He sighed, who was he kidding, he already was. He was crazy because he had finally done it. He had fallen for a woman, hard. He had fallen for Cris.

He moved away from the parapet and sat down heavily, letting out another sigh. He would have to wait for the bustling traffic to die down a bit down there or risk being spotted. This of course gave him time to think. And he thought of the only thing that seemed to keep his attention lately. A tiny, to him, pain in the ass, loudmouthed, short tempered, annoying, sarcastic, stubborn, non listening woman. A woman that made his knees go weak everytime he looked at her. A woman that brought a inner glow to the normally grumpy turtle. A woman that Raph wanted more than anything else.

He had thought he would never find someone to share his life with. He had come very close to giving up on it. And closer still when Leo found his love. That had just been a lucky coincidence that they ran into Vicky and she in turn didn't run out the door screaming. And it was Leo's luck that she had fallen for him, before they even knew she even existed. That part still creeped Raph out more than a little. Here they fought for survival, theirs and that of others that didn't have a clue about what went on behind closed doors. And Vicky knew about it all...from watching damn kids shows! He shuddered, creepy wasn't even the word for it.

Then, just as they were starting to get used to that whole ordeal with Vicky, Cris comes barging in his life. Another one who had grown up with versions of them that were, how should he put this?, kiddyfied. But it was those shows and movies that allowed her to see past what he was, and see who he was. Just like Vicky did. For the first time, he had found someone that wasn't repulsed by the fact that he was a large turtle. And he had promptly fell head over heels for her. He knew she was the one he had been looking for as soon as he had her in his arms after getting her away from her horse. He knew before she even realized what exactly was going on. When he met her stunned eyes for the first time as she looked up at him before fading out again, something had hit him so hard, so deep, and so suddenly that he had almost dropped her. At the time he didn't fully understand what was happening, now he did. And this is where he was having issues. He had no fucking idea what to do.

He had tried to hide those feelings at first because he wasn't comfortable with them. Didn't know how to handle them. Those first few days he was torn between keeping her away and wanting to hold her tight. That all changed on that first night she went out with them to go get Leo and Mikey. He didn't want her to go and he was honest enough with himself to know it was because he wasn't sure how he would be able to handle having her there, not because she was about as inept and inexperienced as Vicky.

They had managed to get the missing turtles back only to face almost losing Leo once more. He was dying, and Donnie didn't know if he could save him. They had all worked so hard to get them back, and it seemed like the efforts were in vain for Leo.

Raph lost it. He had sunk so deep in despair that night, so afraid of having to permanently say goodbye to his brother, that his anger and rage had an easy time taking it's hold on him. Raph couldn't see past the haze, the hurt. He had lashed out at Casey when his friend tried to calm him down and the others didn't even try after that. All of them but one.

Suddenly she was there. She stood in front of his rage fueled body unafraid, her eyes clear in the curtain of red that he saw. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes, pulled him out of his dark pit. A pit that had stripped all of his walls away that contained his usually pent up emotions. It wasn't safe for him to just let them run free, he had to contain them. In that confused state of mind, his feelings had acted before his mind told him to slow the fuck down. He had grabbed her, pulled her to him and kissed her. He was just as shocked as she was about it, and he was shocked even more when she returned it. She wasn't scared of him, she didn't back away from him and she had managed to pull him from a place where he couldn't free himself. It was then that he fully understood that he needed her. Big tough Raph needed that tiny scrap of a girl. And he wasn't ashamed of it at all.

Unfortunately he really didn't know what to do from there. He wasn't good at this mushy feeling crap. Leo seemed to know instinctively what to do with Vicky, how to read her, judge her moods and wants. He knew how to lessen her fears. Raph didn't know shit. He already felt that he had maybe moved to fast with the kiss and didn't want to push her away by trying to take it further, but he wanted to take it further. Good god, why was this shit so complicated? He got up and checked the crowd below and it had lessened enough to where he felt making an attempt was pretty safe.

Shaking his head at the reason he was here, he threw a prepared pouch with money and a rock to weigh it down so it would actually land where he wanted it too. His distracted mind interfered with his aim a bit as it nailed the bowtie wearing vendor upside the head. He winced a little at that as the man yelped in pain and looked around for his harasser. Good thing he didn't look up though.

Raph used that distraction to shoot an arrow into the largest bouquet the man had, then pulled quickly up on the rope that was attached to the arrow and a few seconds later he was now holding his prize. A prize he never thought he would ever buy for someone on Valentine's Day. His hands began shaking again as he looked it over. It was time he made his feelings perfectly clear and that had him scared shitless.

.

.

Cris was about to give up. She thought she had meant something to him, had thought there was something there. She thought Raph wanted her.

If he did, then why wouldn't he let her get close to him? Why did it seem that he could care less? It had been over a month now since...that day. A day she never would have never dreamed to be apart of, much less get kissed by him.

She leaned back on the couch she was sitting on, a couch that was in the lair as she waited for Raph to come home. She was determined to have a talk with him and the way things were going between them right now it would end up with her walking out the door.

Cris thought she had been dreaming at first. She remembered catching a small glimpse, a flash if you will, shortly after she hit her head on the branch. A quick look at amber eyes surrounded by red filled her vision before she blacked out again Eyes she thought she knew, but couldn't quite place in her befuddled state at the time. And later on her mind still didn't want to work right when she woke up, on a strange couch, in a strange house with four strangers in the room with her. He was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. She thinking she was in dreamland, Cris took in the tall, muscular figure, swallowing hard as she did. He was so hot. Just like in the movie...why couldn't all of her dreams be like this?

Then the reality hit her upside the head. This was not a dream. She was in a house with serial killers that were dressed up in turtle costumes for all she knew. Of course she freaked the fuck out. Who wouldn't?

Cris smiled a bit at the memory of it all now. It was still a little hard to take in, sitting here in the living area of the Ninja Turtle home. They were real and one of them had kissed her in this very room. The one she had been crushing on herself the way Vicky had been mooning over Leo.

He had been so angry that night she remembered. So full of rage and frustration. Stalking around the room, destroying furniture that got in his way and punching the walls over and over again. He was going to seriously hurt himself if someone didn't stop him but it didn't seem like any of them could. Cris refused to give up though. After watching his rampage and seeing the near concussion Casey almost got from his efforts to calm him down, Cris got up and went to go try herself. She didn't know exactly what she thought she could do for him to get him to stop, but she had to try. She couldn't just stand there and keep watching him destroy everything around him and hurt himself more than he already was.

He needed an outlet. He felt helpless where his brother was concerned, something Raph historically did not deal well with. Emotions. He wanted revenge, but no enemy was near to assuage his anger. He felt responsible, as he always did when family was hurt. He needed someone to take it all out on but he couldn't leave. So he let loose his rage on all he could. The furnishings and walls took little to destroy as he bloodied himsellf. This had to stop. He was ready to break. Cris could see it in the lines of his face. He was close to tears and he would hurt himself worse if he needed too in order to let it all out.

Cris knew he didn't like her, or so she thought at the time. He was always picking on her and being an ass if he's not avoiding her completely, but she didn't care. He'll always be her Raph and she couldn't watch him do this to himself. She had to do something. She didn't think he will hurt her consciously but she was prepared either way for what might happen.

Stepping between him and the wall was terrifying. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she was shaking but she didn't take her eyes off of his. Her own eyes burned with fresh tears. Tears from the pain of having to watch him do this to himself and the agony he was obviously feeling.

She held his gaze, he was drawn back to punch and she held on, wordlessly asking him to stop. She wasn't judging him and wasn't afraid of him hurting her. She just didn't want him to hurt himself anymore.

Cris watched his face turn from blind rage to determination, and as his fist descended she wondered for a moment if she had been wrong. But her eyes never left his and when his fist came near it changed into a reaching hand. A hand that pulled her roughly towards him before he crushed his lips to hers. The steel bands of his arms we crushing her to his plastron. She only hesitated a moment, the reality that the one man she never thought would see her that way was kissing her didn't take long to process before Cris was meeting him with her own passionate response. The kiss was hard but his lips were soft as they molded to her own. She submitted to him fully, melting into his embrace and as his tongue slipped along the seam of her lips asking for entrance she granted it immediately and was suddenly filled with his spicy taste.

Something had changed in him during that kiss. His anger seemed to melt away as he continued the kiss, trying to draw something out of her she really couldn't describe. Cris could only assume she gave him what he needed for the simple reason that when he finally broke that kiss, his anger had turned into grief. Grief that he couldn't do anything to help his brother. She continued to support him as best as she could as he collapsed to the floor, pulling her down with him. The tears now freely running down his face as he held her close to him. Fighting her own emotions she held onto him just as tight as his tears soaked into her hair.

Why is he keeping her at arms length now? Normally a guy would be all over a girl once they know she's into them... so what's his deal? She wasn't fawning over him or anything, certainly not going stalker. So what gives? She wondered if he did it in the heat of the moment and it didn't really mean anything to him. But he doesn't know what to do or say because Raph is...well...Raph. He doesn't like to apologize and maybe he felt one was necessary? Or maybe he still doesn't like her anymore than he did before but took what he could get? Either way she was confused and hurt over his continuing attitude.

And this is why she was sitting on the couch waiting for him. Cris didn't know what is going on and she felt like she was making him uncomfortable. This was their home after all. She respected him too much to force herself on him if he didn't want her. Plus, it's easier to run away when you realize the guy you think you might love, have always had feelings for doesn't feel the same way. All that adventure just isn't the same in light of that kind of revelation. It all seems a little less exciting and a lot more torturous on a deeper level...easier to just remove yourself from the picture. And that is what she was going to do if needed. Hell, maybe she should just leave now. Spare both of them an uncomfortable conversation.

She had just made up her mind to do just that when the sound of the entrance door to the lair opening made her freeze. It was him, had to be him. The others were all on the other side of the portal.

He came walking in, holding something behind his back as he approached her, his eyes unreadable. "H-hey..." he managed to stumble out of his mouth. "You, ah, you sitting here alone?"

She just raised an eyebrow at him. Why was he acting all...stupid...now? Did he see anyone sitting here with her? "No. I'm having an imaginary birthday party with little invisible elves." She told him.

He chuckled nervously at that and this time she raised both eyebrows at him. He caught the confused look she was giving him and took a deep breath. A breath that was actually a little shaky. He was nervous she realized, very nervous. Ok, this was new...

"I, uh, I was, was hopin' to catch you alone." He said quietly.

"I don't see why. Never made the effort before to do that." She snipped at him, still frustrated from the whole ordeal with him. "Seemed to prefer it actually if there were others here with us."

He winced a little at that one. "Yeah...um...about that..."

Here it comes, she thought, he finally found the balls to tell me to fuck off.

"I...I...shit..." He looked at her more than a little flustered before he tried again. "I, uh, I got you...oh here! Just take the damn things. I suck at this romantic shit!" And with that he finally pulled out what he was hiding behind his back and her eyes grew wide as she took in the, very large, bouquet of roses. Red roses. As he held them out to her she noticed that his hands were trembling, more than a little. Damn flowers looked like they were in an earthquake...

Stunned beyond words she stood up and walked over to him. Her own hands were trembling as she took them from him, ignoring the large hole in the side of the wrapping. "Oh Raph...they are beautiful..." Now she had tears forming in her own eyes as he watched her take them.

"Just like you." He murmured softly, reaching a hand out to hers. "Look, I know I've been...indecisive...with...with how...Damn it. I've been a jackass. There. I said it. I kiss you then I leave you hangin' like that." He looked into her eyes then and she saw the sincerity in them. "I'm sorry."

"Raph...I don't know what to say..."

"Then maybe we both shouldn't say anything. For once, just once, maybe it's time we let our feelings do the talking, if they are still there."

"Mine are. I was starting to wonder about yours though." She admitted to him.

"Well, let me clear that up for you." He pulled on the hand that he was holding and met her in a kiss. A kiss she gladly returned.

After a few moments, not breaking his tender hold on her lips, he picked her up and began to carry her to his room. When he got there she turned the handle for him and he used his body to force the door open, then kicked it closed with his foot once they were in. She giggled a little as he stumbled over his weights in his haste as he tried to make his way to the bed.

"Motherfucker!" He snapped as he did a weird, not fall on his ass hop. "That fuckin' hurt!" He complained as he finally made it to the bed and set her down on the floor. She carefully placed the flowers down on the night stand before turning her amused face back towards him.

"Well, I'm not kissing your stank ass foot better." She told him. "So don't even try asking."

"Wasn't going too." He grinned at her. "A few thing I'd like to kiss on you though."

A shiver ran up her spine as he said that and she looked up at him. "Oh? Like what?"

He didn't answer, but his eyes went from playful, to something else entirely as his hands gently slid down her sides. Then she shivered again as they came back up, under her shirt. She closed her eyes to the feeling of his fingertips running over her bare skin. "I'm sure you can imagine exactly what." He told her as his hands found their way to her breasts, his thumbs running over her covered nipples.

"Mmmm...that I can."

He slid his hands back down and out of her shirt. That caused her to open her eyes and look at him curiously. His eyes met hers, searching, before he spoke. "Are you...are you sure you want to? I don't want to make you feel like I pushed you into this."

"Raph, you haven't learned by now that you can't make me do anything I don't want to do? Or that i'm going to do what I want regardless of what you say?" She smiled a bit impishly at him as she pointed those facts out to hm.

"And just what exactly do you want?" He asked, not taking his eyes from her.

"You, dipshit." And to emphasise her point, she grabbed his harness and pulled him down towards her so she could kiss him again. "Why do you have to be so damn tall?" She complained once they had finished with that round. Her neck was staring to get a kink in it from the awkward angle.

"Why do you have to be so short?" He replied with a quirky grin.

"Why do you have to be an ass?"

"Because you like me that way." This time he guided her onto the bed before he covered her mouth with kisses again. His hand slipped back under her shirt and continued it's earlier exploration. Her own hands wandered over his body, removing anything that didn't naturally belong to him. Why did he have to wear so much useless crap? He didn't have half as many problems with getting her stuff off as she did with his. To prove her point, he pulled her up into a sitting position before he smoothly slid her shirt off, then easily unhooked her bra. She on the other hand was still trying to figure out how to unwrap his damn loincloth. How did this silly belt actually hold this thing up? Or was it even a belt or just a strip of decorated cloth? Why in the hell did he have to wear a loincloth anyway? Frustrated she pulled on it, growling as she did. Stupid, useless, piece of shit cloth...

Suddenly she found herself pushed back onto the mattress, his eyes intent on hers again and filled with lust this time as his heavy breathing tickled softly over her skin. "Do that again." He told her.

"Do what?" she asked confused. "Try and take that pain in the ass loincloth off?"

"Growl." He growled.

"You want me to growl? Seriously?"

"I'm not going to ask you again."

"You didn't ask me the first time. You told me. And I am not going to growl."

"Let's just see about that." He said before he crushed his mouth against hers. She felt his hand slip down to her pants and roughly pushed them out of the way along with her undergarment. Cris had to quickly lift her hips to help him with that otherwise she wouldn't have any pants to wear. He was so worked up now she really didn't think he had the patience to go gently on her clothes.

Within a few heartbeats, they were off and on the floor. She hoped they made it there intact but he didn't give her the chance to look as he came right back in. This time he brushed his lips across her bare skin before he reached the nipple of her breast. Then he went from kissing to biting as his teeth took hold of the now swollen nub and gently squeezed. Cris slammed her head back into the pillow as a soft cry escaped her lips. A cry she couldn't hold back even if she wanted too.

He kept up with the slight pressure even as his hand slipped between her thighs. There he began to caress her, tease her. Came so close to slipping them inside he folds, but never quite going all the way inside the sensitive area. He kept up that teasing touch until she began to get frustrated with it. She pushed her pelvis into his hand, wanting him to stop the wanting ache she was beginning to feel, and he ignored that unspoken request. His fingers still stubbornly refuse to enter and give her the relief she so desperately wanted, needed, from him. Without even realizing what she was doing she let out a low, almost feral growl and when she did his lips broke from her breast and he replied with a growl of his own as he slipped his finger in, hard, pushing it against her clit. "Damn...Raph..." She breathed as she squirmed against his touch.

He watched her as she writhed in pleasure under him, his eyes boring into her as her body craved more of him. She was breathing heavily at his unrelenting, pleasing, pressure. Her heavy breaths filling more and more with soft cries and moans as she felt something build. Something only he could cause. Something she so desperately wanted, and almost got, when he just stopped. Panting, she looked at his solemn eyes. They still had that lust in them, that hunger for something from her. "You fucking asshole." She gasped out. "Why did you stop?"

Her only answer was a small smile on that face and she growled in frustration again. He was seriously starting to piss her off. With that sound came out his eyes flashed with that came feral hunger that she felt for him and he kissed her, hard, as his finger pushed against her again. With more pressure than before. Release hit her just as hard as he forced it to come and she screamed into his kissing mouth before she threw her head back against the pillow. Still he rubbed her, not letting that feeling dissipate as her head whipped back and forth on his pillow, her cries reaching out to him. Finally after a long low scream from her he let his hand slip out. By this point she was barely able to focus on anything as she let her head fall to the side, her breathing coming in fast, heavy pants.

Raph looked down at the woman under him with wonder in his eyes. She was so beautiful to him, her now unbound hair spread across his pillow like a golden brown halo as she recovered from her orgasm. Her skin was so soft, so warm. He still didn't really believe she was here with him, wanting to do this. He kept expecting her to just poof away, like some weird dream. His hand couldn't get enough of wandering her now sweating, naked body, marveling at how it felt against his own rough skin. Her eyes closed at his touch and a moan escaped her lips as he brushed across her nipples again. A moan he was causing and that sounded...tired.

He lifted his head from her as he watched her again. God he wanted her so bad. Wanted to feel her around him as he pushed inside of her. He restrained himself enough to let her recover though. Maybe he had already pushed her too far.

She wearily turned her head back to face him once her breathing calmed down. She didn't speak as she looked up into his eyes. But brought a hand up instead. She gently stroked his cheek with it, exhaustion very clear in her movements, but her face was lit up with happiness nonetheless.

She readjusted the grip and pulled him down to her waiting lips and kissed him softly. "Do it." She said quietly to him.

"Babe, I think I've pushed you far enough." He replied a little worried. Suddenly she seemed so small to him, so frail.

"You don't know how much I can take. I'll be fine. I know you want too...and I want you too."

"Cris...I don't know..."

"I love you." She suddenly said, looking right at him as she said it.

"W-what?" Speechless didn't even begin to describe how he felt.

"Are you deaf now? I. Love. You."

He just looked stunned down at her. He was fighting a whole new set of feelings at that moment shock, amazement...love. "Cris, my little firecracker, I love you too." He choked out before she pulled him towards her, not into a kiss this time, but into a hug.

After laying there quietly for a bit, he felt her hand once again wander towards his loincloth, still stubbornly trying to get it off. "What are you doing?"

"You know exactly what I'm doing. I told you, you have no idea how much I can take. Now either you help me get this damn thing off, or I'll just rip it off." She gave it a good yank to prove her point.

Raph gave in. He couldn't fight his own desires and her too. That piece of fabric finally came flying off to land on the floor next to her garments.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting to happen next, but he sure wasn't expecting for her to zero right in on his slit. Her fingertips gently skimmed the top of it and he closed his eyes and shuddered in pleasure. "How...how did you know-" He shuddered again as she ran those delicate fingers against him. "...know to go there..."

She gave him a mischievous smile. "Simple. Vicky writes Fanfics you know that right?" Raph nodded, not fully trusting himself to speak. "I read them. And so does she. Various authors have told the readers where to look, if you are brave enough to read the stories."

Dammit...ratted out by a bunch of fans he didn't even know really existed before he met these two women.

She expertly put her knowledge to use and this time it was Raph who found himself squirming under her touch. Her gentle hands coaxed his member out and he couldn't hold back the deep churr that rumbled out as she wrapped her hand around it.

"Oh my goodness..." She breathed. "It's...larger than I expected."

"I..you...we...don't have...to do this if you...can't..." Raph was finding it very hard to focus his thoughts with her hand around him like that and he almost lost his mind when she began to stroke it.

"Raph, just shut up and fuck me." She calmly replied.

He was by now more than ready. He wanted her, now. He propped himself over her as she spread her legs wide for him. Once again her chest was heaving with heavy breaths as she waited for him to enter her, her face flushed and her eyes full of the same want that he had for her. He place himself against her, teasing her with the tip and the moan that slight touch caused her almost made him lose it. God he loved this woman, loved everything about her. And it was time that he showed her just how much he did. He pulled back and lined himself up with her, both of them eager now for that first thrust. Both of them wanting the other. He looked in her eyes for confirmation one last time, and got a willing nod in return. He was ready, she was ready. He began to push in, he could feel her tight flesh part for him as he started to penetrate her. Her eager, soft, warm, flesh...

Suddenly the door banged open and they both whipped their heads around in shock towards it at the same time. "Hey Raph! Do you know where the...oooooh shit..." Mikey stopped and stared at them as they stared back at him. All three of them in shock.

That lasted about a good three seconds before Raph snapped. "MIKEEEEEEY! You are so fucking dead!" He roared as he leapt off of the bed, but the younger turtle was already long gone. He quickly snatched up his loincloth and was out the door before he was even done rewrapping it. He was going to kill that little fucker! Kill him! Slam his head so hard into the floor they would feel it in China! By the time he was done with his little brother not only would he learn to knock, but he wouldn't have any god damn hands to knock with!

He ran past a stunned Leo and Vicky as he caught sight of his little brother heading into the dojo. Good. Now he had the fucker cornered.

He chased after the younger turtle, intent on rearranging certain body parts. But as mad as he was, there was still a part of him that was smiling. She said she loved him. That was more than he had ever hoped for. And just as soon as he got done with this nosy asswipe, he was going to finish showing her just how much he loved her.